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Dried branches cracked and splintered under Paulo’s boots as he tore through the woods. His ears led him toward the cry for help he had heard across the forest, and while most people would be concerned when they heard a cry for help, he was grinning ear to ear. Y’see, Paulo had been a knight for a good while now, but the one thing he lacked was a princess. Any knight worth their salt had a princess, and it wasn’t like Paulo would be complaining if one were to simply fall into his lap.
As he continued to close in on the old stone tower he had his eyes locked on his smile only grew wider. Today was the day, the day he would finally find the one he was made for. As he escaped from the brush and rounded the corner, his eyes went wide as he met eyes with the person at the top. The person who he had been looking for, the person he had been chasing all this time,
“MIKE???” Paulo shouted, in partial shock and confusion. Mike looked equally surprised, stumbling back at the sight of another person at all,
“P-PAULO??” the Korat yelled back, “What are you doing here????”
The orange cat’s eyes began to drift as he scratched the back of his head, “I mean, I was trying to find this girl in the woods I heard calling for h-,” suddenly the dots connected in Paulo’s head, and he processed it for a moment before breaking down into hysterical laughter, clutching his stomach. Mike’s face glowed red with embarrassment,
“W-what are you laughing at?!”
“YOU SOUND LIKE A FUCKIN’ GIRL!” Paulo hollered, pointing a finger at the imprisoned cat as he bent over, short for air,
“Ugh, forget it!” Mike huffed, still flushed with shame, “Just go away so someone who’s less of a dick can come get me.”
Paulo caught his breath before releasing it slowly, suppressing his laughter. Once he had actually composed himself he looked back up to Mike in the high tower, “Okay seriously though, who the hell put you up there? You aren’t a princess man ya got no business being captured.”
“I mean…” the ash-colored cat stalled his sentence, leaning onto the window sill and peering down at his visitor with a melancholic expression, “I’m technically a prince, though I doubt I was captured because of that.” Paulo raised an eyebrow under his bangs, he had completely forgotten that Mike was royalty. I mean he barely acted like one, in Paulo’s eyes at least, so it was fairly easy for him to make the mistake.
“You didn't answer my question dude.” The gruff warrior shot back, “How’d you get up there?” Mike didn't answer for a minute, simply staring down at his only company as if he was contemplating if he wanted to answer at all, before eventually speaking.
“I got trapped by a wizard.” He traced his finger across the ridge of the stone window, his face sinking into his scarf as his scarf sank into his arms, “I sort of gave her more than enough reason to hate me, it was bound to happen eventually.”
The knight on the ground smiled again, winking and slightly unsheathing his blade to let the base of it shimmer in the light, “Well that sounds like nothin’ something sir Paulo can’t handle!” the Korat exhaled sharply through his nose, choosing to ignore that Paulo just referred to himself in the third person.
“She’s gone. Besides, I already have a knight, Paulo.” Paulo’s eyebrows furrowed, he knew damn well that Mike had a knight, he never shut the fuck up about her. But somehow, unsurprisingly to Paulo, here he was where she wasn’t, actually in Mike’s presence. But he shoved that ever-gnawing ache in his brain aside for a moment, instead choosing to be confused at the other part of the prince's sentence.
“She’s… She’s gone?” he chuckled, “Pretty terrible fuckin’ kidnapper if they just leave you there right after capturing you.” The blue-scarfed prince evaded his gruff guest’s eyes again, Mike knew exactly where this conversation was going. Paulo had always been one to bring Mike’s problems into the light, and that was the last thing he wanted right now. Part of the imprisoned prince wished Paulo didn't care as much as he did. After all, Mike had done the one thing he had always wanted to, he had secured a relationship with the girl he had loved forever. He had her as his knight, and he HAD to make it work no matter how much that hurt him. But every time he and Paulo had ever spoken about it the orange tom would resurface that painful ache in the back of his mind, the one he always tried so hard to stomp out. But at the same time, he knew he couldn't simply refuse to respond, so eventually he let the truth slip from his lips.
“Well, she actually did stay for a couple weeks.”
Paulo’s arms lowered slowly to his sides, and he stared up at Mike as an aura of shocked disbelief settled on his face.
