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Alas, I do not want to disturb your slumber. I imagine that you are having peaceful dreams tonight, and as long as one of us gets their rest, I shall be content. I ought to ask you about your dreams in the morning. Few things bring me more joy than listening to you talk, paired with your breathtaking smile…

Thanks to you, I find myself looking forward to each morning, every new day that I get to spend with you. You bring me peace when my mind and heart have known nothing but war for many years. Never would I have hoped… Believed myself to be able to be at peace again.

But then I met you, Prince, and my world changed. Where there were hatred and rage before, your kind heart reminded me of love and patience. I know I am not an easy man to be with, and yet you never seemed to regret being by my side. You ever even questioned it, did you? Words cannot describe how grateful I am for you. Even when the sky was overhung with thick, black clouds, you reminded me that the sun was still there. That it always will be.

I should tell you all of these things in person, and yet I don’t know if I will be able to remember the words should I stand before you. There is something about you that makes my mind go blank and my heartbeat with joy. Will I ever be able to put my gratitude into words, or will I have to rely on pen and paper to let you know what you make me feel? I should hope to find the courage to tell you all of this soon – someone with a heart as kind as yours should know the impact you’ve had on me. But until then, I’m afraid I’ll have to rely on letters to practice what to say.

Though I may have a guess about what your answer would be… I would like to ask you to stay by my side until then. I yearn for you the way a flower learns for the sun, and I dare not think about what life would be like without you. Will you stay with me, my love?

But we did end up talking, didn’t we? And it wasn’t difficult at all. Okay, well – maybe a little difficult. But it was not as scary as I anticipated, and you managed to make me feel… safe. I have no idea how you managed to do it, but even so, I’m grateful that you did. I even found myself looking forward to those hours that I had to spend outside of my room because it meant I could talk to you.

Don’t get me wrong, I still need the comfort of my own four walls to feel completely at ease. On some days I just need to be alone – and you understand that, don’t you? You’ve never once judged me when I felt overwhelmed. Instead, you offered me your patience and encouragement. Some nights, I wanted to distrust you. What reason did you have to be so kind to me, I wondered, but the more time we spent together, the more I realised that you didn’t have an ulterior motive. You were, and still are, one of the kindest people I have ever met.

With that, I want to thank you, my love. For helping me grow past the restraints my upbringing created. For being patient when I needed time for myself, and for understanding the things I didn’t know how to put into words. But most importantly, I want to thank you for teaching me what real love feels like. Thanks to you, I no longer feel frightened when I think about the future – I look forward to it because I know that you’ll be with me through the good and the bad times.

Yours, Bernie

Now, please do forgive me for such a bold statement – it is unbecoming for a crown prince such as myself, I’m aware. And yet I would like to share all of my thoughts and feelings with you, even if they might bring shame to my name. With you, I want to be able to bare it all.

I find myself yearning for you more and more each day. Holding you in my arms each night just doesn’t seem to be enough for me, and it worries me. What if my overbearing longing for you drives you away? I struggle to find the perfect balance of pulling you close and giving you enough space. Am I doing the right thing, my love?

The duty of being the crown prince is a burden I have learned to carry well over the years. I wonder, would you recognise a younger version of me? There must be worlds apart between who I used to be as a boy and who I am now. If you had known me then, would you still have fallen in love with me? I was weak, then; shy and inexperienced. I wished to become a better son to my father, someone who could earn his respect, and I wished to become a better person for our people. I set myself up for multiple failures on the way, expecting to see change overnight.

You must be wondering why I’m writing all of this down… I would like to ask for your help. I try to be a better man for you, someone who deserves your love and affection, but… I keep expecting to see results overnight. ‘Some habits are hard to break’, that is how the saying goes, yes?

When I look at you, my love, I see the most wonderful woman to walk this earth: strong, capable, intelligent, and breathtakingly beautiful – with a heart as kind as an angel, and a smile as brilliant as one thousand sunsets. How could I not love you? How could anybody look at you and not see how wonderful you are?

I believe that loving you has given me the opportunity to grow further, and for that, I cannot thank you enough. But as selfish as I am, I’m afraid I have another favour to ask of you: would you allow me to stay by your side forevermore? Please allow to me share in your spoils as in your sorrows, to hold your hand when you seek guidance, and to begin every morning with you by my side. And in return, I want to give you all the love you could ever ask for, reassurance and warmth to keep you content, and to shield you from dark days.

I know that I have many things to learn when it comes to being the perfect partner for you, my love, but there is nobody I would like to experience these lessons with more than you. Your patience and your love are the most perfect gifts I could receive, and I’m afraid my gratitude cannot be expressed with words… Therefore, I have planned to take you on a romantic retreat. Rest assured, our destination is outside of Nohrian borders – I reckon a warmer, sunnier climate compliments a romantic retreat much better than what we are used to here.

