A well deserved break from all the smut!

Enjoy!

Mirajane was gorgeous, the embodiment of classy. There she was in light makeup, carrying herself like a queen, and eating plant-based. She was the only woman in my life that had to dress as if she had just stepped off the cover of Vogue every day. Even how she tilted her head at the other girls sitting around the dining room table looked elegant. The girls all stared at each other with matching looks of amusement. I can sense them sizing her up from where I stood in the hallway. They look sexy as hell in their tight shorts and midriff, barring tops, but having someone like Mirajane looking you up and down had to have been a bit intimidating.

Lucy ushered her to take a seat at the table and hurried to fix her a plate (fruit with a bit of stevia sprinkled on top). When the other girls got their plates fixed, and Lucy placed mine firmly in my hand, I took a seat next to Juvia, right across from my girlfriend.

"So, what was the problem you needed help with?" Mira asks Lucy as she takes a bite of a strawberry.

"Just boy issues," Lucy says quickly like it wasn't a big deal. I wonder if she lies this easily or if she already had a story planned before Mira showed up.

"You know," Mira says softly, "you can always talk to me, Lucy. I would be willing to help too." This was also the kind of person Mirajane was. She was kind, considerate, and loved people. Everyone either loved her or was jealous of her. Her personality was top-notch, better than most girls I had ever dealt with. Mira was an angel to the public, but don't get me wrong, this bitch was crazy. I caught firsthand what she kept hidden from the public eye as her boyfriend.

Lucy gives Mira a dead look, making the other woman's face flash with confusion. "Yeah, I can't trust your judgment," Lucy says with a smirk. "You picked my brother." Mira starts to stammer out an answer while the rest of us burst into laughter. "Just kidding, Mirajane," Lucy says, touching her arm. "Thank you; I'll keep that in mind."

After a breakfast mainly engulfed in awkward silence, Lucy perked up and set her fork down, drawing the attention back to her. "We're going shopping so you two can talk," Lucy says with a bit of a rush in her tone. She gets up and starts to clear the table. Erza, Cana, Juvia, and Levy join her in the kitchen. It took them absolutely no time to fill the dishwasher and put the rest of the food away. When they surfaced back into the dining room, they said their goodbyes. I should have been wary of them being so quick to leave, but I didn't have the energy to pull apart my sister's schemes, let alone four other women.

Lucy slides over to my side of the dining table, slipping her arms around my shoulders in a quick hug. "See you later," she chirps, kissing me on the cheek. "Bye, Mira," she gives Mirajane a smile and waves before shuffling out the door. The other girls follow suit, saying goodbye, kissing me on the cheek, and running out the door before Mira could say anything about the overly touchy group.

Mira looks over to me with a slight raise of her eyebrow. "An affectionate bunch," she says slowly once they've left. I nearly choked on my orange juice as the previous night flashed in my head. She had no clue just how 'affectionate' those women were.

"Apparently," I answer. A little more utterly batshit but affectionate would do. We sat in what seemed like an eternity of silence as she forked and slid her pieces of fruit around the plate. Finally, Mira drew enough courage to look me in the eye.

"I don't want to fight, Laxus," she says, reaching for my hand.

"Me too," I answer honestly. The truth was, I loved my girlfriend. I guess messing around with my sister and her friends the previous night wasn't really evident, but in all honesty, Mirajane wasn't a horrible girlfriend. When times were good, times were really great, and if I were to think long term, there should be no reason not to marry her. "But we seem to do it a lot," I said slowly. It could have been over something as simple as us agreeing if the sky was blue or not. We bickered like an old married couple who hated looking at each other's wrinkly bodies. The sad but funny part was that I couldn't even remember what we were fighting about-

"About Elfman," Mira says. Oh yeah, that was what this was about; her unruly and deranged brother. This man stood six-foot-five, the same height as me, and still looked me up and down like I was a mouse beneath his foot. He gave me the ugliest of snarls and one of the dirtiest looks I had ever seen. He even cracked a joke about my job. I wasn't exactly proud that I worked at a stale chicken chain; I was just happy I was putting some kind of money in my pocket. I was working towards an electrical engineering degree, nearly done, and he had the nerve to sit on his ass and talk about my part-time job. So, of course, I defended myself, which amped up a fight. I wasn't expecting Mira to be exactly happy were nearly about to fistfight, but I also wasn't expecting her to take sides either. She immediately defended her brother and wholly ignored how he offended me.

