It was probably the calmest day the guildhall had experienced since it's changing of hands. Everyone was around, for weeks it felt like, after Makarov handed over the hall to his grandson. It seemed like everyone equally wanted to be certain this was truly the case, as well as make it in good with their new master.

Which was great for business. Sort of. Mirajane and Kinana scored big in tips, at least, which seemed to please both of them, but any time the guild swelled to capacity, especially for extended days, it seemed to take a rather heavy toll on them both. Even with Lisanna helping out around the bar for the past week, it had just been hectic and overwhelming and things were finally, finally calming down.

"Good thing," Cana griped at one point during the day when Kinana mentioned, in slight elation, the slow, normal pace of the bar that day. "I was gonna have to find somewhere else to drink."

"Oh, no," Laxus grumbled as he walked passed, some papers in his hand that he was going to have to go over, just boring, Master stuff that he definitely wasn't hating already, nope, no way. "How would we ever recover?"

He was just about a month in as Fairy Tail's one and only Master, but already, Laxus was becoming disillusioned. Freed, Ever, and Bickslow held off on going on jobs for as long as possible, to bask in the glory of their idol, living his realized dream, but fuck, they had bills to pay and were all going out on a job that once upon a time, Laxus would have accompanied them on. Not anymore though. Now he had to sit around the dusty old guildhall and do actual paperwork and fuck, following your dreams was a load of crock, a trap, presented to young children by miserable adults who hoped to one day make those children just as miserable.

Yes.

It was the only answer.

"I'm gonna go on break," Mirajane called out to Kinana though, from across the mostly empty bar then, right next to Laxus' ear as she sat down a tall mug of ale in front of the man. He'd have been annoyed by her noisiness, but it hardly even phased him through his headphones.

Not that the woman noticed his glare, anyways, as he snatched up his mug. She was far too busy prancing away, in a hall finally not filled to the brim, and oh, she loved seeing all her friends and making new ones, but it felt so good to be (mostly) alone in her guildhall again,.

Well, Master's guildhall.

By which she meant Master Laxus.

Of course.

She was definitely not struggling with referring to him this way. Not at all.

Laxus forgot about the woman, anyways, for a few minutes as he found himself rather busy with the papers before him. It was just all so much and did the old man really read all this shit? No. No way. Who did he have read it for him?

Frowning, he lifted his head and searched around for Mirajane once more, taking a moment to place where she'd gotten off to. He saw Kinana, behind the bar alone now, and while she had become rather competent in that, he wasn't so sure she was, uh, well, too versed in much else. Not that Mirajane ever seemed to be either, but if she got the old man by these past few years, then…

There she was.

Over on the stage.

Not standing on it. Rather, Mirajane was seated on the edge, legs hanging over it as she sat there with her guitar in her hands, strumming softly and most inaudibly, he imagined. His headphones blocked out anything, anyways, if she was being very loud. Slipping one off his ear, he noticed less her soft singing voice and more the lack of chatter from the local drunks and slackers, who'd fallen silent in order to appreciate the miniature concert they were being treated with currently. It felt almost eerie, really, as Laxus found himself slipping the other headphone off as well, so he could hear it, what the others were experiencing then.

It felt so different. Usually. Soothing, yes, when Mirajane would get up there on the stage and sing to them, but the vibe was strange now with so few people. There was always just a bit of soft talking in the background, some complaints from someone like Gajeel, who thought they could do better, or jealousy from certain women, over how easily Mirajane swayed everyone's attention. The clattering of mugs or even just the collective heaviness a room has, when filled with people, as opposed to the near emptiness it had now.

Mirajane almost seemed oblivious to the others now, as she sang and strummed through her break, and she really didn't have that many eyes on her, not really, as the drunks laid with their heads down, considering her words and melody as they drank their lives away, and the slackers puttered around, considering the talents they refused to hone in such a way. Other than Kinana walking about the small amount of assembled people in the tiny bar, the only sound was Mirajane, the only place to look was Mirajane, and Laxus felt his heart stop, felt like a teenager again, when she glanced up at the exactly right moment to catch his dark eyes with her bright blues, only for the woman to wink, maybe, he thought, smile at least, and the moment was ruined.

Because someone new came into the bar, a loud, rowdy team, which strummed up the bar once once more with chatter and gripes and life, really. Not that Mirajane had sucked the last thing out. No. But the life she breathed into things was just so...tranquil.

And Laxus never experienced anything like that. Ever. How could he? Going from an S-Class wizard, taking the toughest jobs in the land, to dealing with the headaches of a popular guild's master, Laxus was never going to know peace again.

So he sought it out.

It was easy enough, to request Mirajane stick around a bit, after closing. To help him with something. Kinana was the only other person who caught the remark and, honestly, she seemed thankful to be able to escape to dorm and escape the hustle and bustle of the bar. Even on a slow day, sometimes all you wanted was to get out of the place.

