What friends are for

A/N: Jellalneedscake, this one's for you. Basically Laxus and Jellal are going for a fun adventure times, and by fun I mean soul destroying. Literally. Well at least it is for Laxus. This is a bit darker and more serious than my previous fics but I did my best to put in a few laughs. Italics are for thoughts. Enjoy...

It was a warm summers day in Magnolia and the air was crisp. The sun was shining in the sky, there wasn't a cloud in sight and indeed there was a blue sky (if you see what I did there I love you). Not that any of this mattered because everyone's favourite lightening mage was too busy nursing a hangover in the darkest corner of the guild.

"Master Laxus I am so sorry!" Freed said for the millionth time. The previous night the Thunder God Clan had decided that it was time for a night out together. This was a terrible mistake. Freed had gotten drunk after his second pint of beer and decided that it was time to confess his undying love to Laxus. Evergreen had to pry the green-haired sorcerer from his less than pleased idol and then drag him home. After that the three remaining members hit the bars hard, especially Laxus who wanted to forget the scarring event. The night ended with him and Bickslow entering a drinking contest. Cana luckily wasn't there, meaning that the two of them ended up as the top two. After twenty drinks Bickslow finally collapsed and the Thunder God, well used to having to keep up with the brunette drinking master, was crowned victorious. His prize was a drunken photo in that bar and the honour of carrying his friend home. Neither of them had seen Evergreen. They were pretty sure she was with a guy. Or dead. Either way they didn't care right now.

"Freed just shut up." Bickslow groaned, his head pounding.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Lucy ran in screaming.

"Shut the fuck up you dumb blonde!" Laxus yelled, but she simply ran past him to the bar.

"Master Master!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "Erza's been hurt!"

There were murmurings of disbelief among those who were there, then shocked gasps as Jellal carried her limp body into the guild. Makarov transformed into his giant form and cracked his knuckles.

"Boy!" he thundered, "I don't care how tough you think you are, when you hurt one of my children I make sure you don't leave my sight alive."

Reaching his arm out he prepared to grab Erza from his grasp, but then stopped as he saw the tearful expression on the man's face.

"I got there too late. I couldn't save her." Tears trickled down his face as he stood there in the middle of the guild. "I just found her and brought her here. Now I don't care if the guards or the army arrest me, just get her healed up and well again. I beg you!"

Makarov transformed back into his normal form and walked over to him with Elfman. As the bulky man pried her limp form from Jellal's grasp, the blue haired wizard broke down in tears. Makarov put a hand on his shoulder.

"Who did it? Who hurt her?"

"Jose." was the reply, and gasps were heard throughout the guild. "He's back. I've been tracking him for a while with my team. I never thought this would..."

Makarov's aura rose. "That bastard." He clenched his fists and shook with rage. "I should have killed him back when I had the chance."

"Ahhh god will you guys shut up!" Came a voice from the dark corner of the room. Laxus was sick of this shit. "It was a rough night last night and I don't need you idiots making my head any worse."

"Laxus you self-centred piece of shit, take your head out of your arse for a moment and show some sympathy for once in your god damned life!"

Still holding his head, Laxus struggled to his feet. "Why should I when I can just show that bastard my fists instead?"

Picking up his coat, he walked to the middle of the room. Makarov was shocked.

"Laxus, what are you do-..."

"I missed a chance at kicking this guys ass the first time round and I sure as hell won't miss it this time." he snorted, then grabbed Jellal by the collar. "You know where his base is right?" He nodded. "Good. Now get off the floor and help me teach him some manners."

While most of the guild were stunned into silence, Freed rushed over to his master's side. "I'll go find Ever for you sir!"

"No need, you're staying here." Before Freed could protest Laxus shushed him. "If he decides to attack here I'm hardly going to trust the defence of the guild to a man who's smaller than a dog."

Makarov huffed and Freed beamed. "You can count on me master, I won't let you down."

Laxus allowed him his weekly hug, then went over and bro fisted the still recovering Bickslow. "I know you've got this so keep an eye on Freed." The masked man managed a shaky thumbs up as a response before collapsing back into his arms. "Well I'm done here. Let's go lover boy."

