Chapter Text
Spending Christmas’ Eve with a complete stranger wasn’t in Will’s to-do list, but sometimes fate really doesn’t care about one’s opinion, and strange shit happens. That’s what happened to Will, he was just chilling, with text-books spread all over the place, hoping anyone would just come and save him, when the doorbell rang. Not fifteen minutes later, Will was moving across the globe to meet his soulmate.
Will had spent most of his day with Princess Hazel. She had talked him through the procedures, telling him what he’d need to do when the Prince came home.
‘I’m sure he’ll be happy to finally meet you,’ she had said more than once. ‘He’s reserved, really reserved. Don’t let his demeanor fool you, though. He’s a sweetheart.’
She had given him such a sweet, little smile, that Will couldn’t do anything but believe her. It hurt him just to think about meeting his soulmate, but what could he do? He had no chance of leaving.
Then he met Prince Niccolò. It wasn’t love at first sight, not with the way Will’s heart crumbled.
Will had been stuffed into a navy suit, and a long grey French coat, worth more than his apartment’s lease. He was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, when Queen Persephone sent a glance his way, and he finally stopped, blushing a deep red. The bells rang and a sleek, black car pulled in the driveway of the palace.
It stopped before the fountain. Will’s heart was thumping in his chest, so fast and hard it was a mystery how no one else heard. It was the 17th of December, but the sun was too hot on his skin.
A body-guard pulled the door of the car open, and the Prince stepped out. He was wearing a black military uniform, the only touch of color were the embroidery buttons of the jacket, one of which the Prince was just pulling close, and the medals hanging on his chest.
Their eyes met. From the very first second, Will knew he couldn’t walk away. The mark on his shoulder burnt as though on fire, but not nearly as hot as the tears on his eyes.
The Prince had stilled, too, completely taking in Will’s appearance.
Somewhere, the bells rang again, and cameras went off.
It was a long ride to the airport, but this time Will wasn’t alone. It was four in the morning, the air was cold, and the silence heavy. They were heading to the Royal Family’s chalet in the Alps between France and Italy, Will hadn’t understood the name of the place. He was half-asleep when they told him, anyway. He wasn’t even sophisticated enough to have ever heard of it, to be honest.
In the reflection of the car window, Will saw that the Prince was giving him his back. He was wearing a suit, still completely black, and an obsidian ring shone on his middle-finger. He was already in the car by the time Will reached the parking lot.
Will wanted to talk, but he didn’t have anything to say. He closed his eyes, and faked sleeping. He actually dozed off at some point, and was awoken by the Prince shaking his shoulder. He wore a black face mask, that only left his forehead and eyes uncovered. Will couldn’t see whether his eyes were black or brown, nor differentiate between the pupils and the irises. His heart jumped up in his throat.
“We’re at the airport,” the Prince said, before hopping down the car.
He had left a blue face mask behind, and Will wondered whether it was for him for half a minute, before deciding he would just take it. It was soft under his fingers, and smelled of oranges.
He and the Prince had only taken a few items with them, the Queen had said many times that their belonging would arrive later in the evening.
They sat beside each other during the short airplane ride, little more than an hour and a half in the air. The Prince was tense in every place they touched each other. Thigh, arm, and shoulder. Maybe he was always like that, he often seemed like a statue.
“We haven’t been properly introduced to each other,” Will said, finally raising his eyes from the ground. His voice was steady, despite the thumping of his heart. “I’m Will.”
“Niccolò,” the Prince replied. “You’re American, right?”
“Yeah. Someone told you?”
“Your accent.”
Will nodded. He didn’t find anything to say for a long moment. “Texas.” He cleared his throat. “That’s my accent.”
“I’ve never been there,” the Prince said. He yawned discretely. God, he probably thought that Will was some sort of uncultured peasant. “I heard it’s horrible, though.” Will blinked at him, and the Prince blushed a deep red. “No offense.”
“None taken. It’s not –it’s not horrible if you’re a white supremacist, though.”
“Are you?”
“Absolutely no. That’s why I moved to New York.”
The corner of the Prince’s lips twitched. “There I’ve been.”
“I go to school there.”
“You go to college?”
Will nodded. “You just ended your military service, right?”
The Prince’s face turned dark, as though a shadow had fallen upon it. Nodding, he looked out of the window, clearly putting an end to the conversation. Will tried not to let it get to him. It wasn’t like he wanted to be there, anyway.
