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"Cookie Prince never had plushies before?!!?"
"Not even once, nya?!"
"How do you sleep then, nya-"
Raon, Hong and Ohn chimed in one after another.
Alberu chuckled, a little surprised at the sudden outburst of the small children.
They were currently chatting with the Roan Crown Prince in his office, discussing sleeping habits.
How they got to that particular topic? Well…
The truth was, that Alberu had some trouble sleeping lately.
Nothing too out of the ordinary of course, just something he should have known better than not to hide carefully from his visitors' watchful eyes. After a comment about it was made, the children latched onto the topic for whatever reason.
Perhaps it was the tiredness catching up to him that made him slip up and let it happen.
Either way, the kids decided to help the Crown Prince come up with solution for better sleep since Alberu's answer of drinking more tea was deemed unsatisfactory. He couldn't blame them, it was indeed not working as well anymore.
After listing some ideas, the kids ended up at the conclusion that sleeping with others near was the best strategy for a good night's rest. That's what they did after all. Of course, even they understood why that might not be possible in Alberu's case so they had suggested the next best thing…
sleeping with plushies.
However… the idea of Alberu not having any plushies around during his childhood, nor after, apparently came as a shock to them and as something almost outrageous.
Since they had each other as siblings and slept by each other's side, they claimed not to need plushies themselves but they still firmly believed that someone who slept on their own should still have at least a plush as company. It would clearly help with sleeping troubles!
They conveniently seemed to ignore the fact that Alberu was a grown man with a reputation to uphold. For all they cared he was treated more like a nextdoor neighbor they needed to help out with their wisdom.
Alberu didn't comment on that part, instead focusing on another misunderstanding.
"I did have a plush before, for a short period of time." He used to have a plush when he was very young, given to him by his mother. He had held onto it dearly at the time, especially after her death, but just like her, the plush didn't last that long in the palace.
For a Palace named Joy, it was something often lacking there.
"I just sleep without one since."
"Did you not like it?"
"I loved it."
He had treasured that plush while he had it. It was just unfortunate it was given to a child like him who had assassin's sent to him on the regular back then. It got destroyed during one of their visits.
The image of the thorn up plush never quite left his memory, it was partly why he was holding onto his necklace so tightly. He didn't want to lose anything else given to him by his late mother.
The kids exchanged a look.
They then decided to snuggle up to Alberu who was sitting on the couch, Ohn making herself comfortable in his lap while Hong rubbed himself against one of his arms and Raon came to rest around his shoulders.
Alberu wondered for a moment if this is what Cale had to deal with on the daily.
He didn't quite understand why he was getting this treatment.
"Then why do you sleep without one now?" Hong asked innocently and he sounded genuinely concerned over it.
"He's not sleeping, nya. That's the problem." Ohn kindly reminded.
Alberu patted the red kitten's head as he tried to form a better explanation than 'my child self decided to never let us get that attached to anything ever again so it wouldn't hurt as much when we lose them'.
That had been the lesson he had taken away from that…
Of course, now as an adult, he recognized it was just his younger self's way of protecting himself.
He had been actually quite lucky that it was only the plush that got destroyed back then instead of any people close to him. Granted, that wasn't many in the first place at the time.
"Cookie Prince, what kind of plushie was it?" The question pulled Alberu from those thoughts and redirected his attention.
"What do you mean?"
"The plushie, what was it like?"
"Well, it was soft." He said, petting through the soft furr of the silver kitten. "It had the size as big as you are." He looked to the red kitten.
"Aaaaand?"
Seeing them this interested, he decided to share another detail. "And it was a Dragon plushie."
"A Dragon??!" Alberu felt his head hurt a bit from Raon's volume.
"Like our youngest, nya!!" The kittens laughed.
"What happened to it, nya?"
Alberu thought back to the scene of the torn plush laying on the floor. His auntie Tasha had wanted to fix it up for him but he had refused.
