The Princess and the Fool (open)

[Wyatt Hyeong]

In the wee hours of the morning, the late autumn chill begins to nip at Wyatt's toes, making him curl up tight beneath the layers of wool blankets, murmuring softly about lucid dreams. The sun, a constant reminder of the day-to-day, crept silently over the window sill and tip-toed through the room to stroke the teen who couldn't be bothered with it. He was well on his way to sleeping right through his morning wake-up when a tiny little hand pushed at his cheek. This was the gentle warning, which he ignored, so he was then met with a few battering slaps of urgency, which yanked him from his slumber.

"I'm up, I'm up," he slurred, cracking open his eyes to the tot who sat gnawing on her tongue patiently. He was tired, he wanted nothing more than to turn over and ignore the day, but she waited and he knew she was hungry, so he sighed, admitting defeat, and sat up.

With the energy that only young children had at this crude hour, she hopped in his arms and he chuckled, giving her a warm hug and pressing a kiss to her soft crown.

"I'm up," he reassured her...or rather himself, then scooped her up, slipped on a pair of slippers, grabbed their usual morning toiletries and headed for the bathroom.

Together, they brushed their teeth and washed their faces. He brushed her hair and let her comb through his haphazardly, then they journeyed back to their room where he helped her get dress, tied a bow into her hair and then dressed himself, always making sure she was ready first.

"Hungry?" he asked and she nodded, grasping her shirt over her tummy. Of course she was hungry. "Come on, Princess," he smiled and scooped her up in his arms. "Let's see what Miss Robin has for breakfast."

Down the stairs they went from the residential floor to the restaurant portion of the inn where eggs, sausage, and toast could be smelled on the stove. There were two people already seated, the regular early birds who greeted Wyatt and Leah with warm smiles and kind, morning greetings.

Wyatt found their favorite booster chair and sat little Leah inside at the bar. "I'll be right back with your food," he stated, pressing a kiss to her forehead, his hair brushing over her like a curtain of secrets.

"Cook!" He dipped behind the back and slipped into the kitchen where a middle aged man was scowling at a few sizzling pans on the stove, poking and stabbing at them with a spatula.

"The names Grimly," he corrected in a grainy voice.

"Mr. Grimly," Wyatt smiled, always just a smile as his eyes were hidden behind that hair of his. "Could I have an order of scrambled eggs and toast with jam?" Grimly tossed him a sour look. "Its not for me! Its for my little girl. She's a growing child. She needs her nutrients."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard ye' the first time," Mr. Grimly grunted as he shoveled some eggs onto a clean plate and plucked a lightly toasted slice of bread from the oven to sit on the plate with a good dollop of jam. He passed it to Wyatt who thanked the cranky old bloke before joining his daughter at the bar where he set her food before her with a very harmless spoon to eat with.

"There you go, love," he said with a sly bit of scrambled eggs in his mouth. He watched as she managed to spoon some of the eggs into her mouth, chewing happily.

"Daddy will be right over here if you need me," he reassured her before he got up and sauntered over to where his apron hung. He sighed as he tied it on. "Another day, another galleon." The first order was up, so he propelled himself forward to retrieve it and deliver it to the appropriate table and hungry patron.

[Prince Oberon Nassau]

The sun had barely risen when Oberon had opened his eyes and stared blankly at the warm, gryffindor satin sheets that dressed him. The young male put a hand in front of his face, trying to shield his face from the light and roll over, but it was already too late. He hated being up at the ass crack of dawn, but could never find it in himself to fall asleep once he had woken up. And so, he rose, like the sun, and slipping into the shower to feel cascading rays of water ripple and wash away the grogginess that pulled at his aching head.

Things were always the same. He'd wake up, join the others in his group, have breakfast...but today was a little different. Today, the wrought iron gates that usually kept students in and kept dangerous manifestations out were left ajar.

He shut the shower off and momentarily sunk against the tile, letting his skin lose it's heat to match the scales of granite. Again, he couldn't help but feel as if...things were too repetitive in his life. He felt the sudden urge to break the usual melancholy, and stepped outside to dress himself in cotton and leather. No one would ever know that this apparent pauper dressed in rags was actually a prince. Things like that just didn't happen these days. Fairytales were gone, and the playwrights were long buried underneath pilots of dirt and disbelief. The pessimists held the world in their hands now and miracles were obsolete, unneeded.

