So, uh, Teresa wanted the gang hanging out at Ren Fest for her birthday. Which, I guess, could have been cute and then I RUINED EVERYTHING. And apparently, I do not know the meaning of brevity because this is waaaay too long.

TERESA. I AM SORRY IF THIS DOES NOT PLEASE YOU. PROMISE ME WE'LL STILL HANG OUT ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, OKAY? Sorry I couldn't afford something useful like a new Febreze bottle or a sword scabbard—just the scabbard, no sword—or a pair of Birkenstock sandals or even a jar of liquefied monkey innards. Look, I know, I know, I come up with the greatest gift ideas, but all I could afford was this measly fic.

Disclaimer: Two things: One, I made up a ton of stuff for the jousting tournament, but just… shh, let it go, okay? Two, if you really think I own these two charming as fuck teenagers, then you're delusional.

Austin sat backwards on the bench at the picnic table, his back pressed into the edge, an elbow hanging lazily of the corner, as he tore a piece a giant meat chunk off a turkey leg. "Dude, these are the best," he said, his words muffled due to a mouthful of turkey. He rolled his head back and gave a happy hum.

Dez, sitting correctly at the table beside him, nodded and sank his teeth into his own comically large edible stick of deliciousness. "Ren Fest, man. So awesome."

Ah, the Renaissance Faire. Austin could barely contain his excitement as he casually people watched from his seat, still happily munching away.

The area was filled to the brim with people in medieval garb bustling about; even he and Dez had gotten into the spirit of things and were wearing over-sized tunics with tight black pants. Shops and stalls were set up all around, offering anything from trinkets to clothes to jewelry to food, with their owners shouting and hollering for the peoples' attention to come inside and have a look. The smells from all the different food vendors wafted through the air and tickled Austin's nose despite the turkey leg in hand. Further down the way, he knew there was a large entertainment center set up, with jousting and even some play-acting.

And, of course, the girls dressed in full renaissance dress, Austin noted appreciatively as he eyed a girl walking by in a slimming corset with a flowing gown. But today wasn't about girls, he quickly reminded himself as he caught sight of Dez out of the corner of his eye. Today was about him and his best bro hanging out and eating some turkey legs in a fake medieval setting and doing medieval-y things.

But no maces. Not after last year.

"Hello! Earth to Moon!" Dez shouted into Austin's ear before snickering at his own joke. "Geddit? Earth to Moon? It's funny because your last name is Moon," he slapped his own knee, "God, I'm hilarious."

Austin frowned and rolled his eyes. "Dez, that joke stopped being funny when we were, like, eight."

Dez stopped his snickering and eyed Austin reproachfully. "Not for me."

The blond rolled his eyes before turning his attention to his friend. "Sorry for spacing, I was just thinking about all the cool things we'll get to do today."

Dez appeared thoughtful for a long moment before shooting off a barrage of questions. "Hit all the shops and buy dumb souvenirs?"

"Yep."

"We're gonna eat everything that comes on a stick?"

"Hell yeah!"

"See the jousting tournament?"

"Dude, of course."

"Talk in olde English?" Dez asked in an exaggerated accent.

Austin wrinkled his nose. "Can we not do that one?"

Dez deflated a little. "Okay, fine," he conceded, returning to his normal tone. And then in a quiet, bitter voice, he said, "All that practice for nothing."

"Sorry, buddy. I just hate using it because of those commercials with my parents," he apologized with a wince.

Dez waved him off, saying, "It's alright." And then he brightened. "How about the ma—?"

"Not after last year," Austin said; well aware of what was on the tip of his friend's tongue.

The redhead did a jerky dance move of frustration and sighed. "Fine."

Austin gave him apologetic look. "I'll let you pick first. What do you wanna do?" he asked before taking another bite of his turkey leg.

"We should—" and then Dez stopped mid-sentence, his eyes straying from Austin's to squint at something over the blond's shoulder.

Austin blinked and waved a hand in front of the redhead's face. "Yo, Dez! What is it?"

Dez suddenly grinned and inclined his head in the direction of what was currently holding his attention. "Dude, there's a totally cute girl over there."

Austin frowned and crossed his arms. "No way, man. Today's our Bro Day, remember? Duderuses before uteruses." He shook his head. "You can't talk to her."

Dez's grin turned sly and he shook his head slowly. "Not for me. She's, uh, more your type."

The blond couldn't help it; he perked up a bit at that. "Really?" he asked, clearly interested but then he remembered their Bro Day and shook his head again, much more stubbornly. "Wait, I'm not interested, Dez. I came here to hang out with you, not meet girls."

"I think you should talk to her."

He rolled his eyes. "No way. Knowing you, it'll be another Surfer Billl incident."

"I said I was sorry about that," he said, wincing at his feeble apology. "Dude, just go talk to her!"

Austin eyed him suspiciously. "Why are you pushing this?"

