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Mafuyu had identified one of Kanade’s weaknesses a couple days ago, and he hadn’t lost a spar since. Today would be no exception. Kanade was a knight of honor, never one to go for swift, wild blows or underhanded maneuvers, so their matches often turned into contests of attrition—long stretches of locked blades and careful observation, each of them waiting for their opponent to make a wrong move.
Mafuyu was not a knight of honor, so when their blades locked again at the hilt, this time level with each of their chins, he stared not at the juncture of steel but at Kanade’s face just above. It took only a few seconds of eye contact for the tips of Kanade’s ears to turn pink, and he abashedly turned away, just as he had every time Mafuyu had done this before.
It was this chink in his defenses that Mafuyu sought to exploit. Kanade’s defensive techniques were impressive, but there was only so much he could do with his line of sight broken; all it took was a quick twist of Mafuyu’s wrist to wrench the sword from his hand. It fell quietly to the grass, and Kanade along with it, pushed down by Mafuyu’s free hand as he grappled him to the ground.
They lay there for a few seconds, breathing heavily, before Kanade nudged aside the blade at his neck and shot Mafuyu an irritated look.
“Why do you keep doing that?”
Mafuyu cocked his head. “Because it works,” he replied bluntly, and Kanade sighed.
“That’s not very sportsmanlike.”
“Perhaps you should work on correcting your weakness,” Mafuyu offered. “What makes it so difficult for you to hold eye contact with me?”
“That’s—” Kanade sputtered, looking away from him again. His cheeks were reddening now too, blooming brightly against his bright blue eyes and pale hair. It was very pretty, and Mafuyu found himself easing into the grass beside Kanade, falling back into his line of sight. He wanted to cup those rosy cheeks and feel the heat that simmered beneath Kanade’s porcelain skin, but thought better of it; his hand that had so firmly pinned Kanade to the ground instead fell slack against the knight’s chest, black gloves draped over layers of white and gold fabric.
Kanade was quiet for a moment more, and then mumbled, “...because you’re so handsome.”
Mafuyu paused. He wasn’t sure what kind of answer he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this, and it took him a few moments to search for a response.
“But I don’t have any difficulty holding eye contact with you,” he finally said, “even though you’re so pretty.”
“Pr—” Kanade sputtered, his eyes widening in shock. It was a satisfying reaction, and Mafuyu felt the corners of his lips begin to tease upward in amusement.
That seemed to only unnerve Kanade more. His mouth gaped open and closed like a fish several times before he seemed able to put his thoughts into words.
“God, I just feel so weak when you say stuff like that, or get this close to me…” Kanade must have lost his nerve again, because he stared up at the sky and laid his hand helplessly across his forehead. “Usually I can handle it, but when you stare at me so intently, sometimes it, I don’t know, becomes too much. It bubbles over, and I have to look away.”
Mafuyu hummed in acknowledgement, then asked, “Just me?”
A startled look passed over Kanade's face.
“Yeah,” he whispered. “Just you.”
The feeling that bloomed in Mafuyu’s chest upon hearing those words was difficult to describe. It was as though the sun had settled into his chest cavity and flowers were blooming all along his ribs, and when his body moved again, it felt surprisingly light. So strong was the energy that pulsed through his body that he wasn’t even fully aware of himself pushing off the ground to lean over Kanade again, hands planted on either side of his head.
“I think I might understand that a little,” Mafuyu said quietly, so that only the two of them could hear it. “You also have quite an effect on me, you know.”
He could practically hear Kanade’s heart skip a beat before he responded. “I do?”
Mafuyu nodded. “There’s something so fascinating about the way you react to me. I can’t seem to get enough of it. It’s curious, isn’t it? I can’t help but want to reach out to you, to draw you in, to hold you—anything to see the face you’ll make when I do so.
“Even this,” Mafuyu breathed, and drew closer to Kanade, leaning down so that their noses were almost brushing. “Does being this close to me make you nervous? What will you show me then?”
A wave of fear passed over Kanade’s features, as if he were face to face with not Mafuyu but a dragon, heaving over him, scales coiling over each other as his body shifted, smoke billowing from thick nostrils with every rumble of his chest. But that wasn’t it; something else glinted in Kanade’s eyes, a small flame burning behind black pupils that seemed to smolder with Mafuyu’s every move. It was captivating. It enticed him.
It was dangerous, and Mafuyu quickly realized that he could no longer simply look at Kanade.
Ah, he realized. I understand. It becomes too much.
Though Kanade had not yet responded to his taunt, Mafuyu leaned away, returning to a resting position against the lawn. He did not tear his eyes away, but it was easier to lay beside him like this and examine the profile of his face than to hold Kanade’s gaze.
Some of the color had eased from his cheeks, and his blue eyes remained fixated firmly upward, reflecting the sky above. He seemed to still be gathering himself from Mafuyu’s advance. That was fine. Mafuyu was content to watch him quietly for a while longer. It was easy to appreciate how his slight chest rose and fell with each breath. Mafuyu’s eyes comfortably traced the locks of Kanade’s ivory hair draping from his forehead and down his cheek to eventually terminate at the small stud of ruby embedded in his earlobe. Again, he felt an urge to reach out and brush his fingers against the other boy’s skin, and his hand began to creep closer; again, he thought better of it. It felt somehow inappropriate to touch Kanade out here, in the courtyard. This place belonged to more than the two of them. His hand fell slack.
It bubbles over, he thought, and then: it burns.
But there was nothing more to do, so he simply laid there and picked at the blades of grass until Kanade spoke. His words were slow at first. “Yeah,” he said breathlessly. “That did make me nervous.”
All at once, his lips curved into a grin. “But I won this time. You looked away first.”
Mafuyu clicked his tongue disapprovingly, but there was no malice in his words when he spoke. “Cocky little thing, aren’t you? Shall we put that confidence to the test?” He sat up and reached for Kanade’s abandoned sword, flipped it around, and offered the hilt to its owner.
Kanade stared at his outstretched hand for a second before sighing and accepting the challenge. His eyes flickered up admonishingly to meet Mafuyu’s.
“Alright, but don’t try pulling anything else, you hear me?”
There it was again, that little flicker in his eyes that made Mafuyu swoon. He wondered what would happen if they encountered each other in the castle halls, just the two of them in dark, empty silence; if just between the two of them, he could shrug free the title his name carried, and Kanade could do the same; if Mafuyu could not hold himself back should Kanade look at him with the same hunger as he was now.
He shivered. This feeling was a frightening, bewitching thing, but now was not the time. It slipped beneath his smile as he replied cheekily, “No promises,” drew his blade once more, and ventured back into the flames.