{.o7} {Bliss :ღ: Vivaldi x King}

Everything was almost perfect. The servants had almost finished cleaning the place up until its spotlessly clean. Almost all of the ball's decorations were hanged. Even the issue of the flowers was properly rectified. How so quickly? At the moment, she just did not care as long as they were red and not that ghastly shade of white.

All she cared at the moment were the ballroom walls.

'…ugh, did We truly choose such a boring color?' She couldn't have possibly chosen it herself. It was so drab. Though she did rather tolerate the pink color, seeing it on her walls made it look so washed-out and dull in her opinion.

'And We have no time to order Our servants to get it all painted over and changed before the ball.' She plopped herself down onto the nearest chair and began to roughly massage her throbbing temples. 'Why must ball detail be so stressful?'

Vivaldi hated planning the ball. Simply and utterly despised it ever since she first became the Queen of Hearts. It was such a taxing event to properly plan prepare for. It always drained her mentally and physically. She just couldn't wait for it to be done and over with.

It certainly didn't help she had to deal with other stressful annoyances on her mind. It irritated her to no end to have heard her favorite and oldest stuffed bear went missing for some time. What irritated most of all? When she did find the bear, she noticed its head was ripped off!

'What was that? Was it some sort of sick joke? Beheading people is Our job!' She swore if she ever found the perpetrator, Vivaldi would make sure that person lost their head. Personally.

'It was probably Peter, that stupid rabbit,' she scowled mentally, glaring out into the distance. Though she honestly had no prove, she had some strange feeling it was him. He probably wanted to enact some revenge for how she treated him earlier. Really? Must he steal something so valuable because she so happened to be shooting holes into miniature, stuffed rabbits?

She then lost all will to be angry and released a tired breath. Why must it have been that bear? It was the one she brought with her from when she was taken from her home, from her life as a simple faceless girl…

'Ugh, We do not wallow in the past,' she told herself. All that mattered was the present. Now she was the Queen of Hearts. She does not ponder the past nor worry over a silly little bear. That was not what queens do.

'But still...' She returned her attention to her surroundings and released a low breath of disgust. 'How these walls give Us a headache…'

"Vivaldi?" She slowly turned her tired head, her narrowed, violet eyes locking onto the sudden appearance of the King of Hearts.

She only found herself exponentially more irritated to see his cheery countenance, the bright look on his face. "Why are you here? Why don't you just leave? Your merry disposition is giving Us a terrible headache."

"Ah, you don't mean that!" the king said in a decibel that hurt her ears.

"No. We do. You're annoying Us." She felt a nerve pulse against her temples when she heard the King laugh at her.

"You're just being a little cranky because you're stressed out about ball detail… as well as your little bear." Vivaldi tensed at the very mentioning of her beloved stuffed animal, but kept her countenance calm and cool. "It's such a shame that something from your childhood was so mutilated in such a manner. I do seem to recall you were rather attached to it." He then paused for a considerable moment, examining her impassive expression for a single moment. "And… that's why, I did this for you."

Just as she was going to ask what he was talking about, she found herself rendered completely speechless when she stared straight at such a familiar plush object staring straight at her.

She couldn't help herself. She released a jubilant squeal as she took the animal in her arms.

"Oh! It's Our bear! It's fixed!" As she continued to cuddle the animal her arms, she then became acutely aware of who was standing before her and of her current location. She quickly rectified her current, frazzled state and recomposed her to her usual regal self. She cleared her throat. "Thank you. We truly appreciate that you've done this for Us… again. You did not have to do this. We would have made one of the servants to fix it for Us."

The kind smiled even wider. "Oh, I know. I simply wanted to. I certainly would be upset if something I cared for was broken. Besides, you seemed even more stressed than usual. Consider it your reward for completing preparations for what will be another fantastic ball."

Vivaldi felt something in her heart beat a little faster, utterly touched by something so sweet. She, of course, did not allow such an emotion to reach her face. She merely nodded her head in thanks.

"Well, I better get going. I still have a lot of work to do." The king patted her on the shoulder before exiting out the room. "Take care! Please don't work too hard!"

Vivaldi simply watched the king leave her midst, leaving her alone with her thoughts and these strange feelings whirling in her ticking heart.

She then glanced down to the floor.

She was the Queen of Hearts – first and foremost. She shouldn't be feeling like this or care that he did something so trivial for her… but she did.

'Maybe he really cares about Us…'

She buried her face into the bear, and for a moment allowed herself to feel and be overwhelmed by this sensation of ephemeral bliss.

Vivaldi x King are just so adorable in my opinion. :3 Kinda sequel-ish to my oneshot For Your Smile.

I just decided to post this since I was on a roll with the double updates... and sadly this may be the last one in quite awhile. ^^;;

Thanks for the read~