Bickslow leant against the counter with his arms crossed across his chest, and when he wasn't staring at the clock on the wall, he was staring down the hall and waiting for Lucy to come out. Claire already had Ingrid and that's where Ingrid would stay until the morning since they'd be getting home far too late to disturb their neighbour, so now all Bickslow had to do was wait for his darling girlfriend to finish getting ready.
"Lucy, come on. We've gotta go," Bickslow yelled to the other end of their apartment.
"Just give me a minute!"
"You've said that about twenty times already."
"I know! I just…" Lucy's shouted response trailed off as she finally made her way out of the bedroom where she'd been finishing getting ready and into the hall, her silver clutch that matched her shoes under her dress in her hand. "Can you do this up for me then?" Reaching Bickslow at the counter, who was only looking at her in awe, almost, she turned so her back was to him so he could hopefully get the message and do the damn zip up the rest of the way. She'd managed to get it all the way up when she'd tried it on in the dress shop, but that night, it just wasn't happening.
When he had the zip done up on her dress, she turned again and all he could still do was stare in awe. Bickslow hadn't been able to understand why she'd been so adamant that he didn't see the dress until the night of the gala (he'd been tempted to look inside the bag that had been hanging on the back of their bedroom door since she'd bought it, but had decided against it), but he didn't even care about that anymore. It was almost like she was in the wedding dress again, because he felt the same as he had when he'd seen her walk out of the bathroom in that.
It wasn't like Bickslow wanted to go to the gala all that much in the first place, but now? Now he would be more than happy just to sit on the lounge like they did every Friday night, curled up together on the lounge with Ingrid and choc-mint chip ice cream and horrible T.V. shows they shouldn't love as much as they did. And if Lucy stayed in that dress too, then it would be all the better. They'd be all dressed up with nowhere to go and Bickslow wouldn't give a damn.
But no. They had to go to the gala, because Bickslow had to go, and Lucy was being an awesome girlfriend and was going with him. Plus, they still kind of had to keep up appearances, since they were still technically married despite the whole affair issue and if his wife didn't come with him to that kind of thing, then people would assume they were separated and they hated each other. Which, they didn't. Not at all. And really, it would make sense for them to be apart considering his other self's fuck up had been made somewhat public, but they weren't going with that. They were just pretending to be working things out between themselves, because when you love someone, that's what you do.
It had nothing to do with the fact that they'd both decided they wouldn't get a divorce and had decided on that a while ago. Despite them not being able to do that until they'd been married for two years anyway, which wasn't for another month and a half or there about, they just didn't see the need to do so. If, for whatever reason, they ended up loathing each other's entire existence, which Bickslow didn't see as being all that likely, then yeah, a divorce was probably something that would happen. It would be complicated as all hell since they'd have three very young children together, but whatever. They'd work something out if things turned out that way, because they always worked something out.
"Are you okay there?"
Bickslow blinked. "Huh? What?"
"You were just staring at me," Lucy laughed quietly.
Was I? Oh. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. Shrugging as he pushed himself away from the counter, he pulled the blonde closer to him with his hands resting on her waist. "Only because you look amazing and I'm trying to figure out how you seem to get more beautiful every day," he murmured as he slowly slid his hands down from her waist to her hips.
Lucy turned her head away when she was sure the rose blush she had on was matching the rest of her face. "I really don't feel like I do, and I just feel horrible right now."
"Well you certainly don't look it, because you're still gorgeous."
"I'm wearing about ten pounds of makeup."
"Not that you need it."
"I do, because my skin is terrible right now since I'm like a giant ball of hormones, and I can't tell if I want to cry and kiss you because you're always so sweet, or just punch your face because you must be blind or something," Lucy said quickly, her face almost matching the shade of red her dress was in at that point.
Bickslow chuckled as he quickly leant down to press his lips to hers, despite how much makeup she apparently had on. He was just a little surprised that her lips tasted like strawberry, considering she hated all things strawberry those days. Apparently not lipstick and lip gloss though. "I really prefer the former though, just without the crying part, and I'm really not blind. I have perfect eyesight when it comes to you." Leaning back slightly, Bickslow's hands slid towards the front of her baby bump until the front of her dress was pulled tightly over it, and still smiling, he quietly said, "And that's really cute, by the way."
"I'll take your word for it," Lucy sighed. "I'm not exactly looking forward to the day that I can't see my feet and I'll be waddling everywhere while being the size of a whale."
He rolled his eyes as his arm went back around her waist and he turned her towards the door. They had a gala to go to, after all. "You're not going to be the size of a whale. But even if you are, you'll still be the sexiest whale on this planet."
"Oh joy…"
The gala that night was being held in the grand ballroom of one of the hotels in Magnolia. Most of the guests were staying in the hotel that night, since along with the fully catered dinner menu and band playing for the course of the night, there was an open bar. That was really the only thing Bickslow liked about having to attend; he could get drunk off his face and…
Oh. No. He couldn't do that. He had a pregnant girlfriend who was going to be painfully sober while sitting through six odd hours of hellish torture. He couldn't get drunk off his face because that just wasn't fair. That wasn't to say he'd remain sober with her though, because he wouldn't. He would need something to get him through the night, though.
When they made their way into the ballroom, they were quickly found by Laxus and Mira in the already packed to capacity room, almost all of the guests who had said they'd be attending already there. "Well, I'll be damned," Laxus muttered as they weaved through the crowd and came up before Bickslow and Lucy. "If I wasn't straight, I'd probably be into you right now, Bicks."
If it was one thing Bickslow could do, it was scrub up pretty damn nicely when he put some effort into it. Suits and ties and formalwear just wasn't even close to being his kind of thing (Laxus wasn't even sure if he'd owned a tie in their old world), but when he had a suit that fit him perfectly, he looked more than a little fine, whether he liked being in it or not.
