A/N: Hey fellow Laxana lovers! I know it's been a long time since I published anything but here it goes! This is a long chapter and is mainly dialogue but I'm hoping to show some character depth. The main reason this chapter came about is because a special person pm'd me and asked me to write more. I'm busy with uni and life stuff so I don't know when the next one will be but this would never have been possible without that pm. So I would like to dedicate this chapter to XxAshDragneelxX. Thank you for inspiring me. As always, read, review and enjoy!
-Jude
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
Day 34
"Bacchus gets home tonight." Cana said to Laxus and Mira between sips of whatever strong smelling liquid she was drowning herself with.
"So what's the famous Bacchus like any way?" Laxus asked, both Laxus and Cana smirking as Mira's face scrunched up in distaste.
"Oh come on Mira, he's not that bad!" Cana said, swinging on her stool before downing the rest of her drink in a bid to ignore Mira's pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Clearly getting no support from Cana she turned to Laxus.
"The first time I met him he bet my little brother he could beat him in a fight, and if he won he'd get a three way with my baby sister Lisanna and I." She said, waiting for Laxus' gasp of shock that never came.
"Mira, I've seen your brother and there is nothing little about him." Laxus said inspiring a round of laughter from Cana that lasted a little too long like it always did when she was drinking.
"Plus Bacchus was really drunk when-" Cana began but was cut off by Mira's stern voice.
"Cana, he's always drunk!" she snapped, angrily handing out drinks to her unnerved customers, paying no attention to the odd looks.
"So am I!" Cana said with a grin but in her eyes was a challenge and it hit Laxus why Mira had kept her silence about Bacchus until now- Cana was the over protective type, which should have been obvious from the way she spoke about her close ones.
"If he's the same kind of drunk as you I don't get how you get any work done." Laxus said with a grin, swooping in to save Mira from a rock and a very sharp hard place. Cana's eyes narrowed but she couldn't keep her grin in check as she fought back a laugh.
"It's hard but we somehow manage." She said, hand out ready for another drink which Mira gave her, relieved she'd dodged the bullet and surprised at how easily she'd walked straight into the gun.
"Anyway, I thought you'd want to be there when he gets back." Laxus said before breaking away from their conversation briefly to murmur into his radio which triggered Freed to quickly cut through the crowd and resolve the fight before it escalated any further.
"Naw, he's always pretty smashed when he gets back from a trip home so we're meeting up tomorrow." She said, looking down to glance into her glass while she spoke, which by now Laxus knew signalled that there was more than she was saying, but she was too uncomfortable to bring it up. If it was something big he would usually wait for Mira to bring it up and intently listen in while pretending he was preoccupied with overlooking the club. But as he had observed before, Mira avoided talking about anything to do with Bacchus like the plague. Knowing her, she probably wouldn't be able to contain her disdain for him which would cause Cana to react and start a fight. They had probably played out the same arguments an uncountable amount of times before Mira decided to stop bringing him up. The question now became whether he should persist or follow Mira's suit. It was a toss up between reinforcing the small remnant of the boundaries he'd placed between them and admitting they had died a long time ago in lieu of a rather entertaining friendship. While he did consider her a friend he wasn't quite sure he was ready to openly admit that to her yet or she might become even more attached to him in her strange clingy yet still at arm's length kind of way.
Moment after moment passed and still he couldn't decide how to proceed until he finally settled on a solution- the sideways probe, a trick he'd learnt from Mira.
"I bet you're glad you won't have to deal with all the paper work by yourself anymore." Laxus said, staying on the same topic without directly asking what he wanted to know. Cana grunted in agreement, eyes still on her booze. Laxus fought hard to stop himself from letting his eyes roll in exasperation. He was going to have to ask straight out, wasn't he? He opened his mouth to ask but before a sound came out a man was standing between them, his arm wound around Cana's back. Cana was slightly startled, she was hardly ever approached at the bar since she started spending more and more of her time sitting with Laxus, his glare scaring off drunken groping hands.
