Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters, all rights go to Hiro Mashima. If I did, a ton of ships would be canon by now *sighs*
A/N: So this is my first ever fic on this site, tell me what you think of it? I'm planning several chapter stories about Miraxus, Nalu, and Gajevy for the future, but I have this pet peeve where authors don't stick to a schedule for uploading, and it's going to be hard to write two chapters a week when school is mixed in, so I do apologize if there's nothing up yet.
Story will be third person, past tense.
~~~oOo~~~
For the third time that evening, Laxus caught a glimpse of sharp movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head just in time to see Mirajane prying her cerulean eyes open, her head bobbing slightly. He sighed and watched as her eyes drifted closed again and her head started to sink towards her chest. Her head jerked slightly back upward once, twice—he rolled his eyes and called, "Mira!"
Her eyes immediately opened, irises taking a minute longer to trace his voice to this end of the bar, which never happened. The moment he spoke he could usually count on her eyes swinging without hesitation in his direction. "Present and accounted for," she mumbled, seeming oblivious to the slight slur of the words. "What's up, Laxus? Refill?"
Her attentiveness seemed to improve as she moved toward him, some of the glaze sliding away from her eyes, though it was obvious it wasn't what it usually was.
"Mira, as charming as your presence is, why bother staying if you're just going to hang around just barely staving off an imminent faceplant? Go home."
That seemed to bring even more of her regular energy back and she straightened, looking affronted. "I'm not going to faceplant, Laxus. I'm perfectly awake."
He snorted. "Mira, I've seen dying flowers that looked less droopy than you do right now."
Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. "Laxus—you did not just compare me to—"
"Yes," he confirmed. "A dying flower. A daisy if you want to get really specific. You look terrible."
She made a face at him, running a hand through her hair. "That's not very polite. I thought we were working on your sociability."
"It's also not polite to fall asleep on the job," he pointed out.
"How do you know I wasn't just deep thnking? You could have totally messed with my groove," she said and then yawned widely around her fist.
"Uh huh," he replied skeptically, arms crossing over his chest.
Mira struggled to stave off another huge yawn and wound up mumbling something around her hand that he couldn't decipher.
"What was that?" he asked, "I couldn't understand you around the ridiculous sound of your exhaustion. Go home. Someone else can man the bar."
She mumbled another response from behind her hand and he could see her shoulders slackening from the mere effort the yawns were exerting on her. Sighing in his most put-upon fashion, he took her by the elbow and muttered in exasperation, "Mira, I don't know why you're staying up to this point of exhaustion and I probably don't want to know, but this is ridiculous. If you don't sit down and rest you're going to fall down." He began slowly drawing her unresisting figure around the bar, neatly avoiding the sharp edges.
"Mmno—ot tired," she managed to get out between a jaw-stretching yawn that sent a wince flickering across her face. He pulled her to a booth with little resistance. "Seriously, I'm fine, Laxus. Just missed a couple of hours."
"I'm not an idiot Mira. I've trained to the point where I'm edging on dangerous to my safety and the safety of others. I know what sleep deprivation looks like." Her gaze took on a shade of confusion as he pushed her down, her knees folding beneath her with next to no effort from him. He shook his head. She really was tired. Probably hadn't eaten in a few hours either.
"Laxus, what are you—"
He nudged and hoisted her legs onto the booth and then sat next to her. She was already going to butter against the wooden seats of the booth, her eyes unfocusing, though he could see her protests lurking somewhere in the backs of them. He lay a gentle hand on her shoulder and her eyes fluttered closed, only to be pulled stubbornly back open. "Laxus…" she mumbled.
He smiled. "Sleep, Mira."
"But…"
"Sleep, Mira. If you won't sleep at home, you're going to have to sleep here on me. Get some sleep or I'll make you walk home without me."
As she began drifting off, he heard her mumble, "Drive a hard barg'n," and he laughed quietly to herself as her head crashed onto his chest, sleep overcoming her almost instantaneously.
He caught a glance from his grandfather, a soft look and a smile that showed just how proud he was that Laxus was finally taking a girl seriously, for once, before the old man looked away guiltily.
"You'd better take care of her," he grumbled, crossing his arms and forcing a frown to hide the smile.
"Wouldn't dream of anything else," the lightning mage grunted, closing his eyes and leaning back against the booth. He'd missed a few hours the previous night as well, though the alcohol had certainly masked the exhaustion.
~~~oOo~~~
A/N: I've always imagined Laxus having this really sweet, cute side to him, but he doesn't really let anyone see it. Make sure to leave a review and tell me what you thought!