Portals and Potatoes
Description: The Black Bulls' potato pie eating contest is well underway, and Finral is trying his best to figure out how to make his pile of potato pies disappear. Luckily, some surprise guests arrive just in time to help him out with that... [Fluff and time travel shenanigans for (even more) self-indulgent kicks and giggles]
Rating: G
Warnings: Mentions Vanessa drinking wine and references to drunkenness, but otherwise nothing but fluff here!
Fandom: Black Clover
Genre: Friendship Fluff, Time Travel Shenanigans, Next Generation, OC Babies, Fluff & Humor, Potato Eating Contest, and Dad Finral.
Relationships: Mostly Dad Finral and Black Bulls family fluff, but also, features some Asta/Noelle [and some hints at Charmy/Rill and Charlotte/Yami]. As for Finral...do with this information what you will...
Characters: Finral Roulacase, Charmy Pappitson, Vanessa Enoteca, Yami Sukehiro, Asta, Noelle, Luck Voltia, Magna Swing, Gordon Agrippa, Kalon [OC], Lia [OC], More OC Children
Part III of the Future Problems Series, and the direct sequel to the first two stories in this series: "It's a Future Problem" and "A Mixer Mix-Up" which should both be read prior to this one.
Word Count: 6114
Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another site. Thank you for reading!
CHAPTER 1 of 3
The “Black Bulls Traditional Eating Contest” which, as Luck had pointed out, was not actually a Black Bulls’ tradition was well underway. Despite Finral’s attempts to get out of participating, he, unfortunately, was stuck staring at the large pile of potato pies in front of him. Finral shook his head. This was the last time he let Magna talk him into some kind of chaotic team building exercise—the fact that he had vowed the same thing nearly half-a-dozen times in the last month notwithstanding.
Finral sighed and narrowed his eyes at the potato pies—judging by Noelle’s reaction they were incredibly dry food. Picking one up, he discovered they were surprisingly dense as well. He sighed. He’d really rather not eat any of them and was considering portal-ing them somewhere, directly into Luck’s stomach perhaps, when his pile of pies began to crumble. Finral’s eyebrows twitched, and his eyes narrowed as he watched a small hand reach up from under the table to start grabbing the pies. Confused, he leaned under the table top only to find Kalon, his supposed son from the future, smiling brightly at him.
“Hi Young—”
Finral cut him off with a prompt shush and pressed his finger to his lips before he glanced over his squad mates. Luckily, they all seemed to be too focused on the eating contest to notice Finral’s food quickly disappearing or Kalon’s appearance though he could’ve sworn he saw the Captain’s eyebrows twitch at him as he motioned for Kalon to stay under the table.
“Hi Young Dad,” Kalon whispered with an understanding nod as Finral bent over and crouched under the table to talk to him. “What are you doing?”
Finral just blinked at him. Though he had run into Kalon a couple of times now, the sight of him still made his head reel. Kalon could probably pass for a younger version of him if it wasn’t for those eyes that were becoming ever more frustratingly familiar—or perhaps that was just his mind playing tricks on him in his futile attempts to discover the identity of Kalon’s mysterious mother. Finral sighed and pushed the thought away with a slight shake of his head as he answered Kalon’s question, “We’re having an eating contest.”
Kalon’s entire face seemed to light up as he exclaimed in an enthusiastic whisper, “That’s fun! Can I play too?”
Finral’s brow furrowed as he looked from the potato pie in his hand to Kalon. Having his son eat the pies wouldn’t be that much different than portal-ing them somewhere, he thought with a shrug as he handed some of the food off to Kalon, “Sure. Eat this!”
“Can I eat noms too, Uncle Finral, la?”
Finral jerked backwards—nearly falling out of his chair. He had to steady himself on the table as a little girl peeked out from behind one of the table legs seemingly out of nowhere. She was much shorter than Kalon and blinked at Finral with big green eyes and an expectant smile even though her crumb-covered dress and the half-eaten potato pie in her hands were evidence enough that she had already helped herself.
“Please, Uncle Finral, la?” she asked again, opening and closing her free hand while shoving the rest of her stolen potato pie into her mouth with the other.
Finral gaped at her. Uncle Finral? He tried to open his mouth but couldn’t seem to find his words until he finally stumbled, “Who is this, Kalon?”
