[tw: mentions of fire and neglect in the last half!]
Jack woke up to the feeling of someone tugging at his ear roughly, accompanied by a wet lapping at his face.
"Bro, get up!"
It was his little sister, Dee, kneeling at his bedside. Seeing her clown-like mask first thing in the morning wasn't exactly pleasant for Jack, especially after having a nightmare centered around the creepy bastards.
Jack let out a surprised yelp, which in turn caused a pressure he didn't notice previously to be lifted from his chest. After sitting up, he noticed his dog, Blackjack, standing on the edge of his bed. That would explain the wet feeling on his cheek.
Dee giggled, the sound a tad bit muffled from her mask.
"Mmm... 'morning, Dee." Jack yawned, reaching a hand out and roughing up his sister's ruby colored hair, making her laugh even harder. "Did Peter open up already?"
"No, he's been waiting for you to leave. But come on!" Dee tugged at Jack's sleeve in an attempt to get him out of bed, but it was futile, seeing as Jack was about 100 pounds heavier than his sister.
"Fine, fine, I'll get up," Jack groaned, patting his sister's hand to get her to stop. "Just let go of my shirt and I'll be down in a minute."
Dee let go, and trotted out of the room, Blackjack following suit.
After getting up out of bed, Jack changed into the white dress shirt, black vest, and black trousers he had picked up from the arm of his desk chair, and slid on his boots. He had packed everything he needed just after he returned home from the castle grounds the night before, so he didn't have to worry about spending forever on that.
The old, wooden stairs creaked under Jack's feet as he made his way downstairs to greet his brother, Peter.
The first floor was a tavern, ran by Peter. They made enough money to keep their house, in spite of the other taverns throughout Bakersfield. In fact, the people running the various taverns were all fairly close, sometimes even promoting the other's place.
Opening the door to the main area, Jack whistled at Peter in order to grab his attention.
"Ah, g'morning, Jack." Peter greeted, wiping down the wooden surface of the bar. "Sleep well?"
Jack shook his head, and took a seat at one of the barstools, dropping his bags behind it. "It's hard to sleep when you're so excited you'll explode."
Dee hopped up onto the stool beside Jack, and plopped her stuffed bear onto the bar. "Fredbear says that he'll give you good sleep tonight!"
The orange man couldn't help but stifle a laugh. No matter how many years pass, the fact that Dee named her stuffed bear after the town's local cryptid would always crack him up.
Just then, the bell hung above the tavern door rang, and in walked Steven, Peter's assistant.
"Hello! Hello, hello!" Steven greeted, shutting the door behind him. Jack noticed that the man's overuse of the word 'hello' had begun to rub off on Peter, and sometimes, he'd caught himself doing the same thing.
"Ah, hey Steven." Jack waved, leaning against the bar.
"Big day, huh?" Steven gestured to the bags at Jack's feet. "Must be exciting!"
"Yeah, I could barely get a wink of sleep last night." Jack stated, and yawned after, as if to emphasize how little rest he'd managed to get. "It's a huge thing, y'know!"
"Don't worry about it, Sport," Steven patted Jack on the back. "You'll do great! I bet Henry's garden will be weed free in just a few weeks."
"Yeah! You'll be so good that he'll start calling you the flower king!" Dee cheered, throwing her arms up enthusiastically. Peter took this as an invitation to scoop her up into his arms, making the small girl laugh loudly.
"It'll be fine. Soon enough we'll be moving out of this old home, and away from the... problems, it provides." Peter's face turned sour as he eyed the growing patch of mold in the corner, which was becoming increasingly difficult to cover up.
Jack chuckled, and picked up his bags. "Well, I'd best be going now, I don't want the king to wait for long... I already gave him a time to expect me."
"Get me a flower!" Dee chimed, firmly grasping Peter's striped bow tie. "The prettiest one you can find!!"
"Dee, sweetie, I don't know if he can pick flowers from their garden..." Peter smiled as she huffed and crossed her arms. "But knowing him, he'll probably still try to sneak a few."
Jack would miss this sight dearly, Dee being doted on by Peter, and Steven watching awkwardly.
