All Around You (Troyler AU)

Chapter 16: Confidence

Troye's P.O.V

It had been 5 days since the entire coming out ordeal between me and Tyler. I thought I would've instantly felt some sort of difference in our friendship- but I didn't. Everything was completely normal the next morning, and normal still in the days to come afterwards. We had never been better, actually. Our friendship over those 5 days had grown significantly stronger now that we had absolutely nothing to hide from each other.

It was obvious to Tyler that I was still a little sensitive about the whole thing. He was very patient with me at first; he ignored the fact that I'd start to stutter and shake every time I mentioned something about my sexuality. He was always so comforting and he'd hug me when he saw I wasn't feeling okay. I couldn't even begin to explain how much I appreciated that. The next few days came by easily then. I even pointed out a cute boy we saw when we were walking around in the village. Tyler seemed stunned for a second, and starting cackling like he always did. I remember him telling me not to turn into another Korey.

It got to the point where I never wanted to be away from him. Tyler knew everything about me, he supported me, and he talked me through everything. He was my best friend in the entire world. Every minute I wasn't with him felt like a minute wasted, and that made me feel a little guilty. I tried to balance myself between attaching myself to his side and giving him space to go out and do whatever he wanted. But, for whatever reason, he seemed to want to be around me as much as I did him.

However, we hadn't really seen each other much in the past few days. Tyler was at training almost excessively. At first it was because he wanted to be there, but then it was because he was being called in to train more and more often. I'd let him go, obviously, because I didn't want to keep him from doing something as important as battle training. I hadn't said anything to my siblings, but I was beginning to get suspicious over how often Tyler was being called in for practice.

But I really didn't have time to worry about the knight's affairs. Steele had finally left and gone to the neighboring kingdom. I remember our family watching him off and wishing him good luck, and my father assuring us it wouldn't take more than a week at most to handle all of the deal and the route there and back. Because Steele was gone, someone needed to fill in for him at all of his important meetings. That's where I came in. I guess, for once, being the second oldest child had its advantages. I was constantly meeting with people in the town who had things to request, or servants in the castle to report back on current events. No one really expected much of me as I was just the substitute for my brother. A few times, I even had to meet with the head of the militia. He was talking me through a few defense strategies and recruitments. I tried my hardest to look entertained, knowing this was the kind of things that Tyler had to hear from this man every day, but God I was so bored.

Before I left my meeting with him, I attempted to ask him why the knights had been training so frequently. The royal advisor merely signaled me into the next room and told me not to get too involved in the affairs I would have no say in when my brother returned.

"It's not your place to decide, anyways. You have no jurisdiction there, you're just the fill-in," he said casually as he swept me into the hall. My eyes widened at first, but soon narrowed at him.

"Don't speak to me like that," I said firmly. I kept my hands clenched into fists at my sides because, honestly, they had started to shake. I hadn't meant to actually speak up against him, and I was scared he would report it back to my father or something.

This man seemed much more scared than I was at the moment. "I'm sorry, your majesty," he muttered sheepishly as he kept walking down the halls.

I stared at him for a second as we walked before suddenly grinning wide. "Your majesty". I had never used my position as Prince against anyone else before, and it actually felt good. It made me feel a little powerful- like I had more control than I did before. All my life people had been speaking to me like I was nothing and even though I was royalty I still believed they were right. I felt a little giddy to have some kind of leverage that I could actually demand to be respected now like a human being.