Cards and Lightening
He didn't love her.
Well, he told himself that he didn't love her.
There was no reason for him to love her. She was only an alcohol-addicted fortune teller which the annoying ability to look straight through him. She was not powerful enough to be of any interest for him. She was not beautiful enough to fascinate him and he sure as hell did not feel bad he saw her petrified by Evergreen's stone eyes during his attempt to take over the guild.
And even if he had felt bad – which he had not, mind you – it would have been because she was still a nakama. (He ignored the little voice in his head that told him that he had no remorse regarding any other woman who had been victim of Evergreen.)
He also refused to believe that the only reason why he had kept the picture of Cana and Gray for ten years was that he would miss the chance to look at her face without being attacked by Erza who seemed to believe that he was out to kidnap Cana because he did not want to share her with anyone. He denied that he sometimes missed the time when he had talked with Cana for hours because he had been the only one who could understood her misery about her inability to tell Gildartz that she was his daughter.
And since he didn't love Cana Alberona, Laxus was not jealous of that blond playboy from Blue Pegasus who was currently whispering sweet nothings in her ear. No, it was not jealously. It was worry that Hibiscus or whatever his name was might hurt a nakama who also happened to be some strange kind of childhood friend. Natsu would be mad at the flower-guy flirting with Lisanna as well and the Fire Dragon Slayer was dating Lucy and – at least according to Mirajane – on the best way to get married next.
"You won't improve your relationship with her by killing her date with your stare, Laxus," Gildartz said while he leaned on the bar and watched his daughter and her date closely. "And by the way, being jealous makes you look more like a loser than being excommunicated…"
"I already said it before, old man: I am not jealous of Hibiscus or which girlish name that guy has," the artificial Dragon Slayer muttered quietly. "I am just worried that we might lose her to Blue Pegasus if this relationship becomes something serious, you know? She is a good mage."
"Listen, young man," the older S-class mage said calmly. "When I was twenty-five, I stood every day in a bar and watched a beautiful brown-haired woman who sat on a table with her friends. My own friends teased me all the time that I liked her … and I denied it – until the day, she didn't come alone but with some guy. Suddenly, I felt something burning inside of me … and so when I went there the next day, I immediately made my way to her table and asked her out. Three months later, we got married – the rest is history." He downed the rest of her beer. "Two things: Mira has a bet running about the both of you … and when you break her heart, you will die."
"Why does everyone think that I have a crush on her?" the blonde muttered.
"Someone close to you might have mentioned something like this," the older man smirked before he walked out of the guild to go on another mission.
"Evergreen…" Laxus hissed as he looked around for his only female bodyguard who happened to be away – as well as Elfman was missing which made it more suspicious as usually.
"Shall I go and search her, Laxus?" Fried asked as he turned away from Mirajane for a moment.
"No, stay here and continue to admire the demon." Laxus wondered for a second when he had gotten this soft before he remembered that he had to kill Evergreen for creating such rumours about him – but before he had a good plan, he remembered that she might be dating Elfman which meant that Mirajane would get involved as well and Laxus sure as hell didn't want that.
"Hibiscus finally left," Natsu muttered from his place on the bar where he was waiting for Lucy to return. The celestial spirit mage was on a mission with Lisanna and Levy – and called it an outing with friends. Erza and Juvia had thought about joining them before another mission had come up and the water mage and the knight had left for this job.
"He was bugging Cana all evening, wasn't he?" Gajeel asked. Despite the Iron Dragon Slayer's attempt to deny it, he was waiting for Levy's return.
Laxus couldn't resist listening to their conversation.
"Why did she even agree on this date if she has no interest in him?" Wendy inquired as she looked up from the book she had been reading all evening.
"She says that she is running out of options for a suitable date for Erza's wedding," Natsu said with a shrug. "And she probably stopped waiting for a certain mage to come around and ask her out after watching her daily since he was allowed back into the guild…"
"I don't even understand how anyone can be too proud to ask someone out!" Gajeel thundered.
