And there I was, working on more of dat lesbow shiz and playing the hell out of Darkest Dungeon (The Crimson Court DLC is the stuff of nightmares in terms of both difficulty and lore, I have to admit. ) in my spare time away from writing, instead of doing the rational thing and finally finishing that big-ass course assignment that I should already turn in at 25th of May.
I can't help it – this fic is just way too much fun to write. Also, compared to the previous chapter, this one's a whole feckin' volume instead of a single chapter, pizdetz! Yeah… Like I said, I've had way too much fun writing this. And sorry for shoehorning in the fainting.
Otveti na obzori! Ahem, I mean… Review responses!
symbiotic: Yeah, the shortness of that chapter is kind of the reason why Akko's moodswings lasted a tad less than they should realistically have. And I'm glad to see that even Diakko shippers can enjoy the Sukko stuff I put out. Makes me wish the Russian part of the fandom was this civil, because pairing shitstorms are STILL not ceasing over there.
GeminiAlchemist: Eh, didn't read the Deaf Akko fic, so can't say much on it. And yeah, I'm sure Sucy and Akko would make for loving and caring parents. As for their kid – I'm not going to spoil much on that one, but I can guarantee that she isn't going to inherit both of their negative quirks at once. I mean, come on, troublemaking tendencies mixed with a solid love for mischief? That's just a recipe for disaster.
Depressed PaperBag: Sucy can do a lot of things. Convincing her waifu that things won't turn out to be a complete mess is not on that list, though. As for the dashes thing – I feel it's a little awkward if I leave the loose ends of interrupted speech just hanging like that.
(Current in-story month: July, duh)
Honestly, the second month wasn't going any better for Akko. In fact, it only began getting worse – not only did the incredibly hot July weather begin to get on her nerves, which prompted more mood swings, but there were actually a few moments when the brunette would feel rather light-headed or outright fainted. Thus, it was understandable that recently, Akko was spending more time at home, usually only doing the occasional housework, as working with Sucy's potions was out of the question in her current state.
"By Yggdrasil, this summer is even worse than the last one. Had it not been for the cooling enchantment I placed on various objects throughout the house, I think you wouldn't have been the only constantly fainting person here." – Sucy remarked as she took her gas mask off and sat down next to Akko on the couch.
"I can't even set foot outside without giving out from the heat!" – The brunette whined, lying on her back. After a few more moments of relative quiet, she added: "What were you working on today, anyway?"
"Eh, just another batch of cooling potions." – The violette remarked, pointing to a rather sizable box of bottles with icy blue liquid in them that she had currently placed down on the floor. – "These seem to be getting bought out like no tomorrow. I'd give you a sample, buuuuut I've heard that this draught some nasty side effects in pregnant women."
"Like what, the possibility of giving birth to a Yuki-onna?" – Akko remarked, giving out a half-hearted giggle at her own joke.
Heck, even Sucy couldn't help but snicker at that one. Although she did speak up in a more serious tone afterwards: "I was thinking it would probably be something more mundane, like a miscarriage." – She was actually speaking the truth, as some of the stabilizers in that batch of cooling potions weren't exactly safe for consumption by pregnant women, even if said stabilizers were heavily distilled within the mixture. Standing up from the couch and picking the box back up, Sucy continued: "Welp, I'm off to the shop for the time being. Hopefully I'll be back by lunchtime, although it might take a little longer. Don't do anything more stupid than usual, will ya, honey?" – The alchemist finished, her soft voice letting Akko know that she wasn't actually being mean with that remark. Sucy then gave her pregnant wife one more kiss on the cheek and then went to exit the house, hoping that the enchantment on the cooling amulet she currently wore would last just enough for her to tough the current potions shop shift out.
"As if I even have any energy to be doing anything stupid." – Akko deadpanned, sighing. Good thing the dizziness seemed to have begun diminishing, although the brunnete still didn't feel like doing anything anyway, so she decided to take a quick nap.
For the remainder of the day and at least up until lunchtime, Akko was mostly slacking off. Even after her quick and dreamless nap, she only ever got up just for the sake of taking care of some natural needs, and maybe some cleaning around the house. So, in other words, she really wasn't slacking off all that much anyway.
Having had washed her hands for the umpteenth time already and closing the door behind herself, Akko was just about to go back to the living room when she heard the doorbell ring. Wow, did she really run over to the washroom so often that she didn't even keep up with the flow of time and kept running around all the way to afternoon?
However, it turned out that it wasn't Sucy ringing the doorbell. Amanda and Lotte had actually come by for a visit.
"Oh, hi Akko. Sucy's stuck at work all over again?" – Amanda asked as soon as Akko opened the door.
"Yeah, she's busy selling off cooling potions." – The brunette replied, gesturing the two girls to come on in. – "So, why did you two come by?"
"Just for a quick visit, really." – Lotte answered to the asian witch's question. Then, looking at her for a few moments, she shyly added: "Say, Akko, you look a little… Disheveled. Is everything okay?"
