Distance Between Us | Peterick AU

3

Patrick kept his face neutral due to the topic of the announcement, but he carefully searched for the man he instructed to be in the front.

Squinting through his terrible vision, Patrick saw who he was looking for.

". . .apologize for the unexpected event. Following. . ."

The king's speech faded in and out of Patrick's conscious. He stood still next to his also frozen mother and sister. They too scanned their eyes over the enormous crowd.

When the speech was almost to its completion, Patrick looked down at Peter, who seemed to be looking up, and nodded ever so slightly. He watched the man carefully sneak off across the front of the crowd and disappear around the shrubbery.

The people applauded at the end of the announcement and the four members of the family went back into the castle. Patrick made his way to what may have looked like his room, but when he saw that there was no one around any longer, he quietly moved down the back stairwell and out one of the old back doors. He snuck carefully through the foliage and next to the stone wall, finally reaching the corner of the castle where he saw Peter standing.

"Hello," Patrick whispered, careful not to scare the man. Peter turned around.

"Hi! I'm so glad this worked out."

Patrick was confused. "Why? Did you not trust me?"

"No, no!" Peter was quick to respond. "I just thought I might have gotten caught. You must have been doing this for a while if you knew that this would lead me here," he smirked.

Patrick was still confused. "Doing what for a while?"

"Sneaking people to see them like this." Peter suddenly looked unsure of himself. "Haven't you?"

"No I have not," a small smile teased at Patrick's face. "You thought I just brought people in like this all of the time?"

"Well you seemed so sure about where you wanted me to go, I assumed it was the 'usual path' that other people had taken."

"I used to play in that hole in the shrub when I was little, actually. I would run through the plants that lead up to here."

Peter looked embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that."

"It is alright, I can see where there could have been some confusion."

Peter rocked back and forth on his feet. "So you've never snuck anyone in here like this?" Patrick shook his head. "I assume you're not allowed to bring random people into the castle then."

"Never. Not over my own father's dead body."

"So how do you meet people then?" Patrick stayed quiet and hung his head slightly.  "Oh my god, I'm sorry, I didn-"

"No," he replied quickly, cutting Peter off. "It is not your fault. I am not allowed to leave the castle grounds unsupervised and I am not allowed to meet anyone that is not introduced to me first."

Peter looked very sympathetic. When Patrick started to sniffle, he didn't hesitate to pull the prince into a hug. He felt the shorter man clutch onto him and begin to shake slightly.

"I can't believe it's like that," Peter whispered. "That's crazy."

Patrick pulled away and wiped carefully at one eye. "I am sorry, I should not have said anything. I did not mean to get worked up about it."

"You don't have to apologize. It must be pretty hard to have a lot of your life controlled like that."

"Not 'a lot' of it, all of it!" Patrick snapped. He recognized his sudden exclamation and took a deep breath. "Everything I do is watched over in one way or another. Everything is on a strict schedule. Meals, schooling, parties, showings, anything. I feel like I cannot breathe anymore without someone telling me I need to sit up straight or fix my smile. I grew up being raised by a group of men and women being paid to clean my house other than my own parents. I feel like I will never see the light of day until I am looking down on it from the sky."

Peter stood there, speechless. All of what Patrick said seemed unbelievable, but a nagging voice in the back of his mind told him that everything coming out of that boy's mouth was true. Every single word of it.

"I apologize for putting all of this on you," Patrick spoke once again. "I did not mean to ramble like that. It is just that I have no one to explain my anger to."

"I understand." Peter reached out and rubbed up and down the prince's arm to comfort him. "You don't have to worry about it, I don't mind listening."

Patrick smiled sweetly and hugged Peter again briefly. He pulled away and this time wiped a happier tear away from the corner of his eye. "Thank you, Peter."

"Really, just call me Pete."

Patrick chuckled and was cut short by the sound of one of the outside doors opening. He pushed himself and Pete around the corner of the castle's stone walls and peeked around the edge. Luckily it was just one of the maids coming out to water the back garden.

"When can I see you again?" Patrick whispered.

"I suppose I can come this way again whenever the next announcement may be."

Patrick nodded and told Pete that he was to be going on less day trips to the town. It was disappointing, but there was nothing either of them could do about it.  He told Pete a goodbye and watched the other man slip off into the foliage before sneaking back in the old back door.