unexpected reality // coroika

「the commoner」

it was the afternoon and newper had just finished their first round of practice. without emperor, prince led the team this time while trying out new strategies.

team newper enters the living room by the glass patio door. eging and laceless sit on the couch while prince goes to his room. n-pacer brings back four cups of tea and sits on the armchair.

the room is silent in the cozy living room. n-pacer grabs a cup and takes a sip. the anxious sound of a ticking clock grows louder with every passing second. it felt like hours have passed in this awful silence.

in reality, only a few minutes passed by without the prince in the room. he was busy contemplating life choices and going berserk over them. he tried his best to calm down but his heart would only beat faster and grow redder every more.

he wasn't sure if he liked the gardener. he never saw him as more, just as a friendly friend or a good pal. but he felt something more. something he tried to ignore, yet only came back stronger and louder than ever.

he couldn't help but feel warm inside when he thought of the boy. he could feel his face burn up at just his name. everything about him drove prince insane. from his skills, personality, to even his voice– they all made prince love him so much more.

he paced and paced, wondering what he'd do. the boy he maybe loved was now on his team. he'd see him everyday and be playing along side with him. he didn't want to be some nervous wreak around his crush, but what could he do? it was something he couldn't help, as it came with no warning and uninvited.

he sat down in exhaust, as his feet began to tire from all the pacing and thinking. he sighed in defeat, knowing he would lose the battle of love.

he was dejected, allowing all the bad thoughts to plague his mind. with worries and uncertainties, he heard what they all had to say.

but thankfully, his thoughts were interrupted by a door hesitantly opening. came in laceless with a shy and nervous expression on his face. prince quickly covered his face and looked down.

"m-mr. prince! the others told me to come here, i-i hope you don't mind." prince, still looking at the ground, responded to the timid boy. "its–you can come in." the taller inkling entered the room and sat down besides him. "you don't look so well, mr. prince, do you need something?!" despite the awkward angle, he placed a hand on his forehead and felt the heat of his face.

prince could feel himself dying yet flourishing with every second of this interaction. he wished he reacted like a normal person and not become a blushing mess around this boy. prince removed the hand from his forehead and faced the wall, making it more difficult to see his face.

"it's okay, laceless, really. im still taking in everything from the past few days." this wasn't an exact lie, but still wasn't the whole truth. he still worried about his brother who ghosted the team and never came back to the mansion. there were some rumors about him in the plaza. but then again, rumors are rumors.

"i get it. unexpected changed can bring new issues into your life." laceless gave a hug to the prince who still looked at the wall. "if you need someone to talk to, i'll be here in your own house!" the two giggled and laceless exited the room.

prince smiled as he looked into a mirror and saw his blush. he thought of it silly to behave such a way with him. he grabbed his dualies and left the room. he went to the living room after he washed his face once more.

n-pacer and eging, who now sat together, giggled as they saw the prince enter. they had a rough idea of what may have happened with the two alone.

"hey, pacer," eging whispered "what if they kissed?" she smacked his head softly. "they can barely speak to each other! it'll take some time for something to happen." eging snickered as they got up and grabbed their weapons.

"we should continue to practice. we need to work on our strategies and formations." the team nodded at her and headed back out through the glass sliding door.

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splatoon three be hella fun

words- 761
written- 02/22/22
edited- 10/03/22