A/N: Hey guys. So this is may seem like its travelling fast but the whole point is that Cana is exhausted and overemotional, and at this point Laxus has been getting up, going to work which is sitting with cana, then going back to her place and then going to sleep, rinse repeat. So both of them are kinda leaning on the other and they get caught up in this situation, but it's more a memorable bump in the road than the start of something new. I hope I portray that. I really appreciate any feedback, especially because this chapter was so long and it's the basis for the next stage of the story. So good or bad I really wanna know your opinion. Anyways, read, review and enjoy!
Go Laxana!
Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail
Day 37- part 2
Bixlow was caught in a state of panic, unable to go back in to Laxus' apartment, or return to his own and the only person able to help him would definitely demand an in detail recount of his short but eventful encounter. With a defeated sigh he trudged over to Freed's door, pushing the ornate doorbell, unsurprised when a fully dressed and immaculately groomed Freed appeared.
"I locked myself out of my apartment… again." Bixlow said with a shrug of his shoulders. Freed smiled knowingly and retreated into his home for the spare set of keys. The back of his cupboard door acted as a key depository, with labelled spare keys from his three friends, from house keys to car keys. Funnily enough, Bixlow was the only one who used them with any regularity.
"I didn't think you'd be up at this hour." Freed probed, knowing well enough not to hand the keys to Bixlow but opened the door himself. Bixlow knew what Freed was asking, and while he didn't want to lie to Freed he also didn't want to get caught up in giving a full re-enactment. So he settled on a half-truth.
"Laxus needed my help with something…" he said, leaving the sentence hanging between them as he darted inside. Freed looked after him with concern, and to Bixlow's dismay, followed him into his apartment. While Bixlow considered whether or not to shower before donning clean clothes, Freed hovered by his bedroom door.
"Is everything alright?" Freed asked, arms crossed and brow furrowed.
"I think so." Bixlow lied unconvincingly. Freed stopped his movements with a hand on his shoulder.
"What happened?" Freed asked, at which Bixlow froze. He couldn't think of a single way out. Even if he lied, Freed would keep pushing. And so with a defeated sigh he recounted the mornings events.
OOO
Freed burst into the apartment with a frightened Bixlow in toe.
"Freed!" Bixlow gasped in a panicked whisper, careful not to alert Laxus. But Freed seemed not to care and started calling for the man Bixlow was eager to avoid.
"Laxus?!" Freed called, head darting back and forth as he searched the room.
"The fuck do you want?" Laxus snapped in a tired droll from his place on the sofa, his large frame uncomfortably sprawled over the sides.
"Why is Cana here?" Freed asked, at his leaders side in a heartbeat.
"Good on you Bixlow." Laxus growled, sending him a glare as he tried to lazily pull himself into a sitting position. Bixlow thought about trying to explain but decided it was best to stay out of the spotlight when Laxus was in his tired/angry mood, something which didn't bother Freed in the least.
"Well?" Freed asked persistently, ignoring Laxus objections as he pulled him up seeing as he wasn't moving fast enough.
"When we were at her place she spilt hot coffee on her legs…" Laxus started to explain, running a tired hand through his hair. "So I took her to the hospital…" he said, accompanied by another pause. "When we left I said I was stopping by here first and she fell asleep in the car. I couldn't just leave her in the car so I brought her up here." Laxus said, lying back down much to Freed's dismay. "Now the big secrets out, I'm going back to sleep." He said, flinging an arm over his eyes to block out the light, his breathing slowing almost immediately. Freed glared at him but when it was clear he wasn't going to get any kind of response he decided it was best to leave him to his rest, a sentiment which Bixlow of course shared. As they exited, Bixlow let out a sigh of relief, another crisis averted.
OOO
Cana opened her eyes slightly, the blankets surrounding her formed a warm cocoon she was unwilling to exit. The more she took in the sensations assailing her, the feel of the blankets on her skin, the colour of the ceiling, the smell of the sheets, the more she realised that this wasn't her room and she began to panic. She shuffled slightly but was exposed to the dull burning pain on her thighs and memories of last night began to flood through. Then came the realisation that she must be at Laxus' apartment.
