Lucky

"I feel so, like, useless right now."

"Well don't," the man grumbled as he stared intently down at the skillet, fearful that he might burn their dinner. "I'm doing this tonight. Making us dinner. So you just sit back and relax."

"Mmmm," his girlfriend giggled, taking a strawberry out of the carton she was holding and plucking it in her mouth. "Trust me, I am."

She was seated next to him, on the counter top, eating her fruit while watching him preparing their food. It was rare that she was off during the dinner rush and they were using it to their advantage. She had been planning on making him something, but upon arriving at his place, she was welcomed with flowers, a carton of her favorite fruit, and a glass of wine.

"These strawberries are really good."

"Better be," he grumbled. "As much as they stink."

"They don't stink, Laxus," she complained, frowning. "Who doesn't like the scent of strawberries?"

"Me."

She only glanced over at him before down at the pan. Nodding at the fish sitting in it, she said, "You're gonna wanna flip that."

He only gave her a nasty look back. "Who's making food here, demon?"

Mirajane only took to giggling then, setting her carton down before moving to pick up her glass of wine. After taking a sip, she said, "So am I escaping the apartment tonight? Or do Elf and Lisanna know that I won't be going home?"

"I saw 'em both at the guild and said they'd be on their own for dinner," he said, shrugging. "They should be able to draw their own conclusions."

"Mmmm." She jumped off the counter then before walking off, out of the kitchen. He glanced after her, but figured she was just going to the bathroom or something. Shaking his head, he went back to preparing dinner.

"Laxus," he heard not a minute later. "I was checking and we're all out of bubble bath for after din-"

"I already bought some, demon. Look under the sink."

There was a pause before one of her giggles.

"You think of everything, huh?"

"I try to," he sighed softly to himself. "Real hard."

It was while he was busy chopping some vegetables though that he heard a knock at his front door.

"Demon, can you get that?"

Nothing. Except another knock.

Grumbling then, he checked on the fish before going to answer the door.

"What?" he grunted as opening it revealed Lisanna. "Your sister is bus-"

"Mira!" She shoved passed him. Him! And came into his own damn apartment. "I need you!"

"Hey," he complained, slamming the door before following her through the living room as she went over to the bathroom door, which was opening up. "Lisanna-"

"What's wrong?" Mirajane came out of the bathroom, staring hard at her little sister, who was already in tears. "Lisanna? You're supposed to be up at the-"

"Bickslow broke up with me!"

And there went his night. Growling then, Laxus left the sobbing party in the living room and headed instead into the kitchen. Stupid Bickslow and Lisanna. Ruining his night.

"Laxus," Mirajane began as, about a minute later, she and her sister came walking into the kitchen. "Lisanna and Bickslow had a figh-"

"We didn't have a fight," she sobbed. "We broke up!"

"Why, Lisanna?" he asked with a sigh.

"He said," she began before heaving some. After a moment, she went on. "He said that he hated me and that I was always in his business and that we should just be friends."

"I cannot believe-"

"Were you guys drinking?" Laxus asked, cutting his girlfriend off. She frowned at him.

"What difference would-"

"Were you?" he insisted. Lisanna nodded.

"Yeah."

"Then he's just drunk, Lisanna. And I'm guess so are you. So in the morning, when you're both over being hungover, go talk to him. For now though, get the hell out."

"Laxus!" Mira made a face at him as Lisanna only sobbed harder. Groaning, he dropped the knife he was using and headed over to them. Gently shoving Mirajane away, he took to patting her younger sister on the head.

"There, there," he grumbled, his voice showing that he was far from interested in her dramatics. Still though…he did rather like Lisanna. Kinda. She was better than, like, Lucy or Erza. "It's okay. People break up. People fight. It's alright. Shhh."

"But-"

"Here." He turned then to grab a dishrag before going to wipe at her eyes with it. Mirajane was standing there, arms crossed, watching him. Judging him. Lisanna only stared at him in shock.

"You're too worked up to go anywhere," he said then, patting her once more on the head. "Go take a bath, huh? And then go lay down in my bed. I only made enough dinner for Mira and I though."

She sniffled. "I'm not that hungry."

"Okay. That's fine. Just go cool off some, huh?" One last pat and then he sent her on her way. "Just holler if you need something."

After Lisanna was gone, Laxus went back to making dinner as Mirajane only went to stand next to him.

"I dunno what's hotter," she told him with a grin. "You taking care of my sister or you making me dinner."

"You haven't tried dinner yet, so don't make your decision right now."

She only giggled, batting at his arm, before going back to grab her thing of strawberries.

"If it's as good as these," she said after taking a bite of one. "Then my decisions already been cast."

When they sat down to dinner, Mirajane was all bubbly once more over the fact that Laxus had bought candles and turned off the lights. They sat together at the table, her in his lap, eating off the same plate. She liked that for some reason, she always had. He just liked her.

"Now that Lisanna's in your bed," Mira began as he kissed her shoulder, making her squirm. "Where are we gonna sleep?"

"I have it on good authority that someone in this house really likes snuggling on the couch."

Giggles.

"Very good authority," she agreed as he only held her closer to him. Shifting in his lap then, she moved to stab a piece of fish before turning to feed it to him. "But something tells me that it wasn't snuggling that you were hoping making this dinner would get you."

"If she's that upset about it, fine, she can stay. And I'm sure in an hour or two, you're gong to go in there and spend the night talking to her. That's fine. I'm totally expecting it." He nuzzled her neck. "However, with two hot women in my bed, I-"

"If you're about to get oogy or weird, this moment will be ruined. Joking or not."

