Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to my second entry for Fraxus Week!

Let me ask you all something. We all know Laxus is possibly the strongest member of Fairy Tail (Gildartz notwithstanding, of course). Hell, he even defeated Jura, who, as we all know, is a Wizard Saint. But what if Laxus was rendered useless, just because of some monster's ability? How would he even handle it? That's the theme I'm trying to explore here. Enjoy.

I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.

Worst. Mission. Ever.

At least that's how Laxus felt about the whole ordeal.

It had been an ordinary S-Class mission. Laxus snatched it up without hesitation and mobilized the Raijinshu without delay. All they had to do was destroy a monster that was terrorizing a village. Easy enough for the Lightning Dragon Slayer, right? Except for one minor detail.

The request never mentioned that the monster was IMMUNE to Lightning magic. Which essentially meant Laxus was useless.

If there was one thing Laxus Dreyar hated being, it was useless.

To the credit of his personal team, they handled the monster well. Fried in his Absolute Shadow form could match its strength with relative ease and Bixlow controlling his movements to keep him out of harm's way. Bixlow's babies were a welcome distraction, further dividing the monster's attention, buying enough time for Evergreen to turn it to stone with her Stone Eyes. From there, all it took was a power attack to reduce the petrified monster to dust.

And all Laxus could do was watch. He didn't personally see the monster as an enemy, so Fairy Law was useless. Oh well, at least he was able to defend himself, if not do any actual damage. And now they had to take the train back to Magnolia. Fun.

As the train left the station, Laxus turned on his Sound Pod, closed his eyes, and murmured the lyrics to the song that was playing. Fried sat next to him, with Bixlow and Evergreen across from them. Time passed, and soon, Fried gathered the courage to talk to him about the battle.

"Laxus?"

"Hmm?" groaned Laxus, feeling the effects of his motion sickness.

"How are you feeling?" asked Fried.

"Same as I always do on a vehicle," said Laxus. "Tired, shitty, nauseous..."

"I meant about the battle earlier," Fried clarified.

"What about it?" asked Laxus with a grunt.

"I know you don't like being rendered irrelevant in a fight," said Fried. "Someone of your power shouldn't..."

"Fried, shut up," said Laxus. "It pisses me off, but sometimes, there are opponents even I can't fight. I mean, I took down fucking Jura, so I know I'm strong." He sighed. "What I'm upset about is that we went into this blind. I mean, it was easy enough on paper..." He clenched his fist. "Damn it, I thought I was past this arrogant stage!"

"It's okay, Laxus," said Fried. "I still know you're strong. We all do." He placed a hand on Laxus's shoulder. "As your personal bodyguards, we, the Raijinshu are always there to fight the battles you can't fight."

Laxus smiled. "I guess I did need a reminder of what a strong team I have," he said. "Now really, shut up. I wanna sleep."

"All right," said Fried. He began to relax, but was stopped by a strong pair of arms wrapping around him.

Bixlow and Evergreen looked on with surprise. "Is Laxus... cuddling?" Evergreen asked.

"'Parently," replied Bixlow. A grin forming on his face, he added, "Did you bring a camera? This is perfect blackmail!

"Bixlow, don't you dare!" said Fried angrily. But Laxus pulled him even closer, if it was possible. Of course the Raijinshu knew about him and Laxus, but it was still embarrassing.

Laxus, on the other hand, didn't give a shit. He just got done being useless on a job, not to mention his goddamned motion sickness. He'd be damned if he didn't deserve to cuddle his boyfriend right now.

And there you go.

I know I kind of shoehorned the prompt into the end, but you know what? I explored another side of Laxus, I'm happy with what I got. Hopefully, you all are too.

So until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt.