The Idea of You (Bdoc Royal AU)

Chapter Eight: A Day Out

[Day Seven]

Bdubs had felt bad for not being patient with the prince. His constant yelling wasn't helping anyone, but he was by default an impatient person. So he had spent a whole day out of sight of Prince Doc to pull himself together. He also had felt like Doc wanted the space from him. And then that night, they finally managed to have a conversation that didn't involve them getting mad at each other.

Finally, things were on the right track.

They even spent the next day in the library together, reading random books and making small talk.

And that brings us to today.

Prince Bdubs had offered to take his new friend on a tour of the town just outside the castle. He would show him the whole kingdom, but if he wanted to travel without guards hovering over their shoulders, his fathers weren't going to let them any further.

He was waiting for Doc near the main castle entrance. The freckled brunette wasn't wearing anything too fancy, just a maroon blouse with a low v neck tucked into a black skirt. And since he was going out, he was required to wear his crown. (Although he was able to get away with wearing the bandana too)

Finally, a butler came down the hall, the hybrid behind him. He donned a short sleeve white button-up. His trousers were black and had two slim silver stripes running vertically on the outside of both legs. Doc seemed a little nervous, but he wasn't sure how he should comfort him. Is just a smile enough? I don't know if it will be, he thought as he softly smiled.

"Shall we?" He waited until the prince was standing next to him before exiting the palace.

-

Doc felt it may be appropriate to take his hand, offer his arm or something. But instead, he folded his arms behind his back and walked beside the prince. They walked to the town, which ended up not being that long. The prince navigated him into the shopping district; a bustling marketplace with dozens of stalls selling various items.

Something must've caught Prince Bdubs' eyes, as he quickly headed over to one of the stalls. He took note of the people around them, who were all quietly glancing at them, but didn't approach.

The stall he was so interested in seemed to be selling various pieces of jewelry made from oddly shaped and colored stones. They were very obviously homemade, judging by the lack of production quality. But he remembered what the two spoke of and kept his mouth closed. Besides, Bdubs seemed to be fairly interested in the trinkets.

He too took a closer look at the accessories and had to admit; they had a certain charm to them. Glancing up, he watched the prince exchanging some gold to the merchant before turning to him. Bdubs gently took one of his hands, slightly startling him. His heart pounded as a bracelet with muted green, golden, and blue stones was slipped onto his green wrist.

"Thank you," he softly said to Bdubs before turning to the merchant and giving a polite nod.

Bdubs extended his own hand to reveal a matching bracelet. "I got one too!" he explained with a grin. "Now c'mon, there's someone I need to talk to."

They bid the merchant goodbye and Doc followed him down the row of stands.

He'd be lying if he said the one they stopped in front of didn't weird him out. The stand's shelves were covered with small, wooden dolls in thin fabric clothing. There were some standing on the ledge in poses. A doll with short brown hair and a blue shirt was being held by the zombie woman who was behind the stand. "Good day, your highnesses!" she greeted with a smile and curtsy.

"Cleo you still don't need the formalities with me," Bdubs lightly scolded, moving around to give her a tight hug. Looking up at Doc, he introduced the two. "Doc, this is an old friend, Cleo."

"It's nice to meet you," he politely greeted. He wanted to ask about the dolls but was interrupted by a voice coming from the opposite direction.

"Fancy seeing you guys here!" Beef called as he approached with Keralis and Stress in tow.

"Hello," the hybrid prince greeted. He glanced over at the other prince, surprised to see a suspicious glare on his face.

"What a coincidence," he slowly responded, staring down Beef.

He also noticed that Stress' eyes were glued to Bdubs, and it wasn't exactly something he enjoyed seeing. Well, either she was looking at him or the zombie Cleo, he couldn't exactly tell.

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his daze when Keralis touched his wrist. "Bdubs, you wouldn't mind if we borrowed him for a minute, would you?"

"As long as he doesn't mind." The prince then looked at him but stayed standing next to Cleo.

Doc looked back to the three, unsure of what they wanted. "Um, I suppose I don't mind."

And like that he was dragged aside, out of earshot from the other two. Are they going to yell at me or something? he worried once Keralis let go of his wrist. He fidgeted with the new bracelet on his wrist whilst waiting for one of them to say something.

"So, how are you? How are things with Bdubs?" Beef finally asked.

His cheeks grew warm and glanced down at the bracelet. There indeed was a certain charm to its imperfections. "I'm doing well, I suppose. And things between us are... good. I think we're finally good." He spoke quietly as if admitting the finally peaceful state between the two of them was a fragile piece of china.

"Do you like him?" Keralis teased, drawing out his words.

The heat in his face spiked as he let go of the bracelet to grip his hand. "I mean, we're getting married regardless of if I do or not," he muttered.

"Aw!" Keralis exclaimed. "You like him!"

"I-I didn't- well- m- it doesn't matter."

Stress gently took one of his hands and gave it a reassuring squeeze to accompany her smile. "Of course it matters! He probably feels the same!"

Her sentiment was sweet, and maybe he would've believed her if he didn't know better. But, he did know better and was well aware of how the prince felt. "It's not like that," he whispered, slowly pulling his hand away. "Prince Bdubs sees me as a friend, at most."

The others went silent. Admitting it out loud hurt him more than he thought. To someone else, everything may seem okay- he likes the prince whom he's about to be married to. But it won't mean anything if the said prince doesn't reciprocate his feelings.

"Well, that may be true, but you never know! I'll talk to him later about it, okay?" Keralis reasoned.

"What? No, that's not necessary," he awkwardly laughed, rubbing one of the beads on the bracelet. Who knows what'd happen if Bdubs was directly asked about his feelings? And yet, Keralis seemed pretty set on the matter.

-

As much as Bdubs was curious as to what they were talking about, he was preoccupied. He was speaking to Cleo about the upcoming event and brought up how Stress didn't have a date. "Who's to say she'd want to take me?" Cleo muttered, fiddling with the doll in her hands.

"Right because she wasn't staring at you not even a minute ago." He nodded with a grin as he watched her pose the figurine on the stand. She glanced over to where the others were standing and he followed. They caught Stress glancing over and Cleo's head snapped back towards the dolls.

"You two are hopeless!" Bdubs teased.