Chapter Text
Being in the team of heroes that would save Britain was certainly not an easy thing.
Besides being extremely dangerous for your life, it was incredibly stressful to be around those heroes who had such bizarre personalities as to be almost absurd.
Jade was an ordinary person.
He considered himself a normal person and he did not mind being so, but sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he was different; he wished he had the courage of Chion, the determination of Isolde, the strength of Prince Lancelot, the charisma of Princess Tristan.
These were all qualities he envied and wished he could have one day, but that did not mean he had low self-esteem, not until today, when he felt he was the slimiest man on the face of the earth.
"Come on, Jade! Nothing happened! You didn't do it on purpose... did you?" asked Donny hesitantly at last, wrapping an arm around his neck with a nervous smile.
"Of course not! I would never dare!" he immediately clarified with red ears and glowing cheeks, almost growling at the accusation, but too shocked to do anything more than sit there in their assigned room thinking that these might be the last moments of his life.
"You'd better, Jade," Chion hissed, looking at his childhood friend with a mixture of anger and disagreement, though much more restrained than Jade would have imagined.
"I didn't see what the big deal was, it was just an accident and Tristan seemed fine!" Percival intervened, swinging across the bed in his usual innocent and light-hearted manner, while everyone in the room seemed to be in a sombre mood.
"You don't understand! It is disgraceful for a woman to be seen naked by another man who is not her boyfriend, especially for a princess..." Donny continued with a sigh, trying to soothe the anger by Chion, that was probably on the verge of insulting his best friend.
"But I always see Nasiens naked!" he announced proudly with an almost satisfied smile.
"Are you just bragging? Do you know that Nasiens is your boyfriend?" asked Donny, almost shocked by the other's attitude, since he and Nans had announced their relationship, Percy had become a bit more brash and less naive, sometimes he even seemed smarter than the others, like right now.
"If Prince Lancelot finds out, I'm dead," the boy announced gloomily, knowing he had one foot in the grave at the thought of having seen his princess naked and incurred the wrath of both his ruler and said princess's creepy boyfriend.
"That's not true, it will all work out..."
"You cannot know. Will I be dead? I know I will die... not even Isolde will be able to save me! I will be absolutely, undeniably dead".
And perhaps it was tragic to think so, but now it was only a matter of time before Lancelot or Meliodas knew what had happened and went straight to him to rip his head off. It was only a matter of time.
It all happened that afternoon, when the group of four Horsemen of the Apocalypse found themselves resting after a rather close fight with some Chaos Knights, in an inn that fortunately also had natural outdoor hot springs.
The baths did not have a male and female section, so they had decided to take separate baths... so far so good, except that Jade had fainted during the battle.
It was not serious, but Tristan had advised that he be left to rest, and once the knight had regained his senses, he found himself alone in the inn, not even knowing how he had got there.
Apparently the others had all gone out at that time to perform various tasks or simply to relax and eat in the village where they were now.
Jade had found a note detailing everything that had happened and also that the boys would be waiting for him at the baths or if he did not wake up early enough even for dinner; naively, the platoon knight Tristan believed that these baths had separate bathrooms and not knowing that they were instead shared, he went to take a bath, not realising that it was actually the girls' turn.
It was too late by the time the eighteen-year-old teenager, wearing only a towel and yawning with exhaustion, reached the natural pool, already thinking of lecturing Chion for not waiting for him. He began to moan loudly, still with his eyes closed, and suddenly, a surprised squeal made him squeal in return, he opened his eyes and saw the figure of his princess amidst the steam, humidity and heat.
The girl looked at him in shock, immediately covering her buxom chest and blushing furiously, completely naked and bent over in front of him, clearly intent on getting out of the water before the knight arrived, and while both their cheeks turned a fiery red, it was only when Tristan shouted for him to come out that the boy came out of his daze.
Jade is not ashamed to say that at that moment he had screamed far louder than the princess as he ran off on his red-faced and a series of shouted excuses from afar that sounded more like mindless babble now that he thinks about it.
That was only an hour ago, and he went back to his room to tell his friends, who had just returned from the dining room.
