Author's Notes - While I missed Annette day, I did write this all in one day after getting the idea in the twilight hours of her birthday so I guess that counts for something? Haha.
In short, I wanted to elaborate on the ambiguous nature of their support chain. By nature, supports are obviously left open-ended so they can be freely interpreted as platonic or romantic since you can get multiple A+ supports with most characters. So I thought, why not have Annette wonder if it's her or the songs since their supports play more heavily into Felix's attraction while she's merely shown as flustered at his 'captive' comment.
When she'd said that she'd sing to him 'just this once,' she'd meant it.
Felix, a swordsman who'd never met a scathing comment he didn't like, kept throwing her for a loop. This had to be a nefarious long con, she'd decided. One of those subtle strategies where someone would say normal — sometimes even nice — things only to pull the rug from under their unsuspecting victim when they'd lulled them under a false sense of security with all of the flattery.
He was always looking for new ways to train, after all. So perhaps this was some kind of testing the waters on psychological warfare? Or maybe he'd lost some kind of bet with Sylvain and he put him up to this. Either were possible, she reasoned. It was too unnatural for one person to go from doling out insults and barbs in front of a whole group of people without a second thought to a complete blushing mess. All of the popular Fodlan fashion publications' courting and love side-articles she'd studied often said that a good measure of a man was how he treated people in public spaces and gatherings.
Needless to say, this night-and-day behaviour she was seeing in him had to be unnatural in some shape or form - a clever ruse was the most likely culprit in her estimation. And considering Annette had enough heartbreak and hardships in her life, keeping Felix at an arms' length away was the safest bet. After all, the quickest way to humiliation was putting too much heart into something that didn't want or need it.
But still, if that was the case…why didn't she just tell him no?
When she'd promised that she'd trust him 'just this once,' she'd meant it.
After making good on her promise to sing all of the songs she'd listed off in their last greenhouse meeting, Annette found her hypothesis thoroughly tested as he showed her nothing but quiet appreciation in their clandestine meeting by the empty graveyard. The other shoe hadn't dropped and she couldn't shake the feeling that it should have by now.
This feeling must have been telegraphed as light as day because after giving his thanks for indulging him, he appended the remark with a curt request to stop looking for things that weren't there. When she shot him a quizzical look, he pointed out that she hadn't ever taken anything he's said at face value regarding her songs. Unable to counter the statement, Felix then added that he hadn't told anyone about her singing in over five years and even if he had, singing cute songs was a ridiculous thing to be embarrassed over. That it gave him flashbacks to the time Lysithea got up in arms over him walking by as she was stuffing her face with cake, even.
The words made Annette's brain work into overdrive for all the wrong reasons.
She should have been thinking about how she'd been unfair to him when he hadn't told anyone anything or that she had no idea that he'd had a similar experience with Lysithea – someone who she regarded as a genius in the darker end of reason magic. Not someone she'd assumed would ever be hung up over small things.
But no, what her brain wrapped around was the fact he'd called her songs cute of all things.
That much was evident when she said she'd give him a break and proceeded to joke about how it was only because she thought it was cute that he thought her songs were cute.
Truth be told, the blush that spread across his face like wildfire and the stammering that followed was even cuter.
The idea that she'd go back to distrusting him after this one chance was the cutest, however.
When she'd decided that she'd be honest about him 'just this once,' she'd meant it.
An innocuous comment made by Mercie at one of their afternoon teas planted the seed in Annette's head.
Mercedes, for all the love and light she brought into this world, was not the most observant person by any stretch of the imagination. To have her say she was glad she was helping Felix make more friends nearly made her choke on a scone. When pressed on why she thought that, she'd simply told Annette she'd noticed her in the same places for far longer than she'd ever been able to with the prickly swordsman before launching into a brief explanation on her repeat faux-pas in trying to talk to him over the years.
She'd left it at that with her dear friend but the question remained, if Mercedes had noticed, who else did? It wasn't like she'd tried to stalk him and yet she somehow had excellent hunches as to where he'd be with a surprising amount of accuracy. It was all happenstance, really.
But…come to think about it, it was usually one of three places – the greenhouse, library or training grounds.
She had no reason to use the grounds – magic users weren't allowed to practice here after some training dummies were accidentally set on fire because of someone's misfire years ago.
He had no reason to visit the library – or at least it felt that way since she never saw him with a book for more than a cursory look.
And neither of them had to be in the greenhouse at the same time – gardening chores never required two people.
Then it dawned on her.
Were they both…trying to be found?
As they continued to pick at the delicious treats and sip some tea, Annette came to the conclusion she had to come clean. There were some pretty big battles ahead and it wouldn't do anyone any good to ignore the swamp beasties and bears in the room.
