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The market was bustling. Food vendors called out to passers-by claiming that their prices couldn’t be beaten. Plumes of smoke emerged from the blacksmith’s corner near the gate of the monastery. Dimitri stood by one of the carts, frozen, hoping that something from their selection would just jump out at him.
“Penny for your thoughts, Your Highness?” Sylvain snaked his way through the crowd, though it wasn’t hard to spot him when his bright red hair towered over the rest of the villagers. He grinned wide at the prince, stepping up beside him and scanning the wares himself.
“Ah, Sylvain,” Dimitri said stiffly, hoping to hide the surprise in his voice. “Busy day today, isn’t it?”
Sylvain scanned his friend’s face, a glint of skepticism in his eyes. But he looked back down at the selection before them and breezed by it. “Sure is.”
“What brings you to the market today?” Dimitri went on. “I thought this was your day off. Aren’t you usually in town by this point?” He tried to scan the items secretly, glancing around as casually as he could manage.
“I was on my way,” Sylvain notes. “And then I saw you here and thought, well there’s a suspicious-looking old friend. I should see what he’s up to.”
“Suspicious?” Dimitri scoffed. “Hardly.”
“Oh, of course,” he went on. He bowed too low, the sarcasm not escaping Dimitri despite how dense his friends liked to tease him for being. “A thousand apologies, Your Highness. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“Clearly you were.”
As he continued to scan the wares, Dimitri wracked his brain for anything to change the subject. It might be too late to avoid him completely, but he could turn the tables on him, surely. Compliments had always made his old friend nervous…
“So, Sylvain,” Dimitri cleared his throat into his gloved fist. “I was actually thinking of stopping by to visit you later today. I had some questions about formation edits from our last mission. There was something off about it, but I can’t seem to figure out what. I thought you’d be able to help me pinpoint the problem.”
“Me?” Sylvain furrowed his brow, a crack splintering in his carefully crafted obliviousness. Perhaps it was evil of Dimitri to bring out the heavy artillery when he needed it most, but distraction and upfront tactics were the only way to win this battle.
Dimitri rolled his eyes, uninterested in the front his old friend always tried to uphold. “Oh come on, Sylvain. We grew up together. I’m well aware of your natural skill as a tactician. At least, in battle, anyway.”
“Gonna just breeze right past that backhanded compliment there.”
“You and Felix were too in sync in our last battle for it just to have been him. There was a plan there, I could see it, and I thought it would be worthwhile to get your input on last week's strategy meeting since-”
“Alright, enough,” Sylvain said with a sigh. “Who’s it for?”
Damnit.
“Pardon?” Dimitri blinked at him, trying to scan his memory of the last few minutes for a hint of something he may have missed.
Sylvain gestured vaguely at the cart. “The girl. The girl you are clearly struggling to buy something for right now. Who is she?”
“What do you mean?” A blush began crawling up his cheeks at the implication. Of course Sylvain would pick up on it. Of course it had to be him.
“Come on Dimitri,” Sylvain chuckled. “As you so purposefully pointed out, I’ve known you since we were kids. There is almost nothing you can hide from me. I’m the one who discovered that last crush of yours, after all.” His eyes widened. “Is...Saints, you’re not thinking about getting a dagger this time, are you? Don’t get her a dagger.”
“Shhh!” He looked around, like somehow she was listening in and that vague sentence was the thing that would give him away. “Would you drop that? I’m not getting her a dagger.”
“So there is a ‘her’?”
Damnit!
“You know, Sylvain,” he sighed, rubbing at the headache blooming at his temple. “I was serious when I said you’re an excellent tactician. Even in conversations you’re three steps ahead of your opponent. It’s maddening.”
Sylvain waved away the compliment. “Okay with the false flattery. Who is it? Come on, I need to know.”
“You really don’t,” Dimitri countered. “And it’s not false flattery, you’re genuinely good at it. So much so that you’re making my head hurt.”
