Fauna’s brows furrowed as she stared at him a moment, unwavering. She was flattered and also annoyed since she just wanted them to get some sleep. Leaning forward then, she finally spoke.
“Ivan, I love you too. I always have. I thought I needed space but I don’t, not from you. Will you please lay down now?” She asked, her own cheeks pink but her defiant pout still standing strong.
Ivan's face went a shade of red it had never been before in his entire life and he visibly sputtered, as if Sveta's words shocked him and were unprocessable.
"W-wait, you love me too? You love me?" He asked, shocked. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Fauna huffed, sort of feigning annoyance at this point. She wasn’t really thinking about sleeping anymore, not since the profession of love was lingering in the air between them. Her own cheeks were flush and rosy, bashful but unapologetically so.
“Yes, Ivan. I love you, how could I not?” She reaffirmed then, averting her gaze somewhat.
“I...you love me?” Ivan repeated with sputtered a little laugh of disbelief and excitement. “I don’t know, I just assumed. I’ve never had anyone really like me back, let alone say they loved me.” _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
“So,” Ivan reached out to place his hand atop one of Sveta’s, “would you want to date me? Officially?” _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Ivan beamed in return, squeezing Sveta’s hand when she pressed them together, palm to palm. Her smile brought him delight. With his other hand, he reached up to cup at her face. He stroked his thumb softly over her cheek. “Sveta, Id like to kiss you.” He grinned still. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
“You can, on a couple of conditions.” She began, putting a finger to her lip. “You quit being stubborn and share a bed with me, and if you’re alright with it, I think I want to be called Fauna again. So if it’s all the same to you, you can kiss Fauna.” She explained.
Ivan chuckled and gave a little nod, leaning in so his lips hovered just above Fauna's, her cheek still nestled to his palm.
"In that case...Fauna, I'm going to kiss you now." He grinned, pressing their lips softly together. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Fauna smiled into the kiss, it was a good first kiss not that she had anything to compare it to. Maybe it was just good because it was Ivan, and because she did love him. It felt like a long time coming, she reached up to caress his face, an intimate gesture that didn’t feel foreign though it was the first of its kind. After a moment she pulled away slightly, smiling still as she looked up at him; her thumb stroking his cheek. While she wouldn’t remember, this was the first affection she’d shown anyone.
Fauna’s own life had been a mystery to her. By now she had some memories, but they were more dreamlike. Not much felt right, what she thought she remembered, and what her life was now. She didn’t really belong in either, but a secret third thing.
It was with Ivan.
From the moment she opened her eyes on him, he had been her security blanket. He felt like home, and the only constant she needed, truly. She found herself fulfilled some mob roles, nothing too dangerous as if Ivan would ever allow. More often than not though, she was always with him, just like Asha to Adrik. They were very much together from sun up to sun down, and it was a routine that Fauna very much valued. But some things would no doubt change, and that routine would be fractured.
Fauna was pregnant.
She had known for about a week now, stewing on the information as she contemplated what it would mean. At first she was in denial of it, but only briefly as Fauna challenged she was never wrong. Her period was late, a pregnancy test from the pharmacy had the same merit as the urine test a doctor would do, and she had been combating obvious symptoms of pregnancy. Her breasts ached already, and she was knocked on her feet most nights with ‘morning’ sickness. There was no point in disputing it.
However, what she couldn’t be sure of, was how Ivan would react. Each baby Asha popped out was wildly celebrated, like she was some sort of royal princess, popping out heirs to their mighty dynasty. Would hers be celebrated too? Or would it be a burden?
Ivan had planned a dinner for the two of them, and she considered it to be a good time to reveal the news. But as of late, Ivan’s behavior had changed, giving her pause. He had been antsy, and nervous; he seemed to struggle to look her in her eyes and stutter more than a few words. It felt like he was suddenly afraid of her, perhaps it was because he could sense they baby and that’s what scared him? A monstrous wolf could tear from her belly and eat him, just like her father before her.
She steadied herself before her bedroom mirror. Fauna would go to this dinner, if Ivan was to confess his fear and reject her completely, she would face it with a stiff lip. She would face him and challenge him to humiliate her; it cannot be done.
Fauna did not resemble her mother much, especially not in her shape. Fauna was pear shaped, with wide and sloping hips and round bottom. Plainly, Natas was more slight in size, but toned in the ares where the dimension of her flesh exposed itself. Fauna was soft all over, short with pronouncedly thick limbs; even her wrists were cushy if you were to hold them. Her hair was thicker, wavier, more brown. She wore it in a sort of bob, cut at the shoulders but the waves and heft of her hair gave it volume. It was always worn down, tucked behind one ear. Her face was long, this could be attributed to either parent, though she liked to think she got it from her mother. Fauna revered Natas as a very beautiful woman, or at least she did, and she would grasp at similarities between them. But much of her features contrasted her mothers. round cheeks, and a dimpled chin; even her nose had contrary angles to her mothers. Her dark eyes were the strongest resemblance, that almond eye shape that hasn’t missed a Navares/Mehtevas kid yet. They uptrend at the outer corners, with little lid to afford. But her eyes were much larger ink scale, more intense because of it. Due to her Spanish heritage, she was quite hairy, with thick square brows and curly lashes, putting her always in a painful aggressive expression. No matter the context, Fauna would be scowling with furrowed brows are her reflection, because that was plainly her face.
She pinched at the ruching in her dress. It was a deep red, like blood or wine, and the lace sleeves exposed her round shoulders. The same way the short skirt of the dress exposed her thighs, and how they touched. She felt beautiful, and prepared to bite her way out of any and all confrontations tonight.
