Firstborn

Over the near decade of taking care of Nathan and Pike, Laxus had learned to be suspicious of a barrage of things. Was the toilet seat actually down? Why? What had happened? Surely neither of his boys had remembered to put it down. Was the dog actually fed, walked, and bathed without him asking? What did the boys want from him in return? They'd actually left him the last slice of pizza? Clearly, it had been either meant for their mother or actually left for him and, therefore, been tampered with.

There was no other alternative.

It was another one of those instances, one gloomy day as torrents of rain poured outside, forcing the boys and their mutt to stay inside for the duration of the daylight hours. Laxus was home from a job and had, in fact, been in such a good mood that morning, he'd gotten up before his wife and cooked her breakfast. Oh, and his runts too. And Gramps who lived with them in those days. But mostly just for Mirajane.

She'd been most pleased (as planned), but had to head into work and couldn't stay long enough to do the dishes for him. Which was fine; that was why Laxus had sons, after all (actually, anonymous sex for the first one and giving into the demon for the second, but whatever). He ordered Nate to dishes duty, Pike to sweeping up duty, and Master Makarov to just stay the hell out of his hair for the rest of the day duty.

This left Laxus with very little to do. He'd have to scrounge up some lunch for the boys as well as dinner which, a quick glance outside, even that morning, revealed would have to be an in-house affair. Which was fine; he'd lived off sandwiches and juice for his formative years (you know, when his dad was being a maniac and his mother wasn't caring for him, leaving him to fend for himself). They could deal.

The dang mutt, however, would be a bit tricky that day, as he always was when it was raining outside. He'd long outgrown roaming the neighborhood for fun in the sun, but still did need to be taken out, on a leash, to pee. Leaving that job to one of the boys or his grandfather would only result in, at best, water and mud winding up in the house.

No, Laxus was going to have to put up with the dog that day. He couldn't been too pissed; it would be any fun for the animal either.

Other than that though, Laxus would have to catch a shower eventually and maybe do some weight lifting down in the basement (he had a pretty snazzy setup down there) or even get on the communication lacrima and invite over some friends.

Or just sleep all day.

Which, of course, brought him to his final, most important chore of the day. Nay, not chore. Just extremely important.

He had to take care of his baby.

She was just a little thing by that point, Ivory was. She mostly liked to sleep, eat, poop, and repeat. Same as him. They were pretty much thick as thieves already. All Laxus had to do, honestly, was keep the boys from bothering her and Makarov from stealing her (for some reason, he seemed to think at times that the baby would rather be around him than her own father; yeah right. Maybe grandchildren, but not great-grandchildren). Oh, and he had to try and stop himself from growing exasperated with her never-ending need of, well, needing things. 'cause he loved his baby, of course, but sometimes he just wished she'd hurry up and become a toddler already.

But not a child, like Pike and Nate. Those had...opinions and feelings and you couldn't just give them some blocks and be done with them for awhile. You had to entertain them with far more. Less they fall into the darkness, i.e. start spending time up at the guildhall and possibly start idolizing the likes of the Salamander. There was nothing scarier than that.

Nothing.

All of this was to say, simply, that Laxus was immediately alerted, some odd hours later, to something being up when, as he laid in bed, to complete and utter silence.

In his house, silence only happened one of two times; everyone was out and he was home alone or it was so late into the night hat they'd all passed out, exhausted from bothering one another the entire day. Considering he knew neither of those to be true, Laxus sat up with a frown.

Taking a deep breath, he smelled the scents of both his sons, the mutt, Makarov, and his daughter, all in the front of the house. They had to be in the living room. All of them. And they were all being far too eerily quiet.

He was definitely needed.

"What's going on?" Laxus growled as he jumped out of bed and left the room, headed for where the others all were. "Boys? Gramps?"

But they weren't there. His nose was off. They had passed through there, recently, but they were somewhere else.

He followed their scents to the kitchen and then through the door in there that led to the stairs down to his basement. They were all in there, Gramps, Nate, and Pike, as well as the mutt, who was lounging in the middle of the room, lazily watching what was going on. Ivory was there as well, in her playpen in the corner (it's where Laxus put her when he was working out), napping from the looks of it.