"I had to let it go."
He had decided back then that it'd only be a liability to hold onto broken things. He wasn't certain he completely agreed with that statement anymore.
The children averaging nine years old looked at each other and something passed through their gazes that only they understood.
Raon flown up to hover slightly above Alberu and gave him some pats on the head with a paw.
"Don't worry, Cookie Prince! I, Raon Miru, am great and mighty when it comes to hugs and cuddles!"
If the Cookie Prince doesn't have a dragon plush to hold… Raon decided he was perfect for the job too! He's great at hugs!
With that announcement serving as a last second warning, Raon flew back down only to plummet into Alberu's chest for a hug. Alberu's hands shot up on reflex to hold the small Dragon's chubby body and tried to angle them in a way not to crush the kittens below.
He didn't need to worry about that long since in the next moment, the kittens jumped up to join the hug as well, giggling about it all the while.
Alberu Crossman, future ruler of the Roan Kingdom, had to balance all four of them, making the kids giggle even more at it.
'Just how did I end up here…' Alberu lamented as he held them and the answer to his thoughts had arrived in the next moment.
A magic circle lit up with a golden hue in his room. It was a teleportation magic circle made by the ancient golden Dragon and on it Alberu's Instructor-nim and Dongsaeng appeared.
Alberu almost sighed at their appearance.
His current situation was thanks to them… or to their absence to be more precise.
Cale was visiting with Choi Han and the kids when Eruhaben had shown up, saying he needed them for something immediately and with no better place to leave the kids at short notice… they were left with Alberu.
He had already freed up space in his schedule for this meeting and it wasn't the first time he served as the kids' temporary guardian or entertainment so it made sense at the moment.
It's not like he minded hanging out with them either, it was just a bit precarious trying to balance them all at once.
Alberu looked to the newly arrived duo for some help. Choi Han had the nerve to just smile at him as he slowly approached the couch and Cale wasn't much better either, staring in a surprised but amused way at Alberu's predicament.
"Human! We're giving Cookie Prince a hug so he could sleep better!"
Raon offered as a terribly biased explanation.
Alberu tried his best not to show his embarrassment that was slowly taking over.
"Is that so?" Cale said, clearly entertained, and that was the moment Alberu knew this will come back to haunt him.
After that, they chatted some more and the hours passed by without anything else urgent coming up.
His visitors returned to their place of residence eventually and the day went by as usual.
The conversation that Alberu had with the three children about plushies, although stirred up memories of the past, quickly faded into the background and slipped his mind with time.
Of course, he should have known this wasn't the end of it.
***
After Cale and the rest arrived back at the Super Rock Villa, the kids quickly explained something they planned on doing to help out the Cookie Prince.
It'd be rather unfortunate if because of his lack of sleep their favorite cookie supplier would be grumpy all day. So they came up with a plan.
"You want to… make plushies?" Cale asked.
"Yes."
"And want to give them to the Crown Prince?"
"He doesn't have any!"
"We want to make something for him, nya."
"Yeah!!"
The children seemed pretty set on it.
Cale mulled it over.
"All right. Let's go to Eruhaben-nim." Of course, if the children wanted it he would help them out.
And this is how they ended back at Eruhaben's despite meeting with him not long ago.
Eruhaben upon hearing their thoughts let out a long sigh.
"Aigoo my head, so you want to make... plushies and thought I would be of help?"
"Goldie Gramps can sow well, I saw it!"
"Yes, nya!"
"Pleaseeeee"
"He needs it!"
"It's important!"
Eruhaben looked at the small children before him, then he glanced at the older ones behind them. He sighed a little as he looked at their expressions.
"Ron is busy for at least another week, Beacrox is also with him." Cale said in lieu of explanation.
Well, it did somewhat explain why they would request the ancient Dragon's help.
The two Molans were currently away on the Eastern Continent and they just happened to be the two people of the group who knew how to sow, that is, apart from Eruhaben.
