#i love mato sm | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

piastrams · 2 years ago

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I LOVE THIS SM I LOVE MATO I LOVE THEM

hound dog

elide x lorcan, modern au/established relationship, light angst & fluff, word count: 5790

Aelin’s eyes swivelled from side to side as she watched her friend pace across her bathroom.

Three steps, pivot. Three steps, pivot. Three steps, pivot.

She glanced at her phone and sucked on her bottom lip.

Neither one of them had spoken since the timer had started, and the silence was killing Aelin.

“It’s going to be ok, you know?” she blurted out, unable to contain herself. She needed to say something.

Aelin quickly regretted ever opening her mouth when Elide stopped – froze, more like – and slowly turned around like a haunted doll.

Her glare could have set fire to Hellas’ cold, cold realm. “No,” Elide said evenly, too even, “I don’t know, Aelin.” Aelin winced. “How could you even say that right now?” She flung her hand towards the sink counter. “Look at what’s happening!” On a wad of toilet paper, three-freshly taken pregnancy tests awaited. Elide’s hands shook, and she dragged them through her hair. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Aelin stood up from her perch on the lip of the tub. She stood in front of her friend and gently rubbed her arms up and down. “Honey, I know that no matter what, you have me, and you have Lorcan.”

Scoffing, Elide muttered, “Yeah, right. He’s going to freak out.”

Tears welled in her eyes, quickly threatening to spill down her cheeks. Her boyfriend had already discussed his aversion to kids – they both had. Neither one of them knew the first thing about being a good parent, and they had their childhoods to thank for that. Hellas, Elide barely felt like she knew how to take care of herself now, much less a baby.

As she opened her mouth to say just that, the timer on Aelin’s phone went off. Elide felt the blood drain from her body, and she swayed.

“Woah, careful,” Aelin caught her and gently helped Elide to sit on the closed toilet. She pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. “Alright,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “El, what do you want to do?”

Call Lorcan. Tell him to come home. Tell him to fix this. Elide closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Tell me what they say?”

Aelin carefully picked up the first test, then retook her seat on the tub. She took a deep breath of her own. “Are you ready?”

Elide held her hand out to Aelin. Her friend clutched it tightly, squeezing supportively. “I’m ready.” She held her breath as Aelin turned over the first test.

“It’s positive.”

Her face crumpled, and Elide breathed out tearfully. “Next.”

Aelin picked it up. “Positive.”

She started to cry then, pressing her free hand to her mouth. Elide already knew what the third one would say. Maybe she could have hoped that the first was a false positive, if the second was negative, but Elide wasn’t stupid. She couldn’t fool herself.

“The third, it’s—”

Elide shook her head, “You don’t– please.”

“Oh, honey,” Aelin tutted her tongue, instantly wrapping her arms around Elide. She rubbed Elide’s back, trying to calm her, even though she knew anything she told Elide would fall on deaf ears.

✵✵✵✵✵

Elide didn’t know how long they’d been in the bathroom. Her tears had dried, if only because she cried them all out. She felt numb now, completely unable to make any kind of decision.

She opened her mouth to say something just as the front door opened and shut. “Hey, sweetheart?” Lorcan called out, his low voice rumbling through the apartment. “You home?”

Elide sat up with a gasp. “Fuck, fuck, Aelin,” she panicked, looking around the bathroom for all the evidence. She frantically grabbed the tests and wrapped them in more toilet paper. She yanked a box of tampons from beneath the sink, shoving the pregnancy tests in. “What do we do?! He can’t know,” Elide whispered fiercely. “I’m not ready.”

“Lee, where are you?” Lorcan called again, closer to the bathroom now.

Elide swallowed before responding uncertainly, “I- I’m in the bathroom, I’ll be out in a minute.”

Aelin stood up, “I’ll distract him. Wash your face, honey, and drink some water, ok?” She opened the bathroom door a crack and slipped out, expertly blocking Lorcan from looking inside. “Hey, buddy,” she said brightly.

