"On a scale of one to ten," Mirajane sang as she went around the hall that night, cleaning up the place, "how expensive do you think my wedding dress is, Master?"

Makarov, from his place atop the bar, sipping on his last beer of the night before they closed up, said without hesitation, "Seven."

"What?" Laxus was there too, seated at the bar, with his own final beverage. Water. Mira said he'd had enough to drink. Heh. "How does that even make sense? How are you rating this? Seven what? Seven thousand jewels? Hundred? Is that how this is working? I mean-"

"Dragon, you don't understand what we're saying and that's fine," Mirajane sighed from over by the request board, where she was hanging the new ones for the following day (she had the morning shift off and knew if she didn't hang the ones she had before she left, Lisanna would forget to do it when she came in to open). "You don't understand a lot of things."

"I understand plenty."

"But Master and I are talking about important things right now, okay?" She was talking to him like a kid. If Laxus wasn't so plastered (and hoping the fact she had the morning off the next day would lead to something back at their place), he might have carped about this. "So just drink your water and sober up."

"I'm not drunk." Or, at least, not black out drunk. And that was the only type of drunk that was dangerous. "Demon."

Humming, she glanced over at her boys once more, watching as Makarov tossed the rest of his beer back and Laxus only made faces down at the water in his own mug. Still in that upbeat tone, she asked, "Master, on a scale of one to ten, how big do you think my dress is?"

"Five."

"On a scale of one to ten, how great do you think it is?"

"Ten."

"On-"

"On a scale to one to ten," Laxus grumbled over the sound of his fiancee, "do you know that you're paying for this yet or not, old man?"

Snorting, Makarov said, "I'm paying for the venue."

"The venue is your damn guildhall!"

"That's right, my boy. And I'm waving all fees. Aren't you happy with me, Mirajane?"

"A straight ten, Master."

Ugh. Laxus took a sip of his water before saying, "How have you not even seen her dress yet, Master? She's been showing it off to everyone. Other than me." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "She hasn't shown me just what it set me back yet either..."

"Mira wants to surprise me," the old man said with a nod of his head.

"Surprise you? What are you talking about? She's gonna surprise me! I'm the one marrying her, old man."

"Only with my blessing."

"Gramps, you're on my last nerve today."

"Cheer up, my boy." Makarov picked up his staff, as it laid across his lap, with his free hand and used it to knock Laxus in the head, making the slayer growl. "You know I'm really paying for the damn dress."

"That neither of us have still seen."

"It's so great though," Mira assured them with a grin. Neither of the men were looking at her, but she couldn't help it. All great things came in threes. The Holy Trinity. Her and her siblings. The Thunder Legion. And now her family by marriage; her, Makarov, and Laxus.

Mmmm.

"Is it low cut?"

"L-Laxus!"

"Gramps wants to know too," he defended. "He just won't admit- You hit me with that damn staff again, old man, and I'll break it over your back."

"You threaten me again, boy, and I'll break your back."

Okay. So maybe the three of them together wasn't always perfect.

Still great though.

"It's beautiful," she told them both, hoping to distract them again. Then, grin returning, she said, "Master, on a scale of-"

"No." Laxus sent his demon a look. "No more nonsensical rating. The man hasn't even seen the dress! And your rates are complete dribble. Just finish closing up so that we can go."

"But I'm having so much fun."

"So much fun cleaning up?" the slayer asked with a frown.

"Uh-huh."

"That's...Mira..."

"She'd be done faster," Makarov remarked with a look at his grandson, "if a certain someone would help her."

"Yeah, and maybe she'd not have to work so much," Laxus retorted, "if she had a competent boss that gave her some actual help-"

"I try to give her days off! All the time! The woman won't-"

"He's not concerned with my work schedule, Master," Mirajane assured the old man. "Are you, dragon?"

"Very much so am, than you."

