And then:
After twenty-four years of marriage, five kids, and more happiness than either could have fully described, they became grandparents.
The Itty Bitties were born at the same hospital their mother was born at after a forty-hour labor and delivery while their grandparents and aunts and uncles anxiously awaited their arrival in the waiting room.
Lucy didn't want her daughter and her husband to lose out on being able to spend those precious few first moments alone with their little ones to marvel over first breaths, first yawns, first cries, and so forth because of the distractions of their large family so she advised her daughter to take some time with her husband after they were born to enjoy those things.
So by the time both sets of grandparents met the little boys, the youngest was already an hour old.
Iggy and Anna were snuggled up close in the tiny hospital bed, each holding a tightly swaddled little blond-headed baby boy. They looked tired, deliriously happy, and were glowing as they basked in the wonder of being new parents. Anna was leaning on his shoulder, smiling happily.
Lucy leaned down and whispered, "Hello, Itty Bitties! I'm so happy to finally meet you. And oh, are you two handsome! What are their names?"
Anna looked down at the baby in her arms. "Well, we decided we wanted to give them names that really mattered. So this is Hadyn, he's the oldest, and that is Taryn."
"Fire and Thunder," Lucy said.
She nodded.
Unlike Anna and Mavis, the baby boys looked so much alike it was difficult to tell them apart just from watching them sleep. Both had light blond hair with the telltale Dreyar tuft in front that grew straight up. Their chubby little baby faces were similar, and they seemed to be exactly the same size. They both had sharply pointed ears, like Mavis and Ivan.
They were very big for twins, which explained why Anna had been almost comically huge, although she hadn't appreciated the comedy as much as everyone else did.
Lisanna said, "Hadyn and Taryn Dragneel. Good names for such beautiful babies. They look like little Laxuses, don't you think?"
When she looked up at Natsu, her husband seemed perplexed.
Natsu wondered how his son make babies that looked like Laxus. And why did his wife think the babies were beautiful if they looked like him? Was this an admission from Lisanna that she found Laxus attractive? Natsu was sure his head would explode if he explored this topic any further.
Yet, they were just breathtakingly wonderful little creatures, even if they had Dreyar hair and Dreyar eyes flanked by all those thick dark lashes.
Lucy asked, "So, how are we going to tell these two apart?"
Natsu said, "By scent, obviously."
Lisanna sweetly answered, "And for those of us that aren't part monster?"
One of the babies started to cry, which made the other one cry, and while they were both screaming, the grandparents got saw Taryn had blue eyes and Hadyn had jade green eyes.
Laxus didn't really know what to say because seeing his daughter as a mother had some profound impact on him that he wasn't expecting. She looked beautiful and so happy, and like any parent, his most important wish for his babies was that they find happiness.
Maybe the pregnancy had been unplanned, but by that point, it was barely remembered and seemed irrelevant. Anna had, from the moment she found out she was going to be a mother herself, embarked on a difficult and life-changing adventure that had finally come to this moment where she was finally able to hold her own babies and show them the same love he and Lucy had given her.
It made his eyes wet, and his daughter looked up and caught him gazing at her like this.
"Hi, Daddy."
"Hey there, Mom. You've got a beautiful little family, you know," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
Anna smiled a little wider. "I'm going to hope you're saying that because you love us, and not because they look like you."
"Well, how else were they going to be cute?" he asked.
"I don't know. Narcissism certainly isn't cute," Anna replied.
Lucy elbowed him and pushed him out of the way. "May I?"
Anna nodded, and Lucy and Lisanna gently took babies from their respective children.
The twins had to tolerate another round of ceremonial counting of fingers and toes, and big people awwwing over them.
"You can tell they just ate. Dragon boys are all the same. Fill belly, achieve coma. One of the things they never really grow out of," Lisanna said.
When Lucy and Anna giggled, the dragons in the room, all male, realized the women were making fun of them as if it wasn't normal to want to eat way too much food and then fall asleep immediately thereafter.
Lucy beamed at her little grandson when he yawned. "Oh, these guys are just too cute. You guys made some gorgeous, healthy babies. I hope you have at least ten right now."
"I will kill him if he ever touches me again," Anna matter-of-factly replied.
Iggy sheepishly shrugged. "Sorry…?"
"Haryn was breech. It was awful—do you realize how much bigger his bottom is than his head?" Anna asked.
