Alice: Hi! Sorry it's been taking a while to update, just have a lot going on you know?

Lovino: We know nothing actually because you haven't updated in centuries you piece of sh-

Antonio: Anyways, Alice doesn't own us, nor anybody else in this story!

Alice: One with the show!

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Lovino woke to the sound of clattering dishware in the kitchen a few floors below his bedroom in the early morning. His mind stirred with yesterday's events. He hadn't eaten anything so delicious in his life. Things like tomatoes wouldn't keep well underwater if his intuition was correct, and it was a shame. He slipped out of bed and began his route down the hallway to get something to eat. The various rooms he passed were already full of bustling activity, and he realized perhaps it was later in the day than he thought. Passing by the mid-section of the castle, he saw his brother was awake as well. Feliciano was sitting on his yellow bed with a deck of cards, the older prince guessed he was trying to play solitaire, but it wasn't working out very well. After another sigh and a scrapped pile, Lovino didn't want his good mood to be spoiled by his brother's unhappiness.

"Oi, let's play an easier game alright Feli?"

The younger prince turned his head with a puzzled look on his face. It quickly turned into a grin when he realized his brother wasn't joking.

"Okay Lovino! Can we play Crazy Eights? Pleeeeaaaaaa-"

"Sure, sure we can."

They set up the deck and Lovino sat on Feliciano's bed, sinking into the plush seaweed comforter, picking up his hand he began the game.

"So where have you been going?" Feliciano asked without looking up from his cards.

The question struck Lovino. He had never actually assumed anyone besides his father knew of his journeys to the surface, but even that someone would notice he'd left the kingdom was a stretch for his mind. Most of the time he holed up in his rooms or in the coral lounge outside the drawing room.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone Feli,"

The tone caught Feliciano in the midst of making a move, but he quickly nodded.

"I've… I've met someone who lived above the water."

"… Oh." Feliciano sank back into the bed.

"Hey! What's with the tone!" Where could his brother possibly think he had gone?!

"I thought you had gotten into a cool gang, but now that I think about it, that's not really your style, is it, big-bro?"

"I'm gonna pound you in a second Feli, just take your turn."

"Sorry!"

A few moments passed in silence, the flipping of the cards against each other couldn't break Lovino's trance. Feliciano had always known his brother needed space, but ever since their mother had died, his big brother had really taken it upon himself to ensure that Feli lived happily without complication. Their father provided everything they could ever need in life, but a person like him needed more than just nice things and delicious foods. They needed love, and although money could buy companionship, it couldn't buy acceptance and love. Feliciano had always been able to be close to the man he called 'dad'. Lovino, who had felt inferior since the day their father had let Feli choose the color of their shared bedroom at childhood, felt no hatred towards him, despite his out lashes ending in a head-scratching apology. Without knowing it, Lovino had filed himself into a 'complication' category, and in suit, decided to keep himself from his brother as much as possible, this was the 'space' Feliciano assumed his brother needed.

"Well, I win!"

Lovino rose from his brother's bed.

"Yeah." He gave his younger brother a pat on his soft head.

"You win, Feli."

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"Would you kindly STOP bruising my shin underneath the table?"

The harsh whisper broke through Antonio's daze as the two princes sat next to each other at the long table in the meeting room of the castle.

"Ah, I suppose I am, my legs have a mind of their own."

"Yes well please have them 'mind' my personal space."

Their attention flew back to the front of the table at the utterance of one important sentence.

"Time to break for the afternoon."

The two princes rose and immediately strode from the room outside the castle gates.

"Honestly, you are the most insufferable-"

"Ah, perdona me, pero necesito ir a-" (Pardon me, but I need to go)

"Don't interrupt me! Look, if we are going to be friends and kinsmen, there is one thing that needs to be set straight and that it-"

The annoying voice in front of him drifted off to a happier place where the waves crashed and he could nap on the shore all day.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME MR. CARRIEDO?!"

"Si, si, unfortunately Sr. Kirkland I have better things that need to be done!"

With a smile as cheery as the morning sun, Antonio sped off to the fields for a fruit more precious than any conversation with his British guest. When he was given the bag full of the ripe tomatoes, he went back (walking this time so as not to jumble about the cargo) to the palace and straight down to the beach behind his towering kingdom's walls. Before he could set his belongings down a voice carried to him from the rocks.

"You've kept me waiting."

Relieved to see his friend hadn't left he jogged across the rocks to greet him.

"You idiot! Haven't you learned your lesson about running around near sharp rocks?!"

"Ah lo siento, I have I promise. How is the water?"

Antonio sat down at the edge of the large rock and flicked his fingers across the top of the waves. Lovino made no move to distance himself from the closeness of the man.

"Same as it always is, obviously."

"I guess you're right! Oh I brought something for you!"

Scooting backwards towards his bag he pulled out two ripe tomatoes and tossed one to the merman. Taking the fruit in his hands Lovino's face lit up for a moment. Remembering he wasn't alone he blushed and turned away from the content Spaniard, who was already nibbling away at his own fruit. Taking small bites to savor it, he turned back after regaining his composure.

"How do they grow?"

The question was strange to the prince, seeing as he'd never met a soul who didn't know about tomatoes, but remembering that Lovino was from the sea there was no telling how much he actually knew about how things occurred on land.

"Well you see, they start with a little seed, like a pebble, and then it goes in the dirt, which I guess is like sand? Oh, and then they water it, but not with the salt water. And I don't know all the technical stuff but it shoots up from the ground and grows straight up until the fruit grows off the stalk!"

