Favorite Song

There was nothing Mirajane liked more than working up at the bar. Especially when Elfman and Lisanna were both around. Elfman would sit around, waiting for her to ask him to do something of her, and Lisanna would most just help take care of customers when need be. Still though, just having them close was part of the fun.

Not to mention all the excitement. There was constantly something going on at the bar. An argument, a brawl, someone attempting to play the guitar up on stage (okay, not just someone, typically Gajeel). Activity was a constant in the Fairy Tail guild and she thrived off it.

At the moment though, it was a rather dull day. No one was around it seemed, but that was okay too. Master was there, sitting up on the bar, and Cana was there, drinking heavily, and…Freed was there. And…uh…

"Are you ever gonna get me that fucking beer?"

Laxus was there. Mirajane giggled then as she walked over to his table. She had been headed there when he called out, but he had no idea, as he had his eyes closed as he blasted some music in his ears.

Setting the mug down on the table in front of him, she said rather loudly, "Here you go, Laxus."

He peeked an eye open. Then, with a sigh, reached into his pocket and pulled out a bill before grumbling, "Here."

"Thank you." Even happier then, she pocked her tip before heading back over to the bar. Laxus was so cute.

"See this here, Lisanna?" Elfman, who had been spending the past few minutes scouring the requests board, came over to the bar then, holding up a request form. "This is our new job, baby sis."

"Hmmm?" Lisanna was helping Mirajane clean mugs, and put the one in her hand back down on the bar before looking at what he had. After she read it, she grinned. "Wow. Cool. Mirajane, do you-"

"You guys know I don't do jobs anymore." She hardly glanced over at them as she went back to cleaning the mugs. "Besides, it'd be no fun, would it? Having me go along?"

"Sure it would, Mira," Elfman insisted. "But…if you don't wanna…"

"Going away for a few days wouldn't kill you, Mirajane," Makarov said suddenly from where he was seated atop the bar. She seemed shocked for a moment before making a face.

"You wouldn't be saying that so you could have free reign around here would you, Master?" she asked, suspiciously. "Because-"

"Well, if it's going to turn into a lecture, never mind."

Elfman nodded at the request in his hand. "So you wanna take it, Lisanna?"

"If you don't think you'll need help around here, Mirajane, I'd like to take it today," she admitted, grinning slightly. "No offense to the two of you, but with Natsu and Lucy gone, I'm kinda bored here."

Mirajane only shrugged. "You guys go, if you want. Besides, I have Kinana here, don't forget."

After they set off though, Mira was slightly disappointed that she didn't get to tag along, but pushed those feelings away. Besides, she belonged in the guildhall anyhow.

As the day progressed though, Mira did find herself too getting rather bored. Until dinner time, at least. That was when Team Natsu showed up, making her smile at the way Natsu came bouncing into the building, overly happy by whatever victory they had just accomplished. Happy was fluttering around, singing the praises of, well, mostly himself, but some of Natsu too. And Lucy only grinned at the two of them while Gray and Erza only rolled their eyes.

Things were much more upbeat then, though it was clear that someone wasn't happy with the mood change. Laxus sat up some then, as he had been reclining with his feet on the table before, just at the sound of Natsu's voice. He shot a warning glance back at the others and mumbled a few things to Freed, but didn't seem as if he was going to do anything about his annoyance.

It was while Mirajane was going over to refill his beer though that it happened. She was nearly to Laxus when Natsu, who had been playing keep away with some book of Lucy's, ran into Mira and caused her to spill the beer. Which wouldn't have been a big deal…had it not been all over Laxus.

Her first reaction was shock. Then she was afraid. Not of him, not really, but of him calling her stupid or something. She really hated that word.

His anger didn't seem to be directed at her. In fact, when he jumped up, he did curse, but the second thing he did was help her up. Then he turned his attention to Natsu.

In his defense, Natsu hadn't meant to run into Mira. And honestly, he was just preparing to apologize and pay for (more like have Lucy pay for) the beer. Laxus didn't get him a chance though.

"What the fuck's wrong with you?" Laxus glared at Natsu then who was still looking at Mira. She only smiled before backing off to go get a rag to clean up. "You stupid little-"

"It was an accident," Natsu said with a frown. "And I'm sorry…unless you wanna fight! 'cause then, I'm still sorry to Mirajane, but you-"

"You think this is funny? Huh? You little-"

"Uh, Laxus?" Freed stood too then. "Perhaps-"

But it was too late. Natsu was already swinging his punch then…only to meet with one of Laxus' own. As there was no magic behind either though, it was more or less just a fist fight…at that moment. Because the two began to tussle not soon after, their magic quickly being infused.

