TCF Oneshots

Basen's Misunderstanding (friends)

Author's Note: A 'what if' that I had during episode 'Me? Why?'

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Cale slammed the door open, expecting to find an intruder. He barged in only to come to a sudden stop.

In his room of his family's home in the capital, was Raon-who was stuffing his face with chocolate cake. The intruder that he had feared was none other than the crown prince in his original form, who was happily wiping chocolate off of Raon's chubby face.

"Hiya," the crown prince said cheerily with a smile that was as bright as the moon outside.

Cale pinched the bridge of his nose and released a long sigh.

"Human!" Raon shouted from where he was sitting on the table, surrounded by impeccable looking sweets. "I wasn't trying to eat the whole cake on my own! I was planning on eating it with you! But I ended up eating it all before I knew it! I still have room in my tummy to eat skewers with you! I really want to eat chicken skewers! You can't say I can't have it because I ate this!" He then pushed the empty cake stand over toward the crown prince.

Alberu smiled brightly, the color of his skin as dark as the night sky. "Cale, do you want some?" He asked as he picked up a cookie.

When Cale made no move to accept the offered cookie, Alberu took a bite of it. His munching filled the now silent room. Alberu smiled brightly and commented on the taste of the cookie. "Delicious."

Cale released another sigh and slammed the door to his room shut. Cale then approached Alberu and spoke in a disgruntled but respectful manner. "Why are you here?"

Alberu smirked, his dark eyes were filled with mischief. "I need to borrow you and Choi Han."

Cale felt his eyebrows coming together and his nose scrunching up with Alberu's unexpected request.

Alberu started to speak as soon as he saw Cale's expression. "You were probably just thinking 'what nonsense is he saying now,' weren't you?"

Cale smoothed out his facial expression. "No, your highness." Though truthfully, it was what he had been thinking. He picked up a cookie instead and took a bite. "I don't think that is possible." He said with pierced lips, after swallowing the bite he had taken.

". . .You're saying no without even hearing the details?"

"Yes, it's not possible. We're busy, your highness." Cale's tone was robotic and reminiscent of Mary's unique way of speaking.

Alberu slowly crossed his arms and leaned against the couch. "Who do you think are the most popular people in the kingdom right now?"

Cale's expression quickly turned sour with the unexpected question. He felt as if something was off. The person who would usually say something after seeing his sour face was looking at Cale with a serious expression. That meant that Alberu was expecting a serious answer.

Cale debated for a moment before responding with a stoic expression. "First place is his highness, the crown prince. Second place is Alberu Crossman, and third place is the Roan Kingdom's rising sun." They were technically all the same answer. "Is this right?" Something told him that it wasn't.

"Hey, crown prince! Are you that popular? Amazing! I guess you are handsome, crown prince! At least your face is normal!" Raon patted Alberu's shoulders as if he was proud of him.

Alberu brushed his hands over his face. "First place is Choi Han, second place is Cale Henituse, and third place is Mary."

Huh?

Before Cale could say anything to that unexpected bit of news, Raon turned invisible. "Someone's coming," the dragon whispered.

Cale rushed toward his highness. "You need to-" his words fell short as Cale tripped over his foot. He fell forward, only to have Alberu catch him.

The door chose that moment to open. "Brother, I need-" Basen's words dropped off into silence as his gaze raked over the scene before him. "It can wait until later." The door clicked shut behind a quickly retreating Basen.

Alberu and Cale shared a quick look before springing away from each other. The snickering of Raon floated through the awkwardly silent room.

. . . . .

Basen quickly walked away from his brother's room. He should have knocked before entering. It was rude and impolite what he had just done and he had definitely interrupted something.

He had walked in on his brother, who had a flushed face and slightly red lips that were parted open. His brother had been in the arms of a dark elf-another man.

"Is that why he did it?" He mumbled quietly to himself.

Was his brother's decision to bring dark elves into the light because of that man? Is that one of the reasons why his brother said that he wanted to fight-even though he also didn't want to fight?

"I need to study." Maybe he could find something to help his brother. At least now he knew why his brother was so adamant about not receiving a title.