Rated M for sexual content, language, violence

Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

For mirajens. I hope it's kinda what you envisioned.

Trophy Wife

The world was red behind Laxus' eyelids. He kept them closed, though sunlight was making his face warm and Mira's alarm was going off. She squeezed out from beneath him and smacked the top button, putting it back to sleep.

"You'll be late for work," he said into her shoulder.

"No, I won't."

"That's what you said yesterday and you had to take a two-hundred-dollar cab."

"Yesterday was different."

It wasn't.

She wriggled back beneath his arm and tried to use his bicep as a pillow again. It was comfortable. She really was going to be late for work, though.

Laxus opened his eyes. He felt foggy, too, but he wasn't ever as hard to wake as Mira was.

Mira huffed as soon as she realized what he was doing and pulled him back on top of her. "No." She sounded impudent, a child being denied sweets.

"Yes." He kissed her shoulder and her neck. She stretched out for him before wizening to his trick and swatting him away.

"Go back to bed."

"Get out of bed."

Her eyes opened and skewered him, two drops of ocean water. "This is so unfair."

"Then you stay home and I'll work."

"Then who will look after Oswald? He likes it when you take him for walks."

At the sound of her name, the red-eared slider lifted her head out of the skim of water in her tank. Laxus didn't have the heart to tell Mira Oswald was a girl turtle. Mira was dead-set on the name as soon as she saw her, graduating day seven years earlier. Laxus bought her for her and she was treated like a queen ever since. Mira was right, though, she did like it when Laxus walked her. She loved the metal-studded harness he had specially made for her, and she liked it that he let her slide into the river occasionally, too. Mira never did, she was afraid Oswald would slip her water harness and get away.

Laxus knew she liked the sardines too much.

"Life is good for me, isn't it?"

Mira smacked his arm. "Lazy."

"Get a job, she says, don't get a job."

"Shush, she says, and go back to sleep."

Laxus kissed the curve of her ear and whispered, "It's seven forty."

She turned her head and cursed. "What? How?"

"Timeslip phenomenon. It happens in the presence of the incredibly beautiful."

"That's sweet," Mira said, rising.

"I was talking about me."

She threw her pillow at him. Laxus stuffed it beneath his head so he could watch her hips as she twitched away. He liked the purple underwear she wore, though it wasn't fancy. Cotton, and snug enough it nipped into her skin just a little.

The bathroom door closed and he shoved the blankets off. He was on the clock now, too. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt and hurried downstairs. Their house was tidy; the maid was just there the day before.

He made a bit of a mess, getting stuff out of the fridge, eggs and butter, tomatoes and sandwich meat. He used to have a hard time juggling everything but now, while the eggs cooked, he made Mira a sandwich, and by the time he was done that, he was making her toast to go with the eggs.

Mira came skidding down the stairs in a pencil skirt, her hair still damp. "I'm so late. Why didn't you tell me to get up earlier?"

"I tried."

"Not hard enough." There was no heat in her words, though. She rushed through the kitchen.

Before she could get too far, Laxus said, "Get over here."

"No time," she said.

"Mira—"

"Bye! Love you!"

"Wait!" Laxus grabbed her arm and yanked her back. She thought he wanted to kiss her. He did. He always did. He put her lunch into her hand, too. He was a good multitasker.

"Mm. I was wrong, this is why you can't go to work," Mira informed him. "I'd be lost."

"Yep."

She wriggled away. "I'll be home late."

"Then you better take your breakfast."

She huffed and held out her hand. He gave her the container. She could eat it on the subway and catch filthy looks from the other passengers. She shoved her feet into a pair of white heels and then she was gone, the door slamming after her.

Laxus gave her a few moments. There'd been a time or two before where he'd thought she'd left for the day but she returned for her keys or something and he had to hide everything away again.

The clock struck eight and he entered the basement.

The stairs were rickety and the space was narrow. There wasn't enough room for an adult to stand; Laxus was bent almost totally in half and on his knees so he could go behind the steps and into the lockbox only he was privy to. In it, he found all of the tools he'd need today. A little bit of steal, and some keys that opened a Ford Escape parked in an underground parking lot two blocks from his apartment.

The city streets were quiet and there was no one to see him enter the underground parking garage. The car's lights were the only things that illuminated the rough-hewn concrete. Long ago, there was spilled oil and transmission fluid from the thousands of cars that would come in and out of here every day, but the law offices above closed and moved downtown and this building remained vacant because it was nearly condemnable.

The lights hit the bumper of a blue Crown Victoria. The car was parked on one side of a concrete wall. He parked beside it and when he turned off the engine, he could see light spilling over the floor from the other side. He got together everything he needed. His phone hummed before he could escape, though. He checked the screen. Mira had texted him a selfie of her taking a huge bite of the breakfast he'd made her.

This is so amazing. You're amazing.

He sent off a wink. I aim to please. He closed the message box.

