#I also have a thought that maybe her grandfather was tied to the guild in some way which was cool

[mrsalwayswrite]

Hvítr gown, nýr life (Ubbe x Reader)

This is my contribution to @geekandbooknerd​ 2k followers challenge! Congrats again, my dear! 

My prompt was: "People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but it's the way you live your life that matters." - Cassandra Clare, City of Glass. 

Couple notes for this fic- Bjorn & Torvi are still together because reasons. Italics mean speakers are using Old Norse. 

The title means ‘White Gown, New Life’ in Old Norse. 

Also, this is my first time writing Ubbe so.... hopefully its not OOC?

Words: 4800

Warnings: one or two swear words. implied sex. I think that’s it???

Tag List: @youbloodymadgenius​

"You cannot truly be considering this!" Bjorn thundered in the small, enclosed room. 

 Ubbe observed his elder brother- a man he had aspired to be like his whole childhood, a man he still looked up too, regardless of his faults. "Of course I am."

 Bjorn slammed his hand on the wooden table, making it shake, as his voice shook like thunder in the room. "You are throwing your future away!"

 "I am protecting our future!" Ubbe snapped, finally rising to his feet, irritation leaking into his tone. He met Bjorn's incensed blue eyes with his own resolute gaze. "We need allies, alliances, everything to make father's dream come true. If this is the price I must pay to fulfill Ragnar's dream, then I will gladly do it. It is not about me. It's for our people."

 After a long, tense moment, Lagertha pushed off the wall she and Torvi were leaning against. Gliding closer, she moved to stand in front of Ubbe, tears swimming in her eyes. Gently, she cupped his cheeks. "Your father would be so proud of you, Ubbe. I pray the gods bless you with happiness in this."

 "Thank you, Lagertha." Relief swelled in Ubbe's chest. If he had Lagertha's support, he knew Bjorn would come around. 

 Since they fled Kattegat and came to England, he had watched the shieldmaiden age before his eyes. He could not help but wonder if her soul yearned for Valhalla and to be reunited with Ragnar. Not that he could blame her. To hear her speak of Ragnar and his approval of Ubbe's actions, it only further solidified his choice. 

 Torvi spoke up, surprising him.  "I think Ubbe should do it." When Bjorn opened his mouth to interject, she snapped her gaze over to her husband. "This is his decision, Ubbe. He has asked for our advice but it is up to him. We need security and this, though we don't trust them, this can provide that security."

 Bjorn huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine! Do what you want!" 

 "Thank you." Ubbe softly said, looking at all the family he had left in this world. "I'll go inform King Alfred now." 

 With a firm stride, he left the quarters they had been given in Wessex. After some time trying to locate the young king, a passing servant was able to tell him Alfred's location. Thankfully the king was in his private study, reviewing petitions from the worker's guild. The guards at the door allowed Ubbe entrance only after the king called out to allow him entrance. With a look of unrestrained animosity, almost begging him to give them a reason to throw him out, the guards opened the door for him to pass. Ubbe nodded his thanks, but never removed his hand from the sword at his side until the door closed behind him. 

 Straightening in his chair, Alfred looked up from the papers spread out over his desk. "Good afternoon, Ubbe. I suspect you have sought me out because you have an answer for my proposition."

 "I do, your highness." Ubbe paused, knowing how his life was going to irrevocably change once he answered. "And I will accept. I will take a Saxon wife to further the alliance between us."

 "I am greatly pleased by your decision." The dark-haired man pushed away from his desk. He moved to a nearby table to pour them both a cup of wine, something these Saxons seemed to favor, as he continued speaking. "Alliances must be built on trust and understanding. A political marriage certainly helps solidify that trust."

 Ubbe received the cup, missing the taste of ale from his homeland. After taking a small sip, he stared at Alfred. "So what do we do now? Do I meet some potentials or is there a matchmaker?"

 "No, I already have someone picked out for you. My cousin." Alfred answered without hesitation before pausing in contemplation. "What your father and my grandfather would think of this arrangement….our families tied by blood."

 "Yeah…. What is her name?"

 "My cousin? Lady Y/N. Fear not, she comes from a well-respected family and with a substantial dowry. She has spent most of her life at a nunnery, so there is no fear of her virtue being tainted."

 "Great." Ubbe sighed out. Though he knew Alfred meant all that to be reassuring….it felt anything but. 

 *****

 It was not until almost a month later, Ubbe met his intended bride; with the wedding set for three days after her arrival. Apparently King Alfred and some of the Saxon noblemen were keen on the arranged marriage happening as soon as possible. 

 Ubbe stood off to the side in the throne room. With his hair freshly braided and pulled back and wearing one of his nicer tunics, he hoped he appeared princely. Even if by Saxon standards, he knew he fell woefully short. Lagertha had given him a nod of approval as they waited in the throne room. Though outwardly he kept his face passive and calm, his insides twisted into knots and his hands were clammy. 

 "Are you still certain about this, brother?" Bjorn clapped Ubbe on the shoulder as he whispered, eyeing the Saxons standing around. 

 The flaxen-haired Viking glanced over at King Alfred, who sat on his throne, talking in hushed tones to one of his advisors while his mother looked on with a sour expression. 

 Ubbe answered solemnly. "Aye, we need this alliance."

 With a grunt, Bjorn removed his hand but stayed at his brother's side. Something Ubbe appreciated. Although Bjorn had no issue airing his thoughts on this foolish alliance and how Ubbe was making a mistake in regards to choosing a wife again, he kept his complaints behind closed doors. In front of the Saxons, they presented an united front. 

 The large doors to the throne room opened with a groan. All eyes turned to witness as a sole figure cautiously yet gracefully walked forward, head held high and hands clasped in front of her. 

 "Cousin!" King Alfred exclaimed, rising from his throne, arms spread wide. Immediately, he descended the few stairs with a fond smile on his face. "Your presence has been missed here at court."

 The woman dipped into an elegant curtsey, her dress gliding around her like water. "You are far too kind, my king."

 As King Alfred embraced his cousin in a warm hug, Ubbe could only stare in shock. Standing there in a deep red gown, the woman looked like a goddess. Ubbe had prepared himself mentally for his intended bride to be marginally pretty like most of these Saxon women, but someone he easily overlooked. Not her though. Without even saying a word to him, he felt beguiled by her. It was more than just her physical beauty, it was in the way she carried herself, with grace and a nobility. It reminded him distantly of his mother. A woman who knew her place and dignity. This woman, his intended bride, was truly stunning. He could not help but wonder if the true reason for her prolonged residence at a nunnery was not because of piety but to preserve and protect her. Something he was suddenly immensely grateful for. 

 "This is your betrothed." Alfred walked her over to where the Vikings stood, at the bottom of the steps leading to his throne. With a pleased smile on his face, he introduced the two. "Ubbe, son of Ragnar Lothbrok, this is my cousin, Lady Y/N." 

 She curtsied to him, her movements so graceful like they were part of a dance. When she spoke, he was further enchanted, for even her voice was beautiful. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Ubbe."

 "It's just Ubbe. Since we are to be married, we can skip the formalities."

 A coy smile played on her lips. "As you wish….Ubbe."

 "Excellent." King Alfred beamed. "Perhaps a walk in the gardens to better acquaint yourselves would be desirable?"

 Before Ubbe could whole-heartedly agree, wishing to learn more about his intended bride, a sickly-sweet voice interrupted. 

 "Y/N has only just arrived. We have wedding plans to finalize and she must try on her dress." Princess Judith interrupted, wrapping an arm through her niece's while pointedly ignoring the Vikings. "Maybe another time, but I am sure y/n will be quite busy with preparations. Come, my dear."

 With that, she swept her niece out of the throne room as if the Vikings had the plague and she refused to breathe the same air as them. But before y/n disappeared, she peeked over her shoulder and met Ubbe's gaze with a tender smile teasing her lips, then disappeared from view. 

 "There is much to finalize and my mother wants to ensure the wedding will go smoothly. You and y/n will have time after the wedding to become acquainted." Alfred said, studying the direction his mother and cousin vanished. With a sigh, he pulled his gaze back to Ubbe. "Now that introductions are made, I have matters with the clergy to attend to."

 Ubbe barely paid attention when Alfred walked away, returning to his throne and listening to some priests whine about something petty. 

 A bump of a shoulder against his own drew Ubbe's attention back from thinking about y/n. 

 Bjorn leaned over to whisper conspiracingly in his ear. "Well, at least you won't have a problem bedding her." 

 *****

 The wedding ceremony was outlandish and dragged on for entirely too long. Between the many prayers of the priests and the rigid formality of everything, Ubbe was ready to draw his sword and spill some Christian blood, just to break up the monotony. Even Lagertha appeared ready to fall asleep from where she stood. 

 The only aspect that kept his attention was his bride. Watching her walk down the aisle, he almost swallowed his tongue, leaving him gaping at her in a slack-jawed awe as she slowly approached. In her flowing wedding dress, a crown of flowers in her hair and eyes alight, she appeared ethereal. Standing in his nicest tunic and pants, he knew he paled in comparison to her, but he did not mind. 

 When the priests tried to forcefully convince Ubbe to dress in Saxon clothing for the wedding, he not-so-subtly threatened to decapitate them if they mentioned it once more. He was a Viking and would dress as such. Besides this was to be a physical representation of an alliance between Saxon and Viking, it would make no sense for him to dress as a Saxon. 

 Thankfully Alfred agreed with his thoughts, so the clergy kept any further comments to themselves. 

 Once the wedding concluded with Ubbe and y/n proclaimed man and wife, the couple was escorted to the celebration. The following feast was beyond lavish, with drink and food in overflowing abundance. To his dismay, Ubbe found himself unable to converse with his new bride. Either Alfred was introducing him to someone new, some nobleman pestered him with questions or worst of all, Judith purposefully continued to make excuses that pulled y/n away. When their eyes met, he could see the apology in them, which lightened the stone in his heart. 

 As the feast progressed, Ubbe found as more time passed, the more his gaze drifted to his bride. The gods had truly blessed him with this marriage. Watching her, he was captivated. Although, he found his hand frequently shifting to reach for the hilt of his sword no longer strapped to his side. All the appreciative or lustful looks she received from other men did not go unnoticed, and if one of them tried to lay a hand on his new wife, he would not be held accountable for his actions. His fists could be just as deadly as any weapon.

 Finally, the time was called for the bedding ceremony. 

 Alfred and some of the clergy explained to Ubbe what happened during a bedding ceremony when he was learning about the wedding's customs and the vows he would have to recite. To say the Ragnarsson was shocked was an understatement. It sounded barbaric…. and him and his people were called the heathens. But he understood the need to maintain protocol for building the alliance and the trust of the Saxons. 

 So that was how he found himself walking down a corridor with Bjorn at his side, while the feast and celebrations continued on without him. 

 "Are you sure about this?" 

 Ubbe rolled his eyes at his elder brother, his stride never faltering. "You did not have to agree to it."

 Bjorn scoffed, keeping pace. "And miss out on all the fun?"

 The two brothers laughed, the sound loosening some of the tension in the bridegroom's body. When Alfred told Ubbe he needed a witness to represent his people at the bedding ceremony, Bjorn was the only option. When Ubbe initially told his brother about the tradition and asked for Bjorn's presence, the hulking Viking had doubled-over in laughter, followed by making several crude comments about the need to instruct Ubbe on how to properly bed a woman. The discussion ended in a brotherly tussel but Bjorn agreed. 

 Especially when Ubbe explained his plan. 

 The bedroom was in the wing of the royal families' rooms. Since y/n was related by blood, she was given a room there whenever she came to visit and naturally, this meant it was where the marriage would be consummated. Several candles were lit but the bedroom was kept dim to give an illusion of privacy. A quick glance at the bed made Ubbe raise an eyebrow at the generous size and the curtains draped around it. A fire burned in the fireplace providing warmth in the bedroom, a sharp contrast to the stern, cold faces of the clergy who waited. 

 The bishop who married them stood off to the side with two other clergy, all in their robes and barely suppressed looks of disgust on the priests' faces. Two female attendees fussed over y/n, clearly everyone waiting for Ubbe and Bjorn. Once again, Ubbe had to force himself to keep his eyes from staying glued to his new wife. She stood there in a thick robe, with her hair falling about her shoulders loosely, free from the bridal veil. Her gaze jumped from Ubbe to the clergy and back as she nibbled on her bottom lip, clearly nervous about what was to occur next. Cheekily, he sent her a quick wink, hoping that would help settle her nerves. If the blush that grew on her cheeks said anything, at least she was not repulsed by him. 

 The bishop stepped forward. "Are you prepared to consummate your marriage to Lady Y/N before God and man?"

 "I am." Ubbe defiantly met the man's eyes. 

 "Then by the power given to me by the Holy Church, let the two become one in the sight of God and these witnesses and the marriage shall be complete." With that, the man drew their strange cross sign in the air and stepped back to rejoin his fellow clergy. 

 The two attendees helped y/n out of her heavy robe, revealing a thin, white nightgown that seemed to only enhance her beauty and innocence. Desire thrummed in his blood at the sight of her, but Ubbe ignored the sensation for the moment. The heavy robe was laid on a nearby chair and the two women left the room with a quick curtsy, leaving only the men and y/n. 

 After a shared look with Bjorn, Ubbe walked over to his new bride, keeping his movements slow so as to not startle her. Her hands were clasped before her, but even as he approached, he could see the faint tremble in them. Her gaze never strayed from the floor. The confidence seen previously in her seemed to have melted away into anxiety, making him think of a skittish colt. He could not help but wonder what changed, if it was due to him or what was supposed to occur between them. 

 Standing before her, he gently reached out to take her soft hands in his own larger, calloused ones, pleased when she did not flinch at his touch. Although her gaze remained downward. 

 "Are you alright?" He whispered, aware of the four pairs of eyes watching their every move. 

 "Of….of course, my lord husband."

 "Remember, I told you to call me by my name."

 That caused her head to snap up and meet his gaze. Now he could see the tears welling up in her eyes and her swollen bottom lip from constantly worrying it. 

 "It'll be alright." He tugged her bottom lip from between her teeth. The way her breath hitched at the intimate touch made his heart pound. He gave her hands in his, a quick squeeze. "Trust me, yeah?"

 After a moment, she gave a faint nod, still eyeing him warily but appearing less like she wanted to flee, mutely squeezing his hands back.

 A voice broke the stillness in the room, immediately causing her to tense again. 

 "The two of you must proceed to the bed to finalize the union. We do not have all night to wait for confirmation of her virginity and consummation." One of the priests drawled with an apparent undertone of disdain. 

 "Then it is a good thing you don't have to wait any longer." Ubbe retorted, narrowing his eyes at the priest. The man huffed but a quiet rebuke from the bishop had the priest pressing his lips together. With one final, assessing scan, the flaxen-haired Viking shifted, pulling his new bride into his side and wrapping an arm around her waist. He felt her tense against him but ignored it to stare at the three clergy with a mocking smirk. "Bjorn."

 At the sound of his name, his brother moved from leaning against the doorframe. A scowl on his face, and with the shadows cast over him, made him appear more looming and menacing. "Everybody out."

 The three clergy looked back and forth between the two Viking brothers, clearly confused and intimidated. 

 "You can't….we must witness…."

 "I SAID EVERYBODY OUT!" Bjorn roared, pulling the axe from his side and waving it in the air. "OR DO I NEED TO SPLIT YOUR SKULL TO HELP MY WORDS REACH YOUR TINY BRAINS?!"

 The three scrambled, eyes wide in terror, tripping over their long robes in a pathetic attempt to reach the door faster. The bishop turned around, hands grasping the golden cross hanging from his neck. "King….King Alfred will hear of this." He stuttered out in feigned confidence. 

 A deafening war cry from Bjorn practically shook the room in answer. That was enough to silence the bishop and have him flee, following his companions.

 At Bjorn's roar, y/n began shaking like a leaf, her hands tightly holding onto Ubbe's arm wrapped around her. He further pulled her against him, providing shelter from his brother's fury. Even as the room fell back into silence, he could still feel her trembling in his arms. He prayed to the gods that this did not darken her view of him and cause her to fear him. 

 Once the room cleared and the pounding footfalls of the clergy could no longer be heard, Bjorn turned around with a grin, scratching the back of his neck with his axe. "You know Alfred will be upset when he finds out." 

 Ubbe smirked. "We can't let him have everything he wants, yeah?"

 That made Bjorn chuckle. "I'll go guard the door." He pointed his axe at Ubbe, still grinning. "You owe me for this."

 "Scaring priests shitless isn't enough for you?"

 Bjorn scoffed. "I can do that whenever I like."

 "We'll name our firstborn after you."

 Bjorn waved him off, opening the wooden door and stepping out. When the door closed, the echoing sound seemed to fill the empty space in the room. 

 Ubbe peeked down at the woman in his arms. "Are you alright?"

 "Your brother….is….frightening."

 "Aye, don't tell him that though. It would only inflate his ego more."

 Once he was certain she was steady on her feet and would not faint, he pressed a chaste kiss to the side of her head before striding away to the other side of the bedroom. Quickly he pulled off his tunic and boots, tossing them onto a nearby chair and then flopped onto the massive bed in only his pants. If nothing else could be said for tonight, he knew he would sleep well. The bed was comfortable, even rivaling his own bed back in Kattegat. With a pleased groan, he tucked an arm under his head and settled under the covers. A wave of exhaustion crashed over him, his eyelids sliding closed.  Even though he felt like he spent most of the day standing around and kneeling for the wedding, it was still tedious and draining. Thank the gods it was over. 

 "Um, my lord…." 

 "Ubbe." He interrupted, lips twitching in amusement. "Or husband. Whichever you prefer."

 "Ah, Ubbe….are we not….?" Her hesitant voice trailed off, but the unspoken question lingered in the air. 

 He snorted. "I have no plans to force myself upon you just to appease your priests and bishop."

 "But we must consummate the marriage."

 "I will only have sex with you if you desire me as your husband and not just to fulfill an obligation."

 The following, prolonged silence caused him to open his eyes and look over at his new wife. It was apparent she had not moved from where he left her. He expected to see fear on her lovely face or revulsion at the idea of her ever willingly wanting him to touch her. Instead, she seemed to be studying him with a mixture of curiosity and respect. That confident woman he had previously met, making a reappearance. 

 After holding her gaze for a moment, he patted the bed next to him. "Come lay down. I doubt standing there all night will be pleasant."

 With a soft smile, she stepped over and crawled under the covers, but maintained an arm’s length distance between them. They both laid on their backs, together yet alone. The only sounds were of the crackling fire and their breathing. 

 Before he realized it, Ubbe found himself speaking, filling the silence with his babbling but strangely felt he needed to share these thoughts with the woman beside him, the woman whose life was now tied to him, whether she wanted it to be or not. 

 "I doubt this is the marriage you were dreaming of as a little girl. Probably expected some prince or lord….not a Viking. Your people only see us as heathens, as barbaric devils, at least that's what one of the noblemen said. That we cannot stop the evil and destruction we cause because we are possessed." He snorted, rubbing a hand down his face. After a deep breath, he turned his head to look at her, amazed to find her already watching him. His tone softened as he continued. "I'm sorry you were forced into this marriage. I know it might not mean much to you but I vow I won't ever physically harm you or force myself upon you. After all the wedding ceremonies, you can return to the nunnery if that is what you want."

 Her eyes widened momentarily, then drifted away as she worried her lip once again. As he waited for her to speak, his gaze traveled over her face, taking in the small details that until now he had not been able to observe. It would be a blatant lie to say he did not desire to lie with her, to touch and taste her. The current state of his manhood was evidence enough of how simply gazing at her beauty affected him. He made a vow to her. If nothing else, he hoped they could be friendly to one another. 

 To his shock, she rolled onto her side, facing him completely, hands tucked under her cheek. Without hesitation, he mirrored her action, but kept his head cradled on his arm. 

 "I have not traveled much," she quietly said, almost shyly, "but there is one thing I've learned through my studies and the observation of others. People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but it's the way you live your life that matters." She paused as if choosing her next words carefully. "I do not think you are a barbaric devil or….or possessed. I think…."

 "What?"

 "I think you are very brave and strong. Not many would seek an alliance with those that fervently claim them as an enemy….nor be kind to a simple noblewoman."

 He smirked, finding himself charmed by her honesty. Carefully, he reached over and brushed a thumb over her cheek. "You are no simple noblewoman, my lady."

 "If you are just Ubbe, then I request you call me, y/n."

 An unexpected, loud banging on the door startled them both. Y/n gasped and rushed to sit up against the headboard, eyes wide with fright. Ubbe immediately pushed himself up, making sure to put himself between his wife and the door, unsheathing a dagger he had subtly slipped under his pillow. 

 "Are you two done yet? Some ugly priest out here wants to know!" Bjorn shouted through the door. 

 Ubbe groaned, putting the dagger away, before calling back. "No! This woman is insatiable! Tell the priest to come back in the morning! Hopefully I can still walk!"

 A harsh bark of laughter preceded loud arguing, which could be heard through the door. Raised voices crept underneath the door frame, the loudest being that of Bjorn. Ubbe stayed perched on the bed, to assist his brother if the need called for it. No matter what Alfred or those whiny clergy ordered, no one would be witnessing any consummation of his. Ever. Eventually, the voices dwindled like a dying flame until only silence could be heard from outside. Ubbe figured Bjorn must have won the argument, or used enough threats of bodily harm, since no one entered the bedroom. 

 The dagger returned to its sheath under his pillow. A habit he had since childhood. A glance to his side showed his wife still shifted as far away from the door as possible, hands clutching the sheets in a tight grip. He reached a hand out to her. "It's alright. Bjorn won't let anyone in."

 She took his hand, still eyeing the door warily. "What did you say to him?"

 "Ah, nothing important. Just to keep the priests away."

 "Ok."

 "We should go to sleep. Today has been long." He stated after he coaxed her back under the covers and no longer sent glances towards the door. Only after she was settled did he relax. Laying on his back, an arm behind his head, his eyes closed almost instantly. He could hear her shuffling occasionally but he paid it no mind. Sleep slinked into his mind, hovering on the edges. 

 "Ubbe…." A barely-heard whisper pulled him from the brink of sleep. 

 "Yes?"

 "What if….what if I want to."

 "Mmmm?"

 "Um, fulfill our marital duties."

 Well, that got his attention. He turned his head to the side, noting how her gaze traced over his bare chest slowly then lifted to meet his gaze. "Are you asking me to have sex with you?"

 "Yes." She bit her bottom lip, even as her eyes never strayed from him.

 "Are you sure?"

 She nodded. 

 "Hmmm….well, I may be convinced but….you have to kiss me first."

 Cautiously yet deliberately, she scooted closer until they lay side by side. In a graceful movement, she leaned over and pressed her lips to his in an innocent, chaste kiss. Her lips were softer than even the pillow beneath him and by the gods, she was going to be his undoing. After a moment, she leaned back, gazing down at him with a nervous yet endearing smile. Before he could say anything, to encourage or instruct, her lips descended on his once again, but this time hungrily. His initial surprise transitioned to a carnal satisfaction when a soft moan slipped out of her after he tugged on her bottom lip. Their mouths connected with a needy kiss, sending a jolt of electricity through him. All thoughts of sleep forgotten. 

 Suddenly, he flipped them over, pinning her underneath him, taking charge of their love-making. She giggled at the abrupt action but that was quickly silenced by his mouth crashing against hers and thrusting his tongue into her mouth. 

 As she kissed him back passionately, he wondered if maybe this marriage was not such a bad idea. If the way her lips eagerly sought his, her hands gripped onto biceps as if to keep her steady, her back arched as he trailed open-mouth kisses down her neck….maybe the marriage could be more than just political. 

 Soon enough, all thoughts vanished from his mind that were not related in regards to exploring the exquisite body of his Saxon wife and listening to her moan his name repeatedly. 

[thebookwormfairy]

Daminette/Maribat Fairy Tail Au Part 1

Marinette grew up in a world filled with magic

Although Marinette's own parents weren't wizards, but bakers, she inherited her Gramdfather Fu's magic, celestial magic

She was able to summon spirits to help her with the help of silver and gold gate keys

The silver gate keys are pretty common, as far as gate keys go

The gold keys were a lot more rare as there was only 12 of them

Marinette already had 3, Tikki spiritof creation, Plagg spirit of destruction and Wayzz spirit of protection

They were her Grandfather's keys and he passed them down to her when he retired.

She also had a magic yoyo gifted to her by Tikki after her Grandfather had given her Tikki's key when he started training her

So when Marinette turned 16 she decided to follow in her Grandfather's footsteps and join a boarding guild

She ended up joining the Miraculous Moth guild, a guild that had a large amount of members, but nothing like Justice League, who had almost half the amount of members, but was about 10x more powerful

Their guild stamp was a pointy looking moth

Marinette had decides to get hers on her left shoulder in red

The guild master was Gabriel Agreste

Nobody was really sure what type of magic he had, but there were always a new rumor floating around that said something different.

Some said he had transformation magic

Others said he had solid script magic

Few thought he had absolutely no magic at all

And het there was some who whispered that he was a celestial wizard

Marinette didn't give the rumors much thought

She was too busy getting to know her new guild mates

She made some great friends and even made up a team with Adrien (Gabriel's son), Alya, and Nino

They were a pretty good team

Adrien was an equip mage

He can summon different weapons and armor

Alya was a solid script mage

She can create create materials by writing words out in the air

And finally Nino was a sonic mage

He can produce and control sound waves and use it against enimies

They were called Team Adrien

Marinette joined their team a week after joining the guild

The three had already been a team before hand for a couple of years

So because of this Marinette felt like a stranger looking in sometimes

Either way they made a good team

Though they were a little destructive

Luckily for them Tikki can fix everything with her miraculous ladybug spell

They had a pretty good team for about a year than somebody new joined the guild

Her name was Lila Rossi and she was an illusionist mage

She claimed to be a great independent wizard and even was offered a spot at Justice League

She told stories about saving villages and people from evil wizards and monsters

Everybody was so amazed by her, but Marinette has her doubts

She couldn't explain it, but it was just a gut feeling, but Marinette tried to do her best to push that aside a welcome her with open arms

She even joined Team Adrien

And that's when stuff really went down hill for Marinette

Lila started to make sly remarks about Marinette and celestial wizards in general

Stuff like how she didn't really contribute to fights and instead just let her spirits do all the work

Even though Marinette fights whenever she can using her yoyo

Or how Marinette is the weakest on the team

Even though Marinette could now summon 2 spirits at once something most celestial spirits can't even dream of doing especially with golden keys

She tried to ignore it, but as time went on it hurt more and more

And when her friends started to join in she tried to change that

She started to try and cast star dress

Which would allow her to share her powers with her spirits

And gave her a cute outfit with that

Her team mates didn't seem to understand or appreciate her attempts to gain more strength

They started to leave her behind for missions

They cut her part of the rewards down claiming because she didn't do as much work as the rest if them so she doesn't deserves an equal amount of the reward

Sometimes they were just abandon her to finish a job by herself then demand their part of the reward even though Marinette did all the work

The final straw came after a very dangerous mission

They were going up against a dark wizard who was kidnapping young women and selling them them into the slave trade

They took the job because the reward money was ridiculous and a golden gate key

So the team decided to use Marinette as live bait

Because she would get such a great prize for the mission

Which she was okay with

And she was successful in luring him out and was going to fight him until she realized her yoyo was gone

She then checked her keys and they were gone too

Marinette panicked and tried to hold the dark wizard back the best she can while yelling for her teammates

They didn't show up

In a last ditch effort Marinette tried to use star dress magic

Marinette: STAR DRESS LADYBUG!

Marinette felt a rush of magic fall over her

It had work

She was now wearing a read flowie dress that fell a couple of inches above her knees with a black ribbon tied around her waist and black fingerless gloves

Her hair was now down with a red headband and black flats on her feet with a new red and black pock a dot yoyo

She used her new yoyo to tie the creep up and her team finally showed up

Marinette: WHERE WERE YOU GUYS AND WHO HAS MY KEYS?!?!

Alya: Chill girl Lila pointed out that the wizard wouldn't go after somebody with magic items on them so we just grabbed them before you left

Alya held out Marinette's keys and yoyo and Marinette snatched them out of her hands checking everything over

Marinette: THAT IS SOO STUPID!!! YOU GUYS ALMOST GOT ME KILLED OR WORST

Adrien: Calm down Marinette

Marinette: DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!

Lila *tearing up*: Come on Marinette we weren't that far away

Marinette: I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I'M SO DONE WITH ALL OF YOU RIGHT NOW!

Alya: Stop being such bitch Marinette you're fine and look you finally did that stupid star dress thing you were trying to do

Nino: Yeah dudette if you're going to be like that maybe Lila should get that gate key instead of you.

Marinette just glared at the group and used Plagg to help her drag the wizard to the Grand Council gourds that were posted in the town

She dropped him off got the reward money and the gate key

It was the Key of Illusion Trixx

When her teammates asked where their shares were Marinette just glared at them again

The whole trip back was her team criticizing her about keeping the money for herself

Marinette remained silent during the whole ride back

When they got back to the guild Lila cried to anybody who would listen about how mean and selfish Marinette was for keeping the money

Marinette ignored her and walked up to Gabriel

Marinette: Sure I would like to resign from this guild

Gabriel: Are you sure Ms. Dupen-Cheng?

Marinette: Yes after today I don't feel welcomed her any more

Gabriel: Well it'll be a shame to lose a wizard with such assets. Are you sure about this?

