Lucy only blinked and watch silently with a piece of pizza still held in her mouth as Bickslow walked back in, slamming the door behind himself and cursing loud enough to make Freya look up. He'd been gone barely forty five minutes, but Lucy wasn't sure she wanted to know why Bickslow was back so soon. She had a feeling it wasn't going to be a good thing.
Bickslow was still furious, although somehow, his mood had only gotten worse on his way home. He supposed that was because he'd just kept thinking about his father over and over. There were very few people that Bickslow actually wished were dead, but Oscar was most definitely one of them. He was convinced the world would be a better place without him.
He clenched his fists at his side and tried to refrain from just screaming at something inanimate. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but it did, and it was just making him feel even worse. "Fuck!" He kind of wanted to punch something, preferably Oscar's face, but the last time he'd punched something, he'd gotten his hand all cut up and that hadn't been all that fun.
"Is everything okay?" Lucy called out, grimacing as she set the slice of pizza back down in the box next to her.
Bickslow stepped back into the entryway quickly, finally noticing Lucy in the sunken lounge room. "Hm? What? Oh. Yeah, totally fine." He let out a sigh before dropping his keys into the bowl by the stairs. "Is that Hawaiian?" he asked, spying the pizza sitting on the lounge.
"Maybe…" She didn't even bother fighting it when Bickslow lifted the box to sit in its place, taking a slice once he had the pizza box on his lap instead. Lucy hadn't exactly wanted to share her pizza, which was why she'd attempted to get rid of Bickslow for the night, but something had clearly gone wrong for him to be there right then. "So… Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked quietly.
"It's not important," Bickslow mumbled.
"Ooo-kay… What about Oscar, then?"
"What about him?"
"Well, is he coming back?"
"I sure fucking hope not," he muttered.
Lucy couldn't help but begin to worry. She was getting the impression things hadn't gone so well with Bickslow's dad, especially if he was saying that he hoped he didn't come back. "What is what supposed to be mean?" she asked.
Bickslow shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Forget I said anything." He'd said too much as it was. Lucy didn't need to worry about how much of a prick his dad was, and Bickslow sure as hell didn't want her to worry about it. Things had been fine without Oscar, so all they had to do was forget the guy had even shown up at all. Simple, really, and those days, Bickslow didn't mind the simple things. "I think I'm just gonna go to bed," he said once he finished the pizza, dusting his hands and moving the pizza box back off his lap.
"What? It's not even eight yet.'
"I know. Just not feeling the best right now, kinda have a headache." He kissed her cheek quickly before getting up, patting his leg and calling for Freya to follow him upstairs. "C'mon. Bed time, Freya."
Lucy watched the dog stretch before jumping off the lounge to head for Bickslow, nudging his hand with her nose for a pat first. She'd been enjoying the dog's company, not that Lucy would admit it out loud to. "Uh, well… Good night then," she said, watching Bickslow climb the few steps back into the entry way. Bickslow only lifted a hand to lazily wave back to her before he finally headed upstairs, and Lucy let out a quiet sigh before returning to her pizza and movie.
She knew that there was something he wasn't telling her, something to do with Oscar, but Lucy knew that she had no hope in hell of getting him to tell her what had actually happened, at least not that night.
Freya jumping up and barking startled Lucy awake, and she reached out to turn the light on just as the dog jumped down from the bed and bolted out into the hall and down the stairs, still barking loud enough to wake the neighbours.
Bickslow groaned beside her, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "What the fuck is she barking at?" It had been months since he'd woken up like that in the middle of the night, but every other time it had been from Ingrid crying. Now that she was sleeping through the night, Bickslow had been savouring his sleep and enjoying waking up mostly refreshed every morning. If he'd known Freya would start waking up in the middle of the night to scare the crap out of him and bark like she was possessed, then he would've gotten a quiet pet. Something like a goldfish, or maybe a ferret.
"I don't know…" Lucy mumbled. "I think there's someone outside." It was hard to hear anything over Freya barking, but Lucy thought she could almost make out the sound of someone banging on the door. She wasn't sure who was stupid enough to visit in the middle of the night, though. She didn't particular care to find out right then, either, not while she had one of the twins' heads permanently sitting on her bladder. "Ugh, now I need to pee…"
As Lucy pulled herself out of bed and waddled over to the bathroom, Bickslow dragged his hand down his face and fought the urge to just lay back down and cover his head with a pillow. All he'd wanted to do was sleep and forget the day had even happened, but apparently he couldn't even do that. So finally, Bickslow dragged himself out of bed to go investigate just what the fuck Freya was barking at.
