Chapter Text
Tadashi had always believed in marrying for love. He thought love was a marvelous thing, be it at first sight, incandescent and bright, or the beautiful progression from childhood friends to lovers, shy and sweet. Some would say he was a hopeless romantic. Some called it a weakness. Some called him a fool. In his position, marrying for love was seldom an option.
Which was why he wasn’t surprised when his father informed him of his engagement.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t outraged, though.
“You’re marrying me off for your own political benefit!” he yelled, standing across from the king. “Do you not care about me at all? Don’t you care how I feel?”
His father sighed, pressing his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. “Frankly, son, how you feel about this is not the focus here-”
“Not the focus?” Tadashi snapped. “I’m the one getting sent away to marry a complete stranger! Why don’t you get shipped away in my place and see how you feel?”
“Tadashi, you’re being ridiculous. This is for the good of the country. You’re leaving next week, and your wedding is the week after. Kageyama will accompany you. Now, leave. I’m not discussing this any further.”
Tadashi sputtered, looking at his father incredulously, completely at loss for words. His father shot him a warning look, so he glared and stomped out of the room. He didn’t care if he looked like a frustrated child.
He was the youngest of 5 at 19 years old, so he was used to being ignored, forgotten, disregarded. But this was going too far.
His kingdom had recently formed an alliance with a neighboring kingdom (a richer, far more influential kingdom), and now apparently he was engaged to it’s prince to keep up a good image. He wasn’t needed at home. With 4 siblings ahead of him in line for the throne, he had discarded that option as soon as he was old enough to think for himself. His father never deemed him smart enough to consult him for war strategies or how to run the country, even though he had always been years ahead in his education, and now that he had finished he was still studying topics he was interested in. Well, there was no way his father would know that anyways. He didn’t care about Tadashi. He never had. His father had seen this opportunity and grabbed it. Marrying him off because it was convenient? It was Tadashi’s worst nightmare. And he didn’t think he could get out of it.
Tadashi flung open the door, receiving a questioning look from Kageyama, his personal bodyguard.
“Is something wrong?”
Tadashi kept walking, hearing Kageyama’s boot-clad footsteps following him down the hallway.
“Yes, Kageyama, something is wrong. I’m surprised you haven’t been told. After all, you’re being shipped away with me,” Tadashi said bitterly, tugging at the tie around his neck. It was suddenly too tight.
“Shipped away?”
“I’m getting married. Surprise,” he said without enthusiasm.
“You don’t sound very happy about that,” Kageyama noted, falling into step beside him. “Your Highness,” he tacked on, noticing a high-ranking officer pass by them.
“I’m not.”
Kageyama made an ‘o’ with his mouth, but said nothing. An inaudible voice came through the earpiece wound around the back of his ear.
He pressed a button on it and responded, “Copy that.”
Yamaguchi continued on his way to his mother’s chambers. He was trembling slightly, but tried to hide it as they passed other staff and members of his father’s court in the hallways. He already knew what they all thought of him. He was weak, shy, useless.
“You can wait outside,” he told Kageyama as he knocked on the door.
“Come in!” his mother called.
He opened the door and closed it behind him, making an effort not to slam it like he wanted to.
His mother was sitting on her window seat, the one looking out over her garden. A book was splayed out in her lap.
“Good afternoon, sweetheart,” she greeted him happily.
“Did you know about this? The marriage?” he demanded, not in the mood for small talk.
The cheerful look on her face fell. She looked away, back out onto her garden.
“I’m sorry, Tadashi.”
He hesitated, not sure what to say. He knew that she had probably objected the idea, but then again, his father wasn’t one to listen.
“I don’t want to go, Mom,” he whispered, because he feared that if he spoke any louder the shakiness of his voice would be obvious.
She stood up and pressed a warm hand to his cheek. He leaned into the familiar touch.
“I know you don’t. I know.”
Something close to melancholy stained her voice. Tadashi glanced up. Her eyes were watery.
“Were you forced to marry Father?” he asked without thinking.
She didn’t answer, and that was answer enough. Tadashi stepped back. His mother was an incredibly strong woman. He would not bring shame upon her name.
“Well, there’s no getting out of it now,” he said, trying for a smile. “Father is stupidly stubborn.”
“Tadashi-”
“It’s fine. I have to pack my stuff.”
