<pushes this onto yalls plate> so uh
Take this while I evaluate my life choices
Also I have to put the links to the other parts when I have better internet ^^; for the time being other parts of this series can be found here
Putting the flowers on her desk had gotten her a few coos from her students. The girls seemed to love them, and Lorenz even remarked the sender having taste in flowers, and asked her a quick question not long after.
“Professor, are you familiar with flower language?”
Byleth had blinked once, twice, thrice. “Flower language?”
“Of course, it’s mostly a habit of the elite to pay attention to such things,” he pointed out with a little bit of pride, “but I heard some commoners like to hide meaning in their bouquets as well. For example, I believe the Gardenia has a variety of meanings, but it’s most common translation is saying ‘you’re lovely’.”
Byleth looked at her vase. “Ah, thank you, Lorenz.”
Said man turned a brief shade of red. “Well, that is to say-“
“Maybe I should look into the meaning of the other two as well,” she tapped her chin in wonder. Lorenz exhaled in understanding and a little relieved.
“Of course, professor. If I can be of service let me know,” he offered with a brief bow. The professor shook her head with a smile.
“Thank you, Lorenz, but I think the library will aid me enough. I will keep your offer in mind if I get stuck.”
And as such, when classes ended for the day, she went there quickly after dinner, hoping to find something to point her into the right direction.
She found a shelf where she should find the book in question, but after a little while of searching and coming up with nothing she heard her name being called from behind her.
Or, well, her most common title.
“Looking for this, Teach?”
When she whipped around she startled when she saw Claude hang upside down from the set of stairs right behind her, waving a book around. Byleth clutched her heart, mostly out of habit.
“Go- Claude, get down immediately.”
“Aww after all the trouble I went through to get up here?” He let himself hang limp. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear me sneaking up on you, but I’ll just take that as a personal victory I guess,” he muttered with a pout.
“Claude,” she said in a warning tone. “Get down right now, or Tomas will-“
“Tomas is out, relax,” he swung a little side to side. “Actually, it’s just us two, so I’m not gonna get in trouble for ‘hanging around’,” he said with a shit eating grin. “Unless you give me detention for scaring you, of course.”
She eyed the book he was still holding. “What’s that?”
“Oh, this?” He held it up for her to look at the cover. “I figured you might need this, given the newest gift from your little lover.”
She took the book from his hands, reading the title. Gifting Flowers; an Almanac for Courting Nobles.
“After all, we asked for a hint, right?”
“He didn’t give any,” she sighed but quickly found the book’s index and quickly flipping to the page for daffodils. “He could’ve at least verified if he was indeed a guy, though.”
“A shame,” Claude sighed with her. She looked up briefly from her book to see him trying to look at the book while still upside down. This isn’t funny, she reprimanded herself while holding in a laugh. “Just get down already, Claude.”
“Do you know how much effort it took to get like this, Teach? I think I’ll stay here for now,” he jested but made no efforts to get off. “Could you just move over so I don’t have to crane- yeah that’s it,” he grinned when she moved closer to him so he could read along. She was glad she was wearing a simple blouse today; otherwise he could’ve looked down her usual bodice.
“Daffodils... mean...” he still had a little trouble reading while upside down, and he was trying to keep himself from rocking by holding onto one of the steps with one arm. She didn’t doubt his arm strength, seeing as archery takes quite some muscle, but even so the extra effort made her chuckle.
“It’s a flower of chivalry and regard, generally,” she decided to help him out.
“Yeah but there’s more,” he nudged. “It can also symbolize unrequited love.”
She just read the paragraph he was referring to. “So it does.”
“And a bunch of daffodils also indicate joy and happiness. So it seems our loverboy is glad that you’re around.”
She nodded in agreement absent-mindedly, quickly reading the one below that as well. It spoke of new beginnings and rebirth. An odd meaning, but one she wanted to keep in mind anyway.
“Now for the daisies....” he nudged the corner to make her turn the page. She complied with a small smile.
“This book is probably in alphabetical order, so it shouldn’t be- ah there it is,” he pointed at the white flower in the picture. “You’re gonna have to read it to me, Teach; the amount of blood streaming to my head is starting to make me feel sick.”
She peeled her eyes from her book and aimed them at him. He was indeed a lot redder than before: she would’ve blamed their proximity before his silly position but it seems like she was wrong. She saw him struggle with his legs between the open backed steps of the stairs and she quickly put her book on a nearby table with a sigh.
“Ah, I’m fine Teach,” he said trying to pull himself up but it took a whole lot of effort. Byleth sighed and stepped forward, holding out her arms.
Actually, on second thought, she decided she’d just put them under his back and he startled from the contact. “Pull yourself up just a little higher,” she said, helping him pull himself up and positioning herself to put her arms under his torso and legs.
He didn’t really say anything but complied.
“Now pull your legs out of there.”
“I’m gonna fall, Teach,” he chuckled with a little bit of nerves. “I don’t mind doing stupid things but I’d rather not have ‘died falling on his head trying to tease his teacher’ written on my tomb stone.”
“I’ll catch you,” she simply stated. “Just do it before Tomas comes back.”
He sighed dramatically. “Here goes,” he says. “Tell my mother I love her.”
