Guila left the tavern at two-o-clock. She stayed longer than she had intended to.

Helbram waved as she left, and then he turned his attention back to Ban, who had fallen asleep in his stool. Helbram glared at him, the annoyance on his face evident. Helbram tossed a handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth.

He fell asleep. What a lazy bum. He might be lazier than Harlequin. I wonder if…

Helbram moved his stool a bit closer to Ban. He slammed his foot down hard onto Ban's foot.

Ban yelped, his eyes flung open. Helbram had a gleeful smile upon his lips. Ban looked over at him, anger and pain mixed on his face. He asked through clenched teeth,

"Why did you do that!?"

Ban's foot throbbed, but Helbram was smirking gleefully.

"You were sleeping and I got bored~, so I decided to wake you up. You know it's two in the afternoon, right~?"

Ban sighed as his head met the table.

Why do these fairies keep ruining my sleep? Wait, two in the… Does he want me to cook for him?

Ban pulled his head up and looked at Helbram, a bored expression on his face.

"Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

He got up heading for the kitchen, but Helbram just watched him, replying,

"No, I'm not hungry. I was just bored."

Ban noticed it was just them in the tavern. He asked,

"Where did Elizabeth and the Cap'n go?"

"Out."

Helbram was still watching Ban from his seat, taking another handful of sunflower seeds.

Ban looked over at him,

"You can move closer, I'm not going to bite you."

"I know."

He got up, grabbed the vase Guila had brought him, walked over to the bar, and sat in the stool closest to where Ban was. He could see Ban had an assortment of different things to cook with. Helbram questioned Ban.

"What are you making?"

Ban gazed over at him,

"Why, you hungry~?"

Helbram pouted, resting his arm on the bar, his cheek sitting in his palm.

"I just wanted to know was all. I told you, I'm bored. Do you have a tea kettle back there? I figured I could make sunflower tea with these."

Helbram pulled lightly on the petals of the sunflowers.

Ban smirked.

"No tea kettle sorry, but if you're so bored, why don't you tell me what you meant earlier when you said you were a knight? Like a holy knight or fairy knight?"

Helbram picked his head up, staring at Ban.

He remembers the oddest details.

Helbram didn't want to say anything, but he figured he would amuse the human.

"You've seen the other fairies, they're small...and you know Harlequin, Elaine, and myself are bigger than most of them. Some are almost as big as us but not quite. Most are about two-foot to four-foot-tall. I'm five-foot four-inches. Harlequin is an inch shorter than me, and Elaine is five-foot exactly. The reason being is that we're high-ranked fairies, picked by the sacred tree to protect the forest and the rest of our people. All it really means is we just have more magic and can utilize the sacred tree's power...Though I guess Elaine's the only one who was able to protect the forest."

He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment

"Anyway, Harlequin's the Fairy King, Elaine's technically a princess in waiting, and I'm a knight, meant to serve the forest and my king. But those titles don't mean much in fairy culture. Only the title of king matters."

Ban said in a surprised tone,

"Is that why you're stronger than King?"

Helbram glared at him.

"I'm physically stronger than Harlequin if that's what you mean. I do have incredibly strong magic, but Harlequin and Elaine have stronger magic than me. Right now, though Harlequin's magic is a little below mine. However, as soon as his wings come in, he'll surpass me easily. In fact, he'll probably be the strongest Fairy King in fairy history when his wings fully come in."

Ban cocked an eyebrow.

"Huh, ok that's good to hear, but like, have you always loved King…romantically? Is it because you're his knight or whatever? Did the sacred tree make you love him romantically or did you just fall for him?"

Helbram burst out laughing.

Ban gazed at him in shock, asking,

"What's so funny, mister knight?"

Helbram tried to catch his breath but couldn't. It was just too funny.

Ban regained his bored expression as he watched Helbram laugh, he was holding the sides of his stomach.

Finally, the fairy seemed to calm down. Wiping a tear from his eye, he said gleefully,

"I hated Harlequin the first time we met~. I pushed him out of a tree to see if he could fly because he didn't have a pair of wings yet. Needless to say, he broke an arm, and the Fairy King at the time scolded me. I also made fun of him constantly. My personal favorite was calling him Harle-cry cause he's a cry-baby. I would also push him around, throw dirt at him, and pull on his face. And, of course, I'd make fun of his lack of wings. This was all before Elanie was born, mind you."

Now Ban burst out laughing, slamming his fist on the tabletop trying to catch his breath. When he finally stopped, he asked,

"If you hated him so much, what changed your mind about him? What made him your best friend?"

Helbram gazed at the bar top with a loving gleam in his eyes, a blush color in his cheeks.

"He wouldn't give up on finding me. You see, when we were kids we were playing 'treetops'. It's basically hide'n'seek, and Harlequin was it. We all hid, but I, unfortunately, decided to hide in a tree that was outside the forest. I waited all day to be found, but no one came. So I decided to quit the game since the sun was going down. On my way back, I ran into a forest beast. It almost had me for dinner, that is until Harlequin came and grabbed me out of the way of its jaws. He pulled me to safety in another tree. I wanted to know why he did that, and do you know what he said?"

Ban looked up from his preparations, answering,

"He told you that he loved you~?"

"What? No! He said 'I was worried, I looked all day and couldn't find you. Thank goodness you're okay.' He was crying the whole time he said that too. And all I could do was ask him why he did it. Why was he so worried about me? I didn't get it. I had been nothing but mean to him, and I pulled cruel pranks on him, yet he was still worried about me. He said he was worried because I was his best friend."

