Not beta read.

I do not own Pandora Hearts.

Present for Ozbert Fangirl.

Dalia Garland seemed to be a kind person, she was calm and had this serene smile on her face. She had lied for him to Fallon, who appeared to be a very old friend of her family. She was prepared to lie to the authorities for him, all because Gilbert had asked her to. Just by that information, the prince knew she was very loyal to the people she cared about. She wasn't much older than him either, he noticed.

"In this house, I will treat you the same way as I treat Vincent and Gilbert," she spoke while giving him a tour around the house,

"Believe me, she won't treat you the same as she treats Gil." Vincent joked in his hear, ignoring the glare his brother gave him while Oz laughed softly.

"Those clothes look good on you, Oz." Dalia smiled at him over his shoulder,

"Oh… thank you." He awkwardly nodded while avoiding her gaze, Fallon had done a great job, having made the clothes for him in only three days. The fabric felt soft against his skin and the sizes were correct. Her clothes were better than most what most of his own personal tailors have made for him. When seeing this, Vincent made an annoyed clicking sound with his tongue,

"I understand that this is probably a bit too much for you to remember," she spoke while showing him where the dining room was, "But don't worry, I made sure that Gil's room is right next to yours…"

"Which means you'll be lying very close to Dalia as well." Vincent spoke again,

"…he'll help you find your way the first days, of course I've prepared a room for you as well. Vincent." She then said,

"Oh you shouldn't have," the blond male easily waved her off, "I'll be heading back home after this boring tour is over, we still need someone to sell our medicine on the market tomorrow after all."

"Oh…" Dalia nodded, sounding slightly disappointed, "Well then, know that you're always welcome to visit." she offered him a kind smile.

"I'll keep it in mind," he nodded, only a fool would believe his words though. There was no way that Vincent would come here on his own free will.

"And this will be your room," Dalia smiled while opening the door, "There are clothes in the closet… so you don't have to worry about it. Also, don't be scared to use the bath." She smiled kindly at him, "Gilbert told me you were scared of using too much luxuries…"

Geez Gil, did you even try to keep anything a secret from her? The boy wondered to himself, then stopped himself from thinking about the raven like that. As if they had known each other for years. He quickly entered the room while muttering a thank you under his breath, "Well then, it's getting quite late." The Garland girl spoke, "I'll be retiring to my room, Gilbert, can you lend me a minute?"

"Of- of course." The raven didn't even hesitate, quickly following her towards her room while the two blond males stood awkwardly in the room,

"This will be happening a lot, she'll probably won't even hesitate to take her chances now that he'll be staying here some time." Vincent spoke, glaring at the door.

"You seem to really dislike her, are you scared she'll take Gil away from you?"

"Aren't you?"

Silence, Oz furrowed his brow. Not understanding the question.

"My brother has this special gift, Oz-sama." Vincent spoke, "He somehow always finds a way into your heart, no matter how hard you try to push him away. Even the hatter couldn't keep him out." He glanced at the boy, "And I can see he has already found a way in yours."

He didn't know why he felt his face heating up, the teen could no longer keep eye contact with the taller blond. Was it the words he had just told him or perhaps it was his gaze, Vincent had this expression on his face, the same one Break often carried, as if he knew all off your darkest secrets and wasn't afraid to use them against you. "By… hatter, you don't mean Xerxes Break, right?"

Vincent's glare said more than enough.

"How do you-"

"As Gil's beloved Dalia already said, Oz-sama. It's getting late, I should be heading home. Not everyone can take a vacation whenever they want." He yawned, "Plus, unlike you. I rather care about my sleep." He already headed towards the door,

"Ah… Vincent!"

"Hm?"

The boy was rather pleased to see the young man actually stopped when he called his name, in those past few weeks, he had noticed that the younger sibling only listened to Gilbert, yet he had somehow found a way to make him listen to Oz as well "Thank you." He spoke with an earnest smile on his face, "For everything."

His eyes widened slightly when hearing this, "Don't think so fully of yourself, I only took care of you because Gil asked me to."

Lies. "But still, thank you."

Vincent frowned, glancing over his shoulder at the brat, "Honestly," he sighed, he had an annoyed scowl on his face while he walked back inside the room, straight towards the boy, the prince couldn't help but take a surprised step back before he felt the older male's hand rest on the crown of his hair. "Take care of yourself, brat. Perhaps we'll meet again, let's say… at my brother's wedding, hm?" he joked before walking away, this time he didn't stop, not even when Oz ran towards the door and shouted after him, "I'll keep you to that promise!" he simply raised his hand in a lazy wave.

Gilbert sighed when hearing the teen's raised voice, "Vincent has left, huh." His brother hadn't even bothered to say goodbye, so it seemed. He smiled though, because apparently he had said goodbye to Oz. His sibling might be too proud to show it, but in the end, he had gotten attached to the small prince.

