A/N: Sorry for the delay, guys. Christmas was tough this year - my grandmother fell a few days after Christmas and cracked her pelvis, I had to move in with her temporarily to help out at night. Time to write has been pretty slim.
But anyway, better late than never, so do enjoy... well, last year's Christmas Special.
x784
The first year Jellal Fernandes celebrated Christmas since he was a child was probably the least likely of all.
He had just woken from years in a daze during which had committed atrocity after atrocity without even a twinge of regret – that was, until it had all come at once like a flood, drowning him in an endless sea of guilt. It didn't help that he had literally just been broken out of prison, a place he certainly felt like he belonged in, and that he had come out to find that the person he cherished the most in the world had disappeared without a trace along with the bulk of her guild.
Celebrating had, understandably, been the last thing he'd wanted to do.
But then, Ultear had brought it up.
"It's not like I'm feeling that much more festive than you are, you know?" she had explained. "It's just that I've taken enough from Meredy as it is, so… you know… if we don't do it for ourselves, we should at least do it for the kid. It'll be our good deed of the season, I guess."
And so, it was. For a couple of days, the two of them tried to swallow their heavy feelings as deep as they could and make an effort to look jolly, for the sake of trying to bring some joy to that young girl, who was somber beyond her years.
He managed to find the perfect pointy tree and get it into the cave they were inhabiting at the moment and Ultear provided the ornaments with her Ice-Make. It was modest, as far as Christmas celebrations went, but it was cozy and just a tiny bit comforting.
In the end, it worked. Although Meredy's first reaction to the tree had been stone-faced confusion, she had slowly mellowed as Ultear ordered her to help her hanging the icy ornaments. The actual smile didn't make an appearance until the very end, when Jellal was tasked with placing the star on top and in the midst of reaching up while standing on his toes somehow managed to slip on the ice, fall face-first onto the tree and end up with his tongue glued to an icy depiction of a bell. The laughter had lasted for far longer than Jellal would have liked and the smile was what remained afterwards. And as the tradition remained every year that passed for the three of them, the smile only got brighter and brighter.
After that Christmas, it started to feel like something had changed in their group dynamics – they started acting less like traveling partners with a shared mission and more like a team.
Maybe even a family.
x791
He'd be lying if he didn't say he had been dreading Christmas on the year that Fairy Tail returned and Ultear left them. Meredy had taken her loss hard and everything and anything seemed to remind her of her surrogate mother, which only served to upset her further.
The time he and Meredy spent traveling as a duo rather than a trio was the worst – her heart was still raw and he knew he probably wasn't very good as her single source of comfort. It helped when Oracion Seis joined in and brought their antics into their little independent guild, which certainly served to keep Meredy both occupied and entertained.
By the time Christmas arrived, he'd started having hope that she wouldn't break down… but he was doomed to be disappointed.
It happened from one moment to the other. He had left their hiding place for maybe ten minutes to collect some firewood and came back to find Meredy crying her eyes out on Richard's shoulder.
"She brought a tree in, but then somehow conjured snow all over it and just broke down," Sawyer helpfully supplied.
It wasn't easy but after a few minutes of supplying another shoulder for Meredy to cry on, he finally managed to get the details about what had set her off: she had taken it upon herself to get them a tree and decorate it herself with ice ornaments just as Ultear used to, only to fail spectacularly.
"She tried to t-teach me Ice-Make so many times, but I just s-sucked at it," the pink-haired girl said, sniffing miserably. "I should have tried harder… now it's too late."
Jellal could only sigh, feeling deeply for the young girl's grief. "Meredy, people don't choose which magic they are gifted at – it's the magic that picks the person. You shouldn't be disappointed on yourself, because Ultear never was."
The teenager sniffed. "I miss her. I wish she was here."
"I know. Me too," he assured her.
"She always made Christmas so awesome..."
A scoff could be heard all over the room. "For the love of God… Ultear this, Ultear that… What was so special about that chick if she's not even here, anyway? Good riddance, I say."
"Sorano! Do not be crass!" Richard scolded.
"Tch… whatever."
