The Prince and the Cleric - Byler

4

Mike was leading Will down a near hallway to his room, Will assumes. He's sort of excited to catch up with Mike, but he won't admit that.

"And this is my room!" Mike says excitedly as he reaches for the handle of one of the doors in front of them. Will hasn't said a single word ever since their interaction back in the foyer. He has, however, found himself admiring Mike. If Mike noticed the eyes boring into the side of his head, he didn't acknowledge it.

As they made their way into Mike's bedroom, Will couldn't help but gawk at how big the room was. 'It's the size of my house!' he thinks, mouth hanging open. He quickly snaps out of it, turning to face Mike who seems to be busy taking his shoes off and flopping on his bed. He lets out a sigh as he sinks into his mattress. Will just finds himself standing in the middle of the room, twiddling his fingers and rocking on his feet.

"You can sit down ya' know?" He hears Mike say with a breathy laugh. Will's head snaps toward the bed wear Mike is laying.

"Oh yea - right." Will finds himself sputtering while he quickly makes his way over to the bed, slowly sitting down opposite of Mike. They sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say, before Mike breaks the silence.

"So, do you have an answer yet?" Mike says, his voice clouded with nervousness. It's funny, after this long Will can still read him like a book. Will knows exactly what he's talking about, however he chooses to play dumb.

"An answer to what?" He asks with as much obliviousness as he can muster. Mike sits up, clearly starting to shift the conversation to more of a serious demeanor.

"You know, the letter I sent? Do you have an answer?" Mike looks desperate at this point, begging Will for an answer to the question that he had asked twice thus far.

"Mike, I-" Before he could finish, the door swung open and he was met by a woman in very....fancy clothes. Royal clothes. Oh. Oh shit. This was the queen. This had to be the queen.

"Michael have you seen- who is this?" Queen Karen asks in a slow, almost shocked voice.

"Mom! Oh uh- this is....Will, a childhood friend." Mike responds frantically. Did he not tell his mom, the queen that he had invited a childhood friend over to the royal castle. A childhood friend that he had promised to marry. A childhood friend that he had invited specifically to marry. Or at least that's what Will had thought.

"Oh! I don't recognize you, Will, have we met before?" Karen asks, shifting her gaze to look at Will.

"Er...no, Mike and I met in Hillsgrove? It was a while ago we haven't really talked since the castle was relocated." Will can feel the atmosphere shift awkwardly as he held eye contact with Queen Karen. Queen Karen. He wasn't sure what to think of this. Had Mike never mentioned him to his family? When they were kids he would constantly talk about taking Will to the castle. Will refused every time, of course. His parents didn't know he was friends with the prince. All they were aware of was the fact that he had made a friend in the woods.

"Oh it's you! You're the mysterious boy that Mike would talk so much about -" Karen was cut off by Mike falling face first into his pillow, a loud groan escaping his lips accompanied by a "Momm!" Will tried his best to hold back a snicker.

"Well what brings you hear, Will?" She asks kindly, the tense outline to her voice seemed to disappear. However, Will didn't get to reply. Mike did the talking.

"I asked him to marry me." He said with such nonchalance that Will's eyes widened as if that was the first time he had heard what Mike had asked him there for.

"You what?" Karen seemed shocked, only a slight tinge of frustration in her words. Mike only shrugged in response, repeating what he had said.

"I asked him to marry me. I promised him that I would. The day we moved." He was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he spoke, acting like this was a totally normal conversation that you would have with any other person.

'Yeah 'cause it's totally normal to tell your mom that you promised to marry someone at age 14' Will found himself thinking. He smiled slightly to himself.

"Michael you were only a child! How could you make such an important promise when you barely even knew what marriage was?! Let alone that was years ago, Michael! You barely know each other anymore!" Karen seemed to have completely forgotten Will was there, too caught up in her son's stupid decisions to care at the moment. Will, standing off to the side was too busy thinking over the queen's words.

'Barely know each other anymore...'cause this totally wasn't the same exact Mike that he knew 9 years ago.'

Will felt the need to speak up, but quickly closed his mouth when Mike shot up from his spot lying on the bed, his eyes widened, mouth hanging open as he let out a scoff.

"Barely know each other anymore?! I've barely had a full conversation with him and I already know that he's the same Will I knew back then! I know I want to marry him, mom! I didn't reach out for years because of all the trainings I had to go through to be a 'good prince!' I feel terrible! Hell, he probably thought I had forgotten all about my promise!" Mike raised his voice, almost reaching a yell as he ranted to his mom. His arms were flailing around as he gestured towards Will frantically. Will was frozen in place, in too much shock to say anything.

"I don't care, Michael! Marriage is a big thing and getting married to a boy? Yes it has happened in the past but just think about our family's reputation! And your father will be furious!" Will flinches at everything spilling from her mouth. Yes same sex marriage was a thing and it does happen, only rarely. His thoughts were soon cut off by Mike yelling back to his mother.

"I don't care about dad or our reputation I just wished you cared about my happiness!" Mike yelled, there were tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he shouted at Karen. Her words clearly hitting Mike like a bat with nails. (haha) Karen frowned slightly, her defensive stance faltering slightly. She stole a glance towards Will, gesturing her arm out towards him.

"You're going to turn down the proposal, correct?" Karen says with a hint of hope in her voice mixed with sadness. Will felt as of now that his no had turned into a maybe. He gave Mike a quick sympathetic smile before turning towards the queen.

"Well, I wasn't exactly going to say no-" He said softly, his voice shaking slightly but holding a sure tone. Karen seemed to give up, pointing towards Mike with a look that said, 'We'll talk later.' and walking out of the room with a huff, shutting the door behind her. Mike collapsed on his bed with a relieved sigh before sitting up and getting off the bed to meet Will in the corner of the room.

"Thank you so much Will I-" He was quickly cut off by Will's hands on his shirt as he quickly collided with the wall behind him with a soft 'thud.'

"What the hell were you thinking, Mike?! You invite me to your castle asking me to marry you and you don't mention a single thing to your parents?!" Mike's eyes widen at Will's newfound confidence. He was looking down at him, stammering and looking for the right words to say.

"I- uh- I'm sorry?" Mike stammers, his apology sounding more like a question than a request for forgiveness.

"You better be sorry. I don't want to have to deal with any of your royal drama!" He says quickly, still holding onto the collar of Mike's shirt. Mike was still sitting there in awe. This was definitely the Will he grew to love all those years ago. He could feel himself falling more the more time he spent with him. He couldn't help the breathy laugh that escaped his throat as he stared down at his childhood friend.

Will quirked an eyebrow, as to ask for an explanation for Mike laughing after what had happened.

"God, I love you." The words leave Mike's mouth before he can swallow them back down. He wanted to slap himself in the face. Sure, they had said it before but that was years ago. He was sure Will would be uncomfortable with him admitting it now. As Will let go of his shirt and turned around to make his way towards the bed to sit down, Will sighed in frustration before quickly turning around, sending an irritated "I love you too!" Mike's way before collapsing on the bed.