Two men laid entangled together on top of the moist moss.

Naked.

"Doesn't it bother you that we might never see each other again?" Kristof asked.

It was a magical night, but it would also be their last hours together before they would go their separate ways.

"Of course, it does Kris. But I'm a free soul. I go where the wind takes me. You know that," Tristan replied to his eleven-year-younger lover.

"Yes...I know...you have always been honest to me about your feelings," Kristof admitted. He couldn't help feeling disappointed, though.

"That's right." Tristan kissed Kristof on his head, snuggling his nose in the other's hair, sniffing in deep. "Hmm, you smell so good."

"It's just, I... I love you," Kristof answered as he caressed Tristan's chest hair. His head rested on top of Tristan's chest. He loved listening to the man's heartbeat.

"No, you don't, honey. You love to fuck me... But you don't love me. Believe me, Kris. I know. I have much more life's experience than you."

"Don't always use the same excuse, Tristan. I'm not a child."

"Well, you are only twenty-two years old. You're still wet behind your ears."

"You can't tell me what to feel." Kristof raised his head to look at Tristan.

"I know I can't. Because you won't listen anyway. But one day you will understand what I mean. When you meet one. You will feel it in your heart. What you feel for me is only lust and that's not the same. However, I don't complain about that...because I love your lust..." Tristan said before he gave Kristof a long kiss on the lips. The older was rather proud of himself for turning Kristof into such a great lover. "And when you meet him, the one," Tristan continued. "Then that man can praise himself lucky with a beautiful soulmate like you."

"I will miss you so much," Kristof said while letting his head rest again.

"I know...I'll miss you too. But who knows, maybe we'll meet again one day."

"Ah, is that so? Hmmm...Kiss him then..." the King ordered.

Armin heard the voice of a lady behind him: "that man is too ugly to be even kissed by a frog."

Oh, he would show her. He turned to face Kristof, who could hardly process what was going on. The man looked at him with shocked eyes.

Armin took a step closer, closing the distance between them, and placed his hands on Kristof's cheeks. He heard the people whispering and sighing with anticipation.

Slowly, Armin leaned forward.

Kristof couldn't believe it. Was this really happening? He felt his heart racing, pounding in his chest. It pounded so fiercely, Kristof thought it would break his chest. This was a feeling he never experienced before. Not even with Tristan. He almost began to hyperventilate when he saw Armin closing his eyes and felt his nose brush against his own. Armin's sweet hot breath blew against his lips. Just a little bit until...

"Stop!" The King yelled loudly, so everyone could hear. "This is enough. We don't need to see such a vulgar act of public affection here in the palace!"

Armin let go of Kristof and they looked each other deep in the eyes before Armin turned to face the King. His knees felt like jelly. He looked at the King with a look that could kill. He had about enough of this man's teasing! He treated them as if they were his toys. People weren't puppets for him to play with!

The King laughed. "Don't look at me like that, young Sir Armin. It almost looks like you are disappointed!"

The people laughed and Armin had trouble staying calm. He felt Kristof's hand on top of his and when he looked at his husband,Kristof softly smiled at him, making him calm down.

Kristof may seem calm, but internally, he was boiling. He could still feel the lingering feeling of Armin's soft hands that had been wrapped around his face and the King had ruined it! He wanted to run to him and stab him with the first sharp thing he could get his hands on. However, he knew it would have him hanging at the gallows.

After the King was done with his bullying, Armin and Kristof were left free to attend the rest of the ball again. A few minutes later they mingled in with the rest of the crowd. Kristof spoke to some men, mostly about business, while Armin went his own way and looked around, especially at the painted ceiling. He found it breathtaking and almost forgot where he was until he heard two older women whispering as they looked at Kristof. Armin stood behind their backs and could hear it all.

"How dare he show himself like that? Couldn't he just wear a patch over it or something."

"I know; that scar looks so hideous."

"I pity that young beautiful boy who has to lay in bed with him each night!"

"Oh yes! How repulsed must he be!" Both ladies laughed at Kristof's expense.

Armin, however, couldn't laugh.

He was furious.

He tapped them both on the shoulders. They turned around and were mortified to discover who stood behind them!

"You better hold your tongues from now on. You're the ones that I'm repulsed by, you ugly old hags!" the young man hissed, not caring who looked at him, not caring that they were older than him, and not caring he should show them respect instead. The women couldn't believe the dirty mouth they'd received from the young man and they angrily walked away.

And it was at that very moment, everything became painfully clear to Armin. He now saw how Kristof was treated by the other people. He already knew it, but now he saw it from a different angle. How they used his money when it was convenient for them but showed no respect at all. They treated him like filth and if he was Kristof, he would show them his power and would make them crawl! They would be lying at his feet, begging!

But he wasn't like Kristof. Kristof was better than him.

Because he could curse those people right now, but the truth was that he had been like those horrible people too. And he hated that thought.

~~~

They left the ball soon after. During the carriage ride back home, there was an awkward tension between them both. Neither of them spoke about their 'almost kiss'.

When they returned to the castle, it was already after midnight, so they said goodnight to each other and crawled in bed; Armin in his chamber and Kristof in the chamber further down the hallway.

But neither could sleep.

.

.

Kristof sat in bed, not even knowing how to sleep. He looked at his pocket watch and it said four o'clock already and here he was, just sitting there with wide-open eyes.

He kept playing last night's event in his head, over and over again. Was Armin really going to kiss him if the King hadn't told him to stop? Armin had called him his husband in front of everybody. He'd said he didn't find Kristof unattractive anymore. What did he mean by that?

In the other chamber, Armin was rolling around, feeling hot and cold all at once. He really wasn't looking forward to another night of no sleep. Emotions that had overwhelmed him at the ball, still lingered. Anger was one of them.

Couldn't Kristof hear the people at the ball, how they talked about him? They were horrible towards him. Why was he always so nice to them? Armin couldn't get it.

He was mean like that in the beginning too. And all Kristof had said was that he was hurt the most by seeing him in pain. He wished he could take back everything he ever said or thought about him. He now saw the real Kristof. Not just the scar, but the man who was kind, loyal, helpful, smart, and confident.

He also wondered every day how Kristof got his injuries, but he never dared to ask him. He wondered what the man's life had been like. He wondered about his travels. If Kirstof ever had a lover before...

He felt that weird feeling inside his stomach again.

What was in Kristof's mind when he'd called him his husband? Or when he held his face in his hands, in preparation for a kiss. He could still feel Kristof's breath against his face. It smelled sweet, like the piece of sweet pie that Kristof had eaten. The one that was stuffed with sweet strawberries.

Why did the King have to put a halt to the kiss anyway? First, he told him he should kiss Kristof, and then he told him not to. Oh, he thought that man was so irritating!

What would the kiss have felt like...?

Armin felt restless. So restless and so tired. Yet he couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep with these damn thoughts!

And then Kristof's offer crossed his mind. The offer to annul the marriage. An offer he was so pleased with before. But now he knew he couldn't go through with that. He couldn't let Kristof take the blame for it all. He didn't want the people to think of him as someone that was impotent on top of being flawed with scars. They already spoke ill of him because of that, so it would be wicked to give them such a piece of ammo to further bully him with! And it wasn't true either.

He realized he had been thinking of Kristof for almost four hours straight. And not only tonight. The last few days and nights the man had haunted his mind as well.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked himself once more, almost whiningly. The same question he had been asking himself more than once for the last few days. He asked it, but if he looked deep inside himself, he knew that the answer was clear.

He was falling in love with his husband...