Hey I am back again though this might be a little late and this one may be fairly shorter than the last story I wrote, mostly because I had trouble coming up with a story for this prompt. But I finally thought of something.
This Week's Prompt was: Tea Time
And is once again featuring Fire Emblem Three Houses characters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.
Sylvain was resting peacefully with his wife. This was a rare moment indeed, other than their daily afternoon tea the couple was normally very busy. With Byleth's duties as the Archbishop and his own duties as Margrave Gautier, he had learned to value and enjoy these moments of peace and tranquility.
It had been 2 years since the end of the war with the Adrestian Empire, his friends were all married and some had or were expecting children. And Fodlan as a whole was finally at peace. There had been a minor scare last year when Those Who Slither in the Dark had reared their ugly heads and joined what remained of the Adrestian Empire for another attempt to take over Fodlan.
But with the help of Claude who had become the new King of Almyra, Byleth, Dimitri and everyone else, they had been able to defeat this dark and powerful force. With them gone, they could hopefully focus on restoring Fodlan to its former glory. Even if all of Fodlan was now just the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.
Yes, now that there was peace he planned to enjoy everything life had to offer, including his beloved wife. He was very much awake as of now but couldn't bring himself to get up and out of bed. So he opted to pull Byleth closer to him and inhaled her scent as he cuddled her. And as she began to stir he decided to plant a trail of kisses from her shoulder to her neck. He was grinning when he heard his efforts rewarded by a sleepy giggle.
"Morning my love." He said quietly as he continued to leave kisses. Though instead of responding with words his wife surprised him by taking his chin and gently guiding his lips to meet her's.
"Morning." She responded at last as their lips met.
They continued to kiss for a few minutes and he was about to suggest that they just spend the morning in bed when Byleth put her hand on his chest and ended the kiss. Causing him to groan, he didn't want it to end.
"Don't give me that, we have work to do, remember?" She said as she tried to push away from him and get out of bed, but his arms held onto her tighter.
"Ugh, it's always work with you. I say we play hookey, cancel all appointments for today and just enjoy each other's company." He said as he played with the straps on her loose nightgown. "Seteth can handle whatever we had planned for today anyways."
Byleth gave him an amused look as she rolled her eyes at him. "That's the old Sylvain talking. We have big responsibilities now, we can't just shirk them whenever we want to."
"Is it so wrong for a husband to want a day alone with his wife?"
"No it's not, but we have important guests coming today."
"Like who? Unless it's Dimitri or Claude I say we tell them to come back another day."
Byleth gave him a look that said "You are unbelievable. Why do I love you?"
"Sylvain…." Ah crap, she was using her professor's voice on him now. "Look I'll make you a deal, finish your duties by the time we have our afternoon tea together and then you and I can have the rest of the day to ourselves."
Sylvain finally let her go and propped himself up on their bed. "You promise?"
"I promise." She then gave him one last kiss before heading towards the bathroom.
Sylvain then proceeded to spend his morning doing paperwork, responding to letters, looking over business proposals and bandit sighting reports. He'd have to send out some Knights to investigate those later.
Then he met with the visiting dignitaries and merchants as well as Felix and Annette along with their newborn daughter, Lyra Glendaline Fraldarius. They wanted Byleth to baptise her.
Lyra is adorable, she has Annette's eyes, mouth and nose and Felix's dark navy blue hair. He was of course incredibly happy for Felix and Annette but at the sametime he couldn't help but envy them. Him and Byleth had been together for 2 years and it's not like they hadn't tried for kids. Heck if she had let him this morning he would have had another go at it.
He and Felix had talked about it and Felix told him to relax and that when the time was right, he and Byleth would be parents too, though Felix had also joked about how strange it was to watch him of all people be both responsible and devoted. But all Sylvain did was smile in response, he didn't need to explain himself to anyone. Byleth is the one for him, he changed for her. He'd do anything for her. Because she is the first woman he has come to truly love with all his heart. She is the first woman other than Ingrid to see past his Crest, see past his title and just see him. She loves him for who he is. That was more than enough reason for him to get serious and to devote all his love to this one woman.
