Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jimmy’s breath was calm and slow as he read his book, discreetly listening to his parents argue just outside the library.

“I don’t think we should set any of the children to be engaged, especially them, they are too young to be” his mother barked at his father. “But we need to! For the alliances! If need be we can wait for the others to be old enough but Grian and Pearl are eighteen and nineteen, they are old enough!” his father argued back, his sentence peaking Jimmy’s interest.

The argument was honestly causing Jimmy slight anxiety, ‘who were they talking about?’. He knew they were at least talking about Grian and Pearl. But the others? He didn’t know, but he had a good idea.

Setting down his book Jimmy crept towards the door, straining his ears to hear the argument.

“Do you really want to have them marry people they don’t want to? That could end up horribly. And the nobles, gosh the nobles! They’re so annoying to please, do you know how hard it’ll be to find partners for them that both us and the nobles agree with. Grian doesn’t even want to become king, nor does Pearl!” his mother yelled.

Jimmy heard his father let out an audible sigh, “Yes, I know. But the nobles will be even more angry if we don’t have at least some alliance based marriages. And either way at least one of the children must produce an heir”.

Jimmy’s heart began to beat faster as he realized that his suspicions were right. They were talking about marrying both him and his twin off. As this revelation washed over Jimmy his breath began to quicken, his chest heaving up and down.

He stumbled away from the door as tears began to prick at the corner of his eyes. His mind raced, a feeling of betrayal hitting his gut.

He doesn’t go back to his reading spot, not hearing his twin who had also been there call out to him, having not heard the argument due to her deep concentration on her book. He stumbled through the library, dead set on a specific spot.

A nook in the corner of the back of the library, a place that had been special to him, his twin, and his mom. When they were little kids she would bring them there to read books to them.

Collapsing onto the ground inside the nook, tears rushed down his face.

He sniffled as snot began to form in his nose, gripping and tugging at his hair as if to bring himself back to reality.

Curling up into himself he pushed his face into his knees, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. He tried to focus on his rapid breaths but his mind was racing too badly. He could honestly barely breath, his panic was so horrible, he just wanted to forget about everything and pretend that it had never happened.

He was slightly startled out of his panic when he felt a hand touching his back, causing him to jolt. Whipping his head around through his bleary eyes he saw his twin and older sister, Lizzie, staring at him.

Her blue eyes were filled with worry, her eyebrows furrowed and her pink hair hanging loosely around her shoulders like it always did.

“Jim- what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Lizzie asked tentatively, tilting her head slightly. Jimmy opened his mouth, trying to speak, only for a hiccup to come out. He felt like burying his face into his knees again when Lizzie suddenly sat down and pulled him into a hug.

“It’s okay Jimmy, it’s okay, take your time” Lizzie said in a soft tone, beginning to stroke Jimmy’s hair in a loving way.

As Lizzie held him Jimmy did his best to calm his breathing, breathing in and out as best he could.

Counting ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5’ as he breathed in and the same as he breathed out. Lizzie pressed her face into Jimmy’s hair as she slowly stroked it, giving a sense of comfort to Jimmy. After a few minutes Jimmy managed to get his breathing calm and enough and managed to stutter out, “I- Mom and Dad- they are planning to get us engaged for alliances”.

Lizzie stiffened as he said it, stopping stroking his hair for a second before continuing and relaxing.

“It’s okay, don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Even if they do, we'll fight it. Even if they win? We’ll keep in contact, we’ll make it through, don’t worry” Lizzie said, her voice trailing off into a murmur as she spoke.

After a few more seconds Lizzie got up, Jimmy lifting his head to stare at her.

She had a determined raging look on her face, her fists clenched. Her shirt was wet and covered in snot but she didn’t seem to mind. Lizzie then began to march away, Jimmy scrambling up and after her. “Wait- Lizzie- What are you doing?!” he yelped quietly, trying to keep his voice down as per rules of the library.

Lizzie stopped for a second, turning around and said “I’m going to try to stop them. If I can’t then we’ll figure something else out”.

Jimmy ran after Lizzie as she went out of the room and up to their parents.

Their mom was a tall woman with long dark brown hair, she wore an elegant purple gown and a black veil with gold trim covering her face that hung from a delicate crown on her head. Their dad, a shorter individual with blonde hair and scruffy facial hair, decorated in a fancy purple suit, a gold crown sitting on top of his head. As Jimmy reached the three of them Lizzie had already began yelling. “WE ARE NOT GOING TO MARRY SOME RANDOM NOBLE PEOPLE FOR STUPID ALLIANCES” she screeched in a high pitch, notably irritated tone.

Jimmy cringed as he grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away.

Suddenly his father held up his hand, indicating for Jimmy to stop which he did so. “And why should you not marry who we say?” their father asks with an amused tone, letting out a low chuckle.

Jimmy stiffened up, fear racing through his body as he heard the chuckle, too scared to whisper to Lizzie to not say anything. Lizzie yanked her arm out of Jimmy’s grip, head up high as she confidently responded “Why should you? We clearly won’t be happy, and either way what if it goes south anyways?”, the last bit sounding noticeably nervous. Their father let out a hearty laugh before saying, “We will find fine matches for you, you will be getting married to who we say. Your pitiful attempt at arguing with me is funny. Now go back to reading”.

