Work Text:
July 7th, 2021
What’s with all the damn noise? I’m still sleepy…
Natsu groaned as the annoying beeping noise that had woken him up refused to stop, and he soon realized it was coming from his phone. He glared at the device, but as expected, it did nothing, the beeps continued as text after text came in.
What the hell is going on?
He stretched his arm and grabbed his phone from his nightstand, fighting the urge to throw it across the room...
Happy Birthday, Bro! 🎈🎉✨🎁 Where the party at? 👀🧁🎂 Gotta do rounds, but I’ll call you later!
Happy Birthday, Natsu!
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Another year older, Firefly! I’ll stop by Sorciere and buy you a drink tonight...
Happy Birthday, dude! Get Gray to blow your 🕯️!!! 😂😏
Natsu scrolled through the texts that kept coming in from his friends and family, rolling his eyes at the last one, not even having to look at the sender info to know it was Loke’s contribution.
As nice as it was to receive well wishes, rather than cheer him up, all they accomplished was to envelop him in a cloud of gloom that was very familiar. Still, he replied to all the messages and got up to start his day.
At least it was a Wednesday, which meant that Gray would soon arrive with Aki for one of their study sessions. It was the first time in a while that he was impatient for Gray to visit, not because he wanted to see him, but because of the distraction that studying for the GED would provide.
What he really wanted was to get out of the house. To escape the memories that refused to let go.
The previous year he’d been too numb from everything else that had happened in his life for it to sink in that he was back in his childhood home, sleeping in the very room his father used to call his. The last place he’d seen him before he’d disappeared from his life, leaving him and Erza behind without any warning or explanation.
For so long, he’d held on to the belief that his father was coming back, but no matter how many nights he’d waited for him, he never did. And so his birthday became a day Natsu resented, a painful reminder of his abandonment.
The doorbell rang, startling Natsu out of his gloomy thoughts. Atlas raced towards the door at the noise, chanting the name Aki over and over in joyful anticipation.
Natsu ran down the stairs to head him off, knowing from experience Atlas would open the door regardless of who might be on the other side. It was much too early for Gray to arrive for their study session, and given that it was his birthday, the idea of an unexpected visitor set him on edge.
He got to the door just as Atlas opened it and was surprised to see his boyfriend was indeed standing on the other side of the door.
“Hey,” he greeted, feeling slightly puzzled but no less pleased, “Are we starting early today?”
“Nope,” Gray smirked, “You’ve been working pretty hard for the past few weeks. Today you get the day off. We’re going to the beach!”
“Beach!” Aki repeated, and now that Natsu looked at him, he noticed he was dressed in a swimsuit and holding a colorful bucket and shovel like the ones sold at the grocery store.
“Beach?” Natsu parroted in disbelief, “With three kids? Are you insane?”
“Four, you forgot to count yourself,” Gray teased, entering the house and closing the door behind him. He pulled Natsu to him for a quick kiss, “Hey.”
“I don’t know, I’d have to pack stuff for the kids and get them ready,” Natsu hedged, not feeling up to such an involved outing.
“Nice try, Sunshine,” Gray turned him around and nudged him towards the stairs. “All you have to do is get yourself ready; Erza already took care of the rest.” Gray walked over to the small closet that sat at the foot of the stairs and opened it to show that indeed there were two bags packed along with Atlas’ car seat.
“We’re going to the beach?!” Hana squealed behind them, and at that point, Natsu realized he’d already lost. Hana had always loved the beach even though her skin was so fair she had to be slathered in sunblock constantly, but she hadn’t voiced any interest in it since her mother had died. Knowing that, he didn’t want to disappoint her.
“Looks like it,” he replied with as much enthusiasm as he could muster at the idea. It might even be a good thing. If he were chasing after the kids, he wouldn't have time to think about anything else.
“That’s the spirit,” Gray remarked, his words dripping with sarcasm, “Go get ready, and I’ll start putting stuff in the car.”
Now that the decision had been made, Natsu went along with it. He’d wanted to get out of the house, after all. Changing into swim trunks and a t-shirt, he quickly tossed a change of clothes and a towel into a bag. He searched around for his sunglasses and sunblock, and when he heard Gray yelling for him, he hurried down the stairs to find everything had already been packed up, including the kids.
