The privateer and his tracker

Chapter 3

As Nikolai already noticed Mal was quite out of character since the two of them started training together. Most of the time he was surprisingly pleasant company and was less and less annoyed by the king.

Well, until today.

With every surge of his sword in Nikolai's direction, he could feel some of the irritation seeping through his movements. It was making the privateer feel angsty and he wondered if Mal regretted his decision of helping Nikolai out.

"Everything okay?" He finally dared to ask and was sure worry could be clearly seen on his face.

"Just peachy," came a reply with a slight bow. There was still so much annoyance in Mal's voice that Nikolai wanted to stop the session until Mal spit it out.

"And here I was, starting to believe you tolerate me," he threw back with a slight smirk on his face, hoping to regain back their usual dynamic. He would prefer Mal hate him as he did at the start, rather than him being annoyed like he was at the moment.

"If only," was said in a sadder tone than Nikolai expected it would be. He didn't have the time to think about it for too long. His opponent surged forward and in a fight-manner wrapped himself around the king. They were both full-on panting and without his permission, the privateer's mind went off to places it shouldn't have.

As a sign of defeat, the blond-haired boy dropped his sword, along with the hope of Mal feeling somewhat as he does.

Mockingly he raised his hands and dropped the topic:"You've gotten better".

"Can't say the same about you" Mal offered right into his right ear.

Before he even closed his mouth, Nikolai pulled him over himself and onto the ground. Standing, looking down on Mal was a great feeling, especially with his victory.

"Oop, I suppose you'd want to take that back now," bit back Nikolai, and a second too later realized he was a bit too smug and confident. Just before he, safely, hit the ground, he noted how Mal lost the annoyance not so long ago, before he pulled his last move.

Once again, Nikolai found himself under Mal, which was quite annoying since this was the third time this has happened. His dreams didn't take those memories lightly and he knew eventually he'll have to change his sheets.

"I'm starting to think that you sitting on people is the only way you know how to win." A smile was visible on his face.

"Maybe it is." Came a reply without any hint of a smile or a good mood, before Mal left, without a glance back.

--- le time skip <3 ---

"Genya, I am telling you, I will go crazy because of this guy," Nikolai almost whimpered, laying desperately on Genya's bed, begging her for a piece of wisdom.

"I would be able to help you a lot more if I knew who you were talking about."

"Wipe that smirk off of your face you know damn well who I am talking about." Another frustrated groan came from Nikolai.

"I just want to hear you say it, darling," she blew a kiss in his direction. Even though she was a pain in the ass about it, he appreciated her even listening to him.

"It's Mal. Honestly, I didn't think I would ever get a crush on someone like him. He's so quiet-"

"Well, you talk enough for both you and the sad person you'll end up in a relationship with."

"Sometimes I ask myself why I even befriended you. Anyways, as I was saying, he isn't very fond of me. I thought it was getting better, I really did. And yet, he went back to his closed self and the worst thing is that once in my life, once, I let myself hope. I hoped that maybe, he would be interested in spending more time together. He's so interesting and-"

"Opposites attract, they say," another smirk from Genya.

"Shush. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. The attitude I'm receiving makes me feel like I'm 10 again. Listening to people call me "the bastard prince" and only receiving silence from my parents. I know it's not as dramatic and his intent is not to isolate me, but it's still freaking me out."

"Hun-"

"I know I'm being way over dramatic and that he never saw me in the same way as I saw him and that we were nothing and not even as close as I thought we were."

"Darling-"

"But silly little me fantasised our whole future in my head, and now I feel like I didn't only lose whatever small progress we made till now, but our whole future."

"Nikolai-"

"And it brings me to think I'll never find anyone who will love me ever because my mind gets way ahead of what is happening. Maybe Mal isn't even acting weird but just isn't the over-romanticised version I imagined."

"Sobachka-"

"And here I go doing it again, I am leaning on the interpretation my mind makes instead of facts and it leads me to act weird and out of character around him. When the only thing I want to do is grab him, kiss him an-"

"LANTSOV. I swear if you don't shut up, saints help me, I'll change your entire stupid face." Effectively shut Nikolai up and he sat up on the bed, almost on the verge of tears. If Genya wouldn't instantly continue, he would've started freaking out because of how much he opened up.

"I understand that you're freaking out and I'd listen to you as long as you had something to say, but I'd like to put you out of your misery now, mkay?" Nikolai leaned a bit closer to her.

"Look, just because I'm engaged to David, it doesn't mean I know how I did it. But what I can tell you is that you're right, your mind interpreted it a bit wrong. I have a good reason to tell you to calm your tits. The reality in your brain is not the actual reality. Live more in the moment. We'll laugh about this in less than a year, it's not a big deal."

"You're right. Mal probably isn't even thinking about this nearly as much as I am."

--- le place change ---

Mal was, in fact, thinking about it as much as Nikolai was, if not even more.

He thought about going to Alina for advice but quickly shut down the idea. Since she started having whatever she's having with Zoya, things have gotten less awkward. However, he still wasn't sure talking about his crush on the king of Ravka was something that wouldn't be super awkward.

I mean, if you could even call it a crush. Because men like Mal aren't supposed to have crushes. He doesn't remember ever wanting someone and not being able to get them.

After all, Nikolai Lantsov was a king of Ravka, unreachable for a simple tracker like Mal.

So Mal used his good old technique and forgot all about who Nikolai was, wrapping his hand around himself below the belt, only focusing on how Nikolai's body felt wrapped in his arms.