I... am a master of procrastination... send help (or bribery to my lecturers).
"Welcome back," Mira interrupted her conversation to greet Laxus. He grunted in reply, an S-Class quest flyer landing on her tray. He opened his mouth to say something, when his eyes landed on Erza. Erza at the guild. She waited for him to speak, but he only stared. His gaze flashed from her face to her abdomen and back up. It triggered an amused smile on her lips.
"You're here," he finally said. Mira giggled, the rest of the girls having to smile as well.
"They're upstairs," Erza simply replied. Laxus held her eyes for another moment, then turned to Mira. Casually, he put down his bag, ordering a drink. He vanished in the Master's office before receiving it.
With a hopeless yet amused smile, Erza sank back down at the girls table.
"He's interested," Meredy piped up immediately.
"Definitely."
"Juvia thinks so too."
"He might not want to come across as such, but Laxus has a kind heart," Mira agreed.
"Kind heart or not, no one can resist my lil Rose," Meredy puffed out her chest as proudly as Erza had done with her pregnant belly.
"Master was right," Lucy conceded. "She lives up to her name as the Princess of the Fairies," she said. Erza nodded solemnly, making them laugh.
"But hey," Meredy interrupted, "if Erza's Master's kid, and Laxus his grandson, doesn't that make him and Rosie… siblings?" She frowned. The others mirrored it, then laughed even more. "Or half siblings," she added with a grin.
They kept on joking around until Levy arrived – as promised. It was still early, but the guild members already present joined in the girls' ballyhoo of greetings – quietly enough not to upset the twins. With the shift of focus however, not least noise, it almost went unnoticed that the previously abandoned drink was swiped off the bar. Erza watched from the corner of her eye as Laxus made his way upstairs, just as nonchalantly as before, and without so much as sparing the rowdies below a single glance.
Least of all her.
Up on the second floor, Laxus found his target in the far corner. Humming softly, Jellal was mellowing the racket for his baby to sleep on. He lifted his eyes off the document he was currently working on when Laxus dropped into the opposite bench. The latter raised a brow at the beaming smile he received.
"I haven't seen you in a while," Jellal noted rather cheerfully. Love-drunken, Laxus judged.
"Dito." Was all he returned.
"How was your mission?" Another brow. Jellal blinked, then it dawned on him. "Oh, would you like to see her? Here, I have to show you." He started to become all excited, cradling the bundle on his arm closer to himself. Laxus said nothing, not trying to encourage – he had not asked to see the baby and he was not keen on people assuming it. Still, he was intrigued, fiercely keeping it to himself. "Come on, Rosebud, it's almost feeding time anyway." Jellal gently roused her, whispering urgently, "You need to show him your eyes."
"Its what?"
"Her eyes," Jellal somewhat burst, eyes sparkling up at Laxus. "Look," he hissed, biting his lip to keep the delight at bay when his baby awoke, blinking her eyes open. Unconsciously, Laxus rose slightly from his seat, leaning over the table. Eyes trained on those promising wonder, he waited. Rosemary would not let herself be rushed, and Jellal did not like doing so either.
When she finally did look up, he turned her to face the Lightning Dragon Slayer.
"Green," Laxus blandly assessed. Jellal's smile kept on shining like the sun itself, dimming into a mellow yet tirelessly blazing sunset when gazing down at his daughter.
"We called her Rosemary," he said. "She'll be six weeks old tomorrow," he went on, cradling her against his chest again. With a small hum, Rosemary voiced her approval. She shifted with her little body, making Jellal freeze shortly and then help, holding her closer. There was a strong delicacy in his movements – confident and tender at the same time. It was obvious just how much he adored the way she now tried to snuggle up.
Once she was comfortable, he resumed copying numbers into a table, his daughter's curious eyes following the quill.
"Is it as tough as they say?" Laxus asked. He took a sip from his drink, unsuspiciously peering at the baby from over the rim of his mug. When Jellal did not look up, not catching him, Laxus relaxed, openly watching.
"Well, it's not exactly easy," Jellal somewhat agreed, though avoided the word 'difficult'. As if she could hear and feel insulted. Nonetheless, it let on the exhaustion on his face, something his smile had veiled almost perfectly until just now. "She doesn't do much yet. She needs lots of nappy changes, lots of feeding periods and lots of sleep," he enumerated.
"Sounds exciting," Laxus grumbled.
"Oh, but she's such a good girl," Jellal swooned, glancing down again. Rosemary stared at the wiggling quill, now finding it motionless. It took her another moment, but eventually, she directed her big green eyes up at her father. He visibly melted on the inside.
