I hope you all like dialogue, because I have no self control. And thank you all so so much for the reviews and favorites and follows! It makes me so happy to see people like this story! I've had it planned for a while.

Enjoy!

For Lovino 'Romano' Vargas, life was hell. There was no rest for him. Living the life of an embroider to pay off a debt his parents gave him was not easy. Every day he worked until his fingers felt like they were about to fall off, and the next day he would do the same thing again.

The only good thing was that his best friend, Bella, had to suffer with him but today even she had the day off.

"God damn it" Romano swore, pricking his finger when he pulled a needle through the vest he was sewing too fast. A pinprick of blood welled up, and Romano watched in dismay as it dripped onto the pure white fabric he was working with.

"Noooo, please this isn't happening!" Romano scrambled up, looking around for the water bucket. He plugged the fabric into the ice cold water, scrubbing furiously. But it did nothing for the small red splotch. The vest was ruined.

He threw it to the floor angrily. Now he had to start from scratch, and there was no more white fabric. Not to mention he had to dispose of the trashed vest before Madame Albetta could see it.

Madame Albetta was the woman who ran the embroidery shop Romano was forced to work in. She also happened to be the woman his parents had given him up to so that he could live through childhood. Romano himself didn't remember much of his parents, but he was certain they loved him more than to let him rot in this hell hole.

However, whenever he said something to the Madame, she would immediately scowl and recite the story of how she found him, a poor freezing child on her doorstep, with nothing but a note in his hand.

Romano laid his head down on his work bench. He was stuck here. All he wanted was a break. Was that too much to ask for? The thrum of his pounding head sounded like a lullaby, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

[=]

It was Madame Albetta's nasally voice that woke up him up.

"You worthless child! Another week's worth of fabric- ruined! And you sleep ontop of your mistakes. Despicable!" There was a sharp kick at his leg and Romano startled awake. "Get up!"

"Stop yelling!" He shouted, staggering to his feet. "I didn't mean to ruin it or fall asleep- it was an accident!"

"There are no accidents in your line of work" Madame Albetta sneered. "And to think I was coming to deliver the design for the queen's new dress!"

Romano scowled. "You wouldn't let me work on it anyway. That's Bella's job."

"That's true" Madame agreed. "And I'm starting to letting you work on clothing at all is a horrible mistake on my part." She sighed, looking like her next words truly hurt her. "To make up for this, I think it's fitting for another year to be added to your contract."

"What?" Romano protested. "You can't do that! I've already paid off more than half!"

Madame Albetta grinned. "Well, you should of thought of that before you ruined another vest." She turned on her heels and stocked out of the room, locking the door as she did.

Romano screamed in frustration. Another year? He couldn't last another minute. He didn't realize that he was crying until a loud bang startled him into sitting up

"Who's there?" He yelled, wiping his face clean of tears as he did. Another bang sounded, and Romano realized it was knocking. Someone was knocking on the small window above his head; the only source of light in small dingy room.

Romano clamored up onto his desk to see through. He could vaguely make out a face pressed against the glass, watching him.

"What the fuck, Bella?" He said, shouting a little so that she could hear him. "That's really creepy."

"Come out!" Bella shouted back. "I want you to meet someone!"

Romano snorted. "No thank you. Meeting people is not my forte, and I'm not in the mood"

"Oh come on" Bella knocked once again for good measure. "He's nice. You're locked in, aren't you? Climb up through the window and I'll finish whatever Madame Albetta threw at you today"

"For real?" Romano asked, skeptical. He really didn't want to finish the vest.

"For real"

"Fine" Unlatching the window, Romano put his hand on the ledge and hoisted himself up. There was just enough wiggle room the slide through. When he surfaced, Romano took his first real look at the outdoors that he had had all day.

The sun was closing in on the treetops, which meant it was almost sundown. A golden glow bathed everything in its yellows and reds, warming Romano's face and hands. He could get used to just standing outside.

Romano also got his first look at the boy Bella wanted him to meet.