Grabiel looked down at the keys rested on Marinette's hip before looking back at Marinette's eyes

Marinette: Yes I'm sure

Grabiel snapped his fingers and Natalie, his second in command, removes her guild mark

Marinette walked out of the guild receiving sneers and nasty remarks from her ex-guildmates

She walked out and never looked back

She went to her home town to live with her parents and help out with the backery

She needed a break from guilds and other wizards

So she and sometimes her spirits would help her parents out

Well Tikki, Wayzz and Trixx did Plagg mostly just ate all the cheese pastries

Marinette kept training though she even made it so she can do Dtar dress with Plagg and Wayzz

Her bound with Trixx wasn't strong enough to complete star dress with him yet

After a couple of months Marinette was walking through town when she bumped into 2 boys

Both boys had black hair and looked around the same age

But one had blue eyes and was paler than his partner whi had green eyes

Damian: Sorry miss but you'll have to come with use there's no time to lose

Damian grabbed Marinette's hands and continue running with his partner Jon

Marinette: What's going on?

Jon: We're wizards on a mission to stop a dark guild who's top members are currently chasing us, so we're trying to lead them away from the populated area to avoid casualties

Marinette: Okay there's a short cut to outside of town, This way!

Marinette pulled Damian down an alley with Jon following the 2

Marinette could hear the sounds of crashing at the entrance of the alley assuming it was the dark guild members

They burst out of the alley into the open field next to the town

They made it to the end of the field before they had to face the evil wizards

Marinette looked over the group of eight wizards

Each one looking tougher than the last

Damian: Get out of here miss we can take

Marinette: No way there are way to many people for the just the 2 of you

Jon: what can you do to help?

Hearing that lit a fire in Marinette

Marinette: This! Open gate of creation, Tikki!

Damian and Jon watch with surprise as Tikki appeared in front of them

Tikki: I'm here to help

Marinette: Tikki we're going against a team of dark wizards be ready for anything!

Damian: You're a cestial wizard?

Marinette: Yep and that's not all I can do. Star Dress Black Cat!

Marinette was surrounded by a bright light

When it faded she was wearing black combat boots with neon green thigh high socks

Black shorts with a neon green belt

And a black tank top with a hood attach that had cat ears on it, with the inside of the hood being neon green

Her hair was still in pigtails but now were resting in front of her shoulders

In her hands laid a bo staff

Damian in wonder and Jon a little scared: Wow

With Marinette's celestial magic, Jon's fire God-slaying magic, and Damian shadow dragon slaying magic they were able to take down the wizards with ease and soon all the dark wizards were capture

The group of teens handed over the wizards to the guards before they finally have a proper introduction

Marinette: I'm Marinette by the way, Marinette Dupen-Cheng.

Jon: Nice to meet you Marinette, I'm Jon Kent and this is my partner Damian Wayne

Damian grabbing Marinette's hand and kissing the back of it: It's a honor to meet such a powerful and kind wizard

Marinette blushing: O-oh I don't know about that, I'm not that powerful and anybody would have jumped in

Damian: I'm not so sure about that

Marinette ended up inviting the two back to the backery for a free lunch

They continue to talk just getting to know eachother

And a good amount of flirting went on between Marinette and Damian

They were laughing and joking around and Marinette felt like she gained something she lost when she left her team

They continue their conversation as they make it to the backery

Marinette introduces them to her maman and papa before taking them upstairs to make lunch for all of them

They continue to laugh and joke around and Damian insisted on helping Marinette cook

Jon: But you're an awful cook, you go around eating people's shadows before you cook.

Marinette: Eating shadows?

Damian *blushing*: Yes I'm a shadow dragon slayer, so when I get hungry I can eat shadows or darkness

Marinette: I thought all the dragon slayers were in the Justice League guild

Jon: Yeah that's our guild

Jon pulled down his shirt to show his blue guild mark which looked like a J and L put together with a star in the middle

Damian rolled up his sleeve to show his green guild mark on his left forearm

Marinette: You guys are a part of Justice League?!?! Oh no I must be holding you guys up! I'm so sorry!

Damian: Oh no, not at all! We're really not that busy! Right Jon

Damian gave Jon a pointed look as if it say not to upset the cestial mage

Jon: Right! We have plenty of time especially with the help you gave us today. We thought we would have to be here another week at least, thanks to you we can leave tomorrow

Marinette turning around to continue cooking: Well I'll be sorry to see you go

Damian grabbing Marinette and turning her around holding her by her shoulders: Then why don't you come with us? You said yourself you don't have a guild and you're way too talented just to stay here all your life

Marinette: I don't know I don't think I'm powerful enough to join Justice League

Damian: Are you crazy? You're more than powerful enough!

Jon jumping up: Yeah! And you can be apart of our team! If we stick together nothing can stand on our way!

Marinette still wasn't too sure until she felt her keys warm with encouragement from her spirits

Marinette: Okay I'll join you!

Damian and Jon smiled and Jon raised his hand for a high five, which Damian didn't reciprocate but Marinette did

Marinette turned back to continue cooking as Damian continue to pester her to help

Marinette finally relented and told him to chop the veggies

After lunch the two boys left for their hotel telling Marinette to meet them at the train station tomorrow at 11

That night Marinette told her parents her plans and they were over joyed for her

To them Marinette started to look like a cage bird staying in the bakery longing to spread her wings but start in a small cage

The next day Marinette packed up all her things and met the boys at the train station

The trip was long it felt even longer because poor Damian had motion sickness like all dragon slayers

At one point he ended up resting his head on Marinette's lap which seemed to help him a bit so Marinette's just let him stay there

As soon as the train stopped Damian perked up

They made it to the city of Gotham just in time for dinner

Jon dragged Damian and Marinette down the streets of Gotham determined to get her to join as soon as possible

Damian: Calm down Kent I want her to join just as badly as you do, but I don't think pulling her arm out of her socket will make her move any faster

Jon: I'm just so excited! Just wait until you meet everyone Marinette they'll love you! One of the guild master's mother was a celestial wizard like you, even owned Tikki before

Marinette: Guild Masters?

Damian: Yeah our guild instead of having only 1 master has 5. Because we have so many powerful members they felt it wouldn't be right for 1 person to have so much power, so instead we have 5

Marinette nodded her head in understanding

The rest of the walk to the guild was filled with Jon's babbling about Justice League and what Marinette could expect

When they made it to the front of the guild hall Marinette froze

All the bad memories from her old guild came flooding back

And with that all her worries about being accept came back with

Marinette was spiralling until she felt another hand engulf her smaller one

Marinette looked up to see Damian with a soft look on his face

Damian: Don't worry Angel you'll be great, and no matter what you'll have me and Jon right by your side

Marinette blushed at Damian's nickname for her looking over at Jon when she feels him take her other hand

Jon: He's right Mari you have us, no matter what

Marinette smiled squeezing the boys' hands before letting go of Jon's, but keeping a hold on Damian's hand

Not that he minded or planned on letting her hand go either

They opened the doors to the guild and found utter choas

There seemed to be some sort of brawl going on among the younger members

The guild hall was two stories and as Marinette looked up on the second floor she can see the older members of the guild calmly eating and chatting ignoring the antics of the younger members

Marinette stared as Damian and Jon maneuvered her around the guild pulling her down to avoid the bodies being thrown and Damian lifted her up to avoid one of the guild members who were sent skidding along the floor

They finally made it the bar area were Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Diana Prince stood watching the choas

Damian: Hello Father I have brought a new wizard to join the guild

Dick from across the guild: WHAT?!?!

Tim from another part of the guild: DAMIAN BROUGHT A GIRL HOME!

The members cheered and Marinette and Damian stuttered saying it wasn't like that

But it was too late Damian got pulled into the chaos by his brother loudly protesting and somehow joining in the brawl

Bruce sighed: So you wish to join Justice League Ms...

Marinette: Marinette, Marinette Dupen-Cheng

Jon talking to Clark: And she's really powerful dad, she helped us take down that dark guild we were sent to stop

Diana: And what magic do you wield little one?

Marinette: I'm a celestial wizard and I can also preform star dress with some of my spirits

Diana impressed: And what keys to you have?

Marinette: I have a few silver one, the clock and the cross, and I have 4 golden keys, Tikki, Plagg, Wayzz, and Trixx. I can do star dress with all of the gold ones except Trixx out bond isn't strong enough yet.

Diana: That's very impressive. You know my mother used to hold Tikki's key before she retired and gave it to her dear friend Fu Cheng

Marinette smiling: He's my grandfather, sadly he passed a couple of years back.

Diana: I'm sorry to here about your lost, but if Fu entrusted you with Tikki and his other spirits you must be a powerful wizard. I vote we let her join

Marinette: Thank you

Clark: If my son says she's worthy that's all I need, I say yes to

The two guild masters looked over to Bruce waiting for his answer

Bruce: I can sense a large amount of magic and magic potential in you. It's a yes from me to, and since that makes a majority we are pleased to welcome you into Justice League. As soon as Damian escapes his brothers he can help give you a guild mark

Marinette looked around scanning for Damian giggling when she finds him in a tousle with 3 other boys who she assumes are his brothers

Dick was holding Damian in a headlock as Damian clung to Tim's back pulling his hair as Tim tried to pin Jason to the floor as Jason tried to pull Dick down with him

Jon laughing with her: Yeah those are our dragon slayers. You of course know Damian. Dick is the one putting him in the headlock, he's a light dragon slayer and a great acrobat. Damian probably gets along the best with him out of all his brothers. The boy who's getting his haired pulled out by Damian is Tim he's a lighting dragon slayer, but can also do solid script magic and barely sleeps. I swear one time I saw him eat straight coffee beans. Finally the boy with white streak in his hair trying to pull Dick down with him is Jason. He's a metal dragon slayer who prefers to use his magic to make weapons. He's the only one of the brothers who isn't on a specific team. He usually just tags along with whatever team he feels like or goes on solo missions.

Damian sensing Marinette staring at him looks towards her blushing

He shakes his brothers off him trying to make his way over to Marinette only to be stop by Jason

Jason grabbing Damian's waist: wait a moment Demon Spawn we're not done with you yet!

Damian thrashing around: Release me Todd!

Tim messing with Damian's hair: Aww are we embarrassing you in front of you girlfriend?

Damian: stop it Drake!

Dick stepping in: All right guys that's enough we don't want to ruin Hatchlings (a/n: Get it because they're dragon slayers) chances with his girlfriend

Damian finally breaks away from his brothers rushing over to Marinette and Jon

Damian: Sorry about that my brothers are idiots. How did it go?

Marinette: They said I could join, Mr. Wayne said you could help me with my guild mark

Damian: Of course come with me

Damian grabbed Marinette's hand pulling her towards a side room as Jon went to go talk to his brother Connor

Marinette decided to get a pink guild mark on the top of her right hand

Marinette seemed to fit right in with the rest of the guild

There was no adjustment period like with her old guild she seemed to be able to join in right away

She learned when a brawl was about to start up and how to avoid flung guildmates

Though Damian still insisted on lifting her over skidding bodies

She and Diana formed a close bound that started with Diana telling her stories about her mother and Tikki and it evolved in a mentor/mentee relationship

Marinette also joined Damian Nd Jon's team helping keep them focus on missions and stop the few fights that broke out between them

Sometimes Damian's brothers would "kidnap" Marinette to go on missions with them which usually lead to Damian running after them and Jon following Damian

Marinette became close friends with Dick's girlfriend Kori, Barabra, and Stephanie

They would sometimes go on girl only missions together

When they return they would often find Dick, Tim, and Damian sulking that they were left behind

That's the end of part 1, I hate to do this to you guys, but I learned there is a limited to dots and it's 250. I'll do a part 2 soon because there is still more to tell. Part 2

[faelune-home]

FFXIV Write 2020 #14: Part

(A/N: I think I’ve accidentally stumbled into a theme with my writing on these prompts. It doesn’t apply to everything yet, especially since I have a piece featuring my other WoL Yuri and maybe others will be about her, but this theme is slowly building around Fufu, and I’ll have to see if the other prompts inspire similar works. Works focusing on Fufu’s relationships with others and themes of loss.

So this is a more introspective or broad look at the partings Fufu’s endured. Some hinted at spoilers but nothing explicit in terms of loss. The biggest spoiler is for the end of ShB actually lol.

Also, while I had this idea and decided to write it focused on Fufu, I actually thought of a prompt idea focused on Yuri. But I don’t think I could write two pieces to enter, so I’ll hold on to that one for now and I might write it later as a bonus, maybe for when I post this fic to Ao3 later next month.

Word count: 478

@ffxiv-writers)

Goodbyes were always the hardest. Especially when you didn’t always get the chance to say goodbye.

Some were easier than others --

Leaving home when she set off for Eorzea, or even the casual ‘Till next time’ whenever she went though the archer’s guild to pick up work or a lesson.

Coming and going from the Waking Sands, each new mission a promise of a new adventure in areas she hadn’t seen yet.

-- Other partings were harder, yet tempered by the thought of meeting again --

To see Alisaie off after their forays deep into Dalamud’s inner prison was a bittersweet experience; having grown close to the girl in so short a time, Fufu both worried for her out in the world, yet similarly felt a keen sense of pride at how much she’d grown. Knowing she left the Burning Wall with her head high, finally freed of the mystery of her grandfather’s death and with a new appreciation for the people he sought to protect, she promised to return a changed woman. Fufu had every faith that she would…

...on the other side of it, even knowing how capable the young girl’s brother was, so long had they travelled together, Fufu felt nothing but concern for Alphinaud as he decided on a mission deep into enemy territory. Even under the banner of it being a diplomatic venture, and knowing his skills of discussion and persuasion, she fret and frayed at the idea of him going off without her.

Yet all the same she had to have the same faith in him. With all her strength to smother her fears and bite back her protests, she could only wish him well.

“I believe in you.”

-- But the loss of friends and loved ones stung all the same. Whether goodbyes could be exchanged or not at all.

The cacophonous splashing of water growing fainter as so many opted to stay behind, fighting back their pursuers, until only one emerged unscathed from the aqueduct.

The sight of a man crumpled on the floor, smiling even as he bled from a glowing wound. The sight of a woman falling from the heavens, glittering ice crystals tumbling with her.

A mage standing alone to seal a beast. A woman set off for a distant world. 

Warriors that wished only for respite for their home.

A girl denied a happy life, a woman embittered by the world.

She who had wished only to aid the sick; he who had wished only to protect his daughters.

He who spent a thousand thousand years mourning his people.

Fufu had grown weary of goodbyes. For once, it was nice to say hello, or welcome back.

“Tis’ good to see you awake, G’raha.”

[fallen029]

Milkshake

When she set the milkshake down in front of him, Laxus just eyed it for a few long moments before dragging his eyes up to meet the demon's, her blues alight both with glee and almost indignation. A challenge.

"You're going to drink it, Laxus," she ordered in what might have been a dark tone, had she not let out an involuntary giggle between breaths, "and you're going to like it."

He didn't want to like it. Or drink it.

For one thing, there was a massive snowstorm going on, right outside the guildhall doors, and the huge place was absolutely impossible to heat. Impossible. Especially with just the two of them in there. The late hour did little to help either. No, it was fucking freezing in the guild, honestly, and there was no way that he wanted to lower his body temperature even further by slurping down a milkshake.

For two, he just didn't want it. Even if the sun outside was blazing and the temperature boiling, he didn't want a milkshake. At all. He knew why Mirajane thought he did, or at least why she was insistent that he at least take a sip, but he in no way felt this need himself.

For three, it would feel super childish. To drink one. Wouldn't it? The fact that Mirajane had stuck a huge twisty straw, usually reserved for Asuka, right in the middle of the thick mixture did very little to help with this perception.

But still, as he only looked on with apprehension, the barmaid beamed insistently, right into his eyes.

"I am not," he told her simply, "drinking that."

"Oh, but you are, Laxus," she insisted with a nod. "And don't forget to like it."

"Mirajane-"

"It's the only way," she kept up and it was his fault.

The whole thing.

His whole life, sometimes, it felt like.

As he sat there, watching the cherry atop his milkshake sink lower into the frothy concoction, it was hard not to find blame in himself. He knew how Mirajane Strauss was. By which he meant, of course, completely kooky and off her rocker. Why was it then that he found himself opening up to her?

Sigh.

The old man, Gramps, well, he just wasn't feeling too well recently and, with it snowing so much the past few days, Laxus offered to do anything up at the hall for him that he needed. Anything at all. Just so the old man didn't leave his house. And though Gramps griped, Makarov did seem to see the necessity in this.

His only grumbled direction, however, was, "Ask Mirajane."

"Ask her what?" Laxus had questioned back, perhaps a bit dumbly.

"What you need to do," Makarov barked right back. Stifling a bit, he settled back into bed as Laxus stood over it, having forced the man to get right back in it only minutes before. "She's the one who would know. She knows everything about the guildhall."

And she did.

Mirajane enjoyed her job, out there serving drinks and soaking up juicy gossip, but it was hardly the extent of her work. Oh, no. Master Makarov relied on her for much of the behind the sense things and, well, she'd kind of been putting off telling him about a few things, recently. Things that weren't necessarily time-sensitive, but if Laxus was willing to preform some forgery (he was a Dreyar, right; who cared which one) as well as put his complete and utter blind faith in her judgment, then, well, she could knock out some work alright.

She was just lucky, the slayer insisted to himself as his entire day was eaten up by the woman's endless tasks and requests, that the Thunder Legion were out and therefore he was free. Erza had snagged the job he wanted and he'd been planning to sulk around about it for a bit, but, well, this kept him from drinking all day, at least.

Still, she seemed to just go on and on and, before he knew it, the night was upon them and she still had him there, down on his knees, tightening up a pipe in the kitchen area.

"I just worry," Mira was sighing a bit, "about the pipes bursting. I always do. I mean, I always have the exposed ones cover and I do that thing where you drip water, just a bit, you know?"

"No," Laxus grumbled from where he was busy breaking his back for the woman. "I don't."

But she only giggled and there was something about her. That he couldn't admit to himself, not even as he'd spent the entire day doing her needless bidding. Mirajane reminded him that it was doable. All of it. What he was grasping at, sometimes, now. With the guild. She...changed. For as horrific as a catalyst as it was, something made her change and she followed through and now she was this A person who didn't hate everyone and everything and actually seemed pretty high on life most of the time.

And that was before her sister came back, even.

.Though she was for sure an extreme example, Mirajane was a good one to remind him that, hey, no matter what, if you try hard enough, if you don't give into it, into yourself, then you can be better. You will be better.

Good people aren't just born that way; they struggle for it. And Mirajane showed that it was worth it.

Plus...well…

Maybe he was kinda sweet on her.

Maybe just a bit.

"Where is everyone?" he complained as he walked a bit funny, maybe, because his back was killing him as the pair found themselves in the empty guildhall finally.

"It's closing time, silly."

"It's what?" he griped with a glare, but Mirajane only smiled with a giggle.

"It's also coming down really hard outside," she remarked as they could hear it, in the utter silence of the hall. The snow of heavy snow falling on the other side of the thick guildhall doors. Laxus hadn't been in the hall when it was so empty in...in...in a long ass time.

It unnerved him for some reason.

"Yeah, well," he grumbled a bit in reply, uncertain of what else there was to say. IT wasn't as if the two of them were known for striking up conversations together. One or two, here or there, and maybe more than he had with most, but after spending all those hours together, he figured they were all dried up on conversation for the next month. At least.

Boy, was he wrong.

"What were your plans for today then?" she asked as she waltzed across the cool barroom floor, back over to her typical position behind the bar. As she began to extract jewels from the register, she added, "Before I made you help out?"

He could have been super pissy at her, as he'd been pretending the entire afternoon and evening over this little excursion, but…

"I was just gonna drink," he said honestly. "All day."

"Well," she began as, setting the jewels she was counting out down on the counter, the woman turned to grab a pitcher of ale and a mug, "the least I can do is treat you to some right now, huh?"

Laxus should have gone home. Something inside of him told him he should go home. Everything outside of him, especially the worsening conditions beyond the guildhall doors, told him to head home.

"One drink won't hurt," he decided as Mirajane only smiled, not having one herself, he'd never seen her have one herself, but maybe that's why she was a reformed bad person and he was just still learning.

He put it back while the woman busied herself around the bar. While the man had some inkling that closing up the place each night wasn't a pleasurable activity, actually watching the woman move so effortlessly through the laundry list was impressive. Without any prompting from him though, she seemed to note that he'd finished his beer and rushed right over for a refill.

Again, the hesitation was there from the man, but…

"What's one more?" he asked and, for a guy his size, not much, but just enough to loosen the tongue and how did it happen?

How did he get there?

How did he find himself mentioning to Mirajane Strauss something so personal? So deep? So close to the vest? He could blame the alcohol, if he wanted, but the woman hardly had to even prod him, if she did at all, before he found himself just spilling his guts to her.

"We used to go out in the snow," Mira was sighing as she seemed to be a bit more aimless now, just wiping down the bar absently, there, in front of him, "when I was little, with my parents. And, like, we'd pour sap, you know? Over it? And then eat it."

Laxus made a face at her before remarking, "Not a lot to eat, huh? Out in the sticks?"

"We did that for fun, Laxus. It was a fun activity. A treat."

"Sure."

She made something of a face then, maybe, before whatever deprogramming she'd used to never be a normal person again and just a bubbly happy one took over. As the woman looked away, she seemed to think before asking, "Didn't you ever do something special? With your mother, I mean?"

It wasn't a one to one situation, but he did find himself revealing what he did next. Maybe it was because no one had asked about her, his mother, in so long. No one seemed brave enough. He doubted most even knew what ever happened to her. But given Mira's long association with the guild, as well as strong ties with his grandfather, Laxus wasn't too surprised by her bravery. And given the fact that she'd just somehow conned him into free manual labor for an entire day, he figured he should stop being shocked by the woman's charms.

She worked them on every other man in the guild. Why should he feel so special?

Why did he feel so special?

"My mom," he began though it didn't feel like it, really, him talking, "used to make me, like, these really big...milkshakes."

He looked up at the woman then and could see a bit of her skepticism boring through the facade and she seemed to think he was setting up for some lame joke like the other men in the hall. But he wasn't. His eyes were filled with honesty.

"She'd make it so thick and sweet and just…" He coughed then, feeling kind of dumb, honestly, but still added, "I haven't had one since she died."

"What do you mean?"

"A malt. Milkshake. Whatever. I haven't… When I was a kid, I just didn't get one. If I went to the ice cream shop."

"Because it would remind you of her?"

He was just as honest then as he insisted, "Before none would ever taste as good."

And that was a challenge, it seemed like, as Mirajane smiled at him while remarking, "Some people think I make a pretty good one too."

"I mean, you grew up eating literal brown snow, so-"

"Sit," Mira ordered before rushing away, "and wait."

He shouldn't have. He should have called out to her and ended it all, finally, but she was rushing off to the deep freeze, down in the basement, to find some ice cream, and he was just going to sit there. Accepting this. Dealing with this.

Because he was special. And this was special. He and Mirajane were friends, more so than any of the other losers that salivated at her feet and this was the exact kind of ribbing friends put up with.

Only, Mirajane wasn't ribbing. At all. Mirajane was completely serious and when she arrived from the back with a glass filled with delicious sugar and whipped toppping, Laxus had only himself to blame.

Again.

Like always.

"I don't," he told the woman then, "eat cherries."

And that was fine, it seemed, as Mirajane plucked the little red fruit from where it rested atop the fluffy white cream, tossing it back into her own mouth with the same ease he'd downed the drinks.

"They're not," she agreed with an equally antagonizing tone, "for everyone."

"What are we even trying to prove?" he questioned then. "That you make a better milkshake than my dead mother?"

The bluntness had been intended to deflate her sails a bit, but this somehow missed the mark as the white haired woman only shrugged a bit as she replied, "You're the only person who could ever know for certain. If my milkshake is better than the nostalgia-laced trauma of your mother's death, then I can tell people, with certainty, I make the best milkshake."

"You're a fucking psycho, you know that?" He knew it, anyways. He always had. Even if the others never seemed to see it anymore, he knew that buried deep beneath all the things that kept her the perky, innocent barmaid she was today lied the same darkness that he was still battling to subdue. "Certifiable."

"Take," she insisted once more, "a sip."

It was fucking freezing in the bar and, even with his fluffy coat draped over his shoulders, Laxus felt a strange cold shiver travel up his back. Yet there was Mirajane Strauss, in her typical dress, bare arms, no extra padding at all, non too slyly licking the whipped cream off her finger tips, residuals from her cherry taking.

"What happens if you win? Or lose?"

"Well," Mira hummed, "I really don't think your dead mother is gonna pony up a prize if she loses-"

"Goddamn, Mirajane." He wasn't annoyed. Or bothered. Shaken. If anything, just in awe. "You're just gonna really go there tonight, huh?"

"What's a little humor between orphans?" she asked, but this time, her tone was tainted with something different then. A sadness, almost, maybe. But as she looked away, feeling something of the heaviness then, maybe even regretting her own cavalier attitude towards the topic.

But it was then, as she considered this, that Laxus took the plunge. Or at the very least it was in that moment that he braved hypothermia and reached out to grasp the glass. Pulling it closer, he sucked down enough of the icy mixture to send a sharp pain up through his cranium, but was hard to bemoan the action when ti brought a bright smile right back to the barmaid's lips.

"So?" she prompted, eyes alight as a storm raged outside, bringing the heaviest of snow, the deadliest of ice.

He blinked, hard, a heavy weight coming over him momentarily. But when he opened his eyes and found hers there, still, waiting so expectantly, he couldn't linger on the darkness for long. Instead, he only found his voice.

"Nowhere near," he told her simply, "as good as my mother's."

"Shoot." Mira huffed some then, pouting, maybe, but this was never an emotion that she felt for long. Just as quickly she was bubbly once more as she insisted, "Then I'll just have to keep trying."

"Why?" he proposed right back, but Mirajane only titled her head to the side, staring hard at him for once, truly.

"Because we're friends, Laxus," she insisted then. "Aren't we?"

He didn't know.

Or at least he didn't before that very moment.

She was always someone he could tolerate, more than all the other annoying younger kids, when they were teens. And then she kind of became someone he pitied, honestly, but beneath that…

He knew he was stronger than her. A better trained mage. But Mirajane had something inside of her, something far more fearsome than his lacrima, and he liked it best when it was contained.

Well, mostly.

Nowadays, he found her to be more on his level, mentally, than all the others. Not the Thunder Legion, of course, but the rest of them…

Mirajane knew what the apex tasted like. And she also knew what it meant to depart from it. She was the better person he wanted (to a lesser degree, of course) to be one day, hopefully, eventually. She was easy to talk to, given all their commonalities, and he just…

He'd never thought about it before.

What they were to one another.

"Yeah, Mira," he agreed as a grin spread across his own face. Just a light one, hardly even one at all, but he could tell she took notice. "We're friends."

The storm subsided eventually. Just enough for them to escape the hall. As they skid through the streets in opposite directions though, the hours they spent together already becoming distant, a memory, Laxus just hoped that it felt as important to her as it did to him.

Which it seemed to, maybe, as when he found himself at the hall a few days later, coming to join the Thunder Legion at their table, Mirajane seemed to key in on him quickly.

"Here, Laxus!" She bounded over to him a few minutes later with a special drink, just for him. A milkshake, of course. "And look, this straw even loopier, don't you think?"

Laxus felt a heat spread across his body as the barmaid set this before him, some others taking note and glancing over, but Mirajane paid no one any mind. She winked at the man, made some sort of comment implying him getting back to her on the best milkshake he'd ever had, before disappearing once more. Err, well, no, not disappearing. Getting back to work. But Laxus could focus on nothing now other than anything that wasn't the woman, so she might as well have.

"What," Evergreen hissed, at him of all people, under her breath as she feared, no doubt, the man being involved with a Strauss as well, "was that about?"

"Yes, Laxus." Freed seemed most concerned as well. "Why has Mirajane presented you with a-"

"We're," the slayer grumbled through ground teeth, "friends."

"Friends, eh?" Bickslow had no problem with reaching over to snatch at the man's beverage. "Well, me and you are friends too, huh? So what do ya say you slide that on over-"

"Papa!" the seith's babies cried out as he was struck then by a sharp lightning strike, falling out of his chair even, as all his muscles seized. "Papa!"

But after sending a warning glare around at anyone else who might think to tease him over this, Laxus only pulled his drink closer, taking a sip as his eyes slipped shut. He could hear her nearby, Mirajane, giggling with one of the other stupid women in the bar about something, he imagined, was equally as stupid, but it was fine. Just as well.

Savoring the taste in his mouth, Laxus swallowed as he blinked his eyes open lazily once more.

It still wasn't as good.

But, if it meant the woman had to keep trying, well…

Maybe being friends wasn't so bad.

Maybe.

[fallen029]

Timing

To be fair, his decision to break it off was rooted mostly in the fact that Mirajane, for the most part, worked seven days a week, open to close, at the guild hall as the head barmaid. That really didn't leave much time for Laxus. Which was only pushed even further to extremes by the fact that, as an S-Class wizard, Laxus frequently left on high risk jobs that took forever to finish or at least travel back and forth from.

Life was just too complex for the two of them to ever honestly get any free time together. It strained their relationship in almost every way and, really, at times Laxus wondered if there was one or not. All it really meant to him was that he wasn't allowed to spend time with other women which sucked, but wouldn't be so bad had he at least been able to spend that time with Mirajane. Honestly, one day out of a month wasn't working out for him. For either of them, he was sure. Which is why, after a year of toying around, he figured it was time to face the facts.

They just weren't going to work out.

Not that their relationship didn't have it's good qualities, because it certainly did. Laxus really liked being around Mirajane. She made him feel comfortable. They could just sit around on the few times they got to spend together, just laying around in bed, talking about nothing and he was content. Or when he got her some time off the bar to go out on an actual date, that was even better. They didn't have tons of things in common, but she always told him that that was okay; it just meant that they completed one another. She brought a bubbly bliss to his life that he rarely had. And he allowed her to be dark and angry and just vent. She finally really had someone to vent to.

