Lucy stormed into the apartment with a scowl on her face and she slammed the door behind her before turning to the small side table by the door, and she dropped her bag and keys on it. She was furious.

Absolutely furious.

She was furious with and at Bickslow, and the guy had only gotten back to Magnolia a few hours earlier.

So after a quick scan around the living room to check if he was on the lounge or not, Lucy headed straight down the hall, past the spare room, past the main bathroom, past the room that was going to be the nursery, and straight into their bedroom.

Bickslow was lying on the bed on his stomach, his cloak draped over the far side of it, and seemingly sleeping peacefully. He'd been out on a job with his team for a few days and had had a severe lack of sleep over those days, so as soon as they'd all made it back to Magnolia and he'd stopped by the guild to see his wife briefly, he'd headed home just so he could sleep for the rest of the afternoon. So after a quick shower and change, he all but passed out, and at that point, Bickslow was still unaware that Lucy was home.

She hadn't planned on going home until later that night, but after a conversation with Cana, she'd had no choice. She had to go home because she had to yell at her husband. Lucy didn't care if he was exhausted. Not at all.

"Bickslow," she said sternly, narrowing her eyes as she stared down at the oblivious and sleeping Seith mage.

Bickslow slowly opened his eyes as she shifted on the bed slightly, trying to figure out why he'd just heard his name. His gaze trailed up to see a blurry image of his wife standing by the side of the bed with her hands on her hips. "What is it?" he mumbled into the pillow as he closed his eyes again.

Lucy reached down to yank the pillow from under his head, leaving him to reach for something that was no longer there with his delayed reflexes and reaction times from his sleep deprived and exhausted state. Lucy threw the pillow to the chest at the foot of the bed, not caring that it caused the rest of the small cushions that were usually on their bed to fall to the ground. She turned back to face Bickslow as he slowly rolled over to his side, his hand rubbing at his face.

"I can't believe you right now," she chided, folding her arms under her bust and just above her bump, which was definitely becoming more pronounced and she was most definitely pregnant. No doubts about it. Anyone who thought otherwise was either absolutely insane or just cruising for a bruising. By Bickslow, of course. No one got to call his wife fat. Ever.

Apart from him. Because she was going to be his sexy whale. Soon. Very soon, actually. Hell, she was well on her way to becoming that.

"What did I do now?" he groaned, peeking an eye open as he dropped his arm and pulled himself up into a sitting position before sliding over to the edge to swing his legs over. Because hell, Bickslow didn't know what was going on, but he knew it was because he'd done something stupid. And really, it could be any number of things. He just does a lot of stupid things… more than Lucy is aware of, anyway.

Lucy took a step back when he moved to the edge of the bed and leant down with his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands back and forth through his dishevelled hair. She was smirking internally at the fact he knew it was because he'd done something, most likely idiotic, because hey, it was Bickslow. But externally, she was still scowling. Because she was furious.

Extremely furious.

"You bet on our baby!" she yelled.

And that he had, or so she'd been told.

Bickslow looked up slowly as his brow arched in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You bet on whether the baby was a boy or a girl, Bickslow."

Oh, right. That.

Yeah, Bickslow might have bet on the gender of their baby, along with the rest of the guild. It had actually started around the time they'd told the guild they were married and were having a baby (well, just after Cana apparently blurted it out to everyone), but Bickslow hadn't found out about it until the week before.

And of course, Cana was involved, because when it came to bets and wagers in Fairy Tail, the guild's resident drunk was the centre of it all. But really, it was just a harmless bet and Bickslow didn't understand why Lucy was so mad at him. Sure, it probably had something to do with the fact that he hadn't told her what the guild was up to (because obviously, she'd just found out about the entire thing), and that he'd gotten involved in it all (which meant someone had tattled on him – probably Cana, he thought), but still, was it really that bad that he'd joined in on the guild's bet on their baby?

Surely not. If anything, it was actually kind of nice how everyone had taken an interest in it, since after all, it would be the first baby from members of the guild since Asuka was born, and look how much the guild loved her; their kid was gonna grow up in the most chaotic family ever and Bickslow couldn't be happier. The kid was already loved as it was, and not just by their parents.

