Archive of Our Own

“KING KAITO, QUICK MOVE THIS WAY!”

“WHERE IS MY SON?!”

“HE’S SAFE, PLEASE KEEP MOVING YOUR MAJESTY , WE CAN’T RISK LOSING YOU TOO”

“GAKUPO DON’T DO THIS! YOU’LL REGRET THIS PERMANENTLY, YOU’LL PAY FOR KILLING MEIKO!”

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the prince woke up startled, heavy breaths escaping his fragile lungs, his heartbeat unsteady.

Ah, he remembered it too well. The tragedy that happened when he was only five years old, where he lost his mother to the evil magician, gakupo.

His dad and the magician were making a contract to reunite both kingdoms until gakupo poisoned his mother and cast down an eternal curse on the king.

Meiko, the queen, his ever loving mother, who didn’t give up on him , who were always there for him the moment he was born, didn’t resist the poison and sadly passed. And Kaito, his dad, the king, always so confident and well composed, but a loving father and a wonderful ruler, was casted with with a curse that makes his body weaker and fragile. He can barely do anything alone.

Tsukasa could never forgive the magician for it, how would he? He took away his mother and the his father’s essence. He took everything from him, and Tsukasa would make sure he payed for his actions.

“Deep breaths big brother” he heard a voice call for him.

looking up to his side, he saw the figure of his younger sister, saki, the princess, his loving and lively sister. She must’ve been calling him for long enough for her to be looking at him with these worried big eyes.

“I’m okay” he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

“Brother, please don’t lie to me, I can’t handle seeing you like this” Saki said, her brows furrowing, making his heart ache from seeing how much he has worried his little sister.

“You don’t have to tell me what you dreamed of , but please, never lie about your well being, you know mother would be upset”

The male looked at her, with wide eyes, and took a deep breath, a pained but genuine smile creeping up on his face.

“I… thank you saki”

She immediately lit up, taking his hand and dragging him out of bed. Handing him a few clothes, he looked at her confused.

“Dad said we’re visiting the city for some especial affairs, get dressed, breakfast is waiting for you” the strawberry blonde said , as she took off, leaving the room with a big grin on her face.

“The city huh…” he looked out the window in his room. Tsukasa hasn’t visited the city since his dad started showing signs of weakness, too afraid to leave and find his lifeless body on the floor.

The blond sighed as made quick work of his own clothes and slid in the business ones. Stretching his limbs, and getting his sword and cape, he made his bed and left the room.

“TSUKASA!!!!”

“What- URMF-“

He felt a new weight collapse with his body, not ready for it, he and the unknown individual fell in the cold hard floor.

“Ugh…” he groaned annoyed “what do you think you’re-“ he looked up and was met with the sight of a pink haired girl.

“TSUKASA! SUPER GOOD MORNINHOY! “ the smaller girl yelled , spreading her arms happily as she giggled

“Oi emu! You can’t just go jumping on people when they just woke up! “ he scolded her a bit annoyed, sleep still catching up to him.

Emu was his childhood friend, from a famous family of alchemists in the city, tsukasa and her met when emu exploded his crown and made him a new one.

“whaaat?! but tsukasa! You haven’t come to visit me in two weeks! I got worried, you’re such a meanie!” Emu complained , calling him a meanie nonstop until he heard a small giggle from behind them.

“Emu, the prince has important affairs to attend to, you can catch up later” he turned around and was met with the sight of a green haired girl, a guard to be precise, and he felt a small smile creep up on his face.

“Nene! I haven’t seen you out of the gate in ages! How have you been?” Tsukasa asked, gently bullying emu to pry off him, getting up from the floor and helping emu up.

“Perhaps if you stopped hiding away in your room you could’ve hanged out with me and emu more, I’ve been leaving frequently, you just weren’t interested in seeing us” she said , her sharp tongue never failing to make him flinch in shame.

“Yeah! You stopped hanging out with us! “ he heard emu complain again, moving her arms up and down making some annoyed huffs.

“You both know I’ve been busy, it’s not like we didn’t hang out everyday anyway” he says scratching his neck with a tired expression.

“Let us walk you to the dining room at least, you have to make up to us tomorrow , though” the guard said extending her hand , it was a way to greet and make offers in their kingdom.

“Yeah! I can’t wait to tell you about the things we’ve done!” The smaller one them said , as they begun to walk to the dining room.

The walk was mostly emu rambling about her recent creations, alongside with nene making some comments about how almost ninety percent of them failed and made a huge mess that took long to clean, tsukasa giggled most of the time while hearing their antics.

Arriving at the dining hall, the three of them were met by the king and the chef.

“Ah, good morning tsukasa, emu, nene” the blue haired male said, giving his usual elegant smile.

The guard took no time to bow her head , while emu waved her hand uncontrollably.

“Good morning your highness”

“HI KING KAITO!”

While most villagers would be afraid to be in the presence of his dad, nene and emu were like family too, so they had no worries just showing up whenever they felt like it. Of course, nene as a guard never treated kaito like a close friend, more like a respected father figure, and emu… well, it’s emu.

“What brings you two here alongside tsukasa? “ Kaito asked curiously, taking a sip of his coffee.

“We wanted to accompany tsukasa because he’s stopped hanging out with us!” Emu half yelled ,pointing at tsukasa and huffing annoyed.

“It’s been a while since we hung out with the prince, and ever since he has important affairs to attend today, we thought we would accompany him here, your highness” the guard said , looking up to him with a certain fondness, but it looked more like she wanted to kill him.

“Fuuu… you guys always take the chance to talk bad about me in front of my dad!” Tsukasa complained with a disappointed sigh.

They all heard a giggle and turned to the chef, a pink haired woman , wearing her usual work clothes.

“Fufu, you kids are always so lively at mornings, isn’t it amusing my king? “ she turned to Kaito smiling amused, kaito shared the same expression.

“Luka , don’t give them a hard time now” The king said , it seemed like a serious order, although he was grinning , amused too.

Luka used to be a food merchant that travelled across many kingdoms, she wasn’t well know because people always found her suspicious, until one day when meiko got sick, a guard was assigned to look for a good medicinal soup and Luka just happened to be passing by. Luka took the job and in less than one day meiko was back at her feet, both the queen and king liked her so they welcomed her into the royal family to be their personal cook, also offering a place in the castle to stay.

“But it’s true, if anyone, you’re the one that knows it the most. Would you two be willing to eat with tsukasa?” Luka offered them a kind smile, eyeing them expectantly.

“WAA YEAH! FOOD FROM LUK-“

“Emu! Thank you Luka, but I think we’ve bothered you all enough, let’s go” nene interrupted the alchemist, and dragged her out by her wrist.

“WAAH! BUT I WANNA EAT WITH KAITO!!” Is all they could hear before their voices faded.

Tsukasa turned to see Luka and kaito giggling to themselves, he felt himself grinning, mornings were always lively like this when before he started locking himself in the castle, he missed it.

“Take a sit son, I’ve been waiting for you” his dad motioned for the blond to come sit in a chair besides him.

And so tsukasa did, he walked close to the huge dining table and took a sit, soon after receiving a plate of fruit pancakes and strawberry juice, he murmured a quiet ‘thank you’ to Luka, to which she smiled kindly.

“I’m sure saki talked to you this morning about the affairs you were assigned in the city, yes? “ the king asked, to which he nodded quietly.

“Truth to be told, I just wanted to see you go out again, you looked so gloomy these past two weeks, it made my heart ache, so I’m giving you this one what I like to call ‘free duty pass’ so you can go and relax doing whatever you feel like” kaito smiled at him warmly and genuine, a smile that was always comforting , full of kindness.

Tsukasa felt his eyes widen , being free from prince duty was… something new, he was always so busy he could barely spend more than one hour with his friends.

“Are you sure dad? Wont it be too much for you, or… or for saki or-“ he was cut off by a gentle hand in his shoulder , one owned by his father.

“Please tsukasa, don’t worry about us, you are always so active and attentive, please be a little selfish and take some time for yourself only “ the king insisted , giving him gentle pats on the back.

The strawberry blond couldn’t help but smile genuinely. Looking over to his father with a fond expression , he murmured a small “thank you so much father” to which kaito smiled.

They ate in a comfortable silence until his dad had to attend to business proposals from other kingdoms, so he stayed alone in the dining hall with Luka until he was finished.

“I’ve forgotten how good your fresh food tastes, thank you, Luka” he got up from his chair and bowed to her gently.

“Fufu, don’t worry about it kid, go now, enjoy your day, just don’t come late or else you’ll miss dinner, I’m making your favorite tonight” the woman said, picking up the dirty dishes and giving him a kind smile before disappearing to attend to her own job.

All the tiredness that once took over his body faded as he felt happiness consume him. It’s been a while since he felt so energized. He would make sure to spend these days offs greatly.

“Alright! Behold world! Here the star comes! “ the prince half yelled confidently, and he ran off to the front gates of the castle.

Tsukasa ran in the corridors greeting the workers on the castle, and as he finally met the opened gates, he saw both emu and nene once again.

“NENE, EMU!” They both turned to him, and soon enough were consumed by his bear hug.

“Ow! Can you not run to people without any warning?!” The guard tried to sound annoyed, but she was grinning hard

“TSUKASA IS HAPPY AGAIN THE PLAN WORKED!” The alchemist said giggling uncontrollably, the words that left her mouth making him curiously turn to her.

“Plan? What plan? “ tsukasa asked her and was met with silence and knowing looks from both of the girls

“Oh… so it was you two” the strawberry blond felt himself smile widely, as he tackled them in another tight hug.

“Okay okay! Yeah we asked your dad to give you a break it’s not that big of a deal! Get off!” Nene said , returning the hug, now laughing alongside emu .

“Mhm! Go enjoy your day tsukasa! Be sure to make it super wonderhoy! “ the pink haired girl said as they all pulled off each other

“I can’t thank you two enough” tsukasa said smiling fondly, truly thankful.

Emu giggled once more and nene sighed, clearly impatient now.

“Okay you big sap, go enjoy your day, we can hang out tomorrow” she said , and emu nodded muttering something about them making apple pies.

He simply nodded , bowed to them as in a quiet thanks , and walked off. Smiling to himself, tsukasa knew he had the bestest of friends in the whole world.

He walked down the stairs thinking about what he should do in his free day. Tsukasa wasn’t a person who was always on the run, but it wasn’t from it. Right now, he just felt the need to sit back and relax.

To which he decided the best place to rest was the queen’s garden, it was a prohibited area that only the royalty could cross, the perfect place to rest at.

He greeted the villagers of his kingdom as he walked down the path that lead to the garden, sometimes stopping to appreciate the view of the people living happily.

The blond couldn’t deny that he missed going out everyday , just talking to the people, doing some simple errands, it all felt nostalgic.

Close to the queen’s garden, he stopped his track when he heard a child’s cry. Scanning the area he saw a small boy with his mother , father and sister. The boy looked anxiously to the garden while he cried uncontrollably, his mother trying to calm him down, and his father and sister talking quietly clearly worried.

They reminded him too much of his own family, it was somehow endearing, but scanning the scenario, perhaps it wasn’t the time to appreciate the sight.

“What’s happened? Is he okay ma’am?” Tsukasa approached the family, they looked shocked to see him, and bowed down instantly

“My prince, I’m very sorry if he disturbed you! We’ll be heading out-“ the woman quickly tried to get the boy to stop crying, to which he responded crying more loudly, making the prince cringe.

“Please don’t worry. I’m not doing anything important right now, stay calm” the blond calmly replied, satisfied when he saw the woman relaxing a bit.

He heard some shifting from behind, the father stepping out to speak.

“Truth be told prince, we were going on a family playing session, but a dog ended up scaring our son, to which he dropped his favorite toy into the queen’s garden” the man took off his hat to speak, eyeing the the garden anxiously

“We know we can’t go there, so we can’t get it back” Tsukasa heard a small feminine voice talking, it was the little girl, holding her dad’s hand.

The prince couldn’t help but smile softly, this family was a really close one, it made his heart bloom with joy.

He kneeled into the ground, in front of the little boy crying , and cleaned his tears , giving him a small gentle smile.

“Hey little one, don’t worry, me , your superhero, will get your toy back safe and sound from any danger!” Tsukasa said confidently, striking a pose, successfully making the kid laugh.

He heard the parents audibly gasp, obviously shocked, not expecting this.

“Will you really? You don’t have to, I’m sure you must be so busy I-“ the strawberry blond got up from the ground and gently made a gesture for the woman to quiet down.

“The path is quite big, it might take a little while for me to find it, but for now, the four of you should get somewhere safe, I’m not sure if the guards would be very pleased if they saw you here” the prince warned them, to which they all nodded.

The mother picked up his now calmed down son, muttered a small “thank you” and they walked away, with big grins of their faces.

Tsukasa watched them go back to the main place of the city, he made sure he couldn’t see them anymore to enter the garden.

Passing by the flower gate , being greeted by the guards on duty, he was met with the familiar scent of the lavander flowers, it was comforting. Meiko always smelled of them because of how frequently she would come in the garden. Everytime she went, she’d bring the whole family with her for a picnic. He sadly smiles at the memories, he truly missed those days.

He begun walking deeper into the garden, admiring the various types of flowers growing in the bushes, a true beautiful sight.

He wondered if her mother left any of her belongings buried in the garden, it would be amusing to see a family photo buried near a flower bush, he debated if one day he should bring saki to dig out some holes with him, but thought against it, the blond didn’t want to make a mess out of the garden.

He was awoken from his own thoughts when he heard some shifting around the bushes. There shouldn’t be any animals here , and neither a person. He know saki nor his dad would’ve be here. Instantly becoming wary, he pulled out his metal sword, getting into a defensive position.

“Who’s there?! You shouldn’t be here, I advise you run back to the city for your own safety! “ he yelled, receiving no response, only more shifting.

He felt the air tense up, his senses growing more aware, this could be a surprise attack , or maybe just an accidental encounter? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care, he needed to know who was there.

It all became dead silence , no more shifting, just the sound of the wind. He saw a glimpse of white clothing in the bushes.

In a quick motion, he pulled the clothing with as much strength as he could manage, being responded with a masculine yelp.

Once the entire figure of the person was out, he pulled his sword and pointed it to the neck of the individual. The stranger’s yellow eyes widening.

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?!” The prince half yelled, still pointing the sword at the stranger’s neck.

“W-whoa! Calm down! I’m sure we don’t need to get violent in this beautiful day, y-yeah?” The man answered nervously, unmoving from tsukasa’s strong grasp.

The strawberry blond took a moment to analyze the stranger. He was a bit taller than him, about eight cm, but he looked about his age. he had medium purple hair with two streaked of neon blue, a bit of it being held up in a small ponytail, he wore glasses that strangely only covered one eye. But the thing that caught his eyes was the clothing he was wearing. It looked like some royalty clothing but also didn’t really look like it. His belt showing a very familiar symbol , but tsukasa couldn’t put a finger in where he had seen it before.

“U-uhm…” Tsukasa looked up and realized he’d been staring too much. He retrieved his sword back, and stared at the man a bit longer.

