Once upon a time, there lived a prince in a faraway land to the north. He was shaggy and unkempt, often mistaken for a ruffian or a kidnapper, and caused his noble father and mother and elder sister much grief.

One day the king took him aside and said to him, "Borenz. Could you kindly act more princely? There are rumours beginning to spread of you."

Ashamed, the prince replied: "Well, I'll give it a shot, Father."

However, the prince found that changing was utterly unbearable, though he did the best he could when he attended the royal gatherings.

Truth be told, the prince found it so much more fun to prance and dash through the woods, teasing the folk he found there. He enjoyed listening to the stories of dwarves, rogues and mercenaries in the pubs all about the town, places princes should not step foot. His sister would sigh and bury her face in her hands, shaking her head when he came back covered with dirt and twigs. He would often mix up travelers or other people in his mischief (though they always had fun) and the rumours grew larger and larger, whispers passed between maids and servants of the royal palace itself.

In the face of his uncontrollable son, the king resorted to the last thing he could think of.

"Until you are resolved to act like the prince you are, you will not leave this room," the king told his son solemnly.

"What the hell, dad," exclaimed the prince, aghast, as the lock clicked with a terrifying finality.

With him was his nurse, at the very least, and he spoke to her of all his troubles: "I don't know what his problem is. I tried, but does he expect me to be a completely different person? This is so stupid. This is imprisonment, you know. I bet this is illegal in other kingdoms."

The nurse, who shared his opinions, pitied the free-spirited prince (and harboured a secret of her own) said: "I have an idea, Your Highness. Should you wish to escape, you must get a bearskin and a wheelbarrow from your father."

"Well that's weird," the prince said but asked his father for such. "Since you've locked me up in my room forever anyway, you might as well give me something."

Pressured by guilt, the king gave him the wheelbarrow and the bearskin and left he and his nurse be. The prince gestured at both of the items and asked of his nurse, "Well, now what?"

"Now, I enchant them for you. The wheelbarrow will take you wherever you might wish to go, and if you don that bearskin, you will take another form that no-one will see through," the nurse replied and, with a flash of light, she revealed herself to be a magnificent witch!

"Whoa, cool," the prince exclaimed.

When he pulled on the bearskin, he found his form huge and beastly and he delighted in his newfound strength and shape. "Cool, cool!" he exulted. When he climbed into the wheelbarrow and it flickered with magic, beginning to float, he said once more, "This is awesome! Thanks, nana!"

"No problem, honey, be careful out there," the witch replied and, like a shot, the prince-turned-bear flew out of the window and to freedom.

Knowledgeable as he was with the forests and with foraging, the prince found it no trouble at all to get by on his own. However, one day in a forest far from his kingdom's, he heard the baying of hounds and soon they appeared with someone riding a magnificent horse on their heels. The man--a prince, by his circlet--levelled a bow and arrow at him but, when the prince-turned-bear spoke, the man nearly fell from his horse in shock.

"Can you not shoot me? Seriously, get these dogs away!" the bear said.

So astonished by the speaking bear, the prince bade him come to his castle, and here our tale truly begins...

A bear slunk, as much as a bear could slink, through the underbrush bordering the huge, fine castle. His lips were pulled back, baring (because he was a bear, get it) his teeth in what looked like a ferocious grin. It was actually a normal grin, but ferocious was the one thing that Borenz did well, except never on purpose.

He paused underneath one of the huge windows, flung open to let in the sweet evening air, tinged with scents from the expansive flower garden. Raising his head, Borenz peered just over the sill into the grand ballroom, searching out Florian.

There he was, a waif with fluffy blond hair all curled up around his face. He was small from head to toe, and hardly looked as though he were in his twenties. He was cordially asking some ladies to dance, bowing and offering them his hand and frowning when they turned down his invitation with smiles that looked like they were stifling laughter.

Well, that was hardly nice.

Even though Borenz understood the sentiment of wanting to pick on Florian, it wasn't right to turn him down just because of how he looked. Ehh, well, he didn't have any right to talk. Picking on him was why he was here, after all.

He laughed, low and deep, and put both of his forepaws on the windowsill.

...Wait, would he fit?

