Hi! Thank you all for all the support from last time! Happy that you guys are liking it so far!
"See you tomorrow, teacher!" Kade exclaims over his shoulder with a wave back towards Mrs. Aries, jumping out through the door. "C'mon, mom! You said we could go to the baseball place today!"
Lucy laughs as Kade tugs her hand on their way back to her car.
She had finally been able to talk with Noah's mom, Claire, last week after all. Lucy found out that she, too, was a single mom, which gave her some comfort that there was someone else nearby who understood, and she gave Lucy the info of the where she takes Noah to play little league.
Then she told Kade this morning that they would go after she picked him up after work today after finally getting some extra time. She always tried her best and was determined to keep her promises to the young boy after all.
Her training had been going well so far, but it'd been definitely been keeping her busier and made her be a little later from picking Kade up from daycare some days. Thankfully they'd been understanding, which she was grateful for.
She unlocks the car and helps Kade into his car seat. "Yes, we are, but that means we have to be on our best behavior, and inside voices ok?"
"Ok!" He exclaims, eyes widening a little when Lucy gives him a look. "Uh, I mean, yes, mom," he says softer and putting his fingers to his lips but struggling to contain his smile behind them.
Lucy breaks her own smile with a shake of her head, buckling him in before getting behind the wheel.
It was never a dull moment with him.
The complex wasn't supposed to be very far and Kade filled the drive with animated stories about his day. How him and Noah played dragons more and shared all kinds of snacks, and how he got a gold star for helping clean up.
"I'm so proud of you, bug! They have the best helper ever with you, such a little gentleman."
Kade gave her a bright grin through the rear view mirror before launching into another riveting tale about how they explored in the large backyard of the daycare.
They finally pull up to the Dragneel Sports Complex… that's a bit of an odd name, Lucy thinks to herself before they get out and make their way through the large doors.
An older woman with silver hair is sitting at the front desk working on something before she looks up and sees them.
"Hi, good afternoon! My name is Grace, how can I help you?"
Lucy waves. "Hi, I was wondering if it's too late to sign my son up for baseball here?"
"Oh, of course not! The little league season hasn't fully started yet so you're just fine. You just have to fill out some forms and a registration fee," she smiles, skin crinkling around her kind, bright blue eyes.
Lucy's heart drops a little, stepping a bit closer to the counter. "Um, about that… do you know how much it would cost? Things are a little tight right now and I would like to be prepared?" She fidgeted with the edges of some flyers on the counter in front of her. "Or if there's a way to do delayed payments that could work or-"
Lucy looks back up when she feels a soft touch on her hand, catching Grace's warm, kind expression.
"No need, we work with all kinds of income here," the woman says. "We can figure out what works best for you."
Lucy sighs in relief, her nerves easing. "Thank you. I really appreciate it. We just moved here recently and I'm still trying to figure some things out."
"Oh, then welcome! Happy to have you here and I'm sure you both will fit right in soon," Grace smiles brightly.
"Mooomm, does this mean I can play?" Kade asks, pulling on her blouse.
Lucy looks over at his pleading eyes and smiles. "Yes, sweetheart."
"Whoohoo!" Kade jumps up and shouts.
Lucy gives him another firm look and he pauses, wringing his hands together. "Sorry."
Lucy shares a look with Grace and they laugh softly.
A door across from them swings open and a tall older man walks through.
"Hey! Rounded up another one, huh?" His red hair was greying a bit at his temples but he wore a bright wide smile that also crinkled his brown eyes as he made his way over towards them. "Hi, the name's Igneel, I own the complex here along with my wife." He moves to stand near Grace beside the counter, his smile was just as kind as hers.
Lucy smiles shyly, reaching out to shake his outstretched hand. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Lucy, and this is my son, Kade." She moves her hand to rub over Kade's head affectionately.
Igneel's grin brightens, taking a knee to be closer to Kade's level. "Heya, Kade. How old are you, kiddo?"
Kade looks up at Lucy and she gives him an encouraging nod.
"Hm, I'm five!" He thrusts a palm in front of him, showing Igneel all his raised fingers with a toothy smile.
"Woah, that's big!" Igneel laughs, meeting Kade's small palm in a soft high five. "Guess I can't call ya kiddo for very long, little man."
Kade brightens and turns back towards Lucy. "Hear that, mom! I'm a little man!"
Lucy laughs. "Of course I did, silly. You're already my little man." She ruffles his hair.
"So, have you ever played baseball before, bud?" Igneel asks.
Kade tugs on the hem of his shirt and shakes his head.
"Oh, a first timer, huh? Well, we're honored to have you play with us here-"
The same door swings open again. "Yo! Ya left me stranded with all those brats out there, old man."
