backyardbbq | aono marriage AU

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aono marriage AU

[When Shiro had first heard about Yuri's pregnancy, his first instinct was to protect her. She was one of his brightest students, and she had always been a favorite of his. To hear that she had gone on a hippie-trip and gotten pregnant with the spawn of Satan was just too much for him to comprehend. 'How' and 'why' were the biggest questions on his mind, but even they eventually gave way to a much more important one: what now?

Shiro had to report it, of course. Yuri was the daughter of a very important man within the Order, and he was bound to notice that his precious daughter was pregnant. But Shiro also knew that the cardinal would rather see his daughter burn than admit to any taint in the family line, and there was no way Shiro could allow that to happen.

So when the inquiry took place, Shiro had talked over Yuri, silencing her before she could admit to carrying Satan's child. Instead he claimed the child as his own, deciding that this scandal was preferable to the truth. At least this way Yuri wouldn't be executed, and Shiro could use his reputation to protect Yuri and her unborn child.

That was the day Shiro learned a very important lesson: reputation won't protect a man from a scandal.

He didn't lose his rank, thankfully. He was too skilled to be demoted below an upper-first-class exorcist. But he had been relocated to a small town hundreds of miles away from True Cross Town, and he had no chance of becoming anything else. Yuri likewise was stuck with her current rank, though she wouldn't be doing much fighting anyway until the baby was born.

One rushed wedding and a move later, Shiro found himself facing the harsh reality that was the rest of his life. Had he made the right choice? Would he grow to regret it? Only time would tell.

But for now, Shiro had to look out for his new bride. She was very pregnant, after all.]

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[ Shiro had been many things to her in her life. A teacher, a mentor, a friend ... He had been someone she really needed to have around, but never once had she ever considered that he would become her husband.

Everything about this is wrong., she thought.

Well, not everything. She didn't regret getting pregnant with Satan's child one bit, though everyone who knew her, including her new husband, would likely tell her she should. The wedding, the move, everything that came after that ... that was what was so wrong. He spoke up and lied for her sake, and now ...

He put his own reputation on the line for her. When she really thought about it, though, it was just like him to do so. Something within her knew that things would have ended up even worse if she had told the truth, and confessed to her father and the Vatican that the child she carried was in fact Satan's child, but Yuri had always been a stubborn and honest young lady. She was more than willing to go in there and tell them flat-out what had happened, and how she didn't regret a thing.

Of course, Yuri also didn't think things through sometimes, and that 'sometimes' only became more frequent once the hormones from the pregnancy kicked in. What would have become of her child, if she had told them the truth? It was something Shiro had brought up to her the first time she asked him why he had lied for her. She would have most certainly been executed, and along with her, her child.

Yuri remembered she had continued to be stubborn about it for quite some time, trying to give Shiro all of the reasons why he shouldn't be doing this for her. She poked at his rank, his reputation, the fact that the child really wasn't his, and even brought out some bible verses to try and convince him that what he was doing was clearly the wrong choice. She dug around for any and all excuses she could pull out to deter him from going through with anything; never mind that the damage had already been done, however less it was now than it would have been with the alternative. Shiro was just as stubborn as she was, if not more. Between her emotional state and her desperation to deter him, it was something Yuri had forgotten.

So now, here they were. Yuri sat in their new place, staring at the ring on her finger, rubbing at it gently with the thumb of her other hand. She thought she would be used to the feel of it there by now, but it still felt just as strange now as it had before.

She sighed. Pregnant or not, she couldn't just sit still like this, especially not when she was as restless as she was because of everything. She pushed herself up, wandering to the kitchen. Maybe there were some dishes to clean or something ... anything to keep herself busy. ]

[See, the upside of this is that the marriage doesn't have to last forever. Just long enough for Yuri's dad to die and for another huge scandal to happen. Sure, that might take a few decades, but they could possibly divorce amicably in about thirty years or so!

Also, Shiro has at least stopped sleeping with other women, now that he is technically a married man. It's driving him crazy, but he's not going to make even more scandals that could destroy Yuri's life even more.

But despite how weird this marriage is, Shiro is trying to keep a positive attitude about it. He made this choice, and he's not going to punish Yuri for it by being grouchy about it.]

Ah, good afternoon.

[That doesn't make the conversation any less awkward, when he suddenly comes across her in the kitchen one day. They really need to get this talking thing down, they're going to be raising a kid together soon.]

[ She had found dishes to wash! Or ... re-wash. Those might be some extra clean dishes when she's done with them. She hears Shiro's greeting as she's washing that dish in her hand for the third time in a row, and her focus stays on that for the most part. She doesn't look at him.

