Work Text:
The year has been… frigid. The sun simply refuses to shine, and when it does, it brings no warmth. The resulting famine has even struck the castle, looming over the surrounding woodlands. Joshua knew it well. He’d been eating little more than lobster and bread for months, now, even as the archivist’s apprentice. He’d once been apprenticed to the royal doctor, but, well… He’d been beaten out of the position by Sydney. Not that Joshua blames the healer for it. The sickly man had needed the position to help himself as much as anyone who might request such of him.
Sitting in the library through another cold, rainy, day, clad in wool, Joshua picks up a book to read. It’s leatherbound, ornately decorated… leatherbound by his hand, no less, and decorated by the resident leatherworker. It brings him a sense of satisfaction to know he bound this book, handwritten by his friend, King Jedidiah. After all, Joshua’s father had advised his father, and though Yvonne has become advisor… Joshua still has a place at the castle, be it a small one, as the archivist’s apprentice.
Prince Elijah was said to be coming today, as well, and Joshua is certain the prince has every reason to talk to Sydney, though Sydney has been pursued by Jedidiah as of late… Each set of sharp giggles from Sydney, each quiet fuss from Jedidiah, worries Joshua. The pair argue over what Sydney can, can’t, and shouldn’t do all the time… even if Jedidiah can make Sydney laugh, Joshua knows the king is simply not a good match for the future royal doctor. The only reason they’re not wed, Joshua suspects, is Sydney’s desire to remain the royal doctor’s apprentice.
Advisor Adam, soon-to-be-crowned-King of a neighboring kingdom, is already present, anyway, intent on looking for a groom of his own at the ball tonight.
Joshua sighs, realizing he’s been staring at the same page for five minutes. Still. Adam, cannibalistic, ravenous Adam who never says, ‘No,’ is not fit to be a King, Joshua thinks.
“Ah, fancy seeing you here,” Adam purrs.
Joshua jumps, the man having appeared right behind him.
“Adam!” Joshua hisses, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Oh, hush. Your heart is still in your chest, isn’t it?”
“That’s not—” Joshua cuts himself off, taking a breath to compose himself before asking, steadily, his voice a little strained, “What do you need?”
“Nothing unimportant,” Adam hums with a cunning smirk, tapping his finger twice along the table before continuing,
“I come with gossip! I’m absolutely dying to talk about it,”
Joshua blinks slowly, once, then a second time. Adam… wants to gossip with him? Not Sydney? He doesn’t want to pester and unnerve Jedidiah? He doesn’t want to tail Soren like a lost puppy?
“What gossip?” Joshua asks.
“About Prince Elijah,” Adam replies, anticipation glittering in his red eyes as his finger taps the table a couple more times.
Joshu leans forward, ever so slightly, as does Adam.
“I hear he’s come with a proposal. For a commoner,” Adam whispers conspiratorially.
“A commoner? Are you sure?” Joshua asks, something twisting in his chest. Sydney, no doubt, he thinks. For as prickly as the man can be… he is equally charming and handsome.
“Oh, I’m sure,” Adam replies, before adding, “But who do you think it is?”
“Sydney,” Joshua answers, shoulders slumping, knowing the demonic king-to-be, with his horns and all, won’t tell if he’s wrong. Adam laughs and Joshua glares at him.
“You’ll see,” Adam smirks, before turning to walk away, waving a simple goodbye.
“Well, I just thought you might want to know. I’m off. Good luck,” and with that, Adam weaves effortlessly through the shelves to disappear. Joshua can only sigh. The day was always going to come when Elijah needed to marry, he knows, but he’d hardly expected he would choose Sydney after countless, firm rejections. Joshua closes his book, placing it carefully back on the shelf before deciding to take a walk in the gardens. The rain has let up for now, at least, so they should be empty.
The gardens are… dreary. All greens, blues, and deep purples have given way to be tan and spindly with dry, rotting leaves. The cacti, exotic though they may be for the climate, have ceased to survive at all. It’s a shame, really. The garden is usually such a beautiful place. Usually. But not this year, when even the hardy rosemary bushes have died. Nothing Soren could’ve done would’ve saved them.
That’s why it’s so… empty lately.
