it doesn't matter where you come from

Though typically, he’d be enjoying the party, tonight Olivier was a bit on edge. Char’s confession that they’d snuck off without him had made him more vigilant than he’d been since he started this job years ago. And while he hadn’t been glued to Charlize’s side all night, he had kept a watchful eye on the princess. It would be all too easy for him to lose them in the crowd: staff, villagers, and royals alike all in costume, most of them blind drunk, it was a logistical nightmare for a guard. But he had his eyes on Char, in a costume that was very on-brand for them, keeping his distance but reluctant to let them out of his sight.

And maybe he was worrying too much- Charlize could handle themself, he knew that, but the idea of anything happening to them was nauseatingly unsettling. He’d only turned around for a second, to grab a drink- his first and only of the night- and when he’d turned back, he’d lost track of Charlize. 

His heart was in his throat as he scanned the crowd, and when he finally found them again, he made his way over, carefully weaving through the crowd. “Hey,” he said, keeping his tone light as he reached out to put a hand on the princess’s shoulder to get their attention. “Enjoying the party?” 

Izsak nodded along. “I am right there with you. We’re so bad at being rich, aren’t we?” Izsak was the least luxurious person around. He didn’t care about all the fancy clothes or expensive food. He just wanted to be a normal, every day person. At least then no one would care how boring he is. Maybe then he wouldn’t have to overthink his image at all times. Needing to convince himself to eat dessert. “I would love that. Can’t stay lurking in the corner the whole night.”

Lena nodded, laughing. “We must have been normal in our past lives.” It was, admittedly, not rare for Lena to take advantage of certain aspects of the royal life: frequent vacations and designer clothes, to name a few, but literally eating gold felt excessive. “Let’s go pick something, then! Something with chocolate, ideally,” she said, holding out her hand to her brother. 

“Oh, stop it, we both know you’re just saying that to be polite.” He rolled his eyes at her playfully before he hesitated, Matthias looking down at her feet. Everyone knew that he wasn’t the best dancer in the room even if he had sort of improved with all of the balls held in Russia. If she was looking for someone who wouldn’t step on her feet maybe a dance should be the last thing the two of them did that night. “Um…are you sure? I mean you’ve…you’ve seen Maggie’s feet after a night of dancing with me before.” 

Yes, the two of them had been dancing together since he could remember and he should be okay since they were familiar with each others styles but he had also been dancing with Maggie since they were kids and he’d given the girl some of the worst blisters in her life. “We could always just chat on the balcony or something. I know I was the one who asked but I didn’t know you’d been subjected to torture already.”

“I trust you far more than the strangers I’ve danced with so far, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Kat replied, brushing off the concern. It wasn’t as though she was a great dancer, either though not for a lack of trying on her part. “Though I am a bit tipsy,” she admitted. It was a bad habit, she knew, but with every event came champagne and cocktails, and she had a hard time saying no to that. “So fresh air might be a nice idea too. Up to you.” 

“How is Maggie? I haven’t seen her since Russia, I keep meaning to make plans with her.” Katrien was lucky, in that sense- she and her future sister-in-law got along well, and she wholeheartedly trusted that her country would be in capable hands once Maggie became queen. 

thiccachu​:

Ethan should have guessed there would be a ball to start off the royal’s stay in Thailand. It was the royal way to throw a party. Despite all the practice the guard had in working parties like this one, he had still yet to learn to love them. The Camden boy might never be in a place where he was comfortable at a ball. A crowded pub cheering on Manchester United with a couple hundred drunks was more his style. Plus he hated wearing a suit. He spent nearly the whole night fiddling with his sleeves and slowly loosening his tie until it was completely undone. 

At least by then it was the end of the night and no one seemed to mind too much. Most of the attendees making their way out to the bonfire. But Ethan knew he wasn’t going that way. No, he knew his boyfriend. And knew the two would rather go off and be alone then continue partying. And Ethan was not going to disagree with him on that. Especially after two months of lonely nights without him. Ethan, more than ever, craved the touch of his boyfriend.

Like an over-excited golden retriever, the second Ethan noticed Thomas’ signal, he felt his heart begin to race. A huge goofy smile plastered on his face as he went for the door. Clumsily knocking over a small table - he apologized to the closest person, whoever they were, and rushed out of the ballroom. Following close behind Thomas until they were alone in the hallway, he already made the effort in taking off the damn jacket he was forced to wear. Tossing it in the room as they made their way through the doorway. He didn’t even bother closing the door behind him. Too preoccupied with kissing the love of his life and unbuttoning his shirt. Yeah, this was way better than some dumb bonfire.

The bonfire wasn’t Rosa’s scene at all. She could enjoy a good party, liked watching people have fun, but with the amount of drugs and nudity at this one she was highly uncomfortable as she sat by the fire with a water in hand. Her eyes hadn’t left the flames in more than five minutes while she tried to avoid one of the naked princes walking right by them only for him to stop talk to someone right next to her. The only reason she had even come to this thing was because she thought she might get to see Thomas for a bit but her betrothed wasn’t even there. 

