Okay so I mentioned in the comments on the previous chapter that I was planning on bringing this story to a close, and so now I'm just mentioning it in the story. Don't get me wrong, I love this story and I love where it's gone, and I don't think I've ever been more proud of something I've written. However, it has to end eventually, and I've started another fanfiction, and I'd like to focus primarily on that one. I have an idea of how I'm gonna end this, and I hope you guys like it. But the end won't come for another couple chapters, because I'm going to try to stretch out my idea and try to make it last for a couple chapters. We'll see.

By the way, this is random and unimportant but I'm listening to the Ultimate Storytime soundtrack on repeat as I write. I'm literally addicted to this soundtrack. This is, like, the ten thousandth time I've listened to it. Anyways, so of course I had to put the song "Birds" in the chapter, and thankfully Thomas posted a cover of "Birds" sung by him and Dodie on YouTube, so I put the link in the chapter and you can listen to it and marvel at how stunningly beautiful it is. Also, it appears later in the chapter.

~~~

I heard a knock at my door. Whoever it was waited a moment, then they came in. I was still mostly asleep, but slowly gaining consciousness. But in my tiredness, I didn't look to see who it was. I kept my eyes closed, hoping to get a little more sleep.

"Anxiety," The voice said. "C'mon, Anxiety, wake up."

It's Prince.

"No." I mumbled in my sleep.

Prince laughed. "C'mon, wake up. Trust me, it's worth it."

I just groaned in my tiredness.

Prince walked over to my bed. "Wait, hold on. You sleep in your hoodie?"

"It's comfy. Don't judge me." I said. "Why are you waking me up anyways?"

"I guess it's just returning the favor for that time you woke me up in Sleeping Beauty," Prince said, and I wasn't looking at him, but I could tell he was smiling.

"Oh." I said. "Then I'm not waking up until you kiss me, Prince."

"That can be arranged." Prince smirked flirtatiously, and he leaned over on my bed and kissed me.

I willed myself to wake up.

"Oh, look! It works! This must be true love." Prince joked.

"Must be," I said. I rubbed at my eyes and yawned.

"Alright, Sleeping Beauty, wake up fully because we have a big day ahead of us." Prince said.

"We do? What's happening?" I asked. "Also, shouldn't you be the one we call Sleeping Beauty? You were the one who got cursed, not me."

"Also because I'm a beauty?" Prince smirked.

"Whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better, Princey." I teased.

"You're so mean to me, Anxiety." Prince joked.

"Get over it," I said. "Anyways, where are we going?"

Prince smiled. He had a mischievous look in his eyes. "You'll see."

"You're scaring me, Prince." I said.

"Oh, wow, did I just scare fear itself?" Prince teased. "Anyways, just trust me. It'll be fun."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"9:00." Prince said.

"Oh god, that's way too early." I complained.

"9:00 is too early for you? C'mon, Anxiety." Prince said.

"I like to sleep in. There's nothing wrong with that." I said. "So how long will we be at this mystery place?"

"We'll be out all day." Prince said.

"Ooh," I said. "Are we going to Orlando?"

"Okay, stop trying to guess it. It'll ruin the surprise." Prince said.

"So it is Orlando?" I asked.

"I'm not going to confirm nor deny that." Prince said.

"You're no help." I sighed.

"That's the point." Prince said.

I got up out of bed.

"You know, you look a lot different in the morning." Prince said. "You're not wearing your makeup, and you have the cutest little bedhead."

"Shut up or I will murder you." I said. "I refuse to believe you wake up looking that perfect every morning."

"I'm the living definition of perfect in the mornings." Prince said.

I snorted. "Yeah, right."

I walked into the bathroom to get ready. I came out a little less than half an hour later with wet hair. I had thrown on a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and my signature hoodie, which I had just worn, but it was okay to wear again.

I walked over to my dresser. I had a mirror propped up against the wall, and I grabbed my makeup kit and started applying it.

"Ooh, you're doing your makeup?" Prince slid out of my bed where he had been laying, listening to Disney songs through his headphones, and walked over to where I was standing. His tone was one of intrigue.

"I mean, I certainly don't magic my makeup on every day." I replied.

Prince started to go through my makeup bag.

"Hey, be careful." I told him.

He pulled out an eyeliner pencil. "Why do you have a colored pencil in your makeup bag?"

"That's an eyeliner pencil, stupid." I informed him lovingly.

Prince put back the eyeliner pencil. He found my eyeshadow palette and opened it. "Wait, wait, wait, Anxiety... There are actually light colors in here!"

"Yeah, Ben gave me that when he first taught me makeup." I said.

"Ben J Pierce?" Prince asked.

I nodded. "He taught me the basics of makeup. Skin tone, applying it, that stuff."

"But Ben has such a different look than you do." Prince said.

"Yeah, I consulted the internet for that part of it. It was mostly tips from emo Tumblr blogs and a lot of experimenting." I said.

"As one would expect from our resident emo nightmare." Prince said.

"That's a title that I happily accept." I said.

"Hey, Anxiety?" Prince said, somewhat out of the blue. "Do you think you could teach me makeup? Just the basics. And I'm only going to wear eyeshadow on my eyelids. And I'm not gonna coat myself in white foundation."

I looked at him in surprise. "You want to learn makeup?"

Prince looked off into the distance and ran his hand through his hair awkwardly. "I mean, uh, yeah, if that's okay..."

I smirked. "Prince, I have never been more proud of you than I am at this moment." Prince smiled at me. "Of course I'll show you makeup."

"Thank you, Anxiety." Prince said.

"Okay, let's start with the eyes." I said.

