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The house was quiet when Erza got back from the guild.
Too quiet.
It was mid-afternoon on a Thursday which meant Rhea should be trying to squeeze in some tv time before dinner, Andre should be just waking up from his afternoon nap, and Mirajane should be in the kitchen deciding what she was going to make Erza cook for dinner. They had a routine where they swapped dinner days Sunday-Thursday, ordered takeout Fridays, had dinner at a restaurant on Saturdays, and ate at the guild on Sundays. Thursday dinner was usually a left over of stuff they didn’t use the rest of the week making them team up with something creative, so they didn’t have to drag an 11-year old and a toddler to the market on Thursday night.
Sure enough, Erza found her wife in the kitchen mulling over pre-prepared items. Still, it was too quiet. Something was off.
“Mira?”
No answer. Instead of speaking, Mirajane slowly turned allowing Erza to get a good glimpse of her expression.
Its one all too familiar. The bitten lip, tense body language, raising panic displayed so clearly in her eyes.
Oh gosh, it was about the kids then.
“Erza!” Mira hissed suddenly very very serious. “I-I think Rhea’s upset she doesn’t have a father.”
Silence.
“What the-Mirajane?!”
“Wait no!” Mirajane latched onto her wife’s wrist not letting the other woman shake her off. “Listen to me! I’m serious!”
“What is this about?” Erza moved them over to their breakfast bar. She sat down pulling her wife into her lap trying to fight down the rising panic her partner’s words caused.
“Tell me everything but please start from the beginning.”
“Well its what Rhea said when she got home from school”
“When I said you needed to eat more baby, I didn’t mean me” Mira cooed to the toddler in her arms. She got was a wide toothy smile in return.
They really should talk to Wendy about this biting phase. Little Andre had chewed on Rhea’s dolls, drooled over Erza’s scrolls, and bit holes through more than one of Mira’s dresses. This behavior was to be expected from a teething toddler, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
She shifted Andre onto her hip and ran her freed arm under the sink’s cold water. Andre had mostly calmed down now running his tanned hands through her white hair. Raising Andre was an experience. They had adopted Rhea when she was already a child, an independent one at that. She was a bright girl that didn’t need much discipline or guidance. She just required a lot of attention. Rhea used to follow Mira and/or Erza around the house telling them all about her day, what she did, who she talked too, etc. She’d even climb into their bed at night still in the middle of a story about something that happened days ago. She was their little chatterbox, and they loved that, until she got older and suddenly they had to ask how her day was. Now at 11 Rhea didn’t tell them everything about her day like she did when she was 8 and 9. Erza and Mirajane were slowly being shut out more from their daughter’s day-to-day life, especially her school life.
Mirajane teaches Magic 101 classes for the children of the guild 3 days a week. She brings Rhea along despite the girl having no magic herself because both Mira and Erza decided it was still important for her to learn about it being surrounded by wizards. Rhea also attended a regular school with other children without magic during the week. They decided it would be a good option for her to have opportunities outside of wizarding. (Secretly, the thought of her daughter never going into the dangerous and unpredictable life of a wizard was more comforting to Mira then she would voice out loud.)
Right on time, the front door slammed open and small feet could be heard coming across the doorway. Mirajane turned around in surprise to see Rhea, still fresh in her school outfit, lingering by the kitchen entrance.
“Oh.” She gasped before quickly swallowing down her astonishment. Rhea had started going straight to her room after school a couple months ago. Today was obviously different. Judging by her squirming, she obviously wanted to talk.
Biting back a smile, Mirajane turned the sink off and faced her daughter. “Hey hunny, how was school.”
“It was okay.” Rhea moved forward to lightly squeeze Andre’s toes. The toddler laughed and made grabby hands at his sister indicating wanting to go to her. Mira handed Andre to her and started pulling out the ingredients for dinner. She heard the two playing behind her until Andre’s uneven footsteps ran out of the kitchen.
“Can I help make dinner?”
“Of course, hunny!”
They worked in silence before Rhea broke it. “Do you remember the Rose girl I told you about.”
“The one with the wizard father? Yes, I remember her.”
“Well her dad came into lunch today and brought her this big gift basket full of chocolate flowers. It was because he was out on a job and missed her performing in the play last week. Anyways Rose was really happy, and everyone spent all lunch talking about all things their dads do for them cause they were jealous of Rose’s awesome basket.”