She'd…she'd have to be brave and really talk about him and her thoughts on these 'chance' meetings to her dearest friend to get an idea on what to do.
But then it all went to hell in a handbasket when Felix himself just so happened to pass by the courtyard gazebo at the edge of Mercedes's peripheral vision as she waved him over. For some reason, Mercie became a woman possessed from the moment he paused at the motion, going into ultra-gracious host mode and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Though she watched it happen, Annette didn't understand how she managed to get him to take her seat with some flimsy excuse — something about how she was running late for leading the choir hymn practice for Saint Cethleann day even though it was only Harpstring Moon – all she knew was that she was pretty sure his rib cage was digging into the iron table after she'd seated him. That and she'd also started to suspect she'd missed some implied air-quotes at her friend's use of the word 'friends' earlier.
Air-quotes or no, once Mercedes briskly walked out of sight, the resulting tension of a genuine chaotic chance encounter became palpable enough to cut with a butter knife. At a loss for anything interesting to say, Annette gripped the handle and raised the tea pot an inch above its holder.
"Um, would you…like some Crescent-Moon tea?" she offered, the pitch of her voice coming out far higher than she intended.
"…I would. Thank you."
She was infinitely grateful he pretended like she'd spoken like a normal person instead of someone who'd been spooked.
This was already weird enough.
When she'd wished that she'd had a clue 'just this once,' she'd meant it.
After the fateful afternoon tea switch, all that was uncertain became crystal clear.
She really liked him.
But she had no idea if he liked her back or if it was just the songs he liked.
Like any good scholar, the only way to know was to test the hypothesis. And that meant keeping her lips pursed whenever she was within earshot of him to evaluate his reaction.
At first, he didn't seem to notice during their continued 100% chance meetings but then her heart sank when he'd asked if there was something wrong with her throat because he hadn't heard her sing in a while. Or talk for that matter.
Fortunately, she came up with a white lie on the spot about how she was trying to train herself not to sing, adding something for good measure about how the Professor told her she could get herself killed on the battlefield if her singing gave away her position.
Less fortunately, Felix's infamous lack of a filter was finally turned on her in full force when he straight up told her she was lying through her teeth. Namely since he'd still never told anyone about her singing and he wanted to know why she was acting so weird around him as of late.
For as much as she could have hypothetically-vented to Mercie about this, Annette wasn't sure if she was ready for this conversation with him. But if there was anything she learned from what her dear friend had told her about her failed attempts at friendship with him it was that she wouldn't have the luxury to stave off this conversation. Not unless she wanted him to walk out of the library with the wrong idea.
Time was up and this had to be simple and to the point.
"I-like-you-but-I-don't-know-if-you-like-me-or-my-songs."
…Albeit, she could have said that in more than just one gulp of air but, considering his entire face went red, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. He'd heard her loud and clear, even if he didn't outright say anything.
It wasn't until he'd lost some colour, and presumably regained some brain function, that he gave her a sober answer.
"While I can certainly appreciate the vocal talents of a fine singer, I can't say I've followed one around for the chance of hearing a song." he confessed. "I was concerned about your lack of singing because I thought there was something keeping you quiet. Didn't expect it was me, quite frankly."
"With all of the serious battles ahead…I wanted to take stock of things before it could be too late. I didn't want there to be things left unsaid in a worst case scenario if I could help it." she explained, consciously trying not to speed through the words or spontaneously combust. "…I figured if I didn't sing and you still came around, you liked me for me. Only problem with that is…sometimes the pieces don't exactly fall into place in my brain until it's neatly arranged for me too. I guess in this case, I wanted absolute certainty, not just evidence."
When the swordsman kept unnaturally-quiet after her full admission, Annette steeled herself for the inevitable rejection. He never did say he like-liked her, just that he was concerned. There was a difference. She found herself wanting to return to the painful grey area she'd been living in for the past while.
Until he carefully tilted her chin up with his thumb and bent down to kiss her on the lips. After the initial shock, she found herself reciprocating until her mind started swimming from a lack of oxygen instead of the warmth overtaking all of her senses. After that, she looked at him, mind completely blank.
"Did that…answer your question?" he asked, letting his hand fall away from her chin to drift to her side.
Despite being the instigator of turning this interrogation into a tryst, most of his face regained its rosy flush. It was rather cute. Certainly didn't help her form words as she nodded to avoid expressing her answer with something near-unintelligible as 'yee,' 'yuh' or, heaven forbid, 'buh.'
"Good. I'm not one for bold gestures but, I thought they were warranted…just this once."
While Annette was already warm, she grew even warmer at hearing those last few words.
Oh, how little did he know.