Archive of Our Own

Wriothesley came home and wasn‘t surprised to see that Neuvillette had turned their living room upside down. It was such a common occurrence nowadays that he just chuckled.

“I’m home, sweetness,” he called out, putting his keys on the nearby shelf before peeling his boots off. He got no answer, which probably meant that Neuvillette was sleeping somewhere.

That was this fun new game that they played all the time: Where was Neuvillette’s newest nest located?

He walked around the living room, peering behind the space between the couch and the wall. Ah, Neuvillette had moved his latest nest somewhere else. Alright, he was still figuring out where he was going to lay his clutch.

Every cushion and blanket was missing from the sofas, so there was a good chance Neuvillette had left this room to find a new place to sleep in. So, with a big grin on his face, Wriothesley walked through their small house – first towards the kitchen since it was in the same room.

Nope, Neuvillette had not decided to have a nest out in the open. Technically it would’ve made sense because food was nearby, but that was apparently too dangerous.

He ascended the stairs to the second floor, opening the first door on his right – the bathroom. Half of his mind had expected Neuvillette to be nesting in the bathtub (again), but it seemed that he had given up on that location too. No dragon.

That only left their bedroom.

A victorious, smug grin was on his face when he peered inside and immediately saw the edge of a blanket peeking out from under the bed. Their canopy bed was really high up, so there was room to lie underneath it.

Neuvillette had made sure to have the curtains drawn along the sides of the bed, effectively creating fake walls, shielding him from outside views. If there hadn’t been one corner of a blanket sticking out from underneath that, Wriothesley wouldn’t have found him.

He carefully, softly approached the bed, knelt down, and lifted one of the curtains up.

“Ah… welcome home, dear,” Neuvillette drowsily greeted him. He was curled up on his side, laying on what seemed to be four or five colourful blankets sprawled around the space. He had meticulously placed pillows all around, creating that ‘nest’ like appearance that Wriothesley absolutely found adorable.

Neuvillette himself was only wearing one of Wriothesley’s shirts and some underwear – his big belly peeking out from underneath. Nowadays, he was super uncomfortable when he had to wear pants, so he had resorted to stealing his mate’s clothes. Wriothesley definitely wasn’t one to complain.

“Not bad, looks cosy,” the Duke whistled, letting himself slowly lay down on his side with his head propped up on an arm. “Offers better shelter than the bathtub, doesn’t it?”

“Dear…” Neuvillette sleepily complained, slowly blinking at him. Now that he was getting closer and closer to his due date, he liked to sleep way more often than usual. “I thought we had agreed on not mentioning it anymore…”

A chuckle escaped Wriothesley, a loving grin on his face.

“I know those were your instincts, dragon mama. Making fun of it is the healthiest way to get past embarrassment. Plus, I don’t think it was that weird.”

His lovely pregnant partner grumbled quietly, still laying on his side without indicating that he wanted to move. However, a small smile came to his face eventually.

“Kiss?” he softly asked of him. Wriothesley, of course, gave him the most loving grin there was.

“’Course, sweetness. Excuse the intrusion.”

He flopped onto his stomach and carefully dragged himself under the bed as well. It was surprising how warm it was down here – perfect for incubating and hatching a future clutch of eggs. No wonder Neuvillette had decided to make his nest here.

Once he got close enough, he softly placed a kiss on Neuvillette’s lips, stroking his long white hair with admiration. The dragon purred in response, content with having his beloved close by – happy that his mate had returned from his ‘scavenger’ hunt.

Draconic instincts were still rather new to him. Some were confusing, others were hilarious, and a few were remnants of ancient times. He was the Iudex of Fontaine (on maternity leave now), so he was aware that Wriothesley wasn’t hunting – he was commuting to the Fortress, fulfilling his duties as the Administrator.

However, his pregnant brain liked to sneak weird thoughts into his mind nowadays, which usually went something along the lines of:

‘I hope my mate brings sustenance home once he returns from his hunt.’

Wriothesley had laughed a good few minutes when he had first confessed those thoughts had come forth – but he was fully embracing them. He was constantly making jokes as well, and when he wasn’t being a sarcastic jokester, he’d actually bring home sweet treats to ‘appease’ him.

There was no man in Fontaine who would ever be as loving and supportive as Wriothesley was.

Softly, Wriothesley let his hand fall lower, cupping the baby bump that was protruding from underneath Neuvillette’s shirt. He could faintly make out the shape of about three eggs, but there was no telling to how many they would actually have. Whenever he thought about becoming a dad, he got way too excited.

“What’cha thinking, Neuvi?” he chuckled after breaking their kiss, lovingly gazing at the bump he was caressing. “How many babies are we gonna have?”

“Maiden dragons usually have a smaller clutch the first time around,” Neuvillette explained while pushing his head into Wriothesley’s chest, breathing his scent. “In Vishaps, this usually involves around 2 to 3 eggs.”

“That’s still a good number for our first babies,” Wriothesley chuckled, his grin taking a sharp turn as he looked up to Neuvillette’s face, “though with all the effort that I put in… I think we can anticipate more than that.”

As expected, a small blush spread over Neuvillette’s face. Outside of his heat, he was always so bashful when it came to sexual topics.

“You… far exceeded my expectations,” the dragon bashfully mumbled, averting his gaze with an even bigger blush. “For me to take on the first time… it is usually harder for virgin dragons to conceive.”

With a small chuckle, Wriothesley nuzzled his hair.

“I can’t wait to have a hoard of noodle babies. You think I’ll be able to wear them like a fancy scarf?”

“Dear, they’re called hatchlings, not noodles…”

Neuvillette stood there with a half-smile, gazing over the mountain of blankets that Wriothesley was unpacking right now.

“Dear… how many blankets did you buy?” he slowly prompted his mate. Wriothesley was buried in a mountain of brown packages, each containing the finest blankets available on the market (apparently). He did not quite understand why they had to be fully encased in a package, though…

“Just a couple,” Wriothesley peeked out from behind the mountain of brown boxes, holding another fluffy red blanket. “You know, some extras for your nest.”

“Extras…” Neuvillette murmured, picking one of the exquisite fluffy blankets up and holding it out in front of him. Then he looked at the laundry basket already full with a heap of blankets, and then gazed at the remaining twenty or so packages.

“Dear… I only mentioned that I would like one or two more blankets.”

“Yeah, so I got you some extras.”

“As thankful as I am, I doubt I can fit all of these under the bed…”

“Well, I was thinking you could build a second or third nest on the ground floor,” Wriothesley finally explained his thinking. He mused to himself for a second, looked around, and then pointed to the space between the couch and the wall.

“You had your last nest there, right? I was thinking you could rebuild it with these blankets and the additional pillows,” he proudly suggested.

Neuvillette weakly smiled at him, clutching his belly in a comforting manner.

“What additional pillows…?”

“Okay, so hear me out–“

Wriothesley sleepily awoke to the sound of Neuvillette breathing next to him, shifting on his side of the bed. One glance, and he saw how his pregnant partner was rolling on the bed, remaining on one side where he pressed his belly slightly into the mattress, before shifting to his other side, repeating the same action.