She slowly sat up, taking the room in. It was much tidier than she had expected, though a more appropriate word would be bare. There was a plain white inbuilt wardrobe which was half open, revealing neatly stacked plain black pants and perfectly pressed shirts hung on hangers. There was matching side tables on either side of the bed, each with an accompanying lamp. The bed was the only oddity, much larger than any she had ever seen in real life, comfortably fitting at least four people, which was probably due to Laxus' odd habit of sleeping sprawled out in the starfish position while he slept, something she'd noticed when he'd stayed the night, limbs hanging off her couch at odd angles. The blankets of course were equally huge, most likely custom made, and consistent with the, in her opinion boring, design, they were a vauge pattern of browns and yellows.
As she sat up she noticed how sweaty she was, which gave her the strong need to have a shower. She of course then realised that she didn't have any spare clothes. Without looking she knew that anything Laxus had would be comically big on her so she didn't even bother looking in the closet. She discarded her jumper on the floor and groggily made her way out of the room towards the living room. She was greeted with more of the same. A simple wooden dining table with six chairs, plain timber floors, in some places covered by carpets in dull tones, a glass coffee table and a large beige lounge, on which Laxus was sprawled in his usual fashion. There were only two oddities, the large pile of crap covering the table which mirrored exactly the mess in his car, and the phenomenal view which could be seen out of the east facing wall, the sun enveloping the city in its glow. She considered waking Laxus but decided to let him sleep. It was only when she turned towards the kitchen that she noticed a small bag of what appeared to be your clothes and an elegantly written letter. As she grasped the paper she began to read-
Dear Cana,
I have prepared breakfast and left it in the fridge, please help yourself to whatever you feel like. I called Mira as she was worried when she couldn't reach you and explained what happened. She dropped by some of your clothes and assured me that she had informed your work that you would be absent for the rest of the week due to personal reasons. The apartment should be fully stocked, but if you need anything please do not hesitate to ask. I can be found across the hall at apartment 1703, or I can be reached on my mobile which is programmed into the intercom. Please ignore Laxus' rudeness, he isn't himself when he's tired.
Please get some rest and recover quickly.
Freed
Cana smiled, pushing down the anxiety about missing work, her fight with Bacchus and her aching burns. She rustled through the bag and thankfully found her comfortable clothes and headed to the shower, letting the hot water wash it all away as it pulsed down her face at a pressure that was almost painful. As she used the shower gel hanging from the tap she recognised it immediately, only now realising how she'd associated the smell with Laxus. It was so strange to be in his apartment, as bare as it was, and yet still feel surrounded by him. He was a man of contradictions which all lived in strange harmony within.
When she emerged, mind now clear, she realised she had no idea what the time was. Where was her phone? Where was her purse? Laxus had probably left it in his car. How would she get into his car? She'd need the keys, and be able to work out how to get to it. Surely a place like this would have private parking. The consecutive problems became too much and she considered waking Laxus, but previous occasions had exposed her to the wrath of tired Laxus. The only way to avoid getting her head bitted off was to wait for him to wake up on his own. But he could sleep like a log, it might be hours before he woke. A growl coming from her stomach reminded her of Freed's offer. She walked to the intercom and pressed the button next to his name. Within a couple rings Freed's familiar voice answered.
"Hello, Freed Justine speaking." He said in his usual polite tone, light music in the background.
"Hi Freed, it's Cana." She said and before she could continue Freed burst down the line.
"Hello Cana! How are you feeling? Did you find everything ok?" Freed asked, his impatience for her reply radiating from his tone.
"Yeah, thank you so much for everything Freed. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't do all this." She said, barely getting the words out before Freed began to gush.
"It was nothing! I just hope that you are feeling better." He said, satisfied with her answer.
"I am. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is I can't find my bag and my phone. I think Laxus must have left them in his car but I have no idea of how to get them and I really didn't want to wake Laxus up, I know how cranky he gets if you wake him up too early." She explained.
"Yes, it's probably best to let him sleep." Freed agreed, attending to his keys he grasped the relevant ones. "I can be over in a minute and we can go get them if you'd like?" Freed asked, heading for Laxus'.
"You're a lifesaver!" Cana said, hanging up as she heard someone open the door, and of course there was Freed. It was strange to see him in casual clothes. A pressed t-shirt and loose trousers contrasted his black work attire while remaining oddly fitting.
