By the time Lucy woke up, the sun was beginning to set. She ran her fingers over her keys that were placed above her head and Horologium told her it was nearly six o'clock. So she slowly sat up, still groggy, trying to get a feel for her surroundings. It quickly came back to her that she was on a train headed for Era when she saw her travel companion sprawled out on the bench across from her, obviously not fitting on it well. His head was resting on a pillow that was propped up against the armrest while his arms were crossed over his chest, one leg extended over the opposite armrest and the other propped up on the floor to his side, to keep him from rolling off the bench.
She wanted to giggle at his much too large physique but managed to keep her mirth under control. If she made too much noise his dragon slayer ears would most certainly wake him up and she knew that, like her, he usually struggled to sleep. So, while she would normally never even dream of leaving her keys anywhere but directly on her person or right next to her as she slept, she decided to forgo picking them up as to avoid their jingling. She stood up, picked up the clothes she knew Virgo must have left for her and went to change and find some dinner for the both of them. No person in all of Earthland would be stupid enough to try and steal something from right under a sleeping dragon's nose, especially that sleeping dragon. Well...maybe Natsu. And in all honesty, probably her too; but those were her keys and Natsu wasn't there. Her keys were fine, Laxus was getting some much needed sleep, and she was getting hungry.
After Lucy changed into her new clothes and dropped her old ones off back in the compartment, she wandered around the train, stretching her sore muscles. She didn't want to admit that she might be getting too old to just sleep anywhere and wake up fine and train benches were horribly uncomfortable. In fact, the floor was probably better.
There weren't many people on this train, and even fewer were still awake. Most of them foregoing consciousness to pass the time. On her way in the direction she assumed the dining car to be, she was called to by an old familiar voice.
"Lucy, my dear! Is that you I see?"
Lucy turned her head and smiled wide at who she found.
"What a lovely surprise, Mrs. Begonia! Where are you headed to?" Lucy kindly greeted the old woman she would frequently help grocery shop. She only lived a few houses over from Lucy and they met one summer while Mrs. Begonia was struggling with her load of bags. Lucy had helped her to and from the store ever since.
"I'm on my way to Peace Village, dear. My granddaughter has finally had her baby and I'm going to help her around the house for a little, just while she gets back on her feet."
"Ellie had her baby, how wonderful!" Lucy exclaimed, she had only met the old woman's granddaughter once before, but she was extremely sweet and a little older than herself, they had gotten along well.
"Yes, I'm quite excited to meet the next generation of my family! Now, tell me what you're doing on this train." the old woman smiled kindly.
"I'm getting off in Era, I have something there that needs attending to for my guild." Lucy explained, being as vague as she could without being rude. She didn't know who was on the train and she didn't want to make herself a target for an attack if there was someone who overheard and thought she had information they could get. She really hated getting kidnapped.
"Oh, how very responsible, Lucy! You've grown into quite the woman these past few years. I'm proud of you." Mrs. Begonia gave her a grandmotherly smile and patted her hand.
"Thank you, very much." Lucy smiled back at her.
"Oh, sit down, dear! Talk with me for awhile, won't you? I have nothing to do and only a little over an hour until my stop."
Lucy let out a kind laugh and moved to sit down, "I would love to! We haven't just visited for the sake of visiting in quite some time, It would be nice to catch up with you!" Lucy sat on the bench across from her, near the isle. "Were there not enough empty compartments when you boarded? You're more than welcome to join me in mine, if you would like."
The old woman just waved her hand dismissively, "No, no, dear. There are plenty of rooms left, I just prefer sitting out here, I get to talk to the passersby when I do." She winked and Lucy let out a small giggle, realising that's exactly why she was sitting here talking to the woman in the first place.
"I suppose you do, but are you traveling alone? I haven't been through the whole train, but I don't believe that I've seen your husband around."
"Oh no, he stayed behind in Magnolia. Someone has to tend to the plants and animals, we can't both leave." She chuckled.
"I'll have to make sure to check on him for you when I get home, then!" Lucy teased.
Mrs. Begonia laughed at the young woman, "That's probably for the best, sometimes he needs more care than our cows!" Both woman laughed for a little before Mrs. Begonia continued.
"Speaking of traveling, I do believe I saw your guild master's grandson, that handsome young lightning mage, on this train earlier."