He looked down to see that Lovino had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Well how about this, you tell me more about what it's like under the waves, and I'll teach you about the surface!"

The proposition intrigued him, since their first encounter and already having learned so much, the merman yearned to know more of the world that was so close to his, and yet seemed so far away. It would take forever to explain every aspect of each other's lives, but forever up on the shoreline seemed way better than the life he had leagues below. It was too late to see no, he was hooked on this.

"Deal. What do you even want to know?"

The smile widened on Antonio's face. That was a good question, what was there to know? Did they sit down to dinner like he did? Did they sleep in beds, or maybe giant clamshells? Did all the people down there look as beautiful as Lovino? He wasn't sure of anything, would he offend the boy by asking something? Maybe he should start off simple.

"Does the sunlight reach you at the bottom of the ocean?"

It didn't look like it, seeing as Lovino was only slightly tanner than the white sun-bleached rocks they were around.

"In the summer we get enough, but at night and in the winter when it's very dark the water provides its own light, we can see well in the water at night." (I'm referring to bioluminescent dinoflagellates, basically luminescent bacteria).

"Interesting, and where do your people live?"

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"The prince hasn't been around in a while, do you think there's something going on in the court?"

Matthew put down his sketch to look at Francis, who was arranging a wonderful bouquet of Lilies and babies breath on the kitchen table.

"I'm sure he's just off pursuing some daydream of his mon amour (my love). Now, what do you think of these around our booth during the festival?"

"Oh that's right! I'd almost completely forgotten about it. I think they look lovely, white's a wonderful color at night."

Taking a Lily from the vase Francis presented it to his precious flower. Matthew took it and inhaled the lovely scent.

"It has to be white, after all that's what the festivities are about non? New birth? White light?"

Putting the flower back in the vase, Matthew opened the shutters that showed out to the courtyard and gardens. Living in their two-floor cottage was wonderful, but it always left him wondering if Francis wanted more. After all they had come from wealthier families. Working with him as a stable boy and Francis as head gardener made life busy, and while they were welcome to just drop their jobs and stay in the palace, they agreed to contributing somewhat to the daily lives of the people, so as to avoid suspicion in their situation. But the doubt still hung in his mind, those days when his lover came in with thorns in his hair and people's requests up his back; all Matthew had to offer for comfort was himself, his arms, and his words which sometimes failed to reach his lips. He could never doubt Francis, but doubting himself, well that was almost too easy. Before he could push the thoughts to the back of his mind,

"Mathieu, what are you thinking so somberly about?"

Francis' fingers trailed up his cheek, lifting his eyes to meet his own. Humor laced his tone, not necessarily concerned yet about the direction of his thoughts. Matthew trailed his fingers along the defined law-line of his lover and smiled knowingly.

'One day he'll find better.'

The same fingers caressed his neck while his other pale hand intertwined its fingers with his gardener's.

'One day he'll live a more comfortable life.'

Lips met his in a swift movement and Matthew tilted his head to the side, allowing the tongue that ran across his lips access into his mouth. They embraced, surrounded by the scent of lilies.

'One day I'll be alone again.'

The last button on Matthew's shirt was undone, and he melded himself to Francis's body.

'But until then, I'll cherish what I have with him. No matter what.'

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"Oh you've got to be kidding me. There is no way."

"No I swear it! Some of them don't learn to swim until age 4."

Lovino's tail flailed for a moment at the sheer craziness of it all. Dancing on the ground? Carousels? Socks? It all sounded so amazing, so different. He was sure that his world probably sounded just as strange to Antonio, but there was still so much neither of them had told of. Not to mention it was probably a lot easier to see than it was to believe.

"I just wish you could come see all of it."

"My father would never allow it."

The prince turned to look at his oceanic friend.

"Why not? From what you've told me he seems like he could make an exception for you! You're his son after all."

"Not his favorite son, might as well not even be his blood."

"I'm sure you two just have trouble communicating properly!"

A confused look passed Lovino's face."

"I don't think- "

"No really! I mean sometimes it happens to my uncle and me! He'll get all 'Tonio, you need to learn how to properly use cutlery', or 'blah blah, Tonio princes don't adopt turtles as often as you do', and it frustrates me, but then I realize he's only grumpy because he doesn't understand why some things just make me happy!"

There was silence between them.

"Did that help?"

A laugh burst from Lovino's mouth and he couldn't stop it no matter how hard he clenched his hands over his mouth. After a few seconds, out of embarrassment he ducked under the water, forgetting that the bubbles on the surface totally gave away the fact that he was still laughing. When he resurfaced, finally done with his hilarity at Antonio's monologue, said speaker was looking way with a blush spotting his tan cheeks.

'He must be embarrassed.'

But on the contrary, Antonio couldn't be happier he said the things he said, as they got the prince to laugh, to actually laugh! It was beautiful, almost as beautiful as his voice in song, it was like a warm waterfall of laughter, and it was his new favorite sound.

"Well, I'd better get going."

He turned back around to frown at the merman.

"So soon?"

"It's sundown. Four hours not long enough for you?"

'Not long enough at all.'

He thought disappointedly.

"Well, if you have to go. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't be late this time. I hate waiting."

"Si, I won't. Goodbye, Lovino."

"Goodbye."

The last thing he saw was the gorgeous red and purple tail of his company flipping above the water as its owner began descending to the bottom of the sea.

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Alice: Sorry, short chapter! I know I need to get better with my updating, but y'all can be thankful I didn't start another story completely like I was think about doing!

Lovino: We're lucky you can figure out how to use spell check properly, you buffoon.

Alice: Whatever, you're still my bitch ;)

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