Hi, beloved readers! I know that my fic posting is at the very least discontinuous, but what can I say... I'm writing my own book and it takes a lot of time, so I just write fics whenever I can and feel like it xD

Anyways, today I bring you this one-shot focused on Lily and how he helps Levy coming to terms with her pregnancy at the same time he wonders about the probability of moving out so the baby can have its own space. Of course, Gajeel and Levy have some strong thoughts about that idea...

Once again I want to clarify that English is not my first language, so I apologize in case there is any mistake in the story. Now yes, enjoy this fic!

Ironically, Lily was the first one to know. Truth be told, he was sure that Gajeel had noticed that Levy's scent was different too, but he assumed the dragon slayer could not exactly say what had changed. Those two spent way too much time together. However, soon enough other changes became more evident, like Levy's sleepiness or her continuous visits to the bathroom.

"Levy…" Lily called while rubbing her back after another round of emptying her stomach, "don't you think it's time to visit Wendy?"

"Nonsense, Lily!" she answered with a smile, walking to the sink to brush her teeth. "It's just a stomach bug, I'm sure I'll be recovered by the time Gajeel is back home. Besides, Lu-chan's party is tomorrow, there is no way I'm going to miss it!"

The Exceed let out a sigh, she could sometimes be as stubborn as his boyfriend. A week ago they had received an invitation from Lucy for the award-giving ceremony of the writers contest she signed up for. Fairy Tail was very proud of her, but Levy, as her best friend, was especially excited. Lily could see how it would be impossible to convince her to stay resting at home.

"I'm feeling way better now, so I'll go prepare some food and we can all eat dinner together later."

The script mage left the bathroom before Lily could say anything else, and so the cat let out another sigh. Well, if he could not convince her of taking a rest, at least he would help her tidy the house. About eight months ago Levy had moved in together with them and between her books and Gajeel's steel, walking around could be very dangerous. He couldn't risk Levy falling, after all. As Lily started to take things from the floor, he noticed something evident and yet worrying. Oh, this place is too small for a family that is growing.

Afternoon of the next day seemed to be a replica of the previous one. Gajeel was out of the house, training before the party and a little upset due to Lily's insistence on staying at home with Levy. Sure, the small mage wasn't feeling too sick that day, but the Exceed worried. And so when she had to throw away the book she was reading before running to the bathroom, Lily flew right after her.

"Thanks, Lily" she said in between retching. "I know this mustn't be comfortable to see… Or smell."

"It's fine, Levy" he answered, even though it was, indeed, quite disgusting to smell. "But if I can make a suggestion… Maybe taking a test would be a good idea."

"A test?" the bluenette questioned, raising up her sight to look at him. His thoughts must have been written all over his face, since Levy's eyes opened a moment after in surprise. "Oh, I don't think… But… Maybe… Oh, Mavis… Lily, do you really think I'm pregnant?"

The Exceed showed a small smile while nodding.

"The symptoms coincide, and I have been noticing changes in your scent for the last month, but I didn't want to say anything in case it was too… intrusive."

Shocked, Levy changed her position so she would be sitting on the bathroom floor instead of kneeling, one hand covering her mouth.

"But… If you noticed the change I'm sure Gajeel will have too, so, why didn't he say anything?" she muttered. Then her expression changed again, this time into a worrying face. "And what will he think? We haven't talked that much about having children, so…"

"Levy, calm down" Lily stopped her train of thoughts by patting her on the legs. "I'm sure Gajeel will be happy. He might look tough, but we both know that he always wanted a family, he told you so, remember? Besides, I still think that you should ask Wendy or Porlyusica for a test, just to be sure."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right, Lily" she took a moment to breathe, then getting up to clean herself in the sink. "I'll look for Porlyusica-san tonight at the party, I don't think we have time to find her now… Will you be with me while I ask her, Lily?"

The Exceed smiled, raising a paw and feeling happy of being trusted.

"Of course, Levy. Do you want me to bring Gajeel here now?"

"No!" she answered immediately, waving her hands in front of her. "I want to be sure before telling him anything, you know… I don't want to give him false hopes."

Lily nodded, understanding her words. Later on, while preparing himself for the party, the Exceed couldn't help but smile. He knew how much Gajeel wanted a family and, judging by the emotions in Levy's face while they talked, she wanted it too. Lily was happy for them, but also for himself. He was ready to help raise that child, just like he did with the prince of Edolas.

It took them a second to find Porlyusica at the party, always close to the Master. Luckily, they managed to lose Gajeel in the process, the iron dragon slayer stopping to talk (read: fight) with Natsu and Gray.

