"Zeref, how could you let Larcade out on a date! He's only eleven!" I cried exasperatedly, staring at my husband.
"He's with Erza and Jellal's daughter, you know he's in good hands."
"And I also know that the said daughter's father is going to KILL our son, and us too!" I said, shaking my head. "There's something seriously wrong with your head. Also, how is this taking care of him?"
"You have your parenting ways, and I have mine. I was dating and having sex since… well… always." Zeref shrugged good-naturedly. "Plus, if he's gone, that means we can have a little… fun." Zeref said. I saw the glint in his eye and immediately frowned. He wrapped his arms around my waist, giggling as I squirmed to free myself.
"NO! None of that right now! We are talking about your horrible choice to let our son go on a date so young! He hardly has any sense of identity, he's way too young for this!"
"He's not five any more. He's almost a teenager, we've got to let the kid live a little."
"A little, yeah, but not this much! Oh, I knew it was a terrible idea to let you be in charge!" I shook my head, thinking of all the horrible things that could not only happen to Larcade, but also to Jellal and Erza's little girl, Rosemary. What if they got themselves hurt? They were only kids, and I doubted that Jellal and Erza even knew their daughter was gone. She had made a horrible habit of sneaking out recently, no matter what they did, and Erza had been complaining about it to me, while our husbands stalked along after us, Jellal sneaking a subtle glare in Zeref's direction every once in a while.
"Hey, I know you're worried right now, but you really have nothing to worry about." Zeref assured me. "We can go look for them now if you really want." He conceded softly.
"I do." I said. "I'm really worried, they could get run over by a car or something!"
"You are talking about them like they're ordinary human children, which they're not. They're both powerful in their own way. If they weren't, then I don't think our kind would've been around for so long."
"I know, but we humans aren't exactly bulletproof and we're still here too, so being alive really isn't that much of an accomplishment." I shouted, a bit harsher than I meant to be. Zeref took it in stride and smiled a little bit.
"I know you're worried, I'm only saying they're not human, not that they're bulletproof. We'll find them, don't worry." Zeref told me. I calmed down a little and sighed.
"Thank you, and I'm sorry for shouting." I said after a moment of hesitation. Zeref had grown out of his flirtatious ways for the most part, and had learned to hold his tongue at the mention of sex around Larcade, though we supposed the boy would have to learn about it soon. I wanted to keep him innocent for a little bit longer, but Zeref was all for telling him, claiming that after we told him, he could start his "lessons" which honestly freaked me out a bit. He was only eleven for God's sake!
I wanted to keep him safe, and I didn't really want him to find out about his origins either, even though Zeref insisted we tell him soon. I suppose, in that way he was more grownup and mature than I was. He was willing to tell Larcade the hard truths, even when I was worried that they would hurt him. I suppose what I understood reluctantly, was that it would always hurt him, no matter what age he was, but it would hurt him more if we kept it from him for too long. I didn't want to tell him that he was basically a mistake that never should've happened. And I didn't want to tell him that his mother hadn't wanted him. But most of all, I didn't want him to know that I wasn't his real parent. I suspected he knew that me and Zeref couldn't have children together because we were both guys, but… he would've at least thought I was his adoptive parent. For me to not be even that, was hard for me to accept.
"Zeref I… I did want to talk to you about something first."
"What is it, Love?"
"I… I want to talk to you about when we tell Larcade."
"About sex?"
"About where he came from."
"Oh… I can tell him, if you want."
"I do want you to tell him." I said softly. "You're his real parent, after all."
Zeref's gaze softened, like it had started doing a lot more. "If that's all you're worried about, then there's no reason to get yourself worked up. I want us to tell him together, and I want to be clear that even if you're not his birth parent, you're more a parent than that witch ever was."
"She took care of him, she gave birth, she cared…" I said, though the words tumbling out of my mouth sounded empty, even to my own ears.
"Maybe she did." Zeref said. "But she was never there for him. "She shipped him onto us, she's never come back, and she never will. That's not love. She' didn't care, she abandoned him, she didn't want him."
"Neither did you…" I said softly. We both knew it was true, though the words hurt to say.
"I know." Zeref said. "And I was wrong. I shouldn't have said those things, and I shouldn't have only kept him around for my own selfish benefit. But you have to know, that somewhere along the way I began to love that kid as much as you did." Zeref said passionately.
"I know you love him. I'm only saying that we can't say she didn't care. She hardly knew him."
"And she didn't want to know him."
"Neither did you."
"Of course not, he was a stranger. I was never there to hold him after he was born. I felt like some random kid was coming in to mess up my life. And it's not like I'm a woman, and it's not like I have some motherly instinct. But I DID stay, and so did you." Zeref said. "This isn't about to become an argument of who's the better parent."
"No, I didn't mean that you're a bad parent, I just—!"
"Especially when it's not really an argument to begin with. Everyone knows you're the best parent of the three of us." Zeref said, bringing his hand up to gently caress my cheek.
"No, you're a great parent, Zeref."
"Don't lie to me." Zeref snorted, smirking. "I just let him go out on a date at eleven, remember?" I cringed when he said that, because the words "eleven" and "date" didn't belong in the same sentence unless it was, "he's not going on a date because he's eleven".
