Annette believed she must have done something terrible to the Goddess for her Wednesday to start off so terribly. She currently found herself sitting on the sidewalk near her university, getting soaked.

Due to the October rain, she slipped over a puddle as she ran towards a class that started in five minutes while still being fifteen minutes away. She had forgotten her umbrella back at the townhouse she shared with Mercedes and Ingrid, which meant everything was now getting soaked. Not to mention that she had also forgotten her lunch, which sat on the counter. She would have called Ingrid to bring it along with her, but her phone was currently at 0% and she knew her charger was still plugged next to her bed.

Annette stared at her notebook that had fallen out of her arms when she fell, drops of water inevitably ruining her notes inside. She opened her bag to grab a band-aid for the scrape on her knee, but she discovered that she had given the last one to Ashe yesterday – he received a papercut during their study session at the library.

Not to mention, her eyes were heavy from lack of sleep. Homework and studying had kept her up, since she spent most of the day rehearsing for her parts in the university orchestra.

Annette sighed, forcing herself to bite her lip and gather up her soggy notebook. But before she could reach it, there was someone handing it to her.

"You okay?"

She looked up to find Felix in front of her. Felix was not one to appear during moments of crisis, but she would take what she could get.

"I'm okay," she smiled in return, taking the notebook from him. "Thank you, Felix. Aren't you heading to class too?"

"It was canceled…," he grumbled. "I didn't check my email this morning."

"I'm sorry to hear that—oh dear…," Annette stumbled as she did her best to shove the rain-spotted notebook into the safety of her backpack, but suddenly the contents of her bag were beginning to fall out.

"Are you sure you—"

"I got it, Felix. I just need to take out my water—"

"Let me just—"

"No, I can totally do it myself—"

"Annette, it's not a big deal—"

Amongst the tug-of-war between Annette and Felix, her bag ripped. It didn't help that it was an older bag – she picked it up at a thrift store with her dad ten years ago. Felix looked up at her and she looked him straight in the eyes.

Annette started to cry. Her tears came out and she felt absolutely pathetic that it was in front of Felix of all people!

"Hey—" he began to say, picking up her pencil case. "It's okay, Annette. We can use my bag."

"Nooo!" She cried, letting her tears mix with the rain falling on her face. "This day just keeps getting woooorse!" she sobbed even louder. She was an absolute mess. Her knee hurt. She was going to be twenty minutes late. Her favorite bag was ruined.

"Look, I fit it all in here," Felix said, showing her his bag full of her stuff. "See? It's fine."

"It's not fine, Felix! It's all terrible!" she cried out, sobbing harder than before. He looked at her with concerned eyes and took hold of her hand.

"We're going to my place."

Annette pulled at his hand, "No! I don't need help!" she whined.

"Let me help you, Annette! You're going to get sick or something. We need to dry you and your stuff," he grumbled, not letting go.

Annette looked at Felix, desperation was all over his face. He looked like he was trying to figure out how to stop her crying, but she knew that was usually beyond his social capabilities.

Well, he did live one block away from here.

"Are you sure?" she sniffled, wiping her snot along the arm of her sweater. It was getting colder and she was starting to feel a chill.

Felix only walked faster, "I have tea."

After a short walk, they made it to his studio apartment.

He refused to share a place with Sylvain, Dimitri, and Dedue. Something about needing personal space. Annette could never understand it. She loved rooming with Mercedes and Ingrid.

"Wait here, I'll get you a towel and a change of clothes."

Annette nodded and stood by the door, trying to take off her shoes without getting more water on the floor. She stood awkwardly as Felix reappeared without a shirt on. Annette blushed at the view of his toned abs – achieved through years of fencing. She had suddenly had the thought that it was a shame he only wore baggy jackets.

Not that it mattered, Annette. He's your friend!

Felix handed her a towel, a shirt, and some basketball shorts.

"The bathroom is just around the corner. You can take a shower if you want," he said, pointing the way. Annette sniffled, nodded and muttered her thanks before making her way to the bathroom. She noticed it was clean, something she found unusual for a guy, but she admired it just the same.

After drying off with the towel and changing into his clean clothes that smelled of pine and some sort of spice she couldn't place, Annette shuffled out of the bathroom. She noticed that he had made his bed and sprayed some sort of air freshener in the air. A small smile lifted at the corner of her mouth. She walked towards the entrance of the decent sized apartment to find him in the kitchen. She sat at the counter as she watched Felix prepare two mugs of tea in front of her.