His mother looked at him doubtfully, but after some time let her shoulders slump. “Okay. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” Tadashi said, and left.
Kageyama followed him silently to his room, leaving him to his thoughts.
It wasn’t that Tadashi wanted to stay in the palace. It was far too big and cold. The heating never seemed to permeate the thick stone walls. His childhood was lonely. He was cut off from other people his age, save Kageyama and Yachi, but then even Kageyama left to train as a guard. He did come back eventually, rising up in the ranks until Tadashi was allowed to request him as a personal guard.
But then again, who would want to leave home when they were forced to marry a stranger?
And just because Tadashi was going along with the whole thing didn’t mean he was going to be pleasant about it.
“Who even is this guy?” Yachi asked.
Tadashi shrugged, flipping through the pages of some trendy magazine with him and his siblings on the cover. It was the next day, and despite what he told his mother, he hadn’t even started thinking about what he was going to bring with him.
He gestured to a large brown envelope that he’d discarded on his desk. “Someone brought by an info file on him so I don’t seem like an idiot when I meet him. I haven’t opened it yet.”
Yachi got off the floor where she was typing away on her laptop and grabbed the file. She sat down on the end of Tadashi’s bed and carefully opened it. She ruffled through the pages.
“Hm, Tsukishima Kei, 20 years old. That name sounds familiar. They have his interests listed, a description of his personality, though you can never trust those, they always dress people up, make them seem better than they are- oh! Here’s a picture of him.”
Tadashi’s heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. He didn’t really want to look at the picture, but he also really did.
He stayed where he was. “The name does sound familiar.”
Yachi snapped her fingers, realisation kicking in. “His brother is Tsukishima Akiteru! You used to have such a big crush on him, remember? You saw him on the cover of a magazine.”
Tadashi laughed. “Yeah. That was years ago, though. I didn’t know he had a younger brother.”
Yachi giggled. She set down all the papers except for the picture, and crawled over so she was sitting next to Tadashi.
“Here, look.”
Tadashi almost had a mind to close his eyes, but he let his gaze linger on the picture. He had a feeling that if he didn’t Yachi would just shove the picture in his face anyways.
Huh.
Tsukishima wasn’t bad looking, that was for sure. His blonde hair was cropped short, and glasses framed his hazel eyes nicely. He was tall, and a bit lanky, but he held himself with a sort of dignity. That look on his face, though...
“He kind of looks like a stuck-up prick, doesn’t he?” Yachi said, always one to voice Tadashi’s unspoken thoughts.
He burst out laughing at the bluntness of her statement. “Yeah, he kinda does.”
“He’s probably really nice, though,” she added, smiling softly at Tadashi.
Her expression was a bit too close to pity for his liking.
He sighed. “God, I’m going to be really lonely there, aren’t I? Lonelier than here, and that’s saying a lot.”
“I’m taking that personally,” Yachi said, shoving his arm playfully. “For Kageyama, too.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he laughed.
Yachi’s phone rang, and she excused herself to answer it, only to come running back 5 minutes later.
“Okay, since we’re on the topic, you’re not actually going to be alone!”
“Well, yeah, I have Kageyama, did you not just say you were offended on his behalf, now you’re doing the same thing-”
“I’m coming too!” she squealed.
Tadashi shot off the bed. “What?”
“I’m going as a diplomat,” she explained. “Well, sort of. I’m going to be the intern for the diplomat that lives over there. My dad said I could use the training.”
Yachi’s father was a governor who worked closely with Tadashi’s father, so Yachi had been living in the palace since she was young. She was educated alongside Tadashi, and her father planned for her to become a diplomat.
Tadashi wasn’t sure that’s where her heart lied, though. She’d always had a talent for the arts.
But for now, Yachi threw her arms around him, and they celebrated this small solace they had found in the steaming mess of the situation.
Tadashi sat on the steps of the palace and watched servants carry his bags into the back of a car. One of them announced that all the bags were packed, Yachi’s and Kageyama’s included.
Crap. He really was leaving.
Tadashi looked back at the palace. He’d probably be coming back to visit, but it felt like the end of something. No, it was the end of something.
He’d said goodbye to his siblings and his mother, with tearful promises to see each other at the wedding. He hadn’t bothered to look for his father.
