"May I have this dance?" || SkepHalo (Royal AU)

Chapter 5 - Crushes

Zak was all cooped up in his room. Where else was he supposed to go? It's too late to sneak out. He was already done, anyways. That meet up with 'Bad' was...something. And Juliet, he'd never expected that he could forget someone that was a big part of his life.

He was tired too. Both of life and emotionally. The most interesting things happening about his life was him sneaking out...and the arranged marriage.

He was still mad to the point where he's tearing up. He always dreamed of having someone. Someone to hold, someone to read books with, someone who'll he'll go easy in in swordfighting, but he wanted to be the one to chose his prince or princess charming.

But then again, he knew that he wouldn't even try to find someone. He didn't like being in the mercy of love. It only made him feel stressful, nervous, and alone, so he'd rather not. But now, he doesn't have a choice, does he?

Ah, the internal conflict of wanting a partner but wanting to stay single.

Hugging his pillow tighter, he hugged his pillow tighter, crying quietly while he read his book, paying no attention to the tears staining his bedsheets.

After a while, he chose to stop reading as the sun made it harder and harder to read. Darkness loomed over his room, giving him a sense of tranquility.

He rewatched memories of him as a kid. Back then, he was naive and innocent. No one took him seriously, but he'd trade that for what he has now. Now, everyone took him too seriously.

He remembered when he was dreaming about having a girl to have cute picnics with. He even based her off a book character he read. He used to daydream about her all the time, to only be hurt whenever he gets back to reality.

Another memory popped up, where he met a cute gardener. He remembered writing a letter to the boy, not expecting for him to accept it, but doing it anyway to get rejected so he could move on already. He did get rejected since . It was expected, but it hurt more than he thought.

But somehow, he missed the feeling of wanting someone. He missed the butterflies fluttering around his stomach. He missed looking at someone for a second too long.

The internal arguments stressed out the boy, just wanting all of the thoughts to just vanish.

"This sucks." He muttered tiredly.

~

Bad was having a hard time sleeping. How could he not? It was fairly obvious that he was a chaotic sleep schedule for anyone that have known him for one day. Of course, the demon knew that his actions had consequences, but he did not try to stop himself from sleeping at insane hours.

He tossed and turned around his bed, quietly trying to avoid waking up his peers. He could hear one of them snore quietly.

He sighed. Guess he won't be sleeping for a couple more hours.

Out of boredom, he walked to his trusty desk.

Somehow, he spends both too little and too much time there.

He knew well that he would benefit greatly from straying away from the desk, but he shut that little voice of reason.

Something was so...endearing about being in the desk. It felt made him feel a sense of control over his thoughts.

He grabbed a notebook from there, writing. Soon, words turned to drawings, and those drawings turned to pictures that told stories. It was therapeutic, being able to turn something you can't say in words into a beautiful art piece.

He smiled at his creation, somewhat proud of it.

Soon, his eyes begin to hurt. Right, he forgot to light the candle. He was lucky enough that his eyes could handle the dark, but he shouldn't do it anyways.

~

The sun started to rise, announcing the start of a brand new day. However, despite the beautiful view the sun gave, there was still a frowning face.

"Oh." Zak breathed out. To his disappointment, he couldn't just stay in bed all day and curl up in his blankets.

He sighed, rubbing his face. The days felt as if it was an eternity, but the night felt as if it was simply a blink of an eye.

He stayed in bed, waiting for something, anything, to pull him out of whatever trance he was in.

A knock on the door catches his attention. He shouted for whoever person to come in, silently hoping it wasn't his parents. The last thing he needs right now is to see his parents this early.

To his relief, it wasn't any of them. He silently thanked whatever gods up there.

"Good morning, your majesty." A person with white long hair spoke with their hands behind their back.

"Morning, Lefie." He spoke with a small smile.

"Queen Ardith and King Zachary asks for your presence at the dinning table, your majesty."

"Oh." Zak looked away. He took a deep breath, letting it out not long after. He was also disappointed in the formality in their voice, missing the days when they simply 'Zak'. It won't be easy going back to those days.

"Hey, Lefie, uh," He started to speak, trying to erase the unspoken tension, but was quickly cut off by them.

"My apologies. I have duties to attend to. If you don't mind, I'll be going now."

Zak hesitantly gave a small nod, allowing them to leave. After they closed the doors,  he quickly laid in bed and groaned.

He wished mornings weren't like this.

07/17/21