Rogue had spent two weeks tolerating Natsu's behavior before he put his foot down and insisted that no, Natsu was not allowed to spend his free time helping around the guild because he was driving Rogue insane hanging that close at all times, and the way he jumped up to carry anything Rogue was reaching for was only breaking everything Rogue was trying to handle. While Natsu's response, that he was only trying to help Rogue and wanted to be a good boyfriend, had been sweet enough to curb Rogue's temper, it hadn't changed his mind. He was already going to have a hard enough time repaying Natsu for giving him a job, a place to stay, and a distraction from Sting. Besides, if Natsu kept trying to help than he'd have a hard time repaying the guild for all the dishes he was breaking.

So the two had returned to their previous manners while around one another, with Rogue quietly going about his business and Natsu noisily taking care of his, with the exception that Rogue would occasionally sneak a glance at Natsu-though never when Natsu was looking over to make sure Rogue was still okay. None of his symptoms had ever been that severe, but whenever Rogue mentioned a hospital, even if it was just for his bi-monthly check up, Natsu felt his heart race.

It wasn't a pattern Natsu liked all that much. He'd never been close to someone who was so distant before, but Rogue was content with it, and if it made Rogue happy then Natsu was happy too. Besides, after Natsu had complained about the lack of standard couple behaviors between the two one night at dinner, Rogue had taken to kissing Natsu on the cheek as a thank you for meals. He'd made sure since then to get up first so he'd have time to make breakfast for both of them and pack Rogue a lunch.

Gray had caught wind of that on the third week after the two started dating, and had teased Natsu for such a wife-like habit and asked if he was the girl in the relationship. He had promptly been silenced by the rest of the guild, who reminded him that Rogue was the one who was pregnant. Natsu didn't really care either way. Thanks to Lisanna he'd gotten good at cooking some time ago, and Rogue was receptive to food offerings. Those quickly masked looks of delight whenever Natsu made something that Rogue couldn't get over the smell of made his heart skip a beat, and the little things Rogue would do around the house as a thank you-although he would never say as much-left a smile on Natsu's face when he went out for work.

He'd been trying to take shorter jobs since Rogue had moved in with him, and was carefully tracking the dates, so when he saw the perfect job he was relieved that it got him back in time for the big day he was planning.

"There's something special about today?" Rogue asked when Natsu burst through the door declaring so, having just returned from his job.

"It's our one month anniversary."

"You realize the anni part in anniversary refers to annual, don't you?" Rogue asked. "There is no annual one month event."

"This is a couple thing. We don't get to hold hands, so you have to do this instead." When Rogue looked like he still needed to consider whether or not to go along with it Natsu added, "I was going to take you out to eat, but if you don't want to go, I'll just let Happy know he doesn't have to stay home after all and we can go without you."

Rogue scowled. Dumb name or not, he didn't want to be left out of a milestone celebration for his own relationship. He moved Frosch off of his lap and got up. "Where are we going?"

Natsu said, "I didn't have anything in mind. I thought we could just wander around town until we found something we liked."

We meant you, which they both knew and refused to say. Natsu would eat anything. It was Rogue who had developed a habit of snubbing foods at random, regardless of whether or not he'd eaten them before.

Having been there for two months, Rogue was familiar with Magnolia. He led the way to a diner that he'd always thought looked pleasant, not to mentioned gave rather generous servings. As he got within smelling distance of his destination however his mind threw on the breaks.

"Changed your mind?" Natsu asked when Rogue came to a halt.

Rogue nodded, glancing away so his blush, however faint it might be, wouldn't be visible to his boyfriend.

"Well, let's just keep looking."

Natsu took Rogue past a few of his favorite spots next, with mixed results. The burger joint, pasta restaurant, and steak house all got the same hesitant reaction as the diner had. When they got close to an oriental place Rogue mentioned that he'd actually never liked the stuff, which was still a better response than when Natsu had taken him to a small place that specialized in sweet and sour dishes. Not only had Rogue completely rejected it, but when someone had walked out of the restaurant while they looked at the building and the scent of their trademark sweet and sour sauce hit the two Rogue had doubled over and retched.

"…Should we clean that up?"

"Um… someone else can take care of it," Natsu decided. "Let's get you out of here."

Rogue nodded, blush much more apparent now. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault. Come on. There must be something in town that appeals to you."

They ended up in a discount pizza parlor.

"Sorry," Rogue repeated when Natsu tipped the table over to roll all the leftover crumbs from the previous three or four patrons off onto the floor.

"Pizza's nice too," Natsu dismissed.

After the fuss Rogue had made over food up until then Natsu had expected him to order every standard topping, plus ice cream sprinkles, mayo, corn-still on the cob-and maybe even a raw egg, but Rogue was happy with a standard cheese pizza.

The silence while they waited for their order made Natsu uncomfortable. If it was someone else at the guild he'd have told them about his job, but he'd seen Rogue occasionally give the jobs board a wistful look and was still trying his best to be sensitive around his boyfriend. Once Rogue was able to work again they'd have to find someone (Wendy?) to look after the kid and the two of them could go on jobs together. Until then Natsu wasn't sure whether or not Rogue would like to be told about all the work he wasn't allowed to do.

