#ctaoap 🩵

[cam3lliaw]

Catching the eye of a prince

-crownprince!gojo x maid!reader

Who would’ve thought getting caught reading a book during work hours one random day would not only make you good friends with the right hand of the crown prince, but also end up making the said crown prince be interested in getting to know you.

contents/ warnings: might be ooc, insecurities( some implied), mentions of stealing, a bit of angst at times to eventual fluff, friends to lovers trope, the main characters are all in their early 20s, tba

word count: 0.7 k words

series masterlist

notes: I've read a lot of jjk royalty au recently and I was inspired to write one as well :) this is the prologue and I don't really know how long this will turn out to be but i hope you enjoy it !! (fic under the cut)

“Need any help with that?” a gruff voice could be heard from behind.

You didn’t need to turn around to know that the voice belonged to none other than Geto Suguru, the crown prince’s right hand, his one and only best friend, and last but not least, your occasional thorn in the side.

“You really like that joke a lot, don’t you, Lord Geto.” you said, still not turning to face him as you continued to hang the sheets on the clothesline.

“And you really like to call me that, even though I tell you all the time that Suguru is just fine. And besides, I wasn’t, and never will be, joking when I ask you that question, [name].” he chuckled.

“You know that my answer will always be no, Suguru. There are some lines that even I won’t cross, and to be honest, it’s absurd to even consider I’ll let you help me.”

“And why is that?” he asked, even though he fully knows the answer already.

“Well for starters, I’m not that stupid not to be aware of the difference in our status, friends or not, it still matters to me. And secondly-” you turn to face him as a smile stretches on your face “You don’t see me coming to your office and telling you how you should do your work.”

“I wouldn’t oppose to that, you know.” Suguru smiled back.

“Like I’m smart enough to even step into a place like that.” you huffed jokingly.

At that he grimaced slightly.

“Come on, [name]. We both know you are way smarter than a lot of the people that work in this palace.”

“Reading a few books here and there only get you so far, Suguru. You, out of everyone, should know that well.”

It never gets easier, admitting that you wish for more. In another universe, you would read all day, study literature properly with someone who actually knows what they’re doing, not only from damaged pages of stolen books from the royal library, books that are about to be disposed not only because the years have left them in a horrible shape but sometimes also because the concepts explained are so old that they aren’t even right anymore.

“You know I could always bring and lend you newer ones right? I told you that on multiple occasions already and I mean it every time.” Suguru said as he approached you and stood by your side.

You also know Suguru would never make fun of you, he really wants to help. But it’s hard enough to get and hide the books in the maids’ chambers before you finish reading them and returning them to the library's unofficial “trash” section. Imagine what trouble you would get in if you get caught with fancy new books. It hurts only to think about it.

“I know…I’ll let you know in case I need anything. I promise.”

Saying this is clearly better than admitting the truth. As much as you don’t want unnecessary problems for yourself, dragging Suguru into all of this mess is even worse.

“This doesn’t look very…straight.” Suguru changed the subject to lighten the mood, as he tried to lightly stretch one of the sheets.

“We both know that’s a bold-faced lie! Don’t mess the laundry! If it ends up falling down and I’ll have to wash it again, I won't talk to you anymore, Suguru.”

“We also know that’s not true.” he chuckled as he gently bumped his side into yours.

You returned the action.

And he did it once again but a bit more forceful.

And the cycle repeated itself for a few more times until you literally shoved him, but before he could fall on the grass, he grabbed your hands and dragged you down as well, falling down a step away from the dark haired man.

“You’re acting like a child!” you exclaimed as you started laughing.

“Says the one who shoved me!” he started to laugh too.

“You started it!”

“Oh that’s such a mature argument, [name]. Impressive, really.” the male continued to laugh as he got up and helped you up as well.