“What are you doing here, you shouldn’t be around these corners” the prince said sternly , making the taller male flinch a little .

“I uh… got lost? “ the purple haired male said, a pretty obvious lie.

“Don’t lie to me stranger, you know trespassing is a crime. My guards won’t be pleased if they know that an outsider is in the garden” the blond said getting ready to pull out his sword again, when the purple haired male made an offended noise.

“Trespassing?! That’s a serious accusation you’re making there , you’re so mean, I’m hurt, I’ve been only exploring and this is the treatment I get! What a cruel world! “ the man started rambling things tsukasa couldn’t quite understand. How was he so calm and collected when he had literally just threatened the other?!

“Huh?? You- this is a place restricted to the public! Only the royalty can be here! I’m the prince , you should respect me!” The prince sounded offended, pointing at the taller male with annoyance.

“This isn’t how a prince is supposed to treat a inoffensive person! Tsk tsk, I expected better of the king’s son” the purpled haired man said teasingly, shaking his head in disbelief, only making tsukasa more irritated.

“What?! You- you’re the one committing a crime here! “

“It’s not a crime if I didn’t know what I was doing! “

“There’s signs all over the place saying that this is a royalty only place!”

“What if I’m kind of 90% blind??”

“THAT ISNT A THING! “

They continued to bicker until tsukasa gave up and huffed in annoyance. The stranger clearly amused by his reaction.

“Rui kamishiro”

“Huh?”

He eyed the stranger once again, seeing the other extend his hand in greeting.

“My name, I’m rui kamishiro, what about you, my prince? “He let the word ‘prince’ go just like dripping honey, a teasing tone.

“I don’t care about that!” Tsukasa yelled in disbelief and frustration.

“How rude! I didn’t know a prince could be this uneducated, what would your father say?” The taller say putting both hands in his hips, leaning foward to tower over the prince.

“I-!” Tsukasa yelped surprised.

They stayed like that for a few moments. Rui towering over the prince with a shit eating cat-like grin, somehow that intimidated tsukasa a bit.

“t-tsukasa tenma…” he muttered quietly, making rui raise an eyebrow at him.

“What’s that ? Mhmm I couldn’t hear it! “ kamishiro’s grin only gets wider by the second he keeps talking. It makes tsukasa annoyed.

“Tsukasa tenma! My name is tsukasa tenma! There! You have my name! Now shoo! “ the strawberry blond made a ‘get out’ gesture with his hands, a little embarrassed.

The taller retracted back, and grinned at the smaller. Making the prince a bit uncomfortable. His grin looks like he’s planning something mischievous.

“How about no? Lets chat my prince, I want to know more about you! “ the purple haired man crossed his arms and looked down to him.

Never in his life has tsukasa felt so offended. He could just call the guards and lead this Rui person away, but a part of his brain thought against it, he too, even if he didn’t want to admit it, wanted to know more about the taller.

“I-ugh! Fine, let’s get out of here though, any guard could’ve heard us if you weren’t careful!” The prince began scolding the other as he walked, the kamishiro following right after him.

“You were the one overreacting tsukasa-kun, I don’t see why you’re putting all the blame on me” the blond stopped his tracks when he heard how the purple haired man called him.

In their kingdom , calling someone “individual-kun/chan “ meant “my lover” and there’s no way rui couldn’t have known that.

He turned around to face him only to be greeted by their faces inches apart, with the taller grinning like a madman, getting startled, tsukasa tried to back away but tripped on some growing roots and fell.

“Ow! You- why did you call me that! “ the prince stared at the man with a mix of irritation and embarrassment. Only for rui to giggle and fake an innocent face.

“Fufu, I’m not sure what you’re talking about tsukasa-kun! You’re making such a fuss over nothing, aren’t you the one who said that being loud was going to attract the guards here?” Rui said, his cat like grin growing back in his face once again, but instead of making him irritated, it only made him more flustered.

All the prince could do was huff in annoyance. The purple haired man reached out a hand to him, to which he took gladly, not like he had any choice anyway – he did –

For a while, they only stared in each other’s eyes. Yellow meeting orange-yellow eyes. Like the sunrise meeting the brightest star.

“Tsukasa-kun, as much as I’d love to go on a staring contest with you, I fear there might be something you wanna lead me to, isn’t there?” Rui asked, eyeing the smaller curiously. Tsukasa decided to try and ignore the way the taller called him.

The prince sighed as he motioned for kamishiro to keep following him. They walked for a while, not in silence of course , since the purple haired male decided he didn’t like the silence. They talked about all sorts of things. Tsukasa discovered that rui was from a far away kingdom, a prince too, but he didn’t give more details, and the blond didn’t insist on knowing more.

After walking for a while, they arrived at a very unique scenery. A circular flower field with a fountain , a few benches, a picnic blanket laying nicely on the floor, and two swings.

A few minutes in there, silence took over. Tsukasa found it weird, since the moments they stayed together, rui seemed like a really talkative person.

He turned around, being greeted with kamishiro looking at the place like a child at a shop full of candy. The sight made a giggle escape from the prince’s mouth, loud enough for the other to hear and eye him.

“This place is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen… before you of course” rui said and winked at him. fucking, winked, at him.

tsukasa could feel his whole body burning, he was sure if must’ve been pretty obvious the impact those words had on him because of how the taller was now laughing.

“This… is the place my mother used to take me and my family before she passed” the blond said sadly. He wasn’t sure why he was sharing his life with a boy who he’d only met a while ago, but something about said boy standing before him made him feel safe, comfortable, it was rather… nice.

Rui could only nod in understandingly, not wanting to press the subject. He looked over the flowers bushes and smiled.

“Previously, we agreed that you would tell me more about yourself, no? How about we make some flower crowns while we’re at it?” The purpled haired man asked, already sitting on the grass floor, motioning for the blond to come closer and sit.

For the people in town, this would probably be seen as ‘childish’ and ‘immature’ because tsukasa was a prince and he had to maintain his reputation. But right now, he felt… free. Like he didn’t have to worry about those things. Before he knew, he had already sat besides rui, and soon enough they began talking.

The conversation went by very smoothly, they’d change the subject quickly when it connected to something else. It was nice, the flower crowns also coming along very nicely.

Tsukasa told rui about him not necessarily being a prince, more like a knight, his duties didn’t really revolve around taking care of the kingdom, it was more like training swordsmanship, sparring daily with the guards, chasing off bad people… rui asked the reason why he became a knight, and he answered that it was because of the tragedy that happened years ago. The anger still bubbled inside him. The taller listened to the story carefully, only saying things when he absolutely wanted to.

Rui told tsukasa more about his kingdom. Soon learning that rui was adopted from a very respected king, to whom taught him how to use magic spells. Tsukasa asked about the symbol in his belt, to which rui dodged the subject successfully by saying that his question was just an excuse to look at him pants, making tsukasa get flustered and ramble a lot of excuses. They talked about their friends in their kingdoms, their favorite things, what they usually did… they found themselves enjoying each other’s company more as the time passed. Soon enough , both flower crowns were ready.

“How about we trade them? You stay with mine and I stay with yours” rui offered, gently putting the flower crown in the prince’s head, muttering how beautiful he looked with them.

Tsukasa could only giggle, his face going red. The strawberry blond also gently laying the flower crown he made on top of the taller’s head.

“fufu, now we are both flower princes, from different flower kingdoms, destined to fall in love and rule over one kingdom together, no? tsukasa-kun?” Rui tilted his head teasingly, though with a fond expression with a glint of adoration.

“yeah… maybe after all this was a fated encounter, yes? “ now it was kamishiro’s turn to be a flustered mess. Tsukasa shared the same fond expression, feeling a bit flushed himself for saying something so bold.

Both of them decided to lay in the grass , commenting at the shapes of the clouds above them. The conversation later falling silent.

They stayed in a comfortable silence, just the sound of the wind, and their heartbeats. It didn’t take long until they noticed that it was already dark outside. The prince himself was kind of shocked. He left early in the morning and it looks like it’s already really late.

The smaller heard some shifting and turned his head to look at kamishiro. Seeing the other up from the grass already, he lifted an eyebrow eyeing the other curiously.

“Tsukasa-kun… as much as I’d like to spend more time with you, I fear that it’s time for us to part” the purple haired male said, trying to sound smug, but the sadness in his voice is was audible.

Tsukasa himself couldn’t deny that he was a bit saddened too. What if the never saw each other again? He had enjoyed the day so much because of rui.

“… what about you come back here… tomorrow? “ the prince said, getting up too, feeling a bit ashamed at how he sounded. His question seemed more like a plea than a question.

Rui eyed him long enough for the blond to blush, then he smiled fondly, ruffling tsukasa’s blond locks affectionately.

“I’d like that, then, I’ll see you tomorrow, my prince “ rui suddenly held the knight’s hand and brought it closer to his mouth, placing a small kiss , before disappearing into the bushes.

Leaving a shocked flustered mess of a knight. Tsukasa presses his hand into his face, screaming on it.

“What is this feeling…?” He mutters to himself, putting a hand over his chest, feeling his heartbeat as fast as ever

He didn’t know why he was feeling like this, but he was certain of one thing, he had to see rui again.

Fixing the flower crown on his head, he brings walking away from the hidden place in the garden. His thoughts about rui keeping him busy as ever.

He never felt this way with no one, even when he first met emu and nene, he didn’t feel the same intensity of feelings blooming in his chest, his thoughts didn’t run miles while thinking about them. So why with rui? He didn’t understand.

Stopping near the entrance of the garden, a stuffed muddy cat catches his eyes, then he remembers the boy he’d seen earlier. Quickly approaching the toy, tsukasa picks it up and holds it close to his chest, getting some mud in his clothing – not like he minded, rui had gotten his clothes stained hours before this –

The prince reached the gates of the queen’s garden after what felt like an eternity, only to be met by the same family he saw hours ago. Smiling genuinely when the little boy notices him and his stuffed toy.

The child came running to him, tsukasa kneeled on the ground much like he did the first time they met, and held the stuffed animal out for the child.

“Take care of it from now on, okay? “ the strawberry blond asked softly, earning a happy nod from the kid, who ran back yelling to his family about finding his toy.

His parents quickly eying him, and bowing down in response. The knight bowed back in a way of saying “you’re welcome “ and began walking to his home.

The walk back up was calm, the cold wind making his blond locks fly while he clutched the flower crown close to his head for it not to fall.

He couldn’t help to not ignore the stares he was receiving from the villagers. It didn’t bother him all that much, but it still was a little uncomfortable having so many people watch you and mutters to themselves what they think.

Finally reaching the gates of the castle , tsukasa is greeted by nene , who eyes him suspiciously.

“You look… interesting “ the guard said, trying to not sound offensive. Tsukasa could only offer her a giggle in return.

“Today has been eventful… “ he muttered quietly, smiling to himself remembering the things he and rui did together.

The green haired girl stared at him for a few seconds, before giving him a genuine smile.

“I’m glad you could enjoy your first day off, there’ll be plenty more like this. “ nene said, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder.

“Go eat, emu already went home, I’ll be heading out soon too. Take care “ she said sending him off, to which he nodded, walking past her heading to the dining room.

His mind kept bugging him about rui, he wanted to talk more, hang out more, he wanted to get to know him better, and his mind wouldn’t shut up about it.

getting close to the dining room, he can hear a lively conversation going on. By the sounds of it, saki’s girlfriends came over.

“I’m home” the knight addressed as he walked into the room. And as he predicted, His father, the chef, his sister, and her girlfriends were all there eating and chatting nonstop until he showed up.

“Big brother! Welcome home! “ said the princess immediately getting up from her sit to run up to his brother to hug him.

The princess wrapped her arms around him tightly, to which he returned the action, he could hear saki’s partners cooing from behind.

Soon enough they both let go, and saki went back to her sit. Tsukasa himself choose to sit next to his father, who had been eyeing him curiously since he entered the room.

“Father, is there something funny in my face? “ he muttered quietly, the king giggled and shook his head gently.

“It’s not that my son, you look happier” kaito said, not minding about the mess that his clothes and hair were, and defined not commenting about the flower crown too, the prince was grateful for it.

“Today was… eventful” Tsukasa smiled to himself recalling the moments he spent with rui.

There was some silence soon after by some giggles, looking across the table, the knight hears one of his sister girlfriends commenting about him.

“Sounds like someone’s in love to me” said the grey haired girl, receiving a warning glare from saki and a playful nudge from her other girlfriend.

“Shiho-chan, you can’t say that out loud! “ looking over to her side, said a brown haired girl.

“Haha, you can’t say she’s wrong honami-chan” besides saki, there was a black haired girl, resting her head in her chin, looking amused.

“Ichika-chan! Not you too!” The princess said laughing a little. Soon the room became filled with laughter.

Ichika, honami and shiho. Before dating saki, they were childhood friends. Ichika sung songs in the streets of the city for children in outdoors and private birthday parties, shiho was training to be a knight, and honami was a assistant in drawing classes for children. They never let their status get in the way of their relationship, once saki told the king about wanting to date them, kaito immediately gave the girls his blessing and wished them the best. They come to the castle often to hang out, sometimes they go on dates, it’s adorable to witness.

“Fufu, but you can’t say we’re wrong saki-chan, tsukasa looks like he met someone important “ shiho said eyeing him, her eyes casting a ‘I know what you are’ message.

Pretty much all eyes were on him , curious glances waiting to have any sort of knowledge about his day. The prince could only sigh, smiling more.

“Well… I did meet someone at the-“ he stopped mid sentence, reminding himself that he couldn’t tell them of rui. The magician had trespassed and broken more than three rules of the kingdom, he’d be bound to go arrested by the king if tsukasa mentioned.

“Meet who? Where?” Luka said placing a plate with some taiyaki, to which the knight could only beam at, his eyes shining.

“Luka! Thank you! “ he said smiling genuinely, grabbing one of the fish and chewing it from the head, his expression softening after swallowing.

He’d only notice the silence after a few more bites. Looking at the companions , they looked like they were still waiting for him to reply to their previous assumption.

“Oh, well…” he cleared his throat, wondering if he should drop the subject or make up a scenery.

He thought against the idea of dropping the subject, he knew his father and sister would be insanely suspicious of him later , ever since he was one to always share his experiences throughout the day.

“I went to the queens garden today, on my way there I met a wonderful family of four , their son had thrown his favorite toy in the garden, they were so lovely, I went on a little adventure to retrieve the toy back, and spent the rest of the day with them” Tsukasa said. Not entirely a lie, but a lie nonetheless. A really believable one too, seeing how honami and ichika brightening up at the story, saki and shiho muttering a few “how cute” comments between themselves.

Luka and kaito looked at him with fond expressions, their eyes full of adoration.

“You’re the kindest prince this kingdom has ever had, you’re just like your mother…” the older male said trailing of, a sad but proud smile slowly making its way on his face.

The strawberry blond could only nod, too afraid to speak fearing he might spill his heart out about missing his mother.

They ate dinner quietly after that, it was mostly the girls chatting. The chef and the king would talk about the recent state of the city, and tsukasa could barely focus on what they were saying, his thoughts still in the queen’s garden.

