For @onthefreighttrain I hope you enjoy! :D
“Grian please, for one night can you try to behave?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Doc, I’m always on my best behavior.” Try as he might to remain serious, the glare he received, in turn, had the small prince falling into a fit of laughter.
Raising an eyebrow, Doc cupped his hands under his winged companion, “Yeah, I don’t think anyone is buying that.”
Once Grian got his laughter under control he landed in his friends' waiting palms, smoothing out any wrinkles in his suit and making sure his crown was on properly as he did so. Said prince was adorned in a red suit layered in gold accents, sure to draw in the attention of fellow party-goers. Readjusting his crown one final time he looked up to see Doc staring down at him. “Are you ready to go in?”
Turning to face the grand doors in front of him a grin spread across his face, “Let’s do it.” With that, Doc nodded toward two castle attendants and they each opened a door, allowing them access to the ballroom. Immediately a spotlight found them, guests applauding as they entered the lavishly decorated room.
Grian did his best to wave to everyone they passed as Doc brought him towards the middle of the room where a platform resided. Just as decorated as the rest of the room stood a smaller version of the ballroom, a safe place for any tiny-sized citizens to enjoy the party.
He watched as people made room for them as Doc neared the edge of the platform, not waiting for him to set him down, Grian jumped off his hands using his wings to drift safely down to the platform. To Doc's credit, he barely flinched towards Grian when he jumped, only restraining because he was used to the tinys antics. Once Grian landed on the platform everyone seemed to return to normal, if not a little wary of the giant creeper hybrid standing watch over the platform.
Grian politely smiled as people started to come up to him, small talk coming easy as he was more than used to the attention on him, or more accurately his wings. Currently folded behind his back sat two massive wings, each golden in color, seeming to glow in the surrounding sunlight. While more common for parties to start at night, tonight was the summer solstice, where all were invited up to the castle to celebrate the return of the sun. Citizens both giant and tiny found themselves at the party, excited at the prospect of a day of fun.
Making his way through the crowd Grian walked his way to the edge of the platform, walking the barrier and looking at all the surrounding giants, waving at any who seemed to notice his attention on them. Eventually, his walk led him right back to where Doc stood guard and he flew in front of his friend's face. Not that he needed to get his attention seeing as Doc had been watching him all day, “You know Doc, you really should try and have some fun, after all, today is a celebration.”
“Your protection is more important than me having fun,” Doc retorted, already used to this back and forth over this topic.
Grian, to his credit, held in his groan at the response, knowing he wouldn't be able to change the creeper hyrbirds mind. “Counter argument,” he began, “what if you did both, at the same time?”
You could see the skepticism in Doc's eyes a mile away as he answered, “And how would I do that?”
“Easily my friend, just follow my lead,” Throwing a playful wink at Doc, Grian quickly flew off to his right, laughing to himself when he heard Doc cuss under his breath and quickly follow behind him. Easily weaving through giants, Grian scanned over the crowd searching for the perfect victim to help with his plan. While most people seemed to be occupied either talking or dancing Grian spotted a dog hybrid standing off to the side by himself.
He quickly made his way over to his target, knowing Doc would not be far behind, stopping just short in front of the guy's face,” Hello!”
The guy was very clearly startled at Grians's sudden presence, doing a quick bow and looking up at him over the rim of his sunglasses, “Your highness! What can I do for you?” The stranger quickly schooled his expression, an easy grin on his lips
“You see that creeper hybrid over there? I need you to dance with him.” Grian didn't have to look long before he spotted Doc within the crowd, making sure to point him out as he did so.
The dog hybrid titled his head in confusion over the request, “You need me, to dance with him?” Repeating Grians request as if that would help him make more sense of them.
Grian repeatedly nodded his head in agreement, “Yes, I’m trying to show him that parties can be fun. Of course, you don’t have to,” Grian hurried to clarify, “You just seemed a little lonely over here.”
The stranger was about to reply before he was abruptly cut off by said creeper hybrid, “Grian, I may be sworn to protect you but I will kick your ass if you fly off like that again.”
Giving his best sheepish grin Grian tilted his head towards the dog hybrid to clue Doc in that they weren’t alone, “Doc! We were just talking about you! This is-” Cutting himself off, Grian turned fully towards the stranger awaiting his response.
“Rendog, but you can just call me Ren,” The newly dubbed Ren introduced himself, reaching out to shake Doc's hand.
“Doc,” was the guards' reply, firmly shaking the offered hand.
“Well then, now that you two are acquainted I think it’s a perfect time for a dance,” Grian stated, a sneaky smile on his face as he tried to shove Doc closer to Ren, ultimately failing as his friend did not budge in the slightest.
“I would love to have this dance, with you,” Ren once more offered his hand out. Grian quickly switched strategies, flying behind Ren, still in Doc's eyesight, to quickly nod his up and down.
Doc glanced at the prince before looking back at Ren, “You don’t have to do this just because Grian asked you know?”
“I’m aware, I just think it’ll be fun,” was Ren’s smooth reply.
Looking back and forth between Grian and Ren, Doc could feel his resolve crumble, “Alright, but, Grian you have to stay where I can see you.” He could see Ren's tail start to wag and Grian perked up a bit.
“Yes, of course, not a problem,” was Grians's immediate reply, his smile somehow getting even bigger.
