Touring with a Love

~~~~

Gil sat up from his comfortable bed with a stretch.
His red eyes looked out to the sea.

It was the third day.

He only had two days left to get Matthew to kiss him. Gil flopped over on his side.
A knock came on his door and it opened.

The servant who had tried to grope his chest yesterday was standing in the doorway.
"Good morning, Prince Matthew's guest. I am Im Yong Soo. Da-ze~" he said, entering the room and shutting the door.
"And I am in charge of helping you get dressed again." he said with a smile.
Gil rolled his eyes in response.
The Servant turned to pull some clothes out of the dresser and glanced over his shoulder.

"Are you liking the visit?"
Gil gave a nod.
"Not much of a talker are you?"
Gil rolled his eyes.
"I think Prince Matthew likes you. Well...he likes anyone who notices him."
A smile spread across Gil's face.


"Oh good morning, Gil!" Matthew called as Gil stepped down the stairs.
Gil flashed Matthew his biggest smile.
Arthur happened to be standing there beside Matthew.
"Gil?" he repeated.
"Oh um...y-yes, he mouthed me his name."
Gil nodded and shuffled closer to Matthew.

"Ahononhon~ So where are you two going on zhis beau day?" came Francis' voice as he leaned onto Arthur's shoulder.
"Frog...get the bloody hell off of my shoulder." Arthur growled.
"Non mon ami~" Francis replied with a smirk, dodging a punch from Arthur.
"Uhm...I-I'm giving Gil a tour of the kingdom today." Matthew explained.
"Oh have fun mon ami Matthieu~" Francis said, even though he was busy with Arthur yelling at him and trying to hit him.

As Matthew led Gil out to the front of the castle, he glanced over to Gil and said,
"Those two might argue, but neither mean what they say."
Gil raised an eyebrow.
"Because my brother and I are still Princes, Arthur takes care of our castle and could fire Francis if he hated Francis so much...but he never does."
Gil couldn't help but silently laugh.
"If you ask me, I think Arthur likes when Francis speaks French. He won't admit it, but he is fluent in French."
Gil leaned down and grabbed a hold of Matthew's hand.

"You really seem to like me, don't you?" Matthew asked.
Gil only smiled.

~~~~

Tonio had heard the whole conversation.
So after alerting Raivis, he took after Gil and Matthew by air while Raivis followed by water.

Tonio remembered what Roderich had told him when he had left the day before.

"Gil doesn't know it but...Prince Roman is dying. Its been obvious he's not the strongest of the siblings and his body has actually given up on him more than once. I von't tell you how many times we found him missing from his bed and wandering the open sea. He doesn't have long and...Prince Gil doesn't even know it..."