"Wow," the slayer heard his eldest child whisper, not even glancing over as the man came rushing down the stairs. "You're so cool, Gramps."

Makarov, at the moment, was using the slayer's dumbbells, a fifty pound one in each hand, pumping them in rhythm, much to the amusement of his great-grandsons, who were watching in awe of him. Laxus, however, just came over to break it up.

"Put those down, Gramps!" he growled. "You're going to hurt your- Look. Now you're all sweaty and you're going to have to take a shower and what? Am I supposed to watch them alone while you do that?"

Uh, considering Makarov had, up to that point, been doing that very thing, he wasn't sure if he understood the question. Laxus, however, just came to snatch the dumbbells with ease.

"Stop it!" Nate complained. "We wanna watch Gramps-"

"I," the elderly man said as Laxus only glared at his son, going to replace his weights on the rack where they belonged, "am quite out of breath as it is, Nathan. Could you go and get me a glass of-"

"Yes!" Nathan didn't even let him finish. He was rushing off to do his grandfather's bidding just like that. You know, the same boy that questioned Laxus if he even requested he, maybe, try putting on a new pair of underwear that day. "I'll get you water!"

Pike just stood there though, the awe of his great-grandfather fading away into fear of his father getting upset that they were messing with his weights.

It was one of the house new rules that had been instated when, finally, Laxus had gotten his home gym that he wanted, using some extra S-Class money to buy some weights and a bench. Something that important obviously forced a rule to be made. It was a pretty big one too, as Laxus yelled at them if he caught them downstairs. Pike didn't understand, of course, and neither did his brother that Laxus was more worried about one of them hurting the other or themselves rather than he was being mean. The only ones, he would say, that could go down into the basement without being invited was, obviously himself and his demon.

To Pike that left a very important person off the list. Namely, Makarov. He knew, of course, that his grandfather held just as much power as his parents, in that, if he so chose, he could discipline them just the same. However, Laxus always told them that he was the ultimate authority in the house. If he hadn't granted the man permission then, well, that was that.

"Are we in trouble, Daddy?" he asked slowly. "Gramps just wanted to try your weights. And we wanted to watch. He can lift a lot!"

The slayer only growled. "I let you brats in here all the time to watch me when I'm working out! You never brag on me!"

"That's because you're way bigger than Gramps," they heard from the stairs as Nate came rushing back down them. "You should be able to lift a lot."

"That's not-"

"Thank you, my boy," Makarov cut his grandson off as his great-grandson handed him off a glass of water. He'd gone over to the couch that sat against one of the far walls. It had been Elfman and Ever's old one (actually, Mirajane's, back when she owned their current house and all it's furniture, making it even older), which they'd given to them when they bought a new one a few weeks ago. The idea for the basement was for it to be Laxus' space to get away from all of them when he was home and couldn't be bothered.

So far, however, he'd mostly used it as an attempt to show off to his kids how much he could bench press. Oh, and bring the Thunder Legion down to so he could show off all the expensive equipment he'd bought. The latter usually didn't go over well as, in a rather condescending way, Freed and Ever made slight comments about how they were impressed that he had so much money lying around with two growing boys and a newborn daughter.

He knew, of course, that was the work of Mirajane, who had been rather snippy over the whole thing, but Laxus was keeping things budgeted just fine. She was always worrying; he wasn't. If things got tight, he'd take off for a bit and go out on as many S-Class jobs as he could and come back with jewels and trinkets galore.

Laxus Dreyar knew how to provide. But, after giving up an entire house to the children that Mirajane had been insistent upon, he deserved a basement.

He just did.

"You could have hurt yourself," Laxus said then, turning to frown over at his grandfather. "You're too old to be down here, all alone, trying to-"

"i wasn't alone."

"Gramps-"

"I wasn't."

Shaking his head, the slayer just as quickly went to peek in the playpen to check on Ivory. She was awake then, now doubt disturbed by their loud voices, and only blinked up at him.

"I mean what, Gramps?" he complained as he reached down to lift his baby into his arms. Ivory responded well to this, babbling something to her father. "Do I have to put a lock on this place?"

"I did not do anything wrong, Laxus. And I will not allow you to treat me like a child." Makarov took a big gulp of water before saying, "I'm still the Master. I have to keep in shape."

