T W E N T Y-E I G H T

Instead of the sound of metal or wood colliding with each other, or the sound of multiple grunts and groans, the large training hall was only absorbing the sound of two sighs of frustration.

"This is useless," Kai huffed as he and Iris walked to the middle of the building. "We should be out there finding more of those beings instead of wasting time here."

Iris twirled the jo stick in his hands before pointing it at Kai. "Maybe. But considering how you got your ass handed to you by one of them, I do believe it would be best to prepare."

Kai smacked the stick away from him, "Shut up." He crossed his arms and watched Iris laugh while walking away from him. "You're in an awfully good mood."

"I can't be happy?"

"That's not what I mean. With everything going on I figured you'd be sulking."

"You're the sulking type. I may be grumpy but-"

"You're optimistic," Kai finished his sentence and Iris smiled. "Fine. But I know you're not careless, well, not that much, but you have a plan for that don't you?" Kai pointed at the prince's neck where his bite mark was exposed.

Using his weapon as a pointer, Iris directed Kai's attention over to his shirt a few feet away from them. Besides the one he was wearing, that one would button up to cover his neck. It was just too hot to wear it during their training.

"I don't know.." Kai expressed his hesitation and Iris sighed. He stuck his weapon between his side and his bicep and placed his hands on the vampire's shoulders.

"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you. My recklessness won't get in the way of that."

Kai opened his mouth-

"Not that I am reckless," Iris quickly finished. And Kai closed his mouth. "I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?"

"Yes...most of the time."

Kai shook his head with a light chuckle. "Can we just get these two hours over with?"

Iris smirked and gripped his weapon in his hands, teasing the vampire's defenses since he didn't have one himself.

"Who said anything about two hours?"

††

In conclusion, it was actually three hours of training they did.

Iris requested, specifically, that he and Kai were going to occupied the training hall until he said otherwise. His wishes were granted, they were left undisturbed, but once those three hours were up..

It felt like ten. Or a hundred!

Iris laid face first on the grass panting and complaining. They worked hard in that selective time and he knew for a fact he was going to feel the effects of their session in the morning.

Kai sat next to him with his knees bent and his arms resting over them. There was an empty flask between them that they had shared.

"Let's..never do that again," Iris mumbled almost so quietly Kai didn't hear him. He had his arms crossed and his face buried inside, but the grass still tickled his nose.

"You say that now yet we both know that's not going to happen."

"I'll make sure it happens."

Kai looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. A nice cold breeze would feel amazing, but it was sunny outside, serene, and that richness wasn't available for someone like him.

Even for a vampire, his limbs were a little tense as well.

"We should go," Kai suggested but didn't move an inch himself. Iris grunted in response, also not moving. But then suddenly they both jumped when three loud knocks came from the main door to the building. The sound vibrated throughout the air and echoed off the walls. It was loud enough so that even if they were training, they'd hear it. The two glanced at each other and reluctantly the prince peeled himself off the ground while picking his button up shirt and started shrugging it on as he  walked towards the door to meet the patient person on the other side.

Iris gripped the door handle and pulled the door open. His slightly glistening face was greeted by a smiling one.

"Hello, sir," The servant he faced bowed his head shorty at him before returning to a smile. "I apologize if I interrupted anything, but there is great news to deliver."

Kai had staggered up from his spot and came to linger behind the prince.

"Must you address it now?" Iris asked while he slipped a finger between his shirt collar and his neck to stretch it out, inhaling deeply before letting it trap his throat again.

"Well, it's news of an arrival!"

Both Iris and Kai furrowed their eyebrows. They shared the emotions of being curious, intrigued, and not pitching in a care all at the same time.

The servant smiled again. "It appears your fianceé is here!"

Silence has never been so throat clenching before.

Iris stared at the servant with, surprisingly, fearful eyes. "My...betrothed?"

"Yes! Because of certain circumstances the King said, their arrival was delayed. But they are here now. She are waiting for you."

Iris gripped the door handle so hard he could break it. He told the servant he was excused and they'd be ready in a minute. But he was far from being remotely close to ready.

He turned after shutting the door and slumped down. All his life he dreaded the thought of marriage. The idea of being connected with someone he did not love and did not choose willingly. He always thought he'd brush it off if it ever happened, get furious of course, but now..he was just scared.

