Well...

I decided to upload my oldest completed sorry about gay dudes that is at least sort of decent. If you don't want to read it, just ignore this post. :)

(I apparently wrote this in 2007, so no judgy judgy, OK?)

Also beware! It's 16 pages in word. And divided by chapters somehow. Ready go!

Ok, so I have a story to tell. All those who have little hearts and low tolerance should not read this story for it contains me, a man, being in love with a prince. I always liked to spend my time just thinking about fairytales when it came to my Prince. I always thought it was an irritatingly repetitive story; the Prince finds a fair maiden and they fall in love, and they live happily ever after, only after the Prince rescues the Maiden from some horrible fate. This story is not about that. It may contain an irritating maiden, but when given a chance, she’s not so bad.

However, the story I’m about to tell is my story. The story of one of the people who aren’t important or necessary in fairytales, but are always there. My job was the Prince’s servant. His personal servant, like maybe a handmaiden, I guess. I just don’t like the word manservant, ok? Don’t bug me. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes…Now where should I begin my tale?

“Ok, Thor shall be my new servant!”

“I-it’s Thaddeus, S-Sire.”

“Oh, really? Are you sure it isn’t Thor?”

…Ok. So that wasn’t the best place to start, but yeah. That’s my name. Thaddeus…So anyway, now that we know what happened back when the Prince and I met, let’s skip forward a bit.

“Hey Thaddeus!” the Prince whined, and I tried to ignore him. I really did. I was trying to read, and the story was just reaching its climax, but he interrupted me. I sighed and glanced up at him. The only thought in my head was, “Oh god.” “Does this look ok? My parents set up another ball, and I thought…I should pick out my own clothes tonight!” I just stared at him and then clicked my tongue. He frowned. I pulled off his painfully and blindingly purple makes-him-look-like-a-box shirt and he gasped. “What? What’s wrong with it?”

“Prince Erastus,” I said, “Do you want to scare away all the candidates for your marriage?

“Hm…I don’t think mom and dad will like that, will they?” he asked.

I smiled at him and muttered a soft agreement before asking, “Sir Prince, do you mind if I look through your clothes and pick something out for you?” It was a relief that he was wearing plain black pants and boots, but I set out to find something attractive for him. And trust me, I can tell what looks good on the Prince. Anyway, I picked out a blue shirt for him. It perfectly showed off his butt, and successfully displayed his miniscule muscles. It had a collar and a small waist…I remember it like it was yesterday. He looked stunning in it; his cyan hair shone brightly—what? Cyan? It’s a light blue color. Yeah. It’s his natural hair color. Leave me alone! Back to the point…What? Don’t believe me about the hair? Well guess what color my hair is! It’s purple. Purple and blue. Naturally purple and blue. What style? Well it’s like…there’s one chunk of my bangs that’s longer than the rest of my hair. It reaches my chin, but the rest of it just goes to my ear…Hey! Don’t distract me! Back to my Prince…Now I lost my place. You happy? Damn distracter…

Um…Yeah…. He looked stunning in it, it brought out his deep blue eyes and his cyan hair shone brightly and blew in the wind…I couldn’t say why the Prince had put a fan on the top shelf in his armoire, but it added to the drama. Or whatever. Oh! His haircut was like…Short and flat…Like a fox! Ehm –cough- anyway, so the time of the ball came. I sat by the Prince and walked around with him, and he would often lean down to me and say such things as, “Ha, look at that lady waddle,” and “How old is he, 201?” now I realized these things weren’t funny, but I laughed anyway to be polite. At one point, he just walked up to me and said, “Colon.” I still don’t know why…I gave up on figuring him out long before that day, though, so I didn’t think too much on it. The ball eventually ended, once again without a hitch, and the King and Queen angrily scolded Prince Erastus.

“Erastus why can’t you just find a girl and settle down!? There were plenty of fine girls here tonight!” the Queen shouted.

“But those weren’t the right girl,” Prince Erastus insisted. “I want to wait until I find the perfect girl for me.” I knew I shouldn’t have been listening, but my Prince had told me it was my duty to eavesdrop, so I went along with it. There was a lot more shouting that I don’t care to discuss, and then I entered the room. Erastus glanced up at me and smiled.

“Hey Hurkey Turkey,” he said, and I walked over and sat next to him.

“You ok, Sire?” I asked, wanting to console him but knowing I wasn’t supposed to touch him. Especially not when I could be seen.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, his eyes were glazed over with tears, so I could see that he wasn’t ok.

“Cheer up!” I cheered. He glanced up at me.

“Aw, you’re the best friend a guy can have, Thaddeus,” he said, and then grabbed me by the hand and pulled me up to his room. “Thaddeus, I have a favor,” he said, in all seriousness.

I stared at him. “You know I’m your servant, right? There’s no need to ask.”

“Pickle juice,” he said, wide-eyed.

“What?” I asked.

“Huh?” he replied.

I stared at him for even longer, and he coughed, but finally said something else. “Will you find me a perfect girl so my parents will leave me alone?”

“What?” I asked, shocked slightly. Why was he asking me this? I couldn’t tell attractive girls from butt-ugly girls. How was I supposed to know which girls were attractive, anyway? I mean…Did it have to do with hair color? Maybe with breasts? Who knows? I certainly didn’t, but I had trouble finding a reply. I finally found a good reason, so I said it, “My taste surely is not the same as your own, Sire. I do not believe it is a good choice to ask someone such as me to pick out a woman for you.”

Erastus sighed and fell onto his bed, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But Thaddeus, what should I do? I just can’t find the right girl.”

