Chapter 4
Birthdays, Bathtime and Burning
Gajeel is 24, Levy is 20 and Tacks is 1
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Takamura wailed in Gajeel's arms.
"Come on, Tacks! We're just gonna get ya washed up for yer big party!" Gajeel implored, not that his son would understand. He was one year old today. He knew about four words: Dada, Mama, Lala (what he called Lily) and, of course, No.
"NOOOOOOOO!" He repeated. Gajeel was holding him buck naked, carrying him to the bathroom where the bathtub was already full to the right level with lukewarm water. He may be one, but he understood what being carried naked to the bathroom meant.
Levy was downstairs preparing the food, which meant that this was the first time Gajeel had ever been left alone to wash his son. Levy had smiled like Satan at the prospect. Gajeel was beginning to understand why.
Reaching the bath with the struggling infant, Gajeel wanted to check that the water was okay, and made the very amateur mistake of setting his son down to check. By the time he turned back, we can all imagine that his son had vanished.
"Mother…flipper," Gajeel swore, altering his curse while within potential earshot of his son. He raced out of the bathroom. He was one! How far could he go on little toddler legs? He wasn't exactly walking properly yet, but then again, he could scoot around on all fours at a decent pace. Which way? His nose twitched, but the house was so laden with the scents of his family going in all directions that he couldn't pick up on the direction.
Okay, Gajeel think, we're on the top floor. He can't go down the stairs by himself, so he's in one of these rooms. He probably went to his own bedroom. He inched slowly down the hall like a predator hunting its prey. But no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find him. Gajeel was oddly proud. His son hadn't fled to the obvious option.
He kicked down Lily's door with a flourish. The Exceed looked up from his pile of kiwis a bit guiltily. But Gajeel ignored him, treading around gently, examining nooks and crannies.
"Not here," he said, leaving. "Get help, ya've got an addiction."
Gajeel checked Levy's study, but that was empty too. At last, he checked his own bedroom and found Tacks curled up on his pillow, sound asleep. He wasn't quite sure how the baby had managed to scale the bed but it was goddamn adorable.
He reached down to pick Tacks up and the explosion was instantaneous. Gajeel held on as he squirmed and kicked and put him in the fucking bath. About five seconds later, Tacks was happily playing in the water with his bath toys.
"What the…frig?" Gajeel asked. "What was all the fuss about?"
He took about half an hour to slowly wash him around his son's playing, trying to do it covertly. There was a bit of a struggle to wash his hair, but overall, it went okay. Then he stooped to pick him up out of the bath."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tacks shrieked.
"What!? Now ya wanna stay in the bath?" Gajeel screamed, unbelieving.
"BAFFFFFFFF!" Tacks agreed loudly. Sighing, Gajeel reached in, but the baby splashed water in his face. Gajeel cursed (politely) and went after him again, heedless of the soaking coming back his way.
In the kitchen, Levy turned around to see a sodden Gajeel holding Tacks wrapped in a towel.
"I hate you," Gajeel stated.
"Good. Let the hate flow through you," Levy replied triumphantly. "Now get dried off, the guests will be arriving soon!"
Gajeel grumbled as he left, though it was hard to be too angry with the cute thing all wrapped up snugly in his arms. In fact, between Levy, Lily and Tacks, one could say that holding cute things was the happiest Gajeel ever got. Gajeel got dry and changed into fresh clothes, also dressing Tacks. Gajeel hated the concept of getting dressed up – people should just dress comfortably. So, he put Tacks in a black t-shirt and beige trousers…matching his dad perfectly. Gihihihihihi…lord, he was such a softy these days!
The first guests to arrive were Natsu, Happy and Lucy with little Nashi. Next came Gray and Juvia, the latter with a massively swollen belly. Juvia had never forgiven Love-rival for having a kid first. Then there were Jet and Droy, Tack's 'uncles'. Wendy and Charla came, of course. Levy had never forgiven Wendy for growing taller and bigger, but Gajeel was fond of the small slayer.
A small blunette. Big surprise.
