#i. devoid of colour. ( nathaniel winter. )

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 13

(aka the royalty AU story)

Note: I feel like this chapter is pretty appropriate considering it’s MLM March right now...

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] [AO3]

The winter party, being informal, was rather relaxed and cheerful. Nobles and royals mingled alike, chatting with each other regardless of rank and sharing food and drinks from the platters on the sides of the large hall. In the middle by the staircase, a very lively band was playing all sorts of very upbeat folk music from various different countries, and the dancefloor was filled with students happily joining in the fun with their friends.

Some humbugs who hadn’t wanted to attend this mandatory event were sitting on the seats provided along the edges, impatiently waiting for an hour to pass so that they were allowed to leave again and do what they wanted. Out of the royal class, only Prince Nathaniel was hoping to leave as soon as he could. Social events made him nervous and he much preferred to avoid them, thank you very much.

There was more than one sprig of mistletoe dotted at various places around the hall, mostly in dark, secluded corners, such a directly under the staircase or right in the very corner of the room behind a large row of stacks of chairs. Ivan and Mylène had already had a sweet mistletoe kiss, and now other members of their class were beginning their own romantic scheming.

“I’m hiding in this broom cupboard if you need me, alright?” Alya whispered to Marinette, before pushing her out into the room and then closing the door of her little hideaway, leaving only the tiniest sliver open out of which to spy.

Marinette gulped and wandered around a little – she had just seen Adrien somewhere around here, now where was he? Oh hang on, there was Nino, she should ask him.

“Hi Nino!” she said, smiling brightly up at him. “You look nice today! Blue is really your colour, you know that?”

“Uh… uh-huh…” Nino said, nodding, smiling rather awkwardly.

“Anyway, is Adrien here too? I mean, I know he must be since this is a mandatory event, but where is he? It would be nice to say hi to him too!”

“He’s, um, gone to get a drink!” Nino gabbled. It was not true. Adrien was hiding behind a pillar just a few metres away, watching like a hawk.

“Right, well, I suppose I’ll wait here for him to get back!”

“Haha… yeah… good idea…”

Without even a word being said, Nino could feel Adrien’s watchful eyes pressing into him, telling him to do something, make a move.

“Actually I wanted to talk to you about something!” he quickly said.

“Oh yes, of course, what is it?”

Tell her you love her! Ask her for a mistletoe kiss!

“There’s this girl I like and I don’t know how to tell her…”

Marinette squealed. “Oh my gosh, do you want my help or something? I could totally do that for you! Who is it?”

It’s you!

“It’s Alya!” Nino blurted out, then had to physically restrain himself from clapping his hand over his mouth. No, why had he said that? How hard would it have been to just tell Marinette the truth?

“Ahh, that’s amazing!” Marinette gushed, her beautiful blue eyes staring up at him filled with affection. “I’ll definitely help you with that! Do you want me to get her to kiss you under the mistletoe, since we’re here?”

“What? No, no, that’s fine! Nothing like that! I mean, I could just… uh… talk to her or something. Yeah, that would be better.”

“Yes, you’re right, maybe take it slow at first. Anyway, I know where she is, I can help you – follow me!”

Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Nino’s hand and pulled him over to the broom cupboard.

“Alya, I’ve got a bae for you!” she called, flinging the door open and pushing Nino inside. Then she closed the door and quickly grabbed a nearby chair, jamming it under the handle. “I’ll leave you in there for 10 minutes, okay?” she yelled through the door. There were muffled replies and knocks on the door, but she paid them no heed.

Feeling rather pleased with her inventive matchmaking skills, she turned around to head off to get a drink, only to walk directly into Adrien.

“Good evening Marinette,” he said politely, bowing his head towards her slightly. “You look lovely.”

“Oh thanks Adrien! Y-you look lovely too! And lovesome – I mean h-handsome! You look... yeah, handsome and l-lovely!”