He finished his taiyaki quietly, getting up from his chair and muttering a quiet , but genuine “thank you” to Luka.

“I’m going to head to bed, goodnight everyone” the prince said, receiving a few muttered goodnights and ‘sleep well’ grinning to himself.

He walked out the dining room to his own bedroom with a fond smile planted on his face. He loved his family, their presence always made him feel at ease.

Opening the doors to his room, he sighed in relief, the day had ended and nothing made him feel anxious enough to lock himself up. He hoped during these days he wouldn’t feel like he was in danger constantly so he could rest in peace.

He took of the fancy uncomfortable clothes he’d been wearing for the entire day, carefully removing the flower crown and putting it besides his bed drawer, taking his time to admire it again. A wonderful work folding the leaves and flowers together, rui certainly could turn anything he made into magic.

sliding in his pajamas, he wondered if he should put his clothes to wash. He didn’t want the mud and leafs to come out of the cloth, it would take away the essence from the wonderful day he had lived, so he decided he’d hang it on the wall, as a reminder of the day both him and rui met.

And so he did, it took a little while to get the angle right, ever since tsukasa was a perfectionist at everything he did. He looked proudly at the clothing now in his wall, and smiles warmly.

turning of the lights in his room, tsukasa slid in the warm and comforting covers of his bed , looking over to his drawer, facing the flower crown.

He picked it up, sitting upright in his bed, staring at. Feeling the smile he once wore in his face widening.

The memories of his time in the queens garden flowing back in. He couldn’t believe he missed the magician who he’d only met today. Putting the flower crown aside, he saw something fall from it. A paper, he picked it up from his sheets and managed to read it because of the lightning of the city outside.

‘call my name’

“…rui?” Tsukasa said quietly, soon the paper burned in his hand, pulling away quickly, he saw the ashes turn into a small unique device.

Warily, he touched it , and it lit up, showing a small microphone hologram. He sat there , not knowing what to do.

After a few moments of wondering if he should turn the device off, he heard the device display the microphone turning a green color, a shifting noise being heard from it.

“Is it working? Ah tsukasa-kun , I missed you my prince, are you heading to bed now? “ he heard. The same smug voice from earlier. Rui made a device only for them to communicate together, he flushed hearing the magician’s voice from the other side of the device.

“rui! I- how did you manage to even make this! “ the knight exclaimed quietly, afraid to make too much noise and attract his family.

“Fufu, Tsukasa-kun I’m a magician and an inventor, I told you this early, I guessed you would’ve taken the hint soon, but I guess not” Tsukasa could hear the smile while kamishiro talked, he wanted to hate it, but his heart said otherwise. Smiling against his own will.

“Did you need anything?”

“No, I just called because I felt like it”

“Huh? Im about to get my beauty sleep and you disturb it just because you felt like it?”

“Fufu, is it so wrong to want to talk to their favorite person , tsukasa-kun?”

“WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS????”

They bickered for a while, talking about whatever they felt like. Tsukasa feeling his eyes heavy as the seconds passed, rui insisted he went to sleep, but the prince was stubborn and wanted to stay.

“You know tsukasa-kun, it’s been a while since I’ve talked to someone like this, thank you” the magician said , awaiting for a flustered reply by the knight, but it never came.

“Tsukasa-kun?” He called for the strawberry blond, kamishiro was about to call again when he heard soft snores coming from the other side of the line, making him smile softly.

“fufu, even in your sleep you’re as energetic as ever, aren’t you? “ rui muttered quietly, he wouldn’t wish to disturb the other in his sleep. After all, the taller admits he may have sucked all the energy of the prince.

“Goodnight my star, sweet dreams” he whispered, turning off the device and hiding it under his pillow.

getting up from his bed, rui took the flower crown made by the knight, taking off one leaf, turning around to leave the room.

The doors creaked loudly, his steps echoing through the giant halls, his mind loud as ever, he felt bad for using tsukasa for his own benefit, but it had to be done, or else it would happen again, the kingdoms would collapse, there would be a war and-

“Ah, rui, you’re back. How was your journey?” He heard a voice call, turning around , he was met by a tall man , long purple hair tied by a ponytail, fancy clothes and a long purple cape that dragged behind him when he walked.

The magician kneeled to the ground, putting his right hand on his chest, lowering his head.

“I’m back my king. I’ve brought the sample you asked for” the inventor said , extending his hand, showing the small leaf.

The Amman approached kamishiro, gently taking the leaf from his hand. Rui kept himself in the same position.

“Ah, yes, very nice indeed” he heard the man said.

And there was silence. The prince assumed the man was putting away the leaf, staring him down, maybe both.

“You did good today”

“Thank you your highness”

The magician heard the man chuckle , before feeling his head being gently tapped. He froze up.

“You remember you don’t have to adress me as ‘your king’ when we’re alone. Are you perhaps forgetting that we keep no formalities alone?” He swallowed nothing, whenever the man spoke , rui would get chills all over his body.

The prince stayed quiet for a few moments, before getting up and finally eyeing the man, who smiled smugly at him.

“No ,father gakupo “ he spoke, earning a satisfied nod from the king.

“Good. Now go, you’ll have the day free tomorrow for your actions. “ gakupo said, turning around and walking away, his steps echoing loudly enough for the purple haired man want to rip off his ears.

Kamishiro gritted his teeth, eyeing the floor with an irritated expression. He hated how the man was planning on poisoning tsukasa’s father , just like he did to the queen. Only to take over both kingdoms, without a single care in the world for the people living in it. Kings were only greedy and wanted power, he knew this too well.

Turning around , he begun to head back to his bedroom. The tension never leaving the air, the lights in the hall flickered, making the anxiety in his chest grow, his heartbeat unsteady and quick.

he walked faster, wanting to do nothing but reach his own comfort place, well, mostly only a place where he slept, there existed nowhere comfortable if the king was a psychopath who poisoned people with spells for fun, he never knew if he could be the next target.

Finally reaching the doors to his room, he slid in quietly, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Eyeing the room, he sighed in exhaustion, his room had been a mess ever since gakupo started to come uninvited at morning, putting his nose in his business. Rui had to hide some of his devices and robots to prevent questions for the king, his presence was just too overwhelming.

the inventor walked to his bed and slid under his covers , reaching out for his device under his pillow, the boy turns it on to assure himself of the knights safety.

Much to his relief, the strawberry blond was still snoring softly, sound asleep. Just hearing it made rui’s heart calm down, his mind being the quietest it has ever been. He didn’t understand why tsukasa’s presence had this effect on him, maybe it was something related to him being pure blooded from the queen, who had the ability to reverse negative effects, or maybe… no, no he wasn’t falling in love with the knight, there’s no reason why, they’d only met today.

rui sighed , laying his head on his pillow, listening to the soft snores coming from the other side of the device, he himself wasn’t feeling tired, but this once, his mind was quiet, and he was physically drained, and with a sound so pleasant being basically free dopamine, who is he to deny a good night of sleep?

He felt his eyes being shut away, and soon enough, he was asleep. Both of the boys snoring softly, mind empty, content for being able to meet each other, and they hoped it would stay this way.

________________________________________

Sun rays hit his face making him shift uncomfortably, slowly cracking his eyes open, tsukasa tried to adjust to the lightning in the room.

he didn’t remember falling asleep, how weird. Sitting upright in his bed, he felt an unusual weight in his stomach, groggily looking at it, he made out the figure of the device him and rui used to talk the other day.

they were talking, and then he fell asleep. He fell asleep at the sound of rui’s voice! How embarrassing is that?!

The prince grumbled sleepily, pulling himself out of his covers, stretching his body back and forth. Remembering he’d meet up with the magician once again only made him more energetic.

He took out his pajamas and put on his usual knight clothes , sliding in the pieces or armour, on both shoulders and taking his swords, he looked at himself in the mirror and parted his hair with a hairbrush. And then he was ready for the day.

He opened the doors of his room, heading to the dining room, already feeling excitement taking over. He wanted to make something nice for rui, as an apology from almost cutting his head off.

Maybe he could show him around town? No, his dad would ask questions later about how they met, maybe he could let him meet emu and nene! No, they’d also ask a bunch of questions.

If anything, tsukasa already knows they’d ask him questions anyway! He didn’t want to waste a single second of the day.

“Oh! I could arrange a picnic! “ Tsukasa thought out loud, quickly covering his mouth wondering if anyone heard it, but there wasn’t a single noise other than his own steps and breathing.

The prince found it rather odd. The castle was usually busy at this hour, with multiple people running back and fourth, but this had the advantages, the knight wouldn’t have to deal with multiple questions of people if he went to the kitchen to prepare for his amazing picnic.

After walking a bit through the halls, he arrived at the dining room. There was not a single familiar face, only a parfait plate on the table, and a note.

He walked over the chair and sat down, scooping a spoonful of the whipped cream mixed with strawberries, smiling at how good it tasted. Luka was truly a gifted cook, no doubt in that.

He took the note with his other free hand, reading it silently.

‘Good morning my son, did you sleep well? I hope you did. I had business to attend to after hearing the possibility of an invasion from the magicians of the kingdom who killed your mom. I can’t let them take saki and you away from me too. Nene and emu volunteered to come along, and Luka came too because she had medicinal food deliveries to give out in the way. But don’t worry, we will be home as soon as we can. Saki left with the girls to the crystal lake to fish, she should be home by afternoon, there’s food for lunch and dinner, make sure to eat well, love from dad’

Tsukasa froze up, the magicians were scheming something again. Was gakupo not satisfied after brutally murdering his mother and taking most of his dad’s lifespan? How much of a psycho can he be?

he sighed heavily, taking another spoonful of the dessert, somehow it being able to calm him down.

He knew the letter was supposed to be reassuring , but he couldn’t help but worry , why didn’t his dad take him too? He was a trained knight! He could protect them.

Sighing heavily, he got up from his seat and took the dirty dishes to the sink, washing the glass carefully. Tossing the paper on the trash can, he walked over to the refrigerator to see what kinds of food he should bring to the picnic.

There were various good options, ever since they were the royal family, they usually got the most high quality crops , meats and overall food. Tsukasa wasn’t sure of what we’re rui’s tastes, so he decided to get a bit of everything.

Picking up a large picnic bag , he tossed in some fruit in a three linked plastic pots. Strawberries, a few apple slices, banana slices, blueberries and raspberries. Some yogurt and water, a tiny bit of coffee and milk. Bread, cheese, ham , lettuce and tomatoes, enough to make two of his fabulous luncheons, watermelons, brownies , some lemonade and apple juice.

This would have to be enough, right? He hoped so. Now securing the bag over his shoulder and closing it, tsukasa left the dining hall, heading out of the castle, except he took the stairs near the entrance hall that took him into the queen’s garden instantly. He didn’t feel like greeting people today, don’t get him wrong, he loves the villagers, but today tsukasa just wanted to avoid contact as much as possible.

Echoing heavy steps could be heard as he walked down the multiple stairs. The knight may have overdone the preparations for the surprise picnic, but he wanted to treat kamishiro well, as an apology for his past actions.

Onto the last step, the prince sighed exhausted, maybe he was a bit out of shape for having stayed in his room doing nothing more than paperwork , but nobody needed to know that, he could spare with shiho later to regain his posture.

He resumed walking, already seeing the gates of the garden, when he and saki wanted to play hide and seek without being seen, they would take this path ever since there were no guards in watch, because this path was secured by a super talented magician, if anyone without registration tried to go through, the individual would be surprised with a small dosage of sleep gas.

Going through the gates, tsukasa sighed in relief feeling the scent lavender hit his nose, only growing more excited to talk with rui again.

The blond made his way through the bushes, as he got closer to the secret spot, he could hear some creaking from the swings, normally, he would’ve been alarmed, but he knew who it was, he walked faster finally entering the hideout, he was met with a certain purple haired man , swinging back and forth humming a happy song, it was precious, he was so tall he could barely swing properly without his feet touching the floor, but he looked like he was enjoying himself.

the knight admired the magician, forgetting he was standing out in the middle of the garden. Kamishiro looked over at him, smiling mischievously.

“You’re just going to admire my beauty or will you come to properly greet me, my prince?” Rui asked , getting out of the swing, approaching tsukasa’s figure, pretty much towering over him.

The prince broke out of his trance, looking straight into those yellow eyes, before breaking into a shy smile.

“you came” he said , seeing the taller’s expression softening.

“I did” the inventor replied, feeling butterflies in his stomach as the man before him smiled widely.

As rui was about to make a smug joke, he noticed the picnic bag tsukasa was holding. His yellow eyes widening a bit, did the blond go out his was to prepare a picnic only for him?

The knight noticed him staring at the bag, and chuckled, getting it out of his back and motioning the magician to come and sit on the picnic blanket, the inventor quietly doing so.

Neither of them spoke as the prince took out various types of meals, rui could only stare in shock, his heartbeat going faster, if his face was burning and had a color redder than a tomato, he’d ignore it.

“I wanted to apologise for my previous actions, I wasn’t sure what foods I should bring, so I brought a tiny bit of everything…I hope you can forgive me” Tsukasa spoke up, looking directly at rui’s eyes , with a soft expression, the inventor found himself unable to turn away from those orange-yellow eyes.

Rui found himself resisting the urge to bring tsukasa closer and hug him, his hands shaking. The strawberry blond seemed to notice his unusual behaviour, he couldn’t help but giggle, extending his arms as if he understood what the taller wanted.

God, tsukasa was going to be death for him.

He was quicker to move than he liked to, as rui’s arms wrapped around the smaller, the other returning the hug as fast as he could, they stayed like that.

The purple haired man felt like he was falling apart, the small hands of the blond being the only thing able to hold him together, how long had it been since he’d ever felt… comfort?

The taller felt fresh tears swelling up in his eyes. No, he couldn’t be crying over something so stupid , tsukasa had only prepared the nicest meal he could’ve ever seen, been more caring than his own father, and hugged him more tightly than anything , he was not breaking down over those small actions.

The prince was so warm, so comfortable, rui wanted to drown in his grasp, he was now shaking at this point, tears flowing freely by now.

Tsukasa had been troubled by how he magician reacted to such a small gesture. He wouldn’t budge him now, his heart ached from seeing the other in such a fragile state, for now, he’d only offer the comfort rui deserved.

“It’s okay, just let it out” the knight spoke softly, rubbing circles in the inventor’s back, at this point, rui was sobbing.

Safe to cry and not be rejected, the taller had let himself cry before, but not like this, right now he felt spent, loved, understood.

They pulled out when all there could be heard was small sniffles. Looking up, tsukasa thought the boy before him was the most precious thing in the world.

Rui’s eyes were puffy and the tip of his nose was pink, his cheeks were a soft red. He held a small pained, but grateful smile.

To rui, tsukasa looked like the gates of heaven. He held a soft expression, his orange-yellow eyes fighting to not let the few tears spill out, his cheeks red. He looked like a true angel.

