A/N: Something I've been meaning to get out there for awhile, I'll update this particular collection sporadically, but I can definitely update it. This pairing definitely needs more fics for it.
Time Period: 1950s
Setup: Cana's new to the small town of Seymour, Indiana, and it seems like she can't catch a break. No one seems to like her, and then there's that queen bitch Mirajane, but being forced to work with that Mirajane may just change all of that.
Other: Also contains some Laxus/Fried.
"Here it is, our new home!" Announced Gildarts as he pulled the Corvette into a fairly standard and vaguely cozy house, built in the prefabricated style that had come into fashion after the war.
"I hate it." Sighed Cana, from the front passenger seat, giving her father a disdainful look.
"Now I know you miss Chicago, and so do I, but this new job's great; I'll make extra as a regional sales director compared to a low level sales manager. Plus, the open air's good for the soul!" Laughed Gildarts, with a grin as the movers pulled into the driveway and began to unload the various boxes and crates that the father and daughter collectively owned.
"Well, that's everything!" Noted Gildarts as he slid a potted plant, the last of the items to be moved, into a place in the entryway.
"Finally." Sighed Cana, a bit tired from unpacking her boxes.
"How about we watch some TV?" Gildarts suggested.
"No ABC, CBS, or NBC?" Muttered Cana, annoyed at this development.
"Just local stations, no affiliates." Said Gildarts, in agreement.
"Well, I have nothing better to do..." Decided Cana.
"Dastardly Villain!" Shouted a blue haired actor as his cutlass clashed with the blade of his blonde haired foe. It seemed to be a decade old adventure serial, low budget and poor quality. The rights were obviously dirt cheap to get, but notably, it featured the now-successful Erza Scarlet as a side character.
"Hard to believe Erza Scarlet started out in this!" Laughed Cana.
"Yeah, I guess leaving it was a good career move." Agreed Gildarts.
This continued for a few hours, until both grew hungry and they decided to eat at the local diner.
"Not terrible, I guess." Conceded Cana after taking a tepid bite of the club sandwich she'd ordered. "I still miss Chicago though..."
"So do I, so do I..." Sighed Gildarts. "But on the bright side, you only have to take it for a few months, and then you'll be moving away!"
"True enough, 18 in a month!" Laughed Cana, though her voice trailed off upon seeing a beautiful girl around her age with flowing gray hair seated at a booth a few down from theirs, with a boy, who seemed to be her boyfriend. He was tall and muscular, with spiky blonde hair. That guy was an afterthought, however. Cana's eyes were on that girl and the boyfriend was an afterthought.
"Infatuated with that guy?" Quipped Gildarts, apparently not noticing where exactly Cana was looking.
"Um-yes!" Cana shouted, nervous as she was broken from her mesmerized state.
"Well, I suppose it isn't any matter, I'm your dad, not your eternal master." Laughed Gildarts.
"Thanks dad." Cana said with a smile, glad that her secret had stayed safe.
"By the way, I need you to get enrolled at the local high school, starts back up in a month after all."
"Okay, I'll take care of that tomorrow." Agreed Cana.
The final month of the summer passed with little incident. Cana mostly kept to herself. She partook, of course, in her normal pastimes, which tended to involve being a useless freeloader at the general store and reading several books there without buying them. Also, trying desperately to figure a way into Gildart's cabinet of wine. The former worked better than the latter. Cana's 18th birthday also occurred during that month, but little festivities accompanied it. That gray haired girl showed up from time to time around town, but the two never met. All in all Cana sort of slid into the first day of school bored and actually perfectly content to have yet another year of high school in front of her.
"Well, let's get this over with." Cana thought to herself, as she threw on her typical attire of jeans and a casual white shirt without buttons or collar.
"Cana! You're going to be late!" Gildarts shouted from the foyer.
"Shit, he's right." Cana thought to herself as she checked her room's clock.
"One more thing." Gildarts said, as Cana was about to bolt out the door.
"What is it?"