“Eggs in an uncomfortable position?” he sleepily yawned, prompting Neuvillette to still. His pregnant partner looked over his shoulder, nodding with an expression that was close to exhaustion. He seemed to be in some discomfort.

“I’m sorry for waking you, dear,” Neuvi muttered, sighing as he rolled over on his back. He didn’t lay like that for long, as tension came to his face, which prompted him to roll back over to his other side – now facing the Duke in bed. “The eggs are… badly placed.”

With another yawn, Wriothesley rolled onto his stomach, placing his hands against the mattress before stretching them out like a cat. An even bigger yawn escaped him, but then he finally managed to sit up.

“Alright, mama. Lemme help,” he nodded, gently scooting his hands under Neuvillette’s arms to help him sit up. The dragon did so with a miserable whine.

He carefully pulled him back into his embrace, his back against Wriothesley’s naked chest, allowing the Duke to grasp the big belly on the front from behind.

“Let’s get you bunch sorted out,” came the Duke’s chuckle. He gently, ever so gently, nudged the different eggs he could feel underneath the skin – slowly, meticulously, with nothing but care. He tried to flip any eggs that were upside down, trying to get some ‘organization’ inside there.

Another whine came. Neuvillette let his head fall back against his shoulder, whimpering from how uncomfortable it was.

“It feels as if one is pressing against my spine…”

“I got you, mama,” Wriothesley murmured into his ear, softly placing a kiss on his neck. “On all fours. Allow gravity to help.”

Neuvillette did as he was told, sighing with relief at not having the eggs pressing down on his bladder or spine. However, he knew he couldn’t remain that way – sleeping on his belly was out of the question, and he couldn’t really keep this position the entire night…

His partner moved behind him, grasping his belly from behind yet again.

“Alright you little rascals, time to give mama a break,” another chuckle, as he yet again pushed eggs around as much as he could. It took a while, but once he felt as if he had changed all of their positions, he instructed Neuvillette to lie down on his side again.

This time, relief was on his partner’s face – exhaustion blooming on his features, but gratitude shining in his eyes.

“Better…”

“Perfect,” Wriothesley placed a kiss on his cheek, pulling the blanket over his pregnant partner’s form. He laid down next to him, wrapping his arms loosely around him to allow some movement.

Neuvillette was already half asleep by the time Wriothesley snickered.

“Told you our babies would take after me.”

Neuvillette did end up building a second nest behind the couch – just as he had expected. Now it was a new game for him to figure out where Neuvillette was sleeping throughout the day – if he was doing that.

Sometimes, he’d catch him doing… interesting things.

“What’cha doing there, mama?” Wriothesley raised an eyebrow with a half-smile, peering inside of the kitchen.

Immediately, his pregnant partner turned to face him – holding a big bucket filled with water. His expression was serious, but in a cute kind of way.

“We need to start gathering food for the babies.”

 Without wanting to, Wriothesley found himself chuckling in response, yet he really tried to go along with whatever maternal instinct Neuvillette was going through.

“Aight. What do they wanna eat, mama?”

“Lumitoile.”

“’Course they do…” he found himself grimacing, which only prompted his preggy partner to huff. Barely a week had passed, and it seemed as if his bump had gotten bigger, but also lower. He could only ascertain that the eggs were beginning to drop.

Thankfully.

Neuvillette was starting to get really miserable with all of those eggs inside of him…

“You’re not thinking of collecting those yourself, are you?” Wriothesley suddenly spoke up, his gaze fixed on Neuvillette. One look up and down: Neuvillette was wearing his shirt and pants–

“No no no no no no!” he panicked immediately, crossing his arms before his chest and shaking his head harshly. As expected, his pregnant partner grumbled in an adorable way, the bucket of water placed back on the counter.

“We need to stockpile for our babies.”

“Darling, you haven’t even laid your eggs. It could be months until they even hatch.”

“The cold months are approaching–“

“Lumitoile can be found all-year round…”

“They will be very hungry. We have no idea how many we–”

“You can’t tell me they’ll only eat Lumitoile. I can fish or just make them ribs.”

“No human foods.”

“Alright, alright, I get it mama. But really, we don’t need to start hunting Lumitoile down now – there’s still plenty of time to…”

“Ugh… uhhhh… huhh…”

Neuvillette’s eyes were filling with tears. He was clutching his big baby belly, posture even trembling. His expression was heartbroken.

Wriothesley folded faster than a god damn lawn chair.

“Fuck fuck fuck, it’s okay, it’s okay mama, I’m sorry, it’s okay, come here–“

He hugged his pregnant partner tightly, letting his dragon sob into his shoulder with the world’s most pathetic and heartbroken sounding voice. The proud Chief Justice sounded as if someone had destroyed everything he had ever loved–

And that same day, Wriothesley went out to the sea and collected a total of 60 Lumitoile as recompense.

A small problem at the Fortress forced him to stay overnight. By the time he made it home, it was the early morning – skies still darkened, the stars and the moon only slowly beginning to fade away.

With a yawn, he unlocked the front door and quietly opened it, making sure to not make too much noise. It was completely dark inside, so Neuvillette was most likely asleep.

After closing and locking behind him, he quickly shed his boots and coats, tip-toing to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He hadn’t heard Neuvillette’s soft breathing sounds nearby, so he probably wasn’t sleeping behind the couch.

He found him in their bedroom – rather, he heard him before he saw him.

Purring.

Of course, he wasn’t sleeping on the bed – who would’ve even expected that? When he knelt down and peered underneath, he found Neuvillette curled up in his blanket nest, tightly hugging something. He seemed to be deep asleep, so Wriothesley carefully crawled underneath as well to check up on him.

Neuvillette had buried his face in the thing he was holding, basically smushing his whole face in it. His purrs were rather quiet because of it, but still loud enough to be heard.

And what was it?

One of Wriothesley’s shirts.

So, without waking him up, he carefully scooped him out from under the bed and laid him on the mattress instead, making sure to pull the curtains of their canopy bed shut so it would be similar to his nest.

Wriothesley shed most of his clothes and tightly hugged his pregnant partner with the world’s happiest grin – and he swore that Neuvillette’s purrs only got louder in response.

Neuvillette was amazed (and not surprised) to see how fast Wriothesley bolted to his side when he went to try and pick up a box. The Duke had seemingly developed a sixth sense that activated whenever his partner was trying to do something dangerous–

Like lifting a very tiny box, of course.

“Let me,” Wriothesley immediately insisted, picking the box up effortlessly. Neuvillette swore he could even see him flex his muscles as if he were trying to show just how strong of a mate he was.

“Dear, as much as I appreciate your concern, I am still capable of carrying objects myself,” the dragon tried to deter him, letting his hands rest on his protruding belly. By now, it had gotten so big that he was starting to have difficulties to get up when he bent down.

Wriothesley, of course, was not convinced.

