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Sometimes, Richy hates being a royal.
Alright, that was a lie. It’s actually most times. That probably sounds rather spoiled of him, but after 21 years of this nonsense, Richy was tired.
He hates Oxford all the time. He’d thought it’d be a nice clean slate. A do-over where no one would know who he was and he could talk to other people who were not his family or other nobles and be treated like a normal human being. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, that was extremely wishful thinking.
It seems like everyone only talks to him because he’s the son of a king. It’s all superficial.
The only person he talks to regularly in any meaningful way in that place was Willo, the son of a particularly powerful Duke.
And they’d only met because Kai knew Willo’s older brother, Gabriel, and the two had orchestrated a meet up. They’d have never met each other otherwise. For one, they don’t share any classes. They also happen to live across town from each other.
It’s lonely. Richy is lonely. He has all these people around him, yet he still feels so lonely. He’d always been lonely, but it had never been so bad. It’s almost ironic, like a shitty joke at his expense.
Most of all, he hates this stupid fucking Latin class so much. It’s a dead language, how is Cicero arguing out of his ass a million years ago important to him in the present day? Why was Mikel so insistent on him taking this class? He sucks, he’s probably going to fail anyway
Richy is so caught up in his silent lamenting that he doesn’t realise someone is standing beside the two person desk he usually occupies alone, staring down at him silently until a good 10 seconds after.
He’s a very pretty stranger, Richy thinks to himself. Big brown eyes and shaggy dark brown hair. He’s wearing bright red Adidas sneakers with white detailing, Richy notices. Wait, maybe he should stop staring. He probably looks strange.
“Is anyone sitting here?” The stranger asks in a heavy vaguely Slavic accent.
Is this real? Is this a dream? Is Richy dead and in heaven? He’s seen his fair share of pretty people in his time, he’s surrounded by them at this place. But this guy seems different. He doesn’t seem like he has any ulterior motives.
Maybe he does, or maybe he doesn’t. Whatever.
Richy breaks himself out of his surprised stupor and flashes the stranger a smile. Better turn the charm up to 120%.
“No, you can sit here.”
The stranger smiles back at him and slides into the chair next to Richy. He has a nice smile.
Once he’s arranged his things on his side of the desk, Richy extends his hand to him.
“I’m Richy, short for Riccardo.” The stranger’s hand is very warm. “Comp sci major.”
“Jakub,” He says quickly. “I mean, I’m Jakub, short for Jakub. I’m a vet. Or I will be, I guess.”
He sounds nervous, but, hey, at least he’s talking to Richy like a normal human being. Maybe he’s shy. That’s something. He’d rather have a nervous conversation than no conversation at all.
“Nice to meet you Jakub, short for Jakub.”
This manages to elicit a small laugh from him. Their burgeoning conversation is interrupted by the professor calling for attention in the front of the room. Only momentarily though.
“What city did Verres steal the statue of Diana from, Mr Riccardo?”
Holy shit, Richy can not for the life of him remember. It was part of the empire, definitely, but the empire was massive. Too many names to remember, in Richy's humble opinions
Jakub nudges him and points to the corner of his notebook, where he has written ‘SEGESTA’ in bright pink, glittery block letters.
“Segesta.”
The professor beams at Richy. “Very good, Mr Riccardo.”
Richy looks back to Jakub to thank him for saving his ass, but he’s looking back at the board. So all Richy can do is stare at the side of his face and smile a little.
Jakub is an exchange student from Poland, Richy learns, which is probably why he doesn’t realise who Richy is. That’s fine by Richy. He has a new friend and he’s not about to ruin it. He took an astronomy course last year and works at the quaint bakery by the library in town. That’s just what Jakub tells him.
They eat lunch together when they’re on campus over lunchtime together. It seems Jakub has a sweet tooth. He definitely likes his sweets. Richy makes it a point to bring some kind of treat every time they have lunch together.
It’s been almost a month since they started having lunch together. Jakub is a lot like Willo, in the sense he cycles through the same 5 meals every week. Today, it’s some kind of soup.
“I’m failing Latin this year, I think.”
Jakub furrows his eyebrows at him. “I’m sure you’re not that bad.”
“I actually am.”
Jakub looks down into his thermos and stirs his soup a little. Then he looks back up.
“I could tutor you.”
