Lmao this has to be the cheesiest thing I've ever written and I'm not even ashamed of it. Royalty AU, mutual pining. Jake is a stable boy and Amy a very bad equestrian who swore to never mount on a horse ever again.

Inspired by my love for horses, and a Captain Swan scene.

Princess Amy of the Ninety-Ninth Realm of the Brooklyn Forest is good – no, great, even – at a lot of things.

She loves learning, thus has developed quite the few different skills along the years of practice and classes she took from her earliest youth. There's one thing she never seemed to get the least right, though, no matter how hard she tried to get better at it: she's a really, really bad equestrian.

To the point that she somehow managed to ride her horse into a lake, once.

And, that day, when she went out of the water all wet from the fall (thank God it was a sunny afternoon mid-July and not one of those cold mornings of January) and tried not to pay too much attention to the boy who was making fun of her on the shore – her friend and family's stable boy, one Jake Peralta – she took one simply, final vow.

To never, ever ride a horse ever again, after that awfully embarrassing incident happened.

A promise she managed to keep pretty well, along the years.

It didn't prevent her from still visiting the stables, though. On the contrary, as time went by and she grew older (as time went by and she grew closer to her friends working there) (mainly one friend), she started spending most of her free time there helping taking care of the horses – but not once mounting them.

No matter how many times Jake and Charles, the other stable boy at the castle, would beg her to accompany them on a ride in the luxuriant plains of their wonderful land.

"Ames!" the youngest of the two lads cheerfully calls her name one morning when he spots her petting Peanut, his dark Mustang, on his way back from some errands he ran. He seems surprised to see her there. "What are you doing here? Didn't you have some math test today you told us about yesterday?"

She turns her attention from the animal towards her friend, and offers him a huge smile when her eyes fall upon him. "It was only arithmetic, not all mathematics," the princess corrects him, but Jake doesn't seem to catch the different there, his brows meeting in a confused frown.

"And I did," she goes on with her explanation, "but I finished earlier than my brothers, so I thought I could come here to see my friends before my music lesson starts."

Jake sighs in return. "You're always so busy with all those nerdy activities."

"They're not nerdy! It's a lot of fun," the princess protests, vexed. "Plus if I wanna be a good queen one day, I need to learn new things," she argues.

"Like riding horses?" her friend can't help but tease her, which allows him a hard glare and a punch in the side. This reaction only makes him laugh harder, but he quickly apologises and soon enough they fall back into easy conversations. Jake watches his friend as she pets and gives apples she brought with her to Peanut.

"For realz, though," he tries convincing her for the umpteenth time after a while, in a very serious tone this time. "I could lend him to you if you ever wanna give riding horses another chance. He seems to really like you."

"Never," she's categorical with her denial. "And he's just an animal, he likes me because I feed him. He'd still have no shame in making me fall and abandoning me if something scares him out there."

Jake doesn't bother replying with anything. It seems like she's never gonna change her mind, no matter what he tries. Which is a pity, he thinks – never has he felt freer in his entire life than when he's galloping in the fields. He'd like for her to understand and appreciate this feeling, too.

(He'd love to be able to do all of this with her, the two of them riding their horses in true bliss as the wind brushes their faces – but this, he'll never tell her.)

He can't let the thought linger too much into his mind though, because soon Amy has to go and join her class. As she's leaving the stables, he watches her go dreamily, petting his horse while he does so without really paying attention to it – more by reflex than anything else, lost in his own thoughts.

"She's cute, huh?"

He's startled all of a sudden by a voice next to him, and he turns to Peanut with a confused look on his face. How is it poss–?

But soon he catches a glimpse of his best friend who just appeared out of nowhere and is now standing next to him, watching him watch the princess with a knowing grin lighting up his face. "Oh my God Charles, never do that again," he angrily tells the other boy, and with a bit of shame too for thinking his horse could have talked to him.

(It's not that which puzzled him the most when he heard it, though. More the fact that he was saying out loud what he was currently thinking.)

(Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone.)

(Certainly not to her. Or to Charles – he bugs him enough about his presumed 'crush' for the princess already to add to the fire.)

"Never do what again? Daydream about your and Amy's love story?" the older boy pretends he didn't understand.