Unknown to the both of you, this whole exchange was watched from afar by none other than the crown prince, who was initially looking for his best friend, but it seems like he found something else instead.

end notes: i hope you liked it! :)

[cam3lliaw]

Catching the eye of a prince

Chapter 2

-crownprince!gojo x maid!reader

contents/ warnings: (some are mentioned in the prologue), might be ooc,

word count: 1.9k words

series masterlist

chapter one here

notes: sorry for the long wait (again), hope you like this one :)

The prince waited until the clock struck eleven. He thought that this should be late enough and to say that he was getting impatient at that point would be an understatement.

He wasn’t dressed fancy by any means, in just a white saggy shirt and black pants. As much as he enjoys dressing up and showing others his wealth, the prince always preferred dressing casual if he didn’t have a busy day with meetings or other royal responsibilities to attend. Before he left his chambers, Satoru still decided to wear a cloak in case any person that was currently in the royal library would recognize him and make a huge deal out of his presence there. After all, even if he didn’t try to stand out, his white hair and striking blue eyes could be easily recognized by anyone. Also, the palace was too guarded for someone to become concerned if they randomly saw a person dressed in a cloak around so that fact alone wouldn’t be a problem in his way.

The library was quiet but not quite empty yet. The prince successfully made it in without being recognized by any of the scholars of the court that were still reading in silence. He roamed the many rows of books a few times, yet he didn’t catch a glimpse of anyone, he didn’t rush at all and was also willing to wait for a while yet…this seemed too easy.

A lot of thoughts were rushing into Satoru’s mind as the riddle was in the middle of them. The only word that suggested to a place in that riddle was “meadow”. The library is quite big, but there are not a lot of small rooms in it that might resemble a meadow. The area with children books is too obvious and the prince figured that you would have no reason to spend your time there.

But…there is a place that is well hidden much like the meadow in the novel. The library’s storeroom would fit the criteria. That room is incredibly small, more like a closet rather than a room and it can be found in the corner of the right far end of the library. Not many people know about it since the librarians mainly use it to store old books that are too worn down to be handled or that have newer version that have improved content in them. When they were kids, Satoru, Suguru and Shoko were spending a lot of time there since no one would’ve thought to look for them there.

The prince slowly approached the storeroom and the door was cracked open, a bit of light was coming from the inside.

“That’s it.” The prince thought.

He stepped inside carefully, in order not to scare you. And there you were, facing the rows of books, seemingly searching for one as a lamp was sitting on a tall row of books that were on the floor right next to you. The prince turned around to close the door so the two of you can talk without the risk of getting heard and bothered by anyone else but as he was about to touch the door he knocked over a small tower of books that was right by the entrance and the sound got your attention.

You didn’t see his face but judging by how tall he was, and the fact that he was wearing a cloak, you assumed he must be a knight patrolling the library since it was already this late at night.

“I was just dusting the shelves. I’m sorry to be out here so late.” You tried to excuse yourself, bowing your head down, even though all the knights knew that the maids were not working from 11 pm to 4 am. But it felt a bit weird. Knights were not usually patrolling in this part of the library. They were usually more busy around the royal chambers especially at nighttime.

Gojo turned around and wanted to talk, but as soon as he faced you, your head was up again and you finally took a look at him. Your jaw dropped in shock as you noticed the white of his hair, mostly hidden by the cloak, and his striking blue eyes.

“Your royal high-“ you tried to talk and bow, almost falling down as he rushed to you and covered your mouth with his hand. He hushed you as you looked up at him confused.

“Don’t call me that or we’re going to get unwanted attention. And keep your voice down. Okay? You can do that, right?” The prince asked whispering as he looked straight into your eyes.

After hesitating for a moment, you nodded and he took his hand off smiling.

“How…should I call you then?” you asked as you looked down fidgeting with the sleeve of your uniform.

“Uh…I don’t know, but if you called me like that it would definitely grab someone’s attention so…for now my name should do.”

“I can’t possibly do that.”

