As Hinata and Laxus inspected the newly-aired dress, another knock was heard at the door.
"LAXUS OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR! WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"
He sighed, "Oh great, it's my friends." He felt a pang of guilt. Was he even worthy to call them that anymore? He turned to Hinata to apologise for yet another interruption, only to just catch a glimpse of her as she jumped into his closet and slammed the door behind her.
"Hinata...what are you doing?"
"I'm...hiding in your closet?"
"You sure? You don't seem so certain."
"I-I...I just think I'd better stay in here so I don't put you in another a-awkward position."
"By hiding in my closet?" He couldn't help but be a little bit amused by her antics.
"Yes." This time she said it with more determination.
Another knock was heard, a pause, and then continuous banging.
Deciding to leave her to her own devises, he decided to open his door before it got knocked down.
When he did a pink-haired boy literally fell into his appartment and landed flat onto his face.
"Nice going flame-brain."
On the other side of the threshold were Gray, Erza, Lucy and Happy.
"Why haven't you been answering your phone?!" Erza entered the appartment as of she was approaching a battlefield, "Do you have any idea how many times we called, texted and emailed?"
"I've been...a little busy."
"Busy?"
"Come on Laxus, you can do better than that." Gray joked as he pulled Natsu up off the ground.
"Laxus, seriously we were worried about you. You just dissapeared on us!" Lucy said as she helped Gray and Happy with Natsu.
Natsu finally got back on his feet and as always, he had something to say.
"Laxus, how many times do we have to tell you. Fairy tail is family, and family does not make each other worry!" He said as he slammed his hand into the table near the entrance, making a loud bang, then suddenly looked confused.
"Wait!" He whispered, his body frozen as he looked concentrated into the distance.
"What?" Lucy asked, looking around.
"I heard a sound."
"You mean the one you just made by slamming your hand on wood?"
"No it was like a...'eep'."
"'Eep'?"
"Yeah, you know that really cute sound girls in movies make when they get scared or surprised."
"Oh, that 'eep'!"
And then it dawned on Laxus exactly who made that sound. Before he could do or say anything to avert this crisis, Natsu, having an incredible sense of hearing, was already in his bedroom and staring at his closet.
"Dude, I think your closet's alive." Natsu whispered to him.
"Why is there a dress on the bed?" Lucy pondered aloud, starting to slowly put the pieces together.
This is not looking good.
Of course Erza, being Erza, decided to cut to the chase and swing the closet door open forcefully and to everyone's surprise and Laxus' dread, Hyuga Hinata fell out the closet haphazardly like a young bird in flight, landing right in front of the fairy tail gang.
I-I should have just gone out the window!
"Laxus, why are you hiding women in your closet?!"
"And they say I'm a pervert." Gray couldn't help but smirk.
"It's only one woman."
"That doesn't make this any better."
"What if I told you she got in voluntarily?"
"That just raises more questions than it answers!" Lucy scolded him.
"P-please." Hinata said, being helped up by Laxus, " D-don't be mad at Laxus. The whole c-closet thing really was m-my idea."
"You mean you wanted this?" Natsu said surprised and then turned to Laxus, "Dude, what kind of women are you into?"
"Hey, leave Hinata out of this." He said sternly.
"N-no, I hid in there b-because I didn't w-want to put him in an e-embarrassing situation infront of all of you." She looked down embarrassed, "b-but I guess I did that anyway."
"I-I'll give you all some privacy." She just managed to make it out the door when her escape was cut short.
"No, not yet." Erza pulled her back in, much to her dismay. She turned to Laxus, "We know about the contract," Laxus looked away, ashamed,"we also know that you didn't sign it."
"We've asked Makarov to not kick you out."
Laxus looked bewildered, "W-what...Why?"
"Cause you're still family, you Baka!"
"Though we had nothing to worry about - seems like someone had already convinced him to give you a more lenient sentence."
All eyes turned to the blushing girl dressed in Laxus' clothing.
"I-I just told him that m-maybe a harsh punishment may do m-more harm than good."
"Oh, come on, it must have been more than that."
"Spill!"
"Leave her be."
"N-no, it's okay." Hinata took a deep breath-she was not used to such social situations Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint..."When I was younger, I was disowned by my father. I didn't have much confidence and my grades weren't very good, so he thought that if he disowned me it would drive me to become...better." She said with a lack of a better word, "He was wrong. I just didn't want Dreyar-San to make the same mistake."
Lucy looked at her sympathetically, "We're really sorry Hina-"
"What kind of bastard does that?!"
"Natsu, don't say that!"
"Hate to say it but Natsu's right." Gray agreed.
"N-no, it's okay now. Otou-San realised he was wrong and has apologised for it. I-it's all alright."
