Prince Of Stone - A Captive Prince Fanfiction

VI. Coffee and Courtesy

Damen had just emerged from the darkness of the lecture hall when someone hailed him from farther down the corridor. He turned, expecting to see Nikandros, but instead coming towards him was Laurent.

Looking arrogant and disdainfully cold, he approached. He wore a dark dress shirt buttoned to his throat, a scarf carefully arranged around his neck in a way that was meant to look careless.

Laurent said, "Are you finished your classes for the day? I'll take you up on that coffee now."

That was how, with slight disbelief, Damen found himself sitting at the campus café across the table from Laurent.

Erasmus, curly haired and smiling sweetly, waved familiarly at Damen as he came around from the counter to take their order.

"Je voudrais un café au lait, s'il vous plait," Laurent said with a disarming smile. Damen was still a little struck by the time Erasmus turned to him.

"Hey, Erasmus. Ça va?"

"Damen! Ça va . . . Comme ci comme ca. " He cast a nervous glance back at the café counter, where his supervisor glowered. Damen noticed a recent-looking burn on Erasmus' wrist, just exposed by the sleeve of his shirt when he reached to take the menus. Erasmus smiled quickly in an effort to conceal his nervousness. "The usual, or . . .?"

"Erasmus, what happened to you?" Damen couldn't keep the horror from his voice.

The other boy lowered his lashes. "I . . . Spilled the coffee the other day. Burnt myself. That's all." His eyes flicked once more back to his supervisor.

Laurent was watching Erasmus astutely. Damen didn't like the awareness in those blue eyes, cold as chiseled marble.

~

When their coffees arrived, Damen eyed Laurent warily over their steaming drinks. "Why the sudden change of heart? What happened to never getting coffee with the likes of me?"

Laurent's expression remained steady. "My uncle is out of town. It's as good a time as any to get to know each other."

Damen frowned. "I know you have no interest in getting to know me. What's really going on?"

Laurent smiled sweetly. "Is it so hard to believe that I might just want to have coffee?"

Damen considered. This was Laurent they were talking about. "Yes."

Across the table, Laurent let out a sigh. "I talked with Auguste last night over the phone. He said he forgives you for injuring him."

Damen didn't know what to say.

Laurent continued. "I don't. My brother is kind. The best man I know. You don't deserve his forgiveness."

"I know." Damen said.

"Interesting. You don't even deny it." Laurent's voice was cutting. It had a way of making Damen feel as if he'd just been verbally whipped.

Damen watched him. "I don't know what you want," he said simply.

Laurent said, "I'm going to do something for you. And in exchange, you'll do something for me."

Damen raised his brows and watched as Laurent stood, leaving his coffee untouched. He tossed a stack of bills onto the tabletop. Damen eyed them in surprise. Laurent leaned over the table, fingers curling around the edges.

"Tell your friend to keep the change and find a job away from this coffeeshop. One that doesn't hinge on his supervisor's cruelty or my uncle the Dean's whims."

Damen sat with his untouched coffee and watched him leave. Then
on a whim, he pulled out his phone and opened instagram. Instead of scrolling through Laurent's feed, as Nikandros had caught him doing a few times too many (much to Damen's embarrassment), he went to the photos Laurent had been tagged in. There, in the recent section, was a photo of Laurent in a t-shirt surrounded by smiling children, Nicaise at his side in what looked to be a library. Damen tapped the photo and was redirected to Nicaise's account. The photo was captioned volunteering for children's literacy because Laurent made me. One of the comments on the post was from a librarian: we're always so grateful for the support of La Famille du Roi, and of course Laurent's wonderful card tricks.

Card tricks. Volunteering.

Damen sat for a moment, feeling utterly confounded. Who was this version of Laurent, and why was Laurent so determined that no one see it?

Damen was nearly out the door himself when he looked back and saw Erasmus' face light up as he came upon the fruit of Laurent's generosity. The stack of bills had been easily fifty times what their coffees had been worth.

Damen shook his head. Laurent was a constant source of confusion. What he had done for Erasmus--it was a kindness for which Damen knew there would be a price. One Damen himself would have to pay.

Damen was beginning to think maybe Laurent wasn't the cast iron bitch he wanted everyone to think. But all the same, Laurent was playing a carefully choreographed game of chess with his own image, and with Damen as well.

He hoped he would be capable of delivering on the favour Laurent had demanded of him in exchange for liberating Erasmus from The Regent's abusive employment. It was the least Damen owed to the brother of the man he had ruined.

Even though Laurent was an ass. And even though Damen was starting to think maybe he didn't mind.