Like a man sentenced to death who decided to admit his guilt before being stoned to death for his crimes, he felt at that moment.
Donny said he was exaggerating, but the truth was that not only had he seen an imperial princess from the Kingdom of the Liones naked, but this princess was also the official fiancée of one of the most fearsome and powerful warriors in all of Britain, Sir Lancelot.
And as much as the blonde was always calm and collected in battle, Jade was well aware of his second nature; after all, he was curious; when the two royals had announced their engagement two years earlier, Jade had begun to look at the couple more often, precisely because they did not look like a couple.
They weren't clinging to each other, they weren't holding hands all the time, they weren't constantly looking into each other's eyes and whispering words of love to each other and... maybe Jade had read too many romance novels, but he was almost certain that the behaviour between the two of them hadn't changed at all since he'd known them, but they were definitely together.
Jade had been in love with his best friend Isolde since they were children, so he was familiar with the look of a person in love, and even more familiar with the look of a possessive man, and the Prince of the Kingdom of Benwick certainly was that.
It wasn't the kind of suffocating, angry possessiveness that wouldn't let the partner do anything, after all, Jade doesn't recall ever seeing Lancelot stare hard at Chion or Isolde when they were too attached to their beloved princess, but perhaps that was because the prince didn't see them as a threat, as he remembers a particular incident involving someone outside the group circle.
It happened when they were more or less all 17 years old, a little less than a year earlier. They had been invited to a feast in an allied kingdom that had supported Liones against Camelot, a sort of celebration of the two kingdoms' warlike union, honouring the four knights and their allies.
The banquet, the music and the atmosphere made the evening fun, even though they knew no one from that kingdom, but it was not difficult to make friends thanks to Percival's spontaneity, Tristan's excellent manners and Lancelot's charming charisma, which stole the hearts of every maiden in the kingdom with a single glance (which was funny considering the blonde had not even wanted to attend at first).
Jade tried to whitewash the memory of Lady Gawain shamelessly flirting with every girl in the room, or Chion teasing Donny while he ranted in front of everyone, which would have all ended rather happily had the third prince of this kingdom not had his eye on Tristan.
It was not the first time that someone had fallen in love with a princess at first sight, their princess was a breathtaking beauty and Jade would probably have had a crush on her like all the other boys in the kingdom had his heart not already been set on Isolde (whom he considered the prettiest in Britannia anyway), but it was the first time that the young knight had witnessed such a display of arrogance towards his lady.
The third prince had no problem raving about how beautiful, sensual and sexy the half-goddess was in her ceremonial gown, which did little to conceal her ample breasts.
The arrogant boy, who hardly resembled a prince when he drooled over the Princess of Liones' cleavage and used rather explicit language to flatter her in front of his friends, refused to back down even when Tristan asked him politely, embarrassed and humiliated. The homunculus, who Jade refuses to call Prince (and whose name he can't even remember), and only when he raised his voice to scold the princess did his whole group of friends realise what was going on, and needless to say they were furious.
Jade had always been a very calm and collected person, even in these situations, but he too was angry and ready to lay his hands on the bastard, a good ten years older than his lady, who dared to denigrate her after harassing her.
He was indeed ready to do so and knew he was not alone, but just as Isolde was about to attack with her club and Chion was calling for Thifos, Prince Lancelot intervened, blocking their path and standing with his back protectively to Tristan.
He stood still and stared at the man, his characteristic ruby red eyes clouded with frost, his jaw clenched, recalling the aura of when he had fought the King of Camelot himself, so menacing that it needed no words, so terrifying that one could almost touch it.
The prince, though an idiot, still seemed to have a certain survival instinct and, terrified of Lancelot, fled with his tail between his legs into the crowd of people, including his subjects, humiliated by the blond prince.
Since that day, no one had underestimated how much the Prince of Bewick cared for his fiancée, and Gawain had even become a little less exuberant towards the Princess (though she was far from ceasing to cling to here), focusing his attentions mainly on the other two girls in the group, much to their chagrin.