Shaking her head, the she-devil changed tasks then as she came behind the bar to grab a rag, so she could wipe down all the tables. "He was really implying that he should be my employer."

"And what? Me retire?" Makarov snorted. "I see no one worthy of the job… Or at least the ones I have deemed have all turned me down."

Laxus, giving his grandfather a glare, only said, "You're just worried, geezer, that when I take over, people will realize the full potential of a Dreyar."

"You have your head so far up Mirajane's dress half the time that I don't know when you'd ever get anything-"

"Oh, and you don't?"

"Mira would like for you both to keep your nasty heads away from her dress." Then the barmaid smiled. "Speaking of dresses, Master, on a scale of one to ten, how many frills do you think-"

'You're both killing me." Laxus wanted to bang his head on the bar top, but managed to withstand. "You know that?"

"He is somewhat right, Mirajane," Makarov agreed with a nod of his head. Finished with his mug, he sat it down on the counter beside him before looking at the woman full on then. "There's much to discuss about this wedding other than the dress, of course."

"Oh, of course," Mira agreed with a nod. "I'm working very hard at planning in my free time with, you know, only the best bridal party ever."

"Mira, your brides maids are Lucy, Cana, Erza, and Lisanna." Laxus tried hard not to make a face, but he probably did regardless. "I wouldn't trust the four of them to help you tie your shoe, much less plan a wedding."

"Well, lucky me, I can tie my own shoe. Both of them, in fact."

"That's not-"

"And besides, dragon, I mostly just ask for their help to shove it in their face that I'm happy and getting married and all of them are either still skating around the edge with their prefect matches-"

"The perfect matches that you decided on. Not them. Not ones they even, for the most part, care to be with-"

"I put us together," she retorted. "Didn't I?"

"I mean, you definitely were involved in it, sure, but-"

"My point is that a wedding," Mirajane explained to the two men, "is basically all about achieving this life long goal to, like, feel like a princess or whatever. The center of attention. And to shove it in all your other friends faces that you have a much better life than them. And thanks to you being so load, dragon, I get to do all of that."

"Yeah, well, I'mma need a beer if we're gonna start talking like that. Or a shot of whiskey, at least."

"Surely you are just joking," Makarov spoke up, his tone more serious than any of the three had had that night. "Mirajane."

"Hmmm?"

"About marriage. Surely you see it as more than just...a chance to show off how happy you are."

"I said a wedding, Master, is a chance to show off," she corrected. "Not marriage. Marriage is something completely different."

"Not that I care," Laxus grumbled, "seeing as we're clearly getting married only because we're the most attractive people in the world and it would be a damn shame if we didn't procreate-"

"No cursing," Mira rebuked as Makarov only rolled his eyes, not needing to question the mockery in that statement.

"-but what difference is there?" Laxus asked. "I mean, I get the basic thing your saying. A wedding is, like, when you get married and marriage is, like, all the after effects, but-"

"You don't get married at a wedding, dragon."

"...Then I have been lied to the majority of my life. Just what am I showing up at the hall for then? Huh?"

He was speaking with a bit of a raised pitch, almost in a mocking way, and Makarov knew that he was only a bystander then and not really meant to hear it. A casualty. It was for Mirajane that Laxus was even enduring the topic. And only for her.

"It's just all a show," she clarified. "You really only get married when you sign the little certificate. In theory, I can have as many weddings as I want, to as many men as I want; the capital will only recognize my wedding if I go into a big city and fill out a form."

"So basically," he said into his mug as he lifted it to his lips, "you're a bastard."

"W-What?"

"I'm sure your parents, demon, who you've told me never, ever liked to leave your little town, just got married at your church in town. Or your temple. Whatever you guys had."

"W-Well, I'm sure that the priest probably brought them the papers, Laxus."

"Right. He rode into town and-"

"Yes. He did."

"Okay."

"You know, this is why you people that live in big cities are always getting on-"

"I mean, can I even marry you now?" he kept up. "Knowing that you're a bastard?"

