Maniac’s Mayhem

“Well, that could have been worse.” I say to my princess as she walks up to me.

“Yeah, I guess we did not plan for you to get stabbed,” she says as she puts her arms around my neck.

“I guess. Not what I meant by that statement, though.” I say, wrapping my arms around my fiancé's hips.

“What else went wrong?” Princess asks, giving me a concerned look.

“Well, we should have a serious conversation about what food we allow the kids to take into their room. Because there is chocolate sauce all over the carpet and crumbs and grease everywhere,” I say, dreading the time it will take to clean it all up.

“That is, uhm, something.” Princess says with a smile as she tilts her head down, kissing my forehead.

“Also, we might need to buy more forks,” I point out. “I saw the drawer in their room, but none of the cutlery remained.”

My fiancé lets out a chuckle. “That is not that big a deal. I already put in a bulk order for utensils,”

“Great, then, my lovely fiancé, if it pleases you, would you allow me to guide you to our bed.” I say with a hopefully dashing smile.

“You horny beast.” Princess whispers into my ear. “And though I would love to indulge you, there are some things I still wish to talk about regarding the children.”

“I mean, sure, but can we move to our room first?” I suggest taking her hand and leading her down the hall to our room.

“You really want to get into my pants that badly?” Princess asks with a giggle as she follows me.

I turn around, giving her a wink. “Yes, but this feels like you want to bring up a heavy topic and I don’t think we should have a conversation like that in the hallway.”

My fiancé pauses, giving me an incredulous look. “Since when do you have tact?”

“Always. Just never had any reason to use it.” I look her straight in the eyes. “Or did I?”

“Are you accusing me of being inappropriate?” Princess asks me, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, babe, you brought a dildo to our third date.” I point out. “It was a big one, too.”

I hear a loud fit of laughter from the bed where Bubbles was laying in a pair of princess’s pyjamas. “Please tell me you didn’t?”

“Uhm, I mean, it was going well, so I thought it might come in handy.” Princess tries to defend herself with a beet-red face.

“Did it come in handy?” Bubbles asks.

“Well, she used it.” I say with a shrug as I take my clothes off. “Hurt like hell though, so I don’t think it was that, you know, great to bring it along.”

“Yikes, where is it now?” Bubbles asks, looking at Princess.

“Don’t know.” She says as she walks to the closet to pick out her pyjamas. “It just disappeared one day.

“Really? That is strange, one of your housekeepers took it?” Bubbles asks.

“No, I threw it out of the window when my Princess was not paying attention.” I say with a smile.

Princess’s head pops out of the walk-in closet, her mouth agape. “Why?”

“Because I did not want to bring up that I hated the object with my entire being, so I just got rid of it.” I say with my best innocent look.

“Seems like your problem-solving skills have not changed one bit, at least,” Bubbles points out.

“Don’t mess with perfection.” I say with a smile, grabbing an oversized shirt and putting it on. After putting on the attempt of a pyjama, I walk to the bed and slowly sit myself on top of Bubbles.

Princess groans, “Please at least try to set a good example for our children.”

I sigh, leaning in closer to Bubbles “I try, but you know, standing up for yourself is an important skill.”

“I know, I just, you know, I want there to be fewer stabbings at home,” Princess says, joining us on the bed.

“Right, I guess that is something we need to deal with,” I say, dropping my head between Bubbles boobs. “Any ideas?”

“Not really.” Princess admits, cuddling closer to the two of us. “But there are some things about Shinon we should probably discuss.”

I turn my head to face her. “Is she okay?”

“I think she will be; she just needs a lot of love.” Princess reaches out a hand and strokes my face. “We also need to reassure her that she is not an extra.”

“Extra in what?” I ask, feeling a bit confused.

“She thinks we just came for Cali and took her with us because she was just there,” Princess explains.

I blink. I mean, it is not exactly a wrong assumption, but both of the kids are extras we did not expect, but that did not mean anything really.Assoon as we decided to pick them up, they were our daughters. But then again, we have been spending more time with Cali than Shinon, so I might need to fix that.

