His heart was racing furiously. Why did he suddenly feel so nervous? A fight shouldn't have had this affect on him. One minute, he saw your arm being grabbed and the next, his fist was on the guy's face.
He stared intently down at the man lying unconscious on the ground and tried to figure out what compelled him to act so rashly. If he wanted to pick a fight that badly he could have just riled up Natsu, so it couldn't have only been that. Maybe there was just something about that guy's face that he didn't like. He still wasn't sure. The only thing that was certain was you. He knew that you were uncomfortable. That was obvious to tell. But that didn't explain what he did. Generally, he could just loom over anyone he didn't like and they'd go away. So why did he go so far as punching them? And why was he even thinking about it this hard?
He looked around to see that a crowd had gathered, annoyingly. After taking a deep breath and composing himself, everyone in the crowd returned to minding their own business. "Laxus." He heard your voice mutter. Expecting to see you angry at him, he cautiously looked up to see you staring back, wide-eyed in shock. Little did he know, your own heart was beating more noticeably than usual. It was unfortunate times like these that made you remember just how powerful Laxus's physical strength was. It was almost overwhelming.
He relaxed just a little when he realized that you weren't angry. He wasn't sure what you were feeling, and quite frankly, neither were you.
"Are you okay?" He said quietly as he took a few steps closer. You simply nodded, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. "Good." He added, almost awkwardly. Why was he acting this way? All you could do was stare in bewilderment. "Do you get that problem often?" He was standing very close to you, so close that you had to take a step back to view his face clearly.
"Um…yes, I mean, sometimes." You stumbled over your words.
"I never knew." He'd known you practically his whole life, but there was so much that he still didn't know. Why hadn't he known that this was a reoccurring issue for you? And why wasn't he there to take care of it? He wanted to be there for next time, and every time it happened, so that maybe he could stop it from happening, and stop it from happening to you of all people. He didn't know why it had taken him this long to realize what he felt. For the past few minutes, sudden thoughts of protection and comfort and many other things that he couldn't identify yet were flashing through his brain and clogging his ability to translate his thoughts into words. Suddenly, his mind cleared as he realized what was going on and his nerves finally disappeared. It was so simple to him now. A small smirk appeared on his face. "I guess I didn't need to do that." He joked. "You could have taken care of him on your own, right?" He grinned when he saw the smile you were trying to hide.
"Of course." You teased, playing along.
"Well, you don't need to anymore." He said casually looking away as a subconscious attempt to diminish the meaning of what he was about to say. "Cause I'll be there to take care of it before you need to even think about it," He paused, "if you want me to." He slyly looked back to you and waited for your response.
You paused for a minute to see if he seriously meant it, and his expression showed it all. It was an attentive look you've seen many times on him before. He was very serious. And after catching your breath, the only thing you could think was honestly that it had taken him long enough. But all your body would do was nod and answer with a meek, "Yeah."
He gently swung an arm around your shoulder and the two of you walked back to Fairy Tail, chatting about all the things he had missed in your life recently and listening to his jokes and promises that he had every determined intention of keeping from now on. Finally.