"You sure make a lot of effort pretending you don't have a heart when we both know Pinkie isn't the only chick in this place yearning for someone who isn't here," Erik pointed out, shooting her a venomous look along with the barb. There was no keeping secrets from him...
"Get out of my head, asshole!"
"I wish I could! It's a damn mess in there. You should see a shrink about your issues instead of throwing your bitterness at us. It's getting old, you know?"
"Bastard..."
"Enough bickering," Jellal finally demanded. "The two of you are comrades, so get along, will you? Out of all the times to pick a fight, Christmas is probably the worst..."
Sorano scoffed. "Christmas… you guys sure make a big deal out of it. Just another day, if you asked me."
Meredy frowned. "It's not! It's special and fun! It… it matters!" she declared, wiping some of the leftover tears she had spilled before with renewed determination.
The white-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Count me out."
Too late, because now Meredy was on a mission to prove her wrong and Jellal couldn't help but see that as a good thing.
It seemed that the other members of the disbanded Oracion Seis were not as avert to the festive season as Sorano was because they didn't put too much of a fight when being dragged into Meredy's crusade… well, Macbeth did, but mostly out of crankyness over having been awaken from his latest nap in order to go hunt them a feast along with Erik and Jellal.
Sawyer and Richard stayed behind with Meredy (and Sorano, although she made a point of occupying her own corner and not moving a finger to help) to try to salvage and decorate the snow-covered tree. And since the ornaments couldn't be produced by magic they would just have to work around that.
It defenitely came in handy that Richard just happened to be quite skilled at whittling and Jellal had just brought in plenty of wood for them to work on. With some guidance from him, Meredy managed to produce some decent-looking stars; Sawyer… well, not so much - but in the end, that worked in their favor.
"What's that you're making?" Meredy asked of the speed mage, looking at the misshapen piece of wood he was working on.
"Meh… I was aiming for a reindeer but I don't think that's going to work… maybe if I put some wings on it I can pass it for an angel..."
"Pass it for a what now?!" Sorano demanded from across the room, closing the distance in a mere flash. Before they knew it, she had snatched the wood figurine from Sawyer's grasp and regarded it disdainfully. "This fugly thing an angel?! It could pass for a troll at the most!"
"You are such a bitch!" Sawyer remarked.
"If speaking the truth makes me so, then so be it."
"Sorano, dear, Sawyer's whittling skills might be a bit on the rough side, but I don't see you doing any better," Richard pointed out.
The woman shrugged. "I have better things to do."
"Well, then I guess we'll just stick to our trollish angels," Meredy said. "Keep going, Sawyer – you're doing great. Make another dozen just like that one!"
"Don't you dare produce more of those abominations and then call then Angels!" Sorano demanded.
Meredy rolled her eyes. "Well, but we want angels on the tree and since these are the only can we can make, I guess we're going with them… that is, unless you want to show us how a real angel ornament should look like," she added, an undertone of challenge in her voice.
Sorano glared. Meredy glared back. About ten seconds passed. And then…
"Give me that thing!" she said, snatching the knife Sawyer had been using and grabbing a block of wood.
Got you, Meredy thought with a smile.
It didn't come as a surprise that their tree ended up covered with the most lovely angel-shaped wood figurines they had ever seen, courtesy of the mage formerly known as Angel, who was quite vocal about her role in saving their 'stupid celebration' during the dinner honoring said 'stupid celebration' (in which she only participated because they owed her a decent meal for her services, at least).
"Not that I care about it!" she was quick to add. "But I just couldn't allow you morons to desecrate something as sacred as Angels with your atrocious carvings."
"We know," Meredy assured her in a lively fashion. "But come on," she added with a grin on her face. "You had fun decorating the tree with us, didn't you?"
"As if..."
Erik groaned in a long-suffering manner. "God, I hate tsuderes," he mumbled.
"Was that meant for me, asshole?!"
"If the shoe fits!"
Jellal could only shake his head at the bickering-sibling-like exchange. Christmas might be a lot of things that year, but boring certainly wasn't one of them.
x792
He had spent a lot of time agonizing over his first Christmas in Fairy Tail. Not because he thought he would hate it – rather more because he thought he would like it too much. Specifically due to Erza's presence
Why was that a problem? Well, because if he liked it too much, the resolve to go on with his mission of pulling away Erza, weaning her off his presence so that she could enjoy a full, happy life without him to taint it, might start to fade away. It was already hard enough as it was with them being in the same guild and because, deep down, he really didn't want to do that – it just felt wrong not to. He knew a thousand years might pass and he still wouldn't deserve her. Ever.
