The Roses and The Lilies

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 9－ C𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑝

The date was fine.
He enjoyed it, in fact.
But he felt something was missing.
"Cap?"
He looked up.
"Leo. What do I owe the pleasure?"
"I came to ask how your date went," she perched herself onto the table in front of him.
"Fine. Aquarius is a lovely girl, I'm sure we'll make each other very happy," he answered in a monotone.
"Really?"
"I'd like to get to know her better yeah but-,"
"You're happy with this?" Leo pressed.
Capricorn nodded. "Did I not say?"
"You did. I'm just surprised at you being soft, that's all,"
Capricorn's eyes narrowed and Leo let out a loud laugh.

"Can I talk to you?" Cancer asked, pulling on Taurus' sleeve.
Taurus gave Virgo a look and his husband nodded before turning away and leaving the room.
"What's wrong?" The man asked, adjusting the aglets of his hoodie absent-mindedly.
"I wanted to tell someone apart from Scorp," she murmured. "I'm pregnant,"
Taurus choked.
"I found out a few days ago, Scorp nor I have told anyone but I had to-,"
"I'm touched you decided to share it with me," Taurus grinned. "How far along are you?"
"No idea," cancer fiddled with her hair. "Need to go for an appointment. Scorp's been looking into clinics close by,"
"Do you have any idea of how far along?"
"Maybe a month or two?"
"Congratulations to you and Scorpio. I'm sure you'll be great parents. Want to go for a walk?"
"Oh can we go into town? I'm craving the baker's red velvet," cancer chirped, taking Taurus' arm as he offered it to her.
"Oh that sounds lovely," Taurus agreed. "We can pick up our sketchbooks too,"
"That's a great idea!"

"Libra?"
Libra looked up and crashed her head into the wooden underside of the table she was sprawled under.
"Sagi! Hi!" She greeted, rubbing her head. "What's up?"
"Why are you under a table?" The Englishman asked, amused.
"They're comfortable and quiet, no one expects me to be under one,"
"That's true enough," Sagittarius chuckled, falling down to sit next to her.
"So what's up?" Libra questioned.
"I need some help. Feelings and yeah... they're hard," Sagittarius frowned, glancing up above the table toward the room.
"Oh?" Libra raised an eyebrow with a smirk.
"I think I have a crush on Capricorn,"
Libra choked.
"I did not see that coming,"
"But I also have a crush on Aquarius,"
"I saw that coming,"
"Libra,"
"Sorry," she wasn't sorry.

Aries watched Gem as he paced the length of one of the many lounges, talking rapidly into the phone tucked on his shoulder as he tapped an iPad.
"No! Ophichius needs the footage- Argentina are getting antsy. They're causing more trouble. DO NOT HANG UP ON ME I WILL-," Gem paused and scowled. "You fucker," he cursed, removing a hand from the tablet to extract his phone from his shoulder.
Aries picked at her red nails as she watched as Gem swore again and threw his phone onto the floor.
Gem huffed. "Stupid. Stupid,"
"What was that about?" Aries questioned.
"Argentina- our enemy now, because of what happened with the witch in the late 1900s- are causing trouble with our allies. They're so close to Chile and Brazil- that was Brazil's tech expert on the phone- and they're getting leeway. Meaning we're losing more power and- it's all such a mess," Gem flopped onto the floor.
"You could always talk to Virgo. He's the best with tech," Aries suggested. "Or we can go smash some heads in,"
"I'm going to ignore the last bit of that, because I can't fight very well, and because it's stupid,"
Aries scowled. "Hey-,"
"But if I can find Virgo, and he can offer assistance to my sister, our teams and I, we'll be open to suggestions. I need to talk to Ophichius and Scorpio now. Thanks for the suggestion Bloody Mary!" He called, dragging himself up from the floor and jogging out the room, leaving both his phone and iPad on the floor.
"I'm going to the shooting range," Aries muttered.

"I think I'm getting somewhere with Chile's expert, but I'm not sure. He's not giving anything away," Mini explained.
Ophichius frowned and started fiddling with the ring displayed on a chain around his neck.
"What about Gem with Brazil?"
"OPHIIII!"
The two both sighed and watched the door as Gem bounded into the room, looking frazzled.
"Brazilian guy hung up on me!" He whined. "I think we might be screwed,"
"Was that because you shouted and lost your temper? Again?" Mini asked her twin.
Gem stuck his tongue out at her in response.
"Maybe I did. But that was after he said no to us getting the footage,"
"Gem. We can get that on our own," Mini said slowly.
"Yes, but, then it's less ethical and it's a cause for them to not trust us even more,"
"Gem, no one trusts us. We're a gang,"
"Yes, but-,"
"Gem. We're not good people,"
"I wanted to like see if they could trust us more... like we have a more stable relationship. Like we do with the Italians now," Gem reasoned.
Mini's eyes softened as she looked at her brother.
"Gem. Thank you. Can you continue trying? Without shouting and swearing," Ophichius cleared his throat.
Gem hummed and nodded, leaving the room.
"He's always been the kindest," Mini murmured. "But gets angry quickly, which is quite a juxtaposition,"
Ophichius chuckled.
Mini bit her lip and turned away.
"We're all good people, deep down, but we're still horrible people,"
"That... doesn't make a lot of sense,"
"I didn't say it would,"

A/N:
Hi everyone. Bear with me. My GCSEs start next week and I've been revising like a lot. I can't promise frequent updates but I'm not forgetting these stories any time soon. Have a lovely day!