For the rest of the day, Sage got on with his Princely tasks, such as entertaining more guests who visited the queen. He felt Taro's presence wherever he went. Every time he looked up, Taro was watching him, and Sage's heart fluttered.
He likes me. He actually likes me. He pinched his palm to stop himself from thinking about their simple head kiss. By evening, they had to return to the bedroom because Taro needed to change forms. Sage had forgotten, and Taro had been patient, but he struggled to get up the stairs and almost collapsed onto the floor mid transformation.
Sage got him water and gently put the Devil's Ivy on his bedside table. "I'm so sorry. I should set an alarm. I won't forget again," he vowed.
He then got himself ready for bed and laid on top of the covers as the fire crackled away, warming the room. Shadows distorted on the ceiling as he thought about Taro Vinea, his valet and his personal guard, sleeping on the table next to him in plant form.
Sage had been so quick to distort the truth. He convinced himself that Taro was just entertaining himself by casually flirting, and a kiss on the head meant nothing to him. Taro admitting his feelings had changed everything. Each glance, each gentle touch, each smile was laced with a secret.
I don't know what to do. Sage curled up. I like him too, but this can't be good for us. Can it? He fell asleep with a restless head and had restless dreams. When the fire was dull simmering ashes, he woke to a loud thump in his room. He had dreamt of being buried into the ground, but instead of soil covering him, he was consumed by cameras that yelled horrible things.
Sage wrapped arms around himself and buried his head into his pillow, trying to forget the dream.
He woke again when the sun shone into his eyes through a gap in the curtains. Taro wasn't leaning over him with a smirk. He wasn't on the bedside table either. He must be ironing my clothes. Sage checked his watch, assuming dawn had only just broken the star-filled sky.
He leapt out of bed when the clock said 9:30am. Sage had missed breakfast. He dashed around his room, grabbing the clothes that were leaning over his desk chair from the night before. On his mad rush into the bathroom, Sage skidded to a halt.
Taro was lying on the floor, in his plant form. His pot had smashed, and his roots were out in the open. "No!" Sage gasped, flinging his clothes across the room. he scooped him up. Taro's leaves were curled and didn't move against his touch.
Sage didn't care that he touched his roots. He coiled the vines around his wrist and bolted from his bedroom, still wearing his pyjamas.
The guards he ran past leapt off the wall, staring wide-eyed at the plant in his hands as he hurried by. Mrs Beecham was humming to herself in the shed when Sage burst through the door, gasping for breath.
"Help!" was all Sage could yell, holding out his hands for her to see.
Mrs Beecham dropped the packet of tomato seeds. "Taro?"
"He was on the floor when I woke up! His pot was smashed, he must have fallen off the bedside table. I don't know how long he's been like this!" Panic rose in his voice. Sage automatically thought of the worst, but Mrs Beecham remained as calm as she could.
She grabbed a pot from underneath the desk. It was turquoise and had a chip at the top, but she paid no attention to detail and stuffed it with the soil Taro had chosen the other day. Sage stuffed the plant in the pot, watered it with mixed in plant food, and waited.
Taro's vines hung down, still and motionless like he was just any old plant.
"He'll be okay, right?" Sage asked, pacing from one foot to the other.
"I'm not sure. That was like leaving you out in minus temperatures all night with nothing on your body." She frowned, inspecting his heart-shaped leaves. "It looks like the pot crushed some of his vines.
"He has to be okay, right? He was in a worse state when I first got him!" Sage thought back to the poor plant, snapped and weak with only a few chewed leaves and barely any soil.
"It's a miracle he survived that."
Sage paced until Mrs Beecham forced him onto a stool.
"Have you had breakfast?"
Sage shook his head.
"Have your family seen you this morning?"
Sage shook his head again.
"Then you need to calm down. Someone will come looking for you and you can't be in this state over a houseplant."
"But-"
"I know it's Taro, but they don't know that. To them he's just a plant, so to you he's just a plant, not your Valet."
"He's my friend," Sage whispered, staring hopelessly at Taro sitting in a pot that wasn't his favourite colour.
Mrs Beecham took off her gardening gloves and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should go and put your mind on other things. I'll let you know the moment things change."
"No. I'll stay. You have work to do. It doesn't matter if I have a day off."
"Sage, I know it does."
He sat up straight and neatened his curls. "If mum sends Finley Wainhouse, I'll make it clear that I'm busy in here."
Mrs Beecham didn't try to argue and gave him a list of jobs he could pretend to do if someone snooped. Before she went, she added, "You come and get me the moment things change, especially if he deteriorates. I'll have to call his mother."