So, he needed to avoid her that night, no matter how difficult that might be.
I wasn't. Difficult, one might add. Because when the eve of the day in question arrived, Erza was nowhere to be found.
"There's a pretty bad snow storm up north," Mira explained, looking downcast. "It's too dangerous for the trains to run – the tracks must be snowed in. Mest is down with the flu too. Can't use his magic to get out of bed, let alone give them a ride. Looks like Team Natsu won't make it home for Christmas."
One might have thought that would make him relieved, given his previous mindset.
It didn't. Not by a long shot.
If anything, he felt even guiltier over his thoughts of avoidance and how they might have just utterly jinxed the whole thing so that Team Natsu would end up stuck miles away from their friends on Christmas Day. That wasn't what he'd wanted! He'd only wished to sit peacefully in his guilt-corner while Erza had all the fun she deserved without him.
So, in the end, he did sit in his guilt-corner for even worse reasons than he planned. Still, that didn't keep him from gaping in bafflement at the scenery that was Fairy Tail in full-blown festive party mode because, according to Cana, 'since Team Natsu wasn't there, they had to have all the fun possible on their behalf '… and fun they did have, until most of them dropped and ended up sleeping there on the cold, guild hall floor (including Meredy, who seemed to fit right in, which made him both glad for her spirits and worried for her physical health).
The following morning found him in his temporary bedroom in the guild building, still feeling bad about Erza being away. He was set on finding an excuse not to join the others as they opened their gifts because it just felt too wrong for that to be another thing he got to enjoy while Erza didn't. So, when he heard a knock on his door, he braced himself and scanned through the excuses in his brain. Headache? Leg pain? He was still going through extensive physical therapy due to the injuries he had received on the final showdown with Zeref… leg pain sounded reasonable enough, he thought.
"Jellal?" came the voice from the side of the door. It wasn't Meredy. Or Mira. Or the master… or really anyone he would have expected. It was…
"Erza?!"
The doorknob turned and in the redhead in question came, looking rather tired. "Merry Christmas," she said with a smile.
"M-merry Christmas," he stuttered in return. "I… I thought you were stranded up north."
"We were," she confirmed. "But the weather got slightly better overnight. The trains still weren't running, but the roads became safe enough to drive, so we managed to get our hands on a Magical Four-Wheeler. It was… a long drive."
He could only imagine – it would have taken them about six hours by train and even longer by Four-Wheeler under reasonable speeds… and somehow, he doubted the word reasonable would fit into Erza's mindset – in which case, given that the vehicle fed on one's magical energy, that would account for the tiredness he could see on her face, which he doubted had come from a single sleepless night. "Did you drive all the way?"
She shook her head and walked towards his bed, absently taking a seat on the edge of it. "I switched with Gray and Lucy. Lucy didn't drive for long. She was already tired from making a lot of summonings on our mission. And Natsu… well, we were aiming not to crash on our way here, so..."
"Ah," Jellal said with a nod.
"So," she went on to say, "how was your first Christmas in Fairy Tail? Meredy mentioned just now that you seemed a bit… down."
Miserable, he thought. Of course, he didn't want that to be what she read from his words… especially when she seemed to genuinely concerned. "Everyone was just so very… lively. It was hard to keep up, so I must have looked low in comparison."
"I see," she said evenly and he could almost tell that she wasn't buying it. So, not wanting to give more of his inner thoughts away, he forced himself to cease meeting her eyes. It was just as he did that she spoke again. "I'm sorry I didn't get to spend Christmas with you. It seemed like the first time we would have had a chance to in a very long time… I was looking forward to it."
Just like that, his heart was stabbed with guilt over his own thoughts. He forced himself to meet her eyes again and upon seeing the downcast look on her face, every last bit of those plans he might have not shed away yet was cast aside. "Christmas isn't over yet."
Hope reached her eyed again. "You are right. The day is just starting, isn't it?"