He had auburn brown hair, with an odd curl that jutted out to the left. His eyes were honey brown that seemed want to closed all the time. He was slender and wore a red cloak that wrapped around his whole body, practically swallowing him. And most shockingly: He looked exactly like Romano.

There were differences of course. The color of their eyes, Romano's hair was a little darker, the boy was a little shorter, but if he didn't know better he would say he was looking at his reflection.

Bella grinned at both of their expressions, dancing a little in Romano's peripheral vision. "See? I told you! You look like twins!"

The boy was the first to recover. "You look just like me!" He smiled too, growing more and more excited until words finally tumbled from his mouth. "This is so cool! Wait until I show Ludwig, he'll be so freaked out that he'll-"

"Wait a fucking second" Romano interrupted. "Who the hell are you? This is too weird."

"Oh!" The boy straightened suddenly, taking on an almost regal pose. "My name is Feliciano Veneziano Vargas the First, prince and heir to the throne of Italy. It's nice to meet you, Romano!"

He grinned at the both of them, but Romano and Bella had frozen. They shared a panicked look. "You're Prince Feliciano?" Bella whispered, suddenly unsure of herself.

Feliciano's eyes widened and he started to make quick hand gestures before his mouth caught up with his mind. "Oh no, please don't treat me all differently now! I'm the prince, but right now I'm just visiting the town in-cog-nito"

The way he sounded out each syllable made Romano think that he didn't actually know what the word meant, but he ignored it. "You're still royalty." He said. "And we're... not"

The prince grinned. "Of course not, especially in those clothes!"

Romano's face colored at the comment. He tugged at his tattered vest self consciously. Sure, he didn't have any money that Madame Albetta hadn't taken, but he still thought he dressed nice for someone of his status.

"But I still want to hang out with you guys." Feliciano continued. "You seem fun!"

"Yeah, fun" Romano agreed.

"And" Feliciano said. "It's not everyday we get to meet our twin!"

"We're not twins" Romano scoffed, looking to Bella for confirmation. She laughed, shaking her head.

"You're pretty damn close!"

"In fact," Feliciano exclaimed. "You're just like me!"

"No I'm not" Romano scowled at his feet. He wasn't like a prince at all.

But Feliciano was relentless. "Sure you are! I bet you want to be anywhere but here. I feel just like that in the castle- like I'm trapped."

"Really?" Romano looked at him sceptically. "Then you have no idea what it feels like to be trapped."

"Nuh uh. Next week, I'm going to have to get married to someone I don't even love. If that's not what's it's like to have eternally caged, then I'll never know"

Romano rolled his eyes. "The you don't have any idea. I'm an indentured servant. I'll spend my whole life trying to pay off a debt.

Feliciano's mouth dropped open. "Really?"

"Really" Bella confirmed. "And with how much he complains you'd think he was actually shackled there"

"It's hard!" Romano defended. "Knowing you'll never be able to make your own life choices. Knowing that there's someone you don't even like constantly around you-"

He frowned at Feliciano, realization creeping in on him. "Okay, so maybe you are just like me."

To his credit, Feliciano began to to jump around. Romano had the vague feeling like a musical number was upon him. But thankfully, he didn't start singing. "I knew it! So, Romano, since we're so alike, and I've never been here before, do you mind showing me around?"

"That isn't even related-"

"Please?"

"Fine."

Nodding at Bella, Romano lead the trio around the streets he knew so well. The baker's, the blacksmith's, the old cottage on the outskirts of the city. Feliciano got the 'I'm a new tourist' lightning speed tour, which was the best Romano could figure.

Occasionally, Bella lead them astray, like to meet her two brothers who worked are merchants. The oldest, Lars, was away on some trading expedition, but the younger of the two was more than happy to say hi.

"And this-" Romano finally said. "Is the old mine."

"Whoa!" Felicinao exclaimed, stepping a little too close to the boarded up opening. "I know this place. This is where we used to get all our precious metal exports until the gold ran out"

Bella peered over the wooden boards blocking the view. "Spooky. Lars used to work here until it was shut down. He used to say that at night, there were phantom mining noises when no one was in the mine"

Feliciano immediately backed up, tripping over himself and Romano to get away.

