Title: Of Sparrows and Princes
Author: sllebswap
Beta'd by: MelissaRose85
Characters/Pairing: Miura Haru and Belphegor
Type: OneShot Collection (InComplete)
Genre: Romance/General/Humor
Word Count: 5031
Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)
Disclaimer: Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira-san.
Summary: TYL ficlet. Various one-shots depicting the complicated relationship between Belphegor and Haru.
Chapter Last Revised on: 14/08/10
Chapter Twenty Six
Belphegor's calm, all too casual remark quickly ensured chaos of the most unimaginable proportions.
The two Japanese Vongola gawked in incredulous surprise at Haru, whereas the brunette in turn gaped at the slightly smirking features of her devilish lover. Then, Tsuna and Hayato were promptly scrutinizing her flat belly with disbelief, almost as if they were expecting her to be popping out little maniacal, blade-wielding, golden-haired babies right away.
Haru spluttered.
Lussuria seemed to be the only one to recover superbly from the bombshell that Belphegor had just dropped on them all. The man clapped his hands together and looked quite happy. "Oh? You are pregnant, Haru-chan? This is such wonderful news!"
"H-Haru?" even the normally reserved Tsuna stammered slightly in surprise, waiting for her confirmation. Belphegor strolled up to his woman then and pulled her possessively away from the Decimo. He shot the stunned man a glare for good measure too, silently but effectively declaring his sole ownership of her.
Hayato just started to laugh. Obnoxiously. Loudly. Evidently, the silver-haired man found it hilarious as hell that the sharp-tongued she-devil was in a relationship with the other crazy maniac he knew. The devil would sell his soul to have their children, little terrors that they would most definitely turn out to be.
And he had initially thought that he was only just imagining things!
As the sounds of Hayato's amusement grew in crescendo behind them, Haru quickly snapped out of her shock induced stupor to give Belphegor a fierce glare. She was also trying to shake off his hold but he was not letting go, unfortunately.
"I'm not pregnant!" she tried to yell out in denial at last, greatly offended, only for her voice to escape in a shrill squeak. Haru was certainly being overcome by the situation.
The Crown Prince sneered down at her. "So you say," he scoffed.
Okay, all the warm and tender feelings she had for him had officially evaporated into thin air by now. Haru had the most powerful urge to strangle Belphegor right at that moment. How could he just say something like that and let Tsuna and Hayato jump to all the wrong conclusions?
"So I know!" she snapped uncontrollably at him, unable to curb her growing temper. "Belphegor, you tell them the truth right now! I'm not pregnant with your baby! I'm not pregnant at all!"
The blonde merely gave her a look, cool as an iceberg. There she was fuming away, and how could he act so nonchalant while he was so merrily besmirching her reputation?
"You are saying that only because you haven't seen the medical report that the ward just sent over," Belphegor fibbed smoothly. Haru gawked at him, stiff with shock, the fire in her eyes dying down quickly as she recognized the small probability of her conceiving. She and Belphegor had gone at it like rabbits after all…
"You are lying," she still muttered mulishly. "I was on the pill the entire time!"
That was enough proof for the Vongola Decimo. He narrowed his eyes at the Storm Unit Commander, protective of his friend.
"So it's true. The two of you are in a relationship," the Tenth confirmed, determined to set things right if need be.
"No!" Haru denied peevishly.
"Yes," Belphegor affirmed at the same time. He ignored the glare that she was directing at him and merely shrugged gracefully, unflappably at the Decimo. "Don't mind her; she's just throwing a temper tantrum because she's going to be too fat to fit into a wedding gown in a few months' time."
Haru could barely emit a strangled squawk of outrage by then, and in the background, Hayato's infernal howling provided a nice counterpoint to the heartfelt cries of congratulations from Lussuria. Tsuna glanced at the poor brunette. She looked so overwhelmed by it all. The Juudaime promptly decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to have all the facts checked out first before jumping to any wrong conclusions.
Belphegor seemed to realize that he was not completely fooling the other man despite his award winning performance. And so he quickly found a way out before Tsuna could call his bluff.
"We will continue this later. The mother of my future heir is apparently overwrought and needs to calm down. Lussuria will be happy to answer any questions that you have. Excuse me, gentlemen."
And with that smooth pretext, he turned and exited the waiting area, leaving the two bewildered Vongola with his fellow Commander, dragging a protesting Haru right behind him.
