NOTE: This is my vision of Rielle so there's a LOT of headcanon and background lore. Also his full name here is "Arielle". Also BONUS ART AT THE END :D
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
"He had saved that phone number for longer than he remembered. One night he decided to call him up on a whim. Just the two of them"
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
He's not a go with the flow type of guy. Things beyond his control are either none of his business or turned into business.
Bad weather? Bribe a student for class notes instead of attending. Seniors who get drunk from alcohol they snuck in? Kicked out of the lounge. Feelings he can't comprehend? Buried deep, 6 feet under where it couldn't reach his heart.
The doors to Mostro close tonight, but he feels buzzed despite being sober. Tired in a way that's too early for the evening. The type of hazy feeling that makes your brain do stupid things. That's how you know it's winter. Azul's on the edge of his bed, partially still in uniform, scrolling through his phone. Past the numerous "contacts" he's collected is a number that's simply named, Him.
He got it incidentally. Back during a school trip with the dormheads at Royal Sword that the Perfect somehow managed to get approved. During group activities some guy managed to briefly steal his phone and added himself in, excusing it by stating it was to ensure "proper communication'".
Quite un-princely behavior for him though.
Azul opens the window, small snowflakes gathered on the sill. He was a 3rd year now. A lot of things have happened, but there are some hard to forget.
So he rings him up.
"Long time no see...can we meet at the bridge? The tall one down at the town.."
–––––––––––––
Azul breathes slowly into his hands. He should've brought gloves, but more importantly the fog was thicker than he thought. Now he could barely see. But right now he's moving with a single thought in his head. He doesn't want to ponder how silly this whole thing might be.
Tonight there was supposed to some sky show happening, maybe he should've used that as an excuse. Various lights and sounds fill his hazy vision. Cars, food stalls, families, taunting him with warmth admist this lonely walk.
Well, maybe if he's terribly unlucky it'd be lonely.
There are few people willing to step out into such cold weather on a whim. And the little prince he called just so happened to be that kind of intrepid fellow.
The street noise slowly becomes muffled when he finishes ascending the stairs. In the distance there's the slight gleam of red hair under the street light. He's brushing snow from his head when he notices Azul a distance away.
The buzz inside Azul's head completely covers his vision and seems to clog his brain. Rielle reaches him and speaks up.
"You look awful."
Silence.
"Is that really the thing you say to someone you haven't seen in so long?"
"I'm serious though." Rielle takes off his scarf and wrapped it around Azul tightly. There's surprise, but no protest. Maybe the brief contact will make him stay up late though, over-thinking till bed. "No gloves? No scarf? Not even proper pants..so it was on a whim huh?"
Azul almost laughs. "Did you suspect foul play?"
"Yeah, a little."
"Yet you still left? Alone? That's not safe for a man of your status."
Rielle scoffs. "What could you possibly do to a guy with my calibur of magic? You're the one who'd be in trouble."
Right. He's was meeting up with a prince. Alone on a cold night, on top of a bridge, miles away from his school, and wearing his scarf with fireworks about to illuminate the sky.
Easy conclusions to jump to, easy scandal material if someone spotted.
"So..did you just want to walk around?"
"I wouldn't have called you if that was all."
"I see, then does that mean you have an answer for me?"
Azul took off his fogged up glasses and wiped them against his sleeve, trying not to look up. It was hard to be coy when Rielle stared at him like that, eyes with a gaze so intense yet clear. There are things hard to forget, hard to change. Rielle was one of them. That look was one of them. Their first meeting was one of them. A moment in Azul's mind so clarified but overblown with light.
It started with mutual interests, a tentative bond was formed. But Azul began to realize he didn't know Rielle in the way he thought he did. He wasn't even Rielle nor prince when they met. At some point Rielle became withdrawn from school and from him. When they finally had a moment together again it would be their last for a long time. Arguements, insults, and confessions spat on the ground. But it was all for naught really. After all the secrets, the tears and fighting. The "what ifs" and "if onlys" are too late and nothing worth two children who haven't even lived a life yet should linger on. And so, they left everything as is. It was like a bud snipped from its stem so cleanly you didn't notice that it hurt till later.
