Chrom was certain that this feeling was new to him. The young prince of Ylisse had never known of anything like this; the feeling of warmth in his cheeks, the dampening of his hands, the loss of words in his head, the tendency of stuttering, the tightening of his chest, and most of all, the rapid beating of his heart, all coming together at the same time whenever he is at the presence of his close friend, his silver haired tactician.

At first, Chrom didn't know when or how it started. It was a giant puzzle and he didn't particularly like the alien feeling either. It always happened when Robin was around; which, in his case, was all the time. He, himself, knew that he had been too observant when it came to her. From the moment they first met, he had taken it all, absorbed by his eyes and engraved into his brain and possibly his heart. When he found her lying there in that field, he must have stared too long at her doll-like face, marveled at her snow white hair, her thin, beautiful, red lips. When she opened her eyes, he found himself immediately absorbed into her dark orbs that seemed to carry another world. It took him all his willpower to speak out to her then, instead of merely gaping at her like a village idiot.

"Chrom?" The Ylissean prince was brought out of his thoughts by a voice he knew all too well and found himself staring at the very same pair of eyes that made his breath hitch. In front of him stood the woman he had been dreaming about for the past few months, looking not at all too pleased.

Robin had been looking for Chrom for the past two days, itching to speak to him about their tactical options regarding the route he drew up for the march. Finding him was easier said than done. She knew that the prince was hard to find, it was a given and yet Chrom always had time for Robin. He never denied her that. However, for the past few weeks, the prince had been avoiding her, Robin was sure of it, he was.

"Chrom? Are you listening to me?" the silver haired tactician called out again in slight irritation. The said prince hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "Er, oh. Of course! …Actually, no. I kind of had something to… do."

Robin knew he was lying. He ran around camp away from her but that didn't necessary mean that he was busy. "Chrom, you're acting very strange. Are you hiding something from me?"

"H-Hide? You mean, HIDE hide? Oh, gosh, no! Nothing at all… Nope." Chrom was always so obvious, so easily read by the tactician.

"Then why are you fidgeting like you've got a squirrel in your pantaloons?"

"I-I'm not fidgeting! I'm perfectly relaxed. …And, er, normal."

Robin would have laughed at how desperate and hilarious her prince and commander looked then, but the way Chrom had been acting towards her as of late was too worrisome for her to just laugh at.

"And refusing to meet my eye?" Robin wanted to catch his eyes and see what they wanted to tell her, just like Stahl had taught her, but they were so unfocused and they looked at anything and everything besides her.

"Listen Chrom. Didn't you say that we're close friends," Close friends. Chrom felt himself wanting to correct her. An itching feeling to just tell her, ask her if they could be something… something else. Something more. And that scared him all of a sudden. "…with no secrets between us? Didn't you mean that?"

"N-No! I mean, yes! I mean… I swear, it's not like that!" Looking at his tactician now, he could see how her features are scrunched up in confusion. Yet in his opinion, it did not lessen the beauty that she had.

"I know you've been avoiding me recently and I'd like to know why, Chrom. I think I deserve an explanation. Please, I can't go on pretending there's nothing wrong. Do you dislike my company now?" Chrom watched how her expression changed from confusion to hurt and that gave his heart a sharp stab. He never did like troubling his tactician in any way. That was one of the reasons why he would run around trying to lessen her burden, as discreetly as possible.

"D-Dislike you? Egads, Robin, of course I don't dislike you! Nothing could be further from the truth." He reasoned, trying to appease or at least lessen the hurt showing in Robin's face at the moment. Her expression softened for a while, she looked up, her eyes somehow hopeful that he'd tell her something she was expecting.

"Then why are you avoiding me?" she asked. Her eyes were absolutely binding and he felt himself wanting to tell her. But tell her what, exactly? "I truly do love you, Robin. I'm in love with you." As soon as that thought formed in his head, he felt that certain feeling grow stronger ten-fold or by a thousand times more. He stopped, eyes growing wide, face growing hot and red, and he stepped back from his tactician. He didn't know how he felt about her. No, maybe he did, but it confused him to no end, he couldn't understand it. A new feeling he couldn't come into terms with. He knew he felt strongly for her, but how so, he didn't know and it terrified him so much.

Without saying anything else, he ran off, away from her before she could even call out to him.

It had been a week since their last direct conversation. Robin had decided to let Chrom be for a while, no longer seeking him out. The prince, in turn, has been spending more and more time with his sister Lissa. The only time they have ever come close to speaking directly was during their war councils, where Chrom would rush out hurriedly afterwards and go back to his tent to retire early, and Robin would remain there, or leave last. Either way, both have been visibly distracted for that week, and the other Shepherds have picked up on it almost immediately, yet they all refused to say anything.

It had been one of those days when Anna, had approached the prince, presenting a map to the Outrealms, claiming it to be the solution to his 'growing problems'. She had described it as, 'close to their own world, with almost the same circumstances'.

"Okay lover boy, everyone knows how troubled you are in the arts of love." The merchant started, even before Chrom could refuse whatever she was offering him. That line managed to spark some curiosity in him, seeing as how he stopped whatever he was about to say. Chrom looked at her strangely before speaking.

"What?" that was all he could manage.

"Oh come now, we all know what those lingering stares you've been sending to our dear tactician mean."

"You've been staring at her for… let's say, all the time, and I've noticed that since the day I joined your Shepherds. If you don't believe me, ask the others. You should see how much tears the other girls have been letting out just looking at you and Robin. Honestly, I can't imagine why all this time you haven't said anything to her!" Anna grunted in slight annoyance.

"I still don't understand what you're talking about." Chrom said, backing away slightly from the woman.

"Yes, you don't, and that's what's gotten you and her into this mess!"

The merchant pointed an accusing finger at the prince before pulling away. "Milord, you simply don't understand, that's why you and Robin are looking like hopeless Risen walking the camp, and I'm telling you, if you don't understand and pull yourself together quickly, you'll be losing something mighty important." She scrunched up her eyebrows and shook her head.

"The war?" Chrom asked in obliviousness.

"Hmm… probably. And something more important, I guess."

Two days later, Chrom finds himself standing in front of the Outrealm gate with Robin by his side and a few select Shepherds behind him. Close by, a contented looking Anna looks at the group, her hand unconsciously going down to the pouch on her belt, which held the gold coins Chrom gave her in payment for the so-called-solution-to-his-problems map.

So, that's my first time actually writing a Fire Emblem fanfic. I had a lot of ideas but most of them involved Morgan and all the other future children so when I had this idea for a first gen pairing, I quickly went with it. Hope it's alright though

R&R please! That'd help me a lot