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They escape evading moonlight, although it chases them around corners and cracks and through intricately painted windows.
If they’re careful—and quiet—Hoshiumi hushes, no one will catch them leaving his castle. He hasn’t dared to use all the exit routes, strategically allowing himself to be caught over the years so that no one will suspect him on the rare occasions he absolutely must leave his princely duties behind. When he absolutely must fall asleep, alone and lonely under the warm canopy of damp garden trees.
“Prince Kou—”
“Ssssh,” he grimaces, one finger to his lips. Hinata, who must understand the situation, still does not grasp the repercussions he might face. It doesn’t matter that he has the prince’s approval and he’s the commoner’s candidate for marriage, Hoshiumi’s reach only goes so far. He tugs Hinata close to him against the wall as he waits for his favorite guard, the one who shares his affinity for sweet daifuku, to complete his rounds. Hoshiumi watches him, heart hammering—or maybe it’s Hinata’s—until he disappears around the corner.
Hinata grips him tighter, breath shaky and cool on his throat, and Hoshiumi freezes. He blinks back at his wide eyes that are an ethereal white in the whispers of moonlight.
They should move. They should move before Hoshiumi does something embarrassing.
He gently releases him and then grabs Hinata’s hand to run over plush carpet and perfect tiles. Gray walls fade into black and then green as they sneak down a garden ‘rabbit hole’ that Hoshiumi has dug. Big enough for one small man.
Hinata doesn’t complain that he’s not acting like a prince, covered in dirt when they emerge outside the walls like naughty children. In fact, when Hoshiumi gives him the clear, Hinata bursts out laughing and leaves Hoshiumi awestruck.
He falls to the forest floor in Hoshiumi’s favorite secret part of the woods, where small, blue flowers grow like daydreams on the tree roots. If one even brushes them, they snap and fly away to lands Hoshiumi doesn’t know of. He’s never found one of these flowers outside of this small clearing. Like delicate webs, they’ve always melted into the air.
Hinata trades white eyes for the glow of azure, sheltered in navy blues and his own hypnotic laughter. Hoshiumi joins him on the ground, staring at the side of his face as he works to compose himself. He wonders if all commoners are this unrestricted, this free of decorum that is only allowed among the youngest within the castle. He’s like a kid, or maybe Hinata makes him feel like one again.
“I can’t believe we did that,” Hinata giggles, turning on his side, a smudge of dirt on his cheek and his elbows. It’s a shame because Hinata looks great in formal attire. Although, Hoshiumi supposes, this roguish look suits him too.
“I can’t believe we had to. The audacity of the court to demand I choose a suitor so soon is irresponsible and obnoxious. To think that I—”
“Hey. Hey? Prince Kourai? Don’t worry about that for now. We should relax since we came all this way. We can come up with a solution later, ya?”
Hoshiumi groans and then smiles. “You say ‘we’ a lot. You’re very confident you’ll have a place here in the castle come next week, especially after this little stint.”
Hinata gapes and then turns his gaze back to the sky, fingers picking at grass. “Well, you said I could come visit you no matter what.”
“Yes… I did.”
Hoshiumi continues to watch his eyes, a distant memory of hiding in a dying tree trunk foggy in his mind. He doesn’t remember how he got out, but he remembers sleeping there, mud under his fingernails as he dreamt of strange, white birds and mountains and a never-ending net.
“Have you enjoyed our time together?” he asks, carefully. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous. Hinata has never given him any reason to be afraid, perhaps even given him some bravery.
“I suppose. But being watched on supposed dates has taken some getting used to.”
Hoshiumi scoffs. “Yes. Yes, I suppose.”
“It’s cold,” Hinata yawns.
“Sorry, I didn’t think to get a blanket.”
Hoshiumi scoots closer to him and pulls off his old outer robe, long and light blue when he drapes it over the two of them.
“Get closer.”
“Okay,” Hinata whispers.
He’s not sure if it’s an excuse or not, but Hoshiumi wraps his arms around Hinata under the guise of warmth and hopes the other is okay with it. He doesn’t think about how soft yet firm he is, how he fits perfectly with him, how safe and comforted he feels every time Hinata exhales on his cheek.
Hoshiumi thinks nothing at all before he closes his eyes and dreams of being plucked and blown into the winds, free and never to be found again.
In the morning, Hoshiumi wakes to Hinata staring back at him, and then smiling. “Heya, Sunshine.”
“Mmm…”
If Hinata won’t pull away, then he won’t either. He closes his eyes and tries to think of brown mud and green vines and not pink cheeks.
When they finally do part, in silent mutual agreement, Hoshiumi lets Hinata keep the outer robe like a cape as he leads him through the only part of his world where he doesn’t have to pretend. In the forest's thick where no one patrols, they hop over logs and chase rabbits for hours until they’re too tired to do anything but walk shoulder-to-shoulder.
They fish in the stream and eat mushrooms and berries. For hours and hours, Hoshiumi almost forgets the court will eventually send a rescue party for them after an entire day’s disappearance. He mourns the inevitable, the sky hurrying dark to ruin this breath of fresh air, this day that has only been a moment. They begin their trek back solemnly and Hoshiumi fights the urge to run in the other direction, to cry, to feel.
A single finger loops around his pinky and Hoshiumi stops. He's getting reckless, Hoshiumi thinks—Hinata can't possibly know his heart is in the palm of his hands, he can't possibly know how delicate it really is, he can't possibly know how painful he's making this for him.
"Yes?" he asks, some parts bitter but all of it pathetically soft and sweet when it trickles out of his lips.
"Will your guards be angry if we don’t come back tonight?" Hinata says, pulling him ever closer with a gentle tug of his pointer finger. Hoshiumi goes easy because his body doesn't know how to disobey him anymore.
"Yeah, they will."
He braves the current of pain and longing to finally look up and see that Hinata's smiling and rosy, not worried at all. Hoshiumi sinks again.
"What?" he asks.
Hinata tugs him closer once more until his leg brushes his. "Since you did all this with just the two of us… does that mean this was a... real date?"
Hoshiumi feels his eyes widen but can do nothing to stop it. Hinata sees it and his smile falters.
"Yes," he blurts out, quick enough that the smile never turns into a frown. "Yes," he says again, louder and more determined so he can really confirm it to the stars. They glisten now, but Hoshiumi knows they’re determined to take Hinata away from him when they make way for the morning.
Hoshiumi knows for sure now that Hinata can't possibly know what he's doing to him, because Hinata hears his declaration and merely says, "Good."