Chapter Text
Discontent, annoyed, irritated, depressed. There were a lot of words to describe Ari, but nothing quite fit his current state of emotion like the good old phrase sick and fucking tired. Every day it was something new; bossy girls, annoying bullies, and family that disregarded anything he had to say, as if he had never even said anything at all. He couldn't stand it. His life was being directed for him and he could do nothing but watch and struggle. Any way out felt impossible, no matter what he tried.
"My son! I can't believe you had it in you all this time!"
A wedding. There was going to be a wedding. It had been decided for him; he was going to marry Marlene, or at least that was what his family had chosen. He never got the chance to say yes, never got the chance to say no. Ari had never agreed to a single part of this but they insisted that he had. They insisted he was excited. They made his mind up for him and he couldn't fucking stand it. Dragging him place to place to prepare for it and he couldn't voice his feelings in any of it.
"Do you like this dress better, or this one? Oh, Marlene would so beautiful in this, wouldn't you agree?"
Ari needed an out. Anything, any little thing to give him a way to escape. He could just run, right? That was an option, though how far could he realistically make it before his to-be-bride caught up. How far could he get before he felt the guilt collapse his feet?
And like a sign from heaven, it came.
An out in the form of a letter, addressed to him from the one and only Great Evil King himself, Stanley Hihat Trinidad XIV. It had much better handwriting than he expected -he had always assumed the King to be illiterate in the modern dialect- and was short and sweet but most certainly not to any point.
"Slave Ari, I need to speak to you in person about a recent discovery. It is urgent but I cannot say what about, for fear that you refuse. I will come to collect you shortly. The Ultimate Evil, Stanley."
What on Earth could he possibly need Ari for?
It didn't matter, because in just four days he was getting married and there was no way Stan was going to make it in time. Still, he hoped and -god forbid- prayed that he get whisked away before he had to spend the rest of his life forced into some agreement that he wanted no part of.
"Ari, are you even listening? We need to be deciding on what kind of food -"
Four days, he only had four days. Surely Stan would make it in time. After all, when had he ever been late? Well, minus the whole being asleep for 300 years thing.
"Why hasn't the alteration shop finished up yet we should have had the dress done a week ago!"
Three days. He found it harder and harder to sleep, and during the day his stomach felt like he was going to be sick, tied in a tight knot. It was as though his body was physically rejecting this entire idea, and yet nobody would listen to his protests. No one could see how the stress was affecting him.
"Annie, here, can I get you to help setting these tables up?"
Two days. When he looked in the mirror he could see the color had visibly drained from his face. He looked tired, gaunt, as though he had been afflicted with some terrible curse. How could the others look at him and think he was fine? It was so clear that he did not want this, and yet no one noticed.
He felt like he was going to vomit.
"Chin up, son, don't be getting cold feet now that you're so close. It'll be over and done before you know it!"
One day left. Oh god, why wasn't Stan here yet? He said it was urgent - for fuck's sake the demon could teleport! Why wasn't he here yet?!
There was no way Ari would be walking down that aisle, no way he was going to be marrying that girl. No matter how nice she acted to everybody, she still walked all over him and ignored almost if not every word he had to say and he couldn't do that to himself anymore. He couldn't let himself be overshadowed for the entire rest of his life.
"No seeing the bride until the ceremony! It's bad luck if you do!"
And before he knew it, the day arrived just like any other. The sun reared its light over the horizon, birds chirped as they did any other day, and if Ari didn't feel like he literally wanted to die he might have assumed nothing was different. Except his body was under so much stress he felt he might spontaneously combust.
He could hear knocking at his door, followed by ‘hurry up!' and the like from his nagging family and was ushered out the door and all the way to the church before he could even tell what was happening. Even with Ari protesting the entire way there and after they'd arrived, none of them seem to make note of it. They just chalked it up to nervousness or simply ignore him altogether. By the time he was there, he felt like he was about to pass out from stress and god fucking damnit where was Stan and why was it taking him this long and-
There was no time for fear, no time for thinking or rambling or ranting. Before he knew it, he was already in the middle of the ceremony and his vision was blurring and no, no, no, nO! This was not how he was going to spend the rest of his life!
Marlene walked through the church doors and Ari couldn't help but feel his heart sink. She looked absolutely stunning, glowing in her wedding dress and veil like it was what she was always meant to do. But not for him. Never for him. He didn't want this. He didn't want any part of it. Everything that happened wasn't meant for him, he was just the vessel they put all of their own selfish wants upon. It was a beautiful wedding and his family had put so much time and effort into it, and yet they couldn't even consider for a moment that he didn't want this.