“This is Anni,” Kalon answered.
Finral managed a brisk nod. “Anni…?”
Motioning with his hand for Finral to lean in closer Kalon whispered, “Anni isn’t her real name. Her real name is Anaise, but Anni is what we call her, like how we call Lia, ‘Lia’ when her real name is Calia.”
“Calia…” Finral’s voice trailed. His eyes grew misty. “That was my mother’s name…”
Kalon nodded and hummed with a bright smile. “Mhm…Grandma Calia. She was very nice and could play the piano, but she died a really long time ago so I never got to meet her—but I’ve seen a picture of her. She was very pretty. Maybe more pretty than Grandmother, but Grandmother is also very pretty and she has really pretty hats. But she’s very strict and visits without telling us, with her pet birds, and you and Mom don’t like that.”
Finral wrinkled his nose. As usual, he couldn’t make much sense out of Kalon’s cheerful prattling. Had his stepmother started an aviary and a hat collection in the future or was this Kalon’s mother’s mother? His head was starting to spin again.
“More noms please, Uncle Finral, la?” Anni held out her now empty hands to him and pulled him out of his thoughts. Finral shook his head. He had almost forgotten she was there.
Somehow, he choked, “Yeah. Sure. Knock yourself out,” as he picked up one of the pies and handed it to her.
Anni’s entire face beamed with a bright smile as she enthusiastically devoured the potato pie. Finral, however, could do nothing but blink at her. Based on Anni’s white hair and green eyes alone, he would’ve guessed she was probably Asta and Noelle’s future kid; however, with that voracious appetite, he was sure she had to be related to Charmy somehow. Regardless of who she was, she had called him ‘Uncle’ so there was no way she was another sibling of Kalon’s…right? Finral sighed and thought it was best to double check.
“Kalon…Who is Anni? Not your sister right?”
Kalon laughed. “No, silly. Anni’s just my friend.”
Finral glanced over at Anni contentedly chowing away at the potato pies and sighed. At least she wasn’t another one of his. The last thing he needed was the Captain upset with him for breaking the “no babies on the squad” rule again. After that fiasco at the mixer, Luck and Asta had wasted no time in telling everyone that Kalon had an older sister and, by proxy, that Finral had broken the “one rule” not once but twice.
Finral’s brow furrowed at the thought, and he leaned over and whispered to Kalon, “Where’s your sister?”
”Which one?” asked Kalon earnestly. Finral’s mouth felt suddenly dry, and he tried to swallow and find his words.
“You…have more than one sister?” After he had asked more loudly than he had been intending, Finral sheepishly sat up in his seat as he gave the room a discerning glance to see if any of his other squad mates had noticed his outburst or the two children who had suddenly appeared, but he didn’t notice much out of the ordinary besides the fact that Magna had charred his potato pies to an ashy crisp. As nonchalantly as he could, he leaned back under the table and repeated in an empathic whisper. “You have more than one sister?”
A bright smile spread between Kalon’s cheeks, and he hummed. “You met Lia. She’s my big sister, but I have a little sister too. Her name is Narah, but she looks too much like Mom so she’s not allowed to come visit you, Young Dad—Mom and Dad said. Oh and I might have another little sister, but we don’t know yet.”
Blinking rapidly, Finral shook his head. “What?”
“Oh, Mom is having a baby, but we don’t know if the baby is a little brother or sister yet.” Kalon’s bright smile faded to a thoughtful frown. “I’m not supposed to tell you about that though…I keep forgetting…”
“That’s okay, Kalon,” Finral tried to awkwardly reassure him as his face flushed red. “You told me your mother was having a baby last time—at the mixer, remember?” Finral, himself, had somehow forgotten—or at least had forgotten enough that he couldn’t call it to mind at the moment it was relevant information.
Kalon’s eyes widened, and his smile brightened. “Oh yeah! That’s right! Well, I guess that’s okay since you already knew about it.”
“How’s your mom doing—with the baby and everything?” Despite trying to remind himself that he didn’t need to worry about his future family, the fact that he knew about their existence made it a bit difficult for Finral to completely push the thoughts from his mind. Finral’s own mother had died from childbirth complications, after all, and even though Kalon’s mother had, presumably, already had children—four of them, if Finral was keeping count correctly—the concern was still there, and he found himself a little worried, even if he had no idea who the future mother of his children even was.