Lorcan frowned at her, blinking a couple times in confusion. He dropped a pile of mail on his kitchen table. “You’re calling me…” he shook his head like he didn’t even want to touch the subject. “Whatever. Is Elide in there?”

“Yep,” Aelin nodded, “she’ll be out in a minute.”

He folded his thick, tattooed arms across his chest. “What is this? You guys go to the bathroom together now?”

“It’s just girl stuff,” Aelin waved her hand dismissively. She glanced around the man, spotting his beautiful hound. “Mató, pookie-bear!” Aelin squealed. Without much care, she pushed Lorcan aside and rushed over to the black dog. “How are you, my pretty?” she cooed, running her hand over his gorgeous, luxurious pelt. “Oh, hi…”

Mató slowly wagged his tail. He gently nudged his nose against her hip pockets, sniffing for treats. Usually, Aelin would be the person most likely, given her own pup, Fleetfoot, and Aelin’s propensity for spoiling her rotten. Aelin laughed, “I’m sorry, pookie, I don’t have any treats. Fleetfoot got them all.” Mató whined softly. Aelin chuckled again, bending to kiss his head. “Next time, baby boy.”

“How many nicknames does my dog need?” Lorcan asked drily.

Aelin propped her hand on her hip as she looked at him. “I can’t help it. A darling pup deserves many titles. No one name is enough to encapsulate every facet of this gorgeous dog.”

The bathroom door clicked as Lorcan opened his mouth. Whatever he was going to say was forgotten, and he turned to his girlfriend. “Lee.”

Her eyes were still wet. “Hi.”

Lorcan’s brows creased deeply in concern. “What’s wrong?”

Elide glanced at Aelin before she shook her head and pasted on a fake smile, forcing a laugh, “Nothing, I’m ok. How was your day?”

“Fine.” His hands touched her hips as he stepped closer. Lorcan bent his head, “Elide, are you alright?”

Her head bobbed, almost a nod, but almost a shake. Elide’s throat was suddenly tight. “I’m fine.” She gave him a quick kiss before stepping around him. “Mató, baby,” Elide sighed happily.

He approached her and paused, tilting his head to the side. Mató sniffed the air, then growled.

“Mató,” Lorcan warned him.

The mutt growled again, louder and with more force, ignoring his owner. He stepped close to Elide, almost glueing himself to her side, and tightly circled her with his teeth half-bared. Mató nudged her stomach with his snout, whining once. Elide laughed shrilly, sharing an alarmed look with her friend. She cooed over Mató, “What’re you doing, cub? It’s just me.”

She nudged him aside to walk Aelin out. Forlornly, Mató stared after her before he sighed heavily and loped over to Lorcan.

Lorcan gently scratched his floppy ears, “You hungry, cub?”

Mató made a noise of interest, tilting his head to the side. Side by side, they walked into the kitchen to poke around the fridge.

At the door, Elide and Aelin were still saying good-bye.

“Bye, honey,” Aelin said. She squeezed Elide tightly and lowered her voice so Lorcan wouldn’t overhear. “I’m here for whatever you need, Elide. No questions asked, ok?”

The brunette found it hard to respond past her suddenly tight throat. She nodded as they pulled apart. Her friend gave her cheek a kiss, then called out, “Bye, Lorcy-poo!”

Elide managed a little chuckle when the fridge door slammed shut, and she could practically feel Lorcan’s glare, once again directed towards Aelin. “I fuckin’ told you not to call me that,” he growled. “Good-bye, Aelin.”

With a cackle, Aelin grabbed her purse, and she whirled out of the apartment like a hurricane.

The air in the apartment seemed to shift the moment she left. Elide was all too aware of the fact that there was no more buffer, and her boyfriend wouldn’t be easily dissuaded from questioning her.