"I mean, as long as you're not too tired..."
She shook her head. "Tiredness can wait. Now, will you join us for breakfast? We will be opening presents right after."
"Ah… well..." As always, a part of him nagged, encouraging refusal. It nagged and nagged and nagged. But it was Christmas and if there was a day for him to take a day off from punishment, then that would have to be it… for Erza's sake. "I still need to get dressed."
For a moment, his words had her blinking. And then, she seemed to look around the room, then at the bed she was sitting on, him still in pajamas and realize just how… intimate the setting appeared to be. "Of course!" she said a little too loudly, jumping off the bed, her face as red as her hair. "I… ah, I will wait for you outside. I mean," she added as her eyes darted to the pair of crutches he still needed to use to get around during his recovery, "unless you… need… help..."
"That will not be necessary," he assured her before she could finish.
She looked relieved. "Good. Well, then… I'm..." She didn't finish, hurrying outside before she could embarrass herself further.
He did join her, as promised, a number of minutes later and in his new resolve to make up to her, even took a seat by her side during breakfast.
Once it was time to open the presents under the table, he found that Christmas seemed to turn her into an odd mix between a child and a general, both taking extreme pleasure in helping Asuka trying out her new toys and demanding order from her guild-mates.
Later, as the Christmas-fueled energy started to fade, she settled quietly by his side and watched the others slowly turn the occasion into yet another Fairy Tail celebration with all the fights and loudness that warranted. At some point, he felt a weight on his shoulder and noticed that it was Erza's head, which had fallen sideways as she finally succumbed to her exhaustion.
It was then, as he watched her in her sleeping perfection that he knew just how hopeless his fight for distance from her would be. He would still keep trying – for her sake, he told himself – but, more than ever, he knew his chance of winning was very, very slim.
Little did he knew that that moment was captured by a delighted Mira in a photograph. A photograph that would be printed and framed as their first house-warming present in a matter of months – one could call it the very trophy of his defeat.
x793
The year after that, he had, predictably, already given up on that cause – avoiding Erza – and finally succumbed to the inevitability that was them becoming a couple. He couldn't have been happier in his failure.
Same as it should have been the previous year, they had spent Christmas Dinner with the rest of the guild before retiring back home shortly after midnight. It was seconds after they walked in that Erza came up with a strange idea. "Let's sleep down here tonight."
Jellal raised an eyebrow. "You mean the living room?"
She nodded, eyes sparking like a child's. "Next to the tree. It will be fun."
It sounded to him like they would be much more comfortable in bed, but Erza's wish was, as always, his command, so he quickly rushed to light up the fireplace as as she produced the bedding and an air mattress for them to sleep on.
He ended up being wrong – the firelight made everything feel cozier and utterly beautiful and that was something they just couldn't get upstairs, where there was no fireplace. Well, everything and everyone, he had to add, seeing the orange hues of the fire reflecting on her hair and skin in a way that was completely captivating. As such, at the end they didn't end up sleeping all that much before dawn, instead spending the night gifting their bodies to one another and making love until they were completely numb, ultimately collapsing from tiredness.
They arrived at the guild for lunch so ridiculously late that everybody teased them, having a clear picture of what had delayed the pair. Still, they wouldn't have it any other way.
x794
One year later, their Christmas present arrived unexpectedly early, yet in perfect – if slightly smaller than planned – condition.
Because said present was so tiny and fragile, and too little to be carried around outside in the cold winter night, Christmas Dinner came to them rather than it being the other way around. Team Natsu, Meredy, Erik and their respective partners brought over some of the food from the guild's feast under the Master's orders and had dinner with them before cleaning everything up and going to join everybody else in their celebrations. It wasn't as loud and lively as spending Christmas at the guild, but it still felt warm, comfortable and not that big a break from tradition, given the circumstances.
By the time midnight was mere minutes away, it was just the three of them all over again… or rather, two at the moment as the baby slept his heart's content right there atop his father's chest, utterly oblivious to the fact that there was something special about the season, while Erza paid a visit to the bathroom.