Worried about all the times he had naively hugged Tristan in a friendly manner, Percival immediately apologised to Lancelot, thinking he might have been jealous of him in the past too, but the Knight of War shrugged his shoulders and stroked his little friend's head, reassuring him that he did not mind as long as it was done in a friendly manner, and especially if his girlfriend did not mind.
Jade realised at that moment that the Prince of Benwick always put his fiancée's wishes before his own, and he found himself admiring the boy even more, even though he would soon brutally kill him, making his admiration futile.
As he now saw it, the boy had only two choices: die at Lancelot's hands, or die at the hands of the King of the Liones, who was no match for the blond prince in terms of protectiveness.
"You know..." Donny began, perhaps making his own remarks as the boy was about to face the gallows.
"I promise I would help you under any other circumstances, but I don't want to be beheaded by the King or Lancelot either, so I guess this is goodbye!"
Jade really wanted to cry at this point.
* * *
Knowing Jade, he was probably in the corner crying.
After the initial shock, Tristan realised that it was not necessary to react so badly, although the idea of being seen naked by her knight did not appeal to her at all, in the end it was not so bad.
After all, it was only a few seconds that Jade had seen something, because the princess had covered her breasts and pubis as soon as she had noticed it (though not as well as she would have liked, she only had two hands and her prosperous breasts were difficult to cover even with both), and was full of steam, so all in all it was no big deal.
Still, Tristan felt guilty.
Although she did not know why, she did not go to dinner with the others after the event, but dressed in a white sleeveless blouse, a yellow tie and her usual black shorts with black socks, and ran to find Lancelot.
The Prince of Benwick was one of those who had gone out with Gawain and Nasiens, being the usual perfectionists the three of them were supposed to be on patrol to see if there were any spies from Camelot, but enough time had passed and Tristan was sure she would find her fiancé drinking in some pub, she was right of course.
The blonde sat at the bar with more than five pints of Vaniya's beer already down and two more overflowing, Gawain giggled drunkenly next to him in her tiny form, and Nasiens was nowhere to be seen, but he'd probably gone back to Percival because the two of them couldn't be too far apart.
Lance could read people's hearts, and Tristan had chosen not to wear the ring to block her prince's powers as usual, so she was not surprised to see her boyfriend turn in her direction immediately, despite the distance between the entrance and the bar.
"Lady Tristan! Won't you have a drink with us?" giggled Gawain once she too noticed the presence of the princess, who smiled at the call and approached with an innocent manner.
"I can't hold my liquor, Lady Gawain, and I don't think you can hold it very well either..." the young woman commented softly, gently stroking the brunette's head and making her eyes sparkle with the holy triad.
"Ohh, I mean it's not funny, I just got little drunk!" the 18 year old protested, sulking at being cured of alcohol intoxication, Tristan chuckling in response.
"I'm sorry, but I need to talk to Lance and I couldn't leave you here alone drunk..."
This attracted the attention of Lancelot, who had been silently watching the scene as he drank; Gawain took the hint and decided to leave the two 'lovebirds', as she called them, and run off to see if he could convince Isolde or An to bathe with her, leaving the two of them alone.
"What's going on?" the Prince of Benwick asked, looking at the girl earnestly, probably expecting, knowing him, who knows what secret about Camelot or unsolvable problem.
"I have something to tell you..." the silver-haired girl began hesitantly, looking around to see if anyone was listening, but there were only a couple of men at the back of the bar and the barman behind it.
"Spit it out, or do you want me to read your heart?" the boy blurted out impatiently, clearly concerned about the young woman's funeral face, and Tristan appreciated that he didn't read her heart right away, since she'd told him he could only do it with her consent.
In a way she wanted him to read her heart but Tristan did not want him to see the memories of her naked in front of Jade, she felt she was disrespecting her fiancé.
"Mh...see it happened...basically I was..." the girl stammered softly, blushing more and more every second under the blonde's steady gaze, after a minute of silence it seemed that Lancelot was about to explode and with him his patience.
"Tris, hurry the hell up," he blurted out, irritated because he was really worried and on the verge of breaking his promise and reading the girl's heart without her consent, no matter how scared he was about what the hell had happened.
Tristan looked around and noticed that the barman and the two boys were paying attention to her now that Lance had raised his voice, blushing deeply now that she had an audience, which made she hesitate again.
