15 Weeks (3 months, 3 weeks)
Lucy groaned as she looked over herself in the mirror. Her pregnancy had started showing a few days ago, so when Natsu had left on a job to get more funds for them, he insisted that she stay home, "just as you promised." Lucy would miss going on jobs for the nearly five months left, not to mention the months of Baby's early infancy, but she knew that Natsu was only wanting his family to stay safe. It spoke volumes that he made her stay home instead of letting her come and simply protecting her as he normally did. It reminded Lucy of that first night he had known of her pregnancy, when he had acted even more alert and guarding of Lucy and Baby than normal.
But that's not what Lucy had been thinking about as she stood in front of the mirror that morning.
"Natsu's never going to think I'm sexy again!"
Lucy whimpered as she watched herself turn in the mirror. Her beginning-to-be-big belly could be seen no matter what angle she looked at herself. "I'll be fat! I'll look like a walrus- no, a whale! And I'll have stretch marks, too! Wah!" Lucy's hormonal tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. "This really suuuuucks!" She whined, at both her predicament and her uncontrollable hormones.
That's when she heard the front door slam shut. "I'm home, Luce! And I didn't break anything!" Lucy's eyes flooded all over again, her insane pregnant mind creating a vision where Natsu saw Lucy "fat" and left, never to be seen again. Lucy glanced at her face in the mirror and saw that her eyes were completely red and puffy, but she just couldn't bring herself to care.
Natsu thought it was strange that Lucy hadn't greeted him home; she always did. He sniffed to ensure that she was home, as he'd assumed, and wasn't happy to smell the saltiness of tears. His ears also picked up sniffles of crying. "Lucy? What's the matter?" Natsu asked, concerned as he darted in the open bathroom door. Lucy threw herself onto him in a hug.
"Lucy, what's the matter!?" Natsu asked while he held her close. "What happened!? Are you okay!? Is Baby okay!?"
Lucy sobbed out her words. "I'm faaaaaaat!"
Natsu's eyes bugged out and he spoke in an incredulous tone. "Wait, what? You were just yelling at Happy the other day for calling you fat, and now you're saying it to yourself?" Lucy just sobbed harder. Crap. Apparently not the right thing to say. "You're not fat, Lucy!" At this, Lucy stood up from leaning on him.
"Look at how swelled my stomach is! And it's gonna get even bigger! I'll look like I swallowed Happy whole!"
"But- That's not fat! You have a baby in you! Our baby! The baby that we're going to hold in our arms in five months and love and raise to be the strongest wizard in Fiore!" As Lucy listened to Natsu's words, she finally calmed down, wiping her tears away and realizing that he spoke the truth. She wasn't fat; she was carrying their baby. Lucy started laughing, at both Natsu's last comment and her own ridiculous.
"Oh, jeez, I'm so sorry, Natsu." Natsu kissed her chastely on the lips to tell her that it was okay, and they both walked out of the bathroom and to the couch to sit down. Then Lucy recalled why she feared that she was fat. "But..." She continued hesitantly.
"But what?
"Do you think I'm sexy?"
Natsu's eyes popped again. "What!? You know I think you're sexy as hell!"
Lucy smiled at that. She did. Natsu proved it time and time again. Then another thought crossed her mind, one that wasn't a crazy pregnancy thought. "Will you still think I'm sexy if I'm fat?"
Natsu was confused. Hadn't he just addressed this? "You're not fat, Lu-"
"I know, but what if I am someday? What if one day, I'm actually fat?"
"We both do too much running around with jobs and such for either of us to get fat."
"Just answer the question, and be honest! Will you still think I'm sexy if I'm fat!?"
"Luce, you could be as fat as Droy and I'd still think you're sexy!"
"Wow, you're easy to please..." Lucy didn't say what she was thinking in so many words, but Natsu somehow got the implications.
"Wait... Er... I didn't mean it like that! You're the only one who I'm attracted to!"
"I know, I know," Lucy said feeling a little guilty, because she already knew that! Lots of the women in their guild were half-naked most of the time, and they were often spared barely a glance from Natsu. At least as far as 'checking out' went. Of course he still looked at their friends, but it was different than when Wakaba looked at their friends. Not that Lucy expected anything else. Natsu was the most loyal person she knew, even before they had been together. He showed his loyalties to his family, Fairy Tail, nearly every single day.
"I just meant that I'll be attracted to you no matter what you look like, because you're Lucy! It's you I think is sexy, not your body!" Lucy smiled at his words, then decided to tease.