"So what if I did? It's not a big deal," Bickslow countered, pushing himself to stand and walking past Lucy and straight for the walk-in closet just next to their bathroom and pulled a random shirt out. He wasn't even going to try and sleep anymore, because it just wasn't going to happen. Then, as he stood in the archway to the room, he shrugged as he pulled the shirt over his head and said, "Practically everyone in the guild has bet on it. Why aren't you yelling at them?"

Lucy frowned as she followed him out into the hall, her arms still folded. "Because I didn't expect you of all people to get involved!" she yelled.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because, Bickslow, it's stupid and immature. This is our baby we're talking about here. You don't get to play around anymore. I thought you'd have enough common sense to know not to get involved with something like that."

Bickslow rolled his eyes as he tipped his head back and slowly trudged over to the fridge. He was so bored with the conversation already, but he knew he had no chance of getting out of it anytime soon. He'd just have to put up with Lucy being mad at him for a while. He could do that. Hell, he was good at putting up with it.

"Baby-"

"Don't 'baby' me right now, Bicks." Lucy cut in as she took a seat at the counter with one leg folded over the other, her arms still folded and her gaze piercing as she leant back against the backrest.

"Lucy," he corrected himself as he glanced over his shoulder with his own slight scowl, continuing to pile the ingredients for a sandwich into his arms. "It's just a bit of fun. I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of it."

"I literally just told you why I'm making such a big deal out of it." Not that Lucy thought it was a big deal, of course. It was perfectly reasonable for her to be mad.

Sort of.

"Yeah, no, I got that part. Loud and clear. I mean, come on, the guild bets on everything. Hell, just last week there was a wager on how long it would take before Erza lost it and had to stop Gray and Natsu from fighting."

Lucy shrugged. "Yeah, and I won."

"Because it's your team, so it was kind of cheating."

"Was not." No, it wasn't cheating. Not at all. She just used her superior knowledge of her teammates to her advantage. That's not cheating… right?

Bickslow glanced up again from the chopping board, temporarily pausing so not to cut himself. Because really, that would hurt, and he didn't need another reason for Lucy to call him stupid considering she already had about six-thousand reasons to call him that. He didn't want to make it six-thousand-and-one.

"But you see my point, right?" he asked, looking up again as she shrugged. "It's just another harmless bet. No one is getting hurt over it."

"It's still stupid and you shouldn't have taken part in it,' she countered.

"Everything that happens in that guild is stupid, and you know it."

"But I don't care about the guild, Bicks," she argued, reaching across the counter quickly to snag a slice of cheese before he put it on the sandwich. Then, ignoring the look Bickslow gave her for making him get another slice, she said, "I care about the fact that you did something stupid. It doesn't matter if it's a harmless bet or not; the point is that you got involved in it and it's because it's about our baby that I'm mad."

Honestly, if it was a bet on anything else, Lucy wouldn't care. Not one bit.

"Okay, fine," Bickslow shrugged, taking a bite of the sandwich and walking around the counter and towards the lounge. "I'm sorry for making a bet on the sex of our baby," he mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"Are you actually?" she asked, narrowing her eyes again and swinging around on the stool.

"No."

Lucy shot up from the stool suddenly and threw her hands up in the air and sighed in exasperation. "This is my point, Bicks," she yelled. "You just don't care at all."

Bickslow rolled his eyes as he slumped down on the sofa, his back to her. "Well, did you want me to lie?"

"You already did!"

"Fine, but would you have preferred I did again?" Hell, he knew he had her there. The fact he was a terrible liar was irrelevant. She hated when people lied more than anything, so, if he'd lied, it would have made things worse. At least if she knows that he was telling the truth, maybe she'd calm down and see it really isn't anything to get mad over.

Maybe.

It was honestly hard to tell what her reaction to things would be those days.

"Of course not," she shot back, turning on her heels to head towards the door and pick up her things. She needed to go and calm down. Or just get away from her idiotic husband for a bit. Then, before she could pull the front door open, she looked over her shoulder with one final glare and said, "I sincerely hope you manage to grow the hell up in the next few months, Bickslow." Because seriously, if he didn't, she'd rather leave than risk Bickslow doing something stupid and idiotic to harm the baby.

And she really did not want to have to do that.