Dez placed a hand to his chest self-importantly. "Because I am the Love Whisperer—"

"That's still not true," Austin interrupted in deadpan.

The self-proclaimed Love Whisperer continued unwaveringly, "—and as thus, I am on a constant Love Crusade—"

"What does that even mean?" Austin asked, baffled.

"—where I am always on the look-out for compatible partners—"

"I'm supposed to believe that 'Love Whisperer' is synonymous with 'Cupid' now?"

"—that I know will be a match made in—"

"If I go over there and get her number, will you shut up about the Love Whispering thing for, like, a month?" Austin said, just as deadpan as before.

Dez brightened. "Yes!" he said, holding up two thumbs in promise.

The blond sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What's she look like?"

"Cute, in a scarlet and gold dress with flowers in her hair," Dez supplied, a spark of mischief apparent in his eyes. Austin didn't like it, but he couldn't help the small sense of intrigue he felt from the description of the dress alone.

Austin handed his friend his turkey leg and stood up. "Yeah, okay. I'll be right back," he muttered as he turned around and scanned the area for such a dress. A few yards to the right, a small petite form in a scarlet dress was standing facing away from him, red daisies adorning the crown of her head.

He frowned, that was two out of three, but where was the gold?

But suddenly, she gestured with her hand and the long sleeves that hung from her forearms flashed gold inserts and he grinned, making his way to the girl. It was still hard to make out any details other than her short stature and thin form, not to mention she had yet to turn around. From here, he could tell that the back of her dress was cinched with ribboning detail. Her dark brunette hair was tossed over the front of her shoulder, but he could still see that it was long, cascading down to the middle of her waist in tousled waves, with more flowers carefully woven throughout her side ponytail.

She definitely had nice hair, he admitted reluctantly but he still wasn't really up for flirting with anybody. Hadn't for a while, if he was being perfectly honestly. A flash of his pretty song writing partner's face reminded him just exactly why and his stomach nearly churned at the prospect of attempting to make small talk with this complete stranger, cute or not.

But it was too late and he was already tapping on her shoulder for her attention, a horrid pick-up line falling from his lips. "Hey, so I couldn't help but notice—"

The girl whirled around to face him, eyes lighting up in recognition, and she called in a chipper voice, "Oh, hey, Austin!"

Austin stopped, stunned, as he took in the sight of the girl currently occupying his thoughts beaming up at him. "Uh—Ally?" he stuttered, wondering if he had somehow manifested her out of sheer mind power. "Wuh—what are you doing here?"

She gave him an odd look, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "Hanging out at the Renaissance Faire, silly," she answered with a light laugh. "Trish is waitressing at one of pubs and I decided to come hang out and visit her for a while."

"Oh," Austin said, continuing to stare in dumbfounded shock as he gave her a not too subtle onceover.

Now that Ally had turned to the front, he could see that the scarlet portion of the dress was cinched in front of her chest with ribboning that matched the back. The color gold made up the body of her dress and most of the skirt in the front, as well as being sewn into the inside of her long red sleeves. It wasn't exactly a corset, but with a small, modest hint of cleavage and a tight, cinched waist, he wasn't complaining. Not to mention, she looked adorable and pretty with the flowers in her hair.

Well, Dez hadn't been completely off when he said she was his type, he realized wryly.

And then he quickly snapped his eyes back up to meet hers. "You look really nice, Ally," he complimented with a slow smile as he willed his blush to go away.

Her already rosy cheeks flushed another shade or two at his compliment. "Thanks, Austin." She smiled bashfully. She took a second to study his own outfit. "You look good in your tunic," she returned, her gaze jumping back up to meet his eyes.

He thanked her and then scratched his head as he regarded her once more. "So I didn't know you were into Ren Fest." He smirked a little. "I especially didn't know you were into it enough to dress up."

"I don't go every year, but it's fun to eat some of the food and look through the souvenir shops." Ally shrugged and flicked her skirt. "And, well, who doesn't love period dresses?" she laughed. "Trish was able to sneak this out of the costume department for all the workers so I could borrow it for the weekend. I'm pretty excited to be wearing it, though," she gushed as she swished her skirt a little.

He reached out and fingered a lock of her hair. "Also, I don't remember your hair being this long," he chuckled.

She looked a bit sheepish. "Extensions for the day." She looked a bit nervous and tugged at a lock. "It's not too much, is it? With the flowers and everything?"

With an emphatic shake of his head, his hands reached up and fiddled with a red daisy by her temple, weaving it back into her hair so it wouldn't fall out. "No way," he said, grinning with approval.

She gave him a soft murmur of thanks, trying not to blush, not noticing that his fingers were lingering in her hair for longer than what was strictly necessary. She cleared her throat when his hands fell away and said, "Anyway, I didn't know you were going to be here, either." She tilted her head to the side, curious. "Are you here with Dez?"