Before she could tell him to stop overreacting he wiggled his legs out from between the steps and swung free with a little more momentum than anticipated. Yet she quickly adjusted and when his grip slipped she caught him in her arms as if it was nothing.
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” She said with a small smile. He smirked, arm resting over her shoulder.
“Careful Teach,” he grinned. “You wouldn’t want to make your admirer jealous, holding me in your arms for too long.”
“You said we were alone, right? Then he has no reason to be jealous about it.”
Curious. Had he been this red earlier?
She leant forward so he could slip out of her hold. “Thanks for catching me, Teach. Now where did you leave that book...”
Hm. Byleth couldn’t help but feel like he would’ve teased her more in regular circumstances. Something was off, but she had already felt something a little off anyway, so she just followed him to the table where she left the book behind. She saw him adjust his collar before sitting down.
“We left off with the daisies, right?” He quickly opened it back on the right page. She sat down on the chair next to him. “Daisies... symbolize innocence and purity, as well as loyal love. So either this guy envisions himself an angel or calls you one,” he winks. “This guy is cheesy as hell, I’ll give him that.”
After no real response from her (she was just reading and in her own set of thoughts) he turned some pages to get to the gardenias. “Last one, gardenias...” he hummed.
“Secret love and joy,” she quickly read out loud. “And again purity and sweetness.”
“That’s a lot of sap if you ask me,” he remarked and scratched his neck. “There doesn’t seem to be any clue to his identity here.”
She made a mental note of the book’s cover color then shoved her chair back.
“Where are you going Teach?” He asked curiously. “Did it bore ya?”
“I’m going to the greenhouse,” she said, brushing her shorts off. “Maybe they have another clue.”
“I doubt they know more than the book,” he sighed but got up himself, book under his arm. “Nobles pay a pretty penny to compile all knowledge into a tome such as this, after all.”
“Not on the flower language,” she shook her head. “But on the flowers themselves.”
She made her way to the exit and he followed closely behind. “Hey- what do you mean by that, Teach?”
“The merchants don’t carry flowers. So he either had to go out to get them...” she stopped in her stride and he was looking confusedly at her, “or he grew them himself in the greenhouse.”
Did he pale at that? She couldn’t stop a small smile from settling on her lips.
“Man, you’re cunning, Teach,” he grinned, but his eyes didn’t smile with him. “I’m glad I’m not up against your schemes anywhere in the near future.”
Funny, his eyes could’ve convinced her otherwise.
She prided herself in being able to see through his mask, but his actions still baffled her as he put his book on a random table and made a dramatic bow, jokingly.
“May I accompany milady- nay, an actual angel, according to some, on her way to her refuge of flowers?”
She couldn’t keep her muffled laugh to herself. “Maybe when you stop being dramatic,” she teased. He laid a hand on his heart, faking being hurt.
“I’d sooner die, Teach,” he said, grinning. “You wouldn’t want that, do you?”
“I believe as your teacher I’m only allowed to say I wouldn’t,” she said dryly.
She laughed, making no attempt to stop it. “I wouldn’t want to lose you, Claude. I promise.”
Satisfied, he hummed, his arms behind his back. They went into the halls, side by side, when he said, “I mean, of course you wouldn’t want to lose me. Otherwise you’d be out of a favorite student.”
“Who says you’re my favorite?”
“Teaach,” he whined. She could only chuckle.
When they got to the greenhouse, the head gardener was tending to the seedlings Byleth had left her not too long ago. They seemed to be coming along nicely.
“Excuse me,” she said, stepping forward while Claude hung back. “Have any students been tending to their own flowers here lately?”
She looked at the teacher with a warm smile. “Why yes, we have a few students that like gardening.” She gave a brief wave to Claude in the back. “Good day, Claude. Back again so soon? I thought I told you the rest of your plants will take a little longer.”
Byleth turned to look at Claude and just barely caught frantic waving from the corner of her eye before put his arms to his side looking sheepishly. “Ah yes, I heard you. I’ll check up on them next week, don’t worry. I’m just accompanying Teach here.”
Byleth was just in time to see the head gardener give her student a strange look.
“In any case, professor, did you need anything?”
“Did anyone harvest any daffodils recently?”
It didn’t escape her that the head gardener looked past her before answering. “No, can’t say I remember.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Nothing of importance,” Byleth shook her head. “But thank you for your answer.”
The head gardener nodded and went back to work. Byleth sighed and joined her student again.
“Was a good idea, too bad it wasn’t meant to be, huh?” He said as they exited the greenhouse again. “I guess we’ll just have to wait until he starts feeding us hints.”
She nodded, but her thoughts didn’t agree to his.
She was now very sure a certain schemer was her now not-so-secret-anymore admirer.
She still had a few questions though. Why would he do that? Send her an anonymous gift then ‘help’ her uncover the sender? Did he have a crush on her? Was it something else entirely?
He wouldn’t be as tasteless to send these as a prank, that much she was sure of. But even then...
No matter the motive, there was one thing Byleth was sure about, as she absent-mindedly listened to him brainstorm about how to uncover another lead.
If she wanted to confront him, she’d still need evidence.
And she might have another idea how to get some.
