Chapter Text
"Lord Xander, I'm here! How are you today?"
"Quite fine as usual, Laslow. Did you happen to bring tea?"
Laslow smiled as he walked towards Xander with a tray of, you name it, tea. This was the time of day when Xander got stressed, and Laslow was always set up to ease him at this time. (Laslow and Peri had set up a timetable of who should serve him when, and they both figured it was better this way.)
He set the tray on an empty spot to the side of Xander's desk and poured his tea, offering his lord the cup nearly immediately after he finished since he had been staring quite intently at him during the process (which unnerved him a bit). Xander realized what he was doing and looked sheepish himself.
"Sorry, Laslow. I know you don't like being stared at. Thank you for the tea, though." he said, offering his retainer a little smile before beginning to turn back to his work. Laslow chuckled a bit and subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, appreciative yet hesitant at how well his liege knew him.
"That's alright, milord. I know you just need a little break from all this work. Surely I must be a stress-relieving sight to see, no?"
"I'm not sure those would be my choice words," Xander murmured before taking a sip of his tea. Laslow caught the little soft smile on his face, which made him feel better.
Laslow moved the tray a bit more to the side, just to make sure it wouldn't be a bother to him, then turned around and looked at his liege's room.
Very Nohrian, as he learned this was their style. Fancy designs and darker colors, purple seeming to be favored by most. The huge bed that was only ever messed up on the left side, which he decided to fix right now. Peri must've not noticed it when she was in earlier.
That being said, the room wasn't in any noticeable disarray. A little dusty in some places if anything, being nitpicky. He figured he'd dust off some shelves then check on how Xander's mentality was doing with all that paperwork.
After finishing the bed, he moved to a shelf next to a shorter desk, that might've just been there for design. Either way, since he wanted to give Xander time to just work on his things, he just dusted some of the shelves to pass time. The room was nearly always perfect, so there wasn't exactly much to do.
He crouched down and noticed some of the paint chipping off of the desk. There was something bothering him about it and he couldn't get it off with his glove, so he slipped it off and started to scratch the paint off with his fingernail. Either he or a maid could repaint it later, so it didn't matter that much.
Just as he scratched off the last of the paint he could, leaving a little brown patch on the side of the desk. Just as he went to stand back up, he heard a soft buzzing noise coming from under the desk. He hummed curiously and leaned down closer, the buzzing becoming more distinct. Just as he was nearly looking under the desk to what it was (on his hands and knees now), it crawled out and faced him.
It took a second for Laslow to register it, but suddenly he was yelling and jumping up, accidentally backing into the shelf which made it wobble but nothing fell out. Not that he noticed, because the only thing he was seeing was his life flashing before his eyes with the words 'THINGS THAT CRAWL ARE NOT FRIENDLY' scrawled across each image.
He had also sent Xander into a panic, too. The crown prince has jumped up at the sound of his retainer yelling, and whipped his head towards Laslow just as he bumped into the shelf. "Laslow! Are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked, distress taking over his voice as he saw the fear and disgust on Laslow's face. He had no idea as to how he could find anything that could cause those two emotions in his room.
"L-Lord Xander, there's..." Laslow started, then held back a scream and blanched as he saw another one crawl out from under the shelf this time. He thought he could handle it for a second.
And then it started flying. He backed into the wall as he flew up and looked dead at him.
"NO, Lord X-Xander help me, it's disgusting, it's gross, oh, it's so gross, please," he cried and quickly crouched to avoid the bug coming at him any closer. Then stood back up as it followed him to the ground. He turned to the desk, completely ready to jump it but was devastated to see the other bug crawling up the desk. "I'm trapped," he wailed, sliding back against the wall and swatting the other bug away.
When Xander saw the bug fly up, revealing itself to be the cause of Laslow's worries, he thought it was a joke and was about to scold his retainer. But then he watched the desperate attempts to get out of the corner without going near the bug and realized that he was genuinely freaked out and trying to get away.
Laslow, the "ladies man", the confident swordsman, the crown prince of Nohr's retainer, was totally freaked out by a few bugs. It was so amusing in Xander's mind he almost started laughing right there, but knew that he should better help Laslow.
"Here, grab on," he instructed, walking to the desk and holding both of his arms out to the scared retainer. Since the bug was still flying in front of the other way out (and with an extra glance, he noticed it had also gained a friend, not to mention the other one crawling up the desk. Poor Laslow.)
Laslow, not registering much except the fact that Xander was offering him a safe escape, grabbing onto his hands and leaped onto him with his foot boosting him from the desk. Xander recoiled a little but seemed to handle it fine, considering a grown man just leaped into his arms like he had just been saved from a dragon.