"But what about me Laxus? I'm your grandfather and your guild master?!"

Laxus stopped, turned and looked at the old man. "You forget I have a calendar to count down the days until you die."

Scowling, Makarov folded his arms. He was about to return to the bar in disgust, but he caught sight of Laxus waving him goodbye as he walked out. It brought a tear to his eye. "Be careful kid..."

-In the forests nearby-

Jellal and Laxus had been walking for two hours in almost complete silence. The former had stopped crying eventually, but still looked like a puppy tied to a radiator, while the latter's hangover had finally subsided. Being the master of starting conversations, Laxus spoke up.

"So are you fucking her or not?"

Jellal flinched. "W-what are you talking about?"

"The redhead. Have you guys finally joined together to make the beast with two backs?"

The ex-Wizard Saint's face went bright red, almost matching the colour of the tattoo on his face. "I don't see how that has anything to do with..."

Laxus looked at him. "Its cool man, I won't tell anyone. We both know that she'd probably beat me to death if I said a word."

Jellal relaxed a bit, but his face remained scarlet red. "Erm no...we're just friends."

The Thunder God quirked his eyebrow up. "Just friends?"

"Y-yeah, we're just friends."

"I see." Laxus grinned. This walk was going to be more fun than he expected. "So you don't mind if I hit on her then?"

Jellal nearly choked. "I'm sorry, what?!"

"Well you've seen her man, she's smoking hot. Nice face, great body and I would imagine pretty good in the bedroom too. I've never seen her run out of energy yet, and I wouldn't mind testing how much stamina she does have on a few mattresses if you know what I'm saying."

Laxus felt the magic in the air increase. "T-that's fine by me. Yeah I mean I'm just her friend so..."

"Great news!" he turned and patted his companion on the shoulder. "Well once she's healed up I'll make my move. Maybe even in the hospital bed if she's feeling up to it. Wouldn't be the first time..."

"IF YOU HURT HER I WILL BREAK YOU!" Roared Jellal, no longer able to keep his feelings to himself. That said, as soon as the words came out he clamped his hands over his mouth, realising his mistake. Laxus laughed triumphantly.

"You're a terrible liar." he laughed.

"So I'm told." Jellal grumbled, glaring at the road.

"But wait, didn't you go on a date with her at that raffle thing? What happened there?"

The blue haired man scratched his head looking sheepish. "Well I was going to ask her out, but in the end I bottled it. She deserves way more than what I can give her..."

Noticing the mood was darkening once again, sympathy specialist Laxus was on the case.

"Well yeah I can see why you'd think that. I mean you let her get beaten up pretty badly and then you spent a few minutes crying on the floor. God man you suck!"

"Hey! At least I was there for her! Where were you when Jose attacked the first time?"

"Not building a Tower of Heaven." he quipped, and Jellal admitted defeat.

"You're right, I'm a failure." Hanging his head in shame, Jellal trudged down the road.

"Not today you're not. Today you actually have someone good on your team, and I'll be damned if I let you screw this up. What are we up against by the way?"

"Well Jose has been acting strangely for some time now. He has a small dark guild at the edge of this clearing, and from what I can tell he's gathering his strength. The other guild members are nothing more than common thugs, but his strength has grown significantly. I'd say he was even stronger than Jura is now."

Laxus shrugged. "So what, I guess he can join my club now. Why haven't you guys hit it before now?"

Jellal continued to slink along the now rocky road. "He's too strong. I tried to confront him before with my team, but his powers are beyond anything we've gone up against before. We barely escaped with our lives. If I'm honest, I doubt I'll be as lucky this time. I guess it's finally time to pay for the sins of my pas-..."

He was cut off as Laxus backhanded him. "Christ shut up with the self pity! Yeah you've done some bad stuff in the past and yeah you've screwed up, but who hasn't? For most of my life I hated pretty much everyone and spent almost all of my time getting hammered instead of helping those people who really matter to me. Am I crying? No, because I can fucking deal with my problems. Now you're going to take me to this shitty guild and we are going to beat the crap out of that creepy fucker who hurt Erza. Are you with me?"

