VI WARMTH
« I live in the mountains, I eat grass, I have horns and I jump everywhere. » said Evergreen.
« I don't know. A crab ? » suggested Elfman, smirking.
He knew it couldn't be the good answer, but he couldn't just say the right answer every time before his son. It wasn't manly.
« No, Dad ! Crabs don't live in mountains ! They live in the sea ! » corrected Jolan, his four-year-old son.
He was quite tiny compared to Elfman, but he was taller than most boys of his age. He had the same curly, honey hair as his mother, as well as the shape of the eyes and her nose, but the rest was him. His skin, his smile, the way he walked. Except for the wit. He had probably inherited his mother's brain. And he was way more confident than Elfman was when he was four.
Evergreen was looking at them, smiling. Since the day they began to live together, Ever smiled really more often. A sincere, heart-warming smile, not just a smirk. She was almost always smiling around Jolan. He caught however her look, which meant "A crab? Seriously? Couldn't you just pick something a little more appropriate?". He smiled back at her and sped up a little.
They had decided to have a trip in the mountains. Just a week, the three of them, settling a tent in the mountains. While they expected Jolan to be slower, the boy was restless and was always running everywhere his small bag containing his water bottle and his vest. It was already the fourth day, and Jolan still hadn't complained. If possible, he was smiling non stop (even though when he fell and scraped his knees, he would run and climb immediately after. Ever would say that Jolan acted more like Elfman and he smiled) and was always impressed by what he saw. Fortunately for them, at night, he slept as soon his head touched the sleeping bag.
To make time pass, and to keep him in sight, Ever used the same game Levy played with Diana and Jolan, at the guild. One thought of an animal and the two others tried to guess what it was.
« It's a mountain goat ! » exclaimed Jolan, happy of his discover.
« Yes it is. Your turn now. »
The boy remained silent for a moment, then his face lit up.
« I live in the forest, I am red and white and I like fried chicken ! »
« Is it a fox ? » answered Evergreen after a moment.
« Yay ! »
« Jolan, foxes don't eat fried chicken. They just eat it raw. »
Jolan made a face.
« Ew ! »
« I think we should plant the tent there. Elfman ? »
« It's a wise choice indeed. »
They dropped their heavy bags down to the floor and began to install the tent, while Jolan was sent to the nearest source to collect water.
Five minutes later, as they finished the installation of their encampment, the boy came back, holding the flask and saying with a smile going from ear to ear :
« I saw marmots ! there are plenty, up there ! »
« How many of them ? »
« Huh… Five ! The mother, and four children ! Can we go and see them ? »
« Jolan, there will be soon night. The marmots are returning to their homes to eat and sleep. We should do the same. »
The boy pouted.
« You will show us tomorrow, okay ? Those marmots will still be here tomorrow morning. »
« Come on Jolan. Let's search some wood for the fire, while we let your dad cook us a meal for tonight. »
« What do you want, buddy ? »
« Pasta ! With tomato sauce and tons of cheese ! »
"Jolan, we aren't home! We can't have pasta!"
He gave them such a glare, that Elfman couldn't help but smile. It was the same glare as Ever's.
"I think there is still an untouched bag of pasta, a bottle of tomato sauce with mushrooms and some grated cheese left."
"Yay! You're the best, dad!" the boy said, running to his father and hugging him.
He let go of his father to follow his mother down below, to search wood for the fire. Waiting for their return, Elfman put up the hearth, took out the small gas canister, lit it and put the water-filled pan. Once the water boiled, he put the pasta in it. Meanwhile, he did a small salad with cucumber, red and green peppers olive's oil, salt and pepper.
When his wife and his son returned, their arms filled with wood, he was adding the tomato sauce to the pasta. He offered to make the fire, but Ever declined and did it, to Jolan's greater annoyance ("No, buddy, you're too young to light a fire…"). Their son sat on the blanket thrown over the floor and pouted until he was given his share of pasta with cheese and a slice of ham. Immediately he began to eat, and the smile went back on his lips. Until he realized the pasta was burning and he had no choice but gulp down a glass of cold water.
"Jolan, eat some salad, first."
He nodded and obliged. Fortunately, he ate almost everything, in spite of his preference for pasta. Unlike Elfman who had told Evergreen he hated countless things when he was still a child. And Evergreen had answered with a smirk that he was such a good cook that he could make people eat things they usually hated.
Jolan wasn't talking when he ate, showing he was tired. He had his eyes staring at a vague point, fire dancing in them. The fire's light make his hair look like scraps of copper, and it reddened his cheeks in a cute way, according to Ever. In the end, he took a drinkable yoghurt.
"You finished eating?"
Jolan nodded and rubbed his eyes.
"Looks like someone is sleepy… go wash your hands and brush your teeth."