"You could have hurt yourself. If you wanted to use something, you could have asked. Or if you want to keep in shape, better yet, just go for long walks or something." Then the slayer frowned. "After telling me you are. And where your going."

"Laxus-"

"I'm not trying to baby you, alright?" Then he snorted before looking down at the actual baby in his arms. She was totally dribbling on his shirt and it was kinda grossing him out, but what could he do? "I just don't think- See? Now Nathan thinks he can just go over and pick up a weight without asking. Is that what you think, Nate? Huh? Is that why you're just snatching up that ten pounder there like you can just touch my stuff?"

"I was just-"

"I don't care," he told the boy as, reluctantly, he placed it back on the rack. "At all. This is my stuff. Mine. If you want to touch it, you ask. It's not a joke down here, alright? And that goes for all of you."

Pike went to go sit down with his grandfather, staring over at his dad with a concerned look. "How come Nate can't try and lift weights? If you're here?"

"Because I said so. And he didn't ask!"

That was one growl too many for Ivory, who immediately began to wail. Makarov took that as his cue to get right back upstairs and leave Laxus to his basement that he apparently coveted so much.

"I think Egg liked it better when Gramps was watching her," Nate mumbled as he went to join his younger brother on the couch. Pike sat to attention at the sound of his sister's wails, awaiting his father to resolve the issue. "She wasn't crying before you came down here and bothered us all."

That time, somehow, the slayer was able to suppress his growl. Just barely.

"What's wrong, Ivory? Huh?" Laxus gently nuzzled his head against hers as she continued to whine. "I was just talking, is all. You shouldn't be scared of that."

"You yelled," Pike pointed out. "You didn't talk. That's what scared her."

"I think," the man complained, "that I'm a bit more in tune to what bothers her and what doesn't."

"Why would you think that?" his oldest asked. "You don't know what bothers me and what doesn't."

"I do too," the man said. "I just don't care."

"Hey!"

"Maybe Ivy's hungry," Pike suggested. "I'm hungry."

"Did your grandfather give her a bottle while I was asleep?" Laxus asked to which both the blonde haired and white haired child shook their heads. "Then come on. Let's go make her a bottle. Is that what you want? Huh, Ivory?"

He forced Nate and Pike to follow him out of the basement, which was just as well for his youngest. He would have regardless. Quite honestly, curiosity be danged, for the most part, the basement scared the heck out of him. Laxus could make it as cool as he wanted; Pike was still nearly certain that there were monsters lurking in the shadows.

And, of course, it went without mentioning that he wanted to see Ivory's feeding time through to completion as well as be sure that her happiness was restored. He really did love her, after all.

Nathan, however, was kinda over his sister for the day. He loved her too, but he was far more concerned with the fact that, once more, Laxus had managed to ruin his fun. For something that happened on a daily basis, one would think that he'd formed a resistance to how defiant it made him, but no such luck.

"You just don't want me playing downstairs," the boy mouthed off as he and his younger brother followed his father around, "because you think that I'm gonna get way stronger than you and-"

"I don't want you going downstairs," the man grumbled as he made Ivory her bottle, "because it's not a game. You could drop a dumbbell on your foot or on Pike's foot or the dog...well, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing-"

"I'm not a baby," Nathan continued to complain. "I bet I could lift a lot more than you!"

"I'm a slayer, you little brat, so-"

"Mommy says not to say brat anymore," Pike spoke up, watching his father not only hold his younger sister and make her bottle, but also skillfully combat with Nathan all at the same time. "She says that when you say it, we have to tell you that it's mean and hurtful."

"Yeah, well, Mira's at work, Pike."

"When you say that, she says to remember it and then tell her about it when she gets home and-"

"You know, buddy," Laxus told him, holding back an exasperated sigh. "I think you should go look in the fridge and pantry and figure out what you think I should make for lunch. Alright?"

Nathan was not as easily distracted. Still standing there at the counter with his father who, finally, was finished with the bottle and was moving to give it to Ivory, the boy said, "I have to let Pike play with my cars."

"And?"

