Mostly written by miss mika namariya. We own nothing!
Some onlookers might be confused as to why the Prince was in such a pitiable state. After all, Kuon was sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, as kind as he was handsome, and heir to a throne. As Kuu told anyone who asked (and almost everyone who didn't), Kuon was everything maidens could wish for! And in private, the King's habit of praising Kuon to his face inevitably ended with Kuu telling his son that he was more than capable of winning the heart of any person he wanted. They would have to be mad, Kuu declared, to not reciprocate his son's affection.
Kuon didn't think Kyoko was mad. Unusual, sure. She definitely had her quirks. And the prince was certain that growing up at the Academy under Lory's influence had only strengthened her… unique way of thinking. And then there was the fact that Kyoko was a changeling and maybe even otherworldly in some sense (Kuon didn't know where the fae realm was located in terms of planes of existence). But she wasn't crazy.
He was crazy, of course. Crazy in love with her. Kuon bit back a groan at his own cheezy thoughts. If his True Love was just a sweet, normal girl, then Kuon would simply throw himself into winning her heart with his attentiveness and sweet gestures and playful flirting until the tension between them exploded in a big declaration of his feelings. But he couldn't do that here, since Kyoko was sweet but definitely not a normal girl, and more importantly Kuon had already confessed his feelings on more occasions than he cared to remember. The result was almost always that Kyoko would give him a confused look for a moment before her brain connected the dots in whatever convoluted way to avoid romantic intent, and replied. Kuon decided he would ignore Kijima's dating advice, ignore the Duke calling him a pathetic coward, and focus on something else.
That something else turned out to be Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily's upcoming tadpole shower. Which was why a servant happened upon the Prince at the edge of the castle gardens before sunrise one morning. The prince was crouched in the mud over a large, half-frozen puddle, with three sleepy-looking bodyguards behind him.
"Er…" the palace servant said, taking in the scene before him. He was quite new to working at the palace and was still a bit unclear on the intricacies of etiquette surrounding royalty, but he was fairly certain there was no set protocol for this encounter. The prince was looking at him eagerly. "Your Highness?"
"Excellent! I was hoping to speak with someone. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at plant identification but I'm looking for some specific species of algae that I think might be in this pond, but I'm not quite sure…" Kuon trailed off, looking expectant.
"Er, sorry, your Highness," the servant replied, trying his best to ignore the dried mud caked on the prince's breeches. "I'm only an apprentice groundskeeper. I was sent back here to fill in the puddle," he explained, gesturing with the shovel towards where Kuon had just been crouching.
"Oh. Ah. I see," Kuon said. If the prince felt awkward, it was well hidden. Then he brightened. "Do you know where I could find the head gardener?"
LINE BREAK
Tadashi had been the head palace gardener for twelve years, and he could count the number of times he'd seen the prince on one hand. The man did not take it personally — the royal gardens had a reputation for being a place where young eligible bachelors were accosted by (mostly) well-intentioned mothers and aunts who were playing matchmaker (and the reputation was not entirely unearned). So understandably, Prince Kuon was the last person that he expected to be paying him a call so early in the morning.
While Tadashi was thrilled at the royal's sudden interest in his profession, it quickly became apparent that the gardener could not answer most of the prince's questions, which chiefly concerned moss varieties and the nutritional content of different types of algae and pond weeds. The gardener had to explain to Kuon that most of the work in the royal gardens dealt in trees and flowers and topiaries— the normal types of plants that people expected in palaces.
"I'm sorry I cannot be of more use to your Highness," Tadashi said with a bow.
"Oh, no, you were very helpful, thank you," Kuon replied hastily, doing his best not to look absolutely crushed. Apparently his best was not very good, because the old gardener gave the prince a look of pity.
"You might try asking Kaede," Tadashi offered, pointing a grateful prince in the right direction.
Kaede, Kuon learned, was in charge of running all of the fountains in the royal gardens. Kuon was not even aware that they had a Fountain Person, much less a Fountain Department. It turned out that she did in fact know quite a lot about algae and was more than happy to talk to the prince about the subject up until he mentioned what he wanted.
"Grow it?" Kaede laughed, then looked aghast when she realized the prince was not joking. "Your Highness!"
"Just a small amount," Kuon explained. "I w—"
"A small amount?" she repeated. "There is no such thing as a small amount of algae, your Highness!"