At this point, Lance could take it no longer.
He got up from the stool, leaving the money for himself and Gawain on the counter, and took the princess by the arm, who squealed in surprise, and headed for the door.
"Hey! Let go of the girl!" a voice shouted from behind them, the two boys from before had stood up and must have misinterpreted the situation, for they seemed to be puffing out their chests in front of Lance, trying to intimidate him, as they looked at the girl out of the corner of their eyes, looking for a sign of admiration from him.
Tristan was already sick to her stomach, Lancelot seemed to be annoyed and now these two poor deluded people were trying to test his patience by challenging one of the strongest warriors in the land, there was only blood and death in their future.
"It's OK guys, he's my friend! He's not doing anything serious!" the girl tried to intervene with a fake smile, but she couldn't get between them and the blonde given the latter's steely grip on her.
"Miss, it's more serious than that! You can't let him treat you like this, don't worry...we're here to protect you!" the taller boy declared, showing off even more as his shorter companion nodded and winked at Tristan, who was really fearing for they're life at this point.
"It's not like that, he's just angry... you've never done anything wrong to me!" she tried again, this time pinching her boyfriend's muscular arm to get away and finally coming between them with a sweet smile.
"Don't jump to conclusions without evidence, guys, thanks for the help, but give it to those who really need it, please!" the young woman concluded, taking advantage of the general surprise to pull her boyfriend away to avoid a one-sided fight.
"This wouldn't have happened if you'd just told me what you wanted to tell me..." the blonde complained immediately after the two had quickly left the club and were behind the wall of an unoccupied house.
"I mean! I was going to tell you! If I had known those guys were going to interfere, i would have taken you out of here myself...." the princess said, putting her hands on her hips in exasperation.
"Spit it out, Tristan, last warning," the deadly calm young prince said with crossed arms and a grim expression, obviously fed up.
Tristan smiled nervously, took a breath and finally managed to speak, recounting what had happened in great detail, leaving nothing out in order to be as honest as possible with her partner, who listened to everything with deadly calm.
"... Jade saw you naked?" he asked at the end of the story, causing the princess to nod shyly.
"That's it? Seriously?"
Eh.
Lance sighed, shaking his head in exasperation with one hand on his forehead and his eyes closed, leaning back against the wall and looking at his fiancée as if he were an alien.
"You scared the hell out of me, I thought it was serious..."
All right, Tristan was not expecting that reaction.
"Isn't .... serious to you?"
The question made Lance freeze again, scratching the back of his head as he looked at his girlfriend like she was crazy, before answering with a simple no.
The princess blinked at the answer, pursed her lips into a thin line and stood in silence, looking at the blonde, feeling a strange sensation make its way through her... disappointment.
"What's the problem now?" Lancelot asked again, clearly seeing the unhappiness on the 18 year old's face, but Tristan did not answer, just lowered his face, covering his different coloured eyes with his silver fringe, turned away and began to twist his hands in his lap.
"What's the matter with you?" the blonde asked again, approaching the girl again, clearly confused by the strange posture, but when he placed a hand on her right shoulder to turn her towards him, the princess shook off his grip rather roughly, to his surprise.
"I'm going back to the inn!" the Knight of Pestilence announced in a loud and somewhat shrill voice before running off, leaving behind his bewildered friend, who really didn't understand what the hell had just happened.
"What the hell?! What did I say now? That stupid...!"
"Damn...that was bad, Lancelot..." a small, timid voice said, interrupting the Prince of Benwick's thoughts and causing him to turn towards Nasiens, who was waving from above the parapet of the uninhabited house.
"...for how long?" asked Lance with an almost resigned sigh; he had blocked his powers because he did not wish to read Tristan's heart, as she had specifically asked him to do,it was for that he could not feel his cousin's presence.
"I was here before you, so..." he revealed, smiling embarrassed as he scratched his right cheek and gently descended from the parapet with his fairy magic.