-
Richy rings the doorbell to Jakub’s apartment, jam doughnuts, his favourite, in one hand and his tattered copy of the Aeneid in the other. The apartment has a brick facade, the same as the others on the street.
Jakub answers the door in a band tee Richy doesn’t recognise and the shortest shorts the world will never see. It’s freezing out tonight.
He beams at Richy. “Right on time. With snacks too, I see.”
Richy is shepherded into the narrow hallway and into the living room, where Jakub’s roommate is sitting at the coffee table with his legs tucked under it, clicking away at his laptop intently.
“Richy, Tomi.” He turns to Tomi. “This is the guy I told you about.”
The guy, Tomi, eyes Richy up and down. He can’t help but feel a little judged. Or did he just look like that? He’s met a lot of people that just looked like that.
“Kuba. You tell me about a lot of men, you know.”
Jakub goes violently red. Richy stifles a laugh behind him.
“Tomi!” He turns to Richy. “That’s not true.”
Tomi snorts and goes back to dicking around on his laptop. Jakub glares at the side of his head and drags Richy out of the living room by the arm, muttering what Richy can assume is a little of curses in Polish.
The apartment is cramped, which is mildly surprising to Richy. They’re both uni students, yes, but they go to Oxford .
“Don’t mind him, he thinks he’s funny.”
Richy also thinks he’s funny but he chooses not to share that at the current moment. Jakub pushes up the door to his bedroom in the narrow corridor and they enter the rabbit’s den.
Jakub’s room is small, and it has a truly amazing amount of stuff in it, but it didn’t feel cluttered. Is it kind of messy? Sure. But it seemed like a purposeful mess.
“Sorry for the mess, I haven’t had much time these days.”
“Oh, it’s fine. You should see mine.”
Jakub starts to rearrange some things on his desk and Richy looks around his room. There’s a little thing of wool kicked under his bed. A couple of books are open in his bed. A little ceramic rabbit holding a Polish flag smiles at him from the shelf above his bed.
Richy, to his great pleasure, notices an electric guitar propped up on a stand in the corner behind the door. It had definitely seen better days, the paint was chipped and the wood on the handle well worn, but that just meant it was well loved.
“Ah, you play guitar?”
Jakub only goes a little pink this time. “Not all that well.”
“Well, you have to teach me now.”
Jakub chuckles. “I’m working everyday till Saturday but if you come over Sunday morning I’ll try my best.”
That kind of sounds like a date. Is it a date? Richy really should stop jumping to conclusions like this.
“Alright, let’s do some Virgil.”
Richy hates Latin a little less when it’s Jakub teaching to him. He doesn’t hate the Latin professor, he’s a perfectly nice little man, Richy’s just seen more compelling paint drying.
Though, Richy finds himself looking at Jakub more than his beat up copy of the Aeneid.
“Are you paying attention?”
Richy plays dumb, his natural state of being. “Of course, Kuba. ”
Jakub nods sarcastically. “Mhm, sure.”
They go on for maybe half an hour more before Tomi sticks his head into the room, eyes narrowed like he’s trying to catch them in something. From Jakub’s reaction, he guesses Tomi does this a lot.
“Is your friend staying for dinner?”
Jakub looks at Richy, waiting for him to answer. He shrugs. Why the hell not.
-
Richy shows up at Jakub’s door again at 11am on Sunday morning. He brings jam doughnuts again, because it’d be a little strange to turn up empty-handed.
Tomi opens the door this time. Richy thinks he really just looks like that.
“I’ll get Jakub for you.” He says slowly, retreating from the door. “You can come in now.”
Richy chooses to ignore whatever Tomi is doing and enters the apartment. He leans against the wall to take off his shoes and places them neatly beside Jakub’s red Adidases.
Jakub emerges into the corridor, looking half dead.
“Did you just wake up?”
“Yes.”
“It’s 11.”
“And?”
Richy pauses. “I brought you jam donuts.”
Jakub throws up his hands in feigned annoyance. Richy can see the smile on his face. “Fine, you’ve won me over. Come on, let’s do some guitar.”
Jakub’s room isn’t significantly messier or cleaner than last time, except for his bed, unsurprisingly. He plops down cross legged on his bed and Richy sits in the rolling office chair, placing the pack of donuts on some books on his desk.
