Butterfly Prince

by Britannica Tany

  “Aiden,” His voice had dropped an octave, he sounded somewhat annoyed. Aiden lifts his head to look at Kael. “Stop and just come here.” Despite his tone, that gleam was still in his eyes, so Aiden floats over to him as if being pulled by some unknown force.

  “So I went over to him; he was wearing this pretty satin-set of pajamas.” Aiden says to Janus dazedly, his brown eyes glazing over.

  “Yes, Kael?” Aiden questions, staring down at Kael who was looking up at him with oval eyes. And Aiden just wanted to slip into that brown ocean and drown. Suddenly, Kael’s fingers wrap around his wrist and he yanks him down. They fall back onto the mattress. Aiden stares wide-eyed, his vision satin green as he lay on Kaels’ chest. He struggled for a moment to get up, once he does he’s met with a light chuckle from Kael. “You look so surprised.” He acknowledges softly. “I shouldn’t be?” Aiden questions, his eyes widening and blinking childishly. Kael shakes his head with a grin, his dark hair contrasting to the pure white of the pillow beneath his head. Aiden stares down at the Prince for a moment in awe. The satin-green of his pajama’s made his dark eyes stand out, they were more feline, more predatory and….inviting. Aiden leans down, his breath fanning over Kael’s lips. “You’re really,” He leans closer, their lips touch. “Mesmerizing.” Aiden finishes before sliding his hands up the side of Kael’s face and into his dark locks. He tilts Kael’s head up and their lips pull together, molding softly like ocean waves with the sand. The kiss feels like forever and when they finally pull apart they’re both panting, their eyes darting about as they read each-others expression. Kael’s the first one to start touching. His hands curl around Aiden’s shoulders and then they’re gliding down to his broad back which was hidden behind the suede of his bodyguard suit. He feels along his shoulder blades and lets out a slight sigh. Aiden goes to kiss Kael’s neck and gradually the younger wraps his legs around Aiden’s waist, locking their bodies together. Aiden groans, his adams apple bobbing, he could feel Kael and Kael could feel him too.

  “I got excited—“ Janus awkwardly clears his throat as he listens. Aiden stares at him for a moment before saying “The way he kissed me, the way he smelled and looked….and his hands started wandering,” Aiden confesses his voice faint as if going back to that exact moment.

  “I could feel everything about him Janus, from his soft lips to his—“ Janus holds up a hand. “That’s enough.” He waves his hands back and forth. “I’m pretty sure the majesty wouldn’t want you divulging all this to me.” Aiden nods, bringing a hand to his knees and rubbing his palms up and down the tears in his jeans. “You two could have been caught, was the door even locked?” Janus asks, worry lacing his voice. Aiden thinks back. “I don’t…think so.”

  “Do you remember leaving the room?”

  “Of course. It’s not like we dry-humped the sense out of each other.” Aiden deadpans with a roll of his eyes. “But it’s alright, no one came by and we washed up before leaving.” One of Janus’s eyebrows arch up. “Washed up?” He questions and Aiden nods. “The only reason you would need washing up is if...” Janus trails off and adds with a somewhat delayed reaction. “Oh.”

  “Haha, yeah...” Aiden mumbles his cheeks flushing and Janus lifts his hand again and shakes his head. “I’ve heard a lot of stories involving sex in my 29 years of life, a lot, but maybe the reason it makes me shudder,” Janus stands on his feet as though he couldn’t even bear the thought. “Is to think about Kael and you and an UGH?!” He shakes his head, Aiden snorts. “Is it really that disturbing?” he mocks. “It’s because I practically raised his majesty.”

  “Right…” The atmosphere in the room shifts and Janus walks towards the single window in Aiden’s room. With his hands in his pockets he leans against the wall and stares outside. “Skye always looked so happy when she came to see Kael.” He begins as though he were talking to himself. “You’d think she wanted her own child, in some way she helped Kael become who he is today.” Aiden’s ears perk and he remembers the news report about how Skye was pregnant when she died. “She was pregnant…” He murmurs and Janus nods. “She was.” He says giving Aiden no indication that he knew the person who impregnated her. Aiden stares him down and finally backs down by asking. “Did you like her?” Janus turns to look at him and a sad smile falls upon his lips. “Maybe I did and it’s pointless in realizing it now, but maybe I did….” His voice trails off and Aiden can catch a hint of regret in his tone. “I wouldn’t have let you date her.”