“Why not? Don’t tell me you don’t know it.” The prince tried to joke.

“Of course I know it. I just can’t disrespect you like that, your royal-“ before you got to continue, Satoru hushed you again and you stopped talking looking away embarrassed.

“Would you do it if I ordered you to?” he tried to propose.

“Do what?”

“Call me by my name.” the prince declared and as soon as you sighed he knew he won. After a moment of silence you opened your mouth.

“As you wish…Satoru.”

“That wasn’t that hard now, was it?” he smiled “And since we’re introducing ourselves, you’re [name]. Am I right?”

“Yes…that’s right.”

Well, that’s a surprise for sure. Everyone knows that the prince can’t bother to even remember the names of his personal maids and butlers, but for him to know your name? You were just a simple maid and besides…you don’t think you ever exchanged a single word with him up until tonight, right? Then how did he know-

Oh.

From Suguru.

That’s how. That is literally the only way in which his royal highness would’ve known of your existence, at least that’s clearly the first thing that comes to mind, considering the close friendship the lord has with the prince. But Suguru promised he would never get you into trouble…then what is this situation in the first place. Before you go the chance to think more about it, you were interrupted.

“So…what are you really doing here?” the prince inquired.

“I…I was- uh…”

 You didn’t know what to do. Should you lie? Should you tell the truth? It wasn’t like you were doing something illegal… but it’s still something that a maid shouldn’t be doing. But you have to tell the truth in the end right? After all, lying to the royal family can sometimes be considered treason and a light punishment is better than a harsher one.

“I was…bringing a book back.” you admitted.

“Aren’t books supposed to be given back to one of the librarians? And also, this is a storeroom for old books that are out of use so this is clearly not the place where it should go.” He looked down at you, albeit a bit suspicious, when you make a library card these things are being explained to you. And Suguru and Shoko were heavily suggesting that you were smart, so you should know that.

“It is the right place…because I took the book from here in the first place.” You looked down a bit ashamed.

“But books from here cannot be borrowed. It says that in the library rules.”

“I know that. I’m really sorry about this. I promise it won’t happen again-” you continued to look down, hoping that you wouldn’t face a tough punishment.

“Why?” the prince asked.

“…what?”

“You knew that this isn’t allowed. Yet you did it anyway.” He smiled “And I’m sure you knew that things that aren’t allowed will be punished. That part is common sense. So riddle me this: you, a person who apparently doesn’t like to be in the center of attention, would do this, a thing that would clearly make heads turn around if the truth came to light, which it did right now.”

“I-I just-” you sighed. “I just wanted to read them. That’s all. Every book that I’ve borrowed from here was back in its place in a few days at most. I did not do this to steal or anything like that.”

“Alright, you like to read, but why from here? These aren’t even that good to read anymore. You would be better off reading from the main library.”

“I can’t read from there.”

“If it’s because you don’t have one of those library cards you could easily make one.” the prince added.

“You don’t understand, Satoru. Even if I wanted to make one I can’t.”

 You took a deep breath trying to calm down and not say anything that will show how you actually feel about this situation. Of course he didn’t catch on it earlier. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He doesn’t have to hide in order to do the things he wishes to do.

“Maids aren’t allowed to borrow books from the library. We work daily, almost all day, so even if we were allowed to, we wouldn’t have time to read them. I only read at night so I don’t get in trouble for slacking off.” After you told him that you looked back up at him and he seemed a bit...sad.

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” he stopped talking for a second but an idea seemed to come to him “that’s why you take them from here…is it not? The books from here aren’t being verified every day… so you could take from here without anyone noticing unlike the books from the main library.”

“That’s right…but it doesn’t matter anymore…but what…will happen now? Will I be suspended? Fired?” You knew that taking books like that would have consequences but you couldn’t say exactly how big they would be, considering you didn’t know anyone to have done this before, if anyone ever did.

“No, You won’t.”