"Felix, thanks for...for everything," Annette said, placing her folded clothes on a vacant chair. "I don't know how I can repay you."

"Hmm," he said, a teasing smirk forming at his mouth as he placed a warm mug of tea in front of her. She brought the mug up to her nose and inhaled the scent of apples. "I can think of something."

Annette looked at him with eyes half-closed, dreading what he was thinking.

"I can bake you a cake," she offered. "No singing involved, of course."

"Is it really an Annette cake if there's no singing involved?" He smirked, leaning forward on his arms. Annette's breath caught at the back of her throat and she felt herself pout.

"I'll make it without an audience of a Felix Hugo Fraldarius in the crowd."

Felix sighed, bringing his mug in his hands. "I'm afraid that won't do. I don't know if you've forgotten, but I'm not exactly a fan of cakes."

Annette blushed. Oh no! How could she forget!

"Well buying you lunch works just as well," she huffed. "Do you want Chinese? I can get it delivered."

"Tempting," he said, sipping some of his tea. Annette brought hers to her lips but winced as she burned her tongue.

"But how about we take a rain check on that."

Annette sarcastically laughed before blowing on her mug.

Felix watched as she blew, her cheeks puffing out.

"Did you steal one of my hair ties?"

Annette grinned mischievously at him.

"My hair was wet, you know. And it was right there. I couldn't help myself!"

"Hmm," he took another sip.

"I promise to give it back," she held up a hand. "Knight's honor."

Felix rolled his eyes. She laughed to herself before taking another small sip of caution, which led to a bigger sip once she realized her tea was now at a reasonable temperature.

"So, are you missing anything important in class today?" he asked.

"Oh!" Annette shot up from her seat. "Do you have a charger?"

"iPhone or Android?"

"Android," she asked, opening his bag to pull out her phone along with the rest of her items. "Also, do you have any plastic baggies?"

He tossed her his charger and a bag for her stuff.

"Ew, are these socks dirty?" He grabbed his socks out of her hands.

"No, they were for fencing, but the class got canceled."

"Lucky you," she mumbled. She plugged her phone in, hoping to email her teacher soon.

"So is that why you were late," he asked, nodding his head toward her dead phone.

"Ah…yeah, a bit. Also, probably the fact that I stayed up until two studying last night."

"For?"

"Chemistry. Midterms are creeping up on us." She sighed. She thought of all the work she had to do, the studying that needed to happen, everything that had to be rehearsed…

Felix washed his dishes and cleaned up the kitchen as she worked on getting her phone up and running. Annette tried not to show it, but she was a little bit nervous being here. She couldn't remember the last time she talked to Felix…was it three weeks ago? She knew she came to the apartment once with Mercedes to drop off something of Sylvain's. Or pick something up for Sylvain, she had forgotten.

All Annette knew was that Felix seemed to have treated her differently than the others. She figured it was because he loved to tease her, and she had to admit – she was easy to tease.

"Success!" She cheered, emailing the teacher. She caught Felix's smirk on his face.

Suddenly the lights went out. Annette gasped out loud. She looked at her phone and noticed an "EMAIL WAS NOT SENT" message.

"No!" Annette cried, trying to send it on the data of her phone instead of the Wi-Fi, only causing her screen to go black and stay there. "Oh no!"

"Hey," Felix said, grabbing her phone. "You can try later when the power comes back on."

Annette's eyes were brimming with tears once again. "Nothing is going right today, Felix. I slip and fall, my phone is dead, I'm late to class, and my knee still hurts. I am so freaking exhausted all the time. I think I'm going to get a cold from being in the rain too long. And I'm…I've been quite lonely lately. All my friends are busy so…,"

Felix scoffed, "I guess I'm just a ghost to you then?"

"No! No, that's not what I meant Felix and you know it—"

"Sure Annette, just throw me to the sharks why don't you," he said, shaking his head at her.

"Hmph," Annette said, turning her body away from him. "I refuse to talk to you."

"Maybe you won't talk, but what about singing?"

Annette shook her head at him, holding back a small smile. "Never again for you, Felix Fraldarius. You're a big ol' jerk."