That wasn't so odd though, for their guild at least. As Mirajane came back to mop up the beer though, she found that at some point, Natsu's attack had somehow gotten Laxus' headphone knocked off. They were just sitting on the floor too, where anyone could step on them. Not wanting that, she quickly snatched them up.

"Lax-" she started, but then saw that he was still wrestling with Natsu. Not to mention Gray, though she wasn't so sure how he had been added.

At that point, Mirajane knew that she should have just sat the headphones down on the table and gotten back to work, but something caught her interest about them. Though she had seen Laxus with them thousands of times (more like billions) she herself had never actually used them. And though she had a pair of her own, an even better model one might argue, that didn't stop her overly nosey nature from latching them right onto her ears to hear what Laxus did.

Her. That was the first thing that came into Mira's mind. Laxus heard her.

She would have taken the headphones off in shock, but she was even too stunned to do that. Instead, she just stood there, listening as she heard one of her own songs behind sung back to her.

One thing that came to her mind in that moment was that it was pretty crappy quality. It was then that she realized that he must have recorded it all on his own, probably when she preformed it at the guildhall. She thought she could even hear Gray and Natsu arguing in the background.

When the song changed to another, she was even more astonished to find it was another one of her songs. Also recorded at the guild. Huh. She knew that a lot of people liked her music (mostly pervy guys), but Laxus Dreyar? She never-

"The hell you think you're doing, Mira?"

Suddenly, a bare-chested Laxus was in front of her, his beer drenched shirt in one hand, glaring at her. Reaching over, he snatched his headphone straight from her ear.

"I… You dropped them," she defended with a frown. "And I picked them up, so-"

"So what?" he growled. She could see passed him that Natsu and Gray laid on the ground, knots in both their heads, though that was probably from Erza, who was standing over them. Tuning back in to Laxus, she found he was still raving. "-give you the right to just listen to my-"

"Laxus," she said slowly, cutting him off. Freed, who had jumped up to defend the man only moments before, was once more seated at the table and watching them. "Why didn't you tell me that you liked my music?"

At that, he frowned and went to take his seat. "I don't. Now go get my damn beer that you, you know, dropped on me, and I'll think about pay-"

"You do though," she said, giggling slightly. "You were listening to it. You-"

"Shut up. I-"

"Why lie, Laxus?" Freed asked slowly. "She already heard." Then, to Mirajane, he said, "If you must know, he rather likes that one song you sing. Which one is it?"

"I don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about and if you know what's good for you, Freed, you don't either."

Mira only giggled. "Which one's your favorite, Laxus?"

"I don't like your shitty music, Mira. So why don't you go and get me my damn beer? Or are you too incompetent to- Hey! Don't start crying about it."

She couldn't help it though. Add that to a list of words she didn't like being called.

Laxus looked around for Elfman, knowing that he would jump down his throat too if he found out that he made his big sister cry, before sighing when he found he wasn't around. Then, taking a step towards her, he spoke.

"Mirajane, knock it off, alright? You're not incompetent." He was whispering though, as not to be overheard. And she wasn't crying very loudly, so no one was paying them much mind. Not when Natsu was so much more entertaining. Err, rather, he was when Erza was scolding him.

"But you said-" Mira started though he only cut her off.

"I'm upset, alright," he grumbled. "You guys got my shirt soaked with beer, you were going through my shit-"

"I was only trying to help," she defended, sniffling then. "And I wasn't teasing you. I thought it was nice that you like my music, Laxus. You don't have to be so mean all the time, you know. I thought we were friends."

He blinked. Then he sighed. "Mira-"

"And my music isn't crappy, Laxus. It's-"

"No," he agreed gently. When she looked up into his eyes, he only kept her gaze. "It's not. And I do like it. So-"

"Really?" Just like that, she was all perky and overly annoying again. Ugh. Bouncing slightly and clapping her hands, she said, "Do you want me to play for you? I have my guitar here. And I could play whichever song you wanted. And I-"

"Tone it down. And go get my beer." Then, taking his seat once more, he said, "Besides, you're working."

"Oh." Then she paused, thinking. "What about after work then? One day? Before you go on your next job? I could come over to your apartment or we could meet somewhere else and I could play for you. Would you like that? I could make you something to eat too."

He blinked. It sounded an awful lot like a date, but the way she was talking, Mira seemed to just think she was being friendly. And Mira's friendly was twice the amount of a normal person's friendliness, which was triple his. Hmmm.

"Maybe," he grumbled at which point she squealed before turning and running back to the bar to get his beer, giggling the whole way. Freed stared hard a Laxus for a moment before speaking.

"Did you just agree to go out on a date with Mirajane Strauss?" Freed asked tentatively.

"Shut up," Laxus ordered though, as he sat there, he had to ask the question himself.

Did he?

