A/n: This chapter contains a few references to After the Roar, but you don't need to read it to understand what's going on. Everything in this chapter will be self-contained and self-explanatory.

Also, the title of this chapter is an intentional nod to "Yahoos and Triangles," the theme song of King of the Hill. I've never seen the show, and I don't know what the title was supposed to mean, so I'm providing my own interpretation, and any additional reference to King of the Hill is entirely coincidental.

Thanks for reading, y'all.

Chapter 2: Triangles and Yahoos

A horrible silence fell over the jungle as Simba stared into the cub's eyes. A little bundle of life had been made by his power and without his knowledge, and it was now looking up into the face of this gigantic creature, wriggling as if it wanted to run, and gazing as if it couldn't pull its eyes away. Simba wished he could know what it was thinking. Did it know he was the father, or did it even want him to be its father? Did the words "Dad" and "Daddy" have to be taught, or did every cub know them by instinct? Maybe that cub knew who Simba was, and it would grow up never forgiving him for running off. Or maybe it didn't, and Simba could raise it and give it the life it deserved.

And the ringing of Ashanti's words in his ears was like a distant reverberation that made him turn his head a little too late. "Simba, you have to make a choice."

With a lift of his manèd head, he stared agog at the lionesses with his mouth hanging open, as if he were waiting for a stray sentence to flutter onto his tongue.

"Simba, you don't have to make a choice," Nala said softly. "Just let her join the pride."

"No, Simba!" Ashanti snapped. "I'm not going to stand aside while you two raise my child. Who's it going to be: me or Nala?"

With a lift of his manèd head, he stared agog at the lionesses with his mouth hanging open, as if he were waiting for a stray sentence to flutter onto his tongue. "Why can't I take both of you in?"

"I'm not fighting with your princess," Ashanti said. "But I will if I have to."

"I don't scare easily," Nala said with an edge in her voice. "Two months ago, I killed a prince to save Simba's life. After that, some of his people tried to kill us with a blood fever. If it wasn't for us, dozens of people would be dead by now. And most of all, I'm pregnant. We're going to have a family any day now. So getting me to back down won't be as easy as you think."

"Oh, try me, princess."

"You don't know what you're asking—"

"Whoa, whoa, guys!" Simba said as he leapt into the middle of the fray. "You don't have to do this!"

"Simba, this is why you have to talk to the pride," Nala said. "The Great Kings had one queen, so there wouldn't be a competition. I don't want to fight with Ashanti, and I don't want to fight for your love."

"But Nala, what if I—?"

He held back the rest, but it was there on his tongue, just as it was in his eyes and in his smile. She was his first, his last, and his only. She was his queen and best friend, betrothed to him before they ever knew the meaning of the word. He knew he had to look away from Ashanti and Kopa once and for all, and he had to nuzzle Nala and affirm his love, as a proper king should. But then his eyes fell on the little child in the grass, and his heart began to melt like a kahuna colada in the afternoon sun. He tried to lock eyes on Nala and pull himself toward her, but he couldn't look away forever and turned back to the cub. A mighty and primitive longing welled up within him, to be with that cub and be its father, to play with it when it grew up, and to teach it all the ways of the Pride Lands. And that longing was inescapable, and it was so right and so fitting, he didn't want to escape it.

Just then, his eyes wandered over to Ashanti, and he caught himself too late. He tried to hide his face, but she saw it, and she let out a sigh and padded away. "I'm outta here."

"...What?"

"I'm gone. Just forget it, Simba. Just forget about me like you did before." With a wag of her head, she bent down over the cub and picked him up by the scruff, and she padded out of the clearing as Simba followed close behind.

"Simba, what are you doing?"

"That's my son, Nala. It's my son!"

But Nala kept flashing an angry look, and no desperation on his face took it away. "This isn't over, Simba. I don't care if I'm going back with you or going back alone; I'm telling the pride about this, and they'll decide what to do about us."

"Come on, Nala," he said. "Please don't give up on us."

"You're the one giving up. Just like you gave up on her."

He gave a flinch as the barbs of her words went deep, but he composed himself and turned to Ashanti with an ambivalent sigh. "Please come back with us."

