Chapter Text
Chapter 4: Plans Continue
It was morning, and that ment breakfast time. Good smells and aromas filled the air as they wafter out from the kitchen. Usually, this would seem like a perfect morning, as the sun was out and the birds were chirping. But for our dear Apollus, that was not the case. Apollus dreaded mornings because that ment he had to see his father for breakfast. His father, King Victor, was an… interesting man- as Apollus liked to put it. King Victor was a good King, don’t get me wrong. However, he tended to change around his son. It was like flipping a switch. The man became strict and stubborn. He was harder than rock and always seemed dissatisfied in Apollus’s attempts to bond. King Victor was like this ever since Apollus could remember.
Apollus got up slowly, stretching his limbs and popping a few joints. He went to his wardrobe and changed into a simple white shirt with maroon accents. He put on simple black pants, shoes, and fixed his curly, light brown hair the best he could before walking to the dining room.
When he sat down, his father wasn’t there yet. Apollus looked to his mother. “Where’s father?”
She looked to him with that sweet mother’s smile that calmed any child. “He’ll be here soon; he’s just walking to some of the advisers for a moment.”
Apollus nodded as his father came in and sat at the head of the table. Food was immediately brought out and placed in front of the three. Warm rolls, jams, honey, hard-boiled eggs, sunny side up eggs, oatmeal, and more were layed out, the smells mixing, creating a heavenly sent.
“My apologies for being late; I had business to discuss,” King Victor explained. He nodded and they all started eating. Apollus took some porridge, an egg, and a roll with jam to eat. A moment or two had passed of silence before the doors to the dining room opened and Malachi appeared. The jester was always there for a family meal.
Apollus couldn’t not look at the boy he spent most of the day with yesterday. He had less face paint on- just simple stars in the colors of the kingdom flag. His smile lit up the room and the bells of Malachi’s costume jingled as he walked to the end of the table, opposite of the king. Malachi bowed.
“Good morning to the royal family.” Malachi glanced at Apollus and Apollus felt hot for a moment.
Malachi did his performance, making everyone laugh, including some of the staff as they took and left things. But he soon left and Apollus dreaded what was coming.
“Are you done with the ball plans yet, Apollus? You know we need them as soon as possible.” The king’s tone was full of judgement. Apollus knew his father was looking down on him. He saw his mother shrink back slightly. She knew not to interfere.
“Almost, I’m just putting on final details.” Apollus wanted this conversation to end before it had began, but it was too late for that.
“You should hurry up. When I was your age, I was done earlier than this and people said it was amazing.” King Victor boasted on and on about all the things he did when he was Apollus’s age. Apollus had been through this thousands of times. He knew not to say anything; to just keep his head down. Queen Elena did the same.
The moment Apollus could leave that room, he did. He went back to his room, back to his planning, back to shutting out the world. Apollus worked till his body was craving to go somewhere else. So he did. He walked down the halls, mind still half on his work, and found the willow tree again. His willow tree. The branch was still on the ground from when Malachi had fell. Apollus took off his blazer and set it at the base of the tree. He lifted the branch. It wasn’t too heavy, but I did drag a bit.
Malachi was watching from a window sill on the second floor. He climbed a tree to get up there and watched the sky for a bit. Until he saw Apollus. The jester watched the prince take off his blazer, his eyes immediately falling to the prince’s muscles. Malachi felt hot all of a sudden.
“He’s a prince, of course he has muscle,” Malachi muttered to himself. Apollus wasn’t some massive slab of meat, but he was fairly toned. Malachi brought his knees to his chest and peaked his head over just a bit as he watched Apollus put the branch in the garden trimmings from that day, which the gardener had done that morning. Malachi groaned. He knew what he was. The boy had come to terms with him being a homosexual years ago. But it was highly frowned upon and could get you killed in this age. So what did our joyful actor do? He hid it. Only Malachi’s mother knew, and she loved him all the same. But Malachi couldn’t fall for the prince. This was… this was just thinking he was attractive. That was all.
Apollus went back to the willow and put back on his blazer. He looked up at the sky towards the castle and spotted Malachi. The simple sight of the jingling boy made him smile. Apollus waved and saw the jester wave back. It made him strangely happy. Apollus didn’t know this feeling, but it was soon overcome as he went back to work, staying up late into the night.
This continued for a week. The breakfast; the work; the small waves and hang outs between Apollus and Malachi; the working late into the nights. But the ball plans was finally finished. Things were set into place and the ball was prepared for. Apollus looked worse and worse as the days of preparation continued. Malachi noticed. How could he not? The beautiful prince now had deep eye bags; he had trouble paying attention and not falling asleep. He looked like a zombie. Malachi wanted to check up on Apollus. He desperately wanted to make sure the other boy was ok. So Malachi made a plan.
He was going to talk to Apollus during the ball.