Chapter Text
It had been a while since the last time Bud had visited the western continent.
He just so happened to be checking on the new branch for the Mercenary Guild that had been installed on the Roan kingdom.
The mercenary king looked out of the window at the busy street of the capital, carriages that transported goods and people, kids walking by their parents’ hands, the sun shining bright in the sky. Such a nice day.
Glenn was accompanying him, of course, he was out in the market checking a store that he had found interesting before they would have to leave the capital to visit the new free city between the Roan Empire and the Mogoru Kingdom where the new magic tower had been settled on.
Ah, so much new stuff!
New here, new there. Even the royal palace was new. New. New. New…
Now the word new sounded weird.
“Hey, Bud, I got some new-”
“Mew.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Bud had been distracted, he hadn't noticed Glenn opening the door, the sound that mocked the word ‘new’ leaving him before he had time to process it.
“...are you high?”
“Hah! When have I ever been drunk this early, my friend?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“Anyway! Are you done with… whatever you were doing?”
“I was saying that I got some new equipment.”
Glenn lifted a spatial bag he was holding on his left hand before hanging it on his belt.
“Right, right”
“You're acting weird.”
Glenn didn't take long to notice. Of course he would notice, Bud hadn't been as talkative as he usually was and that made him wonder just what kind of thoughts were running through his head. Bud had seemed distracted the past few days ever since they arrived at the Empire, and it seemed that whatever was going on he was keeping to himself for now, unless Glenn was to call him out on it.
Bud chuckled and walked towards him without answering to the mental message, putting his arm over Glenn's shoulder and turning him around so both were now going back out through the door. Glenn, who was already used to this, just gave him a huff and followed along, taking out the teleportation magic scroll he had prepared a few days before while Bud gave a last look around the capital. When the signal was given he ripped the scroll, and the next thing they saw was the front door of the Magic Tower.
Glenn had heard from Bud that the Golden dragon would be visiting the magic tower at the same time as them, and even though he wasn't going to actually go with the ancient dragon and say something like “teach me, please!” He was still pretty much free to watch.
While the mage goes into the tower by himself, the mercenary king turns to the street, his feet carrying him through the plaza as he makes his way to the new base, buying a bag of apples and munching on one as he enters the base.
“Hey, it’s Bud!”
He is greeted by Garrick, one of the mercenaries he had sent from the eastern continent to supervise the activities of the new base, his smile widening if that was even possible, greeting the other with a half hug and a pat on the back.
“I thought you were arriving tomorrow.”
“Why! Are you not happy to see me?”
One of the reasons he had personally come to check on this branch was because he would have to choose someone else to look over the base for a couple months.
“Haha! Not at all, but Lilian wanted me to invite you for dinner when you arrived.”
“Tsk, tsk, I thought she just gave birth a week ago and you’re already making her cook?”
“Who do you take me for? It’s her who refuses to sit down, would kick my ass if I tried to make her rest more, I can concede to her that much.”
That’s because this executive would be taking paternity leave.
Bud laughed and received a set of keys from Garrick, nodding and walking over to the stairs to leave their things in the room at the top floor.
“I can see that. Very well, don’t tell her we arrived today and I’ll take you up on that invitation for tomorrow.”
“You got it, boss.”
~~~~
While Bud walks back towards the magic tower he notices a familiar smell, it’s strong and natural. Then more join it. One, two, three, four… Bud smiles, entering the magic tower and going upstairs with a few acknowledging words to the people inside.
“Hahaha! It's my friend!”
As he enters the office there's those familiar people in the room. He had expected the golden dragon to be in the tower, but to see that Cale had come as well was a bit of a surprise, surely the young dragon had insisted on coming and the others ended up tagging along, but he didn’t see the swordmaster anywhere.
After greeting Cale who seemed his usual persona, he turns to Glenn who had been supposed to be speaking with the archimage Rosalyn. He wasn't. Instead, he was sitting by a table on the side where the young dragon and the two cat children were having what he assumed was an improvised tea party.
Damn cute.
Glenn seemed to be attentively listening to the young dragon like every word was sacred knowledge, even though Raon was only explaining how to make the “greatest apple pie”, reciting Beacrox's recipe. Yes, it must be some special recipe if it was worth of a dragon's compliments, right?
Bud watches Glenn interact with the young dragon and the kittens for a while, a smile that has little to do with the cheerful persona he displays in public, but closer to the same kind he has in private.
He finally approaches the improvised tea party, bowing dramatically to the children while they greet enthusiastically.
