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Remus wiggled uncomfortably in his seat, glancing out the window. He was supposed to be doing his homework, practicing his reading in all the too-many languages that confused his mind when the letters wiggled and switched around, but he’d been sitting all day and it was sunny and warm and he just wanted to go outside.
…Nobody was watching him right now.
There was someone outside his door, he knew that. There was always someone outside his door. But… he was pretty sure there wasn’t anyone outside his window. He was right next to the ground, it wouldn’t be that hard to go outside and play…
He nodded to himself as he slid down from the chair and walked to the window. He unlatched the pane and tried to push it open. He tried to keep himself super duper quiet, because the guards outside came in whenever he made a weird noise to make sure he was okay, but couldn’t help the oof when the window came unstuck and moved suddenly.
He froze, turning around to watch the door. If anyone came in, he’d get in trouble, and he got in trouble a lot, but he just wanted to go outside right now. That wasn’t worth getting in trouble over.
When no one came in, he blew out a breath and turned back to the window. He crawled over the sill and dropped to the ground outside, wincing slightly at the hard landing but still staying quiet so nobody would come check on him. He stood up and turned away from the wall, looking out towards the gardens and roads and everything else that meant he was free and could do whatever he wanted now without getting in trouble, as long as no one saw him.
“Who’re you?”
Remus jumped and turned around at the question. “I’m- um-” He tried to think of an excuse, but then realized who was talking to him. It was another boy, about his age, standing a little ways away. “Oh.” That meant he didn’t have to explain, probably, just say a different name since he didn’t want to have another friend who only liked him because he was the prince. “Um- my name’s- um- Remus.” He blinked in surprise at his own words; he’d picked out the name Remus a while ago, because it matched with Roman kind of, and also it sounded like an evil villain prince name, but he hadn’t told anyone else yet.
The other boy nodded. “Okay. My name’s Logan. I’m looking for worms, d’you wanna look with me?”
Remus brightened. “Yeah!” Logan crouched down to the ground, and Remus saw a small pile of sticks and a makeshift trowel made from what looked like a broken bowl sitting next to him.
“I haven’t found any yet,” Logan informed him. “But I haven’t looked for very long.”
Remus nodded, and reached for the bowl.
“Be careful,” Logan warned him. “It’s sharp and if you cut yourself the dirt could make it hurt really bad and not get better.”
Remus made a noise of understanding, pulling his hand away from the bowl. He dug his hands deep into the dirt, determined to find a worm for the other boy.
***
Logan shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, wishing he could get out of these stiff fancy clothes and back into his comfortable playing-in-the-dirt-with-Remus clothes again. His mother squeezed his shoulder, not enough to hurt but enough to remind him to stand still and be polite. He sighed grumpily, but focused again on what the man at the front was saying.
“...would like to announce that the royal heir will now be referred to as Prince Remus. Any deliberate deviations will have consequences.”
Logan wrinkled his nose in confusion at the long words, but didn’t really care about what they were saying beyond how much longer he’d have to stand here pretending to listen.
“Now presenting… His Royal Highness, Prince Remus.”
The rest of the crowd began clapping politely. Logan did the same. Through everyone’s legs in front of him, he could just barely see someone about his age come through the doorway behind the man who had made the announcement.
He squinted and moved his head a little bit to try to see better. Was that… Remus? Playing-in-the-dirt-with-him Remus? Disappearing-randomly-for-days-at-a-time-even-when-he-promised-to-meet-with-him Remus?
…Oh.
Maybe his Remus being Prince Remus would explain some of that.
***
Remus shifted nervously from foot to foot as he waited for Logan to show up. He was always here, on Thursday after lunch; even when Remus couldn’t go out, because Father had to talk to him and tell him to be good like the prince he was, or he had to go pretend to sit still in the throne room for hours and hours, he still saw Logan outside.
“...Hi, Remus.”
Remus turned around, smiling excitedly at Logan. “Hi!”
His smile dimmed as he noticed that Logan wasn’t meeting his eyes, shifting quietly from foot to foot. “What’s wrong?”
“...Why didn’t you tell me you’re the prince?” Logan mumbled to his feet.
“Oh.” Remus looked down too, kicking the dirt halfheartedly. “Um… A lot of people are only friends with me because of that. So it’s nice to have someone like me for other reasons. And also, when I met you, nobody knew I was the prince and not the princess, and that felt yucky, so I liked that you didn’t know.”
He looked up as he saw Logan’s feet get closer to him. The other boy was looking at him carefully.
“Okay.” Logan held out a hand. “Wanna go dig for worms? My mom told me she found some really cool ones in the tomato rows.”
Remus brightened. “Yes!” They both giggled as they ran towards the kitchen’s vegetable gardens.
Unknown to either of them, Remus’s personal guard relaxed with a smile. It was about time that boy had a true friend.