Natsu was standing on a ladder in the record room when the door banged open and someone shrieked, and he grimaced at the noise. So long as the ruckus was contained to the upstairs, everyone else in the guild could handle it, but they were clearly intent on coming downstairs. It was only a matter of seconds before it became his responsibility. It always went to hell when things became his responsibility.
He had time to shelve two more books before the children burst into the record room. Leo ran in first, screaming and laughing. For as mellow as Lucy tried to make herself out to be relative to the rest of the guild, she easily had the craziest kid. Then again, she had a child with Sting, so it was entirely likely that all the crazy came from Leo's father. He was followed by Levy's twins, and then by Silver, a raven-haired boy with brilliant, blue-green eyes, and Natsu stopped paying attention to who all was involved in this latest game (tag?) when he saw his son.
They'd flipped a coin over the name. Natsu and Gray both wanted to name him after their own father, and apparently you were only allowed to use the fact that you had a life-altering disease to argue that you deserved special treatment so many times before it became an invalid excuse.
It was an intense debate. Probably the most intense thing Natsu engaged in that entire year. Gray had played a much more active role in their having a son, sure, but Natsu would have happily taken the bulk of the work if it weren't for his health.
On the subject of his blasted health, the kids took one look at him and immediately quieted down, dialing down their noise so they whispered every scream and laugh they would normally make for the other adults. Natsu could only shake his head in exasperation. Just because he couldn't chase them around didn't mean they had to avoid making too much noise around him.
There were a great many things that Natsu had gotten used to in the years since he first developed Suraci's. He no longer moaned about how he couldn't take jobs off the board, and took pride in the fact that he could still help around the guild. He left well in advance when there was somewhere he needed to be at a given time, knowing he wouldn't be able to run, and would need to stop periodically to sit and rest. He was conservative with what little magic he'd regained, using it only when needed. (Since he didn't have enough magic for combat, that mostly meant times when Silver begged.)
He might have wanted to go on jobs with Gray, but having to stay home meant he had more time with their son, and he lorded it over Gray the he was the one Silver always sought out first for help. If he couldn't run off and join in on Silver's training sessions, he could still give pointers while watching Silver practice at home. The only part that really killed Natsu was that, of all people, it was his uncle who Silver most took after, and insisted on training with.
Mostly because he was ten times more worried for Silver's safety during those training sessions as he was for Gray when his husband went on an SS-Class job. As a matter of precedent, Gray got himself killed far less often than Silver's uncle screwed up royal. Erza and Lucy alternated between agreeing with Natsu and finding it amusing that he of all people should be worried about how safe something was. Gray worried too, probably. Mostly, Gray seemed jilted by the fact that his son didn't want to learn magic from his accomplished Papa.
But aside from that major safety concern, Natsu did appreciate that Silver inherited whatever smart gene skipped over his Daddy. Even if it was a little embarrassing to ask have a six-year-old son who was smarter than you. Pity the Dragneel family possessed no common sense gene. At least Silver wasn't attempting necromancy, so it could be worse, but Natsu still felt his blood drain when he saw Silver try to climb one of the bookshelves.
"Get down from there!" Natsu called out. "You don't know how to fly!"
"Only 'cuzz Happy won't teach me!" Silver shot back.
"That doesn't mean you get to go around pretending he has!"
The other children all froze immediately, the game abruptly ended now that the fragile grownup objected to something one of them did. This was why, for as much as he liked kids, Natsu hated being the adult in the room. Levy hammered home to Shutora and Yajeh that they weren't to ever give Natsu trouble. At all. Ever. Or there would be repercussions. Because Natsu was sick and only the naughtiest little boys and girls would make things hard for him. And when all the other little kids whose parents also told them that they needed to not wear Natsu out saw that the twins, who were the oldest of the lot, would drop everything around Natsu to spare him the trouble of policing them, they followed suit.
Now Silver was the only one who knew that he could still run around and scream in his Daddy's presence, and even he became docile when the other children did, because the twins would stare at him in disbelief if he acted up. How could Natsu's son not realize that children weren't supposed to make a ruckus around Natsu?
Natsu complained about it once to Levy, feeling guilty about how he couldn't speak up without spoiling the children's fun, but she'd been unsuccessful in convincing the twins that there was a difference between causing trouble and having fun. No doubt they inherited that trait from their father.
