Thank you for your review!
StainedGlassM: I hope my story will stay interesting in the future too!
graystripemkc: If my writing has truly improved, I'm super happy. Thank you for the compliment! Laxus isn't exactly checking Lucy out in this one, but... Well, better read it yourself. And about that first part of your review: What did I say! XD
Hope you will enjoy this chapter! And please review!
Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and I'm just playing with the characters.
Laxus closed he shower and stepped out of it. He grabbed a towel from a rack placed on the bathroom's wall. While wrapping it around his waist, he walked in front of a mirror placed over a sink. A familiar grumpy face greeted him on the reflecting surface. He huffed at the image, especially at his hair, which were flat and glued on his skull by the water. He lifted his hand, concentrating some magic in it and watched as electricity started to jump between his fingers. He ran the hand through his hair slowly, making the electricity dried it and give the hair its' spiky appearance. Laxus stared his image and gave out a satisfied huff this time. He simply hated how his hair looked wet.
Only wearing the towel, Laxus headed out of the room and to the stairs, his plan being to get himself a beverage. Nothing crowned a good, long shower like a good old, cold beer. When he was already descending the stairs, something popped in his head. Laxus stopped and glanced down at his attire. Oh, yeah... He completely forgot that he now had a guest that might mind seeing him practically naked. Groaning Laxus turned to return upstairs to get some clothing, but then he halted and turned back slowly. It was quiet. Too quiet for someone to be in the house.
Brows slightly furrowed, he walked to the first floor. He scanned through the living room and unconsciously sniffed the air. The scent of summer field rushed in to his nostrils tickling them gently. Lucy had probably been in the house less than an hour, but her scent was already lingering in the air strongly. In bad case it would be imprinted there permanently in a week. Laxus took a second longer breath through his nose savoring the scent. Luckily he rather liked it. But just like he had anticipated, the girl wasn't in the house anymore - his team must have come to get her while he was in the shower.
Shrugging lightly, he continued his way toward the kitchen. The journey came to a third stop, when he halted at the sofa set. A small smile like curve visited his lips, when he saw the sofa. At least the princess knew how to make a bed, he thought while staring the makeshift one. Then something on another of the armchair caught his attention. His expression soured greatly as he saw his coat, neatly folded, placed on an armrest. He walked to the chair and picked the coat up. A puff of Lucy's scent hit his face as the fabric shifted. "Great." Laxus growled. Even if the girl's scent was bearable he definitely didn't want his coat smell like it. He absolutely hated other people touching it, so he purely loathed the idea of it smelling like someone else.
With gritted teeth, he walked to the bathroom downstairs and threw his coat in to a washing machine there. He added some detergent and aggressively chose the shortest program, then hit the start button. When he heard the machine take in water, he nodded satisfied and exited the room.
This time he was finally able to reach his original destination, the kitchen. He stood in front of the fridge and took out a beer. Laxus wrenched the can open and on same heartbeat turned it bottoms up. Today really wasn't his day, he growled silently as the gold liquid slide down his throat. And unfortunately he couldn't really blame the girl for this incident either. She had just moved it out of the way so she could make her bed on the sofa. It was his mistake for forgetting it there. And it wasn't like he had told her not to touch it. Making a mental note, Laxus made sure he would tell her when she gets back.
Pinching the bridge between his nose, Laxus forced himself to calm down. There was no point being angry at a person that wasn't even there. He should use the time she was away much better, like going to do some shopping. His fridge was as empty as the guild's account. Slightly frowning he poured last of the beer down his throat and threw the can to a bin. Maybe he should buy some more beer and something stronger while his at it. Somehow he got the feeling he might end up needing a drink more than once during this week.
Before leaving to get dressed, he glanced toward the clock. He made a quick calculation how long it should take the girl and his team to return. Three quarters, an hour if they were slow, but not a minute longer. Of course, there was the chance that they would come across some "problems" at the guild, which could slow them down even more. But Laxus was confident that his team would be able to handle such things. Nodding to himself, he walked out of the kitchen.
Laxus stared the clock, arms crossed and a finger tapping his left bicep. His expression wasn't one of his prettiest. But considering the time and the fact that the girl and his team was still somewhere, he didn't exactly feel like smiling. They should have been back long time ago, half an hour to be exact. He had had the time to visit the grocery shop, buy some booze, make some lunch, eat that lunch and hang his coat to dry. He had the time to do all that, but they were still not back.
Laxus sink his teeth to an apple he had taken as a dessert. He bite a large chunk off of it and a satisfying sound of crunching filled the room as the piece of fruit was turned into a mince in his mouth. What the hell was taking them so long?! Writing couple lines on a paper would be done in a minute or two. What annoyed him even more was the fact that he had thought he could trust his team to bring the girl back right away. Apparently he had been wrong. At this rate he should have just gone himself and endure his grandfather's bitching. He didn't want to know what kind of ideas the girl would gate from interacting with those mentally retarded shits from the guild. Taking his anger out on the apple, Laxus more like tore than bite a piece out off the fruit. In worst case the princess would mistake the guild members' overly friendly attitude as friendship or some other shit. Friends... Hah! They are just a bunch of hypocrites playing house, lead by a person who's own blood matters less than this "family".
