[ It hadn't really been a spur of the moment decision to join the competition. Although it's not like Haruki didn't consider it from the moment it was announced - it was a chance to kiss Noah, after all, his prince and the guy who had made his heart skip a few beats for quite a while now. (And made it skip even more when he realises that if he didn't join, Noah would be kissing someone else entirely.)
But on the other hand.. there were things stopping him too. Like the idea that perhaps Noah wouldn't like kissing him at all, and the idea of him forcing anything onto the radiant prince feels like a sin he'll never be able to forgive himself for. And the worry what other people might think about it.. he's the prince's personal knight, after all, and people might find it weird for them to do that sort of thing - even setting aside the matter of status. Even though he was no longer poor thanks to the job Noah had given him, he's still working for him. He's still following Noah's orders, and the fact that he's nowhere near Noah's level in his mind almost threatens to make him hate himself for even considering what it would be like to kiss the other.
It's why Haruki waffles and hesitates, the only good thing about it being the fact that he at least manages to hide his thoughts about the competition from the prince himself in the meantime. It's only on the day of the competition itself that his heart seems to make it into a spur of the moment decision after all, his worries over the thought of who might kiss Noah otherwise making him jump in at the back of the line for people to sign up.
At least the competition itself was nothing to worry about. Not for him. He'd trained hard ever since he was granted the position of personal knight by Noah, and even before that he had already trained during every spare moment of time he could find in his life (a not too common thing to find, honestly) to make sure he could even be good enough to be considered for the position of knight. It's why he easily got through the first few rounds of the competition without even breaking too much of a sweat during the jousting and the battles.
There's only one thing that Haruki can't find himself able to do in the middle of all this - and that's actually look at Noah. If the worry about with what kind of expression Noah is watching all this isn't bad enough, then there's the very true fact that catching even a glimpse of that person would make his heart pound so rapidly and his cheeks heat up so quickly he wouldn't be able to focus on a single match.
So he doesn't. Even though a voice at the back of his mind worries that Noah might be disappointed to see him here among the others fighting for a chance to get a kiss from him, he tries to ignore it the best he can and fight on with a steady hand and heart - looking a lot less like the bashful guy he is most of the time when he isn't holding a sword or lance.
And so the competition keeps going well. It's not that much of a surprise when he finds himself making it to the final round, even if he would hate to put it that way since he's way too humble to make a big deal out of himself.
Not that the final round is easy. He doesn't find himself on some extremely losing side in the middle of it, but he's at the very least evenly matched with the other guy. What Haruki has in skill, the other man is making up for in build - because no matter how good Haruki might be with a weapon by now, he's still a very slender guy with a near feminine-looking build. There's only so much he can do in the strength department. He doesn't want to give up just because of that though. If he's made it this far, then he should at least bother to win this last fight too.. and even if Noah wouldn't want to kiss him, he'd just bow his head to him and say he just wanted to prevent him from having to kiss anyone indecent. It'll work out somehow, he thinks, and his grip on his sword grows a little tighter as the metal of his sword meets his opponent's once more in this final swordfighting battle. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
But on the other hand.. there were things stopping him too. Like the idea that perhaps Noah wouldn't like kissing him at all, and the idea of him forcing anything onto the radiant prince feels like a sin he'll never be able to forgive himself for. And the worry what other people might think about it.. he's the prince's personal knight, after all, and people might find it weird for them to do that sort of thing - even setting aside the matter of status. Even though he was no longer poor thanks to the job Noah had given him, he's still working for him. He's still following Noah's orders, and the fact that he's nowhere near Noah's level in his mind almost threatens to make him hate himself for even considering what it would be like to kiss the other.
It's why Haruki waffles and hesitates, the only good thing about it being the fact that he at least manages to hide his thoughts about the competition from the prince himself in the meantime. It's only on the day of the competition itself that his heart seems to make it into a spur of the moment decision after all, his worries over the thought of who might kiss Noah otherwise making him jump in at the back of the line for people to sign up.
At least the competition itself was nothing to worry about. Not for him. He'd trained hard ever since he was granted the position of personal knight by Noah, and even before that he had already trained during every spare moment of time he could find in his life (a not too common thing to find, honestly) to make sure he could even be good enough to be considered for the position of knight. It's why he easily got through the first few rounds of the competition without even breaking too much of a sweat during the jousting and the battles.
There's only one thing that Haruki can't find himself able to do in the middle of all this - and that's actually look at Noah. If the worry about with what kind of expression Noah is watching all this isn't bad enough, then there's the very true fact that catching even a glimpse of that person would make his heart pound so rapidly and his cheeks heat up so quickly he wouldn't be able to focus on a single match.
So he doesn't. Even though a voice at the back of his mind worries that Noah might be disappointed to see him here among the others fighting for a chance to get a kiss from him, he tries to ignore it the best he can and fight on with a steady hand and heart - looking a lot less like the bashful guy he is most of the time when he isn't holding a sword or lance.
And so the competition keeps going well. It's not that much of a surprise when he finds himself making it to the final round, even if he would hate to put it that way since he's way too humble to make a big deal out of himself.
Not that the final round is easy. He doesn't find himself on some extremely losing side in the middle of it, but he's at the very least evenly matched with the other guy. What Haruki has in skill, the other man is making up for in build - because no matter how good Haruki might be with a weapon by now, he's still a very slender guy with a near feminine-looking build. There's only so much he can do in the strength department. He doesn't want to give up just because of that though. If he's made it this far, then he should at least bother to win this last fight too.. and even if Noah wouldn't want to kiss him, he'd just bow his head to him and say he just wanted to prevent him from having to kiss anyone indecent. It'll work out somehow, he thinks, and his grip on his sword grows a little tighter as the metal of his sword meets his opponent's once more in this final swordfighting battle. ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)