Summary: After a Council meeting runs long, Naomi gets invited to have lunch at the palace. And after learning that Mateo is having a hard time figuring out his place among the palace staff, Naomi takes it upon herself to make sure he gets an invite, too.

Esteban was trying to kill her.

It was the only possible explanation for why he seemed intent on dragging every Grand Council meeting to its temporal extreme. In fairness, they'd had a lot on their agenda that day. Naomi had to report on the status of the Maruvian dig she'd been placed in charge of in the city, and Elena needed to discuss her plans for the upcoming Royal Retreat she'd be attending, all on top of their usual litany of policy review and administrative tasks. But they still would have been done sooner if Esteban didn't insist on taking every opportunity to pontificate.

Naomi's stomach growled, an insistent reminder of the hour. Grand Council meetings were usually done well before noon, let alone lunchtime, and she could feel her energy flagging. Esteban could be difficult enough to tolerate on a full stomach. At least she had Elena, equally exasperated, to commiserate with. They'd finally broken down during Esteban's ongoing dissertation on "Why Our Budget is Better Spent on Ships than Roads," their attention spans dwindling to nothing. With Luisa sitting between them, they couldn't manage any note passing or discreet games under the table, so they resorted to making faces at each other and seeing how long it took for the rest of the Council to notice.

Elena started with a classic, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her eyes, and Naomi returned fire with a lolling tongue. Muffling a snicker, Elena pulled a strand of her ponytail around to hold beneath her nose like a mustache. Not to be outdone, Naomi pursed her lips and balanced her pen on top, holding it in place under her nose. She pretended to twirl the end of it for good measure, and this was enough to shred what little sense of decorum the two had left. Elena belted out a laugh, slapping her palm on the table, and Naomi followed suit, the pen clattering to the ground as they both doubled over, cackling at the inanity of it.

"I beg your pardon?" Esteban said, his mustache twitching like the hair itself was offended.

"I think that's a sign we may need to take a break, and let our minds recover," Francisco said. "We can reconvene after lunch to finish up any other time-sensitive matters."

Still giggling, Elena managed to eke out an apology. "Sorry, Abuelo. Won't happen again."

Naomi sobered up a bit faster. If they were going to meet up again after lunch, then she'd have to hustle home if she wanted to get back in a reasonable time.

Luisa must have caught the cloud that passed over her face. "Naomi, why don't you join us for lunch? There's no sense in making you rush home and back for the rest of the meeting."

"Well, we could just start without her," Esteban remarked. He turned his head away as his grandmother shot him an admonishing look, pretending he hadn't noticed.

Naomi, in turn, pretended she hadn't heard him. "That'd be great, Luisa!"

She beamed. "Good! It's never any trouble, you know. We'd love to have you."

With that settled, Naomi, already seated closest to the door, made her way toward it and pulled it open, and almost ran directly into Mateo on the other side. He jumped back with a squeak, one hand raised like he'd been about to knock. Naomi stifled a gasp, her own heart racing from shock.

"Mateo? What are you doing here?"

"In general, or…?" He caught the way her eyebrow arched and quickly course corrected. "Oh, why I'm here here. I wanted to let Elena know that I'd just gotten in, and see if there's anything she'd needed from me. Armando said she was in here." Leaning around her, he tried to peer into the room, where Esteban had somehow recaptured the rest of his family before they could escape and pulled them into another meandering speech about funding allocation. "I didn't realize the Council was still in session. Kind of late, isn't it?"

If the meeting had picked up again, she should probably go back in, but if they were trying to adjourn, then enabling Esteban wouldn't help. Dragging her eyes away from the other councilors, Naomi stepped fully into the hall and pulled the door shut behind her. She didn't need to hear what Esteban was saying literally behind her back.

"We ran long," she said. "I could say the same to you. You don't usually get in this late, do you?"

He rubbed at his neck, his shoulders pinching up in embarrassment. "No. I went into my basement to double check a spell this morning and completely lost track of time."

Naomi blinked. "What, again?"

Mateo's posture crumpled even further.

He'd been doing that a lot lately. Showing up to work hours late was a new one, but there had been multiple days in the month since his appointment where Naomi had popped in to visit him only to discover he had no awareness of the current time. At first, she'd chalked it up to just spending all day in his workshop. The room had no windows, one door he often kept half closed, no clocks or other obvious measures of time. It made enough sense that he'd struggle with that.

And then she'd arrived early for the Grand Council meeting one day to discover him already in the library, not because he, too, was getting an early start on the day, but because he'd never even left the palace the previous evening. He'd simply spent the night. On accident.

She could follow losing a few hours to the void of an isolated room, but forgetting to go home and sleep was an extreme she couldn't understand. If she hadn't seen how frantic he'd been by the realization, she wouldn't have believed it was even possible to be unintentional.

The door clicking behind her pulled her back to the present, and she and Mateo stepped aside as Luisa and Francisco finally left, looking worn down.

