Chapter 0 - happily ever after

There is not a day that goes by that Byleth does not consider herself the luckiest woman in the world. She would say that she is glad that she accepted Dedue’s proposal, but it goes deeper than that, of course; she is glad that Dedue ever thought to propose to her, that the two of them were ever close enough to reach this point in the first place. She is lucky to have known him at all, and luckier still that he loves her as much as she loves him, that the two of them are so close and that she has him in her life, every day.

Life since the war ended has not been easy, though it is preferable to all the fighting and bloodshed. But finding peace is about a lot more than just conquering the others, and while Dimitri does what he can as the king, Byleth has her own work as the new archbishop. She owes a lot of her success to having Seteth at her side to help guide her, with enough experience to make sure that she does not do any damage to the church while implementing the necessary changes, changes that are long overdue by this point.

But more than Dimitri or Seteth, the person that she thinks offers her the most help along the way has to be her husband. Dedue has been there for her from the beginning, still serving Dimitri with the same devotion as ever, but with just as much devotion to his wife, to the woman that he loves above all else. It helps that Dimitri assigns his best knight to the church, knowing that both Dedue and Byleth will be happier at each other’s sides, and like this, Dedue is still serving Dimitri while getting to stay close to the love of his life, and help keep her sane with all the stress that comes with her new position.

Because there is a lot of stress involved with this job, something that she knew from the beginning. Back then, she doubted that she would even be able to handle the responsibility, but with so many people counting on her, and so many people backing her up, she took that responsibility on anyway, and has managed to not disappoint anyone important- so far. There are meetings to attend and nobles to deal with, issues to sort out and audiences to grant. So many people turn to her for guidance now that the world is changing, needing the church now more than ever before, and at times she wishes that she could still hear Sothis, even though she knows that the so-called goddess would offer very little wisdom, and more likely would tell her that she needs to learn to solve her own problems and stop bothering her.

By the time Byleth is able to get some privacy, by the time she is able to return to her room, she is at once exhausted and far too wired to even think of sleeping. She is tense and stressed, and the only one who can help her relax is her husband. Dedue, no matter how busy he may be, always makes sure that he is waiting for her when she gets home, knowing just how much she needs him to help her unwind after her long and tiring day. Always, Dedue is waiting for her, and just getting to see him in that moment is enough to brighten her day right from the start.

“I’m so tired,” she mumbles, as she closes the door behind her. She stumbles her way to where he sits on the bed, and he is ready for her to collapse in his arms, holding her close and making sure that she does not fall. Running a hand through her hair, he lets her snuggle against him for as long as she wants to.

Some nights, this is all they do before he helps her get dressed for bed. Some nights, she is so exhausted that this all that she can manage, and he massages her while she lays on their bed, until she starts to drift off to sleep. Then, he is there to hold her in his arms, sleeping beside her and keeping her close until morning, when she wakes up and has to start the whole process over again. Somehow, she has managed to stay sane, she knows that that would not be remotely possible without Dedue to come home to every night.

Tonight is not the sort of night where she will be satisfied with just a massage, though, and tonight is not the sort of night where she will not be up for more than that. As she pulls back slightly from his embrace, just moving so that she can look up at him, he can see from the needy look in her eyes just what she needs. Nodding, despite her not asking anything out loud, his hands move, until he is helping her out of her clothes, as much as he can from this position.

They both move as soon as they need to, helping each other get undressed until their bodies are laid bare, until he is finally able to start giving her everything that she needs. He still starts with a massage, wanting to worship her body until she can’t take anymore, until she is desperate and eager for more from him, and then he will start getting her ready to take him, until she has been teased so much that she is begging for more, and then he will fuck her, holding out as long as she needs him to, until she is satisfied and finally ready to go to sleep. As her husband, he can do no less for her, so hopelessly devoted to Byleth and her happiness that all of this seems small in comparison that all he is willing to do for her, just as long as he is able to make her happy.

