They rang the doorbell to announce their arrival before Edward took out his key and opened the door. The two saw their son heading towards the door and Arya quickly went up to her son to hug the stuffing out of him.
Edward let his wife have her moment for a while before he joined in. They had not seen Mikail for nearly two months, and both had missed him despite talking with him over the phone quite often, especially during the last week.
Arya had increased the calling frequency from thrice to four times a week, but Edward had to put down his foot when Arya tried to call Mikail every day. He did not want his son to feel stifled. The last thing they wanted was for him to start thinking 'oh no, not my parents again.'
Arya managed to hold back from bombarding their son with questions until they sat down on the sofa. After that, all bets were off and the flood broke free.
"How are you, sweety? Is everything going alright in the Academy? Do you eat enough? You look a bit thinner since the last time we saw you. How are your Pokemon and your friends?" Arya began to rapid-fire questions while clasping her son's hand in her own.
"Woah, woah, woah. Honey, slow down. I know you missed him, but you should let him answer your question first before posing another. You keep doing this every time." Edward tried to slow down his wife using reason.
Unfortunately, it was not very effective.
"And I miss him as much every time as well. What would you know about the feelings of a mother missing her baby?" Arya retorted.
"Not a baby, mom." They heard their boy grumbling and they paused their "argument" for a moment to tease him a bit.
"You'll always be my baby, sweetie," Arya said lovingly while pinching his cheek.
"Your mom's right son. You'll always be our little boy, even when you have your own. We went over that already, remember?" Edward teased his son while he ruffled Mikail's hair before he turned his focus back to Arya.
"What do you mean I can't understand how much you miss our son? I'm his father, I miss him just as much." Edward retorted with "outrage".
*pfft*
"Exactly, you're just his father, so can't know what a mother feels. I carried him around for 9 months after all." Arya fired back after mock laughing a bit.
"Excuse you! Are you saying that you love him more than me?" Edward began but got interrupted before he could finish what he wanted to say.
"Exactly, that's what I was trying to say." Ayra interjected in a tone that conveyed "about time you get it."
"Do you two have to "mock" argue using me as the topic every time you stay over?" They heard Mikail grumble and flashed each other a smile.
"Yep!/Absolutely!" They said simultaneously, which made their son release a groan.
They laughed a bit at that enjoying teasing him. Moments like these when he reacted less mature were always treasured by them. Such moments had become rarer during the last year. Now, with him going to the academy and them being on their journey they were even rarer.
Memories of his duckling dance were their treasure, so they occasionally created situations where they could lure out a few less mature reactions out of him.
"Your reactions alone are worth it buddy," Edward said while patting his son's head. "So, tell us about the excursion. I know you told us over the phone, but we want to hear it directly from you," he finished.
"Yes, and after that, you can tell us how your term exams went," Arya added with a smile in her voice.
Oh, she knew that her little genius probably crushed those exams. However, as parents, they had to show that they cared about him and his education, and while they obviously did care, it still had to be verbalized.
Children should be actively shown and told that their parents care about them since they may not be able to discern that by their parent's regular actions. Actually, that was true for all family members, but especially so for children.
"Nope, we've got to eat breakfast first. I've already prepared everything and set the table. It's rather surprising that you haven't noticed the set table on the way to the sofa." Mikail told them and they agreed to eat first.
It was the meal their lovely son had prepared for them after all, so they stood up and went to the table. After they were done eating and cleaning the table they returned to the sofa with a cup of juice in hand.
Mikail began to tell them about the week-long excursion, once they had made themselves cozy. When he mentioned the supervised kill both of them frowned a bit even if they actually agreed that it had to be done eventually.
Still, the first kill was normally something that students were confronted with during their practical year in preparation for their official journey. Oh, they knew that their boy had done so way before the excursion since he told them about some of the encounters he had in the wild.
They just hadn't known that there were academies that already did it at the end of secondary schooling. At least not before Mikail told them about it.
Mikail then told them about his win in the hunting competition and the prize he received. After they praised him and she gave him a smooch on the cheek Arya couldn't stop herself.
"Honey, could show us your newcomer?" She asked in a giddy tone and Edward nodded since he wanted to see the future dragon of his son as well.
"Sure!" Mikail pulled out a ball they presumed was Swablu's. Their son always had custom balls for his Pokemon that he got from a man named Urahara. Even the Pokeballs of their own Pokemon had been changed to ones their boy had bought for them from the guy.
They were proven right when a Swablu appeared a moment later. It, she, landed on Mikail's head and looked at them.
"Mom, Dad, this is Swablu. Swablu, these two are my mother and father." Mikail did a formal introduction.
Edward waved at Swablu and she returned a greeting of her own. Once she did that, Arya could not stop herself any longer and released a squeal, before glomping on the poor Swablu, that could not free herself since she didn't want to hurt her trainer's parent.
