The Crown Prince (boyxboy)

Chapter 17: Shut down

"That mouth will get you into trouble."

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Tian feels Jonas' lips press against his own. Soft and tender, it holds him in place for a moment. It was, without a doubt, a surprise, but at the same time, somewhere hidden in his most profound thoughts, he had wondered what this would be like. A fantasy he never knew he wanted to be quenched until the opportunity presented itself here in his reality. His reality is far from notions of kissing men and a stable hand to boot. What was he doing? The moment, only a few seconds in real-time, jolts him back to reality. He raises his hands and pushes Jonas back, causing the man to stumble. "What do you think you're doing?" Tian utters in a breathless tone."

Jonas looks at the Prince, he starts to panic at the reality of his transgression. "Your Highness, I thought..."

"You thought you could take a liberty. You are just a servant and a stable boy to boot! How dare you!" The Prince glares at Jonas.

Jonas hastily unclips the horse in an attempt to channel the swirl of emotions growing inside of him. He dares to not cower or apologise as he says with conviction, "I'm not a boy, I'm a man and unlike you, I don't run away from my problems." He guides the horse back to his stable. Jonas' heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. He may have stood up to the prince but in truth, all he wanted to do was to be swallowed whole by the ground below him.

The Prince watches as Jonas disappears around the corner. He feels unable to follow, staying rooted to the spot. Tian raises his hand, brushing his fingertips against his lips. The contact felt sensitive and made his lips tingle, but not as much as what had just happened. The Prince felt every nerve in his body heighten as the adrenaline coursed through him just from that one chaste kiss and the Prince feared It could be addictive.

"Your Highness..."

Tian jumps at the sound of the voice behind him. He drops his hand and quickly turns to see who has called his name. "Morris! I, uh, was just leaving." Tian begins to walk past the older man, choosing not to make eye contact, as he heads back up the trodden path to the palace. It leaves Morris without words and a puzzled expression as he scratches his head.

"Now, what was that all about?" He mumbles to himself as he watches the prince walk away. He then looks toward the stable block, where he can hear the odd cuss word being spoken, a little too loud for his liking. Morris huffs in annoyance as he heads around the corner to see Jonas stacking bales with a large fork with much aggression. "What have they done to deserve that?" He says with a chuckle, trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere.

"It's nothing uncle....God damn it!" Jonas cusses again as one of the bales crashes to the ground.

"Just mind your language there, His Highness was just around the corner," Morris warns, his voice not so amused this time.

"And what if he was? I'm sure he's heard it before. Doesn't the king swear? Ow!" Jonas raises a hand to his head in response to the swipe his uncle had taken to the back of it.

"Watch your mouth. If you want to keep your position here, you cannot go around swearing and saying such things about the royals. That mouth will get you into trouble." Morris frowns as he looks at Jonas, who is nibbling a little on his lower lip. His mouth has probably gotten him into deep trouble already, but not in the way his Uncle had implied.

"Uncle Morris," he begins. "What if I bring trouble? What will happen to me?" He looked up at his uncle, whose stern expression had softened. Morris rests a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "I will be here for you, son, but you must also try to help yourself." He looks down, trying to stop the lump wishing to rise in his throat. Morris swallows hard before he draws his eyes back to Jonas and continues, "I have your back."

"And what about mother's. Did you have hers?" Jonas retaliates.

"She made me promise to put you first." Morris relives the past moments of trauma in his head. "She pleaded with me to take you far away from the madness of the village. She wanted a safe and normal life for you." Morris smiles at the memory of his sister. "She said and did some crazy things. She had wild ideas about how she could save the world and she was never one to be confined. She lived by her own rules, but this world was not ready for such notions, and they still aren't. Jonas, please, don't be reckless anymore, I beg of you."

At that moment, Jonas missed his mother more than ever. She may have been the only one who would have understood how he felt and explained why he felt this way about the Prince and why his feelings were growing. She may have had a remedy to stop it or at least told him everything would be ok. "I'm sorry, Uncle." He looks away and reluctantly carries on with the task at hand. He didn't know if the kiss had sealed his fate. Was it already too late?