Work Text:
Christmas had been going about as well as could be expected for the Overlord. Where many got to spend the day celebrating with their family, friends, and loved ones, Caesar was… working… So… Much… Working…
If it wasn't for Burnice ‘accidentally’ setting Cheesetopia ablaze in a celebratory stunt that Caesar could almost call impressive, then maybe, just maybe she wouldn't have had to spend her Christmas filing through a mind numbing amount of files and paperwork.
When it came to dealing with such a delicate and ‘nuanced’ matter, Caesar could always fall back on the one girl who never failed to make her blood pressure and heart rate spike. But unfortunately for the Overlord, Lucy wasn't around to help her as she was at home; more specifically, their home.
The Overlord thought it'd be a great idea to give her love the whole day off to relax and celebrate with the gang, but, of course, she could never have predicted what Burnice's brain had cooked up for her.
After she'd finally sorted through the endless stack of papers, Caesar nigh crawled her way back home. She was broken, beaten, and exhausted…
Her prosthetic hand turned the door knob with a satisfying click and pushed the door open, a warm, cosy sensation bathing over the Overlord the moment her snow stained boots hit the welcome mat.
“Lucy, I'm home!” Caesar loudly chirped with an enormous grin, tapping her heels against the welcome mat and setting her boots by the door. She made her way in and slung her jacket off, mindlessly tossing it to the floor while flicking her gloves off with a frantic wave of her wrist.
Her second in command, golden hair flowing down her back and adorned in a black crop top that wasn't ripped for once, just ignored the obnoxious yelling from the boar she bemoaned to call her girlfriend. Lucy had more pressing matters anyway, like being sure not to scold her hands on the pair of freshly made hot chocolates she'd brewed.
“Oooh! Is one for me?” Caesar clearly wasn't listening for a response as she asked her question, leaning across Lucy's shoulder and reaching over to grab her still boiling hot mug of cocoa with her right hand. And, to absolutely nobody's surprise, she quickly recoiled away the second her fingers touched the ceramic and flailed her wrist about with an oddly adorable, shrill squeak. “That's hot!” Always the one to state the obvious Lucy thought, disapprovingly shaking her head left and right.
“Grab with your left, dummy.” Unlike the brute behind her, Lucy grabbed her mug with her gloved hand and spun around to lean against the ‘kitchen’ counter. It's not like their house was big enough to have a designated kitchen, more like that side of the room was where they kept all their food and drink. “So, did you enjoy your Christmas as the acting Overlord, Caesar?” The shorter one smugly said from behind her mug, loudly sipping her drink with a visible smile… Caesar had just gotten in and she's already being teased… As always…
“Ugh, tell me about it!” Caesar snatched her still steaming hot drink off the counter with a quick swipe of her prosthetic, slightly cracking the ceramic. She joined Lucy in leaning against the kitchen counter, carefully blepping at her drink like a cat. “Why does Burnice gotta set the damn restaurant ablaze on Christmas of all days?! It's like she's tryna swamp me in paperwork!”
The blonde softly chuckled to herself between sips, looking up and raising a knowing brow at the boar before her. “I think you know why.”
“Uhhhhh…” Yeah, she had no idea. “Because she likes fire? …I don't have a damn clue, Luce.”
“Because, Caesar, Burnice likes to party hard and burn things when she's excited. What better day to accidentally set Blazewoods biggest landmark on fire?” Lucy set her half full mug down and sighed, still wearing a grin at Caesar's misery. “Honestly, you should've expected it. But I suppose my genius far outpaces a simpleton such as yourself. My foresight reaches such unimaginable heights that you wouldn-.”
Before she could boast or brag any longer, Caesar slid her right hand over Lucy's mouth and held it until she stopped mumbling, the green haired girl tilting her head with a sly grin. “You gonna shut up now, princess?”
“Hmmghm!” That's probably a no, especially given how her face had contorted into an expression of pure rage.
“C’mon, princess. Play nice for once.” Caesar smiled to herself, fully at Lucy's expense mind you.
"Hmmm!” Great, and now she's… squeaking like a mouse? Caesar wasn't exactly sure, but damn was it cute!