"Alright. I'll try and visit occasionally, if King Henry allows it." Jack stated, reaching out to pat Dee on the head. "And I'll see what I can do about the flowers."
--------
"Your majesty, may I speak to you about Prince Dave?"
Henry gave Jack a look that showed complete and utter disinterest.
Jack had arrived a few minutes prior, and Henry had called on some castle workers to take his belongings and put them into his sleeping space. Just before he began to work, Jack had remembered his encounter with the prince on the previous night, and thought it may be a good idea to check in with Henry to see if he knew about his son's panic attacks.
"... William? Has he already bothered you?" Something in his expression showed that Henry couldn't possibly care less about what Jack had to say, at least now that Dave was involved. "Causing trouble before you even start, how in-character."
"W... What? No, your majesty," Jack said, slightly taken aback. "I was just curious if you knew about last night, he was pretty distressed."
"Oh, yes, I do recall him being tense last night," The king put a finger to his chin and tapped. "But from what I could tell, it was merely an overreaction. He's not immune to those."
"Your majesty, I don't want to question your parenting skills, but..." Jack would be lying if he said that Henry's apathy towards the subject didn't make him uncomfortable. "Isn't Dave your son?"
"How I parent William doesn't concern you, Kennedy."
"Your majesty, I-"
"It. Doesn't. Concern you." Henry scowled at Jack, his frustration making his already pink skin go red. After several uncomfortable, silent seconds, Henry turned around and walked through the garden gates, and approached the doors leading inside the castle.
The rays of sun weren't the only thing causing Jack to glare.
--------
"Hey, Kennedy!"
Jack had been tending to the section of the garden almost covered in a rainbow of roses when a familiar voice called out to him. The gardener turned around to see Dave, running up to him with something poking out from the side of his coat pocket.
"Oh, good morning, your highness." Jack smiled and waved, fully turning away from the large rose bush. Now that Dave was up close, Jack could see that the thing peaking out from the prince's pocket was a light brown. "You feeling any better?"
"Just a little," Dave replied, reaching into his pocket. "But here, I wanted to give you something."
In his hands, there was a small brown package of white heather seeds, tied by a silky white ribbon.
"I- Wow, thank you, your highness!" Jack exclaimed, and took the package from the prince's hands with a smile on his face. "What's this for?"
"I kind of wanted to thank you for talking to me last night," Dave explained. "I tend to have some pretty freaky breakdowns."
After a few moments, Jack grew a tad concerned. "Did you get these from the shed? Does Henry know about this?"
The prince rolled his eyes. "It's just a couple seeds. He won't notice a thing, he never checks the shed."
Jack waited before nodding slowly, and returned to de-thorning the roses.
It was quiet for a few minutes, aside from the chirps from visiting hummingbirds and the buzz of bees. Dave watched intently as Jack carefully cut the thorns out of the rose bushes, and found himself becoming relaxed the more he did so.
"So, what's it like living here?"
The question snapped Dave out of his stupor, causing him to straighten up and brush off his coat, despite no dirt being present.
"It's..." Dave's brows furrowed. "It's lonely."
"Really?" Jack asked, curious. "If I were you, I'd be talking the servant's ears off. Do they not interact with you?"
"My father instructed them to-" Dave stopped himself, realizing halfway through speaking just how wrong it'd sound to Jack. "...They only talk to me occasionally, to ask where I'm going, or if I'll be going with my father on trips."
"Right," Jack murmured, deciding to not press on the first thing Dave said. "Well, you should come down to my brother's tavern if you wanna talk to anybody! You'd have to shove a rag into his mouth to get him to shut up, honestly."
"That... actually doesn't sound so bad," Dave smiled, before his eyes lit up. "Oh! You told me that flowers have symbolism last night, right?"
Jack smiled back at the prince, whose previously grim face was now brimming with excitement. "Sure did. You curious about these roses?"
Dave nodded happily, which made Jack's grin grow wider.
--------
Dinnertime had rolled around, but Dave refused to go into the dining hall as long as Henry was still there. While their argument the previous night wasn't affecting him on a large scale at the moment, Dave would be lying if he said that he would be comfortable around Henry after such a large blow to his already poor self esteem.
