#remember that scene at the palace where we all swooned and ached with them

[10underoot2]

What upsets me the most about all the bad writing is that Qot will be written off as something that started great but ended horribly. I have no hope . I don't think anything can save it now.

But this show has given us so many really good scenes. Scenes that made me cry....that made me fall in love....that made my heart ache. BaekHong really delivered and I wish, I WISH people watch it for just that cause they're an absolutely lovely character/relationship study. Some of their scenes have really been written and executed well. It's paining me to know all of that is going to be in vain.

Soooo I hope people say, Qot was poorly written but the acting, main leads and the relationship development/arc of the main couple might just be worth the watch.

[whoacanada]

PART TWO -- Zimbits, Royal!Jack AU

PART TWO -- (Prompt: ROYAL AU + POORLY TIMED CONFESSIONS + ZIMBITS )

Part One Here

They land and pull into a private hangar with more black SUVs, more agents, and, blessedly —

“Jack!”

Bitty nearly trips over his feet getting out of the plane and crashes hard against his boyfriend’s chest.

“Honey?” Bitty points defiantly at the red coat of arms painted on the tail of the jet. “Explain. Now.”

“Bits, I didn’t know anything about this before a few days ago,” Jack apologizes, turning pink. “I swear I wasn’t keeping this from you on purpose.”

“I’m pretty sure Nursey was on the phone with the State Department when we left,” Bitty cautions as they’re waived into another car. “Just so you know what’s coming.”

“We’re aware, sir,” replies another agent Bitty doesn’t recognize. “It’s been handled.”

“Oh really? And my finals?”

“Handled as well.”

Bitty clicks his seatbelt and turns to Jack, who has fallen guiltily quiet beside him.

“You had time to tell everyone else but me?” Bitty huffs, looking out the window as the small motorcade departs, weaving through unfamiliar streets.

“I had nothing to do while you were in flight so I tried to fix as much as I could to make this less stressful.”

Bitty gives up some of his irritation when he feels Jack take his hand.

“I’m still mad at you for sending secret service agents instead of just coming yourself.”

“Lapin, it took an entire country to keep me from you.”

It takes a moment for Bitty’s brain to catch up with his heart because the line is clearly rehearsed but it still makes him swoon.

“Did you come up with that yourself?” Bitty chirps, trying to regain composure. “Which one of these suits prepped that apology for you?”

“Surprisingly, that one came from my brain,” Jack says, flashing a pleased if hesitant smile. “You still mad?”

“Tell me the truth,” Bitty says softly, lacing their fingers. “Then we can discuss how I feel.”

Jack takes a breath and Bitty watches the way the streetlights dance over his tired face.

“This is everything I know . . .”

There isn’t a castle or palace, just a federal building; albeit an old, stately one. And on the fifth floor of that building, Eric Bittle is just ripping into one Robert Zimmermann.

“How are you not king?” Bitty questions. “You’re his father, you made Jack, so how is he the successor?”

“I abdicated in ’75,” Bob explains, taking a glass of water from Alicia. “It was the only way I could play. I changed my name, gave up any rights to any titles or property — and thank God I was half decent on the ice or who knows where I’d have ended up — but the result is that I have no legal claim to the throne.”

“What does this mean for Jack? If you voluntarily abdicated, shouldn’t that remove him from the line of succession?”

“Normally, yes, but there’s no one else of blood left. I didn’t have any siblings, my father was an only child, so Jack has as much a claim as anyone. Now, if Jack ascended, he could reinstate me and step aside, but that’s only if Jack agrees to be crowned in the first place.”

“Did you ever expect this? Did you know?”

“No, and not in the way you think,” Jack is perched on the edge of his chair, hair unkempt and tie loose around his throat. “Papa always called me his little Hockey Prince but I didn’t think he was talking in a literal sense. Who would? Crisse, Bits, I’m not King material.”

“You’re a great leader,” Bitty defends reflexively, though Jack waves off the compliment, standing to pace.

“This wouldn’t be an issue at all if there wasn’t an arcane constitutional stipulation that ownership of all properties and holdings in the name of the ‘Monarchy’ will revert if there’s no natural-born ruler,” Jack rubs his eyes and groans. “No one ever amended the documents so if we don’t step in a good chunk of Canadian land will end up being owned by England again. If ‘I’ don’t step in.”

“Trudeau has called me ‘three’ times today,” Bob adds apologetically, “and I will be god-damned if we lose Banff to the Windsors.”

“It’s not on you, Bobby,” Alicia counters. “You literally gave up your right to be defensive.”

Bitty turns back to Jack, who has stopped to look out the window only to be immediately shooed away by an aide who quickly closes the curtains.

“Jack?”

“All I have to do it take the title long enough to amend a two-hundred-year-old treaty and then we can just dissolve the monarchy,” Jack tugs the knot out of his tie and falls back onto the couch beside his father. “That’s easy enough. Right?”

“You could abdicate as well,” Alicia offers. “Let them keep hunting for another heir. It could take years, or days, this doesn’t have to fall on your shoulders, Jack.”

“I would be the most hated man in Canadian history,” Jack explains, leaning his head to rest on the couch back, staring at the ceiling. “I have to do it.”

“I never wanted you to be in this position,” Bob apologizes vehemently. “I’d never even considered the possibility.”