He paused to re-examine the window, his ears twitching as his head tilted from side to side. Actually, he wasn't sure that he'd fit. He rose up on his back paws and tried to figure out a way to get himself in—maybe diagonally—when a shadow fell on his face, the light from the ballroom blocked out, and a furious Florian stood in front of him with his hands balled into fists and planted on his hips.

"What are you doing here, bear," he hissed, glaring down at Borenz.

"You didn't really think you kicking me and telling me I couldn't come would stop me, did you?" Borenz cackled, his tongue flopping out of the side of his mouth in what was totally an ugly, graceless expression, but he was a bear! Even if he had been a prince in the past, whatever, being a bear was so much better. He could rub up against stuff and scratch himself and no-one spent time wondering why, because he was a bear!

It was the best.

Okay, so it justified his older sister calling him a savage or a wild animal back when they were younger, but that was neither here nor there.

"I did, actually," Florian snarled, fixing his pretty gold circlet with a jerk of his hand and looking anxiously over one of his shoulders. "Leave, you beast. There's no place in a ballroom for you."

"Bah," Borenz scoffed. "If it was a circus you'd gladly show me off, what's a little private showing to your friends?" He put more of his weight on the windowsill and Florian's expression twisted in panic when the wood groaned dangerously under Borenz's weight.

"This is a ball! You're so brutish, why did I ever bother to invite you back to my home, I should've just made you into a pelt," Florian swore, pushing his hands against Borenz's paws but in futility. Borenz wouldn't be budged, especially by a prince who was more fluff than substance. Borenz rose up more, planting a back paw on the windowsill and Florian panicked all the more, looking over his shoulder—a couple of people had noticed the neighbouring country's prince, were looking his way with vague curiosity.

"I'm coming in," Borenz said, grinning triumphantly.

"No you are not," Florian yelped, but it was too late.

With a tumble, the bear crashed into the ballroom and the room went up in a panic when the huge red-brown and black bear clumsily rose to four paws and looked around curiously. Screaming guests awoke castle guards made drowsy with alcohol and atmosphere, their hands fumbling for their swords.

Meanwhile, Borenz sat on the floor and scratched himself with his back paw like he was a dog before playing dumb and happily nuzzling his huge head against Florian.

Florian kicked him and Borenz licked his cravat dripping and slimy, much to Florian's disgust.

The castle guards paused at such a strange sight, looking between them uncertainly, and the other prince cautiously crept closer to Florian and the oddly docile bear.

"Your Highness?" he asked tentatively. "Is this—beast yours?"

"No," Florian said tightly. "Just a stray animal. You may dispose of it if you wish."

"Wow, you're in a nasty mood tonight," Borenz whispered, low enough only Florian could hear.

Of course, he only let Florian hear him. Borenz only made himself loud enough to be heard by people when he felt like it! Ha! Let Florian stumble through this one. It was a pleasure to see him in a tizzy. Just to show how much he was definitely Florian's pet, he whined and laid his head in a show of docility at Florian's feet, snuggling up against his knees. Florian was mutinous and glared down at him.

"It seems very fond of you," said the other prince uncertainly. "Is it a... tame bear?"

"Hardly," Florian whispered to himself and Borenz snorted. He raised his voice loud enough for the other prince to hear and said, "I'm very sorry that it's followed me here. I'll take it out at once."

"My, a tame bear, though," another party member said, the congregation slowly calmed in the face of such an obedient-seeming animal. Borenz soaked it in, even rolling on his side so his big fuzzy stomach was on display. Some of the ladies cooed and he looked smugly up at Florian, who probably wanted to turn him into a bear steak or something of the like.

Best night ever.

"It's ever so fond of you," a lady commented, smiling as she watched Borenz snuggle up against Florian.

Florian probably wanted to sink into the ground and die. Borenz felt as though his revenge had been suitably taken so he rolled to all four paws, looking about before tossing Florian the smuggest look he could give him in this form.

"Thank you, my lady," Florian said stiffly and glared at Borenz as he lumbered right to the window he had come in. With little more than a glance back, the bear tumbled back out of the window and happily pranced his way back the way he had come, climbing into his magicked wheelbarrow and hanging a paw off the side as he thoroughly enjoyed the ride home.

Really, meeting Florian had been the best thing to happen to him in a long time.

