Work Text:
“There’s really only so much I can take before I just quit and hand you off to whichever unlucky bastard has to deal with you.”
As expected, Samatoki didn’t even blink at his words. In fact, he looked smug. More smug than anyone tied up to a post had any right to be. “If you’re so sick of it, just leave,” Samatoki said, the charming grin on his face not letting up for a second.
Jyuto clicked his tongue and sighed, flinging a knife at the brute who tried to attack in the middle of their conversation. How rude. “I’m quite tempted to,” Jyuto replied, “but the Queen would have my head.”
“Yeah? Just admit you got a soft spot for me.”
Jyuto scoffed. “A soft spot? For you? Maybe stop getting yourself into trouble, and I’ll consider it,” he sneered in a tone that was definitely inappropriate to use with royalty, but Jyuto didn’t really give a damn, because Samatoki was just that infuriating.
“Yeah, yeah. Free me?”
“You are insufferable,” Jyuto groaned, but he made his way over anyway, kicking away the thugs who tried to come close. “I’m convinced you only do this so I can come save you,” he mutters, slicing through the ropes that bound Samatoki. “Being captured by a lowly group like this? There’s no way you couldn’t have defeated them all.”
Samatoki laughed, standing and stretching. “You caught me,” he said. “I just wanted my knight in shining armor to save me. Is that so bad?” Jyuto rolled his eyes and kicked Samatoki in the shin, earning himself a gasp which made him grin. “Shut up,” he said.
“Tellin’ me to shut up? I could have your head for that,” Samatoki said, rubbing his leg and scowling. “You could,” Jyuto admitted, “but who else would save your sorry ass?”
“You absolutely suck,” Samatoki grumbled, kicking away a would-be attacker running at him with a knife, then elbowing another in the face. “Ugh, these fuckers are so annoying. Are we allowed to kill them?”
“Language,” Jyuto admonished mildly. “You tell me.”
“Well, fuck you. I say we blow this place up.”
Jyuto smirked and tugged at his gloves.
“Whatever you say, Your Highness.”
---
A few hours later found Samatoki leaving the throne room with an irate expression on his face. Jyuto found it highly amusing. “That’s what you get for running headfirst into trouble,” he said with a laugh, having heard Samatoki’s loud voice from outside the throne room.
“Not now, Jyuto,” Samatoki groaned, a scowl on his face. Jyuto didn’t let up. “What? It couldn’t have been that bad. It’s the millionth time that he’s given you a scolding. What’s the worst he can do?”
Samatoki sighed harshly and rubbed his face. “Seriously, Jyuto, shut it.” Jyuto frowned, but decided not to provoke Samatoki any more. For now. “So where are we heading now?” he asked instead, falling into step behind Samatoki like it was instinct.
“Library,” Samatoki grumbled. “I’ve got some proposals to draft up, and I don’t give a shit if I know he’s gonna reject them, because I’m drafting them anyway.”
“If you know they’re going to be rejected, why bother writing them?” Jyuto really didn’t see the point. He wasn’t sure what kind of proposals Samatoki was planning on writing, but he was sure that they’d just be a load of shit.
“I’m at least gonna try,” Samatoki said, taking a left turn to the hallway leading up to the library. Jyuto huffed, but followed anyway. Babysitting was his job at all times, after all, even if he was fairly sure that Samatoki wouldn’t do anything too stupid.
Samatoki took his seat at an alcove hidden from the front door. It was unnecessary, in Jyuto’s opinion, since he was the only one in the entire library, but he wasn’t going to question Samatoki’s ridiculous choices. As Jyuto sat at a nearby table, Samatoki spread a few rolls of parchment onto the table and took out his ink pot.
“You know, you have an office to work in,” Jyuto said dryly. “What’s the point of working here?”
Samatoki rolled his eyes. “Research purposes, dumbass,” he said. He stood up and walked to a bookshelf a few paces away, trailing his hand over the spines of the books as his eyes trailed over them. He pulled one book from the shelf, and Jyuto wouldn’t have been surprised if it were just a random book completely unrelated to whatever Samatoki was going to write.
“On what, exactly?”
Samatoki shrugged, taking the book to the table and setting it down, causing a mild puff of dust to scatter into the air. "This one's just a political map of the kingdom," he said, "just for the foundation. Hey, pass me a smoke."
“This is the library,” Jyuto said, taking a cigar from his pocket and passing it over anyway. “And you know your father doesn’t like when you smoke.”