"Laxus Dreyar-"

"I have yet to hear," Makarov interrupted their bickering (and good thing, because they were about to either get into a serious fight or Mira was going to cry, "just why weddings are so frivolous to you, my dear."

Giving up on her glares at her fiance, Mira looked to the man's grandfather as she said, "It's not that they're frivolous, Master. It's just not that they matter, when it comes to how much someone cares about another person. You could have no wedding at all, but if you love someone, truly love someone, then that's all that matters. A wedding is just how you show others how much you love one another and something that we do because it's what we're told we should do. And marriage is an aftereffect of that, but at the same time, something completely different. It's, like, you know...serious. It's everything that you're not showing off to people that matters. That makes it real. After the wedding, no one cares nearly as much about your marriage until, like, it falls apart and they get to enjoy the drama surrounding that."

Laxus didn't want to, but he could tell that his demon was struggling, so he drop his pretense of not understanding what she was trying to get across and helped her out.

"She means that the wedding don't mean nothin' to us. Personally. Inwardly." He wouldn't look at his grandfather as he spoke, but could feel the old man's eyes on him. "They're just something flashy. To show off. Or, if not that, then to just show others that you're, you know, in love or whatever. To complete a fantasy. Whatever. But marriage? What goes on behind closed doors? That's real. That's what matters. Not...dressing up all nice to impress your friends. Have some big ceremony to show up your loved ones and show out for your god. You can get married without a wedding and you can have a wedding without getting married; they're both completely void of one another unless you choose to include them."

Allowing that to marinate, Makarov sat there for a moment, with his eyes shut, before saying, "Perhaps the wedding itself is not as important as the actual act of marriage, but the tradition of the ceremony is not something to scoff at. You kids these days-"

"We're in our twenties. I'll be thirty in a few years," Laxus grumbled as Mira only giggled. "We're not kids."

"-seems to want to destroy all of our traditions. All the foundation of everything-"

"Has he been cut off yet?" Laxus complained. "Demon? Why have I been cut off if he-"

"He is too," Mira snickered. "It just came a bit later than it should have."

"It's the truth," Makarov insisted. "Weddings are-"

"Why are you so obsessed with weddings today?" Laxus rolled his eyes. "Fixate on something else. Fixate on the guildhall. Tell us about how much you love the guildhall. Either that or fixate on shutting the hell up."

"Laxus Dreyar-"

"Hell isn't a curse word."

"It is to me," Mirajane told him and, well, what she went said and all.

Grumbling to himself, Laxus went back to his water in discontent silence.

"And anyways, Master," the woman went on, "I was just kidding. Sort of. Being married to dragon is far more important than some stupid wedding, but it's still pretty important to me too. I'm glad you're so interested."

Oh, he definitely wouldn't be when he heard the price of the dress, but for the moment, he was drunk and enjoying the time he had with the two of them. Makarov loved all of his children in the guild, but Laxus was, of course, his blood and Mirajane had always been his special project for so long. All of the children that found their way into their hall had their problems, but she had always been the hardest to crack and then, when she did, following her sister's supposed passing, was putty to put back together.

To be able to see the two of them become one would be...so special to the man. He felt like a bother, most of the days then, to everyone. His mind would leave him, occasionally, and he had a plethora of pills that Mira was constantly shoving down his throat. Oh, and then that one time he accidentally lit his stove and fell asleep and started a fire. It was, like, a month ago. If not two. And Mira and Erza kept hammering over it.

Ugh.

Then there was that whole getting drunk and somehow winding up four towns over a few weeks ago, dazed and confused and having to contact the guild from a lacrima to get back home…

So yes, it was nice to finally be of some use. Especially to Laxus and Mirajane, who were taking his advanced age the hardest and accepting more responsibility to combat his increasing neediness. He was not only funding a good bit of the wedding (because, honestly, he just was), but he also hoped that he'd be able to pass off some advice to the two of them, at least in some ways, about growing with one another.