“Sigewinne said you’re not to lift anything heavy. I intend to follow through with that,” he pointed out with a smug expression. Then he turned around on the spot and carried the box to Neuvillette’s second nest behind the couch. He could only guess that this contained some important items Neuvillette wanted to have in there…

Neuvillette’s preggy taps were right behind him.

“Emphasis on heavy, dear. This is nothing.”

As Wriothesley settled the box down, he looked at him with a deadpan expression.

“Sweetness, that box just felt like 20kg minimum.”

“…Heavy for dragon standards.”

“Hey!”

Wriothesley was also starting to become a bit… overly protective.

All Neuvillette could do was give him a weak smile as he allowed his partner to hold his hand, another hand on his back, letting himself be guided down the stairs.

“Careful now, mama. Not too fast.”

“Dear… I will not become so encumbered that stairs will prove to be a challenge.”

“No no no no no, I ain’t letting you slip and fall down the stairs. The eggs could break.”

“Dear… you truly underestimate the hardiness of a dragon’s body…”

It was adorable to see how worried Wriothesley was, but he was also babying him a bit too much. Perhaps if he had been within a human body, this care would’ve seemed appropriate… but the fact stood that he was still the Hydro Sovereign, strongest being in Teyvat. Even in his state, he could still fight and run without any sort of problems.

Stairs really weren’t going to be his final obstacle…

“I’ll stop being so damn annoying when your eggnancy is over,” Wriothesley smugly replied.

Neuvillette… furrowed his brows in confusion.

“…Eggnancy?”

“Yeah. You know – egg pregnancy?”

“…The term most suitable for my condition is ‘gravid’, dear.”

“…Eggnant.”

“Wriothesley.”

Neuvillette tiredly woke up to their bed being empty. Judging from the light pouring in through the window, Wriothesley must’ve already left the house to go to the Fortress. Usually, he’d wake him up in the morning to say goodbye, but as of recent, he had been so exhausted that it was hard for him to stir awake at all…

With a groan, he slowly sat up, both hands coming to clutch his distended stomach. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but it felt as if the eggs had gotten bigger recently – moving into weird positions. It also felt as if they had dropped…

Standing up was a bit harder than usual – he felt a sort of aching sensation around the small of his back. He tried to support his weight by holding onto the frame of their bed, grumbling and rubbing that sore spot.

He managed to walk a few steps–

An intense cramping sensation prompted him to stop and whimper, clutching his lower stomach. At first it had been dulled, but it was getting stronger with every one of his breaths, deeper in intensity, seemingly seeping down into every single one of his muscles.

It took him exactly one moment to figure out what was happening.

“It’s time already…?” he murmured to himself, another gasp leaving him when the cramps began to pick up. It was still moderately okay, nothing too bad – he could still walk and talk. But if this didn’t go away as in being just a solitary incident of cramps… he really was going to have a problem.

Wriothesley wasn’t home right now. Judging from the time of day, he wouldn’t be home for hours – but…

He was about to lay their eggs. If Wriothesley wasn’t around for it, his darling would never stop grumbling about it…

With another gasp, Neuvillette slowly walked over to the bathroom to take a look at himself. His stomach had dropped considerably as expected, but asides from that, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Perhaps he had a few more hours before it started.

The cramps did go away for now, so maybe… it would take a long time for him to lay his eggs? He had never done so before, so it was a bit unnerving to not know what to expect.

“It’s going to be fine,” Neuvillette murmured while clutching his stomach. His eggs were still safe and sound inside of him – there was still more than enough time for his beloved to come home. Surely this would take way longer… similar to a birth.

All he had to do was wait for Wriothesley to get home… and to get his nests in order.

Wriothesley yawned for the hundredth time as he finally ascended the mountains to get to their home. Sometimes it annoyed him how his commute time had increased… but it was all worth it if he got to snuggle with Neuvillette late at night.

He opened the door, already a smile on his face as he began to wonder where Neuvillette would be napping. What he didn’t expect was to see that the nest Neuvillette had built behind the coach was looking extra comfy today. Neuvillette hadn’t given this nest as much love as the other one, so that was odd…

“Sweetness?” he called out while taking his boots off. Of course, he couldn’t hear a reply – Neuvillette was probably in his upstairs nest.

When he walked up the stairs, he stopped momentarily when he heard… gasping. Whimpering.

Wriothesley bolted through the door only to find Neuvillette actually resting on the bed, covered in five different blankets and hunched over. The moment he had arrived, the dragon’s head whipped around, sweat clinging to his forehead, an expression of relief on his face.

“Sweetness? What’s wrong?!” he drew closer with hurried steps. He reached a hand out to touch him on the shoulder, but Neuvillette instead pushed his entire head into it, allowing him to cup his cheek. His skin was flushed and warm to the touch, a thin layer of sweat on top.

“Are you sick? Fuck, I’m sorry, I should’ve checked up on you in the morning…” Wriothesley grit his teeth, thumbing over Neuvillette’s cheek. However, the dragon merely tiredly smiled at him.

“Not sick…”

His gasping wasn’t all that convincing, which only got Wriothesley to frown more.

“Then what’s–“

“Eggs…”

It was almost… adorable to see how wide Wriothesley’s eyes got in response to that. He didn’t seem to need any more clarification than that – because now there was panic.

First time father panic.

“The eggs are coming??”

To say Wriothesley was freaking out… was an understatement.

“Shit shit shit shit, where did I put Sigewinne’s kit? Darling, do you– Wait, no, don’t get up, I’ll find it. Shit, okay, calm down… wait, where’s the list she left us? I think she wrote down every little thing we needed, and I definitely put it somewhere important, so I’d find it immediately, but… where was that? Okay, fuck, fuck fuck fuck, okay, we got this, I just have to find it–“

Despite the occasional cramping, Neuvillette sat rather comfortably on their bed, a weak half-smile on his face as he watched Wriothesley run in and out of the room like he was being hunted for sport. His darling didn’t stop one moment to catch his breath – he was a man on a mission. However, he made sure to check in here with him every minute to make sure the eggs hadn’t magically ‘come’ already.

While Neuvillette had been rather nervous about the aspect of laying eggs for the first time, he wasn’t nearly as freaked out as his human partner was. It was adorable to see how soft Wriothesley was on the inside – he cared so much that he was overly zealous in his efforts to support him.

Just… he wished he would stop to take a deep breath every now and then.

“Eggs already here?” Wriothesley poked his head in while breathing heavily. When Neuvillette merely shook his head, he disappeared yet again – apparently leaping down the stairs to take apart the living space.

At this point, Neuvillette couldn’t stop himself from chuckling, keeping count mentally of how many seconds had passed.

59… 60… 61…

“Any eggs yet??”

1… 2… 3…

Yes… the Duke was most definitely the calmest man in Fontaine right now.

“Iodine as antiseptic, ice packs for swelling – I can just produce Cryo, easy – warm water bath in case of egg binding – what? What’s egg binding? – water as refreshment and to wash away blood – you’re going to be bleeding?? – sterile gauze in case of haemorrhage – in case of what?? – Lumitoile as refreshment…”

The Duke had calmed down a smidge after finding the list, but his stress levels only seemed to increase as he went over the list again and again. By now, Neuvillette had, though with a miserable whine, laid down on his side to rest for a bit, just watching his partner for now.

