Omari stomped his foot on the cement beside the SUV. “Why are we here Octavius?”

Octavius looked down at him, then at Antero, saying, “Antero said you need clothes, so that is what we are going to get you.”

“You know that this is dangerous, right? There is called online shopping and why do we need to do this? I don’t need any clothes!” Omari protested.

Octavius placed his hands on his shoulders and said as he looked down into his eyes, “I don’t want you to get sick, love. You may be fine with what you have, but I am not when I know people are pointing their eyes toward what belongs to me. You can wear your cropped clothes and shorts, but in public, we need to cover you up.”

“There are easier ways to be jealous, Octavius,” Omari said, and walked off with his hands folded across his chest.

Octavius’s brows raised as he looked at him. Then he turned to Antero and said, “Stay here, I can’t have you attracting attention.”

“And you don’t think you’ll attract attention wearing a mask in doors?” Antero shot back at him.

Octavius pulled the blue hoodie over his head and shook his head. “If you are sick, it’s protocol to wear a mask.”

Antero shook his head, amused, and climbed into the SUV. Octavius jogged off after Omari and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. He placed a kiss on his right temple and said, “Don’t be mad, love. I just want to spoil you and need an excuse.”

Omari looked up at him, saying, “I know, but you have to promise to do what I say, okay?”

Octavius raised a brow, but nodded. “Certainly, and I’ll let you pick out what to eat.”

“You always make me pick out our food.”

“Only because you know what tastes good,” Octavius said with a chuckle and pulled the beanie down, stopping at his eyebrows. Omari could feel his body trembling and looked up at him.

Octavius was scanning the crowd of people who weren’t even looking their way. Omari snaked his arm around his waist, hugging him and said, “No one cares about two gays. Being gay is normal, and even if you are handsome, no one is going to know who you are while you are with me.”

Octavius forced a smile behind his mask. “So, where do you want to go first?”

Omari smirked. He had been to this mall many times and now was the perfect time. “You’ll see when we get there. Just follow my lead, your highness,” he said.

Octavius raised a brow with a nod. They passed many clothing stores he thought would be good places for Omari to go shopping, especially the women’s stores.

Omari suddenly stopped, but Octavius continued going on and was yanked back by Omari, who said, “This way, handsome.”

Octavius stopped in front of him and looked at the store Omari was pointing at and shook his head. “Why this place?”

Omari grinned and dragged him inside. They were met with a smile by the owner. “Welcome. How can I help you today?”

Omari beamed at him and said, “We’d like a couple of piercings and tattoos. Do you have any tattoo designs?”

Octavius looked down at Omari, surprised and before he could object, Omari walked over to the counter and looked at the book of designs placed on top of it.

“Where would you like the piercings done?” The owner asked while he got the sterilizing box out.

Omari looked back at Octavius and held out his hand. “Come, look, love, do you have something in mind?”

Octavius placed his hand in Omari’s and whispered, “What are we doing here? I cannot be harmed.”

Omari looked at him, baffled, and said, “No one will harm you, or should we rather go home? I just thought that it would be cute if we had matching shit.”

Octavius stared at him as he thought it over. He saw Omari in his future, and it would be something funny to tell their kids one day. He nodded his head but said, “I am fine with the piercings, but not the tattoo. We can get that at a later date.”

Omari closed the book and nodded his head. He was joking about the tattoo, anyway. He closed the book and looked ahead. “We’d like nose piercings. Thank you and I want a belly piercing, too.”

Octavius put his hand on his mask and rubbed his nose. He watched as Omari sat down on the chair and the needle went through his right nostril. The black nose rings they chose went in and now it was Octavius’s turn.

He sat down on the chair and looked at the store owner. He was waiting for Octavius to move his mask, but he was not moving it. The owner turned to look at Omari, who was looking at himself in the mirror. Then he looked back at Octavius and saw that his nose was exposed. He didn’t still bother to see who it was and quickly did his job.

After the needle went in, Octavius’s right eye leaked with a tear. He quickly put his mask up and thanked the man.

Omari went over to the chair with his exposed stomach and said, “Hurry and choose a ring for me.”

Octavius looked at him, then looked down at the belly rings. He chose a simple one, then said, “I’ll make you one.”

“Oh, shut up!” Omari said, making him laugh.

He hissed from the pain, but it was quickly over with. He pouted his lips as he made his way over to Octavius, who was paying, and asked, “So how does it look?”

Octavius looked down at it. He licked his lips, saying as he admired it, “Well, it makes me want to do things.”

Omari pointed his finger at him, saying, “Don’t try your luck, lets go home and get something to eat.”

“But we need to do shopping,” Octavius said to him.

Omari shook his head. “We’ll do online shopping.”

Octavius narrowed his eyes at him, asking, “You tricked me, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Omari scoffed.

*

In the SUV, Omari was cuddled up to Octavius while eating chicken nuggets and shoving one occasionally into Octavius’s mouth.

As they were on their way home, Omari noticed that home was not in this direction. He sat up and looked around and recalled this path. A chill went up his spine. 

He turned to Octavius, who had a smirk on his face and said, “You motherfucker!”

Octavius’s eyes widened and the breaks in the SUV screeched to a halt. Omari went flying forward through the middle seat and hit his head against the monitor.

Antero’s eyes widened when he saw Omari’s head next to his thigh.

“Omari!” Octavius yelled. His heart had dropped to the pit of his stomach when he saw Omari’s body fly forward.

Omari wasn’t moving. Antero and Octavius exchanged a look of both surprise and confusion and immediately acted. 

Antero lifted Omari’s head and immediately paled. There was blood sliding between his fingers. “Your Highness, he is bleeding.”

“Give him to me,” Octavius said. They gently lifted him up and Omari was seated on his lap. Looking down at him, Octavius could feel that his tears were threatening to fall.

Antero quickly started the car up and drove back to the palace. He informed everyone that they needed to clear a path for them at the palace and that they could not let anyone know.

They arrived at the palace, and it was silent. Octavius climbed out, carrying Omari in his arms, and disappeared towards the royal physician’s court.

Antero knocked on the door, but there was no answer, so he kicked the door open and rushed towards the casualty room.

Royal Physician Cato Quintus was busy seeing to one of the maids who burnt her hands with hot water. He signalled to Octavius to wait and walked up to them. “Dr Quintus, I need you to see to someone immediately.”

Dr Quintus looked at Antero and said, “I am busy.”

Antero snapped his eyes in her direction and said, “She isn’t of royal blood. She does not need your attention.”

The servant’s body shuddered. She yanked her arm from the doctor’s hands and bowed quickly, leaving as if she was never there.

Dr Quintus looked at Antero, baffled, saying, “When has it been against the rules to attend to the servants?”

“It isn’t, I just need you to help me now!” Octavius said, carrying Omari over to the bed.

Dr Quintus stood up and walked over to the bed Omari was placed on and saw the blood on Octavius’s hoodie and asked, “My word, what happened here?”

Octavius and Antero exchange a look as he explained, “Antero stepped on the brakes too quickly and he flew through the seats, hitting his head against the monitor.”

Dr Quintus nodded his head and immediately started his treatment. After he cleaned the wound, he checked to see if Omari was responsive by shining a light in his eyes and was mesmerised by the rainbow in his eye.

He turned his head to look at the prince, but Octavius had walked away after Antero.