Chapter Text
The soft chirping of birds was a light noise, so faint it was almost hard to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. But the mixture of six year old determination and an hour spent searching trees and bushes, it ended with round brown eyes staring up a tree, narrowing once they caught sight of the twigs shaping a birds nest.
Tongue sticking out with determination, the smaller boy struggled out of his jacket, a coat lined with soft fur to ensure he was warm in the crisp, cool fall air — now it was just holding him back. His friend walked up behind him, eyebrows furrowed far too intensely for a kid of only six years, a small pout forming on his lips.
“Tooru, are you sure that’s safe?”
The shorter boy, Oikawa Tooru, only huffed, turning to face his friend as he threw his coat onto the ground. “Ushiwaka of course it’s safe! I learned how to climb trees last week , I know how to do it now!”
Ushijima frowned at the nickname, but tilted his head as he considered his friends words. He couldn’t even remember what he ate for lunch yesterday, so if his friend was able to remember how to climb trees from last week then he should be fine. He shrugged, picking up the dark blue coat and stepped back.
Oikawa grinned, face full of determination as he stepped closer to the trunk of the tree. Luckily for him, there were several smaller branches close to the ground he was able to grab and pull himself up with, stepping quickly and carefully- not wanting to risk getting another splinter if he slipped. Looking down at his friend, the two made eye contact and Oikawa sent him a smug grin.
“I’m taller than you now Ushi!”
“That’s cause you’re up a tree.”
The height difference between the two wasn’t one that was too large, a few centimeters at most, but the feeling of someone younger than him being taller always caused Oikawa to end up pouty. “Yeah! I know that… but still!”
Ushijima frowned, having to crane his neck to watch as Oikawa climbed higher. While the young boy was barely over four feet off the ground, to the two kids it seemed like he was miles into the air. Oikawa could feel his arms shaking from the fear of falling but he pushed past, scrunching his nose as he huffed.
“Prince Ushijima,” Oikawa froze at the voice of his mother, gripping the branch in his hands tighter and scrambling to get higher, “where’s Tooru?”
Ushijima, standing on the ground, merely pointed up the tree where Oikawa had managed to get higher. He could hear his mother’s gasp, and he turned, wanting to tell his mother he’s fine and he just wanted to see the baby bird in the nest up the tree. But he turned too quickly, and his foot slipped from the thin branch, and in a moment of panic he flailed, accidentally pushing himself away from the tree.
His heart was beating faster than he had ever felt, his body feeling cold, and he didn’t think it was from the lack of coat as he fell from the tree, trying to angle himself in a way to catch himself.
This was going to hurt worse than a splinter.
He landed with a resounding thud, and tears sprung to his eyes as he couldn’t breath for a few seconds, his brain going into overdrive as he panicked. His mother had rushed over by this point, cradling him in her arms, and he was hiccuping, trying to catch his breath. He could feel his mom blowing cool air into his face, something she often did when he could get hurt or scared. His hiccups calmed as he caught his breath, holding his left arm to his chest as fat tears began to roll down his cheeks.
“M-Mama!”
She shushed him, smoothing his hair from over his eyes. “shh, it’s okay Tooru, let me see your arm.” She gingerly rolled his sleeve up and turned his arm gently, before smiling at him. “You’re okay baby- it looks like it’s just bruised.”
He frowned, seeing a dark color already blooming on his forearm. “I don’t like it.”
She laughed, “nobody really likes bruises baby, but everyone gets them.”
He frowned, glaring at his arm like the fall was its fault. A small sniffle caught his attention, and his teary eyes looked up to where Ushijima was standing, holding his jacket tightly between his hands, tears slipping down his cheeks quickly.
“Oh, Wakatoshi, what’s wrong sweetie?”
The boy in question let out a choked cry and flung himself forward, wrapping a still teary, but now confused Oikawa in a tight hug. “I-I’m sorry T-Tooru!”
His mom pulled the other boy into her lap, cradling both in her arms. “Why are you sorry Toshi?”
“H-He wanted to see the birds b-but I didn’t wanna climb the tree so he did!” Oikawa pouted. The fall wasn’t Ushijima’s fault, if anything he shouldn’t have climbed the tree without an adult there. Well…
“Toshi, it’s not your fault Tooru fell. You two know you’re not supposed to climb too high in the trees, and your guard-” She cut herself off, looking around before turning narrowing eyes onto Oikawa, “Tooru, where’s Guard Ito?”
“Uh,” He rubbed his nose against his sleeve, looking from Ushijima to his mother, “who?”
She sighed, standing up and taking both boys by their hands. “You two know you’re not supposed to go anywhere without at least one guard. And Tooru you need to stop tricking them into getting lost.”
He pouted, allowing his mother to put his jacket back on him, the pain in his arm almost long forgotten. “Ito isn’t fun Mama, I want a guard who’s fun!”
“Guards aren’t supposed to be here for fun, Tooru,” The three paused in their leisure stroll, turning to see both Oikawa and Ushijima’s fathers walking up to them, Ushijima’s mother following behind the two.
Oikawa pouted but remained silent, letting his mother drop their hands as he moved to stand closer to Ushijima. The taller boy lit up some upon seeing his parents but remained silent. Oikawa’s mom bowed some to his parents, who returned the favor, sending her soft smiles.
Oikawa, however, let a large grin grow on his face, “Hi King and Queen Ushijima! I like your dress!”
Queen Ushijima laughed and thanked him, while her husband chuckled and rolled his eyes good naturedly. Ushijima’s mother extended her hand forward, “come, Toshi, it’s time we head back home.”
Oikawa pouted as his friend left his side, moving to his parents. “ Aww, but we were gonna put on a play tonight!”
“Oh? And what was this play going to be of, Prince Oikawa?”
He grinned, “It’s a surprise! Ushiwaka and I wrote a story!”
“Oh? You two wrote a story?” His father's voice caused him to frown some.
“Well...we didn’t write it write it, but! We told Aimi what to write and she wrote it for us!”
Ushijima’s dad smiled, “Well, next time we come to visit, you two can put the play on for us! I’m sure that gives you both more time to...I dunno, work on costumes and props yeah?”
Oikawa felt himself light up. Costumes! And props! How had they forgotten about those? He nodded fiercely, gripping his mother’s hand in excitement. His father turned to his mother, face still serious as Ushijima’s parents dusted his clothes off.
“Were you able to talk to the boys about what we discussed?”
She frowned and shook her head, “No. There was a small issue and I haven’t gotten to it yet.”
“Issue? What issue?”
“Nothing, Tooru just fell from a tree.”
“Oh no!”
“Is he alright?”
“Did he break anything?” His mother shook her head, and his father continued, “Then he’s fine.”
Tooru frowned. Yeah he didn’t break anything, but it still hurt. And now his arm was not it’s normal color! It was weird to him. He wanted to express this concern -- on how people’s skin turned purple when they got hurt and there had to be a healer that could stop that -- but his father continued.
“Yes well, now we can address it before the Ushijimas leave.” He turned his gaze to Oikawa who paused, trying to think if he’d done anything recently that called for a scolding.
“As future King of Aobajohsai, Prince Tooru, it’s your duty to ensure peace and prosperity to your people.” He frowned; he knows that, he’s told that every week with his tutor but no one’s bothered explaining what those words mean, “and to ensure that we must create bonds and alliances through different means. Yours will be through marriage.”
Marriage?
“Marriage?”
“Yes, marriage. When you both are of age you and Prince Ushijima will be wed and Aobajohsai and Shiratorizawa will form an alliance, one that strengthens both kingdoms and ensures the protection of all of our people.” He nodded down at his son before promptly turning to the Ushijimas, all three who looked unfazed by this information.
He extended his arm, and the four turned to walk from the garden. Oikawa was rooted where he stood. “Mama… what?”
She sighed, kneeling down to be on his level. “You like Toshi, don’t you?”
He frowned, “Toshi’s my best friend.”
She smiled, “That’s good! Sometimes best friends get married, especially royal best friends!”
He didn’t return her smile, “But I don’t wanna marry Ushiwaka. That’s weird.” Why didn’t she understand this?
“I know baby, but as a Prince you sometimes have to do things you don’t want- but since- “
“No!” He stomped, “That’s not fair! In- in the stories they don’t! The prince finds a princess and they fall in love and kiss and get married! I’m not in love with Ushijima!”
She ran a hand through his hair, “Honey, there’s no need to yell.”
“This isn’t fair! I don’t wanna marry him! I wanna marry a- a- a knight! No- I wanna marry someone who- they- I don’t wanna get married! I’m friends with him, that works for your alienace!”
“An alliance, baby, and no, not in the way your father means. It’ll be okay, it’s not for a long time! When you’re both twenty years old you’ll be married! And hey- the wedding will be fun and big and we’ll eat all the cake we can!”
He frowned, eyebrows pinching together in frustration, tears forming in his eyes. “No! I won’t marry him! I hate him! I hate you! I don’t wanna get married to him! Never!” He tore his hand from his mothers, turning on his heels and running back towards the castle, narrowly avoiding running into Ito who had finally found them.
“Prince Oikawa what- oh! Queen Oikawa, my lady, I’m so sorry, the kids played a small prank on me and managed to escape. Was,” He trailed off, noticing the crestfallen look upon her face, “Uh, is everything alright, my lady?”
The Queen sent a sad smile to the guard, raising her hand to silence his stuttering, “Everything’s fine, Ito, well… it will be.” She smiled at him as she walked past, following the path her son had run down.
Everything will be fine. For her son she’d ensure it would be.