When Fran woke up he immediately made notice that where he was sleeping was not his own room.
He spent a good chunk of time staring at cream curtains that barely concealed the blaring sun behind them.
He rolled over with a moan, it was too early to be awake. What did he remember last? He was at the palace, that would explain the incredibly well furnished room. Bel had been here but he wasn't now, and- oh god. The events of the night prior came to him, his hands instinctively slapping to his chest to make sure he was still wearing clothes.
He was a bit relieved when he confirmed her was, a but less relieved when he discovered that the clothes were not his own.
He was wearing sleepwear, not his own though. The door opening abruptly startled his dreadful thought process.
"Oh you're awake?" A young maid noted as she came in casually. "Good morning sir, did you sleep well?" She had a basket of folded towels which she set down on the dresser.
"Um yes?" He answered a bit nervously.
"That's good to hear, I'll notify his highness immediately and find you another set of clothes for you to change into." She continued to put away the towels in drawers.
"Um I'm sorry but may I ask you when did I change into these clothes?" Fran asked awkwardly sitting there not sure of he should make more of an attempt to cover himself in front of the young lady.
"You didn't, his highness asked me to do it last night so you would be more comfortable."
Fran must have made a face of horror because she continued.
"Well don't fret about it, it's not like haven't seen a man in his undergarments before." She winked at him. "You're quite the cutie aren't you? Have you not a chambermaid in your home?"
"No, no I have not." Fran was having a hard time looking at the girl now that he knew she had undressed him. He supposed it was better than Bel doing it- wait why would that be any better?
"Ah I'm guessing you're not one of the pompous councilmen that were here last night, so I'm assuming that you're good friends with the emperor."
Well technically Fran hadn't been formally invited to the party but technically they were friends.
"I would hope so."
She looked at him confused, "What's your name?"
"Fran." He answered politely.
The teen didn't understand why she was bewildered by response. "You didn't tell me to mind my place... Where are you from again?"
A knock at the door interrupt the two. Bel didn't wait for a response before walking in.
"Oh you're up." He walked over to the table and took a seat in one of the chairs. "Margaret would you mind bring us tea or do you prefer coffee?" bel asked Fran.
"Um, tea is fine."
"Tea it is." Margaret curtsied before exiting with her basket.
"How did you sleep?"
Fran had taken the chair across from Bel.
"Really good actually." He responded taking a sip of tea.
They sat in silence while as they thought out what they were going to say.
"Look, I don't really need an explanation for yesterday." Bel began finally. "I don't care if it was an accident, curiosity, or intentional, I just want to know if you're okay. If you want I can pretend it never happened, but that's only if you want me to. Because... Because I don't want to."
Fran's green eyes dropped down to inspect the contents of his cup. "I... I don't know what I want. And I'm not okay, I-I don't know what to do in this situation- this isn't normal for me, I haven't done this before. And I am having a panic attack, I-I, I'm not okay with 'this', but I think I've accepted that I-I... I... We... I... Like your company... I like you, I think. But it doesn't matter because it's not like I can do anything about it... Even if you- you- me- I'm still me- we- we're both- I can't word." Fran was almost rocking back and forth in his seat.
"Fran it's okay-"
"No it's not. And I hate this so much, I've never felt like I couldn't handle something, but this-" he couldn't stop himself from talking.
"Fran!"
His sentence drifted as he looked back at Bel.
"You don't think any of this has crossed my mind? I'm getting married! I can't even comprehend why? I didn't think I'd ever like you, but I do, and I see how hard this is on you, I just want to make it easier. We can figure this out."
"But- you're you, you can do whatever you want and no one can judge you, I-I'm me, and I have a future, I hope. And this is not part of that future. I'm sorry."
"So you want me to ignore this?" Bel looked troubled. "Fran that's what I've been doing, it's taken every ounce of my self-control, that I didn't even think existed, only because I don't want to hurt you. Then you come along, and you're the one not ignoring it Fran, what am I supposed to think?"
Fran thought, he was right, Fran was the one giving in each time, he's the one who cracked first. And it felt real awful to admit but it was true.