"I'm flattered, Sparky," Bickslow chuckled as he glanced down at himself. "But I'm sadly taken."
"That reminds me though," Lucy said as she looked up to him from where she was tucked in against his side. "Why haven't I seen you wear this one before?" Lucy had memorised each of the suits that Bickslow owned, because he wore them all to work. The one he had on then though, she knew was different, even from just the black silk lapel and the white pocket square, and it was a whole lot fancier and he looked a whole lot sexier in that one than he did in his others.
His lips quirked in amusement as he looked down. "You have. Sort of." His Lucy hadn't exactly seen him wear it, or seen it at all as far as Bickslow knew since it had been sitting in a garment bag right next to her wedding dress in one of the other closets, but the other Lucy had, all because it was the suit he'd supposedly been married in.
It wasn't supposed to mean anything, him wearing that particular suit that night. It just happened to be a really, really nice one, and Bickslow had seen the photos to know he looked good in it – or at least he had nearly two years earlier. He just hadn't exactly told Lucy that he'd been planning on wearing that exact suit.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I'll tell you later," Bickslow replied with his smirk still in place before looking back to Laxus and Mira. "Any who… I guess I have to go and be sociable or something, so we'll see you in a bit."
Sighing, Laxus nodded and said, "I suppose I should go and do the same then." With Laxus and Mira heading in one direction, Bickslow and Lucy headed in the opposite and began to weave their way through the crowd in the room, stopping every now to talk to someone Bickslow worked with and to introduce Lucy.
It was the same thing, over and over, and Bickslow could see that it was quickly beginning to stress Lucy out, even if she was good at hiding it. 'Hi, meet my wife. Yes, we're still married even though I fucked my assistant. No, we're not getting a divorce. Yes, we're working things out. Yes, she's pregnant. No, we don't know the sex of the babies yet.'
Over…
And over…
And over…
Bickslow was thinking it would just be easier to print out some cards and hand them to every person they stopped to chat to for all of two minutes, because all of it was making him frustrated too.
It was when they were heading over to talk to Gray and Natsu at the bar that a shiver went down Bickslow's spine and the room became just that much colder. "Oh no," he whispered. This cannot be happening… She shouldn't be here… He didn't want Lucy getting more upset than what she already was, even if she was hiding it well, and when he let go of her hand and looked down at her just to see that worry in her eyes, he only forced a reassuring smile and said, "Hey, why don't you go see if you can find uh… Erza or something? Or just anyone on the opposite side of the room."
"What? Why?"
"Lucy, can you just do it, please? I've just gotta go uh… Sort out something. Or someone. And I don't want to drag you around anymore than I already am, okay?"
Lucy knew something was up with Bickslow. He was far too panicked for what he was saying to be the case. She just knew it was something more, but she also knew that whatever it was that was going on, Bickslow didn't want her knowing about it for whatever reason. And it was annoying, sure, but Lucy knew when to drop things. Nodding after a moment, Lucy looked around over her shoulder to see if she could see anyone she knew, and then looked back up to Bickslow with a small smile. "Okay," she said finally. "I'll go find someone on the opposite side of the room…"
"I'll come find you in a few minutes, alright?" Bickslow said softly, and then only leaning down to press a soft kiss to the top of her head, he waited until she was a few feet at least away from him before looking back to where he'd seen Veronica standing right before.
She shouldn't have been there. At least he didn't think she should have, but he just really didn't want her to be there, even though he knew he couldn't exactly get her kicked out. It was a charity event, since that's what Fairy Tale was involved in. The event in particular was fundraising for a paediatric wing and a new children's ward at Magnolia General Hospital that they desperately needed. It just wouldn't be wise to kick out any kind of guest at that kind of event.
Shoving his hands into his pants pockets, Bickslow made his way through the intermingling businessmen and women, and right past Veronica. He kept his head mostly down until he was right next to her, and the smile on her lips only made his skin crawl. God, he still hated himself so much. Bickslow didn't understand the entire situation involving her, but he didn't want to either. There was just no plausible reason to cheat on someone, but his other self had and he really just wanted to get over it and move on from it, because it wasn't him.
When he made it over to a hall just off the side of the ballroom that led to the bathrooms and a janitor's closet from what he could tell, he stopped and only folded his arms across his chest and paced the width of the hall, and he waited.
Until he heard the sound of heels walking along the carpet running in the hall, and looked up to find Veronica heading towards him. Like he'd expected her to, and like he'd wanted her to.
"Was that a baby bump I saw before?" Veronica asked as she stepped up to her former boss, just getting a little too close for Bickslow's comfort.
"Stay out of it," Bickslow warned as he took a step back. There could never be enough space between them, even if she was at one end of the world and he was at the other. Or if they were on separate planets, even. "Why are you here?"
Veronica shrugged. "Because I was invited," she answered.
"How?"
"My new boss wanted me to come. You might know of him, since he's the CEO of Saber."
Bickslow knew exactly who that was. Apart from him having met (sort of) Jiemma at the conference in Crocus just before, Saber Industries were often the ones who donated the most when it came to Fairy Tale's charity events. Most of what Fairy Tale was involved in had to do with children and improving the lives of them while working closely with the appropriate city departments – getting better parks, making sure orphanages were staffed and up to standard, students were getting the best education they could, getting wards in hospitals or making sure they could hire paediatricians. Things like that. If the town and councils couldn't afford to do it, Fairy Tale covered the rest of it because it was all about giving kids the things they needed and deserved. It was one big charity organisation, and they had a lot of generous donors for all the big things, even though they somehow made a hell of a lot of money on their own. Bickslow didn't understand it at all. Or at least there was enough for Bickslow to look at their savings account and be very glad that he had the job he did, even if he didn't exactly love it all that much.
But Saber Industries were a good company. They just apparently had bad taste in staff. "Let me guess, you're fucking him now?"
