Darksteel

Chapter 13; Love potions and magical fox training .

For the next several days in the breaks between classes, Asta attempted to train Alphonse to sit.

Just. Sit.

Unfortunately, that on its own seemed to be too difficult for the fox to comprehend, and it only stared at Asta imploringly as if wondering what it should do next.

 As the boy found out within the next few days, it took a lot of patience to train a three tailed fox.

 "Alphonse, SIT!" Asta huffed now, already begining to grow exasperated.

Alphonse yipped in reply, all three tails swishing wildly. To him, this was a wonderful game.

 "Having trouble?" Asta didn't need to turn around to know it was Adar who spoke, his voice dripping with smugness as he strolled up to them.

 'As if my day couldn't get any better,' Asta thought bitterly, turning his focus away from the fox, who was just now beginning to wrestle with a nearby shrub. 

Bloody fantastic.

Scowling at Adar, Asta crossed his arms and growled, "What do you want?" 

 "No need to snarl at me, I simply noticed that you tend to be bloody useless when i comes to magical fox raining. It definitely isn't your strong suite and at this point I'm not sure what IS." 

 "Alphonse just won't listen to me!" Asta said impatiently, ignoring the other boy's insult.

 "To start, you named him ALPHONSE? No wonder he won't listen to you. Who in their right mind names a fox Alphones, for the gods' sakes?"

 "Adar!"

 The boy suddenly turned his violet eyes on him, studying Asta with an intensity that made him suddenly uncomfortable, as though the boy was scruntinizing him. 

"Your problem," Adar hissed , "Is that you don't know how to tell people what to do."

"And you DO?"

"Of course! When it comes to ordering people about, I'm the best at it." Adar then crossed his arms and stood in front of Asta, "Go on then, tell me what to do."

 Asta squirmed, "I'm not sure I can—"

 "DO IT!"

 "STOP YELLING AT ME!"

 Grinning, Adar nodded, "Now you're getting the gist of it! Try it again, this time on Alphonse."

 Putting on his best stern-looking face, Asta glowered at Alphonse and commanded in a deep, moderately dramatic voice, "Sit, fox!"

 Alphonse blinked at him, his pink tongue lolling from his mouth. 

He made no move to sit.

Groaning, Asta sat down on the grass and let his fox climb onto his lap where the creature quickly curled up and fell fast asleep, its furry body rising and falling with gentle breath.

Beside them, Adar plopped down on the grass as well, gently reaching out to brush Alphonse's fluffy ears. Yet in that moment, Asta noticed that the prince's fingers were long and delicate, almost perfect if not for the small scars on the other boy's knuckles, some looking new while others were more faded.

Adar must have seen him looking at the scars, however, for he quickly drew his hand back, tucking it in his pocket and saying casually, "Ah, I see you have found the flaw in my abounding handsomeness."

 His tone still held the same sarcastic note it always did, but there was a hint of sadness there too that surpirised Asta.

 It was like a single storm cloud on a sunny day.