I saw ur post on twitter and i was wondering can I request some Ferdinand x Hubert where Hubert overhears some guy insulting Ferdinand (despite being the same guy he saw trying to cozy up to Ferdinand/making Ferdinand uncomfortable) so Hubert challenges the guy to a duel for Ferdinand's honor (spoiler alert Hubert wins and of course there's a big smooch to seal the deal lmao)
It draws quite the commotion, and though he feels as if he wasn’t supposed to hear, Ferdinand still does. He doesn’t need anymore reason to run to the ballroom of the palace after hearing a few simple words:
Hubert has challenged a young noble to a duel.
It isn’t entirely impossible to believe, no; Hubert would do anything for Edelgard’s honor. But this would not be the first time somebody has challenged her, far from it–there’s no reason for him to suddenly make a public display out of it when he has spent years carrying out revenge and examples in the shadows. For Hubert to make a display of something, with something so formal as a duel–with witnesses!-it could only be a matter of utmost importance.
When Ferdinand arrives at the hall, pushing other important figures and curious eyes out of the way, he’s stunned to find the gossip is no mere rumor. The hall is filled with the metallic clanging of swords, and in the middle of the room, surrounded by a ring of onlookers, Hubert is engaged in close combat with the same nobleman they had met with this very morning. Ferdinand is shocked to see the same man here; he had been quite rude to Ferdinand in particular, but had he been so forward as to insult her majesty as well?
The duel does not last very long. For as much as Hubert focuses on his magic and hexes, it isn’t as if he didn’t have the same combat training with a sword as the others at the officer academy. Ferdinand knows he trains in secret, at least enough to keep up with sparring with the Prime Minister whenever Ferdinand asks it of him. Although Ferdinand will always be superior in the blade, Hubert has just enough tricks to keep him coming back to ask again.
The rapier flies out of the nobleman’s hand, and in his surprise, he lands on his backside, not anticipating the sharp tip of another sword to be pointed at his neck. For one moment, the scene does not appear like one of a duel, and Ferdinand fears for a good few seconds that this is an execution. It would at the very least be in line with Hubert’s way of doing things, he thinks, and then the dark clothed man is pulling the blade away.
The nobleman scrambles to collect himself and stands, and only once everyone is sure that it’s actually over, the crowd gathered around begins to applaud politely. It isn’t very often that the Minister of the Imperial Household ever displayed his skills so blatantly, as aware everyone was that he held them. Without waiting another moment, Ferdinand hurries out onto the floor as Hubert passes the sheathed rapier to a servant to be carried away.
“Hubert!” he’s quick to demand. “What is the meaning of this? I have never heard of you taking such… brazen approaches to opposition to Edelgard before!”
Once they see the excitement is over, the servants and other important figures gathered in the hall begin to disperse. It only takes a few moments for the hall to clear, and Hubert leads Ferdinand in the opposite direction of the population flow back to the throne room. On their walk, he doesn’t meet Ferdinand’s eye. “It was not for her majesty. You know such methods would not reflect well on her.”
“Yes, that is why I was so surprised–Hubert, would it kill you to look at me?”
Hubert stops immediately, and Ferdinand nearly bumps into him as he turns to do exactly as he asked. The minister’s face is twisted in a scowl that Ferdinand hasn’t seen in a long time, though having known Hubert for so long, he can tell that his anger isn’t directed at him. In fact, when his eyes fall on Ferdinand’s face, they almost seem… gentle. Not that anyone else would be able to see it, though.
“That man,” Hubert begins slowly, venom dripping from each word, “spoke indecently of you.”
Ferdinand blinks slowly, the words not quite processing as quickly as they should. The answer is… far from anything he expected, and his face shuffles through a number of expressions before landing on confusion. “People have said much worse of the Prime Minister’s seat, I am sure. My father had many detractors–”
Hubert cuts him off. “Not the Prime Minister–of you, Ferdinand. I was not willing to sit back while some trifling accessory to an estate spoke of my lover as if he were no more than a–” His lips curl up at the end, unable to repeat what words Ferdinand never even said. It would be defeating the purpose of challenging him to a duel if they made their way back to Ferdinand, after all.
His mouth fallen open in a surprised ‘o’, Ferdinand gawks, unsure of how he should even respond. “This… was for me?”
Hubert scoffs, and Ferdinand thinks the noise may be directed more at himself. “Does it displease you to see me act so brazenly? You said you would walk this path with me, in spite of the bloody trail that follows my every step. I could have done worse, would have preferred to do much worse, but if you after all cannot condone even this much of a mon–”
Ferdinand doesn’t give him the chance to finish any self-aggrandizing or deprecating lecture he’s sure Hubert has rehearsed long before, simply waiting for the moment Ferdinand ‘inevitably’ grew disgusted with him. He lurches forward, able to grab the back of Hubert’s neck in his surprise and pull him down into a hard, hungry kiss. He hears (feels) Hubert make a noise of shock into his mouth, and it only takes a second for a pair of gloved hands to cover either side of his face, holding Ferdinand even closer.
They remain in the hallway for minutes on end, not separating even as other nobles and politicians walked past. After all, this display hardly holds a candle to the fight Hubert had willingly, proudly, publicly held in a spotlight one who lurks in the shadows is never meant to star in.