Royally Screwed

The pair of them ended up eating at an Italian restaurant about ten minutes from the hotel. The driver politely declined dinner, stating that he had already eaten. Two bodyguards were sitting at a table nearby Vic and Kellin, keeping a watchful eye on them. About six people interrupted their meal of puttanesca pasta to get Vic's autograph or take a picture with him. Kellin could notice some people in the surrounding area 'discreetly' taking pictures of Vic with their phones. Kellin felt so awkward and out of place. What was he thinking; eating out in public with a prince? He should've just stayed in his hotel room and gotten room service to fetch him dinner.

Kellin tried to eat quickly so they could leave the restaurant quickly so the awkwardness would be over quickly but no, Vic just had to order dessert. The waiter came quick, of course. Royalty couldn't be kept waiting.

"What would Your Royal Highness like?"

"Hmm. . .A vanilla parfait sounds nice. Kellin, what do you want?" Vic said, looking at the younger boy.

"I'm fine, I don't want anything." Kellin said. He'd like to make this go by as fast as possible.

"Two vanilla parfaits, please." Vic told the waiter who in turn, nodded and left.

"Hey, you've been quiet all dinner. What's up?" Vic said, snapping his gaze on Kellin.

The younger boy sighed, "I don't know, it's just awkward and stuff that I'm out in public with you I mean, uh. . .people are like, staring at you and. . ."

"Okay, then let's not make it awkward." Vic smiled. Kellin bit the inside of his cheek to blush at Vic and his crooked smile.

Vic leaned forward, "Miridia is a very beautiful place. Ask me anything about it, I'll answer."

Kellin bit his lip now, turning to face Vic and shyly twiddled his fingers as he tried to come up with his first question, "Um. . .is the palace big?"

"Yeah. Huge. You're gonna love it. And there's a bunch of secret passageways that were built in when my great-great-great-great grandfather ruled."

". . .Really?"

"Yeah, he made all these cool places for him to run to and hide out. There's a bunch of false stairs and hallways that don't go anywhere, just leads to dead ends. When the palace is on tour, people love running around the places he had installed. And it makes great fun for hide and seek too," Vic replied and Kellin's eyes widened.

"You play hide and seek? But you're like, eighteen."

"I'm going to turn nineteen in February. And yeah, I play it. I'd rather do that kind of stuff than be doing basically nothing," Vic said with a sigh, "I didn't get to do much when I was little, most of the time I was just getting etiquette lessons and schoolwork and music--"

"You can play an instrument?" Kellin asked, curiosity piqued and Vic smiled.

"Yeah, I can. The violin, the viola, the cello, the piano and my favorite, the guitar." Vic replied and Kellin's eyes widened.

"Wow, I wish I could even play one thing."

"It's just something everyone in Miridia believes a gentleman should learn. I only learned so many because I finished them fast and Rian kept trying to keep me preoccupied instead of running around the palace like any young prince would do," Vic said with a small smile and Kellin smiled back.

"Is your mom nice? Or your little brother?"

"They're awesome, you're going to love meeting them both," Vic replied and Kendall gulped. He already met a prince, now he was expected to meet the queen and another prince as well? And wait, what about the king? Oh God, it made Kellin a bit queasy just thinking about meeting a king right in his palace.

"And uh. . .if you're going to ask about my father, well. . .He is, uh, not with us anymore. He died of an illness when I was eleven." Vic said, his tone calm. Kellin's eyes widened, that was so sad. It must have been terrible, Vic and his father must have not had much time to spend together because after all, his father was a king and must have been busy all the time.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss," Kellin said softly.

"Hey, don't let it bring you down. Let's keep talking. What else do you wanna know?" Vic said, offering a small smile.

"Well, uh. . .I don't get why you wanted out of being a prince. I mean, not really. It's pretty awesome, everyone does what you say and you get to eat really fancy food probably and you live in a palace, Your High--I mean, Vic. What's there to hate?"

Vic ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "It's just. . .I was trying to run away from choosing someone to be my consort, basically the one I need to marry. I'm not ready for that. And once I marry, it'll only be a short time before my mother relinquishes the throne to me and then it'll be just work. Work, work, no fun, no games, and then I'll have to provide heirs" and Vic groaned even more at the thought of children, Kellin only giving a little laugh. The brunette peeked over at him, "I see you enjoy my misery."

"But I love kids. They're so cute," Kellin replied and Vic pouted, "Oh come on, they are. Like, the ones that play pretend all the time. Or the ones that like to play around outside and end up getting all dirty so you would have to give them a bath and then you'll play in the bubbles with them."

"I never did any of those things when I was a kid. . .did you?"

And Kellin sighed, "Yeah, with my parents. . ."

Vic turned more, now lying on his side and giving Kellin an empathetic smile, "It's okay. It hurts to lose someone, I know. . ."

The waiter came with the dessert and it looked delicious., nothing like the few plain ice cream cones Kellin was lucky to have on his birthdays. Once they finished eating, Vic paid for dinner and they went back in the limo with the guards behind them, driving back to the hotel. It turned out Vic was staying in the room right next to Kellin's.

"Goodnight, Kells. The second your head touches the pillow, you better fall right asleep. Don't wanna get jet lag tomorrow." Vic said. Kellin blushed at the sudden use of nickname.

"Yeah, okay. Good night." Kellin said back and then entered his room. He showered and changed and got into bed. But no, he didn't fall asleep the second his head touched the pillow. He stayed awake for a few hours and he was so very nervous but at the same time, excited for his departure to Miridia the next day.