Almost ten days had passed since his son had been born but, for the life of him, Jellal still couldn't get used to the fact that he was actually a dad, even through diaper changes, being puked on and woken up at ungodly hours by hungry crying. It amazed him how, even despite all that, the past ten days just felt like something out of a very pleasant dream…
"Cold… cold, cold cold," Erza complained as she sped her way from the freezing bathroom, back to the sofa, where they'd been cuddling close to the fireplace. As soon as she reached it, she slipped under the large blanket Jellal was also covered by and rubbed herself against his side for warmth.
He chuckled. "Better?" he asked.
She nodded. "Much better," she stated, before glancing at their son, who was peering at her sleepily, having been apparently awaken by her voice. She smiled and gave him a finger to grasp. "Hello, little man. Did Mommy wake you up?"
He didn't respond and just kept looking at her as if in a bleary daze.
"Do you want him back?" Jellal questioned, seeing as she'd been the one carrying him up until her bathroom break.
Erza shook her head. "He seems very comfortable where he is right now. Daddy is very nice to sleep on, isn't he? Mommy likes it too."
The blue haired man seemed amused. "It must be a common trait on you Scarlets – liking to use me as a pillow."
"Of course. You do make a good pillow."
He chuckled, shaking his head before he got a glimpse of the clock on the fireplace's mantle. "Oh, five seconds to midnight."
"Four now," Erza said, looking at it too. "Three… two… one… and it's Christmas."
Jellal place a kiss atop her head. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too," Erza replied before looking down at the baby, who was already snoozing. "And you. Look at that… so tiny and already celebrating his first Christmas… that's so much more than Mira's unborn rugrats can claim about themselves."
He sighed. "Erza..."
But she didn't seem interested in gloating any further. She was too busy marveling over her son. "Can you believe it? We have a Christmas baby… well, Early Christmas, I suppose."
"True," he agreed before letting out a sigh. "It will be hard to beat this next year. Or really any year from now on."
Erza shook her head. "I don't think we really need to… as long as he's around, we can content ourselves with aiming for close seconds in what comes to Christmas from now on."
"Fair enough," he said, reaching to adjust the blanket around the little boy as he slept. "Close seconds it is."
x795
"Well, so much for presents… we might as well have just given the kid a roll of wrapping paper to play with," Gray commented.
The one-year-old baby sitting at the center of a big pile of discarded wrapping paper giggled and cooed, using his little hands to rip some of it, much to his own amusement. The second pile containing the actual gifts he had been given was being blatantly ignored.
Jellal couldn't help but find it amusing. Their son had the simplest tastes.
It was Christmas Morning and both Erza's and Jellal's teams had come by for breakfast and to open their presents together. Once upon a time, this was made in the guild hall with everyone there, but with the guild getting bigger and reproducing, it was too messy for everyone to open their presents together, so it was suggested that people might try to join up in smaller groups for that purpose and then meeting afterwards. Erza and Jellal playing hosts had been the obvious choice – their house was the spaciest, for one, and it was just practical so they wouldn't need to cart a toddler elsewhere early in the morning. Not to mention that Jellal's skills at cooking breakfast foods also came handy.
And so, it came to be everyone showed up early in the morning, allegedly to 'lend a hand' (though only Wendy, Juvia and Kinana lived up to that premise). The rest just ended up lounging around or got busy spoiling baby Sieg, in all his pudgy adorableness, who was more than happy to be the center of attention.
"Look, Sieg-chan! It's a bear! A bear that's bigger than you are!" Meredy declared, waving the arms of the large stuffed toy around as she attempted to get the one-year-old boy's attention. "Isn't it amazing?!"
It didn't work. The baby wouldn't abandon his precious wrapping paper for anything.
"Sieg-chan!"
"Just give it up, Pinkie," Erik mumbled, sounding extremely tired. Someone had slipped actual alcohol into his usual drinks of poison the previous night – he was yet to know who but when he did find out, they would suffer because for some reason alcohol was the one toxic substance his body seemed to have trouble processing, this giving him one hell of a hangover. "The brat is as simple-minded as his father."
"What did you just call my baby?!" Erza demanded, making him wince due to his already-pounding headache.
"Er, actually, I think he just called him a genius," Lucy pointed out. "I mean, he didn't call Sieg-chan simple-minded, he said he is 'as simple-minded' as his father, and since Jellal is anything but..."