"You can stay here, if you want." Dalia then spoke, breaking his chain of thoughts, odd how the young Vesalius always seemed to find a way into his thoughts. The young woman was wearing a simple white night gown, showing a good portion of her body, Gil found himself gazing at the pieces of revealed skin before he met her gaze, his eyes widened a bit when he realized what she meant by that. "I-…" he almost couldn't find the words to talk, "Your… father wouldn't like it."

"It was my father who send you the marriage proposal years ago, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." She smiled softly while walking towards him, he backed away from her though. Knowing this really wasn't the right thing to do. "I should probably… ch-check on Oz, he's probably nervous-" of course, he didn't mean any of those words at that very right moment, and any thought of hesitation left his mind when he saw the displeased look on her face, she had found her way into his personal space and guided his arms around her waist, "I'm sure our beloved prince wouldn't mind some alone time." Her breath gently caressed his pale skin, searching his eyes for any argument, when she couldn't find any, she smiled, pleased with herself.

"How long are we going to keep playing this game, Gilbert?" she asked softly.

"What… game?" the raven was already forgetting they were talking about, all he could focus on was Dalia, the way she looked in the light of the candles, her scent… her beautiful eyes that always seemed to pull him in, those eyes that only lit up for him.

"How we always pretend that kiss never happened," she almost whispered,

"We don't have to…" those words had left his mouth without even thinking about it, instead of feeling scared and wanting to correct himself, he actually felt kind of proud of himself for saying this. Dalia was rather pleased to hear those words as well, they both felt braver then usual so it seemed.

And it was Gil that closed the gap between them, pressing his lips against her soft and warm ones, he was eager to kiss her, and so was she. Easily pressing her body closer against his while she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangled themselves between his raven black hair as she gasped for air when he held onto her more tightly. That was all the young man needed, he gently licked her lips, his left hand gently caressed her feather-soft jet black hair while she moaned softly into his mouth.

.

-Of course the two didn't notice the boy standing awkwardly in the doorway, the prince had wanted to wish them a goodnight, and since Gil hadn't been in his room he had knocked on Dalia's door. The boy took a deep breath before slowly closing the door again, wincing when it made a soft click, hoping that they hadn't heard.

Well…

That was awkward. He let out a breath, feeling his heart beating ten times faster than usual. He knew there had been a lot of sexual tension between those two, Vincent had made that much obvious but to actually see something like that from up close. Well let's just say he hadn't seen that one coming. The blond quickly headed back towards his room, his pajamas were already waiting for him on the bed and he quickly started to undress, wanting nothing more than to get under the covers and sleep until morning.

Of course he couldn't.

The boy pulled the simple white shirt over his head, the image kept flashing in front of his eyes, two grown-ups kissing each other so passionately. He tried to imagine himself in Gil's place, tried to imagine Dalia was Alice… the image seemed odd and out of place. Even though Alice was the most important person in his life, even though every day spend without her by his side hurt more than falling out of the highest tree of the Vesalius grounds, he couldn't imagine himself being in a romantic relationship with her.

How odd.

He slowly sat down on the soft king-sized bed, he furrowed his brows. Why now? For years he had thought that when he married her, they'd be in love and have children… yet, how is such a thing even possible if he didn't love her like that? How could he ever make love with her like that if he didn't have those feelings for her?

"To me, Alice is as important as the sun." he remembered himself telling Jack this once, when his cousin had asked him if he truly loved Alice.

He didn't love her.

At least, not like that. Not like how Sharon's books described it,

How come it had taken him this long to realize this? How was he even going to explain this to Alice? He softly groaned to himself, getting both hands through his hair, why was everything so messed up? God, he felt stupid. Worrying about his feelings while there were much more important matters to think about. He jumped off the bed and almost stumbled over his own feet while rushing to the window to gaze outside, he could see the palace of the Baskervilles in the distance, the sky was clear and stars were sparkling in the darkness.

-There was a name missing in the newspapers.- he remembered the tiny detail again, when he had read the newspapers, going through the list with names of people that had died at the ball.

For the second time, he ran out of his room, this time he didn't knock though when he entered Dalia's room, "Gil one name was missing in the newspapers! – oh dammit!" he quickly turned his head when seeing the two had already moved to the bed, while they weren't lying down yet, it was obvious things had gotten pretty heated up at that moment.

Seriously?!

"Oz… what?"

Dalia got up from the bed and walked towards the window, keeping enough distance between them while she fixed her hair. She coughed awkwardly,

He didn't know why, but he felt slightly relieved when she kept her distance from him.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt… I- I just… realized som-something… it can wait! Sorry!" it couldn't wait. It really couldn't. Please don't send me away. He almost pleaded.

"No… no, it's fine. What is it? You said a name was missing?"

