Messenger

Chapter 19

 Len had to admit that he wasn't nearly as prepared as he thought he was. He might have forgotten to get a chair for his guest among other things and now the panic was setting in. Not Flower on a rough day panic, granted but freaking out a little nonetheless. How is Len supposed to get the tea when he can't even get close to his target?

He and Dex had tried to clean up their shared space, but since neither of them were very organized people and the knight was too much of a chicken to ask Diana to help, it didn't get too far. Clothing shoved into the dresser with Len needing to remember not to open it and papers that really should be organized cluttered the corners became way more obvious. Ok, focus. There is a greater task here.

Piko was already told to change in the corner even though he needed some serious help with the jacket closures to the point that the two of them just decided to leave it open. Whoever had control of wardrobe knew not to give Piko anything too out there, providing a dark-colored coat with light embroidery using most of his normal clothing in there with some cleaning. He seemed to agree with Flower in the area that less frill was better.

"'Kay. Now I'm supposed to break down how this whole party thing is going to go." Len opened, cutting straight to the chase. "You need to not stand out while still letting Ol' Golden Bottoms know that you're there."

"I think that guy's not going to let me forget that he's there." Piko noted crossing his arms over his legs.

Now there's one thing Len wasn't expecting; actual concern. "What do you mean? I heard that he was defensive about you, but I never heard the full story."

"I just don't have a good feeling about this. That person has been getting in Flower's space even when she's made it very clear that she wants to be left alone and I don't know how that's going to play out in a crowd." If his pensive expression was any indication, Piko had been thinking this over for a while.

"If it helps, I think the crowd will work in your favor. He can't act out when that much of his reputation is on the line. Plus, he's hardly the only looking for Flower's attention."

Len couldn't hide it, he had an agenda and this moment was too perfect for it. Both of them would thank him later. "And that means?"

"Wouldn't anyone be a little curious about the mysterious princess that no one really knows. She's not super popular in many circles, but people are still wondering." Len pushed.

"Aren't they in for a surprise."

"Well, aren't you curious?"

Patience was never really Len's thing. "I have no clue what you're talking about." Piko stated awkwardly curling in from his spot on Len's bed, not enjoying the interrogation.

"Come on. You've never actually been here when Flower's had to be doing more public official business especially with other interested parties." Work with me here dang it, he thought.

"All that means is that my job gets a bit harder. Flower has her own thing going on and I need to not get in the way."

It took all of Len willpower to not facepalm right then and there. These two pretty much had the exact same problem; thinking that they're standing in the way of each other causing them to be all weird. Honestly, this isn't some dramatic romance novel. If you like someone, make a move regardless of class or any crud like that and anyone who would disagree doesn't matter that much anyway. Len really just wanted to see his friends happy, but they're the ones stopping that from happening.

They're not going to get it unless he shoves the facts in their faces. Len sighed. "I know you like her. Fukase and I figured it out in the span of ten minutes."

Piko, whether he knew it or not, flushed red almost immediately confirming Len's words and leaving him stumbling to find anything to say in his defense, tensing up noticeable while his eyes were planted to the ground. Not that this kind of reaction was uncalled for. Crushes and stuff like that are a weird time as Len would know and having someone call you out unannounced is at least a bit shocking, but Piko really needed to take the chance getting handed to him.

"Is it that obvious?" He asked after a few moments.

"Hate to break it to you, but yeah."

"I'm guessing Fukase pointed it out while he was here?"

At least his intuition is on point. "Yep." It was actually kind of cute how much Fukase knew about his peoples. There was no way that Piko could hide how flustered he got around Flower from him and Len could tell pretty easily when she was going out of the way for someone. He and Fuka basically got to swap notes.

Some of that flusterness was coming through right here. Neat "Has Flower said anything?"

"No. I can assure you that she would say something if she was aware." For better or for worse. Being completely honest, Flower can be pretty bad at emotion particularly when it's her own.

"What should I do?"

Now those were the words Len was waiting to hear. "Well, first of all, we can't have you going in with that many fly-aways, so it's hair time. Hime has perfected my braiding skills." No doubt that Piko was aware of what he got himself into by this point as Len climbed to the area behind him. As much as Len was joking, the guy did need some light helping but never fear.

"Ok, but that's not exactly what I'm asking about although I do appreciate what you're doing." Piko noted as Len sectioned off the upper layer of his style.

"Frankly, you're doing fine in other areas. Flower's wack about her feelings and can be incredibly stubborn, so it'll take her a while to get what's going on let alone understand how she fits into the picture." He explained hoping that it would clear up some confusion. "If it helps, you already get along great with the younger ones, and that's a pretty important thing to her."

"Well, how can you not? As crazy they are, they're insanely endearing." No arguing there.

"See what I mean? You're both as sappy over cute kids, but now I do need to work." Half of Piko's hair was slowly being looped into an upper french braid with the rest falling above his shoulders with, hopefully, fewer tangles which was good since it was starting to dawn on Len that he was probably out of time. The yellowy blonde climbed in front of the other person taking a moment to smooth his work before pulling Piko to his feet.

"Time to get going?"

Len nodded. "Yep. The ladies would have our heads if we were late."

Piko smiled playfully for pretty much the first time since he was put in his current situation. "Nah, you'd be the one under fire."

"Wow, rude."

Len had to admit, the gravity of what was going on was starting to hit him. He wasn't just dressing up a friend for a little party, but giving him the slight visual chance of not dying while he gets thrown to the wolves. That would be enough to intimidate anyone, yet somehow it didn't shake Len all that much. Sure, Piko was most likely freaking out and Flower wanted to get out of this as soon as possible, but they had each other's back. Plus, any unfortunate person to mess with them would be dealing with a pack of mischievous preteens out for revenge.

"It took you people long enough. Guests are filling the place." The two enter a small back hall that Flower and her advisers were supposed to enter from to find themselves to be the last ones to show up. Hime, the self-proclaimed leader of prepping Flower for the night, was quick to drag them over with Piko freezing when he saw what they were so proud of. Len had no interest whatsoever, but Flower looked really nice and it was causing Piko to short-circuit.

Len bent down to the bundle of energy. "Mission accomplished?"

Hime's pleased grin was all the answer he needed. "Obviously!" 

To start, sorry about no chapter last week. Monday was my first day back at in-person school, so my Sunday consisted of checking my papers and freaking out. On a brighter note, I was having a bit of a tough time focusing on writing while working on this, but I like how it turned out in the end. Of course, stay safe out there.