HOME | DD

Description
This young man had captured his attention, and held it and now, despite their arms tangled around each other, the young bard was scowling at him.  The Bard asked, "What do you need me for anyhow?"

He replied, "I love you."

The Bard's scowl deepened, "They say that you're the Queen's lover."

He shook his head, "It's never been like that between us. I thought that I was in love with her once, but she's always known better. We're best friends, family, nothing more."

There was hesitation, "She's always come first for you though."

The Knight scowled back at the bard, and leaned his forehead against the other man's, "In some ways, she probably always will, it's hard to explain. She handed me a real life, let me find myself, and I devoted a part of myself to keeping her safe."

The Bard shook his head, "I don't understand how you can have that and then love someone else."

The Knight breathed for a bit, "It's like family. That's the best I can explain."

The Bard was staring at the knight again, "Then what about the General?"

That startled the Knight a little bit, "What about him?"

The Bard sighed, "There are rumors about the two of you as well, though quieter ones."

The Knight frowned a bit, "It's complicated, it's not, it didn't end up being that way between us, maybe it could have if circumstances had been different, and I do love him in a way, but it's something of the past. He is one of my dearest friends."

The Bard bit his lip, and asked one more question, "Then why me?"

The Knight looked at him again, hope dawning in his eyes, "You're like them in how I came to care for you.  You were someone that I just trusted, and there are very few that I trust.  And you were always there, you didn't turn your back when I got strange, or when I had things that I needed to do.  But there's something else there, romance, without the strange entanglements, and without the feelings of almost being siblings, a connection that can actually be romantic."

The Bard was smiling at him then, "Thank you," he whispered, and leaned in to kiss the Knight.  When they pulled apart at last, he added, "I needed to know that I mattered to you the way that they do."

The Knight nodded once, "I love you, and you are one of three people in the world who I would do anything for, but the only one that ever has been or ever will be my lover."

The Knight had given up on ever finding this man, had hated himself for longing for more when he already had the Queen and the General, more love than he thought any one person might dream of having, but it hadn't been everything, it hadn't always been enough.  There was something more though, and he clung on tightly smiling as tears ran down his face.