Akko looked over herself a bit and noticed that her hair really was a complete and utter mess – she didn't even bother tying her signature half-do ponytail from the moment she woke up and for the remainder of the day. Not to mention that, aside from her undies, all she really had on herself was her tank top.
"Sorry, haven't been getting up for the remainder of the day. The weather's not doing me any favors, that is for sure. I'll be right back." – With that said, Akko quickly ran off back to her and Sucy's shared bedroom, quickly put on her usual casual clothes – a light violet t-shirt with "I have the hots for a Filipino" written on it – she actually worn that one unironically quite often, as it was one specifically commissioned by Sucy as an anniversary gift, not to mention that the violette herself had a matching light brown t-shirt with "I'm really into this shoujo over here." written on it, with the word "shoujo" actually written in both kanji and transcript one above another. – and some rather simple denim shorts, while all she had on for footwear were light pink slippers.
While Akko invited the two girls over to the kitchen and later went on to make some tea, Lotte asked: "So, how were you two doing so far? You actually told me over the phone just about a month or so ago that you've had some rather exciting news, but then ran off for some reason. And when you came back, you seemed to be breathing heavily, and said that you'll tell us later. "
Right… Akko did want to tell them that she and Sucy were going to have a baby, but her morning sickness just had to butt in and ruin the conversation. And telling them in person that she used one of Sucy's potions to conceive a baby was… A little bit awkward, to say the least.
"Right, about the news… You see, I, uh…"
"You know, you two could have at least bothered to close the door behind yourselves." – A familiar deadpan tone rang from somewhere.
Right now, Akko was unsure whether to thank Sucy for sparing her the embarrassment of telling about a potion-induced pregnancy, or to curse her for not letting her just go ahead and tell the news.
"Oh, hey there, Suce. Weren't you going to be away at your shop for the remainder of the day?" – Amanda asked, a little curious. Sucy groaned and looked over at Akko, who just shrugged and remarked: "Well, I was busy trying to tell them something else entirely, so I may have forgot to mention that. Sorry."
"Eh, it's alright. I know you're even more absent-minded than usual these days, especially considering your current state." – Sucy responded, walking over to Akko and giving her a soft hug.
"State?" – Amanda repeated, a little confused. Sucy couldn't help but giggle.
"Oh me, oh my, Akko. Did you really have this much trouble telling them that you're pregnant?" – The violette remarked, lightly stroking the brunette's belly.
"Say what now?!" – Amanda shouted out.
"Yes, well…That's a bit of a long story…" – Akko nervously replied. On the other hand, that just presented her an opportunity to tell the whole story as it is.
"And, well, this is how I ended up in this state. But I assure you, it was entirely voluntary on my part." – The Japanese witch said, finishing her story.
"Well then… Congrats to the parents-to-be!" – Amanda gave Akko a light shoulder jab as she said that. Then, after a few moments, she remarked: "Although I don't see any real need to go to such trouble if you could, you know, just go on and adopt some lucky kid from the orphanage."
"Well, she insisted that the kid would really be ours. Our flesh and blood, so to speak." – Sucy remarked, stroking Akko's belly which, while it wasn't very noticeably distended, still had just a tiny bump that one wouldn't really notice unless they looked hard enough.
"You really have to put everything in a morbid light, don't you now, Suce?" – Akko asked, giving Sucy a rather annoyed glare. The violette shrugged and decided to just change the subject: "So anyway, how was your family life doing so far, you two redheads?"
"Eh, I'd say it's fine. I'm getting just enough money from my job as a Broom Riding teacher in Luna Nova, and Lotte is actually going to publish one of her first books pretty soon." – Then, in a somewhat less enthusiastic tone, the Irish-American redhead whispered to Sucy and Akko: "She said it was inspired by Nightfall. I mean no offense, but something's telling me it's probably going to end up just as cheesy as the originals."
Akko couldn't help but groan the moment she heard Amanda mention those dreaded book series. She wasn't one to disrespect anyone's tastes, but honestly, even after all these years, she had a hard time understanding why people liked the Nightfall series so much even after they were finally concluded at least 5 years ago.
Lotte, meanwhile, decided to continue where her redhead wife left off: "While the book was inspired by my time reading Nightfall and writing fanfics for these series, it's not even loosely connected to them, actually. It's about a girl who went on to interview a particular rich man, and then realizes she's hopelessly in love with him, but he turns out to have a bit of a dark secret and-"
"Did you give the rich guy the surname "Grey" by any chance?" – Sucy deadpanned.
"His full name is actually Allen Ravenborn." – The ginger continued. – "I won't be letting in on any…Further details, though. It's real raunchy from that point onward."
Well, this was awkward. After a few moments of the only sounds at the table being a bit of tea sipping and maybe the occasional coughing courtesy of Sucy, Akko quickly changed the subject…Back to where they started: "So, you two actually thought about adopting a kid, huh?"