"Why?" she murmured in a muffled voice, and she laid the cub between her paws. "What are you gonna make me, Simba? Your advisor? One of your soldiers? Or one of your servants going on hunting parties while your bride whisks you into the night?"

"You'll always be Kopa's mom. He needs you, just like he needs me."

"He needs his mother, with or without you. Look, Simba, I see it in your face, I hear it in your voice. You'd rather be with her."

"That's not true," he whispered. "I care about Kopa, and I care about you."

"How am I supposed to believe you? Everything about our relationship was a lie."

"I know, Ashanti, and I'm sorry. But I didn't run off because I was afraid. I ran off because I had to go home. Someone told me my kingdom was in trouble, and I had to take care of it."

She stared into his eyes for a moment, showing a hint of pride and admiration, but then brushed it away with a wag of her head. "Even if I believed you, what's going to happen if I go back? The second they lay their eyes on me, they'll chase me out. And even if they didn't, what's going to happen to Kopa? He's going to fall in love with you and Nala, and he's going to reject me. I'll have no place in the pride, and I'll be as good as dead. I'm outta here."

"Ashanti, don't go," Simba said with a hint of a sob. "My father died when I was little. I don't want my son growing up without me. I want to give him the life I never had, the life he deserves."

"Simba, I want that, too," Ashanti said softly. "But I want to go back with you; I don't just want to follow you. When your pride looks at me, they'll know I'm a stranger, and they'll never let me in. And even if they did, what's going to happen to Kopa? He's going to fall in love with you and Nala, and he's going to reject me. I'll have no place in the pride, and when that happens, I'm as good as dead."

"You're the mother of my child. You deserve to join my pride. And even if they didn't want you, you'd be better off in the Pride Lands than anywhere else."

Ashanti stared dully at Simba and gave him a cynical scoff. "So am I going to be your queen, or no? You've got to stand up for my son."

"What about me?" Nala said. "You married me. You've got to stand up for me."

And Simba once again found himself standing in the crosshairs of the lionesses' gaze. Their faces were hard and stern, and their eyes were full of longing, for an answer, for a resolution—for him. And a quaky breath wove its way out of his mouth as he said:

"Ashanti, I want you to come with us. We'll talk about this with the pride and see what they say."

"Oh, wow, where's your spine? You can't even make up your own mind, so you have the ladies do it for you."

He ignored her and turned to Nala. "I'll talk with your mom. I don't know what the law says, and I think I oughta know."

"How can you be like that?" Nala said. "You know what the Great Kings did to us. Your grandfather started a war to keep his people in line, and when you messed up his plans, he tried to kill us. You can't worry about what the Great Kings would think. This is your reign, your kingdom, your rules. You do what you think is right."

But he kept staring agog at them. He wanted Nala all along; he felt like he had to be with Nala all along. But Ashanti was quite lovely, and being the mother of his child made her even more lovely.

"Let's just go back tonight, and we'll talk this out. OK?" And without another word, he began to pad out of the oasis and trudge in the twilit sand of the desert.

"You coward," Ashanti muttered as she reached down to pick up Kopa in her jaws. "You can't even do one good thing for your son."

"This is just what I wanted, a honeymoon with your ex," Nala whispered into Simba's other ear. "You need to act like a king, or you'll lose both of us...and you'll lose your kingdom."

He gave them no reply. He kept padding on through the sands and ignoring the heavy anger on both his flanks. He kept thinking of something to say to fill the silence, even though it was going to be a long walk and the silence would be a closer companion than they.

And then his thoughts ran back to his pride. If they saw him walking up to them with Ashanti, what would they think? They were already expecting Nala to come back from her royal honeymoon beaming with joy and love, so what would they think of him now? Worse, Simba had been on intimate terms with Nala when she found him in the jungle, and it was nearly two months on and she was only days away from bearing a litter. What would the pride do if Simba brought Ashanti into their midst and said, "She was my mate, and I'm the father"? Banishing Ashanti and Kopa wasn't out of the question. Forcing him to divorce Nala and marry Ashanti wasn't, either, just so he'd prove to them he was responsible. He kept trudging through the sands and watching twilight turn to night as he struggled to lift his fearful head high.

What am I gonna do?