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no_true_pairTitle: Lessons in Demeanor
Author:lucathia
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Pairing/characters: Earth, Storm
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Prompt/challenge you're answering: Storm & Earth, tea for two
Word Count: 3,598
Notes: There are two more chapters to this, but I don't think I'll make it in time before the next round, so here are the first three chapters. :3
- Lesson One: Drink Tea -
Drinking tea is an art, one that Georgo was proud to say he'd mastered. W-Would you like b-black tea or green tea? he'd ask. It didn't matter which they picked -- all that mattered was that he'd offered a choice of teas instead of a choice of declining his invitation to drink tea. The result? They more often than not chose one of the teas, and that meant they at least stayed in his presence long enough to finish drinking the tea.
"I'll have green tea," the busty female cleric in front of him replied.
Georgo restrained himself from visibly punching the air in celebration. He smiled bashfully, in a way that endeared him to his prey and led them to lower their guard around him. Who would ever believe the honest and timid young Earth Knight would ever mean any harm? In that sense, his reputation helped him greatly.
Like a gentleman, he pulled out a seat for the cleric, since he knew most, if not all, females liked to be pampered and treated like a lady. While he chatted with the cleric -- he'd chosen an outdoor table today, the weather working in his favor -- he felt a pair of eyes boring holes into his back. Georgo twisted around, wondering if it was that dratted Grisia who'd come to disturb him once again. All week, he'd felt someone's gaze on him, which he wouldn't have minded if the gaze had belonged to a female beauty, but he could tell this wasn't the gaze of a female admirer!
Why? Because the gaze gave him goose bumps!
He also hated being followed.
The moment he'd turned around, a shadow quickly ducked behind a pillar.
Someone was spying on him. It had to be Grisia, who seemed to have some sort of grudge against him. Grisia held the highest record of disturbing Georgo during his dates. The next Sun Knight had practically made disturbing Georgo into a hobby of his, much to Georgo's chagrin.
"Is something wrong?" asked the female cleric.
Georgo turned his attention back to the busty female in front of him. He liked it much better when cute females, instead of devilish males like Grisia, occupied his mind.
"N-No, I-I was merely too o-overwhelmed by your b-beauty and needed a m-moment for myself," he stuttered.
Like he predicted, the female cleric blushed beautifully. Georgo had yet to come across a female cleric who didn't like to be praised. He'd practiced several different ways of complimenting females, so he was never short on words, always ready to charm the ladies.
Any moment now, Georgo was sure Grisia was going to swoop in and ruin his plans. It wasn't like Grisia could openly flirt with females -- though it wasn't like Georgo could either -- but Grisia always managed to lure Georgo's prey away just by smiling and talking. Whether they were being charmed or frightened away was a different matter.
He needed to change locations as quickly as possible.
Georgo exchanged some more pleasantries with the cleric before he deemed the time ripe.
"I h-have some s-snacks that I can't finish on my o-own. W-Would you like to c-come to my r-room?" He looked at her imploringly, his smile hesitant.
At that time, just as the cleric was about to take his lure -- Georgo was sure the next word out of her rosy lips was going to be a resounding "yes!" -- he heard a loud crash from behind. Surely, he hadn't shocked Grisia that much just by inviting a female cleric to his room? He did it all the time!
Georgo turned, about to take a few verbal jabs at his "good" friend Grisia (all camouflaged under flattering words, of course) when he was greeted by a head of long, blue hair instead of a head of long, golden hair. It was still long hair that greeted him, but the color was completely wrong, and only one person had hair of that length in that color.
The person who had crashed to the floor was none other than the next Storm Knight.
What had Ceo been doing spying on him from behind a pillar?
Now that the cleric knew they weren't alone, her face turned red even though they hadn't done and weren't doing anything scandalous. All Georgo had managed to do so far was brush his hand against hers when he handed her the tea cup! Still, despite how red her face was, the color of her face did not at all rival the color of Ceo's face. His face was a flaming red, redder than ripe tomatoes crazy people liked to throw at the Judgment Knight during parades.
"G-Georgo, y-you, y-you..." Ceo struggled to say, magnificently stuttering like a natural, except he wasn't supposed to be stuttering, nor was he supposed to be blushing like a fair maiden.
Georgo glanced at the cleric, wondering if she had noticed Ceo's strange, "out-of-character" behavior.
She had.
She was staring in fascination.
Oh well, it wasn't his job to help others maintain their image.
