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When Arata hears a familiar fluttering and the sound of landing, he spins on his heel and pulls Souma into a kiss.
“There you are.” He breathes. “I was getting worried. Listen, there’s a festival in the capital soon. I’m thinking, we leave Aki and Ena with Mom and we sing together on sta—”
“Arata, wait.” Souma says, cutting him off, and it’s just then that Arata notices the expression on his face.
“What’s wrong, partner?”
Souma takes a breath and locks eyes with Arata.
“I’m… engaged.”
Arata feels like his entire heart has shattered onto the floor.
“What? An arranged marriage?”
“It’s… not final yet, but odds are it will be soon… I don’t want this, I swear. I-I can’t… I’m supposed to propose to the—”
“Don’t. Don’t say it.” Arata says, taking Souma’s hand and kissing the inside of his wrist. “If you tell me, I’m going to get upset.”
They both know what he means, and so Souma just takes a breath.
“He’s… I don’t love him. I’ve never even met him.”
“Then why?” Arata says, his voice cracking.
“…I… I don’t have a choice. I’m sorry.”
Souma turns on his heel and is about to fly away, but Arata grabs him before he can, hanging onto Souma’s waist and keeping him close.
“Don’t… don’t go. Stay with me.” Arata says, gently kissing Souma’s neck. “Marry me. Please, marry me . I’ll give you everything. ”
Arata can feel the breath rushing through Souma’s neck slow down, until there’s nothing, and it only takes a second for Arata to realize he’s lost control again. He quickly spins Souma around and kisses him, breathing pure air into his lips and feeling his chest start to rise again.
He pulls away just slightly, and Souma’s eyes flutter open.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Arata says, and Souma shakes his head.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry.”
Arata feels himself starting to tear up. This can’t be happening.
He drops to one knee and gently takes Souma’s hand, kissing the back of it.
“I’m serious. Run away with me.”
Souma’s breath catches in his throat, and Arata almost thinks he’s screwed up again, but…
“I’m… I’m sorry…” Souma says.
Arata’s grip on Souma’s hand gets tighter.
“ Please. ” He begs. “Don’t leave me. My heart can’t take it.”
“…You know my heart is yours. It always has been.” Souma whispers. “But I can’t stay with you. If I could, I would. I swear to you, I would. I-I have to go, I have to finish packing. I’m leaving in the morning.”
Arata doesn’t let go of his hand.
“…One night. Be mine just for tonight.”
It’s obvious that Souma wants this just as much as Arata does. He ends up agreeing, and Arata pulls him over to the bed.
Neither of them have done this before, but if they’re never going to see each other again, then Arata knows that he wants to give everything to his partner.
They take it slow. Savoring the moment. Getting drunk off each other.
It’s so much, so hot, and it’s like his head is filled with all the stars in the sky.
Arata’s brain is all jumbled. He’s filled with so much love and affection, and his mouth starts moving faster than he can think.
“Run away with me…. Marry me…” He breathes, and then he feels Souma’s breath quicken and his fingers being threaded with another hand.
“Yes, yes, I’ll run away with you!” Souma yells. “I’ll marry you!”
Oh, that feels better than the heat all around them. Those words are everything that Arata wanted to hear. He can feel himself losing control again, and a song is running through his skin.
“I love you.” Arata purrs, reaching up to wrap his free arm around Souma’s neck. “I love you so much. I promise, I’ll give you everything. I’ll treat you like you deserve.”
“I love you too. I love you more than anything.”
~
When Arata wakes up, he instinctively reaches over to the other side of the bed.
He doesn’t find the warm body he’s looking for, so his eyes flutter open and he sees… a letter?
He picks up the letter and rubs his eyes.
Dear Arata,
I wish that I could stay with you, and keep the life I made with you. And even though this feels so right, I'm holding back the tears tonight. It's true I'll never be over you, because I have built a future in my mind with you. And now the hope is gone, there’s nothing left for me to do. You know it isn't true, but I must say to you… That I don't need your love. It'll never be better than it was, but I don't need your love.
All my love,
Souma.
Oh. Oh, he’s crying.
He balls his hand into a fist and punches into the mattress, and just… cries.
Last night, he thought he’d finally had it all. He could take Souma back to the palace, reveal everything, and actually marry Souma. They were going to live happily ever after. They were supposed to be soulmates. Together forever. Best friends.
He knows he has to keep his emotions in check, he knows that if he gets too upset right now that he could cause a tornado, but his heart is aching so damn much.