Lucy looks up to see a younger guy, maybe about her age, with an equally wide toothy smile that sparked an odd flutter in her chest.
"They're killin' me out there," he huffs, running a hand through his messy rose gold colored hair. His cheeks were flushed, but his forest green eyes were bright and happy.
Grace shakes her head with a fond look. "Always so dramatic. Say hi to our new friends."
"Huh?" His brows pinch in confusion before he looks over and finally seems to register their presence, expression brightening with another wide grin that makes Lucy's cheeks a little warm. Just a little. "Yo! Natsu Dragneel, at your service," he greets with a bow at the waist and tip of his imaginary cap.
A soft laugh escapes her at his dramatic flare. "Hi, Natsu. I'm Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia," she says, then puts her hand over Kade's head. "This is my son, Kade," Lucy introduces softly as Kade shuffles on his feet.
Natsu's eyes grow wide. "Woah, he's your kid? But you look pretty young to have a kid…"
Lucy's smile drops a little at that but Igneel is quick to tsk beside him, cuffing the back of Natsu's head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
Igneel ignores him and turns to Lucy. "I'm sorry, Lucy. Our boy here doesn't think before he speaks most times."
"Oi!"
Igneel gives Natsu a look and Lucy can't help the small smile that pulls her lips again at Natsu's prominent pout.
He shoves his hands in his pockets. "Sorry, Lucy," Natsu says, green eyes apologetic.
The slight ache in her chest eased. He probably didn't mean anything truly hurtful by it, she was just so used to preparing herself for comments that were usually worse.
"It's ok. You're right after all… I'm only twenty-one," Lucy finds herself admitting.
She's a little surprised that it's a little easier than it used to be sharing her age, but people were going to accept her or not and if she was going to be bring Kade around here a lot, they were bound to find out sooner or later.
"Oh? That's awesome! Finally, a parent who's my age," he grins brightly.
"Finally?" Lucy asks, tilting her head.
"Yeah, most younger people are lame teenagers who come through, then sometimes we get those snobby older parents around here who think their kid is better than everyone," Natsu says rolling his eyes, "so it'll be a cool change from hanging around all these old geezers." Natsu elbows Igneel who scoffs and shoves Natsu's shoulder playfully. "A weird parent, but cool."
"Wh- Hey, I'm not weird!"
"Are too!" Kade adds in, making everyone laugh.
Lucy humphs and crosses her arms, grumbles to herself, but happy to see Kade's wide smile, twitch of her own grin on her lips.
Natsu laughs more. "Heya, Kade!" Natsu greets, kneeling down on a knee to the boy's level. "So, what sport were you tellin' my old man you wanna play?"
"Baseball!" Kade exclaims.
"Oh, is that so?" Natsu grins wide. "Well, I just happen to be the best baseball coach in the place and you look just the right age for my team, what d'ya say?"
Kade's eyes widen, turning to Lucy with buzzing excitement. "Can I, can I?!"
Lucy laughs softly and nods.
Kade jumps up with another cheerful shout. "Thank you, Mr. Natsu!"
"Mr?" Natsu gasps dramatically with a hand to his chest. "You wound me, don't make me old and lump me in with them! Just call me Natsu," he chuckles before he stands, ruffling Kade's hair and making him giggle.
"Natsu's gonna be my coach, mom!"
"I heard, bug," Lucy grins and hands the finished paperwork to Grace. "Now, maybe if you ask nicely, coach Natsu here can give us a tour of the field and everything for our first time?"
Kade is quick to jump closer to Natsu, clasping his hands together. "Please, please, can we, Natsu? I've never been on one before!"
Lucy wants to bark out a laugh at Kade pulling out all the stops with his big pout and puppy eyes, but she settles for a bright smile instead.
"How d'ya expect me to say no to that?" Natsu says, giving them a pout of his own before his toothy smile takes over again. "Of course I can show you guys around, bud."
"Yay!"
"Thank you, Natsu. We really appreciate everything," Lucy says, giving him a warm smile.
"O-Oh, uhh, no problem." Natsu scratches the back of his neck and Lucy thinks she catches a blush on his cheeks, but he turns too quickly to see fully. "Um, f-follow me, guys!"
Kade distracts her by grabbing her hand and leading them to follow Natsu through the door he came from, Lucy smiling at Kade's urging words.
Lucy misses the knowing smiles Igneel and Grace share as the door closes behind them.
Kade is all bright, wide eyes and smiles as Natsu shows them around the halls and various rooms for all kinds of sports and activities in the large complex.
They eventually make their way outside in the back of the complex and onto a large nearby field.
"Here we are, Kade, the best spot in the place, the baseball field!" Natsu extends his arms out widely in front of him.
