Chapter Text
“Gonna go running to Goldenloin again?” Todd, along with a few of the other knights in training, jeered at Ballister who only sighed as he bent down to pick up the books that had been knocked out of his hands. He'd given up on giving them a reaction that was anything other than exasperation. Besides, Ballister knew that Todd and the other bullies wanted Ballister to react, they wanted the commoner to make a scene, to make a spectacle of himself.
The more Ballister reacted to the taunts, pushing, and shoving, the more the bullies bothered him until either Ambrosius stepped in or one of the teachers scolded them for being late to class. Which, in the first scenario, usually lead to a fight and Ambrosius being assigned to kitchen duty for the week. Second scenario was usually the best outcome.
Almost as if he had heard his thoughts, Ambrosius quickly walked over towards Ballister, glaring at Todd and the other bullies. “Seriously?” Ambrosius scoffed, “I understand being unsure about Ballister when he first came to the institute but it's been two years now. Just admit you’re jealous of him.”
“Look fella’s, prince charming's sweeping in again to save the helpless maiden!” Todd cackled, tossing his head back and pointing at Ballister who had ducked his head and positioned himself slightly behind Ambrosius. He tugged on the other boy’s uniform and whispered "let it go, you can't afford to get in trouble again."
"But-"
"Aww, the wittle maiden doesn't want his knight in trouble," Todd sneered, his entourage joining in on his laughter and pointing at the pair. Ambrosius’ arms flexed; he only really did that when he got angry. Ballister could see him preparing to march forward to probably punch Todd and the others which would no doubt earn him another punishment and an offense he couldn’t afford to have on his record. Ballister quickly reached out and snagged the edge of Ambrosius' collar.
"Rosius, please. They're not worth wasting any brain power on." He stared up at Ambrosius, unaware that his pupils had unconsciously dilated as they pleadingly looked up at the other teen. "Can we just go to class? Please?"
"Bal…oh Gloreth, I can never say no when you look at me like that- wait, right your books." Ambrosius bent down and scooped up some of Ballister's books, carrying them with him as he slung an arm over Ballister’s shoulder. "We'd better hurry before we're late." Ballister nodded and went to reach for his books when Ambrosius pulled him tighter against his side.
“Rosius, don’t be silly, you have your own books to carry.”
“It’s fiineee,” Ambrosius said as he steered Ballister into the classroom.
Unfortunately for the two boys Ambrosius' little act of chivalry just added more fuel to the fire that was going to be lit under Ballister.
The maiden jokes continued on for the rest of the week. Whenever Ambrosius defended Ballister against Todd, “Oh poor, helpless maiden Ballister needs gold dick to defend him, huh?” When Ballister tripped during practice, “Where’s your big strong knight coming to protect you now?” When Ballister snagged the last dessert for him and Ambrosius, “What, you gotta bribe Goldenloin to stick around you?”
For the most part Ballister would just roll his eyes and scoff while trying to soothe a steadily becoming irate Ambrosius. “You’re record,” Ballistic would hiss whenever Ambrosius made a move to physically confront Todd.
“But-”
“You wanna be a knight with me, right?”
“Yes-”
“Then for the sake of your record, let it go.” Ambrosius deflated with a sigh. “Okay, just because I don’t even want to entertain the possibility of you being left alone with Todd.”
“That’s fair.”
“Hey losers!” whatever good mood Ballister and Ambrosius shared was instantly shattered at the sound of Todd’s voice accompanied by Blanche and Chad’s snickering.
Ballister took a deep breath and turned in his seat to face them. “What?” A pair of dangly earrings was thrown on the table. Ballister raised a brow, his eyes going from the group, to the earrings, and then back to the group. “Uh…okay?”
“Put them on,” Blanch ordered, smiling toothily at Ballister. “Yeah you gonna play the maiden better look the part,” Chad added, picking up the earrings and shaking them in front of Ballister. “Hey, someone get a needle, the street rats gonna get branded.”
“That’s enough!” Ambrosius had physically thrown his arm across Ballister and used his body to shield the older boy from the others. “This is just harassment at this point, no way am I letting you poke holes in Ballister’s ears-”
“I just have to put them on? That’s it?” Ambrosius' eyes widened. “Bal no-” whatever protest he was going to say was cut off as Ballister calmly inserted the earrings into his ears.
“You..oh…” Ballister…looked really really good with earrings. The earrings were designed to resemble the feathers of a bird; with Ballister’s hair tied up the metallic feathers reflected light onto his dark skin covering him in a warm glow. He looked, and Ambrosius wasn’t usually one for poetics, but Ballister was absolutely radiant.
Ambrosius lamented his lack of paper and pastels, he wanted to capture the image of Ballister with the silver earrings and immortalize it with paper and pastel-wait no, canvas, plain paper wouldn’t do Ballister’s image justice-
“What?!” Blanche screeched, shattering the picturesque scene. “You- since when did you have piercings?”
“You’re not even allowed piercings in uniform!” Chad added. Todd scoffed beside him. “Wow, you really are a criminal, huh? Only criminals have piercings-”
“The Queen wears earrings you idiot,” Ambrosius growled. “Are you disrespecting the Queen?” Todd and the other sputtered for a moment before storming off, yelling insults over their shoulders.
“They forgot the earrings,” Ballister mumbled, a hand coming up to run his fingers over the metal feathers. Ambrosius reached out to do the same, pausing when Ballister’s eyes darted over to him.
“...You look good in em, Bal.” Ballister made a face, his hand going from fiddling with the earrings to scratching beneath his ear lobe. “They’re itchy.”
“Itchy?”
“Hm,” Ballister hummed, popping the earrings out of his ears and setting them on the table. “Traditionally piercings are done with gold or silver, or at the very least hypoallergenic materials. Mixed metals make my ears itchy.”
“Traditionally?” Ambrosius echoed. Ballister aimed a confused expression at him before realization dawned on his face. “Oh! Oh, that’s right, I never told you. The area where I grew up, it’s not uncommon for people to have their ears pierced as babies.”
“That…sounds like it hurts. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until they’re older?” Ballister shrugged. “Maybe? The adults I grew up around believed it was better to give the option in childhood rather than risking children sneaking out and getting their ears pierced improperly. Poorly done piercings can lead to pretty bad, and painful, infections, plus when the kids are older they can always choose to let the piercings close up-” Ballister blushed then ducked his head. “Sorry, rambling-”
“I like hearing you ramble,” Ambrosius said, resting his head in his hands. “And I like learning about where you’re from. Continue?”
As Ballister resumed talking Ambrosius wondered if his mother had any hypoallergenic earrings she didn’t want anymore. When was Ballister’s birthday again…