Sands of Change

Lady Countryrose

Ch. 22

Once back in town. The guys had turned to them. Looking slightly uneasy. Not knowing if it was because of the train or something else.

Gajeel asked, while looking uncomfortable. "Would you like to go to dinner?"

"As a double date," shot out Laxus. Looking a little unsure of himself.

Hermione and Lucy smiled, at least the guys were trying. "Yes," they had agreed.

"Seven," asked Laxus. Shooting out a time.

Lucy smiled, "We will see you then."

Before the girls had left the station. Then they went to Lucy's apartment. Where she tried to pay for the rent. Only to find that the place was sold.

Lucy turned to a neighbor of hers. "What happened?"

"The landlady had sold the place. She gave everyone a month to move. But you were out of town and unreachable."

"Well, thank you." Lucy turned towards Hermione. "What are we going to do now?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "To the guild. It has a gym and showers. We could just relax before the date."

"And after?"

For the first time in her life. She said words that she had never spoken before. "We will face it after the date."

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. Then led the way to the guild hall. Where they made their way to the bar. Where Lucy told Mira what was going on.

"Oh dear, I am sorry to hear that." She gave a kind smile. "You two can stay at the guild, until you find other arrangements."

"Thank you, Mira." Lucy had given her a smile.

After they had a light meal. They decided to use the pool-like indoor bath. Where they had spent most of the day. Then wandered into the locker room and got ready for their date.

Lucy wore a white sundress with a purple looking leather jacket. Hermione wore a gray leather pencil skirt, a cream silk shirt, and a forest green jacket. With light makeup on, the two of them. Before they made it to the main park of the guild.

Where the two were met with whistles and wishes for a date of their own. The two waved them off and sat down at a table with Levy. Who had also looked like she was ready for a date as well.

"I… as soon as the two of you left for the island. I had started to see Bickslow." Levy blushed. "This would be our third date. Who are you two dressed for?"

"My first date with Laxus," blushed Lucy. "Hermione's first with Gajeel. They had asked if we wanted a double date."

Hermione nodded, trying to battle a blush, but failed. "They seemed shy about it, too."

Levy gaped at them. "Wow," she breathed out. "The two strongest in Fairy Tail, are shy to ask a girl out on a date? That does sound cute."

After a few more minutes of idle chit-chat, their guys showed up. Helping their dates out of their seats. Then laced their fingers with them. Then they walked out of the guild together.

They soon found out that they were all going to the same restaurant. Where they changed plans from a double date, to all three dates were together. Neither of the girls complained. It seemed that the guys wanted the girls to relax, and they did.

The meal was full of getting to know each other and laughing.

"Do you remember that one job that you tossed me out of a window," smiled Bickslow to Laxus.

"Which one, if I remember correctly. I think I do it nearly daily," replied Laxus.

Bickslow lolled his tongue out. "The one you told me to fetch you a new shirt. After you busted out a shirt of yours." Causing the girls to giggle. "The fight wasn't ever bad enough to have a shirt rip, but you did anyway."

Laxus shook his head. "I had ended up doing a job, where a fan had noticed us." He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want to disappoint them."

Lucy giggled, "You purposely ripped your shirt, for a fan, then threw Bickslow out a window for fun?" Causing everyone to laugh.

"Poor Bickslow," giggled Levy. "What did you do?"

Bickslow smirked, "I know Laxus's sizes. But I still managed to get him a tight t-shirt. The fan nearly fainted, when they were still seeing his working abs."

The smiles couldn't stop. Seeing as Laxus was laid back about the whole thing. So they were able to joke about it. "Yeah, yeah. Go and laugh about it."

After dinner, the couples had decided on going on a walk. Under the sparkling starlight. All walking around aimlessly, but still near each other. Yet far apart for private conversations.

"I have to tell you something," started Gajeel. "Something that I am no longer proud of."

He then explained that he was once part of Phantom Lord. How he had tormented Fairy Tail. Then gone on explaining that he had ruthlessly tortured Lucy. All due to the fact that he was bored.