Dear reader, I feel the need to stop you both here. Oberon is one of those pessimists and quite frankly he's too blind to see further than his own hand. I, as the narrator, must point your attention to something. Oberon is sitting alone at at a corner table in the Three Broomsticks. Though he is a little contrite, he is still, a prince. Is it really a coincidence, reader, that the two are about to bump into each other now? Would you still say yes if I told you the two have met before? What if I...Nevermind, it seems I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Simply continue reading, and pay specific attention to Wyatt, and to his darling, little girl. Pay attention to the simple things, the enigmatic, coincidental and cosmic happenstance that occurs between them and the young prince. See for yourself that fate is not merely a word used by storytellers, but that it is a force that you can't always outrun.

--Leaves, falling from the trees, burning red and gold with flecks of green. Oberon stared out the window, bringing a warm white mug to his lips and drinking freshly brewed coffee with a little bit of creamer. The aromatic smell was almost hypnotizing, and for a little while, he lost track of time as he waited for a plate of french toast that he hoped would be drenched in slices of warm strawberries and sauce.

He heard the clink of a plate against the table, and he turned his eyes away from the window to look from his plate to the server, stopping utterly. An eyebrow rose on his head, as he looked up to the familiar father, sea foam green eyes instantly turning a little mischievous. He remembered that hair, the way it would cover everything on the male's face but his nose and mouth. He remembered that exhausted expression, but in a different light. "Hey." He started, smirking. It was as if a cat that had been left along for too long had found a particularly white, plump little mouse, and was licking his chomps before preparing to play with another meal. "Where's the princess?" He looked around the inn, looking for precious little Leah.

It was a delicate, warm summer day in the dodgier side of London. This had been the heart of the working class for nearly three centuries, the birth of labor and abuse.

It was during the summer months that Oberon had the freedom to travel, and so he took a train from the center of Luxembourg and disappeared from the strenuous palace for the next few weeks to come. He moved precariously, and though he did not have a need for money he spent it like a poor man and decided to live the life of a hobo, sometimes falling asleep on a dirty park bench reading Withering heights. This time, he had a new novel in his hands, something with a couple of peculiar, sometimes grim tales. The Princess and the Pauper. Much like today, he had a steaming cup of coffee in a cheap, Styrofoam cup from the nearby confectionery. And in a satin bag, freshly baked squares of chocolate filled with caramell. Occasionally, with the sound of children playing on the playground lulling into a buzz in the background, he would take a break to sip from his coffee or pop a bite of caramell gold into his mouth. Little did he know, there was a little brat circling around him, a girl that noticed his satin bag and the contents within it.

[Wyatt Hyeong]

He blinked.

Frozen in place, hidden brows risen with surprise, lips parted with silent inquiries, he blinked. In all of the repetitive days that ticked by, these struggling days, he had not foreseen this, and as he fought with his mind to remember a name, his arm began to burn with the reminder of his job, propelling him back into work mode.

"Your order, sir." He placed the plate and accompanying drink before the male and stood back, but dare he say that he lingered, eyeing him, trying to piece together a title for the guy he met at one of the lowest points of his life. How embarrassing...

"Leah?" with his hands cupped around his mouth he called out for the tiny tot who, like a skilled ninja, disappeared when he swore to only have looked away for just one second. The bulbous backpack slung on his shoulders was beginning to make his bones and muscles scream in forfeit, everything he and Leah owned that he could carry packed tight inside accept the dirty little stuffed bunny rabbit that Leah liked to cling onto. It was a birthday present as she had recently just turned two years old. They found it sticking outside of someone's personal trash bag and she just wouldn't let it go and he didn't want to be the one to make her cry, not on her birthday.

"Leah?" he called again, noticing that he circled the same place twice and didn't see hide nor hair of her. The brand of worry that he felt was enough to make him physically sick, and he hastily began stopping everyone he saw asking if they've seen a small little girl with dark brown hair and a bunny rabbit toy. As if she never existed, no one had seen her and all of the worst things imaginable flooded his mind, straining his nerves, burning his eyes.

"Oh, yes," said a blond woman who looked to be out on a job, sweating and as tired as Wyatt was himself. "I saw a little girl like that back by a bench with a man. He was blond and was reading a book."

"Thank you so much!" Wyatt exclaimed, not even letting the woman finish before he bolted off in the given direction, soon spotting his precious little girl right where she was said to be.

"Leah!"

"Is this karma or something?" he asked, "For feeding my daughter, I now serve you food..." He blinked another blink of bewilderment. "Funny."

Sighing, he turned toward the bar where Leah sat in her booster chair, still haphazardly spooning eggs into her mouth and soggy-ing a piece of toast. "My little princess if over there. Not a care in the world, and I'm happy about that."