"I was told I could find you here but you look even more stunning than I had pictured." Hibiki said, standing so he effortlessly blocked off any access Laxus had to her. His first thought was sweep him out of the way like he usually did when unknown men approached, but Cana would probably very literally attempt to strangle him if he interfered with the overdressed man. Cana looked up from her drink at first in surprise but then gave him a hearty smile, leaning in for a quick hug while discreetly putting her toxic brew back behind the bar to avoid Hibiki's eye.
"What brings you down to my watering hole?" Cana asked, fluttering her eyelashes in what Laxus thought was an overly flirtatious fashion but Mira recognised as their normal banter. Cana knew that in order to keep Hibiki's good will she would have to flatter him, and even though he knew it was just a show for his benefit, this mutual understanding effectively balanced and maintained their relationship.
"Well, I wanted to catch up with you before Bacchus got back but we've both been so busy that a meeting during business hours became impossible. So when I realised that he got back today I just had to track you down." He said, pulling up a stool next to her, a little too close for Laxus' comfort. Laxus wasn't quite sure why he didn't like Hibiki so much. They had only met once before and exchanged a hand full of words but he could see that every word was calculated behind a cold mask that promised compassion but gave a carefully considered response. He knew that Cana and Mira felt the same way about his exterior, but for some reason Cana still clung to him. He understood logically that he was a vital business partner that had helped her countless times, but the idea that Cana had slept with such a cold and unattached person went against everything he knew about her. How could the passionate and caring woman he knew get caught up with him? He knew it was none of his business, and he shouldn't be thinking about it, but as Hibiki leaned in to quickly kiss her cheek Laxus couldn't help but feel a bad taste in his mouth.
"What did you have to talk to me about without Bacchus around?" Cana asked, but before he could answer she asked again "Do you want something to drink?" Hibiki paused and considered for a moment as if the idea hadn't occurred to him, which Laxus found even more irritating- of course he knew whether he was going to have a drink, he just walked into a goddamned bar! But of course Laxus didn't snap out a witty retort as he would have had Cana done something similarly stupid. Instead he pushed past them out onto the dance floor to separate some grinders who were getting a little too frisky for their partners. When he returned Hibiki was sitting with a gin and tonic, lightly sipping whilst blatantly ignoring Laxus' looming presence.
"Anyway, getting back to the point, I wanted to know how my recommendations went." Hibiki asked, which Cana knew was a rather loaded question which completely escaped the staff listening in. Mira caught Laxus' gaze and dramatically rolled her eyes, losing focus of the task at hand and almost dropped a pair of shot glasses. Laxus grinned but supressed a chuckle, wanting to hide their exchange from Hibiki.
"Sharon has been phenomenal. She transitioned into it easily, touched base with all our major clients and helped organise the staff. I was most impressed with her organisational skills, I received regular reports and all major consultations were run by me first. She was perfect at adapting to what we needed throughout the whole process." Cana said in a tone Laxus had only heard a few times before, she was in business mode. He noticed how her back was straight, her eyes sharp, conveying the depth of her intelligence.
'So this is what serious Cana looks like?' Laxus thought to himself, the desire to see her at work rising like it did sometimes when she revealed facets of herself, each more interesting than the last. He enjoyed sober Cana the most, she had a way of keeping him guessing, always off guard. Passionate Cana was terrifying, it wasn't anger necessarily, just too many emotions which usually involved a lot of ranting and lots of broken glasses. When her younger brother nearly got kicked out of school for starting a brawl which ended in someone getting their head smashed through a window it was almost like a re-enactment of war of the worlds. Insanely drunk Cana wasn't too much fun, she was either uncomfortably vulnerable or uncomfortably sick. Slutty Cana was the worst though, he could handle a bit of vomit, he hated it but he could handle it. But when she attached herself to some random lowlife and he had to pry her off, it was one of the most degrading things he'd ever have to do. She knew he hated it but she did it anyway, and once she had the nerve to wink at him whilst making out with some grungy ferrel she'd picked up.
