Old Fairy Tail members were coming back, and new recruits were showing up too. In a matter of weeks they'd gone up to sixty members, and with only Rogue and Mira working around the guild that translated into way too much work. Add to that Natsu leaving all the house chores for Rogue and by dinner time he was ready to crawl into bed and pass out.

"But it can't be any harder than actually going out and fighting," Natsu argued when this was mentioned.

Rogue's mouth was full, so Frosch replied for him. "It's a lot of work. When Rogue and Sting fight it's really quick, but at the guild Rogue is running back and forth with files all day, and he has to make more trips than Mira because they don't let him carry a lot. Then at lunch time lots of people come in and Rogue has to bring them their food before he gets to eat."

Just thinking about it made Rogue hungry again, and he scooped another spoonful of stew into his mouth before saying, "At least I don't work the bar at night."

"It was nice of Mira to let you off before then," Natsu agreed. "Would you like seconds?"

He hadn't even noticed he was emptying the bowl. For as good as it was, Rogue didn't want to invite any eating for two jokes. He shook his head.

"Oh, alright. If you're tired, I can do dinner dishes tonight."

"Thank you."

"No problem," Natsu said, taking the bowl from Rogue's hands. "Happy, you want more?"

"Aye!"

Happy took the ladle and scooped himself a bowl's worth of rich, buttery beef stew. Rogue had never been so jealous of a cat before. Maybe it wasn't too late to change his mind…

Natsu dropped the used bowls into the sink and began looking for soap.

Giving up on food, Rogue went over to his bed and dug his pajamas out of the suitcase that served as his dresser until he had new furniture, and the space to store new furniture. Frosch waved to Happy, who obligingly looked away as Rogue began to strip out of his day clothes, but Natsu missed the cue.

"Oh, Rogue, if you want any desert you-Eh!" The scrub brush fell out if Natsu's hand as he turned and spotted Rogue's stomach. For a second neither moved, the Rogue grabbed his pajama top and yanked it over his head.

"You didn't see that."

But he had. Rogue's stomach wasn't huge. Just a bump, really, but if Rogue had looked anything like Sting underneath all those form concealing clothes before getting pregnant than the small outward curve was a huge change.

That must have been the case, because Rogue's cheeks were bright red with shame, and he hung his head so far down to avoid Natsu's gaze that his entire face was covered by his messy hair.

"Can I see it again?" Natsu asked. "That's the first time you've really looked pregnant. You never get sick or moody or anything."

"I get nauseas," Rogue argued half-heartedly.

"So can I see your stomach or not?"

"No. You're not even the father."

The thought stopped Natsu for a moment. Not that he wasn't the father, that had been pretty obvious and easy to accept from the get go. He wasn't the father, but Sting was. That asshole who hurt Rogue was the father of the baby Rogue was carrying, and that had to be something Rogue thought about. How often did he think of it? How often would he think of it when the baby started kicking? Natsu had only offered to let Rogue stay until he'd given birth. How often would he think of how Sting had abandoned him when he was in an apartment on his own, raising the child by himself and struggling to find a baby sitter whenever he needed to work?

Rogue was quiet, and maybe a little sharp tongued, but that didn't make him bad. He'd actually been pretty sweet since settling in. He'd dote on Frosch and even treat Happy like royalty from time to time, and if prompted about the guild would always only have nice things to say about them. He wasn't someone Natsu minded having agreed to help for so long at all. In fact, he was someone Natsu would like to have around for longer, if possible.

"Let me be the father then," Natsu decided. "And you can stay and raise the baby here, and I can see your stomach." And you'll stay with me, and I can get to make you talk more and more until I get to know all there is to know about you. He held off on saying that.

The offer took Rogue completely by surprise. Did Natsu even realize what he was sating? No, of course he didn't. He couldn't possibly know how much work a baby was-Rogue only had a general idea himself, and no experience with it. Besides, they barely knew one another.

"If it turns out I'm not a good dad, you can tell me and I won't be the father anymore," Natsu added. "I said you can stay until the baby's born, so I won't kick you out if you break up with me.

