All Around You (Troyler AU)

Chapter 1: Good Knight, Sweet Prince

Tyler’s P.O.V

“It’s too hot for this,” Korey groaned as he swung at me again with a broadsword. I thrust my shield to block him, and countered with a hit of my own sword.

“Get over it,” I laughed and rolled my eyes at him as we continued our fight.

 “I can’t help it,” he said. I paused for a second and put my arms down as he lowered his sword to the dirt. “I don’t want to get too sweaty in this metal death trap. I’m basically being cooked in here.” He banged a fist on the front of his armor once for emphasis.

“Oh, don’t talk about anything cooking,” I groaned.

“You couldn’t possibly be hungry again, Tyler, we just ate before we got out here!”

“The stomach wants what the stomach wants,” I shrugged.

Korey opened his mouth to respond when suddenly there was a loud yelp from the other side of the grounds. I turned around just in enough time to see Caspar hit the ground and hear his metal armor clank against the dirt. My entire body jumped as I winced. Almost immediately everyone was turned to him and laughing. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been giggling along too, watching him get up with a smirk and telling everyone else to shut up. I was glad to see he was fine; not like anyone actually got injured during training.

I turned my attention back to Korey, watching him run his hand through his hair carefully as to not mess it up.

Korey had been my best friend longer than anyone else I knew. I remember meeting him for the first time when we were young, because his father was the town butcher and occasionally Korey would be able to help out when business was high. We weren’t even friends then, but it’s always exciting for one kid to see another kid around town and just acknowledge them. Korey and I officially became friends when we were both still little squires.  The knights we served happened to go to the same places often, and Korey and I had a good chance to spend time together when we waited on them. We always used to talk about becoming knights one day (and hopefully being better, nicer knights than the ones we worked for).

Now, years later, here we were. We were knights training together on the castle grounds, using actual weapons and wearing actual armor.

“What are you doing?” Korey’s voice snapped me back into focus. “You were staring at the weapon rack. Did you want to switch to a dagger or something?”

“No, I just zoned out,” I answered honestly, holding the sword up again. “Besides, you need the practice with the sword. You’re terrible,” I teased. He scoffed at me.

“Trust me, I don’t need any practice working a sword,” he joked. My eyes widened comically as I hit him with my shield and caught him off guard. I shushed him with a serious expression. He knew better than to make stupid jokes like that; especially in a crowded place like this.

"Right. Sorry. Forgot there were people around,” He said with a nod.

“It’s fine, just keep your voice down,” I said, and resumed a fighting stance. Just like that, we went back to fighting like nothing had happened.

I felt so confident at first as I blocked every lunge he took at me. Then, he started moving faster, to the point where it almost distracted me from hitting him. There was no doubt in my mind that Korey the better knight between the two of us. I mean, compared to any other knight, I’m really not that great. I’m pretty sure I made it to knighthood through charisma alone. That didn’t stop me from trying, though, so with a stern, determined expression, I lunged forward.

However, just before I reached him, my eye caught something quick moving by the weapons rack. Korey noticed it to, and we both stopped as we watched Sawyer hold up a flail with this insane gleam in his eyes.