I'm so grateful for all the feedback on the first chapter of this story! You've all made me decide to turn this into a short story. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Special thanks to MrsPuppetEx for her encouragement. I wrote the first chapter as more of a joke and a way to just dump the idea from my brain but she helped me work out my thoughts to get this turned into an actual story.
The rate is going up to T because angry Laxus has a potty mouth. Lots of language in this one.
Please continue to review! Hearing from the readers is REALLY encouraging.
An unusually high amount of static electricity in the guildhall had many of the Fairy Tail mages snatching up simple job requests just to have an excuse to flee the building. No one could touch the anything metal without being jolted. The metal legs of the bar stools made everyone wary of coming over to order something from the barmaid. It was the first morning for as long as Mira could remember that no one was drinking and were instead actually working. She briefly considered asking Laxus to charge up the guild more often just to keep the request board cleared out, but dismissed the idea as soon as Gajeel walked through the doors.
The unsuspecting dragon slayer was immediately shocked in a very brutal fashion when all the buildup was drawn to his metal covered body. His entire frame locked up as he lit up like a Christmas tree, then seized violently for several seconds. When he finally stopped convulsing, his already wild mane of hair was sticking out in several directions and his skin looked a little charred. A few seconds passed as he waited for his mind to unscramble enough to figure out what happened. Red eyes scanned the room to find a very angry Lightning Dragon Slayer in the back of the room. Pissed to have been attacked without provocation, he stormed towards the blonde slayer and shouted, "What the fuck, Lightning Freak?"
"Fuck off, Metal Head. I'm not in the mood." Laxus growled out without even looking at the other man.
When Gajeel reached Laxus, he slammed his palms on the table and leaned forward menacingly. "I don't give a rat's ass what kinda mood yer in. That was a pussy move attackin' me like that. You wanna fight me then be a man about it. I'll kick your ass anytime you want, as long as you ask nicely."
Eyes narrowed, Laxus considered taking out his frustrations on the man in front of him. Pissed off like he was, Gajeel would be able to stick with him blow for blow. It'd be the best fight he'd had in awhile.
An obnoxious voice speaking followed by a feminine giggle interrupted the silence in the guild and distracted both dragon slayers, drawing their attention to the guildhall's entrance. Bicklow and Lucy walked through the doors arm in arm, laughing as if there wasn't a care in the world. Neither noticed the tension in the room or the two dragon slayers preparing to throw down. They were too wrapped up in whispering quietly about something they were trying to keep to themselves.
The pair made it over to the bar and climbed onto barstools to order a late breakfast. Lucy let out a loud yelp when her leg came in contact with the metal leg of her stool. "What the heck?"
Bickslow laughed at her until he was also shocked by his own barstool. Knowing the most likely cause, the blue haired man turned to look back at his team leader and ignored the signs of looming danger as he said tauntingly, "Having a bad morning, man?"
Laxus didn't respond but his body language said enough. Bickslow knew the boss man was pissed about something but wrongly assumed it had to do the other dragon slayer in front of him. Turning back to his sexy companion, Bickslow leaned towards her and continued picking on her about the creepy old man that had offered to be her sugar daddy the night before.
Over in the danger zone, Gajeel hadn't missed the exchange between the teammates or any of the other subtle clues to what was really wrong with Laxus. Turning back to the other man, he smirked and then chuckled in his strange way before saying, "Now I see what your problem is. Feelin' a little jealous that Bunny Girl doesn't want you as much as she wants the pervert?"
Ignoring everything Gajeel just said, Laxus said, "I told you to fuck off. Why the hell are you still here?"
Gajeel sat down across from the angry man and decided he'd get his payback in a much sweeter way than punching the asshole with an iron fist. Payback's a bitch. "This looks like a nice table and I can sit wherever the hell I want to sit."
"Whatever. Just shut up and sit still." Done with the conversation, Laxus leaned back in his seat and focused on the two mages at the bar to listen in on what they were saying. He'd never admit to Gajeel how right he'd been. Lucy and Bickslow, the fucking traitor, had gone out again last night. It was the second time in a week. The first time had been the night Lucy called Laxus a 'good friend', whatever the fuck that meant, but was completely centered on the two of them finding someone for the woman to hook up with. Laxus had been relieved the next day when Lucy came into the guild without the smell of anyone else on her skin.
Their second outing had the dragon slayer pissed and jealous. The two had been flirting more openly for several days. They even decided to go back to the same club since they enjoyed it so damn much last time. It wouldn't have pissed him off as much if the two had been planning the same bullshit as before, but this time was different. They planned to go out together. Just the two of them. At a fucking club. Drinking. And dancing. Fucking perverted ass Bickslow could dance better than anyone Laxus had ever met, so he knew his so-called friend would be on the dance floor grinding away with the busty blonde.
