Chapter Text
On a very bright and beautiful afternoon, a knock interrupted Stolas’ monthly visit with Andrealphus. Vassago, who had the rare chance of taking tea with them, rose to see who was at the door. He did not get far before Tweed raced into the room, huffing and puffing as though he had run a great distance.
“Miss Stella is here,” he said in a great gasp.
A click of heels on the tile floor, accompanied by the rumpus of what could only be Andrealphus’ three nephews, alerted them that she was not waiting to be brought to them.
Lumi, doing his very best to roll over onto his back on the little quilt in the sunny sitting room while Via cheered him on, laughed at Tweed’s entrance. As Stolas picked up Via, Vassago took the hatchling, who was much more fluffball than a bird.
“Shit,” Andrealphus groaned, rising to join Vassago. “It was only a matter of time, I suppose.”
“We would be happy to leave you all to this family matter,” Stolas started, but by then, it was too late.
Stella arrived in a rage of perfumed elegance and unholy fury. Her three storklings, miniature versions of her husband, giggled and chased each other around the skirt of her dress.
“Andrealphus!” Stella screeched. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Hello, dear sister,” Andrealphus greeted, her screaming unsuccessful in striking fear in him.
Via curiously watched the three boys race around Stella and made an angry hiss when one got too close to Vassago (and, in turn, Lumi.)
“And with Stolas of all people?” Stella groaned before turning to Vassago. “Hid away in who the fuck knows where!”
Vassago cleared his throat loudly. “Madam, you are a guest in my home, and I ask that you-”
“Vass,” Andrealphus interrupted him. “Why don't you and Stolas take the children outside while my lovely sister and I have a little chat.”
The boys made a horrifying cacophony of noise and raced through the halls without any clue where they were going. Vassago handed Lumi off to Andrealphus to he chase after the three hellions. Stolas casually followed along with Via, giving Stella a quick side eye before parting.
Andrealphus realized he hadn’t seen his sister since he was unknowingly gravid. Although she was seething in anger, he admitted only to himself that he had missed her. Lumi’s little chirps of happiness quickly reminded him why he had held back so long.
“Brother,” Stella said, narrowing her eyes. “I’m not quite certain what I am looking at since you haven’t spoken to me or Mother in months!”
“Sister,” Andrealphus mimicked. “I suppose you haven’t met your nephew yet, have you?”
Stella quickly glanced at Lumi before tsking and stomping to the little afternoon tea display they had set up for Stolas and Via. She snatched a turnover and stuffed it in her mouth as she tapped her foot in a way that could either be annoyance, which was quite common for her, or anxiety, which was not.
“Oh, do take a seat,” Andrealphus groaned as he sat at the little table. “Your fidgeting is giving me a headache.”
Stella sat across from the table and begrudgingly accepted a cup of tea but offered no help as Andrealphus tried to pour it while Lumi squirmed in his hold. After a few painful minutes of tea sipping, Stella finally spoke again.
“So what the fuck are you doing.”
Andrealphus looked around the parlor. “It appears I was taking afternoon tea with an acquaintance.”
“Stolas isn’t an acquaintance,” Stella barked. “More like an accomplice.”
Andrealphus rolled his eyes. “An accomplice to what?”
“To… to… to whatever the fuck that thing is!”
The pointed finger to Lumi was enough to send out a force of cold wind from Andrealphus’ sudden anger-coated fear. The swirl of wind threw napkins across the room, tipped over the light meringue pastries, and forced their tea to lift from the cups. It was so immediate and forceful that if it weren’t for Lumi’s cry, he wouldn’t have realized he had done it.
The freezing rush lasted only a moment when the sheer panic Andrealphus felt at the tone in Lumi’s cry that he had never heard before he ceased the chill in the air. Turning all his attention to the ball of red feathers and big eyes in his arms, Andrealphus placed his forehead to Lumi’s and offered soft words.
“Shhh, Lumi love,” Andrealphus whispered. “All is well, my little light. I am here.”
Lumi stilled his cries in mere moments, proving once again to Andrealphus that he truly was the best hatchling that had ever graced Hell. Lumi released a soft coo, and Andrealphus rewarded his everpresent adorableness with a small piece of chopped melon from the fruit bowl. Andrealphus gently kissed Lumi’s forehead, a softness he could not tighten away in his body like he once could, and turned his face back to find his sister looking at him in a very particular way.
“What the hell are you staring at?” Andrealphus snapped.
Stella cocked her head to the side curiously. “Is that baby not a ruse?”
