Fire Emblem: Three Houses - The Apple of My Eye (A Claudeleth Fic)

The Apple of My Eye

It started out as any normal day would: Waking at the crack of dawn, running a few drills, briefly meeting with the war council, and some light training; all before breakfast. Such a routine has integrated itself into the lives of every soldier, only disrupted on certain days.

On this fateful day, however, this monotonous schedule came to a crashing halt...

It all started at breakfast, a casual and usually lighthearted affair. Seated at the long tables were monks and soldiers and priestesses alike, all grabbing their meals before starting the day. At the center table were the former students of the Officer's Academy. Delightful chaos erupted from each group, friends chatting over their plans, rivals making bets, partners trying to keep their love discreet, so on, so forth.

Generally, the whole atmosphere was happy; a complete 180 from the war that was literally outside these walls.

Seated at the front of the table were Claude and Byleth as they poured over a map, not a speck of food in front of them. The two had just come from an early morning debriefing, but it seemed that their meeting wasn't yet over. Some eyed them warily, hoping that their leaders would eat something soon.

It was quite uncharacteristic of Claude to not have a mini feast in front of him and his beloved professor, after all.

Eventually, Marianne and Hilda convinced them to put the map away and grab some food. Claude stood from the table, offering to get Byleth's food for her. She quickly agreed, sneaking a battle report from her pocket.

You can't win 'em all, I guess.

This was when the day got interesting.

"Hey, Byleth, you good with an apple?" Claude asked, holding up the shiny red sphere in his hand.

She turned to him with a nod, rolling her shoulders. "Yes, thank you."

With no hesitation or second thoughts, the duke tossed the apple to her. And parallel to him, she caught it, taking a bite of the sweet, juicy fruit.

Petra watched intently, eyes trained on the fruit. She looked between the two leaders, blush dusting her cheeks.

Claude sat back down, raising an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

The princess shook her head, a smile painting her lips. "Nothing is of wrongness," she began. "I never expected of you to be a man of who moves with quickness! And in front of faces of many!"

Byleth took another bite of the apple, a bit of juice splattering across her face. "What do you mean?"

She giggled. "In Brigid, it is tradition for man to be throwing an apple at the woman he is wanting to marry," she explained, quickly drawing the attention to those around them. "And if the woman is catching of the apple and eats, she will be accepting his hand!"

The pair froze, trying to comprehend the words that were spoken to them. A few gasps surrounded them as well as hushed gossip.

Did he really mean to propose to her like that?

Are they seriously getting married?

It's about damn time something happened!

Red dusted their cheeks, frantically turning to each other and choking on words. Byleth had long since set the offending fruit down, trying to make sense of whatever the hell just happened.

Then, the energy of the room shifted, and Hilda smiled the widest Cheshire-grin she's ever grinned before. "Does it now..."

Claude turned to his partner in crime, his blush reaching his ears. "Hilda, no, we're not-"