12. The Lost

2.28.20

James's POV

Mason walked us through the castle on a small tour. Everything just felt so much different than back home. I loved it here, and I would voluntarily stay here with Kody forever. However, we were both only children so one of us would have to stay away from the other unless we united the kingdoms. It would kill me to stay away from him for any long time, so we would either unite the kingdoms or travel back and forth together.

"This is where you both will stay. Feel free to customize it however you want to, I don't get offended as soon as anything touches my wall," Mason completed.

"Thank you so much," I responded quietly.

"I recommend you guys stay in for a little while; your parents are coming over to try and negotiate a peace. I might oblige so that it becomes easier for you two to tell them."

"Actually... I wonder what they'll do if they realize that Kody isn't street scum- sorry babe."

"Well I guess if you want to appear, you can. I'll message you once we've made the agreement."

"Got it."

We entered together, and already the room felt more like home than the place I had lived my whole life. Kody flopped onto the bed with a loud sound, and I laughed at him. "It's so soft!" he exclaimed.

I sat next to him, and looked down at the mass of black hair that was his head. I reached down and ran my fingers through it with a content smile. Kody pulled his head up and locked eyes with me. His smile was bright, and he shifted his head so that it was in my lap. I continued to absentmindedly run my fingers through his hair while staring into nothing. I could relax here without being concerned about my parents bursting in and yelling at me to stop being lazy.

It was nice to just be with Kody with nothing else going on around us. The atmosphere was calm, and I think that Kody was slowly falling asleep in my lap. Scratch that, he's totally falling asleep in my lap.

I looked down at the love of my life, and it was totally adorable to watch him sleep. His face had a small smile pasted on it, and his eyelids twitched slightly while his eyes shifted. His prescious little fingers curled into the material on my pants. He was like an oversized baby when he slept, and it's super cute.

It wasn't a wonder why he was so playful; he had his childhood torn from him too soon. When he was supposed to be worrying about playing with friends, he was focused on what he should eat or where he should shelter. He was so tiny because of the lack of proper nutrition, and that at least matched his personality.

It felt like only a few minutes before I got Mason's message. They were asking where I was and saying how much if a mistake they made. I knew that they were lying, but I wanted to prove a point. I was hesitant to wake Kody up, but it had to happen.

"Are they here?" he slurred while rubbing his eyes. That's so freaking adorable!

"Yeah. They're looking for me. Wanna go give them a scare?"

"HELL YEAH!" he chanted while throwing a fist in the air.

We left hand in hand. He skipped like a little kid toward his father's office. He bounced to a stop and nodded when he confirmed that they were in there. Suddenly a light went off in his head, and he breathed, "pick me up."

I followed his command, and he climbed up off of my shoulders... Into the vent. This outa be good.

Kody's POV

I was just small enough to fit into the ventilation, and I crawled slowly so that I didn't make a lot of noise. I was soon directly over their head, and I wondered what I could drop on their pitiful heads. I pulled a pencil out of my pocket and wondered what it would do. I aimed with all of my skills and dropped the pencil right on James's mother's head.

"Mason, does it always rain office supplies here?" she asked. I had to work really hard to keep myself quiet when my father understood what just happened.

"Actually, it does. I've been meaning to get someone to check out the vents for a while."

I pulled out a sharpie, opened it, and dropped it face down square onto James's father's bright white jacket. I almost lost it at his expression; it was priceless. His eyebrows knitted together, and he looked at the stain with disgust. My dad was also trying to hold in his laughter, and he was doing a darn good job at it.

"Do you know where my son is or not?" my father in law asked shortly.

"Do you know where my son is?" My birth father shot back. I didn't have anything else on me, so I crawled back through the vents. I landed on the ground next to James with a crooked grin.

"Come on, let's go in. I left a sizeable sharpie stain on your father's white jacket, just saying," I boasted.

"This is why I like you," James murmured, and my cheeks flared red. Of course, that was when he grandly pushed open the door and pulled me in. Trust me, Princey, I'll get you back.

"Yo! Where on God's green earth is the milk!" he shouted making sure he was acting unruly in front of his parents. I have to admit that it was kind of funny, and I almost laughed.

"Oh, so you actually did stoop down to run with the rats," his mother snapped when she saw me. "We were expecting you to come back withing 2 days when you ran out of money and food."

"No, this adorable idiot kept me from coming back," James replied calmly while tussling my hair. I glared at him, but the only effect it had was making him smirk evilly.

"So now you love the rat? Did we never raise you with any sense?"

"Did you ever raise me?"

That's it, I was about to burst out laughing at their faces. "James! Do not speak to us this way in front of another king!"

"Why? Mason's cool with it anyway."

"Why are you even here! I'm sure that King Mason isn't keen on you and your band of rats."

"Actually, I like that he's here," Mason piped in. The only one that hadn't spoken yet was Kody, but he would scope out his moment like always.

"Oh please, he's more worthless with the rat than the dirt on the bottom of our shoes."

Kody looked thoughtful for a moment before he contributed, "I'm probably a better person than even you. It's unfortunate that I grew up poor, but you really need to pull the stick from you bum."

"Stupid rat-"

"I AM NOT A DARN RAT! I AM THE SON OF KING MASON AND RIGHTFUL KING TO URINA! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY! Besides... I love your son more that my own life."

"Well you know what, our son cannot fall in love with someone not chosen by the moon," his father responded before grabbing me and walking out. James tried to break free, but he was too weak. His mother was holding me, and that was when he was lost.