Chapter Text
Royalty is prim, proper, mature, never out of line.
That's what Riku Aoki has ever known.
He has never been out of line. Been respectful, mature, kind, and manners. That's what the young royal highness is expected to be. That's what the Aoki name has ever known. Though, Riku loses his cool once in a while… Due to a disrespectful, disgraceful brat of the Ariti family.
Ambrose Ariti, known further as Cherry. He is… Riku's declared enemy since the day they were born. Cherry is quite the opposite of Riku. He is respectful, but maturity and manners are completely off the table. He knows proper dinner etiquette, well, the basic knowledge. He can barely keep his appearance nice, only remembering because of Riku's criticism. He isn't well groomed half of the time, he has spoken out of line before, and can barely manage with mannerisms. Completely different from Riku.
The history of the two families naturally went like this: The Ariti family and Aoki family have been very close since the third generation since Riku's great-great grandmother had made an alliance with the older generation of Cherry’s family and they became close friends. So from that point, it was expected for Cherry and Riku to get along, but again, they are rivals. It's virtually impossible for them to even see eye to eye with trivial questions.
Now they are both 20, both have a reputation to uphold, especially with the watching eyes of their mothers. Why are they getting closely watched by their moms? Well, Riku, as said, has a short fuse. Which can only be lit up by Cherry, because they are always on the verge of killing each other. It's always in public where they put their fake faces, but even in public, they will subtly spite each other.
“ Oh, your collar is untuck. “
“ You are supposed to yawn into your hands. “
“ Your hair is out of place, did you even do it? “
And such..
Just constant arguments between the two.
So, it was always best to avoid each other.
Coronation Day.
When the heir to the throne is crowned ruler of their kingdom. It's something every young prince awaits since childhood. Riku has been perfectly taught on how to be a perfect king by his father.
Now, with the coronation in a few days, a ball was hosted by the Aoki family and Ariti family. Inviting ranking nobles from both lands to celebrate a new era, a promising leader, and a bright light to pass on. Though, when has it ever gone right for Riku?
“ Presenting, Her Majesty, the Queen! Accompanying her, his Royal Highness, Prince Riku! “
Applause can be heard from the crowds, Riku's mother was waving while Riku kept at her side, simply smiling. Riku has done this multiple times before, just smiling and nodding. Though, Riku didn't feel happy. Oh, no way, he felt annoyed. Since he and Cherry were supposed to give a speech alongside each other at the end of this celebration. A speech, next to his rival. The speech was supposed to be five minutes, but Riku pushed for ten minutes… Before he knew he would be doing it with Cherry, so now he is frustrated. Of course, he can’t let his anger get the best of him. Not right now.
“ Along with Queen Aoki, we have Her Majesty the Queen Ariti! With her son, his Royal Highness, Ambrose Ariti! “
Riku wanted to roll his eyes at the address of Cherry. Royal his as-.. Ahem, royal is far from how Cherry acts. Unfortunately, Riku can't say anything about it. He had to stay quiet about it, remaining elegant by having his hands in front of him, resting them in his lap; His gloved hand tapping against the back of his palm.
After all of the introductions were over, the party began to commence. Two tables on either side of the ballroom, both lined up with snack platters, wine, sandwiches, literally everything. Riku was kind of proud of himself since he had helped his mother decide on the food options, even thinking ahead and getting a few gluten-free items.
The feeling of pride didn't last long when he felt the presence of Cherry next to him. Ugh, great, he has to deal with him now. Riku had glanced up instinctively, but it was more of a glare than a glance since the way Cherry registered his staring was the usual; A smile that twitched with annoyance, his eyebrows furrowing.
“ You know you aren't supposed to look at people directly, it could be rude, Riku. “
His tone was barely contained with anger, yet mocking. It was the same social rule Riku had reminded him the week before.
“ ‘Could be’? You mean it is rude, Ambrose. Maybe you should get English lessons once more if you can't remember the difference between either. Unless you are just that forgetful. “
Riku smirked, his eyes crinkling at the sides, that had this cruel look. It was a stupid insult, of course, but anything to piss off Cherry.
From a distance you would think they were peacefully conversing, but neither of them were even trying to talk. Just retort after retort.
Cherry felt his eyes twitch. He hated that damn face. It just made him feel like an idiot. Before he could insult him, Riku had already left one of the tables for a glass of wine. Cherry couldn’t help but scoff, crossing his arms. He had turned his head away from the direction Riku went in, walking away in the opposite direction.
From then, they avoided each other for the majority of the party. Riku stood near the tables, while Cherry was flirting with some of the girls there. Riku watched him afar, feeling disgusted by his womanising behaviour. Seriously? In public? Where everyone and everything is watching you? Does he have no shame? Riku rolled his eyes finally, the fact Cherry didn't care about how he could ruin his reputation annoyed him.
Riku took a deep breath. Calm down, Riku. Relax, a prince shouldn't be so frustrated, instead you make a solution.
Riku relaxes the tension that had built in his heavy disappointed face, with an idea set in his mind. He walks over to where Cherry was and without a word, Riku grabbed him by the collar, dragging him away like a homeless puppy.
“ Ack?! Riku?! What are you doing-
Cherry got cut off again by Riku’s glare. Riku had already said sorry to the lady with that fake apologetic smile, saying he had business to talk with Ambrose.
Eventually finding a secluded corner, Riku lets go of Cherry’s collar, a disapproving look in his eyes.