Mató slinked over to her, circling around her legs. He made another rumbling sound from his chest. She crouched, smoothing her thumbs over his eyebrows. “I’m ok, pup,” she whispered. Elide kissed his furry forehead. “Promise.” She stood when she heard the jingle of keys behind her, looking at Lorcan. “You going somewhere?”

“We don’t have any groceries,” he said. Lorcan walked closer to her, not-so-subtly nudging Mató out of the way to wrap his arms around her. “I’m going to the store. D’you wanna come with me?” He bent down, brushing his lips over hers.

Elide pressed her hands into his warm chest. “Oh,” she gasped softly when he kissed her fully. She moaned a bit, her eyes fluttering shut.

He pulled away before she was ready, and Elide followed slightly. Lorcan pressed a chaste peck against the corner of her lips. “So?”

“So, um, what?” Elide swallowed, blinking a couple times.

Lorcan grinned cockily. “Groceries. You wanna come?”

“Oh,” Elide leaned further into him, pouting a bit. “No, I’ll stay here. I’m tired.”

He frowned a bit. “Are you feeling ok?”

She chuckled and stepped out of his arms. “I’m fine, Lor. I just want a nap.”

Lorcan stood up fully. “Hmm. I’ll be back soon.” Taking his coat off the rack, he shrugged it on. “Did you have anything you wanted for dinner?”

“No,” Elide shook her head. She leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Whatever you want will be fine with me.” After she said good-bye to Mató, Elide padded off to their bedroom.

Mató watched Elide as she left. He did a massive yawn, displaying his sharp fangs, then licked his teeth. Whining, he gently pawed at Lorcan, who misinterpreted his worry for impatience. “I know, I know, pup,” he said. Lorcan took Mató’s leash off the hook and looped it over his head.

Somewhat reluctantly, Mató allowed himself to be led out of the apartment and away from Elide.

✵✵✵✵✵

Elide was being weird. Lorcan hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong, ever since that afternoon he’d gotten home and Aelin was there. He told himself that his girlfriend was an adult, a very capable adult that did not need nor want him fussing over her.

Still.

He knew something wasn’t right. Elide had been on edge for a few weeks now. Lorcan was pretty sure that the time he’d woken up in the middle of the night, she’d been in the en-suite bathroom crying. He hadn’t been able to fall back asleep that night, not even after Elide came back to bed. He had just stared at her.

Mató was weird now too. He followed Elide around wherever she went, and it wasn’t like Mató disliked Elide, it was just that Mató had always been his dog. He’d raised the mutt since he was a sorry little pup, and now Mató couldn’t be bothered with him.

Earlier in the day, he’d practically had to drag Mató out of the door to take him on a run. And that was after Lorcan had enticed him with the word drive. Mató’s favourite thing was a drive to the Oakwalds where he could run as fast and as far as he wanted, finally not confined to the city.

Lorcan tossed his keys into the silver dish in the hallway. Mató bulldozed past him, barking once to announce his presence.

He knew that Elide didn’t have work today, and she’d told him that her only plan was to do nothing.

“Hey, sweetheart?”

No response.

He frowned and toed off his shoes. He walked back through the apartment to their bedroom where he'd left her. “Elide?” Lorcan asked as he pushed the door open.

She wasn’t there.

Lorcan’s heart started beating a little harder as he whirled around, calling her name again.

As he walked back through the apartment, he saw the balcony door was open a bit. Lorcan crossed over to it.

Just as he was about to push it open further, he heard Elide speaking tersely, and he stopped himself.

“—Aelin, c’mon, please. I already talked about this. I can’t handle it right now.”

Lorcan knew he shouldn’t, knew he should leave and let her have her private conversation, on the phone, with her friend, but he couldn’t leave.

Elide sighed, “No, and I don’t need your opinion on my relationship. I’m not telling him, he’ll lose his mind.”

As her words registered, Lorcan actually took a step back. He didn’t know what to think or how to feel. They didn’t keep things from each other – ever. No matter what it was, they worked through it together.