Jakub stretches over his bed to get the guitar. His shirt rides up for a second to reveal the soft looking, tan skin of his stomach. Only for a second though.
“Alright, hold it like this.”
Jakub models for Richy. Alright, easy enough. He takes the guitar when he’s handed it and tries his best to replicate.
“Is this right?”
“Close.”
Jakub comes up behind him to adjust how he's holding the guitar, hands on his arms and hands. Richy becomes hyper aware of his breath on the nape of neck. He hopes he’s not bright red at the moment.
Jakub is a very good teacher. By the end of their impromptu music lesson, Richy can play the opening riff of ‘Mr Brightisde’, albeit a bit shittily. Jakub claps excitedly.
“You’re a natural.”
Richy hands back the guitar. “Don’t flatter me, my ego’s already big enough.”
“I’d like to see what else is big.”
Did Jakub actually just say that? Now Richy is definitely red.
“Excuse me?”
Jakub flashes him the sweetest smile in the world. “What? I didn’t say anything. Let me walk you to the door.”
It’s at the tip of Richy’s tongue. It had been for the past week or so. He finally has the guts, or dumb bravery to ask.
“Are you free next Saturday at 8?”
“Well,” There’s a mischievous glint in Jakub’s eyes. “I thought you’d never ask.”
-
Willo and Richy have brunch every Saturday morning at a local restaurant, which changes periodically as Richy works his way through each menu. Willo, being a creature of habit, orders the more-or-less the same thing every week.
Some particularly good restaurants make repeat appearances after their time is up. This one is a real quiet brunch place on the outskirts of town.
“You seem to have more wind under your wings these days.” Willo remarks, taking a sip of his cocktail. It’s 11am but never mind that.
Richy chuckles at that. A tiny goat wanders about by the nearby stonewall separating the restaurant from the greater farmland. It didn’t do so good of a job keeping some of the animals out, seeing the sheep grazing or the goats bleating absently, but the animals that did make it over were pleasant enough.
“I have no idea what you could mean.”
Willo only gives him a look and raises an eyebrow. Really, it doesn’t take much for Richy to spill his beans, especially when these beans are juicy.
“If you must know,” Richy pauses for dramatic effect. “I have a date tonight.”
It doesn’t seem like Willo’s eyebrows could get any higher but they do.
Richy feigns offence. “Why do you look so surprised?”
Willo shrugs, a slightly bemused look on his face. “Just never seen you so excited for a date before.”
-
Richy picks Jakub up at 8 o'clock sharp. Thankfully, Tomi isn’t there to scowl at him today. It’s just Jakub, and, oh, does he look gorgeous.
He’s wearing a long flowy skirt, Richy thinks, which is the most he’s seen his legs covered in a while. His top is tiny, though. Richy wonders if he’ll be cold.
“You look pretty.” He says rather dumbly.
Jakub does a mock curtsy. “Why, thank you. You look handsome yourself.”
There isn’t much in the way of nightlife in Oxford. No fancy restaurants to go to anything. The next best thing is a student bar not too from campus
Richy wouldn’t say he’s a lightweight, by any means, but, Jesus, can Jakub drink. He must’ve downed at least 6 shots in the span of five minutes.
The music of the student bar is loud and energetic. The main lights are low, supplemented by atmospheric led lights in the ceiling and in the bar. Jakub really does look pretty in this light. Richy could kiss him.
But he doesn’t. They drink some more, and dance near the stage. Jakub is almost grinding on Richy, not that he minds. He places his hands on Jakub’s hips during the slow dance, and Jakub’s head is on his shoulder.
It’s about 2am by the time they call it quits and decide to head back to Richy place. Jakub produces a flower print shawl from god knows where and wraps it around himself as Richy calls a taxi.
The next thing Richy knows, they’re in the back of the cab making out. Literally making out. Jakub’s lips are soft on his, and though his mouth tastes like vodka and diet coke, vodka and diet coke never tasted so good.
They barely make it into Richy’s flat before they’re back to making out against the wall, Jakub’s hand feeling around Richy’s jeans for the zip.
Maybe the alcohol is getting to him but he feels quite hot all of a sudden. Jakub’s hands feel like fire on him.
It’s all a blur after that. They’re both far too drunk. What Richy does remember is sloppy and messy and good. He remembers Jakub on top of him, grinding down on him and whining like a rabbit in heat. He remembers how good Jakub felt around him.
