After explaining multiple times about who he is, Tristan gives up with a sigh and pulls Theo with him away from the blonde twins to sit down at the bar, thankfully the twins stay where they are; clearly still in shock that they were actually in front of the prince. Micah and Alissia are soon to come to the bar but keep their distance when they see the boys are staring at each other; Tristan with a dark look and Theo with an innocent smile.

“Do you really think that was a good idea; to tell them who I am and show your power like that?” Tristan asks lowering his voice and Theo tilts his head.

“Tristan, they can’t go up against me even if they tried. They can only wield one element; I can wield all of them.” Theo states and as if to prove his point he slowly brings forth each element; one hand lighting on fire while the other one frosts over as a gust of wind appears from nowhere and the ground shakes. Tristan stares at his friend in awe.

“I’m still in shock that this is real life. It feels like a dream,” the brunet whispers, hearing footsteps approaching and turning to face the twins.

“We’ve come to terms with it and we believe you, it’s a shock that you two would be together but we have no choice but to believe what you say.” Justin says, Theo turns to them with a small smile.

“Good, I have no reason to lie to you. If you’re truly mean to help me, then you will be useful but that means you will need to leave this place eventually,” he tells them and they nod in understanding, Theo turns to the couple that had helped them the most since coming here. “I will want you two to come with us when we leave, I’m sure Tristan could put you somewhere in the castle.”

“Theodore, what a nice gesture but we won’t be able to come with you. This is our home, we need to stay here.” Alissia says sorrowfully and Theo’s shoulders slump in disappointment. “But we will visit.”

“Fine,” he crosses his arms and Tristan laughs at his childish behaviour.

“What are we to do while we wait for whoever hunts you, your grace?” Julia asks, looking at Tristan who blinks a few times before gesturing to Theodore.

“He’s the captain, ask him.” Tristan says and she nods, repeating her question to Theo.

“We train like we’ve never trained before and find people who could possibly want to help us, I’m sure there might be some guards from the mansion that got out so when we begin our journey home we will look out for them.” Theodore says while rubbing a hand down his face.

“Train how?” Julia asks again and Theo smirks, standing from the stool and gesturing for them to follow; the three of them do.

Half an hour ride on horses and they come to a large clearing in the forest, the grass was long but you could see where Theo had been standing for the last few mornings since there was scorch marks on the ground where his feet had touched it. Over towards the end of where they could see was a slow flowing river that added to the serenity of the space, making Theo smile as a peaceful feeling overcame him. The three behind him followed him slowly as he walked into the middle of the field, stopping when he suddenly turned to face them with his arms folded across his chest.

“So why are we here?” Julia asks, following the golden eyed boy closely as he starts pacing in front of them.

“To practice our magic of course! That’s what I’ve been doing these last few days and for many days through the last fourteen years of my life when my powers showed for the first time.” Theo states while stopping his movements and bringing balls of fire to life in the palms of both his hands. “You both can wield magic, though different kinds despite being twins. You will need to learn how to wield them properly to fight, but you will also need to be trained with weapons properly because magic can only go so far. I was trained from a young age with both weaponry and my magic abilities, I have mastered both.”

“Surely you haven’t mastered both to perfection.” Julia states with a huff and Theo grins.

“Nothing is truly perfect Julia, I may as well be but fighting someone with weapons is like a dance until death. You move to one another’s beat and steps until someone steps wrong and your sword goes through their chest.” Theo tells her.

“Or face.” Tristan adds with a laugh which Theo responds to with his own laugh.

“Right, I only did that because he was laughing at me.”

“So, what are we going to fight with and why out here? Won’t someone see us?” Justin asks quietly, seeing the shorter blonde in a new light.

“Out here, there is no one around for miles so we won’t be heard or seen by anyone unless they are purposely coming to this specific clearing and today will be magic while tomorrow Tristan and I will show you how to fight with swords properly.” Theo explains with a smirk when Tristan huffs at him.

“Will we?”

“Yes we will, now you go sit by the water my friend while I help these two.”

