It was likely the longest wait anyone had ever gone through to celebrate getting together as a couple, but Rogue couldn't deny that the wait was worth it. He felt like he was getting the royal treatment just sitting in the waiting room while Natsu checked into their hotel. Marble floors. Ornate gardens. An indoor waterfall—not to be confused with the waterfall themed slide in the hotel's pool park—split above the sofa Rogue rested on and fell on either side of him.
Frosch and Happy raced in and out of the bamboo garden, occasionally stopping by to make sure Rogue was alright. Not that he'd felt 'wrong' for a while. He'd just gotten a little dizzy on the train. Normal, but Natsu had become anxious recently about anything Rogue did.
If they could just leave him alone… he wanted to shut his eyes for a bit…
"You look tired."
Rogue blinked and looked up. When had Natsu come back over? How long had Frosch been flopped over on his lap? Did he doze off? "Maybe a bit. I can last until night."
"We're on vacation to relax, not force ourselves to stay awake."
"We're on vacation to celebrate getting together, not for me to sleep while you're left alone." Rogue moved Frosch aside and stood up, taking a moment to steady himself. "I might not be up for anything big, but I don't need to sleep."
"Are you sure?" Natsu asked. He held his hands out, uncertain if he'd need to hold Rogue steady when his boyfriend started walking. Due in only a few months, Rogue's stomach clearly stuck out, and it made Natsu uneasy to see how off balance that made Rogue.
Rogue nodded. "It's not the right time of year to go to relax on the beach, but we can find something to do in our room."
"It would have been the right time if I'd gotten us a room for when we first go together…" Natsu grumbled.
"Then we wouldn't have as much to do in our room," Rogue told him.
Frosch looked too Happy for an explanation. The blue exceed just shook his head. Not sure, and not sure if he wanted to be sure. Really, he was only certain that he didn't want to explain it to the frog-cat.
The reminder from Rogue appeased Natsu, and he wrapped an arm around Rogue's waist and lead him down the hall to their room. He'd been particular about getting one that wouldn't force them to take an elevator. At the time the rooms were booked the idea had been more to avoid the stairs, but even if Rogue hated being coddled Natsu wouldn't want his boyfriend having to climb up and down stairs all the time. Of course, when he asked Rogue if it was tiring for him to go upstairs to hide in the guild, Rogue had kicked him so hard that no matter which gender he slept with, Natsu didn't think he'd ever have any biological children of his own.
The room was as gorgeous as the lobby. A queen size bed with drapes. A polished, granite kitchenette. A large bathroom with a heart-shaped tub, complete with jets. Hard wood floors. A plush rug. Natsu would like to see Sting's last minute spot beat that.
Although if it was better, Rogue would be the one seeing it. And it was his opinion that counted.
"Is something wrong?" Rogue asked when Natsu slumped over in despair.
"No…"
"Oh… I'll unpack then."
Rogue dumped his clothes out of his suitcase and packed them into one of the wardrobes that came with the room. Elfman's shirts took up a lot more space than he was used to accounting for when packing, but the suitcase he'd used to take all his valued possessions from Sting's place had enough space leftover from him to pack a few things. Like Fishlogia, who Frosch and Happy both liked playing with, and who he didn't particularly mind resting on his stomach and imagining little Alex enjoying.
The last thing in his suitcase was a packet of assorted board games that Bisca had leant to Rogue. It was neither his nor Natsu's thing, but she'd thought he might like something to keep entertained in his room. Now that he had ended up restricting them to his room, he was grateful to her for having thought so. She must have known he'd be too tried to be out and about the whole time.
He pulled one out and showed it to Natsu. It was much more elaborate than simply rolling dice, and they ended up breaking for dinner before they'd finished reviewing the rules. When they came back to play they split into three sides. Happy and Natsu each played on their own while Rogue and Frosch put their heads together for such a strategy heavy game. Happy won.
Neither boy could, in good faith, coax the cats out of the room. That night they settled for curling up in bed together and partaking in G-rated snuggling until they fell asleep.
-o-
The disadvantage of going to a beach resort in winter was that a lot of the activities weren't quite options. The advantage was that there was virtually no one else to get in the way of what could be done.
