A/N: This is my (probably sad) attempt at a LaLu fic after spending about four hours looking through Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, and without any success in finding a story that was either genuinely appealing to read or hadn't been abandoned 3 chapters in. Now, I don't want to be one of those, nor do I have any interest in creating another carbon copy of the "LUCY LEFT THE GUILD BECAUSE LISANNA/TEAM NATSU" Cliches. (where did that even come from it makes no sense). So yeah, don't judge me too harshly for trying to come up with my own idea rather than scooping from the pile of stuff everyone "likes" and re-doing it with barely any difference. If this story does well I might make a larger Fairy Tail story (though the one I've currently got an idea for involves and OC). Enjoy your LaLu. I'm sure you've had enough of my rambling.
Tags: Very, very, mild fluff. Laxus being Laxus. Lucy being Lucy. Lucy thinks Laxus is kind of cute when he sleeps. Laxus is a grouch. Mira is planning something. Natsu started a huge thing again. Lucy is short on money, as per usual. Erza likes cake. Lucy isn't sure what to think of Laxus. There's not much "real" LaLu in this I'm sorry.
There were some days where Lucy wondered what exactly had drawn her to Fairy Tail in the first place There were hundreds of wizard guilds scattered all across Fiore, some much closer to the Hearfilia Estate than Fairy Tail. She could have just as easily turned up at the doorstep of Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or even Phantom Lord.
Instead she was here, sitting in front of Mira at the bar as various bits and pieces of guild furniture flew through the air. Lucy wasn't exactly sure who had started the brawl this time, though she suspected it was one of the usual line of suspects. It couldn't have been Gray, seeing as the Ice mage was off on a job for a client that had requested him and Juvia specifically. Gajeel was off looking for a snack (she suspected that meant robbing innocent restaurant owners of their silverware). Erza was currently tucked away on the second floor with the massive cake she'd gotten as a reward from her latest job. That left three guild members foolish enough to start a fight so close to Mira's newly cleaned bar.
Elfman. Natsu. Laxus.
Through the mess of limbs and magic, Lucy couldn't pinpoint exactly which one (or pair) was responsible for the turmoil, though a plume of fire and smoke indicated Natsu was somewhere on the far right side of the guild hall. Elfman was involved as well, as she could see his beast form towering over the other guild members as they doubted it was either of them who'd started it. Natsu was still feeling queasy after eating a bolt of Laxus's lightning the day before. And Elfman wouldn't dare try to pick a fight next to Mira after she'd just finished straightening up the guild after the last fiasco. Even then she couldn't put it past Natsu to have said something stupid and set the guild into a riot.
Lucy squinted into the crowd, ducking to avoid a chair that sailed over her head. She was looking for the familiar crackle of electricity that followed Laxus wherever he went. There wasn't any telltale signs of a lightning strike, but she could feel the slight spark in the air that went along with Laxus's nasty temper.
"If you're looking for Laxus, he's upstairs" Mira had notice Lucy's observation of the room and was smiling brightly in her direction. Lucy could practically see the gears turning in her head as she pictured whatever fantasy relationship she'd created between Laxus and Lucy. "Master has him doing paperwork after Natsu and Gray destroyed that bridge in Loville City"
"Oh right…" Lucy winced, thinking back to the incident. Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Erza had taken a request to eliminate a strange humming noise that had been giving the townspeople nasty headaches. The humming had turned out to be a group of vulcans practicing on a magic guitar they'd found in some poor merchant's belongings. A fight had ensued and somehow Gray and Natsu managed to turn a two hundred year old bridge into rubble. "I suppose I should apologize for that."
"Oh don't let it bother you, Lucy. How were you supposed to know they'd decide to make sure the Vulcan couldn't cross back into town?" Mira said cheerfully, wiping down a glass with a towel. "I'm sure Master and Laxus don't blame you. If anything the fault belongs to Erza for not keeping them in check"
"Still...Gray and Natsu aren't going to apologize anytime soon, so at least one of us should." Lucy sighed, rubbing her forehead wearily. "Maybe I can help him write a letter of apology or something."
"Well if you insist" Mira reached below the counter, digging into one of the storage cabinets built into the bar. She pulled out a small tray, immediately loading it with a pitcher of lemonade, several glasses, and a plate of iced butter cookies. "If you're going, could you please take this with you? Laxus didn't come down for lunch today so I figured he could use a snack while he's working"
"I'd love to Mira" Lucy smiled, taking the tray as soon as the older woman was finish loading it. Despite being busy serving food and drink to the guild members, Mira could always be counted on to be observing everything else that went on in the guild. From keeping track of guild members to assisting civilians that came into the guild, Mira was always there to help. It was the least Lucy could do to deliver a snack along her way.
Dodging the center of the brawl, Lucy skirted around the edge of the guild hall. She made her way onto the second floor, not surprised to find it empty of life (besides Erza hoarding her cake in the darkest corner of the upper level). Though the second floor was no longer off-limits to wizards ranked lower than S-Class, most of the guild members avoided it as a sort of respected tradition. Laxus, Gramps, and Mira all had offices there, though it seemed Mira only ever used hers for a quiet place for the more intoxicated members of the guild to sleep off a night (or in Cana's case a week) of heavy drinking. Gramps hardly ever left his office anymore. After the Grand Magic Games the guild had been bombarded by request after request from citizens all over Fiore. Each had to be looked over and approved specifically by Master Makarov. It was one of the few tasks Gramps couldn't pass on to Laxus (no matter how much he wanted to).
