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“—So he told me I'll be visiting the Yellow Kingdom myself to figure it out. Alone! Isn't that dumb? He keeps piling on the work for me!”
Prince Osomatsu's frustrations spilled forth into the blazing summer air with no response. He took long, quick strides across the tiled road, though he had no real destination. Steam was practically billowing out of his ears with how worked-up he'd gotten himself. Maybe there really was steam at this point. It was certainly hot enough; he would be melting under his stiff collar under the sun’s merciless gaze today regardless of how upset he was.
Initially, this was supposed to be a leisurely stroll through the luscious royal garden to clear his head. Princess Karamatsu’s presence was supposed to aid him in this endeavor, yet at the moment, he seemed to be lagging behind by several steps. Needless to say, the lack of any sort of acknowledgement from the other did nothing to calm Osomatsu as he continued on his tirade about the orders his father had given him.
“I know, right, like, I know he's trying to make me 'fit to inherit the kingdom,’” Osomatsu continued, mocking his father's voice as he did air quotes, “but I seriously don't need this kinda stress! He's tryin’ to kill me!” He took the moment to whip his head back at Karamatsu, searching for any sort of agreement from the other.
But somehow, Karamatsu didn't look so hot.
Alright, that was an inaccurate statement on many levels. His princess was always hot, fashion-blind as he could sometimes be, and this weather was indiscriminately sweltering. In fact, from the looks of it, Karamatsu was more affected by the sun’s unrelenting rays than he himself was. Beads of sweat accumulated on the reddened skin of his face, eyes downcast and somewhat unfocused, his glove-covered hands pressed together at the front of his dress and his breathing just a bit more shallow than usual.
In another context, this would've been attractive.
Maybe in this one, too.
“Karamatsu? Hey, are you listening?” Osomatsu leaned in slightly, slowing his pace a bit to allow the princess to catch up. “Karamatsu.”
“Hm?” Broken out of his trance, Karamatsu briefly met his gaze before realizing he'd lagged behind at some point, rushing a bit to be by Osomatsu's side. “Ah... Was I perhaps daydreaming? I apologize from the bottom of my heart.” The smile he flashed was somehow strained, something he seemed to attempt to hide by running a few fingers through his bangs.
“You feeling alright?” Osomatsu eyed him, frowning a bit. “We could sit down if you need to. It's pretty hot—I'm sure we could find somewhere in the shade to rest.”
“No, it's fine,” came his quick reply. “Who would I be if I denied the sun its gentle affections when it's so clearly requesting company?”
“Gentle? I'm gonna melt over here! Don't break my ribs on top of that.” Osomatsu held his chest, laughing. “If you're sure, though. Just tell me if you need to stop.”
Karamatsu's Cool Guy grin warmed a bit into something much cuter than it would've been if he wasn't so red. “I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
As they continued to walk, however, it became increasingly obvious that Karamatsu was anything but okay. His breathing was coming in short, quick pants that only got worse every time he tried to catch up. Sweat slicked his bangs to his forehead and dripped down his bright red cheeks. Osomatsu offered multiple times for them to rest, but each one went refused.
After what had to be the sixth time, before he could even respond, Karamatsu's eyes rolled back and he completely collapsed to the ground.
“Karamatsu!?” Osomatsu was at his side immediately to pull him to sit upright. His head lolled forward, allowing Osomatsu the chance to check the area where he collided with the ground. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be bleeding or anything, but his body was noticeably hot to the touch, and even now, his breathing was incredibly shallow. “Karamatsu! What's wrong?”
He quickly began to regret telling the servants to leave them alone for today.
Osomatsu pleaded with him to wake up until he ultimately decided that getting him back into the castle would be the smarter choice. Sliding his arms underneath the princess's torso and legs gave him a better idea of just how heated he was, even through his silky dress. The harsh summer heat did nothing to impede him as he rushed, panicked, to the royal garden’s exit.
There was little change in temperature from the outside in, but they were at least out of the direct sunlight inside the castle. Unlike any other day—they were normally crowding him!—no one was there to greet the pair, pushing Osomatsu to rush down the overly-decorated corridor’s carpeted floor.
“Hey! Is anyone there? Karamatsu is—he's—!”
Just then, his attention was seized by a weak grip on his sleeve, and he slowed to a stop. He realized upon looking down at his damsel in distress that Karamatsu had regained some consciousness—his bleary eyes suggested that he wasn't all there. His condition had hardly improved at all.
“Karamatsu?” Osomatsu brought the other's face closer to his, doing his best to keep his voice level. “What is it, what's wrong? I can't find anyone, but maybe I can help—!”
“My dress…”
“Huh?”
Karamatsu released his sleeve, instead clutching at the collar of his dress. Between short puffs of breath, he managed to mumble, “Take it off…!”
A pause. “Wh—What?”
The princess didn't offer any further response besides quiet gasps for breath. Instead, he was beginning to pull down the front of his dress himself, exposing more skin by the second. He made little progress with everything still pinned together, but it was clear that he was too desperate to either realize or care.
Osomatsu, flustered, looked around to make sure that no one happened to be watching. His mind was still going a million miles a minute. With no way to stop him when both his hands were occupied, he had to just watch. “Is this really the time? You just fainted!”
“Please…”
Glossy eyes and flushed, parted lips had him rethinking his stance in seconds.
“If it'll make you feel better,” he murmured, setting his destination to his own chambers immediately, which were miraculously only a few long paces away.
The heavy door was a bit of a struggle to get open with his hands full like this, calling for some redistribution of his panting princess's weight to get an arm free enough to reach the gold handle. He slipped as gracefully as he could into the impossibly large room and laid Karamatsu, who was still working with no progress to get his dress down, onto the bed amongst the luxurious fur blankets and silky throw pillows.
