Chapter Text
It was bad enough Byleth had to loose both her father and her mother in her life..But it was even worse now having a son of her own without a father figure.. Byleth knew what it was like never having a mother so she at least wanted her child to have a mother...
Her ex husband and child’s father left her after he was found cheating on her with multiple other women which she found out months after his sudden disappearance, The name Dimitri left a sour taste in her mouth whenever her friends mentioned him.. Sadly enough he wanted nothing to do with their child Jeralt...She named him after her father after his brave loss as a firefighter.
After 2 years she finally wanted to start dating and finding someone new to settle in with.. but it was hard due to her circumstances of having a child and being a single mom.. she’d have her dear friend Marianne watch over her child whenever she had to step out and Hilda visit her to hang out or see the baby..They both where probably there more for her than her own ex husband.
Byleth sighed to herself sitting in a chair near her 1 year old child spoon feeding him some baby food she picked up from the supermarket the other night. She had the TV on in the background listening to the nightly news.
“Cmon sweetie just a tiny bite..!”
Her child happily smiled and laughed at his mother his deep greenish blueish eyes looking right into hers as he opened his mouth taking a big bite. Byleth smiled and rubbed his small bald head giggling.
“Thank you sweetie..”
There suddenly was a ring at the doorbell as Byleth watched her cat flee into her bedroom.
“Hold on okay..”
She kissed her child’s forehead as she unlocked the door opening it to see Marianne holding a big bag full of baby supplies wearing some lounging clothing and Hilda wearing a small black dress.
“SUPRISEEEE!”
Hilda screeched grabbing Byleths hands and jumped up and down.
“We are going to have soooo so soooooo much fun tonight!!!”
Marianne stood behind Hilda mouthing an “I’m sorry”
Byleth blinked a few times staring at Hilda in confusion.
“A-Wha...? You didn’t text me or anything..?”
Hilda shook her head giggling happily.
“Oh trust me this is gonna be great!! It’s gonna be a surprise!!” Hilda walked in with Marianne following her her as Byleth sighed closing the door behind her two friends. Marianne sat on the couch placing the bag down as she went over to lil Jeralt cooing.
“Hello little man....”
Hilda stood proudly her hands on her hips.
“Hehehhhh you like the dress!!! I got it the other day!!!”
Byleth looked at her then the dress..
“A little too scandalous for me..but it looks nice on you..”
Hilda puffed out her cheeks
“Oh come onnn your not gonna ask, “Oh Hilda where can I get one just as cuteeee””
Byleth shook her head and sighed.
“Listen..if you would’ve told me that you where planning on going out tonight you should’ve told m-“
She was cut off as her eyes met the table..
Hilda reached into her tote bag and pulled out a black dress only longer and placed it on the table infront of her.
“Of course I was gonna get you something! How could I forget ya!”
Byleth stared at the dress...
It was quite appealing..It was strapless and was cut up the side of the leg..nothing too too showy or flashy.
“Now Hilda..if you don’t mind me asking..Where are we going that makes us need to dress like this..?”
Hilda giggles happily almost jumping.
“Wellllll, I bought you this!!!!”
Hilda quickly handed her a small card with a picture of slot machines on it.
“A casinoooooo! I got rooms for us too! Just for the night of course!!”
Marianne walked over holding Jeralt and holding a bottle to his mouth as he drank away.
“A-and I’d be happy to watch him for the night.. it was so nice of Hilda to do this for you...”
Byleth thought for a second and put her hands up.
“Alright alright.. I’ll go..”
Hilda almost rushed Byleth up the stairs into her bedroom eagar to do her makeup and help her get ready. Hilda sat her down at her desk and pulled her hair back to focus on doing all of her makeup.. Applying highlighter..blush then afterwards eyeshadow..eyeliner and falsies.
“Ok...now for the hair...I think I’m gonna curl it!”
Hilda ran into the bathroom digging around to find a hair curling iron.
It didn’t take long for her hair to be in long lavish curls.
Hilda smiled spraying a bunch of hairspray to keep the curls and spin her around to see her work.
“Oooh! Beautiful!!!~ you’ll turn heads tonight!!!!”
Byleth got up slowly and walked into her bathroom to see herself in the mirror..She had to admit..she looked really nice...she pressed a hand to her cheek and smiled...
Hilda followed her into the bathroom holding some lip pumper.
“Heh! Let’s see how long this stuff lasts!”
Byleth raised an eyebrow as Hilda applied it smiling.
“You know what I mean!”
Hilda slapped her back.
“Okay sexy mama! Go put on your dress and let’s get going!”
Byleth watched as Hilda closed the door as Byleth looked at the dress on the bed and began to take off her sleepwear and put on the dress her dear friend has bought her.
Marianne knew the drill with Jeralt, Bedtime..Breakfast and everything. She completely trusted her child with her..Byleth placed a soft kiss on her child’s forehead as he mindlessly drank from his bottle smiling.
Hilda and Byleth jumped into Hildas small car decorated on the inside with seat covers and a cute plushie of a cat hanging from the mirror.
“Heh okay! This might be a long drive but it will be worth it!!”
Byleth looked at her house before they pulled out and Hilda began to drive turning up her music singing along.
Byleth pulled out her phone, her lock screen being her and her child. “Hm..I might as well view the reviews of this place” she thought.
She googled the place that they where going too and saw that it had 4.5 stars with mixed reviews..The bad ones mostly being about the food..Other than that she saw ALOT of comments about a game room attendant by the name of “Claude”
Byleths curiousity was peaked as she went through the images, Majority of them where of this tan male smiling and winking and laughing, he was wearing a button up that showed off the front of his chest perfectly and wore a name tag with his name on it. Her heart dropped as her cheeks went red. Something about him felt.. “Toxic” but..in a good way..
