The vast hall was decorated from top to bottom, the finest musicians in the land had been hired to play and expensive foods were laid out across large tables.

All of this was to celebrate the engagement of the future king.

So, where was the man of the hour?

Stood out on the balcony. Not sulking.

He'd be the first to admit that his fiancé was a very beautiful man, on top of having one of the nicest personalities Gilbert had ever come across, but he could never see himself having any romantic feelings toward him.

His fiancé was none other than Feliciano Vargas, someone he'd known since he was five years old.

Did he love him? Of course. Feliciano was a difficult person to dislike. He was bubbly, friendly and so adorable it was almost unbearable. But he loved him the way he loved his brother, he could never marry him.

Besides, there was someone he knew who loved Feliciano more than life itself. Someone who was ripped apart when their parents announced the engagement.

"Gilbert?"

The prince turned and smiled. "Oh, hello Feliciano."

Feliciano smiled back, stepping out onto the balcony and leaning against the rail. "This is all very surreal, isn't it?" he asked.

With a sigh, Gilbert frowned. "I'm calling the engagement off." he whispered.

"What?" Feliciano looked up at him with wide, hurt eyes.

Gilbert grabbed hold of Feliciano's hands. "Feliciano, can you honestly say that you'll be happy being married to me?" he asked.

The Italian averted his gaze.

Giving another sigh, the prince wrapped his arms around Feliciano's shoulders. "I know there's another who can make you happy. Don't we both deserve happiness?" he whispered.

Feliciano returned his embrace, remaining silent.

After a while, Gilbert pulled back from the hug, lacing his fingers between Feliciano's. "Come with me." He said, and he led Feliciano back into the hall, guiding him through dancing couples and skilfully avoiding those who wished to congratulate them.

He stopped in front of his brother, who was stood in a corner. Also not sulking.

"Ludwig," he gave a small smile.

Ludwig clenched his fists, ready for his brother to flaunt Feliciano in front of him.

Gilbert pulled Feliciano round in front of him, placing his hands on his shoulders. "I know you wont disappoint me when I ask you to take good care of him." he said, a serious expression on his face.

Ludwig's eyes widened. "Gilbert, I—"

"Ssh!" Gilbert stepped around to the side of the two, grabbing each of their wrists and placing Feliciano's tiny hand in Ludwig's. "You deserve each other." He smiled and turned to walk away.

"But Gilbert, what about—"

"Let me deal with the parental unit." Gilbert interrupted, not even looking back.

Ludwig looked back at Feliciano, opening his mouth to speak.

"I didn't know you felt the same way." Feliciano cut him off, looking up at him through his fringe, a small blush dusting his cheeks.

Not knowing what else to say at that moment, Ludwig just smiled and said; "Would you like to dance?"

Meanwhile, Gilbert was approaching his mother, already shaking slightly. He was more scared of his mother than anything. She was such a lovely woman, but could be so very terrifying when need be.

As usual, Queen Heidi was dressed to impress, a corset pulled tightly around her waist, barely loose enough to be comfortable, a flowing, layered silk skirt and a pretty tiara to top it all off. She was speaking with the prince of the neighbouring kingdom, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, who was engaged to Feliciano's older brother.

"Mutti," Gilbert lay a hand on his mother's shoulder. "May I please speak with you a moment?"

His mother turned and smiled. "Of course, dear. Please excuse us, Antonio."

Antonio nodded and left to find his fiancé.

"What is it, Gilbert?"

Gilbert took a deep breath, summoning all his courage. God knew he needed it. "Mutti, I will not marry Feliciano." he said, firmly.

Heidi faltered, blinking before putting her smile back in place. "Let's talk somewhere a little more private." she said, turned and leading Gilbert towards her study.

The prince knew he was in for it now.

The queen opened the door and ushered her eldest son inside, telling him to take a seat. "Now," she cleared her throat, locking the door and sitting opposite her son. "What do you mean you won't marry Feliciano?"

Gilbert sighed. "I'm sorry, mutti. Neither of us would be happy if we were married."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

Heidi groaned. "Gilbert, I am your mother, I—"

"Don't say you know what's best for me." Gilbert glared over the table. "If you knew us as well as you think you do, you'd know that Ludwig has been in love with Feliciano for years. If you knew us so well, you would have planned a wedding for those two, not me."

