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It had been a year since the Wishing Star incident. A year since King Salazar had been taken down. A year since Dot had begun her road to recovery. A year since the Warner's had found out that they were the lost princes and princess of Warnerstock.
A kindly servant had gotten them out of the castle by request of their parents just before Salazar had done away with them. The servant took them into a small town and left the three young royals on the doors of an orphanage.
But now they were home, returning both the castle and Warnerstock itself to its former glory. Or, at least, they want to. There were a few things standing in their way, but one of those would be done away with today. One of them would officially be presented as the crown Prince.
Much to Wakko and Dot's annoyance, it would be Yakko.
"Why do you get to have a fancy party and a big celebration? You're not even king yet!"
Yakko smiles and rolls his eyes playfully. "No, Dot, but I will be king, and this is a way to show the people that. Or at least that's what I've been told. Honestly, I don't think the author entirely knows how royal families function, but eh, this is a made up kingdom anyway so who cares, right? It's a party! And you and Wakko will get just as much attention as I will."
Hopefully, or else he'd probably have to hear about it.
It's not like they all hadn't been introduced to the kingdom when they were found; they had been shown off to all of the townspeople and more, but now they were getting other kingdoms involved. Lots of other kingdoms, apparently.
Salazar, in his reign, had cut off trading to all other kingdoms and they were eager to set up relations with Warnerstock like they had once had. Which means that Yakko actually has to put some effort into this.
He looks to his siblings, his smile just the slightest bit strained now, though they couldn’t tell. “Now, why don’t you two go get ready, and I’ll come get you when I’m done, okay?” He tells them. “You don’t want to be late.”
Wakko blows a raspberry, and Dot lets out a huff, crossing her arms.
“Fine. I guess my fur could be a little shinier. But only a little! C’mon, Wakko.” She says, leading him from the room.
Wakko only takes a moment to look back at his older brother, before the door is shutting behind them and Yakko’s smile is dropping.
He turns to the mirror and lets out a long breath as he looks in the reflection.
A crowning ceremony. That’s what the presentation is. A ceremony to introduce him to all the other kingdoms who cared to show up, to tell them that Yakko would be charged with fixing up the mess left to him by his predecessor.
He won’t lie. The past year or so has been a bit of a dream. They were off the streets, in a warm, cozy castle that they have mostly to themselves and a few other people. They were well fed, even without taxing the shirt and shoes off of their subjects, and most importantly, they were together.
But now, as Brain has told him, this is where it’ll start getting… harder.
He won’t be fully in charge; no the council had ruled against it after finding out that he’d only been fourteen and untrained.
Now at fifteen he will officially be ruled the crown prince of Warnerstock, and his formal training would begin.
And this is what he has to give them. A scrawny, lanky, teenaged ruler. Not officially until he’s eighteen, but still. He’d be acting king under advisement. He’d essentially be in charge. Making decisions. Making people’s lives worse or better. Hopefully better, but who really knows. Maybe he’ll be a worse ruler than Salazar.
He closes his eyes for a moment, and when he reopens them, it’s still the same face staring back at him. So close to his fathers, but not quite.
“Not much of a king, are you?” He asks the reflection, his words quiet and just slightly dejected.
There’s a knock at his door, and he watches as his reflection jumps in front of him. “We’re here to help you get ready, your highness.” He hears a voice call out.
After another breath, preparing himself for what comes next, he turns. A fake smile graces his face as he calls back, “Why, I thought you’d never come.”
The faux bravado he had with his dressing maids is long gone by the time Yakko gets to the ceremony.
So far gone, in fact, that he had left. He’d taken a look at all the people standing in the ballroom, all of them there to watch him, and had bolted out the side door. He’d heard Dot and Wakko shout after him, even heard Brain and his presenter call out, but he hadn’t stopped, and he has yet to go back.
He’s not sure how long he’s been gone, but it’s at least 15 minutes of panicked breathing and attempts to calm himself before someone comes across him.
“Hey, um, are you okay?”
Yakko jumps as he hears the voice, his head shooting up, his eyes wide, only to come across a boy his age, maybe a few years older.
He’s a handsome dog, dressed nicely, in reds and golds and with a pair of adorably dorky buck teeth. But that’s not the important part. He’s clearly one of the guests for the ceremony, and he’s caught Yakko in the middle of his panic attack.
He takes in another breath, reaching up to brush the tears away from his face.
“I um- Y-yeah, I’m fine-” He tells him. “What um- what are you doing back here?” His tone turns just the slightest bit accusatory. He hadn’t thought anyone else would come this way.
The boy shrugs, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. “Probably about the same thing you’re doing.” He tells him. “There’s a lot of people out there. It can get a bit overwhelming. I just needed a minute of silence, you know?”