“A… couple weeks…?” Paulo’s bravado faded as soon as he became too concerned to focus on it anymore, taking a few more steps towards the tower, “Mike… how long have you been up there..?” A lump settled in Mike’s throat as he aggressively avoided eye contact with the Somali beneath him. He despised how warm the genuine concern and care Paulo secretly had for him made him feel, he hated that Paulo expressed that care for him visibly when it got serious.
“I’ve…” he couldn't help but slightly choke on his words, “I’ve been up here for about a month.” the concern on Paulo’s face faded away, slowly being replaced with a cold anger, Mike knew exactly what was coming.
“Mike… where the FUCK IS YOUR KNIGHT?!” He yelled, throwing his arms out in fury.
“She’s just busy okay?!” Mike screamed defensively, mostly out of instinct, “I-I’m sure she’s on her way!”
“Where the fuck has she been?!?” Paulo barked back, rage clouding his vision.
“I-, I don't know!” Mike could feel his face getting hot and tears forming in his eyes, “She might have just n-not realized I was gone for a while!”
“She might not- she might not have-” Paulos words were caught and jumbled in his throat as his anger, astonishment, and grief swarmed around his skull like a legion of flies. He could feel the lump forming in his throat as he continued to yell, “MIKE SHE’S YOUR FUCKING KNIGHT!!”
“So??” Mike choked out, barely holding back the tears that were clawing at the backs of his eyeballs,
“The whole point of a knight is they're supposed to protect you.” Paulo snarled, his voice cracking nearly as much as Mike’s was, “She’s a shitty knight Mike. And you deserve better.”
“But..” The Korat's voice was barely audible to the Somali beneath him as he forced the words out of his throat, “She loves me-” Paulo cut him off, the words escaping his mouth before he could think about them,
“NO THE FUCK SHE DOESN'T!!” He hollered, through his own tear-clouded vision he could only barely see Mike begin to cry, but he couldn't make himself stop. He wouldn't let Mike get taken advantage of like this any longer, “And if she does love you, it isn't enough. She never gives you the time of day even when you need it, and THAT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR MIKE. Just because you let yourself get walked all over doesn't mean you fucking deserve it!” The Somali's voice only became shakier as his emotions streaked down his face, “You're a spectacular, beautiful person Mike!” Paulo spat, “You’re kind! You’re funny! You’re caring! You always put the people you care about first! And you don't deserve to sit in this tower and fucking rot because Sandy decided she doesn't give a shit about you!”
Both of the boys stood in silence for a moment, and autumn winds combed through their fur and stung their tear-stained faces. The anguished prince’s voice barely cut through the air and reached the knight’s ears below,
“But I love her…” he sobbed. Looking at Mike in this state made the rage melt from the Somali’s eyes and be quickly replaced with pure sympathetic sorrow. Mike had always made him weaker than he would have liked, and his words had flooded out of him before he could have thought them through. However it was too late to take back what he said, and if he did it would only hurt the poor korat further which would be the opposite of what he wanted. He caught his breath before he spoke back, his voice only as steady as he could make it,
“You deserve someone who loves you back.” He anticipated some form of retaliation from Mike, as he often got when he came after Sandy. The Korat's expression was hard to read, not to say Paulo didn't always have trouble reading people’s expressions. He stared down at the boy below him with hollowed eyes, furrowed brows, and cheeks marked with stains of red and misery. Eventually, the prince spoke, his voice far softer and less aggressive than what Pualo would have expected.
“Paulo…” the orange boy braced for some kind of emotional impact, “Get me out of this fucking tower.” The knight's eyes widened for a moment before he nodded, the flare of determination sparking in his gaze. That determination to protect lit a small sense of warmth within Mike, it wouldn't have been the first time he felt warm looking at Paulo.
“Gotcha.” The knight’s amber eyes quickly began to bounce around the area trying to formulate a plan of escape. He circled the tower but there was no door to enter, in retrospect it made sense, why would a wizard need a door, and more so if there was a door why hadn't Mike just left? So he began to scan the forest lining around the tower until he found a suitable tree whose branches extended just close enough to the window to work with. As he sunk his claws into the bark and began to scramble up the tree he grumbled to himself, “Y’know in the stories the princess usually has super long hair or some shit they can use as a rope…” Mike gave him a look as he obviously didn't possess these flowing locks, but his eyebrows raised a bit when his eyes drifted down slightly to what was wrapped around his neck.