"Hello," he greeted her with a smile but his eyes quickly became glued to the gel pads protruding from her mini-shorts.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble." She said, referring to not just his help getting her phone but the obvious effort he had made since her arrival.
"Not at all, I'm happy to help." Freed said, glancing at Laxus' still sleeping form before ushering her out into the hall. She obediently followed him, watching as he activated the elevator and led her towards Laxus car, pulling a key from his pocket he promptly unlocked it, the orange lights flashing. She quickly searched the front compartment, finding her bag and both her and Laxus' phone, both dead.
As they walked towards the elevator once again, she asked what to her seemed like a very reasonable question.
"Why do you have a key to Laxus' car and apartment?" She asked, concocting a saucy tale with which to taunt Laxus later.
"Laxus and Bixlow have a terrible habit of losing things, so they gave me copies of their keys in case they ever needed them." Freed said, remembering just that morning, Bixlows half-naked form asking for help.
"I've never noticed him do that before." She commented, trying to think of a time when he'd forgotten something at her flat.
"Yes, well recently he has been trying different techniques to help him remember." He intoned, the elevator slowly crawling up to the 17th floor.
"Like what?" she asked. This was a perfect opportunity to get some dirt on him. Laxus didn't let her talk to anyone he knew, so now was a perfect chance to finally fill in some blanks.
"Well a few months ago he tried using a utility belt he bought online, but that didn't end well. Now he uses connector cords to they don't fall from his pocket." He explained, opening the door for her.
"Why didn't it end well?" she probed, careful to speak quietly so not to rouse him.
"One of our clients joked that it make him look like batman, which was completely untrue." Freed insisted, but Cana couldn't help but laugh, imaging the serious Laxus dressed as batman. Freed began to frown, realising that he probably shouldn't have told Cana about the unspeakable incident. The hint was really in the name.
Cana's stomach grumbled once again and she realised she hadn't asked the most important question.
"Freed, what's the time?" she asked, at which he glanced at his watch and replied.
"It's about 1:30." He said, watching Cana's shocked expression.
"Shit, I need to call work." Cana said, flying into the bedroom where she had noticed Laxus' phone charger.
"I really think you should take it easy." Freed intoned, he wrestled her phone from her grip. "Work will only stress you. Have you eaten anything yet?" he asked patiently, her glare doing nothing to waiver his stance. Cana considered trying to argue with him, but if he stood his ground against Laxus in a bad mood then she'd have no chance at convincing him.
"How about we have lunch together and then I make some calls?" she bargained. Freed, accepting the compromise, placed the phone back on the nightstand to charge and walked back to the kitchen, unpacking the food from the fridge. There were stacks of banana pancakes, French toast, eggs, and rashers of crispy bacon. She knew that if she ate the bacon without Laxus he'd throw a fit. He'd eat it for every meal if it was up to him. Cana glanced over at him, an internal debate waging war inside her mind on whether or not to wake him. Finally, she gave in and decided to take the risk. She stood up from her stool and began to walk towards him, Freed looked on cautiously.
She leaned down next to him, unsure what would wake him without giving him a concussion. So she decided to start out small.
"Hey Laxus, it's already 2 in the afternoon, you better get up." She said loudly but only elicited a small turn of his head.
"Laxus, if you don't get up I'm going to eat all the bacon." That comment got a groan, but he still refused to get up. Rather than draw it out any longer, she began pinching his arms.
"Fuck off Wendy." He groaned in a low raspy voice before rolling onto his stomach, face buried in the couch. Cana was taken aback, she didn't know Laxus had a girlfriend. At first she was embarrassed which quickly turned into rage.
"I'm not Wendy, jackass." Cana snapped, pulling clumps of his hair.
"Oooooww, fucking crazy bitch! What do you want?" he growled, getting up to his feet and clutching his head. Pleased with her work she ignored his question and walked back over to the kitchen bench where a shocked Freed was frozen in place.
"We're having lunch, if you wanna eat you better get your ass over here." She said, suppressing a chuckle while ignoring his firey glare.
"I don't know if you've noticed but this is my apartment. When you're a guest you don't try and fucking scalp the owner." He snapped, his yelling making Freed even more nervous but Cana seemed unfazed.
