Felix isn't that stupid - he doesn't think it would be literal, that Dedue would actually be at Dimitri's side at all times. It's his presence, his shadow looming over them all like a silent reminder of every mistake they've ever made when it comes to Dimitri. It's knowing that he'll have to watch Dimitri light up like the sun every time Dedue walks into the room, when he's never been that excited to see Felix, not since they were children. Not even here in Johto. It's knowing that Dedue takes up as much figurative room in Dimitri's heart as he does physical room anywhere, and that for all that Dimitri says he loves them all equally, and Felix is sure he thinks he means it...Dedue was enough to replace them all, back when they were all stumbling through post-Tragedy life without a roadmap and no one but Dimitri's vassal could seem to really get through to him. Felix has no reason to think that will ever change.

And why should Felix expect Dimitri to be that happy to see him? He's hardly much better company now than he's ever been, that he can tell...except when Claude and Sylvain are around, maybe. They don't walk on eggshells around him trying to be perfect, or whatever it is Dimitri thinks he's doing when he approaches Felix like he's a spooked horse. How many times does Felix have to tell him he loves him before he'll believe it?

If Dedue told him the same thing, Dimitri would believe it instantly and wholeheartedly.

Maybe no matter what he does, Felix will never make up for the mistakes he made as a stupid, angry teenager.

He grits his teeth when Dedue decides to berate him about exactly that. "Don't lecture me. My relationship with Dimitri is none of your business, no matter how entitled you feel to stick your nose into every little thing he does. You're his vassal, not his mother."

Not his boyfriend, either.

"Months, at this point. It had only been a few weeks past when I arrived here, but I've been here since Ethereal Moon."