Hi! This is longer than usual. Please, enjoy. Anyway, Happy Belated New Year!

'Morning,' A voice vibrated in Lucy's neck. She tilted her head and buried her face into Laxus' soft blonde hair, circling her arms around his broad shoulders and squeezed him into her hold tightly. Lucy smiled to herself, grateful to the scene she was in. Not one day has gone by without her waking up beside him, watching his broad chest moving up and down ever so serenely in sync with his small, yet firm breaths, his slightly opened mouth that in some occasions let out a surprising snore, feeling his warmth radiating off of his body with by the way he was holding her so close, like one who treasures dearly; as if she could break any moment.

She just wanted to be like this forever. He's so warm and comfortable. It was nice. His head moved in the crook of her neck, nestled in closer to her, making Lucy scrunched her nose because his hair kept tickling her nose. Lucy popped one eye open, peeking down at Laxus lazy grin against her bare collarbone. His eyes were still closed, and his arms were circling her waist. Lucy smiled to herself, he was just adorable. She shifted and stretched her arms, yawning.

'Morning—oof.' Laxus was suddenly on top of her, trapping Lucy between his arms.

'Well, this is nice.' She said, smiling suggestively while snaking her arms to his neck, bringing his face closer and planting her lips onto his. She could feel his smile as their lips moved together in accordance with their breaths, the feeling of his soft lips surprised her still as it moves teasingly, switching from an innocent chaste kiss, to a deep and passionate kiss. It didn't even occur to her mind for her when to breathe as she had done so naturally as she could feel him exhaling and she, too, followed suit.

Before long, she grasped his hair to deepen their kiss, which Laxus responded by what she assumed to be an approval grunt. They moved their heads together, as if they had telepathically agreed so, carefully not to bump their nose. Lucy was pleasingly enjoying the feel of his lips on her when he abruptly broke off their kiss. Before she could protest, Laxus lips had gone south. Pecking and nibbling her jaw, leaving trails of fire on her skin. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling and almost wanted to play with the fire when she suddenly gasped. He had gone too south.

So, Lucy yanked his hair with so much force, his head couldn't help but got pulled upwards making him stop what he was doing. As rough as it sounded, Lucy had to learn the hard way that this exceptionally full of energy guy won't budge unless he got a kick on a stomach or a yank-until-hair-were-falling or even a not-so-gentle squeeze on where the sun doesn't shine.

The said guy stare at Lucy crossedly, 'owwie.' He whined uncharacteristically while Lucy just stuck out her tongue playfully.

Anyway, after the disastrous celebration at the guild, the joy and party quieted down after a while, giving both Laxus and Lucy a breath of fresh air from the constant booze and parading them as if they're a newlywed couple. It was embarrassing. Natsu came by a couple of times, demanding a duel for, again, "Lucy's innocence" but after the third visit Lucy had had enough and kicked him where the sun doesn't shine. He stopped coming after that.

She did the recent mission for a decent reward a couple days ago and now living rent free… for a month. Things couldn't get any better for her and Laxus, although, she is a exhausted by the guy's unlimited stamina. Seriously, Lucy missed sleeping.

Suddenly, Lucy jolted and squirmed. She half-glared half-giggled at Laxus' head that was happily rubbing against her chest.

'It tickles, you dork!' she scolded, pinching his broad shoulders which, of course had no effects at all.

Laxus grunted against her chest, 'Let me appreciate your boobs, babe. They're so fluffy.' His voice was muffled as he buried his head deeply into Lucy's chest.

'You-!' Lucy couldn't continue her sentences because Laxus swiftly grasped her waist and kissed her passionately. He caught her off guard when his sneaky hands went to her butt and squeezed it playfully making her gasped in surprise.

She could feel him smiling as they kissed as he snuck his tongue in and handled her mouth delicately.

Goddamn this man is going to be the death of me.

Feeling that she couldn't win against his charm and techniques, Lucy sighed and pushed him to break out their kiss. She puffed her cheeks angrily.

'Hey! We literally just slept like a couple of hours ago,' she refused sternly, pinching both of his cheeks.

