STA: I'm so sorry! It totally slipped my mind to update this!
-x-
Natsu had spent the first two weeks after Rogue's surprise hospital visit hanging around the guild and keeping a close eye on Rogue for any more signs of trouble with the pregnancy.
"The doctor said there was a chance you could end up with a lot of difficulties. If your condition does get bad, then I should be there to help you. I can cancel the hotel reservations and stay home to nurse you until you're ready to have the baby," he'd said.
Rogue had completely forgotten about the hotel, but he'd only let that stop him from his latest 'don't coddle me' fit momentarily. He'd grabbed Natsu's arm and led him to the job board and said, "Someone else from the guild can notice if I need help again. If you want to spend that much time with me later, you'd better make sure you can afford it now."
But Natsu was never taking jobs that lasted more than a day. Less-if he could afford it. Once, Rogue had caught him giving school kids a special lesson on learning magic right there in Magnolia. He didn't have to ask why. Even if Natsu no longer haunted the guild, he was always there on time to walk home with Rogue after work. It went without saying that he also walked Rogue to work.
"So I can still make sure you're okay when the guild isn't there to do it for me," Natsu would always say to justify the walks.
Then maybe he'd asked Mira to walk with Rogue that night, since he had needed to work, and nothing could be completed before Rogue's shift ended. If the coddling went on much longer, Rogue swore he was going to stab someone.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than did Mira turn down a different street.
"Oh. You live that way? I thought you were going back to work after this."
Mira shook her head. "Master finally hired some girls from around town, so they can fill in for me. Come on. I have a surprise for you."
It would be less painful if he got it over with quickly. Rogue sighed and followed Mira down a street he didn't take often, waiting as she stopped at a building that smelled strongly of Natsu and knocked on the front door.
The door opened to reveal Lucy, who squeaked when she saw them. "It's not ready yet! One more minute!" she cried before slamming the door in Mira's face.
"I'm going," Rogue told her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. But something about Lucy's-house-that-smelled-like-Natsu just bothered him.
Mira grabbed Rogue's arm and held him firmly in place until Lucy came back and let them in.
"Sorry. Mira brought you earlier than she said she would, and we were still getting everything arranged right," Lucy explained as she led them upstairs.
We?
Realization struck just as Lucy reached out to grab the door to her room. Rogue had only a moment to brace himself before he was thrust inside and met face to face with a popper.
"Surpise!" Everyone called.
Everyone? How many were there? Rogue stumbled backwards, tripping over his feet and landing on his butt as he tried to assess how many people they'd crammed into Lucy's room. All female. All staring. Well… shit.
"Are you okay?" Levy asked, bending over to make sure Rogue hadn't somehow harmed the baby by not bumping his stomach against anything.
"Mm… Fine."
Shit, shit, shit. Too many people watching him. Rogue scampered to his feet and stepped behind Mira as she came forward to announce the beginning of his baby shower.
"Well, what do you think?" Mira asked him. "We were going to do this during the guild's New Year's party, but when I asked Natsu if you were planning to come he said no. A mom can't miss their own baby shower. So?"
"If I'm a guy… shouldn't the men in the guild have put this on?" Then Natsu would be there to help him sneak out.
"No. Baby showers are a girls only event. We're making an exception for you," Mira told him.
"Jellal didn't even bother asking about guys when Ultear and I put together a celebration for him," Erza added, glossing over the fact that Jellal didn't have extended contact with any human males. "Settle down. There's no need to tremble. We won't bite."
"He has Natsu to bite for him," Mira snickered.
"I'm… going home," Rogue decided. "Thanks anyway."
One cry amongst all the disappointed complaints made his ears perked up, and he gave Lucy's room a more thorough lookover, spotting Frosch just as the little exceed asked, "But if Rogue goes then who's going to open all the presents?"
"F-Frosch! What are you… shouldn't you be…"
"It's a girls only party. Fro and Carla get to come!" Frosch cheered. "Rogue, stay!"
"Come onnnnn!"
"Stay!"
"Just take it easy for the night."
"Fro wants to play with Lucy and Rogue and Mira and Levy and Wendy and Evergreen and…"
Rogue groaned and threw his hands up in surrender. He would not be 'taking it easy' if the whole event had to be about him, but he was growing more and more certain that he'd never hear the end of it if he did try to duck out. If not from the girls, then from Frosch.
-o-
"Oh. Look. Another stuffed animal."
