Kiss
AN:
1st - I do not own.
2nd - This was written for the first day of the Laxana-Week over at tumblr!
"You will have to talk with her, Laxus," his grandfather said as he mentioned at the open door that led into the garden of the new, the ridiculous small guild building – the one that was too small to contain them and their spirit.
"What I am supposed to say? I am sorry?" Laxus asked as he leaned against the counter, sipping his beer. "I messed up. She knows that I told Freed to kill her. She won't forgive me."
"To stand at the bar, hoping that she will come in and get a drink is quite ridiculous as well, brat," the guild master said with a shrug. "Some might even say that you are too much of a coward to confront her openly … by the way, rumour has it that she misses you as well."
"If Mira's the one to say this, I wouldn't believe it," Laxus said. "She is the resident matchmaker after all … plus, she once said that she'd love to see me beaten up by Gildarts and even though this was years ago, I still don't trust her completely."
"That's mean, Laxus," the woman in question said as she put down a heavy tray of wine glasses. "I still want to see Gildarts wiping the floor with you but I always wanted to see this as a reaction to you knocking up Cana – or asking her to marry you … something like that."
"You are one hellish matchmaker," he muttered as he looked at the tray. "What's up with that?"
"Oh, Cana said that she's thirsty but I got to check up on Lisanna … she and Lucy drank with Juvia and they looked kinda green when they left the party," the barmaid said as she handed him the tray. "Please bring her the wine … she looked like she needs it when I last saw her."
"Mi-" Laxus started but the S-class mage had already left, hurrying over to the door that led to the street. Lucy and Lisanna had drunken a lot together as they had sat with Juvia and while the Water Mage had managed to stay relatively sober even though she had fallen asleep on Erza's shoulder half an hour ago before Titania had ordered Gray to bring Juvia home.
"Do it, Laxus," his grandfather said as he patted his shoulder. "She won't kill you … hopefully."
The blond man rolled his eyes. "Well, thanks," he said as he grabbed the tray and stepped outside to drop the tray unceremoniously onto the nearby table. "Enjoy," he said drily.
Cana turned around and nodded at him. "So, you are really staying, yes?" she asked.
"Looks like it, yeah," he said as he leaned against the table. "Why are you asking?"
"My room used to be next to Evergreen's," she said. "I had to go through a few weeks of her rage and depression after you left and so I kinda moved out."
"You have to be one of the few who no longer live up at Fairy Hills … you lived there since you joined, didn't you?" he asked. "And you seriously moved out like that?"
She nodded as she grabbed a glass and handed him one as well. "The new flat is … was closer to the guild," she shrugged. "And I didn't always live up there. At first, your grandfather didn't let me live on my own so I stayed with you until I was seven and more children joined."
"Ah, remember that … good times, those … grandfather finally bothered to cook decent food," he said as he sipped on his wine. "You ordered good stuff there."
"I am the most experienced drinker of the guild after all," she said drily. "So you can assume that I know what I'm going when I order something."
He nodded as he twirled the glass in between of his fingers. "You hardly changed," he said as he crossed his arms. "That's actually kinda scary. Erza … Gray … everyone changed. You are the same … you will probably stay the same for the next few years as well…"
"I did change," she replied. "Of course I am not exactly the same person anymore. You changed and so did everyone else … you aren't the bastard who tried to seize power over the guild by force anymore … I even think that I didn't see your scowl in weeks…"
"Ssh, silent," he said as he smirked at her. "The others aren't supposed to notice it as well."
She chuckled. "If you hadn't changed, I wouldn't bother to talk with you," she said as she leaned against the wall, sipping her wine. "But since when are you doing Mira's job?"
"Waiter doesn't seem to be a fitting occupation for me, really?" he said in mocked hurt. "Ah well, it's because she had to leave to check on Lisanna and Lucy … they drank too much."
"You are a terrible waiter because you have been staying outside instead of returning to the counter … you should try to get fired as soon as possible," she chuckled. "Aww, it's cold."
He sighed lowly as he wrapped his coat around her. "Getting fired by staying outside for a long time sounds like a plan," he said as he emptied his glass. "You haven't been on many jobs lately, have you, Cana?" he inquired as he wondered whether he could take another glass of wine.
"Ah yes," she said absentmindedly. "There was no interesting job for a card mage – Mira said that there is an interesting one but that would be S-class and we all know that I failed … again."
"You could ask your father or Mira to go with you … or Erza," he said. "Just because it's S-class, it doesn't have to mean that you can't accept it … you just need an S-class mage to go with you."
She sighed. "My father is off on some journey again and Mira is busy here at the guild and with her photo shoots," she said. "And Erza works with Gray and the others. She doesn't have the time to hold my hand while I do the job either. I will just have to accept the facts."
He chuckled. "You might go to Edolas and drag Mystogan but here so that he can go with you – or you might just ask me because you should have noticed that I have been hanging out at the guild for days as well – without ever leaving because decent jobs are rare these days … so I might even go with you so that you can get a taste of what S-class will be like – given that you finally do the world a favour and pass the next goddamn exam," he ended, sounding aggravated.
She looked at him as if he had just confessed that he had self-inflicted his scar to look cooler and more like a decent fighter – which was still her suspicion. "You just offered me your help?"
"I know, I know … you probably haven't forgotten about Fantasia – how could you after all? And so … just consider it my way to make up for that stupidity of mine."