“Don’t worry, Young Dad,” Kalon reassured him with a gentle pat on his hand. “Mom wouldn’t want you to worry. She says you worry too much.” Finral chuckled a little and sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. Kalon’s mother, whoever she was, certainly seemed to know him very well.
“I’m not really supposed to talk to you about her though, remember?” continued Kalon with a frown. “But…I guess I can tell you that she’s doing good. She says the baby was a surprise but the good kind, like a surprise party or Uncle Langris coming to visit or when you find a really awesome rock.” Finral’s mouth twitched in the corners at the thought of Langris visiting being a ‘good surprise.’ His face softened, but before he could say anything in response, Kalon nodded excitedly and added, “Everybody’s really excited and really surprised—but in a good way. The baby is already getting lots of presents, and we’re decorating a nursery. And we’re all taking really good care of Mom—especially you…or”—Kalon laughed—“‘Regular You.’”
“Mama’s been helping too, la!” chimed Anni who was still stuffing her face with the ever-dwindling pile of potato pies. “She makes sure she has lots of yummy food, but that’s not why her tummy is getting so big—it’s because there’s a baby in there…” Anni paused and took a bite of the pie in her hand before she clarified while giggling, "but she didn’t eat it.”
Finral barely stifled a laugh though he could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks the longer they stayed on the subject. “I take it you don’t have any younger siblings?”
“No,” Anni giggled. “But I have a big brother. His name is Rye, and he can paint snacks.”
Finral blinked at her. “Paint snacks…?”
Anni finished the potato pie in her hand and nodded as Kalon hummed in agreement. “They’re really tasty, Young Dad.”
“Uh huh…” Finral somehow managed a confused nod. Painted snacks? That was a new one for sure but, for that matter, so were tiny time travelers...
“Rye even made some cupcakes for Mom and the baby. Mom says the baby loves cupcakes, but babies don’t have teeth when they’re born so it’ll be awhile before he can eat any. But he always kicks really hard when Mom has cupcakes.”
“Are you hoping for a brother?” Finral asked curiously.
Kalon tilted his head thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Maybe… I’d like another brother, but another sister would be good too.”
“Uncle Zora bet Uncle Magna 100 Yul that you’re having a little sister,” said Anni as she shoved a slice of potato pie into her mouth. “So that’s what I think too.”
“Woah, really?” exclaimed Kalon before he stopped abruptly and held up his hand to Anni. “Wait. Uncle Zora is on the list because Young Dad doesn’t have green in his hair.” He turned apologetically to a particularly perplexed Finral. “Sorry, Young Dad.” Finral’s head was beginning to spin again. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out who this ‘Uncle Zora’ even was or why on earth he would dye his hair green in the future and, presumably, keep it that way, no matter how many times Kalon mentioned it.
“It’s…uh…fine…” he mumbled. “Um…Kalon?”
“Yes?”
“What are you doing here?”
“We’re all playing hide-and-seek,” Anni explained. “And powers are allowed.”
Finral tilted his head at Kalon. “Don’t you think hiding in the past is cheating?”
“We weren’t trying to go to the past. I was trying to get to the top of the cupboard and Anni came too, but now we’re here at Uncle Henry’s house with you Young Dad and—” Kalon’s face seemed to brighten as he peeked up from his hiding place under the table rather conspicuously. “And Young Uncle Luck and Young Aunt Noelle and Young Uncle Magna and Young Aunt Charmy…”
“Mama, la?” asked Anni, bolting up excitedly with a potato pie in her hand. “Do you think she has more noms?” Finral tried to frantically shush her and usher her back under the table, but her eyes had already locked on Charmy.
“Wait…no…what about these…?” Finral stopped as he tried to pick up one of the potato piles and realized Anni had already eaten most of them. This kid’s appetite was unbelievable—or would have been unbelievable if she hadn’t been related to Charmy. Finral sighed and rubbed his eyes. His head was starting to hurt.
Kalon held out his hand to stop Anni before she darted towards Charmy. “Anni, you have to eat these first—it’s part of the contest.”