Wriothesley constantly ran away to procure more supplies, each time returning with a new thing:

Sigewinne’s medical pack containing pain killers, sterile gauze, various medical tools, and antiseptics.

An entire basket full of towels and cloths.

One big special linen cloth that was apparently hydrophobic, meaning it wouldn’t allow blood or other liquids to seep through.

Another big crate of water bottles (Wriothesley had most definitely raided Neuvillette’s stash).

A water bucket full of Lumitoile (coincidentally containing a bunch of those Wriothesley had recently collected after Neuvillette had ‘insisted’ on it).

More pillows and blankets than ever necessary.

And, finally… a short gown specially made for him to wear during his labour.

“Okay, I think that’s everything,” Wriothesley wheezed, supporting himself on his knees momentarily. He had lumped so many things up the stairs that it was a miracle he could even talk – especially given the speed in which he had organized everything.

That prompted Neuvillette to smile weakly.

“Come here, dear…” he beckoned him over, waving him towards the bed. However, Wriothesley shook his head and stood up after just a minute of breathing. He was fully focused on the task at hand.

“In a minute, Neuvi. We gotta get everything ready for the eggs to arrive – ah fuck I forgot the egg basket!!”

And off he ran again – leaving Neuvillette to sigh while he struggled to sit up.

Hopefully, Wriothesley’s nerves would calm down soon…

After Wriothesley had successfully changed the sheets (putting this waterproof cloth underneath their actual bed linen), he helped Neuvillette change into his ‘maternity gown’ – a simple dress which comfortably hung over his bump, going barely below the middle of his thighs.

Of course, Wriothesley being Wriothesley…

“You look good, mama,” the human purred against his ear, finally having calmed down enough to sit next to him. Despite the cramping, Neuvillette was still amiable enough to merely chuckle.

With everything finally set up, Wriothesley had expected things to proceed incredibly fast like how it was in the Pankration Ring or in combat.

The reality was… that nothing happened. At all. For hours.

It was well past midnight and Neuvillette was still in labour – his breathing now a bit more ragged and the contractions coming more often. Wriothesley had started to time his contractions, but asides from that nothing interesting had happened at all.

What did happen was… that Wriothesley’s stomach began growling. A lot.

Neuvillette looked up through hazy eyes, laying on his sides to endure the next bit of contractions. The constant painful aching in his lower abdomen was getting worse, but he was the Hydro Sovereign – this kind of pain was still bearable to him. It did leave him weakened and tired… but not tired enough to gloss over anything in his surroundings.

“Make yourself a meal… Wriothesley,” Neuvillette tiredly mumbled, his eyes fluttering close. His heavy breathing was accompanied by the incessant sweating that only seemed to be getting worse the longer his labour lasted.

Wriothesley, of course, looked at him with nothing but a guilty expression, hurriedly shaking his head.

“Absolutely not. I can endure feeling hungry – you’re in labour.”

“Yes… I am in labour… not you, dear…” Neuvillette rather pathetically gasped, “…so you need… to attend to your own… needs too…”

“But… what if you give birth while I’m gone?” came another defiant shake of Wriothesley’s head. “I’m not gonna let you suffer on your own again.”

“You’ll be downstairs… and I will… yell for you… if anything seems out of… ngh…” a pained whimper, as another bad contraction hit him “…ugh… the ordinary…”

That… was probably the worst time to try and convince him. The way Wriothesley looked at him right now told him that his darling dear was not going to move away from his side, no matter what was happening. His human lover was way too stubborn…

However, Wriothesley’s grumbling stomach only got louder over time with the human constantly putting a hand over his abdomen to somehow quieten the noise he was making, seeming bashful. Eventually, Neuvillette decided he had to take matters into his own hands.

And so he sat up and slid off the bed before Wriothesley could even realize what was happening.

“Where are you going?” Wriothesley immediately bolted to his feet, hurriedly coming to his side to support him while walking. He was stressed out of his mind, which was cute… but Neuvillette was in so much pain that he had no energy left to gush over his lover.

“Downstairs…”

“Wha… why? You don’t wanna give birth up here? Okay, yeah, that’s okay mama, just let me get your nest ready and–“

“No need…” he gasped again, stopping every few steps with a quiet whimper when his contractions got worse. Still, he managed to get through the bedroom door out into the hallway – walking straights towards the stairs.

Now that got Wriothesley anxious.

“Wait wait wait wait wait mama, you’re not thinking of going down the stairs during your contractions?!” he tried to deter him, yet didn’t dare trying to hold Neuvillette back. It had something to do with the fact that he had once gotten bitten so badly that he still kinda grimaced thinking of it…

(It had been a combination of Neuvillette in heat, a badly timed dad joke, and an accidental Fonta bottle reveal…)

“Yes… I am,” Neuvillette gasped, sounding less amiable now. His brows were slightly furrowed in pain and concentration, as he set the first foot down the stairs–

Sovereigns above, by the Dragon King Nibelung’s name, underneath the seven elemental Authorities–

Wriothesley wrapped his arms around his chest the moment he saw Neuvillette wincing, holding him as tightly as humanly possible with the world’s most stressed-out expression. It was then that he saw the first hints of tears in Neuvillette’s eyes.

That simple step must’ve hurt so badly that it brought him to tears. The stoic judge of Fontaine was about to cry.

“Okay, okay, mama, mama, I got you, lemme just…”

He carefully picked him up, carrying him downstairs like a bride – ignoring his own feelings of stress and panic for a moment so he could do what Neuvillette seemed to want to do. When those draconic instincts were in play, he as the human had to do what his partner wanted him to do… even if it was dangerous or dubious.

At the end of the day, Neuvillette would know best.

Once they were downstairs, he brought Neuvillette over to his second nest – the one behind the couch.

A few blankets were draped over the couch and held in place by nails in the walls, creating a fake ceiling. Since it was in a corner, it was practically a cave – wooden floors covered in several blankets, pillows all around, and even another blanket in the front that could be lifted up or down depending on how dark it had to be.

Basically, it was a glorified pillow fort, but Wriothesley valued his own life – he wasn’t about to give Neuvillette a reason to bite the living shit out of him (again).

The moment he sat him down in front of his nest, Neuvillette crawled inside with haste – pawing the blankets and pillows into place before he curled up and laid down for a bit. Then his gaze rested on Wriothesley’s face – a knowing smile on his face.

“Now… you can make yourself a meal…”

That sneaky little dragon…

Every other minute, Wriothesley would glance over the kitchen counter to check up on Neuvillette. He could see inside of the nest from his position, so whenever he ascertained that Neuvillette was still there, he went back to cooking.

He tried to make himself a quick meal, but nothing was ever quick in Teyvat. The fastest meal he could fathom was just plain pasta with a sauce – luckily, the convenience store sold these canned bottles that he had come to love. Neuvillette wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but it proved to be of use once more.

