They'd forgotten:

About little tiny baby sounds, and little tiny baby socks, and of course—the equally tiny baby feet that went inside of them. And, they'd forgotten what it was like to fall helplessly in love with another person for no other reason than their tiny, adorable cries.

They didn't know what to expect, meeting the baby for the first time and truthfully, they were both still in doubt about whether or not it was the best thing for their admittedly colorful family. On the way there, they talked—well, she talked, and he lay nauseated in his lap listening to her as they rode the train.

He didn't have a name; his birth certificate wasn't filed. No one knew where he came from, but they knew he belonged with them when they first saw him.

He was screaming his little head off to a young nurse who was frazzled, exasperated, and a little stressed by her noisy patient as he chose crying over eating.

"May I? You look like you need a little break," Lucy asked.

The nurse, who had been briefed about their visit, agreed quickly and gently, the well-seasoned mother of four took the newborn in her arms and cradled him with practiced ease. The nurse left them when the newborn ceased his crying and took the bottle.

Lucy sat down in a chair with him and for a long time, she was completely silent.

Her husband leaned against the wall and watched with a well-worn expression of love. As clichéd and as silly as it felt, especially after so many years and a few babies, she never failed to astound and challenge him at every turn. There was nothing he adored more than Mama Lucy, a powerful but gentle wonder.

He watched her eyes become glossy with tears and gave her a gentle smile.

The baby couldn't have been more adorable in their eyes. He was a chubby but handsome baby boy, who looked nothing like them yet carved a place for himself in their hearts with his reluctant suckling.

She finally looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "This is our son, Laxus. I'm sure of it."

"He's a cute little guy," he said, bending down to kiss her cheek. "What are we going to name this fussy rascal?"

Lucy smiled. "I know what his name is supposed to be."

"Oh?"

"Lex Dreyar."

"That sounds a little familiar," he commented, seeming a bit awkward at the suggestion they name the baby close to his name.

"Do you mind?" she asked, "I was thinking last night that if we adopt him, there are probably going to be moments where maybe he doesn't feel like he's part of the family. If we give him that name, his name will be like yours. He'll be like his daddy. That's important to a little boy. Remember? Yuri used to want to do everything like Daddy. Well, he didn't really outgrow that phase at all, to be honest."

"Yuri is still just like he was when he was a little kid. Loves Cheerios and Mama. I feel like it was yesterday that he was that tiny, but then I turn around and he's almost as big as I am," Laxus answered.

Lucy smiled at her fussy baby boy. "We'll get to watch you grow up too, Lex. I know you've had a rough start, but it's going to be easier from now on. You're going to grow and soon you'll be walking and talking. You're going to grow up tall and strong and wonderful. Everything is going to be okay."

When he finished eating, Lucy asked, "Are you still the world's greatest baby burper?"

"Let's see."

Laxus gently took Lex from his mother, who opened cabinets in the hospital room until she found a cloth to put over his shoulder.

The baby started crying again, to which his father replied, "Another Mama's boy…"

"How's your mom anyway? We haven't heard from her since before your dad died," Lucy asked.

Laxus shrugged. "Damned if I know. I don't really care. Giving birth isn't really motherhood. I mean, this baby has a woman somewhere who had him and she left. Being a parent is a lot bigger than that."

She realized she'd hit a sore spot, however inadvertently, and stood to hug him while he was burping the baby, who surrendered his spit-up and eventually rested against his new father's shoulder contentedly.

When he finally looked down at her, he said, "You're going to make me talk about my feelings now, aren't you?"

"I'm glad you at least know how this is going to go."

He sat down in one of the two chairs, still holding the baby, and she sat next to him.

His willingness to adopt a baby had puzzled Lucy at first, because he was particular. He loved all babies, but his passion for their little family was fervent and so loyal. It surprised her that he'd be willing to consider adopting a baby with someone else's blood flowing through his veins.

"My parents decided they didn't want me too. It's a big thing we have in common. The difference is that I didn't get to be adopted by a family. I ended up with my alcoholic, aging grandfather. I'm not saying anything about Gramps…I know he did the best he could. But I didn't have a family until you came along. No one should have to grow up feeling like that," he said.

He saw her eyes become progressively moister and rolled his. "Good God, woman, don't cry. It doesn't matter. I'm a middle-aged man."

