What's Not On The Wish List
By: Atomic Kokoro
Storyline
Even after ten years of peace, one party can send Roya and Zed reeling into disaster many months later.
Before You Read
A story I've been fiddling around with for a while.
Alternate Universe; Zed came back, Noah and Sagiri stayed in Templar. Ten years later.
On with the story!
…
What's Not On The Wish List
When Mickey entered his home, he was expecting to find his two housemates there, too, like they always have been for the past ten years. And he did find them. They were in the dining room that also doubled as Zed's bedroom. They were at home, as usual, and they were together, as usual, and they weren't say anything, as usual.
But one thing that was unusual was the tight, stressful atmosphere. Zed pacing back and forth, looking like he was about to hurt himself thinking, and Roya sitting on the bench by the window with her head in her hands.
He watched them both for a minute, waiting for them to notice him. When they showed no signs of acknowledgment, he cleared his throat. Zed stopped pacing and they looked up at him, looking shocked as though it wasn't the normal time Mickey got back from the bakery.
"Uh, hi," he said. Zed and Roya muttered a greeting and returned to their awkward silence. "I'll put dinner on the stove, then." Mickey disappeared into the kitchen to do just that.
No reply from either friend.
…
Dinner was quiet, too. Mickey looked at Zed for a moment to figure out he was counting his fingers instead of eating, looking like he was trying to remember something.
"I forget. Is it eight or nine?" he finally muttered after a while. "Or ten?"
Mickey was tempted to slap the table and hiss, "Don't forget your food, too!" but he carefully restrained himself to a very dangerous glare. He left his gaze from Zed, who was oblivious to it anyways, and watched Roya, who looked as though she were ready to cry.
He frowned and returned to his food. What was it that had to do with Zed and Roya that was such a secret, had to do with the numbers eight, nine, and ten, and was so big is kept the oh-so-huge-stomached Zed from eating his food?
Suddenly, it came to him. Mickey dropped his spoon and opened his mouth in shock. Slowly, he brought his finger up to point at the both of the them and nodded his head as though he understood. "Are you two...?"
Zed stared at Mickey like he had no clue what was going on and Roya slammed her silverware against the table, sighing like the boys had just set her off and she was tired of them. "You tell him," she growled.
There was a moment of silence. Zed closed his eyes and sighed.
"You two did it, didn't you?" Mickey muttered.
Zed slammed his forehead against the table and groaned, "Twenty-five. Is that old enough to be a...p-...p-...p-...parent?"
Silence hung over them like an anvil ready to drop and break. And the silence did break. Broken by Mickey's laughter. "You two? Parents? It's about fricking time!" Zed and Roya stared at him like he was from another planet. "I knew it was coming. I knew. It was just a matter of time."
"I think you've been having too much bread," Zed said, sounding breathless. "This is not how we'd expect you to react."
Roya nodded in agreement. "It would've been either 'what?' or 'congratulations!' or something like that. Not 'ahahahaha' like you did just there."
Mickey chuckled at Roya's quotes. "Well, I guess I better get going," he said, standing up and clearing his throat. "I said I would meet Pinot tonight."
The two soon-be parents looked at each other as Mickey left the house. "You don't think..." Zed began, sounding unsure.
They both shot up from their seats and chased after Mickey. Mickey had already sped to a run by the time they got out the front door. It had taken quite a while to catch up to him (Many times before when Zed would chase Mickey around, he would always comment, "He's fast for a baker!"). They were in the city when Zed tackled Mickey to the ground and rolled him on to his back, his fists tight around the cloth on his shirt.
He leaned forward and whispered furiously, "This matter is private between me, you, and Roya. It's no one else's business. Only me and Roya can tell people we trust and you weren't suppose to know for this reason. If you tell anyone, I'll send you to Neotopia and back."
"For fruit, right?" Mickey quirked.
"Mickey!"
Mickey smiled sheepishly and nodded his head. "Alright, alright. I won't tell anyone." Zed glared at him for a moment before standing and allowing his friend to get up as well. "You better tell Master Zico, though. He is, after all, Roya's guardian."
Zed nodded. "It will be done."
…
Zico set his teacup back down and pondered for a bit. "This is quite interesting," he said after a few moments, looking up at the couple who stood before him.
"What should we do?" Roya asked, like it was a disease rather than a simple way of life.
Zico chuckled. "You two are twenty-five now, right?" Zed was ready to jump at the mistake that Roya was, indeed, a year younger than he was but he left it be and Zico continued. "Do you think you can raise a child?"
They looked at each other as if doubting their partner's abilities rather than their own.
"They don't exactly have the...experience, let's say, as decent parents."