"I..." Heidi was a little more than shocked. Had she known of her youngest son's affections towards the Italian, of course she would have planned the wedding for him. She sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that there are certain... expectations that—"

"I know, mutti." Gilbert got to his feet. "But please, let me find someone I actually want to marry." he said.

Despite calling off then engagement, there was certainly no need to call of the party. The festivities continued well into the night. It was almost two in the morning before the first guest left.

As the crowd thinned out, Gilbert assumed it would be okay to wander into the gardens. He was particularly fond of the old maze. He remember spending the vast majority of his childhood lost in that maze. At the very centre was a stone pavilion, where he often went to sit and clear his mind. And that's where he headed now, knowing the twists and turns of the maze like the back of his hand.

He skipped up the steps of the pavilion, moving to sit on one of the small benches.

What was he going to do now?

He was glad that his brother was happy, of course, but the way things were going, Ludwig would be married before him.

Nobody wants their younger sibling to marry before them.

He wanted to find someone, but he didn't want to rush into anything. As overly clichéd and pseudo-romantic as it sounded, he wanted to fall in love with someone completely. To love everything about them, even their flaws, and for that person to love everything about him.

He sighed. It wasn't like that was going to happen any time soon.

He was about to leave and go back to the party when the faint sound of crying caught his attention. He looked over the side of the pavilion to find someone, a man, curled up and weeping into his folded arms. "Excuse me," he called.

The man gasped, jumping to his feet. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"Whoa, calm down." Gilbert jumped over the side of the pavilion, placing his hands on the man's shoulders. "What's wrong?"

The man's eyes widened when he saw who was talking to him. He bowed lowly, his strawberry blond hair falling into his face. "I am so sorry, your highness, I didn't realise it was you. C-Congratulations on your engagement." he rambled.

Gilbert sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. "Okay, first of all, stand up and just call me Gilbert." he instructed.

The man slowly straitened his back.

"Good." Gilbert smiled. "Secondly, where have you been all night? The engagement has been called off."

The man opened his mouth, presumably to ask why, but Gilbert cut him off.

"Last but not least, why were you crying?"

With a sniffle, the man's violet eyes refilled with tears. "I-I came here with my boyfriend as kind of a make-or-break thing. We argued and he told me... h-he told me tha-that he... n-never wants to s-see me ag-again..." he began to sob again, pushing up his glasses to rub at his puffy eyes.

Oh, shit.

Gilbert was awful at comforting people, he always ended up saying completely the wrong thing. Which sucked doubly, because he also hated seeing people upset.

He awkwardly wound an arm around the weeping man's shoulders. "Well, that's his loss." he said, lowly. "You're fucking adorable." He regretted it the moment he said it, but he couldn't take it back now.

The man blushed, ducking his head down and hiding behind his fringe.

A few moments of awkward silence passed between the two before Gilbert asked the man to come and sit in the pavilion with him. The man nodded and followed him to the front of the pavilion and up the few short steps.

More silence, but strangely comfortable this time, not awkward at all.

With a faint smile, Gilbert noted that the music from the hall could still be heard, albeit slightly muffled. He turned to face the man sat beside him. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Matthew." the man replied.

"Well then, Matthew," the prince stood, holding a hand out to Matthew. "Would you like to dance?"

Another blush settled on Matthew's face, but still he smiled and took Gilbert's hand, letting the prince pull him to his feet and place on hand on his waist.

When your tears are spent
On your last pretence
And your tired eyes refuse to close and sleep in your defence
When it's in your spine
Like you've walked for miles
And the only thing you want is just to be still for a while

Gilbert lead the dance, pulling Matthew close to him and guiding him around the pavilion, spinning and side-stepping in perfect rhythm.

And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
I'll be right beside you

At first, Matthew's dancing was a little clumsy. He tripped and missed beats, not being used to dancing this way. But Gilbert just smiled at him and continued to lead them.

You're overwhelmed
And you've lost your breath
And the space between the things you know is blurring none the less
When you try to speak
But you make no sound
And the words you want are out of reach, but they've never been so loud

Slowly, he got the hang of it, and moved with Gilbert in near-perfect time.