By the time he had finished, he sat down at the table next to the nest and ate – his gaze worriedly wandering over to Neuvillette again and again.

His darling had started to move around – mostly getting up on all fours to whine, then laying down on the other side to ‘roll’ a bit. He did what he had been doing throughout his eggnancy (pregnancy, as Neuvillette would huff), which was trying to get the eggs into the correct position. It was probably a maternal instinct.

What he did know was that Neuvillette was starting to get really uncomfortable. His darling never really voiced his displeasure much since he was the quiet type, but now he started to whimper or wince, which was really uncommon for him.

So, after Wriothesley had hurriedly put the dishes into the sink (yeah, he’d do them later, surely…) he crawled into Neuvillette’s nest and just held him – soothingly stroking his hair, breathing with him, murmuring words of encouragement to him.

Anything to help him through it.

“You’re doing amazing, darling,” a soft murmur, his nose nuzzling those silky white strands. “I’m right here with you. Just a bit longer…”

By now, it must’ve been way past midnight already, meaning that Neuvillette had been in labour for almost a day now. Wriothesley was starting to get stressed if something was going wrong, but how was he going to handle it? Sigewinne had mentioned that a warm bath could be done in case of Neuvillette being egg-bound but… how would he know that this was the case? Was this something that his draconic partner would notice?

When another hour had passed, Wriothesley was getting ready to say something – to suggest a warm bath or something – when Neuvillette suddenly pushed his head into the crook of his neck and sobbed loudly.

“E-Egg… nghh… ughhhhh...“

Immediately, Wriothesley’s hands carefully roamed over Neuvillette’s exposed lower back down between his thighs, feeling in between–

Something smooth was poking out of Neuvillette’s vagina. An egg was coming through.

“Alright mama, we’re almost there,” he softly murmured into his ear, using his other hand to grasp a stack of towels he had prepared just in case. Of course, Neuvillette in his embrace sobbed even more than before.

“It… It hurts…”

Neuvillette was willingly admitting he was in pain. That’s how bad it was.

“You’re doing amazing, Neuvi,” he muttered while tactically placing a bunch of towels in between Neuvillette’s spread thighs, holding another one up to catch the egg the moment it would make its exit. It was up to Neuvillette to push it out.

“Hnnng… ughhhu… haaah… hurts… hurtssss...“

Despite his whimpers, Neuvillette kept pushing again and again through his contraction – both of his hands clawed into Wriothesley’s chest, and his head hidden in his neck. He shakily breathed in his beloved’s scent, trying to keep himself lucid enough to endure the increasingly painful sensation down below.

It felt like his vagina was being torn apart the more he pushed. Something really thick was making its way out, and though he knew it was one of his beloved eggs, it was so foreign and uncomfortable that he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. The pain was unbearable.

“Just a bit more… almost there…” more murmurs from his beloved. He was hyper focused on his task, too concentrated to be afraid. Hours earlier, he had already freaked out about the eggs potentially cracking should he not be attentive enough… but now there was no time to be self-conscious.

The eggs were coming and if he was even half the man Neuvillette saw in him, he would make sure their babies would come into the world safely.

That was his first task as a father.

With a particularly painful push, Neuvillette loudly screamed into his neck, digging his sharp fingernails so much into Wriothesley’s skin that he started to bleed – but Wriothesley didn’t even flinch.

All he remembered was his hands coming up higher – softly grasping the pointy side of an egg that was pushed out. With a wet thud, a heavy egg came into the world, landing on his very hands… and Neuvillette practically collapsed on him as he wheezed with exhaustion.

“You did it mama, you did it,” Wriothesley softly whispered into his ear, carefully balancing the egg on one hand so he could pull the other out from underneath Neuvillette. He turned to the side (still letting Neuvillette rest on him) and brought the egg closer for inspection.

Archons above that thing was massive. It was almost as big as a Lavender Melon!!

With a twitchy smile, Wriothesley carefully wiped the damp egg down, removing any traces of blood he could see. Only then could he really take a look.

It was a healthy size, coloured in a deep, starry blue – almost looking like the Primordial Sea (which was probably not the best comparison given the fact that all of Fontaine had almost gotten wiped out by it…). However, it was absolutely beautiful.

“Look, darling,” he purred, a faint blush of happiness on his face. “We made that. That’s our first baby right there.”

Neuvillette’s eyes fluttered open. He tiredly raised his head to look over to the side where Wriothesley was proudly holding up their egg–

And a flood of maternal hormones hit him in that moment.

When he heard that telltale purr, Wriothesley knew Neuvillette was pleased. He allowed his lover to hold their egg for a bit, watching how the dragon carefully rubbed his face against it before placing a soft kiss – already showering it in so much love.

Neuvillette looked gorgeous holding their egg – he looked gorgeous as a fresh new mother.

The Duke softly held Neuvillette in his arms, enjoying this moment of bliss with him. He placed a few kisses on his sweaty forehead, murmuring more words of praise and appreciation to him – letting him know how much he loved him.

Because he really… really did love him.

Now more than ever.

Of course, Neuvillette wasn’t done laying his clutch – it had only just begun. As another contraction picked up, Wriothesley carefully transferred the egg to a basket, making sure to keep it snuggly wrapped up in a blanket, before attending to Neuvillette’s needs again.

The next egg thankfully didn’t take as long – however, Neuvillette had laid down on his side, holding a pillow with desperation while he suffered through his next set of contractions. Wriothesley made sure to wipe him down every now and then, removing sweat and tears.

When the next egg crowned, Neuvillette was full-on whimpering throughout it all, still trying his very best to keep his composure. There wasn’t even a moment he wasted on being bashful or having Wriothesley stare at his private parts – he was too caught up in the pain of birth to really care.

Once that egg got pushed out, the dragon laid there in exhaustion, panting and huffing in a quick manner, his eyes glazed over with tiredness. He had to trust in Wriothesley to take care of the egg – and his partner did, though he couldn’t see.

What he also couldn’t see was how Wriothesley’s brows were knitted in worry when he saw the blood that was clinging to his bare thighs. He had finally torn with his second egg, which probably explained the excruciating pain… but there wasn’t much that could be done. The eggs were just too big for his body to handle.

“Sweetness,” Wriothesley murmured as he gently helped him to sit up, holding him in his arms. Neuvillette tiredly looked up to him before letting his head rest on his beloved’s shoulder – trying to regain his strength in those few minutes of respite… knowing it wouldn’t last long.

“Hey, sweetness…”

A big, scarred hand gently thumbed over his cheek. It was so very warm on him – so comforting despite how much he was sweating and heating up. Labour was tearing at his reserves, but… having his mate here by his side helped him immensely.

“Here, drink some water,” his human lover murmured, reaching out for a bottle from a nearby crate. “Liyue water for–”

“Endurance…”

Despite how exhausted he was, he still managed to chuckle. His beloved’s logic was adorable… always so genuine and sincere.

That was… what he loved about him the most.

