victory_road | January Catchall [closed]

[It's been...awkward since Sylvain and Byleth returned. Moreso for the adults, in Sylvain's case, but it affects Chip all the same. They've gone somewhat back to their quieter ways, keeping mostly out of people's way and playing with their Paliens more than training--probably to be expected, given how sensitive they are to the mood of those around them.]

[But today seems to be a little different! They're not quite sneaking around the house, but they have a paper bag clutched close to their chest as they shyly peek into room after room, searching around for...someone, one would assume. But as soon as anyone makes eye contact with them they freeze up for a moment before shyly asking--]

...d'you wanna make some s'mores?

[Honestly, Dimitri has also been very aware of how much this all must be affecting Chip. It's part of why he's been trying to act normal with Sylvain, even if what is 'normal' is now such a tricky and ever shifting thing in a place like this.]

[Once upon a time, normal would have been refuting all of Sylvain's teasings. Another, ignoring him completely. Another, and it would have been leaning against him, feeling warm.]

[Still, Dimitri has been doing his best, especially with everything that's been happening. Yet sometimes, all he can do is keep his hands and mind busy, trying to ignore the quiet hum of noises he's not sure are actually there.]

[So when Chip actually opens the door, the creak of hinges doesn't hit Dimitri immediately as he hunches over a sketchbook, trying to doodle a snoozing Shuck who's rolled over onto her back. She isn't the same, however, and the Lycanroc jolts a little bit at the smell of chip, and the Forbidden Chocolates. It's around then that Dimitri jolts his head up as well, blinking a few times.]

Chip? [Oh. Oh, he understands, and a smile settles on his face.] Of course. It has been a long time, hasn't it?

[Well, in that case, he can just put his sketchbook to the side. It's not as though Shuck is in the right position anymore anyway... Getting up to his feet, he heads over to Chip immediately.]

It is the perfect weather for such things, isn't it? You know, I always meant to ask and then forgot, but is there anything else you can put on s'mores?

[Chip beams and nods when Dimitri agrees, and they turn to lead the way back to the kitchen--they want to make the s'mores with the microwave this time!!]

Umm...I don't know? I guess you could make it with a different candy bar...or put caramel on it!!

[Oh - okay, so this - this isn't outside like he thought it would be. He thought they had an oven or something out there? The Vermillion house has so many ovens, for heat, but he thinks the outdoors one is different.]

Caramel... That normally goes inside candy bars, doesn't it?

It cannot be that hard to make... So we could melt a little bit of chocolate, and then drizzle the caramel on.

[This super won't go horribly wrong at all!]

Edited 2022-01-19 03:34 (UTC)

[If they don't HAVE to go outside to enjoy stupid amounts of sugar, why would they?]

Yeah, yeah!! There might be some sauce still from for the ice cream!!

[Which was definitely put on the top shelf of the fridge so Chip can't get to it--]

Oh, yes! There is caramel sauce for the ice cream, I forgot all about it.

[Good news for the pots and pans that they have here in the kitchen.... And good news for Chip, because Dimitri wastes no time in going straight over to the fridge. That height of his is put to good use as he retrieves the caramel sauce, and inspects it.]

Have you ever microwaved caramel before, Chip....?

Won't it just be the same as fudge?

[Chip is pretty sure it's exactly the same. They dump the bag out over the counter and start shoving stuff into their proper piles before tearing open the marshmallows and stuffing one into their mouth.]

When're you 'n Dedue gonna kiss?

[Although speaking of yeeting, Dimitri practically fumbles with the caramel sauce as he goes to put it down. Thank human innovation for plastic, and all that, or else he'd be absolutely fucked.]

What? What - me and Dedue - [hold on, hold on, he can Definitely keep his cool in front of a child] - What makes you think that would happen with me and Dedue?

...because you love eachother?

[DUH?!?!?!]

