1x1 with Phanisnotonfire.

[borneofash]

Sam chuckled at Ashton's attempt to be more masculine, and even though he hadn't been prancing, Sam poked fun at him anyway.
Sam's eyebrows knitted together because of all things that he had protected in his years as guard, a badger family was not on that list. He had been training from a young age, and he'd been a guard for various things (including fruit stations, goats and the odd dog or two) but, so far the one that had thrown him for the most loops had to have been Ashton. He didn't make it easy to keep an eye on him, spending a lot of his time trying to think of ways to evade Sam's efforts. That's not to say that he ever succeeded, because Sam was generally a step ahead of him anyway.
Sam paused for a minute, his face contorted in confusion. "So, you're telling me...We're out here... for a family of badgers? This is why we're out here? You have duties in the morning, you know," Sam reminded him, not that the prince had ever been keen on his royal duties. Tomorrow he was to sit in on a meeting with his father, they were supposed to be negotiating with a king from a kingdom rather far away. Those were the only details that Sam had been able to squeeze out of the other guards because they were never kept in the loop. The king had made it clear that their job was to protect, and nothing else.

[Consulting_Angel]

Ashton huffed slightly again. He had liked watching the badgers the previous year - they had been interesting, and there had been a couple of times when they had investigated the area that he would normally hide in, but whether or not they figured that he was there, he was unsure of. They hadn't been scared away, in any case. "Well, I'm sorry it's not interesting to you. They're the first badgers that I've seen in person. You don't have to stay," he argued, angling to try and get Sam to go again.
He rolled his eyes at the mention of his duties. He did not particularly want to take part in them - he much preferred the more luxurious side to being of a high social statues. The responsibilities... not so much. But, he loved to care about other people, and a whole kingdom of them? Well, he supposed he would have to cope, but that wouldn't be for a long while yet. "Thanks for the reminder, I'm sure--" he sarcastically said, but he broke off when he realised that they were almost there. His voice dropped to a whisper, "Just here..." and he stepped off the forest path, into the leafy boughs of a large, spacious bush. He crouched down, peering through the leaves on the other side, looking hard.

[borneofash]

It wasn't that he found the badgers interesting, (he'd always had a soft spot for the animal families that lived around the courtyard) he was just surprised. Generally, on the prince's midnight outings, Sam paid less attention to the prince and more attention to their surroundings. He was on edge more often than not (which was his job, really), and has more than once wound up pulling his sword on a skunk or a bird.
He wasn't going to argue with the prince about staying, because they both had no say in the matter anyway. He decided to let the other boy pitch his slightly dramatic offer out into the air and just not respond.
Sam scrunched his face a little at Ashton brushing off the idea of his responsibilities once again. It wasn't Sam's job to make sure that the prince was prepped and ready for the meeting, but it was his job to make sure that he got there at all. It was against the rules for them to be out here (more so Ashton than Sam) but it benefited them both. Sam never thought his job would be so intensely boring at times, standing guard outside the prince's door for hours on end with nothing to do but stare at the wall. The outside world was a nice change of scenery, and as long as they both got back safe (and Ashton got to sleep for a while before any of his duties) no one had to know.
Sam followed behind Ashton, his foot steps light as always, and stayed standing as he unimpressed-ly watched the prince stare through the bushes. He stayed quiet to respect and not spook the poor badgers, but he found it funny how intensely the prince watched. As long as he wasn't coerced into smuggling the family back to the castle, he was alright with letting the prince enjoy himself for now.

[Consulting_Angel]

Ashton ignored the face Sam made when he brushed off his duties. He much preferred to attempt to avoid them - and he had seriously considered wandering off and not returning to the palace on several occasions (one such occasion when he had actually attempted to go through with it - and even managing to evade Sam for at least an hour, until the guard had managed to find him - had, however, ended with Ashton sulking so hard that he had gone a few days without even so much as a 'hello' to Sam). He especially liked to try and avoid duties that involved meetings with other kingdoms. All he knew about tomorrow was that they would be discussing some sort of allegiance between two kingdoms, and he was not looking forward to that. He also cared little for the time. He could sleep up until fifteen minutes before whatever event or thing he was supposed to be attending, and get ready in that time, making it look as though he had spent half an hour getting ready rather than around ten minutes... it was a talent he had picked up quite quickly, especially as he liked to get as much sleep as possible, when he wasn't outside at night, of course.

Watching through the bush, Ashton gasped quietly when he spotted a young badger suddenly come out of the set, with its mother close behind it. Had it not been for the fact that the badgers were comfortable where they were, and getting major disapproval from the rest of the royal court, he probably would have had Sam help him take them all back to the palace... he could remember the time he carried a hedgehog - very carefully and lightly - back to the palace once... his mother almost had a heart attack and panicked over him potentially hurting himself, even though no such thing (from what he remembered) had happened. He wanted to stay a little longer, being in absolutely no hurry to return to the palace. "I knew they'd be back!" he whispered triumphantly to Sam, even though there had been no comment about them not being back, but he was still practically glowing from it. At long last, Ashton backed out of the bush, brushing off a couple of leaves that had stuck themselves to his hair and travelling cloak, and he said, "Fine. We can go back now,"

[borneofash]

Sam shrugged, completely neutral in the situation. He didn't care if they stayed outside all night, as long as Ashton was alive at that table the next day. That was his only job, not to make sure that Ashton was well rested or compliant. "You first, your highness," he waved a hand in front of him, letting the prince lead the way. He quickly plucked a stray leaf out of Ashton's hair, it would have been a dead giveaway that they hadn't been in the castle. Sam would have had an excuse for being outside (because it wasn't exactly his job to keep Ashton in the castle, just safe in general) but the prince would have been in trouble. Not that it ever bothered him too much when Ashton was "grounded" so to speak, but getting the silent treatment from someone that you have to shadow 24/7 was excruciating.
They trudged back to the castle, Sam every once in a while pulling the prince back into the bushes to stay out of sight. "It's like you're trying to get us caught," Sam would mumble under his breath, shaking his head and continuing on, keeping a close eye on Ashton. Sam had gotten into a bit of hot water with another guard for being out late with the prince a few times, and he wasn't keen on getting yelled at again. Not that he was yelled at often, he did his job well and he made sure of it.

