One-shot - Peasant Charming
Title: Peasant Charming
Pairing: Shigeaki, Tegoshi (Gen)
Rating: G
Words: ~2,500
A/N: What was meant to be a drabble, written for seige-k.
Summary: AU, fairy tale. Kato Shigeaki hates life as a prince, and Tegoshi Yuya the potter's son would like nothing more than to be one.
Prince Shige did not like his new life. Ever since the death of his parents, King and Queen Kato, in that unfortunate swan boating incident, he’d been sent to live with his distant relatives, King and Queen Akanishi.
Word had it, their son, Prince Jin, was cavorting with a commoner - a more common than common Yamashita, can you believe that - and refused to find a nice princess to settle down with to continue the family line. Thus, King and Queen Akanishi were thinking of making Shige heir.
They’d had high hopes for the young prince, because he was known throughout the seven lands of Johnniopolis as a genius who was very serious about his studies, bound to become a sage and astute ruler.
What they didn’t know was that Shige also hated being a prince.
It had been okay at home, Prince Shige thought gloomily, because mother and father had let him play in the mud, had let him indulge his artistic muses through finger painting and mucky clay art, but Queen Akanishi was not having a bar of that.
“Those are the past times of commoners,” She’d said in her snobbish, fluty voice, “and no heir of mine is going to partake in such twaddle.”
Instead she wanted Prince Shige to learn to bow properly, to wave with his hand at just the right angle, how to waltz, how to be a proper prince.
If he wanted to indulge his artistic side, he was left with nothing but embroidery, and he hated embroidery. It was so slow, so restrictive, so… girly. It was all about flowers and putting your needle in the right place. There was no room for creativity, no room for the artist’s voice to come through.
Prince Shige found himself sinking into depression after a mere week of living in Castle du Akanishi. It was boring, it was stuffy, it was just too perfect and orderly. The only interesting happenings were when Prince Jin would come home with wine stains on his clothes, ‘smelling of commoner’ and Shige got to watch his second great aunt thrice removed, or however it was that he was related to the Akanishi family, go crazy about what he was doing to the family reputation.
Prince Shige spent a lot of time in his room, studying, and staring out the window over the grand moat, to the town on the other side.
He was jealous, jealous of the young, common boys who played on the river banks, wrestling in the mud, catching frogs from the moat; jealous of the potter’s young apprentice, whose hands grew messy as he shaped fine vases and dishes on the pottery wheel; jealous of the street painters who drew portraits and caricatures of passing people to earn a couple of silver coins.
Just once, just once, he wanted to walk those cobbled streets, to breathe in the scent of freshly ground spices outside the market, to play on the muddy banks with other boys his own age. But the closest he got was when he went out in the carriage with the King and Queen, trying to wave with his hand at an angle he could never get quite right.
Then one morning, when he was up in his room trying to learn the steps to the waltz for tomorrow night’s grand ball, Queen Akanishi had come up to see him.
“The King and I are going to the neighbouring city of Matsumotetia to visit Duke Jun, and won’t be back until nightfall. You are to stay here until you get the steps to the dance right.”
And she had left him.
Shige sighed. He’d never get the steps right by tomorrow night, no matter how hard he practiced. He went to his window and looked out over the moat, watching the carriage with the king and queen roll away, into the cobblestone streets, out of sight.
His eyes naturally drifted to the boys playing on the bank and he wished with all his heart that he could join them.
Then he had an idea: the kind and queen wouldn’t be back until dark. He had all the time in the world to sneak out of the palace, to do whatever he wanted, and as long as he made it back by dusk, no one would ever have to know he was gone.
Prince Shige quickly concocted a plan, tying together his mass of bed sheets, and attaching them to the firm, stone pillars adorning his window. He threw the sheets down, and yes, they were just long enough for him to reach the ground.
He stripped off into his underclothes, a white singlet shirt, and white shorts, in preparation for the swim across the moat.
