Atelo [MXB] [BOOK 1] ✓

EPILOGUE

The coronation occurs two weeks later. Marley has to go through a lot of practice, which grows old very quick. He has to wake up early (for no reason) and practice nearly every day for those two weeks and it really tries his patience.

One good thing, though, is the fact that they were able to rebuild the castle in no time. Construction crews were working day and night, non stop, to make it happen. Also, firefighters got there before a lot of the second floor was destroyed, so most of the important documents and such in Allorn's office were undisturbed. Marley asked them to make it a bit smaller this time, simply because he doesn't want to have to walk a mile to eat breakfast every morning.

Also, Nero's living with him! Drey, too. She has her own little room down the hallway. Charlene moved out, and is living in a condo in Gans, so Marley, Drey, and Nero essentially have an entire palace to themselves—though their friends stay over more often than not.

"Nocona, get the fuck up."

Marley rolls away from the heat source, groaning as he buries his head in his pillow. His mornings go like this: Nero is essentially his own alarm, so the man wakes him up, Marley resists for about ten minutes, Nero eventually finds some way to persuade him to get his ass out of bed, then Marley has to go to—

"I'm not going to the stupid practice today. I know what to fucking do." Marley grumbles.

"You're not practicing. It's coronation day."

Marley sighs, rolling over into his back.

Hang on. What? He's not practicing! Today is the actual coronation?!

Marley shoots up so that he's sitting, turning his eyes back on Nero, who's all spread out and shirtless on the bed. It's distracting, and Marley forces himself to look away. Marley scrambles up so that he's standing, finding the outfit that a maid had laid out for him the night before on his dresser.

Holy shit.

"Today's my coronation! Holy shit." Marley starts to pace the room, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. "Holy shit, holy shit. What if I fuck it up? What if I drop the crown? What if my speech sucks and I stutter? Oh I'm totally gonna fuck this up—"

Suddenly Marley runs into a wall. Okay, not a wall. Actually he runs into Nero, who grabs his wrists and ducks his head to be level with Marley, whose anxiety has decided to rear its ugly head right about now.

"You're gonna do great, Nocona," Nero reassures, which is just so... unlike him. It still catches Marley so off guard when the man shows his softer side. Marley would be lying if he were to say he didn't love it.

Marley smiles, gazing up at this man. He's known Nero for about five or six months now, but... he's pretty sure... "Nero, I'm gonna say something, and you can't get mad at me."

They haven't known each other long, but in the time that they have... they've bonded so well. Nero has quite literally saved Marley, and Marley knows how he feels towards the man. There's no denying it, Nero is his anchor. The person that's been there for him when no one else was.

"Okay."

Marley examines Nero's face up and down, moving his arms so that he's holding Nero's hands.

"I love you."

Nero's eyebrows raise, and he starts to search Marley's facial expression, but the teenager is completely serious. There's no other way to describe what he's feeling for the man who singlehandedly saved his life, his spirit, cured his anxiety (for the most part), and became the most important person in his life.

"You do, huh?"

"Totally."

Nero leans forward, pressing his mouth against Marley's. The kiss isn't anything super scandalous, just an innocent touch of lips. It lasts a few seconds, before Nero pulls away fractionally and whispers against Marley's lips;