𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙨 • multiship

-- 𝐭𝐰𝐨: 𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐬𝐚

SAKUSA KIYOOMI is the kingdom's most well kept secret.

he was perfectly content living in the shadows. but his father was sick, and it was only a matter of time until he would have to step forward and become king himself.

this wasn't to say that sakusa hadn't received his fair trade of kingly training. he had spent the majority of his life learning how to be king. it was just tradition for the royal family to generally stay out of the spotlight unless the person in question was the reigning monarch.

sakusa dreaded the idea of ever becoming king. it was such a big responsibility to take care of so many people, and to be frank, sakusa just didn't care.

alas, nobody is immortal. especially sakusa kiyoomi, who is sure he would absolutely combust if he heard the voice of his fellow royal one more time.

"OMI SLOW DOWN! I CAN'T KEEP UP" hinata shouyou shouted, sprinting down the hallways to keep up with the crown prince.

sakusa tsk-ed "shouyou, please don't run through the halls. there are priceless artifacts that cannot be broken." he said, pulling on a curl that had fallen in front of his face.

hinata tilts his head, bright eyes clashing against sakusa's own. "we're royals omi, nothing is priceless" he says.

this causes sakusa to ignore the younger royal and just walk away. children never truly learn anyways, so it was pointless for him to even try.

hinata shouyou was the son of the duke that resides in the territory adjacent to the capital. because of this, him and sakusa had spent most of their childhood together, which translates to sakusa watching over hinata like a baby sitter for most of his life.

when sakusa wasn't chasing after hinata or doing his daily king training, he could be found in the library pouring over maps. he had an obsession with maps, it was probably because he had never been outside of the capital. he had never even left the palace grounds. the extent of his social interaction was hinata, his cousin komori, and occasionally oikawa tooru (the belle that tailored the royal family). maybe that's why he was so socially inept.

so here he was now, seated at the head of a table in his private study attempting to decipher a legend that was in a language he wasn't too comfortable with yet. he'd get there.

maybe an hour or so later, a soft voice interrupted sakusa's intense studying.

"prince sakusa, it's time for your tailoring session." one of his servants, he couldn't be bothered remembering her name, stated while bowing.

sakusa nodded and rolled the map back up, "thank you," he nodded before heading out the door.

sakusa walked through the halls, savoring the heavy silence that fell like a blanket over the palace. he had always loved the peace and quiet, and he gets quite cranky when he's disrupted. like now.

the art of tailoring has always been pointless to sakusa, and everyone in knew it. his active disregard towards anything extravagant is quite famous in the castle knew it.

he barely let oikawa even touch his face. all structures were left natural, sakusa forbade oikawa from altering the actual bone structure of his face even though it was painless. sakusa never saw the point in doing so.

his tailoring appointments were always short. this time oikawa only added slight pigmentation to his cheeks, red balm to his lips, and more volume to his already unruly hair. any more changes would lead to the prince having a fit.

what sakusa didn't expect was oikawa to tell him that he would be retiring soon. something stupid about his relationship with the captain of the guard getting in the way of the so called belle rules.

another fact about sakusa kiyoomi is that he absolutely hates change. he detests it. and a new belle that would actually work directly with the royal family was a big change.

new belles typically arrived in the capital city once a year, but it was rare that a new belle would be trained for such an important position right away. the royal family (other than sakusa) did not take tailoring lightly, so the new belle certainly would have large shoes to fill.

sakusa was drawn out of his contemplative state by a voice that sounded eerily familiar to nails on a chalkboard.

"omi, you look ugly when you frown," oikawa sang. "i wish i could tailor a smile on your face permanently. actually wait, i can! can i?" oikawa says, standing abruptly from his chair in excitement.

"no, oikawa, you cannot." sakusa responded in a dull tone. it was better to not engage with the brunette's shenanigans. it was quite frankly a complete waste of energy.

oikawa snorted and rolled his eyes. "not even as a parting gift?"

"not even as a parting gift."

the last words left a sour expression on sakusa's face at the reminder of the change to come.

the belles were useless, and sakusa kiyoomi was sure nothing would change his mind.