“Pardon the impudence, Sire, but maybe you just need to keep looking. I am sure you will find a girl who truly appreciates how amazing you really are,” I said, a pang of regret and a hint of remorse following the suggestion. By this time, I was already desperately in love with the Prince and didn’t truly want him to find that perfect girl, out of the fear that if he found her and married her, he’d no longer want me around.

“Hm…Hey Thaddeus, what’s ‘impudence’?” Erastus asked, smiling and flopping back so he was lying down. He was so adorable that way…I wished I could just crawl up next to him and snuggle in, but I knew I couldn’t. “Sounds familiar.”

“That’s because it was in your last lesson, Sire. Impudence is rude behavior,” I explained, smiling at him while he wasn’t looking. He sat up, and I tried to dash away my smile, but he caught it.

“What? You think my inattentive stupidity is funny?” Erastus asked, and I wished I had realized his angry tone was masking his amusement.

“No, no, I just…please forgive me my impudence, Sire,” I apologized, making a fool of myself. I gasped as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down into his bed. He began to tickle me, and I tried to push his arms away, but he refused to stop, and I couldn’t stop giggling. Once he finally rolled off me, I was too exhausted to get back up, from all the nonstop laughing.

He lay sideways, staring at me, and smiled. “You know, you don’t have to hide your smiles from me. You’re not my slave, you’re my friend.”

“Servant,” I insisted, rolling off the bed before Erastus could tempt me any further.
Erastus sighed, “Thaddeus I wish you’d just stop being so uptight.”

“If your parents caught us being so chummy you know just as well as I do, Sire, that I would be thrown out of this castle, likely out of the entire kingdom,” I explained, and he frowned in agreement. “And I can’t risk living on the streets again just for a friendship with a Prince who will just forget all about me when he gets married.”

“Oh, is that what this is about?” Erastus asked, standing up. I dared not to turn my back to him, no matter how much I wanted to. He lifted his hand and rested it on my head. (Not before I flinched…I’d known him for a long time, but I never trusted royalty. No matter how much I loved him, I’d been a commoner; our monarchs weren’t exactly the most attentive.) “Don’t worry, though. You’re the only servant I’ll ever want.”

Throughout the next few days I avoided Erastus like the plague, but it was tough, considering I was his servant and I was required to wait on him hand and foot. He finally demanded to me one day that I tell him why I wasn’t talking to him.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I guess I just feel like…,” I tried to explain, as he had me pinned against the wall and my heart was racing a mile a minute, “somehow us being so close violates the Master-Servant relationship.”

Erastus just stared at me for a moment; I thought he was mad. When he spoke, though, I realized he wasn’t. “You worry about the weirdest things, Thaddeus. We can still be friends, even if you are my servant.” Our faces were inches apart by this moment, and I let my eyes fall shut as I felt a sharp twang in my heart. When his lips were so close to mine, I just wanted to close the distance between us…Just a couple inches and our lips would make contact. Just a little courage and I could do it. I was going to do it, I was. Then I wouldn’t feel like I was hiding anything from him anymore.

“Sire!” I cursed the Page who yelled that. Deep down somewhere, I’m sure I thanked him too, though. “There’s someone here to see you, a beautiful woman has come to meet you…Oh, Sire, I’m sorry for interrupting…” He looked like he was about to throw up, and Erastus walked by him coldly.

I walked over to him, and he looked at me with scared eyes, “Don’t worry. You didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Are—are you sure?” he asked.

I smiled at him, “Positive.” We both began walking, and I took a second looked at the frightened youth, “Your name is Lysander, right?”

He swallowed hard and answered fearfully, “R-right. Who are you?”

“I’m Thaddeus,” I replied, smiling at the poor boy. “You’re the new Page, right?”

Lysander nodded twitchingly. I wanted to grab his head and steady it, but I held myself back. I pulled Lysander with me to wait outside of the room that Erastus had gone into. Lysander looked at me, panicking, and I smiled. “I promised Prince Erastus that I would eavesdrop for him,” I explained, and Lysander attempted a smile. It ended up more like a grimace. I stifled a laugh and listened in.

“May I introduce to your royal highness, Lady Hebe Effel,” a loud squire introduced to Erastus. I pushed up further against the door, and waved Lysander away. He swallowed hard again and shook his head, so I shrugged and tried hard to keep listening in.

“Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty,” she said, in a quiet voice.

“I…,” he trailed off. “Named Erastus I’m a horky tork dork.” My heart felt ripped in two at that moment. He’d obviously found a girl who struck him stupid. More stupid than he normally was, that is. I guess I must have sighed loudly, because Lysander patted my shoulder gently. Hebe giggled quietly and I had to do all in my power not to storm in the room at that very moment.

“Is it ok with Your Majesty if I stay in Your Majesty’s house for tonight? I am afraid that I’m weary from my travels and I do need a place to stay,” Hebe said, and I latched my hand onto Lysander’s shoulder and squeezed.

I didn’t even notice him wince as Erastus replied, “You stay here?”

“Yes, Your Majesty if that is all right with you,” she replied.

“Yeah, that good,” he struggled out. The door started to open, and I grabbed Lysander’s hand and pulled him out of sight. This was where I got my first glimpse of Hebe—she was definitely pretty, with curly brown hair and glowing brown eyes. She wore an elegant gown a peasant couldn’t possibly have acquired, proving she was no commoner. Her face looked innocent enough, and she trod along behind my baffled love as he led her to the guest room. I huffed and stormed back to the servant’s quarters where people like Lysander and I slept. I barely noticed him trailing closely behind me, that is until I slammed the door shut in his face. He squeaked and I opened it in surprise.