“you must be hungry, we can talk about this later, for now, let’s just enjoy” the strawberry blond spoke quietly, sitting besides the magician, holding his left hand with his right one, offering a small but genuine smile.

the warmth in his chest just spread, his heart skipping a beat. The taller nodded, feeling himself smile wider.

They ate in silence, tsukasa making both luncheons for them, rui being picky about the lettuce and tomatoes but ending up eating them nonetheless because it was the prince who made them.

“when are you going to show me around the city tsukasa-kun? “ asked the inventor, earning a troubled look from the knight.

Tsukasa swallowed the cupcake he’d been eating.

“I would… but I can’t just show up to my dad with someone who trespassed the queen’s garden” the strawberry blond replied, earning an offended gasp from the magician.

“It’s not a crime if I didn’t know!”

“You’re still going on about this?!”

“Fufu, why don’t you answer me?”

“You knew what you were doing!”

The knight sighed heavily as the taller giggled. A smile slowly creeping up his face, glad to know rui was back at his usual self.

“My dad will be back late today… maybe I can show you around the kingdom while he’s at it” the strawberry blond said, kamishiro instantly brightening up.

“Of course! Can we go now?!” The other spoke excitedly earning a genuine laugh from the prince.

“But the basket we-“

“We can come back later! Let’s go!” They both got up, until rui looked over to the smaller troubled.

“What’s wrong?” Tsukasa asked.

“Is it really okay if we went through the main entrance? “ rui replied, looking at him with a desperate face.

Tsukasa thought for a while. It’s true they’d be asked countless of questions of who was rui, since when he was there… it would be a mess overal. So the blond grabbed the purpled haired man’s hands once again, and started dragging him to the opposite side of the entrance.

“I know a path where we can’t be seen leaving” the knight said mischievously, to which the magician smiled back.

They walked through the bushes in silence. Rui tried to not think about how tightly tsukasa was holding his hand, it was endearing, really. Almost as if he was afraid the inventor would disappear if he let go. And well, to say tsukasa was a mess was an understatement, his cheeks were red and his figure was shaking. Since when did he get so bold to hug the magician and hold his hand more than 2 times in such a short period of time after they just met?

The prince sighed internally, keeping his face upright, already seeing the stone gate that led to the stairs , stopping in front of it, he turned around to face the taller.

“So we have an issue “ he started, watching rui tilt his head like a confused kitten. If he found it cute, nobody needed to know.

“What is it? “ he asked the smaller, curiously glancing around the gate to see if there was anything dangerous.

“This gate was … protected by a very powerful magician, only those registered with him can pass without being sprayed all over with a sleep gas” Tsukasa explained, watching rui’s face turn, smiling amused.

“Is that so? ah, then I can finally put to use one of my latest inventions!” The inventor said, letting go of the knight’s hand, searching through his pockets.

It didn’t take long before he pulled a small device, shaped like a square with a few holes on it, before dropping it on the floor. The price quirked an eyebrow at the magician.

“Fufu, don’t worry, let’s just get going” rui wrapped an arm around tsukasa’s shoulder, and then another around his legs, lifting him up successfully, carrying him in bridal style, earning a yelp from the other who desperately clutched to his neck.

The inventor then started walking , going up step by step with the knight in his arms. Not long after entering the stone gate, a few blocks of stone could be seen turning , releasing a strange green gas.

The strawberry blond opened his mouth to speak, but the purple haired man shushed him gently. A strange ‘beep’ could be heard from behind them, trying his best to see, tsukasa managed to make the figure of the device rui made, it slowly following the taller from behind, sucking all the gas inside of it, the prince audibly gasped.

“You made that?” He spoke in admiration, earning a chuckle from the man before him.

“Of course. You never know when you’ll be facing a highly toxic gas” the purple haired man said smiling mischievously.

Now safely going up the stairs, they reached the top, rui holding tsukasa’s figure a bit longer before carefully lowering him to the ground, earning a shy chuckle from the blond.

“You know you didn’t have to carry me , right?” He asked amused, to which rui quirked an eyebrow.

“You didn’t seem to mind it though, in fact, I don’t remember a moment where you complained about me carrying you” the magician said, laughing when he heard a muttered ‘shut up’ from the shorter male.

The prince sighed heavily , with a small shy smile, he offered his hand to rui, to which he gladly took.

“Let me show you around the castle and then we’ll come to the city” Tsukasa said, receiving an excited nod from the magician.

They begun walking through the entrance hall, the strawberry blond pointing out at the pictures of his family hanged in the walls, the inventor listened carefully, amused by how passionate the other seemed to be.

“Right here is the dining hall! I’m sure when you’ll meet my dad you’ll be invited to eat with us often” the prince said and rui laughed, being a guest of the king did sound nice.

“Right over here is my room! Come in! “ the knight dragged the inventor inside, making the same chuckle.

Once inside, the purple haired man could only admire the scenery. Tsukasa’s room was just like him, everything was so neatly decorated, so organised, so colorful, it made him happy.

Looking over to the side, rui found himself staring at the clothes the blond wore yesterday. Displayed in the wall like the other treasured it. The same went with the flower crown on the drawer, it was still intact and it seemed so well kept still.

The prince noticed him staring, how could he not when he himself was staring very intensely at the boy before him. He felt himself chuckle embarrassed.

“I couldn’t bring myself to erase such a good memory by washing the clothes and throwing away the flower crown, I’m… treasuring them” The smaller man said, and the magician felt his heart skip a beat.

God, he was falling, and hard for the prince.

“Tsukasa-kun, you’re so considerate I might marry you” rui said out of the blue, making tsukasa flush red.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. The prince wide eyed, and the inventor with a smug smile.

“Anyways, can you show me the city? Your castle looks so interesting already, I wonder what it looks on the outside” kamishiro changed the subject, watching as many emotions went through the blond’s face.

“But I haven’t showed you everything yet” he recomposed himself, earning a light chuckle from the taller.

“Pretty please?” The purple haired man insisted, tsukasa sighed unamused.

“Fine, but don’t do anything crazy while we’re out there” the smaller obliged, to which rui cheered.

They left the room without a word, going through the same walls, the inventor took his time to admire the family pictures again while the prince dragged him all over the place.

His attention was soon on something else when he heard the sound of swords being taken out, turning his vision to his front, there stood two guards with sword in hand, in a defensive position.

“Who is this?! Prince tsukasa, what is that unknown man doing with you?” The first guard spoke up, pointing the sword towards both of them.

“Do I need to contact the Calvary captain?!” The second one asked , taking out a pen and a notebook.

The guards chatted amongst themselves , the knight as silent as ever, eyeing both of them . It took a while for them to realise they were being severely judged, and when they did, they both fell silent.

“This is rui kamishiro, he is a guest, and also my-“

“I’m rui kamishiro, his boyfriend”

Both of the boys spoke at the same time, tsukasa found himself staring at rui with a flustered expression while rui made his usual cat grin. Both guards standing there shell shocked.

None of them spoke for a while. The magician and the knight seemed to exchange a silent conversation from the looks they were giving themselves.

The first guard cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention.

“We’re deeply sorry we made quick assumptions, my prince, please enjoy your date” both the guards stood out of their way, clearing the path for them to cross.

Both boys wasted no time going through. Walking through the stairs to reach, neither of them dared to speak up about what just happened. Well, minus rui.

“So we’re on a date?” The taller smiled mischievously, making the strawberry blond flush to redder than he was before.

“If you want to…” the smaller male muttered quietly, arching an eyebrow, rui looked at him.

“You said something?” The purple haired man asked.

“No, forget it” Tsukasa replied, looking away.

Finally reaching the last steps, they were on the centre of the city, as well as being the center of attention too. The villagers passing by talked quietly, pointing at the boys.

Rui felt a bit uncomfortable, the attention was unusual, the people in his kingdom barely acknowledged him.

The knight seemed to notice the change in his posture, he looked at the other softly.

“We can stop if you want to “ Tsukasa said, squeezing his hand gently, rui eyed him with a fond expression.

“It’s okay, this is new, but it’s not necessarily bad, please continue “ the inventor said, smiling softly earning a small nod from the prince.

They walked towards the city shops, rui making tsukasa stop every minute he saw something he’d never seen before, asking if they could get it. Tsukasa always got the things the taller wanted, not being able to deny the cuteness.

“Oh! Tsukasa-kun they’re selling some chocolate here , let’s take a look” the magician pointed towards a an outdoors cafeteria, dragging tsukasa behind.

Getting close to the shop, the costumers and employees turned to face them, some with amused faces others with confused or shocked ones.

“What catches your eye?” Rui asked, turning to face the other, making the smaller chuckle fondly.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that? You wanted to come here” the strawberry blond replied, earning a sly grin from the inventor.

“Yes, but I wanted to get something for you , you’re being so nice to me and taking your precious time to show me the city, it’s only fair I get to pay you something back, no? tsukasa-kun “ the purple haired man teased, to which tsukasa groaned , but then smiled.

“In that case, why don’t we get this chocolate box? It has many chocolate shapes, like hearts , cats , and stars” they walked to the window of various chocolate desserts, tsukasa pointing out a heart shaped box.

“Fufu, I know you’re only getting this because you want to show me how much you love me, no?” Rui said, raising an eyebrow at the blond’s direction and winking, making the knight blush.

“Pfft, rui! “ the prince gave him a playful hit on his shoulder, making kamishiro laugh amused.

As they seemed to talk about the chocolate, people started gathering around, observing with shocked but amused faces as they talked. Soon enough they could hear multiple people whispering amongst themselves , giggling and pointing at them.

And then out of the blue, a little girl and a little boy came out of the crowd, running at tsukasa’s direction, gripping on both of his legs, looking at him with big expectant eyes.

“Big brother! Are you dating this man?! That’s so cool! “ the small girl spoke up, her eyes shining as she looked at the prince.

“Who is he? What does he do? Do you like him?“ the boy asked countless questions, glancing at the taller, with a big smile.

Soon, all the villagers came closer and started asking multiple questions.

“Since when were you two dating?”

“Where is he from?”

“What’s his name?”

“Fufu, you two make a cute couple”

“Way to go prince tsukasa!”

“Wow, I didn’t take you to be such a rizzler prince, good job!”

Rui gripped tsukasa’s hand tighter, making the other look at him concerned. To say rui was overwhelmed was an understatement, and tsukasa seemed well aware of this fact.

Sighing deeply, the prince took a step back with the taller.

“GUARDS! A LITTLE HELP-“ the crowd muffled his screams, but they didn’t go unheard.

Soon, the place was a mess. Guards making a human wall to protect both of the boys from the crowd, as the people cheered and tried to break free from the guards.

Tsukasa took this opportunity to turn the opposite way, headed for the lake, dragging rui behind him, making their way out of the cafe as soon as possible.

As rui got dragged, he could hear the chaos still going.

“Everybody! Respect the prince’s space!”

“Settle down!”

“Do you want me to call the Calvary captain?!”

“Send over a message to akito , tell him to come over as soon as he can! I’m sure he’ll now what to do ! “

“Mizuki is on their way! “

The multiple calls of guards quieted down as they distanced themselves. After a while of running, they reached the area of the lake, stopping to catch their breath, tsukasa looked at rui.

“Are you alright?” The blond asked, earning a small nod from the other.

“That escalated quickly “ the magician said breathless, frowning slightly.

As the purple haired man tried to steady his lungs, the prince looked at the floor frowning a bit.

“I should’ve known this would happen, I’m sorry” the smaller said, not wanting to meet the inventor eyes.

Rui frowned even more. He didn’t like the look of a guilty tsukasa. Slowly moving his way to the other’s face, he caressed his cheek and gently raised his chin, both of them now making eye contact.

“Don’t be sorry , you couldn’t possibly known things would take this turn, it’s okay, we’re both okay, that’s what matters “ the magician said, smiling softly.

Tsukasa’s face turning to a relieved one, as he returned the smile. Both of them stayed in this position for longer than they could measure. Their eyes both full of adoration, and maybe even something else.

They didn’t notice their bodies moving on their own, rui’s hands wrapping around the blond’s hips, dragging him impossibly closer, the shorter male putting his hands around the other’s neck.

Was this really happening? The taller thought he was dreaming, he couldn’t bring himself to look away from those orange-yellow eyes, looking at him like he was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Their chests touched, tsukasa’s heart beating faster as their faces got closer, he wondered if rui could hear it.

“Big brother! “ a feminine voice yelled, followed by fast footsteps. Both the boys instantly separating.

Turning around, the knight’s eyes widened , his face taking a red colour.

“SAKI?!” The prince yelled, his eyes widening. As much as they were caught almost kissing rui still found it amusing.

Behind her, honami, Ichika and shiho ran. The brunette struggling to catch her breath, while the teacher helped her , the in training knight got closer to them, a smug smile in her face.

“So this is your boyfriend you were talking about?” Shiho aske amused,, making rui raise an eyebrow, his cat grin smile showing while looking at tsukasa.

The prince blushed furiously, his eyebrows furrowing.

“I NEVER SAID HE WAS MY BOYFRIEND!” Tsukasa exclaimed, earning a heartfelt laugh from the taller.

“So the feeling you confessed for me earlier were not real? I’m hurt tsukasa-kun “ the inventor said making a fake sad face, teasing the smaller male.

“UGH! YOU!” the blond lightly hit the magician, making the other laugh at him.

The girls watched as they ‘fought’ smiling to themselves as they giggled quietly. Tsukasa and rui only turning to meet their gazes as the giggles increased in volume.

“You two fight like an old married couple” Ichika said, receiving an unexpected laughter from rui.

“I wouldn’t mind marrying him if it meant we would be together like this” the purple haired man said as he gripped the knights hands, the other turning to him incredulous before smiling shyly.

“Buy me dinner first, you’re so impatient “ the prince said, giving the taller a loving look. Both of them falling on their gazes again.

It didn’t take long before saki laughed loudly, honami and shiho calling her out before laughing alongside her, ichika smiled to herself.

Both of the boys flushed furiously, still not letting go of one another’s hand, yet they looked away with awkward smiles planted on their faces.

“Big brother, I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you genuinely happy, I haven’t seen you like this in ages, I missed it” the princess said quietly, everything going silent.

Tsukasa looked at his sister with a smile full of adoration, gently pulling her into a hug, to which she instantly retributed. They stayed like that for a few seconds, the girls and rui cooing softly before they parted.

“Ah, we were looking for pretty stones for my collection, would you two like to chime in?” Honami asked suddenly, all eyes turning to her before rui excitedly nodded, looking at the smaller man with a look of ‘can we?’

The knight laughed , the magician acted like such a child, it was adorable. He nodded and the girls cheered.

“We’ve been looking at this area over here! Come with us!” The grey haired girl said before all of them took of.

Their little hunt ended up turning into a game of who could find more pretty stones, they formed teams of two, Ichika with saki, honami with shiho, and rui with tsukasa.

They ran around the crystal lake collecting stones like children would. Splashing water at each other and chasing after themselves.

Rui and tsukasa seemed to take the time of the game more to themselves, they through the lake while holding hands, without their shoes, feeling the cold water embrace their skin. It felt domestic, just enjoying their company while they sometimes lowered to discuss how bright one small rock was.

