#bybert

This is one of the oldest asks in my inbox besides two HILARIOUSLY opposite asks, and I apologize for taking so long to answer it askjfhsdjf

But headcanons for Hubie as a dad, huh?

I can actually imagine him being very cautious at first. Overprotective even. I can imagine him being the kind of dad that would freak out if their child got too close to anything even potentially harmful (note: the first few years, Hubert’s child isn’t allowed anywhere near Hubert’s office for obvious reasons).

I can also imagine him being very scared.

Sure, Byleth may have had a great father despite having no mother, but the kindest thing Hubert’s parents, his father especially, had ever done for him was not try to further break him into a mindless servant for Lady Edelgard. He’s terrified of going down the same path as his father, of one day opening his eyes to a world where his spouse despises him and his child is terrified of him. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he had many a nightmare of that very thing happening leading up to their child’s birth.

Everyone, aside from Byleth perhaps, would be surprised at just how well Hubert adapts, once he stops fretting over a) becoming his father and b) every single time his child comes near anything sharp.

And no, he totally did not nearly murder Caspar for being too loud and waking up the child and sending them into tears when he had just gotten them to sleep. Nope. Maybe planned it a little, but he didn’t do anything.

Honestly I'm all here for this?? Byleth having a more morbid sense of humor seems like something that'd be canon, and I'm all for Hubert laughing more!!

Imagine it happens during class! Byleth lets one of their more morbid jokes loose during class, and Hubert can't stop himself from snickering. The rest of the class is like ??? Hubert was that you???? Byleth notices, says one more, and Hubert ends up laughing harder than he's laughed in a while.

And it's a genuine laugh too! Not some forced laughter or one of his slow chuckles, genuine laughter! And the rest of the class(well, besides Edelgard and Petra, who thought back to when they were younger and Hubert laughed more freely) is completely awestruck by just how nice Hubert's natural laughter sounds?? Enough that most of them started trying to get him to laugh like that more.

WELP MEANT TO GET THIS SOONER BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?? cries you deserve better the art you do is all amazing and fun and djkfjdshhs you deserve more than fluff with a dash of angst for flavor

Hope you don’t mind me twisting this prompt a bit, I remember seeing a bit of art from you that got me thinkin hehe (AND FINALLY I FINISH OFF THE VALENTINE’S PROMPTS W HE EZ E)

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“Hubert, where on earth are you taking me?” Byleth chuckled as Hubert lead her through the estate. 

“Simply taking you to your surprise, my love,” Hubert responded casually, gently covering her eyes while still making sure she did not bump into anything. 

While Hubert would have never admitted it aloud, a part of him was admittedly nervous. Despite knowing how much Byleth loved him - and truthfully, that still caught him off-guard on the odd occasion - he was still, loathe as he was to admit it, afraid that he would scare her off somehow. No matter how long it had been since Byleth had accepted his confession, there was still the lingering thought that one day, enough would be enough and she would be gone. 

Now was not the time for those thoughts though. They could haunt them in his dreams - right now, he wanted to focus on Byleth. Especially if that meant listening to Byleth’s chuckles turn into quiet laughter at Hubert’s response - thank goodness for the fact Byleth couldn’t turn around to see how flushed his face had no doubt become. She would’ve teased him for weeks. 

Eventually, they made it to the room that Hubert had been hiding Byleth’s surprise in. He uncovered Byleth’s eyes, who upon opening them immediately looked quite confused.

“Your surprise is behind the door - I thought you would enjoy it much more if you were to open the door yourself,” Hubert quietly explained - albeit admittedly quickly, trying to force down the sudden rise in nerves. 

“Behind the door huh?” Byleth muttered before simply opening the door. Her eyes widened, a quiet “Oh!” of surprise making it past her lips.

There honestly wasn’t much in the room. What was there, however, was a bear sitting at what seemed to be a recreation of the tea parties Byleth often held back at the Academy, with several key differences.

The set up was much darker - literally - than the ones Byleth would set up. The table was grey, with a black tablecloth embroidered with various patterns - courtesy of Bernadetta. Instead of the tea snacks and such that Byleth would’ve had, there were much more filling things there instead, all things that Byleth enjoyed. The bear itself was sitting at the table, and the bear...was definitely something Hubert regretted at least a tad.

For reasons that he couldn’t fathom now, he had decided that trying to sew together a stuffed animal for Byleth would be a good idea. Perhaps it was because Hubert himself was, even now, not an affectionate person - so giving her the bear would be a way for her to vent out that extra affection without overwhelming Hubert. Perhaps it was because of how Byleth would often curl around him when they were sleeping together, and on the nights he had to come home late due to his work under Lady Edelgard, he would often find her asleep and curled around a pillow; the bear would be there as something to hold close when Hubert himself was not there.

