Daniel's POV

Joey- Alright so first put your feet in the stirrups and then hold onto the reins like this.

He said demonstrating on his own horse and I did as he showed me.

Daniel- Like this?

Joey- Yeah, you're a natural already!

He said smiling enthusiastically and I said;

Daniel- Thanks! You're a good teacher, how long have you been riding for?

Joey- All my life really. I like to go for rides when castle life starts getting to me, I'm always having to study or my parents are lecturing me about needing to find a wife or how to be a good king.

Daniel- Wow I kind of thought being a Prince would be easier than that and you would just sit around doing whatever you liked and having feasts and then becoming king at the right age.

Joey- I wish! I would love not having expectations or people telling me what to do all day. Don't tell anyone this but I don't even want to be king at all.

Daniel- What? Why not you would be ruler of the whole kingdom.

Joey- Yes but a prisoner of it too. I would loose every ounce of my freedom.

Daniel- I know what that feels like, I lost all of mine.

I said sadly and there was awkward silence for a few moments, as we continued to ride through the forest, before he spoke.

Joey- I'm sorry Daniel. None of this should have happened to you. You don't deserve any of this.

Daniel- No one else seems to think so. You're so kind Just Joey.

We both laughed at the nickname I refuse to let go of just yet.

Joey- So Daniel, if you don't mind me asking what was your life like before.. you know?

Daniel- You actually care to know about someone as pathetic as me, why?

Joey- You're not pathetic Daniel. You're a really great person and you're really good lo- um nice.. uh yeah um.. nice, so tell me about yourself.

I'm really good what? I don't know what he was going to say or why he stuttered but I ignore it and decide to tell him a bit about me.

Joey's POV

Daniel- Thanks you're nice too. Well okay I'll tell you a bit about me. My adoptive parents told me the story of when they found me. One day they were taking a walk down by the river to do some fishing when they found a small wooden boat drifting down the river. It had come down the river from the ocean which was about an hour from where they found the boat. They found me inside that boat as a baby and there was no clues about how I got there or anything at all really apart from this gold bracelet.

He held up his wrist which held a golden bracelet which looked like a large bent nail (Yes the ones that Joey and Daniel have irl).

Daniel- I've never taken it off. My parents thought it must be magic since it's actually impossible to get off, look.

He said showing me it simply didn't come off no matter how hard he pulled on it.

Daniel- It was actually kind of funny because at the prison because the guards tried to take it off so they could sell it but they couldn't so they decided they would cut my hand off to get it once I was executed!

Joey- Wow, that's gruesome!

Daniel- Sure is.

We both laughed.

Joey- Your story is so interesting and mysterious. I was literally just born at the castle and that's about it. You said you had adoptive parents, where are they now?

My question seemed to trigger him and he was suddenly sad again, not what I had intended.

Daniel- Well um they're...

I saw tears start to well in his eyes so I halted both of our horses side by side and rubbed his back comfortingly.

Joey- You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.

Daniel- No I want to, my adoptive parents are dead.

He said with tears rolling down his face and I felt so bad for him.

Joey- I'm so sorry Daniel, do you want to tell me how?

Daniel- Their names, they were called Carter and Luke.

Carter and Luke? Those are both male names? What does that have to do with.. oh..

Daniel- They were gay and executed this morning just like I was going to be. The only reason the king decided not to kill me was because I am so young and he said my parents must have corrupted me and i'm obviously not really gay whereas I know for sure that I am.

Joey- Oh my gosh Daniel this is horrible i'm so so sorry. My father is such a horrible man, I hate him! How old actually are you Daniel?

Daniel- Fourteen, what about you?

Joey- Haha i'm older than you, I just turned fifteen in May, you look older than me.

Daniel- Must be because i'm taller, you're quite short haha. Carter and Luke told me I must have been born sometime in December by how old I looked when they found me but I don't know what day.

Joey- Well i'm May the 16th so let's just say your birthday is December the 16th!

Daniel- Wow I've never had a birthday before!

Joey- Didn't you even celebrate at all sometime in December?

Daniel- No, I was always too busy working and it never really mattered to me , not that there was much I could do to celebrate anyways.

Joey- That's sad, I'll make sure to celebrate your first birthday with you this year! For my birthdays my parents always made a really big deal about it and hosted huge balls and stuff. It was really stupid and I would have rather been out riding instead.

Daniel- A ball sounds fun but okay, I look forward to celebrating mine!

We finally reached the foot of the mountain I was going to take him up and the path was about to get narrower and turn single file so we could no longer ride side by side with each other. As I was moving my horse in front of his I turned to face him and he said;

Daniel- I don't know if I can ride up that Joey. It looks really steep with a cliff on the side and I only just learnt how to ride, not to mention on a wild horse I met this morning

He said forgetting his 'Just Joey' nickname for me because of his cute, shy nervousness. He had a point.

Joey- Alright hop off of your horse and tie him to that tree.

He did what I said while looking confused.

Joey- Come here, you can ride on the back of my horse with me and I'll take us up.

He looked worried and unsure about my proposition so I smiled reassuringly.

(A/N; I imagined this part like when Aladdin is taking Jasmine on a magic carpet ride, so cute)

Joey- Come on, don't you trust me?

I said whilst reaching my hand down to him. He grabbed onto my hand and said;

Daniel- Alright, I trust you

(A/N: Hey y'all how are you doing this fine day? I love this chapter so much and I hope you guys do to! Word count; 1225 words, as I said the chapters would get a lot smaller than my first two and I think I will keep most of them about this size. Thanks for reading and please add, vote, comment, give feedback etc. Thanks, love you, see you soon, Good Janiel Bye!!!)