Race Against Time

Smile

"I'll take a daiquiri. Strawberry, please."

"Coming right up," Byleth nodded affirmatively before turning to the customer's friend. The customer was a girl with orange hair tied into two, cute pigtails. She wasn't a regular customer as Byleth had never seen her before. Her friend had platinum blonde hair and a ditzy look on her face. "Would you like anything?"

"Oh, no," The woman shook her head in polite refusal, a smile on her face. "I'm trying to stay clean."

"Mercie here needs to loosen up," The pigtailed girl giggled, and then smiled mischievously. "Ooh, bartender? Who's your other friend over there?"

"Hm?" Byleth furrowed her brow in confusion, and the pigtailed girl gestured to her right. Byleth looked over to see Claude serving some other people, and he winked at the girl he was serving. Byleth shook her head in playful amusement. "Oh, he's new. Name's Claude."

"Oh, no, Annie! I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no," 'Mercie' said firmly, laughing softly. "I'm not looking for any sort of relationship."

"He's a nice guy," Byleth shrugged as she began to make the drink, smiling at the two girls. "He's pretty nice."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'll have to talk to him myself!" 'Annie' laughed once more, before vehemently shaking her head. "Just kidding. I could never!"

Byleth wondered why not as she mixed the drink. After all, Claude was handsome, gracious, and funny. He was charming, why wouldn't this girl want him?

Oh well. It wasn't her business, after all. Besides, Claude probably had a girlfriend, anyway, with how he had literally taken her breath away and everything! What a strange feeling to have around someone.

"Here you go," Byleth delivered the drink to the orange haired girl, and grabbed the money off the bar. She sighed in relief; she had a moment of time to herself before any other people came into the bar.

"Tired, Teach? It's not even midnight yet."

Claude's playful voice teased her as he leaned onto the counter beside her. She shook her head, turning to look at him in amusement.

"No way. Believe me, I'm used to this," Byleth reminded him once again. "Oh, you know...you don't really need to call me Teach anymore. I meant I've taught you the basics already."

"But I like calling you Teach," Claude shrugged nonchalantly. "Kinda hard to make a nickname out of your real name...I haven't been here long enough to know everything, anyway."

"Three days is long," Byleth disagreed with him, but she shrugged. "If you want to keep calling me that, I won't stop you. It's just weird, since I've never had a nickname before."

"...You seem like you haven't really done a lot of things before," Claude told her, and a frown formed on her face as she realized he was right. Throughout their conversations these past few days, Claude had often remarked on how she'd been missing out. Whether it was smiling, or having friends, or going to parties...Byleth had always responded with not knowing how that went.

"Yeah..."

"...Well, that's why I'm here, right?" Claude offered her a smile to try and cheer her up. Byleth appreciated that about him; he was always trying to make everyone else happy. "I'm going to make sure you experience everything you've ever missed out on."

"I don't think I was really cut out for that sort of thing," Byleth disagreed. She had always been more of a loner; her life had been rather dull. She simply went through the motions of basic life, she'd never really had fun.

Of course, that had changed when Claude arrived, but...

"You don't think you're cut out for having fun?" Claude asked seriously, reaching out to pat her on the back lightly. "Everyone deserves to be happy, Teach. Everyone. I'll make sure you get your happy ending."

Byleth chuckled, letting a small smile slip. He grinned back at her, and Byleth brought her hands to her mouth in surprise at her own actions. Claude had brought up how he had never seen her smile...yet that had felt so easy and natural.

"See?" Claude told her knowingly before winking. "You know...That's the first time I've ever seen you smile. It looks good on you."

Byleth found herself gaping in amazement as he walked away to take more orders. Wow. He really was good at making her feel more positivity than she had ever felt before... If someone had asked Byleth if she wanted to change her way, Byleth would have instantly denied that. Yet when Claude told her to learn to be happy, Byleth actually felt it could happen.

Maybe with him...she'd be happy.

Whatever it was, Byleth looked forward to having Claude by her side. He was a great addition to her life.