Florian certainly didn't think so, but Borenz enjoyed it. He liked living in Florian's palace, he liked Florian's mother who liked him, he even liked Florian for all that he was a pain in the ass and all about rules and protocol and gentlemanly behaviour and good international relations and blah blah blah blah...

It was so opposite of how he had been as a prince he wanted to roll around and laugh his head off.

If Florian knew he was a prince...

Borenz shook his head at himself, smirking as he lounged in the small room that was his quarters in the palace. The bearskin was stretched over the bed as he enjoyed a bath in the smallish tub, kicking his feet in the air where they didn't fit properly in the tub. Florian would never believe he was a prince anyway, he thought as he scratched his stomach and yawned. He was too brutish, rude and... unbearable to be a prince.

Cackling at his own joke, his smile softened into a thoughtful look as he looked out the one small window in the room. Stars glimmered and winked at him merrily and he had a pang of homesickness for a moment before he recalled why he left.

Like his father locking him up could ever kerb his bearish attitude or penchant for getting himself and others in trouble. He didn't appreciate it one bit, reduced to a room for refusing to bend to the way that his father thought he ought to be.

Climbing out of the tub, he stretched and dried himself off sloppily with the towel before wrapping himself in the bearskin.

It was more comfortable than his other form, admittedly. He liked being a bear. As he had thought before, it was the best thing that'd happened to him.

A cool breeze swept in through the open window, rattling his room door and he turned to it idly.

Huh. Had he left that open?

The bear shrugged his shoulders, lumbering to it and pushing it closed with a rock of his back half. Climbing into the huge nest of blankets and pillows he called a bed, he rolled onto his back and soon drifted into a sleep full of Florian's face, flushed with anger, spitting with an anger that didn't suit him one whit.

All the better for it, though. It was good to be who you really were rather than try to pretend.

When you pretended for too long, you forgot who you were.

"Morning, Mother," Borenz yawned as he walked on all fours into the dining room. Only royalty was allowed in here, but what did he care about that? He didn't! He cared about Florian's mother, who tried to cover an unladylike snort at being called mother by a huge bear.

"She's not your mother," Florian snapped from the end of the table.

"Oh, and look, Florian's here too. Morning there, Florian, how was the rest of your night?" Borenz leered gleefully at him and Florian's lip curled in a snarl. There we go, he thought, that was the proper way of things. Always express your true emotions, that was his creed! So what if he didn't reveal his true form to Florian? He really did feel more at home being a bear anyway. It was far more accurate, all things considered.

"You know exactly how it was! Thanks to you, I was bombarded by questions all night! They'll not invite me back after this, and you can forget about my treatises and my trade deals and—"

"Oh, please," Borenz groaned, rolling his eyes as he walked to the table. He rose up on his back legs, pulling out a chair and sitting down in it. The chair screeched in futile protest underneath him as he started spearing pieces of breakfast on his claws and eating them quick as you please. "If you're stopped by one bear, then you aren't a very good prince."

He waggled a claw at Florian, then had to duck a glass tossed at his head with pinpoint accuracy.

Florian was flushed again, his narrow chest heaving. "Do not tell me what I am and what I am not, you—you scoundrel," he snapped.

"Oh, that's a new one. Scoundrel," Borenz said with a laugh, tossing a whole peeled orange into his open maw. "Bah, I say. Who needs trade deals and treatises with other kingdoms that don't care a whit about you? Not you, I say. Why, your kingdom does plenty well without such things. Self-sufficiency is important."

While he was nodding as if he'd said something knowledgeable indeed, Florian chucked a piece of toast he had squeezed into a tight ball.

"Bears," he growled, "should not talk about things they don't know."

"Oh my god, a bear?" Borenz widened his eyes, looking around. "Where?"

Florian threw up his hands, standing and storming from the room. Snorting and chuckling, Borenz leant over to help himself to Florian's abandoned plate.

"You should really word things a little better, Borenz," Gisela spoke up mildly. She had been watching their exchange thoughtfully and now moved to take her seat at the table now that the war had ceased. "That's no way to tell him that you're worried about him."

"Worried?" Borenz yawned. "Me? I'm not worried." He picked up a stem of grapes, sucking them off of it one-by-one, enjoying this body's ability to store so much more food than his human body.