Lancelot was surprised to find him here, he knew he'd gone to get a present for Percy and thought it would take him longer, being the classic somewhat perfect guy who liked to shower his boyfriend with gifts and cuddles, he certainly didn't expect to find him perched on top of an abandoned house while he arguing (maybe?) with Tristan.
The blonde crossed his arms and sniffed again as he watched his cousin give him a certain look he knew well, having spent two full years receiving it... the look: "You've been a bit of an asshole."
And he did not need to read his mind to hear Nasien's voice in his head repeating it over and over again.
"OK, what did I do?" the prince asked in despair, waiting, as usual, for his cousin, who was far more intuitive and patient than he, to advise him.
Having discovered that Nasiens was none other than the missing son of the Fairy King and the Queen of the Giants, it was inevitable that the group dynamic would change somewhat, but Lance certainly did not expect to find himself constantly asking his newfound cousin for help with his relationship problems.
Still, he couldn't help himself, because Nasiens, though still gender ambiguous due to her fairy nature and having chosen to stay that way for comfort, still felt very much a 'boy', so she didn't go after Lance the way An or Gawain would have.
She was still part girl though, so she also understood Tristan's feelings (better than Donny or Percy at least) when she was... well, the girl.
So he was always a winner when it came to choosing who to ask for advice.
"Let's see... you basically admitted that you don't care about her."
"What?" the taller man blurted out in surprise.
Nasiens sighed with an uncertain smile and continued: "You don't care if another boy, a boy your age, saw your girlfriend naked...you had no reaction, you don't seem to care about her."
"But that's... not true!" the blonde denied immediately, widening her eyes until they were practically wide and staring at the shocked other.
"It's not that I don't care, it's just... it's Jade! He's practically guaranteed to have no bad intentions, you know..." of course he was referring to the boy's stratospheric crush on Isolde, practically everyone in the group knew about this secret love except Isolde, Percy and Tristan.
"Okay...but anyway, it's not about that, it's about the fact that...the way you answered, it was really...it sounded like..." Nasiens tried to explain, still scratching his head, now confused by the rather awkward speech itself.
"I mean, what was I supposed to do? Get angry with Jade? With Tristan? Punch them both?" the young Prince of Benwick asked, increasingly confused as he watched his cousin's increasingly desperate and tired face.
"You punch your girlfriend, Lancelot? Really?"
"She's been doing it since we were ten too, it's not like we're a normal couple anyway..."
The brunet sighed for the fourth time, which irritated the young warrior more and more, as he usually understood that everything was rather frustrating when dealing with Tristan and Nasiens, both of whom got him into trouble for different reasons, like now.
"So tell me something. If a girl...I don't know, if An saw you naked, would you tell the princess?"
Lance thought about it, really, really hard, because he didn't want to be made fun of in case he said something stupid, but he knew the Princess of Liones well, so there was really no need to dwell on it.
"I would tell her, Tristan would want to know... but I am different. Even if she hadn't told me, I wouldn't have thought it was wrong..."
"OK, so how about...imagine you saw An naked!"
"God no, I don't want to imagine that - what the fuck -"
"Just...! If I saw her naked, don't you think Tristan would be jealous?"
Lance thought about it, and could physically see his girlfriend on the verge of hysterical crying if it ever happened, even though they both knew that the blue-haired girl was no threat to their relationship, even though they knew perfectly well that they had done nothing wrong, he suddenly understood Tristan's point of view.
"...OK, she probably expected me to...be a bit jealous? I suppose?"
"Yes! That's right! Congratulations!" Nasiens said, almost jumping up and down and clapping his hands as if his six-foot blonde cousin was a trained puppy.
"But normally she wouldn't have done that, she would have sulked at most... why did she take such offence?"
"Maybe it's because you don't pay attention to her anymore, you practically only look for her to talk about work."
At these words, the taller boy jumped to his feet, clearly uncomfortable as he looked at the smaller one with shock written all over his face.
"How the hell do you know?"
"I go to both the men's and the women's groups, I used to notice when you would sneak off to make out, now you haven't done that for at least three months."
Lance blushed deeply but dared not deny it, while Nasiens remained silent for a moment before leaning in closer and whispering with his hand resting on his milky cheek: "Haven't you two ever gone further?"