"Aren't you just the cutest? Look at how fluffy you are. Who is the most gorgeous bird in the sky? Yes, that's you." Arya said while cuddling Swablu and caressing her cloudlike fluffy wings.
Mikail briefly had a blank look when his mother snatched Swablu from his head probably from trying not to flinch at the speed of her sudden movement. Edward had to chuckle at the situation. Still, seeing that Arya had no plans to let go of Swablu for the moment, he urged his son to continue his story.
They listened while he talked about the duties they were given, the lessons they had in the wild, and the tournaments that were held. When he said that he won the mixed combat competition they felt pride.
When he told them that he had reached and showed off his Tier 2 Second-class prowess as an Aura User, that pride ballooned and they praised him a lot. He had told them about his prowess before, but that was when he just reached Tier 2.
They hadn't known that he had improved even further. Not to forget that he told them that he had achieved the same with his psychic abilities. Their little boy was a genius like no other and they couldn't have been prouder, so a lot of head pats, hair ruffling, and cheek pinching definitely happened. His reaction was as always a delight to watch.
At the part where his new acquaintance Erza teased him Edward had to chuckle, giving a thumbs up at his boy. Arya on the other hand gained a glint in her eyes at the mention of Erza.
"Honey, you said that you kept in touch with her and a few others afterward, right? Have you already told her about your real age?" Arya inquired and Mikail broke out in laughter.
*deep calming breaths*
"I did," Mikail said after composing himself for a bit. "We actually met up a few times after the excursion and I told her my age during the first meeting," he had to chuckle at the memory.
"She along with Yu and Ranmaru were pretty shocked when I told them I was 8. Still, her reaction once she remembered teasing me, was pretty funny. She went beet red for a bit before she managed to compose herself. I had to laugh a bit but assured her I didn't mind." Mikail clarified but did not notice the mirth in his mother's eyes when he said the last bit.
Edward would have probably felt pity for his boy if he did not find the whole thing so funny. His son had gone and personally handed his mother premium teasing material.
"Oh, so you didn't mind?" Arya repeated with a teasing tone. "Does my darling like to be teased by beautiful girls?"
They saw Mikail's eyes widen in the realization of what he had done, but Arya decided that she had not teased him enough.
"You keep befriending beauties, first Jessie, then Weiss, and now Erza. Is my boy getting himself a harem? Should I tell Rose that she has competition?" Arya joked, which made Mikail splutter in protest causing both Arya and Edward to laugh.
"Mooom," Mikail began in a slightly whiny tone," I'm not gathering a harem or anything like that. They are just friends that are girls. Besides, I'm waaay too young to think about girlfriends and harems or whatever." He protested, which made them just laugh some more.
"Alright, alright. I believe you," Arya placated their son, but how true that was, was up for debate.
After that, Mikail told them about the treasure hunt, and they told him that they were proud of him. Getting second place was nothing to be sad about, especially when it was due to being unlucky as he had seemed to be.
Still, overall it seemed like the trip had been fruitful for their son. He got a Pokemon, some merit points, and got to meet new friends.
"And how did the exams go? I'm sure you did great but I'd like to hear what you think about their difficulty." Edward asked and Arya nodded.
They were not worried about him passing because they knew he would. No, they wanted to know what he thought about his workload since he skipped grades. They were worried that he would feel stressed due to having to cover more knowledge.
"No problem at all. I'm pretty sure I aced them. Thanks to my psychic ability memorizing stuff is no issue. Paying attention in class and revising an hour per week per class was enough to ace everything." Mikail told them and they were relieved since they heard his genuinely carefree tone.
"That's great. As long as you don't overwork yourself I'll be happy. If it ever becomes too much, don't hesitate to tell us. You're still really young, so spreading things over another year or so is not a problem at all. Okay, honey?" Arya advised her son while hugging him. She felt him nod his head.
"I'll do that, mom." He assured her, and she believed him. Her sunshine had always been a clever and surprisingly "steady" person after all.
"Alright, now it's time for us to tell you something," Edward said getting his son's attention.
"You already know that the Senior League tournament is going to be held during Growth next year and that your awesome dad is going to participate. However," That was as far as he came before Arya interrupted him.
"Your even more awesome mommy is planning to participate as well," Arya announced in a giddy tone, bragging to her son.
"Yes, she is. Your, slightly less awesome than me, mother has been going around challenging the necessary Gyms to qualify for the tournament. I'm confident that she will manage to get all Badges before the deadline, which is one month before the official tournament start." Edward finished his declaration.
Mikail hugged Arya and congratulated her, showing his support as well as trust in her ability to reach her goal. Afterward, they told him of a few of their "adventures" before they watched a movie together.
The chosen movie was just long enough to end before dinner time. They ordered pizza for dinner and watched another movie to round up their first day back together.
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