Chapter Text
Dan watched on from the shadows sulking as the nobles’ daughters fawned over Prince Phillip, giggling too much to be friendly. Phil just looked awkward, a trait which Dan had always thought of as endearing, though he supposed he was meant to find all of Prince Phillip’s traits endearing, being his personal Knight and all.
He had to admit, Phil looked absolutely radiant tonight in a light blue suit with gold detailing along his shoulders and sleeves. The middle hugged him in all the right places, and with his blonde hair and his electric blue eyes, he looked like the future king of a nation that he was.
Usually Dan wouldn’t give a damn who his Prince wanted to associate with, but as Phil grew past his late-twenties and into his mid-thirties, his parents, the King and Queen of the Northern Kingdom, were determined to marry their son off as soon as possible. Personally, Dan found it all a bit silly. Phil was too good to be trapped in a loveless, political marriage that was handpicked for him. He was sensitive, and kind, and giving—and Dan should probably end this train of thought now.
He gave his head a little shake to get rid of the thoughts that were leaning into… unprofessional territory, and pushed against the wall to stand and make his way to Phil.
Phil, meanwhile, was shooting a grateful glance in Dan’s direction as the girls noticed the Knight’s stern face and moody demeanor and quickly scurried away. “My hero,” Phil commented quietly with a grin, and Dan fought a blush.
“Yes, well, they shouldn’t be bothering you. As your personal Knight it’s my duty to protect you and all that,” Dan avoided eye contact with his Prince by looking around at the crowd around them, and Phil laughed.
“Yes, quite,” Phil plucked two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter. He handed one to Dan, who awkwardly took it, and took a long sip from his.
“You know I can’t drink on the job, Prince Phillip.” Dan held onto his glass like a lifeline anyway.
Phil just shrugged and looked around. “Mother and Father said I was supposed to start looking for a wife tonight. They said I should get you to help me look,” He sounded a little bitter, as if finding a wife was the last thing he wanted to be doing.
Dan raised his eyebrows. “You don’t seem too thrilled about it, Your Highness.”
Phil simply smiled and shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter what I think, does it? Anyway, has anyone caught your eye?”
Dan frowned. He went to open his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. As much as he hated to admit it, Phil was right. He had a duty to find a wife and produce an heir. “No. What about you?” Phil simply shook his head, and looked sad for a second, looking off into space before quickly schooling his features and looking at Dan again.
“I need a minute away, care to join me to the gardens?” Phil already started walking away, already expecting Dan to follow. As always, he did, setting his untouched champagne on a table on the way out.
They walked away from the large party, slipping out one of the side doors of the castle, and into the moonlit gardens. The moon shone bright and full above them, and the oil lanterns lit their path. As they walked, both boys were silent, listening to the gentle rustle of the leaves and the frogs croaking some ways away. Phil walked a few paces in front of Dan, and even with the regal way he held himself—always perfectly poised, always strong and confident—his shoulders subconsciously hunched, as if shielding him from some invisible enemy. While usually Phil would be the one filling the silence, commenting on the many stars above them or the way the lantern light made the flowers glow eerily, tonight he was silent.
Dan hurried behind him until they got to a gazebo in the middle of the garden, and both Prince and Knight sat beside each other.
“Something on your mind, Your Highness?” Dan cautiously asked, careful not to overstep any boundaries. Phil gave him a tight smile and shook his head, his messy blonde locks rustled by the breeze.
“You know you don’t need to use formalities when we’re alone, Dan,” Phil reminded him, and Dan blushed, embarrassed.
“Right, sorry, I mean Phil.” Dan corrected, and Phil smiled gently, his warm smile crinkling the corners of his eyes.
After a few silent moments, of which Dan tried very hard not to stare at the way the lanterns illuminated his Prince’s features, making him look years younger, Phil hesitantly spoke. “D’you ever think what would have happened, had we not had this life?” Dan looked confused at him, and he continued, “I mean if I wasn’t a Prince and you weren’t my Knight.”
Dan thought for a second. Truthfully, he had spent many late nights wondering the same question, wishing that they could live normal lives. Secretly, in the quiet of the night, he prayed to any god that might be listening that in one of those lives, he and Phil could live how they wanted to live, and not have the burden of the pressures of high society on them at all times. He tried not to dwell on these thoughts for too long. “No, I haven’t,” he lied.
Phil looked wistfully out into the vast gardens. “I have. I like to think that in another life, I could be a florist, and maybe you could be a writer, and we would still be friends.” Dan didn’t quite know what to say to this, so he said nothing at all. Phil leaned back on his hands and continued. “I mean, not that I am not grateful for the life I had, but sometimes I do wish it could be… simpler. Quieter. Maybe in that life I could marry for love instead of a treaty.” He said the last part quieter, as if it was only meant for himself. Dan stayed silent, as he knew that if he opened his mouth, something unbelievably stupid would come out of it.
“Maybe we would be neighbors, and you could write me stories, and I would bring you fresh flowers everyday, and maybe I could have a little dog. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Phil looked expectantly at Dan, his eyes softening with something unknown.