"I'm proud of you, you're a wonderful daughter, and I know all of what I said, you took to heart." Gildarts said with a sincere smile, as he directed Cana's attention to a new Chevy Bel Air in the driveway. "Call it a late birthday present."
"Thank you so much dad!" Cana shouted Joyfully, as she took the keys her father held out for her, and proceeded to drive out onto the street, making her way to the school.
"Do you have any idea about how a lady should dress for school?" Demanded the gray haired girl Cana had seen over the summer, who was now standing in front of her, wearing a proper looking blouse and knee length skirt.
"Well here we go again..." Sighed Cana; she knew the feeling all too well. Her old school was like that too. People kept telling her to wear dresses and such, but she couldn't stand to. It felt... limiting. Much worse than catching flak for not doing so.
"Don't let it happen again." The girl stated matter of factly as she strode into the homeroom, the same one Cana was in.
"Excellent work, Mirajane." Their English teacher, a middle aged man with the odd quirk of licking his lips constantly said to the gray haired girl, in reference to the project she'd done over the summer.
"Why thank you, Mr. Bixlow." Mirajane grinned with a fake smile.
"For you... Cana." Bixlow read the name off of his sheet of paper. "I'd like to see some similar project from you in January, seeing as you only moved here last summer, it only seems fair to evaluate your grasp of the district's junior level material."
"I understand." Agreed Cana, not exactly happy, but in no position to object, and even then agreeing that it was fair.
"How was school?" Asked Gildarts, a happy smile on his face as he and Cana prepared dinner together. Ever since Mrs. Alberona died, Gildarts and Cana cooked together. It was a good bonding experience, and they both appreciated mitigating the work a bit.
"It was alright, some girl named Mirajane complained about my clothes though." Sighed Cana.
"I guess some things never change." Said Gildarts. "I'd fight it, but there's no way we could win."
"I know." Cana muttered, still annoyed.
"Hey, on the plus side, you'll go to college in a year, and the girls there may just be more accepting.
"I will?" Asked Cana, her eyes lighting up.
"Sure, just because you're a girl doesn't mean you have a set place in society. Go out and carve your own identity." Promised Gildarts.
"Thank you so much dad!" Cana cried, joyfully.
The next week passed with little incident. Cana did what she could in school, picked up tennis, but still found little in the way of friends. Things got worse, however, the first day of the second week.
"Well, it's the same man-clothes." Muttered Mirajane, looking at Cana disapprovingly.
"Dirty lesbian." Agreed Bisca, one of Mirajane's friends.
"What!?" Shouted Cana, more offended at being called dirty than being called a lesbian (that one was true, after all).
"You heard us, you're a stain on this school. A stain!" Shouted Mirajane, taking what appeared to be a good deal of pleasure in taking Cana down, as Mirajane and her small circle of friends.
"They got to you too?" Noted a boy Cana had seen around, but not talked to. He had long green hair, and wore a loose disheveled button down shirt and worn out looking khakis.
"Hm, what have they done to you?" Asked Cana, not judgmental, simply inquisitive.
"The very same thing, insulted me for being homosexual." Explained the boy.
"I'm not-" Began Cana.
"You don't have to deny it, I'll keep it safe, because I know you'll do the same for me. My name is Fried, and I know yours."
"Thank you, Fried." Cana sighed with relief. She finally found a good friend, it seemed.
"Dad, may I go to the lake tonight?" Asked Cana.
"I guess so, why?" Gildarts responded with a question of his own.
"Well, I finally have a good friend, and I wanted to fish, this'll be one of the last good days for it."
"Sure, just be back before 10." Agreed Gildarts.
"Nothing's biting." Complained Fried.
"Be patient, fish don't just pop out of nowhere, you have to wait for the good fish to come to you." Reprimanded Cana.
"Well, look what we have here!" Laughed Laxus, the boy who Cana first saw as Mirajane's date the first night after she'd moved there.
"Come to torture innocents again?" Quipped Fried.
"Hey, there ain't nothing-" Laxus was promptly cut off by Cana quickly kicking him in the balls, and taking her fishing gear, and running off, Fried in tow.