Austin nodded. "Yeah, I am," he said. He quickly realized his annoyance with Dez for trying to trick him into hitting on Ally. He turned around and saw Dez with a wicked grin and a mischievous glint in his eye. And then he had the gall to wave at him, all friendly and innocent.

He seemed to be mouthing the words 'love match' at him while wiggling his eyebrows.

Austin swiftly turned back to Ally and jumped in her line of sight so she wouldn't see Dez mouthing ridiculous things at them. "Anyway! What are you doing standing here all by yourself?" he asked, desperate to change the subject.

She blinked in confusion but brushed it off, attributing his weirdness to his small attention span. "I was going to shop around for a bit while I waited for Trish to go on break, but I keep getting stopped and asked for directions." She sighed resignedly. "I think it's because I helped Trish wait on some tables earlier so the same customers think I work here," she said with a hopeless shrug.

He couldn't help but chuckle at their mutual friend's typical antics. "Well, do you want to hang out with me and Dez while we wait for Trish's break?" he offered.

Austin might have been excited for a bro day between him and Dez, but after all that 'love match' nonsense, it's Dez's own damn fault that he'd be third-wheeling now.

Not that he and Ally were on a date or anything. Just, you know… yeah.

The blond teen shook his head to clear it of its ridiculous thoughts and grinned affectionately at Ally. "It'll be fun and Dez won't mind. So what do you say?"

She returned his grin and he felt his stomach do a flop—pfft, like he'd have butterflies—as she said, "I'd love that."

If at all possible, Austin's already sunny demeanor brightened even more. "Great!" And then he offered her his arm with a charming little, "M'lady," to which Ally replied with a curtsey and a, "M'lord" before taking his arm.

Their laughs mingled with each other's as they made their way to Dez.

And then they hung out for the next half hour or so, exploring the shops, watching some of the performers do tricks, and snacked on some pastries.

Dez alternated between disappearing off to give them some alone time—which Austin appreciated—and being the most annoying cockblock of all time—which Austin appreciated not at all.

For instance, he had meandered off somewhere so Austin and Ally could peruse a shop selling handmade jewelry on their own. It didn't take long for him to notice that her eye kept wandering back to a simple necklace consisting of tiny, bright red gemstones on a delicate gold chain. It took a while but after some teasing and encouragement, Austin finally convinced her to at least try it on. Ally had shyly turned her back to him, lifting her hair off her neck and shoulders so he could help put it on her. His fingers brushed along her skin and he was in the middle of doing the clasp around her neck when Dez had picked that precise moment to show up out of nowhere, blaring a horn in their ears. Austin did one of his girlish shrieks and accidentally fumbled with the necklace around Ally's throat to the point of dropping it. And of course it landed awkwardly in her cleavage which she then had to fish out while glaring half-heartedly at Dez, who the decency to look ashamed, at the very least.

Not too long after that incident, Dez had decided to take some impromptu juggling lessons from a street performer dressed as a court jester, so Austin and Ally had decided to grab a snack, some dessert tarts to satisfy their sweet tooths. Hers being fruit-filled, his being chocolate. They were sitting across from one another, enjoying their pastries when Austin asked her if she wanted a bite. She grinned and nodded and Austin lifted the sweet halfway up to her lips when a lanky body plunked itself onto Ally's bench. Seconds later, Dez's voice loudly proclaimed his starvation before thanking Austin around a mouthful of his chocolate tart that should have been Ally's. It all happened so fast. One minute, he's looking into Ally's beautiful brown eyes and the next; he's looking at Dez's crumb and chocolate-covered grubby cheeks. And before Ally could even begin to protest, Dez had taken a bite of her fruit tart as well, declaring it scrumptious. The songwriting team had merely sighed exasperatedly and offered the redhead the rest of their tarts in equally defeated tones.

And then at one point, while walking side by side, the back of their hands kept brushing up against one another. Austin had stilled his breath, ready to grab her hand as nonchalantly as possible because really, it was the perfect opportunity. But on the off chance that she gave him any weird looks, he would just convince her that it was the best way to keep their hands from bumping. See? He even had an excuse. Look at how smooth he can be! Alas, his fingertips hadn't even made contact with Ally's smaller, softer hand before he saw Dez doing something out of his peripheral vision. And suddenly, he was off in a sprint, yelling at Dez to stay the hell away from the goddamn maces.

Needless to say, it was getting kind of exhausting. So he was almost relieved when Ally had piped up that Trish should be going on break soon and they should start making their way to the medieval themed pub where she was working, The Sea Hag's Shanty.

(Outside the tiny, crude, tent-like building, Dez nodded solemnly and said, "Aye, she be a shanty, alright," before walking in. Austin and Ally just shared a silent look before following in after.)

Austin sighed and slumped into his chair with a dull thud, Dez dropping just as gracelessly into the seat opposite him.

"Sooo," Dez sang-songed as he shook his head back and forth in a silly little move, "How are things going with Ally?"