"And when you're the host you're not supposed to spend the whole time sleeping!" she snapped back, she knew she shouldn't have pulled his hair but she didn't like his tone.
"I was only so exhausted from carrying your fat ass up here from the car!" he snapped, his rage ebbing as the tower of bacon caught his eye.
"Oh please, if it was so difficult you could have woken me up." She said, her tone losing its bite as he came to sit beside her, grabbing a hand full of bacon.
"And listen to you bitch about it? No thank you." He replied, to which Cana scoffed but focussed her efforts on eating as many banana pancakes as she could before Laxus finished with the bacon.
Freed, now sure that the pair weren't going to start a brawl, began eating some of the food he had prepared. He knowingly ventured around Laxus' kitchen, grabbing sugar and cinnamon for his French toast. It surprised her that Laxus had cinnamon, but the more she thought about it the more she realised he must have some kind of maid service. She could hardly see him pressing his own clothes and going grocery shopping. Freed on the other hand would be a perfect example.
After her fourth pancake there came a knock on the door. Laxus didn't even look up from his plate, assuming someone else would grab it. Before Freed could make a move Cana was already there. She had hoped it might be the mysterious Wendy but there was a frazzled looking Mira. When she saw Cana she launched forward, hugging her so tight she could barely breathe.
"I was so worried about you!" Mira chastised, fighting a sob. "Why didn't you call me? You're supposed to call when stuff like this happens!" She said, not letting Cana get a word in edgewise. Laxus glared at Freed, confident it was him that brought this onslaught of over emotional squealing into his unequipped space.
"I didn't think it was a big deal, I just spilt some coffee-" Cana began with what little breath she had before being cut off.
"You were in hospital!" Mira yelled, right near Cana's ear which made her pull back, almost falling over.
"Look, I got a bit burnt, but they fixed me up and I'll be totally fine. So there's no need to worry." Cana said in a soothing tone which calmed Mira from her hysterical state. Cana took her by the hand and lead her over to the kitchen bench where the two men were still eating.
"Hello Mira, it's nice to see you again." Freed said, gesturing to a stool next to him which she gratefully took. She offered a smile at Laxus but he ignored her and focussed his plate. He didn't want to get caught up in their melodrama with no coffee in his system.
"Don't worry about muscle man, he's just in food mode at the moment." Cana said, patting Laxus' shoulder condescendingly to which he scoffed.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Cana snapped, glaring at him.
"I saw you inhaling those pancakes." Laxus said with a nod.
"Only because I know as soon as you're done with that there'll be none left." She replied, pointing to the pile of scrambled eggs on his plate. Laxus opened his mouth to offer a nasty retort but before it left his lips Freed spoke over the top of him.
"Is there anything you'd like to eat Mira?" he asked, offering her a plate.
"Yeah, that French toast looks gorgeous. Do you have any honey?" she asked, and Freed nodded, jumping up to grab a small bottle of thick yellow liquid from the cupboard. Laxus was about to intone that it was his apartment after all but this time Cana cut him off.
"You hate honey so don't even start." She said, reaching past him to grab the butter. Mira blushed in embarrassment at the comment and Freed paused in shock for a moment before offering the honey.
"Don't worry about them." Freed said, offering her a comforting smile. Laxus looked up an upon realising what he'd (though more accurately Cana had) done he felt a pang of guilt.
"Sorry, I'm just irritable because Cana tried to scalp me." Laxus said to which Cana gave an irritated scoff.
Mira laughed at the two of them, in this weird situation they almost looked like an old married couple.
OOO
It wasn't till 4 o'clock that Freed and Mira left, finally giving Cana to check her phone. She turned it on, and as soon as she entered the passcode her phone began to buzz with messages and missed calls. She looked through the list of callers; Mira, Lisanna, Gildarts, Elfman, Bisca, Romeo and Bacchus. She reluctantly rang her message bank, familiar voices rang out-
"Hey doll, I got things here. Hurry up and get better so you can get back here before I murder some of these idiots." Bacchus drolled distractedly, having difficulty finding the right words with a ruckus surrounding him.
"Cana, pick up the damn phone and call me back!" Mira snapped, a message she had told her to ignore.
