Wattpad Contest Plot Bunnies

Chemistry

A/N: The prompt for this challenge was to write a romance under 1500 words featuring at least two songs from a list of ten selections. I chose "More Than Words" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Chemistry

Derek signed up for a dating app, and the next day he heard the app's parent company would sponsor a one-time TV series called "So You Want to Marry a Princess." While he was vaguely interested in hearing who Princess Naomi would marry, he never expected to be personally involved in the decision.

A week later he received an invitation from the show's producers to participate as a suitor. Today was his first day on set, and the whole idea of dating a princess still felt surreal.

As if that weren't disorienting enough, now he was supposed to talk about himself to a set of strangers pointing a camera at him.

"I teach science to middle school students," he said as he wrapped up his introduction, carefully looking at the camera even though it felt rude not to look at the person asking the questions.

"Do you feel like you have chemistry with the princess?" prompted the person Derek was not supposed to look at.

This morning he'd been one of twenty suitors to meet the princess, and he barely had five minutes to talk to her. Yes, she was attractive, but she also had an air of diffidence. Or perhaps she was simply guarded. Her reaction reminded him of the shyness he observed in students who were new to his school.

Thinking of his students gave Derek an idea, and he grinned. "Keeping in mind the young teens I teach, I'd have to say that it's best to get to know someone well, and not just jump into an intimate relationship based on a feeling of instant chemistry."

"What makes you a good match for the princess?"

So much for trying to dodge these questions. Derek gestured toward himself. He was somewhat stout, and wore his customary brown tweed jacket. "My students and their parents refer to me as a teddy bear: kind, friendly, but maybe a little imposing based on my size. I try to make everyone feel comfortable around me, and with each new school year I practice winning over a new set of students and their families. The result is that I get along with people of many ages and backgrounds, which sounds like an important quality for the spouse of princess. I mean, Princess Naomi spends a lot of time with the public, and from that I infer she needs a partner who's good at meeting and befriending people. Beyond that..." He shrugged. "The app chose me to participate because the algorithm said we're highly compatible with each other. Who am I to question science?"

When he was released from the interview, he walked past others who were still talking to the cameras. He paused to watch the interview with Hazel, a PhD candidate studying astrophysics. While Derek was one of eight suitors chosen by an app, Hazel was one of twelve selected by Princess Naomi's parents and older sister.

"There once was a nonbinary mess," said Hazel in answer to a question Derek hadn't heard, "who courted a lovely princess."

A limerick? Derek was enchanted.

"They watched the stars at night, and found a meteorite, and made a **bleep** stardust wedding dress." The rapidity of the bleep, coming in real time, confirmed what Derek had already noticed. Hazel swore a lot.

He continued listening to the interview. After Hazel finished and stood up, Derek stepped forward to say, "When the competition is over, I'd love to have you speak to my kids."

Hazel raised a brow.

"My students," he clarified. "I'm a science teacher."

"I know," Hazel said. "But you heard me. They bleeped out something from nearly every sentence."