“But I shouldn’t have done that. It’s against the rules. You said it as well just now.”

“I know what I said... But I don’t think you did a bad thing, [name]. You just wanted to do something you liked. And it’s not like you were making problems for others by doing this. I won’t punish you for doing something like that…however you won’t be doing this anymore. You can’t risk anyone else catching you here. Not everyone will let this go as I did.”

You nodded, deciding this outcome is better than you could’ve expected. Yes, it’s sad that you won't read anymore, but at least you didn’t have to go through a hard time because of all the reading you did so far. Bowing, you got the lamp from the place it sat on and you were ready to leave when Gojo grabbed your wrist.

“I wasn’t done talking, [name].”

“Oh, I didn’t realise- I apologise.” Stopping in your tracks you put the lamp nearby again and waited for him to continue.

“I said that you shouldn’t be doing this anymore, but I got a deal for you instead.”

“A deal? Satoru, I don’t have anything to give you in exchange. In case it slipped your mind, I’m a maid, as in: maid working for you, in your palace.”

“We can discuss the details later. Can’t you just hear me out before you jump to refuse me? Are you always this pessimistic?” he smiled.

“I’m not.” You rushed to admit but realized you fell right into his trap.

Gojo started laughing as quietly as he could and you couldn’t help but chuckle as well.

“What is the deal then?”

“Glad you asked. Follow me.” He extended his hand and waited for you to take it.

taglist: @kalopsia-flaneur @fortunatelyfurrygiver @kitkat331

end notes: thank you for reading :)

[cam3lliaw]

Series masterlist ❣

Catching the eye of a prince

-crownprince!gojo x maid!reader

series synopsis: Who would’ve thought getting caught reading a book during work hours one random day would not only make you good friends with the right hand of the crown prince, but also end up making the said crown prince be interested in getting to know you.

contents/ warnings: might be ooc, insecurities( some implied), mentions of stealing, a bit of angst at times to eventual fluff, friends to lovers trope, the main characters are all in their early 20s, tba

the prologue

chapter 1

chapter 2

tba

[cam3lliaw]

Catching the eye of a prince

Chapter 1

-crownprince!gojo x maid!reader

contents/ warnings: (some are mentioned in the prologue), might be ooc,

word count: 1.8k words

series masterlist

the prologue here

notes: sorry for the long wait :) i hope you like it

“His Royal Highness was looking for you, my lord.”

If only Suguru had a coin for every time he heard that exact sentence in the past 20 minutes. The walk from the gardens to the crown prince’s chambers shouldn’t have taken more than 8 minutes, a few more if the staircase was in the middle of being moped but that only happens really early in the morning and really late at night, and at this moment it was neither of them. At least 12 servants that were doing their jobs stopped Suguru on the way to his office, letting him know that the crown prince was looking around for him not long ago. Sighing, the dark haired man decided to go to the prince’s chambers and see what he wanted.

Upon reaching the door, and not hearing any noise from inside, Suguru thought that the prince might still be out and about, and he entered without knocking.

Turns out that not only the prince was inside, but he was pouting as well as he was sitting on the window sill.

“What’s with the pout, Satoru? Missed me too much?” Suguru smirked as he approached him and took a seat on the other side of the sill.

“As if.” Satoru scoffed. “I’m just…deep in thought.”

“Oh, that’s certainly new. Weren’t you the smartest in this palace? That’s clearly what you boasted about around the place, last week. But don’t forget Satoru-“ Suguru came closer and put his hand on the prince’s shoulder “it’s more than okay to ask for help sometimes, it’s a proof of your maturity actually-”

Satoru slapped the hand away before Suguru had the chance to continue talking.

“Ouch.” the dark haired man faked a pained expression. “Seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“It’s your fault I’m like this in the first place.”

“My fault?? How is this my fault?” Suguru asked, genuinely confused.

“Who’s that girl from earlier?” the prince went right to the point.

“What girl?”

