ʳᵉᵈᵉˢᶤᵍᶰ ᵐᵉˑ

“Really? You’re okay with it?” Patrick shot back, very much surprised all he had to do was ask. Maybe this building was as nice as the realtor had described it in her selling pitches. “You. Are. The. Man, Howard!” he replied excitedly and flashed another grin, this one much more genuine than the previous. “It’s a really important email I have to send, which got me running in my underpants, basically.” The numbers came and went much quicker than Patrick could remember, so he stood idly for a split second. “Right… okay. I caught literally nothing from that. Also, did you move in recently or are you just the kind of guy who likes overly complicated passwords?” A soft tease, just testing the waters. “Do you mind repeating that again slowly or… you know, do you mind actually just putting it in for me?”

“Of course.” He only answered. Howard figured a guy in his underpants couldn’t be that threatening plus he barely used the Internet. “Well thank you, and you are? You never told me your name.” He began to notice Patrick’s confusion when he started telling him the password. “Oh sorry and I got you don’t worry. I moved in like a few days ago but I had a friend set up everything for me so I’m more comfortable.” Howard grabbed Patrick’s laptop and sat on the couch, he started typing the password and noticed the porn tabs open, “erm, here you go.” He wondered if the other noticed. “I was just chilling here so if you want to come by whenever, I’m almost always home.” 

“You had me at pizza - Mind showing me a good place around here?” He winked.

“I’m new around here but I saw a place just around the corner, I think we could give it a try, wanna go? I’m Howard by the way!” 

Crazy? More like annoying. Ethan would list all the nuisances of living life as a Prince, but he didn’t want to waste an entire night complaining and continue to do so until the sun rose. Besides, the two had better plans in mind. When requested to take Howard back to his place, the royal was more than happy to oblige. He led the way out of the bar and into his car, handing Howard the keys. “Ever drove a Lamborghini before? I’m not permitted to operate a vehicle~” Ethan chuckled and got into the passenger seat while his two body guards rode in the back. “I’ll show you the way there. Ready?”

Howard led the way towards the exit, he kept a hand behind Ethan just to tease him. When they got to the parking lot Howard grabbed the keys from Ethan’s hand and entered the vehicle. “That’s weird, but I can drive anything. I didn’t even drink so I think we’ll be fine. That’s fine just tell me where to go cutie.” He grinned and began driving. He placed a hand on his thigh and started chatting, “so what do you like to do?”

   “Maybe…a little bit.”

   A wry smirk pulled across his face, and Court hummed thoughtfully. The smirk lingered on his lips, and he shifted a little as the man sat next to him. “Nah, you’re alright.” Courtney wasn’t difficult to charm, however. Any handsome man that gave him the least bit of attention could have him eating out of their palm if they wanted, which got him in trouble more than a few times in the past.

“Yeah, hi…” Patrick forced a smile out of sheer politeness, even if he was fully aware he looked weird. He was wearing pajama bottoms and a T-shirt and was holding a laptop that looked moments away from falling apart. “Look, I know this would sound weird, so I’ll just cut to the chase. My name’s Patrick, I moved in yesterday and I very badly need to use your locked wi-fi.” 

The question made brought a chuckle out of him. Ethan always did find amusement in people that had no idea who he was. But then again, he wasn’t a fan of the entourage in Monaco. He didn’t need his royal title proclaimed into the world accompanied by trumpets and drums. “Yeah, but, please. Don’t call me Your Majesty or anything of the sort,” Ethan replied, pursing his lips slightly. “I came here to get away from my world and enjoy life for a little bit,” he stated, his grin growing wickedly. The reason why he travelled to Winston Heights was the same as everybody else. “Le plaisir est pour moi,” came his response in a smooth French accent. “Mon nom est Ethan. I’m Ethan Grimaldi.” With introductions out of the way, they could focus on more pressing matters. “I’m afraid my body guards come with the package. Don’t worry about them. My place is closer if you want to go there.” 

Howard had never met someone famous, let alone a royal. This could be the start of something interesting but he feared that this guy would be cocky and annoying. He hoped he was wrong. “I won’t call you that and I think that’s pretty nice. I bet your life can get really crazy when you always have someone telling you what to do.” Probably not the best place to talk about this but that didn’t stop Howard. “Okay as long as we can get some privacy, I would love to go to your place. Take me there.”