Day 2: Clothes

. . .

Lucy scoffed and laid back down. Of course, a borderline fantasy of hers, being locked in the Guildhall alone with Laxus, was coming true. But he had to be sick and lacking in energy, just her luck. He was an asshole but a girl could still appreciate a good body. "Oh well. It's probably for the best," Lucy muttered before drifting off to sleep herself.

. . .

Lucy awoke gradually, her body shivering from how cold she felt. She reached down to try and pull her blanket up but couldn't seem to find it. "What-?" she said sleepily as she cracked her eyes open and tried to make sense of her surroundings.

"Oh that's right. I'm not in my nice, warm bed and apartment. I'm at the stupid Guildhall. Under quarantine." She groaned and hugged her body into herself, shivering more.

"I told you you'd be cold," a deep baritone voice said from somewhere nearby.

"Oh that's right. I'm under quarantine—with Laxus. Who seems to have lost all of his charm and replaced it with moodiness."

Lucy sat up, doing her best not to chatter her teeth. "What the heck is going on with the heat? Did they turn it off on us?" she asked, genuinely concerned with how she was going to spend two weeks in a building with no heat.

Laxus was seated in the high back chair by the window again, wearing the exact same ensemble as yesterday. He shook his head. "I told you. You've got the chills from the virus."

Lucy reached for her keys and tried to summon Virgo. "What the-?" She fussed with her keys as each piece of metal refused to respond to her.

"Your magic energy is low," Laxus said, realizing what she was trying to do. "See," he said, holding up his thumb and his index finger. "I can barely even make a spark."

Lucy felt panic welling up inside of her. What if her magic never recovered? What if an emergency happened and she couldn't rely on her spirits?

"Relax," Laxus said, clearly sensing her concern. "Your powers will come back. Mine have already improved since yesterday." He stifled a sneeze in the crook of his elbow before getting up out of his chair. "Follow me," he said in a flat tone.

Lucy was too tired to ask where they were going. Instead, she got up, holding her arms close to her body in the hopes that she might generate some heat and followed slowly behind him as he made his way towards the second floor offices.

The pair of them walked down the hallway, both of them moving a lot slower than normal, which gave Lucy some time to look at her surroundings. She'd never spent much time, if any, in this back hallway. It housed all of Fairy Tail's offices so she really had no reason to be up here on most days. She smiled as she passed a painting of the three original members, each of them smiling back at her in front of the first Guildhall.

Laxus stopped in front of one of the doors and twisted the knob to open it. Lucy followed him inside to find a well appointed office. An oak desk was set off on the left hand side and a couch was positioned underneath the window directly in front of them. To the right were a series of bookshelves and cabinets. It surprised Lucy how well organized everything was, but then when she thought about it, the neatness did seem to fit his personality in some ways.

The man all but collapsed on the sofa in front of them. "Over there," he said, pointing to one of the cabinets on the right wall. "There's extra clothes. You can borrow them to stay warm."

Lucy's eyes widened. Was Laxus actually being—considerate?

"Don't act so surprised. Geesh, how bad of a guy do you think I am?" Laxus said when he saw her face.

"I, uh," Lucy stumbled over her words to try and come up with an answer.

He closed his eyes and laid his head down. "Forget about it. Just put some damn clothes on," he sighed.

Lucy didn't hesitate. She made her way over to the cabinet with a bit more energy and opened it up. Inside were several of his famous silk shirts and fitted trousers hung neatly on hangers. But there were also several oversized sweatshirts and athletic pants folded up in drawers along with a pile of paired socks, as well.

Lucy pulled one of each from the bottom, hoping it would be somehow less intrusive and pulled them on over her own clothes. The gray sweatshirt was simple, with some branded logo written across the chest but it felt like a giant hug as soon as she put it on. Pulling each leg through the athletic pants, she found they were clearly too large but she didn't care. She rolled the waistband up as much as possible before cuffing the bottom of the legs as well before pulling on each sock.

Closing the cabinet doors, she turned around and looked at the big man resting on the couch. She already felt a lot warmer and she grimaced to think what would have happened if Laxus hadn't been here with her. And in the less than twenty-four hours they'd spent together, he was nothing like she thought he would be. Perhaps she had misjudged him all this time. "Thank you, Laxus," she said. "I really appreciate you letting me borrow these."

The man cracked his eye open to look at her. "It's fine. Use whatever you need. Just leave my silk shirts alone," he added. "They're fucking expensive," he said before closing his eyes again.

Lucy giggled and put her fingers into the pant pockets to try and get them warm. She felt a few loose items and walked over the desk to deposit them. Fishing the contents out of each pocket she laid them on the desk and immediately blushed. A few loose coins, a movie stub, and-a condom.

"Do you stash condoms in all your pants pockets?" she sighed before feeling another wave of exhaustion hit her. She shuffled her way over to the couch and without any grace at all, collapsed next to the man.

Her movements made his cushion bounce up momentarily and he groaned before cracking an eye open to look at her. He shrugged at her question. "I guess the last time I wore those pants was a let down."

Lucy giggled and managed to turn and face him before resting her head on the cushion. "So what's Laxus Dreyar all about?" she asked.

"Sex and booze," he said pretty quickly.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "I don't think that's true. I think that's just what you want people to think."

"I'll share your analysis with my therapist in our next session, thanks," he responded in a bored tone.

"Oh come on, Laxus," Lucy whined. "We've got two weeks of just us. Might as well try and get to know one another a bit."

"Or, and this is just an idea, we could use the two weeks to rest and try and get better."

"You're no fun," Lucy said with a huff and a yawn.

"I am fun. Just not right now," Laxus said, responding with his own yawn.

"I'm gonna figure you out, Laxus Dreyar," she said as she drifted off to sleep again.

TWELVE DAYS TO GO

. . .

Ah yes, the best thing about being sick is having an excuse to steal my husband's sweatshirts. Just kidding, I do that when I'm healthy too.

So in other news, the world is shutting down. If nothing else, it's really showing me how unnecessarily fast paced everything has been for the last decade plus for no reason. All those times that people needed things immediately. But now we're okay with shutting down for two to three weeks? Life is funny.

Also, don't bother going to the grocery stores. They've legit run out of food. People were buying spam, guys. Spam! Cause the virus can't kill you, if spam does it first!

~Mus