After being stuck on the word "you" for an entire minute, Ceo still hadn't pieced together a sentence (though he'd at least pulled himself off the floor), and Georgo was tired of waiting. Georgo was about to try inviting the cleric to his room again -- he doubted Ceo would be able to stop him with how flustered he already was -- when Ceo grabbed the back of his shirt.
"What are you doing?" Georgo hissed in alarm.
"I-I can't! I can't wink at her!" Ceo whispered back frantically. He was pretty much hiding behind Georgo's back now, with only the uppermost part of his head of blue hair visible to the cleric.
This was the next Storm Knight, the one who would soon be known as a "footloose charmer"?
Georgo shook his head in disbelief, unable to imagine what could ever be so daunting about flirting with females. A mere wink? Easy as cake! Stuttering was so much more difficult!
When Georgo turned his attention back to the cleric so that he could steer the conversation back on track, he found out, to his utter horror, that she was trying her hardest not to giggle, but her lips were twitching. He'd tried so hard to appear mature, yet innocent. Any moment now...
"Oh, the two of you are so cute."
She giggled.
Damn. He'd have to make do with that and go along the "cute" path. First, he needed to divert her attention from Ceo. He could still salvage the situation...
"I won't steal your Earth Knight from you anymore, young Storm Knight," the cleric murmured. "You two have fun together."
After she toppled Georgo's plans with her deadly, parting words, the cleric left.
She'd been giggling at...at...
Finally, Ceo stopped hiding behind him. He peeked out from the side. When he saw that the female cleric was nowhere in sight, he dropped his death grip on Georgo's shirt, but it was too late. Georgo's shirt was already wrinkled, and the cleric had already completely misunderstood Ceo's shyness.
"She, she...!" Georgo tried to say, his disbelief tying his tongue. Had she just implied that the two of them preferred men's company more than a female's company, that the bonds of brotherhood triumphed over the appeal of the fairer sex? What blasphemy!
Georgo took a few, deep breaths to calm himself...before he decided to screw calming himself. This was too serious a situation.
"What'd you ruin my date for?" he shouted at Ceo, finger poking Ceo in the chest. He paused, eyes widening in sudden realization. "Are you the one who's been stalking me?" he asked, voice growing louder and louder as he spoke.
"I-I just wanted to..." Ceo started, eyes downcast, hands clasped together. He looked as if his feet were the most interesting thing ever.
That was a guilty look. Georgo was sure of it, just as sure as he was sure about Grisia's true personality.
"What?" Georgo bit out. He already had Grisia to deal with. He hadn't thought he would need to look out for Ceo interrupting his dates too!
"...I just wanted to observe how you interact with females," Ceo mumbled, his voice so small that Georgo almost couldn't hear him, but he'd heard him all right. He'd heard him and thought he'd heard wrong, but he hadn't.
Georgo stared at Ceo.
He was hopeless!
"You are hopeless," he said.
Ceo hung his head down dejectedly.
- Lesson Two: Read -
Georgo was now in his room. He was not alone. Which, was exactly what he'd set out in the morning to do -- lure someone over so that he didn't end up alone in his room at the end of the day because ending up alone during a holiday was just pathetic -- except the other occupant of his room was not a cute, busty female but rather a scrawny, hopeless male.
When Georgo glanced back at the other boy, Ceo gave him a shy and lopsided smile that made Georgo twitch.
This had not been in his plans. Not at all.
Ceo's smile was so unfair. Georgo had to practice to pull off that kind of look. Except, Ceo wasn't supposed to smile like that because that was completely opposite of the image he was supposed to have. If Ceo continued faltering in front of females and smiling like that, he was going to encroach on Georgo's territory.
Georgo didn't want that. Which meant lending Ceo a hand.
"Sit there," Georgo instructed with a wave of his hand. "No! Not on the bed!"
Heart pounding, he quickly stepped in front of the bed and blocked Ceo's path, saving his bed from the fate of being sat on by a guy. Sternly, he stuck his hand out, pointing away from the bed. While Georgo could stand Ceo a lot better than he could stand Grisia, that didn't mean he wanted Ceo to sit on his bed!
That had been a close call. Phew.
Ceo obediently sat in the corner of the room, legs huddled as he looked about Georgo's room curiously. There wasn't much to look at, since their rooms looked pretty much the same, but Georgo was proud of how clean his room was. Other than Grisia, the other holy knights in training hadn't "visited" much (though Georgo would rather Grisia stay out of his room and not "visit" him whenever he felt like it), so not many knew of how Georgo liked to keep his room clean.
Georgo eyed him, making sure Ceo stayed put before he reached under his bed. If this had been any other ordinary boy's room, there might've been a lot of dust under the bed, but this was Georgo's very clean room. He kept his room pristine and dustless, since who knew when he'd need to invite a female cleric to his room? He was always ready to impress and play host.
