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Charles sighed, swirling wine he couldn't drink inside a cup. He tugged on the collar of his dress shirt.
On the dance floor was his adopted brother Ryusei, dancing with some noble boy from a different country. But he didn't really like the word 'adopted'. It was a dumb, filler word that people used to put the family down and question his eligibility to the throne. To Charles, Ryusei was his big brother that he'd known forever, that he would one day get to see be king.
He was giggling, playing around and swaying with the stuck up guy. Charles really didn't get how he could fawn over such a stern person, even when he had only previously met him at an event two months ago. As long as Ryusei was happy. The pair were laughing, annoying the envoy's brother. What were their names? Ah, the Itoshi brothers. The knight with the cyan eyes was holding back his dark-haired superior from ripping their faces off. Charles watched their flushed faces with a sense of boredom and envy.
Sure, he could join the small group, but Ryusei had his own friends and Charles had his. He couldn't just follow him wherever like a little duckling.
It was horrible at this party. Everyone was super old, and the few people he was allowed to socialize with had the same personalities as drying paint. There was the Prince of Bastard Munchen, who was a snob, being pampered by his butler and swooning over the son of King Ego. Charles felt a pang of guilt for Prince Isagi, who had to deal with the constant yapping.
"Is this party to your liking, your Highness?"
Standing next to him was Loki, his favorite servant. He remembered when he tried to get him to do his homework in the first few hours of working at the castle, and ended up chasing him through the halls.
"Ts pmo. No one here has an actual spine outside of Ryusei and the eyelash siblings, and people keep asking me to dance with their annoying daughters that put on way too much makeup. I get a little eyeliner or lip gloss, Ryusei does that a lot 'cause he's a baddie, but most of them are just caking on their faces. Just because I'm pansexual doesn't mean I only date girls."
"Yeah, most guests here are rather old-fashioned and traditional."
"Traditional? Yeah, right." He scoffed. "More like they're homophobic idiots."
Loki sighed. "Do not call the guests idiots."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm heading out to the gardens." He was headed to the door when Loki grabbed his arm and shook his head.
"You need to stay here and entertain the guests. Your parents will be angry with both of us if you don't. And what if there's a person here that you would enjoy their company and you miss out?"
"Then that's a problem for future me. I'm just stepping out for a bit to get some peace and quiet. And I doubt theres a single person that I one, have not met and ruled out, and that's even interesting enough for me to enjoy conversing with."
"We both know you're going to be gone for the rest of the evening. Still, his and her Majesty will be very angry with you. I already see several people shooting his Highness glares, and the stigma towards the royal family will only grow worse if you disappear."
"Then call them out on their bullcrap. Now let me go or I'm going to start screaming vocaloid lyrics."
"Absolutely not."
"HELLO EVERYONE! I'M HATSUNE MIKU, A VIRTU-" Loki let go. Charles gave his drink to him and walked off, scooching pass the conversing women with their flower-printed fans and the men in boring black suits flexing their expensive watches on each other.
The fresh sunset air was freeing, and he immediately ran to his favorite part as fast as his sneakers could carry him. (his parents never could get the two princes to wear any fancy shoes other than high heels, so they gave up) The grass crunched with wet rustling sounds, and the gardeners were going to be pissed he didn't use the very obvious stone tile path right next to him, but he didn't mind. Anything to escape the rigid and lines and rules that royalty shoved down your throat, for rebellion made Charles feel alive.
He was going to plop down on the benches near the fountain but quickly ducked behind a bush upon catching sight of the gardener. It was Cute Flower Boy. He crouched down, leaves tickling his cheek and eyes peeled.
He remembered first seeing him while having a tea party with Ryusei, accidentally catching sight of a fluffy-haired boy in baggy overalls, a pink Hello Kitty t-shirt, and a pride pin brushing the bangs from his face and revealing the most gorgeous teal eyes he'd ever seen. That tea party ended up with him choking on a piece of cake as Loki did the heimlich maneuver. Not a great first impression.
He and Ryusei ended up nicknaming this guy 'Cute Flower Boy'. It was a placeholder for when Charles actually got the guts to go up and talk to to him, which was never, and kept going for strolls through the flowers to enjoy the fresh air and totally not for him to catch glimpses and yearn over the guy. If Charles literally swooned when he saw him smiling at a butterfly landing on his hand, well, that was between him and his brother.
What he did have enough guts for, however, was to find out his name from the list of staff and their ids. Niko Ikki, age fifteen, a palace gardener. He was hired by the royal family through reference, as his dad was the former head gardener before retiring to spend more time with his son and run a flower shop. But that wasn't where Charles had stopped. Checking social media only to find out he was a big anime fan(and deep diving to discover a picture of him with a corgi bandana), Looking through several 'How To Tell If Your Crush Is Gay' Uquizzes on Pinterest, and spying on Niko through the castle window.