Rogue looked around at the dingy, one room home. Not what he had in mind for child rearing, but renovations weren't impossible. Cleaning it hadn't taken as many years as he thought it would, after all.

Natsu as the dad? Yeah, why not? Natsu was a good person, a wonderful person actually. If he was willing to let a near stranger move in with him then he'd at least try to be a good father. Parenting skills were something he had to consider now when looking for a new significant other, and someone who was putting an effort into it beat no one at all. He did seem a bit impulsive, but he was… nice. Living with Natsu wasn't awful, Natsu himself was anything but awful, and he didn't want to be a single parent. Besides, it wasn't a permanent agreement anyway.

"Alright."

"Alright?"

"You can be the father-legally." He didn't know if he needed to add that or not, but if he was insistent on the terminology now then that would cut down on the number of people in the near future that Natsu led to believe that he was the one who'd gotten Rogue pregnant.

He was too absorbed in worries that he may have invited more accusations of him cheating on Sting to noticed Natsu grabbing his top, so all he could do was yelp is surprise when Natsu pulled it back up.

"I didn't realize you were growing. It's been two months now, right? How big is the baby right now? Did they tell you the last time you went to the hospital?"

"No," Rogue snapped, pulling his top back down. Getting set up at a new hospital was something he'd been putting off. As with going back to his old place, he could see Natsu applying pressure for that one in the near future.

"Does Rogue get to sleep now?" Frosch asked. "Fro wanted to get in bed with Rogue."

Both boys paused, remembering the reason they were on Rogue's mattress. Natsu stepped back and let Rogue finish changing and get under the cover, waiting until his new boyfriend was too close to sleep to catch him taking shortcuts washing the dishes. While Rogue drifted off he hummed to himself, making plans for how to start things off with such a big bang that Rogue would never even think of Sting again.

-o-

Rogue was less than pleased the next morning. Not only was he late for the job that the guild had been so generous to give him, but when Natsu had finally woken him up he'd made him stay to eat a full breakfast before dragging him to the guild. Not that there was anything wrong with getting breakfast, and Natsu cooking for him rather than him cooking for Sting was a nice change, and in all honesty the huge plate of bacon had made his mouth water, even if his stomach was churning afterward.

That was the real problem. Being dragged at Natsu's pace to the guild while all he wanted was to crawl over to the side of the road and hurl.

He made it to the guild without losing any of his breakfast, and was looking forward to sneaking into the record room and just curling up in a ball there until his morning sickness passed, but Natsu looped an arm around his and yelled to the whole guild, "Everyone! Guess who I'm dating!"

"Lucy?"

"Lisanna?"

"Gray!"

"Erza?"

Natsu stared blankly at the guild while they continued throwing out names, coming back to Gray a bit too often for his liking. Rogue was trying to tug his way out of Natsu's arm, so he gave up on letting them actually guess and announced, "Rogue and I are together now."

Silence.

Rogue bit his lip.

"What about Sting's kid?" Gajeel asked.

"I think the baby's due in April," Natsu responded.

"What are you going to do about Sting's kid?" Gajeel elaborated. "You don't plan on raising it, do you?"

"Why not? I don't think Igneel got whoever had me pregnant and he was a great dad. Rogue's nice, so now we're together and I can be the baby's dad."

Silence again.

Rogue looked longingly to the door leading down to the records room. He wasn't supposed to get so much attention. He was just a shadow. Drawing everyone's eyes was Sting's job. They were all staring, at Natsu, at him, and he just wanted to curl up and hide.

"Congratulation," Mira said. "Does this mean Natsu gets to help pick the baby's name?"

The question took Rogue by surprise. A name? Natsu? "Y-yeah."

The guild erupted in noise, laughter, cheer, applause. It wasn't the first time the building had suddenly gotten so loud without warning, but it was the first time it had been because of Rogue, and that awareness made him flinch. He did not like getting so much attention.

"Oy! Someone get the virgin stuff too. Rogue can't be having alcohol right now," he heard someone shout.

