Chapter 4

Finally.

Pantherlily fell asleep at around ten that night, and Gajeel carefully snuck out of the little hotel room. He stepped out onto the deck, surprised to see Laxus waiting for him. Laxus sat on a chair outside of his own hotel room, resting his feet on the railing of the deck. He looked up at Gajeel and stood, looking around to see if anyone was watching them. It was dark out, and there wasn't any activity on their floor, so he scooped Gajeel up into his arms. He gasped, surprised to have been lifted up so suddenly, gripping onto Laxus as he was no longer touching the floor.

"W-what are you doing-?"

"Shh shh," Laxus silenced him, carrying him into his own hotel room and shutting the door behind him and closing the window curtains. Gajeel was carried to the bedroom and rested onto the bed, and Laxus closed and locked the bedroom door. Gajeel laid there, watching Laxus set up the room, closing the window and dimming the lights. He looked over Gajeel on the bed before removing his own shirt.

Gajeel watched him take off his shirt and he blushed. Though the two had done this before, watching Laxus strip always made the other dragon slayer nervous. Laxus climbed into the bed and kissed Gajeel's cheek, pulling Gajeel over himself as he rested on his back. He was warm, and eager, Gajeel could tell. Laxus sat up as Gajeel removed his t-shirt, and he ran his hands down the other's pants. Gajeel arched his back and moaned quietly as Laxus touched his body, and he bent down for a kiss. Laxus held his head up, running fingers through his long dark hair as they made out. Laxus pulled Gajeel's pants down and off as they kissed, leaving him in just his underwear.

"You've been pretty patient, today," Laxus said, "I'm surprised you didn't drag me to a bathroom or anything."

"I like not getting caught," Gajeel said between breaths. He shivered when he felt Laxus' hard member underneath him, through the other's pants, "Hurry it up, I've been waiting all day."

Laxus chuckled, unzipping his pants and revealing his cock. He also reached down Gajeel's underwear and took out his own. Laxus stroked Gajeel's cock, jerking himself off as well. Gajeel, already shaking with pleasure, leaned into Laxus as he let him do as he pleased. Soon enough, Laxus reached a hand in a bag he'd left beside the bed, and pulled out a bottle of lubricant. He lathered some on his fingers as Gajeel watched.

"What did you want me to do…?"

"Stay there," Laxus said, gently pushing Gajeel off of him and back onto the bed. Gajeel rested on his stomach, looking to the side while Laxus sat over him. With his free hand he lifted Gajeel's waist up and held it. Gajeel bit his lip and moaned when he felt two fingers slip into his entrance. "Stay quiet," Laxus whispered, moving his fingers around inside of him. Gajeel arched his back as Laxus began moving his fingers faster until he stopped momentarily.

He felt Laxus lift his waist up more and spread his legs, and he felt his entrance being open by Laxus' hard member. It was quite big, so he'd yet to really get used to it, but he wasn't able to yell out like usual. Instead, Gajeel buried his face into the pillow, biting at it as Laxus pushed himself in further. "Fuck-Laxus…" Gajeel moaned into the pillow. He felt his legs go numb, and he desperately grasped the sheets below him while Laxus thrusted faster and harder.

Laxus moaned deeply, bending down to kiss Gajeel's back, moving upwards. He fucked him roughly, holding Gajeel down by the waist and pulling him in with every thrust. Gajeel's quiet cries made him want to cum more and more, but he kept going long enough for Gajeel to as well. Gajeel begged for Laxus to be rougher, and Laxus grabbed Gajeel's arms from the bed and held them behind him. He used his other hand to hold down Gajeel's head against the pillow before Gajeel could get any louder.

"Ah-ah! I'm...fuck-ah! Cumming…" Gajeel said through the pillow. Laxus nodded, grunting, holding himself inside of Gajeel as both of them released. Gajeel felt Laxus' seed inside of him, breathing heavily as he finished himself. Laxus let go of the other's hands, watching them loosely fall over onto the bed, and pulled out of Gajeel finally.

"Wanna shower?" Laxus offered. Gajeel only nodded, and Laxus carried him out of the bed and into the bathroom.