On top of that, we had been dating since our first year of high school, and I only found out the day before that she had never told her family about me. "I understand he was a little out of pocket, but that doesn't warrant for you to go and entertain his pokes and start a fight." I rolled my eyes. Because me defending myself was "picking a fight." This was why we had problems to begin with. Mira never saw her wrongs. I could admit later on, after things had cooled down, that I had been in the wrong. Whenever Mira and I fought, I was constantly apologizing on her behalf just so we could make up and fuck. I didn't like fighting with Mira, but I also wasn't a fan of kissing her ass either. Yet again, I was inclined just to push the situation away like it didn't happen.

When I didn't say anything, Mirajane looked up to me with her signature doe-eyes. "I wished you had come to see me last night," she says in her best purr-like voice. There she goes, using her sex appeal to get out of shit. This was Mirajane's best and most efficient strategy, and she knew that.

"Mira," I take her hand and press a soft kiss to its face. "I know what you're doing, and I'm not falling for it, even though you know damn well I do." She perched herself towards me, pushing out her ample chest, nearly busting out of her shirt. She leaned in closer to me and stared deeper into my eyes.

"You don't want to, Laxus?"

"You know I do. You look gorgeous right now; I couldn't help staring at you from across the table."

"Thank you," Mirajane blushes, "I try." She gives me one of her most seductive looks. "Can we take this to your bedroom?" I wasn't sure if it was what happened the previous night or the fact that I had grown tired of this routine treatment from Mira, but I didn't want her. Not at that moment. And I really just wanted time away from her.

"No, not this time," I respond, not really aware of what I'm saying until it comes out of my mouth. Well, here goes nothing. I struggle to figure out how to put her down gently. The last thing I needed right now was another fight before work. "I can never think straight when I'm in bed with you," I tell her and see a look of confusion on her face. "But honestly, outside of the bedroom, we don't have much in common. We spend sixty percent of our time fighting and forty percent making up."

"What do you mean we don't have anything in common?" she pulls back, ready for a fight. "Laxus-" Before she could start, I stopped her.

"I'm not in the mood to go back and forward with you right now. And in all honesty, I'm still upset you haven't told your family about me." Mira seemed to break under my words, and she sunk, defeated, into her chair. "We just need a break." I finally say.

Mira keeps her head turned away from me and plays with her hands. For a while, I thought we were just going to fight again, but Mira slowly stood and grabbed her purse from the side of the chair. "Okay," She says softly. "We can talk when you get home from work." I opened my mouth to let her know that I was serious about taking a break, but she had already started for the door. "I'll call you later." And then the door shut right behind her.

"Welcome to Taurus Chicken, home of the zodiac chicken, most clucking-ist chicken in the galaxy. What celestial combo can I get for you today?" I glared down at the brown eyes of my ever so dear sister, Lucy. Then I peered over to the cell phone camera Cana held in her hands and braced myself against the flash. I glared harder at Lucy as she grinned right back at me, mischief gleaming in her earthy eyes.

"Well, hello there, Mr. Taurus Chicken!" She said with a chuckle, "We have come to order chicken so juicy it's out of this world!" I shuffled my glare over to the other four girls, all equally amused to see me out of my element with a piece of sparkling chicken dangling from the hat on my head. I bet it was just golden, watching me squirm uncomfortably at the hyper-entertained bunch of women while Cana's phone flashed every time she took a Snapchat video.

"Then go through the drive-through," I instantly shot back. Lucy only gave me a fake pout and tucked her arms under her chest.

"But we wanted to eat inside. Surly, we aren't bothering you by ordering our food right here at the front counter!"

"You are. Go away."

Lucy contorted her face into a nasty scowl. "This is how you're going to treat me after giving you a quality breakfast and quality time with your super hot girlfriend? Remind me to never do any favors for the scorn and ugly." That was enough to get my nose flaring in anger. It only dawned on me again that this was Lucy's fault. She told Mira to come over. Even though I was irritable because I called an unnecessary break in my relationship, I was also peeved because I wouldn't have done it if Lucy's meddling hadn't urged Mira to show up in the first place. Maybe if I had time to brew over our fight, I wouldn't have taken my frustration out on my girlfriend. It also probably didn't help that the previous night's events may have impacted my decision-making.

I gave Lucy a stern look and pushed a coupon towards her. "Take this damn coupon, shove it up your ass, and then piss off. I have no desire to talk to you right now."

"LAXUS!" We all turn to the left side of the restaurant to see my manager standing by the entrance into the kitchen, openly gaping at us. He stomped over, blinking ferociously and looking completely appalled at my customer service. "Laxus! Please, this is still a place of business reframe from using profanity in front of the customers!"