"Hinata!" Erza - who seemed to not have heard Hinata's last remark - shouted intensely, gripping both her shoulders dramatically, "Hang in there. You will rise victoriously."
"Aye sir!"
Just as Hinata thought she was going to faint, she felt Laxus' two strong hands gripping her shoulders, anchoring her.
"That's enough." He said firmly, "She's had a long night."
His friends blushed and sniggered at the implication.
"I-I-It wasn't l-like that!"
"Not like that you perverts!" They said simultaneously.
"If you say so." Lucy said teasingly. In return Laxus gave her one of most intimidating gazes which, unfortunately for him, she was already immune to.
"He l-l-l-l-likes you." Happy whispered to Hinata, making her blush reder than Erza's hair.
"N-no, it really wasn't like that! Laxus was kind enough to hide me from some...friends."
"Why do you need to hide from friends?"
"That's enough-"
"Did they hurt you?" Erza said, again going into her scary overprotective mode.
She froze. Of course they had, but she had already troubled them with her problems enough, so instead she just smiled and said, "Don't worry, it wasn't that bad, just embarrassing."
In that moment Laxus gave her look as if to say 'as if', something which obviously did not go unnoticed by the fairy tail gang.
"W-what exactly did your friends do?"
"O-oh, w-well..." When they all stared at her intensely and she broke under pressure, "They knew my b-boyfriend was cheating on me..." She began, twiddling her fingers, "...and they said nothing. B-but really it's okay, I feel b-better about-"
"LET ME AT THEM!" They all immediately jumped on Natsu to restrain him, even Laxus.
"Natsu, you know what Gramps said! We can't afford to repay anymore damage!"
"Who the fuck keeps quiet about something like that?" He said desperately trying to escape the blanket of bodies holding him down.
"Natsu-San, please stop." Hinata said gently and he did, "You're v-very kind but they're not worth it. Really."
"They do deserve it though, you've got to be honest."
"The ice-princess is right."
"Oi, I was defending you flame-brain!"
"Hinata!" Erza struck a dramatic pose, "If you ever need to escape, run to Fair Tail - the bar is always open!"
"Aye sir!"
"Truthfully." Lucy told her as she and the bluenette helped everyone up, "you're always welcome."
She felt a hand on her sholder and looked up to the burly blond man who it belonged to. Laxus, obviously a man of few words, simply gave her a determined nod, but afterall that was all that was needed.
Five bottles of rum, an arm-restling competition and a karyoki sing-a-long later, the fairy tail gang had left. Laxus saw them off, only returning back into the flat to his blue-haired guest when he was sure his eyes weren't tearing up anymore - he did have a reputation to maintain afterall.
When he finally did re-enter, he found Hinata staring meaningfully at a picture he had hung up the hallway - one of his gramps and a five-year-old him at the beach. His gramps had his arm around him and both were smiling cheerfully at the camera. From the look in her eyes, he was willing to bet she had one just like it. He moved silently to her side.
"You looked so happy." She said.
"I was - very happy."
"How do you think our lives would have turned out, if you weren't the heir and I wasn't the heiress?"
"I don't know," he told her honestly, "More straight forward? Easier probably."
She nodded in agreement, "I guess sometimes it's just not meant to be."
"Thank you again for driving me to my father's house." She said as he parked out front.
"Not a problem. Here," he said handing her his coat, "You might want to wear this. Your old man would probably have a fit seeing you in that dress."
She blushed as she took it, "B-but you've already done so much."
"So have you."
They gazed at each other, smiling, until both looked away embarrassed.
"I can drop it off at your flat, next week?"
"How about over coffee?"
She blushed, "I-I would like that." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you Laxus, for everything."
When Hiashi answered the door, expecting his delivery of a book he recently ordered, he hadn't expected to come face-to-face with his daughter who was dressed in a mysterious coat that looked two sizes two big and the biggest smile he'd yet to see on her.
"Hinata?"
"Hello, Otou-San! Sorry for making you come let me in, but Neji has my keys so I can't go home yet." She said cheerfully without a single stutter as she entered the house.
"Yes, I heard about that. Apparently you fled and they've been looking desperately for you ever since."
"I ran into a friend and he was kind enough to let me crash at his place." She said, looking distracted by her own thoughts.
"I see," he said, knowing of the reason she ran off.
I never did like that Uzumaki kid.
"This friend of yours, do I know him?"
"You know of him."
"His name?"
"Laxus Dreyar."
"W-what?" Hiashi was genuinely surprised. He knew of the young heir, as did everyone in the business world. He may of been stuck up but he sure knew his way around business strategies. Hinata walked away, still in her own little world. Hiashi knew that look she had, only too well.
Laxus Dreyar, huh? Definitely a better son-in-law than Naruto Uzumaki.
