the prince and the pauper ; kubokai royalty au

10 ¬ sweet talker ¬

Shun should've, in hindsight, realised that they probably should've agreed on a set time and place to meet. They didn't.

This did make things ..quite complicated, but nothing could be done about it now. Shun assumed that Aren was still in his servants quarters, and just had to pray that he was right. So he began to make his way down to them and decided he would meet him there. It was later in the morning by this point, so a lot more people were about - this was fine, though, it's not like anyone would get suspicious of him walking around his own palace. They greeted him as he walked past and carried on hurriedly, too busy to stay around and talk anyway. It was as he got nearer to the servants house that he had to be careful - even though the working day had started for many on duty servants, they were likely still milling about their rooms or were in that general area, and Shun would definitely stick out.

He arrived, and stood awkwardly in view of the corridor that led into the servant's house, peering inside. He couldn't see any other servants, but he could hear them through the walls and was definitely playing with fire here, as one could walk out at any second. Suddenly, his ears widened as he heard his name being hissed from the corridor. 

"Shun?!"

To his relief, it was Aren who emerged from the walkway, a surprised look on his face.

"What are you-.. you can't be here! Someone will see you- Shun, we have to go." Without warning, Aren grabbed onto Shun's wrist and ran through the corridor quickly, taking Shun with him. They continued to run through it, all the while hoping that nobody else left the room and noticed them. Aren led him through the small, confusing passageways before both of them escaped through a door at the end. 

"You idiot! We could've been seen and rattled out so easily!" Aren said, but he was laughing hysterically. "That was mental."

"I'm..sorry.." Shun said, clearly tired out from the running, yet he was laughing too between his sharp breaths. "But we never.. said where to meet.. so what was I supposed to do?"

"Oh, right.. I was supposed to ask you that yesterday, but I forgot to bring it up. Okay, well, it's fine now, i'm pretty sure nobody saw us."

"..Shun? What are you doing here?"

A small voice came from behind them. Both boys looked over worriedly to see..Toki, Shun's little brother. He was crouching down beside a bin, looking over at Shun, bewildered.

"Toki?..What are..- I could ask you the same thing!"

Shun knelt down so he could be on Toki's level, and Aren stood behind him, not really knowing what to do. His initial thought was that if Toki was out here, then it was likely someone had accompanied him to supervise, and wouldn't be far behind. He even began to wonder if it would be safer to go back inside through the door they'd just come out of. But Shun looked up to Aren and quickly smiled at him reassuringly, as if to say, it's okay, so he hang back.

"Well, I was exploring.. but then I heard voices coming from the door, and I got a little bit scared, so I hid here. But then I looked and I saw it was you." He spoke quietly, as if he thought saying this would get him in trouble. "..Are you going to tell Mama and Papa?"

"No, Toki. But be careful, okay? Do you not have anybody with you?"

"You told me you used to go and explore by yourself all the time. I'm fine." He muttered. 

"Mmm, okay. But promise you will be extra safe, and if you need help then find an adult, and don't go too far out." Toki nodded, and looked up at Aren curiously.

"Are you Aren?"

Aren looked down in surprise, not expecting to hear his name.

"Yes, I am. How do you know that?" He asked him kindly, and Shun tensed in embarrassment.