You can't have him

chapter 2

The palace was bustling. There were many royal families here to see the wedding, and the workers were running around quickly trying to make sure everyone had all they wanted to drink. Menju stayed close to Gabe, while the prince and his guard took off somewhere else. They walked around some of the other guests, and Menju could hear unfriendly whispers about him. Many people criticized his looks, and they all talked about his affair with Gabe. Several of the women said they were shocked that the prince would stoop so low as to choose a guy from such a homely and poor family. Gabe tried to reassure his friend, but he couldn't stop tears from forming in his eyes and he ran off to try to find somewhere without anyone in it. Menju ran until he ended up in the garden. It had a large fountain that depicted a group of warriors crying over their fallen friend.

Menju walked through the garden with the tears flowing down his face. He didn't want to be here, and obviously most of the other people here didn't want him to be either. He sat down by a rosebush, and played with the petals of some of them. It was colder than he thought out here though, and he started to shiver. He didn't want to leave though, so he just sat there shaking. Then he felt a heavy coat being placed over his shoulders. Menju looked behind him, and saw the prince standing there.

"I used to come out here and sit when things were uncomfortable for me too." He said.

"You're the prince, and heir to the throne. What could possibly be uncomfortable about that?" Menju replied.

The prince sat down on the ground beside him. "Well for starters I'm my dad's only son, and instead of being straight and marrying a woman so I can carry on our bloodline I end up being gay. My dad whipped me so hard the first time he saw me with a guy. I hid from him for months afterwards. I think a small part of him actually still hoped I was going to bring home a wife instead of a husband. Secondly when I dyed my hair, almost everyone laughed at me. They thought it was ridiculous for a male member of the royal family to have purple hair."

Menju looked at the prince and with a serious look on his face he said, "Yeah it does look ridiculous. Maybe we can shave it all off, and it can grow back in the color pink."

Menju and the prince laughed then, and the prince leaned in closer to him. He put his hand on Menju's cheek and rubbed it with his thumb. "You have really beautiful eyes Menju, but they would look so much better if you didn't cry so much."

Menju leaned forward closing the gap between their lips, but he stopped when he heard someone clear their throat. The prince looked behind him and asked, "What's up my friend?"

"You're father has been looking for you, sir. He's told me to tell you it's a time to celebrate, not hide like the little faggot you are." Maverick said.

The prince sighed and got up. "I'm afraid duty is calling me. You can stay out here if you want Menju, but please make sure you come in if you get too cold. I don't want you to get sick." Menju watched him walk off, and Maverick sent him a hateful look before following the prince. Menju couldn't stop thinking about how he had almost kissed the prince, so he stuck his hand in the rosebush and squeezed some of the stems, until he could feel them digging deep into his palm. He let go and looked at his hand to see several little blood spots, but at least this had helped him forget about the prince.

He got up to leave then and saw Gabe heading towards him. "There you are. I was wondering where you had gone to. Oh what happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing really. It doesn't even hurt anymore." Menju said.

"Let's go to the fountain and wash the blood off at least." Gabe said while putting his arm around Menju's waist.
...........

As they were walking back to the party Maverick asked, "are you sure that this is the guy you want? I mean there are plenty of other guys out there that would die to be with you, so why are you so interested in him?"