Chapter Text
Oftentimes Linhardt found himself wondering why he even bothered attending the Officers Academy in the first place. Actually, that was a lie. He knew his reasons, yet he often found himself forgetting those reasons in the midst of the constant droll of living there.
Today’s reason for forgetting was yet another exciting battle he has less than volunteered to participate in. He and a small group of other students had been approached by Professor Byleth the night before to embark on yet another sudden and apparently important mission. The battle itself had been irritating. The walk home had been exhausting. However, returning home to find himself and the rest of the returning party hounded by a noisy crowd of curious onlookers with nothing better to do was absolutely, without a doubt, the most draining part of the entire escapade.
As others chattered excitedly in front of him, Linhardt just stood there and prodded at the growing tension headache throbbing angrily against his temples and behind his eyes. Goddess, just end this. He can almost feel the nearby room with a bed just calling his name, and he would like nothing more than to answer it right now. “Linhardt!” That was someone actually calling his name. A shrill yet booming shout he knew all too well cut cleanly through the noisy dinge of the crowd surrounding them. As if on cue, the voice was soon paired with the boy who had been shouting, his close acquaintance Caspar.
Calling Caspar a close acquaintance might be a little too formal. Caspar and Linhardt had been friends since childhood. Though they were pitted against each other as rivals by their fathers since a young age, Linhardt liked him well enough and personally felt no reason to rival him. Caspar was hot headed and built for fighting, which was something Linhardt had absolutely no desire to be. That fact didn’t take away from the other fact that he did still tend to enjoy the other boy’s company, even if he was less than keen to admit it. They had drifted apart somewhat as adolescents when tensions began to arise again between their separate houses. Now, living in close quarters with one another at Garreg Mach Monastery had allowed them the ample opportunity to rekindle their earlier friendship. Some things about attending the Officer’s Academy weren’t so bad.
While Linhardt typically did not mind and even enjoyed Caspar’s company, today was not one of those days. While he had escaped the battle with barely a scratch, Linhardt’s head was killing him, and at that moment Caspar was still shouting his name and not so politely elbowing his way through the crowd towards him, which was absolutely not helping.
Linhardt mentally prepared the dismissive quip he would say to him as he watched the other boy draw near. When he gets close enough for Linhardt to read his expression his mind briefly falters. Caspar is staring him down with a focused yet unreadable expression Linhardt has never seen before. Odd. Once Caspar is close enough to hear him Linhardt opens his mouth to greet him. “Hello Caspar-” The rest of his sentence is cut off in a sharp gasp as all the air was suddenly forced from his lungs.
He realized first the crushing pressure is coming from around his waist, then the fact that his feet were no longer on the ground. Linhardt’s hands instinctively clasped onto the arms holding him up in an attempt to stabilize himself before he realized the action was completely unnecessary. He was suspended up unwaveringly in the other’s grasp. Caspar was still talking, shouting actually. Something about him being worried and upset that he had gone without him. Caspar’s tone had a strange edge to it, yet Linhardt couldn’t really understand the words he was saying. Caspar’s face was pressed firmly into the hard dip at the center of Linhardt’s chest, muffling the sound. Then it clicked all together that Caspar was embracing him so tightly he had lifted him off of his feet. While the tightness of his grip was certainly extreme, the overall action wasn’t unpleasant. In that moment Linhardt found that he had forgotten all of the discomfort and irritation he had just been dwelling on just moments before, and with every subsequent observation his initial shock melted more into mild curiosity.
If the crowd had cared any more then Caspar’s erratic behavior would have made a scene, and that was interesting. The moment ended all too soon, ending as suddenly as it started. As if coming to his senses, Caspar quickly dropped Linhardt back to his feet before reeling back suddenly as if the realization had burned his skin.
After distancing themselves, an uncomfortable tension brewed between them. The crowd that had surrounded them had quickly lost interest in their touching reunion, turning their attention to Byleth and the newly acquired relic in his grasp. Linhardt couldn’t deny that he was intrigued. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to explore the reasons behind his friend’s odd behavior, except not right then. He was still too exhausted from his travels to give this situation the mental energy it required. After several moments of awkward silence, Linhardt finally spoke. “Hello Caspar,” then, before Caspar could answer back he quickly added, “Goodbye Linhardt.” With that Linhardt spun on his heel and briskly walked away in the direction of the dorms.
Once he reached his room Linhardt hastily shut the door behind him and locked it. When he was sure he was safe in the quiet solace he released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The wake of the strange adrenaline rush brought his headache back full force, but he was too dazed to lay down just yet. His mind wandered as he stood aimlessly in the center of the room, his gaze focused on the scattered books and papers strewn across the floor as he replayed the odd events of the last several minutes.
He knew that Caspar did nothing but eat, sleep, and train all hours of the day, but when did he get that strong? He was honestly rather fascinated, amazed by how firm and unyielding the tensed muscles of Caspar’s arms felt as he held him up effortlessly, and in contrast how soft the skin overtop of those muscles had felt under his fingertips. As his mind wanders his own long, wiry arms snake around his own waist to mimic the action. His head was spinning. As he continued lost in his thoughts he meandered backwards until his knees hit the bed. He then let himself fall backwards at a strange diagonal, letting his feet dangle off the edge. It was such a strange moment, yet so interesting . The more he thought about it, the more curiosities he had about the whole encounter, and the underlying factors possibly driving it.
Shortly after laying down Linhardt yawned deeply and felt his eyelids getting heavier. He kicked his boots off, not bothering with the rest of his uniform, before bringing his feet up and laying properly on the bed, flat on his back. His arms stayed firmly placed around his abdomen as he stared up at the ceiling, still contemplating all of the new information flooding his senses.
“I will certainly be exploring this matter further,” he mused to himself and yawned again before adding, “...later.” Then he sighed and let his body relax into the pleasure of sleep as the natural urge overtook him.
Fascinating.