His Shield and His Sword (BoyxBoy)

The porcelain faced prick

Updated Author's note: From now on I'm including some 'draw the squad' memes I've done for this story at the top of the chapter unless there's not already art or fanart at the top. By the way, if you have any fanart feel free to send it to me through my IG or Tumblr which are linked in my bio and I'll add it to the top of the new chapter. Enjoy the chapter :)

We were woken up early in the morning with a loud knock. Gani was the first one up, quickly making it to the door. Outside our room was a basket with five parcels in it and a letter on the top. Gani scanned it before turning back to us.

"This says these are our clothes." He said in a matter of fact way. "Each morning we will put our dirty garments in the basket and place it outside the door and in the morning they will replace it with a clean pair. It also says that starting today there is a bath hall for the trainees that is accessible between 9PM and 10PM." He lowered the letter before continuing. "Now that we've gotten their long list of...hygiene practices out of the way... we have been instructed to head down to the breakfast hall promptly."
"Haha, well then let's stop talking about this massive list of things to do, get dressed and get us some FOOD," Gerner said as he pushed his way next to Gani. Gerner was definitely more strongly built than the others. He was tall and muscular, his dark hair trimmed short to his head. He had a bit of scruff for a beard and his piercing blue eyes were clear and alert. I assumed that perhaps he had some kind of military background and was used to getting up at this hour. Munny on the other hand...clearly wasn't. I glanced over at the boy who still looked practically half asleep. We got dressed quickly for no one wanted us to be the last group down to the banquet hall.