Sigh.
"What kinds do you want to make?"
He might as well help getting this over with.
He conveniently ignored how if they wanted to make plushies and needed an expert for it they had more than enough money to go look for one.
However, the reason behind not doing that was simple.
They wanted these plushies to be personal.
The children immediately lit up and started listing their ideas.
"A Dragon!"
"An apple, nya."
"A pie!!"
"Oh or maybe a star!"
And thus became the process of plushie making at the Super Rock Villa.
***
"Your Highness, I- … oh my." Tasha, who had just entered her nephew's office that also functioned as his bedroom on days he bothered to actually sleep, stopped in the middle of her sentence.
She closed the door behind her with an amused smile on her lips.
"What's with those?" She asked. "Did my nephew become a collector all of a sudden."
Alberu, who was working at his desk, looked up at Tasha. He already knew what she was referring to and let out a sigh.
On his bed, in a big pile rested multiple plushies on top of each other. All varied in sizes, shapes and forms and had suddenly appeared in the middle of the night on top of his bed.
Of course, there was also a note attached to them, just in case Alberu wouldn't know who could pull off such a stunt… Apparently the kids felt bad about him not having plushies and made it their personal mission to make him some.
They even delivered them through magic while he was asleep.
Well, Alberu did end up waking up to almost being smothered by them, but regardless.
"Is it okay if I pick them up?" Tasha asked, slowly making her way towards the pile.
"Go ahead."
She looked over them, squishing some to feel the soft textures. They were different sizes but there was one that stood out a little from the rest. It was the biggest in the pile and also looked the sloppiest, like the person making it wasn't quite sure how to but was done well enough it wouldn't fall apart upon touch.
This one was very soft as well, however…
"…I can tell what the most of them are but what sort of creature is this one supposed to be?"
She couldn't tell what it was supposed to represent.
The one she picked up was about the size of the little Black Dragon, made with dark fabric, with stripes across its body and something similar to a lion's mane.
Of course, Alberu could tell by the first glance what it was supposed to be.
It was made extremely poorly compared to some of the other plushies but it was visible there were some attempts at making it look good and held together.
To put it nicely, it looked like it was made by children, however, this one was one of the few made by adults.
According to the note that came with the plushes, this one was a joint attempt at plushie making by none other than his dongsaeng and Instructor. He could also figure that out by simply what it was supposed to represent.
The Dark Tiger… and only two people from here have seen that form of his.
As for the other plushes, most were made by the children, Ohn, Hong and Raon, with the help of the ancient golden Dragon, and there were even some by other people.
It was a bit funny to imagine them all making these together.
'One would have been more than enough.'
They could have just made one, yet they made enough to form a pile on his bed. At this rate he could sleep with a different one every single day and not use the same one for weeks.
Tasha glanced at Alberu. He had let out a chuckle just now.
She was reminded of the young boy looking at the thorn up plush his mother had gotten him.
Tasha had felt terrible about it even though she was relieved at her nephew being safe. She'd rather a toy than him but she also understood the emotional bond he had formed with it.
That's why she had wanted to help with fixing it but the young Alberu had refused. He had looked coldly at the plush but she could see he was upset over loosing it.
She ended up taking it with her and patching it up without telling him. She didn't give it back because she didn't want to hurt him more by bringing it up again, instead she kept it herself.
Now that Alberu was grown up and gotten so many plushies, she wondered if it was perhaps time to give it back to him.
She decided to sneak it into the pile later once he left the room.
As this plan had formed in her mind, Alberu was deep in thought as well.
'Don't form attachments because it'll hurt when you lose them.' His younger self had repeated that often and perhaps he'd be disappointed to find that Alberu had not followed that way of thinking anymore.
Because Alberu did form attachments, he formed many attachments that he feared losing. Yet he had also gained something he didn't have before.
First, a mountain of plushies… but most importantly, he found people who cared.
He found family.