A kingdom or this? This.

Always be This

The light breeze coming from the open window felt soft on the skin, the sunshine like a warm cover and the sound of the early birds sounded like music. Everything felt and seemed surreal, almost like a dream. The Summer Palace had always felt like that for Damen, but the pleasant sensation had only increased during the last years. And the presence of a blonde king had everything to do with that.

They were both on the bed, naked and entangled with each other. Laurent slept peacefully next to Damen, one of his arms across Damen's chest, and resting his face on his collarbone. Laurent's breath was a constant reminder for Damen, that this was all real, not a dream; that they had made it; that they were together; that they had been together for almost six years now and that every year had felt like paradise.

However, it had taken Laurent his time to be able to be like this, to fully relax and let all of his walls down with him. But the wait had been worth it, Damen had always known that. A kingdom or this? This. Laurent.

Damen had to get up, he needed to attend to his necessities but the fear of waking Laurent was bigger than his need to go to the bathroom. So he stayed like that until he noticed a subtle switch in Laurent's breath and his eyes flew open, slowly. Damen was looking at Laurent, he always was, his gaze was always trying to find him and once it did, it was difficult to look away but there was a satisfying intimacy in seeing him wake up. Damen knew very few people had had the luck of seeing the King of Vere wake up and he couldn't help but wish it stayed like that. Because Laurent was always attractive, always a marvelous beauty, but it was the easiness on his face and the sweet -almost shy- smile that always gave Damen that made Damen's heart skip a beat.

"Good morning" said Laurent, while rubbing one of his eyes with one of his hands. Not the one placed on Damen's chest, no. He kept that one in its place, as if he didn't want it to be anywhere else.

Damen's heart may have skipped another beat with that thought.

"Good morning" he responded.

Laurent kept his face on Damen's collarbone, but the position enabled him to see a little bit of Damen's expression. He was smiling. He was always smiling while around Laurent. People had assumed that King Damianos' obvious feelings were a consequence of the kings' early courting. Even Damen had assumed that he would be able to hide his feelings a little bit better after some time...but it never happened. They had grown used to each other, of course, but that sweetness, that shyness and all-devouring love had never truly left them. Their kingdom always talks about how their kings behave like newlyweds, even if they have been married for more than five years now.

"What are you thinking about?" Laurent asked.

"Nothing in particular"

"Liar" he said simply, sure of it, as if he were stating a fact.

Damen shifted his weight and turned to face Laurent completely. "What makes you think I'm lying?"

Laurent's cheeks turned a light shade of red and Damen's smile grew even wider. Years ago, Laurent would have had avoided Damen's gaze and it would have taken him his time to answer-to which Damen would have waited patiently- but even if their love still felt as real as it did on their early days together, Laurent had learned to be with Damen as a partner, as a lover. So he didn't turn his gaze away from Damen's before speaking. "You have that smile on your face". One of Damen's eyebrows shot upward and Laurent rolled his eyes (another attitude that he had acquired with time). "You have that smile on your face of pure male arrogance and happiness, which means that you are absolutely thinking of something to have it on your face. Tell me the reason".

Damen laughed at Laurent's demand and hugged him even closer. "I was just thinking about how much I love to see you waking up and how much I love you" he whispered in Laurent's ear. Damen didn't need to see Laurent to know that he was blushing even harder than before.

"That's very adequate" Laurent said, softly, still in Damen's arms.

"Why is that?"

"Because I also love to see you waking up, and I also love you" Damen moved back a little to look at Laurent and cupped one of his cheeks with his hand.

"Is that so?" He asked, playfully.

"Mhm"

"How much?"

"An adequate proportion" He said, solemnly.

"And how much is that?" Damen asked. They were closer now, their noses almost touching, their breaths meeting each other and their eyes locked on the other's.

"A lot" Laurent asked and leaned in to kiss him. They had had plenty of kissing in the last six years...and they had had a lot of other things too. But Damen's heart was beating rapidly and hardly on his chest, as if even his heart ached to touch Laurent, for a touch from him, for his kisses and words.

This.

The abrupt sound of a door being opened forced them to break their kiss. And before they could tell their servant to go away, a small blonde head peered through the door. Damen smiled freely and moved a little bit on the bed to look at the small figure that was now standing in their room.

The little boy had bright blonde hair, a light olive skin and big blue eyes with a brown ring around their pupil. He looked so much like Damen that his inheritance was unmistakable. But he also looked a lot like Laurent, even though there was no shared-blood between them. Damen had always known he was requested to have kids, he had wanted kids, so when their council insinuated that an heir would do their kingdom a great deal of good; Damen had chosen a female that looked exactly like Laurent. It had been awkward at first, to discuss the matter with Laurent -who had supported his idea, since he had no intention of producing an heir himself- and it had been even more awkward to actually do it. Damen had had to imagine it was Laurent and he had even said his name while coming. But the female hadn't expected anything but that. She knew why she was needed and she believed it an honor to bear the king's child. And she hadn't expected more. Both kings knew that too, so after the first discussions and the final act, they had both been very excited with the idea of expecting a child who would share their features.

Their child.

Laurent had shamelessly laughed at Damen after he confessed the path his imagination had taken in order for him to be able to have sex with someone other than Laurent. But he had then kissed Damen the way he only could and had made Damen's imagination true.

"Dada!" the toddler said while smiling. The boy had walked to Laurent's side of the bed and was holding his arms up, waiting to be lifted. Laurent did so and brought the baby to the bed, positioning him in between Damen and him.

"Auguste, how did you sleep?" Damen asked the boy and was answered with a big smile, while Laurent stroked the kid's hair.

"Good! I-..." Their kid started talking, telling them about a weird dream he had had. Laurent listened to him attentively, a smile of pure happiness while looking at their child. And Damen's smile couldn't be any wider.

This. It would always be this.