Her mother cringed at the idea and tried to find some comforting thing to say. "Well, he's a dragon, so it shouldn't be a surprise he was in a hurry to be first and then came out backwards. That's pretty much how dragons do everything. Butt first, think later."
Another giggle was shared amongst the women.
"You're a bunch of bullies. This is probably why dragons used to eat people," Natsu huffed.
Laxus put his hands out, and Lucy initially denied him because she wasn't finished snuggling little Hadyn, but she knew her husband loved babies and had been waiting for this day as much as she had. Besides, her little heart melted a bit at the sight when Laxus held their little grandson.
Up close, Laxus could see a lot more of Lucy in the baby's face. Her nose, lips. Anna bore the strongest resemblance to her mother and had inherited her hair, her face, and even her magic. The only bit of himself he saw in Anna was in her eyes and the fact she was very tall for a grown woman.
Maybe there was some Lisanna too—babies had such chubby little faces it was hard to tell until they were three or four and their faces started to shrink down a bit. He was looking forward to that, and could only imagine what kinds of mischief they'd be into by then.
Their magic seemed quite active, which was a sharp contrast to Lex, whose magic was almost completely dormant until the first time he consumed anything toxic, at which point his dragon features had suddenly appeared.
Then again, heat and electrical pulses are natural things that occur in a human body.
After the grandparents had a long time with the babies, the family at large was invited in, which was as chaotic as anyone expected. Since the older Dreyars knew Lex as a newborn, they were quite capable of handling a newborn properly, but then the issue was that there was a lot of them, and only two babies.
"How could you only have two babies? You know you have a big family," Mavis complained.
Anna answered, "If you want a baby to hold, go make one. I'm sure Baby Orga would be happy to help you out with that."
Mavis blushed furiously at this comment, but then said, "That's okay. I don't want to get fat. I'll leave that to you."
Laxus said, "Twins get less and less cute as they get older."
The newborns were very tolerant of being passed around and snuggled, looked at, and so forth, but when they were done with that, they were very done and they let everyone know they wanted to be left alone.
Grandparents took their other kids home as not to crowd the new family, and over the next couple of days, there were multiple visits to the hospital, which insisted on keeping the twins a little longer because one of them had a fever so high it was almost unbelievable that he was not only alive, but perfectly fine.
Iggy and Jane were born with this same problem, but the twins were able to come home on their third day. Visitors came and went, from the guild, from the family, from among their school friends, until Anna effectively activated Momzilla mode and uninvited people outside of the immediate family from coming over.
With fussy newborns, frequent breastfeeding, sparse sleep, and the fact that the new mother was still recovering from giving birth, they just weren't in the mood to have a lot of foot traffic in and out of the house. Plus, they were enjoying being a little family together.
The new grandparents tried to give them space, but Laxus found himself waking up throughout the night like he was the one with a newborn. He would check the window, and notice the lights on, and then repeat. By their third night home, he was sure they weren't sleeping at all.
He put on his shoes and walked across the street, knocking on the door softly. Standing at the door, he could already hear little fussy baby sounds. They got closer, and Iggy opened the door with saggy eyelids and little red eyes and dark circles that made him look like he was at least thirty-five.
Iggy was barefoot, in his boxers, while he held blue-eyed Taryn, who had been quite difficult.
Laxus came in and could see they were having a typical new twin experience: there were dishes piled up in the sink, a breast pump on the kitchen counter, a bassinet had appeared in the living room probably as part of a divide-and-conquer sleep strategy, and the couch was piled up with unfolded laundry.
"I'm trying to let Anna rest for a little bit. She seems so tired. Maybe it's because she's feeding them?" he said.
"Probably. I assume these little rascals eat a lot," Laxus answered, taking the newborn from him.
He rubbed the baby's back for just a minute and he immediately went to sleep drooling on his grandfather's shoulder, which just exasperated Iggy more because he hadn't learned all the necessary tricks to coax his sons into sleeping.
Laxus said, "How about you let us take these guys for the night and you two can sleep?"
"We don't need help. We're managing," he defensively said. Even if they were so tired he felt a little crazy, he couldn't admit that to his father-in-law. Of all the people in the world, he had to keep it together in front of Laxus so he knew his daughter was in good hands.
Laxus had an understanding that Iggy was still trying to prove himself, but he was truthfully long past that.
