Cody's POV
"Mom, you can't possibly expect me to work with her!" the Prince whined.
"You've never even met the girl!" his mother replied.
"And I was hoping I would never have to," he mumbled quietly, "The Prince should not be associating with the help."
"Listen here, young man," she scolded, "Without people like her, we would have to clean and cook by ourselves. Now you are going to go downstairs and help Y/N with the laundry and scrubbing the floors or you are going to outside and help Mr. Harris tend to the horses." Cody let out a long sigh as he angrily walked out of the room.
Your POV
Meanwhile, you were dancing around the laundry room as you swept the floor, using your broom as your dance partner. Once you finished sweeping, you filled a bucket up with soap and water to begin scrubbing the floor.
Around half an hour had passed and you were humming quietly to yourself when you heard angry footsteps coming down the stairs. You paused your work, tilting your head in the direction of the noise. The moment you saw it was the Prince, you scrambled to your feet.
"Good morning, Your Highness," you curtsied. He simply grumbled in response. The Queen had already come the previous day to explain to you what was happening, but you were still incredibly nervous.
"Just tell me what to do," Cody muttered.
"Um... Well, the clothes have already been soaking for about 5 minutes, so you can just start scrubbing whatever stains may be left, I guess. But you might wanna wait a little while longer because the water is still pretty hot." He went over to the basin as he pulled his sleeves up, starting to reach for an item of clothing when you had to stop him. "Whoa!" you squeaked, running over and grabbing his hand before it touched the hot water.
"What are you doing?" he asked, jerking his hand away.
"I just said it's still really hot!" you told him, "If you want to get burned, that's fine, but you're not doing it on my watch!" You trudged back to your spot on the floor, beginning to scrub the tiles once again.
Throughout the next couple hours, you could hear Cody mumbling to himself, complaining about how wrinkly his skin was getting and how stupid it was that his mother would force him to work with the servants.
You ignored it, of course – he was just a spoiled prince who had everything handed to him – but after a while, it was starting to get annoying. You sighed quietly, thinking he wouldn't hear you but soon finding out you were very mistaken.
"Is something wrong?" Cody asked you, throwing the shirt he had finished washing into the basket beside him.
"No, Your Highness," you said quietly.
"Excuse you," he said, "But you are to look at me when I'm speaking to you. Weren't you taught any manners?"
"Weren't you?" you shot back, looking up at him. His eyes widened slightly due to never having been back-talked by a servant before.
"I will not be spoken to this way!" he said, getting up.
"And neither will I," you replied confidently, remaining in your spot on the floor, "I may just be a servant, Your Highness, but I'm still a person and I will not be treated as anything lower than that. You need to understand that without the people who work for you, you would have to be the one to work for everything you get and it's about time you stopped treating us like garbage and started being more polite."
He let out a quick breath and stomped out of the room. You were obviously terrified he was going to tell the Queen about what you had done, but if it was something you were going to be fired for, you were glad to be going out knowing you were simply being honest.
About 10 minutes had passed and you were still scrubbing away at the floor. You were always amazed at how dirty this tile managed to get every week as you were usually the only one in the laundry room. You were leaning against the wall, taking a small break when you heard heavy footsteps coming back down the stairs.
"Oh, so now you're not even going to do your job?" Cody huffed.
You remained silent, rolling your eyes as you shuffled back over to your bucket of soapy water. Cody's heartbeat quickened as he noticed you were taking in slow, deep breaths and he just knew you were overworking yourself.
He walked over to you and bent down, carefully taking the brush out of your hand and putting it back in the bucket. You furrowed your eyebrows at him as he took your hand and brought you back over to the place you were just resting.
"Your clothes are going to get dirty, Your Highness," you said quietly as he sat beside you.
"It's fine, Y/N," he said, making your heart race, "Are you always having to catch your breath like that?"
"Kind of," you replied shyly, "If I get my chores done before noon, the Queen lets me go out and help take care of the horses."
"You like going out there?" he asked, scrunching up his nose in disgust.
You giggled quietly, "Some of us actually do more than just ride the horses into town and back every once in a while."
"So what do you do with them?"
"Well, I do clean their stalls almost every day, but since Mr. Harris is getting older, he lets me walk them around the fields."
"Theoretically then," he said, getting up, "If we get the rest of this work done together, it will go faster and we can get to the stables, right?" He was holding his hands down to you, but you were just staring at him.
"We?" your voice came out as a whisper.
"Yes, we," he nodded, leaning down and taking your hands himself, pulling you to your feet, "I want to know what it is I would have to do if we didn't have servants around." He took you to the basin and had you sit down. "You wash the rest of these and I'll finish up the floor."