Hearing that, Laxus pouted and scrunched his nose. He brought up his hands and make a pinching motion with his thumb and index finger. He gave her a big puppy eyes which did not suit him at all but oddly adorable in Lucy's eyes. But she won't give in! they did it all day yesterday and Lucy was dead tired. Sometimes she wonders where the heck did all that stamina came from. So, starting today she won't give in. As she steeled her will, she looked back at his adorable face. Lucy bit her lips at how cute he looks, but she can't give in.

'Fine.' Fuck. I'm such a sucker for cute face. 'I swear to god you're so cheating with that face!' she smacked his shoulder.

'Gotta do what I can for the boobies,' Laxus shrugged innocently and pounced on the celestial mage laying under him.

Lucy snorted but smiled playfully, 'Perverted idiot.' She mumbled before their lips locked onto each other once again.

XXXX

'Breakfast?' said a deep voice, startling Lucy who just got out of the bathroom, still clad in her bathrobe, droplets of water fell from her wet hair strands. She raised an eyebrow and stared at Laxus who was in the kitchen amusedly.

'Oho,' she said as she walked across the room, grabbing her underwear, her voice tinged with humor. That's a tad bit surprising, and worrying, to say the least remembering what happened to her precious pan—well it wasn't really precious, but yeah.

Lucy snickered to herself, smiling mischievously, 'I seemed to remember my poor, poor pan,' she turned around, hands on her hips, looking at Laxus amusedly. She loves teasing the guy, it was worth seeing the red-tinged ears of his and how he pursed his mouth, showing a slight bashfulness. It was all too adorable.

As expected, the guy in question pursed his mouth while his ears tinted pink-ish at the tease, making Lucy grinned in elation.

'Tsk,' he crossed his arms defiantly, 'It's takeouts.'

'and I practiced a lot after that time, too, y'know.' Laxus added with a small voice, avoiding her amused gaze.

Lucy's grin became wider and she laughed while running to Laxus and jumped at his back. She snaked her hands around his neck and hugged him tightly while rubbing her face against his hair. It was soft, almost feather-like, albeit looking like a mess of a bird nest. She rubbed her face some more, enjoying the softness tickling her face. She giggled.

'So adorable, uugh!' Lucy yelped, squeezing Laxus' neck tighter resulting in the latter grunted in discomfort at the sudden pressure. If he'd wanted to, he could fling her petite body to the ground in the blink of an eye, but he'd rather not, duh. He wanted to treasure her, heck if he could, lock her up so no harm could ever befall her—of course, she wouldn't like it though. So he did the next best thing.

With just one arm, Laxus let go of Lucy's hug—chokehold, more like, and swiftly pulled her to the front and grabbed her back while the other arm positioned at the back of her knee. He carried her, bride styled, to the kitchen stool in a flash and sat her down gently, as if a mere pressure could shatter her.

Lucy puffed her cheeks and stabbed two sausages with a fork and stuffed it in her mouth. Laxus snickered at his girlfriend's antics before sitting on the stool beside her. He rested his chin on his palm, he gazed at her and squinted at the sun rise that was gradually shining through the gaps of the window. He could vaguely make out specks of dust scattered around her, strangely, it looked as if she was sparkling under the warm sunlight.

Yes, he's aware that he's so whipped.

He traced his gaze from her face that was brightening up from munching the breakfast, her full lips which were moving in accordance with her jaw in an up and down motion of chewing—he always wondered how her lips stayed soft and rosy coloured even without all the products she used. Was it because he always nipped and bit it everytime they kissed? If so, then he had no objection of doing more of those. Laxus sighed in admiration, he lost count of how many times his heart did a backflip everytime he saw smiles forming on those rosy lips. At this point, might as well come out and dropped the "L" word at her. He had resisted the urge to say it since the end of their date—yes, he had fallen. Hard. He'd came out and say it already if it weren't for her state.

Right now, Lucy is anything but stable. Not that he was calling her crazy, God, it wasnothing like that. It was just that, all of the things that was happening the past week was just nothing but a momentary happiness—a distraction. Of course, it was a given that he was a bit upset that the relationship he was so treasured only acted as a distraction for her, but it was the truth that he had to accept and for the love of God, Laxus wanted nothing more than Lucy's wellbeing and happiness. Seeing as it is, the pillars supporting Lucy's mind was fragile. It could crumble any second because Laxus knew something was still bothering her, something that probably related to Aquarius, heck, every one of her problems probably related to Aquarius. She needed an anchor, but an anchor couldn't work well with its chain threatening to break, is it not?

Even with the days they had spent together with all the laughter and smiles, he would catch her looking distant or just blanked out in the middle of the night, face full of thoughts. He didn't want to be selfish as to drop the "L" bomb at her all of a sudden, adding more of her problems—not that he thought it would be a problem, well he hoped it wouldn't. Granted, it might take her mind off from Aquarius for a short while, but it wouldn't solve anything except for it to pile to be another problem.

Then one thing was sure of what he had to do; what he thought he had to do, to be exact. It was to search for the key and reunite them—Lucy and Aquarius. She would like that, right? As he absentmindedly stabbed a piece of sausage, he thought about the search. He hadn't told this to her, but ever since she told him everything about Aquarius, he had gone through every guild in Magnolia to search for missions or even information of the location of the key. He even dispatched his team, the thunder god tribe, to other towns' guilds just to search for it. It wasn't certain, but he did gain some valuable information that's worth trying. The only question was: how is he going to bring up the subject about Aquarius in the first place?

Laxus scrunched his eyebrows in deep concentration, the food on his plate now was left untouched as he glossed over with his chin on his palm staring intently towards the fork in his hand.

'… to Laxus…' fingers were flicking in front of his eyes, 'Earth to the pretty Laxy,' again, the flicking seemed louder and the voice seemed clearer, but he was too deep in his thought.

Without paying attention to the voice, Laxus sighed, mulling over the way to bring up the subject of Aquarius to her. He didn't realize that the latter—or rather the person beside him that was annoyed and began to position herself closer to him and stationed her lips right beside his ear. She took a deep breath.

'HELLO? ANYBODY HOME?' the yell made Laxus jolted from his deep thought as he reflexively covered both of his ears. Calming down his erratic heartbeat, his eyes twitched in annoyance, slowly turned his gaze to the person beside him.

Laxus pursed his lips, 'Did you just call me pretty?' the realization just came as he tilted his head. That was like a strike at his pride. Laxus? Pretty? Please, he didn't want to brag, but he was like, one of the most eligible, and not to mention hot bachelor in all Fiore according to the Sorcerer's Magazine.

Lucy snorted ungracefully, covering her mouth to suppress the laughter. Her eyes twinkled amusedly. He was, indeed, wasn't pretty. Heck, pretty wouldn't even be the first word that comes to mind when looking at him. If anything, he's sexy. Although, it was a bit embarrassing for Lucy to think about it—let alone say it out loud, it was a given that Laxus, with all of his glory is sexy. Not that any of it matters, she just wanted to tease him.

By the time Lucy had stopped laughing, she peeked at Laxus' face, which was pouting so adorably, and turned her head towards him. Smiling sweetly, she asked,

'So, what were you thinking about?' she blew some hairs out of her face, then turned her attention back to him.

Biting the insides of his mouth, Laxus contemplated of how to bring up the conversation about Aquarius. He can't be too hasty with this as it really posed to be a sensitive subject to her and it wasn't like she told him about her feelings regarding Aquarius from time to time so he didn't really know the stance he should take. Laxus rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, not wanting to delay the reply any longer, but still find it hard to know what to say. Should he just go for it? Should he make small talk first? Like talking about the weather, or the pay—wait, what pay? His mission? well now he doesn't make any sense. He was lost.

Feeling as if the anxieties caught up to him, Laxus burst out the reply without further thoughts, 'Date!' great job, brain. He smacked himself internally. It wasn't even close to bringing up the subject.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, there was no turning back now. Might as well just continue with it. Who knows, maybe there'll be another chance to talk about it. Laxus beamed at the confused Lucy.

'Y'know, I was thinking we should go for a date. Well, I wouldn't say like a date date but like, a walk, yeah, like I really wanted to walk together. Maybe to the park, or to the guild—wait definitely not the guild, um, well the point is—' his ramblings was cut short by the sound of Lucy's giggles.

