Fanciful Angst (Prinxiety Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: For Your Honor

*Princey's POV*

I returned home feeling a lot of feelings; one, however, stood out among all of them. 

Shame. 

I felt shame. I ruined my audition. Thomas' audition. I was Thomas' creativity and who he calls upon whenever he's performing and I let him down. I was supposed to be the one always guiding him and when he needed me most, I just...choked. 

Thomas had been patting me on the back and trying to hammer reassuring words into my head, but they fell upon deaf ears. I felt awful. 

I glanced at the door handle of our Uber when it pulled up to Thomas' house. I debated on opening it for a few moments; I felt like stepping into the house would be admitting defeat. I'd be walking back with my tail in between my legs. I'd have to admit to the others that I failed. I'd have to tell Anxiety I failed. 

That was the conversation I feared the most. I've been vulnerable with him before, but never like this. I'd never had to face him after rejection. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I want him to be proud of me. I try so hard to portray the brave prince, someone fearless and regal, and I don't want Anxiety to see me as anything less than that. I want him to think I'm a hero, not for my own ego, but so he trusts me to keep him safe. I don't want him to be afraid that I'm not capable of keeping him safe. That would mean I break my promise, and princes never break their promise. 

I take a deep breath, knowing I have to face him sooner or later, so I gently pull on the handle until the door pops open. I step out of the car and face the house; I don't know if it's the fates or Mother Nature or the universe toying with me, but the ominous grey clouds behind Thomas' house seem to illuminate the heftiness of my fears. 

I step inside, hoping to find Anxiety and just talk to him, maybe about how his weekend was so I can distract from my feelings of inadequacy, but before I can even look around for Darth Lover, I'm nearly knocked to my feet by a slightly brighter trait. 

"Son!! You're home! Oh, my boy, it's about time! How was your flight, was it safe? How was your audition, was it wonderful?!" Morality bombarded me with questions and a spine-crushing hug before I could even make it two steps inside. 

Ever since my audition, I had felt numb. I had never had something like this happen to me before, so I didn't know how to process it. Whenever Thomas tried to talk about it, I hardly said a word and was just in a daze. I don't know if it was the intense feeling of being home or the jet lag finally got to me, but when Patton asked how my audition went, I just... lost it. 

"It...it...it was AWFUL!!!" I cried, flinging myself into his arms and crying onto his cardigan. I desperately clutched the father figure's shirt and wept. I blubbered and half-spoke, half-yelled a bunch of awful words surrounding my audition, 90% of which were probably incoherent, but Morality just patted my back and soothed me. 

"Shh, shh, shh, kiddo, it's alright. Hey, it happens." He whispered, gently stroking my hair. "Hey, tell ya what. How about you and your Pop have some father-son time and watch some dandy Disney movies and I'll make you some cream of broccoli soup?" 

"B-but I hate--"

"Come on! You'll feel better in no time!" He said, with a snap of his fingers, wooshing us to his room, where I was immediately in my pajamas and 101 Dalmatians was queued up on the television. This did make my tears slow a bit, but I still would feel a lot better if Anxiety was here with me.  

*Anxiety's POV*

Today was the day. My prince was coming home today. It's going to sound stupid, but I was so eager for him to come home that I was staring out the window, eagerly waiting for them to pull up. I gently rubbed my thumb against the back of Mrs. Fluffybottom's ear, something I had become accustomed to during this weekend with her. It was a doable substitute for when I'd usually rub my thumb against Roman's forearm. I don't know why, but doing it sort of comforted me... I know it's stupid, but, it does. God, I missed him with every passing second. After ages of watching through the window, I'd think back, calculating what time his plane left and picturing in my head where the car was, if it was passing the 7/11 a few blocks from the house yet, if it was stuck behind that one traffic light that always seems to be red, and I kept imagining the car pulling up. It took me about half a dozen tries until I finally saw an uber outside!