I huffed and threw my arms over my chest. "Justine, his is my sister; I can cuss her out all I want."

"I have no idea what this man is talking about!" Lucy sighed dramatically, "I only came to get some of your world-famous chicken and this employee here started openly disgracing me in front of my girlfriends! Oh, how I should go on Yelp and write a detailed complaint!"

An utter look of horror washed over Freed's face as he stuttered a response back to Lucy. I just roll my eyes. "She's bullshitting. This is my sister, and don't worry; she's about to g-"

Within seconds Freed was around the cash counter and had his hands clamped around Lucy's. "Ma'am, here at Taurus Chicken, there is nothing we value more than the opinion of a loyal customer! We are one with the galactic forces of chicken! We are united and in compliance with the law of the ZCCSA, the Zodiac Chicken Customer Service Act, which states no Taurus Chicken customer shall ever feel the cold breeze of an employee or succumb to mediocre hospitality. I can assure you, miss, that Laxus was thoroughly trained and guided under such regulations and policies. With careful and full evaluation, we will review his attitude and take the proper actions based on our findings. I can most definitely assure you that a matter this ludicrous will never happen again at your time here at Taurus Chicken!" When he was done spewing his nonsensical rant, Lucy's face turned up into the ugliest grin.

"Oh my god. He is so cute!" She exclaimed, turning back to the other girls as they gushed over how adorable and dedicated Freed was.

I looked over to my boss, shocked by the response. "Mr. Justine, this is my sister, Lucy. Lucy, this is my boss, Mr. Justine." When Lucy looked back over at us, she smiled brightly.

"Well, hello, Mr. Justine! Nice to meet you." Freed's face tented in a deeply colored crimson blush and received Lucy's hand in a firm shake.

"Yes, but please just call me Freed." He took in a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes, Erza had walked up and leaned in, studying his face. He blushed harder, scrambling back away from such a forward woman.

"Oh my gosh, your lashes are so long!" Erza gushed. Cana's head popped out from behind her as she did a once over on the man.

"You almost look like a girl. I bet you get compliments all the time on how gorgeous you are!" Cana added.

Freed stumbled over her words. "G-gorgeous!?" He shuddered when Juvia's hand snaked out beside him and tugged on his long green locks.

"Such glorious hair; Juvia would like to know what kind of hair conditioner you use."

Freed gently tugged his hair away, "Any generic brand will do," This was too hilarious. I chuckled as the girls bombarded my boss with compliments and played with random parts of his body. They were touching his skin, dragging their hands through his hair, or squeezing his arms. Freed looked as if he was going to burst from all the attention, his face never changing shades of maroon as the girls made work of touching every inch of him.

I turned around when I heard footsteps sounding from behind me. The Taurus Chicken cook walked up with his apron thrown over his shoulder, watching the scene with a petty smirk. "What's up with boss? Who's all those fine ass ladies on him?"

"My sister and her friends." I glanced back over to the ladies just as Levy took a massive waft of Freed's hair. "I think they like him." Bickslow raised an eyebrow watching Erza pull up Freed's shirt sleeve and run a finger along his skin.

"I'd give my left nut for that brunette right there," I glance at Cana. Fitting.

"She's definitely your type."

"The right nut for the redhead."

"Not your usual, but I can see why."

"Which one you screw already?" I flinched, hoping my little hiccup went unnoticed. But of course, Bickslow caught it. He laughed and gave me a funny look. "Which one? Spill."

"I'm not telling you shit." I pull off my hat and place it on the counter before stalking off towards the back door. "I'm taking my first fifteen."

I sat outside for maybe five minutes before Lucy came tugging around the corner with a single drumstick fisted in her perfectly manicured hand. "Yo!" She called out to me. "You over here sulking?" I groan in response and throw my head back. What do I have to give to get this sibling of mine to leave me alone? I threw the bud of my cigarette down on the ground and sent her a glare.

"Didn't I tell you to fuck off?" Lucy hummed at this before taking a seat beside me on the curb.

"Yeah, but I think I know better than anyone to ignore your grouchy outbursts." Except this wasn't an outburst, and I was grouchy. "What happened with Mira?"

"You should know since you planned it." I snapped back. It was Lucy's turn to frown.

"I never planned for you to break up with her, you know. Not everything I do is a grand scheme." Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "She called me, crying her eyes out after you called a 'break.' Look, if you can't handle the shi-"

"She's too good for me." Lucy paused. A burst of wind was the only sound engulfing us as Lucy dropped her arms and turned away from me.

