[closed]

So, let's say Jannik is a crown prince of a quite secluded country (just think of one, I don't have any idea lol)

When he turned 20, he made his first royal appearance in the public as the next-in-line after the king (his father) at a tennis match, the Monte Carlo masters 1000 event.

His father is a sports fan and often seen in most of the sports even of their country.

Following the King's footsteps, the Crown Prince is also an athletic royal. Like other royals, he used to play Polo and often saw playing football with the national team (for fun).

[Skip] - Long story short, the King was invited to watch a tennis match at Monte Carlo. But he thinks that he should let his son go and mingle around with the scene himself, so the crown prince is said to attend the event alongside the royalty of Monaco.

So, Jannik went to Monaco and watched the final match between Carlos and Andrey. [Let's just put Andrey]. And Carlitos won the match!

The winner and finalist of the match will meet the royals after the awards ceremony. This is when Jannik and Carlos will meet for the first time.

Carlos didn't know that Jannik was the crown prince (he thought that Jannik was someone else, so he shook hands with the wrong guy, lol).

Realising the situation, Jannik corrected Carlos by properly introducing himself, "Pleasure to meet you, I'm the Crown Prince."

Carlos wanted to bury himself 72937282ft down the earth because that was really embarrassing, and he thought he would be banished from his country and will never set a foot on Jannik's country.

He apologised immediately, thinking he had made the deadliest mistake on earth, lol

Jannik lowkey loved to play around, so he said maybe he could make up his mistakes by spending a session together. Play tennis together for like an hour and spend another hour for a talk together.

Looking at the way Carlos played, Jannik never thought that tennis could be this beautiful. Tennis is not famous in his country, so he would love to learn about the sport.

[Skip] - Everything that happened at the tennis court was a great memory for Jannik. Carlos taught him the basic shots [y'know those hands-on teaching yeah]

Jannik had never thought he would thank the sun in Monte Carlo because the sun really knows how to highlight Carlos's tanned skin and him wearing sleeveless didn't help the crown prince AT ALL.

Because, boy, man was in love.

[Skip to when Jannik is 22] - His presence is more known to the public now, and he started to attend more functions for exposure purposes, or so his father said. His list of duties has increased, but ever since then, Jannik has tried to make time to Carlos's matches, and they started to hang out more in-private.

Jannik has feelings for Carlos, but he bottles it down because one, obviously because of his status, two, he is worried about how his moves will affect Carlos with his career. Even their friendship sparked a lot of talks, and often in Grand Slams, he was seen to make time for his friend and watch his matches.

After the Cincinatti 2023 final, Carlos spent a time together with Jannik after the tough loss. It was very private. There were only Jannik's bodyguards, aides, and Alvaro (Carlos's brother). Carlos admitted that the loss was painful to him, and it was hard for Jannik because he simply could not see Carlos like this.

"I wish I could kiss you better, but you would despise me a lifetime for it."

"Try me"

Carlos swore he didn't know Jannik could kiss one so passionately, and something in him yearned for more after the prince wiped the tears he broke past. The kiss does make everything better.

"You'll have a better chance. You'll get something better, and it is rightfully yours."

"Your Highness, do you kiss whoever you want?", "Of course not." -"But you kissed me. "You can forget about it. This didn't happen if you said so."

And their friendship felt awkward for quite a time. Carlos was confused still by the kiss. Something in him said that the prince has feelings for him, but he dared not to wish for it. Their status is far too different. And the situation will never be in his favour. Both, in fact. He wanted to ask Jannik about it, but time didn't allow it.

[Let's say Carlos was the finalist for the Nitto ATP Finals] - and Jannik was at the audience seats, incognito, and Carlos didn't know he came to the match. So Jannik decided to meet him at the locker room (with Alvaro's help and adjusted with JCF's permission).

"You came to my match?" "Why wouldn't I?" -"But I lost, and it feels like shit, and - " "and that's alright. You did your very best, and I'm so proud of you."

They kissed again and finally decided to admit feelings for each other.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you. I tried to figure out all of these things." -"I'm scared to love someone. And I'm more afraid to lose you when nothing could tie us together at the slightest. Friendship is not enough for me, but I don't want to burden you with my status, and you have a career you need to focus on, and honestly, all I'm doing is scaring you off, and I'll be alone again. I don't know how to not lose this. I was taught how to deal with ministers and diplomats, but I am clueless with love. You're enough for me to look, enough for me to yearn for love, but I'm scared of losing. The idea ld aving the word 'losing' and 'you' in the same sentence is enough to tear me apart, let alone experiencing it. I love you so much, and nothing ever hurt me like you do."

There goes the long confession.

"You should just say you love me, and the rest will figure out on their own. Don't scare me again by drifting away. We can figure out how to deal with this together. I still remember the kiss after I lost that night. And I knew I wanted nobody else after that. Your Royal Highness, I humbly ask for your mercy to love this lowly guy," "Oh shut up."