Chapter Eight
Punishment
His lungs burned and his chest ached, giving him cause to collapse after his third set of push up jumps. He could hear the rustling of feet racing through the grass as they circled in laps around him.
"How many is that?" He called to the red-faced boy from where he lay.
Gage stopped, huffing and squatted, the weight of the bag on his back nearly toppling him over. Comically, his arms flailed as he steadied himself.
"Fifteen." He wheezed out.
"Good." Bacchus grinned and quickly pushed himself to his feet. His pupil was too occupied to notice him digging into his own bag and pulling out another five-pound disk. He walked over to Gage, pulling open his bag and dropped the weight into it. Unable to handle the shock of the addition, the boy fell onto his rear and grumbled.
"Do another set." He said. Gage's eyes went wide as he struggled to his feet.
"Another set?" He complained loudly.
"Get going." Bacchus grinned perhaps a little too widely as he gave Gage's head a swift pat to motivate him and watched as he took off in a light jog.
"And don't forget, you're helping Cana with dinner tonight. So if you want to be on time before she works her magic, for both our sakes I'd suggest you go a little faster."
Gage jumped into a full sprint at that and raced around until he'd created his own beaten path in the grass and dirt. The martial artist couldn't help but laugh and went back to the middle of the clearing to stretch for another set of his own exercises.
"It's not punishment if he enjoys it." Cana said to him later that evening as she went through her nightly routine of detangling her hair at her vanity. He looked up from her wide hips to see her disapproving gaze aimed at him through the mirror.
"It is when I double his work load." A smirk played on his lips. Cana rolled her eyes and went back to taming her locks.
"I mean it Bacchus. You're too soft on him."
"He's just a kid, Cana. And I added more chores for him to do around here to help you out."
"And I end up cleaning up after his cleaning." Her face twisted as she brushed out a particularly difficult knot.
"He's learning. Not like he had much of a place to worry about maintaining before." The frown he got for playing the orphan card was sharp enough to cut through his armor. "Besides, he did it for you."
"I don't need a kid stealing sweets for me."
"He just wants you to like him."
"Well I don't dislike him." She turned to face him now, finished with her brush for the night and adjusted her robe.
Bacchus chuckled as he leaned back onto his elbows on the bed, watching her pad over to her dresser to hang up the moon locket he had given her on a tree shaped rack.
"It's just a little longer until the school opens up." He reopened the conversation cautiously, tiptoeing with subtly as if he were entering a sensitive minefield. His goal was in sight, he need only tread carefully.
"I've already spoken with Laxus and Mirajane. They aren't opposed to fostering him at the guild and Mira even told me she wouldn't mind housing him either."
"Did she now?" He stood from the bed and came up behind her. He could see the slight way her body shifted at his words.
"You're not changing your mind on me now, are you? Bacchus." She'd turned to look at him before he could make contact.
He said nothing for a moment, hoping to ease his way through the minefield of a conversation. He was nearly there. She watched him with heavy suspicion as he slowly reached up and started massaging her shoulders. It almost seemed as if it wouldn't work until he felt her loosen some. She let him turn her back around so that he might have better access. After a few deep rolls with his thumbs, and what he thought were carefully chosen empathetic compliments, he kissed her neck and spoke into her hair. "But we are building those extra rooms at the school. What could it hurt?"
"Bacchus." She snapped back around to face him quicker than he anticipated. His plan had failed, crumbling before him as the first metaphorical mine detonated.
"What? What's wrong with letting him stay?" He blurted. He should have shut his mouth when he had the chance.
"You promised me this wasn't a permanent situation." A second one exploded. It was a frenzied rush to safety, but no matter how he searched, the words to calm his woman would not come.
"Cana he doesn't have anywhere else to go." He tried the orphan card again. He was a fool to think that it would work twice in one night. Chains of mines discharged as he raced to remember his argument points that he'd come up with in case of this event. "Even if they foster him at the guild, he's older than any of the other kids and he'll be here every day to train anyway. Besides, I think it would be great having him around to help with the chores especially once we have the school up and running."
"That's not the point Bacchus."
"Oh? What is then? What am I missing?" His voice rose at her slightly. He regretted his tone instantly when he saw the way she looked at him.
The mines stopped as she paused. There was a calm, but it felt like the calm before a disastrous storm. Suddenly he found himself lamenting stepping into the mine-ridden conversation. He mentally bid any sex that he might have had in the next few weeks a bitter farewell.
"This is more than just fun and games and training. You can't just lightheartedly say that you want to keep him around like he's some pet. Not if you can't accept full responsibility for him. He's not 'your little buddy' that you can just bail out whenever he does something bad. He needs to fail sometimes and he needs to learn more than just how to fight."
"I know that." Bacchus frowned, waiting to hear her speak further. She only sighed, her shoulders relaxing and her eyes closing. She was frustrated. This had been something weighing on her mind for a while. Perhaps since she'd first met Gage in his apartment.
"You've really been thinking about this." He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder, watching her chew on her bottom lip gently.
"You haven't thought about it enough." She walked away from his hand and around him to the bed to sit on her side of it. He followed, sitting beside her. The seriousness of her face told him that there was more.
"This isn't something that you can just decide on your own. Our lives are going to change in a few weeks and it won't just be you or I anymore. It will be 'us' and 'we'." Her dark purple eyes were on his, signaling the gravity of her words. She really had been thinking about this quite a lot. "Kids are expensive and they take a lot of commitment. There are other things that he needs. And those responsibilities fall onto me if you're not here. This changes my life, too."
He waited to see if she would say what he knew she had wanted to. She's afraid. Bacchus had realized then just what it was she believed he was asking of her.
"Cana." Bacchus let loose the breath he had held in his chest in a slow exhale. He leaned forward, touching his forehead to hers. "I know this is a big decision. I know you're wary about kids, but this is a little different than that." He tilted her chin up to look her in the eye, letting his own seriousness be seen. "Just give it a little more time, please."
"Fine." She conceded with a heavy sigh.
"Thank you." He kissed her forehead, then her lips, knowing how it softens her up after a heavy conversation.
"But only on the condition that you discipline him more strictly." She said with less conviction as she leaned onto him. His arm wrapped over her shoulders as he pulled her in close. "He's been doing whatever he wants because he hasn't had anyone to tell him otherwise for too long. He needs a firmer hand."
"Like this?" He swatted her backside, making her jump.
"Bacchus!" She wrinkled her nose before she rushed at him. Swiftly he dodged and twisted to pin her to the bed. They were both laughing as he used his body weight to keep her down and slid his fingers up her side, tickling her breathless until she screamed.
He looked down at her; the joy he relished in her eyes had come back, making him smile warmly. Perhaps I said goodbye to intimacy too soon. A triumphant tune played in his head as he leaned down to kiss her. The door swung open before his lips could even reach her. The two of them stared in stunned silence at Gage who returned their same look.
"Ga-" Was all he could utter before the boy grabbed the door handle and slammed it shut.
"I change my mind. Mira can have him." Bacchus groaned with defeat as he rest his head on Cana's chest. She laughed at him.