Mató bounded over, and Lorcan caught him before he could burst onto the balcony. He pushed him back, moving them both away while his mind reeled. “Hey, hey,” Lorcan herded him towards the bathroom.

During Mató’s outing, he had inevitably rolled in every pile of mud they’d come across. He’d gone into a creek at some point, so he wasn’t tracking muck anywhere, but he needed a bath.

Lorcan shut the door behind them so Mató wouldn’t try to escape. Normally, the hound loved baths, but he’d been determined to be by Elide’s side whenever possible.

As he washed Mató, Lorcan was merely going through the motions. He didn’t talk to Mató like he usually did, didn’t shower him with adoration either. All he could think about was Elide’s conversation.

He’d known that something was wrong – he knew it . What he didn’t know was why she wasn’t talking to him.

Mató nosed at him while Lorcan washed the conditioner out of his coat. He let the water run for too long, until Mató was shivering a bit. Softly, he nudged Lorcan with his wet snout and licked his cheek.

Lorcan blinked, coming out of his trance-like state. “Oh, hi, cub. Sorry.” He shut off the water, and before he could stop the dog, Mató leapt out of the shower. “Mató, no—”

Mató shook himself, repelling the water from his mane. The bathroom was almost instantly drenched.

“Alright,” Lorcan sighed. He grabbed a couple towels, putting them down on the tiles before he got another one for the dog. Mató sniffed it gently before he licked Lorcan’s hand. Lorcan towelled him off. He’d like to use the blow dryer, but Mató hated it. He’d howl the minute someone brought it out and scream if it was turned on.

Once he was done, Lorcan collected the towels and tossed them into the laundry bin. He let Mató out of the bathroom, then followed him.

Elide was in the kitchen, fixing herself a pot of tea. She hummed gently to herself, lost in her own little world.

When Mató saw her, he trotted over to her, sitting at her feet expectantly. He barked once to alert her of his presence, his tail sweeping back and forth across the floor.

She jumped and gasped, holding her hand to her throat. Elide pulled her headphones out. “Hey,” she spoke to Lorcan, her eyes wide like she’d been caught doing something wrong. “When did you get back?”

“Like a half hour ago,” Lorcan told her.

“Oh.” Elide swallowed. “I didn’t hear you.”

I know, he thought. Lorcan ran his tongue over the sharp edge of his teeth. He nodded a bit, busying himself by idly tidying their kitchen table. “Mató was a mess. He needed a bath before anything else.”

She walked over to him, forgetting her tea for the time being. Elide gently rubbed his back like she could tell something was the matter with him. “Y’know, I was thinking we could do something tonight,” she said softly. “I feel like we haven’t spent that much time together lately.”

Lorcan held his tongue so he wouldn’t burst out with something like ‘And whose fault is that?’. He turned to face her, leaning back against the table. “Do you have anything in mind?”

“Mmm, I’m thinking Thai take-out and re-binge Dexter,” Elide winded her arms around his waist. The corners of his mouth ticked upwards despite himself. Lorcan nodded a bit. Elide smiled, “Yeah? Sounds good?”

“Mmm,” Lorcan hummed. “It sounds perfect.”

✵✵✵✵✵

“You’re sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Elide asked from the couch as Lorcan grabbed his coat and wallet. Mató was laying with his big head in her lap, effectively trapping her under his mass while she idly stroked his fur.

Lorcan laughed under his breath. There was no way Elide actually wanted to go with him to get their food – she’d already made her nest of blankets and pillows. “I’m sure, sweetheart. I’ll be gone for ten minutes.”

She frowned a little bit, “Ok.”

He chuckled again as he opened the door. “Bye, Lee.”

“Bye,” she called after him.

“You better not start without me,” Lorcan warned her goodnaturedly.

Elide squawked in offence, “Hey, I’m not!”

“Uh-huh…” Lorcan shut the door before she could further defend herself. He knew her too well – she most definitely was starting without him, and now that she’d been caught, Elide would sit on the couch and stew while she stared at the black TV.