It's not that she's angry. She's not. Not anymore. She had come to accept that this was probably the best option out of the few that she had. No, she's past the angry stage ... now she's just awkward.

How does one be a wife to someone they didn't marry out of love?

Well, okay, that wasn't entirely true. She did love Shiro. He was important to her. The love she had for him just wasn't a romantic kind of love, which was what most of these marriage things were supposed to be about, right? Arranged marriages weren't as big now as they were decades and decades ago and all.

Yuri takes a little bit to respond, since between being awkward and being focused on re-washing that dish a fourth time now, it takes a little bit for her brain to catch up to things and her mouth to respond. She does respond, though. ]

Afternoon.

[ .... Say something else, Yuri.

But what?

What was there to say? ]

... I'm washing dishes.

[ Could this be any more awkward? ]

So I see.

[Yeah, it's really hard to have conversations when you're fake-married to someone you share almost no interests with. They can't even chat about that episode of whatever show was on last night, since they don't have the same taste in TV.]

Though I think you're wearing holes in them, with how much you're washing them.

[It's meant to be a light-hearted jab at Yuri's cleaning habits, not a real criticism. He figures Yuri is just going stir-crazy, what with no dangerous demons out here to fight and nothing else really to do.]

At least they'll be extra clean.

[ Though that does make her realize just how much she's been washing that dish, and she sets it into the strainer to dry. She then grabs the next dish and begins to clean the hell out of that one. She figures from here the best course of action would be to be "a good wife". ]

Do you have anything in mind for dinner?

Takeout?

[Yeah Shiro is a terrible cook, and he doesn't expect Yuri to cook for the two of them all the time.]

I heard there's this place in town that's pretty good.

[ That gets her to stop and look at him, raising an eyebrow. ]

Are you sure? I don't mind cooking for us.

[ It keeps her busy! Still, she couldn't deny that takeout sounded pretty good, too. She looked back to her dish, continuing to wash it to her satisfaction and place it into the strainer next to the other one she had placed there earlier. ]

Your cooking is good, but it's okay to eat out sometimes too. The cost-of-living is so low here that our paychecks are more than enough to afford it.

[If nothing else, the Order is at least paying them well for staying out of sight.]

[ Yuri sighs at this. It was true. He was right, again. She sets the final dish into the strainer and nods in response. ]

Fine, takeout it is.

[ She turns around and offers a small smile toward him. He was making attempts to make things work, and she really should be making an effort to do the same. Making things a little less awkward was all a part of that.

she leaned back against the counter, looking away from him after a moment. ]

Hey, Shiro ...

[ Even though their marriage had only just begun, she was finding it more and more difficult to remember a time when they hadn't been like ... well, this. It was frustrating, because she knew there had been a time when they weren't. ]

... Is it always going to be like this?

[Truthfully, Shiro didn't know. He wasn't really one for commitment anyway, and the idea of being married was a strange one. Even if he didn't love Yuri in that way, they still had to play at being a married couple, which made it even more difficult at times.

But they would get used to it. They would endure. They had to, not only for the baby but for themselves.]

I don't think so, no. It's just new, and keeping up a lie like this is a difficult one.

[ There were still so many things to talk about regarding the child, many of which involved things that they had years to figure out. Yuri hadn't brought anything up, though, even if she wanted to. Getting married and moving had put so much stress on both of them that she figured it would be best not to add any more to it, especially for things that they had time to talk about.

Yuri nodded in response to him. ]

It's just really uncomfortable.

[ It was the first time she'd really confessed to that since this whole thing began, though she knew the both of them must have felt this way. ]

[Shiro understands that. Really. Yuri is a young lady, and she's been forced to marry an old geezer like him. He's sure there's so much more she wanted to do with her life, and now she's stuck in some backwater town with a husband she doesn't love and a kid she's not ready for.

It could be worse, though. Shiro has to keep telling himself that. It could be a lot worse.]

Yeah, I know. If it makes you feel better, it won't last forever. In a few years everyone will forget about it, and we can figure out what to do then.

[He honestly thinks Yuri will take the first chance to get out of this marriage. He can't see why anyone would want to be married to him.]

[ She may not be ready for the kid, but she's definitely not regretting keeping it. Yuri nodded in response to this. Right now, the idea that it wouldn't last forever was a bit of a comfort.

But for now, that wasn't the case. For now, they had to act like they were married with a kid on the way. ]

Okay.

[ She takes a deep breath and stretches her arms above her head. She needed to sit down soon. Her back was starting to ache. ]

So, takeout?

[Shiro nods in agreement.]

We might as well enjoy it now, as soon as the baby's here we'll have to eat healthy all the time.

[Technically only Yuri would have to, but Shiro is planning on doing the same thing as well, to make it easier for her.]

