Happy Valentines day!
Here's a Hilda chapter to celebrate.
Enjoy!
Valentines day.
It was a holiday not a lot of people celebrated, mainly those who were young tended to celebrate it more often then others.
For Byleth, Valentines day would be the perfect opportunity to try and get Hilda to forgive him.
The esteemed Professor had forgotten Hilda's birthday a few days ago, and the girl was not happy. She had been giving Byleth the cold shoulder all week, only putting in the bare minimum at class as usual, and not listening to a thing he has to say. Using Valentine's day should hopefully make Hilda happy again
From what he's heard, Valentines works in that one would give someone they cared about chocolate, in that case Byleth would need a lot of chocolate. Unfortunately, from all the stores he visited they were all sold out. As he made his way back to the Monastery after scouring the town for any remaining chocolate, a certain merchant came bounding up to him.
"Hiya Professor!"
"Hello Anna."
She frowned at his lackluster greeting, others probably wouldn't have been able to catch it, but Anna was nothing if not a skilled salesperson; reading people was her forte.
"What's wrong?" She asked, tilting her head, her pony tail swaying to the side as she did.
"I'm trying to look for some chocolate for a student, but it appears everywhere is sold out."
"Well that just won't do! How about I give you a hand, Professor?"
Byleth perked up. "You have chocolate you can sell me?"
"Nope!"
Byleth's shoulders slouched, if ever slightly.
"Aw don't be like that Professor. I meant I'll give you some advice."
Byleth tilted his head, waiting for her to elaborate.
"Lots of your students know how to cook right? Just ask one of them to make you some chocolate!"
"It's possible to make chocolate?"
Anna raised an eyebrow. "Yeah...Did you ya not know that?" She asked, Byleth shaking his head no. "Oh...Well you can, so..."
Byleth nodded, smiling. "Thank you for the advice Anna, I'll go see if Bernadetta can help me."
"You're welcome! Now that'll be 10 coins."
Byleth frowned. "No."
Byleth knocked on the recluse's door, but received no response. He knocked again, but nothing happened.
"Bernadetta, I know you're in there."
The squeak he heard from the other side of the door confirmed his suspicion.
"W-What do you want?" Bernadetta said meekly from behind the door.
"I was wondering if you could help me make some chocolate."
"M-Make chocolate?"
Byleth nodded, although he wasn't sure why as Bernadetta couldn't see him. "Yes, I want to make some for everyone, but I don't know how to cook."
There was some silence for a bit, before Bernadetta eventually responded. "S-Sorry Professor...I-I'm not really sure I can come outside today..."
"Is everything okay?"
"Y-Yep! Totally not trying to hide from you or anything!"
Byleth frowned. "I see, I'll suppose I'll go ask someone else. I'll come back when I have some chocolate for you." Byleth turned around and descended down the stairs of the raised stone platform. Before he could reach the bottom though, he heard her door open, Byleth turned around to see what Bernadetta needed but before he could do anything he felt something be pushed against his chest, looking down to see Bernadetta had shoved a small box with a purple bow into his hands.
She looked up at him through her messy hair, Byleth barely able to make out a blush on her cheeks.
"H-Happy Valentines day, Professor..." She said, before turning around and bolting back into her room, slamming the door behind her. Leaving Byleth speechless.
He glanced down at the box, opening it up to reveal freshly made chocolate. He furrowed his brows as he thought to himself.
Was Bernadetta trying to tell him something?
"Make you some chocolate?" Mercedes repeated. Byleth nodded.
He had ran into Mercedes in the entrance hall as he was wandering around, he had heard many times of how good Mercedes's treats where, so he figured he should ask her.
"I want to make some chocolate for everyone." Byleth explained. "Mainly Hilda, as she still has not forgiven me for forgetting her birthday."
"I've heard about that, how cruel Professor, to forget a girl's birthday." Mercedes's teased. Byleth sighed. "I know, which is why I've been looking for someone to help me make chocolate."
"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you there Professor."
Byleth titled his head. "Oh? Why not?"
"Because the kind of chocolate you're looking to make is special, the kind that needs to be made by you alone. That way it's filled with love." Mercedes explained, smiling afterwards.
Byleth had no idea what the girl was talking about, staring at her with his same old blank expression. "So what you're saying, is that I should cook this chocolate myself?"
Mercedes nodded. "Exactly! I will at the very least help you get started."
Byleth looked down at the utensils laid out before him. Mercedes had gathered these for him and given him a very basic run down of how to get started with making chocolate, and yet he retained none of that information.
As he racked his thoughts for what to do next, a cheerful voice called out to him from behind.
"Professor!"
The man turned around to see Annette walking up to him, a big smile on her face as always.
"Hello Annette." Byleth greeted, Annette did the same before looking behind him.
"Ooh! Whatcha cooking?"
"Chocolate."
Annette blushed slightly upon hearing this. "O-Oh..." She twiddled her thumbs "I-Is it for anyone in particular?"
"You."
"H-Huh?"
"And Hilda, and everyone else."
"O-Oh..." Annette almost sounded disappointed at this fact, Byleth wondered why.
"Annette, you like cooking right?"