Yakko turns his face away, shrugging. Clearly the dog doesn't know who he is. Which makes sense. No one should really know what the Warner’s look like yet save for their own people. And who knows how far away this boy is from.
“Um, yeah, same, pretty much.” Yakko nods, and before he can stop it, his mouth keeps going. “Like, I get it, this is important, but did there have to be so many people?” All of them expect him to do something great, or fail miraculously, he’s sure.
“Yeah, I feel you there. And they’re all so old and boring. I thought I’d never find another kid my age.” The boy walks over, sitting next to Yakko. “My dad made me go, said it would be good to get out there and meet people from other kingdoms, but I’d be a lot happier at home practicing sword fighting or something.” He shrugs, and then leans back a bit so he could look down at Yakko better. “I’m Max, by the way.”
Yakko looks up at Max, pausing for a moment, then looking down at the hand Max had outstretched. It takes him another moment to reach out and shake it.
“Yakko.”
“Yakko, that’s a funny name. No offence. Mine is Maximillian, so clearly I have no room to judge.” There’s no recognition on Max’s face as Yakko gives his name, and Yakko supposes that’s a good thing. There’s no need for this relative stranger from god knows what kingdom to know that he’d just found the future king of this kingdom crying and snivelling in a back hallway like a baby.
He shakes the thought from his head as Max starts speaking again.
“But also, please forget that I told you my name is Maximillian so that I can pretend to be cool for like, 10 more minutes.”
Despite the tension in Yakko’s body, and the continued anxiety that clings to his insides, he manages to laugh at that. A hand lifts up to his mouth to hide the sound behind it, almost surprised at it himself.
It only seems to make Max smile more.
“Alright, you’re laughing instead of calling me a loser, I’ll take that as a win.” He comments, which only has Yakko’s laughter continuing for another moment.
“If that’s a win for you I’d hate to see a loss.” Yakko comments, his dry humour coming out just a bit as he speaks to the other teen.
Max laughs back, matching Yakko’s dry tone. “Hah, you don’t know who you’re talking to. If you thought the name Maximilian was bad, pair it with the last name Goof. I’m kind of known for goofing things up. Not as bad as my dad, but the point stands.”
Yakko laughs a little more at the name, a little more lively than the last time.
“That’s pretty unfortunate. Are you sure your dad actually loves you?” He hopes that doesn’t come across as too low-bar for Max, but Yakko is pretty sure he gets his humor already, and he’s right when Max lets out a laugh.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he loves me. More than pretty sure, actually. He just has some pretty weird naming conventions.” Max lets out another little laugh before leaning back, his eyes moving towards the hall leading back to the party. “Pretty sure he loves me more than anything in the world, actually. Which means it sucks all the more every time I mess up.”
Yakko’s smile slips off his face as he raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?” He asks, and Max waves him off.
“Nah, I don’t need to get into it, it’s kind of a bummer.” He tells him, and Yakko shrugs, offering a smaller smile.
“Try me, I’m a good listener.”
Max raises an eyebrow at him, offering his own lopsided grin. “Are you, Yak- ko?” He asks, and when Yakko only shrugs his shoulders the other boy lets out a sigh. “Alright, you asked for it. So, you see, despite being, well, a goof, my dad is this crazy respected knight, right? He went from being a castle cleaner, to a knight, and then to the King’s right hand man because he helped save the princess and also was the King’s best friend before he married the princess, so it’s like a big deal. And now I’m training to be a knight, and it’s like, this whole thing of being able to live up to my dad and everything he’s done. And it’s just… a lot of pressure some days.” Max is leaning heavily against the wall, staring ahead as he speaks. Clearly this weighs a lot on him, and Yakko can definitely relate.
He’d run away from all of his pressure tonight.
“That sounds like you have a lot weighing on your shoulders.” Yakko replies, looking back over to Max who lets out another sigh.
“Yeah, it is, but what else can I do besides try? My dad wants me to do it, I want to do it, so I figure I’ll either do it, or I won’t, but I’ll never know if I can if I don’t at least try, you know?”
Yakko looks towards the hall he’d come from, a small lump forming in his throat at Max’s words.
“Yeah… You’ll never know if you don’t try…”
“Exactly. And I have people to help me, people who won’t let me fail on my own, so what am I really worried about?” He tries to make it sound like a joke, but there’s still some underlying worry.
He stands after that, and turns back to offer a hand back to Yakko, the younger boy blushing just the slightest at the offer. “We should probably get back in there, right? I know my dad is gonna start wondering where I got off to.”
Yakko looks at the hand, then slowly reaches up to grab it, letting Max pull him to his feet.
“Yeah, I should probably get back too.” He nods, looking in the opposite direction of the party. “I have to go this way, but I’ll see you in there?”