Anni nodded very solemnly before she reached out and took one of the few remaining potato pies from Finral. “Okay,” she said with a shrug before she proceeded to shove half of it into her mouth.
Finral sighed with relief. Of course, this relief was short-lived as someone grunted his name from behind him.
“Finral.”
“Captain—Ow!” He hit his head on the table as he frantically tried to sit up and turned to face Captain Yami and his familiar scowl.
The Captain quirked an eyebrow at him as Finral rubbed his hand across the bump on his head. “Hiding under the table like that to portal your pies to who-knows-where isn’t fooling anybody.”
“I wasn’t portal-ing them anywhere.”
The Captain’s eyes narrowed at him sternly. “Where’d you send all those potato pies, Finral?”
“I didn’t send them anywhere,” Finral insisted, throwing up his hands, more agitated by the idea that the Captain would soon discover Kalon and Anni than at being accused of cheating in the eating contest. He was planning to do that anyway, after all.
“Well where did they go because you sure as hell didn’t eat them…”
“I ate them, la,” piped up Anni peeking out from behind the table leg followed by Kalon.
“Hi again, Young Uncle Yami!” he said as Anni waved and took another bite of the potato pie in her hand.
Captain Yami’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head as he looked from one child to the other; then, turned back to Finral. “That’s not what I expected your daughter to look like.”
“I don’t think she’s…” Finral began but was promptly cut off by Luck.
“Oh wow! Another one!” Luck practically bounced over towards Anni and crouched in front of her with an exuberant, “Can you fight me?”
“Absolutely not,” Finral intervened—taking a step in between Anni and Luck. He could only hope that, regardless of what magical attribute Anni had, Charmy, or whoever her parents were, had instilled in her from a young age that she wasn’t allowed to fight ‘Uncle Luck’ ever—or, at the very least, until she got her grimoire.
“I’m not supposed to fight with you, Uncle Luck,” chuckled Anni in between bites of pie. Finral sighed in relief, but Luck pouted.
“Can you at least show us what kind of magic you have?”
Anni shrugged but smiled. “Okay,” she said as she made a small cloud of cotton shaped like a tiny cat appear on the edge of the table.
Kalon laughed and excitedly exclaimed, “Oh it’s Rouge!” as the little cloud cat suddenly blinked its eyes, meowed, and jumped into his hands. Finral struggled to find his balance as he stumbled backwards in surprise, but Kalon just giggled and pet the cat’s head as it purred contentedly.
“What the—?” The Captain stopped, seemingly censoring himself in front of the kids.
“That’s awesome!” exclaimed Luck who was seemingly unphased. “What else can you make?”
Anni hummed and tilted her head. “Lots of things, but no real noms you can eat.”
“Can you make something I can fight?” Luck asked. Anni nodded, and Luck’s entire face seemed to light up as a tiny, cotton dragon appeared in his hands breathing small clouds of smoke. Luck beamed. “Hey Magna, look at my dragon!”
“Your what?” Magna exclaimed as Luck bounded over and practically shoved the tiny dragon in his face. Magna blinked at it before he turned his attention to the end of the table and to Kalon and Anni in particular. “Is that Finral’s kid again?”
“Hi Young Uncle Magna,” said Kalon cheerfully with an exuberant wave. Magna’s brow furrowed, but he unsurely raised his hand and waved it back at Kalon.
“You can fight me and my dragon now,” exclaimed Luck triumphantly—once again shoving the small cotton dragon under Magna’s nose.
“I’m not going to fight your—” He stopped abruptly. “Where did that thing even come from?”
“Anni made it,” said Luck, motioning to her. “She has great magic! It’s kind of like Charmy’s…”
“Not now, Luck. I’m trying to win this eating contest!” Charmy interjected in between frantic bites of potato pie.
“Mama, la!” exclaimed Anni. She darted under the table with Kalon in such quick pursuit, Finral couldn’t even reach out a hand to stop them.
“What’s going on?” asked Noelle who pulled her head up from the table—rubbing her temples.
“Kalon’s back, and he brought a friend with him!” explained Asta excitedly.
“Great…” she muttered under her breath though her mouth twitched a bit in the corners.