Gisela looked at him knowingly and Borenz swallowed a grape harder than he would've usually, it catching painfully in his throat for half a moment. He looked at his claws, pretending he wasn't bothered, but those royal women never missed a thing. Gisela was no exception, a woman very much like his own mother.

"He'll run himself into the ground if he's always pretending to be someone he's not," Borenz said after a long pause, running his tongue over his teeth and uncomfortably tapping his claws together. "Then you get what he shows me. If he let that out more often and didn't obsess over what others were thinking, he'd be a happier prince."

Gisela smiled and picked up a teacup. Borenz admired the way she extended a pinky delicately as she drank. A true lady, he thought, mentally comparing her with his firestorm of an elder sister.

"You should just tell him that," she said gently, "rather than riling him up all the time."

"Nah," Borenz mumbled, lifting his snout and avoiding her eyes. "Bears don't talk sense."

"I think someone needs to take his own advice."

Borenz cleared his throat, grinning sheepishly at Gisela. She only gave him a stern look.

Borenz laid on his stomach, stretched out on warm earth. Florian's gardens were a fine place indeed, huge trees casting shade on lush grass. Flowers of every kind of colour were arranged thoughtfully to best showcase them to any visitors who took a walk through. It was so much nicer than his own palace. All they had back there was roses. Bah. Roses. Give him carnations any day, or a lily or two.

He stretched out his forepaws in front of him, claws scratching at the earth and snuffled contentedly through his nose.

"Bear," said a familiar voice, over his head. He opened up one eye, peering upward. There stood Florian in all his finery, scowling down at him as though he had caught Borenz in the act of defiling his gardens or scratching down his drapes or something equally as appalling.

"Prince," Borenz replied with a grin, twitching his ears.

"What are you doing laying on the ground?" Florian said stiffly.

"Napping. What're you doing looming over me?"

"Wondering why on earth you can't sleep in your bed instead. At least be civilised if you can talk," Florian said, clucking his tongue sharply. Borenz shrugged and shut his eyes, his mouth stretched into a smile no other bear anywhere would wear.

"Lay down, Florian, have a nap," Borenz drawled, not expecting for a moment that Florian would take him up on it. "The grass is warm, the bees are buzzing, you might as well enjoy the day since you're out here anyway. 'Sides, I doubt you sleep at night with how much extra work you're always giving yourself."

He chuffed in amusement and waited for a sharp retort.

When it didn't come, he opened one of his eyes, suddenly nervous. Florian was just watching him, arms folded over his chest, lips compressed.

"Say something, will ya? You're creeping me out," Borenz said frankly. "What's wrong with you? You get poisoned?"

"Shut up. I'm thinking. Not that you would understand." Florian glared—and then he sat down, right in the grass. Borenz lifted his head, turning it just so he could stare at Florian, because Florian had sat right down next to him, his back lightly pressing against Borenz's side, his knees tucked upward toward his chest.

Borenz opened his maw and yelled toward the palace: "Someone! The prince has lost his buggering mind!"

Florian punched him hard in the side and he wheezed. "I have not lost anything, so shut your damn mouth and go back to sleep!" he snarled. However, if Borenz looked hard enough, he thought he saw pink on the prince's cheeks.

Ahhhhhhh, he screamed in his head.

Borenz put his head on the ground and covered it up with both of his front paws, moaning in dismay instead of giving in his urge to actually scream.

"What on earth is wrong with you? You're the one who's lost his mind, haven't you? Too much honey, bear?" Florian said, but he sounded more alarmed than biting. Borenz couldn't even respond to him, just flattening his paws more over his head and trying to deny every single thing about this moment and every single thing ever. Florian muttered a soft curse in his confusion, but he didn't get up and storm away. Instead, he leant his weight against Borenz's side and pulled out his pocketbook.

Gods help me, Borenz thought.

A marvellous carriage was right in front of the small palace that Florian called his own. It was all white and beautiful, with two handsome horses ready to pull it along, a beautiful sight in the late afternoon light. They were snorting a little now, unnerved by the bear sitting at the entranceway, watching Florian straighten his shirt cuffs and fiddle with his collar as he prepared for—something. He was even posher and arranged than usual, and that was saying something.