Mostly everyone else was busy. Cana had explicitly stated that a party with no alcohol is no party.
The party was pretty dull, really. The guest of honour had no real idea of what was going on and was happy to play with Nashi and their building blocks. Suddenly, he cried out loudly, drawing the attention of the adults.
"Mama!" He shouted, pointing at his blocks. They spelled M-A-M-A. There was a hushed silence of amazement. Constantly being read to must be paying off. Lucy commented that Nashi hadn't even started speaking yet. Gajeel was about to comment something about Natsu's stupid genetics holding her back, but to everyone's surprise, it was Levy who jumped in.
"Don't feel bad, Lu-chan!" She tittered, hand over her mouth. She had no plans to mention that she'd used solid script to turn all of his letter blocks into 'M's and 'A's. "Just because my kid's smarter!"
"What was that, Shortstack?" Lucy asked with an evil twitch, towering over her friend. "Your kid's got a headstart!"
"He's only a few months older, and he was talking back then!"
"Oh? Well Nashi's gonna be much better looking!"
The two women fell into a squabble about every aspect of their children's lives.
"Women can be scary," Natsu muttered to Gajeel.
"Mothers can be scary," he corrected. Hurriedly, Gajeel got the cake ready to end the argument. It was a small sponge cake with but a single candle. However, as Gajeel was carrying it, it snuffed out.
"Awww," Gajeel went. He'd have to get another.
"No problem!" Natsu cried, jumping forward…and incinerating the entire cake and most of Gajeel's clothes. There was a horrific moment of complete and utter silence as Gajeel's gaze bore down on Natsu, slowing switching from surprise to primal fury. They were spared a murder as Tacks cried out again.
"FWWEEEEEEEEE!" He shouted happily. "FWWWEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Huh? Oh, he means the sound the fire made," Levy guessed.
"Wait, no!" Gajeel cried, spiralling out of control. "He likes fire? He wants to be fire mage? He wants to be a fire dragon slayer? This is yer fault! Sa…la…man…der…"
"Run!" Levy cried, but Natsu was already out of the door and running. Gajeel hurried after him, the last of his clothes disintegrating so that he was buck naked. He roared bloody vengeance far into the distance.
"Men can be so silly," Levy said.
"Fathers can be exceptionally so," Lucy agreed.
"DADA FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Tacks cried as Nashi laughed and clapped.
Levy was clearing away the dishes when Gajeel came back into the house, panting hard.
"Catch him?" She asked. He shook his head sadly, noticing Tacks asleep in a crib in the living room.
"Bastard managed to get away. He's pretty goddamn fast. I got a fine for indecent exposure."
"Oh well," Levy giggled coming through from the kitchen. "Hey, if he does want to become a fire mage, does that bother you? I mean, you refused to teach him slayer techniques."
Gajeel squatted down on the floor, staring at his sleeping child. Levy knelt next to him, hugging his bicep and resting her head on his shoulder. He thought for a while and then spoke.
"He can be whatever the hell he wants to be. I can't pretend that I like that idiot being his role model, but whatever."
"What if…he's really weak?" She asked.
Gajeel shrugged. "He doesn't have to be a mage. As long as he's happy, I'm happy. He can be a greengrocer for all I care."
"Hmmm….what if he's gay?" Levy teased.
Gajeel grimaced. "I guess…that'd be fine. I mean, Fried's a bit weird, but no more so than anyone else I suppose. No, I said I'd be happy whatever he wants to be and I'll stick by it."
"Ah! But here's the big test – what if he fell in love with Nashi?" She asked, swinging around to sit in his lap.
"How is that-"
"You and Natsu would be related." Gajeel's heart froze. It sounded like murder…but Nashi was really cute. Cute was good. That'd be fine…but Natsu as an in-law? Gah!
"I'll disown him," he joked, grabbing Levy's sides, making her giggle. "And I'll sell him off to the circus."
"Fair enough!" She laughed, kissing him deeply.
"Fweeeeeeee," Tacks mumbled in his sleep.
"Fuck."
