okaeri


Erik touched the metal knob of the door to his home and he breathed a small satisfactory smile, feeling the cool smooth metal on his fingertips.

It didn't matter how long the mission took—because damn Jellal for taking on all the most powerful dark guilds—and it didn't matter how late he came home—because damn Jellal for wanting to make sure that everyone was okay with what was going on—and it didn't matter how tired, wounded, annoyed he was: this doorknob always reminded him that what was behind the door was a loving caring wife that would brighten his mood no matter what.

So he smiled when his fingers wrapped around the handle of his door.

Erik wasn't a naturally grateful person, but just for this moment when he would turn the doorknob and lean into the door to push it open, he would thank Meredy for making him fess up to his emotions and propose in the first place, he would thank Sorano for getting too involved with his life and scouting out a new home for the new couple, and he would thank even the fucking Magic Council for taking Crime Sorciere forgiving his independent guild-gang of ex-convicts and renegade prisoners and allowing him to live as a truly free man.

"Tadaima!" he called out into the hallway, immediately relishing the smell of the warm soup on the stove. "I'm home early!"

"Okaeri!" she replied just as brightly, and he pulled off his shoes in a mess as quickly as possible.

Erik felt his grin stretch cheek to cheek, his arms preparing for a tight embrace with Kinana, as he rounded the corner of the hallway into the common room. "I guess Jellal wanted to get home early back to Erza or something because he was in a rush to get back home and—"

His toothy smile turned aghast when he saw a dark purple snake curled up on the middle of the floor.

"Ki-Kinana?!" he exclaimed, feeling his heart pounding in panic as he scooped down to pick the reptile up in his two hands. He turned her snout to look at her slit eyes. "Fuck! I thought Makarov and Erza and their healer guaranteed that the curse wouldn't affect you ever again! Shit!"

He cradled his wife-turned-snake against his chest and immediately turned tail, heading back out of the common room to get to the damn Fairy guild.

Oh, he was going to have a word with Erza, alright. Fuck the Fairies! He just knew that their magic wasn't enough to cure Kinana from her curse!

Erik growled angrily as he stomped toward the hallway, almost bumping into an all too familiar person on his way out—

"Where you going?" his wife asked him—rather innocently—her hands tucked behind her back as she stepped around the corner. She gave him a sweet smile.

Pretending to not have been completely caught off guard, he stuttered.

"Uh, uh, I thought, you know, I just saw this snake and I wanted to let it out, and I just—" he explained, showing the raven-haired woman the snake that rested calmly in his right hand.

"Bullshit," she said, a proud smirk on her face. "You were freaking out. You thought that snake was me, didn't you?"

He gave her a defeated look. "You got me," he admitted.

She brightened, clasping her hands together before hugging him. "Yay! I was finally able to prank you!" she exclaimed.

He gave her a short kiss on the lips—short because that was mean of her to pull one on him like that after a long day, and kiss because she was cute and he wanted to anyway.

"You really can't tell the difference between individual snakes, can you?" she teased. "I'm still surprised you were able to find me and not just some random snake in the first place when my curse came back."

He sighed loudly and massaged his forehead with his left hand. "Damn it, Kinana, you really can't joke around like that. That stuff fucks me up. I was really fucking worried!"

She put her hands on her hips and gave him a frown. "And what did I tell you about cleaning up your language?"

"What? Why are you pestering me about this all of a sudden?" he asked, exasperated and placing the snake-that-he-thought-was-his-wife down on the side table. "You know I have a terrible rate of cursing."

"I'm just preparing you. It's good practice."

He snorted, turning back around to her. "For what?"

She gave him a bright smile. "For when our child arrives."

His jaw dropped at the same rate his eyes dropped to look at the positive pregnancy test in her hand.

"You're shitting me."

"Language, Erik."


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