“Sorry Lysander,” I apologized softly, and he walked into the room.

We were silent for a moment before he spoke, “I can go if you want.”

“Nah,” I replied, beckoning that he sit down next to me on my tiny bed.

I looked over at him, and he stared back at me. I realized at that moment how incredibly empty his green eyes were. Along with that emptiness, the only other thing I saw was fear. I felt the sudden urge to hug him, but I stopped myself and continued to look him over. He wore what were basically rags, and I could see his bones poking out from his visible skin quite profusely. Sun-kissed blonde hair fell over his face slightly in an untidy cut, looking like it hadn’t been washed in a while. I couldn’t stop my hand from caressing his face gently, seeing how sunken his cheeks were. He closed his eyes and collapsed into my arms. I noticed how shallow his breath was quickly, and I swept him up bridal style; he lay limp in my arms. The sudden occurrence came as a shock as the boy I barely knew passed out. I ran to the only place I could think of—Erastus’ room.

He was in there with Hebe; it looked quite like I had interrupted something, as they were standing compromisingly close, though I'll admit it was more likely than anything that Hebe had slipped and fallen into him. I stifled my tears at the sight and held up Lysander, desperately hoping for help, and realizing that my arms were about to collapse just from the weight of this severely underweight boy…I’ve never been very strong, alright?

Hebe ran over, asking what happened. I told her that he just collapsed, and she did some magic-y seeming first aid, and he blinked a couple times.

“Ooh,” he groaned.

“What, do you not feed the servants around here!?” she yelled in a fierce tone at Erastus, who faded away.

He looked at me pleadingly, and I decided to grant his wish. “No, we’re fed quite well and our beds are quite comfortable, I assure you, Miss. You see he is new here and as such just came in off the streets. Unfortunately, I now recall that on the streets people who look like him are not uncommon occurrences. In fact, for the common folk, especially orphans as I’d guess he is, this is very common. In fact, most orphans starve to death.”

“Are…Are you serious?” I could hear Erastus mumble as Hebe shrieked in disapproval.

“You can’t possibly be serious!” Hebe shouted. The anger was rather unbecoming of her soft features. “You!” she demanded, pointing an angry finger at Erastus. He looked like he was shriveling up and dying. I crouched down and looked at Lysander. He was breathing deeply; gasping for air in fact.

“A-ah! Ah!” I said, rising and pulling on Hebe’s arm gently.

“What!?” she hissed, and then noticed Lysander. She gave him some kind of magic kiss of life, and his breathing steadied for whatever reason. I watched as she turned on Erastus again, and shouted her lungs out about bad living conditions and such.

I couldn’t take much more, as Erastus had this “I’m a puppy who’s just been kicked multiple times” look, so I stepped in. I knew it wasn’t my place as a servant, but I didn’t care when it came to Erastus. “Please stop yelling Lady Effel. I’m sure he has a reasonable explanation, please hear him out.”

Erastus smiled at me, and Hebe frowned and said, “Ok, fine. Why haven’t you done anything for these people?”

“Whenever I talk to my parents about it they say not to meddle in their business, and that I can do what I want when I take the throne, but until then I have no business telling them how to rule the kingdom,” Erastus explained. Even I didn’t know that part. I really did hate the King and Queen with a passion; they were horrible at taking care of the citizens of their country, but the citizens were too weak and frail to do anything about it.

“Oh…,” Hebe mumbled. “Sorry for yelling at you, Your Majesty.”

I glared at Erastus as he said, “Please, call me Erastus.” He’d never said that to me before. It made my chest hurt. I clutched it absently as Hebe gave him a warm smile. She then turned to me, and I quickly bowed my head.

“And who might you be?” she asked. I almost snarled in rage that Erastus hadn’t mentioned me yet, but I answered her.

“My name is Thaddeus Kavanagh,” I said, bowing deeply.

“Ah. Yes, well it seems you already know, but my name is Hebe Effel,” she introduced, curtsying politely. “I came here because my father wishes me to learn what it’s like at this castle. So if you’ll have me…”

Here we have the maiden. The beautiful, sweet, caring maiden I hoped to hate. Somehow she won me over, so I simply mumbled, “You don’t need my approval.”

She smiled a heart-warming smile, and bent down to Lysander. “And who’s this?”

“He’s Lysander…Melbourne is his last name, I think,” I informed her, and she looked up at me. I only knew because I'd heard the Royal Majesties speaking about him.

“Can you carry him back to wherever he lives?” she asked sweetly. I looked down at my arms. They were wimpy and not made for carrying anything more than 30 pounds, even if he wasn’t much more. I gave her a “pity me” face and she sighed.

“I can walk,” Lysander heaved. He scrambled up, and I noticed how awkwardly his entire body moved and how shaky he was.

“No, why don’t you just stay here?” Hebe asked. I silently agreed. He needed food, and he needed it quick.

“I can’t!” Lysander shrieked as his eyes filled with tears. Ok. I was, officially, confused. I would be glad with such an offer. “I can’t just leave Claude all alone out there! I have to find him!”

“Who’s Claude?” I asked in my confusion.

“My little brother!” he screamed. “He’s still on the streets…I promised him after I got food I would run out and find him…I’m sure he’s still waiting for me somewhere.”

“Oh…Oh!” Hebe shrieked. “We have to find him! How old is he?”

“He’s eight,” Lysander mumbled. I then started wondering just how old Lysander himself was. He couldn’t be over 12, but he looked about 10…

“How old are you?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself. He collapsed on me, so I figured I had the right to know.

