The Mushroom Prince // DNF

6/Lessons

George felt a chill of excitement run up his spine as he melted into Clay's touch. It was only the second time the blonde's hands had been on him like this, but the touch already felt familiar to George.

He inhaled deeply as he tried to pull his focus back to the task at hand, tightening his grip on the handle of the sword. But his eyes kept flickering back to Clay's much larger hand wrapped around his wrist, his brain only focusing on the hand tightly gripping his waist.

He exhaled the breath, and it came out sounding slightly shaky as he did. Clay seemed to notice, because he let out a low chuckle and quietly asked, "what's wrong, George?"

The warm breath grazed his skin, making George's heart beat hard against his ribs as he quickly mumbled, "nothing, I'm just nervous."

"Oh? Do I make you nervous, George?"

Clay's voice was low as he spoke, but it had a playful edge to it. George knew he was only teasing him, but it still made his face heat up and his cheeks flush pink.

"N-no, I just don't have much practice with a sword," George responded quickly, almost defensively as he stumbled over the words.

He heard Clay laugh quietly behind him before saying, "calm down, George. I was only joking."

George dropped his eyes and shook his head in annoyance as he questioned, "whatever, are we practicing or not?"

"Impatient," Clay answered with another laugh, "okay, let's start with some stances then. You have to get used to holding the sword correctly before you can actually use it."

George nodded as his eyes followed the movement of Clay's hand, which shifted from his wrist to fix George's grip on the sword.

"There, like that," Clay murmured quietly, and another jolt of excitement shot up George's spine.

George tried to remain focused as Clay stayed close behind him for the next couple of hours, helping to guide his movements as he practiced moving the sword around.

After what felt like not nearly enough time to George, Clay's hands fell away from his body as he pulled away from the brunette and came striding back into view. Even though the contact was no longer there, George felt like his skin was on fire in every place that Clay's hands had touched.

As his eyes flickered over to meet the blonde's, he couldn't help but wonder what it had felt like for him, if it had felt like anything at all. He tried to push away the thought quickly, sure that it had been one sided, only in his mind.

"You're doing pretty good, George. I'd say you almost have the stances and movements down," Clay spoke with a smile, and George nearly blushed at the small praise.

"Thanks," George responded, his eyes scanning over the trees around them, looking anywhere but at Clay.

"Sure. Are you ready to head back?"

George finally let himself look back over at the blonde, who was swinging his own sword around while he waited for George to answer.

George only nodded in response, handing the sword back to Clay before turning to leave the clearing.

Clay caught up with him quickly, and George could feel the blonde's eyes on him as they walked side by side back to the castle. Clay finally broke the silence by asking, "are you okay, George? You seem quiet. Did you not enjoy the lesson?"

George felt his face soften slightly, feeling bad for making Clay think he had done anything wrong, when in fact he was just lost in his own thoughts.

"The lesson was good, Clay. Like you said, you're a good teacher," George said in a light and playful tone, gently nudging the blonde with his shoulder as they walked. He earned a laugh from Clay, and a smile spread on his face at the sound of it.