Marching On

Kensington Garden was silent. Not even the Peter Pan statue enchanted the young couples that walked by in the biting cold. Not even the dogs barked in hopes to rouse their masters into a game of fetch through the snow.

The snow was fresh. It had just fallen last night but it wasn’t enough to cancel school. Harry knew this was why the gardens were so silent. He noticed that even the fountain didn’t dare make an unnecessary sound.

Harry let his hand pass along the tops of a snow-ladened iron fence, the noise of his bones hitting against the metal music in the deadening silience.

And then, “Harry?”

He turned to face William, who had his hands deep inside his winter jacket.

“Were you listening?”

“No, sorry,” he said, able to see his breath. “What were you saying?”

William sighed. “I asked you if Lavin was coming for New Year’s Eve?”

“Yeah, she is. I think they’re all coming,” Harry told him, referring to Lavin’s brothers and cousins.

“Oh, good,” William said, nodding. “Those Danes always know how to party.”

Harry chortled. “That they do.”

William laughed too, and they continued on around the shimmering fountain, bits of it frozen over.

“We’ll be starting our night at Lavin and Gen’s apartment,” Harry said, a smirk playing on his face. His cheeks red in the winter air.

“Then where?’ William asked.

“I think Andrew and Louis rented out a yacht for the night. They’ve invited us, and you if you’d like to come instead of spending your night shacked up with Kate.”

William blushed. “I’ll run it by Kate, I know she had something planned with her family earlier in the day.”

Harry nudged his brother with his elbow. “Doesn’t seem any need for a wedding when you two already act as if you’ve been married for years.”

“We’ll come,” William said, smiling. “She might want to bring Pippa and James along though.”

“The more the merrier Lou said,” Harry told him.

“Yes, well, isn’t that his motto?” William chided.

Harry laughed loudly, breaking the silence of the gardens. “It is, but he usually says it in reference to his bed.”

William and Harry stopped walking, collapsing from laughter. Once their fit was over, Harry wiped his eyes and managed—through spouts of muted laughter—to change the subject.

“Speaking of wedding, I can’t wait to begin planning your stag party.”

“Nothing too crazy,” William warned lightly.

“Oh, trust me, I would never think of it,” Harry said, his eyes showing the smile he was keeping from his mouth as he held two crossed fingers behind his back. His thoughts were already on strippers wrapping their legs around William’s head. Oh, how he could not wait to embarrass William.

“And speaking of weddings,” William said, eyeing Harry slyly. “When will yours and Lavin’s be?”

Harry snorted, shaking his head. “We should probably let everyone know we’re dating first before we start planning a wedding.”

“So you have been thinking about getting married?”

Way to take that out of context, Harry thought, rolling his eyes. “Hardly, we don’t even speak of it. I haven’t even properly asked her to be my girlfriend again.”

“You should probably ask her, Dad has been begging me to persuade you two to let Clarence House announce you officially. You know how much he loves Lavin.”

Harry nodded. “As if she were his own daughter.”

“Too true.”

“Call her right now and ask,” William said, looking eager at the thought of Charles off his back.

“I can’t just call and ask, Will. Like I said, I’ve got to do it properly.”

William exhaled sadly. “Calling would be so much quicker.”

Harry patted William on the back. “Always the romantic, aren’t you?”

“You don’t think I’m romantic?” William asked, head inclining toward Harry.

“Nope, you’ve never been one to express much feeling.”

“Would you place money on that?”

Harry’s brows stitched together, wondering what his brother was thinking. “I absolutely would. I mean I did pick out the flowers for Kate last Valentine’s Day.”

“Fine,” William said, shrugging. “I bet I can romance my girl more than you can yours. Winner has to wash the other one’s polo pony for a week.”

Eyes flashing, he immediately shook William’s hand. “You got a deal, mate.”

“May the best Casanova win.”