Prompt: As kids, Apollo and Nahyuta made a promise they would marry each other when they grew up. That they would never leave each other's side.

From months to years past their reunion, Apollo remembers his childhood promise and asks for Nahyuta's hand in marriage.

Sincerity

Leading a revolution is hard work, and Dhurke Sahdmadhi would be the first to admit he's not a very present father. But when revolutionary activities are done for the day, family dinner and tucking the boys in is something he can do, so he makes a point never to miss those. People think that, as a lawyer, he must be very good at making up stories, but he doesn't think his stories are appropriate for children. He can, however, read very animatedly —he used to be a street performer, after all— and it's heartening that Apollo and Nahyuta seem to enjoy his bedtime stories.

Tonight, he has one about a king attempting to woo a most beautiful princess who had, in the story so far, sent him a message, "thanking him but saying that she did not wish to marry."

"Dhurke, what does it mean to marry?" Apollo interjects.

He sets the book down on his lap. "Uh…" The first thing that comes to mind is the legal definition, but that's probably too complex for a toddler. "Well, it's when two people promise to love and take care of each other forever."

The Sutra of Union, at least, included vows to love, care for and increase each other in faith and piety even unto the Twilight Realm, and he hopes neither Apollo nor Nahyuta will ask what happens if someone breaks that promise yet.

Fortunately, Nahyuta is already sleepy, but Apollo —ever the more energetic of the two— seems to be thinking hard. "In that case," he muses slowly, "can I marry Nahyuta?"

"W—what?!"

Dhurke looks up, realizing he wasn't alone in his shocked outburst, to find Nahyuta sitting up, now wide awake.

"I can't…?" Apollo looks from him to Nahyuta and back, crestfallen. "Why not?"

"Uh…" How is he going to explain this one?

"We're both boys," Nahyuta points out flatly, and at least that's out of the way.

Apollo blinks slowly. "So? Why can't I promise to love and take care of you forever?"

Before Nahyuta can answer, Dhurke quickly says, "Of course you can. But to marry someone is also a lot more than that, and so there are laws about it. Here in Khura'in, the laws say that the two people who marry must be a boy and a girl."

He'll admit he didn't see this one coming, but they're always together, after all. He probably shouldn't be so surprised.

Again, Apollo furrows his brow. Then he asks, "But why?" Brown eyes drop to the floor sadly. "What if there is no girl I want to promise that to?"

The other boy remains silent, but his expression is downcast, and it breaks a father's heart. He won't be the one to suggest they remain alone forever if they never find a girl they like.

"Well," Dhurke says, slowly to think the words through, "in some places, Apollo, people think like you. So they had a revolution and changed the laws. Now any two people can marry there."

"Oh." Apollo immediately brightens.

But it's Nahyuta who asks, "Father, will your revolution change that, too?"

To be honest, it's not something he's thought about before, but if it will make his sons happy, "Yes," he can certainly include it.

"Gotcha!" Apollo cries, snatching off the hair-tie and sprinting away.

"Apollo!" Nahyuta yells sternly and starts chasing after him, lavender hair falling loose and streaming out behind in the wind. "Give it back!"

"Only if you catch me!" The brunet shouts back, glancing over his shoulder with a grin.

"Agh!" Suddenly, his foot snags.

"Apollo!" Nahyuta screams his name in concern this time as he falls, flailing.

"Waaa—OW!" He hits the ground by the tree, barely breaking his fall with his arms, and rolls over on the grass, crying — it hurts; it hurts everywhere.

"Holy Mother, Apollo, are you all right?" Nahyuta falls to his knees beside him and checks his injuries. "Apollo?"

He wails, rolling into Nahyuta's comforting warmth, and the older boy sighs in relief.

"Oh, thank Her Holiness… Watch where you're going next time," he chides gently, folding Apollo into his arms.

It still hurts, but the pain is slowly receding, and Nahyuta is rubbing his back — it's warm, and it feels nice. He clings to Nahyuta, burying his face in the other's shoulder to ride out his sobs.

"Shh… It's okay now. You're fine."

"I'm fine," he mumbles, sniffling, and he does feel better. "I'm fine," he repeats for good measure, drying his eyes.

"Good." Nahyuta pries the hair-tie out of his fisted hand.

He hangs his head. "Sorry…"

"If you were truly sorry," Nahyuta replies placidly as he reties his hair, "you wouldn't do it again."

"But you look so much prettier with your hair down!" Apollo protests. Sometimes, he's a bit jealous — Nahyuta gets prettier every day.

When he glances up, green eyes are wide, and fair skin is flushed. "L—let's get you cleaned up," Nahyuta says hurriedly, helping him up and leading him back inside to wipe him down with a damp washcloth and put some antiseptic on his cuts and scrapes.