He didn't slow down until they were back in his wing of the castle, and he let her go only when they reached the bedroom. Haru looked up at Belphegor then, her eyes wide as she asked for confirmation one more time, the look of shock slow to fade from her pale features.
"Is it true?" she demanded, her voice hushed. "Am I really…pregnant?"
As she asked the last question, the stunned expression on her face started to change gradually as reality set in. Her eyes slowly grew soft with quiet wonder as she looked down on her flat belly, her hands coming up to press lightly against her middle as she contemplated the possibility of a pregnancy. A surprising flood of excitement and protectiveness quickly followed as it finally occurred to her that she could have her own child, and that he or she might just be growing within her right at this moment.
She had certainly not planned or expected something like this to happen. She had taken her pills religiously ever since she had embarked on this relationship with Belphegor and had certainly never thought of having a child with the golden-haired assassin of the Varia. For one, their relationship wasn't exactly a stable one; they weren't courting or even pledged to one another. They were just with each other because somehow, they had fitted well together, and that was that.
Besides, Haru could hardly contemplate Bel as a responsible father, let alone even want to create an offspring with him, but now, now that he had planted that possibility into her head, it wasn't difficult for her to picture herself caring for a little blonde child who looked just like his father had been when he was young, only this time there would be part of her in him, too. He would belong to her as well, and the part of her that simply adored children, that had quietly missed the solemn, adorable little boy Prince when he had gone back to the past so abruptly, all but melted at the notion of being able to see one like him again, that she just might have a little doppelganger growing right within her now, at this very moment.
Perhaps it wasn't such terrible news after all, to know that she was pregnant with Belphegor's offspring.
He watched her eyes soften with warmth and tenderness as she contemplated her flat stomach, the maternal protectiveness all too clear in her now quiet, gentle gaze. It wasn't hard to see that she had accepted what he had told her as truth, that she had easily believed his word. She trusted too easily, but on the other hand, also adapted quickly to new situations, and that had made her a suitable member of the Famiglia.
She looked at him then, an indescribable expression of wonder and joy and excitement painted on her face, and he started to grow agitated. He had expected her to be upset and unhappy with the news of the pregnancy, not the other way around. How was he supposed to tell her that he had lied through his teeth now when she had that look of sweet expectation on her face and would most likely give him that wounded expression when he told her the truth?
"Bel?" she asked hesitantly, and he instantly snapped his gaze back to her.
"You are staying here," he demanded sharply of her then. He had not forgotten the purpose of this entire fiasco, and was determined to extract a promise from her before anything else could be said and done. She would be most angry once she found out the truth, but he would have his way no matter what form of trickery he had to use.
Damn those troublesome, meddling Vongola; he would have been perfectly satisfied with the way things were going if they had never stepped foot in this castle.
She blinked at him, surprised by his abrupt change in subject.
"Huh? But what about-"
He stepped towards her, crowding her, invading her personal space.
"You are staying here in Italy," he ordered once more, intent on securing her agreement. "You are not leaving."
He would not let her go.
It wasn't a plea that he had made. It was an outright command and it went without speaking that she was going to catch hell from him if she did not obey it unquestioningly.
She stared at him with her brow furrowed.
"Is this about the pregnancy?" she asked at last, placing her hands on her hips. "You just want me to stay here because I'm carrying your child."
It would have been a lot easier to let her think that way if that was true. At least, he wouldn't be feeling like an utter moron right now. He scowled. The damn woman was going to be the death of him, and of course, she was completely oblivious as usual. For her, he had made so many exceptions that he had long since run out of excuses to justify for himself just why exactly he was doing things he normally wouldn't bother with in other circumstances, and fortunately for her, his initial frustration over his apparent weakness for her had also since simmered down to a mild irritation.
"No," he bit out at last. "You will stay because you belong to me."
He sounded quite annoyed because she had to force him to spell it out for her, whereas Haru merely gave him a long, inscrutable look, almost as if trying to judge if he was speaking the truth. Her reaction was pretty strange in itself, but he had long since given up on trying to interpret her many little moods. Still, it was not hard to note that she was normally quite vocal in her objections to his claiming ownership of her, but this time around, she made no protests, merely looked down at the floor, almost as if suddenly fascinated by the designs woven into the carpets.
"I will stay," she replied softly at last, and the tension within him instantly uncoiled at her firm, quiet promise. He had no way of knowing what had made her decide to agree with him this time around, but for now, her simple answer was more than enough to quell the restlessness roiling within him.