“I will try talking to her tomorrow as well,” I say with a smile. “We should let our daughter know she is loved,”

“Thanks, love,” my fiancé says. “We both messed up a bit there, huh.”

“Messed up?” Bubbles asks.

“Well, Cali is more outspoken and free, Shinon is shy, so it might have been slightly easier to spend time with Cali.” I explain. “I am already reflecting on the mistake.”

Bubbles raises her hand and pats my head. “You’ll be fine. Just make sure to give her love from now on.”

“I will,” I say with a smile, then moving up so that I can be face to face with Bubbles. “Just like I am going to show you lots of love.” I finish the statement while locking lips with her.

“Maniac?” Princess asks, sounding unsure. “I have a question."

I break my kiss with Bubbles to look at my fiancé. "Yes.”

“When exactly did you split off from Evelin?” Princess asks.

“Not exactly sure but if I had to make a guess, it first started when I got all that face surgery and stuff. Then we slowly got torn further and further apart from each other by every bit of trauma until we were two separate people,” I explain.

Princess frowns. “Uhm do you think it’s possible for others? Like, for other people to have the same condition?”

I push myself up now, looking her straight into the eyes. “What is going on?”

“It’s just that Shinon has been referring to herself as ‘we’ a lot, and I was wondering if they, you know,” Princess says, gesturing at me.

“I don’t know, but if she is like us, there is not much we can do about it.” I say. “She knows what we are, right? She has seen me and Evelin as well as Crow.”

“Yes, but you know, can’t we help her or them if they really are like you?” Princess asks, giving me her pleading eyes.

“Yes, we could do something like that, but if they don’t tell us if, and don’t come to us asking for help, there is not much we can do. Pushing her might just have the opposite effect.” I explain.

“Then what do we do?” Cierra asks with a pout.

I smile, kissing her forehead. “The same thing we have been doing: give her love and space. When she feels safe enough to share, she will.”

“I see. I, uhm, will do that,” Princess says, pulling me closer. “I guess with that settled, we can enjoy ourselves a bit,”

With that Princess pulls me in closer, and we start making out. As we do so, my hands start wandering around the two girls’ bodies until I hear a loud knock on the door. I pull myself back and turn to the door that slowly opens up. The little red tangle of Shinon's hair appears in the opening. Once she spots us, she takes another step inside, revealing Snowball, who she is carrying under one arm like a sack of potatoes.

“Something wrong, honey? Can’t sleep?” Princess asks, sitting up slightly to look at the girl.

Shinon gives a small nod, looking at the floor. “Cali said, uhm…” Shinon stops speaking, looking more intently at the floor.

“Do you want to sleep here with us then?” Princess asks with a smile, patting the bed next to her.

Shinon nods again and slowly shuffles forward, using Snowball as a makeshift shield. Once she gets near the bed Princess helps her up. She quickly tucks the girl in, giving her a kiss on top of her head.

“Are you comfortable?” Princess asks, laying down next to her.

“Mum, why is Evelin laying on top of Claire?” Shinon asks.

“Because it's comfortable.” I say with a laugh. “And I am Maniac, not Evelin.”

“I am sorry?” Shinon’s shy voice says.

“It is fine. I don’t mind. Now let’s turn out the lights so we can sleep,” I say.

“Then could you get off me? Your metal bones are so heavy,” Bubbles complains.

I let out a chuckle, rolling off of Bubbles and falling into the empty space between my girls. Bubbles rolls to her side, putting one of her legs over me as she puts her head on my shoulder. I gently bring up my hand and rest it on her head.

“Metal bones?” Shinon asks.

“Yeah, my bones kept breaking too often, so they were replaced with metal ones,” I say with a smile.

“Can we have metal bones too?” Shinon asks.

I let out a small humming sound. “Maybe, but first you need to finish growing.”

“How do I grow?” the little girl asks.

“By eating vegetables and going to bed early.” I respond, almost gagging at how responsible I sound.

“Okay, I will sleep then,” the girl responds.

With a last smile, I dim the lights using my AUGs. “Good night.”