Whatever the reason, Hubert had taken it upon himself to make an attempt. The results were...less than optimal. The bear’s fur was black, though admittedly not as soft as he would’ve liked. It seemed as though, in the time he had been gone, one of the button eyes had fallen off. The stitching was all too obvious and the limbs all slightly crooked, making it look more like a stiched-together monster rather than a stuffed bear. He would have done it over, except he had run out of materials (not to mention that he had not even realized the eye did fall off) and simply worked with what he had.

Now, as Byleth stared at the bear, Hubert wished he had simply gone to get more materials.

“...Forgive me my dear, I am aware it is not the best gift, but-” Hubert wasn’t even able to finish his apology before Byleth had whirled around and hugged him, sounding extremely happy.

“What are you talking about?! This is amazing! You’re amazing!” Byleth can’t going on about how happy and thankful she was, though Hubert (regretfully) couldn’t hear her through the ringing in his ears.

She liked it. She didn’t just like it, she loved it.

Hubert did not believe in the Goddess, but he would need her help regardless if his heart managed to swell anymore with love than it already was. He allowed her to tug him to the little tea table, and Hubert would treasure the couple of hours they sent together, sitting for tea like they had once upon a time back during their Academy days.

(Byleth loved her husband. She didn’t think she could love him any more than she already did, but he managed to prove her wrong with that beautiful little tea set up. And yes, she did bring that bear with her whenever possible. Even though...

👀👀 I knew an anon would be the first to request the fog prompt...I knew it...

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Hubert couldn't stop himself. As soon as he was able to, he had excused himself from Lady Edelgard's side to go searching for the professor - no, for Byleth. Byleth, who he found himself caring for more than he thought possible for anyone that wasn't Lady Edelgard. Byleth, who somehow stepped aside his initial threats to make a home in his heart.

Byleth, who was now missing because she had fallen off of a cliff.

His heart was thundering in his chest as he made his way to the bottom, and even if he'd given up religion long ago he still found himself praying against all odds that Byleth was alive. As soon as his feet touched the bottom, he began to search through the rubble for any sign of her.

He must've looked like a madman, haphazardly throwing aside rubble just to find one woman who was most likely dead. Byleth may be remarkable in many ways, but not even she could've survived a fall from this height.

A flash of mint green caught his eye, and he dug away at the rubble - not for the final time, he cursed himself for not having more strength - and found the badly injured body of his professor. Her eyes were closed, and had it not been for the amount of blood on her person, he might've believed her to be sleeping.

But he knew better, and had it not been for the slight rise and fall of her chest, Hubert would've made the much more likely assumption of her being dead. But no. Somehow, somehow she was still breathing, and Hubert barely thought about it for a second before he was picking Byleth up in his arms and warping out of the canyon.

He cursed the fact that he couldn't warp all the way back to base, instead having to carry her back.

"Please Byleth, please stay with me, you know I despise having to plead like this so stay with me-" his words were starting to babble into nonsense, but he couldn't help the panic overwhelming his system. What if he was too late? What if he wasn't able to make it? What if-

At some point, Hubert realized, Byleth had stopped breathing.

His heart seized. No, no nonono - Hubert could see the base, they were so close, just a bit further, but Byleth was already gone she wasn't breathing she was dead he had failed her-

And with a start, Hubert woke up. He practically shot out of bed, hand over his heart as he tried to get his bearings.

Goddess, he hadn't had that dream for weeks now. Why now? He groaned as he tried to get the nightmare - because that's what it was - out of his head.

In hindsight, he should've figured it out before the nightmare got worse. The biggest thing that should've given it away was the fact that Hubert never found Byleth after she fell that day.

And while Hubert, in any other circumstance, perhaps may have allowed himself to hope, he also knew better than that.

He sighed, hoping he could shake off the vestiges of this nightmare before he had to meet with Lady Edelgard. As he got up to get ready for the day, he glanced at the calendar.

Today would've marked the day of the Millennium Festival.

Huh. Hubert wasn't usually one for sentiments but...

His mind wandered back to that day, five years ago, when they'd met at the top of the Goddess Tower.

Perhaps that was why he'd had that nightmare. His mind reminding him of what he'd lost.

(Miles and miles away, Byleth awoke to a voice telling her that she couldn't continue to sleep any longer. And began heading to the monastery, remembering that she needed to meet her students...