Y'all ready for 'For the First Time in Forever'? Fyi, Feli is occasionally breaking out into song in this chapter, but it's very sublte. IE I had a hard time showing and it Romano ends up going, goddamn it Feli.

Hope y'all didn't wait too long for this! (Side note: I do not ship Spain/Italy... like at all. IE why their part is so short)

Enjoy!

Morning broke over the castle slowly. Not as if Feliciano noticed, as he was dead asleep in his bed and wouldn't wake up for anything.

"Are you sure he's not in one of those comas or something?" A desperate maid whispered. "Maybe he died in his sleep!"

The cook rolled his eyes. "He's a teenage boy now, they sleep more than bears hibernate. But I have an idea"

Slowly, a dazzling smell wafted into the prince's bedroom. Feliciano smiled, rolling onto his side. His dreams were suddenly filled with dancing noodles and baskets of tomatoes. Pasta was in the air. He followed a long string of linguini to the edge of the world, watching it fall into the sauce below. He too, fell.

But instead of falling headfirst into a pot of sauce, Feliciano opened his eyes to find himself drenched from head to toe in icy water. "Wha..?"

"I thought for sure pasta would work" The cook said sullenly, holding a plate of spaghetti.

The maid shook her head, tucking the bucket that once held ice water under her arm. "I'm so sorry dear, I was afraid you would never wake up! You must hurry, Lovino's coronation is only in a few hours"

"Lovino's… coronation? Oh my god! Lovino's coronation!" Feliciano was out of bed in seconds. "I can't believe I forgot!"

"I had no trouble believing it" The cook whispered to the maid. She shushed him and sent him back to the kitchen to prepare for the evening feast.

"I'm off to prepare your bath, your majesty" The maid said, hurrying off into the side bathroom

Feliciano rocked back and forth on his feet, beyond excited, and hardly paying attention.

For just one day, one measly day in years, the gates would be open.

He couldn't wait.

[=]

Squeaky clean, Feliciano ran out of his bedroom and into the hall. His sock clad feet slid a little on the polished wood, but since there were no breakable items anywhere close to his room, nothing paid the price for his clumsiness.

The first stop was the big bay window. When he was little, Feliciano used to have to stand on his tippy toes to see the waters that surrounded their little island home. Never was there anything except blue seas. But today, for the first time in years, Regno del fuoco's harbor was filled with boats.

Big boats, little boats… sailing boats and the occasional row boat. Everyone had come to see Lovino's coronation.

It was an odd time to welcome people to the island, as winter was never the season for traveling, but snow fall was so rare here, and the smartest people on the island had assured everyone that it would be a while before anything could freeze over. And even though it was cold to Feliciano, many welcomed the cooler air to fight off the year-long heat.

It was torture waiting for the gates to finally open. Feliciano busied himself with bothering the maids who were bringing out hundreds and hundreds of dinning wear. (Who knew they had so many salad plates?)

He soon found himself in the portrait hall, trying to couch himself down from the perpetual high he was in.

"Okay, Feli. Gotta keep it together. When those gates open, you gotta show everyone your Italian charm!" He shot figure guns at a lady in a portrait. Smooth as ice, he was. "Make 'em like you! You get to met people. Like, new people. You might even meet… the one"

Feliciano broke off his internal conversation. "Oh my god, I might meet the one!"

What would they look like? What would they be wearing? All he could think was blond hair… tall and muscular… a stern gaze. Woah, those German posters he got for his birthday were really messing with his sexual preferences.

Feliciano shook his head. He'd worry about his sexuality later. No matter who he fell for, he knew it was the person that was important.

A giggle escaped him. For the first time in forever, he had the chance to find true love.

[=]

Meanwhile, Lovino paced back and forth in his sealed bedroom. "Conceal… don't feel" He whispered to himself.

He knew the procedure for the ceremony from heart. His father had run him through it when he was alive, and even know his portrait stared disapprovingly down at him. Damn that man, Lovino had said having a giant ass portrait of his father in his room was strange but did Romulus listen? No. Did he ever listen?

No.

As for the gloves, the priest was very clear that from the four seconds he had to handle to scepter and chalice that symbolically made him king, he had to have uncovered hands. Something about his willingness to be stripped naked for his country.

Lovino had begged him to change the rule, or god forbid change the phrasing, but the kingdom prided itself on never ever changing its traditions.

He picked up the scepter and chalice to practice once more. The gold burned red and began to melt the second he touched it. It was his nervousness- his powers went ballistic when he was angry or sad or even nervous. Lovino dropped the trinkets in fear any longer in his hands they would melt to nothing.