"But you're my middle-aged man, and you're so damn sweet I can't stand it."

"Eh?"

"You want to help Lex because you have compassion for him."

He decided to let her have her moment, because she was always a weepy mess about a new baby. He now knew this wasn't due entirely to pregnancy hormones since she didn't have any as she sat there with tears dripping down her cheeks at the beauty of a man who had been left at birth wanting to take in a little baby boy in the same position.

Pretending to tune her out after a while, he whispered to Lex, "That's your mother. She's really emotional. No, you'll never understand. But you're a lucky little guy to have her as a mom. You also have a bunch of crazy sisters and a brother."

The baby abruptly spit up a little more on his shirt, which was unprotected as he'd already removed the burp cloth.

"Thanks, son. I appreciate that."

After a while, they unswaddled him and put him in his little bed, and then sat on opposite sides examining him. His eyes were blue, which was to be expected. There was no knowing whether they'd change later on, but his skin was slightly darker than theirs and his hair was dark brown and very thick.

Lucy kissed his feet and counted his little fingers and toes, and then he fell asleep squeezing his father's finger.

They stayed all day with the baby, snuggling him and each other in between feedings and fussings.

Magic Council Chairman Jura Nekkis came by that evening and entered quietly with a folder filled with paperwork. Laxus was cradling the baby when he walked in, and this amused Jura greatly, because he could remember their first meeting.

"I've heard he's a handful," Jura said as Laxus put Lex back in the bed.

Lucy was unfazed. "We've had twins. This is nothing. So what's the process?"

Jura handed Laxus the folder, and he immediately passed it on to Lucy, who dug through her purse for her wind-reading glasses. Everyone who knew anything knew Lucy was an exceptionally brilliant individual and that her husband respected her in that role.

"So, here's the thing," she said, "I want to take him home. Like now. I just don't have it in me to meet this precious baby boy, and realize he's my son, and leave him for the sake of slowed bureaucracy. I'll play all the cards in my deck if I have to, including 'best friends with Queen Hisui.' You don't want that, do you?"

Laxus didn't disagree with this. The idea that they might have to leave little Lex in the facility until paperwork could be sorted out was far from ideal to the point of being unsettling. But he also knew Lucy would fight like a crazed mama bear for her babies.

Jura had known them both for many years, and had just as much in his file about her as him. He was an extraordinary leader, but she was an extremely critical figure in the magic world because she was not only powerful, but extraordinarily well-connected.

"I figured the fiercest mama in Fiore would feel that way. A judge can sign a provisional agreement tomorrow so you can look after the baby until everything is final. Do you have a name for him?"

"Lex," Lucy answered.

"Lex Dreyar? That just sounds…strangely menacing," the older wizard answered.

While Lucy was looking over the papers and signing both her name and her husbands' as necessary, Jura said, "Your guild's kids are in the junior games? I'm curious to see if our sons cross each other."

Laxus flashed a slightly menacing grin. "Oh? Won't be the first time a bloated Nekkis male has to eat lightning."

"I've heard Yuri is impressive. My son Petri is a quite a strong young man."

Lucy looked up over the top of her reading glasses and said, "Hey guys, why don't you just whip 'em out and we'll see whose is bigger? In fact, I have a ruler in my purse. A really little one, but I think it'll suffice."

She dug in her purse and, as promised, produced a tiny little ruler. "Who's first?"

Both men just stared in horror at the woman, who had the nerve to imply the chairman of the Magic Council and the leader of the strongest guild clearly had small penises and offered to measure them, if necessary, in order to end what she felt was nonsense chatter about their boys.

Jura chuckled, "Ah, the uncanny charms of the woman who tamed Laxus Dreyar."

XXX

The Dreyar kids didn't know that their parents were off visiting their new brother. In fact, they didn't know about him at all and assumed they'd just gone off for a weekend alone as they'd started to do now and then lately.

It was pouring down rain, and thundering terribly. This meant two of the Dreyars were out trying to eat the lightning and the other two were inside trying to stay away from it.

Layla and Anna were as close as sisters could be, and used the downtime as an opportunity to have girl talk. They read magazines, talked about boys, read magic books, and then got the most recent issue of Sorcerer Weekly Teen and talked about their competitors.

