Ring of Mushrooms

25

You sat with Silver on your lap. He stared wide-eyed at Malleus. He was calm but clearly confused. He was flipping through a book across from you, he had joined your moment alone with Silver, though you didn't mind in the slightest. There was something so comforting about this moment. Years of anxiety that you had grown so used to had been lifted from you. There was no longer a subtle pressure that dug into your back and every breath. Silver's bright eyes and his smile brought you so much comfort.

Malleus had been scared of Silver now that he was awake. He was anxious around him not trusting himself to be a good role model, scared that Silver wouldn't like him, that he'd be scared and cry into your shirt. Irrational fears mostly, but he just wanted to be there for Silver. Lilia was joyous to introduce them.

Silver clung to Lilia when he first met Malleus. He was transfixed on him, gazing up and up to his eyes and horns, he looked with a weary awe. Malleus was stiff and ridged, standing tall and straight, towering over him, if anything it looked like he needed comfort more than Silver.

"Hello?" Malleus spoke to the boy who was technically his elder.

Malleus would never really see Silver as such, and Silver would likely never see himself as it either, though he had yet to be told. The thing with the sleeping curse is you stay exactly the same as you fell asleep. The curse had healed his illness and your injuries, but you had yet to break the curse you wouldn't age like silver would now. It scared you, you had less and less sleep attacks but every time you slept you were paused, you wouldn't age, and most humans sleep most of their lives. The changing world around you had made it so you could stay awake later and that you would sleep less. The thought of watching him grow and not live past you hurt. You would miss him and these days of him waking up had made you truly lay face that reality.

You and Lilia decided to wait until he was older, and to discuss it with him when he started studying magic and curses. You knew that he would probably not react well, you wouldn't blame him if he did, you couldn't blame him for any confusion, you'd already been there after all. You hoped that it would help him when he found out, you'd be able to help comfort him, maybe. There was a lot of anxiety that you felt when you looked at him. He was so young but you felt so, so much older.

Lilia knew that you felt out of your element, he'd comfort you when he was around you, he'd do it quietly subtlety.  Wrapping his arm around your waist,  holding your hand as he played with your ring. He wore his on a chain, always tucking it under his shirt. He talked fondly of the time where he would be wearing a formal suit, and not a uniform.

You looked on at the two boys, they soon learned to feel comfortable around each other, even played with each other when the other was available. You told them both stories before bed on occasion. Silver and Malleus were your boys as far as you were concerned, so watching them act like they were born to be friends was nice. When you and Lilia had to leave and return home Silver gave the biggest squishiest hug to Malleus as he could.

Silver was the same way as he was before he was cursed. Though saying he was cursed feels wrong when you have the context. He loved to run around and mimic his father and you. He ran out the door and through the garden whenever he saw his father walking home. He was the same boy through and through, but that wasn't surprising. You felt overcome with nostalgia every time he spoke, and the same fumbles made you feel warm. You only noticed a single difference, he was sleepier. He'd fall asleep just about anywhere, on the bed was a give away, but when he was waiting for food to be done he'd doze off and his head would dip down until his nose grazed the table. Out in the summer when he was helping you tend to the garden he'd sleep under the branches of a willow tree. The animals had never been scared of him and they became even less scared when he started sleeping with them for their midday naps.