Of photos, texts and other signs your crush doesn't like you back

[ephitomis]

Title: Of photos, texts and other signs your crush doesn't like you back
Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Felix’s cellphone has been buzzing non-stop for almost ten minutes. Considering it’s three in the morning, there aren’t a lot of possibilities about who it’s the sender.

Option one: His brother has forgotten his keys. But even if he had, he would have gone to Ingrid’s place.

Option two: someone is dying and for some strange reason they’re calling Felix. 

Option three, and the most plausible of the three: Sylvain can’t fucking sleep.

It’s not as unusual as it sounds. Strangely enough, for someone who likes to appear as casual and uncaring as Sylvain does, he spends a lot of his time not sleeping and making sure Felix doesn’t sleep as well.

Probably because he’s a fucking dick.

Felix has been ignoring him valiantly, but he knows his patient is wearing thin, and he has… he has a lot of shit he has to do tomorrow. He doesn’t have the time to be awake and care about whatever tragedy has happened in Sylvan’s life.

Still, he sighs, and after another buzz, picks up the phone. 

K, but listen. What if

And I’m just saying what if

The reason why Dim and Edie are so fucking uptight

Is that they’re secret brother and sister, or idk cousins?

Wouldn’t that be wild?

Or maybe they’re just dicks. That’s possible too.

Felix furrows his brow. It’s unusual for Sylvain to talk badly about Dimitri, that was usually more Felix’s style. 

He sighs and simply writes shut up and stop texting me weird shit. It’s three o’clock and hopes that Sylvain understands and just goes back to sleep.

But, of course, it’s Sylvain,

U see, I lke you becos you write perfectly even at 3 o’clock. I’m a mess.

But okay think about it. They even have the hots for the same person

Isn’t that fucking wild?

It’s true, actually. It’s probably the reason why Dimitri has suddendly grown an interest in the theater, where before he wouldn’t be caught dead inside one. Not because he thought it was beneath him or anything like that but because Dimitri’s acting capabilities were abismal.

Watching him try to act was like watching Edelgard trying to be an actual human being. Uncomfortable and probably the sign of an impending apocalypse.

But the new student, Byleth, apparently loved the theater which was ironic, considering that her facial range was probably comparable to one of a snail.

Still, pretty funny.

But that doesn’t mean he wants to talk about it at that hour of the night. Go back to sleep, Sylvain, of I’ll fucking gut you.

U r so mean

It’s also why I like you.

I guess I like you for a lot of reasons ;)

And that, you see, was the problem with Sylvain’s little quirk of writing to Felix at strange hours of the night. Because Sylvain at three in the morning was like Sylvain at three in the afternoon, but strangely way more direct.

And while Felix knows perfectly well that Sylvain flirts like he does most things in life, carelessly and without any intention of committing, there’s still a part of Felix that stills and hopes when Sylvain says things like that.

He has tried to kill it mercilessly, but it’s more difficult when he can’t cut it with his sword. Still, Felix won’t be like all the stupid people hanging around Sylvain hoping to get a moment of his attention. Like all the women Sylvain flirts with and then gets bored after a couple of weeks.

So he simply text you deserve it and tries to forget about the damn wink.

U love me

Do you have Kendo practice tmrw? Wanna go make fun of Dim’s acting?

Felix does have Kendo practice, but it usually finished by the time Dimitri has theater and well. It’s not like Felix has anything else to do.

He could go home, but usually Glenn is home in the evening, and Felix really doesn’t want to have the heart to heart the other has been trying to have all week. But still, he doesn’t want to make it seem like he wants to spend time with Sylvain.

He’s sure that his refusal to concede to Sylvain’s charms is the reason why they’re still friends. So he simply sends will you shut up if I say yes and waits.

After a couple of seconds Sylvain replies with the emoji with the zipped up mouth. Felix sighs and tries to get back to sleep.

If only he could.

The next day school is as boring as always, only now Felix doesn’t have enough sleep under his belt to make it tolerable. The only thing making it bearable is the knowledge that he has Kendo after, and well…

No. He won’t even think it, let alone say it.