[Oh god, even the small child is calling him out for being embarrassing about Dedue, does Dedue know what he's doing-]

Ah, that is just a misunderstanding. It is rather complicated, Chip, but a romance between Dedue and I is rather impossible, you see, so -

[............wait]

[Chip said "you", in a, like, plural way. As in him and Dedue. Instead of just him.]

[...]

...Did he tell you that he liked me in that fashion?

[Well, if Dimitri is going to just stand there clearly Chip can just take the caramel and start absolutely destroying this proto-s'more with it, right?]

He didn't have to, he looks at you like how Dad looks at Shiro.

[how does this child know so much]

[Still, destroying the proto-s'more with caramel was the plan, so it's not like Dimitri stops them. He has slightly more pressing matters to deal with.]

I... How did you know about Shiro? And I hadn't thought Dedue was looking at me in any particular way...

[For a man who has learned to read the most minute of Dedue's facial expressions to see when he's happy eating a meal, this is one of Dimitri's biggest blind spots.]

[they see everything]

'Cuz he doesn't do it when you're looking.

[...Chip. Chip you didn't answer the other question--]

[Slowly, Dimitri starts setting up the graham base of his own s'more monstrosity - s'morstrosity - without any real mind to it. He's still staring, boggled.]

You mean he... He does it behind my back?

[Chip frowns up at Dimitri.]

You do it, too.

...I cannot deny that.

[Or he could, but then he'd be a LIAR who was LYING to CHIP and dimitri's heart can't take that kind of betrayal]

I just.... did not think Dedue did it.

Why not?

[And it is here that Dimitri flounders. More than he was already, at least.]

[When he had been confronted on the matter by Felix, and then Grant and Claude when the whole thing had been brought up in one of their talks, Dimitri had gone in depth on all of his concerns about pursuing a relationship with Dedue. He'd re-explained the Tragedy, the genocide, his role and Dedue's, his fears and anxities...]

[Chip is very bright when they want to be, he's certain. He doesn't want to treat them like an idiot. It's just...]

[How is he supposed to explain all of this to them? And why does it feel so hard?]

[The end visible result is Dimitri looking like his brain is going to melt out of his ears, painfully, while his fingers keep flexing over the marshmallow bag in his grip and making the saddest little puff sounds.]

[Give. Give him a second.]

...Back in Fodlan... Dedue has the position of my most trusted knight, essentially. My right hand, in some cases, different from Felix.

I spent almost the entire time we knew one another trying to convince him to just so much as call me by my name, like proper friends. But so often, he wouldn't even do that... no matter if we were in private.

So it is... hard to imagine feelings like that for me.

[And it's a very complicated thing for Dimitri! Social expectations, the knowledge of the difference in status, having to worry about the optics of things like that...]

...that's just him being polite.

[Shame Chip doesn't know shit about fuck in politics.]

[Okay. So. Hold on. Let him just put down the bag of marshmallows and, like. pick out the most squished ones for his s'more.]

...It's polite for friends to not call you by name?

[Chip he loves you dearly, but also he's pretty sure that's the OPPOSITE of how it works]

Well, 'cuz you're like. A king and stuff?

[This made more sense in their head. Hm.]

...

[Chip shoves their plate of messy s'more into the microwave, hits the one minute button, and then grabs Dimitri's hand to drag him along with them...somewhere? They are Going.]

But I told him it was alright if he called me by my name, if we were alone in a place, just the two of us...

[Dimitri doesn't even question OR think to stop Chip as they grab his hand and Just Go. Instead, he's still in the middle of distressedly explaining himself, gesturing with a packet of graham crackers he's still holding onto for.... some reason.]

backdated to...sometime. don't worry about it.

gathers child tags up to chest and hoards them

thank u father for my life

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INBOX WHY DID YOU YEET THIS TAG

I WAS WONDERING LFKJDS:LFKJ:LDS

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leaves you waiting for five days for two words orz--

that just makes it funny tbh

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