Prompt: "Unfortunately, today is not that day." "Unfortunately for us, you mean. Not you." for clueless BixLu (although I clearly ignored the 'clueless' part, since by the time that I actually got around to writing this, the requester couldn't remember what they'd been thinking when they sent it).

Unfortunately

"Tell me again why we decided to have a kid?" Bickslow asked as soon as he'd made it into his bedroom. He loved his spawn dearly, but sometimes, he also fucking hated her. She was a nightmare and she was the devil and apparently the devil never slept. Ever.

Lucy merely glanced up from her phone as she finished setting the alarm for the morning. "Well, technically, we didn't just decide to have her," she pointed out.

Bickslow rolled his eyes as he walked around the side of the bed to finally get comfortable. It was way past his bedtime. "Right. How could I forget?" he mumbled. There'd been no active deciding on the topic. They'd mostly just gone with it, and lo and behold, they'd welcomed the tiny devil into the world a few months down the track. Although really, it wasn't like it had been all bad. She was still the devil but she was his devil and damn it, he loved that. "Anyway, she's asleep for now. I'm not getting up when she's awake in an hour."

"Don't worry. I'll do it tonight." It was only fair. "Anyway though, Dad's in town this week."

"Are you kidding me?"

"He gets in tomorrow. He called me last week, said he wanted to stop by for dinner. So he's coming for dinner on Wednesday."

Bickslow could only gawk at the mother of the little demon. He loved his girlfriend dearly as well, but sometimes he really fucking hated her as well. The Heartfilia women were all horrible monsters. He was sure of it. "And... You just thought you'd tell me this now?"

Lucy shrugged. "Slipped my mind. Sorry."

"Slipped your mind," Bickslow repeated. Oh, how he believed that. He really did. "Right."

"It'll be fine," she sighed, slipping down under the covers to get comfortable with her head on the pillow. "He'll be here for a couple of hours at most, and then he'll be on his way and we can go back to pretending he doesn't exist."

"Yeah. Sure. That's totally what will happen."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Oh, I don't know... Maybe he might want to stay once he finds out he has a fucking grandkid."

Okay, so, admittedly, Lucy hadn't considered that. She was a firm believer in postpartum baby brain. Still, she shrugged Bickslow's concerns off since she didn't think they were important anyway. Most of the things he worried about those days weren't actually important. "Like I said, it'll be fine," she insisted. "He's made it quite clear he doesn't have time for me anymore, so he won't have time for Lillith either. You don't have anything to worry about."

Except Bickslow was sure he did. "I have plenty to worry about, thank you!" He twisted his fingers together over his chest as he stared up at the ceiling, brows furrowing as he went through all the things he had to worry about in his head. "I mean, we both know that he's hated me since he met me."

"That's not true."

"It is. And you know what he said to me when we moved in together?"

"What?"

"Don't even think about getting her knocked up unless you've put a ring on it," he said in a voice that didn't at all sound like Jude. And, granted, he'd said it like three years earlier, but to that day, Bickslow was terrified of the man. And now that he had gone and done it (albeit without actually thinking), Bickslow was most definitely considering running for the hills.

Lucy could only sigh as she switched off the bedside lamp. "Seriously, it's fine. Just forget about it, Bix. Like he actually cares."

"Well, I care! And, really, none of this would be a problem if you'd just agree to it already."

Technically, Bickslow had been trying to propose for a year, and technically, Lucy had been saying no for a year. "I will one day. You know that," she said. "Unfortunately, today is not that day." One day. That was all she could promise.

Bickslow rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately for us, you mean," he mumbled.

"Why? Why does it matter if we decide to get married now, or ten years from now?

"Well, for starters, Jude won't want to put me in an early grave," Bickslow said. "Secondly, I'm pretty sure you're only saying no to fuck with me at this point. And thirdly, your asshole father will be more likely to put Lillith in his will if we're married." He'd be more likely to put Lucy back in it if they were married, but really, at that point, Bickslow only cared about what his kid deserved.

Lucy could see the logic in that. But... "My answer is still no. At least for today. Now go to sleep before the demon wakes you up again."