Prompt: #20 for Fraxus ('You're too damn cute') - arandomgirliam on tumblr.

Adorable

The birth of the little Seith mage (or Celestial Spirit mage, if you talked to the kid's mother) had been a wonderful event for pretty much everyone in Fairy Tail. For Laxus, it had been an amazing event, just because it gave Bickslow less time to actually annoy him, what, with being a parent to a newborn and all.

It wasn't long before the two new parents did have to return to their old lives as guild mages… Or more accurately, they both just really needed a day off from the tiny human they'd created, and taking a simple one-day job together in the next town had been way too appealing. Of course, that had just meant they'd be needing a babysitter for the day, and much to Laxus' disgust, Freed had volunteered them for the task. Damn that demon…

Once Freed had returned to their little cottage with the screaming child, Laxus had instantly retreated to the opposite side of the house and made use of his SoundPod. As far as Laxus was concerned, Freed was the one that had volunteered them, so Freed could be the one to look after the damn poop machine.

And, that had been exactly what had happened for the first few hours. Freed had kept the baby occupied, and Laxus had… sulked.

But then Freed had had to run an errand of the highest importance, apparently, and then Laxus was left sitting in his bedroom and staring at the drooling, fidgeting, weird-noise making creature that somehow looked exactly like her father. It was the damn eyes.

Thankfully, it had been nap time again for the kid, so Laxus' shift had been easy. All he'd had to do was really check every so often to make sure she hadn't rolled off onto the floor from where her makeshift bed had been made on the middle of his own. Of course though, things had gotten worse after that, because after nap time came changing time, and by Mavis had Laxus been cursing his heightened Dragon Slayer senses right then.

When Freed returned home just a few hours later, he half expected the house to be in disarray - leaving his husband with a four-month-old baby had just seemed like the worst idea ever. But when he reached the bedroom at the back of the house, he was completely shocked. But in a good way.

Because Laxus was playing with the baby - or really, he was tickling her, but the kid was giggling and Laxus was smiling and holy fucking shit what is going on here? And maybe the best part for Freed was that even with Laxus' heightened senses, he was too preoccupied with the baby in front of him that he didn't even notice him standing in the doorway.

"You're just too damn cute, you know that?" Even if he was still grumbling a little, it was still pretty damn genuine, and Freed was completely lost for words as he watched Laxus continue to tickle and snuggle his god-daughter. "It's a good thing Blondie's your mother, because Bix sure as hell ain't cute."

Once Freed did manage to find his voice though, just making his presence known with a gentle cough, Laxus merely glanced in his direction before sitting up suddenly and composing himself. His cheeks were red (just like his hands), and Freed now couldn't help but smirk as he watched his husband pick up the baby and hold her out to him.

"Oh, finally. You're back," he grumbled. "Kid's hungry."

Freed could only snicker quietly as he took the child in his arms and turned to watch Laxus disappear down the hall to the rest of their house. How the kid managed to wear Laxus down so quickly, Freed had no idea, but he was most definitely going to pester Laxus about it later. He could let his grumpy husband pretend he hadn't been caught red-handed snuggling a baby and enjoying it for a little while.

But only for a little while.