So, In the polls for the America pairing in his story, the results are actually working out really well for the little bit I already had planned(and had given the story much more depth and drama) The poll is still up, but I will be taking it down before I post the next chapter of NekoRoma, so if you haven't voted or given your input, do so soon~
also, I feel I should have mentioned ages ago, but Carlos was Cuba, Adelita was Mexico, Xiang was Hong Kong (though most of you either knew, figured it out or didn't care XD), Mei was TaiWan. Useless info now, but I forgot to go back and add it into those chapters -_-
and Elise is Luxembourg (an OC for Lux. that I really liked) she's only mentioned, not in the actual story
On another note~ I finally worked up the incentive to finish the original story for this series, the GerIta one. I, unfortunately, can't post the first chapter because chapter four has major spoilers for this one in it, since that story starts a few years from this point. Oh well, lol c'est la vie. I don't see that one being as long as this one since I can only write so much 'journey' and 'travel' into a story, but I'm sure once I get to a certain point I have planned, everything will work out and make it longer. It's the first GerIta story I've written and you have no idea how hard it is to write for me since Lovino and Antonio have so much character compared to Germany and Italy -_-
rant over ... oh well lmao XD
Kismet
Chapter Eleven: Messenger to Illonia
The bath ended and Lovino was happy to know he wasn't stuck with The Problem, however as he was walking to his room, he was reminded of a certain promise.
"Lovi~? You promised you'd sleep in my room tonight!" Lovino groaned, "I have to get my night clothes, bastard."
"Here!" the king tossed him a long shirt, "Take one of mine!"
Lovino glared, "And what about my underwear?"
Antonio blushed, "Oh … uh … I guess you can't really go without those … can you?" Antonio walked to the door connecting their rooms and tried to open it, "It's locked …"
The Illonian rolled his eyes and grabbed the keys he had been given, "It's supposed to be for your safety."
The King laughed, "I see!" once it was unlocked, Antonio entered the room, which was much too large for the one bed and dresser inside. He shrugged, not really caring. Lovino wouldn't be staying in it anyway. The man opened a drawer and grabbed some of Lovino's things and brought them back to his room, "There you go, my love~"
Lovino muttered a small thanks and slipped them on, as well as his night pants. The Illonian gasped being pressed against the bed. Antonio smiled down at him and kissed him passionately. Lovino moaned softly into the kiss, giving Antonio an opening to dip his tongue into the younger man's mouth.
Lovino's hands gripped Antonio's loose night shirt and he kissed him back. Antonio pulled away and stared at the love of his life, making said love squirm under the gaze.
"What is it, bastard?" the servant muttered, looking away, his cheeks becoming unbearably red.
Antonio kissed his cheek, "Just staring at the beauty that is my little tomato~!"
Lovino glared, "Don't call me such stupid names!"
The monarch laughed, "Oh, Lovi, my love, my tomato, my everything, I'm the king therefore I can call you whatever I want~!"
Before Lovino could retort, a loud knock came from the door. It was most likely the dinner. "I'll be right back, Lovi~!" he grinned, "Um … if you don't mind … could you …"
"Hide? Tch, what ever, stupid bastard." Lovino walked to his room and slammed the door behind him. He felt a small pain in his heart and a lump in his throat. This is all they would ever be. A king and his secret relationship with his servant. And after he marries … what will become of Lovino? Would the king even keep him around once he had a queen by his side? Or would he just become a mistress of sorts? The mere thought brought tears back to his eyes, and this time he was powerless to stop them from spilling onto his cheeks.
He had to stop this before he got hurt. Femke told him to just go with it … but she couldn't understand what it was like to think someone loved you and then you're tossed out with the waste. Lovino crawled onto his bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. Maybe if Antonio thought he'd gone to sleep, he would just leave him alone.
"Lovi~! You can come back in now … Lovi?" Antonio walked into the room, "I got dinner for you, too …" the king walked over to the bed and frowned looking down. Lovino's cheeks were stained with tears and red, and even Antonio could tell he was feigning sleep.