Kalon, seemingly stopping, peeked out from under the table to wave at her. “Hi Young Aunt Noelle, and hi Young Uncle Asta. It’s really good to see you again.” He turned to his left where Gordon was muttering excitedly and smiled brightly. “Oh hi Young Uncle Gordon. I don’t think I got to see you young yet.” His little brow furrowed as Gordon mumbled something in response. “I’m sorry I can’t understand you because you’re talking really, really quiet…”
“Aunt Nene!” exclaimed Anni interrupting him—or perhaps Gordon. It was difficult to tell since Gordon was so quiet. Before Finral could even begin to wonder who “Aunt Nene” was, Kalon scampered over to Anni and began excitedly tapping Vanessa who had fallen asleep on the table. Or at least Finral hoped she had fallen asleep so he wouldn’t have to explain to his supposedly future son what being passed-out-drunk meant. Finral sighed with relief as Vanessa hummed and stirred, her eyes fluttering open.
“Hm…what is it…?” She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She blinked at Kalon and Anni who were staring up at her almost in awe and excitement before she bolted up in her seat. “What the hell?”
Anni giggled. “You have to pay the swear jar, Aunt Nene…”
Vanessa’s blinking grew more rapid as she rubbed her head. “Sorry…” she murmured confusedly as she glanced around the table for an explanation. “Who…who is this?”
“That is Finral’s son from the future…” Captain Yami began motioning in Kalon’s general direction before Kalon cut him off.
“Hi I’m Kalon,” he said with a bright smile and wide, sparkling eyes. “Are you going to the beach?”
“The…the what?” asked Vanessa.
“Ooh I love the beach!” interjected Anni. “And your bathing suit is so pretty, Aunt Nene.”
Kalon’s eyes seemed to grow even wider—positively transfixed on Vanessa with an almost awe-struck wonder. “Wow…” he sighed. “You’re so pretty!”
“Uh…thank you,” answered Vanessa with a slight shrug and a smile. “You must take after your Dad,” she teased before she tilted her head toward Finral and winked at him.
Finral frowned though his cheeks felt a bit warm as Vanessa stifled a laugh. He rolled his eyes. “You want to put some clothes on in front of my kid?”
Vanessa, it seemed, could no longer hold back her laughter, but before she could answer Anni protested in her defense, “But Uncle Finral, la, she’s going to go to the beach…”
Kalon tugged on his sleeve. “It’s okay, Young Dad. I’ve seen her in a swimsuit lots of times.” He nodded before he turned to Vanessa and beamed at her again. “And she looks really, really nice in this one.”
“Thank you,” said Vanessa with an almost-triumphant nod and a pointed tilt of her head in Finral’s general direction. Finral frowned and blinked at her as Vanessa leaned over to ruffle Kalon’s hair. “Aren’t you sweet?”
“What about me?” asked Anni, practically jumping up and down.
“You too,” she chuckled with a smile before glancing up at the rest of the table. “Asta and Noelle’s kid?”
“Wha—what?” Noelle spluttered with high-pitched incoherent noises of protest before Finral explained.
“We think she’s Charmy’s…”
Vanessa and, it seemed, everyone else turned to Charmy who was still blissfully chowing away at her potato pies. It took her several moments to even realize they were all staring at her.
“What?” she asked with a full-mouth of food.
“Hi Mama, la!” exclaimed Anni who ran up and hugged her. Charmy’s brow furrowed, and she leaned backwards in her chair in confusion.
“Who is this?”
“We think she’s your kid from the future,” said Finral.
Charmy blinked at him; then, at Anni. “No…” Shaking her head curtly with a light chuckle, she returned to her potato pies.
“Charmy, this kid just devoured a whole stack of potato pies and says you’re her mother…” Finral sighed.
Charmy shook her head again and protested between bites. “She looks like Asta and Noelle’s kid.”
“No—she doesn't! I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Noelle stammered quickly turning red in the face.
Asta, on the other hand, merely looked confused. He shrugged. “I don’t think she looks a lot like me, but okay.”
“Anni looks like her dad—like how Lia looks like our dad,” Kalon explained.
“And who is that?” asked Vanessa.
Anni giggled before she pressed her finger to her lips. “I’m not supposed to say since it’s a secret.”
“Ooh maybe it’s one of Noelle’s brothers since she kind of looks like Noelle,” suggested Asta.
Charmy rolled her eyes with a huff. “I am not going to marry one of Noelle’s brothers, Asta.”