After deciding she was completely done with the situation, Rosa stood and started to make her way back in hopes of finding someone who hadn’t gone to the beach. Clean up was under way in the ballroom so she didn’t feel like bugging anyone who was on the clock and she had no idea where Bee could be. Thomas seemed to be the best choice, the Filipino assuming that he was hiding out in his room for the same reason she had left the chaos behind.

“Thomas?” The door was open a bit and nervous butterflies started to flutter in the pit of Rosa’s stomach. What if something had happened to him? She didn’t want to be rude but panic was setting in and she would have never forgiven herself if Thomas had been hurt and she’d just walked away. Slowly, Rosa pushed the door open. Her eyes landed on her betrothed, finding that he looked more than okay at the moment but also realizing she had walked in a very private moment between him and….Ethan?

“Oh my god.” Her voice seemed to fill the space of the room, Rosa slapping a hand over her mouth after to keep herself from saying anything else that was suddenly coming to mind, and she had to turn away from the scene unfolding in front of her eyes. “Oh my god, I’m sorry.” The words were muffled by her hand and she kind of hoped the two hadn’t understood what she’d said. She had nothing to be sorry for. This was not on her and yet her anger and disappointment was nothing compared to how awful she felt for walking in on a moment clearly meant for the two of them to share alone. She moved her hand from her mouth to rest against her stomach, suddenly feeling sick, and still refused to look at the two boys. “I’m…I’m gonna go. I can talk to you later.”

@jaymewrites​

The voice was familiar, and panic rose in his chest as he realized who it belonged to. Fuck. Of all the people who could’ve walked in, of course it had to be Rosamie. He quickly disentangled himself from Ethan, shooting the guard an apologetic look, tinged with dread. They’d had close calls, over the years, but nothing like this. And if she told anyone, if word got out, and then eventually back to the English monarchs... The thought of it was too much. 

When he looked to Rosa, she looked about as rough as the prince felt. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. Then, realizing his shirt was half-buttoned, he scrambled to fix it. It at least gave him something to focus on aside from the guilt churning in his stomach.  

“Rosa-” he began, and then faltered. “Fuck,” he muttered, unable to even look at Rosamie. “I didn’t want you to find out like this,” he said. What else could he possibly say? This was the woman he was meant to marry. And in seconds, he’d ruined everything. He should have just told her. Should have offered to find a way out of this betrothal from the start. Done anything to prevent this exact nightmare of a scenario. “I... I’m sorry.”

“It’s not a matter of checking up on you,” she replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Instead of showing anything close to annoyance, Judy offered a smile. “You’re in the system and your name pops up when i’m looking at unpaid parking tickets. It is my job, after all.” Not exactly what she expected to do as an officer but at least she was helping in some way. “I don’t know. I can feel a big case coming though and I will solve it. I promise.”

“Right,” Nick replied, somewhat dubiously. “I’ll get right on paying those off,” he added, though he was sure that Judy knew as well as he did it was the very last thing on his list of priorities. There was that rosy outlook of hers again. “Yeah? Well, you should let me know when that happens, Hopps, I’ll be the first to congratulate you.” 

Another day - yet another ball for the prince to attend. It never got easier. Tegan loved a good party. But this could barely be seen as a proper party. It was a cocktail hour at best. Events like these were all the same. Boring and drab. Tegan wondering if drinking back in his room alone would have been a better time. Unfortunately he didn’t have the pleasure to make that choice. As his soon to be wife (another stunt to control Tegan pulled by the New Zealand monarch) was adamant they attend the ball together. At least he heard whisperings of a bonfire party after. That would surely be a little bit more favorable. Closer to Tegan’s likings.

Tegan was in the midst of chasing down a waiter - needing something to help wash down the handful pills he had downed before showing up to the ballroom. Finally able to catch up with the speedster, he took two flutes of champagne, one in each hand. He cheered the air as the waiter rolled their eyes and walked off. All Tegan could do was laugh, knocking back one glass at a time in two big swigs. Now holding two empty glasses, his eyes went back on the hunt for a refill. Instead of finding a top off, he found the Australian princess. “When do I not?” He replied, obviously oblivious to the sickly look he gave off. “I thought this whole royal getaway charade would have ended in Russia. But no - mommy and daddy had to ship me off again. They’re probably happier than ever now that they have a reason to never see me again.”

Charlotte blinked in surprise, taking a moment to process his words. It was hard, now, to talk to him, to be around him. They’d been children together, once. It was easy to picture Tegan as the bright eyed kid he used to be, a terribly far cry from what he was now. And though there was a lump in her throat, her expression remained neutral- it was unbecoming for a future queen to show negative emotions in public, one of the many things she’d had drilled into her since infancy. 

“Well, at least it’s warmer here than in Russia?” she replied, trying to look on the bright side. “Would you rather be at home?” she wondered, honestly unsure of what the answer would be coming from him- she knew his relationship with his parents was... strained, to say the least.