"What, my body isn't sexy?"
Natsu was flustered all over again, thinking that Lucy was legitimately offended. He had missed the teasing lilt in her voice. "Wait, no- Your body's definitely sexy! I mean, look at you!" He was going to compliment her features specifically, but he didn't know how to. He knew that women didn't like men to be so crude about them. Gildarts had made sure to teach him that, along with other things, when the father figure had discovered that Natsu was in a relationship. A lot of it, Natsu had figured out was bad advice, like 'ignore the girl when she's mad or you'll just get hit'. Natsu had known immediately that that one was dumb, but there had been some gems of relationship intelligence in there, like the dislike for crudeness thing.
As Natsu tried to figure out an eloquent way to say how big her boobs and ass were, he decided to just say, "I could prove to you how sexy I think you are..." Natsu tried for the sensual tone that he knew turned Lucy on, but it came out a little panicked.
"I was teasing, Natsu. Stop freaking out." Then, analyzing her thoughts, Lucy added, "My hormones are calmed down for now."
"That's good." He leaned in and kissed her sweetly, although Lucy could tell that just one move on her part would turn the kiss into fire.
Natsu leaned back after a few seconds. "Y'know," he started, his voice successfully going lusty now, "the offer still stands..." He kissed her again. "I'd love to show you again how much I love you."
Lucy smiled at him, but it was apologetic instead of the usual sensual one she sent him during times like this. "I'm sorry, Natsu..." She could see his entire being cringe in disappointment. "I would usually say yes, you know that, but I just really don't feel up to it right now..."
Natsu sighed and layed his head on her shoulder. "You don't have to apologize, Luce. You're allowed to say no."
Lucy kissed the top of his head. "Yeah, but I've only ever said 'no' before when I'm teasing you... I feel guilty..."
"You shouldn't. Especially not when you're pregnant. I know you're already exhausted from that." He shifted his head to look at Lucy's baby bump and smiled as he laid his arm over it.
Lucy smiled sweetly at him and rested her arm with his on her abdomen. "Natsu, you have got to be the best husband in the entire universe."
Natsu snickered. "So why aren't I drinking hot chocolate out of a mug that tells me that yet?" He lifted his head up from her shoulder.
Lucy laughed. "You really want a 'best husband' mug?"
"Yeah! It's good and cheesy, and I love cheese!" Natsu said, laughing at his stupid pun, which he thought was the cleverest thing ever.
"I know that," Lucy laughed again as memories flashed in her mind of the bounty of grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese bowls, and cheese quesadillas she'd made for Natsu or seen him eat. "All right, fine. For our next anniversary, I'll get you one."
Natsu scoffed. "Now it won't be a surprise!" Lucy rolled her eyes. "All right, where did we leave off last time?" Natsu asked no one in particular, referencing what he'd been telling Baby- everything that had happened to Fairy Tail since Lucy had joined. "Oh yeah! I was excited for this one! Lucy kicking that crazy evil swan lady's butt!"
Lucy laughed. "Oh right, you were telling Baby about how we defeated the Oracion Seis."
"Yeah! Okay, Baby, Mommy's gonna hafta tell you a lot of this, because Gray got me stuck on a raft and I can't remember too much besides wanting to throw up."
"Natsu, I've told you, that wasn't Gray. It was Gemini."
"Whatever. I'm sure Gray had something to do with it." Lucy rolled her eyes and chuckled again. "Anyways, like I said, Gray tricked me and hid a raft under my feet, so I was sick until Mommy saved my life, but I'll tell you how she did that a little later. First up: the fight!..." Lucy smiled and listened while Natsu told their baby about how she had defeated Angel, Lucy filling in details where necessary. She really couldn't wait until she would be able to hold Baby in her arms and tell these stories again while tucking Baby in for bed.
A/N: Hey guys! I'm not dead! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. How long has it been? A month? Two? Anyways, like I said, I lack a bountiful amount of time, and I've been working on planning another project outside of the fanfiction realm. So, for a while, I was working on that during the time that I usually write fanfics.
Alright, news on Lucid, for those who care: Chapter three's beta is about halfway done, and just as I said, once I finish that, I'll post the current beta of chapter one as a preview in order to generate responses. If I get good reviews on it, then I'll keep working, but if no one is interested, then I see no need for me to keep working on it. I shall hopefully post the preview within the next two weeks.
That's all for now!