Lizzie stands firmly in place for a few seconds before grabbing Jimmy’s hand and dragging him into the library.

“We’ll work this out, it’ll be fine Jimmy” Lizzie finally whispered after they stood there for a few minutes. Jimmy simply nodded, hoping she was right.

Chapter Text

Jimmy let out a breath as he stood in the throne room, standing beside his father’s throne. His anxiety was running high as his eyes darted around the room, trying to focus on the feeling of the light pressure of the binding on his chest as he abated a panic attack.

He was eighteen, and unfortunately his parents had told him that he was to be wed to a princess in another kingdom, Rivendell. It had been four years since he heard of his parents planning an engagement for him and he still hated the idea of it.

If Jimmy was correct, this princess was actually the sister of a royal who had been exiled for identifying as their gender they were assigned at birth. That honestly put Jimmy off, but he knew why he was being married off to the princess.

He just hoped the princess was not as bad as her parents and nobles.

Suddenly the sound of trumpets sounded, announcing the arrival of the princess and her parents. The doors of the throne room swung open, a man in woman decked out in fancy clothing walking in.

They were followed by a girl around his age with long teal hair, she had teal eyes and wore a long blue and white dress. Glancing at his parents, Jimmy saw a soft smile on his fathers face. Jimmy felt a feeling of uncomfortableness grow in his chest, he hadn’t seemed this happy when Lizzie met her fiancé, Joel.

Shifting his feet Jimmy looked towards his fiancée’s parents.

The mom had an obscene amount of makeup, foundation absolutely caking her face. The father was old and wrinkled, a stern look on both of their faces. Clearing his throat Jimmy’s father began to speak, “I must thank you for coming and agreeing to this alliance. I know times have been tough due to.. unfortunate things, but I hope this alliance will be good, for the both of us”.

“As do I”, the father said, him, his wife, and his daughter all bowing down. 

Jimmy felt like cringing, finding the bowing gesture a bit awkward but not saying anything about it as they straightened up.

“Jimmy, I would like you to bring Edith on a tour of the gardens, I shall talk with her parents while you do so” his father suddenly said, sending a jolt of annoyance through Jimmy.

He wasn’t all that fond of the fact that he had to be alone with the princess, Edith, but he couldn’t disobey his father. With a suppressed sigh he says, “Okay, follow me Edith”, walking away from the throne as Edith walked towards him.

—//—

Jimmy let out an annoyed sigh as he watched Edith gaze at the roses, her being absorbed by their beauty.

He tapped his foot lightly as he waited for her to turn back to him. She had been absorbed by every single flower they’d come across, stopping to admire each one. Jimmy was honestly pretty sure that she had never seen a flower before.

After a few more seconds of admiring the flower Edith bound up to Jimmy. “Do you have anywhere to sit? Maybe so we could talk! I- don’t really know much about you to be honest” Edith said, her voice had an accent to it, one local to Rivendell.

Jimmy swallows, suppressing another sigh of annoyance.

Gesturing forward he had Edith follow him to a field of poppies, it was one of his favorite spots in the castle. He did it begrudgingly, he knew it was one of the few quiet places and honestly, she would have probably found out about it anyways eventually and he didn’t want her to complain. As he sat down he tried to be careful to not squash the poppies, noticing that Edith did the same.

A smile twitched at the edge of his lips but he quickly made sure his face remained neutral. By now the sun was setting, Edith and her parents had arrived late in the afternoon.

Staring out into the sunset Jimmy tucked his knees up against his chest, resting his chin on them. “So- what do you like to do for fun?” Edith asked slowly.

Jimmy bite the inside of his cheek, responding after a few seconds “I don’t know, read? What about you?”.

Edith let out an exasperated sigh in response, “I don’t know either”, he could hear her flop down onto the flowers, “My parents choose all my hobbies, they actually kinda control my whole life, they won’t even let me cut my hair short or wear pants”.

Jimmy’s head almost jerked around to stare at Edith but he stopped himself, he wanted to assume that she ‘or he? they?’ might be trans but some women did like having short hair and liked to wear pants. He could just be stretching.

“Oh, do you just like having short hair and wearing pants? Or-“ taking a deep breath and clearing his phone Jimmy continued “Is it something else?”. The

two sat in silence for the next few minutes, crickets beginning to chirp, their chirps filling up the silence.

“Would you judge me if it was?”. “No” Jimmy simply replied to Edith, if it was something else then he had no reason to judge, he himself was that way. “Then yes.” Edith said after a few more seconds, letting out a sigh of relief. “I- I just want to say that, I am too- I, shit” he said, muttering the last word under his breath. 

“Are, what’s it called, transgender? Too” Edith said in response.

Jimmy let out a sigh and muttered a “I don’t want to say but I’ll at least say I like men”. After a few more seconds Jimmy asked “Do you have a preferred name?”. “Yeah, Scott”. “Nice”, Jimmy said, “I’m still just Jimmy”, letting out a giggle at the last part, causing Edi- Scott to also start laughing.