"That's good," Hibiki replied, taking another miniscule sip, "I'd heard good things about her. We have a short term opening coming up next month. I was waiting on your opinion before making my recommendation, but seeing as it all went well she should be a great choice." He said with a smile.
"You won't regret it! If she can organise our permanently dishevelled firm then I'm sure she'll be more than capable." Cana said with a sweet smile, lightly placing her hand atop his. "I'll let her know tomorrow at our debriefing with Bacchus that she can expect to hear from you." She said, at Bacchus' name Hibiki's face gave a slight twitch, the closest he ever came to openly grimacing. Cana withdrew her hand, leaning back into her stool and fighting the urge to call Hibiki out on his disdain for Bacchus she simply reached out, took his glass from his hand, downed the drink and grinned at Hibiki's expression.
"Now that we've talked business, we are at the hottest spot in Sydney." Cana said, jumping up off her stool to take Hibiki's hand and pull him to his feet. "How about we dance for a bit?" she said with a grin, but instead of waiting for an answer she forced him out into the crowd. Laxus watched as they made their way out onto the floor, always standing too close. Laxus watched on, a ball growing in his stomach as they danced. Hibiki was undeniably attractive in his own right, and his clothes while aiming to be stylish without trying were obviously excessively expensive. His mauve long sleeved shirt rolled to his elbows and tight fitted jeans rubbed up against Cana's tight crimson dress which hugged her form like a second skin. It wasn't like Laxus hadn't had to watch Cana grind against men before, but this time was different. The longer they stayed on the floor the more he was afraid the awful feeling in his gut wouldn't go away unless he ripped him off her.
"I really don't know how she can stomach to be around him after all the hell he put her through." Mira intoned, interrupting Laxus' musings about eye lasers- if only a glare could kill.
"What are you talking about? Cana always talks about him like he's the second more sleazy coming of Jesus." Laxus said, never liking the way she always painted him as some kind of hero.
"Yeah, well, that's crap." Mira said bluntly, aggressively cleaning a mug despite it already being clean. "She has a habit of covering up stuff… that's why I was so worried that morning when I saw you at her place after she got hammered…" Mira explained, guiltily avoiding eye contact as a way of apology.
"So what is she covering up for that sleaze bag?" Laxus asked, getting a look of approval from Mira for his equal disdain of Hibiki.
"He's a sleaze bag alright. He has this on again off again relationship with his business partner Jenny- one minute they'll be getting married and then they won't be speaking, and then they'll be back together or whatever. But when they were off Hibiki started sleeping with Cana, but she made it clear that it could only be when he was single." Mira started to explain but was cut short when Kinana was overwhelmed by an overly handsy patron who Mira quickly shut down. She returned and continued speaking but kept a more watchful eye on the young barmaid.
"That was fine, but then Jenny slept with one of Hibiki's friends when they weren't together, so to get back at her, he got back together with her then slept with Cana. She didn't know about any of that and when Jenny found out she stormed into Cana's office and made a colossal scene, calling Cana every name under the sun. But to make it worse it got picked up by some small financial journal and then it spread and caused a massive scandal." Mira said, handing Laxus a coke the way he liked it- she must have remembered from all the times Cana had ordered it for him.
"Hibiki's firm has a big PR department so they were able to calm things down, but at one point there were calls for Cana to resign." Mira said, eyes wide and serious.
"So what if she slept with a guy that had a girlfriend, surely that wouldn't be that big of a professional problem." Laxus said, not understanding how it could have become such a big issue.
"You would think so but because they both had such high positions there were accusations that they were doing insider trading even though there was nothing behind it…" Mira explained, her glare becoming more pointed.
