Best Day

"What are you two doing?"

The two little boys, one blonde and the other with white locks, only stared up in shock as their mother came to open the bathroom door.

"Nathan?" Mira was speaking to the older of the two boys then, frowning at the sight. The younger of the two, Pike, had his shirt pulled up as his brother wrote something on his tummy with marker. Nathan was shirtless and, when she glanced at him, saw he'd already gotten whatever it was scrawled on his stomach and chest. "Why-"

"We're being Dad," the older of the two brothers said as he turned to look at her. All over his chest and stomach was black marker. From the placement of the guild mark to the swirls of the tribal tattoo (though just glancing at it, she knew they'd gotten it all wrong), they had their whole father's chest down. Along their stomachs they had drawn one long line and then horizontal ones across it. "That's all."

"You shouldn't draw on one another," she said as she came closer to confiscate the marker. "And what is this? Huh?"

Pike giggled as she poked his tummy. "Mommy."

Nathan though just frowned. "It's like Dad. We got abs too."

"You're bad," Mirajane told him, though it was ruined by the fact that she was smiling through her words. "You know that? You shouldn't draw on your brother."

Still, Nate tried to take the marker back. "We gotta draw the scar on our eyes!"

"No." Cute as it was, Mira wasn't letting them do that. Holding the marker higher and out of the five year old's reach, she said, "You shouldn't have drawn on one another to begin with."

Nathan was rare to disagree with Mirajane, but he did heavily then. "No! Give it!"

"You-"

"What are you guys doing?"

The cracked bathroom door opened again as Laxus poked his head in.

"They," Mirajane said, nodding at their sons as the youngest rushed over to his father, going to throw his arms around him, "decided to draw on themselves with marker."

Sighing, the slayer said, "Well, get in the tub, boys, and we'll wash it-"

"No," Nathan said, still glaring up at Mirajane. "Give it back!"

"Stop yelling at me."

"Nathan," Laxus grumbled as he reached down to pat Pike on the head, ruffling his white hair. "Say sorry to Mira."

"No! Give me my marker!"

"Now."

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked extremely pained as he said it, but still managed to get, "Sorry!"

Laxus only took to looking the boys over then. "What were you drawin' anyhow?"

"They were trying to be you," Mira told him with a frown as the man glanced over both boys. Pike had let his shirt drop though and was more concerned with hugging the man than anything else. "You know, your guild mark and tattoo and-"

"Bah!" Laxus frowned over at Nathan. "You call that me? My tattoo? Look at it! It doesn't look anything like-"

"Laxus," Mirajane complained, frowning at him. "That's not the point."

"That is exactly the point," he told her as he shook off Pike before going over to Nathan. "C'mere. Get in the tub and let me scrub that junk off ya. Then I'll draw it up right."

"Laxus-"

"Okay." Nathan rushed to pull off his shorts and underwear to do as he said. Usually he was opposed to baths, but this was for the greater good, after all.

"You too, Pike."

"No," Mirajane said as the younger of the two brothers got all tangled up in his shirt when he tried to pull it over his head. "You are not writing on them, Laxus. You-"

"Here." He went to go grab the marker before pointing something on it out to her. "See this? Non-toxic. It's fine. And they want it, so-"

"Laxus-"

"He said yes," Nathan told her, still upset that she was ruining their fun. "So go away."

Mirajane, not used to him being rude towards her, only frowned. "Nathan-"

"Go!"

"Knock it off." Laxus came to hit him gently in the head before going to turn the water on in the tub. "And c'mere, Pike. Are you stuck?"

Yes. Shirts were so hard.

Mirajane only shook her head before heading out of the bathroom. They wanted to be stupid, she figured she might as well let them. Bsides, she had to get down to the guildhall. Her shift started soon.

"Alright, boys," Laxus said once they were alone. "I'll scrub you down and then mark you up right, huh?"

That took some time. The marker didn't come off easily. That was fine, though, as Laxus had nothing else to do that day and, honestly, the boys needed baths anyhow. They hadn't gotten one the night before. And the amount of trouble his boys got into, some scrubbing would do them a world of good.

Once they were all dried off and dressed again, he led them out to the living room to get to work on those markings. Nathan was a little upset to find that Mirajane had left though, especially without saying goodbye.