If it was the neighbour's cat again, he was probably going to report it as a stray cat to the ranger; in the month and a half they'd lived there, Bickslow had come to learn that the neighbour's cat had an awful habit of sleeping on their front steps, in the garden, and outside the door in their backyard. If he wasn't allergic to it, he might've actually just accepted it as his own pet and started feeding it. If it ended up being some drunken fool or some kind of prank, then… Well, Bickslow didn't know what he'd do, because he wasn't really sure there was anything he could do if that was what it ended up being.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Bickslow sighed loudly as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Freya stopped barking long enough just to put her tail between her legs and whine at him, then turned and started barking and pawing at the door again. The person on the other side of the door continued to pound his fist on it and Bickslow rolled his eyes as he switched the light on, unlatched the door, and pulled the door open, ready to give the imbecile a piece of his mind.
He didn't expect that imbecile to be Oscar, swaying on his feet and just about falling face first into the hall.
Bickslow had half a mind to slam the door in his father's face. But he didn't for some absurd reason. Instead, as Oscar gave him a lopsided grin and opened his mouth to either vomit or slur some bullshit lie, Bickslow pointed back out to the street and said, "Turn the fuck around, go back to whatever hellhole you came from, and don't come back."
"What? C'mon, don't be like that," Oscar complained. He put his hand out when Bickslow went to close the door, pushing it back and forcing himself through the gap. "Look, I… I said some shitty things—"
"I don't care." Bickslow shook his head and pushed on Oscar's shoulder, trying to get him back out the door. He was far too tired for that shit, and he couldn't care less about hearing his father's weak attempt at what was probably some kind of apology. "Now get the fuck out before I call the—"
"What's going on?"
Bickslow spun when he heard Lucy from the middle of the stairs, and her coming downstairs was the last thing he'd needed right then. Now she was going to ask why he was kicking his drunk father out the door in the middle of the night, and Bickslow really didn't want to answer that. "Nothing," he said instead. "Just go back to bed. I'll be up in a minute." With one hard nudge, he finally managed to get Oscar out of the way of the door frame so he could lean against the door and finally close it, leaving his father slumped against the door on the front steps and whining like a child who'd just had their toy taken from them.
And, even if Bickslow had wanted her to just go upstairs, Lucy couldn't do it. There had to be a reason that Bickslow's father was at the door, and there had to be a reason for Bickslow making a point of kicking him out, and not just because it was the middle of the night.
"Bicks… Come on, I just… I just wanna talk," Oscar shouted through the door.
Lucy ignored him as she slowly headed towards the door, crossing her arms and looking up as Bickslow made a point of looking elsewhere. "You know, this would be a good opportunity for you to tell me what's going on," she said softly.
Bickslow shrugged. "Nothing's going on." It was kind of the truth anyway, at least as far as Bickslow saw it. A drunk and delusional fool showing up at their door in the middle of the night wasn't anything to be concerned about. Bickslow just had to send him on his way and everything would be fine.
"Uh-huh, sure. Why's your dad here then?"
Bickslow shrugged again. "I dunno," he muttered. "Probably because he wants to try and apologise or some shit because he thinks I'll forgive him or something."
"Apologise? What for?" Lucy supposed it meant they'd had some kind of argument, and it would explain why Bickslow had been in such a foul mood earlier if that was the case, but Lucy really couldn't think of a reason for them to fight.
"Who knows. He's never given an apology in his entire miserable life. I doubt he even knows how to give one."
"Bicks…" Lucy said quietly. He really couldn't make it any more obvious that he keeping something from her. If he was going to lie, then the least he could do was put a little effort into it. "Come on, why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying," he insisted. He was just… avoiding telling her the truth. That wasn't lying. Sort of. In any case, Bickslow knew Lucy well enough to know that she was definitely not going to let it go. She could be annoyingly persistent, and considering she was standing right in front of him, Bickslow knew he couldn't just escape and hope for the best either. Even if he did managed to make it back upstairs, Lucy would just bug him about it up there, too. He really had no options. "He's not a good person, Lucy," he admitted after a moment. "I don't want him here."
"Why do you say that? What did he do to make you say that all of a sudden?"
"It's not…" Bickslow shook his head. He didn't really know how to tell her that the guy was just exactly like the father he'd left behind in their old world. He didn't really want to tell her either. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
While Lucy still hated that he wasn't telling her everything (or anything at all), she could accept that he didn't want his father there right then, or even at all. The only problem was that Lucy wasn't really comfortable just having Bickslow send Oscar on his merry way, at least not that night. She glanced to the door as Oscar banged on it again, tiredly asking for Bickslow to let him in so he could apologise. "Is he drunk?" she asked quietly.