"Of course I am, Mirajane," he said with a bow of his head. "It is not every day that a Dreyar settles down." Then Makarov frowned. "Actually, it's not even every decade...or half a century, for that matter."

Laxus nodded a bit. "I the most evolved model, Mirajane."

"But not evolved enough to put your dirty laundry in the hamper-"

"I'm learning to live with another person! Sue me!"

"We've been living together for a year and a half."

Bah.

"Ivan wasn't married." Makarov said that, softly, That got Mirajane's grin to fall and Laxus to send him a sharp look. "Not that it bothered me. It's...daughters that you should want to see married off. Not sons. But now… I'll like it. A lot. Laxus. Mirajane. Seeing the two of you…"

It was silent then and Mira wasn't even wiping down tables anymore. Just staring over at them. Laxus wasn't glaring so much then, but his gaze was still heavy on his grandfather, who, with a soft sigh, added to that.

"Do not get me wrong though, Mirajane," he said with a shake of his head. "I still wish that you picked someone more...suitable, but-"

"Look, you old man-"

"Laxus is plenty suitable, Master," Mirajane assured the man. "He owns all kinds of suits. He has a tux and that spiffy white one-"

"That's not what I meant," the man replied, "but I'm sure you knew that."

Oh, of course.

But Mirajane was very good at playing coy. Especially with her boys.

It would come in handy when, not two months after being married, she had to manage to convince both Laxus and Makarov that it was their idea that the old man move in with them, less he be harmful to himself staying alone. It wouldn't be easy and would involve an amount of intellect Mira fooled many into thinking she didn't have, but she most certainly did.

As she'd learned growing up though, who gets special treatment? The smart girls? Or the cute, dumb ones?

And having her Master in her home, where he couldn't set things on fire accidentally and she could be sure that he was taking his medication was definitely something Mirajane would want.

That night, however, as they stood in the bar long after close, all she wanted to do was hurry up and finish her duties so that she could get home. She honestly was tired. Oh, and, most importantly, to keep her dragon and Master from ripping into one another.

A daily task, really.

Snorting, Laxus gulped down some more water before saying, "You just focus on closing up, woman. I'm getting rather tired of sitting around doing nothing."

"What exactly do you think being a master of a hall is, Laxus?" Makarov asked as Mirajane somehow fund the time to come over and pop her fiance in the back of the head, him not even reacting as he knew, of course, after the tone he used that he deserved it. "Other than sitting around most days and doing nothing?"

"It's only that when you're a lazy old man," the slayer said as his demon went back to finishing tables. Makarov only cackled.

"Ah, yes, but at one time I was not so old and do not recall doing much more."

"Yeah, back when you were a lazy young man." Laxus snorted. "And not even that young."

"Dragon," Mira sang then, interrupting their conversation. "Can you count out the register?"

"Am I only the payroll?"

"Don't act up in front of Master."

"Yuck. Never. Who cares what the geezer think- Hit me with that staff again old man and-"

"This geezer can still bend you over his knee, you ungrateful-"

"You never bent me over your knee! By the time I was three I was bigger than you- Mira, make him stop hitting me before I make him!"

Sighing loudly, she said, "You know, boys-"

"We're not boys." Laxus grabbed the staff that tie when Makarov tried to poke him with it, though he only tossed it away just as quickly. "We're men."

"-I'm a bit busy to be dealing with this," Mira finished. "So, Laxus, why don't you go walk Master home and then-"

"What do I look like? His babysitter?"

"You look like a concerned grandson. What? Did you think when we all left here, he was just gonna go one way and we were going to go another?"

Well…

"I don't need a concerned anything," Makarov informed them. "Unless, of course, Mirajane, you were hoping to come over for a bit after taking me home-"

"You're not allowed to make passes at my woman, old man. She's gonna be your grand-daughter-in-law."

"That's still not blood."