"How do you know?" Laxus asked. It was his first child after all.
"I have a very demanding wife."
"Fair enough," Laxus huffed, and then again, that time with amusement.
"She's an angel – honest like her Mama and quiet like her Papa," Jellal whispered, seemingly more to Rosemary than to Laxus.
"Why did I know you'd go even crazier over a girl than a boy…" Laxus let out a breath. Jellal tilted his head quizzically. "I mean I won't envy her once she's older," Laxus held up his palms in defence. The pout he received spoke for itself.
As if having felt herself being referenced, Meredy appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Duty calls," she informed. Jellal restrained from heaving a sigh. "No, I mean Laxus," Meredy interjected. "Mira says you guys need to discuss something S-Class related. But I'll take care of her," she zoomed forward, arms outstretched. Jellal surrendered reluctantly but without protest. "There's my lil Rose, my lil Starchild," Meredy let Rosemary fly above her head, voice going haywire. "Yes, you are, you cutiepie."
"Right…" Laxus got up, watching with a dubious frown.
"You should see Master Makarov," Jellal grinned.
"Hell no," Laxus shook his head hopelessly.
"He's just jealous 'cause you're the new favourite grandchild, isn't he? Yes, he is," Meredy babbled, luring out coos and goos. Laxus growled but stayed silent when Erza and Mira had climbed the rest of the stairs.
"I'll feed her so we can talk in a minute," Erza announced.
"She can stay," Mira offered immediately. Erza had to smile, then gave Laxus a questioning glance. Still frowning, he only shrugged.
"How long's this gonna take?" Laxus asked boredly once they had settled in the waiting room across the balcony. Rosemary was suckling complacently at her mother's chest. She had her tiny fingers curled around one of Mira's, who had purposefully sat down next to them. Jellal – not being an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail – had stayed on the balcony, finishing up the documents he had been relieving the Master of.
"As long as it needs to," Erza dutifully said. "I have enough nappies for three days," she declared. Laxus groaned.
"It won't take us days," Mira quickly intervened, though not without amusement. "But it's important that we talk about this. We need a procedure should anyone try to do an S-Class quest without permission again," she emphasised. Laxus only groaned once more, dropping his chin into his hand. His eyes watched Erza as she spoke, though flashed downwards more than he would have liked to admit.
"A procedure and a precaution."
"Why? Let 'em knock themselves out and get it beaten into their little non-S-Class heads that they're not up to it," Laxus blandly waved off. "Natsu already did one illegally and got away with it – why care now?"
"Because it's not right."
"He could have gotten hurt, as could others," Mira agreed with Erza.
"Rules are there to be enforced, and anyway, there's more to an S-Class quest than just fighting – of course he can hold his own in a fight," Erza went on arguing, a tad affronted by the way Laxus had made it sound. She trusted Natsu with her life; she knew he was ready to be an S-Class Mage when it came to magic power. "If you would just take this seriously and help us come up with a solution, we can all— not now, Rosie, darling, Mama's busy," she interrupted herself when Rosemary started complaining.
Mira frowned her lips pityingly, too empathic not to suffer alongside the restless growing baby. Sadly, she retracted her finger when it was clearly not wanted anymore. Rosemary had started whimpering most tragically.
"What?" Erza pursed her lips. She offered the pacifier, but it was refused. Rosemary was fed and felt just as light as before, not in need of a fresh nappy. Her eyes wandered wherever they could with the limited view where she was being held. Laxus puffed with annoyance. It caught Rosemary's attention, but when Erza turned her to see the source of the noise, it did nothing to still her imminent crying.
Laxus leaned away when Rosemary voiced her dismay with a howl. Glancing from a stressed Mirajane to a tired Erza, he hoped the obnoxious crying would at least be his ticket out.
"Why don't you ever stop when it's me telling you to...?" Erza mumbled grouchily. "Is food all you want from me?" She sighed, but no rocking would calm the siren. Resigning, Erza turned to Mira. "Would you—" she blinked at the door when there was a tentative knock.
Jellal peeked inside when they bid him in. Erza surrendered their daughter without hesitation, watching with a mixture of relief and irritation how any tears ceased to well up in those big green eyes once meeting Jellal's. Mira swooned, her squeak mostly drowning out the mocking snort of Laxus. Erza shot him a death glare. He twinkled back gleefully.
"We'll wait—" Jellal began, already on the move when Rosemary waved her arms. With pointed mms and ahs, she directed her vehicle back towards her previous port. Erza raised her brows.