Mirajane was dutiful as ever though and had honestly planned on doing some extra closing duties that night anyways and agreed. When the man came out of his office however, after the last straggler had been pushed out the door, she was a bit surprised by his request.

"I want," he told the woman simply, "you to sing me a song."

"Okay," she sighed, tired, but game. Still, she continued to scrub at the glass in her hand as she began to sing, which made the man frown and put it on a quick halt.

"No, Mira," he sighed some with a shake of his head before nodding at the stage. "Up there. With your guitar. Like you were today. I, uh, well… I kinda was into that."

She giggled then, the woman did, as she set the mug down. But it wasn't at him. Rather with him, maybe, as Laxus found himself smiling as well.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, her eyes alight and the man found himself nodding.

"Yeah."

"Well, Master," she began as she was quick to do as requested, skipping right around the bar and over to the stage, "you could have just invited me over. A private show is much better in your home."

"No, demon, you don't get it." He was following her. "And don't call me that. Right now."

"I have to, Lax," she told him and she sounded more serious then. "If I'm ever gonna be consistent-"

"Fuck consistency." He took a seat nearest to the stage, sitting so he was facing her, hunched over with his chin rested in his palms. "I'm not your fucking master."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What are you then, huh?"

"Demon-"

"Say it." She took her own seat, there, right across from him, on the edge of the stage. She hardly put any effort into it, just waved her hands slightly and it appeared, summoned from some sort of reequip space, her pink acoustic guitar. But she didn't move to strum a single note, didn't form a single chord over any fret as she instead stared the man dead in the eyes. "What do you want me to call you?"

Laxus didn't like it. When she thought she had power over him. Unfortunately, however, he wanted something from her then and if that meant that he was going to have to give in a little…

"I'm your dragon," he told her simply, flatly, but it was enough to get a bright grin out of the woman and, maybe, his face didn't look as glum as it typically did. "What else would you call me?"

"Nothing, dragon," she practically sang and it took a few more seconds before she'd composed herself enough to finally return the request.

They had been dating for only a few months when Makarov approached him about turning the guildhall over. It wasn't like it was a complete secret. Just not something that was spoken about. Back then. Mira dated a lot of people. Laxus too. It made sense that they'd cross over from time to time. They were both high up mages, not only in their own guild, but in the country overall. A lot of overlap in their circles. And for two young people who never seemed to interested in being tied down, the idea that they could occasionally entertain one another wasn't wholly impossible. Interesting, maybe, to certain ears, but now felt so commonplace that it hardly was so.

It was around the time that Makarov offered up the hall though that Laxus felt himself getting a bit more serious about the woman. When he approached her about it though, as well as his impending promotion, she was quick to agree, but only conditionally.

"Let's not tell anyone. Okay? About how close we are now? Let's just keep things normal." And she smiled at him, that same one that could get him to do just about anything. "I wanna be with you too, dragon, only you, but… Once you become Master, it'll be different. People will treat you differently. Let's just...wait it out a bit, okay? And keep it a secret. Alright?"

He only brushed her soft white hair behind one of her ears and agreed. Keeping secrets with a demon was the exact kind of nonsense he loved to find himself in.

Their nights spent together were sporadic, but wonderful when they came, and Laxus knew once things calmed down around the bar, they could probably send Kinana home early most nights after things cleared out, only to spend even more time together. But tonight, in that moment, as she sang to him so soft and sweet, Laxus found himself less falling in love with her and more getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"How'd you do it, demon?" he asked softly when the first song came to an end. As the woman stared at him inquisitively, Laxus only continued, "How'd you give up on your dreams?"

"What do you mean, silly?" she asked with a bit of a frown. "What dream?"

"You know." He nodded then, at her in general, but specifically what she was holding. "You wanted to be a singer, didn't you? You're awfully good. You couldda at least given it a try. A real try. And it mightta meant something." Before she could comment though, he shook his head and said, "But you never did. You play for these losers in the bar, fine, and you play for me, when I ask you to, but-"

"Do you think, so?" she asked, looking up then, as if thinking. "That I couldda been something?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe," she agreed and it was the most either would know about it. Sighing some, she said, "But then I wouldn't be here right now."

"I know."

"We probably wouldn't have dated."

"Yeah, probably not."

"Then-"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing you didn't, Mira," he told her then. "I think it's a good thing, even. I just...when it's presented to you, and you're that close to it, when you have a chance at it...how do you not even reach for it? Or try?"

"Laxus, I don't think I understand."

He just made a face as he admitted, "Being Master blows."

"You've been Master for, at most, a month."

"And it's sucked. I can't go out on jobs, I gotta do paperwork all the time, turns out I can't even kick morons like Natsu or Erza outta my guild cause they're strong or whatever and would go join someone else and make us not strong-"

"These sound like really petty problems you should have realized would happen before you even said yes."

"I just," he finished then, "thought that I would feel something. I mean, I did feel something. That first day. And the second. I felt something really nice, that third night, when you came by my place-"

"It was a good night."