Bickslow shrugged. "Yeah."
Hearing that, Lucy wasn't even sure if she wanted Oscar in her house right then. But sending Oscar away right then made her more uncomfortable than letting him in. "You can't just send him home like that, Bicks," she whispered.
"Sure I can," he insisted. "If I ignore him long enough he'll give up and go away. Simple."
"Look, I don't know what happened between you two or why you want to get rid of him so much, but I can't let him go like when he's been drinking."
Sometimes, Bickslow questioned Lucy's sanity. Sometimes, he also wondered just why the fuck he loved her as much as he did, because clearly, she was fucking insane. "Uh, no. I''m telling you right now that he is not stepping foot inside his house again."
"And I'm telling you that he is. So move." She didn't really want to argue with him about it, especially not in the middle of the night, but Lucy didn't think it could be avoided when Bickslow was making a point of being stubborn. So she shoved him out of the way to get to the door, only barely spared a glare at him over her shoulder before she unlocked the door and finally pulled it open. She moved out of the way just so Oscar didn't go crashing into her, and instead let him fall flat on his face on the floor.
Bickslow knew he'd lost the second he saw his father try and pick himself up from the ground. It was pitiful, but he held no pity at all for the man. He just didn't deserve it, and Bickslow couldn't for the life of him figure out why Lucy was being nice to him. She wouldn't be if she knew how much of a dick he was. But even then, Bickslow was sure she'd still be the better person and let him in. That was just what she was good at - being kind to those who didn't deserve it. And he knew that all too well.
"Wait, where… Where are you going?" Oscar slurred, pulling himself up and watching his son make his way towards the stairs. "You've gotta… I wanted to… Come on! Just talk to me!"
Lucy sighed as Bickslow made a point of ignoring him and continued up the stairs. She was sure Oscar would crawl up the stairs after him if she didn't step in though, so she went and made sure the front door was locked again before going to tap and Oscar's shoulder and see if she couldn't figure out something to do about him. "Come on, it's been a long day," she said softly. "How about you just get some rest. You can talk to Bicks in the morning."
"Yeah… Right…" He'd be able to call Bickslow in the morning to apologise. Perhaps he'd even just visit him at work instead. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Oscar used them to help pull himself to his feet, only sitting on the bottom step for a moment before making it up to a standing position. He really couldn't tell what had gotten into Bickslow to make him act that way all of a sudden, but Oscar knew that he needed to apologise - although even then, he wasn't exactly sure what for. "I'll come back in the morning or somethin'…" he mumbled.
"I didn't mean you had to leave. It's late. Just stay here."
Oscar shook his head. "N-No, 's fine. I'll… I'll call a taxi…"
"I insist," Lucy said softly. She was just a little glad to hear that he hadn't intended on actually driving home himself, but sending him home in a taxi still didn't make her feel any better. "Besides, a taxi will take ages to get here. Come on, I'll set up the lounge for you."
"I… I guess…" He had to admit that crashing on the couch seemed slightly more appealing. He was struggling to keep his eyes open as it was and at least if he crashed there, Bickslow would have no choice but to talk to him. So he followed Lucy into the living room slowly, then waited until she'd moved the throw pillows out of the way before he collapsed down onto the cream sofa. He made himself comfortable while Lucy went to fetch a blanket, kicking off his shoes and grabbing one of the pillows to put it under his head.
Returning a moment later, Lucy placed the folded up blanket down next to him. "Do you want anything? Some water or something to eat?" she asked.
Oscar shook his head again. "I'm fine."
"Well, if you change your mind, just help yourself. There's some cold water and leftover pizza in the fridge if you want it." Nodding to herself, Lucy bid her father-in-law goodnight, turning off the lights in the entry before slowly making her way back up the stairs and leaving Oscar in peace. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect once she reached the bedroom again, but Bickslow sitting up in the bed and sulking with Freya on his lap definitely wasn't it. "Alright, come on. You really need to tell me what your problem is," she said, sighing as she climbed back up onto the mattress. Sure, their new bed might be way more comfortable than their last one in the apartment, but it was damn high and she was seriously considering using a stepladder to get into it.
"I can't believe you did that," he muttered, huffing and pointedly looking away. She was supposed to be on his side, damn it. She wasn't supposed to stand there and let his shithead father crash on the couch.