"You off to the ball again?" Borenz asked, glancing at the sky. It had been a few days since Florian had lost his mind and lounged with him in the garden, and the days since had been filled with other such befuddling things. Such as Florian attempting to be civil to him, though in the end he always snapped at him, but didn't storm off nearly as much.

Borenz thought he might be ill and asked Gisela to call the finest doctors in the kingdom, but she'd merely shrugged and smiled and told him not to worry so very much about it.

"Not today," Florian replied, frowning down at himself before looking to the bear. "You stay here. I'll not be long, and if I return and find you've wandered off into some gods-forsaken mud pit again, I swear I will skin you and make you into a coat this time."

Borenz grinned and said nothing.

"I mean it. I shall bring you back some honey, so behave," Florian sniffed, turning up his nose.

"You're always on about the honey thing, I don't like it that much," Borenz replied, rising to his feet and scratching his neck idly with his front paw.

"I've seen how much you put in your porridge. I'm not blind."

"Don't know what you're talking about." Borenz tried to pretend he wasn't a mixture of happy and concerned that Florian paid enough attention to him to notice that. "Anyways, safe trip, prince. Don't get eaten by anything."

He cackled and Florian rolled his eyes.

However, before Florian departed, he walked closer and put his hand right on Borenz's head, right between his ears. Borenz froze, body stiff and he looked up uncertainly at Florian's face. His expression was unreadable and Borenz tightened up without meaning to as Florian rubbed his hand several times over Borenz's fur.

"All right, you— I'm— you go now, farewell!" Borenz stammered, yanking out from under Florian's hand. And, brave as he was, he dashed away into the palace on four clumsy paws, leaving Florian watching his retreat with cool amusement.

The evening had come and went and Florian had not yet returned home.

Not that he was concerned, right? Borenz sat in his room, sans bearskin, his foot jiggling where he had one leg crossed over the other. His mop of dark hair hung over his face and he frowned at the window. His foot jiggled harder as the worry in his gut solidified into a knot that he wished that he could just swallow and be rid of.

Nothing to be worried about, he told himself, absolutely nothing. Florian would be back eventually. He probably had slipped off to the ball and would be back much later. In that case, he'd put on his bearskin and go and find him and ruin his night again for Florian daring to lie to him and do things like pet him to throw him off—

As he stood and grabbed up the bearskin, it slipped from his hasty grasp and he cursed at himself as he accidentally flung it halfway across the room. He shuffled over to the skin, gripping it in one of his hands and staring down at it. He turned it in his grip, touching the fur on it and wondering if there was some appeal to it that he didn't get.

Rather—

Why was he feeling as though he didn't want to be a bear at all right now?

Borenz growled and rubbed his free hand in agitation over his head, his hair, messing it up even more than its usual disastrous state (better men and women than he had tried to tame it and failed). He was stupid. Trickery, teasing, and bearskin aside, there was no way that Florian had any interest in someone—something as brutish as himself. He lacked manners, he lacked shame, though apparently he didn't lack it enough if he was feeling it here at this late hour.

What am I doing? he wondered miserably as he gripped the bearskin.

Florian wouldn't like him like this. But he only knew how to be this way and changing was a scary, unsurmountable task that blocked his way like a great mountain. How easy it was to don the bearskin and pretend that he wasn't weak, that his heart didn't quail with worry at everything Florian did, that he didn't obsess over the thought of him doing something Borenz used to.

Pretending to be someone else, huh? Even though Borenz still did that too.

"Not a bear today?" a calm voice rung through the quiet room and Borenz gasped.

Florian stood behind him when he whipped around. Both of the prince's hands were behind his back and he surveyed the human Borenz with such a lack of surprise that Borenz reeled. He fumbled with his bearskin, intending to wrap himself up in it and—and—something, but Florian clucking his tongue stopped his movements.

"Kindly leave that off," he said crossly. "I don't care if you want to put it on again later, but I've something for you and I'd prefer to give it to hands and not paws."

Borenz didn't know what to say. Swallowing against his dry mouth, he cautiously asked: "You knew?"

Florian looked at him, unimpressed. "Of course I did."

"How?"

