Titus Drautos got up that morning with the feeling that by the end of the day he had an incredible head.
Or he risked killing some of his newly recruited Glaives.
The man rubbed his eyes and sat on the bed of his modest apartment.
He had been Captain of the Glaives for two years but had preferred to stay in his old man somewhere outside the Citadel.
He runs his hand through his tousled hair, trying to get the strange feeling out of his head.
Titus Drautos was a fairly routine man.
If you took away the fact that he was also General Glauca in the service of the Empire for about two years.
Like every Wednesday he left his house when the sun had not yet risen to train in the race and then stopped at the fish market east of Somnus Streat.
Although almost ten years have passed since the conquest of the empire of his native land (and his transfer as a refugee and later as a cadet for the Crown) but Titus did not lose his habits and customs.
Then he went home, cooked the fish fast while he drank his first cup of coffee of the day, and went to take a shower.
By the time he got into the car to reach the Citadel that strange feeling had already left him.
8:30 a.m.
Captain Drautos sat at his desk drinking the second coffee of the day.
As he entered his office he discovered, to his horror and dismay, that the papers to be examined and signed had increased on his desk.
And it didn't help that five of them talked about fights between his young Glaives and Guardians of the Crown.
Sighing, he set to work.
His men would arrive not later than 11am so he had some time.
He was reading the report of two Glaives who had punched three Crown Guardians for ethnic reasons when they knocked on the door.
-Come on...-
The door creaked open but no one announced.
Titus Drautos looked up and never expected to see the scene before him.
And the fact that, just three nights before, he got drunk and ended up in bed with the man in front of him had nothing to do with it.
No.
He remained motionless with his pen stopped at mid-station in his hand, observing Marshal Leonis with a large bag on his side and a blond child in his arms.
There was a long minute of silence finally broken by the Captain's voice.
-It's not mine, Leonis ...-
Better to make her laugh.
Because, after the initial shock, watching the Marshal with a shocked face and a child trying to put his fingers in his nose was really amusing.
-I have a task to entrust you-
Cor stepped into the office with a firm step, unloading the large bag between the paperwork on the table and settling the child in his arms.
- Return in the afternoon, I have to train my men and to arrange about fifty reports.-
The Captain's tone was calm and serene as he put the bag (quite heavy) towards the Marshal and extracted reports from below to sign.
-You must keep this baby until tonight.-
Titus looked Cor in the eye. Blue ocean in an electric blue.
- Fucking fuck. There are a minimum of twenty babysitters for little Prince Noctis. Slide it between the skirts of one of them.
It was a joke, and in bad taste.
He knew that that evening he would have had repercussions at work. In ten years of work at the Cittadella he had never slept with any colleague, man or woman.
There was a reason and this was the result.
-Listen ...-
-Leonis if it's for the other night we have to put things straight in the clear. I was drunk. You too.
We had a great time as two simple men of thirty. Bring that baby out of here.-
He said it seriously, with the pen pointed at the other man, and it would have been a threatening thing if at a certain point the baby had not turned and grabbed the pen trying to take it.
-Drautos you are not my first choice to leave a child ...-
-So leave it to Monica. will be excited to look after the son of the Immortal.-
-It's not my son ...-
- Leave it at the Amicitia residence. They have a child too. Where there is one there can be two ...-
-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! -
The scream of the child caused silence to fall between the men.
Titus allowed himself to observe it.
He had big eyes with strange color ... Titus could swear he saw a hint of violet in it. The scrape of hair growing in his head was a warm and very funny blond. Totus thought it resembled a Chocobo puppy.
Then he looked at the child's mouth that announced a desperate cry.
The Captain of the Glaives got up, walked around the desk, and took the child from the Marshal's arms (he could swear he saw relief and victory in his eyes).
-Be clear Leonis - He said as he settled the child in the mighty arms - Not later than eight o'clock this evening.-
11:00 a.m.
The child was called Prompto.
He was about 18 months old and was waiting to be adopted by a Lucis family.
And it was terribly lively.