“13,” he mumbled softly, as if he was in pain. I was still surprised by his age, though.

Hebe obviously picked up on it too, because she said, “Look, we’ll find him; you need to stay here and rest.”

“No, you don’t know what he looks like, and I told him not to trust strangers,” Lysander replied. “Now let’s go while I can still move.”

So we set out onto the street. Erastus had offered to come along, but I pleasantly explained, and was reassured by Lysander, that he’d likely be killed if he went out onto the street. The people there may have been weak, but they were also incredibly hostile. We searched for the kid, but I ended up hauling Lysander back, and Hebe hauled back a kid who was half-dead.
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Claude was just as skinny as Lysander, and you could clearly make out all his ribs. I watched a heart-wrenching scene, as Lysander sobbed by Claude’s side for days straight, and Claude wouldn’t wake up. Hebe stayed to help take care of them, and Erastus found the best doctor he could, but he explained to us that if Claude didn’t wake up he couldn’t do anything to help. In the meantime, he was practically forcing Lysander better, and it was somewhat relieving to see him gaining weight back. After a couple days, Claude finally woke up, and Lysander hugged him and wouldn’t let him go no matter how many times the doctor insisted that he should. I finally had to pull him off his little brother. Within a week, Claude was up and running around, with the energy any eight year old should have. During that week, I talked to Lysander a lot, and developed what I would call my first “friend” not counting my Prince. Erastus himself had spent a lot of time with Hebe throughout that week, but I was ok with that. Hebe was sweet. Like I said, not an irritating maiden when given a chance. Hebe knew more about how to heal Claude than any of the doctors, so she spent her extra time with him. I still had to spend a lot of time with Erastus, but I also would talk to Lysander a lot at night. On one such night somehow we got on the subject of how exactly each of us had ended up at the castle.

Lysander and I, I had realized, slept right across from each other. He told me sadly, Claude sleeping on his chest, that he had sneaked into the castle and gotten caught, so he had been turned into a Page since they needed one. He was just trying to get food for his starving brother and himself, but he was scared of disobeying the King and Queen. I finally inquired about his family, and he sighed deeply. “My parents were killed by some soldiers when they tried to stand up to them…They captured my older brothers, but I just took Claude and never looked back because all of them told us to run.” Somehow his simple explanation was a little less heart-wrenching that it would have been had he showed any emotion as he said it, but I still felt really bad for him.

“Older brothers? You think they’re here somewhere?” I asked under my breath.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled softly. I reached out to him, and his hand met mine. I could tell he was smiling, and we pulled our hands back to our beds.

“Would you go ta sleep?” another servant asked, and I frowned. I think it was the cook.

“We’re just talking,” I replied indignantly.

“An’ actin’ all lovey-dovey,” he said angrily. “I should tell tha King and Queen about your little romance, you’d be executed before you can say ‘I’m scum.’”

“Shut up,” I ordered. Lysander was the only one who knew the way I felt about Erastus, and I planned to keep it that way, since love between two males was so forbidden it was practically unheard of. And for his information, Lysander and I were just friends. Therefore, I told him that. “Lysander and I are friends, but I’m sure you can’t understand that because you have no friends and you never have.”

The cook scoffed but didn’t reply, probably because I hit the nail dead on. I could barely see it in the dark, but Lysander had started gently stroking Claude’s hair. Claude spent half his time sleeping, but Lysander barely ever let the young boy out of his sight, which caused him to do less work than the King and Queen would have liked. I could see their anger building up, but Lysander was such a suck up that they let his slight absence slide. We hushed up for the night, and the next day, to my surprise, Erastus asked about Lysander and Claude. By this time, I had taken note of how silent and less of a dork he had been lately.

“So the new Page, Lysander…,” he muttered. “Most people are like him?”

“Most that I remember, Sire,” I replied, bowing politely. Erastus sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“And my parents, King Harold and Queen Estelle, they know this?” he asked.

“It’s hard to ignore,” I informed him, and he frowned at me.

“So I guess…You think I can do anything to change it?”

“I don’t really know, Sire,” I admitted, and he sighed again.

“So that Lysander boy and his brother, they’re ok, right?” he asked. He hadn’t seen Claude yet, so it was no surprise to me that he didn’t remember Claude’s name. It was funny to me, though, how different Claude looked from his brother. He had shaggy hair, just the same, but it was a caramel brown color, and his eyes, unlike Lysander’s, were a brown color that twinkled when he was happy. Apparently Lysander was never happy, because I never saw his eyes twinkle, and he still constantly shook in the presence of Erastus or the King and Queen. I myself rarely even saw the King and Queen.

“For now. Lady Effel has done very well getting them back to full health,” I said. He frowned.

“Speaking of Hebe…,” he muttered. I hated it when he said her name. I quelled the anger in my gut and listened to him “My parents want me to marry her…”

“O-Oh?” I mumbled, at a momentary loss of words from the shock, and then regained my composure. “And do you want to marry her?”

“Well…I do, but…,” he mumbled. It was too bad he didn’t realize that those words had shredded my heart into many pieces.

“…But?” I struggled out, trying to swallow the lump in my throat.

“But I still don’t know if she’s the right girl,” he sighed. “I mean she’s nice and pretty and she cares about people, so I should want to marry her, right? And even you seem to approve of her, that’s amazing…So why don’t I want to marry her?”

“I thought you just said you wanted to marry her? And you’re right, she’s perfect, you should marry her,” I encouraged despite myself.