As Laxus sat on the floor of his apartment, Mirajane sitting in front of him, strumming on her guitar, their empty plates previous filled with some food she brought over to his house gave him the all the go ahead he needed. He was on a date with Mirajane Strauss.

And dates with Laxus mostly ended all in the same way. Not to mention, the one he figured they were on at that moment was taking place at his apartment. That alone was all the hints he needed.

Mira was thoroughly enjoying herself, as she had looked forwards to hanging out with Laxus since they planned it. He was always so closed off and grouchy. But there he was, actually hanging out with her on a Friday night. If that didn't spell future best friends, she didn't know what did.

She was slightly out of breath as she finished her next song and giggled a little bit. Laxus had shifted from sitting cross legged to being on his knees. Mira only smiled at him and he, oddly enough, smiled back, it looking really cute then as the only light on in the apartment was a lamp off in the corner and it was highlighting his features. Then, suddenly, his face as a lot closer than it had been only seconds before.

Then he was kissing her, leaning forwards so he could do so. It was just a soft, quick kiss, one that Laxus had no problem with turning into more. And quickly. But when he pulled back to make sure Mira's eyes were just as dazed over as his, he found that they weren't. In fact, they were the size of dinner plates as she stared at him in shock.

"L-Laxus," she said slowly before swallowing. "W-Why did you do that?"

He blinked, still far too close to her. "Because this is date, Mira, and-"

"No, it's not." She smiled then, but it was a nervous one. "It's just, you know, two best friends, hanging out. Jammin'."

At any other moment, he would have booked it secretly away how cute Mirajane sounded saying jammin' and started plotting ways to force her to say it in the future. He already had a list of words that he had complied over the years and it would be an excellent edition.

"B-Best friends?" he repeated slowly. She nodded then.

"Did you think…I mean, Laxus, I-"

"Shit." He fell back then, away from her with a groan. "Damn it, Mira!"

"Hey, this wasn't my fault," she defended as she glared over at him. "I thought that you just liked my music and that we were friends. I didn't know that you were lying the whole time!" Then she paused. "Although, Laxus, this was quite elaborate. How did you get Natsu to run into me and spill the-"

"It wasn't all a set up, stupid!"

She blinked. Then the tears started. "You're not a friend at all! You're always calling me stupid, you pretend to like me so that we can kiss-"

More than kiss, but that was besides the point. With a groan, Laxus shifted to get closer to her. Taking the guitar gently out of her hands, he sat it up against the count, making sure it wouldn't fall, before sliding even closer.

"Mira," he whispered. When she wouldn't look at him, he said, "Look, I'm not a nice person, okay? I call people names. You know that. Stupid being one of the more mild ones. So when I call you stupid or dumb or an idiot, that actually means I like you a lot more than I like most people. You understand?"

She sniffled. "You could always just not call me any names at all."

Sigh. Still, if a crying Mirajane ran from his apartment, talking about how he tried to put the moves on her, he had a very bad feeling he'd be labeled a perv (not the good kind) and there would be little he could do about it.

"I know. I'll…I'll try harder. For you. Okay?"

She was close enough then that when she looked up at him with her sad eyes and still quivering mouth, if he leaned forwards, he could kiss her. He did. And that time had less to do with him thinking it was a date and a lot more to do with just trying to keep her the fuck quiet.

Only that time, when he pulled back, he couldn't. Mira's arms were around his neck then and she was pulling him closer. Alrighty then. He could go with that.

But it was more than just a kiss. Because every time they separated, they ended up entangled even more. And Laxus was more than ready to just pick her up and finish it off in the bedroom, but Mira wasn't one of the women that he picked up at a bar or that followed the great Thunder God around. She was the she-devil. Mirajane Strauss. She wasn't someone he could just make assumptions about, or so he had learned only moments before. Not to mention, they still did kinda work together.

He was letting her make the first move to take it further. Besides, she was more than entertaining him at the moment with her tongue. But the second her fingers found their way to the buttons of his purple dress shirt, he figured she knew exactly where he wanted to go and she was just as willing.

"You wanna take this to the bedroom?" Laxus mumbled when Mira pulled back a little at one point. She only stared at him for a moment, looking less like Mira the barmaid and more like Mirajane the model.

"Mmmhmm."

He dropped his lips back to hers then, just for a moment, before moving to stand. Helping her up, he just as quickly moved to gather her in his arms, making her giggle.

So maybe it hadn't started as a date, but it didn't make a difference. 'cause the ending was the same and that's all that mattered to him.

Mirajane had been everything Laxus imagined. Everything. He had always kinda figured that she got around, if only somewhat because of her modeling and singing, and had what to do in the bedroom down pat. No different than him. He had always kinda put them on the same experience level.

And he was not wrong.

