Work Text:
It had only been a handful of days since Jeralt’s Mercenaries joined the Federation army, and Shez was still getting caught off guard.
Seeing the pale haired lady wander around camp, moving silent like a ghost, was setting off poor Bernie with each passing, the training fields had to be reworked out, and resources had to be reallocated.
But everyone seemed to be happy.
The war camp was in higher spirits than he could remember for the longest time.
Everyone except for Shez, that is.
Their kill, their reason for fighting, was wandering the camp.
As an ally.
He knew it was the best option, he did. He truly did. The fight ahead looked perilous and they could use such storied fighters as Jeralt and Byleth. It was the most logical option. He knew he could probably beat her, but better to have her join.
But it didn’t mean that he had to like it.
Arval was of a similar mind, apparently. He felt the strange presence push its was up to the front of his subconsciousness.
“Ugh. I get it. But it doesn’t make it any easier to see that….. Thing in our army.”
“Right? I don’t fully understand your issue with Byleth, but I’m agreeing with you on how much I hate seeing them walk around like they own the place.”
“You know how I can just *see* how the bonds between people work?”
Shez nodded his assent.
“I followed her around a bit and paid attention. Apparently, she can create just as strong bonds as you with everyone.”
Anger flooded Shez’s system. “Oh, that just won’t do.”
—
Shez spent the next day following Byleth around from a distance. He knew Arval had never let him down, but he wanted to confirm for himself Byleth’s bonds with everyone.
And confirm it he did.
From sword fighting with Petra to weight lifting with Raphael, Byleth was there. Emotionless but engaging. The more fighting oriented folks in their army spent the morning crowding around Byleth, admiring her fighting spirit as she sparred with Holst.
At lunch, Byleth was found listening with an even face to Lindhart and Lysithea arguing the details of Crest research while examining her hands. She didn’t even blink as they grabbed her fork hand mid bite and waved it around.
The most impressive thing happened after lunch, however. Sitting in one of the quieter glades, Byleth was calmly chatting with Marianne and Bernie. Despite Bernie’s fear of the “demon” around camp, she was happily yelling about a plant to the other two. Byleth nodded appropriately, but never smiled.
At that last sight, Shez and Arval were just sitting in awe. Jeralt eventually walked over and leaned over to Shez.
“Incredible, isn’t it?” Shez jumped out of his skin at the sound of Jeralt’s voice. Jeralt continued, “She has never been social, she’s never been good at making friends. But for some weird reason, everyone here can’t get enough of her. Hell, it’s enough to make her old man jealous.” He laughed to punctuate his point.
“She’s… not very good with people?”
“Oh, heavens no. I’m sure you noticed, she’s not very good at talking or showing emotions. Usually I would have to do all the talking while she would just stand there menacingly.” Jeralt sighed, “I guess that Claude kid was right when he said that it felt like he was waiting for her all along.”
Shez was starting to see red at the end of Jeralt’s sigh, how dare she just walk in and take all of my friend. I can’t…..
And his thought was interrupted by a quick sprint to the surface by Arval.
“Shez. SHEZ. GUESS WHAT?”
“What.” he whispered quietly to try and not have Jeralt get confused.
“You can get a SUPER strong bond with Jeralt.”
“Oh?”
“And I don’t know about you. But it looks like he’s also kinda jealous of his kid being so popular.”
Shez perked up very suddenly, surprising Jeralt.
“You thinking what I’m thinking? Ha, what am I kidding, I know you are. Let’s steal Byleth’s dad.”
With an honestly terrifying grin, Shez turned over to Jeralt. “Yeah, it’s been a lot getting used to all of my companions chatting with her. I’m happy for them, but I guess I’ll just have to stand out of the way until they adjust to her presence.”
“Yep. It’s gonna take some adjusting.” Jeralt looked down at Shez.
“Wanna…. Adjust together?” Shez joked.
Jeralt smiled, “You like fishing?”
—
They had agreed to go fishing in the morning together.
In the meantime, Shez was near giddy in his sleeping quarters.
“I’m gonna fuck Byleth’s dad.” Shez whispered to himself.
