Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a prince named Zanka who lived in a castle of white stone.
He was strong enough to split practice dummies in half with a single swing of his spear. He trained from dawn until dusk, and every knight in the kingdom respected him.
Yet Zanka thought he was weak.
His older brother had always been stronger. His older sister had always been faster. They trained him relentlessly, and whenever he failed, his brother would sigh and say, "You're still weak."
So no matter how much stronger he became, Zanka never believed it was enough.
He trained harder.
He spoke less.
He smiled rarely.
And then there was Jabber.
Jabber was the castle fool.
Or perhaps a menace pretending to be one.
Nobody was entirely sure.
He stole food from the kitchens, lied for fun, and started arguments simply because he liked watching people yell. He laughed when people got angry. He laughed when people got sad. Sometimes he laughed for no reason at all.
The servants feared him.
The guards hated him.
And Jabber thought Prince Zanka was the funniest person in the kingdom.
"You're frowning again" Jabber would say.
"I always frown."
"I know. That's why it's funny."
Then he'd run away before Zanka could throw something at him.
Every day Jabber found a new way to annoy him.
He hid Zanka's training spear.
He replaced royal documents with terrible drawings.
He once spent an entire week spreading rumors that the prince secretly cried whenever he saw kittens.
Zanka nearly strangled him.
Yet somehow Jabber always came back.
One evening, after a particularly brutal training session, Zanka sat alone in the palace gardens.
His hands ached.
His muscles burned.
His brother's voice echoed in his mind.
"Weak."
He hated that word.
A bell jingled behind him.
Jabber.
Of course.
The fool dropped from a tree upside down, hanging by his knees.
"You look miserable."
"Go away."
"You know, if you keep making that face, it'll freeze like that."
Zanka ignored him.
For once, Jabber didn't laugh.
Instead, he tilted his head.
"Why do you train so much?"
"To become stronger."
"You already are."
"No."
"You are."
"No."
Jabber stared at him.
Then he suddenly dropped from the tree and landed beside him.
The jester's usual grin had disappeared.
"You're stupid."
Zanka's eye twitched.
"What?"
"Your brother says you're weak, so you believe him."
"That's none of your business."
"It is now."
"It isn't."
"It is."
Zanka stood up, furious.
"I don't need advice from a lunatic."
Jabber barked out a laugh.
"Good. Because I'm not giving advice."
He poked Zanka's chest.
Hard.
"You protect everyone."
Another poke.
"You work harder than anybody."
Another.
"You'd throw yourself in front of a sword for people who don't even appreciate it."
Zanka grabbed Jabber's wrist before he could poke him again.
The fool didn't pull away.
Instead he smiled.
Not his usual cruel grin.
A smaller one.
A real one.
"I think you're plenty strong."
For some reason, those words hurt more than any insult.
Because Zanka realized nobody had ever said them before.
Not his brother.
Not his sister.
Nobody.
Only the crazy fool who spent half his life tormenting him.
Jabber looked away first.
"Don't get emotional on me, Prince."
"I'm not emotional."
"You are."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Zanka tightened his grip.
Jabber laughed.
"There he is."
The prince should have shoved him away.
He should have yelled.
Instead he found himself reluctant to let go.
Jabber noticed.
Unfortunately.
His grin immediately became insufferable.
"Oh."
"No."
"Ohhh."
"No."
"You like me."
"I do not."
"You absolutely do."
Zanka released him immediately.
Jabber doubled over laughing.
The prince turned bright red.
For weeks afterward, Jabber never let him forget it.
And whenever someone asked why the fool followed Prince Zanka everywhere, Jabber would grin and say,
"Because he's my favorite person to annoy."
Meanwhile, whenever someone suggested Zanka cared about Jabber, the prince would grow angry enough to scare the entire room.
But he never told Jabber to leave.
And Jabber never did.
So the stern prince and the maddening fool remained together, arguing every day and walking home side by side every night.
And though Zanka denied loving him until the very end, everyone in the kingdom knew the truth.
Especially Jabber.
Who never stopped laughing about it.