"Bicks, seriously. He's clearly been drinking and it's the middle of the night. It wouldn't have been right to send him away. What if something happened to him?"
"So what? I told you I didn't want him here, and then you go and let him in to stay the night!"
"I know that. But what did you expect me to do? He's your dad."
"And that's exactly why I didn't want him inside the house again," Bickslow said. It wasn't a difficult concept to grasp, and Lucy was a smart person so he really didn't know why she was having such a hard time understanding it. "I told you before he's not a good person, and he's not the kind of person I want around my family, okay?"
Lucy sighed again as she fluffed up the pillow under her head. She really did get that she'd offended him, but she still didn't understand why. "How do you know he's not a good person then?" she asked quietly.
"Because he's my dad and I know exactly what he's like."
"Well… Maybe he's different in this world…" She really didn't know how bad Oscar could be though, especially not in their old world. For the most part, Lucy had just assumed that Bickslow hadn't had any family left. He'd never brought them up, and as far as Lucy knew, Bickslow had been in the guild since he'd been a teenager anyway. "And you didn't seem to think that earlier," Lucy pointed out. "You weren't saying this when we all went out to lunch."
"I assure you, he is the exact same as the father I left behind in our old world." He gave a small shrug before unfolding his arms to scratch behind Freya's ears. "I was just hoping he'd be different when you showed up at my office with him. I didn't really know what to think. Now I do," he mumbled.
"Are you sure, though? I mean… What if he isn't as bad as you think?"
He finally looked down at her resting beside him, and all too quickly remembered why he didn't want to be talking to her about it. Everything really had been fine until Oscar had shown up. Now it was all a mess and Bickslow just wished he could put it all behind him. But he wouldn't be able to do that until he talked to Lucy and got rid of Oscar, and the latter was something he clearly had no say in right then. "Do you want to know what he said to me at the bar?" he asked quietly. Lucy only shrugged into her pillow. "He told me how he said us—well, our other selves getting married was always a mistake. He also called you a bitch and whore and said I needed to fire James and get someone like Veronica back as my assistant, so I could fuck them instead because you wouldn't be smart enough to realise that I was cheating on you again."
Wow. So she hadn't exactly been expecting that. "Well… I've been called worse…" Lucy mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. She didn't exactly like that he'd called her that behind her back, but Oscar wasn't the first two-faced liar she'd come across. She was just disappointed that it had turned out that way. She really had liked her new father-in-law.
"That's not the point. He shouldn't have said it at all. He shouldn't have said any of it."
"So, what… Are you just going to cast him away for good now?" she asked.
Bickslow shrugged. "Did it before, so yeah," he said. "He's the reason I'm such a shitty person in this universe, and I just don't want him around so he can fuck up things, because that's what he does. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's the reason my mother is dead, Lucy. He broke her. And he raised the other me to be able to the exact same shit to you and think it's okay." If it had just been him and he hadn't had Lucy or Ingrid or the twins to worry about, then Bickslow knew he wouldn't be making such a big deal about it. But it wasn't just him anymore. He had his family to take care of, and right then, Oscar was the last person he wanted around.
Admittedly, Lucy felt just a little bad for arguing with Bickslow about it, but she still felt it had been the right thing to do to let Oscar in to make sure he was at least safe for the rest of the night. She knew that come morning Bickslow would be making a point about having Oscar leave as early as possible, and Lucy had a feeling that she'd be okay with that. It was Bickslow's home too, and she didn't want to go out of her way to make him uncomfortable, even if it meant that her children wouldn't have their only living grandparent around.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Would using me as a pillow make you feel better?"
"No…" Bickslow mumbled. "Actually… Yeah, kinda…" She did make the best pillow, and it wasn't like cuddling had been high on Lucy's list of favourite things to do lately as well. And as much as he would've liked to use her stomach as a pillow like he had all those months earlier, it just wasn't possible anymore, so sliding down the bed and under the covers after gently pushing Freya out of the way, he laid his head on her chest instead and draped an arm over her. She really was comfy, and he always liked it when she ran her fingers through his hair.
"Why didn't you just tell me all of this when you got home?" Lucy asked softly after a moment.
"Because I didn't want you to worry about any of it. I knew that if you knew what kind of shit he was saying behind your back, then you'd be hurt by it, and I didn't want that."
She supposed it did sting a little bit to know Oscar was who he'd appeared to be, but she was trying not to let it bother her too much. She had more important things to focus on. "I'm okay. What about you, though?"
