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“I still don’t understand why I have to go to this party. Dr. Casagranda has a ton of friends, surely she won’t miss me.”
“It’s for charity, Claude, and she invited us personally. Besides, it’s the last event before you’re back at school for the semester, you’ll probably see some of your classmates.”
Tiana von Riegan was a stubborn and impetuous creature. Claude’s father had always joked that his mother must have created him without any help, because he had inherited absolutely none of his father’s traits, but Claude’s father often forgot that Claude had traveled with him on the campaign trail when he was running for Senate, and absolutely knew how to work a room. Politics had never been Tiana’s forte, but she was intelligent and insightful, often helping her husband work through issues that he was frustrated with.
Tiana preferred the levity of parties to the rigidity of shop talk, yet another trait that Claude had inherited from her, but “masquerade” was not one of his favorite themes. “I’ve never liked masquerade balls. It’s hard to tell what a person is thinking when their face is half-covered.”
His mother scoffed as she put on two separate earrings, looking at herself in the mirror to see which one would go best with her gown, “That’s the fun of it! Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone interesting and sneak off into the shadows to get better acquainted. That’s how I met your father.”
Tiana von Riegan also wasn’t shy about her disdain that her son had yet to find a partner worthy of his time. He shook his head abruptly, trying to erase the image his mother’s comment had conjured in his brain. She tutted at the look on his face, “I’m sure some of your friends will be there. And if they aren’t, just stay close to the bar, Manuela is famous for her stellar cocktails.”
Manuela Casagranda’s events always had the best food and the best alcohol, and Claude had to admit the venue was decorated beautifully.
“Ugh, I love masquerades. Everyone is so sexy and mysterious.” Hilda Goneril tittered from beside him, her pink eyes shining bright against her sparkly silver mask as she watched the dance floor. “I wish someone would come and ask me to dance.”
Claude smirked, “Someone always does, Hil. Just be patient.”
As if on cue, the familiar form of Lorenz Gloucester materialized in front of them, and he held out a hand for Hilda to take, “Can I claim a dance with the prettiest belle at the ball? Or has Claude claimed you for himself already?”
Hilda’s laugh was airy as she clasped his hand, “You are incorrigible. But no, Claude hasn’t claimed anything. He’s over here brooding.”
Lorenz and Hilda gave each other quick pecks on the cheek, a silly habit they’d started after an unfortunate event at another charity ball. His lilac eyes found Claude’s as he gave his best smile, “Oh just give him a couple more drinks and he’ll be out there dancing with everyone.”
“Evening, Lorenz.” Claude tipped his glass with a nod, “Did Ferdinand come with you?”
The man waved a hand dismissively, “Oh, yes. He went off to find Dorothea and Mercedes. He’ll come find me later once he’s tired of them.”
Lorenz and Ferdinand had started dating their freshman year of college, finding common ground in the form of classic literature and elegant tearooms, “I’m going to swipe your date now, don’t stay over here by yourself all night, okay?” Lorenz gave a dramatic bow as he pulled Hilda to him, spinning her around gracefully as he steered her toward the dance floor. Her laugh rang out as Lorenz pulled her close to him, and Claude knew that would probably be the last time he saw Hilda for the rest of the night. He tipped his nearly empty champagne glass back so he could finish it in one swallow and turned to head back toward the bar. The bartender greeted him warmly as he leaned on the counter and tapped his fingers impatiently, waiting for her to finish up her current cocktail. She had long green hair pulled up into a curly ponytail, and she moved so quickly Claude didn’t have to wait more than a few seconds for her full attention to be on him, “Good to see you, Claude.”
He raised his eyebrows, “I’m surprised you recognize me with this mask on, Flayn.” He said sarcastically, “I guess the jig is up.”
She simpered at him, “You think I could forget those piercing green eyes of yours? Not a chance.”
Flayn also bartended at a pub that Claude frequented near the University. She was the best bartender in Fodlan, it was no wonder that Manuela had hired her for the evening, “What can I get you?”
He considered her for a moment, “Not sure, what’s popular?”
Flayn’s eyes brightened at the question, “The 7&7 has been pretty popular, and the French 75. I guess it depends on how you’re feeling. I can also make you one of my own creations if you want.” She winked.