Sage's stomach dropped and he wanted to be sick. Instead, he pulled his stool closer and watched over Taro until his eyes stung.
His father visited the shed before lunch. Taro had made no change and Sage was getting increasingly worried. "What the hell are you doing in here, and in your nightwear? You missed breakfast," his father boomed in the doorway. Sage swallowed his worry and turned to face him.
"I wasn't hungry." He busied himself with rearranging the packet of seeds that covered half the wall by the window. "And I didn't feel like getting dressed."
"Right." Haliver didn't leave the doorway. "Where's that personal guard of yours?"
"He went to the toilet."
"Next time, you go with him. I'm not paying him a twenty-four-hour wage to lose sight of you. Tell him I said that when he comes back and tell him he's still your Valet and will dress you in the mornings. You can't walk about in your pyjamas."
Sage stared sadly at the Devil's Ivy plant. His father gave him an odd look but left without pressing further. He was a hard man who carried on no matter what life threw at him, but he often couldn't see that emotion wasn't a weakness; it was a human's nature.
He waited and waited, willing for Taro to change back, but he didn't, not even when Mrs Beecham finished her workday. She stayed with Sage, trying to comfort him.
"It might take him a few days to recover," she said, tying up her long ginger hair.
"Then what will I tell people? My new personal guard has taken a few days leave? My father will make me fire him." Sage slumped against the wall and waited another three hours. His stomach rumbled from hunger, and his throat hurt from thirst. "He hasn't deteriorated. That's good, right?"
Mrs Beecham nodded, making herself comfortable in the corner. They waited, and waited, until Sage drifted in and out of sleep. He dreamt of nothing and woke up with a sore back and no change from Taro.
Mrs Beecham eventually got up to stretch her legs and knocked a tub of multicoloured gravel to the floor, startling Sage out of his nap.
He helped her clean up, glad to be off the hard stool. "What time is it?" he mumbled.
"Almost midnight. We're lucky your father didn't come back."
"He knows that I like my space." He just doesn't often understand.
Sage brushed down his hands and turned to check on the plant. In the plants place, Taro stood, poking his new turquoise jumper with a confused frown.
"Taro!" Sage gasped and ran to him. He flung his arms around him and hugged him tight. He felt Taro's arms coil around his back. "I was so worried!" He felt Taro's chin resting down on his shoulder.
"I'm okay," Taro said quietly, squeezing him.
The relief quickly simmered, and they cherished their embrace by strengthening it. "I was thinking the worst!" Sage admitted.
"I recovered quickly."
"What happened?"
Taro squeezed him even tighter, and Sage was aware of how much he didn't want to let go. "I must've changed too close to the edge. I'm sorry for worrying you so much, I just didn't have the energy to change back until now."
"I'm just glad you're okay." Sage pulled back a little. Taro looked exhausted with blood-shot eye and skin paler than usual. "Are you hurt?"
"Not really." Taro opened his mouth to say something else, then spotted Mrs Beecham standing in the corner, watching them closely. "Thank you, both of you for making sure I'd be okay. I got worried when I couldn't transform."
Sage pulled away from him, also noticing Mrs Beecham's stare. He was too thankful that Taro was okay to care that someone had seen them hug. We're friends, it's normal. "Come on, you should rest more."
"Make sure you order yourself some food, Sage. You haven't eaten all day," Mrs Beecham said after a long yawn.
"Get home safely. I can arrange a car to drop you off?"
"That's alright Sage, I'll be fine. I'll see you both in the morning." Mrs Beecham waved them goodbye, and they finally went their separate ways.
Sage guided Taro to the bedroom. He was slow on the stairs, and a little out of breath when he sat on the end of Sage's bed, but he was alive, and could only get stronger. Sage sat next to him, trying not to suffocate him with his troubles.
"Stop looking at me like that. I'm okay now." Taro smiled weakly.
"You really worried me."
"I know because you hugged me."
"I thought you might die on me." Sage wrung his hands.
"I'm Epipremnum aureum, I'm resilient." Taro nudged him with his shoulder. "You really helped though. I heard you willing for me to change back, and that made me fight a little harder to get my strength back."
Sage pursed his lips, feeling his emotions clawing to get out. "I had a lot of time to think about what we talked about yesterday. You're right, I want excitement. I'm unhappy living the way I am now. Nothing is guaranteed, I have to take risks, especially now while I'm still just a Prince."
"So, what are you saying?" Taro asked, circling Sage's face with his hopeful eyes.
"I-I think I'm saying that I like you too."