They were lucky enough to have an apartment that was central to a lively neighbourhood. It meant that they never had to go far for food, either to a restaurant or grocery store.

Lorcan walked down the block to the little hole-in-the-wall Thai joint to collect their order.

Like he had expected, he was walking back through their door ten minutes later. “I’m back,” he announced while he toed off his shoes. “I told them not to, but they added iced tea for you.” He strolled down the front hall, not noticing that the apartment was suspiciously silent. “It’s decaf, though, so you won’t be up all night.”

When he rounded the corner, what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

Elide had fallen asleep and was curled against Mató, covered by her soft fleece blanket. Her chest rose and fell slowly, indicating a deep slumber.

Lorcan quietly put their take-out in the fridge for later. He wanted to be upset that she didn’t seem to care enough to stay awake for their date, but when he looked at her again, she looked so comfortable and soft that he couldn’t.

He walked over to her and picked her up, blankets and all. Mató growled before he saw who had taken Elide away. The dog padded after Lorcan as he carried Elide to their room. After Lorcan put her down in bed, she woke up.

“Lor? Is-” Elide yawned widely, her jaw cracking. “Mmm, did I fall asleep?”

“Yeah, sweetheart,” he sighed. “It’s ok, we’ll do it another night.”

“Oh, ok… sounds good t’me,” she whispered as she snuggled back into her mound of pillows.

✵✵✵✵✵

Lorcan ate his dinner alone, standing at the kitchen counter. He’d put something on the TV but didn’t watch it.

Hours later, when he was finally ready to sleep, Lorcan had seriously contemplated sleeping on the couch. Despite the confliction he felt towards Elide, he didn’t want to be away from her.

When he went to bed, he pulled her into his arms and laid there until an restless sleep claimed him.

✵✵✵✵✵

It was early in the morning, during the murky period after midnight and before dawn, that Lorcan was woken by his dog.

Mató stood at the bedside, growling around the duvet captured in his jaw. He tugged at it incessantly.

“Mató,” Lorcan groaned, “stop that, cub.”

In response, Mató snarled at him. He dropped the duvet to bark sharply, fangs bared.

Lorcan sat up quickly. His aggravation had been building for weeks, and everything was boiling over at that moment – the fact that Elide was pulling away and nothing he did seemed to fix it, the fact that his dog had completely abandoned him and could barely be bothered to acknowledge him unless he needed something like now. “What is your problem, man?” Lorcan asked, scrubbing at his eyes. He glanced at the digital clock. “It’s four in the morning and—”

Mató barked loudly. His hackles raised as he flattened his ears against his head.

“Mató,” Lorcan said in a warning tone. He looked back at the bed, expecting to see Elide and hoping that she hadn’t woken up.

She wasn’t there.

All he saw were rumpled blankets and an empty spot where she belonged.

Mató pawed at his feet, then made towards the bedroom door.

Lorcan shot up, following Mató through the apartment.

His dog led him to the closed door of the bathroom, whining as he stamped his paws.

“Hey, hey,” Lorcan said, running his hand over Mató’s head. “It’s ok, pup.” He rapped his knuckles against the wood, “Elide, are you in there?”

The only sound he heard was a weak moan. Alarm bells went off in his mind when the next thing that came from the small room was the sound of Elide retching. Lorcan twisted the doorknob, but he found it locked. “Lee, open the door.”

“Go away,” she half-groaned, half-cried. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit, I can fuckin’ hear you,” he snapped.

Elide just threw up again.

Lorcan pressed his hands flat against the door, begging, “Baby, please.”

Distressed, Mató spun himself around as he whined.

“I’m fine,” Elide cried. “Go back to bed, Lorcan.”

“I’m here,” Lorcan told her through the door. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

She groaned miserably, and then it sounded like she was muffling her sobs.

