Sally Face Royal AU

Chapter 2

“I-” Philip glared at Sal, anger in his eyes as he clenched his fists.

Sal had a grin on his face, which was hidden by his mask, but was still pretty obvious. He expected Philip to snap honestly, and was ready to handle it.

“He canceled it to tomorrow night” Philip only muttered to Sal's surprise.
“Do not worry about me, go watch your guard business and leave my decisions and life to me”

Sal watched as Philip excused himself out to Travis who seemed to be surprised with Philip acting so mature too and sighed slightly as he finally left. The blue haired boy went to check the bookworm again, unsure if he should start a conversation or it would be ok if he left. He really didn't mean to be impolite, he'd hate to have that impression to someone important to him.

Tho Travis went to talk first. He never really talked to anyone besides Philip who he secretly hated and his father who he also secretly hated.
His beautiful round eyes stared up at at with a bit of a smile, and he opened his mouth to speak.

“You did not need to” he said, tho it came out pretty quiet. He continues anyways “but thank you, he always comes around me and takes away my personal space” he explained, only wishing Sal wouldn't take it the wrong way.

The bluenette backed a step up and nodded his head, going to catch his hair up carefully.
“Yes, I happen to acknowledge that. I am glad I could help” he said and rubbed his scalp a little, then going back to standing still in front of Travis.

Awkwardly shifting in his place Travis couldn't help but feel embarrassed, especially staying around the male who seemed to be willing to stay and talk. Not that it was bad, he just rathered not to talk to many people. They were all spoiled at the Castle.
“T... take a seat. If you wish to” he'd say, not really sure of how to address the other.

Seeing Travis so embarrassed made Sal start feeling weird as well. It looked like their first interaction wasn't the best, even if he started it pretty good by 'saving' him somehow.
But he didn't want to get it even more weird, so he slowly backed up and took his plates.
“As much as I would love to accept and stay some more to talk I have to refuse your request this time. Thank you though, I'm sure we'll see each other around soon” Sal just excused himself out, pretty smoothly he'd like to say.

Travis sighed quietly and looked down, his shoulders leaning down a little as he nodded his head.
“Yeah, I am here all day long. I noticed you come around pretty often too, so as you said we must see each other soon again” he said and smiled a little, looking up at Sal before just averting his eyes and going to look back at his book.

Sal didn't say anything more and walked over to the table he'd usually sit to take the book he started a while back, then leaving back to his room. He couldn't lie, he was disappointed that he had to leave, but the atmosphere there was already tensed up, he just needed some rest, it had to be the best decision to make.
Once he made it back to his and Stefen's apartment he sat down on his bed and began reading his book as he ate.

It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Or did he?

Travis was kind of sad that Sal left so soon. He was one of his favorite people to read about or hear about. There weren't a lot of books or papers about Sal in person but there sure was about his family which always was very interesting, most of the parts.

The night passed easily, Sal fell asleep after all pretty late and Travis just headed back to his room which he worked so much for. Anything to stay away from his dad honestly.

However, the next morning came and Travis did his usual routine. He walked over to the library and just enjoyed his morning, sitting at his usual place and reading another book. He couldn't hold back tho and ended up looking on Sal's table and borrowing the book he read.
Sal was bringing them back early morning as he didn't like having them in his room, he was pretty messy and would end up losing them.
So Travis 'borrowed' Sal's book and honestly couldn't get rid of it through the day. It had glue.
Maybe, maybe it was just in his head, but he could swear it smelled like the guard too. He was probably a little bit too into the blue haired boy, he couldn't help it though, he was impressive and had something that would always make Travis think he wasn't just what he let the others see.

Sal was doing his usual morning training with his brother who was happier than usual.
The younger brother was pretty confused about it, and eventually asked durring one of their 3 minutes breaks for water;
“What's with the so happy aura you have around yourself? What happened yesterday with your as said friend?” he asked, looking down at his sword as he played with it a little.
The wind moved both the brother's hair a little, Stefen just drinking his water and replying Sal's questions.
“Oh it's nothing” he said and shrugged as Sal rolled his eyes and went to nudge him.
“You're gonna wait for me to do the childish begging thing? No way, just tell me what happened” Sal complained and went back to their fighting square.
Stefen chuckled a little and csmr closer, simply just explaining to Sal what happened the last night.

It wasn't something very wow, or specifically special, it was just him having fun with a girl. Not in that way, they just really had fun.
Sal was happy to hear that, but didn't say anything. He just hoped Stefen will marry the girl sooner so the family can keep going on.
A sister between the two would've helped so much, he really didn't want to get in a relationship, he wasn't the type, and he also hated the thought of Stefen getting distracted from his work. He knew there's not a way to avoid that tho, he wished the best for his brother however.

“I'm happy you have found a nice girl. Get her a good ring and make sure you don't forget to invite me to your wedding, I can see you doing that” Sal chuckled a little as he continued the small fight with his brother.
It was always just sword playing honestly when it was with his brother, they never actually fought unless the King ordered so. And when he did it would end up pretty bad. Sal would always lose his concentration half way through and mess up a step which would ruin their harmony and just make him lose. It was annoying how he still couldn't be the best even if he wanted that so bad.

He couldn't really help it now, could he?
He sighed quietly and focused on the fight yet once again, even if the movements were just the same and repeating. He hoped that at least he could get stronger in time.
He wasn't the worst, obviously not, but he clearly wasn't the best, and that simply hurt his self esteem.

(art by me)