Natsu and Rogue strolled down the boardwalk, each holding a cup of hot chocolate. It had snowed overnight, and their footprints were the only ones to be seen. Happy and Frosch had stayed behind in the room to study up on the other needlessly complex board games Bisca had lent out, and with no one else silly enough to come out to the water in such cold they had the whole outdoors to themselves.
Natsu still held onto Rogue's waist as they walked. A habit that Rogue would have made his displeasure known for in a painfully memorable way if he wasn't worried about spilling his drink. It wasn't like he was in constant danger of stumbling into a busy street, or even falling when alone. Natsu was just freaking out over the way he had to support himself when he stood up.
"It's fine," he decided.
"Hm?" Natsu looked to Rogue, wondering what the boy was referring to.
"You," Rogue told him. "You're warm, so for now I don't mind if you want to hold onto me."
"Ah. If it bothers you, tell me to stop."
"I've been telling you to stop coddling me for months."
"It's not coddling. It's holding."
Rogue snorted and took a sip of his hot chocolate.
"It isn't."
"Can we sit?"
"Sit?"
Rogue nodded. "Look. The sun is catching on the ocean. It looks like our spot at the lake."
"Oh." Natsu looked out at the soft pink hue of the sun reflecting off the sea water. "Yeah. Let's find a bench."
It didn't take long to spot one. Natsu brushed the snow off of it and placed his hands on the metal he uncovered, warming the seat to a reasonable temperature before gesturing for Rouge to sit down.
Once Rogue had made himself as comfortable as was possible Natsu took a seat as well, pulling up his scarf to hide any surprise his face may have betrayed when Rogue practically glued himself to his very warm boyfriend.
"This is nice," Rogue said after a moment.
"Yeah. We won't get to do this once Alex is born, will we?"
"Not as often." Rogue shut his eyes, resting a cheek on Natsu's shoulder. "We'd need to find a babysitter. I'm not sure I trust Frosch and Happy."
"Finding a babysitter every time we need to work sounds like a pain."
"We could take jobs separately. You don't have to break up your team, and I don't have to get used to a new partner."
A snide comment about Rogue wanting to work with his old partner was swallowed down, and instead Natsu said, "I wouldn't want to break up my team. Maybe you can come along with us for special occasions."
"That sounds nice…" Rogue murmured.
"Are you getting sleepy?"
"No. It's just… calm."
"That demolition derby thing Gajeel's into is supposed to be in town later this week. If you don't want calm, we can go see it."
"It doesn't interest me. And in any case, I do want calm."
"Ah. I'd been hoping to go see it…" Natsu sighed. "Well, I think there's going to be an event for it in Magnolia soon, so maybe then."
"Maybe," Rogue dismissed.
Natsu bent his neck down to kiss Rogue on the forehead. "Until then, we can do what you want."
Rogue grimaced. "If you want to see it…"
"Nah. I can go with Gajeel."
"I don't want to stop you…"
"It's not a problem. We can just do what you want."
Rogue sighed. "Alright. I'd like to go somewhere to eat."
"Eh? It's a little early for lunch. You should have had a larger breakfast," Natsu scolded lightly. When Rogue glared up at him he laughed and added, "Well I don't mind eating. It's just that lately you seem to be snacking a lot."
"There isn't exactly room for me to have a full meal," Rogue defended, patting his stomach.
Natsu calmed immediately as he processed what that meant. "Is it hard… carrying Alex when he's getting so big?"
"I'm used to… No, I really want to go into premature labor."
Despite trying to take his boyfriend's discomfort seriously, Natsu couldn't help but laugh so hard that he fell off the bench. Rogue waited calmly for his boyfriend to finish kicking and rolling around in the snow, silently plotting some subtle revenge.
"Oh man…" Natsu wiped a tear from his eye as he pushed himself up, still chuckling. "Okay. Let's get you something to eat. Do you want anything specific."
"No."
"U-uh…" Hadn't that been a bit to forceful a response. "Are you sure."
"I want you to pick."
"But you're-"
"We're not seeing the derby. You pick."
"I-"
"Or we're through."