Laxus snorted exaggerated and then ate rest of the apple in few aggressive bites. Thinking all this shit had made his anger rise to the level where it would be hard even for Gramps to raise it more. At this rate he could go fetch the girl himself and not worry about his mood getting worse. Actually.. Yeah. He would do exactly that. And if he would bump on the geezer, he could use the chance to annoy the hell out of him. The old man did wish him to visit the guild, didn't he? "Well, your wish's my command, oh dearest grandfather,"
Laxus threw the remains of the apple in the trash and marched to his front door. Lucy, his team and possible the old man was better be ready, because he was royally pissed off right now.
Lucy was a bout to put a fork in her mouth, when a loud explosion like sound made the whole building shake. It was very close that she didn't stab herself in the eye with the cutlery. "What was that?" She snapped her head around toward the front door shocked.
"Sssshit." Bickslow muttered through closed teeth, stretching the 's'. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Shit indeed, he let out a desperate laugh. It had already been way over an hour since they left from Laxus' house. He knew better than well what the sound was, and it definitely wasn't an explosion. It was the sound of one very, very angry person arriving at the guild. This wasn't good. Not for him, or Freed, or Evergreen, or Lucy.
One of the big front doors flied open like it had weight nothing, and no other than Laxus walked in. His showy entry and the dark aura surrounding him made the whole guild go quiet, their heads turned to his direction. At this point Lucy had also realized that she and the Thunder God Tribe were in deep shit. She didn't like foul language, but shit was the only word to describe their situation. How on Earth had she forgotten the passage of time so completely?!
It all started when that guy Natsu had shouted, demanding Laxus, who wasn't even there, to fight him. Someone, probably the nudist, attacked him shouting himself for the guy to shut up. What happened next happened so fast that Lucy had hard time understand it. Next moment she just found herself middle of an all-out-fight. In matter of seconds she got separated from Bickslow and Evergreen, and to protect herself she had dived under a nearby table. It was a relatively safe spot until someone decided to use that exact table as a projectile. Left without cover, Lucy had run toward the bar screaming and taking cover behind the bar counter there.
While she was hiding, Mirajane had appeared out of nowhere next to her. The woman had started to chat to her about this and that. Most of it had gone through one ear and out of the other as Lucy had hard time wrapping her head around the fact that how the woman stayed calm, completely ignoring the brawl. There had even been a bottle of some sort of booze that had almost hit her heard. Mira had laughed it off like nothings and asked Lucy if she would like something to drink. She couldn't remember what she had answered, but a moment later she sat in her cover sipping a strawberry milkshake.
A while later Master Makarov had come from his office, yelling that he couldn't even hear his own thoughts over the racket. Lucy had to admit the tiny elder was rather intimidated when angered - seems like it ran in the family. It wasn't a surprise that the fight died down in matter of seconds. When she was completely sure that the brawl was really over, Lucy crawled out of her hide and instead sat on one of the bar stools. She watched as slowly everyone returned to their previous activities. Brows drawn together, she tried to spot the members of the Thunder God Tribe. Luckily she soon recognized Bickslow's visor among the mass of people. To her surprise he came from where the fights center point had been. The man gave her a wave and walked to the bar. Licking his bruised lip, he sat down on her neighbor stool. "Mothafokka." He chuckled, testing the lip with a thump. Lifting a finger up, he man ordered a beer from Mirajane.
Lucy stared him, slowly sipping her milkshake away. There was only one explanation for the bruise, and that was that the man had joined the brawl. It would explain why they got separated so fast, but she hadn't taken Bickslow as one to join such a meaningless fight. Well, she really couldn't say that she knew the man as they met for the first time only two days ago. Shrugging her shoulders dismissively, she decided to move on and ask about the two other missing members of Thunder God Tribe.
Freed had apparently left to run an errand for the master and had promised to meet them back at Laxus' place. Evergreen's whereabouts, however, were unknown for Bickslow too. He guessed that the woman had stepped out of the guild to get away from the brawl. According to Bickslow she hated these fights just as much as their Boss-man, which Lucy guessed meant Laxus.
Both having a drink in front of them, they decided to wait for Evergreen to show up. First they decided that they would only wait for fifteen minutes and then head back, but then to her embarrassment Lucy's stomach growled so loudly that even Bickslow heard it. The man had burst into laughter and when the worst of his laugh died down, he called our for Mira. Surprising Lucy he ordered two Mira's special meals from the woman. She tried to offer to pay for her share, but Bickslow insisted that it was on him and that she should just take it as an apologize for the morning.