"You really shouldn't have done that." Gasped Fried, as they drove back into town.
"Why not? He was being an ass, and I was an ass back, I wouldn't have been if he wasn't first." Responded Cana.
"People already fear us Cana, we can't just go around hurting people so indecent as to tell it to our faces." Reprimanded Fried.
"I'm sorry... I just got caught up in the moment." Sighed Cana. "Here's hoping I'm not arrested."
Months passed, and thankfully, things calmed down. Surprisingly, Laxus had little more desire to berate Cana and Fried, and even Mirajane kept a bit more to herself. Cana finished the literature project over Christmas, and the second half of her senior year was progressing smoothly. Things were going to get rough again, however, thankfully, things fast improved after that.
"Okay, we have our groups for the end of the year assignment. Lesse, Cana Alberona and Mirajane Strauss..." He read off the list.
"NO!" Both of the girls shouted at the same time. "Don't put me with her!"
"Sorry girls, but that's life." Bixlow muttered. "You'll have to get used to working with people you don't like.
"But-but!" Began Mirajane.
"No buts, I drew your two names from the hat, you're working together."
"I suppose I should ask about how we should handle this." Muttered Mirajane, approaching Cana after school, looking less pained and more apologetic.
"How about this, we go to my house after school, a few hours every night except the weekend for the next few weeks, and work on it there?" Suggested Cana. "You may leave at any time." She added.
"Sure, I'll come over tonight." Agreed Mirajane, thankful that Cana too was willing to set aside their differences just for the project. A good grade would be nice, after all.
"I like your room." Mirajane said, impressed by the tasteful decor, nothing like the gaudy raiments that were in vogue, a record player off to the side, and a good collection of records beside them. "Wow, I've always been curious about these, but my parents never let me, something about 'corrupted youth...'" Mirajane sighed as she looked through Cana's collection.
"My dad's pretty cool on that stuff. He says that someday, people like him will be the ones in charge."
"What about your mom?"
"She's died when I was little." Sighed Cana. "That's about the time my dad became who he is now. I guess her death made him really reevaluate his own life. So I guess some good came of it..."
"I'm sorry, but I'm also glad you can see a bright side..." Noted Mirajane.
"Well, we should get working though, we need to get this done, and don't you have a date?" Asked Cana.
"Right!" Recalled Mirajane.
"Okay, so this involves Ancient Greece, right?" Cana inquired, making sure she understood the assignment.
"Something like that, report on a figure from Ancient Greece. I guess we need to go to the library to decide on one." Explained Mirajane.
"First maybe we should look at an encyclopedia, try to figure someone out." Offered Cana.
"Ooh, good idea." Agreed Mirajane, as she followed Cana downstairs.
"Dad, I have to study, can I have dinner duties off tonight?" Asked Cana.
"Sure, I can do it alone once in awhile, I'm not totally dependent on you to function you know!" Laughed Gildarts.
"Your dad's so nice." Said Mirajane.
"Yep..." Laughed Cana.
"By the way, I think we have something." Noted Mirajane, as she gave Cana a volume and pointed to an entry marked "Sappho."
"Hm, interesting. Sure, let's find stuff on her, no one would think of that." Decided Cana, as she and Mirajane bolted out of the house, and drove to the library.
"So, not much is known about her, because history has largely erased her thanks to the content of her work." Noted Mirajane, looking through the few biographies.
"What did people object to?"
Mirajane hesitated, but ultimately decided to come out and say it. "She wrote about her love for other women."
"That's what people hate?" Muttered Cana. "And here I thought it was shocking."
"Well it is to Americans in 1957, so I'd recommend you keep that statement quiet." Said Mirajane, a bit nervous that people would have heard them.
"But are we the best barometer?" Demanded Cana.
This seemed to reveal something deep in Mirajane's psyche, as she stared off into space in introspection. "Well I guess if you're both adults and if you're both okay with it..." She concluded.
"Basically." Agreed Cana.
