(Woo hoo, I am so happy with how this turned out! I hope you enjoy!)

Chapter 2 part 2

Day 2

The second night of sleep was not any better. In addition to the original problem(how long can he pretend he doesn't know the source, let's find out), Chase was paranoid he might fall off the bed, especially since it was ten mattresses tall. (He had counted while he climbed up the ladder.)

So now he was tired and grumpy and sore. Meanwhile, Buddy had been his usual chipper self when he had come into Chase's room during breakfast.

Well chipper, in the sense that he was enthusiastic to move the story along like he usually was.

It went like this, Chase woke up groggy to a knock from Deacon, again. Deacon's eyes went to the top of the canopy, again, before dropping to where Chase actually was, again. Deacon complained that he was too busy doing random maid stuff, to get to the horses, but he was determined to get to the horses. He left with only the advice to talk to the queen and get more mattresses, again.

Chase had barely got down from the mattresses and sat down to eat, when Buddy had knocked on the door and didn't even wait for a response before striding in. Buddy had stopped long enough to comment on Chase's tardiness, again.

Chase took his time to grumble about not being able to sleep, before he finished eating and getting dressed for the day.

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"You mean people actually ride side-saddle regularly." Chase said in disbelief.

"What, did you think it was a long con spanning centuries with the sole purpose of pranking you specifically?" Buddy teased, (Chase was obviously imagining the fondness in the tone, obviously, it was the sleep deprivation, obviously.)

Chase scoffed, "Of course not." He paused, eyeing the saddle that had already been put on his horse, it was different from the one he usually used with Boris. "I just thought it wasn't in style anymore."

He was trying to figure out how to get on the horse to ride it side-saddle, maybe if he climbed up like normal and then swung his leg back over, but that couldn't be comfortable for riding. Maybe if he… nah that couldn't work.

Chase was interrupted from his thoughts by Buddy. "What are you doing?"

Chase looked over at Buddy, already astride his horse and sitting perfectly side-saddle. Of course Buddy knows how to. He probably invented it. (Buddy did not invent side-saddle and Chase does in fact know that.)

"Try to get on my horse, duh." Chase turned back to his horse and noticed the stable boy standing next to the horse.

The boy looked willing to help. So, Chase approached and took the subtle hints the stable boy was offering to get him on the saddle. He put his foot in the offered hands and, woop, then he was on the horse.

They rode for a while around the small lake, or was it a large pond? Chase could see all the way across it, but it still took them two hours to go around the whole body of water.

To say Chase was exhausted when they got back, was an understatement. And he was sore, mostly in places he wasn't expecting, who knew balancing side-saddle was so much effort. He reluctantly followed Buddy off the horses and to the next room knowing the story wasn't going to end if Chase just took a nap and skipped the princess tests.

"…So, I told him not to go near the horse while I was gone, and do you know what he did!?" Chase stabbed a needle into the fabric, barely pausing as he ranted to Buddy. "He went near the horse while I was gone. Luckily the horse has warmed up to him enough that he doesn't draw blood anymore."

Buddy chuckled, "Isn't he trying to find the horses in this story?"

"Yes, he is." Chase emphasized the statement with a more forceful jab of the needle. He paused to look over his work, a little sloppier than usual, but only if you knew what you were looking for. The needle point was a boring flower design, but Chase had picked some pretty teals to work with on it.

He went back to sewing, "Thing is, I don't see what his big deal with them even is, they're just horses."

Buddy hummed in agreement, "So," Chase could sense a subject change coming. "Tell me, how did a talentless Brat like you learn to sew?"

"Hey, I have talent! Ouch!" Chase exclaimed, accidentally stabbing himself with the needle at the same time. He stuck the injured finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding (yes, Chase knows it's not the proper way to stop the bleeding, no of course he's not using it at a distraction to prevent telling Buddy he learned to sew so he could make the hand-me downs he got into custom stardom clothes.)

"I learned from my mom before she…" Chase hesitated before he slowly started again. "I learned from my mom a long time ago. She encouraged me to learn the arts," Chase paused, that is getting a bit sappy, and he didn't need Buddy's pity about his mom. He continued with all the confidence and bravado he usually had. "Of course, I barely even needed the lessons, since my talent comes so naturally." (And with lots of hard work that Chase was really proud of, he just didn't need to gloat about that right now.)

Buddy scoffed, "You can't even lead, I think you need more lessons." Buddy paused at Chase's eyeroll (of course Chase knows how to lead, he's danced enough to know it would just be the opposite steps, but for the sake of the chance to dance with Buddy, well…), "I can teach you, in fact I would be happy to teach you."

Chase's cheeks flushed, "You… you would?"

"I would," Buddy nodded, a devious look glinting in Buddy's eyes. "And maybe if you learn to lead, you'll see how atrocious your dancing with the princes' actually is."

Chase slumped back in his chair. (When did he lean so far forward to talk to Buddy, he doesn't remember.) "I thought you were being nice," Chase pouted, sticking his bottom lip out.

Chase must be getting really tired, 'cause there is no way Buddy's eyes dropped to Chase's lips and there is no way Buddy swallowed as if his mouth was suddenly dry.

Buddy looked away, leaning back in his chair. (When did Buddy lean so far forward, Chase doesn't remember that either.)

Chase put down his sewing, "Come on, Buddy, let's go for a walk or something, if I sit here any longer, I might fall asleep."

"We can't have that," a small smile formed, and Buddy's tone had a teasing quality to it, "Let's go get started on those ballroom lessons then, shall we?"

