"No, I'm not kidding you. She literally had her pet tiger snap at me!" Eric exasperated; he has been sitting with Aladdin for at least a couple hours now. After a long cultural exchange Eric and Aladdin got around to talking about the Princes' encounter with the Arabian princess.
"Ha! Are you serious?" Aladdin and Eric were now lounging on the window with the view of the castle, "I mean I heard she was tough on the suitors that came to her but I didn't know she was that harsh."
Eric was now playing with the monkey crawling over his shoulders, it took some serious breaking in, but Abu was starting to get accustomed to the guy. It helped after Eric pulled out some cookies he snatched from the royal desert table. "Yeah, your princess is sure a hard one."
"Hey I don't blame her; the royally bred can be real assholes sometimes." Aladdin fumed, he glanced up to see Eric raising his eyebrows at him. "I'm not saying all princes are jerks," He put his hands up in defense, "But I mean, this one guy pulled a whip out on some kids. Some people just don't have an respect."
Eric looked shocked, "Really!?" After the treatment he got in this place it shouldn't have been so surprised.
"Yeah, if I hadn't jumped in he would've actually hit him." Aladdin said using more hand gestures than necessary.
Prince Eric smiled at his noble friend, "Well it's nice to see that some people in this place have a caring heart."
"Why, how's it like in your world? Are people a lot nicer?"
Eric thought about that for a second, maybe he was too quick to judge this place, it's not like he could imagine what the townspeople do at his home. It's not like it was completely corrupt-free, he just supposed he was more sheltered there. He has probably been outside of the Agrabah palace in a day longer then he's out of his castle in a month. "I don't know," He finally said, "Us royally bred don't get to mingle with the commoners as much as we'd like." Putting emphasis on "Royally bred".
Aladdin paused for a second, reflecting on the fact that the princess basically said the same thing, "Are you even supposed to be out here? I mean why would they let you go out in a strange country by yourself but not your own?"
"I'm not." He said calmly at first but then jumped up suddenly, which startled Abu, "Oh God! How long have I been here? I've got to get back." Eric panicked and started looking around for his stuff out of habit but soon realized he didn't bring anything.
"God means Allah right?" Aladdin asked only to be ignored by the frantic prince. He sighed, "Relax, I'll take you back to the castle. Or as close as I can get to it." Aladdin said reassuringly as he got up and led Eric out.
Eric smiled back at him, "Thanks." He said gratefully, he's never had a friend like him before.
The two guys walking through the streets seemed like misfits. There was the ragtag street rat with covered in grime and clothes stolen from street merchants and patched up over years of wear and tear from discarded potato sacks from the garbage. And then there was the royal prince who looked like he had too many baths, with his pale skin and fitted attire made just for a prince. It wasn't the most common sight so the two tried to stay low as much as possible, without Eric's fallen turban he would be easily spotted and reported to Grimsby. Aladdin obviously knew every crack and crevice of the town so getting through it was easy for him, but for Eric not so much.
As they were on their way the prince and the street rat noticed a rise in palace guards, it seemed they were looking for someone and if it was the missing prince, which it most likely was, then they most definitely don't want to be seen. Especially after the experience they've each had with them. So as they narrowly attempted to escape the guards Aladdin lead the way through the back roads. They walked down from Al's place and straight into a dead end, "Are you sure you know where you're going?" Eric asked looking back cautiously to check if there were no guards.
"Yeah, of course." Aladdin said, rather distant.
Eric turned around and to his surprise the skinny boy had disappeared, "Where'd you-"
"Down here" He heard his voice say as a hand erupted from a damp corner of the ally that was partially covered by moss and hanging vines. Eric raised an eyebrow, and as if he knew the man's reaction Aladdin replied with, "Don't worry it's not as gross once you actually get down here."
Eric shrugged and crawled down into the hole. Aladdin was right, it wasn't as gross as it seemed, it was a tunnel lined with concrete like some sort of a drainage system but it was completely dry. You could imagine the amount of rain that they had there. "This is the easiest way to get through the busy part of town." Aladdin said as he crawled on his hands and knees leading Eric along the way, "Sorry its kid of a tight squeeze."