He looked away in shame, "I'm trying alright?"
The blond knew this was true from the look on the boy's face.
"Fran, you've been living in the future, you know it's okay to live in the now for a bit."
The younger avoided eye contact.
"I need to think." He said finally facing him.
Bel took the hint, "Stay as long as you want, we're not due back till Monday. If you need anything let Margret know."
Fran smiled meekly. "Thank you."
"Margret is there a garden or something in this enormity of a house where I can take a walk?" Fran asked the maid as she had been sitting across from him staring at him for the last hour. He was sure that when Bel ordered her to tend to the boy he didn't mean every second of the hour.
"Yeah of course, we have all kinds of gardens." If there was anything that Fran had learned about Margret in their short time together was that she liked to talk. "Is there a specific one you want to see? We have gardens with fountains, gardens with roses, gardens with fountains and roses, ooh then there's this one with a creek running through it-"
"Anyone of those will do." Fran said quickly.
Margret got the hint. "This way then."
"They light this up on certain nights and it's very pretty, you can see it from a good distance too..."
Fran was about to point out to Margret that when he mentioned that he wanted to take a walk he meant on his own, when a young woman suddenly crossed their path.
Margret sunk into a bow immediately.
"Madame Lucille." She greeted.
"Margret?" The lost young woman looked surprised. "Gregory told me Bel was out here but I guess not."
"His highness stepped out for a moment but he should be home soon." The maid explained.
"Thank you Margret," She only now seemed to notice Fran. "I'm sorry who are you?"
"Madame Lucille this is Fran, he's a guest of his highness." Margret introduced, she was a different person around the more important people Fran noticed. "Fran this is Madame Lucille, His highness's fiancée."
Oh. "Nice to meet you." Fran bowed a bit.
"Fran? You say your name is Fran?" Lucille eyed the boy curiously.
"Yes?" Fran was confused.
"And what is your relationship to Bel?" She asked with a hint of suspicion.
Why did she need to know? "We're classmates," Fran answered simply. "He's um... A good friend of my cousin's." He lied, technically Chika and he were not related but no one would know.
"Ah I see, have you known him long?"
"A bit, since the year started."
"So not that much longer than I, interesting."
Fran took her moment of thought to observe her.
She was radiating in looks, only because of the way she carried herself, other than that she would probably be considered rather plain.
"Wait- how long have you known B-His Highness for?" Fran asked suddenly catching what she said previously.
"Oh a couple of weeks, nearing a month I think."
That was ridiculous. "You just met him and you're marrying him?"
Lucille shrugged. "When opportunity strikes... And he asked me anyway. Perhaps he had no other women in his life as accomplished..." She thought some more, her eyebrows furrowed. "Although he did mention a Francine or something... But maybe he made her up..."
She watched Fran for a reaction.
He was choking on his next words. Although he stayed well composed. He opened his mouth and a strangled noise came out. He cleared his throat and promptly excused himself, Margret right behind him.
Francine? Fran could feel his face burning in embarrassment as the two walked back to his room. Had Bel been referring to him as a woman? What the hell? And what did this mean?
Fran wasn't even quite sure why he was so embarrassed. Was it because Bel pretty much implied that he liked him to a complete stranger, or the possibility of that stranger knowing that Francine was actually Fran.
And on cue Bel walked out of the nearest door. He stopped before walking into Fran noting the boy's odd color.
"What's wrong?" He asked immediately.
"He just met Lucille." Margret explained sympathetically.
Oh crap, Bel thought.
"Francine?" Fran asked as if it were the most stupendous thing he had ever heard.
"I panicked." The embarrassed heir defended.
"You couldn't think of anything better?"
"You weren't there okay?"
"Obviously."
"Don't give me that look, yeah I could have handle it better, but you could have handled yesterday better."
Fran flushed again, not as bad as earlier.
"You-... Shut up." He searched for a better comeback. "You told a complete stranger, I didn't bring anyone else into it."
"I'll fix this." Bel promised unconvincingly.
"Fix what?" Lucille asked as she joined them in the middle of the hall.