“The only thing worse than that would be marrying Langris,” laughed Vanessa. Finral sighed, but he supposed she had a point.
“Aunt Charmy isn’t that kind of aunt,” Kalon explained with a chuckle as he practically hung off of Vanessa’s arm. “Uncle Langris is married to somebody else, but I’m not allowed to talk about that. It’s on the list.”
Finral’s brow furrowed. Langris was married? It shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did. He was the heir to House Vaude, after all, and would be responsible for carrying on their noble line—not to mention the fact that he had had a marriage arranged for him for nearly his entire life. But why wasn’t Kalon allowed to talk about it? Surely, the future him was well aware of the betroval—and the fact that, as he was now, he was painfully aware of it.
“Isn’t your Uncle Langris in an arranged marriage?” he asked, not realizing until after he had said it and Kalon blinked at him in confusion that he was likely too young to understand the question. “He’s engaged to be married…right now…,” he added for clarification though he wasn’t sure it helped much.
“To the greatest woman in the world, right?” Vanessa shot him a teasing wink, and his face flushed. He should never have told her about that.
“She is really great!” Kalon nodded before he sighed. “But I’m not supposed to talk about her for some reason…I don’t know why, but it’s on the list and it’s really close to the top too so it’s important.”
Finral’s brow furrowed. Lady Finesse was on the list of banned topics as well? That seemed odd. Finral wondered if perhaps it was just a kindness. Even in his life of wedded, domestic bliss with Kalon’s mysterious mother, his future self had to know that learning that the Langris and Lady Finesse had married as planned would be a complicated and somewhat painful thing for the younger version of him, and he might want to shield his younger self from that, even if he knew that eventually he’d find his own happiness with someone else. Unless…
He supposed it was possible that Kalon wasn’t talking about Lady Finesse at all and that it was Langris who had found somebody else. Though in that case, what had happened to Lady Finesse? Surely, he hadn’t been the one to… Finral stopped. As his face flushed, he swallowed hard and pushed the thought away as swiftly as it had entered his head. Unless something terrible happened to Langris and he had to take over by default, there is no way he would ever be the head of their house. There was no way he could have possibly been the one to marry Lady Finesse. Still, he tilted his head trying to get a better look at Kalon’s eyes—his mother’s eyes. They were so frustratingly familiar and yet so difficult to place. He supposed they could be the same shade as Lady Finesse’s…? Maybe…? He hadn’t seen her in such a long time that his mental image of her was growing fuzzy. He could much more easily remember the kindness in her eyes and the way she smiled with them rather than their actual shade or color—blue or purple maybe? Sighing in frustration, he ran a hand through his hair.
“Sorry, Young Dad,” said Kalon apologetically, interrupting his thoughts.
Finral smiled slightly. “It’s okay.” He was sure that the “future him” must have had his reasons for keeping this a secret—even if he, for the life of him, had no idea what those reasons were. Kalon, however, was too distracted by playing with Vanessa’s hair to notice his reassurances.
“Your hair is so long and so pretty…” he said with a beaming smile as he twisted the strands around his hands. Finral rolled his eyes with a sort of affection—maybe Kalon did take after him in some ways… He wondered if Vanessa was thinking the same thing as she laughed as Kalon started what appeared to be a messy braid of some kind. It was sweet, if not a little bit strange, how fond he was of Vanessa. Charmy’s daughter seemed very attached to her as well—though she was now distracted by the potato pies Charmy was sharing with her. He could imagine that she was a wonderful aunt to them and any other children anyone on their squad may have had. “Don’t worry I have sisters—they taught me how to braid hair.”
“Oh, sisters, huh?” asked Vanessa with a smile, and Kalon simply beamed at her.
“Two of them—well…maybe three…but we don’t know yet…” said Kalon. Vanessa quirked an eyebrow at him and hummed thoughtfully before Kalon added in explanation, “Because she—or he—hasn’t been born yet.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened. “Your mom is pregnant?” Kalon nodded, and Vanessa reached for her wine before she shot Finral a look that made him blush and stare sheepishly at his shuffling feet.
“The baby is coming really, really soon, la, because her tummy is getting really, really big,” added Anni between bites of a potato pie she had taken from Charmy’s pile and motioning in a wide arch shape in front of her small torso with her hands.