The reality of the situation was setting in. He was going to marry a stranger because it was politically beneficial. What an end to his story. He had liked to think he’d go out with a more dramatic exit.
“You look like you think you’re dying,” Yachi said, walking past him down the steps. She had a sketchbook in her hands and a pencil tucked behind her ear.
He scoffed, although he was impressed at how well she read him. “I was not !”
“Were too.”
“Was not,” he grumbled, following her down the steps and into a car. Kageyama was already waiting for them. Yachi grinned at him, and he gave a small smile back, opening the door for her.
They were driving to the airport, where they’d take a plane to the neighbouring kingdom. Then, they’d be escorted to the palace, where a welcoming dinner would be held.
Tadashi sighed and let his head fall back against the headrest.
“God, is this really necessary? I mean, does the public even want this?” he wondered.
Yachi nodded her head. “There’s been polls online. The citizens of both countries really like it. Of course, they don’t know it’s arranged. The government is painting it as some romantic love story, though some probably suspect the truth. But overall, they think it’s wonderful. A celebration.”
“Jeez,” Tadashi groaned.
Yachi hummed absentmindedly. The sounds of her pencil scratching on paper were loud in the silent car.
“I really hate dinners. Already, it’s like everyone is looking at me, and it’s going to be 10 times worse this time. Can’t we just show up, be like ‘Hey, I’m the guy who’s being forced to marry your son!’ and go to our rooms to sleep away this nightmare?” Tadashi complained.
Yachi looked up from her sketchbook. “You’re really worked up about this, aren’t you?”
“You would be too,” he retorted.
“Fair point. You should relax, though. Unless you want to be a ball of nerves when we show up?”
Tadashi made a noise of dissent.
The rest of the trip passed in relative silence, and way too quickly for his liking. Before they knew it, the plane had landed and they were being greeted by the palace security that would escort them. By this point, Tadashi’s nerves were at an all time high. He was wringing his hands together so much that Yachi had to grab one of them in hers. Tadashi grasped at the comforting warmth of her palm and used it to try to settle the thoughts flying around in his brain.
The unfamiliar palace loomed over the as the car pulled up. It looked nice, objectively. Tadashi glimpsed a view of the gardens. Hopefully he’d be allowed to continue his hobby of gardening.
A woman with silky black hair and glasses was waiting at the base of the stairs. She looked smart in her suit and heels. Tadashi noticed Yachi frantically smooth out her dress and her hair before getting out of the car after him. He smirked to himself.
“Welcome, Prince Yamaguchi,” she said, a small but warm smile on her face. “And co.,” she added, nodding to Kageyama and Yachi. “My name is Shimizu Kiyoko. I’ve been assigned to help you settle into the palace.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” Tadashi said, no truth in the statement.
Shimizu seemed to pick up on that and smiled sympathetically. “Let’s go to your rooms, shall we?”
Tadashi and Yachi followed her, while Kageyama went with the palace guards to get instructed on security measures and shown to his room in the guards’ quarters.
His and Yachi’s room were in the same hallway, for the time being.
“After the wedding, you’ll move into a room next to the prince,” Shimizu told him. “It’s next week, so if you have anyone you want to add to the guest list you can tell me now. There are still a few other wedding details to go through, but I’m sure you’re tired, so I’ll come by tomorrow.”
Tadashi raised an eyebrow. He didn’t think he was going to get a say in any of the wedding planning.
“Just my family, and Yachi. Kageyama will be there as security anyways, I’m assuming?”
Shimizu nodded. “Well, that’s it for now. There’s the welcoming dinner tonight, Kageyama will escort you down.”
“Thank you,” Tadashi said.
Shimizu left him to get settled in. He decided he didn’t need to unpack much since he was going to be moving again soon. He poked his head out the door. Kageyama was positioned outside the door. His familiar presence was slightly comforting.
He raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“I’m going to Yachi’s room,” Tadashi said.
The new palace’s hallways were unfamiliar, but thankfully Yachi’s room was only 2 doors down. She was sitting on her bed, typing on her laptop, presumably writing an email to whichever diplomat she was interning with. She glanced up at him as he entered. He flopped onto her bed.
“I still can’t believe this is my life now,” he said mournfully.
Yachi patted his back, and they sat in a comfortable silence, until Yachi decided to interrupt it.
“Can I just say that Shimizu is unbelievably hot?”