Levy laughed uncomfortably as she held out her teddy bear sized gift. Rogue set it with the others without having unwrapped it (which earned a more earnest laugh from everyone) before accepting the next gift and fumbling with the wrapping. Why? Why did they have to keep staring at him like that? What could possibly be so fascination that they'd watch hands shake as he unwrapped a…
Oooo. What a pretty baby mobile. The box had a see through side with a small opening that allowed people to test the product before purchasing it. To humor the audience, Rogue gave it a test spin and watched all the star decorations align with an artistic touch that a newborn would never appreciate. With each new position that it swiveled into, the dangling stars formed a different constellation. There hadn't been a label on the outside of the wrapping saying who it was from, but he knew to look to Lucy and nod his thanks anyway.
All in all, most of the gifts were pretty well thought out. Sure, he did end up with two stuffed bears, three bunnies, the most harmless looking tiger you'd ever seen, a little dragon that Rogue suspected would end up in Natsu's hammock rather than little Alex's crib, and several bottles of baby food that would go bad long before they could be used, but the mobile had started off a series of real toppers. A nice stroller. A diaper changing station. A play pen. Laky had even made a crib, though she'd had to disassemble it to box it up for him.
"Rogue needs to open Fro's gift, too," Frosch said before they could move on to… oh God. Someone had set up a poster for pin the tail on the donkey. Why?
"Right. Let's see it," Rogue said, eager to put off that event. Whatever Frosch got would have come out of his wallet anyway, but it would almost certainly be a cute gift nonetheless.
Frosch held up the gift, almost her size. Rogue took it from her hands and unwrapped… Infant Care for Dummies.
"Happy helped Fro pick the book out."
-o-
After they'd gotten over his claim that he wasn't interested in playing with them, the donkey had gotten everyone's attention off of Rogue. He took the moment of peace to arrange the gifts in a more coherent order that would be easier for Mira and Erza-who had volunteered-to carry back to his and Natsu's house. Afterward he set about pampering Frosch. He attempted to include Carla, but she was unimpressed with his efforts.
The donkey had the added benefit of getting the girls talking to one another, rather than all trying to chat with Rogue. When they finally tired of the game and came to sit back with Rogue it felt no different from any other event. There was something being celebrated, and he happened to be there. Not his favorite setting, but not one that made him anxious either.
A few more games were attempted without Rogue or nixed all together. Finally, Juvia declared that Rogue had to participate in something before the end of the night, so whatever was suggested next he was going to be a part of. Before she'd even finished the declaration, Mira had set an empty glass bottle down sideways on the floor.
"Gather round," she told everyone. "Now, here's the rules. Someone spins the bottle. Whoever it lands on must confess something about their love. Then they spin and the process repeats. It goes until everyone's spoken once. If it keeps landing on you, you may be confessing all night."
Rogue sighed and settled into the circle that everyone formed around the bottle. He sat cross legged, leaning back slightly so he'd be bending around his stomach as little as possible. Not that he was quite large enough yet for it to be an issue, but feeling the baby move was making him paranoid and it was a habit he was trying to get into.
Mira spun first, holding her breath and releasing it in disappointment each time the bottle neck passed either Rogue or Lucy. Finally, it landed on Bisca.
"We already know who she likes," Cana complained.
Bisca nodded. "Alzack snores."
That got a laugh out of a few of the looser ones. Bisca waited for them to settle down before spinning as well.
"Um…" Levy blushed as the bottle stopped on her. "Uh… G-G-Ga… uh…"
"Gajeel," Lucy told her.
"Right. Gajeel… All he talks about right now are these dumb demolition derbies. He can't get in vehicles anymore without getting sick, so I think he just likes seeing all that metal crashing into things. Or maybe it's a guy thing," she muttered.
Evergreen waited for Levy's bottle spin to land on her before saying, "It's a man thing. Elfman mentions it often now too-which I only bring up because we were already on the topic. It's not as if I have my own man to confess anything on."
Rogue didn't get why everyone snickered at that. He didn't recognize the derby event either, despite Evergreen's flustered insistence that it was growing in popularity and that, not Elfman, was the focus of her 'confession'. Maybe being pregnant made him less of a man that he thought-or maybe it was a dumb spectator event that wouldn't have interested him pregnant or not. Probably the second one.
When the bottle landed on Juvia she confessed her crush on Gray as if it were meant to be a secret. It hit Levy again and she mentioned how she thought Gajeel liked her more as an armrest than as a girl. The spinning bottle finally stopped on Rogue, and Mirajane squealed in delight.
"You're crush," she said. "Say something about him. Is it Sting or Natsu?"
