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Samuel strolls through Printania Castle, his mind a raging storm. Meetings had consumed most of the day, and he doesn't want to waste the precious few hours of daylight he has left. His thoughts distract him so much that he arrives at somewhere he isn't expecting: Benjamin's quarters. Samuel chuckles to himself, of course his feet would lead him here. Gently, he knocks on the door. He hears a muffled 'one second!' before the door swings open, revealing Benjamin in all his glory. Samuel's mind immediately clears, a smile appearing on his face at the sight of his partner. Benjamin, on the other hand, stares at him with eyes wide, and he quickly moves into a bow.
"Ben, you know you don't have to do that—"
"Its common courtesy, Samuel," Benjamin reminds him, straightening back up. Samuel raises an eyebrow playfully.
"I thought you were against interrupting royalty." He laughs at Benjamin's look of realization before the latter drags him inside the room. Samuel is mindful of shutting the door so that, at last, he can have some semblance of privacy. As he turns around, he's suddenly tackled to the ground by something. "Gah! What in the—"
"Orion! What did we say about tackle hugging?"
"That it's rude…" The weight upon him pouts, and ah, now he understands. Orion is the one currently on top of him, and the reason Samuel is currently struggling to breathe. When in the world did he get this heavy? "But dad, it's papa! I haven't seen him all day!"
"While that may be true, you still can't tackle someone when they're unawares," Benjamin scolds, yet there's no anger in his voice, only authority. Orion relents, clambering off of Samuel, who immediately gulps down a large amount of air. "Sorry about him, Sam,"
"No, no, its alright." Samuel takes Benjamin's waiting hand and rises to his feet. "I would do the same thing, if I was his age,"
"That's only because Rose is your sister, you get your bad behavior from her," Benjamin remarks, letting go of Samuel to corral Orion back into the bed. Samuel chuckles, offering a shrug to Benjamin's playful annoyance. He then glances around the quarters, furrowing his eyebrows when he fails to see a second ball of infinite energy.
"Where's Cassandra?" He asks. Benjamin pauses, making that adorable little face he makes while thinking, before settling on an answer.
"She's with Rose. I believe this afternoon was her astronomy lesson."
"Ah, that explains it." Samuel nods, coming up to stand by Benjamin's side. He kisses his cheek, which has the bonus of making Orion gag.
"Ew, papa! Gross!" Orion complains, and Benjamin and Samuel can only laugh. They'd finally gotten to the stage where he thinks any sort of affection is 'gross' and 'embarrassing'. It's entertaining, to say the least.
"Speaking of lessons, aren't you supposed to be with Rose and Cassandra right now?" Benjamin chides, placing his hands on his hips. Orion huffs, crossing his arms and turning away from the pair. "Orion."
"I don't wanna learn astronomy! It's boring!" He still faces away from them, so Samuel does a dramatic gasp, clutching his chest theatrically.
"Oh, Orion! How could you wound me so?" Samuel falls onto the bed, arm resting on his forehead as he closes his eyes to complete the bit, "Astronomy is my favorite thing in the whole world."
"I thought that was dad?" Orion questions, and Samuel can't help but break character to let out a loud laugh. This kid, always ready with a witty comeback. He truly does take after his father. Benjamin joins them on the bed, leaning back to lay right against Samuel's side. There, he nuzzles into the crook of Samuel's shoulder and neck. He presses a kiss to Benjamin's forehead, taking in the domesticity of the moment. Being a king is exhausting, but at least he is able to look forward to this at the end of each day. Quiet evenings with Benjamin and the twins, and he can already feel himself drifting off. Orion makes what he assumes to be a noise of complaint, but he blows out the candle residing on the bedside table. Then he snuggles in between the two of them, pushing them apart.
"Think you're getting a little old for this, star," Samuel whispers, and he feels more than sees Orion's head shake.
"Nope, I am still the perfect age for this,"
"Can't argue with that, now can we?" Benjamin smiles, meeting Samuel's gaze in the dark. They close the distance between them, and warmth floods through Samuel's body as they kiss. He smiles into it as his hand comes up to cup Benjamin's cheek, thumb tracing the faint stubble on his jaw.They break apart and Benjamin asks, "Ready to rest, Sam?"
"Definitely." Samuel sighs, his muscles relaxing. "Goodnight Ben, Orion, I love you."
"Goodnight, and I love you too, Sam."
"Night papa! Love you!"
With that, he drifts off to the land of dreams, where the stress of the day can no longer haunt him. And tomorrow, when he wakes, it will be mostly the same, only with a new adventure with Benjamin by his side. For now, though, he was content to just be in this moment, peacefully resting beside some of his favorite people in the world.