They were sitting next to each other on the floor by the coffee table, drinking coffee with too much cream and sugar.

Layla got a marker and started to write numbers on the article listing some of the more prominent male teen wizards, which confused her little sister.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just ranking these guys. I've decided to find a new guy to like," she announced.

Anna asked, "What about Sam?"

"I will never forgive him."

"For what?"

"He was supposed to be my first kiss and I was supposed to be his. But instead, he kissed that stupid girl. He's dead to me," she explained to her younger sister, who found none of these dramatics to be particularly noteworthy.

Sam and Layla were a soap opera unto themselves Monday-Sunday, although Sam had possibly escalated it beyond the point at which Layla would continue to bother with him. At the moment, she seemed done, but Anna knew it might be ten minutes and she'd be madly in love with the temperamental Redfox boy.

Layla added, "Anyway, I'm practically the princess of the magic. I'm cute. I'm powerful. I'm smart, and I can date the most handsome guy on this list. Whoever is the most handsome guy on this list is going to be my boyfriend."

She turned the page and found her brother's picture.

"Eww. Gross." Layla put a huge 'X' over his face. "We'll forget I said that."

Anna looked up to make sure Rai the baby Exceed was still sleeping peacefully and replied, "Maybe you should just find someone you get along with. Does it have to be someone powerful?"

Layla answered, "Look, I know you're the nice one. Yuri is the boring one, I'm the bitchy one, you're the sweet one, and Mavis is the wicked one. But, we're basically the result of two powerful magic lines crossing. It would be a sad waste for us to find ordinary boyfriends, and eventually cross-breed with them. It would be like taking fine wine and pouring water into it."

"We don't even know what wine tastes like. Would you know if it was watery? Besides, wine is basically just rotten juice, so…you want a boyfriend who is as rottenly juicy as you?" Anna replied.

Her older sister narrowed her eyes. "Whose side are you on?"

"There are no sides. You're just talking crazy again."

"How so?"

Anna said, "Suddenly we're breeding? That's a big jump from being a fourteen-year-old with no boyfriend."

"Please don't rub it in my face. You're supposed to love me. Besides, your boyfriend is the son of the Dragneel-Strauss union, so you can't say anything to me about wanting to date someone powerful."

Layla held up the magazine and said, "The Lamia Scale boys are cute. How about Sergei Bastia? His name is so exotic. Then we'd both be dating guys with white hair. I wonder if he's tall. But, eww, what if he's cold like Gray is? That's going to suck when we kiss. I mean, I assume even making out would be like tongue-kissing a slimy cold octopus tentacle."

Anna sighed. "So you're looking through a magazine and determining which one of them is going to be the best boyfriend. And which ones aren't going to be fun to kiss. I think you're getting really far ahead of yourself."

"I think you have a boyfriend, so be quiet."

Layla held up a picture. "How about this guy? Petri Nekkis. I feel like that would really piss Dad off."

"Is that considered a pro or a con?"

"Anna, my student, my friend, my sister…anytime you can annoy our parents, do it. It's our right as their children to cause them grief," she replied, "Ohh! This one is so dreamy. I mean, the son of Hibiki and Jenny Lates…but everyone from Blue Pegasus is so weird."

Anna said, "But Dad was in Blue Pegasus."

"Repeat: Everyone from Blue Pegasus is so weird."

They giggled, and the door flew open with the entry of their over-electrified, dragon-blooded siblings. Yuri occasionally liked to shock his sisters when he had a little extra static, but as he came closer to the others, Layla gave him an expression that very clearly said, "If you get my hair wet, I will kill you."

She was already drawing X's all over his face on the magazine, so he just decided to leave her be.

Yuri and Mavis dried off and the kids made and ate pizzas.

Their parents cited 'needing a weekend away from their kids,' but they'd now been gone four days. They weren't used to being left unattended for so long, although assorted adults came by to make sure they hadn't destroyed the house and weren't having parties.

One of those people was Gildarts, who had come by to 'check' on them while hungover and spent half of his day being tended to by Anna and Rai the Exceed.

Sam came by once the rain stopped, and Layla gave him a death glare after he entered the house.

The rest of the Dreyar siblings scattered with their pizza and fear.

The raven-haired teenager found his lifelong blonde friend was ignoring him, giving him the silent treatment, and wishing death upon him all at once.