The car halted as the red light illuminated the car as Hilda laughed loudly over the music causing Byleth to quickly close out her phone.
“Oooooh~ who’s the hunk you got on your phone there Byleth?!”
She spewed out ineligible words blushing madly.
“NO-NOBODY!!!”
Hilda laughed shaking her head as the light turned green again as the car started going again.
Byleth wanted to look again but knew Hilda was watching her.. All she had to do was hope he was working..
The car pulled up to a flashy hotel with a gigantic water fountain in the front flashing different colors. Hilda giggled and parked in one of the guest parking spots jumping out of her car and grabbed her bag in the back along with another one..
“Hm..what’s that..?”
Byleth pointed to the bag.
“Well silly I knew you’d forget your things so I packed em for you!!”
Hilda set down the bag closing the trunk.
“Alright grab your things girl!”
Byleth walked over her heels clicking in the pavement as she picked up her bag looking at the front of the hotel her heart starting to pound as she froze. Right in front of the hotel stood the tall tan male she had seen in the pictures flicking a lighter to light a cigarette pacing a little as he placed the lighter in his pocket blowing out a cloud of smoke. He wore the same attire as he did in the pictures..his dark brown hair slicked back and facial hair cleaned up evenly.
Hilda waved her out of her thoughts stepping infront of her.
“Helllooooo~?! Earth to Byleth..?! You coming or what...!”
Byleth gulped nodding...She hadn’t seen anyone in awhile that made her feel like this.. and she had never even met the guy..
Hilda chuckled and started to walk to the entrance..
She began to walk towards the entrance aswell right where he was...following behind Hilda..She was a little faster so she was a little ways ahead of her. Byleth watched as he nodded to Hilda smiling.
“Okay...keep cool...”
Byleth almost walked slower when she passed him... She could feel his eyes glued to her as he stared at her as she walked by meeting his gaze for a couple of seconds looking into his deep green eyes. It made her heart beat quicker than ever...
Claude stared at the female almost dropping his cigarette..She was extremely breathtaking.. He felt like he needed to rush up to her and demand to know her name..anything! It was almost like she was teasing him by the way she walked by..
He was going to figure out her name by the end of the night...
He pressed his cigarette to the pillar of the building to distinguish it and threw it into the ashtray above the trashcan.
Byleth smiled a little knowing that she had him..She saw the way that he looked at her, And so did Hilda..She knew it was that male she was looking at on her phone so she had to standby and watch the exchange between them. Hilda knew that this night was going to be a fun one.
After Hilda and Byleth found their separate rooms they made their way into the game floor, slot machines lighting up the place along with the chatter keeping the place lively.. loud laughing, people dressed up nicely.. Hilda looked at Byleth and nudged her pointing to a long table across the room; There he was..The male she had her eyes on shuffling a deck of cards. He was looking at her as soon as she walked through the door, her gaze just met his as he smiled to her.
Byleth looked away quickly her cheeks heating up.
“H-Hildaaaaa!!! I can’t go over there!”
Hilda sighed and had her hands on Byleths back slowly pushing her closer. Byleth had no choice but to step over cause of her heels.
“Hey hey!!”
Claude watched them as he chuckled to himself setting the cards down in-front of him watching the two of them.
Byleth finally was infront of this handsome male..She almost whispered to him.
“H-hello..c-can I play a game...”
Hilda smiled feeling accomplished as she patted Byleths shoulders.
“Well! I’ll leave you to it I’m gonna go play some slot machines!”
Hilda winked at her friend and skipped off leaving the two of them.
Claude then placed his hands on the front of the table.
“Your friend always like that?”
He smiled to her invitingly.
Byleth took a seat on the bar stool like seat and kept her hands on her lap and spoke softly.
“Y-yeah..I-I mean!! Sometimes..”
Claude nodded and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t going to let this conversation die early.
“Yeah, Friends can be fun sometimes..”
He reached under the table grabbing a small glass and pushed it near her.
“Care for some wine?”
Byleth looked up nodding to him, this was his attempt to loosen her up.
It worked..Beofre she knew it, Byleths face felt hot to her and she just spoke exactly what was on her mind. No filter.
Claude smiles resting his head in his hands. After playing a few simple card games and a lot of drinking he felt accomplished that he loosened her up.
“So we have been playing a lot of games butttt..I think it’s time you told me about yourself a little”
Byleth happily obliged.
“Weeeell..let’s see I have a ragdoll cat named tuna..OH! And here is my pride and joy!”
Byleth reached into her little bag and pulled out her phone.
At first he was extremely confused but it soon made sense as she showed him her lock screen of her and her baby.
He didn’t know what to make of it...
“Is..that your child? Or a cousin nephew..niece?”
Byleth smiled looking down at her phone.
“Oh, he’s mine!”
Claude froze.
Was she taken...? Was she a bad mother? Geez..he didn’t know what to think until Byleth spoke again the blood rushing to her face from the alcohol. She took a long sip.
“Me and my ex husbands..that is.”
Byleth took another sip looking at her phone
Claude felt a little relief as she said that..
“Ah..it seems like you love him tons!”
Byleth stopped and kept the glass to her lips. Did he really try and continue their conversation....Normally when she told a male she had a child they would run away...
“Y-yeah..I do..”
She looked up at him her face still red.
He stared back at her his green eyes happily looking back at her.
“If you don’t mind..I’d love to ...Have your number..”
Byleth almost spit out her drink.
“M-my numbe-“
She was cut off by a female screaming for joy. It was her friend Hilda;
“YESSSS! HAHAH! I WON!”
Byleth looked back to see Hilda standing up and jumping as the machine infront of her rang out with dings and flashed throughout the whole entire room.
“Heh Guess Hilda won big..”
Byleth smiled and thought to herself.
“And I did too..”