the prince and the pauper ; kubokai royalty au

5 ¬ changing! ¬

"Good evening, Prince. May I come in?"

Shun sat up from his bed upon hearing Aren's voice. 

He's here?

...

Of course he's here. You knew he'd be coming, idiot. This is his job. Act normal for once.

"Uh..y-yes! Come in!" He called back hestiantly, praying that Aren couldn't detect the panic in his voice.

The door opened slowly, and revealed Aren standing in the doorway with a smile on his face. He walked inside and shut the door behind him. The second the door closed, he relaxed a little, remembering what Shun had said before. However, he didn't completely relax, as he was still on duty, and he aimed to serve Shun regardless. He turned to face him, and cleared his throat.

"And so we meet again at last." He said, as if he'd been waiting for this evening all day. Maybe he had. Maybe it was just Shun imagining things.
Aren, as if snapped into work mode, then began tidying up Shun's room a little, putting things away and clearing the floor. "How are you, Prince? I must say.. you do look a little tired."

"Mm, yeah, maybe a little. But I don't want to go to sleep yet."

"You sound like a little kid."

"Hey, i'm still young. I'm allowed." Shun swiveled to the side of his bed so he was perched on the edge of it. "Actually, if you don't mind me asking.. how old are you?" 

"Oh, it's okay, I don't mind. I turned 17 in September."

Shun gasped, a bit too loud for it to be unnoticeable.  

"What? Did you think I'd be older?"

"No, well, yes actually, but that's not why I gasped." He rubbed at the nape of his neck as he spoke, clearly embarrassed. "The thing is..I actually turned 17 in October."

"Really?" Aren replied, turning his head to look at Shun from across the room. His voice then lowered, and he laughed a little to himself. "At least i'm still older than you."

"I heard that. It's only by one month, don't flatter yourself so much. Remember who's the actual person of importance here-" Shun said, then immediately regretted it, because he wasn't sure if they were close enough for him to make jokes like that. He wanted nothing more than to upset Aren on their first day of knowing eachother. "I'm so sorry..I shouldn't have said that."

But, Aren didn't even seem to care. In fact, he laughed at him. "Oh yes, sorry, your highness."

"You called me that this morning. I'm really sorry but I could not take it seriously..I almost laughed."

"I was nervous!"

This was insane. Surely it was uncalled for to have a servant and a prince converse together like this? Well, yes, Shun did like to talk to his servants in a friendly way, but they were always so nervous and stiff as they spoke to him. Even Hana never really dropped her work persona when she talked to him. 

But not Aren. 

And they'd only known eachother for one day, and it was already as if they'd been friends for years! 

.. Friends?

Is this what it feels like to have a friend?

Aside from his family, all the people Shun have ever known have so precariously waited on him hand and foot, given him everything he wanted and made sure he was never unhappy. But they were doing a job. He'd never truly been able to talk to somebody, somebody his own age at that, and have them be their true self, and not just their "I'm working for the royal family so I have to be professional all the time or I will be fired immediately" self. Which Shun understood. He'd accepted this while back. 

But yet, here he was, laughing and joking around with someone who is really only supposed to be a plain servant waiting on him, nothing more.

"Um, Shun, do you want me to prepare a bath for you?" Aren's question interrupted his thoughts, and he was brought back to reality. He was holding a fresh folded towel in one hand.

"Oh, um, only if you wouldn't mind. Thank you."

"Of course. It's no trouble. I'll be back soon." He left the room quickly, but still shot a smile towards Shun before he was out the door. And, as promised, he was back within minutes. 

"Okay, the water is running now, it should be ready soon. So..normally, I guess i'd help you, um, undress," Aren began, and it was clear that he tried to hold in his laughter, a contained smile spread across his face, "but i've been told that you'd prefer to do this yourself. I..did notice that you don't wear any really tight clothes, so it's likely you wouldn't need my help for that anyway."

Shun laughed, but deep down wondered if he was as red with embarrassment on the outside as he felt inside. He's supposed to UNDRESS me? That's his job?!  He had never been told this.., but he supposed there was really no actual need, as he's insisted on putting his clothes on and taking them off by himself for as long as he could remember.

But..just for a small, slither of a moment, he almost felt, well.., disappointed that he didn't wear difficult clothing, but he dismissed this thought immediately. And pushed it to the back of his mind. And pretended he never even had the idea in the first place. 

"Well, in that case, i'll leave you to get ready. I'll go watch over the bath for now, come in when you're ready." He smiled again and picked up the towel, and left a velvet bathrobe in it's absence so Shun could travel to the bathroom without streaking through the palace hallways. Almost as quickly as he had come in the room, he was gone again, and with that, Shun was once again reminded. 

They weren't really friends, as much as Shun wanted to fool himself.
When it comes down to it, Aren is working. He's doing these simple things for Shun only because Aren is working class, and Shun is a prince and therefore obviously cannot and should not do them himself. Aren is being friendly because he's being paid, and no matter how much he tried to deny it, that's the only reason.

He sighed to himself, in his big grand empty room, and looked longingly at the open door in which Aren had left through.

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a/n: sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes..

its late and im too tired to proof read it >.<

its also christmas morning!! merry christmas to those who celebrate, and happy holidays to those who dont 

<3 lverboy