Fried coughed politely. He had been talking with Levy lately because of a job they had done together and the Solid Script Mage had mentioned that she had the impression that Gajeel was stalking her lately and that the green-haired man knew now that the Iron Dragon Slayer was shy or completely dense since he was obviously unable to realise that the bookworm liked him as well. Fried even mused if Dragon Slayers in general were dense because Wendy seemed to be blind to Romeo's careful advanced as well and Natsu had needed a push from Erza to ask Lucy out … and Laxus acted like a first grader when it came to Cana as well…
"Alright," Mirajane said as she glared at Laxus. "If you don't want to share Fried's fate and meet demon Mirajane, you are going over to Cana now and ask her out for the wedding. You and she used to have such a great friendship … you should return to these good days…"
"I am perfectly aware of these good days," Laxus said. "They consisted of more matchmaking attempts from your side than moments of peace. And I believe that these matchmaking attempts are the reason why she stopped hanging out with me and went over to this pathetic bunch."
"Juvia!" Gray yelled as his personal stalker/girlfriend entered the guild along with Erza. "Did you pick up the item we ordered? We need it now."
"Of course Juvia didn't forget to buy this," the water mage said as she held up a pink bottle with red hearts all over it. "I especially asked them to give me the strongest version."
"I love you, really," he said as he took the bottle from her. "Mira, Erza – you grab him and I fill him in," he added with a wide smirk. The both female S-class mages grabbed Laxus' arms while Juvia managed to grab the nose to prevent the blond man from breathing through it. And as soon as Laxus opened his mouth, Gray unceremoniously emptied the bottle into his mouth.
"Now … look at Cana, Laxus," Mira ordered sweetly.
"C-Cana?" he echoed. "I … I like Cana…"
"We know," Gajeel said drily. "Hey, aren't you afraid that someone else might take her away?"
"Take away my Cana? I cannot allow this," he said as he tumbled while he tried to get up. "I need to protect her from those filthy persons. Cana deserves better than those weaklings…"
Fried watched how his former idol staggered away. "Are you sure that this was a good idea?" he asked. "I fear that this potion might have been a little bit too strong for him…"
"Nah, we used stronger stuff before," Mira said amused. "And Dragon Slayers can take it…"
"I think so too," Gray said as he watched how the blond man started to serenade Cana. "Well, now I think that he might be exaggerating a little bit…"
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
"I see no reason to worry," Gajeel shrugged. "You should have seen the day Bookworm and I mixed love potion into Rogue's drink when he was stopping by this very bar and we told him that it might be a good moment to look at Yukino … we haven't had this much fun in a while."
"What did he do?" Mira asked since she hadn't been there to see it.
"He serenaded her as well before he forced his cat into a cupid outfit and let poor little Frosch carefully throw rose petals on them," Erza sighed. "Dragon Slayers are crazy people, I guess."
"Well, they hung out with a dragon for a long time – what do you expect from them?" Fried asked. "No offence intended, Gajeel, but social skills are hardly your forte."
"Neither are they your strength, punk," Gajeel muttered. "And at least do dragon slayers not fall in love with-"
The firm hand on his mouth prevented him from finishing the sentence and the women in their group stared at Fried who was blushing in a shade that put Erza's hair to shame.
"Guuuuuys!" Cana yelled from the other side of the bar where Laxus were currently trying to squeeze the life out of her. "What the hell did you give him to drink?"
"Something that gives him a little bit more self-confidence," Gajeel said drily. "It was a special brand of whiskey that Erza and Juvia picked up on their mission, nothing serious."
"Nice excuse," Natsu muttered and gave his former rival a thumbs-up.
"Thanks," the black-haired man said before he stared at the bottle in front of him.
"…and so I promise you, Cana, that I'll always take care of you…" Laxus muttered while Gajeel mixed the small reminders of love potion in the bottle with some beer before he replaced Fried's drink with it. Ten seconds later, the green-haired mage emptied it.
