But It Happening While He Is Just Seeking For Yves' Attention And Not To Worry About One Of Them Being In Danger - Tumblr Posts

Cold Shoulder | AO3

Characters: Yves Kloss, Nokto Klein, F!Reader

Genre: Slice of Life, Fluff

Summary: Winter winds blow through the palace halls, chilling prince and pauper alike. It's a good thing Yves has two shoulders to share.

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: Light pink and blue look darling together, do they not? Also I'm wearing 3 layers of socks rn, it's so cold.

Wintertime swept Rhodolite right from underneath everyone’s noses, bringing with it a crippling freeze that shook the kingdom more suddenly and ferociously than one of Luke’s gigantic sneezes. Palace-goers and townsfolk alike responded swiftly, swapping their lighter fabrics for heavy coats and shawls, replenishing every candle, torch, and fireplace the second they died out, and cooking seemingly endless vats of warming soups and steamy breads with every meal. Not even royalty was immune to the cold; it was increasingly more common to spot Jin with his sleeves rolled all the way down, Clavis wearing multiple pairs of gloves at once, and Leon shuffling through the halls cocooned, his velvety comforter trailing behind him.

The hands of time merely shifted to a new hour as life resumed with normalcy, only now at a chilly pace. Everyone had developed their own method of combating the frigid temperatures. Everyone, it seemed, except you.

But it wasn’t as though you simply allowed the cold to completely slip your mind. This was your first winter in the palace, and more than anything you wanted to join in on the motley of action it took to keep the place running in these harsh conditions.  It was why you sought Licht at the grounds for stretches and warm up drills before training began. It was why you stuck around after lessons for warm afternoon tea with Sariel and Rio. And it was why you limited your time with Chevalier, lest his glacial stare paralyze your person any longer than it needed to. But even with all these precautions, frosted trembles still shivered your timbers morning to night.

Maybe I’ll just stay in bed today, you thought one particularly frigid morning, all twenty of your fingers and toes blue and curled tight like braided rope. Surely you would be of little help in this state, more bane than boon to everyone already keeping up with the current. As you pulled the blankets over your head, the image of a certain poppy-painted prince crossed your thoughts, the one you’d hoped most of all would not be disappointed by your absence at breakfast, only to have the blanket furiously ripped away by the very same person.

What followed whooshed by like a blur as Yves whisked you from your room to a hurried breakfast and finally to his chambers. He wasted no time seating you at his vanity, laying out an extensive assortment of styling tools and cosmetics, and clipping your hair out of your face, all the while babbling about how inconsiderate it was of you to keep him waiting for your appointment. You kept still and silent as he worked, racking your brain with each brush and tug, until at last your curiosity was too much to bear.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Yves, but what’s this appointment for?”

Yves, who had been struggling the past minute to open a tub of a face mask solution, looked up and glowered at your words. “Last night at dinner you  mentioned your skin has been feeling extra dry in the cold weather, and I graciously offered my assistance. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten?”

You lightly shrugged your shoulders, careful not to undo the work done to your hair. The lid finally popped off and clattered onto the floor.

“And after a prince went out of his way to help you?” Yves sputtered, scrambling to retrieve the fallen lid. “Didn’t you think I’d have better things to do with my time?”

Guilt released a new chill up your spine as you shrank in your seat, unable to look him in the eye. You desperately tried to remember the conversation, but aside from climbing into bed the entire night was a blur. At last, Yves stood again and gave a knowing huff.

“Listen. I know you’ve been trying to help around the palace, but take it from me when I say it’s not worth breaking your back over things you’re not good at.” He scooped a liberal dollop of the solution with a spatula and began spreading it from your cheeks. “Some of us simply aren’t built for the cold, but that doesn’t mean we don’t excel at other things.”

“But you excel in the hot and in the cold, Yves! You still find ways to make yourself useful, even though it’s harder for you. I want to be like you.” Yves’s frosty rose-tinted nose flashed a deeper plum.

“It is expected of me as a prince,” he said, keeping his eyes trained on evening the mask over your forehead. “If I couldn’t serve my kingdom over a little windchill, well then I’d be out of commission for half the year. But you mustn’t let it get you down, it makes me happy to be able to help people in need. And you help us back by letting us do our jobs. Chin up.”

You frowned. “That sounds disingenuous on my part.”

“No, I mean literally ‘chin up’. I don’t want to ruin your blouse.” Using his pinky, he lightly lifted your chin, and a sudden warmth overcame you as he leaned closer to apply the mask below your lip. Keeping still became a challenge as the sensation of his tiny breaths on your cheek mixed with his closing proximity made your face burn with shyness, and you opened your mouth to ask him to move back when another voice beat you to the punch.

