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There was one couch that everyone seemed to like for one reason or another. Leo, personally, liked it because it was secluded enough that he couldn't hear the commotion of the fort, for the refreshing breeze of air, for the bookcases not casting shadows over the spot, for the well worn comfort of the cushions.
With two books under his arm—one penned by Odin, a self proclaimed book of the blackest of dark magic fit only for heroes lest others be tainted, and one actual arcane magic book—Leo settled into the seat. He brought his feet up on the cushion and crossed his legs, picking up Odin’s thick tome and starting to read.
After about twenty minutes of immersion broken only by laughter cleverly disguised as coughs—Odin never failed to produce an amusing read perfect for an adventure novel while trying his best to be serious—Xander approached. Leo looked up and swung his feet back onto the floor and Xander waved his hand. “Don't let me interrupt you.”
“Nothing to interrupt.” Leo glanced at the book in Xander’s arms. “Find some time for yourself then?”
“Technically, I suppose.” Xander flipped the book around and Leo saw the curl of Nohrian words instead of Common. He recognized it as a novel, a casual romp instead of a hefty classic. “I felt I needed to brush up on my Nohrian, and this was the easiest.”
Leo nodded. “Buona fortuna.”
“Grazie.” Xander pointed his book at the space next to Leo. “May I? I'll try not to disturb you.”
Leo scoffed and shook his head. “You can’t be a loud reader.”
“You never know. I may start practicing my pronunciation too.”
“Ah, a joke! Aren't you in a good mood?”
“It's been known to happen,” Xander said, sitting down in the couch next to Leo. Xander opened his book and Leo pulled out his arcane tome to read, and the two of them fell silent.
The couch could comfortably seat two, with a bit of space between them. Technically, it could seat three, but only if everyone was alright with legs touching. But for just two, it was perfect. The brothers sat in comfortable silence, their breathing and pages flipping as ambience.
Leo’s legs were jittering though. Perfect atmosphere, but not the perfect position. He liked having his legs elevated. It was the epitome of comfort. And here his feet were, on the ground, unable to experience that perfect comfort.
At the third crossing and uncrossing of legs, Xander spoke up. “You can put your feet up.”
“I'm fine.”
“You very clearly aren't.”
Xander, by contrast to Leo’s fidgets, crossed his right leg over his left, rested his cheek against his fist, and was a statue. “I’m fine,” Leo repeated, maybe a bit more clipped than was necessary.
Xander looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. He marked his thumb in the book and closed it around it, and tapped Leo’s head with the corner. Leo lowered his book and glared. Xander only smiled, the ever-present wrinkle in his forehead smoothing just a bit at the softness of it. “I remember when you were younger, you used to put your legs on my lap.”
Leo pushed the book away. “Younger is the key word here.”
“I still feel like I know you well enough.” Xander drew the book back and slowly brought it back down, slow enough that when it hit Leo’s head, it was because he let it.
Leo scoffed and turned to the side, moving out of Xander’s reach and letting him pull his feet up and plant them on the couch, resting the spine of his book between his legs. “Act your age.”
Xander simply smiled and went back to his book. Many more minutes passed like that, in silence.
“My, my, don't the two of you look darling?”
The brothers looked up at Camilla’s interruption. She had a book resting against her hip. “What caught your interest?” Xander asked, though he felt like he knew the answer (something that was easy to start in the middle of, an anthology, a casual novel, a book of theories, just as long as skipping around didn’t take away from it).
“Oh this little thing?” Camilla said, heaving up the seven hundred page book—Leo read a lot; he knew how much space a book took up—looking at it briefly before smiling at her brothers. “Just a little light reading.”
“By ‘light’ I hope you mean ‘not serious,’” Xander commented.
“Oh, it’s not heavy at all.”
“What did you expect from the woman who heaves around axes all day?” Leo commented and Camilla smiled.
“You’re so sweet.” She took a couple steps forward and gestured at the sliver of couch between them. “May I?”
“Of course,” Xander said, lowering his crossed leg to the ground to give her more room.
“You’ll be sitting in the crevice,” Leo warned, not moving.
“Oh, like I’d worry about that.” She patted Leo’s knee. “Make space, darling.”
Leo glared and lowered his feet to the ground. Comfort, once again ruined.
“Don’t make that face,” Camilla said, reaching out to rub her thumb against Leo’s cheek, like a mother wiping a smear of food off of their child’s face. Leo made a disgruntled face like a child would too. She smiled at him and sat down in the space between her brothers. They were close, easily touching each other even though both Xander and Leo had slid to the side and pressed their legs together to give Camilla enough room. It was tight, but not awkward. They were siblings, after all.
The worst part was that Camilla was an expressive reader, though she seemed to quiet herself for the two of them. Didn’t stop her from humming while she read. Happy humming. Amused humming. Disgruntled humming. Hmmm! Hhhmmmhmmm. Hummmmm.
Leo’s eyebrow was twitching, and he found himself drawn out of his book with every noise. He was rereading the same paragraph over and over and thinking every time he was reading something new until the last sentence. At one point he looked over at Camilla after one of her hums and she glanced back and grinned at him. He scoffed and went back to his book.
Camilla elbowed Leo.
Leo elbowed her back.
Xander smiled and pretended to not notice.
And then Elise entered the room and all hope for a peaceful reading vanished.
Elise looked at her siblings, and they looked up from their own books and stared back at her. Elise looked to Leo.
Leo shook his head slowly.
Elise looked at Camilla.
Camilla smiled sweetly.
Elise looked over at Xander.
Xander raised an eyebrow.
Leo was still shaking his hand.
Elise shrugged and sat down on Camilla’s lap and then laid down across their laps, her head at Xander, her feet kicking at Leo.