"You were being mean to her, buddy," Laxus said as he sat on his knees in front of the boys, marker in hand as he started first with the guild mark. "Remember?"

"No," he said, bottom lip stuck out and hands at his side. "She was being mean to me."

"Yeah, well, she's gone, so get over it." Laxus shook his head slightly. "You drove her away."

"I did not!"

"Did too. I heard her say that she would have stayed forever if you hadn't yelled at her."

"No!"

"Yes."

Pike, for the most part, had gotten tired of standing there and waiting for his turn to get marked up and had gone off to find the doggy. He was a great dog. Old though. Mirajane and Laxus were afraid that he was going to die soon and that they were going to have to deal with explaining that to the kids, but so far, he'd been pretty healthy. For his age, anyhow.

"Nice puppy," the toddler giggled as he found him behind the couch, running his hand across the dog's belly as he rolled onto his back. "Nice."

"Pike," Laxus called out then. "What are you doin', buddy? It's gonna be your turn soon."

That was okay. He was kinda over the whole tattoo thing already. Really, he hadn't been that into it to begin with. Nathan had. And, as always, he did whatever his big bubba did.

It was kind of a rule.

Nathan glanced down at his chest then, watching as his father started on the tribal tattoo. "I think I did better."

"You shut up, brat. You drove Mira away."

"I did not!"

Pike only moved to lay down on the ground then, next to his doggy. The day was young, but he was already sleepy. Last night he'd had a bad dream and hadn't gotten much sleep. It felt like a good time to make it up.

"My stomach too," Nathan was complaining to Laxus then, patting at his tummy. "Like yours."

"What? That tic-tac-toe board you had going?"

"Like your stomach," Nathan told him. "How it used to be."

Laxus was catching on then. "You mean my abs? I- Hey! What do you mean used to be?"

Nathan only snickered. "You're pudgy."

Laxus poked his stomach. "You're pudgy!"

"Hey!"

"Puggy," Pike mumbled from behind the couch with a giggle. "Puggy."

"I ain't pudgy." Laxus shook his head. "My body is one of a god. A god, Nate."

"There's only one god," he told him before sticking his tongue out. "Stupid."

Growling, Laxus shoved him away. "There! You're done!"

"No fair! You didn't do the abs."

"Don't care. Pike, c'mere, kid. It's your turn."

"No." He didn't even open his eyes. "Nap."

"Pike-"

"Nap, Daddy."

"It's not time for your nap, buddy. You-"

"Get up, Pike!" Nathan wasn't in a good mood anymore and went to go force his brother to get up. "You big baby. Go."

"No!"

"Leave him alone, Nathan," Laxus grumbled. "If he doesn't want to look like the greatest man in the world, that's his business. I mean, I'm only his hero. His idol. His- Nate, I was serious! Don't pull on him!"

He was though, tugging on Pike's arm, and it was making the younger boy begin to whine as well as woke up the dog.

That took more than a few minutes to settle down. Usually Nate was gentler with his brother, but there were times when he seemed to forget that there were three years between the two of them and there were just things that you couldn't do with a toddler. He didn't remember being one himself, after all, and being the age he was, sometimes his empathy levels were a little wonky. Nothing a timeout wouldn't solve.

Once Nate was sealed off in his room to think about what he'd done (or play with his dog, as he'd followed him in there before Laxus shut the door), Laxus was left with his youngest son who, after calming down, wasn't so sleepy anymore. It was his brother's fault, after all; he'd gotten him all worked up.

"It's alright, buddy." Laxus had started drawing with marker on the boy then, to calm him down some. Or at least distract him. "You know that Nate can get a little bratty sometimes."

Sometimes?

"But," his father went on, "won't he be jealous when you get the whole tattoo? Even the ink on your back? Huh?"

That sounded swell. After his father was all done though, Pike went over to his discarded shirt and started to put it back on.

"What are you doing, buddy?" Laxus asked with a frown as he got to his feet. "Huh? I just spent all the time on you, you can't wear a shirt! You'll cover it up. Just go shirtless, huh?"

Pike didn't wanna. You had to wear a shirt. Unless it was summer and you were going to sleep. Or swimming. Or taking a bath. Other than that though, it was necessary. He was nearly certain.