Lucy had first felt troubled, but when the plate filled with food was placed in front of her, the scent of it had simply hypnotized her. It was heavenly. Without a single shred of guilt weighting her conscience, she had stuck her fork in it and started to gulp the meal down. If the scent had been heavenly, then the taste was something even better, something words couldn't describe. While drowning herself into the otherworldly culinary masterpiece, Lucy entered into conversation with Mira and Bickslow about this and that, nothing too significant. She realized fast that he woman wasn't just an amazing cook, but also one of the nicest people she has ever met. She was an angle.
Now, however, Lucy regretted dearly their choice to wait for Evergreen. She swallowed, feeling droplets of cold sweat on her back and forehead as the man by the doors started to walk toward the bar, toward her. He walked on a lazy pace, a smile on his face. But that smile...wasn't a smile. It was the brand of approaching, unavoidable end . Lucy knew she had to run, and she really wanted to, but her body simply refused to do so. Like a wax figure, she sat on the bar stool, a fork in her hand, unable to move a single muscle.
"Laxus!" Natsu jumped suddenly from the crowd, launching himself toward the man fist first. "Fight m-" Without even batting an eye to this, Laxus grabbed the guy's face with a hand and smashed it to the floor, or actually through it. Bickslow tried to use the quarter of a second Laxus' attention drifted from them to flee, but before his butt had even lifted from the stool, it was pushed back against the wood. Eyes slowly widening with horror, Lucy realized that Laxus was already standing right in front of her, his hand on Bickslow's shoulder. The man had just stood middle of the guild hall. How? How was he already there?! It was like he had teleported. And it hit her, plunging her into new level of desperation. She never even had the chance to run away. She would have been caught in a blink of an eyes. No. Even faster.
Still smiling, Laxus leaned a bit closer to her and with his free hand took the fork she was still holding. "I'll take this." He placed it on the bar counter and left his hand there, leaning against the wooden surface and locking the girl between his massive arms. He smiled a moment longer staring her eye to eye, but then faster than he had teleported his expression darkened. His eye narrowed, the look in them turning to icy glare and the corners of his lips pointing up turned down. "Having fun?" He asked with a voice so cold it actually made the temperature drop.
Of course, Lucy didn't say or do anything. It was simply physically impossible for her at the moment. Laxus huffed, sounding almost disappointed. He straightened his back and freed the girl from the prison his arms formed. He turned to Bickslow, his hand still holding the man in place. "Where is Freed and Evergreen?" His voice was just as chilly as before.
Bickslow, who didn't dare to look up at Laxus, lifted his shoulders, or more like a shoulder thanks to the heavy hand on the other, in a shrug like motion. "Out?" He suggested hesitantly, feeling cold sweat gathering on his forehead. Growling Laxus pushed him off the stool. It had happened so fast and unpredictable that even though he landed on his feet, he almost lost his balance and had to take couple hops forward to regain it. His babies had rushed to help him too.
"Let's go." Laxus commanded, returning his attention to Lucy. On the corner of his eye, he saw Bickslow starting to drag his feet toward the door right away, but the girl in front of him didn't even flinch. He once again leaned slightly closer to her and repeated the command. "Let's. Go." He waited a second for the girl to move, but all she did was sit still like stone statue, eyes wide enough to let them roll out of their sockets. Laxus tch-ed irritated and took a step closer to the girl.
Lucy was finally freed from her paralyzes, when she her felt her body being lifted and then her abdomen landed on something hard. The hit made some air rush out of her lungs, forcing her exhale sharply. Head hanging downward and eyes filled with leopard pattern, it took her a moment to comprehend what just happened. At the same pace it sunk in, her face twisted with shock and embarrassment. She slammed her hands against the leopard pattern and pushed her upper body up as much as possible. "Let me down!" She screamed.
Lazus only reply for the girl was a jerk of his shoulder. It made her body detach from the shoulder enough to almost make her slip over it and then hit the floor face first. It was thankfully prevented by the arm wrapped around her thighs. Laxus tightened his hold a millisecond later after the jerk, stopping her body from slipping too much over his shoulder. However, this made his hand and fingers dig into her bare skin. Face bursting into flames, Lucy started to kick and hit the man with all her might. "Let me go! Let me go!"
Laxus hardly even felt the weak punch and kicks, but his ears sure felt the high pitched screams of the girl. Growling he took even better hold on the thigh under his hand, wrapping his finger around it, and gave the soft flesh a squeeze. This made the girl let out even more high pitched squeal, but at least she went quiet, and still, after it. When he was sure that she would keep her mouth shut, Laxus loosed his grip.
Tears of embarrassment in her eyes, Lucy couldn't do anything else than let the man carry her away like a sack of potatoes. This had to be the worst humiliation of her life. Why did it have to happen in front of every member of Fairy Tail?! How could she ever show her face there again? She made the mistake of glancing up. Every single person in the building was staring toward her with shocked eyes, expect for one. Mira, who was standing at the bar, was waving her hand at her and with a smile bid her a good bye. It wasn't really comforting. Lucy let her head drop, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and wished that this was all just a bad, bad dream.