“Why today?” he asked, gazing at his boyfriend with suspicion.
“Because it’s going to get super hot, and you’re too cheap to install an air conditioner.” Gray retorted, “Since nothing’s getting into your little brain today, we might as well have fun. Now come on.”
He grabbed the bag from Natsu’s hand and led him to his car, making no mention of Natsu’s mood. Natsu relaxed, he’d never told Gray when his birthday was, and he hadn’t gotten a text from Lyon, so it was possible he didn’t know.
The people in his life always wanted to make a big deal about his birthday, but all Natsu wanted was to forget it, let it pass quickly and quietly. And who knew? A day of fun in the sun might just do the trick.
0-0
“Beach!” Hana ran off towards the sand the moment they stepped outside the air-conditioned train station and into the summer heat.
“Hana, wait!” Natsu ran after her, terrified of losing her in the crowd of people. He glanced back to see Gray trying to handle the boys and the remaining bags, and he flashed him an apologetic smile.
Gray hadn’t been exaggerating. It was a hot day. Thankfully the beach wasn’t too packed yet, and once he’d gotten Hana to stop, he rented a large umbrella for them to sit under, knowing the heat was going to be too much for the younger kids and for Gray, who was as fair as Hana.
He was already applying sunblock on Hana when Gray finally arrived with Atlas and Aki, dumping all their bags on the sand. “A little help would have been nice,” he grumbled.
Natsu glanced up to see his boyfriend was already flushed. “Go sit,” he ordered, pointing towards the shade the umbrella provided and handing him a bottle of water from one of the bags Erza had packed. He managed to get all three kids ready and sent them off to play in the area in front of them.
Natsu grabbed a new bottle of sunblock and knelt behind his boyfriend, who had already taken off his shirt, “Are you feeling better?” he asked as he spurted some of the contents of the bottle into his hand and began to apply it on Gray’s shoulders.
“Mhmm,” Gray groaned in appreciation, “That feels nice. Thanks for getting the umbrella, that was a good idea.”
“Well then, it seems my little brain is good for something after all,” Natsu retorted.
“Your hands aren’t bad either,” Gray observed, leaning forward so that Natsu could apply sunblock on his back. “Hana really likes the beach, huh?”
“Yeah, back when we lived in Edolas, Lis used to take her to the beach all the time,” he explained, watching as Hana examined some seashells she’d found. “It’s nice to see her excited about it again.”
“What on Earth is Atlas doing?”
Natsu turned his attention to his son and had to laugh, “He’s digging a hole, obviously.” One that only seemed to get bigger by the minute now that Aki had caught on to what his friend was doing and had begun to help.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Gray asked worriedly.
“Why? They’re not hurting anything,” Natsu shrugged, “or are you worried they’ll end up upside down on the other side of the world?”
“Smart and funny, how lucky am I?” Gray answered drily.
“I used to like to do that too,” Natsu muttered, ignoring the barb as he remembered beach trips with his own family.
He used to dig holes deep enough that he could hide in them and startle his mom as she walked by. Sometimes Igneel would even help him, laughing just as hard as Natsu when his wife squealed in fright as Natsu grabbed her leg. He hadn’t thought about that in years. A lump lodged in his throat at the thought of his mom, and he couldn’t help but reflect on how much Erza resembled her these days.
“Here, let me put some on you,” Natsu felt Gray’s hands on his back as he rubbed the cooling lotion on his warm skin, interrupting his train of thought. He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying the glorious sensation of those fingers kneading his muscles.
It was much better to focus on what he had. There was no reclaiming what he’d already lost.
“You know,” Gray declared as he continued to cover Natsu in sunblock, “there wasn’t an amusement park the last time I came here, it’s too bad the kids are too little. That could’ve been fun.”
“Well, maybe we can come back another time,” Natsu suggested, shading his eyes with his hand as he tried to locate Hana amidst the growing crowd.
“You mean like on a date?”
“Why not? I bet Sting and Rogue would love to come too.” He found his daughter talking to another little girl, not too far from where they were sitting and relaxed.
