Channing and the Seven Dwarves (BoyxBoy)

Pompeii 1992

This story is dedicated to the BoyxBoy Library for being such an awesome place to find great reads! Follow them if you've not already! The characters for this book came to me in a dream about a month ago and just won't let me alone, so I'm posting it on Wattpad. This is going to my first BxB, so I'd also appreciate a little help along the way and whatever guidance you can give me. The best comment gets a dedication in the next chapter!

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"And the walls kept tumbling down 

In the city that we love 

Grey clouds roll over the hills 

Bringing darkness from above"

Rrrr, where is he? Why dose he always do this in the middle of the night? No consideration. A light chuckle bubbles up from me and I just shake my head. Guess I should be used to it by now, after all these years.

Belting a robe around my waist and slipping on a pair of shoes, I shut the adjoining door to his room and back through to mine. The bedside lamp was on, illuminating the rich carpet and the wood-paneled walls of Raven Estate. Everyday I thank the Almighty that I was granted such a wonderful home, that my son can grow up here, too. The Black family has served the dynasty of White, the ruling line of our great kingdom of Ravenwood, since its founding over a thousand years ago.

Turning the brass door handle, I follow the carpet runner down the hall, like almost every night. Moonlight streams through the skylights in the high ceiling. Thick tapestries with sense of long ago hang from the stone walls. The beauty of this place still takes my breath away, even in the dark.

The runner ends and the Great Staircase begins. My hand finds the mahogany bannister, worn smooth by generations of lords, dignitaries, nobles, and politicians. How lucky I am to be included in their number. As steward to the king, it is my duty to keep this magnificent house as he keeps the nation of our forefathers. A small smile tugs at the corner of my lips with the thought.

Finally at the bottom, I turn and stride quickly across the entrance hall. The heels of my shoes softly click on the black marble floors. Even in the low light, glimmers of my reflection could be seen. The entire manor still smelled of pine and nutmeg from the holiday season not long past. The house had been bright and cheerful then, but it was beginning to sink slowly back into decay. No matter how hard the staff and I worked, we just couldn't keep up with all of the repairs this ancient castle demanded. But we do the best we can.

Yep, just as I suspected. Light pooled from behind the door of the portrait gallery. Most of it was closed, but there saw still a crack in-between the frame. His Majesty knew me all too well. Following the beam, I found our king at his usual destination.

His medium brown hair was tousled from tossing and turning and the dark circles under his sapphire eyes were even darker than yesterday. Well, stress and insomnia would do that to a person. He didn't move a muscle, but I saw he knew I was there. It had become our tradition since we were mere boys; on the nights when he couldn't sleep I stayed up to keep him company.

"Finally, Eric. I was beginning to worry, " he scoffed, his voice thick with exhaustion.

Concern was evident in my tone, my worry showing from the last two weeks, "Always, Your Highness."

He turned away from the portrait on the wall to look at me. My king sighed deeply, "Eric, why won't you call me Mason? We grew up with each other and you're practically my older brother. Just Mason, please?"

Now it was my turn to sigh dramatically, "We've been over this, Your Majesty. It has always been thus and it won't change, even for you. It is the duty of the Royal Steward to remain impartial and unbiased. It's just the way it is."

His laugh was like honey, light and smooth, "My friend, you're beginning to sound just like your father."

It was at this remark that my stern expression cracked and I laughed right along with him. At just 20 to my 23, His Highness was like an annoying little brother but I loved him all the same.

Once recovered, he asked, "So, how's Klovis?"

Residual mirth still in my system, I smiled and answered, "At the country cottage, resting."

"And the baby?"

"Due any day now." Thinking of my wife and unborn son made me happy all over again and my smile widened to an almost unbearable size.

"Picked a name yet?"

"Nope, but the list is getting shorter." Taking a deep breath, I asked what we both knew I was here for. "Your Majesty, why do you always look at the same portrait?" To this question, it wasn't as if I hadn't heard the story a hundred times over, but I knew he liked to tell the tale of his favorite ancestors.

Turning back to the painting, he flashed teeth and I knew he saw right through me. "Well, if you must know, the story starts over a thousand years ago in the time of the Holy Wars. Once upon a time, there lived a young prince named Snow White. He was cocky and arrogant and had too much pride, like most boys trying to prove themselves to be men. But not long before his 18th birthday, his father, the king, was killed in battle. This left him with his nine-year-old sister, Cecilia, and his new stepmother, who had wed the king shortly after his mother's death in childbirth.

"So, instead of going off to war like most boys his age, circumstance forced Snow to remain at home and take care of his people. Famine and plague had become a global pandemic and with all the fighting, conditions were only getting worse. And all because of men's greed, but what could one young boy do about all of that? Well, Snow was meant for a greater destiny.

"His stepmother, the new Queen Edlyn, was, in reality, an enchantress intent on ruling the tiny kingdom of Ravenwood forever. So, she devised a way to get rid of Snow, permanently. Edlyn searched far and near for the spell she would need, and on the day before Snow's birthday, she found it. She disguised herself as a serving maid at dinner and presented him with a candied apple, one of his favorites. Snow had been so distraught after loosing his father; he bit into it without hesitation. And on the stroke of midnight, the Crown Prince of Ravenwood fell to the ground, dead.

"On the morning of his 18yh birthday, the day that should have marked the beginning of his rein, Snow White's body was laid to rest in a magnificent glass coffin inside the family crypt, never to see the light of the sun again.

"But only Edlyn knew that the son of her late husband wasn't really dead at all. Snow only slept, but the kiss of his one true love could awaken him. And to ensure that never came to pass, she unsealed his tome, sending his body a millennium into the future.

"Her plan would have succeeded except for one tiny detail she didn't foresee. Snow White's coffin appeared in the presents of the on person that was fated to steal his heart forever. And the hero of our story's name was Channing Black. The rest is history."

"So what happened after Snow met Channing?"

My king smirked, as if he was waiting for that very question. "No one knows. There are so many different explanations that none of them can be confirmed as fact. All we know, if the legend is even to be believed, is that Snow and Channing somehow made it back to the Middle Ages, stopped the war, and became the first openly gay rulers in our nation's history."

My gaze traveled from His Majesty's face and up to the faded portrait. The two young men sat on a velvet sofa holding hands. One was dark-haired with a mischievous expression and an ornate crown on his head and the other, being fair-haired, staring lovingly at the king. Snow and Channing. They even looked the perfect couple.

"Hmmm..."

"What is it, my friend?"

"I've decided what to name my son."

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So what dose everyone think? Feel free to ask any questions ya think of and I'll do my best to answer them without giving too much away. Oh, and I'll follow anyone that can make me a better cover.