He wanted to scream or kick in the door, but Lorcan didn’t do either. Lorcan didn’t knock again. Instead, he put his back against the bathroom door and slid down to the floor. He smoothed his hands over Mató’s head and kissed the spot between his eyes. “It’s ok, cub,” Lorcan whispered. “She’ll be out in a minute, yeah?”

The dog huffed and half-growled at the door. Unceremoniously, he slumped down in Lorcan’s lap, who idly stroked his hand over Mató’s fur. “She’s ok,” he said, repeating it over and over until he started to believe it himself.

Time passed by slowly as he waited outside the bedroom door. He would’ve thought that Elide was unconscious, or maybe dead, if she wasn’t crying audibly.

His worry had faded a bit, replaced by anger that churned disgustingly in his gut. Lorcan was angry with her, so angry. Elide was the one who always preached at him that the key to a healthy relationship was trust and communication.

He’d asked her, subtly and not-so-subtly, if anything was wrong, and every time, she assured him that there was nothing to worry about. She just lied, right to his face.

Lorcan started pacing back and forth before the bathroom door, roughly scrubbing his hands over his face as he replayed every time over the past month Elide had dismissed him.

Suddenly, he could feel everything touching his skin, and he couldn’t handle it.

He ripped his hair out of the bun, and he tersely started braiding it.

Only, it was too tangled to braid properly, and that only angered him more.

Lorcan flung his elastic to a random corner, roughly undoing the plait. “Fuck,” he swore loudly, dropping into a deep crouch. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes.

Claw-tipped paws clicked over the floors. A wet nose nudged at him, and Mató whined deeply, concerned.

Lorcan pulled his hands away. He pet Mató, apologising to him. “I’m sorry, cub. It’s ok, yeah?” He nodded, “Yeah, it’s ok.”

Mató licked his cheek and moved closer, like he was trying to comfort Lorcan.

Lorcan sat down again, wrapping his arms around his dog. He laid down shortly after with a hand tucked beneath his head. Mató laid beside him, staring at him with his dark, inquisitive eyes.

He gently played with Mató’s ears, scratching the spot behind them. “Whaddya think happened, huh?” Lorcan looked at his dog like he was seriously expecting the hound to answer. “What do you know?”

Mató barked softly, then tucked his snout beneath his paws.

“Yeah,” Lorcan sighed. “That’s what I thought…”

Both man and dog turned their worried gazes back to the bathroom door and the woman beyond it.

They both shot up when they heard a sniffle and some shuffling steps. Mató was tense like a rubberband waiting to snap.

“Baby?” asked a wobbly voice. “Are you still there?”

“Yes,” Lorcan said, “‘lide, I’m right here.”

Elide sniffled again before the lock clicked. He waited as she moved away from the door, but Lorcan didn’t dare move until she told him to.

“Can you come in, please?”

Lorcan scrambled to his feet, his hand shooting for the handle. He forced himself to breathe deeply before he opened the door.

As soon as there was enough of a gap, Mató shoved past Lorcan and anxiously tapped his paws against the tile as he sniffed Elide all over. She let him as she ran her hands over him in an attempt to calm him down. Mató flopped down, putting his big head in her lap.

Lorcan was a bit more hesitant to step inside. He was about to say something, what exactly, he didn’t know until he saw the redness of her eyes. Tears had made sticky tracks over her cheeks. “Lee,” he murmured.

Elide’s bottom lip trembled, and he sprung into action.

First, he filled a glass with water for her. He handed it to her, and she took it gratefully. Then, he wet a soft washcloth and kneeled in front of her. “Can I?”

She nodded a bit, just a dip of her chin.

Lorcan tenderly cupped her jaw in one hand, his thumb and fingers grasping each side. He wiped the cloth over her pink skin.

“Thank you,” Elide whispered.

His first urge was to kiss her, but Lorcan didn’t know that she would want that now. “You’re welcome,” he said instead, hating how stilted they sounded.