"Yeah," She said, "She is." I snort.

"Gee, thanks, sis."

"Just a suggestion, but maybe don't call a break after a dumbass argument. Just work your problems out like adults if you want to keep her around." Lucy sighed, leaning back on her palms and looking out into the parking lot. "I'm only assuming it was a dumb argument from how hurt she was. Sounded like she wasn't expecting you to snap like that." What the hell had Mira told her? Just like the queen of manipulation to make it all my fault, even when it's all my fault.

"It wasn't dumb," I grumble, "I'm pretty hurt from everything." Lucy seemed unbothered by this revelation.

"Well, whatever, It's not my relationship." She stood then and turned back to look at me. "You know, the other girls now know you're essentially single and want dibs."

"I'm not single; I'm still with Mira."

"Don't try acting like a committed boyfriend now, stud." Lucy gave me a devious smirk. "You've got unfinished business with the LGP Brigade. "

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"Lucy's Gal-Pal brigade."

"Don't go telling that to other people. You're lucky I'm your brother, so I'm not going to judge you for it. Out loud." Lucy cringed.

"Anyway," She restarted, "You've got trouble on your hands." Lucy tucked her arms behind her back and grinned at me. "And. I'm. Not. Helping~"

I stood up and brushed my pants off before lowering my gaze down to her. "Trust me; you've done enough. I'll talk to the other ladies before you leave and make everything clear." I started for the door, but Lucy quickly snatched my shirt and pulled me back.

"Wait! Just do it whenever you get home tonight." I cranked an eyebrow at her.

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing…" Liar. But since I was interested in whatever she had going, I pretended to believe her.

"Fine, I'll talk with everyone when I get home. Just no more dirty schemes." Lucy smiled again and let my shirt go before turning herself for the front door.

"Alright, deal!"

Lucy was dead to me.

The moment I opened the front door to my parent's house, I was ready to choke the lies out of her mouth. There was Mira sitting in the middle of the room, chatting with the other ladies, and Lucy was nowhere to be found. I groan when everyone else in the room turns their eyes onto me, and Mira gives me her signature dazzling smile.

Lucy comes out of the kitchen, then holding a bowl of popcorn. "Oh, Laxus, you're finally home!" She said, grinning like my girlfriend I had just called a break with wasn't sitting in the room talking with the girls I messed around with the night before. And like she wasn't the one who orchestrated the whole thing. "I asked for Mira to join us for movie night," She gave me a devious smirk. "You will join us, right?" My eyes shift back over to the ladies eyeing me back from the living room.

"Uh…" Pretty confident my life would be over if I said no. "Sure. Let me go get cleaned up first." I sent Lucy a look, hoping she would catch on. Lucy's smirk widens, and she walks over to the group of women, setting down the bowl. I took that moment to step out and wait for her to follow me into my room. She had some explaining to do.

Lucy didn't take long to join me, her body shaking with laughs as she giggled her way in and shut the door behind her. "Yes, brother?"

"What the hell is this?" I immediately snapped, motioning for the living room. "I said no dirty schemes."

Lucy rolled her eyes but still tried suppressing back laughs. "This isn't a dirty scheme. All I did was offer my sister-in-law some quality time." She's beaming with mischief when she looks me up and down. "Not my fault her boyfriend is a pig."

"Lucy-"

"I'm just joking, Laxus; relax!" She waved her arms around and poked out a hip. "I told Mira that I talked to you and that whatever went on between you two was bothering you. I'm trying to help you. As for the girls, that's your problem." She shrugs and steps a bit closer towards me. "What are you gonna do now?"

"This is a dirty scheme. You told me you wouldn't butt into my relationship."

"I told you it was none of my business." Lucy corrected, "All I did was try and comfort her when she called again, crying her eyes out over something you did. You should be apologizing."

"This-" I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves. This is what Lucy wanted, for me to lose my cool and fuck up in front of her friends. If she wanted to play that game, I'd go right along with her. "Fine." I stomped over to my dresser and grabbed an arm full of clothes. "I'll take a shower and then join you all."

"Oh my god, this is unbearable." Cana groaned, flopping over Juvia to snatch the remote from Lucy. We had just watched Fifty Shades of Gray, the whole trilogy, and now we were watching whatever Netflix had to offer. Which just so happens to be a Polish rendition of the same movie and just as comically bad. "Turn it off. My four bottles of wine are threatening to come back up." Lucy tossed her the remote, and Cana quickly shut it off the frantic bunny fucking, exiting back to the main screen. "We should have just watched porn." Mira seemed to visibly tense beside me. She wasn't one to watch these types of movies, favoring more the melodramatic scene of Korean dramas and their thirty-episode gap between a confession and a kiss. Such movies like 365 days, where kidnapping, romance, pregnancy, and the mafia were the main attractions, definitely turned her off.