The blond shot him the driest look he could manage. "Fantastic," he replied, his sarcastic tone pairing excellently with his expression. "You popping up out of nowhere every single time we get a minute alone has really helped, too."

"Oh, yeah." Dez gave a wise nod. "It's because I'm the Love Whisperer," he said as he leaned into his chair and folded his hands behind the back of his head in an overly confident fashion.

Austin stared at him in disbelief, unable to comprehend how his friend could seriously say that with a straight face. But then he shook his head and growled. "Hey, you said you'd knock it off about that Love Whispering crap."

Dez snorted and rolled his eyes. "You didn't get her number so it doesn't count."

"I already have Ally's number," he pointed out with a frown. "I wasn't going to ask her for it again."

"Then I'm not going to stop preaching about my destiny," he said without the slightest trace of humor.

Austin's stare of disbelief came back full force and he sputtered, "Did you—what are you even—? Dez, that's not—what destiny?"

Austin was saved from further madness as Trish finally appeared, making a show of groaning and throwing herself into a chair. "Oh my gawd," she said, her face contorting with annoyance, "I've had to talk in a dumb accent all damn day because according to my boss, 'it makes the customers happy'." She rolled her eyes in a spectacular fashion. "They should be happy enough that I'm not dumping their goddamn ale over their heads," she muttered under her breath.

The blond held back a wry chuckle. "Good to see you, too, Trish."

"Of course it is." She waved a hand back and forth lazily, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "I'm delightful." She pointed at her face, devoid of all emotion. "See how delightful I am?"

This time, Austin did chuckle but then he realized a missing presence. "Hey, didn't Ally come and get you? Where is she?" he asked.

"Oh, she's putting in an order for some snacks and drinks for us. It shouldn't be long," Trish said. She pointed to the counter and he flicked his gaze over, seeing her talking to the person behind the counter. He made a tiny noise of confirmation and settled back into his seat. He noticed her knowing grin and he nearly opened his mouth to ask what that look was for, but she immediately cleared her throat and changed the subject. "So, you idiots having a good time at Ren Fest?" she asked, the barest hint of affection lacing her question as she looked from him to Dez.

Examples of Dez's stellar timing flashed through Austin's mind and he gave her what looked to be a painfully tight grin. "The best." Trish raised an eyebrow at his expression but Dez piped up with his own two cents before she could question the singer.

"I learned how to juggle from a court jester," Dez said in a regal tone. He placed his forearm on the table to lean forward gracefully.

Trish eyed him in disdain for a long moment. "Yeah," she started slowly, "you would take up juggling."

Dez probably should have been affronted but instead, his chest swelled with misplaced pride. "I'm glad you think I look like a natural juggler." She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'natural idiot is more like it' under her breath but luckily the redhead didn't catch it. But then Dez suddenly sat up, back completely erect as he scanned the area like a meerkat.

Seriously, the resemblance was uncanny.

Austin stared at his friend, exasperated. "Dude, what's—?"

"Shh!" Dez frowned and held up a hand to his temple, appearing to be in deep concentration. "There's a disturbance in the force."

"Is this really the time to quote Star Wars?" Austin frowned.

Dez lifted his head away from his hand and gave Austin a solemn look. "There's always a time to quote Star Wars." He paused briefly. "Even during the Renaissance era."

"Never. The time to quote Star Wars is never," Trish deadpanned.

Dez shushed them again and replaced the hand to his temple. "As I was saying, there's a disturbance in the force; the Love Force, to be exact. Uh-oh." His features contorted in deeper concentration and his head twitched this way and that, fingertips now pressed into his temple. "Something's jamming… my Love Radar…" he muttered.

Austin's left eye twitched madly. "Dez," he growled, with as much menace he could muster toward his best friend, "if you start that Love Crap up one more time, I swe—"

"Look, look!" Dez ordered, head snapping up, a finger pointing emphatically in a direction over Austin's shoulder.

"Look at what?" Austin yelled, but his head whipped around in the direction of Dez's finger anyway. And then his left eye twitched again, but for an entirely different reason.

Because, in the corner of the pub, some guy—some random guy was totally, totally, hitting on Ally.

His eyes honed in on the sandy-haired young man in an impressive, authentic costume, complete with a white, ruffled shirt underneath an emerald green vest which he paired with appropriately tight pants. Austin frowned when he noticed that his costume even had totally awesome leather arm bracers to tie the whole look together. He looked down at his simple tunic and black pants and frowned even harder.

"Dude," Dez said out of the corner of his mouth, "I don't think they're compatible."

Austin looked back up to the both of them. Ally was shaking her head politely and trying to swing her tray of food items—obviously their order—away from the 'gentleman' that was probably offering her a hand.

Just as he was about to leap up out of his chair and head over to her, she ducked under the guy's arm and hurried her way toward their table. Austin, however, didn't even have time to be relieved because Authentically Dressed Renaissance Guy—don't judge him about this, he's horrible at insults under pressure—was following her.

