Prompt: "the whole staff slowly figure out that they're in a relationship and try to keep it a secret that they know from the boys and the King and Queen so they end up with maids giving knowing looks, guards looking the other way when the boys go to Virgil's room, and just the staff acting like they don't know"

Ah, it has begun. The hjonkening, my brothers! Rise!!-
Don't mind me.
Anyway, people are starting to notice and find out, so it's only a matter of time before someone either snitches or someone important (*cough*cough*a parent*cough*) finds out.

Could chapter 30 have been a part of this chapter? Yes, yes it could have. Did I make it a part of this chapter? No, no I didn't. Did I have a good reason to not make it a part of this chapter? No. None whatsoever.

Anyway, on with the chapter.

Charles did known what to make of this.

Earlier that morning there had been a bit of a bit of a fiasco that had resulted in the prince having a panic attack in a nearby tea room, and Charles had been sent to help him while his parents took care of what had happened.

But by the time he got to the tea room, the door was cracked open and he could hear both harsh breathing and soft voices inside.

He peaked in through the crack to look and see who was there with the prince.

The prince was sitting on the floor in the back corner, curled up in a ball with his fingers tangled in his own hair, his breathing was fast and uneven, sucking in in small gasps and barely exhaling before sucking in another breath, and he had tears running down his face as he repeatedly mumbled about not being able to breath, not seeming to really notice the three other men in the room.

"Virgil, sweetheart," Charles thought his name was Patton, "Virgil can you hear me?" He asked softly.

"Virgil I need you to try and calm your breathing, okay?" Another one, Logan Charles though. "Can you tap your knee once if you can hear me?" He asked.

The seconds seemed to drag on before he moved one of his hands and shakily tapped his own knee with his pointer finger.

"Good Virgil," Logan said softly, "can you do a breathing exercise with me?"

Another tap.

"Okay, breath in for four seconds." Logan began, and when Virgil began to breath in he began to count to four slowly. His breathing was jagged and hitched.

"Hold it for seven seconds." He continued, and counted the seconds out loud when Virgil began to hold his breath.

"Now out for eight seconds." Logan said softly, before counting the seconds as Virgil began to breath out.

They did this several more times as Virgil's breathing became steadier and he uncurled himself from his ball.

He eventually told Logan he was fine, and pulled his hand away from his scalp before he began to wipe the tears off of his face with his sleeve, still sniffing a bit.

"Virgil, can I touch you?" The guy who'd been quiet this whole time, Roman, asked.

Virgil nodded slowly, and Roman scooted over to him, gently wrapping an arm around Virgil's shoulders.

Virgil leaned against him and tucked his head under Romans chin as he closed his eyes, his breathing still a little bit shaky.

Roman cooed softly and held Virgil close as he pressed gentle kisses to the top of Virgil's head while Patton reached out and gently squeezed Virgil's hand.

"It's all okay now love," Roman said softly, "none of that was your fault and everything's probably been taken care of by now, no one is angry or mad." He said as he carefully pulled Virgil into his lap.

Virgil shifted slightly, pressing himself as close to Roman as he could while still holding Patton's hand.

"B-but I-"

"But nothing," Roman interrupted him, "if anyone is mad at you over this they'll have to get through me to even get close to you." He said as he pressed a few more kisses to the top of his head while rubbing his back soothingly. "Okay?"

"...okay." Virgil said softly.

He felt a hand on his knee and smiled as Logan gave it a reassuring squeeze while Patton did the same to Virgil's hand.

"Thank you, sorry for-"

"Ah ba-ba-ba, don't apologize for a single thing mister," Patton said, pointing a finger at him, "don't you even dare."

Virgil laughed softly, a smile on his face as he turned his head so that he could look at Patton and Logan while still being tucked against Roman.

Logan leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Virgil's forehead, while Patton pressed a kiss to his knuckles.

"Want to go back up to your room and cuddle?" Roman asked softly, "then we can come back down when your parents want us to." He suggested.

Virgil nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that." He said, before turning his head to press a kiss to Romans jaw.

Charles stepped back from the doorway and quickly and quietly went to go inform the queen and king that Virgil was okay but was going to his room to relax for a bit and that he'd go get Virgil when they wanted him to.