  “Then I wouldn’t have let you date Jenna.” Janus snaps back, Aiden grins. “Touché.” They fade into silence again and they remain that way, their thoughts a torrent in their minds as they tried to process everything and how their past was still affecting their present.

  ~*~

  Micah follows behind the Prince, keeping a good distance so as to not attract any attention in his all black attire. The sun was quite high up in the sky today, it was slightly warmer although a chill would pass every now and then. Kael suddenly stops, Micah stumbles across his feet and Kael spins around with his eyes squinted. “Why are you all the way back there? It’s kind of stalkerish.” Micah fumbles for a reply and resorts to bowing. “I apologize for the inconvenience, your majesty.” He says formally. “Not only do you have big eyes, but also a thick head.” Kael grumbles before smoothly walking over to Micah and lifting his head. “No bowing. And it’s Kael.” He reminds him, smacking the palm of his hand against Micah’s forehead. “Do you know any good places to eat?” He asks walking again, Micah follows behind him, but Kael slows his pace so now they’re walking side by side. “There’s this one ramen shop me and Aiden go to after practice.” Kael’s eyes light up. “Really!?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Mmm, I haven’t had a nice bowl of ramen since I was four.”

  “No way.”

  “Yeah, you know how royalty is.” Kael says with a roll of his eyes. Micah scoffs. “Us peasant like folk don’t have the option of a fancy dinner.” At his words, Kael’s struck with a sudden idea. “How about a dinner?”

  “What?”

  “You know, to show how much I appreciate your hard-work.”

  “A…dinner?” Micah questions skeptically. Kael nods. “Yeah, all the fancy food you peasants can enjoy.” Kael says teasingly and Micah’s eyebrows raise and then he laughs. “I see why Aiden likes you.” Kael raises an eyebrow wanting to hear more. “It’s because you’re like a Jack-in-the-box.” Kael’s eyebrows furrowed not at all pleased to hear such a comparison. “But instead of expecting the Jack to pop out, it doesn’t. Instead it waits and when you’re least expecting it, that’s when it jumps out and claims your heart.” It takes a moment for Kael to breakdown his broad metaphor, but once he does, he smiles and knocks Micah in his arm. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Micah looks down at him and smiles back. It would take some getting used to, talking to the Prince this way. At some point he loathed him, even mocked him. But ever since Aiden sorted out his thoughts, Micah wasn’t as strung up about belittling the Prince anymore. Micah’s phone soundly vibrates in his back pocket. “One second,” He tells Kael before answering the call. “Hello, Shay reporting.”

  “Hello, Shay, Kim reporting.”

  “Oh man….”

  “I know right, you probably didn’t want to hear this voice.” Kael looks over to Micah questioningly, he holds up a hand asking for a moment. “What do you want?”

  “Just making sure you’re keeping an eye on my boyfriend.”

  “So he’s your boyfriend now and not a lying piece of shit.”

  “Tread lightly.” Aiden warns, Micah groans. “And I’m sure,” He pauses. “Your boyfriend can take care of himself.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Whatever, we’re on our way to the ramen shop now.”

  “Is that Aiden?” Kael asks, Micah nods. “Wanna talk to him?” He mouths, Kael thinks about it for a moment and then shakes his head. “What!? Seriously!?” Aiden sputters. “Yeah, he want
ed to get something to eat.”

  “W-wait! I’ll be there soon.” There’s a fumbling sound and faintly in the background Micah could make out Janus’s voice. “Is….Lee with you?”

  “Lee? Just call him Janus and hook-up already, damn.” are Aiden’s parting words before he hangs up. With his cheeks flushed red, Micah slips his phone into his back pocket and gestures for Kael to keep walking and ignore his blush.

  After walking and taking multiple detours (because Kael couldn’t resist the call of getting a new coat) they made it to the ramen shop. Micah holds the curtain up so Kael could slip inside. He lets out a deep breath and plops into a seat right at the middle. Micah follows behind him, sitting across from him at the small table. “What do you suggest?” Kael asks after shrugging off his coat and resting his elbows on the table. He was leaning forward slightly, his slanted eyes focused on Micah. “Ugh…everything?” Kael blinks and then he laughs. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Wait, you can’t be serious.” Micah says incredulously, Kael leans back and points to the menu. “There’s only about ten different ramen flavors, trying them all doesn’t seem that bad.”

