#reus eisner

[thedivergingpaths]

And it’s here! My fic featuring my AU of FE3H, and the twins as kids has been published. Hopefully it’s all good, I stopped doing major edits in the last few sections even with the major changes but hopefully it’s all cohesive.

Here’s the link, enjoy:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24484903

[thedivergingpaths]

Bonding Time: The Eisner Family

This is most certainly not canon since it digs into my fanon where it’s a twin!verse (amongst other things).

And it’s not necessarily canon to my fanon either, since that all’s not exactly set in stone.

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After a long day of mercenary or knight work, Jeralt goes to find somewhere grassy and quiet to just chill out and nap. If either or both of his kids are also free, they have a weird way of just...finding him. It’s not like Jeralt always goes to the same place, and his schedule certainly isn’t always the same, and yet here come the twins. Usually they’re both also spent.

Byleth is typically emotionally and physically drained (typically more the former) and so she just walks over and falls onto Jeralt. Once Jeralt catches his breath, she moves to the ground and tucks herself under one of his arms. It feels safe like she’s a little girl again.

Reus used to fall onto both, but once he hit a certain age that became hella dangerous. He’s like...a rock. It hurts. Like he’s got a dragon hidden in his human body or something :3

Anyway. So Reus will just lay beside them. Jeralt gives him a moment, and then he’ll grab Reus’ arm and drag his son over. He’ll loop an arm around and put Reus in a similar position as Byleth is in.

Byleth usually falls asleep, comforted by her dad’s heartbeat. Reus plays with Jeralt’s braid, if he can get to it. Jeralt alternates between relaxing or napping, depends on his own exhaustion level.

Then eventually, they all stir, rise, and go back to their duties.

[thedivergingpaths]

Children’s Bonding

I did a segment with just the Eisner family like...a month ago. So here’s the main lords and the Eisner twins!

Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude met Byleth and Reus years before the trio’s time as students at the Officer’s Academy. It may or may have have involved crossover shenanigans, but I’ll leave it at that. So while they do try to hide how exactly close they are at the Monastery (because…politics and also there would need to be explanations they don’t care to have).

The stress and nightmares and new traumas drive them to each other over those in their house, usually, especially because no one will ask. They find comfort in napping or cuddling together, and none of them dare ask when the question “can we have some quiet together?” is asked. It’s basically their safety phrase.

Dimitri and Edelgard are actually the ones most likely to seek someone out, if not everyone. With the Western Tragedy a huge trauma spot for Dimitri, and Edelgard’s torture and now TWSITD trying to put her back under the machinations, They Need Comforting People. (Yes I am referencing some stuff that changes in my fanon, feel free to ask about them). Edelgard almost never asks for the comfort when anyone else is around, but Dimitri is more blunt and will ask in front of people (though quietly). There were rumors that at least some of them are entangled romantically or sexually, but since these are really the only signs of such relationships the rumors die quickly.

They all have their own cuddle styles. Because of strength and weight concerns from Dimitri and Reus, respectively, they tend to be either at the bottom of a catlike pile or big spoon. Sometimes Dimitri pulls Reus on top of him because it’s nice to have something (or someone) who actually feels heavy with his strength.

Edelgard is actually a hugger. She grips whoever happens to be with her or closest to her in the cuddle pile. The pressure is comforting (and if she’s in a bad headspace, a hug is a very different feeling than anything that tore her flesh) and so she wraps herself around whoever she’s grabbed onto. Claude and Byleth are really the only ones who hug back tight, because neither are afraid of accidentally hurting Edelgard.

Reus strokes hair. He finds the softness comforting, and everyone else finds that he’s gentle and they’re happy to let him stroke their hair. Usually. Sometimes they’re not and they’ll be upfront about it.

Claude likes to be a layabout and just. Plop onto people. He thinks it’s hilarious and also he says everyone’s more comfortable than a good clearing of grass. He doesn’t like people’s hands on his back, so even when he’s hugging someone he’ll usually keep their hands to his sides or around his shoulders (“more my shoulders than my back,” he’ll laugh).

Byleth is very still, but very vigilant. She wants to protect this part of her family after everything. She’ll reciprocate whatever hug she’s receiving, but when everyone else falls asleep she’ll often be awake. Unless they’re all gathered at night, and then she might fall asleep.

[thedivergingpaths]

Spoilers for Fire Emblem Three Houses as I discuss fanfic stuff.

I don’t remeber how to add a readmore on mobile, but also layout for post editing has changed so even if I remembered I probably wouldn’t find it.

So like I really like twin!verse for this game. Byleth carries Sothis’ soul and she’s the one who lacks a heartbeat. Reus is more...normal, almost human but not quite. Originally I was gonna make him pretty normal with like...sensitivity to magic or something else but

Now I’m like. “Well, he has dragon blood from both his father and his mother (since Sothis is dragony and mother dear was meant to be a host before Byleth got that elevated role). So now Reus has a draconic nature.

I think it takes him forever to figure out transformation is a thing he can pull off, and frankly it’s pretty draining to him since he doesn’t have a crest (I read some good meta about how crests are possibly this game’s equivalent of dragonstones) or other facilitator for the transformations.

His ears are more like Corrin’s, since Reus isn’t totally dragon and is like...some percentage that’s about half I guess. Considering having, for some angst, at one point his ears get messed up, scarred and rounded. It would be related to Byleth joining the ranks of the mercenaries as a kid ‘cause she proved she could fight after rescusing Reus from people that snatched him as a kid. I need to figure out why tho and if they would do that to him to make him seem more human.

Maybe the first time Reus manages a transformation is towards the end of the part one arc, when conflicts come to a head (not...in quite the same way, as it’s Byleth vs Rhea but I’m still trying to figure out details). Not sure how or why he would do it, but that’s for me to figure out once I do some more clickity clack on it.

[thedivergingpaths]

Jealousy

Reus is incredibly jealous when Byleth starts to emotionally open up around the students at the Officers Academy.

He tries so hard not to be. Byleth has friends! Who seem to be really good people! And frankly he likes them and would like to be friends, his interactions with his peers are limited.

Reus had learned how to be simple in gesture, to learn to read Byleth’s lack of emoting.

And now she was learning to smile with people who were strangers, was beginning to learn social cues for emoting.

He’s so incredibly happy for his twin, but he wanted to be the one to show her how to feel a smile, and not just fake it like when he tried to teach her when they were kids.

Perhaps that is how they grow up. The Eisner twins follow their own paths, rather than being joined together forever.

(He’s not sure how to feel about the revelation, but he locks away the jealousy to simmer because he doesn’t really have a right to feel that way...does he?)