First and foremost, he starts with the massage, letting her lay face down so that he can put his hands on both of her shoulders. “You’re tense,” he comments, which really goes without saying, after having such a long day. He is used to feeling the tension in her shoulder, used to having to work it out on her own, but he still comments on it every time, sympathy clear in his voice.
Dedue works very hard as well, but he never brings up what he has done, never brings up if he is feeling tired or not, letting all of his focus stay on Byleth. To him, it is relaxing enough just to be able to help her relax, and after spending the day working hard, he looks forward to the time that he gets to spend with her, helping her to unwind and finally cast off the frustrations of the day. All of it starts with his hands on her shoulders, working out her tension, fingers digging in deep and making her moan as he gives her a thorough massage.

He slowly moves his hands down as he goes, making sure that he has done a good job before moving on each time, and she is left moaning louder and louder as her body relaxes under his touch. Some nights, this is all that she has energy for, but it feels good, and it never fails to make her feel better, and to make it much easier for her to fall asleep. Her exhaustion is nothing in comparison to this relaxation, brought on by her husband’s strong and capable hands.

Really, with hands as large and rough as his, it might come as a surprise to some that he is so capable of such delicate work, but she has seen him garden and she has seen him cook. She has seen what his hands are capable of long before she ever imagined them on her body, and that is why she is not surprised at all, not even in the beginning, that he is able to give her the perfect massage to ease all of her tension. His hands move down her back, and he can feel her relaxing beneath him, can tell that she is starting to perk up enough that he will be able to do something new for her.

So he presses his lips to her back then, right between her shoulder blades. Now that he has worked out all the tension down her back, he switches tactics, kissing her all over, starting there and moving down, hands gently caressing her now. She squirms beneath him, her excitement starting to grow as he showers her with all of the attention that she needs. Her voice gives way to soft, sweet whimpers that practically melt his heart, a side to his normally stoic wife that only he gets to see.

It is the same for her, as well. He is so quiet and reserved, much like she is, and the two of them keep up that front with most of the people that they interact with. But together, the walls can come down, and they can be themselves, and show the softer sides that some do not even know about. Dedue smiles as he listens to her whimper, pleased to see her enjoy herself so much, pleased to hear her start to give into pleasure. It will not be long now before she needs even more, but, like always, he prefers to drag this out as much as he can, to give her as much as she is willing to take. As long as she has the energy to keep going, then they might as well enjoy as much of their time together as possible.

He rolls her over then, done with her back. There is a lot more fun to be had, a lot more worship to be done, when she is laying on her back, facing him. He can kiss her neck and down onto her shoulders, can kiss across her collarbone, listening to her sharp little breaths, though there is no change in her chest, her heart and her pulse still a mystery to him. But that does not matter at all, and certainly not right now, as he moves his lips further down, making her whine as he kisses one of her nipples. Byleth is clearly getting excited from all of this, but he does not linger there long, wanting to keep teasing this out.

She whines a bit louder when he moves on, kissing down her stomach, hands still roaming all over her body, but he forces her to be patient, not willing to give into her whines just yet. Byleth can only write beneath him, eager for more, desperate for it, but willing to let Dedue do this however he may want to. After working so hard, after putting her all into her role as the archbishop, she deserves to enjoy herself, and she deserves to not have to do any thinking, to not have to do anything for herself. And if she is going to do nothing, then of course she has to sit back and let Dedue handle things, and if he is handling things, then she knows that she has to leave everything in his hands, to be done however he may want to do it.

“Does it feel good?” he asks in a low voice, and she nods, moaning.

“Good,” she echoes, her voice breaking, showing just how needy she really is. “It’s so…it’s so good…”

“Do you feel more relaxed now? It almost seems like you might be getting tense all over again,” he says, and there is something almost teasing in his voice. This is how she knows that she is close to Dedue, because she doubts that there are many people that he will allow himself to get teasing with, another side to him that is reserved almost entirely for her.