But a friend could solve both those problems for one another. She could be his friend and bring joy to his life while he could just listen to her sometimes, up at the bar, complain about life, and they could both actually find relationships with people that were beneficial to their lifestyles.

Because Laxus liked Mirajane. A lot. And she liked him. A lot. But they'd both had better significant others and, fine, the sex wasn't bad, but it definitely was rushed, most of the time, because she had to get to work or he was going to go train or something else was coming up, and then the amount of time between it was just…

In short, things were too hard for the two of them to be together.

Laxus dreaded the entire time, having to break it off. He wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Most of them women he dated, he didn't care so much about (and certainly didn't have to around ever again) them, and therefore he'd kinda just either avoid them until they got the message or tell them flat out that the wasn't interest in the whole monogamy thing and if they still wanted to, like, hook up, he was chill with that.

It resulted in a lot of pissed off women. Which was a good thing he was a traveling mage and met lots of other women. Else he'd have worked through the list of all the women he knew by then and probably had to die alone.

Or try harder at relationships.

Both sounded equally as horrible.

When it came to Mirajane though (and one other woman that he'd been really serious about, when he was nineteen, that he had to actually put thought into breaking up with or trying to work thing out; you know, because things like that seem to be the most serious at nineteen), Laxus actually had to take some time out to think things over. Mirajane, as stated before, worked mostly up at the bar. And he definitely couldn't do it there.

But at the same time, he didn't want to do it on one of her off days. They were extremely rare and, if she took one off just to be with him, he'd feel like a complete and utter ass if he broke up with her when she took a day off, just to be with him.

So it had to be an organic time in which Mirajane wasn't at work, but she also wasn't off, and Laxus hadn't promised to take her somewhere or made ti seem like they were going to be doing something with one another that day.

The only time he could think of in which that would work was when he knew Mira had breakfast, every Friday, at this little restaurant, all on her own. She called it her time to reflect and think, but Laxus and her siblings knew it was mostly just the time when she was able to get away from everyone and the others all knew to leave her alone for a bit. Considering her life was either spent up at the bar full of people, taking care of the ailing Makarov, or hanging around her house with her siblings/sleeping over at Laxus', just an hour to herself before she had to get down to work, where she could drink coffee and eat breakfast in peace was far less than what Mirajane deserved.

And Laxus was so sorry that he was going to ruin that, mar that time Mirajane had by not only impeding on her alone time, but most importantly ruining the relationship that, while he was sure she realized too wasn't working, she had no concept of possibly ending.

"Dragon!" She was really happy to see him too as he approached her in the back of the tiny restaurant, immediately taking a seat at her table. "What are you doing here?"

Mirajane, at the moment, was eating her favorite, pancakes with chocolate chips and a whipped cream smiley face (Laxus would make it at his place too, for her, the few times he made breakfast instead of her) along with a glass of orange juice. Laxus figured, when it was over, he'd go ahead and pay her bill. You know, to make amends for...breaking her heart or whatever. If that's what he was doing.

He honestly wasn't too sure.

"Hey, demon." Laxus scratched at the back of his head. "I just, uh, came to see you. To talk to you."

"Ooh. Talk, huh?" Mirajane even giggled before nodding down at her plate. "You want some-"

"It's not...funny, Mira. Or fun. Or… I have something serious I want to talk about."

That got her to blink, grin fading as she stared only at him. They were the only customers in the place, other than an old man on the other side of the restaurant, sitting alone and reading the paper. Laxus didn't feel as if Mirajane was the type to make a big scene of things, but if she was, at least it would be somewhere like that.

"Serious," Mirajane repeated slowly, setting her fork down. "What-"

"You know, Mira, that I really do care about you. Honestly. And I...sorta wrote this all down, if you don't mind, so just let me glance at this-"

"Laxus, what are you doing?" she asked as he reached into his pocket to pull out a little sheet of paper. At her words though, he realized how lame that was and finally hung his head with a sigh.

"I don't… Um...I just… We're not working out, Mirajane, and it's not your fault or my fault and I'm not trying to-"

"Are you...breaking up with me?"

"Well that's a really harsh way of-"

"Over breakfast?"

"It's not like dinner or lunch would have been any bet-"

"Laxus, I can't… What even-"

"Nothing happened," he assured her and he was trying really hard to continue staring her in the eyes, but was fearful, extremely, of tears. Because he knew Mirajane. Even a simple insult could send her into hysterics. He was nearly certain that a break up would definitely bring about some sort of crying. "And that's just it. I can't...do this anymore, Mirajane."

"Do what? What have we been-"

"Doing nothing. We don't see one another frequently and I've been...I haven't cheated on you or anything, but if we kept going I-"

"Okay, Laxus. Just-"

"No, I'm not trying to make this-"

"I said okay." But she wasn't. And, shaking her head, Mirajane got to her feet, refusing to look at him. Laxus didn't really know what to do (comforting her would seem kind of pointless, considering he was the one that was hurting her, but ignoring her seemed extremely callous which is what he'd been trying to avoid), so he only sat there, watching as she started to leave some jewels on the table, but he only shook his head.

"I'll pay," he told her softly. "I-"

"I don't want you to."

"Mirajane-"

"If you want to break up, Laxus, fine. Just go." She glanced up from her tiny purse then to give him the deadest stare she could pull off. "I don't care. It stupid to try and be together anyways."

Which he couldn't be too mad about. It was stupid. He'd said as much himself, hadn't he? And it was stupid, regardless what either of them thought. They both lived very busy lives that, while intertwined in a very basic way, were also extremely independent of one another. And that wasn't going to be changing any time soon, so if he wanted more time with someone, it was going to have to be someone other than Mirajane. And that was just that.

But he didn't leave. Just sat there as, finally, in a huff, Mirajane tossed some jewels down on the table and walked off. There it was. What everyone had warned Laxus about the second he and Mirajane got involved. For so long, he'd been just a neutral part of Fairy Tail, but it was back to the bad guy. The villain. A role he'd worked so hard to wash clean of himself, only to somehow find himself tangled up with Fairy Tail's sweetheart which inevitably lead to breaking said heart.

Because, you know, that was the story of Laxus' life. Have a mother and father? Lose them both permanently from your life while he's young. Have a grandfather that's the Master of the coolest guild ever in existence? Forever be on his bad side and never be trustworthy in his eyes again by trying to take over said guildhall. Land the hottest woman in, once more, that same guild? Jump into things too soon and ruin it before it really had a chance to get off the ground.

So he didn't go back to Fairy Tail for a bit. Stayed for away from Magnolia for a good three days. Went out. Drank. Tried to hookup with women, but felt a bit like shit for it, so backed out of it each time before things went too far.

About a week of that and he was pretty much ready to go home and get a job. He was hoping against hope that maybe Mira wouldn't be working when he got to the hall (they'd dated for over a year and he still didn't fully know her schedule, it changed that much), but of course that couldn't be the case, because if it were, what would be the point of anything? Huh? If life just let you have small victories at times? What would be the point?

Heh.

The thing was, however, that Mirajane, who happened to be the only one working (even Gramps wasn't around), didn't yell at him. Avoid him. Or even do anything that might hint to the fact that they had been dating very seriously up until seven days ago, when he broke up with her suddenly during her alone time.

Her breakfast alone time.

The horror.

"Hi, Laxus," she greeted before he even fully approached the bar. The man's eyes were wide then and, slowly, he came to stand in front of her.

"Uh, hey, Mirajane." Scratching at the back of his neck, he tried, "Look, I-"

"Some new S-Class jobs were just posted," she said, bouncing just a bit. "So you better snatch them up before Erza does. Or even me."

"Yeah, that's great, but-"

"Did you want something to eat? Or drink? Should I start you a tab?"

"N-No, I just-"

"Well, I'm the only one on the job right now, so if you need anything, just tell me, huh?" She bounced, just a bit then, before moving to walk away from the bar. Across the hall, Macao was waving her over, holding an empty mug up in the air as he continued to laugh along at some story Romeo was telling him about a recent job. "Coming, Macao," she called before, glancing at Laxus and saying, "Talk to you later, Laxus."

And that was it. The big first meeting after the break up.

Huh. He kinda felt cheated.

None of the Thunder Legion seemed to be around, so Laxus only headed over to the board to pick out a job before he got roped into a conversation with someone. And, when he took it to Mirajane, she was back over at the bar, whipping up a drink for someone, but took the job from him with a bright smile.

"Alright, Laxus," she said after glancing it over. "I'll file it immediately. Have a safe trip."

"Thanks. But Mirajane-"

"Laxus." Her tone was still so upbeat too as she handed him the flier back. "I'm trying to be mature and diplomatic about this. If you can't do that, then please, just walk away. We both have to a part of this guild; if this is the consequence of things going awry, so be it. But don't keep poking at something you don't want clean up the mess of."

And what could he say to that? Only a mumbled, "Alright. See you then," before turning to walk off. He could feel Mirajane's eyes on him as he did so, but didn't turn back to glance at her.

Then he left on a very long and tedious job. It helped keep his mind off things, and he did sort of need the jewels, anyhow. And the long walk back home after it (he never used the train on the way home and very rarely on the way there; motion sickness was no joke), Laxus had a good chance to review all that had gone down.

It hadn't been a spur of the moment thing. Not in any regard. He'd thought about it for awhile, whether it was just always in the back of his mind or he was honestly considering it. He and Mirajane were good together, fine, in a lot of ways. Very good. But in the important ones, such as the time they were able to spend together, they just weren't. And it wasn't fair to her, for him to be gone all the time, leaving her to be lonely and in the face of everyone else's budding (in her mind) romances, anymore than it was fair to him, to have to travel and be away from her and alone, constantly in the face of temptation.

Timing. That was what it was. The timing was just all off. Skewed. Most of Mirajane's life was filled with staying in Magnolia, where she was helping the ailing Makarov deal with the guildhall, while Laxus was filled with fun and adventure and intrigue. The parts were opposite, but the timing in which they could be put together was just off.

Now, that didn't mean that one day, maybe, if they never got with anyone else, that Laxus couldn't see he and Mirajane… Because he could. Honest, they had gotten along very well. Extremely well. Should he somehow find himself around more or her find herself less grounded in Magnolia and Fairy Tail, then...maybe something could…

But at the moment, it just needed to be put on a hold. All of it. And he was ready to believe that.

Until, you know, while he was camping out one night on his way home when Freed connected with him through the lacrima to inform him that Makarov was officially handing down the hall to Erza Scarlet.

Which was fine! It was great! It was grand! Laxus wasn't jealous. No, seriously, no sarcasm. He didn't want to be the Master anymore. He just didn't. It was something that he wanted in his youth, but he was growing up. He had grown up. And, honestly, if he wanted to be a master, he'd start his own damn guild and run it the way he wanted.

Fairy Tail was something that had to be handled in a certain way. It had a legacy. A legacy that, should Laxus inherit, could possibly be construed as just being handed over to him.

No. Laxus didn't want Fairy Tail. He loved Fairy Tail, thought the world of it, and would hate to one day have to leave it, but ultimately knew, when he was finally ready to settle down, it would be in an unknown town and to start his own dynasty, his own way, where the name Dreyar meant nothing and he could build his reputation through prowess and leadership alone.

The odd thing was, however, when he arrived in Magnolia, he found out that Mirajane was apparently having the exact same thoughts. Only, her intention was to get things started a hell of a lot sooner.

"What do you mean you won't serve me?" he complained as Lisanna, who was behind the bar when he arrived, flatly told him with a slight glare that he would be getting no beer as long as she was on duty.

"It's your fault that Mirajane's running off."

"What are you talking about? Running off where?" And, even though over a month had passed then since the break up, Laxus still felt a ping of jealousy. "And with who?"

"With no one, dummy," the youngest Strauss complained, still giving him such a heavy glare that Laxus almost felt as if he wasn't dealing with Lisanna at all. The two had had a very good relationship during the course of he and Mirajane's and, fine, he figured that they wouldn't have as tight a bond after he broke up with her sister, but the overwhelming hostility, when Mira clearly felt none, was a bit much. "She's leaving the guild and going to start her music career."

Which was the first Laxus had heard of that. "Music what?"

Lisanna only narrowed her eyes before glaring off and refusing to say another word.

Which is what everyone in the hall seemed to be doing to him. Other than the Thunder Legion who ushered him over to their table and immediately took to explaining. Ever, for obvious reasons (though she pretended as if they didn't exist; err, rather, her very extensive relationship with a certain male Strauss didn't exist), was very much so in the know.

Mirajane was rather doleful over the break up, as would be expected, and complained to both Lucy and Lisanna frequently that it just didn't make sense. Sure, she and Laxus didn't spend a lot of time together, but they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the time that they did get. They fought, of course, but never anything vicious. And he seemed to be very interested in her. What could have gone wrong?

The longer Mirajane had to mope about it though, without him being around to question (though he had a feeling it wouldn't have mattered either way; Mira was going to pretend like everything was alright until she finally imploded), which led to her thinking about many other things.

Including, of course, the fact that years were wasting away and she was still nothing more than a stupid barmaid. And no matter how much Elf, Lisanna, or Lucy tried to tell her otherwise, it didn't matter. Because if that was the way she felt, that was just the way she was going to feel.

Evergreen didn't know, of course, because Elfman didn't know about it and therefore couldn't tell her, but it was actually a rare and very intense conversation that Mirajane had with Cana that spurred on the thoughts that Mira was having.

"I mean," the drunkard said one day as Mirajane was closing up the place and they were the last two in there, "if you feel like you're not doing something here, you should move on. I know I would."

"It's not that simple."

"It is that simple."

"No."

"Yes."

"Cana-"

"I'm not saying it's easy," she clarified, staring forlornly down at her empty beer mug. "Nothing's every easy. It wasn't easy for me to talk to Gildarts. Or for you to come back here after Lisanna… And Master's never had it easy, all the time he's had to rebuild the guildhall. So why would it be any easier for you to leave?"

"The questions wasn't easy. It was whether or not it's simple. And how sober are you?"

Cana gave her a look from where she was seated, at the bar, before saying, "I got here late, remember? Just got in from a job."

"Not enough time then, to get drunk."

"Not for me, anyways."

They both shared a grin, at that, before Mirajane, who was busy sweeping, only said, "I can't leave Lisanna and Elf. I-"

"Why not? It's not like you're all kids anymore. And it wouldn't be forever; you could just take your guitar and try to go make it for a few months, in Fiore. If it all blows up, then fine, come back home. And if not, you could still come back home, just to visit. Or even tend bar every now and then. Whatever. But you don't wanna spend forever thinking about something and never doing it. Fairy Tail's not going anywhere. But your chance of actually pulling off being a singer definitely is."

Mira only blinked. Then, with a slight grin, she leaned on the broom as she stared over at the other woman.

"Whatever amount it is that you've drank tonight, Cana," she remarked, "must have been the perfect balance."

"Really?" Cana seemed to be the more depressive one then as she only shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I feel as if I haven't drank near enough."

"And therein lies the key."

But it wasn't like Cana was the only one pushing her to go. Lucy, as well, had a rather small hand in it, as she didn't right out tell Mirajane that, if she was dissatisfied with her current state, to go try something drastically new, but she did mention that she too wanted something for herself. She wanted to be a Fairy Tail mage and, admittedly through some pure coincidences (though arguably fate), she found herself achieving such a thing. But it wasn't in her comfort zone that she got there.

Fairy Tail was a safety net for Mirajane, fine, and it would always be that, but if she was ready to stretch her boundaries a bit, who could really blame her? Honestly?

All Evergreen knew of the story, however, was that Mirajane had been thinking for a long time of, at the very least, taking some time off from the hall and exploring Magnolia for a bit, her guitar and hopefully playing it a part of that, of course.

Laxus was a bit floored at that and, still a bit dazed over not only Erza taking command of the hall, but also the idea that he might have played a bigger role in Mirajane leaving than the others realized.

What if she decided that they couldn't stay at the same guild together? And that she had to leave because, like, she couldn't see him out, living his life, while she was miserable because she honestly thought they had something great? Because, again, it was great. The timing was just off.

If that made sense.

But the thing was, Laxus didn't know what to do about the whole thing. It wasn't as if he could just go to Mirajane and flat out ask her if the reason she was making such a drastic change in her life was because he'd broken up with her. If that didn't sound like a complete and utter narcissistic thing to say, then Laxus didn't know what did.

So he said nothing. To Mirajane, anyways. Knowing how flighty the woman was (even before their year of dating, he'd known), he figured that bothering with her would get him nowhere. Rather, he'd go to the only other person besides her siblings that could possibly get Mirajane to stay.

"What do you mean you told her to go?"

"What else do you want me to say, boy?" Makarov griped as he and his grandson had tea out on the back patio of his house. "I told her to go."

"Why," Laxus grumbled, "would you tell her that? Huh? If anyone, you should want her here."

"And why should I want that?"

"Because she takes care of you, Gramps!"

"Does she?" He gave his grandson a hard look. "Last I checked, she took care of my guild. Which, with Erza in control of now, needs far less overseeing by a young set of eyes."

"She fucking feeds you, Gramps," his grandson said through ground teeth, trying his hardest not to yell. "And cleans your house. And waters all these damn plants!"

He gestured that time, around the patio, where an assortment of potted plants and a garden sat out in the yard. Makarov looked around at them with a slight shrug.

"I never rightly liked them to begin with."

"W-What?"

"And surely my adoring grandson can come over and keep me company."

"What are you-"

"Clean my house."

"No way! I-"

"Bring me my dinner."

"That is not happening."

"Why not?" Makarov lifted his tea up to his mouth. "It's you that ran off my woman."

Narrowing his eyes then, Laxus said, "First off, she was mine-"

"Mine first."

"That's gross. She was a child to you first."

"Oh, shut up, Laxus." Huffing, Makarov said simply, "It's bad enough that you've run Mirajane off-"

"You told her to go!"

"Well, I couldn't very well tell a woman that I'm not related to that I want her to put her life on hold even longer than she has to care for me in my ailing days." Makarov held his head up higher. "Besides, I just let Mirajane care for me because it means that I get to spend time with her."

"You know, you can't perv on my girlfriend."

"You," Makarov remarked with a frown, "told her that you were through with her."

"Yeah, well, apparently now so have you."

"No." And his grandfather seemed pretty earnest about that. "I did not. She expressed to me that she wished to move on with her life and I shared the same sentiment. Then I said that I was considering handing over the hall to Erza and, that if I did that, she could do what she wished to do. She is an S-Class mage, Laxus; if she wishes to travel, the rest of you do all the time. Why should Mirajane be confined to Magnolia?"

"I never said she should," he grumbled. "I just meant that… She's not thinking. She-"

"You do not wished to be blamed," Makarov clarified before taking a sip of tea. After, he shrugged once more. "What difference would it make to you if you were or if you weren't? And believe me, I can assure you, it has nothing to do with you."

"It had somethin' to do with me," Laxus grumbled, looking around at the plants once more, though that time it was just so that he didn't have to keep looking at his grandfather. "She would have never brought it up if we were still dating. Ergo, I have something to do-"

"Ear go where?"

"What?"

"What?"

Their eyes met again as the two men only stared at one another. With a roll of his eyes finally, Laxus took a long sip from his drink before grumbling something under his breath about how annoying the man was.

No debate.

But then again, Makarov thought the same thing about him.

"I just don't want Mirajane to go off on this...adventure and something go wrong and me have to deal with, like, the guilt or whatever."

"If you want to hold her back from doing something," Makarov tsked, "because of your fear of your own guilt, then perhaps you' should really think about if you care about Mirajane at all."

Well, that was no help. But then again, Laxus never expected the man to be much of that. He seemed to help and advise every single young guild member except his own damn grandson. It was so aggravating!

But anyways, Laxus didn't have forever and a day to dwell on that. Mirajane, as he found out, was leaving in two days and, well, he only had that long to figure out just what he was going to do about it. So he thought. And thought. And worked out. Slept. Ate. Thought some more. About other things. Then about Mirajane again. And, somehow, all that time passed over to the day that Mira was leaving and, well, Laxus hadn't really figured anything out yet.

So he went over to the Strauss house to see if maybe he could speak to Mirajane before she left and maybe absolve any and all guilt by wiping his hands of the whole thing. If she went after he talked to her, then fine; it was her fault. Not his. She chose to go. Didn't feel forced or anything of the sort.

"Go fuck yourself."

Instead, he was greeted at the door by, quite possibly, the first curse word Lisanna had ever uttered. At the very least, it was certainly the first she'd ever said in his presence. Laxus was so shocked that when the door was just shut in his face, he only stood there.

What had just happened?

"Lisanna, who was that?" he heard Mirajane call from somewhere in the house.

"Wrong address."

"Well, considering I heard what you said to them, I'd sure hope not."

Meh.

Laxus knocked again. Then waited, hands clasped behind his back, until, that time, Mirajane answered the door.

She wasn't surprised to see him, it seemed, though he figured Lisanna's attitude had been a pretty big tip off.

"I'm busy, Laxus," she said, not even offering him a chance to come in. "I'm about to-"

"Leave. I know." Then he shrugged. "Can I just have a minute?"

Mira hesitated, just for a moment, before slowly backing up. "Sure, let's-"

"Away from your sister." Laxus tried hard not to look off. "Please."

Slowly, the woman came to step out on the front porch, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Come on," she said, walking passed Laxus, being sure not to touch him. "I want to go see if I can find my dog to say goodbye anyways."

Which meant they had to walk up and down the alleyways, calling out for old Alexandria to show his ugly mug. After a good minute of that, Laxus finally found his voice and spoke.

"You know, Mirajane, I wanted to talk to you before you, uh, left because I've been...concerned about a few things."

"Is that so?" She hardly seemed to be listening to him though, focused rather on the searching behind every trash bin and anything else that the animal could be hiding under.

"Yeah, I just… Mirajane, you aren't...doing this whole thing on a whim, are you?"

"What whole thing?"

"Mira-"

"You mean the leaving thing?"

He tried hard not to roll his eyes. It didn't work. "Yes, Mirajane. The leaving thing. The...being a singer thing. I mean, what is that? Didn't you grow out of that?"

"Laxus, I've told you about it before, when we were still…" She glanced up at him. "I've always wanted to go travel around Fiore and try and play bars and get a following and… It's just my dream. And I want to do it. I don't have anything holding me here. At all. Things are peaceful and I just… What difference does it make?" She even shrugged. "We are broken up, you know."

"I know. I just-"

"What difference does it make to-"

"I still care about you, woman. It wasn't a lie, when I would say that," he assured her. "I love you, Mirajane."

"Laxus, don't-"

"I do. I really do. I've told you that before. Why are you-"

"Because we're-"

"Just because it's over doesn't mean that I didn't love you. Or that I don't love you now." He kicked at the ground. "And that's why I want to make sure that you've really thought this through. That you're not just some woman to me, you know. I want to still, you know, be close. Or at least friendly. I-"

"It's not me, it's you, and you still want to be friends? Come on, Laxus, be for real. What's next? You just don't want to hold me back?"

"Well, I don't, but-"

"You're really full of it, you know that?"

"I'm only trying to-"

"Oh! Alexandria!"

And there was the stupid mutt, reared on on his back haunches as he stuck his snout in an open trashcan. At the sound of Mirajane's voice, however, the wiry old pooch jumped back and rushed right over, skidding to a stop as Mirajane knelt down to wrap her arms around the filthy beast.

Yuck.

"Oh, sweetie, I just wanted to tell you that I love you and that I care about you and that even if you don't see me for awhile, it's okay, because I'll be home soon."

When Laxus closed his eyes, he was able to pretend she was saying all that to him. Only the ever present stench of, erm, Alexandria, was a kind of a fantasy ruiner, but whatever.

"And Elf promised me that he'd feed you," Mirajane went on, "and put water in that little bowl for you. Oh, Alex, I wish I could take you with me, but I can't. I just have to go try something on my own for awhile. And I know you'll be fine here. You're always fine with here. With or without me. We just both wish that it could be with me, huh?"

Mmmm. If only the stench wasn't there (and she would stop using the dog's name). If only.

Clearing his throat loudly, Laxus got Mirajane to stare up at him before saying, "There's something that I, uh, have to say, Mira."

"You've been saying a whole lot, honestly, Lax, but-"

"I just… You know, you ran off before I got to tell you, really, why we were breaking up. I mean, really tell you. And I just… Hear me out, huh? Before you leave?"

She was still down on her knees, petting Alexandria, but did nod at him slightly, as if signaling for him to continue.

"It's just that I… The reason I broke up with you was all timing. You're always working and I'm always gone and we never get a chance to be together. Once or twice a month is just not cutting it for me anymore. And even if I took time off, you'd still be up at the bar, working and that just wouldn't do anything. We're great for one another in every way, but that."

"I wouldn't say great, but-"

"You know, woman, you aren't making this easy."

"I'm sorry, Laxus, but you're the one that broke up with me. Remember?" She went back to her dog. "That's not something that you can just pretend didn't happen. I was really caught off guard. I never thought you'd-"

"I didn't want to hurt you. I just-"

"Oh, please." Mira rolled her own eyes that time. "You didn't hurt me."

"You don't have to be strong for me, you know. I-"

"I've been broken up with before, Laxus. Not to mention I have sort of lost my parents and sister before, so I think feeling hurt about a silly little relationship-"

"Why are you being like this?" he complained. "Huh? I came over here to make amends or something and you're acting like nothing's wrong. We broke up, Mirajane. After being very serious about one another. So I just don't get what you're gaining by acting indifferent towards that fact."

Not a lot, honestly. It was rather hard too. But she could kind of tell what Laxus was attempting to do. He was trying to work his way back in as a friend or something of the like. Maybe even still someone that he could sleep with on occasion. She knew he did that with women at times, when things didn't work out.

But Mirajane didn't want that. At all. She honestly had felt something deep for the man and for him to (in her mind) so callously just end it (again, over breakfast, no less, like the rest of her day wouldn't be screwed because of that) without out warning, only to come back and ask to be friends was just a slap in the face, really. If he didn't care enough about her to work through their 'timing' issues, or at least just bring them up to her in a serious way then, maybe, they could work through them, then why should she care?

To just dump her over it, when he claimed that they were so 'great' together was unbelievable to the woman.

Which is why she just wasn't going to put up with it. At all.

Laxus' issue, however, was that she wasn't listening. Or at least not understanding. Maybe he wasn't explaining correctly? Either way, what he wanted her to know just wasn't coming out right.

He was trying to tell her that, yes, time had been why he broke up with her, but he didn't feel as if it needed to be permanent. There would come a time, he was certain, when she would have more time to spend with him and he with her, and if something better hadn't happened in either of their lives when that time rolled around, then maybe they could entertain the idea of getting back together.

And yeah, sure, late night urges and occasionally hooking up between those periods would be nice, but not expected.

Desired heavily, but…

"I'm," Mirajane said as she got to her feet and, realizing she didn't have food, Alexandria went back on his search for some (that trashcan over there looked promising), "not doing anything, Laxus. At all. Other than getting ready to take off. So if there's something you have to say to me, something real, say it now because-"

"We broke up over time, Mirajane, and now you're going to have a lot of it on your hands and-"

"Oh, Laxus, please tell me you're not-"

"-and I just don't want you to be doing this to try and get back with me or something because that's just dumb."

"-going to ask me to get back together are you?"

And then they both just stared at one another. Blushing, Mirajane looked off first as Laxus only coughed.

"I have to-"

"Mira, no, wait, I-"

"For what? Huh? What could I possibly-"

"I'm not saying let's not get back together. I just don't want you to be doing this so that we can," he complained as she only glared at him. "I mean, hey, if the whole thing was over time and you actually did just want to get away from the hall and now can spend more time with me, then-"

"So basically," Mira began, voice taking that tone with him (he hated that tone), "you've gone out now, done whatever it is you wanted to do with whoever it is that you wanted to while we were broken up and now want to come back to me and-"

"What? No. I just told you this is about time. Solely. I didn't break up with you to...sleep with someone else. I-"

"Don't lie, Laxus."

"I'm not."

That time her roll eye was her angry one. "Oh, whatever."

"I haven't. Seriously-"

"Laxus, just tell me. Because we can get over that."

"I didn't-"

"Or at least talk about it. Because that's kind of a low thing to-"

"Mira, I'm telling you that I didn't-"

"It's not that serious. I mean, I've slept with someone since-"

"You've what?" Laxus didn't care then that they were in the alley or that other people were around to hear. Mira had missed her chance to make a scene, but he was going to be taking his. "When? What are you-"

"Oh, shut up, Laxus. Like you didn't sleep with-"

"I'm telling you, woman, that I didn't."

Mira blinked. "Honestly?"

"Honestly!"

"Oh." Her arms, which had become crossed, fell to her sides then. "W-Well-"

"Who did you sleep with?"

"Laxus-"

"It's only been a month!"

"It's been a lot more then a month."

"Hardly!"

"It wouldn't matter if it had been a day, Laxus," she reminded with a frown. "You're the one that broke up with me, remember? Not the other way around. Not even close."

He deflated a bit. Then, lips stuck out as if he were pouting, he said, "Do I know him?"

"What difference-"

"I do, don't I?"

"Lax-"

"Does it go to the guild? Who was it? Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Just tell me-"

"We're broken up." She gave him a harsh look then. "Per your decision. So you don't get to know things like that, Lax. I'm sorry."

"Oh, now you're sorry? After going out and sleeping with someone-"

"Which I have a right to do, you know."

She most definitely did. No denying it. None.

However, Laxus didn't have to like it. He could respect it. Couldn't do anything to stop it. And would even admit that it had to happen sometime, so why not then? But that didn't mean he couldn't feel a bit of a tug of possessiveness.

"I have to go, Laxus," Mirajane said after they both just stood there for a moment, silently. He didn't want to let her go, but if she was that done with him, then what could he say?