Lucy laughed at her friends not so subtle prying for information.
"We're actually travelling to Era together, its a bit like a mission I suppose. Laxus has a task he needs to complete and I'm just going along to offer my support."
"He's such a kind young man." Mrs. Begonia told Lucy.
"I wasn't aware that you were acquainted with him, ma'am." Lucy's statement had the undertone of a question.
"Not very well, but he has been kind enough on more than one occasion to help my husband move around our farming equipment as he's passed by our house. Its heavy stuff you know. Almost impossible for us to move by ourselves anymore. Quite impressive that young man is with all of his strength."
'He's never told me that...what could he be doing on my side of town?' Lucy thought as she made a puzzled face.
Mrs. Begonia just laughed at the young woman in front of her, "So, he's never told you about that, huh? Just proves my point that he's kind; he isn't trying to get anything out of it other than the knowledge that he's being helpful. He never accepts our offers to pay him and I've only been able to convince him to join us for dinner once."
Lucy gave out a smile full of pride at how much Laxus had grown throughout the years, "I know first hand of his kindness, we have been good friends for a number of years!"
The two talked for about an hour before the conductor's voice came over the speakers
"We will be arriving in Peace Village in ten minutes. Please collect your belongings and be prepared to depart. Thank you for your business, we hope you've enjoyed your travels with us."
Lucy helped Mrs. Begonia gather all of her things and pack them back in their appropriate bags. With five minutes to go until the train pulled into the station, they idly chatted about unimportant things until a deep voice made itself known from a few feet down the aisle, the owner of the voice still out of sight.
"Well there you are, Blondie." Laxus bluntly called, his voice not even trying to mask it's tinge of annoyance, "I've been looking for you for the past five minutes. What did you do, run up and down the train? Your scent is everywhere, it made it hard to find you."
"You were sleeping when I woke up so I walked around and stretched my legs." Lucy rolled her eyes at Laxus as he came into view, "And hasn't anyone ever told you that smelling people is rude." she huffed.
Mrs. Begonia just stared between the two blond mages with interest while Laxus ignored Lucy to greet the older woman with a small bow.
"It's nice to see you, as always, ma'am."
"And you as well, young man!" she smiled kindly, "but what on Earthland do you both mean by scents?"
Mrs. Begonia wasn't an expert on magic but she was pretty certain that finding a person by their scent alone was not something a lightning mage could do.
Lucy looked a combination of amused and confused. Anymore, it was common knowledge that Laxus was a Dragon Slayer and he was known throughout fiore. So she found it funny that there was somebody in their own town, not twenty minutes from the guild hall, that didn't know about him.
Laxus gave the small woman a half chuckle, "I've got a good nose, it comes with using Dragon Slayer Magic."
Laxus and Lucy shared a look of amusement at Mrs. Begonia's dumbfounded expression.
"You mean that there is more than one Dragon Slayer that belongs to your guild?" she asked amazed. "I thought that fire mage that always runs around after Lucy was the only one who possessed such a magic."
Laxus looked at the woman curiously, 'Did she really not know?'
"Mrs. Begonia," Lucy asked for him, "there are seven dragon slayers throughout Fiore, and four of them are members of Fairy Tail, did you really not know?"
"Seven! Oh my, I feel so embarrassed. I can't believe there are so many powerful wizards nowadays and that so many of them come from Fairy Tail!" She exclaimed before she soon composed herself. "That just goes to show you what getting old can do, I find myself out of the loop all the time." She sweetly chuckled.
The train pulled into the station then and Laxus assisted the old woman to her feet as she thanked him.
"Fairy Tail is full of remarkable people," Mrs. Begonia said as people began to exit the train, "its a wonderful feeling knowing that such a kind and powerful guild watches over our city and keeps us safe."
Pride swelled in both of the mages at her words and trust. This time it was Laxus who responded.
"Thank you for your kind words, it means a lot to us that the city trusts us," Lucy nodded in agreement, "and I'm sure my grandfather will be happy to hear of it."
"Well, I had better get a move on before the train begins to leave again, I hope to see the both of you soon!" Mrs. Begonia said as she made her way off the train, Lucy calling out her farewells and congratulations behind her.
When she became lost to them in the sea of people the two mages receded back into the train.