“What about the Falconers? Can Jack still —” Bitty realizes a hair too late that Alicia is making an aggressive slashing motion across he throat.

“I watched a Knight’s Tale with you at the Haus, right?” Jack laughs sharply. “Remember that scene where the prince is trying to joust and no one will face him?”

“No more hockey,” Bob says, pained.

“Can I talk to Eric in private?” Jack says, lifting his head. “Please?”

The room clears quickly and Jack’s parents follow soon after with parting hugs.

Bitty’s never felt so unsettled in his entire life.

“Jack,” Bitty starts when they’re finally alone. “I don’t understand, where does this leave me? Why am I even here?”

Jack makes a pained sound and tugs Bitty close.

“Bits, you’re not going anywhere — this doesn’t change anything between us.”

“I respectfully disagree, hon.”

“We just can’t do things like we planned,” Jack says sadly, taking Bitty’s hand. “It’s going to be different for a while. Harder.”

“Alright,” Bitty breathes, trying to keep himself together. “I understand.”

Bitty pulls off his necklace, his ring, chest aching with the effort, and hands it to a bewildered Jack.

“What is this? What are you doing?”

“It’s okay, I get it,” Bitty can’t find the courage to look up from his feet, he knows he’ll just start crying. “It’s one thing for you to be the first out hockey player, this is something else entirely.”

“What are you talking about?” Jack questions, voice cracking. “Are you. . .  breaking up with me?”

There’s a brief rush of anger that Bitty tamps down when he finds Jack looking down at him with an expression of abject devastation.

“You’re not breaking up with me?” Bitty clarifies, trying his damnedest to figure out what is going on.

“What? No! Crisse, I’m not breaking up with you!” Jack hands back the ring and pulls Bitty toward him. “Bits, I still want to marry you.”

“It's just…I thought…you’re going to be a King now, for real, or a Prince — can we even get married?”

“That's why Papa wanted you here for the announcement,” Jack takes his hands. “You may have to give up your US citizenship but if we’re legally married before I take the throne you’ll have rights, a title.”

Bitty balks for more than a few reasons, not the least of which was he had convinced himself their relationship was over not a minute prior.

“Honey, I can’t even keep the boys in line half the time, I can’t rule a foreign country.”

”That’s not what —“ Jack drops his head and laughs. “You don’t have to do anything. You remember telling me how when you were five you were obsessed with The Little Mermaid, and your parents told everyone you wanted to be Prince Eric? Then you realized years later that it was only because you wanted to fall in love with a handsome prince? Now both of those things can happen. Papa’s working out the specifics with some of the historians but you'd get a title. Only if we’re married, though.”

“How dare you use that against me,” Bitty tries to argue, though he really isn’t that upset when Jack steals a quick kiss.

“This is a trick,” Bitty whispers before Jack kisses him again. “A deplorable,” kiss, “terrible,” kiss, “shotgun wedding of a trick.”

“As it stands, your official designation would be ‘Prince Consort’,” Jack teases, nipping at Bitty’s jaw. “But unofficially, you’d be the Lord of my Heart.”

Bitty can’t fight the laugh that bubbles in his throat.

“Was that too much? I went too far.”

“Shut up, Jack,” Bitty breathes, leaning into the contact as Jack tries to worm a hand under his shirt to tickle his stomach. “Mama is going to murder you if we get married like this.”

“I have guards, now,” Jack counters. “I’d like to see her try. Besides, they’re already on their way. MooMaw, too.”

Bitty stills, thinking through the logistics of getting his family to move so quickly.

“How much time did you have?”

“Well, I am going to be a King,” Jack chirps, burying his face against Bitty neck. “Need to make sure my Prince is taken care of.”

“Need to make sure your ‘Prince’ is even a Prince,” Bitty murmurs.

“Will you marry me?” Jack asks softly, still hiding his face against Bitty’s neck. “Officially? Probably in a room downstairs with more government officials present than family. It won’t be romantic but —“

“If I divorce you later do I get half of Canada?” Bitty interrupts, lacing his fingers in Jack’s hair to tug at his scalp lightly. “You obviously would keep Quebec but I really think I want Ontario.”

Jack stills and Bitty doesn’t know what reaction he’s actually going to get before Jack replies, “Of course, that should go without saying. Though do you think we should live so close if we separated on bad terms?”

Bitty presses a kiss to Jack’s hairline, distracting him.

“Oh, honey, of course I’ll marry you. Even if it’s only a huge distraction so you can dismantle an outdated Canadian institution and save your national parks.”

“You’re taking this surprisingly well.”

Bitty nudges Jack’s face up and plants a kiss square on his lips.

“I’m completely exhausted,” he whispers. “I’m exhausted and my boyfriend turned fiancee is long-lost royalty. I haven’t even finished school and I’m going to be a Prince. I don’t have the energy to freak out about this right now. First, let’s get my parents here, and the priest, then we can discuss crippling panic attacks and life changes we’re not prepared for.”

“Crisse, I love you,” Jack pulls himself up and crushes Bitty in a bear hug. “And if it helps at all, I think I might be able to get Beyoncé to attend the coronation.”

Bitty smiles at the thought.

“Oh, honey, one step at a time. You’re the King of Canada. Not god.”