Concrete smelled like dust when it started to disintegrate and blood smelled like rusty iron. Both were familiar. Comforting, in this, one of his favourite places. There was smoke in the air, too. He rounded the corner and saw Jellal perched precariously on the back two legs of a wooden kitchen-style chair. He had one boot cocked up on a stout round table decorated with cards and the other was rocking him back and forth. Though it was early for a game, he was playing with a man that called himself Brain.

"This is why I don't trust you to gamble it back," Jellal said as he collected a large stack of money. "You're shit."

"Then let me walk so I can try something else," Brain said.

"If I let you walk without proper incentive to remain in Magnolia, I'm afraid you'll try to leave, and if you try to leave, I get angry. I don't care about as much when I'm angry."

"I saw him forget a million-dollar debt once when he was pissed." Laxus fixed the brass knuckles over his fingers. Brain looked at him from the corner of his eye. He was nervous, though he played at being not.

"I heard you dropped Simon without getting your money," Brain said. "I didn't believe it, though."

Jellal rocked back and laughed, cigarette lifted to his mouth. "No one fucking does. That's the beauty of it. What kind of crazy motherfucker would rather shoot a man than get his money? A girl says, Simon just ran off with some hooker, and people believe it, so people keep doing business."

Brain sat back and wiped his hands on his pants. He was even more uncomfortable now. "I can get what I owe you by tomorrow."

"You will get it by tomorrow," Jellal corrected him, abruptly serious. "You will, Brain because if you don't, we're going to chop you up small enough the fish can stomach you and then you're going to disappear."

"Okay. Sure." Brain stood like he was going to flee. Laxus stopped him.

"You're trying to skip my favourite part." He rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt. It was okay if his tattoos got covered in blood, they washed right up.

The brass knuckles saved him from the worst of the bruises.

Laxus turned off the hot water just as the bathroom door opened. Mira came in; she looked tired, her hair flat and her shirt wrinkled. "God. G. O. D. Is that bath for me?" She was already undoing the buttons on her shirt. "You are a saint."

"I thought you'd like it."

"I'm so tired, though," Mira complained. "I barely want to get the subway stink off me. I want to crawl into bed and I want to sleep past my alarm tomorrow and I want to wake up to glorious morning sex and not have to worry about going into work."

"That sounds irresponsible."

She flung herself against his chest. "Please don't make me go."

Laxus put his arms around her. "Do you want me to burn down the office for you?"

"Could you make sure my boss is inside?" she asked into his shirt.

"Anything you want."

She mumbled, "Will I still be able to buy sushi?"

"Not without a job," Laxus said cheerfully.

"Hm. Let me think about it. It might still be worth it."

"You love sushi," Laxus reminded her.

"I love sleep. I love not getting wrinkle lines at thirty. I love not commuting for three hours every fucking day." He kissed her neck and felt her tip her head just slightly. Mira said, "You're trying to distract me."

"Is it working?" He undid the rest of her buttons and slid her shirt off her shoulders. He kissed her shoulder. Mira sighed.

"A little."

"Good."

She wriggled away from him just enough that he could take her bra from her shoulders, then she came right back. Laxus tickled her spine. She shivered. "I didn't even ask you how your day was."

"Boring," he told her. "I fixed the leaking pipes in the kitchen and smacked my knuckles when they wouldn't come loose."

She lifted his hands and kissed the bruises. "Poor thing."

"Doesn't leak anymore, though."

"Thank you. And you made dinner, too. I smelled it when I came in."

"Lasagna."

"My second favourite."

"I know." He unclasped the hook at the back of her skirt and got the zipper undone. The material clung to her skin on the way down, and her panties were much the same. He loved the way she filled her clothing. He took her hand and led her to the edge of the tub. She sat down and spread her legs without his having to ask.

Laxus left a teasing trail of kisses on her inner thigh. Mira wriggled and lifted her hips when he got a little closer. He did everything exactly in the order she liked, making her come and then presenting himself for her laborious attention. She liked making him feel good and Laxus liked to let her. He held all of her hair back in one hand and her cheek in the other, though Mira had the control, deciding how fast and how deep she took him. She never pushed him to the edge of orgasm but she made him wish she would. It was part of the game.

Finally, she released him and demanded he make love to her over the cooling bath water. By the time he'd orgasmed himself, the oven was trilling. He left a kiss on her lips and then between her breasts. "Bathe. I'll get dinner ready."

She wriggled back into the cooling water. "You're too good to me."

Laxus dressed. His phone was buzzing in his pocket. It was Jellal. Despite the warning, Brain had left town. Jellal wanted Laxus to bring him back. Dead, preferably.

This is a bit of a lighter piece for me. It's kind of nice to get out of the dark-dark-dark once in a while. But alas, every wyrm must return to her gnoll. You may leave your riches at my doorstep. I'm poor lately.