No time for love, or is it?

You close your eyes as your lips part, expecting him to answer in the same way. After few awkward moments you open your eyes and stare back at Broderick, who's doing his best not to outright avoid your gaze. You feel disappointed and hurt.

"But you just said.." you start, trying to put in words how good it felt to be cuddling through the whole night to, apparently wide awake, Sir Broderick.

"I know, I was trying to apologize, your majesty. None of that was appropriate." Him not calling you Mia again just adds to the wave of sadness breaking over your head. You stay silent, mindlessly playing with your poyntail as he prepares your little hideout for some rest till it gets dark. He hands you a piece of bread and you just slightly nod instead of thanking him. You know your voice would crack. Your eyes are welling up as well. Oh God, how did you come to be like this? You feel like a girl, you think and act and sound like girl. You look like a girl. And you just got rejected for the first time.

You nibble at the bread, but your stomach feels like it's somewhere low, anchored down by your deep blue mood. You're not hungry. You hand him the rest of the food.

"Your majesty, you need to eat more, we'll have to travel through some hard terrain later and you'll need the energy." he says, in a worried tone, which you choose to hear as patronizing.

"Then I'll eat later, Captain, as it's the more logical way. You could use your brain sometimes." you say and you hate how venomous you are, but the words just flow out of you like that. You hate Broderick to the bone, mainly because at the same time you also..

No, no such thoughts are helpful. You need to focus on your journey and your purpose. All of this is just a distraction. To him as well, you don't need your bodyguard to lose his head in any way.

You lie down in an improvised tent in the bushes. "Get some sleep, too, Captain. You know, because you didn't sleep through the night." you say and if sentences could actually bite, the second one would be a Great White shark. Broderick just looks away and sighs, sitting against a trunk of an old oak.

Before you notice, you start falling asleep. You are suddenly woken up by some rustling very near your hideout. You sit up and look at fully vigilant Broderick who gestures to you to be silent, his sword ready. The noise is getting closer and closer and your breathing is fast and heavy. This is it, you were found, they are gonna kill Broderick and do horrible things to you!

It's a fox, who peeks into your little cosy wood house and runs away. You exhale loudly and Broderick puts his weapon down. He smiles at you and shrugs.

"Right, that's it." you say and quickly move towards the rather surprised Captain. You kneel and sit like that in his lap, staring right into his infuriatingly handsome face.

"I'm scared, I'm cold, I'm tired, my dress is all torn up and dusty and I think my shoe is falling apart. Do you like me or not? Because, you know, we might get killed in the next hour and I am tired of waiting to get answers from you." you say and press your little finger into his chest with every other word. He looks back at you and puts his hands on your waist. "I do like you, I just don't think it's good for someone of your stature.." he starts going down that road again, but you can also feel something rising under your bum. You cut him off: "Oh and that stopped you groping my basically naked butt, did it? You act as the most innocent guy around, but when I.." he pulls you in, closer to him.

"Shut up, woman." he says and you both lean into some proper kissing.