The apartment was mostly silent when he awoke, but Laxus knew that there was no way it could completely so. Otherwise, he would not have awoke from such a deep slumber. Something, clearly, had gotten him up.
He'd just gotten home from a long job, literally arriving in town that evening. It was so late, too late for him to seek anything out other than his own bed and, the second he was before it, he'd only fallen straight into it, paying little mind to the woman already in it. Mira had managed to sleep through his stumbling around in the darkness as well as his belly flop into the bed, so there was no need to wake her.
Not when he was just about to pass out himself…
He must have snoozed for hours as, when he awoke, the dawn had been skipped right over and he could literally feel the heat of the day creeping into the room. Mirajane, of course, was no longer beside him and he feared that she might have left him, off for a shift at the guildhall, when he reached over and felt only air. But then what woke him?
There.
It was his enhanced senses through being a slayer that allowed him to hear it, but faintly he could hear the sound of soft, gentle humming.
Mira was still home.
Grinning to himself as he shoved up, Laxus only tugged on a new pair of boxers before walking across the cool wooden floor, right out of the bedroom, through a hall, and into the tiny kitchen where he found the woman very busy. There was bacon just being put in the skillet (the smell would have woken him if the humming hadn't) and eggs frying and, wow, did he smell toast? He hoped he smelled toast.
At the sound of his footsteps, Mirajane glanced over her shoulder at him, but didn't speak. Only smiled. And Laxus headed right over to her, going to wrap his arms tightly around her middle as she only fell back into his touch, her hums stopping.
He'd been gone for a long time this time. They both knew he would be. He'd mentioned to her the second he saw the job that, while he hoped it would only be a month or so, he was pretty sure with time included for travel, he'd be gone for twice that. But he had to take the job because they were saving for their wedding and life in general, so how could she complain?
When he was doing something for them?
The thing was, not too long ago, jobs like that wouldn't even bother Laxus a bit. Wouldn't cause him any hesitation at all. He could take jobs in which he'd be gone for upwards of six months and not bat an eye. He even sought them out. The higher pay, the chance to travel, the enjoyment of being far away from damn Magnolia; it was all he ever wanted.
Until he met Mirajane.
Then he realized all he'd ever needed.
Now he didn't take jobs that didn't have a chance of keeping him too long away from Mirajane. He didn't want to. He didn't have the urge to travel to lands beyond, in hopes of finding some deeper meaning or connection in life. All along, what he'd been searching for was waiting for him in the town he'd grown to detested and avoid.
He'd never had something he wanted to come home to before. The Thunder Legion was the closest thing, but they frequently weren't around either. Or else they were out with him. The old man was there, of course, in Magnolia, but he was certain both he and his grandfather could agree with one another that they weren't exactly looking for reasons to be around one another. At all. Even in current times, when their relationship was honestly the best it was ever going to be again, he still wasn't seeking the man out.
But life without Mirajane…
He could no longer even consider it.
The woman just meant so much to him, honestly. Mirajane did. It was a slow burn to get to the position they were currently in, lost somewhere in dating for over a year before getting serious and, even then, another year or two before he felt as if he needed the woman to breathe, but now that he was at that point, he couldn't imagine living without her. He didn't want to live with out her.
He refused to live with out her.
The demon had become his world.
When he was away, she was all he thought about. He wanted to be around her as much as possible. Even when he was angry at her and, in turn, didn't want that, he still thought about her constantly and, inevitably, would fall back into his longing.
Mirajane was special to him. She was his demon. He might not express it well and rarely flat out told her this, but he loved her. More than he thought he could ever love someone again.
He wanted to ask her then, as they stood there in the kitchen, about how much she missed him and what she'd done while he was away, but he helped off, instead only burying his nose in her hair while his eyes watched the bacon sizzle in the pan.
She didn't need to tell him.
He knew.
Just like she didn't have to tell him that she'd gone off, that morning, to get her sister to cover her shift at the bar, so that she could be there when he awoke. Or that she'd let him sleep most the day away because she knew that he needed. Btu she also knew that he needed food, real food, before getting back to that rest, and was accommodating that.
And he knew that she probably had all sorts of things that she wanted to know from him as well. She had to be wondering how his job had gone, what he'd done on it. Was there any trouble? Tell her the whole thing in full detail, sparing no portions. She'd listen to him rehash it for hours, he knew, and he would want to talk about it for hours, eventually, but in that moment…
In that moment, both just were welcoming the silence and, as he released her to go take his eat at the table, wanted to keep those questions and answers for a different time. A time when they weren't just feeling the relief and joy of being around one another again. After food and some more rest for him, then they could lay around and talk for hours. Or Mira could talk for hours and Laxus could, in his mind, not do that because that was such a woman thing to do. No, he'd just tell her of his battles which might, yes, take hours because he was that accomplished of a mage and all.
When Mira brought his plate over, she didn't join him immediately. Rather, she poured him a cup of coffee and got herself a glass of juice before claiming her seat across from the man. Not even glancing at her own plate, she only watched him stab at the yellow yoke of his egg with the corner of his toast. He thought about thanking her, as he took his first bite of something that hadn't been cooked over a camp fire or bought on his way through a town, but they had something going then, with the silence. He wasn't sure what it was, rightly, but knew that he didn't want to let it go.
Not yet, at least.
When he moved to lift the coffee cup to his lips though, it was with a smile as he found her eyes then and she had a grin breaking over her face as well. There was a comfort, even in the silence, to be had with one another. In one another. Just the sight of Mirajane's face over the lip of the mug was enough to bring a grin about the normally downcast and moody slayer.
She truly was something else.
Laxus wanted a shower before he went back to bed and that was fine, it seemed, and Mirajane hung around cleaning up. He hoped that she'd join him at some point, but instead, he wouldn't find her again until he went back to the bedroom. She was there, waiting for him it seemed, seated on the bed. Her biggest smile was saved for that moment, it seemed, as he only came to fall into bed once more, though this time his arms were wrapped tightly around her as he pulled her down as well.
It was with a giggle then that, finally, she spoke as she told him, "I missed you, dragon."
"I know," he agreed as he nuzzled his forehead against hers, refusing to release her for, at least, another minute. "Demon."
When the apartment fell silent once more, Laxus only laid there, drowsy again, but more content, he felt, as his demon was awake then to stroke at his tribal inked chest and Fairy Tail emblem, which only helped him drift off. The fact he could turn his head to the side again and see her there was more than enough for him.
More than enough.
They wouldn't speak again, not until he awoke once more, but as he drifted off, the sight of Mirajane there, resting against him, providing him with the best comfort in the world.
He couldn't wait to tell her about his job and all that he'd done on it. He could, actually, wait to hear about all of her (boring) tales from the bar in the past three months, but honestly, he could do it. He would do it. For her. For them.
Not every part of a homecoming had to be enjoyable, after all.
Although, he reminded himself as she giggled a bit when one of his hands tickled at her side some, a lot more were.
And that was what mattered.