“Would you really marry me if I took you on a date? “ rui asked, looking at tsukasa with his usual cat grin, obviously aiming to tease him.

While some part of tsukasa wanted to scream at the taller and tell him how stupid that would be, the other half seemed to want to agree and just embrace him.

“Maybe, will you take me on a date though?” The shorter answered before giving much thought to his response, after seeing the inventor flush red he felt the weight of his words, feeling himself blush.

“WAIT- I-“

“It’s a deal then”

The prince turned to glance at the magician incredulous of the words that just came out of his mouth. Rui shared an unusual expression , there was no malice in his words, just pure honesty, tsukasa hated it. He hated how those words made his heart skip a beat, hated how he felt a bubbly happiness spread all over his body, hated how much he wanted to pull the other for a kiss.

“Yeah…” the smaller male muttered, smiling wider.

“I’d like that, let’s go on many dates” the strawberry blond said, his ears flushing a bright red. The other man in front of him was no different, blushing furiously.

They walked in a comfortable silence after that, their hands gripped around each other perfectly, like they were always meant to be held by one another.

As they walked, tsukasa’s eyes were able to catch a small blue glow. Stopping their tracks, rui looked over at him with a questioning look.

“I think…” he trailed off before going a little deeper into the lake, the magician following right behind.

The blond stopped as the water was on his knees, and he kneeled on the water , his free hand searching for the glow, as he finally got a grip of it, he pulled out his wet hand , as they both gasped shocked.

“A sapphire!” They both exclaimed at the same time , catching the girls attentions that were far off on the distance.

“YOU FOUND A SAPPHIRE?!” Honami exclaimed, as she ran to them, the others following right behind. Tsukasa proudly waved his hand that held the gem.

As they were bundled up together, the brunettes eyes shined as she really confirmed it was a real sapphire, rui gently rubbing the prince’s hand, muttering a small ‘good job’ as the other blushed.

The smaller male tried handing over the gem, but the blue eyed girl instantly refused, everyone sending them a questioning look.

“I- well, how can I explain this…” the drawing assistant trailing off looking to the side.

They waited patiently as she finally looked over at them once again.

“Sapphires are usually the gems used to represent that you love someone deeply, if you’ve found one with kamishiro, then I fear I might not be able to take it “ the brunette said, giving them a troubled look.

The girls nodded, as the boys looked at each other, before tsukasa handed the taller the gem, the other eyeing him curiously.

“I trust you’ll make good use of this for any invention, magician?” Tsukasa asked, smiling amused, rui quirking an eyebrow at him.

“Oh? Getting comfortable now, aren’t we? If it’s for you, then of course my prince” the magician replied, smiling mischievously.

Before any of the girls could make a comment for them to stop flirting , they heard heavy footsteps behind, turning around, they were met with a pink haired individual.

“Yaaah! I finally found you guys! “ they said, stopping to catch their breath, stabilising themselves with their hands on their knees.

“Mizuki! What brings you here? Weren’t you on patrol?” Saki asked as she excitedly approached the commander.

“Ahaha! I’ve been called to deal with a situation that happened on the city! I heard that it was you two! Are you both okay now?” They asked tilting their head a little, earning a giggle from the magician.

“We’re both okay now, thank you mizuki” Tsukasa said, smiling genuinely, to which the commander smiled back.

“No worries! As much as I’d love to keep chatting I need to go collect some documents from enanan, you know she gets stressed when I’m not on time” the pink haired individual said chuckling a little nervous, all of them could sympathise with it, they’ve dealt with the librarian on her worst moods before.

“Say hi to your girlfriend for us! Also please let her know the art classes have been going really well! “ honami spoke up, earning a genuine laugh from mizuki.

“Will do! Oh! Before I forget! Your dad came back a few minutes ago! You should go see him! Bye bye! “ the commander exclaimed as they hurriedly took off, leaving all of them in silence.

Rui glanced up these sky. Strange, he didn’t notice the time going by so quickly , he heard a heavy sigh coming from besides him, looking over at tsukasa.

“Are you okay?” The taller whispered softly, eyeing the smaller male with a bit of concern , the blond shrugged it off.

“Yeah, just… today has been kind of eventful,and we still need to get my dad to meet you “ he said, making rui smile gently, squeezing the other’s hand comfortingly.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine” the magician said reassuringly , the boy before him smiling before nodding.

The girls chatted amongst themselves before turning to face both of the boys.

“You should go home and go greet dad, we’ll be staying over a bit more, and if anything, kamishiro, you have my blessing “ saki said proudly , striking a pose much like tsukasa would, earning a proud smile from her brothe, the other girls exchanged their ‘good luck getting accepted into the family’ and both of the boys took off.

The cities were silent, the movement from earlier seemed to go down the drain. There were practically no people in the streets. The boys walked holding hands comfortably, without fearing being interrupted.

Walking up the stairs, they exchanged some comforting glances. Rui had been less nervous than tsukasa for obvious reasons, but the blond still had his doubts, fearing his dad wouldn’t accept the other, or seeing him like he did .

Reaching the top of the stairs, eyeing the entrance gate, they both took a deep breath before heading in. Greeting the few workers that were still left behind , finally reaching the throne room before seeing the king eyeing the windows, reading what seemed to be a document.

“Dad, I’ve arrived” Tsukasa said quietly, kaito didn’t seem to budge an inch, but the acknowledged the boy’s presence.

“Hello son, I can sense that you have another companion, who is this gentleman?” The blue haired man asked still not taking his eyes off of the paper.

Rui stood frozen. He really was standing before the person who he was planning to kill soon. No, not him, his king, but still, even knowing the king was in a weakened state, the other still had an intimidating aura on him.

“Ah, dad, I want you to meet rui, rui kamishiro “ the strawberry blond said trailing off, looking at the purple haired man with loving eyes, the other returning the action

“We’ve met only two days ago, but I feel like he has changed my life for the better and brighter , so I felt like it’d be appropriate for me to bring him to meet you” the prince continued, gently gripping the other’s hand.

Kaito hummed before finally taking his eyes off of the paper, turning to his desk and putting it aside.

“Rui, yes? You talk about this gentleman like he was soon to be your lover, son. Im glad you’ve found someone so dear to you that you could call a-“

The king stopped his saying as he completely turned to them. Eyeing rui for a while before his eyes widening , his face going from neutral to angry.

Before they could say anything, in a quick action , the blue haired man ran to them, kicking the inventor’s leg, making him lose balance and almost falling backwards, letting go of the knight’s hands and groaning in pain.

Kaito dragged tsukasa behind him, the boy being frozen from shock and confusion for what just happened.

“STAY AWAY FROM TSUKASA!” the king yelled louder than the blond has ever heard him yell, making his entire body shiver with fear, the same going for the magician.

Rui gripped his leg defensively, eyeing the man confused, and then looking at tsukasa with a pained expression.

“I-Dad! What was that for! Rui- he’s-“

“ENOUGH! Do you not know who this boy is?! “ Kaito yelled, using his body as a shield to protect tsukasa from the other’s vision.

The prince stayed silent, and as he was about to speak the whole place shook. Rui balancing himself on the floor and tsukasa gripping the carpets.

“I knew it” he heard his father mutter before looking up, his eyes widening.

A huge red portal emerged into the room, a certain unpleasant companion walking out of it, standing in front of the inventor, shielding him.

Tsukasa heard rui audibly gasp, looking over at him, his expression unreadable.

“Gakupo….M-my king… why are you here?” he spoke up, making the blond’s eyes widen even more, kaito giving him a disproving knowing look.

The man looked down at rui, making the young boy shiver.

“Rui, my son, I’m so proud of you for gaining the prince’s trust, but if only you haven’t fell in love , things could’ve gone way smoothly “ Gakupo spoke slowly, his maniac grin growing wider as he watched at the knights expression fell into despair.

Tsukasa gasped for air, a hint of panic growing in his chest as his dad eyes him worryingly.

“Rui… do you work under gakupo…?” The knight asked, his breathing getting more unsteady. He reached out for the other, wanting nothing more than hug him.

The purple haired boy got up, spreading his arms as if he understood, but both kings blocked their way.

“I am NOT letting you ruin my family again” Kaito spoke up, taking a step foward, a platform forming in front of him with a button. As he aggressively pressed it, multiple sirens went off at once.

The noise made the smaller male panic even more, shrinking into the floor and shielding his ears, looking at rui with a pleading expression.

The magician looked away in shame, eyeing the floor as the noise ringed in his ears, overwhelming his senses.

“Oh dear, you’re such a coward that you can’t deal with a minor problem yourself, what a shame” the evil king said, a dark aura filling him as another portal formed behind him and the inventor.

“Let’s go rui” he spoke sternly, gripping the other’s shoulder and dragging him to the portal.

“TSUKASA-KUN!”

“RUI-KUN!”

And there was only silence. The portal slowly fading away, as the two disappeared without a trace. Kaito pressed the button again, the noise fading out. Rushed footsteps could be heard in the halls.

Tsukasa struggled to regulate his breathing, his eyes feeling too heavy. His knees gave out as kaito yelled something he couldn’t catch.

He saw four silhouettes, an orange one catching his attention, before he could mutter whatever thing he wanted to say, he passed out

________________________________________

He dropped to the ground with a painful hiss, the portal vanishing behind them. Looking up at the king in front of him.

No words were exchanged for the first few minutes, rui watched as gakupo’s face changed from an amused grin to an disappointed and disgusted look, he wanted to look away in shame, but he knew he needed to stand his ground, for tsukasa.

“I’m sure you probably want to scream at my face how you won’t let me hurt your lover, ISNT that right? “ the older said, the magicians eyes widening , gakupo sometimes just knew too much about him.

The king laughed bitterly at his reaction, making the inventor get up pulling him by his neck.

“You never had any reasoning to hide anything from me , my son, and now, you’ve ruined the perfect opportunity I’ve had to take that DISGUSTING king’s throne, but of course you’ve had to get too close to his son! Know your limits kamishiro.” Gakupo spat harshly, slowly opening a portal behind him, kamishiro eyeing him with anger.

“You’ll get locked away until you forget this stupid boy, go” was all he heard before being thrown away somewhere he wasn’t familiar with.

Inspecting the strange place, the first thing he noticed was that everything seemed to be … oddly covered in pink. The walls, the lighting, floors, everything was pink, darker or lighter.

There were potions everywhere too, countless machines producing a pink liquid, being put on what seemed like perfume. Rui found it odd, as he went to inspect the containers filled with the liquid, he felt himself being stopped by an invisible wall.

Panic slowly started to set in his chest, the purple haired man found himself stuck in a very confined space, barely enough space for him to sit down, and every place he touched he felt a barrier in his way.

He breathed, trying to stabilise his breathing, before gathering some of his strength and punching the barrier. It did nothing. He tried again, and again, and again, and again.

These barriers seemed to have been designed by his father himself, his only solution left would be find a switch and flip it to let himself free.

He eyed the room, taking note of everything on the ambient, looking over to the wall close to the main entrance, he saw it, a stone switch.

Internal cursing, he realised this was the cell he helped his father design. Making it pretty much impossible to escape. Some would think since he designed the cell, he’d be able to locate a few building errors and use them to his own advantage, but rui had been such a perfectionist trying to please his father, that his cell was perfect, too perfect. It was impossible to escape.

Rui tried it anyway, extending both of his hands forward, using what he had left of his stamina, summoning some red smoke that went outside his cell, working his mental stability to keep the pace of how it moved.

The magician felt a huge headache forming in. His magic, even if perfect, still caused him so much pain.

The inventor’s eyes shined as he saw how close he was to the stone switch, using all his stamina left to make the smoke to there, he cursed himself when he realised he had stopped breathing, but he couldn’t care, he needed to do this for tsukasa , he needed to-

A huge shockwave hit his body, making him retract his smoke with a pained yell, gripping his whole body like his life depended on it.

Heavy breaths escaped his lungs as he collapsed on the floor, exhausted. His back hitting the barrier, body shaking from the wave.

His eyes suddenly felt too heavy for him, no, he couldn’t pass out, he needed to get out of there and stop gakupo before something happened, he needed to be quick.

Rui tried getting up but his attempts were useless, his legs gave out, feeling so sleepy, so dizzy, so… helpless.

He felt tears prickle in his eyes, his eyes slowly falling shut. Suddenly he heard the door being open, revealing someone he couldn’t quite see due to the tears and sleepiness.

“tsukasa… kun “ he muttered before his eyes fully gave out, as he fell into a helpless slumber.

________________________________________

Days passed after the invasion of gakupo, the kingdom felt as gloomy as ever, gossip spread fast around the city, the villagers coming to the castle offering help to fix the damage, but kaito refused, more worried for his son, who didn’t seem to want to speak to anybody, nkt even saki, not even him.

Today looked like it would rain. Tsukasa took note of that as he eyed the window. It seemed like the skies seemed lonely without their sun…. Maybe that’s how rui felt without him? He wondered before shaking his head. He couldn’t possibly.

The magician worked under the man who killed his mother, how could he ever forgive someone as evil as him? He knew what gakupo had done to harm his family, yet he still managed to hide it so well… too well, it seemed like he himself had forgotten that too.

Heavens, the prince wanted nothing other than be able to scream at the gods. Why did he have to fall in love with someone so disgusting like the magician. He hated himself for have had cried the other’s name the moment he wake up, hated how the held the device rui gave to him closely because it had his comforting scent, hated how he refused to talk to his own family because of the things they said about rui.

Tsukasa felt frustrated tears swell up in his eyes, he wiped them furiously but they kept coming, until they were all spilling as he hugged the flower crown rui had made to his chest.

He heard a knock on the door, the fourth knock on the door to be specific , the first two ones coming from his dad, the third from his sister, and the last from mizuki. He wanted to appreciate and welcome their concerns , but he couldn’t and he didn’t want to hear them talking badly about the inventor.

There as a second knock, a bit more aggressive this time. Tsukasa winced at the noice a little, still not answering, he wanted everyone to go away while he collected his thought.

After a few minutes, he thought the person on the other side of the door had gone away, until he heard an annoyed groan.

“Oi, open this fucking door or I’ll break it down” a masculine voice said, immediately catching the blond’s attention.

Had he really been back? Mizuki wasn’t joking?

The prince got up from his bed, stumbling his way to the door, getting the keys and unlocking it. Revealing an annoyed looking Calvary captain. Tsukasa watched as the other’s eyes widened a bit, he wanted to giggle because he’d never seen the younger male such a reaction, but he didn’t have the energy to right now.

“Wow you look like shit” the taller said, crossing his arms looking at him up and down.

“Thanks akito” Tsukasa replied bitterly. He didn’t want to be rude, but he was still stressed from the previous days that passed.

Akito shinonome, they had sort of grown together ever since his parents came to town for his older sister’s art studies. Akito got into being a knight, and he took the training course alongside with shiho and tsukasa. The thing is, the ginger had been extremely serious about the training, he claimed wanting to be a knight to protect his sister from any potential harm, because she inspired him to want to protect people after being protected him countless times in their old town. He’d grown to be the best knights, and ended up becoming the Calvary captain of the guards, often out in patrol for days, even months, but he’d always come home rushing when he heard something about his sister or about tsukasa.