Bickslow gave a small shrug. "Just kind of disappointed, I guess," he mumbled. He really wasn't sure why though, because he hadn't expected anything else. But perhaps after seeing his father walk into his office that day after not even thinking about him for all those years, he'd had just a glimmer of hope that Oscar wasn't so bad in that world. But perhaps that had just been wishful thinking. "Should've known he'd be like this. Our worlds aren't all that different after all."
"Maybe not…" Lucy murmured. "And… I know you don't like it, but I think him staying for the night is the right decision. I promise he'll leave first thing in the morning, though."
"I know, and… You're right." Sure, he fucking hated it and he still didn't think Oscar deserved anything even resembling kindness from Lucy, but it probably was for the best that he stayed. At the very least, it'd give Bickslow the opportunity to tell his father one final time that he wasn't going to be welcome there in the future, and he'd be more likely to remember it when he was just hungover and not drunk.
Bickslow was never the first one up in the morning. No matter what, Lucy was always up before him, and by the time Bickslow made it downstairs, she'd already have Ingrid fed and she'd be in her playpen keeping herself occupied with her toys for a little while. He had tried telling Lucy that she didn't have to do everything herself in the morning, but it never did anything. She always insisted that it was just easier for her to get Ingrid sorted in the morning if she was up so he could just get ready for work.
That morning, his house was quiet, and it only made him want to pull the blanket up over his head and go back to bed. Silence was a rare occurrence in his house.
With his snooze alarm going off, Bickslow finally dragged himself out of bed and over to the bathroom where he jumped into the shower and grudgingly started his day. By the time he was slowly walking downstairs twenty minutes later, hair still damp but dressed for work and rolling the sleeves of his shirt up, Lucy had already let Freya outside, gotten Ingrid fed and put her down in her playpen, and was just finishing getting breakfast dished up. And, much to Bickslow's annoyance, his father was still there and sitting at the end of the counter with a cup of coffee in front of him.
He'd really hoped he wouldn't have to deal with Oscar again that morning. Perhaps that had been wishful thinking.
Bickslow ventured over to playpen at the front of the room to lean over the brightly coloured rails and kiss the top of his daughter's head before making his way over to the kitchen.
"Morning," Oscar mumbled with a glance over his shoulder, straightening up before taking a small sip of his drink.
Bickslow didn't pay him any attention and focused on Lucy. She didn't need to say anything for him to know that she was just as uncomfortable as he was, if not more so, and that was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid. "You okay?" he whispered, kissing her cheek.
Lucy nodded, forcing a small smile. "Of course." True, it wasn't exactly the best of mornings, but she'd probably had worse. Either way, all she had to do was stick it out for a little while longer and then she'd just be able to relax again and not have to worry about Oscar again. "Do you, um… Do you want something to eat?" she asked quickly. "Or are you going to get something on the way to work?"
"Haven't decided yet. Think I might stick around for a little while… And speaking of sticking around…" He looked back to Oscar on the other side of the counter. "When are you leaving?"
Oscar frowned at him. "Bicks, come on. Don't be like this."
"No. I don't want to hear it."
"Please, just… Just let me—"
"I mean it, Dad," Bickslow snapped. "Don't waste your breath. I'm not interested. I told you last night that I was done with all of your shit and I meant it. I'm not changing my mind."
Oscar still didn't know what he'd done. He was sure he'd missed something. First he doesn't hear a peep from him in months, and then as soon as he makes an effort, it's like he's talking to a completely different person. "Why are you like this? What did I do?" he asked.
Perhaps the worst part about it all was actually that Oscar hadn't really done anything. It wasn't really Oscar's fault that he was like that right then. As far as Bickslow's father was concerned, nothing had changed; his son was the same person he'd always been. But that just wasn't the truth anymore. Everything had changed, including him.
But while Bickslow wished that he could just say that it was all Oscar's fault, he just couldn't, because it wasn't the truth, and Bickslow couldn't even bring himself to lie.
"Nothing. You didn't do anything," Bickslow said quietly, refusing to look back up from the countertop. "It's me. I changed. And I'm really fucking sorry, but I am trying to do what's best for my family, and you are not it."
Oscar couldn't understand how someone could change so much and so little time, but he couldn't deny that it had happened. "How can you say that, Bicks?" he whispered. His own son, of all the people to cast him out like that.
"Like I said, I've changed."
Lucy looked between them when they both remained silent, Bickslow refusing to look back up, and Oscar making a point of looking down into his coffee. She couldn't help but feel sorry the man, even if she knew she had no reason to. She didn't particularly blame Bickslow for acting that way, either. Lucy was sure that if she was in his shoes, she'd be having just as much trouble telling Oscar to go. At the end of the day, Oscar was still his father, and that still meant something to Bickslow whether he'd admit it or not.
