The Tunnel of Love
A/N: This is another fic that I have been meaning to write for a while but I've never gotten round to. It's sort of similar to Wet 'n Wild I guess but its in a slightly different setting and its more Miraxus now. Thoughts are in italics. Enjoy...
Mira smiled as she added the latest couple to her shipping wall. It had been quite a while since she had updated it since everyone available was either in a relationship or off on quests, but finally she had a new addition to make.
"There we go!" She happily exclaimed, "Gajeel and Levi. It's about time those two got together. They've been doing the whole 'will they won't they' thing for way too long."
"Yeah it was getting kinda old." Cana chipped in before passing the paint to her friend. She he been a great defender of the wall since its construction and so was honoured when Mira asked her to help her add to it. "I think the heart should be in a metallic blue colour."
"I like it!" Mira squealed before beginning the delicate proceedure of painting it. She was far too excited about the whole thing but she didn't care. Ironically though she was now one of the last people in the guild to find a match on the wall, a fact that Cana kept bringing up to no end.
"So when are you gonna ask him out then?"
Mira sighed, still delicately manouvering the brush. "I told you I'm waiting for Laxy to ask me out!"
Cana always smiled at the pet name Mira had for the lightening mage. Of course if the demon lady knew he knew she called him that she would die of embarassment, but as it was she was totally oblivious to it.
"I hope to god you aren't using that awful nickname you have for me." ...well at least she was oblivious...
"LAXUS?!" Mira screamed and dropped her brush. Spinning round she caught sight of the blonde haired man entering the doorway of the back room, which caused her to rush forward and block his path. "Erm...how long...what're you doing here?!"
He shrugged then looked over her head. "I could ask you the same thing..." Laxus was interrupted by the combined efforts of Mira and Cana shoving him out of the room before he saw what they were doing. It wasn't that they were ashamed of the wall, god it was pretty much a tourist attraction to anyone visiting the guild, just in the case of this guy he had been paired with a potential partner. A very hopeful one at that.
"Nothing! How long have you been here?!" Mira snapped, being far too defensive.
"Long enough to hear that god awful name you have for me. Why, was there something I wasn't supposed to hear? Ohh I get it! Were you girls talking about the pretty shoes you want to buy and all the cute guys you like?!"
Cana started punching him at this point but Mira was still slightly embarassed. After all, he was half right.
"Laxus what the hell do you want from us?!" Cana screamed, backhanding the lightening mage one more time for good luck. He didn't feel any of her blows and it was easier to just take them rather than to try and restrain her. That said today he had interrupted her time with the shipping wall and by god was he going to pay for it.
Laxus rolled his eyes. "Christ you're so demanding! Look; there's some shitty ass fair thing that's come to town again and Wendy wants me to take her to it like last time."
"So?! Why'd you have to come and barge in on us then?!"
"Because if I'm getting dragged along to it then you better believe everyone else is. We're leaving in ten minutes so finish up whatever crap you're doing here and meet people outside."
With that comment he put his hands back in his pocket and left the two to process his speech. Mira did find it adorable that Laxus had on several occasions, including this one apparently, caved in to Wendy's cutness, but after that close call she was far too on edge to think about it. "Oh god that was way too close!"
It was Cana's turn to roll her eyes. "Seriously Mira just ask the guy ou-..."
"I TOLD YOU HE'LL ASK ME WHEN HE'S READY!" Mira roared, turning full demon to emphasise her point. The card wizard backed down at this point and turned back to the wall.
"I guess we could finish it when we get back?"
Mira looked at the wall and sighed. Luckily the paint brush she dropped didn't smear against the wall as it fell, so her glorious ships were still sailing without blots. "Sure thing." Returning to her normally cheerful self she put on a smile and headed for the door. "Come on then Cana; I know just what to wear for this!"
Cana returned the smile with an angelic face. "Me too Mira!" Deep down however the cogs in her brain were turning. "I promise my pretty wall of fate there will be more additions by the time we get back..."
-Twenty minutes later-
"Aww but Mr Laxus we're going to be late!" Wendy whined and slumped down on the ground in a huff.
