Archive of Our Own ^beta

It is mid-July, and Charlie Dalton, Prince of Spain, has invited the Andersons of Norway to a ball. Todd’s parents had no particular interest in traveling that far for no special occasion, but they said it is rude to decline invitations from other noble families, so they are sending Todd to represent the family. While it is rude to decline, Todd knew the real reason they were sending him.

But nonetheless, he is happy to go. Charlie is one of his childhood friends, despite only having interacted with him at official social gatherings.

After the long travel, Todd arrives in Spain. He decided to make this trip worthwhile and is staying for a week.

Trying to find the way to the inn proves to be particularly difficult because the locals only speak Spanish. Todd had tried to learn some during his previous trips to Spain, but he did not get past a few sentences.

The party is in full swing when Todd arrives. Many pairs dancing in sync—the women in colorful flowing dresses that twirl in the air when spun, staff circling the room with trays of liquor, and a grand orchestra on the stage at the front of the room playing songs varying from slow and moody to upbeat toe-tappers. It is not the type of party Todd is fond of. Well, there is no party he is fond of, but he especially detests these for their loudness, in all senses of the word. Back home, he is nicknamed "The Secret Prince" because he stays only long enough to greet the people his parents tell him to before slipping away into his room until it is over.

He sticks to the outskirts of the circle of people, content to observe and not interact. He has not seen Charlie yet, and he does not recognize any of the people that pass by him. He has two flutes of liquor to help soothe his nerves.

Charlie’s face appears in the blur of the crowd, finally, and they make eye contact. Charlie grins and waves him over. Todd squeezes in between the dancing people, careful not to disturb them, until he meets Charlie in the middle of the room. It is almost like they are stuck in the eye of a hurricane: the people whooshing past them are creating gusts of wind but never touching them.

"Bienvenido, Todd! So good to see you again." Charlie takes him by the shoulders and kisses both cheeks (the typical greeting in Spain). Todd has not gotten used to the Spanish customs, which so differ from his own. In Norway, they shake hands firmly and smile.

Next to Charlie is a tall man. Tall and beautiful. Sparkling brown eyes and a charming smile pointed at Charlie. Charlie follows Todd’s line of sight. "Oh, this is Neil Perry, my best friend." Charlie gestures in Neil’s direction, as if showing him off like a prize. Neil directs the smile at him and shakes his hand, holding eye contact. Todd cannot place where he is from, but he is surely not from Norway, as well. "Nice to meet you, Todd." His accent was also unplaceable, but that did not mean much because Todd is not good at identifying anyone’s nationality. Feeling he has been unresponsive for too long, he nods to Neil. Charlie tells Todd to stay with them. They walk parallel to each other with no real destination, Charlie doing most of the talking with filling him in on life in Spain. He only stops when he sees a ginger man enter the ballroom. He hastily excuses himself and departs. "Richard Cameron, Charlie’s consort," Neil informs him from somewhere to his right. Todd is still looking in the direction Charlie went, mentally begging him to change his mind and come back; to not leave him alone with the handsome stranger.

Seemingly clueless to Todd’s inner turmoil, Neil extends his hand. "Care for a dance?" He asks. And who is Todd to say no to him? They dance, Neil taking the lead (meaning he has a hand on the small of Todd’s back, which Todd has to try very hard to keep himself from reacting to), and Todd cannot help himself from looking into Neil’s eyes the entire time. "You’re quiet, you know. Is that your natural state?" Todd finally breaks eye contact to look at their feet. "Y-yes," he says, biting his tongue for stuttering. "Sorry," he adds quietly. "No, no, I don’t mean it’s a bad thing." He pauses. "It’s actually kind of a nice change. Living with Charlie can be overwhelming at times." He smiles, watching for Todd’s reaction. He accomplishes his goal because Todd chuckles, relaxing a bit. "You have a very nice smile, Todd." All Todd can do is blush.