So, what? That’s it? He’ll never see those dusty purple eyes and gorgeous gray wings again? No more late-night chats or singing together at festivals? That’s just it? It’s all over just like that?
Was the night before just a lie? Just a fantasy to placate Arata so he wouldn’t get upset and lose control of his powers again? He’d already hurt Souma once, what’s to say he couldn’t do it again?
There’s something so wrong with his heart. He feels like he’s about to die. Like there’s an empty space in his chest.
Soon enough, Arata’s mom walks in and gently ruffles Arata’s hair.
“I couldn’t stop him. I’m sorry.” She whispers.
“I… I feel… empty.”
“I know that feeling. But there’ll come a time when all you remember is the love.”
“I’m… I’ll never feel this way again…”
“No. You won’t.” She replies. “There’ll be others. But they’ll be different. Every time you fall in love, it’ll be different.”
“…Knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.”
Yoka takes a breath.
“It’s not supposed to.”
~
Souma hates this stupid carriage taking him to the palace. It’s slower than just flying, and it’s mostly just for show.
He’s a noble, he’s worthy to marry the prince, unlike the previous commoner Queen.
He doesn’t even know why his parents care so much. So what if a commoner wants the worst job in the kingdom, clearly neither of them want to be saddled with the duties of royalty. He’ll never understand them, but he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter.
The carriage comes to a stop in front of the palace, and several nymphs help Souma out. He tries to walk up the stairs as slowly as possible, but he unfortunately reaches the doors eventually.
Souma wishes goodbye to Arata and his old life, then opens the door to find…
Arata?!
“Where’s the prince?” Souma says, dumbly.
“You’re looking at him,” Arata replies.
Arata… is the prince? This… this is perfect! Then they can be together, and his parents can’t even do anything!
Souma grins. “Arata, do you know what this means?”
“I’m suddenly good enough for you?”
“W-what?”
“Your heart belongs to me? If it really did, you would have run away with me when I asked. I gave you everything. My heart, my love… last night… I gave that all to you, and you told me you’d be mine, and then you left anyway.”
“Arata, I didn’t know you were the prince, I—“
“Was that all you cared about? Marrying the prince? Getting at our secrets? I know the Miyatas don’t approve of my mother.”
“I don’t care about any of that!”
“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU STAY WITH ME?!” A tempest starts to whip up in the room and Souma’s finding it harder to breathe.
“ Arata, you know I love you. I’d never tell them your secrets.”
“But you would if it was someone else. Can I be with someone who would have sold out someone who believes the same thing I do?”
“I-I didn’t think about that! I didn’t think about anything except how heartbroken I was to lose you!”
“Don’t lie to me. There’s been too much between us for that. Truly, if we hadn’t met before, would you have sold me out to your parents?”
Souma… can’t say with certainty the answer’s no.
“You’re not the person I thought you were,” Arata says. “Get out.”
“Arata!”
“I said, get out! ” Arata bursts into flames and without thinking, Souma creates water to put him out.
Both the flames and the tempest die down, and Souma can breathe again.
“I would have fallen in love with you all over again,” Souma says.
“Don’t lie to me. Did it mean anything? All the chats, the festivals, last night, did all of it mean anything to you?”
“Everything. It meant everything to me.”
“…I wish I could believe that. Just leave.”
“Arata—“
“Leave! Before I get upset and almost hurt you again.”
Souma bows and takes his leave, tears welling up in his eyes.
-
Yoka enters the office soon after Souma leaves.
“Hey, I heard you already sent the Miyata kid packing,” she says, but she must have seen Arata’s face and the fact that he’s soaking wet. “Arata?”
“It was Souma,” Arata says.
“What?”
“The Miyata kid. It was Souma. He broke up with me because he was arranged to marry me.”
Yoka blinks. “…Is that a bad thing? Doesn’t that kind of solve both your problems?”
“Mom, come on. You know what his family’s like, he’d tell his parents everything about us! About me.” Arata laughs. “And you know what the worst part is? I was happy when I learned that he was supposed to be marrying me. I wanted to take him back, I wanted to give him everything. I saw him holding a knife in my face, and for a split second, I wanted to turn my back on him and let him stab me. Because I love him that much. I didn’t trust him, I just realized that I wouldn’t mind being betrayed by him. I love him so much that he could destroy me and I’d let him. But I can’t let him destroy you too.”
Yoka comes closer and cups Arata’s face. “Arata, I love you so much. But you’re an idiot.”
“I thought you’d say I was being responsible and seeing the big picture.”
“Baby, he’s not the Miyata kid, he’s Souma . That changes things, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not sure—“
Suddenly, Queen Mahono rushes in.
