FLASH FIC FOR #ALRIGHTWITHMOO DOLLAR DRIVE
THIS IS TOO LONG FOR A COMMENT.
Title:Contract
Rating:PG-13
Pairing: Kris/Adam
Wordcount: ~1500
Prompt:firespite1105 requested "arranged marriage". She's getting Crack!AU with heavy-handed meta overtones.
Notes: I’m pretty sure this wanted to be a much longer fic, so my apologies if it feels a bit rushed. No, that doesn’t mean there will be more of it. Unbetaed.
There were three responsibilities that came with having won the position of Royal Minstrel. First, you had to sing the coronation song whenever the Lady Kara requested, and you had to smile while doing so. Second, you had to, well, sing, which was sort of the point of the whole thing, and really more of a privilege than a responsibility. Finally (squeezed into the fine print), you were required to marry the prince.
Kris laughed when they told him. “Okay, Ryan, that's actually kind of funny.”
The Court Jester frowned. “I’m not joking, Kris. That’s in the contract. Between you and me, it’s kind of the reason King Simon set up this whole thing in the first place -- to find the best looking, most charismatic person with untapped prince-potential in the land.”
Kris blinked. “But what if Allison had won?”
“Oh, please, Simon knew there was no way a girl would win.” He paused. “But I think she would have just been adopted as a princess, if she had. King Simon is really interested in building an empire, you know.”
There were a million other questions running through Kris’s mind, not the least of which was why he hadn‘t had the family Barrister look at his contract before he signed it, but only one he had to ask right at this moment.
“How come you never mentioned this before now?”
“Oh, it was in my contract,” Ryan said with a smile.
***
Later, when he was alone again in his new room in the castle (“Just until the wedding”), Kris really began to think about what this meant. Kris could still remember the first time he‘d met the Prince. They’d been invited to come live in a mansion on the castle grounds, and the entire royal family had been there to greet them.
His first impression had been that the prince was much taller in person, and that he had really, really good hair. Then Gokey had leaned over and cracked a joke about The Prince’s make up, and Kris had narrowed his eyes and really looked. When it was his turn to bow and shake the hand of the prince, Kris had held up the prince’s hands to his lips, and pressed them lightly on his fingers, in the space between his over-sized rings and dark-painted fingernails. “You look lovely today, Sire.”
The Prince had flashed him a huge smile, which Kris couldn’t help but return, before turning around and smirking at Gokey.
That had been the start of an odd sort of half-flirtation, half-friendship between the two of them. The Prince seemed to keep turning up at unexpected times at the mansion, and Kris seemed to find himself unable to stop touching him whenever the situation would allow. He really wasn’t sure what Lady Katie’s Guide To Court Etiquette would have said about snuggling with royalty on a couch while watching a private show from a touring theatre group, but Kris really couldn’t seem to help himself.
The truth was, he was more than a little in love with the Prince, but he’d carefully closeted those feelings away, figuring one day he’d chalk it all up to youthful flights of fancy. His focus had been on the competition, after all, and trying to do something to make the King say a positive word about him.
Kris had long suspected King Simon didn’t like him, and he’d always wondered if it was because of his friendship with the Prince (it was clear how much the King adored and doted on his favourite son). Everyone knew the King wanted Gokey to win, although Kris was certain the Prince found him as annoying as Kris did. Gokey would make a much better prince than Kris, that’s for sure.
Kris didn’t know the first thing about how to be a prince. He knew how to sing, and play his guitar, and he liked to think he was pretty good at entertaining a crowd of people while doing so. Up until Ryan had taken him aside to explain the contract, Kris had been delighted at the possibility that he was going to get to do just that for the rest of his life.
There was a knock at the door, but before Kris could get up to answer, the door swung open to reveal the Prince.
“Hi Kris,” he said, looking sheepish as he loitered in the doorway.
“Hi… Adam.” The prince had insisted on Kris calling him by his given name weeks ago.
The prince sighed, “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
The Prince shut the door behind him, and walked over to sit next to Kris, which made Kris turn bright red, because he was sitting on his bed. This actually wasn’t the first time the Prince had sat on his bed while they talked, but that was before, when it didn’t mean anything.
“You’re doing that thing where you still think of me as ‘the Prince’ in your head, aren’t you. I told you to stop doing that.”
“But you’re the prince.” Kris’s tone was pointed.
Adam groaned, and flopped backwards on Kris‘s bed, covering his face with a pillow so his voice was muffled. “You hate me now, don’t you. I knew you were going to hate me when you found out. I wanted to tell you so bad, I almost did, like, a thousand times.”
“Why didn’t you?” Kris surprised himself by how much anger was in his voice. What exactly was it that he had been expecting from Adam?
Adam mumbled something into the pillow. Kris reached over to pull away the pillow, leaning down on one hand and hovering over Adam so he could look him in the eye. “What did you say?”