So as Lucy slammed the door behind her, Bickslow sighed and tipped his head back to rest on the top of the backrest. She wasn't calming down any time soon, and suddenly he realised that this wasn't going to be an argument he would win.

Much like the rest of them, Lucy would be crowned the victor and he'd be left thinking of ways to apologise and make it up to her, and somehow, Bickslow knew that this was going to be a little different and he was going to have to pull out all the stops. After all, it involved their baby.

It was late by the time Bickslow went back to the guild. Lucy had yet to return and honestly, he was beginning to feel really bad about the entire bet situation. Maybe it really was stupid. Maybe he shouldn't have joined in on it.

Maybe he really did need to grow up, and fast at that. After all, he was going to be a dad pretty soon. He had to be responsible. He had to look after someone. He had to be an adult.

But hell, Bickslow thought he already had kind of grown up. He was nowhere near as idiotic as he was when he'd started dating Lucy. Granted, he was still stupid and he still did crazy things, but not as much as he used to, and hell, in the last four months alone, he'd done those kind of things even less.

But maybe he hadn't grown up enough. Maybe he still had a fair bit to go.

So after a quick scan around the guild which by that point of the night, was mostly full of drunken morons, Bickslow headed towards the bar where the undoubtedly biggest drunk of them all sat, slouched over her barrel.

"Cana," he said, taking the seat next to her and narrowing his gaze under his visor. "Why did you tell Lucy I was in on the bet?" Because hell, Cana was the one who had started it all in the first place (as usual), so it had to have been her who told Lucy.

If anything, it was Cana's fault his wife was mad at him.

"Because she was like the only one who hadn't joined in," she slurred, giggling slightly in her drunken stupor.

"But you didn't have to rope me into it, too."

"Well, as soon as I brought up the fact that you were betting on it, she placed her own bet," Cana replied.

And she had done exactly that. Cana had asked Lucy if she wanted to join in on the guild's fun, just because everyone else had already bet on whether she was having a boy or a girl, and of course, Lucy had freaked out, at first. In fact, she'd gone on about how stupid it was for a solid five minutes, barely letting anyone get a word in edgewise.

But as soon as Cana had brought up the fact that her slightly insane husband had placed his own little wager, Lucy had instantly changed her mind.

She was still mad, of course; she just wasn't totally against it anymore. Cana didn't know what it was exactly about knowing Bickslow was involved that had made her change her mind, but it was damn entertaining to see her mood change so quickly.

So Bickslow sat there, stunned, for a few moments, blinking slowly under his visor as a mischievous grin slowly split his face. Oh, he was going to have fun with that bit of information. A lot of fun, indeed.

"Huh… interesting…" he mumbled as he slowly stood up from the bar and headed towards the door, leaving Cana and Mira to figure out just what it was that had Bickslow grinning in such a way. "Very interesting…"

Bickslow couldn't wait to get home now. Hell, he was far too excited to find out just why she'd been so mad about it when she'd already bet on it herself.

Lucy sat on the lounge with her legs crossed under her and she nervously bit her thumbnail while her free hand rested on her belly. She needed to apologise. Badly.

She'd been stupid, yet again, and of course, it had taken one of her best friends to make her realise that. She had no reason to be mad at Bickslow (not for that, anyway), but she had been, and she didn't entirely know why.

Sure, she still thought the entire situation was incredibly stupid and she really wished she'd found out when the entire wager had begun and not over a month later. After all, it was about her own baby that she was still carrying, so, she kind of deserved to know, right?

But still, it had taken an afternoon with Levy for her to realise that, and that was only because the Script mage had quite literally had to spell it out for her.

No, really; Levy had had to spell out 'HYPOCRITE' right in front of Lucy's face with her solid script magic.

Lucy felt absolutely terrible though. She'd been so worked up about the bet in the first place and all of that anger had nowhere to go, but somehow, on her way home, she'd focused it all on Bickslow. Her thoughts had centred on Bickslow getting involved – betting on their baby, just like her – and they just spiralled out of control. Lucy had temporarily forgotten about the fact that she, too, had gotten involved with the guild's antics, and the only reason that had happened was because she'd been too furious with Bickslow when she really had no reason to be.

She wasn't even mad at Bickslow, but she'd said and thought some pretty horrible things, and she really needed to apologise. The only problem was that she didn't know where Bickslow was. So she waited patiently on the lounge in her pyjamas and awaited her husband's return from wherever he was. Well, as patiently as possible.