Natsu's jaw fell slack as he looked up at Rogue, stern frown on his boyfriend's face as he looked back down. "Over a restaurant? I'm trying to go with what you want."
"And I'm trying not to be in a one sided relationship, even if it's in my favor. Where. Do. You. Want. To. Eat?"
Be casual around him! If he doesn't think you're putting effort into being what he wants, then he can make a better judgment in this stupid mess you've gotten yourself mixed up in.
"U-uh… um… I… uh…" Natsu gulped. "M-maybe… uh… but I really don't care!"
"Really?" Rogue demanded.
"N-no. I mean, food is food so…"
Natsu looked away under Rogue's gaze. He was being honest. He might have had a preference, but not a big enough one to be particular about where he ate.
"Alright," Rogue said finally. "We can keep walking. We'll stop at the first place that's serving lunch."
-o-
By day four they had a favorite spot, a little mom and pop place on the far side of town. The middle-aged woman who ran it thought that Rogue's being pregnant was "simply precious" and liked to sneak goodies into the two's meals. Rogue's salad would come with extra berries sprinkled on top. Natsu's ham would be graciously seasoned. Refills to drinks came free no matter what the beverage—it wasn't as if either of them could or would go for expensive wine—and entry into the building included a warm, personal welcome.
"We'll have to come back out here with Alex," Natsu said over dinner. "This place is too nice to only go to for one week."
"Maybe you can honeymoon here," the owner teased as she passed by.
"H-honeymoon…" Rogue stuttered, dropping his fork. Marry Natsu? Well… he'd intended to get married eventually, and considering that he was due in a little over a month… No. He didn't need to be married before Alex was born. Marry Natsu…
And of course Natsu was taking it all without missing a beat. "Then we could actually come up here in the summer!" he laughed. He'd been doing that a lot more now. Saying whatever he thought was it came to mind was Natsu's specialty, but he'd almost completely stopped catching himself before he might say something Rogue didn't like.
Because he'd threatened to break up with him? Rogue still felt bad about that. It had been a hallow threat. Something he'd said in the spur of the moment and wouldn't have been able to follow through with. Dump someone over a restaurant choice? Fat chance. But it had gotten Natsu to stop differing to him, so it wasn't so bad.
"The derby is tonight," Natsu said abruptly. "If there's a really big crash and I can't brag to Gajeel about having seen it, I'm going to be mad."
"Go without me. Or just pretend you saw it."
Natsu's eyes lit up. "That would work. I have no idea for what to do tonight then. We still have a few of Bisca's games to try, but we can play those at home too."
"The hotel room has a movie player. We can rent a bad romance from the front desk."
"I'd rather see an action movie."
"It's harder to turn an action movie off."
"Why would we want to turn the movie off?" Natsu asked.
"Romance."
"But if we're watching a romance movie then turning it off would stop-" Natsu gasped and choked on a piece of meat as it hit him. Rogue reached out hesitantly in case Natsu needed to have his back pounded on while the boy coughed, but Natsu spat the piece back out and asked, "Wouldn't Frosch and Happy care if we…? You're really wanting to…?"
"Happy's going on a star gazing tour to brag to Lucy about. I can convince Frosch to go with him." And he knew Natsu was wanting to.
"So…"
"You can pick the movie. Do you want to ignore a chick flick, or a romantic comedy?"
-o-
STA: My family is big on board games that take an hour to read the rules too. There's something nice about the simplicity of just rolling a die, but board games seem too simple now if I don't have to make sure that I've got a good range of crops growing, that I can afford to build and staff a production plant, and if I don't have to try and predict whether or not someone will produce so that I can try and ship my goods.
Well, unless I decide to do a chapter after Rogue makes up his mind (read: after I make up my mind) then there are five more to go. Maybe because it's only half as long, but even though I started this later, I'm having an easier time with it than Inhuman. Chapter 39, why do you have to suck so hard?
As a side note, I listened to sad songs from V3 Kaito pretty much the whole time I was writing this. I so want him, but I need to keep in mind that I have no musical talent or education, and would be wasting my money on software that I'll use maybe three times. Poorly.