Work practice is getting on my nerves, I swear. Ironically, I seem to have it much easier with writing after a long day of work. So yeah, there's this chapter. Probably going to go back to writing Twin Passions later on, though.

So, with that out of the way, onto the chap-

Oh wait, review responses.

symbiotic:Yeah, guess I have it much easier when writing chapters with just Akko and Sucy. So of course I went for just that with this one :D

GeminiAlchemist: Yup, Dianstanze. I have to admit, it was mostly a "pair the spares" type of couple, with the idea behind it being that it was indirectly thanks to Akko that these two ended up together.

Right, now we get to the chapter proper.

(Current in-story month: October)

"Hmm. Well, it's not like this room ever gets used for it's intended purpose anyway."

Considering that the kid would need a room of their own, Sucy was currently standing in the middle of the rarely-used guest room of her and Akko's shared house, looking around to see what warranted change. The room was not too spacious, sure, but at the very least, the single bed was at least half decent, and there was actually a rather large empty space in the corner of the room, which seemed to have just enough space to fit a toddler bed. The room didn't need all that much repainting either, so Sucy figured that the only things she'd have to take care of would be the bed placement. Hopefully Akko wouldn't insist on painting the room pink, though…

And speak of the mother-to-be…

"Oh, hey, sugar. What are you doing here?" – The brunette asked, leaning in from the side of the doorframe.

"Just thinking of how to redesign the guest room into a proper bedroom for our child, of course." – After looking around some more, Sucy turned to face Akko and spoke up: "I'm thinking we'd probably stick with minimal changes. Just stick the toddler bed into that corner of the room, get a couple toy shelves here and there, and that should be it."

"Wait, really? Shouldn't we repaint the room first?" – As Akko said that, she conjured a paintbrush and a small bucket of pink paint. The sight of the latter made Sucy gag.

"I'm pretty sure that aversion to the color pink is probably an inheritable thing." – The violette remarked, averting her gaze – "You wouldn't want our kid to sleep in a room that's painted in a color that she would constantly gag from, would you?"

"Um, but your hair is-"

"It's a noble mauve color, not pink." – Sucy remarked, not really angry at Akko since the girl brought that one up at least several times, so she was used to it. – "There's a visible difference between retch-inducing pink, and a subtle, noble mauve."

"So, the point is…"

"Toss that pink paint out into the trash where it belongs." – For all of the violette's attempts at being nice, they fell flat on a bright pink surface at this very moment. Akko shrugged and casually dispelled both the paint bucket and the brush. – "In any case, we're off shopping today. You might want to put a jacket on, by the way. This October is way too windy for it's own good, I swear…"

Overall, the shopping went by relatively normally. The only issues that arised were the issues of how exactly they would transport an entire toddler bed all the way back home. Luckily, it was solved by a single well-done Reducto spell. Both Akko and Sucy couldn't help but snicker as they remembered the look on the seller's face црут they not only declined the delivery, and when Sucy just casually minimized the entire bed to the size of a match box and stuffed it into her pocket. The spell was stable enough not to wear off mid-flight as the witches made their way back home, too.

Now, back home, Sucy and Akko had gone over to re-decorating the room. Sucy was still very much against painting the walls pink, and it wasn't until a few minutes later that the girls settled on painting the walls a light purple – in Akko's opinion, it was surely a step-up from the bland beige that the room was before.

Unfortunately, the painting process was a little taxing on Akko – while it was all done by virtue of spells from both her and Sucy, the smell of paint was still making the pregnant brunette feel light-headed, so it wasn't long before the asian witch bailed out not from just the room, but out of the house, stepping out to take a breather.

"I think we should call it a day." – Sucy remarked as she stepped out of the house just a few minutes later. – "If anything, paint fumes are always bad news for airheads like you. "

As much as Akko wanted to retort to that remark, she had to admit that her wife was right – the fumes were outright making the brunette choke on the air she inhaled, and it wasn't until after she took a few long, deep breaths outside that she managed to recover.

"How much did you paint anyway?" – The brunette asked, her breath finally having had returned back to normal rhythm.

"Barely painted half the room, to be honest." – Sucy remarked, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment over an unfinished job and over making Akko have to run out of the house because of the paint fumes. – "And sadly enough, I can't speed up the drying process with a spell – doing so will make the paint crack like no tomorrow, and that'll result in half a day's work wasted. I suggest we just wait it out at our garden for a while."

