Sleeping In
The hard candy clock began to chime sweetly beside the bed to indicate the start of a new day. King Candy groaned and turned over, blatantly ignoring it by covering his head with pillows. The Queen smiled at his immaturity and clicked the alarm off. She gave the King a gentle kiss on the shoulder and tried to rouse him out of sleep, but it was only met with a grumbling protest. He’d specifically opted to not race in the roster challenge last night so that he would be able to sleep in a little after the welcome home ball. The Queen, however, was a morning person, and liked to get in time for snuggling and pillow talk before the day officially began. She made small whining noises and continued to nudge him playfully towards the edge of the bed.
“You’re taking up too much space, honey… Scoot over.” she joked. “Thisth ith a giant bed, Emily. You have a ton of space.” he replied flatly. “Nooooo, I don’t have enough at all! You’re squashing meeeee…” she whined. “I am not. Go back to sleep, darling, ith too early. I love you. Go to sleep.”
When it became evident to the Queen that her husband wasn’t going to get out of bed, Emily sighed as if she’d been defeated and snuggled up behind him. The King purred in contentment. He couldn’t see the slow smile spreading over her face. He could, however, feel when she sneakily began to snake her hand under his pajama shirt.
“Oh… no don’t… pleaseth don’t…” he chuckled into his pillow. The Queen feigned innocence and confusion. “Don’t what? I’m not doing anything. We’re snuggling.” she insisted, though all the while she began to draw little circles with her finger over his chest and belly. He curled against her and grinned, trying his best not to laugh. That would just encourage her. “I justh want to sleep in a little. Can’t you snuggle normally with me-hee?” the King asked as evenly as he could manage. She just rolled her eyes and leaned down to rumble a whisper into his ear. “I can’t understand you. You’re muffling your voice in the pillow, dear. I suppose I’ll have to make a guess at what you’re saying…”
With that, she began to scribble her fingers all over the King’s torso, causing him to thrash and burst into laughter. “Th-that’sth NOT what I thaid!” he shrieked through his giggles. “What’s not what you said?” Emily asked. “I d-didn’t ask you-HOO to t-tickle me-hee-hee!” he insisted. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that last part. You didn’t ask me to what?” she asked, clarifying with a mischievous smile. “T-tickle me!” he repeated. “WELL, if you insist, darling…” the Queen laughed, redoubling her efforts.
“No-ho-ho-HOO! Th-that’sth not fai-hai-hair! Ah ha ha! Sthop! You’re cheating, you’re CHEATING!” he wailed helplessly. “Hmph. What is this, a board game? How can I be cheating? I’m doing exactly what you just told me to do.” Emily argued.
Unable to stand it anymore, King Candy rolled away onto the floor and under the bed. The Queen smirked and stood up to follow him, but was promptly pulled off her feet by a hand swiping at her from the floor. She fell over onto the carpet and glared in confusion at the King. He ignored this and proceeded to drag her legs under the bed to tickle her feet. She squirmed and giggled in protest. “C-Cornelius, no!” she cried. “Ith payback time, I think.” the King called from his little fort under the bed. “B-but I didn’t DO anything, hee hee!” Emily lied, covering her face cutely with one hand. “Oh, you little fibber, you did THO.” King Candy mused. He then pulled her the rest of the way under the bed and the two continued their little war until they were both breathless and ready to call a truce.
The King beamed at his wife, loving the way she was flushed and relaxed beside him. She scooted closer and nuzzled into his neck, and though this was another sensation that make him shudder and giggle involuntarily, he didn’t move away. The Queen slowly trailed kisses along his collarbone, up his neck, behind his ear, across his cheek, and ended with a light peck on his nose. He smiled and pulled her closer, tipping her chin up to ghost over her lips with his own; a prelude to something more passionate. She moved into the kiss and curled her fingers into his hair. The King slowly caressed her shoulder and moved his hand over the soft curve of her back as the kiss prolonged itself, languid and tender. Emily sighed in pleasure and bit down lightly on his bottom lip, nuzzling their noses together and gripping the front of his shirt to pull him on top of her. He gazed down at her lovingly and cupped his hand to her cheek.
“I love you, Emily… tho very much. I’ll neva understand how I got lucky enough to have you in my life.” he whispered gently. She rubbed her face softly against his hand, tousling her wavy red hair and looked up at her husband with half-lidded eyes. “I love you, Cornelius. You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever known. And yes, you’re about to get very lucky~”
Maybe sleeping in wasn’t so important after all. This was a very good morning, indeed.