Still, he finds himself walking toward the theater, where Sylvain is waiting for him, texting someone on his phone. If Felix was someone else (Ingrid, or even Annette) he would make a joke about Sylvain texting one of his usual girlfriends and maybe discover who Sylvain is texting.

But he isn’t, and Felix shouldn’t care about Sylvain’s texting partners so he just grunts as a greeting and tries to pretend he doesn’t care.

Sylvain immediately looks up and smiles. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up,” the other starts, smiling wide. “I was getting ready to write you a lot of angry texts.”

“Would you have just sent the red faced emoji over and over?” Felix wonders, because Sylvain knows that Felix hates emojis. It’s a cheap trick, but it usually gets Felix worked up, and Sylvain has never been too good to use some dirty trick.

As expected, Sylvain simply smirks, confirming Felix’s suspicion. “But, you’re here! So no angry emoji for you. And you’re just in time, I only heard Edelgard yell at Dimitri once, so it means they haven’t started practicing.”

They sneak in and sit down at the end of the theater. Like Sylvain said, they still haven’t started, and so they get to see the entire performance of Dimitri and Edelgard. 

“How is it possible,” Sylvain asks, in the middle of Dimitri’s monologue, “that every time his acting takes me by surprise. I should be used to him sucking by now.”

“I think your brain tries to protect you,” Felix replies, immediatelly, “it knows you’re too stupid to store too many informations and so he erases the ones you don’t need.”

Sylvain laughs quietly, and it’s one of the reasons why they get along so well, because Sylvain never seems to take Felix’s responses too hard. Like he knows that it’s just the way Felix communicates.

They’ve been friends for years, but Sylvain is the only one that always seems able to understand when Felix is serious or not. Not even Dimitri, who has been his friend longer, can tell some times.

“I know I should be offended you called me stupid, but I just want to ask how you can think this is not important,” Sylvain insists, pointing at Dimitri. “I could spare myself so much pain by remembering how terrible he is. Or at least make fun of him.”

There’s nothing Felix can say to that, so they keep watching the rehearsals, but after Dimitri’s terrible performance, there’s really nothing of interest for Felix, that doesn’t remember or care about anyone else in the play.

It really shouldn’t be this much of a surprise that he manages to fall asleep, it’s just that when he wakes up he realizes that he’s leaning on Sylvan’s shoulder, using it as a pillow, and the rehearsals have ended.

Still, they’re seated at the edge of the theater, and Sylvan is putting away his cellphone. 

Felix immediately sits upright again, feeling a traitorous blush appear on his cheek. “You should have woken me up,” he says, feeling the burnt of embarrassment lap at his stomach.

Sylvain just shrugs, smiling at him. “Why? It was kind of cute.”

And Felix knows that Sylvain doesn’t mean it, that it’s just how Sylvain is, but he still feels himself getting redder by the second.

“Stop,” he growls, “it’s just that someone woke me up yesterday.”

“Yeah, which is why I was taking responsibility by letting you sleep on my shoulder,” Sylvain explains. He seems completely unfazed and unbothered, while Felix is a mess.

This is why he should stop with this ridiculous crush. It will never lead anywhere, and it’s just hopeless.

Felix stands up, feeling the need to move. “I’ll just go back and sleep in an actual bed. See you tomorrow?”

Sylvain stays put and nods. “Yeah, I won’t keep you.”

So Felix goes and tries to get his heart to calm down.

At three o’ clock that night, Felix receives another message. He hesitates a second before taking his cellphone and opening the photo Sylvain has sent him.

When he does he almost chokes on his own saliva.

It’s a photo of him from that afternoon, while he was sleeping on Sylvain’s shoulder. Sylvain must have taken a selfie, and he has drawn a heart around Felix’s face.

U don’t rlly need the beauty sleep tho

Is the caption that goes along with the photo and Felix swears he will fucking kill him. Delete it immediately, he writes back, feeling all the embarrassment from the afternoon resurface with a vengeance.

No

U look really cute, and I liked having u sleep in my shoulder.

It’s the only reply he gets, and Felix should have assumed so. It’s really prime material for Sylvain to make fun of him. He sighs, knowing he will have to threaten the other the following day to make him delete it.

Still, if he saves the photo, no one else has to know.