It seemed like the natural order of things that he was supposed to hate his son-in-law, but he actually felt the opposite. Iggy was actually shaping up to be a really good husband and father and he took good care of Anna. He'd worked hard enough and grown up fast enough along with Anna that it was hard to tell they'd put their future on the fast track due to the twins. He made sure that for the time being, all Anna had to concern herself with was their little sons, which was a big enough task.
"Igg, you look like shit, and like you really just need to sleep and newborns are inconsiderate, especially if you have more than one at a time," he said as he made his way to the nursery and put the baby in bed with his sleeping brother.
Iggy finally gave in after a few more minutes of persuasion, tempted by the idea of sleeping several hours in a row, which seemed so unfamiliar, strange, and dreamlike in his current state of exhaustion. Plus, if he let the babies go with their grandparents, Anna wouldn't wake up to their cries and could get much needed deep sleep, something their sons had denied them thus far.
Laxus threw the things he needed into a bag, including milk from the refrigerator, diapers, little clothes, and diapers. Then he put one baby in a carrier and held the other against his shoulder as he made his way across the street. He turned when the lights finally went out at the Dragneel house and Iggy crawled into bed with his wife to pass out happily.
He carried them all the way up to his bedroom and opened the door quietly.
Lucy mumbled in the dark, "Honey…what are you doing?"
"I have babies."
The light flipped on and she jumped out of bed. "Oh, I knew you were good for something! Itty Bitties! Have you finally driven your parents mad from exhaustion?"
One started screaming, then the other, but Lucy was quite delighted by this development as she'd been trying to kidnap her grandsons from their eager, overprotective parents since they'd come home.
The phenomenon was not fully understood, but every baby dragon screamed and cried a lot more than an ordinary baby might. They growled, they ate three times more than expected, and they were generally upset with everything until they were a couple of months old although it was especially bad in the beginning.
Lucy couldn't imagine having more than one at a time. With Anna and Mavis, Mavis had been a handful, but Anna was the chilliest baby they'd had. She was born with the ability to ignore her twin, a skill she likely picked up while still in the womb.
After feeding and changing them and snuggling them, if they wanted to scream, the veteran parents had no objections, but weren't going to panic about it either.
Lucy swaddled Taryn and Hadyn tightly and put them between her and Laxus in the bed, and then just laid there and watched them fuss.
"You guys can yell all you want. No one is better at ignoring noisy dragons than me. I've been doing It for over have of my life now, and trust me, I know some dragons that are a lot more annoying than you guys are. And less cute, my little pointy-eared devils," she said, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead.
Laxus looked down at them. "They are handsome, aren't they?"
"They are, but they seem like a handful. Being grandparents is awesome. We get baby snuggles now, and then the rest of the time, these guys are screaming at their parents," she said.
And scream they did.
They even kept their experienced grandparents up almost the entire night, making assorted demands for snuggles, food, peace, quiet, the right to yell for no reason at all, etc., but eventually fell into a peaceful sleep in the crib they'd put in Layla's old room shortly before dawn. Of course, not before spitting up on their Gams, drooling on their Grams, and treating them to other 'joys' of newborn care.
In the morning, Lucy came down to make breakfast for her family and felt a little relieved that she and Laxus only had to miss one night of sleep. She had a plan to get the Dragneels across the street to come over for breakfast and then send Virgo over to address the laundry mountain and the dishes. That way, they could start the day off with a full night's sleep, a clean house, and a good meal.
While she was getting her ingredients together, Sam and Layla arrived, with a couple of bags and one big gift bag. Lucy hadn't seen her daughter in a while, so she was so happy just for the chance to be around her again. Layla living in Crocus was a lot harder than Anna living across the street for the most obvious reasons.
Sam's enlistment period was almost over, so she was anxiously awaiting their return to Magnolia.
Her son-in-law was holding all their bags and after Layla squeezed her mother tightly, he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"My daughter and my son-in-law! I've missed you guys!"
Her scent drew down the rest of the family: Mavis, Yuri, and their father.
Lucy wondered if maybe Lisanna was right and they really were half monster. She often wondered how they experienced the world with their noses and sharp hearing and unusual instincts. A houseful of dragons was definitely a houseful of weirdos, that much had always been clear.
Layla excitedly said, "How are the babies?"
"They're good. Sleeping upstairs. We took them for the night so their parents could sleep. They're not to be disturbed for now," her father warned.