"What the hell..." the prince blurted again, cursing as he paced back and forth, growing increasingly uncomfortable.
"What the hell has that got to do with anything, Nasiens?"
Nasiens shrugged with a sad smile.
"So that's a no. I thought so."
This made the boy's blond eyebrow twitch open-mouthed, though he wasn't exactly embarrassed, he was still uncomfortable with the idea that his cousin knew so much about his love life, he thought at least the physical part was just between him and Tristan.
"Look, I just want you to understand that ... even if you are cute with this way of giving a shit about social concepts, you should probably act less like a best friend and more like a boyfriend in these cases, I think Tristan would want that from you. A confirmation."
Lancelot continued to scratch his head, more and more desperately, but now that he had more or less understood what his friend wanted, he could take stock of the situation.
"So he just wanted me to be... possessive?"
The brunet nodded.
"...to pretend, then?"
The half-fairy, half-giant rolled her eyes and continued:
"Think about it, Lancelot... a guy who is not you saw your girlfriend naked before you did."
And yes, that was a very good point.
* * *
The silver-haired princess had not returned to the inn as she had first announced, she had no intention of doing so.
She was sad and angry, and if she returned in this state, Chion and Isolde would harass her until she revealed why, could not pretend to be well she was a bad liar.
But why was she not well? She didn't understand either.
Was she angry with Lance for not being angry with Jade? Did she want her boyfriend to beat one of her best friends to a pulp? Was she really that petty?
She didn't know, she only knew that she wanted to see that Lancelot cared.
After all, they hadn't kissed in months. Sometimes they held hands during missions, but Lance always avoided looking at her during those moments, which were terribly short as far as she was concerned anyway.
It had been almost two years since they had met, that day in April when they had kissed passionately in their favourite spot in Liones, and if her father hadn't interrupted their idyllic moment, Tristan was sure she would have gone on kissing her man for hours, and even though she didn't know much about sex, she was sure she would have liked to give herself to the blonde that very day, for how high she was on him.
But of course she had to hold back or her father would have a heart attack if he saw them together in that way...again.
She blushed at the thought of how often he had imagined Lance doing unspeakable things to her, things she had read about in the erotic novels her mother had given her with an indulgent smile and a promise never to tell the King of Liones.
So yes, even during the war against Camelot, Tristan had been preparing for... whatever might happen between her and her fiancé, she was ready, but... obviously the battle with King Arthur had been a source of distraction for both knights.
She certainly couldn't complain, it was a thing bigger than them and they still did a great job, they were always together anyway, but... sometimes the princess couldn't help but get a little down.
One day she had discovered that she was not the first girl to kiss Lancelot, but that she came after a 12-year-old princess who claimed to be the bride-to-be of her current fiancé.
Princess Guinevere was a child, they had rescued her a few months earlier and taken her safely to Uncle Ban's in Benwick, they had had to accompany her, and Tristan had spent weeks seething with anger and disagreement every time the 14-year-old brought up the subject of her life as Lance's lover, or clung to him in a rather obvious way just to annoy her.
The Princess of Liones, however, was not angry, just hurt, because she actually thought Guinevere was telling the truth, which caused her to spend the entire journey to Benwick clearly depressed, and it was only Isolde's intervention that broke the spell.
In fact, the pink-haired girl had no problem taking the other princess back and telling her to stay away from her mistress's fiancé, which was very unusual and almost absurd considering the young girl's respect for nobles.
Even Chion became quite annoyed, shouting about how disrespectful it was to the Princess of Liones to behave like that in front of her, and for once defending her and Lance's love affair, which the boy had always strongly opposed.
Lancelot seemed genuinely surprised by the outburst, later explaining to Tristan that he had been focused on protecting Guinevere and had not realised he was making his fiancée uncomfortable, but after this outburst he made sure to keep his distance from the brunette, leaving her in the company of Percy and Nasiens instead.
So it had all worked out in the end, but Tristan still couldn't help but think about Guinevere's brazen and tactless declaration that she would definitely take Lancelot away from her.