“Fuck what he says.” Samatoki accepted the cigar, lighting it up with the antique lighter that Jyuto knew he wasn’t allowed to use because it was some sort of family heirloom. “It’s not like he cares about me, or anyone. He’s just afraid that my reputation will go down the drain and his will go down with it.”
“... you don’t regard the King very highly, do you?”
“Why should I?”
“Because he is the King, and he has kept this kingdom running. And another thing, he’s your father.”
Samatoki snorted. “Like that fuckin’ matters,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “A king is supposed to protect his people. Not like…” He trailed off, and Jyuto was left wondering what Samatoki was about to say. But he held his tongue. It wasn’t his place to ask, after all.
“If you’re going to be like that,” Jyuto said, “then at least pretend to be polite. Now, it’s only the two of us, but you never know when someone could be watching. Rifts like these could be liabilities to the throne.”
Even when it was only the two of them, Samatoki should have learned to hold his tongue. Because, when all was said and done, Jyuto was not loyal to Samatoki. He was loyal to the crown, to the monarchy.
“Oh, whatever. What’s the worse he could do to me? Rip my tongue out? Kill me?” Samatoki clicked his tongue. “He can’t do shit to me. Anythin’ bad that happens to me will reflect badly on him, and he cares about his own image more than anythin’ and anyone else.”
He stood up before Jyuto could reply, rolling up the pieces of parchment that were left unused. “I’m heading back to my office.” Jyuto sighed as he walked off, picking up the ink pot he’d left behind and hurrying after his charge. God, Samatoki was such a pain.
---
“Oi, Your Highness. Open up.”
“Go away,” Samatoki muttered from inside his office. Jyuto sighed, loud and annoyed. “You haven’t come out in three days, and while I usually wouldn’t care about if you starve to death, the King demands your presence in the next advisory meeting, which is tomorrow.”
“Then come get me tomorrow,” Samatoki shot back from the other side of the door. “Don’t bother me.”
“I will break the door down, so help me, Samatoki.”
“Then do it.” It was clear that Samatoki didn’t think he would actually do it, but Jyuto wouldn’t have wasted his breath. He rolled his eyes, backed up a few steps, then kicked the door open.
“Jyuto, what the fuck?!”
“Language,” Jyuto said, sighing. “I told you I would. Why would you doubt me?” Samatoki grumbled under his breath, sweeping a small pile of crumpled parchment into the wastebasket beside his desk. “I’ll have your damn head one day,” he muttered.
Jyuto raised an eyebrow at the threat, but didn’t comment on it. Instead, he scanned Samatoki’s appearance disdainfully. “What have you even been doing here?”
“Cleaning up my proposal,” Samatoki grumbled.
Jyuto wrinkled his nose. “Give me that.” He snatched it into his hands despite Samatoki’s protests. “You go take a bath. You smell rotten.” Samatoki rolled his eyes. “I’m going to cut your damn head off,” he muttered, storming off.
Jyuto rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Your Highness,” he muttered, despite Samatoki being unable to hear him. His eyes shot to the top page, reading the title of the proposal written in Samatoki’s horrible handwriting.
“What the hell…?”
He read a bit slower, actually processing the words that were on the paper. This was... A new system for healthcare, along with the reallocation of its funds. At least, that’s what the title said.
Jyuto didn't know that Samatoki knew what these words meant. Of course, maybe that was an oversight on his own part. After all, Samatoki had been raised learning all of these autocratic necessities, though it wouldn't have surprised Jyuto if Samatoki hadn't let a single word from his tutors enter his brain.
It was… a sound proposal, he supposed. There were a few minor issues, and Samatoki’s grammar was absolutely horrendous in some places, but all those set aside… it wasn’t half bad. Jyuto would even dare say that it was good.
Which was curious. Because Jyuto had been shadowing Samatoki since they were both young, and he’d never been this adept at any sort of subtle politics, always preferring to decapitate the problem with a sword.
“I’m back!” Samatoki announced loudly, changed into a new set of clothes and smelling less like he’d just sat in a room of cigarette smoke for three days in a row. “Now give me back my papers.”
“No, I don’t think I will until you learn some manners,” Jyuto said smoothly. Samatoki’s lips twitched into an amusing scowl. “Jyuto. Give them to me, or I will cut your fingers off one by one.”
“How crude,” Jyuto hummed. “Resorting straight to violence, hm? I suppose this is why your proposal is this basic.”
Samatoki clicked his tongue. “Did you even read it?”
“Of course I did.”
