By the time the boys woke again, it was well into the next day and the sun was shining brightly outside their window, slowly bringing them out of their sleep. Tristan woke up first, his eyebrows forming a frown at the light that was glaring through his eyelids and as his forest green eyes opened, he was met with the sight of a completely unguarded Theo. He’s never really seen the blonde relaxed like he is when he’s asleep; his lips were parted the slightest bit as he breathed and his brows were relaxed out of the usual frown he wore with his arms under the pillow that his head was resting on. Watching Theo for a while as he lay in bed, he witnessed as Theo slowly began to wake up; a light frown creasing in his brows as his right hand came out from under the pillow to rub his eyes before they open slightly, the amber colour shimmering gold under the sunlight that hit them.

As wakefulness took over the blond, he ran a hand through his hair and sat up, looking over to the brunet to see Tristan watching him intently. A light blush takes over Theo’s cheeks and Tristan’s heart warms at the sight, he sits up when Theo stands from the bed to sit on the side of his.

“How are you feeling?” Theodore asks the Prince with a gentle smile, the blush still clear on his cheeks.

“Better now that I’ve slept, how about you?” Tristan responds, feeling a little wary about why his friend was blushing while talking to him.

“The same as you, we should clean up and go downstairs to those people, figure out what we’re going to do now.” Theo suggests quietly and stands from the bed again and moving through the doorway that connected to a bathroom as sorts, it had a toilet and a bathtub. Theo sets to filling the tub with hot water as Tristan stands and stretches in the bedroom, moving to the doorway to see Theo rummaging through the drawers of the cupboard for soap and a face washer. The brunet stands for a moment before moving over to Theo’s side when the blond stands, watching with a smirk when the short boy jumps slightly at him being right behind him. He wasn’t sure what was making him be so confident with his friend, but the prince felt an overwhelming need to touch the blonde; so he did. Bringing his hands up to Theodore’s face, he places them on the younger boys cheeks and smiling slowly at the warmth of the blush Theo now had blazing over his cheeks.

“What are you doing?” Theo asks, his voice shaky with the breath he lets out but Tristan just shushes him and leans his forehead down to his friends, resting their foreheads together he takes a breath and relaxes with a grin as his friends cheeks grow even hotter and the blush goes to his ears. After a few moments, Theo shifts awkwardly and Tristan stands back and removes his hands from the other boy’s cheeks, taking a step back to turn off the tap of the bath before spinning around and leaving the room. He pulls a shirt on and walks out of the bedroom and down the stairs, hoping to find some food while Theodore stands plastered to the spot, staring at where the prince had been moments ago.

“What the fuck was that?” Theo whispered to himself as he stripped off the remainder of his clothes before stepping into the tub and lowering himself into the warm water.

After spending five minutes cleaning himself from his hair to his body and ten more minutes just sitting in the warm water Theodore gets out, dries completely and dresses in simple pants and shirt; Then walking out and down the stairs to find Tristan sitting with the people who greeted them yesterday, though the woman’s hair was now wound into a knot on top of her head.

“How nice of you to finally join us Theodore,” the woman says with a grin as Tristan and the man look towards him, he shrugs and goes over to them. He nods his thanks when she hands him a plate of food, digging in and watching them closely as they talk.

“Let’s introduce ourselves to you now you’re down here, my name is Micah and this is Alissia. We knew your mother and father when they were your age, we knew their past and knew what was to happen when they had you, Theodore and Alissia was even there when you were born. We were named as your godparents and told your father that we would take you in if anything went wrong.” Micah says, his voice steady and Theodore nods along to what he’s saying, vaguely remembering his father explaining about his godparents when he was younger.

“My father told me about you which is why I came here.” Theodore says and smiles at the prince when their eyes meet, after the incident in the bathroom Theo decided just to let the prince try to win him over; even if he wasn’t completely sure why he should. Would the outcome of all this really be reliant on the two boys being in a relationship?

“We just didn’t think this would happen so soon, especially with you being so young.” Alissia says sorrowfully, her eyes glossing a little with tears at the thought of her beloved friends dying the way they did. The four are silent while Theo eats and Tristan sits thinking, until he looks at the woman in confusion.

“I’m sorry, you said you didn’t think this would happen so soon… did you know this was going to happen?” The prince asks, a frown taking over his previously relaxed features and Theo stills completely, eyes wide with fear at the princes realisation.

“Well… yeah, we did.” Micah answers, a purse to his lips.

“How? Why didn’t you warn my parents?” Tristan says, his lips turning down in anger.

“Honey, calm down and we’ll explain.” Alissia replies and Tristan looks down at his hands, jumping when a lighter skinned hand lands on one of his. He looks to Theo in astonishment.

“Just listen okay?” Theodore murmurs, Tristan taking in the words before he rips his hand from his friends grip.

“You knew too?!”

“I can explain, just please listen.” Theodore pleads, giving the two adults a look before they both nod and leave to do work and let the two boys to talk. Theo grabs Tristan hand and pulls him over to one of the corner booths so they were in a more private space. “What I’m going to say is going to be quite strange but please just listen and don’t interrupt.”

“Okay.” Tristan nods and watches Theo fiddle with his fingers, obviously nervous.