He let Laxus hold him up as they showered. Laxus kissed Gajeel's tired lips, grabbing a washcloth and lathering his body with soap. This wasn't the first time they'd showered together, either. While normally Gajeel would object to anyone helping him shower after sex, Laxus was something else. He loved the way Laxus was so gentle with him, despite his roughness in nature and despite their past together. The two connected somehow, and over a month their relationship seemed to bloom.

Laxus carried him out of the shower and back into bed, wrapping Gajeel under the whole blanket. He wrapped his arms around him, holding him and pressing his lips on his forehead as Gajeel began to fall asleep. It was completely silent. Laxus could hear nothing but the ocean waves and Gajeel's breathing. He shut his eyes, taking in Gajeel's scent as he too fell asleep.

The girls had a more quiet night; Juvia sat in bed reading as Cana drifted off beside her. Mirajane sat in her own bed, pinning her long white hair up as she got ready to sleep. She looked at the other two. Cana snuggled up to Juvia's waist as she slept, and they both shared the blanket. They looked quite content, Mirajane thought.

She knew about their relationship, as well as Laxus and Gajeel. It was surprising that no one else at the guild knew about the two, in fact, neither Juvia nor Cana explicitly told her or Laxus about their relationship. They found out quickly, Laxus poking fun at how obvious Cana was being around Juvia. Gajeel found out later, however, when Juvia told him, but it made sense to him as well, the dragonslayer just never questioned it.

This got Mirajane thinking; why didn't they just tell the guild? Of course...coming out is hard, which she understood, but she was confident that the rest of the guild would be understanding and accepting of the two. Whenever they went out, Juvia and Cana seemed much happier around each other, but the were happy at the guild, too. They kept their relationship a secret, though, at least as much as they could. In truth, Mirajane just wanted them to be just as comfortable at the guild as well.

But she didn't say anything. Juvia was starting to fall asleep herself, and she didn't want to interrupt the two. They looked so peaceful.

Instead she quietly stood from her bed and stepped out the hotel room. The mage happened to be a bit hungry. A quick snack wouldn't hurt, right? Mirajane stopped as she closed the door behind her, a bit surprised to see the young girl standing before her, frozen in place. She looked down at the bluenette with a bright, surprised smile, but the young girl looked quite terrified. Wendy was only headed to her room, she wasn't expecting to get caught by Mirajane so early.

"Well, well, well!" Mirajane said, "If it isn't Wendy! I didn't know you were here!"

"Uh-uh, well, I…" she stuttered, "...Actually...um." Wendy stood up straight, hands behind her. She switched her voice to a whisper, "Actually...technically...you aren't supposed to know I'm here."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah," she admitted, "Natsu wanted to come to the park as well...cause he was jealous? I think...but y-you aren't supposed to see us here!"

"...Oooh," Mirajane nodded, "I see. Well, of course it's no problem! I never saw you," She winked, and turned the other direction. Nervously, Wendy nearly tripped retreating to her room with Lucy and Erza. The two were up late, looking at outfits to wear the next day when Wendy came in, almost slamming the door behind her. The two looked at her worriedly.

"Is everything okay?" Lucy asked, staring at the young dragonslayer.

Wendy bit her lip, "I-I'm fine!" she responded, "Nothing to worry about!"

Pantherlily woke up confused. His partner wasn't in the bed with him, and the room wasn't a mess and the shower wasn't running so Gajeel was probably not even in the room. He stumbled out of bed in his small form, trying to fly up and around the room to find him. Gajeel didn't turn up and he left the hotel room a little worried for his partner's whereabouts. He was used to Gajeel leaving the house without him, but not this early in the morning, before he even woke up, and especially on vacation.

The next closest room was Mirajane, Cana and Juvia's. They were likely asleep, and Pantherlily didn't want to disrupt them, but he was too concerned for his friend and knocked on the door anyway. He was surprised to hear someone walking towards the door already. Juvia, already dressed for the day, answered the door and looked down to be greeted by the exceed.

"You...haven't seen Gajeel, have you?"

"Mmm...no, sorry," she answered, "Juvia hasn't seen Gajeel since we turned in for the night."

"Haven't seen 'em either," Cana stated from inside the hotel room, "Check with Laxus, he might know."

"Alright, thanks."