Haru raised her head to look at her lover, cocking her head slightly as she observed his reaction. He looked less agitated now, and more settled.
"What are your feelings on my pregnancy?" she asked outright, not in the mood to beat around the bush. He had given no indication so far of his thoughts on the matter, and had been more interested in ensuring that she remained where he wanted her to than to worry over the unplanned conception of his yet unborn child. It made Haru feel strangely nervous to think of her lover's opinion on this matter. What if he disapproved? What if he wanted to get rid of the baby?
Even though she had only recently learned of her pregnancy, Haru quickly realized that she would fight tooth and nail before she would allow anyone to take away the small seed of life that was growing within her, Belphegor included. The fierce flare of maternal protectiveness that had been invoked the very moment the possibility of her carrying a baby was made known to her would allow nothing less. She would even call upon the protection of Tsuna and the rest of the Famiglia if she had to, so it would be reassuring if the father of her unborn child proved at least to be agreeable to this pregnancy. He had appeared more or less neutral so far—
The man in question snorted softly then, interrupting the disjointed process of her jumbled up thoughts. "I will cross that bridge when you do get pregnant."
It took Haru a brief moment to understand what he was saying.
Her eyes slowly turned wide.
"You mean I'm not…?" she asked in a whisper, not sure what to believe now.
He looked at her silently from under his tousled blonde fringe. Then he nodded.
Haru stared at him blankly. So…she was not pregnant?
…she had been tricked? He had…lied to her?
"You…lied to me?"
He wondered if she understood that he could construe the crestfallen expression on her face in many different ways, the most notable one being that she was actually disappointed that she was not pregnant after all—with his child.
The unexpected notion was enough to startle the usually unflappable blonde, but before he could think anything of it she recovered with admirable speed, her honey brown eyes narrowing with growing anger and feminine outrage. As he had predicted, she was none too pleased with his deception and it showed in the fierce fire that lit up her gaze.
"You bastard! How could you lie about something like that?" She was yelling angrily at him, hardly appreciating the emotional roller coaster ride that he had thrown her on with his unthinking actions. She was not sure whether to be relieved or upset that she wasn't with child after all, and that only added fuel to her agitation at being deliberately misled.
He was silent for a brief moment. Then, he opened his mouth to speak.
"That's a rather misappropriate insult you are befitting me with," the blonde drawled calmly at last, much to her momentary confusion. "I assure you that my parents were quite legally married by the time I was born-"
She cut his nonsensical ramblings off with a small shriek of frustration.
"Don't change the subject!" She stormed right up to him and proceeded to poke him sharply in the chest. "You can't say this kind of things just for the fun of it! I really thought that I was-"
She was within his reach by then and he saw no reason not to place his hands on her hips to pull her even closer, drastically reducing her attack range to nothingness. The righteous anger in her eyes faltered momentarily at his distracting action, but then she seemed to recompose herself and glared furiously at him again. He brought his face so near to her that their noses were nearly touching.
"I know precisely what you thought. I didn't lie," he informed her with the cool, calculated cunning worthy of a fox. "At which point of time have you heard me proclaim your pregnancy?"
She paused at that, even though her mouth was already open, ready to answer, only to realize that he had been speaking the truth. He had certainly not outright announced that she was with child, merely dropped a few false suggestions here and there and then craftily allowed everyone else to draw their own conclusions.
He had announced that she was the mother of his unborn child, but he hadn't exactly said just when she would conceive said unborn child, had he?
The resulting growl that emanated from her when she finally realized his trickery sounded surprisingly sexy to his ears, and suddenly, Belphegor wasn't quite as interested in the conversation anymore. His arms came around her middle to pull her up close against him, and then his lips were brushing the sensitive skin behind her ear and his hands were delving lazily under her clothes. His actions were extremely effective in derailing her murderous thoughts. She protested immediately, trying to squirm out of his grasp.
"If you want a kid that badly, we should practice more often," he murmured huskily against her ear, and she shuddered involuntarily in response. The combination of his velvety voice and intimate touches was her weakness and he knew exactly how to use it against her. She quickly remembered that she was supposed to be very angry with him though, and tried to pry him off of her.
"Belphegor, we are not done with this conversation yet," she hissed stubbornly even though her face was flushed and her breathing was starting to hitch. "And by the way, I don't think you should be allowed to contribute to the gene pool, so quit molesting me, you madman."
