Don't Be A Drag Just Be A Queen (Arkady)

[Deleted]

Alright, the smile was a good sign, though Arkady would have been lying if he had said it wasn’t creeping him out. This was what he strived to be like? But no, that wasn’t it at all; it was the security of his name and popularity that allowed Tristian to do this that Arkady craved, even if the prince obviously didn’t want others to find out.

Holding his ground when Tristian moved closer, Arkady managed not to react visibly to the reminder of what the other boy had planed for the night; no matter how much it disgusted him he couldn’t afford to let it show now. He had to look out for number one, it was what he was best at. The poor, oblivious drunk outside was on his own.

The deal was sounding good, though. He wasn’t really keen on doing any shopping, unless his ‘friend’ was willing to foot the bill, in which case he wouldn’t argue much. It wasn’t like he wore this everyday - worn black slacks and the green polo shirt emblazoned with the store logo - but it also wasn’t as if he could afford new clothes. He had only gotten this job for some date money, though Dusty didn’t seem too concerned with expensive dates. She seemed perfectly happy to just be spending time with him.

Brushing off the guilt before it could fully form this time, Arkady focused on the other part of Tristian’s dal: instant invite to all important events. Popularity by association.

He smiled wider.

“You mean other than my silence?” he replied cheekily. Following after Tristian those few steps, he contemplated a better answer. “You have all the ties in high society, but it never hurts to have friends in low places.”

It almost pained him to admit that he had these connections. Cheap products, illegal gambling... even something more dangerous if he ever saw fit to enquire, most likely, but he tried not to think too much on those options.

“I may have some useful connections, and what are friends for if you can’t ask them for favours?” Disarming smile, wink of an eye... he knew Tristian was no idiot but it never hurt to turn up the charm. “Now just look upset and follow my lead.”

Placing one hand lightly on his customer’s back, he lead her to the checkout. As he approached, his smile fell away, replaced by a stern expression.

“Hey Luc, did you do that clean up on aisle twelve?” he called out as they reached the front of the store.

[lucdulac]

"No." Luc called back from where he leant back in his chair, feet up on the belt while he waited for a customer - night time was slow. "I figured there's no point, manager's not here and what kind of moron slips in a bright orange puddle with a wet floor sign on it?"

Pulling his feet down, he spun round in his chair to look at his colleague with a lazy grin. It wasn't that Luc had a bad work ethic, as such - he'd check customers out with the minimum of fuss, be polite and helpful, he just didn't really have time for idiotic customers and he definitely didn't like the manager telling him what to do. It wasn't work that Luc had a problem with, it was authority.

Well, some authority.

When he saw who Arkady was with, apparently not in the least bit surprised or phased by his mode of dress, he stood up just enough to dip in a bow before flopping back down onto his chair.

"Your highness." he greeted with a lopsided smile.

[Tristian]

Lower connections could be useful, but then again he already had friends in low places, he spent most of his time in a bar and not the upmarket kind, of course he had friends in low places. But then, at least the other boy was trying and there was the possibility that one of his low connections might be useful. He disregarded ‘the silence’ part, that was a given and acknowledging that would also be to acknowledge that he cared, which he did, he really, really did, but Arkady didn’t need to know that. Smirking he said, “Well…one cant have too many friends. I believe that is a suitable exchange for what I am offering.”

Oh and he was ever so charming. He might smell the rat underneath but the exterior was just so lovely and despite the fake charisma pouring out of every one of those perfect pores he just couldn’t help but appreciate it all. He was so handsome, so charming, it was almost enough to forget but not quite. The black mark was there and Tristian didn’t forgive and forget easily. Perhaps he was just annoyed that someone had found out his secret, perhaps he was just upset that the other boy clearly wasn’t attracted to him, but whatever it was, Arakdy was walking a thin line, so long as he was useful he would stay on it, but the minute he wasn’t, and the minute he had the opportunity the other boy would be pushed off it. And thinking about it…he would only have expected Arakdy to be thinking and doing the same.

What did surprise him was the physical contact and not just the contact itself but where his hand was placed. That was a little intimate for someone who had flinched only a few moments ago when Tristian had brushed his shoulder. Interesting, what was this one’s game? Heading towards the checkout he did exactly as Arkady said and looked as distressed and upset as possible. However he was to have another shock when he saw the person sitting behind the till and almost stumbled over his shoes when he realised that the boy was very, very familiar.