"I only need to—"
"Do you know how much work is required to keep the pipe system clean?" Kaede continued, interrupting him again. "You would think the main problem would be rust, but we solved that years ago! All it takes is a thin copper coating on the inside, and actually one of the smiths had the brilliant idea to coat the outside of the pipes too, so any exposed hardware wouldn't rust — patina isn't rust, of course, and I think it looks nice, especially in a garden with all that green," she added, "But algae! It never ends! And once it's in one of the fountains, of course it spreads to all the others! And in the summer the noblewomen complain that it smells like pond, but you know, it's a lot to ask the maintenance crew to scrub all the outfalls in the heat, and we're working on figuring out a way to stop the green accumulation around the pipes but… you want to grow it?"
Kaede was much shorter than the prince, but that didn't stop her from peering down her nose at him over the rim of her glasses. Her look of disapproval was so strong that Kuon was reminded of his first penmanship tutor. The prince was fairly certain that the opinionated woman didn't have the authority to kick him out of his family's own gardens, but he got the impression she would very much like to (and was only about one breath away from doing so).
"Thank you so much for your help," Kuon said meekly before scurrying out.
"Grow algae!" Kaede muttered under her breath, clearly still wound up. Kuon winced and quickened his stride, determined to get away before Kaede called him back for a thorough lecture.
LINE BREAK
Kuon's next best bet, he thought, was the library. Surely, in their vast collection, they would have some books on frogs. And they did! But, he discovered when he asked Kanae for help finding them, they were all checked out. He slumped into an alcove chair in defeat. Yogurt the library cat came to purr on his lap.
Unbeknownst to Kuon, it wasn't simple bad luck that led to all the frog-related books being checked out that day. No, it was something else: the machinations of the royal court. The courtiers had finally realized that frogs, or at least knowledge thereof, would help them curry favor with the crown prince and his (obvious to everyone but Kuon) bride-to-be. They did find it a bit strange, but hey - royals are royals, and it could be a lot worse. At least he wasn't stacking mattresses as high as the tallest tower to find a bride, demanding that every eligible woman in the kingdom come to his ball, or claiming that he would only marry a True Love with some ridiculous talent like spinning straw into gold or spitting up rubies. That last one just sounded painful. So yes, the court was glad that their prince just liked frogs, and were willing to learn as much about the little amphibians as they could to win a better role for themselves and their families.
Hence, why Kuon was slumped in a chair, bookless. He did have a lapful of Yogurt the library cat, though, which helped. The three non-Kyoko guards hovering awkwardly nearby did not.
A few shelves away, at Kanae's usual table, Kyoko was mulling over the court's sudden interest in frogs. "It's just suspicious," she said to a totally-listening Kanae. "No one wanted to join T.O.A.D.S., but now they're all scrambling to learn about frogs."
"Mmm."
"Something's not right. I'm going to get to the bottom of it."
"Have fun," Kanae said, waving at the spot where her best friend had sat a moment before. Now, the guard was gone to parts unknown, likely to spy on the court. Kanae rolled her eyes before standing and walking over to the sad pile of prince in the alcove. "Have you tried the royal university? I've exchanged papers with some of the professors there. They have a few who specialize in amphibians."
Kuon stared up at her in wonder.
"You're welcome." She turned on her heel, flipping her long hair over her shoulder, and walked back over to her books.
A few minutes later, her library was free of pining, pathetic royals.
LINE BREAK
The handful of scholars at the royal university's department of amphibian studies were not used to having visitors. But once it became clear that Kuon was not there to announce a funding cut, they were overjoyed in the crown prince's interest and quickly hurried him into the largest of their offices (still not very large). They were more than happy to talk to him about anything that he wanted to know. Unfortunately, none of them had much to offer on the subject of customary celebrations for expecting frog parents.
Nor had any of them ever heard of any frog that was 'only poisonous when he wanted to be'. A whispered but heated discussion broke out that nearly came to blows before consensus was reached and the academics concluded that just because they were unaware of such a mechanism, they could not rule out the possibility.
Kuon had the good sense to change the subject. They were more than happy to lend the prince a field guide and notebook and materials for specimen collection and to suggest some good reference works. The pile of reading material quickly grew as each scholar added something they had written to the pile, subtly maneuvering to place their submission on the top of the stack. It was much more than the prince had time for, but he picked up the large stack and thanked them all sincerely for their help, promising to return.
LINE BREAK
Meanwhile, back at the palace, Kyoko continued to be blissfully unaware of the prince's unhealthy obsession with tadpole-shower planning. It did not occur to her to suspect that Kuon was not spending his time in cabinet meetings or diplomatic endeavors. She wrongly assumed that he was off catching up on his Princely Duties after their extended journey away. Kyoko also wrongfully assumed that he was using his palace guard entourage in order to allow her to catch up as well. The secret passageways needed to be dusted, the traps needed to be checked and re-set, plus she had to catch up with two sentry spirits she had left behind in the palace and thoroughly investigate all of the new staff.
