Expectations When Expecting

Book 1, Chapter 27

The boys all looked shocked at the revelation, hesitation in their faces as they considered going to comfort the girl. She waved them off. "Okay, I'm not gonna cry. I'm fine. Okay, Riddle gets a question, if he wants to ask it."

The group turned toward the exhausted red-head, who lay back against Trey, despite his eyes being open wide and conscious, Yuu could tell that he was in pain.

Riddle nodded. "If I may... have you thought of your plan for the child's birth?"

Yuu thought for a bit, shaking her head. "No, not really. But, I guess I should, just in case of the baby being born before I get to go home." She laughed.

Cater suddenly stood after a while, stretching. "Welp, looks like we got some cleaning up to do. All that work making the garden Magicam-worthy, and now it's a total tire fire. Laaame."

"I'll help out." Trey said as he shot up after Cater, who merely pushed him backwards.

"No, why don't you get Riddle to the nurse's office." Cater suggested. "That was a full-blown case of overblot. We need to make absolutely sure he's okay."

"Mr. Diamond is correct." Yuu yelped, turning to see the headmage, who was already grabbing Yuu. "I will go along with you."

The pregnant woman's face burned in embarrassment as she was held in the arms of the Headmage. She waved his hand away, instead, picking herself up.

"Understood. Thank you, sir." Trey said, beginning to help Riddle up, allowing for Riddle to use him as a crutch.

Dusting herself off, Yuu gestured for the headmage to go on ahead, silently informing him that she'd need a bit of time to help the others. Crowley nodded, walking behind the two others as they left.

Yuu, Grim, and the other three stood silently for a moment, the awkward atmosphere returning, seemingly full force as they all seemed to avoid looking at Yuu. The silence was broken rather quickly, given Grim's stomach protested loudly.

"Man, am I STARVED after usin' so much magic!" Grim announced, making the others stare at him, bewildered, yet not surprised.

Yuu raised an eyebrow as the little monster began to sniff the ground like a raccoon. Eventually, he stopped in front of a strange-looking stone, one that Yuu recognized to be similar to the stone on the ground of the Dwarf's mine, the very same one that Grim had eaten.

"Hmmm. Hey, check it out!" Grim took it in his paws, raising it to the first-years as if he'd found an intact piece of tart. A prize jewel in the cat's eyes. "That's another black magestone, just like the one we found at the Dwarfs' Mine!"

Deuce moved forward, examining the stone in the cat's paws. "Huh. You're right. Wonder where it came from?"

"Just don't put it in your mouth this time."

Both Yuu and Ace approached, both with distrusting expressions.

"Ace, don't encourage him." She deadpanned, Ace turning to her, insulted.

"Wha?! I told him not to!"

Yuu turned to face the little monster, holding her hand out expectantly. "Grim, give me the stone please..."

"No way!" Grim turned away from her, drooling slightly as he clutched the stone against his furry chest. "After how great that last one tasted, I can't get that thing in my mouth fast enough!" Yuu watched in horror as Grim gave her a toothy grin, shoving the entire thing in his mouth and chewing.

"Grim, nO-!" The pregnant woman yelped.

Ace sighed, annoyed. "Aaand there it goes." He did not flinch, when Yuu turned to glare at him.

"Oh, Grimmy... Have some self-respect, honey!" Cater's voice came from behind Yuu, clearly having been attracted by the curiosity of wanting to know what the commotion had been about. "That was literally trash." He pointed, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

Yuu looked at Cater, gesturing to the cat. "This... this is what I have to deal with."

The upperclassman laughed, amused at her words. The two turned to see Grim who purred loudly.

"Ahhhhh! Rich and sweet, but with a complex hint of bitterness in the aftertaste." Grim detailed, eyes sparkly at the flavor. "Equally delicious, but with quite a different mouthfeel from that last one I ate." The cat praised, tail swishing. Yuu rolled her eyes.

"Let's hope that doesn't make you sick, you trash panda." She quipped.

"As a monster, maybe his stomach works differently than ours?" Ace suggested, placing one hand on his hip as he sent a judgmental look to the cat.

"Even still, eating trash can't be good for anyone." Deuce muttered, going over to stand next to Yuu.

As if to prove Ace's point, however, Grim nibbled on the grass, his eyes lighting up. "I just tried the grass, and the flavor was surprisingly pleasant! Crisp, even!"

Ace and Deuce's jaws dropped at the audacity.

"What the-! That's our lawn! Don't eat that!" Deuce scolded, making Yuu smile, standing next to Cater as she watched the three younger idiots, her heart warming as Ace and Deuce caught Grim, holding him from the scruff.

"Uh, A-F-K while I go throw up... But...seriously, guys." Cater said from beside her, turning away from the group before whispering a part that Yuu had barely caught.

"Thanks." Yuu's eyes softened as they landed on the boy.

"Did you just say something?" Ace called over, turning to face the other two.

Cater turned to Ace briefly. "Hm?" Yuu looked at Cater.

"Nope. Not a thing."

~~~ 

A/N: 

Hey guys! Thank you all for reading! Tomorrow, I will be releasing the last chapter of book 1 and have started writing Book 2! I am extremely grateful for you all! I appreciate the comments (and the corrections, seeing as I did somehow manage to skip over the 23rd chapter) and the votes! I'll be doing a livestream on twitch this week, where I hope to be able to figure out a more coherent timeline of events for the game so I can properly plan out Yuu's pregnancy throughout the books and events. If you're all interested, then please feel free to join! Once again, thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!

Signed,

Nyx Nightshade