He doesn’t remember anything he said. He remembers everything Jakub said, how sweet he sounded begging for Richy. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget that.
-
Richy would’ve liked to wake up slower. It’s a Sunday morning. He doesn’t have to do anything in particular. He would’ve liked to wake up still in Jakub’s arms around him, maybe spend a few more hours in bed doing jackshit.
Instead, he wakes up to his phone ringing in the pocket of his discarded jeans. Half asleep, he feels around the floor until he finds the rough material of his jeans and fishes out his phone. It’s Kai. What the fuck?
“Look at what I sent you, on your laptop.”
How rude.
Richy looks to Jakub beside him, sprawled out and still sleeping soundly. He’s awfully warm. It’d be a shame to have to get out of bed now.
“Right now? Can’t we do whatever this is tomorrow?”
Kai is cut off by Martin snapping something unintelligible in the background. Kai hisses something equally unintelligible back and Richy is starting to think something is off.
“Just do it now.” He pauses for a few seconds before adding a “Please.” when he can’t hear Richy moving.
Richy groans and begrudgingly slides out of bed, making sure not to disturb the ever sleeping Jakub. His room is dark, but he still manages to find his laptop by groping around on his desk a little.
“Are you doing it?"
“I’m doing it!” Richy half whispers and half shouts into the phone.
Right, is this thing even charged? Hopefully. He has no idea where the charger is? He clicks the spacebar gently and watches the screen come to life.
“Richy-.”
“Oh my god, will you be patient?”
Richy quickly clicks open iMessage and clicks the link Kai had sent him, if only to get him off his back and get him back to the very pretty guy in his bed. It’s some trashy tabloid, the kind with horrible pap shots and nasty rumours. It’s definitely taking its time loading.
“Wait, ok. Don’t freak out.”
“Oh fuck.”
A blurry picture of Richy and Jakub basically eating each other’s faces off in the back of that taxi splashed on the front page with an equally inflammatory headline.
Richy didn’t remember it being that bad . In the picture, Jakub is quite literally on top of him. It wasn’t even that bad. Richy is a 21 year-old man, he’s allowed to make out with whoever he pleases. And without having someone take a creepshot of them from a bush, for god’s sake!
Oh, he’s so fucked.
“You can not let Dad find out about this.”
Kai sounds awfully sheepish. “Well.”
Richy groans again and almost slams his laptop shut. He rubs the bridge of his nose with one hand.
“He has some, um, worse-er news for you. But he wants both of you at the palace today.”
“What?” Richy realises he basically shouted that, though it doesn’t seem to bother Jakub.
He slips out of his bedroom and into the corridor connecting it to his living room. The sun shines through the gaps in the curtains in brilliant rays, bathing the disheveled room in pale yellow light. It would’ve been pretty if Richy wasn’t so stressed.
“Today? Like, today today?”
“Yes, today.”
Richy has groaned a lot more than he liked in the last 5 minutes. He paces around in front of his TV, arguing into the phone. Richy hears a car go by
“I can’t do that! How am I supposed to tell him? ‘Oh, I’m sorry, we have to get on a plane and travel halfway across the fucking world because my dad wants to see us.’”
The ambient car noises on the other side of the phone stops all of a sudden. He hears the sound of a car door opening and the sound of shoes on pavement.
“Lucky you, you don’t have to say anything.” It’s Martin now. “We’re outside your door, open up.”
Just then, the doorbell rings its melodic chimes. Richy stares at his door. He can feel his two brothers’ eyes staring at him through the dark wood. Why does this shit always happen to him? What god did he anger to have such shit luck?
He stands there for a few more seconds before slowly moving into action. He’s only in his boxers. He doesn’t really want to be seen in this state, especially after the picture that’s surely made the rounds on the internet multiple times. Best not give them any funny ideas. They didn’t need to know about his sex life anyways.
He throws on a (probably) clean shirt from the laundry basket on the armchair and goes to open the door.
Unsurprisingly, Martin and Kai are standing outside his flat door, all black Porsche behind and a few guards in sunglasses behind them. So inconspicuous.
Kai looks like he’s running on 3 hours of sleep and a dream. He’s making a pathetic attempt at smiling. Martin, on the other hand, does not look amused.
“It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” Martin folds his arms over his chest, eyebrow quirked.