But his daddy was saying he didn't and, well, his mother wasn't around anyhow, so he figured it was fine. Besides, with Nathan in his room, he had Laxus all to himself. That didn't happen very often, after all.

There was a good reason for that, of course. Nathan had never favored Laxus over Mirajane and, well, it would be easy for the man to just spend more time with Pike. Both boys would probably enjoy it that way. But…there was just something that bothered Laxus about that. Like he would be more loving or something towards Pike because of who his mother was and that wasn't cool. And what if Mira started being nicer to Pike than Nathan (though that seemed extremely unlikely)? He just didn't want Nate to feel left out.

It was all just too much to balance sometimes.

Pike though thoroughly enjoyed any alone time he got with either of his parents. Most of the time Nate was hanging around and, while he loved his bubba, he liked being alone with Mira and Laxus too.

Like how when he and his mother were alone, she'd sing just to him! Or they'd bake a cake and he didn't have to share the leftover batter with Nathan, who, usually, would try and eat it all before Pike got any. And time with Laxus was even more special. He went out on jobs so much that Pike loved being around him whenever he could. And if Nate wasn't around, frankly his father would be a lot less on edge. Nate had a problem with, well, causing problems. And stressing the man out by misbehaving. Without him there, Laxus was more likely to just sit around and play.

One time, even, Nate had gone off with Mirajane for the day (she was going shopping and Pike was just too little to keep up with her and Lisanna all day, she claimed), leaving the little boy alone with his father. Err, well, the doggy was there too, but he seemed rather sleepy that day (or everyday).

He and Laxus just laid around in bed for awhile, snoozing or listening to music on the man's headphones, before going to make some breakfast. Which consisted of chocolate chip pancakes with tons of syrup and man, it made Pike's tummy hurt. Then they had to shower and get all washed off (he was that sticky from the syrup). After that though, they were free to do whatever they wanted.

And Pike wanted to play pirates.

"Pirates, huh?" Laxus had remarked when the little boy told him.

Of course. They were his favorite.

So Laxus made him an eye patch out of some cardboard and a rubber band (it was pretty cool, it even had a little skull and crossbones on it; Pike still kept it in his room) and made them both some paper hats before they got down to the game. His daddy was the best pirate ever. Then again, he was the best everything ever. After all, Laxus always had saying when it came to his boys.

"I'm their hero when they're young," he'd brag to the Thunder Legion or whoever else would listen to his boasting, "and their mentor when they're older. No matter how many kids I have."

Yeah, Laxus was pretty full of himself, but that was exactly how Pike felt, really. Laxus was his hero. He went out and did all sorts of cool jobs and then he came home and played with him. What more could a little boy aspire to be?

And when pirates got boring (as most things eventually become), they sat around and sipped on sodas (his daddy gave him a whole one even though Mirajane refused to because it was unhealthy, which Pike thought was stupid and Laxus mostly didn't care about) while they talked.

Well, Laxus mostly talked, but Pike sure liked listening to him.

"You're about what now, buddy? Three?" Laxus whistled. "When Nate was three or so, we had you. You know that?" Then he snickered. "You're getting so big. You know that? Are you my big boy?"

Of course. He had a mouth full of pop then, but still nodded. Laxus only grinned down at him.

"Won't be long now before you're hanging around the guildhall with me, causing trouble and running amuck. You wanna run amuck?"

Absolutely.

"Or are you gonna find something else to do?" Laxus asked him. "Do you wanna be a mage? Or something else?"

"Pirate."

He was pretty insistent on that one. And, well, Laxus only grinned at him.

"Pirate it is then."

Yeah, Pike really loved those moments with his daddy. They were great. He was great. The two of them were great together! And, at the moment, as they decided on what to do, Pike only held out his arms to the man.

"Ride?" he asked, head cocked to the side as he stared up at his father. "Daddy?"

"Of course." Laxus reached down to pluck him into his arms before shifting the toddler to his shoulders. He liked it best up there. And, as Laxus started walking around the apartment, he only giggled with excitement. "Wish your brother wasn't in trouble. Then we could go to the park or something."

Nah. Being on Laxus' shoulders was enough for Pike.

After awhile though, Nate started up from the bedroom, opening the door just slightly to peek out into the hall and call out, "Can I come out now?"

"Are you ready to say sorry to Pike?" Laxus was in the kitchen, getting a drink, the toddler still on his shoulders at the time. "Only then you can."