Hesitantly, Lorcan sat across from her with his back against the tub. Elide had placed herself against the wall between the toilet and sink. He stretched his legs out, still wanting proximity with her. He spread them so Elide was essentially trapped between them, knowing it sort of made him an asshole. To cover up his nerves, Lorcan started picking at his cuticles. “So… are you alright?”

Elide fidgeted too, and Mató moved closer to her. “I don’t- um, no?” Her face crumpled, and fresh tears gathered along her lashes.

Lorcan couldn’t believe he was making her cry. It was like the only thing he could do nowadays was piss her off or upset her. He hated it. “Is it my fault?”

She huffed humourlessly, shrugging, “I guess a little bit.” Elide gently pushed Mató off her lap to raise onto her knees. She opened the sink cupboard to pull out a box of tampons.

He frowned a bit. Usually, he was really good about her period, and it didn't slip his mind. Thinking back, Lorcan couldn’t really remember her last cycle, but forgetting it once surely didn’t warrant this reaction.

Elide retook her seat against the wall, and Mató nosed at the box, huffing once. She clutched the box as she stared at it like it held all the answers to the universe. “I’m going to tell you something, and you can’t lose your mind, ok?”

Lorcan became very still, very suddenly. He remembered what he’d overheard the afternoon before, when she’d been on the phone with Aelin.

“I know that’s unfair,” Elide continued, “but I’m already freaking out, and I- I need, I need you, and you can’t be you if you’re freaking out. Ok?”

“Ok,” Lorcan told her. “I won’t lose my mind.”

“I wanted to tell you this in a different, better way, but…” Elide’s hand shook as she reached into the tampon box and yanked out a collecting of white sticks with pink caps.

His heart started to thump hard against his ribcage, and Lorcan wasn’t really breathing anymore.

Elide thrust them towards him, pushing them into his hand as she blurted, “I’m pregnant.” She’d planned something more eloquent, or at least she’d known she had wanted to be eloquent, but something about Lorcan made her lose all her nerve.

She held her breath as she carefully watched her boyfriend.

Lorcan slowly inspected each test. He was utterly still and quiet.

Anxiously, Elide buried her hands in Mató’s shaggy fur.

“You’re pregnant?”

She nodded, “Yes.” He hummed neutrally, his gaze returning to the tests in his hands. Elide started speaking quickly, just to fill up the silence. “I think I’m, like, ten weeks, maybe? I tracked it, but I don’t know if I did it right.” She wiped at her nose, “I think it happened when we went to the cabin at Lake Perranth. We, um, well…” Elide blushed furiously. They’d gone up for a long weekend and spent the majority of their 72-hours on each other, parting for food and sleep. There were a couple times, Elide remembered, that they were less than careful.

Lorcan remained silent.

Elide watched him worriedly, her teeth making a mess of her inner cheek. She hated his silence. “Lor, please, say something. Say anything.”

He finally looked up at her, his eyes bright. “We’re having a baby?” he whispered, almost elated.

“Oh,” Elide gasped. For some reason, she hadn’t imagined what it’d be like if Lorcan was excited. She’d barely let herself be excited. She held her hand to her mouth and nodded, “Yeah, yes, yes, I’m pregnant, we’re having a baby.”

With a rasping laugh, he got to his feet. The next thing Elide knew, he had lifted her up off the floor. His speed made her shriek, and then Elide burst into rich laughter. He held her tightly as he spun her around the small bathroom.

“Lorcan!” she shouted, beaming.

Mató jumped at their feet, howling excitedly.

“You’re having our baby,” Lorcan said. “Our baby.” He put his arm beneath the bend in her knees and swung her legs up so that she was cradled against his chest. Then, Lorcan carefully sat down again. He held her tightly, whispering a litany of prayers against her temple.

Elide wrapped her arms around his neck. She was unable to dampen her smile. “We’re having a baby.” The words sounded almost strange on her tongue, but it didn’t make her any less happy to say it. “Baby, we’re having a baby.”