Max raises another eyebrow, looking down the hallway Yakko gestures to before looking back and nodding. “Yeah, okay, see you in there.” Max offers one more smile before he makes his way back to the ballroom.
Yakko waits until he’s rounded a corner before turning and heading back to where his family are still waiting for him.
As he enters the room both Wakko and Dot perk up, worried smiles on his faces.
“Yakko!” Dot calls while Wakko nervously steps forward.
“Are y’feelin’ any better?” He asks, and Yakko smiles at them.
“Yeah, sibs. I’m feeling better.” Then his eyes turn towards Brain. “I’m ready now.”
The presentation goes down without a hitch. Yakko is brought out to the front of the ballroom, all eyes on him, and he manages to not pass out, or throw up, or anything. In fact, he smiles.
And that smile only grows a little sheepish as he sees the confused look on Max’s face as the crown is placed on Yakko’s head.
“We present to you, oh people of this region, his highness, William Warner the Second, crowned prince and future king of Warnerstock.”
The people in the ballroom clap, and before long Yakko is whisked away to be personally introduced to everyone who had come.
It’s well over a half hour later that Max is once again in front of him.
“Your highness, this is Sir Maximillian of the Mouse kingdom.” His presenter introduces, not realizing that they’ve already met.
Max plays his part despite the continued confusion on his face, bowing towards Yakko much to the other’s embarrassment.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness.” He speaks the words formally, and once he’s standing upright again, Yakko waves off his presenter.
As soon as they’re alone, Yakko smiles.
“Sorry about that, probably a bit of a surprise, huh?” He asks, and Max thankfully drops the formalities and smiles.
“Yeah, no kidding. I had no clue I was speaking to the future king. A little warning next time?” There’s humour in his words as he says them and Yakko can’t help but to laugh.
“What was I supposed to say, Yeah, I’m the future king sitting all alone in a dark hallway, tell me about your dad.”
That has Max’s smile dropping, his hand running down his head. “Oh my dad. God, I must have sounded like such an idiot going on about all that pressure back there. You’re probably like, the king of pressure. Literally .”
Yakko laughs a bit more at that, drawing some attention from the other attendees, but he tries not to think about it. “No, it’s fine. Really. It actually helped a lot. I was feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing. Or a lot nervous, actually. So I wanted to thank you.”
Max looks surprised at that, but nods his head after a moment. “Oh um, yeah, totally. Glad I could help with my teenage angst.” He jokes towards the end, and Yakko laughs again.
Yakko is about to speak, when his presenter returns, his smile strained. “Your highness, I don’t mean to rush you, but we do have a good lot more people to get through tonight. We wouldn’t want to insult anyone by not getting to them, right?”
Yakko’s ears drop a bit at the reminder, before he looks back at Max, a small smile on his face.
“Well, that’s my cue. I’ll see you around though, right?” He asks and Max nods, if not a bit eagerly.
“Yeah, absolutely, I’ll be here all night.” He tells him, and Yakko’s smile widens.
“Alright, I’ll see you around then.”
Yakko is brought away soon after, introduced to person after person throughout the entire night. It was more or less fine, some people more stuffy than others, but over all nothing egregious happened until Wakko knocked Dot into the chocolate fountain. Then all hell had broken loose, but Yakko, at the very least, had managed to catch sight of Max laughing at his sibling’s antics.
Later that night, after the party got back on track and then slowly came to an end, Yakko finds himself laying with his two siblings in bed. Dot, now freshly clean and given up on her vow of revenge to Wakko, lays down on one side, Wakko on the other.
“So, you’re officially one day goin’ to be king, huh Yakko? Feel any different?” He asks as he gets comfortable, and Yakko shrugs.
“Nah, not really. Honestly, I was hoping I’d get taller, or maybe bulk up when the crown was placed on my head. Guess not, though.”
“Definitely not.” Dot comments, poking Yakko in the arm and causing her older brothers both to laugh.
“Alright, alright, I get it. Besides, I won’t be king for another two years, I have time to bulk up.” Yakko tells her, pushing her arm away before wrapping his own around her shoulders and pulling her in close.
She settles quickly enough, Wakko snuggling in on his other side.
Dot hums for a moment, before speaking again. “What’s the first thing you’re going to do? Once you’re king, I mean.” She asks, and Yakko thinks about it for a moment.
What is he going to do? His first decree as king…
“Well, besides, of course making it illegal for anyone to be taller than me...” Dot rolls her eyes while Wakko only snorts, and then Yakko’s smile becomes a bit more genuine as he looks up at the ceiling.
“I think I might try to get closer to the Mouse kingdom.”
“The Mouse kingdom?” Dot asks with surprise, and Yakko nods.
“Yeah, I have… a good feeling about them.”