Drabble of @thefetchingfletcher and @nobletoatea by Mun
Somehow, Lorenz kept finding himself in the same unsatisfactory predicament. Requesting a dinner partner with elegance and grace was second nature to him, and yet he hadn’t found a lady to dine beside all night. “Peculiar,” he muttered, scanning the entrance hall for a noble girl he hadn’t talked to that night and zeroing in on long lavender hair from across the hall. “Hmmm. Our children would most certainly inherit our heliotrope halo- perhaps she would acquiesce to my humble request!”
Lorenz walked up to his fellow classmate, tapping them on the shoulder lightly. “Excuse me, my lady- are you perhaps in search of a dining companion?”
Without the shoulder tap, Leon wouldn’t have known he was the one being addressed. Leon turned around with raised eyebrows that then raised miraculously even further at the sight of Lorenz’s bangs. “Oh,” was the most polite thing he could say on reflex.
Not a lady. Lorenz froze, stepping back and trying to bow at the same time. “My sincerest apologies, I shall take my le-“
“Wait! I’m free for dinner!” Leon recovered and shot Lorenz a smile. Not quite Leon’s type, but he could work with it, maybe tag team with Mercedes and a pair of scissors. Finally, he was getting somewhere! Weren’t they even in the same House? “You’re the first guy to ask me out, actually. I’m relieved someone finally did!”
Lorenz coughed. He’d been seconds away from departing to find a compatible partner. “Er- pardon?”
“Dinner? Yes? They’re serving that peach sorbet tonight.”
“Oh. Right. Yes of course.” Lorenz numbly let Leon lead him to the dining hall, unable to withdraw once extending an invitation. He sat beside Leon in silence with their dishes of magically made peach confection.
Several minutes passed. Leon’s mood deflated as he scowled at the table, carving into his sorbet with an ill temper. Lorenz wasn’t even making an attempt to talk to him! It didn’t take more than a minute for Leon to realize Lorenz had asked him to dinner completely by mistake. “What’s your name?”
Immediate response. “Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, at your service.”
He seemed cordial enough, but distant. Leon sighed as his shoulders sagged. “So how would you talk to me if I was a girl in this situation?”
Lorenz glanced at Leon. He only took nibbles of sorbet, presumably to be able to talk at any given second. “I would get to know you, as any gentleman should. I suppose I can still ask- are you from nobility?”
“Was a born with a title? No.”
Lorenz turned back to his meal dismissively. “A pity- you genuinely carry yourself with grace. A rarity in your position of the hierarchy.”
Leon narrowed his eyes, wondering where this awkward dance could possibly be going. His jaw clenched with indignation at being so rapidly discarded. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Lorenz hummed lightly and nodded to himself. “It means it is my duty to protect you and offer guidance, should you ever need it.” He flashed Leon a shallow smile. “Unfortunately, you would not possess the pedigree I require for my purposes.”
Pedigree? Leon scraped the inside of his dish, cleaning the spoon off as he tried to decipher what Lorenz meant. “Pedigree... like owning a purebred dog?”
Lorenz’s reaction made the entire encounter worth it, inhaling peach cream up his nose and coughing hard, slamming his palm on the table as he struggled to breathe. “Good Goddess, no! A person with proper blood and upbringing! My wife must match me, or, if possible, be even better.”
All of this was searching for a wife? No wonder Leon had been tossed aside! From the sympathetic but condescending tone he had, this guy would get along with Clive like two peas in a pod. Leon was about to launch into a lecture but suddenly covered his mouth with his hand, anger dissolving as he tried not to laugh at the newly presented angle Lorenz’s hair from the back. “HA!” Leon still tried to summon his previous outrage but couldn’t, stifling a giggle as Lorenz composed himself. “Oh I see- well in that case- I- I’m too common for your presence and must leave you to your own noble company!” he declared dramatically, snorting at the end of his sentence.
“Now wait-“ started Lorenz, concerned about a commoner going astray. “That is not my intent! How am I to aid you if we cannot mutually get along?”
Leon was already getting up from the table, too hurried to be polite. He took his cup and spoon and turned to Lorenz. “My name is Leon, by the way. Go ahead and forget it- but try clearing your own dishes for once!”
Lorenz gazed at Leon as he stormed away, brows furrowed with confusion. How could he have possibly offended him? “That poor boy can’t even handle someone being nice to him. Oh, trials of day to day life truly warp the commonfolk beyond repair,” mourned Lorenz, shaking his head and leaving Leon’s fate up to the Goddess.