I was sure to be gentle when I applied Prince's makeup. I told him what I was doing through the whole thing and I walked him through it, although I'm pretty sure half of it didn't make sense to him. He just nodded and let me do what I thought was best, which I thought showed great faith in me, especially since he doesn't like my look. Although it wasn't much of a teaching experience if I was doing it for him.

When I finally finished, I let Prince pick out a lipstick from my bag because he was so hung up on using lipstick. I let him apply his own lipstick, and he did, then put the lipstick back in my bag and looked in the mirror.

"You like it?" I asked.

Prince nodded. "Thanks, Anxiety."

"Anytime." I said.

My own makeup was ready to go, so I took a comb and brushed my bangs in front of my face on purpose, and then I turned to Prince. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Perfect," Prince smiled. "Just wait, today's gonna be amazing."

Prince grabbed my hand gently and led me out of my room and outside to Thomas's car. Prince got in the driver's seat, because he was the only one who knew where we were going, as he refused to spill.

After a couple minutes, Prince pulled into the parking lot of his destination, and I saw where we were.

We were at Ulta, the makeup store.

I turned to Prince. "Is this about you wanting to learn makeup?"

"Not exactly." Prince said. "You need darker eyeshadow, and... This is the only makeup store I know of."

"I need darker eyeshadow?" I asked.

"Well... Remember a long time ago, I asked you what your 2017 New Year's resolution would be if you had to have one, and you said to buy darker eyeshadow, and I called you an emo nightmare?" Prince said. "Well, I mean, it's still 2017. It's not too late now. Besides, you're going to want to have darker eyeshadow to perfect that whole emo thing you have going on there."

"Wow, that was a long time ago." I said. "Well... Thank you, Prince."

"You're welcome," Prince sang it to the tune of the song from Moana.

"I should've known you would do that." I said.

Prince and I walked into Ulta and started looking at eyeshadow. I picked out a dark black eyeshadow, and Prince insisted on buying it for me, because today's supposed to be romantic.

Well, he is Prince, after all. Romance is what he does best. I would know. I'm his boyfriend.

After Ulta, Prince and I made our way back to the car.

"So how many different destinations are we going to have today?" I asked.

"Several," Prince said.

"So it's not Disney or something," I said.

"No, but that's a wonderful idea for a future date day." Prince said.

"So where are we going now?" I asked.

"I'm not going to tell you. That ruins everything." Prince said.

I knew my best bet was to wait for when we got there, so that's what I did.

It wasn't long before Prince pulled into yet another parking lot and by the looks of it, we were in some sort of park.

"The park?" I turned to Prince.

Prince nodded. "Yup."

Prince and I walked out into the park. The trees provided shade, and the park just had an overall calming aesthetic to it.

"Oh, look, there's a bird," Prince pointed to a bird in a tree. "Trying to spot a lark, in the park, parked in nature all alone."

I looked at him. "What song is that? It's not Disney."

"Its 'Birds'. You know..." Prince sung a verse. "I just wanna watch the birds go by, from my handy foldable blue canvas throne. I wanna watch them fly and fly, and see them soar up into the unknown. But I'd feel just like a nerd, watching birds, watching me here all alone."

"Sounds... vaguely familiar, but I can't place it." I said.

"It's from Thomas's musical, The Ultimate Storytime." Prince said. "You need to listen to the soundtrack sometime. It's beautiful."

"Oh, right, his musical. That makes sense." I said.

"Well then, Anxiety, you want to watch birds?" Prince smirked at me.

"Alright. Strangely, I've always liked it. It's calming, and I could definitely use that." I said. "But, um, Prince? Just out of curiousity.... How does the rest of the song go?"

Prince grinned at me. "You want me to sing it for you?"

"Well, I mean, I was just curious. Nothing more." I said, but Prince saw right through me.

Prince took my hand gently, and we sat down on the grass, shaded by the trees. Prince started to sing the song.

I don't want to drive a fancy car today
I don't want to ride in a red corvette
I don't want to jog my Saturday away
But I don't wanna go home yet

Today is not the day to jump out of a plane
I don't want to parasail or play roulette
I don't wanna risk it all or go insane
But I don't wanna go home yet

I just wanna watch the birds go by
From my handy foldable blue canvas throne
I wanna watch them fly and fly
And see them soar up into the unknown

But I'd feel just like a nerd
Watching birds
Watching me here all alone

I don't wanna breakdance or learn taekwondo
I don't want to fish till all the fish are gone
I don't want to roller skate even if it's slow
I don't want to pass out in a marathon

I don't like soccer, baseball, track or field
I'm not up for a match of polo
I don't wanna seek or try to stay concealed
I'm also not up for water polo

I just wanna watch the birds up there
Track the migratory patterns that they've flown
I wanna watch them from my chair
With my binoculars, my latte, and my phone

Trying to spot a lark
In the park
Parked in nature all alone

Alone here with the doves, the sparrows, the ospreys
The owlets, the egrets, and my list
It's just me and Mr. Finch,
The robins, the king fishers, the snipes
Though I've heard they don't exist

Each little specie in its own way
Can teach me what awaits you if you can get away

I wanna watch the birds do what they will
Sorry if I'm ornithologically prone
I wanna watch from somewhere undisturbing, quiet, calm, and still
Sit right here and gaze at the unknown

I don't wanna fly
In the sky
I just wanna be alone

It's not a big deal or anything

I just wanna be alone

Prince finished the song and smiled at me, and I masked my awe by saying, "It was alright."

Prince only laughed and said, "You liked it. You just don't want to admit it."

He knows me too well.

I shrugged, but that was all Prince needed for confirmation.

We just sat there and enjoyed each other's presence for a bit, watching birds.

I wanna watch from somewhere undisturbing, quiet, calm, and still.

Sit right here and gaze at the unknown...