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“Human! It’s almost time!” Raon exclaims, floating in front of Cale’s face with a video communication device in his paws, ready to connect it at any moment. Black mana fluctuates wildly around the device with the dragon’s excitement. Cale continues leaning back on the couch with his usual bored look even as Raon’s eyes sparkle.
“The nice crown prince will call soon! He promised!” Raon continues, the speed of his fluttering wings increasing with the active mana in the air, “And I know you want to see him, so the great and mighty Raon Miru will connect him right away! And no—why are you looking at me like that, human?—I’m not saying he’s nice just because he gave me cookies!”
Raon flies closer to Cale. The look on Raon’s face asks Cale to understand that yes, he really doesn’t think the crown prince is nice just because he regularly gifts cookies that taste better with every new batch.
Cale simply nods and reaches out to place his hand on the dragon’s head. Raon goes quiet. The mana in the air stabilizes and Raon’s wings flutter only enough to keep him afloat.
Raon’s been constantly—and extremely energetically—reminding Cale of the time for the past hour, acting as a personal, very loud clock Cale did not ask for. Cale himself has been lazing around, doing little more than keeping awake, staring blankly into the distance, and watching the clock on the wall slowly tick closer to the awaited time. As such, he doesn’t need Raon’s constant reminders of the time, but it’s not like he can tell him off either.
The crown prince should call in ten minutes. Cale thinks as he pats Raon on the head. The dragon is still quiet, but he’s staring at him oddly. Cale stares back with confusion, decides to ignore it, and turns away to look at the clock.
Raon’s been acting strange. Cale chalks it up to him having been excited to see the crown prince for a while now. ‘When we call the crown prince tonight, I’ll finally thank him for all the cookies!’ Raon had said earlier. Cale had nodded then. It’s nice that Raon and Alberu get along. Alberu was clearly fond of Raon, if all the food he sent was anything to go by. Alberu had been sending cookies for days now, for just as long as he hadn’t called.
Cale bets Alberu would like to see Raon too. He always listens to Raon and treats him kindly, even when Raon spouts a bit of nonsense. He looks after him very well, too. They’ll be able to have a nice chat for the first time in a while.
While Cale is thinking about how nice it is that they get along, Raon tilts his head. “Huh? Human, you’re smiling!”
Immediately, Cale stops and touches the corners of his lips. Was he?
“Aw, why’d you stop? It’s a nice smile, human!” Raon says, floating closer with a hint of a pout, “It’s not like your scamming smile at all!”
Cale frowns and pats Raon’s head again.
“It’s okay human, I understand!” Raon nods, “I’m happy to see the crown prince, too!”
Cale stiffens up. He opens his mouth to refute, only to close it when he sees Raon’s serious look.
“I know you miss the crown prince, human. I do, too.” And Cale can’t say anything against those words, not when Raon’s looking at him like that.
Alberu’s been so busy that not even Cale has been able to call him for a while. It’s odd, not hearing his complaining voice. Not hearing the parting ‘get some rest, Cale’ at the end of every message.
Since the human stopped petting him and now frowns like he’s hopelessly trying to process his feelings, Raon resumes roaming around the bedroom, eagerly awaiting the crown prince’s late night call.
Cale watches as Raon spins around in the air, tail swishing back and forth and wings fluttering faster than they need to. Of course, as Raon said, he misses Alberu. He hasn’t seen him as much as he normally does, yet there’s reminders of him everywhere.
Earlier, Raon had just finished the last of the cookies Alberu gifted to the children. Cale’s very sure Alberu made the cookies high on sugar to annoy him and not ‘to make better cookies than the White Star bastard’ as Alberu claimed. Alberu would have loved seeing how much Raon enjoyed them and how much of a headache the increased energy is giving to Cale.
“Look, human! It’s really close now! Five more minutes!”
Cale looks at the clock. 11:25 pm. While the reminder of the time excites him, it also makes him feel a bit sleepy. It’s late and he’s been with an excited dragon for a while now. While Raon’s so energetic, Cale feels like after the call, it’ll be a nice time for a thirteen hour nap.