“Yes, it would be,” Dan forced the words out of his mouth, keeping his voice carefully neutral. He prayed that his expression wouldn’t give away how much he craved that life with every bone in his body. Phil looked satisfied and watched a firefly flit around the gazebo, flashing. Dan watched him.
The silence settled around them, more companionable than stifling now, and Phil reached out a soft, delicate finger and poked Dan’s hair, which was starting to curl up due to the humidity. “You should straighten your hair less. You look very handsome with your curls,” he said this nonchalantly, as if it were a fact of life, and Dan internally screamed.
“Are you kidding me? I look like a poodle,” he choked out, trying for a joke but falling flat. Phil simply shrugged and smiled, like he didn’t believe him. Dan’s heavy silver armor suddenly felt very hot, even in the cool nighttime air. “Should we go back inside?”
Phil looked at the castle, and saw some people starting to leave, and shook his head. “Not back to the party. I’m getting tired, come with me to my chambers.” Again, Phil stood and started walking, and Dan dutifully followed behind him. They took the longer route, the one that didn’t take them through the front of the castle, and slipped into a side door. They walked down the long, ornate hallway to the end, where the Prince’s bedchambers were. Dan’s quarters were only a few feet away, for safety reasons, but tonight Phil led them right into his room.
Dan ducked into Phil’s chambers after him, the room huge and the windows seeming to stretch for miles. On the ceiling was a large skylight with lichen creeping on the outside of it. His room was ridiculously ornate, and filled with colorful trinkets and keepsakes. In front of the hearth was a large plush blue couch, white throw pillows resting on the arms. Phil sat on one side of the couch, and patted the other, and Dan obediently sat.
Phil tugged on the other man’s armor. “Take this off, get comfortable,” The blonde rose to grab some bottles of vintage wine, and Dan hesitated before carefully removing his armor plates, leaving him in only a linen undershirt and trousers. He felt unexplainably naked, especially in the presence of Phil, who was still draped in royal finery.
“Thanks,” Dan mumbled, taking the large glass of sweet white wine Phil offered him, and he relaxed against the couch, draping one arm over the side. Phil stared at him for a beat too long before taking a very long gulp of his wine, mumbling about being too warm.
It wasn’t long before the wine perked up Phil, and he started telling a long-winded story of an instance from his childhood where he and one of his childhood friends stole some red wine from his father’s study, and got drunk in a meadow. Dan was content to simply watch his Prince gesture wildly as he continued his story and enjoy his own wine, feeling himself start to relax. By the time Dan was two more glasses in, he was feeling much more loose, and he muttered about being hot as well, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his undershirt. For some reason, this gesture caused Phil to stop mid-sentence and stare at his fingers unbuttoning, a strange flush on his face. He quickly shook himself out of it, but his eyes kept flicking to Dan’s exposed clavicle. Dan chalked this up to Phil’s strange mannerisms and the influence of the wine, and thought nothing of it.
The later it got, the more Phil started to wilt, and it wasn’t long before he announced that he was going to get ready for sleep. Dan expected him to disappear in his closet to change, but to his surprise, the Prince started to unbutton his overcoat in front of him, his drunkenness causing him to struggle a little. Eventually, Phil looked at the knight with pleading eyes.
“Dan, can you help?” He whined a little, and Dan chuckled at the sight of the Crown Prince whining for help. With slightly shaking fingers, Dan started to unbutton Phil’s overcoat.
He licked his lips nervously, each button tearing more of his inhibition from him. The wine was working its way through his system, and he struggled to not look up at Phil. He had to lean closer to undo the bottom few buttons, and he felt his ears burn as he focused on keeping his breathing even. He cleared his throat when he was done, looking anywhere but Phil.
“I think I’ll go to sleep as well. Goodnight, Your Highness,” Dan quickly exited the room, smiling tightly as he gathered his discarded armor. He carefully kept his eyes trained on the floor, and Phil muttered a goodnight as Dan rushed to shut the Prince’s bedchamber door behind him.
As soon as Dan got to his own room, he ran his hands over his face and groaned, cursing himself for drinking too much, for letting Phil affect him that much. He couldn’t yet name this… feeling that was threatening to burst from his throat, and he buried it deep down inside him.
“It’s just the wine, that’s all. I just had too much to drink,” Dan muttered to himself as he struggled to pull off his clothes and clambered into bed. He pulled the blanket over his skin and squeezed his eyes shut. He definitely didn’t think about unbuttoning Phil’s buttons in another area, didn’t think about taking his time, letting His Prince beg for it, whining for him to hurry up and— Dan shook his head to remove those thoughts. He thought of something else—anything else—to keep him distracted, telling himself that the only reason he’s thinking this is because of the wine and the fact that he hasn’t had a romantic encounter with someone in some time, and that he absolutely does not have any sort of less-than-strictly-platonic feelings for the Prince.
Eventually, Dan drifted off into a dreamless sleep, letting the events of the night slip through his calloused hands like water.