"Hi, Porlyusica-san, Master" Levy's voice was shaking a little, but she tried to cover it with a smile. "I was wondering if I could talk with you in private, Porlyusica-san."

"Is everything alright, Levy?" Makarov asked cautiously. After all, Levy was one of the children he had raised from a young age.

"Yes, Master, no need to worry," she assured him.

"Then let's go talking on the balcony, I doubt there is someone there now" suggested the pink-haired sorcerer. "Come on now, child, I don't have all night."

Levy nodded, following her as fast as she could. Behind her Lily was almost running to keep up with the rhythm, not wanting to use his wings and risk calling too much attention on them. By the time they reached the balcony, the Exceed was almost out of breath. Mavis, Porlyusica sure could walk fast when she wanted. However, the sorcerer was right; nobody was at the balcony at that moment.

"So? What was that you wanted to talk about?"

Lily saw Levy hesitate, obviously nervous about mentioning the mere possibility of being pregnant out loud, far away from her home protection. Knowing she needed a little bit of help, the Exceed used Aera to fly and pat her shoulder.

"It's alright, Levy."

She nodded, walking towards Porlyusica with her hands over her belly.

"I wanted to ask…" she started, then took a pause and breathed. "I need to know if I'm pregnant. I have had some symptoms, and Lily has noticed my scent is different, and… and… It's, well, definitely a possibility."

Always the talkative one, Porlyusica barely nodded before extending one hand over Levy's belly, overtaking the position of her own hand. Lily didn't see any magic coming out of her, but it was evident that something was going on.

"Are you worried the father won't be happy about it?" the pink-haired woman asked after a few seconds.

"Oh, no! It's not that! Quite the opposite, in fact…" Levy smiled sincerely, and Lily knew she would be a great mother. "I wanted to be sure before getting his hopes up, that's all."

Porlyusica let out a small sigh before separating her hand from Levy's belly. Lily started to worry, maybe they had read too much into it?

"Well then, in that case you should go tell him now" the sorcerer said after a few seconds. "You are, indeed, pregnant."

Levy's hands moved to cover her mouth, her eyes at the verge of crying while Lily grinned. The family was going to get bigger, after all.

The next morning Lily woke up early thanks to Gajeel. The iron dragon slayer was moving rather noisily around the house, apparently taking measurements of different walls. Lily rubbed his eyes while watching. Two days ago he had been tidying the house and putting all his belongings together in a corner at the living room so he wouldn't take too much space, and now everything was a mess again. The Exceed was about to ask what the hell happened when Gajeel took off with a paper in his hand and a wide smile in his mouth. Well, at least he is happy.

After stretching and trying again to tidy the room, Lily went to the kitchen to have some kiwi for breakfast. It was then when he noticed the numerous papers over the kitchen's table. They were blueprints of the house, only four rooms rather small: kitchen, living room (where the Exceed had used to live during the last months), bathroom and bedroom. There was also a post-it added in one extreme, like a list of things to buy: crib, changing table, baby chair… All indications that Gajeel had been mostly awake last night, thinking about his unborn child. However, what caught Lily's attention were the drawings on the blueprint; lines indicating the creation of new walls in the living room, just where the Exceed had moved all his things, and the message "Baby's room?" in the middle of everything.

Oh. Only then the reality hit Lily like a thunder in a storm. They lived in a small house where it was difficult to fit two humans and an Exceed, so now that another human was going to enter their lives it was obvious that someone had to go. It was simply logic, of course, but until then Lily hadn't stopped to think about it. He took a look back at his things. There weren't so many, so maybe if he got rid of some of them he could stay. He could talk about it with Gajeel once he came back, for sure, but… Was it correct to try to impose himself for more time? He knew his relationship with Gajeel wasn't as profound as Natsu and Happy's or Wendy and Carla's. They hadn't, after all, grown up together. They were more independent, and so it wouldn't be strange for them to live apart and work together on missions. However… Lily could not deny that he had seen himself as a part of Gajeel's family. He had assumed he would help raise his child, maybe even taking care of him/her/them while Levy and Gajeel worked, or hiding together during thunderstorms. He had hoped to become a permanent figure in the child's life.

After a few seconds of thinking, the Exceed shook his head. There was no point in trying to read Gajeel's mind while he was not at home. All he could do at the moment was eat his kiwi and wait. And so he did. He waited half an hour until Gajeel's scent appeared once again and strange noises started to sound outside the house. Just when the Exceed was about to go out and find what the hell his partner was doing, the iron dragon slayer entered the house once again.