"And you should have to let me play with-"

"It's not playing, Nathan. Alright? And if you want to lift some damn dumbbells that much, fine. After I finish here, you can go lift one for, like, half a minute, whine about your arms being tired, and then go back to leaving my basement alone."

Pike, who was about ready to announce that he would like mac'n'cheese for lunch, frowned over at his father. "Mommy says not to say-"

"I won't get tired!" Nate cut off his brother, glaring up at his father. At this point, honestly, Laxus was tired of both of them and just went to to sit down at the table for a bit, Ivory still in his arms, diligently sucking at her bottle. Sure, Laxus' screaming had disturbed her, but she had been getting dreadfully close to crying over hunger anyways. "I'll last just as long as Gramps!"

"Great, Nate. You last as long as an old man."

"I said Gramps," the boy sneered. "Not you."

That one got a growl. A loud one. But Ivory was so into her bottle that she didn't mind.

"Jokes on you, brat! If you're calling me old, then you're calling Gramps old too!"

"So? You're still old!"

Pike only said, "You're not supposed to say-"

"Would you both," Laxus finally ground out, "just go do something else? Please? For five minutes?"

"You're the one that came to bother us," Nathan pointed out, though he and his brother did, slowly, head out of the kitchen. Not before Pike called out his lunch request and his father begrudgingly agreed.

Some days, having kids was the best thing in the world. Others…

Ivory was getting pretty good at gripping her own bottles, so Laxus just sat there, holding her, and trying hard not to fall back asleep.. The brat had woken him from a nice nap...by not...making any noise...at all…

Huh. He figured some days for them, having a dad that was so involved was the best thing in the world too. And then others…

"You like me everyday though, huh, Ivory?" Laxus sighed slightly as she still sucked away at her bottle. "I like you everyday too."

He was still busy feeding her when he heard the front door open and close. He was about to get up and yell at the boys about how, clearly, it was storming out and they were not allowed to play outside, but caught himself when a scent hit him.

"Demon," he called out slowly. "What are you doin' home?"

"Lisanna was hanging around the guildhall and her and Bickslow are a bit low on jewels-"

"When aren't they?"

"-so I let her take my shifts today. I- Oh, Pike, sweetie, I missed you too."

The boy had, apparently, stopped the woman's path into the kitchen, no doubt hugging her or something. Nate, of course, was not one to be left out of loving Mirajane and Laxus heard him rushing from somewhere else in the house to do so.

Finally, the woman made it to the kitchen, the boys following, and came over to first give Laxus a kiss, though just as quickly she was moving to take Ivory from him.

He just let his arms fall a bit.

"Can you make the boys lunch?" he asked her. Mira had been grinning down at her baby, but frowned then, looking back at him. "Please?"

"I just got off, Laxus. I-"

"Nate and I have something to do."

"You do?" she asked.

"We do?" the boy quipped as well, frowning at his father.

"For, oh, a good minute, I'd bet," the man remarked simply. "Wouldn't you say, Nathan?"

He took to glaring then, at his father, before saying, "We want mac'n'cheese, Mom. After I finish in the basement!"

"What are you doing in the- You both can't just ask me for something and then walk away," she complained as they headed downstairs. "I mean it, boys. That's disrespectful. So stop and apologize."

She got a grumbled, nearly unintelligible set of words from Laxus and a, "Sorry, Mom," from Nathan. Then, with them down in the basement with the dog, it was just her and Pike left.

And Ivory, who was done with her bottle and ready for some real attention.

Like snuggling. She needed some serious snuggles.

Mira hadn't even gotten started yet on lunch (she was still having Pike find her a pot; she didn't know that part of the boys cleaning up the kitchen that morning included putting dishes away on their own, leaving the pot to possibly be anywhere other than where it was supposed to be) when there was a yelling from the basement and Nate came running up the stairs, Laxus taunting him as he ran off.

"I don't like him," he told Mirajane, who only blinked in surprise at Nathan. Pike, finally finding the pot literally under the sink (why Nate thought that was where it went, no one would ever know), stared over at the basement door, trying hard not to giggle when Laxus made a particularly funny remark about his brother. "You should divorce him."

"Oh, Nate."

"He's mean."