“Have you guys seen Akito and Ena?” she asks.
~
Souma’s back in this stupid carriage and he wants to die. Let lightning fall from the sky and strike him, let the carriage fall off a cliff into the river rapids.
He was so scared of losing Arata he made sure it happened, nothing else could be worse.
Souma lays down on the bench and hears… giggling?
“Coachman, stop.” Souma says. Her then opens the luggage compartment and sees two toddlers looking up at him.
“Hi Souma-nii!” Ena says.
“What are you two doing here?!” Souma gasps.
“We didn’t get to see you!” Akito says.
“You need to go home,” Souma says.
“Ok are you going to take us?” Ena asks. “Or are you going to make us walk all the way home by ourselves?”
“Or we can wait here for Nii-chan to come pick us up!” Akito adds. “Then you can talk when you see him!”
Souma groans. “Kids, whatever you think is gonna happen between Arata and I, it won’t.”
“Why not? Don’t you love each other?” Ena asks.
“I do love your brother. I love him so much,” Souma says. “He’s amazing. Do you know how desperately I wanted to run away with him last night? I didn’t care if we were in a lean-to in the forest, as long as we were together. But I knew my parents had made deals and they’d hunt us down. They said they’d kill him if I didn’t go through with the engagement. I thought I was protecting him, but in the process I turned out to be the kind of selfish person your brother hates. So now we can’t be together.”
Ena frowns. “So what if you mess up? Nii-chan messes up all the time!”
“It’s not just that,” Souma says. “My parents, they’ll be expecting things of me, they might make things worse if I don’t.”
“So just lie to them.” Ena says.
“Huh?”
“They want to hear about how Nii-chan can’t be prince because Auntie Yoka was a commoner, right? Then don’t tell them about all the times he accidentally sets himself on fire or makes a vacuum that sucks up all the air or does the death thingy.”
Souma blinks. “The what?”
“Nii-chan can explain it. Anyway just tell your parents he doesn’t like going out in public and picks his nose! Then everything will be fine.”
“Before we can do any of that, your brother has to forgive me, and I don’t think he will.”
“Maybe you can let me decide that!” Souma looks and sees Arata fly through the trees and land outside the carriage.
“A-Arata? How long were you listening?”
“Since you said you loved me,” Arata says.
“Wait, how? We were in the carriage and you couldn’t have flown that fast.”
Then Akito starts giggling. Souma didn’t even notice that his eyes were closed and his forehead was sweaty.
“I-I did it!” Akito pants. “I carried your words all the way to Nii-chan with the wind.”
“Wait, what?!” Even if it clearly tired him out, that’s not something a four year old who isn’t even close to getting his wings should be able to do. “How…”
“That’s the kind of thing you have to put up with marrying into the royal family,” Arata says through the door.
“Nii-chan, you heard what Souma had to say, don’t you want to say something?” Ena says.
“Fuck off.”
Ena opens the door of the carriage and slams it into Arata’s face.
“Ow! Ok! Fine,” Arata says. “Why didn’t you tell me about your parents’ threat?”
“Because I thought you were some commoner who couldn’t control his powers! There’s no way you could take down all their mercenaries. Why didn’t you tell me you were the prince?”
“Because I didn’t want to scare you off. I know there are a lot of rumors about me, and I’d already lost control once.”
“I don’t care about that,” Souma says. “I know you’d never hurt me on purpose.”
Arata sighs. “Look, maybe I was too quick to kick you out. Can we try again? Maybe talk to mom at least?”
“Really?!” Souma gasps. “Of course, I’d love to!”
“Yay! We can go back to planning your wedding!” Akito says.
“Was that all you were trying to get out of this?” Arata sighs.
“We also wanna move in with Souma and take him around the capital!” Ena says.
“Ugh. Come on, Aunt Mahono’s worried about you.”
Souma picks up Akito and Arata picks up Ena. Arata offers out his hand, and together they fly towards the palace.
~
A week later, Ena and Akito have called a very important meeting, and they’re there along with Len and Rin, two children of servants who play with them a lot.
“Ok!” Ena announces. “Here’s our plan for Nii-chan and Souma-nii’s wedding!”
“That’s why you called us this early in the morning?” Arata groans, half asleep on Souma’s shoulder.
“Um yeah? This is important!” Ena says. “We’re gonna have a massive party!”
“And all the guests get their own cheesecake,” Akito explains. “A whole cheesecake to themselves.”
“Cookie table!” Len adds.