“Yeah…Yeah you’re right!” he exclaimed, and then he did something I didn’t expect him to. He pulled me forward and hugged me. I was content with sitting there in his arms, but I noticed that he wasn’t letting me go and cleared my throat. There was nothing in my throat, mind you, I did it because him holding me made me want him more than ever, and raised my hopes more than I wanted it to. He pulled away from me, looking embarrassed. I smiled at him, a forced notion, and he tittered before changing the subject.

“So would it so happen that Lysander has a brother?” he asked. I was surprised, but nodded vigorously.

“How did you know that!?” I asked. I didn’t mean to shout, but if I could find Lysander’s brother then he would be really happy, which would make me really happy.

“Well I noticed a couple days ago that one of my parent’s servants looks suspiciously like Lysander,” he said, smiling. “I can get him for you if you like.”

“Yeah!” I exclaimed. I realized how rude I sounded and said, “Er—I mean…Yes, Sire. If it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Of course not!” he yelled, holding up his fist. “I’ll get him now, you wait here!” he exclaimed. He didn’t know where he was going. How did I know? He ran the opposite direction of the throne room, where the King and Queen undoubtedly were. I headed toward it and waited patiently outside for Erastus to realize it. While I was waiting, I looked around at the long hallway. It was made of brick, and instead of windows, it had many arches letting the light in. I always thought this hallway was unsafe, but this was the way the King and Queen wanted it. Besides, they had squashed any rebellion with their lack of compassion for the common folk, resulting in the common folk becoming very weak.

“Thaddeus!” I heard the voice of none other than Erastus shout. He came into view at the end of the hallway and shouted in an annoyed but playful tone, “Why didn’t you tell me I went the wrong way?”

“Well, you were gone by the time I left your room,” I replied simply, and he ruffled my hair and walked into the throne room. I fixed my hair as I listened absently to the commotion in the throne room, and then Erastus came out of the room, looking dejected, and gave me a pout.

“They won’t let him come,” he whined. “But I figured out his name!”

“Good, Sire, what is it?” I asked. He grinned at me.

He made this “I’m not gonna tell you” face. I reached my hand near his face; I wanted to sock him one. I pulled back my hand and glowered at him. He finally relented and whispered, “It’s Liam.”

“Liam, huh?” I muttered. “I’ll ask him what his brothers’ names…” Then it occurred to me. He had said that he had older brothers, didn’t he? Even if this was his brother, what about the other one? Or two? Or however many brothers he had? I sighed as I walked away, but Erastus grabbed my arm and I stopped. Shit…I had forgotten about him. Not a very good thing.

“Where are you going?” he asked as I flitted back around.

“Nowhere if you don’t want me to, Sire,” I replied, bowing my head.

“Saying it like that makes me feel bad,” he whined, and I noticed he had yet to let go of my arm. “I was thinking that I could probably get Liam to come if I told my parents that I wanted to marry Hebe…”

“Ok,” my heart was already in shreds on the floor, so this affected me a lot less than I expected. “Does Hebe know?”

“Well she told me that’s the real reason her father sent her here,” he replied, “and she said she’d be ok with it.”

“Ok, so go tell your parents, Sire, I’ll wait outside for you,” I replied, and then frowned when he frowned.

“But Thaddeus,” he whined, “I don’t want to go without you.”

“Huh?” I mumbled, but he had already pulled me through the door. I hated the King and Queen; have I mentioned that? They sat in their throne seats, pruning themselves and yelling at all the servants, more like slaves, to do everything and anything that they wanted. They stopped with their orders when we entered the room.

“Didn’t we already tell you that Liam is a criminal and our property, so you can’t—Oh joy, you’ve brought in that filthy servant of yours,” the Queen said sarcastically. I ignored her and glanced around the room, searching for Liam. I finally spotted a tall and skinny boy with sun-kissed blonde hair and empty green eyes. I tried to wave at him, but Erastus immediately pulled my arm back down and glared at his mother. I bowed deeply in the King and Queen’s presence.

“He isn’t filthy,” he hissed. I smiled at how sweet he was. It made two of the pieces of my broken heart rejoin. “And I came here to make an announcement,” I could hear him swallow, and then the words flowed smoothly from his mouth, “I’d like to get married to Hebe.”

“And why didn’t you bring her here with you instead of this filth?” King Harold asked. I held in a snarl.

“She’s busy right now. But as soon as I get married, I get control of the kingdom, right?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“That’s right,” the King replied.

“This is glorious!” the Queen cheered. “Let us celebrate! We shall tell everyone! I shall have the invitations made, and the wedding shall be in a week. Tell Hebe—I mean, your fiancée that your wedding is in a week.”

I frowned and Erastus pulled me out of the room. He grabbed Liam as well and then pulled us to the door outside the servant’s quarters.

“U-um, Your Majesty,” Liam struggled out, shaking in a way very much like Lysander had when he first met Erastus. “Do you need me for something?”

“There’s something I want you to tell me,” Erastus said. I looked around for Lysander or Claude; neither was around. I sighed as Erastus asked what he needed to ask, “Do you have a little brother?”

“Sure, I have two,” Liam replied, “but Your Majesty, what does this have to do with—?”

Erastus interrupted him loudly, “What are their names!?”

“Your Majesty what does this—?”

“What are their names!?” he repeated.

Liam swallowed hard, “Lysander and Claude.”

“Ohemgee!” he gasped. He turned on me. “Is that the little one’s name?” he asked.
I nodded, “Yes, Sire.”

Liam gasped, “What? My little brothers…Where are they?” He was looking straight at me, and I shrugged. Before I finished with my shrug, though, Liam had a small boy in his arms and another staring at him through tears.