"Laxus, stop bullying your son," Mirajane called down to him as Nate only stomped right out of the room. His dog had followed him up from the basement and, slowly, trailed behind him. "It's not nice."

"Serves him right for messing with my stuff," he volleyed back.

And that, for the time being, settled that.

Until, of course, Mirajane and Laxus were alone that night, in bed, Ivory sleeping peacefully in her crib across the room. Then, things got stirred up a bit once more.

"You were really mean to Nate, Lax," Mira told him as he laid on his stomach, head buried in a pillow. At the sound of her speaking, he turned only his head to face her, frowning slightly as he did so.

"In what way? Huh? I haven't even spoken to him since this afternoon."

"Because he's upset with you."

Snort. "The little brat shouldn't have smarted off about my basement."

"I deserve a space where I can-"

"He told me," she said as she settled onto her side, staring across the bed at her husband, "that Master was down there with them and they were just watching him. Then you came in there and caused all this fuss-"

"My space."

"Oh, Laxus."

"He wanted to try some weight lifting, I let him lift some dumbbells," the slayer retorted. "Is it my fault that he got tired quickly?"

"No, but it's your fault that you mocked him and made him run off to his bedroom, upset."

Grunt. "Shouldn't have boasted about being able to keep up if he couldn't."

"Whatever, Ivan."

His eyes turned dark. "What did you just say?"

Mirajane wasn't deterred. "You always get like this, Laxus. About anything remotely dealing with training. You're the reason that Nathan wants to train with his aunt-"

"Lisanna's such a snake," he growled. "Taking my first born from me."

"You're sending your first born away," she counted. "You get too serious about things. You're always so hard on him."

"I am not."

"You are too," she insisted. "You let Pike get away with everything-"

"Pike never misbehaves. Nate though-"

"Ever since he came into our lives," Mira interjected, "you've always thought that he dislikes you. So you counter it by being mean to him."

"That's not true," Laxus told her. "So stop saying that."

"But it is, Lax," she said. "Unless, he's showing you an extreme amount of love and admiration, you act like he's being a brat."

"He's constantly being a brat."

"Laxus-"

"I love him," the man told her as, slowly, he moved to sit up. "I mean it."

"I know that. I-"

"No, Mira, clearly you don't," he complained. "If you'd say something like that."

"You cannot deny," she began, "that you and Nathan don't have that weird...competition thing going."

"Competition? Over what?"

Mira shrugged slightly. "I don't know, Laxus. What is it over?"

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "A tad conceited there, aren't we, Mirajane?"

"I didn't say it was over me." Then she paused. "But if you think so-"

"I'm just grooming him," the slayer corrected.

"You're what?"

"That's what you do right? In a dynasty?"

Mira didn't even blink. "Is that what this is? The Dreyar Dynasty?"

Nodding, he said, "I'm practically a king."

"Emperor."

"Does it matter? The point is he's my first born son. Of course I'm hard on him. Heirs gotta work their butts off. Everyone knows this. How do you not know this?"

Humming, she moved to snuggle down into the bed. "I don't like this."

"Why not? You're the, uh, whatever the emperor's wife is."

"Empress."

"Yeah, sure. But why wouldn't you like that?"

"Because," she sighed, staring over at him. "In this theory, I have to help Pike kill Nathan, don't I?"

"...You've lost me. Completely."

"Nate's your first born," she agreed, "with another woman. So I'd, naturally, want my son to be the next emperor. Obviously."

Again, he narrowed his eyes. "Why did you feel the need to bring that up?"

"You're the one that mentioned the dynasty," she pointed out. "In this world, fine, it doesn't need to be mentioned. But in our dynasty, the entire kingdom would know that you had a son with another woman. It couldn't be hid. Definitely not."

Growling softly, he said, "In your stupid scenario-'

"Well, your scenario, but sure."

"-Nate would be my...bastard. Not my son. Pike would be. So he'd be king."

"Emperor."

"Whatever."

Mira let out her own extremely sleepy grunt that was cute as hell to Laxus. Or at least it usually was. At the moment, he only stared.

"I feel like you misdirected the conversation to get out of what I was talking about," Mirajane told him.

"Which was?"

"Mmmm… Oh. You were being extremely mean to Nathan today over something stupid."

"It wasn't stupid."

