Work Text:
Prince Troy had a love-hate relationship with visiting other royal families.
On one hand, it was really awesome seeing all these different lands and castles and cultures. Usually the food was delicious, and the balls could be pretty fun. So that was all very nice.
But on the other hand, it was often very tiring and boring. There were so many formalities and rules that he was expected to follow, and few of them came naturally to him. If there weren’t any cool people in the royal family he was visiting, Troy always found himself becoming restless.
He easily became restless in general, even in less boring circumstances. That was just his nature. But these visits often worsened his restlessness tremendously.
The royal family they were visiting now — the Nadirs — were all right. Their food was great, and their castle was awesome. But so far, Troy and his family had only been able to meet the King and the Queen.
Troy had been told that there was a prince here too.
Prince Abed Nadir.
Troy had been excited to meet him, especially because they were close in age. But Abed had been absent from the welcoming ceremonies and the subsequent dinner. It had greatly disappointed Troy, but he hadn’t dared to ask about it, in case it was a touchy subject.
After dinner, Troy had slipped away and started wandering around the castle on his own. And that was what he was doing now: looking around this unfamiliar royal palace. It was truly gorgeous. Full of artwork, statues, huge columns and beautiful engravings in the walls and ceiling.
Troy stopped in front of a painting of the Queen and the King, both with a hand on the shoulders of a little boy.
That must be Abed, Troy thought to himself. I wonder what he looks like now.
Troy kept walking around the castle, getting lost in his own thoughts and daydreams. It took him a while to realize that he had no idea where he was anymore. The castle was so huge and intricate, that he’d managed to get himself lost.
He cursed under his breath and looked more closely at his surroundings. The hallway he was standing in was similar to most of the others he’d walked through. White doors lined the hallway, leading to who knew where.
All the doors were white. Except for one. It was larger than the others and was situated in the middle of the hallway. Its dark brown color stood in stark contrast to the rest of the doors. Troy was immediately drawn to it.
Carefully, he placed a hand on the door. The wood felt soft beneath his fingers. Without further hesitation, Troy pushed the door open.
When he saw what was on the other side of the door, he almost gasped.
Rows upon rows of bookshelves filled the huge room, reaching almost all the way up to the ceiling. Warm sunlight shone in through several windows of various sizes, making everything it touched glow orange. A few specks of dust floated lazily through the air, as if they had all the time in the world.
Troy felt his shoulders relax. This place radiated comfort.
He shut the door behind him and walked further into the room, dragging a finger along the backs of the closest books. Troy had never been an avid reader, but he liked losing himself in stories from time to time.
Often, he had a hard time focusing on anything for too long — especially anything that required him to sit still. But sometimes, a book would manage to grab his attention, and he quite literally wouldn’t be able to think about anything else. He both loved and hated it when that happened. Loved it for the thrill and joy the story would bring him. Hated it because it made his royal duties infinitely more challenging. (And they were already challenging enough as it was.)
Troy removed one of the books from the shelf — and found himself staring straight into a pair of brown eyes on the other side.
Troy yelped and dropped the book. It landed with a loud thud on the floor.
The brown eyes blinked.
“Sorry,” Troy said sheepishly, picking up the book. “I… uh, thought I was alone here.”
“Why did you think that?” The stranger asked. His voice was … pretty — if that was a word one could use to describe a voice. Very pretty. “You don’t live here.”
“Good point,” Troy said with a laugh. “I guess I just assumed there was no one here because I didn't see or hear anyone.”
“Hm. I’ve been told I can be unsettlingly quiet sometimes.”
Troy looked at what he could see of this stranger’s face: big brown eyes; soft brown skin; dark eyebrows which were currently furrowed just slightly; dark brown hair that glowed in the sunlight.
This person was gorgeous.
“Who are you?” Troy asked. “I’m Troy. Uh, Prince Troy. My family is visiting.”
“I’m Abed.”
So this is the prince, Troy thought to himself, surprised. He hadn’t expected Prince Abed to be in this room of all places. He also hadn’t expected the prince to have such gentle and mysterious eyes.
Abed paused for a moment, then added, “Prince Abed.” His eyes twinkled with amusement. “Introducing yourself like that is fun. It makes it sound very mysterious.” In a darker, more gravelly voice he said, “I’m Abed. Prince Abed.”
Troy let out a laugh. “Yeah, that does sound pretty mysterious.”
Suddenly, Abed disappeared.
“Hey! Where’d you go?”
“Here,” Abed replied, his voice coming from the right side of Troy, close to the door. Troy swirled around, finding Abed only a few feet in front of him. He’d clearly walked from his row of books to Troy’s.
Looking at him now fully, Troy could with certainty say that this was the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen. He was taller than Troy. Lankier. With soft, but still formal-looking clothes. Troy found himself admiring the wonderful shape of Abed’s lips.
Abed was also studying Troy, looking him up and down. The attention felt different than what Troy usually experienced — Abed’s gaze seemed much more calculating than most people’s. Troy also got the feeling that there were whole worlds hidden in Abed’s mind.
Troy wanted to know if he could have a place in those worlds.