“Oh? Well did she share with them?”
“Well yeah but that’s not the point mom.” Mirajane looked over to see Rhea frowning down at the table. “I just-it was sweet you know? It was really nice, and everyone was talking about all the stuff their dads do for them and I just…I don’t have that.”
Rhea shook her head sending her red curls bouncing across her face. “It’s stupid but I just couldn’t help to think of that. Anyways I’m going to go watch t.v. till dinners done.”
And Rhea walked right out of the kitchen not noticing the shock her words induced in her mother.
“Okay…that does sound bad.” Erza admitted.
“See!”
“But it’s something fixable.”
“Do you have a plan then?”
A killer smile, “You know I do.”
~
Rhea walked down the hill leading to the entrance of her school carefully. A concerned frown appeared on her face as she attempted to continue walking forward without jostling the basket in her hands. She was almost to the bottom when a voice called her name. Rhea glanced behind her to see Rose skirting down the hill.
“Hey!” Rose smiled big and wide as usual.
“Hey.” She shifted the basket in her arms again. It was getting heavier the longer she held it.
“Ohh what’s that?! Is that a candy basket?”
“Yeah. I uh, I told my moms about what your dad did yesterday. I think they misunderstood what I said.”
She didn’t tell Mama Mira about Rose’s dad giving her the gift basket in school because she wanted one. She just thought it was a pretty awesome thing to do.
She looked over at Rose now smiling a bit thinking of yesterday. Rose was by far the nicest girl in their class, and half of the class either loved or hated her for it. A lot of the meaner remarks about Rose were targeted at her looks and her father. Her dad had some sort of magic that turned his skin gray, his eyes red, and his hair the color of ash. Her mom, on the other hand, had a glowing brown skin tone, a few shades lighter than Rhea’s own dark skin, and chestnut brown hair that was always pulled back into a bun when she dropped Rose off in the mornings. Rose got mix features from the two of them with light skin similar to Mama Erza’s, sun-bleached blonde hair, and really pretty eyes that look purple in sunlight. Rose was a little bigger than most of the other girls in class too and they tried to use that to make fun of her before Rhea put a stop to it. They’ve been friends ever since.
And maybe it was seeing Rose, whose been made fun of because of her dad, run and jump proudly into her father’s arms in the crowded cafeteria that made Rhea say what she did yesterday. But she didn’t mean to insinuate that she was unhappy with having two moms instead of a mom and a dad. No, she just meant she wondered what it would be like to have a dad that came to see her first thing after a job. But last night before bed, she realized that she didn’t need to wonder about that. She’s already lived it whenever her Mamas come back from jobs and smother her as if they haven’t seen her in years instead of days. And her room was filled with gifts from all over the world brought back from jobs. Rhea had gone to sleep last night knowing that she didn’t need a dad when she had the two of them. She had forgotten all about it the next morning until she came down the stairs to find a brightly decorated left-over Easter basket filled with chocolate swords, wings, hearts and bunnies. Her moms smiled so brightly when they gave it to her that she accepted the basket with a confused thank you and left for school.
“These are so cool! Why are there 4 different ones?”
“I guess there supposed to resemble our family.” Rhea answered taking a closer look. “The swords are obviously Mama Erza. The wings resemble one of Mama Mira’s takeovers. The bunny’s probably Andre since that’s what Mama Erza calls him. And the hearts me.” Rhea blushed a little. She was not about to tell Rose of the time she made her moms heart shaped cards for Valentine’s day. Way too embarrassing.
“That’s so sweet! They probably spent all night working on these. Your moms are pretty cool.”
“Yeah,” Rhea smiled. “Yeah they are.”
Today was Friday meaning both her mothers were going to be home early with takeout. She’d explain that this was a big misunderstanding, but she still appreciated her mothers love and didn’t need anyone else but them. They’d all cuddle on the couch and watch Andre attempt to chew through the head of the bunny she got him for Christmas last year. And tonight, she’d grab Andre and they’d sleep in their moms room.
For now, she glanced at her friend. “Do you wanna share some of these with me?”
“Of course! Are you gonna share with the rest of the class too?”
“Are you kidding?” Rhea scoffed. “I’m not nice like you. If those freeloaders want some their gonna have to pay.”
Rhea went home that night with a pocket full of jewels and a content smile on her face.