Chapter Text
Claude had been really enjoying the most recent unit in his Tactics & Weaponry class - taught by his talented Teach, though that was not actually the reason that he was enjoying it. It was a unit on close-quarters combat, which while interesting and worth learning about, close-quarters combat was Claude’s least preferred method to use himself. It was high risk, high reward. Claude preferred the calculated risks that came with being well out of reach, taking out his enemies before they even got close. Nevertheless, this was now his favorite unit because it had loosened the tight tongue of Teach’s ice fortress of a twin sister, Bylia, and he was really savoring the access to such easily given information.
It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch to have such an incomplete read on a person. He had agonized similarly over how long it took him to get Marianne to open up about her secrets, and in the beginning with Flayn as he weaseled out her true identity, but at least that one hadn’t taken too long to crack. But with Bylia, it was much, much worse, because she gave him nothing, and along with her brother, she was one of the top ranking dangerous people on his list.
That’s why he couldn’t help but listen with what could only be described as a smug, satisfied smirk as he propped his cheek on his fist and watched her speak from his peripheral vision. In only the space of a few days, he’d made good progress on her tells - he could now recognize pride, passion, and content where before he’d only known irritation and disdain. He also knew several more of her opinions.
Victory was sweet.
Which was why it was so irritating that when he’d finally gotten a situation that gave him a great source of information on her, she hadn’t shown up to class for the past three days. Claude wasn’t having any misconception about her willingness to be here - the information that she hated being at the monastery was the one thing she did give out for free on a regular basis to just about anybody - but even she had never played hooky out of rebellion for this long.
His suspicions were confirmed when he recognized, of all rare things, Teach’s lying face when he asked about Bylia’s whereabouts and got an uncomfortable “She’s... sick.” Who did Byleth think he was to be fooled with such a pathetically delivered lie? That just made him want to know whatever secret they were hiding all the more.
There were a few things he needed to take care of, namely a few letters to certain people within the alliance, but after that, he was going to take a much deserved break from the pile of books he really should be reading and go find out where and what Bylia was up to.
After a casual but thorough walk through the monastery with no sight of the other Eisner twin, Claude could only surmise that she was either not at Garreg Mach at all, or in her room.
There was a little twist in his gut. Maybe she was sick after all.
Caring, responsible house leader he was, it was only natural that he should visit her to check if she was okay. Posturing was important, at the very least. Rule number one of society, even if you didn't care, you should seem like you do. People liked that.
He was a few steps away from her door enjoying the warm breeze when he heard it.
At first, Claude didn’t even recognize it for what it was, since he had never actually heard such a sound made by that voice before. It was a couple of strides later before the information clicked in his brain and grasped his heart with a fist of ice - it was Bylia, crying out in pain.
He raked his memory for the exact image of Byleth’s face from earlier - it had been concerned, certainly, but not the type of face one would have were their sibling dying. The wheels of his clever mind spun wildly as he tried to make sense of what he heard, frozen in front of the door to Bylia’s room… but he reached no explanation that made sense.
There was a faint scent in the air that kept distracting him - it smelled amazing, sweet and natural like one of his favorite kinds of incense back in Almyra. It reminded him of spiced fruit somewhat. It made his mouth water and his skin tingle.
Now that he was right outside her door, he could hear another sound, he realized. It was a faint rhythmic creaking sound, like a door being opened and closely repeatedly or somebody jumping on a… bed? Odd.
Her voice sounded again, and this time he pressed his ear against the door shamelessly. It was a long, high pitched whine this time, that cracked off into a dry sob.
The pure exhausted desperation of the sound was what clicked all the puzzle pieces into place in Claude’s mind. The smell, the days missed from class, the oddly uncomfortable look on Teach’s face as he told a complete lie, the creaking noise…
Bylia was in heat.
Claude cycled through emotions rapidly, like shuffling through a deck of cards: shock, first - only Omegas went into heat. Such a feisty spitfire of a woman being anything other than an alpha was so far from his expectations he would scarcely have believed it were he not standing close enough to smell what he now recognized as mating pheromones, appealing directly to the senses of any compatible alpha who smelled it.
Irritation. That one stumped him - why did it bother him that she had been able to so effortlessly and completely brush off his attempts to charm her, especially now that he knew that she had to, at least on some physical level, have been physically attracted to him?