"But—"
"But nothing. The little monsters are sleeping, and they're going to stay that way," he added.
Layla sighed and sat at the table with her husband, who whispered something in her ear that made her scowl and punch him in the arm. Then the others joined them and Lucy realized she needed a bigger dinner table, and that made her quite happy.
This was her first time to see Sam and Layla interact as married couple, and she found they reminded her of her and Laxus. Iggy and Anna were very sweet and gentle with each other, but Sam liked to bother Layla and she liked to be a big brat, so while they were sitting at the table, he annoyed his wife and she fussed at him. Then three seconds later, he was tickling her and she was giggling and telling him how adorable he was.
When Lucy watched them, she knew they'd probably been doing this non-stop since the day they got married and were quite happy about it.
Lucy said, "You need to get Sam an Orga, Layla. Ever since Orga moved in next door, your father can escape his middle-age boredom by bothering him. And every bit of energy he wastes fighting with the neighbor is a little less he has to get on my nerves. It's the best thing."
This was true. Laxus had initially feared constantly fighting with Orga would cause his wife to be constantly angry, but she couldn't have been happier.
Orga was actually the perfect neighbor, although Lucy was a little embarrassed when he first moved in and young Fairy Tail wizards started showing up at his house to challenge him in battle. He didn't mind scrapping with them, which gave them another source of training, and he was pretty patient about being ambushed in the middle of town by ambitious fairies. Plus, he would keep an eye on Lex and Crash when they were playing outside sometimes or when Lex came in after school and all the adults were at work or otherwise gone.
The elder Orga loved his son, and he loved crazy little Mavis. He also liked cooking and was using his retirement to sharpen his chef skills, so Lucy occasionally strayed over to his house to sample his offerings, which never failed to piss off her terrible cook of a husband. She knew Orga teased her husband about his wife slipping over to his house when he wasn't looking, and she did not care as long as she got artichoke-stuffed lobster out of it.
(Laxus referred to this as her 'food affair.')
Layla said, "Sam already has one of those. His name is Iggy."
"Oh, that's right. You've been gone so long, I forgot how you two used to be. I'm sure Iggy will love having his rival friend back, but he's going to be pretty busy with his sons for a while. They're very adorable, but very high maintenance," Lucy answered.
Sam said, "You might want to make a little extra for Layla."
Laxus looked up over his newspaper. "Eating for two? I'm almost scared to ask, after what happened last time."
Layla answered, "Then don't. No, I'm not pregnant! I lost all that stupid weight and Sam wants my butt to be big and jiggly again!"
Her father scowled at his daughter, at his son-in-law, at his wife, at his newspaper, and then at his coffee before his face softened and he realized the coffee hadn't upset him yet. He took a big gulp and then replied, "That is more information than I need. 'No' would have been sufficient."
Laxus wanted to make a comment to Sam about bothering his daughter, but he'd tried to keep his wife big every time she had a baby because he liked it. It was annoying and gross to know Sam had similar urges toward Layla, because he understood them fully and knew it was extremely sexual and dirty.
Sam smirked and whispered in her ear again.
And Laxus took a deep breath. "I can hear you."
Layla rolled her eyes and pushed him. "Why did I marry this idiot?"
Yuri said, "I thought you knew. Everyone else was kind of confused and shocked."
"Why aren't you married? At this rate, you're even Lex is going to move out before you," Layla answered.
Yuri sighed. "That's okay. I'm happy going nice and slow like a normal person."
"I'm not going anywhere. It's pretty sweet living here now that the strange people have moved out," Mavis added.
Lucy found her youngest son seemed to be in a deep state of thought, as if he was thinking extremely hard about something. She wondered if it was his plot to avoid girl wrath for the day, or about homework, or about scrapping with his older siblings.
Finally she brushed her hand through his hair. "My sweet Lexy, what's on your mind, son?"
"Pancakes," Lex answered in a tone that was very serious.
His mother squeezed him tighter. "I will make you pancakes every day for the rest of your life if you stay little and cute."
Iggy and Anna appeared halfway through breakfast, looking well-rested and quite grateful.
As planned, Lucy summoned Virgo from the hallway so Anna and Iggy wouldn't see, and then sent her over to their house to tidy it up. Then she witnessed firsthand the first signs of baby-brain which left the young parents apparently very happy to interact with other adults.
