A Flower of Duscur

Dedue was still ever-so formal, but if it had been any other way, perhaps Dimitri wouldn’t have believed it real after all. He closed his eye, smiling.

He’d hug Dedue if he really wanted to–and with his crest still strangely in limbo in this land, it was probably safe. Still, ever cautious, he opted to simply take his dear friend’s hands in his own, tightly, moved by how large and warm and absolutely real they were compared to his own.

(It wasn’t often his hands were dwarfed, especially now.)

“I’m glad I found you as well.” he looked up to him, still trying to smile though it seemed to not come as easily. “I have been here for some time…do not worry, Sylvain’s been keeping an eye out for me in your stead. There’s much to catch you up on, though I fear it will only leave you with more questions.”

The hesitation faded, finally. “Wherever you’re off to, I’d be happy to join you and fill you in, if you’d have me.”

Dedue wasn’t surprised when his hand is taken. Dimitri has always insisted that they be less formal, that the two of them should act more as friends rather than a retainer and his king. Dedue had his issues with that -- had thought that if they acted too close, it might spell out something bad for Dimitri. Being where he’s from, being a man of Duscur, had always meant something bad. Dimitri never seemed to mind.

He looked at Dimitri with an expression of fondness and nods. “I am glad,” he said in response to his words. Sylvain had always been a good friend, and if he’d been taking care of His Majesty, then that was all for the better. “I did not want to hear that you were here alone.”

     ❦ Fiona can’t help but smile a little wider as the stranger now pets the shepherd, a little surprised by his gentle mannerisms. His imposing frame and scars might tell others that he is someone to be feared… And yet here he is, acting gentle and in a way, almost timid, in the presence of Fiona and Hewie. It’s a little endearing, she thinks.

     ❝ It’s alright, ❞

     ❝ But it’s nice to meet you, too, Dedue. Do you have any experience with dogs…? ❞

Dedue does feel calmer almost instantly. There are few places where he can feel this way, being in a garden or a plant nursery is where he feels the most peace, but this is also so very calming. He runs his hand through the dog’s fur and wonders how the various cats at the monastery are doing, especially the ones that Ashe had become attached to.

“Professor…?” Dedue asks, and it’s only for a moment that he thinks about how he’d met the professor before, but he was definitely different. It bothers him for only a moment before he shakes his head and continues towards him. “Are you here to enjoy the festival as well?”

Dedue holds up one of the kites for Sylvain to look at, and there’s an uncharacteristic, almost child-like glee that he’s barely holding back. It’s visible only for a moment, but it’s replaced with a smile reserved only for Dimitri and a few of Dedue’s closest friends. Sylvain, of course, is among them.

     “I’m glad you were able to meet up with him. Yeah, I’d say      Dimitri’s been doing good! Especially since I last saw him…”

A frown tugged at the edge of his lips. Of course, he’s had this conversation with Dimitri already - the two knew of each other’s fate in their ‘timelines’, with Dimitri being dead in his and Claude living in his ( not surprising at all, considering claude’s own values ). Still, it was never easy to talk about. Even if he hadn’t seen the actual events leading to Dimitri’s death take place, he did see the aftermath.

Someone had to bury his body, after all.

     “Time moves differently in this city. To some of my classmates,      they had seen me only a few minutes ago, but in this place I’ve      been here for months. I’m still trying to figure it all out, honestly…      But I can’t seem to get a good grasp at it yet.”

Dedue had gotten the idea that everything was slightly off in this city from the others he’d spoken to. Ashe had somewhat explained it, and so had Sylvain; though he did not wrap his head around the entirety of the situation, he was somewhat aware of how this city did not seem to follow the logical progression of time.

      “ just like that! like normal! so… this is a fun toy. it can do other things, too, but i won’t confuse you yet. ”

      hands still moving, utterly unable to keep still, juuzou begins drumming his fingers against his leg, wanting that familiar, hollow sound that it produced. the material is familiar under his fingers and makes him feel a little more grounded. dedue didn’t seem to have gotten offended when juuzou pulled his hand away and so he lets out a near-silent sigh of relief.

      he doesn’t know what he had expected, after all. he focuses instead on dedue’s words, and does his best not to stare at dedue’s lips for too long. stupid, stupid juuzou. he’ll kick himself for it later, but for now all he can do is smile at him. 