He barely heard what Arkady was saying, his eyes on the other boy, waiting to see the recognition, just as it had been with Arkady. But he couldn’t read the boy he was just so…neutral. When he stood up and bowed Tristian was sure that if he wasn’t wearing a layer of foundation most of the colour would have drained from his face. Attempting to gather his composure on the inside, he smiled a little on the outside, pretending to wipe a tear away and to Arkady said, “how did he know I was a Princess?”

Rule number one; pretend you don’t care.

Rule number two; play dumb, it helps when you’re blonde

[Deleted]

Arkady was about to launch into the whole act, to tell Luc that this moron, the ‘lady’ beside him had done just that, when his coworker suddenly bowed and called Tristian ‘Your highness’. Arkady was struck dumbfounded.

Luc knew. Luc knew that this was the prince and seemed to not only have no issue with it, but also was hardly worried about keeping it a secret. How did this happen?

Of course Tristian tried to play the whole thing off as a coincidence, but he did so very poorly. It was possible Luc had ended up one night where the drunk outside was going to find himself tonight, and that Tristian had pretended to be a princess, but then why act surprised that he would know that? Why pretend like they had never met before? Nope, it didn’t add up. It was pretty obvious, in Arkady’s mind, that the two knew each other, possibly quite well, and that Luc was also well aware of Tristian’s dirty little secret. It also appeared that Tristian was looking to play his new ‘friend’ for a fool, and if there was one thing Arkady didn’t appreciate it was being made a fool of.

“Right...” was all he said, drawing the vowel sound out in obvious disbelief. Removing his hand from Tristian’s back, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked between the pair, saying nothing more.

[lucdulac]

Luc, completely oblivious to the potential drama he may be causing, and probably uncaring even if he did realise, just rolled his eyes and looked over at Arkady.

"Seriously, royalty," he drawled in mock-irritation "Every time I meet her, she forgets who I am."
It wasn't quite that he didn't realise it was some big secret, it was just that he had a good eye for features and recognised Tristian, the prince had certainly been in here late at night often enough for Luc to notice him, and he wasn't exactly hard to spot.
He kept up the pretence because who was he to go around telling people they were other than they appeared to be? Not to mention he'd even been to the club once or twice, and picked up the general idea of things - it wasn't the Luc was super-liberal, it was just that, aside from being so laid back that he found it hard to care, he was always on the look out for something to get to his parents just that little bit more.

All in all, it seemed to be gearing up to him making way more of an impact on this little encounter than he'd originally intended to. Not that he seemed to realise as he moved smoothly back to the original topic.

"So what was that about the spill on aisle twelve?"

[Tristian]

There was this thing they said about red heads. He used to get it all the time from his mother, and his father, his mother he would simply purse his lips and try to calm down, his father could really make him furious This saying, about red heads, the one about having the fiery temper, yeah, sadly apparently that was true. The trouble was keeping it under wraps, the minute someone let on just how angry they really were they lost some of their power, their control, over the situation. Silently seething worked so much better than completely raging…it was the one skill that he had yet to master without excusing himself for a minute so he could shout and scream somewhere else before coming back ‘calm’.

He couldn’t walk away from this one though, and he didn’t think he would get away with going behind one of the stacks and screaming, his voice might just carry a bit. There was just no way around it, it was going to happen, he may as well just let it. It was bad form to do it in front of Arkady, especially since he was already losing ground there, but maybe he could swing it to his advantage. He had seen his mother storming around the council room shouting and pointing and demanding people to do things and they did it…

Pursing his lips he glared at Luc his hands folded over his larger than usual chest. Behind them a quite handsome man in a suit began staggering in to the supermarket.

“This,” Tristian hissed in his own voice, “is rapidly becoming the worst kept secret ever.”

Looking between the two of them he said, “Have either of you been introduced properly. Arkady, this is Luc, son of Lancelot Du Lac and Elaine of Carbonec, he’s from my home town you might say and is rapidly becoming the biggest pain in my a*** ever, despite only meeting him twice. Luc du lac, yes that is his real name, this is Arkady, just Arkady, like Madonna or Sting, social climbing pretty boy from Paris, he speaks Russian too and has a twisted little mind that both disgusts and impresses me.”