Cale yawns.
Raon reacts appropriately.
“Human! Why are you yawning? Are you tired?”
Raon switches trajectories mid-flight and rushes towards Cale faster than he can blink. Raon flies circles around him, his speed making Cale feel dizzy from just watching him. He stops in front of Cale’s face with concern.
“Weak humans get tired easily, and you should rest when you’re tired, so go to sleep! We can call the crown prince another day!”
“Mhm.” Cale feels fine, though. The Vitality of the Heart should keep him going. He then frowns a little. If Raon’s nagging continues, it’ll come close to threats of blowing up the continent again. Maybe he shouldn’t have given in to Raon’s pleads to let him stay up past his bedtime to connect Alberu’s call.
Cale pulls Raon onto his lap, stroking his head. Raon is silent once again, but he’s not completely quiet this time.
“Weak humans should rest,” Raon says, fixing Cale with a serious stare.
“Yes, yes,” Cale nods along. That’s why he plans to take a very long nap after this call. Cale continues patting Raon’s head. He ignores Raon’s doubtful look and turns to the clock once more.
In about a minute, he’ll finally see Alberu again. The call doesn’t have to last very long. Alberu’s busy anyway and all Cale wants is to see him and hear his voice. Just a quick check-up to make sure he’s okay and Cale will be able to sleep peacefully.
Raon plays with the device as though that would make the call start quicker, still quietly accepting Cale’s head pats. The clock ticks closer and closer to 11:30.
Finally, “The crown prince should call any time now!” Raon exclaims.
The clock strikes eleven thirty. It’s the time he and Alberu agreed upon a week ago. Any later and Cale wouldn’t have agreed since Raon needs to be awake to activate the video communication device. Dragon or not, children should sleep. He’d barely agreed to the present time back then, but Raon had clearly wanted to see Alberu too.
Cale waits for the video communication device to flash red. Raon’s tail wags and his wings flutter in excitement.
A minutes passes. Alberu doesn’t call.
“Huh? That’s weird, human! The crown prince usually always calls on time. Do you think something happened to him?” Raon’s checked the video communication device over and over. There’s no problems on their end, so what happened to Alberu?
“Let’s give it some time.” Cale frowns. Is Alberu okay? Cale thinks. But Alberu ensured he’d be the first to know if something wasn’t okay no matter what.
Minutes pass. By now, the faintest bit of disappointment has settled in Cale’s chest. Cale sighs at the realization. He’d been expecting something. Doesn’t this go against his beliefs? To not hope and have no expectations, lest he be disappointed.
But he’d been certain Alberu would call him.
“...Human?” Raon asks hesitantly, seeing the deep frown on Cale’s face, “Are we gonna call him?”
“He might be busy,” Cale says.
He understands why Alberu’s probably unable to call. After all the trouble they’ve gone through, Alberu has more responsibilities than before. He has a brighter Roan Kingdom to look after.
“Okay,” Raon says, “But I’ll leave him a message!”
Cale nods. “Maybe he’ll reply if we wait a bit longer.”
Time seems to pass by so slowly when Cale doesn’t know how long he’s supposed to be waiting for. With nothing else to keep him awake, Cale falls asleep after waiting for another hour.
Raon stays awake, lying on Cale’s lap, knowing the crown prince will call.
Alberu finishes a meeting with his vassals late.
The last hour had been especially stressful, knowing he was supposed to be talking to Cale for the first time in weeks and supposed to finally be able to relax. But his current project was crucial for the kingdom’s future, and the sooner he gets over this turbulent period, the more time he’ll have to call Cale. He’ll just have to hold on for a little longer.
It’s more than an hour past their scheduled time and Alberu hesitates to call, ruffling up his hair in his nervousness. He doesn’t look the part of the perfect crown prince anymore, not that it matters. It’s Cale he’s going to call anyway. Cale can’t say much about his appearance when he’s called looking way worse.
Cale had already stayed up late to talk to him, even though it would’ve been just for a few minutes. With Cale’s personality, even if Alberu were late, wouldn’t he still be waiting?
