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"Vash! Vash! Tell us the story again!"
"Seriously?" Wolfwood asked, looking up from where he was busily cooking in the brick oven, checking on the bread. "You little monsters hear that story all the time, let Vash finish his gardening!"
"It's fine, Nick!" Vash laughed, tugging off his gloves as their urchins came to gather around him, the blond sitting on the ground. "You know it's their favorite."
"You spoil them." But how could Wolfwood be too upset?
It was his favorite story too.
"Once upon a time-"
Vash had been a prince, not so very long ago in a kingdom not so far away. In a land where the monarchy was the divinity, worshiped as emissaries of God given flesh and commanded to lead them. Something that Vash had found distinctly uncomfortable, to be an angel on earth.
Which, of course, was how his personal knight and bodyguard had come to him, to keep the filthy sinners from getting too close.
Unfortunately for the king and Vash's older brother Nai, well, Wolfwood might have been the worst sinner of all.
"There was a prince and he was very, very lonely. He didn't like being a prince, so separated from his people, so he snuck out a lot and drove his family crazy!"
Wolfwood had been born into the Church, a sacrifice on their doorstep and raised from birth to fight for their royals, to be a loyal sword and shield, a weapon of war and protection and nothing more. Not a man. Not even a beast. Simply a tool. Which, supposedly, had made him perfect to be the right hand of the young prince.
It didn't help that Vash was wildly uncontrollable.
In the early days, it felt like every time Wolfwood turned around, the prince had slipped his notice. Vash had a habit of trying to leave the castle at any given moment. Not to go to the temples or the gardens, but to go into town, bright eyes hidden by glasses and blond hair carefully pulled beneath a scarf. He'd find his way into bar fights, into whore houses to deliver soaps and lotions and medicines, into workhouses to slip money into people's pockets like a deranged stalker.
And every time, Wolfwood would be chasing him down, nipping at his heels, equally disguised to drag the earthly angel back into his gilded cage.
"Until, one day, a brave knight came to the castle. The knight was tall and very handsome, but was too dedicated to his job. Always chasing the prince down to bring him home after he got out."
Wolfwood really had been dedicated to the job. It was the only thing he knew. Until it was really, really clear how much happier Vash was outside of the castle. Eventually, he'd loosened up. He'd become something more like a shadow, lurking in the periphery to keep Vash safe when someone got a little too drunk and cocky. But he never bridged the gap.
Until Vash did.
Vash was the one who pulled him into more situations than he could feasibly count. But it was…fun. More fun than Wolfwood could imagine. Being pulled through the markets and stalls, brought to little farms and orchards, it opened up his eyes.
If God really wanted angels on earth, would God want them hidden in ivory towers? Or would their time be better served with the sinners?
It was probably the third festival that Vash had dragged him to that had solidified the slowly dawning revelation in Wolfwood's mind. He couldn't tell you what it was a festival for, but it had been bright. The wine flowed like water and the music was cheery and loud, colored oils and powders were thrown about, coating their skin and clothes in a kaleidoscopic array to welcome the warmth of spring and the sprouting of flowers. Vash had his cheek painted in green and pink filigree and the curl of a stylized vine around his beauty mark hit Wolfwood with a sudden stark realization.
Vash himself was the most beautiful person he'd ever met.
And that had made it all go down hill.
Because that bright smile, that big heart, the way he'd grabbed his arm and asked Wolfwood what he thought of his new body art had been enough to damn Wolfwood entirely. Or maybe he'd been damned from the first time their eyes had met. But something clearly must have shown in his own eyes because Vash's wide, fake grin had fallen into something made of softened twilight. Vash was simply far, far too easy to fall in love with.
And Wolfwood had decided not to try too hard to stop himself.
Vash clearly didn't either.
"But the prince managed to get out all the time, making the knight chase him. The prince would bring him to so many places. And soon, the knight began to enjoy the time outside the palace with the prince. They had fun together! Until-"
Until the king had died and Nai had been crowned.
Wolfwood couldn't say that he was thrilled with that turn of events. Both because Vash was devastated and because Nai was probably the biggest asshole he'd ever met. Nai was also fiercely protective of Vash almost to the point of obsession and that obsession weighed around Vash's neck like a millstone. Because Vash loved his brother but Nai's love was far, far too heavy.
Especially when that gilded cage of the castle began to get far, far more stifling.
Those excursions into the outside world got far, far more dangerous. The doors heavily guarded, the windows welded shut, a home turned into a fortress.
And yet, they couldn't help themselves.
Outside the castle, Vash and Wolfwood could touch. They could hold hands. They could talk to people and get drunk and make mistakes and be their messiest selves. They could crowd each other into quiet corners and kiss each other breathless with lingering affection.
Trapped inside the castle it was much harder. Nai guarded Vash like he was a crown jewel and not a person. Every day trapped away from his people, Vash wilted a little more, like a flower denied the sun and Wolfwood…
Well.
Wolfwood had decided not to stop himself.
"A dragon took over the castle! And the dragon took the prince as his most prized treasure. But the prince was very, very sad like that. He couldn't go outside. He couldn't see the people in the town. And worst of all, the dragon made it so the knight couldn't be with the prince."
"But why?"
"Well, dragons love treasure. And the greatest treasure of all is love. So the dragon wanted all of the prince's love for himself. The prince did love the dragon, but he also loved so much more. So the knight had to come rescue him."
It had been a plan that had been months in the making and involved only Wolfwood, Vash, and the quartermaster who had been around long enough to know that this had become unsustainable. Wolfwood remembered that night well. Taking only a bit of coin to keep themselves fed and abandoning all the trappings of their stations in the grand hall. Vash had left only a note, wishing his brother well, before they slipped out under the cover of the new moon.
Wolfwood remembered the hammering of his heart in his throat, Vash's guilty tears against his neck that first night camping in the woods. But traveling grew easier. Hiding became second nature. The bounties on them both had kept them moving well beyond Nai's grasp.
"So they ran away together. What good was being a prince or a knight if they couldn't be happy? The night was dark and the castle was creaking as they left, every sound making them jump. But they escaped. And the dragon chased them and chased them but could never keep up."
Wolfwood came over to the little circle of their urchins and took a seat by Vash, cooled bread good enough for a snack now as he passed out chunks into grubby little hands. The kids cooed and swayed, nodding to each other and cheering as the story continued.
"What happened after they escaped?" one of the boys cried out, nibbling his treat.
"Yeah? What happened?" their oldest girl asked, despite knowing the story by heart at this point.
Vash opened his mouth to speak and Wolfwood cut him off, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together.
"They lived happily ever after, of course," he said, standing again and kissing Vash gently, reveling in the starry look in his eyes.
"Now go get cleaned up you little monsters, this snack won't hold you till dinner. Go on, get!"
They screamed and squealed as they ran to get to the water basins, Vash chuckling a little bit as he leaned on Wolfwood. The ex-knight wrapped an arm around him and felt the warmth of his lover's body sink into his own.
"Is this happily ever after?" Vash asked softly and Wolfwood turned him around. He looked into beautiful crystal blue eyes, rubbed his thumb over a beauty mark he'd known for ages, and pressed their lips together gently.
"I couldn't have written a better ending myself, angel."