When the song ends, Neil tugs on Todd’s arm. "Come with me," is all he says. He leads Todd into the gardens outside the ballroom. Out there, the music is much quieter, and there is a slight breeze in the night air. Being away from the masses of moving people, Todd feels the warmth catch up to him. He has to unbutton the top button of his shirt that sits at the base of his neck. If his parents saw, they would wait until they were alone to lecture him about proper etiquette and how he had embarrassed them again. Neil doesn’t give any indication of disapproval and sits on the fence railing of the wrap-around porch. Todd stands a few steps away from him, looking out into the dimly lit fields.

Neil asks him questions about his life and what he does. The attention focused solely on him makes him feel uneasy. "Okay, so you said you have one older brother? Jeffery?"

"Yes."

"And he pretended you didn’t exist?"

"For two years." Todd does not remember how Neil got him to say that. He does not like talking about Jeffery and having to remember their shared childhood.

"Is he here tonight?" Todd shakes his head.

"He and my parents are at a dinner in his house."

"Without you?" Todd glances at Neil’s expression, one he cannot place.

"Yeah. My mother said I would have a better time here than with them. I took the hint and came."

They are silent for a moment before Neil rises to stand next to him. "I think they’re the ones having a lesser time without you," he says sincerely. They smile at each other before Neil is dragging Todd somewhere else again.

They are on the roof of one of the towers now, their legs dangling off the edge.

(Neil had brought them to what seemed like a dead end. Todd looked at Neil, but he wasn’t confused. He put one foot on a jutting stone and grabbed two more with his hands, starting to climb the wall.

"Neil! What are you doing?" Todd looked up at the man, amazed and baffled.

"Come on, Todd!" He yelled, already halfway up the wall. Todd scrambled to catch up.)

"The moon is so much more beautiful up here," Neil says, pointing to the crescent. He drops his hand and turns to Todd. "Okay, your turn."

"My turn for what?"

"For asking questions. I learned about your life; now you can learn about mine." Todd does not understand how calm and confident Neil can be when saying those things. Not wondering if people would actually be interested in personal details, just leaving the invitation out in the open.

Todd asks Neil told him about his parents disowning him and his coming to live with Charlie a few years ago; how he and Charlie had met (like most other noble families: knowing each other since birth); how he is like a brother to Neil; and their group of friends that Todd should meet before he leaves. Listening to Neil only made Todd more curious as to where he’s from. "My family comes from Deutschland, or Germany in English."

"Do you miss it?"

Neil smiles. "Sometimes, yes. But the majority of my memories there are with my parents. I cannot disconnect them from my homeland in my mind. So it is a bit tainted." He pauses. "Do you like Norway?"

Todd smiles. "I thought I was asking the questions." Neil smiles too. "But yes, I do. It is very peaceful at home. I don’t leave it much. The servants joke that is why I am so pale. Lack of sunlight."

"You do look glowing with the moon on your skin."

Todd sputters. "Do you.. do you have any big interests?"

Neil’s eyes visibly brighten. "Can I show you it?" Todd nods, and off they go—for the third time.

Todd is led through what feels like a maze. He almost gets lost on one turn, and Neil holds his hand the rest of the way. They stop in front of big double doors. Neil opens them to expose a grand library. In the back, there is one shelf with only Shakespeare's works.

"I’m a Shakespeare fanatic," Neil says finally. Todd reads the titles on the spines and pulls out A Midsummer Night’s Dream. "Oh, that one’s my favorite! My friends and I did our own performance of it last summer." Todd looks at Neil, an eyebrow raised in amusement. "In front of people?" Neil chuckles. "No. They wouldn’t be caught dead preforming out of private. They mostly do it to please me. And it does.

"I’ve always wanted to join a theater, but, of course, my father wouldn’t let me. And it’s difficult now, being the disgraced son of his." Neil focuses on the pages of the book for a prolonged period of time, and Todd doesn’t disturb him, sensing he is probably thinking about what he just said. He blinks out of it eventually and looks at Todd. "What about you, Mr. Anderson? Any things that excite your mind?" His air of lightheartedness is back, taking on a teasing tone with the formal name.

