The Majesty of Choice

Closer

It's a cold day in comparison to the weather of the last few. Frank feels his bones a little more tired than they usually are and he's accounting it to the weather, which has made his fingers just the slightest bit numb.

The last few days spent almost exclusively on horseback have left his legs feeling sore and tired. He longs for his castle, the only home he's ever known, which he's been away from for several months now. Frank has loved seeing the kingdom. He's learned a lot of things about the place he's going to rule soon, things he thinks he should have known a lot earlier than he did. It would be a lie to say the best thing about this whole endeavor isn't Gerard. There are so many magical things about Gerard alone. His brain, his voice, his laugh, his humor, his fucking face. He's perfect. In every way.

Gerard's head is lolling back against Frank's chest, asleep for the last hour or so. Frank holds him tighter, to keep him safe and secure on the horse. Frank likes holding Gerard like this. He's so soft, with his face completely empty, his breath calm and steady. Everything Frank has ever wanted.

He has hopes that he's starting to melt Gerard a little bit. At first, Gerard wouldn't look twice at him, in fact he told Frank repeatedly that he hated him. Then there was the pure ignorance. He wouldn't accept Frank liking him, wouldn't accept himself liking Frank. How did Frank ever get him to kiss him? All that matters is that he did. That he used to be afraid of thinking about Frank, and a few days ago he kissed Frank in front of all of Giantville.

Gerard is so soft. Frank could hold him for the rest of his life. This is what he's wanted this whole time, someone soft to hold.

Frank looks around him at the rolling hills, the breeze full of the smell of trees. He wonders if his Kingdom has always been so beautiful. Trees that look painted in the distance. Grass of perfect green, and rivers as blue as the sky. There are yellow and orange flowers dotting the ground and he wants to get a bouquet of them to tell Gerard they're not as beautiful as he is.

A few meters away he sees his Knights, who are so stoic and perfect compared to him. Frank feels small, tiny, weighed down. Next to Travie, he's ridiculous. Strong, beautiful, courageous, wonderful. He doesn't look like a future King. He doesn't look like much of anything. He looks like he could be found living above one of the stores in Gerard's town. He looks over at Pete and Patrick, who have managed to figure out how to not fall off of their horse after about two days of not knowing how to do that. Except for his clothes, Frank could be Patrick's neighbor. There's nothing special about him.

Except Gerard seems to like him. Not like he's the only one, but he's the only one who matters. The truth is that there are a thousand girls who would marry Frank tomorrow if they had the chance, even Gerard's own stepsisters. Only one Gerard though.

How lucky he was to have gotten his foot stuck in a fox trap. Frell is such a tiny place in a huge Kingdom, but there were so many people living there. Yet, only one person who mattered the most, and he was lucky enough that Gerard walked past. Frank doesn't believe in fate, or destiny. He thought he didn't at least.

Very suddenly, Frank looks around him to realize he recognizes the area around him. In the distance, just over the crest of a hill, he locks his eyes on the most familiar sight of them all.

Frank nudges Gerard awake, which is something he isn't keen on doing, because Gerard looks really cute when he's all sleepy. It's also incredibly hard to piss Gerard off while he's asleep, and Frank knows that Gerard doesn't really hate him that way anymore, but if he did, it would be easier to hide from while he's sleeping.

Gerard's groggy when he wakes up, but as soon as he blinks his eyes a few times he understands why he's been woken up.

"Whoa," Gerard says when he sees the castle, which is still quite a ways across a field against a bright yellow sun, but it's bigger, grander than anything Gerard's known before, even from a distance. The castle isn't even the most daunting part, though it is definitely huge. Gerard can tell it's big from this far away, so he doesn't even know what he'll think when they get closer. The really stunning thing is the sprawling town around the castle. Gerard doesn't see the small farms and tiny houses he's used to in Frell. Instead what he sees are proper looking houses, upright and sturdy, built to last, rather than built out of necessity.