Well done, you're officially a stuttering idiot. He really wanted to punch himself. Maybe he'd get a grip and stop being so nervous. What the hades hell made him so nervous anyway? Nevermind, it didn't really matter as he could just "casually" bring the topic up on their walk. Yes, he can do this. He was a smooth talker, no, he still is a smooth talker.

Anyway, Lucy was giggling. Laxus stare at her baffled by the overjoyed giggling, it looked like she was enjoying his stuttering show way too much. It wasn't long until her adorable giggles turned into a full-blown laugh, making her clutch her stomach as the laughs got harder.

'Sor-' She snorted, making Laxus rolled his eyes, 'Sorry, sorry,' She exhaled, wiping the tear that escaped from her eyes.

Lucy jumped from the stool and reached out both her hands to Laxus' cheek. Too bad, his reflexes proved to be disabled when he was around her as she managed to land yet another one of her pinches, a very brutal pinch, to be exact and not to forget the 'So adorable!' exclamation leaving his poor, poor cheek stinging for the next 5 minutes.

Putting her hands behind her back, Lucy looked up, staring at Laxus' eyes. Again, she smiled happily, making Laxus heart do a bunch of flips.

''Kay! Lemme change real quick,' she beamed before running off to her bedroom to change her clothes into something comfortable.

Not later than 10 minutes, they were already outside, walking throughout the pavements leading to the big cathedral at the center of the town. Instinctively, they wordlessly agreed on avoiding the path which might leads to the guild, or any of the members' hangout place. Both of them would like a very peaceful morning. Laxus was walking not too far behind Lucy who was skipping happily with hands inside the pockets of her hoodie, he watched as Lucy's expression changed to contentment when a gush of wind hits her face gently, blowing her hair out of her face. It was so surreal of how she looked more and more like an angel, as if she was ready to burst her wings and fly off, embracing her freedom.

With hesitation in each step, Laxus was getting more and more anxious as to how he was going to talk to her. Of course, his restlessness didn't go unnoticed as Lucy suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned her head towards him. She chuckled and gave him a knowing smirk.

'So, what's got your panties in a twist?' She chortled at her own choice of word, because of the thing she learned about Laxus recently which was; Laxus really loves spots patterned underwear, spots as in like the spots on cheetahs, what was it called, Lucy didn't really know. Anyway, it was hilarious seeing him in it. Not that it didn't suit him, on the contrary, the patterned underwear suited him too much it was scary.

Laxus, who was too jittery to notice the humor in her voice flinched, he wasn't ready for this. Fuck smooth talker, he didn't have any preparation for this.

'Oh! You noticed, didn't you? Haha. Yeah… Um- So…' He stammered, trying to find the right words. Anyone could practically see the gears overworking in his brain.

Lucy tilted her body to the side and pushed her face forward so that he was face to face with her as if coaxing him to tell her.

'C'mon, spit it out. What is it?'

'Uh…' he contemplated, 'Actually, I have an interesting news for you.' He paused, Laxus decided to not bring up the subject head on and instead he chose another way by mentioning a related mission, in hope that he won't came across too aggressive.

'The other day, I came across this mission at the other guild, it was an S-class and the members said that nobody could complete the mission. Well, you see, at first I didn't so much as glance at it because the rewards weren't interesting…' he stole a glanced at Lucy's expression to see that she was carefully paying attention.

'But then I heard one of the members talked about why the mission was tough despite the simple request. The person was the one that recently failed that mission, he said that he was able to complete all of the stages to the request but something was weird. He said that an unknown being was preventing him to go to a certain place—which was required for him to pass through,' Laxus paused again and took a deep breath. He will drop the bomb.

'The strange thing was, that "being" kept muttering to stay away from that place. He claimed that, it looked as if that "being" was protecting something because it kept pacing on the same spot. The guy was very curious and he tried to take a look at what was behind or what was that thing was trying to protect. He didn't get very far though because the thing instantly rushed and tried to attack him, but he did see something for a second when the thing advanced towards him.'

Again, Laxus glanced at Lucy to try to figure out what was she thinking by observing her expression. So far, no drastic changes on her expression, it seemed as if she hadn't realized where this conversation was going.