"Well, it was only a recent suggestion by Lotte, actually. " – Amanda answered. – "I wholeheartedly agreed with her that we wouldn't need any of this surrogacy or potions mess – I mean, for crying out loud, that's a metric ton of health problems and overall stress for 9 months straight, which is something neither Lotte nor I would want – , and instead opted to just go on ahead and adopt a kid from one of the local orphanages. There is one orphan in particular she seems to be on the lookout for – an odd 10-year old girl with unnaturally long raven hair who actually seems to be blind from birth, judging by the blindfold she wears all the time. I think it was her pity getting the better of her when she decided that we would be filing for adoption of this particular kid. But hey, who am I to judge, anyway – besides, the kid's looking to be a rather nice and cheerful one despite her appearance and odd affliction, so-"
"Suce?" – Akko asked, looking over at her wife in the middle of Amanda's explanation.
"Come on now, Akko, it's rude to just bail out of a conversation. Just tough it out a little longer. " – Sucy whispered back.
"No, I meant to say that I'm not really feeling well right now…" – The brunette touched her hand to the side of her head to emphasize her point.
"Um, okay Amanda. Thanks for sharing the news, but you can save the rest of the details for another time." – Sucy remarked as she helped Akko stand up from the chair. – "Besides, Akko's not really feeling well today because of both the weather outside and her own low blood pressure, so-"
A loud thud interrupted the violette's speech. Akko practically fell out of her hands and onto the floor.
"Not the first time it happened…" – Sucy thought as Amanda and Lotte helped her lift the unconscious asian witch off the floor. – "…definitely won't be the last, at least within this trimester."
In about an hour, Akko soon woke up lying in her and Sucy's shared bed, with the violette sitting right by her side.
"Oh… Not again…" – Akko uttered, sitting upright. Sucy soon took notice of the fact that her wife seemed to have began coming to her senses, and remarked: "You know, your organism seems to be bent entirely on making you pass out at the worst of times."
"Yeah, tell me about it… For how long was I out?" – The brunette asked, still a little dazed.
"A couple…Days." – Naturally, Akko freaked out and gasped in surprise from that response, just as Sucy expected. Her immediate loud cackling as soon as the Japanese witch reacted accordingly, however, gave the joke away quickly, so she added: "I'm just fooling, guinea pig. You were out for an hour at most."
"Sucy!" – The asian witch whined, crossing her arms and pouting. – "You know that making a pregnant woman worry isn't exactly good to neither her health nor the health of her baby!"
"Hey, take it easy now, bunny. I just thought that I should ease the tension a little bit is all. I didn't mean to make you actually worry." – The alchemist remarked in a somewhat warmer than usual tone, hugging her wife.
"And what of Lotte and Amanda?" – Akko asked, her voice sounding a tad quiter by now.
"They apologized and went on to take the leyline back home after helping me carry you over to the bed when you passed out." – Sucy replied.
"Oh…" – Was all the brunette could muster for a response. The Filipino witch sighed and, still keeping her wife held in an embrace, asked: "Is something troubling you, honey?"
"Other than the fact that I just randomly passed out at the worst of times – nothing." – Akko deadpanned.
"No need to worry, darling. You'll just have to tough it out for about a few months more. From that point, the most you would have to worry about would be back aches, and maybe your belly getting in the way of things. " – Yeah, Sucy wasn't exactly good at being reassuring, but at least she tried.
"These "few months" are sure as hell going to feel like forever, though…" – The brunette groaned out. Sucy, although still smiling, gave out a quiet sigh and asked: "Say, are you feeling hungry right now, Akko?"
"Well, I skipped lunch because of my fainting issues, so I thought the answer should be pretty obvious?" – The asian witch barked out.
"Alright, alright, let me go cook something up for you. Mushroom soup as usual?" – Sucy asked as she got off the bed.
"Eh, not like I have any choice when you're the one cooking today." – Akko quietly replied as she attempted to get up from the bed, but was quickly pulled right back down by her wife, who remarked: "Nuh-uh, darling. I think you should just sit still for now. I'll bring you a bowl when it's done."
"Nah, if I have to sit still, then I'd just stay over at the kitchen, then. Lying here all alone isn't all that pleasant, you know." –The asian witch remarked as she got up and stubbornly followed her spouse. The violette just sighed, although the quiet smile on her face suggested that there wasn't any actual negativity behind that sigh.
She just couldn't be mad at the lovable idiot of a wife she had.
I feel like I may have botched the ending slightly. I just didn't know the right way to end this particular chapter, and just improvized as I went along.
Also, some other characters appearing besides our two favorite lesbo witches! The whole thing with Amanda and Lotte being in a relationship was inspired by mah boi GeminiAlchemist's works. Although I kind of feel like I didn't give them enough "couple" interactions other than discussing the whole adoption thing. But hey, they're not the type of people to get all lovey-dovey at someone else's home, right?
And with that said, I have to get back to finishing that big-ass course assignment that I'll have to be reporting on at 25th of May, so…
Darky Out! (probably for quite a long while, too)