"Nahyuta, will you marry me when we grow up?" Nahyuta already loves and takes care of him, and he wants to reciprocate, hopefully forever. "If we can't marry here, then let's go somewhere we can."

"W—well…" The older boy intently affixes a band-aid over a bigger cut. "It's customary when asking for such things to show your sincerity somehow."

"Oh. How do I do that?"

Looking away, Nahyuta says, "It only counts if you think of it yourself. Now, go change, Apollo. Your clothes are a mess."

"Okay." As he goes to their room, Apollo thinks very hard. What can he do to show Nahyuta his sincerity?

"Apollo!" Nahyuta calls, looking around the house. "Apollo?" The younger boy is nowhere to be found. He frowns, worried. He doesn't know what he'd do if Apollo went missing. He steps outside and tries again, louder. "Apollo!"

"Over here!"

It seems to come from a distance, but though he shades his eyes from the sunlight with his hand and searches around, he can't see the boy.

"Here!"

This time, he pinpoints the direction of the sound and turns to face it, but—

"Up here!"

He sees Apollo waving, finally, and his heart plummets. "Apollo!" he cries, sprinting to the peach tree down the slope, heart pounding frantically in horror. "What are you doing?!"

From a branch halfway up the tree, Apollo grins, triumphant. "Showing my sincerity!"

"What?!" he gasps, skidding to a stop below.

"You like peaches, don't you? Those are ripe!" He points to the fruits hanging from a slightly higher branch.

"Well, yes, but—"

"I'm going to pluck them for you!" Apollo declares gallantly.

Nahyuta's eyes widen with sheer panic as the other resumes climbing the tree. "What?! Apollo, no! Holy Mother, Apollo, get back down here!"

"It's just a little higher!"

"No, Apollo! It's dangerous!" Oh Holy Mother… Father would be so mad, but more importantly, he would never be able to live with himself if Apollo got hurt because of him. "Please, Apollo… Please come back down."

"But I've almost got it! Justice will prevail!"

Yes, and it looks so precarious on that branch — he's so scared, he's crying. "I don't care about that, Apollo! Please!" Holy Mother, heed my prayer and keep him safe. "Please just come back down!"

"But then you won't marry me!"

Oh Holy Mother of Boundless Mercy, "I will, all right?! I will! I'll marry you, Apollo, so won't you please, please, just come back down already?!"

Just then, Apollo snags the peach he's reaching for. "Gotcha!" But he can't climb down while holding it, so "Nahyuta, catch!"

He drops it, and Nahyuta catches it easily, but he can't even be happy about it as he watches Apollo climb back down. "Please be careful," Nahyuta begs through his anxious tears. He loves Apollo more than anything, more than all the peaches in the world, and he feels faint with worry.

When Apollo finally reaches the ground, Nahyuta lets out the breath he's been holding and runs to throws his arms around the other. Drying his eyes and composing himself, he shakes the younger boy. "Apollo, you pohlkunkan! What were you thinking?! Do you know how dangerous that is?! What if you'd fallen and hurt yourself?!"

"I—it wasn't that high up…"

Apollo sounds apologetic, and Nahyuta is too relieved that the other boy is safe to even properly be angry. He takes Apollo by the shoulders to look straight into brown eyes.

"Promise me you'll never do anything so dangerous again."

Apollo nods. "Okay, I promise. Do you like the peach?"

Sighing, Nahyuta smiles helplessly. "I'd like anything if it's from you, Apollo."

"Yay!" The other smiles brightly and throws his arms around Nahyuta in a hug. "When I grow up, I'm going to marry you! And love and take care of you and make you happy forever!"

Chuckling in fond exasperation, Nahyuta steers Apollo back towards the house. "All right, all right. Now let's go eat this peach together."

"Okay!"

Admittedly, though, the sentiment makes him really happy.

Apollo scribbles notes furiously as he cross-checks several legal books, then reviews the clauses Nahyuta passed to him. After some thought, he makes some edits, then passes it back to the regent looking something else up beside him.

"Here, what if we worded it like this? That should cover all our bases."

Nahyuta sets the book he's reading down and takes the notepad they're using from Apollo. Watching as green eyes scan the page, Apollo can't help but marvel at how elegant and beautiful his childhood friend has grown. Not that he hasn't always thought Nahyuta pretty, but the years have truly worked wonders, and he doesn't know if it's the ascetic training, but now, it's as if Nahyuta walks on an entirely different plane of existence.

"Yes, I think that should suffice." Nahyuta smiles, ethereal, and Apollo realizes he's been staring at those soft-looking lips. "Excellent work, Apollo. I was right to ask for your help."