So no, Kyoko didn't suspect that there was anything particularly wrong with the prince. But there was definitely something afoot in the palace, and Kyoko was determined to figure out what. Of course, every proper court has a certain amount of drama happening at all times in the background — and King Kuu's court was no different. According to Duke Takarada, the scheming and gossip and affairs of the heart were what made living at court worthwhile. And so while Kyoko's spirit sentries had plenty to report — one of the castle' shepherds had fallen in love with one of the milkmaids, one of the stablehands was secretly the daughter of a count who had been assumed to be lost at sea, some young noblewoman had forced all of her suitors to perform some strange test of their worth in order to win her hand — it was all very much the usual.
Kyoko's days of reconnaissance yielded plenty of information on the inter-court relations and happenings about the castle, but nothing useful relating to the sudden mass interest in frogs. Could someone be plotting against the Prince? Kyoko thought it unlikely, but something was definitely strange. She couldn't help noticing that many of the courtiers who used to ignore her presence were now going out of their way to catch her eye and nod or bow. Kyoko wondered if they were trying to secure invitations to the celebration for Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily's brood of tadpoles. Perhaps they were trying to curry the Prince's favor.
The court was certainly abuzz when the rumor began circulating that the Prince had been making inquiries about baby showers. Certainly, it was a bit scandalous — he and the young bodyguard were not even properly engaged! Then again, royals never bothered much with the rules of convention, and everyone at court knew how eager the King was for grandchildren. Besides it was True Love, and there were always exceptions for True Love. Some of the older noblewomen were concerned that Kyoko was still scaling columns and throwing herself down from the rafters in her delicate condition, but when they tried to mention such concerns to the future princess, all they got was a look of suspicion.
"Why on earth would I stop?" Kyoko had asked, eyes narrowing slightly. She would never leave the Prince unguarded, and anyone who implied that she should was certainly suspicious in her book.
"No! No, of course not dear—" a grand-dame said, backpedaling. "I think it's wonderful! Quite modern, very in fashion. Why, I heard from my apothecary just yesterday that it's good for women to be active during that time. And you know, Queen Julienna has always been very active in performing her duties, even when…" the woman coughed delicately, her eyes darting towards Kyoko's middle. "But you know, the height! You cannot blame an old lady for worrying, surely… even when you seem so sure-footed, better to be cautious…" the grand-dame trailed off at the blank look on Kyoko's face.
Kyoko had no idea what Queen Julienna had to do with her employment, but she kept silent. It wasn't polite for a lowly guard like herself to correct nobility, after all. She bowed to the grand-dame and headed back to the Prince's quarters to await Kuon's return.
LINE BREAK
When Kuon staggered into his room, laden with frog-related reading materials, he found Kyoko already there, laying out dinner. She looked up at him with a smile that made him almost drop several scholars' lifetimes' worth of research. She set down the last plate and came over to relieve him of some of his burden. "Long day?"
"Huh?" he mumbled, still dazed from her smile. "Ah, right— I met some people today who were very… interested in learning more about Sir Hoppington." He waved a hand towards the newly enlarged tank. Interested was putting it mildly, Kuon thought to himself as he recalled his afternoon. He expected Kyoko to break out into questions about who this mysterious academic was and if they were young and beautiful and potentially Kuon's True Love (after all, she had formed that amphibian society and put up posters in order to find his soulmate).
But then again, Kyoko rarely reacted as Kuon expected. Instead of a long outburst about how finally they had found the Prince's match in a mysterious frog-loving maiden, Kyoko just nodded (because of course, why wouldn't people be interested in Sir Hoppington? He'd been on all sorts of adventures and was quite the conversationalist). "Should we invite them to the wedding?" the bodyguard asked.
Kuon looked at the guard. Then he looked at the frog tank. Then back at Kyoko. There had been no talk of a wedding when Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily were reunited. The Prince had assumed that perhaps frog weddings were not a thing. Or perhaps very private affairs. To imply that Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily ought to have a wedding now, when the tadpoles were expected any day, felt like a blot on the frog's honor.
"Er, I mean, if Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily wish, then…" Kuon trailed off delicately.
"No, not them," she replied, a note of amusement in her voice (Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily were married, and had been so for years).