“Thank you. Anyway, I have to ask: is it my eyes playing tricks on me, or did I just see you lock Alya and Nino in that broom cupboard?”

Marinette giggled, fiddling with a strand of her hair. “Well I was just m-match… m-m-matching… m-m…”

“Matchmaking?”

“Yeah! That’s the word! And I promise I’ll let them out soon, I just…” It was starting to occur to her that locking two people in a cupboard together was probably not a very nice thing to do. Ah well, it was too late now, she had started already so she may as well go the whole way.

“Make sure you do let them out soon,” Adrien said. “It would be a little upsetting if they ran out of oxygen in there. I couldn’t air to think of Nino suffocating!”

Marinette blinked, staring at him.

“Get it? Air? Because it rhymes with bear?”

“Oh yes! Um… good pun…”

“Anyway, since I don’t see anyone else around that I know, may I have the honour of dancing with you tonight, princess?”

He held out his hand. Trying not to shake, Marinette, wiped her sweaty palm on the side of her dress and then took his hand. Adrien gently led her to the dance floor and began dancing with her to a very lively jig that was being played. It was fun, though Marinette kept feeling like she was going to get something wrong and accidentally whack Adrien in the face. She couldn’t help wishing the band would play a slow song next… so that she could cuddle up to Adrien without suspicion…

Kim had chosen to wait underneath the mistletoe in the corner of the room, hidden behind the stacks of chairs, while Max had gone off to search for Alix. She had to be here somewhere, since this event was mandatory and all.

A noble girl suddenly appeared around this side of the chairs. It was hard to see much of her considering how devoid of light this little corner was, but she seemed to be very pretty, with long auburn hair and vivid green eyes. Kim quickly stepped out from under the mistletoe when he saw that she was waltzing right up towards him.

“Uh, sorry, I’m waiting for someone else,” he muttered, pointing up at the mistletoe that was now directly above her head, but a safe distance away from him.

“Oh, that’s fine,” she breathed, her voice smooth with just the tiniest hint of an Italian accent. “I didn’t even see the mistletoe there. I was simply exploring. In any case, I already have someone to be kissing under the mistletoe… a very beautiful, wealthy young man… I suppose I’ll go find him then…”

She walked off again, her hips moving in a way that made her long dress swish from side to side. Kim had been sure that she was hitting on him. Too bad she wasn’t his type, anyway. She did look familiar, though… Hadn’t he seen Alya chatting with her a few times, down in the square? Maybe they were friends, and that was why he recognized her. He had no idea what her name was, though, only that she was a noble, and seemingly a very wealthy one.

After waiting for a while longer, Alix finally turned up. To Kim’s delight, she went and stood right next to him – though it didn’t look like she’d noticed the mistletoe.

“Alright, Max dared me to stand over here for some reason, he said he’d give me a chocolate bar if I did,” she said. “I don’t know what he’s up to, but I would do anything for chocolate.”

Her voice sounded a little off for some reason, though he couldn’t quite place it.

“Oh, I’m sure he just has, like, a surplus of chocolate bars and he wants excuses to give them away,” he said. He looked up and pretended to sound surprised. “Huh, would you look at that? Some kind of plant stuff? We don’t have that in my kingdom…”

“Kim, that’s mistletoe, duh. It’s all over the place.” She had barely even glanced up at it.

“Well, in that case, I guess… I mean, I’m not saying we should kiss, but like… it’s tradition and everything, so like… only if you want to…”

She suddenly sneezed. Pulling a tissue out of her pocket, she wiped her nose, which was a lot more red than usual. Kim took a step backwards.

“Do you have a cold?” he asked her.

“Yeah. I don’t know who I caught it from but I’m gonna kill them.”

He took another few steps backwards. It was no wonder her voice sounded odd – her nose must have been blocked. “Okay. Don’t come near me. I mean okay I know there’s the mistletoe and so we should totally kiss and everything, but uh… we can postpone that for later, right? When you’re not going to infect me?”

