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The demon stood nervously in the corner of the room.
"Are you… you know, sure you wanted to pick me?" The demon asked, fiddling with his tail. "I mean, I know I can be scary to some people… maybe he'll be scared too?" Truth be told, Bad just wanted to get out of this. The prince was known for being a troll to the guards around the castle, and Bad was not very fond of being made fun of.
"That's the point. If people are afraid, they won't think to hurt him." The king said, still not making eye contact. Yes, but it doesn't help if he's afraid of me . Bad argued internally. It could be bad if he waged war with the person with power to chop off his head. And right now, that did not sound fun.
In front of others, Bad made sure to act mean. It was what had gotten him here in the first place, faking a mean, hard to take advantage of character. It got him quite far, as could easily be seen.
Bad looked up at the sound of footsteps, seeing a small human walk into the room. Bad let go of his tail instantly. He only cowered in front of the king, and that was because he didn't like the stern aura that plagued the throne room. This human was… different.
His aura rang of happiness. True, slightly suppressed happiness. It was almost contagious. Almost. It had taken all of Bad’s willpower to shove down a smile. That was the thing with aura’s, they either brought you down, or lifted you right back up. And in this room, it was a constant war of it.
Nonetheless, it was fresh, new. Bad liked it. A song, like the ones the birds sang each morning, to greet the sun for a fresh day, to sing away the morning dew that sat on the leaves of trees, and petals of flowers.
The boy himself didn't seem all that bad, either. But, Bad knew better than to judge by appearances, and he probably should have held off on judging by rumours, too, but with everyone saying it, it seemed quite apparent that they weren't lying.
This was worth a shot. Still, Bad dreaded meeting this new person, who only seemed a few years younger than him, yet, still managing to seem like he carried a weight. Of course, he was going to be king someday.
Bad also noticed the prince hadn't run away yet. Bad was friendly to those who stuck around and got to know him, out of appreciation that they had not run away in fear, and avoided him in the halls. The prince had done neither of those things so far, which could technically be counted a win in Bad's book, depending on the way he looked at it.
"Now, you two go talk somewhere else, will you?" The king asked, waving them away.
"So." Skeppy muttered, as they stood in his room awkwardly. "Uhm, make yourself at home, I suppose." He shrugged, seemingly uncomfortable at Bad's silence. Bad just took to standing in a corner.
"Well, my name's Skeppy- wait, you already knew that, didn't you?" He cut himself off with a nervous laugh. "And you are?" Skeppy proded, staring at him with hopeful eyes.
"Bad." Skeppy gave a small nod.
"Okay then, hi Bad! What do you think we could do today? I was thinking we could read in the library, or maybe even sneak into the throne room! Doesn't that sound fun?" Bad shook his head quickly.
"The latter of those could get me thrown out of here, Your Majesty." Bad muttered, still not fond of this new person. The rumors other staff had spread had put him on edge, and kept resurfacing in his mind. Yet, he knew trying to be polite was the best option for him.
"A walk in the garden it is!" Skeppy grabbed his hand. Great. Bad had never been the touchy-feely type. Despite this, his hand felt cold when Skeppy let go quickly.
"Sorry, was that too sudden? You had this look on your face and-" Skeppy rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"No, you're okay." Bad tried to reassure. No, he wasn't okay with it, but he certainly wasn't going to make the prince feel bad for it, it could get him kicked out of here. This was his only chance of being on good terms with mortals.
---
You know that perfect that's so utterly annoying? Like that person who knows they're perfect, and they're so stuck up about it? Well, this boy did not know he was perfect. He didn't act like it, and he always hid in the corners, and strayed away from talking to others, in fear they'd hate him.
Bad did not understand that. What was there to hate when you are perfect? Bad hated that he thought the prince was attractive. Goodness, they'd kill him for it. Not like the prince would even return his feelings. You see, it started in the gardens; something Bad did not expect.
"The flowers are especially nice today, huh?" Skeppy giggled, it was so fond. Bad hated the way it made him smile. He was supposed to be stern.
"Of course, Your Majesty." Bad replied, eyes trailing down the path, and to the boy in front of him.
How had he gone soft this quick? No, he had not gone soft . Not for some prince he didn't even know. He shook the thought away. He hadn't known this boy for four hours.
Bad turned his attention back to the prince. His eyes had found a blue cornflower, the color of the brightest skies. It was out of place. Skeppy raced off, and returned with a pot.
He quietly removed some dirt from the non-grassy side of the path, and placed it in the pot, before gingerly moving his hands around the flower, as close as possible to not cause further disruption to the beautiful landscape that surrounded them.
He moved the cornflower into the pot, and patched the hole where the flower once was. He smiled, picking up the small plant, and showing it to Bad proudly, as if he had not seen the whole procedure.
"Isn't it pretty?" Skeppy asked, the brightest of smiles on his face. Bad was going to go blind from looking at it. Bad decided it would be a wonderful last thing to see, Skeppy's smiling face.
"It's beautiful, Your Highness." Bad smiles, then flinched at his inconstancy. "I- I mean, Your Majesty, I formally apologize for my mistake." He bowed before the prince, like a beg not to tell. Skeppy giggled.
"No worries. You don't have to be afraid of informality around me. I quite enjoy it." If it could make the prince smile like that again, so be it. He would walk through hell for this boy. No. No he wouldn't. What was he thinking ?!
---
Okay, maybe he'd gone a little soft. But that didn't change much.
All that changed were the constant glances Bad sent, trying to find something more to see, some layer to pick through. He wanted to know everything. He wanted to talk to the prince about his problems, to- to… no. He could not have such thoughts. He looked over at the sleeping figure. Skeppy had said it would be weird to watch him, but Bad just thought he looked so… peaceful.
Bad felt as if he hadn't slept in years. He always could, but whenever he left the boy alone, fear screamed in his chest, and he always kept running back. One time, after not seeing Skeppy for over three hours, Bad had hugged Skeppy in the tightest hug he could muster, before realizing he should check to make sure the boy was safe, first.
"I'm going to protect you, forever and always." Bad vowed to Skeppy, even if his voice wasn't heard, being carried away by the soft breeze of the open window. Skeppy mumbles something in his sleep.
Yeah. This is alright.