The Royal Thief

Techno won't let him go, no matter what.

Techno walked in at the exact moment he sat his crutches next to his bed.

"You know."

Was all he said, a relieved expression on his face.

"I know."

Tommy replied, staring at the slippers on his feet.

The room was silent for a few minutes, as Techno paced and Tommy picked at his nails.

"I didn't know how to tell you.  I thought that you were certain I was guilty."

"I'm not certain of many things, Your Highness.  Why would I be certain of that?"

Techno stumbles over his words for a quick moment before sitting a few inches away from Tommy on the bed.

"You seemed really mad when I found you in the forest.  I thought you'd despised my whole soul and more."

Tommy chuckled half-heartedly.

"It's easy to hate a soul when they were there as your parents got murdered."

Techno sucked in a breath as Tommy continued.

"You weren't really there though, that's the thing.  You weren't in your right mind."

Tommy looked up from his hands to make eye contact with the Prince.

"I blamed you, everyday I woke up I wished you didn't do what you did.  My house lost the right to be called a home, and the winters were so much colder."

Techno frowned but didn't break eye contact.

"I missed my mum, I missed when she held me when I cried and assured me it would be okay."

Techno broke eye contact, seemingly in favour of staring down at his fingers.

"I missed my dad, I missed when he would sit me down and tell me stories that he had handwritten."

Tommy felt a warm tear slid down his cheek.

"I missed my parents.  I missed their ludicrous life lessons that I thought I didn't need.  I missed making soup with my mum as my dad started a fire.  I missed them, and us as a whole."

Techno nodded, looking up to meet eyes with Tommy again.

And glistening crimson met watery blue.

Techno carefully reached one of his hands up towards Tommy's face, acting as if he would get bitten with one wrong move.

He didn't, and Tommy leaned into the hand on his cheek.

All the anger he once felt melted away, maybe orphans weren't so bad after all.

Tommy wrapped his hand around Techno's wrist, pulling it from his face.

Techno opened his mouth to continue their conversation when Tommy leaped into his arms and buried his head in his shoulder.

Techno was hesitant to wrap his arms around Tommy's back, certain he would snap at the touch.

But he didn't, instead he laughed quietly into Techno's shoulder and moved his arms to be around his neck.

"You're acting like you've never been hugged before."

Tommy sniffed, not wanting to get snot on the fancy clothes Techno was wearing.

"Am I?  I suppose I'm a little out of practice."

Tommy froze in his grip before laughing uncomfortably.

"What do you mean by that, hasn't your dad hugged you?"

"Not in a while, no."

Tommy pulled away faster than he fell over that tree root.