[ Even now, the sight of Dimitri's gentle smile still makes Byleth's chest feel tight. If his father's old diary is any indication, and Rhea's testimony can be believed, he has no pulse because he has a Crest Stone in place of his heart — but he feels it all the same. A dizzying weakness. The irrational impulse to reach out and touch Dimitri's handsome face.
He ignores that impulse, as he's done many times before. Stamps it down into a secret corner of his heart. He cannot — should not — have these feelings. Anyway, Dimitri wants him to look at something else. ]
...A record?
[ Byleth hums softly to himself as he flips through its pages. He was often fond of reading such historical texts when he was at the monastery; for a mercenary, he reads with a surprising speed, so it doesn't take him long to skim the contents. A more detailed read can happen later when he is in his own quarters.
If the book's contents are to be believed, the Eisner family was a long-standing noble house in Faerghus, but its decline began some four hundred years ago, and the house floundered in irrelevancy for some time, making desperate bids for an heir with a Crest, to no avail. The tome ends with the chronicled birth of its final heir to the house: Jeralt.
Jeralt did not have a Crest at the time of his birth.
This information does not quite surprise Byleth. He heard something of this from Rhea long ago. He closes the tome on its final words and takes a long breath. ]
...I see.
[ An underwhelming reaction, perhaps. But Dimitri likely knows his old professor well enough to know that the man feels deeply, despite his more subdued reactions. ]
He never did tell me much about his life before the mercenaries. I suppose this explains why.
[ He swallows hard on a sudden lump in his throat. ]
...I always felt he had some tie to Faerghus. But he never wanted to speak of it with me.
[Dimitri watches Byleth's reactions with a close eye, the smile he's trying to hold back making itself known as the other flips through the pages.
If he were a dog, his tail would be wagging.
There's nothing more than he wants, now that the fighting is over, than to make Byleth happy. He wants to see the man smile, because every little show of affection on the other's face makes his heart skip a beat.
When the professor gets to the last pages, Dimitri's smile falters, and he's a bit anxious. Did this discovery make things harder for Byleth?]
If you'd like, we could try to find more information. There's quite a few tomes I have yet to check in the libraries of the kingdom.
[ Byleth sets the book down on the table. Not to abandon it, of course — he'll take it with him to have a longer look at it later — but he's noticed now that in the time it took him to flip through it, Dimitri's smile faded somewhat.
That can't be borne. He likes it when Dimitri is happy and that invisible tail is wagging.
And he shouldn't — he knows he shouldn't — but, sensing a faint need to placate him, Byleth reaches up and brushes some of Dimitri's hair out of his eyes. It's gentle — fatherly, he thinks? Something he could make excuses to paper over. He is a priest now, sort of. He was Dimitri's professor once. It should be alright. To want to touch him. It should be excusable, the idea of touching him.
(He knows that this is only a guilty man's pretense.) ]
Would you really look into it for me?
[ Byleth's voice is soft. ]
I haven't any way of repaying you now.
[ Now that the war is over, he means. What good is he now that the war is over?
What a terribly funny thing for the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros to say, but Byleth seems quite serious about it, on the whole. ]
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back after lny! 🧧
He ignores that impulse, as he's done many times before. Stamps it down into a secret corner of his heart. He cannot — should not — have these feelings. Anyway, Dimitri wants him to look at something else. ]
...A record?
[ Byleth hums softly to himself as he flips through its pages. He was often fond of reading such historical texts when he was at the monastery; for a mercenary, he reads with a surprising speed, so it doesn't take him long to skim the contents. A more detailed read can happen later when he is in his own quarters.
If the book's contents are to be believed, the Eisner family was a long-standing noble house in Faerghus, but its decline began some four hundred years ago, and the house floundered in irrelevancy for some time, making desperate bids for an heir with a Crest, to no avail. The tome ends with the chronicled birth of its final heir to the house: Jeralt.
Jeralt did not have a Crest at the time of his birth.
This information does not quite surprise Byleth. He heard something of this from Rhea long ago. He closes the tome on its final words and takes a long breath. ]
...I see.
[ An underwhelming reaction, perhaps. But Dimitri likely knows his old professor well enough to know that the man feels deeply, despite his more subdued reactions. ]
He never did tell me much about his life before the mercenaries. I suppose this explains why.
[ He swallows hard on a sudden lump in his throat. ]
...I always felt he had some tie to Faerghus. But he never wanted to speak of it with me.
Happy lny!
If he were a dog, his tail would be wagging.
There's nothing more than he wants, now that the fighting is over, than to make Byleth happy. He wants to see the man smile, because every little show of affection on the other's face makes his heart skip a beat.
When the professor gets to the last pages, Dimitri's smile falters, and he's a bit anxious. Did this discovery make things harder for Byleth?]
If you'd like, we could try to find more information. There's quite a few tomes I have yet to check in the libraries of the kingdom.
no subject
That can't be borne. He likes it when Dimitri is happy and that invisible tail is wagging.
And he shouldn't — he knows he shouldn't — but, sensing a faint need to placate him, Byleth reaches up and brushes some of Dimitri's hair out of his eyes. It's gentle — fatherly, he thinks? Something he could make excuses to paper over. He is a priest now, sort of. He was Dimitri's professor once. It should be alright. To want to touch him. It should be excusable, the idea of touching him.
(He knows that this is only a guilty man's pretense.) ]
Would you really look into it for me?
[ Byleth's voice is soft. ]
I haven't any way of repaying you now.
[ Now that the war is over, he means. What good is he now that the war is over?
What a terribly funny thing for the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros to say, but Byleth seems quite serious about it, on the whole. ]