"But your clothes," you said quietly.
"My clothes will be fine," he smiled, "Now stop arguing if you want to get done before noon." You watched him walk over to the bucket and sit on the floor, beginning to scrub the tiles. Without looking up at you, he said, "Y/N, the longer you stare at me, the less time you have to get those clothes done." You blushed lightly, quickly getting to work.
~
"Stop!" you laughed loudly, grabbing Cody's arm for the third time, "I will tell you when we have to turn!"
"Oh, so what you're saying is it's not on this road right here?" he asked with a sly smile, starting to walk toward the road. You giggled as you reached for his arm again, pulling him back to you.
"Okay, I'm just gonna hold onto you until we get there because you clearly don't trust me," you teased.
"How can I possibly trust you?" he nudged you lightly, "I barely know you."
"Well, I did keep you from burning your hand off earlier."
"It would not have burnt off!"
"It could have! I'm not gonna be the one to test it out, but it sounds plausible enough!"
Cody chuckled at you as you slid your hand down his forearm to grab his own. You missed the blush on his cheeks as you began sprinting, pulling him with you, when the stable was finally in sight. He struggled slightly to keep up, not used to running.
"Hi, Mr. Harris!" you said happily as you entered the stable.
"Hello, Y/N," he smiled, bowing politely when he saw Cody, "Your Highness." He raised his eyebrows at you when he saw you were holding the Prince's hand, but you were practically bouncing on your feet, making him laugh. "Will you please just go walk one of the horses already?" He knew it was your favorite thing to do. You grinned brightly, letting go of Cody's hand and going to the dark brown horse that was looking at you from its stall.
As you climbed up on the stool beside the door, the horse gently nudged you with its snout. You giggled quietly, petting the animal as you grabbed a brush to comb through its mane as you did before every walk.
"So is this one your favorite?" Cody asked, coming up behind you.
"They're all my favorites," you said, "I would say I'm more of his favorite."
"I'm not even my own horse's favorite," he sighed dramatically, "Today is just not my day."
"You'll live," you winked at him.
You grabbed the reigns and put it on the horse, opening the stall door and leading him out of the stable. You and Cody talked about anything you could think of during the short walk.
Once you were about 10 minutes away from the stable, you decided to turn around and head back.
"How many times would you say you've ridden a horse?" Cody asked you. You thought for a moment.
"At least 100, I think. Maybe more."
"But you don't ever ride these ones?"
"I don't really think I'm allowed to," you shrugged, "Plus, I can't ride a horse without a saddle and I don't like putting saddles on them when I'm just walking them around."
"But you've never tried?" he asked with a mischievous grin.
"I'm not getting on the horse, Your Highness," you stated. He stuck out his bottom lip and you shook your head. "I don't care how cute that face is, it's not gonna work."
"So you think I'm cute?" he smirked. You rolled your eyes, but you could feel your cheeks getting hot.
"Of course that would be the part of the sentence you focus on."
"I mean, I could certainly get annoying about it," he said, nudging you lightly, "Or you could do it this one time and I would never ask you again."
"Why do you want me to ride the horse so badly?" you wondered, "You've ridden this horse plenty of times before. You know it's not that exciting."
"You've already done so much work today," he shrugged, "Not to mention you have to put up with me all day. I figured you deserve a break wherever you can get it." You let out an unintentional laugh, making him smile.
"I promise I'm fine," you assured him, "Maybe I'll take a break with the last horse."
~
About an hour and a half later, you were walking the last horse back to the stable. Cody started nudging you with his elbow slightly, making you roll your eyes.
"I said maybe," you told him, but were unable to keep the smile off your face as he kept pestering you.
"'Maybe' doesn't mean you still don't need a break," he commented. He stopped moving, making you stop as well and look over your shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not leaving this spot until you take a break," he said, crossing his arms over his stomach. You raised your eyebrows as a smile pulled at the corners of your mouth.
"You're gonna stay out in the woods alone?" He simply nodded. You shrugged, "Alright. I'll come back for you tomorrow morning then." You began leading the horse back down the road once again, laughing lightly when you heard Cody's footsteps chase after you.
"Are you mad?!" he exclaimed, pushing your shoulder, "I could be kidnapped or mauled by a bear or eaten by a mountain lion!"
"Mountain lions aren't in this part of the country," you laughed loudly. He started pouting again and you threw your head back. "If I do it, will you stop making that face at me?" you groaned. He nodded rapidly. You sighed, having the horse stop, and jumped on its back.
