RosesMcKellar. Mira just makes the perfect plot exclamation mark in my opinion.
NinjaKitten93. I'm not sure if I'm writing that hunt into this story or not, because I'm not very good at the fight scenes, but it definitely needs written.
rmadhumita378. Isn't he though! Flirty touchy Bickslow would be seen as normal in the guild. Possessive Bickslow on the other hand...
ytygr, SailorTardis498, twizt312, Unoyoko94. Thanks guys! Your support and love of this story keeps me writing.
RosesMcKellar. There are so many questions. Of course Freed would zero in on the most important one.
Firesong23. Aye Sir. Erza's solution to an out of control Natsu is more... temporary in nature.
Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.
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"Luce isn't yours. She is ours!" Natsu called from his seat on the floor.
"I'm afraid you seem to have missed my point, Natsu."
"How is that not the point!"
"Are we ignoring the fact that Loke just called Bickslow a princess?" Thank you Gray! Somebody pay attention to the stripper. Bickslow silently pleaded.
"The point isn't who Lucy may or may not belong to..."
"She belongs to us."
"I don't really belong to..."
"The point I'm trying to make is more of a why question as opposed to who."
"Why doesn't matter because she doesn't belong to...Ouch!" Natsu rubbed the red spot on his nose where Evergreen's fan had made contact.
"If you would shut up and listen. As Lucy pointed out, she doesn't really belong to anyone.
If she chooses to allow someone to claim her as there's it is simply a way to explain relationships. Freed's point is that...well..." There was a sly look in Evergreen's eye. "I happen to know about your relationship with a certain little takeover mage. Tell me, Natsu, would it be ok with you if Loke was crawling all over Lisanna?" Natsu began to growl and smoke. Loke took a step away from him just in case the slayer forgot he hadn't really done anything to Lisanna at all. "And why do you feel that way, Natsu?"
"Mine!" Bickslow rolled his eyes. Lucy's best friend was so complex. Not.
"But you let him touch Lucy. You say Lucy is yours too. So why is Lisanna special?" Natsu tipped his head to the side and Bickslow could almost see the wheels turning in his head. He needed to change the topic of conversation real quick.
"I'm with Gray. Why aren't we talking about how I'm a princess now?"
"No, we can come back to that one. Evergreen and Freed have a point. When did my sister become... yours, Bickslow?" There was a distinct chill in the air. Lucy joined Bickslow's attempt to change the topic.
"So after we left Shirotsume..." Natsu suddenly hopped up and sniffed at Lucy, why batted him away. "What is your problem, Natsu!" The slayer leapt onto the table to lean forward and sniff at Bickslow. "Hey!" Lucy yanked him off the table by the back of the shirt. "Stop sniffing people you weirdo!"
"Well?" Gray was looking at Natsu like he had all the answers, which obviously he didn't, because the slayer looked even more confused than he had before he sniffed them.
"Luce, why did you scent mark Bickslow?" Because that wasn't a weird question to ask someone.
"I didn't scent mark anyone you idiot! I'm not a dog!" Bickslow knew Lucy had at least a vague knowledge of what he was talking about, just like he did. A side effect of having a best friend who was part animal was that you learned weird shit about their magic, even if you didn't try to. The intrigued look on Freed's face said he had probably read about it somewhere. Everyone else just looked confused.
"Say what?" Suddenly Laxus was sniffing him too. This couldn't be good.
"What the hell Boss Man!" His best friend usually kept his... dragoniness on a very short leash, so he hadn't been expecting that in the slightest.
"Huh. What do you know." Laxus was grinning as if he had just eaten Happy, as was Evergreen. Poor Freed blushing dark enough to fry eggs.
"What the fuck does that mean!" Gray growled between clenched teeth. Bickslow couldnt help but think to himself that this was the part of the story where he died a cold violent death.
"It means Bunny claimed him as hers and rubbed herself all over him to prove it." Gajeel was suddenly there, sniffing Lucy's hair.
Pipi slammed into his forehead and started hissing like a cat. He glarred at the totem, and took another sniff before he backed off. 'Careful, Pipi. You will break your body on his hard metal head and still not hurt him.' 'No more Cosplayer smelling, Daddy. Daddy not sharing.' 'I know but that's already got us in a load of trouble so take it easy.' Pipi dropped onto Lucy's head and stayed there.
"Are you protecting the my honor, Pipi?"
"Pipi protect Cosplayer friend. Go away Rusty Lizard!" Bickslow couldn't help but laugh.
"Did your daddy teach you to call Gajeel that?"
"Pipi choose name for Rusty Lizard. Pipi smart."
"Pipi is still a stupid diaper baby!"
