royals verse

“Seriously? Your choice is that one.” Emilia threw a scathing look in Nick’s direction. She was annoyed with him on a good day; being six months in and completely hormonal didn’t really help matters. With a tired huff, she rested her hand over her stomach as she stepped closer to inspect the “cute” crib. “It’s made out of metal, Nick. Our baby can’t be in a iron crib.”

Her attention turned to the other crib that he pointed out. The lavish crib was gorgeous and upon closer inspection, it fit all the criteria of what she wanted from a crib. “Okay, I do love this one…” The brunette murmured, glancing at the price tag. However, the cost was enough to make her halt and shake her head. Who knew cribs could even cost that much? It was more than some people made in a month. “–not for that price, though. No way.”

“I happen to have excellent taste,” Nick argued, but his attention had already turned to something else. Being around a pregnant Emilia for long enough, he knew when to pick his battles and when to let it go. “That doesn’t seem totally unreasonable,” he couldn’t help but add. “It’d be kind of cool. Like something out of Game of Thrones.” Iron Throne, Iron Crib. Equally as awesome in his eyes.

Nick brightened at the thought of this actually being an easy task, but his face fell as soon as she looked at the price tag. It wasn’t as though he was surprised by her frugal sensibilities, but he was having trouble convincing her that prices weren’t of consequence. “Don’t pay attention to the price,” he suggested, removing the price tag from her hand and pointing to the crib itself. “This is fit for the best daughter ever, don’t you think?”

Perhaps cute wasn’t the best qualification for a crib, but he’d forgotten to go over the information Emilia had printed out for him about baby supplies. He had a lot on his plate, and he knew his girlfriend had already picked out exactly which furniture she wanted for the baby’s room. Nick was only here to provide moral support. And perhaps act as a punching bag if she got too frustrated.

“Or maybe that one,” he mused, pointing to a more lavish looking crib, something worthy of the daughter of a Lord.

A small smile immediately looped her face and then widened as that strange warm and fuzzy feeling overcame her. A part of her knew but there was nothing quite like saying it out loud; they’d just said it out loud to one another. “I sorta had an idea.” Emilia piped up quietly, letting out a soft laugh as their eyes met again. Afterwards, she promptly closed the space between them and kissed him.

Considering Nick had never been one for relationships, he’d never actually expected to love someone. He’d always expected his parents would arrange a marriage for him one day, but Emilia had changed all of that. And as scared as he was about it, he couldn’t be happier. “Yeah, I don’t think I hid it very well,” Nick laughed at Emilia’s words, kissing her back deeply as soon as her lips were on his. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him.

Emilia rested her chin on his chest, letting out another soft sigh. It was weird. Despite their long-withstanding relationship at this point, she never was ever vulnerable with Nick. Neither was he with her. The only time she could remember was back when she told him that she was pregnant. But they usually stuck to teasing and sex and fun. It was better that way, wasn’t it?

“I just love you, you idiot.” She muttered into his chest as if the admittance embarrassed. Romance? She wasn’t very good at it. “I’m acting like this because I love you.”

While his parents constantly tried to convince Nick to get rid of Emilia, he couldn’t see that happening. Their relationship might have been unconventional - especially in his world - but he didn’t see it as such a bad thing. Even if most people seemed to.

“I love you too,” Nick said quickly, unable to keep himself from smiling at this. No matter how much time he’d spent with Emilia, he’d never actually been able to pinpoint her feelings; she worked too hard at keeping them hidden. “You know that, right?” he asked, cupping her chin and titling it up so she was looking at him again.

“I know you’re not that much of an asshole. It’s just me, I just–” Emilia exhaled sharply, blinking rapidly so an upset expression wouldn’t cross her face. She should have been happy; after all, he’d given her reassurance. But now she felt like crying for being so petty. Hormones are so fucking weird. “I’m being stupid. Go ahead and laugh.”

Nick sighed as he saw the expression pass over Emilia’s face, not sure what he could do to make it better. It wasn’t though he had much experience with this, and he still didn’t have full support of his family. All he could do was love her and hope it was enough, but even then he managed to fuck up. “I’m not laughing,” he assured her, holding her close. “You’re not stupid, it’s okay babe.”

Honestly, Christian didn’t know why he was the one being shoved into an arranged marriage. He wasn’t the one who was going to be in a position of power. There was no reason for him to need some perfect relationship to impress the world. He had no throne in his future. That was all Leopold. So to Christian, this whole thing was a waste of time. Marriage with no obvious connections was a waste of time. Although, Christian would be lying if he said seeing Isabel get so annoyed with him wasn’t a perk. “I have friends.” Christian said with a casual shrug, “And you seem way too uptight to run with me. Sorry.”