“I mean it,” Doc stared at Grian, challenging the small prince to defy him. When he received a nod in exchange Doc loosened up and focused back on Ren, noticing he was still holding his hand out, he gently grabbed it in his.
The two made their way to the dance floor, people easily moving out of their way when they took notice of the creeper hybrid. Grian followed behind them, watching as his makeshift plan was put in motion. As soon as a new song started up, Grian could only help but be entertained as his formal guard and friend were dragged around the ballroom by the energetic dog hybrid. Sticking to their promise, Grian flew around the dancing pair, occasionally catching Doc's eye, never failing to make the small prince grin at him.
At the peak of the song, it seemed both Doc and Ren were focused on a conversation, comfortably chatting between themselves. Seeing the opportunity for what it was, Grian slowly started to get further away from the pair, flying backward to make sure he was not to get caught. When he gauged he was far enough away that they wouldn't notice any sudden moment, he swiftly turned around and made quick haste to get to the opposite side of the ballroom and If he happened to get lost in the crowd of giant party-goers then that was between Grian and himself.
Now that he was by himself Grian was ready to cause some problems, nothing harmful of course, just some small pranks here and there. Honestly, with a royal party, it was to be expected that Grian caused a bit of mischief during it. Swooping higher into the air Grian was able to see the entirety of the party from this angle, including his newest targets. Sights set on his goal he made his way over to the band, delicately landing on top of the piano, he grinned sweetly at the pianist.
It was with a sudden jolt Doc realized his mistake too late, slowly glancing around he saw there was no prince to be found, “God damn it Grian.”
Ren seemed to realize at the same time Doc did that their tiny friend seemed to have disappeared, “Does this happen often?”
“More than I’d like, unfortunately,” Doc grimaced.
“Well, I’m sure he’s fine, what's the worst that could happen?” As if on cue, the once calm music seemed to take a drastic change, as if the band had started a new song half through their current one only much faster passed.
“That Grian was the cause of that? Most likely,” was Doc's immediate response, ”If anything it's a place to start looking for the little menace.” He turned to start walking towards the band when he glanced back at Ren. “Thank you for the dance though, I had fun.”
“Not a problem dude! I enjoyed it as well,” Ren shot him a toothy smile, small fangs on display as he did so. With a final farewell, Doc headed towards his destination, determination in his walk.
While he was originally headed towards the band he noticed a small crowd across the room was starting to form Doc felt worry spread through him and he made a sharp beeline towards that area.
Doc was Grians personal guard and despite how he may act sometimes he still trusted the tiny. He knew Grian would never do anything purposefully destructive and wasn’t so much worried about any chaos the prince could cause as he was about strangers. While many loved the winged prince there were still people out there who saw tinys as lesser beings than them. It was Doc's duty to protect Grian at all costs which may have made Doc a smidge overprotective of his friend.
Which is why the scene he walked in on got his blood boiling. The first thing he noticed was Grian, glancing over his form showed that the prince was thankfully uninjured. The second thing he noticed was the piece of shit human standing across from Grian. He had a nasty snarl on his face and seemed to step closer to Grian every time he tried to fly back.
“Look, sir, I already said I was sorry, I truly didn’t mean to fly into you.” Grian tried placating the man in front of him.
“What? Do you think you’re too good to look where you’re going? Is that it?” Was his seething reply.
“No, I swear!” It seemed Grian had finally flown back enough that he startled when he felt his back hit someone's chest. Giant hands were quick to envelop him and while at first, he wanted to panic, he soon enough recognized the furry green hands he layed in as Docs. He could hear said giant yelling but he chose not to listen, instead, content to gently run his hands over Doc's much bigger ones, petting down any ruffled fur.
It wasn’t too much longer before the world around him began to sway as Doc started walking. Doc's pace remained even and steady as he made his way through the rest of the party eventually making it to the same doors they had used to enter the ballroom in the first place. Only once they were on the other side of the doors did Doc open his hands up, glaring down at the prince.
Giving his best sheepish smile Grian made eye contact with the giant already knowing the lecture that was about to come, “Heyyyy Doc, how’s it going?”
“How’s it going? That’s really what you want to ask right now?” Doc raised a single eyebrow.
“In my defense, I truly didn’t mean to bump into that guy.”
“That’s not the problem Grian, I’m your personal guard and I can't exactly do my job without you there,” His glare softened when he saw Grian looked genuinely guilty, “I’m also your friend and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know, I just want you to be able to do things for yourself as well, you're always worrying about me,” Grian was decidedly not looking at Doc when he spoke, his cheeks starting to color red.
Lifting up his hands so he was at eye level with the tiny he spoke, “Look, I’m sure we can come up with a compromise, for now we’re just lucky that guy didn’t get physical.”
“Oh yeah, what ended up happening with the guy?” Grian questioned, tilting his head in bird like fashion as he did so.
“Lets just say, he wont be coming back to the castle soon.” A startled laugh left Grian, echoing throught the hall as it did so.
Grian flew up onto Docs shoulder, sitting down as if it were just any other chair, it was Docs turn to chuckle as he felt Grian settle, “You comfortable there?”
“Oh most definitely, I’m content to sit here if you’re ready to go back to the party?”
“I suppose we should get back in there, seeing as you are the prince.” With that the two headed back into the party, ready to enjoy the rest of their day.