Jellal was stunned by the surprisingly emotional speech. He nodded in agreement and watched the dragon-slayer sigh in annoyance.

"Finally you've stopped. Good. Maybe now you'll grow some balls back. I liked you more back when you were Siegrain."

As they came close to the clearing, they both felt a wave of magical energy hit them.

"Damn, I see what you mean. You might be right; we could end up dying here."

Again, Jellal nodded in agreement. "He's unnaturally strong now. Even the two of us together may not be enough to stop him."

Wearing a serious expression, Laxus looked at him. "Well how about we find a reason to live? If we make it out of here, we both have to do something we should have done a long time ago."

"Fair enough. If I make it out of this alive, I'll go straight to the hospital that Erza is at and tell her how I feel."

Laxus smiled at him. "That's the spirit man!"

"What about you? What are you going to do?"

The lightening mage looked puzzled for a minute. A few things sprung to mind and a few people did too, but there was no way in hell he was going to tell this dumbass about them.

"I'm going to teach Freed how to hold his drink. There's no way in hell I'm letting last night repeat itself again."

Jellal laughed, imagining with good accuracy what happened. "You ready to die?"

Laxus grinned. "Hell no! Let's do this!"

-Back at Fairy Tail-

Mira walked into the guild hall with a worried expression on her face. She hadn't been this late to work in years, but Gajeel needed some help buying a present for 'a female friend' and so she'd spent a few hours in the book store. Looking round, she saw everyone's expression matching hers.

"What's wrong everyone?" she asked, frowning.

"Erza got beat up by Jose." Macao explained solemnly. "She's hurt pretty bad."

"Oh my god that's terrible! Is she going to be ok?"

"She'll pull through," Makarov answered, barely looking up, "But I don't think her rescuers will fare so well. I've just got a report through from the Council. They warned me that Jose had returned with ungodly strength said to rival that of even the wizard gods."

Mira gasped. "God that's even worse! Who went!?"

Cursing, the Guild Master looked up and met her gaze. She could see the worry in his eyes. "Jellal and...and..."

He bowed his head and clenched his fist. "I should have went! It should have been me!"

Mira went pale. "No...you don't mean the other one is...no..."

Makarov nodded his head and she staggered over and collapsed against the bar. She fought to keep the tears from her eyes. "Laxus...please be ok..."

-Back at the ass kicking session-

Jellal and Laxus had finished off all of the goons in the building with ease. In fact, the only reason they were sweating was because of the immense power coming from Jose, who was yet to move off his excessively large throne.

"Now now boys that's hardly a way to greet a new friend!" he mocked, smirking at both of them.

"You made a big mistake hurting Erza!" Jellal growled.

"Nah man, I think the bigger mistake here was the black lipstick." added Laxus. Jose laughed then stood up.

"Are you ready to die then?"

"On the contrary, I just called the funeral director. He's bringing a coffin out here for you at six." quipped the blonde, tensing up in preparation.

"I like you, you're funny." Jose said, complimenting his opponent, "It's a shame you're that dog's grandson. You'd make a fine addition to the guild."

Laxus grinned. "I bet you say that to all the guys." Leaping forward, Laxus punched the dark sorcerer straight in the face. Said sorcerer however barely even noticed it, and instead grabbed hold of his arm and flung him through a nearby pillar. Before he could further his counter attack, Jellal came up behind him and kicked him in the back of the head. Stumbling forward, he was met with a second punch from the dragon-slayer, which this time knocked him flying into the back wall of his guild hall.

"Impressive!" he chuckled, removing himself from the crater. "I guess I won't have to hold back..."

As his power rose to its maximum limit, the pair were almost crushed by its intensity.

"I guess you won't get a chance to fuck up with Erza again." Laxus joked, struggling to keep on his feet under the enormous pressure.

"Oh no my dear boy; he'll be seeing her again." Jose's eyes turned black and he cracked his neck. "She'll be going straight to hell once I'm through with you!"

Launching himself at them, he released his phantoms to attack them. Instantly they were swarmed with powerful, dark demons that clawed at them from all directions. Laxus was able to blast those that surrounded him away with his lightening, and then he transformed into his Dragon Force mode. Jellal meanwhile blasted away his attackers using his heavenly body magic, then shot straight towards Jose on his meteor.

