Seigmar leaned back in his chair and swirled the dregs of his tea around, pretending to be interested in the motion while he subtly watched Eris lead Erich, Alexis, and Urahara from the room.

(Though he supposed he should call him ‘Kisuke’ now, given Erich’s intention to marry the man.)

“Well, that was an interesting meeting,” Lucia murmured as soon as the door closed behind the group and they were left in peace. “Your thoughts?”

“That boy of ours is the worst liar in the world,” Seigmar said with an exasperated huff, then downed the dregs of his tea, grimaced at the taste, and set the cup aside. “He absolutely decided to marry that guildmaster of his just to get out of inheriting this guild, no matter what pretty words he spun just now.”

Lucia chuckled and spread her hands in a ‘what can you do’ gesture, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “It just so happens that he’s best at lying to himself.”

Seigmar snorted in agreement. “Don’t know where we went wrong with him—”

“Now dear,” Lucia chided teasingly. “We can’t all be neck deep in romance novels.” She sobered a bit and looked down, toeing off her house shoes and then tucking her legs under her, one hand smoothing over her dress as she did. “Besides, we both know how hard it is to admit to change. He only joined Candy Shop because of those children he and Urahara rescued together; that he came to care about the man afterwards was a… gradual affair.”

“Boil a frog slowly enough and it won’t hop away.” Seigmar gave his wife a crooked smile when she nodded, even if what they were talking about was hardly so gruesome.

(Well… supposedly.)

(He knew that many Quincy would hold that falling in love with a Shinigami guild member, even an ex guild member, was a fate worse than death.)

(In that, at least, Erich was right: this was the perfect way to shatter the unwieldy guild and make his own way in the world.)

“Still… I had hoped…” Lucia murmured as she glanced at the closed door.

“Alexis knows,” Seigmar said as he leaned over and settled a hand over Lucia’s. “I think she already has plans on how to get those two to admit their feelings. And if Eris did what I expect—”

“Eris is utterly exasperated by your spawn,” Eris announced haughtily as she stalked back into the room and kicked the door closed behind her. “He is mooning, Seigmar! Mooning! Over a man who clearly loves him back!”

Seigmar laughed at Eris’ exaggerated collapse back into her chair. “Did you show them to Erich’s room, then?”

“What do you think? Of course I showed them to Erich’s room.” Eris rolled her eyes and then reached up to fiddle with her hair, pulling the tie out and beginning to finger-comb it back into order. “I even had the servants bring a larger bed to accommodate three people instead of two. And the whole while Alexis looked like she’d won the lottery, Urahara looked like he was about to vibrate out of his skin, and Erich was clearly playing touchstone to Urahara. It was sickeningly sweet and I suddenly understand exactly why you’ve been convinced about those two for years.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your confidence in my observational skills,” Seigmar told Eris dryly, more amused than anything; Eris rarely felt the need to leave the guild-home and Erich had never brought Kisuke home with him before now, so he wasn’t surprised that she’d taken his descriptions with a shaker of salt.

(He did have a bit of a reputation after all.)

(But really, he was hardly the only one to think Erich and Kisuke were lovers!)

(Almost every guildmaster he knew believed the two were close partners of some sort.)

“Children,” Lucia chided teasingly, then grinned when Seigmar hummed and lifted her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.

Eris huffed and rolled her eyes, leaning forward to grab a leftover snack from the tray as she did. “It’s not like Seigmar’s never been blinded by romantic dreams before,” she pointed out, then settled back in her seat and took a bite. “He just… happened to be right this time.”

Seigmar sent her an exasperated look then shook his head, letting the topic go in favor of something rather more pressing. “We’re all going to have to be careful about this. The elders—”

“Not just the elders,” Eris pointed out ruthlessly, mouth set into a grim line. “There are many in the Guild who think the same, even if they don’t agree with retreating to the old guild-home. Just bringing that Guildmaster of his into our guild-home painted a target on his back, but the fact that they’re engaged…?”

“The rest of the guild will know by dinner,” Lucia agreed with a grimace. “There’s no way we can prevent the rumors from spreading.”

Seigmar reached up to rub at his beard, debating the best way to go about the whole debacle that Erich had dropped in his lap without even a by-your-leave; he’d suspected that something was up based on the letter that Alexis had shown him, and he’d known Erich was interested in Kisuke for years, but… he hadn’t entirely connected the two facts together.

(That he hadn’t gotten a response back from his letter but Alexis had gotten a letter from Kisuke…)

(That had been telling.)

(He’d known in that moment that Erich had decided to forge his own path.)

(But this…)

(He’d have liked at least a little warning beforehand.)

“We’ll introduce them as a triad this afternoon,” he decided at last. “Lucia, can you make sure that they look presentable by then?”

Lucia hummed in agreement. “I can at least try,” she said. “If Kisuke didn’t bring anything else, it might be difficult though. He’s much broader in the shoulders and longer in the leg than most everyone here.”

“Do your best,” Seigmar said with a soft smile, then arched an eyebrow at Eris.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” she agreed before he could even ask. “But this whole wedding is going to have to be a bit… rushed if we want it to happen before someone dies.”

“All we can do is our best,” Seigmar reminded her.

Lucia shrugged a bit and leaned over to grab her house shoes and slip them back on. “Many things need to be rushed right now,” she said as she stood up and gave her dress a couple flicks to straighten it out. “Realistically, we could simply announce them as a triad and that the plan moving forward is to split the guild up between different cities. We cannot remain out here for too much longer, no matter what people believe about our superiority as fighters and as a guild as a whole. Finalizing their marriage can wait.”

Seigmar grimaced at Lucia’s words but had to agree; even the announcement of the upcoming marriage would be enough to start the splintering that Erich had planned on, and that would have to be enough.

Getting everyone to safety was more important than seeing his boy married at the moment.

Well… so long as his people survived, he supposed that was all that mattered.

(He was still going to enjoy the drama of Erich fumbling his way through another relationship while he could.)

(It would be a nice counterpoint to everything else, really.)

(And endlessly entertaining.)

(He couldn’t wait.)