      “ whoa, dinner? appetizers? ”

Dedue nods once. “I invited you over,” he says, very seriously. How rude would it have been to have a friend over only to not provide food for them? “I reread your text messages to my phone. You had said you liked chicken. I also prepared dessert, but that is a surprise for later.”

He smiles once again at his friend. “I’ll be right back,” he says before going into the kitchen. All the food had been done, just keeping warm in the oven. He got all of it ready within a couple minutes and came back out with a large plate of fancy looking dates with goat cheese and meat, with a little bit of parsley for show. 

      “ now put it to your ear! like this! ” he says, holding the phone to his own ear to demonstrate.

      he then takes several steps away before speaking into the phone. “ you should be able to hear me, right? it works at more or less any distance. ”

Dedue puts the device to his ear, tentatively. As Juuzou moves away, he listens and hears him as if he’s standing right next to him.

“Ashe…” Dedue starts, his eyes on the ‘game’ in front of him. The whole thing is incredibly foreign to him, he still hasn’t had the time to adjust to every difference between Spirale and Fódlan. He turns to his friend and crosses his arms, his expression one of quiet and determined contemplation.

      it’s the softness in dedue’s expression which makes juuzou pull away, his cheeks burning. it’s not fair, really, that dedue can smile at him like that and make his heart beat way too fast. it’s not fair, and his fingers are twitching and he doesn’t even know what he wants to grab.

      he’s twitchy, he knows that, too eager to act or react but there’s nothing to react to. dedue still feels… safe and that, somehow, is harder. dedue’s handsome, too, and juuzou doesn’t want to think too hard about that right now. he reaches up and waves a hand around awkwardly.

      “ i do. find it, ah, acceptable. i want to spend more time with you, too! ”

There’s a small smile on Dedue’s face, even as Juuzou pulls his hand away. He folds them on his lap and watches how Juuzou twitches; he’s not reading too much into it, not seeing what’s really there. How could he? He is just Dedue, Dimitri’s retainer and protector. Sure, he’s other things as well: a gardener, a cook, a friend. That does not equate to being something special in someone’s eyes, he thinks vaguely, and therefore he does not understand the full extent of Juuzou’s feelings.

“I’m glad,” he says, watching. “I’d like to learn more about this world as well, if I am to live in it. You have helped me so much in our time spent together, I would like to help you. This is also why I prepared dinner for us.”

His response somehow makes Miu feel relieved. She feels like that she is probably angering or bothering someone else just by doing something so simple. He does not seem to be a hostile to her, which makes her glad. It bothers her as well that she tends to worry over every single thing.

“U-um…” The sudden introduction throws her off guard a bit, since she does not expect him to tell her his name even though they just met today. “M-My name is Takigawa Miu…” But, she knows the common courtesy that she has to introduce herself in return as well. “Um… T-Thank you for your help…I guess, i-if you don’t mind…”

Even after living in this city for a while, she is not really used with places here, since she usually just wanders around without really visiting any particular place, unless she has other intention to do beforehand. So, his offer is greatly appreciated by her.

Dedue notes how nervous the girl is, but doesn’t draw attention to it. She reminds him a little of Bernadetta, the Black Eagle classmate who he knew to have joined the Adrestian Empire. Though he hadn’t gotten too close with her, he still had felt a touch of fondness towards her; perhaps it was just in his protective nature to feel this way. This ‘Takigawa Miu’ is the same.

“Of course,” he says, because it does not inconvenience him in the least to help someone out. He stands up a little straighter and motions towards the street. “I do not mind escorting you at all. If you would like, I can bring you back to your apartment, or if you are hungry I can help you find food. I just do not like seeing someone out in the cold.”