When Lucy heard the key in the door, she jumped up suddenly and turned to sit on her knees and leant against the backrest of the lounge, waiting for the door to open. Before Bickslow could even really get through the door, she said quickly, "I am so, so sorry, Bickslow." Chances are he'd been at the guild, so there was a possibility he knew what she'd done.

Bickslow gently closed the door as he pulled off his visor and dropped it to the table beside the door as he pushed his hood back. There'd been a small part of him that wanted to be mad at Lucy just because she'd yelled at him about the entire thing, and really, it wasn't entirely fair. He'd wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, almost out of spite.

But… as soon as he'd walked through the door and seen her on the lounge, looking at him with those big brown eyes that he loved way too much, he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't even pretend to be mad at her, because even when he was irritated with her and by her, it never lasted for long. Bickslow loved her far too much to stay mad at her and they'd always end up sorting things out. Always.

That was just how their relationship worked; they would always fight and argue, even about the trivial things, but they would always make up with each other and they'd get over things almost instantly. In most cases, Lucy was always willing to forgive Bickslow, and Bickslow was always willing to apologise for whatever it was that had made her so upset with him, because let's face it, their fights usually happened because Bickslow did something stupid and Lucy found out about it. That's just how it was, and despite almost constantly arguing about something small and seemingly insignificant, they just worked together, and none of it had an impact on how much they loved each other.

But without a word, Bickslow instead walked past the lounge and straight down the hall and towards the bedroom. Lucy scrambled up from the lounge and quickly followed behind him once he'd walked past. "Wait, Bicks, please. Are you mad at me?" she asked frantically. She was beginning to panic. What if he was mad at her? What if she'd maybe pushed it too far that time? What if her little bout of anger had finally pushed him over the edge and he didn't want to put up with it anymore?

What if Bickslow had finally realised that he'd had enough of being called an idiot and getting called out on his stupidity?

Oh god.

"Bickslow, please. Why aren't you talking to me?" she pleaded, sitting down on the edge of the bed as Bickslow walked into the closet, hanging his cloak up on the hook by the door.

He had to stop himself from smirking as he eventually came out, wearing just his baggy pyjama pants. He could see the worry on her face as he walked over to the bed and began pushing the blankets back when she hopped off and stood instead. He needed Lucy to think he was mad at her, even though he really wasn't. He just needed to say quiet for a little while longer.

"Please, tell me you're not too mad at me. Please," she begged. Lucy had already figured out that Bickslow knew what she'd done, just because it was the only reason for Bickslow to be mad at her and giving her the silent treatment. "I'm sorry, I didn't… I had no right—"

"Lucy," Bickslow said softly. He lifted up the blanket slightly as he slid towards the middle of the bed and looked up to Lucy. "Come here."

She hesitated for a moment, her lips pursed and her arms folded as she tried to hold Bickslow's unwavering gaze, yet failed as she looked down to the ground. Then, with a quiet sigh, she turned and headed for the light switch by the door and turned off the light before going back to the bed and switching on the lamp on the nightstand. She slowly pushed back the covers and climbed onto for bed, and for once, after making herself slightly comfortable, she had no intentions of moving from her designated half of the bed.

But of course, Bickslow hadn't meant for her to be that far away, so with a roll of his eyes and a sigh of his own annoyance, he quickly moved across the bed and pulled her in against him. With his wrapped tightly around her, he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and said, "I meant come to me, silly." Even though Bickslow was smiling softly, Lucy for once wasn't going to smile back. Instead, she could only frown because she knew she'd screwed up. She'd screwed up and Bickslow deserved to be mad at her, but she still didn't know if he really was or not.

Lifting her head to look into Bickslow's eyes, Lucy whispered, "Are you mad at me?"

"Come on, Lucy," he chuckled, moving his hand to rest on her waist as his other arm remained under her neck and around her shoulders. "You know I can't stay mad at you for more than five minutes."