When we entered the large hall it was completely crowded with hardly any spaces left.
We were the last to get there. Large tables had been brought out and placed where we had been standing only last night. There were large vases containing white magnolias and Lilies at the center of the table and every last bit of table space surrounding them was taken up by food. Fruit over flowed from silver bowls, piles of smoking meat were being grabbed at by many hands, silver spoons scooped soup into dishes, wine was being refilled again and again into held up cups. We were dressed in the same way the others were with the exception of the color. The tunics were of a dark purple with gold sewn into the edges and at the collar. Though each article of clothing was the same the way each man in our group seemed to wear it almost appeared to reflect his personality. Gani's hung from him comfortably while Gerner's was completely untucked, the laces around his collar loosened so you could clearly see the silken white undershirt underneath.
"How did we get here so late?" I heard Gani say quietly.
"Well maybe if the kid hadn't taken five hours to tie up his goddamn-" Gerner began to mutter, Gani stopped him before he could finish.
"What did I say about fighting? If we are going to beat them we have to beat them at everything..." He began to trail off as his gaze drifted across the room. "What's going on over there?" A group of the boys were crowded around something. We subconsciously found ourselves moving over there as well. It turned out the thing everyone was crowded around was a person. A young man sat at the center of the table. His hands were placed in his lap and he was staring blankly ahead as if all the people speaking with him were simply an annoyance. I could only see his for a second before all 6'4 feet of Gerner stepped in front of me.
"Who's that?" I heard Munny whisper to one of the boys in the crowd.
"One of the trainees. His name is Emery. Y'see, there's going to be 50 of us boys and no women for the next four months right? I thought we would all make it at least a month before someone would lose it and do something stupid but nope, it seems one guy in Emery's room tried to make a move on him this morning when they went into the hall. He leaned in for a kiss or something and..."
"And..." I heard Munny whisper back in heated anticipation.
"In one move Emery grabbed this huge guy by the arm and slammed him down onto the ground. Orla (she's that lady that had that long ass speech when we came in) she rushed in and pretty much kicked him out. One day in and we're already down to 49."
"Woah..." Munny whispered. "It's that easy to get kicked out? Why would he do something so stupid?"
"You're probably too short to see him aren't you?" I heard Munny make some sort of pouting sound behind me but he didn't protest. "He's the prettiest boy here! Actually...he's far more pretty than any girl I've ever laid eyes on." The boy he was speaking with continued. "I guess this guy tried to get a head start on taking a polk in the best box here before the 4 month dry spell starts to really sit in. Emery might look like a porcelain doll but I guess he's got the strength of a lion. This either means no one is going to lay a hand on him again or this is going to turn into some competition to be the first to woo him. Either way the guys already insanely popular, he's got a natural air about him y'know?" I found myself trying once more to catch a glimpse of this boy and finally Gerner moved so I could see his face. He was beautiful...breathtakingly so. Yet to me it felt more like I was staring at a fine painting instead of at a person. It didn't really make me feel any kind of physical attraction like-
Gani brushed past me to get a look as well. I could feel his body tense for a second and although I had known Gani for only half a day it was still odd for me to feel the usually laid back boy suddenly on edge. Finally his body seemed to relax a bit.
"He seems uncomfortable..." was all he whispered. I glanced over the boy's features again. The description of 'china doll like' was spot on. He was dressed in green and his collar was laced all the way up hiding most of his throat. The only expression I could pick up on him was annoyance. Brown eyes stared blankly straight ahead. His features weren't friendly or inviting in the least. My thoughts were cut off when those dark brown eyes suddenly met mine. Emery was staring right at me. I swallowed hard, maybe I was imagining it- suddenly he was standing up and the posse of boys that had come to already worship him turned silent. His movements weren't graceful as I would have expected from his looks, they were sharp and almost spider like.
"You, what are you staring at?" His voice came, it was sharp, shrill and demanding. Suddenly everyone was staring at me and at that moment I realized he was talking to me. I tried to wipe the look of surprise off my face. Everyone had been staring at him...why was he picking me out- "Are you stupid? I asked you a question." I desperately tried to gather my thoughts.
"I uh...everyone was..."
"My the beast is articulate," he said with a sneer. This brought a wrought of laughter from the posse of boys and I could feel the heat of anger slowly beginning to swell in my chest.
"I'm not...why are you..."
"Do you know what he reminds me of boys?" He turned with a twisted grin to face the others. "With those features he reminds me of one of those trained dogs. With that red hair I mean...he could pass as a little corgi. Tell me little pup do you do tricks? Will you roll over for his prince at the promise of a treat?" The room erupted into laughter. While this was all going on out of the corner of my eye I caught Emery picking up a small piece of food with two fingers and flinging it at me. Without thinking I caught it from the air before it hit me and as I did I heard the room grow silent. Emery was staring at me, a slight look of shock on his face now...he obviously hadn't thought I would catch it. God, I was done with this. I just wanted to get out of here. As I went to turn I noticed another object being flung at my head and I was luckily able to turn around quickly enough to catch it before it struck me. A silver spoon lay in my hand. I looked up to meet Emery's dark gaze, the malice still clear in his eyes.
"You...what's your name?" He said slowly.
"Nicolai."
"Well let me tell you something Nicolai. I don't take a fancy to little dogs that try to make a show." He said this all with an unreadable expression on his face before he turned back to his posse of boys and began talking to them as if none of this had occurred. I was left there, alone and ignore with only the feeling of a cold fuming anger in my gut. How dare he, who the hell did he think he was? I hadn't done anything wrong, I hadn't stepped out of line. Why had he picked me out from the others? I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and I didn't realize how tense I had become until I relaxed a bit at the touch.
"Don't mind him," came a soft voice from behind me. I glanced over to the speaker, it was Gani. "C'mon," he said taking my arm. "Let's find a nice place to sit." We wandered the crowded hall for a moment before he finally found us a seat near the back. He managed to make up a plate to give to me before I could even sit down.
"It was the hair you know." He said quietly after a moment, glancing down at his own plate. "I know people like him. He was probably uncomfortable with all the attention on him and you were the first person he noticed in the crowd because well..." he chuckled. "With your features you stand out. He most likely just wanted people to stop being so focused on him. It's not easy looking like that in a training area with 50 other boys-"
"49." I corrected him. "It's 49 men since he had a boy already kicked out."
Gani sighed heavily. "I'm not saying how he treated you wasn't terrible. What I mean is...sometimes people get nervous when they're not used to being the center of attention or they...have something bad going on in their own lives which causes them to need to push people down to feel better about themselves. I just..." He shook his head gently. "I'm sorry. Perhaps I'm wrong to try and defend him. I just believe...this competition is to try and turn us against each other. People should become Kingsmen due to their hard work and actual ability to protect the Prince, not because the others were kicked out due to a petty fight." I swallowed my pride and met his gaze.
"Alright, I'll try my best to get along with him, I promise." Gani nodded and grinned at me.
"Thanks Nicky, God I'm so lucky to have such a nice person roomed with me." I could feel my stomach sink. I didn't deserve to be looked at by him like that. I felt like a fox staring at a deer...a pure sweet innocent deer who simply wanted to do what was best for his Prince. And there I was, the fox, the predator, here to snatch that one thing he truly cared about protecting away.