"Why?" Veronica murmured as she slowly stepped forward again, just inching towards Bickslow who remained in place. "Are you jealous?"
Hell to the no. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with Veronica.
"Do you miss me now?" Veronica continued, and Bickslow suppressed a shudder when she traced her hands up the front of his jacket and to the collar, then to his slim black tie. "Because I kind of miss you. Jiemma's not as fun as you are, and twice just isn't enough."
Twice? "Twice is more than enough."
"Are you sure? You're the one that said you and Lulu—"
"Lucy," Bickslow growled. "Her name is Lucy, and keep her out of it."
"Oh, whatever," she laughed, and even that sounded wicked to Bickslow. God, he just… Loathed her existence as much as his own. "You're the one that said you're splitting up anyway, and—" Veronica stopped suddenly when she found herself being pushed back into the wall that was just behind her, and Bickslow's hands on her shoulders. "Oh, now that's more like it."
"No. No. No one is splitting up with anyone." They couldn't have been splitting up. Could they? Surely things between their other selves couldn't have been that bad that it had actually been a possibility? Bickslow had wondered just how his other self could have even wanted to be with anyone else, but if things weren't going as well as he'd thought…
Bickslow didn't even want to think about that though. He would constantly, he knew that, but he didn't want to, because it was a strangely terrifying thought. If their other selves, the same ones that Bickslow had thought looked genuinely happy in every single photo and video – his phone was full of them, thankfully – he'd been had been falling apart, then where the hell was the hope for himself and his Lucy working out?
No. Get it together. You're different. We're not the same people.
He didn't need to worry. Or even think. They weren't their other selves. They were different people. They believed in different things and they acted differently. That's what Bickslow was telling himself, at least. Stepping back as he lightly shook his head and realised just how close he was to Veronica – way too close for comfort – he said, "No. Whatever it is you think happened between us, didn't, okay?"
She lifted her hands just to try and slink them around his neck, and he quickly stepped back again and she pouted. "That's just your wife talking. I bet she's the real reason you fired me," she said, only looking up at Bickslow's face remained as hard and unwavering as it had before. "You're not exactly going to leave her if she's knocked up, are you? No, you're too nice for that."
"Oh, will you just shut up, already? You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, and you need to get it through your head that I do not care about you in the slightest," Bickslow snapped. He glanced down the hall to the person that just walked into one of the bathrooms, then took just a single step forward so he could lower his voice. He was so far past done, and all he wanted to do was get back to Lucy and try and enjoy the rest of their night. "I am not leaving her," he continued, his voice low and menacing just so he could try and get the damn message through her apparently thick skull. "And I don't have any intentions of ever leaving her, because she is my wife and I love her, and the mother of my children."
"Like that stopped you before."
"Things are different now, and you need to accept that." He stepped back then, and alone in the corridor once again, Bickslow continued, "Now I'm going to go back out into that ballroom, and I'm going to try and enjoy my night, and do you know what you're going to do? You're going to go and do whatever the fuck it is you do, but you're going to stay the hell away from Lucy and myself so I can go back to fixing up my own fuck ups. Got it?" He didn't even give her a chance to say anything else before he was turning and quickly going back down the hall and out into the ballroom. He didn't want to hear whatever it was she would say, because he honestly just didn't care.
All he ever wanted was for all of it to be over. It was near impossible to just live his own damn life, because everything always seemed to come back to the reminder that it wasn't really their own lives. They were still living as their other selves, even when they tried not to, and when they thought that they were getting closer to being free of the 'past' and lives they didn't remember in the slightest, they weren't. Right then, Bickslow was only wondering if they'd ever be able to just let go of it all and be able to just be themselves and only themselves.
When he made it back out into the ballroom, he had to take a deep breath to try and calm himself down. It was far too tempting to find Lucy and just take her home so they could just do something else like curl up on the lounge together. Bickslow didn't want to be there, and after seeing Veronica and having a conversation that they apparently needed to have, he wanted to be there even less.
But they couldn't leave. He couldn't leave, because it was his job to be there. He was just going to need a hell of a lot of alcohol to get him through the night, so when he eventually found Lucy talking to Evergreen and Erza (or really, it wasn't so much as talking as it was Evergreen and Erza trying to swat each other's hands away from Lucy's belly for whatever reason), he thankfully had a drink in his hand.
"So… What exactly is going on here?" Bickslow asked as he came up beside Lucy.
Her smile became brighter when she looked up to see Bickslow next to her, but it only faltered for a moment when she saw how undone he seemed. Something still wasn't quite right, and it only made Lucy worry more. "Well," she said with a wistful sigh as she looked down to where the two women were basically groping her in public. Sort of. "Ever is convinced we're having girls and she's called dibs on being the godmother along with Erza so they're kind of arguing about that, and they're now trying to see if they can feel the twins move yet, but I've told them they won't be able to, because I haven't even felt them yet."
"Oh. Okay then," he chuckled. Was the godparents thing event that important? Hell, Bickslow didn't even know if Ingrid had any. He didn't really care all that much either though.
"Mm-hmm," she hummed. Then quietly, she asked, "Are you okay?"
Bickslow looked back down and nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. But I have to talk to you about something."
"Alright." Smiling, she turned back to the women in front of her who were apparently too busy bickering over who was going to be chosen as godmother (they seemed to somehow forget Lucy was having two babies anyway), Lucy said, "I'll talk to you later. Have fun uh… Sorting out who gets to be the godmother." Was Lucy going to tell them that if they decided to give the twins godparents, it would mean that they'd need two godmothers and two godfathers anyway? Hell no. It was strangely entertaining watching them fight over it.
Slowly, they made their way over to their table for the night, and they sat down at their assigned seats, thankful that no one else had made their way over yet. Sitting on the edge of his chair and with too many people near them for them to have a somewhat private conversation, Bickslow quietly said, "So Veronica is here."