"Well then, what do you say?"

Goddammit, the guy was British.

Ally gently set the tray down and turned around to the face their new company, deftly ignoring the curious glances from her friends. "I'm flattered, but—"

"Ally," he interrupted in his flawless and swoon-worthy accent. "It would be an incredible honor to have such a fair maiden like yourself by my side," he said, tilting his head in an almost shy manner as he gave her a charming smile. "The fairest I've seen all day, in point of fact." He grabbed both of her smaller hands in his larger ones, making her eyes widen and her cheeks turn pink from the gesture. Austin had to fight the urge to hyperventilate as his bulging eyes zeroed in on their conjoined hands, where they then squinted in silent rage.

"This guy is smooth," Dez whispered.

"And hot," Trish added.

Austin blamed it all on the accent.

Ally blinked rapidly and her cheeks darkened considerably. "I, um, that's—" she broke off with an audible gulp.

His smile turned near-bashful and he reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry. I hadn't meant to make you nervous, how could I not make note of your beauty?"

Dez nearly swooned in his seat. Trish had to fan herself. Austin wanted to strangle a bear with his bare hands.

"Well?" Smooth-Hot-British-Guy said, eyes locked in a one-sided heated gaze with Ally, the heat coming solely from his end as Ally still looked far too shell-shocked to really return any of the aforementioned heat. "I'd love to see you rooting for me during the tournament. You'd make a lovely queen." He gave her another dashing smile and Austin almost dry heaved.

Oh no, wait, he did dry heave.

This seemed to snap her out of her daze some and Ally shook her head, gently freeing her hands from his hold. "Oh no, I think I'm too young to be anyone's queen," she said nervously, trying to politely laugh off his advances. "But, uh, thanks again for the offer, Christopher."

Austin brightened at Ally's attempts to brush off Christopher. Too bad he refused to give up so easily.

"Then who will I share my victories with?" he asked with a frown. "I'd like nothing more than to have you in the stands, watching me as I—"

"Dude, what are you going on about?" Austin finally snapped, his patience gone. He stood up and forcefully wedged himself between Ally and Christopher, glaring daggers at the other male. "She already said she wasn't interested so you should seriously back off."

Christopher blinked and looked down his nose at Austin. "And who might you be?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral. His eyes flickered over Austin's costume before meeting his eyes once more. He was clearly unimpressed if his sneer was anything to go by. "Do you happen to be a… friend of Ally's, perhaps?"

"Hey!" Austin growled, jabbing a finger at him, inches away from his chest. "I happen to be her best friend, pal." And then he cast a quick glance their real respective best friends and said, "No offense, guys."

"None taken," they said simultaneously, clearly enjoying the show.

"Ah." Christopher sniffed disdainfully, picking lint off his vest in a bored manner. "I figured as such. You're hardly a worthy suitor for such a beautiful girl."

"Oh snap," Dez whispered.

"Man, can this get any better?" Trish whispered back. She pulled the plate of onion rings between the two of them, offering him some. And they munched on their snacks while watching the entire scene unfold before them on the edge of their seats, filled with a giddy enthusiasm.

Austin's mouth fell open and he moved to take a step forward toward him. "Okay! That's it!"

Christopher raised an elegant eyebrow. "Do you wish to fight me? Because that would be absolutely barbaric." And yet, he moved into a fighting stance anyway.

"No, no! There will be no fighting!" Ally insisted as she ducked underneath Austin's arm to put herself between the two towering males, her tiny hands placed on their chests to keep them apart.

"Boo!" a voice jeered and a piece of onion ring bounced off her cheek.

Ally rolled her eyes before glaring at the perpetrator. "Dez! You are not helping!" She refocused her attention on the two young men on either side of her. "Can we please be civil about this?" And then she frowned thoughtfully. "Whatever 'this' is? Because I don't think I know anymore."

"It's about you," four voices threw at her.

She shrank back a little. "Oh."

"I'm not gonna fight him, Ally," Austin promised, rolling his eyes.

She whipped her head around to look up at the blond. "Are you sure?" She hesitated and bit at her bottom lip. "Because you look angry." Worry etched itself into her delicate features and he felt the will to fight leave his body because Ally was far more important than his urge to deck this Christopher dude.

Austin's face softened and he grabbed the hand on his chest and slowly lowered it. With a gentle tug, he pulled her away from Christopher until she was standing by his side, their hands still clasped. "Look, Christopher, you're gonna have to find another… 'queen' or whatever because Ally isn't going to be yours, okay?" he said, his voice quiet but with enough of an edge that made Christopher regard him with a serious look for the first time.

"If you think I'm going to give up this easily," he started, "then you're just as dumb as I thought." The blond stilled at those words, anger sparking back up inside of him. Christopher smirked, his eyes glittering with promise of a challenge. "I propose a wager."