To top it all off, Laxus knew Bickslow never came home last night. How could he not know? They lived in the same damn house. He'd come to the guild early to wait for his teammate to show up so he could grill him about the previous night. The minutes ticked by slowly, turning into hours until it was after eleven when they walked in. Now, there they were looking all chummy and giggling over some stupid story Bickslow was telling Mira about an old geezer proposing to Lucy.
Gajeel's ridiculous laughter pulled Laxus attention back to him. "This is fuckin' golden. I gotta tell Shrimp. You got it bad, man."
Laxus glared at the dark haired man as he walked away but didn't say a word in response, didn't even shock him again. It was fucked up how right he was. Laxus did have it bad but didn't know what the hell to do about it. Never in his life had he not been able to get the girl he wanted. Where did he even start when trying to win someone over? More giggles from Lucy made him listen into their conversation again, wondering what he'd missed.
"Oh my stars! Mira! It's not like that between us at all!" Lucy blushed brightly at whatever the barmaid had just said. Bickslows tongue wagging made Laxus more uncomfortable. Whatever the man said would probably piss him off more.
"I don't know, Cosplayer. We'd probably make some cute babies. They'd have your good looks and my awesome hair. We might even have a blonde one with my red eyes." Yep, that pissed him off more. It didn't matter that he could tell the two of them hadn't slept together. Just the idea of it made him want to fry the Seith Mage.
Mira squealed in delight while spinning in a circle a few times before stopping and leaning against the bar with a dreamy look on her face. "This is wonderful! You can have a spring wedding with blue and gold for the colors! Oh! And Bickslow's babies could be part of the ceremony. The least wild one could be the ring bearer and a couple of them could spread flowers…"
While the barmaid became lost in a fantasy, Lucy half-heartedly glared at Bickslow and said sarcastically, "Thanks for that. She won't let it go for weeks."
"You're probably right." He laughed and bumped her shoulder with his as he leaned closer to say, "You gotta admit I'm a pretty good backup plan, though."
What the hell did that mean? The last statement threw Laxus for a loop. What kind of backup plan was he talking about?
Lucy rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, yeah, Bixyboo. You're definitely a better option than the old man."
What old man? The guy that offered to marry Lucy? Just the possibility of something developing between Lucy and Bickslow had electricity building up around Laxus again. No fucking way was he letting this conversation go any further. He stood up quickly, nearly knocking his chair to the ground in his haste to stand. In fewer steps than it normally took, he made it over to the request board and ripped off the first S Class job he found. As he made his way to the bar, Laxus shouted, "Bickslow, Ever, Freed we're leaving."
Bickslow turned away from the plate of pancakes Mira had just delivered and looked at Laxus over the top of Lucy's head, "Can you wait a minute? Maybe ten? I just got my food."
"Not my problem. Should of gotten here earlier."
As she approved the request, Mira said, "I can box it up for you, Bickslow. It wouldn't do to have you go out on a difficult job like this one on an empty stomach." The last bit was said in a deceptively sweet voice as she glared at Laxus.
Rolling his eyes at the barmaid's meddling, Laxus said, "Alright. We can wait long enough for that, but then we're leaving."
"Hey, Energizer." Lucy said in greeting to the man now standing next to her. Laxus nodded in greeting, ignoring the name Lucy had given him a few days ago. Fucking Energizer. He wasn't a damn battery, even if he could power an SE vehicle indefinitely. Her sweet voice pulled him from his frustration when she asked, "So, when are you gonna go out with me and Bixyboo?"
He looked at her with a raised brow, unaware he'd ever been invited. "I didn't know you and Bixyboo," he said the name as sarcastically as possible, "wanted my company. Or any company for that matter."
Not expecting her to have heard the last part, he was surprised when she leaned against his arm, hugging is to her chest and batted her eyelashes as she said teasingly, "Aw, what's the matter, Energizer? Are you mad at us for not inviting you out last night?"
Laxus only grunted in response. He was not going to admit she'd hit the nail on the head. Bickslow's laughter made him turned to glare at the blue haired man. Lucy continued, "Bixy told me you never go out anywhere except to bars to pick up women. I figured maybe you needed us to help you branch out a little and teach you how to have some fun."
Still glaring at the snickering man, Laxus said, "Bixy should keep his damn mouth shut. And I don't need any help having fun."
He immediately missed the feeling of Lucy on his arm when she sat upright and shrugged her shoulders. Her tone was completely back to normal when she said, "Whatever. Your loss. If you change your mind, let me know and we can go do something."
