"Psst. Hey."

Lovino slept on.

"Hey."

Something prodded his shoulder, and Lovino jolted awake.

"Oh my God- I'm awake! I swear! I'm awake!" He gasped as he scrambled up. "I'm protecting the Prince-"

Hearing devilish snickering, he stopped and whipped around to see the Crown Prince standing behind him on his bedroom's doorway, smirking at his previous panic.

"Gilbert!" Lovino snapped. He immediately hushed his voice, as to make sure no one else woke up. "That wasn't funny, I thought you were Antonio! He would've skinned me alive for sleeping!"

"Then why were you sleeping?" Gilbert whispered back, grin still there. "And you and I both know that Antonio likes you too much to fire you. And he won't be able to find another 'personal bodyguard' for me."

Lovino grumbled, fixing his red beret and smoothing his pink guard uniform. He then noticed Gilbert's nightclothes, and his eyes narrowed.

"Wait a minute…" Lovino glanced around the hallway suspiciously. Darkness shrouded the hallway, except for the occasional candle glowing with warm, dim light and muted, silvery light through the windows. "Is it still night?"

"Yeah?" Gilbert replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I can't sleep, so I woke you up."

"So I could share your pains?" Lovino deadpanned, sliding down the wall and crossing his arms. "I might as well continue sleeping."

"But Lovi," Gilbert sighed as he prodded Lovino in the shoulder again, "my brother would just complain, Father would also complain, and you'd murder me if I woke up your brother."

"I actually don't care," Lovino snapped back. He pulled his beret over his eyes. "Bother my idiot of a brother and make use of his duties as a Jack. Or? You know what?" Lovino removed the beret briefly to look Gilbert straight in the eye. "Go bother that future Queen of yours. Get to know him better." He pulled back the beret. "Go."

Gilbert blew out an exasperated breath. "He's too quiet though. I don't really like him." He frowned. "Hey, don't you think it's kinda odd?"

"Hmph."

"Queens, usually, are supposed to be girls and stuff. Why do I have to marry a guy?"

"Because politics," Lovino grumbled. "Jesus, Gil, I'm younger than you. You know more about this than I do."

"Okay, fine, I know that Hearts and Spades has had a rocky relationship over the years and they think that marrying me to some Spadian royalty is gonna help. But seriously, Lovi, why did they send over a guy? Why not a girl?"

"Go to bed."

"But I can't! Just talk with me, that's all I ask."

Lovino stayed silent, determined to not say a word in the hopes to deter the Prince's efforts. When Gilbert didn't continue talking, Lovino smiled slyly to himself. Finally, some peace.

He was close to sleep when his beret suddenly disappeared off his face.

"Wh- Hey!" Lovino yelped, feebly grabbing for his beret. The pale hand that grabbed it disappeared behind the door, and Lovino heard raucous laughter as he smacked against the closed door. "Give back my beret!" He mentally smacked himself when his voice almost rose to an uncomfortably loud volume. "And quiet down a bit!" He hissed through the cracks of the door.

"Better come back and get it!" Gilbert quipped cheekily.

Lovino grit his teeth. "I'm not allowed to go inside, you idiot! Protocol!" He snapped. He then glanced warily around him, suddenly aware of the possibility of people waking up to his and Gilbert's arguing.

"Gotta break some rules in life to get what you want, Lovi!"

Lovino pursed his lips, weighing his options. All guards had to be in full uniform and look presentable in morning inspections, and all articles of clothing, from the beret to the boots, needed to be present. Even if Antonio was a bit lax on the rules, it still wasn't the greatest idea to get on his bad side.

But entering the Prince's chambers was a big no-no to the guardsmen. Lovino would rather get an infraction from missing his beret than possibly losing his job by going in Gilbert's bedroom.

With an exasperated sigh, Lovino turned around and leaned on the wall by the door, standing guard. He now regretted his choice to accept guarding the Prince at night; usually, that duty fell on some other guard. But that guard just happened to be sick, and Antonio asked if he could do it.

The door opened up a crack. Lovino didn't turn, instead frowning.

"Lovi…" Gilbert muttered, opening the door a little wider. "Can we still talk?"

Lovino grunted.

Gilbert took that as a sign of approval and leaned against the doorframe of his bedchambers. "Hey… How come you became part of the royal guard?"

Lovino turned, slightly curious as to where this was going. "What?"

"I mean…" Gilbert shrugged. "I thought you would've done anything to escape royalty, what with your brother being taken away from your family because he happened to be 'destined' to be Jack. He was taken… How long ago?"

"Six years," Lovino muttered, picking at a thread on his uniform. "Six years ago."

"That must've sucked."

"Yeah," Lovino agreed. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know. Really, I wanted to rescue my brother after he was taken away, but now…" He shrugged. "He likes being in the castle. Likes you, likes the other staff, likes serving royalty as a Jack. I'm just your bodyguard to be closer to him."

"Aww…" Gilbert lightly punched Lovino's shoulder. "You actually do care about your brother."

"I'm also here for the money, so shut up," Lovino retorted, but he couldn't help the smile on his face. "And can I have my beret back?"

Gilbert sighed dramatically, but he handed the beret back. Lovino snatched it and replaced it on his head.

"Now are you ready to go to sleep?" Lovino sighed. He needed his own sleep, dang it.

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Maybe," he muttered. "Night."

"Go to sleep."

Gilbert grinned, and then shut the door.

Lovino slid to the floor. He still had no idea what late in the night it was, but that still didn't excuse that he needed to go to sleep as well.

Sliding the beret over his eyes once more, he fell asleep.

Guess who had to reupload this because I was a nerd and uploaded the wrong narrative

In any case, this is pretty much a "prologue" type of story to my headcanon Cardverse universe, where Gil was the Crown Prince of Hearts before he became a Joker. Dunno if I'll expand on this.