She had almost turned into a demon when she first heard that statement and the very thought that it might actually happen, despite Lance and Isolde's assurances, had been unbearable, and now the idea seemed more and more plausible as he thought back to the blonde's indifferent reaction earlier.
Lancelot had not kissed her, touched her or even looked at her intensely for months and now this reaction of his was... like declaring that he was not the least bit interested in her.
"Perhaps... I'm not as beautiful as Guinevere?" the girl asked aloud, sighing as she looked out at the sea from the rock she had been perched on for over an hour, imagining a near future where she would be thrown away like rubbish for a Guinevere who was now all grown up and much more beautiful and sweet than she was.
Perhaps it would happen, the other princess' prediction would come true and she was not lying as Lance had said...
"I do not know who this Guinevere is, but I can assure you that there is no more beautiful maiden than you, young lady."
A sudden, unfamiliar voice caused the girl to turn away from the sunset and focus on the two figures behind her, whom Tristan immediately recognised as the two boys from the bar earlier.
She must be really upset, she hadn't even noticed them.
"I feel sorry for your boyfriend, he must really be an idiot to leave such a lovely creature as you," the second boy continued with a grin that was certainly charming to them, but which Tristan found only disturbing.
"You don't have to cry for that loser, I'm sure he doesn't deserve you, the way he treats you..."
The princess cut him off with a snort, raising her eyes to the sky and looking at them with palpable contempt.
How dare they talk about Lance like that? These guys had obviously been following Tristan, or at least they had been looking for her up to this point, just to encircle her in that creepy way that if they had done it with a civilised girl, she would have died of fright and then to tell lies about her man.
Because Lance was still her man, as long as he wanted to be.
"Was I not clear before? Leave me alone," and maybe she had been a little more abrupt than usual, but she really didn't feel like being polite now.
She was sad, angry and self-pitying as usual; she had not asked for comfort, least of all from two strangers who she was sure were just trying to get into his pants, as her father always said.
"Men are all animals, Tristan! Don't trust any of them!"
"But Daddy, you're a man too!"
"Yes, and I can speak for that!"
The conversation that came back to him was absurd and exaggerated, but not entirely wrong, Tristan now knew immediately when someone looked at her strangely, and these guys couldn't hide their interest in her visible bottom from a sitting position.
Really, Daddy was right.
"Miss, we are not bad people, we just wanted to buy you a drink..."
"Would that be a way to get me drunk and take me to bed?" the young woman asked increasingly annoyed, almost unable to stop herself from answering in kind, the attitude of the two was really pissing her off.
"You're pretty grumpy, maybe we should loosen you up a bit," the other boy replied with a chuckle, practically showing his true nature and dropping the gentleman mask that didn't suit him at all.
Tristan wanted to ignore them, she didn't think they had the guts to do anything other than provoke her, but when he felt an unfamiliar hand resting fearlessly on his bare shoulder, the skin-to-skin contact infuriated her and suddenly he found himself lifting the much larger man by the neck over her own head as he gasped and kicked in shock.
"I said. Leave me. Alone," she hissed venomously, feeling her eyes fill with darkness and her hands sizzle as she ignored the other boy's surprised scream.
"What the fuck-bitch!" thundered the one, who immediately lunged in to try and save his friend, Tristan already ready to hit him with her free hand, but there was no need.
The pretty princess blinked as she noticed the tall blonde figure grab the man's arm and throw him violently to the side, rolling him over the sloping rock for several metres before he came to rest against the rocks.
"La-Lance?!" she asked in surprise, releasing her grip on the man's neck only to hold her face in the hands, speechless and open-mouthed in shock.
"What the hell..." the fallen man beside the princess gasped, struggling to free himself from her firm grip.
The Prince of Benwick looked at Tristan, unable to suppress an amused snort at the pitiful state of the man his girlfriend had nearly suffocated.
"I see you've lost control a little."
The young woman blushed softly under the prince's mischievous eyes.
"Damn you monsters-you two crazy-" the man coughed, trying to limp back, his eyes full of hatred.
"I'm sorry, but..." Lancelot began, calmly reaching out to Tristan's side and then wrapping one arm around the girl to hold her against his chest.