Trepidation. Possessiveness. The thought of somebody else claiming her in this weakened state had his stomach roiling. Another being able to see, touch, feel her intimately and even worse, her enthusiastically reciprocating met his thoughts with a vehement rejection with a force that surprised him. Sure he wanted to use her, had even entertained some thoughts about how good an Almyran queen the lethal woman would make. But in reality, they weren’t that close at all. So why was he afraid to lose her to someone else?
Desire. That one was normal, any alpha would respond this way, muscles stiffening as he drew a sharp breath through his nostrils.
He should really leave, he thought. Someone’s identity was a very private thing, and he was sure that of all the people she wanted to have find out she was an omega, he was probably close to the top of the list. And that intoxicating smell was beginning to make his pants feel tight, and he didn’t want to have to walk through the monastery with a tent in his trousers. Definitely a bad look, not to mention physically uncomfortable.
Claude was turning away to leave and ruminate over this new discovery when that sweet, lilting, breathless voice moaned again.
“Nngah, aaah, nn, Claauhahaude fuck me!”
He choked on his saliva, stopping dead in his tracks.
“Cla-claude pleease!”
Bylia was getting herself off to imagining him . She wanted him . Claude thought right then and there she was perhaps the best gods damn liar he’d ever met. She’d had him thoroughly fooled that she hated his guts. But she could not lie to herself in this state.
His entire body felt hot. Was she in there, impaling herself desperately on some toy, imagining it were his cock as she chased orgasm after orgasm but was left only exhausted and craving, needing to be filled with the real thing? Was it his hands she imagined, insistently touching her body wherever they wanted, ravaging her? His teeth on her neck, claiming her as his own?
Claude had to know.
He moved as if in a trance, raised his hand and knocked on the door.
The noise suddenly stopped, and then he heard something clattering loudly to the floor, and some sounds like something heavy being shoved.
“Go away!” Bylia’s voice sounded panicked from behind the door.
He simply knocked again, more insistently this time.
The door slowly opened, only enough to show the slightest peek into the room. Bylia gripped the door defensively, hiding most of her body behind it.
The intoxicating smell was suddenly overpowering. He couldn’t help but take deep breaths of it as his gaze raked over the woman standing before him. Long blue hair in disarray, red cheeks, sweat clinging to her neck, chest heaving - she was wearing a simple black tank top, a tiny black skirt, and nothing else - anxiously shifting her weight from leg to leg as her eyes widened in dismay at the person who she probably wanted to see just about the least - or the most? right now.
“Claude?!” Her voice wavered and had a rasp to it that sounded like it would go hoarse soon. “What are you doing here, I - ... get lost already! You’re the last person I want around while I’m… I’m...” She trailed off, unwilling to admit what she knew must be obvious by now - that she was in heat. It took longer for the familiar angry expression to settle on her face, but this time, Claude knew better than to buy it.
“Yeeaah, about that,” He said, narrowing his eyes at her as he pushed his way inside the room and crossed his arms across his chest. “I think it’s time we had a little chat.”
---
“How long were you going to keep it from me?” Now given the privacy of being behind a closed and locked door, Bylia fidgeted where she sat against the wall on her bed, Claude standing stiffly in the middle of her room.
“Huh?” Bylia’s eyes were glassy and unfocused.
“Were you really planning on getting off to me your entire heat and not even breathing a single word of it to me? You really are one cold woman.”
“ What?!? ” She spluttered, entire face going red with what he figured was more panic than embarrassment, “That’s ridiculous, you’re the last person I would ever-”
“Wooow, you’re going to deny it even to my face!” Claude let out a low whistle as he shook his head. “There’s really no need to bother keeping up that ruse - I heard everything.”
True panic spread across her face this time, turning it pale instead of red. Claude ignored the instinctive reflex in his gut that urged him to take her in his arms and comfort her immediately.
Her mouth gaped soundlessly, opening and closing like a fish as she cycled through excuses and knew not a single one would work. There was nothing she could say that would let her take back this secret.
“... I’m sorry.” She said in a small voice, clearly mortified. She swallowed thickly and raised a hand to her forehead with a groan. “Oh god, I don’t feel so good.”
