Thief of Princes (Kid Blink x Reader)

twenty

𝔜𝔬𝔲 blinked slowly, trying to process what he'd just said in a manner that didn't involve a) rage, b) yelling, or c) fangirling. Some sort of balance was required, that was for sure.

Finally you said, "What?" 

"Did I stutter?" He raised an eyebrow at you, a small smirk on his face. 

"No," You said, since he seemed to be waiting for a response. Scrambling, you recovered your careful poise, wiping the traces of surprise from your face and choosing your words carefully. "I was merely expressing surprise at your statement."

"I can't imagine why. I haven't exactly been subtle about it. Hence, why I thought you'd found out." 

He looked amused, and you wanted to kiss the smug expression from his lips. Slap. You meant slap. Mentally cursing your mental autocorrect, you narrowed your eyes slightly at him. "What type of trick is this?" You asked.

Blind Diamond looked mildly offended at your words. "No trick, Princess. I don't joke 'bout things like this." 

You raised a brow skeptically. The food had gone cold, left forgotten on the plate in front of you. "Oh, of course not. I'm sure your past exploits have been completely joke free." 

He grinned a little at you. "You know me. Very serious." 

"Yes." You said dryly, fighting to remain unamused and unaffected by his grin. "I can see that." 

"Pass the salt?" He requested suddenly. You did so automatically, still trying to piece everything together. 

"But, why?" It was the question you kept returning to. 

"Crutchy never puts enough salt in his rice." 

"No, why-- this? Why me?" You said, flustered at his (you suspected intentional) misunderstanding. 

He quirked an eyebrow. "What do you want to hear?" 

"Excuse me?" 

"What do you want to hear, Princess? Real reasons, political reasons..." 

"Political reasons seem even less likely than real ones." You scoffed. "At least from my side, that is." 

His smirk grew. "Oh, is that so, Princess?" 

You nodded. "You are a pirate, after all. And you may be a general, but I am a princess."  

"I see," He commented slowly. 

"There's no political advantage for Talin; my father would never consider the match. There's already been an offer from Belai, in fact." You left out the fact that the offer was to your sister, and that it had been rejected. "Given that you have so much to gain as well leaves much to be skeptical of."

"Continue, please. I'd like to hear how conniving you're imagining me to be." Kid Blink leaned forward slightly with an engaging smile. 

"Well, a match would put you at a significantly higher status quo; even a second princess is higher ranked than you'd be as a general." 

He snorted at this, but shook off your inquiring look. "No, do continue." 

"Additionally, you're Kozmiran." You drove the final nail home with a small nod. 

"Impressive... how long did it take you to come up with the list?" He asked. "I'd like to know, given how it must have involved much thought at the prospect of marrying me." 

His smirk now made sense, and you quickly denied the fact. "I'm trained to think on the fly, Captain. And I've had it drilled into my head for years how my prospective marriage partners must be carefully vetted. And-- we weren't even talking about marriage yet!" 

He innocently raised his hands. "'Yet'. And did I say we were? And as for the rest of your arguments, well... I don't find a single one there that could come between us. If, of course, we decided to pursue that route." 

Your eyebrow raised. "Oh, yes, of course, they're all trite to you I'm sure."

"Precisely." He smirked, ignoring your sarcasm. "Now. Given the length of our discussion here, I feel it safe to assume you return at least some of my feelings?" 

"Excuse me?" You couldn't believe the audacity. You were sure you'd sunk his hopes, pardon the pun, but now he was talking about returning his feelings? Obviously you weren't as good at this as you thought you were. 

"You do look pretty with that blush," Blind Diamond commented. You hadn't even realized you were blushing. 

"So far, I remain entirely unconvinced you have any feelings to return." You said in response to his previous question. 

He smirked slightly. "What, after all that? You probably wouldn't want to hear it anyway." 

"Try me." 

"Nah, you don't want to hear it, I can tell." He said, and you were about to let it go at that when he continued, "You don't want to hear how you using that secret passage made me smile, don't want to hear how the way you bite your lip when you're fencing with me throws me so off guard I can't defend properly. You don't want to hear how my heart skips a beat each time you get that puzzled little furrow between your brows, or about how I have to hold myself back from speaking Elvish 'round you cause I don't know what I'd say if you couldn't understand me. You don't want to hear any of it, because if you do you'll have to admit I have feelings for you-- and that will make you question your own." His voice was tantalizingly soft, somehow managing to be extremely confident at the same time. And despite yourself, you were hooked on his every word. 

He noticed and smiled; not a grin or a smirk, but a small, perfect smile as he waited patiently for your response. 

"I-" You began, wildly unsure of anything at the moment, with no idea what you were going to say-- and then the door crashed open. 

"Cap'n." It was Race. "There's a ship." 

"What ship?" Kid Blink stood up quickly, his knee jostling the table as he got to his feet. 

Race's voice was small as he delivered the news. "It's... it's the king's."