Matthew had tears in his eyes.

"I'll miss you so much." He hugged all of the servants who had shown up to bid him farewell. They had all already gotten their letters of release, but that did not seem to stop them from coming around once more to let Matthew see them off.

When it came to the last two people, Matthew couldn't help but cry.

"Matteo," it was said between sniffles. "You must come to see us in the city sometime."

"Don't think I can handle this idiota by myself."

Matthew smiled as he hugged each of them. He put a hand on Feliciano's shoulder. "I'll definitely come to visit." Turning to Lovino, he smiled and said, "Try your best not to kill him."

The two boys hugged him again. Finally, Matthew stopped them and gave them each a dried rose. "Thank you so much for being there for me. I wish you two all the luck in the world."

With that, they were off. Matthew was left alone at the back gate of the yard.

Matthew took over the chores. Usually done by multiple people, he stayed up late into the night and woke up early in the morning trying to keep the work from getting too out of hand.

Feeding the animals was done first and foremost. It was still Matthew's favorite part of the day. Everyone was still sleeping so he did not have to listen to the chastising or the arguing. If he woke up early enough, he would even sneak a book to read for a while.

Dressing Reagan was done around seven in the morning. Matthew would bring a tray with jasmine tea, an egg, and a slice of bread. Reagan would eat in bed first before going to the dressing area of the room he had set up so that Matthew could slide the outfit on him.

Matthew couldn't help but notice the changes that Reagan had made to the room. The once light blue color had been replaced with a dark, deep red. The windows were basically covered making the only light coming from the fixtures above the bed and beside the mirrors that lined the wall next to the door.

Next was the laundry. Matthew considered this to be the trickiest part of the day. He'd have to sneak into the boys' room so to gather their clothing. It was not a matter of not waking them up, but one of which clothes they had actually worn. After scrubbing those and hanging them to dry, he'd start on lunch.

The boys would get up on their own, but Matthew helped them dress as well. It would take a while longer before the boys came down due to their "morning routine".

Sometimes, he'd have enough time to visit with Kumajiro before going back into the ruckus filled house and setting the table for lunch.

While they were eating, Matthew dusted, swept, and mopped. This allowed him to avoid seeing the family eating. When he went back to the dining room, he cleared the plates and such, washing the dishes and the table. He'd then clean that room and start preparing dinner.

During dinner, Matthew would often fill the odd jobs that the others had found throughout the day, like polishing shoes or reorganizing the bookshelf by author or genre or title.

At the end of the day, Matthew made himself a meal out of the leftovers as if Reagan spotted him eating throughout the day, he would be reprimanded in a more violent way than Matthew would have thought the spindly man capable of. He would eat his dinner against Kuma, feeding him most of the food.

At times, the attic was too cold to sleep in, so Matthew took a blanket out to the stables and slept against his horse. The warmth and steady fall and rise of the breathing comforted Matthew as his eyelids closed.

One day, Matthew found that he had sat with Kuma for a bit too long before going back inside to finish preparing lunch.

He was thankful when he had just finished setting the table when the boys and their father came down.

"I think Chamomile tea this morning would be rather nice, don't you boys?" Reagan looked back at the twins and then at Matthew who had just stood up from mending the fire.

Sitting down, Reagan made a comment that surprised Matthew.

"What is that in your hair?" At some point, it seemed like they hadn't actually taken the time to look at Matthew anymore. It was like he had become an invisible part of their lives.

His hand went up to his hair and he winced when it came back with hay. It must have gotten there from conversing with Kuma in the stables.

"Hay," Matthew muttered.

"Hay! Ew!" Emery's face was filled with disgust, but it held a smile there as well.

"I hope it's not in our food," Calvin gave their platters a skeptical look.

"Do remember to bathe next time Matthew."

Emery's face lit up as if he was just reminded of something hilarious.

"Grass-ew!" Emery was ignored for different comments on the new name they should give him.

"Fodd-ew," Calvin chimed in, laughing.

"Grass-ew!" Emery looked to his father. "Can't we call him that, Father! It'll be fun!"

The boys laughed as Reagan looked on with a smirk.

"Grass-ew it is. A fitting name for such filth." Reagan glanced almost pitifully at him. "Son of a servant. It seems to me like he should be treated like one as well."

The boys beside him snickered.

"Servants aren't to be treated as such and my fathers were no servants." Matthew almost glared at the man in front of him. It had been the first time to stand up to Reagan. As soon as Reagan began speaking again, he backed down to this new form of pity he had become.

"Oh, but your mother was theirs. She died in childbirth. Your twin too actually. Quite sad I should say." Reagan examined his fingernails, picking out a small piece of grime he had found. "And the father had died right before. They had no choice but to take you in. You were really a burden, weren't you?"

Matthew held in his tears. "Chamomile tea, was it sir?"

"Hurry with it too."

