Asriel had a crush on Chara for years now. He didn't think he had even the slightest chance with them, so he didn't say a word silently hoping the feelings would go away. They didn't. Really it was unfair how stubborn his heart was being right now.
That may be why he agreed to an arranged marriage. It was something that could hopefully force him to get over Chara finally. It was a selfish, awful move on his part. But most don't expect love from an arranged marriage. It wasn't as if he went out of his way to court someone he didn't have feelings for. So it wasn't that bad of a move, logically. Morally is a different question.
He didn't care for that question. It's good for the kingdom, both kingdoms so it doesn't matter. He needed to start thinking like a king, not a selfish prince. Him agreeing to this was the right thing, it will form an alliance with two kingdoms who otherwise might've geared up for war. This was the right choice.
He fastened a button on a ceremonial robe he was wearing looking in the mirror, he sighed he looked like he was going to a funeral in deceptively cheery colors. He smiled at the mirror, he didn't look convincing even to himself. He just finished getting ready. He opened the door pausing when he saw, "Chara, what are-"
"Why have you been avoiding me?" Chara snapped blocking him from exiting. "You have to actually tell me, you have a time-sensitive announcement to get to right?"
Asriel rubbed the back of his neck, he was much taller than Chara, due to him being a boss monster and them being a human. He could just push them aside and not answer the question. But that felt unfair and he was certain Chara would be willing to fight him for the answer, "I'm just on edge due to what's happening."
They glared at him, "And what is happening? You haven't told me shit!"
"Chara I-" I'm in love with you and it hurt to talk about marrying someone else. "I was ordered not to tell anyone…" he lied.
"That hasn't stopped you before! We tell each other everything." their voice trailed off looking at the floor.
"I doubt you tell me everything, Chara." It felt mean to say, yet he was sure Chara had many secrets that not even Asriel knows. "You know when everyone does."
"So I'm nothing but a random subject to you now?"
"Chara you are my best friend," he grabbed their hands, "I care about you more than anyone else! Please, I promise I won't avoid you anymore I'm sorry."
They looked at their intertwined hands Chara gave his hands three small squeezes a thing that they seem to do a lot, he thought it was cute even if Chara refused to tell him anything about it. "Promise?"
"I promise." Chara nodded and stepped aside letting him pass, letting go of his hands smiling at him and walking passed him to the hall where a good number of his subjects where waiting. He followed only letting Chara out of his sight when he went to his parents, his dad fixed his robe and his mom fused with his hair for a while.
"Asriel?" his mom asked softly, "Are you sure you're okay with this? I can call it off, and work out a different way to bring peace between New Home and Determinate."
He paused, it was tempting, and his mom knew how to bridge alliances so well that he wouldn't put it past her to be able to do so in her sleep. Except for Determinate, he had heard rumors of how that human king seemed to want a war, after setting everything up calling it off now well, no matter how good his mom was at peace talks he'd be setting up the kingdom for war if he backed out now.
His father stood by his mom, "You're mother is right, Asriel." that felt like wishful thinking as he thought harder about it.
Asriel braced himself and smiled at his parents, "I'm sure," he hugged them, "thank you for asking." his parent hugged him back and they all walked out before the crowd his parents walked ahead smiling while he looked for Chara, who as the only human in a crowd of monsters was easy enough. He smiled at them who smirked back. He felt less nervous for a beat before it all came back when his dad spoke.
"As you all know in a few months, our son Asriel will take my place on the throne, what you may not know is that he won't be on said throne alone."
His mom went center stage, "Asriel has agreed to marry to secure an alliance between us and the human kingdom of Determinate."
He heard a few people muttering unsure, his mom seemed to sense this and started to talk about what befits such a union would give everyone, he had already heard this so he stopped tuning in to what she was saying.
As his mom continued to talk of his engagement, he looked into the crowd, he tried his best to not look nervous. Standing tall, smiling hopefully in a way that looked genuine, his hands behind his back so his fidgeting wouldn't be seen. To help him calm down he looked for Chara, but their chair was empty.
