Once upon a time, in a deep cave in the Alps, lived the beautiful Snow Prince. He was named Lovino and was admired by everyone, men and women. Whoever came to his cave fell head over heels in love with him. They would give their lives to marry him and that's pretty much what happened. No mortal could ever marry him, that was the law. The people were led into the cave and allowed to see the prince. However, if someone asked for his hand in marriage, the person was killed by thousands of goblins. And even when these tales spread, people still came to this cave, after all the prince was so beautiful.

Unfortunately the Snow Prince's heart was made of ice, he was unable to feel anything. Even when people died because of him, Lovino did not care at all. It was their fault that they had come there and proposed to him. That's what he told himself. People would die and he would watch the scene without doing anything.

The legend of the cave and the beautiful Snow Prince continued to spread and more and more people came. They were all the same to Lovino. But this changed when a handsome and fearless hunter came to visit him. When the man entered the cave he was so struck by the Snow Prince's beauty that he became speechless. He fell to his knees and bowed to him in adoration. He did not dare utter a word. Lovino was definitely surprised. Nobody had ever behaved in such a strange way around him so he was rather intrigued by this hunter. That was why he did not call the goblins. His excuse was that as long as the man did not ask for his hand in marriage, it was okay to let him stay.

One day Lovino decided to take a walk out of the cave and soon found out that he was being followed by the hunter. They did not speak for some time but eventually the hunter broke the silence. It was the first time the prince had heard him speak.

"I never introduced myself, it was so rude of me. My name is Antonio. Antonio Fernandez Carriendo."

Lovino said nothing and Antonio took it as a chance to continue.

"I come from a faraway land. There the weather is warm and we hardly ever see snow. It's so much different from here." He said. "But I was so fascinated by your tale that I had to come and see with my own eyes. I journeyed for a long time, climbing over mountains, going down ice valleys and defying the bitter cold. Many times I thought about giving up but the thought of you kept me going. I even had to gather all my courage in order to enter the cave, it was rather scary, I tell you." The hunter chuckled. "And even so when I saw you I could not say a word, you were so beautiful."

The man talked so much that Lovino didn't know how he had managed to keep quiet for so long. But to his great surprise, all that talking wasn't annoying him. He was even more surprised that his cheeks were becoming red. He had never been flattered by other people's compliments on his beauty.

Antonio stopped talking and looked at him "Are you okay, your highness?"

"M-m-me? Y-yes, I'm okay. W-why wouldn't I be?" He stuttered.

The hunter chuckled and Lovino sent him a death glare. "What's so funny?" The Snow Prince demanded to know.

"You spoke to me for the first time." Antonio said. "And you look even cuter when you're blushing and stuttering."

"I am not blushing nor stuttering, you bastard." Lovino snapped at him then turned around so Antonio could not see his face anymore. "And you can call me Lovino." He said and hurried back to his cave.

It was the first time he had lost his cool and the first time he had allowed anyone to call him by his name.

He burned the man's smile in his memory.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and Lovino realised he was becoming quite fond of this hunter. Anotnio was nice, handsome and overall very charming. He dared not admit that he would actually like to marry the man.

"Hey!"

Lovino turned abruptly when someone threw a snowball at his back. He saw Antonio laughing and running to save his life. Suddenly a huge snowball was thrown at the hunter and it knocked him to the ground.

Lovino approached him with a smirk. "You should know better than to throw snow at me. I'm the Snow Prince, remember?"

Antonio grinned widely and the prince instantly regretted approaching him. The hunter had grabbed his leg and pulled him down. He landed on top of him, their faces mere inches apart. For a while nobody dared move. Then Anotnio leaned in and closed the distance between them. The hunter's lips were warm and sweet, Lovino noted. His, however, were cold as ice but Antonio did not seem to mind. They kissed like that for a while and Lovino could feel his own lips getting warmed. But he also remembered where they were and that they were being watched so he pulled away.

"What happened? Did I do something?" Antonio asked, the idiot. Of course he hadn't. How could he ever do something wrong?"

"We're being watched." Lovino managed to say. He was still a bit lightheaded from the kiss and so was Anotnio.

The hunter took his hands and smiled warmly at him. "Lovino, do you want to come home with me?"

It was as if the prince's breath stopped. He couldn't help but smile back as he nodded.

"Yes, I would like that."

Antonio had to get ready for the journey so they decided to leave at dusk. Lovino didn't have anything to pack so he just waited.

In the meantime, the goblins watched over their master. They could not believe that he was about to break the law and were going to stop him not matter what. While the prince was busy thinking about his future life with the man he loved, they sneaked out of the cave and looked for the hunter. They saw him coming towards the cave and knew that was their only chance. A few of them seized him and the one who was left pierced his heart with a dagger.

Lovino had just left the cave when he saw Antonio lying on the ground, his clothes covered in blood. He kneeled in front of him and grabbed his hands.

"What happened?"

"The goblins…"

"They did this to you?! I'm so going to kill them."

"No. Please, I don't have much time so stay with me."

"This is bullshit. You're going to survive. We'll go back to your home together and live happily ever after."

The hunter smiled. "Yeah, I would have liked that. Oh, I'm so sorry, Lovino."

"Don't speak, Antonio."

"At least I got to see you one last time and got to hear you say my name." He caressed his cheek. "I love you."

The man closed his eyes. A tear dropped from the Snow Prince's eye, the first he had ever shed. He was no longer heartless, this man had managed to melt his heart of ice and touch his soul. He loved him too.

As he wept the goblins came to the realization that this was not their prince anymore. It had all been in vain. Now the prince was just a mortal boy. The goblins left him and so did his powers. It started snowing and it soon turned into a snow storm. However, Lovino did not move and continued to cry for his lost lover. He did not care whether he lived or died.

And just like that in the morning a traveler found two frozen, lifeless bodies in the mountain.

"Watch where you are going, you bastard." An angry italian glared at the person who had bumped into him.

"I'm so sorry. I just wasn't looking." The other man said.

"That much was obvious. Thanks to you I dropped all of my papers and I'll definitely be late for class."

"I'll help you gather them. It was my fault you dropped them in the first place."

They kneeled and started gathering the fallen papers.

"I am new actually. I just moved here from Spain."

"What a terrible first impression then."

"Oh, I'm not so sure. After all I got to talk with such a cute boy as yourself."

As they stood up the italian could feel himself blushing.

"Here." The other boy said as he handed him the papers. "My name is Antonio. Antonio Fernandez Carriendo."' He said with a smile.

"I'm Lovino Vargas."

"Lovino. Hmmm, it sounds rather nostalgic."

"I really don't have the time to hear why is that. I have to go to class so if you'll excuse me."

"Of course, I have to hurry myself. I'll see you around though."

"I suppose." Lovino mumbled and started to climb the stairs. "Thanks for the papers."

I wrote this for the spamano secret santa. I quite liked it so I may eventually write a short sequel about Antonio and Lovino's reincarnations. Based on a short tale named The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson.