The Idiot With The Painted Face

Prince Rapunzel and his Stable Boys

Rae posted a oneshot based on the same plot on Ao3 called 'prince rapunzel's escape' (her user is ohraei), so definitely go check it out. It's written so, so well I literally want to munch on it as a snack. This is semi-inspired by her oneshot, but it's mostly just based off of the idea I had, like, five months ago.

Anyway, enjoy!

°•♡•°

"Princess, these precautions are in place-"

"Do not call me that!" Scott shrieked to his maid, Merrilynn, tears pouring from his blue eye like the crystalline waterfalls surrounding the Enchanted Isles. The other one couldn't produce tears anymore, not since... back then. "I order you to leave me at once, you insolent-"

"Princess Colleen."

Scott sobbed hard, hard enough that his legs lost their integrity and he collapsed in on himself, falling onto the floor with his head hanging low like a wilting orchid. His long hair, curled from that morning's meeting with all of the princesses from around the globe, fell weightlessly over his shoulders to act as a shield, hiding his face from the world. He felt defeated. Just like always.

"Come on," Merrilynn said, kneeling to put a hand on Scott's shoulder. He didn't bother to swat her away, too exhausted from his tantrum. "Let's go back to your bedroom."

Scott followed mindlessly like a dog being led by leash as Merrilynn held his hand and walked him back to his bedroom. Once again, he'd been caught trying to leave the castle. Once again, his show of tears and frustration and obvious agony had no affect on the guards and maids. And once again, he was being locked up in his room to suffer all alone. He was always hidden away in the castle, only to be seen by special visitors. Though there were two boys he frequently talked to without anybody in the castle noticing.

Their names are fWhip and Jimmy. A goblin and a stable boy. An odd pair for someone of Scott's status to be associated with maybe, but nonetheless Scott took a great liking to the both of them.

Jimmy, who Scott had met on several occasions, was just the cutest boy he'd ever seen. He had big, beautiful honey-coloured eyes, pink lips, rosy cheeks when he laughed, blonde hair, a stubble of a beard that tried to grow but couldn't seem to quite do it yet, and gorgeous tan skin. And his personality was perfectly everything Scott would want in a partner.

fWhip, on the other hand, was merely a pen pal, the boy Scott often wrote letters to. Scott had only seen the goblin boy once when the two of them were forced to sit at a dinner where their parents signed a trade agreement. fWhip was a rather hyper goblin, a little reckless too, (Scott had learned they were all like that, but fWhip was especially off-the-wall), that he loved adventuring on "boarback," whatever that meant.

Merrilynn shut the door as she left, leaving Scott by his lonesome in his dark bedroom. He stared at the easel showcasing an unfinished portrait of what he wished he looked like, though he still quite liked his long hair and frilly dresses either way, a display of himself in his own eyes rather than how others saw him in his fancy portraits hung in the halls of the castle. A feeling of longing arose in his stomach the longer he stared, knowing he'll never be that boy as long as his parents kept him locked away like a precious doll that could never be played with. They acted like he might break into a million little pieces if he ever went outside again. After losing his eye, though, he couldn't blame them. He'd be worried about his child, too.

He picked up the skirt of his silk dress (this one wasn't as poofy as most of his others) so he wouldn't trip over it as he walked over to the window, the sun beginning to set over the village. His bedroom was one of the highest up rooms in the castle, so he got a wonderful view of the kingdom just from his window. He'd painted countless landscapes of the sunset over the village rooftops and evening stars shining brightly over the people and the sun giving warmth to the crops and the endless rainbow of fields of flowers, but he was tired of just seeing. He wanted to experience it all again, to be a part of his own kingdom again.