{THIRD PERSON POV}
Okay... so after the conversation last night, Luna and Miles have an agreement: she will ask Mordred about Jaune, and Miles will try not to make Mordred mad, which would hopefully make things go smoothly.
Miles doesn't exactly have a good track record for that. Luna has had to get between Mordred and Miles more times than she would like.
Not that her presence made Mordred calm down...
"...Sometimes it feels like she listens to Jaune more than me," Luna thinks to herself while she makes breakfast.
"You okay, Mom?" Jaune's voice makes her turn her head, and she sees him walking up to her.
'He... feels normal. Yesterday he was kind of weird. I guess he was just tired...'
"Yeah, I'm okay, Jaune. You want to help me with breakfast?" she asks.
Jaune answers by moving to her right side and starting to help her cut the potatoes.
She always loves it whenever Jaune helps her with anything around the house. He doesn't need any instructions; he just knows what to do. For example, this.
Jaune looks at the ingredients on the table and instantly knows that she's planning to make hash browns and breakfast sandwiches.
He would make a pretty good house husband for any woman lucky enough to win his heart. She can say that as a fact.
She's a little happy that Jaune doesn't take after his father in that regard, because Miles couldn't cook to save his life.
She knows that because she's the one who packs her home-cooked meals for him whenever he goes on a mission, and she also makes sure to pack MREs in case the mission takes him somewhere he can't buy food.
sigh "Miles needs to learn how to take care of himself. Jaune would teach him if he asked... but Mordred would probably make it hard for Miles..."
"So... where did you go yesterday with Mordred, Jaune?" She's really curious about where her spirited daughter and loving son went yesterday, because they were out for so long that she almost asked her husband to form a search party.
"Well... we were having fun in the woods, I guess."
His words shock her. The woods? She never knew her children went into the forest.
Even with the local hunters culling the Grimm population in the forest, it still isn't safe for children to go wandering in there.
"Jaune, you know that's dangerous. You shouldn't go there!" She grabs his shoulder and turns him to face her. "I thought you were smarter than that, Jaune!"
She hopes her words get through to him, because she doesn't know what she would do if she lost him.
Luna expects her son, as smart and mature as he is, to understand how dangerous that is.
But contrary to her expectation, Jaune doesn't cry or yell at her about how he can take care of himself. She realizes she should have known better than to expect that. Her son is too mature for his age to lash out at her like that. She raised him better than that.
"Mom... can I explain? Please?"
Her son's calm voice makes her take a deep breath and steady herself, because she shouldn't panic in front of him.
"I know it's dangerous, Mom... but it's okay. You remember that I was with Mordred, right? She could kill any Grimm that tried to kill us, Mom."
Mordred... Luna forgets Mordred was with him. Could Mordred protect Jaune? Yes, she can say that with certainty. Mordred would rather die than let her little brother die to a Grimm.
But it's still a Grimm. Even with Mordred being a prodigy, it's still dangerous for both of them to go into the woods. They're still kids.
"But still, Jaune... you shouldn't go out there. You're smarter than this. Did Mordred ask you to go with her?" That is the only explanation that makes sense to her for why Jaune would go into the woods.
As much as Mordred loves her little brother, sometimes she forgets that not everyone is like her, and not everyone has their Aura unlocked.
Jaune's eyes widen before he shakes his head and explains calmly. "No, Mom. Mordred didn't ask me to go with her. I was the one who asked her."
Luna knows he is lying. She knows it. It hurts that his first lie to her is this, but it also warms her heart a little that he lied to protect his sister.
She should reprimand him and punish him, but she can't. She can't do that to her boy. So just this once, she'll let it slide. He deserves that much, at least.
"Okay... I believe you. But no more, okay? No more going into the woods. It's too dangerous for you, even with Mordred there." She lets out a sigh. "Next time, just go into town like you usually do, okay?"
He nods at her. "Okay, Mom... but we should keep making breakfast. The others will wake up soon."
She exhales. She forgot about breakfast, but she prioritizes her son's safety over food without hesitation.