The orange-haired girl perked up, nodding enthusiastically "Yep!"
"Do you think you can assist me in making some chocolate? I have no idea how to get started."
Annette giggled. "Really? You struggling with something? I sort of find that hard to believe."
"Even I have my limits...And it seems cooking is one of them."
Annette giggled again, before nodding and stepping up next to the Professor, staring down at all the kitchen supplies and ingredients before turning to look at her Professor.
"Welp, let's get to work!"
An explosion shook the kitchen, startling anyone inside or outside of the Dining Hall, several guards and staff came rushing over to see what the cause was, but when they saw Annette they sighed and simply went back to their post.
Byleth and Annette coughed loudly, waving the smoke away with their hands.
"T-That probably could have gone better." Annette said before coughing, Byleth nodding in agreement. Who knew pouring a whole bag of flour onto an open flame could result such a volatile reaction.
"What in the blazes are you two doing?"
Annette and Byleth turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Yuri standing there with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm trying to cook some chocolate."
"Really? And here I thought you were trying to make firebombs." The leader of the Ashen Wolves said, before approaching the two, handing a small box with a red bow on it to Byleth.
"Here, happy Valentines day."
Byleth took the box, opening it up to reveal chocolate. "This is for me?"
Yuri nodded. "Of course, who else would it be for?"
Byleth wondered if Yuri was trying to tell him something as well. Annette's eyes widened. "Oh! I completely forgot to give you you're chocolate Professor! Hang on! I'll be right back!" She said, before bolting away. The two males watching her run off.
"Fleeing the scene of the crime, huh..." Yuri muttered before turning back to Byleth. "So, trying to make some chocolate are we?"
Byleth nodded, Yuri grinning in response, walking over to the counter and fishing an apron from the mess the Professor and Annette made and tying it around himself, turning back to the stoic Professor. "Then let me assist you."
The speed and skill at which Yuri utilized the kitchen and its many utensils was astounding, Byleth could only watch with widened eyes as Yuri salvaged what ingredients remained from Byleth and Annette's own attempt at cooking. The Professor only occasionally helping out when he could.
After a few minutes of preparation, and a few more minutes of the chocolate actually cooking, Yuri put the finished result in a box and handed it to Byleth.
"Here you go, next time just ask." Said the effeminate man with a wink. Byleth nodded, smiling ever so slightly. "Thanks Yuri."
Yuri blushed at the rare sight of Byleth smiling, turning away. "Y-Yeah...Whatever." After a few seconds he turned back to Byleth. "Also, if you needed chocolate we have some down in Abyss." Byleth's eyes widened.
"You do?"
Yuri nodded. "Yep, couple of merchants decided to sell some chocolate down there, pretty sure some of them are stolen though...But I try not to ask too many questions."
Now Byleth was able to get some chocolate for the rest of his students too, but first he needed to give the finished product to Hilda.
When he asked Claude, he was told that Hilda was in her room; which was odd, he expected Hilda to be out and about, especially for today.
He walked upstairs in the dormitories, arriving at Hilda's door after he stopped by Annette's dorm to receive her chocolate. He brought his fist to the wooden door and knocked, waiting for a response, the door opening shortly after. Hilda greeting the Professor with a less then enthusiastic expression.
"Oh, hi Professor."
Byleth handed the box to Hilda, who took it, her eyes widening as she opened it.
"This is...Chocolate, Professor did you make this?"
"Yuri did, I only slightly helped..."
Hilda smiled warmly, stepping aside and gesturing for the Professor to come into her room. Byleth obliged, stepping into the dorm as Hilda shut the door behind her, opening the box and taking a piece of chocolate and biting into it.
"Mmm! These are so good!" She took another one a held it out for Byleth. "Here! You try one!"
The Professor shook his head. "I can't, their yours."
"And it's because their mine that I'm offering one to you."
Byleth couldn't argue with that logic, nodding and taking it out of her fingers, popping it in his mouth and chewing. It truly was delicious, he never had anything like this in his life, he hadn't even had anything sweet before.
The two eventually sat down on Hilda's bed as she continued to share her chocolate with the Professor, Byleth apologizing again for forgetting the girl's birthday, but she dismissed it, saying she had already forgiven him.
"Professor, here." Byleth turned towards Hilda, raising an eyebrow as he saw her holding one half of a chocolate piece in her mouth, leaning forward to offer him the other half.
"What are you doing?"
"Offering you chocolate!"
Byleth didn't say anything, giving her a weird look. Hilda rolled her eyes.
"Just thake ith!"
Byleth hesitated at first, before leaning down and biting down on the other half, Hilda leaning forward even more and catching his lips with hers, the two breaking apart the chocolate as they leaned away; munching on their respective pieces.
"Mm, now that was sweet." Hilda said, blushing slightly.
"Oh yeah, isn't there something you need to say to someone you give chocolate to?" She said.
Byleth thought for a moment, before looking back to Hilda, smiling.
"Happy Valentines day Hilda"
Drinking game, take a shot every time you see the word chocolate.
Been wanting to do Hilda again, and seeing as how the girl has Valentine in her name I figured to just make a Valentines special of her.
Sorry for this subpar chapter, I tried my best.
Until next time.