He obliged, picking his toothbrush and the strawberry-flavored toothpaste, putting his headband lamp on. Their son went to the little river nearby, his light visible from the place his parents were tidying the place. As Ever took the dishes to the river to wash them, Jolan came back, and got in the tent, mumbling a "Good night".
Elfman put out the fire after that, and went to help Ever with the dishes. Eventually he was the last one outside, and he made sure to put back in the bags everything they have used, and the rubbish in the rubbish bag. Fortunately, this time, Jolan had dropped nothing on the floor (not that he did consciously, but he usually let his toothbrush or the sunscreen drop when he saw something interesting, intriguing, like an animal.
Not being able to change inside the tent (there wasn't enough place. Plus, he would probably wake his son up), Elfman changed outside, and the chilly wind made him shiver, then he slided himself softly in the tent, making sure to not wake Jolan. Ever was already laying of her side of the giant sleeping bag. She smiled to him when he laid down, and she was stroking their son's hair (Jolan hated when people touched his hair, so much that he made quite a tantrum when Ever tried to convince him to cut his hair. Elfman would have never thought a four-year-old boy could have such lungs and be so quick at repartee).
"Your son is beautiful."
"I know", he replied with a grin. "Wait, why do you say he's my son? He's yours, too!"
"Because he seems to have taken more of you than me. Which is quite unjust. I bore him for nine months and went through ten hours of pure pain to bring him to the world, and he looks a lot like you, your participation lasting nothing than a few seconds."
"Nah, you'll see, when he will grow up that he has taken a lot after you too. You never noticed he gives me the same glares as yours when he's pissed off?"
"Never."
Suddenly the noise of something hitting the tent's roof could be heard, followed by several similar noises.
"It's raining", whispered Ever.
"Fortunately we have a water-proof tent."
They said nothing and just heard the rain falling on the fabric. Fortunately, their bags and all their stuff were under the awning, and therefore were protected of the water.
"Having his stomach filled, being away from the world, happy, warm, with his beautiful wife and his exceptional child. What more could a man ask for?"
"Exceptional children, you should say," corrected Evergreen, a smile on her lips.
At the moment, he didn't realize what she meant. Suddenly, the information reached his brain and he propped himself on his elbows and look at her:
"Wait! What do you mean by exceptional children? Are you…? Are you…?"
"Pregnant? Yes, I suppose."
"Since when do you know?"
"Uh… Two-three days?"
"How could you possibly know you're pregnant if you haven't seen a healing mage?"
"Because I feel the same as when I was expecting Jolan."
"You mean sick, tired and incredibly horny?" he asked, smiling.
She laughed. God, her laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds of the world, one he could never get enough of.
"Nah. I don't feel that sick. But my breasts hurt a lot more."
"We're going down tomorrow. You should have told me sooner, so you wouldn't have to lift those heavy bags and climb on mountain all day."
"No. We aren't going down tomorrow. We said we'd spent a week in the mountains, and we'll spend it."
"But you're…"
"I know what I am, Elfman. If I am tired or if I need a pause, I'll tell so, okay?"
He wasn't in a mood for an argument with Evergreen, so he exhaled deeply and closed his eyes, letting his head hit the sleeping bag.
"You told Jolan?"
"Not yet. I wanted to be two hundred percent sure before telling him. And to have the picture of the echography to show him. How do you think he will react?"
"That depends. If he had inherited your overpossessive, bad character, I fear the worse."
He had said that on a joke's tone, and her wife playfully smacked him on his arm.
"You should be ashamed to make fun of the mother of your children. If he is on the contrary more like you, he will spend his days around me, saying this is this duty as a man or something's like that."
"I think he'll stick around you, but not for protecting you, or not only. I bet he'll be asking you thousands of questions about the baby or about when he was one."
"True," admitted Ever, with a smile.
They remained silent for a moment. Then he rolled on his side, facing her once more.
"Why must you always be pregnant when you shouldn't?"
"Must I remind you that the year I was your partner for the S-rank exam and pregnant was the year you became an S-rank mage?"
"No. You don't need to. Learning I was an S-rank mage and soon a father had made of this day one of the best days of my life."
"So much that you passed out."
"Hey, don't blame me for having a reaction! Gajeel had completely bugged when Levy told him she was pregnant and stared at her with a blank expression. Even I felt bad for the girl!"
He didn't need to look at her to know Evergreen was smiling. He wondered if he should ask this question. This sounded so silly and he would sound like an afraid man, but he had to ask, for his balls' sake.
"Please, tell me you won't castrate me."
She turned around and gave him a puzzled look.
"Why would I castrate you?"
"Because, you went into labor, you promised me you would cut off my balls if I got you pregnant again."
"Don't remember."
"I do, very well. My hand does very well."
She had crushed his hand so much he had bruises on it for weeks. Ever reached for him and kissed him on his lips.
"I won't castrate you, I promise. Now you can sleep well."