Alcohol? They were drinking over him and Natsu deciding to be a couple? At the start of the day?

That might not be too bad, Rogue thought. Maybe if they drank enough they'd forget about their collective goal of staring at him.

"Isn't this a great guild?" Natsu asked as the impromptu party got underway.

"It's a bit much," Rogue admitted.

Natsu laughed and led Rogue to an empty seat. People cheered as they passed by, clapping whichever one was closer on the back. Rogue was trembling by the time they reached the bench.

"You alright?"

"There are too many people," Rogue muttered, wide eyes staring out at everyone, and everyone staring back at him. He wasn't doing anything special. He wasn't competing. He wasn't helping Sting put on a show. He was just being led around by Natsu. Why did they keep staring?

"Then you might like my surprise," Natsu said, digging in his pocket. He produced two tickets, which he handed to Rogue. "Happy and I went out and bought these last night after you went to bed. They're for the nicest hotel I could book rooms in-I wanted to start this off right. It'll just be the two of us."

"Natsu, these reservations are for February."

Despite the twitch of his eyebrow, Rogue found that to be a relief. Another little moment of Natsu stupidity to help calm him down. Agreeing to the relationship might not have been a dumb move after all, if Natsu had that effect on him. He'd have leaned over and rested his head on Natsu's shoulder, soaking in his soothing effect, but Rogue was still aware of the eyes on him.

"Crap. I'm sorry. Will you be able to go to a hotel then?"

"As long as there aren't any complications it shouldn't be an issue. It looks nice."

"Yeah… I really wanted this to be a big surprise though. I made sure to pack all your things while you were eating this morning. I was going to have Happy bring our bags to the train station and we could be there tonight…"

"It's fine," Rogue assured him. "I'd be happy just to go down to the lake."

"Really?" Natsu's face lit up. "We'll do that then. Go to the lake. I'll wait for you to finish your work, okay?"

Rogue nodded and got up, feeling a few heads swerve his way again, and made a B-line for the records room.

"Oh, Rogue!" Mira called. "Hey! I just finished getting games set up. You can take it easy this morning. Play with everyone."

Yay. Rogue sighed and walked back over to Natsu, sitting a little closer than before. "Could we possibly go now?"

That made Natsu laugh. He reached out and pulled Rogue in closer to him, just in case the boy tried to run away, and said, "Maybe after a few of Mira's games?"

Rogue squirmed. It wasn't a scenario worth the force it would take to get away from Natsu, but he didn't want to stick around anyway. When slipping out of Natsu's arm proved impossible he gave up and leaned back against him, but with Natsu making the problem worse it didn't have the same effect as before. "I don't want all this attention," he insisted.

Natsu's knitted his eyebrows, realizing that this was in fact an issue but failing to comprehend how. He'd known he was starting something with a less sociable person than he was, but he hadn't thought Rogue couldn't handle large social gatherings. Hopefully it was only an issue when Rogue was the focus of them. They had a lot of getting to know one another to do in the near future.

Although seeing Rogue cling to him like that was oddly adorable…

"Natsu…"

"Alright," Natsu whispered, "We'll go up to the second floor for a bit. It's usually emptier up there. We can leave after we've given everyone the impression that we're here whether they see us or not."

It wasn't the type of running right out that Rogue had hoped for, but it was better than nothing.

-o-

It was too late to watch the sunrise, and much too early for a sunset, but it still looked pleasant. Natsu had been hoping to have Rogue lean against him again like he had in the guild, but away from all the attention Rogue settled back into his usual calm self and sat a good five feet away from Natsu.

Natsu looked over at Rogue, waiting for him to say something, but Rogue seemed to be content staring out at the surface of the water.

"So if you don't like attention, why did you compete in the games?" Natsu finally asked.

"Because Sting and I always ended up coming out for the same event," Rogue replied. "I was never the only member of Sabertooth on the field. And because I never participated in random events, only the battles. If people are going to focus on me, I would rather it be interest in a battle than… a relationship."