"It didn't help that she had bad-mouthed me. But I had respected her. She didn't back down. Even after hearing her father had hired us to do so."

Hermione sighed, "Do you still feel those things? Do you still want to torture people?"

Gajeel groaned, "I no longer feel that it's my number one go to method anymore. But for some jobs, I still have to use it. Especially when I do deep work as a spy. Which most of my jobs I was doing. Only because Master Makarov had asked me."

Hermione smiled kindly at him. "Has Lucy forgiven you?"

"Bunny Girl, she has, almost as soon as I joined Fairy Tail. She never looked at me in fear. Not like the whole guild had." He looked away in sorrow. "Understandably, it had taken them longer to forgive."

Hermione laced her fingers with his, slightly tugging him to look at her. When he did, she squeezed his hand. "You are a good man, Gajeel. Even good men falter. They become greater when they want to be better, not for others but for themselves."

Gajeel gave a questioning look. "You sound like Master Makarov, are you related that even Sparky doesn't know?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Before I left, I only had my parents. But I was forced to make them forget me."

"You were forced?"

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes. "The upcoming war did. I sent them away, forgetting that they had a daughter. I knew that they would stop me. Not only that, but I just wanted to keep my friend safe."

Gajeel squeezed her hand back. "You are a good person. You did what you could do." Then they continued on their walk.

Some time that night, Bickslow had taken Levy home, once she had started to yawn. Once the two couples were alone, Laxus had spoken up.

"I heard what happened to your apartment. You could crash at my place. I have the room to help out."

Hermione and Lucy had looked at each other. Lucy had a big smile on her face. Causing Hermione to take a deep breath and nod for her agreement. Then the two followed Laxus to his house, with Gajeel following behind them.

Once inside, it looked like a modern, clean look. With a hidden sense of beach hut vibe. Hermione would never have thought of something like that. But it seemed to have fit Laxus. The colors were a mix of teal, grays and silver. With hints of other earth tones.

Hermione looked around the massive open plan. "Do you hold parties here?"

Laxus chuckled, "I do host them, when it was my old team's night to just hangout. We would just come and have a game or movie night." He waved his hand up. "I even have five bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs. With a half bath, down here."

Gajeel looked uneasy from where he stood. "This must have set you back?"

Laxus shook his head, went to the frig and grabbed a couple of beers. Giving one to Gajeel. "Nope, my team and I built this place. They lived here for a while, but found their own places. Shortly before, I had gone on my wandering."

During dinner, Hermione learned more about Fantasia. Then about Master Makarov throwing his own grandson out. It looked like it was what Laxus had needed to grow up. That there was more to life than power.

Laxus had looked at Gajeel for a moment, then turned to the two girls. "Why don't you two go up and check out the place? My room is the far bedroom away from the stairs. So please stay out, unless you want to be my snuggle bug…" Causing Gajeel to growl at him.

The two girls had gone up the stairs. Room after room, they had found three with Laxus's old team's belongings, and stayed out of them. Then found the last with two single beds and a walk-in closet and a bathroom just next to it. Making the choice that they would share the room, it wasn't that much different from Lucy's studio apartment.

The two then made their way back down. Only to see the guys standing at the kitchen island. Mapping out things on a piece of paper. Before Gajeel slipped it into a pocket and then turned to the girls.

"Found a room," asked Laxus with a kind smile.

"Yep," Lucy smiled. "The one with two single beds in it."

Laxus nodded his head in agreement. Then the couples wished each other a goodnight. When the girls reached the stairs, they heard Laxus say to Gajeel.

"I'll help you out with planning. With your unique magic. We can get this done. I could even ask Bickslow and Freed to help out. They had done wonders with this place."

Then the girls walked into their shared room. "Do you know what they're planning," asked Lucy.

Hermione thought, "From what I could gather. Maybe Laxus is going to help Gajeel with making a house."

Lucy gasped, "Wow, I would never have thought of it. But that would've made sense. Laxus did say his old team had helped him with his house."

The two then had gotten dressed for the night and fell asleep. Only to hear a couple deep chuckles as edges of sleep had taken over.