Chapter Text
Hinata sighed and wiped his brow clean of the beads of sweat that were beginning to form. The heat of the throne room was sweltering and intense, and it didn’t help he’d been tasked to sweep the floors - his most recent job as the Court’s newest servant boy. It was under somewhat unfortunate circumstances he had come to work for the royals, having had been caught trying to steal some food from the Royal Kitchen and instead of being fined or jailed, due to his age, he had been required to work instead. Honestly, Hinata wasn’t even that bothered. He got paid, had a nice place to live and got fed, (the royals should probably think of better ‘punishments’) and it took the strain off his family of having to look after and worry for him as well; his little sister needed their care way more than he did, and money had always been tight. His heart squeezed slightly in his chest, thinking back to his family at home always hurt a bit. Their little brick cottage in the village, his mum’s stew, his little sister’s laugh. He missed them, but he wished he didn’t, doubting they would miss him quite the same. Hinata had always been dubbed as the ‘problem child’ - always knocking things over, setting things on fire or breaking his father’s work equipment. He shook his head, an attempt to derail this train of thought about things that were out of his control. His bright orange hair was now damp with sweat, and stuck to his neck and forehead. There was little he wouldn’t do right now to have a long, cold shower. Unfortunately, he had always been a naturally warm person, and he always felt like there was a flame or something burning in his chest uncomfortably. Not a pleasant feeling, to say the least, and especially not in the middle of summer.
In the centre of the throne room, he could vaguely make out excited yet hushed whispers of the princesses and other female nobles, waiting impatiently in line to meet the prince. The Crown Prince. ‘His Royal Highness’ Tobio Kageyama. 17 years old, heir to the Kingdom, and a stubborn prick. Hinata glanced up at him and scowled. He’s never really liked royals, they were stuck up and didn’t care about any people who they deemed ‘underneath’ them, which then meant him. Hinata especially did not like the Crown Prince. He was annoyingly emotionless, didn’t care about anything, refused to attend any royal events or gatherings, and mostly was just a huge dick. And considering Hinata had worked for the Court for just a few days and already had gathered that about the Prince, it said a lot. Kageyama had a mixed reputation, to say the least. Most loved him, some didn’t. Unsavoury (or sometimes highly amusing) rumours spread around the servant’s quarters like a wildfire - Hinata’s current favourite stupid one was that he had once drank way too much milk and ended up in the infirmary with severe indigestion - the more serious one he had caught wind of recently was that the prince had supposedly hit and beat a girl because she wasn’t doing what he said.
As Hinata raised his head to look up at Kageyama again, watching the look of complete disinterest on the Prince’s face as each girl introduced herself, he found it hard to believe he had ever gotten that close to a woman. He looked so bored: his narrow eyes were unfocused, and his expression hardly changed. The prince barely lifted a finger, and even suppressed a yawn at one point. He had all these women practically drooling all over his feet and he was bored. Hinata couldn’t help but scowl, liking this stuck-up ass of a prince even less. Maybe it was jealously. The Prince had everything, and Hinata had nothing. But, there was something annoyingly captivating about Kageyama. Maybe it was his perfectly straight, navy hair that seemed to glimmer in the harsh sun, or perhaps the point of his ears, or even the slight crook to his nose- Hinata paused. This guy is the biggest asshole in the Court, he shouldn’t be thinking nice things about him. It must be the heat, he decides. The repetitive motion of sweeping practically putting him to sleep, combined with the incessant, blazing heat of the August sun, Hinata was certainly a little bit frazzled.
Leaning against the splintering wooden pole of his broom - he's had enough of sweeping - he watches the ceremony (Is that what it was? Hinata wasn’t well versed in the nobles’ customs.) with slight curiosity, his lips formed a small pout and his eyebrows furrowed. The Crown Prince was sitting atop the throne - a stupid, obnoxious thing - covered in ornate gold carvings and plush red velvet. He was slouched, his chin cupped in his hand, his arm leaning on the golden armrest. The sun from the large windows of the throne room hit his face, causing a slight scrunch of his nose and the squint of his eyes. It gave the usually stoic and unimpressed boy a slightly boyish look to him, which if Hinata didn’t hate him completely, probably would’ve thought it to be cute. His mother, the queen consort, was stood next to him. She kept glancing at the prince, a touch of disapproval - or was it worry? in her sharp eyes. She smiled, though, as the next girl from the long line of what seemed to be admirers or suitors approached the throne and curtsied. Hinata studied the girl closely. She was pleasant, he supposed, with her neat golden ringlets and rosy pink cheeks. Her lips were covered with a thick layer of rose-coloured, shiny gloss that shimmered prettily when the sun caught on them. She had round, hopeful eyes, that glistened when she looked at the prince’s face, as if she was madly in love with him. That was probably true, to be honest, the prince was well known across the kingdom - for his ‘dashing’ and ‘striking’ looks, and his ‘stoicism’ and ‘level of maturity’. Hinata continued observing the scene, watching as the girl introduced herself, and dipped into another curtsy, the skirt of her frilly pink dress bobbing up and down with her. The queen then nudged her son, which was received with a grunt of dismissal.
Hinata jolted as he felt a sharp tap on his shoulder, and turns around quickly, supressing a sigh. He had really wanted to know what the girl was going to do. Looking up, he’s met with the stern face of his supervisor - a man called Ukai.