Pulling out a few magazines, Georgo tossed one at Ceo, who caught it quite easily with his quick reflexes. The redness in his face had faded now that there weren't any females around, and it looked like he was back to his usual, competent self. Georgo thought it a waste -- there wasn't anyone around to impress. Ceo completely had things backwards.
"You're lucky I don't hate you," Georgo said, nose in the air. "I don't share these with just anyone!"
After finding out that Ceo had been stalking him to observe how to act around females, Georgo's initial response had been anger -- he hated being followed and Ceo had completely ruined his plans -- but his second response had been to gloat. Ceo was smart to recognize that Georgo was a master at charming the ladies! He decided then that he'd take the hopeless and lost Ceo under his wing. Ceo clearly needed a lot of guidance.
That was reason number one.
When Ceo looked down at the magazine Georgo had tossed at him, his blush returned full force, as red as red cherries Ecilan sometimes topped his desserts with. Without warning (other than his impossibly red face), he fainted dead away, slumping against Georgo's very clean wall, adding a splotch of blue to Georgo's otherwise plain room.
Georgo stared at Ceo's slumped over figure. He poked Ceo's cheeks and then pulled on Ceo's hair with no reaction from the other boy. Ceo merely ended up sliding down against the wall some more, resulting in what looked to be an extremely uncomfortable position. Georgo felt positive that Ceo was going to find himself with neck pain when he woke up.
He couldn't believe Ceo had fainted just like that.
This was reason number two.
One "innocent and naïve" knight was enough. That reputation belonged to Georgo. He did not want Ceo to intrude on his reputation (Ceo would be able to do that easily too, since he was truly very naïve when it came to women). He better help Ceo out and help him break hearts (because that would mean more women for him). He could imagine it already! Once Ceo broke a girl's heart, Georgo would whisk right in and comfort the girl. It was a win-win situation, a symbiotic relationship, one that would help him appear even more trustworthy and down-to-earth than he already appeared.
With one hand, Georgo plucked the magazine he'd thrown at Ceo out of Ceo's loosened grip. He looked down at the cover, his eyebrows practically disappearing into his bandanna when all he saw was a fully clothed female cleric on the cover (who was just standing in a slightly risqué position). Seriously, she wasn't even naked!
If Georgo hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed any guy to be capable of fainting at such a sight. He didn't even think Elmairy would faint. Maybe he'd blush, but he wouldn't faint. He was a good guy, and very kind, but he wasn't that ignorant. And Grisia, the next "Sun Knight" who wasn't supposed to be even the tiniest bit interested in women? There was no chance he'd ever faint at such a sight. Not unless he was fainting from excitement.
Simply put, it was a sad and pathetic sight. Hopeless. Ceo was so hopeless. Resigned, Georgo put away the other magazines he'd grabbed. They might give poor Ceo a heart attack.
His generosity. Wasted.
He'd only been trying to help...but had it been too early to introduce Ceo to porn?
- Lesson Three: Empathize -
Ceo didn't make any sense to Georgo.
That didn't mean Georgo was going to give up. Georgo did not believe in giving up. He made a decision to help Ceo. That meant he was going to see it through!
The next day, Georgo invited Ceo back again. This time, Georgo hid all the porn. That had been too much for Ceo to handle.
Yet...even though there was no porn around, Ceo almost fainted straight away again when he stepped into Georgo's room. Why? It was because Georgo had redecorated his room with posters of females. The females in the posters were all decently covered and the posters themselves were the least risqué Georgo possessed (Georgo had a feeling Ceo would faint once more if he took it any further than that), but Ceo was still on the verge of fainting even with the posters Georgo had chosen.
"Look, do you want me to help you or not? You said you've been following me, but as awesome as I am with the ladies, I have to hide that behind a lot of stuttering when I'm out in the open, so I doubt you learned anything useful. You'll never get anywhere if you don't stop fainting or cowering at the mere sight of women!" Georgo exclaimed.
After his frantic glance around the room, Ceo buried his face in his knees. His voice was muffled when he spoke. "But girls smile and giggle so much, and they always look at me so expectantly...I never know where to look..." As he spoke, he tugged on his long tresses. His hand stilled near his scalp after his fifth time of running his hand through his hair.
Georgo rolled his eyes. Ceo didn't know how lucky he was to get so much attention from the girls without any effort on his part. They naturally flocked to Ceo because they knew his supposed reputation and expected him to be a flirt, which meant it would be easy for them to gain his attention, though it would not be easy for them to keep his attention. For many, even a tiny little bit of attention from one of the upcoming Twelve Holy Knights would be enough make their day. Georgo knew this. He'd taken advantage of the fact more than once.
