A/N: I've been meaning to post this for about two weeks don't know why I kept forgetting. Well, hope you enjoy this cute little one shot about one of my favorite couples ever.
Natalya frowned.
She was sitting at her couch, the television on even though she wasn't actually watching or listening to it, just staring blankly at it without actually seeing anything, when a smell of something caught her nose.
A dangerous suspicion growing in her mind, she trekked through her house, following the scent all the way to her kitchen. She glared from the doorway as her thoughts were confirmed.
Lily was baking.
The blonde girl was stirring the cake batter she had made from scratch, bits of flour stuck on her face and apron, looking focused.
"What are you doing?" Natalya asked, not moving. Lily jumped and almost dropped the bowl. She set it down and turned with a smile to her girlfriend. "Just thought I'd do a little experimenting. Do you want to try?"
Natalya remained still.
"That cake's gonna be enough for ten people, there are two living in this house. What are you doing?"
Lily gave her a bit of nervous laughter. Natalya narrowed her eyes.
"What's that on the stove?" She finally moved into her kitchen, pointing at the deep pot.
"Nothing!" Lily squeaked trying to get there first but failing. Natalya removed the lid and her nose was hit the mouthwatering smell of cooking chicken. Natalya looked at her lover out of the corner of her eye.
"Sure, it's nothing. Mind telling me who you are cooking for? There's enough food here to last the two us half a week."
Lily dropped her hands and bowed her head a bit.
"I thought maybe I could have some of my family over." She said, hoping her lover's unpredictable temper didn't suddenly flip on. Lily tried not to pay too much attention to Natalya's fist tightening at her side.
"And when were you planning on telling me this?" Natalya asked, voice slightly strained.
"Um… at six when Vash got here." Lily's voice was meek though it turned into a startled squeal when Natalya slammed her fist onto the counter hard enough to make it shake. Lily remained frozen while Natalya took deep breaths that sounded almost like growls and attempted to calm down. It was a few moments before she could speak again.
"Who else is coming?" Natalya asked. Lily seemed unsure of what she should say. "Well, Roderich said he'd be here, also Ludwig and his husband and um… I might've invited... Gil… bert." Lily slowed down her speech as if it might help the situation. Natalya didn't blow another fuse but her eyes were still aflame.
"We're having a very serious talk about this as soon as this night is over." Lily's eyes popped opened in surprise. She had expected Natalya to say that she would go out and get a hotel room, or sleep in the car, or that she'd murder all the guests as they came through the door or just about anything else other than agree to the family visit.
"Really?" She said, letting her voice come out at a higher pitch, even though she hated sounding like a child.
"I don't know why you sound so excited about the prospect of getting your ear blown off in Belarussian, but let's just get this over with." She grumbled. Lily smiled wide and stood on her tippy toes to give her a quick peck on the lips.
"Thank you so much, I promise you won't regret it." Natalya gave her a look that said she already did.
The oven suddenly dinged and Lily sprung up to pull out a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Natalya sighed deeply as she started helping her by making the mashed potatoes. Oh, what a long night it was going to be.
Lily had barely gotten dressed when the doorbell rang. She ran off to go get it, calling back to Natalya and asking her to start setting the table. Natalya grumbled as she began taking out plates. She heard Lily's voice from the entrance and calmed herself down. If it made Lily happy, it made her happy. Even if it actually infuriated her.
She set down the plates and utensils, feeling that horrible uneasiness creep up her back, a feeling that took over her and forced her to perfectly measure the distance between everything. She hated that feeling.
The first guest came in and, luckily, it was one she could deal with. Lily's brother didn't talk much, unless you got him riled up, and Natalya was most used to him anyways, as Lily tried to invite him at least once a month, even if it was just for a fifteen-minute cup of coffee. Most of these times Natalya was out of the house, but when she wasn't, it wasn't difficult to interact with the man.
Natalya nodded in greeting and they all proceeded to the living room on Lily's insistence.
"So, how are you, big brother? I heard you have your eyes set on a girl." To Natalya's surprise, Vash's face gained a bit of color. "It's nothing really, just a couple of casual dates." Lily squealed, almost taking off into talk about weddings, before the doorbell rang again.
"Can you get it?" Lily asked Natalya. "I could, but I have no guarantee the guest will survive to reach this room. Especially if it's Gilbert." Lily sighed and got up, leaving them alone. There was an awkward moment before Vash cleared his throat and spoke up.
"You've been treating her good, right?" Natalya had to bite back the sarcastic 'yes, sir' that danced on the tip of her tongue. Instead she nodded.
From the front of the house they suddenly heard a commotion and a thick German accent shouting.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't go get the door." Vash mumbled, getting up to greet his extremely obnoxious cousin. Natalya debated whether it was a wise idea to join them but figured she'd be able to keep herself under control with witnesses around.