"But… you weren't talking to me… and I was worried that you were mad at me and… and I was worried that you hated me because I yelled at you and I shouldn't have—"

"I'm really not mad, I promise." He kind of wanted to be, but he couldn't, no matter how much he tried. Bickslow hated seeing Lucy so upset, so he really couldn't do anything but tell her everything was okay. Hell, he kind of found it all entertaining anyway. Then, when she averted her gaze that was already a little less full of worry and panic, he said gently, "I could never hate you, Lucy."

"I'm still really sorry though," she whispered, ducking her head to bury it against Bickslow's chest. Her lips pulled up into the smallest of smiles when his arms wrapped around her again. "I just… I didn't even mean to get so mad at you, but it just… happened. I was being a hypocrite for yelling at you and saying it was stupid when I did the exact same thing." Though, Lucy realised that it probably had something to do with her goddamn pregnancy brain; you know, the one that makes her forget everything randomly and absolutely crazy because of the goddamn hormones that are in an abundance.

Bickslow smiled weakly as he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head before turning his own, his cheek resting against the golden tresses. "Don't worry about it. I still could have told you about it when I found out, so I'm sorry for that." Because maybe, if he'd been the one to tell Lucy instead of having her find out from Cana, then things wouldn't have been so frustrating and maybe, just maybe, they could have avoided that fight.

Well, for the most part.

"Please don't be sorry for anything."

"I'll stop being sorry if you do," he countered with a small smirk.

Lucy looked up with a watery laugh, and when her hand went to his cheek, she craned her neck up to press her lips to his softly and she could feel the rest of her worry and guilt over the entire situation quickly fade to nothingness. That's what she loved about Bickslow; she loved that he was always able to make her feel better and always forgive her when she'd done something wrong or stupid, and with the last few months, that had been happening more and more often with all of her emotions going haywire and all of the stress from having a baby.

But Bickslow was still there for her like he always had been and always would be. He'd always be able to forgive her, no matter what the circumstances were that required his forgiveness in the first place. No matter what it was that could ever possibly make him angry or annoyed or frustrated with her, it would never last long, just because he loved her too damn much to ever come close to hating her. Even when he didn't have anything to apologise for (and there were some occasions where Lucy was solely to blame for something), he would. Bickslow would apologise even if he had no reason to, because quite often, his admitting defeat would bring an immediate end to whatever it is they were fighting about. And Bickslow would gladly do that. If he had to let Lucy believe she was right when she really wasn't (though, most of the time, she really was), then so be it. Bickslow never wanted to risk one of their petty arguments getting any bigger than they needed to, just because he never wanted to risk losing Lucy or even coming close to losing her.

Bickslow couldn't even imagine a life without Lucy in it, because without Lucy, he wouldn't really be living. She'd made his life that much better, and since day one, she'd had him wrapped around her finger and he didn't even care. Because for Lucy, he would do whatever it takes just to make sure she was always a part of his life.

Forever and always.

And it wasn't just Bickslow who felt that way, because Lucy did too. To an extent. Though the majority of their arguments really were insignificant, she never wanted them to have a fight that would eventually cause a rift between them. Lucy never wanted that to happen, because she didn't even want to think about the possibility of what would happen if something like that ever did occur. She didn't want a life without Bickslow, and as much as it pained her to see Bickslow admit defeat and apologise for things he didn't do just because she was a stubborn as all hell person, she was glad that he did such things. She was glad that they were always able to work past every single small and insignificant fight or argument that had them temporarily irritated by the other, because it was those same trivial fights and arguments that made them as strong as they were.

Sure, they fought a lot, but that was just because Bickslow was stupid, Lucy was stubborn, and for the most part, they were complete opposites. But… they knew they'd always get past it. They weren't roadblocks in their relationship. Hell, they weren't even the tiniest of hurdles; it was just a part of their everyday life. That's just what they did and how their relationship worked. They'd fight and make up, because they loved each other. They were each willing to make sacrifices to make sure they stayed in each other's lives.

Forever and always.

So as Lucy pulled away with a soft smile on her lips and ducked her head again, once again feeling safe and content in Bickslow's warm embrace, she whispered, "Deal." Because that's just how their relationship worked; they made deals and made compromises to make each other happy.

And that's what was important to them: their happiness. It was precisely why Bickslow couldn't be mad at her then, because he knew Lucy wasn't happy with what she'd done and what had happened. If Lucy wasn't happy, then Bickslow wasn't.