Zed spun around and slammed his foot against the ground before acknowledging who the speak was (which was Robes). "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
Robes stood up straight from leaning against the door frame and looked at Zed like he was stupid (not to say Zed was, but he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, either). "You weren't raised by anyone were you?" Zed stammered for a couple words for his defense but Robes kept going. "You're father's dead and your mother was crazy. How could you know how to raise a child? And you, dear Roya, you're father was crazy, too, and you're mother had split personality disorder. Or something."
"It wasn't split personality disorder," Roya growled. "she was inside of another woman's body! Besides, I have Zico's wonderful footsteps to follow. And nursing school. And babysitting Sagiri."
Zed fell into the chair behind him, sighing with defeat. "Ugh. He's right! I have no clue how to raise a kid. I couldn't even hold a baby even if I tried. This is not good." He tilted his head back lazily and moaned. "Couldn't you raise 'em yourself?"
"What- no! You're the dad. You have to do something about it, too! What if I get sick or something and can't take care of the baby/'
Zed thought of this for a minute. "Mickey and Pinot," he muttered. "They'll need the practice."
Roya stomped over to Zed and did something no one had expected yet were waiting for a long time; she slapped him.
"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"
Roya placed her hands on her hips and looked at him with dangerous eyes. "You are going to help me raise this child even if it's the last thing you do."
"I do?" he whimpered. "Something tells me I'm not going to live through the next twenty years..."
…
Several months had passed and people were beginning to notice. Roya started getting self-conscious and, therefore, she sent Zed out of the house to do everything instead. "Forget the next twenty years," he muttered to himself one day when he was heading to the store for her odd and sudden craving for strawberries. "I'll be lucky to survive the next four months."
Mickey caught up to his friend when he noticed him walking down to the store and pay for the package of strawberries. "How's it coming along?" he asked when he was walking by Zed's side.
"I've heard worse," he muttered. "She doesn't act like the way I thought she would."
"Good thing or bad thing?"
Zed looked at him with wide eyes and nodded. "Very, very good thing."
Mickey chuckled. "Well, then. I won't keep you waiting." Just as their paths separated, Mickey stopped to ask one thing. "Are you guys getting married?"
Zed turned, smiled, then walked away.
…
A month had passed and Mickey was beginning to find that Zed and Roya were closer together than ever before (which ended up answering his 'marry' question a month prior). They didn't fight often. Zed had always been the go-with-the-flow kind of person which matched perfectly with Roya's slightly demanding personality.
Often times, they would slip in a name now and again, like Princess or Moron. Mickey had to say that the sweetest moments between the two was whenever Roya doubting being able to do it and Zed comforted her anyway he could.
They love each other, moron, Mickey found himself chuckling in his head. Of course they would be doing this.
But as the months passed, watching Zed and Roya talk to each other and comfort each other and kiss occasionally, he couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. When he compared the relationship between Roya and Zed to the relationship between himself and Pinot, he could see a huge gap between it.
How long had it been since he talked to Pinot?
One day, Mickey decided to take the day off to go one date with her to try and see if they could get anywhere. It had been ten years and it seemed like they hadn't done so much as kiss. He hoped he could maybe find something a little more in their relationship than he already had.
He sat down at the table and waited for Pinot to show up, which wasn't long. They ate dinner together (Pinot made sure Mickey knew she loved his bread better than what they served at the restaurant) and, by the end of the night, Mickey felt more confident about the future.
It's truly amazing what one girl could do to your life. Mickey thought to himself as he walked down the street, a big grin plastered on his face. He was about ready to run down the road in pure excitement, but something caught the corner of his eye and he stopped.
"Hey. Hey!" someone called from down the ally beside him. "I need your help! Please!"
Mickey raced down the alleyway and stopped when he got to the man. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, the man checking his pockets. Mickey attempted to kick the man, but a white hot pain in his stomach said otherwise. "Help!" he yelled. "Help!"
The man cursed and brought his knife up. "Quiet. Quiet," he demanded, pulling Mickey's wallet form his pocket. He leaned forward and pressed the knife against the young man's neck. "Everything will be okay."
…
Zed woke up as soon as his world started rocking. The earth was shaking? "Wh-what? What's going on?"
"Wake up," Roya said, sounding more pleading than demanding.
Zed rubbed his eyes and leaned up. "What is it, Roya?" he asked.
"Mickey isn't home," she said. "He didn't come home last night?"
The blue-eyed man rubbed his head and kicked his feet off the bench he fell asleep on the previous night. "Maybe he stayed at Pinot's," he suggested. He looked up at her. She still looked worried. He sighed. "I'll go check."
…
Pinot shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. Mickey didn't stay the night here. He went home."
"He isn't home," Zed repeated. "He didn't come home last night. I thought he stayed here."
Again, Pinot shook her head. "When you see him, tell him I found the infamous, 'secret' bread recipe in the photo album, so I can learn to make his bread now."
"Will do," he said and he left the young lady to her bidding.
