Prompter: clarionglass

Prompt: may I request something super fluffy in SASBB or TTOU 'verse?

Originally posted: 27 January 2016

Notes: 1882 words; features Seren as an adorable nugget because I love Seren as an adorable nugget; rough ages are as follows: Johan at 68, Clara at 49, Lena at an old 17, Astra and Tara at an old 15, Sterling at 12, Oriana at 10, Maglina at an old 9, and Seren at 4; if you think Seren has a large vocabulary for a 4yo, it's because he does, but that's what happens when all your siblings are as old as his are

Taking advantage of their tutor's absence, Seren slid out of his chair and crept around the schoolroom table to his eldest sister's side. He looked up at her with all the importance his four-year-old self could muster and tugged at her sleeve.

"Lena?"

"Go back to your work, Seren," the teen said. "I have to get this essay done so that Sir Daniel can send it into the University tomorrow."

"…but this is important!" he demanded.

"Do you need to use the loo?" Sterling asked. "I can take you."

"No! I need to know what we're doing for Mama and Papa's anniversary!" the younger boy declared, stomping his foot. His siblings and Oriana all stared at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Astra wondered.

"Last year, Sir Daniel and Lady Martha had a big party, but Mama and Papa had nothing!" Seren said. "Mama and Papa deserve a party too!"

"Seren, last year was my mum and dad's tenth anniversary," Oriana explained. "We have grand parties every ten years, maybe a smaller one at the fifth years, but the in-between years couples do as they want."

"Yes, and Mama and Papa have told us that they don't want or need anything but each other for their wedding anniversaries, and have expressly forbidden us from doing anything," Lena added. She picked up her brother and set him down in her lap, hugging him gently. "Did you really want to do something for Mama and Papa?"

"Yes," he muttered. "I don't want them to feel left out."

"Trust me: they won't," Lena assured. She stroked her brother's springy hair and rocked him gently. "Now, how about if you go and work on your numbers, so that Mama and Papa can be proud of you for that?"

"Okay," Seren reluctantly agreed. He slunk back to his chair and sat down—numbers weren't as exciting as his siblings had told him, and they certainly did nothing about the impending anniversary. Kicking his feet in the air, he thought about what to do, even after the tutor returned and decided to go around the room checking his students' work. He wanted to do something, so something was what the little boy decided he was going to do.

"Sterling? I need your help," Seren said, knocking on his brother's door. It was a free day for them both, only Lena and Astra having to attend lessons. Sterling opened his bedchamber door and couldn't stop his younger brother from zooming in and plopping himself on the settee with a pad and pencil in-hand.

"What's this about?" Sterling wondered.

"I need help," Seren repeated very seriously. "What are things that Mama and Papa like?"

"You still aren't on that anniversary business, are you?" Sterling groaned. "They don't feel as left out as you think they do."

"…but this is very important! If pudding brains can do things for their parents' anniversaries, then we can too!"

It was no use—the younger brother's mind was made up. Sterling sat down next to him and looked over the incomplete list of "Fun Things for Mama and Papa's Annieverserrie". There was cake, balloons, singing, dancing, yummy food—whatever that was supposed to mean—and Granddad.

"These are all the things you like," Sterling pointed out.

"…because they're fun," Seren said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Listen," Sterling said, "maybe you should go ask for Lena and Astra's help, or maybe Ori's…"

"No! They don't understand!" Seren wibbled his lower lip, inflating his brown eyes until they were big as they could get. "You understand, don't you, Sterling?"

"I understand that you're being silly."

"Nooooo! Come on! Please?!"

"Seren…"

"Sterling!"

"Okay, listen," the elder brother said firmly. "Next year is Mama and Papa's twenty-fifth anniversary. That's going to be the year where we do something for them, not now. Our parents don't like having attention drawn to them."

"…but they're Marquis and Marchioness! The Doctors! How do people not pay attention to them?"

"There's a difference between paying attention to them as the rulers of the march and city, compared to them as a married couple." The twelve-year-old pondered his response, not fully understanding the reasoning himself, yet knowing that his brother needed a concrete answer. "Our parents... aren't what you'd call normal."

"Well yeah! Normal people are the middling and baseborn folk! Mama and Papa are highborn!"

"No, no, no… not like that," Sterling said. "Sir Daniel was baseborn, and Lady Martha middling, and they are as good as highborn now, and Ori is definitely highborn, and nobody has a problem with any of it."

"Oh, that's true," Seren nodded, making his brother wonder what "normal" was supposed to be. "But I still don't get how they're not normal. What sorts of things do normal mamas and papas do?"

"You've seen how Lady Martha and Sir Daniel kiss, right?"

"Uh-huh! All the time!"

"Well, that's normal for married people." Sterling thought about kissing Oriana and blushed. "Normal married people kiss in front of others all the time. Where do Mama and Papa kiss?"