Nate grumbled some, loudly, but still called out, "Yes."

"C'mere and do it."

Pike wasn't too thrilled about Nate joining them, especially when Laxus moved to set him on the ground, but when his older brother got in there, he immediately rushed over to him.

"Sorry, Pike." And then Nathan hugged him which was great! Pike loved hugs. It kinda hurt though and he was practically squeezing the life out of the little boy, but that just meant that he loved him even more, Pike figured. "Okay?"

Yes! When Pike nodded, Nate let him go before looking to Laxus.

"Can we go see Mommy?"

"What? No. She's working," Laxus grumbled. "You kids aren't supposed to go to the hall as much as you do now, really. That's a serious place for serious mages doing serious work. You guys are just babies and only serve to get in the way."

Bleh. Nate almost stuck his tongue out at the man, but that probably would have led to a spanking or more timeout and, well, the little boy just wasn't up for that.

"I gotta see her," he told him.

"Why? So you can run her off again?"

"I didn't run her off!" Crossing his arms, Nathan looked away. "But I wanna tell her sorry. 'case she thinks I did."

"Mommy." Pike giggled. "Go see her?"

"No. What's wrong with the two of you, huh?" Laxus was still sipping on his drink and only frowned down at his two boys. "You're getting to spend the day with me. Your hero. The best person in the world. And you want me to bring the demon into the mix? What good would that do? Just let her overshadow me? No way. I'm here and you're going to have to just enjoy it for the time being."

That didn't sound too good to Nate and he only glared at his father. Pike, however, was just as fine with Laxus as he was with Mirajane. He loved the woman to death, but his father was nice too.

Not for Nathan though. Laxus was great. They were best buds. He wanted to be just like the guy. But in comparison to Mirajane? There was no comparison! She was his mommy. She would snuggle with him and read to him and tell him these great stories about different things she'd done (Laxus had those too, but his usually turned more into the slayer bragging about how awesome he was than actually telling an interesting story). Overall, his mother was just the best person in the world and he wanted her all to himself. Especially at times like then, when he'd snapped at her earlier. They had to make up, after all, before she found someone else to love as much as him.

Like Pike.

Now, Nate loved his brother. He really did. He couldn't remember a time that he didn't (his memory wasn't that great). Mirajane though, she was Nate's number one. And no one edged their way in between the two of them. No one. He wanted to be Mira's favorite and, though she wouldn't admit it (mainly because it wasn't true as far as anyone other than him was concerned), it was just a given for him. Pike though posed a huge threat to that what with his cuteness and the silly, childlike way he spoke.

No. Nate would never allow him to take his spot at the top. Never.

So, finally, his tongue did get stuck out and he even called Laxus stupid, which, luckily for him, didn't result in a spanking, but just more room time. Alone. Even the dog wasn't in there with him that time!

Pike felt a little bad, seeing as Nate was crying that time, but there was just no talking to Laxus. He was tired of Nathan being rude to him it seemed and, honestly, Pike didn't say much. It was more alone time for him and his daddy. Even though it sucked that Nate had to suffer for it, it sounded great.

But Laxus was a tad worked up then and didn't really want to do anything fun, so Pike only followed the man back to his room where they immediately went to crash on the bed.

"Cold," the toddler said as he huddled under the blankets. "Daddy."

"You're cold, huh?" Laxus only stretched out on the bed. "You snuggle up then. Don't want you to be cold, after all, buddy."

That was great too, snuggling with the man was. He wasn't as cuddly as Mirajane, but overall great. He'd wrap an arm over the boy and then read to him. That day, it was some boring book that was sitting on the nightstand that totally went over Pike's head. Mainly because it was stupid. Seriously. Not a single cute animal or overly descriptive way to say that everyone should be friends and love one another. It about put Pike to sleep.

Err, it did put him to sleep. Laxus' voice helped in that department also. So much for spending tons of time with the man. He had a good dream though, if that counted for anything.

When he awoke once more, it was to find that Laxus was gone from the room and that he was all alone. Yawning, he took a few moments to rub the sleep out of his eyes before crawling across the bed and out of it.

Nate was out of timeout, he found, as when he got into the living room, he found his father doing some sit ups and the other child off on the other side of the room, playing with his toy cars.