Zed made his way to the old windmill and stood watch over Templar. "If he's not home and he's not at Pinot's, then where is he?" He shook his head and began towards the bakery. When he got three, the sign was still up. "So he's not at the bakery. What did he do last night?"
After a long while of searching, Zed resorted to running up and down the streets, yelling Mickey's name. The tension rose high and fear was beginning to build up. Relax, Zed, he told himself. You've been so uptight lately about what's going on with Roya. He's fine, wherever he is. He's Mickey. The kid can handle himself.
But there was a part of him that said otherwise. He bit his lip and slowed to a walk. "I don't get it. Mickey does just disappear." He sighed and leaned against the nearest wall, which was against the blacksmith's building. He missed the wall and tripped over a trashcan. "Well, that was graceless."
He felt a little awkward being bent over a trash can that way. But when he looked up, Zed couldn't help but notice the strange looking shadow farther down the alleyway. He got to a stand, turned around, and walked down the alleyway.
The closer he got, the more the shadow became defined. The darkness of the alley was overpowering his eyesight, but he could feel he found what he was looking. He could feel that the shadow lying on the ground was Mickey.
…
It was late at night when he returned. Roya awoke to the sound of the front door opening and closing. She shot up and stomped over to her lover in anger. "Where have you been?" she demanded. "And where's Mickey?"
Zed didn't reply. He stared at the ground, looking like Roya just said she hated him. "Zed, what's wrong?"
He sighed and looked up. She could almost see the tears ready to come out of his eyes. "Mickey..." he began, then paused, wondering if he should go on. Roya motioned for him to continue and he did. "Mickey's dead."
Roya stared at him. "No," she said, backing up. "No, he's not dead. He...he can't be..."
Zed forced himself to walk a few more steps and wrapped his arms around his girl, holding her close to him. Roya broke into uncontrollable sobs and they collapsed to their knees together.
Zed stroked her hair, a few tears escaping from his eyes himself. He couldn't cry. Not then. Not when things were like this. He held her closer. Not when she was like this. Not when Roya needed him.
…
The remaining months were quiet and depressing. Zed was still waiting for Mickey to walk through the front door and find them in the dining room, deep in a name-calling competition. Roya refused to leave the house, not under any circumstances.
Zed had visited Pinot a few times to make sure she was holding on okay. She insisted she would be fine. Eventually, she moved in with some nearby family who lived closer to Zed and Roya than before. She and Roya spent a lot of time together, reminiscing about the times they would have with Mickey.
Meanwhile, Zed walked up and down the streets aimlessly without anything to do or anyway to get rid of the anger and sadness deep inside. He couldn't cry, he couldn't break doors and gates like he used to. There was nothing he could do.
Many of his days were spent walking up and down the streets. He didn't say very much, much less did anything. If he wasn't walking, he was making sure Roya was getting what she needed for her and the baby to stay healthy. That was his job. To take care of them both.
He knew the only way to get over the issue was to try and forget about everything and focus on what he needed to do.
Finally, one day, Pinot ran up to him and shook his madly, talking a mile a minute. "Slow down!" he demanded, pushing Pinot back gently. "What is it? Speak English."
She caught her breath then said, "It's Roya."
With those words, Zed booked it towards his house, leaving Pinot behind to catch her breath. He slammed open the door and raced in. "Roya?" he called.
"Ow, ow, ow!" she gasped.
"Are you okay?" were the first stupid words that came out of his mouth.
She glared up at him. "Do I look okay?" she yelled.
Zed rushed to her side and helped her to her feet. "Should we go to the hospital?"
"Yes!" Suddenly, she screamed and fell to her knees. Zed shaky and unsure of what to do, he pulled Roya into a piggy bank (it felt different since Roya had a bigger belly now) and he raced out the door with her on his back.
Are the back roads faster? Should I go straight through town? He couldn't even remember which way was up anymore. Focus, Zed. Focus.
He eventually found out where he was and rushed into the clinic, panting heavily and harder than usual. Was it the extra weight or that he was, one, scared out of his mind and, two, hadn't gotten any decent sleep since Mickey died.
Mickey...
He shook his head and opened his eyes just to crash into the desk. Zed tried to keep himself from falling and when the nursed asked what was wrong, he just shook his head and panted heavily. Before he knew it, Roya was off his back and in a hospital room.
He decided to take a seat in the front room and passed out for the first time a long, long while.
…
A week had passed and Zed was either sleeping or pacing. Roya kept telling him to sit down, and when he did, he fell asleep. He didn't sleep all that much. But when he did, she felt at peace. It was very quiet. A nice quiet.
A couple times, Noah made his way in to see her and Zed. Pinot dropped by often as well to keep her company when Zed was asleep. Zed, himself, was pretty decent company himself; he never left the room.
By the third day, he was finally able to sit down beside Roya and hold her hand and talk about things that really didn't matter. Something's did, however. Like Mickey. They talked about him. They reminisced and they wished he was there.