However, the awkwardness that happened the next morning pretty much killed it all. And when they got to the guild that day, Laxus did the only thing he knew to.

He took a solo job and got the hell out of Magnolia.

Now, Laxus was not the type to run from a battle or anything, but he needed some time to let things cool down. And he was sure Mirajane appreciated the sentiment.

He stayed away for two weeks.

When he got back though, he found that Mira wasn't messed up by him at all. Nope. In fact, she was actually singing.

Laxus found, when he walked into the guildhall, that they were having a concert or something. Either that or Gajeel had gone up and tried to play his guitar, got booed off, and then Mira went up there to calm everyone down again. Not to mention, she did rather like playing for a crowd.

Grunting, he went to find a seat at an empty table (he actually had to kick two lowly guild members from a table, but details were meaningless) and order a beer when Lisanna passed. Then he laid his head on the table and listened to Mirajane sing. He hid this by leaving his headphones in, but turning them off. There. Now no one would know.

Mira was apparently just starting her set, which was great. Even after Lisanna brought him his beer (no tip for her, she was just a brat), Laxus only laid with his head down, eyes closed, as he listened. When some guys at a table behind him got too loud, he turned around and threatened to fry them until they got up and moved away from him.

Her last song, though, was one that he had never heard before. In fact, she announced with a giggle before she sang it that it was a new one. He only laid there though, listening. It only took a moment to figure out she was a telling a story through the song.

And it only took a long second to know that it was about him and their hook up only two weeks ago.

He would have blushed, had he not realized that Mira wasn't, although she feared so horrible, stupid. She just wasn't. Her song was filled with innuendos though and metaphors that very easily led Laxus, who obviously knew the story, back to himself. She kept referring to him as a lightening strike, which was just annoying because he was obviously thunder, which produces lightening, duh, but he figured he'd nag her about that later.

She kept saying she got struck by lightening and how she wanted to be so bad and all this other junk that he made him feel funny because he was the only one that got the joke. The inside joke. The secret. The story. Him. But all the other guys were cheering her on, like they knew the fuck she was talking about, but they didn't. He did. Only him.

It was his song. And they were lucky he was even letting them listen to it!

And then…then it was over. And everyone was calling for Mira to play more, but she wouldn't. She just jumped off the stage and went back to work, heading immediately over to the bar to speak with Kinana and Lisanna to figure out which tables she needed to cover.

Surprise, surprise, she ended up covering his.

"Hi, Laxus," she said loudly as she suddenly appeared, carrying a fresh beer. He quickly sat up and downed the rest of his other. She pretended not to notice that as she said then, "You been here long?"

Grunt. He sat his now empty mug back down, just staring at her. He usually avoided his one night stands. It was just easier that way. And the women that he kept to toy with were already predetermined. It was usually so cut and dry.

Not with Mira though. He didn't know what she was in that moment.

"Did you get to hear me play?"

He only nodded slightly which made her giggle.

"Did you like it?"

Grunt.

Then she winked at him and didn't look so innocent. "Did you like my new song?"

Moment of truth, he figured. Sitting up taller then, he looked her in the eyes and said, "It's my favorite."

More giggles. Then, setting his new beer down finally, she said, "Well, maybe I could come over and play it for you some time, huh? So when you record it, it sounds better?"

He blinked before searching her eyes. Was she asking what he was hoping she was asking? She appeared to be.

Without hesitation, he said, "Yeah. Whenever. Tonight even."

"Okay," she said before giving him a look. "But I'm awful tired and don't feel like making you anything."

More blinking. Then he smirked. "You don't gotta bring food to get into my place, babe. Just yourself."

She grinned before saying, "And my guitar right?"

He only grunted before reaching into his pocket and producing her tip. "It'd be welcome, but not necessary."

That got a giggle before she reached to pick up his old mug. "Great. I'll be over after work. Glad you liked the song."

"Mmmhmm."

She almost turned and walked away. Then she stopped and glanced back at him.

"Oh, and Laxus?"

Grunt.

"Don't be such a little boy next time. Running away after-"

"Remind him about my tip, Mirajane," Lisanna said as she passed with a tray of beers for another table.

Laxus scowled at the girl who only stuck her tongue out at him. Mira only rolled her eyes.

"And please, Laxus," she added then as she turned to walk away. "Tip my sister. Just tip the other servers, really."

Snort. No way.

Laying his head down then, he turned his music on for real then, putting it on some of Mirajane's stuff. He still wasn't sure what they were, but it didn't matter. He'd have a whole nother night to figure it all out. And if not then, he'd happily tack on as many nights as need be.

I started this planning to end it with Mira just thinking it was cute that he listened to her music, but then I figured I'd never written a story where they first got together, so I might as well.