Sanders Sides Parenting/Kids One-Shots

(106) Last To The Throne Part 2 - Unrequited Moxiety, platonic Logicality/Loceit

Summary: Patton finds a young lost child who'd wondered into the palace garden. In order to keep him safe he has to hide him - and find out how to get him home.

TW - Unrequited love? (idk if that's a trigger)

Words: 2203

This was what a suitor's ball was like. Princesses and duchesses and other rich young ladies twirling around in pretty, flowing dresses of purple and pink. Patton's older brothers were dancing with them with soft smiles and gentle laughs that had been trained into the princes ever since they started 'politeness lessons' at six years old. The youngest prince didn't feel like approaching anyone though even though he knew he should. There just seemed to be no-one that caught his eye.

So he left. He quickly exited out of the ballroom by the large French doors into the back garden of the castle. When Patton was a child he used to play football out in the garden with his mother and brothers and forget he was a prince for a while... Now he hardly had the time to pick up a ball. The only balls concerned in his life was the one he just walked away from. But the garden was quiet and big - so the only thing Patton could do was unplug his mind from the world and carry on walking down the stone garden path.

The garden lead to a forest. This forest lead to the village closest to the castle but it was down a huge hill so Patton never went there. And villagers never went up the hill. It was like an unspoken rule between the two sides of society, meaning the prince would be alone.

There was a rustling in the bushes that dragged Patton out of his empty mind (he wondered whether it was a giant spider but then calmed himself). It was probably a rabbit but something commanded the prince to stop. The rustling continued but also stopped when a silhouette of a small being appeared in the shadows. "Hello?" Patton chirped, his prince smile on as he expected this person to run up to a royal excited. But the being stayed completely still, so he walked closer. "You OK there?"

The silhouette continued to be silent as Patton could spot features of a little boy. Patton knelt down to try and reassure the child but he seemed too scared. The boy may have been around five years old and had small glasses - he was completely covered in mud and rags. "What's your name?" Patton whispered, but the boy didn't respond.

This poor child seemed so dirty and uncomfortable and he was way too skinny for a healthy young child too. Paternal instincts were kicking in and Patton couldn't help but come up with the idea of taking him to the palace. "Are you lost? I can take you to the palace if you like and we can get you clean and give you food and you can have a nice sleep too!"

Even though the boy was looking down and swaying slightly he seemed to have a glow at his eyes hearing about food, sleep and clean-ness. He stood forward slowly and leant into Patton's arms, letting Patton pick him up and hold him. Patton could already tell how small and bony the child was and that he was in desperate need of help. And the prince will be happy to watch this young child become happy and smiley through the good health available to anyone in the palace. "Let's go kiddo..."

*****

Virgil was sleeping in his butler quarters outside of the palace when he heard a knock on his door. It was late, the music from the ball was still going on which was what helped him get to sleep anyway. He dreamt about dancing to the music with Patton, laughing and joking with him and seeing him smile... And then he was thinking about leaning in...

"Virgil!" The shout from Patton woke him up more and finally got the young butler out of his bed. He'd truly do anything for his best friend. When he opened the door though he spotted Patton holding a young child and he had a panicked face. The child seemed cautious and was looking around, although blinking slowly and leaning closer to Patton by the second. "I found this boy in the forest! He looks like he really needs a snack and a nice warm bath and bed... Do you think we can get those things without disturbing my father?"