The First Step

A few hours had passed since dinner and Florence had locked himself in the room after eating dinner and was drawing his comic with the help of his assistant.

now it was 11 o'clock at night. 

"You're tired, right?"

"Why do you ask that? I only finished half of it."

Oz zoomed in on a part of the painting and sent it to Florence.

"You drew 7 fingers for this character."

Florence took his glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes and put them back on.

He really drew 7 fingers for his character!

Florence "..."

"Okay, you won. I'm really tired and I'm falling asleep, but as I told you before, I have trouble sleeping and it's hard for me to fall asleep, that's why most of the time I design so much that I pass out from exhaustion at the desk and I don't understand how I fell asleep. "

"Go drink a glass of warm milk with honey and try to sleep without thinking."

"Let me finish this chapter"

"No, go do what I said, I'll finish this by tomorrow night, I'm waiting to see you offline and don't try to come to it again!"

"well ok"

He smiled sadly, maybe one of the reasons why he fell in love with Oz was that he cared about him a lot and was always worried about him.

He turned off the drawing machine and slowly went downstairs to enter the kitchen. He took the milk out of the refrigerator and put it in the machine to warm up.

He put a glass full of milk on the table, poured a spoonful of honey into it and stirred it.

Does it really make him fall asleep easily?

He sat down at the table and started to drink milk and drank half of the glass, at that moment Oswald, who was wearing a simple home dress, entered to the kitchen.

Florence "..."

Florence didn't expect to see him, reached out and took the glass of milk to Oswald.

"This Milk and honey is very delicious, will you drink it too?"

Florence "..."

He put his hands in front of his face and hid his face.

"You haven't seen a fool, pretend you didn't see or hear anything!"

Oswald leaned back close to Florence and put his hand on Florence's head and fixed her hair.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, do you want to hang out together?"

Florence took his hands from his face and looked at Oswald who looked a little confused, he had never seen Oswald like this.

In his mind, Oswald had always looked clean, handsome, neat, formal, imposing and scary, but now he looked handsome, messy, less imposing, very kind and calm instead of scary.

Was Oswald always like this, or did he only show a soft side when facing Florence? Tonight was the first time that Florence saw him like other people, now Oswald was more like a normal person, unlike the heavy position and responsibilities of a country he was carrying. It was as if he was a simple man who was sitting next to his spouse at the end of the night, talking to him and playing with his hair.

Something stirred inside Florence, maybe this simple act and word was what he had been waiting for all his life.

The introverted Florence smiled brightly, which would have shone in the moonlight if his head wasn't down, giving him a fresh and cheerful look unlike his usual face.

"Hm, let's take a walk"

He drank the rest of his lukewarm milk and got up from behind the table with Oswald. He reached the door and wanted to go out, but Oswald stopped him.

"It's true that it's the beginning of autumn, but the nights are as cold as winter, the knitwear you wore is not enough"

Oswald picked up a coat hanging near the entrance and helped Florence put it on.

After closing the buttons of his coat, he took a woolen hat and put it on Florence's head. then he took another coat that was attached to the hanger and put it on.

Florence was still not fully familiar with Oswald's character and he didn't know if all this was because of his kindness or if Oswald only paid attention to him because he was his spouse? Maybe he felt sorry for Florence because of his strange past?

None of this really mattered to him now, it was enough for him that Oswald really cared about him.

As soon as he entered the yard, a cold wind hit his face and made him sneeze. It was really cold!

They started to walk in the yard in silence, occasionally they bumped into the bodyguards who were in different places and passed by them.

"Why are you awake until now? Shouldn't you go to a central army barracks early in the morning?"

"I was busy"

"Don't do anything extra for now, will it harm your health?"

Oswald raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't apply to you?"

Florence "..."

"It's as if the people of the National Security Department and the Palace Intelligence Department have taken away all the details of my life..."

"No"

"No?"

Florence brought his hands to his face to warm them with the steam of his mouth. On the way Oswald took Florence's delicate and slender hands in his large warm hands.

"You've been living in this house for more than a week, if I don't want to notice your habits and your constant night wakings, I'm not a very inconsiderate person as your husband?"

Just as Oswald's hands warmed Florence's hands, his words also warmed his face.

"I..."

Florence mouthed the word "thank you" with pure gratitude, but he wasn't sure if his voice reached the other person's ears.

He had a pleasant feeling, he also felt a sense of peace and sleep throughout his being.

"I'm weak, so I sat at the desk all day, l wrote and drew, I never had time to rest well, I have nightmares every time, and that's why I have a permanent dimple under my eye, I'm depressed for half the year. I've reached a point where millions People shout my name but I'm afraid to show them my face and see them get disappointed or judge me, I'm just so pathetic..."

Florence's eyes sparkled.

"....Do I really deserve all your importance, attention and kindness?"

At this moment, Oswald hugged Florence for the first time.

"You work hard"

"No"

"As brave, admirable, and mighty"

"Don't be so kind to a man you have seen for a week, you are spoiling me, this is not your duty"

"It's simply my choice"

A tear fell from his eyes.

"I will always stand by your side and you can rely on me"

Florence removed his head from Oswald's embrace and stared at Oswald, Florence looked like a jade statue carved by God himself.

"General, you know everything about me, don't you want to tell me anything about yourself?"

Oswald wiped Florence's tears and framed his face with hand. Oswald really felt absolute peace, this realtion was something he had never dreamed of. He gave a gentle smile that this time did not leave Florence's sight.

"I thought that being in the army for all these years and seeing countless deaths had made me ruthless and without enthusiasm."

He pulled Florence's hat down to completely cover his forehead from the cold and then let go of his face.

"What do you want to hear?"

"anything"

Before returning home, they continued to walk together and talk until 1 A.m and went to bed with renewed spirits.

This was the first time that Florence had taken steps to get close to another person, now he was opening the doors of his heart to Oswald,  this was the first time that he had gotten to know Oswald for real, not as the second prince or as the great general of his country, but also as his husband and life partner.