“Mercenary king, the strong mage gifted me this!” Raon showed a crystal ball, letters floated inside, twirling and mixing, it was one of the magic artifacts Glenn had bought this morning.
“Oh, how cool! A… I don't know what that is.”
“It is a riddler. For entertainment. It gives you questions and it will give you the answer if you can’t answer within six hours. Of course, dragon-nim will find all the answers, but it’s good for learning.” Glenn explained, and the young dragon’s wings flapped proudly, puffing his chest.
“Of course I will! Dragons are the best.”
“Hmph, are you boosting that kid’s pride again?” The velvety voice came from the golden dragon who had opened the door of the laboratory, Glenn stood up and gave a light bow, the young dragon seemed to pout, flying up to the golden dragon.
“It’s not pride, it’s a fact!”
“Sure.” Eruhaben sighed, opening the door a bit more for them to enter, the kittens jumping down from the couch and entering the laboratory with light steps, Glenn followed, it seems they had been waiting to be able to enter, even Cale was walking in, alright, Bud was not going to stay behind then.
The door closed behind them and the golden dragon walked at the front of the group, Bud stayed at the back, listening in about how they were developing a way for magic teleportation scrolls to work more than once, and if the coordinates weren’t predetermined then there would be no need for a new circle or a mage to create a new scroll.
That seemed useful. If Glenn managed to replicate it, even if not in mass, it could help the brigade for when they were in a dangerous situation, and it would save lots of money as well.
The tower master was standing in front of a table, greeting before dedicating herself to show the advances to the ones interested, the young dragon putting the riddler in his spatial dimension before flying over to the table, looking down at the papers.
Bud’s gaze wandered over the laboratory, carefully observing the high quality artifacts it was filled with and the boards overflowed with scribbles of magical circles, half finished researches, numbers, runes, scattered ideas, and potion recipes. When they ran out of space on the board they plastered papers on the wall to continue the work.
Bud hummed slightly as his gaze stopped on a rather uncommon topic but that seemed to have been successful as he could see a check mark that approved it at the end. He kept the knowledge for himself for now, but that was the sparkle that ignited the hay that had been piling up for a couple months now.
~~~~
As the night falls Bud and Glenn leave the magic tower, buying some takeout from a small restaurant and a few alcohol bottles while they make their way to the base.
“You are awfully quiet.”
Glenn asks after they are alone again, taking off his cape and moving to the table, sitting down on one of the chairs while Bud serves the food and takes out a couple glasses from gods know where.
A new bottle…
“What do you think about children?”
Glenn just raised an eyebrow.
“Where did that come from?”
“Oh, I don’t know, were you having fun before? With the junior Henituses.”
“That… they are really smart.” That’s true, to which Bud shrugs.
“You know, Garrick invited us to his house for dinner tomorrow.”
“Ah, is Lilian okay?”
“Yes, she was the one who insisted since Garrick will give up the management of the base in a couple days.”
The mage took the glass Bud had served him while Bud changed the topic to inform of the state of the new HQ. The room was quiet for a while as they finished their dinner, the silence breaking when Bud spoke again, after two bottles were empty and one more was almost finished (mostly by Bud).
“Would you like one?” That made Glenn, who had leaned back on the chair with his head bending back to open his eyes, lifting his head to look at the other’s green eyes, face flushed from the alcohol. When Bud saw the questioning look the mage was giving him, he clarified. “A kid.”
“A kid?” Glenn was wondering if Bud was joking, but, given his strange behavior the past few days and that Bud seemed quite serious despite his relaxed posture, this must have been rolling on his mind for a while. Glenn thought it through, looking up at the figures on the ceiling. “Well, you know the complications... We travel quite a lot, and not really to safe places.”
“We can leave them at the nearest base while we come and go.”
“They have to go to school, we can’t take them with us everywhere.”
“Only occasionally, they’d stay at the manor.”
“And then they feel alone?”
“We can have a pair! Siblings, they wouldn’t feel alone, and the staff and the mercenaries can look after them.”
“You don’t just leave someone else to look after them, you punk, kids are not pets.”
Bud leaned forward, tapping the table.
“They are not, and we are not some frivolous idiots who would neglect them.”
“We have enemies.”
“And we won’t let them get to us. The HQ manor is safer than the castles of most nobles, they will be fine.”
Glenn looked back at Bud, the memories of the blizzard coming back at him, the blood leaving his body and Bud carrying him while they were herded to what he thought would be their sure death.
“You know what I meant, Bud. Not only for them.”