"I had no idea you could be such a gentleman, Laxus!" Lucy teased as she bumped him with her shoulder.
With a chuckle, Laxus quipped back, "I may have been raised by a guild of perverts, drunks, and reckless idiots, but I still have manners."
"Well thank Mavis somebody in the guild does!"
"By the way, Blondie" Laxus taunted, "You managed to leave these behind when you snuck off." He dangled the glinting keys in front of her face. "Somebody could have taken them, you shouldn't leave them sitting around."
She snatched them from his grasp before he could move them away, much to his surprise, and smiled sheepishly at him, "I didn't forget them, I just didn't want to wake you up when I left. Besides, they were with you. There's probably no safer place than that." She said sincerely before she attached the large key ring to her belt once more, "Except for maybe on my hip."
He stopped dead in his tracks, "You seriously trust me with them that much, even while I was sleeping?" he asked her in complete disbelief.
She fixed him with an intense gaze as she turned her body to meet his still form, "I trust you with my life Laxus, of course I trust you with my keys! We're friends, nakama; we're family. I trust you wholeheartedly, you should have already known that." Her gaze turned questioning.
Laxus turned a color he would never admit to and failed miserably at hiding it from her, but all the same he thanked her.
"That means a hell of a lot to me, Lucy." he used her name to convey the gravity of his appreciation.
Lucy casually leaned in and wrapped her arms around his waist, acting like it was something they did everyday as she laid her head against his chest, "And you mean a lot to me, don't forget that."
She pulled away from him hiding her slight blush, "Let's go find some dinner."
Laxus led the way to the dining car with Lucy in tow, both of them blushing like teenagers. They spoke fondly of their friends as they ate and the rest of their train ride was spent in deep discussion back in their compartment. Laxus placed the silencing runes around the room that Freed had taught him to cast and Lucy shared all she knew about the council members and gave him some advice on how to go about the meeting. She would be attending the meeting, too, but would not be an active participant in their discussions, that part was for Laxus to do.
By the time the train pulled into the station in Era late that evening, Laxus had come to the conclusion that most of the people that made up the council were assholes. When he had questioned Lucy as to why these were the people she and the others had selected to enforce magic laws, she made two valid points. The first was that there were not many people willing to take on such a role after the last council had been completely obliterated. The second reason being that the current council, now compiled of both mages and non-mages, were of the most respected people across Fiore. She also explained to him how they were selected.
Hibiki had used his Archive Magic to compose a list of possible candidates for each position, Lucy had then given that list to her spirit Crux to narrow down the choices with further research while Rufus narrowed that list even further when he did recon work, committing all of the candidates actions and involvements to his memory. They had wanted to make sure they were all good people who had the skill to govern an entire population of magic users of all sorts. The three of them agreed that having anything close to a repeat of the Jellal/Siegrain situation, bless his pretty blue head, was not something they ever wanted again.
Lucy had been the one to make the final decision based off of the remaining people on the list. That last part had shocked him thoroughly; that was a huge responsibility and she just played it off like she had chosen between vanilla or chocolate ice cream, not the biggest influences in the magical world.
But now, here they were, standing in front of their hotel's receptionist who was trembling in fear under the force of a very ticked off Laxus.
"What the hell do you mean there was only one room reserved?! There should be two!" He boomed at the poor employee.
"I-I'm v-v-ery s-sor-ry sir-r-r…" the receptionist stuttered and coward, "B-but there was only one reservation m-made for a room with a king sized bed, under the names you have given me, s-sir!"
Laxus was about to threaten the young man behind the desk when Lucy cut him off.
"Laxus, don't you think you're being a bit dramatic about this whole thing?" For Mavis' sake, the poor boy was literally shaking.
"No, I don't!" he declared, "I'm going to throw that old perverted geezer so hard when we get back to the guild that he'll land on the other side of Bosco!" He was seething and Lucy found his embarrassment kind of cute. So naturally, she teased him, effectively making the situation worse; much to her amusement and the receptionists terror.
"What's the matter, Spark Plug?" the reception gasped at her brazen words towards the terrifying mage, sure that she would be attacked for calling him such a name, "Do you have such a big problem with me that you wouldn't be able to bare sharing a room for a couple of days?" she asked in a near sing-song voice.