Kuon blinked, looking back at the little eggs in the tank. Given that the tadpoles would all be siblings, Kuon wasn't sure who exactly they were supposed to be marrying. Perhaps they were already betrothed? Human betrothals always happened after the children were born, but Kuon supposed that given the number of eggs, there were bound to be male and female offspring. Still, he really already had his hands full with the baby shower. "Perhaps we should wait until after they hatch?" he ventured cautiously.
Kyoko nodded. "Good point." That was smart. It would be nice to have Sir Hoppington's whole family present at the royal wedding. She noticed that Kuon was absent-mindedly moving food around on his plate. "You seem preoccupied."
Kuon didn't know how to respond. He was flattered that she noticed, of course. But then he had to remind himself not to be flattered, because Kyoko was just very observant and her noticing something didn't mean she had feelings for him and Kuon shouldn't delude himself. And he still thought about the fact that she kissed him probably upwards of a thousand times a day but had no idea how to ask her about it and so his only way to cope was to devote all of his time and energy into throwing the perfect baby shower for a frog, who also happened to be a knight of the realm. Everything was totally and definitely not fine, but asking Kyoko about how she felt about him would be an exercise in frustration and disappointment. So instead of saying any of that, Kuon unleashed a flood of words about his second-most concern:
"I was supposed to see about making garlands today, but I got so caught up talking with the scholars at the royal academy," Kuon began. "Which, by the way, one of them, Maharo, I think, they said they've never found any species of bioluminescent moss within fifty leagues of the castle and wanted to know where you found it, and I promised him I'd ask—" Kuon had briefly entertained the idea of telling the botanist that Kyoko was a changeling and had kind of A Thing about forests, but there hadn't been time and anyways it wasn't his information to share.
Kyoko raised an eyebrow at him.
"I wasn't thinking about moss for garlands, since from what I've gathered baby showers are usually afternoon affairs so it wouldn't be dark enough for the moss to glow anyhow. I still need to go back to the gardens and see if I can get some twigs cut into a little table but maybe I should ask the craftsman instead? Or the royal carpenters? And I thought toadstool mushrooms would make cute chairs but then I thought maybe that would be confusing since they're not toads they're frogs and anyways I remembered they're poisonous. I mean, to humans, but are they poisonous to frogs? I mean, Sir Hoppington seems pretty immune and I guess maybe since he's poisonous too it cancels out? And I still haven't finalized the invitations because the parchment maker said they'd have to see about cutting them into lily pads but they would need a few days so maybe I should ask again and—"
Kuon only stopped speaking because Kyoko had leaned forward and put a hand on his forehead.
"You don't feel feverish," she murmured, her fingers fluttering down his cheeks to skim under his jaw and then feel the back of his neck. She looked at him. "What's wrong?"
"What? Nothing's wrong with me, I'm fine! Well, okay, I'm a little bit behind and the eggs are due probably any day now so that's a bit stressful but I think that if I—"
"You are definitely not fine." The bodyguard gave him a look. "You're rambling. That's my thing."
Ah, so she is aware of it, Kuon fleetingly thought. Does she know how charming it is?
"It's just that I have a lot to do! I haven't found small enough tweezers to help arrange the party decorations, my stupid hands can't seem to even touch snowdrops without mangling them—"
"I like your hands," Kyoko said, smiling as she wove their fingers together.
Okay, that wasn't fair.
"You're just doing that to get me to stop fidgeting," Kuon said flatly. He had to state these things out loud, otherwise he'd drive himself crazy. This was Kyoko after all. If he started tapping his foot she would probably sit in his lap to stop him from ruining the carpet.
"You're taking this so seriously," Kyoko said, ignoring his comment. "I was just thinking of having some cake with Maria and Moko, not going to Duke Takarada levels of party planning."
Kuon winced. She was right, of course. He supposed he was going a bit overboard. But what other options did he have? If he didn't focus on planning the perfect tadpole shower then he would have to think about other things like the fact that Kyoko was still holding his hands and she had kissed him and then never mentioned it again like it was a totally normal thing to do and not some sort of god-forsaken way to mentally torture him for the rest of his days. So it felt better for the prince to try and ignore all that and instead devote his mental energy to figuring out how to construct a frog-sized baby's breath and meadowgrass garland to hang around Sir Hoppington's tank.
"I suppose I've gotten a bit carried away," Kuon admitted, avoiding her gaze.
Kyoko smiled. "I'm sure Sir Hoppinton and Lady Lily appreciate the gesture."
"What should I do, then?" he looked up at her.
"Just be yourself," Kyoko replied.
