Prince Among Men

[helpdesk_hero]

Frankly, he hadn't expected to get this chance. At all. Didn't matter that he was the top of his class. That he learned things mostly instantly. Sure there was a lot of reasons that this shouldn't have happened. Yet here he was, two days in to an internship at the Genoshan royal palace. And David's been moving through things carefully, juggling a large pile of folders and binders. A lot of stuff went on behind the scenes he'd learned, working as he did under a minister of commerce and trade.

And as an intern his main jobs seemed, at least for these first few days, carrying things back and forth and fetching coffee. He'd networked with someone who did the internship the year before and learned that yeah, it sucked the first few days, but then you started doing cool stuff, so he had his fingers crossed.

Okay, not actually, he was too busy moving quickly through the halls, trying not to trip and drop a massive pile of reports that he was certain had only been given to him because hazing the new guy who had already turned out to be smarter than half of the undersecretaries. Oops.

The big problem, of course, is taking a corner too quick. It wasn't that he meant to run into someone, but there it was happening anyway.

Comments

[wearingthestars]

"I'll tell them it's me trying to get some American mutant's attention," he corrects with a teasing smile. But he's not wrong. There is a real risk in pursuing this.

"...We don't have to tell them straight away."

[helpdesk_hero]

"There are eyes everywhere," David answered. Yes, he's expecting a VERY stern talking to.

[wearingthestars]

There are. There's more than a few sharing the room with them, though William seems to trust them enough to keep going.

"...I could use a tutor," he offers. It seems a good excuse. If they mean to keep things secret. Or they could be honest and hope the King would allow them to try this.

[helpdesk_hero]

A tutor?

"In what? And I'm not sure how I'm going to fit that in with all the interning."

[wearingthestars]

"Name a subject." It didn't particularly matter if it was a ruse, "I generally see one for an hour or two each week, it's not overly intensive."

[helpdesk_hero]

Interesting. "Listen, if you can sell someone on it, I can probably help. I'm particularly good with languages, but I can teach just about anything you'd need. Well, I mean, I can probably do a lot of subjects."

[wearingthestars]

"I think you would be an easy sell," the Prince agrees, "Which languages?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Almost everything European. Hebrew. Three dialects of Spanish. Mandarin, Japanese, Korean. A few others from that region. I... like absorbing languages the best. Because it's not like I'm stealing in the same way."

[wearingthestars]

"...very easy sell," he corrects with a laugh. Not that he's expected to know ALL those languages personally, but he's meant to be studying a fair few, and having one tutor for ALL of them seems perfectly reasonable and worth while.

[helpdesk_hero]

"You know that one or two hours a week isn't nearly enough time to learn a language, right?"

Come on, Princeling, surely you understand that much.

[wearingthestars]

"Well, I'm sure they'd be happy to offer you a daily position, but I wouldn't want to eat into your coffee fetching." He hopes the teasing in implied, though the offer is serious.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I would think that, as a tutor, you would be the one fetching coffee. But maybe, after my summer is up, you could convince the King to do so."

[wearingthestars]

"I can convince him to do almost anything," the Prince insists. The key word being almost. He hasn't quite been able to weaken his stance on the human issue, but still, he and his brother get away with a lot that his mother and her siblings wouldn't.

[helpdesk_hero]

Really, how interesting. Not that David is going to point that out. "Well, if you need a language tutor and he's willing to pay and you'll put in the hours, I can accept the position."

[wearingthestars]

"Mm," William nods easily. It shouldn't be any trouble. What better tutor could there be than someone with David's powerset? It would be an easy sell.

"I think that can be arranged."

[helpdesk_hero]

Who knows. Maybe one day David would even get a job here as an advisor to the royals. For now he's more than amused that the prince might try.

"I wish you luck," David rolls his eyes. Because he doesn't expect it will happen.

[wearingthestars]

"You don't believe me?" William presses with a laugh, "I'm going to do this. I mean it. You just be ready with an apology for that lack of faith, mm."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I believe you may try, but I cannot see the legendary Erik Magnus bending to another person's will."

And it's just like that.

[wearingthestars]

"It's easier than you might think when the legendary Erik Magnus is also known as Grandfather."

Who can say no to this cute face?

[helpdesk_hero]

"I don't know, I didn't really know my grandparents. And I've been estranged for years."

Not that David seems too upset, especially when he works on finishing his lungh.

[wearingthestars]

"Well, trust me, the job's as good as yours."

No doubt the prince is going to rush to plead for his new tutor as soon as David leaves him.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Again, I will believe it when I see it."

But he's willing to give up several hours a week to teach the Prince, gain a friend, and have more money to support himself with.

[wearingthestars]

David can doubt all he wants, but before the day's over he'll have been contacted by no fewer than three palace officials attempting to vet him for the job.

The Prince wasn't exaggerating when he said had the King's ear.

[helpdesk_hero]

He'll doubt until his entire evening is taken over by talking to officials. Because wow, that is going to be WAY deeper vetting and security than just working the palace. For now, though, he's enjoying lunch with the Prince.

"Are you going to join me at work this afternoon too? I don't suggest it. My boss is going to want to chide me."

[wearingthestars]

He smiles almost shyly, and laughs, "Are they going to chide you if I'm there too? Because I kind of want to see that," he teases lightly, "...it's up to you, I'm sure you'd like some time where you aren't forced to babysit, but I would enjoy seeing more."