A few doors down was Laxus' hotel room. When Pantherlily walked up to the door he heard the shower running. He also heard...talking. Was he using the phone? Then he heard the other end of Laxus' conversation. It was clearly Gajeel, and they were arguing about something. "Well what if someone fucking heard us?" "You asked me to go harder-" "Just shut up already!" He heard the two bickering.

His eyes widened. What did he mean by 'what if someone heard us?' he knew something was happening between the two, but he wasn't too sure. They'd been acting incredibly suspicious since they'd arrived at the park, but this was one of the first secrets Gajeel hadn't let Pantherlily in on. He was a man that minded his own business, but he let his curiosity get the best of him, and knocked on the door. The conversation went dead silent, and all Pantherlily could hear was the shower running.

Admittedly, he wanted to burst through the locked door and see exactly what was going on with them. He felt like he'd been driven to a breaking point. Really, he just wanted to know if Gajeel was okay, but whatever secret he'd been keeping, he'd been keeping it for a moment too long. After a bit, Laxus finally opened the door. He wasn't fully dressed, but he clearly rushed to answer the door, as he was only wearing jeans, and his hair was still dripping wet. He had to have known it was the exceed, otherwise he wouldn't have been so quick to answer.

"Is Gajeel in there?"

"Haven't seen 'em," He shrugged, clearly lying. Pantherlily was nearly fuming, but kept his cool.

"I could have sworn I heard him in your room, Laxus," He said, "Is he in there or not?"

"He isn't here, Lily, I have to get dressed-"

Before Laxus could close the door, Pantherlily quickly swapped to his larger form, grabbing the door and letting himself in. Not wanting to be too forceful with the exceed, Laxus let it happen, albeit regretfully. "Hey," He called out, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know what it is with you and Gajeel, but it's getting suspicious and I'd like to find out," he answered, pointing a finger towards Laxus, who growled and grabbed his arm, pushing it back down.

"Then how about you mind your fucking business?"

"So he is in here?"

"I said mind your goddamn business!" He yelled, sparks flying off of him, "What's it even matter to you anyway!?"

"Gajeel is my partner!" Pantherlily gestured to the room, "And he's my friend! I think I have the right to be worried about my friends, am I wrong?"

"Get out, Lily."

"Tell me the truth, first."

"Enough."

Laxus and Lily turned towards the bedroom door. Gajeel appeared, dressed, though without shoes and messy hair. He scratched his head, looking tiredly at the two and frowning when he turned to the hotel door and saw three concerned girls peeking though. His face flushed red as all eyes were on him. Laxus calmed down, seeing his mates defeated eyes.

"...That's enough, Laxus," he muttered nervously. Laxus crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact with the others. "I should...tell you the truth, Lily." He spoke hesitantly, "I've been...Laxus…is…"

"...he's what?" Pantherlily powered down. Gajeel was shaking, not looking directly at his partner. The two seemed ashamed, almost intimidated by everyone's presence as the truth was slowly slipping through Gajeel's mouth.

"Laxus and I are together."

So that's it.

The two had been so close, but Pantherlily didn't realise how close their relationship was. Mirajane's eyes furrowed, a bit solemnly at Gajeel's direction. Laxus looked pretty devastated being unable to keep his promise to keep their relationship a secret, and Gajeel looked hurt.

"What are you...talking about?" Mirajane asked, stepping in the hotel room, "...I mean...we kind of figured as much."

"What?" Both men looked up and spoke in unison, shocked. Pantherlily looked up as well, listening to Mira's statement.

"I-well…" she tried to explain, "I mean, you guys...uh…"

"You've been really close," Pantherlily interjected, "I've noticed, too. You two talk more and more, but you always seem to...stop whenever anyone else is around. I'd actually gotten concerned for a moment," The exceed flew up gently to Gajeel's height, "...because every time you came home, this whole month, you seemed so detached...like there was something wrong that-that you were avoiding telling me. Now that I know what's going on...I can see why you'd want this to be private, and I apologize."

Gajeel looked up. Pantherlily sounded genuinely worried. Laxus looked up with sorrow and he sighed and bit his lip, "I mean," he muttered, "It's...okay. It's okay if you guys know, I mean."

"Well it's not like we see you two any differently," Mirajane chimed in, "You guys seem happy together and...we don't want to be the reason it goes awry."

"Welcome to the gays club," Cana stuck her tongue out. Laxus rolled his eyes.