The last time he’d let Flayn make up a drink, he’d woken up in Lorenz’s bed with no idea how he got there, “Tempting, but I’ll keep it simple. The French 75 will be fine.”
“Smart.” She smirked as she turned to start mixing his drink. As she went to work on his cocktail, he turned to face the dance floor, leaning against the bar. He saw Hilda and Lorenz twirling about, followed by the familiar red and brown manes of Dorothea and Ferdinand. A small part of him wished he had someone to dance or disappear with. Flayn tapped him on the shoulder as she presented his drink to him, and he slipped a twenty into her tip jar before he turned to watch the dancers again. An unfamiliar voice pulled him from his thoughts as he turned to try and find the source, and his eyes landed on a woman leaning against the other side of the bar. She wore a navy ball gown with a silver mask, her dark hair tied into a braid that sat upon the top of her head. Her makeup was minimal, Claude could only see the faint stain of lipstick on her mouth as she chatted animatedly with Flayn.
He’d certainly never seen her at one of these parties, before. He made his way carefully to sit near her, hoping to catch a name, at least.
“Surprise me, Flayn. I’ll need it to get through the rest of the night.”
Claude smiled to himself, “Those are famous last words, if I ever heard them.”
The woman’s eyes snapped up to meet Claude’s, and they were a steely blue, “I take it you know from experience?”
Claude’s pulse skittered as she evaluated him, “Last time I had Flayn make me one of her ‘surprises,’ I woke up in a friend’s bed the next morning with no idea how I got there.”
The woman’s laugh was musical, “I guess I’ll need to find someone to watch me, then.” She clicked her tongue as Flayn slid her cocktail glass to her. She turned to head back toward the crowd and looked back at him before departing, “Thanks for the tip, stranger.”
Claude was out of his seat quicker than he would have liked, “I can accompany you, if you’d like. I was the one to warn you, after all.”
What he could see of her gaze was calculating, “I guess that’d be fine.” Her eyes flitted over to Flayn, “If something happens to me, Flayn. You may look for this guy first.”
With that, Claude grabbed his cocktail and followed her to the edge of the crowd, falling into step easily beside her. She looked over to him as they traversed the party, sipping her drink slowly. She moved gracefully, and Claude found himself captivated.
“You’re not here with someone, are you?”
“I am, actually.” she nodded, and Claude felt his stomach drop, “But it’s a friend.”
“I see.” Claude scanned the crowd, waiting for her friend to come storming toward them with his fist poised to strike, “Where is your friend now?”
The woman’s eyes flitted back over to the dancers. They scanned over the crowd before settling on a blonde, “There she is.”
Claude’s gaze followed hers to settle on Ingrid Galatea, a pre-vet major with whom Claude had shared a couple of core classes. She was in a heated conversation with someone that Claude recognized as Glenn Fraldarius. He was in his third year of the International Business program, one year ahead of Claude, “Are you a student at the University then? I don’t recognize you.”
The woman’s mouth curled into a small smile, and Claude wondered how it would feel against his, “That’s the entire point of these masquerades, isn’t it? I could share classes with you, and you’d never know.”
This was why Claude hated masquerade balls. It was too easy to get into trouble with people you were acquainted with in real life. His heart pounded against his ribcage, but he soothed it with a smile and ran a hand through his hair, “I guess that is part of the allure of these things. Trysts in the shadows and whatnot.”
She tipped her glass and took another sip, “Good recovery, but I can tell you’re trying to figure out where you know me from. Coming up with any leads?”
He shook his head, not convinced that he’d have been able to ignore her if he’d met her outside of the event, “Sorry, no.”
She held his gaze for five seconds too long, and Claude felt his temperature rising as she let his confession hang between them, finally relenting with a snicker, “Well, that’s good, because I’m a transfer from FIT this year, and I’d have hated to find out you were a crazy stalker.”
Claude pushed out the breath he’d been holding, “Wow. That was…inordinately cruel. And here I thought we were getting along so well .”
“Well, the night’s still young.” She mused, and the look that passed between them caused a blush to start forming across the bottom of her mask. Claude felt himself draw closer to her, and before he knew it his mouth was ghosting across the shell of her ear. “So.” He crooned, “Do you have a name, or do I get to guess?”
His voice came out more gravely than he intended, but she didn’t seem to mind, instead stepping back so that she could see his half-covered face, “Byleth…Eisner.” She whispered, “What about you?”