“Sure, whatever,” she muttered. “Just remind me when I’m not ill. Anyway, I’m gonna go find Max and get that chocolate bar off him, not that I’ll be able to taste it with this stupid cold…”

He watched her walk off, still holding his breath until she was fully out of sight. Phew, he hated catching colds. Feeling ill was the worst, especially for an athlete like him.

She hadn’t said no to a kiss… He tried not to get his hopes up too much. After all, she didn’t seem very enthusiastic about it. But still, she hadn’t said no! It was going to happen, it was just a matter of time! Maybe she just seemed uncaring because she was ill? Surely she had to have more of an opinion on it than a simple “sure, whatever”?

Kim stood there in the dark, blushing into his hands, trying not to think about it too hard. And failing. A lot.

Marinette took the chair away and opened the broom cupboard door. Alya and Nino stumbled out, blinking at the sudden brightness of the main hall.

“Sorry for locking you in there,” Marinette mumbled, “I probably should have asked first but once I’d done it I thought I’d just go through with it and I was being silly and…”

Alya laughed. “Marinette, don’t worry too much. I mean, yeah, suddenly locking people in a cupboard is a pretty bad idea, and you’re gonna end up with a rebellion on your hands if you do that to people in your kingdom. But in this case, it turned out not so bad.”

“Marinette, I have a confession to make,” Nino said, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “The girl I actually have a crush on is you, but uh, Alya told me you like someone else, so don’t sweat it!”

“Wait, what?” Marinette turned to Alya. “You told him?”

“I didn’t say who it was!” Alya said, taking Marinette’s hand. “I promise! All he knows is that you like a guy, and he’s cool with it. And for the record, I do think he’s pretty cute. You hear that, Nino? You’re pretty cute.”

Nino nervously finger-gunned at her. “I, uh, think you’re pretty cute too.”

Marinette giggled. Perhaps setting those two up had somewhat worked after all, even if throwing them in a cupboard together was not the best way to go about it.

Adrien, meanwhile, was feeling rather warm from his energetic dancing on the dance floor, and headed towards the less crowded corners of the room to cool himself off a little. Who knew Marinette was such a good dancer? He’d been having a lot of fun with her.

To tell the truth… he missed the way she used to speak to him. Something had happened recently, and he couldn’t figure out what, but now she just always stuttered around him, like she didn’t know what to say to him. Had he done something wrong? After all, she didn’t treat other people like that. Hopefully by hanging out with her more often he could regain a sense of the Marinette he knew before.

Wandering around, lost in his thoughts, he absent-mindedly headed for the emptiest spots in the room that he could see. It was dark here, and now that it was late evening and dark in general, even the light through the windows couldn’t make it any brighter around here.

There was someone standing over there, never mind going in that direction then – wait, it was just Kim, his friend.

“Hello Kim!” he said, walking up to him and tapping his shoulder to get his attention. It seemed like Kim had been lost in thought about something too, or perhaps someone.

“Oh, hey Adrien,” Kim said feebly, turning to look. All of a sudden, his face went bright red, almost as red as the clothes he usually wore. His eyes momentarily flicked upwards to something on the ceiling, then back down again at Adrien.

Adrien looked up at the ceiling and –

Oh.

There was mistletoe there. Right above them.

“So, uh…” Kim was now staring off to the side somewhere, determinedly not looking at Adrien. “That mistletoe… it’s, um… considered good luck and tradition to um… well, isn’t it?”

Adrien could fill in the blanks himself. He knew perfectly well what mistletoe was for during yuletide celebrations.

But… Kim was a boy. Did that count?

It hardly mattered if it counted. What mattered was that if Adrien’s father found out, he would be livid. He would say Adrien was in so much trouble. That the school was a bad influence. That Adrien was being a rebel.