"Lovi, my love … I'm sorry … I just … why can't I do anything right?" he asked the rhetorical question.
Lovino opened his eyes, "I'm not going to be your mistress. I'm not just going to hide when I inconvenience you."
Antonio crawled onto the bed, beside Lovino and rested his head in front of his, "Lovino … you're not my mistress, nor will you ever be. I … only asked you to hide … because I'm scared of mother finding out. I know she doesn't like you … and it pains me to keep you hidden … I love you so much … but … I just … please don't leave me, Lovi … now that I've tasted what it's really like to have your affection, your kisses, your hugs … I can't go back … I need you …" he kissed the younger man on the forehead and smiled, "I'm sorry I keep messing up, but I promise Lovi, that you're always number one in my heart."
Lovino rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to leave you or stop lovi-liking you … I just … I … I'm scared, okay?" the younger man huffed, crossing his arms, "I don't want to fall in love with you and then have you leave me because you're the king and I'm just a servant."
Antonio locked eyes with his Illonian love, "Lovino Vargas, you're not 'just a servant' to me. You're the man I love, and will always love. If you want me to remain unmarried to any queen just so I can be with you forever, I will gladly do so. I told you, I want only you." he kissed him tenderly, "Now come on, my love, dinner will get cold and I made sure to get some for you, too~"
Lovino smiled a small smile and nodded, wiping the tears that stained his face away and he followed Antonio back into his room where there were three trays of food. Lovino's mouth watered at the delicious smells coming from the food.
The king sat down on the bed where the food had been placed and motioned for Lovino to sit down, too. He walked over to Antonio and would have seated himself beside him, but the Sverran grabbed his arm and pulled him into his lap, "Comfortable?"
A blush spread across his cheeks and he nodded, "Y-yeah …"
"Good~! I'm glad." he reached out and picked up a slice of tomato and held it up in front of Lovino's lips. The Illonian looked at the sliced red fruit and then up to Antonio's smiling face.
"Open up~"
"W-what? Why?" Lovino frowned.
The monarch laughed lightly, "I'm feeding you, silly~!"
"I'm not a baby … I can feed myself, bastard!" he crossed his arms angrily.
"Ahahaha~! I know, Lovi~ but it's romantic~" he smiled, "You can feed me, too, if you'd like~!"
"Like hell I'd want to feed you!" he blushed deeply, but when he looked at the tomato, he realized he really hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and his stomach betrayed him. With a dark blush, he reluctantly opened his mouth to allow Antonio to slip the small slice in. He closed his mouth and shivered as Antonio rubbed his thumb softly across the younger man's lower lip.
"Is it good?" Lovino chewed and swallowed the juicy piece of tomato and nodded. He'd completely forgotten the previous embarrassment because Antonio was giving him a look … one that was ten times more loving than he'd seen him with those girls. His emerald eyes were soft and deep and he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the love and adoration he was feeling.
"Another?" Antonio asked, picking up another slice.
Lovino nodded again and the king placed another slice on his tongue.
"I want to taste~" Antonio muttered capturing Lovino's lips with his own. He dipped his tongue into Lovino's mouth to taste the tomato's juices, "Mm … delicious~"
He picked one up off the plate and popped it into his mouth.
Lovino looked at the plates of fruits and veggies, meats and breads and even the one covered in deserts and decided to grab a piece of bread. He tore a small bit off and brought it to his lips to eat. Would it be embarrassing to feed Antonio? He stole a glance at the older man, who had busied himself with a slice of one of the meats they'd put on his plate. The Illonian blushed and tore another piece and held it up to Antonio's lips. He diverted his gaze from the king due to how embarrassing he'd found it to be.
Antonio grabbed Lovino's wrist and wrapped his lips around Lovino's fingers, taking the bread from him, but also taking is time to taste his Lovino.