"IF YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN I'LL RIP YOU APART!"

As the two traded blows, Jose kept on taunting the enraged magician. "Touchy subject I see. She is pretty though, so maybe if she begs me enough I'll keep her as my servant. With her body and a nice maids outfit I'm sure she'll fit right in here."

"The hell you will!"

"I have to agree with the drag queen here, she's pretty hot man!" Laxus chipped in.

"Shut up and help me here!"

"I would but I'm a little busy fighting this FUCKING HORDE OF PHANTOMS!"

Once again Jose laughed. "I think I'm going to enjoy killing you both."

The battle continued for another half an hour, but it was clear from the start that the fight was incredibly one sided. At the end of it Laxus and Jellal were beaten and broken, while Jose stood tall as confident and cocky as ever.

"You both put up a valiant fight, but you were doomed from the start. With this power bestowed unto me by my good friend Hades, I'll be unstoppable!"

"Hades...?" Just then it clicked. Laxus looked at his bloodied comrade and shouted "THE FLOOR! THERE'S A HEART UNDER THE FLOOR!"

Shocked, Jose scowled at him. "How the hell does a runt like you know about magic like this?"

Before he could stop them, Laxus had sent a shock wave through the ground. He was right with his assumption, and the heart that was under there was fried. Jose screamed as he felt his power leaving him and drop kicked the Thunder God.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU'LL RUIN EVERYTHING!" he screeched, stomping the blonde's head into the ground. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HEART?!"

Laxus just laughed through the pain. "You're not the only one that gets around with the guys you know."

He winked at his attacker who responded by breaking his left leg.

"Play time's over kid, time to die!"

As he raised his foot to deliver the final blow, he was suddenly knocked back into his throne. As the decadent chair collapsed around him, Jellal stood shaking in anger.

"I couldn't agree more you sick piece of shit." Looking down at Laxus, he gave him a weak smile and extended his hand out. "Reckon you can stand you screw up?"

Laxus grinned back at him. "Ohh I love it when you talk dirty!" Taking his hand, he managed to stand shakily on his right leg. "Ready to end this?"

Jellal nodded, then summoned what little magic he had left. Laxus did the same.

"DIE!" Jose roared, sending out his huge, albeit weakened, army of phantoms.

"Here's a little trick I was taught by a true wizard!" the S-Class sorcerer responded, "FAIRY LAW!"

Blinding white light filled the room and all of the phantoms vanished. Once it subsided, Jose stood there covering his eyes from the blinding white light.

"You're tough but you're too weak to kill me now! I'll-...wait, weren't there two of you?"

Looking up, Jose spotted a truly terrifying Jellal flying above him. "You're right, he's not going to kill you. I am! For what you did to Erza!"

Jose began begging for his life. "P-p-please, I'll do anything! I'll leave Fiore and...and I'll apologise to everyone I hurt. I swear it, just give me another chance!"

"MAGIC CHARIOT!" The blast stuck the evil, screaming man and obliterated him. Nothing was left of his body, and so the bin bags that Laxus bought on the way turned out to be useless. As Jellal floated back down to the ground, Laxus hobbled over to him.

"What a heartless bastard." They both laughed, despite the joke being terrible and their wounds causing them insane amounts of pain. They'd survived, and right now they were riding the high.

-One painful walk/hop back to Magnolia later-

Laxus stood outside the town hospital with his new friend. On the way back the two had finally managed to have a decent conversation, and had decided that if he ever came back to the town, Jellal would be taken on a drinking tour with Laxus, Cana and Bickslow.

"You're not going to fuck this up right?" Laxus said, looking at the very nervous Jellal.

"Is it weird that I feel more scared now than I did before?" he laughed, then fidgeted with his hands. As they walked in, the nurses gaped at their condition.

"We're, erm, we're here to see Erza Scarlette."

The receptionist looked at them like they were aliens. "No, you're both going to the emergency room." Realising the two weren't the ones who followed orders, she upped her game. "Its either that or I have the guards arrest you and send you there. You're in no condition to be standing, let alone visiting that poor woman."