“Hinata.” Ukai said, his voice sharp and unimpressed.
“Yes, sir?” he squeaks, stiffening.
“Come with me. You’re being assigned to a new part of the palace.” The older man’s lips curve into a small frown, assessing Hinata, and the very obvious lack of cleaning that had been going on. “Not like you did much here, but I’ll overlook that this time.”
Hinata felt the heat rise to his cheeks. He’d been too distracted with the prince to do his job properly. The prince! He was supposed to hate him, for crying out loud!
“Uh- I’m s-sorry, sir!”
“Yeah, whatever. Follow me.” the man said, turning swiftly on his heel and leaving the throne room through the little wooden servant’s door. Hinata scurried after him, having to practically trot to keep up with Ukai’s long strides.
“Sir? Um, you mentioned me being assigned to a new place?”
Ukai grunts in acknowledgement. “I did,” he paused to cough, “There’s a shortage of staff for the family’s quarters. There’s a vacancy for the Crown Prince’s rooms.”
Hinata almost chokes on his own spit. “What? But, sir, I don’t have any experience.” He jogs a few steps to walk in line with Ukai, looking up at him with confused, wide eyes.
“Doesn’t matter. We can train you. The crown prince is one of our highest priorities.”
Hinata could’ve sworn that his supervisor said ‘unfortunately’ afterwards, but he masked it with a well timed splutter. Having fallen behind yet again, he runs forward to catch up. If he could help it, he did not want to be folding the Prince’s clothes and lighting his fire for him.
“But, sir, am I really the only option?”
The older man sighed. “Yeah, and bloody stop asking questions. You’re technically a criminal and we could fire you at any point. Just do as you’re told.”
That shut Hinata up. Pointing his gaze at the floor, he followed Ukai into his office in the basement, where all the servant’s quarters were, as well as the kitchens and laundry rooms. He watches as the man goes behind his desk and crouches down, rummaging in the drawers for a moment. He pulls out a thick wad of paper, and shoves it unceremoniously into Hinata’s unprepared hands. Scrambling to hold them all properly, he asks,
“Sir, what are these?”
“That’s your timetable and chores list. Make sure you follow it. I’ll get Sugawara to check up on you at some point,” he said, pulling a cigarette out his pocket, “Now, get lost.”
Hinata practically trips over his own feet in his hurry to leave, calling, “Yes, sir! Thank you and bye!”
Fuck! Why him? Hinata didn’t want to have to practically babysit the prince. That’s pretty much his worst nightmare, yet here he was, living it. Even though he didn’t show it, sweeping wasn’t that bad, and right now, he would most definitely prefer that. Images of the prince yelling at him for misplacing his sock, or not fluffing up his pillows up enough flashed through his mind. Hinata was not looking forward to this.
Almost running down the winding corridors and up the steps, he wasn’t actually sure where he was supposed to be going. The prince’s quarters were somewhere on the 3rd floor, that much he knew, but being fairly new to the Court’s staff, he didn’t really have a mental map of the palace yet. He stumbled up way too many flights of stairs, and out of breath, decides to orientate himself. Spotting the large, looming oak doors to the library, he now had a vague idea of where he was. He set off in that direction, turning the corner when-
Wham!
Hinata collides directly into a firm, warm surface, and promptly trips over his bootlace in his attempt to get away and lands flat on his behind, the papers Ukai had given him going everywhere, like a dandelion’s seeds being aggressively blown away by an over-excited child. Looking up at what he’d just crashed into, all colour drained from his face. Of course this would happen to him.
Tobio Kageyama. The Crown Prince, who was currently staring down at him with an unreadable expression on his face.
Shit, shit, shit! He’s gonna yell at me and then fire me and then I’ll be poor and homeless and starving and how have I already fucked this job up twice already, oh my god-
“Sorry,” a low voice grunted and then added after a pause, “Watch where you’re going.”
Hinata blinked. What? Had the prince just apologised to him? Something’s definitely not right. Why would he just apologise? Okay, yeah, he’d told Hinata to watch where he was going but he still apologised first. The prince was already gone by the time he opened his mouth to respond. He stayed on the floor, mouth open like a fish in a small ‘O’, his timetables scattered around him.
“Are you alright?” a new, much kinder voice asks carefully.
Refocusing his gaze, Hinata glanced up at the source. He had silvery hair, gentle eyes and an easy-going, bright smile. It was apparent he was a butler - characterised by the smart black three-piece suit and a white bow tie - but also oversaw some of the servants’ work, judging by how he’d stopped to check on Hinata. Collecting himself and getting to his feet, Hinata responds, his voice a bit shaky.
“Um, yeah, I’m okay.”
The butler smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Good,” he says, bending down to pick up some of the papers Hinata had dropped. “The prince is scary, huh?”
The boy laughs nervously.
“Terrifying.”
The silver haired man chuckled softly. “Don’t worry. I’ve been working for him for a few years now, I’ll help you get used to him. Koushi Sugawara, by the way.”
“Shoyo Hinata, sir. Thank you.” he breathed a sigh of relief. This was the guy Ukai had mentioned earlier, accidentally coming to check on him, probably not how it was supposed to have happened. Thank the lord for nice, pretty butlers. Maybe he’d be able to get through this somewhat more unscathed than what he originally thought.