Sage woke on his side, facing his silk cushions, with odd thoughts in his head. He rolled onto his back and something moved next to his bed. Sage's head snapped up immediately. Taro sat on his bedside table, tapping the ends of his fingers and frowning down at him with worry.
"Tell me about your dreams," Taro said as Sage sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"My dreams?" As sage yawned, strange thoughts of green moving tattoos popped into his head, then vines streaming from Taro's fingers, then Taro turning into a plant. "I had the most ridiculous dreams." Sage then noticed the peculiar setting in his room. Taro sat on his bedside table. "Wait." Taro wore a golden shirt with rolled up sleeves, showing vine tattoos wrapping around his forearms.
"They weren't dreams," Taro said, linking his fingers. "I think you know that."
Sage started pacing. He didn't speak for a long time. Taro's doubtful green eyes followed him back and forth until Sage paused by his window. He looked beyond the green fields and to the distant line of a blue ocean. He moved from foot to foot, then paced again.
Taro offered no explanations, but Sage didn't need them. He had seen him transform with his own eyes. He had seen the vines grow from his arms, he had witnessed the supernatural glow and the way the plant transformed back into his Valet.
"What are you?" he asked when he caught Taro smirking.
"You look peaky." Taro jumped from the bedside table.
Sage slumped on a green armchair by the window, though he teetered on the edge of the cushion, unable to relax. "Explain to me how you're able to... to..."
"Turn into a Devil's Ivy plant?"
Sage nodded. His brows twitched uncomfortably as Taro neared him and sat on the windowsill.
"Well, technically you're alien on our planet, but now is not the time to talk about our histories. First, you just have to accept that I can be a plant as well as a human."
"But why?"
"You just have to accept it."
"I can't."
Taro tilted his head. "Explain to me what you saw me do."
Sage took his time, thinking over and over about the tattoos and the way Taro changed. Every time he tried to say something, he struggled. But Taro waited patiently. Eventually Sage said, "I saw your tattoos move. I saw you change into..." He dropped his head. "I saw you change into a plant." He rested trembling hands on his knees to keep his body up.
"You gonna faint?"
"I don't think so." Sage then frowned as his stomach flopped. He bolted to his bathroom and threw up in the toilet. He slammed the door shut before his Valet entered to witness such a state. "Leave me. I need to think about this alone," Sage yelled.
There was no movement on the other side. Sage held his stomach and pressed his forehead to the dark wood.
"Don't tell anyone," Taro said eventually.
"I won't." They wouldn't believe me if I did. Sage sank to the tiles. Just the thought of the colour green was making him queasy.
"Are you sure you want to be alone?" Taro asked through the large keyhole. "I have answers to your questions. I can help make this make sense- I think."
"How? You're a... you're a fucking plant."
"Not right now I'm not."
Sage rested his head into his palms, thinking of home. He missed his own bed, having some sort of a purpose with his Prince duties, and helping out in the garden. "Does Mrs Beecham know who you are?"
"Are you going to make me talk to you through the door?" Taro's voice sounded light as though he was smirking.
"Answer me."
Taro sighed loudly to make sure Sage heard him. "Yes, she knows." Sage opened the door and Taro fell forwards, catching himself by slamming his palms on the floor. He looked up as Sage looked down. "On my knees in front of a Prince. Lucky me."
"Get up." Sage grabbed his arm, pulled him off the ground, and shoved him towards the door. "Get out."
Taro didn't leave, he wandered to the bookshelf to run a finger along the dusty old books. "I show my true form to you and you push me away? At least let me help. You've just fainted, and you've been sick." Taro scratched the back of his head, staring at Sage with a thoughtful frown. "Right, sit down." He tugged lightly on the cuffs of Sage's sleeves, moving him to the couch. They sat together and Taro chewed on the inside of his lip until he said, "I think you need to see again."
"Y-Your... change?"
"Just a bit of it."
Sage swallowed thickly. "What if I faint again?"
"Then at least you're sitting down." Taro smirked, though his eyes were wary, watching every little change on Sage's face.