His whole life overshadowed, his whole life decided for him… There were worse things that could happen, right?
Maybe this wasn't so bad. Maybe he was just being a brat and this would all pan out and he would be fine and he would learn to live with it.
His mind raced, trying to speed through the stages of grief and skip straight to acceptance.
"We're gathered here today to-"
No. This isn't what he wants.
Marlene gave him a strange look, like she could hear what he was thinking, but Ari knew she couldn't. He likely just had the same dumbass look on his face like he'd been wearing for the past week. In the crowd he could see his mother crying happily, his father looking on with pride, his neighbors and the like looking on with awe and jealousy.
"And now, if either the Bride or Groom have vows of their own they would like to say-"
Run. Ari, just run. All he wanted was to run. From day of of this nightmare that's all he had been thinking, but he can't. Too many weeks and months late, he can't even try to move his legs. So instead he stands, looking at Marlene on the other side of the aisle like it's the same as staring down a barrel of a gun.
She's not a bad girl, she's fine, she's pretty, she would no doubt make anyone else happy but… not him. He doesn't want anything to do with her, at least not romantically. Maybe it had nothing to do with her at all, truthfully, but even having been betrothed for so long he couldn't find it in him to care. The only thing he wanted was…
The door of the church slammed open with a deafening BOOM. There were gasps and exclamations from the audience, but none even come close to the look of pure and absolute rage forming on the bride's face. Without a care in the world, soaking up all of the angry glares and disgusted stares, the interrupter saunters up to the bride and groom, waving and cackling all the while. Slicked back hair, broad shoulders only accentuated by his giant, magnificent collar. Why it could be none other than the one and only -
"Stan!"
Ari couldn't have been more pleased with his timing, aside from the fact that he would've had to say his vows if Stan had been just a minute or two later. Leave it to the Great Evil King to give himself such a grand entrance.
"You are not welcome here." Marlene snarled, her beautiful makeup not helping to cover up the nasty expression on her face. Something like an angry dog, Stan would say.
"Pfft, as if I need your approval for anything. Now step aside, I've come to collect Ari." Stan held firm, his cocky smirk widening in turn as he watched Marlene become even more red-faced and angry. Truthfully she had every right to be mad, but Ari wasn't about to stick to her side on this matter.
"You will not! Ari is going to get married to me and we will not have you mucking this up-" She protested, but it did little to dissuade the demon. Stan let out a hearty laugh, the kind that devolved into one of his maniacal cackles.
"Listen well, because I will not repeat myself. I am the Great Evil King, Stanley Hihat Trinidad XIV, and for as long as I live, this boy will be bound to me and me alone." A declaration the likes of which shook the room, and he revelled in their glares and murmurs.
He extended a hand out to Ari, who stood there, stammering and unsure.
‘Is this really a good idea?'
Regardless of what his gut was saying, regardless of the doubt, the fear, the feeling of so many eyes staring at him and judging him, he took Stan's hand. The demon smiled at him, genuine and kind.
"Try if you want, but I will not give him to you, and if you were to try and take him I would have no choice but to steal him back each and every time. He is mine. Remember that well." Much to the would-be-groom's dismay, Stan reached down to pick him up, doing so with such ease it was embarrassing. Stanley's strong arms hooked under Ari's back and legs, pressing his face to Stan's chest like it was meant to be there.
He had stolen the groom bridal-style. How appropriate.
Behind them, Marlene stomped and huffed, but Stan paid her no mind.
"Now, if you will all excuse us, we have a world to conquer and false evil to squash!" Stan bolted it out the church, Marlene yelling obscenities and swears at him. Through the streets of Tenel his villainous laugh echoed, along with Ari's occasional yelp when Stan nearly ran into unsuspecting passerbys. It didn't matter to either of them who saw this strange display, after all it wasn't like Ari would be returning here anytime soon. Go ahead, let them see!
As if Ari would ever verbalize something like that, though.
When they had finally reached the outskirts of town they found James waiting for them with an excited and mischievous look on his face as always.
"Master Stan! The spell is ready for you when you are!" He piped up, a dimly lit circle beginning to form underfoot.
"Good work, James. Take us home!" Stan hollered out as they approached, barely slowing down in time to not barrel into the butler. As they turned back around briefly to get a look at the town they noticed that Marlene was still hot on their trail, followed shortly by Ari's mother and father. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel the weight of guilt heavy on his soul.
"Home?" A feeling of panic filled him when he heard the word, looking wide-eyed at Stan for an explanation.
"Ari, get back here this instant!" His seething, screaming bride-to-be was fast approaching.