"That's not it at all!" Laxus' eyes widened in embarrassment as he tried to correct himself, thinking he insulted her. "It's just the old man is acting like Mira again, meddling in other people's business!"
She was outright chuckling at him now, "I'm just teasing you, Laxus!" she turned to face the mortified receptionist, she smiled sweetly to try and calm the poor man, "We'll take the room, please."
He quickly looked between her and a shocked Laxus before he went and got the room key, giving it to the not-as-crazy Lucy.
Lucy smiled and handed the key to Laxus, "Here, you go up to the room and cool down," she told him with a giggle as he began to protest, "I'm gonna stay down here for a minute and see if they don't have some other room available. You didn't even ask the poor guy and as much as I like being around you, Sparky, I like my space too."
Laxus physically deflated at Lucy's reasoning, much to the relief of the receptionist, and he made his was to the room; Glad he wouldn't be forced into such a close proximity with the woman he was pining over. He'd gotten way too close to her on this trip as it was and it had only been a single day. He didn't think he would be able to control himself if he had to share a room and a bed with her. 'Damn that fucking geezer and his matchmaking schemes!'
Lucy watched the alluring blond dragon slayer's figure disappear up the stairs, captivated by the way his muscles moved as he walked.
"-m?... -am, Ma'am!" The receptionist's calls finally reached Lucy's ears.
"Huh? Oh! I'm so sorry, I was just...uh, well, in a daze." She said with a blush.
"It's quite alright, Miss. But, are you sure you're going to be alright" the young man asked, eyeing the stairs where Laxus had just been.
"You mean, with him?" Lucy chuckled, "No need to worry about little old me, he's just a little grumpy because our train ride was a long one. He's actually not usually that bad." She assured him, raising her voice to a shout towards the second floor, "Besides I could probably knock him on his ass a couple times if I felt like it." She was pretty sure she heard a vague 'Fucking in your dreams, Blondie' coming from a ways up the stairs.
"Surely you must be joking?" the receptionist asked, his wide eyes full of disbelief.
"Well, I've never actually fought against him myself, but I've faced off with scarier things than that overgrown coat of fluff" she laughed and dramatically shrugged her small shoulders.
He didn't look like he believed her but he needed to attend to the other hotel guests, "So, you wish to see if we have any unreserved rooms then?"
"Yes please, nothing too fancy. I just need the basics." she smiled and he liked her much better than he liked the intimidating dragon slayer.
After looking through the availability book for a few minutes, his smile grew and he returned his gaze to Lucy.
"It looks like we have one room left and it has just become available! It's a king's suite, same as the other room. Would you like it?"
"Yes, please! Thank you very much for looking." She beamed; making the man, who had already developed a small crush on the blonde bombshell, blush. Lucy didn't even realize she was pushing her chest up on the counter; cleavage visible or not, her chest was a sight most men would drool over.
"It was no problem at all ma'am!" he smiled as he handed her the room's key.
She gathered her few belongings and began walking away, but she turned back and addressed him again, "Thanks for the idea by the way!"
"I'm sorry?" he said completely lost.
"You gave me an idea of what to do tomorrow, I think I'll challenge Laxus to a friendly fight! See which one of us is stronger. Don't know why I never thought of it before, honestly…"
"No offense ma'am, but Fairy Tail mages are insane." He just stared at her in terror, she was going to die, he was certain of that. Facing a man renowned across Fiore for single handedly stopping entire dark guilds in their tracks, for successfully defeating one of the most powerful Wizard Saints, and none of the stories and tales ever did his physique and demanding presence justice. There was no way this small and soft looking woman could stand a chance against such a god of a man.
But she just laughed so hard at the poor boy that she clutched her sides, further proving his point on her sanity. "I'm not even going to try to deny that!" she said between breaths as she calmed down, "Because you're completely right!" She turned back towards the stairs and went to seek out her room.
"323...326...aha! Room 329!" she mumbled under her breath. 'This couldn't have worked out better...room 331.' she thought as she saw the room directly to the right of her's was the one that Laxus had the key to. There was irony in there somewhere, she was sure of it. She just couldn't place it.