And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
I'll be right beside you
I will stay
Nobody will break you

Gilbert knew this was sudden, and he'd never been one to believe in 'love at first sight'—he left that overly romantic nonsense to his friend, Francis—but as he danced with Matthew, staring into the man's violet eyes and watching the cute blush on his face grow ever-darker, he felt his heart begin to melt.

Trust in me, trust in me
Don't pull away
Trust in me, trust in me
I'm just trying to keep this together
Because I could do worse and you could do better

Taking hold of Matthew's wrists, Gilbert pulled his arms around his neck, winding his own arms around the man's waist, pulling him closer.

When your tears are spent
On your last pretence
And your tired eyes refuse to close and sleep in your defence

Matthew didn't think he'd ever blushed this much in his life. He leaned into Gilbert, even if it was just subconsciously, and smiled to himself. He'd met Gilbert a grand total of ten minutes ago, if that, and he was already enjoying himself more—as well as feeling more comfortable—than he ever did with Leodanis, his ex boyfriend.

And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
Nobody will break you.

As the song finished, they stopped dancing, but stayed in each other's embrace.

'This is it,' thought Gilbert, staring down at the man in his arms. 'Kiss him!' He slowly began leaning down, his eyes half-lidded.

Initially, Matthew panicked. 'Oh, giddy God, he's going to kiss me... The prince is going to kiss me!' His breath became slightly heavier, but not enough to notice.

Gilbert softly brush his lips against Matthew's, pulling away after mere seconds.

For the longest moment, the two just stood perfectly still in each other's arms, staring into each other's eyes. It was all terribly cliché, but they both loved the feeling it gave them.

"Gilbert! I knew I'd find you here."

Queen Heidi's voice cut through their moment of serenity. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the man in her son's hold. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" she asked, taking a step back.

Gilbert reluctantly broke their embrace, turning to face his mother. "It's fine, mutti." he said, a dark blush on his cheeks.

Heidi chuckled, glancing at Matthew. "Hello, dear." she smiled. "My name is Heidi, I'm Gilbert's mother." she introduced.

Matthew bowed lowly. "Y-Yes, your majesty, I know who you are." he said, peeking up over the top of his glasses, through his fringe. "I-I'm Matthew."

"It's very nice to meet you, Matthew." Heidi grabbed Matthew by the shoulders, gently pushing him upright. "Gilbert," she turned to her eldest son, giving a wicked smile. "You should have told me this was the reason you didn't want to marry Feliciano."

Gilbert's cheeks fired up. "N-No, mutti. Matthew and I just met." he corrected.

"Oh, is that so?" the queen gave a quiet hum. "I'm sorry. You just seemed so comfortable that I assumed you'd known each other for quite a while." She shrugged. "I just came to tell you that Antonio and Lovino are leaving soon. I thought you might want to say goodbye."

"Oh, ja. I'll be there in a moment."

With that, queen Heidi gave one last smile to Matthew before she turned and walked away.

Once his mother was out of earshot, Gilbert took a deep breath, facing Matthew again. "Look," he said. "I know we've just met and all but... I'd very much like to... c-court you..."

Matthew's face once again burned bright red. He glanced down and began playing with his cuffs. "I-I'd... like that, too..." he muttered.

Gilbert smiled widely, wrapping his arms around Matthew and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'm so glad."

End Note: When I was writing the beginning of this, all I could think was "Wow, 200 words in and it's already pretty sad..." but then it all got happy, so yay!
So, here's my new fic... again... Giddy God, why can't I stick to writing one damn story at a time? I ask you!
This chapter was a hell of a lot longer than I intended it to be. Oh, my giddy God, I am so sorry for making you this much fluff (How the hell did I write this much fluff? No wonder I have toothache!) that has little to do with the actual plot. I don't think the plot will actually kick in until about chapter 3...
Leodanis is Cuba, by the way. I didn't want to call him Carlos because I can't take that name seriously, so I googled Cuban names and I really liked that one.
This was written in a single night when I was in too much pain to sleep, so please fogive any mistakes.
The song for this chapter is Beside You bby Marianas Trench.
~Lolly xXx