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Gary bit back a groan. A bug had been going around the barracks, and if the pressure beneath his eyes and the chill that had seeped into his bones were any indication, he’d failed at escaping it.
But he had his responsibilities. Tracey was accompanying his mother for a diplomatic meeting in the Cerulean Kingdom, and Gary wasn’t going to leave his prince in the hands of another knight. Tracey got nervous at those things, and sometimes when he got nervous he’d drink a little too much wine at dinner and end up dizzy and temperamental. Not an ideal condition for diplomacy.
Gary would have to be there to keep him calm and keep him safe. Trusting someone else with that task was out of the question.
“Are you okay?” Tracey’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. His prince’s dark brown gaze was soft and brimming with concern.
“I’m fine,” Gary said, trying for a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry your pretty royal head.”
He would be fine.
Tracey knew he should’ve been paying attention to the discussion between his mother and the Cerulean Kingdom’s young queen, Daisy, but he couldn’t.
Tracey had suspected something was wrong earlier, but he became increasingly certain that Gary wasn’t feeling well. As he stood beside Tracey, he was pale and sweating, eyes dull, looking a little unsteady on his usually sure feet. He needed to rest, but Tracey knew he wouldn’t admit it, because he was proud and stubborn and devoted as they came.
Which meant Tracey had to do something drastic.
He took a breath, closed his eyes, and let himself drop.
And it was only when he heard a panicked shout of “Tracey!” at his side that he realized he maybe should’ve warned Gary what he was going to do. Sick as Gary was, his arms were still strong as he caught Tracey, shakily easing Tracey to the floor amidst the rest of the room’s panicked shouting.
Tracey’s heart sped up as Gary put two fingers on his throat. “He’s breathing. His pulse is a little fast, but it’s strong. Your highness?”
Tracey opened his eyes, blinking a few times, feigning sluggishness. Too many people had crowded around him in a matter of seconds, but like always, Gary was closest. “Wha’ happened?”
“You collapsed,” Gary said, taking his fingers off Tracey’s throat to stroke his hair soothingly. He took his eyes off Tracey to look up at everyone else, gaze burning with fierce protectiveness. “Back up, everyone! Give him some room to breathe!”
Surprisingly, nobody objected to being shamelessly ordered around by an insolent knight. They all backed off—though Tracey saw his mother was the last to do so, looking reluctant and irritated.
Seemingly satisfied that they’d been given space, Gary turned his gaze back on Tracey. “What’s wrong, your highness?”
“Don’ feel well,” Tracey said, deliberately blurring his words together. “Needa’ lie down.”
“Misty, bring Tracey and his knight to the guest wing,” Queen Daisy said. “Take whichever room you want there, your highness. We can continue without you, if you don’t mind.”
“By all means, Your Majesty, go ahead.” Tracey knew he needed the experience of attending these things, because they would be his responsibility when he became king, but he’d been too distracted by Gary to pay attention to a thing so far, and that wasn’t likely to change unless Gary recovered very quickly.
Gary stood, offering a hand to help Tracey up. Tracey accepted it, though he staggered to his feet without using too much of Gary’s strength. Gary’s arm was immediately around his waist—nobody could care about propriety when it seemed like Tracey needed the support.
Misty looked at the two of them, her expression unreadable, but all she said was, “Follow me.”
Gary knew that Princess Misty was Tracey’s childhood friend, but he was taken aback nonetheless when, immediately after she led them out into the palace halls, she looked at Tracey and said, “You’re an idiot.”
Tracey didn’t react to this—he was pressed against Gary’s shoulder, just barely not leaning on it, and maybe he was still a little out of it—but Gary was ready to leap to his prince’s defense. “Hey! What makes you think you can say that?”
Misty walked backwards down the hall, seemingly just so she could keep an eye on Gary and Tracey while she led the way to a guest wing Tracey definitely knew the whereabouts of. (Though admittedly, Tracey didn’t seem to be feeling well enough to navigate right now.) Matter-of-factly, she said, “He’s in love with his knight.”
