After a long day of dragging the Prince from shop to shop, Virgil had become exhausted. He was quite ready for someone to whisk him away to sleepytime junction. He had always had a hard time sleeping by himself. He usually had Midnight there with him, so he was fine. Now that Roman was there, he felt like he had never slept better in his life. The all-night hugs, the good morning kisses... they all made him feel... safe. And he wanted to feel safe for the rest of his life.

But, he knew that wasn't possible. Roman had to choose a female suitor before his 18th birthday.

Virgil sighed, leaning against a nearby tree. The only thing that ran through his mind was:

'Tired tired tired tired tired tired tired tired tired tired tired-'

But, only until a strong, yet gentle pair of arms hugged him from behind. The emo's first thought was to try and escape, to run. But a familiar voice soothed him.

"No no, Precioso Mío. It's only me," the Prince's voice cooed, coaxing Virgil into a sense of security. Virgil smiled back at Roman, leaning against his shoulder. "Tired?" Roman questioned, already knowing the answer.

Virgil simply let out an, "Mhm.", before closing his eyes.

"You can't sleep yet, darling. We have to choose an outfit for tomorrow's masquerade. I know a delightful place down the street where I get most of my casual clothes. When they're not specifically made for me, of course. They have the most beautiful ball gowns. I think they would really suit you."

"Mmm... later," Virgil slurred, turning, so he was hugging The Prince.

"It's already getting dark out, My Sweet..." Roman said, kissing his hair.

"But... I don' wannaaaa..." Virgil whined.

"I'm going to let go if you don't wake up. We need to go." Roman scolded lightly, making sure he didn't sound mean.

"Nooooo! Fine, I'll go. I want more cuddles as a reward." Virgil let go and crossed his arms, not being able to keep a playful smile off his face.

"Alas, that's what you will get." Roman smiled right back, taking his hand and leading him down the alleyway towards the clothing store.

Virgil giggled all the way there. Once they arrived, the door was opened for them. It was an unusual feeling, having something done for you. Virgil had been raised to fend for himself, in case anything happened to his parents. So having someone open a door for you, or serve you lunch... it was new, to say the least.

Virgil followed Roman into the store and one dress immediately caught his eye. He tried to keep his eyes off it, as to not alert Roman to what he was looking at. He wanted it to be a surprise.

A sweet young woman saw Roman and greeted him as if he was an old friend. "Roman! Glad to see you back again. Here for the masquerade, I assume?" The woman started to open the door to the backroom.

"Yes, ma'am! Actually, I'm here for him." Roman motioned to the emo on his right, who was nervously fiddling with the hem of his dress.

"Aha! A new specimen." The plump woman seemed to hop off a stool and came toddling out from behind the counter. She came up to about Virgil's waist. "HENRY!"

A slender man skidded out from the backroom, apparently Henry. "Yeah?"

"Would you get the stool for me, hon?"

"Yes, Poppy." Henry bent down and grabbed a step stool and pulled it out so it was in front of the shorter woman.

Poppy stepped onto the stool and pulled Virgil's arms out, so he resembled the letter 'T'. She then proceeded to run a hand down his side and inspect his legs. "Very feminine build, purple compliments his eyes... maybe a ball gown. If you're comfortable with that, hon." Poppy looked up at Virgil's pale face as he nodded quickly. "Okay. Ooh, maybe that o-"

"A-actually I was hoping to keep it a surprise for Roman."

"Aah, okay. Roman. Shoo shoo!" The young woman flicked her wrist at The Prince, who chuckled and followed Henry into the next room to be tailored.

Poppy continued to survey Virgil before hopping off her stool and toddling over to a mannequin. She rolled it over in front of Virgil and looked at him expectantly.

"... It's beautiful..."

-

Virgil's dress and Roman's suit were hung in their carriage, along with an extra suit. Neither Roman nor Virgil could tell whether it belonged to Logan or the king. Either way, there was another suit.

They all safely made it back to the castle, where the carriage door opened and a butler took the dress and suits, helping Virgil out. He reached his hand out to Roman, who declined it and hopped out of the carriage.