Slowly turning back to the blond male, he made sure there weren't any other people to be waited on before he tried to slip in a bit more conversation while Robin wasn't looking. "What brings you to Hogsmeade? You wouldn't happen to live here, would you? I haven't seen you around before....a student, perhaps?" He stroked his chin, turning over different letters and syllables to form the name he was sure he could remember.

Albert...Leon...Burton...Hyperion...

"Hey, Why!" he heard Robin shout and nearly jumped, turning to give her a blind, sheepish look. Very much like a sheep dog, in fact. "Your kid is making a mess over here!"

He moved immediately, excusing himself as he examined the mess as he came upon it. Leah managed to get bits of egg and crazy, purple smears of jam all over her face and on the counter. He couldn't help but laugh.

"You look like you came back from some bazaar food eating contest." Plucking up a napkin, he began to wipe off her face, getting a bit carried away as he mock chewed on her chubby cheeks, blowing kissing upon the soft flesh. The cafe was soon alight with her jubilant laughter.

"Hey, Leah. Guess whose here?" he picked her up and turned her towards the man whom he still couldn't place a name on. Leah stared at him a moment and her eyes lit up with vague familiarity.

"Obywon," she managed to say and Wyatt all but shouted.

"Oberon! That's right!"

[Prince Oberon Nassau]

Though he could only see the faint outline of the other's eyes through the curtain of chocolate brown hair, he could tell the other was frozen in shock. He himself might've been, had he not been the one sitting down at the time of the half-hearted reunion. Cold green eyes fell as he gazed at the other, taking him in completely. He was someone that seemed easily able to fade into the background, though he was sure that was not something that happened. Curiously struck him as he took in each subtle curve of the other's smooth flesh, and he began to wonder what sort of face was hidden by the veil of hair that acted as a barrier between them.

The formality of the word "sir" hit a private nerve inside of him, and a brow instantly rose on his had as he sought to get rid of it. "Even if I'm a customer, you don't have to treat me so politely."

He stared at the sweet, albiet a little grungy little girl who had snuck up on him and crawled onto the bench. Her dress was a little fringed, a little stained, and he could tell at once she was one of the many lives who were struggling just to stay alive in this city. It pulled at his heart to see such a precious, innocent little soul in such a struggle, and wondered where her parents were.

"Don't steal things that aren't yours, princess." He spoke, never visibly taking his eyes away from his book. He saw that little white hand reach out for the bag, though, and he couldn't help but let her go for it. He reached out a blind hand to her soft brunette head, and patted it lightly, before finishing a line in his book and settling aside delicately. "But, if you ask nicely, I'll give some to you." He smiled, waiting for a response and reaching into his pocket to pull out a white hankerchief. He half heartedly noticed the filthy bunny she had dragging with her, and simply shook his head. 'God bless the queen, eh?... If you were in my country, I promise I would never let this happen to you.' With all the country's immense wealth and innovations, you'd think even the magical community would have found a cure for poverty. "What's your name?" He asked, cleaning off her hands gently, before letting her go and pushing the bag towards her.

He was never one to talk to anyone, preferring to keep to himself. But, he had a soft spot for children, especially after raising his little sister who Leah faintly reminded him off. He learned a bit about her that day, that it was her birthday and she had turned two years old and that the bunny was her present. "Oh? What a big girl. Even though you lost your daddy you're not scared at all." He smiled, looking around a bit then. There were a couple of people, none paying attention to the teenager and the little girl. "If you close your eyes, I'll show you a bit of magic, okay? All you have to do is say the magic words." He smiled, and motioned towards the bunny. Once in his hands, he patted her once more on the head and said. "Good, are you ready? Don't open your eyes, otherwise the spell won't work." He pointed his wand very discreetly at the bunny, hiding it in his sleeve. "Say it with me, 'Scourgify'. Again. Scourgify, Scourgify." and just like that, the dirt flung from the bunny, fluffy it up a bit as it lost all the grime and garbage that tainted it. "...Okay, open your eyes." He put his wand back into his jacket pocket, and...

Well, he stuck two hundred euros' in the bunny's little red ribbon.

Right then, he heard a voice yell faintly in the back ground, getting closer, "Leah!!" He looked up, seeing a desperate man in the same state as Leah. Grungy and unkempt, it looked like he was stressed and depressed beyond belief. He was sure then that the two of them had been living on the streets.

