I'm back bitches.
Taro stood outside of Oxley's bedroom. He stared at the painting in front of him; the canvas was large and dusty. In the painting, angels wrapped in vines sat on golden clouds. Taro wondered who had painted it, and how long it had been on that wall, and how many other paintings had decorated that space, and how old the Palace was, and whether Sage had grown up in the Palace or moved into it once his mother was crowned the Queen.
His thoughts parted when he heard raised voices from the inside of the bedroom. Sage's deep voice was a lot less defensive than Oxley's whiney one. Taro felt uncomfortable without Sage in view. Despite them growing close, he still had a job to do, and that was to protect Sage at all costs, no matter what.
Sometimes the pressure of being a Prince's personal guard made him shiver with unease. Sage had a lot of enemies. Someone had already broken into the Palace while Taro had been working there, and someone had tried to harm him in Sage's bedroom.
A lot of fear surrounded the Prince who was next in line for the throne. Taro, not so long ago, thought Sage was a snobby, narcissistic, clueless man in a fake world of ridiculous tradition and ridiculous wealth. Sage Green was in fact a kind man, but full of anxiety in a world that was changing too fast for him and his traditions. Taro had seen how the tabloids and the photographers tore him down and shaped him to be something he wasn't.
Taro cringed at the way he had so blindly believed the things he had seen about Sage when he was plastered across the front pages for yet another day. He deserves to be with me, somewhere quiet, somewhere he can be himself. Taro crossed his arms and scowled at the painting. At breakfast, he had wanted to speak his mind, but that would've gotten him fired. Sage's family so easily battered him to the floor, and Sage so easily allowed it.
If Taro had been in the Prince's position, he would've made it very clear that nobody could tell him what to do, but that was the difference between front page Sagerian, and real-life Sagerian. Tabloid Sage was a man who did as he pleased no matter who he hurt, while real-life Sage was so afraid of upsetting others that he would drown himself to keep others afloat.
The door suddenly opened behind him, and Sage stormed into his back. "Sorry," he grumbled and stomped down the corridor towards his own room. Taro followed, watching Sage's curls bounce angrily atop his head.
"What happened?" he asked when they were safely inside his bedroom with the door closed.
Sage paced back and forth a few times, rubbing fingers along his chin, and wearing the rug raw with the bottom of his shoes. "Nothing happened. Oxley wouldn't tell me anything. He said it was safer if I didn't know, and he didn't trust me enough not to go running to mum and dad. I know he was lying and just trying to upset me enough that I would storm out . . . which worked, but-" Sage gripped his curls and groaned with frustration. "Why will nobody tell me anything?"
"If you really want to know what he's hiding, just make it clear that you won't stop asking about it," Taro said, wanting to offer anything that might help Sage to calm down. "He'll tell you eventually, if you don't shut up about it."
"Or I could ask my dad what's going on." Sage stood by the window, frowning down to the garden. "I'm fed up with not knowing."
"Then show them that you don't need to be protected from this. If you want to know, do everything you can to find out the truth."
Sage then slouched and mumbled, "Maybe it would be better if I didn't know."
"Why? Can you not handle the truth?" Taro dared to ask. Sage turned to stare, the way he did when he was shocked that someone spoke to him in such a bold way. Then his posture relaxed as he accepted that Taro meant no harm. He just needs a bit of provoking sometimes.
"Of course I can," Sage said defensively. "I handled your truth pretty well, even if I sometimes forget I haven't dreamt that you're a plant person. I just wish my life was a lot simpler than it actually is."
"Then stop complicating it for yourself." Taro smirked, enjoying the way he could talk to a Prince with such ease. "You did handle my truth well, on behalf of everyone like me who works here, we're grateful."
Sage hesitantly stepped towards him. "That's the power I have in me. If I didn't accept you, I would create so much fear. I don't want people to think that I'd use this power as a way to get what I want."
"Those who meet you face to face know that you wouldn't do that," Taro reassured. "You're nice, and you're genuine. You need to give yourself a break."
"I tried to, and that only made us closer. Every time I try to unwind, I get ahead of myself and start to think that this life outside the crown's grasp is somehow achievable."
Taro's brows twitched. He wanted to frown, but he shouldn't have been surprised that Sage often thought of a life beyond being a Royal. "Run away with me," he said as a joke, though Sage still looked at him as though Taro had told him to jump out of his window headfirst.
"And where would I go? I think I'd get as far as the gates before I'm spotted."
"Not if you jump the wall like Oxley," Taro said, entertaining the idea. "We'll run to the woods, they're not that far. I'm at home there, and you seem to like being outdoors." Taro grinned to show Sage that he wasn't being serious, but Sage looked to the floor and fidgeted.
"How far away are the woods?" he asked quietly.
"About six miles east."
Sage's soft hazel eyes had toughened with thought, until he caught Taro looking at him with the same pensive stare. "And then what? I manage to get down a few streets before the paparazzi are in my face." Sage scoffed. "A ridiculous idea," he said shaking his head. "don't ever joke about that again."
He's scared those dreams will get too big to ignore. "Alright I won't, Sir."
"Don't say that. You don't have to be that formal anymore."
"I never was."
Sage smiled. "No, you never were."
Taro dared to rest a hand on Sage's waist.
"Stop, the curtains are open!" Sage hissed.
"We're next to the wall, nobody can see us," Taro whispered deeply. "Even if people did see, then what are they looking into your bedroom window for?"
"You'll be surprised by how nosey people are. Workers here are not loyal. I don't doubt that they'd get fired just to leak a picture of me to the press, especially one's of me like this-" Sage's gaze dropped to Taro's hand on his waist. "-with you."
"Life's full of surprises."
"Like you turning into a plant."
"And you not being a self-centred idiot with more money than sense."
"Wow, you really did judge me harshly."
"I did." Taro felt guilty sometimes. "But I was wrong, and I'm happy to admit it." He looked at Sage's full lips. Would he reject a kiss? "let's go on a midnight date tonight."
"Tonight? How? Where?"
"In the gardens. We can just go deep into the darkness. Nobody will see us, and we'll be surrounded by people of my kind. They won't say anything."
"How far do we have to go until we're completely alone?"
"Way into the field, maybe into the middle of it." Taro could see Sage's thought process. He frowned, then pursed his lips, then peeked out towards the gardens, and brought his eyes back to him.
"What if someone sees us?"
"Then they see us."
Sage thought some more, this time tapping his foot. "Nobody will see us if we go at two in the morning, and if we go right into the middle of the field."
"We'll go at two then. I don't eat your human food, but I can make you some uh- I don't know. Something you'd eat at two in the morning?"
"And I can bring you some... I don't know- plant food in a little cup?"
Taro smiled. "Sure, do that." He clasped his hands together. "A date after a first kiss, how scandalous."
"Stop it," Sage complained, failing to hide his small smile. His hands slowly clasped Taro's hands that still held his waist. Gently, Sage moved them away, but gripped tightly. "It's nice being close to you, though we still have to be really careful."
Taro squeezed his hands in return. "I understand." With one glance to the window, Taro could see the empty courtyard and the empty field below. A storm was brewing, and the gardeners were taking shelter. Taro quickly leaned in and pressed his lips to Sage's ear, hearing him gasp and hold his breath. "I'll be careful." He pressed his lips firmly into his skin before pulling away and standing by the door.
Sage was flushed and needed a moment to pull himself away from the wall. He cleared his throat and busied himself at his desk.
Taro watched on in comfortable silence, resisting the urge to check his watch. It's going to be such a slow day, he thought, wishing for the day to drain away, wishing for the moon, wishing for 2am.