He looked to the door to see them going out of the hall as quietly as possible, he caught their eyes before they got to the door and he saw them looking hurt before they went out of the room.
It took every bit of willpower he had to not run after them and stand there not interrupting his mother as she finished talking and the monsters of his kingdom clapped causing ringing in his ears as his eyes stayed fixated on the door.
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It was a mess, a tangled web of problems most of which Chara would put the blame on their own shoulders. They're the one who made a fuss about the announcement and jeopardized their friendship with Asriel, they're the one being standoffish, angry, and honestly unreasonable. Yet they were still mad even if it was unreasonable, their feelings were out of control.
Chara shoved their face into a pillow and screamed, Asriel was betrothed to some royal brat who they didn't bother to learn the name of, they balled up their fists with the bed covers. It was their fault for feeling like this if they told Asriel how they felt it might have been different. They had no idea if he returned their feelings but at least they would have known where they stood.
But now Chara couldn't tell him. How would that look? 'Hey I know you're engaged but I have feelings for you' it was a special kind of shitty that Chara simply didn't want to make Asriel deal with. He already looked nervous at the announcement… and Chara just walked out, they weren't loud but they felt everyone staring. It was starting to make them panic. Asriel hated them he had to.
They wished they had asked about it, had talked to him when their feelings became romantic towards him, just had some sense in general. They might have to look into going away for a while... staying and watching Asriel get married… that would be pure torture. Were they being overdramatic? It's not like they had a chance with a prince, they where just a brat that they let stay out of pity and obligation. In the grand scheme of things, they were nothing more than a footnote on Prince Asriel's great life.
They got up wiping tears they didn't know they were shedding, flipping over the pillow, starting to take deep breaths. It's fine, they told themself, 'you'll still be his friend, you just need to bury your feelings and have that be a secret you take to you grave.'
It's simple, they'll be fine they just needed to not fuck things up for themself. They went and washed their face to cover up the fact that they where crying. "Get over it," they muttered to themself looking in the mirror, " you knew these feelings were dumb, you fucking knew they'll come back to hurt you."
They looked at themself, how sad and weak they were over a crush of all things. Why couldn't they be logical about such things? They wondered vaguely if there was some way to remove emotions, that might be useful… a loud knock took them out their daydream suddenly.
"Chara?" Asriel, of course, he'd seek them out after they rudely walked out on him. He'll probably send them away so he could dote on his spouse to be. Maybe they should start packing-
Another knock, "Chara please open up… I want to talk to you."
Despite his tone of voice said otherwise, it felt like he was mad and Chara took their time to open the door hoping at this point they didn't look so fragile anymore. They opened the door keeping their face as neutral as possible, "what is it?"
Asriel looked taken aback for a moment before playing with his robe, "I want to talk with you."
"Yes, you said that already," their voice cold, they were being rude and they knew it but it helped stop them from breaking down. Plus if Asriel ends up hating them it'll be easier to move on. They stepped aside letting him in the room and closing the door. They didn't know what will happen and they felt no need to get the rumor mill turning.
"I'm sorry for not telling you about this but," he looked down, "I just didn't know how to tell you, there was a threat of war and I suggested it on a whim and it was making me a bit of a mess an-"
"Asriel!" they grabbed his hand while pulling his robe so he looked at them, "I should be the one saying sorry." they let go of his robe and breathed in deeply. Don't break down. Don't break down. Don't. Break. Down. "I walked out. I'm at fault there."
"But…" he stopped before breathing in, "But if I told you, you might've handled it better, plus it wasn't that big of a deal that you walked away." He looked them in the eyes green meeting red, "Chara whenever I keep things from you it eats me up inside."
They looked at their hands before letting go, too many emotions rising in them. "Well, I- I don't know what to say to that Azzy." He seemed to relax once they said his nickname, they smiled just a bit at that.
They were pulled into a hug and the buried their face into his chest, how were they going to deal with this?
Author's note, If you wish to talk with me I have a Tumblr blog yana-hyde also pls write a review OwO