#oldbut | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

winmance · 2 months ago

Text

When Our Children Fell in Love (AO3 Link)

Additional Tags:

Alpha Damen (Captive Prince)Omega Laurent (Captive Prince)Alpha/Beta/Omega DynamicsProtective ParentsPost-Canonthey're getting oldBut together so it's cutePOV Nikandros (Captive Prince)Nikandros is not having a good timeIn-Laws

Summary:

Laurent and Damen have eleven children and Nikandros loves each of them deeply.

But out of the eleven, there is this one child, the spitting image of Laurent, that Nikandros always had trouble trusting for he looks too much like Laurent.

Of course, it is the one Nikandros' child decides to take as a spouse.

Sorry below 👇

There’s nothing but silence inside the Kings’ room. Damen and Laurent are seated next to each other on the edge of their bed, Damen’s hand resting on his husband’s back. Nikandros is sitting in front of them, on the chair they use to write down at their desk.

To their right, their sons, standing hand in hand.

“Damianos,” Nikandros calls his son. “What is this about?”

“We’re in love and asking for your approval.”

“We’re not asking, actually,” Lauri says.

Lauri is holding his head high and proud, his blue eyes showing no emotion. He’s the fourth child of Laurent and Damen, one of the only two omegas of eleven children, and yet he has the pride of Auguste, their Alpha Heir.

Out of the eleven, he’s also the one that looks the most like Laurent: the same hair, same eyes, same attitude. Only his skin is a bit darker, but he’s still paler than the others. Nikandros had doubts Damen was the father, for a moment. He suggested it once and it was the only time he had been afraid of his best friend, for Damen’s anger had been so strong that he saw himself dead already.

Now that the boy is older, there is no doubt Damen is his father. Yes, he looks more like Laurent, but he also has many shared traits with Damen.

Nikandros’ boy, Damianos, has his head down. He’s an alpha and looks like one: his muscles are showing, he already has the beginning of a beard and he’s as tall as Nikandros himself. Yet - Yet his boy has always been so nice. So obeying. Of course, he would fall for his exact opposite. It had surprised Nikandros when his son presented as an Alpha.

“Are you forcing us, then?” Laurent asks.

He finds the situation funny, Nikandros can tell.

“Of course not Papa. But if you say no, we will be eloping tonight and mate in the same hour.”

There’s a laugh, then, coming from Damen, and Nikandros can’t do anything but stare as his best friend loses his mind.

“You have ten siblings. Your fathers are Kings. My sweet boy, you won’t even have time to think about escaping!”

Like his carbon copy, Lauri frowns the same way Laurent would have, if he didn’t think the situation was so funny. Nikandros doesn’t feel like laughing. In fact, he very much feels like crying. He only has two sons and he was hoping that they would have, like himself, a lovely marriage, with someone who resembled them. Don’t get him wrong, he loves Lauri. He is, after all, one of Damen’s children, one of his nephews. He would even go as far as saying that he doesn’t mind Laurent that much anymore. But enough for his son to marry his younger version? No. Absolutely not. He had secretly hoped Damianos would have fallen in love with Niklaus, one of the sweetest of the eleven children, but no. He had to go for Lauri. History is repeating itself and Nikandros can’t do anything but watch and suffer in silence.

“I love him,” Damianos says, then. His voice is strong this time and even Nikandros is surprised by it. “Please. I’ll honor him. He will be cherished and loved for the rest of his life. Uncles, have I not proven to you time and time again that I’m worthy?”

“You did, Damianos,” Laurent says. He’s sweet, like when he talks to his little ones. “But life isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’re both still very young.”

“We’re not children anymore, Papa.”

He means it innocently, Nikandros can tell, but just like his father, Lauri’s face is becoming warmer the more he realizes the implication behind his words. Laurent and Damen do, too, and the smiles that were on their faces slowly disappeared. Nikandros is very close to slapping his own son.