Jimmy can’t stop the smile that tugs at the corner of his lips.

Chapter Text

Jimmy held his breath as he crept close to the walls of the castle, heading to the place where the castle just barely met the forest.

He really didn’t want to be caught, he’d probably get in deep trouble, especially for wearing commoner clothes without permission. He had asked his maid to get some commoner clothes ‘Just in case’, but in reality it was so he could go into the woods and escape being a royal for a bit.

But it’s not like anyone would find out anyways, at least hopefully not.

Holding his breath Jimmy raced across the little stretch of clear land between the castle and the forest, he didn’t start breathing again until he was a few feet inside the forest.

Staying still for a few seconds he let the sounds of the forest consume him, trying to gage if anyone was going to come after him.

When no one did he straightened up and began to walk through the forest in silence.

He could hear the sounds of crickets chirping and every now and then the sound of swishing leaves.

The forest was tightly packed with dark oak trees, the roots almost being a tripping hazard for him.

The dark oak trees branches reached up high, the leaves mostly covering the moon light that was trying to shine down on the forest floor. There were bushes here and there, and the grass was slightly overgrown. Jimmy spun around, glancing up at the branches with a smile.

He loved being free, being out in the forest.

He knew he would not have the privilege to do this for long so he was trying to take it in as much as he could.

To put it simply, he was going to be forced to become the King of Evo. Something he did not want, it should have been his older brother Grian! Or his older sister Pearl could have been Queen, or Lizzie! But no, Grian didn’t want to become King, when their parents had tried to force him into marriage with a woman he had ran away.

Eventually he was found but he was much bolder and caused a lot of trouble, eventually their father had declared him ‘unsuitable’ to lead the kingdom.

Instead their father made him an advisor to whatever King and / or Queen was serving, so their father at the moment.

Jimmy wasn’t sure exactly how it made sense to make Grian an advisor if he wasn’t even suitable to become the King but it’s not like he could control it.

Then his sisters, Pearl had still been in line to become Queen so Lizzie was engaged to the one and only prince of Stratos. Lizzie ended up moving to Stratos a year or two ago, Jimmy had actually been allowed to go with Lizzie for a little bit, Jimmy quite liked Lizzie’s fiancé, a man named Joel.

He could be a bit mean to Jimmy sometimes but as time went on Jimmy noticed that Joel and Lizzie seemed to get a long, and once Jimmy left he got letters from Lizzie.

In the letters she would gush about Joel, it seemed as if they had fallen in love which Jimmy was glad about.

Then, a few months ago, Pearl had run away, she had left a note declaring that she could not be Queen, that she was in love with someone that would never be approved by the court or royals. Lizzie couldn’t come back and become heir to the throne due to the fact that she was going to become Queen of Stratos so, after that, Jimmy was automatically made heir to the throne. So far Jimmy hated it, the advisors (besides Grian) were so controlling.

Jimmy also hated the court and nobles, and he really meant that he hated them. They were absolutely awful in Jimmy’s opinion, always complaining, always trying to force Jimmy to do their bidding.

As Jimmy pulled himself out of his thoughts he realized that he didn’t know where he was at, and that his chest and wings were aching.

His legs wobbled from the pain, stumbling over to a trees and plopping down.

He had no idea how he didn’t realize the pain sooner, the binding that flattened his chest and kept his wings hidden felt tight around his chest, his wings feeling like they needed to be stretched.

His lip trembled as he tried to hold back tears, it hurt so much and he couldn’t just take it off, he was in the middle of the woods, not knowing where he was, all alone. Jimmy’s breath began to quicken as he brought his knees up to his chest, burying his face into his knees, chest heaving. It felt like his world was spiraling so badly that he barely noticed the sound of leaves crunching.

Shooting his head up he sees a man, he’s a kind of pale man, with yellow orangish reddish glowing hair that almost looked like fire.

He had red eyes, and wore a dirty cream tanktop, brown harem pants, and wooden sandals that Jimmy had heard that farmers would often wear.

Jimmy has to hold back a sniffle as he gazes at the man who just stares back at him. After what seems like minutes but was probably a few seconds the man asks “Are you okay? Are you lost?”.

Jimmy takes in a breath and nods, the man responding in kind, “Okay, come with me, I’ll get you some water from my house and then I can show you the way out of the forest”.

—//—

Jimmy sat down at the man’s table, they were in a fairly small cottage in the woods, there were only three doors in the house, two of those leading towards other rooms of the house, the other leading outside.

There was a small kitchen in the room with the table and nothing else, the lanterns glowed softly but not very brightly.

As a glass of wayer was set in front of Jimmy he startles, snapping out of his thoughts. The man sits in a chair across from him, clearing his throat and asking, “So, what are you doing out here so late at night?”. Jimmy feels like snapping at the man, in pain and tired but, decides against it.

He is Jimmy’s only way out of the forest, so if Jimmy snapped he would probably get kicked out and be sent to wander the forest.