Martin goes past him into Richy’s house. Richy can only glare at the back of his head.
“I guess you can come in too.” He sighs, stepping back to make way for Kai and the guards.
Kai gives him a sympathetic look and enters the flat. The guards don’t enter though, even though Richy beckons them in. Alright then.
“So, where’s your lucky guy?” Martin says, sitting in the middle of Richy’s couch with his legs crossed. Kai is off somewhere doing god knows what.
Richy’s eye twitches and he throws his hands up. “Did you even try to convince him?”
“Do you think I want to be here? I was having a perfectly nice vacation with Bukayo but, no, I have to deal with your nonsense.”
Now Richy is actually offended. “ My nonsense?”
Martin is about to argue back but then he goes quiet. He looks past Richy, and somehow his eyebrow goes further up.
“Wow, you two had a night huh?”
Jakub is standing there like a deer in headlights and bright red, in one of Richy’s t-shirts with a nasty hickey on full display
-
“It could’ve been a 30 second conversation, you know.” Jakub is looking at him very pointedly. “Just, like, a sentence to let me know. That would’ve been great.”
Martin had gone to the bathroom and Kai had conked out the moment they’d reached cruising altitude. Now it's just the two of them in the cabin.
Martin had made him put on the clothes he’d been wearing last night to look more ‘respectable’. The top was anything but the shawl made it a little better. It covered the hickey a abit, at least.
Richy sighs and sinks into his chair. He’s having such a great day. Not even a day into ‘dating’ and he might have to break up with the only person he likes at Oxford.
“I’m not upset .”
“I know you're upset!”
Kai shifts in his sleep. They both go silent, but Kai doesn’t stir.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Well it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.”
Jakub grits his teeth and turns to look out of the window. Way to go, Richy, what a non-douchebag of you.
“You should’ve just told me, Richy.”
Jakub has turned back to Richy. He doesn’t look angry, much to Richy’s surprise. He just looks tired, kind of like a kicked puppy.
“You wouldn’t have liked me if I told you.”
“I would have!”
“Would you have still made out with me?”
“ Yes!” Jakub half whisper-shouts at him.
At that moment, Martin walks back into the cabin. He blinks at them. Richy hopes it wasn’t obvious they were mid-argument, or their argument had carried to the cabin bathroom. No one says anything for a few seconds, before Martin clears his throat. Jakub turns away from him.
“We’ll be landing in 30 minutes.” He looks Jakub up and down. “You can keep your clothes, I suppose.”
The palace, expectedly, hadn’t changed much in Richy’s absence. The gardeners had planted a few new flowers in the front lawn, but that was about it. As always, Jorginho, Mikel’s choice jack-of-all-trades, is there to greet them at the door.
The whole time Jorginho is leading the pair to Mikel’s study, Richy can’t help the impending sense of doom building in his chest. It certainly isn’t helping that Jakub is staring at him with such wide, uncertain eyes.
Richy squeezes Jakub’s hand as they walk through the familiar marble halls to Mikel’s study, Jakub’s pumps making a nervous staccato on the floors.
It couldn’t be that bad. Mikel was strange, but he wasn’t unpredictable. How bad could it be?
“It’s only proper for you two to get married.”
Richy’s mouth involuntarily falls open as he stares incredulously at the man claiming to be his father. What, is this the 16th century? Just because they fucked once doesn’t mean Jakub has to be saddled with Richy and all his baggage for the rest of his life. That’s just inhumane.
“Oh, don’t give me that look.”
How could he not? This is utterly insane, even coming from Mikel.
Jakub's eyes are practically about to fall out of his skull. Mikel takes no notice of either of their expressions and continues speaking, smiling widely as if everything he’s saying should make them happy instead of devastated.
“We’ll arrange the wedding for after you two graduate this summer.” He claps his hands together and stands up. “Isn’t this exciting?”
-
The plane ride back to Oxford is dead silent. Neither of them talk. Jakub won’t look Richy in the eyes. He stares out of the window, moroose.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this.” Richy is sure he sounds so pathetic at the moment, but he doesn’t care.
Jakub stares at him from across the low table between them. The low lights make his face almost inscrutable. He’s probably mad. Who wouldn’t be mad? Richy would definitely be mad if sleeping with someone once would mean he’d have to marry the person.