Erza seemed to think of it for a second. And then… "I will let it slide. This one time."
"Ah, ah, even your insults are lame today," Natsu mocked from where he lay stomach-down on the floor next to the baby, also entertained with ripping paper.
The Poison Dragon Slayer groaned because, for one, the idiot had it right.
"And ripping paper is awesome. Listen to the cool sound it makes!" the Fire Dragon Slayer said, getting a bit of paper and ripping it slowly, milking the sound as far as he possibly could. The baby seemed to enjoy it too because he started laughing hysterically.
Lucy sighed. "Oh, Natsu… you are such a kid."
"Ew, Lucy is a pedo! She thinks Natsu is a kid but she still got frisky with him last night!" Happy announced.
"Shut up, you stupid cat!"
"I did not want to hear that," Gray mumbled.
"Yeah, there's a baby in the room!" Meredy reminded him, making a point of covering the little boy's ears, albeit too late.
"Fwishy!" the baby repeated, testing his diction.
Everybody could tell what he was attempting to utter… and it was not what Happy tried to make it sound like.
"Oh, look! Boy Erza wants fish!"
"That's not what he was aiming to say," Erza said, a deathly aura around her.
"Of course it was! What else would it be?" the blue cat challenged her, trying to save his hide.
"I smell something burning!" Natsu lied in an attempt to save his best friend. "Something with strawberries in it!"
And so, Erza halted and faced the kitchen. "Jellal!" she shouted, rushing into the kitchen to protect whatever it was that she thought was burning.
"Nice save, idiot. Now you'd better hope there's actually something with strawberries in it burning, or else she'll kick your ass instead of Happy's," Gray pointed out.
"Big deal… Hey, Boy Erza, wanna see me burning some of this paper? It's even cooler when it's on fire."
"Natsu, don't you dare!" Lucy screeched.
By the time Erza returned to the room, she seemed to have forgotten all about Natsu's deception, contently licking away at a spoon Jellal had bribed her with. By then, Lucy had talked Natsu out of his pyromaniac ideas and he had found another game to play with the baby, mostly consisting of lying on the floor pretending to be on great pain as the little boy climbed onto him and generally used him as his own personal playground.
"Everyone, the food is on the table!" Wendy announced after a few minutes and they were quick to gather around it, eager to fill their stomachs with the various provided treats.
Erza carried her precious baby boy to the table (having thankfully retrieved him before he could successfully pull down Natsu's pants, as he seemed to be trying to do) and settled him on her lap.
Jellal, anticipating Erza's choices, settled a plate stacked with specially-made strawberry pancakes with extra strawberries in front of her before sitting by her side and putting a bib in front of the baby. It wasn't an easy task because, faced with the delicious treat, the baby became impatient and started squirming while trying to reach for his mother's plate. "Yumsh!" he demanded, calling his favorite fruit by the nickname he had bestowed upon them since he couldn't quite utter the word 'strawberry' successfully yet and all he knew was that they were very 'yummy' as per Mama's words.
"In a second, baby," Erza assured him as she cut a little bit of pancake – specifically, one bit with a particularly big piece of strawberry in it – and handed it to the baby, who was quick to messily put it in his mouth.
Gray looked… disturbed. "Wow, no matter how many times I see it, I can never get used to seeing her sharing strawberry-flavored treats so happily," he commented.
"Yeah… remember how she always punched us if we even looked at her plate the wrong way while she was eating them?" Natsu added.
Erza narrowed her eyes. "She still will," the redhead warned before eating a piece of pancake herself and both of them immediately looked away, looking mildly terrified.
Lucy shook her head. "Idiots."
Soon, the baby was asking for more 'Yumsh' and Erza was more than happy to provide, much to the baby's delight.
Jellal chuckled. "You really are two of a kind," he said, stroking his son's hair, making him look up and smile while uttering a clearly happy sound, somehow knowing that it was thanks to his father that he was enjoying that delicious treat.
Erza raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Did you expect anything else?"