Tristan huffs again while doing what Theo says and walking over to the flowing water and sitting on a rock beside it, watching for hours as Theodore helps the twins with their magic. When they’ve finally had enough the twins head back into town while Tristan stays sitting beside the water, watching the little fish swimming peacefully. Theo shoves Tristan a little bit when he’s close enough though not hard enough for the brunet to fall in, and as the taller boy recovers Theo retreats slowly, obviously expecting a chase while laughing softly. Tristan jumps off the rock and chases after the smaller boy, catching him in mere moments because of his long legs being able to carry him faster than the blond. Wrapping his arms around Theo’s waist, Tristan pulls him back against his chest and lifts him from the ground, a squeak coming from Theo as he’s crushed against the taller boy. They laugh as Theo struggles to be released, tugging tightly on Tristan arms only to be held tighter until Tristan loosens slightly enough for Theo to turn around in his arms, laughing loudly. Another squeak comes out when Tristan randomly squeezes his body against his own, effectively pushing all the air from his lungs and planning not to let the blonde go that is the plan until he feels warmth cover his lips suddenly. His body stills at the softness and his eyes widen to saucers in shock; Theo was kissing him. It only lasted a few seconds before Theo broke free of the prince’s arms and jumped away from him, though the prince was stuck where he was. Snapping out of it, the brunet runs at the blond and tackles him to the grass when he turns towards him, they land with a oomph. The prince holds his friend down by the shoulders and places his legs either side of his hips.

“What was that?!” He shouts at him, his face harsh as Theo stares up into his eyes innocently though a smirk takes over his lips a moment later. Pushing himself onto his elbows as much as he could, Theo puts his face as close as he can to Tristan’s, watching the brunet’s pupils dilating slightly. They sit like that for a few moments, silently challenging each other with hardened stares when Theo has enough and lifts one of his arms up to weave his fingers through the brunet’s hair, taking the plunge and connecting their lips softly. Tristan sucks in a breath when their lips meet lightly, his eyes widening before fluttering closed as Theo pushes their lips harder together.

Warmth was spreading through the prince’s chest at the feeling of Theo’s soft lips against his own while Theo’s mind was racing with questions of why he was kissing his childhood friend.

It’s weird but it feels nice; natural. With that thought, Theo dares to take it that little bit deeper and tilts his head slightly while running his tongue along Tristan’s bottom lip, teasing the older boys mouth open and bringing their tongues together. Tristan drops his body against Theo’s as they kiss passionately, every inch of their bodies touching though after a while, Theo’s had enough and pulls away, pushing a hand to Tristan’s chest so the taller boy would sit back; which he does quickly.

“Well…” Theo trails off with a cough while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Let’s go back to the inn.” Tristan states standing and walking over to where the horses are; only waiting for Theo when he’s in the saddle. Theo slowly follows, feeling numb to anything but his lips even as they’re riding back and he needs to concentrate, he feels a small smile tug at his face. Tristan doesn’t look back as he rides ahead of Theo, not wanting to see if the other boy was angry or happy with the kiss they had shared. It had been quite passionate for a first kiss between childhood friends and he was scared the blonde would stop talking to him like he normally does after this kind of thing happens.

They don’t speak for the whole trip back and as soon as they’re through the large doors to the building, Tristan is all but running up the stairs to their room where he slams the door shut. Theo sighs with slumped shoulders as he walks over to the bar and sits at it, his head leaning on one of his palms.

“What’s wrong with him?” Micah asks while wiping down the countertop, Theo just rolls his eyes in annoyance.

“I made the first move with him and he’s not happy with it.” Theodore tells him, keeping his eyes on his hand that’s resting on the bar.

“What first move?”

“I kissed him.”

“You did?!” Alissia’s suddenly excited voice flows loudly over Theo and he groans, placing his head on the wood in front of him. “How was it?”

“It was nice, it felt natural.” Theo murmurs, closing his eyes. “But now I think he hates me for it.”