"You can keep playing," Natsu said, even though he knew it was an effort in futility.
The kids looked at one another, unsure what games were safe to play around Natsu.
Sighing, Natsu descended the ladder. He knew a trick that could send them running back up to Lucy is a matter of seconds. "Alright. If you guys are done with your game, you can help me with—"
His foot slipped. He was only one rung from the floor, but Titania—Natsu still couldn't believe that Elfman let Ever name his son something so unmanly—screamed as if he'd tumbled from the top of one of the massive bookcases.
"I'm not hurt," Natsu assured them, pushing his glasses back up after they'd fallen out of place. "I'm okay. It's alright."
Any expression but 'I'm fine' was fair game. Gray taught all of them to go running to the next nearest adult to report that Natsu needed help if he ever uttered the words 'I'm fine'.
Silver gave Titania a shove to stop the boy from screaming, but still leaned over to make sure his daddy really was okay. Unlike the other children, he knew the signs. He had to know them, because when Papa wasn't around, it was his job to make sure Daddy wasn't pushing himself too hard. Daddy knew not to push himself, but he forgot sometimes when he was in charge of Silver. He knew how to make the special tea that kept Daddy going all day and when Daddy needed to take his medicine and which neighbor to bang on the door of if Daddy ever collapsed. And for as ashamed as Natsu was at times that is son needed to know all that, he thanked the heavens that Silver had yet to run to the neighbors for anything.
Nevermind that Natsu never wanted to have another attack, especially after having come so far in his recovery. It would be monumentally unfair to Silver to put him in a situation like that.
Silver studied his daddy's legs for any signs that they might be trembling, and upon assuring himself that they were straight and sturdy, nodded his approval. "Daddy's telling the truth."
Curse Gray. Curse Gray with every foul spell known to man, god, and demon for teaching the children not to trust Natsu to look after himself.
"Well, we all agree there's nothing wrong with me and you're all just standing there, how about you help me shelve these books?" Natsu asked, gesturing to the bookcase behind him.
The children gaped. None of their heads even came past the third shelf, and the bookcases almost reached the high ceiling. The task was a daunting one even when you weren't a small child with no patience for things like sorting alphabetically. Half of them were still learning the alphabet, Natsu knew, even if Silver thought they all had to be pretending that the alphabet was hard because no way could anybody struggle with something so simple.
Honestly, it probably was a good thing that his uncle jumped at the chance to play teacher for the little braniac.
Levy's children fled immediately, Leo and Titania close behind, with Silver and Kiseki (Erza's purple haired little boy with an allegedly unknown father—although Jellal certainly doted on him like nothing else) bringing up the rear. Only little Oberon, who was all of three and had yet to show whether or not he had either of his parents' brains but certainly had his mother's fascination with books, stood and considered helping Natsu with the shelves.
Natsu beamed down at him. Oberon was his favorite after Silver, and he'd be happy for the company, even if the boy would spend all his time pulling books off the bottom shelf.
But Silver was too smart for anyone's good, and had been taught not to make any unnecessary work for his daddy. When he saw his cousin waddling towards the bookshelf, he called out, "C'mon, Obby! Let's steal Auntie Erza's cake!"
This was the kind of dangerous venture that Natsu ought to discourage—especially since cake was serious business for Erza with Kiseki's little sister due in only a few weeks. But then on the other hand, it wasn't like Erza was in any condition to give chase. Natsu let Oberson run off after Silver. His brother would never know what Natsu chose not to prevent, and Mavis would find the whole situation amusing to watch.
Oberon was the last up the stairs, but Silver stood in the doorway after everyone else had past, watching his daddy for any signs of trouble.
It was frustrating that he couldn't play with them, and that his own son felt to need to be on watch for any problems all the time. But Natsu would be lying if he said he wasn't touched to see Silver care. Grinning, he gave the boy a thumbs up.
Silver grinned and returned the gesture before slamming the door shut, and Natsu grabbed the next book to shelf. Mood better than before the children came downstairs, he hummed a tune to himself to drown out Erza's cries of indignation.