The Illonian yelped in surprise and pulled his hand away, "Thank you, Lovi~ that was good." he kissed Lovino and continued eating.
Once the meal was finished and both men were stuffed, Antonio set the trays aside and had Lovino lock up before crawling into his bed, "Come on, my love, time to sleep."
Lovino nodded and set the keys on the nightstand before hesitantly crawling into the bed. His cheeks were stained red as he pulled the blanket over his shoulder.
"Are you planing on sleeping all the way over there?" Antonio asked, blowing out the lamp.
The younger man turned his head back, "What? And be by you and get molested in my sleep?"
Antonio chuckled, "I told you I wasn't going to do anything to you … I just want to hold you~"
Lovino blushed, but scooted closer until his back was pressed against Antonio's chest. Antonio draped his arm over Lovino and nuzzled his face into the back of Lovino's neck, "I love you so much, Lovi~ sleep well~"
"Yeah … good night …" The younger man let his eyes slip closed and he fell into a deep sleep.
He awoke to a loud noise buzzing his ears that slowly faded as he woke up, "What the hell?" he looked to his side, where Antonio was sleeping peacefully still. He heard faint knocking coming from the room over, his room, followed by a voice.
"Young sir, have you awoken? It's time for you to get up his majesty." the voice faded as the owner walked down the hall.
Lovino groaned and shook Antonio's shoulder. He'd never been in charge of waking up the king before so it must have been added to his chore list.
Antonio opened his eyes and blinked, "Lovi? Is it time to wake up already?"
The servant nodded, "Yeah, get up bastard." he climbed out of the bed and decided it was probably also his job to make sure the king got dressed for the day, so he opened a few different dressers to pull out Antonio's clothing.
"What are you doing, Lovi~?" the king rolled over and looked at Lovino with a tired face.
"What does it look like, bastard?" Lovino snapped, throwing the clothes onto the bed, "I'm getting your clothes ready."
He looked around the room and frowned. The crown was still in the bathing room, so he grabbed the keys and went to retrieve it.
"You'll try and find my brother today, right?" Lovino asked, straightening out the older man's clothing.
Antonio leaned forward to capture Lovino's lips, "I promised, Lovi~ I'll find him for you." he kissed him again and again, finally ending up with Lovino pressed against the door with their tongues intertwined.
The king frowned, pulling off of Lovino when a knocking came at his door, "You majesty, are you ready?"
"Yes, give me a few more minutes, please?" Antonio growled angrily.
"Y-yes, your majesty!" the man walked away quickly, probably afraid of bringing about his king's anger.
"Now where were we?" the king smiled, lowering his face to Lovino's again. Lovino kissed him lightly, "You should get going. They're going to think something's wrong, bastard."
Antonio pouted, "But Lovi~!"
"No 'buts', Antonio," Lovino glared.
The older man's eyes widened and began sparkling in joy, "You said my name again~! I love hearing it come from your lips~!" he kissed Lovino deeply, "I wish you'd use it more often~" he smiled, "Alright, I guess I'll go now. I love you, Lovi~"
Lovino rolled his eyes, his face lit up red, "Whatever, bast-Antonio …"
The Sverran king reluctantly left the room and Lovino. Lovino let out a sigh and went to get dressed himself. Once finished, he locked up and made his way down to the servant's quarters. The old man from the day before stopped him at the door, "Why, young sir, I didn't tell you, did I? Since the king requested you as his only servant, you unfortunately have to pick up the slack of the others.
"His majesty will be busy today, settling into the life he has been given, so he's taking his breakfast in his study. From there, you'll make your way to the laundry room to pick up his clothing and take it back to his room. Get it put up and then it should be time for lunch. Lunch will be served in the throne room in between meetings, so make sure you're on time! After lunch you should make sure the king's room is clean, the bed made and such. You won't need to worry about dinner, his mother, the old queen, has requested he eat a private meal with her to celebrate his crowning. He'll be back in his room by night fall, so you should continue with what you normally do with his bath. After that, I'll need you to come back here so I can give you an actual list of your chores for tomorrow. Any questions?"