She turned the key in the door and entered the room, unshocked to find that Virgo had already unpacked her bags for her and everything was tucked away in drawers and placed where she could find it when she needed it. 'Guess this means she's done pouting', Lucy slightly chuckled to herself as she picked out her pajamas for the evening and went to take a quick shower before she let Laxus know where she was and then went to bed.
When the day's travel was cleaned from her skin, Lucy dressed and returned to the bedroom, placing her dirty clothes in her, now, empty suitcase. She took the time now to study the room. It was simple, yet of high quality. It very much screamed 'you're here on business'.
Lucy then noticed the additional door to her room, one she hadn't seen before now. She realized that this door must connect to the room Laxus was in. There definitely had to be some higher-being meddling with fate right now, this was almost cruel. Or maybe she should just take it as a small gift. Truthfully she wouldn't have minded sharing a room with Laxus at all. Her feelings had been out of check the whole trip thus far and she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a bed and sleep next him, well, of course actually fucking him would probably top that list…'Bad Lucy! You can't be thinking like that, not right now, it's going to get you into a troublesome situation!' she let out a depressed sigh, 'Besides, he made it pretty damn clear his feelings about sharing a room with you. You're only friends, Luce. He doesn't feel the same.'
After a few minutes of clearing her mind of her flooding desire she decided to go be a dork and try to make Laxus smile after his freak out. So, she walked over to the adjoining door and, as quietly as she could, opened her side of the entrance. Mirth evident on her face, she left her room through the front door and walked the few feet to Laxus'. When she knocked he answered a few moments later, dressed in his own sleeping attire, long boxers and a white tank-top that clinged to his every muscle. She all but drooled as she raked her eyes over his exposed arms, and down his defined torso.
Laxus was enjoying her gaze. He knew he was hot, woman swooned over him on a daily basis and he could bed them with the slightest effort or sometimes, no effort at all. Sorcerer's Weekly had ranked him 'Sexiest Bad Boy' for the last seven consecutive years. There were many times that Freed would quite literally need to remove horny and obnoxious woman from his body while walking down the street, but Lucy was one of the few woman that had never outright expressed sexual interest in him, much to his dismay. Even most of the woman in the guild found him attractive, but he'd never once overheard if Lucy was attracted to him, let alone anyone else in the guild, during the times where her little girl group would gossip in some corner of the guild hall. So, watching her eye's caress his skin with hunger and seeing her tongue dart out to wet her lips was not only a huge boost to his ego, but was also the biggest turn on of the century.
Before he could even tease her about her obvious attraction to his body, she walked into his room, able to walk under his propped arm without ducking.
"Well, just come right in, Blondie…" Laxus said with a sarcastic mirth.
She just turned her head back towards him and gave him a mischievous smirk as she made her way to their adjoining door.
"Nice outfit by the way.." his intent was to tease her about her little black shorts and tight button-up pajama flannel but his words came out husky, full of his restraint. It did look good on her, though. It looked too good and that was currently the problem. The way the thin flannel hung over her goddess like curves, slightly straining the buttons over her chest, and the way the tight spandex gripped her rounded ass like his hands wanted to….his dick was now half hard and the aroused smell her body was supplying him with was going to take it the rest of the way.
Lucy wasn't faring any better from her end of the room, she had stopped in front of their shared door to look back at him once more before she went back into her room when she found him ogling openly at her. Her inner walls clenched under his hot gaze and she was rapidly becoming aroused. He was so busy trailing his eyes over her neck and breasts that he hadn't noticed she had stopped moving and was staring right back. Her eyes trailed down his minimally clothed body and her gaze rested on the growing pitch in his boxers.
'Oh good gods...his..he's turned on." her own realization aroused herself even further and when she saw a small jolt of movement come from inside his shorts she felt the cloth covering her sex grow moist. 'Oh fuck me, it twiched!' it was taking almost all of her self control not to rub her thighs against each other in attempt to relieve the pressure that was building between them.
Laxus wanted nothing more than to cross the room at the moment he smelt her become wet, it was a smell he wanted to memorize and he knew that just one taste of her and he would give into the dragon he was restraining and take her completely. He would fuck her, he would claim her, and she would be writhing in pure ecstasy by the time he was finished. If he kept standing there, he was going to lose himself to the dragon instincts that were desperately thrashing against the confines of his body. He was silently fighting a war from the inside out with himself and if he didn't at least move, he was going to lose.