"...as you can see, I am the only one who can touch her. My woman is not as docile as she looks."
Tristan held back a squeal, her face turning strawberry red, her eyes, now turned upwards to get a good view of his man’s face, opened wide, shining with pure surprise, joy and elation.
The mere fact that she could feel Lance's hand holding her so tightly after so long was enough to soothe her troubled soul, but to hear the words so possessive and full of the longing she had been hoping for for months...it's just wonderful!
"Keep it, you sick fuck!"
They both ignored the man's scream and flight, for Tristan the only thing that mattered at that moment was that Lancelot seemed unwilling to let her go, her heart pounding as she saw his ruby red eyes finally settle on her, his face as indifferent as ever, but a veil of... something seemed to animate them differently this time.
"I'm sorry about before..." the young prince whispered, not letting go, but no longer able to hold the princess' gaze, who, perhaps for the first time in her life, heard the apology of the strongest of the Knights of the Apocalypse.
"Why are you...I mean, how...?"
"I read your heart...sorry, for that too," the young knight said, looking genuinely guilty, and it was in that moment that Tristan realised all the stupid and depressing thoughts her boyfriend must have been hearing.
"Let me tell you, you really are an idiot."
Tristan blinked, confused as to whether she had misunderstood, but the unmistakable growl and Lance's tightening grip made it clear that no, she had indeed heard correctly.
"Me? Idiot?! You stupid!" she hung up, still pressed against his chest, her face as red with anger as it was with embarrassment at the position in which they were arguing.
"You can't really believe that I like Guinivere! Or that I will ever like her, just because she say so."
"But she are an oracle, Lance, you..."
"I told you she was lying! She always does when she talks about me, why the hell don't you believe me?"
"Why-I don't know-it just seems plausible that you chose her over me one day -"
"Why the hell is that plausible?"
"Because I don't even know how much you really like me!"
This stopped the blonde dead in her tracks, the girl gasping against his chest, unable to look up this time, in fact she seemed to be throwing a tantrum and was embarrassed by the idea, but it was true that Lance had never told her he loved her.
He'd only kissed her that day two years ago, but he'd had no problem with that because he knew the blonde enough to know that he wasn't a very verbal guy, the times they'd made out she'd still felt loved, after all Lance would never do that to someone he didn't like.
But now he didn't even seem interested in touching her, even now Tristan had doubts that her prince was just teasing her because he had sulked.
"Stop doing these stupid thoughts."
"Stop reading my heart!"
Lancelot sighed at the sour tone of the young woman, who at least did not seem to want to pull away from the hug, a sign that Tristan was happy to be hugged anyway.
"Tristan," the young prince called, just before placing his free hand on the princess's face, making her gasp at the unexpected touch, and then pulling her face upwards.
Tristan's face was red, embarrassed, confused, and as he saw in those two-toned eyes the realisation of what was about to happen, Lancelot knew he would have full access to his girlfriend's lips and did not hesitate to sink into them, gently but with passion and desire, just as he knew his girlfriend liked it.
The girl did not hesitate for a moment to return the kiss, tilting her head even more, intoxicated by the taste of her man, and moaning softly as he moved his hand from her chin to cradle her neck, pulling her deeper into him.
They kissed, touching each other for what seemed like an eternity, and when they parted and their eyes met again as a trickle of saliva connected them mouth to mouth, they both felt that this was the day they would finally consummate that burning desire that had never gone away between them.
That desire that had remained hidden, set aside to attend to more important matters... and yet, now, nothing seemed more important than them.
"Tristan...would you...?"
"Yes!" she replied a little too quickly, causing both of them to freeze with open mouths and flushed cheeks, surprised by the impatience of the Princess of Liones, who could only sink her face into her hands in embarrassment.
"Sorry! It's just... I thought you didn't want me anymore and..."
Lance said nothing in response, but his gaze continued to darken and his lips tightened into a thin line, as if physically restraining himself from saying or doing anything.
After a few seconds of silence, the prince came out of his daze, bent his face until it was gently flanked by Tristan's, and whispered in his ear in a rough, deep voice, so sensual it made the girl beneath him tremble:
"I will show you how much I want you."