Artificial Love (Thiam)

Chapter 10

Liam really had no interest in any of these events. It would be nice to, obviously, to want to be here or have any interest at all in charming the nobles of the Lady he was expected to marry, but honestly, he'd much rather have run off into the gardens with Theo.

It was a relatively uncomfortable realisation-- he and Theo had only been sort of, begrudging friends for five seconds, and Theo had already been weird about everything, and yet, Liam found that that was still a far more interesting place to be than at this bullshit garden party.

He was dying to take off his suit, dying to lay around being who he actually was, rather than floating around pretending to care about all of this. It would be fine if it was a legitimate political thing, Liam did care about that, but it wasn't. It was just niceties and small talk and overly fancy champagne.

What he found, in the hour he and Theo had agreed to spend here before they disappeared behind the garden hedges and went exploring, was that people seemed far more interested in finding out gossip about the supposed 'childhood best friends'. Apparently it had been as revered a tradition in Theo's country as it had been in Liam's own, and Liam wondered how they would all feel if they knew Theo and Liam had spent most of those years absolutely loathing each other.

"You and Lady Hayden make a beautiful couple, your Highness." A woman told him with a knowing grin. She was a political figure, he thought. A minister, maybe? "Does this mean you'll be spending more time here with us?"

Liam nodded, pretending to be far more interested in it all than he was. "Thank you." He paused at the question, "Most likely. Although, it's well known that I enjoy spending time here regardless." He smiled genially, and wondered if she would call him on the four year period where he didn't travel.

"Yes." She nodded, "The whole Kingdom waited with baited breath every year for your visit to Prince Theo."

Liam smiled, and though he was good at making smiles look real, it felt bitter in his own mouth. How could two children be so interesting? "I'm sure we waited with at least as much impatience." He joked, "It was always hard being a whole ocean away from your best friend growing up." It was a good thing Liam was a good liar, because he'd been calling Theo his best friend through his teeth since he was a child.

She grinned at him, and he could tell she was the sort of person who had been invested for a long time. It was nice, he tried to tell himself. They cared and that was nice. But it still felt... a little weird. Especially when he and Theo hadn't much liked each other. "And now you're going to be family." She told him.

Liam had to physically stop himself from wincing at that. Oh no. He didn't immediately know why, but the thought made him feel a bit ill.

Prince Theo, his least favourite forced-best-friend growing up was not his relative. And just because he was being forced to pretend to fall for Hayden (did anyone really believe they had any choice in it?) that didn't change that. He couldn't place what was wrong with it, but he knew something was wrong.

He just smiled, relieved when he felt an arm sling around his shoulder, someone breaking the awkwardness of the moment and Liam's general unwillingness to pretend to have liked the thought of that.

"Hello, Lara," Theo said, his grin beaming and genuine (or at least, seeming to be). "Would you mind terribly if I stole my friend here for just a moment?"

Liam had never been so relieved to have Theo so close to him, usually he would be wincing and protecting any vulnerable parts of his body.

"Oh, not at all." She grinned, her smile sort of conspiratorial, "Just promise to each save me a dance later this afternoon."