(Can't really compete with that kind of competition. XD Glad you're enjoying this nonsense! Let's celebrate some dads! :D)
Ultear Milkovich rarely paid attention to parent-related holidays (although she was always happy to burn a voodoo doll of Ur on Mother's Day), and she certainly had no interested in celebrating the man who had abandoned her with that woman.
The Tower brats (as the older members of Grimoire Heart had taken to calling them), however, were more than happy to take any excuse to celebrate something, especially if it involved cake. Of course, this immediately led to a fight over whether they should be celebrating Hades (a motion supported by Erza, Ultear, Shô, and Millianna), Brain (supported by Richard, Wally, Sawyer, and Macbeth), both (supported by Jellal, Simon, and, apparently, Cubellios), or neither (Erik and Sorano, both of whom professed not to care).
In the end, Jellal won the argument by pointing out that celebrating two people meant twice as much cake, which had immediately won over Erza (who only really cared about the cake), Shô (who was on Erza's side out of principle), Macbeth (probably, anyway - he'd slept through both votes, so the rest of the group had just guessed), and Millianna (who saw everyone else swapping sides and decided to do so as well). The others agreed as well, though they refrained from stating any reason as to the change of mind.
In order to plan the celebration, Ultear asked the kids what they'd done for their fathers in the past. While Shô, Simon, Millianna, Sawyer, Sorano, Richard, Wally, and Erik were more than happy to share, Jellal, Erza, and Macbeth all looked a little uncomfortable.
"I never met either of my parents," Erza mumbled softly. She went on to explain to the Time Mage that her surname had been given to her by Jellal.
"I only ever knew my mother," Macbeth told them nonchalantly after Jellal had gently shaken him awake.
Jellal had refrained from commenting, and the look on his face told Ultear all that she needed to know.
"Does anyone know how to bake?" Ultear asked. Simon, Richard, and Sorano all raised their hands - as older siblings (orphans, in Simon and Richard's cases), they'd had to help out in the kitche quite often. "Alright, the three of you can make the cakes."
"Make strawberry cake!" Erza piped up. Simon sighed.
"We're making two cakes, Erza," he reminded her gently.
"And they should both be chocolate!" Sorano declared. Richard beamed.
"We shall make one of each!" he boomed happily. "Oh yeah!" With that, he led the other two bakers off to the kitchens.
"Right," Ultear continued. "The rest of us should work on decorating. Jellal, Sorano, and Erik will go out to buy decorations, Sawyer, Wally, and Erza will make sure we have enough place settings and silverware, and you lot–" she gestured to the 'babies' of the group (Millianna, Shô, and Macbeth) "-will stay here and help me set everything up."
"What about Cubellios?" Erik asked. "I can't really take her to the store."
"I'll keep an eye on her," Macbeth offered, hoping to get out of actually having to do anything.
"No, you will not," Ultear snapped. "You're contributing whether you like it or not." Macbeth scowled. "Cubellios can stay here so long as she behaves," the Time Mage told the Dragon Slayer calmly. Erik nodded happily, setting his beloved snake down on the floor (she immediately slid back against the wall, curling up in a position that allowed her to watch over her comrades).
Jellal grinned, excited. "Let's get to work!" he cheered.
It had been a rather long day, mostly consisting of hunting down rogue Dark Guilds and "persuading" them to join the Balam Alliance, and both Hades and Brain were rather tired. Granted, Brain had spent the entire day in his lab (probably cackling madly to himself, Hades thought), but he too was rather tired. Both looked forward to a quiet dinner and then some well-deserved rest and relax–
"HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!" Opening the door to the dining area was generally not such a noisy task. Hades was about to yell at the children for making a racket when he saw the table. There were two cakes - a strawberry cake with the words 'Master Hades' written in blue icing and a chocolate cake with 'Brain' written in green - along with a nice assortment of store-bought party food platters. Standing in a row, with eyes shining, were twelve teens and pre-teens, as well as one snake.
Hades smiled fondly.
"Thanks, kids," he said simply. Behind him, Brain laughed.
"Softy," the dark-skinned scientist taunted. Hades ignored him, turning to the children.
"I suggest you hurry up and sit down before we eat all the cake," he advised.
"But you can't eat the cake first!" Sorano protested, looking horrified. Brain grinned.
"Hm... maybe we should just eat the cake," he teased. Sorano, Richard, and Simon all looked so terrified at the concept of eating dessert before dinner that both adults burst into laughter.
Ultear watched the proceedings in a sort of quieted awe. She laughed and joked with the others, and, this time, they actually did stay up past their bed time. Maybe Father's Day (or, as the case may be, Fathers' Day) wasn't so bad after all.
For the first time in her life, Ultear was actually happy to hear the word 'father'.
Across the table, Jellal met her eyes and gave a tiny nod in agreement.
There were some things that they would never share, some boundaries that they might not ever overcome, but family was family.
And really, nothing else could ever be quite so important.