"Hey." The seventeen year old spoke, standing in front of the single father. Oberon turned to her, "Is this your daddy, Leah?" Oberon rose to stand in front of Wyatt, tucking his book underneath his arm and stating, "Ja? Well, I'm heading out then. It was nice meeting you princess..." Smoldering green eyes, like crushed sea glass, bore into Wyatt's, as he held at a hand to him. "What's your name?"

Oberon blinked himself, catching himself staring at the man who wore an oversized shirt. Normally, this would be seen as unnattractive, but it somehow suited the man who seemed to hide himself from everyone. He liked the way it touched the other's shoulder, nearly fell off of it...

"Perhaps it's fate." Oberon mused, following Wyatt's gaze. "You know, I was wondering what happened to the two of you. I'm really happy to see she's looking so healthy." He smirked a little, staring at the man's waist. "Do you wear those clothes because you've gained a bit of weight?" Crude, always crude. If he wasn't careful, he'd sound right out cruel.

"I'm a student at Hogwarts. Seventh year, gryffindor." He replied simply, eyes returning to Wyatt's after awhile. "How about you? How'd you end up all the way here? It's a long walk to London."

And then he heard Robin's voice. He remembered that one well as the the mother of his friend, Galen Montgomery. He'd come with the male to Hogsmeade once or twice before, stopping in the Three Broomstick to get a drink. Oberon simply rose, picking up his silverware and putting it on his plate as he carried it and his coffee over to the bar, where he discreetly sat next to Leah in the chaos of her little mess.

He hated to admit it, but his heart melted when he heard the little girl say his name. "Hey, Leah, you've gotten prettier since I've last seen you. You're growing up to be a real princess, aren't you?" At the same time, he couldn't help but laugh at the way Wyatt shouted his name, and he looked at the other incredulously with a smirk, "You forgot my name, did you? Cheeky. I'll punish you for that later, Wyatt." He laughed a little more, before he turned to Leah. "Princess, you still hungry? I've got some strawberries."

[Wyatt Hyeong]

"Yes. She's fed well and there's an actual bed to sleep in under an actual roof. This place is a palace to us. We're eternally grateful to Robin for the accommodations." He adjusted Leah on his hip as she sucked the remnants of jam from her fingers idly, eyeing Oberon with curiosity. Wyatt smiled, planting a kiss into her chubby cheek. "We're doing amazingly right now. I know I've probably thanked you enough, but...thank you for what you did back then."

Wyatt nearly collapsed, doubled over and gasping for air once he reached Leah, who was eating candies contently as any child should, bits of it stuck to her pink lips. Still drawing large gulps of air into his aching chest, he motioned desperately for his little girl. "Leah..." he couldn't say another word, the lump in his throat already forming as she carefully climbed down from the bench with her bunny in tow and ran right into his arms.

"Oh, Merlin, Leah, I thought I lost you for good this time. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you. You're my entire world." He was shaking, pressing desperate kisses to her crown and her face. "Don't leave me like that, okay? Stay right next to me. I need you with me, okay?" Leah nodded and they stayed that way for a moment as his tears were soaked up by his hair, which was not in the best condition, quite stringy and knotted in areas. He looked up to see the blond male holding out a hand to him, those light eyes strangely sincere and honest.

Wyatt reached out and took that hand, giving it as much as a firm shake as he could muster. "Wyatt. What's yours?"

"I wear loose clothing because its comfortable and I can move around easier. Not because I've gotten fat, which I won't bother to deny because its obviously not true. Chasing after a fully mobile kiddo like this one is no easy task, I'll have you know."

"That goes double for me," Robin interjected as she passed by on her way into the kitchen.

"Thank you for everything, Robin!" he called out to her and she responded with some halfhearted acknowledgement. "Well, my fellow house mate, Leah and I came here to be closer to magic folk, and Robin put us up for the night free of charge and then I was offered a job! She's a real life saver."

When the name thing was mentioned, Wyatt just smiled and said nothing as if the act would somehow dismiss the fact that he had totally forgotten Oberon's name during the course of their lives since then. The great savior Robin, then came out of the kitchen and instructed Wyatt to get back to work.

"Sorry! Duty calls!" he said quickly with a lot more enthusiasm that he'd had all day. "Keep an eye on Leah for me. You're such a kind, kind man. I owe you one." And he sat Leah into his lap before scampering off to wait tables.

Leah sat quietly for a moment, still sucking on her fingers before looking up at Oberon, who had said something about, "Shrawbewwie." Her round, doll like eyes glittered hopefully, cheeks flush with her infant-like excitement.