“It was in my contract.”
Kris’s jaw dropped in confusion. “You have a contract?”
“Everyone has a contract, Kris. How do you think I got trapped into this damn competition in the first place.”
Kris raised himself up to sit at the edge of the bed again, and found a particularly bright colored tapestry on the opposite side of the room to focus his eyes on. “You don’t actually want to get married?”
Kris felt the bed shift, and then Adam was straddling him from behind, one leg spread open along the bed, the other dangling over the edge, pressed along side Kris‘s leg. “I didn’t want the King to arrange my wedding. I do however, really want to marry you.”
Adam’s breath tickled Kris’s ear, which made him shiver. “Well, it looks like we’re just going to have to get married.”
Adam’s breath caught, and Kris thought he could hear his heart speed up.
“Really?”
Kris smiled. “As long as I can marry Adam, and not the Prince.”
Adam wrapped his arms around Kris, pulling him even closer, and Kris let his head fall back against Adam’s chest. “I’ll have them write it into the wedding contract.”
Kris twisted his head up to look at Adam. “Do our contracts say anything about when to consummate our relationship?”
Adam’s eyes widened in horror. “No!” His answer was quite resolute, but he looked concerned.
Kris rolled his eyes and smiled. “Then what are you waiting for?”
It took Adam half a second, but then his eyes grew dark, and he lay back on the bed, pulling Kris down with him. He lifted up a hand to stroke along Kris’s cheek. “No one is making you do this, Kris.”
“I know.”
“Seriously, I can abdicate. They can’t make you marry the prince if there is no Prince.”
“You like being prince too much to do that, Adam.”
“I love being prince, but I like you even more.” Adam’s thumb had come to rest just below Kris’s bottom lip, and he seemed frozen in that position.
“The King would probably just adopt Gokey and make me marry him instead.” Kris combed his fingers through Adam‘s hair, the first time he‘d let himself do that, and was amazed to find it was somehow even softer than it looked.
Adam closed his eyes and moaned. “That does sound like something he would do.”
“Adam?” Kris was growing impatient.
“What?”
“The story is supposed to end with a kiss from Prince Charming.”
“But we’re just getting started.”
But he kissed Kris anyhow, and later -- much later -- when they broke apart to catch their breath (but also to make it easier to remove clothing) Kris had sighed and put his hand against his heart. “My prince.”
Adam smiled. “And now we live happily ever after. It’s in the contract.”
Title:Contract
Rating:PG-13
Pairing: Kris/Adam
Wordcount: ~1500
Prompt:firespite1105 requested "arranged marriage". She's getting Crack!AU with heavy-handed meta overtones.
Notes: I’m pretty sure this wanted to be a much longer fic, so my apologies if it feels a bit rushed. No, that doesn’t mean there will be more of it. Unbetaed.
There were three responsibilities that came with having won the position of Royal Minstrel. First, you had to sing the coronation song whenever the Lady Kara requested, and you had to smile while doing so. Second, you had to, well, sing, which was sort of the point of the whole thing, and really more of a privilege than a responsibility. Finally (squeezed into the fine print), you were required to marry the prince.
Kris laughed when they told him. “Okay, Ryan, that's actually kind of funny.”
The Court Jester frowned. “I’m not joking, Kris. That’s in the contract. Between you and me, it’s kind of the reason King Simon set up this whole thing in the first place -- to find the best looking, most charismatic person with untapped prince-potential in the land.”
Kris blinked. “But what if Allison had won?”
“Oh, please, Simon knew there was no way a girl would win.” He paused. “But I think she would have just been adopted as a princess, if she had. King Simon is really interested in building an empire, you know.”
There were a million other questions running through Kris’s mind, not the least of which was why he hadn‘t had the family Barrister look at his contract before he signed it, but only one he had to ask right at this moment.
“How come you never mentioned this before now?”
“Oh, it was in my contract,” Ryan said with a smile.
***
Later, when he was alone again in his new room in the castle (“Just until the wedding”), Kris really began to think about what this meant. Kris could still remember the first time he‘d met the Prince. They’d been invited to come live in a mansion on the castle grounds, and the entire royal family had been there to greet them.
His first impression had been that the prince was much taller in person, and that he had really, really good hair. Then Gokey had leaned over and cracked a joke about The Prince’s make up, and Kris had narrowed his eyes and really looked. When it was his turn to bow and shake the hand of the prince, Kris had held up the prince’s hands to his lips, and pressed them lightly on his fingers, in the space between his over-sized rings and dark-painted fingernails. “You look lovely today, Sire.”
The Prince had flashed him a huge smile, which Kris couldn’t help but return, before turning around and smirking at Gokey.