"Woah! Look, Mom, it's awesome!" Kade shouts, giving Lucy a toothy smile over his shoulder that makes her heart warm.
Before she has a chance to reply, a large group of kids who looked to be around Kade's age notice them and run up to them.
"There you are, coach! You were takin' forever!" One of them says, the rest of the group agreeing loudly.
Natsu laughs. "I'm sure Micheal here was takin' good care of you." A younger looking boy with a staff shirt similar to Natsu's waves at them. "But I took a bit longer 'cause I was giving our new friends, Lucy and Kade here, a VIP tour of all our best stuff since Kade's gonna join our team!" Some happy cheers ring out from the group. "You wanna join us for a bit, bud?" Natsu asks towards her and Kade, gesturing for him to join the group closer.
Kade shuffles a bit, understandable since he hadn't really been around so many kids aside from the small group at the daycare recently. Lucy gives him a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder.
"Go have some fun, sweetheart."
Kade's face lights up and he's quick to run over into the group.
Natsu sends her his own toothy smile over his shoulder before joining the kids. Her stomach does that strange warm flutter again at the sight… but it probably meant nothing, right?
Before Lucy thinks about it too much, she takes a seat on the bleachers. Her heart swells with affection as she watches the group welcomes Kade right in and start playing together, with the biggest smile on his face.
Tears prick her eyes. It's all she ever wanted for him. To be able to be happy like this and make good friends.
It'd been just them for so long, but she knew he craved more interaction with other kids over the years so it made her happy they could accomplish that for him now.
Lucy laughs to herself at the sight of Natsu trying to outrun the kids as they ran the bases then falling dramatically when he got to home base and the kids tackling him, making Natsu laugh fully.
He may have teased that the kids were "brats" earlier, but she could see how much he cared about the kids and how good he was with them.
"I surrender!" He cries.
Soon enough, the kids have mercy on him and and he hops up and calls the end of their day after a while.
Natsu high fives the kids, saying goodbye before he and Kade make their way back over to Lucy.
"Mommy! Did you see us!"
"Of course! I'm glad you had fun," she smiled.
"Lots!" Kade slumps onto the bench next to her, a tired happy smile across his face.
Natsu ruffles Kade's hair and hands him a water bottle, sitting so Kade was between him and Lucy. He pushes back his messier-than-before hair and sipping from his own large water flask.
"You did awesome, bud! Ready for full practice already," Natsu grins.
"Can't wait!"
Natsu looks back over at Lucy. "You got him in just in time actually, our little league season starts next month. We just like to get some of the newer kids together a little early to get them used to each other and the sport since it's a lot of their first time playin'," he says, "like Kade, so I'm glad he was able to join a bit and hopefully you guys can come to a few more before the season starts."
"Yeah, that's a great idea," Lucy nods with a soft smile. "Thank you all for being so welcoming, to both of us. Your family has a great thing here."
Natsu smiled sheepishly, scratching his cheek. "'Course. We love having you guys. Kade seems like a great kid."
They look between them to see Kade already slumped on Lucy's arm nodding off, making them laugh softly.
"Thank you, he is," Lucy smiles.
"So are you new in town? Don't think I've seen you around before? Y'know, smaller towns, everyone knows everyone," Natsu asks with a playful grin.
Lucy huffs a laugh. "Yeah, we just moved here pretty recently and finally had some time to do this for Kade. We don't live too far either."
"Oh cool, well, glad you picked our side of town," Natsu grins. "Is… is it just the two of you? Natsu asks softer.
"Yeah," Lucy sighs, "it's been just us for a while… but I wanted something more for us, so I mainly chose to move here from crocus for a better job I got offered at the local magazine here."
"Damn, that's a long ways… Oh! Is it sorcerer's weekly? I have a friend who works there."
"Yes! Is it Levy? I've mainly been working with her this week."
"Yeah that's her! See, told ya it's a small world," Natsu laughs warmly, pulling one from her too.
"You may be right. Have to get used to that compared to living in the bigger city," Lucy grins.
"How's Kade taking the move so far? Sure you both miss your family, friends?" Natsu asks, his voice a little soft again, green eyes honest and curious.
"I was worried he wasn't going to like all the change at once, but he's taking it well! He's been loving seeing all the new things and foods, and the daycare but-" Lucy wrings her hands together, "but my family's not much of anything anymore… and I'd been so focused on working since Kade was born I hardly kept any friends," she admits. "Kade was always with me so it was a bit of the same for him too."
Lucy swallows thickly and reaches up with the other hand that wasn't holding Kade and pushes back some of his messy dark gold hair. He was fully knocked out against her now.
Sometimes she worried that she kept Kade too withdrawn before, or even herself, but she'd just been so focused on working and trying to make ends meet, but she was hopeful that things would be better for them both here.
