DomxKel : A Flirt
Domitian of Masbolle, Sergeant of the King's Own, is a flirt and he knows it. He also knows why.
When he was sixteen or so, he restarted his acquaintance with his cousin, Neal affectionately called Meathead, as they both happened to be around Corus.
When he joined the Own and won a meal due to that girl-page Keladry, due to many lengthy descriptions of her determination (and various other virtues) frequently spouted by said cousin, he found himself feeling slightly in her debt, and was determined to make it up one day.
When he first met her, armed with a meal and advice to end his four year long debt, he was twenty and she was fourteen. Nothing scared him more than the first thought at meeting her properly- " Gods, but she's beautiful!". She was fourteen. This was the sort of thing occasionally hinted at in an off-colour joke, this didn't happen in real life. But everywhere he turned, he felt her big hazel eyes batting their lashes and burning holes into him. Dom soon realised she had the innumerable virtues Meathead had listed off and many, many more. He felt sickened by himself. He was twenty, Chaos take it! She was (and he drummed this into his head) fourteen. So he found himself flirting outrageously with every and any woman he could, trying to drown out the little voice in the back of his head telling him how damned beautiful Kel was. It didn't take long to get a reputation, after all he was a handsome, young, available sergeant.
By the age of fifteen (for her, and he doesn't want to admit what age for him - too old) he has serious trouble not flirting with her too. He slips up once or twice, terrified of being caught out, but soon realised with joy that his reputation as a flirt means it is only expected. Dom knows this is a good reason to keep up the reputation, and so he graces Corus as the court flirt again.
She's sixteen. This was an awful year for Dom. There's Kel, cuter than ever, laughing at his jokes, occasionally blushing as he teases her. There's her sweetheart, a redheaded clown, jealous of Dom's wit and fiercely protective as well. It's impossible not to flirt with her, but it certainly isn't winning over that overgrown oaf of Kennan (as this is what Dom thinks of him). To make things worse, Raoul finally persuaded Kel into the jousting tournaments; everyday she jousts, Dom's heart in his mouth, and he finds himself fighting the urge to steal her away to some place safe. That is, until he finds distractions. Once again, the court ladies are graced with his presence.
Suddenly she's seventeen and he's twenty-three, not a big gap, and Dom can't flirt with anyone else. He tries to make it less obvious when he flirts with her, but by now he's sure the whole world knows. Especially Kel. It's torture for him, imagining that she knows but doesn't want to mention it, or her sweetheart up North, and break his heart. And though he can no longer seek comfort in the arms of court-ladies, his reputation as a flirt dogs him wherever he goes.
When she is eighteen, things change; she became a knight, not that there was any doubt in his mind, her relationship with that overgrown oaf ended, Dom met her up North in the camp she was to command. He flirted with her, tried to make it as obvious as possible that he liked her, but to her alone, without alerting all of Haven. Despite that, Dom could swear he saw a fair few knowing grins from his soldiers. Much to his frustration, Kel didn't realise. She pinned everything to his flirt's reputation, something he suddenly saw the downsides of, not noticing that he hadn't flirted with anyone but her for a year, that he hadn't wanted to flirt with anyone but her ever.
She crossed the border. He followed. Dom knows that the rest of his men went, a fact he is glad of, but even if they hadn't volunteered he knows he would have followed her. It's only when they're waiting in the calm before the battle with Blayce, that Dom realises. She's beautiful, and clever, she's funny, calm, kind, amazing, he has killed for her, he would die for her. Dom had thought it was just an unhealthy obsession, Mithros curse it, she was fourteen when it started. It took four of the longest years of his life to realise it was love. That simple, he loved Kel. But there was no time to tell her, as the battle began. He doesn't know how he made it through, distracted as he was, but he did. Too scared to face her rejection, he spent the journey back across the border watching her.
Neal grew up at some point, he realises, as his cousin pins him to a tree during watch.
"Don't you dare hurt her, Dom", Neal mutters in a low, quiet voice, "I know you are a bit of a flirt, but Kel is different!". However much he may have grown up, Nealan is still a meathead; Dom knows Kel is different, by the Goddess, that is his whole problem! And not for the first time, Dom regrets becoming a flirt.
He knows she knows his regrettable label, but he also knows she is soon coming to Steadfast. These days she in nearly nineteen, while he is still twenty-four, an acceptable age difference, Dom thinks. When she does reach Steadfast, Dom plans to sit Kel down and explain to her just why he because a flirt. And, either way, this torment will be over.