Social pleasantries out the way and as he was rapidly becoming more angry, he took off the wig and at first pointed to Arkady, “you, meet me tomorrow 10am at the mall and we’ll sort out this mess. What are you trying to say with this, really? Be there or I’ll drag you from you’re bed, and trust me, I do drag well. An you,” he said turning to point at Luc and walking towards him a bit, “you better keep your mouth shut about all this or I will shut it for you.” he thought about it for a second and then added, “and I will write back to your father and tell him all about how much you miss and love him.”

Taking out money from the purse he laid it on the checkout counter, not bothering to count it and giving them both one last glare, which much to his annoyance he felt was more like his fathers than his mothers, he said, “No, I better get out of here, with my purchases before anyone else decides they want to know my secret.”

“KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” said the staggering man, smiling and heading towards them, “There you aaaaaaare!”

Tristian closed his eyes, and swore.

It would have been such a wonderful exit.

[Deleted]

Arkady narrowed his eyes at Luc. He didn’t know his coworker all that well, and if this little show was any indication then they certainly weren’t going to become ‘best buddies’. It seemed pretty clear to Arkady that Luc thought him to be a complete idiot. That was the lamest cover up he had ever heard, and he would know; he was the king of pulling them off to save his own ass back home.

Not even bothering to recognize the conspicuous shift back to the original topic, let alone justify it with an answer, he cast his blue eyes back to Tristian just in time to see the meltdown. The time for charades was over and nobody was going to come out a winner here.

Now Arkady probably should have felt a bit insulted by the introduction Tristian gave of him, but he was suddenly grinning instead. Of course he had a last name, it was just one he wasn’t proud of and preferred not to share unless completely necessary. Now had his name been Romanov it would have been a different story, but we all know how that one goes. As it was, he was just amused by seeing the prince unravel so easily before them. Tristian was on the brink of losing control, and though he was handling it all fairly well and throwing orders around like he did it every day (which was entirely possible) he was making a huge mistake: he was showing weakness. It was another point that Arkady was far too familiar with. He always tried to put on a good show, but more often than not he let his temper get the better of him, though for him it usually ended up in a fist fight instead of a beautiful little tirade like this. All in all, there was a part of him that was at least the tiniest bit impressed, which was quite a feat when the subject was a boy in a dress who was pointing a wig at him.

This was going to be an interesting partnership.

That is, if they made it through the night. Just when everything seemed sorted out and Tristian was about to make his triumphant exit, his impatient date burst in. Oh, this was just brilliant. Arkady’s first instinct was to just walk away and let the prince handle his own mess. If Tristian got the crap kicked out of him for the game he was playing with this guy then, frankly, he deserved it. What he was doing was not cool, not by a long shot, and sooner or later it was going to get him into deep trouble. Better it happen here, somewhere public, then alone in some guy’s flat. At least here he would walk away from it alive.

It would have been an easy decision to just walk away, but unfortunately they had just struck up a pretty good deal. Now Arkady held the cards here, he knew the secret that could destroy the prince, but Tristian held the power and could make anyone’s life a living hell if he wanted to. The dark haired boy was pretty sure it wouldn’t bode well for their agreement if he just walked away; it most likely wouldn’t be appreciated much, nor beneficial to him at all. Plan B, then: time to play the hero.

“You might want to fix your hair,” Arkady said to Tristian, pointing at the wig in the other boy’s hand before turning and heading toward the staggering drunk.

“Excuse me, sir,” he continued, raising his voice and moving toward the man, effectively cutting him off from the other two standing at the cash, “but this is a respectable business. Please keep your voice down and pull yourself together or I will have to ask you to leave.”

[lucdulac]

Pissing Tristian off was the very last thing Luc had wanted to do, not least because he had heard things about the redhead's temper, things that would suggest Tristian was the sole cause of that entire cliché, although he had always taken those rumours with a heavy pinch of salt wherever they came from.
Mainly, he actually quite liked the prince, what little time he'd actually spent with him, and he didn't want to ruin the budding friendship by causing a grudge. He was going to try and smooth things over as soon as Tristian finished yelling, even though he wasn't the type to backtrack or let himself become a pushover, he didn't set out to actually anger people... who weren't his parents or other authority figures, anyway. He was definitely going to think of something good to say to diffuse the situation, to soothe the irritation felt by the-

bitch.

