A Royal disaster

Chapter: Eighteen

POV: Kankri

As I stepped out of the car, I took in his house. It was huge! But I expected nothing less from royalty.
"1 w1ll ask my brother to call one of the servants... 1'm to awkward to do that myself..."
"Why? Y9u live in this 6eautiful huge h9me and y9u're scared t9 ask s9mething?"

"1t's 1ngra1ned a l1ttle deeper than that Kankr1..."
"Alright. Let's g9 inside. I'm freezing."

So we went inside. The inside was decorated very minimalistic, almost if there wasn't supposed to be any sign of people living in the house. I didn't bring it up, to avoid Rufioh from feeling awkward again.

He led us into the study of the Summoner. This was it. I was face to face with another king, the second one in two months.

"hELLO rUFIOH. wHO MIGHT THIS FRIEND OF YOURS BE?"

"hello dad... th1s 1s Kankr1 Vantas... he 1s one of my long term fr1ends at school..."

"sO YOU DIDN'T MEET HIM ONLINE?"
"no..."

"aRE YOU VERY SURE ABOUT THAT?"
"no... 1 met h1m when talk1ng to another of our mutual fr1ends... 1 prom1se that he 1s a decent person dad... just trust me for th1s once..."

"cAN'T HE SPEAK FOR HIMSELF? rUFIOH, i KNOW YOU WON'T REPEAT WHAT HAPPENED WITH kURLOZ. i'M SURE."

He knows Kurloz? In a bad way? Oh no... that was the mutual friend part. I know Kurloz has done some fucked up things but what could've been this bad?!

"Excuse me f9r interrupting sir. I'm Kankri Vantas and I'm a g99d friend 9f y9ur s9n. We've always 6een a6le t9 talk t9 each9ther a69ut 9ur pr96lems. I kn9w it might 6e scary, meeting an 9nline friend 9f y9ur s9n, 6ut trust me, I mean n9 harm t9 y9u, Rufi9h 9r his little br9ther."
"yOU SURE HAVE MANNERS. wHERE DID YOU LEARN THEM?"
"At h9me sir. My br9ther and I have 6een raised with very g99d m9rals t9 benefit this s9ciety."

"i LIKE YOU. i DON'T THINK YOU ARE TRYING TO HARM ANYONE THAT YOU MEET. yOU LOOK LIKE A NERD IF i MIGHT ADD. bUT ALRIGHT. tHANKS FOR INTRODUCING HIM TO ME rUFIOH. hAVE FUN AND IF YOU SLEEP OVER, THERE WILL BE A BED IN THE GUESTROOM."
"yes dad..."
"Thank y9u sir."

We walk out of the room and Rufioh pulls me into another. He pushes me onto the bed and jumps on top of me. He hugs me tightly and starts sobbing.

"Rufi9h, what's wr9ng?"
"1 was so scared... my dad never approves of anyone s1nce Kurloz happened..."
"What happened with Kurl9z?"

"1 1ntroduced h1m to my dad... 1t was a n1ght l1ke th1s... and Kurloz 1ntroduced h1mself as Pr1nce of the South... 1nternet fr1end and whatnot... my dad he wasn't hav1ng 1t... he k1cked h1m out 1mmed1atly... he th1nks the Southerners are rude... uneducated beasts..."

"I kn9w Kurl9z quite pers9nally. If anything, he tries n9t t9 be rude. H9w l9ng ag9 did this happen?"
"around ten years ago..."
"TEN YEARS?!"

He just sobbed some more, and eventually fell asleep. I gently pushed him off of me.

I walked around the room. It had pictures of him all over the room. He looked happy in most of them. But after 30 or so, his smile faded. It was not drastically, but more smoothly, like it happened over the course of a few weeks. There were one or two where he had a full blown smile, but those stood out beside the rest. The most recent one was taken a week ago. He and Damara were in the picture, smiling, holding their hands up. There were golden engagement rings on their fingers. He looked so happy.

I don't think he told his dad yet.

Rufioh shot awake after 3 hours.
"where am 1..."
"In the guest r99m. Y9u pulled me in here."
"oh yeah... sorry about that 1 guess..."

"D9n't w9rry. When are y9u g9ing t9 tell y9ur dad?"
"when you tell me why you were spac1ng out 1n the car..."
"Y9u really want t9 kn9w?"
He nodded his head furiously. So I gave him a recap of the last 6 weeks. He was wide eyed at the end of it.

"you have gone through all of that sh1t and d1dn't even tell me..."
"I'm s9rry. I didn't d9 a l9t 9f Tumblr. 6ut I'm sure y9u were at the meetup, right?"
"1 was there... w1th Damara... 1 just tr1ed to buy flowers at the wrong moment..."
He smiled shyly. I ruffed his hair up. He slapped away my hand playfully.

"don't do that... 1 use three bottles of gel every morn1ng..."
"Alright, alright. I pr9mise I w9n't d9 it again."

"but uh... 1 really have to ask you someth1ng 1mportant..."

"Y9u kn9w y9u can ask me anything, just g9 f9r it."
"well... 1 want to thank you f1rst... 1f 1t wasn't for you 1 don't know what would've happened to me... 1 really hold you dear..."
"I h9ld y9u dear as well Rufi9h. Y9u sh9uld kn9w 9f all pe9ple h9w cl9se I was t9 ending it all."

"1 am supposed to marry th1s fall... a lot of people are actually gett1ng marr1ed then... but s1nce Damara left me... 1 feel the pressure to f1nd someone else... 1 mean... the schoolyear 1s almost to an end and 1 cant handle w1th the pressure well..."
"Rufi9h, please tell me what y9u need t9 get 9ff y9ur chest. I can't help y9u if y9u d9n't tell me."
"well... 1 wanted to ask... do you want to marry me..."