He didn't even raise a hand to wave goodbye when she did before turning to walk off, back for her home, leaving him in that alleyway, mostly alone, although Alexandria was still lingering around, searching out a tasty treat.

So he went home. And Mirajane went...wherever she was going. Huh. Not only had he dropped the ball on getting her to stay, he also forgot to ask where she was headed.

Not that things would have worked anyhow, he reminded himself frequently. Mirajane wasn't just taking time off from the bar; she was leaving indefinitely to go start another time consuming thing that just wouldn't mesh well with a traveling S-Class wizard.

The only thing for Laxus to do was to let Mirajane go, both physically and mentally. So he did. Heard random tidbits about her up at the hall or from Evergreen and, when he and Lisanna finally made a shaky amends, it was her about six months later that told him that Mirajane would be back in town in the coming days.

"Honestly?" He was holding a job flier which she was waiting to take from his hands, so that she could process it, but Laxus wasn't giving it up then.

"Yep," Lisanna said with the nod of her head as she continued to hold her hand out, waiting for him to give her the request form. He still didn't.

"Well, do you know the actual day she says she'll be back here?" He glanced down at the job before back at her. "Or-"

"I really doubt she wants to see you, Laxus."

"What?" Then he snarled at her, just enough to get the youngest Strauss to giggle. He always liked making Lisanna giggle. When she'd been mad at him was worse than breaking up with Mirajane. He didn't know Lisanna well when she they were young, but when she'd died… He just enjoyed having her back too much to ever fight with her. "I didn't say nothin' about seein' your filthy sister."

"She's only filthy because she slept with you."

"Hey-"

Giggling even more, Lisanna finally snatched the job, though it was to go tack it back up then. With a grin, she said, "Guess who she's taking with her when she leaves?"

Laxus leaned against the bar, staring into the deep blues that Lisanna shared with her sister, though not to nearly the same intensity.

"I'm guessin' since your brother's still being jerked around by Evergreen, Cana's a drunk, Erza's the Master, Gramps is too old, Lucy comes with the baggage a la Natsu and Happy, and Mirajane's out of close friends after that, I'm guessin'...her dog?"

"Laxus-"

"You?" he asked seriously that time. Adding a snort, he said, "What good would you do for Mirajane, out on the road?"

"She's actually doing very well, thank you very much, with her music." Then Lisanna grinned down at the job request. "Or at least she's getting some bars to let her play frequently."

"Mmmm."

"And she wants someone there with her. You know, someone she knows. Really knows. And I'm tired of playing barmaid."

"Already?" he asked. "After your sister put in so many good years?"

"I'm not like Mirajane. This place bores me to tears." Lisanna glanced down at herself then before mumbling, "And I don't pull in nearly as many tips as Sis."

Reaching out, Laxus tapped her on the head before straightening up. "Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll be a good person to keep her safe on the road. You know, the person that's scariest transformation is a giant bunny-"

"I'll have you know that my feline takeover is very threatening."

So, even though he'd been planning on getting out of town for awhile, Laxus hunkered down in Magnolia and waited for Mirajane to come strolling on through. And then he waited three more days, after finding out she was there because, hey, he wasn't desperate.

Just lonely. Sort of. Even six months out from their relationship, Laxus had to admit that things were still kind of falling back into place. For over a year his life had been structured around being with Mirajane and the little things that they would do together. He'd thought that without her, he'd be able to get right back to what he'd done before her, but it just wasn't true.

Mirajane really took care of Laxus in a way that he didn't realize until it was all over. Yeah, sure, fine, they didn't get to spend a lot of time alone together. At all. But up at the hall, when he'd come in, she'd always spend her breaks with him. Knew his drink order by heart. Cooked his steak just right. Never burnt his bacon the way the others did because she realized just what 'extra crispy' meant when it came to him.

And man if she didn't take care of his apartment for him while he was away. His fridge would be stocked when he got in and his sheets were changed far more regularly with her staying over there. She made sure his clothes actually made it into the closet and dresser, made sure his mail got taken care of while he was out, and always was over, even when she worked all night, when he came in to rub his back because it had been getting tight as of late, when he wasn't out on a job.

Which yeah, pretty much sounded like extremely shallow reasons to miss someone, but it wasn't like that. Not really. It was more of her understanding just what he needed when he was home and doing it, without being asked, because she enjoyed that. Taking care of others. Of him. She always had. And he appreciated it. All of it.

He just appreciated it even more when it was, you know, gone. And she was gone.

Laxus missed other stuff about Mirajane too, of course. Just being around her relaxed him, for some reason, which he desperately needed in his life. And she listened to him. Fully. Listened when he griped about how annoying others were and, unlike the Thunder Legion, would actually talk him through his feelings.

Just why did it piss him off when the others were goofing off? Or when one of the lowly members came back unsuccessful from a job? What made him so upset at the sight of Natsu and his cohorts breaking things in the hall? What difference did it make to him if Makarov was being too lenient on the others?

Or even things away from the hall. Like, why was it that he had such a hard time saying it? That he loved her? When he kept insisting he did, but would sort of choke on the words as they came out? And that time when he got really upset, on the anniversary of his mother's death, when she took off just so that they could sit around and not talk at all about it until the very end, when she got him to open up about a lot of shit that he'd never tell anyone else.

And then suddenly, without even considering what losing all that might mean to the daily flow of his life, he just cut it out, because they weren't getting enough time together. Actual time. Dates. Free days where neither of them had anything to do.

Six months out, he felt a tad foolish for that. Hearing that Mirajane was doing so well on her side of the break up didn't help him feel any better either. Maybe less guilty, but no less regretful.

Not that things were miserable for him. He kinda did regain some of his freedom. Came and went as he pleased, answered to no one, slept around again without any concern. That was all great.

Just...not having someone there for him, waiting back at home, no matter what, kinda...sucked.

In a major way.

All of that was in mind when he showed up to the Strauss house that day Mirajane was in town. Only, when he did arrive, he found that he wasn't the only one there. Rather, the last people on the face of Earthland that he wanted to see were.

"Hey, Laxus! You come to send Lisanna off by fighting me?"

Natsu. His cat. Lucy. Yep. Last people. Not even exaggerating.

Laxus didn't have time to focus on them though. Rather, his attention turned to Lisanna, who was standing out there with them, a duffel bag at her feet, clearly packed to head out.

"You're leaving today?" was all he asked, quite dumbly. "You and Mira?"

Lisanna was actually trying to soak up the last few Natsu moments she was getting then and only frowned as he walked across their front lawn and over to the porch. It was bad enough that she was having to share those moments with Lucy and Happy (who, don't get her wrong, she was going to miss a whole bunch too, but still; Natsu was Natsu), but now Laxus too?

"Mirajane's inside, Laxus," she tried hard not to snap as she said. "So-"

"Nope." The front door opened. "Now I'm out here too."

"Mira." Laxus coughed then, just from the sight of her, into his hand and Happy, who had secretly been hoping for some sort of love triangle to finally come to its head between Lisanna, Lucy, and Natsu (he'd been hoping for this for a long time yet still wasn't sure how he'd weather the aftermath), quickly abandoned ship and turned his attention into the next best thing; whatever the hell was about to go down between the eldest Strauss and Laxus. "There you are."

She walked right down the steps, bypassing the others to go stand in front of him. "Here I am."

"You look...nice."

And she did. Honest. Time off had done Mirajane a world of good. Her smile didn't seem so plastered on, her hair was down in that way that Laxus thought was so hot, and when she looked him in the eyes, there were no signs of tiredness at all. He had no idea how much this had to do with just being home for a week or if traveling as a musician was somehow less stressful than running (because, honestly, Makarov hadn't run it in far longer than anyone was willing to admit) a guildhall.

"Thank you," Mirajane giggled, smiling brightly up at him.

A beat passed in which they both heard Lisanna begin, once more, her long goodbyes to Natsu (who was kinda over the whole thing at that point, honestly), and Mirajane and Laxus both looked off, both contemplating if they should start theirs.

Or were they still on hello?

"Did you...come by for something? Was it to see Lisanna off?" Mira glanced over her shoulder at her sister. "Because I really don't think you're the slayer she wanted to-"

"You weren't going to come by my place? Before you left?"

"Well, considering you didn't come by mine-"

"What do you consider this?"

"Um, I'm not sure because you haven't been ultra clear yet what you're doing."

He'd get back to her on that. You know, when he figured it out.

"I just...figured I'd come say hi." He looked off. "I thought you'd be here longer, is all."

"You've never been on this side of it, have you?"

"What?"

"Being left for a job?"

Mira meant that to be cheeky, but the way Laxus' eyes clouded over, she knew she'd spoken without thinking of his past.

"Yeah, Mira, I have. But I really don't want to get into that right now."

Which made an awkward moment all the more gauche. Neither could look at the other then and, even though Lisanna was more than keeping the three on the porch busy, they couldn't help to feel even worse with an audience and, ugh, why did he come there again?

"Um, well," Mira began after a moment. "If you just wanted to say hi, then-"

"N-No, I actually, uh… How's, you know, your little singing thing been going?"

"It's not little, but-"

"That's not what I meant. I-"

"It's going fine. Thanks." Mira was being very cordial with him. Not at all how his nostalgia had played her back on those cold nights where he was alone in bed and just couldn't stop thinking about her. "And you've been fine? On your jobs? No...accidents or-"

"Never."

"Good." That grin was forced then as Mirajane held out an arm and gave him the stiffest hug of all time. Against his chest, where her head was awkwardly resting, she said, "Well, I'll see you next-"

"I should come with you."

And that got Mira to freeze. Completely.

"W-What?" Pulling back, she could only stare. "Laxus?"

His words caught him off guard too (sorta; he'd been thinking them since he found out she was back in town, but held them in) and he only stood there for a moment before figuring if his subconscious slipped them out, then he might as well push forwards with it.

"You know." He looked off. "As your...roadie or whatever. You and Lisanna, out on your own, bumbling around Fiore, that just spells trouble. You need a-"

"Real man to go with them?"

Oh shit.

"I've been saying that since the beginning," came the voice of Elfman as he came out of the house, eyes bloodshot from crying for, oh, ever. The only reason he heard them was because, after Laxus' outburst, Lisanna and the others stopped talking just to stare over at the couple (well, the others did; Natsu really didn't care what happened between Mirajane and Laxus, literally at all), leaving the muscular man, who was in the house, to overhear just what was said. "But the two of them don't think that I should come along. That I might-"

"Elfman, are you talking or are you planning?"

"And Ever's here too," Laxus grumbled from the sound of her in the house.

Right. Because if Lisanna and Mira were both officially out of the Strauss house then Evergreen could unofficially move in. Which would require planning. In which she no doubt meant she was going to completely redo the house without Mira's permission (or with it; women were weird and territorial at times, but even weirder sometimes and not at all, so Laxus wasn't really sure which way that was going) while she was gone.

"Oh, Laxus!" Evergreen was rushing out onto the porch as well then too. "What are you doing here?"

"Being a man," Elfman informed her though his girlfriend ignored that, still staring expectantly over at her idol for an explanation.

"He's, like, being super desperate and weird," Lisanna remarked as Lucy took a step behind Natsu for protection, no doubt predicting a large lightning strike to soon wipe out the entire porch. "So knock it off, Laxus."

"Oh, right," Ever remarked, glancing over at Lisanna before at Natsu. "He's the one being weird."

"What is that supposed to-"

"I'm trying," Laxus growled, glaring at all of them, "to have a conversation with Mirajane over here. So if you'd all kindly-"

"L-Laxus, what did you mean?" Mirajane had taken a few steps back. "Come with me? Why would you-"

"Because, Mira," he began as it was clear the two of them weren't getting any privacy any time soon, "you need a...man-"

"A real man!" Elfman called.

"-to be with you. Not because you're, like, weak or whatever. I would never say that."

"Better not," Lisanna remarked.

"But," he went on, "other people might try to take advantage of you. I'm sure they have already. And I-"

"Oh, Mira uses things to her advantage too."

That time, at Lisanna's words, Laxus turned his attention to her. "What?"

"Lis-" Mira tried, but her sister only shrugged.

"You know," she said as Happy, who was about blissed out from his position atop Lucy's head, could hardly contain his giddiness over the whole situation, "Mira uses certain assets to her advantage."

"Assets?" Natsu scratched at his head. "Like what?"

Lucy's face was beyond red as she only put a hand over her face and mumbled to him, "Let's just let this one die, huh?"

"Oh my, Mirajane," Evergreen remarked as Elfman, who had been pumped over the whole man thing, turned a bit green and looked rather sick. "Tell me you're not sleeping around to get to play at these bars? Perhaps I should go too. Because I would love to see just what assets you're-"

"More like ass and tits. Instead of assets? Am I right?"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Laxus complained as Bickslow came bounding out of the house as well, babies trailing along behind him. "I mean, seriously?"

"Oy, boss," the seith complained, pushing up his visor to stare over at him. "I was helpin' Evergreen move in."

"I'm not moving in." The stone mage looked off. "I'm just...moving...things in."

"Nice cover," Lisanna mumbled which only got her a thankfully behind glasses glare.

"Uh, N-Natsu, I really feel like this is where we should probably depart," Lucy spoke up from behind him where she was still blushing heavily and also hiding, just in case Laxus did decide to strike someone down. "Or-"

"No, wait!" Lisanna quickly dropped tormenting her sister then, turning back to stare at Natsu. "I didn't finish saying goodbye."

"Why should I even give you a chance to?" Natsu went back to glaring off. "Takin' off like this, with no warning."

"I've told you for a month I was leaving."

"Well, I forgot, okay? Before Lucy drug me over here today-"

"A thankless job, I might add," the celestial mage complained as Happy bounced off her head to go land in Lisanna's arms. "Just saying."

"I'll miss you, Lisanna," Happy offered up. "And I remembered you were leaving. Here, look in my pack. I got a fish just for you!"

"Uh, w-well, Happy, that's really nice, but-"

"You don't want it? Great." He grinned. As if he was ever planning on her taking it anyways. "Thought that counts, I guess."

Natsu only snorted. "Don't get why everyone has to be moving away and leaving. Now Laxus is too? This is really something."

"Laxus isn't-" Mira started, but her sister cut her off.

"You left for a year! Without even telling anyone! At all! And-"

"And?"

"If you don't see the correlation in that, then I don't even know what we're talking about!"

Laxus blinked, out there in the yard. Then he glanced back at Mirajane.

"I really don't care about teenage drama hour up there," he told her simply before moving to grab her arm. "C'mere. Please. I want to talk to you. Seriously."

"L-Laxus-"

"If I fix your sister will you walk with me?" He glanced back up at the porch. "Hey, flame retardant; she wants you to ask her to fucking stay. Idiot."

"Shut up, Laxus," Lisanna hissed as Evergreen only giggled into her hand. But he was already dragging Mirajane off by the arm who went more willingly than she'd like to admit.

That time they didn't walk around in the alleyways. Instead, they set off down the road and, only when they were far enough from the house, Laxus slowly released her arm.

"You weren't being serious back there," she said simply. "You couldn't have been."

"Well, I'm not expert on stupid love stories, but yeah, I think your sister's just building up to Natsu begging for her to stay or something, which he isn't going to do. Or Happy's trying to build that up. Maybe. Whatever. I really don't care-"

"Not that, Laxus." She gave him a look before rolling her eyes. "About going with me."

"Oh." He took a deep breath then. "I really don't… It just kind of tumbled out."

"I figured."

"But I have missed you, Mirajane." He glanced down at her. "A lot. And I just… I dunno. I've been thinking."

"I'm sure."

"And this entire time, I kept thinking about how your shit was getting in the way of us. Your job was screwing up our timing and then you leaving did and… But what if it's me? I mean, my schedule isn't easy to work around."

"It's really not, considering it's not a schedule at all."

He nodded. "That's my point. Maybe it was...me. And… You made far more time for me than I ever did you. I-"

"Laxus, it's been, like, six months. Just-"

"For you, that might seem like forever," he said, glancing down at her. "But for me, that's just been four very long jobs. No time at all. And I've had a lot of time to think about you and what you've been doing… Granted, I didn't think you were just out sleeping with all of Fiore for gigs-"

"She was exaggerating and you know it," Mira hissed, glaring up at him. Laxus only gave her a slight nod.

"I know."

"I mean, I never slept with someone for a chance to play anywhere," Mirajane went on. "I might have flirted a little. And yeah, I did sleep with a few people-"

"I really don't want to talk about this. At all."

"You sleep around all the time," she complained, giving him a look. Laxus nodded.

"I also don't want to talk about that either though."

"Then-"

"I don't...have to take jobs, Mirajane," he told her simply. "I mean, I do, for jewels, and because I love it, but it doesn't have to be such a constant thing. Not really. I haven't put a lot of thought into this, but… I could have Freed read me to the S-Class jobs, back at home, over a lacrima, take them, go out and get them done while you're busy with your shit-"

"What are you saying? That you'd be-"

"Be with you. On your little- sorry, not little, but your thing, your singing thing. I could go with you and take jobs on the side and help your income and we can just be together. I know you'll be busy and shit, but it would be like-"

"L-Laxus-"

"I just...I dunno. Never mind. I just… I really liked being with you. And maybe I'm not remembering things right or I'm just trying to cram everything I want to say into this single moment and it's just not all coming out right, but I… You know, I still care about you. And I… If you don't want to be in Magnolia anymore, then fine; I don't really like being here much either. And if we could get the timing better now, with us not being in Mag-"

"But it was never about timing for me, Laxus." And Mirajane meant that. "At all. It was for you and, yeah, sometimes it bugged me too, but I was willing to work through that. You weren't."

"But I was willing to get back together," he argued. "When time did work itself out. And now look; it has! So why-"

"I've enjoyed myself, this six months, Laxus." She glanced up at him. "A lot. And...I don't...want to be in a relationship right now."

That got him to stop walking. He just stood there, forcing her to stop too and stare at him.

"It's true," she insisted. "The best thing you did was end our relationship. It gave me a chance to go out and try something that I've wanted for so long and I'm really enjoying it. And I think I'll enjoy it even more with Lisanna coming with me. But...with you being there it would be… I love you too, Laxus. A lot. And you wanted me to wait, remember, for when timing was better? Well, now you get a chance to do that for yourself. I mean...I'm sorry, Lax, but...I don't want to be with you right now."

Which he couldn't be too mad about. Right? Right. Right? Sure. Whatever. 'cause, you know, it was basically the same thing he did to her. Right? When she felt like things were going perfectly and he just ruined everything? Now here he was, ready to bear his soul to her, only for her to claim that she wasn't down with that.

No hurt feelings.

None what so ever.

Heh.

Laxus didn't go back to Mirajane's place with her. Didn't even talk to her. Just grumbled out something about how if she felt that way, fine; go fuck around some more in hopes of one day becoming a mediocre singer, see if he cared.

Which, admittedly, was not the right thing to say. And also contributed to why, when they ran into one another a few months later in some far off town, neither wanted to speak to the other.

But Lisanna, who was in love with life and being away from Natsu's immaturity and traveling and being away from Natsu's ignorance to her love and meeting new people and being even further away from Natsu's apparent desire to not to be her boyfriend, definitely had more than a few things to say to the slayer.

"Oh my gosh, Laxus!" She was practically bouncing in her seat, at the sight of him passing their table out on some patio cafe. Mirajane, however, was refusing to even glance his way. "I can't believe you're here! What are the chances?" Then she was jumping up to go grab his arm and pull him over. "You have to eat with us! Right now! Are you on a job? No? Eat with us!"

"L-Lisanna," he tried as she drug him right over. "I really don't think-"

"I haven't seen someone from Magnolia in forever, much less someone from Fairy Tail." She sat him down right between she and Mirajane. Still, the former model refused to meet his eyes. It was rather easy too, given the fancy sunglasses she was wearing. "And I'm super glad that it was you that I ran into!"

"Why are you yelling?" he grumbled as she only giggled "Have you been drinking?"

Mira, finally, spoke up at that, though it was just to quip, "Lisanna's become pretty good at that."

Grinning, the youngest Strauss only asked, "What are you doing here, Laxus? Something fun? Or are you on a job?"

"I just was passing through," he said, arms folded over his chest as he stared at her. "I'm on my way back home after finishing a j-"

"So you can stay in town tonight and come see Mirajane preform?"

"What?" Mira glared over at her sister. "Lisanna-"

"I really don't think-" the slayer tried, but Lisanna was having none of it. Only spoke over both of them.

"So it's settled. Great! Now let me tell you all about what we've been doing since we last saw you."

Which, for a completely Natsu-less story, his name sure came up a lot. Every time Lisanna mentioned a guy that she went out with on their misadventure (or slept with; Laxus had a feeling she was mostly just enjoying that part of freedom from Magnolia more than anything else), somehow she'd mention something about stupid Fairy Tail and inevitably Natsu and ugh, Laxus was glad she didn't directly ask him something about the other slayer because he might have barfed.

Mirajane seemed pissed at Laxus for not finding some excuse to leave (or maybe her sister for even inviting him over in the first place), but kept quiet. As did Laxus, save the few times that Lisanna asked him a question or required a response. And though he didn't really like the idea of her drinking so much (and definitely hated that she was, apparently, seeing all these men because, as much as he hated the stupid Salamander, at least he was safe and, well, not responsible, but not completely inept either when it came to looking out for Lisanna), she seemed really...happy. A lot of times Laxus kind of felt bad for Lisanna. Back at home, Mirajane was the most important Strauss, Elfman was the loudest one, and she was kind of just the one that pined after Natsu and did her sister's bidding. You know, if you just didn't want to classify her as the one that should have died.

He knew a lot of people just thought of her in that way.

If she'd found herself (or at least something) on her and Mirajane's trip around Fiore, then good for her.

His demon, on the other hand, he did not like the idea of 'finding herself' anywhere other than back at home where he knew the people in the guildhall were smart enough to know better than to even think about putting the moves on his woman, relationship over or not.

Laxus found himself drifting his gaze over to her a lot during Lisanna's stories.

"So you'll come, right?" Lisanna asked when, finally, she'd finished her drink and Mirajane whatever dessert had been on her plate. "Laxus? Tonight? Please?"

"I really don't-"

"Oh, just come, Laxus," Mirajane complained, giving him a look. He only stared back at her though. "Or else Lisanna will blame me for it."

Wow. Okay, so Mirajane wasn't even going to try and pretend to be perky for him? Laxus wasn't sure if that meant he was so far off her radar that he didn't matter or he should be honored that he was the only one she wouldn't put on an act for, pissed off or not.

"Alright," he said, a bit uneasy then as he got to his feet. "Where is-"

"Yay!" Lisanna launched herself at him then and, damn, fine, they'd had an okay relationship when he and Mirajane were dating, but they were never that close.

Just how much had she been drinking?

"Okay, Lisanna," Mirajane finally said as Laxus didn't move to hug her, but wasn't too sure if he should push her away or not. "Calm down."

Another giggle. And then she told Laxus where Mirajane would be preforming that night and, with a grumble about how he really hadn't planned on paying a cover charge just to have fun that night, he agreed to be there.

And he was. That night. There. Only, Lisanna was sorta shocked to see him.

"Oh, wow, Laxus, I didn't think you'd actually show up," she remarked as he approached her in the bar that night. She was at a table with a these two guys that Laxus definitely didn't want anywhere near her, just from the looks of them (and from the way she was hanging off one). Making a face, he only sat down, much to the annoyance of the other men.

"You told me to come," he pointed out. "You insisted."

"Yeah, but I never thought you'd listen to me."

"If you want me to leave-"

"No." Lisanna even grinned, staring across the table at him before glancing up at the tiny stage on the other end of the bar. "Sis'll be on soon. And she won't say it, but I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

Yeah, well, Laxus wasn't too glad to be around the new Lisanna too long, so he only went over to the bar to order a drink and find somewhere else to sit for awhile. And suffer through Mirajane's set.

It wasn't so much that he didn't think Mirajane had a nice voice. Because she did. And it wasn't that he thought she wasn't talented on her guitar. Because she was. It was more of the songs that Mira sang that bothered him.

They were all about past relationships. Good ones, bad ones, anything and everything. He'd never liked hearing her sing her own songs when they were dating. Rather, he'd have her sing covers of songs that he listened to in his headphones and, with giggles, Mirajane would typically comply because Laxus was just so cute.

With her preforming at the bar, however, this, of course, did not occur.

Still, it had been a long time since Laxus had heard Mirajane sing. A very long time. And he wouldn't admit it, but sometimes, late at night, he'd wished that he'd recorded her, once or twice, singing him some of his songs, just the way he liked them. And though he didn't hear any covers like he would have liked, just the sound of Mirajane's voice was rather calming. Relaxing.

Almost as if they were spending that year together again, when they were still together, and on rare nights she'd sing him to sleep, playing softly on her guitar.

"Did you like that song?"

Lisanna came to join him up at the bar eventually, grinning at him. Laxus had been listening to Mira sing up there, head down, staring into his beer mug, but glanced at her when she sat down.

"Hmmm?"

"That song's about you, silly."

"W-What? No."

"Mmmhmm."

"Was not."

"How do you know?"

He flicked her forehead with a frown. "Because she's been singing that one for years, dummy."

"Awe." Lisanna giggled, reaching up to rub at her head. "I thought I'd trick you. Make you nervous."

"Why would I care if she wrote something about me?" He went back to staring into his mug. "Literally at all?"

Lisanna glanced up at the stage, where Mira was still strumming away and had the rapt attention of most the men in the room. To Laxus she asked, "Where are you headed next?"

"Home. Whatever towns are in the way of that," he said simply. "You?"

"We're here for awhile. Mira and the bar management have a pretty good thing going and a few other bars in close by towns. I guess this is kinda home base for the moment." Grinning, she said, "But we're going home soon. To Magnolia. Well, soon as in, like, two months or three or so."

Laxus shrugged a bit. "Yeah, well, I'm sure Gramps and the others'll be glad to see you."

"It's still a long way away though. Even though it's soon. You know?"

"You seem to be having a pretty grand time out here," he remarked, glancing over his shoulder to find where those guys had gotten off to. Nowhere. Just sitting over there arguing from the looks of it. Laxus could only hope that it wasn't over Lisanna.

Seriously, if he could go back, he would have never teased her or made fun of her about Natsu. Would have just let that damn thing happen and not made a big fuss over it. If only.

Laxus got ditched by Lisanna eventually and just sat alone, up at the bar, drinking until Mirajane finished her set. He wasn't expecting much after it from her, but was pleasantly (in someways) surprised when she came over to him eventually.

"If you don't buy me a drink soon," she said as she came to claim the empty seat beside him, "then I'm going to be too drunk off other guys' drinks to enjoy it."

Glancing down at her, he asked, "What makes you think I'll buy you a drink?"

"Because you're just going to, so get over it."

"Do I have to talk to you? Along with this drink?"

"Nope."

Laxus held up a hand to wave over the bartender. "Perfect."

A drink turned into two and no conversation turned into Mirajane telling him about what she'd been doing since they last spoke as he sat there awkwardly, trying hard not to let on that he really didn't care.

Because seriously, he just didn't.

Mira's stories, unlike Lisanna's, seemed to involve a lot less guys, but Laxus was certain he was only hearing the censored versions. Just like how if she were to ask him of what he'd been up to since they'd last seen one another, the last thing he'd tell her that he was so down at one point that he drowned himself in booze and women until he didn't feel so bad.

It had taken awhile.

"So I guess things are still turning out okay," Mirajane went on as Laxus hardly listened. "I mean, sure, I'm not, like, doing some insane amount of gigs or anything, but I'm doing enough. And I am sort of supporting Lisanna-"

"And her drinking habit?"

"It's not as bad as it seems," Mira told him with a frown. "She just met a new guy last week, is all."

"Right." Laxus glanced around for her, but she seemed to be gone then, as well as those two guys. "Was that the dark haired one with glasses or-"

"He's back again?" Mira made a face before staring down at her empty glass. "i should have never let her leave Magnolia."

Laxus had to concur, but kept quiet, as it wasn't his place to say so.

"Everyone gets to taste freedom once," he remarked simply. "Some of us just like it more than others."

"And some of us," Mirajane quipped in what he was sure was a slight to him, "just don't know what they have till it's gone."

"Is it that obvious?" he mumbled, in that weird drunk place that he wasn't out of it, in any regard, but was definitely a bit looser around the tongue. "That I-"

"I mean, surely she sees that flirting around the edge with Natsu is more than these stupid guys that don't care about her at all ever will be?"

"-still have been thinking a lot about you and how I fucked up and shit, I'm sorry, Mira."

Silence.

Then, suddenly, their gauche moment was ruined as someone threw their arms around around both of them, giggling the entire time.

"Mirajane," Lisanna sang, breath smelling strongly of liquor. "I'm gonna go, huh? So you get home okay, alright?"

"Go where?" Mirajane sat up then, glancing at her sister. "Lisanna-"

"Just somewhere." She dropped her arm around Laxus to hug her sister from behind. "Bye! And Laxus said he'd pay my tab."

"Laxus said what?" The slayer sat up at that. "Because whatever he said, it definitely wasn't-"

"Bye, Laxus." He got a hug too. A tight one. He wasn't happy with Lisanna any longer though and actually shoved her off. Still, she only giggled and said, "I'll see you around, okay? You should come see Mira play again some time."

When he was having so much more fun embarrassing himself in front of the woman instead?

"She's definitely come alive," the slayer complain to Mirajane after Lisanna left, hand in hand with some guy. "Out here."

"She's just getting to do what we all did, when we were kids and used to go out on jobs," Mirajane remarked with a sigh. "I guess. I mean, we actually had to work and put in effort to get the jewels to blow on partying and hanging out, but after all she's been through-"

"Been through? You mean getting a second shot at life?"

"Laxus-"

"Your brother would have a heart attack."