“Ahahaha! Alright, alright, I get it!” The tall one finally let her hands hold over her lovers mouth go and set it right down on her shoulder, incessantly patting her with a roaring laughter.
“Ugh…” Lucy groaned with her arms limp and her back hunched, her sideye gazing up at her boarish girlfriend. “How the hell did I fall for you…?”
“Probably ‘cus I'm super badass and awesome?!” Caesar exclaimed down at Lucy, flexing her biceps to get her point across.
Even when she was being a total brute, Lucy couldn't help but smile. She'd never admit it to Caesar's face, but watching her with all her idiotic, boarish charm never failed to settle her soul… Or spike her blood pressure, it was a toss up really. “You're impossible, Caesar.” Lucy gently laughed to herself and made her way to their fridge, briefly rummaging around before pulling two half litre bottles out, one of wine and whiskey respectively. “Here.” Lucy shrugged, basically forcing the bottle of apple whiskey into her girlfriend's right hand. “It's for you, I s-suppose…”
“Whoa…” Caesar took the pale green bottle with a cute red ribbon attached to the neck up close to her face and slowly spun it in a state of mild awe, her smeared reflection staring back at her. “Since when did we have these? I thought we drank all the booze on Christmas eve?”
“I-I, ummm…” Lucy could never contain her nerves when it came to so blatantly offering such things to her rival, but here she was, again, for what felt like the millionth time today. “T-Theres a name on the r-ribbon.” The short one’s flushed red face barely stammered out, hands hidden behind her back as she gently swayed from side to side.
Caesar held the ribbon in-between her metal fingers and leant in closer, a gasp breaking through the deafening silence. “Lucy!” She couldn't believe it… Lucy had gotten her another gift?! This was the tenth one today! “You got me another present! Oh, Luce, I could kiss ya!”
“S-Shut up and l-listen to m-.” Before she could even blink, Caesar bolted towards her in a flash of a barely discernable afterimage and pressed her lips firmly against her girlfriend's, holding it just long enough to make Lucy forget about whatever she wanted to say.
“Lucy, you're the greatest girlfriend I could ever ask for. You totally show up every guy from all the manga I've read!” That was either just a sweet little compliment or the single nicest thing Caesar's ever said to her. Whatever she was going for, Lucy took it about as well as you could expect.
“I-It's not l-like it was meant for you anyway, dummy! I actually bought it for Lighter, but it completely slipped my mind that he doesn't like to drink much, so then I was going to give it to Burnice, but that silly girl is always off in her own world or on some adventure, so then I ruled out Pulchra because those two are practically inseparable, and then I went to ask Piper, but as you've already guessed, or not guessed because you're such an idiot, she was already out like a light in her truck. This, obviously, left me with the one choice I tried to desperately to avoid… You!” Panting, sweating and lightheaded, Lucy just managed to set her bottle of red wine down on the carpet before stumbling over and collapsing onto their bed like a ragdoll, causing Caesar to burst out into a fit of laughter.
“Ahahaha! You really went through all that, huh?!” Bottle in hand, Caesar dove onto the bed and launched Lucy a few feet into the air before she fell back down into the duvet's embrace, forcing a shrill squeak out of the short one when she did. “Even if the present wasn't meant for me, I still love it all the same y’know!”
Just how had every possible hint gone over this boars head?! …Ugh… She's going to have to spell it out, isn't she…? “It's… Argh! The stupid present was for you all along, ok?!” Lucy frowned and took the duvet covers into both her hands and rolled over away from Caesar, enveloping herself in the pale pink sheets. “Hmph!”
“Awwww, don't be like that, Luce!” Caesar set the bottle down on the ground next to the bed and moved right up behind Lucy as she wrapped her prosthetic arm around her advisor's entire body. “Hey, princess, I wanna tell ya somethin'." The Overlord's tone lowered to a hushed whisper as she leaned in right next to her ear, a warm, gentle smile worn across the larger woman's mouth. “I know we were all laughing at ya earlier ‘cus you got everyone a thing or two but got me a whole horde of gifts, but I just wanna say that, even though this is your tenth present to me today, I love all of ‘em regardless… But there's one thing I love more than all the gifts you got me this year… I bet you already know what I'm gonna say, huh?” Caesar leaned her head over and rested her chin on Lucy's shoulder, nuzzling her nose against the noblewoman's neck. “It's you, Lucy… I love you so, so much… I love you more than anything…”
Looking back over her shoulder, Lucy huffs to herself before quickly moving in and placing a deep kiss to Caesar's forehead, turning away from her the moment she did. “N-Now we're even!” She stammered to herself, cheeks glowing brighter and brighter with every word.