  “What about the specials, huh?” Micah points out childishly. Kael shrugs. “Guess you’ll be eating those.” He wore a shit-eating grin, but Prince’s couldn’t possibly eat shit—so his grin was a feces-eating one—since that was the proper terminology. “You really are something.”

  “I get that a lot.” Kael winks, his tongue flicking out to run over his bottom lip. Micah sighs, taking off his suit jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves. “Let’s do this then.” Kael raises his hand to gesture over the server who had been staring at them for what seemed like an eternity. His small eyes were zoomed in on Kael. “Can we get one of everything please?” Kael asks politely, his lips curling up into a kind smile. The man continues to stare, dazedly holding a ladle in his right hand. Micah looks between Kael and the man and places a hand over his gun in case anything were to happen. But the man only stares until he’s able to blubber out. “Y-You’re the Prince, r-right?” Kael nods as though he were expecting such a question. “The P-Prince is eating at my ramen s-shop.” He says unbelieving and Kael chuckles. “No need to be so surprised.”

  “B-but for your majesty to b-be here.”

  “A friend recommended it to me,” Kael gestures to Micah. “He said it’s the best. So I came.” The man stood with an agape mouth. “Anyways, one of everything please.” Kael tries again and this time the man starts moving. Kael returns his gaze back to Micah and smiles with his chin in his hands as though nothing had happened. “I hope it’s as good as you say.” He says, Micah blinks, slowly nodding. “Y-yeah, it is.”

  “So now you’re stuttering too?” Kael laughs loudly attracting the attention of a few other customers in the shop. They gawked once they realized who he was. There’s a shuffle of feet outside and the sound of the beginnings of an argument and then the shop curtain flutters up to reveal Aiden’s beaming face, not far behind him is Janus. Kael stares at them surprised by their appearance and then he smiles sweetly when Aiden’s eyes meet his. “Kael! Micah! We’ve arrived!” Aiden exclaims, stalking over to them with his hands in his pockets. “Shit, I was hoping you got in an accident along the way.” Micah mutters. Aiden places a hand to Micah’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t want that, Janus’d be ‘part of the accident too.” He squeezes Micah’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t want your boss getting hurt.”

  “Shut-up.” Aiden laughs before shoving Micah away and towards the other table so he could sit across from Kael. “That was my seat.”

  “You were just saving it for me.” Aiden says. “You sly little fuc—“

  “This seat isn’t taken now is it?” Janus asks, suddenly appearing in front of Micah. Micah stares for a total of six seconds before he nods and then shakes his head. “You can sit there.”

  “Thank you.” Janus dips his head down slightly before settling on the other side of the table. “So what are you going to get?” Aiden asks Kael. “Everything.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “I’m serious.” Aiden looks to Micah. “Is he serious?”

  “He’s serious.” The taller replies and Aiden looks back at Kael with wide eyes. “It’ll work, we can share.” Kael assures them as the ramen shop begins to fill with steam and the chopchop of vegetables and meat. They talk about random things; the past, the present, the coat Kael bought and the weather. Janus laughs at something Micah says and Kael tells Aiden about the time he got lost in the gardens. When the food arrives they go silent, their mouths full, slurping resonating throughout the ramen shop. People got wind of Kael’s visit to the ramen shop and came by to take pictures as though he were a celebrity. He politely asked them to stop and they slowly dwindled away. Aiden wasn’t happy with his ramen so he tried to steal some of Micah’s. “Here,” Kael raises his fork to Aiden’s lips. “It’s kind of spicy though.” Kael gently warns him and Aiden blows on the steaming scoop of noodles before he tilts his head to envelope the mouthful. He hums, pleased. Micah scrunches his nose up at them and suddenly there’s a tap to his wrist. He turns his head and Janus was doing the same thing Aiden had done. “No, I’m not doing that couple thing with you.”

  “Why not?” Janus asks with that same deep calmness in his voice. Micah shakes his head. “I don’t—just, no.” Slowly Janus lowers his hand, his eyes still focused on Micah, he looked somewhat fed up. Abruptly he rises up as though he’s going to go get some more forks. But suddenly he leans forward and Micah feels a light peck on his lips. Kael nearly chokes on his own ramen and Aiden sputters up some noodles. Janus’s eyes close momentarily as he kisses Micah and then he leans back. “I haven’t kissed someone in ages.” Janus states with a tilt of his head as if realizing this himself. “Well then,” Kael says, a slow smile spanning across his lips. “HA!” Aiden bursts. “Look who just got kissed by another man!” Micah recovers from his daze to reach over and land a good punch to the side of Aiden’s face. Janus chuckles, settling back into his seat and eating his ramen as though nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Micah was still trying to get over the kiss and how warm Janus’s lips felt against his.