"Hey. You still mad?"

"I don't care about you so no. Kiss her. Kiss everybody. I've decided you're not worth my time, effort, or emotions, so you stand there all day and have a nice life. I'm trying to decide who my first boyfriend will be, as the first candidate turned out to be a sorry, lousy, worthless waste of my time," Layla asked.

Sam sat down next to her. "C'mon, don't be like that. I said I was sorry."

Layla held up the magazine. "What do you think? I think I'd look really cute with—"

He took the magazine from her hands and ripped it in half.

She shrugged. "That's fine. They're cheap and easy to replace, kind of like you."

The boy flopped down on the couch. "I'm sorry, okay? You're the only girl for me."

"Well, then, you are going to live a sad life and die alone," she angrily replied.

It was harder for him than they new, and he didn't expect Layla to understand. She was possibly the strongest member of their entire generation. In fact, she was so powerful, almost no one had ever seen her actually use her magic outside of the guild. She was beautiful, smart, powerful, and any of those boys in her magazine would probably jump at the chance.

Sam came from a very different place in life.

He wasn't a pretty boy. His dad wasn't the guildmaster or a saint wizard. In fact, if the wizards in the guild were ranked, Gajeel ranked behind, Laxus, Natsu, Erza…a ranking in Sorcerer Weekly even put him behind Wendy.

Growing up in close proximity to the Dreyars was difficult. For the longest time, he'd at least been able to win fights against Iggy, but since Iggy found his groove, that had suddenly become difficult to the point of being almost impossible.

Layla's affections were, for the most part, humiliating. She was too pretty, too smart, too powerful for someone like him.

He waited, and she continued to ignore him.

Sam really didn't know why he'd kissed the other girl, or even spent time with her at all. He felt like maybe someone a little lower in the social hierarchy would make him feel better, but it hadn't. It only made him miss his friend, whose feelings he'd hurt so badly she had shifted her focus to other boys after a lifetime of always being at his side.

He was insecure in a social order where everyone else seemed to be a little more well-adjusted. While everyone else was enjoying themselves, he worried he couldn't escape being the second-rate son of a wizard that had never even come close to the top at Fairy Tail.

So he was weaker than he wanted to be, and had successfully enraged a girl he believed was too good for him anyway.

Sam left, feeling a little despondent, left the house and went for a walk down a random path that put him on a collision course with a future he never imagined—one that would eventually separate him from everything he knew.

"Redfox?" a voice called.

"Yeah? Who wants to know?"

XXX

Meanwhile at the Dreyar house, they were cleaning up after dinner when the key turned in the front door and their parents returned.

Well, their father had returned, carrying their sleepy mother piggyback with a bunch of bags on one arm and tightly swaddled baby in the other. The baby had screamed the entire ride home, which Lucy cited as a mutual hate of transportation baby and father shared.

By the time they got home, Lucy and the baby were equally exhausted, leaving Laxus to carry all the bags and the people.

He was pleased all the kids were at home and together, which was exceedingly rare during a time in their lives when they were starting to operate more and more independently.

He dropped the bags on the floor, and Lucy slid off of his back so they could face their four older children, who were glaring at them with various expressions: confusion (Yuri), curiosity (Layla), glee (Anna), and agitation (Mavis).

(As the baby of the family, Mavis despised any sign of her parents showing affection to other children, but would never admit this.)

Lucy took Lex and said, "So, we need to have a quick little family meeting. Your father and I have a really big announcement."

They sat in a little row on the sofa in birth order, although it was unclear whether this had been intentional.

"I'll get a bottle ready and leave you with this," Laxus said.

Lucy mouthed the word 'chicken' at him, which he replied with a quick smirk and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

The kids watched their mother with intensity as she crossed the room and sat down on the coffee table right in front of them, cradling the three-week-old baby boy. It was a tender moment, but it was also a moment that was funny as hell to her because they all seemed apprehensive and very serious.

"Kids, your dad and I have been talking about adding to our family lately, and we decided that we'd like to have another baby. This little guy needed a family, and we wanted a baby, so it seemed like a wonderful fit. Your dad and I are in the process of adopting this precious little baby boy. His name is Lex," she said.

Layla leaned forward and peeked into the bundle. "We have a new baby brother? That's actually pretty cool, Mom."