Lucy tip-toed past the heavy door that lead to Makarov's office, trying to be as quiet as possible as she headed for the door on the far right of the spacious open balcony that made up the majority of the second level. Laxus kept the door to his office shut tight, probably to keep out the noise from the central area of the guild hall. Lucy knocked once, balancing the tray on one arm as she listened for a reply.
"Laxus are you there? Mira sent me up…" She called, knocking again when there was no answer. "I'm coming in...PleasePleaseDon'tShockMe" She muttered to herself, turning the knob.
"Laxus….?" Lucy was stunned by what she found.
The great Laxus Dreyar, destroyer of guilds, next in line as guild master of Fairy Tail, one and only Lightning Dragon Slayer of Fairies….was asleep.
And it was adorable.
Lucy had to suppress a small squeal as she set the tray on the desk, narrowly avoiding a stack of finished paperwork as it threatened to fall over. She tried her best to stay quiet as she straightened the stack, glancing over and correcting a few technical errors in the forms.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you it's rude to search through other people's things?" Lucy jumped as Laxus's voice, marked by a permanent growl, fell over her. She looked up, already turning red.
Laxus was sitting straight up, clearly irritated (though you could never tell with someone who was constantly scowling). He'd crossed his arms over his chest, balancing his chair on two legs as he glared at Lucy.
"Oh. I'm so sorry!" Lucy's face was heated as she straightened up. "It's just, Mira sent me up with a snack for you, and I wanted to apologize for the bridge from our last request, and then you were taking a nap so I decided to leave the tray here and go back downstairs, but then I saw that you'd marked a few forms incorrectly so I tried to fix them and-"
Lucy was cut off as Laxus held his hand over her mouth. He'd set the chair back down on two legs and was looking over one of the forms she'd corrected as he popped a cookie into his mouth. "How'd you know how to fill out a property damage account anyway?"
"It was something I learned when my father was making me take lessons. He expected me to help my future husband manage company accounts, so I learned how to fill out forms like this when I was pretty young" Lucy said, prying Laxus's hand off her mouth.
"I didn't ask for your life story. I asked how you knew how to do paperwork" Laxus said gruffly.
"Well fine then. I'll just go back down-" Lucy started toward the door, immediately squawking in surprise as she was jerked backwards into a small chair Laxus had dragged up to sit next to his desk.
"Where do you think you're going blondie?" Laxus said, releasing her almost as soon as she fell into the chair.
"Since I'm so irritating I was going to go back downstairs and see if Mira needed any help" Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Laxus.
Laxus shoved a pen at her, moving a stack of completed forms with his arm. "Look over 'll be easier if you catch any mistakes than me having to re-do them when the old man sees their wrong"
Lucy almost protested on instinct. Why should she have to help him do his work? But this close up she could see the dark circles under his eyes. Ever since being accepted back into the guild, Laxus had been working harder than anyone to earn trust from the guild he'd lost once. It wouldn't have surprised her if he'd been up for several nights in a row trying to finish the work his grandfather had given him. With no one but himself, Mira, and Gramps authorized to do the paperwork along with Laxus's own pride he'd probably been doing it all alone.
"Okay." She answered, taking a section of the stack of forms from the top of the stack and sitting them on the desk in front of her. She immediately began scanning over them, changing over a few basic numbers and marking a few boxes.
After a few moments Lucy was forced to shift uncomfortably in her seat, feeling eyes boring into her shoulder. She looked to her right, finding Laxus staring at her, tapping his pen against the table. She moved her weight, resettling herself in her chair.
"What?" Lucy asked, swallowing hard as Laxus met her eyes.
"Nothing, blondie. Mind your own business" Laxus said, going back to the paperwork.
"What are you talking about. You were staring at me!" Lucy's eye twitched as Laxus scribbled down another record of some building being damaged on a request.
"I have no idea what you're talking about" Laxus said, flicking the form he was working on from his own stack to hers.
"Stop just hurrying through these" Lucy said, grabbing the form he'd just finished. "Look. You got into a hurry and skipped the entire finances section. Without that the city you sent this to could have just charged whatever they wanted and you wouldn't have been able to say any different" She marked down the correct numbers, adding the paperwork into the pile of already finished forms.
"You're good at this, you know" Laxus blinked, looking at the financing section of the form he'd grabbed next. "You should talk to Gramps about helping out with this stuff."
"You mean helping out with your job" Lucy raised an eyebrow, checking through the stack of paperwork again.
"Excuse me. I wasn't aware you liked being short on rent from Natsu crashing through everything" Laxus snorted. "Give him a few years and he'll have more of these forms than Guildarts does"
Lucy gave a short huff of breath, looking away from Laxus and back to the form she was checking over. Laxus had a point, Gramps did pay Mira quite a lot to help around the guild like she did, especially since Mira didn't take requests very often. With the current turn of events, Lucy was still several thousand Jewel short for her rent. Most of the jobs on the board were monster slaying, eradicating dark guilds, or just weren't suited for her magic. Unless she convinced Natsu to go on a job and not destroy everything she wasn't going to have enough Jewel for all the essentials.
"I guess it couldn't hurt" Lucy said, shrugging as she laid the last of the forms on the completed stack.
"Welcome to the team then, Lucy" Laxus said, stretching in his chair. "And maybe next time you don't come barging in here?"