Unable to help himself, Bickslow put his arm around Lucy to pull her back into his side. It was just too easy to get on Laxus' nerves when it came to the blonde. "Don't worry about it, Cosplayer. Our fearless leader has an electrified stick up his ass that makes it hard for him to be nice to anyone. I'll go out with you and Cana when we get back. Maybe we can track down your new fiancée and convince him to pay off our tab again."
Lucy giggled and kissed Bickslow's cheek. It was an innocent gesture on her part but it made Laxus' blood boil. "That will be fun. Maybe we can make it a group thing. Loke wants to hang out with us and Levy has been trying to find a reason to drag Gajeel out to do something."
It took less than a second for Laxus to realize the fucking lion was trying to move in on his territory, too. If Loke went, the group would consist of three males and three females. It was common knowledge Gajeel and Levy were an item, even if they didn't admit it. Bickslow and Cana had an on and off friends with benefits thing going, so they'd probably end up together that night. That left Loke with Lucy. Not fucking happening. Laxus was already dealing with his annoying teammate hitting on the woman he wanted. He wasn't about to just sit back and give her spirit the perfect opportunity to do the same.
"I'll go."
His gruffly spoken words drew Lucy's attention. She hadn't expected him to actually want to go out with them. Everybody knew Laxus wasn't into hanging out with people. Maybe he wanted to hook up with Cana or something. She looked up at the hulking man and smiled as she said, "Ok! This could be fun. I'll talk to everyone and see about doing something this weekend. You think your team will be back by then?"
Looking down at the flyer on the counter and actually reading it for the first time, he realized they definitely would not be back in time. The travel time alone would have them out at least a week. The railway didn't run all the way to Shirotsume, so they'd have to walk the last several miles of the journey. As he read a little further, he realized he may have accidentally picked the perfect job request to help him out with his little friend-zone issue.
"We won't be back for at least a week." He heard her disappointed sigh and mentally patted himself on the back. This would be perfect. "Ya know, it might be good if you came with us on this job."
"Huh?" Both Bickslow and Lucy said in unison with a shared look of confusion. Laxus never wanted anyone else to go on jobs with their team. Everyone annoyed him. Bickslow figured the boss man was getting desperate and this was his attempt at spending time with Cosplayer. This could become very interesting.
"The details say a stardust covered beast has been tearing up the forest and making excessive noise in the mountains outside Shirotsume. Sounds like some Celestial Mage shit to me."
Lucy nodded her head and considered Laxus' offer. It could be fun to work with the Thunder God Tribe, plus the S Class pay would be awesome. Without her destructive partner around, she might get to keep all her reward money. And Laxus was right, it did sound like something Celestial. Hopefully the spirits weren't becoming out of control again. Excited at the idea, Lucy grinned up at Laxus and said, "Sounds great! I'll go get my stuff packed real quick and meet you at the train station. Don't tell my teammates I'm leaving, though. They'll never let me go with you guys alone."
Hope blossomed in the Lightening Dragon Slayers chest for the first time all week. Maybe he could ditch this friend-zone bullshit and catch Blondie's interest. His short-lived optimism crashed and burned as soon as he heard a very annoying voice at the guild's entrance. Laxus luck was never good, so it was only par the course for the two idiots to walk in at the worst possible time.
"Where would we not let you go, Luce?" Natsu shouted, which prompted Gray to join the questioning. "Yeah. Where ya goin'?"
With a huff, she hung her head and said, "Crap. Now they'll want to come with us."
Of course, Natsu heard what she muttered and demanded to know more details. Being the pushover she was, Lucy told him all about the mission and what she assumed was a Celestial Beast that needed to be sent back to its own world. The prospect of a good fight and the fear of Lucy going out on a job alone – the Thunder God Tribe didn't count because he wasn't a part of that team – had Natsu insisting on joining the group on the mission. His insistence led to Gray demanding to be included, which meant Erza would be coming along as well. The red head had walked over at the end of the conversation and agreed to help on job without even knowing the details. If her team was going, she was going.
Laxus let his head fall back and stared at the ceiling while contemplating the disastrous outcome of taking the entirety of Team Natsu on a mission with his team. It would be horrible. They'd ruin everything he planned and probably also ruin the forest. But maybe he'd still get a chance to talk to Lucy and get her to see he was interested in her as more than just a guildmate.
With a groan, he said, "Fuck it. We'll all go. Anyone not at the train station in an hour will be left behind."
As Laxus exited the building, Bickslow jogged to catch up to him and laughed through the pain of being shocked after he said, "Looks like things just aren't going your way."
The Seith Mage knew he might die of lightning overload one day, but it would be worth it to tease Laxus until the end.