“I like your shoes,” Abed said eventually, pointing at Troy’s light brown dress shoes. “They look like Brilbie’s shoes.”
“Who?”
“Brilbie. She’s the protagonist in The Rainwater Saga. It’s really good. And her shoes are very cool.”
Troy grinned, looking down at his shoes. “Well, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Abed tapped his fingers together, fidgeting. It made the corners of Troy’s lips tug upwards — Troy’s fingers also moved like that sometimes. Abed continued, “I could show you the books, if you want?”
Troy’s smile widened. “Of course I want to see your books!”
He wanted a whole tour of the room, if he was being honest. This place was awesome. (And Prince Abed didn’t seem too bad either.)
“Cool,” Abed said. He started walking deeper into the room, motioning for Troy to follow. “Cool, cool, cool.”
Abed led them to the bookshelf farthest away. It was mighty and tall, standing completely pressed up against the wall. A ladder leaned against the bookshelf. Without explaining anything to Troy, Abed started climbing it.
“Uh, do you want me to follow you?” Troy asked.
“Yep.”
So Troy started climbing the ladder as well. The bookshelf was very tall, and Troy was not great with heights, so instead of looking down, he watched Abed’s shoes as they ascended. Until Abed disappeared.
“Again?” Troy whispered incredulously to himself.
“I’m still here,” Abed said from the top of the bookshelf. The prince let out a little chuckle that made Troy’s heart flutter.
Troy continued the climb up the ladder until he finally made his way to the top of the bookshelf. There, he was met with a breathtaking sight.
In the wall right above the bookshelf, a small alcove had been carved out for a window. Sunlight shone through the window, illuminating the many books Abed had piled along the alcove’s walls. Pillows covered the floor, and there were several blankets hanging from small hooks in the walls. It kind of looked like a blanket fort, Troy thought with a smile.
The space was big enough for Abed to currently sit comfortably in it, and he was patting the empty space next to him, motioning for Troy to sit down as well. Troy gladly did so, settling down and looking around this magical space.
“I found this place a few years ago,” Abed explained, “and it’s been my favorite place ever since.”
“I get why. It’s amazing here.”
“Thanks.” Abed picked up a dark blue book and handed it to Troy. “This is The Rainwater Saga, by the way.”
Troy flipped through a few of the pages, pausing to look at the awesome illustrations. “Woah, this looks really cool!”
When Abed didn’t say anything, Troy looked up at him. Abed was staring at the book with a very intense gaze.
After a moment, Abed blinked and said, “You can borrow it if you want.”
“Are you sure?” Troy asked, feeling a warm flutter in his stomach. “I don’t know when my family will be back to visit yours.”
“But you will be back?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Eventually.” I’ll make sure of it, Troy thought to himself.
“Then you can borrow it,” Abed said. He wasn’t looking at Troy; instead, he turned his head so he was looking out the window, squinting a little against the sunlight. “As long as you bring it back when you visit again.”
“Of course I will,” Troy promised. He wanted to say something more, but he wasn’t sure what to say. So he just settled on, “Thank you.”
Abed shrugged. “You’re welcome. I … I don’t meet a lot of people I can give my books to.”
“Oh.”
Abed’s eyebrows were scrunched together, creating a pained expression on his face. Troy got the feeling that if Abed had been the kind of person who cried often, he would’ve started crying now. Troy certainly was about to.
His heart ached for Abed.
He was also painfully aware of the fact that he was almost just as lonely as Abed. Sure, Troy had friends, but … they didn’t actually like him. They liked his status as prince. That was what made him a fun friend to have — not any good qualities within Troy. He was pretty sure all his friends found him insufferable.
Troy had kind of just accepted that this was how things were and that it was how things had to be.
But maybe that wasn’t true.
Maybe…
“Do you want to be friends?” Troy asked.
It was not really a normal thing to ask — Troy knew that. You weren’t supposed to make friends by simply asking people if they wanted to be friends. A prince definitely wasn’t supposed to do that.
But Troy had always found that to be a very silly rule. He had a feeling Abed felt the same way.
Abed looked towards him, now — not straight at him, but close enough. His gorgeous eyes twinkled with joy.
“Yes. I really want to be friends,” he answered, sounding a little breathless.
A huge smile formed on Troy’s face. “Awesome.”
They sat there — in the wonderful, secret alcove — for hours. Talking about books and stories. Their castles and kingdoms. Friends and loneliness. Their parents, who tried their best, but … well, their best wasn’t always good enough.
They talked and talked and talked. Troy had never talked this easily with anyone before. Abed treated Troy as just another person. Not just that — Abed treated Troy as someone who was fun and interesting. Abed acted as if being in Troy’s company was enjoyable — and not in spite of Troy’s personality and quirks, but because of them.
The sun set. Stars appeared in the dark sky. The moon blinked down on them. They kept talking and talking and talking.
Troy promised to write letters to Abed when he left. Abed shushed him and told him not to talk about it. There was an intensity in his eyes then that Troy imagined was reflected in his own as well.
He, too, wished he could stay there with Abed forever.