Truth be told, akito had always been a loving and clingy person, especially to ena, although he claimed to hate her. The siblings had a really odd relationship. But it still was somehow warm, tsukasa never forgot the countless times the librarian came running to see the captain with fresh pancakes for them both to enjoy, while they chatted about the things they’ve done.

The knight heard the taller clear his throat, taking him away from his own imagination, now eyeing the other.

“Are you just going to stand there and not let me in? Your dad is going to come to check here soon , if you want to have a private conversation, now’s the time” the captain said, his words were harsh, but tsukasa knew the other was simply looking out for him.

The strawberry blond slowly opened the door, stepping aside let the taller slip in the room, and so he did. Closing the doors and locking it, tsukasa found himself going to his bed and flopping down face in his pillow, where the scent of the flowers in the flower crown hit his nose, reminding him of the evil magician, he frowned almost immediately.

The knight felt the bed dip a little as the ginger sat by the side of it, eyeing the wall, his legs were bouncing as if he wanted to say something, just not being sure how to start.

After a few beats of silence , akito sighed heavily, and glanced over to the older male.

“Kaito told me what happened” the captain started , pausing as he waited for any signs of discomfort in the prince’s face, but there was just emptiness, so he continued.

“I actually have a story to tell you…it happened when I was on patrol , about two months ago” Tsukasa turned to fully face the younger, ever since two months ago they were notified of a possible new conflict.

“During the time, you know… when I was on patrol by myself in the deep woods to investigate possible harmful activity, I met someone” he paused “his name was aoyagi, toya aoyagi. When I met him he had been stuck at a tree because he feared for heights; I helped him get down safely and he just sort of started following me, so we hung out” akito said, looking away for a second, before turning to meet the older’s gaze with a troubled expression.

“The thing is, as he hanged out, the both of us started developing a strong bond, toya had everything, he was pretty, respectful, mature… the complete opposite of me and yet one day he went up to me and kissed me” the knight’s face widened a bit, the fact that this guy had kissed the younger didn’t seem the real problem, so he stayed quiet, waiting for the ginger to continue.

“We… well, after that, he asked me out, and I accepted because I also loved him…but then when we suddenly got attacked by treasure thief’s, toya revealed to me that he worked under gakupo as the conductor when he fought by my side “ akito said, looking at tsukasa with an understanding look, as the blond’s eyes widened.

They stayed in silence. Tsukasa knew too well, the pain of wanting to be with someone you loved, but having your statuses interrupting.

“…what happened… to both of you after that? “ the prince found himself asking quietly.

Akito seemed to think for a bit, choosing his words wisely.

“Toya he… well, he cried a lot. He said he had been hiding his status because he didn’t want his job to intervene in our relationship…” he paused. “We talked, a lot. Toya said he wanted some time to think this through, and I said okay, he sends me letters almost everyday, and I reply back to him whenever I can” the captain said, reaching out for a small bright blue and dark blue box, handing it over to the knight.

Tsukasa took the box hesitantly, undoing the little white bow, putting it aside and opening the box. He saw it, countless small neatly folded letters, a small pot full of coloured papers, they seemed to be little reminders, and in the ceiling of the box there was a small blue paper, with a neat handwriting.

‘hello my love, how have you been? I apologise for taking longer than usual to reply to you, I’m trying to be as secret as possible while also trying to undo the effects of gakupo’s new creation. Hopefully after a little more testing, the potion will be harmless and the king will no longer have any power, and we can we reunited again, but while that happens, I ask you to be patient. I miss you, please take care of yourself and don’t overwork too much, love , toya aoyagi.’

The older could feel pride taking over his chest. It was clear to him that despite Toya’s status, they still loved each other deeply. But even with those letters, tsukasa still felt bad, he wanted to be able to do this with rui, but he couldn’t possibly-

“Ugh… will you stop overthinking things so much, it’s embarrassing to watch” his attention was dragged to the ginger who groaned in annoyance.

Breathing heavily, akito looked at him, his eyes hinting both concern and anger, his brow furrowed.

“I didn’t show you this to make you feel bad.” He said pausing “I gave you this for you to realise that loving someone who’s… evil, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, love is… urgh what am I saying…” the ginger retracted his box and tied the bow again, sliding it into his pocked looking at the floor with a flushed face.

He watched as the calvary captain got up from the bed, the movement making it creak. He walked up to the door , getting the keys of it and unlocking it before throwing it at tsukasa , the prince barely catching it.

He slid outside,only his head peaking from the door.

“Just think about it, lock this later if you don’t want the other’s disturbing you” the younger said as he closed the door, walking away, his footsteps echoing in the halls.

The prince could only sit in his bed dumbfounded. He understood what akito meant, he really did. But a part of him still couldn’t forget rui for working under the man who killed his mother, knowing what the king had done.

He sighed heavily, the taller’s words coming back at his mind. He should get out of his room , he can’t but look beaten to death because a minor inconvenience happened… right?

he hoped he could find the motivation to move later, right now, living just felt like something so …tiresome…

He’d go to the queen’s garden later, for now, he just wanted to forget everything, the prince forced his eyes shut, and found himself in a comfortable position, not even bothering to lock the door, falling into a deep, more peaceful slumber…

________________________________________

His stomach grumbled as the smell of fresh fruit hit his nose. His body felt stiff, and his eyes felt like they were sewed in. He laid awake in a uncomfortable position until he was finally able to move is arm to rub his sleeve at his eyes, adjusting his eyes to the lightning in the room.

“Ah, I see you’re awake” he heard a soft call come a little muffled, his eyes moving to the side catching a glimpse of a light blue hair.

Rui tried to move to properly he the person, but his body felt like it was on fire, burning from any movement he made. The magician heard some shifting around the room , the blue haired person, revealed to be a male, stood in front of the cell he was confined in, putting a hand over the barrier.

“Refrain from moving, your body is weak from the shockwave and for the lack of nutrients you’ve had from the past few days, you passed out and stayed unconscious for almost a week. Luckily for you I was able to link some nutrients to the barrier, in that way you wouldn’t die of dehydration or starvation” the smaller of the two explained, gesturing for many items at one time, making the inventor get lost, but he understood part of what the other had said.

“Who… are you?” Rui cursed himself for how weak he sounded, the other’s face falling from a neutral one to a nervous surprised one.

“Ah, where are my manners… I’m aoyagi toya, toya for short, I’m the conductor is every project gakupo has in hands, in fact this is my lab, I’ve been assigned to watch over you as I make improvements on the king’s latest project” this felt off, why would gakupo’s conductor be telling him confidential information so out of the blue without even had met him properly?

This wasn’t the only thing that set rui off, aoyagi not only was being awfully honest, but he also seemed to glance at the potion machines almost anxiously.

Rui stayed silent as he watched the blue haired man pace around the room constantly, checking multiple drawers for a variety of ingredients and applying them each on one different potion , waiting for a specific reaction before moving to the next machine.

The magician found himself also growing a little anxious from the other’s behaviour, he knew those potions where gakupo’s newest invention to destroy tsukasa’s kingdom, so he knew he had to be wary of the conductor, but even so, the other seemed so… not evil at all.

“Ah, please excuse my question, but you’re rui kamishiro, right? The one who happened to fall in love with prince tsukasa? Do you perhaps know akito? Do you know how he is? “ toya asked many questions at once, making the older laugh awkwardly.

“Whoa! You’re going too fast… yes, I am rui kamishiro, and I just happened to be the lucky guy who fell in love with tsukasa, and no, I don’t know this person you speak of, but I’ve heard of him while I was at their kingdom” the taller explained, watching as the other stopped his tracks to look at him.

“So you’d say you don’t want to work under gakupo anymore because of your love and want to protect their kingdom? “ the conductor eyed him with a questioning look.

Huh, how direct. Rui himself was surprised of how the conductor , the man who was supposed to the the king’s most trusted ally, just seemed to want to overthrow his kingdom.

Toya seemed to have noticed the other’s surprised and instantly cursed himself. Rui found himself interrupting the younger before he could come up with any excuse.

“Yes, that’s correct” the magician answered simply, watching as the other’s face changed to concern to a confident one.

“Right, one second please” the inventor watched as the smaller male walked away, and before he knew it, the barrier that held him confined was gone.

fast like the wind, the blue haired male came back and helped kamishiro get up.

“Lean on me if you need it” aoyagi said, as rui wrapped one hand around the other’s neck.

They walked slowly to a table, as toya helped the magician sit down on a chair, while offering him a fruit bowl.

“I’m sure you already know what gakupo plans on doing, so we won’t waste time on that. I’ve been confined in this room by myself for the past week after you passed out, watching over you while also trying to find a way to undo the amount of damage these potions can do. “ the younger explained , pointing to each and every machine that produced the pink liquor.

Rui hummed as the other kept explaining the formula of the liquid, apparently, aoyagi had found a way to undo the effects completely, but he was still missing one element to complete the reversed formula.

“And that sums it up, I wanted to hear your opinions on what you think the element should be. To complete this legal formula gakupo gave me a certain leaf , and he claimed it came directly from the queen’s garden, and since it was from a present from the prince to you, I was thinking the way to undo the lethal effect was to apply a substance that came directly from the prince” toya explained , as rui’s eyes widened.

The magician reached for his pockets, taking out various types of different devices, aoyagi watched in silence. After a while of searching, kamishiro pulled out a sapphire, the one he treasured the most. Extending it to toya, he watched as the youngest expression changed, to an unreadable one.

“Did… the prince give this do you?” The conductor asked, gently taking the gem in his hand , inspecting it with magnifying glass, before starting to get to work, pacing around the room.

“Yes, we found it together while walking down the crystal lake for a stone hunting competition… fufu, we ended up losing “ Rui explained , the conductor humming in acknowledgement.

They stayed in silence as aoyagi worked into getting the gem’s essence into the liquid without taking off the physical essence and color.

“I have someone special from your prince’s kingdom too” the younger suddenly spoke up, piquing the inventor’s interest.

“Would that be the akito you mentioned earlier?” Rui asked a little amused, the unknown tension in the air slowly fading away.

Aoyagi smiled, hearing the mention of his lover made his heart bloom with happiness, his eyes softening as he finished transferring the gem’s essence to the potion, walking towards the inventor and handing him the gem.

“Yeah… akito is incredible. He’s an admirable person and a skilled fighter, he has a caring heart and a strong personality, we’ve met in the woods and started dating not long after…I’ve been stuck at this project for too long to reply to his letters, I miss him a lot” toya ranted as he watched the liquid with the gem essence , waiting for some sort of reaction.

“Did your statuses not get in the way of your relationship?” Rui found himself asking, earning a small chuckle from the conductor.

“Initially, yes, but we learned how to accept each other, and now even though we don’t see each other a lot, I still love him very deeply and I’m sure he feels the same way too” the blue haired male replied, his eyebrows arching as he watched the potion change slowly from a pinkish colour to a reddish tone.

“that’s…. awesome” kamishiro mumbled quietly eyeing the floor, earning a glance from the smaller male.

“I’m not telling this out of spite” the other said ” I just happened to know you like the prince and it didn’t work out well because of your statuses, too” toya explained , taking out the now finished potion, shaking it a few times before fully eyeing the taller now.

“Oh…but tsukasa… I’ve hurt him enough” the inventor replied sadly, his fingers fidgeted thinking about the prince. The blue haired male took note of the name and rui’s behaviour.

“If he really loves you, he can’t hate you forever, you just gotta show him that you changed” the younger said, getting a few glass containers and carefully pouring the remade potion into them.

“…but how can I do that? I’m…I’ve been gone for a week for him, I’m sure he already forgot” rui gripped the gem into his hand tighter, his face showing how much distress he was in currently.

“Something tells me he hasn’t, and to show tsukasa you truly have changed , there’s only one way we can do it” aoyagi said, a small mischievous smile forming on his face as he stepped closer with the new remade containers full of the potion’s liquid in hands, now face to face with rui.

“We just have to take gakupo down” toya whispered, his voice trembling with excitement, showing the real dark side of the other

A beat of silence… many beats of silence passed as the magician processed the information he had just be given, as he stared wide eyed at the conductor, his mouth opening to speak but nothing coming out. The younger took opportunity to explain.

“It’s I’ve mentioned before, the king has assigned me the task to make the most lethal potions that could be sprayed as it to make it easier to eliminate the victim. And as you can see , I did that, and I believe this antidote works” toya said, handing the purple haired man two containers that looked exactly the same, the only thing making them different being the notes written on the side ‘antidote’ and ‘antidate’

“To eliminate gakupo, I’m going to need you to challenge him to a fight to death. You’ll have to keep him busy and open a perfect gap for me to spray the lethal dose on both of you, and I’ll act like I pretended to only spray it on you. the side effects of the potion are instant, so you’ll have to act quick “ he paused “when that happens, I need you to drop the ‘antidote’ on the floor in a way that gakupo sees it and takes it, while you’ll stay with the ‘antidate’ once you’re assured gakupo got the container, drink yours immediately “ aoyagi explained with a serious expression, his brows furrowing .

Kamishiro stayed silent. Never in his life he had been able to beat his adoptive father into a spar, and now it’s a life and death situation, he felt himself shiver at the thought of having sacrifice his life in order to save many others.

“…what if I fail?” Rui found himself asking quietly, to which the younger smiled sympathetically.

“You won’t , now come on, let’s trash this place so we can have no more potions of extra use” the smaller male said, earning a more confident nod from the inventor as they got to work.

They threw the machines on the floor, broke the potion containers and swept the floor multiple times, rui used his magic spells to explode the door and walls of the room, making it seem like both of them fought.

It took them less than five minutes and the room looked like inside there was a huge war, tables trashed, glass shards on the floor, half of a wall missing, the floor burnt, the perfect scenario.

They looked at each other and nodded, going up to the door and parting ways, taking different routes, but both took them to the king’s hall.

To say rui was anxious was comprehensible. He was about to fight with a psychopath that planned to wipe an entire nation, and on top of that he was also sacrificing his own life for the sake of others.

His steps echoed through the empty halls, he stopped his tracks when he was met with the big metal door that lead to the king’s room. He breathed deeply, before pushing the doors forward, being met with the king.

“Ah , my loyal conductor, I trust that my potions are-“ gakupo stopped talking as soon as he saw his son standing in the middle of the room, blood on his clothes and injuries on his face.

“What are you doing here.” Kamishiro wanted to freeze at the question, but he knew he needed to be strong, so he stood his ground, taking another step forward.

“Your plans of wiping tsukasa’s homeland end today, father, I’ve already dealt with that worker of yours, and your potions might need another three years to be made again” rui said , a mischievous smile forming on his face as the older’s face fell.

“You… no, aoyagi wouldn’t possibly…” the magician heard the king mumble, before disappearing into a portal.

Rui’s body tensed up as the heard loud crashes be heard from far away, no doubt the king being met by his long project being ruined by his own kind.