Fidgeting his finger, he continued, 'What he saw a key, Lucy. A gold key.'

There. He dropped the bomb. Laxus continued to play with his fingers nervously, all the time he told the story, he didn't dare to look at Lucy's face for more than 5 seconds. So, he was hesitating on whether to look up and see what kind of face she was making. He was scared. Will she be elated? Surprised? Sad? There was just one way to know.

He slowly moved his head, he shut his eyes tightly before staring at her face. Laxus gasped. What he saw truly wasn't what he expected. Lucy's face was void of all emotion. Her face was blank, and dare he say, she really looked like a shell of a person. Gone was the contentment in her eyes earlier, the only thing left was just blank eyes that only knows how to blink.

Laxus instantly filled with dread. What should he do?

Lucy blinked one more time before finally said something.

'Oh..' she smiled, but it felt forced. 'Really?'

'Yeah,' Laxus scratched his head nervously, he felt like making a huge mistake, but he couldn't just stop talking about it now. Maybe, maybe if he proposed the idea to take the mission, she might feel better? After all, it's him, there was no way they would fail the mission.

'So? Isn't it a sign to go? I say we try it, what do you think?' he looked at expectantly, but the expressionless face didn't change.

Something clicked inside Lucy and she suddenly stare at Laxus' eyes.

'Um. No.' She replied curtly, her voice was small.

Laxus blinked. 'What?'

'I won't go.' She whispered, 'I won't go.' She repeated in a louder voice, it was so close to break.

There was a pause before Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and gritted her teeth.

'I'm done.'

Laxus frowned and looked at her incredously.

'What do you mean you're done?' he demanded, much harsher than he thought.

Lucy looked at him disapprovingly and sighed, 'I don't want to talk about this anymore, Laxus.' She began to turn away but was stopped by Laxus who grasped her shoulder.

'Huh? Why? Think about it, that Yukino girl has two and you have nine now, so it couldn't have been any other key. There was no mistaking it, Lucy. It's gotta be—'

'Shut up! I said I won't go.' She yelled, making him flinched. He didn't understand. Why? Why?

Both of them could feel the tension skyrocketed after Lucy's yell and Laxus was too bewildered to stop pursuing the subject. Just what made her act this way? It almost seemed like she was giving up—no, it seemed as if she already gave up and no matter how much he loves her, this wasn't right. You don't abandon family. He knew that much.

'But why?' he insisted. He wasn't gonna let this matter go any time soon.

'Just—ugh! I said I'm done! Don't you get it?' her expression was exasperated.

Thankfully, the street they were on was quiet in the mornings because their conversation just took a turn for the worst as they were beginning to yell at each other and neither showed any signs of backing down.

'Oh, so you didn't care about finding her anymore?' He knew that was a low blow, but he was too frustrated with her answer.

Lucy went quiet, her face was bewildered, he could feel the shock and fury from her. She was seething after hearing him say that.

'Don't put words in my mouth.' She hissed.

But Laxus was too in his insinuation too care, 'I thought you guys were close, I thought you were family.' The words couldn't stop. He couldn't help it. Families are sensitive for him, especially abandoning families. He done that and he hated it. He didn't want Lucy to feel the regret that he felt. It was agonizing, every night it came clawing at your heart, Laxus was lucky that everyone at the guild forgave him and the fact that they were still there. But there was no telling it with Aquarius, right? Who knows when someone might found it.

Laxus didn't want Lucy hurt, so he had to do this. He had to say those mean things in order to get Lucy back on track for her search of Aquarius.

Please, Lucy.

But Lucy couldn't see the motives behind Laxus words. She was too furious with him.

'It's none of your business. Can you stop it?' she stopped yelling, but her tone was worst. It was colder than Laxus could've imagine.

Lucy stare at him indifferently, but he could still feel her seething with anger.

'You know what? Just—don't. Don't come see me for now. We barely knew each other anyway, let's stop this.' She spat.

With that, Lucy turned the other way and walked away. Laxus world came crashing down at him, he was at loss for words and could only glare at the ground.

This isn't supposed to happen.