#he's here to tell Eros he's being a prick and that he can't just throw Thena over his shoulder and walk off

[softquietsteadylove]

Declaration of War

For @oldtvserieslover 's birthday, after asking about something for the Gladiator AU!

"My name is Eros," the newcomer smiled in a way that made both the queen and her daughter bristle. "And you, Princess, are as beautiful as the legends say."

His statement was accompanied by an up-and-down of her with his hungry eyes.

"Prince Eros," Ajak addressed him directly, and rather kindly, given the way he was looking at her daughter. "We welcome you to the tournament of Champions. You have come to challenge?"

"Indeed I have," the Prince grinned at them, bowing his mane of hair slightly to them. "I believe my selected champions will stand a great chance of beating you this time around, my Lady."

"Hm," Thena vocalised, mostly to herself. Her eyes drifted from the challenger in title to the actual fighters accompanying him.

They were lined up, facing their own gladiators. There was one who was clearly their first pick to win. He stood like a beast, massive in height and still heavily muscled. His face hardly even seemed human.

He was staring down Gilgamesh.

"We shall see," Ajak offered diplomatically, offering a polite sort of smile to the visiting Prince. "We have yet to be bested in the past years."

"Actually, I was hoping to propose," the Prince stepped back into proximity with the ladies, "higher stakes."

"Such as," Ajak frowned, backing up a step, incidentally pushing Thena further back as well.

"Such as a proposal," he tipped his chin up, his eyes shifting to Thena as if Ajak had disappeared from his line of sight. "I propose that my prize is the hand of the Lady herself."

"What?" Gilgamesh spoke up from his end of the line, although no one but Thena even looked at him as he spoke.

"That is hardly-" Ajak blinked as the Prince swooped down in a deep bow.

"I ask that if my chosen gladiators win, that I win the hand of the princess," he spoke downward, expressing a humility that he completely lacked just a moment ago. "The treasury I'm offering as a bet on my warriors is triple that of our other competitors."

Indeed, the funds offered by the brazen prince would provide for their coffers very nicely.

"And if we win?" Thena challenged, although something about the Prince's sly gaze and the presence of that beast of a man made her skin crawl.

Eros cocked his head at her with a grin that she could only imagine would have his concubines melting. "Why, you may ask anything you like, my darling bride. Since I intend to win no matter the challenge posed."

"We haven't even fought yet."

At last, the other royals present looked at Gilgamesh, still speaking up with no regard for if it was considered insolent of him - a mere fighter for the crown - or not. He met their critical glares without fear, shrugging his wide shoulders. "You could at least let her set her own conditions."

Thena shook her head ever so faintly, urging him to stay silent on the matter. She had come to enjoy speaking with him, and her mother - having become aware of this rapport between them - tolerated it. But most who were part of royalty did not welcome interruptions by civilians.

Eros chuckled, giving Gilgamesh a different kind of smile. It was still a smile, and still meant to appear affable. But this one was sharper edged and colder--the tilt of his head was so...demeaning. "Did you say something, brute?"

"Yeah, I did," Gil continued, undeterred by Eros' obvious disgust with him. His fists clenched, "it's pretty ballsy of you to come in here and demand to marry the princess. The least you could do is accept the conditions if you lose."

"Well, I don't intend to lose, so by all means," the prince bared his teeth at Gil now, like a predator toying with prey it knew it could outrun. "Set any conditions you like."

"Gil," Thena whispered, but he stepped up to Eros (and in front of her).

Gil got right in the Prince's face, who happily let him, meeting his challenge with a manic delight. "Speak up, pleb."

"If I win," Gil started without even considering the other gladiators selected alongside him. It was always just him by the final rounds of the tournament anyway. "Thena gets to marry anyone she chooses."

"The Lady may select her own groom," Eros postulated, emphasising the proper title for her, in contrast to Gil's overly familiar use of her given name. "What a peculiar thought."

Gil stood firm on the spot, even with the beast of a challenger moving forward and breathing like a bull ready to charge. "She gets to make her own choice. And no one gets to say a damn thing about it--not you, or anyone else."

"Hm," Eros raised his brows at Gil's adamant proposal. He looked amused by the resolve he showed and stepped away from the shorter but significantly more strongly built man. "Fine, I accept your little wager."

Thena glared at him again. Her life and freedom was a 'little wager', apparently.

"But know this, Gilgamesh," Eros turned his eyes on him again, voice sharp and eyes cold. "I do not intend to leave this place empty handed."

"I don't care what you intend," Gil snarled at him, finally backing up but not moving away from Thena behind him as Eros walked off and beckoned for his chosen fighters to follow. "You're not coming anywhere near her."

Ajak let out a breath as the prince and his entourage descended the steps to their mezzanine. She looked at the guards, who were hovering with their weapons, waiting for the word to be given about how the lowly gladiator was standing inappropriately close to the princess. Ajak shook her head, "relax, all of you."

The guards stood back against the walls, although Gil was still glaring at where Eros and his gladiators had vanished. He huffed, crossing his arms, "the nerve of that guy."

"Gil," Thena cut in, glaring at him (and forgetting that she too was addressing him far too casually).

"What?" he shrank back at her obvious ire. "D-Did I do something wrong?"

"Y-You-!" Thena pinched her full lips together, pressing her fingers together before she could make a real fist with them. "That thing with him will be out for your blood, after that altercation!"

"Well," he shrugged at her as if he were talking with anyone else and not the crown princess herself. "He was going to be anyway, right?"

"That's not the point!"

"Thena," Ajak scolded, watching her daughter squabble with one of their own fighters.

"I'm sorry," Gilgamesh conceded, bowing his head to his monarchs. "To both of you, my Lady. But I couldn't just...I couldn't let him think-"

"You have issued a very serious challenge, Gilgamesh," Ajak addressed him firmly but not unkindly. "This cannot be taken lightly."

"It won't be," he assured his queen before turning to his princess. "I'll win."

Thena bit down on the inside of her lip, "you can't know that will happen."

"I can, I'll make it happen," he affirmed, stating it as boldly as he would state any fact about the ocean being deep or the sun being bright. He held her eyes, not letting her fear sway him at all. "I'll win, Thena."

Ajak cleared her throat. That was quite enough use of given names for now. She would have to address it later. "Come--you must prepare for the first round of fights."

"Yes," Gil bowed, stepping back into the line, where his fellow competitors were staring slack jawed at him for yet again speaking with the princess audaciously.

"And you," Ajak turned to Thena, whose face betrayed her nervousness for just a second. "Come with me."

"Yes, mother," Thena murmured, indeed following Ajak up the stairs to the shaded platform for their respective thrones. She looked behind her.

Gil offered a faint smile and a little wave, same as he did every time he saw her, no matter the distance between them.

Thena's eyes were drawn and her frown was heavy, but she still managed to wave back at him as they drifted apart.