Austin froze and he could feel Ally's small hand tighten its grip on his, silently reminding him to be careful. "What kind of wager?" he asked, eying the other male warily.

"Join the tournament I spoke of," he said. "The winner gets a celebration in his name and gets to be crowned 'king', along with his 'queen'," his eyes flicked briefly to Ally and then back to Austin. His smirk suddenly became much more twisted, making it seem darker than before. "We'll see then just who is worthy of Ally's hand."

"Oh my God," Trish breathed, eyes wide.

"I think this just got better," Dez said, completely breathless, clapping a hand over his heart from the suspense of it all.

Ally paled and her other hand flew to Austin's forearm and she tugged with all her might. "Austin, don't do it! It's not what you think! It's—"

"Done," he growled, sticking his hand out. Christopher immediately latched onto it and pumped twice, eyes gleaming darkly. When they released their hold, Austin stared at his hand, feeling oddly like he'd just made a deal with the devil.

"Excellent," Christopher said, lips curling upward. "You have until tonight to sign up for the tournament, which will take place early tomorrow morning. We celebrate the victor in the evening." His cold eyes turned to Ally. "You'll see soon enough who the better man is."

Her eyes narrowed and she glared back at him defiantly. "I'm pretty sure I already know who that is," she said in an icy tone, purposefully moving closer into Austin's side.

Christopher frowned at the pair in front of him. "Ally, you really should rethink your decision, dear."

"No. I don't think I will." She tilted her chin up stubbornly.

"Very well, then," Christopher said, sounding displeased. He spun around. "You'll come around soon enough. Or, I suppose, you'll have to once I'm crowned the king," he threw over his shoulder before exiting the pub.

The gang all glared at Christopher's back as he exited The Sea Hag's Shanty. The second he was out of sight, Ally whirled around to stand face to face with Austin, fear and worry written all over her face. "Austin, you can't join the tournament. You need to back out," she pleaded.

Austin snorted dismissively. "Oh, c'mon, Ally. It can't be that bad. What, are we, like, fake sword fighting with sticks or something?"

She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Guess again, genius."

Then he was nervous. "It's not… with real swords, is it?"

Ally rolled her eyes in a spectacular fashion. "It's a jousting competition." She looked at him wearily. "As in, with lances. As in, in suits of armor. As in, on horses." She punctuated all of her staccato sentences with a jab to his chest.

Austin immediately looked stricken because somewhere, in the back of his mind, he registered that this was somehow worse. "Oh," he said, rapidly losing all of his confidence.

She raised an eyebrow, but worry continued to flicker in her big brown eyes. "Do you even know how to ride a horse?"

"It can't be that hard, right?" he asked with a very weak, fragile laugh.

Ally moaned in distress. "Just forfeit the tournament, Austin. You're going to get yourself hurt. Or worse, killed."

Dez gasped, the reality of it all apparently sinking in. "Wait, Austin! What if it's worse than that? What if you never dance again?" he cried.

Austin gave him the driest look imaginable. "Yeah, Dez, because never being able to dance again is a fate far worse than actual death."

"Hey, buddy, dancing and singing is your life, that's all I'm sayin'." He lifted his hands in polite surrender.

Trish finished off the last of the onion rings and cleared her throat until she had their attention. "Austin, you better not embarrass Ally out there," was all she said.

The brunette turned to her curly-haired best friend, indignant. "Trish! Come on, you seriously can't be agreeing to this."

Trish looked her best friend in the eye. "I will give you three reasons as to why I'm seriously agreeing to this."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "But are they valid reasons?"

Trish ignored that and held up a finger. "One, I like to be entertained and this seems like it's going to be entertaining as fuck." She paused. "Providing that, you know, Austin doesn't end up in the hospital."

"Thanks, Trish," Austin said in deadpan, rolling his eyes.

A second finger popped into the air. "Two, Ally, you have two hot guys fighting over you. Do you know how awesome this is? This is every girl's dream. You need to live this dream for all of us that can't be that lucky."

Ally's brow furrowed, her weight shifting from foot to foot. "I don't feel lucky," she said under her breath.

A third and final finger joined the first two. "And three, if these two idiots want to duke it out in a showcase of testosterone and play Big-Dog-Macho-Guy-Alpha-Man, I think it's better than them whipping it out and measuring it on table, so there."

Ally made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, her cheeks going red. "Trish."

Austin was red as well, palming his face, while Dez frowned in confusion. "Wait, what are they measuring?"

"Nothing!" Austin and Ally yelped, both too mortified to give him a real answer. And then Ally shook off her embarrassment and turned to the blond teen. "Please don't do this. I don't want you getting hurt just because of some jerk."

The blond frowned at her and crossed his arms. "Ally, that jerk didn't know how to take 'no' for an answer. All he wanted was a pretty girl to show off, like some sort of trophy."

