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The kingdom of Aoba Johsai is known for its lush flora and its proud royal family. So, it is to be expected that the royal castle gardens are impressively rich and beautiful, showing off the abundant plant life of the region, full of the sweet smells of fruit and flowers. Vivid petals bloom throughout the bushes and trees, vines spill onto walkways, and flashes of small animals dart to and fro in the welcoming habitat.
Tobio is on a political visit with the royal family of Karasuno — his family. Prince Tooru is tall and has a wooden sword with leaves carved into the blade, and he speaks as if he knows the answer to everything. He is — in short — amazing.
We’ll play hide and seek, Prince Tooru says. Butterflies flit around him, their wings dazzling and bright in the sun. I’ll count to a hundred and then I’ll come find you.
Tobio is just eight years old. No one has ever been cruel to him before. So, he chooses a blue hydrangea bush as his hiding spot and crawls underneath, and there he stays until the sky grows dark.
Prince Tooru finds him right as the sun sets.
You idiot! he says, grabbing Tobio and hauling him up from the dirt. You seriously stayed out here all day? You were supposed to give up!
Tobio doesn’t understand. He just looks up at Prince Tooru, framed against the darkening sky and stars glittering to life, and asks, Did I win?
♔
His sister is first in line, so Tobio’s perfect for a political union. Barely an adult, freshly 18, his parents announce that they’re marrying him off.
To Prince Tooru Oikawa, of Aoba Johsai.
“You leave in a week,” the king says.
Ten years later, Tobio has experienced cruelty many times. He can see, now, the trick that the young prince was playing on the even younger him. He remembers the way his leg got stiff waiting under the bush, the way Tooru’s grip left a tender bruise on his wrist.
Now he will have a whole life married to someone who doesn't want him.
Tobio swallows. He lowers his head. “Yes, father.”
♔
The rumours of Prince Tooru’s beauty are — to Tobio’s utmost horror — true.
His chestnut hair lies in feathery waves across his forehead. It looks soft to the touch. His eyes match his hair (in colour, alone — nothing about Tooru’s eyes are soft). The decade between their last meeting has squared his jaw and shoulders; he carries himself with a practised ease.
All charm and smiles and a light, breezy voice, Tooru greets Tobio’s parents, and his sister, and then, finally, he fixes those hard eyes on Tobio.
You idiot! plays in Tobio’s memory.
“Prince Tobio,” is what Tooru actually says, bowing politely. “Well met.”
Tobio bows back. “Well met.”
After the exchange of pleasantries, Tooru’s older sister — the heir to Aoba Johsai’s throne — leads Tobio’s family away, making a show of letting the betrothed spend some time together. Tooru shoots his sister a wink, and everyone laughs before the entourage departs. The charm does not last; Tooru’s smile vanishes like dissipated smoke the moment they are alone.
“You don’t seem pleased, Tobio.” All semblance of politeness dropped. “For the record, I’m not either.”
Tobio keeps his eyes on the ground. ”Is that so.“
“It is. If it were up to me, I’d be a knight.”
“Really?” Tobio's heart skips a beat. He looks up at Tooru, who’s busy glaring at a painting on the wall of the entryway. “When I asked, Father told me knighthood was for either commoners or nobles with no marriage prospects, not for princes.”
Tooru casts him a sideways glance, his guarded expression cracked ever-so-slightly open. “Do you know how to wield a blade?”
Tobio straightens up. “Of course!”
“Are you any good?”
“I’m excellent.”
“And humble, I see,” Tooru says sarcastically, but he turns to face Tobio head on as he says it. “Well, dear fiance, we’ll have to spar sometime.”
Tobio can’t help the rush of warmth that shudders through his core, childish and giddy. “I would love to.”
♔
The next time Tobio sees Tooru is at the engagement ball a few days later.
Tooru is full regalia, as is Tobio — but where Tobio is in sleek black with bronze accents, Tooru is all white, encrusted with teal jewels and gold fastenings. A gold crown rests upon his tousled hair, just like Tobio’s bronze. He might have wished to be a knight, but princedom suits him just fine.
Servants shepherd them to the grand hall, giving them one last once-over. The closed doors to the grand hall tower before them, heavy and ornate. A dam, holding back a sea of unfamiliar nobles and foreign royalty.
Tooru offers his arm, and Tobio links it with his own.
“You’re so tense,” Tooru says. “Relax.”
“I can’t help it,” Tobio bites back, but he tries to loosen his shoulders.
“Are you not the same man who told me he was excellent?” Tooru teases, shooting him a crooked grin.
“At swordplay, yes. But dancing and socialising… I’m terrible at that.”
“Going to step on my feet?”
“Maybe,” Tobio answers truthfully, and Tooru actually laughs.
♔
The dancing and socialising is hell — though not as hellish as Tobio was expecting it to be. Tooru led them through the dance with ease, and he has a gift for controlling conversation. To be by his side during all of their social duties is a relief.
After politely excusing them from a group of nobles, Tooru whispers into Tobio’s ear, his voice teasing, “You seem exhausted, Prince Tobio.”
“Is it obvious?” Tobio asks, despairingly.
“It isn’t. Not to most people.” I’m not most people remains unspoken. “I can offer you an escape. I think everyone is drunk enough at this point. Go to the castle gardens, and I’ll come find you.”
Tobio’s heart pounds an unsteady rhythm in his chest. He tugs Tooru closer. “And will you? This time?”
Tooru’s eyes go wide, and his mouth parts in shock. And then his eyes turn guarded again — guarded, but maybe a bit sad, too.
“I will. I promise.”
♔
The night is cool and clear, the stars glittering in the sky. The air smells as sweet as Tobio remembers from when he was a child, and the blue hydrangea bush is still there.
Prince Tooru does, indeed, find him. He joins him before the hydrangeas, their pinkies brushing.
“It was cruel, what I did back then,” he says in lieu of a greeting, his voice clear and determined. “I’m not that child anymore.”
Tobio turns to face him. Somehow, he’s still dazzling, even here in the dark. “I’m not, either.” He summons all his courage and threads their fingers together, grasping Tooru’s hand. “I think I forgive you.”
“You think?” Tooru says, lips curving into a bittersweet smile.
“I do,” Tobio amends. “I choose to.”
“I suppose, in our position, we ought to make the most of the choices we have,” Tooru muses, finally facing him as well. His eyes are still guarded, but there’s a gentleness there. A hint of what could grow between them. “Prince Tobio, this moment is feeling awfully romantic.”
“We’re fiances,” Tobio points out, frowning a little.
“You’re right.” Tooru tilts his head a little, chestnut hair falling across his forehead. “Prince Tobio, might I kiss you? Not on our wedding day, when we are made to. But now, when we can choose to.”
Tobio’s cheeks heat. “I’d like that.”
The last thing Tobio sees, before he closes his eyes and Tooru presses their lips against each other, is the sparkling, infinite stretch of stars above, with his fiance at the centre.
♔♡♔
fin