She was so close to him that it would have taken minimal effort for him to reach down and sate his curiosity, and Claude could tell by the look in her eyes that he’d elicited a similar reaction from her, but he stopped himself, “Claude von Riegan.”
She hummed as he snaked a hand around her waist, pulling her flush against him, “To think, I didn’t want to come to this because I thought it would be boring. What an unexpected surprise.”
When he bent down to kiss her, she gasped, one of her hands wrapping itself around his waist as she pushed the other against his chest. She sighed and he swallowed it as he darted his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss as one of his hands reached up to cup her cheek. He smiled against her as the hand that was on his chest found its way into his hair, causing a tingle of pleasure to jolt through his body. It was complete insanity, making out with a stranger that he just met. His mother’s words echoed in his mind as Byleth returned his kiss with equal fervor.
“Maybe you’ll meet someone interesting and sneak off into the shadows to get better acquainted.”
His desire threatened to overtake him as they drank each other in, but Claude’s sense reasserted itself as he broke the kiss, catching his breath as he stepped away from her, “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”
Her chest and face were crimson, and her expression unreadable under the mask, but not awful. She flashed him a coy smile, smoothing the sides of her dress where his fingers had wrinkled the fabric, “Someone once told me it was part of the allure of these things, how interesting that they were right.”
Byleth was gone before Claude had a chance to respond, and he thought she may have been a figment of his imagination, until Hilda started yanking on his arm, wearing a wide smile as she shook his shoulders, “Who the fuck was that, Claude? That was some kiss! Have you been holding out on me?”
The following Tuesday, Claude walked into his International Justice class to a cacophony of chatter. He took a seat next to Lorenz and motioned vaguely around the room, “Any idea what they’re in a tizzy about?”
“New professor. He’s supposed to be terrifying. I hear he used to work for the Blaiddyd family and the Fodlani International Investigation Team. He was part of the undercover strike force during the Imperial War twenty years ago. The man has seen some shit, this is going to be good.”
Claude scanned his syllabus, “I don’t remember seeing a new name in the course catalog when I signed up for this class.”
“I think the change happened after we registered. The syllabus is probably obsolete.”
The room went silent as one of the doors swung open, and the man Claude assumed was their new professor walked in. He was every bit the grizzled veteran Claude expected from Lorenz’s brief description. He nodded in greeting and walked over to the board to start writing notes, “This is International Justice, Course Number 2185. I understand that your syllabus has Professor Rangeld listed, but his research has pulled him in a different direction this semester. I am his replacement, General –”
The creak of a door rang out from the back of the room, and Claude expected the new professor to start barking orders or yelling at the latecomer. He was surprised when all the man did was roll his eyes and scoff. Claude craned his neck to find the source of his indignation, and the woman standing in the doorway was vaguely familiar, with dark hair pulled up into a ponytail and steely blue eyes. She had a smirk on her face that told Claude she was already familiar with their professor.
He groaned as he motioned for her to sit down, “Apologies, everyone. It seems that my own daughter can’t even be on time to her old man’s classes. As I was saying, I am General Jeralt Eisner.”
Oh sweet Sothis.
“You can call me whatever you want: General, Jeralt, Teach. We’re all adults here, so as long as you do what I say and don’t give me any bullshit, we should get along just fine.”
Byleth’s eyes found Claude, and there was a flash of recognition as she nodded at him, her lips curling into the same smirk she’d given him at the masquerade ball, after he’d had his tongue down her throat. He gulped and darted his eyes away from her to look pointedly at his textbook, and Lorenz looked at him with a mixture of confusion and amusement, “Wait…wasn’t Eisner the last name of that woman from the –?”
Claude hissed under his breath, “Shut up, Lorenz.”
He slung an arm over Claude’s shoulder, “Holy shit, this really is going to be good, I can’t wait to tell Hilda about it.”
“I’ll have copies of my new syllabus for you all on Thursday, as well as an updated reading list. With the sudden transition in professors, I didn’t have time to prepare as well as I would have liked. For today, we’ll just spend the period getting to know each other. Now, who would like to go first?”
Lorenz grabbed Claude’s arm and raised it violently, “I think Claude would like to go first, General. He’s been excited about this class all summer.”