"Low blow." He narrowed his eyes and glared at Tristian, wondering if maybe the whole friendship thing was actually a great idea after all - one of the few things that ever got him to react strongly was a mention of his parents, particularly his father (despite the fact that he disliked his mother more).
Still, turn the other cheek and all that, so when Tristian's dramatic exit was ruined and it looked like the circus was about to come to town, he pushed aside his own annoyance and figured it might be an idea if he tried to help out... though apparently Arkady decided to take that in hand. Luc could help him out, but he was suddenly interested to know what Arkady's stake in this whole thing was, and how exactly he planned on handling it, so for the moment he was happy to take a slightly more backseat view and enjoy the show. Edging out from behind his checkout, he strolled over to where Tristian was and shoved his hands in his pockets, watching as Arkady put himself betwen the drunk and his prince.

"It would have been a very good storm off," He said conversationally "It's a pity your date had to ruin it. What exactly is Arkady trying to do, do you think?"

[Tristian]

Tristian was about to turn around and deal with the new problem when Arkady suddenly developed some sense of chivalry or more likely saw some benefit in it for himself and had decided to deal with the drunk. This set Tristian even more off balance. What exactly was going on? Why was he being told to fix his hair, what did Arkady care if his hair was a bit of a mess, that’s what happened when you wore a wig…

Oh…

Suddenly a lot of what had happened before was beginning to make sense as he watched Arkady, the ever dashing gentleman, come to his ‘rescue. His reasons for doing so was clear, he wanted to prove how ‘trustworthy’ he could be, that he had Tristian’s bet interests at heart. To coin a phrase often used by his dear uncle Gawain, ‘Aye right, that’ll be the day.’ But it definitely made things a little clearer in Tristian’s mind why Arkady had been so…defensive…well now this would interesting.

Making no move to put the wig back on his head he folded his arms and smirked, leaning over to Luc and saying, “I believe he is trying to protect my dignity or my secret, perhaps both. And whilst I appreciate the effort I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it forever, he would have found out eventually.”

He turned round to look at Luc and pulled at one of the red haired curls, “Ginger. It’s a curse and a burden but I bare it.”

Luc appeared to be so laid back and nonplussed by all of this that Tristian almost believed him. He was sure some form of panic, dread and disgust was there, usually there was, especially from people like Luc. He was just…for want of a better word for it, incredibly straight looking. Like Arkady he was sure there was a string of girls hanging on his every word, that tan skin, dark eyes and hair, like his father the epitome of tall dark and handsome. The bands around his wrists and the chain hanging from the jeans…yes this was a bad boy and there wasn’t a girl he knew that didn’t love that.

Speaking about Lancelot, he whispered, “Sorry about the remark about your father. It was a low blow, even for me.”

Meanwhile the drunk realised that some shop attendant was addressing him and not in a manner he was accustomed too or liked. Rising to his full height and swaying he pointed at Arkady…or to the many Arkady’s that he could see and said, “Iiiiiiiii am respecatable. See,” he said and pointed to the suit he was wearing, “I am wearing a suit and I b’long here jus’ as much, if not more than you! Now, if n’you don’t mind. You are keeping me from a. a…wonderful evening.”

With his last word he poked Arkady in the chest and walked around him, stumbling a little over his feet he headed towards gesturing back to Arkady, “can you believe this guy? Come on less go you....you...." the mean searched for the right word as he looked at the wigless Tristian and smirked, "ladyboy, come on, less go."

The smirk on Tristians face rapidly disappeared to be replaced by a somewhat terrifying glare...before he did something much worse...he smiled.

[Deleted]

Clenching his jaw, Arkady looked down with narrowed eyes when the drunken buffoon had the nerve to actually poke him in the chest. That wasn’t the worst part, though, it was the words he through out along with it. Those same words and implications that people of any amount of fortune used against those like him who had nothing. He was so sick of being looked down on and talked down to. Tightening his fists at his sides it took all of his willpower not to follow the guy and pummel him into the floor. He had broken someone’s nose for less in the past.