Not of the woman but the false commitment they must make real.

"Iris." Kai came to kneel down in front of the prince, not sure what to do, but insisted to help if he could. "You aren't the sulking type so don't start now. Don't begin planning a future you still don't know will happen."

"There's only one fate that lies ahead with these type of situations. It's nothing good." Iris looked up from covering his face and sniffed, but he didn't feel like crying or anything.

"Then make it a good one." Kai reached out and took hold of Iris's hands. It was heart-wrenching thinking that they would be held by someone other than himself one day, and he wasn't near ready for that.

Iris squeezed Kai's hands with a gentleness, thinking the exact same thing.

††

There was an endearment in the silence the two boys shared walking up to Iris's room. Silence when Iris showered. And silence as he dressed.

The prince was completely emotionless. His mind was refusing to let the reality settle in, and instead of feeling mad or depressed about it, he decided to feel nothing. Nothing at all.

He signed as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Iris felt he looked dull, which he liked. The last thing Iris wanted was to give off the impression that he was happy about his arranged marriage. Looking good made him look interested; so he claims.

Iris perked up when be caught the vampire's gaze in the mirror. He turned around his open arms.

"What?" He asked, his confusion directed at Kai's arched eyebrow and uncertain expression.

"You should tuck in your shirt."

Iris scoffed and whirled back about. "This again? Honestly, who died and made you king of fashion?"

Kai chuckled drly, "That's a bit dramatic."

"Uh-huh, yet you nag me about my clothes all the time."

"Well, for today, you are meeting someone special."

"Which of who I do not want to meet."

There was a sudden match of angst lit within them.

"Iris," Kai said his name impatiently as he came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, letting his chin rest on his shoulder. "I don't want this anymore than you do, but I have no right to say anything. I'm not very..cheerful minded and yet I seem to be the only one who sees even the slightest hope in your situation."

"You really expect me to accept this? After everything?" Iris turned around suddenly, making Kai stand up straight. "After this?" He gazed up and the vampire, who only looked away.

"You're just in denial. I understand that. But it would be so much easier to just accept it, yes."

Iris shook his head, boggled at Kai's words. "Did my dad say something to you? Or was it my mother again?"

"They said nothing to me."

"Then, if you believe in what you're saying, you and I would have never happened. If I would've accepted that us together is taboo then I wouldn't have done what I did. And you wouldn't have either."

Kai bit the inside of his cheek trying not to show that Iris's correction affected him. "This is different."

"It's not, Kai." Iris gripped the vampire's coat with desperate fingers.

There was something they weren't conveying to each other that was unknowingly bridging their frustration.

Iris didn't want Kai to give up on them, even when he knew it was the rules even when he knew he himself, as a vampire, couldn't do anything. He wanted Kai to share his views.

But Kai had a different mind set. A self-made protocol to prevent something like this. Something that would emotionally hurt him.

If he forced himself to accept all this, then he wouldn't feel the pain of them slowly be peeled apart. If he accepted it, the denial wouldn't hurt. Maybe it would for Iris, but at least he would have a sort of amour for himself. That's how he's always been. He was two-faced, a battle between selfishness and selflessness.

They couldn't preach these feelings fast enough before a knock came from Iris's bedroom door, and his heart sank.

Iris looked away from the door, breathing a little faster than normal, and tore himself away from Kai.

"Fine." He muttered, fixing his hair as he stomped towards the door.

"Iris, wait."

The guard tried to stutter an apology, but being the stubborn prince he was, Iris ignored him. He opened the door and stared at his dad who smiled at him.

"I know this is hard, but I ask that you greet her with a smile." Arlo had a hint of remorse in his eyes but Iris ignored that, too, and started walking ahead of him. The King raised an eyebrow at Kai, who followed with a shrug of his shoulders, acting ignorant.

The three walked down the stairs, the anticipation rising with every step.

"Remember, Iris, with a smile." The King kept reminding his frowning son mainly because he had disobedience in his eyes.

When they got downstairs they headed towards the dinning room. Where everything would unfold.

Arlo opened the door, letting Iris and Kai in first. But they didn't get far, as Kai almost bumped into the prince, who suddenly stopped.

The conversation held in the room paused, and everyone turned to see who entered.

Then, it became a stare off.