“Not like a letter, it’s way faster and… instant? I guess? Here, let me show you,” he says, opening up the contact list and searching Dedue’s name. It’s convenient, how everyone in the city is loaded into it already. Though Juuzou finds such a huge contact list to be a little overwhelming.

He taps the name and selects the ‘call’ button, smiling at him. “Watch this. Press the green button for me?”

Dedue’s brows furrow, but he nods anyway. It doesn’t seem like it will be that complicated to learn the technology of this time, especially if he has someone helping him. He watches Juuzou as he hits the call button on his own phone, and Dedue’s lights up with his name.

✦ “Oh, is that so?” The professor’s head tilted slightly to the side as the man’s confession that he’d yet to find a training location. It was true that there weren’t a lot of dedicated places in the city particularly if you sought to train with a weapon, but she’d come up with her own solution for that.

“You could use my facilities? They aren’t extravagant or anything, but in the schooling district in Cotes I’ve set up a small training school named after our old academy.” Garreg Mach, as she’d naturally named it. “But it’s up to you! Myself and some others teach classes there occasionally as well.”

Dedue smiles at the invitation. It would be like the professor to make sure her students were well adjusted to the city, and the fact that she’d gone ahead and created a school for them to continue their education rung true of her personality. 

Juuzou freezes as his hand is grabbed. That’s new. That’s unfamiliar, uncharted territory and–nice. It’s nice. He doesn’t get touched, often, ever. Part of him wants to flinch away but he keeps that part in check. He’s just so unused to touch. He hesitates just a little, though, looking at Dedue with something akin to curiosity on his face for the first time. He thought he understood him, but here Dedue is making his heart beat faster.

Dedue’s words add to this, and he looks away at last. “Maybe,” he allows. “Past isn’t present, fine, yeah, I can work with that. But I… I’m difficult to like. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m glad we’re friends, Dedue I meant it when I said I’m not going to hurt you, and that isn’t an easy promise to get out of me.”

Dedue’s expression is soft, still. He doesn’t want to scare Juuzou off; he does mean something to him, and Dedue finds that people who mean anything to him are people he’d go to war for. He’s willing to put Juuzou into that category, for even the short time they’ve spent together.

“I know,” he says, his voice serious. Dedue is always serious, that’s who he is -- though, he’s found that Juuzou isn’t. Maybe it’s a mask to hide what’s happened to him in the past, as Dedue’s stoic demeanor is for him. He wonders, but he doesn’t presume to ask. Though they’ve become close, Dedue hasn’t bared his heart to Juuzou yet, and would not expect the same from him.

Juuzou hooks his prosthetic leg under the table and pulls himself back up, his eyes still wide, though he’s managed to control the slight flush in his cheeks. If he could see his own expression, he’d probably have made fun of himself. He can’t, though, so he doesn’t, and instead just stares at Dedue as the legs of his chair hit the floor. His fingers drum against his prosthetic immediately as he lets out a startled sound. 

“You can’t care about me, I’m–” he begins, then stops. His mouth clamps shut. He’s what? He’s what? He thinks about Shinohara again, about second chances, about how Dedue was robbed of them, too. It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair. Dedue, probably, deserves better than blood and steel, deserves a better friend than Juuzou, kinder, gentler. Someone who can make him smile. Juuzou is what he is, though, and he’s glad Dedue cares about him, even if that’s… that’s new. Unfamiliar.

“I’m horrible, Dedue.”

Dedue doesn’t understand why Juuzou is so apt to make it sound like he’s not worth befriending. It hurts him, there’s a feeling in his ribcage that makes him wince a little. Juuzou has been all the things Dedue has wanted in a friend -- he wants to repay that kindness. He will, somehow.

“You are not,” Dedue insists, and before he can stop himself he reaches out and takes Juuzou’s hand in his own. It felt right, even though everything prior had taught him not to touch others. It always freaked them out, and Dedue has never made it his goal to make someone uncomfortable. Yet, here, Juuzou does not seem upset at the idea of Dedue and where he’s come from, the rumors that surround his homeland. Juuzou is separate from the politics of Fódlan, for the better.