“I- I was just exploring, I needed some time to think over some things” Jimmy finally says, adding on, “What’s your name?”.

The man smiles a toothy smile, saying “Tango! And yours?”. “Uh-“ ‘Shit shit shit’ Jimmy thinks, fingers tapping on the glass of water, “Tim”, he finally decides, trying to keep his identity as prince a secret. A look flashes across Tango’s face but before Jimmy can process what kind of look might be it’s replaced by his toothy grin again.

“Well, let me know when you’ve drank all the water, then I can show you the way out of the forest!” Tango says with a cheery tone, Jimmy nodding along.

—//—

Jimmy squints through the darkness caused by the trees, noticing some moonlight pouring down on some grass up ahead.

He almost goes to run out but decides against it, not wanting to be rude to Tango. Turning to look at Tango Jimmy notices that Tango is deep in thought but doesn’t think much about it. Soon enough they reach the edge of the trees, Tango stopping as Jimmy stepped into the moonlight. Jimmy almost leaves, but turns around towards Tango slightly, saying “Thank you”.

Tango gives him a cheeky grin and says “No problem Princey! Why wouldn’t I help such a pretty guy like you?”. 

Jimmy’s face flushes, slightly out of embarrassment, slightly out of shame.

He hadn’t realized that Tango knew he was the prince of Evo, “G- Goodbye!” Jimmy stammers, voice slightly squeaking.

Tango nods a goodbye before stepping back and into the darkness of the trees. Jimmy then lets out a sigh as he stands there for a moment before walking away, going towards the castle with his mind racing, thinking about a specific person.

Chapter Text

Jimmy lets out a sigh as he pushes open the door of the tailor’s room.

It was a small room with two circular blocks on each side, equipment for measuring all over, a desk being in the middle back of the room. Jimmy cringed as he heard Scott’s heels clack behind him, the sharp noises hurting his ear drums.

He held the door open for Scott before he went and sat on one of the blocks, waiting for the tailor to arrive.

Him and Scott were supposed to be getting their measurements for a ball, a ball to officially announce their engagement. Sighing Jimmy leaned back on the edge of his palms, biting the inside of his cheek.

“So- How have you been?” Scott asked, causing Jimmy to glance over to him and see him rocking back and forth on his feet as best he can with his heels.

Jimmy stares up at the ceiling, shrugging “Okay, there’s not much to do around here”.

“Except go to the forest” Scott said in a semi quiet tone, causing Jimmy to jerk his head over and look at him.

“I- How- What-“ Jimmy being interrupted by Scott “I was in the far edge of the gardens one night by the forest and I saw you and that flaming guy”. “Oh- I-“ Jimmy gets interrupted by Scott again “It’s fine, we should probably talk about how we want this marriage to go though.

If you want to-“. Scott is interrupted by the doors clanging open, a high pitched squeal yelling out “JIMMY!”.

Jerking his head over to the door Jimmy sees a flash of pink run across his vision and before he knows it he’s being brought into a tight hug that knocks the breath out of him.

After sitting there shocked for a few seconds Jimmy managed to croak out “Can’t breathe-“ causing the person to let go of him, pulling back and placing their hands on his shoulders.

Once his vision stops spinning he realizes that it’s his sister, Lizzie, a girl with long pink hair, bright blue eyes, and wearing a fancy pink, blue, and purple dress that almost looked like a jellyfish. He can also see feathers in her hair, ones of a darker pink and light blue, causing his breath to be sucked away from him. He tries to see over her shoulder, trying to see her wings but he can’t see them, causing a confused look to sprout across her face.

“I’m so glad you’re back Lizzie but-“ Jimmy saying the next bit in a whisper “there’s feathers in your hair”.

It is a commonly known thing that the original reigning family of Evo were avians, but it was not commonly known that they still were.

Like queer and trans people, hybrids were looked down upon, though much less than queer and trans people. There were actually many well respected nobles who were hybrids. But his parents had always kept it a secret that him, his siblings, his mother, and his father, as well as other extended family, were avians though. It was by the council’s request, to make them not seem ‘tainted’, it started a couple hundred years ago.

They were taught to remove feathers from their body and bind their wings, sometimes their personal maids would help but they were bound to secrecy. 

So the fact that Lizzie had feathers in her hair scared him, he did not wish to know the punishment she could face if she revealed that she was an avian to the public.

Jimmy had to keep his breathing calm as Lizzie’s face turned to something sour, her whispering back “Sorry, forgot to take them out, Joel doesn’t mind them.” The last part she said with a small smile and wink.

Standing up she turned around, making a beaconing motion, Joel coming into view. Jimmy nodded with a sigh, his breathing finally properly slowing down.

Joel was a man with short brown hair, a green streak going through it at the front, he had some brown stubble that also had a green streak, he was wearing a purple waistcoat, white shirt with neck ruffles, purple breeches, and black boots.

Jimmy broke out in a smile as he saw Joel, he enjoyed hanging out with Joel, even if he could be a bit mean sometimes.

