“You’re just a royal pain in my ass!” The young blond man yelled, his anger aimed at the tall brunet standing before him.

“I’d rather be a royal pain, than a normal pain,” the brunet smirks at the small blond, his perfectly sculpted eyebrows rising in a challenge and the blond never backed down from a challenge, especially not from Prince Tristan who just so happened to be one of his closest friends. So they stood in the hallway to the ballroom, arguing and saying nasty things until both their mothers rounded the corner at the sound of their bickering.

“Boys, when will you learn to behave in public?” The brunet’s mother, Queen Arianna, says to them, a small frown taking over her delicate features. She had the same dark brown hair and bright green eyes her son had, but where his features were sharp and all lines, Arianna’s face was soft and delicate with age; he resembled his father with his physical attributes. The woman beside the Queen laughed lightly under her breath at the Queen’s fussing, her son crossing his arms and looking away from them. The woman walked over and wrapped an arm around her son’s shoulders, bringing him a little way from him before brushing the blond hair out of his eyes. The boy and his mother looked nothing a like despite him having her height and her unusual eye colour, that being the colour of burnt oranges; an almost amber colour that looked gold in the light. Paired with his almost white hair and skin, he was a beautiful sight to behold; not that he felt like it when people stared at him.

“Theodore, darling, you know better than to argue with the Prince where others can hear you,” her voice was sweet, calm and he smirked when he could see the amusement in her amber eyes.

“In all fairness, he started it on the walk here,” Theodore, or Theo as he liked to be called, protested and the Prince snorts a laugh, earning a small glare from his mother.

“I did not, Theodore. Stop trying to blame me for your short comings,” the Prince’s eyes are a light with amusement and a silent challenge for Theo to react which he does with a hard glare.

“Is that a short joke?” Theo’s mother places a hand on his arm, her eyebrows raised.

“What short comings?” She asked and started to worry when her son’s face goes pink, obviously with embarrassment.

“My lady Eliza, he spent the night with a pretty woman, by the name of Gwen, but this morning when he woke, she tossed him and his stuff out. I was walking by when he landed on his ass,” Tristan speaks calmly, but there’s a storm of laughter behind his eyes as he recalls seeing his dearest friend being tossed out and landing at his feet, reeking of alcohol and smoke.

“Theo, I thought we were putting the women behind us?” His mother’s voice is gentle and he looks away, embarrassed and ashamed that he had spent the night with yet another woman.

“Mother, I am sorry,” his voice is sincere but he knew it would happen again if the opportunity arose.

“That’s alright dear, we will just try harder,” she pats his arm and links their arms together, the Queen and her son doing the same and the four of them walk out into the ballroom which at the moment was being used to make decorations for the party they would be having soon for the Prince’s twenty-first birthday.

“We could really use both your help with this stuff.” Arianna says, making both boys to groan before they started putting decorations together and showing the women as they work on other things for the party.

“I didn’t realise you were off women.” Tristan says quietly as they stand together and Theo shrugs.

“My mother thinks I’ve got a bad reputation and that I’ll never find a wife because of it.” Theo replies and Tristan looks him over as he keeps his eyes on their work. Tristan had always thought that Theo was very easy on the eyes with his big eyes, hair that was short on the sides but long on top and his lean frame, which Tristan knew held many muscles that had knocked him to the ground on multiple occasions when they were sparing. Theo didn’t know why Tristan was suddenly staring at him but it didn’t really concern him as he kept going on with the task at hand and eventually Tristan shook his head and started working on something else. They stayed in the ballroom until it was dinner time, walking with their mothers into the dining room where both their fathers were waiting for them and it was like looking in a mirror for Tristan what with his father having given him the looks he has and Theo just waving with a grin at his own father who he looks nothing like. His father had blond hair too but it was not the white that Theo was blessed with and his skin was sun kissed, tan but not overly so unlike Theo whose skin was very pale. Theo sat in between his father and mother as she took the seat opposite Arianna; the Queen sitting to the right of the King, Tristan next to his mother and his little brother, Xavier, next to him. The young men were opposite each other and gave each other a look before digging into the food that was laid out in front of them.

As the best friend of both the King and Queen, Theo’s parents got a lot of leeway and spent every dinner with the royal family, meaning Theo spent a lot of his childhood with them, including Tristan who was a year older than him and Xavier who was two years younger.

The topic of conversation flowed between them all until the King finished his meal and stood to excuse himself before walking away and towards the west wing; it held the royal bedrooms. The Queen soon followed, Eliza and Elliot following suit, leaving the boys to deal with whatever they had to before leaving the dining room. Xavier followed the older boys quickly as they left, though he frowned as they parted ways and he look between them to choose who he’d follow. He decided on Theo, he was the more exciting of the two and despite his inner argument; he had a slight crush on the short blond. He walked silently behind the older boy but before he could react, Theo turns around and stops causing Xavier to crash into his chest.

“Xavier, is there a reason you’re following me to my rooms?” Theo asks with a small smile, he was somewhat curious about why the little Prince liked to spend so much time with his older brother’s best friend.

