Chapter Text
Atheria, under the rule of King Edward and Queen Charlotte, was a kingdom where the grass appears greener and the trees taller. The town was always bustling with chatter and life.
Jaren, the eldest child of the royal couple, was known for his rebellious nature and tendency to cause trouble. Despite this, he was set to inherit the throne and become the next king.
With his athletic abilities, intelligence, charm, and cunning nature, Jaren had all the qualities needed to be a great ruler. All he would need to do is focus and put effort into his responsibilities.
His sisters, Eleanor and Claire, were supportive of their brother, while his parents only wished for his success and the prosperity of the kingdom.
The sound of grass crunching beneath ones feet filled the air.
"Your Highness? Your Highness? Do not play around!" A lady in a white and black dress scrambled around the enormous field. The distant sound of giggling could be heard from the corner of the kingdom. "Come now, your father the king is calling for you," she huffed.
A young man perched up on top of the castle wall lazily tilted his head a bit to face the castle maid. He swung around the one foot, and he dangled on the edge. "I don't care what my father says," a slanted smirk tugged on his face.
"Young man, you must come now! You have important business to do," she put her hands on her hips. Her dress danced in the wind, the young maid readjusted her head band and tugged a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Tobi, can you please just leave me be?" He rested his head on the palm of his hand. The prince changed his tone, now it is sorrowful and whiny. He puffed up his cheeks and buried his head in his arm that is rested on his knee. It was a supposed cute act, the prince was quite cute and charming indeed.
Many maidens have fallen head over heels for him and this act alone would send the girls screaming, but Tobi just rolled her eyes, "Your Highness, even if you do that you still have to go, now come before the guards come personally to drag you inside."
"Are you doubting my skills to fight them off?" His tone changed again to a seemingly boisterous demeanor. It seemed like he wanted a challenge.
"Of course not your Highness, I know you'd be able to beat them but you know what will happen if your father finds out you've beaten up his guards." Tobi let out a deep sigh, her wavy hair flowing in the wind.
The prince here seems to have a lot of mood swings which affect his personality, well that isn't quite true. The truth is that all his seemingly different personalities all make up who he is. A rebellious and brave young man who is cunning but yet charming and cute. That's the prince’s personality in a nutshell.
"Fine," he groaned in annoyance. Smitty took a big leap and landed perfectly on the dirt path where he immediately started walking. Tobi hurriedly caught up the the prince.
Smitty ran his hand through his hair, messing it up a little. "Now your hair is all messy! Bend down and let me fix it now!" The shorter female ordered him with a sassy tone.
She pointed at the ground with a frustrated look on her face. Smitty obediently crouched down as she fixed up his hair.
"Why is father calling me this time?" He readjusts the badge on the side of his outfit. The young prince was wearing a white prince outfit with a red cloth swung on his shoulder, his outfit had golden buttons made out of the finest silk, also black and golden pads on his shoulders. His pants were also fully red
"I don't know, I'm pretty sure he wants you to meet someone."
The boy let out a loud annoyed groan, "I swear if it's another princess he's trying to set me up with I will lose it." he grumbled to himself, but the maid still heard him.
The maid continued to fix his hair as she hummed a tune. "Well if it is please don't be so uptight and rude to her, even if you're not interested they might even be a good friend."
"I don't get it, I've just never been super interested in the girls my father brings around for me to meet."
"You'll find the right one someday I'm sure of it, who could resist such a handsome face as yours?" Tobi skipped further from the prince, her back facing him. Only turning her head backward to face him with her hands behind her back with a smile on her face.
Smitty stood up straight again as they neared the large castle of Atheria. The tall majestic castle overshadowed the two.
"Prince Jaren," two guards next to the back entrance immediately bowed when they saw Smitty.
"Quit the formalities, where's the old man?" He playfully punched the taller of the two guards on the shoulder.
"He should be in the throne room with the guest," the tallest replied and playfully blocked smitty’s punch.
"Hm, alright thanks Fitz, see ya Tobi," Smitty did the salute hand sign before twirling around with his back facing them.
"He's going to be a great king one day," Tobi smiled at Fitz,
"You think so? He's a free spirit alright, but that can be a good and bad thing at the same time." The other guard, Swagger leaned on a large marble pillar behind him.
Swagger cocked his head, "Well I heard the guest is a boy this time, the same age as the prince is."
“Wonder how this will end.”
...
Smitty walked through the empty hallway, large frames were nailed on the wall. A lot were Smitty's ancestors and family photos, nothing too interesting.
His feet trudged on the red carpet, eventually reaching the throne room. There were in total of 6 thrones, one for each member of the family. His throne was the biggest out of all, excluding his parents of course.
There on the largest throne was his dad, in front of his dad, there was a boy around Smitty's age formally kneeling in front of his father. (Like how guards kneel at their rulers)
One leg rested fully on the floor while the other was bended with his arm rested on it and he was looking down.