“Wait. WHAT.”
“I’m gonna fuck Byleth’s dad!” he said a little louder, with a giant grin on his face.
“Wait. I just meant you being closer with Jeralt than Byleth, I didn’t mean.”
“This is the pinnacle of closeness. I can sense he’s into me. Did you see his grin? I’m gonna fuck him. I’m gonna make Byleth call me daddy.”
“Oh… my god. I’m so grateful I learned how to completely turn myself off.”
“I’M GOING TO FUCK BYLETH’S DAD.” Shez screamed into his pillow.
Why are you so insistent about this?
“She killed my found family, so I’m gonna fuck her dad. This is the most concrete form of revenge I can take. I can’t kill her anymore and I can’t do anything to sabotage her. But I can…”
“You can fuck her dad.” Shez could feel Arval sigh.
“Yep!” Shez sang as he packed for the morning’s fishing trip. All the essentials.
“Why do you have that?”
“You didn’t think I was straight before this, did you?”
“I hate this.”
“Thanks!”
—
It had taken about a month on the road.
But he had done it.
He fucked Byleth’s dad.
He did it.
And, as he woke up the next morning after his lovely romp, the warmth in his chest just would not going away.
Multiple fishing trips later, he succeeded in his goal. He took away the only thing Byleth had. Her father’s sole attention. And made it better.
He rolled over only to feel Jeralt’s arm wrap around him. “Hey sweetie.”
Oh, he’s one for pet names, “Good morning, dear.”
There was a grumble coming from the large man next to him as he was pulled in tighter. “Goddess, you make me feel alive. Hope you don’t mind if I plan to keep you.”
A blush went all the way across Shez’s body. “I… I would like that.” Shez sighed in contentment after realizing that he did, actually, like that.
“Perfect, now let’s relax here until we have to get back to the war.” Jeralt tucked Shez’s head into his neck.
“Sounds good to me.” Shez lived on the warmth coming from the giant body next to him. The cold lands of the Kingdom were not easy in the early mornings.
The two laid there for a while longer, just resting together and trying to make the moment last forever.
And then Byleth opened the door to her father’s sleeping quarters.
“Father, may we….. Oh.” For the first time in Shez’s history with Byleth, he saw her at a loss for words. Her mouth was agape and he could actually tell that she was feeling an emotion. Of course this is what manages to get her to feel.
“Hey kiddo, sorry if this surprised you.” Jeralt sat up in the bed, his bare chest for all to see.
“I mean, I should have knocked, I…” Byleth was still processing and fishing for words.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes. I’ll meet you at the training grounds.” He groaned as he saw how high the sun was, “Sorry for being late.”
Byleth’s eyes were darting around, trying to look at anything but her father and Shez cuddling, “Take your time. I will see you later.” she spun around slamming the door behind her.
“Well, guess that’s my cue.” Shez sighed and started to get ready.
“She told me to take my time, I think that means I can steal one more kiss, don’t you?” Jeralt reached out and grabbed Shez’s arm, spinning him in and giving him a deep kiss.
“Oh. Yes.” Shez melted for a moment before remembering the question he was just about to ask, “Anyways… what do you want to do about this?”
“I thought I said that I would like this to be a thing?” Jeralt’s head tilted in confusion.
“I mean like…. Do you want me to come back tonight?” Shez stammered.
“Oh. Yes, please.” Jeralt chuckled deeply.
“Well, in that case, let me get ready for the day.” Shez manuvered out of Jeralt’s reach, “and I will see you later.” He punctuated his sentence with a kiss to Jeralt’s nose before slipping through the shadows to their room.
After getting dressed they walked outside at just the right time to see Byleth passing.
He called over to the Ashen Demon, beckoning her to come over.
“What is it.” Byleth awkwardly stated, still trying to not meet Shez’s eyes.
Shez grinned and leaned in very close, nearly face to face with his past tormentor. “You can call me Daddy now, thank you.” and slipped into the shadow’s once more, flipping her off as he went.
“I fucking hated this plan. But….”
“Yes?”
“I can’t deny how good it felt to see her face just then.”