"Yeah, well," she sighed, "that's why we left him back in Magnolia, isn't it?"

Sighing himself, Laxus started, "Hey, Mirajane, about before-"

"You wanna get out of here? Laxus?"

He blinked. Then he frowned. Then he stared down at her. "If this is because I'm paying your sister's tab, don't feel the need to pay me back; I'm going to just have Ever steal some stuff from you guys' place and pawn it for me."

"Just shut up."

He could do that. He preferred to do that.

What Laxus didn't get, of course, was that Mirajane, in fact, wasn't having as great a time as Lisanna. Sure, she loved playing her music and the attention she was getting from it, as well as meeting new people and seeing new places, but she was also extremely homesick. She wanted to be around someone in Fairy Tail other than her sister who was looking less and less like her old self by the minute (give Mira's own transformation at that age, she couldn't bitch too much). If Laxus hadn't just apologized (and sort of drunkenly admitted that he was still into her) though, she still might not have done much.

But he did say what he did. And she did feel the way that she did.

So why not just go for it? If he was going back home and she wouldn't be there for months? It might be one of the only times they'd see one another for a long time. Why waste it if they both wanted it?

"You getting used to the hotel life?" Laxus asked her when they arrived at the tiny one she and Lisanna were currently staying at. "I know you said you hated them that time we went on vacation together."

"We had time for a vacation?"

"Don't ruin this, Mira."

"This," she said as he shut the door behind himself, "isn't really anything until I make it something."

Alrighty then.

Mira felt icky, she claimed, after her show and excused herself into the bathroom while Laxus only went to sit on the end of one of the beds, waiting. He had a lot of time to think. And realize that Mirajane was probably drunk too. And lonely, like him.

He got that way, on long jobs or sabbaticals. Even before Mirajane. It was hard, being away for so long from home. Even when he didn't like being in Magnolia or any of his Fairy Tall members, it was still better to be there than away for extended periods of time.

It crossed his mind about then, that maybe he should turn Mirajane down, be a good guy and tell her that she'd been drinking and that was no good and that, hey, if she was still in to him the next day, when they'd both had a good chance to get associated with one another again...

But then he remembered that Mirajane wasn't just some random; she was his demon and the reason they were there then, in that motel room, wasn't just because they were associates, but because they were...whatever they were, and he wanted to have that back. Even if it was just for an hour or so.

It helped too that when he was teetering between either leaving or staying that Mirajane opened the bathroom door and strode out there in next to nothing.

That helped the decision making a lot.

"I missed you here," he mumbled when she came to claim her place on his lap, Laxus leaning back, hands rested on her hips as he stared up at her. "Demon."

"Mmmm." She wouldn't look him in the eyes. "I missed being called that."

"Yeah?"

Sort of. Mostly just anything other than just Mirajane or Mira. Something special. That only someone who truly knew her would be able to get away with.

"Yeah."

"Then I'll say it more." He leaned forwards once more so that he could nuzzle his head in between her neck and shoulder. "Demon."

"Mmmm."

Laxus had to admit, being with someone he had a history with was good for him as well. Mira knew about how there was a certain part of his tummy that he liked for her to press against and that he hated the feeling of nails against his flesh (it was a turnoff to him, big time, and really ruined the moment), but at the same time he very much so enjoyed teeth (don't ask). Kinda like how he knew how she hated eye contact (at any point during) and was not a big fan of snuggling (which he thought was odd, but never made a complaint because, hey, whatever).

It was just those sorts of things that you get to know after a year that can't be made up for by the thrill of a short fling. And, when it was all said and done, Laxus was glad that he hadn't tried to force himself to walk out because of 'moral reasons' or whatever, as just lying there with Mira felt more right than most things had recently.

"Laxus?"

"Mmmm?"

"Please tell me you don't have a girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Good."

"That happen a lot to you?"

"Only once." She shifted on the bed, giving him her back. "But a long time ago. Before we ever dated. I usually ask before I… But with you, I just figured..."

"Oh what? That I'm not boyfriend material?"

"That you've still not gotten the timing right for anyone."

"I had it right for you, but-"

"Come off it."

"No."

Sighing, Mirajane said, "It's beyond late, I felt like my whole set was junk-"

"It wasn't." He wiggled his toes. "I liked it."

"Shut up."

"No."

Mira glanced over her shoulder at him, but he didn't move in the slightest. Only laid there, eyes nearly shut.

"Are you staying?"

"I did buy a hotel room for the night and my stuff's there, but… It's not going to be weird, is it? For Lisanna? You guys are sharing a room, right?"

"She won't be back tonight."

"Oh." Laxus blinked. Then frowned. "Please don't tell me about anything like that again."

"I won't have time to. You're leaving in the morning, right?" When she was answered with silence, she repeated, "Right?"

"Well… If today wasn't a great set-"

"Laxus-"

"I should get," he complained, "to see a great set."

"Hear."

"Whatever."

Pushing up, Mirajane shifted again, so that she was on her back as well, before saying, "It won't be tomorrow."

"That's fine. I have some things to do in town, apparently, until then."

"Which are?"

"Well, you, obviously."

"Laxus-"

"And I have some unmanly men to show what a real man is."

"Do what?"

"I might not like your brother, Mirajane," he grumbled as, that time, he gave her his back, "but I can't just let this all go down without extracting some form of revenge for him."

"And what sort of revenge were you thinking?"

"I dunno yet. Leaning towards telling all of those guys that Lisanna's mine and therefore not theirs and completely ruining her social life-"

"Belonging to you seems like it could make a social life in some circles, but go on."

"-but that would be too weird. For you. Us. Right?"

"I dunno. As long as you, like, aren't actually attracted to my sister-"

"Gross. She's like twelve."

"Not even close."

"Feels like it."

"Uh-huh."

"Or," he went on loudly, wishing to leave that portion of the conversation, "I could, you know, just have a talk with Lisanna."

"That sounds interesting."

"About how she should have a talk with you and calm the hell down."

"Less interesting."

Relaxing into the bed, he changed his mind then as he said, "She seems really happy, anyways."

"She is."

"And who am I to judge?"

"Not very pure yourself."

"And, I mean, I'm sure I'm just catching her on a bad night."

"Kind of."

"But mostly, I think I still see her as a little kid."

"Yeah."

"And as my girlfriend's little sister."

"Probably."

"And I really just don't want her to, like, turn into Cana or something."

"Or something."

"And how can a kid grow up in a bar, only to become a drunk when they leave it?"

"Maybe it was influential in the early years and now she's realized her true calling as a Fairy Tail Mage; to drink a lot and bog me down with requests and never ending needs."

"Well, you are good at filling requests. All kinds."

"Hmmm." Mira paused for a moment before saying, "How long are we going to talk around us and pretend to really be that interested in Lisanna?"

"I figured as long as you'd let us."

Letting out a breath, she said, "I don't think that we're ready to date again."

"I am."

"No. You're ready to sleep with me again."

"Well, I already did that and am still intrigued by you, so-"

"It's different, Laxus, when you've dated before. There's certain expectations. On both of us. And right now-"

"If you don't think you can be monogamous, Mirajane," he chided, taking that tone with her (for, like, the first time over), "then you shouldn't have led me on."

There it was. Finally. After so long, in that moment, Laxus actually got Mirajane to giggle. Rather loudly and for a good minute, she just laid there, laughing. He didn't turn to look at her, for fear of ruining the moment, but did smile softly to himself, staring towards the window. Even though the curtains were shut, he could see moonlight peaking through the sides.

"I fucked up, Mira," he sighed. "A while ago. Breaking up with you. And I've tried a couple of times to fix it now and you just won't let me. If you don't want me, that's fine. But I want you. I...love you, you know. And I shouldn't have ever broken up with you. I should have thought of another way. But I did, you know, give it a lot of thought. I don't think I ever told you that. But I did. I thought about it a lot. And I felt like shit."

"You ruined my morning-"

"Breakfasts, yeah, I remember. But I'm saying now it was a mistake. And-"

"Lax, if you couldn't take me working up at the guildhall all the time, there's no way that you could possibly take me being-"

"But I told you that last time we saw one another that I want to travel with you."

They could both hear it in his voice though. When he'd said that before, back in Magnolia, it had been out of desperation. After months of contemplation, he knew that solution just wasn't going to cut it and he really didn't want to do it. At all.

Mira could tell too as she only said, "You know that wouldn't work."

"Yeah." Laxus let out a slow breath. "I know."

"You love taking jobs constantly."

"I do."

"And you couldn't just sit around and watch me do something while you do nothing at all."

"I definitely couldn't."

"You'd grow bored. We'd have so much time that you'd be bored."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Why can't we just go back before I ever brought up the stupid timing shit? Huh? And just see one another when we see one another? You're doing your own thing now, and that's fine, you like it, and I'll go back to doing my thing, which I love, and we can see one another when we get a chance. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." Mirajane shut her eyes. "Had you not-"

"And now I'm saying let's ignore that I ever did that. And just try again. Try harder to be around one another. Because damn, Mira, it's been over a year now and I still miss you. Doesn't that mean something? If you miss me too?"

But Mirajane didn't answer. And, even though he knew she wasn't really asleep, he left it at that.

"Oh, no, gross, did you guys sleep together?"

Until Lisanna woke them up bright and early the next morning, stumbling around in the dark room, as the blinds were still drawn. Mirajane sat up a bit, but Laxus only laid there, eyes shut, praying that he too could pretend to be asleep.

"That's, like, a rule, Mira. That we can't bring guys back to the shared space."

"Laxus isn't just a guy."

"Neither is-"

"Yes. Whoever you're going to say, yes, he is."

Heh.

"So," he heard after a moment, "are we going to talk about what happened? To lead to...this?"

"Wh- Not with him right here!"

"He's sleeping."

"He's not a sleep," Mira complained. "He's faking."

"No way."

"He's even peeking his eyes open. You're not tricking anyone, Laxus."

"He's tricking me."

Groaning, Laxus rolled onto his stomach before, against the pillow, grumbling out, "Mira and I fucked because we always fuck because we're in love. That's the story. Now go away."

That got him a hit to the side by Mirajane and a lot of laughter from Lisanna before she rushed off to the bathroom, leaving them alone again.

"You're bad," Mirajane chided because, you know, that was a horrible thing to be, when you were Mirajane. "Laxus."

"You're the one that hit me," he pointed out through a yawn. "That's really bad."

"I was only bad because you were bad."

"Don't be such a follower then."

Slowly, Mirajane relaxed into the bed when she heard Lisanna turn on the shower in the bathroom. Then she softly whispered, "You think I love you, Laxus?"

"I know you do."

"That's silly."

"You took me home, Mira, before I even tried schmoozing you into it. And then you wanted me to stay the night-"

"I asked if you wanted to. I didn't-"

"You wouldn't have asked if you didn't want me to. And you haven't kicked me out yet even though I just told your sister that we love fucking each other-"

"Yeah, well, the more you say it, the closer you are to getting kicked out, so-"

"I missed you." Laxus, still on his back, tossed an arm out, which fell across Mirajane. "And everything about you."

"Not everything," she said, trying to shove his arm off. "And you know it."

"I don't know it. Might be true, but don't know it."

When he refused to lift up his arm, Mirajane eventually gave up and, very timidly moved to run her hand up and down it. Once Laxus let out a content sigh, she seemed to relax as well and even shifted so that she could kiss his bicep.

They'd figure out some way to make it work that time. Laxus just knew it.

"He, like, sleeps all day."

"Coming from you, Lisanna, I think that's saying something."

That was what Laxus awoke to sometime after noon, as well as the sound of a soft strumming as Mirajane tried out a new chord progression. She and her sister were over on the other bed, from the sound of it, while Laxus was still on his, face buried in the pillow and arms folded up above his head.

"Are you guys, like, back on or-"

"I don't know, Lisanna." Her strumming stopped, if only for the moment. "We haven't… I guess. Sort of. But…'

"You know you still like him."

"Of course I do. I've never said I haven't."

"I like having him around, anyways," Lisanna giggled. "Very much."

"You would like anyone from the guild to hang out with."

"Well...yeah. But Laxus is good."

At the moment, anyways. When he tried to break up whatever it was that she had going on with those guys, she would actually hate his guts. But Lisanna didn't know that just yet, so she couldn't be mad at the slayer.

"He's awake, you know."

"What?" Laxus heard Lisanna shift on the bed. "How can you tell? This time I'm calling your bluff, Mira. There's no way-"

"Aren't you, dragon?"

He was frozen then, hearing that monicker for the first time in a long time and only laid there for a moment before grumbling out, "Would you two can it? I'm tryin' to get some rest over here."

"You are good," Lisanna complimented her sister. "Maybe you guys are meant to be together."

Yeah. Maybe. But definitely not for that reason alone.

Lisanna didn't want to eat lunch (or an early dinner; whatever) with them when Laxus and Mirajane finally left the hotel room sometime later. She said she had plans. Which was for the best. Laxus and Mirajane more or less just wanted to spend that meal discussing where they were headed next.

For him, it was rather simple.

"Home," he told her. "In a few days. Then another job. And then I'll get you on the lacrima, figure out where you're at, and come see you. Repeat."

"Surely you wouldn't enjoy all that."

"Surely," he argued, "I would."

"And there's still, at least, a month passing between when we get together. And even then you'll be tired and I'll be busy and, Lax, what about the..."

"The what?" He glanced up from cutting into his steak. "Demon?"

She glanced around the restaurant before back at him with a slight frown. "I'm assuming that you...see people. Like I see people. And...I just want to know if we're…gonna...not see other people. Like, is this real or are we just-"

"I don't know about you," he said slowly then, still just staring at her, "but everything I know about...open relationships is that they usually don't turn out too well for one person. Usually the more emotional one. So-"

"You're afraid of me hurting you?"

"Ha ha. I'm trying to save you here, woman."

"I'm not more emotionally attached to you than you are to me." Mira gave him a look. "You stalked me here, remember?"

"Oh, bull. I was just passing through."

"Likely story."

"You're the one that had your little sister drag me into-"

"Never happened."

"Did so."

"Liar."

"Demon."

"Dragon."

Then they just stared before, finally, with a grin, he said, "I wouldn't want to think of you as sleeping with other people anyways. I don't like the idea of it now, actually."

"You're so immature," Mira said, sitting up taller. "That's what Lisanna would say. That no one owns anyone and the whole world's free and-"

"What did you do to her? Taking her out here with you?"

Mira only hummed. "Unleashed her inner self, apparently."

"Yeah, well, me and you must be...whatever the opposite of unleashed is. Inleashed?"

"I think it would just be leashed, dragon."

Nodding, he said, "Then I'm leashed. Or I want to be, anyways."

"You sure are more open, Laxus," she said simply, glancing down at her own plate, "with this than you ever were the entire time we were together."

"Well, yeah," he complained. "I had something I really liked and now I got a chance at getting it again. Why wouldn't I give it my all?"

Truth be told, it was more of a tradeoff than anything else. He was being as open as he ever would be about his feelings and hopes for her and them, while Mirajane was the most reserved she'd ever been about such a thing. It was clear that he'd hurt her, back then, and he knew it would take a while to get them back on their normal tracks, when she'd be comfortable in that he cared about her and he'd be content enough that she wasn't going to try to pull what he did on her and leave him.

"You're just coming on a bit strong, is all. If not desperate."

"I'm not hearing you hate it."

"Oh, I certainly would on someone else," she assured him before glancing up with a slight grin. "But coming from you, I dunno, it's almost...cute."

Laxus wasn't cute. And usually wouldn't enjoy being called it. But at the moment it only made him sit up straight and clear his throat.

"Yeah, well, I try."

"You do?"

"For you."

And they shared a smile then, if only for a moment, before looking off. It wasn't lost on either of them that the core reason they separated the first time was still ever present, if not more so, with her on the road as well as him then. They also both were very aware of the fact that, really, they should be taking things a lot slower than they were, maybe not even having the conversation they had so far about their relationship, as it shouldn't even be called that yet.

They should just be dating. At best. And see where things went. Because too much riding on something too early would only lead to disaster. They were both old enough to know better, after all.

And yet…

"It could be worse," Laxus told Makarov when he got back to Magnolia a few days later only for the old man to carp at him when, while telling him about his travels (Laxus came by every time he finished a job to, as much as he hated it, water those damn plants and pick up around the place, ugh), somehow he let it slip that he and Mirajane were back on. "I mean, we could have gotten drunk and then married."

Makarov, who hadn't even thought that the two of them would end up at the alter back when they were dating previously, had to set down his teacup at that, frowning over at his grandson. And, with a long sigh, he said, "Yes, it could have been much worse, I suppose."

"And if that's all you need here, Gramps," the man said as he water the last plant, there on the back patio of the man's house, "I have a demon to get on the lacrima. And a certain Salamander to bribe."

"A what now?"

But Laxus only shook his head, too fearful to speak his plan of getting (or tricking) Natsu into talking to Lisanna over a lacrima or writing her or something only to beg her to come back home, which would effectively end (he hoped) her little soiree into adult life and send her back into her dorky existence where she was mostly ignored, but certainly safe back home.

Because, you know, that was just important to him too. Not as important as being with Mirajane, but definitely up there.

Even when he found out that bribing Natsu with a fight (which worked), had the adverse effect in which Lisanna flat out told Natsu that she wasn't thinking about coming back to Fairy Tail for a few months and she'd just see him then, Laxus couldn't be too mad.

Beating the crap out of Natsu (who enjoyed every second of it, the little freak) and getting the demon back, all in one week? Losing Lisanna to the dark side (if one considered that the dark side) was sort of just a moot point.

[fallen029]

Accidents and Incidents.8: Attraction

Previous Chapter

Mirajane and Laxus didn't know where to go from there. Eventually she got up and he just let her, watching as the woman headed into the bathroom silently. It wasn't until she was in there for a good ten minutes that he figured she was just avoiding him and hung his head.

Where were they supposed to go next? Huh?

It was all his fault. He had to go and kiss her. Because that was what Laxus did. Fuck things up. Had a nice mother. And decent father. Then he had to go and start getting sicker and sicker and she was dying and he made his father so mad and it was all his fault. Had a grandfather who loved him. Would do anything for him. Then he turned into an ass over the whole thing, rejected the man, blamed him, and tried to take over his guild. Had the Thunder Legion. They'd lay down their lives for him. Acted indifferent to them for the most part and had trouble admitting just how much he loved them. Had women that he could get to throw all their friends and family away just to spend a week with him, off at some fancy hotel, fuck, have a good time. Then he'd flip when one fell in love with him and never talk to her again.

It's just what he did. Laxus fucked things up. He didn't like for good things to happen to him, apparently. Even if he did get the guild from the old man one day, he'd probably screw that up too. Just like he had his entire life, finally, truly that time. His whole being was tied in with being a mage and now, after one costly mistake, he would be kissing that goodbye. Confined to a damn chair with no chances. No hope. At all.

The one silver lining in the whole thing was Mirajane. She'd done quite well at keeping him sane. Though he cared deeply for Freed, part of him feared that if the man had been the one to come to him and had seen the turmoil his idol's life had been thrust into, that he would have flipped and probably just mourned along with Laxus. Fell into the same self-pity that he was. Unlike Mirajane who refused to do that.

No. She tried to give him some of that sanguinity he was lacking, refusing to be broken down by his constant bad attitude. And yeah, Laxus was going through a lot, but even he knew that at times he was being completely unreasonable. Just flat out mean too. Subconsciously, he was sure, he was probably trying to drive her away, to make her feel as hopeless about the situation as he was.

But it didn't work. She was committed to helping him. Through everything. And he had no doubt that he could have probably strung her along on that for a few more months had Makarov not been involved. Not to mention his dwindling supply of jewels. Still, he had a few more weeks in there for certain.

Then he did it. The thing that only he could pull off. He fucked it up. By kissing her. Which, even with beer clouding his mind, he knew was just plain stupid and a useless gesture. They couldn't go anywhere from there. Literally, they couldn't. His accident had left him with quite a bit of trouble in that department and, well, that made leading on Mirajane not only detrimental to her sticking around to help him out, but also left him with no benefits. What was the point? If they couldn't even have sex? Other than just completely stirring up trouble?

He was still sitting out there, running over it all in his head and thinking about how stupid he was, when Mirajane returned. He watched as first she went into the kitchen to pick up the bottle of wine from where she left it. Taking a quick sip, she paused for a moment before coming back over to him.

"What are you doing?" he whispered as she moved to sit on her knees on the couch next to him, staring hard. "Mira?"

"I'm into you."

"What?"

"When you asked if I'd been interested in you the entire time, yes."

"Eh?"

"Maybe not the entire," she corrected as she only reached a hand out to grab his jaw, gripping it as she forced him to face her. "But these past few weeks…days maybe…I just… If you hadn't kissed me, I would have written it off. I mean, I never thought that you could possibly feel the same." Then she glanced off. "And maybe you don't. Maybe it really is just the beer. Or probably just that I'm the only contact you have with anyone. I don't know. And if you can't…have sex, I don't care. But I think you should at least try before you write it off."

"Try?" He jerked his head away from her then. "You think I haven't?"

Mira was blushing and if she hadn't take that last sip of the wine, she might have lost her courage. But as it was, they were in a sinking ship and one more bucket of water wouldn't help or hurt.

"Not by yourself," she got out, though it was through her teeth and barely above a whisper. "With help."

Blinking, Laxus glanced at her. "What are you saying?"

"I dunno. Just that…maybe you have had the right…stimulus."

More blinking. Then some even more looking off. "Mira, I don't… Look, can we just forget this? Please? I… I'm hungry. Make me something to eat."

"Laxus-"

"We're drunk." He let out a slow breath. "And I can't… Just make me something to eat, alright? We can talk about this sober. Or not. We can just forget it. Alright? It wouldn't work. I'm not… You're right. We're just trapped off here with one another and I'm sure it's been awhile for both of us and… It would ruin shit. Alright? Just…drop it. Please. Help me into my chair. I…I need to go lie down."

But if he got a chance to surprise her, she was taking hers. And, when he glanced at her, she made her move, cupping his cheeks in her hands as she pressed her lips tightly to his. Only Laxus wasn't as willing as her to an unwanted advance. He pulled away immediately.

"Lax-"

"Just help me to my room." He tried to keep his tone heavy and dark. "Please."

For a woman that could transform and hide anything, Mirajane couldn't keep the hurt off her face. Laxus was better at it though, keeping his emotions to himself, and only stared blankly ahead until, slowly, she got up and helped him into his chair. Laxus just released the breaks before rolling off, to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

They hardly spoke the rest of the day. Laxus asked her once to help him to the bathroom and then later, when Mirajane came into the room with his dinner and helped him into bed. Without saying much else, she only turned and left the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Yep. It was really over. As if he needed any other sign.

Though he tried to sleep, tried to convince himself that it would be better in the morning, when they were both sober and in their right minds again, he just couldn't. He laid awake for hours. And, eventually, he just couldn't take it anymore.

He braved getting in the chair on his own once more.

He was Laxus Dreyar. He could take down the deadliest of foes with one hit. He was the greatest mage to ever live. Surely he could manage to get himself into his own wheelchair. Surely.

It took awhile to work up the nerve. The fear of falling and embarrassing himself again was very real. But at the same time so was the nagging in his brain that Mirajane, at the moment, was his only friend and he was risking losing her. Even though he had his doubts that their friendship would hold up back at the guildhall, he wasn't ready to give it up just yet.

Falling was an almost certain fate. And it did just about happen. But somehow, he managed to find himself sitting rather awkwardly in the chair and damn if he just didn't feel accomplished.

A few moments passed where he just sat there, breathing heavily for some reason, just revealing in his accomplishment. It had yet to occur to him that though he'd mustered up the strength to get into the chair, he had yet to figure out what exactly he was going to do once he was in it. Go into the living room, of course, but for what?

Mirajane. Just to get Mirajane. Get her to what, he didn't know, but definitely to get her.

When he rolled out into the other room, he found it dark. She was in bed, of course, on the pull out, curled up on one side and breathing softly. He took a moment out to feel badly, as she was without either pillow, instead leaving them to him, and that just made him a douche, right? Not that he had long to dwell on that. Laxus had no idea if he wanted to wake her or even if he should wake her, but only wheeled over to her, staring down at the woman as he thought.

It wasn't that he didn't want Mirajane. Not at all. He would have very much so enjoyed engaging in…anything, really, with her. Even without the comradery that they'd formed over the past few weeks, the woman had always been attractive. He would have been glad to add her to a list of conquests. Or even a frequent one if she were up for it. Now though, that they had formed that rapport, well, he would have taken much more pleasure in the whole thing. Much.

But he couldn't take the embarrassment. Laxus was nothing if not a proud man. About everything. Including his sexual relationships. And to under perform (or not perform at all, as it were) would just kill any kind of friendship or relationship Laxus could ever have with the woman. He'd never even be able to look at Mira again. Never. The humiliation that would follow just couldn't be lived down. If he couldn't get it up or couldn't keep it up or even…just a number of things, well, if the whole situation didn't kill him before, that definitely would.

His courage was broken then as he thought about the consequences of awakening her and trying something. But a bigger problem was, well, that he wasn't so certain that he could get back into the bed in the bedroom. Or that he wanted to. He was so used to the comfort of her sleeping next to him that having the bed all to himself wouldn't cut it.

The couch bed though was just low enough for him to slip into, he was pretty sure. The thought made him nervous, as he wasn't sure what Mirajane would think about such thing, but at the same time, it was really the only option left. He couldn't get back into the other bed, waking Mira was out, and he was not sleeping in his chair. He just wasn't.

So, rolling around to the other side of the pull out, Laxus had to get some more courage saved up before, slowly, trying to roll onto the bed. Only, he hadn't accounted for the mattress being so old and creaky. It gave way easily, causing him to fall forwards and, of course, wake up Mirajane.

"W-What? Laxus-"

"Ugh," he groaned as he struggled to right himself. "I, uh, wasn't planning on the mattress being shit. How do you sleep on this thing?"

"By myself usually." Mind still laced in fog and completely thrown off by him, Mirajane went to work on just getting him straightened out on the bed once more, not sure of what else to do. "What are you doing anyways? And how did you get out of bed? Ooh, I did put you in bed, didn't I? Laxus, I'm sorry. I-"

"You did," he said simply as he sat there next to him, blue eyes round and filled with concern. "But I got up, got into my chair, and came out here to-"

"You got into your chair?" Confusion was fleeting then as pride swirled into her irises. "All by yourself?"

"Well, yeah, I-"

"Oh, dragon!" Mira's usual persona took over as she threw her arms around the man. "You did? Really? That's wonderful! I can't believe-"

"Uh, Mirajane?"

"Hmmm?"

"You mind letting me go?"

That got a blink. Then a slow release as, with a blush, she moved to stare at him.

"O-Oh," the woman stuttered as she shifted back to the other side of the bed. "Sorry. I just got…excited, I guess."

A gauche beat passed then as they both just sat there next to one another, not knowing what to do. Slowly, Laxus settled into the bed.

"This is uncomfortable," he told her softly. "You should have come got in bed with me."

"I didn't think it was appropriate. Considering."

"And this is?"

"I didn't do this," she pointed out. "You did."

Right. He did.

"Well, I just… We always sleep next to one another. And I didn't want to have you thinking I was mad at your or something. Because I'm not."

"Right. You just don't want to sleep with me."

Groan. "Mira-"

"It's fine. I mean, clearly it's just not going to-"

"Woman, how many times do I have to tell you? I can't. I don't want to try because I know the result. Alright? That's all." He shut his eyes then. "Now go to sleep. There's nothing left to discuss."

Falling back into the bed on her side, facing him, Mirajane just said, "What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Just because you can't, you think I can't?"

He peeked an eye open, glancing at her. "Continue."

"I don't think I need to.

It wasn't easy for Laxus to shift from his back to his side, but he did it then, just so he could stare at her. The position wasn't as comfortable as his back, but what could be done?

"You've been drinking more," he accused, hardly even sniffing. They were that close and, with his dragon senses, it wasn't hard to pick up. "Haven't you? Did you finish off my beers?"

Her eyes remained on his though as she thought for a moment before saying, "You just really got me worked up earlier."

"That long, huh?"

"Laxus."

Leaning his head forwards, Laxus was able to rest his forehead on hers, trying to lock his eyes with hers, but Mira's weren't as alert. She had gotten into his beer.

Had he really screwed her up that much?

"I didn't fall."

That got her to blink.

"Huh?"

"I didn't fall," the man repeated. "When I was injured, it had nothing to do with falling."

"What are you-"

"You said that you wanted to know," he pointed out. "You've asked me a thousand times. So I'm telling you."

"But why? Why now?"

He wasn't sure. Maybe…maybe he couldn't give her what she wanted, but he could give her something. And, to him, it was a lot more personal than what she was longing for.

"I underestimated the situation," was all he said. "There were too many guys. And I was so focused on the leader, I thought if I could just take him down, that I'd be fine. But…I was just too relaxed. Cocky, I guess. And one of them just got one good blast off on me and my footing wasn't great at the moment. It sent me flying back and I smashed against this cement wall and… There's swelling on my spine or something. I don't know. I didn't listen when they told me about it. At first, when I got to the hospital, I was just so mad, you know. So angry. And then I was scared. And hurt. And…"

"Laxus, you don't have to tell me-"

"You said that talking was showing attraction." He shook his head then, but it was more so that he could nuzzle his forehead against hers. "And you just told me that you thought that me not…trying with you was me not deeming you worthy. Right? Basically?"

"W-Well-"

"I'll talk to you then." His breath was against her face and the smell wasn't great, but Mira figured considering the state of her own, she couldn't complain much. "Because I am attracted to you, Mira. In a lot of ways. I promise."