"I think you should be calling me your Prince Charming. I did carry your stuff for you," he pointed out.

"Only because you broke my bag," she retorted with heat in her words.

"I didn't break your bag!" he argued. "I was just trying to help you get your stuff together before it got wet."

Annette sighed, "It doesn't matter. It's all wasted anyways. My entire day is wasted."

"Tomorrow is a new day," Felix replied, plugging her phone back into the charger.

Annette stood up from her seat and walked towards the window. The rain was falling down harder now, causing her to frown. She sighed, thinking how long of a walk her apartment was and how there probably wasn't any power there either.

She slapped her hands on her cheeks, startling Felix. "No! The day isn't over."

"It is only 9 in the morning," he said, looking at his watch. "You can wait here and see if the power will come on."

"I'll review my notes!" She exclaimed, pulling her notebook out. She gasped when she noticed the ink had run along the pages, making her notes illegible. "Or not."

Felix was watching her from his bed at this point. His arms were crossed over his chest and he frowned.

"Maybe you should just take a break. Didn't you say you're always exhausted?" he patted the bed next to him.

The idea of a nap sounded appealing. Annette didn't have any more classes for the rest of the day, but she felt a little guilty with all the work that she had to do.

"I can't take a nap. What if you need to take a nap?"

"I'll survive," he shrugged.

Annette looked at his bed, taunting her. She went to sit down next to him. "Oh Felix," she said, looking at him with excitement in her bright eyes, "your bed is so comfy! How do you ever leave it?"

"I try to avoid that whenever possible; I assure you."

"Are you sure it's okay for me to nap?" she asked, petting the soft comforter that she sat on. "Aren't you tired too?"

Annette looked at Felix, with bags under his eyes. He usually appeared tired to Annette, but today it seemed worse than usual. "I will be fine," he assured her.

"Why don't we take one together?" Annetted asked, causing Felix to choke. "What's so wrong about that? I do it all the time with Mercedes and Ashe. Sometimes Dedue. Sometimes Dorothea and Ingrid." Annette laughed.

"Geez, how do you all fit?"

Annette pushed his shoulder at his teasing, "Dedue doubles up as a bed for some of us. Have you never taken a nap with your friends before?"

Felix shook his head, "Although Sylvain has slept on me before. Many times."

"That's just who he is," Annette giggled. She moved to one side of Felix's double bed, urging her feet under the comforter. "Oh, this is so nice. You have such a great bed."

"Thanks?" Felix said, hesitating before lifting up the comforter. "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course," Annette said. Felix sank in next to her. Annette turned to face Felix, who turned his head towards her. "I can't even remember the last time I took a nap."

Felix looked away from her in thought, "I think I took one last week…At Ashe's birthday party."

Annette giggled, "I do remember you disappearing for a bit. You went to take a nap?"

"You remember?" Felix inquired, causing Annette to blush. She nodded her head.

"We were trying to play truth or dare, and no one can come up with dares like you can, honestly."

"I was exhausted from practice earlier in the day," he confessed. "Our tournament is coming up this weekend. Sylvain threatened me about misses Ashe's birthday though."

"Ashe deserves nothing less," Annette replied.

"You're right about that," he agreed.

"It was fun to see everyone, even if it was for a little bit," she sighed, turning on her back to stare at the ceiling. "I miss people sometimes."

"Can't relate," Felix said, causing Annette to hit him under the sheets. "Hey, watch the hands," he playfully warned.

"Whoops," Annette laughed, "Sorry."

She had turned her face towards Felix, noticing he was closer than usual. His eyes had opened wide, as though he was looking at her for the first time. She noticed that his eyes traveled along her face, making her self-conscious.

"I never realized how many freckles you have," Felix whispered, causing Annette's chest to flutter.

Annette blushed, turning her face away from him, "I could have told you that." She laughed, suddenly nervous.

"Would you?" he questioned, looking at her for a moment more, before turning around so that his back faced her.

Annette turned her head to look at the back of his head. His hair was messily in a bun and the strange feeling of taking his hair tie so that she could run her fingers through it overwhelmed her. She covered her face, trying to control her breathing so that Felix wouldn't get suspicious.

Get it together, Annette!

Annette turned her back to him, hiding any evidence of her shameful thoughts. "Good night, Felix."

"Good morning, Annette."