Very suddenly, Jakub reaches over the table and kisses Richy on the lips. Chaste and gentle. More reassuring than anything, though it makes Richy’s head swim a little. He takes Richy’s hand in his and squeezes.
“We’ll get through it.” He pulls his lips into a tight smile. “Together.”
Before they land, Jakub points out Aquila and Lyra to him through the window. The two star-crossed lovers.
-
During the summer term, Jorginho spins up some fairytale love story about love-at-first-sight at Oxford for the press. The press, predictably, gobble it up like a bunch of blood-hungry sharks.
Richy can’t catch a break. He can feel people staring at him all the time, even at school. It’s maddening.
The exact thing Richy needs during his finals week is his imminent marriage looming over him. Everything becomes infinitely more boring when you know you’re going to be married in less than two months.
Richy spends a lot of time in Jakub’s apartment, because he’s sure there'll be no creepy paparazzi hiding out in the bushes or spying through the windows. Tomi doesn’t scowl at him anymore. He actually smiles, a bit strange looking after all that mean-mugging but a win is a win.
Jakub seems to be taking it well. Better than Richy, or maybe he’s better at hiding it than Richy is. Most nights, they fall asleep hopelessly entangled in Jakub’s twin-sized bed
On their last brunch before the term ends, Willo asks Richy a question he’d never thought of before.
“Are you afraid? Of getting married?”
Richy genuinely doesn’t know the answer. He’s not afraid of getting married. He shouldn’t be afraid, he love Jakub even if the marriage itself is a little sudden.
He is afraid though. He’s afraid Jakub will hate him for sticking him with all the baggage that comes with being married to royalty for the rest of his life. What if he hates Richy?
He doesn’t tell Willo this though. Willo doesn’t need to know that though.
-
Richy remembers Kai’s wedding to Archduke Declan and how stressful it all was. And that was a betrothal. Take all that stress and crank it up to 300 and you get Richy’s wedding.
It turns out a lot of things get complicated when the other person isn’t a noble and said things get even more complicated when it’s basically a shotgun wedding showered in gold and precious stones.
They’re not allowed to share a room in the palace, seeing as they’re not married and all, and technically they’re not meant to be in each other’s rooms. But what Mikel knows can’t hurt him.
Jakub’s room is next to where Bukayo’s, when he’s here with Martin. He’s here this week. Thankfully, Bukayo isn’t one to snitch. Like about that one time Richy snuck the son of noble into his room during a party a few years back when Bukayo and Martin were only still betrothed.
Jakub is sitting on the window sill, legs curled up under him and looking out on the gardens forlornly. Reiss put him in a turquoise dress. Or maybe it’s blue. Turquoise and blue are the same colour anyway.
“Kuba?”
His face lights up once he sees Richy. He greets him with a polite kiss on the lips and sits him down on his bed.
“How’s Reiss going these days?”
That seems to set Jakub off. He just starts talking like a faucet stuck open. It’s about learning all the royal stuff Richy had ingrained in his brain since he was old enough to walk. Richy feels bad for him, he’d be mad too.
“And Reiss was trying to get me to learn ‘etiquette’ or whatever.” He throws up his hands. “What the fuck even is a dessert spoon? It’s a spoon!”
Richy lets him work out his energy pacing around and ranting about everything and anything. He leans back on the velvet headboard of Jakub’s bed. His dress moves in such a captivating way as he walks
“I didn’t think they still made people wear those types of dresses.” Jakub whines, flopping onto Richy’s lap
“Only for the wedding, and then you’ll be free.”
Jakub makes an annoyed nose and just looks at Richy. This whole thing could be a fairytale. Hell, even the shotgun wedding bit wouldn’t be out of place in Brothers Grimm story.
“Are you afraid?” Richy blurts out suddenly.
Jakub laughs softly “Does it matter?”
“Sort of.”
“I'm nervous, I suppose. It’s our wedding day, after all.”
Richy hums.
“Are you scared?”
Not nervous, not afraid, scared .
“About marrying you? Never.”
Jakub goes that familiar shade of pink and hides his face in his hands, rolling off Richy’s lap to rest his head on the bed. He kicks his legs like a smitten schoolgirl. Richy snorts.
In a week, Richy will be married to him . Wow, maybe he was in heaven.
-
The next week was a complete and utter blur. A blur of public appearances and cake tasting and menu choosing and cameras flashing in his face.