"Yeah, you did, didn't you?" I said, smiling slightly.
"Mhm, so don't worry. He never knew his mother, he won't want her."
"That's another thing I'm afraid of." I whispered quietly. "I don't want to tell him because I'm afraid… if he finds out I'm not his real mother, he'll leave me." I said, feeling small tears come to the corners of my eyes. "And I'm scared he won't come back!"
"He will. You have to understand he might want to find his birth mother, and you should be supportive. He might have to know. However, once he finally meets her, he'll be calling, begging to leave the spiteful wench!" Zeref said.
"You shouldn't say things like that about his mother…"
"Yeah I should! Thank God he turned out just like me!"
"Oh, Heaven FORBID that ever happen."
Zeref paused, giving a fake look of hurt before smirking. "You're right, thank the gods he got your personality."
"Yeah, but he got your looks." I said.
"Well, better mine than HERS… but, he would've been more beautiful if he'd somehow gotten your looks."
I smiled at that and gently pressed my lips to his. "Thank you." I said.
"Of course." He said.
"Now come on, let's go find him."
"Alright, alright, but he's probably fine."
"I'd rather be safe than sorry." I said, grabbing my car keys. "Come on."
Driving around, looking for two kids wasn't exactly the most fun thing we'd ever done, but it was more bearable when I was with Zeref. "Are you happy with how your life turned out?" he asked finally, breaking the silence. I could see him looking at me from my peripheral vision.
Thinking back, it hadn't been the easiest life, but if it had been then it would've been rather boring. I had a husband, and a kid, and I had learned to love them more than I had loved any other human. "You're not… you don't think about what things could've been like if you'd gone with Lucy."
"I do think about that. But I keep realizing again and again that if I'd married her, I don't think I'd be nearly as happy as I am now. Lucy's a nice girl, she's a great friend. And if I had married her, I don't think I'd have been unhappy. But I also don't think our relationship could've lasted. Not even if you'd never come along'. And it definitely wouldn't have lasted after. I found something better, something I realized that I loved. I wouldn't trade it for the world."
"Glad we're that important."
"Of course." I really wouldn't trade it for the world, even if that was incredibly selfish.
There was silence for a few minutes before Zeref finally pointed out the window. "Look there! I see them."
I pulled into the parking lot of the park and watched as Zeref crawled out of the driver's seat. "Hey kids, we should go home now!" Zeref called.
"Aw, but you said we could stay as long as you want."
"Your mother's not as fun as me."
"Don't tell him that!" I cried, climbing out of the car too.
"But it's true… are you telling me to… lie, to our child?" Zeref asked dramatically.
"Well y—no!" I shouted. "I'm not saying that at all!"
The last thing I heard before I had to focus all my attention on yelling was, "Your mom and dad fight a lot."
And, "Yeah, I think that's how they care…"
Nope, I wouldn't trade them for the world, even if they made me want to smash my head against a rock sometimes.
The End.
A/N This is the LAST chapter. This shall never be updated again! And while I am kind of sad to see it go, I'm also massively relieved because I can start some new projects. Recently I've been into the MHA (My Hero Acadamia) fandom, so you can expect to see some fics about that. My most recent is "Human" which I have also updated today. However, while I have been diving deeper into other fandoms I do still plan to update Fairytail stories. I think I'm going to do... my SAO/Fairytail crossover next. If you want a summary for it, I have it in my profile under "Stories I want to Make". This one won't update for a while, however, as I plan for it to be about as long as this one if not longer. So in the meantime, expect a lot of random oneshots and short stories! An example of about how long the short stories will be, check out "Hell and Paradise". I can't remember how long exactly that one is, but if you just look at the word count that's about how long the short stories will be.
Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you guys for your lovely reviews, I find it rather amusing that I've only gotten Guest Reviews on this story. Ren, thank you for your reviews and telling me your enjoyment of this story, it was very helpful to know someone was waiting. Thank you Mavis for your support on this story, and on a few others, I really appreciate it. Thank you Joe Whiteburg, for your review, I'm glad you enjoyed this. And thank you all other unnamed Guests, you make this story possible. I'm not sure I would've gotten through this story without knowing someone actually wanted to read it and knowing that most of the clicks on my story weren't just "accidental clicks and they were really aiming for the story below mine..."
Anyway, I don't think I'll do another Zeref x Natsu for a while, as I really do love their brotherly relationship and I feel I write them better that way. Regardless, I think I will update one at some point in the future, but not for a long time yet. Thank you so much for reading, I will hopefully see you again in other stories and I hope I can continue to create stories for you to enjoy. Thanks again, I'll see you soon, BYE!
Edit: Dear Mavis (Guest) I'm happy you liked the story enough to read it twice, especially so soon after it's completion (has it been long? It feels like I finished it yesterday) anyway, I never thought this little story would be good enough for a first read let alone a second, but knowing that it was to someone is highly encouraging. If your read this and want to read my response to not having updated a lot of Fairy Tail Stories, head to the bottom of my profile page.