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Ryan shrugged. "True, I don't know anything beyond fluffy mattresses and silk sheets." Ryan thought for a minute. "Trying to explain how much I don't want this to happen is... Nearly impossible." Ryan sifted his weight so his legs were stretched out. "Let me tell you something: My entire life has been spent inside the castle walls. When I was thirteen, I got locked in my room for trying to run away. I spent three years in that room. I can't say no to my parents. I've tried. I've given them so many explanations, logical essays, everything I could think of. At this point, I will take any chance I have to go against their will. I might say 'I don't' at the wedding ceremony just to see what happens." Ryan sat back to see Haru's reaction.

Ryan sat for a while, slightly slackjawed. Stay... Missing? Not go back to his own personal hell? That sounded like the best offer he'd heard in his life.
"But... What... What would I do? I don't... I don't even know..." It occurred to Ryan then that he had no actual skills: He was an amazing diplomat and not bad at piano, but he was pitifully weak and had no idea what sort of job a skinny, silver-tongued boy could do.

Ryan's heartbeat sped up a little when Haru cupped his face, and Ryan really hoped he wasn't blushing. This was almost exactly what the ugly prince his sister was marrying would do to him, only Ryan was pretty sure Haru didn't realize.
"I- I've talked my into and out of a lot of places, but that was when I was little. I don't know how well it'd work now..." Ryan was pretty? Wasn't pretty for girls? He was pretty girly, though. Girls liked guys.
"I guess it's just... Up to the king, then." Ryan mentally chastised himself- no way in the world that Haru liked men. It was some stupid mental defect, right? That's what his mother told him. But then again, his mother locked him in his room for three years, so maybe it wasn't a defect.
Ryan needed to stop thinking.

"And if he doesn't agree, I'll leave some extremely expensive wine in the gardens for you to acquire." Ryan laughed, deciding to think positively. "Maybe I could teach myself to pick locks and run into the wilderness to become a hermit. I might actually do that, now that I think of it." Ryan had given up on trying to figure out what was up with Haru and just accept that he liked him, as a friend or more, he didn't know. He'd just met him, yet Ryan had already told Haru how much he hated his home. He didn't even tell his sisters that.
And Haru had offered him an alternative, even if it wasn't for sure. Any alternative, no matter how unlikely, seemed better than the default.

Ryan gave Haru a cheeky grin. "That's awfully trusting of you." Though he wouldn't run away, he didn't want to go home and there wasn't anywhere else to go. The idea of staying was one he liked immensely.
"Though I haven't the slightest idea of how picking locks actually works."

Ryan shrugged, accepted the lockpick, and looked it over. It looked simple enough. Ryan decided to give it a go. He fiddled with his ankle chains for a bit, getting the feel of it.
"That... Wasn't very hard." Ryan commented, surprised, as the chains opened up with a click. Though his hands were going to be harder, he supposed. Ryan stretched his legs out, then started on his hands, driven by this newfound ability.

"Whatever you say then. And you can call me Ryan, I hate being called 'Your Majesty' and 'Your highness'. It sounds stupid." Ryan fumbled with the lock pick, finally hearing a distinct click and the wrists coming undone. "Hey, all done! Maybe next time I'll try with my eyes closed."

Ryan grinned. He felt more accepted here than he ever had at home. Why hadn't he gotten kindnapped sooner? Honestly, this was way better than 'sit still and look princely no straighten your back sit tall use the THIRD fork not the FIFTH one!!'
"Aye aye Cap'n!" he said jokingly.