"Or," Lucy said, "We could just find something else to do." Erza nodded at this, tucking a scarlet strand behind her ear.

"A game would be nice. We have so many people; it would make it fun."

Levy gave me a cautious eye, "It's already twelve. You don't have work tomorrow?" I leaned back into my seat and shook my head.

"No, I'm typically off Saturdays, and we're close on Sundays." Cana practically purred at this.

"So that means you can stay up late with us again tonight." Mira shoots me a look, and I quickly stumble to cover my ass.

"Uh, I would love to play monopoly with you ladies again." Mira wasn't buying it.

She turned to Lucy and gave her a questioning eyebrow raised. "I thought you said Laxus was helping you with guy problems."

"He was."

"Monopoly was a distraction." I quickly added, "For the boy problems."

Lucy snickered as she flicked the TV screen over to the HDMI hook up. "I broke up with my boyfriend. Laxus and the girls were trying to comfort me." Boyfriend? I couldn't tell if Lucy was being honest or just pulling something out of her ass again, but Mira seemed to buy it.

"Ah," She said softly, "I'm so sorry, Lucy. If you need me, you know I'm here for you. Even if Laxus and I are fighting."

Cana cuts in, "Why are you two fighting again?" Mira looked over at me as if asking for permission to talk about our personal business, but I didn't bother to give her a clear response.

"Well," She started anyway, "Sometimes we have our problems." This was interesting because most of our fights started because of her problems. But I guess when you're in a relationship, everything is mirrored onto the other partner.

"So," Juvia came in, "Like every relationship?"

"Ours… is a bit magnified." I'll say.

"What you need," Erza says, determined, "Is therapy." I didn't like where this was going. I snap to Lucy and give her a look saying to control her friends, but she ignores me as she fumbles with her Switch controllers. "Levy is in college to be a marriage counselor." Everyone looks over to the teen as she shrinks on the spot.

Mira smiles at her and leans in with a soothing hand on her shoulder. "Trust me. Our problems are far more beyond counseling." Nice save.

"Besides," I say quickly, "this is not the time nor the place for therapy." Although Erza was right that we needed it.

"So why don't you just break up?" Cana continued despite our efforts to end the conversation. "If you don't get along and shit's beyond counseling, why stick it out?" Again another look towards Lucy for help, but she doesn't budge.

Mira fumbles with the edges of her dress and shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not sure why Laxus sticks it out…I know I can be a handful at times. And...not very understanding on certain things." She gives me a soft look, "But I stay because no matter how many times we fight, I still deeply love him." Fuck. My body twitches to make up with my girlfriend immediately. I had already given up on being mad at Mira when I clocked in for work. Maybe I subconsciously called a break so that Mira could see even I had a limit and that she was drawing in dangerously close to that. She was my first serious relationship, and even though we did have our problems, I wasn't about to let almost seven years of our relationship go to waste. She would forever be my high school sweetheart, and that would never change. I had unconditional love for Mira, unlike any other love I'd ever felt.

"But," Lucy says then, still tinkering with the game console. "Sometimes love isn't enough." It's dangerously silent as everyone takes this in, especially Mira. I go to speak up and defend my girlfriend when the doorbell chimes. Everyone eyes each other as if silent inquiries of who would answer were flying around. So I stood and paddled over to the front door.

When the door was open, and I could lock eye contact with the man on the other side, my brain fried in confusion. Who the hell was this tall, dark-skinned man with crimson hair. Never seen him before in my life. And from the rude snarl he gave me, he wasn't friendly either. I turned back to the ladies as chatter started to take over the room. "You guys know him?"

The man takes a step forward and gives me a once over, "Who the hell are you?" Extra rude. My eyes narrow down at him at his curt greeting.

"I'm the owner of this house. Who are you?" Not exactly the truth, but we'll go with it. I glance down at the flowers in his hand, and my mind draws a blank. What the hell was going on?

"I'm Lucy's boyfriend." He quickly snaps, "And I'm here to see her ."

"What!?"

"So!" Lucy chirps out from the living room as the TV blares high-pitched, happy music. She holds up to joy-cons and smiles. "Who wants to play Mario Party?"