The King stood gracefully and gently lay his book facedown on the table next to him. He swept his arms open and bowed a little, "Welcome t' m' home, Sir Tino."

Tino felt a shiver run up and down his spine at the deep voice. It sounded like thunder rumbling from a mountain. Tino found himself wondering if he could listen to that voice forever and never grow tired of it.

The young knight was so lost in his fantasies that he didn't realize the other two men staring at him until Alfred nudged him in the side.

Tino jumped and blushed heavily. He bowed lowly, "I'm sorry your Majesty," he said hoping that he had not looked to bad in front of the King.

Something strange passed over Berwald's face. Tino would have said it was sadness, if it wasn't gone immediately. The King nodded cordially and turned somewhat stiffly to Alfred, "Please, show him t' his room."

His voice seemed strained, almost, and it worried Tino. He hoped he hadn't hurt the King.

Alfred nodded and felt uncomfortable in the tense air. He opened the door quickly and ushered Tino out as fast as he could without seeming to be in a hurry.

As soon as the door shut and they were out of earshot, he rounded on Tino. "What was that, man?" He demanded.

Tino shook his head, "I don't know."

Alfred huffed and started down the hall, "You were afraid, weren't you?" There was a tint of sadness to Alfred's voice that Tino found endearing.

"No, I wasn't, not really. I think I was just nervous, but I wasn't scared of him," Tino said as a matter of fact.

Alfred stopped and stared at him, his eyes widened in surprise, "Really? Like seriously, you weren't afraid of him at all?"

"No, not really," he smiled a bit, "If anything, I found him a bit charming, not scary. I was only nervous that I had made a bad impression."

Alfred looked as if Tino had said Christmas was tomorrow. "Really?! This is fantastic, we have to tell Luke and Matt about this, come on!" He had grabbed Tino's wrist and was running off in the opposite direction, practically dragging the smaller knight behind.

/?/

Berwald watched Alfred leave with the other man. The King frowned and lowered his head into his hands. His jaw stiffened and his fists came to scrub his eyes behind his glasses.

It had been a long time since he had felt that despair, after all, he had not met anyone new in a long time. Tino's face danced behind his closed eyes.

Berwald had so liked the knight. The first words that came to his mind were, 'He is adorable.' The King felt his face growing hot as the blush spread. Boy, was the little knight adorable. He was so short and small that Berwald was surprised he was even a knight at all. He must be really good with a sword.

Tino looked, to Berwald, like the embodiment of the sun, bright and shinning. Berwald frowned remembering how flustered and... scared Tino had seemed.

He sat back with a sigh of frustration.

Yes, Tino was like the sun, bright and unattainable. Someone Like Tino would never want to be with, or even around Berwald.

"Damn this curse," he said to the emptiness in his room.

/?/

"I love-" Matthaius was cut off by rapid knocking on his door. Lukas and he were laying on their bed comfortably. Matt groaned and stood up to answer it.

Outside the door, Tino wondered why Alfred bothered to knock this time.

As if reading his mind Alfred turned to him, "I always make sure to knock first, you don't want to know what I walked in on last time," Tino gazed, perplexed as Alfred began turning red.

He was stopped from asking when the door swung open, "What is it Alfred?" The man asked in a clearly irritated voice. The man was tall, nearly as tall as Berwald, only, unlike the King, he had a mop of messy unruly blond hair.

"Dude! Dude! This is Tino," He said bursting into the room and dragging Tino with him.

"Okay... So wha-"

Alfred cut him off and waved to Lukas who ignored him and nodded to Tino, "Dude, shut up! Tino, said he wasn't scared of Ber!" Alfred cried like a spastic eight year old. He paused for a moment, "Oh, and this is Matthaius," he gestured to the other blond man, "And Lukas," he waved to the light hared man on the bed.

The man named Matthaius smiled and shook Tino's hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Tino looked to the man on the bed and nearly backed away at the fierce glare that was being sent his way. Tino wondered what he had done to anger Lukas but he hoped he would stop looking at him like that.

Lukas raised an eyebrow and got up from the bed, he walked over to Tino and scrutinized the knight. The taller man's eyes were cold and hard, they seemed to be focused on something outside of Tino's reach. Suddenly Lukas's hand shot up and rested on Tino's forehead. He closed his eyes in concentration.