Were he like his childhood friend, Prince Takahisa, he would’ve been too scared to climb from such a height, but Shige was determined and stubborn, and he climbed out his window and down his cotton sheet ladder, resolutely not looking down until his feet were firmly against the ground. Fresh, little tufts of grass tickled his feet, and he dug his feet in just to feel the mud squelch between his toes.
Prince Shige raised his eyes and looked over to the other side of the water, saw the laughing, screaming children chasing, grappling with each other. The water was green and murky and probably cold, but, he thought, it would be worth it.
It felt a little slimy against his skin as he sunk into it, but warmer than he’d anticipated. There was no way to get into the castle from this side, and so there were no guards overlooking it, and Shige was able to swim across unnoticed. He pulled himself up onto the bank on the other side, clothes sopping wet and heart bursting with delight.
The town children didn’t notice that he was a stranger in their midst, and soon Shige was playing rough and tumble with a pair of kids named Yabu and Hikaru, and catching tadpoles which were quickly purloined from him by an older boy named Nishikido who had a mean tongue but a warm smile.
He played on the river bank under the hot sun until his clothes dried stiff against his body, and then when all the other kids disappeared at lunch time, he wandered into the town, bustling people of all types, packed to bursting with markets and stalls selling fresh foods. He wandered past the pottery store, and stopped to look in the back of the workshop, staring as the potter’s young coppery-haired apprentice - skin golden from hours of labour in the sunshine, not like Shige’s fair complexion - as he fashioned clay into delicate shapes on the wheel.
When he stopped, he happened to look up right into Shige’s face, smiling at the awe he must have seen in it and waving him over.
Shige froze, but then approached timidly.
“Oh. I thought you were Yuya.” He said and laughed. “But you’re not. Were you watching?”
Shige nodded, feeling a little timid.
“It looks fun.” He said, and the other boy beamed.
“Would you like some clay?” He asked, and Shige nodded shyly, accepting the sticky, wet lump that was placed in his hands. He kneaded it between his fingers, remembering the clay models he’d loved making before the death of his parents.
“Thank you.” He said, and the boy smiled, a wide, sunny smile with crooked bottom teeth.
They both worked in silence, smoothed over by the hum of the pottery wheel. Shige was so engrossed that he didn’t notice when the potter’s apprentice stopped his wheel, didn’t feel his eyes on him until he spoke.
“You’re good at that.” He said, gesturing towards the small clay frog that Shige had formed out of the original lump he’d given him. “Where did you learn?”
Shige felt a mixture of pride and embarrassment swelling up inside him at the compliment.
“I used to make models for fun.” He said, and the other boy lifted his eyebrows in interest.
“You should talk to the master.” He told Shige, “You’re talented. I bet he’d take you on.”
The idea appealed to Shige, but he knew that it would never happen. He tried to think of a kind way to reject the offer, when a voice from the back of the workshop startled him.
“Kei-chan! It’s lunch time. Go wash that nasty muck off your hands, okay?”
“Yes, Yuya.” The apprentice said obediently. He then turned to Shige, smiling crooked and warm. “That’s Tegoshi Yuya, the master’s son.” He explained. “The master wanted to train him in the art of pottery, but he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. All his hopes are on me now.”
Shige watched the slight, graceful boy flounce out of the workshop, presumably back into the house.
“You should have lunch with us, the master’s wife always makes more than enough for everyone.”
He led Shige to the water supply without giving him a chance to reject the invitation, chattering the whole time about this and that, and how it would be so nice to have a friend his age to work at the pottery wheel with. Shige listened to his whimsical ideas, wishing they could become a reality, but knowing that if he went missing from the castle, there would be all sorts of trouble.
Koyama Keiichiro, as it turned out the apprentice’s name was, introduced him at the dining table as his new friend, and the prince simply offered them the name, “Shigeaki”. The master and his wife, a pair of elder folks with ruddy red faces and toothy grins, made him feel quite welcome, and as Shige watched Tegoshi sit delicately down at the table, he couldn’t help but wonder how they’d managed to produce such a refined, prissy child.