"I, uh… I called a cab before," Lucy announced cautiously. She almost didn't want to say anything, but she was didn't want to let the silence drag out longer than necessary. "It should be here soon…"
Bickslow couldn't bear to stay downstairs and wait it out. He wished he could, at least just to keep Lucy company and not have her deal with Oscar on her own, but the man kept looking like someone had kicked his puppy and Bickslow hated it. He was doing the best thing for his family, that much he was certain of, but he almost felt guilty for doing it and that wasn't fair. Bickslow just couldn't stay down there and keep feeling guilty for doing the right thing.
So he grabbed the cup of coffee that Lucy had filled with copious amounts of sugar, just the way he loved, kissed his girlfriend on the top of her head again, then retreated up the stairs to hide until his father was on his way out.
Thankfully, it wasn't long at all before Bickslow saw the car pull up out the front of their yard through the upstairs window. By the time he made it back downstairs, Oscar was just reaching the door with Lucy following behind him. Bickslow tried not to pay too much attention to him when he looked up with those sad eyes of his.
"I guess that's my cue to leave," Oscar said quietly, looking to Lucy and instead offering a sad smile. Bickslow tried not to roll his eyes at it. Try as he might, his father wasn't going to be getting into Lucy's graces any time soon. The fact he was actually making an effort almost surprised Bickslow, especially considering what Oscar thought of her, but Bickslow knew better than to let himself think his father might actually be sorry for something. "Thank you for letting me stay. I… I never meant to impose on anyone."
Lucy gave him a kind smile as she pulled the door open. "Nonsense. You didn't impose at all."
"Right. Well, thanks again…" He looked to his son on the stairs for a moment, opening his mouth as if to say something to him before shutting it again. He knew better. And judging by the look on his face, Oscar realised that it wouldn't matter what he said, because Bickslow wouldn't even hear it. He could accept when it was time to leave, and so he did, turning away and heading through the open door and to the taxi that was waiting down the drive.
Bickslow made a point of following him out, stopping on the front steps with his arms crossed, watching to make sure that the cab took Oscar as far away as possible. He knew his father would be back at some point. He wished that sending Oscar away would be as easy as it had been in his old life, but everything was different there. Still, Bickslow knew he could deal with it if Oscar did eventually come back. He wasn't going to change his mind, that was for sure, but right then, with everything going on in his life and with his constant effort to just settle down properly, his father was just the last thing he wanted to be dealing with.
"I gave him some money for the cab," Lucy said softly as the car finally pulled away. "Just in case."
With his father finally gone, Bickslow only felt exhausted. He let out the sigh he'd been holding in as he finally turned back for the house, going to sit at the bottom of the stairs as Lucy got the door. He should've known Lucy would help him out again. That was just what she did. He never thought he'd see the day where he hated that, though. "You're too good to people sometimes," he mumbled. "You know that?"
"I just try and do what's right," she whispered. Maybe that did mean she was too nice to people sometimes, but for the most part, Lucy disagreed. She didn't think there was anything wrong with being nice to people, either. She'd always believed that you had to treat people the way you wanted to be treated back, and that just meant treating people with kindness in her eyes.
Still, maybe Oscar hadn't deserved it. Maybe she really had been too nice to him after learning what he was really like. All Lucy knew for sure was that it was something that needed to be forgotten about. That was what Bickslow needed, at least.
"Why don't you stay home today," Lucy suggested after a long moment of silence, only watching him with concern as he sat with his chin in his palms. "We could go see a movie, or take Ingrid to the park…" Maybe a break would do Bickslow some good after the night he'd had. Besides, she felt horrible for not realising it had been Father's Day and she needed to make up for that.
"That sounds amazing," Bickslow sighed, "but I have to go to work. Rain check?"
Lucy smiled as she gave a small nod. "Of course."
Eventually, Bickslow got up from the bottom of the staircase when he decided it was time to properly get ready to leave. He really would've loved to just stay home and enjoy what was left of the day, but his morning had already been ruined so Bickslow didn't see the point trying to make it better at that point. It just meant he had the weekend to look forward to now, and that was fine with him.
"Bicks?" Lucy called up the stairs before Bickslow could get too far away. She waited until she'd turned around on her own step before continuing. "I love you. You know that." She didn't think she said it enough, and she had a feeling it was something Bickslow had needed to hear.