She was gritting her teeth and sounded quite disgruntled as she said that, but he merely chuckled richly in response.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm the only sperm donor you will receive, and I have every right to touch you wherever I want," he bantered back lazily. The conversation topic was so swiftly getting out of hand that Haru was feeling quite uncomfortable talking about it. He wasn't reacting like most men would, and did not appear particularly mortified by this strange discussion of baby making. Most unsettling was the unspoken insinuation that he would certainly not mind fathering her children. That greatly disconcerted Haru as it clearly went against the insane, dangerous, blade wielding Varia assassin image of him that she had painted in her mind, and now Haru didn't know what to think at all.
If she had only remembered that he was the last of his line and was therefore constantly badgered by the royal advisors of his country to produce an heir and establish his nursery, then she would not be as stumped by his easy agreement when it came to securing possible offspring and future progenies from her.
Producing an heir was an important part of his duty as Crown Prince to ensure the continuation of his Royal blood, and it was something that had been drilled into his head for as long as he could remember, that he had been made mentally prepared for since he was old enough to understand. He had certainly not looked forward to it when he was younger and much wilder, eager to experience the world and do whatever he pleased without the stifling rules and restrictions that the name of his highborn family carried with it.
If someone was to ask him two years ago if he was willing to settle down some and start fulfilling his paternal duties as was expected of him, he would have quite gladly stabbed the person stupid enough to ask such a foolish question. There had been no woman who had stirred his interest enough to attract his attention and why on earth would he even want to tie himself down when there were many other better things that he could be doing?
Then of course, Haru had came along, blundering into his life and causing chaos in her usual annoyingly oblivious fashion, and for some reason he could not fathom (he must be blind, deaf and delusional), she had somehow appealed to him on an instinctual, intimate level. Out of all the other women he had ever known, she just had to be the one; this slight Japanese woman who was admittedly intelligent but not very powerful, had no qualms yelling his ears off and/or trying to hit him with her feeble attacks, and didn't really have much of a figure to speak of. He was really an idiot.
But he could not deny that she would make a good mother. Her unabashed love for children and the fierce, protective, maternal instincts that he had experienced for himself when he was in her care in his child form quickly proved her suitability to be a mother. The fact that he constantly desired to keep her in bed with him was also an advantage if he intended to impregnate her eventually. Last but not least, the most recent events with the Japanese Vongola had confirmed that he would not tolerate her being taken away from him, and that had merely sealed the deal for the golden-haired Crown Prince.
Since he was already so possessive of her, he might as well get something tangible out of their close bond.
But of course Haru knew nothing of his thoughts and future intentions, and therefore could only conclude that he was up to his usual mischief again. It hurt to think that he was only fooling around with her, especially when it had always been her secret dream to marry a nice man and start a family of her own, only she had somehow gotten herself all tangled up with a sardonic assassin Prince and she wasn't quite sure how on earth she was supposed to fulfill that dream now that her situation was so.
And worst of all, she was going to have to deal with Tsuna and Hayato's questions later. Oh joy.
"You shouldn't have lied to Tsuna and Hayato," she muttered stubbornly then, changing the topic. "There was no need for you to say such things."
Oh, there was definitely a need to keep the other Vongola males away from her, but she wouldn't understand.
"I think you are in need of a hearing aid, little sparrow. I will say this once more," he told her silkily, hooking a finger under her chin and tilting her head back to look her in the face. The callused pad of his thumb rubbed against the softness of her lips in a slow, utterly erotic manner that took her breath away. She stilled momentarily, her eyes captured by his enigmatic gaze.
He smiled a smug, secretive smile.
"I didn't lie."
"Well, that was…unexpected," the Vongola X remarked with cautious tactfulness after Haru had left with the Prince Belphegor. Coming up beside him, Hayato was still cackling away, a most unusual act for one who was usually quite image conscious. His chuckles did taper off eventually to be replaced by a less vocal, but no less amused, smirk.
"Heh, wait till the rest back in Japan hear of this," the silver-haired right hand man of the Juudaime chortled merrily. "There's no way in hell they are going to believe this. I totally called it though! The two of them had been acting stranger than usual to be normal!"
It appeared that Hayato was more interested in the entertainment value of what they had just learned than to try to figure out what the hell was really going on, and exasperated, Tsuna turned to the next likely source of information.
"Lussuria-san, how long have Haru and Belphegor-san been together?" the Decimo enquired curiously.