“Thank you… dear…”

A quick water break later and Neuvillette was on all fours, his upper body tightly pressed into the blankets below while his lower body was up in the air – an extremely shameful position, but his instincts demanded of him to do it like that. Even if everything was purely pain and suffering, he trusted his draconic maternal instincts above everything.

He was right to do so, as his next egg came surprisingly fast – barely caught by Wriothesley. His human lover even chuckled.

“We got a fast noodle there. Someone’s eager to be born,” he dried the egg off with a rare smile, carefully putting it with the rest. “Let’s hope your siblings are like that too.”

They had made it to three eggs – this was what Neuvillette had said was common for virgin dragons to produce. However…

His contractions didn’t stop. Rather, they seemed to get worse.

At this point, Neuvillette was genuinely shedding tears – still quietly, but he was definitely crying. After being in labour for probably more than a day, it was a natural consequence… but it still hurt to see him reduced to that.

The proud Hydro Sovereign of Fontaine should never have to cry like this.

Wriothesley found himself sitting with his back against the wall, Neuvillette in between his legs, pressing his back tightly against his chest. He helped him sit on a pillow so he would be more elevated from the ground… but that position looked to be rather painful. There was no incentive to even try and have an egg like that, but… again, he had to trust Neuvillette on that one.

And he had his next egg… but he definitely struggled with it. It was so bad that when the egg got out, a gush of blood followed as he tore once again. Neuvillette didn’t even seem to feel that as he was just crying with a hoarse voice, weeping without any idea where he was or what was happening. That’s how bad it was now.

“Shhhh… it’s okay mama, it’s okay…” he tried to comfort him while drying the egg off. Neuvillette in his embrace was truly crying now – his voice no longer quiet and his dignified manner nowhere to be seen.

He had finally given up on keeping up this impossible standard of perfectionism he was so used to from the Court of Fontaine.

“I don’t… want to anymore…” he practically wailed with tear-stained cheeks. “No… no more… I can’t… I can’t…”

“I know sweetness, I know…”

Wriothesley grit his teeth, the egg safely placed with its sibling. He wrapped his arms tightly around Neuvillette, trying to support him as much as he could.

“You’re doing so well, you’ve given birth to four babies by now – you’re so amazing mama, no one could ever do what you just did.”

Softly, Wriothesley nuzzled his neck and gently bit down. He knew that Neuvillette wouldn’t even feel it with all those contractions, but he hoped the blunt force would still be feelable to his draconic partner.

Bitemarks were one way to assure Neuvillette of his love and support – there wasn’t much else he could do as a human. All he could do was to be there for him and to praise him, waiting at his hands and feet for anything he needed.

“If I were the one carrying our eggs, I would’ve probably died after the first one,” he tried to joke, softly nuzzling Neuvillette’s hair. “Such an amazing mama… our babies can’t wait to meet you…”

And despite him ‘only’ speaking words of encouragement, it seemed to be enough for Neuvillette. His darling no longer had the capabilities to speak, but he did look up to him through tearful eyes – using the last bits of strength at his disposal to give him a weak kiss on his lips.

Wriothesley gently reciprocated that kiss – feeling a warmth spreading in his chest unlike anything else.

Even when suffering through the pain of birth, Neuvillette was beautiful.

Thankfully, the last egg was delivered with no more problems. He knew it was the last one because a shaky sigh of relief left Neuvillette after he had pushed it out. The dragon laid down and just breathed for what felt an eternity – letting his tired body rest.

In that time, Wriothesley busily cleaned the last egg, checked it for any cracks or similar, and then placed it in the basket. After that, he immediately attended to Neuvillette – mainly checking up on his lower area first.

There was a considerable tear, but Sigewinne had told him that unless it was so big that it reached all the way back, it would heal on its own (Hydro Sovereign perks…). So, as instructed, he created a piece of Cryo, wrapped it in a towel, and gently pressed it against Neuvillette’s vagina. The great thing about that was that it would also soak up blood and (hopefully) help control any bleeding that was still there.

“You’re gorgeous, mama,” Wriothesley smiled at him again, eyes just full of love – not a hint of exhaustion despite them having been up on their feet all night. “Just delivered all of our babies… beautiful, beautiful mama.”

Despite being quite literally on the brink of passing out, Neuvillette managed to glance up to him through half-lidded eyes and smile weakly. He had no words left to speak. Judging from all the sobbing and crying, he’d be hoarse for days… but that was okay.

He was just so glad Neuvillette was alive and conscious, and so happy that their eggs had all made it out safely.

Now, finally… they could start getting excited about their future babies.

Neuvillette indicated with a weak nod that he wanted to go back upstairs again, so Wriothesley carefully picked him up – wanting to leave the eggs behind so he could get them on the second run.

In his arms, Neuvillette immediately let forth a panicked whine.

“Ah fuck, sorry mama, all good, all good, I’m not ditching our babies, I promise…”

Those maternal instincts were brutal. Neuvillette couldn’t even bear the idea of not seeing his clutch – so Wriothesley somehow hooked his pinkie finger under the handle atop the basket and carried it with him (trying to ignore how much that fucking hurt).

It would still be better than having Neuvillette shred him to pieces for separating him from his eggs…

Once they were up there, Neuvillette, of course, wanted to go under the bed. Wriothesley had half the mind to try and convince him to take a bath first, but there was no way in hell he’d wrangle an exhausted Neuvillette, high on his hormones, into a bathtub when he couldn’t handle having his eggs just an arm’s length away…

So, he carefully settled Neuvillette under the bed, slid the egg basket underneath, and just sat there for a moment to sigh tiredly. He pushed some of his own hair back, rubbing his eyes – realizing that the light of day was already pouring in from behind the curtains. It was already morning…

He glanced back under the bed to find Neuvillette pawing his nest into a suitable shape, laying a blanket out in the middle to form a circular mound in which he then carefully deposited all the eggs. With his feet, he practically kicked the empty egg basket out, curled himself up around his eggs, and loudly purred.

Now that was a dragon if he had ever seen one…

Another big yawn left Wriothesley, his gaze falling on Neuvillette momentarily. His darling was busy taking care of his eggs, pushing them into the right positions and whatnot, so he figured he was free to clean himself up.

The moment he stood up and walked a few steps, another panicked whine sounded from underneath the bed. Wriothesley turned around in time to see Neuvillette’s head poking out from under a curtain, his widened eyes full of anxiety and fear.

Oh.

Neuvillette wasn’t just protective of his eggs – he was also protective of him.

Huh.

…That was kinda nice, actually.

“Sorry, darling, sorry,” Wriothesley immediately folded, returning to his earlier position next to the bed. “You got space under the bed for me?”

His answer was in the form of Neuvillette shifting his body around, only taking up half of the space. So Wriothesley climbed underneath as well, placing himself on the other side of the egg nest to face Neuvillette. His darling crawled as close as he could (with the eggs between them) and purred into his face – giving him a short lick to his cheek before letting his head rest on the blankets underneath them.

He was fast asleep the next moment.

