hi

hello

Natsu was incredibly nervous and had been for almost a week. He'd sat silently at the same table in one of the dark corners of the guild, hiding from the usual commotion the members of Fairy Tail conducted, as he absentmindedly twirled his thumbs. He was glad that his wife was out on a 'girls only quest' this week, leaving him with the unmanageable thoughts he'd been having recently.

Natsu wanted to have a baby.

These thoughts had grown subtly over time, starting back when…well, who knew.

Seeing Alzack with Asuka, Macao with Romeo, Gajeel with his twins, even Gildarts and Cana, Natsu just knew he wanted to be a father. Igneel has inspired him, and he wanted to pass on the legacy the dragon left him. To be able to hold a little fledgling of his own…

But Natsu was Natsu, and knew himself well enough, knew his wife well enough.

He could practically hear her now;

"Eh? You want to have a kid?! Please, I'd have to hire two nannies, one for you, and one for the baby, no way!"

And he had the perfect rebuttal prepared;

"Don't you remember? I raised Happy when I was ten, and he turned out just—"

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best argument to bring to the table. Natsu loved Happy, but the little guy sure knew how to set Lucy off. He'd gotten better since the two tied the knot, but he was still a rascal and a product of his possible bad influence.

He and Lucy had been together for seven years now, two years married. And an incredible two years they were, he fell in love with her more and more each day. Since they'd been together for so long, it seemed like the right time for them to take this next step of their relationship.

Their formative years as a couple resulted in a lot of good things happening, things that also helped Natsu improve his overall self and gave him an edge that could help convince his partner.

Ever since Lucy had moved in, his habits of keeping the house clean had drastically improved. Maybe because if it hadn't, the blonde would have refused to move in. And he wouldn't do anything to purposefully lose the most comfortable bed in the world. His house needed a couple new rooms anyways; one for them, one for Happy, and one for the little tyke.

Money was one of the first issues he'd begun to tackle in secret. He knew just how important that factor was to Lucy, so he'd been setting aside ten thousand jewels from every quest they went on together. Now that she didn't have to pay rent, they definitely had a lot more money to spend between them but would need extra savings to fall back on when their baby was still young. Natsu wanted to reassure Lucy that'd they'd be alright staying home to adapt to a new schedule, having at least a million or two saved up by now.

He was also learning how to cook by taking lessons from Mira. Lucy wasn't the biggest fan of his burnt campfire fish, so he opted for the chance to learn actual recipes. His wife was still leagues above him, but he wasn't half bad! Good enough to take care of her while she was on bed rest, at least.

And gosh darn it, he was good with kids! He would be the go-to babysitter for metal head's kids only if Juvia weren't so close to Gajeel. Alzack and Bisca left Asuka with him all the time, granted that the guild members were also there to help him out. But still, kids loved him.

No doubt she'd be even more gorgeous. Pregnant…with his baby…that'd definitely be a good look on her. There was no way he'd be able to keep his hands off her and hope she wouldn't mind all the extra pampered attention.

He could just imagine it, rubbing her swollen belly while they laid together in bed, pressing his ear against it to listen as their baby kicked, fall asleep to the sound of its forming heartbeat.

She'd probably get tired near the final trimester too, and he wouldn't mind one bit if she wanted him to carry her around. It was a chance for him to take care of her and oh boy if that wasn't his greatest pleasure in life. He would wait on his wife hand and foot for the rest of his life if that were all she wanted.

But he was hardheaded and immature and still jumped at the chance to fight Gray, even if it was a match that went on for days…ah, Lucy really wouldn't want to have a kid with someone who was just a plain mess.

So now, here he was, even more nervous now that it was only a day before Lucy would return and still unable to settle on whether or not he would bring the subject to attention.

"Okay, spill it," Cana said as she plopped into the seat across from the slayer. "I've been staring at you make the same five faces for the last week, what's going on?"

"Nothing that I hafta tell you, Ca—"

"Oh, shut it. As my Lulu's temporary guardian, I have a right to know whatever brooding questions you have to ask her that you've been mulling over for the last five days. And so help me, Dragneel, if it's divorce you're thinkin' about, I will end you faster than Erza can get her hands on—"

"I'd never divorce Lucy, don't even joke about that!" Natsu hissed as he glared at the suspicious look the card mage refused to drop. "It's just something important I gotta talk to her about,"

"Which is…?" Cana drawled on the question, refusing to drop her raised brow until he confessed, taking a long swig out of the beer stein she seemingly pulled from thin air.

"Fine," He sighed and gave in almost instantly. "I want to talk to Luce about us havin' a baby,"

"A baby?! Oh my gosh, a little Natsu and Lucy! I'll have to teach 'em everything I know, 'specially about how to drin—"

"This isn't about you, Cana," Natsu rolled his eyes and stopped the brunette from continuing what was surely going to be an unsettling ramble.

"Right, right," She said as she took another drink from her goblet. "So what's the issue? She's yer wife, shouldn't something like this be easy to talk to her about?"