The cooing martial artist beamed at the younger man. "Oho! You should have seen the both of them at the very beginning, Tsuna-kun! The sexual tension between Bel and Haru-chan was so thick I think I could easily cut it with a knife! It was wonderful to see someone who could affect Bel like that!"
The romantic Lussuria clasped his hands together by the side of his face and assumed a ridiculously sissy pose.
"They are in love!"
At the age of twenty-four, Tsuna was too well trained by Reborn in etiquette and manners to show too much of what he really thought of the absurd statement, but it was certainly strange to hear about Haru's private business like this. Beside him, Hayato was barely maintaining a straight face, but at least he had quit sniggering.
Besides, Haru had looked more murderous than in love when Belphegor had dragged her out of the room, and in hindsight, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to be hoping for an impartial answer from the romantically inclined Sun Varia.
"I don't know about the in love part," the Gokudera commented at last with badly concealed humor. "But the stupid woman looked fit to be tied when Belphegor carted her off."
Lussuria waved his hand in the air, unconcerned. "That's the adorable part!" the grown man replied with enthusiasm. "That's how they show their affection for each other; isn't that utterly sweet?"
Hayato could not keep it in any more. He started to laugh again, albeit softly this time.
"And oh, oh oh! Guess what, Vongola-kun?" the assassin continued to ask quite merrily. Before Tsuna could acknowledge him out of politeness, Lussuria answered his own question. "This means that we are going to be in-laws! And godparents! Wait till Xanxus hears of this!"
…No, Tsuna really didn't think he wanted to stick around to see how his Varia counterpart would react when he learned that his Storm Unit Commander had possibly gone and knocked up a member of the Vongola Famiglia. Also, the notion of the Varia and the Vongola being remotely related through an alliance like this brought a strange look to the Decimo's face.
The poor man appeared somewhat bewildered. None of Reborn's extreme teachings had ever prepared him for something like this!
"Wait, Lussuria-san," Tsuna cautioned the man before he could dance his way back into Xanxus' study room to share the 'good tidings.' "Perhaps we should wait for Haru and Belphegor-san to return first before making such announcements?"
The man paused, and then beamed again. "Why, you are absolutely right, Tsuna-kun! I'm sure Bel and Haru-chan would want to relay the good news to Xanxus themselves!"
The way Lussuria was going on about his esteemed leader, one would think that the latter was some benevolent fairy godmother or something of that sort, not the short tempered and utterly violent man he really was.
Tsuna stared at the shamelessly posing man. Even Hayato quit snickering to give the older male a disbelieving look. Lussuria, on the other hand, merely gave off an impression that implied he was quite pleased with himself.
The Juudaime at last schooled his features into something that was vaguely polite, the sort of expression that one would present to an extremely eccentric (or crazy) relative that one had no choice but to be courteous to. Evidently, that was enough for Lussuria, for the man promptly busied himself with one-sided discussions of the excitement the Famiglia was going to face in times ahead, of weddings and baby showers and—
Hayato snorted quietly at that, hard pressed not to laugh again. He did glance over to his chagrinned looking boss, though.
"So we wait?" Despite his outward display of mirth, there was no further hint of amusement from the Vongola Storm Guardian.
Tsuna nodded. "There's not much else that we can do at this moment," the other man agreed quietly. "We will wait and see for now."
"And if it turns out that Haru is quite content to remain here?" Hayato pressed curiously.
Tsuna appeared thoughtful for a moment.
It was the truth that they had come to Italy to bring their friend back to Japan, where she had been missed by the rest of the Family. They had never thought that the cheerful, enthusiastic woman would develop strong bonds here amongst the Varia, which now, in hindsight, seemed like a very foolish thing to expect. Haru had always been a people person, and she positively thrived on human interaction. The blind assumption that she would have kept to herself when abruptly plunked in the middle of a foreign country and amongst some of the world's deadliest assassins did seemed kind of silly now that Tsuna had taken her personality in consideration.
The news that Haru was indeed in some sort of relationship with the Varia's resident maniac Prince had taken awhile to fully register, and even then Tsuna found himself quite bemused. They were a truly unconventional pair, and no one would have thought that Haru would be with someone as…eccentric as Belphegor, especially not after she had spent years chasing after the Vongola X, teasingly declaring to the world that she would become his wife yet.
Only she was more likely to become the Princess Consort of a Crown Prince now than a wife of a Mafia Boss, judging by Belphegor's not so discrete remarks and the sheer possessiveness the blonde had shown towards her.
