"If you have a girl, can we name it Zelda?" Jack asked Nani as he laid a heating blanket on the panther's stomach. "Or if it's a boy, could it be Link?" Jack sat down behind Nani's head and scratched behind one of her ears. "How do you feel about the name Sonic? Is that a weird name to give one of you guys?" The young man hummed as he thought. "Samus? That could work whether the cub's a boy or a girl. What if you have two?" Liam lifted his head from where he was laying, worry in his eyes. "There's a possibility of having six cubs at the most if you're lucky." Liam looked like he was going to be sick when Jack said that.
"You're scaring my warrior." Chase stated as he entered the room, a bowl of water in his hands.
"How am I scaring him? I'm just talking baby names." Jack watched as Chase placed the bowl beside Nani's head.
"I think that Nani needs some sleep and you need to eat. Have you even had a meal today?" Chase asked.
"I'm not sure." Jack admitted. "Don't flick my forehead again." He said as he covered his face with his hands. "You've done it every day for a whole week."
"That's because you've been skipping meals every day for a whole week." Chase grabbed Jack's arm and hoisted him to his feet. "It's time for dinner, Nani will be fine here without you."
"What if she needs-"
"Spicer. You've done plenty for her, I think she can handle herself for the rest of the day."
"But-"
"Stop. You're eating. You can't take care of Nani if you're not taking car of yourself." Jack paused for a second before chuckling at his little idea and leaned against Chase, pressing the back of one hand to his forehead and the other to his chest.
"Will you take care of me, doctor?"
"Doctor?"Chase raised a brow but soon caught on to what Jack was saying. "Alright then." Jack smiled and prepared himself to be lifted princess-style, but was shocked when Chase threw him over his shoulder.
"This is not how doctors carry their patients!" Jack snapped while punching Chase's back, knowing that the warlord's armor would prevent him from feeling anything and he was pretty sure that if Chase could feel his hits, they wouldn't hurt.
"What would you call this?" Chase asked.
"This is a fireman's carry, not romantic at all!" Jack pouted.
"I must have my professions confused." Chase chuckled.
"I am considering a change in my health care provider." Jack muttered.
"I'm going to pretend that I understand what you said, take it as an insult and do this in response." Jack yelped when Chase slapped his rear.
"Did you just hit my ass!" Jack cried, a tint of pink on his cheeks.
"I've read that 'spanking', as they call it, is a very effective way to punish your mate and show your disapproval of their actions."
"What kinds of books are you reading?"
"We'll discuss that later, for now-" Chase dropped Jack into a chair at the dining table, a plate of food waiting for him. "-dinner. Eat." The warlord handed Jack a fork. "You're already small enough as it is, we don't need you any smaller."
"I'm not small!"
"You're smaller than me."
"But you're huge!" Jack froze after his protest. "Don't say it."
"Say what?" Chase asked.
"You know."
"I actually don't."
"That's what she said." Wuya stated as she flew past the two.
"Wuya!" Jack yelled.
"Maybe if your voice didn't carry across the entire lair, I wouldn't have said that." Wuya chuckled, leaving before Jack could say anything to her.
"What does that-never mind, I really don't want to know. If it makes you this red, It's probably best for me to be naive to this."
"I think I've lost my appetite."
"No. No, you haven't." Chase took the fork back, stabbed a piece of broccoli with it and shoved it into the younger man's mouth.
"You just want me to be fat!" Jack strained to finish that statement with a straight face but lost it when Chase looked at him with worry. "I'm joking, I'm joking, I swear"
"Less joking, more eating." Chase stated and sat down in the chair next to Jack.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Jack asked, tossing a baby tomato into his mouth. Grimacing when the tomato popped and squished when he bit down on it. It made him think he was eating an eyeball, a well cooked and tasty eyeball, but an eyeball nonetheless.
"I ate almost an hour ago."
"And you didn't try to get me?"
"I did try, but you were too engrossed with those pregnancy books you've been reading to hear me."
"You can't blame me for doing proper research on this, neither of us have any experience with this and I want everything to go okay."
"How do you know that I have no experience with pregnancy?" Chase asked, taking the fork again and feeding Jack another piece of vegetable when the young man was once again, not eating.
"You're a dude." Jack said with his mouth full.
"Swallow before speaking, please and I've been alive for over fifteen hundred years, how do you know that one of my mates or someone I've known had never been with child?" Chase fed Jack again as he spoke, giving him time to chew and swallow before answering.
"I don't know, you don't give off the dad vibe to me." Jack admitted.
"'The dad vibe'?"
"It's the feeling a father gives off, like..." Jack chewed on a piece of meat that Chase gave him while he thought. "Like you're about to tell a really bad joke or that you could teach someone how to play a sport or you're ready to sit and listen to any simple problem and the solution will always be a hug and some ice-cream or something like that."
"That's what a father is to you?"
"I guess. That's just the feeling I get when I see other people's dads." Jack opened his mouth and waited for another bite, closing it when Chase just poked at the food with the fork.
"What about your own father?"
"My dad? I don't know, never really see him much. But he's alive and I know where he's at which is a lot more than a lot of people in the world have and he's never bad to me, doesn't yell or hit me or anything, I just don't see him. Same with my mom, but I've told you this before, they don't know I exist half of the time." Jack saw that Chase was still playing with the food. "You okay?"
"Finish up, I'll be right back." Chase dropped the fork and walked away.
"Okay." Jack said softly and continued eating. He was swallowing the last bite when Chase returned with a large bowl, piled high with high cream and sugary toppings.
Jack was swallowing the last bite when Chase returned with a large bowl, piled high with high cream and sugary toppings. He stared at the treat while Chase sat it down on the table and sat back down in his seat, two spoons sticking out of the ice-cream.
"I figured this would make you feel better. I'm never going to be a replacement for your father, I'd be kind of odd if I was, but I can do the 'ice-cream and hug' part pretty well." Chase stated. Jack chuckled and jumped over to Chase, hugging the older man before settling down in his lap, too lazy to go back to his own seat.
"You're not going to feed me this as well, are you?" Jack asked, grabbing a spoon from the ice-cream.
"I'm not worried about you not eating this." Chase took one of the maraschino cherries and put it in his mouth, taking the stem off as he chewed.
"Did you know that if you can tie a cherry stem in your mouth it means you're a good kisser." Jack said as he licked the ice-cream off of his spoon.
"Really?" Chase finished eating the cherry before putting the stem in, making silly faces as he tried to tie the stem. Jack laughed at Chase's expressions before placing a stem in his own mouth, making even weirder faces.
"Ta-da." Chase took the stem out and showed it was now in a knot.
"Wait." Jack held a hand in front of Chase's face as he continued his attempt. "I can do this." Chase lowered Jack's hand and patiently waited until Jack pulled out the stem, showing that it was in a knot as well.
"Now let's see if the assumption is correct." Chase gently yanked Jack towards him and kissed him.
"It's a little right." Jack said after they parted and bopped Chase's nose with his spoon before the warlord could say anything, leaving some ice-cream on his nose. Jack laughed, stopping when Chase put some chocolate syrup on his nose. "Alright, we're even." Jack said and started attempting to lick the chocolate off of his nose.
"You look ridiculous." Chase stated before slipping a reptilian tongue out of his mouth and easily licking the ice-cream off of his nose. "Why are you blushing, Spicer?"
"I-I'm not." Jack stuttered.
"Sure you're not." Chase chuckled.
"C-Can I eat the ice-cream in peace?"
"As you wish." Jack flinched a little when Chase's hands went around his waist but calmed down a moment later when Chase rested his head on his shoulder, showing that was he waiting till he finished eating before moving.