“Oh no! A hideous monster! Don’t worry, Evie, I’ll save you!”

There was a bit of loud shuffling, and Yves was yanked out of your view. Replacing him came the face of a highly unamused Nokto.

“Oh, it’s just you. False alarm. But can you blame me when you look like that?” he said with a grin. Yves grabbed his collar and yanked back, knocking him on the bed.

“You can’t just waltz into my room, you know!” Yves huffed, standing between the two of you. “The door was closed. Do you not understand proper etiquette?”

“Come now, Evie. When you say it like that, it sounds like you were afraid I’d walk in on something scandalous.” Nokto sat up, his grin more pronounced than ever. Yves flushed an even deeper red.

“That’s not what it was, and you know it!” shrieked Yves. “If you’re here to stir up trouble, just leave!”

“I’m actually here for an emergency appointment. You will squeeze me in, won’t you? Or was all that talk about princes helping those in need just hot air?”

Yves crossed his arms and scowled. “If you haven’t noticed, I have a client at the moment.”

Nokto laughed and lightly padded up beside you. “Can you believe him? Can’t even be bothered to help his brother in a crisis.”

“You are not a child, you can handle it on your own,” said Yves.

Nokto waited for him to turn around before inching closer and whispering “He used to love styling Licht and me back as kids. We were his best customers, you know” into your ear with an acerbic undertone.

“Only because you two would hound me incessantly until I did!” Yves snapped back, curling brush in hand.

“Dear Evie, you should thank us for letting you hone your craft on our infantile noggins. I’d think that adds up to at least one emergency appointment, wouldn’t you?" He jauntily leaned against the dresser and ran a hand through his hair. “Just a brush through will do.”

“Not happening,” said Yves.

“Then could I get a top coat? I’m running low on black.” Nokto extended his hands and mimed tickling the air.

“Then buy some more.”

“Not even a facial like the little lady?”

“As if.”

“How about a kiss on the cheek for your favorite brother?”

“Licht is surveying his territory today.”

Nokto clucked his tongue and dug around the makeup products in front of you. He extracted a black eyeliner and carefully dotted two spots beneath his left eye.

“I missed you, big brother, so I came home early,” he said in a monotone voice, inclining his head.

“Out!” Yves brandished the brush and chased a chuckling Nokto out the door, slamming it when he left.

“The nerve of him,” Yves muttered when he returned to your side. “What I said about a prince’s duty doesn’t apply to that lunkhead.”

You let him brush your hair in silence, the cold feeling swirling back around you two as you watched him work through the vanity mirror.

“Hey, Yves?” you started. “Please call him back in.”

Yves nearly dropped the brush. “What? Why?”

“For his emergency appointment. You’re almost finished with me, right? And he wasn’t doing any harm.”

“Not doing any harm? He called you a hideous monster!”

“Can you blame him?” You gestured to the bubbly mask slowly solidifying on your face. “It was only a joke. I think Nokto just wanted company.”

“That’s no excuse to take it out on you,” Yves said, grabbing a ribbon and tying your hair. “If he has a problem, he should be a man and address me directly.”

“I meant he seems jealous of me.”

“Jealous of you?”

You nodded your head. “For spending time with you.”

Yves’s fingers halted midair and his mouth gaped open like a fish’s. You turned around in your seat and grabbed his frozen hands, squeezing them and sharing the little warmth you two managed.

“The actions of a prince serve thousands. The attention of a brother serves one.”

Yves closed his mouth and slowly entwined your fingers, a tender heat growing with every inch. 

“You really believe that’s what he wants?”

Your breath caught in your throat. “I do, because I am of a like mind.”

Yves squeezed harder. “You are both incorrigible.”

“When it comes to you, can you blame us?”

Giggles filled the room, replacing the icy atmosphere with gentle giddiness. Yves lifted his head and looked into your eyes adoringly.

“Very well, but in a few minutes. I’d like to have you to myself for a little longer.”

“Sweet! I’ll call Luke then, he’s been dying to get his cuticles cleaned since I told him what you could do.” 

Nokto poked his head out the tiny crack in the door just as Yves hurled the brush.

And so, you and Yves talked about your feelings, Nokto apologized to you two in his Nokto-way and Yves prepared him for whatever it was he deemed was an "emergency", and Luke enjoyed his first ever manicure. And you all lived happily ever after... Until Licht came home and felt left out. You promised to invite him next time.

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