Chapter Text
Hunter stood in front of Darius’s door, anxiously. He didn’t have a sewing lesson tonight. What if Darius sent him away? Flapjack nipped at him from under his cloak, silently telling him to just knock already. He knew Darius would do anything for him.
“Ow,” Hunter hissed at Flapjack. “Mean.... But I get it. Fine.” He knocked and immediately wished he hadn’t.
Darius opened the door, looking annoyed. He softened when he saw Hunter. It wasn’t his fault he had to go out on a mission late at night.
“What are you doing here, little prince?” He asked. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
Hunter crossed his arms and stomped his foot. “I don’t have a bedtime!”
Darius raised an eyebrow at him. Hunter knew damn well he’d given him a bedtime when he found out how late he was going to sleep at night. He didn’t expect him to follow his bedtime all the time—sometimes things happened. Like getting distracted during a sewing lesson. Or having to go out on a mission overnight. However, there was no reason for Hunter not to be following his bedtime tonight. He should have been asleep two hours ago! He was in his pajamas underneath his cloak, though, which was good to see.
Hunter glanced around the hall, but didn’t see anyone there. “I...I tried to go to bed on time. I had a nightmare. Flapjack said we should see if you can come stay with us again.”
“I wish I could, little prince, but I have to go out on a mission very soon.”
“Oh.” Hunter looked down at his boots, disappointed. “It’s okay. I’ll just read until I’m tired enough to fall asleep.” He turned to leave.
Darius did not like hearing that. He poked his head back into his room to check the time. He still had an hour before he had to leave. That would be plenty of time to get Hunter to sleep.
“Nope,” he said. “That just won’t do. Come on.”
Hunter looked back up when he saw Darius stride past him towards his room. “But your mission—”
“I’ll have enough time to put you to sleep if you hurry.”
Hunter jogged after him. Once they reached his room, he kicked his boots off and got into bed. Hopefully if he fell asleep fast enough he’d be fine....
Darius tucked the blanket tightly around Hunter and sat in a chair of abomination goop to read to him.
Hunter sucked on his thumb while he listened to Darius read. It wasn’t until Darius put a hand on his back that he was finally able to fall asleep.
Darius watched him sleep for a minute before getting up to turn the light off and go back to his own room to finish getting ready for his mission.
Hunter whimpered in his sleep when Darius stood up.
“Dammit,” Darius sighed. He sat back down and rubbed Hunter’s back, getting him to quiet down. What was he supposed to do? He had to leave soon, but he didn’t want Hunter to wake up and get upset. He pulled his scroll out of his pocket. Maybe someone on the internet would have an idea. Hunter definitely wasn’t the only kid with trouble sleeping. Darius typed into the search bar: Toddler won’t sleep without physical contact and hit enter.
He scrolled for a while, finally finding some blogging site. A bunch of mothers were asking questions and offering suggestions and comments to each other. Hm. This website might end up being useful again in the future. He eventually found a suggestion that, honestly, looked kind of dumb, but hey, he’d try anything. Now, how was he supposed to get to the kitchen without leaving Hunter?
A penstagram message from Raine popped up. Ah hah!
Rainey.day:
Are you almost ready to go?
Darius_Deamonne1:
Almost. I need you to do something for me first.
Rainey.day:
???
Darius_Deamonne1:
Fill a plastic glove with uncooked rice and bring it to Hunter’s room, please.
Rainey.day:
Why???
Darius_Deamonne1:
Just do it. I’ll explain later. Don’t text back and don’t knock. Just come in.
Hunter was starting to wake up from Darius texting, so he quickly put his scroll away and continued patting the child’s back to get him back to sleep.
A few minutes later Hunter’s door opened and a very confused looking bard walked in holding a glove full of rice. They handed it to Darius, who tied the opening closed and carefully put the glove on Hunter’s back. Darius slowly stood up, watching to make sure Hunter didn’t wake up.
Hunter sighed in his sleep and settled further into his pillow, squeezing his stuffed frog.
Darius backed out of the room, grabbing Raine’s sleeve and dragging them with him. He shut the light off and breathed a sigh of relief when they were out in the hall. He indicated for Raine to follow him away from Hunter’s room.
“So, are you going to explain?” Raine asked.
“Right....” Darius knew Hunter wasn’t going to be happy with him for telling anyone. “Don’t tell Hunter you know. He’ll get upset.”
“Alright. Is he okay?” Raine didn’t know what they were expecting from Darius asking for a glove full of rice, but they certainly weren’t expecting to walk into the golden guard’s room and see the abomination coven head rubbing his back while he sucked his thumb in his sleep and cuddled a stuffed toy. It was a cute sight to see, though, and they kind of wished they’d taken a picture, just so they could tease Darius.
“He’s fine. He’s just been having a little trouble falling asleep alone. He...have you heard of age regression?”
Raine nodded.
“He regresses to cope with the stress this place brings him.”
“That...makes a lot of sense now. I never really expected you to be a caregiver, though.”
“Neither did I, but he needs me.” Darius stopped walking. Raine turned to look at him. “Seriously, don’t say anything about it to him or anyone else. I don’t think he’d ever forgive me for telling you.”
Raine mimed zipping and locking their lips. “My lips are sealed. Now let’s go.”
---
Hunter woke up feeling uncomfortable. Why did it feel like he was covered in rice? He opened his eyes. Ah. It was because he was covered in rice. There was a pecked open plastic glove next to him, having just fallen off his back when he sat up. There was rice all over his bed, and even some glued to his face with drool. He glared at Flapjack who chirped innocently and flew to one of Hunter’s shelves where he wouldn’t be able to reach him.
Hunter rolled his eyes and set about cleaning the rice from his bed. He went into his tiny ensuite bathroom to shower. How was there rice in his hair too?! Sighing, he got dressed and left for morning meetings. On his way out the door he sent another glare towards Flapjack, however it looked more like a pout.
After the meetings, Hunter followed Darius to the cafeteria.
“Rice?” He asked the man. “What was the purpose of that?”
“Good morning to you too, little prince. The purpose was so you would sleep and I could leave for my mission without feeling guilty.”
“That makes no sense. How does putting rice on my back make you not feel guilty?”
“You couldn’t sleep soundly unless I was holding you or had my hand on your back. The rice made you think I was still there and I got to leave and you got to sleep for almost 5 whole hours.”
Hunter blushed, grateful for his mask covering his face. “W-well you should feel guilty anyway, ‘cause Flapjack pecked the glove open and ate a lot of the rice, and got the rest all over me and my bed! I had to clean it up!”
Darius was a little concerned by that. “Is Flapjack sick?”
“No, but—”
“Then I don’t feel guilty. Did you sleep well, little prince?”
Hunter sighed. “I guess.”
“Good. I will try to find something to use other than rice in the future, though.”
Hunter stuck his tongue out at Darius as he walked away with his breakfast tray. He knew he couldn’t see it, but hopefully he could feel the petulant vibes emanating off him.