It’s finally their wedding day and Richy is about to puke as he stands at the altar, staring at the Catholic priest with the big hat, saying a passage in the bible in Latin.
Oh Christ, Richy can barely think. His hands sweat as he grips the pendant he’s supposed to put on Jakub once they’re officially married in his right hand so hard his knuckles are turning white. Could this take any longer? Can Richy get married already?
The crowd is so big. He can see Declan and Kai sitting together, ever the model couple. Bukayo and Martin too. Martin smiles like a proud dad. Mikel sits on the other side of Martin, smiling even wider. Surprisingly, Willo and Tomi, of all people, are a few rows back. Were they dating? That’s new.
He hadn’t seen Jakub in the wedding dress before the wedding. Kai had shooed him away, telling him it was bad luck or something. All he knew is that it was custom made and very extravagant.
The moment Jakub walked down the aisle to him would be ingrained in his memory for the rest of his life. Smiling radiantly in a poofy white ball gown. Maybe he was in heaven after all, because this couldn't be real.
“Do you, Prince Riccardo, take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?”
Richy has never been more sure in his life. “I do.”
“Do you, Jakub Kiwior, take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do.”
The priest starts to recite a passage that’s supposed to mean they are married in the eyes of God. Jakub kneels and Riccardo places the necklace around his neck.
Later, in private, they exchange actual wedding rings. Jakubis amethyst set in a silver band. Richy’s emerald in a brilliant gold ring.
-
The reception is smaller than Martin and Bukayo's. Richy likes this more. He and Jakub go around, greeting different nobles, Jakub hanging onto his arm like a trophy wife. He’s changed into a smaller, but equally jaw dropping, dress.
“You two are dating?” Kai asks Willo and Tomi when they cross paths.
Tomi shrugs. “Was it not obvious?” Everyone except Richy laughs.
After the wedding, and after the reception, it’s time to consummate their marriage. Though, that might be a little overdue. Thankfully, they don’t have an audience. Mikel claps him on the shoulder before he goes into Jakub’s room and wishes him good luck.
Richy doesn’t need luck.
This time, Richy is stone cold sober. He’s lucid enough to be able to appreciate Jakub’s full beauty, half lying on the bed in the prettiest pink lingerie with a coy smile on his lip.
Richy is impatient to get to Jakub, crossing the room in long strides. This time, Richy is the one on top of Jakub, hands finding his lithe waist on the bed.
“Oh, Richy.”
Jakub wraps his arms around Richy’s neck and kisses him. It isn’t the first time and it definitely won’t be the last. He still makes Richy head swim like he did the first time.
-
“Don’t forget to walk the dogs, alright?”
The two mini poodles are currently chasing each other around the living room, like most mornings. Jakub is dressed in his dark blue scrubs, standing at the kitchen counter and eating plain toaster waffles out of the toaster.
It’s been a year and two months since their wedding, a year and two months between their very public matrimony. Richy is pleased with what they’ve made together and somewhat surprised at how much they didn’t know about each other.
“And don’t forget-.” Jakub says through a mouthful of waffle.
“I know, I know,”
The dogs run into the kitchen. The younger one, a little black thing Jakub names Krecik, leaps into Richy’s lap, fleeing from the older Szarlotka.
“Dinner at 8 with Willo and Tomi, be ready before you get home so we’re not late again . I know the drill.”
Jakub breathes a soft laugh. “Alright, smartass.”
“Mhm, and you’re about to be late, sweetheart.”
Jakub springs off the table, shoving the rest of his waffle into his mouth. “ Riccardo !”
Richy has to suppress his laughter as he watches Jakub run around collecting his stuff into his backpack for work. He stands in the doorway as Jakub hustles past him to his car.
It takes him a shockingly long amount of time to realise his keys are in Richy’s hand. He’d forget his head if it wasn’t attached to his body. For someone with such meticulous planning, he had some poor execution skills.
“Keys.” Richy dangles the key in front of Jakub’s pouting face, who snatches it away.
“Oh, shut up.”
Despite Richy’s antics, he still earns a kiss on the cheek from Jakub before he goes.
Richy no longer hates being a royal most times. Now it’s only sometimes. The press is still chronically up his ass and royal duties never got any more fun, but now he had Jakub. And that made it a little more okay.