No one had ever turned Isabel down before, and she wasn’t about to let Christian be the first one to reject her. She hardly knew what rejection was, but she knew that it wasn’t acceptable. Not for her, and especially not coming from Christian. She’d given up on the idea of real love for this, and if she could do it, so could he. After all, he was getting a catch, even though he didn’t seem to realize that. Christian could try to push her away all he wanted, but Isabel wasn’t going anywhere. “Do you really?” Isabel asked dryly, an eyebrow arched. “I can’t imagine why,” she added softly under her breath. Isabel rolled her eyes at Christian’s next words, trying and failing not to let her annoyance show. “Is this really coming from the guy that said not to make judgement?”

Emilia sighed reluctantly. She hadn’t really thought that Nick was cheating on her but it was just the principle of the matter. Sometimes, she could barely believe they made it this far and were about ti be parents. “No, okay? I didn’t. But– I don’t know. I wasn’t the first.” She gave her boyfriend a knowing look, though her insecurities were beginning to show on her face. “And who knows, maybe I’m not the last. I don’t know.”

Nick bit his lip as Emilia spoke, finally realizing where she was coming from. “I know neither of us planned this, but you’re my girl,” he shrugged, pressing a kiss softly to the top of Emilia’s head. He still didn’t know exactly what they were, but he cared about her. That much he did know. “I’m not gonna sneak behind your back while you’re sitting at home pregnant with our baby,” Nick assured her, resting his head on top of hers. “I know I’m an asshole, but I’m not that bad.”

“I’m not jealous.” Emilia scoffed. “I was just…very close to finding out what skinny bitch you were sleeping with and skin her alive but y’know, not jealous.” She continued to roll her eyes when he stepped over and kissed her forehead, glowering at him somewhat playfully.

“You get to be out and about and meanwhile I’m going crazy on bedrest.”

“You’re right, that doesn’t sound jealous at all,” Nick agreed for her sake, pressing his lips together to keep from smiling. Grumpy as she was, he knew he had to refrain from laughing at the situation as much as possible. “Did you actually think I was sleeping with someone else?” he asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Sitting down on the bed beside her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. “If it makes you feel any better, business dinners are fucking boring.”

“Is this funny to you?” Emilia asked, even though Nick had been halted his laughter. Any other time, she wouldn’t have been irrational but hell, guys had one-track minds. What was to say while she was fat and unattractive that Nick could have been wandering to something else. But immediately after he explained, she felt a bit ridiculous for jumping down his throat. She didn’t admit though, instead crossing her arms as a pout took over her face.

“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know?”

“I mean, maybe a little bit...” Nick admitted, knowing that he was practically digging his own grave the more he spoke. He couldn’t help himself; he’d never seen Emilia close to being jealous or possessive, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were almost jealous,” he added, a hint of a smile on his lips.

“You’re right, I’m sorry babe,” he sighed, taking a step closer to her so he could give her a quick peck on her forehead. “I should’ve mentioned it.”

“You were out late last night.” She explained suspiciously, her eyebrow raising as she spoke. After a moment, she crossed her arms across her chest. “Where were you?”

“Oh, is that it?” Nick asked with a laugh, though quickly realized from the look on her face that was the wrong thing to say. “It was a business dinner,” he added quickly, wiping the smile from his face. “You know my dad, he wasn’t going to let me leave early.”

“I’m not really in the mood to talk to you so… Try again later?”

“Wait, why are you mad?” Nick frowned, keeping his distance from Emilia just in case she decided to lash out physically rather than verbally. As tiny as she was, she could pack a punch. “What did I do this time?” Perhaps he should have known, or perhaps her hormones were making her completely irrational, but either way he couldn’t figure out a way he’d managed to mess up recently.

“That’s probably wise, I guess.” Gala grumbled with a shrug, eyeing her older brother in the corner of the eye. She’d yet to come up with a prank that wouldn’t be (relatively) harmless for the knocked up bimbo. But Nick was right – she was smart and she’d figure it out.

“Yeah, whatever. Mooching off our parents’ last name, Nick? You did do it best. Seriously, I aspire to be you. You’re an inspiration to Christian and I both. Could you drive a bit faster now, chaffeur? I want my bed..”

“Don’t mess with pregnant women,” he advised her, probably the best advice he actually could give her. “It won’t end well for you.” Living with his pregnant girlfriend, Nick had quickly learned that pregnancy hormones were all too real, and paying the wrath of messing up as never fun.

Nick rolled his eyes at his younger sister’s comments, not about to allow her to get to him. While there might have been a small truth to her words, it wasn’t as though he felt any shame in them. “Is that the way you’re gonna play it, kiddo?” he asked, a laugh slipping from his lips as he pressed his foot lightly on the gas petal. “I think I might just take my sweet time going home now...”