“Hey buddy! Heard you got engaged” Joel said, resting his head on Lizzie’s shoulder. Joel had to go on his tiptoes to do so as Joel was much shorter than Lizzie, something Jimmy and Lizzie would often tease Joel about. “Yeah! Uh-“ Jimmy glanced over to Scott, who looked a bit upset, wringing his fingers between each other in nervousness.

Jimmy shook off Lizzie, getting up while sending a look towards Lizzie and Joel, walking over to Scott. Lowering his voice Jimmy whispered to Scott, “Hey are you okay?”. 

Scott glanced over to Jimmy with a strained but soft smile whispering, “Yeah, I just hate having to be introduced to new people, especially considering I have to go by my… deadname and stuff”.

Jimmy glanced over towards Lizzie and Joel for a second before looking back at Scott and whispering “You can tell them your preferred name, they won’t care, they know I like men and they aren’t bigoted”. Scott’s face brightened slightly, whispering, “Really?”, Jimmy nodding in return.

Turning back to Lizzie and Joel who were now sharing a confused glance Jimmy stated, “This is my fiancé, Scott, but around his parents please refer to him as Edith. His parents… don’t know”.

Lizzie and Joel’s faces brightened with understanding, both of them nodding in unison as if to say they understood.

Unfortunately before either could say anything or ask any questions the doors of the room swung open and a muttering tailor walked in.

Jimmy let out a sigh, knowing this was going to be one of his least favorite parts.

—//—

With a sigh Jimmy held out his arms, allowing the tailor to get his measurements. Jimmy wasn’t really able to speak while getting measurements, lest he be scolded.

So he had been thinking, thinking about whether he should tell Lizzie about Tango.

He and Tango had been meeting almost every night since meeting each other, talking for one or two hours each night, which wasn’t much but Tango wanted to make sure that Jimmy got enough sleep and got back on time.

They had been talking for around a week but Jimmy almost felt like he was falling for him. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that and wanted to ask Lizzie for advice. 

But despite her supportive nature he was anxious that she wouldn’t be supportive.

With another sigh as the tailor finally told him he was done he stepped off the block and walked over to Lizzie. She was staring at Scott and Joel who were excitedly chatting about accessories and fabrics, Joel had always liked being all fancy.

“Hey Lizzie” Jimmy said, not daring to look directly at Lizzie. “Yeah?” Lizzie asked. “I- I think I’ve made a ‘special’ friend and I don’t know how I should approach it, especially with uh- Edith” Jimmy answered, biting the inside of his cheek in nervousness.

Lizzie let out a small giggle which made Jimmy blush in embarrassment, just for a moment, “Well I definitely think you should talk to her about it, maybe you can work something out” Lizzie said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Anyways I think we should go and stop Edith and Joel before they decided to wear the most expensive fabrics and all of the gold in the kingdom”.

Lizzie giggling at her last comment, causing Jimmy to laugh too. “Yeah! I guess we should” Jimmy finally said with a smile as he calmed down.

Chapter Text

Jimmy let out a sigh as he rested his head on top of his knees, sitting against the headboard of his bed.

He really didn’t want to do anything today, he could honestly just stay in his room all day and read but unfortunately he had to go somewhere. Yesterday, the day after he and Scott were at the tailors, Lizzie said that Scott had asked him to meet in the library.

He knew that whatever Scott was up to had to be at the coercion of Lizzie, but he didn’t totally mind.

Honestly in the past week or two since Scott had been here in the kingdom, in the castle, the two hadn’t interacted too much. The first time they met, once or twice in the halls or at the dining hall, and at the tailors was all.

Jimmy had spent most of his time in his room, reading, writing, sleeping, and researching.

He was specifically trying to research more about Scott and Rivendell.

If they were going to be married then he might as well learn about his culture, people, and history. And either way he really needed to know about the traditions for marriage since the both of them would have to do at least some of them, it was something Scott’s parents had demanded.

With a sigh Jimmy stared up at the ceiling, looked back in front of him, rubbed his eyes, and got up and out of his bed.

He might as well get ready to go meet Scott in the library.

—//—

Jimmy pushed open the door with a yawn, walking into the library.

Looking around he didn’t automatically see Scott so he began to wander around, weaving in and out of the shelves of books.

Eventually he found himself rather far back and spotted Scott and his long fluffy teal hair, sitting on the floor and reading a book.

Squinting to see what it was, Jimmy saw that it was a book about some of the culture of Evo which made Jimmy smile slightly.

Clearing his throat as he stopped just in front of Scott, Scott glanced up and with a smile put down the book, patting the space on the floor next to him. “Hey” Jimmy said shyly as he slid down against the shelves and sat down on the floor.

“Hey, so I talked to Lizzie and-“ Scott let in a deep breath “If we’re going to make this marriage work I think we need to talk about how it’s going to go”.

Jimmy nodded and Scott continued “I think… we should be able to have our own relationships, I don’t know if we’ll ever fall for each other and if we don’t I don’t want us to isolate ourselves and not have a lover”. Jimmy nodded, speaking “Yeah, I do too, I’m guessing by the way this conversation Lizzie told you that I might have found a ‘special’ person” Scott nodded and Jimmy continued, “He’s… really nice, he is by no means even a noble, he lives in the woods by the castle and he doesn’t seem to care about the fact that I’m a prince, he listens when I talk about my interests and he’s in general just so kind and caring”.