Chase groaned externally, internally he happily thought, "More time wrapped in Buddy's arms, yay!"

"Put your hand on my waist like this," Buddy guided Chase's hand into position, placed his own gently on Chase's shoulder, and then linked their other hands together. "Then, when you start you step forward instead of backwards."

Chase nodded, and then fought every fiber in his being that said to dance correctly and purposely stepped forward with the wrong foot narrowly missing Buddy's foot. "Oh sorry, I forgot."

Chase corrected and then started the dance again, getting a few steps in before bumping into Buddy with another intentional misstep.

The third time Chase stepped wrong was actually an accident. Buddy stopped their dance, "Shall I lead again?" Chase looked up and saw the question was sincere, "Or I can reverse lead, so you can learn the steps to take."

Chase considered it, Buddy for whatever reason wanted to keep dancing with Chase despite his so far bad dancing… The idea was very intriguing.

"Sure, let's try that, since you insist on me learning to lead." Chase shrugged non-committedly.

Buddy smiled, or was it supposed to be a smirk? Chase couldn't concentrate on that difference, his sleep deprived brain too dazzled by how much more gorgeous it made Buddy.

Without changing their positions, Buddy put a little more pressure on Chase's shoulder and pulled Chase in a little closer, before leading them around the dance floor.

Chase tried to pay attention to his footwork, he really did, but the way Buddy was looking at him and holding him had butterflies in his stomach.

Much like the previous night, the dancing ended much sooner than Chase wanted, but he was yawning and his eyes were blurring a bit with exhaustion.

"Come on, Little Idiot," That was definitely affection in Buddy's tone. "I'll walk you too your room"

Chase nodded, "That would be nice." Chase tangled his and Buddy's fingers together so he could keep holding Buddy's hand as they left the ballroom.

They soon arrived at Chase's door.

"Well, here we are." Buddy said quietly, he looked down at Chase expectantly.

"Well, here we are." Chase repeated quietly, the sudden urge to kiss Buddy was surprising, not unwanted, but surprising. So surprising that Chase could only blink up at Buddy in the shock of it. ('Here we are' Buddy had said. He wasn't expecting Chase to kiss him, he was expecting Chase to say good night and go to bed.)

Chase looked away from Buddy at the realization, breaking the intense eye contact. "Good night Buddy, today has been really fun, I hope we have more stories like this where you don't have to be a Villain to be a villainess but that you can have some fun too." Chase said a bit softly, trying to keep the hurt out of the sincerity of his tone.

Buddy looked a bit shocked at that, and disappointed, but mostly shocked. He quickly relaxed his facial expressions and nodded, "Have a good night, I hope you sleep well."

Buddy turned away, but not before Chase saw a slight blush on his cheeks. Chase watched until Buddy rounded the corner before starting to turn the knob for his room.

"Ah there you are," Deacon said, his voice coming from the opposite direction Buddy had just gone. "I give up, there are no horses."

"What are you talking about, there are horses." Chase exclaimed turning to Deacon, "I rode one of them today, side-saddle I might add. So, now I'm sore as heck. On top of that, I can't find the pea, and I haven't slept well since I got here, and I am really starting to get annoyed due to the lack of beauty sleep. So if you don't have anything to tell me that isn't about horses, then let me go to bed." Chase knew exactly where the pea was, he had just wanted to spend more time with Buddy, but unfortunately that meant lack of sleep and lack of sleep meant crabby Chase.

Deacon huffed, "Fine, I'll talk to you tomorrow, and maybe if you sleep on it, you'll figure it out." He stormed away and Chase went into his room.

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The stack of mattresses had doubled, the ladder even taller. Chase groaned, already resigned to climbing up, he was exhausted. When he got to the top of the stack, he collapsed and attempted to sleep.

Day 3

The knocking just irritated Chase. He was already sitting at the dinette, waiting.

Deacon came in carrying the tray of food, his eyes immediately went up to the top mattress, like they had the mornings prior, but instead of looking bewildered at the height he seemed content with what he saw.

"Over here Dorkin." Chase said, tiredly, his head propped up on one of his hands.

Deacon looked over, and his mouth dropped, "Wow you look awful."

Chase glared at him. "You don't say." His sarcasm falling short with his grumpiness.

He was interrupted from saying anymore by a knock on the door.

"Ugh, it's open." Chase called.

The door opened revealing Buddy, who took one look at Chase and let out a low whistle. "Well aren't you a sore sight for my eyes."

Chase is too dang tired for this.

"Nope, sorry, I can't do this no sleep thing anymore. The pea is under the mattress, has been since the first night. Now the princess lives happily ever after with the prince who magically just got back from the expedition to find the princess's parents with the princess's parents." Chase paused "Oh and the pea is going into a museum for all eternity, as far as the story goes at least."

Buddy and Deacon stared in awe. "Um. You knew."

"Yeah, this is one of my parent's favorites from when I was younger." Chase said, dropping lore like it was no biggie, "I never knew the title of it, and my parents said the whole peapod was put under the mattress. I'll see you guys happily ever after."

A flash of light ended the story.

And Chase was out of the book, his tiredness less than it was in the book, but still enough that when Deacon came out of the book a moment later Chase was already filling the jar with the narratonin he had collected.

"Deacon, I feel like it's gonna take years to catch up on the sleep I lost, we can talk about the next book tomorrow."

The boys said goodnight to the keys in the attic before going to their separate rooms and calling it a day.

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(Hope you enjoyed! -much luv cassy)