[Consulting_Angel]

Ashton started walking, going back onto the forest path and returning the way that they came. He scowled as Sam took out another stray leaf from his hair, not particularly bothered if it was there - chances are, no one would see them, and he probably would have noticed it when he returned to his room, or woke up in the morning. However, he supposed that it would be hard to explain if it had fallen out by itself while in the palace... especially as the type of bush that he had hidden himself in to watch the badgers were different to the ones closest to the palace. But it wasn't as if he had ever been caught - to his knowledge... except that one time, when he had been a little less careful on his return, and got himself stung on his left hand by a wasp that should have been in its nest anyway. He had to spend an entire week with an extra, more serious and uptight guard watching him, which had been incredibly boring. At least Sam was somewhat interesting to talk to.
"I was being perfectly quiet and hidden," Ashton whispered in insistence, whenever he was pulled back, not quite sure what it was that would have been around to spot them. He had started to think that maybe Sam was a little too serious about his job.
Eventually, they had returned to the palace and were back inside - fortunately, without any incidents. He wandered back to his quarters, and before he went inside, Ashton turned towards Sam, pausing for a moment, then he said, "Goodnight, Sam," and he closed his door. He changed into his sleeping clothes, and got into bed, staring at the ceiling for a short while, before going to sleep.

[borneofash]

Instead of explaining the Ashton that the guards for the castle itself could be watching, (and rip Sam apart for "being foolish enough to put the prince in danger like that, letting him out at night! What were you thinking? I'm starting to question why they gave you this job.") he stayed silent. He remembered the time in his early days with the prince that he hadn't been paying close enough attention, and Ashton had gotten stung. Sam also remembered how, whenever he and the older, more experienced extra guard were alone, he'd get lectured again. He was almost fired, but they couldn't find another trained guard in a short amount of time, and all over the other experienced guards were assigned. Sam didn't feel the need to fill Ashton in on how the guards worked around each other because chances were that he'd never need to know, and he wouldn't care anyway.
Sam was required to stay in the same corridor as Ashton's room, so more often than not he would wind up sleeping sitting up on the floor. When the prince was in meetings, Sam was allowed free time because his services weren't necessary considering that there would be a whole bunch of guards watching one door. He took that time to go to his quarters and sleep, it was the only time he got to sleep in an actual bed.
He didn't respond to the prince, but instead walked a few feet down the corridor, laid down, and fell asleep.

[Consulting_Angel]

The next morning, Ashton woke up, opening one eye and rolling over to look at the window. He considered staying in bed, and maybe dramatically faking an illness, but he didn't like the court physician very much. Especially as they had a no-nonsense attitude towards him. Resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to get himself out of bed and to the meeting, Ashton left his bed as slowly as he could, then he started to get himself ready. He hated having to wake up early, and if he was able to, he'd sleep for most of the morning. It would certainly mean giving Sam something of a break. Not that he cared about that.
Glancing into a mirror to sort out his hair - even though it was short, it still somehow managed to stick up during the night. He was convinced that his nightly adventures had nothing to do with it. Eventually, Ashton left his room, looking relatively pristine, as was expected of him for this meeting. He glanced up and down the corridor, then greeted the guard in an overly-cheery and quite obviously forced manner, in an attempt to practice his attitude to the other king for the meeting. "Good morning, Sam!" he drew back for a moment, grimacing, "Too much?" he asked.

[borneofash]

Sam awoke from the sound of the door opening. He ran a hand over his face as the prince began to speak. His face scrunched in the wake of the enthusiasm that dripped from the prince's statement, and nodded tiredly before standing up. "Yeah, definitely too much." Sam had no advice for him as his duties hadn't required him to grow his social skills like Ashton's should have. "Shouldn't you be better at this?" he commented absentmindedly as he fixed his clothes, his sword lazily hanging from it's holster in an improper place. It must have shifted while he was asleep, he thought, and went about trying to fix it, taking his attention away from the prince for a second. Even though he got free time during the meeting, he still had to escort the prince there in case the meeting turns out to be an ambush.

[Consulting_Angel]

"Thought so," Ashton commented, and glared at Sam's question, deciding not to answer it. He knew well enough how he should be acting, but it was much more interesting to try something ridiculous out to the guard, even if it was inevitably met with disapproval. "Perhaps, then this is better," he suggested, in a much more pleasant, genuine-sounding tone. He folded his arms, waiting for Sam to be ready, then he asked, "Have you sorted yourself out now?" and he raised an eyebrow, turning away to start walking down the corridor - with or without Sam. He did not get very far, though, without making a complaint, which he felt that he had to get out before they were even close to getting to the meeting. "I know it's to form an allegiance, but couldn't they have scheduled it for later? It's not like a few hours would make much of a difference... we're not even fighting," he then realised what he said, wondering if Sam was even meant to know any details other than it was a meeting. Ah. Nevermind.