But Joshua comes anyway. Or maybe because it’s so empty… he can’t tell. Far away, Sydney gives a sharp laugh. Jedidiah’s own chuckles echo off the walls. Joshua takes a seat on a bench, temperature outside rising, as footsteps approach. Joshua perks up instantly, beaming once he sees the blonde Prince bounding towards him.
“Elijah!” He greets the man, scrambling to his feet to give a polite bow.
“Joshua. It’s good to see you again,” Elijah replies, taking Joshua’s hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. Joshua’s ears burn, but he beams at Elijah anyway.
“How’s your poetry book holding up?” Joshua asks as he lets his hand fall back to his side.
“It’s holding up well,” Elijah replies, offering Joshua a smile and his arm.
“Walk with me?” Elijah asks.
Joshua takes his arm, heart fluttering in his chest as butterflies swarm in his stomach.
“Are you ready for the ball tonight?”
“I’ve managed to slip away from my staff, for a few minutes,” Elijah replies with a grin that implies mischief.
“Must’ve been quite the daring escape,” Joshua replies with a grin of his own, eyes glittering with wonder. Elijah slipped away from his preparations for the ball… just to find him. Oh, this man will be the death of him, he swears.
“I’d say so. I had to climb out through the window,” Elijah whispers. Joshua snorts, trying and failing to hold back his laughter.
“You went through a window?” Joshua asks, deeply amused by the thought.
“It does sound ridiculous, when you put it like that,” Elijah huffs, his free hand coming to rest atop the the one Joshua is using to hold his arm.
“Sounds? It must’ve been a spectacle… but I’m sure you looked good doing it,” Joshua replies, squeezing Elijah’s arm a little.
“I had good reason,” Elijah defends, his voice pleasant and buttery to Joshua’s ears.
“And… that is?”
“To see my favorite person… and ask him to the ball,”
Joshua frowns… isn’t Sydney Elijah’s favorite person? He doesn’t have time to dwell on it longer, Elijah releasing him to stand in front of him before getting down on one knee, taking one of Joshua’s hands in both of his.
“Joshua MacHeath… Would you do me a great honor, and attend the ball with me tonight?”
Joshua straightens up, heart pounding, stunned.
“Elijah,” He breathes. Royalty never kneels for commonfolk, even friends who are commonfolk. The defiance of norms, just for him, is so clear and most royals— and nobles, even— would consider it undignified. Adam is, perhaps, the only reason it’s most and not all. So, Joshua gently tugs Elijah to his feet, face red as he hisses, voice barely a whisper,
“What were you thinking?”
“Will you?” Elijah asks, standing, eyes as brown as tiger’s eye softening in the dim light.
“I— yes!” Joshua manages to get out, fussing over Elijah’s silk robes, custom of his kingdom, Eden.
“Just don’t do that again!” Joshua pleads, face red.
“It would be worth it,” Elijah soothes, taking Joshua’s arm, guiding him along the brick path.
Joshua huffs, looking away with a small smile. He can’t deny that he likes the attention, especially from Elijah… even if the Prince of Shepis would rather spend time walking a dead garden with him rather than prepare for an important ball. Rather than worry about whether his proposal will go well tonight.
“Wouldn’t you, I don’t know, rather ask Sydney?” Joshua asks, unsure how to broach the subject of the impending proposal Adam told him about.
“I would prefer your company,” Elijah replies, giving Joshua’s arm a reassuring squeeze. Joshua leans in enough to bump his shoulder against Elijah’s— his own silent ‘I love you,’ merely repeated in his head. Surely, the prince wouldn’t have feelings for a lowly archivist’s apprentice… but then again, Elijah isn’t a flirt the way Adam is; Elijah has always been more selective than Adam.
“You would?” Joshua asks, his voice soft.
“Always,” Elijah replies. No sooner do they reach the middle of the garden do they get caught in the rain, and have to retreat back inside… where Elijah is whisked away to be prepared for the ball.
***
There’s too many people— like one of those summer parties Jedidiah’s dad sometimes threw in the gardens when they bloomed for the first time each year. That’s Joshua’s first thought, when they stare at him waiting outside the ballroom. There’s just… too many of them. Rowan, the oracle, has come with a foreign fisherman. Juniper, if Joshua remembers the odd man’s name. Joshua fiddles with his ill-fitting suit, trying to get it to lay right on his thin frame even though it was meant for someone with more muscle mass.