"Veronica as in…?"
Bickslow nodded. "Yeah. That one." She didn't even need to finish that sentence.
"Oh. Was that… Was that where you were before?" Lucy asked, her finger tracing around the edge of the napkin with the cutlery laid out on it. Bickslow nodded again, and Lucy only wondered why it hurt so much. "What did you um, talk about?"
If Bickslow had been able to get away with not telling Lucy, he would have, but he hated lying to her. But, he hated hurting her more, and that's what he was doing, whether he meant to or not. "I wanted to know why she was here," Bickslow answered. Sliding forward on the chair again, he reached for Lucy's hands, and held them in his own between them. "And honestly," he added, the corner of his mouth pulling up into a small smirk when she looked back up to him. "I was telling her to back the fuck off."
"Yeah?"
"Mm-hmm." Just seeing her eyes light up a tiny bit made Bickslow remember just why he loved her so much. "But… Talking to her made me realise something else," he added softly, and when her face dropped again and he saw that worry set in her eyes once again, he sighed quietly and said, "You know I love you. A lot. And you know that I want to forget about everything so we can just get on with our lives as much as you do."
"I sense there's a 'but' coming," Lucy mumbled.
"But… I don't think we'll get that," he said sadly. "Not when we do this."
"You know, I don't think this is the best time or place to be breaking up with me."
"Jesus, I don't think there would ever be a right time or place for that," Bickslow chuckled. He knew Lucy wasn't serious and that she really didn't think he was breaking up with her, just because of the way she was looking at him then. But it was great, because it gave Bickslow just a tiny moment where he could forget how shitty his night already was. "But all jokes aside, not that I ever thought I would be saying those words, we can't keep doing this."
Lucy's brow furrowed, and her lips turned down into a frown. "I don't know what you mean, Bickslow." What exactly were they doing that they couldn't keep doing?
"We can't keep pretending to be people that we aren't," he explained. "Keeping up appearances and all that, and especially with things like this." He only pulled one hand from hers to gesture to the room full of people they were in the middle of, then looked back to Lucy. "That's not us, and it never will be, and when we keep going around and pretending to be our other selves, it makes it harder to just put all of that behind us and get on with our own lives."
"I understand that," Lucy said softly. "But I don't know what we're supposed to do." They'd tried doing so many small things, even just like taking down all of the photos that reminded them it wasn't truly their life yet, but there were still those other things that brought it all back up. It wasn't them. They weren't even free to be themselves because of it, and Lucy really did know that Bickslow hated it as much as she did.
But there were just some things Lucy couldn't see ever changing. They'd always have Ingrid, who they'd only known for half of her life as it was. Lucy had her books and her career, Bickslow had his job and his degree, and there would always be the people that hadn't come with them from their old world who still thought they were their other selves. As much as Lucy wanted to forget about all of those, she just wouldn't be able to, and she would always be reminded of the fact that they were there, and their other selves were probably in a place they didn't understand.
"Well, neither do I, to be honest," Bickslow whispered. "But we're always going to be trying to figure out what to do, you know?"
She nodded. "I suppose."
He looked down to their hands, her left specifically, and his fingers gently began twisting her wedding band next to her engagement ring as he said, "We're not married. Well, we are, but not really. We're just… Boyfriend and girlfriend. And I think… I think it would be better for us if we stopped pretending we were anything else." Sure, Bickslow thought it was just a little too great that they were actually married, but they weren't there or ready for that stage, and Bickslow didn't know if they'd ever be ready to actually accept and really acknowledge it.
But to him, after talking to Veronica, he knew that they needed to find more ways to separate themselves from their other selves, and when he'd only been dragging Lucy around and introducing her as his wife like most people knew she was, Bickslow had only been able to see that their marriage was one thing that was causing one of the most problems.
He wasn't going to bring up what he'd heard from Veronica about their other selves apparently splitting up, because whether it was true or not, it wasn't that relevant. They were trying to make it less about their other selves, and more about them. Bringing up their apparent disastrous relationship between their other selves would do just the opposite of what they wanted.
As Bickslow slid both of the rings from her finger and then his own, Lucy watched as he placed them gently on the edge of the table, all lined up next to one another. They'd only worn them that night because people assumed they were married, and when they were keeping up appearances, that's how they acted. It wasn't exactly like Lucy hated wearing them all that much (they were a little weird to get used to because she never wore rings), because they were too pretty not to stare at constantly. She just knew it would be odd for her to wear them, because she wasn't really married.
Legally, yes. But really? Hell no.
"And you know, since things aren't really that different and we're together now, I just think that things might be a little easier if we just act like who we actually are," Bickslow continued. "If I have to introduce you to anyone I work with or anything, I don't want to introduce you as my wife, because… Because you're not, really. And I know I can't exactly say you're my girlfriend, especially if someone knows I'm married to you, but to me, you're still just Lucy, and that's all you'll ever be to me, regardless of whether we're together or not."
She smiled and looked back up as she slid forward on the chair, and lifted her arms to loop behind his neck. "I think that's perfect, Bicks," she whispered.
"Yeah?"
Lucy nodded. "Mm-hmm. I think I like the sound of just being Lucy. But do you know what else I really like?"
"What?"
She sat back up straight and picked up her two rings from the table with a bright smile. "I really like these rings, and if we're not married, then I can wear them without feeling just a little weird," she explained, and instead of slipping them onto her left ring finger, she put them on her right instead, and held up her hand in front of her to admire them. She was sure she'd told Bickslow once before that his other self had great taste in jewellery, but her engagement and wedding ring were in their own league, and she really did love them.
It totally wasn't weird that she was wanting to wear them on her other hand. Not at all. At least, that's what she told herself.