Akito nods. “Yeah, we read about them, so everyone brings a whole bunch of their cookies and then we each get some!”
“Right,” Arata says. “Tell me, did you plan this out beyond sweets?”
“Huh? But you like sweets.”
“But I’m also not subjecting the guests to you four on a sugar high,” Arata says.
“What else have you planned.”
“Pwetty dwesses!” Rin says.
“Ooh yes, look there are so many pretty dresses! Everyone is gonna wear one and Souma’s gonna have the biggest and prettiest and flowiest–”
“Shouldn’t Arata get the prettiest dress? He is the prince,” Souma says.
“No, he’s too ugly, you’ll look prettier, Souma-nii.”
“Ok, not that I don’t agree that Souma would look better but you didn’t have to phrase it like that,” Arata says.
King Shinei raises his hand.
“Yes, dad?” Ena asks.
“In your chart over there you’ve put a… bounce house?” he says hesitantly, “in the middle of the capital?”
“Bouncey house! Yay!” Len says. “Shizuku heawd about it from Shi! You go inside and you jump awound supah high! It’s like flying but you don’t have wings.”
“I see,” Shinei says, “but why is it in the middle of the capital and not, say, the ballroom?”
“Well we need a whole bunch for all the kids in the capital,” Ena says.
“Wait are you planing this as a whole city thing?” Arata asks.
“Yeah! Nii-chan’s finally getting married so we’re gonna have a great big festival and flowers are gonna be everywhere and everyone has to wear pretty dresses!”
“Ok, we can’t order people to wear dresses,” Queen Mahono says.
“Even if they’re really really pretty?”
“No.”
Ena frowns. “Ok, but WE get to wear pretty dresses.”
“Yes, you can wear pretty dresses.”
Ena seems satisfied.
“Ena, dear,” Yoka says. “Did you ask if your big brother and Souma want a big wedding that everyone’s invited to?”
“Huh, but nii-chan never gets a big party!” Akito says.
Souma thinks about it for a second. “Oh yeah, I guess you don’t.”
“Well I can’t have a big party that the whole kingdom celebrates and keep my face hidden,” Arata says. “Honestly I think Shinei jumped the gun by plastering Akito and Ena’s faces everywhere on their birthdays.”
Shinei frowns. “I just wanted everyone to know they’re cute and it’s their birthday,” he says. He pauses. “Not that you weren’t cute as a baby–”
“Don’t lie to him,” Yoka says, “he wasn’t.”
“—a lot was going on at the time, if you want we can—”
“Nah, I like the mysterious eldest prince vibe,” Arata says. “That way my partner and I can perform at festivals.”
“So… no big party?” Ena says.
“I’m afraid not,” Yoka says. “I know, since Arata has work today and we’re all busy, why don’t you take Souma and plan the wedding.”
“Oh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Souma says, “they’ll talk me into just about anything.”
“You think Arata can say no to them?” Yoka says. “Like it or not, these kids are planning your wedding.”
Ena, Akito, Len, and Rin are huddled around each other, then rush over and grab Souma.
“To the libwawy!” Rin says, wrapping one of his fingers in her tiny hand.
“Don’t cause too much trouble for him!” Arata shouts.
“See you later?” Souma says, confused.
~
In the afternoon, Arata comes to find Souma on the couch in the library while Akito and Ena are asleep in the couch.
“How’s the greatest partner in the kingdom?” Arata asks. “I hope the kids didn’t tire you out too much.”
Souma chuckles. “Oh no, we just looked at old dresses, drew some new ones, then Len and Rin’s parents picked them up and Aki and Ena wanted me to read them stories.”
“And here I was worried they’d scare you off,” Arata says. “I mean they’re fine when you just get a small dose of them, but living with them?”
“Don’t let Ena hear you say that, or she’ll put you in an ugly dress.”
“I don’t care, I’ll be too busy staring at my gorgeous partner.”
“Fair Shinonome, you’re too smooth, you know that?” Souma says, his face turning bright red. He gently moves so that Akito and Ena don’t wake up, then heads over to Arata.
“Thank you,” he says, “for taking me back.”
“Well, I guess we should thank the rest of my family for being smarter than me,” Arata says. “But still, is this ok?”
“Is what ok?”
“You never wanted to marry the prince, it’s a whole buttload of stuff to work on, and you’ll have to work around your parents.”
Souma leans down to kiss Arata. “Arata, I didn’t want to marry the prince because I wanted to be with you. Whatever happens, I just want to be with you, so don’t worry,” he says.
Arata grins. “Perfect. Then let’s be together forever.”