She tilted her head. "If I wouldn't know better, I'd say that you are possessed," she said bluntly.
He held her gaze even as Erza appeared, swaying on her feet and shaking a bottle, nearly hitting Natsu who was trying to support her. "I ensure you that I am thinking clearly," he stated.
"Oi, La-Laxus," the red-haired woman laughed as she nearly tripped over her own feet. "You re-really should ki-kiss Cana … I have a bet with Lu-Lucy…"
"Please ignore her," Natsu said as he looked helplessly at the other mages. "Mira bothered her earlier about men and marriage so she drunk a little bit too much."
"Kiss Cana?" the lightening mage asked, feeling how confusion slapped him straight into the face.
"Yeah," Erza said with a wide (and disturbing) smile. "That'd get Mira off my back … and onto yours. Plus, I think that you'd have very adorable babies."
For the first time since she had started drinking, Cana felt disturbed enough to spit out her drink. "What the hell are you talking about?" she asked sharply before she remembered that Erza was drunk for five men and sighed deeply as she rubbed her temples. "Natsu, do everyone – including her – a huge favour and get her home," she ordered. "If you don't protest now, I'll see if I can get Gildarts to fight you."
Natsu's face lit up as he grabbed Erza's arm and slung it around his shoulders. "Consider it done, Cana," he grinned. "I'll get Erza home and then I will crash onto Luce's couch."
"That would be a stupid idea because her apartment is already full … little Strauss and the Shrimp are staying over … they are all ranting all about how useless and pathetic men are, firebrain," Gajeel said darkly as he appeared in the door, crossing his arms. "I tried to check on shorty because she drunk a lot too – and she really threw one of her spells into my face."
Laxus flinched slighty because a few years ago, he had been on the receiving end of one of Levy's spells when he had interrupted her training with Cana. "Well, get Erza's home, Natsu, and you should hit the road as well, Gajeel," he said. "Everyone is leaving by now."
Cana turned around and gasped in surprise as she spotted Elfman's back and Evergreen who clung to the aforementioned back, obviously dead drunk. "Pathetic," she muttered. "As if she really drunk that much … or did see?" asked as she turned into Laxus' direction.
"Oh well, I don't know," he admitted. "I was hanging out at the bar with grandfather and she was sitting with Freed, Bixslow and Elfman … I don't know whether she really drunk too much."
Natsu rolled his eyes. "C'mon, iron head, let's go too," he said as he dragged Erza away.
The black-haired man took a first step into the direction of the door before he turned around with a wide smirk. "The shrimp said twins … I guess I'll go with that too," he said before he waved ironically and disappeared as well.
"Cana, you do realise that you are blushing, right?" Laxus asked smugly.
"Oh, shut up," she said as she grabbed her bag. "If you are getting like that I'll leave too."
"Stay, please," he said as he handed her another glass. "I'd even share some music."
She sighed deeply as she dropped the bag and grabbed the glass. "Would you mind to dance to whatever music you got there?" she asked as she stared at the silvery moon above them.
"I am a terrible dancer," he warned as he placed his soundpod on the table, quickly looking for a song they could dance to. "Didn't I once almost fail an infiltration job because of that?"
She chuckled as she bound her hair into a high ponytail. "Yeah, but thankfully, Gray, Loke and I were there to save the day," she said smugly as she did a small twirl. "You have nice music…"
He caught her with ease and spun her around once more. "Just be careful with those shoes," he warned as they reached the grass. "I remember female criminals I chased who failed to escape because of this very kind of shoes … their heels were suddenly stuck in the grass and they lost enough time for me to catch up with them."
She chuckled as she kicked off her shoes. "Better like that?" she asked with a bright smile.
"Yeah," he said as he held her close. "You are actually pretty funny, Cana Alberona," he said.
"So are you," she said as she rested her forehead against his chest as they circled around in the garden in slow movements. "Actually, you seem to be a pretty decent guy when you don't act like you are the greatest thing this world has ever seen…"
He smiled softly as he pressed his lips against her temple. "Plus, you are pretty and cute," he grinned, remembering just too well what had happened when he had referred to a woman as 'hot' – the slap had stung less than the humiliation and if a civilian could hit like that, he did not even want to know what it would feel like to be punched by the woman who lifted full barrels of wine over her head without any problems.
"You are handsome too – as long as you don't scowl," she replied amused as she carefully placed one hand on his cheek and gently traced his scar. "If … if you want to, you can kiss me again," she offered, wondering where this sudden shyness came from. "And no, this is not some plan to get Gildarts to beat you up or something," she said quickly.
He chuckled as he leaned down to kiss her gently. "I am not scared that you are secretly working on a plan to have me beaten up by Gildarts," he said. "I just remember that Mira once said that she will not rest before Gildarts has wiped the floor with me … that was many years ago right after I defeated her in that spar and she was pretty mad," he shrugged. "Still, it made me kinda wary of whatever she is planning because she's tricky … and that makes her dangerous."
She laughed. "I don't think that Gildarts would seriously fight you," she said. "I mean … did anyone ever see him getting really serious in a fight? Outside that match against Bluenote? And in that fight, he couldn't fight with his entire strength…"
"Well, sorry to break it to you, Cana, but I do not intend to be the one Gildarts unleashes his entire power on," he said. "I heard too many scary stories about that."