By that point of the night, everyone was seated at their designated places at the tables that filled more than half the room, and everyone was waiting for the food to be served. Unfortunately for Bickslow and Lucy, everyone was focusing on them and just asking way too many questions about their relationship and the twins. But, it was also the first time they'd actually gone anywhere in public as an actual couple since everyone had found out they were dating.
But most of the questions were actually about Lucy's pregnancy, so Bickslow was free to stay silent and just drink. He liked to think he was drinking so much that night because he was also drinking on behalf of Lucy, but that wasn't the case. It was mostly because Veronica was sitting at the table next to theirs, and Bickslow was unfortunately graced with the ability of being able to see her every single time he looked straight forward.
Maybe if he managed to drink enough that night, his vision would blur quicker and he wouldn't be able to see her.
"How far along are you again?" Mira asked from opposite Lucy.
She placed the glass of water back down in front of her. "About twelve weeks," Lucy answered.
"Ah, so you've still got a while to go, then."
"Yup. They won't be here until around the end of October now."
"So they'll be here for the holidays then?" Freed said from beside Lucy. "I'm sure that will make it a very happy time for you two."
"I'm thinking more tiring and stressful, honestly," Lucy laughed, and Bickslow only grunted in response. Even if they would be over the moon with their little family, they would be exhausted. They'd missed the part of Ingrid's life where she wasn't able to sleep through the night, which they were honestly just a little thankful for considering all things, but when they'd have two newborns and a toddler who would only just be a toddler as it was, their life was going to be just a little (or a lot) more chaotic than it currently was.
But that, they were completely and totally ready for. They had accepted that they would have to say goodbye to their sleep and the rest of their sanity once the twins had arrived.
"But it will be worth it," Freed added softly, and Lucy nodded in agreement as she took another sip of her water.
"How long until you find out the genders though?" Juvia asked from where she sat beside Gray and just next to Bickslow.
"Not for a little while, unfortunately," Lucy answered. She was honestly beginning to feel like she was on an interview show or something, not that she minded all that much. "We won't know for sure for another six or so weeks."
From the opposite side of the table, Lisanna chimed in with, "What do you think you're having though?"
Sighing, Lucy said, "Honestly, girls. But that might just be because I hope that's what they are."
"Two more girls would be so sweet!" Erza said from beside Freed, and as all the women at the table seemingly agreed, most of the men decided to groan in frustration, and Bickslow was one of them. Hearing that, Erza sat forward to glare at Bickslow, who permanently seemed to have a glass in his hand that night. "What's so bad about your twins being girls, Bickslow? Another two like Ingrid? I didn't think you'd be opposed to that."
"I'm not," Bickslow replied, finally lowering his glass to the table. It didn't help it was now empty. "I have nothing against them being girls, actually, I would just prefer them to be boys because I think I might go insane if I have three teenage girls at once."
"That's funny," Laxus chimed in with a twisted smirk from opposite them. "I could've sworn you used to always go on and on about how you were so good with women."
With his mouth twisting into his own answering smirk, Bickslow lifted his hand and raised his painted middle finger to the blond opposite him. He might have let his ego get the better of him a few times over the last few years in particular, but that was when he hadn't had a girlfriend and had definitely had no kids. Now, he had both of those, and he wasn't the same person he'd been just a few months earlier. But as much as he did prefer the twins to be boys (it didn't help that he really did not want to be greatly outnumbered) and that he really would be over the moon if they were girls anyway, it was just that he was going to have to try and figure out how to deal with them.
Lucy… Ingrid… Then two more girls. Yeah, Bickslow was good with the opposite gender if he wanted to sleep with them, but anything else, he just had no idea what he was doing. Raising them was just in a whole new ball park.
"So have you started buying any baby things yet?" Erza asked suddenly as Lucy pulled Bickslow's hand down and laughed at the man.
"Nope," Lucy answered.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing at all."
Bickslow looked to Lucy then and asked, "Have we done anything at all?" He was beginning to think they hadn't. The spare room was still full of all the random things they'd shoved in there, like the coffee table they were always moving so Ingrid could play in front of the lounge, every single photo that had been of their over selves, plus there were still boxes in there and in the wardrobe that they hadn't gone through. They just hadn't seen the point of doing that, really, since the door was almost permanently closed.
Crimson dusted her cheeks, and Lucy shook her head as a nervous laugh slipped out. "I guess not." Not unless too many ultrasounds and doctor's appointments or visits to the emergency room counted.
"We probably should soon though, right?"
"Definitely." It wasn't like they didn't have time to, because she still had another thirty-odd weeks until she was due anyway, but it was going to be nice to be prepared.
"Well," Evergreen cleared her throat suddenly as she shared a look with Erza – one that had just a hint of malice behind it. "Erza and I have come to the realisation that there is no point in fighting over who will get to be the godmother since you're having twins, so that means that we can both be godmothers."
"Yes! It is a good idea, if I do say so myself, and it means you two have one less thing to worry about," Erza added.
Before Bickslow and Lucy could even respond, Mira was chiming in a little disappointedly with, "What? You two have already chosen godparents?"
"No—"
And before Bickslow could even say, 'no, we haven't decided on godparents yet because we haven't even talked about godparents yet,' everyone was suddenly deciding that they wanted to be a godparent too. Everyone apart from Freed, it seemed, who only turned to the couple and apologised for all of their friends. Mira was upset and still thinking Evergreen and Erza were the official godmothers of the twins, Laxus was trying to calm her down and tell her that Bickslow and Lucy hadn't decided on anything and that she could still be a godmother to the 'precious' little bundles of joy. Natsu and Gray were arguing over who would be a better godfather, Juvia was daydreaming about knitting the babies things once they were born and being the best godmother ever, Lisanna was saying it would be sweet if the sisters were both godmothers, and Elfman was still just claiming that the twins were boys.