“Tell me you’re not that stupid Damianos,” he begs.

“It was only once, I swear Dad.”

“You were intimate together?” Laurent yells. “Lauri! What were you thinking?”

Lauri, whose face is now as red as a tomato, doesn’t drop his gaze. He looks just as proud as before, if not more. Damen’s eyes are fixed on Damianos.

“Please, like you and Dad waited until you were married. Don’t be a hypocrite, Papa.”

Something amazing happened then, that Nikandros would remember until the end of his life: Laurent stayed quiet. He didn’t answer back, having been defeated and his mistakes put into light.

“You are supposed to be smart, Lauri,” Damen says. “But now all I’m seeing is that you’re far too immature to be marrying anyone.”

Lauri wants to respond but then Damen is up, and they all know that once the King is standing, the discussion is over. It doesn’t matter that the two boys now have tears in their eyes; Damen is done with the conversation, and so it is all over.

“Nik, my friend, I need a drink,” then to Laurent. “My love, I’ll give you the pleasure of explaining to those boys the danger of sex outside marriage.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer and doesn’t look back at the boys either. It’s not the first time Nikandros sees his friend being strict with his children. He’s raising them with more love than his father did, but he’s still firm with them. It doesn’t come as a surprise; with that many alphas, and his two only omegas' children acting like alphas themselves, he needs to set boundaries and show them who the leader is.

With their drinks in hand, Nikandros closes his eyes and tries to take it all in. He wonders if, perhaps, he had anger at a God, in this life or another, to deserve such punishment. Lauri is as beautiful as Laurent, maybe even more. He talks like him, too, destroying everyone that doesn’t agree with him.

“How many times have we dreamed of it?” Damen says, suddenly. “Our children marrying each other! Isn’t that great?”

“They’re getting married?”

“Obviously! I just wanted to scare them a little but I mean, when we were their age, we were having more sex than there are hours in a day!”

It seems like yesterday. It seems like a lifetime ago.

“They’re young.”

“Yes, but they’re in love. Sure, we both married late, but I can see that they love each other. We already started getting offers for Lauri, you know.”

For some reason, this makes Nikandros’ blood boil. Lauri is still a boy, and he’s certainly not for sales.

“From who?”

“Nobles, everywhere. We only have two omegas, so of course they think we want to get rid of them. I’ll let you imagine how Laurent welcomed them.”

Yes, he can imagine.

“So it’s done, then.”

“Yes! But I’m not forgetting my other nephew, if that’s what troubles you. I was thinking that our Agape could marry your oldest, what do you think? They get along fine and I’m suspecting that their romance is already booming.”

“Agape is lovely,” Nikandros says, which is true. He’s an alpha, while his son is a beta, and he knows that they would form a lovely couple. He can see the way they look at each other, too, the little smiles they share when they think no one is looking. Yes, he could see them together. Agape is lovely, and unlike Lauri, he has never made one of his teachers cry. He has never thrown shit to a noble’s face, too.

“You don’t seem happy.”

“I do not wish for you to take it the wrong way.”

Damen frowns and crosses his arms around his chest. He’s past fifty now, yet he’s still as much in shape as he was when he was twenty. Only his gray hair and the wrinkles that are forming on his forehead are giving his real age away.

“Tell me.”

“It’s just… You have eleven children. He could have chosen any of them, but he had to choose him.”

“What’s wrong with Lauri?”

“He’s… I’m afraid he’s not the right fit for my son, that’s all. I wanted him to be… With someone different.”

“That’s my son you’re talking about,” Damen’s tone is one that Nikandros only heard a few times but knows too well: firm and strong, it’s the voice of a King warning his friend not to cross the line.

“I love all your children. This one simply looks too much like his father.”

“He does,” Damen says with a smile. “He has every quality Laurent has and more. He’s the best version of Laurent, for he was protected and loved from the moment he was conceived.”