She stepped into the scene of slight chaos.
Lily and Vash stood in the threshold, surveying the many suitcases Gilbert had brought with him. Said albino was going off about something unknown to Natalya, and just next to him an embarrassed looking blonde was trying to hide his face into the collar of his shirt, managing to look humiliated and annoyed at the same time.
"What do you mean you didn't mean it as a staying over kind of thing? Do you know how long the flight from Canada to here is!" Natalya managed to catch the end of the man's outburst.
"Well you can stay over there's just no guarantee that Natalya won't-"
"I'll keep from killing him." Natalya interrupted, not wanting to worry her little lover. Lily turned to her with doubtful eyes. "Are you sure?" She asked.
"Of course she's sure, she's-" Gilbert finally focused for long enough to actually look at his cousin's girlfriend. "Woah. Who's the creepy looking hottie over there?" He said in a loud whisper to Vash.
Natalya's anger, which was usually bubbling just below the surface patiently resting, spiked dangerously quickly.
"What did you-"
Suddenly Lily had her arms wrapped around her waist, face pressed against her chest. She looked up with imploring eyes. "You remember the breathing exercises?" She asked. Natalya grumbled, slowly calming down.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember the stupid breathing exercises." She muttered and Lily felt safe enough to remove her arms from her girlfriend's midriff, as she felt her start up a half assed version of the relaxation technique.
"So, how about we sit down for introductions. Dinner is ready but we should wait for Ludwig, Feliciano and Roderich, they told me they were arriving together."
They trekked back to the living room, Gilbert forcing his boyfriend to help him haul some of his bags inside, before they settled down. The blonde man seemed to be trying to melt into the couch as he fidgeted nervously next to Gilbert.
"For the benefit of those less awesomely fortunate than I, who have not yet had the opportunity to gaze upon my amazing boyfriend, this is Matthew!" Gilbert said with a flourish. The man tried even harder to become one with the furniture.
Lily waved and said a polite greeting. "I'm pretty sure I saw you at Ludwig's wedding." Lily remarked, trying to recall his face but it seemed a bit difficult. "Oh, it's okay, most people don't remember seeing me, I don't stand out much."
Gilbert exploded into raucous laughter. "Are you kidding me, you're like the living sun among mankind." Matthew demonstrated his living sun abilities by turning bright red.
Natalya decided maybe she should give the breathing exercises a better chance before dismissing the idea.
"And what about yours over there? When you told me you were lesbian, I did not expect her kind to be your type."
Deep breaths, slow and steady.
Lily seemed flustered. "Gil, stop it. Please, can we have a civilized dinner?" She tried. Then she turned for the benefit of Matthew. "She's Natalya, my girlfriend." Matthew nodded and said a quiet greeting. Natalya didn't quite trust her voice yet, but nodded in acknowledgement. It seemed that would be the main way she would be communicating throughout this whole ordeal.
When the doorbell rung, she got up before Lily bothered herself with it. Lily shot her a questioning look but Natalya thought she'd already seen the worst with Gilbert. Plus, she didn't want Lily to feel that she was abandoning her in this endeavor.
Opening the door, she braced herself for the worst, but it did not in the slightest prepare her for what was coming. A short, bubbly auburn-haired man jumped at her and gave her a tight hug. Natalya subconsciously knew the shock was gonna wear off in a couple of seconds after which she would probably strangle this guy. Luckily, she was spared from having to commit murder by both Lily and one of the man's companions.
"Feliciano, how many times have I told you, not everyone is comfortable with physical contact."
"Oh, Feliciano, you're here."
The man suddenly pulled away and bounded to where Lily was, wrapping her up in the same iron tight grip.
Natalya couldn't make herself move for a couple of seconds.
"I'm sorry, he can be bit too friendly sometimes." The man closest to her apologized, a blonde built like a tank. Behind him was another man, finely dressed and with a haughty air about him. Natalya turned her head to the blonde slowly. "Keep an eye on him, I would rather not kill anyone today, it would upset Lily." The man gave her a wide-eyed stare as she turned and walked into her kitchen, needing a breather.
Soon afterwards, Lily came in, looking a bit worried. "I should've probably warned you about Feliciano, he doesn't mean any harm, he was just raised that way." Natalya didn't move but Lily had come to know her well enough that she knew the Belarussian wasn't quite as mad as she was startled and put off.
"Help me bring the food, everybody's already at the table." Natalya nodded, pushing away from the counter, and gathering the large pot in her arms.
Setting the food down she sat and Lily prayed, after which they all began to eat.