Bickslow needed twin boys, as far as Elfman was concerned.
But the more they went on, the more Lucy felt like she was being overwhelmed. She could deal with all of the questions about her relationship with Bickslow, or about the pregnancy and such, but she couldn't deal with this. It almost made her feel like she didn't get a say in anything that was going on, and it was her life; it was her children and the only ones who got to make any decisions about them were herself and Bickslow. It was their life, and as much as she loved her friends because they were her family, she really needed them to stay the hell out of her life when it came to decisions regarding her children.
She'd already been feeling unwell for most of the day and night as it was, and it was something she'd come to hate but had also accepted that would be around for a little while longer since she was having twins, but as Lucy sat there and listened to everyone around her argue about something as stupid as being godparents, she only felt the bile rise in her throat. Quickly, she excused herself from the table as she picked up her purse, and Bickslow's eyes followed her as she weaved through the tables and towards the hall off the side where the restrooms were.
The table fell into silence once Lucy left, and they all looked to Bickslow for answers. If he had to tell the truth though, he didn't entirely know what had happened, though he had a pretty good idea. Only placing another glass back down, he slowly pushed his chair out and said, "Uh… Maybe you should talk about something else when she gets back. Like…" He looked to Gray and Juvia and shrugged before he walked off. "Like Gray and Juvia getting married." Which, they were, apparently. Bickslow wasn't quite sure how or why, but apparently their wedding was still going to happen, and it was just a month away.
Like Bickslow expected her to be, she was in one of the stalls in the women's bathroom, and, also like he'd kind of expected her to be, throwing up. He was at the point where he just didn't care anymore. He'd been woken up by it, held her hair back on more than one occasion where she felt worse than usual and he'd seriously considered not going to work because he'd rather take care of Lucy too many times to count, and actually been thrown up on by both Ingrid and Lucy. He just didn't care anymore, but what he did care about was Lucy, and it was why he just waited, leaning against the counter with his arms folded and staring down at the marble floor.
One of the stalls opened, and a woman with dark wavy hair came out and instantly gave Bickslow a disgusted look. "This is the women's bathroom, you pervert," she scoffed, making her way to the sink that was the furthest away from Bickslow.
"Oh, don't give me that look," Bickslow shot back with a roll of his eyes. "I bet you've been on your knees in a bathroom somewhere."
"Bickslow!" Lucy shrieked from within the last stall with the door closed, and Bickslow only shrugged as the other woman quickly grabbed a paper towel to dry her hands before throwing it in the bin by the door. She hadn't expected Bickslow to be there, but it made her face feel warmer than she already was, because she really didn't want him to be in there.
Picking herself up from the ground and flushing the toilet behind her, Lucy pulled the door open and made her way over to the sinks. "You shouldn't be in here," she muttered, dropping her purse to the counter and turning the taps.
Bickslow shrugged. "Don't care. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just… Whatever," she sighed. Her brown eyes flicked up to Bickslow's reflection and she frowned. "Can you leave though? You really shouldn't be in here, considering this is the women's bathroom and the last time I checked, you are not a woman."
The corner of his mouth lifted up and he chuckled leant down slightly, with Lucy only turning away with a slight grimace. "You've checked, huh? Are you sure?"
Lucy arched an eyebrow and said, "So you're trying to tell me that you actually have a vagina? Really? Because I'm finding that really hard to imagine."
"Well, I am in the women's bathroom…"
"Just get out already."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong," Bickslow said quickly. He knew something was wrong, and it wasn't just because she didn't feel well, because really, she almost always felt like that and even then, she was still smiling and laughing and Bickslow could see that there was nothing bothering her. But that wasn't the case right then. "We can leave if you want," he added softly. "Seriously, I wouldn't object to that at all. This entire thing is fucking horrible and everyone is just giving me a headache."
Lucy smiled as she glanced to the former Seith mage. "We can't leave, and I promise I'm okay. I just… I just needed a break from all of that. Everyone was just—" She cut herself off when the door to the bathroom opened, and she stared at it as Bickslow did the same over his shoulder before he quickly looked back to Lucy and dropped his head, refusing to look to Veronica as she stared back at them in surprise. "…Being too much," Lucy finished quietly.
Veronica opened her mouth as if to say something as Lucy glanced in her direction again, but quickly shut it again before she ducked into the nearest stall and decided it was a better idea to not say anything. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence quickly, and as Lucy stared down to the porcelain sink, she felt that same feeling in her stomach and the bitter taste of bile creeping back up into her throat. She tried to swallow it down and ignore it, because most of the time that worked. With Bickslow realising that he really did need to get the hell out of there, he pushed himself away from the counter he was leaning on and said, "Well, just—" But then Lucy was holding up a hand for him to stop, before she quickly turned and rushed back into the stall she'd come out of just a few moments earlier, and slammed the door shut behind her.
Bickslow had only wanted to remind her that she could feel overwhelmed if she wanted to. He hadn't blamed her, because honestly, their friends had been pushing it just a little bit, and if he'd wanted to almost throttle them and just tell them to talk about something else (and they were his kids they were talking about, and he could honestly talk about all of them for days, and two of them weren't even born yet), then it wouldn't have been all that surprising if Lucy had wanted to do the same. Which she had, and it was why she'd needed to walk away from it all for a little while. She wasn't exactly going to yell at her friends in the middle of an important work function to tell them that they all really needed to back the fuck off when it came to her children.
But knowing that it was time to leave the room, partly because he was still not exactly wanting to be in the vicinity of Veronica, Bickslow turned and left, only planting himself out in the hall just by the door. He was just a little scared of leaving the two women in the same room, what, with one being hormonal and upset, and the other being just a little possessive and jealous.