With a smile Scott nodded “That’s good, I’m glad you found someone, we’ll have to figure out how that’ll work out but for now there’s a few other things I’d like to talk about”. Jimmy tilted his head, saying “Oh?”.

Scott continued, “So, there’s a few things I’d like to talk about, the children our parents are expecting us to have, how I’m going to be with me being uh- transgender and stuff, and how we’re going to rule exactly”. 

Jimmy nodded a long, waiting for Scott to stop before he began speaking, “Well I feel like if we have children then we should make sure we have each other's consent, honestly I am not sure if I can even have children so” Jimmy shrugging at the last bit.

“Oh, okay, that kinda sorts things out, but if you can then I think we should only have one or two, I don’t really know if I can handle a bunch of kids” Scott said, chuckling at the end.

Jimmy nods, laughing as well, “Well then, I don’t really care what you do when it comes to your body or anything, I’ve heard that some potions or magic help when it comes to that stuff but most of it is black market kind of stuff since, well, magic isn’t looked on very fondly here, though it’s getting better thankfully”. Scott nods, saying, “Yeah, that’ll definitely be something I have to look into in the future, probably after we get married”.

“When it comes to ruling though, I’d like to make more laws in regards to being more welcoming about hybrids, magic, gay, and trans people”. Scott’s face lights up at this but he quickly hides it by turning away from Jimmy, “I think that’d be nice”.

Jimmy tilts his head slightly, “Do you… have any experience with hybrids and magic?”, slightly curious if Scott’s overjoyed reaction was just due to the inclusion of trans and gay people.

“Uh-“ Scott turns to stare at Jimmy, biting his bottom lip, “I- have some experience with hybrids, some personal ones and some due to nobles in Rivendell being hybrids. But-“. Taking a deep breath Scott continued to speak, “To be honest, I was born with magic, I have ice magic, my sibling didn’t have it but I did”.

“You have a sibling?”. “Yeah”, Scott turned to face ahead of him, bringing his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them, “I have a sibling named Xornoth- they were- uh- cast out to put it simply, due to them being trans. That’s why I haven’t come out to my family, when they came out and got cast out I knew I couldn’t come out, I hope one day I can see them again though”.

Jimmy’s hand twitched, wanting to reach out and squeeze Scott’s hand in a sense of reassurance but he didn’t.

He wasn’t that close to Scott so instead he said, “When we’re married, when I become King, I’ll do my absolute best to find them, they can live in the castle too”. Scott turned to Jimmy, smiling softly, “That’d be nice”.

Chapter Text

Jimmy rings his fingers through each other, nerves spiking in his stomach.

In front of him large dark wooden doors decorated with gold stood slightly ajar. He could hear the loud muttering of people talking to each other, Jimmy catching whispers of people discussing the announcement that would be happening.

Jimmy was decorated in a white button up with a fluffy ruff, accented with gold, a light yellow waistcoat covering it.

He had on dark blue trousers, a brown belt holding them up and some tall brown boots on his feet. There lay a small gold crown with yellow and blue gems on his head, weighing his hair down.

Taking in a few deep breaths Jimmy tried to calm his nerves, biting the inside of his cheek as he heard a shout and saw the doors slowly begin to open.

Light flooded into the dark hallway he stood in, walking out into the ballroom. He was in the top corner of the ballroom, people were crowding in the middle, all staring at him. The floors were a light colored wood, the walls white with gold accents, golden chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling with their candles all lit.

There were tables on the sides of the rooms, filled with foods and drinks, waiting staff nearby or traveling through the crowd. Jimmy slowly walked up to where his parents, Scott, and Scott’s parents stood, on a little stage type thing.

Walking up the steps of it he stood by his mother as his father cleared his throat, quieting down the crowd.

“Today, I have brought you here to announce the engagement of my son, Jimmy Minecraft, and his new fiancée, Edith Smajor!” his father bellowed, loud and clear through the quiet room. As soon as the crowd was sure his father was done talking a cacophony of clapping and cheering came out from the crowd. Jimmy felt like wincing, his ears beginning to ring but kept still and stone faced. After a few more announcements Jimmy was finally able to step off the stage, allowing him a second to breathe.

As he stepped off the stage he sees some people waving towards him, his sister Lizzie, his future brother-in-law Joel, his uncle Phil, and his cousin Tommy. 

With a big smile Jimmy walked up to the four of them. “Hey! How are you doing?” Jimmy asked as his uncle Phil leaned in to hug him.

“I’m doing rather well thankfully, it’s slightly upsetting that your father decided to do a forced marriage either way but I can only hope that the two of you will get along” Phil said as he pulled away, Tommy practically jumping up and down beside him. Phil was a short man with blonde hair, scruffy facial hair, and blue eyes similarly to his father, though he wore green instead of black. Tommy was also blonde haired and blue eyed, wearing a similar outfit to Jimmy but in white and red.

