The Blue Danube [OLD]

- 𝔱𝔢𝔫. ﾐ

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⠀⠀╲⠀╲⠀☆⠀ ╲⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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october 1858

"Oh, I am dearly sorry for arriving late, mother. I was just tending to some business." John reassured Mimi, who had rushed up to him in concern, the prince's hair falling unkempt on his forehead and his face flushed with running straight home after dropping off Paul, clothes ruffled.

"Oh, that's quite alright, John. I'm glad you realised your mistake. Now come along, the Powell's arrived not ten minutes ago." Mimi started to usher her nephew from the front doors towards his room. "Please go get changed, your current clothes are not suitable for this occasion." She then turned and hurried off back to the front room, where the Powell's were situated, waiting for John to arrive.

The prince went to open the door, but almost fell over when he collided with someone.

"Oh! Oh, Mr. Lennon, I am sorry-" It was Cynthia. She was standing near his desk with a leather notebook clutched in her hands, which was pressed to her chest.

"Oh, Cyn. Hi." John blinked in surprise, stepping away with a soft smile. Which disappeared quickly as he realised what she was holding. "Wait, were ye lookin' through that?"

"No- no, I just picked it up now-"

"Give it to me please." He reached to grab it, Cynthia letting him take it as she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I hope ye weren't lyin' about readin' it." He sighed, moving to put it back on his desk. There were writings and poems much too personal and something Cynthia couldn't know about, 

"I know, I'm not, I'm sorry-" She cut herself off. "Sorry, I don't mean to be in your quarters. I was just - curious.. I'll leave-" She pushed past John to open the door, but he gently grabbed her arm.

"It's alright, Cyn. Stay outside, I need to get dressed quickly then we'll walk in together." He smiled softly, Cyn pausing and turning to gaze up at her partner's eyes through her lashes. She let a grin paint her face and she leaned up to capture the prince's lips in a kiss, John wrapping arms around her back, leaning into it with a grin. "Okay, okay, enough for now. Mimi'll have me head if 'm any more late." The prince rolled his eyes, causing Cynthia to giggle before she opened the door and slipped outside, shutting it. After a few moments of silence he sighed, running a hand through his unkempt hair before going to hurriedly pick a suit and get changed.

Today was the first day the Powell's were coming over to the manor for dinner. They were going to discuss plans for John and Cynthia's wedding, and get the parent's blessing for the marriage to occur. John's nerves were absolutely wrecked, and he didn't really want to do this, but he supposed it was worth it. Cynthia was a sweet, lovely, intelligent girl, and he wouldn't marry anyone else. Even if he didn't really want to get married in the first place, he supposed it was his duty as King to be. After adjusting his tie, John decided he was finished and turned to walk out, now clad in a deep blue striped suit with blue and white checkered trousers, as that was the new fashion item that every rich person was raging about.
The chestnut boy spotted something out of the corner of his eye, though, and he turned to see something poking out of the edges of his notebook. Reaching and picking it up, the boy immediately flicked through the pages to where it was. Discovering it was a slip of paper, he took it out and examined it. It was a sketch of John, posing almost completely naked (with just a sheet covering his bits) on one of the velvet couches, glasses resting on the top of his head, with the words; 'miss you.' written below it in messy writing. Instantly, he knew who did this, every stroke and brush of ink familiar to him.