eternal

operation: flirt / tobi-q

continuation to 'the crown princess'

···

"your ladyship, his highness the crown prince is here to see you."

lady qq, who was still keeping her gaze focused on the words on the thick management textbook in front of her and holding a pen in her right hand, replied, "he may enter."

the large double doors swung open and in walked the prince, in all his glory, except... he had come with a huge bouquet of flowers. this was very out-of-character for the stoic prince, and this shocked the maids and butlers, who had definitely not expected to see the bloodthirsty prince with flowers in his hands. all the servants held back their breath as prince tobio walked right up to lady qq, brows furrowed and eyes fixated on the girl who had not yet looked up to see him. he stopped short in front of her desk and she placed her pen down carefully before looking up at him. upon spying the grand bouquet in his hands, she raised her eyebrows, "what—"

"these are for you, my lady," he choked out, thrusting the bouquet into her face, "i thought these flowers suit you very well."

all eyes were on lady qq as she awkwardly accepted the flowers, pretty much using her arms to wrap themselves around the lower half where the stems were. she eyed the pink arrangement of roses, asters, and lilies before looking up at the prince, "thank you, your highness. i appreciate your gift."

"do you..." his cheeks turned pink as his voice dropped drastically in volume and he averted his gaze to the side, "do you like them?"

"well..." she paused, watching his facial expressions carefully, "do you want me to be honest?"

he nodded, still avoiding her gaze.

"i appreciate the thought behind this, but..." she paused, then decided to take a leap of faith and be truthful (as he had said), "actually, i don't really like flowers."

an awkward and tense silence soon followed after the words left her mouth. prince tobio was pretty much frozen in sheer shock, she doesn't like flowers?! then again, never did he once thought of considering the possibility that she did not have a liking for flowers.

"i... i see," he coughed. feeling the embarrassment creep in, he said, "i have some matters to attend to, so i'll leave first. enjoy the rest of your day."

with that, he turned and exited lady qq's study, leaving her with a bunch of flowers in her hands and deathly silent servants.

+

"call the two hostlers in," prince tobio said with a sigh once he was safely in his own study, massaging his temples. is courting girls supposed to be this difficult?

a few minutes later, hinata brought the hostlers in, who were both starry-eyed and were definitely expecting good news out of the advice that they had given to the prince.

"so, was her ladyship completely starstruck? lovestruck, even?" tanaka asked, grinning from ear-to-ear as he looked at the prince with hopeful eyes.

"did it go as planned, your highness?" nishinoya asked, his smile mirroring that of tanaka's.

the day that hinata had led prince tobio to tanaka and nishinoya, the two hostlers had given the prince some advice on the day itself.

"your highness, do you know what girls really like?" tanaka said with a sly grin.

prince tobio shook his head, completely clueless. that itself was a given, since the prince had never gotten into a relationship before as he had dedicated his life to protecting the kingdom and learning how to be a good king to his subjects. to the prince, there was no space in his tightly-packed schedule for romance.