Fluff and Static is a sequel of The Softer Side of Laxus that takes place after a six month time skip. This is going to be a fluffy mass of stories I imagined about the pairings from my last story that are shared while they wait for Mira to have her baby. BONUS: name Mira's baby in the reviews, I will pick one with a random generator.
A weekly tradition occurred between the Thunder God Tribe and their significant others over the last six, it was jokingly referred to as the Beast Feast due to the takeover Strauss siblings habit of using magic to win games, and it was a gathering that usually included a dinner and game night of sorts. The night was held at the Justine household this time around, Freed and a very pregnant and downright scarily happy Mira served a spread as they played cards, normally the events were more exciting and energetic but everyone worried that Mira was just too far along to handle the kind of chaos that usually came with the night. Around the table sat the hosts along with Lisanna and Bixlow bickering over whether he had been secretly salting her food when she looked away (he was), Evergreen and Elfman whispering about his next turn in the poker game which he was being advised (TOLD) how to play by a very opinionated Ever, and Laxus and Juvia.
Laxus was rubbing his hands on his face in an obvious show of frustration as he attempted to teach Juvia how to play poker, the frustrating part was that this wasn't the first time she had played with the group, but every time poker came up as the activity he had to teach her how to play again. Not just each night, it seemed it was each hand, she would lay her cards on the table so everyone ended up knowing what she had, and he would try to pick them up and shove them back in her grasp while helping her figure out what she was doing. He had more patience than anyone ever would have guessed knowing his usual attitude but he felt partially responsible for this lapse of memory as it stemmed from an encounter and resulting injury from a battle she had with his father.
The condition was unique, due to an extreme electric shock she sustained in her water state she had a magic residue that was difficult to remedy, although through a new procedure by Porlyusica it was improving with every treatment and it was easily seen with the improvement in her memory and reaction time. It was still hard for Laxus to see the struggle on her face as she tried to remember newer things, despite the improvement he always felt guilty because the shock was from his attack toward his father, and no matter what Juvia maintained her positive attitude and refused to allow others to change and attempt to accommodate her so poker night carried on.
As game night carried on and the meals were finished the jokes and conversations carried on well into the night, when suddenly Evergreen squawked that the floor was wet, eyes shot to Juvia and she blushed heavily, "Hey! It wasn't me!" She yelled as she gestured across the table.
One. Two. Three seconds passed. CLICK "MIRA!" Attention shifted and commotion clattered all throughout the room. Bags were grabbed and the all-too-chipper Mira sat in shock with hands on her swollen belly seemingly frozen in her chair. Freed grabbed her bridal style and hurried toward the door and the whole crew headed toward the hospital.
Once the expectant parents were in a room, the remainder of the group sat in the waiting room chatting and betting among themselves on the gender and stats of the impending arrival. "Why in the world do you think she didn't say anything? Her water broke and she sat there frozen, I started to wonder if I accidentally turned her to stone" Evergreen jested.
"Well she has been in early labor on and off for weeks, she may have thought it was another false alarm." Lisanna guessed.
"Or maybe her happy vibes were crashing down." Elfman murmured. "This pregnancy was the absolute longest time she has gone without going demon soul on anyone.' He pointed out in disbelief.
"I can not believe you all thought I had flooded the floor." Juvia muttered and he smacked Laxus on his arm as If it was his fault. He bit his tongue and did not mention that it was a justified reaction since she tended to do exactly that when she lost during the Beast Feast.
Bixlow seemed distracted, almost staring off into space, and it took a few moments before Lisanna snapped off and scolded him, "Bix, stop, I KNOW what you are doing and Mira will kill you." It then became apparent that he had sent his babies to check up on the parents-to-be.
Bixlow slumped in his seat with an expression of attitude and snark while saying, "It doesn't matter anyway, Freed already put up runes to keep me out, clever bastard," obviously annoyed and impressed with his speed on the matter.
Ever laughed at this and smirked, "He told me he was going to do exactly that the moment they got in the room, we all knew you'd try something."
Laxus absentmindedly stroked the ends of Juvia's hair that cascaded down her back, he looked around at the group and wondered how they got to this point. Freed and Mira having a baby and married, Bixlow and Lisanna living together, Elfman and Evergreen engaged, although secretly, and that left him wondering about himself and Juvia, they hadn't taken any huge steps but they had been together for a bit over six months.
A nurse peered into the waiting room and approached the group of mages, "Are you the family of the Justines?" She asked and was received by many eager nods. "I came out to inform you that all is well but we may be in for a long night. We will keep you posted with updates, but first babies can take time, so we wanted you to be prepared." As the nurse left the room there was an exchanging of glances before Lisanna spoke, "Do you know what this reminds me of? The wait for Mira to come down the aisle at her wedding." She was overtaken by a fit of giggles and Juvia quickly joined in wiping tears from her eyes.
"That was the longest wedding march I had ever heard, I thought Lucy was going to run out of magic power keeping Lyra there to play Mira down the aisle." Juvia barely got through her giggles.
"We all stood there for so long, we had no idea what was going on back there." Bixlow stated, "I had heard talk about pregnant hormones, but that was insane."
Juvia remembered the day in jest with the rest of her friends, and smiled. Mira and Freed's wedding day was beautiful, just a few weeks after a horrible day at the guild but still everyone came together to throw an amazingly elegant affair. Freed stood waiting for Mira at the end of the aisle with Laxus, Bixlow, and Elfman and what should have been a few minutes until the bridesmaids came down turned into over an hour, the crowd had lost its reverent silence and a brawl had broken out between Gajeel, Natsu, and Grey and the three had to be kicked outside until Erza could diffuse the situation. Mira was being blocked in the room by Lisanna and Evergreen while Juvia kept Warren informed telepathically about the holdup. "I don't know what to tell you, the bride says the baby wants a piece of cake and I don't think we are going to make it out of here alive until she gets it, it's like Erza with strawberry cake," Juvia swallowed."…but crazier," she added quietly. After almost an hour of tears and frustrations behind the scenes the wedding started with a chain of exhausted bridesmaids and a blushing beautiful bride with icing on her face.
(More to come...sick baby in my lap makes it hard to keep going)