for more context i advise you go check out my headcanon post which is just a few posts down (literally 2).
Today was the day. The stupid ball that the king and queen, Mitsuba’s parents, had arranged for Mitsuba to meet more people outside of the kingdom. Mitsuba has already put in a bad word for their royal family- him not socialising with anybody from other kingdoms but Hanako, and even then Hanako only hung out with Nene and Kou. Inside the kingdom wasn’t too much of a different story either, with Kou being the only one he socialised with. Kou did hangout with Hanako and Nene, but Kou was Mitsuba’s personal knight. After he was on duty to look after the young prince while he was asleep and saving him from a deadly assassin, he was crowned Mitsuba’s personal knight.
Kou didn’t even think he deserved the title. He was just lucky and pushed him off the balcony at the right time. It was the first time he killed someone and he hated it, he didn’t want to be a knight. He just wanted to be a stupid chef or something. Kou didn’t find being Mitsuba’s personal knight that bad, as the two actually spent a lot of meaningful time together. Mitsuba’s cockiness and sour additude became easy to decode after a while and Kou was always there to comfort him, even when he was being downright rude.
Mitsuba was pacing around his room, his fingers running through his hair as Kou sat quietly on his best friend’s bed, twiddling his thumbs awkwardly. “Holy shit, Yako is going to be so fucking mad at me if I don’t make at least one good connection tonight...” Mitsuba muttered anxiously, his face as white as snow. Kou stood up, looking for something to say. “Maybe you shouldn’t insult whoever starts asking to you? Compliment them instead!” Kou cheered, smiling brightly. Mitsuba looked him in the eye, a smile forming- before the small boy broke into a pitiful and degrading front “Nice idea lame ass traffic safety earring boy.” Kou was taken aback by the younge prince, crossing his arms and pouting. “Maybe just don’t talk.” he suggested in response to the harsh nickname.
Mitsuba angrily picked up his tie from next to Kou and wrapped it around the collar of his shirt, fuming. “I hate my stupid parents, I hate this stupid ball and I hate this stupid tie.” he sulked, struggling to put his tie on. Kou glances over to the boy, clearly extremely stressed. He approached the petite figure and softly placed his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he assured Mitsuba softly. “I’ll do it for you” Kou suggested, which seemed to calm Mitsuba down. He calmly adjusted his expensive tie, as Mitsuba wiped away the barley noticeable tear off of his cheek. Kou decided not to say anything about it and finished fixing Mitsuba’s terrible attempt at tying a tie. Mitsuba blushed from his friend’s gentle contact, trying not to focus on how pretty he looked up close, or how his eyes looked liked they were glowing.
“When we get to the ball you’re not leaving my side.” Mitsuba stated, putting on his simple jacket piece and putting another pin into his hair. “You know that I won’t”. Kou smiled, throwing him a thumbs up. “Good. And you better not try talking to any ugly girls either- you’d just take advantage of their poor miserable state like a pervert!” Mitsuba teased, returning back to his usual self. Kou shook his head, chuckling softly. “I won’t. Now I need to get dressed so I’ll see you in a bit.” Kou waved goodbye to the shorter boy and walked out his large door, closing it quietly in the process. i
Mitsuba flopped down onto his bed, almost as if he was going to fall into a deep slumber and never ever wake up. The ball haunted him every second as the even got closer. 30 more minutes and his nightmare would come true. The clock would strike ten and he’d be announced to the crowd of people, the same crowd of people who he’d disappoint with his personality and appearance. ‘Are you a girl?’ and ‘You’re so rude...’ were phrases he was used to by now, but his parents were counting on him. It was all so stupid. To take his mind off the ball, Mitsuba got up and took out his hair tie. He could at least see if he could change up his hair a bit. He put his hair up like usual, but pinned back his bangs, which were covering his left eye.
“I forgot you had another eye. Don’t worry, you look cute” Kou chuckled, walking into the bedroom quietly. Mitsuba rolled his eyes and turned around, quickly taken back by the tall boy’s appearance. He was stunning. “Do you have a fever or something Mitsuba?” Kou asked, walking towards him. “No! I’m fine, don’t worry...” Mitsuba walked past him, covering his face bashfully. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts before looking at the clock. “It’s almost time to go, so we should do that.” Mitsuba announced, tugging into Kous arm. “Uh, okay.” Kou was alerted by the sudden contact but went along with it. He stared at Mitsuba lovingly as the two raced through the empty halls of the castle together, the instruments’ music flooding through through the area.