He laughed wetly and pulled away so he could rest his brow on hers. One of his hands moved to her stomach, pushing up sweater and t-shirt. “We’re really doing this, huh?”

“We’re really doing this,” Elide confirmed.

Lorcan kissed her deeply, pouring all his affection for her into the embrace. His teeth tugged on her bottom lip, and Elide was reminded of the kind of passion that made them so forgetful in the first place. “I love you,” he told her, “so much, Lochan.”

“I love you too, Salvaterre,” she murmured, “so much.”

Apparently, the dog felt left out. Mató unceremoniously shoved his way between them, sniffing around Elide’s stomach where Lorcan’s hand rested. She laughed, cooing over him while she stroked his head, “Oh, cub, what a smart boy. You were right, you knew the whole time!”

Mató slumped to the floor, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. He laid there and soaked up all of Elide’s praise, his heavy tail sweeping back and forth.

Lorcan looked between them. “Wait…” he finally pieced it together, “is that why Mató’s been so clingy? He could, like, smell it?”

Elide huffed a laugh and affectionately scratched Mató’s ears. His tail thumped against the tiles. “Yeah, I think so.”

Her boyfriend grinned proudly and turned to his dog. “C’mere, cub.” Mató slowly got to his feet, nosing around Lorcan as his owner fawned over him. “You’re so smart, Mató, you knew the whole time, didn’t ya? Yeah…”

Slowly, Mató returned to the floor and twisted onto his back to ask for his belly to be scratched. His back leg kicked reflexively when Lorcan rubbed his stomach, and Mató panted softly, the sound almost like laughter.

“What a good boy,” Lorcan praised him.

Elide chuckled at the sight, running her hand down to Lorcan’s nape. She gently kissed the spot behind his ear. “Now that you know, can you call your hound off?”

“No way.”

“Lorcan! He's driving me crazy, c’mon.”

“What? I like knowing someone’s looking after you two.”

A smile threatened to break free as she shook her head in that way of hers that told him she thought he was ridiculous. Elide cupped his face, her eyes flicking over him. She pressed a soft kiss against his lips. “Are you happy about this?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to be,” she told him. “I’ve had some time to get used to it. It’s ok if you aren’t all the way there yet.”

Lorcan squeezed her side, “I am there. I’m happy about this, Lee, I promise.”

Elide arched her brow. “You’re not scared?”

“Yeah, I am, ‘cause it’s a baby, and that’s a big thing,” he said. Lorcan gently brushed her hair back for her. “But I am not scared to do this with you.” His gaze settled on hers. “Are you telling me you’re not scared, at all?”

She shook her head. “Not about this, about doing it with you,” she told him. Elide laughed a bit, “But everything else? I’m terrified. I’m going to be pregnant.”

He grinned, his hand moving to her still-flat stomach. “Baby, you are pregnant.”

Elide clicked her tongues, “I know that, dumbass. But, like, I’m going to be,” she used her arms to gesture a big belly. “Like, you know? It… it doesn’t feel real right now.”

Lorcan hummed, but he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t understand the anxiety that came with having to share one’s body with another being. He twisted his hand to thread their fingers together.

Elide looked down at her body; she carefully touched her stomach. “I made an appointment on Friday with Dr. Towers. Will you come with me?”

“‘course I will.”

Her eyes sparkled as she told him, “I think we’ll get to see her. Maybe even hear her heartbeat from the ultrasound, too.”

“‘Her’?”

“I know it’s way too early to tell,” she blushed, almost embarrassed, “but I just feel it.”

Lorcan just smiled and kissed her hair, never one to question her witchy ways. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

She rubbed her thumb over his cheekbone, whispering, “Me too.”

✵✵✵✵✵

an: mato = 'bear' in Lakota :))

i hope u enjoyed reading!! julia girl i hope its everything u wanted and more <3

tag list (lmk if u want to be added <3): @sassyhobbits @empress-ofbloodshed @celestialams @the-regal-warrior @icecream52 @elentiyawhitethorn

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