“It’s a mansion,” Will said as soon as he could see the ‘chalet’. “Like, it’s bigger than the mountain peak.”
Prince Niccolò gave him a blank stare. “No, it’s not. This is not even the mountain peak. Have you seen the mountain peak?”
Will bit his tongue. I need to shut up, I need to shut up, I need to-
Then the Prince clicked his tongue, the sound made the blood in Will’s vein rush in anger. “Did–”
Will didn’t let him finish. “You said it was on a mountain, and this is not a mountain! This –this is a village. We are in a village, not a mountain. A village at the foot of the mountain, but still a village. Seriously, did you take me here to kill me? Is that why you wouldn’t even tell me where we were going?”
The Prince blinked slowly, completely unmoved by Will’s rant. Will, who was flushed and panting, as though he had had to run there, instead of having taken the car alongside the Prince.
“Was that sarcasm?” the Prince asked. “Is that your humor?”
“No, that’s–was that sarcasm?”
If that was someone else’s life, Will would have laughed. With tears in his eyes, and cramps in his stomach, because holy shit, that is not something that’s supposed to happen. Who would ever be kidnapped one week before Christmas, to go live with his so-called soulmate, who is the Prince of a small island between Italy and Greece, then dragged to a fucking chalet?
“No, that was me replying to you.” The Prince’s lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. “Were yousarcastic when you asked me if I was being sarcastic?”
“Are you being –no wait. You are mocking me!”
The Prince turned to the side. “I would never do that. You are such a put together person, it would be hard to find reasons to mock you.”
Even without seeing his face, Will knew the Prince was smiling. He wondered what his face looked like when he did, whether his nose scrunched up. It wasn’t a strange thought, really, he had just noticed that the tip of his nose moved a lot when he talked, it was only realistic that the whole thing would also–
No. That was a mistake. Will couldn’t do that. Thinking about the Prince’s nose would make him human, and Will couldn’t do that. No sir.
So, Will said the only thing he could think of.
“I want pizza for dinner.” Then the Prince gave him a bewildered expression. “Thank you.”
“It’s not even midday!” The Prince was saying, but Will had already reached the door.
He realized a bit too late that he didn’t have the keys. It was embarrassing to say the least, but he just stood there and made no move to turn back.
The Prince’s voice turned lower when he spoke in Italian, Will heard it when he was NOT eavesdropping standing just outside the living room on the first floor, but just minding his business. By not hiding. And he was always silent, thank you very much. He hadn’t been careful not to step too loudly, nor knock into anything. He never did.
Since Will couldn’t understand Italian, he just waited until the Prince didn’t talk for a couple of minutes before dropping in the room.
“Where you watching me,” the Prince asked, although it sounded more like an answer than a question. He was sitting on the floor, just in front of the fireplace,
Will’s skin heated up, as he crossed his arms. “No, absolutely not.”
“I saw you.”
“There was nothing to see.”
“You were standing there, not moving, with your ear against the door.”
Will’s silence lasted a bit too long. “You must have confused the coat hanger with me.”
“The only coat hanger is attached to the wall next to the door, on the other side of the floor.”
Will clasped his hands. “So you agree with me that this house is massive!”
“You were–”
“You seem to know a lot about me. Were youspying on me?”
The Prince stuttered. Will almost pitied him for a second. He had lived with his siblings for years, there was no way he’d lose an argument. From what little he’d heard about the Prince from Hazel, he guessed they didn’t fight nor bicker often. He had no practice in front of Will. For once in his life, he was glad for his sister Kayla’s habit of being nosy as fuck, which had given them countless occasions to fight.
“Your pizza will be here at twelve,” the Prince ended up saying, after some grumbling in Italian. Or Greek. Will didn’t know much of either, but it was probably Italian.
“Why? Won’t you be eating it too?”
“Italian pizza is different from American pizza. You, like, share one with multiple people, right? Italian pizza isn’t supposed to be eaten in slices. You eat a whole one.”
“Like, you don’t cut it? You fold it in half and stuff it in your mouth? I’m seriously confused.”
“Of course you cut it!”
Will shook his head. It wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. “When will yours arrive, then?”
“At twelve.”
“You –you seriously need to work on your communication skills, man.”
Once again, the Prince’s unblinking stare settled on Will. “Right.” He cleared his throat, the air around them shifted to awkward.
Will supposed it wasn’t surprising, they were strangers with a house all to themselves, after all. He dropped on the floor in front of the Prince, so close to the fire his skin heated up immediately. He drummed his fingers on the hardwood floor, the sound echoed in the silence.