"Then why is she still friends with him?" he asked, genuinely baffled. If a woman had used him like that and then nearly cost him his profession, there is no way in hell he'd be grinding up against her on the dance floor.
"Because she needs his help…" Mira said with a sigh.
"But why would he keep in contact with her if the allegations were so serious? Wouldn't he want to distance himself from her?" Laxus asked, there was something missing in this story.
"Personally, I think it's because he knows that she's going to be his boss one day, and maybe a bit of him is still in love with her because of that." Mira said cryptically.
"What are you talking about?" Laxus asked, Cana and Hibiki were in two totally different companies and she enjoyed being her own boss, as well as having employees way too much to join his firm. He watched Mira's face for an answer, ignoring the voice in his ear about a drunk girl at the bar but got nothing but pursed lips.
"Cana is the best at what she does, and I think Hibiki realises what that means. He's good but he can never be as good as she is, and eventually she's going to get serious, and when that happens she'll overtake him." She said haltingly, thinking carefully about each sentence.
Before he could clarify more Cana was at the bar, leaning forward to give Mira an order. She quickly prepared the drinks and Cana hurried back to Hibiki who took a genuine gulp this time. Laxus thought about how important her job must be to her that she would go through all that and still remain friends with him, just to keep a professional relationship. He knew he wouldn't do it. The only way it meant sense to him was if she still had some kind of feelings for him, but Laxus found himself hoping that wasn't true. He told himself that it was for her sake, he didn't want his friend caught in that situation but was the truth something different all together?
OOO
Laxus glared heatedly as Hibiki wound his arms around Cana's waist and drew her closer, their chests pushed together.
"Hibiki…" Cana began to warn. There was a limit to her good will, dancing is one thing but he was pushing the limits and he knew it.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to try anything. You made yourself perfectly clear last time." Hibiki reassured her, but still didn't let go.
"You didn't tell me you were dating the bouncer." Hibiki chided, swaying them to the music. Cana scowled, glad both Hibiki and Laxus couldn't see it, she'd hate it if Laxus came over and made a scene, which he had done on several occasions.
"That's because I'm not." Cana replied forcefully.
"Huh." Hibiki breathed in surprise. "Then why has he been glaring at me all night?" he asked, once again a loaded question, he was really asking what their relationship was and whether she had told him about what Hibiki referred to as 'the fiasco'.
"I have no idea, maybe you're charm isn't as good as it used to be." She teased playfully, but she knew he received the message- drop it. In some ways she hated that Hibiki always spoke in code even though they both knew exactly what the other was saying, but it also allowed her a reprieve from the brutal honesty of Bacchus.
"Very funny." Hibiki chided sarcastically, unimpressed. "I wonder if he glares like that when you dance with Bacchus." Hibiki pondered with a bitter laugh.
"He hasn't met Bacchus yet." Cana said reluctantly, becoming uneasy at the turn of their power play.
"Now that I would pay to see."
OOO
Laxus withheld a sigh of relief as Hibiki made his way out the door, alone, without Cana, who slowly strolled over towards him, a concerned look on her face.
"What's up?" Laxus asked, guessing that Hibiki had given her some bad news. Cana looked startled, and began nervously shuffling.
"The ceiling." Cana replied, usually it would be accompanied with a grin and a swagger and he would know she was fine but this time her tense tone made him even more worried. He reached out a hand to grasp her arm but she jerked away, instantly regretting it. Laxus' brow creased, unsure what he did wrong and completely unaware of how to fix it. She was a bit off at the start of the night but she had never pulled away from him like that before.
"Is everything ok?" he asked tentatively, wanting to rush forward but consciously keeping his space.
"Yeah… I'm sorry for… pulling away like that…" she mumbled, looking first at his eyes and then at her feet.
