Anonymous asked: kc drabble request if you're taking them + royalty au in which klaus kills his dad to take the british royal throne and ends up falling for the social media advisor caroline + "i'll be honest, i don't care about a social media update. i just wanted to see you." + (so basically the relationship dynamic between king robert/willow from the tv show "the royals")
Caroline stomped into the study, already fuming at the gall of him scheduling another meeting without asking her first. "You need to stop distracting me with these requests," she demanded in lieu of an honorable greeting, which the damned king seemed all too amused at. If it weren't a crime, she would consider great violence to wipe that smirk off his face. "Seriously! While you're quibbling over hashtags and photo ops, I have an actual job to do."
Leaning back in his chair like it was the throne he claimed, those giant hands of his perched against his mouth, Klaus smirked unrepentantly. "I do believe you work for me, Miss Forbes."
"And you seem to want an assistant more than a PR specialist," she accused through a clenched jaw. "Because you have me worried more about an increased media schedule than the actual strategy I've already put months of work into planning."
His smile slipped, only for a moment, but she would relish the small loss of composure. "I don't mean to intrude on your plans," he offered, somewhat stern. "I merely hoped for a chance to allow the public to get to know me, since my ride to power was so sudden."
Caroline sobered, her rage draining into unease. She'd worked for King Ansel, and the man hadn't been well the whole decade before she joined the palace staff. Upon finding a son lost to an affair gone wrong, she thought the old man was on an upswing. Leaving his private quarters near daily to meet with the new prince, hosting more events than ever to show him off. But he'd died soon after Klaus had been legitimized as his heir, which led to ugly rumors and a strange hum of silence whenever he walked the halls of his father.
It was partly why Caroline had become so protective of her role; her ability to note and squash growing unease online was more important than ever. "I know you have political advisors that are probably telling you how to grease the right palms and ingratiate yourself more efficiently among the nobles. But my job is to keep my thumb on the pulse of royal sentiment and gently steer it for the good of the family - not stoke your ego with a new Instagram post."
The look he gave her was calculating, though there was something else that made her stand a bit taller. Like she was being graded, thrust back into pageant habits as her shoulders rolled for a better posture. "What if I told you I don't care about my social media presence?" He seemed genuinely curious, which she didn't understand. "That I trust you implicitly to do your job well?"
While it wasn't the same as actually trusting her, or even really saying it, she preened at the compliment anyway. Still, she felt wary. "Then I'd wonder why you insist on daily meetings to discuss what you apparently don't care about and trust me to handle without you."
The smile reappeared in a small quirk of his lips. "That will be all, Miss Forbes."
Tempted to roll her eyes at the obvious dismissal, Caroline just nodded and turned on her heel. It wasn't until she shut herself back in her office that she considered maybe he just liked her company.
But that was a silly thought best left alone. She had a job to do.