Once the meal was over, they sat around with coffee talking about the twins, about Sam and Layla, slight hints that Yuri might eventually be engaged, teasing Mavis because she'd finally acknowledged Baby Orga as her boyfriend now that he lived next door, and taunting Lex over his little harem problems.
A little cry let them know one of the twins had awoken and their parents went upstairs to tend to them.
After feeding, burping, and listening to their complaints about being without their mother for several hours, they finally brought the twins down for Layla and Sam to meet.
Iggy was obviously a very proud papa when he showed off his newborn sons to his friend. "These are my boys, Taryn and Hadyn. And Anna's a mom now, how cool is that?"
Sam lowered his voice as he looked down at Taryn. "Hey, your boys look like the old man."
Iggy whispered, "I know! My dad asked me if I was trying hard enough. I don't know what that means."
Anna and Layla took a moment from doting on Hadyn to glare at them, and Layla said, "Sam, our father is your father-in-law, not 'the old man.'"
Sam shrugged. "This is guy talk. No wives allowed. Especially not ours."
Iggy said, "You're crazy, man. Layla's going to turn you into a lizard or something."
"Lizard? Please. If Sam goes poof, keep an eye out for an iron cockroach," Layla replied.
Anna answered, "Baby, they're both crazy. Sam and Layla can only be happy when they combine their crazy. "
Layla gently took Taryn from her, and cradled him gently. "Oh, he does look like Daddy! And yet he's so cute. These guys are just so adorable!
Laxus took another sip of his coffee, wondering if they just assumed his dragon hearing had been dampened by old age.
Iggy looked up to Sam and asked, "You want to hold my son?"
"I've got a metal arm. I think it would be uncomfortable. They're squishy, right? He looks squishy."
Anna said, "You can hold him against your shoulder. I think they like being in that position best anyway." She helped him get Hadyn positioned with Sam. "There you go. See, he likes you."
"How can you tell?" Sam asked.
"He's not screaming like a banshee and fire isn't coming out of his nose. That's not the easiest thing to explain to the nurses, you know," she said.
Anna was satisfied with having given them each a baby to snuggle, and tugged her husband's hand. "We're just going to go get some more breakfast."
This left Sam and Layla alone in the living room, with babies.
They watched the babies, and each other, which left them both feeling a little shy. As married adults who had discussed family planning, it was hard not to get a certain idea when one's spouse looked so cute holding a little newborn.
Sam turned to sniff the baby, and felt his hair and his soft skin. "This is pretty awesome, don't you think?"
"Two healthy, handsome baby boys…Iggy and Anna really do have a wonderful life. I'm really happy for my sister. She's always been the sweetest and most caring person, so I know she's going to just be the best mom," Layla said.
He smiled at her. "You know, you look awfully cute with a baby. You'd be a good mom."
Layla smiled back at him. "You too. I don't think a baby would really mind your arm. Babies love their parents. I think the longer I stay away from home, the more I miss my parents."
"Me too. I'm going to head out in a minute and visit them."
Layla watched him lean his head to snuggle the baby a little closer, and looked down at the baby in her arms. "It's weird being a grownup. Anna and I were just kids, and now she has babies."
Sam's expression warmed and he found himself turning a little pink in the cheeks.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"Guess!" he teased.
Layla answered, "Don't give me that look. There's a big difference between wanting a baby and what you want. Creepy pervert."
"Aww, don't be like that, sweetie. Wanting to get your woman pregnant is a very basic and normal part of male instinct."
The blonde leered at her husband.
Sam leaned in and nuzzled her cheek. "Besides, I want a son."
"Why are you telling me that?"
"Well, if you're not going to give me one, should I start asking around?"
The rage in her eyes got a little hotter. "I'll kill you, Sam Redfox."
Sam grinned. "So it's settled."
Layla continued glaring at him. "How is that settled? You're only saying that because Iggy has sons and now you think you need one."
"No, I need three, so that I have more than he does. I wonder if I could get you triple pregnant…Is there some kind of potion or something?"
This was a demonstration of one undeniable fact that she'd observed her entire life:
Dragons were inescapably absurd creatures, but what made their nonsense dangerous was that they had no problem following through. Sam and Iggy were friends and rivals, and Iggy had two beautiful baby boys and Sam had none. Two male dragons together suffered from some compounded form of this problem.
