adcinerem:
he nodded, almost hesitantly at first, but when linhardt said his name aloud the smile came unbidden. subject matter aside, it was.. what was the phrase? music to his ears. he had no worries surrounding how linhardt saw him– of all people, he trusted lin the most to treat him as a person. still, this confirmed it was the use of the title that had been tugging uncomfortably at his mind, as that discomfort disappeared like so much smoke in the wind.
not that it helped much as lin continued.
“maybe…” they had.. a fair enough point. maybe. but going from mercenary to battle instructor to war tactician hadn’t left byleth much time to consider peace an option, desired or not. much as he cherished this chance to simply rest, and fish, and nap… he was in no position to question the nature of people as a whole. “i can’t judge the intentions of others. mercenaries follow the violence, so it feels.. inevitable.”
“besides..” his hand moved to cover linhardt’s own in what was meant to be a soft assurance. “i made you a promise, remember?” unless the other byleth never had. “i said i wouldn’t let you die. i don’t mean to break it.” a pause, and he shook his head. “i’ll try to worry less.”
Watching Byleth carefully, they were glad to see him smile at the use of his name. It eased them to know they were right on his name being what was bothering him, and that it seemed to be such an easy fix. Unlike their attempt to help teach him about living in peace, which was clearly going to be a longer process.
“That’s true, you did live as a mercenary before coming to the Monastery. I won’t say you should unlearn the habits you did through that life as they’re useful, but being able to work around them to still relax is an essential skill.”
Feeling his hand on theirs, they looked down and stared at it for a moment. Blinking, they almost forgot to listen to what he was saying. When it sunk in however, they looked back at him with a smile, shifting their hand to hold his properly.
“I’m glad you remember,” they really didn’t think he would. “And I’m glad you are willing to try.”