“So, are you like giving me a tour?” he asked.
The Prince tilted his head to the side. “Couldn’t you just look up the city on Google Maps?”
“I meant of the house. I mean, if you’re as put together as you don’t look, I guess you have it–”
“I look very much put-together.”
“You are sitting on a floor, when there are multiples sofas, you look at me like a deer caught in the headlights whenever I talk, and your nose scrunches up when your lips move downwards.” The Prince opened his mouth, and Will silenced him with a wave of his index finger. “Don’t fight me on this, it’s happening right now.”
The Prince’s silence prolonged for a moment, before he brought his fingers to his nose, smoothing it out. Will felt a strange kind of pleasure with the knowledge that the Prince was blushing.
“Wait, what were you doing before coming in here then? I thought you were exploring.”
“I don’t normally snoop around people’s houses. Or chalets. Or mansions.”
The Prince looked at him from under a thick layer of lashes. “Castles?”
Will shrugged, a grin pulled at his lips. “When the occasion arises.”
For a moment, it looked like the Prince may laugh. He didn’t, and Will tried to keep the disappointment hidden. He shouldn’t even be disappointed, damn.
“So, where is my tour?” Will continued.
“I haven’t been here in ages. I’m not even sure I remember where things are supposed to be.”
“Good then!” Will clasped his hands, a smile erupted on his face, as the Prince flinched. “We’re exploring!”
“But–”
“I can snoop around if the owner of the house is with me.”
“Your logic baffles me.”
Will rose to his feet, so fast his head started spinning, and bent down to grab the Prince by the shoulder. “Come on! We don’t have forever.”
“We’re literally stuck here for a week,”
Will tried pulling the Prince up, but he seemed cemented on the floor. “Time flies when you have fun!”
“We’ve been here for half an hour and it already feels like a lifetime.” Despite his words, the Prince stood, his legs wobbled for a moment.
“Wow, rude.”
Despite his words, Will didn’t let go of the Prince’s wrist –his hand had fallen there somewhere during the run, and honestly, why not?– and stopped only when he reached the hallway. Their hand-bags were still by the door, which made sense, since neither of them had tried moving them.
“So, we’ll act like you are a mannered guest instead of yourself–”
The Prince snorted. “That’s incredibly bold to say for someone who believed me to be a murderer less than an hour ago.”
“I was just ranting, and honestly–”
“So that wasn’t sarcasm.”
Will waved his finger. “Don’t try luring me into that loop again.” He exhaled heavily, and let go of the Prince’s wrist to put his hands on his hips. “So, that tour.”
The Prince rolled his eyes, and pointed to the stairs on the left. “The second floor. Go there, and you’ll easily find your way to the attic.” He pointed to the direction they had come from. “That’s the living room, and–” the only other door. “I honestly don’t remember. I think there’s like a corridor? You can reach everything from everywhere. The chalet is all connected, so–”
“Wait, wait, wait. Is this the tour?”
The Prince slowly blinked. He probably spent half of his time doing just that, it was in equal part amusing and annoying. “Yes?”
Will tsked. In the back of his mind, he was aware he was acting like a child, especially when he started stomping his foot on the ground. “In a tour, you need to walk around. Point at the rooms, and tell me something about each of them. Something that will make me smile.”
“I don’t even know what makes you smile.”
“I know, that’s what we need this bonding experience for! So you get to know it.”
The Prince rolled his eyes. “You are probably one of those people who just smile when they see cat videos on Instagram. God, you probably even laugh when you see dogs stumble and fall.”
“I’ll let you know, I actually cry when dogs fall, because they are pure souls, and don’t deserve such treatment.” He sighed. “So, my tour…”
Will wasn’t surprised to hear the Italian grumbling at this point. What surprised him was that the Prince actually gave up, and started stomping toward the mystery door.
“So you only came to the living room, where Iwas?” the Prince asked.
Without paying much attention, Will nodded.
“So you stayed here? Like an insect when you draw a circle around them?”
Will shook his head. “I’m sorry I have manners and don’t sno–oh my God. Oh my God. Is that –is that you?” Will pointed at the pictures on the wall, eliciting a groan from the Prince. “In a onesie? Oh my God!”
“Who else would it be?” he asked.
“Babies all look the same, you could have told me that was the neighbor’s daughter, and I would have believed you. Oh God, is that a –is that you dressed as a princess? This is priceless!”
“Oh, shut up,” the Prince said, covering his face with his hands.