But this last thing Marshal Leonis took care not to tell the Captain, letting him find out for himself.
The thing no one would ever have imagined was that Titus Drautos liked children.
And the thing no one would ever dream of believing is that he knew how to deal with them.
-So little chocobo ... In a while there will be some bad guys, many of them still half asleep and with a hangover, and we'll make them sweat a little with some intensive training. What do you say, you like the program? -
-Gu! -
-Good, excellent answer.-
Titus resumed signing and reading papers while the child played with rattles on a blanket that the Captain had laid on the ground.
The man had to admit that the child was good:
he had never cried since the Marshal had left him to him and they had taken half an hour to get to know each other and set up a small plane in his office.
Prompto had always played on the carpet, accompanying somersaults and leaving objects with joyful shouts.
Titus chatted from time to time with him, handing him some games that he accidentally went under the desk.
They were interrupted by a light knock on the door.
-Come on-
Titus Drautos tried not to laugh.
But it was tremendously difficult to resist temptation.
In front of him ten of his young (the "oldest" he was only 21 years old) Glaives became paralyzed at the sight of the child.
Even Lazzarus, who usually wasn't impressed by anything, gasped.
In the end, seeing a child in Captain Drautos' office was not an everyday thing.
-Remember ... The more time you stay like fucking fish with an open mouth on the door, the more training will be long and special.
"Yes, Captain!" They turned in every direction, beating each other.
-Ulric! Ostium! In the afternoon you are summoned to my office. You have five hours to think about your answers well! -
-Gu! -
The two boys slowly closed the door, giving a worried look. For the words of the Captain and for the child's response.
12:00 a.m.
The Glaives trained and, after a routine shower, switched to reporting to the Captain.
They found the door locked and a child's laughing cries coming from the inside as a more adult voice spoke serious and determined.
- Needless to try to escape little chocobo! I have been catching eels with my bare hands since I was 5 years old and I can assure you that in five minutes I will have put you this fucking diaper and these fucking shorts ... It's useless you look at me like that ... And no, you won't bribe me with a cactus-shaped puppet. I'll put the diaper there anyway ... It takes more to bribe Captain Drautos, remember ...! -
What the Glaives never said was that, that day, each of them stood with his ear glued to the office door.
12:30 a.m.
-Good, it's time for baby food, little chocobo ...-
Titus had managed to change the diaper that lay like a bomb outside the carefully closed window.
He had freed his desk to allow the child to eat with him.
-We see you left the Immortal to eat ...-
The man looked inside the large bag: he took off clothes, diapers, wet wipes, various toys, a blanket, a brush, saline bottles for the nose, and finally found a bottle with a sachet attached with powdered milk .
- How the hell did all this stuff fit in this bag ?! Bah, it doesn't matter ...- Titus looked at the bottle and took a piece of paper with handwritten information on when and how to prepare the milk.
- Titus tells you he wants you dead ... Come here chocobo - He threw the bottle of the bag and then took in his arms Prompto and put it on his legs after sitting at the desk - Let us see what the real men eat here ..-
-Gu! -
The child began to clap his hand when the man opened the lunch box.
- Here it is, rice with fish! This is how Cavaugh's children grew up, you know? Milk and fish.-
He laughed softly as he needed some food on a plate trying to stop Prompto's eager hands that wanted to grab everything.
He tried to teach him to use his fork but failed miserably after the tool flew near the fat plant next to the door.
The child was curious and Titus watched with a smile as he brought his laden hands to his mouth.
"Hey go easy on me ... Drink the water too ..."
They drank from the same glass (after drinking by mistake from the bottle, Titus noticed that Prompto also wanted to do the same) and they ate happily together.
Titus praised the child and urged him to explore food and utensils. He was so vivacious ... So curious ...
Titus thought that was why he fought, in every village.
He fought for a future where he could go home, on the coasts, perhaps bringing one or two children to learn to fish.
3:00 p.m.
After two more diapers full of poo, Prompto managed to fall asleep.
It was curious for the Glaives to see their tall and muscular Captain with a sleeping child lying on his shoulder.