Georgo needed to put in a lot of effort to make it so that females would fawn over him. But that was okay. Acceptable. Made things more challenging. At least he had a big advantage with his honest reputation. The Storm Knight was supposed to be a flirt, so while females would easily fall for his supposed charm, they wouldn't truly consider him good boyfriend material. Just good material for a fling. More females would much rather have the reliable Earth Knight as a boyfriend. Or even as their husband!
He wasn't planning on settling down any time soon though. No way. That would be so limiting.
"The posters aren't going to look at you expectantly!" Georgo exclaimed. Ceo would first need to conquer these paper versions of the fairer sex before he could take on the real world versions. Otherwise, he'd stand no chance! Georgo grabbed a poster and shoved it in Ceo's face. "See? She's not even looking to the front!"
Ceo pried one of his eyes open. The female in the poster Georgo had chosen was facing the side with a faraway look in her eye. "I suppose so..." he conceded.
"Okay, now wink at her!"
"..."
Georgo sighed. "You know, you need to open both of your eyes first. Winking when you already have one eye closed just looks like you're falling asleep. No girl's going to be impressed by that!"
Reluctantly, Ceo opened his eyes. He then squinted at the poster before he turned his head away, but there was no reprieve for him, for there were posters of females plastered everywhere over Georgo's walls.
He was trapped.
Ceo quickly covered his eyes with his hands.
Georgo threw his hands up, the poster he had in his hand flapping in the air like a white flag declaring his surrender. "You're hopeless!"
This wasn't going to be the last time those words passed his lips.
He frowned and turned around to survey his room. "Ceo, watch me," he said. Once he was sure that Ceo had opened his eyes, Georgo approached the poster on the far right of his room. The female in that poster was dressed in white robes that pooled around her feet. From her dignified pose with her head held high, Georgo could tell she was a headstrong one.
"This is how you flirt," Georgo exclaimed. He cleared his throat. Compliments poured out of his mouth, his voice low and sultry. He finished his example with a wink. He even knelt down on one knee and pretended to kiss the back of the hand of an imaginary lady, for this lady would be one who wanted to be treated like nobility. If Georgo had been the next Storm Knight, this would be how he’d act with the ladies.
When he turned to see how Ceo had taken that, he was relieved to find out that Ceo had been watching carefully and was even...dutifully taking notes.
"That was...wow," Ceo said, clearly very touched by Georgo’s performance.
Georgo preened.
"Your turn." He nodded towards one of the posters.
Ceo gulped and shook his head slowly, his hands falling to his side, notes forgotten in the face of his ongoing challenge.
"Look at her," Georgo said. "Your problem is that you think of women as otherworldly beings, an entirely different species. Now, while the dirt they walk on should be worshipped, and they are truly a different species from stinky men, that kind of thinking is doing you more harm than good."
"What should I do then?" asked Ceo worriedly.
Georgo held two fingers up.
"There are two paths before you. Look beyond their appearances and get to know them as humans just like you, or don't try to get too close. Think of them as fruits and vegetables!"
Georgo wanted to pat himself on the back for his profound words.
"Fruits...and vegetables...?" Ceo wondered.
"Oh, so that's what you're choosing?" Georgo commented absentmindedly. "I was going to enlighten you about the inner workings of a woman's mind, which can be even more confusing than a maze, but I guess it can't be helped. The path you chose is the easier choice."
"I haven't chosen yet..." came Ceo's weak voice, but either Georgo hadn’t heard his protests, or he just plain didn’t care.
"See this girl here? She’s a pear," Georgo said, pointing at one of the posters. He then made some motion with his hands. Ceo’s eyes almost bulged out as he followed what looked to be extremely suggestive hand motions to Ceo.
"A p-pear?" stuttered Ceo, his voice almost stuck in his throat.
"Yes, a pear. Surely you can talk to a pear? This one here, this one's broccoli. See those curls? Mm, and this one's cabbage. You see what I mean? Ah, and here's our apple. Look at those cheeks! My favorite is of course, the apricot. Miss Melon here isn't bad either..."
That night at dinner, no one knew why the future Storm Knight could not bring himself to eat his vegetables. He was said to have pushed all of his vegetables off to the side of his plate, but that was not a big deal, for most growing boys did not like their greens.
However, when fruit started being served, the future Storm Knight immediately declared he was full and ran out of the dining hall at his top speed...and that was saying something.