"Hey kid, I was just checking in on ya. Give me a call when you're feeling up to it." Gildarts asked, his request comforting her in a way she swore she wouldn't let him coddle her.
"Hi Cana, I don't mean to stress you out but Bacchus has lost it. He's cancelling all meetings and he refuses to authorise any high risk trades till you get back. If you could call him that would be great." Lisana said in hushed tones. She rolled her eyes. Of course Bacchus didn't want to authorise anything on her side of the business. On one hand it was strangely responsible of him to forfeit image over efficiency.
"Sis, call me." Romeo's worried voice made her wince.
"Hey Boss, I heard you got hurt and I thought I'd call. I hope you get back to work soon. Talk to ya later." Elfman's booming voice turned her frown into grin, chuckling to herself. With a sigh she began to return her calls.
Laxus was sitting outside, flicking through tv channels until he found something he liked. Leaning back in on the couch he dreaded going in to work in three hours. He reached for his phone but realised it wasn't on the coffee table. He let out a great sigh as he contemplated going all the way down to the car to get it. But as he listened he noticed Cana talking to someone on the phone and thought she might have some idea as to the location of his. He walked to the bedroom and saw her sitting on the bed, legs crossed and brow furrowed as she spoke very seriously to whoever was on the other line.
"Have you seen my phone?" he asked, and she leaned forward, shuffling through her bag until her fingers grasped around it, tossing it to him.
"It's Laxus." She said as he tried to turn it on before realising that the battery was dead. He saw the charger in the familiar place and leaned forward, dangerously close, to grab the end of the charger, before pulling back. Thankfully the dimness of the room concealed the red tinge to her cheeks that she wasn't even aware of. "The guy I wanted to introduce you to at fairy tail before you were a total asshole… Because I stay at his after I went to the hospital…. Yeah…. No! Stop screwing around and make the trades. I'll call you tomorrow." She said before hastily hanging up. Laxus was too busy trying to get into his phone to bother eavesdropping on her conversation. He had his own list of missed messages, however none of consequence. He sent texts to his crew to cover for him tonight and as they all checked in one by one he breathed a sigh of relief, ditched his phone and slinked back out to the couch.
It was a while before Cana had finished her multiple rounds of calls, assuring everyone that she was alright, and that no of course they didn't need to tell everyone they came in to contact with. She walked out into the loungeroom and upon seeing Laxus on the couch slid up next to him. She found it strange that he would rather sit in her cramped boring flat with awful food and no temperature control than sit in this incredible apartment, with everything exactly the way he liked it.
"Can I crash here tonight?" she asked, not wanting to go to the club and definitely not wanting to go all the way back to her flat, just to have to clean up the mess she'd left. He wanted to say yes but sleeping on the couch would got old pretty quickly. Anticipating his aversion to their earlier situation Cana made a proposal. "I could take the couch and you can have the bed, seeing as it is your house and all." She insisted but he just rolled his eyes.
"Only a total asshole would make an injured woman sleep on the couch." He grunted, arms folding across his chest.
"Well I'm glad we are in agreement." Cana said with a grin, but couldn't hold in the laughter when he glared at her. The laughter was contagious and soon they were both chuckling as they unconsciously shuffled closer together, Laxus' eyes on the tv while Cana's couldn't help but drift to the beautiful view. She knew logically that seeing it every day would desensitise him to it but still, shouldn't he be in awe? He followed her line of sight and looked out at the beautiful orange sunset that had engulfed the sky and played off the glass windows on the skyscrapers surrounding them.
"It's so beautiful here…" She said with a wistful smile.
"Yeah… but it can get pretty boring." He said, eyes flicking back to the tv. She wondered if that was why he hung out at her hovel. Did she really make his life less boring? She liked the idea of that. "Ever's apartment has the best view, 'cause she got the one with the balcony." He said, and she could tell he was slightly bitter about it.
"How come you all live in the same place?" Cana asked, eyes still searching out the horizon.
"Freed's in charge of accommodation and this building was new so he said we should all buy one and then when we leave we could rent them or something." He said, more focussed on the explosions erupting on screen than he was at Cana's shock.
"You own this place?" She said in surprise, turning to face him. He tried to shrug her off but her stare wouldn't abate.