“And you really think it’s not up to standard?”
Jyuto hesitated for a moment, then sighed. “It’s passable, I suppose,” he allowed, not looking at Samatoki’s expression, which would no doubt be more smug than it had any right to be. “Though, it could use some editing.”
“Yeah, figured.” Samatoki didn’t seem perturbed by the attempted jab. His expression hadn’t changed from the thoughtful one that looked at once out of place and perfectly at home on his face. “I mean, this shit isn’t my strong suit. Actually, I was wondering if you’d edit it for me.”
“I’m not your mother,” Jyuto said, taking the papers back anyway.
“That isn’t a no.”
“It isn’t a yes, either.”
“You took the papers, though.”
“... answer me something, Your Highness.” Jyuto eyed Samatoki critically as the prince straightened up. “What sort of thing has altered your mindset enough that you have been sitting here writing this instead of going off on your usual escapades?”
Samatoki hummed under his breath. Jyuto honestly wasn’t sure if he was going to receive an answer.
“... my father is a horrible king.”
Jyuto tensed up. This was not what he had expected. “Samatoki, you can’t just say those things.” Not here, where anyone could hear and report him for treason. Not here, where lips were loose and purses looser.
“I’ll say what I want, because it’s true.”
Jyuto’s fingers twitched. Samatoki looked serious, more than Jyuto had ever seen him before. He hummed, and for a moment, Jyuto thought he could see the makings of the king he was destined to become.
“Hey, are you busy tonight?” The sudden change of topic caught Jyuto off-guard, but his voice answered before his mind. “No, and especially not for you.”
What he’d meant was that watching over Samatoki was a full time job, and he’d rather free up his schedule now to keep Samatoki company than risk the prince getting into even more trouble and have to deal with it anyway. Judging from the sly smirk on Samatoki’s face, that wasn’t what he’d understood.
“I’m heading out for a drink tonight. Come with me, okay?”
“You can drink in your own home,” Jyuto said. There was no need to go out into the city, which was where he presumed that Samatoki’s drinking would take place. Samatoki snorted, already pushing Jyuto out the door. “Maybe,” he said, “but this is more fun. Later, okay? After dinner, come pick me up.”
Slam.
Jyuto’s eye twitched. He took back everything good he’d thought. Samatoki was fucking brat.
---
Jyuto’s knuckles rapped on the door once, twice, thrice. Then he stepped back and waited for Samatoki to answer.
There was a disconcerting silence behind the door, which led Jyuto to wonder if the prince had gone off on his own. It would have certainly meant more trouble for Jyuto to take care of.
He knocked again.
This time, he heard shuffling from inside. “Coming,” came the familiar grunt of Samatoki’s voice. A few more moments of shuffling, then Samatoki opened the door.
"Forget to wake up?" Jyuto commented snidely. Samatoki rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair. "I had to change," he said, tugging on his shirt as if for emphasis. Without all the sparkly bits on his ears and fingers, Samatoki looked like an exceptionally well-groomed commoner. Which, Jyuto supposed, was the point.
"Well? Let's go, then."
Jyuto hadn't bothered changing, which wouldn't really matter, seeing that he didn't necessarily have a social life to ruin. Samatoki eyed his clothes for a moment, then huffed air through his nose.
"Fine. Let's."
Jyuto followed him out the palace gates. Outside, people were scarce. The nobility, after all, tended to stay within their own homes and disliked even the notion of mingling with common folk. Most of them, anyway, Jyuto thought, eyeing Samatoki as he led the way into the heart of the city.
They stopped outside a tavern that seemed to be mostly empty. Out-of-tune piano music drifted out into the street, making Jyuto's eye twitch. "Pick a better place," he muttered as Samatoki pushed the door, entering without stopping to even listen to Jyuto.
What was new?
With a roll of his eyes, Jyuto followed inside. He caught sight of the prince making his way up a narrow set of stairs. They were rickety, and Jyuto was sure they would collapse under his weight, but he climbed anyway. Fortunately, they didn't give. Unfortunately, what waited at the top was a sword to his throat.
Jyuto immediately tensed up, hand coming up to grab the wrist in front of him, eyes darting to the side to find Samatoki--
"It's fine. He's with me."
"You sure?" Jyuto looked at his assailant, locking eyes with two differently-colored eyes. Interesting. "Yes, he is," Jyuto said, pushing the blade of the sword away with his gloved finger.