Lysander gasped, following Claude’s example and throwing himself on his older brother. “Where’s...our brother?” the frail 13 year old asked.

Liam looked sick. “I…Do you think we can sit down so I can explain this? I'm Liam, by the way.” I wondered for a moment why, if his brothers recognized him so instantly, he had to tell them his name. Lysander pulled away from Liam and pulled him into the servant’s quarters. Did I mention this place was for the Prince’s servants only? That was probably why Liam and his brothers hadn’t seen each other yet. Erastus and I followed them inside the little shack that some of us servants lived in, and we sat on my bed while Liam settled in to Lysander’s bed. Claude sat in Liam’s lap, and snuggled close to him. Lysander sat next to Liam, leaning on his shoulder.

“So where’s Alpheus?” Lysander asked. Liam once again had that sick look, like he was going to throw up on all of us.

“He’s…Dead, Lys,” Liam choked out.

“What?” Lysander muttered. He didn’t seem like he believed it. “No…No! Didn’t he promise you he’d never leave you?”

Those two pieces of my heart that had come back together fell apart as I watched Lysander start to sob. Claude looked confused, but seemed to get the gist of it.

“Alfy is gone?” he asked, leaning up from Liam’s chest and looking straight in his eyes.

Liam turned his head away but said, “Yeah, Claude. He’s gone.”

Claude started sobbing at the confirmation and buried his face in Liam’s chest again.
“But you two are—were identical twins,” Lysander said, he still seemed to be in denial. I finally understood his confusion on the sight of Liam: this Alpheus person was his twin. His identical twin. How heartbreaking. “How could he have died?”
“Well…When we were captured we were thrown into a prison cell. They barely fed us and the water was dirty, but we were together, so it was ok,” he murmured softly. I could tell by the inflection of his voice and the look in his eyes that Alpheus must have meant a lot to him. “And then the King and Queen caught word of what we had done and summoned us to be brought to the castle. They bargained with us to let us live as long as we promised to be their servants for life. So we promised…We weren’t stupid…And we didn’t want to be separated. But one day the cook accused us of stealing from the castle’s food supply and we were summoned to see the King and Queen again.” I gasped, knowing well what the punishment for stealing was. I looked over at Erastus, who was somewhere between scared lifeless and depressed. Either way he was extremely pale, much more so than normal.

Liam continued his tale, “But in actuality, neither of us had eaten much of anything in over a week because that same cook was eating all of our shares…The only two meals we had gotten, I had given to him. Therefore, when they told us that you get 40 lashes for it we both knew I would never make it through, having not eaten in so long, but I knew that he wouldn’t either. We tried to explain that we didn’t do it, but the Royal Majesties,” he said the words with very noticeable contempt. I glanced at Erastus, who had given way to crying silently. I slid closer to him and continued listening to Liam’s story, “wouldn’t listen. So then, Al said that it was only he who stole from the kitchen. I saw the damn cook’s face fall, but their Royal Majesties believed him, and I had to watch as they whipped him. He cried out in pain each time…It was torture! And all I could do was watch, because they were holding my arms back…I couldn’t stop crying as it happened, but I had to hide that from everyone else in the room. They would have punished me too, and all Al did would have gone to waste. They just left after they finished, and Al was just lying there on the ground. I ran over to him, and looked at his bloody mess of a back. He groaned at me, and I hugged him. I could feel him shaking, and I had watched him sob as they whipped him, and then he pushed me back.

“‘When you see Lysander and Claude tell them that I love them, will you?’ He asked of me as I began to sob,” I noticed, though, his severe lack of tears at the moment even though both of his little brother’s eyes were overflowing with them. “And then…Well, I…”

“Just tell the rest,” Erastus choked out.

Liam glared, barely visibly, at him and continued, “Yes, Your Majesty.” He said, the same contempt showing up. He sighed deeply and continued his story, “And then he said, ‘I love you Liam, and I always will. Please never forget me…Please don’t cry, I’ll always…You know…be with you…at heart…And all that ridiculous…Mushy stuff…’ And he leaned up and kissed me on the cheek before he fell back down, and I whispered that I loved him too. He smiled and gave one last squeeze to my hand before going limp. I wasn’t stupid, so I checked for a pulse…And since he didn’t have one I began sobbing uncontrollably, but then I remembered what he had said, and wiped away my tears.”

“Oh…my god,” Erastus muttered, crying almost as much as Lysander and Claude. “I’m sorry,” he choked out. I patted his hand, and he grabbed mine and squeezed it.

“How can you even say that!?” Liam roared. Lysander grabbed his hand and squeezed it, shaking his head in his disapproval at Liam’s anger. Liam sighed and explained, in a low but somehow chilling voice, “Look, Your Majesty, it’s just…Alpheus was my life. He was all I had left. And then because of your parents, he was taken from me…Look at the suffering they’ve caused…! Are…Are you crying Your Majesty?” he asked.

Erastus sniffled and wiped away his tears, “Will it help if I admit it?”

“Well, it’ll help others if when you become King you do something about all the suffering,” Liam replied, his arms around his two younger brothers.

“Yes, that’s why I have to marry Hebe,” Erastus replied. The little pieces of my heart were put through a shredder. When they came out, they were alone and confused…I suppose Liam must have felt that way after Alpheus died, too. I had no inkling of how that felt, because I’d always had someone with me. Before I had Erastus, I had my parents. They weren’t anything special, but they were there, and they loved me. That was all that mattered to me…As long as I had someone who I loved, who cared about me in return I was ok. But that feeling…The way Liam must have felt every day since Alpheus’ death…I squeezed Erastus’ hand at the thought, happy he was by my side.

