Earrings and Ink

Summary: Cana tags along when Laxus goes to get his first tattoo and winds up getting one of her own in addition to a pair of ear piercings. Gildarts doesn't take it that well.

Disclaimer: I don't own

AN: These don't match my opinions on ear piercing or tattoos, I just wanted to play around with this concept and how an overprotective dad might react to her making-to him- some drastic changes to her body, one of which he had already specifically told her she couldn't get.

"So, are you going to tell me the real reason you wanted to come with me?" Laxus asked, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

Cana pouted up at him," Can't I just want to come along for moral support?"

He snorted," Pull the other one."

"… I want to mock you if you act like a wuss?"

"Not buying it short stuff."

At the lightning users unimpressed stare Cana decided to come clean," This place also does piercings- I've been wanting to get my ears pierced for a while, but Dad said no and I need a legal adult."

The blonde snorted again, so he was just an excuse that doubled as a scapegoat. "As long as Gildarts doesn't take it out of my hide I don't care what body part you put holes in."

That said the two continued the walk in silence until they came to the tattoo shop where Laxus had booked an appointment.

The front desk was being manned by a bored looking green haired girl with tattoos covering every visible part of her body except for her face. The girl looked up at them, loudly snapping her gum, before asking," Appointment or walk-in?"

"Appointment for me, walk-in piercing for her." Laxus answered.

The girl nodded and then yelled," LOU YOUR ELEVEN IS HERE! LACEY, WE GOT A WALK IN FOR YOU!"

Must be a slow day if she immediately knew who Laxus was here to see without asking his name.

In response to the yell, two people came out from the back of the shop. A surprisingly normal-looking girl, whose blue hair had an intricate design shaved in and a girl with pink hair, with metal bars and studs in every orifice of her face.

The bluenette stepped forward and offered her hand to Laxus," Hi! I'm Lou, and I'll be your artist today. Follow me and we can get started."

As Laxus followed her back he heard the pink-haired girl say," Judging by the looks of you, you're here to make your parents mad- you've come to the right place sweetie."

Maybe letting her come wasn't such a good idea after all…

oOOOOo

The tattooing itself hurt but wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of people had made it sound. Then again, he did have a pretty high pain tolerance…

His artist was chattering nonstop as she worked on the massive outline of the tribal piece he'd picked. "- don't worry about the girl. Lacey won't let things get too out of hand."

He snorted. "As long as I'm not the one her dad blames I really don't care. Cana's old enough to to decide if she wants earrings- not like I could have talked her out of it even if I tried."

As if on cue, Cana bounced out of the separate room the shop reserved for piercings, a beaming smile on her face.

"How do they look?" She asked happily, showing off the small silver stud in each earlobe.

"They look great." He said honestly, smiling at his surrogate cousin who seemed to be radiating joy. "Tell you what- I'll pay for them. Call it an early birthday present."

Cana's purple eyes widened in surprise," Really?"

"Really." He repeated.

"Actually- if you wouldn't mind being a guinea pig sweetie, we might be able to give you those for free." His artist interjected, stopping tattooing to face Cana. "Lacey is my apprentice and she's not quite ready to actually tattoo someone, but would you be opposed to letting her freehand something on you? It would be a temporary piece of course."

The brunette blinked in surprise, pondering the offer for a moment, looking at Laxus in a silent ask for permission.

The blonde just looked at her and shrugged," It's your body- I can't tell you what to do with it."

Cana mulled that over for a minute, before nodding," If it's just temporary, I'd be totally fine with that."

So, while Laxus spent the next five hours continuously getting stabbed with a needle, Cana sat right next to him getting an intricate ballerina drawn onto her right arm.

Lacey may not be ready to actually tattoo anything, but she was certainly an incredible artist.

The only thing Laxus was worried about was that the two of them got along like a house on fire- he may have just helped create an unholy duo. He was pretty sure the brunette would be hanging around the shop a lot from now on.

But when everything was said and done, both of them had great works of art and Laxus couldn't complain about not having to pay for Cana's earrings.

"-this is so cool! It just looks so real!" Now if only he could get Cana to stop talking about tattoos and how cool Lacey was.

oOOOOo

It hadn't been that interesting of a day for Gildarts. He had just gone over some S-class paperwork with Master, reviewed upcoming jobs, and had his fill of alcohol.

His darling little princess had taken a short job that morning- reading an old lady's fortune across town. As much as he hated the idea of his little princess taking jobs at all, he had to respect that she was growing up and needed some freedom in order to do so.

That didn't mean he didn't discretely tag along from time to time just to make sure that everything was alright. But Cana was a strong and capable young woman, all that he'd ever wound up doing was feel proud as he watched her handle things herself- she was turning out just fine.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the sounds of a commotion in the main hall. From the sound of it Laxus was back. Gildarts vaguely remembered the boy mentioning that he had been planning to get a tattoo earlier that morning.