Tino swallowed stiffly and nearly stepped back when Lukas' eyes flew open and they stared at him hard. Lukas took a step back and hummed thoughtfully.

"I don't sense any fear or traces of the curses influence. You brought him straight here after seeing the King?" He asked Alfred.

The tall knight nodded, "Yup!"

Lukas hummed again and smiled minutely, "Interesting, Perhaps you are immune to the curse."

Matthaius and Alfred shared a hopeful look, "Are you sure babe?"

Lukas concentrated for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, I am almost positive. There is nothing there, I wonder why?" He gazed at Tino for a moment longer, he then turned away and returned to his bed and sat down. "Tell me," he said addressing Tino, "Were you born in any special or strange way?"

Tino found this question to be odd, but didn't comment seeing as he was the only one that seemed to think it was strange. He thought for a moment, "No, not that I know of. I was born in a cabin outside of Ardis in a little village. My mother and father still live there, but nothing unusual."

Lukas hummed, "Perhaps you are just special," he said more to himself than anyone in the room.

Alfred and Matt smiled to one another, "Dude, wait until Ber hears this," Alfred said, while Matthiaus nodded enthusiastically.

"Wait, I don't think we should tell the king," Lukas stated.

"What?! Why?" Matthaius whined to his lover.

"I don't know or understand why Sir Tino is the way he is yet, I don't want to get his majesty's hopes up for nothing," He said slightly annoyed.

"Aw, but think how happy he'll be when he hears someone's immune," Alfred added.

Lukas shook his head, "Even so, what if we told Berwald and Sir Tino's immunity wore off, think of how devastated he would be."

This caused Matt and Alfred to pause in thought. Finally both conceded to Lukas' point.

Lukas then turned to Tino, who was somewhat annoyed that they spoke about him as if he wasn't in the room. "Sir Tino,if you could continue to act afraid until I can figure out why you aren't affected by the curse."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Tino said, knowing how nervous the King made him, not because he was afraid but because of the weird feelings he had for the man.

"So it's agreed, the King will not be told of Tino's immunity to the curse," Lukas said.

All in the room nodded silently in consent.

/?/

"And this is the Kitchen," Berwald said as he walked into the room.

Tino marveled as people bustled about in a hurry. Some standing at stoves, some carrying items from one place to another. The first words that came to Tino's mind was, orderly chaos.

It was an impressively large room with at least ten cooking stations and lots of people preparing things, for dinner Tino assumed.

Tino glanced at the King and squeaked when he saw the pools of blue deeply concentrated on him. He felt nervous under the King's beautiful stare and he looked away quickly.

Berwald sighed deeply, he had hoped to get closer to Tino by personally showing him around the castle. Of course this only served to make Berwald sadder. It seemed every time Berwald glanced or looked at Tino he couldn't take his eyes away, this would result in Tino shuffling nervously, or exclaiming in fear under his stare.

Tino was trying to ignore the deeply thoughtful look on the King's face and he noticed something strange. No one had greeted them as they entered, though he was sure someone had to have noticed them enter.

He studied the people and was appalled to see that most, if not all, were avoiding where the King and Tino were standing. Cooks glanced at the King nervously and shuddered in fear. Whenever someone had no choice but to pass by, they would shy away and turn as if to hide themselves and cower before their ruler.

Tino frowned as another person passed by deliberately avoiding eye contact with both of them. The little knight crossed his arms, this was no way to treat a king. It wasn't like Berwald had stormed in, shouting or yelling at anyone. Tino was about to give this whole kitchen a piece of his mind when he was interrupted by a heavy sigh from above and beside him.

He glanced up at the king and was saddened by what he saw. King Berwald's eyes were hollow with something Tino could only call despair, the normally regal King's shoulders were drooped.

Suddenly the look was gone, Berwald squared his shoulders and looked down at Tino, his face clear once again. The younger man turned away and blushed when he realized he had been staring.

"Come, ther's more t' see," The Ruler said quietly. He turned and was out the door in moments.

Tino paused and watched as the entire kitchen seemed to give a collective sigh of relief as soon as Berwald had gone. Tino gave them all a look of disapproval and quickly followed the king.

