"What do you want, Ferdinand?" Edelgard asks when he approaches their lunch table, asking him before he even has a chance to speak. "If this is about the meeting yesterday, I think I already made all of my points very clear. You can debate it all you want, but both Claude and Lorenz agreed with me over you, so I think that's all that really needs to be said."
"So quick to make assumptions, Edelgard," he replies. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else. That is, the winter dance is almost here, and-"
"If you'd like to volunteer to decorate for it, Lorenz is actually handling the sign-ups for that," she says, stopping him short again.
Sighing, Ferdinand shakes his head. "It's not about that! And for your information, my name happened to be first on the list. But that is beside the point! I wanted to ask you who you were going to the dance with!"
Byleth and Hubert share a look before looking back to Edelgard, who seems conflicted for a moment before finally answering, "I'm going in a group with these two."
"So neither of them are your date, then?" he asks, and Byleth suddenly realizes exactly where this is going. She almost wishes either she or Hubert had spoken up to say they were Edelgard's date, even if that would have made the other seem like a third wheel at the actual dance.
"I...no, we're going in a group, so-"
"So, then, perhaps you'd like to be my date?" he asks with a warm smile, and both Byleth and Hubert can only gawk at him in surprise.
Edelgard's cheeks redden, only just now realizing his intentions, and she quickly says, "Absolutely not, Ferdinand. I'd like to be able to enjoy a night without you taking every turn to harass me about my supposed failings in the student government."
Ferdinand's face falls, and he starts to say something before simply nodding. "That wasn't my intention, but you're already going with friends, so I understand. Still...if you'd like to save a dance for me, I would not turn you down."
He gives up fairly easily, leaving their table after only a few minutes, which is much easier than it normally is. Byleth can't help but feel bad for him, only to leave herself wondering why she isn't more jealous, and why she almost wishes Edelgard had been less harsh on him. As she and Hubert tease her about her popularity, she gets so flustered that Byleth begins to question just what Ferdinand really is to all of them.
~X~
The winter dance is not much more lively than the Halloween party, perhaps even less so due to the number of chaperones, and the three of them once again wonder why they bothered showing up to begin with. For the most part, they hang off to the side by themselves, and Byleth keeps a look out for Caspar, spotting him dancing- or attempting to- with a girl that she assumes must be Petra. They look happy together, so she hopes that tonight ends up working out in his favor.
Eventually, Ferdinand, after looking over to their group a few times, finally walks over to them, and asks, "If you aren't dancing, would you mind dancing with me?"
"You really don't give up, do you?" asks Edelgard, raising a brow and putting on an icy tone to cover up how much this must be embarrassing her. It's hard to tell exactly what she's feeling beyond that, but Ferdinand is persistent.
"If not you, I could dance with either of your friends," he suggests.
"Not on your life," Hubert replies, and Byleth simply shrugs. She doesn't have much experience dancing, but she feels a little bad for Ferdinand, and decides she wouldn't mind.
"If it's a matter of sparing them, then I suppose I have no choice," Edelgard says, and Ferdinand brightens considerably, his grin nearly blinding as he offers her a hand. She begrudgingly takes it and he leads her to the dance floor.
"Shall we follow them?" asks Hubert, offering a hand to Byleth.
"Really?" she asks, surprised.
"Well, it's better than standing around and doing nothing, and I suppose it's pointless to come to a dance if we aren't going to dance at all," he says, but his pained expression suggests that this might literally be killing them. "Besides, it will be easier to keep an eye on them if we're closer to them."
"You have a good point," Byleth replies, not admitting how pleasant she finds the idea of being able to dance with Hubert. If she were to ask Edelgard, Edelgard would probably do it just for novelty's sake, but Hubert is a difficult one. The fact that he's offered is pretty amazing, regardless of what his reasons are, and he leads her to the floor, not far from where Edelgard and Ferdinand are together, and for once, not visibly arguing.
Once that's done, it's easier to break the ice, and Hubert has a dance with Edelgard, while Ferdinand insists on having one with Byleth, but while Byleth dances with Edelgard, Hubert decides that he's had enough of this and goes back to the sidelines, ignoring all of Ferdinand's pestering. All in all, it's a pleasant night, and the three of them leave in a fairly good mood.
~X~
"You need to make sure you feed tonight," Hubert says, as they're leaving.
"I know, I know," Edelgard says with a groan. "I've been putting it off for too long. I think my senses are starting to dull a little bit."
"So it needs to be tonight," Hubert insists as he starts the car. "Let's go find someone quickly, and you can get it over with."
Edelgard agrees and the three of them set out, looking for her victim of the night. After that, they're planning on spending the night at her house again, and Byleth is sure that she will spend the bulk of her winter break with the three of them. She doesn't even know if she's going to be able to see her father for Christmas or not, but it wouldn't be the first year that work took him away for the holidays. The two of them still haven't discussed anything after their fight.
"Ferdinand is so pushy," Edelgard says as she sinks down into her seat. "It was almost like we went with him either way."
Remembering something she's thought before, Byleth finally says, "It feels like he's a part of our group sometimes," and the two of them are silent for a moment before Edelgard groans.
"You didn't have to say it, you know?"
"It's kind of true that. He's such a regular part of our lives that he's almost necessary."
"A necessary nuisance, perhaps," Hubert says. "But it is hard to imagine a day without him bothering us, so tonight was just par for the course."
"He isn't a bad guy," Byleth says, and the other two fall silent, the closest they'll probably get to admitting that they don't dislike him.
The conversation is so lively that it might make sense that they're less guarded than usual, and when they stop the car so that they can continue on foot, Edelgard's dulled senses might explain why they don't notice someone else following them, until it's too late, and they've already seen everything.