Lovino looked at the man in shock and slight anger. While he would prefer to be the only personal servant, he wished he didn't have such a heavy workload, "Just one, what the hell was that noise this morning?"
"Oh, that? There's a spell on you (as it was for the servant in charge of waking the old king), that wakes you up on time to get his majesty up."
"I hate it …" Lovino growled and the old man laughed, "Yes, but you get used to it. Soon you won't even realize it was there and you'll just wake up on time."
Lovino nodded and decided that it was best to get Antonio his breakfast. He turned away from the servant's quarters, unwillingly turning away from his usual breakfast with Tessa and Femke. He'd try and catch up to them later.
He made his way to the kitchens to grab the king's tray, just after a food taster made sure it was okay, and he took it to Antonio's new study. The door was opened for him by a guard and he walked in.
Antonio was leaned over his desk, an intense expression on his face. His hand scratched across the parchment, as he read over what ever it was. Lovino felt bad about having to interrupt him, so he quietly set the tray down and began to walk out.
"Lovi~?" Lovino turned to face him.
"Y-yeah, ba-Antonio?" Lovino frowned, inwardly cursing himself for being too loud.
Antonio pouted and held open his arms, "I could use a hug from my favorite person in the world, right now~ they are already working me to death!"
Lovino rolled his eyes and moved back to the king to hug him. The embrace was warm and comforting, "You're not the only one being worked to death, you know. Because of your request, I'm stuck doing to work of three of more servants …"
"I'm sorry, my little tomato~!" Antonio nuzzled his lover's neck.
"You don't sound sorry!" Lovino pouted.
The king laughed lightly, "I was enjoying your embrace, my love~"
Lovino huffed and shoved away from Antonio, "What ever … if you'll excuse me, I have to go down to get your laundry." he growled.
Antonio pulled his head down to his own to press their lips together in a chaste kiss, "I'll make it up to you later, my love, I promise. Besides, you should be happy to know I've sent one of my messengers to Illonia to locate a Mr. Feliciano Vargas~"
"Really?" Lovino's eyes widened happily, "That's great! Thank you, Antonio!" he threw his arms around the older man and kissed him.
The king laughed, running his fingers through Lovino's hair, "Anything for you, my little tomato~"
Lovino blushed again and dismissed himself to the laundry room. His stomach growled in anger and he bit his lip. Tomorrow, he would be sure to get Antonio up sooner and not get … distracted … and get to breakfast earlier, before he had to take Antonio his.
Several days whizzed by and Lovino fell into his new routine, though he didn't like it as much since he spent much less time with Antonio. There were a few nights where Antonio was too tired to take his bath and collapsed on his bed fully dressed, leaving Lovino to pull off what he could, while griping about all the work he'd put into the bath or how hard it was to untie Antonio's tunic while he was laying on the ties.
The Sverran king would apologize and the two would fall asleep together, only to wake early and go through the same processes.
Two weeks had passed and Lovino was beginning to get antsy about news of his brother. He carefully carried the lunch tray to his love in the throne room. Antonio was just talking to some noble about a mess of land disputes with his neighbor and the king brushed them off for another meeting later. The noble man thanked the king for his time, bowed in respect and left.
Once the doors were closed, Lovino entered the room and set the tray down, "Busy day?"
Antonio nodded, wishing he could pull Lovino into his lap and smother him in kisses. However, he never could in the throne room because of all the guards and servants running through and standing around. He hated treating Lovino like a simple servant.
"Um … I know I ask every day … but maybe … you've heard from that messenger?" Lovino shifted awkwardly, averting his gaze.