“You know exactly why that is,” she replies, and he can’t help but smile a bit at her words. If he keeps pushing this, she is going to accuse him outright of teasing her, and then it will be no time at all before she is begging him for more, and he can never resist her when she wants more, not even when he wants to keep dragging this out.

“I’m just trying to help you,” he replies, as if he could ever play innocent in a situation like this. “I just want to help you melt away all your stress.”

“Well, that tension isn’t because I’m stressed, not anymore,” she mumbles, and again, he smiles.

“Good. That’s all I needed to hear,” he replies, and then he is back to it, back to tease his way up and down her body with his hands, back to kissing at her lower stomach, loving the way she squirms as she anticipates what is coming next. His hands always linger so close to her chest before moving on, and she is left even more agonized, wanting to beg him to just touch her, to really touch her, with no more of this teasing nonsense. But she holds her tongue for now, and Dedue continues to take things at his own pace, dragging it out until she is so tense and so overwhelmed that he knows that she can’t take any more of this.

So he drops his lips down to nibble along the insides of her thighs, making her squirm a little more for good measure. Her whines grow louder, her controlled facade completely shattered now, and he finally lets himself grope at her breasts and tease at her nipples, satisfying her a little bit, just for the moment. That feels good enough to her that she can endure him teasing between her thighs, especially once he is pinching her nipples, applying just the right amount of pressure to make her moan.

Finally, at last, he nuzzles his face between her legs and starts to give her what she really needs. Once he has set to eating her out, she is much too far gone to do anything other than moan for him. Her voice is so needy and pathetic that she hardly sounds like the Byleth anyone else knows. Her voice is so steady when she gives her speeches, collected and composed, the ideal archbishop; no one would recognize her from her voice now, her pathetic cries making her sound like an entirely different person. 

No one would ever suspect someone like Dedue being able to render the archbishop this helpless. No one would ever think that Dedue could be capable of turning her into a moaning, needy mess, but that is a secret reserved just for her, the same way that no one but him ever actually gets to hear her like that.

Between the two of them, they keep these intimate sides a secret, something that they will only ever be able to share with each other. He loves her when she is like this, loves the way that she can’t resist him eating her out, her body going limp and useless as she gives herself over entirely to him. And he has had a lot of practice with it, spending many long nights diligently learning everything, every trick and technique, everything that it takes to get her to this point. Dedue has worked hard to make sure that he can make everything perfect for her, and as far as he can tell, she has never been happier in all her life.

Well, that is a feeling that is definitely mutual.

The closer that she gets to her climax, the more pathetic she becomes, and the more he considers pulling back, to tease it out. Some nights, that is exactly what he does, so that she is falling to pieces by the time he actually fucks her. He is capable of being almost cruel in the way that he teases her, but he is able to tell when she needs that, and when she needs him to spoil and indulge her more, and when she needs something in the middle. Tonight, he thinks is a more middle kind of night, so he is not going to tease it out too long, and he is not going to pull back right when she is on the edge so that he can torment her more.

Instead, he stays right at what he is doing, hands still groping at her breasts, nipples still rolled and pinched between his fingertips, diligent and giving, until he has her on the edge. He can hear her moans, her voice breaking as she prepares to give into pleasure, and then he is right back to it, more intense and more giving than before, tongue delving deep into her, so that he can push her right over the edge, and hear her loud and overwhelmed scream of pleasure.

Byleth is left to writhe in it for as long as her orgasm lasts her, and Dedue remains eating her out for a bit, all to help her prolong it, so that she can get as much out of it as possible. Eventually, though, he does pull back so that he can look at her, watching her expression shift as she rides out the waves of her pleasure, and then finally gets to relax into the afterglow, going limp on their bed.

If she were satisfied now, then that would be all there is to it. Dedue does not mind simply giving her what she needs, no matter how he may ache in his arousal. If Byleth were done, then he would be done as well, but he can see her fidgeting slightly, as she struggles to catch her breath, and he knows that this has just gotten her that much more excited, that much needier for him. He will be able to have his fun as well, tonight.