And despite his intention to just watch for a bit… Wriothesley fell asleep right after that too.

Wriothesley groggily awoke to the sound of the front door opening. In the first few seconds, he was disoriented – just seeing Neuvillette’s sleeping face in front of him, then a clutch of eggs between them, then hearing the sound of steps downstairs…

Downstairs.

All of his alarm bells went off at the same time. He wanted to jump up, and immediately hit his head on the bedframe above him, causing him to curse. For some miraculous reason, Neuvillette didn’t even wake up from that – he must’ve been that exhausted.

Despite his head aching, Wriothesley scooted out from underneath the bed and hurriedly bolted to the door, grasping his Vision that he always placed on his bedside table (just in case).

Whoever this intruder was, they were about to mess with a fucking first time father.

When he jumped down the stairs and ran out through the door, fists already raised–

Sigewinne awaited him with a genuine smile and a big medical kit in her hands.

They stared at each other for a few seconds as Wriothesley tried to process what was happening. He was probably still that exhausted from not sleeping much because it was the Melusine who reacted first – just chuckling.

“I’m very proud of you for protecting your mate and eggs so fiercely, your Grace,” she praised him with a nod. That finally prompted Wriothesley to lower his fists, a confused expression on his face.

“How do you…?”

“Remember our deal?” she tilted her head, a knowing smile on her face. “You were worried about not being able to let me know when the babies were coming, so you told me to just come to Monsieur Neuvillette’s house in case you don’t show up for work. So now I’m here.”

“It’s that late already…?” Wriothesley murmured, glancing over to a nearby clock. It was already 9 AM… but he had no idea how long they had been up for. Given that the morning light had already been there when they had gone to sleep, he doubted he had slept for more than an hour or two…

“So?” the Melusine prompted him again.

After sighing, Wriothesley rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand – then he looked down to her and gave her an honest, tired smile.

“Neuvillette laid five eggs over the course of a day.”

Immediately, Sigewinne’s ears swayed from left to right as she quietly giggled to herself. She seemed ecstatic over this announcement.

“Any problems during birth?” she asked of him after she had her moment. Now she was a professional doctor – the Head Nurse of Meropide.

“Asides from it taking ages and him tearing, I think it’s fine. Eggs are fine too,” he recounted, rubbing the back of his neck. “Neuvi wasn’t really talking anymore after he finished laying the eggs… might be too exhausted to speak.”

“Not too surprising if it took an entire day,” the Melusine muttered, writing something down on a board she had brought with her. “Can I see him? I want to check up on him.”

“Be my guest.”

However, when they got up to the first floor and opened the bedroom door, Wriothesley clearly heard the snarling and growling from underneath the bed. He stood there looking all puzzled while the Melusine next to him just smiled in understanding.

“Wha… darling, it’s just me and Sigewinne. Why are you–“

A hiss this time. He couldn’t even see him since the curtains were pulled in front of the bed – but inside of his mind, he imagined Neuvillette to look furious with red eyes and everything.

“It’s probably my scent,” Sigewinne nodded. “I smell too much like the Fortress. He will feel threatened by anyone who wasn’t there during the birth.”

“Wait, so… you can’t examine him or the eggs?” Wriothesley frowned. Sigewinne, however, just smiled knowingly.

“He just needs to see me. I think he’ll remember who I am.”

“Okay, just… stay behind me just in case…”

So Wriothesley brought her closer to the side of the bed, prompting Neuvillette to growl even more, though it was lower. Definitely sounded defensive.

“Neuvi, I’m pulling the curtain up,” he warned him before doing so. Once glance, and yeah – Neuvillette was curled up around his eggs, horns glowing alongside his eyes while his sharp white pupils were blown wide in anger and fear.

If he hadn’t looked so pissed off, Wriothesley would’ve called him cute.

“Monsieur Neuvillette,” Sigewinne gently peeked out from behind Wriothesley. She could pinpoint the exact moment in which Neuvillette recognized her as the growling immediately subsided and his eyes slowly grew softer again. He seemed to be confused about seeing her, yet smelling something different.

“See, darling? That’s Sigewinne, one of your daughters,” Wriothesley stressed, wearing a relaxed grin. “We don’t growl at our babies, do we?”

That seemed to be enough to get Neuvillette to calm down as he only slowly nodded. Seemed as if he could at least understand him – that was good.

“Monsieur, can I take a look at you and your eggs?”

Wrangling Neuvillette out from under the bed was hard… especially because the eggs had to be in line of sight at all time or he’d get stressed. Once Wriothesley had managed to place him on top of the bed, he allowed Sigewinne to check him out while the human made sure to hold the egg basket close by so his darling wouldn’t freak out.

“Swelling and tearing but he’s already healing,” Sigewinne nodded, patting Neuvillette on the head. The dragon licked her hand lovingly, which prompted her to giggle.

“I don’t see any more bleeding, so I think he’s going to be fine as long as he rests enough,” she concluded with a nod, turning to Wriothesley and the egg basket. “Now let me measure them…”

Sigewinne was busily writing down every little thing about these eggs – the circumference, height, weight, colours, special markings that would help her differentiate in between them… everything.

As he went through all of them, she couldn’t stop herself from giving a twitchy smile.

“No wonder Monsieur Neuvillette struggled with laying them… these are exceptionally big…”

Wriothesley had no idea if she even had any other egg-laying creatures she could reference them to, because he was quite literally sure Neuvillette was the only dragon she had ever met…

The following days, Sigewinne came by daily to check up on the eggs and to update Wriothesley on the Fortress. Thankfully, it was so peaceful that his presence wasn’t needed – he just preferred to be there every single day just in case.

However, now that Neuvillette was freshly post-partum, he wasn’t gonna go anywhere.

After the second day, he had finally accepted it when Wriothesley left his side for more than five minutes at a time. He wasn’t too happy about it, but he didn’t go into panic any longer.

Finally, after five days, most of his draconic instincts had calmed down enough for him to leave his nest occasionally as well – which was around the time he had also started to speak again.

They were cuddling in the bathtub for the first time since the birth. Wriothesley lovingly nuzzled the back of his neck while Neuvillette purred along – enjoying the warmth of a bath and the feeling of his mate by his side.

“You did amazingly, Neuvi,” Wriothesley softly murmured against his ear. “Five gorgeous eggs… you worked hard for these, mama.”

“Five hatchlings…” Neuvillette mumbled as well, his eyes falling close. “Five babies…”

“Can’t wait to have an armful of noodle babies,” Wriothesley chuckled again.

Neuvillette, though with the softest of tones, sighed – a playful annoyance barely coming through.

“They’re not noodles, darling…”

Though he hated it, Wriothesley eventually had to leave home again to return to the Fortress – each time showering Neuvillette and the eggs in kisses. His darling remained at home (on maternity leave), so at least he would get to rest… but he still hated having to leave.

Luckily, Neuvillette seemed to be fine like this (though he would never admit that he missed his mate). He passed the time by cleaning the eggs daily, turning them occasionally, keeping his nests and the house clean and whatnot. At the end of the day, he’d await Wriothesley with a cooked meal and a smile on his face.