“Well I’ll be glad if you think you can save this hellhole of a kingdom, excuse my language, Majesty, but I can’t take this anymore,” Liam muttered, as his siblings drifted off to sleep in his arms. He seemed to be a bit bolder than his brother was. I didn’t really mind, and it appeared Erastus didn’t either.

“Please, you don’t need to always call me ‘your majesty’ and ‘sire’,” he looked at me, and then looked directly in my eyes. “If I’m going to become King soon anyway, call me Erastus. My kingdom, my rules.” He insisted. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking from the look on his face, but the tearstains probably made it look more desperate than it was. Turning to Liam, he hoped for approval from him as well. I guess he knew he had my approval.

“All right,” Liam agreed. He gave Erastus the first smile I’d seen, and then a tear streaked down his face. Followed by another…And another. Before I knew it, he was sobbing silently.

“Liam…,” I mumbled, and he looked up at me.

“I d-didn’t catch y-your name,” he struggled out.

“It’s Thaddeus, Thaddeus Kavanagh,” I introduced myself, and he attempted to raise his hand to shake mine, but it was too shaky for him to manage.

“I’m Liam Melbourne,” he replied, then let his head fall and continued to cry quietly. I stood up and walked out of the room, pulling Erastus with me. I figured Liam wanted to be alone at this bittersweet moment. A reunion and the recollection of the most painful moment in his life, I mean.

Hebe, who sighed in an almost depressed way, met us outside. “So we’re engaged now, huh?” she asked Erastus, and he nodded. “Were you crying, Prince?”

“Yeah,” Erastus admitted.

“Was it because of that boy’s story?” she asked. It finally dawned me that she must have been listening to Liam’s story. Erastus nodded, and Hebe frowned. “Then we really do need to get married as soon as possible,” she mumbled, “so then maybe this rotten kingdom can become a thriving wonderland.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

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The next week went by fast; I was running here and there and doing many things for both Hebe and Erastus. Liam had switched over to being Erastus’ servant, and just like how Lysander wouldn’t let Claude out of his sight, Liam wouldn’t let either of his little brothers out of his sight. I later asked him how old he was, out of curiosity, and he was actually older than I was. I was 16, and he was 17. (Oh, Hebe was 17 and Erastus was 19, btw…Er, by the way) The only parts I can pick from my brain and separate from everything else are the times that I was pulled off to the side by Hebe and later by Liam.

“You know, Thaddeus,” Hebe said, sighing and sitting down next to me. I had been yanked aside by her and we were sitting inside a shed on the royal grounds. A stream of light shafted in, but otherwise it was considerably dark. “I’ve been wondering something…”

I realized she was waiting for me to confirm that she could ask the questions, so I said, “Yes, Lady Effel?”

“Are you in love with Prince Erastus?” she asked. It sounded like pure curiosity, but I couldn’t know for sure.

I also couldn’t keep myself from blushing as I replied, “Why do you ask?”

“Because, I…I just need to know, ok?” she mumbled. Standing up from her slouched position and looking right in my eyes.

“…Yeah, I’m in love with him,” I admitted, “but I can’t help who I love…I never planned on acting on any of my urges!” I held out my hands defensively and then realized she was smiling.

“I thought so,” Hebe mumbled, and ruffled my hair. I hated it when people did that…I straightened out my hair, and we both left the little shack.

“Why did you…?” I mumbled, and she grinned at me.

“I just really wanted to know,” she replied. “Because…Well, you’ll see,” she winked and ran away, and I frowned and walked back to Erastus’ room, where he was picking out what to wear for the wedding.

Later in the week, Liam pulled me aside and said, “Thaddeus, I just wanted to say…Thank you.” I looked at him in a confused way, and he nervously raised his arm to the back of his head, “I mean, for helping me find Lysander and Claude. And for being so understanding about Alpheus.”

“Oh no, I don’t really understand how you feel, it must have been so hard,” I replied.

“See that’s why!” he exclaimed. I had never thought of myself as understanding before. I had never thought of myself as much of anything, truthfully. “But…If it weren’t for you and Miss Hebe, Lys told me he and Claude might not be here anymore. So, um…” he held his hand out to me in an awkward gesture. I grabbed it and shook it, then glanced around before quickly pulling him toward me. I gave him a quick hug and then hastened a hasty retreat. I glanced back at him during my retreat, and he gave me a small smile.

Before I knew it, it was the day of the wedding. I could no longer feel my heart beating in my chest, but I think that was because I chose to ignore it…Anyway, I was in the wedding, much to the King and Queen’s disdain, so I stood and watched Erastus as he fiddled with a bowtie. He couldn’t seem to tie it, so I grabbed his arms and pulled them down, then tied it for him. As soon as I finished I sighed, but didn’t pull down my hands.

“Sire,” I said.

“Erastus,” he corrected. I sighed and shook my head, raising my hand to his cheek.
“Well Erastus, I just hope you’re happy,” I said, and forced a smile. “All I wish for, for you and Miss Effel is happiness.”

“Thaddeus…Thank you,” he replied, grabbing my hand and holding it. My heart started beating again as he held my hand, and I stared up into his eyes. They were so, so beautiful. I must have looked a damn fool at that moment, but I didn’t care. My happy time was interrupted when Erastus pulled away, and I could swear I saw a blush on his face. Lysander barged into the room and twitched his head before bowing deeply.

“My-my apologies, Sire,” he breathed, “but the King and Queen told me that they grow tired of waiting.” He bowed again and left the room, I would guess he collapsed outside the door since he was so out of breath. I failed to notice the odd hint of something strange in his voice.