“Why would my son be a ruse?”
Lumi chirped, and Andrealphus grabbed another piece of melon and placed it to Lumi’s beak for him to nibble at.
“I don’t fucking know!” Stella threw up her hands. “You disappear for weeks and then arrive at court holding hands with Prince Vassago with a baby as though nothing was the matter. I’ve been wracking my brain to determine your plan.”
“Your poor little itty bitty brain,” Andrealphus teased.
Stella snarled. “Enough. You can’t just disappear like that and not explain your motivations. Are you trying to get the prince to marry you? Are you trying to move up in the council? What is the purpose of the baby? Nobody can figure it out.”
Andrealphus shook his head in shock before looking back down at Lumi. He had a little trail of juice running down his beak and was eyeing the fruit dish for another piece. It hadn’t crossed his mind that someone would think that Lumi was something Andrealphus did for selfish reasons.
“You can’t possibly think I would use a baby to get my way,” Andrealphus said.
Stella frowned. “Everyone absolutely thinks that.”
Andrealphus took a third piece of melon, and Lumi ate it much slower. A big yawn interrupted Lumi’s nibbling, and he pushed the melon away with his beak, a sign Andrealphus knew meant he was full. Andrealphus flicked the fruit onto his plate and turned Lumi around to lay against his chest, giving him space to nestle against him.
In mere minutes, Lumi was sleeping, and Andrealphus almost forgot Stella was even there as he looked down at his son and the soft glow that always encompassed him as he slept peacefully in his arms.
“You really love the brat, don’t you?” Stella said softly, almost kindly.
“Why are you here?” Andrealphus wouldn’t take his eyes off Lumi to match whatever game she was playing. “If it is to ridicule or mock, I simply do not care for your insults.”
“And what of Vassago?”
This caused Andrealphus to look up. “He is Lumi’s father. I thought that was obvious?”
Stella tapped the table with her claw. “You are not this dimwitted. You know what I mean.”
“I do not.”
“He is Lumi’s father, and your…?”
Vassago was more than anything Andrealphus could explain. As Lumi grew, a piece of Andrealphus he never let himself explore did as well. There were mornings they said nothing to each other as they stayed in bed with Lumi between them. Vassago would place his hand against Andrealphus’ cheek and rub little circles against his feathers. Andrealphus would smile, Vassago would smile, and with Lumi snuggled between them, everything felt right. As though he had never felt hurt, never felt pain.
“We are close,” Andrealphus answered, refusing to give Stella another word as it was so much more than he had ever shared before.
“I see,” she said, and then, with a sigh, “Are you going to let me hold my nephew or not?”
With a careful eye on her, Andrealphus did. He handed Lumi to Stella carefully, and she adjusted him to a comfortable position like any parent would. She critically looked at him.
“He is a shocking color,” she said.
“He is the most perfect color an avian demon could be,” Andrealphus argued. “He is the color of power and will attract success.”
“I don’t think feathers work that way.”
“My son’s feathers will.”
Stella snorted. “You cannot determine his success in life because of his feathers.”
Andrealphus crossed his arms. “I knew from the moment he hatched that he was destined for greatness.”
“How?”
“Because he is mine, of course.”
Stella raised her eyebrow. “Right. You look very successful with the baby spit up on your shirt, my dear brother.”
Sure enough, Lumi had left a little gift for him on his shirt.
The siblings stayed in the sunny parlor for the next twenty minutes. They didn’t say much to each other that went further than the surface, but it was a start. Stella mostly cooed over Lumi and criticized Andrealphus’ outfit choices, which sparked as much debate as Andrealphus would allow.
“I suppose we should find my children,” Stella said as Andrealphus carefully took Lumi back. “I’m sure they have destroyed your beau’s beautiful gardens.”
Andrealphus opened his mouth to argue that Vassago wasn’t his beau, but that wouldn't be true. Not that the truth really mattered to Andrealphus before, but he couldn’t bring the word to argue. Instead, he told her to shut the fuck up and led her out to the gardens.
To both of their surprise, Vassago and Stolas stood off to the side of the garden, watching attentively as the three brothers stood in a straight line and Via walked back and forth. They did not fidget, hit, or scream as Via looked them over.
“When someone does something nice to you, what do you say?” Via asked the boys.
“Thank you!” the boys answered.
“And when someone asks you if you want something that tastes yucky?”
“No, thank you!”
In a matter of half an hour, Via had taught the unruly triplets manners. In an even more shocking display, they listened when Stella told them it was time to go, and they lined up to walk back inside.