What they did not know was that this Captain had taken almost an hour (and walked almost all over the Citadel) to be able to put Prompto to sleep. He swore that the first one who accidentally woke him would have preferred Ifrit to him. And he said it growling. Then the Glaives believed him on the word.
less than half an hour later the baby woke up.
4:00 p.m.
-Do you realize what you did last night ?! you punched three members of the Crown Guard! -
Nyx and Libertus stood upright in their captain's office with their eyes fixed on them.
The taller one had a black eye while his friend the broken lip.
-Sir ...-
-No Lord, Ulric! You have been here for a year and I expect seriousness from you! You are Glaives! Not a bunch of bums going to fight! And I don't care what the fuck they said about your homeland or your mothers. You are Glaives and you cannot tarnish the honor we are building! Understand?! -
Nyx and Libertus nodded, looking straight ahead.
Because being scolded by your Captain who warned them by pointing a rattle at them was the most ridiculous thing they had ever taken part in.
They couldn't laugh but the rest of their group, lurking on the tree outside the window of the Captain's office, did it for them too.
7:30 p.m.
- Here we are a little chocobo ... Mom Cor is coming soon and takes you everywhere out of here.-
Titus had dismissed the Glaives an hour earlier than expected thanks to the intensive training he had undergone.
He saw them every now and then, laughing under his mustache and sending him curious glances as he passed among the ranks or walked beside the training ground with Prompto in his arms.
The child had explored the whole Glaives complex, clapping his hands and giving smiles to every soldier.
now that they were alone in the office again, Titus looked at him better. The boy enjoyed going down and up from the desk chair while the man arranged sheets on the various shelves. For a single moment Titus imagined himself splitting wood to take home while a child jumped among piles of dry leaves near him.
Titus felt his heart tighten but decided not to notice.
The immortal was late. For Titus Drautos the phrase "by eight o'clock tonight" was equivalent to "at seven o'clock I want it outside my office".
He picked up games scattered around the office, feeling the softness of the stuffed animals and smiling at the miniatures of the animals that filled the floor. He put everything back in his bag, pressing a little and being careful not to break the zipper.
Cor was late.
And he needed to shake the day off his body.
-We go Prompto, we wait for the Immortal at the door of his office.-
The child looked at him seriously, stepped out of the chair and took his hand past the door.
8:00 p.m.
The door of Marshal Cor Leonis's office, called the Immortal, was locked.
Titus learned from an attendant that the Crown guards were disconnected from work at six in the afternoon.
Titus wanted to blaspheme the Gods, and he did it in his head, but Prompto decided to run away near the stairs and the man ran after him to catch him before the fall.
He watched the child laugh with gusto and he too smiled sadly. He raised prompto high in front of him as he watched that smile spread over the child's mouth as he waved his small arms.
For that child it was all a game, the world was a rainbow of bright colors. In his heart, Titus wished him that it was always like this.
-Okay little chocobo ... Let's go home.-
Titus Drautos put the little Prompto on his shoulders, picking up the bag he had previously left on the ground.
He greeted the girl at the porter's lodge as he went out with that happy boy on his shoulders, with his hands up high as if to touch the sky.
The day after...
Cor Leonis was a strange man.
He was 28 years old and resentment and desire seem to consume him at any moment.
or so Regis and Clarus thought.
Cor the Immortal looked at the door of his office and read the note that had been attached in plain sight twice.
"If you ever know a woman willing to give you a child, know that I will be there to remind them how lightly you have forgotten and abandoned a child of a year and a half in the hands of the Captain of the Kingsglaive.
PS: the fucking powder you say to be powdered milk, drink it yourself.
T.D. "
Cor Leonis watched the bottle placed in front of his office door.
They would have fucked him for a long time ...
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Sorry for the various grammatical errors. English is not my language and I use an online translator***
This fic was born after seeing a splendid drawing made by Merlin (here I leave the link https://twitter.com/OwlyMerlin/status/1192637119669428230). I thank him for letting me "get the idea" for this story!
