Fire Emblem: High School Years (High School AU) - Junior Year

Chapter 25: Almost Family

Anna

I slapped Gaius's hand away from the mixing bowl for the umpteenth time. "I regret letting you help me bake."

The ginger-haired boy pouted, hand a bit red from being repeatedly smacked. "Pleeeaaaaase? Can I try just a little?"

I glared at him. "You already ate a quarter of the chocolate chips. You're cut off." And there is no way I'm letting him stick his grubby little paws in the brownie batter.

"Let me eat the batter or I'm telling Mom."

"Karina's not my mom, yet." I rolled my eyes. "Even then, she'll agree with my decision."

From the dining room, Karina's voice shouted: "You have my permission to starve my son!"

Checkmate. He crossed his arms, leaning against the table. "I can't believe you managed to turn my own mother against me," he sighed. "It's not fair: she's always wanted a daughter."

I playfully knocked his ankle. "It's not biased -- it's common sense."

"At least I'm," he rested his elbow on the top of my head, "not a pipsqueak."

That does it. "If you want something sweet, you can have a spoonful of cocoa powder."

"Knew you'd come around!" Seeing that he won, he found the container of cocoa and took a dramatically large spoonful of it. 

I made sure the batter was far away as he began coughing up the bitter powder, clutching my stomach as I laughed. I didn't even care that he was making a mess. "Sorry, Gaius! But if you play with fire, you're going to burn!"

"YOU BITCH!" 

...

About an hour later, we were finishing up dinner. It felt strange, to sit at a full table. It was a welcome strange, though. Mom and I have had dinner with Chrom's family dozens of times, but that was different. Karina and Gaius might actually become a part of our small family. Our moms were still just dating, but we could clearly see things were going well. 

It would be nice, to make this a daily occurrence.

"So, Anna, how has school been?" Karina asked me.

I shrugged, picking at the last of my pasta. "Same as ever, really. Except now I have to help my boyfriend campaign, so that's fun."

"I'm still upset that Blue won't take my suggestions! He's supposed to listen to the people!" Gaius lamented.

"Chrom will not ensure that the vending machines are strictly candy."

"Well, he's lost a vote."

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Mom chuckled. "It's been something else, watching that kid run," she said. "He's come over nearly every day for the past two weeks. All I hear coming from Anna's room is practiced speeches."

Gaius looked at me with a shit-eating grin, leaning over to whisper: "So is that what you're calling it-"

I elbowed him in the side. Hard.

I rested my head on my hands, forcing a smile. "I have to support him in whatever way I can."

I elbowed Gaius again before he had a chance to open his mouth.

Scratch that. Family sucks. Well, Gaius sucks; Karina is an angel who makes Mom happier than anything. 

*****
Something short and sweet for these trying times. Y'all. I'm still not over the reveal of Claude's actual canon name. Screech. Expect a bunch of one-shots involving Khalid in the future cuz I'm hype. Yee yee. Anyway, back to Animal Crossing. Thank you so much for reading and look forward to reading more!