"That sounds good to me."

The terrace wasn't actually there at first when Sucy and Akko got this house way back when they moved into it, just shortly after they've graduated from Luna Nova. It was only after the two witches finished paying out the loan for it together that they've actually began to make some new adjustments to both the house interior and exterior. And of course, the terrace was one such adjustment.

Right now, the girls were sitting on a terrace bench, huddled next to one another for warmth with Sucy having had draped her jacket over Akko for good measure, and a smallish fire pit directly across of them fueled by a fire elemental – that one was owed to Lotte, who had helped them set it up just on the day they were finishing the terrace, actually – helping them a bit in that regard.

Akko kept both her hands wrapped around Sucy's shoulders, while the violette was quietly, slowly stroking her wife's pregnant belly. Both girls were modestly smiling, their eyes closed as they enjoyed their personal little heaven – sitting next to one another, not a care in the world, and just enjoying each other's embrace in a pleasant silence, with nothing but the sounds of the wind and each other's quiet, calm breaths to accompany them.

Sucy chuckled at the fact that the one thing that would formerly be her ironic hell – being stuck in close contact with a person for prolonged time – was now quite the opposite to her. Oh, how time changes people.

As Akko yawned loudly without covering her mouth, the violette made a correction to that notion – apparently, some things just plain never change.

Then again, it was hard not to notice even for Akko how both she and Sucy changed over the years they've spent together as a married couple. What started out as merely a late teens passion blossomed into a beautiful, if a little odd relationship, and even the one other candidate for Akko's heart had been accepting enough to let the subject of her passion be with the one she truly loved. And in just a third of a year, Sucy and Akko were going to be a full family.

Sucy never thought of herself to be the type of person to ever want to start a family. She used to hate little kids like no tomorrow during her late teens, and before the violette realized that she is all over girls and has zero feelings for boys (Even if one of her inner voices would think otherwise before it got inevitably expunged), she thought she'd just never find that one right mate, that she'd be nothing more than an ineffectual loner for the remainder of her life. And yet never did she expect that the one type of person who she used to hate the most – the loud, overly cheerful type – would end up being the same type of person that her lifemate had ended up being. But one thing was for certain – that girl has certainly managed to bring Sucy out of her metaphorical shell, and it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

As for Akko, Sucy always presumed that she'll always be just that – an immature air-headed brunette pursuing a near-impossible dream. And yet over the years, Akko has certainly took a lot more responsibility in her actions, thought over the consequences at least a tad more often than she normally did, and, despite having had gotten her dream in the end, realized that, if anything, she's truly happy with her friends and loved ones, and wouldn't trade that happiness even for all the fame in the world. Nobody coerced her into that choice, oddly enough – she somehow came to that realization all on her own, which has definitely shown how much Akko has grown since her time as a near-hopeless magical performer wannabe.

"Aren't you cold?" – Akko's rather untimely question rang through.

"I'm wondering how much we've changed over the years." – Sucy replied quietly, still staying on her own trail of thought. – "How much we went through together. How different we are from what we were when we just started out together. How much everything around us has changed."

"Look, I just asked if you were cold, I didn't ask you to begin one of your emotional monologues!" – The brunette remarked in her chipper but slightly annoyed tone. – "Honestly, I don't know exactly what's on your mind – because I'm not planning any visits to Sucyland anytime soon, that's for sure – but you know what I think? I'm thinking we have a blindingly bright future ahead of ourselves! So can it with the worrying, Suce."

Sucy couldn't help but chuckle at Akko's rather adorkable notion, nodding in agreement.

Funny, just over ten years ago she'd never agree to such an overly optimistic statement.

Yes, well, this chapter started out on one idea, and then suddenly transitioned into the other. At first I wanted to write something a tad more humorous, with some room-decorating shenanigans, but after the whole moment with the paint, the fic kind of jumped over into the fluffeh lesboshiz direction. I kind of feel like my structuring near the end is a little off, but otherwise, I'm happy with how this chapter turned out.

The work practice, like I said, is beginning to get on my nerves. Programming in C# is one thing, as it's hella easier than C++, but the testing? It can go screw itself. I'd never apply for any sort of program tester job ever in my life.

So, with my rambling out of the way, and a hellish remainder of the work practice that I just have to tough out a little longer…

Darky Out!