The King's Guard (BL)

Tea

"Your highness! It is great to see you!" the retired knight greeted.
"Thank you for having me." I smiled as he bowed.
"My son will be here at any moment. Would you like some tea while you wait?"
"That would be wonderful."
"Yes, of course. Marshall!"

A man in a suit a lot like Presley's came from behind the door to the far right.

"Yes, sir?" Marshall answered. His grey hair was slicked back and he was a very pale man, almost translucent. He was well past middle aged and fairly skinny. Not taller than Presley but still a decent height.

"Please, get the prince here a spot of tea."
"Yes, sir."

Another man came out of the same doorway.

"Here he is! My son, William."

The man walked closer. He was decent looking, clean, fairly tall, and he had dirty blonde hair that almost reached his shoulders.

"It is nice to meet you, William." I greeted and he bowed.
"You as well, your highness." he smiled at me.

"And this is?" he asked and I saw him look behind me.
"Oh! I'm sorry, this is my guard, Nathan." I introduced.

I looked at Nathan and he looked...annoyed? I wondered why. He was fine a few minutes ago.

"Well, should I let you three carry on? I was told this would be a quick meeting just between the two of you." the knight said.
"Yes, and also, what was your name again?" I asked.
"Nicholas, sir." he bowed again.

...

Nicholas let us be and we followed William into their meeting room.

"Please, make yourself comfortable." he instructed and we sat.

"Beautiful home you have here." I complimented.

Marshall entered with my tea.

"Thank you, you're beautiful as well."
I took a sip and choked. "I'm sorry?"

I choked both at his comment and at how vile the tea was. This was simply just dirty water.

"I meant, your castle is beautiful as well. I'm sorry, my mouth couldn't speak as fast as my brain could think. I'm pretty nervous." he corrected with a light chuckle.
"Oh, it's quite alright. I understand." I nodded.

I heard Nathan shift in his seat and I looked at him. His eye lids were low and he stared at William. Maybe he's tired and doesn't want to be here.

William took his seat.
"So, my father has told me you would like to become a castle knight." I began.
"Oh, yes, sir."
"Have you served in our military? We don't typically take recruitments off of our streets."
"Yes, for five years, since the age of 18."
"Can I ask why you left?"
"My father was ill."
"Oh, well I'm glad he's okay now."
"Yes, thank you."
"What makes you want to become one of our knights?"
"Taking after my father. When he became ill he had to retire. However, he loved his job and I always thought it was amazing, so I decided I'd take the career over from him."

"How lovely." I grinned.

"Also there's this one really attractive person I'd get to work with whom I'd love to become better acquainted with." he smiled.

"Oh, I see. Well, as long as it does not interfere with your work then you can have romantic relations. Is it Mary? She tends to get a lot of attention." I stated.

"No, it's not Mary." he chuckled.

"Well, is it-..."
"Time is wasting, please stay on task." Nathan demanded.

How rude...?

"Oh...yes, okay..." I agreed for us to get back on track.

A half an hour had passed and I'd asked William a plethora of questions.

"Well, my father is out of the country, there is currently a battle going on. He should be back in two more months and will give you a physical test where you train with the rest of our knights, I am only here to check character."
"I see."
"The test will be held at the castle."
"I will remember."
"Good. Well, that is all for today." I said and stood up. "I suppose we shall see you in two months time."

He stood as well. "Sounds like a plan."

As I walked to the door, William's hand found the small of my back.

I was about to look to him to see the problem when a metal blade moved faster and stopped at his neck.

"Do refrain from touching the prince without permission." Nathan commanded. "Wouldn't want you to be riddled unable to complete your physical test in the future, now would we?"
"N-No." William answered.
"Then move your fucking hand." Nathan grunted.

William quickly put both hands in the air like he was surrendering.

"Let's go, your highness." Nathan instructed.

I continued walking out of the door.

We said goodbye to his father, I complimented their god awful tea, and hopped back into the carriage.

"Do remind me to get Presley to make me a proper tea when we make it back to the castle. I need that awful taste rinsed out of my mouth." I told Nathan.

He moved the curtain and stared out of the carriage window in silence, like he was thinking.

"Nathan?" I called.
"Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"No."
"Well, then what's wrong?" I asked.
"Do you not know when people are flirting with you?" he asked and finally looked at me.
"Pardon?"
"You are oblivious to when people are flirting with you."
"That's not true. I caught on to when the princesses and duchesses did it at my party months ago."
"Well, they weren't necessarily subtle! They told you they wanted to marry you!"

I thought about it.

"You didn't notice when I did it." he added.

"You flirted with me?" I asked in shock.
He sat back in his seat in frustration. "Yes!"
"Well...you were not obvious..."
"I was very obvious!" He threw his arms in the air in frustration then they fell back to his legs. "William just flirted with you and you were oblivious to that as well!"

I know this might be considered an argument but I am just so proud he used the word oblivious correctly twice. As well as subtle.

"Where are you going with this?" I asked.
"I do not know." He looked back out of the window.
"Would you like for me to stop it?"
"To stop what?" he questioned.
"The flirting."
"I don't see how you could if you never notice it."
"Then you will teach me."
He turned and looked at me. "What?"
"You will teach me how to notice flirtatious terms and acts."
"How would I do that? I am not a teacher."
"Well I don't want anyone else to do it. So it's either you do it or I remain blind."

He sighed.

"Fine. We start when we arrive home." he stated.