Nick had been forced to take a bath after covering himself in dirt (he said he tripped and fell, which somehow his father bought) and was now wearing a crisp outfit with tall boots. He and sister were both wearing circlets to show their position, which had to be jammed into their curls. Nick wondered why his father didn’t just have them wear crowns, but of course King Darius didn’t want to be overshadowed. Nick also had a red sash showing his status. Funnily enough, he was seated next to Casper. He wondered who had planned that seating arrangement. Probably someone who thought it’d be funny to see them fight or something. Nick’s father gave him a look of warning as he took his seat. Nick saw his newfound friend’s hairstyle and smirked. “Nice hairdo,” he whispered teasingly.
"Oh, shut up." Cas huffed. "You're one to talk with your… fancy thingies." He gestured at Nick's face, taking off the crown. He only put it back on when his father barked at him to do so. "Ugh… I hate when they make me do this." He touched his hair. "It feels much nicer when it's left to its own devices." The meeting started and Cas had to shut up; his father would flay him otherwise.
Throughout the entirety of the meeting portion, Nick made faces at Casper, trying to get him to laugh. It was dumb and his sister, who was seated next to him, reprimanded him once or twice. Finally the conversation dissolved into other subjects, and they could talk again. “Sorry for not mentioning anything, but they acted as if the hatred between Horaan and Ristallica doesn’t exist and my father would kill me if I contradicted him.” He rolled his eyes.
Nick did manage to get Cas to start giving off muffled giggles a couple times, which his father hit his arm for. "Don't worry about it." Cas replied to Nick's comment after the meeting. "I'm sure it'll come up soon. Our kingdoms do kinda hate each other." He tried to tousle up his hair again unsuccessfully, the amount of gel making it difficult. "Dammit… I'll have to take like, a thirty minute long shower to get all this shit out."
Nick snickered. “Dear ol’ dad’s definitely tried to get my hair to do that, but my hair won’t hold anything for longer than an hour. Besides, mine isn’t a total mess most of the time.” On his other side, King Darius was busy introducing Princess Jane to someone Nick didn’t know nor care about, truth be told. “And Queen Laira from Hishi looked stressed when they just glossed over our kingdoms hating each other.”
"Understandably so." Cas let his hand fall from his head, letting his hair stay neat and tidy for now. Honestly, he looked really good with it like this, but he still wasn't a fan. He noticed the princesses in the room as well, but didn't seem particularly interested as he sighed. "I think my father is going to try and set me up with a princess for an alliance or something pretty soon."
“Oh,” Nick replied, trying not to sound upset at the prospect. “And how do you feel about that? I mean, alliance marriages rarely turn out to be good ones in my experience.” He thought of his own parents’ marriage, with his mom just disappearing. Many people assumed she died but Nick wasn’t so sure. She’d never liked being the queen of Horaan.
"Um… I-I'm not really interested in… you know…" Cas looked away, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. A noticeable blush started to creep onto his pale cheeks. I'm sort of not into women.
Nick noticed his discomfort but his thoughts went in the other direction. “Yeah, marriage alliances are rough…” Nick sighed.
(Nick: is an idiot)
(Lmao)
Oh thank god. Cas sighed in relief, laughing weakly. "Haha, yeah… I'm, uh… I'm too young to marry in my opinion, and I'd rather marry for love."
“Me too,” Nick agreed. “But my dad disagrees, naturally. All he wants is an alliance and heirs.” Nick made a face. “I’m guessing your dad is the same?”
Cas nodded. "My dad doesn't care about me much. I'm sure you've heard the stories about how I came about. It's sort of a sore spot for my kingdom."
Nick winced. “I’m sure it is. My kingdom has its fair share of scandal too, but thankfully I’m largely left out of it. Are people awful about the rumors?”
"Sometimes, yeah…" Cas fidgeted uncomfortably. "It was a huge scandal and all. For me, it's just harder that she isn't there."
“If you need anyone taken care of, just tell me,” Nick half-joked with a wink. “And speaking of jerks, sorry that I was an asshole earlier. I’ve felt really bad about it since then.”
Cas blushed again at the wink, grinning. "Don't worry about it. I understand. I mean, I sort of came off as some random guy who'd stolen something from royals, so it makes sense."
Nick shrugged. “Still.” He glanced around the table before responding. “Since we were on the topic of marriage earlier, what if the only way to make everyone you cared about happy was to marry someone but you didn’t want to marry them? What would you do?” He’d brought up the topic because he noticed a girl about their age from one of the kingdoms looking in their direction. He’d already turned down two offers of marriage, which his dad allowed since neither were as powerful as he had hoped, but he, like Casper, knew it was only a matter of time.
"Um… I'd probably do it, honestly, but I feel like that isn't very fair to the other person if I'll never love them." Cas glanced up at the princess for a moment. "My father would only ever try and pair me with a woman, anyways."
Nick nodded absently. “You’re right,” he sighed. “And my dad’s the same. How else are you supposed to get heirs?” He laughed without humor. “I don’t think anything else would occur to him.”
"Heh… yeah…" Cas laughed weakly, though it was clearly pretty fake. I don't think he's catching on, which I guess is a good thing. "But I'll just stick with I'd rather not get married right now."
“Me too,” Nick replied. He glanced around before leaning in and speaking quietly. “Just between you and me, it’s a lot easier to have a secret romance now and then if you’re gay. No one ever suspects anything.” He smirked, leaning back again.
Cas blushed bright red, his face rivalling his hair. "W-What?" He brought his hands up to his chest to fidget, seeming very nervous.
“Not you, too,” Nick sighed. “Please don’t be weird about it. I said—“ he leaned in closer and spoke quieter so his sister wouldn’t over hear “—I’m gay.”
"I… um…" Cas managed to flush deeper before whispering a shaky response. "M-Me too…"
“Oh….” Nick replied, now blushing as well. “Cool.” He wasn’t sure what to say to that. The boy seated next to him was definitely attractive, but Nick wasn’t about to voice that opinion. “Wait…you were alluding to that, weren’t you?”
