My Lord Marth x Reader

        Three nights. Three, long, sleepless, pain filled, frustrating nights. That's how long it took you to reach your breaking point. As prideful as you were, you couldn't just go ask someone else to help you out, but you couldn't even pretend to act meek or respectful enough for Marth to help you either. At this point, however, you were willing to do whatever needed to be done if it meant you'd get even the slightest bit of relief from this constant, paralyzing pain in your shoulder. You'd already shown up for morning drills on time, offered to help clean up the mess tent after breakfast and reorganized the supply tent. Though it may not seem like much, it was a lot to you, especially considering the fact that you were injured. Hopefully Marth would see that you were finally trying to be the soldier he expected you to be.

As you slowly walked back to your tent, exhausted from the work you'd done and the throbbing in your shoulder, you heard Marth call your name. Though you wanted to snap at him for leaving you like this, you knew that would only prove his point. So, as respectfully as you could, you turned around and greeted him with a fake smile plastered to your face. “You called, My Lord?”

Hearing those words come from your lips caused Marth's lip to twitch, as if he was holding back a smile. “I did.” He nodded. “I noticed that you managed to keep yourself busy today. You even offered to help others with their duties, if what I'm being told is correct.”

“It is true.” Hopeful that you'd done enough to make him happy, your fake smile slowly started to become genuine.

“I see.” Marth closed his eyes and held his chin in his hand in a thoughtful fashion, then quickly looked back at you with piercing eyes. “I want you to know that one day of good deeds doesn't excuse you for the rest of your life. I expect this behavior from you every day. Is that clear?”

“Yes, crystal clear Marth.” Desperate for relief, you grabbed onto his hands, holding them tightly in yours and looked up with pleading eyes. “Now will you please, please fix my shoulder? It aches like nothing I've ever felt before. I don't think I can take it much longer.”

Math looked down at you with the most serious expression he could muster, but you could tell he was only trying to hide how amused he was. “Excuse me?”

“What?” Unsure what you'd said or done wrong, you racked your brain before you finally realized what he must be talking about. “My Lord, I meant to say My Lord. You are crystal clear, My Lord.” This time when you said it, Marth couldn't keep from laughing. Completely dumbfounded, you released his hands and took a single step away from him. “Are you seriously laughing at me right now? You're the one that demanded I be more respectful, and now you're laughing at that respect?”

“Not at the respect, at the poor attempt to feign respect. I appreciate the gesture, I suppose, but coming from your mouth, it's really more amusing than it is anything else.” After clearing his throat, Marth quickly regained his Princely composure. “My apologies, I didn't mean to offend you. Would you mind coming here?”

You wanted to be angry with him, but after everything you'd put him through, you couldn't do it. Of course that crooked, undeniably handsome, smile he was wearing also did wonders to soothe your anger. Pushing the thought out of your mind, you obeyed his request and stepped towards him again. “Yes, My Lord?”

“I really thought having your respect would solve things, but it's only made things strange.” Marth sighed. You weren't sure what it was, but something was obviously bothering him. “I'm giving you my permission to address me as simply Marth, when we're in private. In front of the others I still expect something more appropriate though.”

“Fix things?” Confused, you furrowed your brows and tried to figure out what in the world he was talking about. “What was broken exactly? Other than my shoulder, I can't think of anything that really needs fixing.”

“Your shoulder isn't broken, trust me. And it's nothing of importance. I apologize for vocalizing my thoughts to you.” He brought his body close to yours and lifted his hands up to your shoulders, but just before his hands touched you, he stopped. “Might I have your permission to touch you?”

With a sly smile on your face, you looked up at him and winked in the most adorable, cutesy way you could manage “I've told you before Marth, you can touch me all you like.”

Marth's face quickly grew red from your taunt, but he ignored it, not wanting to give you the satisfaction of embarrassing him. “This is going to hurt, probably quite badly for a second or two. I thought I should warn you now so you don't hit me for not telling you later.” After placing one hand on your back, by your shoulder blade, and another on the front of your shoulder, Marth roughly pressed until your shoulder made a gruesome popping sound. “Are you okay?”

Instead of answering, you dropped your head down to your chest and let out a long, high pitched whimper. The pain had lasted less than a full second, but it had felt horrible. And the sound that had gone along with it only made things feel even worse. “I think I'm alright. You did warn me that it would hurt, and you weren't kidding.”

“I know.” He nodded, his hands still firmly holding you in place. “This isn't the first time one of my comrades has hurt themselves this way. Poor training and improper technique make this sort of thing much more common than you might think.”

“That's all very interesting Marth, but I think my arms all better. You could let me go now if you wanted to.” As you spoke, he jerked his hands away from you and took a step back. Unable to keep yourself from teasing him now that you had no reason to remain respectful, you closed the distance he'd just created and slid your arms around his waist. “Of course if you wanted to continue holding me, that would be completely okay with me. I'd just prefer that you hold all of me and not just my shoulder.” You smiled up at his blushing face and tightened your hold on him. “Everything okay? You're blushing pretty badly.”

Doing his best not to give in to his embarrassment, Marth scoffed and tried to pull away from you. Though he acted like he wanted you off of him, you saw no reason to let go. If he really hated you touching him as much as he pretended to, he wouldn't blush every time you got near him. He probably wouldn't have been such a pushover either. “I should have known this would happen the moment you got what you wanted from me. Now that your shoulder's as it should be, you've lost the little bit of respect you did have for me.”

“I haven't gotten what I wanted from you yet, actually. And let me let you in on a little secret.” Squinting your eyes slightly, your sweet smile morphed into more of an annoyed smirk. “Demanding my respect will never, ever get it. I'm a firm believer that respect is earned. Just being a Prince, a King a Commander or anything else like that doesn't earn you any respect at all. Being a good person and treating those below you does. That being said, believe it or not, I do respect you Marth. I just have an odd way of showing it.”

“I agree.” He laughed bitterly. “You do have a very odd way of showing it.”

“Yes, well you have an odd way of showing me that you care about me, but I don't get upset with you for that. Not most days anyway.” You shrugged. “Expecting more from me than others isn't really a good way to show your interest in me. Nor is letting me deal with a pain you could have instantly abolished for days on end. I'm not saying this to sound conceited, but the fact that you stutter and blush every single time you talk to me makes it more than a little bit obvious that you like me.”

Marth's jaw dropped slightly after hearing your words, but he managed to collect himself amazingly fast. Despite how quickly he'd recovered, the fact that he'd faltered at all let you know you were correct in your assumption. “I do not stutter.”

“Well, no not that time, but you usually do. I guess that's not important though. You're not going to admit anything until you're good and ready to.” Even though he was already bright red, embarrassed and maybe even a little upset, you weren't through with him yet. There was just one more thing you had to do. “I should probably let you go. It's getting late and I wouldn't want you to ruin your shining reputation by allowing you to stay with me after dark like this.” Before you let him go, you tilted your chin up just slightly and as gently as you possibly could, kissed the corner of his mouth. The look on his face was priceless, the perfect image to fall asleep to. Dropping your arms from around his waist, you spun around and waved good night. “Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning, My Lord.”