Will giggled. “You were adorable. What happened to you?”
“Gee, thank you. I may not be a mannered host, but you aren’t the perfect guest, either.”
Will flashed him the finger. “Be glad I haven’t mentioned how you’re still not out of your emo phase. Anyway–”
“I have never gone through an emo phase.”
Will raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, Wednesday Addams. Whatever you say.”
The Prince huffed. “It’s such a pleasure to have you here.”
“Thank you, I’ve always been told I was a pleasure to have in class.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Yeah, that was a lie. I was always considered too loud and–”
“Always considered?” He scoffed. “More like always was.”
“I will tell your sister about your behavior.”
“My sister? Let’s hope she doesn’t ground me.”
“Well, I’m sorry your father scares me!”
The Prince’s lips started twitching again, and Will wondered why he didn’t just smile. It was far easier than fighting it, to be honest. Plus, he had some freckles on his nose, and Will wanted to see whether they’d stretch or not.
The doorbell rang, a loud sound, that had Will jump in the air.
The Prince snickered. “Come on, pizza is here. Try not to faint when you see our shadows.”
Will stuck out his tongue at him, but the Prince was already in the hallway.
“You’re giving me the real tour later, right?” Will asked, sitting at the kitchen counter.
The Prince rolled his eyes. “I swear to God, I’m going to put you in the dungeons.”
Will gave him a saccharine smile, and lied through his teeth. “Funny. I looked it up on the Internet, you can’t do that.”
Once again, Will was put under the Prince’s unblinking stare. “You are in a city you don’t know, in a country you don’t speak the language of, with a stranger.”
“I know you, now. You are a bit grumpy, but also a big, big softie.”
The Prince’s face scrunched up, as though Will had put a lemon in his mouth. Would he be offended if Will took out his phone and took a photo? Probably, but it wasn’t really Will’s problem, was it? Unfortunately, the Prince turned his face back into careful blankness before Will could act.
He turned to open the fridge. “We only have water.”
“It’s freezing outside, don’t take it from the fridge.”
Without taking his eyes off Will, the Prince stepped away from the fridge, revealing all its emptiness. Will looked at the fridge. Then at the Prince’s exhausted expression. He couldn’t control the laugh bubbling up inside of him, especially when the Prince took four glasses and filled them with water, not to make more than one trip to the sink.
“I was wondering–”
“If the word tour leaves your mouth, I swear to God, I will close myself in the bathroom.”
“I mean, sounds more like a treat than a threat, but okay. That’s not what I was asking, though.”
“Will this bonding experience ever be over?” The Prince groaned. “Can’t I ever just eat?”
“I’m not stopping you from eating, so –oh, wait. Are those your manners? Are you not eating because I’m not eating either, and that’s what a good host would do? Aren’t you the–”
“I’m jumping out of the window if you don’t shut up,” he grumbled, finally opening the pizza box.
“Rude. Does anyone stay here when you’re not? Like, did we throw someone out?”
“No, I don’t think so. Wait, are you asking me so you can call someone to rob us?”
“That would be pretty idiotic of me, wouldn’t it?”
“Oh, like the Queen wouldn’t protect you. You just had to look at her once, with your blue eyes, and your puppy enthusiasm, and she was gone for you.”
The Queen . Will hadn’t wanted to assume, he knew mixed people that could pass as white, and he knew it was rude to ask. So, since the King was white, the Queen black, and Hazel black, he had just thought the Prince was white passing. It must have been written on his face, because the Prince reached over to open Will’s box for him, as though he didn’t want to look at his face.
“She’s not my mother, you know,” he said. “I’m just the King’s bastard son.”
Will gasped. “No one says things like that, anymore.”
“Not where you are from, they don’t.” The Prince took a slice of pizza, and motioned over for Will to do the same. “Listen, you are part of this, now. I’m not going to lie to you, it has both pros and cons. You will never have to worry about money, rent, whatever you used to before. But you have to be extremely careful. Whenever you do something wrong, people will be there to judge you. Things as little as leaving a party too early or too late, you will be seen anyway, and people will try to tear down every single move you make, until even you doubt yourself. Until even you can’t like yourself.”
Will cleared his throat. “I know what it’s like.”
The Prince shook his head. “You don’t.”
Will’s throat closed. He should have told the Prince. He should have looked in those brown eyes, and simply said that his parents weren’t exactly farmers. He opened his mouth. He was about to say it.
“It’s the first time I eat pizza so close to Italy, you know?”