Now they're 18, yet everything is still confusing.
"You asked me to become friends again so casually after all this time."
"...I thought it was best to be honest."
"Honest...yeah, you were something like that. Honest, blunt, no filter in that pretty mouth of yours huh?"
"Is that a compliment?
"You also talk too much." Azul fidgets with his glasses trying to act as his usual self. "You haven't changed at all."
"How would you know that..."
He didn't. They were running in circles again just like they were when they were kids. But this time, even if it was because of Rielle's prodding, Azul had called him out here. That meant he had the final say, maybe things were different then.
"Azul"
"Yes?"
"Do you want to restart and be friends?"
"If I said no?"
"...I'm ready for that rejection."
It irked him. The audacity, the tenacity, now this.
"Oh! How gracious that our benevolent prince is to let me let him down gently! Cut the crap! You know damn well I went through when we were younger! You could've done..........ANYTHING! You could've DONE anything but didn't do anything! And then you come here, an-and ask me to start over! Start over from what!? We had nothing!" His glasses fell from his face.
Rielle bent over to pick them up and Azul thinks about giving him a smack. But he realizes he's crying when he raises his hand. This unsightly side of him he so desperately tried to hide came to light again. But far from embarrassing, it felt freeing. The sound of fireworks from far off rang. Those sights, those sounds, suddenly appeared again shaking his senses. He's staring at those beautiful red locks and then the ground.
They're staring at each other.
Rielle seemed little resigned, yet his eyes are waveringly soft. Azul's stomach was twisting up inside He reaches out to take back his glasses, but Rielle wiped his face first with the scarf. It was intimate in a way Azul didn't like, he flailed his hands at Rielle.
"Fuck you....I, I thought this would be a done deal and I'd get over this before bed time but,"
He groans.
"You're so...annoying, and weird..and.....I don't even know what to think right now. Aren't you nervous, like at all?"
"A little, but, I didn't want to show that when you started crying."
"How princely."
"Really? You called me over in the dead of the night to talk things out, I thought something must've been up..."
"That's because of your nagging butt."
"Is it just that?"
Azul pursed his lips, feeling lost. "Did the little time we spent together really matter that much?"
This time Azul's the one waiting for an answer. The prince leans over and gently placed his glasses back on.
"Yeah, I think I was lucky to meet you when I did. I wanted an escape from my own self, a little bubble where I could forget who I was momentarily. Having a secret place with someone else was something I idealized."
An escape huh. Isn't that why Azul called him here? Hoping to flee from this feeling he couldn't comprehend? Or didn't want to?
"Our worlds are so different, I thought that as long as they didn't collide we could stay like that forever. I didn't want to ruin what we had back then, but I ended up hurting you anyways. I'm sorry..."
Rielle's voice fell into a hush, everything went quiet for a moment. Azul knew then what it was that he wanted to bury, that tiny bit of hope for something better than where they left it off, because he was so, so scared. Though now....
"Azul, you've changed a lot. But, I'm sure, you've always been loved by someone, even if it wasn't yourself. So if I may ask right now, are you willing to let me be one of those people again?"
The final firework goes off tonight, and the crowd under them disperses. The bridge began to fill with people. The two awkwardly shifted over to the side.
"It's getting late. I should get you back to-
"Wait!"
Azul clutches his arm. "I haven't said anything yet. You promised you'd....let me talk."
Someone bumps him closer and Azul freezes as Rielle holds him, now he really has to make up his mind.
"I....I'm not ready yet. But, if, I one day randomly called you out here again....uh.............HEY DON'T LAUGH!!!"
Rielle pressed his lips together. "I'm trying! But I didn't expect you to come here this unprepared. Your face is so red, we really have to get you back inside."
They make their way down the crowded steps. It stopped snowing and warm lights started to bloom against the streets again.
"Hey...I don't want to go back just yet."
"Mm? You don't have class tomorrow?"
"I'll just ask for notes."
"That's unexpected of you"
"And you? Don't you have classes as well?"
"I've been skipping a few."
