The sun rose on the mountains of the kingdom of Braxton like any other day but this day was different. It wasn't like any ordinary day. It was the 21st birthday of Prince Blaine of Braxton. Everyone that belonged to the Kingdom was excited for the Prince's birthday but the celebrant wasn't much happy about it.
"Prince Blaine? Prince Blaine?" The butler knocked on the door. It was already 8 in the morning and he should've been prepared by then. The whole kingdom will celebrate the Prince's birthday the whole day. "Prince Blaine?" He continued to knock when there was no answer.
A couple of minutes later, the butler used his key to open the door. He got inside and saw the Prince was still in his bed, saliva dripping down his mouth and his eyes were shut as if he hasn't slept for days. He went over his bed to wake him up. "Prince Blaine, the King has ordered for your presence downstairs…awake and in suit."
The Prince remained asleep as the butler continued to tap his shoulder.
"Prince Blaine, if you're not down the hall in 20 minutes…the King will have me exiled." He fearfully said, swallowing hard. The prince was still not responding. For fear against the King, the butler had no choice. He stood at the end of the bed and pulled the prince by his feet.
"No! Get away from me, dragon! I didn't steal your diamond." He screamed, thinking he was still in his dream. When he noticed that it wasn't a red dragon pulling him by his foot, his eyebrow raised. "Joe? What the hell are you doing?"
"Prince…the King needs you outside already. It's 8 in the morning and you should be out there, meeting the people already." He explained.
Blaine growled in annoyance as he sat up on his bed. "You know I'm not ready…" A big sigh was released from the sad prince.
"But your father has been preparing you ever since you were 7. Which part of it are you not ready yet?" He walked over and sat on the bed beside the prince.
"Everything!" He raised his hands up. He was obviously stressing about everything. "The responsibilities…the name…" He sighed before mentioning his final fear. "…the marriage." His head went down as he continued to play with his hands.
"There are Princesses from different Kingdoms downstairs for you to choose. I'm sure all of them are nice."
"But I don't want to choose, okay?" He stood up and opened his closet of presentable suits, searching for the perfect outfit to wear.
"Sir… It is by law, written, that the next King shall decide who to marry when he turns 21. Everyone's expecting to hear your decision by the end of the week."
"Then, make 'em wait. I've never had true love before so it'll take me more than a week to decide who to marry." He grabbed his suit and went for the bathroom. "Tell your King I'll be out in an hour."
"But the King needs you out there in 20 minutes."
The Prince turned around and raised an eyebrow on him. "Tell my DAD…I'll be out in an hour." A smirk marked on his face as he entered the bathroom.
Xxx
"Kurt, hand me 10 onions and 10 tomatoes."
The boy ran for the cabinet and grabbed the baskets of onions and tomatoes. He brought it to the head chef, chopping some leaves. "Here you go."
The chef stopped chopping and looked at him. "Kurt… I said ten…not a ton."
"Uncle Tom… I can't carry 20 baby balls of ingredients with just two hands. I can carry one big basket, that's it." He said, unloading 10 onions and 10 tomatoes from the basket. "Plus…who says you won't need more than 10."
The big chef, sighed and giggled at the boy. "You're here to help me out…not to stress me out."
"That's what I'm doing. I'm helping you out. I've been up since 4 in the morning, peeling 10 grams of potatoes." He said, sitting on a tool. "This feels like a feeding program for the world, not a birthday celebration."
"Well, we have no choice, kiddo. Their kingdom, their rules. At the end of the day, we'll still get paid so get your butt off of that stool and boil the pastas in the cabinet."
"Done, already. The pastas have been cooked for like 20 minutes now." Kurt said, still not moving from the stool.
"Alright. Fix yourself and you can take a break. Walk around and tour the place. See the beauty of the King's palace." Uncle Tom said and smiled at his nephew as the boy stood up to leave the dirty kitchen. Before leaving, he grabbed a fruit from the basket and took a bite.
"Kurt, leave the apple. No fruit stealing in my kitchen." Uncle Tom warned the boy.
"I'm innocent. This is a pear, not an apple." He said, as left the place and his uncle just laughed at him.
Xxx
When Kurt was dressed appropriate enough for the occasion, he passed through the hall where everyone was gathered, still eating his pear, to go to the farm part of the palace. Focused on how good the pear was, he didn't see the guy walking in front of him….backwardly.
The pear fell and it surprised Kurt. "Oh, no. My pear."
The guy turned around who was dressed more appropriate than him. Kurt noticed so he immediately apologized.
"Oh… I'm… I'm sorry, sir…your highness, your majesty….king, lord, god, jesus…." Kurt said, not really sure what to call the guy as he bowed. Slowly, he turned his back on the guy and walked away.
"Hey, hold on." The guy said as Kurt turned back around. "You forgot your pear." He said, looking at the fruit that fell on the floor, smiling.
