I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
- Pablo Neruda (Sonnet XVII)
///
Troye wakes up to the strong scent of coffee wafting throughout the house and the sunlight of a beautiful summer's day shining in through the curtains which makes the room feel warm. Bruno lies at his feet and snores every so often.
He can then hear Jacob down the hallway saying, “Go wake up dad!” not so quietly. Two pairs of small feet can then be heard pattering down the hallway. Troye smiles to himself before they even get to his door and pretends to go back to sleep.
“Dad,” comes a small boy’s whisper.
“Dad,” comes a young girl’s small voice right in his left ear, both of the small bodies moving the mattress he lies down on.
The young girl then goes and lies down right over Troye’s body and then traces a tiny finger along his face, Troye cannot help but smile. The young girl gasps dramatically.
“Riley! Dad is awake! I saw him move him smile,” the young boy then gasps comedically as well, making Troye smile again. Then they both gasp.
“Papa!” they call in unison for Jacob. Troye can hear those elephant footsteps practically stomping down the hallway even though he is wearing socks.
“What’s the matter?” he asks in mock curiosity, humouring the young children.
“Dad’s being difficult,” Clara declares, the young girl then gets off Troye to sit beside him and cross her little arms.
“Oh is he now?” Jacob says with a knowing smile, patting Bruno as the dog wakes up. Troye then cracks open one eye which Jacob sees but the kids do not. “How so, sweetheart?” Jacob questions.
“He is pretending to be sleeping!” she exclaims.
“We saw him smile!” Riley adds.
“I saw him smile twice, Papa!” Clara says indignantly.
Jacob takes his turn to comedically gasp, Troye smiles again. Jacob gasps yet again and points to Troye, “I saw him smile too! I saw him!” the young kids then turn abruptly to look back at Troye. Suddenly Troye reaches out quickly to scoop up both kids in his arms, Bruno barks happily to join in on the fun.
“I knew it!” Clara says while she higgles
“Me too!” Riley pipes in.
“You two should become detectives,” Jacob says to them. Troye laughs at that before Jacob leans down to press a chaste kiss to his forehead and whispering in his ear, “Morning, bub.” Troye smiles to him happily.
“Oh darn it,” Troye says to their children. “I thought I had you all fooled!”
“Don’t flatter yourself, dad, you're not sneaky,” Clara says, making Troye and Jacob laugh because for her age she is quite snarky, and at the same time, she sounds just like Troye when she makes those remarks.
“Tro, that sentence right there,” Jacob says while pointing at her, “Is your influence, she literally sounds just like you,” he says. Troye wraps his arms around Clara’s torso and pulls her against him, she giggles brightly while Riley makes his way into Jacob's arms.
“My smart girl,” he says, pressing a kiss to her head. “Now where has my smart boy gone?” Troye says, reaching a hand out to search for Riley again.
“I’m here Dad,” he tells Troye, taking his hand.
“Come back here,” Riley chuckles, just like Jacob does, and sits next to his sister on Troye’s lap once again. “Now go make us breakfast in bed,” Troye says, fluttering his hand about to usher Jacob out the room.
Jacob then gasps again, but for real this time, “Shit,” he says under his breath but they all hear him anyway.
“No bad words!” the kids say in unison just as Jacob rushes out the room and runs down the hallway.
“He forgot something in the oven again, didn’t he?” Troye asks the two of them.
“He never learns,” Clara chirps in, making Troye laugh once again.
so we have reached the end gahhh!! i can't believe this is actually over (and that i actualy finished it. thank you so much to you all for even just bothering to read the prologue and to those who have stuck around patiently with my lazy inconsistent ass until the very end. this was so fun to write and i have a lot more stories planned so stick around :) thank you for all the incredible support loves!!