"Bicks," she said quietly when her own arm draped over his side. "Please don't grow up," she said with another weak laugh. She didn't want Bickslow to grow up, just because it would mean that he would change, and she didn't want that. She loved Bickslow exactly the way he was, with all of his quirks and habits and the immature personality.

To Lucy, he didn't need to grow up, because she knew that Bickslow would never do anything stupid enough to ever harm their baby. Ever. And Lucy didn't even know why she'd even thought he could do something to risk their baby in the first place. She had no reason to ever think like that.

But she knew it was just because she'd let herself get worked up and her mind had seriously not been in the right place then. She didn't mean any of it.

Bickslow chuckled as he turned his head to rest his cheek on the top of her head again. "Baby, I don't think I could even if I tried to." And hell, it was the truth. That's just the kind of person he was. Bickslow wasn't going to grow up and he wasn't going to try and be someone he really wasn't and didn't want to be.

He didn't need to grow up any more. Bickslow didn't need to grow up because he was already an adult, and when the time came, he was going to be responsible enough to look after someone; he was going to be responsible enough to be a father.

He didn't need to change, and as long as Lucy didn't want him to, then he was damn happy to stay exactly the way he was. They knew what they were getting into when they got married; Lucy knew the kind of person that Bickslow was and she'd accepted and embraced everything there was about him, much like Bickslow had done with Lucy.

To each other, they were perfect, including every quirk and habit.

"But… just out of curiosity," Bickslow mumbled, shifting ever so slightly to make himself a little more comfortable and pulling the blonde closer to him. "What did you bet?"

A soft smile graced her lips. "A girl," she said quietly.

"Me too," Bickslow whispered.

A week went by without any arguments, not that it was that surprising, and Lucy walked into the guild with a great big smile that was bright enough to light up the entire room. Word had quickly spread around the guild (thanks to Cana) that Lucy had finally placed her own bet as to whether she was having a girl or a boy, and as soon as everyone had found out, the few remaining people in the guild who had originally chosen to stay out of it had actually joined in, which meant that every single person on Fairy Tail had placed their own wagers.

Though she'd been mad at first, just because it had taken everyone so long to tell her (and Bickslow, for that matter), she'd come to realise that it was actually really sweet that everyone was taking such an interest. Sure, money was involved, but rarely did that many members ever get involved with the one wager.

But today was special, because today, she'd be announcing whether or not she was actually having a boy or a girl, and at that point, only she knew the answer. Not even Bickslow knew, and that was just because he and his team had gone out on another short job and he'd left the day before Lucy's appointment. Of course, Lucy had been a little disappointed since it would actually be the first one he'd missed, and Bickslow was just as disappointed as Lucy was. They'd discussed whether or not they wanted to know the gender during the week while he'd still been in town, and it had been an incredibly short conversation because they both really wanted to know. The only thing they had to decide then was as to whether or not they'd tell the guild or keep it a secret until the baby was born, but that too had been a short conversation, because honestly, the guild was way too excited, and it wasn't just because of the bet.

Mira, on the other hand… well, Mira was arguably the most excited out of everyone. Because on that day, she got to decorate the guildhall once again and make the announcement a big celebration.

The guildhall had been essentially split in half; on one side, baby blue tablecloths had been draped over the tables, while the other had light pink. Hundreds of balloons of various sizes with streamers tied to them were floating high above the ground, all in the same shades of either pink, blue, or the occasional white. There was, however, one single table in the far corner with a white tablecloth, and that was dedicated to those who had bet on the baby being anything but a baby, instead being a humanoid, alien, or random creature of some sort. Natsu was actually convinced it was a dragon for some reason, and honestly, no one really knew how he'd come to that conclusion.

Everyone had taken seats on their respective sides, and some were actually shouting or throwing furniture across the carpet runner that essentially separated the two factions. Lucy couldn't help but giggle as she made her way over to the bar that just happened to be on the pink side (and honestly, it probably had something to do with the fact that Mira had bet on it being a girl, and so of course, the side closest to the bar was going to be pink), just because she knew some people were going to be disappointed with the outcome.

Mira squealed in delight as Lucy took a seat at the bar between Lisanna and Erza. "I'm so excited to find out what it is! Oh, I do hope it's a girl! She'd be so adorable!" Mira beamed.