"Oh…no thanks. I'm kind of balancing all the germs in my body and it's already been 7 seconds so the ants have already invaded that fruit." He said, refusing to pick up the pear.
The guy giggled and picked the pear up. "Trust me. The floor's cleaner than the fruit itself." He said, giggling once more. He moved a bit forward and leaned to whisper something to Kurt. "You know how they clean like twice an hour in this place. It's getting pretty annoying, actually." He handed the pear to Kurt.
Kurt smiled at him and nodded, taking the fruit back. "Well, thanks for the information. I'll put it up when I write the history of Braxton." He said, slowly walking back.
"W-wait… You're a writer of Braxton's history?" He asked, eyes wide open.
Kurt awkwardly stood there, eyes looking left and right. "It was a joke." He said and giggle.
The guy couldn't help but laugh back. "Y-yeah, of course. I knew that, bro."
Kurt felt another awkward air pass them by. "I… I guess I'll go now….bro." He said, mocking the guy's nickname to him.
"You…you don't know me?" The guy asked before Kurt could even turn around.
Another awkward air for Kurt, right there. He's wearing a formal suit, hair gelled like he owns a gel shop. His arms look incredibly muscular, so as his eyes which are very seductive. "Are you…a knight?" He tried his best guess.
The guy giggled again and shook his head. "A Prince can be a knight."
Kurt covered his mouth with his hands in surprise. He never thought a Prince would even take time to talk to him. He has something to say only weird noises were coming out of his mouth until he finally swallowed. "I'm…. I'm sorry, Prince…"He stopped, trying to figure out his name.
The prince crossed his arms on his chest, waiting for him to mention his name. When he didn't, he finished his sentence for him. "Blaine. My name's Blaine. Prince Blaine."
"Yes, of course! The birthday celebrant. Blaine. Hi…Blaine." He said, feeling ten times more awkward than he was already.
Blaine shook his head at him. "Prince Blaine. Call me Prince Blaine."
Kurt nodded at him. "Sorry…. Prince Blaine." Kurt placed his one hand inside his pocket and stared at the pear on his other hand. "I guess I'll go now….Prince Blaine."
"Where are you going?" He asked, placing both his hands on his pockets. He wanted to get away from meeting several people and just wanted to have fun. Since the guy made him smile for the whole 8 minutes they were talking, he thought he might need the guy's company. "Can….can I come with you?"
Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. "You…you want to come with me?" He asked, making sure he heard him right.
"As long as you're not going out of the palace." He said and smiled at him.
Kurt smiled back at him. "I'm… I'm just going to the farm to check out the horses."
"Great. I'll give you a quick tour around there."
"Uhmm….shouldn't you be around here? It's your birthday and everyone in Braxton expects you to show up." He said, running a hand to his own hair.
"I don't think memorizing the names of every single person in this place is something I'd want to do to celebrate my birthday." He said, remembering to ask something. "I'm sorry but I don't think I got your name."
"Kurt. My name's Kurt. Helper Kurt." He said, using his way of introduction a while ago. "But you can call me Kurt."
"Kurt…that's a cool name." He said and suddenly, he heard a voice calling out his name. "Crap. Let's go, Kurt. I know a shortcut to the horses." He grabbed Kurt's hand and ran with him out to his shortcut to the horses.
Xxx
Finally, Blaine and Kurt got to the horses without anyone noticing them. Kurt tried not to mention it but Blaine's hand is his was definitely making him smile a lot. He didn't want to let go but he thought it'll be rude if he kept their hands together so he slowly moved his hand away and smiled at him. Blaine realized what he did and felt a bit awkward as his face blushed a little.
"So, where's your horse?" Kurt asked, looking at the group of horses.
Blaine pointed of the horses. "There. The white one."
Kurt smiled at the beauty of the animal. He was really a big fan of horses but not being born with a silver spoon in mouth, he hasn't had the chance to ride any. "It's so pretty." He said, hand on his mouth.
"Do you know how to ride a horse?" The prince asked.
Kurt turned to the side to look at him. He shook his head and gave him an awkward smile.
"Oh… Come one. I'll teach you." He said and held Kurt's hand again to get his horse. Kurt smiled and let himself get dragged around by the handsome Prince.
Once the horse was ready, Blaine climbed up on it and extended his hand down to Kurt. "Come on."
"How are we going to fit in one horse?" Kurt asked, holding back his laughter.
Blaine laughed a little. "Just trust me, okay." He said and pulled him up. Kurt sat on the horse while Blaine was guiding him behind. Blaine gave him the lace he needs to hold on to as he held Kurt on the waist. He had to admit, he felt shivers when Blaine's hands touched his waist.
He started guiding Kurt as the house walked around the green field. "So…I've never seen you before. I'm guessing you're not from Braxton?" The Prince asked.