"I told you Wendy there's no way in hell I'm going to this thing sober." Laxus replied and finished his tenth drink. "Mira! Keep 'em coming. I'm starting to feel it a bit now but I wanna be sure about this."
Cana nudged her friend playfully. "Feeling it after just ten drinks there eh? Looks like someone is turning back into a lightweight."
The Thunder God ignored that comment and instead turned to the others he had roped in to join in his suffering. "So who the fuck knows where this thing actually is?"
"Ohhh I do I do!" Natsu yelled, jumping up and down enthusiastically. "It's only five minutes walk from here too. But it shuts soon so we should..."
Laxus looked at the fire eater. "Do you genuinely think they're going to say no to me when I tell their inbred asses to keep it going?"
"You can't just..." Gray began but then realised who he was talking to. "Ah whatever. When are we stayin' till?"
Wendy brightened up again and started tugging on her temporary caretaker's coat. "Oh oh oh can we stay there all night?!"
"No."
"Aww but why not?!"
"Because shut up kid."
"But Mr Laxus!"
"Don't make me turn this trip around because I shit you not I'll do it!"
"What if I tell you some secrets then?"
Laxus looked down at the small child and laughed. "What secrets do you know kid? Finally worked out where babies come from?"
Wendy blushed. "No you already told me about that one, remember?" He did remember now that she mentioned it. "Fun times..."
"What've you got for me then?" He replied eyeballing her.
"Well I could tell you what I heard Miss Mira saying about you before..."
Right on queue the beers arrived. "There you go the last five beers!" Gajeel groaned in the background as he realised how sober he was at this moment in time. Taking pity on a fellow sufferer, Laxus handed him two of them along with a few drops of something he kept in his flask. The iron dragon slayer was pretty sure that stuff wasn't legal but right then he gave no fucks about the law.
"Go on then kid." Laxus said, downing his first pint. "What'd she say about me?"
Before she could even open her mouth Mira clamped it shut. "Ohh she heard nothing. At least, I hope she heard nothing. It'd be a real shame if you heard something then, right Wendy?!" The crazy eyes traumatised the girl into silence and she just nodded in agreement with the insane model.
The lightening wizard quirked an eyebrow but thought nothing of it. "Whatever prank she has in mind she better forget it. I swear to god if that woman does anything to make this event even shittier I'll take her so far down that China Town will seem like fucking heaven."
"HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER!" Gajeel yelled, spitting out his drink as soon as it entered his mouth. "The hell did you put in this Laxus?!"
Gray laughed and took the drink from him. "Obviously you just can't handle your..." As soon as the liquid touched his tongue he began to vomit.
"Ohhh my turn my turn!" Natsu cried and stole the drink. Despite the yells of "NATSU NO!" he attempted to down the drink. After drinking exactly 12.6ml of the fluid he began to throw up and beg for forgiveness, prompting Cana to investigate as to what was in the flask.
"Laxus...this is pure ethanol!"
The tall man shrugged, added a few drops into his beer and downed his drink. "No shit Sherlock." Cana shrugged and finished the last half of the flask straight. Screw biology, her father is Gildarts. Speaking of which...
"So when are we setting off then?" The red haired legend's arms were starting to cramp up and he had other things to do. Unlike the others Laxus couldn't bully him into going because Gildarts would just rip out his intestines and use them to hang the blonde, and in fact the only reason he was there in the first place was because his sweet sweet daughter had requested his presence.
Laxus held up a finger as he finished his final pint then stood up. "Ok lets go."
Gildarts was kind enough to help their respective girlfriends carry the vomiting men to the door and so the group finally left for the fair.
-One painful walk later-
"Lucy...if I die...feed Happy for me and...keep being cuddly..."
Lucy sighed but smiled at her boyfriend's moaning. Natsu still hadn't recovered from his near death experience with ethanol and was currently going through his friends and offering moral support before he passed away.
"Happy...I'm sorry buddy but...I ate the steak in the fridge before we left..." The cat scowled at him and flew to the head of the group.