Tonio sighed and landed on the back of the carriage carrying Gil and Matthew into the surrounding town.
He sighed hoping everything was okay with Roderich.

~~~~


Gil stared around him in the open plaza with Matthew beside him.
One man with spiked light brown hair spotted Matthew and immediately bowed to him.

"Goedemorgen, Prince Matthew." he said.
"Good morning, Abel." Matthew said back, giving a smile. "How are the crops this year?"
"They are doing good. Much better than last year though...Bella and I are a bit worried." Abel said, his gaze turning towards the clerk at the stall.
She had friendly green eyes and shoulder-length blond hair with a green headband holding her bangs out of her face.

"Lately...this man claiming to be from Denmark has been appearing in town, proclaiming himself to be the King of the Plaza when all he really does is bother the shop keepers and pick on some of the shoppers." Abel explained.
For the first time since meeting him, Gil was surprised to see a frown grow on Matthew's face.
"I just...want to keep my sister safe."
"I will look into it Abel so don't worry." Matthew said.

Gil followed after Matthew down the streets when he noticed two people walking a bit ahead of them.

A brunette-haired male with short hair with a curl and a happy smile on his face was talking to a much shorter blank faced male with short black hair and brown eyes.
The short man nodded as his companion continued to talk.
The brunette was carrying a covered painting under his arm.

When suddenly, a tall man with spiked blond hair stepped out of the alley in front of the two, blocking their paths.
The short man paused and asked, "Excuse us prease."
The blond snickered.
"Hey boys, how would you like to join King Matthias' Gang?" he asked, his blue eyes switching between the two.
"Uh-uhm n-no thank you. We're just going home to make pas-wait no!" the brunette stopped as the man yanked the painting out from under his arm. "Give'a that back!" He cried.
The spike haired man, Mattias leaned into his face. "What are you going to do about it?" he taunted.
The short man punched Mattias in the face.
"Reave my friend arone!" he shouted.
The Mattias barely flinched from the hit and smacked the smaller man to the ground.

"Kiku!" the brunette cried.

By that time, Matthew stepped in with a dagger on the blond's neck.
"Let go of that painting you scum." he growled.
Gil stood there wide-eyed and rushed over to help the smaller man, Kiku to his feet.
Mattias returned the brunette's painting into his hands.
"Now get out of here before I call the guards. I had better not see or hear about you bothering anyone in this town ever again. Understood?" Matthew growled, his violet eyes burning.
"Y-yes sir."
Matthew shoved Mattias in a direction.
Once he got his footing, Mattias charged away, disappearing down an alley.

The brunette immediately tackled his friend.
"Kiku are you okay?" he asked.
"Hai Fericiano-san." Kiku replied.

The two looked over at Matthew, both surprised to see that a Prince had saved them.
"Arigatō." Kiku said, bowing to Matthew.
"Vee~ Thank'a you~!" The brunette squealed as he tackled Matthew in a hug.
"Ah! Fericiano-san don't tackre a Prince!" Kiku shouted, tugging on Feliciano's arm.
"Vee. Sorry Kiku." he apologized.

Matthew smiled as Gil helped him to his feet.
"There's no trouble. I don't mind the attention really. So who are you two?"
"Uhm- I am Kiku Honda and I work in the nearby bakery."
"Ciao~ I'm Feliciano Vargas. I work in the same bakery as Kiku and I also paint." Feliciano said as he pulled the covering off of his painting. "See?"
"Wow! You painted this?!" Matthew yelped, eyes wide.
"Si. Its of my childhood friend." Feliciano replied.

The painting detailed a small cove surrounded by rocks and light sand. In the dark water, curious head was poking above the water.
Light blond hair hung messily over its light blue eyes.

Gil couldn't help but think the little form in the picture reminded him of his younger brothers, Roman and Ludwig.
But it couldn't be either of them.
Merpeople were forbidden to leave the ocean.

Not that he cared as he stared down at his legs.


The two waved good-bye as they rushed to get to work.
By that time, the sky had become gray and the weather began to get colder.
"Shall we head home?" Matthew asked, staring up at Gil.
Gil gave him a nod.

The two returned to the carriage as the rain began pouring down.
As Gil sat beside Matthew, he couldn't help but worry about Tonio, who he hadn't seen since this morning.
He glanced down at Matthew who returned his stare.
"Thank you for caring about me..." Matthew said.
Gil stared down at him.
"I've never been noticed and only a few people seem to care about me but you're the first who shows me this type of attention and I thank you for that."
The two began to move closer together when the carriage stopped rather abruptly.
The door opened, signalling their arrival home.

"Princess Natalia get back here!"
"Nyet! You're just like all the Princes! My brother was better than anyone!"

The two could see Alfred was following after Natalia in the rain and had managed to grab a hold of her hand.
"I honestly don't care how much better your brother was than anyone, don't you think he'd be wondering why you're moping in the rain like a spoiled brat?!" Alfred shouted.
Natalia dropped her gaze to the ground, allowing Alfred to drag her back into the castle with Gil and Matthew following to get out of the rain.
Alfred had managed to drag Natalia out of sight, possibly to find some of the female servants to help get Natalia dry.

Matthew stopped suddenly, causing Gil to crash into him.
Arthur was talking to an upset unfamiliar man with brown hair, a piece of which was curled above his head.

The man was wearing a purple suit which made him look refined.

The man turned, his dark violet eyes widening behind a pair of glasses.
"Gil oh my vord!" he shouted which in turn caused Gil's eyes to widen.
That voice.
'Roderich?' Gil mouthed, red eyes still wide.


"Gil...Your brother, Roman has...died."