Prompt: ever since the date, Jimmy can't get Scott out of his mind. He goes to ask for a second date, but Scott is seemingly always busy. Jimmy decides to confront Scott about it...at 2 in the morning...

~<•>~

Why? Why did it have to be a date? Why couldn't he have just given him, I don't know, a lifetime supply of wool? Why couldn't he just go up to him and ask for an alliance? Why did it have to be a date!?

Jimmy's head was scattered, and his heart was racing at the mere thought of what transpired just a month prior. He wanted to talk to Scott about it, but then Scott was busy with the whole "banishing a demon" thing, and since then, it seemed like the elf was avoiding him, for a reason that the cod-hybrid was unaware of.

Jimmy was currently standing at the front door of Scott's estate, hand raised as if to knock on the intricately designed spruce door, yet he found that he was unable to. But, he would also look like a crazy weird stalker if he just stood there, especially since it was kinda sorta in the middle of the night and Scott was most likely sleeping. Oh well.

Maybe he could go to Gem and ask her to alter the memory of the date altogether. Instead of the date, just have a boring meeting talking about the alliance and trade and all of that political gobbledygook that Jimmy didn't care much about. Yeah, purely business with no complicated and unwarranted feelings involved.

But, even so, would that change anything? Sure, his memory of what happened would change, but he would still feel an odd flutter in his chest just by looking at the elf. He did beforehand, what would be altering his memory do?

He considered leaving. Maybe walk around the underground garden that Scott made just for him and their date. Truth be told, when he first stepped foot into the garden, something about it felt almost...familiar. The overwhelming scent from the poppies almost made him remember a life long gone, drinking lavender tea while his husband, who vaguely looked like the elf whose kingdom he was in, rambled on about various plans for the day.

But, that was another life. A life where the two were mere mortal men. A life where there were no demons, no fish people, and certainly no elves.

"Jimmy?" A certain voice said incredulously. "Is that you?"

Jimmy looked up to see Scott standing on his balcony, looking confused and mildly concerned about the cod-hybrid standing on his doorstep at two in the morning. He wore a white long sleeve nightgown that had a very large v-neck that exposed most of his chest, the v-neck having a few loose black strings that Jimmy was sure were more decorative than anything. Amazingly, his cyan hair wasn't unruly at all. It actually looked like it was combed neatly, which meant that the king had been up for a while.

"Um..." Jimmy said. "I guess?"

Scott sighed. "One moment." He said as he ran back inside. A few minutes later, he opened the front door. He had changed his clothes into something that looked comfortable but still looked very much like Scott. He wore an icy blue tunic that had a similar neckline to the nightgown, except now it only exposed his collarbone and black leggings. While he certainly looked tired, he didn't look like someone should when they just got out of bed. "What do you want?" He said as he crossed his arms, leaning against his door frame lazily.

Jimmy swallowed the lump in his throat. "Um..."

Scott held a hand up, silencing the cod-hybrid. "Wait, is this business matters or personal matters?"

Jimmy furrowed his brow. "What's the difference?"

"I might be inclined to listen if it's business matters that absolutely cannot wait until morning." Scott clarified. "However, I am less inclined to listen to personal matters unless it's currently impacting the health and safety of you or others."

"Well, um, I guess you could say that this is business?" Jimmy said, unsure. "It does revolve around our empires in a way, I suppose."

Scott stood up a bit taller at that, clasped his hands behind his back, and started giving off his usual formal air. "I see...would you like to come in? I know it must be frigid outside."

"Um...okay," Jimmy said as Scott let him inside. He followed Scott to the kitchen, where he started putting water on to boil as he gestured for Jimmy to sit down at the table. The table itself was rather small and quaint considering whose house he was in.

The table was made of spruce wood, and so were the chairs. The chairs had a cyan cushion on them, and there was a flower pot with a flowering azalea sapling in the center of the table.

"It's not the most appropriate place for a meeting," Scott said as he poured the now boiled water into two mugs, "but then again, 2-am isn't the most appropriate time for a meeting either." He then offered one of the mugs to Jimmy, a polite smile on his lips. "I hope you don't mind lavender tea, it's the only kind I have."

Jimmy gave him a polite smile in return. "No, I don't mind it at all."

Scott sat in the chair opposite Jimmy, his own mug clasped between his hands. "So, what is it that you wanted to discuss?"

Jimmy sucked in a breath. "It's...about our alliance..."

Scott frowned. "I haven't upset you, have I?" He asked, a slight hint of panic in his voice.

Jimmy shook his head. "No! No, you haven't!" He reassured. Jimmy sighed, focusing on the warmth from the mug transferring to his webbed fingers. "It's about...what you did...to form our alliance..."

