The Bars Between (MxM)

10

"Jadain's informed me that you haven't been performing up to the levels you need to be at during training."

Adren groaned internally. Jadain was one of his fathers advisors that his father made teach the young prince various responsibilities, preparing him for king. He also would help with physical training, so Adren had no idea what levels he was referring to. "What am I performing poorly at?" He asked, his tone poorly-masked annoyance.

Either his father didn't notice or didn't care about his rudeness since he continued. "Everything!" Oh. Adren felt his heart sink. "All I ever hear is how distracted you are, how you can never focus on what he's teaching you, how you'll always wander off and lose your thoughts! You are to be king!" His voice was raised. In truth, Adren's attention span was nearly nonexistent with a few exceptions. Pretty much every time he got distracted he was thinking about Ryion alone in his cell. But he never got distracted when his father was speaking directly to him, so the only explanation he had this time was it was one of those rare exceptions. "You must perform well, you'll use everything to run the kingdom! I need a good king to follow after me!" Words that Adren had heard so many times before. He didn't actually want to become king, from what he saw his father do it was an incredibly boring job and something Adren wouldn't be able to sit still through, but he could never tell his father that. He was the only heir to the kingdom, he had to take over. "I'll be increasing your lesson time with Jadain until I see some improvement!"

No! Adren thought in his head. He barely had time to slip off to Ryion as it was, there'd be even less time if he had more lessons.

As soon as Adren was dismissed, he headed straight for the kitchens, then, with his hands full, went down what had become a very familiar path.

Adren didn't even say a greeting, just sat down on the ground and leaned up against the bars, the coldness seeping through his shirt.

"What's wrong?"

Adren felt a hand rest on his shoulder. "My dad's just getting on my nerves. He's making me have to work longer even though I feel like I'm doing fine, so I don't get it and he's not listening to what I have to say about it, it's like he doesn't even care about it!"

He felt the hand on his shoulder extend and wrap around more of his body, like he was trying to give him a hug. "I'm sorry about that." He could feel his breathing in the back of his neck.

"It means I'll have less time to be down here." He felt the arm sound him tighten.

"You're down here for so little time already." Ryion whispered.

Adren scooted forward until Ryion's arm fell off of him then turned around to face him and scooted closer to him again. "I know, I'm sorry."

Ryion looked at him with a look Adren couldn't decipher. His face suddenly lit up. "Hey, look at what I've been working on!" He said, hands reaching out to grip the bars as he slowly pulled himself up.

Adren watched with wide eyes as Ryion let go, balancing perfectly on his two feet and took a few steps back.

He stood up himself, stepping closer to the bars, arms gripping them, a smile forming on his face. They had been working on walking for a few days now. Ryion then walked towards the bars again, grabbing them just above Adren's hands.

For the first time, Adren got to see exactly how tall Ryion was. He had to look up at him as he was a whole head taller.

He didn't even notice the change in the atmosphere, the quiet tense atmosphere, the only noise being the breathing of the two.

He leaned in closer, his toes extending, lifting him higher, closer. Ryion bent lower, a hand extending and cupping Adren's chin.

Neither flinched away when their faces pressed against the cold of the bars.

And neither pulled away when their lips connected.