Chapter Text
Scott was bored.
The Spring-Summer Royal Courtship Festival had wrapped up a few days ago, and since yesterday, all the suitors had left. Scott, predictably, had come out of it without a single partner, again.
Don’t get him wrong, most of the princesses and noble girls were nice and kind, exactly the sort of people he would love to befriend. He also knew they were conventionally attractive, he just… wasn’t attracted. He didn’t feel a connection or any sort of thing like that. It wasn’t like Scott didn’t want a partner, it was just that his gut was telling him “she’s not for you”.
Honestly, the whole festival was quite tiring. He had to meet and talk to so, so, so many suitors that he, being an introvert, got tired of after five minutes. He didn’t get why so many people came to court him, especially since he’s had a track record of declining all of his suitors on first meeting.
Apparently rejecting everyone doesn’t discourage people from chasing you, Scott thought, idly looking out the palace window. No, but it does encourage them to do it even more as a challenge.
It really was exhausting, and Scott was immensely glad it was over. Right now, he would love nothing more than to—
“Scott! Why are you staring outside? Are you thinking of going out?” A voice cut through Scott’s thoughts.
“Martyn, you’re my best friend, but please don’t interrupt my thinking.” Scott responded, exasperated.
“Fine, but how am I supposed to know if you’re thinking?” Martyn replied, pouting slightly.
“You know me by now, if I’m staring blankly, I’m thinking.”
“Fine,” Martyn resigned, “but do you want to go out now? You know that the days after the courtship festivals are always the freest.”
That would mean Scott’s plans to nap the whole day were out the window, but who was he to say no to Martyn? Plus, Martyn was right, these few days would probably be the most unrestricted ones before he inevitably returned to his princely duties. So he turned away from the window, and faced Martyn.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go then!” Martyn grabbed Scott’s hand, and dragged him away from the windowsill.
Scott hadn’t been to the city centre much, heck, he rarely left the palace. Why would he, when everything he needed was inside? The palace wasn’t terribly boring, and he had Martyn to keep him company, after all. Besides, he’s almost always busy with magic lessons and such.
It was quite nice to go out once in a while though. The bustling city centre was full of people, and the liveliness was beautiful, in a way. There were vendors tending to their stores, families spending time together happily, friends chatting with each other enthusiastically, and the noise overlapped into a pleasant chatter.
Martyn kept leading him on, ranting on and on about something, Scott wasn’t sure what it was. He let Martyn drag him around the city centre, as he admired the surroundings he rarely ever sees. He should honestly try and get out more often during his free time.
Then Martyn must’ve seen something, because he proceeded to leave Scott alone somewhere in the city centre, going off to do whatever. Scott was now in the middle of some street he did not know how to navigate.
Scott decided to walk around for a bit, explore the city a little. He’ll find his way back to the palace eventually.
Something red in the peripheral of Scott’s vision drew his attention. Turning to look at it, Scott saw a small patch of red flowers next to a florist’s stall.
Feeling strangely attracted to them, Scott walked nearer to take a closer look at the flowers.
Scott crouched down to take a better look. The flowers were poppies. The bright and vivid red colour drew him in; the subtle sweet smell made him nostalgic. Looking at them, he was reminded of home, but there weren’t any back at the palace. It gave him a strange sense of familiarity, and a tingling sense of loss, despite him only having seen this flower a few times before.
The poppies were so mesmerising to look at… Scott wanted to pick one and take it home. He slowly reached out his hand.
“Hey! You can’t pick those flowers!” A voice came from behind his back. Turning his head backwards, Scott saw a man with golden blonde hair and deep brown eyes. He must be the stall owner.
He was… kinda cute, if Scott was to be honest. He felt his cheeks go warm, which was unusual, seeing as he was an ice magic user.
“Are you listening to me? You can’t— Wait, you’re Prince Scott! Uhh— Your Highness, uh— sorry!” The man stammered.
“I am,” Scott confirmed, “who are you?”
“I’m Jimmy,” the man, Jimmy, responded, and continued, “so, what brings you out here, Your Highness? You’re rarely seen in the city.”
“Nothing much, just a walk,” Scott hummed, “those flowers are pretty. Did you grow them?”
“Yeah! Aren’t they beautiful? They’re poppies! They represent remembrance for lives lost in war. They usually make a lot of sales in the following days, considering it’s the anniversary of the Desert-Dogwarts war. They say that these flowers sprouted from the desolation of the battlefield…”
Scott listened to Jimmy as he told him about the significance and history behind the flowers, finding himself quite interested in what the florist had to say. He continued to listen as he moved onto the meanings of other flowers, listening as Jimmy sprouted off all his flower knowledge.
He didn’t realise how long he’d been there for, until he heard a voice shout for him.
“Scott!” Martyn approached him from behind. “It’ll be dark soon, we should start heading back.” Jimmy looked up, and his eyes widened.
“Have I really been talking for so long? I’m so sorry for ranting, Your Highness!” Jimmy shook his head aggressively, seemingly berating himself mentally.
“Hey.” Scott grabbed Jimmy’s hands. “You didn’t rant, I found what you had to say about the flowers really interesting! I never knew about any of that, but I’d really like to know more. Also, please just call me Scott.”
Jimmy turned red, which Scott found slightly amusing. “Uh— uhm— of course, Your High— I mean, Scott! Do you have to be going now? Hmm…” Jimmy walked over to his stall, taking out a bouquet of red poppies, before walking back.
“It’s a gift, since you seemed to like the poppies so much earlier,” Jimmy said, handing them to Scott.
Now it was Scott’s turn to turn bright red. He looked down at the poppies, which gave him the same weird mixture of nostalgia and loss, and looked back up at Jimmy.
“Thanks so much, I’ll take good care of them. Hopefully I see you again soon.” With that, Scott and Martyn started to head back to the palace.
As they walked, Martyn looked at Scott.
“You were so red back there! Do you have a crush on the florist boy?” Martyn asked Scott, his smirk showing through in his voice.
“What— no! I only just met him! He was just telling me about flowers…” Scott trailed off.
Martyn scoffed. “Yeah, and then he gave you flowers. Red poppies, at that. Their most well-known meaning is remembrance for the fallen, but they also mean undying love.” He emphasised the last two words.
“I—” Scott shook his head. “Well, where’d you go? You left me all alone in the city centre!”
“I ran into Ren! I told you before I left that I’d be back soon, but you didn’t hear and wandered off. And don’t think I don’t notice you changing the subject.”
“Ren? You mean, your childhood friend Ren, the one you can’t stop telling me about? And I’m the one with the crush.” Scott chuckled as Martyn reddened.
“Hey— truce now, no more talk of crushes, ok?” Martyn held out his hand to Scott.
“Truce.” Scott shook Martyn’s hand, and they changed the subject once again as they arrived at the palace.
The next day, there was a new vase of red flowers on the windowsill of the Prince of Rivendell.