"Mira, he's pushing my buttons and I'm about done-"

"Master's just playing, dragon, and you know it." Mira was coming around the bar again for something and gave them both a look. "Aren't you, Master?"

Taking a deep breath, Makarov breathed it out slowly before saying, "If you're that worried about me stealing your future wife, boy-"

"I am not. I'm just wanting you to stop...hitting on her or whatever it is that you're doing."

"Should you even marry a woman that you're fearful will sleep with your grandfather-"

"Mira," Laxus said then, refusing to look at his grandfather. "I'm being very good-"

"Well, decent, but sure."

"-and he just keeps trying me-"

"I actually like it, just a bit, if you wanna know the truth," Mirajane said with a nod. When both men only stared, she explained, "You used to both just ignore one another. And then you'd just snap at one another constantly. Now, at least, you can hold a semi-decent conversation without any storming off. Just some mediating from me." And Mira patted her chest then. "And I'm gonna be a Dreyar too, so that makes it okay. Perfect even. Like a family bond."

Laxus made a face. "Okay, well, that's great that you feel that way and all, demon, but mediate this; if the old man says one more thing about our relationship, I'll slug him."

Makarov spoke before Mirajane had the chanse. "I'd like to see you try."

"Too fast for your ancient eyes, Gramps, but you'll definitely feel it."

Loudly, Mirajane let out a sigh before saying, "If you two really can't get along, I can just come in tomorrow morning, I guess, on my off day, and finish this up later. If you really can't-"

"No effin' way, demon. You're not coming in on-"

"If it is your day off, my dear, then you coming in would negate the off part."

"Then," she said with her hands on her hip, finger just itching to be wagged, "you two need to behave."

Both looked down then, Makarov at his lap and Laxus at the bar top. Neither was too thrilled over being scolded like schoolboys, but at the same time knew better than to refute the command.

So they sat, both silent, as Mirajane finished with her closing duties. She was just closing up, slipping on her coat as Laxus and Makarov stood by the door, when she spoke to the old man.

"Master?"

"Hmmm?"

"On a scale of one to ten how-"

"I'm putting," Laxus grumbled as he wrapped an arm around his woman's shoulders, "my headphones in. Okay? Demon?"

"That's fine." She wasn't paying attention to him anyways, as they left the building, rather keeping her attention on the slight man locking the hall doors. "Master and I have a lot to discuss."

And even though he didn't want to, there, in the darkness, Laxus grinned just a bit, at the sight of his future wife being so very entertained by his clearly intoxicated grandfather (honestly, Makarov was hardly on his feet).

Because Laxus loved the guildhall. He did. He loved the Thunder Legion in particular. A lot. And Mirajane's siblings were...annoying as hell, but becoming his family too.

Makarov ranked though above all of that. And to have a woman by his side that agreed with that, well, Laxus wasn't sure he could have gotten anymore lucky.

"Now, if you're sure you don't wish to stay, Mirajane-"

"Oh, Master," she giggled when they arrived at the man's tiny house. Laxus, however, only scowled.

"Get inside and go to bed, Gramps," he told the man with a shake of his head. "We ain't got all night. It's late; I wanna get home."

Makarov grumbled as he went, but Mirajane and Laxus only made sure he got inside before heading off. They weren't far before, pulling her tighter towards him, Laxus pressed a kiss into Mira's silvery hair.

"Dragon," she giggled as he only grinned down at her. "What was that for?"

Shaking his head a bit, he only said, "'Just can't wait, you know? Hearing you talk about it, seriously talk about it… I'm… It's real. We're gonna be married. Real soon."

With her own grin, Mirajane nodded her head and said, "Can't wait."

"Yeah." He pressed another kiss to her head. "Neither can I."

As much as I like the Thunder Legion/Strauss sibling one-shots I've been putting out recently, Makarov, Mirajane, and Laxus altogether has always been an angle that's highly underrated.