For ErisRocks - kudos for extreme persistence and even more extreme patience. Happy birthday and I hope this is okay. :)

Disclaimer; All rights go to Quinrose where due.

Operation Romance

Vivaldi x King

At the announcement, the King nearly choked on air and tripped over his feet. He struggled to regain his composure and find enough breath to speak an intelligible sentence.

"E...excuse me? What did you say?" he asked, his eyes opening a fraction of an inch, equivalent to wide-eyed surprise.

"Must We repeat Ourselves?" Vivaldi crossed her arms over her chest and released an impatient breath. "We will say it only once more. Will you eat dinner with Us?"

His eyes twitched, a reflex equated to as a blink.

"B...but we have dinner together every day," he mumbled, lips curling into a confused frown.

"Do not patronize Us with such technicalities. Now, will you accept or not?" Her scepter tapped impatiently against her arm, waiting for his reply.

The King searched her face, wondering what had gotten into her head, if this was just a joke designed for her entertainment. He sighed deeply, seeing she was perfectly serious.

He decided to play it safe and humor her. "Yes, Vivaldi. It would be my pleasure to have dinner with you."

The scepter stopped. She arched a regal brow. "Are you certain? You truly are accepting?"

For a moment, the King thought he saw that Vivaldi seemed doubtful, in disbelief that he had accepted something so simple. Then he remembered that this was Vivaldi he was talking to and quickly rectified his thinking.

"Uh, yes? We accept, your majesty?"

A breath escaped her lips, and she smiled widely, pleased by his response. "Excellent. We will see you then."

Just as quickly she appeared before him, she left, her heels clicking against the cool tile of the castle as she walked away.

He arched his brow and sighed heavily. Vivaldi was always a confusing woman to be around, but never this baffling. What in the world had gotten into her? What was that all supposed to mean?

He released another sigh. "I suppose I will never understand her..."

Little did the King know what he had just accepted, what sort of proposition Vivaldi had made him. Obviously, it was more than just a simple dinner between role holders, than the ones they had every single night.

Whether the King knew it or not, he had just accepted to go on a date with Vivaldi.

The Heart Queen halted in her place when she saw Alice bounding down the halls, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "So, Vivaldi, did you ask him? What did he say?"

Vivaldi grinned and tossed a dark curl over her shoulder. "Of course We did. Naturally, he said yes."

Alice grasped her hands in joy. "That's fantastic! So how exactly did you go about asking him? I want to know the details!"

"Well it was quite simple." Vivaldi leaned into Alice and whispered, "We just asked if he will eat dinner with Us, and he said yes."

Alice's joy quickly dissipated, staring at her with knitted brows. "Vivaldi, did you really say it like that?" Unabashed, the queen proudly nodded her head. "I see... the way you asked it made it sounds like another one of your orders... I'm worried he won't realize that you guys are even going on a date."

"Well, how else are We supposed ask?"

"I don't know... more nicely?"

Vivaldi scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. "We are the queen. We never get anywhere with just being nice." Alice shook her head, sighing deeply. "Besides, We're sure he will understand once he sees everything We have planned. How are the preparations?"

"They're doing well. I saw the candles were set up the way you wanted them to, and the servants were busily cutting some of the roses," said Alice. "I should go check and help arrange them."

The Heart Queen nodded her head in consent, coolly watching Alice walk down the halls.

Though Vivaldi appeared calm and composed, inside she felt like a squealing, teenage girl.

She was tired of waiting for the king to make his move, for the day that he will actually go and do something. It was time to take matters into her own hands.

Instead of waiting for him to romance her, she will try her hand romancing him.

And the goal for the end of the night?

To have one kiss. On the forehead, cheek, possibly on the lips. It didn't matter. She planned on getting that kiss if it was the last thing she could do.

With her careful preparations, she believed that it would all be perfect. What could go wrong?

"Vivaldi, what heck is going on in the dining room?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, exhaling a sharp sigh. She spoke too soon. She turned towards her two role holding subordinates, who looked at her with evident curiosity.

"Are we having a special dinner today?" asked Ace.

"No. Actually, you two are forbidden to go stay here for dinner," Vivaldi said firmly.

Ace blinked in confusion while Peter furrowed his brows.

"Why?"

"Because We order it as queen. Go eat somewhere else." Vivaldi then turned and stormed off, muttering about plans she needed to tend to, leaving Ace and Peter to their confusion.

"What's up with Vivaldi?" Ace asked, scratching his chin. "Why won't she let us eat here today?

Peter exhaled sharply and crossed his arms. "I don't know, but she is being unreasonable. Banning us from eating dinner here for a day? This is my home as well, and I will not be denied food!"

"Oh? Haha! I thought it's because Alice will probably be at the dinner too!" the knight said with a pointed look.

Peter glared at him. "Oh, shut up."

The two normally didn't care where they ate, preferring to be as far away from their irascible queen as possible. There were always exceptions that convinced them otherwise. There are two things that they enjoyed above all else, that trumped any royal orders a certain queen had decreed – being with Alice and getting the chance to annoy Vivaldi.

Peter glanced over to Ace, conveying a single thought, a single plan. Ace only smiled while Peter nodded his head. For once, they found something that they could finally agree on.

They never listened to their queen before. Why start now?

Vivaldi paused in the middle of the hall, examining her reflection. She looked presentable enough. She consciously smoothed down her dress and pushed a curl behind her ear. After another quick perusal and a nod of satisfaction, she hurried to the dining room.