"But now… Fuck, I dunno." He looked off. "Same thing happened when I first got S-Class. I toiled for that shit, then I got it and after… Why do we chase these big, fantastical ideas and concepts, just for these stupid fleeting moments? Nothing good ever lasts."

"Don't say that." She even made a face, setting her guitar to the side then. "Seriously. It's kinda a shitty thing to say to your girlfriend."

Bowing his head, Laxus told her, "What's the point, huh? In anything? It's all so fucking fleeting."

"That's because you're not at the rewarding parts yet, silly." Jumping up then, she made her way over to the man. As she rested as hand on his shoulder, she remarked, "The good things are yet to come. Like, the first time you get to crown someone S-Class. Someone who toiled and worked for it, just like you. The first time you and your guild, your mages, save the entire planet. You know that's coming. We're Fairy Tail, dragon, no matter whose Master."

"Demon-"

"The first time some scrawny little kid that you took in off the street masters a spell or when a lowly mage you helped find their way completes a really tough job..." Mira trailed off, looking away from him then, a smile tugging at her lips. "You completed a dream, fine, Laxus, if that's what you wanna call it, but there's more to it than that. You keep dreaming. You know? Is this really all you want to do with your life? 'cause at one time, all I could dream about was becoming S-Class too. And you know what? It came and went and I wanted something else. Yes, at one time, I wanted to be a super star, with my guitar, and I wanted everyone to know my name and sing my songs, but...I grew up. And passed that. I have different dreams now. So many. And you do too. Don't you?"

He muttered some stuff then, under his breath, while she just giggled over him.

"I wanna buy a house one day."

"You've already done that," he pointed out, glancing up at her.

"No, with...someone. Not my brother and sister. Like a nice place." She dropped her hand from his shoulder. "And I wanna have kids. Or at least one. Maybe. Sometimes I think I'd be happier, you know, if Elf and Lisanna just did that instead? Had the kids? And I could be the cool aunt. And I've always dreamed of...well… Maybe I shouldn't say it."

"What? Huh?" He lifted his head fully then. "To get married? To a man with a comfortable salary? Big wedding? You can tell me. Scared of jinxing our relationship or something?"

"That's...not big dream, but you go for that comfortably employed man, Lax."

"Demon-"

"I've just always wanted to say, 'Fuck it,'" she told him then, her tone far too bright for the words spewing from her mouth. Hand slowly falling from his shoulder, she turned from the man then as she looked around the hall in wonder. "I wanna just walk out the door and it not matter. Any of it. Any of them. I'd just...not care about this place anymore. What happened to it. I mean, I know I would eventually. That'd I'd come back sometime. But could you imagine it? What it would mean? To not be a Fairy anymore? Ever again? Really, ever again? Not because the guild gets destroyed or something awful like that, but just because...you chose it. Something different. In your life. And there'd be no hard feelings? Just a sense of completion? And you could move on to the next portion of your life? Finally?"

Slowly, Laxus head fell again, about the same time Mirajane let out the breath she'd been holding in.

"I think," he told her then, "that maybe, it wouldn't really matter. If you did walk away. Tomorrow. Right now, even. Or if I gave up being Master today and went back on S-Class jobs. We still wouldn't be happy. Not really. No happier, I mean, I guess. You just always want something else. It's illusive. Maybe even not real. Really being happy. It never really comes, does it?"

Mira considered his words, far too pessimistic for her daytime, in front of the others persona, but so late at night, crossing over into early morning, it didn't make her frown. Instead it just made her head tilt a bit as she thought.

"I'm happy when I'm with you," she offered him. "Always."

"Yeah," he agreed, "but what happens when you're not?"

"I break your heart, dragon. What else?"

He didn't want to laugh. He relaly didn't. But it just fell out of him, full bellied and deep, so hard that it almost hurt, while Mirajane smirked victoriously over him, the man's laughter echoing in the otherwise completely, truly empty guildhall.

Eventually, when his laughter died down, she turned and headed back over to the stage to take a seat once more.

"Another song, Master?" she asked and his chest hurt too much from laughter to correct her, meaning all he could do was nod.

Her singing and guitar sounded much better to him, than his own laughter had, reverberating in the empty guildhall, and it felt like it had only just began, four songs later, when Mirajane seemed to be growing tired and he knew he had to let her go, even if it was just for the night, as they both needed their rest.

"Maybe, dragon," she yawned to him when they parted, half an hour later, just outside her quiet little home she shared with her siblings, him not walking her all the way to the porch, but rather just standing there, watching her go up it from the sidewalk, "we'll just always be happy with one another. Like how I always will be, with Lisanna and Elf, and you'll always be happy with the Thunder Legion."

And it felt so good, so very good, to smile truly for the woman and only the woman, as he nodded his head, only turning his back once she was safely in the house.

"Maybe, demon," he whispered in parting, if only for a few hours. "Maybe."