The Prince didn’t pressure him for more, he just rolled his eyes, cheeks dusted with pink. “You really have no idea where we are, do you?”
“Yes, I do! In the border between Italy and France.”
Will’s smug moment was cut short by the Prince’s scoff.
“We’re in Livigno, genius. It’s in Italy. Well, technically it’s on Switzerland soil, but it’s an Italian city.”
Will shrugged, willing his blush to disappear. “You should stop lying to yourself.”
“Says the guy who treats borders between countries like they are no man’s land. ‘Where are you Will?’ ‘Oh, you know, just in the border.’ You should have been given bodyguards, seriously. You are a public danger!”
Will shook his head, but there was no way of hiding the stupid smile on his face. “Going back to pizza–”
“Pizza and tour, two words that will give me nightmares and scar me for life.”
“So, now that we’re talking about tours again!” Will moved so fast on the high stool he bumped into the pizza box and sent it flying to the floor across the room. Luckily, the pizza didn’t fall out.
“Was that you sending the pizza on a tour?”
“No, that was a threat for you.” Will pointed at the floor, where his pizza was looking back at him. “Take me on a tour, or you’ll end up like the pizza.”
“In your stomach? Because I’m not calling the restaurant to order another.”
“Wow, I see the length you’d go for me. I’ll remember it.” He popped down the stool, and bent to take back his food. “Look! It’s not even smudged. You should give me the restaurant’s name, I’ll put on a nice review.”
When he turned, he found the Prince stubbornly looking at his food. “I can take you to the village later. Do you ski?”
“No. Do you?”
“Well, yes. There’s this hotel where you can use one of those sled with dogs. I can call and see if they have a spot for us in the next few days, I’m not sure, though.” He looked up, to see Will staring at him with wide eyes. “What? Is there something on my face?”
Not caring about the dough on his fingers, Will put his hands on the Prince’s cheeks, and squished. “Do you think they have puppies?”
“What the–what are you doing to my face?”
“I’m forcing you to look at me, because I honestly think that I’m more interesting than food. So, do they have puppies?”
Will squished tighter, and the Prince’s words turned out muffled. “How would I know?”
“How would you not know? How can you go anywhere without checking whether there’s puppies or not?”
“You’re here with me. Did you check?”
Will threw his hands in the air. “I just admitted that I didn’t know what city we are in, so make a wild guess, darlin’.”
The Prince shook his head, exhaling through his nose. “We wouldn’t go there today, anyway.”
“I want the tour of the house first, anyway.”
“Sure thing, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, peasant.”
For a second, Will thought he’d gone too far, taken the jokes too lightly, and the Prince would never talk to him again. Then, the Prince just shook his head.
“You are so bad mannered it’s literally scary.”
“My Texan grandmother would be heartbroken over your words.”
“My Italian grandmother would tell you not to talk while you eat.”
Will rolled his eyes, stuffing another slice of pizza in his mouth. “She would love me. I’m lovable. Lovely. I would sweep her off her feet.”
“I’d tell her you called me a peasant and she’d hate you forever.”
“Would she?”
The Prince’s lips twitched, he took a large gulp of water before responding. “No, not really.”
Will scoffed. “I’m far too bright for your lies.”
“Sure thing, principino.”
“What does it mean?”
The Prince sighed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I’m calling Persephone,” the Prince said. “That was her doing. Or Hazel’s. I hope to God it wasn’t my father, or I’m fucking retiring as Prince, and they can find someone else to fill the fucking spot.”
So the Prince stomped away, Will heard his angry steps on the stairs, as he went to retrieve his phone. Will just stood there, watching the only bed in the whole house as though he had never seen one before.
During their tour, they had discovered that every bed had disappeared, except for the one in the Prince’s room. A queen size bed –which Will would have found hilarious, in any other circumstance– with far more pillows than necessary.
Outside it was already dark, although it was only five in the afternoon. Will could almost see people on the streets in the village, which wasn’t more than fifteen minutes by foot, or so the Prince had said.
Without anything else to do as he waited for the Prince to return, Will decided to snoop around a little. He stopped in front of the desk in the corner of the room, remembering he couldn’t snoop around. Then the Prince would know that Will was a snooper, a serial snooper, which he had denied being. With a heavy sigh, Will fell on the chair.
There was a trunk in front of the bed. It looked pretty old, probably the first thing in the whole chalet that had a story, and it was in the Prince’s room. Will couldn’t help but wonder what was in it.
