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The room was empty, aside from himself and the wooden bench he sat on. Carno held the whetstone tightly as he repeatedly slid it across his blade. After any fight, Carno took the opportunity to sharpen the sword. It was a relaxing activity, and honestly his favorite. The repetitiveness was calming and soothed his nerves and when being on constant alert for anyone who means the prince harm, any sort of normalcy was appreciated.
He stopped the grind of the stone, setting it to the side. As he lifted the blade close to his eyes to inspect it, too focused on looking at the newly sharpened edge, he didn’t hear the approaching footsteps of the prince.
Absalom stood there for a moment as he waited for Carno to notice. After a few seconds with no reaction he cleared his throat, causing Carno to jump and drop the sword. He glared up at Absalom who only snickered in response.
“I just finished sharpening that.” Carno groans, picking the sword back up. “What do you need?”
Absalom takes a seat next to him. “Well, I was going to ask if you’d mind helping me with combat training, but-“ he gestures to the sword. “clearly you’re busy.”
Carno looked up from his sword to his prince. “Training?” There was a quizzical look on his face as he tilted his head. “Doesn't the king hire people for that purpose? I don’t see why I would have to, dealing with you is already enough work for, like, ten people.”
“Oh c’mon.” Absalom rolls his eyes as he lightly slaps Carno’s arm. “And look, when I ask you to spar you don’t hold back. Any guy my dad hires always acts like I’m some defenseless baby. You don’t hold ba-“
“You mean I don’t hesitate to kick your ass?” Carno cuts him off, asking with a smirk.
Absalom just stares blankly at him, wordless for a moment before sighing. “You fight me like I’m a normal person is what I’m trying to say.”
“I don’t know.” Carno leans back. “Maybe I just get out my pent up aggression from having to deal with you all the time.”
Absalom wants to be annoyed, he would with any other person, but with Carno he can only smile. No other knight has the guts to talk back to him like Carno does. It was nice being treated like an actual person, and not just the crown prince. Especially when it was just them.
“Y’know I could get you beheaded for talking to me like that?” Absalom asked, a chuckle in his voice and a smile on his face. “Disrespecting royalty and all that.”
Carno thought for a moment. “You could.” He then stood up, one hand holding his sword and the other extended down to Absalom. “Who else could you ask to kick your ass though?”
He took the other man’s hand, using it to pull himself up from the bench the two were sat on. “Do you really have no faith in me at all? You wound me, Ser Carno” Using his official title in a tone of sarcasm.
Carno rolls his eyes and quickly drops Absalom’s hand, turning to hide his growing crooked smile. The two started walking to a more secluded area fit for sparring, walking side by side.
Absalom did a quick glance around, looking to make sure the hallway was empty, before taking Carno’s hand in his. There was nothing official about what they had going on. Absalom had yet to ask king Moria about the prospect of him and Carno marrying, too soon after the failed arranged marriage. For now, the two were fine with the undefined romantic tension between them. Keeping it just between them to avoid rumors, their little secret.
They walked in silence until they reached the room. Different swords, shields, and armor types displayed on the walls for anyone to choose from. Carno let Absalom have his pick from the selection as he stood in wait on the other side of the room.
Once the prince was suited up in a basic chest plate and dawning a sword, he walked over to where Carno was waiting. Absalom got into a readied stance and immediately the other sighed and went over to him. There was a look of confusion on his face as Carno stood behind him.
Wordlessly, Carno adjusted his shoulders, how he held the sword, and then his hands were on Absalom’s hips adjusting his overall stance. Absalom was watching him out of the corner of his eye. He would make a joke, but he knew it would go right over Carno’s head.
When Carno finished with his nitpicky adjustments, a hand lightly patted Absalom on one of his hips. “Your stance is everything.” Walking back to where he once stood, back turned. “If you were to attack like how you were standing before, I could’ve easily countered and took you off balance. Swept you off your feet.”
“Oh you couldn’t sweep me off my feet if you tried.” There was a layer of snarkiness in that statement as Absalom lowered the sword, putting his free hand on his hip.
Carno turned around to look at Absalom, an eyebrow raised as if challenging him. “Really? That’s rich coming from you of all people.”
“Yeah? Alright then.” There was a cocky look on Absalom’s face as he raised the sword back up. “Try it then.”
The stance he took back up was glaringly off, even after Carno had just shown him how to do it correctly. It was in a matter of seconds before Carno closed the distance and a quick kick to the shin sent Absalom tumbling. However, Carno caught him by the waist, now holding him up.
Their faces were inches apart, Carno holding his prince close as to make sure he didn’t hit the ground. They stared at each other for a moment before Absalom’s mouth formed a smirk. “If you wanted to kiss me, you could’ve just asked.”
Not even seconds later Absalom hit the ground with a thud. Not hurt at all due to the drop being close to the ground already. He attempted to sit up, but Carno putting a foot to his chest stopped him.
Looking down at Absalom, Carno chuckled. “You look a little disappointed. If you wanted me to kiss you, you could have just asked.” He said in a way clearly mocking him.
Absalom rolled his eyes at that. Then an idea hit. Suddenly he grabbed the foot Carno had on his chest with both hands and rolled over, causing him to lose his balance and topple over next to Absalom.
Carno groaned as he hit the ground. Meanwhile Absalom is borderline cackling at this, only causing Carno to scowl at him.
When his laughter died down, he turned over to face Carno. “Aren’t you supposed to be good at this?”
The other man rolled his eyes at the question, then turned to face him. “I’m obviously not going to use my full strength to kick your ass.”
“What?” Absalom put a hand to his heart for dramatic effect. “Do you not think I’m good enough to get my ass kicked?”
He gave Absalom a quizzical look. “Do you have some sick, twisted fantasy where I kick your ass?”
Absalom dropped his hand. “Well, if I did, I wouldn’t just admit it to you.”
Carno laughed at that. He then turned to lay on his back again, Absalom doing the same. Being alone in the room, their hands found each other. While laying on the bare ground in armor wasn’t comfortable, being around each other alone, making idle conversation for a bit was enough to make up for it.