"Oh, now you want to…" she remarked, a pout in her tone. She held out her hand nonetheless, having it grabbed and shoved into Rosemary's mouth. Jellal smiled gently.
"I'm fine with him staying." Mira lifted her hand to vote.
"We could just go home…" Laxus muttered. Feeling blue, brown and two pairs of green eyes on him, he shrugged. "Or he can stay." He rolled his eyes.
Erza looked on quizzically, but when Jellal had stuffed the cotton he had brought into his ears, respecting their private meeting despite the lack of high secrecy, she placed a long kiss on his cheek. It was still early, yet the nights were short and granted as little recreation as the days did – Jellal simply lied down with his head on his wife's lap, his daughter soon falling asleep in the hollow of his stomach. He followed shortly after.
"Gildarts should be here to discuss too," Mira said unhappily, now on the opposite couch.
"But he isn't here, is he?" Laxus groused.
"Still, perhaps we should postpone and invite him."
"How? Do you know where he is?" He cut in. She opened her mouth but did not know what to say when he already went on. "You don't – no one does, and even if we did, he wouldn't come. Face it, he doesn't care about something boring like this unless it involves punishing girls in an inappropriate way…" he scoffed.
"I'm afraid Laxus is correct," Erza nodded. "We can always inform Gildarts about our decisions once he comes back. He can interpose his veto then."
"Which he won't…" Laxus added in a plain voice. Mirajane sighed, but consented.
Neither of them agreed to much from that point on. Erza caught herself playing the mediator rather than coming to conclusions.
With the sun rising into the sky, Mirajane excused herself, seeing as the bar needed to be open, the first guildmembers – namely Cana – becoming impatient. Erza only nodded, too tired to harp on about the problem or discipline the alcoholic on drinking in the morning. Stroking her husband's hair as she had been for the past hour, Erza mused on how to wake her two favourite people. Or whether she should join them.
"I wanted to go on a mission," Laxus said, intercepting her train of thoughts. She had not expected him to stay seated, blinking up with slight surprise. "I picked the weekend on purpose," he groaned when her face spoke of protests. "Nothin'll clash with his precious work. And before you start lecturing me, I'm asking you on purpose – he'll stay put out of guilt if you ruin the fun," he grumbled, chin still in his palm.
Erza regarded him for a stretching moment.
"What kind of mission?" She asked. Positive surprise lit up Laxus' features, but he kept his cool, not retreating from his indifferent posture just yet.
"Retrieving a stolen item – probably just beatin' up a bunch of weirdos."
"Is it a magical item?"
"Dunno," Laxus shrugged, then reconsidered. "But if it is, I'll be the one to take the shot this time, I swear," he added, sitting up straighter. "No feline or other accidents," he emphasised.
Erza remained sceptical, but Laxus could tell she was not as waspish as before. Not after having gone on a mission with her husband the other day. She was contemplating it.
"I'll talk to him about it," she finally said. She was not allayed, but he had a feeling she would relent.
Without her doing, Jellal woke. He yawned, a small squeak escaping his throat. Smiling fondly, Erza wiped the tear from his eye. She unplugged his ear, informing him that their discussion was over. He only smiled back, unplugging his other ear, then snuggled his daughter to his face.
Rosemary roused, slower than him but more effectively, soon blinking into two pairs of tired eyes.
"What time is it?" Jellal asked. He turned onto his back, and Erza was about to reply when noticing he had not been talking to her at all. "Could it be… time to take off?" He swung Rosemary upwards, and she sputtered with clumsy laughter, hovering in front of her mother's head. "You're a dragon, you can fly!" Jellal excitedly gasped, making her laugh even more.
"So heavy still," Erza gently supported her daughter's head. She took her when Jellal sat up, and he nearly winced when noticing Laxus to still be there.
"Sorry about that." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Laxus watched with clandestine amusement, gladly letting the Heavenly Body Mage simmer in his own awkwardness.
"Jellal," Erza fetched his attention back. "How would you feel about going on a mission tomorrow?" She asked directly. He tilted his head, then wavered it from side to side.
"That depends on your armour entirely," he honestly said. Rosemary reached out an arm, taking his hand captive.
"I'm not coming," Erza explained. Laxus watched, intrigued. Jellal was puzzled, and for some reason, Erza was trying hard to suppress the bite in her tone. "Well, I'm coming but I'm not fighting. We'll stay nearby," she glanced down at their daughter. Jellal frowned.
Before pronouncing another word, he turned to Laxus. The latter raised a brow. Jellal grinned.
"Alright," he smiled at Erza, sensing her displeasure. "And we'll be very careful," he promised, both her as well as Rosemary.