"Oh, Lily, you're awake, great!" he said, full of enthusiasm. "Levy said that you already knew the news, so no point in repeating them. To sum up: we're gonna need to clean some space at the house, so if you could take your things and…

Oh, so this is it. Gajeel was still talking in the background, but Lily was not hearing it. He had expected a longer conversation, maybe some kind words, but then again it was Gajeel and softness was not one of his strong points… Besides, this was not about him. It was about Gajeel's unborn child and the need to provide them with enough space.

"It's OK, Gajeel," he interrupted. "I just need a few days to find some place I can afford, and then…"

"Uh? What the hell are you talking about, cat?"

Lily stared at the dragon slayer, confused.

"Me? Moving out of the house so your child can have some space?"

"What the… Have you even listened to what I have been saying?!"

"No need, Gajeel" the Exceed assured his partner. "I saw the house blueprints while having breakfast, and it makes sense you want to build the baby its own room. I just hope I can visit from time to time, I wouldn't like to become a stranger at this house."

"Damn cat… Shut up and listen to me!" Gajeel's voice was clearly irritated and angry, yet a little worried. Lily was shocked at his tone, not getting why he was so mad when all he was doing was collaborating. "You are not moving out of this house. Now, I don't know from where you got that idea, but…"

"Gajeel?" a soft voice stopped the dragon slayer discourse. "Why are you shouting so early in the morning?"

Levy had opened the bedroom's door, coming out from it wearing a shirt too big for her and rubbing her eyes. It was quite evident that she was still half asleep.

"Uh? Sorry, shrimp, I didn't mean to wake you up" the dragon slayer tone had changed immediately into one calmer and more caring, his expression softer too, but it only lasted a few seconds until his eyes focused again on the Exceed. "It's just that apparently Lily wants to move out from the house now."

"What?!" well, Levy was clearly awake now. "Why, Lily? Did I do something to upset you? Did Gajeel do something? Because I'm sure we can…"

"N-no, it's not that" the Exceed assured, quite confused about how the conversation had reached that point. "It's just that now you have a baby coming, and the house is not big enough for all of us, so I figured… Well, that I should go so the baby can have its own space."

Gajeel and Levy shared a look before setting their eyes again on the Exceed.

"And the baby will have its own space, but not because you will leave the house, you dumb cat" at that point the dragon slayer's voice was a mix of irritation and amusement. "That's why we are going to make the house bigger."

"But the blueprints in the kitchen showed…"

"That was just an idea! One that clearly was not going to work, and that's why I settled for this one" Gajeel took a paper out of his pants pocket, extending it so Lily could look at it easily. "See? This room," he said, pointing at a new rectangle added next to the living room, "will be the baby's room, and this one" added, his fingers on the rectangle next to the other, "will be your room."

"My room?"

"Yeah, your room, cat. So you can stop sleeping in the living room and have your own space to keep your stuff and have some privacy."

The Exceed stared at the blueprint for a few seconds. One of the added rooms definitely had "Lily's room" written on top of it.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh" Gajeel said, still pissed but smiling. "So, next time you want to jump into conclusions, listen to my first, OK?"

"You are part of this family, Lily" Levy added, one soft smile on her lips, "and I'm sure the baby will think of you the same way."

Still quite shocked, the Exceed could barely nod. He was not going to move out, after all.

"And now take the tool box, change into your bigger form and come with me outside. This house is not going to get bigger by itself." Gajeel ordered. Then, while walking out of the house, Lily was able to hear him muttering: "Making my cat move out of the house… Ha! As if I could ever do that… Stupid Exceed..."

EXTRA:

"Neh, Gajeel, couldn't you add a small library to the blueprints?" Levy asked, taking a look at some baby's products catalogues while the dragon slayer and Lily worked at the house.

"No, shrimp, we have enough books already."

"Enough books! As if that would be possible!" she pouted, and the Exceed was sure Gajeel was avoiding her gaze to prevent falling in her trap. "Just a little one? A really tiny one? Pleaaaase…"

"No, Levy, and that's my final…" the dragon slayer made the mistake of looking at her. She was once again reading the catalogues, one hand on her belly, doing nothing special. "... Fine, just a small one. That's all."

Looking back at him, Levy smiled. Lily couldn't help but mimic her expression. They were going to be fantastic parents, and he was glad and proud of being part of that family.

And that's all! I hope you liked it, and if you did please leave a comment so I know it (you can also comment to give a negative review, I don't care, in fact I appreciate it).

Until next time!~