"Laxus…"

That time, he wasn't sure if it was him trying to kiss her or her retaliating against him, but neither pulled away, regardless of who it was. And, as they were both on their sides, laying down, it was rather awkward, leaving Mirajane to press closer to him, her legs brushing his. He was at a loss for where to put his hands as he felt even more immobile then for some reason, on his side, and took to just resting one on her hip.

"Mmmm." Eventually, Mira did pull back, but it was just to stare at him for a moment. "I thought you said we couldn't do this?"

"We're not."

"I meant makeout," she corrected. "Remember?"

Laxus only let out a slow breath. "Sometimes I lie."

"Not the great Thunder God."

"The same."

"Raijin, no."

"Yes." He leaned forwards again, resting his head against hers. Staring into her eyes, he said, "You're gonna be sick pretty soon. Shit, Mira. Why did you drink more?"

"Because I was lonely and you wouldn't talk to me and I felt rejected."

That was a lot more honesty than he was expecting, but whatever.

Moving his hand from her hip up to her cheek, he stroked it a bit before saying, "You're gonna get sick, you know. And tomorrow you'll probably be hungover."

"Then let's not waste the time we have now, yeah?"

Definitely.

Laxus felt like a kid again or something, sneaking around late at night with a girl, hoping that his grandfather didn't catch him. It was the most innocent he'd been in awhile. Was nervous to even touch Mira for the most part, palms sweaty and hands shaking the entire time. She was so drunk that she was far more handsy and brave. Not that Laxus was, like, afraid or something. No. It was more like he knew if he did let himself get too into what they were doing, he might start to initiate something that he was nearly certain he couldn't finish.

Her alcohol levels were still high and her cheeks stayed rosy the entire time. Laxus could tell that she was half out of it and, when she finally pulled away, claiming to be lightheaded, he only moved to fall once more onto his back.

"Don't," he mumbled as she curled up at his side, "vomit on me. Seriously."

She didn't, but did spend a good amount of time regretting her decision to drink so heavily, as her night was divided between laying in bed with him and tossing her drinks in the toilet. And even though it was definitely disgusting and they were not under any circumstances close enough or friendly enough with one another that Laxus wanted to deal with that, he didn't complain. Much. Considering the woman had helped him shower and go to the bathroom many times, a little puke breath was nothing. He kinda owed her that. At least.

When dark broke and the light began to stream gently through the windows, Laxus only laid in bed for a bit, contemplating things and wonder just how hungover Mirajane would be. He hoped not much. Eventually though, when she didn't get up even once the sun was fully raised, he finally had to do it. He had to wake her. In the kindest way possible, of course.

"Hey. Mirajane. Get up. Hey. Hey. Get up. I gotta go drop a few bombs in the toilet if you catch my drift. And I want some breakfast. Not a big one though. Mira. Damn it, woman! Get up!"

Yeah. He could be really tender when he wanted to be.

Huh. There he'd been, worried that he wouldn't be able to get back to his demanding, rude self, but just like that, it all came back to him. Amazing how that sorts stuff worked.

Mira didn't do so hot that day. She kept moaning and holding her head. She managed to make him some eggs though before diving back under the covers of the pull out bed, grumbling to him that she wasn't to be bothered until lunch time.

"How," she complained once as he went about his day as usual, working out and doing puzzles, "are you not feeling this way?"

"Woman, I drink more than that all the time," he grumbled. "I'm no cruiserweight."

He lost her for nearly the entirety of the day which left him to only entertain himself. Eventually she went to crawl into bed in the other room, leaving him with the living room and the movie lacrima. Time well spent, he figured, and he wasted a good few hours with that. Then more training and, after just taking a washcloth into the bathroom to wipe down with it (no need to hassle the demon with helping him into the shower), he went on to bed.

"Mirajane. I made us sandwiches," he whispered as he rolled into the bedroom and over to the bed. "Demon? Hey, wake up. Look. I made us somethin' to eat. All by myself. Be proud. Be real proud."

At the moment, she was anything, but. Groggily, she glanced to her side, shocked at first to find him there before just groaning and shoving her face back in a pillow.

"I feel like a teenager," she grumbled against it. "I haven't had a hangover since…since forever."

"Really narrows down that timeline."

"Laxus-"

"Just eat, huh? Look. I made sandwiches for us. And help me into bed. I think I'm done for the night."

"I can't."

"Mira, just do it. Sheesh. You're such a baby. I'm the one in pain here, you know."

"Pain?" came her muffled response. "You're hurting?"

"Not literal pain, no, but-"

"We've never talked about that, have we?" She shifted then, to sit up in bed. Her hair was a mess and she felt horrible, but did manage to get to her feet before transforming. Just as quickly, she was wheeling him back around to his side of the bed before taking the plate of sandwiches from him and setting it out of the way, on the bed. Lifting him into her arms as Satan Soul, she clarified, "What you feel. Physically, I mean."

He only settled into the bed as purple tiles appeared and she became herself once more. "Nothing."

"Laxus-"

"I don't. So drop it."

"Were we supposed to get you medication?" she asked. "Was that part of you just ignoring doctors? Are you really supposed to be on something?"

He looked off. "I can manage pain myself. I'm not some woman or weak guy. I'm the Thunder God."

For some reason then, with a odd grin on her otherwise blotchy face, Mirajane reached out to rest a hand on his head, running her fingers through his blonde locks, before saying, "Better medicated than eradicated."

He just blinked. Then he frowned. "Do you mind, woman?"

"No." And even though she wasn't feeling it, she still gave out a giggle, just for him (she knew that he liked it no matter what he said) before going around to get into her side of the bed and try one of those sandwiches he made (they looked a bit shoddy). "I don't mind at all."

That night was a bit better. Laxus wasn't very tired, as his day hadn't been the least bit invigorating, but at least things were kinda back to normal. Sorta. He kept getting this odd urge to try and kiss her or at least make an acknowledgment to what they'd shared the night before. He couldn't quite understand why he felt the need, considering he usually didn't with women. Sometimes to even contact them after a night spent together. He was usually that detached.

Mirajane was messing him up though. Completely. And, uncertain what else to do, he only laid there and waited for her to make the first move. Mirajane only sat there though, picking at her sandwich, before retiring for the night once more.

It was around two in the morning when she awoke, finally feeling a bit better. And, with a yawn, she glanced across the bed to check on Laxus.

"You're still awake?"

"Just woke up again," he grumbled softly as she shifted closer to him. "I don't know why."

"Me neither." Then she paused. "On my part, I mean."

He just let out a slow breath before glancing over at her. "It's 'cause you slept so much today. Bet."

Nodding, Mirajane said, "My body's, like, going into shock."

"Eh?"

"After getting so much sleep for so long," she explained. "I'm usually lucky to get five hours. Most of the time just four."

Frowning, he went back to watching the ceiling. "You work too much."

"Okay, Mr. Never Comes Home. I mean, sheesh, you go months without even stopping by the guild. But I work too much."

"I'm not on jobs the entire time, woman," he grumbled. "I'm touring the world. You should try it some time."

"Touring the world, huh? Taking in the sights? The cuisine? Hmmm?"

"All of it."

"But mostly just the women, right?"

He wasn't sure what to say to that, considering the position they'd been in the night before, but only shrugged the best he could lying down.

"Yeah, well, you know."

Shifting closer ever still, Mira nuzzled against his side, taking a deep breath. Given he'd only washed off instead of showered, he didn't smell great, but familiar. Sweat and grit were what she was used to when it came to most the men in her life. Growing up in a guild and, previously, a tiny village out in the sticks where you worked or you didn't eat and a bath in the river meant you were lucky because you had free time didn't leave her with the higher caliber of manly influences.

"No bragging, dragon?" she yawned. "All boasted out?"

"Watch it, demon," he growled though it was halfhearted. "This dragon ain't in the mood."

Humming, she took a moment of just breathing him in to think before whispering, "Lax?"

"Go to bed."

"You told me," she continued regardless because, well, when didn't she, "that you don't feel anything, right?"

"Pain," he grumbled. "I don't feel any pain."

"Do you feel anything?"

"What?"

"In your legs." And then, since she was further down on the bed anyways, she only pushed the sheet they had over them down even further, revealing his lower half. He was just in a pair of shorts and, without any bashfulness (that she was showing anyhow), Mirajane reached out to gently stroke his thigh. "Or are they practically dead?"

He didn't like the way she phrased that. At all.

Instead of complaining, he just grumbled out, "I really wish you'd cut it out."

She did because, well, if he didn't want it, then that was just as well. Lifting her head some, she stared up at him.

"Could you feel it though?"

He didn't want to return her gaze, but did say, "I got a little feeling. Not a lot."

"Is that…good?" She wasn't sure how to get the answers she wanted and, really, if she wanted them. "That you have some feeling?"

He shrugged, but didn't answer.

"I like to think that it is," she decided. "That it means that maybe-"

"I really don't think," he grumbled, "that your thoughts matter here."

Laying her head back down, she pressed it into his side before breathing against it, "I was wondering about something else too." When he didn't make a noise, she just went on. "Do you think that maybe magic could be your answer? Or at least somewhat?"

Again, she got nothing, so she continued. "I mean, it would take a long time, but I know that if you could master transformations like I have, then maybe you could get your mobility back. Or at lest when you're in a transfor-"

"What," he grumbled, "are you blabbering about?"

"Just that if you were able to handle it," she explained, "you could transform into yourself. Or anyone, really. I mean, think about it. I'm able to transform into all sorts of things. Like a fish, for example. Do I have gills? No. But I can manifest them through my magic. Do your legs work? No. Because your spine has been bruised or severed or whatever it is. So what stops you from just transforming into another spine?" One more, he was silent, but that time, he was looking down at her in clear contemplation.

Pushing up on one arm, Mirajane spoke again. "It'd take a lot of work. Maybe even years. And you said that they're going to be giving you a surgery to cure you anyways, right? So I guess it's just stupid to talk about and I shouldn't have-"

"Stop," he said, holding up a hand then before moving to gently run it through her white hair, "saying you're stupid. Or your ideas are stupid. They're not. Ever. I would have never thought of that. I'm thankful that I have someone like you there doing it for me."

The two stared at one another then before a grin broke out on her face.

"You're welcome, Laxus."

When he only stared, she took it as just as good sign as any to lean up and kiss him. It was a peck, hardly even that, but it made Laxus shake his head.

"You need to sleep," he grumbled simply. "And you taste like puke."

"Do not."

"Do too."

Her head got a nuzzle before he fell back onto the bed once more. "I'm sleepin', woman. Shut it up or ship it out."

It shouldn't have felt so comfortable. Not so soon. But it did. All of it. And Mirajane was sure that part of it was that they were both so laced with sleep already and, more importantly, had been technically sharing a bed for awhile at that point, but still. Though she knew that they were only one awkward movement away from going back to not being able to speak to one another, at the moment, all was well.

Too well, in fact, to even argue with.

In the darkness though, as she rested once more against his side, him tugging the sheet back up around them, she thought some more on the inevitable. It was time to renew the lease. And get serious about getting Laxus back home. She'd played soft ball with him before, but it was time to become hard (no pun intended). Now that they were…whatever they were, clearly she had some new leverage on him And if Mirajane Strauss knew how to do anything, it was trick a man.

And play a mean guitar solo. But that was beside the point.

Next Chapter

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[fallen029]

Timing

To be fair, his decision to break it off was rooted mostly in the fact that Mirajane, for the most part, worked seven days a week, open to close, at the guild hall as the head barmaid. That really didn't leave much time for Laxus. Which was only pushed even further to extremes by the fact that, as an S-Class wizard, Laxus frequently left on high risk jobs that took forever to finish or at least travel back and forth from.

Life was just too complex for the two of them to ever honestly get any free time together. It strained their relationship in almost every way and, really, at times Laxus wondered if there was one or not. All it really meant to him was that he wasn't allowed to spend time with other women which sucked, but wouldn't be so bad had he at least been able to spend that time with Mirajane. Honestly, one day out of a month wasn't working out for him. For either of them, he was sure. Which is why, after a year of toying around, he figured it was time to face the facts.

They just weren't going to work out.

Not that their relationship didn't have it's good qualities, because it certainly did. Laxus really liked being around Mirajane. She made him feel comfortable. They could just sit around on the few times they got to spend together, just laying around in bed, talking about nothing and he was content. Or when he got her some time off the bar to go out on an actual date, that was even better. They didn't have tons of things in common, but she always told him that that was okay; it just meant that they completed one another. She brought a bubbly bliss to his life that he rarely had. And he allowed her to be dark and angry and just vent. She finally really had someone to vent to.

But a friend could solve both those problems for one another. She could be his friend and bring joy to his life while he could just listen to her sometimes, up at the bar, complain about life, and they could both actually find relationships with people that were beneficial to their lifestyles.

Because Laxus liked Mirajane. A lot. And she liked him. A lot. But they'd both had better significant others and, fine, the sex wasn't bad, but it definitely was rushed, most of the time, because she had to get to work or he was going to go train or something else was coming up, and then the amount of time between it was just…

In short, things were too hard for the two of them to be together.

Laxus dreaded the entire time, having to break it off. He wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Most of them women he dated, he didn't care so much about (and certainly didn't have to around ever again) them, and therefore he'd kinda just either avoid them until they got the message or tell them flat out that the wasn't interest in the whole monogamy thing and if they still wanted to, like, hook up, he was chill with that.

It resulted in a lot of pissed off women. Which was a good thing he was a traveling mage and met lots of other women. Else he'd have worked through the list of all the women he knew by then and probably had to die alone.

Or try harder at relationships.

Both sounded equally as horrible.

When it came to Mirajane though (and one other woman that he'd been really serious about, when he was nineteen, that he had to actually put thought into breaking up with or trying to work thing out; you know, because things like that seem to be the most serious at nineteen), Laxus actually had to take some time out to think things over. Mirajane, as stated before, worked mostly up at the bar. And he definitely couldn't do it there.

But at the same time, he didn't want to do it on one of her off days. They were extremely rare and, if she took one off just to be with him, he'd feel like a complete and utter ass if he broke up with her when she took a day off, just to be with him.

So it had to be an organic time in which Mirajane wasn't at work, but she also wasn't off, and Laxus hadn't promised to take her somewhere or made ti seem like they were going to be doing something with one another that day.

The only time he could think of in which that would work was when he knew Mira had breakfast, every Friday, at this little restaurant, all on her own. She called it her time to reflect and think, but Laxus and her siblings knew it was mostly just the time when she was able to get away from everyone and the others all knew to leave her alone for a bit. Considering her life was either spent up at the bar full of people, taking care of the ailing Makarov, or hanging around her house with her siblings/sleeping over at Laxus', just an hour to herself before she had to get down to work, where she could drink coffee and eat breakfast in peace was far less than what Mirajane deserved.

And Laxus was so sorry that he was going to ruin that, mar that time Mirajane had by not only impeding on her alone time, but most importantly ruining the relationship that, while he was sure she realized too wasn't working, she had no concept of possibly ending.

"Dragon!" She was really happy to see him too as he approached her in the back of the tiny restaurant, immediately taking a seat at her table. "What are you doing here?"

Mirajane, at the moment, was eating her favorite, pancakes with chocolate chips and a whipped cream smiley face (Laxus would make it at his place too, for her, the few times he made breakfast instead of her) along with a glass of orange juice. Laxus figured, when it was over, he'd go ahead and pay her bill. You know, to make amends for...breaking her heart or whatever. If that's what he was doing.

He honestly wasn't too sure.

"Hey, demon." Laxus scratched at the back of his head. "I just, uh, came to see you. To talk to you."

"Ooh. Talk, huh?" Mirajane even giggled before nodding down at her plate. "You want some-"

"It's not...funny, Mira. Or fun. Or… I have something serious I want to talk about."

That got her to blink, grin fading as she stared only at him. They were the only customers in the place, other than an old man on the other side of the restaurant, sitting alone and reading the paper. Laxus didn't feel as if Mirajane was the type to make a big scene of things, but if she was, at least it would be somewhere like that.

"Serious," Mirajane repeated slowly, setting her fork down. "What-"

"You know, Mira, that I really do care about you. Honestly. And I...sorta wrote this all down, if you don't mind, so just let me glance at this-"

"Laxus, what are you doing?" she asked as he reached into his pocket to pull out a little sheet of paper. At her words though, he realized how lame that was and finally hung his head with a sigh.

"I don't… Um...I just… We're not working out, Mirajane, and it's not your fault or my fault and I'm not trying to-"

"Are you...breaking up with me?"

"Well that's a really harsh way of-"

"Over breakfast?"

"It's not like dinner or lunch would have been any bet-"

"Laxus, I can't… What even-"

"Nothing happened," he assured her and he was trying really hard to continue staring her in the eyes, but was fearful, extremely, of tears. Because he knew Mirajane. Even a simple insult could send her into hysterics. He was nearly certain that a break up would definitely bring about some sort of crying. "And that's just it. I can't...do this anymore, Mirajane."

"Do what? What have we been-"

"Doing nothing. We don't see one another frequently and I've been...I haven't cheated on you or anything, but if we kept going I-"

"Okay, Laxus. Just-"

"No, I'm not trying to make this-"

"I said okay." But she wasn't. And, shaking her head, Mirajane got to her feet, refusing to look at him. Laxus didn't really know what to do (comforting her would seem kind of pointless, considering he was the one that was hurting her, but ignoring her seemed extremely callous which is what he'd been trying to avoid), so he only sat there, watching as she started to leave some jewels on the table, but he only shook his head.

"I'll pay," he told her softly. "I-"

"I don't want you to."

"Mirajane-"

"If you want to break up, Laxus, fine. Just go." She glanced up from her tiny purse then to give him the deadest stare she could pull off. "I don't care. It stupid to try and be together anyways."

Which he couldn't be too mad about. It was stupid. He'd said as much himself, hadn't he? And it was stupid, regardless what either of them thought. They both lived very busy lives that, while intertwined in a very basic way, were also extremely independent of one another. And that wasn't going to be changing any time soon, so if he wanted more time with someone, it was going to have to be someone other than Mirajane. And that was just that.

But he didn't leave. Just sat there as, finally, in a huff, Mirajane tossed some jewels down on the table and walked off. There it was. What everyone had warned Laxus about the second he and Mirajane got involved. For so long, he'd been just a neutral part of Fairy Tail, but it was back to the bad guy. The villain. A role he'd worked so hard to wash clean of himself, only to somehow find himself tangled up with Fairy Tail's sweetheart which inevitably lead to breaking said heart.

Because, you know, that was the story of Laxus' life. Have a mother and father? Lose them both permanently from your life while he's young. Have a grandfather that's the Master of the coolest guild ever in existence? Forever be on his bad side and never be trustworthy in his eyes again by trying to take over said guildhall. Land the hottest woman in, once more, that same guild? Jump into things too soon and ruin it before it really had a chance to get off the ground.

So he didn't go back to Fairy Tail for a bit. Stayed for away from Magnolia for a good three days. Went out. Drank. Tried to hookup with women, but felt a bit like shit for it, so backed out of it each time before things went too far.

About a week of that and he was pretty much ready to go home and get a job. He was hoping against hope that maybe Mira wouldn't be working when he got to the hall (they'd dated for over a year and he still didn't fully know her schedule, it changed that much), but of course that couldn't be the case, because if it were, what would be the point of anything? Huh? If life just let you have small victories at times? What would be the point?

Heh.

The thing was, however, that Mirajane, who happened to be the only one working (even Gramps wasn't around), didn't yell at him. Avoid him. Or even do anything that might hint to the fact that they had been dating very seriously up until seven days ago, when he broke up with her suddenly during her alone time.

Her breakfast alone time.

The horror.

"Hi, Laxus," she greeted before he even fully approached the bar. The man's eyes were wide then and, slowly, he came to stand in front of her.

"Uh, hey, Mirajane." Scratching at the back of his neck, he tried, "Look, I-"

"Some new S-Class jobs were just posted," she said, bouncing just a bit. "So you better snatch them up before Erza does. Or even me."

"Yeah, that's great, but-"

"Did you want something to eat? Or drink? Should I start you a tab?"

"N-No, I just-"

"Well, I'm the only one on the job right now, so if you need anything, just tell me, huh?" She bounced, just a bit then, before moving to walk away from the bar. Across the hall, Macao was waving her over, holding an empty mug up in the air as he continued to laugh along at some story Romeo was telling him about a recent job. "Coming, Macao," she called before, glancing at Laxus and saying, "Talk to you later, Laxus."

And that was it. The big first meeting after the break up.

Huh. He kinda felt cheated.

None of the Thunder Legion seemed to be around, so Laxus only headed over to the board to pick out a job before he got roped into a conversation with someone. And, when he took it to Mirajane, she was back over at the bar, whipping up a drink for someone, but took the job from him with a bright smile.

"Alright, Laxus," she said after glancing it over. "I'll file it immediately. Have a safe trip."

"Thanks. But Mirajane-"

"Laxus." Her tone was still so upbeat too as she handed him the flier back. "I'm trying to be mature and diplomatic about this. If you can't do that, then please, just walk away. We both have to a part of this guild; if this is the consequence of things going awry, so be it. But don't keep poking at something you don't want clean up the mess of."

And what could he say to that? Only a mumbled, "Alright. See you then," before turning to walk off. He could feel Mirajane's eyes on him as he did so, but didn't turn back to glance at her.

Then he left on a very long and tedious job. It helped keep his mind off things, and he did sort of need the jewels, anyhow. And the long walk back home after it (he never used the train on the way home and very rarely on the way there; motion sickness was no joke), Laxus had a good chance to review all that had gone down.

It hadn't been a spur of the moment thing. Not in any regard. He'd thought about it for awhile, whether it was just always in the back of his mind or he was honestly considering it. He and Mirajane were good together, fine, in a lot of ways. Very good. But in the important ones, such as the time they were able to spend together, they just weren't. And it wasn't fair to her, for him to be gone all the time, leaving her to be lonely and in the face of everyone else's budding (in her mind) romances, anymore than it was fair to him, to have to travel and be away from her and alone, constantly in the face of temptation.

Timing. That was what it was. The timing was just all off. Skewed. Most of Mirajane's life was filled with staying in Magnolia, where she was helping the ailing Makarov deal with the guildhall, while Laxus was filled with fun and adventure and intrigue. The parts were opposite, but the timing in which they could be put together was just off.

Now, that didn't mean that one day, maybe, if they never got with anyone else, that Laxus couldn't see he and Mirajane… Because he could. Honest, they had gotten along very well. Extremely well. Should he somehow find himself around more or her find herself less grounded in Magnolia and Fairy Tail, then...maybe something could…

But at the moment, it just needed to be put on a hold. All of it. And he was ready to believe that.

Until, you know, while he was camping out one night on his way home when Freed connected with him through the lacrima to inform him that Makarov was officially handing down the hall to Erza Scarlet.

Which was fine! It was great! It was grand! Laxus wasn't jealous. No, seriously, no sarcasm. He didn't want to be the Master anymore. He just didn't. It was something that he wanted in his youth, but he was growing up. He had grown up. And, honestly, if he wanted to be a master, he'd start his own damn guild and run it the way he wanted.

Fairy Tail was something that had to be handled in a certain way. It had a legacy. A legacy that, should Laxus inherit, could possibly be construed as just being handed over to him.

No. Laxus didn't want Fairy Tail. He loved Fairy Tail, thought the world of it, and would hate to one day have to leave it, but ultimately knew, when he was finally ready to settle down, it would be in an unknown town and to start his own dynasty, his own way, where the name Dreyar meant nothing and he could build his reputation through prowess and leadership alone.

The odd thing was, however, when he arrived in Magnolia, he found out that Mirajane was apparently having the exact same thoughts. Only, her intention was to get things started a hell of a lot sooner.

"What do you mean you won't serve me?" he complained as Lisanna, who was behind the bar when he arrived, flatly told him with a slight glare that he would be getting no beer as long as she was on duty.

"It's your fault that Mirajane's running off."

"What are you talking about? Running off where?" And, even though over a month had passed then since the break up, Laxus still felt a ping of jealousy. "And with who?"

"With no one, dummy," the youngest Strauss complained, still giving him such a heavy glare that Laxus almost felt as if he wasn't dealing with Lisanna at all. The two had had a very good relationship during the course of he and Mirajane's and, fine, he figured that they wouldn't have as tight a bond after he broke up with her sister, but the overwhelming hostility, when Mira clearly felt none, was a bit much. "She's leaving the guild and going to start her music career."

Which was the first Laxus had heard of that. "Music what?"

Lisanna only narrowed her eyes before glaring off and refusing to say another word.

Which is what everyone in the hall seemed to be doing to him. Other than the Thunder Legion who ushered him over to their table and immediately took to explaining. Ever, for obvious reasons (though she pretended as if they didn't exist; err, rather, her very extensive relationship with a certain male Strauss didn't exist), was very much so in the know.

Mirajane was rather doleful over the break up, as would be expected, and complained to both Lucy and Lisanna frequently that it just didn't make sense. Sure, she and Laxus didn't spend a lot of time together, but they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the time that they did get. They fought, of course, but never anything vicious. And he seemed to be very interested in her. What could have gone wrong?

The longer Mirajane had to mope about it though, without him being around to question (though he had a feeling it wouldn't have mattered either way; Mira was going to pretend like everything was alright until she finally imploded), which led to her thinking about many other things.

Including, of course, the fact that years were wasting away and she was still nothing more than a stupid barmaid. And no matter how much Elf, Lisanna, or Lucy tried to tell her otherwise, it didn't matter. Because if that was the way she felt, that was just the way she was going to feel.

Evergreen didn't know, of course, because Elfman didn't know about it and therefore couldn't tell her, but it was actually a rare and very intense conversation that Mirajane had with Cana that spurred on the thoughts that Mira was having.

"I mean," the drunkard said one day as Mirajane was closing up the place and they were the last two in there, "if you feel like you're not doing something here, you should move on. I know I would."

"It's not that simple."

"It is that simple."

"No."

"Yes."

"Cana-"

"I'm not saying it's easy," she clarified, staring forlornly down at her empty beer mug. "Nothing's every easy. It wasn't easy for me to talk to Gildarts. Or for you to come back here after Lisanna… And Master's never had it easy, all the time he's had to rebuild the guildhall. So why would it be any easier for you to leave?"

"The questions wasn't easy. It was whether or not it's simple. And how sober are you?"

Cana gave her a look from where she was seated, at the bar, before saying, "I got here late, remember? Just got in from a job."

"Not enough time then, to get drunk."

"Not for me, anyways."

They both shared a grin, at that, before Mirajane, who was busy sweeping, only said, "I can't leave Lisanna and Elf. I-"

"Why not? It's not like you're all kids anymore. And it wouldn't be forever; you could just take your guitar and try to go make it for a few months, in Fiore. If it all blows up, then fine, come back home. And if not, you could still come back home, just to visit. Or even tend bar every now and then. Whatever. But you don't wanna spend forever thinking about something and never doing it. Fairy Tail's not going anywhere. But your chance of actually pulling off being a singer definitely is."

Mira only blinked. Then, with a slight grin, she leaned on the broom as she stared over at the other woman.

"Whatever amount it is that you've drank tonight, Cana," she remarked, "must have been the perfect balance."

"Really?" Cana seemed to be the more depressive one then as she only shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I feel as if I haven't drank near enough."

"And therein lies the key."

But it wasn't like Cana was the only one pushing her to go. Lucy, as well, had a rather small hand in it, as she didn't right out tell Mirajane that, if she was dissatisfied with her current state, to go try something drastically new, but she did mention that she too wanted something for herself. She wanted to be a Fairy Tail mage and, admittedly through some pure coincidences (though arguably fate), she found herself achieving such a thing. But it wasn't in her comfort zone that she got there.

Fairy Tail was a safety net for Mirajane, fine, and it would always be that, but if she was ready to stretch her boundaries a bit, who could really blame her? Honestly?

All Evergreen knew of the story, however, was that Mirajane had been thinking for a long time of, at the very least, taking some time off from the hall and exploring Magnolia for a bit, her guitar and hopefully playing it a part of that, of course.

Laxus was a bit floored at that and, still a bit dazed over not only Erza taking command of the hall, but also the idea that he might have played a bigger role in Mirajane leaving than the others realized.

What if she decided that they couldn't stay at the same guild together? And that she had to leave because, like, she couldn't see him out, living his life, while she was miserable because she honestly thought they had something great? Because, again, it was great. The timing was just off.

If that made sense.

But the thing was, Laxus didn't know what to do about the whole thing. It wasn't as if he could just go to Mirajane and flat out ask her if the reason she was making such a drastic change in her life was because he'd broken up with her. If that didn't sound like a complete and utter narcissistic thing to say, then Laxus didn't know what did.

So he said nothing. To Mirajane, anyways. Knowing how flighty the woman was (even before their year of dating, he'd known), he figured that bothering with her would get him nowhere. Rather, he'd go to the only other person besides her siblings that could possibly get Mirajane to stay.

"What do you mean you told her to go?"

"What else do you want me to say, boy?" Makarov griped as he and his grandson had tea out on the back patio of his house. "I told her to go."

"Why," Laxus grumbled, "would you tell her that? Huh? If anyone, you should want her here."

"And why should I want that?"

"Because she takes care of you, Gramps!"

"Does she?" He gave his grandson a hard look. "Last I checked, she took care of my guild. Which, with Erza in control of now, needs far less overseeing by a young set of eyes."

"She fucking feeds you, Gramps," his grandson said through ground teeth, trying his hardest not to yell. "And cleans your house. And waters all these damn plants!"

He gestured that time, around the patio, where an assortment of potted plants and a garden sat out in the yard. Makarov looked around at them with a slight shrug.

"I never rightly liked them to begin with."

"W-What?"

"And surely my adoring grandson can come over and keep me company."

"What are you-"

"Clean my house."

"No way! I-"

"Bring me my dinner."

"That is not happening."

"Why not?" Makarov lifted his tea up to his mouth. "It's you that ran off my woman."