"I'm sorry if you didn't wanna talk about all that stuff, Lucy. I didn't mean to bring you down or anything," Natsu says, his tone a little worried that matched his eyes.
"Oh, no, it's ok. I don't mind," Lucy reassured with a soft smile, finding that she really didn't mind sharing things with him. Which... rarely happened with people she just met.
Natsu's expression eases. "Alright, but you got me now! Natsu insists, green eyes widening and she definitely catches the soft flush on his cheeks this time. "Uh, I-I mean I'd like to be friends? If you want to?" He says, rubbing the back of his neck."
Lucy's chest warms at his offer, but she decides to tease a little. "I dunno, I think I'll have enough friends now with Levy," she grins, "and it won't be weird hanging out with my son's coach?"
"Wha-! Like that stuff even matters, it's just t-ball," Natsu disagrees with a playful roll of his eyes. "C'mon, please," Natsu pleads, with a pout that even Kade would be proud of.
Lucy breathes a rare snort. "You're just as bad as Kade," she laughs before her expression softens. "But really, I would love that, Natsu."
Natsu grins, clearing his throat. "Awesome."
They share a few comfortable moments before Kade started getting too heavy to hold up. "Well, I should probably get going, get this guy cleaned up," Lucy says with a light laugh.
"Oh yeah, of course. Do you need help with him? I swear kids are like ten times heavier when they're dead asleep," he chuckled as he stands from the bench.
Lucy considers it. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to keep you from anything?"
"Nah, its no trouble. This was the last thing I had goin' on today," Natsu waves off.
Usually, Lucy didn't find herself trusting people right away, especially when it came to Kade, but she felt this comfortable connection with Natsu and his family already. Something she couldn't quite place… but she decided to trust her gut this time.
She gives him a small smile and nods. "Alright, thank you." Kade was getting pretty heavy after all.
Natsu grins brighter. "C'mon, bud." He slowly gathers Kade into his arms until he's resting against Natsu's chest and Lucy leads the way back to her car. Kade shifts a bit but settles against Natsu.
Lucy opens one of the back doors and thanks Natsu again when he settles Kade into his chair, buckling him in while he was still out like a light.
"No problem, Lucy," Natsu says warmly.
"Oh, before I forget, what is he going to need? Shoes? A glove?" Lucy asks, leaning against the side of the car. "Shows how much I know about sports," she laughs lightly.
"It's alright," he grins, "um, yeah probably some cleats. They sell them at the local sports store in town. We give 'em the uniforms and gloves, so don't gotta worry about that, unless they wanna get their own," Natsu says, putting his arm up over the open door.
"Ok, and how do we know when practices and games start?"
"Oh, we usually hand out the schedule when the season starts but I can give you my number too? I usually send a text the week before. Know how busy things can get."
"Sure, that sounds good." She passes Natsu her phone so he can put his number before giving it back to her.
"Here ya go. Feel free to text me if ya have any questions or anything."
Lucy nods, taking her phone back. "Thanks again for everything. It was great meeting you today, Natsu," she says warmly, offering her hand for him to shake.
Natsu grins brightly, grasping her hand in a squeeze. "You too, Lucy. Lookin' forward to seeing you both more."
His hand felt rough and warm in hers, and she may have held onto it for a bit longer than she should've.
"Drive safe. Night, kiddo," Natsu says softly as he leaned down to pat Kade over his head gently. Lucy's heart swells with affection at the action. "Night, Luce."
The warmth in her heart quickly spread over her cheeks at the nickname.
"N-Night, Natsu."
Natsu helps her close the door by Kade. "See you soon!" He calls out as she gets into the car.
Lucy waves after pulling out of the space and out of the parking lot.
She makes it home and manages to wake Kade up enough to walk back into the house and make them a little something to eat before she helps him clean up and get ready for bed.
"I love baseball already, mommy," Kade murmurs sleepily against his pillow, quickly falling asleep before he could hear Lucy's reply.
"I'm glad. I love you so much, Kade… sweet dreams." Lucy leans over to press a warm kiss to his forehead and brushing his cheek softly before turning off his lamp and closing his door half way.
Lucy sighs as she settles into her bed after her own soothing shower. She smiles softly as she thinks about how much she loved seeing Kade so happy playing with Natsu and the other kids.
Meeting Natsu had been great too. Him and his family were so kind and welcoming. In the past two weeks, she'd met such genuinely kind people, and felt like she already had a friend in Levy and Natsu… along with the fact that she couldn't deny how cute he was with his boyish smile, colorful hair, and green eyes that she already had a hard time looking away from...
Her cheeks warm again. She can save those thoughts for another day. For now, she was happy that it'd been a fulfilling day for Kade, and her.
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it, till next time! uwu