"You know what I think, dragon?"

"Do I care?"

"You better," she warned. "Else you'll go sleep in Nate's room, on his bottom bunk, and make up with him. And the dog."

"The dog?" he grumbled. "What did I do to the dog?"

"Well, I don't know. You usually manage to do something, so I'm sure you did."

Meh. She had a point.

"Anyways," Mira went right along, "I think that it has nothing to do with them being down in the basement."

"It? What is it? There is no it. They shouldn't be down there, they were, so I punished them the best way I knew how. By not punishing Pike, chewing out Makarov, ignoring the dog, and-"

"Mentally torturing our oldest son?"

"No," he said slowly. "Teaching him a very important lesson."

"Right," Mira agreed, nodding her head. "That's what I was getting to. What I really think was the problem. You were totally just jealous that they were down there, cheering on Master, when they practically have to be forced to go down there and watch you work out."

That time, his growl was deafening. "That has nothing to do with it! And I don't have to force them to do anything! They want to go down there and watch me! And cheer? Cheer? They weren't cheering him on. They were watching extremely silently. Oddly silently. Excited? Thrilled? Enthralled? I think not, Mir- Oh, Ivory."

"Don't blame her," Mira complained as she got out of bed to tend to the whining baby. "You were the one yelling."

"Bring her to me," he said. "I'll get her right back to-"

"Oh, you think you get her?" When Mirajane headed back to the bed with the child in her arms, she made no move of handing her over. "After waking her up? Yeah right."

"Why do you want her?"

"Why do you?"

"Because I do."

"Too bad."

"Mira-"

"She likes me best anyways," she sighed as, when she laid back down, she settled the still whining Ivory against her chest. "It's pretty obvious."

"You're annoying," he grumbled, falling once more onto his face, burying it right into the pillow.

"Not as annoying as I'm going to be when I make you get up in ten minutes to put her back in her crib."

"Mira-"

"Don't fight it. Think of it as...your way of being taught a very important lesson."

His grunt was a lot less cute than hers. But he did what she asked.

He always did, after all.

The next morning, Mirajane awoke bright and early, like always, and Laxus decided to get up as well. She had work, but he just wanted some time alone in his basement, working out, before the boys got up.

That was the great thing about his basement that Mirajane just didn't understand. He didn't have to leave to train anymore; he just had to go downstairs. Totally worth all those jewels.

Totally.

Sure, they could have saved the jewels or bought something for the house or the baby or even a mixture, but why? The stronger Laxus got, the more jewels he would drag in.

Get it? Drag in? Dragon?

Yeah. Mirajane didn't laugh at it either. She only said, "But Laxus, I thought you were already the strongest person on the world or something stupid like that?"

Which gained a growl from him and the effective end of the conversation.

That morning, Laxus was still just doing his stretches when he heard the sound of the basement door opening before something's feet creaking down the stairs.

"Go away, Nate," Laxus grumbled, not even looking at him. "Better yet, go back to bed. Why are you even up?"

"I had to take the dog pee," he said simply. "And then Mom was up and told me to come down here and talk to you."

"Why would she say that?"

"I dunno. She said you had something to tell me."

Laxus just stood there, still rolling his shoulders, though he was frowning then. So that was the demon's ploy, huh? Just force him to apologize?

Hn. He'd be angry, but it was literally what she tried half the time. The other half she let him and Nathan work out their differences on their own. Or try to mediate from the sidelines.

She must really not be in the mood for him and his shenanigans if she went straight for forcing them.

All those hours down at the hall must be killing her…

"Well, I don't," Laxus told him simply. "So go back to bed. Don't you have to get up in a few hours? And meet with Lisanna? I thought she was taking you to-"

"I hate Lisanna."

"Nathan-"

"I do." He did. A lot. "But, yeah, I have to go with her."

"You don't have to," Laxus pointed out. "You asked her to help you learn magic. Her. Over all the great mages you know."

"Because I hate her."

And that's why Laxus never tried to get deep with Nathan. At least not about he and Lisanna's extremely weird...whatever they had going on.

If he was being honest, after knowing the woman as long as he did, he kinda sorta understood where Nathan was coming from. Laxus loved Lisanna. A lot. But damn if he couldn't just leave her to die in a pit sometimes…

Ehm.

