Chapter Text
The first time he saw her she didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary. Just another mercenary lending their help, plain, but strong nonetheless. He didn’t even really notice her at first, expecting her father to take the lead and lay out a tactic to overpower the enemy.
That’s why he had been so surprised when he saw her in action on the battlefield, fighting, planing and manoeuvering her way through the enemies. He was quite impressed, he had to admit. She was amazing, really. An absolute force to be reckoned with, someone who could be of great value for him and his house.
Before he had been able to recruit her, however, his fellow house leaders had taken it upon themselves to beat him to it. Claude had actually wanted to slowly charm her into joining, talking to her on the way to the monastery, maybe even showing her around a little once they arrived.
But as it was he didn’t have much choice than to ask her right away as well, before any of the others was able to snatch her up right in front of his nose.
She had seemed a bit surprised about the great interest that everybody had taken in her and, for a moment, Claude was sure that she would simply decline all of their offers, overrun by the sheer amount of admiration coming from all sides.
Still, in the end she had mustered them, carefully and one by one, before her eyes had landed on him. He was elated that she had chosen to join his house and even more so later on when she chose to become his professor.
If Claude was perfectly honest, he had been quite smitten with her right from the beginning. He was curious about her strange nature and calm demeanour, always intrigued to find out more about her or provoke some kind of reaction. She was always so calm and collected, showing no emotion and keeping a straight face through anything that was thrown her way, so Claude had made it his goal to break through that icy facade.
He tried to throw her off the best he could, teasing her, taunting her and even flirting with her every now and then. Anything to lure her out of her shell. It became so obvious that he was trying to provoke a reaction that Hilda had even asked him once if he had a crush on their professor.
Of course he hadn’t.
Sure, he was quite intrigued with her, but his admiration and curiosity had nothing to do with feelings of such sort. He really wasn’t that easy to see through.
No, he was only so curious about her because she was the first person he couldn’t deceiver right away. There was something mysterious about her that made her so interesting and that irked him to no ends. Endless questions about her being had accumulated over the months, only fuelling his interest. Even more so, when it turned out that she was able to fully take advantage of the sword of the creator. It had been a revelation of some sorts, really, but if Claude would look back at it now he couldn’t image any other person than his strange teacher to wield that particular sword.
She was an enigma after all.
After that, he even doubled his efforts to come close to her. He needed her and he needed that sword. As he wouldn't be able to properly use it without the right crest, he would have to use her to do it for him and to fight in his name. It was selfish, really, but some things just were more important than worrying about befriending someone out of ulterior motives. He did feel a bit bad about it, but at least he wasn’t hurting her in any way.
Over several month he tried to win her over then, to secure her support and to secure her sword for dire times. He did begin to like her though, and if he was perfectly honest, he had slowly started to put his trust in her as well.
She wasn’t only a strong fighter, but also a capable professor and a reliable friend, he realized. Beyond that, he noticed even more things about her as time went by. For example how her face lit up when one of her students had finally solved a problem they had been hung up about, or the way she silently took care of others in the most subtle and loving ways.
Yes, Claude was very observant and before he had realized it he began to notice things he hadn’t bargained for.
He first realized his shift of interested as he was sitting in the dining hall with Ignatz, Hilda, Raphael and the others. Marianne had excused herself but Ashe and Sylvain had joined them in her stead, the latter even being a fresh addition to their house. They had been talking about the goddess, about their beliefs and doubts and about how they imagined her to be. Sometime throughout their conversation the topic had shifted to a more crude nature, as they were pondering about the goddess’ appearance.
“She has to be a divine beauty.” Ignatz had claimed, blushing lightly at the thought.
“Well, duh, of course she is.” Hilda countered. “She’s a goddess after all, what else would you expect?”
“What is if she’s an old hag, though?” Claude intervened, snickering at Ignatz’s shocked expression.
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Sylvain commented. “A being that powerful and divine? She has to be a looker!”
“Wow, that reasoning...” Lysithea had muttered unimpressed.
“Well, anyway.” Claude continued. “Who do you think is hotter? Our dear teach or the divine goddess?” He taunted, looking at the others expectantly.
“Oh gods, I’m out.” Lysithea mumbled as she was about to get up to make her way out of that conversation.
“Is that the only thing that is important to you?” Leonie huffed in disbelief, but remained at the table, nonetheless.
With that, Claude had managed to steer a whole new kind of commotion, but after some huffs and cries of disbelief about his indecency, his fellow deers had fully launched into a discussion about the earthly beauty of their professor compared to the divine beauty of a goddess, just as he had anticipated.