Natalya felt it was about time for some silence, to help her peace of mind. The universe seemed to disagree. Why Ludwig, who she had been quickly introduced to by Lily, had allowed Feliciano to sit next to her after her earlier warning was a mystery, but the headache that came along with it was not. Though it could also be attributed to the bickering between Vash and Roderich, who had introduced himself shortly after they sat down.
She felt her head pound with every rapid fire and heavily accented word that came out of all of their mouths. She wasn't even sure what Feliciano was talking about anymore but somehow it kept coming back to pasta.
It's okay, Natalya. You can deal with this. For Lily. Just a couple of hours of hearing mindless chatter and you can forget this horrid event ever happened.
And it probably would've been okay, if it had just been mindless chatter. Unfortunately, Gilbert felt the need to add to the conversation.
"So, anybody else knew Lily's girl was cutie psycho over there?"
Lily could not scold her cousin and calm her lover at the same time, so while she asked Gilbert to refrain from rude comments like that, Natalya had already picked up her knife and driven it into the table, almost to the handle, making everyone around her jump back.
Lily suddenly whirled around to face her shooting her an annoyed glare.
"Natalya! That's the fifth time this month! You promised me I wouldn't have to buy as many tables as last year, it's already been eight and it's still May." Lily complained. Natalya shook her head. "You promised there'd be nothing to provoke me." But at the disappointed look Lily gave her, Natalya sighed and pulled up the knife, the wood splintering further. She slid it across the table to Lily, along with her fork.
"I can eat with a spoon." She mumbled, even as she mused it over in her head that she could also kill someone with a spoon.
Everybody else had been tensely spectating until Roderich spoke up weakly. "Fifth time?" Ludwig followed just as tense. "Eight tables?"
Lily waved off their worries. "The anger management classes have been working miracles. Now if I can just get her to sit in a room alone with a psychologist for more than fifteen minutes without her trying to gouge his eyes out she'll be golden."
Natalya almost growled. "I do not need a psychologist." She felt her anger try to grip at her sense and breathed through it. The last thing she needed was an actual explosion. "She's right. What she needs is an asylum." Before she could think properly, Natalya had leaped across the table to bash Gilbert's head in, but Lily managed to block her.
Natalya sat back down breathing heavily. "I need a break!" She announced loudly, standing up and stomping out. Seconds later a door slammed, an unearthly shriek pierced the silence for about a five-mile radius and the sound of something shattering rang through the house.
Lily forced a smile.
"She does that sometimes. Nothing to be worried about, she'll come back when she calms down. So Roderich, how's that song you told me about going along?"
Roderich only found his voice after a couple of seconds, of listening to a stretch of shouted curses in a foreign language. "Great." He said weakly as something that sounded like wood crashed against the other side of the wall beside them. Lily smile stretched a little wider, trying to reassure her guests. "I had the walls reinforced. She hasn't broken through these ones yet."
Finally, the sounds stopped entirely and Natalya came back, looking like a disciplined soldier. Her eyes were glazed over, her back straight, her footsteps measured. She sat down and began eating, without looking at anyone in the eye.
"Great, you're back. I was just about to tell Gilbert that he should really keep his mouth shut." With a pointed look in his direction. Gilbert nodded quickly, effectively silenced after seeing the look Natalya's face had when she had heard his comment.
No one spoke for the longest time, but Feliciano finally found the courage to. "So, Natalya, where are you from?" Lily tensed a bit, ready to tell Feliciano that her past was not a topic they should be heading towards but Natalya answered before her, in an even and monotone voice.
"Belarus."
Feliciano seemed intrigued. "Really, how'd you end up here?" Lily was internally yelling as she began to move her arms into an 'x' shaking her head at Feliciano, who wasn't looking her way.
"My father beat me an inch of my life every other day. I got sick of it."
Lily hit her head against the table.
Was a nice, relaxed family dinner too much to ask for?
"Oh," Feliciano said softly, shrinking away from her, as everybody looked suddenly uncomfortable and unable to look her way. Lily tried her best to pick up the shattered pieces of her family's respect for her decision in partner.
"Natalya, is a really nice person. She's been volunteering at the animal shelter around the corner." So, the truth might've been a little stretched. In all honesty, Natalya had gotten charged for destroying their neighbor's dog house after he kept her up all night barking with community service hours. But her sentence had ended two weeks ago and she had still visited twice afterward to donate food and cleaning supplies and help walk the dogs.
Vash nodded, and Lily quickly tried to change the subject so they wouldn't dwell on it and find out the truth.
"So, how was your honeymoon? I got that postcard from Hawaii, it's around here somewhere." And they once again plunged into a meaningless conversation that Natalya tuned out, for everybody's sake as well as hers. She only came back when the topic changed from the honeymoon, to marriages, to future marriages.