"Well, I.. I do poetry. And painting."

"Poetry and painting! And here I was thinking I was talking to a piece of cement."

Todd smiles and looks down. "That’s a joke, isn’t it?" He asks softly.

"Of course," Neil answers just as softly. "Do you have any of your poems with you?"

Todd laughs not so quietly at that. "That would be weird, wouldn’t it be?" Neil laughs with him.

"Yes, I guess it would be. Well, you’ll just have to send me some, then. I’m interested in what they could be like. But we do have an art gallery, if you’d like to see."

"That would be lovely."

This time, they are in no hurry to get to their destination. Neil has his arm linked with Todd’s as they stroll the halls. They are quiet, simply enjoying the shared company. Todd realizes it’s probably been hours since he saw anyone but Neil. Would people be wondering where Neil is?

The art gallery is a long hallway with paintings going up to the ceiling. Todd recognizes a good number of them as he makes a circle around the room. "This is wonderful," he says, marveling. "Oh, look at this one." He leads Neil to a particular painting at eye level. "This is The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, sometime between seventeen sixty-seven and sixty-eight. Supposedly, a man of the court commissioned it, with his mistress as the main subject. He can be seen admiring her from below." He does not go into the significance of the painting because Neil did not ask. Todd feels his cheeks heat, and he turns to apologize but stops when he sees Neil’s expression. He is looking at Todd with a look that can only be described as smitten. Todd does not know what to do or where to look, and can feel his face getting hotter.

Neil moves closer. "Can I kiss you, Todd?" Todd feels like he is stone now, but somehow manages to nod his head.

Neil holds his cheeks gently and presses their lips together. His lips are incredibly soft, like flower petals. Neil pulls back and strokes Todd’s cheekbone. Todd says the first thing he thinks of to fill the silence: "Thank you." It was possibly the dumbest choice. Neil throws his head back and laughs, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. "Oh god, Todd, you are adorable." He kisses Todd again. It helps Todd not feel so embarrassed.

Neil suggests remingling with the party, which is considerably smaller in the first few hours of the day when they arrive. Charlie is slow-dancing with Richard. Neil moves past them, pulling Todd behind him by the hand, to a short ginger man next to a tall brunet man. "Todd, this is Steven Meeks"—the ginger, who kisses his cheek like Charlie and says "Ciao"—"and Gerard Pitts."—the brunet, who shakes his hand and says "Bonjour". "Where’s Knox?" Neil asks the men. Gerard points in the direction of the food table. A blonde woman in a pink dress is serving herself a plate, and Knox is next to her, smiling and talking. The three guys groan collectively. "When do you think he’ll get over Chris?" Steven asks.

Todd looks at Neil with a raised eyebrow. "Chris is the girl Knox was, quote-unquote, in love with. He kept trying to court her, but she wasn’t interested. Now, every girl that he likes looks like her: blonde hair and pastel clothes." Todd looks back at Knox, now alone and looking dejected.

The orchestra ends their song, and the room applauds them. Charlie makes his way towards the group with Richard at his side. "Todd, have you met my Richard before?" He kisses Richard’s cheek, who pushes him away but blushes. He extends his hand. "Richard Cameron, assistant to the prince.. and now consort." (Charlie grins.) Todd shakes it firmly.

Soon enough, the party ends and the stragglers are sent home. Todd’s carriage arrives, and Neil helps him into it, kissing the back of Todd’s hand. "Will you visit me again before you leave?" He asks, hope shining in his eyes. "Of course," Todd replies.

The entire drive back to the inn, Todd replays the night from beginning to end in his mind. He never would have expected it to go how it did, but he finds he isn’t the smallest bit upset about it. He smiles into the hand that is supporting his head and looks out the window.