Chapter Text
When he woke up, the first thing he thought was ‘why the hell is it so bright?’
The second thing he thought, after looking away from the blinding light above him and blinking the spots from his eyes, was a very clear ‘it’s too cold.’
He sat up, lifting a hand to his head when it throbbed something awful and mumbling something incoherent when he felt bandages there. Glancing around, he found the lack of familiarity odd. The walls were cream in color and littered with photographs of people and colorful artworks, both of which were currently blurry to him, and fairy lights were strewn around the top of the walls. The room was warm in feeling, in emotions . He decided he’d prefer it to be warm in temperature and pulled the fuzzy brown blanket on his lower half up more, pulling it around his torso.
His head ached again at the action, so he wiggled in the soft, plush bed and laid in a more comfortable position. Just as he was shutting his eyes, the door of the room opened, and he heard voices.
“-his fault, not mine! He owns part of the Imagination, too, you know, and it was his part that our resident snake was injured in!” Someone was loudly saying. He winced, the volume doing nothing good for his poor head. He wondered what the hell this guy was talking about, and why his voice made him tense.
“For the last time, we kno- oh my gosh,” Another voice abruptly cut himself off with a gasp. He cracked open an eye lazily, eyeing the interrupting intruders finally. There was a man who was soft around the edges in all senses of the phrase, big, round glasses sitting on his rosy cheeked, freckled face. A hoodie of sorts was tied around his shoulders over a blue polo, half heartedly tucked into khaki shorts and mismatched, brightly colored socks. On top of it all, the intruder had the fluffiest, most sickeningly cute gray kitten slippers he’d ever seen.
He had no idea why, but this man, too, set off alarm bells in his hazy mind, setting him on edge much like the other man had when he spoke. Thoughts of unfair cruel hypocrite judgemental misguided selfless moral flooded him.
Oh, right, the other man.
This man was taller than the softer one, broad shoulders and a somewhat ridiculous yet somehow respectable prince outfit on, complete with black, knee high boots and a sword of some kind sheathed on his hip, with one hand casually resting on the hilt. He held himself differently, chest puffed out and back straight, standing his ground and ready to jump into action at any moment.
Seeing him brought on a flurry of prince unsafe sword angry stupid gullible helpful insecure and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
The prince was eyeing him like he was a criminal that couldn’t be trusted, but that was stupid, he was just-
He was...he was just…
Just what?
His eyes opened fully as the question finally came to him.
He was...what? Who was he? Where was he?
“You’re awake,” the one in blue said stupidly. How helpful. He went to tell him exactly how helpful that was before catching the glare of the other one and decidedly didn’t do that, not wanting to risk pissing off the guy with the sword.
“So it would seem.” The prince agreed coldly, a frown tugging at his lips.
So he just nodded slightly, sitting up--slower this time, so as not to hurt his head again--and sweeping his gaze around the room once more.
“This...is not my room, is it?” He murmured, spotting the white and red and gold of the prince’s suit and the blue and gray and brown of the soft one’s outfit in a few of the photos.
“You don’t say.” The prince snorted but the other just seemed tilted his head a bit with thinly veiled annoyance.
“Of course not, kiddo.” He said slowly, like the person he was speaking to was stupid. “It’s mine.”
Yes, that made sense. Both the room and this stranger had a sort of softness and warmth to them.
Before he could think better of it, he raised an eyebrow at the two.
“And you are…?”
The prince snickered this time, and the soft one’s annoyance visibly grew.
“Look, Deceit,” who? “I’m really not in the mood for one of your tricks right now-” tricks? “-so I’d appreciate it if you could-”
“Sorry to interrupt, but would you mind telling me why I was addressed as Deceit and why you seem to know me while I have no idea who you are?” He asked bluntly, growing a tad annoyed himself.
The prince didn’t find that amusing.
Said prince walked forward, and then there was the sharp sound of a blade slicing through the air, and then the business end of a sword--a katana was odd considering the wardrobe but a weapon is a weapon--was being pointed directly at him. His heart leapt into his throat and, for a moment, he thought he genuinely might die by this strange man’s blade.
“Enough of your games, Deceit, you stop this foolishness right now or I shall slay you like the foul beast you are!” He announced. He--Deceit? The only felt partly correct--blinked up at the prince.
“Was that a threat?” He gaped, looking past the blade to the softer man in disbelief. The stranger didn’t seem to care that he’d just been threatened.
At that response, the prince seemed...confused. The sword was lowered.
“Of course it was...you typically have some sort of, ah, witty response! And then you go ‘until next time, princey’ and sometimes do an evil laugh as you leave mysteriously and threateningly.” The prince explained, eyeing him with newfound curiosity.
His brow furrowed in bewilderment.
“That...just sounds utterly ridiculous. I don’t even know who you are, why would I-”
“Oh,” the soft one said weakly, “your head injury was worse than we thought. Come on, kiddo, let’s go get Lo.” The prince sheathed his sword, looking to his companion.
“That’d probably be a good idea.” He agreed.
Deceit--still didn’t feel quite right--frowned.
“Wait-” He called too late, the door shutting behind the strange pair.
Wonderful, just wonderful.
Well, at least he had something to refer to himself as, even if it felt slightly off.
“Deceit. I’m Deceit.” He said quietly, to no one in particular.
With a sigh, he laid back in the bed and settled to simply wait for them to return with this “Lo.”