#faces form faces. phrases come in phases. take me to the palace. make me think im famous OKAY

[marsbotz]

how i look listening to hollywood

hollywood csh im so sorry i ever said anything bad about you

[ewankoseyo]

do you trust me? || jackson imagine

A/N: A short corny thing, because I just watched the new Aladdin and the comeback put me in a writer’s block lol

“You are only as happy as the unhappiest person in your kingdom.”

Your mother would often tell you this when you were a child. As she’d gently run her fingers through your hair, aiding you into slumber, she would tell you stories about her life in her home country. Each story ended with some sort of life lesson, but for some reason, this one had always stuck out to you. The kingdom would someday be yours—some palace workers argued that it would actually belong to whoever would be your husband, but you could iron out those small details later—so you vowed to study and train diligently to be a benevolent ruler. Your biggest goal as the future ruler was to be happy, and that only came from the happiness of your people.

So when you saw those children at the village market staring longingly at the loaves of bread, it was almost instinctual for you to do something about it.

“Are you hungry?” You grabbed two loaves from the cart and handed it to the kids. It warmed your heart to see their faces light up immediately, a complete-180 from their starved expressions earlier. “Please eat.”

As soon as the children happily ran off with their bread, you felt someone grab you abruptly by the wrist.

“You better be able to pay for that.”

You turned to see the biggest and scariest man you’d ever seen on glowering down at you. His grip became tighter.

You tried to squirm out of his grasp. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any money—”

“You dare steal from my cart, you thief?!”

Before you knew it, the shopkeeper had your arm held down on a cutting board and a knife raised, ready to strike. You cowered in fear.

“Please sir, I didn’t mean to—”

“Whoa, hey buddy! Let’s not be too hasty!”

He seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“I’m sure we can come up with a bargain.”

He was a young man with messy brown hair and dirt dusting his face. He had come between you and the shopkeeper, one hand holding onto the shopkeeper’s raised arm and the other taking yours off the chopping block. His grip was rough yet warm.

The shopkeeper scoffed, but slowly put down his knife. “Bargain?! With a street rat like you?!”

“Would this fancy bracelet solve things?” The young man held up a familiar-looking golden bracelet with an emerald jewel in the middle. You looked down at your now-bare wrist in bewilderment.

“Hey, that’s mine!” You tried to shove passed the young man to get your bracelet back but he held you back as he handed it to the shopkeeper.

“Good doing business with you.” The shopkeeper nodded in approval as he placed the bracelet in his pocket.

The young man grinned at the shopkeeper as he laced his fingers through yours. “Sorry about her, sir. It won’t happen again. Here’s an apple while we’re at it.” The young man banged a board on a nearby table with his fist, catapulting an apple into the air for the shopkeeper to catch. With a small wave of his free hand, the young man left with you in tow.

“What are you doing?” You whispered angrily to him, struggling to stop him as he pulled you along. “I can’t leave without my—”

“Bracelet?” The young man slyly held up the item you were so sure was gone forever.

Your jaw dropped. “But how did you...?”

“Guards, stop him! It’s Jackson, he’s a thief!”

He shoved the bracelet into his pocket. “We can talk about this later, but now we should probably run!”

Despite your better judgement and out of pure curiosity and adrenaline, you let him—Jackson, was it?—pull you along through the busy street. Though you were dodging food stands and outrunning guards by a hair for your life, you felt a certain excitement within you. In a short time, you were feeling more alive than you ever did in your whole life.

“Get back here, you street rat!”

“This way,” Jackson directed. You two had approached a fork in the path and the guards were steadily approaching. He pulled you towards the path on the left.

“You’re going to get us in trouble,” you scolded him, though your worry didn’t quite match the way your lips slowly curved into a smile.

He glanced your way and smirked as he continued his rushed steps.

“You’re only in trouble if you get caught.”

You didn’t know the utterance of one simple phrase could cause your heart to flutter so much.

Jackson led you down a narrow alleyway. He pulled on a rope hanging from a beam, causing wooden blocks to emerge from a wall to form steps. He turned to see you staring skeptically at the steps.

“Do you trust me?”

“What?” Jackson smiled softly, his eyes following, as he offered you his hand.

“You’ve let a complete stranger drag you around town, but I just needed to check—do you trust me?”

“Yes,” you replied slowly but surely, taking his hand and allowing him to help you up the steps. Sure, Jackson was a stranger, but something told you you had to follow him—for Jackson’s gaze seemed to hold all the answers to the outside world you longed to know.

“Welcome to my...humble abode,” Jackson announced almost shyly after the two of you climbed up a ways. He pulled on another rope that lifted a torn cloth over the room, exposing the small space and allowing sunlight to peak in. “It isn’t much, but you can hang out here until it’s safe. Would you like some tea?”

You could only nod as you scanned the small room—some cloth thrown over an old rug in the corner for a bed, rationed food on the other side of the room, holes in the floorboards. You felt your heart break at the sight. How could your kingdom allow its people to live like this?

“How long have you lived here?”

“I lost my parents when I was a kid and I’ve lived here ever since,” Jackson replied nonchalantly as he prepared the tea.