Charles had been keeping this information to himself for months, not spilling anything to Ryusei no matter how hard it may be, as admitting that the guy you have internet-stalked, found out the name of, and literally have been pining over for half a year, have only shared a measly three sentences with was pitiful. To his brother, he was Cute Flower boy, the dude his younger brother was whipped over. If he knew the truth, the news would be painted all over the walls in neon pink acrylic.
"Who's there?"
A pair of gardening shears were pointed at him. Charles leapt out of the bushes backwards, landing on hard stone.
"...Prince Charles?"
"Uh, yeah."
Niko dropped into a bow. "I'm so sorry your Highness! I didn't realize it was you and thought someone had snuck into the royal estate!"
Charles got up, brushing dust and dirt off himself. "Niko, chill. I know you didn't mean any harm."
He stood back up, hand behind his neck. "Your Highness, if I may ask, what where you doing in the bushes? And how do you know my name?"
Ah. He was cooked. Charles scrounged up excuses, stumbling over his words. "Oh, um, I memorize everyone that works at the castle. Safety precautions, y-you know. I was going to the um, fountain benches and you w-were gardening and I didn't want to disturb you."
"Oh, okay. It's not a disturbance to have around, your Highness."
"Alright dude. And drop the royal title stuff. You can call me Charles." He plopped down confidently in the bench, sitting crisscross applesauce. "Why don't you join me on the bench? Only if you want to, of course."
Real smooth, totally.
"I still have shaping to do, um, Charles. Some of the leaves are bulging out and I'd prefer any of the guests not think we're tardy with cleanup."
Right. He was getting in the way and probably messing up so hard. The longest time he had ever even stood in his presence, and Charles was fumbling. "Ehh, don't worry. No one's out here right now."
He took a hesitant seat. "Then why are you in the gardens?"
"I forced Loki to let me out. "
"I'm surprised you were let outside. I thought you would be dancing or mingling with some people."
"Yeah, well, as much as my parents want me to make connections or whatever, it would be a massive embarrassment to have their kid spouting out the words to Miku songs. Do you like vocaloids?" Charles asked, fully aware this guy had made several Miku cosplays(gothic, duolingo, and Mcdonald's employee) and wrote full paragraphs arguing with Mizuki transfem deniers in comment sections.
"Yeah, I like listening to some vocaloid songs. Though, I don't get why you left the party. You could have met someone you liked and possibly pursued a romantic relationship. After all, you're Prince Charles. Anyone would be lucky to have you."
Charles prayed his hair covered his ears, because they were burning up and would ruin his nonchalant aura. "Yeah, but they were all snores. I was so tempted to start some beef between two people for fun. Plus, everyone that kept asking to dance with me weren't my type. It was super boring inside, Niko."
"I think it would be more boring to hang out with me out here."
"Well then, if you think it's so boring then why don't we play a game!"
"What game, Charles? Please tell me it's not tag or hide and seek or something. I can't be caught goofing off and ignoring my job."
"No," he lied, "it's something totally different. Hmm, how about I choose flowers and you tell me what they mean?"
"Okay. I might not know some though. I might need to brush up and read some of my books on it back at home. "
"You trying is good enough." He stood up, looking though the blossoms and bushes.
"Hah! How about this one!" Charles plucked it from the soil and placed it behind Niko's ear, beaming. He truly was beautiful. He had an offhand thought on how different parts of him looked like the different times of the sky. The petals as the sunset and sunrise, His eyes daytime cerulean, and Niko's hair the inky black of night.
"That's a orange lily." He bit his lip.
"What does it mean?"
"...The orange lily typically symbolizes hatred and disdain."
Charles blinked, then a horrified flush threatened to splotch his face Teto red. How stupid he was. "You're joking right?"
"No."
"Aw shoot! Well that's wrong. I don't hate you. You're just a chill guy!" He frowned. "Y'know what? I'm making a new meaning for it!"
"Charles, I doubt you can make a new meaning for a flower."
"Well I am. By decree of Prince Charles, the orange lily now represents really cool people who the giver likes, and gets the flowers because they're bros!" Whether the giver liked them romantically or platonically, he didn't specify.
"F-fine." Niko was turned the other way, not facing him.
"...Can I see you with your hair pushed out of your face?"
"Huh? Umm, are you sure?"
"Yeah!"
"I'm kind of basic though, I don't see why you would want to see it."
"For all I know, you've got laser eyes. Can I see them, pretty please?"
"Okay." He slowly inched the dark poof up, revealing tinted rosy skin and azure eyes. As Ryusei would've said in his wattpad phase, glittering blue orbs. His lower eyelashes were thick, a faint print of mascara and eyeliner around them. Charles went breathless.
"Holy skibidi toilet."
"Is that a bad thing?"
Charles waved his hands in front of his chest. "No, no, it's just... wow. Your eyes are sick."
"Thanks."
"Hey, umm. could you smile for me?"
"Why?"
"I wanna see how you'd look with your hair up and all happy. Is that okay?"
"Okay."
And he flashed a grin that lit up Charles's world.