His uniform was not one that the prince had seen before, it was gray with stripes of red on the collar. With a large white belt and silver buttons.
He walked up to his father while still carefully analyzing the boy. Smitty could not see his face clearly for he was looking downwards.
"Jaren, what took you so long?" His father chimed with disappointment.
"Who's this?" He replied trying to avoid his father's question.
"That is what I called you here for," Edward cleared his throat and continued, "he will be a new royal guard starting tomorrow, but he also has the role of looking after you."
The prince stood there dumbfounded, "you think I can't take care of myself?" He over exaggerated his tone to seem like he was offended.
"Well, I think it's the best choice of action, it doesn't matter whether you can take care of yourself or not. I've been hearing a lot of news about criminals all around town-"
"So you're scared I'll get hurt?" Smitty crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Specifically, those are the two reasons I have, now I want you to show him to the headquarters where he'll be staying with the other guards," his father instructed.
The prince wasn't really quite fond of the idea he'll be ‘watched over’. "Fine, whatever, but aren't you gonna tell me his name?" he sighed.
"That's for you to find out on your own, you are dismissed."
Smitty could only roll his eyes in protest, he walked in front of the boy. The new royal guard stood up, and bowed towards the prince. Smitty noticed that he was pretty good looking, he seemed like a person who would be very good at physical things judging from his body. But what entranced him the most was his beautiful lake blue eyes. It took him awhile to notice that he was staring at the guard for a weirdly long time.
Smitty cleared his throat, "come with me I guess," he was still pretty salty about it. The guard quietly followed as they walked out of the throne room and to the path in the courtyard.
The warm rays were partly blocked by the roof on top of them while still being able to see the courtyard.
'Should I ask for his name? He's oddly quiet,' the brunette ran his hand through his hair while thinking carefully to himself.
‘Fuck it’
"Soooo whats your name?" He turned around so he could talk to the guard face to face. Smitty plastered a wide smile on his face waiting for an answer. When he got none he stopped in his tracks, the guard did too. "Are you deaf or something? Should I write down my question?" He said in a joking tone. Still no response.
Smitty looked down and noticed the black gloves on the guard’s hand. He jumped closer and pulled the glove off his hand, the guard flinched. Smitty noticed how his fingers were decorated with many beautiful silver rings that shone brightly in the light. "Your highness please give me back my glove," the guard maintained a neutral face but Smitty noticed how his voice strained with held back annoyance.
"Oh so you can speak! Well if you want the glove back, catch me if you can!" He teased, then proceeded to bolt to the courtyard. Of course the guard ran after him.
The younger slid over the table very quickly, the guard did the same. Then the prince noticed the small opening at the bottom part of the hedge. He slid through it as smooth as butter. Smitty then slowed down a little, pretty confident that the new royal guard would be able to get through but then the guard also jumped through the hedges with ease.
Then they both ran until they reached another sidewalk next to a building, the sidewalk's roof was help up by marble pillars.
Smitty ran towards there and was eventually stuck. Behind him was a table and in front of him and closing in was the guard. He backed away as much as he could but his back was pressed against the table.
The guard slammed both hands on the table, trapping the prince in between. "Pfft-" Smitty burst into laughter while still quite out of breath, "that was entertaining, you're the first one to catch me this fast."
"May I please have my glove back now?" He repeated, the prince only now noticed his dull and monotone voice, Smitty found it very entrancing and calming.
"Sure here, can I have your name now?" Smitty handed the glove back to its owner. He then fasened the glove back on his hand, hiding his intricate rings, and backed away from the prince.
The guard shook his head. "Oh come on you know my name, can I have yours?" Smitty did puppy dog eyes.
"John Keyes," he said blandly.
"Well, John, I'm still wondering why you wouldn't talk before."
"You didn't give me permission to," he said simply with a neutral expression.
"What a joke, you don't need my permission to talk, it's called free will." The prince chuckled.
"But the king said-"
"Who cares what that old man says? You're MY guard now aren't you?" Smitty had a dorky smile plastered on his face.
"I don't really like talking either," John nonchalantly added.
"Well you better get used to talking, after all you are supposed to look after ME right?" Smitty craned his neck closer to the guard. "The headquarters are right here, at least now I've already assessed your abilities, I accept you as a new royal guard."
John glanced over to the door next to the table, "thank you your highness," John bowed.
Smitty cringed, "No need for formalities, call me Smitty."
"Are you su-"
"Of course I am," Smitty cut him off, they both stared into each other's eyes. Smitty quickly turned his head and averted his gaze. "See you tomorrow, John." The prince looked back at him with a warm smile. Then he waved the guard off before walking off.
After Smitty was out of view he started smiling like a total dork, "he's interesting," was all he could say.
John stared at the door for a second, 'such a reckless and rebellious prince indeed,' he internally sighed. 'I'm gonna be stuck with him for awhile, I guess I have to make it work.' He thought to himself quite determined.
Little did both of them know what future holds for the two boys.