"I play?"

Nathan narrowed his eyes at Pike when he came to stand before him before shrugging and sliding him one of his least favorite cars. He usually would let the child play with him when he was playing with his action figures or something, but the boy was funny about his cars. They were special to him.

"Here," Nate grumbled as Pike sat down with a giggle. Laxus glanced over at them, as he knew when Nathan was in a bad mood he could be a tad mean to his baby brother, but they seemed to be doing alright, which was all that mattered.

Pike got bored quickly with the cars, as always, but Nate played with them until lunch. His brother, however, spent that time watching Laxus workout and trying to help him count. It didn't go so well. He knew up to three and, well, Laxus far surpassed that. Again, just pure hero behavior. Wow.

Needless to say, both boys were more than thrilled when, around lunch time, they found that Mira had taken her break and come by with food for them.

"Great," Laxus said when she walked through the front door. He was lounging on the couch then, watching a movie lacrima, and only grinned at the sight of his wife. "I was 'fraid I'd have to make them something."

"Mommy!" Nathan left his toys behind immediately, rushing straight over to the woman before she was even fully through the door. "I love you!"

"Nate, what-"

"I thought I made you go away," he told her with a sniffle making Laxus roll his eyes.

"Why would you ever think that?" She rushed to go set the bag of food down on the table, Pike and Laxus descending on it immediately, as Nate only continued to cling to her dress. "Nate? I just went to work."

Uh-oh. Laxus glared over at the boy. Surely he wouldn't say-

"He said I did!" He let go of her dress then to point at Laxus, the man taking to mouthing things at him. "And it made me upset. Then he put me in timeout and I didn't even do anything. And he won't give my marker back."

"You never asked for your marker back," Laxus growled as Mira only rolled her eyes.

"I don't have long," she told them before leaning down to press a kiss to Nate's head. "And I have got to go to the restroom. I need to touch up my makeup. But you know that I love you and that Laxus is an idiot."

"Mira," the man complained. "You can't call me an idiot to our kids."

"I can when you're being one."

"That's not-"

"Here, Nate." Mirajane nodded at the table. "You eat and I'll be right back, huh?"

The second she was gone, Laxus took to complaining about how the kid had sold him down the river, but Nate only waited to be given his food.

"Laxus!" they all heard yelled from the bedroom about then. Mirajane. "What is all over our sheets?"

"What are you-"

"There are black smudges all over-"

"It was probably your stupid dog. I mean, how should I- Oh, Pike," Laxus groaned when he saw that the little toddler's drawn on abs, tattoo, and guild marking were smeared beyond recognition. "Buddy, you got all in the sheets and-"

"Laxus!" Mirajane wasn't done yelling. "This won't come out! It's black on-"

"Yeah, demon, I know."

"Why did you-"

"I didn't! Err, well, I didn't mean to, I guess, but-"

"I didn't get marker anywhere bad when I had it," Nate pointed out because, well, it was true. It also got him a glare from his father, however.

"You be quiet. Before you drive Mira away again."

"Mommy! He's being mean!'

Pike only took the tinfoil wrapped plate Laxus had handed him and headed off to behind the couch, where the doggy was sleeping, to share it with him. Wow. It was only lunch and he was already having such an awesome day. Daddy time, play with Nate time, listen to Mommy scream time. And he got to eat some of the food that Mira brought back from the guild?

Could there be a better day?

Yes. For the other three people in the apartment, there could have been. As Laxus and Mira dissolved into a fight and Nate whined about how it wasn't fair that they were only talking about Pike (which if he thought about it, they weren't saying anything good about him, just that he'd gotten the sheets dirty, but any publicity is good publicity, as it were) the toddler in question and his puppy shared their food in peace.

After all, it wasn't a true day at the apartment without one fight where Mira threatened to kick Laxus out to which he'd respond he'd go and nearly make her cry so that they could make up all while Nathan tried desperately to get the attention back on him because, well, it just wasn't fair if Mira was paying attention to anything else.

Hmmm. All that just after noon. And as Mirajane started to almost cry and Laxus took to comforting her as Nate hugged her and said it would be okay if Laxus left (which got him a glare from the slayer, but that was beside the point), Pike couldn't help but to think of what else they could get done that day.

Playing pirates sounded good. In fact, it sounded real good.