Another thing she knew was that the best way to deal with Sam was to simply ignore him. Her ovaries were practically twitching with glee at the sight of him snuggling and loving on the newborn, but she refused to play his games.
Sam playfully added, "And you have to promise me if I put a kid in you that he won't come out looking like your old man."
"Sam, can you just enjoy the babies? They're so adorable and you're so…not."
She did want a little raven-haired boy to squeeze, or a little girl—sometimes she hoped to have a whole army of little girls so she could train them and unleash them into the world. She knew her husband was just trying to talk her into letting him get her pregnant, in part because he desperately wanted to have a family and in part because he wanted to see her butt get huge.
Sam was actually well-educated by the military, and was quite brilliant and known for being well-organized and disciplined. But around Layla, he defaulted to chaos, starting from the moment she crashed back into his world and into his bed. From that moment on, he was just going with what felt good, and she felt really good.
Iggy and Anna eventually came to get their babies, and Anna found herself hoping that Layla and Sam would join them on the parenthood adventure. Growing up as close sisters, they'd shared so much, and she wanted to share some of her motherhood experiences with her too.
So when Lilia came to visit the twins at their house later on, Anna made sure they were changed, properly burped, and dressed up extra cute. They were quite handsome little blond-haired boys with jewel-toned eyes and chubby little faces, and she was happy to see Lilia and Yuri sit together in their living room with the babies.
Was the equation for convincing someone to have a baby: get happy couple together, insert adorable newborns? She hoped so! Then, Anna wondered if she was already turning into her mother, who had already mentioned babies to her oldest two children.
Yuri and Lilia had been frequent babysitters of Lex as a baby, so they were both well-practiced with newborns. He was comfortable with kids, being the oldest, and laid Hadyn on his lap so he could play with the baby's little hands and tummy.
Lilia cradled blue-eyed Taryn, who was drowsy because he'd spent most of the afternoon yelling. "Anna and Iggy are really happy, aren't they? They're good together. They made the whole 'young love' thing work."
Yuri smiled a little bit. "I'm glad it's like this. It's nice, getting to know you as an adult. We both changed a lot. I think it's good to come together as independent adults who want to be together than young people who feel like they just need each other. I mean, I do need you, it's just different. We're a lot more mature now."
It was a very different scenario than Iggy and Anna, but then again different people created different relationships with different outcomes.
Lilia asked, "I'm not mad, I'm just curious. I have a question."
"…uh-oh…about what?" he nervously asked.
"There's a little clip in Sorcerer Gossip that says you slept with Miss Fiore. And the runner-up. At the same time not that long before we got back together," she said.
Yuri looked down at his nephew, praying maybe he'd cry or do something really cute to distract her, but he seemed pretty chill at the moment. "Well…"
"Yuri!"
Yuri really had no game at all and his success with women was due to several factors that he didn't deliberately activate: he was handsome, he was successful, he was very sweet, and he was adorably awkward. Without very much effort, he'd found himself in countless positions where a woman felt possessed by the need to do things to him, and he'd been programmed since birth to just sort of let women do what they wanted. Plus, it felt good and he had fun.
In this case, he happened to be in Crocus during the Miss Fiore competition and Petri mentioned it was his birthday during the alcohol-soaked after party. The next thing he knew, he was in a penthouse apartment with two of the most attractive women in the country and they were giggling and taking his pants off.
The gossip article mentioned one of his peculiar habits—saying 'please' and 'thank you' during sexual activities, his insatiable stamina, and how good he really was in bed. He'd also made them a nice breakfast in the morning and took care of them during their hangover, which made him seem like the nicest guy to have a one nighter with.
Yuri was terrified that the article would somehow fall into his mother's hands. He just feel the awkward, cringeworthy conversation: her apparent disapproval, his nervous squirming, and the sight of this father pretending he couldn't hear any of it.
He wasn't sure how to play his cards, so he decided maybe the safest thing to do was to provide some sort of equivalency.
"You slept with an accountant and a baker," he said.
Lilia sighed. "Not at the same time! Or even in the same year. I dated one, and then the other."
"I mean, does that matter? I wouldn't be mad about it if you did. That's pretty kinky though."
She balanced the baby carefully and wagged a finger at him. "Yuri, don't even go there!"
"How would that even work?"
"Yuri!"
Yuri nervously said, "They just wanted to do it. I mean, I didn't talk them into it or anything. I don't know how to do that. I think you're the only woman I've ever really asked for sex. The rest came onto me."
