Chapter Text
Trumpets, cheers, and celebrations were heard outside the window of Logan’s chambers. It was a big day in Crofter Isles’ history, it was their Queen’s Silver Jubilee – the Queen had been reigning the country for twenty-five years, married to King Thomas for all those years. Logan’s mother had been reigning for twenty-five years and the celebrations were today.
Crofter Isles was a peaceful country, there had been no wars either civil or international, the weather was always warm and somewhat tropical. The palace even grew its own dragon fruit and passion fruit that the chefs brought down to the towns to donate to anyone that needed it. The weather was absolutely wonderful, as a prince Logan could get away with wearing just a shirt, tie and trousers which internationally was quite unusual.
One thing that wasn’t unusual in international royalty, however rather archaic, was the idea of marriage coming quickly. Logan was four months away from twenty years old and his parents had organised Ball after Ball to help Logan find his princess. The princesses wore their best dresses and made interesting conversation, they were all valuable in their own right and shouldn’t be reduced to just ‘wife of the King’ once Logan’s parents would die.
That was tradition however, and Logan was sure there would be a time a princess would walk through the palace doors, and he would be unable to think about anything or anyone else. He was excited for that type of love to come around. Every Ball he waited patiently by the door to greet his soulmate, he didn’t know what she would look like nor would he care, but she was definitely going to be beautiful to him. And he’d know when he’d find her, even if that’s after a couple months of being friends of course. He could imagine his life with that mysterious princess; dancing in the Ball with her, marrying her and creating new royals – making his family and the people of his country proud as he achieved everyone’s expectations.
To be fair – Logan’s life was as peaceful as his country’s history. There were no surprises in his life thus far or in the future. He was just born, trained to care about his country and have a good ethical standpoint of all his country’s people, and in the future, he’d marry a princess and raise two or three children the same way he was raised. He was happy with no surprises in his life.
“Logan, are you ready?” Logan heard the chirp of his best friend, Patton. He and Patton had grown up together, Patton being a few years older he was always like a big brother. During their teens Patton decided to take up the job as Logan’s personal butler so they could always be together throughout their lives. “Balcony waving starts in ten minutes, and you’ll need your friendly face on!”
“I know, just doing my tie. I need to be serious and all that.” Logan chuckled to himself, sticking his tongue out at his friend when he went behind him at the mirror. “Have you checked on Remus?” Logan finished his tie and walked towards his friend, bowing towards him. Remus was Logan’s younger brother, a hyper ten-year-old that took the palace as his playground rather than his duty. Still, he was only ten and he was second to the throne, so Logan could treat Remus like a normal little brother rather than another prince he had to compete for the throne with. Logan absolutely adored his little brother.
Patton smirked, which meant Remus was causing mischief. He opened the door slowly to show Remus with his own butler, a responsible adult, sword fighting together with plastic swords. Remus’ hair was messy, his shoes were undone – but he was laughing loudly. “Remus?” Logan called out, raising an eyebrow in pretend disapproval but smiling again at his little brother’s giggles. “How many times have you tripped over your shoelaces?”
“Only twice.” Remus chirped, placing his foot on his brother’s knee when the older brother sat on the floor. Logan calmly reminded his brother how to tie a bow knowing he wasn’t listening. He knew other princes didn’t do these small things for people, especially family since they had so much paid help, but Logan couldn’t imagine not spending this time with his brother. Even if he was a ball of chaos.
As the final bow was tied, Logan and Remus were called to their parents’ side. Logan reminded Remus of the expectations again and stood to the right of his mother. Remus stood beside the King, and the King fondly dusted the ten year old’s emerald shirt with his fingers. The balcony doors were opened by guards and the royals stepped into the sunlight towards the crowd of peaceful people they adored.
The reason for standing at this balcony was that a new statue had just been uncovered, a stone statue of the Queen that took months to build. It was magnificent, as tall as the balcony and a fair distance from the palace so Logan could see his mother’s carved face from this distance. He marvelled at the artistry as he made his appearance until he saw a much smaller figure on his mother’s stone shoulder.
A person was stood on the statue, arms gripping for balance as their eyes widened as they were spotted. Logan couldn’t see the person’s eye colour but they could see everything else. The amber skin tone, contrasting with a purple t-shirt and black jean shorts, their hair a wavy black. Logan could feel his mouth dry and his cheeks heat up, the water from his mouth had travelled to the prince’s palms instead. The only thought that went through his mind was a quiet “wow…” as the person sheepishly waved, he could feel the pressure of his heartbeat in his chest. Logan’s whole body froze due to these reactions until he finally looked down and away from the mysterious stranger. The person was soon spotted by some guards and dragged down to the ground again, disappearing into the crowd where Logan’s couldn’t spot them. And only then did Logan’s heart calm down a little, until the figure of the stranger entered his mind’s eye again.
This was it - this was the feeling he wanted to feel around the princess he’d marry. There was only one problem with this feeling happening right now… The mysterious stranger was a man.