"But who do you think she'd look like more? Bicks or Lucy?" Cana asked, taking a long sip from the bottle in front of her before looking back down to the book with everyone's bets and wagers.

"Well, she could have Bickslow's hair-"

"Not the Mohawk," the youngest Strauss chimed in.

"Oh, no, not the Mohawk. Just the colour," Mira corrected herself. "And she could have his eyes, but…she could look like Lucy."

Erza nodded thoughtfully. "Or Lucy's hair and eyes, but she would look more like Bickslow."

Mira gave the Requip mage a look of disgust as she thought over the combination in her head. "That would be a little disturbing. Maybe-"

"Hey!" Lucy cut in with a frown, realising Mira was essentially insulting her husband. No one could insult her husband. Or call her baby disturbing, regardless of the gender or who they'd look like more. No one. "Don't say that."

"But really, can you imagine Bickslow as a girl? Looking the way he does?" Cana chuckled.

And everyone at the bar suddenly went silent as they all imagined their resident Seith mage as the opposite gender; the same almond shaped eyes with the distinct swirls at each end, the high cheekbones and the sharp jaw, not to mention that incredibly large grin of his. Eh, Lucy had to admit Bickslow wouldn't exactly make the most attractive female. But still, if her baby happened to look more like Bickslow, regardless of the gender, she'd still love it irrevocably, just because it was her baby, and even when they grew up, they'd still be her baby. Forever.

So with a nervous chuckle and a slight blush on her cheeks, Lucy said quietly, "Okay, maybe you're right…" And when everyone but Erza began to laugh along with her, Lucy looked up and gave Mira a slightly harsh look. "But maybe you should lay off the genetics talk until Bicks gets back? You know, wait until after you know what the baby is?"

"I suppose…" Mira sighed dejectedly.

And thankfully, by sunset, Bickslow and his team had arrived back in Magnolia and everyone started getting excited and giddy once again. The fights across the hall had died down for the most part as they all got ready to find out whether they'd won or lost, since Lucy had made it quite clear that it was going to remain her little secret until Bickslow got back.

He instantly went over to the bar with a wide grin when he spied the blonde hair. It was all he'd been able to think about for the last two and a half days, and his enthusiasm to find out whether he was going to have a son or a daughter was actually contagious. Evergreen was arguably the most excited out of his team, followed by Freed and then Laxus. Evergreen was mostly only excited because she was convinced she was going to be the kid's aunt, and… well, she kinda was, because Evergreen was basically Bickslow's sister, just like Freed was more or less his brother. Laxus just kind of stayed out of it, just because he was Laxus. He was, however, excited. Deep down, of course, because he really wasn't going to admit it out loud.

His team followed just behind him as he made his way through the guild and to the bar, having all bet on the baby being a girl – Laxus just because if the kid ended up being a boy, he was seriously going to be debating leaving the guild of his accord, rather than from banishment.

Lucy smiled as she spun around on her stool slowly, having heard Kinana mention they were back.

"Hey, Cosplayer," Bickslow said, his tongue lolling from his mouth before he pulled his wife into a hug, one arm around her shoulders as his other hand sat over Lucy's hand that was resting on her belly. "Miss me?"

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips when his tongue retreated back inside his mouth. "Not really," she giggled. She had, of course, but they'd been together long enough and she was used to him going out on jobs a lot, some for multiple weeks at a time. Two and a half days was nothing. As she stood up when Bickslow took a step back and his hands went to rest against her waist, she reached up to lace her arms around his neck, and murmured, "Thought you'd like to know the baby is now a mango."

"A mango, huh?" he chuckled. "That sounds better than an avocado."

Lucy giggled again. "It does, doesn't it?"

"Anyway, I'm guessing that all of this," Bickslow nodded his head to gesture towards the balloons towards the high ceiling. "Is because you have something to tell everyone?" he asked, his lips pulling up into another smile.

"I do," Lucy said with a smile.

Mira squealed again suddenly and they both looked to the eldest Strauss. "Oh, I'm so excited!" she gushed. Her hands were positively shaking with her excitement. When it came to love and babies, Mira couldn't help but get excited. "Please say you can tell everyone now!" When Lucy nodded, she squealed again and said, her voice rising in pitch, "Oooh! To the stage!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "The stage? Really?"

