Chapter 11: I was somewhere in the vicinity of being somewhat fond of him

Chapter Summary: Nor and Laxus share a moment while traveling to discuss the future. Sort of.

*Nor*

"So, who taught you all this hunting and gathering and self-defense stuff?" Laxus asked one day as we were walking.

We were still in Bosco, having been traveling together for about two weeks. Traveling with Laxus wasn't…as bad as I thought it would be. Although I would never tell him that. He had a big enough head as it was, I didn't want to add any fuel to that fire by admitting I was somewhere in the vicinity of being somewhat fond of him.

He was…kinder than I expected him to be. I don't know what I expected him to actually be like, honestly – other than tall, blond and grumpy. He still had his moments, but he was far less grumpy than his face would otherwise suggest.

"My father. We lived on a small farm on the outskirts of a village."

"A farm, huh? Wouldn't have pegged you for a farm girl."

"No?"

"Doesn't seem…quite as exciting a life as I'd imagine you'd have."

"Exciting is not the life I'm looking for, Sparklefists." I watched Laxus raise an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to continue. "I'd be happy with a quiet house in the woods somewhere."

I saw him give me the strangest look, and it felt like he couldn't believe I said what I said.

"Y'alright over there, Sparklefists?"

"Laxus."

"Whatever."

"Yeah, it's – nothing. Don't worry about it. Tell me about this quiet house in the woods of yours."

"I haven't really had a chance to daydream while constantly trying to outrun various pursuers."

"Spitball."

"Oh, hm." I noticed he was watching me pretty intently. "Well, the house I grew up in, it wasn't huge, but it was made out of stone, and had a big fireplace where we did most of our cooking, and I had my own room, with my own bed."

"Made out of stone, hmm? Is that a Kitten 'must have'?"

I didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, when buying or building a house, it's a feature that you absolutely want to have in that house."

"Oh." I paused. "At this point, I'd settle for anything that's safe and dry."

I heard Sparklefists sigh next to me, and it wasn't a sigh of irritation. It felt more like a sigh of sympathy. It felt like I was having to eat my imaginary unspoken words more and more frequently – my pre-conceived ideas about him were turning out to be mostly untrue. I'd honestly thought he'd turn out to be a right bastard – he just had this look about him that shouted 'fuck with me and I will ruin your afternoon/evening/rest of your life' – but…he wasn't. I think he was pushing himself, because he was definitely trying to push past his awkward as fuck outer shell. It was kind of sweet. I could tell he was trying really hard, and prolonged social interactions were not his forte.

*Laxus*

It was not nothing. What Kitten was describing. It was not nothing. Without knowing it (how could she, she'd never been there) she was describing my house. Hadn't been there in a while for obvious reasons, but years ago on a whim, I'd bought an old stone house in the woods, a little way from Porlyusica's house. It'd been a steal, mainly because it was mostly falling down, but over the years I'd been fixing it up. I'd added on to it, making the main floor more than double the original size, and adding a second floor. I'd done most of the work myself, as hard as that was to believe.

After I'd been expelled from the guild, but before Gildarts had reinstated my membership, I'd spent a lot of time working on the house. It helped me work through…everything…that had happened. Everything I'd done. It was good, though. It gave me a purpose. But, at the time, I didn't really know what that purpose was, just that I needed to build it.

But I think I know what that purpose was, now. Looking at Nor, as crazy as it sounds – I built that house for her. I'd added extra bedrooms, thinking I'd use them for guests, but now, my mind kept wandering to…children. My children. Our children.

It was crazy. I'd never even thought about having children. Me? Have children? A couple years ago, I would have thought it was a joke. I'd had a lot of time to think about it recently, though. And…yeah. That life – with her – the thought of that life was suddenly very compelling.

But settling down had never been in my plan. The thought of being tied to one woman for the rest of my life was laughable, or at least it had been. And then I met Kitten. I'd heard Natsu and Gajeel talk about mates before – I'd sat with them, when they described what it felt like, or in both their cases what they were told it was supposed to feel like. And I'd just laughed, assuming that would never happen for me because I wasn't a first-generation Dragon Slayer.