“Don’t act dumb, Suguru. You know who I’m talking about.”

The lord sighed “On the way here I was stopped by multiple servants, most of them being girls, telling me about the fact that you were looking for me, so I’m afraid you'll have to give me a bit more than just the fact that she was a girl, then maybe, I will know who you are talking about.”

“The girl from the garden! The one that was hanging the laundry. The one that you seemed awfully close to. Is this enough information for you?” Satoru inquired bitterly.

A smile stretched on Suguru’s face. “Ah, I see now. What about her?”

“Huh? What’s the deal with her? I never saw you that close with a girl, much less a servant.” Satoru remarked annoyed.

“What, you jealous? Don’t worry, Satoru. She won’t steal me from you. You’ll always be my one and only-“

The crown prince narrowed his eyes, interrupting his bestfriend again, with no shame whatsoever. “Jealous my ass. It’s pure curiosity. I’ve tried to make you talk with girls from the court or from foreign nations, for years, yet you never even glance towards them a second time. Yet, this maid seemed to have your attention without breaking a sweat.”

A short laugh escaped Suguru’s lips. “If you’re insinuating what I think you are, you can stop right there. Me and [name] are just good friends, nothing happened between us and nothing will ever happen.”

“Then what is it about her? I’ve seen her from afar but she doesn’t seem that big of a deal.”

“You have a bad habit of judging people based on their appearances, you know that’s not something a future good leader must do, right?”

Satoru’s face flushed ashamed.

“Of course I know that. And it’s not exactly judging-“

“It is.”

Satoru groaned. “Fine, I’ll chose my words more…carefully next time. But seriously what’s the deal with her?”

“She’s just a good friend and a nice company when I need to take breaks from your chaos.”

“Rude.”

“You’ll live.” Suguru smiled.

“So when do I get to meet her?”

“You won’t.” Suguru answered without thinking twice.

“And why is that?” Satoru inquired a bit offended.

“The last thing she needs, or would want for that matter, is to be center of attention, or even worse, to be roped into any of your schemes.”

“You make me sound like a villain of some sort.” The crown prince scoffed.

“From certain points of view you might be, yes.” The duke challenged.

“Hmph. Why does it seem like sometimes you forget that you’re talking with the crown prince?”

“Come on, Satoru, if everyone acted respectfully towards you or if they let you think you’re right all the time, you would become spoiled, or like, even more spoiled than you already are.”

Satoru hummed acknowledging what Suguru just said, but he seemed distracted for a moment, it seemed like he’s deep in thought again.

“What are you thinking about now?” asked Suguru as his eyes narrowed.

“What if…you don’t directly tell me how to meet her...but you give me a hint on how to find her. I mean, in that case it’s only a…50% chance I would actually find her. What about this?”

“Since I have a feeling you won’t drop this anytime soon, why not.”

The prince smiled victorious and waited for Suguru to think of something. A few minutes later, Suguru started chuckling.

“I got one.”

“Okay. Go on.” The prince nodded.

“You might find her...if you fall asleep in a meadow.”

“And?” Satoru waited for his friend to continue but he shook his head.

“That’s all.”

“What? How am I supposed to find her based on that?”

“Sounds like a you problem if you ask me.” Suguru added.

“Fine. But sooner or later, I will find her and I will see for myself if she’s such a nice person as you claim she is.”

A few days later the crown prince started getting annoyed. At first, he thought he can cheat and find you at the place where he saw you first, but over the next few days since the talk with Suguru, there were other maids working out there. Then, he thought he might just ask a random maid about you when he sees one, but then he quickly realized that was dumb, because there were thousands of maids working in the palace, some never see each other much less know each other’s names.

In every free moment that the prince had, his mind would wonder to Suguru’s hint.

“You might find her if you fall asleep in a meadow.”

One more thing that Satoru thought about, but didn’t have time for until the weekend, was going for a walk in the gardens hoping that he might spot you around there.