She frowned and snapped back, "Oh, like you're so much better than him? You agreed to do the tournament! And now I'm stuck in the middle as an actual prize."

"It's different," he argued, his frown deepening. "He doesn't even respect you! All he sees is a pretty girl to be his 'queen' or whatever and I—" he broke off, quickly realizing just how much of his guts he was about to spill.

"You what?" she asked, her voice going soft and quiet, her eyes growing wide. "What were you going to say?"

He gulped and prayed that his foot wouldn't end up in his mouth nor would his guts be spilled. "I didn't like the way he was treating you. I didn't like that he just wanted you on his arm to show off." He winced. "And I know that I wasn't much better myself, but I respect you, Ally. I see you for everything that you are and… and you're so much more than a pretty face. You're kind, intelligent, talented, and you're the most amazing person I know." He paused to give her a meaningful look while she stared back in absolute shock. "So just… please let me do this, okay? I want to take this guy down for ignoring what you wanted, for not listening to what you had to say, and for treating you like some sort of object."

Silence stretched out between them as her eyes flitted back and forth across his features.

"Okay," she whispered after a long moment, pinning him down with her gaze. She swallowed nervously. "Okay," she repeated, in a firmer voice this time around, nodding once.

Austin grinned at her. "I'll be fine," he said in as a reassuring a tone as he could manage. "Don't worry about me, okay?"

And then she launched herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck, his wrapping around her small waist. "You're about to enter a jousting tournament. Somebody has to," she said, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

His fingertips dug into the fabric of her dress, heating her skin through the thick material. "Hey," he whispered into her ear, "I don't want you worrying about me, alright? I want you out there, cheering me on, got it?"

She chuckled and shook her head, the tip of her nose rubbing against his skin. "What, I can't do both?" She pulled back and looked up at him, an affectionate smile on her lips, but a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Austin pulled his hands away from the small of her back to cup her face lightly. He inclined his head towards hers, until his bangs grazed across her the top of her hair, their foreheads almost, but not quite, touching. She looked up at him through her lashes and held her gaze unwaveringly. "Ally, I promise I won't do anything reckless." She gave him a look that clearly pointed out he was too late in making that promise and he rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Anything more reckless than I've already gotten myself into, okay?" he amended.

Ally sighed resignedly and bumped her forehead against his, a faint smile at her lips. "I guess that's as good a promise as any," she said in a low murmur. He chuckled, but didn't disagree, his thumbs stroking her rose-colored cheeks.

The sound of somebody clearing their throat took them out of their moment and they turned to look at Trish, dropping their arms reluctantly back to their sides.

"Ally, he's going to be okay. Austin, you better not lose to that uppity Brit. Dez, try to stay away from everything and don't fuck this up." Trish sighed and rubbed her forehead. "C'mon, we clearly got a lot of work to do if we want Austin to win this thing."

Ally frowned. "But… where do we even start?" she asked.

Dez stood up and looked at Austin with a grave expression. "I think I know what to do."

Austin nodded, determination settling over his features. "I think I know where this is going," he said, rolling his shoulders to help loosen up his muscles. He cracked his neck side to side, the noises making the ladies grimace.

"Training montage?"

Austin nodded once more, his lips thinning into a grim line. "Training montage."

"Wow, this is mind-numbingly boring."

Ally turned in her seat to frown at her friend. "Trish, we have to support Austin." The other girl groaned exaggeratedly and lolled her head back in a bored fashion. Ally frowned and nudged her friend with a gentle elbow. "Sit up! What if he sees?"

The two young women were seated on a bench next to a massive, vacant field, save for Austin and Dez.

"Ally, how is any of this going to actually help Austin learn how to joust? They don't even have a horse!"

Ally turned her eyes back to guys on the field. They were standing in the middle of the field, staring each other down. Previously, they had done random push-ups, sit-ups, a lap or two around the field, and some stretches. Now, they were sporting giant beards that hung to their chests. "I… don't know," she admitted, brow slightly furrowed.

"Dude, do jousters even need beards?" Austin asked, scratching at his chin. He frowned, not that Dez could really tell behind the blond, wiry beard obscuring his face anyway. "I don't remember Heath Ledger having a beard in A Knight's Tale…"

"Oh no, he didn't have one." Austin stared at his friend, expressionless. The redhead shrugged, stroking his beard carefully. "I just thought they'd be cool." He held out his hands and motioned for Austin to come closer. "Let me braid your beard."

Ally sighed and turned to Trish while the boys giggled and braided each other's fake beards. "You wanna get out of here?" she asked.

"Only if we're gonna get some cheesecake on a stick," Trish said, but she was already getting up and stretching.

"I am so in the mood for some cheesecake on a stick," Ally muttered.

"Oh my God, you guys got an actual horse?" Ally asked, incredulous, as she came up behind Austin.

"Yep," Austin said, sounding terrified.