A portal opened behind him and the younger barely had time to react when multiple small purple swords had been thrown flying in his direction. Rui dodged them with his own deflect spells, taking a step backwards as he saw his father get through the portal with the most angry expression the inventor had ever seen him made.

“DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH TIME I’VE PUT TO COMPLETE THIS PROJECT ONLY FOR YOUR UNGRATEFUL SKULL COME AND RUIN IT?!” Gakupo yelled, pulling out a sword from a newly made portal , charging at the younger.

“UNGRATEFUL SKULL?! ALL YOU’VE EVER DONE FOR ME WAS RUIN MY LIFE! YOU NEVER CARED TO SEE HOW I WAS DOING! YOU ONLY WANTED ME TO HARM THE OTHERS AROUD! “ Rui yelled back with more intensity as he dodged the kings slashes, kneeling on the ground and kicking the other’s legs, making his father lose balance, taking the time to make a small portal himself to pull out his own sword.

“I GAVE YOU A PLACE TO REST AT! ITS ONLY NATURAL YOU REPAID ME BY WORKING BY MY SIDE! I SHOULD’VE LEFT YOU TO FREEZE ON THAT DAY” Gakupo exclaimed , regaining his posture, extending his hand, multiple small blades with a weird pink liquid smeared all over them.

Kamishiro felt his eyes widen. His face fell and teeth gritted as the blades came all at once on his direction. He ran swiftly and reflected the blades with his own magic spells, he needed to open a gap between him and the king so the hidden conductor could spray them with the potion, he needed to get closer.

Rui held his sword to his mouth and bit it securing it, before taking a sudden turn backwards, making some of the blades that followed him hit a wall, while the others turned with him.

The boy ran in circles, closing in the more blades were added to the chase. Gakupo groaned annoyed , extending his hands further so the blades could go faster.

Rui then suddenly felt a sharp pain in his knee, followed by a sudden dizziness, falling forwards his body hit the ground with a loud thud, and he heard numerous blades line up together , making a bigger one, turned to his back.

“You know you can never win against me, you’re a fool for thinking that you’d live after ruining my plans.” The magician heard the king spit sternly, his voice penetrating his head much like it would when he was younger.

The smaller groaned in pain as he felt his legs become numb, he shakily turned to see how bad the wound was.

His eyes widened as he watched how the blade inside his skin seemed to grow in side slowly as the wound throbbed, spilling blood like there was no tomorrow.

Cocking his head to the side he saw gakupo stepping closer, inspecting the teenager with a smug evil smile, his eyes yelling ‘you lost’ teasingly.

Then he remembered.

‘You’ll have to keep him busy and open a perfect gap for me to spray the lethal dose on both of you’

With all the strength he could muster, rui reached out for the kings legs and pulled the fabric of his pants tightly, successfully making the other fall to the ground with a surprised gasp, them both on the floor.

“TOYA!” The magician yelled desperate, and almost in an instant, he heard a small ‘tsk’ before all he could see was a pink smoke.

He inhaled it, feeling his lungs collapse on his insides as an insane coughing fit took over him. Looking over to his father, he saw gakupo was no different as the man clutched his clothes and gasped for air.

He felt too many things at once. The pain from his leg and the blood still sliding down making a puddle, the numbness , exhaustion, headache, throat discomfort and tight chest. He was overwhelmed, he couldn’t quite think straight, but he knew what he had to do.

With shaking hands, he searched his right pocket pulling out the ‘antidote’ recipient before dropping it on the ground , the container rolled to the king’s direction.

Gakupo’s eyes widened as he wasted no time getting to gulp down the potion as he read the note. Before they knew it , the container was empty, the king breathed heavily.

And in almost an instant, the only things rui heard was a burning sound followed by a gagging then vomiting.

The inventor blinked heavily trying to stay regulate his breathing, as he watched his father spill his insides out… quite literally.

He looked away, not wanting to see, in a second aoyagi was by his side, searching his left pocket. Pulling away “antidate’ before positioning the taller’s head into his hand, bringing the now opened container to the other’s mouth.

“Please drink this now kamishiro!” The conductor said, rui weakly lifting his hand to hold the potion, in an instant, there was nothing but the sounds of gakupo gasping and the magician gulping down the potion.

The tightness in his chest slowly fading away together with the headache. Rui found himself closing his eyes, sighing in relief.

Looking up to toya, he found the boy’s expression quite odd. A mixture of disgust and pride, as he looked over to the inventor’s side.

Turning around slowly, the magician felt as if he himself would vomit at the sight.

Gakupo’s body had been a pale white, drowned in his own blood and vomit puddle, his bones sticking out as some of his organs sat besides him. The worst being his heart that pulsated slowly, before stopping completely.

The purple haired male felt a hand on his face, shielding his vision away from the body, making him face the conductor once again, the smaller muttering a ‘don’t look ‘

They stayed in an uncomfortable silence as the younger pulled out a small bag filled with medical supplies to clean the taller’s knee wound.

“I need to sanitise the area, this will definitely sting, I’m applying it now” toya warned him and rui nodded hesitantly.

Kamishiro instantly hissed in pain as he felt the blade being pulled out followed by a cold liquid that stung, aoyagi doing this best to clean the wound with a few sanitary cloths.

After a moment of many complaints from the older, the conductor bandaged the wound tightly.

“I don’t have much medical knowledge, this wound needs stitching and we can’t risk infecting it, so this will have to do for now. Can you stand? “ the blue haired male asked, offering the magician a hand.

The taller took the hand, and as he tried to stand he felt the stabbing pain in his knee again, followed by the same numbness from before. He shook his head, sighing in frustration.

“…we can’t walk over but we can fly”

“huh?”

Toya slipped his hands under rui’s knees and supported his back with another, and lifted him up with a bit of difficulty. Stepping back a bit, aoyagi made a sound much similar to the one’s people would make to call over their pets, and no doubt, in a heartbeat, the whole place shook, before a huge skull faced dragon broke the glass walls, laying before both of them.

“Whoa… is this yours?” Rui found himself asking before thinking , making aoyagi chuckle before walking towards the dragon, patting it’s head.

“Yes… you could say I raised it with akito, we named it pancakes” the conductor said with a fond tone, making the dragon make a happy sound for being petted.

“So it’s like your child?” Both of them laughed at the thought. The younger carefully putting rui to sit on the dragon before hoping in and sitting himself.

“I guess so… alright pancakes, get us to akito “ the smaller said, the dragon huffing in agreements before spreading its wings, taking off.

Kamishiro clutched to dear life in the dragon’s back as they got higher up in the sky. Looking over to the smaller male, it seemed like the other was unbothered by the fact that he could fall at any moment if he didn’t secure himself well.

Toya seemed to feel the eyes on him as he turned around, chuckling at the sight of kamishiro, looking like a scaredy cat clutching with his claws on an object.

“You don’t need to clutch so tightly, pancakes would never let you fall” aoyagi explained laughing, earning an unamused glare from the taller.

Although, what the blue haired man was indeed true… the purple haired male took a deep breath and let go of the dragon’s back. And nothing happened. He waited but the animal never threw him away.

So he found himself being able to relax for once after so many things. So many had happened , he didn’t want to think about it.

Rui took another deep breath as he felt the wind hitting his purple locks, closing his eyes and enjoying the breeze, a small smile forming its way on his face.

Toya himself was no different. He’d been patting the dragon’s head comfortingly as in a way to contain his excitement of finally being able to see his lover after so much fighting to be free from his job. He’d been daydreaming about having normal dates at coffee shops with the ginger, being able to run around all sorts of places with each other, have a decent domestic day.

He could have all of it now once everything was settled , and he couldn’t be more grateful.

Watching over the skies, toya could see the kingdom far down, looking over to rui on the back, he smiled mischievously.

“Hold tight, we’re landing” aoyagi said, patting pancakes on the head, and it nodded.

“huh” was all kamishiro could manage to say.

________________________________________

Akito ran through the castle halls alongside mizuki, they both panted at how much they’ve been running around to do the prince’s assignments because the other was so depressed he locked himself away in the queen’s garden.

“What’s the deal right now what’s happening?” The ginger asked , both of them turning around in a corner as they kept running.

“Huff…. Huge dragon, apparently with two unknown people … god I’m going to die” the pink haired individual said , slowing down a bit to catch their breath.

The Calvary captain also slowed down, looking up thoughtfully. A dragon? That’s unusual, t they usually don’t come anywhere near kingdoms …unless…

“Oh he sad we’d meet soon but not that soon, this can’t be it….” The younger muttered to himself before running off to the entrance of the castle, leaving mizuki behind.

“O-oi! Don’t leave me akitooo!” The commander yelled , running after the taller.

They reached the entrance hall quickly. Instantly being met by a brownish skulled dragon, on the middle of the city, being surrounded by multiple guards including emu, shiho and nene. and two individuals trying to explain themselves.

“Whoa! That’s a huge dragon! “ the pink haired individual said, admiring how the dragon seemed unbothered by the people surrounding him. Before looking at akito who seemed to be flabbergasted, arching an eyebrow at him before the other yelled.

“PANCAKES?! OI TOYA!” The ginger ran off stumbling his way down on the stairs, while mizuki gasped offended.

“HEY STOP LEAVING WITHOUT EXPLAINING!!!” They yelled running behind the other, as they made their way down.

Many of the guards started stepping aside as soon as they saw the two, sighing in relief.

Rui and toya seemed to be confused by their actions, before turning their heads to meet the other two gazes. Aoyagi’s face instantly brightened when he saw the smaller male, his eyes looking over to the knight with nothing but adoration.

“Akito!” The blue haired man half yelled, his voice completely filled with nothing but fondness, as he opened his arms for a welcoming hug.

“TOYA! “ The ginger yelled, running up to the conductor, practically jumping into his grasp and he embraced his lover into a bear hug, burying his head in the crook of the taller’s neck, his scent feeling like home.

Everyone stared at them dumbfounded. Rui snickered a small ‘lovebirds’ as he walked to stand next to mizuki, the other nodding while laughing quietly.

Shiho watched them quietly while emu had a big grin in her face. The grey haired girl approached rui, and whispered to him.

“I won’t ask you questions about tsukasa, but are you sure you’ll be able to handle the king? You’re in a bad shape, I’m assuming you got off of gakupo?” The knight asked, earning a small weak grin from the taller.

“My condition doesn’t matter right now, I need to reach out for tsukasa-kun as soon as I can “ the magician explained out loud, not caring about the head turns he received. He had been too tired to even stand in his own two feet without feeling he’d pass out.

Toya seemed to notice that. Both him and akito pulled away, the conductor putting his left hand into the other’s cheek, looking at him like he was the most beautiful thing in the world.

“Akito, as much as I want to catch up with you right now, hug you, and kiss you, we need to get rui to meet the king, please” aoyagi whispered the last part, earning a small hesitant nod from the ginger, who held the blue haired male hand’s close, before walking down close to the guards.

“I’ll take it from here, go.” Shinonome said simply, the guards quickly nodding and scrambling to hold away the public.

Akito turned to eye rui, who seemed to be pretty worse for wear. The boy’s legs were shaking and he was shivering, his breathing was heavy and he looked like he’d pass out at anytime if they didn’t go to see kaito now.

“Alright, let’s go quick, we want to get this done as soon as possible” the Calvary captain said, earning nods from everyone, and as about they started to walk off, a metal sword blocked the magician’s way.

“I’m not going anywhere with these guys, they work under gakupo, do you not seem to understand this akito?” Nene said sternly, earning a worried glance from emu.

“Nene-chan, please let’s not start anything, this is for tsukasa!” The alchemist said shaking her hands in exasperation, but the guard didn’t move an inch, staring at the taller of all of them with hateful eyes.

“He hurt tsukasa! How can you not understand?! Someone who works under someone evil will always be evil” the green haired girl said, rui smiled softly, chuckling to himself earning a confused glance from mizuki.

“What are you laughing about! She’s literally pointing a sword on you! Cut it out nene! “ they said eyeing the girl a little worried, the tension still stuck in the air.

Shinonome sighed in annoyance, toya patting his back comfortingly as he gently gripped his lover’s hand tightly.

There were a few beats of silence, the wind knocking out everyone’s hair back. Nene continued to stare the taller down, waiting for some sort of response as the held his cat grin.

“Ugh… this conversation isn’t over, let’s go before I regret doing this” the guard said, walking past them quickly , flipping her hair off to the side, going up the stairs of that lead to the castle entrance.

“WAHHH! Nene-chan wait for me!” The pink haired girl yelled, running off behind nene.

The others simply followed quietly. Mizuki offered rui support to walk up the stairs, to which the other declined, saying he needed to do this for tsukasa.

On the first few steps everything had already went downhill. The inventor almost fell backwards, he didn’t because the commander gripped his arm fast enough.

The magician still stubbornly tried to decline their help, but they insisted and won in the end. They now walked up the stairs on a consistent pace, emu and nene chatted in the distance, occasionally glancing behind them. Akito and toya just held hands and enjoyed each other’s company.

Reaching the top of the staircases had been death, at least for rui. The wound on his knee was going to be badly infected if he wasn’t quick on his feet, and he knew that, yet one stubbornly kept on walking, afraid any second he stopped his prince would be in pain.

Suddenly, shiho turned to face all of them, but her eyes stopped on rui. gesturing something to nene, to which she shook her head, making the grey haired girl sigh.

“No matter what you do, do not be disrespectful to the king, you’re already on bad terms with him, so do your best to try and convince him to see tsukasa while also not being violent or anything “ the knight said, crossing her arms while looking fairly concerned from how things would go on from here.

“I understand, thank you” the purple haired man spoke quietly, raising his voice seemed too much.

“Let’s go” the guard spoke , turning back to walk once again, they all followed her quietly, heading to the king’s room.

Passing their way through the main hall, the magician took note that nene seemed to be turning back to eye him every now and then, almost as if she was concerned for his well being.

Well, not only her, everyone seemed to be glancing at him, watching him carefully as he walked on his own two feet, as if he was a porcelain glass that could break at any fall he took.

Walking past the kitchen, rui eyed the door not so far away from them. Tsukasa’s room. He wondered if he-

“Tsukasa isn’t here” emu said sadly, the inventor turning to meet her pink eye in question.

“Truth be told, me and nene have been dispatched by Luka to search for him! He didn’t answer the door, and when we opened it he wasn’t there!” The alchemist explained, her voice breaking. Nene frowned at her, putting a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Thick tension quickly grew on the air as they heard heavy footsteps coming from the king’s room, turning around rui’s own yellow eyes met blue ones, the older’s own widening in response as he drawled a sword, alerting the others who quickly went to shield the taller.

“Oi! Are you just going to drawl up a sword at him without no explanation whatsoever?!” Akito half yelled, pulling his own sword, stepping in front of the shaking boy.

“Yeah! I don’t know the beef between both of you, but talk it out!” The commander agreed, also stepping in front of the magician.

Kaito eyed them with a betrayed questioning rui, his eyes trailing off to meet nene’s, shiho’s and emu’s. Emu crossed her arms with an angry pout, shiho arched an eyebrow at him, and nene only shook her head in disapproval.