“You sure about this?” Osomatsu climbed onto the bed after him, advancing, smiling somewhat nervously—as much as he looked forward to these little moments of intimacy, he wasn't sure how he felt about it happening right after Karamatsu just fainted from heat stroke.
Apparently, neither was Karamatsu, because he was scowling up at Osomatsu as he tried to sit back up, and his next attempt at words was, “N—No! Can't…!”
“What? Can't what?”
“Can't breathe, ” he wheezed, gesturing frantically towards his midsection. “Help.”
“Huh…? What are you—Oh.”
Oh.
Osomatsu pulled the princess back up by the forearm, crawling forward a bit. Undressing him had always been a pain—honestly, he'd normally just flip the skirts up. But as annoying as it was to find all of the individual pins holding the dress together, he had to rescue his damsel in distress.
Many, many moments of fumbling hands and labored breath later, things were finally starting to come apart. With help from him, Karamatsu was able to pull his arms out of the gown’s top—and sure enough, under the now-unfastened stomacher, there was the offending garment.
A corset with its laces strung far, far, far too tight.
“Karamatsu,” started the prince, voice low, reaching for the straining strings, “why are you wearing that in this heat?”
He was met with a rather weak shot at Karamatsu's signature Cool Guy grin and wink.
Osomatsu only shook his head and pulled at the corset’s strings, loosening them as best he could. Karamatsu immediately took the opportunity to breathe in sharply and drop from his forearms onto the bed, unrestricted chest rising and falling visibly with each deep breath of air.
“What were you thinking… You really are empty-headed,” said the prince after a moment, shaking his head.
Karamatsu's previously closed eyes snapped open, fixing him with another scowl. “I don't want to hear that from you …”
“Hey, who was the one that went outside on one of the hottest summer days,” countered Osomatsu, pulling at one of the corset’s strings, “with this thing tying up his chest so much that he couldn't even breathe?”
Karamatsu dropped his gaze quickly afterwards, laying a hand over his own chest and focusing on his breathing rather than coming up with a reply.
The spacious room quickly fell quiet, save for the rustling resulting from Osomatsu settling beside him, readjusting so that he was facing the other. The plush covers of the gigantic bed sank slightly in the middle where they both lay, causing them both to inch minutely closer to one another.
“So.”
Karamatsu's breathing stuttered.
“You gonna tell me what all this was for?”
Karamatsu stayed completely still, as though willing himself into invisibility.
“You don't generally do corsets, right? What's the occasion?”
Karamatsu’s chest rose quickly for all of a second, before he was suddenly sitting up and pulling together his untied corset. His confident smile was back as he said, “Don't you like it? I thought I'd try this style for once. Corsets are extremely fashionable in other countries, you know.” He ran a finger against the fabric. “Though a few gems embroidered on the hem would make it even better.”
Osomatsu watched him for a moment, eyes trailing from the princess’s face down to his waist, then quickly back up again. “It does give you a smaller waist. I'm surprised I didn't notice before.”
He glanced to Osomatsu, smile widening. “It does! Smaller waists are becoming more sought-after by the day. Heh, I couldn't waste the opportunity to explore this new tre—”
“Karamatsu, what's this really about?”
He continued trying to lace up the corset with his hands awkwardly bent behind his back, determined yet clumsy in his movements. “Whatever could you possibly mean, dearest?”
Osomatsu reached over to gently pull one of the other’s arms away, prompting another, more confused glance his way as he finally stopped trying to retie the piece of clothing. “Listen, you know I love you no matter what, right?”
“My love for you blooms from the same branch, my honey, ” he all but bubbled, now meeting his eyes.
“Whoop, there goes my spine.” To add to the performance, he went limp against the other’s side. “You've paralyzed me, Karamachu.”
The two giggled amongst themselves, enjoying each other's touch, the same lovesick fools as the kingdom had always known them to be. Before long, though, Osomatsu spoke up again.
“But y'know what?” He paused, waiting until Karamatsu looked him in the eye, rubbing the princess’s bare shoulder. “I think I like you better when you're not fainting from heat stroke.”
“As opposed to?” His smile was joking, yet something about it hinted at some sort of unease.
“As opposed to, say, trying on dangerous clothes that are supposed to make you look feminine or whatever just for the sake of appearances.”
Karamatsu's smile wobbled.
“That's not what I was trying to do. Anyway, it was a mistake on my part; the garment itself is harmless.”
“Sooo, we're gonna ignore the part where you nearly suffocated?”
The princess delivered a flick to his forehead. “Don't exaggerate.”
“All I'm saying is, you don't have to change anything for me to keep loving you.” He squeezed Karamatsu's side, grinning. “That includes your waist size.”
Karamatsu was searching his expression now, looking for something, anything that hinted at dishonesty. When he came up empty-handed, tears gathered up in his eyes.
“...I'm sorry. You were already stressed and I… I just thought if I…”
“You don't need to apologize.” He pressed another kiss to Karamatsu's cheek, smiling against his skin. “Just don't do anything that puts you in danger again. I want you to stay the way you are. Okay?” Karamatsu nodded a bit, leaning closer in. Osomatsu pulled him down so that they both flopped back-first onto the bed, guiding the other to face him so that he could kiss the stray tears.
They stayed like that until Karamatsu was able to calm down, at which point he pulled a cover over his half-naked princess. Their breathing, the only thing disturbing the quiet of the room, gradually slowed and evened out.
Just when he was sure Karamatsu had fallen asleep, he mumbled something sleepily.
“Hm…?”
“I can't believe you were going to make love to me right after I fainted.”
“You…? You told me to!?”