Ban held in laughter as he placed swiss cheese onto his sandwich.

Helbram placed his head back into his hands, a dreamy gaze on his face. He spoke jovially,

"He took all my pranks as signs of being friends. I was amazed to hear this from him. I thought he knew that I hated him, but instead he said we were best friends. After that, the current Fairy King came and saved us… then scolded us both. I guess after that day I started to like Harlequin. I at least stopped pulling mean, cruel pranks on him. I started to hang around him after that too. I was trying to understand why this cry-baby was saying I was his best friend. Before I knew it, I was becoming attached to that idiot, and after a hundred years or so, I realized that he was my best friend too."

Ban smiled at Helbram as he bit into his freshly made sandwich. And as Helbram noticed Bans gaze, a burning sensation started to form in the pit of his stomach.

I don't like that gleam in his eye. What's he up to? Did he…

Helbram got up and slammed his hands on the counter, his top set of wings fluttering up. The burning sensation filled his body.

"You tricked me into talking about Harlequin! Didn't you!?"

Ban smiled victoriously, as he proceeded to slide a piece of apple pie towards Helbram. Helbram looked at it and then back to Ban. Anger shot out from his eyes.

Ban spoke nonchalantly,

"I didn't trick you, I just asked some questions, is all. You~ went on about the past, not me. Besides, I won't tell King. That pie is my peace offering."

Helbram scowled at Ban as he sat back down, his wings returning to laying flat against his back.

Shit, he's got me there… He's smarter than he looks.

He gazed at the pie sighing in defeat.

"Give me a fork, I'll accept your peace offering."

Ban grinned as he handed Helbram a fork.

-several hours later-

The festival had just started and the Boar's Hat Tavern was open for business. Ban, who was at his table with Helbram, looked at the fairy asking,

"You know the tavern is open now, that means people will be coming here to drink. Can you handle that?"

Helbram glared at Ban,

"I played the part of a holy knight for eight years, I think I can handle a tavern full of drunks."

Ban gave him a skeptic look.

"What if one of them touches you and you lose it? You know, like earlier today?"

Helbram picked up his stool and begrudgingly moved next to Ban so that his back was to the wall. He smiled victoriously at Ban.

"There, problem solved~."

Ban cocked an eyebrow in amusement.

"Ok, so you're going to sit next to me all night?"

"Only 'till Harlequin gets back."

Ban stared at him.

He's going to sit here waiting for King all night?

"Why don't you get some sleep? King will probably be out all night with Diane. After all, this is his first date with her."

Helbram had a somber look on his face as he leaned against the wall.

"I know, that's why I want to talk to him afterward. You know, get all the details on how it went."

Ban raised his eyebrows in surprise as he spoke.

"You want to hear how his date went even though it wasn't with you, and, you know, you're in love with him!?"

"Harlequin's happiness is what matters here. Even if I'm upset about it, if he's happy, then I'm happy."

Ban was in disbelief.

What a guy, I could never do that. It probably hurts though, knowing it's Diane and not him… Time to get him drunk. That'll make him happy and make sure that when King comes back, Helbram will hopefully tell him how he feels about him.

"Okay."

Ban got up and walked behind the bar. He came back with two beer-steins and a barrel of Vanya ale on each shoulder.

Helbram looked at him in awe, asking

"What are you doing? Are you going to drink all that by yourself?"

Ban placed the steins on the table, then set the barrels down. He opened one and filled the mugs. He placed one in front of Helbram and gave him a devilish grin.

"Nah, we're drinking together~."

Helbram picked up the mug and examined it saying,

"I don't like alcohol, it tastes nasty."

"Ugh, just like King. Look, let's play a drinking game."

Helbrams ears and wings twitched slightly as he gave Ban an interested glare.

"A drinking game? You can play a game with alcohol. How do you play?"

He likes games, huh? He'll love this then, it must be the first time he's heard of a drinking game.

Ban spoke gleefully,

"Oh, it's an easy game. You tell the other person something about yourself, they guess whether it's true or false. If they guess right the person who told the other about themselves drinks but if they guess wrong the person who guessed has to drink. Simple right~?"

Helbram understood the rules quickly and, unfortunately, his love for games was slowly consuming his common sense to refuse to play. He picked up the mug and clanked it against Ban's giving him a smug grin.

"Alright, I'll play. It sounds fun."

Ban smiled.

"I'll start simple... I'm in love with Elaine."

"True."

Helbram said, Ban smiled as he held his mug out saying,

"Sure is~!"

He chugged his ale, slamming the stein down when about half the mug was empty.

Helbram watched in awe as Ban drank.

Ban smiled at him.

"Your turn~!"

"Um, I like sunflowers."

Helbram spoke half-heartedly.

Ban smiled at him, answering,

"That's true~."

Helbram looked at his mug in wonder, asking,

"Do I have to drink as much as you? Does it matter?"

Bans' smile fell for a moment but returned as a devilish idea popped into his mind.

"You don't have to match how much I drank. But~ If you want to play right, you'll have to. Unless you're too scared to."

Helbram narrowed his eyes at Ban as he picked up the mug and drank the ale. He never broke eye contact with Ban. Helbram slammed his stein down next to Bans.

Ban could see that Helbram had matched him. He had half a mug left. Ban smiled.

This is going to be fun~