"This is Iruma," Samatoki said, grabbing Jyuto by the wrist and pulling him past the sword and sending him spinning into Samatoki's chest. "I'm not your princess," Jyuto muttered, pushing away from Samatoki, who simply laughed. "But you'd like to be."
"I would not."
"Um, 'scuse me?"
Jyuto turned, eyes narrowing back down as he clicked his heel. The person who'd formerly had his sword to Jyuto's throat now smiled, holding a hand out. "Yamada Ichiro. Sorry for the cold welcome. We can't really trust anyone who just comes in."
Jyuto whirled back around, ignoring the outstretched hand, and instead grabbing Samatoki by the collar and pulling him down. "What is this? What have you dragged me into?"
Samatoki grinned charmingly at Ichiro. "You go on ahead," he said, ignoring Jyuto's question. He pulled away from Jyuto, heading to sit on one of the many seats provided, and Jyuto followed with a sigh. He had a bad feeling about this.
Ichiro went up onto a makeshift stage. "Hey! Everyone, can I have your attention?" The faint buzz in the room quieted down. "Samatoki," Jyuto hissed. "Your Highness. What the fuck is this?"
"Just shut up and listen."
And listen he did. With every word that slipped from Ichiro's lips, he could feel the tension in his body rise, until he felt like a taut string about to snap.
This was no drinking party.
This was a rebellion.
Ichiro was the leader, and Samatoki had sought him out after hearing rumors of their little crew of revolutionaries. Samatoki was providing them information for no cost, directly committing treacherous acts against the crown. And for what? What reason would Samatoki have to forsake his comfortable lifestyle in exchange for the miniscule possibility of a ragtag bunch of miscreants overthrowing the system?
"I told you already, didn't I?" Samatoki said as Jyuto followed him into his room with a lecture on his lips. "My father does not deserve to be king. A king does not leave his subjects to die of poverty, of famine, while he himself sits comfortably on his throne."
"So? That's for you to fix when you are on the throne, not for you to take part in a half-baked scheme to undermine the very system that you sit atop."
What kind of idealistic perception of justice did Samatoki have?
"How privileged. If the monarchy falls, you topple alongside it. Can you survive on ideal alone, Samatoki-sama?"
"I don't care."
Jyuto almost snorted at the response that was so classically Samatoki. "You should," was all he said.
"I don't care, because I'm only one person, and one person doesn't fucking matter in the face of hundreds of thousands of people."
Jyuto really snorted this time. "What, do you fancy yourself some type of savior? How selfless, Your Highness. Perhaps you will be immortalized in history as a hero. Or you'll be sentenced to death as a traitor."
"Jyuto…"
"The king is one person, and he seems to have had enough of an impact that you are out here doing this. How altruistic, Your Highness." Jyuto couldn't help the acid that seeped into his words. He was a selfish person, after all. He'd tried to keep Samatoki safe, tried to dissuade him from saying and doing anything that the King would take offense to, so that Jyuto wouldn't have to go through the moral dilemma of deciding whether to report him or not. But, in the end, Samatoki was headstrong and independent and a fucking idiot--
"That's not the only reason."
The words snapped Jyuto out of his thoughts, but they didn't quite snap the bite from his words. "Oh? And, pray tell, what other reasons do you have?"
"It was for you."
Jyuto faltered.
"I'm to be married soon," Samatoki continued, when Jyuto didn't say anything. "I turn twenty in the winter. I have to find a bride before then. But I don't want one."
He laughs, and it's a laugh that almost makes Jyuto flinch, dark and sarcastic, a far cry from its usual charming brightness. "I never wanted to marry someone else. I've always wanted to marry you. And toppling the monarchy… well, it's roundabout, but it'd let me court you properly. In the end, though, I'm just selfish."
The silence between them hung heavy.
Slowly, Jyuto shook his head. "You… would risk your entire life of luxury for a chance to marry me, of all people? You're insane."
"Maybe," Samatoki agreed readily. "You know me."
"I know you better than you know yourself."
And Jyuto, of course, knew his own self better than anyone else. He knew that, despite his annoyance at the cocky, smug prince, he cared about the bastard, more than he cared about the throne he sat atop. So he took a handful of Samatoki's shirt in his hand and pulled him down into a kiss.
It was nothing that a first kiss between lovers should have been. There were no fingers tangled in hair, no arms drifting around waists. It was short and rough and exhilarating.
"... does this mean you're on board?" Samatoki asked as their lips separated. Jyuto smirked, tapping the prince's lips with a finger.
"I'll think about it."