"Yes! You must do it from the stage!"

"Fine," Lucy sighed, pulling away from Bickslow and instead taking his hand in hers. As she slowly began to lead Bickslow through the guild and towards the stage, she turned to look over her shoulder towards him and said mischievously, "No visor. I want to see your reaction."

"Your wish is my command," he chuckled, only letting go of her hand to unclip the visor and push the hood back, ruffling up his hair as he did so.

As soon as Lucy had made it onto the stage and Bickslow had taken his spot on the edge of the pink side of the guild, the guild fell into silence. His arms were folded across his chest as he stared anxiously up at his wife with his never-faltering grin. He was so nervous and so excited, and really, it had nothing to do with the bet at all.

Lucy was jittery with her nerves as she looked over everyone as they all stared back at her. She didn't really understand why she needed to be on the stage for it, but then again, it was an announcement… of sorts. And of course, when it came to Fairy Tail, everything had to be done in a grand manner, so really, she shouldn't have been all that surprised that she'd end up standing on a stage in front of the entire guild (hell, even Gildarts had shown up).

So as she laced her fingers together in front of her stomach, she looked back down to Bickslow, because really, Bickslow was the one who needed to know the most. She couldn't hold it back any longer, and the guild would probably break out into a riot if she kept it a secret any longer, so with a shining smile that was meant for Bickslow only, and a steadying breath, she finally found herself ready to say the words she'd been keeping to herself for the last day and a half.

"We're having a boy, Bicks," she said with a quiet laugh that was just from her own excitement alone.

The entire guild went into a series of shouts and cheers. Elfman could be heard from the blue side, shouting about how the baby was going to grow up to be a man, and Natsu could be heard whining about it not being a dragon. Even though half the guild had lost the guild-wide bet, they were all still excited and happy about it, just because it was a new addition to their crazy family either way. But that wasn't to say that those who had bet on it being a boy were definitely more upbeat than those who had bet on it being a girl, because that's exactly what had happened.

But even though the guild was her family, their reaction wasn't what she'd wanted to see the most; it was Bickslow's. And somehow, even though she thought it was impossible, Bickslow looked happier than she'd ever seen him be. His grin was bigger than ever and his eyes were positively shining as he quickly crossed the distance between where he stood and the stage, and as soon as he'd pulled himself up onto the stage, he'd pulled his wife into the tightest hug he possibly could, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

Bickslow lifted his head just enough to press a kiss to her cheek. "It's a boy?" he murmured, pulling back to stare into her eyes that were filling with tears just like his own, and hell, he didn't even care.

"It's a boy, baby," she said quietly with a watery laugh. "We're having a son, Bicks."

And when a choked sob escaped with his own quiet laugh, he quickly captured her lips in a passionate kiss, neither caring that they were quite literally standing in front of the entire guild (hell, they got married in front of the guild; they'd seen it before).

Neither cared that they'd technically both lost the bet, having both bet on it being a girl, because either way, it was their baby; it was their son, and they couldn't be happier.

But on the other side of the guild, a certain blonde mage wasn't as happy as everyone else. Sure, he was happy for his friends (deep down) who at that point, were still on the stage and off in their own world and basically clinging to each other as they cried and laughed, but he was annoyed. Sort of.

It wasn't that Laxus was annoyed he'd lost the bet along with half of the guild, it was that there was going to be another Bickslow in the guild. And hell, the guy was his best friend, but seriously, another Bickslow in the guild might be more than a little frustrating. So with a sigh of frustration, he dropped his face to rest against his palm and shook his head lightly.

Laxus could only hope that the two managed to raise a kid that wasn't half as insane as Bickslow, because hell, if he was going to be stuck in a guild with the king of pranks himself and his evil spawn, then he really might consider leaving the guild.

Maybe.

Probably not.

Just a notice that the one-shots in this universe aren't going to be in order, so some will be more origin-based, others will be while Lucy is pregnant, and others will be after the baby is born/is a young child. Like I mentioned in my updated bio, it's not really going to make that much of a difference if you don't read every single one of them, since most will be unrelated to each other (sort of), but there will be some ideas that carry on within the universe as a whole.

With that, I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and please remember to review if you can!

- April