Work Text:
Lilia had just finished wrapping his present when Malleus knocked on his door. Malleus hadn't said anything, but Lilia knew it had to be him. Thank goodness Lilia had found the present in time. He would have wrapped it earlier, but he had somehow misplaced it. "Come in, Malleus!"
Malleus nervously opened the door, only peeking his head in. "Silver and Sebek are out working on a school project..." Though he hadn't exactly voiced what he wanted, Lilia knew.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go to your room." Lilia said, smiling and picking up the box he had wrapped with black wrapping paper and a green bow.
Malleus raised an eyebrow, frowning. "What is that?"
How could his son not trust him? Lilia has never given his children anything horrid in all the decades he'd been alive! "You'll see~" Lilia simply said, lightly pushing Malleus out of the doorway and toward his room.
Once they got to Malleus' room Lilia shut the door, and they sat on his bed.
"Would you like to open your present?" Lilia asked, holding the box out toward Malleus.
"You didn't have to get me anything. I don't require anything special." Malleus said, still frowning. He pouted a lot when he was little. Lilia just wished he would be able to smile for once. This was supposed to be relaxing for him, he wanted Malleus to be able to enjoy himself.
"I realize that, but it made me happy to buy my little one a present, is that so wrong?"
Malleus, still sulking, slowly reached toward the box.
"It's nothing dangerous, I promise." Lilia teased.
"I might not want it," Malleus warned.
"If you don't want it, you don't have to use it." Lilia promised.
Malleus sat the box in his lap and stared at it warily, absentmindedly playing with the bow. Ah, so he was already starting to regress!
"I think you'll like it dragonfly. Have I ever gotten you a bad gift?"
Malleus seemed to consider that for a moment. His evaluation seemed favorable, as Malleus tore open the wrapping paper.
Inside the box sat a xylophone made for young children. He had realized Malleus needed more toys for when he was little, so this is the first one he'd gotten for him. He wanted to get more of course, but it wouldn't do well to overwhelm the little dragon.
Malleus stared at the xylophone for a moment, mouth agape. He then proceeded to hug it like Lilia had gotten him a stuffed toy. He didn't care how old they got, there was no one in the world more adorable than his kids!
"Do you like it?" Lilia had to ask.
Malleus nodded vigorously, hugging the toy tightly.
"Careful now, you don't want to get hurt." Lilia scolded gently. He now knew it was better to phrase it like that, even if there was no chance the prince would get hurt. Insinuating he could cause harm to others or even objects caused him to cry.
"Would you like me to open it for you?" Lilia asked. Malleus nodded again, holding the toy out to him.
"Alright, give me a moment my prince," Lilia said. It took him only a few seconds to open the toy, but it seemed to feel like hours to Malleus, the little whining and making grabby hands at it the second it was out of his grasp.
"I'm almost done," Lilia reassured, taking off the last of the packaging and teleporting the trash to his room. He'd throw it out later. Really, why were there so many twist ties on a xylophone? "There you go." He passed the xylophone to Malleus.
Malleus instantly grabbed it, a bit rough but not enough to break the toy. At first, he seemed content to hit random keys and listen to the sounds they made, not hitting them in any particular order. Lilia was content with just watching the little one until he felt a tug on his sleeve.
"Play," Malleus said, pointing at the xylophone.
"Yes, you play very well!"
Malleus shook his head, whining in frustration. It seemed Lilia still hadn't mastered his little language very well.
"Play a song." Malleus explained. If Lilia didn't get it right this time, there may be a meltdown.
"You're going to play me a song?" Lilia tried.
Malleus nodded, a slight smile on his face. Lilia was now more than happy to have gone through that trail. It was worth it to see Malleus smiling.
Malleus played twinkle twinkle little star perfectly, not once making a mistake. Once he was done he looked at Lilia in expectation.
Lilia immediately clapped for him. "You did very well. It's my little prince's first time playing a xylophone and he's already so good at it." He cooed, pinching Malleus' cheek. Malleus whined, slapping his hand away. It was a bit too rough but Lilia would let it slide this time. It was one of the few times his little had smiled, he didn't have the heart to have to scold him so soon.
"May I hear another song?" Lilia asked.
Malleus nodded proudly, starting another children's song that Lilia couldn't quite remember the name of. Honestly, he was surprised Malleus still remembered these tunes.
Soon Malleus had played nine songs on his new instrument, Lilia smiling and clapping with the same enthusiasm for each of them.
He had made a good call getting him the xylophone, he would be sure to get him some more things soon. Well, there was something else he had gotten him, but he wasn't going to give it to him unless he ended up needing it.
Which may be the case, considering his son started whining again. He either had finally gotten bored of his concert, or he was hungry. Even though both would be difficult to deal with, he hoped it was the former. Malleus absolutely refused to eat when he was little. Lilia wasn't sure he'd be able to convince him to today. If he kept insisting he'd cause the other to come out of little space, and he didn't want to harm the progress they'd already made.
"What is it dragonfly? Are you bored?"
Malleus blew a cloud of fire that was extremely close to Lilia's face. He wasn't too keen on getting his bangs burned off a second time, but he supposed it wouldn't be too bad. He's sure he could make it work somehow. He was pretty good at doing hair considering he'd done Silver's, Malleus', and his own all these years. A little more burnt hair shouldn't be too much of a challenge.
"Malleus, what did I tell you about using your fire?" Lilia scolded. He still had to make sure he taught Malleus how to behave, even if he wanted to let him off the hook. If Silver and Sebek ever watched over Malleus like this, he didn't think they'd appreciate having their eyebrows burnt off. Well, Sebek might not care, but that wasn't important right now.
Malleus' only response was to stick the side of the xylophone mallet in his mouth and bite it.
Ah. So he wasn't hungry or bored. It seemed they were going to need the other present after all.
"Malleus, don't bite your toys. I have something else for you to chew on."
Malleus dropped the xylophone mallet and looked at him in surprise. He did tell the little he was going to have to find something more suitable for him to chew on, didn't he?
Lilia conjured up the black pacifier he had gotten for Malleus. It wasn't a typical pacifier, but one that could be chewed on to his heart's content and not break. Also, one that would fit an adult fae's mouth. Lilia had it modeled after this human teething toy he had seen.
The pacifier was black, made to look like a raspberry. The shield a leaf, the handle a vine, the rest the raspberry.
"Not a baby!" Malleus yelled, thunder echoing after him. Lilia supposed he should've expected this reaction. He knew Malleus would like the soother, but he wouldn't want to admit it. He wished he didn't get hung up on whether things were childish or not, and could learn to be himself someday.
"Malleus sweetheart, taking this doesn't mean you're a baby, it just means you have something appropriate to chew on. Chewing on your toys and hair is more childish, isn't it? This also looks a bit more like a raspberry than a pacifier, don't you think?" Lilia asked, holding up the pacifier and pretending to inspect it.
Malleus whined, clutching his xylophone to his chest. Lilia really needed to get him some stuffed toys.
Soon enough, the dragon accepted defeat, holding his hand out for the pacifier while giving his guardian a death glare. Lilia handed it to him, and Malleus plopped it into his mouth all while looking at Lilia like he'd set his tamagotchi on fire.
Malleus chewed on the pacifier for a minute, putting down the xylophone. Lilia stayed silent while Malleus tested out the new item.
Soon the little seemed to have forgotten about his anger, because he started playing with his xylophone again as if he'd never been upset in the first place.
Lilia would take this as a win.