Caesar could only giggle at the adorable display before her. Just how the hell did she get so lucky? “You wanna watch a movie together, Luce?” Before Lucy could say anything, Caesar had already zipped over to the treasure trove of tapes under their CRTV and pulled out the single most beaten up film she could find, waving it back to the blonde with far too much energy. “Found it!” Found what exactly? Lucy had no idea…
“What are you blabbering on about? What did you ‘find’?” Lucy barked back at her from the comfort of the bed, all snug in her pj's under the fluffy sheets.
Caesar said nothing in response, only grinning wider and wider as she slotted the tape into the reader. “Oh, don't worry, you'll see!” The larger woman made her way back around the bed and scooped up her bottle of apple whiskey and handed it to Lucy, throwing off her clothes and cuddling right up to her rival, not forgetting to give her a warm kiss to the cheek.
“Would you like to start on this drink, Caesar?” Did she even need to ask? Obviously, Caesar frantically nodded her head up and down until she got mildly dizzy, getting a judging sideye from her advisor… This cap was being a little bit difficult to open now that she's trying… “T-The stupid cap is broken! They must've messed up when sealing it at the factory!”
Wordlessly, Caesar took the bottle out of Lucy's struggling grip and, with a very smug smile, gave it one firm twist, the bubbles and foam dissipating at the rim of the glass. “You were saying?”
“Argh! Not everyone is as freakishly strong as you, boar! The rest of us have to use these things called ‘bottle openers’ you know?” The smaller woman growled, hiding half her blushing face beneath the sheets. “Anyone with a normal amount of strength would be stuck trying to get that cap off for the rest of their life, and you know it!”
“Uhhh, yeah, I ain't too sure about that, Luce.” The Overlord shrugged, propping herself up in bed and slinging her right arm around Lucy's shoulder. “I just think you got no muscles if I'm bein’ honest with ya.”
“O-Of course I have muscles!” Lucy lied, downing a large swig of whiskey in defiance. “B-Bigger than yours, I bet!” Maybe sipping on such a strong drink for a woman her size wasn't the best idea…
“Hah! You wanna compare?!” The boar tilted to face Lucy and flexed her enormous left biceps against hers, their arms pushed up next to each other in a rather embarrassing display of strength, or lack thereof for Lucy. “Yours are bigger, huh?” Caesar scoffed in-between her laughter. “Maybe a few sips is enough for the lady.” She leaned over and effortlessly pinched the glass out of her girlfriend's hands with a smug grin, downing a third of the bottle in one go without breaking eye contact for a second. “Damn, that's good! How strong is this stuff anyway?”
“The strongest I could legally buy… and Burnice might've helped me with a little mixing…” The blonde peeked her head out from under the sheets and sat up to be level with her much larger girlfriends chest, resting her head against her much more amiable pillow. “Before you say anything, yes, I'm the one who resealed the stupid cap, not the factory. I refuse to let you laugh at me for another second, so I'm just going to come out and admit it.”
Would that actually stop Caesar from using it as leverage to annoy her? … Yeah, no, of course not. “Ha! You resealed the cap yerself and still managed to get it stuck! Pffft, hahahaha!” Caesar's roaring laugh bellowed and echoed throughout the room… also straight down Lucy's ear.
“Argh! I just said that I refuse to let you laugh at me, and here you go again!” The blonde scowled, huffing and puffing to herself while her head still laid against her girlfriends bare naked chest. At least she was comfortable on Caesar's makeshift pillow, even if it's the only thing Lucy currently found her useful for.
The warrior smirked and shook her head back and forth, running her right hand through Lucy's golden hair in a vain attempt to calm her. “You gonna pout all night long, princess?” Caesar asked, still smirking down at her. “If you are, at least look at me when you get all angry. It's so fuckin’ cute!”