Laxus looked into the woman's soul. "If you send the guards, I'll personally see to it that they get arrested by the Grim Reaper. Where's the girl?"

"J-j-just down the hall. T-third door on the left." The two nodded and the woman went to the toilet to go and change her trousers.

"This is it man, good luck. You've got this." Laxus knuckle bumped Jellal and leant against the wall outside the room. Swallowing, Jellal prayed to his chosen deity and walked in the room.

"Jellal?!" Erza said, shocked at seeing her old friend. She had been sitting up reading the magazines on her bedside table, and Jellal was stunned at how good she looked even in bandages.

"Erza, how are you doing?"

"Oh Christ Jellal look at you! You look like you've been to hell and back!" A worried look flashed on her face as she scanned his damaged body. "Wait is that blood on your shirt?! What the hell have you been..."

He cut her off with a soft kiss on her lips. Her eyes widened, then she relaxed and kissed him back. He slowly sat on the bed and held her gently in his arms. Breaking away, he looked straight into her eyes. "Erza, I know I don't deserve you. I've fucked up really badly in the past and I couldn't even stop you getting hurt." he winced as he looked at her bruised arms. "But I can't help the fact that I love you. I love you Erza Scarlette and I always will."

"Je...llal..." Erza teared up. Instead of telling him how she felt, she showed him by pulling him closer for another, longer kiss. They only broke apart when they heard sarcastic clapping from the hallway.

"Finally you grew a pair!" Laxus said, leaning round the door with a huge grin on his face. "Oh and by the way, I lied. I'm telling every fucker I see."

He quickly hopped away and Jellal, blushing heavily stood up to catch and beat the crap out of him, but grabbed his side and fell back onto the bed. Erza, who was also blushing, smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "Its fine, let the world know. Besides, I know where he lives."

-Back at the Guild-

Mira and Makarov were pacing the floor. Everyone had heard earlier that Erza was going to make a full recovery which cheered them up until they felt the huge magic shock waves hitting them from miles away. Although it was too far away to make out the different magic signatures which meant they couldn't tell who was winning, they knew that regardless of what happened both sides were going to end up in pretty poor shape. Once they stopped, they agreed to give the pair until the end of the day to return before a search party was sent out. As it was now, they were two minutes away from doing this and Mira was getting twitchy.

"I'm back bitches!" Laxus called out, hobbling into the guild. Freed's eyes were filled with tears of joy and admiration for his beloved leader, while Bickslow groaned and handed over two thousand jewel to him.

"Stubborn bastard is costing me money now..."

Makarov looked at the battered man and his eyes filled with tears of joy. He would have rushed over to see him, but Mira was already there. Considering pretty much everyone in the guild bar Laxus knew how she felt about him, he figured he would step back and let her see him first.

"L-Laxus!" she stuttered out, looking in awe at the broken mage. As she looked up and down his damaged body, she began to tear up. "Laxus you're really hurt!"

He looked down at her and smiled. "No shit Sherlock."

Actual tears falling from her eyes, she threw herself onto him, hugging him and crying into his chest. "I thought you were dead!" she cried.

"So did I." he said warmly before wrapping his own arms around her. They stood there for a few minutes in almost complete silence until Mira stopped crying. As she reluctantly pulled away, she wiped the tears from her face.

"Well I don't want to alarm anyone, but I'm pretty sure I punctured every organ in my body." This point was proven when he then coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground. "I should've just stayed at the hospital. Way to go you fucking idiot!"

As everyone in the guild rushed to help him, Evergreen finally strolled in.

"Man I tell you, its been one hell of a rough day! So, erm, what'd I miss?"

A/N: I hope this wasn't too serious for you, but I figured Jellal needed the girl more than he needed the laughs. Or the cake for that matter :P I always have imagined Laxus to take the piss out of his opponents when he fights despite him never doing so in the series, so I guess that's where the bad jokes came from. You all keep requesting me to do more Mira and Laxus fics, so the next one will probably be one of those, although I'd like some ideas as to what you want me to do for it. Read, review and recommend then :)