Looking up at Kim, with his handsome face and tall, athletic figure… Adrien couldn’t help but wonder if being a rebel was such a bad thing. Especially if it wasn’t quite on purpose, which it very well might not have been, considering how he could feel his heart beat speeding up when he thought about it.

Yes. He wasn’t being a rebel on purpose. Boys could look beautiful too sometimes, right? And if a beautiful, handsome boy asked for a kiss, well… what if Adrien didn’t want to say no? Did that still make him a rebel? What would his father say to that?

Never mind. It didn’t matter what his father said. It was time for Adrien to live his own life now, not just what his father wanted him to do. And if Adrien was going to kiss a boy, then so be it.

A short while later, Kim found Max sitting on the steps to the terrace just outside the main hall, a drink of lemonade in hand.

“Hey, Max, can I talk to you about something?” Kim asked, sitting down beside him. “It’s something really, really weird. Like, really weird.”

“Of course,” Max replied, putting his drink down. “What’s up?”

“Okay, well, um. Just say that there was this guy. And he totally definitely liked a cute girl. And it’s not the first time he’s liked a cute girl, he’s liked loads of cute girls before. He’s definitely into cute girls. Well… just asking, but…” Kim ran a hand nervously through his hair. “…would it also be possible for him to be into cute guys? Even though he’s a guy himself? Like, is that a thing that can happen?”

“Yes, Kim. That is indeed a thing that can happen.”

“Oh, okay. Is it bad?”

“No, it’s not bad at all.”

Kim breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks Max, that’s reassuring… To be honest that wasn’t an imaginary scenario. Not completely. I mean, I’m not sure, but there’s this one guy… He’s really awesome. And nice. And I knew I liked him a lot as a friend, but I didn’t really think about it in any other way because I didn’t know that was even possible, but… I can’t deny it. He’s really cute.”

“I know the feeling.”

“Wait, really? You like a cute guy too?”

“Oh yes,” Max sighed. “I like a very cute guy.”

“Wow, what are the odds of us both being like this?”

“A lot higher than you’d think, actually. It’s not uncommon.”

“Is it like, something more common in your kingdom?”

“It’s surprisingly common everywhere, Kim, people just don’t talk about it because it’s been so engrained in everyone not to. But at least in my kingdom it’s much more accepted these days, so hopefully in other parts of the world it soon will be too.”

“Wow.” Kim looked up at the moon, resting his head on his hand. “I had no idea before today. I honestly never thought about it. And I guess I’m not entirely sure, maybe I just like him like a friend, I don’t really know… it’s kind of hard to tell…”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to know.”

“Yeah, I guess not. I never was very good at judging my own feelings, was I? And anyway, it’s not like Adrien would like me back, so…”

“Adrien?”

Kim suddenly went red, throwing a hand over his mouth. “Wait – no – I meant – ugh, dang it!”

“Don’t worry, Kim, I won’t tell anyone,” Max chuckled. “Adrien is rather exceptional, I can’t blame you for being into him. Anyway, I meant to ask this before: did you kiss Alix after all?”

“It’s not Alix who I kissed,” Kim said rather quietly, looking away. “She had a cold so she said she’d do it some other time, and then uh… Adrien turned up, and…”

“And that’s what got you thinking about all this. That makes sense.”

Kim buried his face into his knees, mumbling, “I can’t believe I had my first kiss, and I can never tell anyone about it because it was with a guy.”

“Well, I’m always here if you want to talk about it.”

“Thank you, Max. That means a lot. You’re just… the coolest best friend ever. I feel like I don’t say it enough. So thanks for being so awesome all the time.”

“It’s no problem.” Max picked up his glass of lemonade. “So, did you want to go back into the party or do you think you’re done for tonight?”

“I’m definitely done,” Kim said. “I think I’ll just go back to my dorm. Goodnight, Max.”

“Goodni– mffhgfh!”

Kim had suddenly pulled Max into a big bear hug, and he didn’t let go for a long, long time.