Tegoshi picked at his meal, not complaining, but it was easy to tell he thought it was boring, standard fare, while Shige thought that the crusty bread and stew were the best things he’d ever tasted. He and Koyama squabbled over the last of the plum pudding before agreeing to share it, while Tegoshi reclined in his chair, buffing his fingernails and sitting with dainty, royal posture.
Afterwards, Shige helped clean up, something he’d never done before, and then the master sent the three of them out to play, telling Koyama to take a break and spend time with his new friend.
He and Koyama got muddy together, while Tegoshi stood back, looking downright unimpressed and a little disgusted.
“Don’t you like playing?” Shige asked, incredulous, and Tegoshi smiled at him, almost patronizingly.
“Of course I like to play.” He said. “But getting covered in mud is no fun. I much prefer croquet to wrestling in the mud. I’m not a pig.”
Shige snorted. He hated croquet, but sometimes on Sundays he was forced to play it out on the sprawling castle lawn with the children of visiting royal families. Getting dirty and scratched up was much more fun.
The evening wore on, and soon Koyama had to go back to the workshop, and Shige was left with prissy Tegoshi, who refused to move from his safe, dry spot on a tree stump. Shige thought he was terribly ungrateful. If he could’ve spent every day working with clay and playing by the riverbed, eating home cooked meals of fresh bread and pudding, he would’ve been ever so glad. Tegoshi, however, looked like he thought he’d been dealt a bad hand in life.
“I bet you can waltz too.” Shige muttered to himself, and Tegoshi looked at him strangely.
“Of course I can. Waltzing is easy.” He said. “If you want to become a refined gentleman, you need to know how to waltz.”
Shige started to rolled his eyes, but then an idea came to him.
“Could you teach me?” He asked. “I need to learn by tomorrow night. There’s a terribly boring royal ball on that I need to attend, and if I can’t waltz by then, mother will scold me.”
Tegoshi looked at him with eyes that had grown round in surprise.
“A royal ball? You?” He sounded like he couldn’t think of anyone more unsuited to be attending a royal ball, but Shige nodded.
“Could you teach me?” He asked, then realised that bribery would probably work much better with someone like Tegoshi. “I’ll give you a pair of my dancing shoes.”
Tegoshi’s face changed, lips curving into a friendly smile, and he stood, gingerly patting Shige on a clean spot on his back.
“Well.” He said. “I suppose that can be arranged. I’m not practicing with you if you’re in those muddy clothes though.”
Shige frowned. “This is all I have.” He argued, but Tegoshi remained firm. Shige thought for a moment, then brightened. “I know. Why don’t you come back with me to the castle? Could you handle swimming across the moat?”
He saw Tegoshi’s nose wrinkle, but eventually the idea of being inside a real castle overrode his disgust at swimming in a cold, algae filled moat. He complained the entire way across, and the entire way up the ladder of sheets, but once he was inside Shige’s room, he became much more agreeable.
“It’s so fancy.” He said, in an awed voice. “You’re so lucky.”
Shige liked Tegoshi’s rustic, cluttered home a lot better, but didn’t tell him so.
“I’m all wet though.” Tegoshi went on, frowning at his damp outfit. “Give me something to change into.”
Shige’s brow creased at the demanding tone, but he couldn’t really reprimand someone who was doing him a favour, and let Tegoshi strip off his wet clothes, and offered him one of his suits to dress into. Tegoshi took it from him with childish glee, gushing over the fine stitching and high class material.
Once he had it on, even Shige had to admit that he looked perfectly handsome in it.
Tegoshi, Shige decided, was far better suited to this sort of life than he was.
“May I have my dancing shoes now?” Tegoshi asked, the most politely he’d spoken to Shige since they’d met. Shige obliged, but just as Tegoshi was stepping into them, he heard footsteps echoing down the hall outside his room.
His face drained of colour. He’d recognise the sound of that footfall anywhere.
“The queen is coming.” He hissed. “I can’t let her see my dirty clothes, she’ll kill me!”
He looked around frantically, then dived under the bed just in time before the door opened.
“Shigeaki.” Queen Akanishi’s shoes appeared within his view. “I see you have your dancing shoes on. Have you been practicing?”