Ceo, if nothing else, was fast.
This will be continued here~.
Author:
lucathiaFandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Pairing/characters: Earth, Storm
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Prompt/challenge you're answering: Storm & Earth, tea for two
Word Count: 3,598
Notes: There are two more chapters to this, but I don't think I'll make it in time before the next round, so here are the first three chapters. :3
Drinking tea is an art, one that Georgo was proud to say he'd mastered. W-Would you like b-black tea or green tea? he'd ask. It didn't matter which they picked -- all that mattered was that he'd offered a choice of teas instead of a choice of declining his invitation to drink tea. The result? They more often than not chose one of the teas, and that meant they at least stayed in his presence long enough to finish drinking the tea.
"I'll have green tea," the busty female cleric in front of him replied.
Georgo restrained himself from visibly punching the air in celebration. He smiled bashfully, in a way that endeared him to his prey and led them to lower their guard around him. Who would ever believe the honest and timid young Earth Knight would ever mean any harm? In that sense, his reputation helped him greatly.
Like a gentleman, he pulled out a seat for the cleric, since he knew most, if not all, females liked to be pampered and treated like a lady. While he chatted with the cleric -- he'd chosen an outdoor table today, the weather working in his favor -- he felt a pair of eyes boring holes into his back. Georgo twisted around, wondering if it was that dratted Grisia who'd come to disturb him once again. All week, he'd felt someone's gaze on him, which he wouldn't have minded if the gaze had belonged to a female beauty, but he could tell this wasn't the gaze of a female admirer!
Why? Because the gaze gave him goose bumps!
He also hated being followed.
The moment he'd turned around, a shadow quickly ducked behind a pillar.
Someone was spying on him. It had to be Grisia, who seemed to have some sort of grudge against him. Grisia held the highest record of disturbing Georgo during his dates. The next Sun Knight had practically made disturbing Georgo into a hobby of his, much to Georgo's chagrin.
"Is something wrong?" asked the female cleric.
Georgo turned his attention back to the busty female in front of him. He liked it much better when cute females, instead of devilish males like Grisia, occupied his mind.
"N-No, I-I was merely too o-overwhelmed by your b-beauty and needed a m-moment for myself," he stuttered.
Like he predicted, the female cleric blushed beautifully. Georgo had yet to come across a female cleric who didn't like to be praised. He'd practiced several different ways of complimenting females, so he was never short on words, always ready to charm the ladies.
Any moment now, Georgo was sure Grisia was going to swoop in and ruin his plans. It wasn't like Grisia could openly flirt with females -- though it wasn't like Georgo could either -- but Grisia always managed to lure Georgo's prey away just by smiling and talking. Whether they were being charmed or frightened away was a different matter.
He needed to change locations as quickly as possible.
Georgo exchanged some more pleasantries with the cleric before he deemed the time ripe.
"I h-have some s-snacks that I can't finish on my o-own. W-Would you like to c-come to my r-room?" He looked at her imploringly, his smile hesitant.
At that time, just as the cleric was about to take his lure -- Georgo was sure the next word out of her rosy lips was going to be a resounding "yes!" -- he heard a loud crash from behind. Surely, he hadn't shocked Grisia that much just by inviting a female cleric to his room? He did it all the time!
Georgo turned, about to take a few verbal jabs at his "good" friend Grisia (all camouflaged under flattering words, of course) when he was greeted by a head of long, blue hair instead of a head of long, golden hair. It was still long hair that greeted him, but the color was completely wrong, and only one person had hair of that length in that color.
The person who had crashed to the floor was none other than the next Storm Knight.
What had Ceo been doing spying on him from behind a pillar?
Now that the cleric knew they weren't alone, her face turned red even though they hadn't done and weren't doing anything scandalous. All Georgo had managed to do so far was brush his hand against hers when he handed her the tea cup! Still, despite how red her face was, the color of her face did not at all rival the color of Ceo's face. His face was a flaming red, redder than ripe tomatoes crazy people liked to throw at the Judgment Knight during parades.
"G-Georgo, y-you, y-you..." Ceo struggled to say, magnificently stuttering like a natural, except he wasn't supposed to be stuttering, nor was he supposed to be blushing like a fair maiden.
Georgo glanced at the cleric, wondering if she had noticed Ceo's strange, "out-of-character" behavior.
She had.
She was staring in fascination.
Oh well, it wasn't his job to help others maintain their image.
After being stuck on the word "you" for an entire minute, Ceo still hadn't pieced together a sentence (though he'd at least pulled himself off the floor), and Georgo was tired of waiting. Georgo was about to try inviting the cleric to his room again -- he doubted Ceo would be able to stop him with how flustered he already was -- when Ceo grabbed the back of his shirt.