“I… have a scarf.” He offered. And Paulo made prolonged eye contact with him, now having reached one of the higher branches of the tree and reaching the prince's eye level. Paulo spaced out for a second as he formulated a plan before he nodded.
“That.. will work!” the knight held up his hands, gesturing to Mike, “Throw one side over.”
Mike took a step back, “W-why..?”
“Alright. Here's sir Paulo’s master plan,” The Somali explained with a grin, “You’re gonna throw one end of your scarf over to me and then I'm gonna tie it around this tree branch. Once that happens I'll climb back down the tree and you’ll sing off of the window using the scarf.”
The gray-colored cat's eyebrows furrowed, “My scarf won't be long enough to reach the bottom without still having it be too high.”
“Well, that's why I'm gonna catch you dumbass!” Paulo smirked,
“But it might ruin the scarf…” Mike mumbled, Paulo furrowed his brow in response,
“I’ll get ya a new fuckin scarf dude, just toss me a side so I can save yer ass already.” A momentary blush entered Mike’s cheeks. He had no idea how serious Paulo was being but even the offer made a small smile grow on his face. Eventually, he did as he was told, tossing one side of the blue scarf to Paulo and watching as his savior tied it into a thick and sturdy knot around the tree branch. Paulo then very carefully scaled down the massive tree before positioning himself at the bottom. Mike’s legs wobbled as he climbed up onto the windowsill, he took a deep breath, trying to keep hold of his mind as the vertigo grappled him. "Alright," Paulo called up to him, "now jump!"
For a moment the short boy hesitated, his legs shaking slightly and the wind in his fur sending terrified signals to his brain that it would knock him over. But when he met Paulo’s gaze it instilled just the right amount of confidence he needed, and he took the plunge.
Mike was right, the scarf wasn't long enough, and Mike held on for dear life as it wildly tensed and stretched under his weight. A spike of terror shot through the prince’s skull as his ears were suddenly filled with the sound of tearing fabric. He frantically dug his claws into the scarf and his eyes shot up toward the origin of the sound as his tail bristled. For a split second, he saw the knot constrict too tight, and the rough exterior of the branch piercing through the material of the cloth. But once that millisecond had passed he saw Paulo’s knot break, and gravity’s talons ensnared the prince in its clutches. The Korat's heart felt like it disappeared right out of his chest, with the position he was falling in he could break his back, or worse, his neck! No one survives a broken neck, the Korat knew that for sure. Why did he ever trust Paulo to get him out of there in the first place? Just because he couldn't resist the determination to protect in the orange cat's eyes.
But before his skull could make contact with the cold hard earth, Mike’s fall was broken by two arms intercepting him, and blocking his descent. His eyes opened to the Somali's face, only about an inch away from his own. Paulo’s chest was warm and Mike could feel his heartbeat as he leaned against him.
“Y’alright?” Mike was pulled out of his homosexual stupor by the sound of Paulo’s voice, and he quickly caught his breath, his face flushing red.
“H-, y-yeah I’m fine. T-thanks for uh..” His voice trailed off as both boys now seemed to realize how close to each other they really were. Paulo blushed wildly, quickly returning the shorter korat to the ground.
“N-no problem, what’re knights for and all that shit.” both of them shuffled awkwardly for a moment before Mike looked back to his savior,
“Seriously though, thank you for saving me.” The prince gave Paulo a warm smile of appreciation which made his heart melt, “I have no idea how long I would have been up there if you didn't come along…”
“I woulda came sooner if I knew you were trapped up there,” Paulo commented, “And uh, I’m sorry for like, y’know.” Mike chuckled, bumping Paulo softly with his shoulder and sending a shiver up Paulo’s spine,
“I’m not mad at you about it.” the prince paused, “But I also don't wanna think about it sober.” He smiled at the taller cat, gesturing in the vague direction of town, “Ya wanna go hit a tavern?” A grin spread across Paulo’s face and he wrapped an arm around Mike’s shoulder, leading the both of them away from the tower and toward civilization.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
And so off they went, together into the sunset.
A tale as old as time.
A prince and his knight.