Ask and you shall receive was proven right yet again when Lucy balled up her fists and began to pound against Caesar's chest as hard as she could. The Overlord took Lucy's ambush in stride, puffing out her chest with a confident, proud smile that said, ‘Go on, try and hurt me! I dare you!’ “You gettin’ anywhere with this little assault of yours, Luce? ‘Cus, if I'm bein’ honest, you ain't making much progress.”
“Why won't you die?!” As loathed as Lucy was to admit it, her relentless bashing against Caesar's breasts had only been making the larger one laugh even harder. Whether it's at her misery, her pathetic attempt, or both, Lucy knew when to back down from a fight… Or at least that's what she believed. “Ugh…” She groaned, collapsing into Caesar's chest with a slight bounce on impact. “I'm taking a tactical rest for a moment. The second I've recovered, I'll never let you feel the end of it! Or, perhaps you won't feel anything, because you'll be dead! Ohohoho!”
And, like clockwork, what was supposed to inspire fear into the heart of the larger woman only made her ability to compose herself dissipate in an instant. “Ha! Now that's somethin’ I wanna see!” Caesar downed more of the whiskey before leaning over the right side of the bed with Lucy still wrapped around her arm and set it down on the carpet next to the unopened bottle of red wine, unintentionally crushing the blonde beneath her body as she did. “Whoops!” The much larger woman laughed, scratching the back of her head with her hand. “You ok, Luce?”
“That was simultaneously the best and worst experience of my entire life…” About that ‘assault’ of hers that was supposed to put Caesar down for good… Safe to say it wasn't happening any time soon…
And just as the lady began to push herself up off the duvet, Caesar laid her entire body on top of her like a large dog and enveloped Lucy in her shockingly warm embrace. “Gotcha!” Caesar yelled out in celebration, grinning ear to ear at her catch. “Whatcha gonna do now, princess? ‘Kinda hard to fight when you can't move!”
“If being smothered against the sheets by your enormous breasts is how I go out, then I'd say it's been a good life...” Lucy mumbled, half her face buried in the fluffy, pale pink duvet cover.
“Ahahaha! Alright, alright, I'll release ya, but only on one condition!” A lone metal finger pointed straight to the sky in front of Lucy's face, steady and still, completely unlike the rest of Caesar's restless form. “You have to admit defeat! Think you can do that for me, princess?”
“No way!” It's not like Caesar expected much else, honestly. ”As if I'd bow down to anybody, no less you of all people! Ugh, just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine!”
“Oh, you cold?” Caesar asked with complete earnestly, wrapping Lucy up in her double armed embrace and pulling her back under the sheets, the lady's head resting against the firm flesh of Caesar's abdominal muscles. “That warmer?” A hand, cold and precise, ran its metal digits gently through Lucy's locks, soothing her very angry soul.
“Hmmm~... That's nice…” The fighter had been peeking under the sheets down at her the whole time with her usual, beaming smile. If Caesar's touch wasn't so reassuring, Lucy would be downright unnerved. “Hmm? What are you looking at, huh?! Don't you see one is partaking in some well deserved R&R?!” She bleated from the depths of the bed back up at Caesar with her head firmly planted against her abs, tightly holding onto the warrior's scarred waist.
Even if Lucy had literally just yelled at her, Caesar couldn't help but smile at the sight of the shorter one clinging to her while softly kissing each scar lining her stomach. Given her decent disposition towards her superior, Caesar could tell that, behind all the yelling and posturing, Lucy was at peace. “Having fun down there, Luce?” She shrugged, smugly grinning down at her seemingly uninterested girlfriend. Lucy had worshipping duties to attend to after all, definitely not the time for idle chitchat.
For every scar Lucy slowly traced over with the ends of her slender fingers, she'd lean down and place a tender kiss to mark her love, no scar given any special treatment over the rest. “There's so many around her waist and stomach… Just how did she get all of these…” The lady whispered to herself, her voice muffled but barely audible to the one she loved.
The metallic hand that was running through Lucy's hair brushed over her ahoge and ran down the back of her head, the metal digits audibly locking into place with tiny clicks as Caesar gently caressed over her lady's collarbone and went further down her back, the Boar Queen having to inch her way under the bed to keep up with her own hands motion. “That feel good, my love?” A husky voice asked her.