Andrealphus walked Stella and his nephews to the front door. As the boys walked politely to the car, Stella gave Andrealphus and Lumi one last look over.
“You’ve gotten chubby,” she said.
Andrealphus felt the sharp sting, but it wasn’t as sharp as the tight pull of corset strings. “I am aware.”
Stella sighed as she reached over to trace Lumi’s face. “You look happy.”
“I am.”
“Mother will be furious.”
“Good.”
Stella nodded. “Be well, brother. Do not disappear if you decide to do something disgraceful again.”
Andrealphus smirked. “I do not plan on it.”
Stella waved and joined the boys in the backseat of their fancy car. Andrealphus watched the car driveway before he rejoined the others in the parlor.
“What a horrid woman,” Stolas said. “No offense, of course.”
“None was taken,” Andrealphus said, handing sleeping Lumi to Vassago to put him down in his cradle. “To think you almost married her, Stolas.”
Stolas paled at the thought.
They left shortly after as Via was yawning and rubbing her eyes, clearly needing a nap. Andrealphus informed Tweed that he would like time alone with Vassago and to tell potential visitors they were not at home.
He found Vassago in Lumi’s nursery, rocking his little cradle. Lumi only took naps in there for now, as Andrealphus was not quite ready to have him leave their bed. Vassago hummed a soft melody even as Andrealphus joined his side.
“Via is an extraordinary child,” Vassago whispered. “She rounded up your nephews with such ease.”
“They are your nephews as well, you know,” Andrealphus teased.
Vassago’s crest feathers rose, and he turned to Andrealphus with a curious look. Using his magic, he kept the cradle rocking without his hands and took Andrealphus’ in his own.
“I do not know that,” Vassago answered. “Are they my nephews?”
Andrealphus, understanding the full weight of what he said, stuttered. “Well… I mean… they could be. That is… I suppose…”
Vassago took off his glasses before softly kissing Andrealphus’ cheek. “There are still pieces of our lives we should discuss.”
Andrealphus felt himself blush.“Vass, talking sounds like such a chore.”
“Shh,” Vassago kissed him again. “We don’t need to do it this moment. But soon, I would hope.”
“What needs to be discussed so soon?”
“Things. The future.”
Andrealphus despised how his heart jumped at the thought of the future. “Oh?”
Vassago shrugged. “The usual things. Where we shall live, to start.”
“Here seems good,” Andrealphus answered, tugging Vassago closer to him. “Lumi enjoys it.”
“All of us plan on living here?” Vassago asked as he wrapped his arms around Andrealphus.
“Lumi is much too young to leave our nest. He can’t even roll over yet, and his grasp of language is atrocious.”
Andrealphus would not give Vassago the benefit of the answer he wanted, but Vassago seemed to grasp the words Andrealphus wasn’t saying.
“I feel that should be a suitable arrangement.” Vassago kissed him again before whispering. “We will need to agree on how many children we should like.”
“You surely jest,” Andrealphus said as he nuzzled against Vassago’s forehead. “Lumi was a bit one-of-a-kind event.”
“But what if he wasn’t?”
Andrealphus pulled back from Vassago’s snuggles in suspicious surprise. Vassago, studious and serious when he needed to be, did not falter.
“What are you saying?” Andrealphus asked.
Vassago smiled. “I am saying I have been researching what happened to you and Stolas, and I’m certain it could be recreated. Under the right circumstances, using just a touch of magic, we could easily have as many children as we would like.”
Andrealphus froze, nearly literally, as he felt the chill of his magic breeze over them. Lumi was truly a light in his dark world, but he could not bear the thought of laying again. Those were memories he refused to revisit. He felt sick at the thought.
“No,” Andrealphus firmly stated. “I will not go through that-”
“I would,” Vassago said with such determination that it threw Andrealphus off the very small balance he had. “I would carry for us. If we should want more, that is.”
Andrealphus’ expression softened. “It's truly a miserable experience.”
“I can imagine,” Vassago said. “But I would try for us. We don’t need to decide now. I just want you to know my intentions. Whatever you want. I will give you anything.”
They wouldn’t decide that day or even that week, but they would start to talk about what they wanted their future to hold. They would have open conversations around the dinner table as they fed Lumi his chopped fruit and as they walked the many acres of their estate. They would talk about what marriage meant to them and what blending their lives meant. They would share their concerns and fears, their wants, and their dreams.
No ruse. No manipulation. No ulterior motive. Just Andrealphus and Vassago planning how they would build their nest together. For all of them.