"I thought you said you've never ridden without a saddle before," Cody smirked as he took over leading the horse.
"I haven't, but I didn't say I couldn't get on a horse without a saddle," you stuck your tongue out at him.
Once you got back to the stable, Cody took the horse back to its stall.
"Were you really gonna leave me back there?" he asked, holding his hand up to you. You took his hand, hopping off of the horse and landing right in front of him.
"I guess we'll never know," you smirked lowly, letting go of him to finish the rest of your stable duties for the day.
~
"Okay, I've got one," Cody said, "Favorite movie."
"Really?" you laughed, "You've been trying to think of a question to ask for like, 5 minutes and that's what you come back with?"
You and Cody were sitting on a concrete bench in the garden after you'd finished all your chores. He decided that he wanted to play 20 questions to get to know you better. You were confused as to why the Prince of all people would care enough know anything about other than your name, but you certainly weren't going to complain.
"A favorite movie really says a lot about a person!" he defended with a chuckle. You chewed on your bottom lip, thinking for a moment.
"The Princess Diaries," you finally answered.
"Really?" he asked, "What's it about?"
"You've never heard of it?!" you nearly shouted in shock. He shook his head, laughing lightly at your response. "Um, first of all, Julie Andrews – absolutely flawless as always, Anne Hathaway – so many yeses, and Chris Pine in the second movie – thank you, casting director." He laughed at you again. "Plus, what girl doesn't dream about being a princess? It's like, the first thing girls ever want to be when they're younger."
"Being royalty isn't all it's cracked up to be though."
You wiggled away from him, making him let out the quietest whimper of detest – probably hoping you wouldn't hear it. You laid down on the bench with your head on his lap.
"So what do you do then?" you asked, looking up with a small smile. He couldn't help but chuckle down at you, his fingers instinctively starting to play with your hair.
"Well, I have to sit through a lot of meetings with parliament and visit the leaders of other countries with my dad, but luckily, I don't have to do it as much as he does," he explained, "Sometimes, I sit in on voting for new laws and stuff though which is kind of cool, I guess, but it's really boring. All those guys do is argue and yell at each other." You giggled lightly, making him smile for a moment before it faded again. "But I always have to look perfect before I leave the castle gates," he sighed, starting to chew on his lip, "My mom says that even if we can't see people from the media, they're always watching us when we go out. I think they're just watching me though; Like they're just waiting for me to screw up so they have some big news story for the night or whatever." You stared up at him in awe.
Although you had never spoken directly to Cody before today, you heard a lot about him and the things he's said and done. It honestly confused you because now that you were actually getting to know him, he seemed like the complete opposite of what everyone – including himself – made him out to be. And you felt terrible that you never gave him a real chance.
"So the way you treat servants and everyone is an act?" you asked, your voice laced with confusion. He scrunched up his face slightly as if he were trying to come up with the right words.
"I don't know if I would call it an act," he answered honestly, "I guess I did feel like I was more or less better than everyone else because I'm the Prince, but..." he trailed off, remaining silent for a couple seconds. "Now that I'm saying it out loud, I have been pretty awful, haven't I?" he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck with his other hand, "I guess I never really thought about how I've been treating people before today. It's no wonder no one likes me."
"I like you," you said confidently.
"You do?" he asked, his voice coming out as a whisper.
"I do," you nodded, "I think you're a really sweet guy; You just need a little help in showing everyone else that."
"How do I do that?"
"Smiling at people when they greet you is always a good place to start," you grinned, "As well as saying please and thank you. People like to know that their work is appreciated and I think you tend to forget to let them know that." He was about to say something when the two of you were joined by someone else.
"Ah, Cody!" the King exclaimed from the castle porch, "There you are!" He raised his eyebrows at the two of you, causing you and Cody to quickly jump to your feet.
You bowed respectfully, "Hello, Your Majesty." He still had his eyes on you and Cody could tell you were starting to get nervous, so he stepped in.
"You needed me for something, Dad?" Cody spoke up.
"Yes..." he replied slowly, his gaze averting to his son, "I want you to attend my meeting with the king of Ederral this evening and we need to leave in 10 minutes." He turned back to you, "What do you do around here?"
"U-Uh," you stuttered, "I mainly work in the laundry room and I tend to the horses with Mr. Harris as often as I can, but I help out wherever I'm needed."
He nodded, "Will you please go tell him that mine and my son's horses need to be prepared for us then?"
You nodded quickly, "Yes, sir." You smiled politely, looking at Cody. "Have fun at the meeting, Your Highness," you teased quietly, hearing him let out a small gasp as he smiled back and watched you run toward the direction of the stable.