Sage wasn't sure how to sit in front of someone who stared at him so intensely. He watched Taro roll up his sleeve to show his green Devil's Ivy tattoo. It moved like before and Sage chilled to the bone. He didn't look away, he couldn't, he was hypnotised by its slow movement as the vines travelled around Taro's wrists, down his palm and over his outstretched finger.
His eyes widened when a leaf grew from the tip of his finger, growing, glowing, and opening and closing the way it did when Sage had previously touched the plant.
"Don't hold your breath," Taro said, and Sage let go of the one he hadn't realised he held. "Give me your finger."
Sage's eyes flicked to Taro's face. He wasn't smirking or staring curiously, his eyes were big with hope, and his smile was soft and nervous. Sage slowly moved a hand towards him, not believing that he wasn't still dreaming.
When their fingers were inches apart, the small vine with the heart-shaped leaves protruded further from Taro's finger. When it was centimetres from Sage, he edged his finger back.
"It's alright," Taro whispered. "You've touched these leaves before."
Sage struggled to make the link from his houseplant to the vine spewing from Taro, but he didn't edge back again, not when Taro moved closer, and not when the heart-shaped leaf touched him.
The vine travelled around Sage's finger, feeling cold and tickling his skin. It moved slowly over his palm and wrapped itself around his wrist. Sage's heart was thumping, his head was ringing, his breaths were shaky, his skin was hyper aware of every movement the vine made.
"Epipremnum aureum is my species. I am Taro Vinea, Taro Vine is a name some call Devil's Ivy. Vinea is vine in Latin, and that name has been in my family for generations." The tip of Taro's finger touched the tip of Sage's finger too. Their eyes sealed on each other. "I know this is a shock to you, but if you really think about it, this has always been obvious."
"How?"
"You knew the plant... you knew I was strange to look after. I needed all that water, all that plant food, all that attention. You've never heard of a plant that needy, or a plant that moves to the bedside table when you're not looking."
Sage's eyes widened.
"Yes, I didn't like it on your desk. The sun was too harsh in the morning." Taro smiled earnestly. "I'm not saying you should have known about me, I'm just saying that you definitely knew something wasn't right with your Devil's Ivy houseplant."
"Yeah, but I didn't think it was you!" Sage got up, forgetting that the vine was wrapped around his wrist. He tried to storm away, yanking Taro with him.
"Careful!" Taro hissed, grabbing Sage's arm. The vine recoiled and disappeared into his hand. The tattoo returned to his wrist and Sage noticed his green nails.
Are they a part of him too? Sage suddenly had so many questions. Does he eat food? Can he drink anything other than water? Does he sleep only in plant form? "This is the weirdest day of my life. I'm not yet convinced that I'm not dreaming."
"A very reasonable response." Taro rubbed his chin. "A calmer response than I imagined from a very dramatic Prince."
"I'm not dramatic."
"Right, and I'm not a plant."
"You're not... right now."
Taro smirked and Sage felt the tremors calming in his arms. There's no way I can accept this. It's too weird. Sage wanted to tell Taro to leave. He faced away and asked, "You said you couldn't be fired. Why?"
"Because it's safer with me around. I did left hook that intruder in the nose, didn't I? Before you ask, I was up getting water because you forgot to set your alarm to give me some in the middle of the night. I suppose I could just get it myself but it's easier if someone else just does it."
Sage pinched himself; it hurt.
"Yes, yes, you're not dreaming. Maybe I am. I just showed my true self to a Prince. I didn't really see that happening, I shouldn't have let it happen, but here we are." Taro swept blond hair from his eyes so casually, Sage pinched himself again.
"How is this real?" he mumbled.
"Do we really have time for questions like that?" Taro straightened his face when Sage stared with emotionless hazel eyes. "You know what... I should sleep, it'll give you time to think. My answers are only confusing you more." Taro started unbuttoning his green waistcoat, then his golden shirt.
Sage stood back as he did so, and his gaze darted to his tattoos that Sage had seen far too many times in one day. Taro then transformed right in front of him. His tattoos moved, green vines with heart-shaped leaves jutted from his hands, circled his body, and glowed bright green.
Sage had to cover his eyes. After the light dimmed, and in the spot where Taro had been, he stared at his Devil's Ivy houseplant in its round purple pot.
The Prince felt his stomach flip and rushed to the bathroom.