Twins of Love - Darcy's revenge*

23. Arrangements

If there was one thing Riven loved to do in the morning, it was shaving. The handsome dark one loved to take care of himself: for hygiene, for pride, for his fairy. He turns on the light over the mirror, staring at himself for a while and frowning. He opens the cabinet, grabbing his foam and razor, starting to lather up except for his goatee. He stares at himself for a few minutes-Ruby thought it was funny when he lathered up... Riven? Funny? Could that strange adjective ever be associated with his person? Such a gruff man, hardened by a difficult life....

Scratch... scratch...

Riven knew very well that life never gave him anything, even the most miserable piece of bread: according to his crazy uncle, he had to earn it by cleaning the house. The promotions at Red Fountain, unlike Sky, he had to work hard and take his humiliations too.

Tin... tin...

You have to be the best, he repeated to himself. He didn't want to be a disappointment, thinking he had been one for his parents who had abandoned him.

But the best among whom? The more he aimed at being competitive, the more obnoxious, edgy, hostile he became. Then she came along...between the sensual and beautiful Darcy and that tomboy with pigtails, he had no doubt who to choose. That year, after the Battle of Alfea, he had begun to feel his stony heart soften, little by little. He felt something strange every time he saw that fairy with the temper of a longshoreman... he felt the so-called butterflies in his stomach!

Scratch... scratch...

How he loved sneaking into Alfea at night to sleep with her! Or kidnap her to take her to concerts! It was great to hear her laugh when he would accelerate aboard the wind rider. Damn, there are two Rivens: one tough and obnoxious, the other awkward and softened. The new Riven is definitely better than the previous one....

Tin... tin...

Just because life didn't give him anything, he built himself a family and, thus, he found his original family. He found his mother again, his beloved mother... actually she had saved his ass, leaving him to his uncles. By now, who knows what a cruel ruler he would have become! The twins' power had led him to follow in the footsteps of a past that he didn't have but needed to know. Only then could he know a little about himself.

Scroooosch...

Actually, there was a remnant of the old Riven: that damned jealousy. He fervently hoped it was gone now, because it had caused him to risk countless times losing the only woman he ever loved.

"Riven, Riven...how you've changed at the nearly thirty-year age."

He cleans and dries his face, touching up a few spots on his goatee with the electric razor and then puts on some aftershave. Musa had picked it out for him when they moved in together, and he hadn't gone without the fragrance since then. He turns to the bathroom door finding his sweet future wife standing there in her silk robe, her hair loose, leaning against the doorframe. He smiles as he approaches her slowly, then gently pulls her close and kisses her lips softly.

"Give me that..." she smiles taking the electric razor.

Riven smiles, sitting down on the stool they kept in the bathroom. Musa wraps a bath towel over his shoulders and begins to shave the shading of his haircut a bit. Riven loved these treatments, he felt like he was getting all that love that he had never in his life received. Musa cut his hair every now and then, not for lack of money to afford a hair salon; it was simply a way for her to take care of him. After she was done and even shortened his sideburns, she brushed away his fallen hair and checked to make sure he hadn't cut himself with a razor on his face.

"So, how many weeks old is this baby Carter?"

"It was mid-May when we conceived. We're at the end of June...I'd say about five, six weeks," she smiles touching her still flat tummy.