Anna stretched out her arms. "Can we hold him?"

Lucy nodded. "Of course. Keep in mind he's so little he can't hold his head up yet, so you have to support him like this."

She carefully transferred the sleeping baby to Anna's arms, and the two cooed over him.

Layla unwrapped him and played with his hands and feet. "What a cute little chubby baby. Where did he come from?"

"No one really knows. He was abandoned and he ended up with the Magic Council because he has a lot of latent magic power. They didn't want him to end up in the wrong hands, so they reached out to us because they think we're good parents for magically-gifted babies. The chairman said he heard all of you were wonderful, morally upright young wizards," she said.

Anna asked, "Does he know about Mavis?"

"Apparently not," Layla giggled.

Mavis glared, at them and then the baby, then at their mother.

Yuri seemed a little bewildered, but it was primarily because when his mother had been drunk, she'd told him if he was so intent on growing up, she'd go out and get another son. It was a little frightening to see his mother had acted on her wild, drunken whims. At least, that was how he perceived the situation, although he had no real issue with the baby.

Laxus returned from the kitchen with a warm bottle, and Lucy took back the baby and started feeding him.

"Can we feed him too?" Anna asked.

"This is something a mommy does," Lucy insisted.

And then, she leaned down and said, "Isn't that right, my sweet Lex? Mama feeds all her newborn babies. Sorry about the bottle, Mama's boobies are all dried up, thanks to your greedy brothers and sisters. They sucked Mama dry."

This comment caused everyone else in the room to cringe.

Mavis finally spoke and said, "He's cute I guess. But, you've done this, and now I'm not the baby. I'm the un-baby. Do you even know what that means? I've become an insignificant middle child!"

Anna and Layla returned a glare to her.

Yuri crossed his arms and said, "Mom?"

"Yes, my sweet Thunder Baby?"

"I'm happy for you and Dad," he said, having come to the realization that if his mother had a new baby, maybe she'd smother him slightly less. And besides, Lex was cute.

Laxus next to his wife and they smiled as they watched their older children get acquainted with the newest addition to the family. All fronts aside, all four of them took it well and were in a state of wonder over the newborn baby boy's irresistibly chubby adorableness.

It was an interesting contrast to them, as they could remember when their first baby was so tiny. Yuri was now taller than most grown men and well on his way to becoming Dad-sized.

Lucy added, "We know that you guys are good kids, but you're a really tight-knit group of brats too. Please make sure you treat your little brother just like he's blood. Even if he didn't come from us, he's ours, right?"

"Mom, we like to pretend we didn't come out of you because it's kind of gross, so that's easy," Layla replied.

"Kind of gross?" Lucy asked, "Says one who lived inside of one of my organs for nine months and then came out of my—"

"MOM!"

The room became silent other than the sound of the baby suckling the bottle and a little rumble of laughter from Laxus, who found Lucy far, far more entertaining as the years went by. The more years that went by, the more she just said whatever was on her mind. As their older kids had reached various levels of self-sufficiency, he'd noticed her drink a little more wine, speak her mind a little more often, and at times, utter the most awkward but true things.

He believed that his wife would eventually evolve into the kind of old woman who was aggressive and said whatever entered her mind regardless of how it made anyone else feel. This side of her was endlessly entertaining to him.

Lucy shrugged. "That's fine. You'll have babies eventually, and then I'm going to bring all these things back to your remembrance."

Laxus finally spoke, saying, "It wasn't really our intention to bring him home immediately, but it wouldn't have been right to just leave him in the hospital. So, we obviously don't have everything we need for a baby. We decided to outsource this to you guys, so do your brother right and make him a nice little nursery. Layla will be in charge of this project."

"Am I not the oldest anymore?" Yuri asked, pointing at himself.

Laxus gave his daughter an envelope with money in it and said, "It's not personal. This project requires budgeting and decoration, and you're colorblind and not particularly good at math."

"I'm sorry. I was dropped on my head as a baby," he argued.

Layla said, "Excuses. I'm thinking a nice green and brown motif would suit Lex, since he has such pretty dark hair. What do you think, Yuri? Oh, you don't know what green is. My bad."

Their mother replied, "Don't give him too much grief. Even if he could see colors, he'd probably still not know what to do with them. Men don't have the best sense when it comes to what goes with what. Your dad used to wear a lot of animal print and faux fur."

