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Ryoma's arms were folded in front of him as he entered their quarters. The sun had, for the most part, slipped from the sky and only the last few orange-tinged rays fell upon the world.
"It's freezing today."
"What are you talking about?" Silas asked, chipper as he tasted the sauce he'd been working on for dinner. He shook his head and reached for the salt. "It's finally starting to reach comfortable temperatures again."
Ryoma said nothing, just shook his head and grabbed one of the tools to poke at the logs currently crackling away in the fireplace.
"How were negotiations?"
"Making peace is almost as hard as making war." Ryoma sighed and grabbed a blanket off the sofa. "It's going well enough, though. These things just take time."
Silas put out the stove. "It's important work. I'm proud of you, Ryoma." He laid a few plates out on the kitchen table before joining Ryoma by the fire. "I've got a talk with some Nohrian merchants tomorrow about trade agreements."
Ryoma, who was cocooned in a blanket, lifted one of his arms to invite Silas to take his place beneath it. Laughing warmly, Silas accepted the invitation and leaned into Ryoma's shoulder. "You could be preparing for that instead of cooking dinner. There are plenty of people around this castle whose job it is to worry about that," Ryoma said.
Silas shrugged. "It calms me down. I've got all my points figured out, and I knew a lot of those people back when I was a knight."
"Speaking of dinner, where are the young ones?"
"One of the generals you met with today used to be my superior. She said she'd give Shiro a few lessons with Nohrian-style lance fighting today, since he's so used to the naginata. You should have seen how Shiro's face lit up." Silas grinned and wrapped an arm around Ryoma's waist. "She said she'd have him back by dinnertime. She knows not to push him too hard."
Ryoma chuckled. "I'm sure he was starstruck. It's as if he forgets sometimes that he's the high prince."
"He's eleven. Your maturity at his age came from a lot of suffering." Silas's fingers traced up and down a section of Ryoma's spine in a rhythm that mirrored his own breathing. "If our children don't know the same pain we did, it means we've done something right."
"I suppose so." Ryoma ran a hand through Silas's hair. "Where's Sophie?"
"Kiragi has been begging to see his cousins, so Takumi and Mozu offered to look after her for the afternoon so he'd have a playmate. They said they'd take care of getting her home in time for dinner."
"Just the two of us for a while, then," Ryoma said, huddling a little closer to Silas.
"You really are cold," Silas remarked. "Such a baby. Do you need me to warm you up a little?" A sly hand splayed across Ryoma's chest.
Ryoma stammered, face growing red. "That's not – "
Silas laughed and kissed the edge of Ryoma's jaw. "I'm joking, Liebster. The kids are going to be home looking for dinner any minute."
"Silas!"
"And you really considered it! Terrible."
Ryoma just huffed. Silas was laughing, and the trace of a chuckle found its way into the edges of Ryoma's exasperated sigh. "Just like this will be plenty, thank you." There was a playful edge to his voice that only made Silas laugh harder.
A comfortable silence fell between them for a minute, and Silas broke it only to wrap his arms around Ryoma and mumble an "I love you" against his collarbone. "I'm so glad I met you."
Ryoma squeezed his husband close and murmured, "I love you, too," into his hair. "Until every star falls from the sky, I love you."