Coming back out of the bathroom stall, Lucy felt even more embarrassed than she had before. She guessed Bickslow would have left, but she had really hoped Veronica would be gone. But alas, she wasn't, and was only just rubbing her hands together under the running water. Of all the people she had to be standing in a bathroom with, it was Veronica; the same woman who probably would have been the cause to end what Lucy thought was a somewhat happy marriage, had her other self known. And honestly, Lucy didn't even know if her other self would have noticed something was off in her relationship. She liked to think she would have.
She kept her head down as she stood at the basin down from Veronica, the one where she'd left her purse at, and she tried her best to take as long as she possibly could.
"You should go and find some pretzels or something," Veronica suddenly said as she shut off the faucet and grabbed a handful of the folded up paper towels on the bench.
Lucy turned to Veronica. "Excuse me?" she asked, the complete astonishment over the fact the woman was actually talking to her evident in her voice.
Veronica shrugged as she continued looking to herself in the mirror, touching up her deep rose lipstick and pretending that it wasn't a big deal she was talking to her ex-boss's – the one she had slept with, more than once – wife in a public restroom. "They can help with nausea. Or at least, they work for me, and a friend of mine swore by them when she was pregnant. And, well, since you are…" She glanced to the stunned blonde as she straightened up and dropped the lipstick back to her light blue clutch, then with a small but genuine smile and another shrug, she said, "Just try it. Or not."
What the hell is happening right now? "O-Oh. Uh… Thank you," Lucy mumbled, and all she could do was watch with wide eyes as Veronica quickly turned and walked to the door, her heels clicking on the marble floor as she went.
It was almost as if… Veronica had a soul. Or maybe some form of a heart. Which, honestly, Lucy didn't think was possible, because the woman slept with her husband – when she knew full well that he was married and he had a family – for heaven's sake. Any normal person would steer well and truly clear unless there was more to it, and that was something that Lucy had had at the back of her head for a while now, just because there was always something else there. There was always another side to each story, and ever since Lucy had found out about the entire fucked up situation involving Veronica in the first place, she hadn't been able to help but think there was more to it; that maybe, they really weren't happy at all.
Not somewhat. Just not at all.
But Lucy had no idea, and she really didn't want to know. It didn't matter, after all. It was in a past that wasn't theirs so all that mattered now was that her Bickslow didn't screw anyone else. Honestly, if the guy broke her heart, especially while she was pregnant and hormonal or severely sleep deprived, then she was probably going to physically break Bickslow's. And she'd probably just make his death seem like an accident, or she'd try to.
But what Lucy did want to know, was just where she could find some pretzels. They were in a hotel, after all, and if they didn't have pretzels, then… She really just might cry, because now all she could think about was pretzels.
If Bickslow had to follow Laxus around for one more minute, he was probably going to kill someone. Or say something he shouldn't. Either or, it didn't really matter. He just needed to get away from it all because he was just exhausted and was so glad that the night was nearly over and they'd be able to go home soon so he could sleep.
After finally Laxus that he really might commit a murder if he had to follow him around any longer and pretend to be sociable and thankful and know everything about the damn company, he went off to find Lucy. Honestly, he was a lawyer who rarely went to work. He knew nothing apart from the fact that he just had to do a whole bunch of paperwork all the time, and show up to meetings and say, 'Yeah, as long as you do this, it's legal for us.' Most of the time he just guessed, anyway, and if he had to read another page of any corporate law book, he was going to throw it out his office windows. But… He knew he'd have to, because otherwise he could seriously fuck everything up if he didn't know what he was talking about, even if most people seemed to have no idea he knew nothing.
Bickslow found Lucy sitting at the table. Still. She'd practically stayed there all night apart from when he'd had to drag her around at the start of the event, and then for a little while after that. When he got back to their table, Bickslow wasn't surprised to find her eating pretzels… Again. He had no idea where she kept getting them, but it was like every time he turned around or left and came back, she had a bag of pretzels in her hand.
He held out his hand to the blonde when she looked up to him and away from Juvia and Gray. "Come on," Bickslow said. "Come dance with me."
She arched an eyebrow at the man curiously. "You know how to dance?"
"Hey, there's still plenty of things you don't know about me. Like, how I'm secretly a woman, and that I can actually dance."
Gray choked on his drink just as Juvia spluttered and went beet red, only looking between Lucy and Bickslow quickly. "But… Then how is Lucy pregnant if Bickslow is a woman?" she spluttered, right before Bickslow burst into laughter.
"Well, it wasn't me," Bickslow chuckled as he pulled Lucy to her feet from the chair.
"Then… Then who?"
Gray rolled his eyes. "He's fucking with her. Half the guild has unfortunately had the pleasure of knowing he is definitely not a woman."
"Aw, Gray," Bickslow whined. "You ruined my fun."
Lucy shook her head as Bickslow led them through the tables and the people to the dance floor set up at the front of the room in front of the stage where plenty of other people were already dancing. "You liar," she teased. "You're not a woman."
"Unfortunately. Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm not, actually," he mused. "I'd probably just touch myself all day."
"Like you don't do that already."
"Hey, unless you can prove that I do, I'm as pure as they come, sweetheart."
Lucy laughed quietly as she lifted her arms, one going to just below his shoulder and the other to lace her fingers through his as his other hand went to her waist, and they slowly began to move and sway to the slow song the band was playing, winding down the guests for the night. "You do realise I've heard you, right?" she said quietly, unable to keep the smile – or the blush – off her face.
Bickslow grimaced, and his steps faltered for a second. "You have?"