The explanation didn't make much sense to Natsu, but if Rogue thought it was a good enough explanation it probably was. He scooted an inch closer before asking something else. "Those parties the guild throws wouldn't bug you if you weren't the center of attention, would they?"

"No, but I wouldn't be interested in participating either way."

Another inch. "Well, what does interest you?"

"Would you prefer it if I sat closer?"

"Ah… I was being that obvious?"

Rogue nodded and stood up, walking over to Natsu's side before sitting back down.

Neither spoke, Rogue looking out at the water again and Natsu staring at Rogue, wondering what the heck Rogue could be thinking about while he looked out at the water.

"I'm sorry," Rogue said suddenly.

"For what?" Natsu asked. "You mean leaving the guild like that? If you were uncomfortable-"

Rogue shook his head, but immediately contradicted himself by saying, "That. And also… Sting always told me I'm just not good… with this sort of thing…"

"Talking?"

"I can talk, Natsu."

"You're not much for conversation though," Natsu pointed out, trying to keep his voice even. It hadn't been that long since the breakup, but it would have been nice if Rogue could have refrained from mentioning Sting on their first full day as a couple. "Well, Laxus is kind of awkward, but he's not bad. So you're not overly social. Just lean on my shoulder like earlier and we can be boring and watch the water without saying anything, and it'll be a nice date."

"Date…?" Right. If he and Natsu were together than going out to the lake together like that was a date, wasn't it. "Alright."

Natsu's shoulder wasn't soft, and it took Rogue a bit of awkward shuffling around to get into a comfortable position leaning against his new boyfriend. The way Natsu tried with equally awkward effort to keep from disturbing him was sweet. Sweeter than Sting had been on an average day. Maybe Natsu wouldn't try as hard once they were used to one another, but until then it would probably be nice.

Real nice…

Rogue drifted off.

When Natsu noticed Rogue had fallen asleep he went completely still, not wanting to move him at all in case he happened to wake up. He looked cute when he was asleep, his usually stern expression relaxed, closer to the gentle looks he gave Frosch, and his lips parted just the slightest bit in a way that begged for someone to take advantage of him while his guard was at its lowest. Natsu had already seen it, having spent the past few weeks sharing a one room house with Rogue, but this was the first time he'd seen Rogue's sleeping face from close up.

How could Sting have gotten rid of that?

Natsu tried to look back out at the lake, but his eyes kept being drawn back to Rogue's lips. It wasn't, he had to admit, a powerful attraction to Rogue so much as a desire to fluster him-no matter how cute his sleeping face was. Waking Rogue up with a kiss just sounded like too much fun. They were dating, weren't they? Would that make it okay to kiss Rogue, or would it get him dumped before they'd even spent a full day together?

Eventually, Natsu settled for shaking Rogue slightly and waiting for him to stir.

"You fell asleep," he said when Rogue looked up at him.

Rogue mumbled some excuse that had to do with being pregnant and got to his feet before asking, "What time is it?"

Neither of them had a watch, but looking up at the sky Natsu guessed, "Around noon. You said the lake is fine, but I feel like that wasn't much. Maybe we could go somewhere for lunch too."

"We've already been eating lunch together," Rogue pointed out.

Natsu didn't really know how to argue with that one, largely because it's how he would have responded to such a proposal, but he had to try anyway. "In Lucy's books this was something people did when they were couples."

It was also something Sting had insisted was special. Rogue shrugged. "If you want…"

"Alright. I can't take you to a nice hotel for a while, so let's fine a nice restaurant instead," Natsu cheered, taking Rogue's arm and leading him back into town.

-o-

STA: I figured out why love triangles are always obvious. It's hard otherwise. I was finishing up the outline for this story (which I almost saved over) and I'd put so much effort into making Sting and Natsu both seem like good options by the end that I couldn't pick who to go for. I ended up writing plans for separate endings. I don't know yet if I'll use Natsu's, Sting's, or take the easy way out and post both. I'd rather just have one ending, really.

Well, my finals start tomorrow, but luckily for you I decided to write this rather than study. Enjoy.