She was startlingly close, Kuon realized. And she was giving him a very fond look, which was confusing because he was certain he'd seen the same soft gaze before but it had never been directed at him. And then, even more confusingly, she was leaning forward. Kuon watched in slow motion. Her hand was coming up to cup his face. That couldn't be right. Maybe he had a crumb on his cheek. She was just going to brush it away— no, wait, those were definitely her fingertips pushing back the hair at his temple. Okay. Maybe no crumbs, she was just bothered. But why was she coming closer? To inspect his other cheek? Kuon felt the barest flutter as a strand of hair brushed along the other side of his face. He could hear a soft exhale, her warm breath by his ear, her lips softly pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Kuon exploded.
"You can't do that!"
She drew back, confused, but still not letting go of his hand. "Why not?"
The prince sputtered incoherently. Because it was confusing. Because it was unfair. Because there was only so oblivious a person was allowed to be. Because she didn't mean anything by it, she'd probably just read some obscure text that talked about the benefits of skin contact on the human psyche and since he was obviously discouraged and she was his guard she thought it was within the realm of her duty to help him somehow and this was just her way and—
"Do you not like it?" Kyoko asked, a worried line forming between her brows. "Or is it about my rank? Don't worry, my feelings won't interfere with my ability to perform my duties as your bodyguard."
"Your feelings," Kuon repeated dumbly. "What feelings?"
Kyoko gestured between them.
"That does not help," Kuon said. "Use words."
"Us," Kyoko said.
"Use more words."
"I love you?"
"I take it back, I'm not fine," the Prince declared in a wobbly voice. "Something's definitely wrong with me— I think I just hallucinated that you said you loved me."
"I did."
The next moment, Kuon was on the floor. Kyoko and Sir Hoppington peered down at him with concern.
"Croaaaaaak."
The prince blinked. "What happened?"
"You fainted," Kyoko said, helping him sit up.
Kuon rubbed the back of his neck. "How long was I out?"
"Not long," Kyoko said, checking his pulse (a little elevated, but otherwise normal). "A True Love's Kiss works on more than just sleeping curses."
"Ribbit."
"Oh," Kuon said, looking at Sir Hoppington. He was genuinely touched. "Thanks."
"No, mine, not his," Kyoko clarified.
"Okay, I'm concussed," the Prince declared, immediately lying back down on the carpet.
Kyoko held up a finger in front of his face and moved it slowly back and forth, tracking his gaze. She nodded with satisfaction. "I don't think so."
"Then I'm dreaming. I must've fallen asleep at my desk. That's it. I'm dreaming. I've had this dream like a million times."
"You're awake," the guard said. "Do you want me to prove it?"
"You always say that in my dreams." Kuon relaxed. It was all starting to make sense.
Kyoko leaned over and kissed him again, her lips meeting his own.
"Alright," Kuon admitted, "that's the best my imagination has ever done. Maybe it was all that science talk earlier, but my mind must be—"
"This is real."
"The floor isn't too bad, but usually we're somewhere more comfortable," Kuon remarked.
"Great idea!" Kyoko picked up the Prince, draping him over her shoulders. She gently laid him in his giant royal bed, and then began to tuck the covers in around him very tightly.
"I…" Kuon swallowed. "Shit. I'm awake, aren't I?"
"You are. And you don't have a fever, but I think you might be coming down with something," she replied. She frowned. "I'll be right back."
"Kyoko! No, wait!" The prince cried desperately. "Don't leave! Kyoko, come back! I DON'T NEED THE HEALTH JUICE!"
Kyoko padded back over to his bed and perched on the side of it. "Are you sure? You look flushed."
"Flus— how are you so calm?"
"Well, I had time to think about it, you know?"
He stared at her in disbelief. "Time."
She nodded.
"How much time?"
"I'd say… about twenty minutes before I kissed you at the ball?"
Sir Hoppington ribbited his agreement from the tank that was slowly taking over the prince's entire chambers.
"Minutes."
"Are you sure you're feeling alright? You keep repeating words."
"You took twenty minutes from realizing to — to —"
"Well, it had been building up for a long time. I just didn't let myself notice. Once the duke pointed it out to me, it all made sense."
"The duke?"
"Well, only sort of! He just — well, it's my fault for not paying more attention in True Match class, but at the time I didn't think it was useful — but he just, um." She looked away, a very fetching blush powdering her cheeks. "He pointed out that there's nothing saying that changelings can't have True Loves. So."
"You know what?" he asked, sitting up. "I've decided I don't care how it happened. I love you, too. C'mere."
Sir Hoppington and Lady Lily hopped away into one of their many fairy-inspired hidey-holes to give the new couple some privacy. After all, for all her other skills, Kyoko had a lot to learn about kissing.