[ She didn't mind eating healthy, she just liked a little bit of the junk food every now and again. You know, like any normal person did. Yuri pouted a little bit in response to that, but she was pretty glad that Shiro seemed to be on board with it as well. ]

Yeah, we should. And we should get the takeout now, I'm getting hungry!

[ Whine mooooar, Yuri. ]

[Shiro chuckles at that.]

Alright, alright. Come on, grab your coat and we'll go.

[Even though it's only the beginning of December, it's still very cold. And with the baby coming so soon, Yuri really needs to avoid getting sick.]

[ Here comes the "I'm mocking you" tone. ]

Yes, sir. Right away, sir.

[ It was an attempt to make things a little less awkward, in any case. It was good, too, because she was feeling a little better. Still awkward, but at least if she was able to tease him like this, she could pretend they weren't married now.

Only, they were. And that thought wasn't going to erase itself from the back of her mind so easily. ]

[But through this joking, they could grow more used to each other and eventually find comfort in each other's presence. It was how arranged marriages had gone for thousands of years, so they could manage it too.

Shiro tries to help it along by being respectful of Yuri's boundaries, too. Even when they're out in public, like when they go to get their food, he giver her some space and doesn't try to speak for her like husbands often do with their wives. At the very least he can give her respect, even if he can't give her the kind of love a husband and wife have for each other.]

[ That was something she was thankful for. Yuri moves to retrieve her coat, returning to Shiro in the middle of putting it on. ]

So what good things have you heard about this takeout place? Or am I going to be surprised?

[He's bundling up in his coat and scarf before they head out. It's a bit of a walk to that restaurant.]

They make good miso, or so I've heard. Also all of their pork dishes are supposedly amazing.

Miso and pork are both good. How did you hear about this place?

[ She's waiting by the door now. Not even gonna bother buttoning her jacket up. Nope. ]

[Yuriplz]

I heard about it from a couple when I went down to the bookstore last week.

[ Yuri does what Yuri wants, foo. ]

So, what took you so long to bring it up to me, then?

[ Teasing forever. And ever and ever. And ever. Yep. Despite the obvious teasing, though, she's actually pretty excited to be getting out of the house a bit. It's not like she never went out at all, but since her pregnancy was so far along, doing too terribly much was a bit of a strain at times. She busied herself with things around the house to try and compensate for that, but it really wasn't enough. ]

I was just waiting for the right time.

[A day Yuri looked too bored, mostly. But they're on their way now and Shiro will walk alongside Yuri as they head down the block to where the shops are.]

They really stuck us out in the boonies, didn't they? We're getting excited over a new place to eat.

Ugh, yeah. There's not a lot more to get excited about.

[ The thinks about it for the moment. ]

... The baby, I guess. That's something to get excited for.

[ And nervous. Very nervous. Yuri didn't know the first thing about being a mother, and she was worried that she'd be a pretty awful one to her child. ]

Ah, there is that.

[Shiro isn't as excited as a new parent would be, mostly because this isn't his child. He'll still be a father to it, and he's going to try his hardest to be a good father, but the excitement just isn't there.

He's also nervous about it, though for a different reason than Yuri. Even if the baby is born with no complications, it's still going to be a half-demon. Raising a half-demon child is going to be difficult at best, and that's if word doesn't get back to the Vatican about it.]

Have you thought about a name yet?

Not really.

[ She clasps her hands together in back of her and looks up at the sky as they walk. Not the best idea, but. Hey. Yuri does what she wants. ]

I figure a name will come to me when I see it. I don't even know what gender the baby will be.

If it's a girl, you should name her Yuki.

[Because it's winter and snow get it?]

Then again, 'Yuri' and 'Yuki' sound a lot alike, that might confuse her.

[ Okay, that made her laugh. A laugh she really needed. ]

And I don't suppose that you think a boy should be named 'Yukio', hm?

[ It wasn't a bad idea, really. ]

It's a cute name. And fitting either way, considering the child will be born soon.

[ She thought for a little longer. ]

I like 'Rin.' It would be a good name for a girl or a boy.

With the kanji for 'snow' and 'man', right?

[Because 'manly snowman' is totally the best name for a kid.]

Rin is a good name, and you would have lots of choices for the name meaning too. Hmm...sounds like you'll have to choose between these two names, once the baby is here.

[ Shiro plz. ]

Well, like I said. I thought I'd make that decision when the baby is here. I do have some ideas in mind, and now more ideas thanks to your input, but I kind of think I'll know the baby's name when I see it, you know?

[ Yuri, your mentality. Watch, the baby will be born and you will still have no idea how to name the kid. ]

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aono marriage AU

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