Well, it took willpower and another little surprise. So it seemed this whole little ruse of Tristian’s had not been for his date’s benefit at all, as the idiot apparently already knew what he was in for. While that made the prince somewhat less disgusting and despicable in one way, it did not make Arkady feel any better about the whole situation. In fact, it only made it worse. He did not appreciate being made a fool of by anyone, and at this point he didn’t care if Tristian was a prince or a pauper, he could have punched his lights out just as easily either way. Instead he did the only thing he really could at this point that wouldn’t destroy everything he was trying to accomplish at this school: he bit his tongue and stormed off down one of the aisles without a word. Now he just had to make it through the rest of his shift without laying eyes on another human being and maybe he could manage to calm down and not end up getting himself into some major trouble.

[lucdulac]

Luc snorted with laughter at the 'ginger' comment, and though he was completely bemused by whatever was going on with Arkady and Tristian, he found he could sit back and 'enjoy the show' so to speak - helped along when the prince apologised for the comment about his father. Luc nodded slightly to accept the apology and was about to say something more when he caught what the drunk was saying to Arkady.

He quirked an eyebrow, giving the man a coldly assessing stare and wondering why a prince of Camelot would be dallying with someone like that, perhaps when he wasn't drunk he was - wait, what had he just called Tristian? He didn't seem to be the only one upset by the drunk's choice of phrase, as the smile now on the prince's face was almost terrifying to behold. Arkady, meanwhile, had gotten offended somewhere along the line - Luc wasn't sure where - and stormed off in a huff.

Well, this was certainly turning out to be an interesting evening.

[Tristian]

He liked to have everything done properly, the hair, the make up, the clothes. There wasn’t anything he shirked on, not when he was going out and definitely not when he was getting a chance to perform. However the most important part of his ensemble he believed was his hands, there was just something incredibly…sharp about them. They were incredibly useful in a situation like this and they may even solve two problems, as he had seen the little shop assistant storm off in a huff.

Still smiling he walked towards the other man, his hands on his hips, until he was incredibly close. The man was swaying from side to side but he looked a lot happier with this arrangement than being faced with the disgruntled shop assistant. But not for long as soon his face was creased in pain and his hands desperately tried to free himself from Tristian’s fake nail clutch. Yes Tristian loved having his nails done, they were such a wonderful weapon in such sensitive areas.

Holding on with one hand he dragged the man down the aisle that Akrady had stormed down, motioning for Luc to stay. Placing his other hand on the back of the mans neck he threw him down the aisle towards the back of Arkady’s feet and said in a mock pleasant voice, “Now I think you owe that nice young man an apology. He is one of my dearest friends and you insulted him. Apologise now, or I will be most displeased.”

To emphasise his point he made a show looking at his nails.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” said the man looking between Arkady and Tristian, “You, you were just doing your job. Here,” He got his wallet out, “how much is it going to cost to make you feel better?”

Tristian raised his eyebrows, well wasn’t he just digging a hole for himself, smirking at Arkady he said, “Are you going to let him get away with that?”

That’s what Tristian thought the problem was. Not that he had made a fool out of Arkady not telling him the other man knew, but that that man had insulted him, and his class. As far as Tristian was concerned that didn’t matter at all, and the only person made to look a fool in the room was clearly the one on the floor attempting to throw money around. However he had taken the opportunity to send a little message to his new dearest friend, and only hoped he got it. ‘Don’t mess with me, Don’t insult me, and definitely do not try to betray me…I may wear high heels and a dress but don’t allow yourself to think that I could not beat you to death.’

[Deleted]

As it turned out, Tristian wasn’t the only one who wasn’t permitted to make an exit. Arkady was getting away from all of them, all three of their smug faces, but they just weren’t content to let him go. No, the prince had to follow him and... he didn’t even know. Make a point? Arkady was too angry to even care right now about points, deals or consequences, and when the drunk was tossed at his feet he had the distinct feeling he was not going to get out of here tonight without hitting someone.

Turning slowly around to face the man that now lay at his feet, his eyes were practically blazing when the jerk had the audacity to wave money about and try to buy him off. And of course Tristian wasted no time in goading him. Was he trying to start a fight now? Did he want Arkady to lose his job? Well, if he got to knock both of them out it might be worth it...

“I don’t want your money,” he seethed, a dangerous note to his voice. He could easily just lift one foot and crush the guy’s hand, it would take only a second... “I want you out of this store.” He could have the drunk screaming in pain and could wipe that smug smirk of the prince’s face before either of them knew what happened. Instead he raised his eyes to meet Tristian’s. “Both of you.”

The prince wasn’t the only one sending a message.