"Hey watch it!" Romano shouted. He couldn't keep his balance however and fell. "Goddamn, that really hurt"

"You never said it was haunted!" Feliciano accused.

"That's because it isn't! It's just tall tales, little stories made up so little sisters wouldn't go in the mines at night"

"Are you implying that my brother would lie to keep me safe?" Bella actually looked angry, with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. But she brightened almost immediately. "Yeah probably."

"See?" Romano sat up, shoving Feliciano off. "Nothing to be scared of"

"Oh" And just like that, Feliciano jumped to his feet, completely unafraid. "Then let's go in!"

Romano gave a mean spirited laugh. "Haha- no. It's still really fucking dangerous, with cave ins and all. But regardless, this is the end of the tour."

"Aww" Feliciano whined. "That was short"

"Yeah, well it's a small town." Romano staggered to his feet, shaking the dirt off his clothes. He looked around and realized for the first time how dark it had gotten. "Hey wait, aren't you supposed to be like, staying with someone or something?"

"What do you mean?" Feliciano asked, confused.

"I mean it's getting dark. I don't think you could last on the street all night."

"Oh!" Feliciano looked around wildly. "Oh no, this is really bad. I promised Ludwig I wouldn't leave and I did anyway!" He started to move frantically, like he couldn't decide to start running away or stay put.

"Whoa, calm down!" Romano said. He held out his hands as if to settle him, but it just made Feliciano jerk away. "Here, I'll help you find whoever you're blabbering on about. Bella, can you cover for me?"

"Yeah, sure" Bella agreed. "I promised to help you out anyway"

"Come on" Romano reached for Feliciano's arm and started to tug him along. "Let's go"

[=]

"It's a carriage with green curtains" Feliciano was saying. They continued to weave between the occasional passersby. "It was in the square when I left."

"Does it have a scary looking German guy near it?" Romano asked suddenly, something catching his eye

"Ludwig?" Feliciano tried to look where Romano was pointing. He smiled happily before he realized that Ludwig was not going to be thrilled with him when he got back. Before he turn and start running as fast as he could, Ludwig spotted them. He shouted something unintelligible, before stalking toward the two.

"Oh no" Feliciano muttered. Romano bristled in response. He wasn't loving the idea of being cornered by someone who was obvious a lot bigger than he was.

"Feliciano!" Ludwig was close enough so that he could be heard, and he did not look happy. "Where were you? I've been looking everywhere! I had three rules- three! And even then you couldn't listen"

"I'm sorry!" Feliciano wailed. "I was just curious!"

Ludwig came into range and Romano frowned at him. "Back away, you're freaking him out"

"And who are you?" Ludwig asked.

"This is Romano!" Feliciano supplied helpfully. He stopped cowering and ran to Ludwig's side. "Romano, this is Ludwig"

"Very well. It's a pleasure to meet you" Ludwig greeted. But Romano wasn't so gracious.

"Please don't talk to me"

Ludwig frowned, and Feliciano laughed. "Don't be silly Romano! Ludwig's nice!"

"You were afraid of him ten seconds ago" Romano retorted.

"Well yeah" Feliciano said, like it was obvious. "But Ludwig would never hurt me!"

Romano looked between for a second before relenting "Whatever. Look, I have a job I have to get back too before my boss finds out I'm missing and murders me so..."

He turned to go before Feliciano grabbed his arm. "Wait! I want to give you something!"

Romano turned around, half hoping to see the prince holding a bag of precious jewels or gold that would pay off his eternal debt and then some, but that was not the case. Instead, Feliciano pressed a cross the size of his palm into his hand.

"If you ever need me, or Ludwig, just show a castle guard this. They'll understand" Feliciano said, smiling like he had just given Romano the world.

"Uh... thanks" Romano tucked the cross into his pocket. "Well, see ya."

"Bye!" Feliciano exclaimed.

Romano turned around for the final time, walking away without looking back. He had a long night of work ahead of him after all.