The girls had returned from their brief break and while Trish resumed her previous seat on the bench to join Dez, Ally had immediately gone out to the field to join Austin, who had, thankfully, ditched the beard. The blond teen swallowed and kept his eyes trained on the horse, his entire body tensed. The horse somehow managed to look incredibly bored and when its tail twitched, Austin flinched and stared harder at the white horse, mottled with grey in the legs.

"Staring at him isn't going to teach you anything."

Austin's gaze briefly flicked to Ally's before flicking back. "I know." And then they flicked to Ally's once more and stayed. "Hey! Why didn't you get me one?" He pouted, looking at the cheesecake she was nibbling on.

She raised an incredulous eyebrow at him. "Austin, focus?" she suggested while she pointed at the horse in front of him.

"Oh. Right." He shook his head and returned to his staring contest with the horse. And then, after a long pause, "Ally?"

"You have no idea what you're doing, huh?" she guessed.

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

Ally sighed and held out her cheesecake. "Here," she said. He looked at her hopefully as he took it from her hands and she rolled her eyes. "Yes, you can have a bite." She ignored him while he practically finished off the rest of her dessert. She was much more preoccupied with making her way to the horse. "Horses aren't scary, you know."

He frowned. That was easy for her to say; she didn't inadvertently sign herself up for a jousting tournament and had to learn how to ride a horse in less than twenty four hours! Probably because she was way smarter than him and could never be goaded into doing something so dumb, but still. "Yeah, but it's not like you're about to—"

"Hey, hey, you're not so big and tough, are you?" she said, laughing quietly. "You're just a big softie, yeah?" He stared, amazed that within moments, she was already stroking and petting the horse's neck with careful hands. She grinned, her features lightening up happily as the horse made happy nickering noises. She turned to Austin, triumphant grin in place. "You're just a big baby," she teased.

His mouth hung open. "How… how did you do that?"

She motioned for him to come over. "Don't approach him directly," she warned. "Come from the side." Austin did as he was told and when they were side by side, she grabbed his hand and lifted it so the back of his hand was aimed at the horse's nostrils. After a few sniffs, Ally nodded encouragingly and with slight trepidation, Austin slowly turned his hand around to stroke the horse. He immediately lit up and turned to Ally with a broad grin.

"This is so awesome," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Ally laughed and backed away a little, letting Austin get to know the horse since he'd have to be riding him for the tournament. "What's his name?" she asked as she watched the two with a soft a smile.

"Alabaster Storm. Al for short."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Uh-huh." Austin turned to regard her curiously. "How are you so good with horses?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

She gave him a sheepish look. "I went through a huge pony phase when I was younger," she admitted.

Austin snickered. "God, you're adorable," he said, his lips automatically curving up into a fond smile.

"I was totally obsessed," she said, cringing slightly, which only served to widen his grin. "I made my parents take me every couple of months to see them." She smiled a little wistfully as she stared at Al. "It's definitely been a while though."

And then he realized something and he lit up, a hand flying to her shoulder. "Ally! Do you know how to ride horses?"

She shook her head adamantly, already with the sinking feeling of knowing where this was going to go. "Oh no. There's no way I'm teaching you how to ride a horse."

He frowned. "Then how am I supposed to do this stupid tournament? Riding a horse is half of it!" Ally crossed her arms and shook her head again. "C'mon, Ally, please? You'll be able to get back on a horse," he wheedled. Her shoulders drooped and her eye contact wavered, all signs that she was quickly losing her resolve. "Come on! Don't you miss horses? Like you said, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Ally cast a glance over Al. "I… well, yeah, that's true…" She bit her lip thoughtfully, looking longingly at the innocent horse.

"So come on! Why are you turning down the amazing opportunity to ride a horse and spend time with your best friend?"

She scrubbed her hands over her face and moaned resignedly. "One of these days, Austin Monica Moon, one of these days you won't be able to smooth talk me into one of your ridiculous schemes."

"But that day is not today!" he declared in triumph. And then he practically tackled her to the ground in his haste to give her a hug. "Have I ever told you that you're awesome?"

She laughed and returned his hug, even though she was almost parallel to the ground from the force of it. "It never gets tiring, though."

"Oh, yuck," Trish said, pulling a face.

"What? I think they're cute," Dez said, brow furrowed as he watched Austin and Ally's embrace from the sidelines.

"Oh no, they're cuter than a basket of kittens." He couldn't tell whether she was being sarcastic or not so he didn't say anything. She turned to the redhead by her side. "Although I don't know about you, but I'm not waiting around any longer to get slapped in the face with their blatant unresolved sexual tension." He made a face at that. "Exactly," she said, getting up. "C'mon, while she's teaching him one half of jousting, let's go and help him with the other half."

Dez raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? And how do we do that?"

Trish rolled her eyes. "Just trust me, would ya?" And then she flounced off, a skeptical Dez jumping off the bench and following closely behind.

"You know, the last time you said that, I almost died."