He smiled for the first time in a day, the corner of his mouth just barely lifting up, but enough to make it count. "I know you do. I love you, too."
"Shit, sorry." Laxus burst into Freed's office out of breath and seemingly exhausted. "Fuckin' Erza was on my ass about getting shit done before lunch."
"It's fine," Freed said. He scooted over on the lounge to let Laxus sit down, grabbing one of the take-out boxes on the coffee table to hand to him. "We picked you up some lunch just in case."
Laxus was already tearing it open and grabbing some utensils before Freed could finish his sentence. "Thank fuck. I'm fucking starving." All he'd had all day was coffee, and as much as he loved the shit, it wasn't enough to get him through the day. "Anyway. What did I miss? Anything exciting happen?" he asked once he'd already wolfed down half of the spicy noodles. They were a little cold from how long they'd been sitting there, but they were still edible.
"Ever made her assistant cry and quit," Bickslow mumbled.
Laxus snorted, and Evergreen glared at them both while she was quick to respond, "Bicks's dad showed up yesterday."
"Shit, really?" Laxus asked.
Bickslow sighed as he leant back into the soft armchair. Trust Evergreen to blurt that one out. He'd only told her about his dad was because he'd run into her on the way to his office that morning and she'd asked what he was brooding about. He just hadn't told his team about it yet. If anything, he hadn't wanted to tell them about it either. They were still his best friends and his family and that would never change, but the longer he was in that world, the more Bickslow realised there were just some things he didn't need to tell them. Laxus certainly never told him every little detail that happened in his life anymore - not that he'd ever done it a lot, but he had been prone to sharing every now and then - and it was the same for Freed and Evergreen.
In the other world, they'd only had each other. But there, in that world, they had their own proper families to go to at the end of each day, and that was just something that Bickslow had come to rely on far too much. But he enjoyed that. And he enjoyed having someone else to talk to all the time.
But when it came to his father's sudden appearance, Bickslow just didn't see why he'd needed to bring it up to his friends. It didn't change anything. And if anything, Bickslow just didn't want to dwell on it. Oscar had shown up and proven to be the dick he'd always been, and Bickslow had done the same thing he'd done as a teenager and wiped his hands clean of him. It was just the same shit in a different world.
Of course though, now that Evergreen had brought it up, well… Bickslow knew he had no choice in talking about it. He supposed that was what he got for telling them all about her assistant. In his defence though, it wasn't like he'd known it was a secret or anything. He'd just happened to be walking past when it had happened. He'd assumed the whole floor knew about it by now.
"Yeah," Bickslow finally said with a heavy sigh, only picking at what was left of his lunch. "Came by the house yesterday morning. Got dragged out to lunch with him when Lucy brought him here."
"Oh, I was wondering who that was," Freed said. None of them had ever met Bickslow's father, not that it was surprising. He'd only been passing by when he'd seen them all leaving Bickslow's office the day before; he hadn't paid much attention to see if there was any resemblance. "How'd it go anyway?"
"Well, he's still a cunt, so there's that."
Laxus snorted. "'Course. What did Lucy think of him?"
"She adored him, of course," Bickslow said bitterly. It irritated him to no end that Oscar had been able to win her over that easily, but he supposed it had been the same with the other Lucy, too. That was just what his father was good at. "Told her all the fucked up shit he said to me when we went out later, and she was still nice to him about when he showed up drunk in the middle of the night."
"Well… I suppose it is Lucy, after all…" Evergreen added.
Bickslow shrugged. "Yeah, but still." He shook his head then. "Anyway, told him to fuck off. Dunno if he'll actually listen, but whatever." Really all Bickslow could do was hope at that point, but even that he didn't want to do since hoping meant he was still thinking about it, and Bickslow didn't want to do that. Oscar wasn't deserving of any of his brain power, as far as he was concerned. He was just one person who really was better off six feet in the ground.
They'd all heard the stories about Bickslow's family (or what remained of it), and they all knew just why Bickslow hated his father as much as he did. None of them blamed him, of course, so none of them were that surprised to hear that Bickslow had said what he had to his father in that world, too. Still, there was something about it all that just wasn't quite adding up. If Bickslow cared as little as he said he did, then he wouldn't be in the mood he was right then.
Perhaps becoming a parent had changed the way he looked at his own parent.
