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Sebastian scowled as he examined his expression in the floor to ceiling mirror, ornately embellished around the sides in gold leaf. There was very little in the world that he hated quite as much as his “special occasions” suit. There was a cape, and everything. Didn’t his mother realise how irritating that was when he was playing with Hunter? He constantly got stuck in things, and Hunter would just watch him and snigger.
He would sniff and make some comment about how Hunter really should be making the effort to help his future king, but his best friend didn’t particularly care about things like that - even though as the son of the royal cook, he probably should have paid more respect.
Hunter was nowhere to be seen that morning; Sebastian assumed his mother had impressed on him, too, what an important day it was and been sent packing back to the kitchens where he belonged. Sebastian didn’t much like the peasants he’d seen when they drove in the carriage through town, but he didn’t mind Hunter. He was a much better friend than his silly advisors, anyway.
Which brought him back to the suit, a disgustingly soft padded thing, all for the sake of some other boy prince who was coming to visit with his elder brother from the neighboring realm. His mother had said something about how they were to be married one day, but Sebastian wasn’t really sure what that meant. Hopefully that he’d never have to see Prince Blaine again after the summer.
Prince Blaine turned out to be an unruly, munchkin-sized thing, his big brown eyes just peeking out from underneath a mess of curls, as he glanced hesitantly between his brother and Sebastian. Cooper encouraged him forward, Sebastian getting a similar shove from his own mother, coming face to face with the boy.
“So happy to be here,” Blaine mumbled, giving him a small bow and a half smile.
“Sebastian,” his mother hissed from behind him, and gritting his teeth, he replied dutifully: “so happy you could come.”
He turned around to retreat, hoping that was the ordeal over with, but his mother gave him a stern look until he stomped back over, grabbing Blaine’s hand and planting a wet kiss to the top of it.
Blaine’s look of disgust mirrored his own, although at least the other boy tried to hide where he was wiping his hand on his equally hideous suit.
Sebastian had thought they’d reached a mutual agreement, whereby both parties left each other well alone and did not attempt contact except for some forced conversation over the dinner table to please their families.
But by mid-July, Blaine was apparently bored of exploring the castle by himself, Cooper often out doing important things with his mother, and took to tagging around after Sebastian and Hunter all over the place. They tried their best to outrun his little legs, to slam doors in his face and trip him over with strategically placed piles of fruit.
Often, they were rewarded with looking back to find Blaine collapsed in a heap, tears gathering in his eyes before he resolutely got up and walked off in the other direction. As the summer went on, however, Sebastian had to admit it got less and less entertaining to see Blaine cry.
Sebastian enjoyed two blissful summers without Blaine around his castle, and then he was back, still just as short, but significantly less baby-ish around the face as he had remembered him to be. His hair had been cut back a little out of his eyes, and he’d stopped clutching the little blanket he’d had before.
Maybe Sebastian could have endured playing with Blaine that year - or, at least, the guards kept laughing at his jokes, and they never laughed at his. But Blaine had other ideas, and the only time he saw him was when he was the one falling over in piles of fruit and getting discreetly laughed at from behind closed doors.
By September, he’d had to wash squished plums out of his hair countless times and Sebastian had decided he would never, ever give Blaine the benefit of the doubt, again.
Which, of course, was far easier said than done, when Blaine returned three summers later, having moulded into quite easily the most gorgeous boy Sebastian had ever seen. Sebastian had known his fair share of boys by this time, had explored his sexuality behind closed doors, having them sneak out before dawn - before his mother could catch wind of what he was doing.
But Blaine was something else: his hair short, and wavy where it was styled artfully against his head; his long eyelashes framing eyes that shone and twinkled in the light; his clothing tailored to his compact frame in a way that had Sebastian aching in all the right places.
But while Blaine blushed and stammered when Sebastian kissed his hand that time, he seemed to have a rather small amount of interest actually in him. Sebastian knew he was handsome, he had literally dozens upon dozens of boys and girls that would attest to that. But Blaine remained largely unimpressed, and generally impassive.
Oh, he spent time with him, yes. They went on rides, and they played cards, and they even took a walk in town once or twice. But that was in between Blaine flirting with the palace guards, neck exposed as he tipped his head back to laugh, hands flitting over their chests, eyelashes fluttering.
Sebastian growled as he watched the display, one afternoon in late summer, crossing his arms over his chest in frustration. “He’s supposed to be here to see me, not the guards.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow, taking a chunk out of the apple he’d been juggling for a few minutes. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous. You like him.”
“I do not,” Sebastian snapped, whacking the apple out of his hands. “But I am far more interesting and attractive than any of them, and he should know that.”
But if Blaine left with the memories of any nights of intense passion, then it certainly wasn’t from Sebastian Smythe’s hands, much to his ongoing disappointment and irritation.
Sebastian didn’t know what changed between the following visits, except that Blaine got impossibly more beautiful during those three years. He was nothing near a boy, anymore; he was a man. But, Sebastian couldn’t help but note with a certain amount of glee, he was still rather short.