It was Antonio's turn to shift, "Actually, I did … but, I'll tell you tonight, okay?" he 'accidentally' brushed his hand against Lovino's while reaching for his drink. Lovino looked at him with worry and fear. "Please don't look at me like that, Lovi …"
Lovino glared, "Fine. Don't fucking tell me, bastard." he stormed off, but his anger wasn't directed at Antonio, really. He was worried for what news Antonio couldn't share with him in the throne room. Was Feliciano dead? Had he been sold? What was going on that Antonio couldn't tell him? Lovino felt only a tad bit guilty, because what ever it was, it wasn't the king's fault, nor could he truly control it. Lovino had even reverted back to using 'bastard' instead of the man's name, which had to have hurt him. He wanted to turn around and go back to him and apologize, but he wanted to get lunch in his own stomach before having to pick back up on his chores.
He entered the servant's quarters and grabbed some food, before sitting down at his and Femke's table. She was soon to join him, "Hey, Lovi~" Femke's smiled turned into a worried frown, "Lovi? What's wrong? You're not having relationship problems, are you?" his friend offered a smile in hopes of making him look less … sad? Guilty? She couldn't really place what she saw on him.
"No … we're fine … well … were … A while back I asked him to find my brother … well … he told me he had news about him, but he wouldn't fucking tell me! Now I'm worried sick about my brother AND I accidentally called him 'bastard' again …" he let his head fall into his hands, "There's no way I'm going to be able to focus on working for the rest of the day and I'm sure he's hurt by what I said …"
Femke scooted into the seat beside him and took him into her arms, "Oh, Lovi, don't worry, Toni could never hate you and he might be just as worried as you are … I hate to say it, but maybe he just didn't want you terribly upset about the news for the rest of the day. Just wait it out, try and be happy and you can talk with him later, okay? Now smile for me because your best friend demands to see it!"
He tried to smile, but his mind just floated to his little brother. Who knows what could have happened! They finished the meal with Femke talking about getting another letter from Daan, who had discovered they had another sister. A half sister, full elf, but still! Her name was Elise.
Lovino tried to pay attention, but he just couldn't. He finally finished his food and dragged his feet all the way to the next chore in line.
The time came for him to draw the king's bath, which he was sure Antonio would skip. The water was heated and the things were all set out, but Lovino's stomach was doing sickening leaps and flips in his belly and he chewed his lip until it bled.
Antonio walked in and Lovino silently locked the main door and then the bathing room's door, before helping his king remove his crown and clothing. The king refused eye contact with Lovino, which only made Lovino angry and upset.
"Why won't you look at me, bastard? Just spit it out! Tell me my brother's dead already!" tears formed in his eyes as he yelled.
The king's eyes fell on Lovino with surprise, "He's not dead … well … I hope not … I really do … my messenger couldn't get into Illonia … apparently, dragons have made Illonia their territory … I … I don't want to give you false hope, love, but … I can't get into Illonia with just a few messengers, especially with dragons, naga and several other dangerous creatures running around. It would take a group of armed men and the King of Illonia might get the wrong idea. I can't even get a hold of him to ask him to help me … I even sent a messenger falcon that way, but it never came back … I'm sorry I failed you … I'm not fit to love you …" tears spilled over Antonio's cheeks and he looked away.
Lovino felt guiltier than before and he wrapped his arms around the king, "I'm not mad at you … but why didn't you just tell me that, Antonio?"
"I thought you would hate me for not being able to get to him … I wanted to … I wanted to keep you as my love for a short time more."
"You thought I was going to leave you over this? As tempting as that is sometimes, I can't just do that … I lo-like you too much and it's not your fault. We'll just keep trying, right?" Lovino grabbed his hand.
Antonio smiled happily and picked up Lovino in a loving, almost overbearing, embrace, "Oh, Lovi~ I love you so much! And yes! Of course I'll keep looking for him for you~! Anything for you!"
Lovino blushed and pushed at the older man's chest, "Damn it, Antonio! Just get in your damn bath!" The king laughed, but did as he was told.
TBC
Feliciano is trapped somewhere in Illonia!
Anyways~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter ^_^ I also just realized, I've read my story so many times, reading and editing, I've practically memorized it -_-;
~Lady Pyrien