-

James and Harriet were stationed outside of Virgil's bedroom one night, tasked with making sure no one entered the room and that the prince was protected.

It was nearly one in the morning when the door to the princes bedroom opened.

He stepped out, still in his pajamas with his feet bare and hair messy.

He was hugging himself and he had tears welled up in his eyes.

The two guards were immediately concerned and quickly turned to him, James gently putting a hand on his boulder while Harriet went to go look for any sort of threat in his room.

"Your highness, what's wrong?" He asked softly. "Did something happen?" He asked.

Virgil shook his head, "n-no, I just need..." he trailed off, looking down as he bit his lip.

"Need what?" James asked.

"...I need to go somewhere," Virgil said, "can I?" He asked softly.

James hesitated, before slowly nodding. "If you're sure your okay, and will let me escort you there, then yes you may." He said.

Virgil nodded, and quickly began walking down the hall, with James following, Harriet quickly joining them as well.

Virgil walked down to a bedroom not far away, and gently knocked on the door.

He waited a few seconds before the door slowly opened, one of the princes friends standing there.

"Virgil?" Patton said as he yawned and rubbed his eyes, "What...?"

Virgil ignored what Patton was saying and quickly wrapped him in a hug, burring his face into the crook of Patton's neck, mumbling something to Patton that was too quiet for the guards to hear as he began crying.

Patton immediately hugged him back, whispering reassurances to him while rubbing his back.

He glanced at the guards, before leading Virgil into his room, closing the door behind him.

Although the two guards didn't miss the kiss he pressed to Virgil's temple before the door was closed all the way.

But the two said nothing, only taking position on either side of Patton's door.

Neither of them spoke a word about what happened.

-

Pete prided himself in being very observant. His attention to detail when it came to his kitchen and the foods he made was praised by many, and he took pride in their praises.

So when he noticed someone new in his kitchen, he was very intrigued.

It was a young man, probably a teenager still, with curly hair and glasses and the brightest smile Pete had ever seen.

"Good afternoon sir," the boy said with a wave.

"Good afternoon to you too." Pete said, "who might you be?" He asked.

"I'm patton!" He said, beaming at him, "one of Virgil's...friends." He said, a small flush coming up on his cheeks.

Now Pete didn't miss that, but he also didn't call him out on it. He didn't know why the boy blushed at that, but decided it wasn't important.

"It's nice to meet you Patton, my name's Pete," he said, "what can me and my kitchen do for you?" He asked.

"Well," Patton seemed to hesitate, "I was wondering if I could use a spot in your kitchen to do a bit of cooking?" He asked, looking up at him hopefully.

Pete mulled the request over. He usually didn't allow people to use his kitchen unless he knew they knew what they were doing, but this kid seemed like a good one...

"Of course," Pete said, "but if you make a mess than you need to clean it up." He added.

Patton quickly nodded in agreement, feeling like that was obvious.

Pete lead him over to an open are in the kitchens, told him the basic layout and where everything was, and said he could come to him for help if needed.

He then left Patton to his own devices, returning to his own duties for the time being.

Turns out the guy was making some sort of stew, and had asked where the spice cabinet was a while ago.

It smelled rather good if Pete was being honest, he'd seen chicken, chunks of tomatoes, tomatoes soup, black beans, chopped corn, a few types of cheese, roasted chili peppers, several species of various levels of spicy-ness, and various other ingredients enter the pot of stew he was making.

He was there for a while, keeping his area neat and clean when he wasn't stirring the pot, which Pete appreciated.

Eventually he took the pot off of the burner and quickly got a loaf of bread Pete said he could use, since it was a day old anyway, and began to slice it into thick slices before grabbing four bowls.

He set them onto the counter before quickly walking over to Pete.

"Can you make sure no one messes with those? I need to go get some people." He said with a bright smile.

Pete found himself unable to say no, and instead told him he'd watch and make sure no one went into his area while he went and got whoever it was.

He came back ten or so minutes later, followed by three other men, one of which was the prince.

"Holy heck pat you didn't." One of them said after he sniffed the air and smelled the stew.

"I did Roman," Patton said with a bright smile, "I wanted today to be special." He added.

