•Crowns And Arrows• [Klance]

Lance And Keith, Sitting In A Tree

Keith look up in shock, his eyes red and puffy from the crying. Shit. Oh shit. He jumped up and grabbed his shirt.

It wasn't that abnormal, a father punishing his son physically. But he knew his own father took it a little further than that sometimes. The look on Lance's face told him everything he needed to know.

Lance was disgusted by him. Keith made a lot of mistakes to earn all these scars and bruises, and now Lance knew.
He took a few steps back as he tied the lace on his shirt.
"What are you doing here?" he asked in indignation, as if the boy hadn't caught him crying. He cursed himself mentally. Why was he so stupid? Lance was a  hunter, of course he could find a sad Prince in the forest.

He turned around, pretending to pet his horse, while wiping his eyes furiously. Don't let him see.
How long had he been standing there? What had he seen?

The prince's acting only broke Lance more, he felt he could literally cry for what he'd seen.
"I... I couldn't leave you alone, this part of the woods isn't safe.." He said, taking a few more steps to his direction, leaving only a meter of distance between them.
"I... Oh god, that... I'm very sorry, your highness..." He muttered, not quite knowing how to approach him. It was his fault. Some of the bruises had seen old, but the rest were clearly recent as if they'd been made just today.

He dug his nails into his arms, pressing his lips together in a grimace. "Y-you don't have to keep it to yourself, we could... Find a solution, talk.."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Keith lied. Hearing Lance's apologies only made it worse. Lance apparently didn't know what he'd done, why he deserved each and every one of these bruises. "Go back to the castle. I will be fine on my own."

He didn't get back on his horse, but guided her along as he stepped deeper into the forest, hoping to leave Lance behind.

His father was gonna kill him. He let a stranger see him cry, see him beat up. There was a reason Keith hid his bruises.
One, because any imperfection on a Prince was a blow to the reputation of his whole family, his whole kingdom.
And two, his father didn't want anyone to see how many mistakes Keith made. They hid it.

And if his father heard he'd been crying.. Sadness wasn't a strong emotion, and you could definitely not display it in any way.
The last time Keith had been allowed to cry.. He could remember it.
The first time he'd been beaten for it was when he was four. And now.. Everything was over. Lance would tell everyone. His father would hear, and he would.. Oh god.

Thinking it was obvious the prince wouldn't spill so easily, the hunter followed after him, keeping the same distance between them.

"I'm afraid I cannot return without you, my prince. I cannot risk something happening to you while I'm on duty," he tried to excuse himself, but it was the truth as well. If something, anything happened to him while he was supposed to accompany him, he'd be the one to blame, and the one to punish.

He knew the forest like the palm of his hand, dangerous animals and... other species, lived near the place. He wouldn't let him be the bear's dinner.

He decided a distant, professional approach would be better. "...I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about. And I won't speak if you don't want me to, either... But I can listen to anything you want to say, your highness."

He heard the gentle rustling of the wind against the leaves, the small animals roaming around, and felt the sun making it's way from the trees to them, lightning the place faintly.

Keith gritted his teeth. "I don't want to talk," he sneered. Wrong. He did want to talk. He wanted to tell someone everything, to cry with them.
But he couldn't. He needed to do this on his own.