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The only reason why Felix realized it was the Day of Devotion was that the moment he saw Sylvain surrounded by women offering him gifts and candies in their shallow attempts to get closer to the noble. He didn’t understand why Sylvain didn’t tell them off as he was exhausted as they were doing this early in the morning. What could the redhead even do with all these gifts, would he just regift them to friends? To other admirers? Regift to the Professor? Endless possibilities and none lie with any given to Felix. Felix groaned in annoyance and walked towards the harem surrounding Sylvain and pushed past them to reach his poor friend. “C’mon Sylvain, didn't you promise that you’d train with me today, right?” It was untrue, but it was an offer out if Sylvain were to take it.
Sylvain gave Felix a smile that spoke volumes of gratitude before returning his attention to the girls, “Sorry ladies! I gotta run but thank you all for the gifts!” The girls whined a bit as they heard he was going to leave and some dispersed shortly afterward, leaving the two alone with Sylvain’s arms full of miscellaneous gifts. After he was sure they were all gone, the redhead turned to Felix and thanked him for saving him. “Just let me put these up and I’ll join you in the training grounds, I promise.”
Felix simply rolled his eyes “I sure hope so, just don’t take long.” and with that Felix turned and walked in the direction of the training grounds, thinking of techniques to put Sylvain (or any other unlucky training partner) on their toes. As he walked he thought about if any of the Blue Lion members would be gifting others for today. He faintly remembered Mercedes and that one girl from Golden Deer were going to make cakes and sweets for everyone and anyone interested but counted himself out simply because it would have been too sickly sweet for his taste.
Despite his opinions and tastes over this particular holiday, he hoped that everyone at least enjoyed whatever they received today.
Even if he felt he wouldn’t get anything important at all.
****
Sylvain cursed himself as he went up the stairs of the dormitories with his gifts in hand. Goddess, why did his room have to be at the end of the second-floor hall? For once he wished he was closer to the main stairs but there was no use in whining now. He made his way down the hall and vaguely considered giving some of these gifts to the girls as he passed by their rooms but decided against it. It was too early for them to be bombarded with gifts as he just was.
As he eventually reached his room he was thankful that there weren’t any items that would have melted easily and he stored them somewhere they could be preserved for later. Sylvain glazed through the letters he was given as well, small notes of falsified affections and promises that he knew wouldn’t amount to anything if at all. He sighed and tossed them aside to be taken care of later.
His eyes went towards a gift messily hidden away in his room and let out a small sigh. It was a gift he picked out for Felix a week prior and was a bit afraid to give it to him now since he knew Felix wasn’t a guy who liked this sort of romance crap on any day, but a guy can dream you know! Who knows, maybe he’ll turn a new leaf and love the gift and Sylvain wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.
The gift itself was a small, and innocent one at best. It was a simple hunting dagger, the handle colored a deep teal color with the Crest of Fraldarius engraved into the base of the weapon. It wasn’t anything flashy nor useless. He hoped that Felix would at least keep it on his person if, goddess forbid, something were to happen and Felix had to resort to it. Other than that scenario, Sylvain hoped Felix would pick up on the meaning, and maybe realize what Sylvain wanted to convey without words.
However, if the message didn’t go through, Sylvain decided to go one step further into digging his own grave and decided to write a letter as well. It wasn’t poetic nor all that well wrote, but it was blunt and honest with all the feelings he held for Felix. He could see it now, Felix reading it, blushing as red as his hair, and probably either storming off, punching or kicking Sylvain, denying everything, or even calling him out. Either way, Sylvain would take the rejection with pride, playing it off cooly as he did with everything else. He didn’t want to ruin their relationship as it is now, but he knew he had to be honest with not only himself but with Felix as well.
Was it too late to just not give Felix the letter? No. Was he going to go on with it anyway? Yes.
Was he taking too long to get back to Felix? Absolutely.
Sylvain figured he could put off his gift for Felix for later, the Fraldarius man would kill him if he were to give him a gift in public. So with that Sylvain left his room and proceeded to make his way towards the training grounds, hoping that none of his admirers stopped him. Luckily, no one did and as promised, he was going to train with Felix.
****
“Sorry, I’m late Felix! Didn’t mean to take so long!”
“Hmph...hurry up and stop wasting my time,” Felix spoke as he held a training word in hand, already getting into a stance. Sylvain only chuckled a bit in response before going over and grabbing a training lance. He gave it a few twirls and a look over before returning to Felix and getting into a stance of his own.
Before he could even ask if the other was ready, Felix advanced with a quick swipe of his sword which Sylvain immediately dodged with a side step. They continued at this for what felt like hours as Sylvain dodged and parried the best he could as Felix continued the onslaught of relentless attacks. Each bout they had either ended with Sylvain begging for mercy from being tired (which resulted in Felix yelling at him for being lazy) or Sylvain begging for a quick break from being sore (which resulted in Felix telling him to pick up the slack). There was a no-win situation for the redhead yet he found himself not caring either way. If it brought Felix some form of enjoyment of beating him up in training, who was Sylvain to not indulge in it for him, even if the bruises would kill him later?
“I hope your gift for me isn’t just you letting me beat you, Sylvain.” Felix teased with a competitive look on his face, “Bit of a lazy gift, so stop slacking and fight back!”
“Ugh, Fe, I’m tired! Can’t you let your best bud take a short break?” Sylvain whined back, taking a quick breather to stretch a bit before getting back into his fighting stance, “Besides, you think this is my gift for you? You wound me, Fe!”
That seemed to surprise Felix, his eyes slightly widening, even if for a moment but Sylvain saw it and smiled a bit smugly to himself before taking a sudden swing to Felix’s feet, sweeping him off the ground. Felix yelped in surprise before cursing to himself for being careless, glaring daggers up at Sylvain who was laughing as if he saw the funniest shit in all of Fodlan. The Fraldarius man, who was a bit peeved now, took a swing at Sylvain’s legs (and proceeded to collapse down next to Felix) but he continued to laugh nonetheless, looking over at Felix with such adoration even if his face was dirty and sweaty from training.
As if he too felt what Felix tried so desperately to hide.
Perhaps it would be later on today, or tomorrow, a month, a year or five from now that Felix will confess and reveal his truths towards Sylvain. And maybe Sylvain will do the same. One day they’ll be ready for one another, but perhaps now isn’t the time.