“Of course I need to know!” he cried. “After all, I wouldn’t want to accidentally hit on your girl and get myself caught in some kind of duel with you. I’m still haunted by the last one.”
“We were like thirteen,” Dimitri reminded him. “And that wasn’t over a girl.”
“ You were thirteen. I was fifteen. Do you know how embarrassing it is to get your ass handed to you by a thirteen-year-old when you’re fifteen? And imagine how much more I’ll lose this time around,” Sylvain insisted.
The merchant bustled around trying to quell the unending demands of the villagers. The weekends were the busiest. Dimitri had thought that was a good thing; being able to get lost in the nameless faces of people on their missions of their weekly errands. Everyone had their own busy schedules and no time to see who else was around. He liked the idea of his voice getting lost in the shuffle. Although, he liked the idea of Sylvain getting lost in the shuffle a whole lot more.
“Alright, so who is it?” Sylvain went on. “Is it Ingrid? Because I’ll be honest, I’m not sure that’s a great match. She’s too focused on her work and stuff. Plus, eh, I don’t really think she’s into you in that way. She thinks of us all as brothers. She has told me, very bluntly I might add, that nothing would ever happen between us.”
“Sylvain,” Dimitri sighed.
“Okay, not Igrid. Is it Annette? I guess I could see that but she is a talker isn’t she?”
“Like someone else I know,” he mumbled.
Sylvain must have not heard him, because he kept rambling on. “And, between you and me, I sometimes catch Felix glancing at her at dinner. I think he might have a soft spot for her. We probably shouldn’t ruin that. Mercedes…Well, I don’t think Mercedes is really your type. So maybe someone from another house? Although I don’t see you spending much time with people outside of-” He stopped short, and Dimitri could see the cogs turning in his head. “Huh,” he said quietly.
Dimitri’s face burned, but he turned away quickly. “I guess you don’t know me as well as you think you do,” he tried, hoping the deflection was enough to let Sylvain drop it before he thought any harder about it.
“I guess you’re right,” he agreed, though his tone was far too light for a man who had just ‘given up on a problem’. Especially when that man was Sylvain. He leaned down a little too close and nodded toward the cart. “But may I suggest the leather bracelet over there? She was eyeing it the last time we had grocery duty together.”
Dimitri turned quickly toward him, to say something about how he was crazy and he didn’t know what he was talking about. But Sylvain was already walking back toward the monastery, waving lazily over his head as he called out a goodbye.
“He doesn’t know,” Dimitri assured himself. “You’re overthinking things.”
But when he looked down at the bracelet, he had to admit it looked a lot like her. It was pretty but practical. It wouldn't get in the way of her fighting like the dangling, silver jewelry would. That could work.
“See anything you like?” The merchant had finally finished with the other customers, and when he looked up at Dimitri he rushed himself into a bow. “Oh, Your Highness! I’m so sorry to keep you waiting, had I known you were waiting…”
“Oh don’t worry about it,” he quickly assured. “Remember, here I’m just another student.”
“Right, of course, sire,” he said suspiciously.
“That bracelet there, please. If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Of course.” The merchant quickly wrapped it up, trying to lower the price as Dimitri handed him his money, and frowning a bit at his refusal.
Dimitri hustled back toward the monastery, skillfully avoiding the new mob of people trailing down the hill toward the market. After ascending the stairs to the entrance hall, he veered toward the entrance hall to make his way to the gardens. Byleth had invited him for tea again. It was the second time that month, and he had been looking forward to it all afternoon.
Sylvain wasn’t wrong, unfortunately. There was a girl. If Dimitri was being honest, there had been a girl since the first night he saw her walk out from behind her father when they ran for assistance in Remier Village. It just was very…terrible timing.
“Dimitri.”
Byleth was standing under the vine-covered pergola. She wasn’t necessarily beaming, but there was something in her expression that was far softer than her usual pensiveness. Unknowingly, Dimitri beamed back. He hid the bracelet behind his back quickly, striding to meet her, hoping that, for once, he could be the one to surprise her.