“I’ve been great! Dad’s been letting me do fighting lessons with Techno AND mom has been teaching me to paint” Tommy says with a big beaming grin.

Jimmy laughed slightly, ruffling Tommy’s hair much to the boy’s dismay.

“Where are Auntie Kristin and Techno?” Jimmy asks, turning back to Phil with a curious gaze.

“Oh Kristin is just a bit busy, and you know how much Techno hates anything to do with politics, I think he might actually be banned from most political events due to what happened a few years ago..” Phil says tentatively.

Jimmy chuckled, a few years ago when Techno was freshly sixteen he had not shown up for a ball, only to suddenly crash in during the middle of it with a bunch of dogs, destroying food and drink table and ripping noble women’s dresses.

“Yeah, it might actually be a good idea to not have him join, I love him but his archaic views can be a bit much. I just hope he can reel it in a bit to come to my wedding”.

“He should be able to, I doubt he’d miss something so important, or be allowed to” Phil said with a side smiling before continuing, “How is your relationship with Edith so far?”.

Jimmy freezes for a second before forcing himself to relax saying, “It’s decent, I think I’m actually going to try to find hi- her. And maybe bring her a drink”, saying it with a small tense smile.

Phil had a worried look in his eyes but allowed Jimmy to go. Jimmy waved by to Phil, Lizzie, Joel, and Tommy, the three adults looking slightly concerned as Tommy messily ate a chocolate filled croissant. Jimmy weaved through the crowd, stopping to chat with a few people as they tried to talk with him, always quickly ending the conversation. Soon enough he found himself by a drink table, picking up one of the alcoholic drinks and beginning to chug a few of them down.

He wasn’t really used to drinking, nor was it a common thing for him to do but he wanted to just drown his anxiety for now. After his fifth drink he left the table, weaving through the last bit of the crowd to reach the balcony.

By this point he was starting to feel a bit woozy as he breathed in the cool air, his ears beginning to stop ringing as the chatter got quieter.

He stumbled towards the edge of the balcony, looking out at the view. The view consisted of a drop, leading down to see the main capital of the kingdom, the castle and the main capital being separated by some of the forest.

Taking a few more breaths of the cool air he leaned against the railing of the balcony, closing his eyes. The wind whipped through his hair, causing him to smile slightly. He had honestly always hated balls, they made him stiff and irritated, causing a lot of anxiety. 

He loved going out onto the balcony during balls though.

The feeling of cool wind blowing through his hair as people murmured in the background was just so nice and comforting. Allowing himself to be consumed by the calmness of the balcony Jimmy felt himself smile just slightly.

Chapter Text

As Jimmy felt the air breeze through his hair he heard footsteps, specifically those of heels, behind him.

Squinting his eyes open he turned slightly to catch sight of the person who had also come out on the balcony.

It was Scott, he had his teal hair up in a bun, gold accessories hanging from it and his ears. He wore a long dark blue dress that had slits that reached thigh length, he could just barely see that there was an open back as well.

Scott had on gold heels and his neck was adorned with a few necklaces and a choker, he had several bracelets on his wrist, including one that reminded Jimmy of a magic item but he brushed it off.

Gosh though, even if Jimmy wasn’t attracted to Scott before (which he can’t necessarily say is true or not), he sure was now.

He felt his face flush a deep shade of red, turning back to glance off the balcony as he tried to stop himself from looking like a drooling teenage boy.

Jimmy doesn’t dare turn his head until he heard Scott stop, seeing him leaning against the railing out of the corner of his eye. “Hey” Scott says in a soft tone, glancing at Jimmy every few seconds.

“Hey” Jimmy says, doing his best to give a calm smile despite his heart racing. Honestly he didn’t know what to think of this situation, he had been so sure he liked Tango, but now he might like Scott as well?

It was so confusing and now instead of his heart racing it was his brain that was doing so.

Scott lets out a sigh as he almost sways while leaning on the railing, Jimmy realizing that the other man was half drunk by this point as well.

“You know I wish I had someone who loved me, romantically, do you.. do you ever feel that way Jimmy” Scott said, turning to stare at Jimmy, his eyes big and round as they stared at him.

Jimmy nodded and Scott continued “I- I wish I could kiss someone, someone who would actually love me, and maybe dance with them, I’ve always dreamed of having a romantic dance with someone”.

Scott turns away from Jimmy, saying, “You know, everyone hated me growing up, besides my sibling. They were always so kind to me and always made sure I was well cared for, despite me being the older twin”. “And now I’m being forced to marry you- not that you’re a bad person, I just-“ sighing Scott stops talking and rests his face in his hands.

Jimmy’s heart had now actually started racing by this point.

He felt light and jittery, he wondered if this arranged marriage could work out, even if it may be a bit rough.

Before Jimmy could even think he tapped on Scott’s shoulder and when he turned to face him Jimmy cupped Scott’s cheeks in his hands.

“I know this arrangement isn’t ideal but… can I kiss you?” Jimmy asked nervously, eyes not meeting Scott’s as they flitted nervously around.