By the time the clock chimed 3, he was all ready for his date with Byleth. He headed for their usual spot, the Star Terrace. The third floor balcony was one of the few places where they could have some privacy. Afternoon tea had become a part of their daily routine one day when he returned home from Sreng, they had celebrated his homecoming with a tea party and that was when the couple decided they would make a point each day just to have tea together like they used to during their academy days.
He was delighted to see Byleth there already waiting for him with her beautiful bright green hair and her Enlightened One garb, making it clear that she was the Archbishop. He could marvel at her radiance all day long and still be captivated by her beauty at the end of the day.
"Are you just going to stand there and stare or do you plan on joining me at some point?" Byleth asked as she gave him a radiant smile.
He smiled in return and went and sat down at their table. "So I finished my duties, you know what that means?"
"Yes it means you and I can take the rest of the day off and spend it together." Byleth responded though she seemed a bit nervous, she kept fidgeting with her handkerchief.
"Byleth? Is something wrong? I thought you'd be more excited. Did something happen?" He asked worriedly.
"No-no I-I mean yes…" Byleth stuttered before taking a breath. "I mean yes something did happen and no, nothing is wrong….its just I have something to tell you."
Sylvain reached over and took one of her hands in his. "What is it?"
"Well you know how I went to see Manuela about two weeks ago?"
"Yes. I remember you went to see her because you had been feeling unwell."
"Well she gave me some news and I have been waiting for the right time to tell you." She said as she squeezed his hand. His mind was racing, she had said nothing was wrong but this certainly didn't sound like good news to him. Had Manela diagnosed her with some sort of incurable disease?! Was Byleth dying?! Come to think of it, he had never heard Byleth's heartbeat whenever they slept next to each other...did this have something to do with that? ….No Byleth had told him she had apparently been like that since she was a baby...so then what..?
"Sylvain…" Byleth then took the hand she was holding and guided it closer to her stomach. "W-we're going to have a baby…."
Sylvain blinked, surely he must be hearing things, there is no way that…. "A-are you serious? Y-you're…"
"Yes...I-I am...I really am…"Byleth had tears in her eyes and she was smiling brighter than ever.
Sylvain immediately leapt up from his seat and laughed in joy before lifting her up into his arms and spun her around. This had to be the happiest day of his life.
"Whoa! Ahahaha! Sylvain! Put me down!" Byleth screamed as she laughed, clearly just as happy as he was.
After a minute or so he finally set her back down on the ground but continued to hold her close. "I swear to you and our baby that I will be the best father I can be. I won't be like my dad. Crest or no crest I will love this baby no matter what….and when we have more….which we will by the way, no exceptions. I want a big family. I swear to you Byleth that I will love them all equally. No favourites or special treatment. They will all be equal in my heart."
Byleth pressed a gentle kiss to his lips before smiling at him. "I know you will Sylvain, you've kept all your promises to me so far. And your promise goes for me as well. I swear I will love our baby no matter what and that I shall love all our children equally. We'll be the best parents we can be for our children."
The couple continued to hug and smile their afternoon tea time all but forgotten as they looked forward to the future and the next generation.
So yeah this story came a little late, as I said I had trouble coming up with one for this prompt. At first I had thought of doing a Story of Evil fic featuring Rowan and Lianna. But then I opted to do a story about Female Byleth and Sylvain. And I must say that I loved how this one turned out so I have no regrets. Sylvain was my Husband in Azure Moon and he is one of my favourite characters, so I am happy to do a story of their life after marriage.
And I hope you all enjoyed the spur of the moment name for Felix and Annette's daughter. I thought that because music was such a big part of their supports that I would have their daughter's name be music related. And her middle name is of course a shout out to Felix's brother Glenn. I didn't even realize that Glendaline was a real name until I googled it.
And with that I do hope you look forward to my next story.