-o-
Family game night was an awkward affair that Mavis and Gray insisted upon. It mattered to them that they all stay in touch, seeing as they'd all grown up without any relatives in the picture. It wasn't that Natsu preferred that his relatives stay out of the picture, and his sister-in-law and nephew were always welcome. But there were some relatives who had opted not to be in the picture when he was little, and Natsu felt he saw enough of them when they swung by the guild.
That wasn't entirely fair. He did owe it to Zeref that there even was a medication that he could take to help him regain more use of his body. But on the other hand Zeref did start a war with them that one time. And Silver preferred learning magic from him, too. And that last one was unforgivable.
Games went in phases. First they played an entirely luck based one with nothing but dice rolling for Oberon, and then when he got bored, they switched to one which mixed strategy and luck. Since Mavis had no taste for anything strategy where he perfect plans were easily dashed by luck, and since Natsu usually burned out for the evening around the same time as Oberon, the three of them would beg out, Natsu snuggling up with his nephew so the little boy wouldn't throw a fit about how his bedtime was earlier than everyone else's, and Mavis reading him a bedtime story.
Once Oberon was asleep and the second game ended, Natsu was often on his own to watch the third game. This had less to do with Suraci's and more to do with the Dragneel family's genius gene skipping him. Game three was a high strategy one, where brilliant little Silver teamed up with his papa (and sometimes welcomed his uncle into a three man team) to beat Auntie Mavis. Natsu wasn't valuable as a teammate even when wide awake, and suffered a crushing defeat whenever he played one his own, so he was relegated to the position of spectator.
That night's game must have been too much for Gray to keep up, because he bowed out in the first round and left Silver to turn to his uncle for help. Any other night of the week Natsu would already be curled up in bed with Silver at this point, but the little tyke refused to go to bed when there was a chance to prove that he was as smart as the grownups, and Natsu refused to go to bed when Silver was up.
Gray moved Oberon carefully out of the way before sitting down beside Natsu, watching their son through the door. As always, the board was set up and Silver placed so that Natsu could see him even if he had to crawl into bed early.
"I think he takes too much from your side. If I didn't know better, I might think he wasn't mine at all," Gray said. "We should have named him Igneel after all."
"His hair is black."
"There's definitely black on your side."
"He should take more after you," Natsu muttered. "He hardly acts like me anyway. He's too responsible."
"I worked hard to not be as crazy as you. I don't think he got his personality from me."
Natsu sighed. Silver certainly hadn't gotten it from anyone else in Natsu's family either, which could only mean he'd learned to act that way because his daddy was sick.
"He should take more after you. It would beat ending up like me."
Gray glanced down at Natsu, lying stomach-down on the mattress and clutching a pillow as he watched their son.
"It's going to be okay," Gray said. "I got tested, remember? The disease is recessive, and I'm not a carrier. It's something we'll be on the lookout for if we get to having grandkids, but he's safe. You should be more worried about living vicariously through him than anything else. Besides, I'm sure he'll end up at least as good as you are, and we'll be glad for it."
Hearing that his grandchildren might be at risk for ending up with his affliction didn't grant Natsu any consolation, just like Gray reminding him regularly never fully alleviated his fear that one day Silver would wake up and not be able to run anymore. And Gray could tell Natsu not to live vicariously through their son until the end of time, but it still made Natsu smile to see Silver run and play and be active in all the ways that Natsu used to be. Whether Silver ended up in Fairy Tail or put that brain of his to work in research, Natsu never wanted to see Silver slow down.
But he still appreciated Gray's efforts, and offered up a smile.
They had this conversation at least once a week. More often, if Silver sought out another adult for something that Natsu couldn't manage. Like doing anything past six. Natsu could tolerate that he wasn't always able to help his son with more scholarly matters—he liked having a smart kid almost as much as he liked gloating to Gajeel that his kid was smarter than the twins. The matter of Silver and Natsu and brains had nothing to do with his disease. It the ways that his sickness got in the way where he might have otherwise been able to be there that got to him.
He mentioned that to Gray before in the context of grandkids, and was far from pleased when Gray pointed out how delayed Natsu's onset was. He didn't Silver to lose an infant to the condition. He didn't want a grandchild who would grow up never being allowed to run or play or learn magic the same way their parents could. It hadn't been fair to Natsu to know what that was like and lose it. It wouldn't be fair to that child, never having the chance to experience it. It wouldn't be fair to Silver, who already had to be attuned to his parent's health, to have to go through the same process with a child once he left the nest.