"Pupu! Be nice to your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because... umm..." Lucy shot him a pleading look. He shrugged. He had tried for years to get them to stop picking on eachother with little success. "Because it makes me happy when you are nice to eachother and it makes me sad when you are mean." The totems all hummed for a moment before Pupu responded.
"I will be nice. A little."
"I won't." Pepe didn't sound sorry in the least. Popo and Papa snorted at him. Pupu rolled her totem in a way Bickslow had always equated with rolling her eyes.
"Boys." Lucy, Evergreen and both sister souls laughed.
"You tell it sister." Evergreen said, tapping the totem gently on her painted green nose with her fan.
Bickslow almost felt like crying. The woman who was all but a sister to him was finally accepting his babies. Lucy was contagious. He smiled until he caught the looks on the faces around him. The other half of his team was staring in shock. Loke and Natsu looked... sad, for some unfathomable reason. Gajeel was just staring at Lucy like she had lost her mind. The worst was Gray. The man looked like he was about to be sick.
He started to panic. Bad, bad, this was bad. This was why he kept the babies dampened at the guild. He had let them go when they had settled upstairs because Lucy was there. He had gotten far to comfortable in her presence, and now it was going to bite him in the ass so hard. He was pretty sure his eyes started flickering under the emotional strain too, and he didn't have his visor. He dropped his head to the table and closed his eyes, fighting nausea. This was so bad.
"Bixy? Are you ok?" The feel of Lucy's finders dancing through his hair and across the back of his neak was all that kept him from falling into a full blown panic attack and running. He leaned into her when he felt her scoot closer to him.
"Bickslow, man, I know you don't talk about your magic much, but, " He could hear the tightness in Gray's voice. "Your babies... They are people aren't they?" Bickslow saw no reason to answer him and every reason to absolutely not. Apparently Loke saw it differently.
"Yeah, man. They are. I felt the same way when I first realized."
"Shit man. I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I've never seen them... talk like that. I just thought Bickslow was playing when we saw you guys in Shirotsume. I just didn't see a reason to argue with Lucy about it at the time." It was only when Lucy started to speak softly that Bickslow realised that whatever was happening might not be quite as terrible as he had thought.
"He keeps them quiet, or what he calls dampened, when they are at the guild. So they don't cause trouble, or bother people, or... Bixy says people freak out sometimes and call the babies names."
"Why?!" Gray's shocked tone finally brought Bickslow's head up. Everyone was wearing varying levels of sadness and shock on their faces. This wasn't right. He didn't understand.
"Bix, really? Is that why they are always so much louder when we are out on missions? And since when are they friendly with anyone but you? What did you do to make them like you, Ever?"
"It was something Lucy asked me this morning. Trust me I felt really stupid and bitchy when I realized what I had been doing." Bickslow felt like someone was shaking him. By his feet. Upside down. Under water. "You want the secret to making friends with Bickslow's babies? I'll ask you the same question she asked me. Do you ever talk to them?"
"Fuck."
"Laxus-sama, please. Your language. There are ladies present. However I do understand your sentiment. Evergreen and Lucy have a very good point. We just assumed the babies wanted to restrict their communication to Bickslow, because they never seemed to voluntarily speak to us. If they are in any way the infant-like beings Bickslow refers to them as, then we have, in fact, been quite at fault for not reaching out to them."
"Loke has been my best friend for years, so I understand Lucy's magic better than most. If your babies are to you what her spirits are to her then... well. Like I said. I'm sorry, Bickslow. And... er... babies. I guess I owe you an apology too."
The babies began to spin in a tight little tornado as they squeaked and squealed. Bickslow just couldn't move. This was not the way he had expected this conversation to go. Lucy had somehow shown both his team and hers that his babies were people. And they were ok with it.
"Yeah!" Natsu hopped back up off the floor, where Lucy had thrown him earlier. "Luce says in not allowed to fight people today, but we can still be friends. Right babies?!"
"You can't fight with babies you flaming idiot!" Gajeel yelled. The tornado dissolved into chaos, which began to overflow into the rest of the guild.
*friends, lots of friends, Cosplayer friend, Evegreen friend, friends with the Boss and Freed, friends with Punishment and Slippery Kitty and Plue, Flashy and the Dogs are new friends, Cyclops and Candy Girl too, friends with Kaboom man, Stripper friend, Rusty Lizard is babies friend too, so many new friends.
"Umm. Bixy, should we... do something to calm them down?" He glanced down to look into Lucy's wide eyed stare and he just couldn't help himself. He yanked her up and into his kiss, pouring every feeling he had into it. Words were beyond him right now, so he would just have to show her what she had done for him and for his babies.
"What the hell man!"
"I told you she scent marked him!"
"B-b-b-bickslow..."
"When did this happen!"
"Aww so sweet!"
"Get some Lu!"
"Could you all shut the fuck up!"
"BixLu babies!"
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To be continued