"Oi cat!" Laxus said, turning to face his new companion, "If you want some revenge I have another flask you could borrow?" Usually gifts from Laxus were to be feared, but when it came to screwing someone over you could count on him to supply the highest quality of good in history. Happy obviously agreed to this offer but allowed Laxus to keep the flask.
"Yey we're here!" Wendy squeaked, causing the Thunder God to lose hearing in his left ear momentarily and dogs within a two mile radius to lose their shit. "Aww but look at the prices! They're super expensive!"
Looking at the sign the small person was indeed right. To the pros like Laxus and Gildarts it was easily affordable, but to everyone else it would mean they wouldn't be able to eat for a week.
"Oh well; guess we're not going in then." Laxus went to turn back but was stopped by Gildarts. The older mage was sure that Cana had a reason for dragging him to this godawful place and nine times out of ten he could bet that Laxus was also involved somehow.
"Look," He said, pointing to the bottom of the board, "There's special offers on. We could get those and then everyone could get in." This genius plan earned him a hug and smile ombo from Cana. "Father of the Year award here I come..."
"Great idea Mr Gildarts!" Wendy shouted then looked down the list. "Hmm...well I could get the young family deal if two other people joined me? Mr Laxus; would you...?"
"Wendy, Mira, we're now a family." The blonde groaned, realising that with Gildarts to stop him leaving he was stuck there for the entire duration of his torture. Grabbing the two women in question, he pushed to the front of the line and bought the tickets.
Natsu and Lucy went next, buying a couple's deal and Gray, Juvia, Gajeel and Levi followed suit. Happy just flew over the wall and Gildarts, with Cana in tow, just walked through it.
"So what's everyone doing?" Lucy asked, unsure as to why she'd even come in the first place.
Laxus soon reminded her. "Suffering in our own private hells." He looked down at Wendy. "So where do you wanna go first?"
To her, this was the most important decision in life. In less than three seconds later she sqeualed "Ohhh lets do the swings!"
Sighing, Laxus turned around and was about to leave for the second circle of hell before he was stopped by a small hand on his. "God what now?! Changed your mind alrea-..."
"Can Miss Mira come too?" Mira practically jumped out of her skin at the request whereas Laxus merely quirked an eyebrow. "Just then we get to be a real family."
"I fucking hate this kid sometimes." The Thunder God groaned inwardly before taking Mira by the hand. "You have no choice in this. This is a thing that's happening now."
Mira felt a jolt of electricity as he touched her and flinched away from it. It was more due to shock than unpleasantness, if anything she liked the feeling, but that's not how Laxus took it. "He looks...hurt..."
It took only a moment to regain his composture, but a moment was all it took for Cana to realise that her friend had more than a chance with the S-Class mage. "Tch fine." He grumbled before putting his hand back in his pocket. "Guess we'll have to play happy families another day Wendy."
"Actually Mira was just gonna hang back so I could give her something." Said Cana, saving the moment and the day for her friend. "Here you go Mira." She went over, pulled out a random item from her bag and gave it to her friend, but not before whispering in her ear "Go get him girl!". Her now blushing friend pulled away, nodded and walked over to her new "family".
"Yey Miss Mira!" Strategically placing herself in the middle of the two adults, she grabbed both their hands and attempted to skip. I say attempted because Laxus didn't move a single inch until everyone else there had sworn to turn around for at least five minutes under pain of death. Well except Gildarts. He just stood there and laughed his ass off at the awkwardly skipping trio as they left for the swings.
"Where do you fancy going then shrimp?"
Levy scowled at her partner. "I told you not to call me that anymore!" Gajeel just laughed in response and waited for a proper answer. "Well...I think this place has a tunnel of love...if you wanna go..." Before she could finish she was already being carried off on a hunt to search for this ride. Gray and Juvia followed close behind them.
"Natsu...you feeling any better yet?" Lucy asked her still groaning boyfriend.
"I fell a little bette-...GILDARTS PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THIS-..." He lunged at the older mage but was swatted aside like a fly as usual. Sighing, Lucy and Happy went off to search for the pink haired teen who was now underneath a pile of rubble.
Cana turned and looked at her father. "Guess it's just us now. What do you wanna do?"