Laxus felt all of his daughters stare at him in disbelief.

"Did you also have a mullet?" Layla asked.

Lucy said, "No, but he did have this awful haircut that was all shaved on the sides, and standing up on top."

Laxus sulked about this mocking reference to what he felt where the 'good old days,' which were the days before Lucy, when he could wear tight leopard print pants and she wouldn't would peel them off and burn them. After the burning was the ceremonial wagging of fingers and explanations about why he shouldn't wear such things.

After feeding, Laxus sent his wife upstairs to get ready for bed and gave his children a detailed lesson on how to burp the baby, then change the baby, although they'd taken care of Crash so diapers were a thing they'd all had to face in the past.

The girls carried the baby upstairs and after he finished locking up and making sure everything was set for bedtime, he passed Layla's room and found all three girls laying on the bed with the baby, giggling and cooing over him, even the impenetrable Mavis.

Yuri was sitting on the edge of the big bed teasing the baby's feet, a habit he either inherited from his father or remembered from when he was little.

Laxus stood in the doorway for a while before they noticed him, grinning softly at the kids.

And then he heard Mavis said, "Lex, I'll teach you everything I know."

"God help us," Laxus whispered to himself.

His dragon-blooded babies overheard this and looked up, alerting the other two to his presence as well.

"We're having a sibling meeting right now, you can come back later," Anna said, practically shutting the door in his face.

To which he shrugged and went on to the master bedroom. He took a shower, got ready for bed, and found his wife already face-down and snoring. The train ride had been all but traumatic as she'd had two whiny babies on her hands during the trip. He knew Daddy and Baby were probably a bit much, so he left her asleep and unpacked their bags.

They didn't have a lot for the baby yet, just diapers, wipes, a couple of outfits, and the other necessities. The rest of what they needed was written on a list for the older kids, and he was grateful for them because he knew they'd be very helpful. As busy as they were with the guild, they simply didn't have the time to be on baby duty constantly.

Even having time to get ready for bed without a cranky baby was appreciated.

When he went to get Lex from his sisters and brother, they tried to bargain for more time, but they had school, and he wanted to have some time with the baby.

Lex seemed just fine and happy being the center of attention, and only cried when his father picked him up.

"Goodnight, kids. Get some sleep."

He brought Lex upstairs and put him to bed in their bed right between he and Lucy, then snuggled him until he drifted off to sleep.

A hour later, a cry awoke him and he opened his eyes to find Lucy reaching for their newborn son in the dark. After being soothed, Lex allowed them to sleep for approximately half an hour before registering further complaints and they realized that he was going to be a handful.

After their second round, Laxus turned on the light. "Looks like he's going to pull an all-nighter."

Lucy yawned and tiredly looked at her son. "I'll take him for a few hours, and then we'll trade and I'll sleep in. My boss won't mind if I'm late for work. Deal?"

"Deal."

She slid out of the bed and spent much of the night downstairs with her son. He was what she referred to as a high-maintenance baby, demanding attention, food, snuggles all in fairly quick turn. They finally fell asleep for a little while in the living room, only to be disturbed by a kiss to the forehead at dawn.

Her husband took the baby, and kissed her again on the lips.

"I have morning breath," she groaned.

He brought a hand to her cheek and gave her another kiss, this time slipping his tongue passed her lips, only to be met with a wall of teeth. "…what?"

"Stop being gross."

"I don't give a damn about your morning breath. Now go upstairs and get to sleep in our bed. Don't worry about coming to the guild. I'll take Lex with me and let Mirajane snuggle him to death. You can come get him when you're fully rested."

He kissed her again, which she responded to by putting her hand on his face and pushing him away.

His wife tiredly stood and stretched. "I figured you out, you know. You know what kind of bad feelings Lex would have if he had to grow up without a family, so you were eager to bring him into ours. It's actually really beautiful when I think about it."

Laxus rested the baby against his shoulder. "The lady who won't let me tongue kiss her until she brushes her teeth wants to tell me my faults are attractive. You are a hypocrite, Lucy."

"You're always so deep when you first wake up. I feel like your cognitive abilities diminish throughout the day until you sleep again."

"Every part of me is brisk in the morning."

