Summary: Belloc regrets his life choices. That's it.
AU where Belloc and Margaret live happily ever after because I said so.
Belloc has committed many crimes during his time on this earth. Murder, theft, arson, treason, cannibalism and kidnapping. Catfishing too (those were crazy times, back when he was young, that's for sure). He has scammed, lied and killed for his own benefit for as long as he can remember, and not once has he ever felt any kind of guilt for it. Until now.
He can hear, in the background, how Margaret laughs at his expense. It's her loud, messy, boisterous laugh. The one he loves so much, that makes her eyes teary, her breath short, and forces her to grab onto something to not fall over from the sheer intensity of it.
He, for once, can not see the fun in this.
It was late already. He should have been back in the nest chamber at least two hours ago, but some… complaints from his people reached his ears and as king it was his job to properly address them. And now he had a new scar on his shoulder and blood on his teeth.
He was just outside the hoard entrance, where he could smell his treasures waiting for him, licking the blood off his hands and snout when he heard trills on the tunnels. And they were too close for his licking. So he roared.
A simple, old school roar that sent a clear message to the wanna be intruder. So he was sitting there, pretty smug with himself, getting ready to enter his home, when a mewling cry made him freeze on his place. He turned around so fast he feared having broken his neck, and his fears were proven right when he saw a teeny tiny figure on a small hill of gold, pudgy little face red and big fat tears streaming down their face.
His two year old baby looked at him like he was death on his doorstep, and let out another heartbreaking sob, this time accompanied with a gut-wrenching "mama!", and turned around in search of Margaret. Belloc, petrified on his place as he was, watched as Margaret appeared out of nowhere and landed on a crouch next to their son, just to gather him in her arms and start kissing his little face. The crying did not stop. In fact, it got even more intense, and Duncan took a hold of his mother's hair on one little pudgy hand, just to point at him with the other, as if that would explain in detail the reason for his anguish, and sob.
Margaret looked in his direction, her face showing just how startled she was, and something seemed to click, because she got red pretty fast and started laughing. Hard.
Belloc got up from where he was still sitting, almost tripping with the air around his feet, and rushed inside his nest. He shoved a giant boulder, almost as big as him, to cover the entrance, and didn't even stop to check that he had done it correctly when he was already crouching down in front of his family. Margaret had sat down on the hill of gold, legs crossed and their baby sitting on her lap, hiding against her chest as if wanting to disappear. Belloc was pretty sure he was hyperventilating.
Margaret laughed even harder.
"Duncan, little one, it's-" He couldn't even finish his sentence, his plea for forgiveness, when the toddler took a little sneak peek at him, and then hid his face against Margaret's chest while crying. One little hand still grabbing his mother's hair, and the other on his mouth, probably trying to sooth himself with something now that they were trying to get him off pacifiers.
Belloc felt like breaking down crying with him. In the two years and five months Duncan had been babbling and toddling around in the land of the living, never, never, had Belloc raised his voice at him; nor yelled, or roared, or so much as frowned in his direction, let alone had he been the cause of such desperate crying, of such fear. Duncan has never heard his father being loud, the mean type of loud, and he is obviously not a fan of it.
Margaret tries to get a hold of herself when she sees her husband is close to start crying as much as their son, so she uses her kissing Duncan's adorable curls and chunky cheeks to gather herself and turns to Belloc. She bounces Duncan on her lap, and points to her husband:
"What's wrong, my love? Did papa scare you?" She tried to get him to look up at her, but Duncan shook his head with a pitiful whimper, and again pointed at Belloc with an accusing little finger. Still not looking at him.
Belloc laid down until his chin touched the ground, leaving him eye level with his wife and child, and whined. Pride thrown out the window, he brought out as many non-threatening moves as he could think off. Margaret let out another laugh, and gestured for him to get closer until she could reach his nose with her hand.
"What a silly papa you have, right? Going around making so much noise, silly, silly papa." Margaret bounces their baby again, trying to get his attention, and hits his snout with every "silly" that comes out of her mouth. Duncan doesn't turn around completely, but does look in their direction, just to hide again, grip tight Margaret's t-shirt.
"We're gonna tell him off, right, baby? We're gonna tell papa off right now." She hits his snout again, and little Duncan gets out of his hiding again to take a small look at him.
Belloc will take all the "silly"'s and all the "telling off"'s that come his way if that will get his baby to stop crying. Duncan has never looked at him with anything other than childlike wonder and happiness, followed with a "dada" —that later turned into a "papa"— whenever he got back home. Not even his true form has ever been able to intimidate his boy from crawling and later toddling over to him for attention.
Belloc is not interested in all of that changing now.
Margaret takes pity on him and makes another effort to get their son's attention. He has stopped crying, but his cheeks are still wet from the tears, and he has an adorable pout on his mouth.
"Tell him off, baby." Margaret points at him and, again, hit's his snout a few times. "You do it, baby. Say: silly papa, yelling is mean!" Margaret bounces him on her lap again and finally, finally, Duncan turns around to look at him. His eyes are red and puffy from crying, and he's still pouting, but he does lift his little hand in his direction.
Belloc immediately scooches closer, not caring how stupid he may be looking at the moment, and his baby hits his snout with as much force as his little body can master.
"Mean, papa, mean!" Duncan has a little frown on his face, the one he makes when he tries to imitate his facial expressions, but instead of laughing, he hits him again. "No… " He pauses, little hand, sticky with saliva, still on his nose, as if thinking the words he wants to say, and then finally continues: "… no yellin', no. No mean, papa."
Belloc croones, because the amount of cuteness is too big for him, and finally the weight squishing his heart lifts when Duncan makes grabby hands in his direction. Margaret is smiling as if saying "all that panic just for this?" And holds up their baby for him to take.
He is fast to change, shrinking in size until he knows for a fact he won't hurt his child when holding him, and takes him from Margaret's arms. Duncan is fast to reach for his face, like he has taken a habit of doing, and hugs it like a little monkey does to a tree. Belloc nuzzles his nose into his baby's belly and kisses it, and Duncan clumsily pats his cheek; as if saying "you're forgiven".
Margaret, again, start's laughing at him, this time even slapping his back from the sheer intensity of it, and Belloc hides his pout by kissing Duncan's cheek.