Gildarts looked at his daughter and smiled, cogs whirring inside his head as he tried to pick the correct response. "Erm...well I was gonna go laugh at Laxus a bit more..."
"Great choice dad! Then I can spy on him and Mira to make sure he doesn't leave!" She hugged her dad and he laughed, planning his award speech in his head.
"Yeah, good one Cana! As if he'd actually run away from me!"
-Two escape attempts later-
"Mr Laxus, are you ok?!"
"I HAVE A HOLE IN MY FUCKING CHEST! OF COURSE NOT YOU IDIOT!"
In the background Gildarts took a bow and Cana laughed. "I didn't actually think he disliked the hall of mirrors so much!"
After another bout of healing from Wendy, Laxus was up and ready to ride the final two rides in the park; the ghost train and the tunnel of love. Actually having a heart meant he hadn't been able to refuse the orphaned girl anything, and despite his best efforts he hadn't been able to escape the torture. On this day his resolve was tested to the limits.
"Sir, you need tickets-..." The operator said but Laxus screamed him down.
"I'VE HAD THREE BROKEN RIBS, A FRACTURED SKULL AND HALF OF MY TENDONS CUT; DO YOU REALLY WANT TO ASK ME FOR SOME SHITTY ASS PIECES OF PAPER RIGHT NOW?!" Needless to say no tickets were asked of him this day.
"Looks like I'm sitting on your knee again Mr Laxus." Wendy smiled and plonked herself down on his lap. The Thunder God just rolled his eyes and accepted it. With the end in sight he figured he may as well get this over and done with.
Mira stood there analysing the small seats. Laxus was pretty built and as small as she was, there was no way of her getting out of being pressed up against the dragon slayer. "Just get on the damned ride Mira." He grumbled then added with a grin "I need something to hold onto with all these ghosts around."
For perhaps the millionth time that evening Mira blushed. It was hard enough sitting close to the guy at the guild's bar, but with most of the rides being three or two seated and her having to be pushed up against him it was almost too much to bear. In fact, on several points throughout the evening she had t rush to the toilet to have a nosebleed over how much time she was spending pressed agains his body. Mira was indeed no angel and she had quite a few ideas what to do with that perfectly sculpted body of his...
"Yeah ghost trains!" Gildarts yelled, taking a seat in the back of the carriage. Laxus groaned and Cana broke out into laughter yet again. "You not gonna join us kid?"
"Nah dad I'm gonna go check on Gajeel and Levi. They've been in that toilet block for about half an hour now and its getting suspicious." With that said she set off to break up he M rated meeting in the cubicle before all of them were thrown out.
The ride jolted forwards and Wendy flinched. "Can I hold onto you during this Mr Laxus?"
"Sure why not." He replied and wound his arm around Mira's back, pulling her to his side. Her nose almost exploded at this point as she rested his head against his pecs and he laughed at her feeble attempts at trying to remain cool.
"You're not scared Wendy are ya?!" Gildarts said in disbelief. "Hell the combined magic power in this cart is enough to level half of Fiori!" His speech was soon interrupted by a skeleton that dropped down from the roof. Screaming in horror, Gildarts reached out a hand and used his crash magic to obliterate the plastic ghoul. This continued for the rest of the ride until it finished.
"Might wanna make some more ghosts." Laxus told the man between laughs. He never thought the red haired mage would be such a scaredy cat. Or that he could make such shrill squeals. He practically ran to the picture booth to buy a picture before the crash magician destroyed any incriminating evidence of the experience. "I'll take as many as you can make!" He told the attendant and left with a literal bag load of merchandise showing Gildart's finest hour.
"Hey Mr Laxus?" Wendy called, picking up a keychain that fell on the floor. "Can I keep one of these?" The blonde nodded and wiped away the tears of laughter from his eyes. These were soon replaced by fresh ones as he looked down to see Gildart's horrified expression as a demon bunny jumped out at him. "This is the best thing I have ever saw in my life!"