"It was already special but you just made it ten times better." The guy, Roman, said before pulling pat into a big hug.

The tallest one, who had glasses like Patton, just smiled at the two from where he stood next to the prince, who looked confused.

The other male apparently noticed and began to explain.

"You know today is special because it's the day the three of us officially got together," he said to the prince, "but that soup has been a favorite to all three of us, especially Roman," Logan said as he gently held Virgil's hand.

"And you're going to share it with me?" Virgil asked softly.

"Of course we are, why wouldn't we?" Roman asked as he turned from where he was hugging Patton to look at Virgil.

Virgil blushed and glanced away, "Well, it's not o-our anniversary, so I didnt..." he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

Patton cooed softly, "awe, V, you are as important as any of us on this day, even if it's not our anniversary," he said as he stepped forwards to cup Virgil's cheeks in his hands. "We want you to be a part of today." He added.

The prince nodded and moved forwards to hug Patton, who pressed a quick kiss to his temple before the two pulled away, only for the prince to receive two more quick kisses from the tall one and Roman, along with a hug from Roman.

Pete turned away and went back to his work after that, not paying them any mind as they went about serving and enjoying their stew, not mentioning a word about what happened to anyone.

-

Margery liked to think she knew most of what happened in her library and who came there. She knew where the mice liked to hide. She knew the daughter of the seamstress down the road came there every Tuesday at three to study in hopes of becoming a teacher. She knew that a fisherman she didn't know the name of came there every time he got in a fight with his wife to distract himself by reading myths and legends. She knew that a certain young adult with dark hair and glasses came there almost at random at least three times a week during the afternoon. He'd sit there, reading books for several hours and jotting down notes on loose pieces of paper. Logan she thought his name was.

She noticed when he brought people with him too.

Another male with light curly hair and glasses, who would sit in Logan's lap while the latter read his books, seemingly content to just sit quietly.

Another who was a bit too loud for a library, but appeared to be a fan of the fantasy section, would also accompany Logan from time to time. He'd drag Logan there and ask him to read the books to him, even though Margery knew he could read on his own. The teen seemed to enjoy listening to Logan read to him. She noticed on many occasion when the guy was upset or in a bad mood that Logan would move them to sit together and would read to him stories of epic quests and adventure while the other leaned on his shoulder and slowly relaxed and his sour mood wore away.

Then she also saw him there with Prince Virgil. Now Virgil did come their on his own from time to time, but she saw him there with Logan more often than not. The prince was very curious about almost anything, and eagerly listened to Logan when he would talk about books he'd read. It had become a common occurrence for her to find them both asleep and leaning on one another while holding hands after several hours of the two being there.

She had her suspicions, but didn't voice anything. Her library was a safe space, and if the four of them felt safe here then she wasn't going to confront them.

-

Bailey had had their suspicions for a while now. They worked in the stables and in the gardens, and every now and then they'd see the prince with one or two or three men, who they also saw around the castle with the prince.

During their time working in the gardens they'd catch glimpses of them together, either cuddled up in shaded corners, or relaxing together under a tree. They saw them in pairs or in trios or all four of them together. They always looks so relaxed and peaceful together, and Bailey couldn't bring themselves to ruin 'the moment' when we they accidentally stumbled upon them, quickly ducking away so that they weren't seen.

They usually left them after that, and on multiple occasions they steered other servants away from where they were, coming up with some excuse or reason for them not to go that direction.

Bailey knew that the four of them could probably take care of themselves, but they wanted to help anyways, seeing as any time they actual spoke with any of them, they were all kind and respectful and overall great company towards Bailey.

So they continued to secretly help out in little ways when they could, content knowing that they were hopefully helping the four of them.

-

Of course, many other members of the staff noticed, not everyone but a good handful of people. They all kept their mouths shut for the most part, except for the few who told others but basically swore them to secrecy, having only told them as a warning for if they saw anything during their daily duties.

Tada, here is this.

Hopefully yalls like it, it was pretty fun to make.
It's both short and long in my opinion, a nice medium length I'd say.

Anywho, I have the next two chapters already finished and such

I'll publish them in a few days, just to make yalls wait.

(￣ω￣) Bwahaha

Bye!!