Matthew held himself back from running out of the room. Deep breathes he told himself.

Matthew made the tea and left it on the small table that sat outside the room. He knocked once and quickly left, running towards the stables.

Climbing onto Kuma, he'd realized how long it had been since they had gone out for a ride.

He rode quickly past the gates and the such until Matthew had partly lost his way. Suddenly, Kuma was frighted by a stag in the forest just past a clearing.

A bugle sounded and suddenly, Matthew realized what trouble this animal was in. He looked it in the eyes.

"Run," he whispered. "You must go! Hurry!"

The stag looked quizzically for a moment before hurriedly hopping away.

Matthew smiled as Kuma ran after. The stag was behind them now, but Kuma would not stop running.

Gilbert hated hunting for sport.

He felt that the food would be much better going to those in the kingdom, but knew that he had to impress the nobleman who had come along with him today. His brother, Ivan, and Antonio were with him along with some other men.

Gilbert hoped that today was one of those days when they did not find anything.

The one thing Gilbert did love was the chase. It peaked his adrenaline. His horse galloping through the fields, wind rushing in his ears, his eyes on the lookout for anything that moved.

He did not, however, expect his eyes to catch another rider that was definitely not apart of his group. The stark white horse ran with such vigor, and the rider wore a plain white shirt that seemed slightly dirty and a pair of light brown pants. It was noticeably different than the guards red and black coats with light grey pants.

Gilbert veered off his course towards the rider who looked to be having an awful lot of trouble slowing down his horse.

"Sir! Sir! Do you need help?! Are you alright?!" Gilbert was yelling.

As he pulled up beside the man, he could hear protests of, "I'm alright, thank you" and "I've got this under control."

Gilbert laughed as he helped slow down the horse.

"Yeah, you really looked like you had that under control."

"I was doing plenty fine. You've just about scared the life out of him!"

Gilbert stopped and looked around. "Who?"

"The stag!" The defiant look on the man's face struck Gilbert as odd. At this moment, Gilbert got a better look at the eyes of the already beautiful boy. Another laugh tore through him.

"I apologize for laughing. If it were up to me, I wouldn't hunt anyhow. It is just as good that we have frighted him so he would run."

The boy nodded.

"What do they call you?"

The boy looked distraught for a moment. "Never mind me." A smile took over his face right after the words left his mouth. "What about you?"

"You don't recognize me?"

"No. Should I?"

Gilbert laughed. This was a perfect chance to be that normal person he had wanted to become for so long. "No, I guess not. I just thought anyone would be able to guess the name as someone as awesome as me!"

Another laugh, this time, it was joined by one from the boy.

"Awfully self-righteous, are we?"

"The name's Gilbert. You can call me Gil, my friends do." Gilbert held out his hand for the man to shake.

The boy shook it gingerly with a sad, far off look in his eye. A small amount of the fabric coming up around the wrist to show dirt or light bruising.

"And where do you live, Mr. Gilbert?" The boy seemed to have snapped out of his daze causing Gilbert to realize he was staring.

"At the palace." Well, that just slipped out, didn't it? "My grandfather is teaching me and my brother his trade."

"An apprentice?!" The boy looked impressed. Was being an apprentice really that impressive.

"Yeah, kind of."

"Do they treat you well?"

"Yes, although they keep me locked up and busy with paperwork most of the time. I find it would be nice to spend more time in the town."

The boy nodded.

"How about you?"

"The same I guess. Less paperwork though." The sentence struck Gilbert as odd and it held a slightly sad tone despite the smile that was still etched into his face.

"I'm sorry." Gilbert felt he should say something and that was pretty much the only thing he could come up with.

"It's not your doing. Besides, taking care of people is what we must do, isn't it?"

"Yes, I guess so."

A bugle sounded again.

Gilbert noticed the anxious look on the boy's face. "Don't worry. He's long gone by now. We were heading back soon anyway."

The boy nodded.

Just then, three other horses entered the clearing.

"There you are, brother."

"We must be going now, your hi-"

"It's Gilbert! Gil! It's Gil!"

Gilbert could see Ivan and Antonio share a look.

Antonio nearly fell off his horse laughing as Ivan turned back to him with an absolute shit-eating grin on his face. "Of course. Gil. We must be getting back."

"The awesome me will be right there so wait a minute!"

The boy hid is laugh behind his hand. "It was so nice meeting 'the awesome you'."

"Likewise." He held out his hand again and the boy shook it more openly this time. "I hope to see you again."

A small blush covered the boy's cheeks. "Likewise," the words mimicked his own.

Gilbert rode out of the clearing laughing, looking back to see the boy just sitting there, staring at him ride away.

"Gil, was it?" Ivan poked him.

"Oh, shut up!"

Hi!

Again, I hope I wrote Gilbert okay-ish.

I hope you are enjoying this! Have a great day and thank you for reading it!