Now, he gets on top of her, and he is always struck by how tiny Byleth seems beneath him, looking up at him with so much love and so much need in her eyes. She is so small in comparison to him, yet so strong, so much stronger than anyone else that he knows, and when he looks down at her like this, he just wants to take care of her even more, to be able to be the only one that makes her this happy. Unable to hold back for even a moment longer, Dedue pushes her legs back, spread apart as he gets himself into position on top of her.

Byleth moans just to feel the tip of his cock pressed against her, before he even starts to push inside of her. He joins her in moaning, his voice nearly failing him as he finally gives himself what he has been denied as he tried to put all of his focus into teasing her, and into making her relax. In the moment, he could pretend as if he did not need this so desperately, but now that he is inside of her, his heart is racing and he is overwhelmed with need, overwhelmed by how much he has been holding back up until now. Dedue moans for her as he fits himself inside of her, and Byleth, sensitive from all he has done for her, just goes to pieces over and over again.

Taking things slowly at first is like torture for him when he needs her this much, but he still manages, still somehow finds a way to hold back just so that he makes sure he is not more than she can handle at any time. No matter how much he may ache for her, no matter how desperate he may be for her, he can always take things just a little bit slowly, getting a feel for what she wants and what she needs, until he has fully fit himself inside of her, and can start to figure out if she is ready for more.

After spending so much time on preparation, she is almost always ready for more straight away, and tonight is no exception. Tonight, she is so needy that all she has to do is whine for him once and he knows that she is ready for him to start moving, jerking his hips as he thrusts into her, immediately losing himself in the motions and giving in to what he has wanted from the start. Her voice breaks as she cries out, and Dedue is quick to fall into a frantic pace, not wasting a moment of his time on anything other than pushing them both to their inevitable release.

His own voice can hardly stand up to his moans, and the two of them are anything but quiet now, such a sharp contrast to what anyone knows them for. The two stoic lovers cast aside all of their stoicism when they are alone together, when they are able to bring this side out in one another. More than likely, most people probably wonder how such a quiet couple could make it work, why either of them would want to marry someone with such a similar demeanor, and if it is painfully quiet whenever they are together.

If only they knew just what sounds fill their room when Byleth is brought to this point by Dedue’s loving touch, and when Dedue is pushed to his own limits, finally allowed to let loose, rather than holding back to make sure that he does everything perfectly for Byleth. With her needs fulfilled, he is able to fulfill his own, and neither of them can hold back at all now.

It’s too good, too much, and in no time at all, Byleth is on the edge again. He can feel her growing more tense, whimpering and whining as she is brought closer and closer, and Dedue knows that he will have no chance of holding out once she gives in, once she is overcome with her orgasm. He has been waiting too long tonight, and even the slightest change would be enough to push him over the edge, but that would be far too much, no questions asked.

Gasping and moaning, she is incoherent as she tries to tell him that she loves him, and even so, he understands, even if he is not able to return the sentiment, because of his own pathetic moans. And then she is done in, a sharp cry escaping as she gives in to the shudders of her orgasm, coming hard as he continues to drive down into her, fucking her through it even though he is right there on the edge himself, and then he is joining her in it, not holding back anymore as he is overtaken by his own climax.

Neither of them are able to return to their senses after that. It takes them both quite a while before they are anything resembling coherent again, and even then, it is just enough for him to pull out of her so that they can move, so that he can lay with her and pull her into his arms. She whimpers as he holds her, sleepy and content, and he knows that this is it, at least for tonight. He has done everything that he can for the archbishop and for his wife, and it will be enough to get her through the day tomorrow, at least until it is time for her to return to him.

Then, she will probably be needy all over again, but he expects that, and what’s more, he looks forward to it. The highlight of his day is always this- her, coming home to him, and him, taking care of her and tending to her, until she finally has no choice but to fall asleep in his arms. Then, holding her protectively, Dedue is able to join her in sleep as well, another night behind them, with many more awaiting.

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