"Ahm a loose tile in Fran's bathroom." Bel covered quickly.
"Ah he's staying here?" She asked a bit bothered.
Fran wanted to say not if she didn't want him to but Bel spoke first. "Just for the weekend."
"Oh." She smiled at the teen. "So my father is coming to dinner tonight, don't forget, I'm going to go down town to pick out flowers for the table arrangements, so I'll see you in an hour or two." She pecked him on the cheek before waving good bye to Fran.
Bel stopped her, "Actually I have to run some errands so I'll come along."
"Oh that's wonderful." She gleamed as he joined her after excusing himself.
After they left Margret announced Fran's thoughts:
"She's kind of a bitch."
Moments after Fran began to develop a strong headache. Margret returned from the kitchen to him pacing back and forth in his room.
"Drink this." She handed him a drink. "It's strong but it'll make you feel better."
The teen cringed at the bitter and really strong taste. It tasted of liquor and citrus. He chugged the rest down and handed it back to the maid before sitting down in an armchair and closing his eyes.
"What do you want Fran?" Margret said suddenly.
Fran opened his eyes and gave her an odd look.
"I think that's where you should start." She took a chair and dragged it closer to him before sitting down. "What do you have and what do you want? Look I know it's not my place nor do I have more than a vague idea of what's going on but I feel like you're making this far more complicated than it is."
"I want to know your definition of complicated because looking at this from any angle it is more complicated than anything I have ever experienced." Fran's headache was actually lifting.
"You are looking too much into the little details, overall it's about you Fran, what do you want?" She stressed the 'you' this time.
"It doesn't matter what I want if I know that I can't have what I want." Fran explained.
"Can't is a strong word Fran." She said in a serious tone. "You can't say that you can or can't have something you want unless it's physically impossible. I don't want you to wait that long Fran, because one day it might actually be impossible."
Fran's response was silence.
"You're making yourself miserable when you have the choice to be happy." Margret continued. "I don't think you realize how much influence you have over the decisions Bel chooses to make. And I've been working here forever; Bel always does whatever he wants. But if you told him not to marry, he would do everything in his power to break his engagement. The story is about you Fran, so make it about you."
Fran was still speechless. He had developed a sharp pain in his throat, but he wasn't quite sure if it was pain anymore. He wasn't sure if it was pain, sadness, fear, happiness, or anger.
He stood and walked over to the large windows. Looking over the large estate he knew what the pain was, it was a longing.
That feeling of longing had turned from longing to impatience and desperation over the following couple of hours.
After Bel had returned from his trip to town he had get ready with the dinner with Lucius. Then he actually had to have dinner with Lucius and chat in the sitting room with Lucius for what felt like hours on end. Fran felt like he was dying, but Lucius kept trying to pull him into the conversation during the whole event and was obviously irritated with Fran's short and bleak answers.
Finally the blond heir bid them farewell and the night was over.
Now the feeling of impatience was starting to morph into panic. Fran told himself to calm down but his determination from earlier had diminished. Where was Margret when you needed her?
"Are you alright sir?" Gregory, the head butler asked the quickly paling boy. "Would you like me to prepare your room?"
Fran nodded just to get the man out of the room, he felt like he was suffocating.
"Are you still in here?" Bel asked as he came back into the room back from escorting his guests out.
"Um yeah." The younger answered, mentally telling himself to pull himself together.
"I'm sorry I forgot about Lucius, you look tired you should get some rest-"
"Bel," Fran hadn't intended to interrupt, but he continued. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Bel said casually as he walked over to where Fran was standing by the window. "I already have what I want, I want the frog to like me back, and even if he doesn't want anything more than that, I'm happy because at least I know that my affections were not unreturned."
Fran accepted the answer, continuing to speculate as they watched the stars in the dark sky.
"You should go to bed." The blond said after sometime. "I think I'll retire as well."
Fran turned to him as if he was going to say something, but he didn't instead he initiated a kiss followed by an embrace. This was intended to be his response, but to be safe he added:
"This is what I want."
I should had made this into a drinking game, take a drink everytime someone uses the word 'want'. :P