Jake winces. "Yeah, that too," he answers. "Because I already told you – there's nothing to daydream about. We're just friends."

"If you say so. I just hope you won't forget about me when you marry her and become royalty…" the other trails off, and Jake calls his name in exasperation, which eventually makes Charles surrender. Only for a while, though. Because he's at it again when later that day Amy's back in the stables, and he presses his friend to make a move.

"You should invite her to come to the tavern with us tonight," he whispers to his hear when she doesn't listen, lost in an argument with one of her little brothers.

"Because the tavern is totally where you'll find someone from royalty indeed," Jake sighs in disagreement.

"Daniel and Luis are there all the time," Charles doesn't lose it. "And it's not like the stables are somewhere you'll find someone from royalty spend all of their free time. C'mon Jake. You know better than to judge her for her rank. She's never cared about that, you know that well."

He pauses, before adding with a wink, "Otherwise she wouldn't be friends with me and pine for you…"

"Why don't you invite her if you want her to come that bad?" the younger stable boy simply argues, choosing not to linger onto his friend's last words, tired of it.

It doesn't take more for Charles to oblige right away, apparently liking his friend's idea. It's no surprise when Amy happily agrees in joining them on their evening out.

"Can I come too?" her brother asks then, looking at the three people with pleading eyes. Unfortunately, at eight years old, he's way too young for that still.

"Sorry buddy," the oldest of them all is the one to break the bad news to him, squatting to meet his height. "When you're older we'll take you with us, promise."

"In the meantime," the girl joins in to prevent him from bursting into tears, "What do you say I take you back to Daddy for this sword's lesson he promised you, huh?"

It seems to work pretty well, because soon the child is all smiles again, ready to go back to the castle hand-in-hand with his big sister. Before leaving her friends behind, she turns towards them to say goodbye, and tells them with in a happy voice, "See you later guys!"

"Jake will come pick you up at 8 tonight," Charles warns her, and the concerned man tries to argue, but his best friend stops him before he can say anything.

That's how he finds himself, a few hours later, waiting in front of her door for her to come out. He shouldn't be, but still he feels a bit nervous, feeling that this looks like he's picking her up for a date. Which is stupid to think, because there's no way in the world he would go on a date with Princess Amy. She's just his–

He's cut sharp in his thoughts when she finally comes out, and he's faced with the girl in a wonderful blue gown that suits her so well – making her look like a true mermaid. Since he remains silent, staring at her in awe, Amy begins to wonder, "Is it… too much?" she asks, nervous. "I can quickly get changed if you think…"

"No!" Jake suddenly finds his voice again. He swallows, before he adds in a calmer tone now that he's recovered, "That's great. You look great."

He offers her a reassuring smile, and she smiles back when she thanks him, her cheeks turning a little shade of red. They remain like this, staring at each other in silence until Gina, the princess's maid, appears in-between them, breaking the moment. "I hope you don't mind, I invited her to come," Amy tells his friend.

"Oh no sure. The more the better," he agrees – after all, he and Gina have been friends since childhood. Still though – he can't help but feel a bit disappointed right now.

As soon as they reach the tavern though, the maid abandon them to join the counter, where she seats on a stool there and immediately engage in a vivid conversation with the innkeeper – Rosa's her name. They seem to know each other already, and go along pretty well, to judge by the way they act around each other.

Since there's no sign of Charles in the room yet, both friends find a table where to sit, and order one beer. For a moment there the stable boy is afraid his best friend is going to bail on them just to force them to be alone together. He quickly chases the thought out of his mind though, and starts talking with Amy.

It's never been hard to talk to her, ever since their first encounter all those years ago. She's intelligent, and funny, and they always find things to (gently) argue about.

They're also both really competitive – so much so that, soon enough during the night, they find something to bet about. Which gives Jake an idea, when time comes to talk about what's at stakes. "If I win, you let me take you on a ride," he offers, and it looks like the princess is going to argue, so he adds, "You and me on the same horse."

She takes a short pause to think, but eventually agrees, because there's no way she'll loose, according to her. And if she does, at least she won't be alone on the animal.

Charles finally arrives as they shake hands, and is quickly chosen as the mediator to judge who's the best of the two.

