black and white and red all over

Chapter 26

The three of them live together from that point on. Though Christmas break was one thing, it feels entirely different to consistently keep it up during the school year, rather than just on the weekends, or the occasional late nights during the week when they decide it isn't worth going home at this hour. Now, Hubert has nearly severed all ties with his family, and though he doesn't say much about their reactions either way, Byleth supposes they must have been expecting this, or don't care much at all.

They leave school together to go home together, and they arrive together in the mornings, but when they are at school, it is just the same as it was before Christmas break. At lunch, they sit together, and they talk between some classes, share a table during art, but still do nothing to indicate that the three of them are anything more than friends. At this point, it seems vital to do so, not only because they don't want the other students to pay any extra attention to them, but that coming out about a polyamorous relationship might even draw the attention of the faculty, something they definitely can't do now, since they have no idea who the enemy really is.

Nothing changes for them, not even Ferdinand. He has become a permanent fixture at their lunch table, and will hang out with them after school when he can manage it, especially if he and Edelgard have a student council meeting together. Things are stiff at first, and the day immediately after Edelgard said she would drop out of school, he lingers by their lunch table for a moment, as if debating whether or not he can actually sit down.

Byleth is glad that he decides to, and that he decides to pretend like nothing has happened. She would have been sad if he stopped talking to them altogether, and while they would have had to worry about him potentially outing Edelgard's secret, that was not her biggest concern in regards to him drifting away from them. Truthfully, she knows that she would just miss having him around, and that Edelgard would, and that even Hubert would.

It is hard to explain why Ferdinand has fit himself in so easily as a permanent fourth wheel, but he has, and Byleth tries not to think about the fact that four wheels isn't exactly an abnormal number of wheels to have. Better not to complicate things any more than they already are.

Ferdinand struggles to keep up his cheery demeanor after the incident, but he doesn't mention it again, and seems to really want to keep spending time with the three of them. They don't bring it up either, and everything falls back into the same routine. School proves to be a decent distraction for Byleth, who just buries herself in her work while she is there, despite the fact that she no longer has any reason to care about her grades. Others are applying for college by now, and some have already been accepted from early decision, but that is not something that either she or Hubert spare any thought on.

Their serious problems aren't discussed at this point. Though they have a plan in mind, it will be a little while before they can properly execute it, and until then, they can't discuss it where someone could overhear, and they prefer to spend their time away from school not worrying about it. Things are complicated enough as it is, and soon enough, it will be all that they have to think about. They decide that there isn't anything wrong with enjoying their last semester of school while they can, and trying to pretend that they have a normal life for a little while longer.

~X~

January passes by rather quickly with all of them settling into a routine and getting back to the way things were before everything got at least ten times more complicated. By the end of the month, the buzz about Valentine's Day has started, something that Byleth finds she can't avoid anywhere at school. The decorations shift to red and pink, with hearts everywhere she looks, and certain people find the topic endlessly fascinating.

She supposes that this must be the first year Caspar has ever had anyone he considered spending Valentine's Day with, or maybe she doesn't understand how it works because she's never thought about it before. Maybe everyone is as enthusiastic as he is when they have someone that they like, but whatever the case, he goes on and on about what he should do where Petra is concerned.

"We had a lot of fun at the dance, you know. I think I've got a real chance here, so maybe I should try and take her out? Or should I just give her a gift and see what happens?" he asks, but Byleth doesn't have much input, leaving their conversations mostly one-sided.

Truthfully, now that she has started to wonder about it, she wonders if she should be more excited. After all, she has not one person, but two people to spend it with, and two people that she loves very much. They haven't discussed it at all, which seems strange considering how often it is shoved in their faces, and she wonders if that is deliberate, because none of them seem like the Valentine type, or if they're both just as new to this and unsure as she is. It isn't as if they could go out and do anything special with the nature of their relationship anyway.

But the one to actually bring it up to them is not one of them, but rather, Ferdinand, who can't keep his curiosity to himself. For the most part, he hasn't been weird about the fact that all three of them are dating, but as the day grows closer, he brings it up, saying, "What do you guys do for Valentine's Day?"

"What do you mean by that?" Edelgard asks.

"Well, I guess I mean what you're going to do, since you haven't had one before," he explains, already looking sheepish. "But I also mean...well, will you go out? All three of you?"

He must just still be bewildered by the entire concept, but that doesn't make the line of questioning any less embarrassing. At least it gets the topic of Valentine's Day out of the way, and out in the open for them to actually discuss.

"Of course not," she replies. "We're trying not to call attention to ourselves, remember? We'll just stay in, even if it is a special occasion." Hubert and Byleth are quick to agree with that, but neither of them makes the move to ask if they will be doing anything special while staying in, or if it will be just like any other night for them.

Byleth will be content either way, but she does wonder if they'll make any private plans for the night, just the same as she wonders if Ferdinand was simply asking out of his curiosity about how their relationship works, or if he had any other reason to. It is getting harder to pretend that she doesn't notice what's going on.