But of course, they all knew better than to keep talking about it. It had never been a topic Bickslow enjoyed, and that much clearly hadn't changed. But outside of work, which they'd all agreed was not something they'd talk about on their lunch breaks, there really wasn't much to talk about those days. And it sucked. Laxus didn't talk much about Mira or their kid, Freed didn't think his weekends were worth sharing since he mostly just read or went exploring the city, and Evergreen just flat out refused to talk about Elfman and what they did every night (but none of them really blamed her for that, either). But it was horribly silent in Freed's office that afternoon, with only the chatter from outside the office and the sound of Laxus wolfing down as much as he could being heard in the room, and none of them particularly enjoyed that.
Of course though, they'd all agreed that Bickslow had the most intriguing life out of all of them since moving to that world. Well, everyone but Bickslow agreed. So it didn't take Evergreen long to come up with something to break the silence, and she couldn't help from reaching across the gap to nudge the former Seith mage's knee as she excitedly said, "Hey, isn't it Ingrid's birthday soon?"
Bickslow shrugged. "I guess so, yeah. In a few weeks." God, that's terrifying. He was going to have a one-year-old, a puppy, and two newborns in a little over a month. There was nothing that wasn't frightening about that. "Why?"
"Just curious," Evergreen replied with a shrug. "Are you going to have a party?"
"What, for Ingrid? For her birthday?"
"Yes."
"…Why? I mean… She's a baby. Why the fuck does a baby need a birthday party? It's not like she'll remember it."
Evergreen rolled her eyes at him. He's still so clueless sometimes. "It's not for her. It's for the grown-ups, stupid," she pointed out.
Bickslow had assumed that much, but he still didn't really get it. "Yeah, but… why?" He certainly didn't need a party, and he didn't think Lucy cared that much about it either. She certainly hadn't said anything about it.
"So we can sit around and get drunk and eat cake, you dipshit," Laxus added.
Now that, Bickslow saw the appeal in. But even then, as much as he would love to just get utterly trashed and gorge himself on cake, Bickslow didn't think he needed to use his daughter's birthday as an excuse for it. He could very well just go and do that on the weekend if he wanted to - which he didn't, because he'd much rather spend it sober with his girlfriend, but still. "Okay, that's… fine, I guess…" he said slowly. "But like, we could just do that anyway. It doesn't need to be for my one-year-old daughter's birthday. I still don't get why a party for a kid that age is all that necessary."
It was like talking to a brick wall sometimes. Bickslow was just stubborn like that, and they all knew it. Thankfully, Freed was reasonably patient, unlike Laxus who only shook his head, and Evergreen who couldn't help but drag her hand down her face. Personally, Freed didn't care much for a birthday party, but he would admit that he thought them all having something to celebrate would do them some good.
"Well, it could also be a house-warming party," Freed suggested. "Or just a normal party, even. None of us have seen the house since you and Lucy moved in there. It would be nice to see what you've done with the place since then."
"I mean… It's just a house… It's nothing special or anything…" Bickslow mumbled. Sure, it had a fuck ton of pillows everywhere (why Lucy insisted on them, he still didn't know), but it still wasn't that fancy. It was a house. With walls. And stairs. And pillows. That was it.
"Sheesh, it's almost as if people are actually trying to hang out with you or something," Laxus muttered with a mouth full of food. "You know, like friends do."
Bickslow shrugged. "We're hanging out right now, aren't we?"
Evergreen rolled her eyes. "It's not the same," she whined, pouting as she crossed her arms. "We used to hang out all the time. Now we barely see each other out of work now."
It was true, Bickslow knew that. But for the most part, he just hadn't really felt like he was missing anything. He'd had enough to deal with at home, and it wasn't like he never saw his team anymore anyway. He saw them every damn day. Well, assuming he turned up to work. But, maybe having everyone around would be a good thing. Summer had officially finished the week before, but it was still hot as heck outside and Bickslow didn't think anyone would object to going for a swim, especially now that the pool in their yard was finally usable (although Bickslow did wish it had been a few weeks earlier, when they'd first moved in).
Even then, maybe having something to celebrate would be good for him, too. It'd give him something else to think about, at least.
"Fine." Bickslow sighed and dragged his hand down his face. "I'll talk to Lucy about it, see if she wants to have a party, or whatever the fuck it is you guys want. No promises, though."
Oh, man... I'm really sorry this one took so long to get updated. If you read my other stories, you'll know it's been a hectic few months. I'm working on getting back to writing slowly, and I'm going to be trying my best to get some updates out as soon as I can. Next on my hit list is S&S and HIMY, as well as Brothers, Sisters, and Unfortunate Husbands. Yay!
Anyway, unedited for now. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are always appreciated, and thanks as always for being patient with me!