Sheepishly, Kalon twisted his mouth, “But we’re not really supposed to tell you about it…”
Looking up from her potato pie, Charmy frowned in Finral’s general direction with a somewhat-affectionate shake of her head. “Another one? You have so many.”
“You have a kid now, too,” Finral protested, but Charmy merely shrugged as she gave one of her potato pies to Anni.
“Just one. You’ve got a whole hoard,” she teased.
Finral swallowed hard as Vanessa downed her glass of wine and poured another, but before he could begin to defend himself, or rather his future self, Asta exclaimed excitedly, “Woah! Congratulations, Finral! That’s great news.”
Noelle huffed. “That’s way, way in the future, Bakasta. Also, ew…” With an aristocratic sniff, she shook her head in disgust.
“I’m getting tired of having to say this, but what is the one rule we have on this squad, Finral?” grunted Captain Yami with an irritated scowl.
“Maybe future me is retired…?” he said weakly with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
The Captain frowned. “I certainly hope so considering your total is up to what now—three?”
“Four,” Charmy corrected. “Apparently Kalon has two sisters.”
“Imagine having four children with Finral…” Noelle muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes.
“What’s wrong with four children? I think that’s a good number,” said Asta—good-natured and oblivious as ever.
“That’s good, Uncle Asta, la. Because you have four kids in your family,” giggled Anni.
“What?” interjected Noelle so loudly that the entire table turned to look at her. Noelle’s face blushed a bright red, and she spluttered, “Well…uh…um…I—I was just surprised.” She frowned and bristled. “Not that I care or anything…”
“I’m not that surprised, Noelle,” Asta explained with a bright smile that made Noelle’s blush deepen. “I always wanted a big family. And now Finral and I have the same number of kids. That’s great!”
Finral shrugged, deciding it was best not to tell Asta that if he had been counting correctly the baby Kalon kept accidentally mentioning would make five, though he couldn’t get a word in over blushing Noelle’s indignant and incoherent splutterings, even if he wanted to.
“It’s okay…” He heard Vanessa comfort her with a pat on the back. “Just breathe.”
Anni laughed even harder, but Kalon frowned at her. “Anni, you’re not supposed to tell them that.”
“I thought we could talk about Uncle Asta and Aunt Noelle…?” asked Anni with a tilt of her head.
“Well…yeah…but I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about how many kids they have…”
Noelle, seemingly having regained the tiniest bit of composure, began to bristle, “As if I would ever marry Bakasta…” though her beet-red face and wavering voice suggested otherwise.
“Hold on. I’m confused…” interjected Magna. As he stopped running from Luck and his dragon, they crashed into him causing Luck to laugh and the dragon to blow little clouds of cotton smoke. “Asta and Noelle have kids now too? Who all has kids?”
Luck, who everyone would have assumed was too busy chasing Magna around with his cotton dragon to be paying attention, chimed in, “Asta and Noelle have kids together, and Finral and Charmy each have kids separately.”
“Anyone else we should know about?” questioned Captain Yami, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.
Anni and Kalon looked at each other somewhat sheepishly before Kalon laughed and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “We should probably get going. We’ve been gone a long time so everybody is probably wondering where we went.” He turned to Finral, conveniently evading the question. “Bye, Young Dad. It was fun playing with you!”
“I’m glad I got to see you too, Mama la!” said Anni, giving Charmy a hug and getting crumbs all over her cape. Charmy’s eyes widened in surprise, but her face softened into a smile as she wrapped an arm around her.
“I’ll make better snacks next time.”
Anni’s smile brightened before she turned to Vanessa and hugged her too, “It was really good to see you too, Aunt Nene. Have fun at the beach!”
Kalon nodded excitedly and joined in their hug. “I’m so glad I finally got to see you! You too, Uncle Gordon.”
Though his smile was only slight, Gordon’s face seemed to light up at Kalon’s words. Kalon turned and opened a portal before he said to the whole table, “It was really nice to see everyone. Hopefully, I can come back and play again someday.”
“Bring me too, la,” said Anni. “I want to have an eating contest.”
“I think you already won this one, kid,” said the Captain with the slightest twitch of a smile in the corners of his mouth.