The Prince reappeared at the doorframe, heavily panting, leaning forward on his knees.
“Geez, did you run all the way back to your island?” Will asked, a hint of a smile on his face.
“I can’t believe you don’t even know the name of ‘my island’,” he replied, making quotation mark with his fingers.
Will stared at him without blinking, much like the Prince often did. “Maybe you don’t know it, and I don’t want to give you any clues.”
“Why wouldn’t I–do you even hear yourself when you speak? God, you’re giving me a headache. A headache!”
The Prince sat on the bed, taking off his shoes to fold his legs underneath himself. He passed his hand through his dark hair, sighing heavily.
“What can I say, it’s part of my appeal,” Will replied, shrugging. “You’ll get wrinkles if you keep frowning, darlin’.”
The Prince sighed again. “I’m not even going to respond to that.”
Will stretched his arms over his head, arching on the chair until he started seeing black and foggy. He spoke around a yawn. “So I win.”
“You don’t win shit, don’t you –whatever. That’s not what I needed to say.” He finally took his hands off his face, revealing his frown. “Persephone –that’s the Queen, in case you didn’t catch her name either– said that the other beds needed changing.”
“We can order one on Amazon. Wait, does it exist in Europe?”
“We’re in Asia.”
Will’s eyes widened, and only then did he notice the Prince’s grin. He put his hand on his racing heart. “You’re an asshole.”
“It’s not my fault you have no clue as to where you are, principino.” The Prince shook his head, and passed his hands through his hair again. “Anyway. She said we can’t get other beds for a couple of days, so we only have this. I’ll just sleep on the couch downstairs. By the way, your suitcase was lost, so only mine was delivered.”
“Lost.”
“Well, as you can imagine, it probably never left the island. Persephone must have told the bodyguards to bring it back to the palace.”
“But why would she do that?”
“She reads too many books, that’s why. She probably thinks sharing clothes is a bonding experience, or whatever.” He fell on his back, making the pillows bounce. “We can buy clothes tomorrow. I don’t want to go out now.”
Will scratched the back of neck. “I didn’t really bring that much money.”
“I told you, you don’t need to worry about it anymore. You can just use one of my cards.”
“I’d much rather not do that. Just–I don’t want to use your money.”
The Prince looked at him for a long moment, but he didn’t insist.
“I’ll sleep on the couch, you stay here. It’s your bed.”
“You’ve been calling me a bad host all day,” the Prince said. “Let me sleep on the couch. I insist.”
“No, you’re sleeping here. It’s your house.”
“Listen, for the past two years, I’ve mostly slept on the ground. I can handle sleeping on the couch for a week.”
“I’m letting you sleep on the couch in your own house.”
“I’m not letting you sleep on the couch in my own house.”
“What if we slept together? No wait, that got out wrong. Like, what if we share the bed? No wait, that’s like letting the Queen win. We’ll share the couch!”
“How is that any different?”
“I’ve seen the living room, darlin’. There’s like three couches. I’ve seen couch-sellers with less couches, plus the fireplace is there! It’s perfect. We can even make a blanket fort! It’ll be like a cool sleepover.”
The Prince rubbed his closed wrists on his eyes. “I haven’t done blanket forts when I was a kid, I’m not going to start now. So get it out of your head.”
“You are no fun.”
“Whatever.”
“So, are we having a sleepover?”
“It’s not a sleepover, are you going to call the whole week a sleepover? Because I’m already finding it annoying.”
“Yeah, I know, it’ll give you a headache. Anyway, we need to bring the blankets and pillows downstairs, and take pajamas. Did you bring any?”
As it turned out, the Prince was quite a bit taller than Will, which he had noticed, but not given too much thought to. Just taller enough that he needed to roll up the pants. The Prince also gave him a pair of sponge socks and a sweatshirt in which he literally swam, and told him where he could find a toothbrush. The neck of the sweatshirt kept falling over his shoulder.
When Will got out of the bathroom, the Prince was also wearing a pajama. Will shook his head, feigning disappointment.
“And you say you have never had an emo phase. You say that to my face, then give me black clothes, as you wear black clothes, and have only brought black clothes.” Will waved his index in front of the Prince, who tried to take a step back, but was blocked by the bed. “I may not know much about Europe. European princes, hell, I didn’t even know your island existed. But! I know everything about emo phases. So don’t you dare lying like that to my face, ever again.”
“You are so weird it’s scary.”
“Thank you. So, blanket fort?”
“Absolutely not.”