Stan finally sat Ari down to his feet, and met him at eye level.
"Make your choice now, slave, do you want to go with me, and help me with my conquest, or return to them and live the rest of your life in this stagnant hell?" Stan asked, his voice serious, his bright eyes staring right into Ari's as though they could see into his very soul.
Even if he wanted to, there was no way Ari was going to fix this situation as it was now, both of them knew that. As it was, the only way forward was to run.
"I don't think I could stand to live my life here. I… I want to go with you, Stan." Ari confessed, his voice wavering and his hands shaking, but he meant it with his whole chest. In return, Stan grinned wide, not just his toothy, shit-eating grin, but an actual honest smile. Ari couldn't help but mirror it.
"Alright then, hold on tight!" Stan pulled him in close, to which Ari wrapped his arms around the taller man's midsection.
The ground below them lit up bright, and before they knew it Tenel was but a distant memory.
-
The world was a blur. Arriving at their destination, Ari could feel the ground beneath his feet, but it felt weird, as though it were far away and moving like quicksand. His vision swam, his head dizzy to the point he felt faint.
Slowly, so slowly, the world was finally coming back into view and holy shit, was that a castle?!
"Careful there, boy, don't need you falling to your death." With a strong hand to his waist, Ari was snatched from nearly walking straight off of the bridge laid out in front of them. Looking up, Ari found the hand belonged to Stan. It held for just a moment longer than truly necessary, but he didn't fight it. His entire body felt so strange from the teleportation magic that it was well enough warranted.
"Is this… your castle?" Ari asked, eyes finally working well enough to marvel at the sight in front of them.
They had teleported to a floating pillar of sorts, not unlike how the Highlands geography was, and in front of them stretched out a long bridge connected to an even larger island of land that hosted a massive castle.
Stan gave a brief nod towards the castle, silently insisting Ari cross the bridge towards it. Despite reservations about it - a simple rope bridge over a seemingly endless pit to nothingness would put anyone on edge - they made their way across and inside.
The interior felt just as magnificent and extravagant as the exterior, a home far too large for one man, but with the way Stan filled the space with his presence it almost felt suitable. No longer a simple shadow, Ari had to get used to the way he was in fact a three dimensional being now, something that he never even considered he would have to do.
"Impressive, isn't it? I'm sure you're just absolutely astounded to be here, what with it's incredible beauty and-"
"Yeah, it's pretty nice." Ari offered flatly, cutting him off.
Stanley squinted at him, approaching a step to tower over the young man. "Listen, slave. Just because I asked you here does not mean you're permitted to back-sass me." For all the boasting he gave, Ari was barely phased by the display and only gave a complacent nod of sorts. It was enough to satiate the demon king though.
"Wasn't there something you needed to talk to me about? That letter you sent, you said it was ‘urgent'?"
"Ah, well… As it turned out it wasn't as urgent as we initially thought. 'We' being myself and Epros. He had been going through some old files from the Gear Tower and found a document about you, specifically your classification." Stan walked as he talked, escorting the Ari through the castle as if to give him some kind of half-ass'd tour. All the while, Ari was more occupied by what Stan was saying, rather than what he was doing, and hadn't noticed when they stepped out of one of the many hallways and into a room.
"My classification? What about it?" Ari insisted, a deep sense of agitation boiling up from something inside of him he thought he had long buried. "I thought Beiloune was gone for and none of that mattered anymore!"
"You don't have a classification. Or rather, you did have one but it was scratched out. Looked to be a bit long, maybe two short words or one long word. Epros told me that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get a clear decipher of it nor are there any copies of the document. So it is troublesome, but we won't ever know unless something brings it to light." As he spoke, Stan nonchalantly worked to remove parts of his own outfit. First his coat, then his button up, and it was only when he reached for his pants that Ari finally snapped to and realized where they were; Stan's bedroom. It was a wonder he hadn't realized until then, considering how elegant and ornate the furniture and decor was.
"W-w-what are you doing?" Ari brought his hands up to cover his eyes, fully turning away to hide how red his face had become.
"I'm changing into something a touch more comfortable. Suits look sharp and commanding, perfect for a King, but they're hardly what I wear for comfort. I'm assuming that it's also something you would like to change out of as well, slave." Suddenly there's a shirtless Stan far too close to Ari and even with the couple extra inches he had gotten since he last saw the king, he's still staring up at those glowing amber eyes. "You know, I never saw you wear anything different when we were on our adventure together, just that same-old get up, and I have to say you do look rather dashing in a suit, but it's not you. And your hair-"
Before he could protest, Ari's hair was being groomed, the king running a comb through his hair. For all of the might and physical prowess he possessed, Stan was surprisingly gentle about the whole process, trying as best as he could to not yank the poor guy's hair in one way or another. The whole ordeal was honestly very pleasant, even if Ari would never openly admit to something like that - but given the expression he was giving, Stan could assume he was enjoying himself.