The side of her head got a kiss then. "I'm just kidding. Lisanna reminds me of, like, a child or something. Ew. Gross."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm serious. It was a joke. I-"

Then, just like before, there was a loud knock at the door. Groaning, he gently pushed Mira out of his lap before standing.

"You stay here," he said, running a hand down her arm before walking away. "I'll be right back."

"'kay," she giggled, taking the seat then. "Hurry though."

Heading to the front door, Laxus opened it to find, of course, Bickslow.

"Is Lissy here? I-"

"What part of me making dinner for Mirajane did you idiots not understand as me trying to get her in bed? Huh? What-"

"Is she?"

"In the fucking bedroom," Laxus grumbled, taking a step aside. "But you seriously hurt her feelings. I mean, you really-"

"Lisanna! I'm here!" Bickslow came barreling in then, his babies, who had been in just as much of a panic, trailing in behind. "Lissy! I'm sorry!"

"Shut the hell up already," Laxus grumbled as he closed the door before heading back into the kitchen. Mirajane, having heard the commotion, was getting up then to go investigate or, more than likely, yell at Bickslow for being mean to her sister, but Laxus only grabbed her by the arm when she tried to run by.

"Come sit down," he said, dragging her back over to the table. "Let's finish-"

They heard then, the sound of Lisanna and Bickslow fighting in the other room which immediately made Laxus groan and Mirajane storm off to go find out what was going on. He only went back to the table where he resisted banging his head against it as he heard the fight rage on.

Then, after about fifteen minutes, Mirajane sent Bickslow on his way and left Lisanna in Laxus' bedroom.

"They're both drunk. I'm not going to let them fight about this right now," was her reasoning as she came to sit back in boyfriend's lap once more. "I set Bickslow home. They can talk about it when they're sober."

"Guess he realized his mistake."

"Mmmm."

For dessert, Mirajane was happy to find that Laxus had bought a cake from the bakery and had some ice cream as well. He only told her that he would do anything for her and, if she requested it, he'd give her that sort of treatment every night. Mirajane only giggled and told him no, him making dinner every time would never work out.

"You put too much salt in the food, Laxus," she told him as they sat at the table, eating their shared piece of cake. "And not enough-"

"You know, demon, you're something else. You could just be appreciative of-"

"Oh, I do appreciate you, Laxus. Even when you're not be unbelievably sweet." She gave him a kiss. "What other guy would ever let me totally eat the whole piece of cake and the majority of the ice cream?"

He only watched as she did just that, perched there in his lap, her favorite spot. His little demon was a smug one, she was. Just so long as she was his though, he didn't see it as mattering much.

It was while they were out on the couch though, all snuggled up under a blanket and listening to his Sound Pod, that it happened.

That damn knocking.

"Stay," he told his giggling girlfriend who only grinned, watching him head over to the front door.

"You had better get the fuck out of here, Bickslow. Lisanna is not going with you ton-" He stopped as, after opening the door, he didn't find the seith. Oh no. That would just be too simple.

"Is Mira here? Or Lisanna?"

Laxus only blinked. Then he grew annoyed. Very, very annoyed.

"Look, Elfman," he growled as the giant man only stood there, tears in his eyes. Clearly something was bothering him. Laxus just didn't care what. "I have spent all week stressing over making Mirajane dinner. What to make, how to make it, how to get her off. And then I finally do it. I finally fucking do it, and what do you idiots do? You-"

"But Ever and I fought and I need Mira to-"

"And I needed Mirajane to get rid of this damn horniness that I've had all fucking week, but you don't hear me complaining that your stupid little sister is sleeping in our bed and screwing up our damn night. Do you?"

"Well…you are sorta complaining right now, but-"

"Get the hell out!"

Elfman looked passed Laxus, over at his older sister, but she only shook her head at him. For once, she wasn't coming to his defense. Instead, she only spoke very calmly to him from the couch.

"I'm sorry, Elf, but Laxus planned this night for us. And although he's going to apologize for cursing at you," she began, pausing for a moment for Laxus to grunt out a sorry, before finishing. "I'm staying here. You're going to go home and you're going to figure this out yourself."

"But Ever was yelling about how I always-"

"And if it doesn't work out, whatever it is, I'll deal with it in the morning. Alright?"

Something about her tone and the look in her eyes made him nod his head. Not to mention, Laxus was closing the door then regardless. Then it was just the two of them once more.

He heard a sneeze from the other room, reminding him that no, they weren't alone.

But it was close enough.

"I'm sorry, Laxus," she sighed as he came back to her. "That Elfman and Lisanna always-"

"Don't mention it."

"No, really." She let him get comfortable before moving to reclaim her place atop him. "You're really…sweet, considering."

"Considering."

"And I know that you usually wouldn't be that way, with all of your other-"

"Hey." His tone alone got her to stop talking, just staring up at him. "There ain't a single woman in the world that matters to me, other than you. Ever. There never has been. So if being nice to Lisanna and tolerating Elfman keeps you happy, then hell, I'll do that. You're my demon."

Mirajane only giggled, cuddling into his chest as he laid the blanket over them once more. "And you're my dragon."

"Dang right I am."

She only giggled once more. "Laxus?"

"Mmmm?"

"…I think I want more ice cream."

He only groaned before moving to stand, taking her along with him.

"You're lucky I love you, demon," he complained as she bounced slightly, following right along.

"No," she corrected. "You're the lucky one."

Very, he decided as he went to the freezer to pull the ice cream out. Very, very lucky. And he'd never forget it.