As he did the night before, he made his way to the garden, ignoring the servants who had asked him where he was going.
Once again, he made a beeline for a specific spot of the garden, but not the one he had been in the night prior.
This spot was more secluded and overgrown, with roses and vines growing over the angel statue in the center, overlooking a marble headstone, now falling victim to the moss that had grown on almost every stone surface in the area.
Said headstone belonged to his brother.
With how much Henry cared for David, people would expect this spot to be well-maintained, but it was the most unkempt part of the garden. Perhaps Henry just couldn't bear the reminder of his son's death.
"'Evening, David." Dave sat down next to his older twin's gravestone, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "Been a little bit since we last talked, eh?"
Dave sat in silence for a few seconds, taking the gust of wind as a 'response'.
"... Henry still favors you, ya know." He said, a twinge of bitterness in his voice. "Still a prick. Still lacking in the sympathy department."
For as long as he could remember, Dave had been jealous of the attention his twin had received from Henry. While the twins were close up until David's demise, it was hard for Dave not to harbor some resentment for his brother.
"Yesterday he... uh, kinda used you as a way to put me down." The man winced at the memory, a pang of sadness rushing through his body. "It wasn't the usual 'your mother died because of you' or 'shame that my only family left is a-'"
"I'm starting to suspect that finding you somewhere in the garden while you're upset is going to be a running theme during my time here."
Dave's eyes shot up to see Jack, who had his hands on his hips.
"Oh- I-" He stuttered, trying to regain his composure. "Lovely evening we're having, huh, Kennedy?"
Jack nodded, walking over to sit down next to Dave.
"Do you want to talk about it, your highness?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing," Dave waved a gloved hand dismissively. "I just wanted to... talk with my brother."
"... Sure," Jack muttered, trying to hide the disbelief in his voice. "Did he have anything to do with last night?"
"... Yeah," Dave sighed, looking down. It wasn't entirely the truth, even though it had been something to do with David. "I've lost a lot of people, and it gets to me more often than I'd like to admit."
"I know that feeling well, your highness." Jack wondered if it'd be a good idea to pat Dave on the back reassuringly, but ultimately decided against it. "I lost both of my parents a while back. Did you ever hear about that massive fire that burnt down a whole block of houses?"
Dave nodded. It was one of the most infamous fires Bakersfield had ever seen, claiming over 20 lives and injuring 50 more.
"I'm... sorry for your loss, Kennedy."
Jack shrugged. "I can cope. If I lost my siblings, though... I don't know what I'd do."
For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Neither of them could come up with anything to say, at least until Jack remembered something that had been bothering him.
"Dave..." He began, looking over to the prince. "How has Henry taken David's passing?"
The prince's hands began to tremble, as if he were recalling some particularly painful memories.
"He's, um... Definitely more isolated than before." Dave responded, his voice low, barely audible. "I don't really... exist to him anymore? It's hard to grab his attention nowadays, not to say it wasn't before..."
Jack nodded, and even though he wanted to know more, Dave was beginning to look incredibly uncomfortable. Once more, the silence took over, almost deafening this time around.
"Y'know, you're easy to talk to." Dave remarked, breaking the silence. "It feels like a weight's been lifted."
"Erm, your highness, I don't mean to offend you, but," Jack began, shooting a concerned look Dave's way. "Have you ever talked to anyone about these things?"
Dave sighed. "Remember, nobody really talks to me."
"Ah." Jack recalled their conversation from earlier in the day.
"It's just that I've never really had any friends, outside of my brother..." Dave confessed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "To be completely honest, I could use a friend around here."
"Well, maybe I could be that friend."
Jack waited as Dave looked at him, and immediately regretted his decision. What are the odds, a commoner who can barely scrape by a living befriending someone who got everything handed to him on a silver platter?
Then, the prince let out a little chuckle, his face flushing a deep purple.
"I'd like that. I'd... I'd like that a hell of a lot."
Jack gave Dave a smile, before getting up off the grass and patting himself down.
As Jack left, Dave's fingers began to tap at the grass rapidly, and he grinned to himself, trying to keep any noise to a minimum.
After all these years... He'd finally made a real friend.