#I'm not smart enough to come up with the tasks Ratio would invent/ the solution Aventurine would find for them

[thatoneneuvichiliauthor]

Let me share the latest idea I’ve been obsessing about: A vaguely Greek mythology-inspired Aventio AU where Ratio, prince of Amphoreus, has come of age and, is supposed to get married, according to the laws and customs of his city. Except he’d rather focus on the greater purpose of curing the world from ignorance, starting with his own people, than waste his time courting some egoistical royal he couldn’t care less about. So he comes up with the oldest trick in the book to escape this meaningless duty without causing an uproar: Setting up open to all (but secretly impossible to complete) tasks that his future spouse will have to overcome if they wish to prove themselves worthy of his hand. Not that Ratio expects anyone to succeed, and for several years, his ruse works just fine, which gives him plenty of time to further his studies and become a well-versed scholar. Many suitors try to outwit him, but none can even pass through the first trial.

Then enters Aventurine.

His participation alone provokes outrage. Appalled whispers fill the streets. How dare a Sigonian barbarian, a former slave, believe himself good enough to marry the noble and esteemed prince of Amphoreus? Does he have no shame, parading around the city in grotesquely eye-catching clothes, as if he has already won?

As soon as it reaches their ears, Ratio’s advisors suggest he bans Aventurine from the competition, which he refuses just as fast. The rules he created state that anyone can participate, regardless of their birthright or education, and that is final.

So Aventurine undergoes the trials and solves all of Ratio’s perfectly crafted puzzles and enigmas, though in rather unconventional ways their creator never even considered (think cutting the Gordian knot in half instead of untangling it).

Still, when he kneels in front of Ratio as they are introduced, he fully expects the prince to accuse him of cheating as an excuse to call the marriage off. Not that he minds. It’s all part of his plan, after all. He needs Ratio’s assistance to fulfill the latest mission assigned to him by the IPC, and what better way to catch his attention and flaunt his insane luck than by beating him at his own game? Besides, he knew from the start a future king would never stoop as low as to wed a former slave.

However, what happens next is the one possibility the Stoneheart didn’t account for:

Prince Ratio doesn’t go back on his word.

How could he, when he has oh so unexpectedly found his match, when their qualities and faults balance each other out so perfectly? The crowd might attribute Aventurine’s victory to deceit or divine luck, but he can tell honed skills, shrewdness and street smarts were the real actors at play. While hearsay claims that he only respected his part of the deal out of integrity and virtuousness, perhaps even pity, his heart tells another story.

With such a sharp-witted, and dare he say it, charming fiancé challenging his worldview, well…

Suddenly, the prospect of betrothal doesn’t seem so ludicrous anymore.

And that is how, to everyone’s surprise, including his own, Aventurine accidentally gets engaged to a secretly smitten prince. (He soon learns to love it. And the citizens of Amphoreus, not to badmouth him or his origins ever again, unless they want to have chalks thrown at them by their very pissed monarch)