Seren thought about that, putting the blunt end of his pencil to his mouth. "In their chambers, really."

"Exactly—Mama and Papa don't really kiss or hold hands or hug or anything like that in front of other people, because they want to always look like they have Kasterborous and Gallifrey's best interests first, not their own." Very pleased with that response, Sterling patted his brother on the head, making his brother giggle. "Mama and Papa won't mind if we don't do anything for their anniversary, so don't worry."

"This all sounds very complicated," Seren stated. "So Mama and Papa don't kiss because they don't want to look like bad guys?"

"Sorta; they don't want to look like they only care about one another."

"…but they care about us…"

"Yes, but there's a difference between caring about your family and caring about your job," Sterling explained. "It's easy to not look like you care about your job when you're born into it like Mama and Papa were."

"That's not very fair."

"No, it's not, but that's how things go when you mix inheriting titles and things into people's lives. We are actually really lucky with how Mama and Papa run Kasterborous and Gallifrey—because they make an effort to do their best, the people see that and we don't have the kinds of cross people that other lords and ladies have to deal with."

"What sort of cross peoples?" Seren asked curiously.

"Do you remember how we had that maid who was really bad at her job last year? Well, if a maid can be bad at her job, then a lord or a lady can be too, and that's when you get people wanting a new ruling family, or none at all, because if a maid is bad at her job, a room is messy, but when a lord or lady is bad at their job, things are much worse than messy rooms and wrinkled laundry." Sterling paused, trying to see if there was understanding on his brother's face. "Does that make sense?"

"Kinda." Seren scrunched up his nose in thought. "I don't see how that's why I shouldn't get them anything."

"Make them something, if you really want to," Sterling suggested. He shrugged nonchalantly, or his best imitation of nonchalant, and looked at his brother. "You know, something out of clay, or draw a picture, or something like that… something around here."

"Can I get them flowers from the glasshouses?"

"Mama and Papa already get themselves a bunch of flowers all the time. Making something would be better."

"Okay Sterling; it's been a good talk," Seren decided. With his most serious face on, the younger boy patted his brother's shoulder before strutting out of the room. Sterling collapsed on the settee with a tired moan—having a baby brother was more trouble than it was worth.

A few days later, the Marquis and Marchioness woke late after having a lie-in, snuggled in one another's arms. They greeted each other with lazy kisses and roaming hands, giggling at their fortune.

"Good morning, my lovely moon," he murmured against the hair behind her ear. "Even in the dawn, you are the most beautiful being in my humble sky."

"…and you, my romantic idiot," she chuckled. With a grab of his rear she could feel his muscles tense in anticipation—this was a morning that it was instructed for the servants to stay far away from their chambers unless they knew they were away. She bent over him and initiated a kiss, long and loving, which took breath from them both. They stayed like that until the tell-tale squeak of the nursery door opening made them pause and press their brows together.

"What is it, starlet?" the Marquis asked. They glanced over and saw Seren bouncing their way, already dressed for the day and carrying a piece of paper in one hand and a handful of flowers (complete with dirt-clodden roots) in the other.

"Happy Anniversary!" the little boy beamed. He crawled up into the bed, crinkling the paper and smushing the flowers before holding them out. "Lena says you don't like a fuss, but I'm not a fuss."

"Oh, why thank you, sweetie," his mother cooed, taking the flowers. "How did you know dandelions were my favorite?"

"They are…?!" Seren gasped. "Wow! I'm lucky!" He then held out the paper towards his father. "Don't forget this too!" The Marquis took the paper and looked it over, curious.

"Oh, this is Mama and me?" he asked, trying not to sound like he needed a confirmation. Seren laid down between his parents and pointed up at his masterpiece.

"Yup! That's you, and that's Mama, and the stars are us!" He leaned in towards the Marchioness and whispered loudly, "The frowny one is Tara."

"I never could have guessed," she smirked. She gave her son a kiss on the cheek and tickled his tummy. "Why thank you, Seren. This was a nice surprise."

"I agree with Mama; you did a splendid job," the Marquis agreed. He too gave their youngest a kiss and gave him a gentle shove. "Now hurry along to breakfast or Lena will wonder what you're up to."

"Oh gosh, you're right!" After wishing them well again, Seren scuttled off and let his parents be, not knowing that they burst into laughter the moment he shut the door.

"Six out of six—now that's something," the Marchioness said, rolling her eyes at the flowers. "I'm glad they get it all out of their system early, or we'd have stacks of drawings and a lawn-full of dried dandelions."

"I don't know… Seren seems to be onto something here," the Marquis noted. "He did give me a very lordly sort of look in this drawing…"

"You are a tall, grey bean with whiskers and a scowl, while I am a short red bean in a dress."

"I never said he was perfect, merely onto something." He grinned and kissed his wife, allowing her to take the paper. "Putting it with the others?"

"Of course, after I get in some private time with my tall, scowling bean," she purred, pulling him in for a kiss.