I hope I don’t sound too forward when I say this, but I believe taking off one whole week to enjoy a vacation with you would help me ease my constant longing for you. Thinking about having you all to myself, with no interruptions… excites me greatly, my dear. Perhaps I ought to apologise for another bold statement like this, but I can’t help but think about how difficult it is to find enough time to be alone with you. It seems that there’s always something threatening to happen when we find ourselves alone in a room, only for somebody to burst in and require our attention.

I think you understand where I am coming from though, right? I've seen you freeze up talking to others the way I do… But it's not like I was trying to spy on you! I just happened to notice it now and then! Maybe I should try and get to the point…

You know when you have a big task ahead of you, and it's so intimidating that it robs you of sleep at night? None of your preparations ever feel good enough, and before you know it, the mere thought of that task chokes you up? Maybe you even feel as if there's a heavy rock inside your chest. I know that's what it feels like for me, most of the time… I hope you've never experienced that feeling – it's the worst! And, well, you deserve better!

But what I was trying to say… Writing this letter is a daunting task for me. You can't tell while reading this, but I have to keep taking breaks every few sentences to collect myself and talk myself into finishing this letter. I never thought it would be this nerve-wracking! However, there's also another feeling involved. It's as if these words are caught inside of me, begging to escape… To be heard. That's, well – that's where you come in, Bobby.

These words want to be heard by you. I don't think I could ever say – or write – them for anybody else but you. Okay, here goes!

I really like you, Bobby.

You somehow manage to make the bad feelings inside of me disappear and replace them with butterflies. Nobody else has ever been able to make me feel like this! When I first realised it, I was confused. Aren't butterflies in your stomach something that only happens in romance novels? But then I found my thoughts wandering to you, again and again, before it dawned on me. They always say 'write what you know', but for some reason, I used to disregard that… I never thought I'd ever experience the same feelings as the main characters in a love story. But then you came, and somehow… Somehow I feel like I may be the main character in my own romance novel. Maybe even alongside you…

I hope that you don't mind me writing this letter instead of telling you in person – I think if I had to say these words out loud, I would beg the goddess to open up a hole in the ground and make me vanish instantly. But if I wrote them down and had you read them before we talk… I thought that would be a better idea for both of us. So, if you happen to feel like it… You could write your response in a letter! Or… not. You don't have to if you don't want to, of course!

Okay, I've said what I wanted to say and now I'll have to hide in my room for the next couple of days. But if you decide to write a letter… You could always slip it under my door.

Let’s be real here - the idea of confessing your feelings is scary enough, but to confess to somebody as unpredictable as Claude? If only you could read his mannerisms, his body language around you to figure out how he feels towards you, but you know no matter what he shows you, it may be just that: a show.

But keeping your feelings to yourself isn’t a good idea either, and you know that.

So what’s the next best thing to do? Write a letter - preferably without your name, to spare yourself the potential embarrassment from being rejected.

Then again… this is Claude we’re talking about.

As soon as he gets the note and reads it, he’s working on figuring out who wrote it. 

He’s analysing it strategically: how familiar is the handwriting? Are there any phrases he’s heard his fellow students saying in person? If he could, he’d probably try to take fingerprints off of the letter. And who seems to have taken a liking to him, based on previous interactions?

Before he does more, he manages to get down to less than a handful of subjects - with you among them, of course.

In the following days, Claude spends some time with the people he considered as senders, tries to get a glance at their handwriting to compare it to that of the love letter.

His behaviour doesn’t escape you, and you suddenly start to worry whether it was such a smart idea to send him a love letter after all.

When he asks to talk to you after two days, both of you know that he’s figured it out by himself.

And yet, he makes sure to invite you for tea, wants you to feel comfortable around him before he mentioned the letter.

You try your best to calm your nerves, but keep thinking about how foolish you must seem to him - hiding behind an anonymous note instead of facing him? 

Claude waits for you to finish drinking your tea before he speaks up. “So, the letter… you wrote it, right?” 

Averting your eyes, you can only nod - it’s difficult to find the right words to say, especially when you’ve been caught red-handed.

“Hey, no need to worry - we all get crushes. And I’m honoured to be yours! Hah, really, it makes things so much easier for me!”

You’ve braced yourself for rejection, so those words leave you… more than just confused.

“Easier? What do you mean?”

“Come on, y/n - I wouldn’t have put in so much effort to figure out who wrote the letter if I hadn’t hoped it was from you.” He sounds so carefree when he says that, so casual, that it’s a little difficult to believe him - though you know that Claude would never play a trick as cruel as lying to you about this.

“Claude, you don’t- you don’t need to spare my feelings with… a joke, okay?” You want to hear him say it out loud, instead of just implying things and letting you pick what you want to hear. No, if he really means it, then you want him to be upright about it - even if you weren’t.

“It’s not a joke, y/n. You’ve got a crush on me, and I’ve got a crush on you. Simple as that.”

You demanded to hear that, and yet his casual confession made you blush and look away. “Oh, okay, well… Then…” A bit at a loss for words, you look back up at him.