This was the first time she ever felt so nervous. She clutched her stomach, mentally ordering it to stop performing such anxious backflips. She did not know why she felt like this in the first place. She planned everything perfectly. The setting, the food, her own appearance... She coordinated everything to the finest detail. She had no reason to feel so paranoid.

More importantly, she should not be worrying about Peter or Ace screwing everything up.

With a calming breath, forcing such nagging paranoia to the back of her mind, Vivaldi opened the door.

She froze in her place, feeling a stray bullet fly past her cheek, rustling her curls.

This was not happening. She blinked, hoping vainly that those figures would disappear, that the chaos happening in the dining room was the figment of her imagination.

Her lashes fluttered. The image stayed. Everything was real.

Ace hopped onto the table, blocking a shot to his head with his sword. "Haha, what's the matter, Mr. White? All I said was that I wanted to take Alice out on a camping trip!"

He jumped back to dodge another shot, knocking off a vase of roses and causing it to crash onto the floor.

"You will be doing no such thing." Peter angrily swept the table off, ignoring the resounding clatter of breaking plates and fallen spoons. "I will not allow my Alice to be contaminated by your germy existence."

The Knight laughed once again, enraging the rabbit even more. Peter charged forward, shooting another flurry of bullets. Sitting at the side of the table was the girl in question, banging her head quietly against the table.

When Vivaldi heard another shot, another crash, she had just enough.

At the sound of gunfire, Ace and Peter quickly dodged it. The two hopped off the table, turned around to see the source of the shot, and froze in their place, seeing a very red, a very angry Vivaldi.

"Haha, hey, your majesty! What's u-"

"Get out," she growled evenly, shotgun still raised to shoot.

"Hmph! Not without food, you h-" Peter squeaked and stepped aside, narrowly missing a bullet to his ears.

"We said out."

"Okay, we're out!" Grabbing the two by their sleeves, Alice hurriedly dragged the two out of the room.

Vivaldi was left inside panting, the gun reverting back to its scepter form. She felt a gasp rush through her lips as she regarded the room. Everything was ruined. The candles were broken in half, the roses trampled and destroyed, many of the dishes broken into recognizable pieces.

She knew she should be angry, chasing those two morons down and demanding their immediate execution.

That's why she was baffled to find herself crying instead. She violently fought back her tears, blinking and wiping them away. Still they came, heavy and unrelenting.

'Why are We crying? This isn't even Our fault.'

She still sniffled and found the tears still streaming down her face.

This was supposed to be the perfect plan. She was supposed to impress him and win his heart. She was supposed to get that kiss.

Now... she'd be lucky if he would even realize that this was a date.

"All Our hard work is ruined!" she said in a sob, dropping her wet face into her hands.

"No, nothing's ruined."

Vivaldi froze in her place, her muscles stiffening. She raised her head and turned around to see the King standing behind her.

She swiftly wiped her face, hoping her makeup was not running down her face.

"W... what are you doing here?" she croaked out, cursing herself for her fallen composure.

"You invited me here, did you not?" Vivaldi seemed abashed and turned her head away. The King examined his surroundings, his face falling into that of vague surprise. "Say... did you do all this for me?"

"Well, it would be much more obvious if those two idiots did not mess up Our arrangements. Why couldn't they listen to Us for once and stayed out of it..."

She felt her words trail off her tongue to notice the King looking at her strangely. She felt her cheeks warm at the attention.

She cleared her throat. "But We suppose not that it matters now. Everything is just...!"

This time, her words were clipped by a pair of lips.

She had no idea what was happening. She could not believe it. He was actually kissing her.

It was sweet, gentle, but it was enough to set her heart clock completely ablaze, to tick wildly in her chest.

The King quickly retreated back, his own cheeks tinged with red. "Oh my... Vivaldi, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what came over me. I was just so touched by all you were doing for me I couldn't help myself."

Vivaldi tossed her head to the side and pouted. "There's no need to apologize. It wasn't like it was particularly unpleasant."

At her announcement, the King's face first turned into a look of complete shock before settling into a light smile. At the sight, Vivaldi felt her cheeks heat up, reddening as deep as her beloved roses.

She coughed into her hand, willing this heat in her face to disappear. "Well, We are still very hungry. Why don't we eat dinner outside?"

"Sounds like an excellent plan. The weather is lovely." She froze for a moment, momentarily surprised by the arm he offered her, by the gentle look in his eyes. It was a look she had never thought she would see towards her, a look that she always thought would be reserved for someone else. Her elation both settled her ticking heart and muddled her composure.

Still, she scoffed and proudly hooked her arm into his. The king only chuckled, guiding her out the door, out of the general disorder of the dining room.

As they continued to walk forward, Vivaldi glanced over to him, at the color in his own cheeks, at that gentle smile she had grown to adore. She resisted the urge to touch her lips, fearful that the sensation would disappear.

'Perhaps, it all wasn't a complete disaster.' He glanced over to her, causing her breath to hitch. She quickly turned her head forward, hoping he did not notice the redness in her cheeks. In the corner of her eyes, she saw that he smiled. Leaning a little closer into him, she could not help, but smile back. 'Operation Romance could still be a success after all.'

A/N Notes: Well I was supposed to write something more romantic... and hopefully it was pretty successful. *crosses fingers*

Thanks for reading~