Domestic life was weird for him… but not too unpleasant. The first days of maternity leave had been hell on him because of him being used to working all the time, but by now, he kind of liked it.

He wondered how life would be once his babies had hatched…

Exactly two months later, they both woke up to the sound of cracking. Neuvillette was already up and under the bed before Wriothesley had even managed to rub the sleep out of his eyes. By the time his groggy mind had caught up, he heard Neuvillette softly coo under the bed.

“They’re hatching, darling.”

And Wriothesley bolted up faster than ever before – reminding Neuvillette of the day he had gone in labour.

“Shit, where is Sigewinne’s list?!”

…Quite literally the same.

Thankfully, Neuvillette’s mama instincts kicked in, so he knew what to do. He gently helped peel pieces off the first egg that was the farthest along – it seemed to be a dragon thing to help them hatch.

When that egg toppled over, a gush of fluid greeted them–

And a wet noodle plopped on the floor with the quietest of squeaks.

Wriothesley’s heart quite literally exploded from cuteness.

“A noodle!!”

He ignored Neuvillette’s disapproving side glare, because he was busy cradling one wet baby hatchling while continuously chanting ‘Noodle! Noodle! Noodle!’.

They were gonna have a pack of noodles after all!

Neuvillette was walking around their kitchen, looking into the sink with a frown. Wriothesley, who was sitting at a table nearby, tilted his head.

“What’cha looking for, Neuv?”

His dragon turned to look at him with a worried expression.

“Dear, have you seen Thes? She’s not in the tank–”

“She’s here,” Wriothesley spoke. When Neuvillette glanced his way again, he pushed a spoon in his cup and carefully lifted out a curled up black hatchling. Immediately, Thes squeaked in protest as she was lifted out of the comfortable warmth of Wriothesley’s beverage – her tiny black eyes first fixing themselves on Wriothesley and then on Neuvillette. She squeaked again when she locked eyes with her mama.

Neuvillette sighed.

“Is that coffee? You know she’s not going to go down for her nap later…”

“She really likes sleeping in coffee,” Wriothesley chuckled, and he placed Thes back in his cup. The hatchling immediately submerged herself again, seemingly going back to sleep.

And yes, he had to find out the hard way that their little noodle babies were capable of sleeping underwater – he had stressed himself out to Celestia and back when he had first caught them doing that. One panicked saving attempt later, and he had Neuvillette explaining to him that they were adapted to Hydro just like him…

“Finally managed to contain the rest?” he smugly asked of Neuvillette. To say his draconic partner was protective was an understatement…

A deep, exasperated sigh left the Iudex.

“Wri was hiding in the plant’s soil again. Ley got herself stuck in your gauntlet, and Vilette shredded another legal document…”

“Ah, case document?”

“Their applications for a citizen ID…”

“Oh yeah, he prefers those. They taste better than those stuffy court cases.”

“Dear, he’s not supposed to eat paper.”

“Give him a break. Lumitoile get boring after a while,” Wriothesley merely chuckled, bringing his teacup up to his lips to take a careful sip. He could feel Thes bumping against his lips, and he chuckled when he could feel her tiny tongue giving him a loving lick. He put the cup down again.

Another sigh, and Neuvillette shook his head as he sat down with him. Wriothesley smirked.

“And lemme guess: Neu is–”

He reached forward and carefully began combing through Neuvillette’s hair. Sure enough, he soon touched upon a long white fluffy thing, which he gently pulled out. Neu hung upside down in his hand and gave him a loving squeak, happily wagging his tail.

“Typical mama’s boy,” Wriothesley chuckled, bringing the hatchling close to his own hair. Immediately, Neu climbed up and perched on his head like a majestic creature, pushing his tiny noodle chest forward to appear regal.

Neuvillette sat there for a bit and just observed his partner interacting with two of their hatchlings. Whenever Wriothesley was surrounded by his babies, a lost sparkle was in his eyes – genuine happiness and appreciation for the world to be seen.

It pleased him greatly to see that Wriothesley was nothing but happy to be a father. He looked good doing it too.

Perhaps… they could start thinking about another clutch soon…

When a big, shit-eating grin came to Wriothesley’s face, Neuvillette blinked in confusion. His darling seemed way too cocky.

“Don’t worry, once these guys go to daycare in a few weeks, we’ll have the time to make some mo–”

Neuvillette bashfully covered his lover’s mouth with his hands, an intense blush spreading over his cheeks. Thes and Neu just tilted their heads, unaware of what that sentence could’ve possibly meant.

Their first outing to the city caused quite an uproar. Of course, the eyes of the public were on them the moment they were out – after all, everyone knew that Neuvillette had recently given birth to his first babies. As the new de-facto ruler, he was of great interest to everyone.

(What people didn’t know was that Lady Furina was the babies’ guardian – meaning that she took care of them with great pleasure whenever they needed a break.)

One particularly cocky reporter got close to them. Neuvillette immediately frowned, but Wriothesley remained relaxed – crossing his arms before his chest and just grinning.

“Monsieur Neuvillette, Duke Wriothesley, congratulations on your babies!” the reporter eagerly began. “Where are your children?”

“Right here with us,” Wriothesley nodded, shaking the black and white fur scarf he had around his neck.

The reporter tilted his head.

“Where…?”

And in comedic fashion (because they were Wriothesley’s children), all five noodles around his neck stopped playing dead and perked up at the same time, looking over to the reporter who startled back.

Wriothesley laughed happily while Neuvillette just sighed and shook his head.

“Like my scarf? Newest fashion craze in Fontaine, made by the majestic Iudex himself: Noodles!”

His babies squeaked along in approval while Neuvillette just hid his face behind his hands.

“Dear?” Neuvillette called out to him. Wriothesley was standing in the kitchen, turning to the stairs when his partner called out to him.

“Yeah?”

Soon, the dragon emerged with a slight waddle. He looked a bit sleepy.

“Are you making dinner?”

Someone was hungry alright. It prompted Wriothesley to grin brightly.

“Yeah. You’re gonna like it.”

“Oh?” the Hydro Sovereign slightly tilted his head with a smile. Overflowing love was in his eyes. “What is it?”

Wriothesley turned around on the spot and held a big bowl out to him – and five hatchlings all poked their heads out at the same time, squeaking happily. They had grown so much that just holding them all together like this was a test of strength.

The Duke gave him the biggest shit-eating grin he had ever seen.

“Pasta.”

While his hatchlings immediately laugh squeaked, obviously all having inherited their father’s naughty attitude, Neuvillette grumbled, walking off with a frown to sit down.

He sighed heavily as he finally managed to plop himself back on the couch – a hand coming to rest on his big baby bump that was already harbouring their next clutch. In the background he could hear his darling praise all of their babies for playing along so well, before he asked them if they wanted to help him with making dinner.

Neuvillette yawned before he laid down on the couch to have his sixth nap of the day.

He truly did love Wriothesley… but why did he have to choose such a jokester of a man as the father of his clutch?