He had hoped that the others would pick up the topic in one of their sessions again, in anticipation of seeing his favourite teach getting flustered.
What he hadn’t anticipated though, was the force of admiration and even infatuation with which the others were speaking about their professor. Sure, they all liked and admired her, but he had thought that he had been the only one to recognize her unique beauty. That’s why he was so startled when Ignatz suddenly confessed that their teacher was quite a beautiful woman with her subtle, yet captivating charm, and even more so when the others had joined in on Ignatz’s observation about the woman’s beauty.
“She has quite the beautiful face,” Sylvain mentioned, “and a wonderful body on top of that. Have you seen how defined her legs are and how soft and pale the skin at the slope of her neck looks? Heavenly.”
Claude had been a bit taken aback by that. Of course, he had noticed too, but he didn’t think that anyone else had. She was their teacher after all. And yet, although it was kind of improper, he had noticed these things about her as well. But who could blame him? She couldn’t be much older than a few years anyway, even if she didn’t know her age herself. Still, the realization that he wasn’t the only one who had noticed these things left a sour taste at the back of his mouth. Why was that?
He didn’t have much time to wonder as the others were joining in on the discussion as well.
“Ew that’s disgusting Sylvain, she’s our professor after all! Have some decency!” Hilda scolded, while Leonie made some retching noises in the background at the indecent comment as well. Then, after a beat, she added “Though I have to admit that her neck does look nice! Her skin is so pale and clear! I bet with a face like that and skin as soft and pale as cherry blossom petals she could wrap any man around her finger if she just tried to.”
“Definitely!” Sylvain and Ignatz agreed in union, though the latter blushed immensely upon realizing what he had just agreed to.
Claude was at a loss of words. If his whole house had already discovered what he had, it wouldn't take long for the rest of the school to realize as well.
“I think she is a very kind hearted person. Beautiful inside and outside.” Ashe added, as if on cue, with a tinge of red dusting his cheeks.
Unbelievable.
“And the leader always speaks very highly of her as well.” He added after a beat.
“Well I think she’s very friendly, always up for a good talk and sharing her food supplies with me! And a beauty she is for sure! Strong and fierce, although she is so tiny!” Raphael added, a laugh rumbling through his chest.
“Are you talking about our dear professor?” Lorenz chimed in as he joined the table.
Great. One more skirt chaser to listen to.
“She is a beauty out of this world. Elegant and precise in her every move and so, so mysterious!” He remarked in awe, as he sat down to eat his food.
Claude felt the heat coil at the pit of his stomach. What was this feeling? He couldn’t possibly be jealous of his fellow comrades, could he? Much less because of his teacher. And yet… As he lifted his gaze to look at Lorenz, talking about their professor with utter adoration and admiration he couldn’t help but describe the burning feeling deep inside of him as jealously.
Lost in thought and stunned by the revelation, he hadn’t even realized that Hilda had directioned a question towards him.
“Huh?” He asked unintelligibly, looking up at her in confusion.
“I said, what do you think, Claude?”
“About what?” He asked, feigning disinterest. Hilda rolled her eyes.
“About the professor, of course.”
Oh.
Of course.
Well, what did he think? He wasn’t quite sure himself. He had always thought that he admired her and that he was curious about her background and all the mysteries that were hanging like thick fog around her persona. Never had he considered that his interest was going beyond that and yet, he was sitting there blushing at the realization of his now painfully evident crush.
“I uh,” he stumbled, “I thinks she’s...” Claude hesitated, collecting his thoughts again. He really needed to get a grip. “She is a strong fighter, and a capable one at that too. And beautiful, beautiful she is as well.” He finally concluded and mentally slapped himself for becoming a stuttering and blushing mess because of his professor. Where was his sliver tongue when he needed it?
“Boring.” Hilda just said, averting her attention to something else again, prodding and teasing Ignatz again that he was probably going to get minus points if the prof would ever find out about his puppy love, while he was furiously denying his alleged crush, blushing all shades of red.
Claude could get behind that sentiment.
He was still stunned by the revelation of his own crush. Especially because he didn’t even see it coming.
When had his admiration shifted to something more? When had his need to acquire her alliance for his kingdom shifted to the need for her icy blue eyes to look at him with undivided intention? And when had his heart started to pick up its speed whenever she was throwing that lovely little smile at him?
He didn’t know, he couldn’t pinpoint the moment nor the action that made him fall for her. All he knew was that he was further in than he had initially anticipated.
Still, the future of his homeland was his first and foremost priority. He could deal with a small, inconvenient crush like that, especially if it wasn’t going anywhere. She was his teacher after all. His infatuation would eventually fade out sooner or later anyway, he was sure of it.