That talked about it a lot. Often enough that Gray could tell without asking where Natsu's mind went without having to ask, and gave him a playful smack on the head.
"Silver's six, Natsu. We have a long time before we have to think about grandkids."
"Hopefully we have a long time."
"Natsu, he is six."
"You never know. Romeo—"
"Six."
"Fine." Natsu sank his face into the pillow, unwilling to face Gray as he admitted defeat.
"C'mon now." Gray hooked a hand under Natsu's chin and pulled his head back up. "Silver's fine. And he's smart enough to know to play it safe once he's older. You know that."
"I guess…"
Gray raised an eyebrow. "You doubt our son?"
Natsu shot upright, getting to his feet on the mattress fast enough to make himself dizzy. "H-hey! No fair! You can't frame it like that!"
Beside them, Oberon stirred.
"Shush. You'll wake Obby."
Because Natsu still looked flustered and ready to yell more, Gray grabbed him by the sides and pulled him down to a sitting position, then put a hand behind his head to hold him in place for a kiss.
The intent of this was, primarily, to soothe Natsu. Keeping him from waking Oberon was only a secondary goal. So that Oberon woke with a shriek when Silver cried, "Daddy! Papa! Gross!" was no major crisis. For Gray or Natsu, at least. Mavis had to abandon her post at the opposite end of the board to tend to her son, which gave Silver the opportunity to peak at what tiles she had to lay down, which meant his attention was off his parents, who seized the chance to steal another kiss.
"Stop fussing so much," Gray said when they broke away. "You made Silver look."
"I can't believe you just told me to stop fussing."
"I can't believe I had to tell you to stop fussing," Gray said, and leaned again.
Natsu stole a glance in Silver's direction to make sure he wasn't looking before meeting Gray's lips. Sooner or little the kiddo was going to have to get over his disgust at the sight of people kissing, but for the time being, Natsu saw no problem with humoring Silver. In fact, meddlesome as it could be at times, there was something endearing about his attitude. Natsu didn't look forward to Silver growing up. Not because he dreaded a sick grandchild, but because Silver was too precious as he was.
"Maybe it's not so bad," Natsu muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He wanted to run. He wanted to go with Gray on jobs, and take their son on light assignments and be the one to teach him magic. He couldn't do that, because he was sick, and it would only make his health deteriorate if he tried. But if he'd never fallen ill, Natsu suspected he wouldn't have had the chance to realize he could love Gray. There would be no husband. No family diners where they bantered for the fun of it. No Silver. And that was incomprehensible.
It wasn't perfect. A perfect world would have him realize he and Gray were perfect for each other without him getting sick, but that wasn't what happened, and quite likely wasn't something that could have happened. But you didn't need perfection to be happy, and Natsu couldn't imagine giving up the happiness he had.
-x-
STA: This one is set at some ambiguous point after the current arc. I'm just assuming since Mavis is alive and Natsu needs Zeref to live that he'll probably come out alright in the end. As for why him being here came out of left field... I'm sorry. I wrote "uncle" at random once and then was so enamored to the idea of Uncle Zeref that I couldn't bring myself to leave it out. In all fairness, there was as much buildup for all the kids being born, so it's not like Zeref ending up on decent terms with everyone when it's already implied that he was looking for a cure for Natsu is that out of the blue compared to the rest of the chapter.
Anyway, I just really wanted to do a 'much later' scene like this. It seemed warm and fuzzy and stuff. I do a lot of fics where couples have kids, but not a lot about them actively being parents. And since Natsu has a genetic disease, I did want to at least lightly touch on concerns that he might have for that down the road.
Incidentally, on the subject of genetically inherited diseases that Natsu is worried about, how he and Gray came to have a child, and the detail of Gray playing a more active role in their obtaining a child, you are free to explain this in whatever way you wish. But do realize that I did post my 13th mpreg fic in the past week. (9th under this user name.) Just thought I'd mention that.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for sticking with me on this one! I'm a little sad to be done with it...