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People call Arthur stupid all the time. Stupid, idiot, dumbass, and a bunch of other stuff Arthur doesn’t care to repeat. He knows. He knows , okay? (Arthur can hear , thank you very much.) But he doesn’t care, because knights let insults go in one ear and out the other. What matters most is that knights live to serve and fulfill their duty. If Arthur can protect and save people, then that’s good enough.
…Except for the fact that Arthur is currently the one being saved. In theory, it’s not that bad. In theory . The reality is, when it’s Shinra saving Arthur instead of the other way around, Arthur’s brain gets all sorts of screwy.
Y’see, Arthur kinda had a bad fall during sparring with Shinra and kinda sprained his ankle. Fine, right? Not fine . Shinra took it upon himself to take Arthur to the nurse’s office. Fine, right? Still not fine . Shinra, demon Shinra who is Arthur’s rival, decided that it was a good idea to carry Arthur. Princess style. Swept Arthur right off his (rather hurting) feet and into his arms.
Now Arthur is suddenly, and extremely, aware of everything. Like how muscular Shinra’s arms are. Or how warm Shinra is, like a furnace. Or that Shinra looks more like a prince than a demon. Or how, well, how fast Arthur’s own heart is beating, ready to jump out of his chest to inform everyone that he’s a lovesick idiot.
Yes, this brave knight has a crush on his sworn rival, the devil.
It’s a predicament.
But how often in stories does the hero fall for the villain, creating star-crossed lovers? So maybe it’s not impossible for Arthur to make this work in some convulsed way.
“Stop moving,” Shinra mutters, taking the stairs one step at a time. He holds Arthur closer to his chest, and Arthur, being the stoic man that he is, doesn’t blush in the slightest. However, Shinra’s heart sure does sound like it’s beating rather fast. Hm.
“Heh,” Arthur says with a smug grin, “saved by the devil. I’ll accept it just for today, I suppose.” Truthfully, his ankle is throbbing with pain. He’s actually pretty lucky Shinra was the one he was training with. Someone like Lt. Hinawa might have dragged him down the stairs and tossed him into the nurse’s office.
“Shut up, onion-head,” Shinra says, jostling Arthur, “or I’ll drop you.”
Arthur gasps. “That’s not how you treat a knight, devil!”
“Ah.”
“Knight king.”
“Aren’t you more like a princess right now?”
No shame in being rescued on occasion , Arthur should be replying. But he can’t. The words are there, all set and ready to leave his mouth, but they get caught up somewhere in his throat.
Shinra looks down curiously at him, wobbling as he nearly misses a stair. Arthur looks away.
In this moment, Arthur may as well be a damsel in distress, and Shinra his knight in shining armor. His very warm, very muscular knight. And the worst part? It doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe Arthur will just have to triple-class as a princess-knight-king.
“You’re very warm, devil. And I think I’ll be a princess-knight-king,” Arthur says with a nod to himself.
“Uh—huh?” Shinra stops walking. His face tints pink, and Arthur watches with keen fascination as Shinra’s mouth twitches before pulling into his signature smile. What could Shinra possibly be nervous about right now? “ What ?”
“I said I’ll be a princess-knight-king—”
“Not that. Before.”
“I said you’re warm,” Arthur repeats. He tilts his head. “Like a dragon. Have I perhaps been fooled this entire time…? Or are you a dual-class devil-dragon?”
“You—!”
“Yes?”
Arthur never gets a reply, because Shinra rushes down the flights of stairs as if his feet are on fire (hah!). Oh well, he’ll get an answer out of Shinra sooner or later, preferably with an honorable duel.