A Rare Day Off (Short) (Patreon)

Spoiler Note: This takes place after the events of the Crimson Flower route in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I avoided as many spoilers as possible, but if you’re at all worried about that kinda thing, consider skipping this short for now.

For the first time in a while, it was a peaceful and quiet day. Bright sunlight was beating down on Byleth’s head as she walked through the palace garden. The war was over. Those that slither in the dark were still lurking, but the scouts had not found a new sect of theirs for some time now. The people were happy. Byleth was happy.

The teal-haired woman took her time drinking in the garden's peace before heading inside. She wondered if Edelgard was finished with those foreign dignitaries yet. Byleth didn’t have the silver tongue needed for delicate politics like that, so she had opted out of the meeting. She was curious about how El was doing, though. Maybe she should have sat in on the meeting, at least…

Byleth wandered around the palace for a while, unsure of what to do with herself. She was always so busy with helping El reshape the Ardrestian empire that she’d forgotten what it was like to have free moments such as this. What should she do? She could train, but that seemed like a waste of a rare day off. Most of her remaining allies were as busy as she usually was, so catching up wasn’t an option at the moment.

What she really wanted was to spend some time with El, just as they used to be able to, but… the empire came first. Byleth knew that and supported that entirely. She just… missed her closest friend.

With a sigh, Byleth finally found herself in front of the palace’s many waiting rooms. This one, though, was special, as it housed all of El’s portrait drawing supplies. El rarely had time to partake in her hobby anymore, of course, but the supplies remained.

Byleth opened up the door, then stopped just a single step into the room. To her surprise, the room was occupied by none other than El herself. The woman had removed her crimson cloak and had draped it over the back of a chair, but was dressed in her proper empress garb other than that.

El glanced around quickly upon hearing the door open. Her gaze instantly softened once her eyes fell on Byleth. “Oh, it’s you. I was worried that you were Hubert coming to tell me that the dignitaries had changed their minds.”

“Is your meeting already over?” Byleth asked while stepping further into the room and shutting the door behind her.

“Yes, it is,” El replied as she returned to what she’d been doing. She was pulling out her easel and ink, getting set up on the seat her cloak was draped on. “To my surprise, the dignitaries were rather amicable. It seems our hard work for peace has not gone unnoticed by the world around us.”

“I’m glad it is,” Byleth said. She walked over to where El had set her easel and examined the rough portrait on the front. A tiny smirk crossed her lips. “Is this… supposed to be me?”

El coughed as she hastily ripped the page from her easel. “You can ignore that. I come here on the few nights I have free to keep in practice, and last time I tried drawing you from memory.”

“Emphasis on ‘tried’, I suppose?”

“Oh, stop that,” El sighed. She held the rough sketch out in front of herself and looked it over once, grimacing. “Though… you might have a point…”

“I was only teasing, El,” Byleth chuckled softly. Then she took the page from El, crushing it into a ball and tossing it over her shoulder. “Well, if it helps… you won’t have to draw from memory this time.”

El seemed to perk up at that. “Truly? You wouldn’t mind modeling for me?”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” Byleth said. “In fact, it would be my pleasure.”

“Well, if you’re that eager, then how can I refuse your offer?” El agreed. She gestured to the sofa that sat opposite her seat. “Please, get comfortable. I’ll need you to sit still for a while, so choose a pose you can hold.”

A pose she could hold, huh? Byleth could do that. She sat down on the sofa and crossed one leg over the other. She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms in front of herself, then gazed out of the window to her right. “How’s this?”

“Perfect,” El responded. The sound of pen on parchment filled the room as El began to draw, but Byleth couldn’t see her working since she was looking out the window. Damn it. What was she to do now?

Some time passed as El sketched. Byleth started to get a kink in her neck at one point and her leg began to fall asleep, but she didn’t wish to disturb El’s portrait after so much time, so she simply bore with her protesting body. Finally, though…

“Alright, it’s rough, but I believe I’m happy with this.”

Byleth sighed in relief as she stood up, her leg tingled violently from being awoken. She walked over to El’s seat and leaned down over her shoulder to get a good look.

“...Did you actually try with the previous one? You can be honest with me.”

El rolled her eyes. “Am I to take that as a compliment on my work this time?”

“You don’t need to take anything. This looks fantastic, El.” It really did. Byleth had had a few portraits of herself done over the years for various reasons, but this was by far the best - and no, she wasn’t just saying that because she had a soft spot for El. It was genuinely fantastic.

The faintest hints of a blush adorned El’s face as she carefully pulled off Byleth’s portrait. “... Thank you.” She glanced up at Byleth. “In that case then, if you wouldn't mind, would you like to pose for another?”

“Of course I wouldn’t.” Byleth went and sat down on the sofa again, choosing a more comfortable pose this time. “YOu know, though, if you wanted to stare at me for hours on end, you don’t need to use an excuse like this.”

El was already scribbling away as she replied nonchalantly, “Getting to stare at you for so long is not the goal of this. It’s merely an added benefit.”

Byleth couldn’t help but smile at that one. Seeing El at peace like this was a welcome change of pace. She hoped that she’d get to see this kind of sight all the time eventually. She really, truly did.

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It's FINALLY done! Fire Emblem is such a character and story-rich series of games that I had a real trial of learning everything that I'd need to try and make a realistic fic for these two, heh. Hopefully I got their characters close enough to the real deals for all y'all Fire Emblem stans out there.

As you guys might've noticed, this is coming out rather close to the end of the month. Long story short... I got distracted by a million other things and now I'm late on my schedule (again). I'll have the full tum fic that I promised for after this short out sometime REAL soon, but I may not have the other short for after the full fic ready before posting the exclusive on the 31'st. And yes, I AM still gonna post the exclusive on the 31'st. Y'all are getting a nice chunk of content close together here courtesy of my distractable brain, heh.

Also, there's a 99% chance that it's gonna be a Marcy+PB fic for the next full fic. If it's not that, then your guess is as good as mine for what I'm gonna end up finishing and posting.