Shige’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he had to fight not to make an indignant noise. How could the queen possibly have mistaken snotty Tegoshi for him?
“I have,” Came Tegoshi’s voice, cheerful and chirpy. “Would you like to see?”
Shige watched as Tegoshi’s feet moved around the room in a graceful, effortless gait. The queen gasped and clapped.
“Shigeaki, I’m impressed! I’m not sure how you managed to improve so wonderfully over the past day, but I have to say that I’m very pleased. All the girls at the ball will be dying to dance with you.”
Tegoshi laughed cutely and thanked the queen, and Shige cringed with embarrassment. He crawled out from under the bed when she left, and fixed Tegoshi with a disapproving frown.
“Thanks a lot. I’ll never be able to dance like that at the ball. Now everyone is going to be disappointed, and…”
He stopped, and looked closely at Tegoshi in the suit and dance shoes, his pretty face and elegant poise, his charming smile.
Tegoshi looked like he was made to be a prince. Tegoshi fit into this world the same way Shige had so easily fit into his world.
“How about…” Shige began carefully, “You go to the ball instead of me? You could be a prince and I could be a potter’s apprentice. You have the kind of life I’ve always wanted.”
“You want to switch places with me?” Tegoshi’s eyes looked bright, hopeful. “For how long?”
“Forever.”
At first Shige thought Tegoshi was going to laugh at the idea, tell him there was no way it would work, no way his parents wouldn’t come looking for him and bring him back home, but instead he smiled, wide and regal.
“I’d love to.” He said, and leant forward to kiss Shige daintily on the lips, as though wishing him luck. Tegoshi, Shige thought, was a little strange, but he was too distracted by the surge of happiness in his chest and the taste of freedom on his tongue.
Tegoshi waved to him as he climbed down the sheets for the last time, and Shige thought that they way he did so was awfully reminiscent of the queen.
He waved back up to him once he reached the bottom, a final goodbye, and Tegoshi watched as Shige swam across the moat to the other side, not once looking back.
Pairing: Shigeaki, Tegoshi (Gen)
Rating: G
Words: ~2,500
A/N: What was meant to be a drabble, written for seige-k.
Summary: AU, fairy tale. Kato Shigeaki hates life as a prince, and Tegoshi Yuya the potter's son would like nothing more than to be one.
Prince Shige did not like his new life. Ever since the death of his parents, King and Queen Kato, in that unfortunate swan boating incident, he’d been sent to live with his distant relatives, King and Queen Akanishi.
Word had it, their son, Prince Jin, was cavorting with a commoner - a more common than common Yamashita, can you believe that - and refused to find a nice princess to settle down with to continue the family line. Thus, King and Queen Akanishi were thinking of making Shige heir.
They’d had high hopes for the young prince, because he was known throughout the seven lands of Johnniopolis as a genius who was very serious about his studies, bound to become a sage and astute ruler.
What they didn’t know was that Shige also hated being a prince.
It had been okay at home, Prince Shige thought gloomily, because mother and father had let him play in the mud, had let him indulge his artistic muses through finger painting and mucky clay art, but Queen Akanishi was not having a bar of that.
“Those are the past times of commoners,” She’d said in her snobbish, fluty voice, “and no heir of mine is going to partake in such twaddle.”
Instead she wanted Prince Shige to learn to bow properly, to wave with his hand at just the right angle, how to waltz, how to be a proper prince.
If he wanted to indulge his artistic side, he was left with nothing but embroidery, and he hated embroidery. It was so slow, so restrictive, so… girly. It was all about flowers and putting your needle in the right place. There was no room for creativity, no room for the artist’s voice to come through.
Prince Shige found himself sinking into depression after a mere week of living in Castle du Akanishi. It was boring, it was stuffy, it was just too perfect and orderly. The only interesting happenings were when Prince Jin would come home with wine stains on his clothes, ‘smelling of commoner’ and Shige got to watch his second great aunt thrice removed, or however it was that he was related to the Akanishi family, go crazy about what he was doing to the family reputation.