“I don’t think he hates you love, he’s probably just feeling conflicted. You have known each other for a long time.” Alissia tells him and he sighs against the wood before standing and moving to help them with whatever they need help with.

Tristan didn’t know why he stormed off from Theo when they got into the inn but he did and now he’s too scared to go back downstairs to talk about what happened or to help with chores. It all seemed so surreal that Theo would kiss him after so long of Tristan having a crush on him; it was pretty cliché that Tristan had a crush on his closest friend who was straight their whole lives when suddenly he starts to like Tristan too. It didn’t make sense.

Tristan’s crush had started when he was sixteen and he had only just understood that he liked both genders; obviously he had a preference for men but he didn’t know that until much later. He was worried that Theo was doing this to play a joke on Tristan.

Shaking his head, Tristan face planted into his bed by the window and groaned into the pillow, the noise ending right as the door opens.

“Tris?” Theo’s voice is quiet and questioning as he peaks his head into the room, seeing the brunette shoulders rise in a shrug. He enters the room and sits on his bed and watches the other by turn his head towards him; his face was flushed with embarrassment and Theo suddenly felt guilty for kissing him so passionately for the first time. “I came to apologise for earlier, I know it was a bit much for our first anything and I just wanted to say I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

“Theo, you didn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s just a bit sudden that you are showing this side to me when you were pretty adamant your whole life that you only liked women.” Tristan explains, watching Theodore’s brow release from its frown in shock before a guilty look takes over his eyes.

“Well, the truth is I’ve always questioned my ability to like men or more important one man. I always thought you were unbelievably handsome Tris, I was just closed minded about it because I didn’t see any other man as attractive.” Theo tells him and Tristan moves to sit up, nodding his head in understanding.

“And that’s okay I guess, not everyone’s the same with their sexualities.”

“That’s true and maybe I’m opening up to you now because we both need and deserve someone who will treat us right and who better to do that than the person who knows us best? You know me better than anyone on this earth, well besides sexually of course but that might come later.” Theo grins while Tristan’s face goes bright red at Theo’s admittance and he chucks a pillow at the blonde, eliciting a loud laugh from the smaller boy.

“You can’t just say things like that to someone who’s had a crush on you for five years!” The brunet exclaims with a huff afterwards. They’re quiet for a long time, staring at each other in disbelief until Theo swallows the lump in his throat to be able to speak.

“You’ve had a crush on me for five years?” Both boys eyes go wide with shock; Theo because he didn’t know he’d liked him for that long and Tristan because he didn’t mean to say that so soon.

“I guess I might as well admit it now, I started liking you when I was sixteen and I had realised I fancied men and women; men more than women but who cares. So yes, it’s been five years of me liking you more than my best friend and captain.” Tristan’s voice is small and Theo watches him for a while before moving to sit beside him on his bed. He places a hand over the taller boys hand that is fidgeting with the fabric of his pants, lacing their fingers together while bringing his other hand up to turn his face towards him.

“You should’ve said something earlier Tris.” Theo murmurs softly, liking the way the prince watches his lips move when he’s this close.

“Why?” Tristan questions and Theo smirks.

“Because we probably could’ve been doing this a long time ago.” Theo whispers before sealing their lips together, bringing a startled noise out of his brunette friend before they both shift so it’s easier to stay connected; Tristan moving onto Theodore’s lap while Theo’s arms wrap around his waist. They kiss for a long while, tongues touching every now and then though it doesn’t get too passionate or heated and Theo doesn’t push away this time. He was actually enjoying himself quite a bit, he didn’t feel like he had to try too hard when kissing Tristan; it wasn’t like kissing the many girls he has before. And Tristan’s lips were very soft and moved perfectly with his own.

Though Tristan soon pulled away to get a real breath of air in and rested his forehead against Theo’s, just breathing in his air and loving the peaceful air that surrounded them. The peaceful air that was punctured by the sound of crashing, a scream followed by thundering footsteps up the stairs. Tristan springs away from Theo moments before the door is thrown open and in front of them stands the ox of a man who had grabbed Theo.

They had been found