Oz nodded,

"Well?" Dalia sounded slightly irritated, she quickly corrected herself, trying to hide the annoyance, Oz couldn't blame her. He had just interrupted the moment both had probably been waiting for, for months. God, he was such an idiot sometimes. "I'm sorry, Oz." she sighed,

"Don't be…" he awkwardly mumbled while looking down, there hung an awkward atmosphere in the room and suddenly Oz couldn't find it in himself to speak anymore, because if his theory was true, it would mean that everything he had ever believed in was wrong

"Oz?" Gilbert had gotten up as well, slowly walking towards the prince, making sure that if he wanted to flee, he could. But the teen didn't move, so he gently placed both hands on the blond's shoulders, seeing how his cheeks turned a few shades redder while he avoided eye contact with both of them.

"Jack's." he finally whispered,

"Who?"

"My cousin's… his name has been missing. Off all newspapers I've read, not one mentioned his name." he finally looked up, he could read the shock on both Dalia's as Gilbert's face, the two of them exchanged a worried look with each other.

For a second Oz found himself forgetting what he said, noticing that the older male's lips were slightly swollen… for a second, he found himself wondering what it felt like to kiss Gilbert. Of course he quickly erased that thought out of his mind, blushing even harder and turning his head away from them once again.

"Do you think he… did it?" Dalia then asked softly, as if she were afraid of the answer, as if she was scared that such a simple question could break Oz.

But somehow, he still stood there. He realized he had cried enough over those past weeks, realized that he had mourned enough and that now the time had arrived to seek for answers, even if those answers were not the one he wanted to hear. He understood he was no longer alone.

And he had interrupted a rather sexual moment.

"A-anyhow… I-I should… I mean… I'd need to talk to-… someone.. who-"

"No, you shouldn't." Gilbert shook his head, "You stay in the dark for now, we still don't know who we can trust," he stood up straight, letting go of the teen's shoulders and Oz found himself missing his touch, he actually wanted to stop the raven from leaving him. But he kept still, "Dalia, can I borrow your phone?"

"O… of course." Dalia nodded, getting a hand through her hair, "It's in my father's study, don't worry, he's already sleeping."

Gilbert nodded, "Oz, do you need anything?"

You. Eyes widened in horror, his mind was a mess!

"I'll take care of it," Dalia spoke, "You go make that call," she almost pushed him outside of the room, "This is more important."

When Gil left, all that remained was the awkward atmosphere between the two of them. "I'm sorry… you had to see that." Dalia finally said,

"Oh- no! don't be I'm sorry, I should've knocked… so.. sorry for not doing so."

There was an awkward atmosphere between the two. Both tried their best at looking the other way.

The young woman nodded softly, "Still, it must have been awkward for you." She offered him a weak smile, "If you want, I could ask Gilbert if he wants to stay in your room tonight.. I'm sure it's not easy to find such a thing out?"

"No!"

"S-sorry?"

The boy's face heated up again, "No-no… sorry! I mean, I'm sure you want to have him for your- god no… that's not what I meant. What I menat- meant…" argh this was frustrating! "You should sleep with… you know what. Nevermind." He let out a breath, "You two should… and uhm- pretend I didn't interrupt?" he pointed towards the door behind him, "I guess it can wait until tomorrow. Uhm… good luck?" he then left, leaving a very confused Dalia behind.

Of course he should have known that Gilbert would be too worried to return to the black haired woman's room without checking on him first, and Oz couldn't fall asleep either. Of course he almost jumped out of his skin when the raven knocked on his door. "C-come in!"

"Hey… you okay?"

"I'm… fine," he lied.

Gilbert nodded, noticing the lie. "I'm sorry, there isn't much I can do. But I called an old friend of mine, he'll know what to do… I'm pretty sure you've met him as well."

The blond shrugged, not really caring. "Do you think… Jack had anything to do with this?"

"I don't know, Oz. I wish I did."

The boy gazed at the young man standing in the doorway, before moving aside on his bed and gently patting the now empty spot next to him, he felt relieved when the Nightray didn't even hesitate. He closed the door behind his back and walked towards the bed, slowly sitting down next to Oz while removing his shoes. "You should really get some sleep, knowing that man, he'll be here rather early."

"I can't sleep…" the boy admitted softly.

"It's a lot to take in, huh." He Shuffled a little closer, pulling the covers over both of them, while he rested against the headboard, he pulled the smaller boy closer to him, until his head rested on his chest. For a second, he felt the young prince tense up before he relaxed and let out a soft breath. "Still, try to get some rest. You'll be grateful you did, tomorrow."

The boy nodded, even though he had denied it earlier, he suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion hit him and had trouble holding back a yawn, so he decided to follow his friend's good advice and snuggled just a little closer into his touch while closing his eyes. "Won't Dalia get upset?" he mumbled softly to himself, feeling Raven gently caressing his hair,

"I'm sure she'll understand that you need me more right now,"

"You're a good person, Gil." The boy then admitted, "Thanks."