“Well before my mother and father fell pregnant with me, they went to a seer to see if it were even possible for them to have a child and what they were told scarred them for a while before they understood what it meant. Before you question it, yes there are seers in the world and no I don’t know where to find them.” Theo pauses to clear his throat, finally bringing his eyes up to meet the green eyes of the prince. “The seer had told my parents that they would in fact only be able to have one child, though this child would be like no others; with hair the colour of snow in the heart of winter and eyes the colour of melted gold, who would help bring the future king to the throne. Though, my parents were also told that everything would not be completely peaceful, that the present king and queen would die to the hands of enemies who wish to stop the next king from reaching the throne. Supposedly this child would have the ability to stop anyone who got in the way of the prince reaching where he was meant to be, meaning the child had powers. My mother and father knew they had to somehow get close to the king and queen, so after I was born they both got jobs at the castle where they ran into your parents multiple times which caused them to become close friends once they realised how much alike they were. The love my parents had for yours was true of course and when they started pushing me to spend more time with you, they had to explain to your parents why that was and why my father would start training me from an early age to fight until the time came where they would no longer be here to protect you themselves. Tristan, I am Theodore Ashwood and I’m the person who is supposed to bring you to the throne, your throne and I will do that in any way I can.” Theodore’s voice is strong and didn’t waver at all in his little monologue and although he left out the part of them becoming intimate, he was completely truthful. His face showed all seriousness that is until Tristan starts laughing at him and he frowns.

“You expect me to believe that?” Tristan asks between his laughter and Theodore growls under his breath, willing the flames of the candle between them to go out and to gather in his hands. Tristan’s laughter ceases completely at the realisation that Theodore was completely serious and telling the truth when his friend brings a small ball of fire to life in the palm of his hand.

“You believe me now?” Theodore asks and Tristan nods his head, completely in awe to the raw power sitting in front of him and shivers at the feeling of power that’s slowly surrounding him. Meeting his blond friend’s eyes, he sees a silent fire in them as they light up until Theo sends the flames back to the candles.

“How is this possible? How can you have power like this?” Tristan asks lowly, watching a few people enter the inn.

“I don’t know how or why, all I know is I’m destined to bring you to your throne and I will.” Theo answers, grabbing one of Tristan’s hands tightly with a small smile on his face. Tristan feels his heart race and his cheeks heat at the contact, smiling back before leaning into his friend’s ear.

“Are you warming up to me?” He asks, relishing in the red that spreads from Theodore’s cheeks to his ears while a shiver evidently runs down his spine.

“What if I am?” Theo shoots back, turning his head to meet the prince’s eyes levelly. Gold meeting green and Tristan takes a deep breath before pulling away with a dark red face. He stands and walks to their room in silence, putting his hands to his cheeks once he’s inside and away from prying eyes. Running over what Theo had told him, Tristan suddenly feels angry for being left out of knowing his parents were going to die and why did Xavier have to die too? What was the point of that? His little brother was innocent and young.

Maybe they were planning to kill us both to save the trouble if one of us became the king in the premonition.

Tristan brought back the look in Theo’s eyes as he held the fire in his hands and also the way the blonde had looked at him when Tristan had teased him. Warmth filled tingles travelled around the brunette’s body as a small grin appeared on his face; was Theodore really warming up to me like that?

 It was all he could do not to prance around like a loved up child as he walked into the bathroom to bathe and dress in clean clothes. He spent the rest of the day in the bedroom, going over everything Theo had told him and coming to the conclusion that it was probably best he had been left in the dark since he probably wouldn’t have lived a happy life.

When the boys met up later in the night downstairs to have dinner, they both blushed slightly when their eyes met and turned to their food before the other could say anything but unbeknownst to them, the red haired couple were watching them closely as they sat with the younger boys.

“So, how are you coping with what Theodore told you?” Micah asks, causing both boys to look up at him and Tristan shrugs.

“I’m coping fine I think, I understand why I wasn’t told and that Theo has no choice really.” Tristan states and looks down at his food.

“Well, it’s not like he has no choice. He chose to bring you here when he could’ve let you die.” Alissia says and Tristan shoots his head up to look at Theodore.

“I did choose to bring you here.” Theodore agrees with a shrug and a small smirk.

“Jerk, you wouldn’t have let me die.” Tristan sneers and Theodore’s smirk grows.

“How do you know? Maybe I like my life more than you.” Tristan snorts at Theo’s words with a smile taking place over his lips.

“You may like your life but it’s nothing without me.”

“And yours would be boring without me.” Theodore states while sticking his tongue out at Tristan, causing the boys to chuckle and continue with dinner.

When it’s time to head to bed, Theo is feeling nervous since he didn’t know if the prince would act like he did earlier and whether or not he could let him touch him again. After sitting in the booth with him and challenging the prince in his own little way, Theodore was absolutely shitting himself. Sitting propped on the bed head with a pillow clutched between his arms and chest, he takes his mind to the moment in the booth; when his brunette prince was close enough to feel his breath on his face and how it had felt to have his lips so close to his own, which had made him want to close that little gap that separated them. Theodore had never wanted to kiss another man before, only finding passion and sexual desire for women though he couldn’t deny that his taller friend was quite handsome with his fluffy brown hair and wide green eyes, the pinkness of his plump lips were becoming slightly irresistible. Warmth spread from Theo’s cheeks right down to his toes as he thought on the prince’s lanky but sculpted body, Theo’s teeth grip his bottom lip lightly and his arms tightened around the pillow.

Why was he suddenly feeling this way towards someone he’d known his whole life? And how was he going to go when it came to being intimate with someone he knew so closely? Especially since he wasn’t interested in men that way, well he didn’t think he was anyway.

“What are you thinking about that made you not hear me come in?” Tristan asks as he closes the door to the room behind him, continuing to strip off his shirt and lay down on the bed closest to the window since Theo had taken the one closest to the door.

“You’ll never know.” Theo states, releasing the pillow and sliding down the mattress to lay flat on his back with his arm behind his head; Tristan didn’t bother responding as he could see his blond friend was deep in thought.

What could have Theo this worked up?