Bud clicked his tongue, the seriousness in his tone taking Glenn off guard.
“I know what you meant, and I know that if I died they would be sure they were loved, and that’s more than half the orphans in this gods forsaken world get. They would have a home to return to, even without us there…”
Glenn stayed quiet for a while, closing his eyes and brushing his face with his hand. Bud leaned back, taking the half empty bottle and chugging its content in a moment, looking back at Glenn when he heard the mage shuffle, then start to giggle, which soon turned into a full on laugh.
“Hah… have you thought this through?”
“My dear, precious, favourite mage, when have I ever gone on a dangerous mission without a plan?”
Glenn just gave him a skeptical look, to which Bud laughed, placing the empty bottle on the table.
“Okay, I’ve actually been thinking about it, I promise. But you haven’t answered my question, would you like one?”
“Huh… maybe, I’ll think it through.” Glenn’s words were slightly slurred, but he was still conscious enough for Bud to know that they weren’t just a drunkard’s decisions.
That response, even though it wasn’t a yes, on Glenn’s words to Bud’s ears it was very much far from a “No”, a no that the mercenary king would have accepted to drop the subject. And that was enough for Bud, a wide grin appearing on his face as he took the mage in his arms, dragging him into a tight hug and making the chair tilt back, laughing to his ear.
“Geez, you’ll make me throw up dinner-!” Glenn warned as Bud was moving them both from side to side until the chair lost the fight and they both fell back. Bud ignores Glenn’s efforts to get up, keeping him in his embrace until the mage gives up.
Glenn can hear Bud yapping about how they could teach the kids about their arts, how they could build a playground in the backyard of the Main HQ, who could be their godparents and how fun it would be if the children brought them both to “bring your parents to class” day. Glenn just grumbles every now and then to respond, his eyes closing and his mind clouding as he relaxes in his spouse’s arms, the alcohol making him start to fall asleep.
Bud mentions he’d love their children to have Glenn’s hair. Glenn chuckles slightly as his last response, the words not completely registering on his mind before he blacks out.
~~~~
It had been five days since then and they had successfully changed the administration of the HQ without any trouble, Glenn had even agreed to look for “options”, and they were currently back in the magic tower after Bud had spoken to Rosalyn.
“You crazy punk, what am I seeing?”
The expression on the mage’s face was priceless while the towermaster explained to them about their recently developed, 98% safe, magic potion that guaranteed reproduction between two same sex beings.
“Questions?”
“Yes, uh- give us a second, miss Rosalyn.”
With that opening, Glenn took Bud by the ear and dragged him to the opposite side of the laboratory, casting a noise cancelation barrier.
“Hey, wait, wait, wait, bastard, that hurts.”
“What is this?”
“What do you mean what is this- Ow! I thought we agreed on options!”
“I meant adopting, not getting pregnant!”
“You have to admit it isssss an option. Ow!” Glenn finally released the mercenary king’s ear. “I thought you would be more interested if the towermaster explained the possibility.”
The mage didn’t answer and Bud whistled, rubbing his ear and glancing around the laboratory, everyone was feigning dementia, like they couldn’t see them standing right there.
“If you really don’t like the idea I’ll tell Miss Rosalyn no and we can look for other alternatives.”
“You first.”
Bud’s eyebrows shot up, his green eyes locking back on the purple ones.
“What was that?”
“I said I might do it if you do it first.”
Bud’s heart gave a flip, his hands going to Glenn’s shoulders, giving a step forward.
“Is that a yes?”
“It is a perhaps and IF-”
Bud did not allow the mage to finish, taking the mage's hand and squeezing it, it was a discreet way to show his excitement physically, as he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable because there were more people around.
“IF my ass, I’m doing it.”
“You are not thinking this through right now.”
“What makes you think I aren’t?”
There was that damn serious tone again, all the while holding his hand firmly, making Glenn close his mouth and gulp.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, you are serious?”
“Will you allow me to be?” Bud asks, grinning again, his thumb rubbing over the ring on the other’s finger.
“Oh, you will swallow your words soon.”
“Hah! And if I don’t?”
“Are you trying to bet with me right now?”
“Maybe. Are you taking the bait?”
Glenn scoffed, the corner of his lips twitching up.
“Bet.”
The mage then dissolved the barrier, walking back towards the towermaster.
“Oh, by the way, pregnancy means no alcohol.”
“I… can…” The mercenary king hesitated before walking behind the mage.
“Don’t you bail.”
“You bastard…”
Bud was sobbing.