Gary felt Tracey’s whole body tense beside him at the same time panic rose like bile in his throat. He swallowed back the feeling, which might’ve also been accompanied by actual bile, and prepared to deny it, but Misty spoke up again before he could.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” she said with a wink. “It’s pretty sweet, actually. You guys are cute. The whole forbidden love thing is pretty romantic.”
“Thanks, Misty,” Tracey said, sounding much stronger than he had earlier. That was a good sign—he probably hadn’t been poisoned in an assassination attempt if he was getting better instead of worse.
Gary, on the other hand, felt a little like he’d been poisoned. His nausea was getting worse and he swallowed back bile. He knew he would be fine—everyone else in the guard who had caught this illness had recovered without complications—but he still felt terrible.
Maybe he should’ve let another knight do this. What if he’d gotten Tracey sick? What if there was trouble and he wasn’t strong enough to keep his prince safe?
Tracey’s warm hand on his back, running up and down the length of his spine in rhythmic motions, broke him out of his catastrophizing thoughts. They weren’t normally allowed to touch like that in front of other people. It felt nice.
“You’re shivering,” Tracey said.
Gary hadn’t even noticed. “I’m fine.”
“Well, we’re here,” Misty said. “You’ve been here enough times to know which rooms are which, Tracey. You probably could’ve found your way just fine on your own, but either way, you’re here now and whichever one of you is actually sick can finally go to bed.”
Tracey flushed guiltily. “Thanks, Misty.”
Wait, had he been faking it? It wasn’t like him to be dishonest—why would he do that? Did he hate diplomacy that much?
Or did he love Gary enough to sacrifice his dignity to get them both out of there?
Her work accomplished, Misty started to saunter off, but then Tracey said, “Hold on. How’d you know?”
“I knew you were faking because when you’re actually sick, you’ll push through it until someone makes you stop,” Misty said. “I knew you were in love with that stupid knight of yours when you pretended to pass out for him and he called your name.”
Gary felt heat rise to his face as shame flooded him. One slip-up was all it took for someone to figure them out. And it was his fault.
But Tracey’s hand was warm and gentle on his back. Tracey looked flushed himself, giving Misty a sheepish look. “Was it that obvious?”
“To someone who really knows you, yeah,” Misty said. “Don’t worry about anyone else figuring out your secrets from what happened in there. All they saw was a sick prince and a worried knight.”
Finally, Tracey fully relaxed. “You hear that, Gary? It’s okay. We’re okay.”
Gary’s face only got hotter, especially when Misty said, “You two really are adorable. Now get some rest.”
Tracey nodded. “Take care, Misty.”
“You too,” she said, expression turning serious. “Be careful, both of you.”
Right as she disappeared down the hallway, Gary was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of dizziness and his legs threatened to give way.
“Gary!” Tracey yelped, steadying him with an arm around his waist. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
And then Tracey was sweeping Gary up into his arms (when had Gary’s soft prince gotten strong enough to do that?) and carrying him into one of the bedchambers.
“Tracey, this isn’t necessary,” Gary said, but Tracey hushed him.
“Yes, it is,” Tracey said firmly. “You’ve done enough today. You can take it easy now.”
And then he was depositing Gary onto an impossibly soft bed, a gentle hand caressing Gary’s cheek. “Can I get you anything?”
“No,” Gary said. “Just stay put. I can’t protect you if you leave.”
Tracey politely didn’t point out what they both knew—Gary wouldn’t be able to protect him regardless in this condition. “Let me know if you change your mind.”
And then Tracey was climbing into bed beside Gary, wrapping warm, sturdy arms around him, Gary’s head tucked under his chin. If anyone caught them in such an improper position, the explanation was simple—Tracey, in his supposedly ill state, had wanted comfort, and it was Gary’s responsibility as his personal guard to look after him however he needed.
“You can rest now,” Tracey murmured into Gary’s hair. “I’m not tired, I can stay awake. I’ll make sure we don’t get caught.”
Enveloped in his prince's soft warmth, he finally closed his eyes and gave into his exhaustion.