It was a tight squeeze; Aladdin was having an easier time getting through the tunnel than Eric who was scraping up his fancy linens. Al was calmly making his way through this labyrinth as Eric followed. "Are you sure you know where you're going?" Eric was trying hard to not look directly in front of him at the ass directing him where to turn; he felt his face heating up, he wasn't sure if it was him or just the climate of Agrabah.
"Of course, I go through here all the time."
"Where's Abu?" Eric just noticed the Monkey's disappearance.
"He's probably back at my place. He doesn't like being underground, so he never comes in here." Suddenly Aladdin stopped moving, making Eric almost run into his caboose. Eric face heated up even more at the thought.
"Why'd you stop?" Eric asked backing up a little.
Aladdin looked left and right, he finally turned his body to face Eric and sit down, "Um.."
"Are we lost?" This brought a smirk to Eric face.
Aladdin looked around the tunnel intersection, "No, no. I know exactly where we are." Eric raised his eyebrows but never lifted the condescending smirk. "Hey don't look at me like that," Aladdin couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the gall of the newbie who was looking at him, like he could ever find his way around this place. "I do know where we are," he hesitated hoping for some sign to come to him, "I just don't know where to go from here."
Eric couldn't help but chuckle as he attempted to sit down as much as he could with the tight spacing. At this point the two boys were just awkwardly staring at each other, "Alright let's just go this way." Aladdin said finally, interrupting their little staring contest. Getting back on his hands and knees Aladdin went down one of the paths, Eric simply complied and followed.
When they finally made it out of the tunnel it was already very dark, the only way Aladdin could see if Eric was still following him was the indicators of his bright blue eyes. "Alright this isn't where I wanted to end up but we're not too far from-" Aladdin stopped suddenly at the sight of a guard coming around the corner. He quickly grabbed Eric from the front of his shirt and pulled him into a small space nearby hidden from the view of the guard.
Both boys stood perfectly still as the guard was passing by them. It was here Aladdin notice how much taller the prince was from him, he had to look up in order to look at his eyes properly.
Eric could feel Aladdin's warm breath on his neck; he turned his in order to see if the guard passed by yet. Once he did, neither was prepared to move. They wanted to make sure the guard was completely gone, but even when they were sure they remained there a little while longer. "Okay I think he's gone." Eric could feel the boy say when his breath brushed up against his neck.
"Okay," Eric replied and they moved along.
After a couple minutes of walking and a few close calls they were finally near the front gates, "Alright I got you here now it's up to you." They could see the gates and the two built muscular guards standing alongside it. "I can't help you get passed Dumb and Dumber."
Eric smiled brightly at the light joke, "That's alright I'll go out the way I came, through the servants entrance."
"Ooh, we got ourselves a badass over here." Aladdin cheered.
"Shut up." Eric shushed, "And thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it, how long are you staying?" Aladdin asked with the slightest sense of hope.
"Well it was only supposed to be a few days to settle the trade but I have a feeling that the Sultan's plans for his daughter will keep me here longer."
Aladdin chuckled slightly, "Well good luck with that. You can come down to my place whenever she throws her cat at you."
"Thanks, I'll do that when I finally figure out that maze we went through."
"Don't worry all you have to do is get yourself in trouble again and I'll probably be there. I'm always looking for trouble anyways."
"Alright I'll keep that in mind." Eric said as he departed going his separate way. Once he made sure the coast was clear he slipped into the servant's entrance unseen. He walked quickly up the steps and through the hallway, he almost made it when…
"Where have you been!?" Grimsby walked out of the hallway shadow and approached Eric. "You didn't go out of the palace did you?"
"What me? No, of course not." Eric said as the bad liar he was.
Grimsby raised an eyebrow, "And where might have you been for the last three hours?
"I was… taking a shower." Grimsby's countenance did not change, "A really long shower?" It came out more of a question.
"Prince Eric may I remind you of the dangers of going out and …." Eris sighed, he wished he was still with his new friend.