But Blaine’s eyes were no longer swayed by the guards, who seemed rather put out by no longer being the favourite of the visiting prince. He stepped forward towards Sebastian slowly, laying his hand on his arm, the heat seeming to sear through the taller man’s entire body.
“So happy to be here,” Blaine murmured, his head tilted up to be able to look Sebastian in the eye.
Sebastian swallowed dryly, his gaze flickering down to Blaine’s lips for half a second. “So happy you could come.”
One would like to say the story ended there, with happily ever after, as easy as that. And perhaps it could have, if it hadn’t been for the ill-chosen words of the young Prince Sebastian.
For as they danced in one another’s arms that night, their feet eventually slowing, lips meeting gently, Sebastian tasting traces of fruit in the solace of Blaine’s mouth, it seemed as though nothing could go wrong.
Sebastian pulled back from the kiss with a wide grin, calling around to the guests and servants that filled the room. “Arrange the marriage!” he cried, a wave of exultation going up.
“Wait!”
The room fell silent.
“Wait, please.” Blaine smiled shyly. “This is all very sudden. I mean.. Why now?”
Sebastian looked at him blankly, glancing over his shoulder to where his mother was gesturing frantically for him to say something, and quickly. “Why..not now? You’re beautiful, Blaine.”
Blaine flushed, brushing a loose curl back into his hair. “Thank you. But, please. What else?”
“What else?” Sebastian echoed, suddenly hyperaware of all the eyes on them. “What else is there?”
He saw his mother’s head fall into her hands, and he knew he’d made a mistake. Blaine shook his head, with a soft sigh, and quickly fell out of sight.
“What else is there?” his mother screamed, advancing on him with wild hands, whacking him furiously. “What else is there?!”
“You ridiculous boy!” She huffed, glaring at him. “You should write a book! How to offend a man in five syllables or less.”
Sebastian groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “Mama, please stop.”
“No, I will not!”
And while she continued to berate him, he noted, over her shoulder that time, that Blaine had quickly found other company. A tall, thin man, with a weasel-like expression, who was unknown to him. He was guiding Blaine from the room, and for whatever reason, Sebastian knew he had to stop whatever was about to happen.
“You can go back to yelling at me later, I think Blaine might be in trouble,” he babbled, pushing past his mother and running towards the door. He paused, opening it just a crack to try and hear what was going on.
“Well,” the man purred. Or, it must have been the man, since Sebastian didn’t recognise the voice. “Prince Sebastian was right about one thing, you are beautiful.”
Blaine coughed politely, before giggling. “Thank you, sir. Gosh, I feel all..warm and funny.”
The man laughed, and Sebastian peered through the door to see him leading him towards the front door of the castle. “Come on, I know how to make you feel better.”
Sebastian followed the two of them through the maze of streets, leading far into the forest, beyond the area he really knew at all. He tried to keep a steady distance, trying to control his urge to run forward and grab Blaine where he was clearly becoming weaker and weaker in the man’s arms.
It was when they reached the edge of a steep cliff that Sebastian realised he could hold back no longer, unless he wanted to lose his Blaine for good. His Blaine. He’d never really considered him as his before, and he wasn’t sure he had any right to at all. But he couldn’t shake the idea that as arranged as their marriage might have been, they were made for one another.
“Do you see the pretty water down there, Prince?” the man sneered, holding him precariously close to the edge.
Sebastian took that as his cue, leaping forward and knocking the man to one side, wrapping an arm tightly around Blaine’s waist.
“Sebastian?” Blaine murmured, looking up at him with big, dazed eyes. “What are you doing here?”
The man growled, leaping forward but Sebastian had his sword ready, pointing it straight at his heart.
“Don’t you take another step forward,” he hissed, clutching Blaine to his side, where he could feel his knees buckling with the pressure of whatever the man had given him to drink.
“Do you know what his brother did to our kingdom? Most of us lost our families from the wars that he started!” He tried to sidestep around the sword, but to no avail. “The king must know the same kind of loss.”
In all his training, and the subsequent years, Sebastian had never killed a man. But in that moment, looking at the man who was threatening the life of someone so dear to him, he knew he had no choice - especially when Blaine was weak, and needed to be safely brought to the castle as quickly as possible. Rather than stab him with the sword outright, he used the tip to loosen some rocks by the edge.
By the time the man realised he was falling backwards, it was too late.
“Sebastian, I-” Blaine managed before his body gave out, crumbling at his side.
There was an uproar as Sebastian carried Blaine’s limp body back into the castle, people parting at either side to allow him to lay him down in the middle of the gallery.
Blaine’s eyes opened slowly, coaxed by the soft brush of Sebastian’s hand over his forehead. “You saved me,” he whispered, gazing at Sebastian with a soft smile.
“Of course I did,” Sebastian murmured, leaning down to nudge the tips of their noses together. “You’re beautiful. And kind, and caring, and sweet, and trusting, and, I hope, utterly mine.”
The other man beamed, chuckling lightly as he reached to cup Sebastian’s face in his hands, bringing it right down to his own. “Utterly yours.”
Sebastian kissed him once, twice, three times before pulling back to look around the guests still surrounding them. “Let’s try this again,” he murmured, flashing Blaine a quick wink. “Arrange the marriage!”