Scott furrowed his brows. "I'm afraid I don't follow?"

Jimmy huffed irritably. "Coddammit Scott, can you turn off emperor mode for a second!?" He snapped before sighing. "While this is sort of a business matter, it's mostly a personal one."

Scott's face grew colder, more irritated. He no longer gave off a listening air, more of an irritated and cold one. "Then why couldn't it have waited until morning? I was about to go to bed before I saw you standing on my doorstep like an abandoned puppy."

"Explains why you look as perfect as always," Jimmy muttered as he took a sip of his tea. It was far too bitter for his liking, but it tasted familiar. It tasted like a home he never knew, yet missed all the same.

Apparently, he spoke a bit too loud than he intended, because Scott seemingly froze at that comment. "What?"

"What?" Jimmy said, feigning ignorance.

"What did you say?" Scott said, a slight smirk forming.

"I didn't say anything," Jimmy said unconvincingly as he tried to hide in his lukewarm cup of tea.

"No, you called me perfect," Scott said, his smirk growing. "I mean, I know I'm gorgeous, but it's not exactly something I expect to hear when it comes to a meeting about our alliance." He said as he rested his head on his palm, his elbow digging into the wooden table, a...a fond and endearing smile on his lips. He then sat up and gasped dramatically. "Unless you're trying to make our alliance more...intimate."

Jimmy felt his face grow hot. "What do you mean by 'intimate'?"

Scott shrugged, a teasing smirk back on his lips as he took a sip of his tea. "You tell me."

Jimmy sighed and took a sip of his now cold tea. "Can we please go back to what we were discussing?" Jimmy pleaded. "The alliance, remember?"

Scott sighed as he looked out the window. How much time has passed, Jimmy wondered. It felt like it's been minutes since Scott let him in, but considering how low the moon is, Jimmy didn't doubt that dawn was only a couple of hours away. "How about we wait until the morning? I'm exhausted and I'm sure you are too. It's best to have this discussion when our heads are in a better place, alright?"

Jimmy nodded. "Fine."

Scott hummed as he drummed his fingers against his mug. Now that he thought about it, did Scott even take a sip from his cup? Maybe he did, but Jimmy couldn't remember. His head was clouded with exhaustion. "You can stay in my guest bedroom for the night. I know that the Cod Empire is quite a ways away from Rivendell, and I imagine that by the time you get there, the sun will be rising." Scott said, his voice soft and full of thought.

Jimmy nodded silently as he stood up, still clutching the cold mug as if his life depended on it. When Scott gave him a curt look, Jimmy set the mug down gently and followed Scott upstairs to a door that he assumed led into the guest bedroom.

"Apologies that it's not the grandest room in the world, I haven't had many guests stay in here," Scott said sheepishly. He opened the door, and Jimmy gasped.

This was much nicer than anything in his own empire. The room was large, with walls as white as snow. In the center of the ceiling was a large chandelier made of quartz that was the primary source of light in the room, aside from the large windows and glass doors that led to the balcony. Against the wall was a bed that looked so soft and was absolutely much larger than needed. It had an icy blue thin canopy surrounding the bed, with a large trunk made of spruce at the end of the bed. There were spruce nightstands on either side of the bed and a spruce vanity against the wall with a chair with an icy blue cushion and a gold frame. The baseboard and crown molding were the color of gold. All in all, the room was very Rivendell, and very very Scott.

Jimmy immediately ran to the bed and threw himself on top of it. He laughed lightly as the bed bounced back against the weight. "This is so soft!" He exclaimed, as giddy as a child.

Scott chuckled. "I'm glad you like it. I'm...going to go to bed now. Make yourself comfortable. And if you need sleepwear, there should be extras in the trunk over there." He said, gesturing to the trunk at the end of the bed.

Jimmy nodded as Scott left the room, closing the door behind him.

~<•>~

Jimmy awoke to the smell of bacon. His mouth watering just at the thought of food, and he could practically feel his razor-sharp teeth getting sharper.

He sat upright in the extremely comfortable bed. He wore a similar nightdress as Scott did the previous night, but it was more of a cream color. The sleeves were a bit long for his liking, but he compromised by pushing them up to practically his underarms. No, it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but his fins are fragile, and he didn't want a torn fin.

Eventually, he stood up and changed into the clothes he wore the night before. It was a simple forest green short sleeve tunic with a white undershirt and brown shorts. They weren't the best to swim in, but they were somewhat formal considering his regular attire, which was usually a short wetsuit.

He walked downstairs, the smell of bacon growing stronger. Now that he was closer to the kitchen, he could smell the faint scent of pancakes and eggs as well. He walked to the table they sat at last night and found that it was already set, and Scott was already eating.

