All This Time

Keeping Distance

"Hey, Teach. Are you alright?"

Byleth felt a hand grasp her arm from behind, and she grit her teeth. It was Claude. Lately, she'd been avoiding him; hell, she'd been spending more time with Edelgard! It seemed that he'd finally managed to catch up.

"Yes, Claude. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well...You never seek me out anymore," Claude told her. "I've gone looking for you, but you're never around."

"I'm fine," Byleth replied sharply. She couldn't help herself from throwing extra snark towards him, and the words left her mouth before she could stop them. "Just leave me alone. I don't expect you to care about me anymore."

"You...don't expect me to care about you anymore? But...you're my Teach," Claude said, dismayed. He looked...confused. The phrase that had previously filled her with unbelievable amounts of joy just felt like a punch in the gut. His Teach. Byleth knew better. Now she was just someone for him to be wary of. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong-"

"Don't lie to me," Claude demanded. His grip inadvertently tightened on her arm. "You can't say that, and then say it's 'nothing'. What's wrong?!"

"It doesn't matter!" Byleth had never felt so frustrated before in her life. Her feelings were damaged, and she was unable to stop herself from speaking. "I...I thought we were friends, Claude. Then you go and treat me like...like I'm nothing!"

"You...You think I thought you were nothing?" Claude laughed harshly, his emerald eyes staring intently at her. "Teach, you're everything. Whether you understand that or not, it doesn't change the fact that you mean everything."

Byleth just watched him, still tense.

"Teach, you...you do know that, right?" His voice held uncertainty in it, an emotion Byleth had never heard before from him. "You do mean everything to me."

"...Yeah, I know," Byleth ripped her arm from his grasp. "I know that I'm everything in your grand scheme of things. Now, good day, Claude!"

She stormed away before he could respond. Claude stood there with a stunned look on his face, before regret started to creep onto his features. He was speechless.

"Well, well. Claude himself, yelled at by the Professor? I think that's the first time I've seen her angry."

Edelgard walked over, accompanied by Hubert like usual. Claude was not in the mood for friendly chatter.

"You don't know the half of it," Claude sighed. "I've got to go find her. Take care of yourself, future princess."

He walked off after her, leaving Edelgard with an amused expression on her face.

On the contrary, Claude, Edelgard thought to herself. I know more about how she feels than you. I always will.

———

"Teach, come back!"

Claude cursed quietly. Somehow, his Teach has managed to sneak away deftly. He hadn't anticipated on her being upset; he had figured she'd just revert back to her stoicity.

That clearly hadn't happened.

Well, that was true for both of them. Claude had expected himself to let go of her, and for her to continue their friendship professionally, yet...Claude found himself longing to talk to her, and she had distanced herself from him.

She was a lot better at reading him than she should have been.

"I know that I'm everything in your grand scheme of things."

Well, he couldn't deny that accusation. But she had been starting to become...more than that. Someone who he trusted-

Trust? You know better. No one is trustworthy.

-someone that he liked. She was an excellent listener, and he enjoyed seeing her flustered. It was a stark contrast from her previous stone-faced ways. He loved seeing her expression light up when she saw him.

But Claude had now completely botched that.

"C'mon Teach, you can't be mad forever," Claude muttered to himself. "She'll come around. I'm sure of it."

Byleth didn't seek him out once.