“ you waited for me? ”
Steffan had been sitting patiently on a bench outside of one of the many buildings on campus for a while now, but not long enough to start to feel foolish for what he was doing, although perhaps he should have. After all, it was a day that he didn’t even have classes, so he would typically be doing princely work instead of hanging around the school. Still, he felt drawn to Auradon’s most prestigious school today because of one person and one person only. Ever since the Charming’s Anniversary Ball, he had been unable to stop thinking about AJ Triton.
He’d noticed the girl before, of course; she was one of his brother’s many friends (the best of them, he’d always thought, although he silently acknowledged that the bar there was low) and a fellow royal. And if that wasn’t enough, the two shared a birthday, which was great fun. None of that held a candle to how he felt about her now that she’d saved his life from a falling pillar of fire. Perhaps it was just the part of him that had been raised on stories of his father rescuing his mother right before their happily ever after, or perhaps it was simply the bravery that AJ had exhibited, but whatever the case was, she’d been running through his mind every waking moment since and he had to do something about it.
What that something was, he’d been initially unsure. Steffan wasn’t like his younger brother when it came to these types of things; he’d seen Silvester get carried away by intense feelings that were interpreted as ‘love’ based on their sheer strength, and it always ended up in grand gestures, big spending, and huge mistakes. Though Steffan would never judge his brother outloud, he’d always known he didn’t want to be anything like him, especially in that regard, and moreover, he knew he lacked the same fire that drove Silvester to act the way he did. When it came to romance and things of a more sensual nature, Steffan was simply soft. Sometimes he wondered if he lacked the same edge he saw in most other people, and it made him a bit self-conscious when it came to asking people out at all.
AJ had lit a fire in his heart though, and he couldn’t ignore that. He wanted to ask her to spend time together, to see what might happen, and if she wasn’t interested, that was her prerogative. If she was though? Well, perhaps this was the beginning of something very special. It sure felt like the beginning of something special as he saw her rounding the corner as classes let out. The mere sight of her made his heart melt a bit in his chest and goodness, it was a wonderful feeling. AJ was a bit short, so before he lost sight of her in the crowd, he called out to her by her name, watching as she turned towards him. Her eyes widened in surprise and it made him smile more as he caught up to her, falling into stride beside her.
“Hello, AJ!” he greeted, unable to stop himself from radiating excitement with a warm grin. “I hope you do not mind, a little birdy told me where I might find you today.” Maybe one day, Steffan would mention that it was a literal little bird that he’d asked to follow AJ to find the best time to approach her, but for now, he had more important matters to get to. “I am sorry if this is a bad time, but I just wanted to see you face to face so that I could ask you if I could treat you to a nice dinner sometime soon? Or better yet, to a picnic and a good walk? I do not know if you have heard, but I am kind of the prince of picnics,” he joked with a laugh before shaking his head. “Or you can choose what we do! In fact, you should, I insist upon it; I would be honored to spend time with you regardless of the activity. You see, I have been wracking my brain trying to think of how best to show you how grateful I am to you for what happened at the Charming’s ball, and I know that a nice evening is not even close to enough, but it seems to me a good place to start. What do you think?”