"No… I'm from Luxor. My uncle works for your palace as the head chef and he just asked me to help them for this special occasion." He explained and smiled even if he couldn't see his face.
"That's nice…doing something for your family. Are you staying here for more than a day?" He asked.
Kurt nodded as he looked around the beautiful view of Braxton. "I'm staying for 3 days at least." He sighed, as his fingers played around the lace he was holding. "I… I'm sorry but I'm a little confused. Why are you talking to me? I mean…you're the prince. I'm a nobody. Isn't that like part of the law?"
Blaine shook his head as he ordered the horse to quicken its pace. "I don't think so. I just needed a company and you looked like you're a nice guy… I mean, you're a nice guy right?"
Kurt giggled at his question. "If I wasn't a nice guy, I would've kidnapped you right now and ask the King for his thrown in return."
Blaine gave him a long stare and smiled at him. He knew Kurt noticed it but he didn't mind. "I wouldn't be opposed to that offer…." Until he shook off his thoughts about the guy in front and realized how inappropriate his sentence structure was. "I mean… I… I'd give the thrown to anyone. It's too much to handle for me, you know."
"You mean choosing who to marry?" Kurt asked and looked at him and Blaine just nodded. "If it makes you feel any better, you have about 364 days more before you officially break the law."
Blaine giggled at his comfort. "Yeah, well the people expect me to announce who the Princess is by the end of the week. That's a lot of pressure pressed on to me. I can't even choose a Princess."
"Why? Because they're all too gorgeous?"
"No because…I'm not in love with any of them. If I get married, I want to do it with the love of my life."
Kurt laughed a little. "Wow. Now, you're sounding more like a Prince."
Blaine smiled as his grip on Kurt's waist got tighter. He grabbed one part of the rope Kurt was holding on to and leaned his mouth to his ear. "You ready to take this ride a bit faster?"
"Uhhhh…." Was all Kurt could say before Blaine started to pull the lace controlling the horse and ordered it to run.
Kurt kept saying Oh my God while Blaine laughed out loud as the horse sprinted. Kurt's left hand shifted from the lace to Blaine's arm wrapped around his waist. He never expected to lose so much breath with a horse ride. The horse just ran too fast. Finally, they were slowing down and so was Kurt's heartbeat. Blaine kept laughing at how adorable the guy in front of him was reacting.
"I need to go down. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." Kurt said as the horse stopped. Blaine helped him go down but he doesn't stop laughing.
"You should've seen your face! You were panicking a lot!" He said as he went down the horse as well. He noticed that Kurt's breathing was finally slowing down. He rubbed his back to calm him more but he couldn't take the smile off his face. "It's okay. Breathe in, breathe out."
"Remind me next time to never ride a horse with you." He said, finally starting to laugh at his own reaction.
Blaine kept his smile on him. "I'm glad you agree that there's a next time for this."
Kurt looked up at him and his eyes were like a vacuum, pulling him in to drown in his stare. Kurt couldn't help but smile back at him. Slowly, the distance between them were closing and they were lost in each other's eyes.
"Please…please stop looking at me like that." Kurt begged but his eyes remain locked on his.
"Looking like what?" The prince asked.
"Like…you want…to…"
"Kiss you?" The prince asked as he moved closer to him. His right hand went up to cup his cheek. "What if I want to?"
Kurt exhaled deeply as his eyes shifted to the prince's lips. "I'd like that."
Blaine leaned forward to press his lips onto the boy until the moment was cut off by the butler.
"Prince Blaine! Are you there? Prince Blaine!" He shouted from afar as the two boys moved back a little, recreating a space between them.
"You should…probably go back." Kurt said, looking down at his feet to avoid the awkward moment.
"Yeah… Guess so. Are you not attending the celebration?" He asked.
Kurt shook his head at him. "I am much more needed in the kitchen than the actual celebration." He said and smiled.
Blaine nodded at him. "Okay. Come on. Let's just ride the horse back to the castle."
"After that heart attack your horse just gave me, I think it's best if I just walk back." He said and both of them giggled.
"Alright. Let's just walk back."
"As you wish, Prince Blaine." He teased him as they started walking with the horse.
Blaine smiled at him and said. "Blaine. Call me Blaine."
They made their way back soon to the castle and went their separate ways. The Prince went back to face his people while Kurt went back to face the potatoes in the kitchen.
When the butler assisted the Prince back to the hall where everyone was, he couldn't help but ask a question. "Hey Joe. Can you tell me exactly what is stated in the law about the prince marrying at the age of 21?"
"The future King shall marry his one true love at the age of 21. Have you chosen your one true love sir?"
Blaine smiled at him. "Give me 3 days to figure out how I feel and I'll let you know my answer."
"Excellent, sir. We can't wait to meet the future Queen of Braxton."
Blaine just giggled. It's never stated in the law for the Prince to marry a Princess. He thought. Guess, I'm getting myself my own Prince.