Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Happy Valentine's Day, or Single's Awareness Day, everyone!

Well, since LaLu is still leading in the poll, here's a semi-romantic (well, bonding at least) chapter between the two.

Enjoy!

Lucy watched in awe from the window in the guild's library as the thunder and lightning raged across the sky, reveling in the cold air emanating from the glass. She gasped as the lightning lit up the sky yet again.

She glanced down for a moment, smiling gently as she saw a certain blue-haired Sky Dragon Slayer dancing happily in the rain outside of the guild doors, not bothered in the slightest by the freezing cold rain and roaring winds.

If it was anyone else, Lucy would be worried for their safety, but there wasn't anything capable of besting Wendy in such an environment.

'Well, maybe Chelia.' She reluctantly reconsidered, remembering the pink-haired Sky God Slayer who she'd seen in the Games the year before.

"What are you doing?" a gruff voice spoke up behind her. Lucy gasped quietly, spinning around towards the source, a key instantly appearing in her hand via Requip.

"Damn it, Laxus." She said with a relieved sigh once she recognized the much larger male, sending the key (Leo) back to her pocket dimension. "You need to start making noise when you walk into a room."

"Where's the fun in that, Blondie?" Laxus replied with a teasing smirk.

"Yeah, giving people heart attacks is always amusing." Lucy said cheerfully, intentionally ignoring the part of her that muttered that he was blonde too.

Laxus sweat dropped, not sure if she was joking. She might be more calm than most of his guild mates, but she was still a Fairy Tail mage.

He examined the Celestial Spirit mage, who went back to staring out the window, not seeming to notice his curious stare.

She was wearing black pants, a light blue cashmere sweater (gray tank top straps showing under that), and a white quilted jacket with a pair of gloves sitting beside her on the table.

His eyebrow rose when he noticed that her regular black boots were on the floor a few yards away, and she wore nothing but light blue socks on her feet.

"Why are you barefoot?" he wondered aloud, causing Lucy to glance back at him.

"Oh, right." She said, almost sounding surprised, like she hadn't even realized it. "It's more comfortable not wearing shoes, especially if I want to curl up on one of the armchairs in here."

"You're sitting at a table." He pointed out.

"I was sitting over there until I realized the storm had arrived." Lucy explained, shaking her head as she tilted her head towards the squishy-looking chair next to her boots. Her book bag was also there, so Laxus took her word for it.

"If you were so comfortable, why move?" Laxus asked, unsure why he was interested in the first place.

"I like storms." She said simply. "They're soothing."

A branch hit the window forcefully, belaying her words.

"Well, not always." She admitted ruefully with a giggle. "I don't know. I just like it when the weather is like this. I used to bribe Juvia to make it a rainy day when I wanted an excuse not to go on a mission, and she usually agreed because that meant that Gray didn't leave with us."

Laxus snorted in amusement. There was a reason that Blondie was considered the brains of that team.

They sat there (or stood in Laxus' case, having shook his head at Lucy's invitation for him to sit down) in a companionable silence for a while before Laxus spoke up.

"Thanks." He murmured quietly, causing Lucy to glance back at him.

"For…?" she asked curiously.

"Getting me back into the guild." He answered after a long moment. "If gramps was still the master, it wouldn't have been so easy, but Macao…he doesn't have that lingering disappointment that gramps does."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Lucy said thoughtfully. "From what I gathered, you had your reasons, and Mas-uh, Makarov didn't bother explaining about why your father was kicked out of the guild, brushing off the issue and just telling you that he deserved it. Maybe if he had explained…"

"Maybe." Laxus shrugged, grimacing at the mention of his father. He had done a lot of introspection during his time of banishment from the guild, and had realized just how much his father had influenced his actions and opinions over the years, even in his absence. "A lot of it was resentment and bitterness towards the jerk himself."

"And you didn't realize that until later on." Lucy nodded knowingly. "I used to have abandonment issues after my mom died. Logically I knew that she wouldn't have left me if she had had any other choice, but my dad had basically abandoned me emotionally, and I only saw him once every few weeks. I realized later on that it was my father who those emotions were really directed towards. My father was still alive; he should have been there. It felt like both of my parents had died at once."

"My mother died in childbirth." Laxus told her, feeling obligated to do so after she had shared such personal things with him. "He always blamed me for it."

"Dads are the worst." Lucy said with a sad chuckle, eyes watery. "I'm a carbon copy of my mom; that's why he was never able to look at me once she was gone. It didn't help that I'm a Celestial Spirit mage like she was and that I inherited a few of her contracted spirits."

Laxus didn't say anything, since he knew that the whole Phantom Lord thing was caused by Blondie's father. What kind of man would kidnap his own daughter?

'What kind of man would shove a lacrima in his son's head in an attempt to make him stronger?' Laxus wondered sardonically.

"At least I had the opportunity to reconcile with him." Lucy whispered, still staring out the window. "He passed away about a month before you guys returned."

"Oh. Uh, sorry." Laxus muttered, awkwardly patting Blondie's shoulder. He'd never been good when he was faced with emotions, much less of the 'sad girl' variety.

Lucy giggled, patting his hand in thanks before turning back towards him. "It's okay. Our relationship was still awkward as hell, in the end, but at least I didn't hate him anymore, and he wasn't treating me as his property. He even helped us get it together financially."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, before the Konzern went bankrupt, he built it from the ground up and made it one of the most successful businesses in Fiore." Lucy explained. "Actually…the reason it went under is because I refused to marry the son of one of his business partners."

"Tch, don't blame yourself for that." Laxus snapped, rolling his eyes. "If he was so great at business, he wouldn't have let it get to that point. Besides, you were under no obligation to marry someone for him anyway."

"I suppose that's true." She agreed with a smile. "Even if I hadn't run away and joined Fairy Tail, there's no way I would have agreed to it. I'm not going to marry for anything but love."

"Now I just have to find it." She muttered under her breath, unaware that the dragon slayer could hear her.

Please review!

Yeah, it wasn't much, but at least it wasn't a NaLu scene! ;)