“ And what in the hell are you doing, Cherry? “
“ Me?! You were the one who dragged me out of nowhere! “
“ I was saving your reputation before you became known as a womaniser, you're welcome! “
“ Womanising?- “ he questioned the audacity of the title. “ I'm not womanising, matter of fact, those women wanted to talk to me. Maybe you should get your eyes checked if you can't tell between conversations and flirting. “
Riku scoffed, “ My eyes checked? You are the one with glasses, but you never wear them. You are the one who needs to get checked out. “ He reached up and flicked Cherry on the forehead, a bit hard.
Cherry flushed with anger, not because Riku just flicked him like he was the dumb one, but because of the fact he was trying to walk away when he was the one to drag him over here.
Acting impulsively and incredibly suddenly, Cherry grabbed Riku’s wine glass from his hand, and..
Splash!
Riku stood frozen, processing. His hair is wet, his face feels wet, his clothing feels wet. He looked down, noting the sticky juice staining his clothing. He looks back up, seeing a shocked Cherry holding a now empty wine glass. It takes a singular moment for Riku to process.
Did this fucking prick just splash wine on him?!
Without missing a second, Riku tackled Cherry to the ground. They fell with a loud thud. The wine glass falling and shattering on the floor. Now that definitely drew attention…
“ You bastard! You splash my own wine at me for what?! Because of your poorly made attack?! “ his grip tight on Cherry’s collar.
Now it was quite clear who was in the wrong. Cherry, most likely, but Riku tackling him made every reasonable option disappear completely.
“ It's your fault for being absolutely insufferable, Riku! And who the hell do you think you are for accusing me of womanising?! “
“ Accuse? It's practically true, Ambrose! Don't try to flip the argument back at me!“
Cherry was about to shout something back, probably some stupid statement to provoke Riku, but he paused because he felt someone watching them.. Riku felt it too, they both knew this familiar gaze.
“ Boys, what on Earth are you doing?! “
Riku's mom spoke sharply, she was in complete disbelief while Cherry’s mom stood next to her with disappointment visible on her face.
Riku and Cherry turned and saw their moms, and then the crowd surrounding them.. High power nobles were watching them. From Dukes and Duchesses to Marquess and Marchionesses. You name it.
Riku had completely gone stiff. His eyes widening every second as he realised the reality of their situation. He didn’t know what to do. Shove Cherry off? Stand up and try to pass it off as a fluke? What could he do? What does he need to do?
But before he could make a choice, it was his mother who decided. She snapped her fingers, drawing the two's attention again and pointed up the stairs.
“ Upper study room. In five minutes. “
She spoke without missing a single note while Cherry’s mother was drawing the crowd away from the commotion along with the help of the bystanding butlers.
Sitting in the study room, eyes deviating from direct contact like two children being punished. Riku and Cherry felt clearly embarrassed, they are adults that just caused a huge scene over something so little. Well, little to Riku, Cherry still has quite the grudge about it. Though, they can't say anything about it, not when their moms are watching them.
The room of course was tense, the silence only broke from Maureen's heavy sigh. She pinched the bridge of her nose, looking at Cherry and Riku.
“ Do you two know what you just caused? “
Neither of them had the guts to reply, Riku could barely mumble a reply since he had some knowledge of what was going to happen.
Rei was the next one to speak up, her voice a bit more calmer yet still had that displeased tone.
“ Since you two don't know what you just did… You most likely just tarnished your reputations. Not just yours, but ours too. “
It was pure silence after that. Riku's eyes were wide open, glued to his lap; Where his hand instinctively picked at his finger which he couldn't. While Cherry kept his eyes glued to the farthest corner, he felt absolutely humiliated.
They both wished that was it, but Riku's mom continued further.
“ With this incident and the fact that Coronation Day is in a few days, this could leave the people hesitant about you two ruling. Along with the fact that this means people will worry about the future and how this could affect the outcome of this kingdom. “
Again silence. Though it was for a few seconds before Riku spoke up, his voice was careful.
“ Does this mean we will be punished? “
Rei glanced over to Maureen, as if she was telling her to speak. Maureen exhaled a breath, speaking.
“ To a degree. It's more so of a compromise that Rei and I have made. “
Cherry looked back away from the corner, looking over to Riku and then back to his mom. Riku also seemed pleasantly surprised that they weren't gonna have consequences. Maureen began to elaborate further.
“ The compromise is that we push up the date to three weeks. In those three weeks, you will be assigned to essentially learning how to be a proper prince again…“
That's it? It was that simple, Riku was so worried over practically nothing-
“ … With each other. To strengthen your guy's bond and so the people won't worry about the future. “
…
What.
Riku immediately shot his head towards Cherry, both of them having the exact same reaction. Working together?!
“ Mom, there is no way in hell I am working with Riku! If anything, that guy will just make me even more dumber! “
" Excuse you?! “
Riku gave a slap at Cherry’s shoulder by the audacity of his statement. Make him dumber? He is already stupid enough.
“ Enough! We are offering a compromise to you two and yet you still argue! Now, do you want to do this or not? “
Riku furrowed his eyebrows, he hated this compromise, but what can he do? He gives Cherry one last look before turning back to his mom.
“ Fine, we will do it. “
Cherry looked back at Riku with shock and frustration, slightly questioning where the hell Riku’s mind was at.
“ We will Not do this!-
“ Cherry, shut up. Do you want your little sister to be the next in line to the throne while you are stuck as a prince because you are a stubborn brat who can't even do a small deal? “
. . .
“ Alright, fine… I will work with Riku then. “
Maureen sighed with relief at Cherry’s compliance despite the fact he only agreed because of Riku's scenario threat. Along with Rei, she was glad that Riku was able to coerce Cherry into this.
......
Maybe this could work out since Riku is a good influence and Cherry could hopefully reflect his behaviour...