"Chicos, don't take too much longer!" Luisa called into the room. Esteban acknowledged her with a wave, not breaking concentration in the slightest from his lecture.

Naomi barely caught the pleading look that Elena shot past him and a frustrated, "Esteban, can't this wait?" before the two of them vanished again behind the closed door.

Luisa patted Naomi's arm. "Do you know the way to the dining room?"

"Probably. If not, I can just wait for Elena."

"We'll see you girls there, then," Francisco said, and with a quick nod of greeting to Mateo, took his wife's arm in his and started down the hall with her.

"You're having lunch with them?" Mateo asked as Naomi turned back to him. "Do you normally eat here?"

She shrugged. "Not all the time. We usually finish up the meeting before then, so it's really only when Elena and I have plans for the afternoon. But since we ran so long today…"

Mateo hummed. He was watching Luisa and Francisco's receding backs, looking thoughtful. There was clearly something else on his mind, yet. Naomi glanced at the door. If Elena and Esteban weren't done yet, she could spare a second to humor him.

"Should I be wondering why you ask?" she prompted.

"Oh, I've been trying to figure out if it's okay for me to eat lunch here or not. I live so far away that if I went home and back for it every day, I'd spend almost as much time traveling as working."

Naomi stared, not sure which part stuck out as the most strange. "Is that… what you've been doing?"

"Well, no, I—"

"Wait, back up, I just realized—'if it's okay'?"

Mateo hesitated. "...Yes?"

"Why would it not be—" She cut off with a harsh inhale, pressing her palms together and resting her fingers against her lips. "Mateo, if you haven't been going home for lunch, and if you don't think you're—what, allowed?—to eat here, then what have you been doing?"

"Well, you know," he said, and no, Naomi didn't know, so she stared him down until he continued, "I've just been. Not? Most days?"

There was no way to keep the incredulity out of her voice. "Mateo—"

"I tried going to the staff dining room once and everyone gave me weird looks, like I wasn't supposed to be there!" he said, suddenly defensive. "And I'll sometimes grab a few things from the kitchens throughout the day, but that just feels like I'm stealing, or at least doing something dishonest. And if I told my mom now that I needed to bring something along to eat, she'd freak out since then she'd know that I haven't been, and—"

"Mateo," Naomi repeated, burying her face in her hands. "You've been working here for a month. How have you not figured this out?"

"That's exactly how!" Further down the hall, Elena's grandparents startled at the sudden spike in volume, checking over their shoulders with confusion etched onto their faces. With a deep breath, Mateo lowered his voice to an annoyed hiss. "I've been here for a month! I'm supposed to know this already, right? How can I ask anyone about it without looking like I'm completely clueless?"

Peering back up at him, Naomi saw that his embarrassment had faded, replaced by frustration and disappointment. He was pouting, his arms crossed and his back hunched.

"I know it's probably really obvious to everyone else," he said. "But this kind of thing isn't obvious to me."

As unobvious as the passage of time, apparently. Who knew if he even noticed when it was meal time?

"It's probably fine," Naomi said, hoping she sounded more assuring than annoyed. "Seriously, I don't think anyone's gonna stop you if you just go and eat like a normal person."

"Well, maybe, but…"

Alright, so he wasn't going to believe it if she was the one to say it. Glancing down the hall at Elena's grandparents, an idea struck her, and she had to bite down on a sly smile. "Hold that thought," she said. "I've got some important council business to take care of real quick."

Mateo startled, straightening up. "Wh—"

She breezed past him. "Just a second!"

Calling Luisa's name, she jogged down the hallway toward her and Francisco, catching their attention and bringing them to a stop.

Luisa smiled. "What is it, Naomi?"

"I wanted to know if I could extend my lunch invitation to Mateo, too," she said. "He says he's been skipping meals."

Luisa's reaction was immediate, her mouth dropping open in scandalized shock. "He's been what?!" she cried, looking past Naomi at the very bewildered Mateo further down the hall. With a huff, she started marching toward him.

Mateo's reaction was also immediate, his confusion buried under terror. "W-wait a second," he tried, but Luisa was on the warpath.

"I can hardly believe it—it's no wonder you're so thin!" She dragged him in front of her and began to push at his shoulders, forcefully ushering him down the hallway. "I will not have people going hungry under my roof!"

"But I wasn't—but I'm not—but—" Mateo's protests fell on deaf ears, his heels skidding against the runner. He shot Naomi a horrified look as he stumbled past, his eyes wide. "What did you tell her?"

Naomi responded with a dainty wave, wiggling her fingers.

"Naomi?!" And then he was gone, with Luisa guiding him around the corner and Francisco following with a low chuckle.

Back at the council chamber, the door finally swung open again, letting Elena escape into the hall. "We'll figure it out after lunch, Esteban!" she said, and slammed the door shut again, cutting off a final protest. It opened again a split second later, Esteban blustering his way into the hall, but Elena ignored him, having already joined up with Naomi.

