hiraeth (floradin)

17 ; mahika, o mahika

AUTHOR'S NOTE: im a writer, but i don't write songs. so, im using my fav OPM ones hehe

Florante was doing well in his lessons. Well, he wasn't doing . . . awful. That was how he could put it. He wasn't failing or falling behind. But he wasn't doing great either.

He was just Florante.

Just.

That was a strange shift.

It has been a year now since he has left Albania. And it's been a year of him looking at stars, whispering prayers, and thinking of Aladin non stop. He sang the songs they used to sing, he wrote and rewrote the poems he could remember from Aladin. Stanzas and rhyming things with that touch of loneliness, his writing style.

It has come to the point where Florante had to draw Aladin.

He was too afraid to forget his face. He was too afraid to forget the face of boy he loved to the world and beyond. So he drew him. And it took a month to get it all correct, from the eyes to the nose to the soft, shy, and wonderful smile.

Florante didn't even know he could draw.

But apparently he could. And now it stayed on his desk.

Florante was staring at it. He traced the paper, careful not to smudge anything. Aladin. Aladin, Aladin, Aladin. He sighed and looked up at the stars through his window. Midnight. He wondered if Aladin found his clothes. Found the note.

He hoped he did.

He hoped Aladin had a bit of him with him, the way Florante didn't.

Florante sighed heavily. "Aking sinta ikaw ay ang tahanan at mundo," he sang softly. (("love, you are my home and world")) ((an: hehe))

Florante didn't want to cry. He's done it so many times. Too many to count.

"Sa pagbalik, mananatili na sa piling mo." (("when i come
back, i will stay with you")) Florante's bottom lip wobbled. He just wanted Aladin with him.

Athens was so lonely.

It was so unbearable sometimes when he hasn't distracting himself with lessons. With the intricate sword skills he was learning or the foreign religion he was being made aware of. He didn't have the friends he had in Albania, the people he had found himself happy with. He didn't have King Linceo who he could trade jokes with and be given royal advice from. He didn't have Princess Laura to tease about certain things. He didn't have his Papa. His Papa, God, he missed him.

He didn't have Aladin.

He held his pillow in his arms and cried, shaking his head.

"M-M-Mundo'y magiging ikaw." (("you will be my world"))

~

"Keep your left side guarded,
Florante!" Antenor yapped.

Florante gritted his teeth and tried not to give into his flight instead of fight instincts. He slashed his sword in a wide arc in the air, baring teeth. A feeble little warning.

Come closer. I dare you.

God, save him.

He really was catching up with lessons. Really. Truly. But today, he did not expect that he would spar with Adolfo himself. Adolfo, brilliant and cunning with the sword and a master at its arts.