"But we can't exactly say that in our presentation, so should we switch our subject?" Asked Mirajane.
"Nah, we can just spin it as a way to point out how times change." Suggested Cana. "We can't let something this unique slip through our fingers."
"Very well, but we need to be careful." Conceded Mirajane. "Now that seems like some good progress, we have notes and a topic, now I have that date."
"Have fun." Said Cana, for once seriously.
"Thanks, and I'm sorry for everything I did." It was clear that Mirajane was quite sincere herself.
"I'm ready to forgive you." Cana thought to herself, as Mirajane left; she hadn't asked for a ride, so Cana figured her date was somewhere near here.
Mirajane's date was alright. She guessed. Nothing wrong with it, Cana really stuck in her mind she guessed. Suddenly, she seemed to really like her. Granted, that part wasn't unusual, she'd had crushes on plenty of girls, that's what made her nervous about Cana in the first place. All the others were short lived, and she'd been able to keep those quiet. Cana seemed stronger though, she couldn't take it, it seemed. "Lucky she'd be one of the few people I can trust." Thought Mirajane, as Laxus dropped her off by the door. A small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.
The next few weeks were uneventful, Cana and Mirajane worked on their assignment, Fried and Cana stuck together, and things progressed as normal. Except that now, Mirajane was a friend, rather than a tormentor. All of the sudden, Cana didn't hate going to school. It wasn't tedious or stressful. Honestly, it was kind of fun...
"Okay, this is the last night we have to work on this thing. Just work on delivering the speech." Cana explained as Mirajane walked in the house. Cana herself was working on what appeared to be some kind of casserole, watching the over intently. "Also, I have to watch dinner, my dad's out at a trade show, won't be home until tomorrow." Explained Korra. "I won't expect you to help clean up unless you want any."
"I'll have some." Decided Mirajane, feeling more and more comfortable around Cana. "I had a date tonight, but it wasn't an important one, I can reschedule it."
"Okay, just help me with the dishes, shouldn't be too hard to do." Cana said with a smile.
"This is really good!" Mirajane laughed, with her mouth full.
"My dad and I had a lot of cookbooks left over after my mom died, and she bookmarked all of the best food in there. It wasn't hard to find." Explained Cana.
"I can cook, but not this well..." Sighed Mirajane. "My parents say I have to learn to cook so I can cook for my husband after I get married."
"You don't want a husband, do you?" Asked Cana, detecting the melancholy in Mirajane's voice.
"No I don't." Admitted Mirajane. "In fact, I don't really want a man at all, started seeing Laxus to keep people from being suspicious."
Cana paused for a second, thinking about how to word her next sentence. "So did you call me a lesbian to direct the attention away from yourself too?"
"Yes, and for that I'm deeply sorry." Mirajane sobbed, starting to feel extremely guilty.
"Well, you were right for the record!" Laughed Cana.
"Well, it's good that we can at least trust each other." Mirajane noted, perking up.
"Kind of sweet, we met like that." Quipped Cana.
"I wasn't aware we were together!" Laughed Mirajane.
"I didn't mean-"
"No, it's okay, I kinda like it." Mirajane responded, as she reached her head across the table a gave Cana a quick kiss.
"Okay, now that that's done, we just have to wait and hope." Declared Cana, as they'd run through the presentation one last time.
"Oh, by the way, may I stay over? It's a bit late..." Asked Mirajane.
"Sure, I'm not comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as you, but feel free to use the guest room." Agreed Cana.
"Thank you very much." Said Mirajane, as she kissed her now girlfriend goodnight.
"And so, Sappho is perhaps most interesting as an exercise in how culture can change. You may be an integral part of one culture, but another may consider you unspeakable, even erase the memory of you." Mirajane concluded.
"Excellent work, you too, quite an unconventional topic, and it's good to see the two of you getting along now." Noted Bixlow. "Now, who's next?"
"Well, that's a relief..." Sighed Cana, as she flopped onto the couch in her house.
"I'm just glad we weren't apprehended for it." Mirajane nodded in agreement.