“But is he nice? Will he loves him? I don’t want my son to have his heart broken, Damen.”

“He has a heart pure of gold. Is he a bit mischievous? Yes, and I suspect that’s exactly what your son loves about him. He’s good. My children are all good, Nik.”

“I believe you.”

Before his wife died, he had promised her that he would take care of their sons and their happiness. They had a short but loving marriage together, and he wants the exact same thing for his sons. He knows it's useless to try and change Damianos' mind. Just like his Uncles', he would be ready to defeat a whole kingdom out of love.

Damen lowers his drink, then, and forces Nikandros to look at him. His expression his serious, and so Nikandros listens.

“I swore to Laurent that I would protect them from everything and everyone. I love your son like you love mine. But tell me: will Damianos protect Lauri? Will he fight and die for him, not the way an alpha would, but the way a husband would. Not by duty, but by love.”

Damianos knows love. Just like Lauri, he's been surrounded by love since his birth. His son is precious and he raised him to be a good Alpha, yes, but also a good man.

“Yes. He will.”

Then Damen claps his back, so hard that Nikandros almost knocks his drink over.

“It is decided then.”

“Don’t you need his Majesty Laurent's approval?”

“No, Laurent had planned for both your sons to marry our children since before they were conceived. Plus, he always seemed to think that Lauri and Damianos would be a good match. Seems like he was right.”

Of course, once again, Laurent’s mastermind is behind Nikandros’ pain. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s the one who put both boys together, somehow.

“So just like that? It’s done?”

“Well, your son deflowered my son. I personally don’t care much, but Laurent will be asking for either a wedding or a funeral.”

“A wedding, then.”

They drink some more while Nikandros tries to come to terms with the fact that his bloodline will not only have Veterian’s blood, but Laurent’s blood, and that his grandchildren will look just like Laurent. It’s fine. He can deal with it.

When they come back to the room, Laurent, Lauri, and Damianos are still there, only they seem to be at ease, too. Once they’ve broken the news, Damianos can’t stop smiling and Lauri goes to hug his Dad. He’s sweet, just like Laurent, and Nikandros knows that it’s exactly where the danger is.

“ Auguste will be mad. Lauri is his favorite one,” Laurent says, a smile on his face.

“We have Auguste’s approval. I wouldn’t have done it if he had said no.”

“So your brother's words are more important than mine?”

“Yes?”

“Have you told him that you two slept together? Or should I break the news?”

“Papa! Please don’t! Auguste would kill him!”

Before the situation can escape any further, Damen is letting go of his son with one last kiss to his head, and welcoming his husband into his arms. The two blondes keep looking at each other, but there’s no trace of anger, only amusement in their eyes.

“I’m a bit sad,” Damen says. “Our children are now getting married and that means that we can’t have more.“

“Dad! There are eleven of us. Eleven! Elina is barely two. Your fifty-one. Stop having children already!”

“Is that a challenge?” Laurent asks. “Because I love challenges.”

“I love challenges too.”

And then they’re kissing, which means that Nikandros exits the room before he has to witness more of their disgusting affection. Damianos follows quickly, holding Lauri’s hand in his. He lets go, then, and goes his own way, leaving the two of them alone.

Lauri may look like Laurent, but there’s no denying that he looks like his father, too. He has Damen’s dimple. His lips and smile. He looks like both his fathers, now that Nikandros is taking the time to look at him.

“Uncle Nik, I love him. I’ll take care of him, I promise. I know… I know I’m not the one you wished for, but I’ll prove myself to you. You’ll love me more than you love Papa.”

Lauri’s eyes may be a cold shade of blue, but he has the same warmth in them that Laurent has when looking at his children or his husband. Nikandros thinks, then, that he wishes nothing more for his son but to be loved by someone capable of loving like Laurent. He will get used to him, the same way he got used to Laurent.

#capri #captive prince #capri fics #captive prince fic

10 notes · View notes