He mustered up any remains of his strength and logic he could find and pulled his gaze from her, turning his body towards the small fridge in the room to get a bottle of cold water.
His movements snapped Lucy out of her sexual daze and she cleared her husky throat with a small cough. "I, uh.. I just came over here to, um, say that you were being a bit of a dick." she internally slapped her forehead for the brilliance of that sentence, that wasn't how she had meant for it to come out. "I just mean that it wasn't the receptionists fault there was a mix up with the reservations, he didn't deserve to be screamed at." she tried to clarify, sounding as non-accusatory as she could.
Laxus gulped down his water and suppressed his libido before he responded, "You're right." She had expected shouting, maybe for him to take offence, or at the very least a stern scowl, but him agreeing with her was not on the list. "That kid didn't deserve my temper, but gramps just gets under my skin constantly and this time he wasn't around for me to yell at. It wasn't a mix up, I'm almost positive the old geezer did it on purpose."
"Would it really have been so bad to share a room if we had to?" she wasn't going to admit why his objection had hurt her, but she couldn't help but ask.
Laxus let out a defeated sigh, his erection leaving as quickly as it came. He felt like he was cornered right now and one wrong word was going to royally fuck him over.
"I just...didn't want you to be uncomfortable." he told her in a low voice. It wasn't a lie, he really didn't want for her to feel out of place or forced, but he also wanted the same for him and sharing a room with her would have been torture. "I'll apologize to the kid tomorrow if that'll make you feel better…" He felt dirty, twisting his words to save face, so if saying sorry to the stupid kid at the desk would get rid of this awkward air between him and Lucy, he would swallow his pride just this once.
Just like that her bright smile returned to her, "It's not about what I feel, its about you doing what you feel you need to." Laxus didn't apologize often and when he did it was either because somebody was forcing him to or because he had really screwed up bad; but in this situation it was neither, he was offering to apologize because he thought it would make her feel better. She wasn't really all that bothered by his oneway yelling match downstairs, it had been a little embarrassing, but she understood why he would be upset. The Master could be absolutely frustrating. "But, if you really were to apologize to him that would definitely make me happy!"
He was glad her good mood was back, when she was upset with him it really ate at his mind. At least now it wouldn't feel so awkward.
"So then, Blondie, I assume you were able to find a room? Care to let me in on the big secret of where it is? Did they put you in the boiler room or something? Or maybe they cleared out a broom closet?" He playfully teased her, effectively bringing back the happy atmosphere between them.
Instead of responding to him, she smirked and turned back to the door that led to her room. She waited in front of it for a few seconds for dramatic effect and then opened his side of the door, walked into her room and plopped down on her bed.
"Fuck." he mumbled to himself as she disappeared into the room next door. This was still way too close. He had hoped that they would have found a room on a different floor, at least down the hallway, but it looks like fate wanted to be cruel to him and place them in adjoining rooms. 'At least there's a door that I can close, at least we're not sharing a bed…' he tried to reason with himself. It didn't do a whole lot of good, he was still nervous.
He walked through the door and leaned his shoulder against it's frame, surveying the room, "Now I really do feel like an ass," he grumbled, "he got you a good room. Now I gotta apologize."
She laughed at his ever present ego, "You know I don't even think he knew that the room he gave me was right next to yours," then she threw a decorative pillow at him as she teased, "He was very concerned for my safety, you know, such a sweet and innocent young woman travelling with behemoth of a dragon mage like yourself." her voice was that of a stereotypical damsel and it earned her the laugh she loved to hear so much.
He threw the pillow back at her and it hit her gently in the face, making her giggle. " 'Sweet' is debatable, Blondie, but 'innocent', never in a million years! You're too twisted in the head to be an innocent damsel."
"I feel like I should find offence in there somewhere!"
He laughed with her, but if he stayed any longer, it was either going to get awkward again or he was going to bury himself deep inside of her, so he spoke once more when their laughter died down. "Well, as fun as this has been, It's almost midnight and I want to catch some sleep." He stood straight once more and walked back into his room, "Goodnight, Lucy." he called out to her as he shut his door.
"Goodnight, Laxus." She smiled and got up to close her's before crawling under her covers and falling asleep with a smile on her face.