It’s endearing yet terrifying. Should Alberu still call? Even if it’s just to tell Cale to rest?
It’s worth trying.
When he turns on the video communication device, he’s first greeted by a message from Cale’s device, sent by Raon.
—The human wanted me to tell you that even though it’s late, you can still call! He wants to wait for you! I’ll wait, too!
It was sent an hour ago. Alberu calls immediately.
“I’m sorry,” Alberu is prepared to say. He can hear the device’s ringing echoing in his empty office. As the ringing continues without a reply, Alberu starts to worry a bit.
Alberu hopes Cale didn’t get himself into trouble. If he did, though, Alberu wouldn’t be surprised.
‘Or maybe he’s just sleeping...’ Alberu hopes.
As though to answer his hopes, he receives a message.
—Hey crown prince! The human is sleeping now. He was waiting for you, but he fell asleep.
Alberu sighs. While he wants to call Cale, he's glad he's sleeping.
—Let him rest. I’ll call him tomorrow.
—Raon, please tell me if he would agree to call at the same time as planned.
—He’ll agree! He really wanted to see you tonight!
On Raon's end, there’s a pause before the next message comes in along with the quiet ringing of the communication device.
—Can you connect the call? I just want to see him, too.
Raon connects the call. The device moves with Raon’s mana, floating back to reveal a sleeping Cale with Raon in his lap. The corners of Alberu’s lips twitch upwards. He waves at Raon and Raon waves back, neither intending to talk lest they wake up Cale.
Alberu feels relieved. Cale’s safe and he’s resting. It’s nonsense to worry about him like this at a time of peace.
'You were waiting for me,’ Alberu thinks. You... really...
—Tell him he should just rest next time.
—Okay!
Goodnight, Raon. Please rest well, too. Thank you for waiting.
Don't worry, crown prince! And I'll rest well! The human always says it’s important to rest well!
Rest well too, crown prince!
“Really, you should sleep, human!” Raon says the next night. “I’ll wake you up when he calls! I promise!"
They've been talking about it for a while now, but Raon shouldn’t have to stay up by himself.
“Sleep!” Raon says, taking his spot in Cale’s lap. He curls around the video communication device. "The crown prince said you should rest! The crown prince is smart! Listen to him!"
“Don’t stay awake too long," Cale says, "If he doesn't call by the time, just sleep."
"Don't worry, human! I am great and mighty!"
"Great and mighty beings should rest, too."
"You're a bit great, human! So that means you should rest a lot!"
Seriously, Cale can't win against Raon. This time, after a very long back and forth with a six year old, Cale reluctantly sleeps.
Alberu contacts them a few minutes ahead of their scheduled time.
—I’m sorry, Cale. I won’t be able to call you today.
As though he’d hesitated to send it, another message comes a few seconds later.
—Get some rest.
—Hey crown prince! The human is sleeping again. I told him to sleep earlier like you said! So I’ll tell him when he wakes up!
—Thank you, Raon. Please make sure Cale rests well. Get some rest, too. Goodnight.
—Of course! Don’t worry, crown prince! I’ll make sure the human doesn’t do anything stupid! Goodnight!
—Is Cale sleeping?
It’s the third day. The crown prince messaged Raon again while Cale was asleep. Raon thinks that if this goes on for any longer, they could just teleport to his bedroom in the palace like they used to.
—Yeah!
The human is asleep on the bed this time with Raon curled up next to him.
—That’s good.
Raon? Can I have your coordinates?
Seconds after Raon sends them, a faint light flashes in the room, right in front of the bed. When the light fades, Raon sees the crown prince standing in the middle of a teleportation magic circle, smiling.
Alberu pulls out something from behind his back and places it on the bedside table. “For you, Raon," he says quietly.
Raon lights up at the pack of cookies. "Thanks, crown prince!" he whispers.
“No, thank you, Raon. Eat them tomorrow. Share them with your siblings.”
"I'll share them with the human, too!"
That night, Alberu falls asleep next to Cale with Raon happily snuggled into the space between them.