Laslow sighed in relief, catching his breath as he held onto Xander. Then he felt so much blood flow to his cheeks he thought he was going to pass out.
Xander was carrying him because he had to save him from bugs (horrid little things!). But, most of all, he noticed how easily Xander was carrying him. It was as if he barely weighed anything at all--which he knew he wasn't as light as a child. Xander was carrying as easily as a sack of tomatoes, even managing to hold him in one arm for just a moment to set his pen on the desk before holding him with both arms again. It just amazed him. How could a human be so strong?
He supposed Xander had been training to be this strong all his life, though. Laslow was never that interested in becoming a human superpower. His interest lied in his mother's passion, which his father did support. Even so, now that he thought about it, was his father even this strong?
Laslow blinked as he was placed on the bed, watching as Xander started looking around the room. Presumably, for something to get the bugs with, Laslow guessed. He offered his boot to use in stead of any of the pristine things in Xander's room, but Xander declined and found an old notepad to use (which Laslow was slightly glad for, because he was certain that he would never use his current boots again if he had accepted and would have to go through the trouble of getting new ones).
He felt oddly useless as he sat on the bed (not to mention he has never sat on the bed before, and it was so very velvety and he wished it was his!), but did not dare
stand up and risk going closer to the demons.
He looked away as Xander swatted them because he inside of those things were /gross/. He heard the notepad swing a couple of times before footsteps headed towards his way. He looked up at Xander, the amused expression on his face making Laslow want to die.
"Dead. See?" as sincerely comforting as Xander meant his words to be, Laslow whipped his head around and made a grossed-out sound when his lord showed him the smushed bugs on the notepad. He heard him start to laugh before clearing his throat and walking to the trashcan, promptly dropping it in before back to his retainer.
Laslow felt like he was going to be sick--partially because of the bugs, mostly because of embarrassment. Begrudgingly, he got up from the velvet bed and blushed as he felt his stomach spiral into an endless abyss.
"I'm sorry, Lord Xander-"
"I'm sorry, Laslow-"
Xander, surprisingly, chuckled at their unison. Light-hearted from the situation still, Laslow guessed. This didn't make him feel much better, which Xander noticed and placed a hand on his shoulder to regard him.
"Sorry, I don't mean to provoke you, Laslow. This situation is just..." Xander stopped there before he made another teasing statement. "I just had no idea your fear was... bugs, Laslow."
Hearing it out loud made him feel silly, but if he had to be honest...
"Th-That's quite alright, milord! I can understand where you're coming from, but... those horrid little things! You can't blame me, right? Aren't they gross?" he practically begged for Xander to agree with him. He didn't want to feel so silly for this. Xander's smile already told him that this wasn't going his way.
"It's okay, Laslow. I can't see it, but I understand you." he sympathized, Laslow nodded to the statement in appreciation. He was still a little pale, though.
This situation was all so familiar, he thought after a moment. With his sister and father. Except then, his sister freaked out with him and got caught with him, both sharing the trouble. This time, he was alone in the embarrassment. But remembering the scene with his sister made him smile. Their father never understood why bugs were so creepy, just annoyed by the whole situation.
He must've zoned out in his memories, blinking back into reality when he felt Xander pat his shoulder.
"Are you okay, Laslow? Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off, I'll call Peri in." he worried, which made Laslow smile. His lord was worried for him over something so silly.
"No, it's alright, Xander. I'm fine," he reassured, patting the arm that Xander had on him. Xander lifted his hand off but looked reluctant. "Are you sure? You look pale, after that."
That was true, Laslow noted. Even during that time with his sister, the bug had never gotten that close to him (because he was hiding behind his sister, at the time. He had nothing to hide behind in Xander's room, though he was... carried to safety, which still amazed him.) Before he answered, though, Xander shook his head.
"You should at least take a little break, to clear up. Go take a walk. Only around the castle, though, because I already know what's going to happen if I let you go anywhere else." he requested, deadpanning at the last sentence. Laslow laughed, though knew Xander had made his decision and he should probably just go take a walk.
"I suppose, milord. I promise to stay inside castle grounds, as disappointed as the ladies would be," he stated with a wink, and with that, he left. Usually, he would put up more of a fight, but he did need a little walk to cool off after that.
Xander sat back at his desk as he watched his retainer go. That whole situation made him laugh. And that's it. Right there, right as his retainer was out of earshot, he started laughing. Probably more than he had laughed in months.
Calming down, he sighed in amusement and gazed out the window in amusement. The crown prince of Nohr's retainer, terrified by bugs--they weren't even that scary. Those ones even looked a little cute, in his opinion!
"Just another endearing trait of his," Xander mused before taking a breath, straightening his posture, and getting back to work.