…
Then it happened
In the dead of night, when Zed had passed out, Roya let out a scream, waking Zed up in an instant. He was taken by surprise, and therefore it took him a while to wake up fully. He quickly got the nurse.
She ran in and it all started.
By the end of it all, Zed's hand was killing him. He never would guessed Roya had such a strong grip; she always clung onto his clothes when she held onto him. Zed wasn't sure how long it had been, but it had definitely been a long while.
Suddenly, he could hear a baby cry. He opened his eyes and he could hear Roya gasp. He shot out of his seat and backed up a couple of steps. The nurse handed Roya the child. She smiled. "Oh, my gosh, Zed," she said. "He's beautiful."
The nurse walked up to him and beamed. "He's a boy."
Roya watched his eyes get bigger. "A...boy..." he repeated. He was in shock. "A son?"
He was frozen in place. Roya smiled gently and looked back at the child. "He looks just like you. He has your eyes."
A smile crept along his lips and he walked over to Roya. "D-does he?"
She nodded. "Yes, he does."
He looked down at the baby. Beautiful leafy green eyes Zed once possessed. The baby boy kicked and talked in baby dabble, giggling when his young eyes fell upon Zed's.
His face lite up and Roya had never seen him so happy before. He looked at her and barely spoke, "May I?" She nodded and handed him the child.
The second he could feel the baby in his arms, squirming and kicking and punching and giggling, a wave of many emotions hit him and his legs went weak and he collapsed onto his knees. "A son. I have a son."
The door swung open and several people burst into the room; Pinot, Noah, Ginga, Robes, and Zico namely, along with a few other people Zed hadn't bothered to name in his head. They looked around, taking in the scene; a sleeping Roya who was just waking up from the noise and Zed, on his knees and holding the baby.
"A son, Noah," Zed whispered, his voice barely working. "I have a son."
He kneeled there, held the baby, and cried.
…
A couple days later, Zed and Roya were allowed to leave the hospital with the baby. They were greeted by many of their friends. "Glad to see you two are out," Zico chuckled, glancing at the smiling baby in Roya's arms.
"Me, too," Zed huffed. "It's like jail in there."
Everyone giggled. Even though it wasn't something that was really all that funny, they did indeed need a reason to laugh.
"He's so cute," Pinot cooed, wiggling a finger by the baby's nose. "What did you end up naming him?"
Zed and Roya looked at each other and smiled sadly. They turned back to the group. "Mickey," Zed said. "We named him Mickey."
Everyone either looked like they were proud or they were going to cry. Zed stared at the ground, almost looking like he was going to cry again. But he didn't, as normal.
Pinot sighed and pulled her finger away. "Well, if you ever need someone to babysit, I'm here!" she chirped, trying to lighten the mood.
"Hey, let me see!" Sagiri, then fourteen, said, approaching Roya and looking at the child in her arms. "He is cute, isn't he?"
"Let's have a party!" Robes insisted, raising a hand in the air.
Everyone rolled their eyes. "No," they all said in unison.
"Besides. There's no teen parties," Sagiri added.
Robes stared at them all like they were aliens before huffing in disappointment and folding his arms. Zed sighed. "I'm sure you can find another reason to host a party."
"Do you think his hair will be black or white?" Noah asked, trying to give them a riddle.
Zed and Roya looked at each other unsure of what to say. "He does have Zed's eyes..." Roya began.
"Silver," Zed decided, placing his hands on his hips. Everyone burst into laughter. "Or maybe black. Like Roya's...or Mickey's, even."
Everyone nodded. "Should we get home?" Roya suggested.
"Yeah." The couple waves goodbye and headed towards the home they, Zed, Roya, and older Mickey, used to live in together. "What should we do about the house?" Zed asked after a moment.
Roya looked at him. "What about the house?"
"It's Mickey's, isn't it? You don't think he'll mind, do you?"
Roya thought about this. "We'll sleep in his room and turn my into the baby's room. I'm sure he'd rather that."
Zed shook his head. "No. I think it would be better if Mickey slept in Mickey's room."
Roya laughed. "Alright."
Zed stopped and looked down an alleyway, just over a trashcan by the blacksmith's house. Roya stopped and looked back at her lover. "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Zed looked back at her and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll catch up, okay?"
Roya nodded and began towards the house again. Zed wandered down the alleyway and stared at the non-existing shadow before his feet. "We'll meet again, my friend," he said.
Then he ran to catch up with Roya and his newly born son, Mickey.
THE END
After Notes
Yep. This was a very long One-Shot. My longest One-Shot ever! I don't believe this! Ten pages and some odd words. I was going to name their son Justin but I decided on Mickey instead.
Loved it? Hate it? Wanna read it again? I'm thinking of a sequel! Let me know cause the review button is right there!