Tino closed the door behind him and found Berwald waiting for him. He trotted up to him, "Sorry to keep you waiting your Majesty," he gave him a warm smile.

Before he could stop himself, Berwald began to blush uncontrollably at the adorable smile the little knight was giving him.

He coughed and continued on his way, gesturing for Tino to follow. They walked in silence for most of the way, and Berwald felt he should say something, "So, Sir Tino, where do ya come from?" Berwald could have brained himself for being such an idiot, 'Smooth Berwald, real smooth.'

Tino didn't seem to mind though, "I come from this really small town about three day's journey from here. I lived there with my mom and dad up till I was about thirteen, but I was kinda getting bored with the whole, farmer lifestyle. I wanted a little more action in my life, so I ran away from home and to the nearest town over. From there I apprenticed under a knight and learned how to fight and ride a horse." Tino chuckled, "Mind you, I had to go through hell and back to get where I am today, those knights train hard," he chuckled nervously when he realized he was rambling.

When he looked at the King though, he was pleasantly surprised, Berwald had a soft expression on his face. His eyes focused on him, listening to him intently. Tino blushed and turned away to hide it.

Facing the other way he missed Berwald's face fall into a frown, but by the time Tino turned back, Berwald's expression returned to normal.

Desiring to keep the awkwardness at bay Tino decided to ask some questions of his own, "What did you do before you became King?"

Berwald looked taken aback by the question, "Well, I used to hunt sometimes, but I mostly carved."

Tino smiled, "Like wood and stuff?"

Berwald nodded, "I made most of the tables and chairs in the castle in m' youth," he said proudly, "I also made the thrones."

Tino beamed at how proud and even excited Berwald sounded, "Really?! You made those?! They're both so beautiful!" He said. There was a twitch at the side of Berwald's mouth and Tino realized that he had almost gotten the stoic King to smile.

"I made 'em when I turned seventeen, on the anniversary of m' mother's death," Berwald's voice dropped a little.

Before he could stop himself, he found himself asking, "Did she die when you were young?"

The Ruler studied him from the corner of his eye, almost as if he was trying to decide something. Tino hoped he hadn't gone to far.

Finally Berwald spoke, his voice soft, "She died when I was young; twelve." His gaze was straight ahead as they walked but he continued to speak, "She grew sick m' tenth birthday, 'nd she'd been goin' down hill from ther'." Tino marveled as his eyes turned fond, "She never showed it much, that she was ill, 'specially 'round me. She was an amazing woman 'nd a wonderful Queen. I hope t' rule like her someday," he finished softly.

Tino sincerely hoped that the tears about to leak out of his eyes stayed exactly where they were. He refused to cry in front of the King.

"I'm sorry," Tino was impressed with himself for not allowing his voice to crack.

Berwald shook his head and seemed to draw himself out of something, memories perhaps?

They came to the end of the hallway and the King opened the door, "This is the Library."

Tino gasped at the sheer number of books that were stacked on shelves all the way up to the ceiling. There was row after row, section after section, of nothing but books, books and more books.

It was beautiful.

"This... Is... Incredible!" He cried like a kid in a candy store. "There are so many!"

Berwald had that little tick at the side of his mouth again, "M' mother loved books and readin'. Every time she traveled she 'lways brought back books of some kind 'r other."

"Wow!" Tino gasped.

"Ye can stay in here if ya like. Yer only her' to protect m' for the ball so, yer gonna have some free time till it actually happens. Library's open to anyone 'nd ya can stay as long as ya like," The king said. He then bowed, "M' sorry Sir Tino but you'll have ta excuse me. I have some business to take care of."

"Thank you some much your majesty!" Tino breathed, still in awe of the sheer number of books.

The taller man paused before opening the door, "You can call m' Berwald," he said quietly, almost shyly.

Tino turned to him in surprise. The King seemed to be avoiding his eye and he had a very distinct redness about his cheeks.

Tino smiled widely, "Then you can call me Tino... Berwald."

The King nodded and quickly left the library. He closed the door and paused, he liked the way his name sounded falling from Tino's lips.

He smiled to himself, it was a good day.