Prince Shige spent a lot of time in his room, studying, and staring out the window over the grand moat, to the town on the other side.
He was jealous, jealous of the young, common boys who played on the river banks, wrestling in the mud, catching frogs from the moat; jealous of the potter’s young apprentice, whose hands grew messy as he shaped fine vases and dishes on the pottery wheel; jealous of the street painters who drew portraits and caricatures of passing people to earn a couple of silver coins.
Just once, just once, he wanted to walk those cobbled streets, to breathe in the scent of freshly ground spices outside the market, to play on the muddy banks with other boys his own age. But the closest he got was when he went out in the carriage with the King and Queen, trying to wave with his hand at an angle he could never get quite right.
Then one morning, when he was up in his room trying to learn the steps to the waltz for tomorrow night’s grand ball, Queen Akanishi had come up to see him.
“The King and I are going to the neighbouring city of Matsumotetia to visit Duke Jun, and won’t be back until nightfall. You are to stay here until you get the steps to the dance right.”
And she had left him.
Shige sighed. He’d never get the steps right by tomorrow night, no matter how hard he practiced. He went to his window and looked out over the moat, watching the carriage with the king and queen roll away, into the cobblestone streets, out of sight.
His eyes naturally drifted to the boys playing on the bank and he wished with all his heart that he could join them.
Then he had an idea: the kind and queen wouldn’t be back until dark. He had all the time in the world to sneak out of the palace, to do whatever he wanted, and as long as he made it back by dusk, no one would ever have to know he was gone.
Prince Shige quickly concocted a plan, tying together his mass of bed sheets, and attaching them to the firm, stone pillars adorning his window. He threw the sheets down, and yes, they were just long enough for him to reach the ground.
He stripped off into his underclothes, a white singlet shirt, and white shorts, in preparation for the swim across the moat.
Were he like his childhood friend, Prince Takahisa, he would’ve been too scared to climb from such a height, but Shige was determined and stubborn, and he climbed out his window and down his cotton sheet ladder, resolutely not looking down until his feet were firmly against the ground. Fresh, little tufts of grass tickled his feet, and he dug his feet in just to feel the mud squelch between his toes.
Prince Shige raised his eyes and looked over to the other side of the water, saw the laughing, screaming children chasing, grappling with each other. The water was green and murky and probably cold, but, he thought, it would be worth it.
It felt a little slimy against his skin as he sunk into it, but warmer than he’d anticipated. There was no way to get into the castle from this side, and so there were no guards overlooking it, and Shige was able to swim across unnoticed. He pulled himself up onto the bank on the other side, clothes sopping wet and heart bursting with delight.
The town children didn’t notice that he was a stranger in their midst, and soon Shige was playing rough and tumble with a pair of kids named Yabu and Hikaru, and catching tadpoles which were quickly purloined from him by an older boy named Nishikido who had a mean tongue but a warm smile.
He played on the river bank under the hot sun until his clothes dried stiff against his body, and then when all the other kids disappeared at lunch time, he wandered into the town, bustling people of all types, packed to bursting with markets and stalls selling fresh foods. He wandered past the pottery store, and stopped to look in the back of the workshop, staring as the potter’s young coppery-haired apprentice - skin golden from hours of labour in the sunshine, not like Shige’s fair complexion - as he fashioned clay into delicate shapes on the wheel.
When he stopped, he happened to look up right into Shige’s face, smiling at the awe he must have seen in it and waving him over.
Shige froze, but then approached timidly.
“Oh. I thought you were Yuya.” He said and laughed. “But you’re not. Were you watching?”
Shige nodded, feeling a little timid.
“It looks fun.” He said, and the other boy beamed.
“Would you like some clay?” He asked, and Shige nodded shyly, accepting the sticky, wet lump that was placed in his hands. He kneaded it between his fingers, remembering the clay models he’d loved making before the death of his parents.
“Thank you.” He said, and the boy smiled, a wide, sunny smile with crooked bottom teeth.