An unnervingly long silence. Florian held his eyes for most of it—and then he abruptly went red and looked away, shuffling his feet. "That's not important."

A sudden suspicion. A memory of a slightly ajar door and Borenz's mouth fell open. "You peeped on me," he whispered, affecting a scandalised tone as he clutched his bearskin to his body as though he were naked, trying desperately to cover himself.

"I said it wasn't important!" Florian shouted. "More importantly, would you take these already! Blast it!"

Amused by his flustered behaviour, Borenz looked down as the prince stuck out both hands and—

He'd brought a bouquet of flowers. Lilies and carnations, white and yellow and he was startled by that enough he didn't even look at Florian's other hand. Had he really noticed Borenz liked those flowers? When had he noticed? Cautious, he looked to Florian's other hand, at the large, palm-sized velvet box there.

"'s this?" Borenz asked gruffly, putting his bearskin aside to awkwardly take the bouquet first, holding it in the crook of his arm so he could take the box with both hands.

"Just open it," Florian mumbled.

Cautiously he did. What he found inside—

He started laughing and Florian went red but didn't snap or get angry. Instead, he just watched with what Borenz could only call a hopeful look.

"You got a ring for my paw?" Borenz guffawed, trying not to collapse, his legs wobbling under his feet.

Florian's face twisted. "And a fine trouble it was to find someone to make it," he griped. "Show some gratitude, you beast."

Borenz laughed harder, so hard that he had to sit on the floor, his face ducked down into the bouquet of flowers. The sweet scent made him laugh harder until he was sure he was crying from it—and he was. Both gifts tumbled from his hands as he sniffled and rubbed his knuckles against his eyes, trying desperately to wipe the stream of tears away.

"What—stop— Don't cry, Borenz," Florian stammered, dropping to his knees in front of him, his eyes wide. "I swear I got a properly sized ring—well, probably, I had to guess—I just thought you would like this one and maybe laugh, I didn't mean to make you cry—"

"You're ridiculous," Borenz sniffled, heels of his hands pressed against his eyes.

"You're ridiculous," Florian muttered, but he sounded worried. He wrapped his fingers around Borenz's wrists and tugged gently to coax them away from his eyes. When Borenz just looked at him with reddened eyes, he leant in to carefully peck a kiss to his mouth. "...Are you ready to show your real self to me? Bear or human, it doesn't matter to me, though it is much easier to kiss you like this."

He was so solemn, serious and— Florian actually liked him. Bearish and brutish that he was. Borenz's sincere worry about him and clumsy efforts to help him had gotten through to him. Well, maybe. It could be that Florian just had a thing for bears and bears that turned into young men.

Borenz grinned at him, grin dimming when Florian leant in to kiss where there were tear streaks on his cheeks. He flushed and tried to push him away, but Florian clung stubbornly to his wrists, sliding his fingers up to wrap around his forearms as much as he could.

"You saw most of the real already," he said. "Just fuzzier." He paused, wetting his lips with a flick of his tongue. "You can't take it back, you know? And you won't be able to get out of my sight to go getting mixed up with haughty princes from other kingdoms who won't do you any good... got it?"

Florian sighed and rolled his eyes. "Mother was right," he said, "you're just a nagging worrywart."

"And a prince," Borenz added quietly. Florian froze. Borenz's grin wobbled, but he stared straight into Florian's wide eyes. "...Surprise."

Florian stared at him longer, before he shook his head from side to side. "Unbelievable," he muttered. "That better be the last secret you're hiding away." He shuffled until he could sit in front of Borenz, stretching out his legs to either side so his feet pressed to the wall, effectively keeping Borenz in place.

"Yeah. Last one," Borenz said with a smile and, when Florian let his wrists go, he wrapped both of his arms around Florian. He easily engulfed him, pulled him close into an embrace—bear or not, Florian was still a tiny thing, who fit comfortably right against his chest, blond hair tickling his cheek.

Florian sighed deeply, relaxing, and Borenz's heart raced just to feel Florian slack and comfortable against him, warm breath puffing against his neck.

...Much, much later, Borenz wondered if his overbearing and terrifyingly proper older sister counted as a secret.

Oh well.

He could tell Florian about it in the morning.

THE END