//Krii7y\\ One Shots

The Ball (Pt. 1)

        "Come on, please!" Jaren pleaded with his parents as they sat on their respective thrones.

        "No, this is non-negotiable. You will be getting married, and soon." His father, also the King, told him.

        "Can't I at least choose who I am to marry? The masquerade ball is approaching, which is a perfect opportunity to find someone I will actually want to marry! Please?" Jaren asked desperately, and the king rolled his eyes. Before he could berate his son, however, his wife rested a hand on her husband's arm to calm him.

        "Alright. If you can find someone worthy by the end of the ball, we will decide if they are fit to marry you." She relented. The king started to object, but the queen just raised her hand, signaling for him to stop, to which he complied. "Honey, let him have this. If he doesn't find anyone, then we will find him someone to marry." She finished, and the king sat in a defeated but still proud slouch. Jaren smiled widely and thanked his parents before running off to his room. He knew just where he would go to celebrate and look for possible candidates. He grabbed the outfit he kept secret from his parents and put it on. Unlike the rest of his clothing, this outfit looked like any other poor citizen's of the kingdom. He rolled up his hood and put on his simple mask to hide his identity, and opened his window to sneak out. Just as he did, however, the door to his room opened and a guard stepped in. This guard was Prince Jaren's royal guard, specially assigned to him to keep him safe. The guard looked Jaren up and down and sighed. 

        "Sneaking out of the castle again, I see?" The guard said, and Jaren turned around in fear. It wasn't until Jaren saw the guard's face that his fear disappeared. 

        "Oh, Craig, it's only you," Jaren said as he continued to open the window.

        "You know your parents wouldn't be happy if they caught you sneaking out again. Alone, I might add." Craig said sarcastically.

        "Look, I know it's not safe, and I know how much trouble I would be in. Please don't give me the same lecture you always give me when you catch me sneaking out." Jaren replied as he swung his legs over the windowsill.  

        "Oh no, I wasn't going to stop you. I was just going to suggest that I come with you. There are a few friends I had been meaning to talk to, and I know you were headed to the tavern anyway, so I'll be coming with. And you can't say no or else I will tell your parents about this," Before Jaren could respond, Craig finished with, "Meet me outside in the courtyard in a few minutes." And left the room. Now outside, the two met up and walked quietly out of the castle gates. Both were dressed in commoner clothes and walked unsuspiciously through the humble kingdom before ending up in the local tavern, Disk of Cords. They walked inside and looked out into the sea of drunk men, and even a few women, drinking away a hard day at work. Jaren always loved coming here, not only for the ale but because this was the heart of his kingdom. This was where all of the most hardworking and interesting people came and shared stories and made friends. This was the one place Jaren didn't have to be a prince, but just another person in the kingdom. As they looked, Craig noticed a hand waving over the crowd, signaling for their attention. They followed the hand all the way to a corner table with 7 people already sitting at it. The person waving stood from the table, and as Jaren and Craig approached, gave Craig a large bear hug. They both laughed in each other's presence before separating and talking. The man was very tall and had a sort of foreign accent. After a moment of standing there awkwardly while Craig and the man talked, Craig finally turned toward Jaren. 

        "Guys, I would like you to meet a new friend of mine, Ja- Smii7y. His name is Smii7y." Jaren waved, confused by the name but understood it as an alias. "Smii7y, this is Fitz," He gestured to the tall man before quickly moving on. ", and that is Jay, Swagger, Matt, Toby, Mason, and over there on the end is John." Craig pointed to each person as he said their name. and each person respectfully waved in response. Fitz and Craig pulled up two more chairs for the table, placing one on either side. Craig took the seat next to Fitz and Jay, leaving Jaren the chair at the end next to John. He sat, somewhat uncomfortably due to the number of strangers now looking at him at this table, as Mason started to speak. 

        "What's up with the mask mate?" He asked quite abruptly, and Jaren sank a bit into his chair, clearly nervous about the question. Usually, people in the tavern were too drunk to ask about the old thing, or even notice it. John noticed his uneasiness and hit Mason on the shoulder.

        "You can't just ask people stuff like that. It could be personal." John said, almost having to yell over the other patrons in the tavern. Mason raised his arms in an act of surrender and sarcastically added a "sorry" to his retreat. 

        "Thanks for that," Jaren said to John, who smiled proudly.

        "Yeah well, unlike some people, I understand personal boundaries," John added before taking a sip from his glass of ale. The rest of the night, Jaren socialized with the group, mostly John though, and they all listened to each other's war stories or tales of magic until most of them were too drunk to speak clearly. The only of the group left sober were Craig and Fitz. Both burdened with the responsibility of making sure everyone got home alright, they parted ways with their respective parties and began the walk back to their humble homes. Craig helped Jaren steady himself as they walked, making sure no one noticed that he was the prince. At some point on their way, though the rest of the walk had mostly been silent, Jaren looked up at Craig with a goofy, clearly intoxicated smile, and said,

        "I liked those people."

Sorry for being gone so long! I kept getting sidetracked and distracted, but, none the less, this is here and kinda long. If you couldn't already tell, I have my favorites of the group, other than John and Smii7y. Also, just an FYI for the rest of this story, even though it is set in like medieval times, there is no way I can write everyone's dialogue like that, so you'll have to excuse the sudden modern language. Anyway, this was a request/idea from Hapyhappiness so all the credit goes to them! Sorry this took so long, but it did give me ideas for more royalty kinda stuff, so expect that in the future if you aren't bored of it yet. Ok, I've talked long enough. I hope you have a good day/night, and you are lovely.