They both worked in silence, smoothed over by the hum of the pottery wheel. Shige was so engrossed that he didn’t notice when the potter’s apprentice stopped his wheel, didn’t feel his eyes on him until he spoke.
“You’re good at that.” He said, gesturing towards the small clay frog that Shige had formed out of the original lump he’d given him. “Where did you learn?”
Shige felt a mixture of pride and embarrassment swelling up inside him at the compliment.
“I used to make models for fun.” He said, and the other boy lifted his eyebrows in interest.
“You should talk to the master.” He told Shige, “You’re talented. I bet he’d take you on.”
The idea appealed to Shige, but he knew that it would never happen. He tried to think of a kind way to reject the offer, when a voice from the back of the workshop startled him.
“Kei-chan! It’s lunch time. Go wash that nasty muck off your hands, okay?”
“Yes, Yuya.” The apprentice said obediently. He then turned to Shige, smiling crooked and warm. “That’s Tegoshi Yuya, the master’s son.” He explained. “The master wanted to train him in the art of pottery, but he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. All his hopes are on me now.”
Shige watched the slight, graceful boy flounce out of the workshop, presumably back into the house.
“You should have lunch with us, the master’s wife always makes more than enough for everyone.”
He led Shige to the water supply without giving him a chance to reject the invitation, chattering the whole time about this and that, and how it would be so nice to have a friend his age to work at the pottery wheel with. Shige listened to his whimsical ideas, wishing they could become a reality, but knowing that if he went missing from the castle, there would be all sorts of trouble.
Koyama Keiichiro, as it turned out the apprentice’s name was, introduced him at the dining table as his new friend, and the prince simply offered them the name, “Shigeaki”. The master and his wife, a pair of elder folks with ruddy red faces and toothy grins, made him feel quite welcome, and as Shige watched Tegoshi sit delicately down at the table, he couldn’t help but wonder how they’d managed to produce such a refined, prissy child.
Tegoshi picked at his meal, not complaining, but it was easy to tell he thought it was boring, standard fare, while Shige thought that the crusty bread and stew were the best things he’d ever tasted. He and Koyama squabbled over the last of the plum pudding before agreeing to share it, while Tegoshi reclined in his chair, buffing his fingernails and sitting with dainty, royal posture.
Afterwards, Shige helped clean up, something he’d never done before, and then the master sent the three of them out to play, telling Koyama to take a break and spend time with his new friend.
He and Koyama got muddy together, while Tegoshi stood back, looking downright unimpressed and a little disgusted.
“Don’t you like playing?” Shige asked, incredulous, and Tegoshi smiled at him, almost patronizingly.
“Of course I like to play.” He said. “But getting covered in mud is no fun. I much prefer croquet to wrestling in the mud. I’m not a pig.”
Shige snorted. He hated croquet, but sometimes on Sundays he was forced to play it out on the sprawling castle lawn with the children of visiting royal families. Getting dirty and scratched up was much more fun.
The evening wore on, and soon Koyama had to go back to the workshop, and Shige was left with prissy Tegoshi, who refused to move from his safe, dry spot on a tree stump. Shige thought he was terribly ungrateful. If he could’ve spent every day working with clay and playing by the riverbed, eating home cooked meals of fresh bread and pudding, he would’ve been ever so glad. Tegoshi, however, looked like he thought he’d been dealt a bad hand in life.
“I bet you can waltz too.” Shige muttered to himself, and Tegoshi looked at him strangely.
“Of course I can. Waltzing is easy.” He said. “If you want to become a refined gentleman, you need to know how to waltz.”
Shige started to rolled his eyes, but then an idea came to him.
“Could you teach me?” He asked. “I need to learn by tomorrow night. There’s a terribly boring royal ball on that I need to attend, and if I can’t waltz by then, mother will scold me.”
Tegoshi looked at him with eyes that had grown round in surprise.
“A royal ball? You?” He sounded like he couldn’t think of anyone more unsuited to be attending a royal ball, but Shige nodded.
“Could you teach me?” He asked, then realised that bribery would probably work much better with someone like Tegoshi. “I’ll give you a pair of my dancing shoes.”
