A Royal Legend ~ Phan

Part 4

*~*

I don't know how long it's been since I awoke, but I had the need to stretch out. I tried scooting from Dan as smoothly as I could without waking him, and it was successful until I took a step from the bed, hearing a whiny groan from the lump on the bed. "Come baaaaack..."

I sighed at his laziness, bendin over to stretch. "Do you normally sleep this much?"

"Nope... A lot, lot more..." I heard rustling behind me before I heard a half gasp, half low growl.

"Quit lazing about!" More stretches. "You're probably missing out on stuff."

"Mmm..." I turned to find him staring at me, causing both of us to have dusted cheeks.

I walk over to the tray that was brought in earlier, picked it up, feeling the heat from the metal signifying the warmth o the food, and set it on the bed for the both of us to eat from. I removed the cover, revealing eggs, bacon, ham, pancakes, sausage, oatmeal, hash browns, cheese, fruit, biscuits, and chocolate on the side with hot cocoa to drink. They didn't know Dan was here so we only had one drink and one set of silverware, but always made too much for breakfast, so the amount of food was okay.

"You can have anything you want." I gestured to the assortment of foods before putting eggs, ham, bacon, hash browns, and cheese on a biscuit, taking a huge bite after. Dan was nibbling on some chocolate when he started giggling, his dimple showing itself to me. Once I swallowed, I spoke. "I have something on my face, don't I?" He nodded his head. "Where?" He pointed at my cheek, but instead of letting me take care of it, he wiped it off, revealing cheese before he licked it off his finger.

"Good cheese..." I stared at him wide-eyed as he continued poking at the other foods. He didn't seem to notice my shocked stare, so I went back to eating my makeshift sandwich. After a while of silent eating, Dan spoke up again. "So what are today's plans?"

"Well, first of all, you're going to get fitted for clothes during your stay. Other than that... Explore?" It came out as a question. "There are some legends about secret passageways in this castle; the helps' ones are the best! Maybe we can get them to tell us the legends!" I was practically bouncing up and down at the idea. The help always told me the legends, but when I reached a certain age, they thought me too old to tell them too anymore.

"That sounds brilliant! When does the tailor get here?" The question stopped me short. I didn't specify when he should arrive, just later. He must have seen my look of shock because he started giggling. "You don't know, do you?"

I shook my head, looking at my lap, before looking up again, thoughtful. "We can go listen to some of the legends now if you want? I think I have some twine to hold pants up on you..."

"Sure," He grinned at me, laughing slightly.

I fumbled towards the edge of the bed, crawling hands first off of it causing Dan to burst out laughing at me yet again. "You are such a giggle box!"

I went to the pants I gave him last night and tossed them to the bed along with the shirt I ditched. I then went to the bedside table and opened a drawer that contained a lot of random things, immediately finding the twine. Turning to the bed, I found him sitting there, staring at me. "Well?" He snapped out of his staring state, looking to me curiously. "Are you going to put the pants on or no?"

"Oh! Yeah, right!" He quickly crawled towards me, pants in hand, when he slipped and face planted into the bed. "This is an omen, you know?" His voice was muffled by the fabric.

When he finally stood, he stepped into the loose pants and hiked them up with a tight grip. I then wrapped my arms around his waist, twine in hand, creating a makeshift belt as I tied it off. His shirt was awkwardly tucked in, so I absentmindedly tugged it out, so it flowed around him once again. "Perfect."

His face was aflame as he mumbled, "Hardly..."

I scoffed at him, pulling him out the door and through the halls. The further we went, the faster we went until we were running. The halls were relatively empty though we did run past my parents, me letting out a quick, "Hi mom, dad! Bye mom, dad!" And an echoed laugh following us.

We finally reached the helps' corridor and I immediately went Chris and PJ's room, knowing that they'd know where the others are. Dan crashed into me, causing the both of us to fly against the floor noisily resulting in multiple doors to open including the one I was aiming for.

"Well look who we have here!" Chris exclaimed smugly while his husband, Peej, laughed lightly at us. They then helped us up before questioning us further about what we were there for. "Ah, looking for ol' Rogers?"

"Yep! Where is Olan, anyways?"

"Out and about, why?"

"I wanted the best story teller to tell us the legends of the castle. Also, where's Gertrude?"

"That hurts man, that really hurts!" Chris mocked offense while PJ kept his arms around his little hubby.

"Quit being so dramatic, babe. Gertrude is in the kitchen, and last I checked, Olan was there too."

I turned to one of the other servants, asking them to fetch the two, before turning back to the couple in front of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dan staring at them with wide eyes, and mouth opening and closing faintly before he found his voice and spoke.

"Are you two married?" His voice must have been louder than he thought because his hand flew to his mouth, but the two of them just reacted by laughing loudly, me joining in.

"Aw, sweetie, bear!" I put my arm around his shoulders. "Of course they're married!"

"Three years tomorrow!" PJ piped in, excited.

Dan grinned at them, looked up at me quickly, and then back to them. "That's great! Congratulations!"

"And," PJ was practically bouncing, though this time I didn't know why. "The day after..." He paused dramatically, both of us leaning forward. "We're getting a baby boy!"

"What? How?" I was asking questions excitedly while Dan let out another loud 'congratulations!'

"The wizards! The wizards and a maiden who was willing to help us!"

We kept up idle chatted until Olan and Gertrude arrived before us. Gertrude sent for the tailor to arrive later in the afternoon, so we turned to Olan, saying only, "Legends," before he told us all the beautiful legends that I adored as a child.

"...So the prince and his gay servant lover met in an extra secret passage of the castle. Only the pure-hearted lovers could pass through the appearing archway to meet the other. It's said that there are multiple rooms hidden. One is said to be that of a lowly servant, rackety and old; another is said to be glorious and encrusted in the most beautiful crowned jewels, showing the royalty of the place. Finally there was a room in which it had the homey charm of a servants quarters, but the beauty of a royals chambers; the perfect match for the two lovers. It's where they met and fantasizes about a future together, but one day... The prince didn't arrive..."