Narrowing his eyes then, Laxus said, "First off, she was mine-"

"Mine first."

"That's gross. She was a child to you first."

"Oh, shut up, Laxus." Huffing, Makarov said simply, "It's bad enough that you've run Mirajane off-"

"You told her to go!"

"Well, I couldn't very well tell a woman that I'm not related to that I want her to put her life on hold even longer than she has to care for me in my ailing days." Makarov held his head up higher. "Besides, I just let Mirajane care for me because it means that I get to spend time with her."

"You know, you can't perv on my girlfriend."

"You," Makarov remarked with a frown, "told her that you were through with her."

"Yeah, well, apparently now so have you."

"No." And his grandfather seemed pretty earnest about that. "I did not. She expressed to me that she wished to move on with her life and I shared the same sentiment. Then I said that I was considering handing over the hall to Erza and, that if I did that, she could do what she wished to do. She is an S-Class mage, Laxus; if she wishes to travel, the rest of you do all the time. Why should Mirajane be confined to Magnolia?"

"I never said she should," he grumbled. "I just meant that… She's not thinking. She-"

"You do not wished to be blamed," Makarov clarified before taking a sip of tea. After, he shrugged once more. "What difference would it make to you if you were or if you weren't? And believe me, I can assure you, it has nothing to do with you."

"It had somethin' to do with me," Laxus grumbled, looking around at the plants once more, though that time it was just so that he didn't have to keep looking at his grandfather. "She would have never brought it up if we were still dating. Ergo, I have something to do-"

"Ear go where?"

"What?"

"What?"

Their eyes met again as the two men only stared at one another. With a roll of his eyes finally, Laxus took a long sip from his drink before grumbling something under his breath about how annoying the man was.

No debate.

But then again, Makarov thought the same thing about him.

"I just don't want Mirajane to go off on this...adventure and something go wrong and me have to deal with, like, the guilt or whatever."

"If you want to hold her back from doing something," Makarov tsked, "because of your fear of your own guilt, then perhaps you' should really think about if you care about Mirajane at all."

Well, that was no help. But then again, Laxus never expected the man to be much of that. He seemed to help and advise every single young guild member except his own damn grandson. It was so aggravating!

But anyways, Laxus didn't have forever and a day to dwell on that. Mirajane, as he found out, was leaving in two days and, well, he only had that long to figure out just what he was going to do about it. So he thought. And thought. And worked out. Slept. Ate. Thought some more. About other things. Then about Mirajane again. And, somehow, all that time passed over to the day that Mira was leaving and, well, Laxus hadn't really figured anything out yet.

So he went over to the Strauss house to see if maybe he could speak to Mirajane before she left and maybe absolve any and all guilt by wiping his hands of the whole thing. If she went after he talked to her, then fine; it was her fault. Not his. She chose to go. Didn't feel forced or anything of the sort.

"Go fuck yourself."

Instead, he was greeted at the door by, quite possibly, the first curse word Lisanna had ever uttered. At the very least, it was certainly the first she'd ever said in his presence. Laxus was so shocked that when the door was just shut in his face, he only stood there.

What had just happened?

"Lisanna, who was that?" he heard Mirajane call from somewhere in the house.

"Wrong address."

"Well, considering I heard what you said to them, I'd sure hope not."

Meh.

Laxus knocked again. Then waited, hands clasped behind his back, until, that time, Mirajane answered the door.

She wasn't surprised to see him, it seemed, though he figured Lisanna's attitude had been a pretty big tip off.

"I'm busy, Laxus," she said, not even offering him a chance to come in. "I'm about to-"

"Leave. I know." Then he shrugged. "Can I just have a minute?"

Mira hesitated, just for a moment, before slowly backing up. "Sure, let's-"

"Away from your sister." Laxus tried hard not to look off. "Please."

Slowly, the woman came to step out on the front porch, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Come on," she said, walking passed Laxus, being sure not to touch him. "I want to go see if I can find my dog to say goodbye anyways."

Which meant they had to walk up and down the alleyways, calling out for old Alexandria to show his ugly mug. After a good minute of that, Laxus finally found his voice and spoke.

"You know, Mirajane, I wanted to talk to you before you, uh, left because I've been...concerned about a few things."

"Is that so?" She hardly seemed to be listening to him though, focused rather on the searching behind every trash bin and anything else that the animal could be hiding under.

"Yeah, I just… Mirajane, you aren't...doing this whole thing on a whim, are you?"

"What whole thing?"

"Mira-"

"You mean the leaving thing?"

He tried hard not to roll his eyes. It didn't work. "Yes, Mirajane. The leaving thing. The...being a singer thing. I mean, what is that? Didn't you grow out of that?"

"Laxus, I've told you about it before, when we were still…" She glanced up at him. "I've always wanted to go travel around Fiore and try and play bars and get a following and… It's just my dream. And I want to do it. I don't have anything holding me here. At all. Things are peaceful and I just… What difference does it make?" She even shrugged. "We are broken up, you know."

"I know. I just-"

"What difference does it make to-"

"I still care about you, woman. It wasn't a lie, when I would say that," he assured her. "I love you, Mirajane."

"Laxus, don't-"

"I do. I really do. I've told you that before. Why are you-"

"Because we're-"

"Just because it's over doesn't mean that I didn't love you. Or that I don't love you now." He kicked at the ground. "And that's why I want to make sure that you've really thought this through. That you're not just some woman to me, you know. I want to still, you know, be close. Or at least friendly. I-"

"It's not me, it's you, and you still want to be friends? Come on, Laxus, be for real. What's next? You just don't want to hold me back?"

"Well, I don't, but-"

"You're really full of it, you know that?"

"I'm only trying to-"

"Oh! Alexandria!"

And there was the stupid mutt, reared on on his back haunches as he stuck his snout in an open trashcan. At the sound of Mirajane's voice, however, the wiry old pooch jumped back and rushed right over, skidding to a stop as Mirajane knelt down to wrap her arms around the filthy beast.

Yuck.

"Oh, sweetie, I just wanted to tell you that I love you and that I care about you and that even if you don't see me for awhile, it's okay, because I'll be home soon."

When Laxus closed his eyes, he was able to pretend she was saying all that to him. Only the ever present stench of, erm, Alexandria, was a kind of a fantasy ruiner, but whatever.

"And Elf promised me that he'd feed you," Mirajane went on, "and put water in that little bowl for you. Oh, Alex, I wish I could take you with me, but I can't. I just have to go try something on my own for awhile. And I know you'll be fine here. You're always fine with here. With or without me. We just both wish that it could be with me, huh?"

Mmmm. If only the stench wasn't there (and she would stop using the dog's name). If only.

Clearing his throat loudly, Laxus got Mirajane to stare up at him before saying, "There's something that I, uh, have to say, Mira."

"You've been saying a whole lot, honestly, Lax, but-"

"I just… You know, you ran off before I got to tell you, really, why we were breaking up. I mean, really tell you. And I just… Hear me out, huh? Before you leave?"

She was still down on her knees, petting Alexandria, but did nod at him slightly, as if signaling for him to continue.

"It's just that I… The reason I broke up with you was all timing. You're always working and I'm always gone and we never get a chance to be together. Once or twice a month is just not cutting it for me anymore. And even if I took time off, you'd still be up at the bar, working and that just wouldn't do anything. We're great for one another in every way, but that."

"I wouldn't say great, but-"

"You know, woman, you aren't making this easy."

"I'm sorry, Laxus, but you're the one that broke up with me. Remember?" She went back to her dog. "That's not something that you can just pretend didn't happen. I was really caught off guard. I never thought you'd-"

"I didn't want to hurt you. I just-"

"Oh, please." Mira rolled her own eyes that time. "You didn't hurt me."

"You don't have to be strong for me, you know. I-"

"I've been broken up with before, Laxus. Not to mention I have sort of lost my parents and sister before, so I think feeling hurt about a silly little relationship-"

"Why are you being like this?" he complained. "Huh? I came over here to make amends or something and you're acting like nothing's wrong. We broke up, Mirajane. After being very serious about one another. So I just don't get what you're gaining by acting indifferent towards that fact."

Not a lot, honestly. It was rather hard too. But she could kind of tell what Laxus was attempting to do. He was trying to work his way back in as a friend or something of the like. Maybe even still someone that he could sleep with on occasion. She knew he did that with women at times, when things didn't work out.

But Mirajane didn't want that. At all. She honestly had felt something deep for the man and for him to (in her mind) so callously just end it (again, over breakfast, no less, like the rest of her day wouldn't be screwed because of that) without out warning, only to come back and ask to be friends was just a slap in the face, really. If he didn't care enough about her to work through their 'timing' issues, or at least just bring them up to her in a serious way then, maybe, they could work through them, then why should she care?

To just dump her over it, when he claimed that they were so 'great' together was unbelievable to the woman.

Which is why she just wasn't going to put up with it. At all.

Laxus' issue, however, was that she wasn't listening. Or at least not understanding. Maybe he wasn't explaining correctly? Either way, what he wanted her to know just wasn't coming out right.

He was trying to tell her that, yes, time had been why he broke up with her, but he didn't feel as if it needed to be permanent. There would come a time, he was certain, when she would have more time to spend with him and he with her, and if something better hadn't happened in either of their lives when that time rolled around, then maybe they could entertain the idea of getting back together.

And yeah, sure, late night urges and occasionally hooking up between those periods would be nice, but not expected.

Desired heavily, but…

"I'm," Mirajane said as she got to her feet and, realizing she didn't have food, Alexandria went back on his search for some (that trashcan over there looked promising), "not doing anything, Laxus. At all. Other than getting ready to take off. So if there's something you have to say to me, something real, say it now because-"

"We broke up over time, Mirajane, and now you're going to have a lot of it on your hands and-"

"Oh, Laxus, please tell me you're not-"

"-and I just don't want you to be doing this to try and get back with me or something because that's just dumb."

"-going to ask me to get back together are you?"

And then they both just stared at one another. Blushing, Mirajane looked off first as Laxus only coughed.

"I have to-"

"Mira, no, wait, I-"

"For what? Huh? What could I possibly-"

"I'm not saying let's not get back together. I just don't want you to be doing this so that we can," he complained as she only glared at him. "I mean, hey, if the whole thing was over time and you actually did just want to get away from the hall and now can spend more time with me, then-"

"So basically," Mira began, voice taking that tone with him (he hated that tone), "you've gone out now, done whatever it is you wanted to do with whoever it is that you wanted to while we were broken up and now want to come back to me and-"

"What? No. I just told you this is about time. Solely. I didn't break up with you to...sleep with someone else. I-"

"Don't lie, Laxus."

"I'm not."

That time her roll eye was her angry one. "Oh, whatever."

"I haven't. Seriously-"

"Laxus, just tell me. Because we can get over that."

"I didn't-"

"Or at least talk about it. Because that's kind of a low thing to-"

"Mira, I'm telling you that I didn't-"

"It's not that serious. I mean, I've slept with someone since-"

"You've what?" Laxus didn't care then that they were in the alley or that other people were around to hear. Mira had missed her chance to make a scene, but he was going to be taking his. "When? What are you-"

"Oh, shut up, Laxus. Like you didn't sleep with-"

"I'm telling you, woman, that I didn't."

Mira blinked. "Honestly?"

"Honestly!"

"Oh." Her arms, which had become crossed, fell to her sides then. "W-Well-"

"Who did you sleep with?"

"Laxus-"

"It's only been a month!"

"It's been a lot more then a month."

"Hardly!"

"It wouldn't matter if it had been a day, Laxus," she reminded with a frown. "You're the one that broke up with me, remember? Not the other way around. Not even close."

He deflated a bit. Then, lips stuck out as if he were pouting, he said, "Do I know him?"

"What difference-"

"I do, don't I?"

"Lax-"

"Does it go to the guild? Who was it? Who?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Just tell me-"

"We're broken up." She gave him a harsh look then. "Per your decision. So you don't get to know things like that, Lax. I'm sorry."

"Oh, now you're sorry? After going out and sleeping with someone-"

"Which I have a right to do, you know."

She most definitely did. No denying it. None.

However, Laxus didn't have to like it. He could respect it. Couldn't do anything to stop it. And would even admit that it had to happen sometime, so why not then? But that didn't mean he couldn't feel a bit of a tug of possessiveness.

"I have to go, Laxus," Mirajane said after they both just stood there for a moment, silently. He didn't want to let her go, but if she was that done with him, then what could he say?

He didn't even raise a hand to wave goodbye when she did before turning to walk off, back for her home, leaving him in that alleyway, mostly alone, although Alexandria was still lingering around, searching out a tasty treat.

So he went home. And Mirajane went...wherever she was going. Huh. Not only had he dropped the ball on getting her to stay, he also forgot to ask where she was headed.

Not that things would have worked anyhow, he reminded himself frequently. Mirajane wasn't just taking time off from the bar; she was leaving indefinitely to go start another time consuming thing that just wouldn't mesh well with a traveling S-Class wizard.

The only thing for Laxus to do was to let Mirajane go, both physically and mentally. So he did. Heard random tidbits about her up at the hall or from Evergreen and, when he and Lisanna finally made a shaky amends, it was her about six months later that told him that Mirajane would be back in town in the coming days.

"Honestly?" He was holding a job flier which she was waiting to take from his hands, so that she could process it, but Laxus wasn't giving it up then.

"Yep," Lisanna said with the nod of her head as she continued to hold her hand out, waiting for him to give her the request form. He still didn't.

"Well, do you know the actual day she says she'll be back here?" He glanced down at the job before back at her. "Or-"

"I really doubt she wants to see you, Laxus."

"What?" Then he snarled at her, just enough to get the youngest Strauss to giggle. He always liked making Lisanna giggle. When she'd been mad at him was worse than breaking up with Mirajane. He didn't know Lisanna well when she they were young, but when she'd died… He just enjoyed having her back too much to ever fight with her. "I didn't say nothin' about seein' your filthy sister."

"She's only filthy because she slept with you."

"Hey-"

Giggling even more, Lisanna finally snatched the job, though it was to go tack it back up then. With a grin, she said, "Guess who she's taking with her when she leaves?"

Laxus leaned against the bar, staring into the deep blues that Lisanna shared with her sister, though not to nearly the same intensity.

"I'm guessin' since your brother's still being jerked around by Evergreen, Cana's a drunk, Erza's the Master, Gramps is too old, Lucy comes with the baggage a la Natsu and Happy, and Mirajane's out of close friends after that, I'm guessin'...her dog?"

"Laxus-"

"You?" he asked seriously that time. Adding a snort, he said, "What good would you do for Mirajane, out on the road?"

"She's actually doing very well, thank you very much, with her music." Then Lisanna grinned down at the job request. "Or at least she's getting some bars to let her play frequently."

"Mmmm."

"And she wants someone there with her. You know, someone she knows. Really knows. And I'm tired of playing barmaid."

"Already?" he asked. "After your sister put in so many good years?"

"I'm not like Mirajane. This place bores me to tears." Lisanna glanced down at herself then before mumbling, "And I don't pull in nearly as many tips as Sis."

Reaching out, Laxus tapped her on the head before straightening up. "Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll be a good person to keep her safe on the road. You know, the person that's scariest transformation is a giant bunny-"

"I'll have you know that my feline takeover is very threatening."

So, even though he'd been planning on getting out of town for awhile, Laxus hunkered down in Magnolia and waited for Mirajane to come strolling on through. And then he waited three more days, after finding out she was there because, hey, he wasn't desperate.

Just lonely. Sort of. Even six months out from their relationship, Laxus had to admit that things were still kind of falling back into place. For over a year his life had been structured around being with Mirajane and the little things that they would do together. He'd thought that without her, he'd be able to get right back to what he'd done before her, but it just wasn't true.

Mirajane really took care of Laxus in a way that he didn't realize until it was all over. Yeah, sure, fine, they didn't get to spend a lot of time alone together. At all. But up at the hall, when he'd come in, she'd always spend her breaks with him. Knew his drink order by heart. Cooked his steak just right. Never burnt his bacon the way the others did because she realized just what 'extra crispy' meant when it came to him.

And man if she didn't take care of his apartment for him while he was away. His fridge would be stocked when he got in and his sheets were changed far more regularly with her staying over there. She made sure his clothes actually made it into the closet and dresser, made sure his mail got taken care of while he was out, and always was over, even when she worked all night, when he came in to rub his back because it had been getting tight as of late, when he wasn't out on a job.

Which yeah, pretty much sounded like extremely shallow reasons to miss someone, but it wasn't like that. Not really. It was more of her understanding just what he needed when he was home and doing it, without being asked, because she enjoyed that. Taking care of others. Of him. She always had. And he appreciated it. All of it.

He just appreciated it even more when it was, you know, gone. And she was gone.

Laxus missed other stuff about Mirajane too, of course. Just being around her relaxed him, for some reason, which he desperately needed in his life. And she listened to him. Fully. Listened when he griped about how annoying others were and, unlike the Thunder Legion, would actually talk him through his feelings.

Just why did it piss him off when the others were goofing off? Or when one of the lowly members came back unsuccessful from a job? What made him so upset at the sight of Natsu and his cohorts breaking things in the hall? What difference did it make to him if Makarov was being too lenient on the others?

Or even things away from the hall. Like, why was it that he had such a hard time saying it? That he loved her? When he kept insisting he did, but would sort of choke on the words as they came out? And that time when he got really upset, on the anniversary of his mother's death, when she took off just so that they could sit around and not talk at all about it until the very end, when she got him to open up about a lot of shit that he'd never tell anyone else.

And then suddenly, without even considering what losing all that might mean to the daily flow of his life, he just cut it out, because they weren't getting enough time together. Actual time. Dates. Free days where neither of them had anything to do.

Six months out, he felt a tad foolish for that. Hearing that Mirajane was doing so well on her side of the break up didn't help him feel any better either. Maybe less guilty, but no less regretful.

Not that things were miserable for him. He kinda did regain some of his freedom. Came and went as he pleased, answered to no one, slept around again without any concern. That was all great.

Just...not having someone there for him, waiting back at home, no matter what, kinda...sucked.

In a major way.

All of that was in mind when he showed up to the Strauss house that day Mirajane was in town. Only, when he did arrive, he found that he wasn't the only one there. Rather, the last people on the face of Earthland that he wanted to see were.

"Hey, Laxus! You come to send Lisanna off by fighting me?"

Natsu. His cat. Lucy. Yep. Last people. Not even exaggerating.

Laxus didn't have time to focus on them though. Rather, his attention turned to Lisanna, who was standing out there with them, a duffel bag at her feet, clearly packed to head out.

"You're leaving today?" was all he asked, quite dumbly. "You and Mira?"

Lisanna was actually trying to soak up the last few Natsu moments she was getting then and only frowned as he walked across their front lawn and over to the porch. It was bad enough that she was having to share those moments with Lucy and Happy (who, don't get her wrong, she was going to miss a whole bunch too, but still; Natsu was Natsu), but now Laxus too?

"Mirajane's inside, Laxus," she tried hard not to snap as she said. "So-"

"Nope." The front door opened. "Now I'm out here too."

"Mira." Laxus coughed then, just from the sight of her, into his hand and Happy, who had secretly been hoping for some sort of love triangle to finally come to its head between Lisanna, Lucy, and Natsu (he'd been hoping for this for a long time yet still wasn't sure how he'd weather the aftermath), quickly abandoned ship and turned his attention into the next best thing; whatever the hell was about to go down between the eldest Strauss and Laxus. "There you are."

She walked right down the steps, bypassing the others to go stand in front of him. "Here I am."

"You look...nice."

And she did. Honest. Time off had done Mirajane a world of good. Her smile didn't seem so plastered on, her hair was down in that way that Laxus thought was so hot, and when she looked him in the eyes, there were no signs of tiredness at all. He had no idea how much this had to do with just being home for a week or if traveling as a musician was somehow less stressful than running (because, honestly, Makarov hadn't run it in far longer than anyone was willing to admit) a guildhall.

"Thank you," Mirajane giggled, smiling brightly up at him.

A beat passed in which they both heard Lisanna begin, once more, her long goodbyes to Natsu (who was kinda over the whole thing at that point, honestly), and Mirajane and Laxus both looked off, both contemplating if they should start theirs.

Or were they still on hello?

"Did you...come by for something? Was it to see Lisanna off?" Mira glanced over her shoulder at her sister. "Because I really don't think you're the slayer she wanted to-"

"You weren't going to come by my place? Before you left?"

"Well, considering you didn't come by mine-"

"What do you consider this?"

"Um, I'm not sure because you haven't been ultra clear yet what you're doing."

He'd get back to her on that. You know, when he figured it out.

"I just...figured I'd come say hi." He looked off. "I thought you'd be here longer, is all."

"You've never been on this side of it, have you?"

"What?"

"Being left for a job?"

Mira meant that to be cheeky, but the way Laxus' eyes clouded over, she knew she'd spoken without thinking of his past.

"Yeah, Mira, I have. But I really don't want to get into that right now."

Which made an awkward moment all the more gauche. Neither could look at the other then and, even though Lisanna was more than keeping the three on the porch busy, they couldn't help to feel even worse with an audience and, ugh, why did he come there again?

"Um, well," Mira began after a moment. "If you just wanted to say hi, then-"

"N-No, I actually, uh… How's, you know, your little singing thing been going?"

"It's not little, but-"

"That's not what I meant. I-"

"It's going fine. Thanks." Mira was being very cordial with him. Not at all how his nostalgia had played her back on those cold nights where he was alone in bed and just couldn't stop thinking about her. "And you've been fine? On your jobs? No...accidents or-"

"Never."

"Good." That grin was forced then as Mirajane held out an arm and gave him the stiffest hug of all time. Against his chest, where her head was awkwardly resting, she said, "Well, I'll see you next-"

"I should come with you."

And that got Mira to freeze. Completely.

"W-What?" Pulling back, she could only stare. "Laxus?"

His words caught him off guard too (sorta; he'd been thinking them since he found out she was back in town, but held them in) and he only stood there for a moment before figuring if his subconscious slipped them out, then he might as well push forwards with it.

"You know." He looked off. "As your...roadie or whatever. You and Lisanna, out on your own, bumbling around Fiore, that just spells trouble. You need a-"

"Real man to go with them?"

Oh shit.

"I've been saying that since the beginning," came the voice of Elfman as he came out of the house, eyes bloodshot from crying for, oh, ever. The only reason he heard them was because, after Laxus' outburst, Lisanna and the others stopped talking just to stare over at the couple (well, the others did; Natsu really didn't care what happened between Mirajane and Laxus, literally at all), leaving the muscular man, who was in the house, to overhear just what was said. "But the two of them don't think that I should come along. That I might-"

"Elfman, are you talking or are you planning?"

"And Ever's here too," Laxus grumbled from the sound of her in the house.

Right. Because if Lisanna and Mira were both officially out of the Strauss house then Evergreen could unofficially move in. Which would require planning. In which she no doubt meant she was going to completely redo the house without Mira's permission (or with it; women were weird and territorial at times, but even weirder sometimes and not at all, so Laxus wasn't really sure which way that was going) while she was gone.

"Oh, Laxus!" Evergreen was rushing out onto the porch as well then too. "What are you doing here?"

"Being a man," Elfman informed her though his girlfriend ignored that, still staring expectantly over at her idol for an explanation.

"He's, like, being super desperate and weird," Lisanna remarked as Lucy took a step behind Natsu for protection, no doubt predicting a large lightning strike to soon wipe out the entire porch. "So knock it off, Laxus."

"Oh, right," Ever remarked, glancing over at Lisanna before at Natsu. "He's the one being weird."

"What is that supposed to-"

"I'm trying," Laxus growled, glaring at all of them, "to have a conversation with Mirajane over here. So if you'd all kindly-"

"L-Laxus, what did you mean?" Mirajane had taken a few steps back. "Come with me? Why would you-"

"Because, Mira," he began as it was clear the two of them weren't getting any privacy any time soon, "you need a...man-"

"A real man!" Elfman called.

"-to be with you. Not because you're, like, weak or whatever. I would never say that."

"Better not," Lisanna remarked.

"But," he went on, "other people might try to take advantage of you. I'm sure they have already. And I-"

"Oh, Mira uses things to her advantage too."

That time, at Lisanna's words, Laxus turned his attention to her. "What?"

"Lis-" Mira tried, but her sister only shrugged.

"You know," she said as Happy, who was about blissed out from his position atop Lucy's head, could hardly contain his giddiness over the whole situation, "Mira uses certain assets to her advantage."

"Assets?" Natsu scratched at his head. "Like what?"

Lucy's face was beyond red as she only put a hand over her face and mumbled to him, "Let's just let this one die, huh?"

"Oh my, Mirajane," Evergreen remarked as Elfman, who had been pumped over the whole man thing, turned a bit green and looked rather sick. "Tell me you're not sleeping around to get to play at these bars? Perhaps I should go too. Because I would love to see just what assets you're-"

"More like ass and tits. Instead of assets? Am I right?"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Laxus complained as Bickslow came bounding out of the house as well, babies trailing along behind him. "I mean, seriously?"

"Oy, boss," the seith complained, pushing up his visor to stare over at him. "I was helpin' Evergreen move in."

"I'm not moving in." The stone mage looked off. "I'm just...moving...things in."

"Nice cover," Lisanna mumbled which only got her a thankfully behind glasses glare.

"Uh, N-Natsu, I really feel like this is where we should probably depart," Lucy spoke up from behind him where she was still blushing heavily and also hiding, just in case Laxus did decide to strike someone down. "Or-"

"No, wait!" Lisanna quickly dropped tormenting her sister then, turning back to stare at Natsu. "I didn't finish saying goodbye."

"Why should I even give you a chance to?" Natsu went back to glaring off. "Takin' off like this, with no warning."

"I've told you for a month I was leaving."

"Well, I forgot, okay? Before Lucy drug me over here today-"

"A thankless job, I might add," the celestial mage complained as Happy bounced off her head to go land in Lisanna's arms. "Just saying."

"I'll miss you, Lisanna," Happy offered up. "And I remembered you were leaving. Here, look in my pack. I got a fish just for you!"

"Uh, w-well, Happy, that's really nice, but-"

"You don't want it? Great." He grinned. As if he was ever planning on her taking it anyways. "Thought that counts, I guess."

Natsu only snorted. "Don't get why everyone has to be moving away and leaving. Now Laxus is too? This is really something."

"Laxus isn't-" Mira started, but her sister cut her off.

"You left for a year! Without even telling anyone! At all! And-"

"And?"

"If you don't see the correlation in that, then I don't even know what we're talking about!"

Laxus blinked, out there in the yard. Then he glanced back at Mirajane.

"I really don't care about teenage drama hour up there," he told her simply before moving to grab her arm. "C'mere. Please. I want to talk to you. Seriously."

"L-Laxus-"

"If I fix your sister will you walk with me?" He glanced back up at the porch. "Hey, flame retardant; she wants you to ask her to fucking stay. Idiot."

"Shut up, Laxus," Lisanna hissed as Evergreen only giggled into her hand. But he was already dragging Mirajane off by the arm who went more willingly than she'd like to admit.

That time they didn't walk around in the alleyways. Instead, they set off down the road and, only when they were far enough from the house, Laxus slowly released her arm.

"You weren't being serious back there," she said simply. "You couldn't have been."

"Well, I'm not expert on stupid love stories, but yeah, I think your sister's just building up to Natsu begging for her to stay or something, which he isn't going to do. Or Happy's trying to build that up. Maybe. Whatever. I really don't care-"

"Not that, Laxus." She gave him a look before rolling her eyes. "About going with me."

"Oh." He took a deep breath then. "I really don't… It just kind of tumbled out."

"I figured."

"But I have missed you, Mirajane." He glanced down at her. "A lot. And I just… I dunno. I've been thinking."

"I'm sure."

"And this entire time, I kept thinking about how your shit was getting in the way of us. Your job was screwing up our timing and then you leaving did and… But what if it's me? I mean, my schedule isn't easy to work around."

"It's really not, considering it's not a schedule at all."

He nodded. "That's my point. Maybe it was...me. And… You made far more time for me than I ever did you. I-"

"Laxus, it's been, like, six months. Just-"

"For you, that might seem like forever," he said, glancing down at her. "But for me, that's just been four very long jobs. No time at all. And I've had a lot of time to think about you and what you've been doing… Granted, I didn't think you were just out sleeping with all of Fiore for gigs-"

"She was exaggerating and you know it," Mira hissed, glaring up at him. Laxus only gave her a slight nod.

"I know."

"I mean, I never slept with someone for a chance to play anywhere," Mirajane went on. "I might have flirted a little. And yeah, I did sleep with a few people-"

"I really don't want to talk about this. At all."

"You sleep around all the time," she complained, giving him a look. Laxus nodded.

"I also don't want to talk about that either though."

"Then-"

"I don't...have to take jobs, Mirajane," he told her simply. "I mean, I do, for jewels, and because I love it, but it doesn't have to be such a constant thing. Not really. I haven't put a lot of thought into this, but… I could have Freed read me to the S-Class jobs, back at home, over a lacrima, take them, go out and get them done while you're busy with your shit-"

"What are you saying? That you'd be-"

"Be with you. On your little- sorry, not little, but your thing, your singing thing. I could go with you and take jobs on the side and help your income and we can just be together. I know you'll be busy and shit, but it would be like-"

"L-Laxus-"

"I just...I dunno. Never mind. I just… I really liked being with you. And maybe I'm not remembering things right or I'm just trying to cram everything I want to say into this single moment and it's just not all coming out right, but I… You know, I still care about you. And I… If you don't want to be in Magnolia anymore, then fine; I don't really like being here much either. And if we could get the timing better now, with us not being in Mag-"

"But it was never about timing for me, Laxus." And Mirajane meant that. "At all. It was for you and, yeah, sometimes it bugged me too, but I was willing to work through that. You weren't."