"And she's going to bring Bickslow," the boy continued.

"You hate him too?"

"No. I like him."

Of course.

"But," Nathan continued, "then they'll fight and then they'lll make up and then we won't get anything done. At all." As an afterthought, he added, "We'll definitely eat though at some point. Maybe even twice."

"Yeah, well, that's great, buddy," were they already back to using buddy, "but I'm kinda busy, so-"

"I have to train too." And he walked right over to the rack of dumbbells without a second thought. "Before I go."

"Nathan, go away. I mean it."

"I have to-"

"Have to what? Huh?" Laxus snorted. "Play with the weights for a minute, whine about how your arms hurt and go back upstairs? Yeah. Great. Have fun with that."

"I'm not playing." He didn't even look at his father. "Because it's not a game."

And he wanted to snap at him. Really badly. For being a little smart mouth and then, to punish him for it, force him to spend the night over at Lisanna and Bickslow's (sounded fun, but believe Laxus, he knew his son; he hated it).

But there was a sudden feeling that overtook him. Not really a memory or anything of the like. Just…

He wasn't Ivan. Ivan was an ass. He worked Laxus to the bone when he was a kid, for his own futile gain. In the hopes of one day harvesting his lacrima. Laxus wasn't doing that. At all. He was just...being mean to Nathan for…

Damn. There was a reason. He knew there was. Before the demon went and swirled all those things up about how he was jealous of Makarov and just like Ivan and how he was an emperor.

Having a dynasty was so hard…

"You're right," Laxus agreed, going to go stand with Nathan, moving to take the weight from him when he started to pick it up. Glancing up at his father, the boy only stared. "It's not. And if you really wanna be down here with me, and not just watch, there's going to be rules. The most important one, of course, is not to be messing around down here. The second, however, is that you always and I mean always, have to stretch first."

"That's lame."

"Is it lame to pull a muscle? Huh? No? That's what I thought." Laxus shook his head as he drug Nathan to the center of the room so that he could show him a few stretching exercises. "And sheesh. Does Lisanna not make you stretch before you guys train?"

"We don't train," the boy told him with a frown. "She just throws magic books at me and makes me read them. Then she makes me do all this weird yogurt stuff that she and Bickslow-"

"Yogurt? Wha- Yoga, Nate. Not yogurt."

"Whatever. She says it helps harness magic energy or something."

Grunt. "Yeah, well, if you would train with me, you'd be a lot better off."

"But I don't want to learn from you."

Ouch. That still hurt. All those months out. Huh.

Being a father was a lot more painful than Laxus had been led to believe.

Then again, he didn't just walk out on his son when he got annoyed with him, so maybe the learning curve was just different. He was on a more advanced level than Ivan had been.

"I'm gonna learn from Lisanna," Nate went on and Laxus instructed him on how to stretch out his shoulder muscles. "On how to become animals and stuff. And Bickslow said that he can teach me some eye stuff too. An unstoppable duo, they say. Both of them combined. And then they fight over whether or not have a baby."

Laxus just went over to the music lacrima in the corner. "Let's just listen to this and not talk, huh? It's much better that way."

Most things were.

And even though Nathan crapped out on him rather quickly, Laxus tried his hardest not to be annoyed. Not to complain about him wasting his time.

Because he wasn't. Everyone had to start somewhere. Laxus wasn't just born great, after all. He'd worked at it. And even after accomplishing it, he worked some more.

Nathan would get there one day. Whether under his tutelage or Lisanna's (ugh), he'd get there.

Or at the very least, he'd get buff like his Uncle Elfman.

Hmmm. Laxus would have to add that to his list of reasons that the purchases of all those weights and accessories was a good idea. After all, Mirajane loved her brother. And the idea of Nate one day being like him...made Laxus vomit. But probably not her. It'd make her happy.

And, again did what made her happy.

Even to his own detriment.

Wo is de kse-girl drew me some new art for my stories, so of course I had to write something to use them as cover art. This one, obviously, is Nate and it completely my favorite. And you also got a really awkward bonding (sorta) story for Nathan and Laxus. Or at least the start of bonding (sorta).