"What are you doing?" Georgo hissed in alarm.
"I-I can't! I can't wink at her!" Ceo whispered back frantically. He was pretty much hiding behind Georgo's back now, with only the uppermost part of his head of blue hair visible to the cleric.
This was the next Storm Knight, the one who would soon be known as a "footloose charmer"?
Georgo shook his head in disbelief, unable to imagine what could ever be so daunting about flirting with females. A mere wink? Easy as cake! Stuttering was so much more difficult!
When Georgo turned his attention back to the cleric so that he could steer the conversation back on track, he found out, to his utter horror, that she was trying her hardest not to giggle, but her lips were twitching. He'd tried so hard to appear mature, yet innocent. Any moment now...
"Oh, the two of you are so cute."
She giggled.
Damn. He'd have to make do with that and go along the "cute" path. First, he needed to divert her attention from Ceo. He could still salvage the situation...
"I won't steal your Earth Knight from you anymore, young Storm Knight," the cleric murmured. "You two have fun together."
After she toppled Georgo's plans with her deadly, parting words, the cleric left.
She'd been giggling at...at...
Finally, Ceo stopped hiding behind him. He peeked out from the side. When he saw that the female cleric was nowhere in sight, he dropped his death grip on Georgo's shirt, but it was too late. Georgo's shirt was already wrinkled, and the cleric had already completely misunderstood Ceo's shyness.
"She, she...!" Georgo tried to say, his disbelief tying his tongue. Had she just implied that the two of them preferred men's company more than a female's company, that the bonds of brotherhood triumphed over the appeal of the fairer sex? What blasphemy!
Georgo took a few, deep breaths to calm himself...before he decided to screw calming himself. This was too serious a situation.
"What'd you ruin my date for?" he shouted at Ceo, finger poking Ceo in the chest. He paused, eyes widening in sudden realization. "Are you the one who's been stalking me?" he asked, voice growing louder and louder as he spoke.
"I-I just wanted to..." Ceo started, eyes downcast, hands clasped together. He looked as if his feet were the most interesting thing ever.
That was a guilty look. Georgo was sure of it, just as sure as he was sure about Grisia's true personality.
"What?" Georgo bit out. He already had Grisia to deal with. He hadn't thought he would need to look out for Ceo interrupting his dates too!
"...I just wanted to observe how you interact with females," Ceo mumbled, his voice so small that Georgo almost couldn't hear him, but he'd heard him all right. He'd heard him and thought he'd heard wrong, but he hadn't.
Georgo stared at Ceo.
He was hopeless!
"You are hopeless," he said.
Ceo hung his head down dejectedly.
Georgo was now in his room. He was not alone. Which, was exactly what he'd set out in the morning to do -- lure someone over so that he didn't end up alone in his room at the end of the day because ending up alone during a holiday was just pathetic -- except the other occupant of his room was not a cute, busty female but rather a scrawny, hopeless male.
When Georgo glanced back at the other boy, Ceo gave him a shy and lopsided smile that made Georgo twitch.
This had not been in his plans. Not at all.
Ceo's smile was so unfair. Georgo had to practice to pull off that kind of look. Except, Ceo wasn't supposed to smile like that because that was completely opposite of the image he was supposed to have. If Ceo continued faltering in front of females and smiling like that, he was going to encroach on Georgo's territory.
Georgo didn't want that. Which meant lending Ceo a hand.
"Sit there," Georgo instructed with a wave of his hand. "No! Not on the bed!"
Heart pounding, he quickly stepped in front of the bed and blocked Ceo's path, saving his bed from the fate of being sat on by a guy. Sternly, he stuck his hand out, pointing away from the bed. While Georgo could stand Ceo a lot better than he could stand Grisia, that didn't mean he wanted Ceo to sit on his bed!
That had been a close call. Phew.
Ceo obediently sat in the corner of the room, legs huddled as he looked about Georgo's room curiously. There wasn't much to look at, since their rooms looked pretty much the same, but Georgo was proud of how clean his room was. Other than Grisia, the other holy knights in training hadn't "visited" much (though Georgo would rather Grisia stay out of his room and not "visit" him whenever he felt like it), so not many knew of how Georgo liked to keep his room clean.
Georgo eyed him, making sure Ceo stayed put before he reached under his bed. If this had been any other ordinary boy's room, there might've been a lot of dust under the bed, but this was Georgo's very clean room. He kept his room pristine and dustless, since who knew when he'd need to invite a female cleric to his room? He was always ready to impress and play host.