Scott giggled and said “We can kiss on our wedding day!”. Pouting Jimmy said “I thought you wanted on right now, or do you not?”. Scott blushed, his face turning a tomato red but he said in a squeaky high pitched voice, “Now please!”. 

Jimmy took a deep breath before leaning in close to Scott, their breath were warm as their lips brushed against each other.

Carefully Jimmy pressed his lips against Scott’s, tilting his head slightly to deepen the kiss a little bit.

Scott leaned down so they could kiss better seeing as the other man was significantly taller, pressing Jimmy against the balcony’s railing. Jimmy brung one of his hands down from where it was resting on Scott’s cheek, bringing it to rest on the back of his neck.

Scott gripped the railing, bringing on hand to cradle Jimmy’s back as the two pulled away. They were both panting heavily, faces bright red, Jimmy felt a spike of excitement run through himself.

“Holy shit…” Scott muttered under his breath, wiping spit off his lips.

Jimmy giggled a bit at that, Scott joining in as Scott said with a smile, “Maybe this marriage won’t be that bad”.

Jimmy grinned back at Scott, “You know for never having kissed someone, you are a great kisser, though I can’t say much since that was my first kiss”. Scott let out a surprised squeaking sound out about that, stumbling over his words, “What?! That was your first kiss as well? Why did you kiss me then? I thought you had someone you liked, surely you’d save your first kiss for them!”.

Jimmy gave Scott a soft smile, saying “It’s fine, don’t worry. I don’t regret it, it was nice anyways, now do you want to dance? I know you said you also wanted to dance with someone”. Scott lit up at that, looking quite giddy.

With that answer Jimmy grabbed one of Scott’s hands, leading him to the center of the balcony.

There was currently a nice song being played, the sound of it being much softer from the almost fully closed balcony doors. Jimmy let go of Scott’s hand, bringing his right hand to rest on Scott’s lower back.

Scott placed his left hand on Jimmy’s shoulder and then they two brought their respective left and right hands up, gripping onto each other lightly.

The two began to sway to the music, going back and forth and back and forth. Scott rested his head against Jimmy’s shoulder as they swayed back and forth.

As the swayed back and forth Jimmy thought about how his life might be with Scott, it may not be the best but he wanted to make it as good as possible.

And he also needed to talk to Tango-

Chapter Text

Jimmy bit the inside of his cheek as he glanced around, checking for guards.

Once he was sure there wasn’t any he raced to the edge of the forest.

Anxiety spiked in his stomach as he thought how he would explain everything for Tango, he absolutely still had feelings for Tango but things were very complicated now. He did his best to take deep breaths in and out as he did his best to abate a panic attack.

Once he was in the forest he began to run towards his and Tango’s meeting spot, a small clearing in the middle of the forest that had tons of flowers.

Once he reached it he found Tango there, just seeing Tango caused happiness to soar through Jimmy but, it was quickly replaced by the anxiety again.

As soon as Tango saw him he began to grin, waving towards him.

“Hey! How ya doin’?” Tango asked. As Jimmy came to a stop he looked around, almost half paranoid that someone else was there as well.

“I know this may sound weird but we- we need to talk, it’s not really anything bad but we need to talk” Jimmy said, words practically falling out of his mouth. Tango simply nodded and gestures Jimmy to follow him.

—//—

Jimmy’s feet dangled in the small pond’s water, the cool water splashing against his shins.

He could hear the coo’s of owls echoing through the forest, the moon shining down on him and Tango. Jimmy let out a small sigh as he glanced ahead of him, not really ready to start the conversation and explain everything that had happened a mere few hours ago.

Unfortunately for him Tango spoke up, “So what did you want to talk about?”.

Glancing over Jimmy could see that Tango had his head tilted slightly and he had his full attention on him. Letting out a sigh Jimmy said, “It’s kind of complicated but… tonight there was a ball announcing me and my fiancé’s engagement. I ended up kissing my fiancé and… and I think I have feelings for them.”

“But the thing is- oh gosh this is so hard to admit but- I think I have feelings for you too and I don’t know what to do about it my mind is just swirling right now and-“.

Suddenly Jimmy’s rambling was cut short, Tango grabbing a hold of Jimmy’s face and crashing his lips against Jimmy’s.

Jimmy leaned into the kiss, Tango’s lips were warm and soft, his hands rough. They stayed there kissing each other for a few seconds before Tango pulled away from him. Jimmy felt like he was seeing stars but quickly shook his head to bring himself back to reality.

Tango gave him a wink saying, “That’s in case I never get the chance to kiss you again”.

Jimmy sat there awestruck for a few seconds before Tango spoke up again, “But seriously, I think we should talk about this all of us should.

Maybe we can work something out, I’ve heard some people from more progressive kingdoms will date multiple people, I think it’s called polyamory”. “If your fiancé agrees to it we can try it out” Tango continued with a smile. Jimmy simply nodded, his mind racing.

He wondered if this could all truly work out and honestly, he hoped it would.

Chapter Text

Hiii so unfortunately I’m abandoning this fic! Gonna orphan it and everything. I just. Am not interested in writing it anymore, apologies I legitimately thought I was gonna finish this shit for once 😭