[Byleth mulled over his next words, unsure on how to properly phrase it. He wasn't the best with social etiquette, this was true, but he prided himself on his keen observation - you didn't need to know the ins and outs of the unspoken rules of social interaction to decipher if someone was an immediate threat, a slow-burning threat, or trustworthy enough that they won't stab you in the back the second you show your flank. The only time Byleth had ever misjudged someone had been with Shez, but even that had been... an outlier.
And while Claude was an enigma to him, Byleth felt like he had him pegged pretty well too. It was a contradictory claim, but he felt the need to both explain his actions and maybe commiserate with Hayame.]
I think he believes he's genuine when he claims friendship. I don't sense any deceit from him on that front. But he's too afraid to properly meet you halfway, so the friendship feels a little too one-sided at times. He wants to know everything about you and your troubles, but will never share any of his own. I don't think he realises that this makes it difficult to fully trust him and his intentions.
[Or perhaps Claude did, and continued to be a squirrelly little bastard anyway. Byleth stood by his blunt assessment either way - actually, it was kind of nice to get this off his chest, because it had been frustrating him, yet he never had an outlet to state it to anyone who knew Claude like him. There was Dimitri, of course, but... he might tell Claude what he told him, and also:]
He's a noble, so obviously he'll convolute everything unnecessarily. It's what they do. And... pondering it, being a noble actually explains why he may've been offensively neutral regarding Vern...
no subject
[Byleth mulled over his next words, unsure on how to properly phrase it. He wasn't the best with social etiquette, this was true, but he prided himself on his keen observation - you didn't need to know the ins and outs of the unspoken rules of social interaction to decipher if someone was an immediate threat, a slow-burning threat, or trustworthy enough that they won't stab you in the back the second you show your flank. The only time Byleth had ever misjudged someone had been with Shez, but even that had been... an outlier.
And while Claude was an enigma to him, Byleth felt like he had him pegged pretty well too. It was a contradictory claim, but he felt the need to both explain his actions and maybe commiserate with Hayame.]
I think he believes he's genuine when he claims friendship. I don't sense any deceit from him on that front. But he's too afraid to properly meet you halfway, so the friendship feels a little too one-sided at times. He wants to know everything about you and your troubles, but will never share any of his own. I don't think he realises that this makes it difficult to fully trust him and his intentions.
[Or perhaps Claude did, and continued to be a squirrelly little bastard anyway. Byleth stood by his blunt assessment either way - actually, it was kind of nice to get this off his chest, because it had been frustrating him, yet he never had an outlet to state it to anyone who knew Claude like him. There was Dimitri, of course, but... he might tell Claude what he told him, and also:]
He's a noble, so obviously he'll convolute everything unnecessarily. It's what they do. And... pondering it, being a noble actually explains why he may've been offensively neutral regarding Vern...