~
Cody's POV; A few hours later
"So who's that girl you were with in the garden earlier?" the King asked as he and his son made their way down the road after the meeting.
It was nearly midnight and the two men were heading back to the castle. With no one else on the road, the King decided to have a sort of heart-to-heart with his son.
"She told you," Cody answered quietly, "She works in the laundry room and stable."
"I meant who is she, son," he smiled lightly, but didn't let Cody see it, "You two looked pretty comfortable."
"She's just a servant," he said quickly, his hands already starting to shake.
"So you don't have any interest in her?"
"No," he whispered.
"Good," the King replied, "You need to become involved with a princess, not a castle worker."
"You don't even know her," Cody defended angrily.
"So you are interested in her!" he smiled victoriously.
"No!" he nearly shouted, "I just... She's very pretty and she can hold a conversation and she's not afraid to call anyone out – especially me – and she doesn't act differently around me just because I'm the Prince."
"Son," the King said, "There will come a time in your life when you'll look back on the things you've done and the people you've been with and I don't want you to look back on her and wonder what things would have been like if you'd taken that chance. I don't care that she's not a princess, your mother won't care that she's not a princess, and you certainly aren't bothered by that fact either. We would much rather you be with someone who makes you happy than be with someone just because they're royalty as well."
"How do you know when a girl likes you back?" Cody mumbled.
"Well, if she makes up any sort of excuse to be around you, that's usually a dead giveaway," he shrugged, "You notice how your mother smiles at me?" Cody nodded. "That's another sign," he told his son, "Even after all these years, she still blushes when I compliment her. If you think she looks beautiful, tell her. If you think her eyes are pretty, tell her. You have to tell her as much as you can no matter how long you've been together, otherwise, she may start feeling like you don't care if you suddenly stop. If a girl tells you what's bothering her without you having to try forcing it out of her, that's a very good sign that she trusts you. And you can't take that kind of trust for granted."
The two men spent the rest of the journey home in silence as Cody thought about what his father had told him. They took their horses back to the stable and made the walk back inside. Cody went to change into his pajamas, but before going to bed, he wanted to sneak into the kitchen to get a quick snack.
He carefully peeked around every corner and quietly opened every door. He knew he wouldn't get into too much trouble for getting something since he had just gotten home, but it wasn't as fun to be loud about it.
Once he peered into the kitchen, he was was surprised to see you sitting at the island in the middle of the room.
"Now if I'm not mistaken," Cody said as he walked fully into the room, making you jump and spin around on the stool you were sitting on, "I do believe you're supposed to be in bed." You relaxed when you saw who it was.
"In my defense, you are too," you smiled, eating another spoonful of ice cream.
"Touché," he chuckled, grabbing a spoon of his own and sitting down beside you. He stuck the spoon in the carton in front of you, grinning at you as he put it in his mouth.
"I don't remember saying I would share this," you stated jokingly. He tilted his head slightly and stuck his bottom lip out. "You told me you wouldn't use that look on me again!" you laughed quietly, leaning on his arm. He simply shrugged with the smile still on his face.
"So what are you doing up so late?" he asked you.
"Couldn't sleep," you sighed, "Too much on my mind."
"Like what?"
"Everything, I guess..." you replied softly.
Cody nudged you lightly, making you look at him. The look he was giving you was one that told you he really did care about how you were feeling. You sighed again, pushing the carton of ice cream in front of Cody and hopping up off of the stool, going to the sink.
"I don't know," you said, washing your spoon, "I guess I just thought I would be doing more with my life by now than working in the castle. Like, don't get me wrong, I really like it here because it gives me a place to stay and food to eat every day, but... It's hard to lead a meaningful life when all you're doing is washing clothes and cleaning up after people. Plus, the basement gets really creepy at night and I can never seem to get a lot of sleep down there anyway." Cody got up, put the ice cream back in the freezer and came up beside you at the sink. You tried to take the spoon from him, but he wouldn't let you have it.
"You can still have a job like this and lead a meaningful life, Y/N," he told you, washing the spoon in his hand, "You're going to leave this earth meaning something to someone – whether that be just one person or ten thousand – but it looks to me like you're already on your way there."
"How do you know that?" He turned off the water and took the towel from your hand, drying off the spoon and putting it away.
He smiled at you again, "Do you think I ever would have done something like that if I hadn't met you?"
"Maybe," you couldn't help but grin, "I just think it would have taken a lot longer."
