#marcus-bulstrode

@marcus-bulstrode​

After a long and somewhat tedious conversation with Professor Dumbledore, Levi nearly raced back to his office. It was a Thursday, the 12th, and dinner would be over in an hour. At that point, Levi would be free to leave the school for the first time on a school night all year. Thank Merlin for Zephyr Bell’s determination. It made a good pre-birthday present in his opinion. Levi took that time to spiff himself up and change. He’d already had an outfit picked out for tomorrow, so he slipped that on. He didn’t worry about clothes for tomorrow. There were plenty of things at home he’d be able to grab in the morning. 

To add to the surprise of the moment, Levi flooed to The Hog’s Head first and walked home from there. It hadn’t been their home very long, but Levi was already more attached to it than he had been the London home. Perhaps that was because he’d watched how much love Marcus has poured into it.

As he stood on the front step, Levi rolled his shoulders back and lifted the flowers he’d bartered from Pomona. Levi opened the front door and stepped through. “Knock knock,” he called, knowing Marcus would probably be confused by hearing him on a Thursday. “I’ve got a surprise for tomorrow’s birthday boy.”

@marcus-bulstrode​

Zahi was not a fan of children. He didn’t understand them and didn’t particularly like them, and his plans for the day certainly hadn’t included eating lunch with one. He’d watched the restaurant slowly fill up around him, but when a man had plopped into the seat across from him with a child on his lap, Zahi hadn’t known what to do. A waiter with a strained smile had come up with a baby seat for the toddler and an apology to both Zahi and the other man because, “We’re so full that we need people to share. You don’t mind, do you?” Zahi didn’t mind actually, but when he had his food already, he supposed he could handle it for a short while. 

“Does she even eat food?” he asked, glancing at the toddler who was now happily flopping her hands around. Zahi didn’t know anything about what age children started doing things, but he knew babies couldn’t eat solid food. He just wasn’t sure where the distinction between baby and child was.

Now he just had to pace around in public and pretend like his nervous energy was just that, energy. Like he’d ever been the type to idly take walks through the park before. Maybe he should start, it actually wasn’t halfway horrible. The air helped him try and clear his head, and he got to see do some people-watching. Spying on other people’s lives did help take a bit of the edge off his anxious thoughts.

Honestly, he noticed Millie before he noticed Marcus. He made silly faces at the cute infant in the stroller for a full minute before someone cleared their throat. Ears distinctly pink, Patrick looked up and recognized the man standing with the stroller. 

“Oh, hey. Marcus, right? Marcus Bulstrode. I li-- returned your wallet a while back, we talked about kids for a bit. This is your daughter, right?”

Maybe Laure no longer called London a home, but she now that she was here again she couldn’t help but gravitate to a man she barely knew. Marcus Bulstrode had been there when she needed him, had given her closure even if it had shattered her, and Laure could not quite help her growing fondness for the man. He was always so kind, and he seemed to understand her better than anyone else in the country besides Sylv or David. Right now she desperately needed someone who could understand her.

Sacre bleu, she really had sent that letter to Sylvanie. She had told her best friend she thought about kissing her. And then Sylv had written back. Laure had Apparated away out of sheer instinctual panic.

Wild eyed and still reeling at her own actions, Laure knocked at the Bulstrode’s door. Marcus has a husband. Surely he would understand.

“Monsieur Bulstrode? Are you home? Oh please be home. I have done something very stupid.”

@marcus-bulstrode

Daisy was not expecting her day to begin with the shocking news that Zephyr had a child. It had been a lot to process, but Katie seemed perfect in every way. Daisy loved her instantly. She wanted to be able to provide everything in the world to that little girl. By that evening, Daisy had sent an owl to the closest thing to a baby expert she knew of: Marcus Bulstrode.

Levi went home every weekend, but he still wanted to surprise his husband when he could. On Thursday, he looked sadly at the communication mirror and told Millie while looking at Marcus over her shoulder that, “Daddy can’t come home until Saturday,” because he had other things he needed to take care of first. Millie had pouted a little, and Marcus had pretended that he didn’t do the same; both said they would be happy to see him on Saturday.

Friday as soon as his last class ended, Levi hurried through his chores with the beasts before giving the list of Hagrid of what needed to be done over the weekend. He didn’t need to pack anything because he had comfortable clothes at home. Then Levi apparated to outside the house.

The wards wouldn’t alert Marcus since it was him, and he slipped inside without fanfare. He listened carefully for a moment, but he heard a small grunt and a little French swearing. Levi followed the noise. Along the way, he took in all of Marcus’ projects thus far with a small. The stairs looked great, and while the hall had only received a new layer of paint, that did too. The living room needed more work, though, and Levi had known it wouldn’t quite be done yet when he came home.

He hadn’t expected to find Marcus hunched over on the floor covered in paint and rubbing his foot. If Levi looked long enough to figure out the story, he would have put money down that Marcus had managed to drop his paint roller on his foot, splattering paint all over the hardwood.

Instead his focus went immediately to the fabric under the paint splatters. Levi didn’t think he’d ever seen his husband in jeans before.

“So this is what you look like when I’m not around.”

Levi grinned and moved forward, not caring about the wet paint. He reached out to help Marcus up, ready to pull him into a hug once they were both on their feet.