Page 36 of Wear It Like a Crown

“Oh. Yes, of course. I’ll just… be on my way, then.” Joshua ducked his head and exhaled, then set his cup down and made to rise from the chair. Without thinking, Leo reached for his ankle, fingertips grazing warm, bare skin where Joshua’s jeans ended.

“Hey,” Leo said sharply. “How about you let me finish?”

After a brief moment, Joshua sank back into the chair. Leo’s fingers were still clasping his ankle, and Joshua made no move to extract himself.

“As I was just about to say before your rather rude leap to conclusions…” Leo loosened his hold. “I’ve got stuff to do. Which means I’m giving you a choice: either you’ll let me drop you off with some nice person who gets to enjoy your company for the day, or you’ll tag along. Fair warning that there’s a bit of trespassing involved. And that you’re not allowed to ask questions.”

“No questions?” Joshua picked his cup back up. His grin was small, but real. “At all? Why? When are we leaving? Are we there yet?”

“Funny,” Leo said dryly. And… well,damn. Only now did the full implication of his offer catch up with him. Even with sunglasses and a wig, there was no way Joshua would go unrecognised, and hanging out with a bunch of street kids was precisely the kind of thing that he shouldn’t do without a bodyguard. Yet the presence of a bodyguard would scare away the kids, thus putting a dent in the trust Leo and Kylie had managed to build over the course of the last fourteen months.

“Another thing.” Leo turned to face Joshua fully, giving him a frown as he retracted his hand. “I cannot guarantee that it’s entirely without risk for you. I don’tthinkit’ll be a problem, but it’d probably be breaking about seventeen rules of royal safety protocol for you to go without a bodyguard. Only a bodyguard would be… out of place.”

“That’s all very cryptic, you know?” Joshua paused to study Leo, athoughtful weight to his gaze. He smiled suddenly, brightly. “I’m very curious now. And I trust you, so if you say you don’t think it will be a problem…”

“It shouldn’t be. Probably.” Leo flicked his fringe out of his eyes. “I’ve never exactly taken a prince along for the ride.”

“Not lessening my curiosity,” Joshua told him.

Leo waved a hand before he broke another piece off his fairy cake. Taking in Joshua’s designer jeans and flower-patterned shirt, most likely tailor-made, Leo sighed as he stuffed the bite into his mouth. Jesus, why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut? He’d never taken anyone along before. Even Nate knew only the barest minimum about how Leo spent a good part of his Saturdays.

This was a bad idea. But there was also no getting out of it now, and really, Leo didn’t want to get out of it. He didn’t want to leave Joshua alone for even a minute, not when he was this… vulnerable. Not when he’d come to Leo for support.

God, this was a mess.

He’d need to warn Kylie away from any comments that might betray too much. The kids didn’t know enough to give Leo away, but Kylie had been the one constant, Leo’s only bridge between this life and his old one.

“You’ll need to borrow some clothes of mine,” Leo said. “Some band T-shirt and a beanie, I think. Won’t keep people from recognising you, but at least you’ll fit in.” The idea of Joshua wearing his clothes started an itch under Leo’s skin, unsettled him in a way it absolutely shouldn’t. Yeah, very much a bad idea. Very much theworstidea, really. “Are you sure you want to come? Again, I can drop you off with someone.”

“I do want to come.” Joshua gave Leo’s hip a gentle nudge with his toes. “Also, I’m not a puppy. I am capable of being on my own.”

In retaliation for the nudge, Leo stole a bite of Joshua’s fairy cake. Banana, huh. Not Leo’s favourite kind of flavour, but to each his own. “I never said you weren’t. But” —he gave Joshua a pointed look— “this is an exceptional situation, and you shouldn’t have to deal with it on your own. And I don’t…”Want you to.Leo swallowed it back down, replaced it with, “Can I just say I told you so?”

“Told me so?” Joshua asked, and then darted out a hand to snag the entirety of what remained of Leo’s fairy cake. Well, well. Turned out the Prince was a filthy little thief.

“I was going to eat that,” Leo said.

Joshua swallowed and grinned, looking much more at ease than he had earlier. “Sorry for your loss.”

“Robbing your subjects is how revolutions are born.”

“Let them eat cake. And what was it that you supposedly told me?”

“To stay away from the internet,” Leo replied. When Joshua’s features twisted back into something quietly sad, Leo wished he’d swallowed his self-righteousness. If it had been him, he would have found it just as difficult to stay away. “Anyway,” he added quickly, “never mind. Let’s do something about your outfit, and then we can walk to pick up the van. Better not take the tube with you in tow.”

“Better not,” Joshua echoed. He sounded wistful, but as soon as he caught Leo’s gaze, he moulded his expression into something smooth and cheerful, only his eyes giving him away.

“Don’t do that,” Leo told him.

Joshua’s smile dropped, and his forehead wrinkled with his frown. “Do what?”

“Put on a persona. Like…” Leo motioned at Joshua’s face. “It’s like you’re pulling on a mask, and it’s creepy. Don’t do it. Aren’t we past this?”

Joshua was silent for the time it took a group of excited teenagers to amble past on the road below, shouting about an upcoming class trip and all the things they needed to pack, the booze they’d smuggle wrapped up in their clothes. Then he exhaled, sliding off the chair to sit beside Leo on the concrete floor, his back against the building. “It’s something like an automatism by now,” he confessed softly. “Tristan and Mo kick me when I do it.” His voice was slow and quiet, melting into the air, nearly lost amongst the typical noises of an urban morning. “I guess you can kick me too.”

“Don’t think I won’t,” Leo warned.

This time, Joshua’s smile was true. “I’ll hold you to it.”