His parents had meticulously thought out their family with his elder siblings, who were planned and celebrated. His brother and sisters had been doted on and indulged to the point of spoiling them, regarded as the inheritors to their mother’s legacy and as beloved as their good-natured father. They were perfect even when they were not, they were fawned over even when they were being snotty, they were...
Wanted.
It wasn’t that Ivan didn’t believe his parents didn’t love him in the same way they loved his siblings, it was just that he didn’t feel the same sort of belonging as them. Where they fit in perfectly with their parents and all their planning, Ivan had always felt other.
He was unplanned, his mother hadn’t even known he was in her womb until she was nearly set to give birth. She had hardly been given the same opportunity to bond with him before or after he was born like his siblings, after all, leading a crime syndicate and maternity leave weren’t necessarily simpatico and were less so when no plans had been made for who would lead while she spent time with him. His father had been able to spend some time with him but was also at the peak of his career which left him unable to take care of a new child the same way he had been able to do with his other children in their formative years.
Even beyond his earliest years, his siblings always seemed to garner much more attention than himself, their accomplishments shined on while his seemed to be placed on the back burner. He never admitted to his family the sadness and loneliness it brought him, he never wanted to hurt them as he knew it was never intentional and it was never out of malice that their actions made him feel so. After all, Adrik was to inherit all his mother had built up and his sisters were meant to be his equals and partners in their business. Ivan was just the afterthought; he was always meant to lift his siblings and praise their accolades but not shine on his own.
Until he met Fauna.
Fauna wasn’t the refined and polished sort of person Ivan was accustomed to being around, nor was she the scummy underbelly sort who he was often tasked with “dealing with” on behalf of the family business. She was rough, said what she thought and didn’t care if you agreed or liked it, but she was also loyal and the first to remind Ivan of his own worth. Most importantly, he never felt like an afterthought with her.
She cared about the things he liked, listened to him when he told her about his day. She enjoyed being by his side and he enjoyed being with her. Despite how others perceived her, Ivan always thought that she was easy to love. Sure, she was stubborn at times, and perhaps a little aggressive too, but Ivan admired those things about her too. She stood by her convictions and wasn’t afraid to say or do whatever it took to defend them. Where he was often seen as meek, she made up for it by being his boldness.
He loved her dearly and wanted nothing more than to keep her with him for the rest of their days, which was why he had been preparing to propose to her.
He of course had asked his brother and father how they thought he should propose, to which they both responded in the way he thought they would: extravagance. Adrik had explained that while he had proposed to Asha in a more intimate moment, he had gone ahead and made up for it by immediately setting up a lavish holiday for them in the Maldives where he hired a full-on event staff and photography team to shoot another proposal that was more befitting. Meanwhile, Mityr went on to tell him that his proposal, although more subtle, was also extravagant, having gone to Russia with Riley and proposing to her by filling their entire vacation home with roses in the dead of winter and with the largest ruby that he had picked out himself.
These proposals felt befitting for his father, his brother, and their partners, but it didn’t feel right for Fauna. She had grown to like the finer things in life having lived with the Nikitins for some time now, but she was not THAT fond of them.
Instead, Ivan had planned out a nice dinner for them at one of their favorite fine dining restaurants, he had even gone ahead and rented out the entire establishment. They would have an indulgent five course meal and at the end, he would propose. If all went according to plan, he would then surprise her with plane tickets to go on a three-week tour of Europe with just the two of them set to leave the next day. He'd gone out and purchased a ring that perhaps wasn’t the fanciest by his brother or even his father’s standard, but he thought it was befitting of Fauna with a golden band with leaves delicately cut into the metal leaving open silhouettes. There was a modestly sized diamond set into it, accompanied by two smaller diamonds on either side. It was beautiful, but certainly more subtle than the rock Adrik had given Asha. He thought Fauna would like it.
All of the planning as well as the mere prospect of the proposal and the what-ifs had admittedly put Ivan on edge and he had been almost too nervous to function, even doing his usual things with Fauna. He had a hard time being alone with her, afraid she’d somehow sus it all out or perhaps he’d divulge it all to her and render his planning useless. Or maybe he was afraid that she’d tell him no. Either way, his nerves had been getting the better of him and he was finally ready to be done with them.
He’d dressed up in deep charcoal two-piece suit and had gone with a blue tie that Fauna had often told him matched his eyes. His father had surprised him with a pair of new cufflinks that were set with the same formation (albeit smaller) of diamonds as Fauna’s ring. He finished the light styling of his hair in the ensuite and cleared his throat before calling out to Fauna.
“Are you about done?” He asked. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Fauna was still fussing at the ruching of her dress, she felt like she was showing already. Her stomach appeared bloated, and it all carried around her uterus. That being said, she still looked amazing and in her opinion, she was ready. However, given her current mood, she wanted to make him wait. But she was also not one to have her time wasted, if he was going to break up with her, she wanted to tackle it sooner rather than later. Also, she would tackle it with a full belly, after all she was eating for two now. Fauna spun away from the mirror and grabbed her coat, draping it over her arm.
Ivan came out of the bathroom and gave Fauna a look over, feeling his heart give a little skip in his chest. He always thought she looked beautiful, but she always managed to stun him just a little whenever she got all dolled up. He almost wanted to drop on one knee right there.
Flustered ever more, he cleared his throat, looking away with a little flush pinking his cheeks and ears.
"You look nice." He said to her. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
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