Erza made her way over to Cana who looked slightly confused with Laxus' strange behaviour. "Isn't it amazing that he finally had the confidence to confess to you?" the red-haired woman asked while she patted Cana's shoulder. "I believe that it is the most important step on his way to become a better person. Oh well, I remember how Jellal proposed to me … it was so romantic…"
"I see…" Cana muttered before she got up and dragged Laxus outside where the air was cold which sobered her up entirely. "Listen well, Laxus, because I am saying this only once. You are a good guy … actually, pretty nice when you care enough … and because we were friends, I am going to remind you of something which you have forgotten: you are not in love with me. They gave you a love potion … probably to make fun of us. And even though you might hate me for this, I am going to push you into ice cold water to get you out of this."
He stared at her for a second before his grin became even wider yet considerably less dumb. "You are right when you say that they gave me a love potion," he said slowly, "but you are wrong about the rest. Honestly, I was there when they did this to Rogue and I am smarter than falling for this trick as well. The thing is … they only gave me a really good excuse to act like this."
"You only acted like this?" she asked with huge eyes.
"Fact is: I was wrong about you. You are more than an alcohol-addicted fortune tell who can look straight through me no matter how hard I try to keep you out. You don't have to be powerful for me to be interested … and you are beautiful enough to fascinate me…" he sighed. "And yeah, I felt bad when I saw how you looked after Ever petrified you when I tried to take over the guild."
"Are you kidding me?" she asked as she frowned. "Or are you drunk?"
"I was jealous of Hibiscus earlier this evening," the blonde admitted. "I tried to deny it but…"
"Hibiki," Cana said as she crossed her arms. "His name is Hibiki."
"Hibiki, Hibiscus … there isn't much of a different," he snorted. "Anyway, I had enough of lying to myself because I had to realise that it is kinda pointless and that I've been running away for far too long. I needed to turn around and face it like a man would."
"Are you sure that you are sober?" she asked. "You sound a lot like Elfman to me…"
"Damn, Cana, I am sober," he said. "I am just as sober as I was when I ran into you while I was banned from the guild and you did that mission out of town. I am perfectly aware what I am saying … and while I appreciate the way you obviously still care enough to keep your cards in the bag, I am kinda worried because you didn't comment on my confession yet!"
"What is there left to say?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes. "I said what I had to say on the mission you mentioned earlier but obviously, you were drunk and forgot."
"You just said that you hope that I'd come back one day…"
"…which obviously meant that I kinda missed you," she muttered. "Dragon Slayers are obviously dense. Natsu is stupid, Gajeel is blind and Wendy is oblivious to Romeo's advances as well!"
"And card mages are obviously too proud to express themselves properly," he huffed. "Anyway, I pick you up tomorrow at twelve. We are going out for lunch … somewhere where the Love Brigade cannot find us," he added with a dark gaze in the direction of Mira and Co.
"Alright," she said. "And if you mess up my chances to get Hibiki as my date for the wedding and refuse to go with me, I am taking out the cards, understood?"
"Alright, Miss Alberona," he smiled. "And we should figure out a way to get back on them for this because I sure as hell don't tolerate to be forced to drink a love potion…"
"I wonder why it didn't work on you," she mused as she watched the way Fried behaved suddenly. "I mean … you drank the whole bottle and he merely got a little bit … and yet you were able to control yourself while he is nearly proposing to Mira over there…"
"Fried always was a light-weight … guess that comes from never drinking with you," he shrugged. "And I kinda heard that being in love might lower the effect of the potion…"
"He has been in love with Mira ever since she went all demon on him and spared his life out of mere kindness," Cana huffed. "I heard the same rumour, sure, who hasn't? But to be nearly immune, you have to be in love with someone for an incredibly long time."
"Um, what about – including the time in the fairy sphere – eleven years?" he muttered while his ears were nearly as red as Fried's jacket.
Maybe it was easier to say it this way because he knew that he would die from embarrassment when he was to say 'I love you' straight into her face. He was too cool to say things like this. He was awesome, relaxed kind of guy and saying this might ruin his whole image which he had been forming for years. And maybe, it was better to say it like this because while he trusted her, he didn't want her to know how easily she could crush his heart and somehow, he had to admit, that he loved her more than he could ever express.