That had been the start of an odd sort of half-flirtation, half-friendship between the two of them. The Prince seemed to keep turning up at unexpected times at the mansion, and Kris seemed to find himself unable to stop touching him whenever the situation would allow. He really wasn’t sure what Lady Katie’s Guide To Court Etiquette would have said about snuggling with royalty on a couch while watching a private show from a touring theatre group, but Kris really couldn’t seem to help himself.
The truth was, he was more than a little in love with the Prince, but he’d carefully closeted those feelings away, figuring one day he’d chalk it all up to youthful flights of fancy. His focus had been on the competition, after all, and trying to do something to make the King say a positive word about him.
Kris had long suspected King Simon didn’t like him, and he’d always wondered if it was because of his friendship with the Prince (it was clear how much the King adored and doted on his favourite son). Everyone knew the King wanted Gokey to win, although Kris was certain the Prince found him as annoying as Kris did. Gokey would make a much better prince than Kris, that’s for sure.
Kris didn’t know the first thing about how to be a prince. He knew how to sing, and play his guitar, and he liked to think he was pretty good at entertaining a crowd of people while doing so. Up until Ryan had taken him aside to explain the contract, Kris had been delighted at the possibility that he was going to get to do just that for the rest of his life.
There was a knock at the door, but before Kris could get up to answer, the door swung open to reveal the Prince.
“Hi Kris,” he said, looking sheepish as he loitered in the doorway.
“Hi… Adam.” The prince had insisted on Kris calling him by his given name weeks ago.
The prince sighed, “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
The Prince shut the door behind him, and walked over to sit next to Kris, which made Kris turn bright red, because he was sitting on his bed. This actually wasn’t the first time the Prince had sat on his bed while they talked, but that was before, when it didn’t mean anything.
“You’re doing that thing where you still think of me as ‘the Prince’ in your head, aren’t you. I told you to stop doing that.”
“But you’re the prince.” Kris’s tone was pointed.
Adam groaned, and flopped backwards on Kris‘s bed, covering his face with a pillow so his voice was muffled. “You hate me now, don’t you. I knew you were going to hate me when you found out. I wanted to tell you so bad, I almost did, like, a thousand times.”
“Why didn’t you?” Kris surprised himself by how much anger was in his voice. What exactly was it that he had been expecting from Adam?
Adam mumbled something into the pillow. Kris reached over to pull away the pillow, leaning down on one hand and hovering over Adam so he could look him in the eye. “What did you say?”
“It was in my contract.”
Kris’s jaw dropped in confusion. “You have a contract?”
“Everyone has a contract, Kris. How do you think I got trapped into this damn competition in the first place.”
Kris raised himself up to sit at the edge of the bed again, and found a particularly bright colored tapestry on the opposite side of the room to focus his eyes on. “You don’t actually want to get married?”
Kris felt the bed shift, and then Adam was straddling him from behind, one leg spread open along the bed, the other dangling over the edge, pressed along side Kris‘s leg. “I didn’t want the King to arrange my wedding. I do however, really want to marry you.”
Adam’s breath tickled Kris’s ear, which made him shiver. “Well, it looks like we’re just going to have to get married.”
Adam’s breath caught, and Kris thought he could hear his heart speed up.
“Really?”
Kris smiled. “As long as I can marry Adam, and not the Prince.”
Adam wrapped his arms around Kris, pulling him even closer, and Kris let his head fall back against Adam’s chest. “I’ll have them write it into the wedding contract.”
Kris twisted his head up to look at Adam. “Do our contracts say anything about when to consummate our relationship?”
Adam’s eyes widened in horror. “No!” His answer was quite resolute, but he looked concerned.
Kris rolled his eyes and smiled. “Then what are you waiting for?”
It took Adam half a second, but then his eyes grew dark, and he lay back on the bed, pulling Kris down with him. He lifted up a hand to stroke along Kris’s cheek. “No one is making you do this, Kris.”
“I know.”
“Seriously, I can abdicate. They can’t make you marry the prince if there is no Prince.”
“You like being prince too much to do that, Adam.”
“I love being prince, but I like you even more.” Adam’s thumb had come to rest just below Kris’s bottom lip, and he seemed frozen in that position.
“The King would probably just adopt Gokey and make me marry him instead.” Kris combed his fingers through Adam‘s hair, the first time he‘d let himself do that, and was amazed to find it was somehow even softer than it looked.
Adam closed his eyes and moaned. “That does sound like something he would do.”
“Adam?” Kris was growing impatient.
“What?”
“The story is supposed to end with a kiss from Prince Charming.”
“But we’re just getting started.”
But he kissed Kris anyhow, and later -- much later -- when they broke apart to catch their breath (but also to make it easier to remove clothing) Kris had sighed and put his hand against his heart. “My prince.”
Adam smiled. “And now we live happily ever after. It’s in the contract.”