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It’s not often the prince’s light is on this late.
Ranzel had been giving Luca some pointers on using his axe, and while walking back to his own room, Luca noticed the light peeking out from under the door. He stops. It’s really late. But if Euden wanted to stay up late, that isn’t any of Luca’s business.
I’ll just check on him, Luca decides. He knocks, softly, so he won’t disturb Elisanne next door.
There’s just silence for a minute, before the door cracks open.
“Hey, it’s me,” Luca says. “Just noticed you were up and wanted to make sure everything’s good?”
The door opens a little more. “Everything’s fine,” Euden says, still hidden behind the door. His voice sounds a little muddied, and he sniffs.
“You feeling okay?” Luca asks. “You sound awful.”
He doesn’t get an answer.
“Listen, I’m just gonna pop down the hall and go get Cleo.”
“I’m fine,” Euden says. He swings the door the rest of the way open. It’s clear between his red eyes and runny nose he’s been crying. He stands in the doorway, looking uncertain as to how Luca will react.
“You wanna talk?” Luca asks. The words come out all in a rush—he hates the thought of one of his closest friends being miserable. “Or hug? Or if you don’t want to talk to me, I could go get someone? I’m here for you, buddy.”
Euden bites his lip and steps aside, giving Luca permission to come in. As soon as Luca is in the prince’s quarters, Euden shuts the door behind him.
“You good?” Luca asks.
This brings on a fresh wave of tears. Shit. Not what he’s trying to do here.
“Sorry. Dumb question. C’mere.” Luca steps towards Euden slowly so that Euden can rebuff him if he doesn’t want to be touched. But Euden meets him, leaning heavily on the Sylvan.
Luca grunts at the sudden weight, but it’s nothing he can’t handle. Euden’s a pretty little dude. He wraps his arms around him—not too tight. He knows that humans aren’t as big on physical affection as Sylvans are, and he doesn’t want to make Euden uncomfortable.
Euden takes a few trembly breaths against Luca’s shoulder before just settling. After a minute, as Euden feels heavier and heavier after his workout, Luca pulls them both down to the floor, setting his back against the wall to support himself.
“Sorry,” Euden mumbles into Luca’s shoulder.
“Take your time, my man. I don’t got anywhere to be. I’m sorry for being kinda sweaty. And stinky.”
That gets a little smile out of his prince, as Euden pulls away enough to sit up a little on his own. He doesn’t move far, just isn’t sagging against Luca anymore.
“Thanks,” Euden says. He rubs at his eyes. “I didn’t mean to just… lose it like that. Sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Luca says. “It happens to all of us.”
“Thanks,” Euden says again, this time a little softer, a little more grateful. He takes a few deep breaths, straightening out his spine and unwinding his arm from around Luca’s neck. He scoots over to sit next to Luca against the wall, so their shoulders and legs are pressed close.
“What’s going on?” Luca asks. “I mean, if you’re okay with sharing. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay, but if you do, like I’m here for you to talk to, you know, but only if you want me to—”
“Philia made me cookies last night.”
Luca waits for the bad thing, but Euden doesn’t continue speaking. “Um, I don’t get it,” Luca says.
“The day before, she brought me flowers. The day before that, she gave me a hand stitched scarf. And I don’t remember what she gave me the day before that, but I’ve gotten something every day this week. And every day the week before that. And the week before that. Basically since she got here.”
“I mean, I knew she liked you,” Luca says. “But damn, that’s a lot.”
“I know!” Euden blurts out. “I know! And I pretend I don’t notice, because I have a lot on my plate right now and I can’t even think about stuff like that, not with every single one of my siblings trying to destroy life as we know it. And I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“Right. I understand.”
“And that’s just Philia!” Euden says. “I don’t think Annalie is into me, but she won’t stop kissing me everytime she sees me.”
“She does do that a lot,” Luca agrees.
“And Mym! Mym thinks we’re engaged or something. She calls me all these pet names and is always clinging to me—and look, I like her! She’s a great friend but she’s just a friend. We haven’t—I haven’t agreed to marry her. Just dragonpact with her. No other dragons act like that.” Euden is just ranting now, staring blankly as he vents. The last part escapes him in a burst: “I keep my door locked when I’m sleeping, because Mym will just try and crawl in bed with me!”
Something cold hits Luca, lingering in his stomach, spine, and toes. He takes a breath to regain his composure and speak as calmly as possible: “Euden, has she—”
“No.” It’s a quick and sharp response, with a little more edge than the prince normally puts in his words.
“Okay,” Luca says. “Okay.”
“And it’s not that I don’t want to fall in love. But I don’t feel anything, and they’re all pushing me to get there, but what if I never get there? What if I never meet someone I’m into or get a crush or want to… you know… What if something’s wrong with me? I’ve never felt that way about anyone! There must be something wrong with me!”
He’s crying again. This time he just slumps over onto Luca, so the Sylvan wraps his arms around him once again.
There’s a million things Luca wants to say, but he knows Euden needs to get some of this out before he’s ready to hear any sort of comforting words. This bout of tears doesn’t last as long, thankfully.
“Firstly,” Luca says. “There is nothing wrong with you.” He takes Euden by the shoulders, making sure to look him right in the eyes. “Nothing. You’re a perfectly complete human being. You listening? Do you need me to say it again?”
“No,” Euden says. He smiles a little, wiping at his eyes. “No, I… I got it.”
“Give yourself time. It’s okay if you’re not in a place right now to feel those things, and it’s okay if you never feel them at all. Or if you do. There’s no need to beat yourself up about it. Got it?”
“Yeah,” Euden says.
“If you want,” Luca says, “I could talk to Sylas? I dunno if you know this, but I had a huge crush on him when we were kids. Laranoa did, too. But Sylas isn’t into people like that. And that’s okay. He’d probably be happy to talk to you about it.”
Euden nods. “Okay, I think that… I think that could help.”
“Yeah?” Luca says. He grins. “Cool. I’ll make sure the two of you get some time to talk soon. Promise.”
“Thank you,” Euden says.
“Of course,” Luca says. “But secondly—the way some of these ladies are treating you is very much crossing the line.”
“I know that. I do. But I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but they’re just so…”
“It’s okay,” Luca says. “You can say it. There’s a lot of… sexually charged ladies after you.”
Euden groans, covering his face with his hands. “Don’t put it like that.”
“Sorry,” Luca says, even though he’s not sorry at all. “But this behavior can’t continue. We will definitely put a stop to Mym coming in—we’ll say we’re taking extra security precautions or something. But the other stuff—”
“Please don’t say anything!” Euden says. “This is so embarrassing. I’m a guy. I shouldn’t be uncomfortable about any of this.”
“If somebody was saying Cleo was their wife and making comments that made her feel uncomfortable—”
“It’s different.”
“What if it was Ranzel? Or Vixel? Or—”
“It’s just different.”
“Why?” Luca asks. “Because it’s you?”
Euden looks away.
“Look, if you don’t want to say something, and you don’t want me to say something, at least let me help defuse the situation. Try and change the subject. Make sure Philia can’t drop off her gifts or something. Would that be okay?”
“I… I think so,” Euden says. “Don’t tell the others.”
“Okay. But you gotta let me know if anything happens, okay?” Luca says. “You feel uncomfortable? You tell me. One of them makes a move on you? You tell me.”
Euden rolls his eyes. “Okay, Mom.” But his smile is soft, and his words don’t have any bite to them.
“Alright. Hang in there. You’ve got too much on your plate to let all this get you down.”
Euden puts his head on Luca’s shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate this. You. More than you know.”
Luca presses his cheek against Euden’s hair. “Anytime, buddy.”