Tegoshi’s face changed, lips curving into a friendly smile, and he stood, gingerly patting Shige on a clean spot on his back.
“Well.” He said. “I suppose that can be arranged. I’m not practicing with you if you’re in those muddy clothes though.”
Shige frowned. “This is all I have.” He argued, but Tegoshi remained firm. Shige thought for a moment, then brightened. “I know. Why don’t you come back with me to the castle? Could you handle swimming across the moat?”
He saw Tegoshi’s nose wrinkle, but eventually the idea of being inside a real castle overrode his disgust at swimming in a cold, algae filled moat. He complained the entire way across, and the entire way up the ladder of sheets, but once he was inside Shige’s room, he became much more agreeable.
“It’s so fancy.” He said, in an awed voice. “You’re so lucky.”
Shige liked Tegoshi’s rustic, cluttered home a lot better, but didn’t tell him so.
“I’m all wet though.” Tegoshi went on, frowning at his damp outfit. “Give me something to change into.”
Shige’s brow creased at the demanding tone, but he couldn’t really reprimand someone who was doing him a favour, and let Tegoshi strip off his wet clothes, and offered him one of his suits to dress into. Tegoshi took it from him with childish glee, gushing over the fine stitching and high class material.
Once he had it on, even Shige had to admit that he looked perfectly handsome in it.
Tegoshi, Shige decided, was far better suited to this sort of life than he was.
“May I have my dancing shoes now?” Tegoshi asked, the most politely he’d spoken to Shige since they’d met. Shige obliged, but just as Tegoshi was stepping into them, he heard footsteps echoing down the hall outside his room.
His face drained of colour. He’d recognise the sound of that footfall anywhere.
“The queen is coming.” He hissed. “I can’t let her see my dirty clothes, she’ll kill me!”
He looked around frantically, then dived under the bed just in time before the door opened.
“Shigeaki.” Queen Akanishi’s shoes appeared within his view. “I see you have your dancing shoes on. Have you been practicing?”
Shige’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he had to fight not to make an indignant noise. How could the queen possibly have mistaken snotty Tegoshi for him?
“I have,” Came Tegoshi’s voice, cheerful and chirpy. “Would you like to see?”
Shige watched as Tegoshi’s feet moved around the room in a graceful, effortless gait. The queen gasped and clapped.
“Shigeaki, I’m impressed! I’m not sure how you managed to improve so wonderfully over the past day, but I have to say that I’m very pleased. All the girls at the ball will be dying to dance with you.”
Tegoshi laughed cutely and thanked the queen, and Shige cringed with embarrassment. He crawled out from under the bed when she left, and fixed Tegoshi with a disapproving frown.
“Thanks a lot. I’ll never be able to dance like that at the ball. Now everyone is going to be disappointed, and…”
He stopped, and looked closely at Tegoshi in the suit and dance shoes, his pretty face and elegant poise, his charming smile.
Tegoshi looked like he was made to be a prince. Tegoshi fit into this world the same way Shige had so easily fit into his world.
“How about…” Shige began carefully, “You go to the ball instead of me? You could be a prince and I could be a potter’s apprentice. You have the kind of life I’ve always wanted.”
“You want to switch places with me?” Tegoshi’s eyes looked bright, hopeful. “For how long?”
“Forever.”
At first Shige thought Tegoshi was going to laugh at the idea, tell him there was no way it would work, no way his parents wouldn’t come looking for him and bring him back home, but instead he smiled, wide and regal.
“I’d love to.” He said, and leant forward to kiss Shige daintily on the lips, as though wishing him luck. Tegoshi, Shige thought, was a little strange, but he was too distracted by the surge of happiness in his chest and the taste of freedom on his tongue.
Tegoshi waved to him as he climbed down the sheets for the last time, and Shige thought that they way he did so was awfully reminiscent of the queen.
He waved back up to him once he reached the bottom, a final goodbye, and Tegoshi watched as Shige swam across the moat to the other side, not once looking back.