The blue-haired man laughed. He couldn't hope for anything more.
x800
Years passed but Christmas remained the same. Well, mostly the same. Sometimes they would spend it in one place, other times they would spend it in another. The people who they would spend it with also varied, mostly on the way of expansion as their friends created families of their own. But always, they managed to make it special in their own way.
The Christmas just after their son was born would always be their favorite, but many of the ones that came after were tied on second place… that was, until the year little Sieg turned six.
Jellal arrived home from a job a couple of days before Christmas, only to catch his son red-handed as he closely inspected his gift under the tree, shaking it by his ear as he tried to figure out what was inside.
"Sieg," he called the boy, who clearly hadn't heard him coming in and therefore nearly jumped a foot off the floor from the fright alone and dropped the gift. Jellal raised an eyebrow at him. "What were you doing?"
The boy hesitated. "Please don't tell Mama," he finally mumbled.
Jellal sighed, shaking his head as he dropped his bag on a chair and approached the boy, ruffling his dark red hair. "Quit trying to guess your gifts, buddy. You'll spoil the surprise."
"I was just curious," the boy mumbled. "I wasn't actually going to open it..."
Jellal sighed. "I know," he reassured the little boy. He was intrinsically a rule-follower just like his mother… his curiosity just got the best of him sometimes. Reaching down, he picked his son up, giving him his usual 'I'm back' hug. Mavis, the kid was already so big. To think he used to be too tiny for newborn clothing… "Were you a good boy while I was gone?"
Sieg nodded. "Mmhmm."
"Did you take good care of Mama?"
"Mmhmm."
"How many meals did you two replace with strawberry cake alone?"
The little redhead hesitated while tensing a little, which was telling on itself.
"Sieg..."
"'T'was only once for lunch. But we ate all the veggies aunty Mira put on our place for dinner," the boy assured him. "There were a lot 'cause she knew about the cake somehow. How does she always know? How do you?"
Jellal chuckled as he put his son back down on the floor. "Magic. Where's Mama?"
"Upstairs. She said she was going to take a shower. Can we go to the guild afterwards?"
"I'll ask Mama," Jellal said before heading to the stairs. "Steer clear of that tree while I'm gone, Sieg Scarlet."
"Alright," the boy mumbled in return, sounding just a little bit annoyed.
Upstairs, he found Erza had already finished her shower and was sitting on the bed wearing only a bathrobe, looking at what appeared to be the tiny calendar she always kept on her bedside table. Of course, said calendar was forgotten as soon as she saw him walking in.
"Hi," he greeted, making his way to the bed and pressing a kiss to her cheek before sitting by her side.
"Hello," she replied in kind, although the kiss she gave him was a little less innocent. "You're back."
"I am."
"I missed you."
He chuckled. "I was only gone three days."
She shook her head. "Three days too long. I missed you. And your cooking."
"I heard you found solace by having lunch with Sieg at the bakery," he replied.
She didn't even bother to look repentant. He knew well enough that she hardly ever was when it came to her love for Strawberry Cake. "The satisfaction it provided was only temporary."
"I'm sure," he said blandly.
"Did your job go well?" she asked, changing the subject.
He nodded. "Nothing to report. And you? Did you take any while I was gone?"
"Only small things around town. Sieg came along in a couple and then got to use some of the reward money to buy himself candy," she added. It wasn't the first time he came along, occasionally joining in on small jobs his parents took while he wasn't busy at school.
"Not too much, I hope."
"Of course not," she reassured him and he believed her somewhat, since she seemed to have found some balance between her previous belief that no sweets were too many and a normal person's definition of too much sugar over the years, mostly for the sake of their boy and his – preferably cavity-free – teeth.
"So, what were you looking for in that calendar?" he asked, gesturing to the object in question. "You seemed pretty focused."
"Oh, I was trying to remember which day I had my period last month. I forgot to note it down," she said.
His face redened. "Ah, that's..." a little too much information, he thought before going with "… a shame. Er, good luck. I need to use the bathroom."
And so, he quickly retreated into it, hoping that would be the end of the conversation. When he returned to the room, she was already in the process of brushing her hair.
"I think next Christmas we may have to start aiming for third best rather than second."
"Third best?" he asked, confused.
"As far as ranking Christmases goes," Erza specified. "If my math is correct, I'm a week late."