Maybe if he just put the ceremony out of his mind, he would magically learn to control his powers in the next hour. He'd better.

Lovino was going to restraighten his hair or something to get his mind off what he needed to do, when all of the sudden he heard someone outside the door. Oh my god- was that Feliciano? And why was he singing?

Shaking his head, Lovino vowed to never spontaneously burst into song. With a sudden burst of resolve, Lovino flung open the door and loudly declared, "Open the gates!"

It would've been a great, dramatic moment, had there been any guards stationed outside his room. All it resulted in was scaring Feliciano into tears.

Oh Jesus, seeing his brother for the first time and years and all he does is scare him half to death. A maid came running at the sound, and Lovino once again instructed. "Open the gates"

"Of course, sir!" And she was off, throwing a worried glance at the princes.

Feliciano was still sniffling, but now he seemed to notice Lovino. He moved his mouth wordlessly. Lovino didn't wait for him to catch up with what just happened, and fled back into the safety of his room. "The gates are open" He said before he close to door, trying to distract his brother.

It worked. Feliciano stopped gaping his mouth like a fish and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tears. In seconds he had left his brother's room behind and burst out of the castle.

[=]

Feliciano had never seen so many people in one place. He had to resort to climbing on the guard rails to avoid being trampled. At first, no one recognized him. But the more people stared at the strange boy balancing effortlessly on the railing, the more they noticed the unmistakable curl that marked a Vargas.

There were also snide whispers about his scar, but Feliciano had learned to tune those out.

Feliciano didn't see too many he recognized. But there still were a few. Francis Bonnefoy, the very cousin who had gotten married all those years ago, walked alone into the castle. Feliciano wondered where his wife was. There was Roderich and his escort, a lovely girl named Elizaveta. Marcello, his cousin, was being chased around by a little girl with a side ponytail.

One of the more noticeable, new faces was a short man with huge, caterpillar eyebrows. He stood flanked by two tall men, one with glasses and the other with a pink scarf. He shot an icy look at the prince.

So many people, yet Feliciano didn't stick around to chat. He ran through the cobbled streets of the little seaside town, greedily drinking in everything he could. His jacket was just a little too light, but it was indeed fancy, so Feliciano wouldn't think of covering it up with anything warmer.

When he skipped down a flight of steps to the little wooden boardwalk that boarded the seashore, everything seemed to take him over in a rush. He was free! The gates were open! If only it wasn't so cold, Feliciano would've jumped right in and felt the water.

Happiness bubbled inside him. Feeling giddy, Feliciano broke into the notes of a song and started running down the seashore. "For the first time in forever, nothings in my wayyyy- Ouch!"

Something, or someone, had just emerged from a side ally and knocked into him.

Feliciano tried to keep his balance, but he had a hard enough time with that already without the help, and ended up falling into a beach rowboat.

"That hurt!" He yelped, removing a piece of seaweed from his head.

"I'm so sorry!" An accented voice replied, laced with worry. A tan, calloused hand reached out to his, and Feliciano found himself staring up at most handsome man he had ever met.

He had chocolate, curly hair, and startling green eyes. He must've been taller than Feliciano, but he didn't stand any taller than the horse he had been riding on. His outfit was simple, but looked expensive. He had the kind of look that said he spent most of his time outside. And there were soft line at the corner of his eyes, a little indication that said he smiled often.

Feliciano tried to make his clumsy tongue conform in his mouth. "Uhhhhhhh… ciao"

"Italian?" The man asked, pulling Feliciano up and smiling. "Que lindo! I'm from Espana, or how you say it, Spagna. Antonio Fernadez at your service" He bowed

All of the sudden, the manners that have been drilled into Feliciano since he was born came flooding back. He nodded his head. "Prince Feliciano of Regno del fuoco"

Antonio's eyes widened in surprise. "A prince! Oh gosh, I hit the crowned prince with my horse. Francis would strangle me if he knew…"

"You know Francis?" Feliciano asked. "He's my cousin!"

Antonio chuckled. "Well I'm his plus one."

Feliciano smiled. "Well don't worry about the whole hitting me with a horse. I'm not that prince. I mean, if you hit my brother Lovino he would've been all up in flames about it, but luckily it's just me"

Antonio opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by chiming bells. Feliciano froze. "The coronation! I'm going to be late. It's been so much fun meeting you, Anto-" Wow his name was long and Feliciano only remembered bits and pieces. "Um, Antonio. Ciao!"

With that, Feliciano hurried off, leaving Antonio to smile softly to himself.