Meet Me in the Garden (DSAF royal AU)

Chapter Three - Freesias

"It'll be fine. Soon enough we'll be moving out of this old home, and away from the... problems, it provides." Peter's face turned sour as he eyed the growing patch of mold in the corner, which was becoming increasingly difficult to cover up.

Jack chuckled, and picked up his bags. "Well, I'd best be going now, I don't want the king to wait for long... I already gave him a time to expect me."

"Get me a flower!" Dee chimed, firmly grasping Peter's striped bow tie. "The prettiest one you can find!!"

"Dee, sweetie, I don't know if he can pick flowers from their garden..." Peter smiled as she huffed and crossed her arms. "But knowing him, he'll probably still try to sneak a few."

Jack would miss this sight dearly, Dee being doted on by Peter, and Steven watching awkwardly.

"Alright. I'll try and visit occasionally, if King Henry allows it." Jack stated, reaching out to pat Dee on the head. "And I'll see what I can do about the flowers."

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"Your majesty, may I speak to you about Prince Dave?"

Henry gave Jack a look that showed complete and utter disinterest.

Jack had arrived a few minutes prior, and Henry had called on some castle workers to take his belongings and put them into his sleeping space. Just before he began to work, Jack had remembered his encounter with the prince on the previous night, and thought it may be a good idea to check in with Henry to see if he knew about his son's panic attacks.

"... William? Has he already bothered you?" Something in his expression showed that Henry couldn't possibly care less about what Jack had to say, at least now that Dave was involved. "Causing trouble before you even start, how in-character."

"W... What? No, your majesty," Jack said, slightly taken aback. "I was just curious if you knew about last night, he was pretty distressed."

"Oh, yes, I do recall him being tense last night," The king put a finger to his chin and tapped. "But from what I could tell, it was merely an overreaction. He's not immune to those."

"Your majesty, I don't want to question your parenting skills, but..." Jack would be lying if he said that Henry's apathy towards the subject didn't make him uncomfortable. "Isn't Dave your son?"

"How I parent William doesn't concern you, Kennedy."

"Your majesty, I-"

"It. Doesn't. Concern you." Henry scowled at Jack, his frustration making his already pink skin go red. After several uncomfortable, silent seconds, Henry turned around and walked through the garden gates, and approached the doors leading inside the castle.

The rays of sun weren't the only thing causing Jack to glare.

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"Hey, Kennedy!"

Jack had been tending to the section of the garden almost covered in a rainbow of roses when a  familiar voice called out to him. The gardener turned around to see Dave, running up to him with something poking out from the side of his coat pocket.

"Oh, good morning, your highness." Jack smiled and waved, fully turning away from the large rose bush. Now that Dave was up close, Jack could see that the thing peaking out from the prince's pocket was a light brown. "You feeling any better?"

"Just a little," Dave replied, reaching into his pocket. "But here, I wanted to give you something."

In his hands, there was a small brown package of white heather seeds, tied by a silky white ribbon.