âE-Eh!?â Rin said and waved his hands back and forth frantically. âNO! I wasnâtâŚI mean itâs notâŚI uhâŚshit,â he said and ran his hands down his face, letting Haru finally finish speaking, his eyes stayed wide and his face was about as red as his hair. âI meanâŚI really wasnât trying to say that sleeping with me was a reward, it was more as though I was offering,â he said rubbing his arm. âBut..uhâŚlook, your message has come across loud and clear,â Rin said, looking away from the boy. Really he was just ashamed that this situation had even come about in the first place and now, telling him about the real reason he had decided to keep him here at the place seemed absolutely out of the question. There was no way this boy believed in any sort of legend and there was no way that he would agree with or approve of being held here for such a silly reason. Rin sighed and shook his head, âIâm sorry you felt that way,â he whispered. âIâŚI donât really sleep with just anyone, just to clarify,â he was sure he was repeating himself, talking in circlesâŚbecause he was just so damn embarrassed.
âYou can justâŚcome to dinner and do your choresâŚand then relax in the bath,â Rin offered. âYou donât have to talk to anyone you donât want to andâŚwell..you donât even have to talk to me,â Rin said. Yet even as he spoke, he felt disappointed that this was the way it had turned out. He was certainly attracted to the other, but even still, he didnât really care if they had slept together or not, but he was more frustrated that the other wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. âYou can evenâŚwellâŚif youâd prefer not to eat with us, that would be fine as well,â he said. âI promise that your people will not be without water for as long as we can manage itâŚand if we somehow get more water, weâll fill the pool back upâŚor something,â he muttered. âMaybe that will help you feel a bit more comfortable?â he chuckled softly.Â
He couldnât help but blush seeing the other smile. ââŚ.Iâm glad,â he said, sighing with relief. âI promise to try and make the rest of your time here, better. Youâll be serving me, yes, but I donât consider you a slaveâŚnor do I want you to feel trapped here,â he whispered, though he knew he certainly was. âI wonât come near you or offer you anything like that again,â he said. If Haru didnât want to be intimate or touched, Rin would leave him be.
    After listening to Rin speak (or try to) Haru had to take a step back and laugh a bit. âWeâre bothâŚreally bad at talking.â Haru was generally bad at talking to people other than those quite close to him and Rin was quite bad at speaking in terms of confrontation. It was sort of silly but relieving in a way. Rin felt much more real and human and less of a Prince he had to bow down to and respect. It made the man that just more relate-able, Haru supposed. In a sense, Haru was being quite hard on him and really, he needed to stop. Still, he was a bit hurt and he still wasnât sure as to why Rin wanted him around and why he was being forced to live here amongst royalty. Perhaps one day Rin would properly tell him so that Haru wouldnât have to make guesses or simply assume it was because Rin found him to be âprettyâ or something soâŚselfish and pretentious.
    âIâll come to dinner. I canâtâŚpromise that Iâll be very talkative but Iâll attend at the very least.â It was a step, right? Hopefully Rin wasnât expecting anything too fast because Haru wasnât good with socializing, even in his village. It did explain as to why he really only had one friend. But Makoto wasâŚspecial. They had been together since they were in diapers after all. Hand-in-hand until they were too old for hand holding. WasâŚhe okay? Haru had to assume that what had happened probably hit his best friend quite hard; he wanted to tell his friend that he was safe and alive and that the Prince actually wanted to take care of him. MaybeâŚMaybe Rin would allow him to write a letter at the very least?
    âUhmâŚâ Haru started to ask, gripping the hem of the otherâs sleeve right at his wrist. Looking down, he sighed a bit and closed his eyes. âIt is probably wrong of me to ask but I would like permission to writeâŚ.a letter. To my family and my best friend. JustâŚso they know I am okay. Iâm sure they are upset and I donât want them to stress unnecessarily. Not only that but it will weigh far too much on my mind. IâŚjustâŚthatâs all I really ask of you. If you do that then Iâll promise to be more well behaved andâŚaccepting of things.â If he could have that then he was more than happy to attend their little dinner that was apparently quite important to Rin. If he could have that then maybe Haru could sleep a little better at night. Or at all. He was still exhausted for hardly sleeping a wink the night previous. âAndâŚAnd itâs not that I donât like that sort of thing. Itâs just thatâŚI donât believe I could be with someone intimately unless I were in love with them. Or at least cared about them immensely. IâmâŚsorry, your majesty.âÂ
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