PENUMBRA // Tamaki Amajiki x Reader Royal AU

Chapter 31

The next morning, I followed Tamaki's directions and headed for the palace stable. This was an easy feat since the stables were outside so there was a low chance of running into a servant. Just as he said, there were carriages lined up, waiting for use. He told me his father always used the first one and he always used the second, and I seriously hoped they were not going to break that pattern today.

I strode up to the second carriage and as I expected, it was unlocked, so I hid inside waiting for Tamaki to join me. He said I should have expected to be waiting another hour as servants needed to attach the horses and draw the carriages to the front of the castle. In the mean time - and by that I meant in a second - I cast an illusion over the vehicle just in case someone did try to take a peek inside.

Inside the carriage was not overly large, but there were two benches opposite each other, far enough apart that the ones sitting on them would not easily come into contact. It was large enough to stand up so if either of us wanted to stretch our legs along the way, we could do so.

While I was examining the carriage, I began to ponder about the future; there was going to be a war! Luckily I would be there to lessen the attacks but there was only so much I could do on a long term/large scale. Although I was no political genius, if I could have just advised the king then so many more people could be saved.

It was irrational but I could not help feeling responsible for the lives of every citizen in the Amijiki kingdom, most of all, Tamaki. They had all been, if not abandoned then failed, by their king and now they were the ones who would pay the price. We had been taught that the world was unfair but I was not expecting to face that harsh reality so soon after leaving the academy.

After a while of fulfilling requests, I always expected something like this to come up, but I thought I would have more control - I thought I would be getting recognition for my efforts. This was never part of the plan. I could not even say that it was the prince's request because that was obviously a lie since he ordered me to leave.

Though this war was going to occupy a lot of my time, I still wanted to continue developing Tamaki's quirk. Sadly, I hoped he received the same treatment in the Helios kingdom as he did here. Unless he was left alone for days on end, it would be impossible for me to visit him freely, and to be honest I wanted to spend as much free time helping him as possible.

To put it simply, I was very worried about him - and not just because of the war. It had never been at the front of my mind, but I thought I could forget about the rebel issue. Ever since that day in district one I had not seen anyone from the meeting or heard anything about a plan. If Tamaki was going to be outside of the kingdom for the foreseeable future then a rebel attack was not going to happen.

There was however, the issue of the king. It was very likely that he could still try to use this war to execute Tamaki. If he was in foreign territory then it seemed more unlikely he would try anything but you could never be too careful.

But then I began thinking about that trip to the Helios kingdom and how the king could very easily say they were ambushed and Tamaki died during the attack and-

"Y/N?" Tamaki pulled me out of my thoughts as he quickly closed the carriage door, slightly confused.

I instantly removed the illusion cast over me and not knowing to cope with these new foreign feelings of anxiety, I flashed him a grin to cover it, "Good morning, Tamaki, how are you today?"

"Umm, good? You aren't usually this cheery, is there something I don't know about?" He sat directly opposite me since there was not much else to look at as the curtains were drawn close to avoid being spotted.

"There is lots of things you do not know about but nothing specifically today. I am simply... excited about having nothing to do but sit in this carriage for the whole day. It is not often I get a day off, you know."

"If it's your day off why don't you refrain from using magic, reserve your energy." I felt his shoe nudge my own and I thought he was going to draw it back but he just kept it there and I did not move.

"I need my magic today, I will need it later to sneak into your room and get back to the Amijiki kingdom, or do you want me to get caught?"

"No I just - I just think you don't want to overwork yourself, you do so much."

"You underestimate my power."

"I'm telling you this out of respect more than anything, powerful people get tired too." I wondered where Tamaki was when I was going through magic drudgery.

"Well... maybe another day. Anyway, is it okay that we are speaking? Will the guards surrounding the carriage not overhear us?"

"Ah, no this is soundproof, scream as loud as you want, no one will hear you in here," the corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly, "I bet the king of the Helios kingdom could use one of these."

"Would he not have a carriage? He is the king surely he must have as many carriages as you do..."

"Oh, no I meant - it was a j-

But I had always been bad at pretending and soon my mouth turned into a smirk and I raised my eyebrows at the prince.

"... you understood that from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did."

We fell into comfortable silence for a few minutes before the stillness of the carriage confused me, "have we even set off yet?"

Tamaki looked up from staring at our feet, "yes, we set off as soon as I closed the carriage door."

"But, it is so still, how is it we cannot feel the vibrations of movement?"

"Dunno, these're expensive I suppose. Y/N can I ask you a bit of a personal question?" He avoided my gaze and fidgeted with his hands, I watched as he played with his fingers and remembered how soft his hands were.

"That depends on the question, but go on."

"Why don't you use abbreviations? I understand in front of most people it's impolite, but I use them freely, I just wondered if you don't feel comfortable enough to use them."

"It is not that big of a deal really, I am simply trained to speak politely all of the time. From an early age it was ingrained in me to speak this way."

"But don't you want to... let go a bit?"

"... would it make you feel better if I said one?" he nodded. "Okay, um... well this is kind of awkward now. I don't really know what to say."

"Hey!" His face suddenly lit up, "you did it. You said the thing."

"Yes, Tamaki, I said the thing." But I had only been half-paying attention to that conversation as his constant fidgeting was distracting. I took it upon myself to move across and sit on the bench, beside him, "now it's my - ooh I am getting good at this - my turn to ask you a personal question."

"That depends on the question, but go on." He threw my own words right back at me.

"Why do you fidget so much?"

Any semblance of the smile from before left Tamaki's face and the grip on his hands got tighter. He dropped his head and turned away from me, breaths beginning to increase. Then I realised why he fidgeted and how stupid I was to ask that.

Not being able to see him like this, I grabbed his hands and placed them in my lap, while using my other hand to draw his gaze back up towards me.

"Hey, why fidget with your own hands when I can do the job for you? You are a prince after all." I gave him a soft smile and surprised myself when I leaned my forehead against his, but he seemed to have the same idea and met me halfway.

For a while we stayed like that but inevitably we pulled away, however for the rest of the ride we sat side-by-side while I toyed with his fingers, appreciating the softness in my grasp, and we spoke about whatever came to our minds. There was a decent amount of laughter but also a lot of comfortable silences. I made sure to treasure the day and spend every second present and in the moment, because who knew when we would get another day like it.