"So, when are you going to propose, Gilbert?" Ludwig asked. Matthew's cheeks caught on fire as Gilbert grinned wide. "Well who's to say I'm proposing? Or that the question hasn't already been popped."
There was a commotion as everyone expect Natalya scrambled to get a closer look the engagement ring Gilbert was proudly displaying on his hand. She felt sorry for Matthew, the poor man must've been cursed to have his judgement impaired in such a way that he would wish to marry Gilbert.
"When was this? Why didn't you tell us?" Feliciano chirped, taking Gilbert's hand and turning it so he could see the light bouncing off the ring. "Was just last week, thought now would be the perfect time to tell the family, ain't that right Birdie?" Matthew said something but his voice was too quiet to be over heard in the mutterings of everyone at the table.
Natalya was only just returning to herself, loosening up and feeling just a hint more comfortable in her own dining room when they returned to uncomfortable topics, as it seemed the only thing Lily's family could be counted on for.
"And how about you two? It's been, what, two and a half years?" Lily choked on her drink and jumped at her brother's question, hitting her knee with the table. "Wow, look at the time, I'm gonna go get the cake!" She exclaimed and scurried out of the room. Natalya sneered at her inside of her head.
Thanks for the bailing out on me, sweetheart.
Everyone was looking at Natalya expectantly. She glared right back. "What? Can't a woman live happily without being married?" She barked at them. The word married had trouble coming out of her throat though. Her breath wasn't coming easy. She huffed and crossed her arms, sinking into her seat. She wanted to curl up into a ball, and stay there for the rest of this horrid night.
When Lily came back, she glanced at her worriedly. She set the cake and everybody rushed to it, with mutterings of how good her baking was. She stood behind Natalya's chair and placed her arms around her.
"We don't have to get married, don't listen to them. It's the way family always is, you shouldn't bother yourself because of them." Natalya tilted her head to the side, refusing to say out loud that she wanted Lily closer. Lily smiled and placed her nose in the crook of her neck, nuzzling the love of her life.
Then she pulled away and cut a piece of cake, offering it to her. Natalya took it and ate it silently, old feelings she'd thought dead creeping up behind her and threatening to engulf her. She didn't even realize someone was talking to her until a Lily gently shook her shoulder. She blinked, coming to attention.
"Huh?" She asked.
"Vash just wanted to ask you something." Lily said. Natalya directed her attention to Vash.
"How long you've been dealing with the anger?" Lily looked like she regretted getting Natalya's attention for Vash.
Natalya frowned. She couldn't remember a time where the threat of exploding wasn't there, but at the same time she remembered crying in a curled-up ball, trying to hide from her father, defenseless and most certainly not willing to fight against even a freaking hamster.
"I'm not sure." She was surprised her voice came out as steady as it did. Tonight's unexpected trip down memory lane was as intriguing as it was dangerous. "Just a warning, if you ever hurt Lily with one of those, I'm coming after you." Natalya smirked a bit. She really wouldn't mind having Vash around more often. Something inside both of them, their love for Lily, was just similar enough that they understood each other.
"Trust me, you won't get me faster than I'll get myself." Natalya surprised herself as she placed her arm around Lily's shoulder and bent down to press her lips to the girl's forehead. Natalya wasn't a fan of displaying affection even when they were completely alone.
Lily turned red to the tips of her hair.
Vash nodded, seeming satisfied.
The evening went smoother after that. Some mystical force had relaxed Natalya enough that she even managed an actual smile at Matthew when the Canadian began talking to her about his home country.
At the end of the night, they all slowly disappeared out the door, Lily convincing Gilbert to get a hotel room for him and Matthew. Natalya stood behind Lily as they waved those last two off, telling them they could visit again before heading back to their own continent.
Natalya looked down at Lily, who smiled joyfully.
"Thank you so much for tonight." Lily whispered. Natalya nodded. For as much as she would not like to admit it, Lily's family wasn't that bad. Maybe a bit too nosy and loud for Natalya's taste but they were good people who wanted the best for Lily, just like she did.
Lily hugged her close and Natalya reciprocated.
"Well, I'm happy for you, but I'm even happier that it's over. My family may be mostly clinically diagnosed insane, but yours isn't far behind." Natalya said as they made their way up the stairs to their room.
"Speaking about them I-"
"No." Natalya said, not even letting her girlfriend finish her sentence.
"But-"
"No." Natalya repeated darkly, looking at her girlfriend with something way too intense in her eyes. "Okay, okay." Lily said, putting her hands up in surrender.
They curled up under the covers after changing into their pajamas.
Natalya looked down at her girlfriend, the only thing she ever loved. She sighed in relief as she contemplated how lucky she was able to hold her at night.