To Lyger 0: Plus, she literally called him her "knight in shining armor"…
"Okay, dude, you have got to give me some answers!"
Dietrich raised an eyebrow at Heinrich, glancing over his shoulder at the homework sheet they were supposed to be completing together before their class that afternoon. "I'm pretty sure the answer is Teutoburg Forest," he replied, looking up at Heinrich's face as he gritted his teeth in a show of annoyance. Dietrich schooled his expression to hide his reaction. "Although the Gallic Wars are little outside my area of expertise when it comes to history."
Heinrich rolled his eyes. "Come on," he groaned, even as he wrote the answer on his sheet. "You know that's not what I'm talking about."
"How am I supposed to know what you're talking about?" Dietrich retorted, amused. "I hardly have any idea what goes on in that brain of yours!"
Heinrich gave him a deadpan look. "I'm talking about you and Greta," he finally explained. "I just… I don't get it. I've been patient for months, waiting for one or the other of you to finally spill the beans on what all happened between you, but neither of you has seemed overly interested in telling. So, now I'm asking. How the hell did you go from 'She's my best friend' to 'We're going to give dating a shot' to 'I'm going to marry her before Christmas', all in the space of maybe a month and a half?" He furrowed his brows. "What the hell actually happened to you two while you were in Paris?"
Dietrich schooled his features, trying not to give anything away with his face. "What do you think happened?" he asked by way of response, raising an eyebrow at him expectantly.
"I mean, if you were literally anyone else, I would assume that Greta was pregnant," Heinrich replied wryly, stifling a laugh. Dietrich's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Heinrich sighed, waving his hand. "But I know better than that – there's no way that could be the case."
"I would think not," Dietrich retorted testily, folding his arms.
"Oh, I would absolutely believe it of Greta," Heinrich went on, with an amused shake of his head. "But definitely not when you're involved."
Dietrich gave him a glare. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he demanded. "What are you implying about my fiancée?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Heinrich held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "I'm not saying anything bad about her – I swear. Just that she's had a crush on you forever." Dietrich started, his eyes widening. Heinrich chuckled. "Honestly, if at any point in the last six years you had shown her even the slightest amount of romantic attention, I don't think there's much of anything she wouldn't have done for you in return. Of course," he mused, glancing off toward the far end of the campus library, "this is you we're talking about. And I know there's no way you would have done anything, even if she made the offer. And of course, there's no way she would have been interested in that with anyone but you…"
"Wait, what?" Dietrich blinked, shaking his head in shock. "Back up a little. Are you saying that she's been in love with me all this time? And you knew about it?"
"Well, yeah." Heinrich stared at him. "Everyone knew that she was completely, madly in love with you. She wasn't ever particularly subtle about her feelings. Hell, I'm pretty sure literally anyone who met you two could have noticed her crush."
Dietrich gave him a look of bewilderment. "But I didn't know."
"Yeah… you were rather clueless, weren't you?" Heinrich arched an eyebrow. "I tried to clue you in a few times, but you never quite seemed to figure it out."
"You couldn't have just, I don't know, said something?"
Heinrich snorted. "Would you have believed me?" he demanded. "Would you honestly have wanted me to tell you back then? Even if I had told you – and put the rest of us out of your misery – that wouldn't have really changed anything. If anything, it might have ruined things between you and Greta."
Dietrich frowned. "So instead I had to just keep wandering along, not having any idea of what she felt. What if she hadn't said something?"
"Then eventually, one or the other of you would have had to say something," Heinrich pointed out. "Something was going to happen, but it couldn't exactly be one of us making it happen."
His stomach clenched, and Dietrich swallowed. "I didn't have any idea until she actually told me on that trip back in the spring," he admitted.
"Yeah… the one when the Bear showed up." Heinrich hummed pensively. "And then you went to Paris together, where the Tarasque appeared. And then you came home after the Tarasque had been defeated, and you were suddenly moving at least a thousand kilometers an hour together. Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled for you. But still. Something must have happened for things to change so dramatically in that time…"
Dietrich shrugged noncommittally, forcing himself to breathe deeply. "I don't know what to tell you," he began. "We decided to take a trip to Paris for a couple days–"
"In the middle of the week," Heinrich interjected dubiously. "When half of Europe had been shut down because of that strange, mysterious illness."
"Yeah."
Heinrich gave him a deadpan look. "I guess you don't have to say anything…"
"I don't know what else I'm supposed to say."
"You could start with the truth," Heinrich suggested, raising an eyebrow pointedly. "How did you go from zero to a thousand, just like that?" Dietrich pursed his lips, and Heinrich held his hands up. "Hey, no judgment from me, regardless of your reasoning. I'm just happy to see two of my friends happy. But I am still curious…"
Dietrich frowned. "Have you considered that maybe it had something to do with what was happening in Paris while we were there?"
"What, you mean with the Tarasque?" Heinrich hummed. "I suppose so," he allowed. "But it must have been something pretty crazy."
"Crazier than having a literal Tarasque appear out of thin air?" Dietrich pointed out, arching an eyebrow.
"Touché."
Dietrich let out a breath. He had at least allayed Heinrich's questions for now. But for how much longer could he really keep him in the dark? For that matter, did Dietrich even really want to keep Heinrich in the dark? He trusted Heinrich – he was one of his closest friends. Heinrich had a… questionable connection with women, but he normally meant well. In most things, Dietrich trusted him implicitly. But could he trust him with this secret?