"Shut up, Honey."

Lucy went up to bed, and Laxus sat down with their little son.

Yuri was the first one up, as always. He'd been active at the crack of dawn since he was a toddler, so when Laxus heard a creak on the stairs, he already knew it would be his oldest. "'Morning, Dad."

"Hey."

Yuri gave Lex a little pat on the head. "Hey, Lex. I heard you making a lot of noise last night."

His father said, "You were a lot worse, you know. For the first three months, you had your mother and I literally delirious from exhaustion. We didn't really know what we were doing back then. You're the practice baby, so by the time we got you big enough, we kind of knew how to handle a baby."

"And how not to drop them on their heads? Anyway, are you hungry, Dad?"

Watching how considerate and loyal their older children were constantly reminded the parents that they'd raised some great kids. Yuri and Layla would pick up slack wherever was necessary to make sure their family was taken care of, whether that meant laundry or cooking or a little cleaning or keeping their little sisters in line.

Laxus fed the baby while Yuri cooked bacon and eggs, and noticed him look at curiously at the baby every few seconds.

"You know, when you were little, you informed your mother and I that we weren't permitted to have any other male offspring. You were excited to be a big brother in a big family, just as long as there weren't any other boys."

Yuri could remember holding these sentiments, which had lasted until fairly recently. "I think it would be good for Mom to have another son to, you know…smother. Besides, it's nice to be part of a big family. And, look, we used to be outnumbered four to two, it's four to three now."

"Oh? That's right. Team Testosterone is making a comeback. But look, Lex," he looked down at the baby, "You live in a house with four crazy women. Just keep your head down and stick with us and you'll be all right."

"Are you guys going to have any more kids?"

Laxus shook his head. "No, this is definitely the last one for us. The next kid born into this family will probably be your first baby."

"Mine?" he asked as he pointed at himself in confusion.

"Yes, you. Once you and Lilia grow up and get a little more serious, I'm sure you'll settle down. You're not really the wild type—I don't think you've got any partying in you. I think you're better off that way. I did a lot of crazy shit for years, and for the life of me, I don't remember why. There were all these women before you mom, and a lot of hangovers. I guess that's just how I occupied myself until your mom came along. Family is what really matters. You'll mature a lot over the next few years and settle in and, if you're my son, probably want to start making babies," he said.

"I don't know about that, Dad. That's a bit much. Lilia has never really been part of a normal family so she plans it all out and it's a little scary and a little not, I guess. You and Mom are the happiest people either of us know, so in some ways, we want to have what you guys have someday. I could do with less than five kids. That's a lot of kids."

Laxus found his oldest was transitioning into adulthood in a slightly awkward but sweet way. One of his greatest fears in raising a son was that he'd go through a difficult phase, but he'd stayed kind and his father was proud of him for that.

He and Lucy had some differing opinions on their son's desire to make serious life plans. Lucy felt like he needed to be strong as a single person and enjoy life, but Laxus suspected Yuri wouldn't enjoy being single and on his own. He also suspected Lucy underestimated the bond that existed between two people who are sexually involved, but it was hard to make a mother see her son as a young adult and not as the adorable little boy.

The girls trudged downstairs in a sleepy daze for breakfast and found themselves energized at the sight of their baby brother. They took him from their father and passed him about, offering cuddles and coos.

Once he got them all off to school, he said to Lex, "You have a lot of women in your life that are going to spoil you to death. Your life is going to be interesting, but great. We're going to go to work now and let Auntie Mira squeeze you for a bit. Then Mama will be by to get you."

As father to twins, he'd learned the secret art of holding a baby and doing nearly anything, so he picked up a bit and packed the diaper bag.

The baby made a little whine, which he replied to with, "She's my favorite too."

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Special thanks to lalulovernerd, guest, jenheartAl, theoginger, pandorababe, LucyXHeartfiliaXFan, lilithrisen, thealicehuntt, boyceashlee, arouraleona, yed01, 17, lunastarlady, mewhee89, thornado, katiekat2001, kurahieiritr JIO, bukkakegirl, jhdavis1103, megumiyoung, b2utifulshawol, sassykitten1701, yumeyumi1986, and xxshyxx for reviewing!

AN: Sorry for the delay in updates. I've been working two jobs. Sounds fun, right? ::sadface