"I guess…but I'm not sure she even wants one or thinks I'd be able to handle the responsibility. But I think, I know I'm ready, I want to be a dad,"

"Then that's all you gotta say, idiot. She's not gonna know how you feel unless you're honest and express that to her. Besides, you helped raise a lot of us when we were growin' up, I don't think there's anyone more suited to be a father than you, Natsu,"

Natsu felt the weight of worry lift off his shoulders after the brief discussion with Cana, taking it upon himself to prepare for the arrival of his wife. He sent Happy over to Wendy's for a couple days, washed their sheets, cleaned the house, ordered her favorite flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries, even styled his hair and put on a nice dress shirt and pants. Not to mention that he let his stubble grow in, and man did she love his stubble.

She wouldn't be back until ten that Sunday, so he would wait for her to come in, and plunge her straight into a relaxing welcome that would hopefully help him lead into the discussion he was prepared to finally have with her.

With the roses arranged perfectly on the table and the strawberries plated in front of them, Natsu lit the pink candles he'd placed strategically about the house as he caught wind of her scent in the distance. His stomach churned with excitement and nervousness as her key jiggled in the lock, steeling himself as she finally stepped inside.

"I'm…home…?" Her singsong call out into the house dropped as she looked around in confusion and closed the door slowly behind her. The atmosphere was oddly romantic, had they had an anniversary that she forgot about?

Her eyes went from the candlelight to the table as she left her shoes by the door and stepped further into their home, gasping at the lovely bouquet and sweet snack that had been left for her.

"Welcome home," Natsu breathed out with a slightly unsteady smile, Lucy quickly whipping her head around to see the slayer she hadn't even noticed. Oh lord, was that his stubble?

"What's…what's all this about? Did you really miss me that much?" Lucy giggled as she eyed his not at all causal outfit, falling into his open arms to give him a hug.

"Maybe just a little, I wanted you to come home to something nice,"

"You're so sweet," She crooned, removing herself from his hold to revisit the flowers, absorbed in the fresh scent they produced. "This, this is just what I needed, I'm honestly so tired."

"Want a foot massage?" Lucy grinned and quickly nodded, taking the plate of strawberries over to the couch as Natsu sat across from her on their coffee table. He lifted one of her feet onto his knee, beginning to press his thumbs into her arches and smiling as she melted away with a deep moan.

"How was the quest?"

"It wasn't anything too hard, though it would've gone a lot better if we had one of you guys around,"

"But I thought you guys were just writing some love letters for a client,"

"Yeah, we thought it was gonna be someone who wanted to woo a girl, but it was just some sleazy rich kid who wanted a mass stock produced so he could give them out to whoever he wanted. The jerk wouldn't leave us alone half the time,"

"He didn't put his hands on ya, did he?"

"No, no, just made some stuck-up comments. The money wasn't worth it even if we got a lot, this is one of the times I would have definitely approved of you decking a client," She snickered as he snorted and shook his head. "But I don't really want to talk about work, how'd you keep yourself busy while I was away beside you planning this whole surprise for me?"

"I didn't do much, just hung around the guild," He shrugged, feeling his anxiety again as she nodded and bit into one of the few berries she had.

"Oh, gosh, this is really good," Lucy moaned, strawberry juice dribbling down her chin. "Are you sure there's no special occasion, Natsu? You don't usually dress so nice for nothing,"

"Ya could never see through me, Luce," Natsu grinned as he dropped her foot back onto the floor and picked up the other one. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about,"

"Oh, yeah? What is it? You don't have to butter me up like this if you just want to talk about something," She hummed as she took another bite into her berry.

"I know, I just wanted ya to know that I love you," He began, his thumbs slowing in their kneading process. "I wanted to talk to you about…about us having a baby,"

"…a…a baby?" Lucy gulped, stunned into silence as Natsu continued.

"I know you probably think I'm too immature, or that I can't handle the responsibility, but trust me when I say I'm ready. I want to be a dad, I want us to have a baby, Luce."

"W-Wow, I…oh, Natsu, I don't think you're immature at all," Lucy said as she sat forward, setting her plate down on the empty table by his side. "An idiot, sure. But I know how serious you can be when you want to be. I mean, you were able to raise Happy on your own when you were just a kid,"

"True…"

"And you're very good with the kids at the guild…to be honest, I love seeing you hold Levy-chan's babies, you always look so strong with them in your arms,"

"Also true,"

"I know how much Igneel meant to you, so I know being just as good a father as he was means a lot to you, Natsu. There's no way in the world I could ever deny you of that,"

"R…eally? You really want to have kids?" Natsu felt his throat tighten as tears began to ebb at the corners of his eyes, Lucy just as emotional as she nodded.

"Really really," She let out a wet laugh as Natsu tackled her against the couch, smothering her cheeks madly with quick kisses before he captured her lips over and over and over again.

"I'm gonna make you so hot with my baby, Luce," Natsu mumbled in between his excited kisses that began to feel more amorous as the period between when he lifted his mouth from hers steadily shortened.

"My gosh, is that all you were thinking about?" She sighed as he now found his way into the crook of her neck.

"Not all of it, just some of it." He snickered as he teased the sensitive skin before stealing her lips again. "Like how I'd keep havin' do fill ya up, over and over till you got pregnant for sure. Or how good you'd smell with my baby inside ya, so much so that I couldn't help but hafta cream ya all over again. Or when you'd start to get bigger, and all I'd wanna do is feel ya up since you'd be so gosh dang—"

"I get it, you perv!" Lucy quickly squealed our in embarrassment as her cheeks flushed wildly. "Just do me already,"

"Aye sir!"

bye bye