"It's fine." Laxus replied, still slightly confused but wanting to put it behind them. He had been hoping that they could hang out at her place for a while like they usually did when she spent most of the night away from the bar but with this strange vibe between them it didn't look like that was going to happen. He couldn't help but feel disappointed in missing his time with her, especially to a creep like Hibiki.
"Look, I'll head home with Mira tonight…" Cana said, avoiding his eye. Not once had she ever refused to let him walk her home like this. The shock of rejection cut him deep, followed by irritation. What could Hibiki have said to her that would make Cana say something like that?
"Well seeing as I'm getting paid to walk to your building I guess I'll just have to go without you- I am a professional you know." Laxus said with a smirk, pushing down everything complicated so he could go back to that place when they were just two buddies who hung out each night, and then maybe whatever was wrong would fix itself. To his pleasure Cana looked up in surprise and then rolled her eyes, body relaxing from its previous unnaturally tense state.
"Are you serious?" Cana asked, hips tilting in the familiar way.
"Of course, plus my trainer says I need to work out more, apparently I've been eating too much junk food and not getting enough sleep so the walk would do me good." He said, walking past her towards the door.
"Are you coming or what?" he asked, calling over his shoulder as he passed out the door and with a grin as she often did, she chased after him.
"Damn your long legs." She snapped, panting slightly until he slowed down to her pace.
"My ex-girlfriend said they were my best feature!" Laxus said in mock contempt.
"Really?" Cana asked with her eye-brow raised in question.
"No, but I've always wanted to say that." Laxus said with a chuckle which became infectious and Cana was glad that Laxus hadn't let her go home with Hibiki's words still in her mind. Laxus didn't like her romantically, they were just friends. And sure Bacchus could be a bit hard to handle but there was no way that Laxus would hate him.
"And just so you know, you're buying me pizza." Laxus informed her with a smirk.
"One, why do I have to buy you pizza? And I thought your trainer said that you eat too much junk food." She rebuked despite not really minding paying, but she would hate to be seen as a push over.
"Because of you I had to put up with that douchebag all night-" before he could continue Cana cut him off.
"You don't even know Hibiki! He's not that bad of a guy!" Cana retorted, half hoping to hear the real reason Laxus was glaring at him all night, but unfortunately Laxus himself didn't really know.
"Cana, that guy's shirt is worth more than my car." He said, glancing at her to impress his point. "Not to mention he was being an ass on purpose!"
"How was he being an ass?!" Cana snapped, Hibiki hadn't even spoken to Laxus the whole night.
"Lots of ways!" Laxus snapped, but it sounded weak to his own ears. He didn't want to recount how Hibiki made eye contact with him every time he and Cana got a little two close, or how he smirked in a way Cana wouldn't see when he spoke into her ear. Laxus knew Hibiki was trying to make him jealous, it was plainly obvious. The only question he couldn't answer was why it annoyed him so much. Cana sighed in exasperation dramatically.
"Anyway, my trainer did say that but I told him 'You don't understand man, I've got this cool friend that I hang out with every night but she doesn't have any food at her pad so we always end up ordering pizza.'" He replied, grinning as he watched her frustrated pursed lips turn into a grin.
"I do so have food at my house!" Cana replied, flicking her head slightly so her chin stuck out more than before.
"Left over pizza doesn't count." Laxus intoned to which she gave a defeated sigh.
"Fine, but you have to order."
"Don't I always?"
OOO
Cana shoved the last of the pizza into what she now dubbed the left over pizza box as Laxus collected his things from around her living room. She heard him walk towards the door but called out to him just before his hand touched the handle.
"Oh, I umm might not be in tonight or tomorrow depending on what Bacchus wants to do but I'll definitely be back on Monday." Cana said, "I'll text you." She said with a smile that Laxus didn't return as he left.
Four whole days without hanging out with Cana. One night was hard enough and she was in the same room as him.
And Bacchus would be back. Would he be coming to the club? What would he be like? What would she be like when she's with him?
Why won't this ache in his gut go away?