"Does it matter?" Rogue asked. "They're both spiky haired idiots."
"Fro thinks so too!"
Before Mira could argue, Rouge leaned forward and spun the bottle.
"Jellal hates strawberry cake. The first time I snuck him into Magnolia, so we could spend more time together before the baby is born, I tried to bake it with him, but the smell made him sick. Now he refuses to try it. I'm… worried we might not work out."
"Mira, I'm telling you, there is nothing between me and Natsu. W-what? No! Juvia, I'm not pinning for Gray either! You can have him!"
"Sometimes, I suspect Alzack lets Asuka play with his guns when I'm out and he's busy at home. He'd have more sense than that, right?"
"Fro really likes Lily, and Happy, and Lector, and Rogue, and Natsu, and Sting, and Gray, and… What? Just one?"
"Since Lucy says it's alright, Gray is going to be Juvia's boyfriend."
"To be honest… Laxus… I think… is kind of cute."
"If Fro only gets to pick one boy, then Rogue is the best."
"Hmph. Well, I certainly wouldn't want to do anything with Happy."
"Both? Fine… Sting slept with a nightlight until he was sixteen. I don't know of anything like that for Natsu. His idiocy is more apparent at first glance, anyway."
"Wah? Why does Rogue get two? Fine. Fro gets to have Lector too!"
-o-
So it hadn't ended up a total disaster, even if their last game had gone on past midnight since, somehow, the bottle had never landed on Mira herself. They'd called it quits when Wendy fell asleep sitting up. Juvia was carrying the girl home.
"You can skip work tomorrow," Mira said when she caught Rogue yawning. "You and the baby need your rest. It's my fault you were up late anyway. I'll let the master know."
Rogue nodded.
"About the baby…" Erza shifted the box containing the unassembled crib so she'd be able to peer down at Rogue's stomach. "Is it moving? Jellal says Kiseki does jumping jacks while he's trying to go to sleep."
Rogue nodded again. "Alex isn't moving right now, but I know what that's like."
"Rogue needs to let Natsu feel his tummy," Frosch murmured. The suggestion took Rogue by surprise. Not because it was uncommon. Frosch, Natsu, and Happy all brought it up several times a day. He's just thought the exceed he was carrying was fast asleep by then.
Mira giggled. "So you and Natsu settled on Alex?"
Actually, the two of them hadn't mentioned names at all. Alex had just grown on him to the point that he didn't care what name Natsu might want. He shrugged.
"Well, next time Alex is moving around at work, let me know."
Rogue nodded, which he was doing a lot of, but this time it was special because what he actually meant by nodding was "fat chance."
He let Erza and Mira talk, occasionally answering a question or two as they escorted him back home. The conversation turned to focus more on Erza's boyfriend at some point. Rogue had to admit that he would have liked to meet another pregnant male, but it seemed like the man had his own petty drama, and Rogue didn't feel like putting up with any more of that.
At the door to Natsu's house, Rogue bid Mira farewell. He could wheel the stroller and the goodies it contained into the building. Carrying the soon to be crib, he had to admit, was a bit much while he was already carrying a baby, so he let Erza inside.
"This is much cleaner than I'd expected," Erza noted as she leaned the box against a wall. "You got Natsu to live like this?"
"Yeah."
"At first, Rogue would clean up all the time after Natsu," Fro told Erza. "Then Rogue said Natsu had to clean too, and when Natsu refused, Rogue hid his scarf. So now Natsu helps with dishes and the floor and… the…" She fell asleep.
Rogue tucked Frosch into bed and pulled his own nightwear out. Erza didn't get the hint. So he turned to her and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your help. I need to get cleaned up before I get to bed, so-"
"Oh! Of course." Erza nodded. "I'll leave. Rest. You're fortunate to have such a nice, secure place to do so."
It wasn't until after he'd showered and crawled in with Frosch that Rogue realized that hadn't been a slight at his near miss with being homeless.
-x-
STA: Oh, look. Baby names.
Actually this chapter actually does serve a purpose beyond cutesy girly hanging out, Rogue opening up a bit, and a baby name being mentioned. It'll probably be obvious what the plot point is next time it comes up, but starting now I'm working on the setup for the event that ultimately allows Rogue to decide if he really likes Natsu or Sting more. I am going to have one definite ending. I still have one guy I'm more in favor of, but if it comes down to it then I'll flip a coin.
But the rest of this chapter was cutesy girly hanging out, and maybe a bit of setup for a side story Jellal mpreg that I may or may not do.