Scott wore his typical royal outfit. He wore a teal tunic with cuffs the color of gold, teal pants, and brown snow boots with a sole the color of gold (Jimmy prayed that it wasn't actual gold, but knowing Scott, he wasn't completely sure). He wasn't wearing his cape, crown, or belt with the white and gold loincloth—possibly because it was so early in the morning.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Scott said offhandedly without looking up at him.

Jimmy groaned as he popped his back. "What time is it?"

Scott looked out the window. "About 8-am, I'd say."

Jimmy blinked at the cyan-haired elf. "That's about the normal time I get up."

Scott gawked at him. "It shouldn't be. 'A good emperor always rises with the sun' is what my father drilled into me when I was a boy. Long before..." He trailed off, staring at his plate.

Jimmy cleared his throat awkwardly as he walked over to the table. He sat in a chair across from Scott, mouth watering from the smell of the bacon. "I hate to disrupt your family angst moment, but I am here for a reason, remember?"

Scott seemed to get out of the trance he was in, shaking his head abruptly. "Right, my apologies." He muttered before clearing his throat and sitting up a bit straighter. "The alliance, yes. What about it needs discussing? I don't think you ever said why we're having this conversation in the first place."

"Right..." Jimmy mumbled. He took a bite out of his eggs, scrunching his nose distastefully.

"If you want, I have some dried seaweed flakes here to season your food," Scott said, pushing a bowl of dried seaweed flakes toward the cod-hybrid. "I don't know how salty you like your food, or how much salt you're used to, so I figured this is the best solution. Natural salt that you're probably used to and hopefully reminds you of time." He said with a small smile.

Jimmy stared at Scott for a long while, mouth agape. "You...got seaweed flakes...just for me?" He asked bashfully.

Scott shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I was up at dawn and I didn't want to go ahead and eat breakfast without you because that's just disrespectful, so I decided to get some seaweed myself."

Jimmy felt his face grow warm. "You did that just for me?"

"Jimmy, you should know by now that we elves are very big into hospitality," Scott said as he took a bite of his eggs.

"Hospitality, yes, but this is...this is something completely different," Jimmy said disbelievingly. "No other emperor would go into this much thought about a guest. In fact, I doubt you even put this much thought into anyone else."

Scott was quiet for a while. Jimmy noticed that the tips of his ears grew red as he silently ate, refusing to even look up at Jimmy.

"The...uh...alliance?" Scott finally said after what felt like hours of silence.

"Right..." Jimmy mumbled. He took a deep breath and decided to bite the bullet. "Why did you take me on a date?"

Scott froze, his face quickly growing a vibrant shade of scarlet. "Um...it's...complicated."

"Well, how do you think I feel!?" Jimmy exclaimed. "Ever since that date, I haven't been able to get you or it out of my head! You're plaguing my mind constantly Scott, and I just want to know why."

"You..." Scott trailed off, his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

"I swear, it felt like you hated me from the amount of teasing at the very beginning, and then I saw you in that cell all helpless and scared, and that look you gave me just tugged on my heartstrings," Jimmy said quickly, not realizing what he was saying. "And then you took me on that date as a thank you and we seem to be getting closer and my heart always skips a beat whenever I look at you and I just...Cod, what on earth have you done to me!?"

"Jimmy..." Scott mumbled.

"And I tried asking Lizzie for help with these stupid feelings, and she just gave me this stupid look!" Jimmy continued. "As if she was telling me that I was in love with you, which I'm clearly not! No, I'm not in love at all, nope! I know how I feel, who is she t me to—"

Jimmy was quickly interrupted by a pair of lips on his. Scott detached himself from the cod-hybrid, his face red. "You...you were sort of word vomiting...I...I didn't know how to get you to stop..." He mumbled after a moment of silence.

"You...you just kissed me..." Jimmy mumbled incredulously.

"Well, to be fair, you did just confess your love to me, so..." Scott said with a smile.

"Scott." Jimmy said.

"Yes?" Scott replied.

"Would you like to go on a second date with me?" Jimmy asked, his heart beating a million miles a minute.

Scott smiled bashfully at him. "I would be honored to."

~<•>~

2828 words

Starting this book off with a nice fluffy Flower Husbands oneshot :)

I currently have no power, sadly, but thankfully I prefer to write on my phone, so it won't punish y'all. Only me :)

Also I just finished Scott's Empires S1, and his finale made me wanna crY

But now I'm watching his 3rd Life series, and I like on how he has a similar relationship with Jimmy as Grian does with Scar. He's just babysitting him lol. So far at least, anyway. I think I'm on episode 4 or 5, so.

Also, this is really long for a oneshot for me, which is why it took me quite a bit to write, lol. Well, that and school.

If I have enough motivation, I might be able to post at least once a month! Maybe!