"I wasn't expecting to be able to say this directly to you, Your Majesty," surprised but determined amethyst met haughty topaz for a brief moment, "but I know where you son has been going at night."
"Do you? I wasn't even aware he's been leaving," The king replied, looking up from his carefully manicured nails once more.
Although he was momentarily taken aback by the king's noncommittal answer and lack of concern for his only son, the visitor quickly regained his calm. "Your Majesty…His Highness has been sneaking out every night for the past few weeks and-and visiting the SM-pire."
Obviously that had gotten the king's attention. He looked up and met his guest's eyes for a long minute, all traces of amusement gone. "How did you acquire this information?"
He had been afraid of that question. Both lying and being truthful could have disastrous consequences, but he was not a liar. He sighed. "I am the one whom your son…requests…every night."
There was another long moment of awkward silence. Finally the king raised an eyebrow. "You've got some nerve, barging in here and telling me this." He paused as the other demon swallowed. "Nerve is exactly what Suichi is missing. I wonder if you'd consider marrying my son…?"
The word had just as much force as a brick. The room spun wildly for a fraction of a second and his black boot slid backwards a single step. "Your Maje—me!? But I'm—he's…" The demon paused to regain his poise. "I'm honored, Your Majesty, but—I have to say no." What he wasn't going to say was that he disagreed with the king. Suichi did have nerve, quite a lot of it. But it was more subtle, more controlled, than that of most other people. But he had nerve, and it became obvious to anyone who had spent any time with him in a relaxed setting. And he had been under the assumption that the boy's own father, king or not, would have known Suichi well enough to know that the boy had more balls than anyone else the demon could think of.
The king sighed, a note of disappointment escaping with it. "Oh well. You can see I'm getting desperate…" he smiled. "Was that all you had to tell me?" The demon nodded. "Then thank you for telling me. You may go."
----
Suichi rounded the corner absentmindedly and collided with the black-clad figure exiting through the main door. "Oof…I'm sorry," he sighed, glancing up. Emerald eyes widened in shock. "Karasu! What-What are you doing here!?"
Suichi was smart enough to notice the guilt that briefly flashed across the raven's eyes. Karasu averted his gaze and focused instead on a bird that was methodically building its nest in the tree behind the prince. Suichi frowned and answered the question himself. "You were telling my father, weren't you?" Karasu nodded.
"Why?"
His gentle eyes locked with Suichi's anxious ones. "It's not because I don't want you to come back; it's just that…well, you're the prince. And I feel like you shouldn't be degrading yourself by returning every night."
So many defiant explanations raced through Suichi's mind, but he knew now wasn't the time, and that feet away from the ever watchful guards wasn't the place. "Didn't I already tell you that Father doesn't care where I go or what I do?" he sighed. "So you've wasted your time telling him."
Karasu smiled Suichi's favorite smile. "We'll see."
----
As Suichi had predicted, his father did not forbid him from returning. All he said on the matter when he brought it up over dinner was, "Out of curiosity, Suichi, how were you sneaking out at night?"
The redhead smiled. "Your guards are ridiculously easy to bribe, Father."
The king frowned a little, but changed the subject. "I want you to be there with me when I speak tomorrow morning. You don't have to say anything; just stand there and look pretty. After all, you're so good at it."
Suichi merely nodded, but inwardly he fumed. Coming from any other parent the remark would have been a friendly jest, but Suichi knew his father well enough to understand that he meant, "standing there and looking pretty is just about all you're good for."
The king studied the redhead's face a moment more—no doubt to see how Suichi had reacted to the insult—before returning his attention to the steak on his plate. Suichi did likewise, taking solace in his upcoming nighttime excursion.
Abruptly, his father spoke again. "You have two more guests arriving tomorrow as well. I happen to have a high opinion of both of them, so don't reject them both immediately as you have all the others."
You have a high opinion of them? Hardly. More likely that you have a high opinion of their fathers. Suichi didn't voice his thoughts but merely sighed.
----
Suichi bit back a laugh at the disbelieving look on Karasu's face. "Father never said a word," he said smugly.
"I can't believe that," Karasu muttered. "What responsible parent would knowingly let their only child come here…especially when that child is the prince…"
"I told you," Suichi whispered unhappily, "my father doesn't care." He sank miserably onto the bed and closed his eyes.
He only heard the rustle of Karasu's long hair as the raven shook his head. "Father's permission or not, I can't understand how you can want to be here, how you can want me to demoralize you when you're the prince."
"Because what if I don't want to be the prince!?" Suichi cried out, raising indignant eyes. "I'm so tired of being scorned…I'm too feminine, too weak, too indecisive…nothing I do is good enough…every move I make is criticized…what if, for the few hours I have a night here, I want to be a normal person? Everyone else treats me like I'm someone special, because I am, but I didn't ask for this! If I had my way I wouldn't be the damn prince!" His voice lost the small note of hysteria it had gained as he spoke. "Karasu…I know this sounds silly, but…you're quite possibly the only person who treats me the same as you would anyone else—"
"Because I didn't know who you were!" Karasu interrupted.
"—and I don't want that to change," Suichi finished. "Please…as strange as this is, you're really the only friend I have. Please don't get scared away like everyone else just because you know who I am."
"I can't run away, even if I wanted to, Suichi, you know that. You specified that I was who you wanted, and so I have no choice." Karasu smiled at the boy reassuringly. "But…I know this is a rather personal question…I don't understand how someone with so much pride—and you are proud, Suichi, even if you don't realize it—can stand being tied up and beaten down…"
Suichi smiled. "I don't know either. I guess I'm just weirdly masochistic." Or maybe I really am weak…maybe pain makes me feel safe and protected. Or maybe I'm just so desperate for affection of any kind that I really have lost all my pride.