"Huh?! You're part of the school's image though? I mean, your family's been helping to fund it."
"That's prince Arielle. Little ole Rielle doesn't care."
"....Say I heard from my Perfect that you're not living at home anymore. Are you acting out or something?"
Rielle is quiet for a bit.
"Something like that....let's talk about it next time."
"You're so confident that we'll meet again."
The two stopped at a crosswalk. Azul notices Rielle's still holding his hand. It was slightly bigger than his and little wrinkled, a little scarred, compared to his own. Weirdly aged even though they were both youths. There are a dozen questions Azul wants to ask that are swimming in his head. But it's all so noisy and the night had grown too old. He wanted to finish it with a buzz.
"There's a bar down the street.."
"You wanna go try it? You?!"
"Shut up you're so loud. I heard that alcohol helps you sleep that's all."
"Yeah but it tastes really bad."
"You've tried it before?"
"Once or twice."
The light turns green but neither of them want to cross just yet.
"I'll be refraining for tonight. Who else is going to bring you back to your dorm?"
"Hah, you'll get dog piled at the front gate when they see your uniform."
"Are your schoolmates that bad?"
"...no, but, just a heads up."
The light turns back to green and Rielle hums as he crosses with Azul.
"Maybe I'll fly you in then."
"Urgh, wait-"
"What? You scared of heights?"
"NO! Well...I.."
"You said you're planning to get wasted by the end of the night anyways. I don't think you'll notice."
"I did NOT say I was planning to get wasted, sir. Are you even a prince with this kind of behavior."
"Of course I'm a prince. Not necessarily the fairytale kind though, more the job kind."
A blast of warm air hits them as the bar doors slide open. Rielle shakes the snow off his jacket and boots and Azul cleans off his glasses again. He undid the scarf and handed it back to Rielle.
"You can keep it"
"No, I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to bring back to the school-.....wait"
Azul catches the tear-mark and snot stains all over the fabric and immediately hid it behind his back.
"Ah-actually. I think I'll hold onto it for a little longer. Lets go sit down. Chop chop now!"
"Are you sure you can hold your own? This is your first time right?"
"I'll just have a one or two that's all"
It ended up being several drinks, and now he's starting to say stupid things.
"I....I hate that you're so pretty. Almost makes it easy to forget how obnoxious you are."
"...yeah?"
"Yeah! I remember you having INFINITLY more grace and tact when we were kids. I, I liked you for it."
"I remember saying stupid stuff even back then though."
Azul downed the rest of his drink and slammed the glass down. The mark of a real business man. He could barely remember the current hour or day now. Rielle poured a glass of water and placed it in front of Azul hoping to trick him into drinking it.
"You probably did. I didn't notice it though. I wish...I......hic....ugh...I-hic!..."
"Take your time-
"I WISH I COULD ACT AS STUPID AS YOU!"
"........Huh"
Azul reaches over the glass of water to his next order of alcohol.
"The way you act is sometimes so infuriating, but sometimes so cool too. And I, I couldn't be as shameless as you! But it does seem fun I guess, getting to blabber like a fool as you desire...."
Azul polished the glass. Rielle gently held his arms against the table so that he couldn't order another, biting his lip so as to not burst out laughing.
"Is that a compliment?"
"I don't know! And let me go! What are you touching me for!"
"Yeah yeah, we're getting out of here."
"Hey! Wait! Let me go!"
His thrashing did not keep up the entire trip back to Night Raven.
When Azul awoke it was as if he hadn't left the room at all. He sat up rubbing his temples, and a bright blue scarf falls out of the bed. He ended up over-thinking things the entire day till bed.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
AN: This took longer than I thought lol. Azul unfortunately can't contract himself out of a difficult conversation. I know it's popular to headcanon RSA students as super chivalrous, ditzy princes but like, I'm pretty sure the majority of them are normal ass boys.
RieAzu is a "slowly falling in love simultaneously" case for me. I also like seeing Azul embarrassed and whiny as he tries to express himself.
I think Neige would more be the type to adopt. Him and Vil are not "together" per say in the future but Vil is helping his former rival with babysitting lol.