Pulling out a few magazines, Georgo tossed one at Ceo, who caught it quite easily with his quick reflexes. The redness in his face had faded now that there weren't any females around, and it looked like he was back to his usual, competent self. Georgo thought it a waste -- there wasn't anyone around to impress. Ceo completely had things backwards.
"You're lucky I don't hate you," Georgo said, nose in the air. "I don't share these with just anyone!"
After finding out that Ceo had been stalking him to observe how to act around females, Georgo's initial response had been anger -- he hated being followed and Ceo had completely ruined his plans -- but his second response had been to gloat. Ceo was smart to recognize that Georgo was a master at charming the ladies! He decided then that he'd take the hopeless and lost Ceo under his wing. Ceo clearly needed a lot of guidance.
That was reason number one.
When Ceo looked down at the magazine Georgo had tossed at him, his blush returned full force, as red as red cherries Ecilan sometimes topped his desserts with. Without warning (other than his impossibly red face), he fainted dead away, slumping against Georgo's very clean wall, adding a splotch of blue to Georgo's otherwise plain room.
Georgo stared at Ceo's slumped over figure. He poked Ceo's cheeks and then pulled on Ceo's hair with no reaction from the other boy. Ceo merely ended up sliding down against the wall some more, resulting in what looked to be an extremely uncomfortable position. Georgo felt positive that Ceo was going to find himself with neck pain when he woke up.
He couldn't believe Ceo had fainted just like that.
This was reason number two.
One "innocent and naïve" knight was enough. That reputation belonged to Georgo. He did not want Ceo to intrude on his reputation (Ceo would be able to do that easily too, since he was truly very naïve when it came to women). He better help Ceo out and help him break hearts (because that would mean more women for him). He could imagine it already! Once Ceo broke a girl's heart, Georgo would whisk right in and comfort the girl. It was a win-win situation, a symbiotic relationship, one that would help him appear even more trustworthy and down-to-earth than he already appeared.
With one hand, Georgo plucked the magazine he'd thrown at Ceo out of Ceo's loosened grip. He looked down at the cover, his eyebrows practically disappearing into his bandanna when all he saw was a fully clothed female cleric on the cover (who was just standing in a slightly risqué position). Seriously, she wasn't even naked!
If Georgo hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed any guy to be capable of fainting at such a sight. He didn't even think Elmairy would faint. Maybe he'd blush, but he wouldn't faint. He was a good guy, and very kind, but he wasn't that ignorant. And Grisia, the next "Sun Knight" who wasn't supposed to be even the tiniest bit interested in women? There was no chance he'd ever faint at such a sight. Not unless he was fainting from excitement.
Simply put, it was a sad and pathetic sight. Hopeless. Ceo was so hopeless. Resigned, Georgo put away the other magazines he'd grabbed. They might give poor Ceo a heart attack.
His generosity. Wasted.
He'd only been trying to help...but had it been too early to introduce Ceo to porn?
Ceo didn't make any sense to Georgo.
That didn't mean Georgo was going to give up. Georgo did not believe in giving up. He made a decision to help Ceo. That meant he was going to see it through!
The next day, Georgo invited Ceo back again. This time, Georgo hid all the porn. That had been too much for Ceo to handle.
Yet...even though there was no porn around, Ceo almost fainted straight away again when he stepped into Georgo's room. Why? It was because Georgo had redecorated his room with posters of females. The females in the posters were all decently covered and the posters themselves were the least risqué Georgo possessed (Georgo had a feeling Ceo would faint once more if he took it any further than that), but Ceo was still on the verge of fainting even with the posters Georgo had chosen.
"Look, do you want me to help you or not? You said you've been following me, but as awesome as I am with the ladies, I have to hide that behind a lot of stuttering when I'm out in the open, so I doubt you learned anything useful. You'll never get anywhere if you don't stop fainting or cowering at the mere sight of women!" Georgo exclaimed.
After his frantic glance around the room, Ceo buried his face in his knees. His voice was muffled when he spoke. "But girls smile and giggle so much, and they always look at me so expectantly...I never know where to look..." As he spoke, he tugged on his long tresses. His hand stilled near his scalp after his fifth time of running his hand through his hair.
Georgo rolled his eyes. Ceo didn't know how lucky he was to get so much attention from the girls without any effort on his part. They naturally flocked to Ceo because they knew his supposed reputation and expected him to be a flirt, which meant it would be easy for them to gain his attention, though it would not be easy for them to keep his attention. For many, even a tiny little bit of attention from one of the upcoming Twelve Holy Knights would be enough make their day. Georgo knew this. He'd taken advantage of the fact more than once.