Claude’s expression softened. He could only imagine how much it would suck to be an omega and experience a heat in an environment surrounded by so many people like this - especially without a partner to help her through it.
“I just don’t understand… why didn’t you tell me? I’m not that much of a prude, you know.”
The flint was back in her eyes as she glared up at him. There was something else he was missing here, he realized. “I hate how attracted I am to you. I bet you’re eating this up aren’t you, you manipulative asshole.” She bit out, grinding her teeth.
Claude furrowed his brows. “I would never-”
“-I know you only do things that benefit you,” Bylia accused, pointing a finger at him. “And I can even admit that I respect the power that you have as a result. But even if I was nice to you, it wouldn’t change what you feel about me.” To his surprise, he saw her furiously blinking back tears. “You can use everyone else, but I won’t let you do it to me. I won’t be your pawn to be used and thrown away!”
She saw so much more than he ever gave her credit for - most people didn’t think to look for anything behind his mask, enjoying the friendly jokester of a house leader he presented for them. Even if they suspected, they didn’t want to look. It was how he had kept the secret of his origin for so long despite his obvious physical differences from his Fodlanese classmates.
“I would never throw you away Bylia.” The vehemency in his voice startled even him, realized he’d used his alpha tone unwittingly. But he needed her to know that as fact.
Bylia just stared at him, shocked. It took her a moment to recover. “Why would you care?” She sniffed suspiciously, “I know you only want me for my brother.”
It was the way she hugged herself and refused to meet his eyes when she said it that made him realize what he was missing.
She didn’t just want him for his body.
He covered the space between where he stood and the bed in two long strides, climbing up onto the bed that smelled so strongly of her heat-arousal, and closed the distance between them, crowding into her personal space. Normally, she would have shoved him away, but instead she just let out a tiny whine in reaction to his proximity that had his cock twitching in his pants. Claude cornered her into the wall, one hand on the side of her head and the other gripping her chin and lifting it so that she was looking him directly in the eyes when he spoke.
“In this entire monastery there is nobody I want by my side as badly as I want you. If I had to choose only one person in this entire world to chase my dreams with, it would be you.” Claude realized the truth of his words as he spoke them - as much as he wanted to claim he only wanted her to use, he truly wanted much, much more than that. “Strong, beautiful, cunning… you’re completely irreplaceable.”
The anxious hope in her face filled him with a strange kind of guilt.
“Nobody ever sees me. Just my brother. Nobody ever wants me. Cares about me.”
“I do.”
“ Claude ...” Her chest heaved with shallow breaths as she squirmed, the action lifting her top up to show a tantalizing strip of stomach. The heat of her beneath him was driving him mad, the smell of her arousal so strong he couldn’t resist a look. She was soaked through, skirt rucked up high enough around her parted legs that he could see her panties.
Bylia made a tortured sound and he watched as her leg muscles flexed. This must be killing her, having an alpha so close while she was in heat. He was very impressed at her control.
“Don’t worry.” He murmured, drawing her chin up again to look deeply into her dark blue eyes. “I’ll help you. I know what you need. Do you want me to?”
“Yes!” The plain relief in her eyes tugged on his heart.
“Let’s get these out of the way then, hmm? You’re burning up.” He tugged the hem of her tank top up and over her head, Bylia complying immediately as she raised her arms. He could see her omega mark now - a small symbol, so high up on her stomach that the midriff window in her usual attire would never have shown it. Clever of her to have hidden it almost in plain sight.
Hooking his fingers into her waistband, he pulled her skirt and panties down, a trail of wetness holding on to the soft black cotton material. Above her glistening pink lips of her sex to the left on her mound was a small round mole, just like the one below her lip.
“I always wondered if you had one down here.” Claude murmured. He was no stranger to the concept of heats and figured that Bylia wouldn’t appreciate much foreplay, but he was in no mood to rush this.
Even now she was squirming, mouth open in a whine that went straight to his cock.
“Shhh,” He soothed her, thumbing her cheek before pressing a kiss to her open mouth.
The wet heat of her mouth was intoxicating. He tilted her head up to kiss her deeper, slipping his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. He didn’t let her stop to breathe, chasing after her mouth every time she turned away.
“Through your nose.” He commanded, other hand pressing her closer where it had tangled itself into her hair at the back of her head. Her adorable little “mmmph” of arousal at his assertiveness was so sexy, he swore the sound would haunt him in his dreams.