The gardens are like some sort of meadow, right?

Maybe you were assigned gardening work sometimes, it wouldn’t really make sense since the palace hired a lot of gardeners especially for taking care of the entire area, but what does he know about this kind of stuff really.

Satoru spent his entire weekend taking walks while scouting the entire area for you, hoping he’d at least see you once while passing, but he didn’t. However, he seemed to meet someone else in the gardens instead.

“I have to admit, I don’t think I’ve seen you spending so much time in the royal gardens since we were kids.” Shoko laughed as she gestured the bench she was sitting on, signaling the prince to take a seat.

“It’s not by choice unfortunately.” Satoru sighed as he sat down.

“I thought you were only doing the things that you wanted, something about being royalty and never having to listen to anyone.” The duchess laughed.

“You and Suguru seem to find pleasure in criticizing the things I say lately.”

“Well, if two people say the same things, without talking beforehand about it, that might mean they’re right.” Shoko smiled.

“What brings you here? Studying plants for your medicine exams?”

“Yes. It’s nice to study outside from time to time, the library is sometimes parched with people, so the best options to not be bothered by noise is either to read somewhere else or to read at night when there’s barely any people left.” Satoru nodded as Shoko finished explaining “What about you? What brings you out here?”

“A stupid riddle.”

Shoko giggled. “I thought you liked riddles…but I don’t think it’s just a normal riddle, am I right?”

“If I guess then I can find someone, but Suguru has been too vague.”

“Suguru is the one who riddled you? This has suddenly got even more interesting, who do you have to find?”

“A maid, [name], I think that's how Suguru called her. I caught her and Suguru once chatting and they seemed very close. But Suguru won't let me meet her.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t have let you either. [name] is a really nice girl, you would just get her in trouble.”

“You know her, too?” Satoru exclaimed surprised.

“I do. We don’t see each other often, and maybe we’re not as good friends as she is with Suguru, but she’s a good and smart person.”

“Then…do you think you can help me? With the riddle? Suguru said that I might find her if I fall asleep in a meadow, but as much as I hate to admit it, this is harder than I anticipated. I searched everywhere in the royal gardens and I came up with nothing. And there are no meadows close to the palace either, well as far as I’m aware anyway, but I know the surroundings almost like the back of my hand.”

Shoko burst out laughing. “That is so easy. You overcomplicated yourself so bad.” she continued “Satoru, do you remember our favorite activity in the rainy days? What me, you and Suguru would do every time we weren’t at the palace together?”

“We would send letters.” Satoru responded quickly.

“You need more than that. What would we talk about in said letters?”

“Hmm…we talked about a lot of stuff but I guess we talked the most about the books we read.”

“You’re getting there. What was the one book you would not stop comparing all the others about?”

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?”

“And what happens at the beginning of the book, Satoru? Where is Alice and what does she do?”

It took him less than a second to finally realise.

“She falls asleep-“ Satoru’s eyes widened “in a meadow!”

“There you go.”

“The library…how did I not realise before, you and Suguru wouldn’t shut up about how she’s smart. I should’ve seen it.”

“Well, its better late than never.” Shoko commented.

The prince got up quick but he remembered what his friends said. “She doesn’t like to be the center of attention” Suguru told him. And Shoko mentioned that the only moment the library is not full is at night…

“Thank you, Shoko. I owe you one.” Satoru smiled as he started walking away.

Seems like he has plans tonight.

taglist: @kalopsia-flaneur

end notes: thank you for reading :)

[cam3lliaw]

my tags:

ctaoap 🩵 - "Catching the eyes of a prince" (prince!gojo x fem!reader fic -ongoing)

cam3lliaw-writes =fics

cam3lliaw-reblogs

cam3lliaw-✉️ = replies to asks etc.

cam3lliaw-🖋 =random ideas, thoughts, opinions

cam3lliaw-🗒 =work-in-progress