Anni gasped and clapped her hands excitedly. “Really?”
Captain Yami shrugged his shoulders. “Unless it was Charmy, but that’s kind of the same thing, I guess.”
“I bet we won at hide-and-seek, too,” interrupted Kalon. “We should go back and see.”
Before Kalon and Anni could say their final goodbyes and walk through the portal, however, someone stumbled through from the other side with a triumphant, “Found you!”
Finral’s jaw fell slack as three more children practically fell out of the portal, tripping over each other.
Kalon’s sister, Lia, he recognized—if not from having met her before, then from how strikingly similar she looked to him and her younger brother. She began to lose her balance but steadied herself on the edge of the table as she crossed her arms and frowned—though the look of relief in her eyes made Finral smile. “Where in the world have you been? Do you have any idea how long we’ve been looking for you?”
“Everyone was so worried,” said a boy with pink hair and wide, kind eyes. He was about a head taller than Lia and dropped to his knees—pulling Kalon and Anni into a tight hug. Finral could only blink at him, shake his head, and try his best to convince himself that Vanessa was not in fact a twelve-year-old boy.
“Sorry, Tirion,” said Kalon apologetically. “We weren’t trying to worry anybody. We were just trying to win hide-and-seek.”
“Well…you definitely won,” chuckled another boy, the tallest of the group, with dark hair, bright blue eyes, and a familiar lopsided grin. “But I still found you.”
Finral gasped and rubbed his eyes. This kid… this kid looked just like…
“You didn’t follow the rules,” huffed Lia, scolding Kalon and Anni. “So you shouldn’t be allowed to win.”
“But,” Anni protested. “But Katsu said that magic was allowed.”
“Not hiding in the past, dumbbells,” the dark-haired boy teased affectionately, patting Anni’s head. “There’s no way to find you there.”
Lia crossed her arms and scowled. “You’re lucky we didn’t leave you here.”
“Don’t listen to her… Portal Princess here was worried sick about you.”
Lia’s face flushed, but she huffed with an expression that reminded Finral so much of Langris it was almost eerie, “I was not. I knew they’d find their way home eventually. Kalon always does.” She scowled. “And don’t call me that.”
As the dark haired boy just shrugged, however, the boy with the pink hair—Tirion, Kalon may have said his name was?—stood up from the ground and said with a faint tint of pink in his cheeks and a sheepish smile, “Um…guys…I think we have an audience…”
They all fell quiet and turned to face the table where the Black Bulls squad, for possibly the first time ever, were completely and utterly stunned silent.
“Oh no,” groaned Lia, pressing her palm to her forehead. “Not again…”
“Woah…this is weird,” gaped the boy with the dark hair. “They’re all so young…” Finral shook his head, scarcely believing his own eyes. The longer he blinked at him the more and more he looked strikingly like…
“Captain Yami?” asked Asta—his brow furrowed in concentration and confusion. Finral was sure that their now silent and bewildered squad must all be thinking the same thing as they stared from Asta to the Captain to the Captain’s younger lookalike. Finral for his own credit blinked rapidly at him in disbelief. Is this what his friends felt like when they looked at Kalon?
“Don’t look at me, kid,” grunted the Captain. “I don’t know what’s going on.” Finral resisted the urge to bury his face in his hand in frustration. Clearly, Captain Yami didn’t understand the question at all. His response, clueless though it may be, did get his little lookalike’s attention, however.
He glanced over the table, something sparkling in his blue eyes, the only feature it seemed he didn’t have in common with their captain, before he met Captain Yami’s confused gaze and waved his hand slightly as his mouth twitched into that familiar, lopsided smile. “Hi, Dad.”
~~~~~~~
Some extra notes for fun and kicks & giggles:
When Katsu, the eldest of all of the Black Bulls nieces & nephews of this universe, was learning to talk he couldn't pronounce Vanessa's name and had difficulties with "S"s so he referred to her as "Nene" (phonetically Nay-nay). Since he was the first, the nickname stuck with all of the other children who were born after him, so she is now and forever more "Aunt Nene" to all of her beloved Black Bulls nephews and nieces.
Anni's nickame is pronounced like "Annie" and her name "Anaise" is a pun on the spice "Anise" (I felt it suited Charmy to give her children food names). ^^