It makes Apollo shy, somehow, makes his heart skip a beat. He's always adored Nahyuta, but lately, he thinks the nature of his affection has changed… or at least grown less innocent. After all, the last time they'd spent so much time together, they were mere children, incapable of the romantic and sexual attraction he finds himself wrestling with now.

"T—thanks…" He scratches his head, then hurriedly grabs the book on the existing laws of Khura'in to defuse the sudden awkwardness. "M—moving on…"

As luck would have it, the next section is on marriage, and he groans internally.

Great — no escape from his fruitless thoughts.

He's never seen Nahyuta show any interest in anyone of any gender, as if the other lived in a bubble of otherworldly zen. And even if Nahyuta could be romantically interested in men, the regent could have his choice of the entire kingdom and possibly more. Moreover, Apollo isn't very well-versed in the politics of Khura'in, but it's likely that a prince would have to marry within the aristocracy anyway.

It would probably be best not to dwell on it, to "let it go and move on," as the prosecutor would say.

Shoving his distractions to the back of his mind, he starts reading, beginning with the legal definition of marriage: The legal status, condition, or relationship that results from a contract by which one man and one woman…

He stops, memories floating to the forefront of his mind. With sudden clarity, he remembers climbing a peach tree, asking Nahyuta to marry him and Dhurke saying two boys couldn't marry each other in Khura'in. He blinks at the book in his hand — now, they can change that, and maybe…

He turns. "Nahyuta."

"Yes?" The other sets his book down again to give him full attention.

Apollo opens his mouth, then rethinks his words. "What do you think of amending the definition of marriage to make it gender neutral?"

Green eyes blink, then grow pensive. After some thought, Nahyuta nods. "There should be no problem. There is nothing in the Khurainist Scriptures that would prohibit it, so it would not be against the Constitution, and marriage equality is increasingly accepted across the world."

A thoroughly impassive and professional response — classic zen monk. He needs to fish a little harder.

"Great!" Grinning and keeping his tone flippant, he adds, "Then you can finally keep your promise!"

This way, he can laugh it off. This way, nothing has to change.

Afraid his face might give something away, he focuses on rewriting the clause in his notepad.

It takes a second before Nahyuta gasps, then splutters. "Wh— I— Satorha! T—that was clearly under duress!"

"Duress?" He whirls, unthinking. "So you didn't mean it?" As his eyes meet stunned green ones, he realizes his mistake — he shouldn't have looked, and his last outburst hadn't sounded the least bit joking or teasing. Crap, crap, crap… Justice, you're done. He quickly turns back to his work. But duress… Looking back, he certainly can't disagree that it counts as such, but he has to admit — it stings.

"Apollo, I—"

"It's fine," he interrupts. They were just kids. It doesn't— It doesn't mean anything.

"Apollo, I apologise."

"You don't have to—"

"It was callous of me," Nahyuta interjects, insistent. "Not to mention disingenuous."

"Huh?"

Nahyuta takes Apollo's hand and winds his rosary around it. "I want you to have this."

Apollo stares at the string of prayer beads, then at their owner. "But… aren't these really important to you?" Their religious significance aside, Nahyuta once told him that they were given to him when he completed his study of the Scriptures and became fully ordained.

The other smiles. "If they were not important, it would hardly be a show of sincerity." He folds Apollo's fingers over them. "It's my turn, after all. As I said, I must apologise. I thought you were only joking, so I reacted flippantly as well, but…" He looks away. "All this time, I had hoped you didn't make those promises in childish ignorance."

Oh. He covers Nahyuta's hands with his own. "Well, I did, but that doesn't mean they weren't true." He's never loved Nahyuta any less.

Nahyuta lights up like he hasn't seen since they were children. "Then… in that case, Apollo, will you marry me?"

"Ah…" His cheeks blaze. He never expected… "D—don't you have some kind of obligation as regent?"

Green eyes blink slowly, then widen. "Ah, I see what you mean. Yes, I expect many would be disappointed by my decision, but I have no wish to commit my life to pretense. In my heart, there has never been any other."

He throws his arms around Nahyuta, unbelievably and unspeakably happy. "Then yes, of course!"

Nahyuta returns the embrace, and he's missed this — it's been so long. Even after their reunion, not knowing where they stood, they'd remained distant albeit friendly.

"Technically," he straightens with a grin, "you agreed to marry me a long time ago."

Nahyuta laughs, leaning in, and his lips are as soft as they look. He still smells of that faintly smoky floral musk, and his hair is like silk running over Apollo's fingers. It's like a piece of his life he'd never known was missing has fallen into place, perfect — he'd never realized how much he'd wanted to do that.

"We should get back to work," Nahyuta says at length, and—

"That's right." Apollo turns back to the books with renewed purpose. "We really need to change these laws now."