Turns out, Jake is. Which leads to the realisation of Amy's worst nightmare the day after: Peanut all geared up, ready for her to mount him when she comes inside the stables at 11 a.m. sharp like it was decided the previous night. The two stable boys are by the horse's side, and greet her with an excitation barely contained.

"Ready?" the younger of the two lads asks, offering her his hand to help her come up after he himself got into the saddle. She nods, even though she's not, heart racing fast in her chest while memories of the incident she had comes back to her head. She breathes out in an attempt to calm herself down – everything's gonna be okay.

She's not alone, she tries to remind herself. Jake's here with her. And he won't let her down. She can count on him.

Everything's gonna be fine…

As soon as she's seated behind him, she hooks both her hands around his waist, literally glueing herself onto him and his personal space. He lets out a surprise gasp at this sudden closeness between their bodies, but quickly forces himself to concentrate on something else than Amy's grip on him, leading his horse away from the stables and into the forest.

They walk for a while – time for them to adjust to being two on Peanut, and for Amy to find her footing, but then, when they reach a vast plain and Jake feels the horse underneath him start wanting to go faster, he releases his reins and lets him do what he wants. The animal doesn't need more to fall into gallop by himself then.

The princess lets out a small cry, not expecting this change of pace so soon, but quickly she relaxes against her friend's body, and even after a while enjoys the ride as her hair flies behind her into the air. So that's the thrilling sensations the stable boys always talk to her about.

She understands now, why they love it so much, riding their horses.

Jake turns around to check on her, and is met with a grinning Amy, which instantly warms up his heart.

Unfortunately they have to slow down after a bit, entering the forest again. But this is not the last of surprises for the girl. Indeed, as they approach a lake, the lad suddenly stops his horse, and gets down, then offers his hand for Amy to do the same. She looks at him with her brow furrowed in confusion.

"You hungry?" Jake simply asks and she nods. The ride did make her hungry indeed – plus it's almost noon now. But she hasn't taken anything with her. Which she's about to argue to her friend, who shushes her before she has the chance to say any word. He leads her a few feet away after he attached Peanut to a tree near the lake.

That's when she sees it: a wonderful picnic set out for the both of them. In shock, she turns to her friend, who's nervously watching her, rubbing his hands together. He's afraid this is too much and she'll freak out. But she doesn't. She just smiles at him – a huge, warm smile that instantly calms him down.

"Jake, that's–…" she's at a loss of words.

"Charles helped me put this together," he acknowledges, offering her to sit. "He's not only a great rider, he's also an amazing cook, did you know that?"

"Yeah," Amy laughs. "Mrs. Jones always complains about how he's going to steal her job if he goes on like this. She's banned him from the kitchens."

It makes Jake laugh too. "Anyways," he's back to being nervous. "I wanted this to be a good memory for you, y'know, so that you can see how riding a horse can actually be and forget about that one incident that happened so long ago now. I think you really should give it a try again. I… I can offer you private lessons, if you'd like that better."

The princess's heart misses a beat in her chest at the words. She's never seen him like this, so thoughtful and vulnerable instead of laid out and teasing. But she likes it.

A lot.

She takes his hand in hers, then, and thanks him. There's one question still lingering on her mind though, that hasn't left her since the day before (and maybe even before that), that's why she eventually asks, "Why do you want me to ride on a horse again so much?"

He remains silent at first, before he confesses, "I don't know, I just… I suppose I'd like you to appreciate one of my main activities here."

"Well, I did today, thanks to you. It was fun," she answers, and it's all it takes for a grin to appear on his features.

After that they start eating while still talking about everything and anything. He has to admit, Jake hasn't had that much fun for a long time, sharing some time with his friend. Charles's words from earlier today come back to his head, about how this gateaway and him wanted everything to run smoothly was another proof of his feelings for the princess. And, as he watches her laugh at his joke while eating a strawberry and he can't help but find her ravishing, for the first time he doesn't mind the thought.

Maybe his friend was right all along. Maybe he does like her after all – in a sense that means more than what he imagined.

He doesn't act on this realisation right away though. Waits until they're back at the stables, and Amy thanks him once again for that wonderful day. As they stare into each other's eyes for a while, unwilling to move and unable to talk, he takes the first step, and kisses her.

She's startled at first, but then quick to reply, her hands finding their place on his neck while their lips discover each other for the first (but not the last) time.