…Besides, her cheerful, laughing proclamations to be Tsuna's bride had gradually turned into something of a running gag within the Famiglia over the years, and Haru had not seemed to mind it very much.
Tsuna was aware then, even if Haru did not know it herself, that she had probably gotten over her childhood crush on him a long time ago.
"If she is happy here," the Juudaime replied decisively at last, "then she should be allowed to do what she wishes. We will respect her decisions."
As the leader of the Vongola Famiglia, Tsuna had only ever wanted the best for his members. If he could confirm that Haru was indeed content to remain in Italy, then he would not stand in the way of her happiness.
That was, of course, provided that she was in safe hands and would remain well protected from harm. Belphegor was powerful both in terms of abilities and social status, and he would be a good match for Haru if Tsuna could ascertain that the somewhat…temperamental Prince truly intended to form a genuine relationship with Haru
…Judging by how Belphegor had all but implied that he had gotten Haru pregnant, Tsuna hoped for the sake of the other man's wellbeing that he would take responsibility. Otherwise, it would be difficult to have to explain to Xanxus just why he had to 'whoop the ass' of one of his Commanders, as Ryohei would say, but regardless, it would be a completely necessary evil.
No one took advantage of a member of his Famiglia without answering retaliation from him and/or the other Guardians, so Tsuna dearly hoped that Belphegor was really the genius he was touted to be and would make a smart call of judgment for himself.
If not, well, the Juudaime of the Vongola Famiglia was sure that he could show the Crown Prince the error of his ways, even if he had to beat the latter like a drum for it to happen.
::owari::
Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:
Yes, like most of you have already more or less guessed it, Belphegor was lying about Haru being pregnant. Or rather, he just twisted his words around a little and let everyone draw their own conclusions, haha. It was a rather juvenile thing for him to do, but Haru's closeness with Tsuna had irritated him something fierce and that was his payback of sorts.
In hindsight, I don't feel that he was really lying though, just being somewhat overly presumptuous, if you know what I mean!
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Some of you have rather logically and cleverly pointed out that Haru was unlikely to be pregnant because I have mentioned before that she was on the pill, and have even carried on to deduce that this meant there should be no possibility of a pregnant Haru appearing in this fic. Well, the latter is a slightly inaccurate assumption that I will address now.
To be honest, my original intention of introducing contraception was to make sure that there will be no accidental surprises of the infant kind in the course of Belphegor and Haru's rather active sex lives. However, that is not to say that this situation is irreversible. I'm not declaring or promising anything here, but as their relationship progresses, things may change.
What I'm saying is that there will be absolutely no unwanted pregnancies cropping up in this fic. If and when Haru conceives, you can be sure that at least one of the happy (or smug) parents-to-be had planned it!
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I know that Haru in this chapter should feel a lot angrier at being deceived by Belphegor, but do keep in mind that she had just discovered some rather startling revelations of herself prior to his revealing the truth to her, most notably that she had just realized that she wouldn't mind carrying his offspring, that she would have been quite happy to do so, actually. We know that Haru adores children, so it was not too far a leap to conclude that she would have been perfectly content to have children with the man she loves, even if said inconsiderate man had sprung the idea on her in a rather sudden and quite unpleasant manner.
Not to mention, she was also quite disconcerted by how her lover certainly wasn't cringing away at the notion of baby making, and I have my own reasons for that as well, mainly that Belphegor had been raised from the cradle to be mindful of his duties to his country and royal house, one of which is to be fruitful and multiply.
And what better way to accomplish that than to do it with a woman who would clearly love to have lots of children, I ask you?
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Last but not least, I have had quite a few curious reviewers who were still trying to figure out why I have labeled 'Of Sparrows and Princes' as a one-shot collection. Well, I feel that this is technically a one shot collection, albeit one in which the various chapters are closely related to the next and are all in chronological order. I'm not sure if some of you have noticed that I have little mini-arcs spread across this entire fic, and since there's a bit of disjointedness between the arcs sometimes, I decided to put this fic as a one-shot collection and leave it as that.
Or I suppose we can also call this a one-shot continuous fic, which sounds kinda oxymoronish and strange, but that's just me nitpicking as usual. There you have it; I'm actually a closet obsessive compulsive nitpicker, or at least I try to be when I'm writing, and please forgive my ramblings because I really shouldn't be writing lengthy author's notes at three in the morning.
That aside, thanks for reading everything, people! As usual, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!
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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!
-sllebswap