“Joshua,” Elijah calls, polite, and Joshua looks up from fiddling with a pin he forgot to remove from the suit: a pink peony, made of silver and rose quartz. His eyes find Elijah first. The man is in a deep purple suit and a deeper purple mantle inlaid with intricate gold vines that resemble wisteria. The next thing he notices is the single purple peony in Elijah’s hand. Joshua opens his mouth to ask where he got it, when it’s been such a cold year, but he shuts his mouth as Elijah adjusts it in the pocket of his ill-fitting suit.
“A gift, for you,” Elijah smoothly replies, before grinning and taking Joshua’s hand.
“Shall we?” He asks.
Joshua’s heart pounds in his chest. All he can do is nod and let himself be dragged into the ball. There are so many people. It was opened up to the poor who could afford to come, in light of the social unrest of the kingdom, especially in absence of a second ruler. Most of the nobility are easy to pick out, as are the castle staff and royals. But, really… Joshua has no idea how Elijah stands talking to the sixth noble about the current global grain shortage, or to a separate noble who took a bride half his age.
Elijah, though, keeps glancing back at Joshua, whisking him away to the next person before he gets too terribly bored. Eventually, however, they find themselves at the desert table. It’s mostly sugar-coated fruits, from somewhere Joshua can’t pronounce. If it’s in the southern part of the Erenere Kingdom, his kingdom, or elsewhere? He has no clue. The fruit is fresh, though, or as fresh as previously canned fruits can be.
“How are your ponds?” Elijah asks.
Joshua swallows a peach slice before replying,
“Pretty good… lost like, half the fish to last week’s weather,” Joshua replies, shrugging.
“That’s unfortunate. They were beautiful fish, last time I saw them,”
“Yeah,” Joshua sighs, as Elijah offers him a hand.
“Would you care to dance with me?”
“I’m… not good at dancing,” Joshua sheepishly admits. Hours of lessons hadn’t made him any better at it, much to his dismay.
“I won’t mind, if it’s you,” Elijah soothes. Joshua smiles, flattered, as he puts his hand in Elijah’s.
“Alright. You’ve convinced me,”
Joshua doesn’t keep up particularly well, especially after being dipped in one of the more traditional dances from Elijah’s homeland. But he laughs, and Elijah is smiling, so it must be alright. In the end, though, Joshua finds the slow dance he once dreaded for being boring is his favorite. He gets to be close to Elijah, rest his head on Elijah’s chest, listen to the beating of his heart. Joshua briefly considers telling Elijah how he feels, before crushing the thought as Elijah gently leads him off the dance floor and into a small balcony.
“Thank you, for accompanying me tonight,” Elijah says, still holding Joshua’s hand in his.
“Anytime,” Joshua replies, before catching himself.
“Oh, uh— of course,” he stammers, trying to be more formal. This is a formal event, after all, and anyone could be listening.
“I hate to impose, but I have one important question for you tonight,” Elijah says, choosing his words carefully as he leans closer to Joshua. He pulls something from his pockets, something metal, Joshua realizes as it’s placed in his palm. He barely has time to register it’s a ring before Elijah asks,
“Would you do me the greatest honor… and marry me?”
Joshua freezes, his eyes searching Elijah’s face. He’s serious. There’s no sign of a trick. The Prince is proposing… to him.
“I love you,” Joshua blurts out, unable to stop himself, his face, neck, and ears all red.
“I— I mean,” Joshua stammers, before Elijah interrupts,
“I love you too, my dear, but I’m afraid I need a yes or no,”
“Is this for me?” Joshua asks, heart racing as he searches Elijah’s gaze, not bothering to look at the silver and diamond ring in his palm.
“Of course,” Elijah replies without hesitation.
Joshua doesn’t hesitate, pulling Elijah in for a kiss. It’s passionate, Elijah’s hands around Joshua’s waist as Joshua rests a hand on the back of his neck, his other resting on the small of Elijah’s back. When he pulls away, he says,
“I’d— I’d love to marry you. I never thought you’d ask me,”