"Yeah. You own a bunch of apartment buildings, why is it so weird for me to own my own apartment?" he said, trying to push her out of his field of vision, her head blocking the general's decapitation. She thought on that for a moment, concluding that her surprise must have come her assumption that body guards didn't earn a lot of money.
"Anyway, what's with the crap on the table?" Cana asked.
"What? Why?" he asked, starting to get frustrated at her constant interruptions, couldn't she see he was watching something of the most importance- pointless gore?
"Well, everything in here looks like it's professionally cleaned except that table." Cana explained. Laxus paused, like the idea hadn't even occurred to him. He glanced around the room and realised she was right and started to chuckle. "What?!" she demanded.
"It's my sisters." He said, but failed to elaborate further.
"I didn't know you had sisters? Are the older or younger?" she asked, intensely curious.
"Two younger sisters, they're in year 12 this year." He said, reluctantly accepting that he wasn't going to be able to get out of it without an explanation. "When they come over they make mess everywhere and then get pissed when I throw the crap out. So I told them that whatever they didn't want thrown out would have to go on the table so they just dump all their shit there." He explained, giving himself a reminder to have them clean it up this weekend. "It's the same with my car, they are bloody shocking. If they really needed all that crap then they shouldn't leave it lying around!" he said, Cana thought it sounded like a rehearsed speech he'd given on numerous occasions.
"You are such a man!" Cana said with a chuckle, "I totally get where your sisters are coming from. When I found out my brother threw out my signed guns and roses poster I was so gutted." She intoned, nodding at him.
"See, that I can understand. They get pissed about bits of paper with scribbles on it, like it's the end of the world that they lost a doodle they drew and chucked on the floor 2 years ago." Laxus said, arms waiving in the air. It was rare to see him so animated, and Cana was enjoying every moment.
"Laxus, you're so insensitive." She said with a flick of her hair, laughing as he rolled his eyes dramatically.
"That's what always Wendy says, but maybe she's too sensitive." Laxus muttered to himself, tensing and untensing his shoulders.
"Who's Wendy?" Cana asked, trying to hide the swirl of emotions that had been triggered earlier when he mentioned her name before waking.
"That's one of my sisters." He replied, to which she laughed with relief. He raised an eyebrow, but she just ignored him and returned to stare at the sunset.
"You know we could always get in the bed together." She said thoughtfully which made Laxus sit up stare at her like she had said the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. "I don't mean we should have sex. You could fit 5 people in that bed, don't you think it's a bit ridiculous that one of us has to sleep on the couch?" She asked, but Laxus was speechless. He couldn't think of a plausible reason for his reluctance and he didn't think Cana would let him get away with 'I don't want to'.
"Fine…"
OOO
Laxus could feel the warm body of a woman curled around him. He head tucked just under his chin and breasts pressing into his chest, as he became more and more lucid he remembered the reason behind this development. He had purposefully gone to bed after her, slept on the far side of the bed and kept a layer of sheet between them. But still Cana had managed crawl to his side in her sleep. It wasn't that the sensation was unpleasant, but the barriers he had placed between them were dissolving faster every second her warmth flowed into him. His hand reached out, cupping her cheek, he thumb caressing her lips, to which she began to stir. The small flicker of her eyes beneath her lids was enough to snap him out of his trance. A flash of panic ran through him, and he had to grip the mattress to supress the urge to fling himself from the bed to avoid detection.
He collected himself and slowly retreated from the bed, slipping a pillow under her head where she had been resting against his neck. Once he was free he darted straight into the bathroom. He didn't stop to think about clothes or a towel or even to shut the door, he simply turned the shower on cold and stood, letting the icy water clear his mind. That was too close. He'd never even considered it before… she was his job… they were friends… she made it clear she wasn't interested in dating anyone let alone him. But she was so smart and funny… no one else made him have fun in the most boring situations… or argued him about the most ridiculous things… she was so beautiful… and she was pressed up against him…
No!
The entire thing was a mistake. She'd go back to her apartment today and everything would go back to normal. He'd pretend he never reached for her, never crossed the boundary and it would remain intact.
He let out a frustrated sigh. It was because the night shift that she'd become the only woman in his life. He needed to meet someone outside of the club. Someone new that wasn't ingrained in his life.
He needed a distraction.