The two finally reached the door, looking over at the announcer who opened the door for the two, Kou standing slightly behind Mitsuba. The doors opened and the loud music and lights flooded their vision. “Prince Mitsuba Souske of Kamome” an annoying voice called out, alerting all of the guests. Mitsuba closed his eyes and swallowed his pride, walking down the giant staircase. He walked on with Kou closely behind him. Kou reached his hand out to hold Mitsuba’s, which frightened him at first but slowly grew into the contact. “Perv.” was all Mitsuba could say, slightly choked up by all the eyes staring at the two. Well, mostly Mitsuba. They finally made it to the King and Queen’s side, starting a conversation that quickly died out by Tsuchigomori reminding Mitsuba that bonds needed to be made.
Mitsuba rolled his eyes, and was about to flip him off while walking away but was quickly reminded that this wasn’t an empty ballroom, and that there was real life people around. Kou tapped on Mitsuba’s shoulder, frightening him. “Holy sh-“
“I think someone wants to talk to you?” Kou smiled slightly, showing Mitsuba to an average sized girl with green hair and an uniterested expression. Kou moved behind Mitsuba once again, leaving Mitsuba (almost) alone with the mysterious girl dressed in black. “My name is Sakura Nanamine, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Sakura bowed, lifting her dress up gently. Mitsuba panicked, dusting himself off before doing the same. “I’m Mitsuba Souske, I’m happy you’re here.” Mitsuba replied, dying inside at how stupid and formal he sounded and Kou internally cringed about how nice he was acting. “I’m only here to get away from the boy whom I was arranged to marry. He’s on the other side of the room and I’m avoiding him, so we can just pretend to talk.” Sakura suggested, taking a sip of wine or whatever she was drinking. Mitsuba nodded, adjusting his hair slightly as Kou was staring at his feet.
“Why don’t you look like your parents?”
“I don’t know, my mom met a nice mailman probably-“
“Mitsuba!” Kou piped in, scared that this would frighten her or start a rumour, making Mitsuba chuckle. Sakura formed a small smile on her face, shaking her head. “You two are amusing, that’s nice. Are you two romantically involved?” Nanamine asked, the two frozen in place after she spoke those words. Kou turned a bright red, shaking his head while Mitsuba played with his hands awkwardly. “No, no! I just saved his life and now I have to stay by his side, for like- ever so...” Kou assured her, scratching the back of his neck. Mitsuba looked away, blushing. “Oh, it appears my presence is needed elsewhere. I hope us two can meet again.” Sakura smiled, before walked off into the distance. Mitsuba let out a deep breath, hiding his face as he turned around to face Kou. “And that is why I hate talking to people. Most of them are dickwads anyways.” Kou shook his head, smiling as he took a hold of Mitsuba’s hand gently. “That was really good! You didn’t insult her at all!” He laughed, making Mitsuba roll his eyes for the 25th time that evening.
Soon a slow romantic song started playing and everyone gathered around the ballroom and started dancing with a partner. Mitsuba looked around, before turning his face towards Kou. Kou looked at the small boy and smiled, before bowing down and taking Mitsuba’s hand. “May I have this dance?” He said sarcastically, chuckling, looking at his prince. Mitsuba blushed vibrantly, taking his hand and kissing it softly. “Fucking pervert, fine. But if you feel the urge to turn it into one of those scenarios like in porn, I’m running away.” Mitsuba and Kou started dancing like the rest of the others, maintain a steady yet comfortable conversation. “The hell? What porn? You’re so weird, Mitsuba!” Kou replied, shocked by the young boy’s words. Mitsuba shook his head, trying to keep up the pace while dancing.
“If I step on your foot I’m not sorry, it’s your fault for wanting to dance with me.” Mitsuba stated somewhat warmly, as if he didn’t mean the things that he was saying- which he didn’t. As the two were dancing, it was like time had stopped. The light had stopped being the distracting and the music stopped being loud. Their hands started becoming comforting and their gazes became necessary, as if they were to look away they would die. Kou didn’t want to let this moment go, as the small, cocky and rude boy’s presence was like a gift. Despite his additude, Kou had completely and utterly fell in love with the small and feminine boy.
Mitsuba knew in that moment that he wasn’t alone in the way he was feeling. At the two came closer, his heart beat faster and his lips parted. His mind was at ease yet so crowded, and the butterflies in his stomach seemed to all become a lot easier to handle. It was like that everything that had happened up until this moment was worth it, because it mean that he could spend his time with the one person who would tolerate him. The one person he could truly feel comfort in being with. They were in love, and nothing could ever prove that they weren’t.
For that moment, everything else was irrelevant. It was just them. And they were infinite.