-

Logan flopped back on his bed, a doofy grin on his face.

Soon enough, a knock sounded on his door. Logan immediately regained his composure. "Y-yes?"

"Logan? My trusty Royal advisor?" came Roman's voice from the other side.

Logan sighed. "What do you need, sir?"

"Roman."

"Apologies."

"I would like to come in if that's okay with you." Roman turned the door handle.

"O-of course! Just give me a minute-" Logan scrambled to tidy up his messy room a bit.

Roman burst into the room dramatically. "TA-DA!"

Logan's head snapped up to see Roman in a red tux. "I-it's very beautiful, Roman. Is that all you wanted me for?"

"Of course not! I wanted to ask you how it went." Roman laid on his stomach on Logan's rickety bed, holding his head in his hands.

"How what went...?"

"You asking the shopkeep to the ball, obviously!"

"I-I... he said yes... and that's all there is to it." Logan picked up a few books off of the floor.

"Nuh-uh! Give me the deets!" the prince exclaimed, sitting up.

"The... what?" Logan stopped and looked over at him.

"Deets!" Roman sighed when he saw Logan's face of confusion. "Y'know... details?"

"Oh... um..." the royal advisor pushed up his glasses and continued picking up the room. "He was wearing a light blue button-up and khakis."

"No! What about his EYES? Were they dreamy?" Roman questioned in a light voice, grinning.

"... They were... brown...?" Logan seemed confused as he looked away.

"Nononono! What did you FEEL when you looked in them?" the heir to the throne asked, waving his hands around to emphasize. He raised an eyebrow when the other tensed up.

"I don't feel. It's unprofessional."

Roman huffed and shook his head. "If you don't feel, why'd you ask him to the ball?"

"It seemed... right to me," Logan mused.

Roman let out a stifled laugh. "You're feeling thiiings~."

"Am not!" Logan pouted, crossing his arms defensively.

"Are tooo~"

"Roman, this is an invasion on my personal life," Logan told him, changing his expression to the usual blank one.

"But, hear me out. What if I was 'off duty'," Roman made quotation marks with his fingers. "And I wasn't Prince Roman. I was friend Roman!" He had a bubbly tone to his voice.

"I... no. I am your Royal Advisor and as such, I have sworn to keep personal relationships out of the way of work relationships. Friendships are in the category of-" Logan was cut off by Roman, who was covering his ears as he spoke.

"BLAH BLAH BLAH-"

"Roman-"

"BLAH BLAH."

"... That was very childish-" He started after a second.

"BLAH," Roman interrupted again.

"..."

"..." The two stared at each other in silence.

"I cannot be friends with you," Logan said quickly, psyching Roman out.

"Cheater." Roman frowned.

"It was simply tricking you."

"But... why can't we be friends?"

Logan sighed. "I've already explained this-"

"Well, the rules are stupid. You should be able to be friends with whoever you want. I'll change that when I'm king!"

"The enthusiasm is very nice, sir-"

"Roman. I've already explained this," The Prince said, copying the other's words.

"But perhaps you should focus on more important things? The spies? Trade failure? Public executions?"

"Yes. I know. All of that will be changed, too. But..." Roman thought. "We shouldn't worry about protecting the people from others, we should focus on protecting them from themselves..."

Logan stopped, eyes widening. He thought about it, then did his usual sorta-smile. "That's... very deep. Where did you hear it?"

"Virgil said it the other night... It seemed peculiar at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I understood." Roman smiled again.

"How true. So have you just come to bother me the rest of the night."

"Remy and Damien stole Virgil, so pretty much."

"They kidnapped him?? And you are not concerned??" Logan sat up abruptly, and Roman seemed frightened for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. "Is this a laughing matter??"

"Y-you don't g-get what I mean," Roman wheezed. "They're just busy talking about dresses and makeup. And Patton's on the phone. And I felt out of place. Remy told me to go see what you were doing if I was going to just sit there looking like a lost puppy."

"So I can blame him for this."

"Yup!"

I wrote this. (Abby told me I forgot to put this here. :|)