Lilia actually found this believable and looked down at one of his nephews. "Your uncle is a mess. But don't worry, I've got this situation under control."
He leaned in and said, "I'd think about you a lot when we were apart. Sometimes at really inappropriate times. Sometimes when I was by myself. I had a couple of really nasty battles and every time I find myself laying in a pool of my own blood, I'd think about you, about what you were doing, about how I missed you. But by the time I got better, I'd lose the nerve. When my mom told me you were engaged, I nearly lost it."
"Not going to lie, I was mad at you for breaking up with me, and then by the time I realized it was the right thing, I just thought I'd missed you and I had to make my life work however I could. I dated this guy and that guy, and finally found someone who I could just be comfortable with, but it wasn't the same. I got so used to telling myself that it was perfect that you came along and just shattered that idea that I'd created for myself."
"We're here, and we're going to make it this time. That's all that matters, right?" he asked.
"Right."
Yuri looked down at his nephew and asked, "Look at this face. You know what he wants?"
"For you to stop moving his hands like he's dancing?"
"Probably that, but until he's bigger than me, I'm the boss of him. But also, I think he wants cousins. Can't you see it on his face?"
Lilia shook her head. "I see a very annoyed baby who is going to start yelling at you. And then his mom is going to yell at you for pissing him off. And then Iggy is going to sigh at you because he's too nice to tell you to stop being Uncle Jerk. You're just like your dad, Baby Annoyer. I don't get the cousins thing."
As if on cue, Hadyn started screaming, and Yuri attempted to comfort him. "Okay, I'm sorry. Don't wake your mom up, she'll either kick me or summon someone else to do it. She has options."
Anna came around the corner, half-asleep with one eyelid drooping. "You."
"I didn't do anything, I swear!"
"A mother knows her baby's cries," she said, taking the newborn from him.
Once the baby calmed down, Yuri and Lilia left and walked toward the ice cream shop. She held his arm, and he sheepishly grinned at her.
They were sitting on a bench licking ice cream cones together, and he said, "So, you're on track to transfer to Magnolia after this school year?"
She nodded. "I'm going to look at an apartment tomorrow before I head back home."
He said, "I've been thinking a lot about things and, I'm sorry for messing up your life. When I think about it, I don't really have a lot to offer you. Dealing with a wizard isn't the easiest thing. I go on long jobs, and you'll be alone a lot. Until we have kids, in which case you'll be taking care of them while I'm gone. Wizards are known for having a short life expectancy. I just think the other guy would at least be safe and he'd come home to you every night. I can't give you that."
"You didn't mess up my life. You saved me from settling. I come from a wizarding family too, so I don't have any illusions about what it's going to be like. I know it's going to be hard sometimes and I still picked you. So let's not talk about that anymore. We'll not talk about him, and I'll never mention your others either."
"I just wanted to make sure, one last time."
This seemed like a deal that advantaged him more than it did her, so he was happy to nod in agreement.
They walked along the river together after they finished their ice cream, and he said, "Lilia, we're not kids anymore, you know. I've been a little jealous of my sisters these past few months. Getting married, having babies. I'm ready to live my life too. Are you ready?"
"This time, yes. I think we're finally there."
Yuri dug into his pocket and sank down onto one knee as he smoothly popped open the ring box. "Will you marry me, then?"
She excitedly exclaimed, "Yes!"
They smiled so wide at each other as he slipped the big diamond ring on her finger.
When he stood, they hugged each other tightly and then kissed.
On the way back, Yuri told her the hassles associated with this event:
First, he'd tried to ask Sting, who just punched him in the stomach a few times, like always, but ultimately gave his blessing. He didn't say it, but Yuri suspected he was very glad they'd gotten back together.
Then, there were his parents.
His father was happy for him and gave him no drama, but his mother made it very clear no one else in the family was going to elope or have a quick wedding. She wanted at least one of her kids to give her months to plan a big wedding, and Mavis had already claimed 'not it.'
Meanwhile at the Dreyar house, Mavis came down to answer the door after someone knocked and found guildmate and bad boy Petri Nekkis. The twenty-five year old was generally credited with Yuri acting so wild, and was chastised regularly for being so reckless. Her father and their guildmaster told him often he either had to calm down or become okay with not living very long.
At the moment, he had a gift bag.
