Exciting! Interesting! - Tumblr Posts

WOWOWOWOWOWOW!! I just read this fic and wow! It was so fun! Thank you so much for writing this! It is excellent and amazing and I’m going to scream about it in a spoilery way under the cut!

I loved the aro rep from Remus! And!! The twists! I thought Roman was probably going to be crown prince, and then it was Remus, and then turns out it should have been Roman! And then Remus started planning something! And then he did that whole thing! And then Roman fought him and it was so cool! And then he FELL OFF THE CLIFF?! And then he maybe died?? So then Roman became king! And Prinxiety aww! Then REMUS WASN’T DEAD AND GOT TO BE THE JESTER MEANING HE WAS STILL ABLE TO BE WITH HIS FRIENDS AT THE CASTLE AND BE WITH ROMAN!! AAAAA! I am reeling that whole thing was so !!!!!!. Sorry for the ramble I just! This is such a cool thing to read! Again, thank you so much for writing this excellent fic!

Have You Ever Considered Killing Your Title?—Chapter 15: Epilogue

Masterpost

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10 years later

The morning, in Roman’s opinion, had been painfully bland. 

He had spent much of it in a council meeting, dealing with the issues affecting their kingdom. And he loved dealing with the issues, don’t get him wrong! One of his favorite parts of being king was being able to have a direct impact on the lives of the people, to see the way things played out and how his plans advanced. 

His brother had been right when he had called him a strategist over 20 years ago, and he appreciated the familiar ache that came with the memory. 

It was always like that when he thought about their childhood, about the first 18 years of their lives that had been so controlled. He had stopped trying to justify or understand it years ago, willing to let the past stay where it may as time marched ever forward. 

It would always ache, but there wasn’t anything that said that had to be a bad thing.

As Roman walked down the corridor, having concluded the meeting and on his way to a well-deserved lunch, he caught a glimpse of the training field out the window. It brought a smile to his face, and he paused for a moment to watch Sir Logan adjust a knight’s form.

It hadn’t been a hard decision to have Logan take over in training the knights. He was the most talented of the group, and had helped lead training enough times that it was little surprise when he took over with no interruption in the schedule they had always followed. 

Plus, Logan had taken more of a liking to him since everything went down, the two developing a respectable bond over the years. They were not incredibly close, and certainly nowhere near the breadth of the relationship Roman knew Logan had maintained with Remus, but it was better now. It was only after the other had stopped avoiding him that Roman realized that’s why he saw so little of him in the first place. Those early days had been stiff, but now the head knight could actually be expected to approach him with a smile on his face.

Plus, he worked hard to keep all the knights strong in every area, making guard placements a little easier when you didn’t have to worry about counterbalancing everyone's abilities against one another. 

Roman continued on his path, leaving the view behind him as he trekked toward the dining room. He passed through the hall, keeping his head turned forward and gaze determinedly away from the painting on his left. 

It wasn’t that he hated the sight of his parents; it wouldn’t even be right to say he didn’t miss them every day. He did miss them, like a sore bruise that you couldn’t leave alone and kept pressing at just to feel that little thrum of pain. They weren’t perfect, no, but that didn’t mean they deserved to be reviled.

The whole event years ago had changed something for his mother, and she was never quite the same after it. She became more withdrawn, less outspoken. It had been weird for the queen, who had always been known to be a vocal partner to her husband, to disappear into the background and really only show at events when it absolutely called for it. When the illness that would claim her life first started affecting her, it was difficult to even tell if there was an issue or if it was just another bad day. 

She hadn’t fought it for long, and within a year of falling sick she had passed. The king had followed not too far after, the combination of grief and his own health issues which had steadily inclined over the years becoming too much. 

It was never the way in which Roman had wanted to become king, but that was the sad truth that was so often ignored in the royal line: a successor is only truly needed if the current ruler will not last. 

He let the sting of grief that had swept through him pass, all too grateful to open the door to the dining room to find his beloved already there. The sight of this man never failed to bedazzle him, and pull him from everything else going on in his head.

“Hey princey, your meeting go okay?”

A smile worked itself onto Roman’s face as he stepped forward, leaning to give Virgil a kiss before taking a seat at the head of the table. 

“It was fine, no complications or issues outside of the ordinary. Janus didn’t even need to imply anyone was being an idiot this time.”

Virgil snorted his disbelief. “If he’s not calling people an idiot, is he even doing his job?”

Roman playfully frowned, puffing up his stature in a mock show of importance. “There’s more to being an advisor to the king than just calling people an idiot, Virgil. Janus knows that, and it’s why he’s so trusted.”

“He’s trusted because he put you in your place years ago, and also was the one who told you to stop dawdling and actually ask me to be royal consort.”

“I was going to do it!” Roman defended, trying to maintain his offended expression in the wake of Virgil’s smile. “I just didn’t want to rush you into anything you weren’t ready for.”

“I was ready since we were 20 and you asked me to dance for the first time, Roman.”

“Now that’s an overstatement. I know had I asked you that night, your anxiety would have gone haywire and I probably would have had to have spent the next 3 years calming you down over an out-of-the-gate proposal instead of actually courting you.”

Virgil shrugged. “You never know.”

“Oh, you infuriating stormcloud—”

Whatever else Roman had been about to say was cut off as the door opened, a servant stepping in with a tray of food filled with enough to feed them plentifully. Their playful argument died down with the introduction of company, and they both settled as they reached for plates from which to serve themselves.

“Before you begin, your highnesses, the royal jester requested permission to join you for this lunch.” 

The servant looked perhaps a little confused at the information they had just presented, but hearing it only sent a shot of energy down Roman’s spine. 

“Of course, send him in at once, he is more than welcome.”

He only realized he was bouncing in his chair when he felt Virgil’s hand on top of his, a subtle smile on his face reminding him to calm down. 

Gosh, he loved this man.

He turned his own hand around to properly grip his partner’s, giving it a squeeze just before the door creaked open again, and a mess of black and green fabric stepped forth. 

“Your majesties,” came a voice from behind the masked face, and the jester slipped into a bow. 

A bow which morphed into a summersault, the man falling over himself and landing squarely in front of Roman’s gaze, his head lifted just enough to make eye contact.

“Hello, jester,” slipped the simple reply from Roman’s lips, and both brothers broke character as they grinned. 

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