  Delicate Taboo Pt.1

  The sun coming up in the morning is what’s to be expected. Flowers blooming during the spring and withering away in the cold—expected. The constant change of life, the moon in the sky, having a test, learning a lesson—expected, expected, it’s all expected.

  But the unexpected, it comes as a shock, a flourishing surprise that caresses the mind and coats it with awe. The unexpected is to escape with Kael to the greenhouse and laugh with him there. The unexpected is to watch as Aiden smiles and as Kael pins him against the wall and leans in to kiss him. The unexpected is when two bodies finally come together as one—although they weren’t expecting to do so—the unexpected is the most beautiful.

  ~*~

  Kael stands in front of his mother, half-listening as she rambled on about some foreign princesses. “Now, I know you aren’t interested in Princess Arisa so I went looking,” He nods, looking over her shoulder and down the hallway. “They’re some lovely young women over in the States and in Britain.”

  “Uh-huh.” Kael glances at his watch. “So, son, let me know when I can set a date and I can—“

  “Sorry mom,” he bends down to kiss her forehead. “I made plans to meet with a friend.” He pulls a sympathetic expression before brushing past her and down the hall. She turns around and stares after him, the smile on her lips fading away to nothing.

  Kael was on his way to meet Jenna; he wanted to see her, to talk to her face-to-face and maybe explain all that had transpired these past few weeks or would it be months? Kael couldn’t make sense of anything, it was all sort of falling through his fingers and slipping away like the sand. “Woah,” An excited voice filters into his ears, Kael stops, his coat hanging off one of his arms. He turns around and Aiden stood looking at him with his head tilted. “Leaving without your knight
in shining armor?” Aiden questions with his arms crossed over his chest, Kael rolls his eyes putting his coat all the way on. “Knight my ass.” Aiden chuckles, strutting over to Kael and knocking his hands away so he could button the coat for him. “Where ya headed?” Aiden asks casually his nimble fingers working on the coal like buttons. “To see Jenna.” Kael replies causing Aiden’s movements to stutter before they come to a still. He lifts his head slowly and looks into Kael’s eyes. “J-Jenna?” His voice falters over the syllables of her name, Kael nods. “I wanted to see her.”

  “Why?” It came out harsher than Aiden intended it to, Kael draws back. “Because, I was friends with her at some point and you were her friend too before you guys started dating, isn’t that right?” Aiden blinks, taken aback that Kael had remembered that conversation from ages ago. “It’s time we go see her, besides I miss her lovely face and I bet you do too.” Aiden shifts on his heels; Kael didn’t know that the two had met while he was still in the castle. Aiden felt horrible and Jenna looked the part too, they were both a mess. “Fine.” He finally mutters and Kael snorts, murmuring. “It’s not like you had a choice, knight.” He teases, Aiden stares wide-eyed before gripping the collar of Kael’s coat and yanking him down. “You’re the only one in my eyes, my Prince.” He says sweetly, Kael rolls his eyes, bending down and pecking Aiden on his lips. “You’re so gross.”

  “This is only the beginning, Stale Kael.”

  “Lord help me.” Aiden laughs loudly slipping his hand into Kael’s as they walk out of the castle together.

  ~*~

  Jenna wasn’t expecting to hear from Kael, she thought that their friendship would be over after that phone-call, but no, Kael proved her wrong by calling her and inviting her out. She stands in front of the elegant restaurant, her coat wrapped tightly around her thin body. She wondered for a moment if Aiden would be with him; how did they spend their time together? Did they kiss? As much as she didn’t want to think about it, the thoughts seemed to wander into her mind all on their own. With her arms wrapped around her body she struggles to stay warm. Kael said that he would be here in 15 minutes—Jenna checks her watch—only five minutes have passed. She heaves a sigh getting ready to walk away but stops when her phone rings. She fumbles to answer it. “H-hello?” Her teeth chattered together. “Jenna! You sound cold.” It was Kael. “Duh, I’m waiting on you.”