All Around You (Troyler AU)

Chapter 7: The Life of a Prince

Tyler's P.O.V

The sun was just beginning to rise. Through the darkness of my room, a few flashes of an orange glow peeked in past the window, signaling that it was dawn. A groan escaped my lips as I attempted to burrow myself further into the warn comfort of my bed. The more I stayed in bed, the more I began to worry I would be late getting ready. I tiredly stretched myself out on the bed, rubbing my eyes roughly, trying to completely wake up.

It had been four days since I'd been assigned as Troye's bodyguard, but to be honest, it felt like it had been about three years. It was unbelievable how quickly we got along. The fact that we spent almost all our time together had really helped our friendship. After this short amount of time, I had already began to pick up on all of his little quirks: like how he would subtly try to straighten his posture around others to make himself look more regal, or how his face would light up at the mention of his siblings. My favorite quirk of his was how he would close his eyes in complete serenity for a moment when he heard music playing. He was, by far, one of the most interesting people I'd ever met.

Troye seemed very glad to have someone he could talk to. When I thought about it, the only people he even had to talk to before me were his family members. Even so, the only relative he seemed to willingly talk to was his younger sister, Sage. Despite his quiet appearance, Troye had a lot to say, and I was more than willing to listen to him.

That was actually how I had ended up in this groggy, lazy state. Troye and I had stayed up very late the previous night just talking and telling stories back and forth. Neither of us had realized how late it was getting. We were both so drawn into the conversation that it was a surprise we had even gone to sleep. I was the one who first realized how long we had been talking, and went back to my room to sleep.

That morning, my body felt heavier than it ever had. As a knight, I was never allowed to stay up so late like I had. My eyes were burning and I kept yawning. Despite all that, I still managed to jump up and get dressed. It was my job to wake up Troye in the morning, and I wasn't about to get him in any sort of trouble because I couldn't stay awake.

I quietly left my own room and walked the short distance down the hall from our two rooms. I was surprisingly refreshed as I stood in front of Troye's door, wondering if he was going to be as sleepy as I was. I slowly opened the door and walked in.

Troye was still asleep, as I had expected. He was curled up almost entirely into the shape of a ball, hugging his pillow tightly to his front and breathing quietly. If I had a say in it, I would've let him sleep for as long as he needed, but I knew there'd be a lot of commotion if the prince didn't show up to morning mass.

"Troye?" I called out gently. He didn't even budge. Slowly, I went forward to his bed and put my hand on his arm. "Troye? It's morning," I said again. He stirred quietly and pressed himself even tighter against the pillow in his arms. That was almost enough to make me give up entirely and let him rest; my heart felt like it was melting at the sight of him. "Troye!" I called a bit louder. He groaned.

"No." was all he said before he quickly fell back asleep, as if I wasn't even there.

"You can't miss morning, mass, Troye," I explained as I shook his arm again. "Could you imagine the scandal? Now, come on, the sun's rising."

"I don't want to," he snapped and shut his eyes tighter. I was taken aback by his sudden outburst, but then I heard him quietly whimper into the pillow, and I knew he was barely even awake; he probably didn't even realize he was awake. I nearly laughed at the fact such a sleeping beauty had such a temper when you woke him up. I mentally made a note never to get on his bad side first thing in the morning.