Bylia must have been aching to have him, something, anything inside her, so he slid a hand down to her thigh, stroking lightly before palming her mound. She shivered so hard he felt it too, and thrust her hips forward into his hand. She was so wet he knew two fingers would be no problem, and slid them in and out of her dripping sex with ease.
“Mmmnhg!” She moaned into his mouth as she rutted against his fingers, trying to take them deeper.
He studied every inch of her face, never wanting to forget her eyes screwed shut in pleasure as he fucked her with his fingers.
Claude pressed kiss after insistent kiss onto her willing mouth, enjoying how her face went blank with pleasure as he rubbed and rubbed his fingers against her walls, greedy pink lips taking everything he gave.
When he finally broke away, her lips were swollen red, mouth open erotically as she gazed up at him, still bucking her hips. The trust he saw in those eyes, focused solely on him warmed his heart and he affectionately pressed a kiss on her bottom lip and the mole that rested right beneath.
He’d dreamed of that mole.
Shifting her up on his lap, he unzipped his pants to give himself some relief from the uncomfortable restrictive material before continuing his search for her spot, her slick running down the back of his hand now.
He knew when he found it because she suddenly jerked forward, eyes wide with an “Oh!” He rubbed on it relentlessly, sucking on her neck as she moaned and shivered, large breasts bouncing with the force of her hips as they met the thrust of his fingers.
She was so worked up it didn’t take long for her little cries to rise in pitch, and Claude stopped marking her neck to graze a nipple with his teeth before sucking hard, rubbing on her clitoris with his thumb.
Despite her disheveled state, Bylia was beautiful when she came, jaw dropping and eyes screwing shut in pleasure, silent as she bucked on his fingers, clenching down on them hard.
She groaned as she came down from her high, slumping against Claude. Withdrawing his fingers to wipe them on the back of his pants, he drew her into his embrace, stroking her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder, struggling to catch her breath. He knew she probably couldn’t help it, but knowing how exhausted she was he contemplated suggesting she let him do the work entirely - then again, this was Bylia, and he doubted she would allow that.
Though in an entirely different circumstance from the one he was in, it reminded him of the time they’d fought at the Red Canyon. She’d taken a blow from one of the demonic beasts for him, appearing out of nowhere as she did, shoving him out of the way. There had been a desperate look on her face, as if he was already doomed, and he’d thought then that it was because she hadn’t known if she would make it in time.
Regardless, she’d knocked them both to safety, the beast’s tail just grazing her back, giving her only a deep muscle bruise, but it was clear to Claude that she had risked her life to save his own. It had really puzzled him at the time, but when he asked, she simply said it was nothing and she would have done it for any of the Golden Deer.
He wasn’t sure if he believed that, knowing just how much she hated having to study at the monastery, but the way she slumped against him, wounded but fiercely determined… with hindsight, he realized she had felt this way for him even then.
Bylia stirred against his shoulder, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“How’re you feeling there, ‘Lia? Up for more?”
She couldn’t hide the weariness in her deep blues as she peeked up at him with a rueful bite at her lip.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, considering how many times I’ve come today, but... I want more.” Her gaze hazed over and her hips shifted restlessly against his leg. “All of it this time.” She insisted. “… I need to feel you inside me…”
Bylia let out a shaky exhale.
Claude laughed, the movement shaking the two of them. “I’d be more than happy to give you the ride of your life, considering this is the first time you’ve ever asked me nicely for, well, anything, really.”
“I hope you know that if you breathe even a word of this to anyone, I’ll end you personally. You can kiss your dreams goodbye.”
“Tsk, still making death threats? We’ll see how long that lasts while you’re bouncing on my lap. I’m not gonna feel like that toy you were using earlier ‘Lia.” He lowered his mouth to her ear as he noticed her glancing at the erection that strained at the material of his pants. “Willing to bet I’m a good bit bigger, in fact.”
He barked out a laugh at the way she gulped and squeezed her in a tight hug. “Relax, it won’t bite, I promise. Oh - but I might, if you’re getting out of hand.”
“I’d like to see you try it.” She muttered rebelliously, but tugged insistently on his pants until he took them off, effectively ending that conversation.