"I'm sorry. Were you waiting for me?" she asked.

Well, it was partly intent, partly just consequence. Naomi shrugged. "Sure. Let's go with that."

By the time they got to the dining room, the grandparents and Mateo were already seated with plates piled high. A servant hovered by Mateo's side, still doling out more beans onto his plate and looking not at him for a cue to stop, but Luisa.

"That's really more than enough," Mateo was saying, mortified, but Luisa just clicked her tongue.

"Now, now, there's no need to be shy! Go ahead and take as much as you'd like."

"This is already more than I'd like, please—" He raised a hand to block the server's spoon, the two of them engaging in a brief battle of wits as the servant tried to find a way to dodge around Mateo's arm. He finally relented, stepping back from Mateo to prepare plates for Elena and Naomi.

Elena took in the scene with a perplexed expression. "Mateo, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

He looked like he was hoping the floor would open up and swallow him whole. "Your grandmother kidnapped me," he said, his voice strained.

"You're welcome!" Naomi chirped, earning a withering glare. She sat beside him anyway.

Luisa addressed Naomi and Mateo as the rest of the family arrived and everyone began to eat. "I hope you two know that any friends of Elena's are like part of the familia. You're welcome to join us for meals whenever you'd like, okay?"

Naomi had gotten that impression already from the initial invitation, but it still felt nice to hear out loud. Welcoming. Like she belonged. Warmth bloomed in her chest from both the food and the familiarity. "Thanks, Luisa!"

"Right," Mateo said. "Thank you."

"Really," Luisa insisted, looking more directly at Mateo. "Anytime you need something, food or otherwise, or have a question, you don't have to hesitate to say so."

Maybe it was some kind of grandmother superpower, knowing exactly what the crux of the issue really was. Mateo nodded stiffly, still looking self-conscious, but he'd relaxed by a fraction, his awkward picking at his food turning a bit more natural.

"Thank you," he repeated, a tiny smile creeping onto his face.

"See," Naomi whispered, leaning over as the meal continued and conversation rose up around them. "It was no problem."

"I'm still mad at you," he shot back, stabbing his fork into a piece of chicken.

"Oh, come on. At least I didn't tell your mom."

"You wouldn't dare."

Naomi just raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"You could have at least warned me you were going to do this," Mateo continued. "Or, you know, actually asked me if I wanted you to."

He sounded genuinely hurt, and some of Naomi's good humor vanished, leaving her feeling a bit scolded.

"Sorry. I will next time," she said, "but I'm not gonna let one of my friends not take care of himself, okay?"

He pushed some food around on his plate, ashamed. "I don't do this on purpose."

"I know. But you still do it. So I'm gonna help you outsource." She bumped his foot under the table. "Okay?"

Jumping slightly at the contact, he looked back up, lingering skepticism flickering in his eyes. As quickly as the doubt appeared, though, it was gone, swallowed down with a piece of food and covered by a tired, but appreciative, smile. "Okay."

lol, get grandmothered on, nerd. Naomi's getting more used to the Friends With Royals life, but Mateo is still a bit blown away by the concept of a support network.

There's a particular early-series interaction of his that sticks out in Island of Youth, where Elena tells him they have the most important job for the surprise party, he asks what that is, and when she answers him, he *immediately* tries to double back and laugh it off, like he already knew, even though he. Y'know. Didn't. It's not the only time in the series he does something like that, but it's the one that stands out most to me, because it's the instance with literally the lowest stakes. It's not info he's being expected to know, Elena has no issue with telling him, there are no consequences for him not knowing. And yet. The real kicker is that it's *before* his appointment as Royal Wizard, which is the event that seems to really set his insecurities spiraling.

He's just *so* deeply concerned with appearing competent, especially to the royal family, from very early on in the series. He has a pretty good first night as Royal Wizard, takes down a malvago in a duel all by himself, earns the respect of a bunch of people that were doubting him, and then he just kinda gets thrown into the rest of the job with no mentors, little direct support, and no point of reference other than the idealized vision he has of his grandfather. Everyone's got these inflated opinions of him and he doesn't want to let anyone down, but at the end of the day he's still just a kid that's out of his depth and Fundamentally Unused to having people he can rely on. He's stuck at that awkward midpoint between desperately needing attention and being Stressed Out when he gets it, bc now that means he has someone to disappoint. I imagine his first few months at the palace were weird.

The bit about Mateo accidentally spending the night at the palace actually used to be its own chapter, but I ended up cutting it since 1: there wasn't really enough to the scene to work with on its own (this chapter is already one of the shortest in the fic), and 2: it was pretty much thematically identical to this chapter anyway. Naomi's vibing, Mateo's struggling to adjust, she tries to actively step up as his friend and ends up treading on his boundaries in the process, he thinks he's being made fun of at first and tries to process that he's actually got people looking out for him now outside his own mother. And scene.