Your eyes flew to him. He didn’t seem at all phased by the question nor his answer, instead humming softly to himself with that same grin as before. “You spent all those years here...alone?”

His smile grew as he caught your concerned expression, seemingly telling you not to worry. “It’s not all bad, I’ve got the best view in town.” He nudged his head towards some steps that led to a lookout. Intrigued, you walked up and was instantly taken aback by the view.

You always wondered what the world outside of the palace gates was like. It was one thing to experience it up close, but to see your whole kingdom bustling with life from the view of the gods was something else. You could feel your heart swell with pride. You looked up towards the distance and grimaced at a familiar sight. “Wow, you can see the palace from here.”

“Looks pretty amazing, doesn’t it?” Jackson appeared next to you and handed you a steaming cup of tea before settling down on the small seat with you.

You nodded a thanks. “Must be wonderful.”

“I wonder what it’s like to live there,” Jackson mused as he took a sip of his tea. “To have people serving you, wear the finest silks, sleep in the softest bed...”

“Sure, people always telling you where to go and how to act...To be seen but never heard...”

“It would definitely be a lot better than here.” Jackson turned to you, a tinge of sadness cloaking his features. “Always having to scrape for food and running from guards...”

“You’re never free to make your own choices...”

“Sometimes you feel so...”

“You’re just...”

“Trapped.”

You gazed at each other knowingly, your smile soon matching his. You had never told anyone how you really felt—no one at the palace had ever let you.

“So, you seem to be very opinionated about life in the palace...” Jackson raised an eyebrow in amusement, his smirk returning to his lips as he watched your face pale.

“Oh, it’s just because I—”

“Live there?” If possible, your skin had gone almost tranluscent from the shock. Jackson put his cup down so he could turn to you fully. “You’re not so sly, Princess.”

“H-how did you know—”

Jackson reached into his pocket and pulled out your bracelet. “This is all real. No one outside of the palace would ever have this. It’s too nice for a palace worker to wear and you are the only living female member of the royal family, so you must be of the Princess.”

You took your bracelet from him and busied yourself with putting it back on, too embarrassed to meet his gaze. “...That was impressive.”

“Also, any girl as beautiful as you is surely a princess. Or at least, I think she should be treated like one.” Jackson beamed once again at your flushed form before looking back at the view. “But not being able to be yourself, huh? Well, that’s not fair.”

You glanced at him from the corner of your eyes and smiled to yourself, appreciative of his absence of change in behavior at the revelation. “Oh yeah? And...?”

“And...I wish there was something I could do about it.” You finally looked up at him and your heart fluttered just as it did earlier. Without thinking, you were shifting closer to him.

Without thinking, Jackson wasn’t pulling away.

“I think that’s really...sweet.”

Jackson was about to say something else when you two heard the sounds of horns in the distance. You looked towards the village you were in earlier to see a royal procession making its way towards the palace.

“That’s—”

“A prince from a neighboring kingdom hoping to have your hand in marriage?” Jackson interrupted. His eyebrows had furrowed a bit, hardening his expression. “It’s all anyone has been talking about lately, who you’re going to marry. It seems that no one has been deemed worthy to be with you yet.”

You studied his face, attempting to decipher his crestfallen expression. “It’s all politics. They just want to marry me for our kingdom’s riches. I just wished people understood that I don’t need to marry anyone to be able to take care of my people, I’m perfectly capable of ruling by myself. And when I do want to get married, I wish for it to be out of love, not leverage.”

He tilted his head curiously. “And do you think you’ll be able to find love, Princess?”

“I certainly hope so,” you sighed, slowly getting up. “That procession is my cue to return to the palace and push back my marriage again by rejecting this prince. Thank you for getting me out of that mess, Jackson. I’ll find a way to repay you someday.”

Jackson shook his head before getting up on his feet as well. “No need to, any decent person would have done that.”

“Let me rephrase that—I need an excuse to see you again.”

“Oh, well, now that...” Now it was Jackson’s turn to be taken aback. Your own lips twisted into a smirk as you watched him turn beet red. “I’ll have to see you once again, because I’ll need to return this to you.”

You looked down at your wrist to see that it was empty once again. “How did you—you really are a thief, aren’t you?”

He gave you a teasing smile before shrugging. “I steal only what I can’t afford—and that’s everything.”

You playfully shoved him before meeting his gaze. “Well, goodbye Jackson. Thank you for one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I really hope to see you again one day.”

After you were gone, Jackson kept grazing his fingers over the spot on his cheek that your lips had touched before leaving. Today was hands down the best day of his life. He had run into the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on—the Princess, no less— and for once, he had met someone who understood exactly how he felt. His heart soared as his free hand toyed with your bracelet.

Though there was a sense of finality in your words, Jackson was sure that he would return your bracelet to you one day—for your gaze seemed to hold the future and the glimmer in your eyes was the certain hope that he would meet you again soon.

Jackson was known as the street rat who stole jewelry from the villagers in a matter of seconds, but you were the Princess who just as quickly stole his heart.

——