“Maybe,” Gray wrapped his arms around Natsu’s waist and pulled him closer to his chest, “I don’t get you to myself often enough, though.”
Natsu rested his hands on Gray’s and smiled, “You, my love, get most of my spare time. You’re just greedy.”
Gray chuckled, “True enough. Want to go check out the water? The kids look like they’re getting restless.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Natsu agreed, stealing a quick kiss before grabbing Atlas under one arm and racing towards Hana at full speed as Atlas yelled her name out joyfully. She squealed at their approach, running away from them and towards the water.
He could hear Gray grumbling behind him and grinned.
“Daddy, no!” Hana shrieked as he put Atlas down so he could join the chase and continued to charge after her.
“Don’t worry, Hana, I’ll get him for you,” was all he heard before being picked up from behind and tossed over Gray’s shoulder.
“What are you gonna do now, Sunshine?” Gray snickered, holding on tighter as Natsu did his best to get loose, “What do you think, Hana? Should I throw him in?”
“Yeah!” Hana giggled, “Throw Daddy in the ocean!”
“You heard the lady; you’re going down!” Gray turned them around, and Natsu could see that Hana looked positively gleeful at his predicament. All three kids cheered as they egged Gray on.
“Traitors!” He called out in mock dismay, as he flailed around, trying to mess up Gray’s balance. His efforts proved pointless, however, as the next thing he knew, he was falling, but only for a short second until he landed face-first into the cold water. Moving quickly, he turned himself around, snaking his arms out and grabbing Gray’s legs while he was busy laughing at him.
Using Gray’s distraction to his advantage, Natsu pulled, taking Gray down with him.
“Come on in, the water’s fine!” Natsu couldn’t help but cackle at the surprised expression on his boyfriend’s face.
“That’s it, Dragneel, you asked for it,” Gray announced before splashing water at Natsu’s face.
They wrestled in the water, both laughing too hard to be able to gain any advantage over the other. Soon they were joined by the kids who were more than happy to enter the fray.
After a few minutes, they each grabbed one of the boys and placed them on their shoulders so they could wade deeper while keeping an eye on Hana, who swam beside them. Both boys were overjoyed to be up so high. They eagerly called out every wave that rushed towards them.
Natsu was having such a great time that he completely forgot to keep track of Hana’s skin, and when he noticed the telltale redness on her nose and the back of her neck, he decided it was time to get back to their umbrella. Gray wasn’t doing much better, which made Natsu smile. The guy might be thirty, but he was still young in all the best ways.
Gray treated them to lunch, and they all sat together under the umbrella munching happily on pizza and chicken nuggets.
“Are you having fun?” Gray asked while helping Aki eat a slice of cheese pizza.
“Yeah,” Natsu answered honestly, “I have to admit, you had a good idea for once.”
Gray rolled his eyes at his response but chose not to protest. They shared a fun afternoon building sandcastles with the kids, collecting shells, and helping Atlas dig ever deeper holes, which Natsu made sure to refill once his son had moved on to the next one. Much too soon, it was time to get on a train as Natsu had to return to Magnolia in time for his evening shift at Crime Sorciere.
Natsu sat on the train, feeling content as Hana leaned against him, and Atlas snored in his lap. On the opposite bench, Aki was also K.O. in Gray’s arms, while Gray gazed out the window with a serene smile.
Natsu watched him for a while, mesmerized by how breathtaking Gray looked when he was at peace. It didn’t happen nearly often enough for his liking, and that always saddened him. Gray deserved the world, and Natsu was determined to get it for him. Someday.
They made it home with enough time for Natsu to take a shower before leaving for work. He noticed a notification on his phone as he was getting dressed, and seeing that it was a text from Gray, he scanned it immediately.
Happy Birthday, Natsu! 😉
Natsu realized then that he hadn’t thought about his birthday once since they’d arrived at the beach. He was touched to learn that Gray had been aware all along, choosing not to treat the day any differently because he’d remembered how Natsu felt about it.
Just like that, Gray had understood what he’d needed, something Erza and Lisanna had struggled with for years.
For the first time since Natsu was nine years old, he’d had a birthday he could look back on with a smile. And that was the best present he could have ever asked for.