#lit:gv

Nikolai: carer!

Zoya: don't finish that sentence.

Omg omg YES (I pulled a bit from annie's hc oops <3)

so other than the fact that when they're around each other it's like ✨no one else is in the room✨

they use each other to get out of things. nikolais being cornered by some old lady who wants her seventeen yr old daughter married off? zOYYA MY LOVVVE COME HERE 😍❤️

and she only agrees to this because it goes both ways. cuz I mean imagine these dukes coming to any sort of ball at the palace and seeing zoya in all her glory. just. everyone wants a dance and they're all old and make her uncomfortable and maybe their hands dip a little too low while dancing

one look from zoya and suddenly nikolais at her side, pulling her away- and pulling her *close*- it's a pretty obvious message. most of them take it.

mind you they don't say a word about it because of course they don't want some big scandal, but they do little things. zoya will come and rest a hand on nikolais chest and his eyes will soften when he looks at her (this !! is all !! pretend !! ofc !!) or nikolai will tuck her hair away and smile at her until the annoying suitor disappears again

point is: no one says they're together but...well no one says they're not

but something big must have happened for the rumors to start, right? and what better place for rumors to begin than in the palace itself. more specifically, through the servants.

it was an accident. honestly it had just been a really long day and zoya was too tired to get back to her room and the couch was right there and nikolai happened to be already asleep. it wasn't !! her fault !!

but when the maids come to present the king with his morning tea and see the way nikolai and zoya are wrapped in each other's arms (and I mean full on tangled, they're cuddling and mostly completely unaware of it)

zoya wakes up first and jumps back, unintentionally sending a gust of wind at nikolai, causing him to fall painfully onto the floor.

he gets up and glares at her groggily. she doesn't mention how good he looks with his messy hair and rumpled clothes, and he doesn't say that her eyes are brighter in the morning, and somehow her tone seems less sharp.

but they're both thinking it.

they don't talk about that night- because it meant nothing anyway !! and they totally don't think about it for hours after !!- but the servants talk. oh, they talk.

they're too afraid of zoya to say anything particularly bad about them, and far too lost to nikolais charm to spread hateful rumors. so when word does get out, it isn't a scandal about the unmarried king and his general. it's a story about a love that could never be.

It's almost tragic, nikolai thinks when it circles back to him