Wendy took the small item and ran around the corner to Cana. "Do you have a picture?" Wendy nodded. "Good work kid!" Trading the small keychain for a huge bar of chocolate, Cana looked of the four on the ride. "Damn it dad you're so embarassing...Wait!" She looked away from the horrified man to the trio at the front. They were all laughing their asses off at the man in the backseat of course but the positioning of them was what caught Cana's eye. "Are they all...cuddling?!"
"Oi Cana!" A gruff voice called out, breaking her chain of thought. "If you're waiting for me to join your for a quickie back there you're gonna be disappointed." Cana was not amused. Unfortunately for Laxus neither was Gildarts.
"Hey, Miss Mira?" Wendy asked as the guild's two strongest members were locked in a battle of life and death in the background. "It says only two people can ride the Tunnel of Love. Do you want me to wait outside while you and Mr Laxus ride it?"
"Well...erm..." Mira stuttered. Of course she wanted to say yes, but the real question was would Laxus agree to it. "You may as well Mira; after all when else are you going to get this chance?" She looked at the small girl. "You sure you don't mind?"
Wendy smiled and nodded before running back to Cana to confirm that phase two was a go. They'd secretly planned this whole event during Laxus' second beating and they were now using his third to execute it.
"...and that's how you tie a knot with legs!" Gildarts announced to the crowd. It wasn't that Laxus was weak, just that Gildarts was a) insanely strong and b) he may have drugged the dragon slayer beforehand for this sole purpose. Yeah, its kinda worrying when you consider that he didn't even know Cana's plan then.
"Why the hell didn't that dragon kill you?!" Laxus groaned before being hoisted up and dragged to his doom aka the tunnel of love.
"There you go sparky; the final ride of your life!" Gildarts said, dumping Laxus on the seat. "Now try to keep it PG with your hot date here." He added a wink when Laxus growled at him.
"The hell do you mean hot...Mira?!" The white haired demon took a seat next to the broken man. "Why are you...?" He looked at Wendy in the background giving them a thumbs up and sighed. "Ohh I see; family photo right?!"
Mira sighed and nodded her head. "If only he knew..."
The ride went forward and the couple passed through some sickeningly romantic sights. Laxus was cringing all the way through them and Mira was dying inside. Finally it reached the climax and the two spotted the camera at the end.
"Laxus, you don't have to..." Mira began but was stopped when she felt his lips crash into hers. The contact came as usual with an electric jolt, but this time is was more intense than she'd ever felt before. She practically melted as his arms wrapped themselves around her and they lost themselves in the moment. However, the camera flashed way too soon for Mira and before she knew it the blonde man was trying to leave the boat to escape the beating he was due at the end of the ride.
-Back at the guild-
"So did everyone enjoy themselves today?" Makarov asked the gang, particularily Wendy and Natsu who were carrying a truck load of stuff.
"Yeah it was great!" They said in unison before running off to compare who had the most stuff in their respective bags.
"What about the rest of you guys? I'm surprised that you weren't thrown out or banned like we usually are from those sorts of places."
"Actually..." Gajeel began with a sheepish look on his face. Him and Levi had been thrown out for, ahem, innapropriate actions on the swings. And the big dipper. And what was left of the ghost train. And every ride.
"Oh...well one pair out of five isn't..."
"Two actually." Gray spoke up blushing. Juvia had really wanted a bunny on a ring toss, and when after 50,000 jewels had been spent on it the man had refused to give the prize over, Gray had simply froze the stall and pulled the thing from the ice. He was manly like that.
Makarov sighed. "Two out of five is a still decent I guess..."
"I got kicked out too..."
"Oh just go away the lot of you!" Makarov roared before Gildarts could tell him how much damage that had been caused from the beatings. In fact the only four who were still allowed in the place were Wendy, Happy, Natsu and Lucy.
As the group walked away Mira caught Laxus by the hand. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him after the tunnel because he'd made a quick escape through the side wall, and now she figured it was time to confront him about it. "So about before in the tunnel...That was all for Wendy's sake...r-right?!"
The Thunder God looked her in the eyes and grinned. "Sure thing Mira, sure thing."
A/N: Hope that one was enough to tide a few of you over. I've got a longer Miraxus fic in the works but that'll be out more around christmas time I reckon. Read, review and recommend some more stuff for me to write :)