"But I was willing to get back together," he argued. "When time did work itself out. And now look; it has! So why-"

"I've enjoyed myself, this six months, Laxus." She glanced up at him. "A lot. And...I don't...want to be in a relationship right now."

That got him to stop walking. He just stood there, forcing her to stop too and stare at him.

"It's true," she insisted. "The best thing you did was end our relationship. It gave me a chance to go out and try something that I've wanted for so long and I'm really enjoying it. And I think I'll enjoy it even more with Lisanna coming with me. But...with you being there it would be… I love you too, Laxus. A lot. And you wanted me to wait, remember, for when timing was better? Well, now you get a chance to do that for yourself. I mean...I'm sorry, Lax, but...I don't want to be with you right now."

Which he couldn't be too mad about. Right? Right. Right? Sure. Whatever. 'cause, you know, it was basically the same thing he did to her. Right? When she felt like things were going perfectly and he just ruined everything? Now here he was, ready to bear his soul to her, only for her to claim that she wasn't down with that.

No hurt feelings.

None what so ever.

Heh.

Laxus didn't go back to Mirajane's place with her. Didn't even talk to her. Just grumbled out something about how if she felt that way, fine; go fuck around some more in hopes of one day becoming a mediocre singer, see if he cared.

Which, admittedly, was not the right thing to say. And also contributed to why, when they ran into one another a few months later in some far off town, neither wanted to speak to the other.

But Lisanna, who was in love with life and being away from Natsu's immaturity and traveling and being away from Natsu's ignorance to her love and meeting new people and being even further away from Natsu's apparent desire to not to be her boyfriend, definitely had more than a few things to say to the slayer.

"Oh my gosh, Laxus!" She was practically bouncing in her seat, at the sight of him passing their table out on some patio cafe. Mirajane, however, was refusing to even glance his way. "I can't believe you're here! What are the chances?" Then she was jumping up to go grab his arm and pull him over. "You have to eat with us! Right now! Are you on a job? No? Eat with us!"

"L-Lisanna," he tried as she drug him right over. "I really don't think-"

"I haven't seen someone from Magnolia in forever, much less someone from Fairy Tail." She sat him down right between she and Mirajane. Still, the former model refused to meet his eyes. It was rather easy too, given the fancy sunglasses she was wearing. "And I'm super glad that it was you that I ran into!"

"Why are you yelling?" he grumbled as she only giggled "Have you been drinking?"

Mira, finally, spoke up at that, though it was just to quip, "Lisanna's become pretty good at that."

Grinning, the youngest Strauss only asked, "What are you doing here, Laxus? Something fun? Or are you on a job?"

"I just was passing through," he said, arms folded over his chest as he stared at her. "I'm on my way back home after finishing a j-"

"So you can stay in town tonight and come see Mirajane preform?"

"What?" Mira glared over at her sister. "Lisanna-"

"I really don't think-" the slayer tried, but Lisanna was having none of it. Only spoke over both of them.

"So it's settled. Great! Now let me tell you all about what we've been doing since we last saw you."

Which, for a completely Natsu-less story, his name sure came up a lot. Every time Lisanna mentioned a guy that she went out with on their misadventure (or slept with; Laxus had a feeling she was mostly just enjoying that part of freedom from Magnolia more than anything else), somehow she'd mention something about stupid Fairy Tail and inevitably Natsu and ugh, Laxus was glad she didn't directly ask him something about the other slayer because he might have barfed.

Mirajane seemed pissed at Laxus for not finding some excuse to leave (or maybe her sister for even inviting him over in the first place), but kept quiet. As did Laxus, save the few times that Lisanna asked him a question or required a response. And though he didn't really like the idea of her drinking so much (and definitely hated that she was, apparently, seeing all these men because, as much as he hated the stupid Salamander, at least he was safe and, well, not responsible, but not completely inept either when it came to looking out for Lisanna), she seemed really...happy. A lot of times Laxus kind of felt bad for Lisanna. Back at home, Mirajane was the most important Strauss, Elfman was the loudest one, and she was kind of just the one that pined after Natsu and did her sister's bidding. You know, if you just didn't want to classify her as the one that should have died.

He knew a lot of people just thought of her in that way.

If she'd found herself (or at least something) on her and Mirajane's trip around Fiore, then good for her.

His demon, on the other hand, he did not like the idea of 'finding herself' anywhere other than back at home where he knew the people in the guildhall were smart enough to know better than to even think about putting the moves on his woman, relationship over or not.

Laxus found himself drifting his gaze over to her a lot during Lisanna's stories.

"So you'll come, right?" Lisanna asked when, finally, she'd finished her drink and Mirajane whatever dessert had been on her plate. "Laxus? Tonight? Please?"

"I really don't-"

"Oh, just come, Laxus," Mirajane complained, giving him a look. He only stared back at her though. "Or else Lisanna will blame me for it."

Wow. Okay, so Mirajane wasn't even going to try and pretend to be perky for him? Laxus wasn't sure if that meant he was so far off her radar that he didn't matter or he should be honored that he was the only one she wouldn't put on an act for, pissed off or not.

"Alright," he said, a bit uneasy then as he got to his feet. "Where is-"

"Yay!" Lisanna launched herself at him then and, damn, fine, they'd had an okay relationship when he and Mirajane were dating, but they were never that close.

Just how much had she been drinking?

"Okay, Lisanna," Mirajane finally said as Laxus didn't move to hug her, but wasn't too sure if he should push her away or not. "Calm down."

Another giggle. And then she told Laxus where Mirajane would be preforming that night and, with a grumble about how he really hadn't planned on paying a cover charge just to have fun that night, he agreed to be there.

And he was. That night. There. Only, Lisanna was sorta shocked to see him.

"Oh, wow, Laxus, I didn't think you'd actually show up," she remarked as he approached her in the bar that night. She was at a table with a these two guys that Laxus definitely didn't want anywhere near her, just from the looks of them (and from the way she was hanging off one). Making a face, he only sat down, much to the annoyance of the other men.

"You told me to come," he pointed out. "You insisted."

"Yeah, but I never thought you'd listen to me."

"If you want me to leave-"

"No." Lisanna even grinned, staring across the table at him before glancing up at the tiny stage on the other end of the bar. "Sis'll be on soon. And she won't say it, but I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

Yeah, well, Laxus wasn't too glad to be around the new Lisanna too long, so he only went over to the bar to order a drink and find somewhere else to sit for awhile. And suffer through Mirajane's set.

It wasn't so much that he didn't think Mirajane had a nice voice. Because she did. And it wasn't that he thought she wasn't talented on her guitar. Because she was. It was more of the songs that Mira sang that bothered him.

They were all about past relationships. Good ones, bad ones, anything and everything. He'd never liked hearing her sing her own songs when they were dating. Rather, he'd have her sing covers of songs that he listened to in his headphones and, with giggles, Mirajane would typically comply because Laxus was just so cute.

With her preforming at the bar, however, this, of course, did not occur.

Still, it had been a long time since Laxus had heard Mirajane sing. A very long time. And he wouldn't admit it, but sometimes, late at night, he'd wished that he'd recorded her, once or twice, singing him some of his songs, just the way he liked them. And though he didn't hear any covers like he would have liked, just the sound of Mirajane's voice was rather calming. Relaxing.

Almost as if they were spending that year together again, when they were still together, and on rare nights she'd sing him to sleep, playing softly on her guitar.

"Did you like that song?"

Lisanna came to join him up at the bar eventually, grinning at him. Laxus had been listening to Mira sing up there, head down, staring into his beer mug, but glanced at her when she sat down.

"Hmmm?"

"That song's about you, silly."

"W-What? No."

"Mmmhmm."

"Was not."

"How do you know?"

He flicked her forehead with a frown. "Because she's been singing that one for years, dummy."

"Awe." Lisanna giggled, reaching up to rub at her head. "I thought I'd trick you. Make you nervous."

"Why would I care if she wrote something about me?" He went back to staring into his mug. "Literally at all?"

Lisanna glanced up at the stage, where Mira was still strumming away and had the rapt attention of most the men in the room. To Laxus she asked, "Where are you headed next?"

"Home. Whatever towns are in the way of that," he said simply. "You?"

"We're here for awhile. Mira and the bar management have a pretty good thing going and a few other bars in close by towns. I guess this is kinda home base for the moment." Grinning, she said, "But we're going home soon. To Magnolia. Well, soon as in, like, two months or three or so."

Laxus shrugged a bit. "Yeah, well, I'm sure Gramps and the others'll be glad to see you."

"It's still a long way away though. Even though it's soon. You know?"

"You seem to be having a pretty grand time out here," he remarked, glancing over his shoulder to find where those guys had gotten off to. Nowhere. Just sitting over there arguing from the looks of it. Laxus could only hope that it wasn't over Lisanna.

Seriously, if he could go back, he would have never teased her or made fun of her about Natsu. Would have just let that damn thing happen and not made a big fuss over it. If only.

Laxus got ditched by Lisanna eventually and just sat alone, up at the bar, drinking until Mirajane finished her set. He wasn't expecting much after it from her, but was pleasantly (in someways) surprised when she came over to him eventually.

"If you don't buy me a drink soon," she said as she came to claim the empty seat beside him, "then I'm going to be too drunk off other guys' drinks to enjoy it."

Glancing down at her, he asked, "What makes you think I'll buy you a drink?"

"Because you're just going to, so get over it."

"Do I have to talk to you? Along with this drink?"

"Nope."

Laxus held up a hand to wave over the bartender. "Perfect."

A drink turned into two and no conversation turned into Mirajane telling him about what she'd been doing since they last spoke as he sat there awkwardly, trying hard not to let on that he really didn't care.

Because seriously, he just didn't.

Mira's stories, unlike Lisanna's, seemed to involve a lot less guys, but Laxus was certain he was only hearing the censored versions. Just like how if she were to ask him of what he'd been up to since they'd last seen one another, the last thing he'd tell her that he was so down at one point that he drowned himself in booze and women until he didn't feel so bad.

It had taken awhile.

"So I guess things are still turning out okay," Mirajane went on as Laxus hardly listened. "I mean, sure, I'm not, like, doing some insane amount of gigs or anything, but I'm doing enough. And I am sort of supporting Lisanna-"

"And her drinking habit?"

"It's not as bad as it seems," Mira told him with a frown. "She just met a new guy last week, is all."

"Right." Laxus glanced around for her, but she seemed to be gone then, as well as those two guys. "Was that the dark haired one with glasses or-"

"He's back again?" Mira made a face before staring down at her empty glass. "i should have never let her leave Magnolia."

Laxus had to concur, but kept quiet, as it wasn't his place to say so.

"Everyone gets to taste freedom once," he remarked simply. "Some of us just like it more than others."

"And some of us," Mirajane quipped in what he was sure was a slight to him, "just don't know what they have till it's gone."

"Is it that obvious?" he mumbled, in that weird drunk place that he wasn't out of it, in any regard, but was definitely a bit looser around the tongue. "That I-"

"I mean, surely she sees that flirting around the edge with Natsu is more than these stupid guys that don't care about her at all ever will be?"

"-still have been thinking a lot about you and how I fucked up and shit, I'm sorry, Mira."

Silence.

Then, suddenly, their gauche moment was ruined as someone threw their arms around around both of them, giggling the entire time.

"Mirajane," Lisanna sang, breath smelling strongly of liquor. "I'm gonna go, huh? So you get home okay, alright?"

"Go where?" Mirajane sat up then, glancing at her sister. "Lisanna-"

"Just somewhere." She dropped her arm around Laxus to hug her sister from behind. "Bye! And Laxus said he'd pay my tab."

"Laxus said what?" The slayer sat up at that. "Because whatever he said, it definitely wasn't-"

"Bye, Laxus." He got a hug too. A tight one. He wasn't happy with Lisanna any longer though and actually shoved her off. Still, she only giggled and said, "I'll see you around, okay? You should come see Mira play again some time."

When he was having so much more fun embarrassing himself in front of the woman instead?

"She's definitely come alive," the slayer complain to Mirajane after Lisanna left, hand in hand with some guy. "Out here."

"She's just getting to do what we all did, when we were kids and used to go out on jobs," Mirajane remarked with a sigh. "I guess. I mean, we actually had to work and put in effort to get the jewels to blow on partying and hanging out, but after all she's been through-"

"Been through? You mean getting a second shot at life?"

"Laxus-"

"Your brother would have a heart attack."

"Yeah, well," she sighed, "that's why we left him back in Magnolia, isn't it?"

Sighing himself, Laxus started, "Hey, Mirajane, about before-"

"You wanna get out of here? Laxus?"

He blinked. Then he frowned. Then he stared down at her. "If this is because I'm paying your sister's tab, don't feel the need to pay me back; I'm going to just have Ever steal some stuff from you guys' place and pawn it for me."

"Just shut up."

He could do that. He preferred to do that.

What Laxus didn't get, of course, was that Mirajane, in fact, wasn't having as great a time as Lisanna. Sure, she loved playing her music and the attention she was getting from it, as well as meeting new people and seeing new places, but she was also extremely homesick. She wanted to be around someone in Fairy Tail other than her sister who was looking less and less like her old self by the minute (give Mira's own transformation at that age, she couldn't bitch too much). If Laxus hadn't just apologized (and sort of drunkenly admitted that he was still into her) though, she still might not have done much.

But he did say what he did. And she did feel the way that she did.

So why not just go for it? If he was going back home and she wouldn't be there for months? It might be one of the only times they'd see one another for a long time. Why waste it if they both wanted it?

"You getting used to the hotel life?" Laxus asked her when they arrived at the tiny one she and Lisanna were currently staying at. "I know you said you hated them that time we went on vacation together."

"We had time for a vacation?"

"Don't ruin this, Mira."

"This," she said as he shut the door behind himself, "isn't really anything until I make it something."

Alrighty then.

Mira felt icky, she claimed, after her show and excused herself into the bathroom while Laxus only went to sit on the end of one of the beds, waiting. He had a lot of time to think. And realize that Mirajane was probably drunk too. And lonely, like him.

He got that way, on long jobs or sabbaticals. Even before Mirajane. It was hard, being away for so long from home. Even when he didn't like being in Magnolia or any of his Fairy Tall members, it was still better to be there than away for extended periods of time.

It crossed his mind about then, that maybe he should turn Mirajane down, be a good guy and tell her that she'd been drinking and that was no good and that, hey, if she was still in to him the next day, when they'd both had a good chance to get associated with one another again...

But then he remembered that Mirajane wasn't just some random; she was his demon and the reason they were there then, in that motel room, wasn't just because they were associates, but because they were...whatever they were, and he wanted to have that back. Even if it was just for an hour or so.

It helped too that when he was teetering between either leaving or staying that Mirajane opened the bathroom door and strode out there in next to nothing.

That helped the decision making a lot.

"I missed you here," he mumbled when she came to claim her place on his lap, Laxus leaning back, hands rested on her hips as he stared up at her. "Demon."

"Mmmm." She wouldn't look him in the eyes. "I missed being called that."

"Yeah?"

Sort of. Mostly just anything other than just Mirajane or Mira. Something special. That only someone who truly knew her would be able to get away with.

"Yeah."

"Then I'll say it more." He leaned forwards once more so that he could nuzzle his head in between her neck and shoulder. "Demon."

"Mmmm."

Laxus had to admit, being with someone he had a history with was good for him as well. Mira knew about how there was a certain part of his tummy that he liked for her to press against and that he hated the feeling of nails against his flesh (it was a turnoff to him, big time, and really ruined the moment), but at the same time he very much so enjoyed teeth (don't ask). Kinda like how he knew how she hated eye contact (at any point during) and was not a big fan of snuggling (which he thought was odd, but never made a complaint because, hey, whatever).

It was just those sorts of things that you get to know after a year that can't be made up for by the thrill of a short fling. And, when it was all said and done, Laxus was glad that he hadn't tried to force himself to walk out because of 'moral reasons' or whatever, as just lying there with Mira felt more right than most things had recently.

"Laxus?"

"Mmmm?"

"Please tell me you don't have a girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Good."

"That happen a lot to you?"

"Only once." She shifted on the bed, giving him her back. "But a long time ago. Before we ever dated. I usually ask before I… But with you, I just figured..."

"Oh what? That I'm not boyfriend material?"

"That you've still not gotten the timing right for anyone."

"I had it right for you, but-"

"Come off it."

"No."

Sighing, Mirajane said, "It's beyond late, I felt like my whole set was junk-"

"It wasn't." He wiggled his toes. "I liked it."

"Shut up."

"No."

Mira glanced over her shoulder at him, but he didn't move in the slightest. Only laid there, eyes nearly shut.

"Are you staying?"

"I did buy a hotel room for the night and my stuff's there, but… It's not going to be weird, is it? For Lisanna? You guys are sharing a room, right?"

"She won't be back tonight."

"Oh." Laxus blinked. Then frowned. "Please don't tell me about anything like that again."

"I won't have time to. You're leaving in the morning, right?" When she was answered with silence, she repeated, "Right?"

"Well… If today wasn't a great set-"

"Laxus-"

"I should get," he complained, "to see a great set."

"Hear."

"Whatever."

Pushing up, Mirajane shifted again, so that she was on her back as well, before saying, "It won't be tomorrow."

"That's fine. I have some things to do in town, apparently, until then."

"Which are?"

"Well, you, obviously."

"Laxus-"

"And I have some unmanly men to show what a real man is."

"Do what?"

"I might not like your brother, Mirajane," he grumbled as, that time, he gave her his back, "but I can't just let this all go down without extracting some form of revenge for him."

"And what sort of revenge were you thinking?"

"I dunno yet. Leaning towards telling all of those guys that Lisanna's mine and therefore not theirs and completely ruining her social life-"

"Belonging to you seems like it could make a social life in some circles, but go on."

"-but that would be too weird. For you. Us. Right?"

"I dunno. As long as you, like, aren't actually attracted to my sister-"

"Gross. She's like twelve."

"Not even close."

"Feels like it."

"Uh-huh."

"Or," he went on loudly, wishing to leave that portion of the conversation, "I could, you know, just have a talk with Lisanna."

"That sounds interesting."

"About how she should have a talk with you and calm the hell down."

"Less interesting."

Relaxing into the bed, he changed his mind then as he said, "She seems really happy, anyways."

"She is."

"And who am I to judge?"

"Not very pure yourself."

"And, I mean, I'm sure I'm just catching her on a bad night."

"Kind of."

"But mostly, I think I still see her as a little kid."

"Yeah."

"And as my girlfriend's little sister."

"Probably."

"And I really just don't want her to, like, turn into Cana or something."

"Or something."

"And how can a kid grow up in a bar, only to become a drunk when they leave it?"

"Maybe it was influential in the early years and now she's realized her true calling as a Fairy Tail Mage; to drink a lot and bog me down with requests and never ending needs."

"Well, you are good at filling requests. All kinds."

"Hmmm." Mira paused for a moment before saying, "How long are we going to talk around us and pretend to really be that interested in Lisanna?"

"I figured as long as you'd let us."

Letting out a breath, she said, "I don't think that we're ready to date again."

"I am."

"No. You're ready to sleep with me again."

"Well, I already did that and am still intrigued by you, so-"

"It's different, Laxus, when you've dated before. There's certain expectations. On both of us. And right now-"

"If you don't think you can be monogamous, Mirajane," he chided, taking that tone with her (for, like, the first time over), "then you shouldn't have led me on."

There it was. Finally. After so long, in that moment, Laxus actually got Mirajane to giggle. Rather loudly and for a good minute, she just laid there, laughing. He didn't turn to look at her, for fear of ruining the moment, but did smile softly to himself, staring towards the window. Even though the curtains were shut, he could see moonlight peaking through the sides.

"I fucked up, Mira," he sighed. "A while ago. Breaking up with you. And I've tried a couple of times to fix it now and you just won't let me. If you don't want me, that's fine. But I want you. I...love you, you know. And I shouldn't have ever broken up with you. I should have thought of another way. But I did, you know, give it a lot of thought. I don't think I ever told you that. But I did. I thought about it a lot. And I felt like shit."

"You ruined my morning-"

"Breakfasts, yeah, I remember. But I'm saying now it was a mistake. And-"

"Lax, if you couldn't take me working up at the guildhall all the time, there's no way that you could possibly take me being-"

"But I told you that last time we saw one another that I want to travel with you."

They could both hear it in his voice though. When he'd said that before, back in Magnolia, it had been out of desperation. After months of contemplation, he knew that solution just wasn't going to cut it and he really didn't want to do it. At all.

Mira could tell too as she only said, "You know that wouldn't work."

"Yeah." Laxus let out a slow breath. "I know."

"You love taking jobs constantly."

"I do."

"And you couldn't just sit around and watch me do something while you do nothing at all."

"I definitely couldn't."

"You'd grow bored. We'd have so much time that you'd be bored."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Why can't we just go back before I ever brought up the stupid timing shit? Huh? And just see one another when we see one another? You're doing your own thing now, and that's fine, you like it, and I'll go back to doing my thing, which I love, and we can see one another when we get a chance. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." Mirajane shut her eyes. "Had you not-"

"And now I'm saying let's ignore that I ever did that. And just try again. Try harder to be around one another. Because damn, Mira, it's been over a year now and I still miss you. Doesn't that mean something? If you miss me too?"

But Mirajane didn't answer. And, even though he knew she wasn't really asleep, he left it at that.

"Oh, no, gross, did you guys sleep together?"

Until Lisanna woke them up bright and early the next morning, stumbling around in the dark room, as the blinds were still drawn. Mirajane sat up a bit, but Laxus only laid there, eyes shut, praying that he too could pretend to be asleep.

"That's, like, a rule, Mira. That we can't bring guys back to the shared space."

"Laxus isn't just a guy."

"Neither is-"

"Yes. Whoever you're going to say, yes, he is."

Heh.

"So," he heard after a moment, "are we going to talk about what happened? To lead to...this?"

"Wh- Not with him right here!"

"He's sleeping."

"He's not a sleep," Mira complained. "He's faking."

"No way."

"He's even peeking his eyes open. You're not tricking anyone, Laxus."

"He's tricking me."

Groaning, Laxus rolled onto his stomach before, against the pillow, grumbling out, "Mira and I fucked because we always fuck because we're in love. That's the story. Now go away."

That got him a hit to the side by Mirajane and a lot of laughter from Lisanna before she rushed off to the bathroom, leaving them alone again.

"You're bad," Mirajane chided because, you know, that was a horrible thing to be, when you were Mirajane. "Laxus."

"You're the one that hit me," he pointed out through a yawn. "That's really bad."

"I was only bad because you were bad."

"Don't be such a follower then."

Slowly, Mirajane relaxed into the bed when she heard Lisanna turn on the shower in the bathroom. Then she softly whispered, "You think I love you, Laxus?"

"I know you do."

"That's silly."

"You took me home, Mira, before I even tried schmoozing you into it. And then you wanted me to stay the night-"

"I asked if you wanted to. I didn't-"

"You wouldn't have asked if you didn't want me to. And you haven't kicked me out yet even though I just told your sister that we love fucking each other-"

"Yeah, well, the more you say it, the closer you are to getting kicked out, so-"

"I missed you." Laxus, still on his back, tossed an arm out, which fell across Mirajane. "And everything about you."

"Not everything," she said, trying to shove his arm off. "And you know it."

"I don't know it. Might be true, but don't know it."

When he refused to lift up his arm, Mirajane eventually gave up and, very timidly moved to run her hand up and down it. Once Laxus let out a content sigh, she seemed to relax as well and even shifted so that she could kiss his bicep.

They'd figure out some way to make it work that time. Laxus just knew it.

"He, like, sleeps all day."

"Coming from you, Lisanna, I think that's saying something."

That was what Laxus awoke to sometime after noon, as well as the sound of a soft strumming as Mirajane tried out a new chord progression. She and her sister were over on the other bed, from the sound of it, while Laxus was still on his, face buried in the pillow and arms folded up above his head.

"Are you guys, like, back on or-"

"I don't know, Lisanna." Her strumming stopped, if only for the moment. "We haven't… I guess. Sort of. But…'

"You know you still like him."

"Of course I do. I've never said I haven't."

"I like having him around, anyways," Lisanna giggled. "Very much."

"You would like anyone from the guild to hang out with."

"Well...yeah. But Laxus is good."

At the moment, anyways. When he tried to break up whatever it was that she had going on with those guys, she would actually hate his guts. But Lisanna didn't know that just yet, so she couldn't be mad at the slayer.

"He's awake, you know."

"What?" Laxus heard Lisanna shift on the bed. "How can you tell? This time I'm calling your bluff, Mira. There's no way-"

"Aren't you, dragon?"

He was frozen then, hearing that monicker for the first time in a long time and only laid there for a moment before grumbling out, "Would you two can it? I'm tryin' to get some rest over here."

"You are good," Lisanna complimented her sister. "Maybe you guys are meant to be together."

Yeah. Maybe. But definitely not for that reason alone.

Lisanna didn't want to eat lunch (or an early dinner; whatever) with them when Laxus and Mirajane finally left the hotel room sometime later. She said she had plans. Which was for the best. Laxus and Mirajane more or less just wanted to spend that meal discussing where they were headed next.

For him, it was rather simple.

"Home," he told her. "In a few days. Then another job. And then I'll get you on the lacrima, figure out where you're at, and come see you. Repeat."

"Surely you wouldn't enjoy all that."

"Surely," he argued, "I would."

"And there's still, at least, a month passing between when we get together. And even then you'll be tired and I'll be busy and, Lax, what about the..."

"The what?" He glanced up from cutting into his steak. "Demon?"

She glanced around the restaurant before back at him with a slight frown. "I'm assuming that you...see people. Like I see people. And...I just want to know if we're…gonna...not see other people. Like, is this real or are we just-"

"I don't know about you," he said slowly then, still just staring at her, "but everything I know about...open relationships is that they usually don't turn out too well for one person. Usually the more emotional one. So-"

"You're afraid of me hurting you?"

"Ha ha. I'm trying to save you here, woman."

"I'm not more emotionally attached to you than you are to me." Mira gave him a look. "You stalked me here, remember?"

"Oh, bull. I was just passing through."

"Likely story."

"You're the one that had your little sister drag me into-"

"Never happened."

"Did so."

"Liar."

"Demon."

"Dragon."

Then they just stared before, finally, with a grin, he said, "I wouldn't want to think of you as sleeping with other people anyways. I don't like the idea of it now, actually."

"You're so immature," Mira said, sitting up taller. "That's what Lisanna would say. That no one owns anyone and the whole world's free and-"

"What did you do to her? Taking her out here with you?"

Mira only hummed. "Unleashed her inner self, apparently."

"Yeah, well, me and you must be...whatever the opposite of unleashed is. Inleashed?"

"I think it would just be leashed, dragon."

Nodding, he said, "Then I'm leashed. Or I want to be, anyways."

"You sure are more open, Laxus," she said simply, glancing down at her own plate, "with this than you ever were the entire time we were together."

"Well, yeah," he complained. "I had something I really liked and now I got a chance at getting it again. Why wouldn't I give it my all?"

Truth be told, it was more of a tradeoff than anything else. He was being as open as he ever would be about his feelings and hopes for her and them, while Mirajane was the most reserved she'd ever been about such a thing. It was clear that he'd hurt her, back then, and he knew it would take a while to get them back on their normal tracks, when she'd be comfortable in that he cared about her and he'd be content enough that she wasn't going to try to pull what he did on her and leave him.

"You're just coming on a bit strong, is all. If not desperate."

"I'm not hearing you hate it."

"Oh, I certainly would on someone else," she assured him before glancing up with a slight grin. "But coming from you, I dunno, it's almost...cute."

Laxus wasn't cute. And usually wouldn't enjoy being called it. But at the moment it only made him sit up straight and clear his throat.

"Yeah, well, I try."

"You do?"

"For you."

And they shared a smile then, if only for a moment, before looking off. It wasn't lost on either of them that the core reason they separated the first time was still ever present, if not more so, with her on the road as well as him then. They also both were very aware of the fact that, really, they should be taking things a lot slower than they were, maybe not even having the conversation they had so far about their relationship, as it shouldn't even be called that yet.

They should just be dating. At best. And see where things went. Because too much riding on something too early would only lead to disaster. They were both old enough to know better, after all.

And yet…

"It could be worse," Laxus told Makarov when he got back to Magnolia a few days later only for the old man to carp at him when, while telling him about his travels (Laxus came by every time he finished a job to, as much as he hated it, water those damn plants and pick up around the place, ugh), somehow he let it slip that he and Mirajane were back on. "I mean, we could have gotten drunk and then married."

Makarov, who hadn't even thought that the two of them would end up at the alter back when they were dating previously, had to set down his teacup at that, frowning over at his grandson. And, with a long sigh, he said, "Yes, it could have been much worse, I suppose."

"And if that's all you need here, Gramps," the man said as he water the last plant, there on the back patio of the man's house, "I have a demon to get on the lacrima. And a certain Salamander to bribe."

"A what now?"

But Laxus only shook his head, too fearful to speak his plan of getting (or tricking) Natsu into talking to Lisanna over a lacrima or writing her or something only to beg her to come back home, which would effectively end (he hoped) her little soiree into adult life and send her back into her dorky existence where she was mostly ignored, but certainly safe back home.

Because, you know, that was just important to him too. Not as important as being with Mirajane, but definitely up there.

Even when he found out that bribing Natsu with a fight (which worked), had the adverse effect in which Lisanna flat out told Natsu that she wasn't thinking about coming back to Fairy Tail for a few months and she'd just see him then, Laxus couldn't be too mad.

Beating the crap out of Natsu (who enjoyed every second of it, the little freak) and getting the demon back, all in one week? Losing Lisanna to the dark side (if one considered that the dark side) was sort of just a moot point.