Prince Alexander did not sleep that night. His mind whirred with emotions and fear. For once in his life, he cared enough about someone to fear for them. His head ached from the thoughts, and the sleepiness, but he refused to drift into slumber, because, honestly, Jack was way more important. By the time the sun had rose, he knew he would be allowed outside, therefore, Jack would be there. Or would he? The doubts of Jack still being in the woods, or outside of Ashvale, by now, were pushed away, as the Prince pulled the tall boy's jacket around himself, almost overwhelmed by how much it smelt like Jack, and slammed his chambers' doors behind him as he sprinted through the castle, skidding around corners, until, eventually, he was outside of the garden door.
Prince Alexander drew in a breath, before pushing the door open. The brightness outside made him squint, and the outlines from a few hours ago were now fully-coloured and visible. Snow had ceased from falling, but still blanketed the ground. And, when he looked up, Jack was on the wall. Relief flooded through him - Jack was safe.
"Alex, you're awake!" Jack smiled, jumping down, upon noticing the boy. "You look like crap, dude."
"Thank you, Jack, I did not sleep last night."
"Still beautiful," chuckled Jack, placing a hand on the Prince's shoulder. "You're wearing my jacket?"
"Yeah, it made me feel safe," admitted the shorter, a faint pink tinting his cheeks as he realised how cheesy he sounded. "But that does not mean that you are avoiding telling me about what happened."
Jack sighed. "It was nothing, Alex -"
"Don't even go there. None of the 'it was nothing' crap - tell me what happened. Who was that? Why did you go to them? Why did you say it was not safe? Hell, Jack, I thought they would kill you!"
Jack shook his head. "Now is not the time, nor the place, Alex -"
"Stop dropping out on my questions!" the Prince was becoming annoyed now; Jack had been escaping his questions for too long, too long for his liking, and he was not bailing on this one. "Answer me, for once! I just want to know what is going on, Jack!"
"Alex." Jack's tone was not yelling, or angry, and it held no annoyance, but it did hold a steady, strong and stern edge to it that made the Prince stop yelling, but it did not stop him from being frustrated and mad at the lanky boy. "Stop it. You will find out when you find out, okay? I have said, and I will say again. Now is not the time, nor the place. Just ... wait, Princess, and I'll tell you when I can."
Prince Alexander felt his anger fade. It did not disappear, but it melted enough for him to not want to scream at Jack anymore. He sighed. "I'm just ... sick of all these secrets being kept from me. I am going to rule Ashvale, Jack; I, at least, want to know what happens in it."
"You will, I promise. Would I break a promise to you? No." He held out his arms, almost childishly, for the shorter boy to practically throw himself at Jack in a hug. The comfort was nice, after hours of complete and utter fear for him. "Hey, what'd'ya wanna do today?"
"I don't know," Alex nuzzled his face into Jack's shoulder, to which Jack responded by squeezing him a little tighter.
"You'll have to let go eventually," the taller said, grinning.
"I don't want to."
Jack smiled into the caramel hair of the teenager, because he was adorable. He kissed Prince Alexander's head and attempted to pry the boy from him, which deemed a difficult task as the brown-eyed Prince seemed content on holding onto Jack. Eventually, and I mean eventually, Jack had stopped the boy from latching onto him, and kissed his nose affectionately. Prince Alexander scrunched up his nose at that.
