Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or the OC, she belongs to SilverInklett.
It was pouring, there wasn't a dry spot anywhere on his clothes, and he was extremely late for dinner. Voeda was going to have his ass on a silver platter while telling Igneel and Grandine every stupid thing he had ever done or said to her just for added humiliation to last him in the afterlife.
The sky lit up and the street lights fizzled out. The thunder played a nice bass tone for the impending doom he was about to walk into.
Metalicana fumbled with his keys and eased the door open, cursing his luck even more when he noticed they had already lost power and Vo had lit every candle they owned around the downstairs.
Next time, he would make sure all of her candles were the same scent. Or invest in an oil lamp. Something that would rid his nasal passages of the lethal dose of cinnamon and vanilla and apple and linen and whatever other hellish scent Yankee Candle had come out with that they owned.
He toed his boots off and hung his soaking coat up on its peg, grabbing a dish towel left crumpled up on the shelf to run over his hair. He hated the rain.
At least, he hated it when he got caught in it.
The only compensation that he got was picturing the sour expression on Igneel's face. Anything below 70 and hiding the sun pissed the weirdo off more than anything. He was the only man Metalicana knew that would use his fireplace in the middle of the humid, rainy Spring.
Granny was probably standing on her front porch, breathing in the chilly air and holding her hand out from under the porch roof to catch the raindrops in her hand.
One of them deserved to have a nice evening.
Igneel would be grouchy, Grandine was at peace, and he was about to be roasted on a spit by his wife. So, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary really.
"Vo?"
Metalicana crept into the kitchen, slipping in his wet socks and barely catching himself on a counter. He yanked the traitorous fabric from his feet, wadded them up, ad tossed them in the general direction of his boots.
"Are you all right?"
"Tch, barely."
He heard her get up, she had probably been curled up under the blanket her mom made them when they got married and reading a book by her favorite candle's light. Coming in at a time she was relaxed was a good sign for him. If she was able to sit down and focus on a book, then he wasn't as far up the creek as he'd feared.
"Sorry 'm late. Roads and traffic were hell and y'know how Igneel can go on and on too. Seemed all too thrilled to keep me as long as he could to make me even later and in more trouble."
"Trouble? You make me sound like a dragon lady." She appeared from around the corner and winked at him. She rested against the door frame to the living room with a smile on her face. "The storm started earlier than they had said, so I wasn't expecting much."
Metalicana chuckled as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Took ya this long to realize you needed to lower yer standards with me? I figured you were sharper 'n that, Vo."
She raised her brows and slapped his arm as she passed him. "I expect you to clean up the mud and water you just tracked though my kitchen. We have a mud room for a reason."
He rolled his eyes and caught her hand, pulling her back to him. "Mud room's freezing and I didn't want to make ya wait any longer if you were ticked off for me bein' late."
Voeda scoffed, "How considerate."
He smirked. "Always."
She wriggled from his hold, heading toward their laundry room and opening the dryer. Voeda came back with a few towels and a set clothes that still held some warmth from the dryer for him to change into. "Well, you might as well stay in here while we get you dry. Hardwood's a bit easier to mop up than waiting for the carpet to dry."
"We?" He raised an eyebrow at her and undid the belt on his pants. She ignored his comment and waited for him to finish muttering curses at the waterlogged denim stuck to his legs.
Metalicana slipped minutely in the small puddle of water accumulating at his feet and a curse tore from his throat as his wife's arms shot toward his shoulders. She barely managed to steady him before they both went tumbling.
"Charming, Redfox."
He snatched the dry pair of pants from her and growled under his breath. They didn't say anything more as he finished dressing. He rolled up his wet clothes and the damp towels, taking them back to the laundry room and tossing them in the washer for when their power came back on.
Metalicana winced as he ran his fingers through the tangles in his hair. "So why's it this time I'm not in hot water?"
"Honestly, people will start to wonder if I treat you right if you keep making those jokes." She rolled her eyes and lowered her tone, but didn't pull away when her husband pulled her into his chest.
"Nah." He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and snorted when she startled at the cold fingers on her cheek. "I do somethin' right this time?"
She sighed and shook her head. "We'll start it at you did do something."
Metalicana groaned and hung his head on her shoulder. "I gotta guess?"
"It would take years for you to get this one."
He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Voeda crinkled her nose and she reached up to run her fingers over the piercings in his ear as the other came up to settle on his cheek. She kissed him and smiled. She laughed as he watched her suspiciously. "You're not in trouble, I promise. I'm not tricking you."
"All right. Well, how 'bout puttin' me outta my misery?"
"Oh, your sentence's just begun."
Metalicana plunked his forehead to hers. "Vo."
She laughed, the movement brushing her nose over his. "We're going to have a baby."
He startled, visibly. The shock shook his knees and he blinked several times. Her eyes didn't waver and her smile only stretched when his mouth failed to form the words. She had been right, he wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. Mostly because it hadn't been an option, from what they'd been told.
"Yer sure?"
She bit her lip. "Well, I don't know, it could be Igneel's. Though, I'm pretty sure it's yours."
"Not even funny," he growled.
Voeda leaned back, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. "Speaking of which, it was terrible trying to keep him quiet."
Metalicana spluttered. "He knew before I did?"
"Well, you know he doesn't knock and he just happened to barge in when I was at Grandine's and we were discussing it." She glanced down, her gaze following the lingering water prints from his feet.
"Really?" He tucked his fingers under her chin, beckoning her to look back at him.
She nodded her head and hummed. He grinned back, still smiling as he brought her mouth back to his.
It was still pouring, he was dry, and he was going to kick Igneel's ass for finding out before he did.
A/N: SilverInklett left me a very kind shout out in her latest chapter of Make Your Nest and this is my thanks to her.
I know what you're probably thinking, and believe me when I say I'm a huge skeptic when it comes to OCs as well. I've actively avoided them for the entirety that I've written and read (for, holy cow, 10 years now) fic, but Silv presented this idea for Metalicana's mate in her story Make Your Nest and Lay In It and I was a goner from the get go. She's gotten under my skin and demanded all of my love- Voeda might as well be a canon character for me now.
Of course, this is a human!AU where Metalicana and Voeda are Gajeel's biological parents.
Do not leave any negative or backhanded comments on this character. She may not be mine, but I'm very protective of her and the work that Silv has put into making Voeda a believable facet in the FT universe.