Georgo needed to put in a lot of effort to make it so that females would fawn over him. But that was okay. Acceptable. Made things more challenging. At least he had a big advantage with his honest reputation. The Storm Knight was supposed to be a flirt, so while females would easily fall for his supposed charm, they wouldn't truly consider him good boyfriend material. Just good material for a fling. More females would much rather have the reliable Earth Knight as a boyfriend. Or even as their husband!
He wasn't planning on settling down any time soon though. No way. That would be so limiting.
"The posters aren't going to look at you expectantly!" Georgo exclaimed. Ceo would first need to conquer these paper versions of the fairer sex before he could take on the real world versions. Otherwise, he'd stand no chance! Georgo grabbed a poster and shoved it in Ceo's face. "See? She's not even looking to the front!"
Ceo pried one of his eyes open. The female in the poster Georgo had chosen was facing the side with a faraway look in her eye. "I suppose so..." he conceded.
"Okay, now wink at her!"
"..."
Georgo sighed. "You know, you need to open both of your eyes first. Winking when you already have one eye closed just looks like you're falling asleep. No girl's going to be impressed by that!"
Reluctantly, Ceo opened his eyes. He then squinted at the poster before he turned his head away, but there was no reprieve for him, for there were posters of females plastered everywhere over Georgo's walls.
He was trapped.
Ceo quickly covered his eyes with his hands.
Georgo threw his hands up, the poster he had in his hand flapping in the air like a white flag declaring his surrender. "You're hopeless!"
This wasn't going to be the last time those words passed his lips.
He frowned and turned around to survey his room. "Ceo, watch me," he said. Once he was sure that Ceo had opened his eyes, Georgo approached the poster on the far right of his room. The female in that poster was dressed in white robes that pooled around her feet. From her dignified pose with her head held high, Georgo could tell she was a headstrong one.
"This is how you flirt," Georgo exclaimed. He cleared his throat. Compliments poured out of his mouth, his voice low and sultry. He finished his example with a wink. He even knelt down on one knee and pretended to kiss the back of the hand of an imaginary lady, for this lady would be one who wanted to be treated like nobility. If Georgo had been the next Storm Knight, this would be how he’d act with the ladies.
When he turned to see how Ceo had taken that, he was relieved to find out that Ceo had been watching carefully and was even...dutifully taking notes.
"That was...wow," Ceo said, clearly very touched by Georgo’s performance.
Georgo preened.
"Your turn." He nodded towards one of the posters.
Ceo gulped and shook his head slowly, his hands falling to his side, notes forgotten in the face of his ongoing challenge.
"Look at her," Georgo said. "Your problem is that you think of women as otherworldly beings, an entirely different species. Now, while the dirt they walk on should be worshipped, and they are truly a different species from stinky men, that kind of thinking is doing you more harm than good."
"What should I do then?" asked Ceo worriedly.
Georgo held two fingers up.
"There are two paths before you. Look beyond their appearances and get to know them as humans just like you, or don't try to get too close. Think of them as fruits and vegetables!"
Georgo wanted to pat himself on the back for his profound words.
"Fruits...and vegetables...?" Ceo wondered.
"Oh, so that's what you're choosing?" Georgo commented absentmindedly. "I was going to enlighten you about the inner workings of a woman's mind, which can be even more confusing than a maze, but I guess it can't be helped. The path you chose is the easier choice."
"I haven't chosen yet..." came Ceo's weak voice, but either Georgo hadn’t heard his protests, or he just plain didn’t care.
"See this girl here? She’s a pear," Georgo said, pointing at one of the posters. He then made some motion with his hands. Ceo’s eyes almost bulged out as he followed what looked to be extremely suggestive hand motions to Ceo.
"A p-pear?" stuttered Ceo, his voice almost stuck in his throat.
"Yes, a pear. Surely you can talk to a pear? This one here, this one's broccoli. See those curls? Mm, and this one's cabbage. You see what I mean? Ah, and here's our apple. Look at those cheeks! My favorite is of course, the apricot. Miss Melon here isn't bad either..."
That night at dinner, no one knew why the future Storm Knight could not bring himself to eat his vegetables. He was said to have pushed all of his vegetables off to the side of his plate, but that was not a big deal, for most growing boys did not like their greens.
However, when fruit started being served, the future Storm Knight immediately declared he was full and ran out of the dining hall at his top speed...and that was saying something.
Ceo, if nothing else, was fast.
This will be continued here~.