"So, I uhh…I brought a gift. Baby stuff. The lights are off and its kind of quiet, so could you give this to Anna or Iggy or whatever?"
Mavis shrugged. "I guess."
"Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you, Mavi."
The little blonde let him come in, assuming it was about a job and asked, "What about?"
Petri said, "Look, I've been thinking a lot lately. I thought Layla would eventually give in to my charms, but that didn't work out the way I planned. One of my goals in life is to marry Dreyar and make a superbaby, and you're the last Dreyar girl."
Mavis kicked him in the stomach, and when he hunched over, she pinched one of his ears really hard and pulled his head down to her level. "Don't think. It's going to get you hurt."
She thumped his nose once, opened the door, and headbutted him, causing him to stumble out.
Lucy was in the kitchen and came out. "Who was that?"
"Petri."
"What did he want?"
"To get me pregnant."
Lucy shook her head. "He loves danger, but that seems stupid even for him. You know what? I don't even want to know."
Mavis shrugged. "I don't what kind of disorder everyone else seems to have, but I'm not trying to get knocked by any means or by any person."
Her mother said, "You know, you'd be a good mom. Now that I've become a Grams, I just want more and more grandchildren. It's a compulsion, and I lay around with your dad talking about you guys and our growing family. We're looking forward to you living your life. And babies."
Mavis was annoyed by this conversation already, but she sat down on the couch when her mother did. "Things are fine just the way they are."
"You love Baby Orga very much, don't you? I wasn't so sure at first, but you're fiercely protective of your relationship, of your relationship, and of him. You're so loyal to him, and he's happy with you. Sometimes I feel like there's a part of you only he has ever seen, and I guess that's okay. It's important for us to find people we can be vulnerable with," Lucy said.
Her daughter crossed her arms. "He's all right. I like that he's close. His dad is cool."
"Do you two ever talk about the future?"
Mavis nodded. "Sometimes."
Lucy said, "You know, I try to be very respectful of you and your specialness, but I am your mother. I carried you inside of my body. Breastfed you even when you had a fang. All I want to know is what you are planning to do with your life. You've had the same boyfriend for a while and I know there's no way even a peculiar person like you can spend that much time with someone and not ever talk about the future."
Her youngest daughter was clearly displeased about this, but no one could refuse a mother's guilt trip.
So she took a deep breath.
"I might move over there when I make s-class. I don't need any distractions until then. He's a distraction."
"And marriage? And you know the new rule – NO ONE ELOPES!"
Mavis said, "Yeah, I feel like maybe now is a good time for me to tell you this. I'm not getting married. Ever. It's not for me."
Mavis knew this would piss her parents off, but they'd pretend it wouldn't. Despite pretending to be progressive, her family was actually surprisingly traditional.
She determined that the frustration they'd communicate would probably be mostly indirect, like how their mother made Sam and Layla a photo album of them growing up as a wedding gift and left one page blank with this note:
I wanted to put pictures of your wedding here, but I wasn't invited. -Love, Mom
Lucy was indeed annoyed by this, but Mavis was Mavis was Mavis.
"Are you going to give me grandchildren? If you say no, I'll pinch you!"
Mavis grumbled, "Since there are no other Nanagears, I agreed I would give him one son, after I become s-class and have reached age twenty-one. If we try and I have a girl, we will attempt one more time. There will be no more than two pregnancies total, but hopefully just the one."
"That sounds like a contractual negotiation, Mavis…"
"We wrote it down and signed it, so…that's just kind of how it works with us."
This was some limited insight into how Baby Orga and Mavis worked. Lucy found it fascinating and exasperating all at once, but as long as they were happy, she decided to leave it alone. She was satisfied enough by this, and knew she wasn't going to get much more out of her daughter than she had.
When she snuggled into bed with her husband later that night, she gave him a big kiss.
"Honey, we have some weird kids. Good but weird."
Laxus had no arguments. "Do you ever just sit and listen to them talk?"
"I try not to, it always makes me wonder who they got it from. I'm inclined to believe it come from your side of the family."
"As I said to one of my idiot-in-laws, 'the sooner you let your wife just blame you for everything, the sooner you can go to sleep.'"
Lucy wanted to comment about calling their daughters' husbands 'idiot-in-laws,' but she'd overheard what they called him earlier and decided they all just deserved each other.
"Goodnight, Honey."
"Goodnight, Babe."
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