"Yeah... let's keep making breakfast, then."
A few minutes pass before she speaks to him again.
"Jaune... is Mordred okay? After last night?"
She can't neglect Mordred, especially after last night. Even if Mordred isn't as close to her as she would like, she is still her daughter. Luna gave birth to her.
"Mordred? Well... she was just annoyed at Dad. She calmed down after we got inside my room."
Annoyed is an understatement. Mordred wasn't annoyed at Miles; Mordred was furious. Miles needs to stop being so socially inept with his own children, because this is what happens.
"...Can you tell Mordred later that your father is sorry? He... he didn't mean anything bad by what he asked her. You know your father isn't the best at communicating..."
Jaune lets out a soft laugh. "Yeah... I'll tell her. She'll be more understanding if we give her extra bacon. You know how much she loves that."
That is supposed to be Luna's job: knowing how to calm her children down better than anyone and how to placate them. But it looks like Jaune has taken over that role when it comes to Mordred.
She should be offended or sad about it, but she can't, because she can't be upset that her son and daughter are closer to each other than they are to their parents.
She shouldn't be surprised by it anymore, especially since Jaune and Mordred know more about each other than Noir and Blancheur know about each other, and Noir and Blancheur are twins, so that says something.
<=======]==¤
Where is Jaune? Where the fuck is he?!
That is the first thing that crosses Mordred's mind as she wakes up to an empty bed.
She quickly gets off the bed and is about to storm out of the room and shout Jaune's name in an effort to find him, but she stops and takes a deep breath.
They are in their home. Jaune couldn't be kidnapped without her waking up, and being here means it's safe.
"Why didn't he wake me up? That stupid fucker knows how worried I'd get..." She sighs and leaves Jaune's room to use the bathroom and brush her teeth.
In the hallway, she sees Saphron stepping out of her room and heading straight for Olivia's room, but Saphron stops when she notices Mordred.
"Mordred... you okay?" Saphron asks. After what happened last night, it isn't surprising that she's worried. Thankfully, it looks like Jaune managed to calm Mordred down.
Mordred frowns at Saphron. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"Well... last night, you and Dad were fighting again, and I think you were about to punch him when we got there, if not for Jaune stopping you," Saphron explains.
Mordred gets annoyed. She isn't a morning person, and being questioned about Miles this early is a bad combination.
"What about it? Fuck him for trying to say some shit to me and trying to exclude Jaune." She crosses her arms over her chest. "He should know better than that. Fuck him."
"Oh... so that was the problem," Saphron says, letting out a tired sigh. "He should know better than to do that, especially in front of you. I guess it was his fault."
Saphron continues, "So, what did he want to ask you about?"
"Why the fuck would I know?" Mordred's answer makes Saphron raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"...Well, it could've been something important," Saphron says.
"Whatever it was, I don't want to fucking hear it. If Jaune can't hear it, then I don't want to either." Mordred's jaw tightens. "I'm not letting anyone disrespect him like that."
Saphron opens her mouth as if to say something, then closes it and shakes her head. "Well... I'll go get Olivia and bring her to breakfast."
Saphron starts to walk away, but stops when she hears Mordred call out.
"Wait. Is anyone in the bathroom?"
Mordred is serious. If Jeanne is in there, Mordred is going to be stuck waiting with her own morning breath, because Jeanne always takes forever.
Saphron chuckles. "I heard her wake up before I talked to you."
Before Mordred can reply, she sees Jeanne's door open.
"Shit!" Mordred runs to the bathroom and locks the door behind her. "Fuck..."
She takes a few deep breaths and calms herself down. She nearly had to endure thirty minutes of her own morning breath while waiting for Jeanne to finish her routine.
She shakes her head and goes to the sink to brush her teeth.
As she brushes, she thinks about Jaune and how he should have woken her up, but she also remembers that he knows she isn't a morning person.
Hopefully Jaune is alright today, because she doesn't know what she'll do if his heart acts up again.
[You could read up to 10 chapter ahead if you support me on patr30n. At patreon.com/Zaneninjacat]