He blinked in confusion. "Late?"
"Late," she repeated.
For a moment, he still wasn't sure what she was referring to. But then… "Wait, late as in… late? Baby late?"
"Maybe. I will not know for sure until I confirm it with Porlyusica, but given that we… well, we have been trying... I mean, it's only been a couple of months, but maybe we're just that ferti..."
She found herself being tightly hugged before she could even finish that sentence. "Thank you," he said, his lips right by her ear as his voice came out full of emotion. His family was the most precious thing he had. To think it might be getting bigger… it was just too good. "Just… thank you."
She smiled. "I still don't know for sure," she warned him nonetheless. "You shouldn't get your hopes up like this so early on."
"I'm not." Except that he was. He so was…
She smiled, knowing just that – she had her hopes up as well. "If it turns out to be real, do you think Sieg will be happy? He does ask for a sibling sometimes, but he's already six and he's always been our only child… it will be a big change in his life."
Jellal shook his head. "He's a good boy. It might take some getting used to in the beginning, but he's never had any issue whenever there's a new baby at the guild stealing everyone's attention. If anything, this will only start some sort of 'best brother' competition between him and Mac. God knows these two are as good at butting heads as you and Mira."
Erza chuckled, pulling back a little. "Well, what do we do now?"
"Ah, Sieg wanted to go to the guild. I suppose we could drop him off with the others and sneak out to see Porlyusica while he was distracted."
She nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."
"Great." He reached forward and placed a kiss on her lips before starting to retreat. "I'm going downstairs to see what the little guy is up to. We'll wait down while you get dressed."
And so, he made his way down with a smile so wide that even Sieg suspected something might be up. He just couldn't help it, really – Erza's news might still not be full of certainty but he had a good feeling about them.
And so, if that turned out to be his second best Christmas ever, he very much looked forward to find out what would one day end up permanently stealing third place.
Omake
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
With the pregnancy confirmed, they broke the news to their son two days later on Christmas morning. The boy was, understandably, excited and eager to get all the specifics.
"We don't know yet," Erza informed the boy, who frowned.
"You ordered without checking what it was?" Sieg demanded.
Mother and father looked at one another in puzzlement. Ordered? Where exactly did he think babies came from? Then again, it was best not to correct him yet, else that might open up a can of worms they really didn't feel like handling at the moment.
"Er… our bad," Jellal said apologetically. "We'll be able to find out later on. Still, listen buddy – I know that you may be a little biased and all, but I'm sure little sisters are just as good as little brothers."
"No, they're not. They're better than little brothers. That's why I want one," his son informed him.
Jellal blinked, leaving it for Erza to ask the question. "Wait, you mean you want a sister and not a brother?"
Her son nodded.
"Can I ask... why?" Jellal inquired.
"Mac says little sisters are terrible," he explained, as if that made perfect sense.
"I'm confused," his father confessed. For all his genius, he just couldn't make sense out of Sieg's logic.
The boy seemed disturbed by his father's issues with understanding his point. "Dad, Mac is dumb. If he says little sisters are bad..."
"… then they must actually be good," Erza finished for him, surprisingly beating Jellal to the punch. "That makes sense."
"So, if you could put in a word for a sister..."
"Ah… we can't make any promises," Jellal said.
The boy huffed. "Fine. I guess it's probably too late now. But next time, please pay attention before you turn in the baby-order's paperwork."
He thinks there's paperwork involved in baby-making?! was Jellal's main concern with that sentence.
At some point, their son scampered off somewhere to go pack his new toys so he could take them to the guild to play with the Dreyar twins (Mac, the above-mentioned idiot, included) and Erza and Jellal were left on their own.
"Should we be glad that he seems to have made his own conclusions about where babies come from?" Jellal asked, unsure.
"It doesn't sound much worse than him thinking there are birds and bees involved," Erza pointed out. "At least he seems prepared for the amount of bureaucracy life will one day throw at him."
"True," Jellal admitted.
"We'll still need to talk to him one day," Erza reminded him.
"He's still little. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Erza nodded. Hopefully they wouldn't get there for a long time.
The End
A/N: I hope you liked this! Feedback is welcome!