"I wonder when my dad'll be back..." Cana thought out loud, noting that it was nearly 4, and still no sign of him.
"Well until then, we may as well just stay here." Mirajane decided, as Cana sat down next to her, and they shared a long kiss.
"Cana! I'm back, sorry I'm late, ran into some traffic coming out of Indianapol-" Gildarts stopped when he saw the girls.
"Um dad... This is my, well... girlfriend..." Cana muttered, thoroughly embarrassed and also quite fearful.
"Oh, that's nice, is she staying for dinner?" Asked Gildarts, seemingly unfazed.
"Uh, if you want to." Cana told Mirajane, still bewildered by her father's nonchalance.
"Sure!" Mirajane said with a smile.
"So, your group project worked out, good to know." Noted Gildarts as they sat down to some takeout that Gildarts had picked up on his way into town.
"You're okay with us?" Asked Mirajane, still shocked to find this out.
"Sure, the way I see it, it's neither my business nor the law's, what you two have is a good thing, and there's no reason to stop it."
"Thanks dad." Cana said, with a smile.
"Also, I need to think of a way to break things off with Laxus, any ideas?" Asked Mirajane.
"Sorry, I'm not a miracle worker, you two are on your own for that one." Sighed Gildarts, as he took what remained of his food and disposed of it.
"I'm out of ideas too, maybe we should ask Fried..." Decided Cana.
"HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Laughed Fried, after hearing about their plight.
"Fried! That's not funny! We seriously need to find a good way for Mirajane to leave Laxus!" Reprimanded Cana.
"No, it's just that I may have your answer, and it's much easier than you might think, come to the ravine out back after school, and I'll explain then." Fried explained, with a grin, and his remaining laughter stifled.
"Well, here we are..." Muttered Cana, as she and Mirajane made their way into the ravine, and waited for Fried, who walked up a few minutes later, with Laxus in tow, whom he gave a brief kiss.
"You two?" Asked Mirajane with a smile.
"Yep, Fried told me about you and Cana too. Lucky, I suppose.
"Well now I'm sorry for kicking you... Well you know." Sighed Cana.
"I deserved it, it was awful having to act like that, but people would've known had I not." Explained Laxus.
"I understand." Reassured Cana.
"I want to break this up, but I also think we should keep the charade up until after prom." Said Laxus, moving on to their purpose in being there.
"Why prom?" Asked Mirajane.
"Just to make sure people still think we're... you know."
"Okay, I'm fine with it." Decided Mirajane.
"God, that was a nightmare." Gasped Cana, who had, in a rare sight, put on a dress for the occasion, from the driver's seat of her car.
"At least it's over..." Agreed Fried, who had posed as Cana's date.
"Now our dance begins." Declared Mirajane, from the front seat next to Cana.
"About time..." Sighed Laxus. "To the lake!"
The two couples danced on that beach for hours, and at the end of it all, simply sat in a circle and chatted about their station in life, and their futures.
"Where should we go?" Asked Cana, to no one in particular. "The U.S. is hardly friendly to us, after all..."
"San Francisco and West Hollywood are reasonable candidates..." Noted Fried. "We may not be legal there, but at least we'll be around others like us."
"I'll be going to college first, but after that, I'll go there." Agreed Cana.
"I'll wait for you, here or there. Either way, I promise to visit if I can, and if not, I'll see you then." Promised Mirajane, as she and Cana shared a long, passionate kiss.
Ending notes.
-This fic will take place entirely in non-connected AUs, with the only constant being that they'll take place at some point in history and that they'll all center around Cana and Mirajane.
-Sadly, I won't be updating this with much regularity, so be prepared for some waits.
-The AUs will also feature other couples where it makes sense, but Cana and Mirajane will always be the main couple.
-The word 'gay' is never used in this chapter because the word had a different meaning in the 1950s, and I try to avoid anachronistic dialogue.
-I also recognize Gildarts is OOC. I needed someone to be sympathetic, and he seemed like the best candidate, so there he is.