“So this is it…,” Erastus breathed. “I’m really getting married today…”

“Yeah,” I replied, smiling when Erastus glanced my way.

“I…Guess I should go,” he said. But he didn’t go. He just stood there with his back to me in his room. Suddenly he turned around, and he looked at me with such a serious look that a chill went down my spine. “Thaddeus, you love me, right?” I was shocked. I couldn’t even move as he walked over to me. I was frozen in place. I expected him to hit me or something, but he just stared at me.

“Who-who told you?” I finally struggled out.

“So it’s true then?” Erastus asked. His dork-cheerful face had returned, and I was slightly confused.

“I…I…,” I could feel my face burning and my eyes filling up with tears, and I just wanted to get out of there. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be rejected. No matter how cheerful Erastus looked, this was the day of his wedding. And he had to get married…For the sake of families like Lysander, Liam, and Claude’s.

“Don’t cry Thaddeus,” he said. “I’m sorry, I made you cry!” Frantically pacing around the room, he looked like such a fool. I couldn’t help the smile from appearing on my face. He squished my face and I frowned. “Look, I gave you the wrong idea. I love you too!”

My heart skipped, and I asked, “What?” This was unbelievable. I had to be sure.
He just leaned down to me, and pressed our lips together. I responded by wrapping my arms around him and pulling myself closer to him. It was simply…Amazing. The feeling of his lips pressed against mine, his lithe body pressed up to me, and his warm tongue in my mouth…I could have died at that moment. As we pulled apart, he whispered a sweet, “I love you. Do you love me?”

“I love you,” I admitted, looking into his eyes. He stroked my cheek lovingly, and I sighed contently, leaning my head against his chest. We stood there for a while, until a faint knocking echoed on the door and it clicked open. I jumped away from Erastus, and Lysander looked up at me, having fallen through the door after it was opened.

Hebe stepped over him into the room, and frowned.

“It’s bad luck—” I started, but Erastus shushed me.

“Our wedding’s off,” Hebe stated plainly. “Good thing you’re already King.”

“What?” I hadn’t heard of this. I guess I missed it. Something inside me told me that this event transpired during the time Hebe pulled me aside to talk to me.

“But yours is on,” she said, looking to me. I noted that she clearly wasn’t wearing a wedding dress. In fact, she wasn’t even wearing a dress. She was wearing pants; the big poofy kind Erastus liked to wear. That proved Erastus was King. A girl wearing pants, that is.

“Whose wedding?” I asked cluelessly.

“Yours and King Erastus’ of course, silly,” she said, grazing my arm lightly with a fist.

“But…We’re both…huh?” I asked. At this point, I was officially confused.

“The King there changed the laws as soon as he became King,” Hebe explained, “same-sex marriage is completely allowed now, so get going!”

And so…I married Erastus and now I’m the Queen…Shut up. It’s better than manservant is, if I do say so myself. Since then, Hebe got married…To her best friend, a cute girl name Harriet. Hebe is now the number one adviser for Erastus, a position no woman before her held. The citizens in the kingdom have gotten a lot happier and livelier since Erastus became King, and the senseless violence has ended, not without a few years under the belt. Oh, and speaking of common-folk—Liam helps Hebe; I can see he hasn’t gotten over Alpheus in his eyes, though. I can understand that one, though. He lost the most important person in his life…It must have been tough on him. Lysander and Claude work for us too…They’re older now, cut me some slack. Lysander’s now 19 and Claude is 14. Lysander is head cook; we had that old cook fired in a heartbeat. Claude likes to help people. Erastus is surprisingly ok with letting Hebe and I run the kingdom more than he does, and I never forget to be grateful to him for it. Some of the citizens resent the fact that two men and a woman who has no regard for men’s pigheadedness rule their kingdom. Harriet spends most of her time at the castle as well, and I’ve gotten to know her over the years. She’s a lot more reserved and quiet than Hebe is, but apparently for good reason. Her father treated her like dirt her whole life for being a woman. I hadn’t ever realized how badly women were treated in our society…Anyhow, there are apparently magical beings living in our kingdom as well…Who would have guessed? Like…I don’t know. Mages and wizards and turtles and…Of course, turtles are magical! Shut up. Now I lost my train of thought again.

Oh yeah, I talked to Liam about his brother again…It almost broke my heart just to listen to him talk about it, though. He described losing his twin so painfully that I don’t want to repeat it, but basically, he said he felt as if a part of him had died that day. He told me that he was happy because Alpheus was in his dreams and his heart would run back to him, but then each day when he woke up and realized he was no longer there it felt like his heart was ripped out against its will so it clawed his insides on the way out. According to him, having Lysander and Claude helped ease the pain, but it certainly didn’t eliminate it.

…Was I talking about magic before I got distracted? Oh yes, the charming people I recounted this story for last were magic. There was a good-looking boy and his pallid friend. However, this story has nothing to do with them, so…Well; this story is the only fairytale I care for, actually. It’s My Perfect Fairy Tale…Even if it’s not a real fairy tale. Oh yeah! I was talking about magic, eh? Apparently the previous King and Queen had spent most of the time that I couldn’t figure out what they were doing covering it up, but now they were free to do as they pleased…But hopefully not kill. Oh, and the King and Queen have long since passed away, but we had them thrown in the dungeons first thing after Erastus and I got married. The kingdom reshaped itself, and I found the perfect spot to stay—right in Erastus’ arms. It’s quite comfy there. I still love him with all my heart, by the way. He’s my dorky King…The end.