The king gritted his teeth, his eyes meeting rui’s once again.

“Why are you here? I have nothing to discuss with someone who works under gakupo” the older spat harshly, his brows furrowing in disbelief and anger.

“I don’t work under him anymore” the inventor replied, wanting to shy away from the king’s eyes, but he stood his ground.

Kaito scoffed amused, laughing maniacally, seeming like a madman.

“You? Stopped working under him?? Don’t make me laugh! There’s nothing you could do to prove that!” The older spoke, eyeing all of them in disapproval, nene and shiho looking away while the others looked down thoughtfully or in shame.

There were a few beats of silence before soft footsteps echoed in the place, toya stepping out from behind rui, who eyed him curiously.

“Actually, there is some solid proof that could prove that kamishiro isn’t lying” the younger blue haired male spoke up, earning a yelp from the ginger behind him, the other muttering a ‘get back here you idiot’.

“hey- toya!” Mizuki exclaimed, truth be told, they already knew about both akito’s and aoyagi’s relationship, they just acted like they didn’t know.

“who are you?” Kaito asked wearily, slowly retracting his sword back , but still having it raised in suspiciousness.

“Ah, where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself” the blue haired boy said, extending his hand in greeting.

“I’m aoyagi toya, gakupo’s personal conductor, the one who was assigned to create a potion that could kill your entire kingdom” he said, earning quite the few surprised gasps from the everyone. Kaito’s hands drifting to point his sword at the other, but retracting it back based on how the younger seemed to search his pockets.

“This is the one, if I really wanted to, I could kill everyone in this room in seconds considering that the dosage is much stronger than my first design” aoyagi spoke, pulling out a small glass container with the same pink liquid the same used to kill the evil king.

Toya took note of how the king seemed to slowly step back warily, the smaller chuckling a little, putting away the potion in his pockets.

“But don’t worry, I won’t. because I don’t have anyone sending me orders, because the same one who did died to our hands” toya said, smiling gently as he watched how the king’s face crumbled in so many emotions.

“He- oi toya are you seriously-“ the Calvary captain interrupted , his voice wavering in nervousness.

“Akito.” The conductor said softly turning to meet the ginger’s eyes, hushing the other almost instantly, then turning to meet rui’s eyes, nodding as in a way for him to continue talking.

The purple haired man then stepped in front, gently pushing away the two that shielded him, then he knelt to the ground, and looked up to the man in front of him.

“I came to ask you to let me see tsukasa again” rui said, determination in his eyes as the other’s blue eyes widened in surprise of such directness.

“No, I made it clear that you’re never standing close to him again” the older male spoke , his eyes drifting off of the taller. Rui took note of his unusual behaviour , so he decided to push a little more/

“Why is that? Why are you so skeptic about me when I’ve just proven to you I have no malicious intent towards your family nor your home” the magician said, getting up from the floor to actually eye kaito in a way the king would have to be honest with him.

“No reason, I- I just don’t want you near him” the blue haired man replied , his own confident and angry expression being replaced by an uncertain hesitant one.

Rui stayed silent, trying to come up with reasons of why kaito wouldn’t let him go see tsukasa even though he’d just proven he no longer works with kaito.

Did he really think he’d do anything bad to the blonde? He couldn’t, he is basically sacrificing his life for the prince’s sake, not because he feels guilty, it’s because he loves him.

“Is there really no reason behind your selfishness , your majesty?” A new feminine voice spoke up, soft footsteps following her voice.

Turning around, being met by a brunette, her hair tied in a small lazy bun, carrying a bag of what seemed to be art supplies, with librarian looking like clothing.

“O-oi! Ena! What are you doing here?!” Akito yelled in surprise, mizuki also letting out an audible gasp.

“Ohhh! Enanan is out of the library!” The commander said teasingly, a mischievous smile forming on their face based on how the brunette sighed heavily in disappointment.

“Oh hush now you two. I am tired of how every single one of you just seem to want to take things so slowly, you won’t get anywhere with this pointless conversation “ everyone instantly quieted down once she spat the harsh words, even the king himself looked a little guilty.

“ena-san is scary! “ emu suddenly spoke up louder than she wanted to, earning a warning side eye from the shinonome.

“Emu!” Nene scolded her, earning a nervous giggle from shiho who hid her face in her hands

“EEK!” The alchemist yelped, looking away from the brunette, who just seemed to smile softly at their antics before turning to the older male, her expression straightening to a more serious one.

“Are you afraid tsukasa will end up like meiko, your majesty? I’ve been reading that the queen had been a target ever since the start of when she was born, you were even assigned to kill her” ena trailed off, seeing at how much the others were intrigued by her assumptions, she continued.

“Yet you both fell in love after spending the littlest amount of time with each other, and then you took meiko to the garden in your kingdom and asked her to marry you. so why does it have to be any different with your son?”

“It’s different for them! “ The king said trying to resonate with the librarian , who only hugged in disapproval, walking towards them and stopping near rui.

“How is it different? They’re both happy despite their statuses, and both know the risks that their relationship can bring. You’re just being irrational, from a grown up, that’s really immature” the girl said, earning a giggle from mizuki, who quickly stopped after she earned a glare from the shorter girl.

The tension in the air was starting to fade away, rui could feel it. Maybe this is where they would stop, maybe he’d get the chance to see tsukasa again.

They all stayed in silence as the king seemed to think for a few moments, uncertain of what do say, uncertain of what to do. He just seemed hesitant.

“it’s just… I don’t want tsukasa to suffer more than he already has” Kaito said, earning a questioning look from the teenagers, ena motioned him to continue talking.

“Ever since meiko’s death, my son he… hasn’t been the same. He’d been depressed for so many years… seeing him happy ultimately made me believe he truly overcame it, truly, kamishiro I am forever thankful for you for making my boy happy but…” the king trailed off, looking at the floor sadly, rui’s gaze softening as he raised an eyebrow at the older.

“but?” he asked, gesturing the man the continue.

“But I’m afraid if I let you two be together, one of you might end up each other even more, or be targeted by other kingdoms, I don’t want that to any of you, it’s just…too much to handle” Kaito said quietly, akito looked at him sympathetically, and then at toya, motioning him to follow his lead, to which the taller nodded.

“If that’s what you’re scared of, I don’t think you’ll have nothing to fear , your majesty” aoyagi spoke up, the other boys walking towards ena and rui, standing by their sides with their hands intertwined.

Kaito looked at them in surprise, his mouth opening a few times before closing it , a soft smile forming in his face. They all knew what that meant.

Rui felt himself sighing in relief, all the tension in the air leaving as the girls and mizuki cheered. They soon stopped when they heard ena clapping to get their attention.

“Tradition is tradition, your majesty, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about” the brunette said, earning quite the chuckle from Kaito, who nodded before pulling out of his pocket a small box, handing it to the purple haired man.

The magician eyed the older man in question, ena gestured him to open the box, to which he did.

Opening the box has been a surprise when he saw two neat golden rings, one with a ruby and the other with a sapphire. Rui quickly understood, his eyes widening as he looked up to eye the king, who has a small grateful smile.

“Rui, from this day onwards, I do hope I can proudly have you as a member of the family. With that said, you have my blessing “ Kaito said, slightly bowing to the magician, who could only smile widely as he felt a few tears swell up into his eyes.

He felt a hand in his shoulder, his eyes drifting of to meet pink ones and green ones, as he looked to emu and nene.

“Now go, tsukasa is in the queen’s garden, good luck” nene said, rui took note of the few tears that flowed slowly from her eyes.

“WAHHH TAKE CARE OF TSUKASA!!” emu herself was a crying mesrambling and sobbing happily, with a big relieved smile on her face.

Toya and akito looked at him, the ginger offering him a thumbs up while aoyagi smiled fondly. Shiho eyed him , her expression being difficult to read, but he knew she was relieved when he saw a small smile form on her face, and ena and mizuki bickered with each other.

Rui never felt happier, he quickly nodded to them, yelling a loud ‘thank you! ‘ before turning around and running towards the hidden staircases that lead to the queen’s garden.

Running past the kitchen, he turned to the opposite way, before descending down into numerous stairs, hearing the shifting of the bricks.

Shit

He’d forgotten about those, rui couldn’t bring himself to run faster, truth be told , his knee had been killing him. The pain was too much to handle, he had been exhausted, but he knew he couldn’t stop now, so mustering all of his strength, he fastened his pace.

Covering his mouth with his sleeve, he ran past the stone gate he’d passed with tsukasa, finally feeling the same smell of lavender hit his nose. Tsukasa smelled like lavender , he reminded himself.

Running through several bushes, he could feel a few sticks brush past the bandages on his knee, it hurt a lot but he couldn’t stop.

And then, he finally saw it , the same picnic blanket layered on the floor, the same swings , the same water fountain, and the same blond, with the same muddy clothes he wore the first time they met, the same flower crown, with a heart wrenching expression.

“TSUKASA-KUN!” Rui yelled, going through the last bush before his whole image presented to the other.

Tsukasa had never looked up so fast, his eyes widening when he saw the absolute wreck of the magician. Feeling tears prickle in his eyes.

“You’re back” the strawberry blond said quietly.

“I am” rui said, stepping closer to the other, stopping when he saw the other step back.

“Why are you back” Tsukasa asked, his voice wavering dangerously, the magician knew if he really wanted, the other would’ve pulled his sword and pointed at him again, much like when they first met.

“I…” the inventor was at a loss of words.

They stayed silent, looking at each other’s eyes, until a broken sob was heard, catching the taller’s attention.

“After everything you did, you still have the audacity to show right in front of me, all hurt like you’ve just been through the gates of life and death?” The smaller male asked, feeling all of his bottled up emotions coming out all once.

“Please , tsukasa-kun…” the purple haired man begged, trying to get closer to the other to comfort him, but he just refused.

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” Tsukasa yelled, making the other male flinch.

The strawberry blond breathed heavily, trying to suppress his emotions, but he couldn’t.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH- HOW MUCH I WANTED TO HATE YOU FOR WORKING UNDER SOMEONE SO- SO EVIL…” Rui felt his eyes widen at the sudden outburst, tsukasa looking at him with so much hatred.

“YET I COULDN’T! BECAUSE GOD, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RUI- I STAYED COUNTLESS NIGHTS AWAKE, WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD COME BACK, YET YOU NEVER DID” tsukasa’s tears spilled freely , as he yelled more loudly than he could ever had yelled.

Rui eyed him guiltily, looking down at the grass floor, hearing the other sob.

Soon, the blond managed to calm his nerves by a little, still sobbing and shaking.

“I felt so… so lonely without you, you going felt like a half of me had been taken away, yet I waited , I still waited for you to come” the prince admitted, making the inventor look at him expectantly.

Yet, he took note of the ‘I love you’ the other had yelled. Gathering his own courage, the purple haired male pulled the small box given by the king, and knelt to the ground. Tsukasa feeling his own eyes widening, his heartbeat increasing quickly.

“I know we’ve only met for a short period of time, but tsukasa-kun, during the time I’ve spent with you, you were the only one who were able to make me feel emotions so intensely as I’ve felt in my entire life” rui confessed, looking at the knight with nothing but love , adoration and desire.

Drawling in a deep breath, the magician slowly opened the box, revealing the two rings once wore by tsukasa’s parents. The blond audibly gasped, feeling the tears spill freely out of his eyes once again.

“You are everything to me, so I’m begging you, marry me tsukasa, I promise you’ll never have to be alone” the inventor paused his voice wavering from the nervousness.

“I talked to your dad, he gave me his blessing, so please, I love you tsukasa, please will you be mine… forever?” Rui asked, fresh tears forming their way into his yellow eyes, smiling genuinely.

The strawberry blond could only happily nod, before running up to the taller and he pulled rui tightly into his chest, his fingers gently combing the purple hair at the nape of his neck.

Rui laid the box back on his pocket as he cupped tsukasa’s check, closing the gap in between their mouths. His own yellow eyes dilating with love, his heart thumping crazily, he wondered if the smaller could hear it. The knight’s right hand wandered off of the other’s neck, moving to brush his thumb on the magician’s cheek, with the uttermost gentleness, deepening the kiss.

They closed their eyes as they enjoyed the moment, feeling nothing but an overjoying happiness filling in their bodies. They soon pulled out when the lack of air got too much.

Their foreheads touched as they tried catching the oxygen they lost, find smiles finding their way into both of their faces as their eyes met.

Rui felt like he could die. He’d been so- so happy… his legs gave out on his own, tsukasa having to take a step back to catch him, keeping his eyes opened felt like too much, the pain in his knee only increasing.

“Rui?! H-hey! What’s happening?! RUI? SOMEONE- SOMEONE HELP PLEASE!” Those were the only things the taller heard, before his eyes gave out on his own, falling into a happy slumber.

________________________________________

Waking up had never felt so great. Rui felt like he was in heaven, his head laid back in a soft pillow, his body basically was one with the mattress he encountered himself in.

He slowly opened his eyes, and he was glad he did. Being met by a softly sleeping blond holding him close like he was some sort of plushy, breathing softly. Rui thought of tsukasa as a true Angel.

He suddenly remembered the events from earlier, a deep red forming into his cheeks as he smiled sheepishly. The magician felt like he couldn’t be more happy than he was.

Moving his head to peck on the reddish lips, he felt aware of the small pain that formed its way in his knee.

Moving as gently as he could, he moved the blanket that covered both of them, now being met by a now properly bandaged knee. They were no longer bloody or muddy, just fresh and nice.

Rui felt the blond stir in his sleep, and he yelled as he was suddenly pulled closer to the prince, the other covering him with a few kisses, much more awake now.

“Fufu, hello my prince, did you sleep well?“ The purple haired man asked as he pressed a small loving kiss to tsukasa’s forehead, a small pout forming its way into the smaller’s face.

“ you w’rried me s’ much… “ the prince mumbled, his voice a little deeper due to just waking up, using his free hand to brush his thumb over the taller’s cheek.

Rui didn’t miss the ruby ring that found its way onto the other’s hand, and he certainly didn’t mind the additional weight of a sapphire one into his.

“I’m sorry for not having told you, I was worried if I wasn’t fast enough you’d be out of reach” the magician said, a sad smile on his face, making the knight frown a little.

Tsukasa bullied the purple haired man to lay down again, his face buried into the taller’s chest, as the magician’s face rested his chin on the other’s head. Their legs intertwined.

“ ‘s okay… I’m glad you’re here” the strawberry blond said, inhaling the other’s welcoming scent.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. As soon as rui was about to make a reply on how messy the other’s hair had been, he heard small snores come from the man under him.

“Fufu, and you’re snoring so energetically too…” Rui said quietly to himself, admiring the prince.

He was still pretty tired too, so he thought a little nap couldn’t hurt.

Slowly wrapping his hands around tsukasa’s hips and back, he pulled the smaller closer, as he yawned softly, his eyes feeling heavy.

“I love you, my star” he said before his eyes gave out, both of them falling into a deep slumber.

If mizuki and ena walked on them to tell breakfast was ready, they definitely told everyone in the kingdom.