“It's… acceptable…” It felt amazing in truth, but if a lie kept Caesar's ego in check, then lie she will… Or maybe lying to Caesar was just a force of habit, who knows. “If you'd like your rating to go from acceptable to decent, then you'd best start running the ends of your fingers over my back, boar.”
“I, uhhh… I can't reach…” Unless she wanted to also be fully enveloped by the bed and miss the opening of the movie she picked out, Caesar would have to relegate herself to the over-world for now. “S-Sorry, Luce… I-I don't wanna miss this intro, y'know? It'd be so sick!” Thank god Lucy missed out on Caesar's cocky one-two barrage of punches, or else she might've incited a fight right then and there.
“Whatever you're doing up there, quit it!” Lucy growled between one of her kisses to Caesar's hips. “You're shaking the whole damn bed!”
“Well, maybe if the damn movie started then we wouldn't be in this situation!” As if fate had willed it, an obnoxiously loud voice yelled out from the screen, making the smaller one beneath the covers yelp in fright and climb onto Caesar's stomach.
“STARLIGHT KNIGHTS, TRANSFORMATION!”
“OH! LUCY, LUCY, LUCY, GET UP HERE RIGHT NOW! IT'S STARTING!” Caesar dove for the wine at their bedside and crawled back under the duvet on all fours, maniacally giggling to herself like a madwoman.
Reluctant and still shaken from the sudden starlight jumpscare, Lucy crawled up and snuggled right up into Caesar's warm embrace, a muscular arm slinging around her shoulder and pulling her as close as she could be to her boss.
“Haha! Here we go, Lucy! Are you ready for the” Caesar striked not one, not two, not three, but five different poses from each of the heroic knights, every one with more pizazz than the last. “Starlight Knights Christmas Special?! Haha, yeah! It's time to shine!”
Lucy softly giggled to herself and, in the single most stunning moment of the entire day, even more so than Burnice's stunt at Cheesetopia, struck the stars finest Starlight Knights pose the galaxy had ever bore witness too, a huge smile plastered on her face. “It's showtime!”
“OHHHH! LUCY! YOU'RE THE COOLEST!” Caesar dropped the thankfully still sealed bottle of wine on the bed and mirrored her companions' pose perfectly, an equally ecstatic smile writ large across her mouth. “Starlight, shine bright!” In a fit of blind enthusiasm, Caesar grabbed her girlfriend by the shoulders and violently shook her back and forth until their heads started to spin, busting a gut laughing to herself in the aftermath.
“I presume you liked my starlight performance, right Caes-.” In the blink of an eye, Lucy was fully enveloped into the warming embrace of Caesar's arms and had her lips pressed firmly against the Overlords… This moment, spurn from a random, ‘fuck it’ decision on Lucy's part had reminded her of the one reason she loved this brute above all.
It wasn't her inhuman strength, or her mastery of the art of war, nor was it the adoration she was bathed in by the masses.
No, what Lucy loved most about her was the reason she fell for her in the first place.
She was different, other, a ‘weirdo’.
She was the type of girl to think that hitting a Starlight Knights pose with her girlfriend was the single coolest thing ever.
She was the type of girl to obsess over what romance manga to read before bed instead of her own safety in a fight.
She was the type of girl to fall in love with her rival…
“I love you, Caesar… I'm so wildly in love with you it pains me to say it out loud. I want to be with you for the rest of time. I…”
Caesar only smiled as she held Lucy as close as she could, the Overlord's faint but audible heartbeat thumping rhythmically through her chest and against Lucy's ear. “Shhhh… I love you too, Lucy. You don't have to upset yourself, because… Because I feel the exact same. I get what you wanna say, so don't worry about makin’ yourself cry.”
The blonde shuffled around with her head resting against Caesar's chest and turned to the blurry CRTV screen before them, tilting her neck up and softly kissing Caesar's throat.
“You wanna watch this on repeat until we fall asleep in each other's arms?” The second Caesar asked she had her response, Lucy slowly nodding her head up and down with a gentle smile adorning her lips. “Hell yeah! … Love you, Lucy.”
“Love you too, Caesar…”
What a perfect end to their Christmas…