"Uh-huh. The walls aren't that thin, you know. And unless you just happen to really love the scent of the body wash…"
"Well, it does smell pretty good…"
"Then I know exactly what you're doing." It was really just the stray moan coming through the wall that she heard, but she'd known what Bickslow was doing. She found it just a little entertaining that he seemed slightly embarrassed by it, like he was trying to pretend that he didn't have the odd shower in the morning when he had one the night before. Like, Lucy knew exactly what he did, and she really did find it entertaining. But, if she had to be perfectly honest, she was just a little jealous too. But was she going to tell Bickslow that all she wanted to do was get herself off? Definitely not. She'd never hear the end of it if Bickslow found out that the next nearly two weeks until she was cleared to even touch herself – not even sex, but that was going to pretty good too, she hoped – were going to be hellish.
"Welp. Well that's just a little embarrassing," Bickslow muttered. "Guess you know I'm not an innocent little butterfly now."
"Innocent little butterfly? Bicks, I don't think you have ever been an innocent little butterfly."
"I might have been for all of five minutes after I was born."
"Only five? I would've said four."
"Four, five… It doesn't really matter," he murmured, bringing his head down to whisper in her ear, "I'm still your badass boyfriend, slash sexy husband, slash awesome baby daddy."
Lucy laughed as she shook her head, and lifted her arms to loop behind his neck. "You're such an idiot sometimes that I really can't help but wonder just what I see you. Or what the other me saw in you to actually marry you."
"I think it's my idiocy that makes me so damn attractive."
"You know, I think that might actually be the case," Lucy said softly. "Since my best friend is the biggest idiot of them all, and my boyfriend is just a giant dork like ninety-nine percent of the time."
"So you really just have a thing for stupid guys."
"Probably," Lucy giggled. It kind of made sense. Well, not really, but that didn't matter. Bickslow was her idiot, and she loved that, because she wouldn't even be where she was without that same idiot. He made her smile and made her laugh, and most of all, he made her feel like everything would be okay. And that was what mattered.
When the band started the next song, having caught the end of the other, Bickslow's soft smile turned into a wide grin. The piano, the drums, the guitar… He knew that opening anywhere, because he'd listened to that song close to a million times. "I really like this song," he said softly as he looked down to the blonde.
Lucy glanced to the ensemble on the stage. "I don't think I've ever heard it before."
Bickslow only smiled, and he kept his eyes on her as they continued to slowly sway in time with the music with his arm around her waist and her hand in his again. So it wasn't exactly dancing per se, but it kind of was. And it was nice.
But I can't help falling in love with you
"You know," Bickslow began quietly over the singer's low voice. With the song playing, it really just seemed like the perfect time to tell her how he felt. Again. Because he was constantly telling her how he felt, just because he could. "I really don't think I would have been able to help falling for you. Even if I didn't love you way before any of this ever happened, I like to think that things still would have ended up being the same. For me at least, anyway."
Lucy smiled as she felt her heart decide to go just a little crazy in her chest. Trust Bickslow to do that, and, make her want to cry. Damn it. "You think?"
Shall I stay
Would it be a sin
Bickslow nodded. "Mm-hmm. Because you're amazing, and that's just putting it mildly." There were a million other words that described what Lucy was to him, one of them being perfect, but even then, none seemed to really do her justice. "Plus," Bickslow added, a smirk pulling at his mouth. "How am I supposed to live in the same apartment – that admittedly, really isn't that big – with someone as pretty as you and not fall for you just a tiny bit?"
"Just a tiny bit?"
"Or a lot. Completely and totally, irrevocably, hopelessly—"
"Stupidly?" Lucy added.
"Stupidly, yes," Bickslow chuckled before looking up slightly and continuing, "Ah, what else? Oh, madly, also eternally, and just downright head over heels. You should have figured out by now that I only ever go all out with everything I do, and that just happens to include falling in love with you."
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
"Eternally, huh?" If it had been anyone else saying that, Lucy was sure she would have run in the opposite direction before they'd even finished the word. But with Bickslow, it only made her heart skip a beat and her breath barely catch. It didn't scare her with Bickslow, whether he even meant to say it or not, though part of her hoped he did.
Part of Lucy knew it was absurd to even think about how she could see herself being happy for a long time with Bickslow, because they hadn't been together for very long at all. She shouldn't even love him yet, but she did, and she didn't even care. He was just everything she needed him to be, whether he even tried to be or not, and Lucy couldn't see a time where she'd be over that. Not for a while at least, anyway.
"Uh… I uh…" Bickslow quickly looked away. He hadn't really meant to say eternally, but it had almost just… Slipped out. Was it true though? Yeah, probably, but considering he hadn't exactly admitted that to himself yet (he was still trying to get over the fact he'd been in love with Lucy the entire time without realising it), he wasn't going to admit it to someone else. "I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled sheepishly instead.
Take my hand
Take my whole life too
Lucy's bubbly laugh had him looking back down to her slightly shocked, and seeing that expression on his slightly flushed face only had Lucy's smile growing brighter. "Hey, Bicks?" she said, and Bickslow only blinked at her, his brows furrowing only slightly as he tried to imagine just what she was going to say next. "I love you, you know? A lot. Like, from here to… Magnolia 1.0 and back a million times."
A smirk pulled at his lips then. "Are you sure? I mean, that could be an incredibly short distance, which means you wouldn't love me very much at all."
"Or, it could be a million light-years away, and times that by a million…" Lucy explained. "You're just going to have to take my word that I love you a lot, okay?"
"I think I could manage that."
"I'm so glad."
"But you know what?" Bickslow asked, smiling at Lucy who only looked up to him expectantly. "I love you too. From here to Magnolia 1.0 a million times." Or a billion or even trillion times, but he really wasn't going to try and ever get into an argument over who loves who more, because Bickslow was sure he would win.
And so ignoring how he could see Mira standing with Laxus not too far away and staring at himself with Lucy, and not noticing the event photographer that had been hired for the night that was lurking nearby, Bickslow gently brought his lips down to Lucy's, right as the song ended.
For I can't help falling in love with you
A/Ns: Song used is Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling In Love (/watch?v=vGJTaP6anOU).