"So you say the basement is creepy, huh?" he asked randomly. You nodded. "Well, it just so happens that there's an empty bedroom across from mine and I think it would be a waste if it never got used, don't you?"
"Oh, no, I can't-"
Cody cut you off, grabbing your hand and taking you upstairs. He stopped at a door, opening it for you, but not letting you go in yet. He rested his forearm against the door frame and pulled you closer to him.
"But you will," he stated quietly as to not wake anyone up or capture the attention of the guards that might be around, "And you are not to leave this room until 9 o'clock."
"But I have chores to do!" you exclaimed lowly, "9 is too late to be waking up!"
"Well, that's too bad," he smirked, "Because I don't wake up until 8 and I don't function properly until after breakfast at 8:30. And we wouldn't want me doing chores without functioning properly, would we?" You were about to protest, but he didn't give you the chance. "I look forward to spending another day with you, Y/N," he said, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
Cody finally released his grip on you and sauntered across the hallway. You watched as he opened his own bedroom door, turning around and winking at you before he closed the door behind him.
You were left in a slight state of shock before coming back out of it and simply backing into the room, closing the door. You trudged over to the bed, finding yourself beyond exhausted, but unable to fall asleep for the next hour due to your racing heart.
~
Your POV
The next morning, you woke up after the best night's sleep you'd gotten probably since you started working in the castle. You looked over at the clock on the nightstand and saw it was about 10 till 9, so you wiggled out from under the covers and made the bed. You rubbed your eyes as you opened the bedroom door.
You saw Cody's door was open and figured he must still be eating breakfast. You trotted down to your bedroom in the basement where you changed out of your pajamas before beginning your chores for the day.
You didn't have much to do and knew you'd be done well before noon, looking forward to going out to the stables for another day. You filled up the laundry basin with hot water and threw all the clothes from the hamper into it to let them soak. You went into your room to tidy up a bit when you heard footsteps coming downstairs.
"Y/N!" Cody called about halfway down the steps. There was a tone in his voice that suggested he was annoyed, but you could tell it was in a joking manner.
"Good morning, Your Highness," you smiled, walking back out of your room. He broke his serious character to smile back for a split second.
"I thought I told you that you were not to leave that room until 9."
"It was 10 minutes before!" you giggled.
"But still not 9," he said with a barely noticeable grin, "And for not following orders, I don't think I'm going to allow you to help Mr. Harris today."
"Oh, come on!" you laughed a bit, "It was 10 minutes!" He shrugged dramatically and turned on his heels, beginning to leave the room. "Wait," you grabbed his hand, pulling him back to you, "You're not actually serious, are you?" He shrugged again, leaning against the wall beside the two of you. "Cody!" you exclaimed, "You can't do that!" He raised his eyebrows and smirked as this was the first time you hadn't used formalities with him. Your eyes widened slightly. "I... I mean... Yo-Your Highness..." you stuttered, making the smirk on his face get bigger.
"I actually can do that," Cody said, pushing himself off the wall and moving so he was standing directly in front of you, practically touching you, "However, I am a man of reason and I think we could come to some sort of agreement to make me forget all about you not following orders."
You gave him a confused look, "What are you-"
"Kiss me," he said as seriously as you'd ever seen him. Your jaw dropped slightly.
"I-I'm sorry?"
"You heard me," he stated.
"But I... I'm not... I mean, I'm just a... I-I can't k-kiss you."
"It won't mean anything if you don't let it, Y/N," he said lowly. You quickly leaned forward and pecked his cheek, making him chuckle. "That was cute," he told you, "Now do it for real this time."
"Bu-But I'm-"
"You're stalling is what you're doing."
You gulped as you stared at him, waiting for a few moments before you built up the courage to finally do as he said. The second your lips hit his, you immediately pulled back, but Cody clearly had other plans. His hands found their way to your hips and he pulled you against him, pressing his lips back to yours roughly.
You weren't exactly sure what came over you, but your own hands went straight to his cheeks, holding his face there as if he even wanted to move. You felt him smile just before he pulled away for air, resting his forehead on yours.
You let out a quiet sigh, "I thought you said it wouldn't mean anything."
"I never said it wouldn't to me," he replied, pecking your lips quickly.
"You know," you whispered, "I always knew you were a good kisser."
"Shut up," he muttered with a smile, kissing you again.
~
someone wanted prince cody and prince cody, i have delivered. and very well if i do say so myself. what's the title got to do with it? nothing. as always.
inspiration: http://shawn-lick-my-turtles.tumblr.com/post/116886721104/spoiled-prince-ashton-being-a-little-mommas-boy