We Were Born To Lose

“Lex, don’t do this.” I pouted.
“Why not?” He grinned.
“You might get hurt!” I cried.
“I won’t!” He laughed.
The Gaskarths are hosting a tournament which now Alex as informed me that he will be fighting in. The surrounding kingdoms, including the Vancett and Lance kingdoms, would send a champion and five thousand coins to represent them. The first day is always the longest since everyone duels each other, then on the second day, all the winners from the previous day’s match compete, then the third day the winners from that match compete, and that keeps going till there are only two champions left. The winner’s kingdom gets the gold and also bragging rights since they have the best knight in all the land.
“But Alex-“
“Jack you’ve seen me fight,” He placed a hand on my cheek, as usual, his touch made me melt, “I’ll be fine. It’s not like it’s to the death or anything.”
“Fine.” I mumbled but I still wasn’t happy about it. Alex kissed my cheek and grabbed my hand. We walked to the guard towers hand in hand but every time we came near someone we had to quickly separate our fingers. We breathlessly climbed all the way to the highest tower. Once up there, the view was incredible. You could see the mountains and the trees and a few of the villages. However we were so high up that if you looked down, you got dizzy so I refrained from looking down lest I fall off.
“Remind me why we don’t come up here more often?” I asked.
“Because it’s a pain in the ass to get up here.” He replied.
“Oh yeah.” I said, suddenly becoming aware of how tired I was.
“Look!” He pointed at the dirt road that leads up to the castle’s great door. Several caravans surrounded by a multitude of horses and people came closer. Then a fancy carriage came into view and I figured it wasn’t much of a stretch to assume that that was the one which contained the King and Queen.
“That’ll be the Harquin kingdom.” Alex murmured. The servants on the ground received them and it wasn’t too long after that the Vincetts came followed by another family who Alex said was the Galigers.
I wanted to stay up there forever. We were in our own little world because we were so high up it was seriously doubtful anyone would be able to see us. We could say anything, do anything, honestly, we could be anything we wanted without having to worry about others seeing us. Unfortunately we had to leave because we had to get ready to receive the guests and prepare for the big feast afterwards but we left with lighter spirits because it was like we’d gotten a break from reality.
Alex dressed in a red tunic and a leather vest with gold studs. Like usual, he wore his leather belt with his sword but they both gleamed since I polished them. I was just in a standard white tunic. Us servants didn’t really bother with decoration as we’re just servants but nevertheless Alex said I looked amazing before we entered the throne room. Alex stood next to the King stood in front of his throne which was elevated off the floor a bit. I stood to the side with Cass, Alice, and the other servants. All the knights were on the other side of the room with their armor gleaming and their proud heads raised. An announcer from the balcony above the entrance called,
“King and Queen Harquin and their champion, Sir Elmore.”
Two servants opened the door and let in an unusually tall man and an unusually short woman. The King looked about thirty had dark brown hair and pale skin and the Queen looked like she was in her twenties and had long red hair that came just below her waist. Behind them was a rather short man with a almost bald head who looked to be in his forties. Their Champion didn’t look like much but I knew that he shouldn’t be ignored because they’d chosen him for a reason. King Gaskarth shook hands with King Harquin and kissed the hand of the Queen. They stood to his right in front of the knights and then the announcer called,
“King and Princess Vancett and their Champion Sir Alestare”
I watched Alex hold in a grimace at the Princess’s name and I couldn’t help my lips twitching a bit. He noticed me repressing my smile and shot me a glare which made that smile even harder to hide. I had to bite my tongue hard to keep my lips still. King Gaskarth did the same as before and they took their place next to the Harquins.
The rest came in one by one. The Galigers, the Calsores, and finally the Lances. The second I spotted the Lance’s champion, my stomach dropped. It was that 6’ 5” soldier named Sir Gonthad, otherwise known as Goliath. I glanced at Alex who was glaring at the knight.

Great. Alex will be just begging to pick a fight with him.

After everyone had been received, they all moved to the Great Hall to have a feast. As usual, I had the wine pitcher but there were so many people I had to make constant laps around the table making sure no one’s cup ran dry. Sir Gonthad seemed to remember me since he glared at me every time I came close. His angry gaze made my heartbeat faster and made my hands tremble. Once I was shaking so bad I thought I was going to drop the pitcher. Alex snapped and pointed at me, signaling me to come over. I leaned over and filled his cup slowly as he murmured in my ear,
“You’re okay, Jack. I see him too. I won’t let him hurt you.”
I gently brushed against his chest as I retreated to let him know I’d heard him. The feast lasted ages. But once it was finally over and everyone had finally left, us servants sat at the table and ate the leftovers. After that I helped clear the table and then went up to Alex’s room. He was sat at his desk doing paperwork. I subconsciously rubbed the ring he gave me when he looked up. I watched his expression brighten.
“Hey beautiful.” He greeted.
“Alex, Sir Gonthad is here.”
“Don’t you worry about him. He won’t hurt you.” He said coming up to me.
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” I mumbled.
“I’ll be fine!” He smiled, pushing my hair away from my face. My mind threatened to melt because of his touch like earlier, but I didn’t let it.
“Alex, he’s bigger than you.”
“By three inches!”
“Still bigger than you!” I replied exasperated.
“Look, Jay. I know how to fight him. He’s big but he’s slow and I’m faster than him. Believe me, in my years of fighting, I’ve fought bigger and stronger. I know his weaknesses but he doesn’t know mine. I’ll be completely fine.” He reassured. I sighed and he pressed his body against mine.
“You should get some sleep, you have a lot of fighting to do tomorrow.” I murmured before kissing his shoulder.
“Sleep with me.” He replied, pulling me onto his bed.
“I swear I might as well just give up my bed considering I never use it.” I said, cuddling up next to him.
“I don’t object to that and I can’t help it if I can’t sleep unless I’m holding you!” Alex said with a laugh, I felt his chest vibrate against mine.
“Fine I’ll stay. But only so that you can sleep.” I replied with a grin.

Notes

Title Cred: Canals By All Time Low


I AM SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN 5-EVER

i hit a shit load of writers block and I know I half-assed this chapter but I typed it all today because I wanted to give you another update and just ahhh sorry. Anyway here's Alex's outfit for the receiving of the guests and feast thing. And for the most part when it comes to the castle just go ahead and picture it as the one in Merlin because this is basically an all time low merlin crossover fanfic xD