What else could he talk about? Rogue's day, as Rogue had no trouble pointing out, was rarely ever interesting. When something did happen, it was usually something Natsu dragged him into. "So…" What was something he could ask Rogue about. Natsu scanned him over for any points of interest. "You… got new clothes recently?"

Rogue shook his head. "I brought these from ho-from… Sting's… I was putting off wearing them."

Rogue's wardrobe wasn't very form fitting anyway. He was wearing the same top he'd been in when he first showed up at Natsu's in the rain. The pants we definitely much looser though. "You're-uh-I mean… the baby's getting bigger?"

"Yes, Natsu." He couldn't tell if Rogue was amused or annoyed by the slip up.

He waited a moment to see if Rogue had anything sarcastic to say before asking, "How is the baby then? Do you know the gender yet?"

Rogue shook his head. "The hospital's policy is not to reveal the gender until the sixteenth week. I think I don't want to know, though."

"But won't you find out when it's born?"

"No."

"…Oh. You want to find out then," Natsu realized. "How are you going to have a name ready?"

"I will pick a name for if the baby is a girl, and a name for if the baby is a boy," Rogue explained with exaggerated patience, "Then when the baby is born I will give it whichever name corresponds with its gender."

In truth Natsu was amusing the heck out of Rogue, but Natsu interpreted Rogue's tone as annoyance and bit his lip, thinking long and hard before speaking again.

"So the baby is healthy then? You didn't mention any issues?"

"So far there aren't any."

"How big is the baby?"

"Would you like to come to my next appointment?"

The sudden question startled both of them, though with his indifferent expression and even tone it seemed like Rogue was just offering so Natsu could pester the doctor instead.

"I… yeah… sure!"

The waitress set down their pizza in front of them, giving Rogue a wink before returning to the kitchen.

"What was that about?" Natsu asked.

"I don't know," Rogue told him.

They stared at the door for a moment before the one who was eating for two decided that the food was much more interesting than the waitress had been and served himself a slice.

-o-

As a way of showing that he paid attention to what Rogue said he did or didn't like, Natsu took him down to the lake after dinner. Rogue, to show his appreciation for the gesture, rested his head on Natsu's shoulder without being asked.

"It looks nicer this time," he muttered.

"It does," Natsu realized. "We should come down here more often. This is our spot now."

"Our spot… huh…?"

Natsu cringed. "Did you and Sting have a spot?" It always had something to do with Sting when Rogue spoke slowly.

But Rogue shook his head. "Never. Our spot… I like that."

"I like it too." Natsu wrapped an arm around Rogue's shoulder and rested his head on Rogue's. He waited just long enough for the moment to feel perfect before saying, "When we were little, this is where Gray and I came to beat one another up."

Rogue tried his hardest not to, but the absurdity of the statement, especially when meshed with the previous mood and the scenic way the water caught the setting sun, was too much. He doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"So you can laugh?"

Rogue couldn't get the air in to respond to that.

Maybe Rogue wasn't lovey dovey or interested in things like holding hands or couple nicknames, and maybe he didn't want to always socialize with the rest of the guild and get involved in their impromptu celebrations with Natsu. So what? It wasn't like he forbid Natsu from having a social life outside of him, and their moments alone felt… perfect.

He said as much, and Rogue intertwined his fingers with Natsu's, "Just this once," and went back to leaning on his shoulder.

Natsu let the moment feel perfect again, then he stayed silent, stretching that perfect moment on until the sun had disappeared into the horizon.

"We should get home," Rogue decided. "Frosch will get worried soon."

"You stayed awake this time," Natsu teased.

"You showed me a nice time today. Don't ruin it," Rogue advised.

It had been a nice day. Wonderful even. If he'd had any worries that he'd been hasty in starting a relationship with a pregnant boy he barely knew, he had no doubts now that offering to be Rogue's new boyfriend was one of the best things he'd ever done. Natsu felt giddy the whole time they walked home, certain that even if he did continue to pester Rogue, nothing would ruin their wonderful day.

He hadn't accounted for Sting standing outside their house when they got back.

-x-

STA: Those first couple paragraphs were supposed to be their own chapter, but when I looked that the original chapter 4 summary I just sort of gaped at the page and was like "Haha. No way am I getting more than 500 words out of that. Besides, I just went, like, a whole chapter without including Sting, and he's too important in this story to not have come back by now.

By the way, does anyone remember Natsu mentioning that Jellal is also pregnant? Yeah. That's still sort of relevant. Not in the "Jellal is going to actually show up in this story" sort of way. I've tried having multiple mpregs going in one story before. Too much work, and I already mpreged Jellal in an older story anyway. (Though I wouldn't mind making him the focus of an mpreg again, now that I know he survived that tower incident.) It'll be more of a "this is going to come up again and the information will influence a few behaviors" sort of thing.