“I don’t want to go to bed just yet and Tris is kinda boring.” Xavier shrugs and Theo laughs, throwing his arm around the boy’s shoulders and beginning to walk to his rooms in the east wing of the mansion. Theo had a slight suspicion that the younger boy had a little crush on him but he didn’t let it change how he saw or treated the young Prince, bringing him into his rooms while stripping off his jacket. They then proceeded to the sitting area in the room and sat, Xavier’s heart was racing for reasons he didn’t want to admit as he looks around the room, seeming to sense his distress Theo lays a hand on his knee.

“Is there something on your mind, Little Prince?” Theo smiled at the slight blush that peaks under the kids freckles and he studied his face, he looked more like his mother than his father and with the smattering of freckles over his cheeks and nose, he was cute. But in the little brother kind of way, which is how Theo saw him. He was an only child himself so being so close to the young prince was only a sibling feeling towards him.

“Have you ever thought you had feelings for another man? Even when you know you shouldn’t?” Xavier’s voice is low and Theo sighs, pulling his hand away and biting his plump lower lip.

“No, I haven’t actually.” Theo says honestly, looking at Xavier’s blue eyes and tilted his head when the boy’s shoulders dropped. “Why do you ask?”

“I think I have for feelings I shouldn’t and I don’t know what to do.” Theo raises an eyebrow at him and crossing his legs under him.

“Maybe try telling the person, if they don’t reciprocate the feeling then you should try to move on,” he smiles kindly at the kid, hoping to the gods that it wasn’t him until Xavier moves to face him, his legs under his bottom.

“Theo, it’s you I think I like and I know it’s wrong because you’re Tristan’s best friend and I’ve known you since I was little but I can’t help it.” Xavier’s words are slightly stuttered and shaky and Theo feels bad about turning the poor boy down.

“Xavier, you know I love you dearly but I have no interest in men and you are like a little brother to me.” Theo says and the kid nods, sighing before standing and excusing himself from the room. Theo groans and undresses, laying on his bed and staring at his ceiling.

Meanwhile, over in the west wing Tristan was getting some much wanted attention from one of the many young servants in the mansion though it wasn’t one who many would think he’d take a liking too.

The young man had zoned in on the new servant who was cleaning up his room when he walked in; the smaller male was gorgeous but nowhere near the perfectness that is Tristan or Theo but he still thought he was gorgeous; with his dark hair, dark skin and bright eyes.

So he took the opportunity to entice the smaller man, stripping his clothes off slowly in front of him until the servant is staring blatantly at him, Tristan giving him a smirk as he sauntered over and pulling the shirt over his head.

In mere minutes they were naked and in the thralls of passion when they hear the sound of heavy footsteps down the hallway, followed by a few whimpers. Tristan would’ve ignored it if he didn’t know that voice, he instantly stops and pushes the servant off him, pulling his pants on and rushing out after his brother, leaving the servant to get dressed and leave.

“Xavier!” Tristan yells, chasing him to his door which is slammed and locked in his face. He bangs on the door and Xavier yells for him to go away, Tristan vaguely remembers seeing his brother follow Theo so he turns and sprints to the east wing, bursting through the door to Theo’s room to see his friend laying on the bed with only some low riding pyjama  pants. He bites his lower lip and crosses his arms, instantly putting on a frown when his friend looks at him.

“What did you do to Xavier?” Tristan’s arms are crossed and Theo sighs, rolling onto his stomach.

“He confessed his feelings for me and I shot him down, since I don’t like men.” Theo says honestly and Tristan’s arms drop to his side while his jaw drops.

“I didn’t know he liked you…”

“I’m guessing no one did, he’s such a quiet kid.” Theo muses, playing with a strand of hair and in that moment Tristan couldn’t believe Theo was only into women. “Is he hurting?”

“He won’t let me in his room.”

“God, I royally fucked up.” Theo groans and plants his face into the mattress

“No you didn’t, you told him the truth so you didn’t lead him on. Not many people would do that.” Tristan says and his friend looks up at him, his eyes skimming down his body before landing on something on his chest with a frown, Tristan looks down to see small circles of red; hickeys.

“You dirty boy, did you come here right after fucking someone?” Tristan’s face flushes red.

“No! I stopped midway to see if my brother was okay.” It’s moments like this he hated having such an attractive man as his best friend. And although Tristan loved women, he couldn’t get over how enticing the male body was; especially the body of someone like Theodore Ashwood. Theodore was in training to be the Prince’s Captain of the Guard meaning he had to be in top physical shape so to stay on top of that, Theodore pushed himself physically hard; running every morning and afternoon while lifting weights and sparring with other guards and even the Prince himself. His abdominal muscles stood out on his porcelain skin, creating a very beautifully sculpted six pack with his hips creating a V down into his pants and not to mention his chest and bicep muscles bulged with almost everyone movement he made. Like now when he rolls onto his back, his arms going behind his head.

“I feel horrible about Xavier, maybe I should go talk to him.”

“No way, let him be for a little while and then I’ll take him out for some fun.” Tristan smirks and Theo rolls his eyes, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at the Prince.

“Get outta here so I can sleep!” He exclaims, Tristan laughing lightly and bowing before leaving the room. Going back to his own, his mind stuck on Theo and his impeccable ability to distract Tristan from everything.

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First time posting on here, hopefully people enjoy it!

Some words may be spelt different because I am Australian and we tend to do things differently down here.

- Tay<3