Relationships In The Promiseland

Let's Try

"Let's try for a baby" Ari casually brings up as she cuddles up onto Mano resting her head on his shoulder. They were binge watching One Piece in Mano's living room. Mano pauses the show right away before choking on his saliva. "I'm sorry you want to WHAT?!"

She tilted her head to look up at him. She puffs her cheek with a pout, "I want a mini me..." Sudden excitement kicked in making her sit up straight and she hugged his arm, "Oh! A mini you! AAAAHHHH!!!!" She fangirled at the thought of holding a chibi Mano. 

At this point Mano has gone out to pasture. His mind is straight gone as the thought of kids hasn't even crossed his mind. Noticing he is blanking out Ari frowns looking like a child that didn't get what they wanted, "You're getting old mister. You gotta start thinking about these things." She poked his nose wanting to get him to snap out of his la la land. 

"Aria... you do know there's a difference between promise and engagement right?" he met her pouty face with his confused one. "Yeah" her expression quickly morphed to that of innocence. "You promised me kids and the other is you're stuck with me until death do us part." 

He feels that he can tell when she's joking and when she's not, so he cracks up., "Now i know you're just pulling my leg." She groans and crosses her arms across her chest, "It was funnier when you didn't know when i was joking or not..." He kisses the top of her head. "Sorry, maybe next time love."

Not wanting to let Mano win this she stubbornly flips herself onto him pinning him. With his back pressed against the couch he looked up at her in surprise. "Um... I just showered Ari... It took a while to get your lipstick off..." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck with a mischievous grin. 

"Now you're scaring me... what are you machining in that head of yours" he pokes at her forehead. She caught his finger in her mouth with a giggle. "No! I told you no!" he yanked his finger out of her mouth. "Are you just going to bug me..." She shrugs as she hops on his lap. He grabs her hips and firmly holds her down to make her quit hopping. "S-Stop!"

Now he is red and this is where she wanted him. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Why don't you make me..." Mano growls and glared up at her with a dark red blush across his face. "You can forget my massages when you're cramping on your time of the month..."

Almost as if her world crumbled around she dramatically gasps. She totally forgot she was trying to get him hot and bothered and started to whine. "Nooooooo!! I like your massages!" She gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. As of matter of fact, scratch that, you could say she copied and pasted Puss In Boots smoulder!

"Don't be a meanie... I'm sowwy" she lays her head on his shoulder and gives him a couple of soft kisses on his cheek. He sighed as he glanced at her. "Then behave yourself damn it... Is it that hard?" 

"Yes"

"DAMN IT ARIA!"

"HEY IM JUST BEING HONEST!"

He wasn't going to win this so he quit while he was ahead. "I appreciate your honesty i guess... Can we finish the anime now?"

"Then kids?"

"I thought you were kidding..."

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Their laughter going throughout the outdoor dining area, Mayve sipped her drink. "Does she really want kids?" She looked at Mano from head to toe. "I guess you do sorta have a Dad bod going on..." 

"Mayve I swear i will not pay for your food..." he played with his iced mango lemonade with his straw. "No, but she did scare me. I dont even know if i even want kids ya..."

"Don't stress about it. You're still young-"

"She said i was getting old" he cut her off.

"....That's true"

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WAS STILL YOUNG?!" Mano barked at her ready to tear Mayves head off. She laughed and patted his back. "Take it easy there. I'm just fooling"

Mayve looked around their dining area and then back at him. "Where is she by the way?" Mano was taking a long sip of his tea when she asked that. "Hagrid got sick, so she's home taking care of him." 

"The owl? Really?" Mayve questioned him in disbelief. 

"Yeah, she loves him as if it was her child" he commented.

"Huh... interesting... So when's the wedding?"

"Choke on your tea Mayve..."

Mano's phone started going off. A ringtone he hasn't heard in a while. "Hm? Well this is interesting." Without even looking at the Caller ID he answers, "Sup Aura?"

"Hey Mano... so i ran into someone for a second time" his voice sounding like he was a lost. "Mr. Aura who did you mess up this time?" A annoyed grunt came through. "I'm talking about this girl i met." Mano sat up straight so quick it startled Mayve. "Do tell!"

"Can you at least sound less interested..." Aura is dreading having to share this, but he wanted to talk to someone about this. "Do. Tell. Me. About. Your. Day" he purposely deadened his voice and emphasized each word. He didn't let an ounce of emotion leak through.

"Damn you Mano..." Aura cursed him. Mano laughed at his curse, "Im sorry man, but seriously whats up?"

After Mano had his third cup of tea Aura had wrapped up sharing his story. "Do you like this girl?"

"Why did you have to ask that right away?!" Aura snapped. 

"With how you reacted ill take that as a yes?" Mano felt like he had Aura figured out. "Will you be seeing her again?"

"Yeah i think so... She's interesting and Fenny likes her." Fenny being the nickname of Aura's pet wolf dog.

Hearing that brought a smile to Mano's face, "I'm glad to hear it... Keep me updated alright? I gotta let you go. I'm out with a friend." That felt weird to hear for Aura. "Where's Ari?" Mano explained Hagrids condition and how Ari is taking care of him. "Oh... yeah I understand. I would be the same if Fenris was under the weather... Ill let you go"

Now with the conversation closed Mano couldn't help himself, but feel happy for Aura. Putting his phone away he thinks out loud "I hope she's as much of a blessing for you as Aria was for me..."