“Oh for the love of—Elise is this necessary?”
“Hush, Leo, let her be.”
“Yeah, Leo, come on,” Elise stuck out her tongue, even though he couldn’t see her. “Isn’t this nice?”
“I’m not going to get any more reading done am I?”
“Oh, darling, this shouldn’t be a problem, should it?” Camilla was already using Elise’s back as a bookrest. Across from her, Xander had already settled back into reading, his hand rubbing Elise’s head absently. “You used to cuddle with me when you read. How is this different?”
“You never laid on my lap, for one.”
“Yes, that was all you.”
Leo couldn’t help flushing. “Be that as it may—”
“Oh hush!” Elise yelled. “Just read if you want to read!”
Leo tried tickling the underside of Elise’s knee and got a foot to the face for his troubles. Elise looked over her shoulder and glared at Leo, and Leo glared back. Xander swept his hand in front of Elise’s eyes and broke their eye contact. “Come now, that book looks too interesting for you to ignore just to glare at Leo.”
Elise grinned and turned back to her book, and everyone else started to read as well. Elise talked when she read, sounding out words, and muttering sentences so they made sense. Sometimes, the words didn’t connect as they were written in her head, and only hearing them made them logical. Leo was the one who taught her that, but he was deeply regretting that now. He started poking her calf as revenge at every word. She didn’t seem to notice.
“Um…” Corrin stood in front of them, holding a book to her chest. She looked at the four of them on the couch far too small for all of them. “I’ll…come back.”
“No!” Elise cried out. “We can make room for you!”
Corrin held up her hands, waving them off as she took a couple steps back. “No, that’s really not necessary—”
“Nonsense, darling, the more the merrier!” Camilla said. “Why, you can use my lap, just like the old days.”
The old days felt like last month when she visited, but Corrin didn’t bring it up. “I’m not sitting on Elise.”
“I’ll move!”
Corrin bit her lip and shook her head. “That couch was really only built for two—”
“If five people can fit, then it was built for five,” Elise insisted. She rolled off their laps and onto the floor, popping back up with a grin. She grabbed Corrin’s hand and tugged her towards them. “Come on!”
“Well, where will you lay down then?”
“She’ll sit, I’m sure,” Xander said. He smiled at Elise and nodded his head. “You can borrow my lap.”
Elise grinned and turned back to Corrin, bouncing on her toes. Corrin couldn’t deny that. “Fine, okay.”
Everyone was grinning, even Leo, though he pretended not to by hiding it behind his hand as he scratched his cheek. Camilla smiled as Corrin sat on her lap, resting her head on Camilla’s shoulder. Elise leapt onto Xander’s lap, Xander letting out an ‘oof’ as the breath was pushed out of him. She curled up and started her book again, unable to keep the grin off of her face. “What are you reading, Corrin?”
“It’s just an adventure novel. Nothing important.”
“It’s got a pretty cover.”
“The blood splatters are unrealistic, I have to say,” Xander commented.
“We can’t all read books with minimalistic golden roses on them,” Leo said.
“You’ve obviously got the best cover, dear.” Camilla said.
Leo looked at the cover of his book, with just the title in the plainest writing imaginable.
“No, I meant the one you’re hiding over there.”
“Ah, that would be Odin’s hand. Though Niles I’m sure encouraged him.”
“His fell hand is not skilled at drawing,” Xander remarked.
“He tried,” Elise said. “He really seemed to have tried.”
“Well, maybe he should try harder.”
Elise elbowed his side. “Mean.”
Xander laughed. “My apologies.”
Leo turned and draped his legs over Corrin’s and Elise’s laps and shrugged when they looked at him. “If you took over my reading spot, I should be allowed to do this.”
“I didn’t take anything,” Elise protested, puffing out her cheeks. “I don’t want your feet on me.”
“The tables have turned, Elise, and I have no remorse.”
There was one couch that everyone seemed to like for one reason or another. Leo, personally, liked it because it was secluded enough that he couldn't hear the commotion of the fort, for the refreshing breeze of air, for the bookcases not casting shadows over the spot, for the well worn comfort of the cushions.
Xander liked it for the comfort and positioning as well, but because it was easy to find Leo there. He never really needed to say anything to Leo, neither of them necessarily needing the conversation to connect, but he liked being around Leo. Reading together was nice, comforting, so he sat there whenever possible. And the fact that he ran into the others as well and enjoyed their companionship over a book was lovely as well.
Corrin liked the couch in general, she supposed. It was comfortable enough, well positioned. A good reading spot. When the others had to leave, she’d have it all to herself. But it was better when everyone was there, everyone she could love and be with. Even if it was just two of them, she’d like to sit closer, lean against them, read over their shoulders and join the story halfway, scan the page to see what made them smile. But otherwise, silence and warmth, that was good.
Camilla didn’t like reading as much as the others, but she liked sharing experiences. That’s why she hummed, showing that she appreciated, even if the author wasn’t around to hear her. Others were, and others would like to know. Leo liked talking about what he read, and she was sure it was the only time he admitted to liking Odin’s readings whenever he read a passage he particularly liked and commented on it. Xander liked having discussions about prose. Elise and Camilla often read together, because Elise would comment on everything. And this couch was perfect for two people together. Or however many dared fit.
Elise thought the couch was okay. She didn’t care much about the perfect reading conditions. She cared about her siblings, who liked this couch, who were there, who were always willing to be with her, to share their warmth and thoughts with her. And that was all she needed, really.
And Leo would have to admit that even though it was crowded, that the laps his legs were on squirmed and moved, that everyone was warm and close and made far too much noise, that the smiles and them simply there made it all worthwhile.