Sounded like everyone else remembered that too.

"-come on Laxus- what did you get?"

"Did it hurt?"

"How much did it cost?"

"Oh, shut up! Why are you guys pestering me? Cana got one too- why don't you go bother her?"

The Ace spat his mouthful of beer across the table. His eyes popping out of their sockets as he choked for breath. His- his baby had gotten-?!

He zoomed down the stairs at speeds he hadn't known he was capable of going, only to see that his darling little princess' delicate shoulder was indeed covered in black ink.

This was it, some part of his shell-shocked brain thought, his sweet little angel had become a delinquent.

"D-Dad?!" His baby asked in alarm as he pulled her toward him without warning and began inspecting the offensive black design.

It… okay it was objectively quite beautiful. A black, stylized dancer illustrated like an old pen and ink drawing- it suited her very well, but that wasn't the point!

"Sweetheart- don't worry we can deal with this. There are plenty of places where we can get this- this blemish removed. But why- Princess why would you do this to yourself?!" He was rambling, mind still stuck on the fact that she and Laxus had- wait.

The crash mage suddenly remembered exactly who had been with his baby and let her do this to herself.

"Dreyar!" He snarled like a feral dog, pulling his angel into his side to better protect her from the older boy's obviously poisonous influence. "How dare you let her do this! What the fuck kind of shop- "

"Dad."

"-should tear your goddamn throat out- "

"Dad."

"-never, ever going to let you anywhere near my little girl again- "

"DAD!" Cana yelled irritably," It's fake!" She growled, forcefully shoving at him to get him to back off a bit.

That made his brain blank for a moment as he blinked in confusion," Huh?"

"It's not a real tattoo." She said irritably, eye twitching," Laxus' tattoo artist asked if I would mind letting her apprentice freehand something on me in temporary ink. Since Lacey had already finished my ears, I figured why not."

"Finished your- "Gildarts started in confusion, before he suddenly noticed the metal poking holes in his baby's ears. "Your ears! Oh, baby why would you do this to yourself?!" He wailed.

Cana folded her arms and looked her father right in the eye," Because it's my body and I can decide what I do with it." She said firmly, making Gildarts sputter as he tried to find an appropriate argument to that.

"That's- you- young lady you are way too young to be putting holes in your body like this!" He said frantically," Is this- is this some kind of cry for attention? Baby- Daddy loves you so much and there are better ways to get my attention than- than mutilating yourself!"

Cana once again tried to push her father off of her," I just thought they'd look pretty!" She snapped.

"But- Sweetheart if these get infected- "

"I got aftercare instructions from Lacey and everything I need to clean them properly!" Cana growled, totally done with this conversation.

"But- " This was some kind of cry for help, and all the books said he should set firm boundaries… did he punish her? He'd never had to do that before…

"Home. Now." He said firmly, he had to nip this in the bud right now.

Cana blinked in confusion," What?" She asked completely lost as her father began herding her out of the guildhall.

"You're grounded young lady." Sure, the earrings themselves were innocent enough. But first it was the ears, then it was the nose and the lips, and the eyebrows and that tattoo might be fake now, but the next one might not be!

He could kill Laxus for his part in this later, right now he had to figure out how to keep Cana from becoming a juvenile delinquent.

oOOOOo

As soon as they had gotten home Cana immediately ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door so hard the whole house shook.

Dinner that night was totally silent, the only sounds being their forks as they scraped across the plate. Just as they were finishing up, Gildarts decided to address the elephant in the room.

"Cana- I'm sorry I made a scene in front of everybody, but between the tattoo and the ears I think your punishment is warranted. I told you that you couldn't get your ears pierced and you did it anyway."

The brunette fidgeted for a moment, before quietly saying," … I thought they looked pretty. Mama always had pretty earrings on, I wanted to look like that too."

And suddenly Gildarts felt like the biggest ass on the planet. "Oh Sweetheart." He got up and pulled her into a hug. His little girl wanted to be more like her mother. "I know you miss her a lot, I do too, but when I said you couldn't get your ears pierced that meant you couldn't do it. It's your body, I understand that, but when I told you no, I meant it. Do you understand?"

"…yes." She said glumly, "I'm sorry."

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead, gently grasping her chin and tilting her head up. "They look beautiful sweetheart." He said honestly.

She lit up like a Christmas tree and hugged him back.

"…Does this mean I'm not grounded anymore?"

"Nope. Still grounded."

"But- "

"No."

AN: I know Cana's ears aren't actually pierced in the anime or the manga (not that I could find at any rate), I just liked this concept. Please tell me what you think! Gildarts isn't a bad dad, he's not perfect but he does his best. Did he really overreact- yes. But it was more because he just wants whats best for her and is a little unsure how to do it. I've been playing around with having him actually parent her, because the fluff is all well and good but I feel like i may not be giving him enough substance.