"There, that looks better. Can't have you trailing behind me looking disheveled and unhappy." Turning to look at Stan's vanity mirror, Ari had to agree. He had pulled most of his hair to the side, and it looked more like how he usually styled it, but with a certain touch to it that spoke of how Stan saw him. It was a good look, though, much better than the pulled-back nonsense his mother tried forcing on him for his wedding day.
At the very least he still had his precious headband on, it was the one thing he refused adamantly on changing.
"If you'd like, I can have James arrange to get you some clothes from a nearby town. Just make him a list of a few things you'd like and need, considering going and getting anything from your old house is, ahem," He looked away. "Well… it's not exactly an option."
"After that, we're going to settle in for the night and head out early in the morning." Stan turned back to his wardrobe.
"Sounds fine by me." Ari agreed, writing down a small list of things and passing it off to James and offering a quick ‘thanks' before the butler ran off at warp-speed - literally.
Shortly after, Stan threw on a more comfortable shirt -finally, it seemed like he was walking around shirtless for ages- and the two walked off into the castle, Stan needing to put together a few things for the upcoming trip and Ari simply wandering aimlessly through the castle.
In the dining hall, Ari was poking his nose around at all of the old artifacts from Stan's past lives, his legacy, so to say. Dusty relics, honestly, but they meant something to somebody, and to Stan they meant something worth dying for, something worth killing for, something worth living for. To be honest, Ari almost envied that, as he had nothing but himself at this point, and even then hardly that.
"Admiring my collection?" Stan asked, sneaking up on Ari and giving him a bit of a startle.
"Oh, ah, yeah, sure. I'm, uh, I'm actually kinda tired. What room did you say was the guest room again?" At this, Stan merely gave a laugh, almost as if the question itself was ridiculous. Ari couldn't tell what was so funny though, and just cocked his head.
"You'll be using my room." Stan exclaimed as thought it were so utterly normal and Ari felt his face heating up at the thought. "It's not as if we didn't share a room every night during our journey together."
"I mean, I guess so yeah, but-"
"No but's! Now let's get you a change of clothes and get you to bed, I can't have my slave slacking behind tomorrow because you're tired." Exuberant and invasive as always, he practically scooped the boy up and -after much squabbling from Ari finally let him walk the rest of the way- showed him to the massive closet of clothes that he could have access to provided he treated the clothing with the utmost care. It didn't take long for Ari to settle on a simple oversized shirt and the look he got from Stan was something he had never seen on him - a look of dazzlement. For once in his life he was speechless.
Ari wasn't entirely sure, but he could have sworn he heard the word ‘cute' from under the king's breath. Could have just been his imagination, though. After all, he was absolutely drained from the day. Comfortable in his choice of clothes, he turned the lights off.
Behind, he heard the door close, and he assumed Stan had left the room to go about whatever other business he had to do. Simple enough.
In nothing but the borrowed shirt and his boxers he walked over to the bed, noting how large it was for just one person - he could only laugh if this bed was actually king size like he assumed it was. Either way, he pulled the covers over himself and was just about to fall asleep when he felt something from behind him, a pressure on the bed that he hadn't expected.
Stan was right next to him, practically spooning Ari he was so close.
Of course it caught him off guard, and he nearly kicked the king for how surprised he was.
"What's the fuss about. You should be used to me being this close to you, considering how much time I spent inside of your shadow." Stanley's voice was unamused, though perhaps just drained as well. It seemed as though there was a lot on his mind, regardless of what he was willing to divulge to Ari.
"That was different." Ari huffed out, but when Stan didn't protest back he simmered down. "Fine, you can stay there, but no funny ideas, alright?"
He pulled the blanket up to cover himself and settled in.
No matter how much he may have protested, it felt somewhat comforting to have Stan's presence so close. Just that morning he had been expecting to live the rest of his life tied down by those that thought they knew what was best for him, but now? He was instead being held up and supported by someone that was trying to figure out some truth to his existence, as vague as it may be.
It wasn't lost on him that it still was him being led along as though on a leash, but he didn't mind this.
Something about Stan offered a sense of comfort he found difficult to place, but the longer he laid next to him the easier it felt to relax, and for once, there were no nightmares to speak of. For the first time in a long time, he slept well.