New Year's Resolutions, part 3

Characters: Elfman/Evergreen

Genre: Romance, K+

Summary: I'll stop running away.

New Year's Resolutions

"Mira-nee is taking too long to bring the champagne." Lisanna stated, looking nervously around. "The countdown is about to start."

"Laxus went searching for her a while ago." Freed nodded, crossing his arms. "They should have been here by now."

"I'll check the guild's hall, you guys search the crowd to see if they got lost." The youngest Strauss sibling left in a hurry, followed right after by Freed and Bickslow, leaving Evergreen with that giant dork.

He was sitting on the floor, back leaned against a tree trunk, holding an empty bottle of whisky. His face was slightly flushed for drinking too much and his expression was unusually gloomy as he stared at his own feet.

"Damn it, Elfman," Evergreen growled, resting her hands on her hips while looking at him. "stop sulking already!"

"Not talking to you." He replied grumpily, not even shooting her a glance.

She snorted. The Take Over mage had been like that since they got into an argument earlier that evening. It had been just like every other fight they ever had, but after that one, he spent the rest of the night isolated at a corner of the bar, not speaking with anyone, until Lisanna dragged him outside to watch the fireworks.

"What are you so moody about anyway?" She kicked his leg furiously, sick of his behavior. "You were the one who ridiculed my New Year's resolutions!"

"Gods, I only said I don't think you need to lose weight!" Elfman dropped the bottle dramatically, rubbing his face with his hands.

"No, you called me 'not that fat', which still means fat, you bastard!" She clenched her teeth, trying really hard not to slap him.

"Well, if I'm a bastard then why are you still here talking to me?!" He grunted angrily, tilting his head to stare at her for the first time.

"Because you are even more annoying when you're in a bad mood!" Evergreen was yelling now, but Elfman didn't back off like earlier that night. Instead, he balled his fists into a tight grasp until his veins popped in his arms and blustered back.

"Oh yeah? Does it really make a difference whether I'm in a bad mood or not? Because it doesn't matter what I say or do, you're always mad at me. If I talk to you, you get mad; if I don't, you get mad. My mere existence seems to make you mad. Would it make you happy if I just disappeared from the face of the Earth? Huh? Is that what you want?"

Evergreen hesitated at his sudden burst, but before she could say anything, Elfman took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair. He faced the crowd ahead of them, looking… hurt.

"I'm sorry, Ever, I didn't mean to… I'm only upset with myself, not with you, so please forgive me."

Evergreen felt a heavy pang in her chest, realizing she hated to see him so out of character. Taking a few steps in his direction, she kneeled between his legs, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Then tell me what's upsetting you." She asked in a low voice, stroking him gently. "I want to help."

It took a few seconds before he finally replied.

"When it comes to you, I feel… clueless. Dumb, even. I have no idea what to do to have a normal conversation with you and when you get irritated I..." He sighed, turning to look at her. "It seems I will never be… manly enough for you and it just… it pisses me off, Ever."

Evergreen felt her throat dry, knowing very well it was her own fault he felt that way. She had been unfairly harsh to him only because his ability to dismantle all her barriers scared her.

She thought that if she let him get too close, he would hurt her. However, she was the one who ended up hurting him by pushing him away constantly and now she couldn't let him suffer for her mistakes.

"I'm the one who should be saying sorry." Evergreen swallowed hard, cupping both sides of his face with her hands. "Unlike you, it's hard for me to express my… actual feelings, so sometimes my reactions come rougher than intended."

He stared at her with deep blue eyes still filled with doubts. "Be honest with me, Ever. Am I a bother to you?"

"No." She laughed humorlessly, shaking her head. "No, you are… you are…"

The words never came. Evergreen closed her eyes, yielding to the urge of pressing her mouth against his.

It was supposed to be just a quick touch of lips, but Elfman slid a hand on her back and another one through her hair, pulling her closer, and she let herself dive deep into their kiss.

She didn't care when the countdown to New Year's began nor pulled away when the others came back and Mirajane fainted at the sight of them making out in a very public way.

She wasn't hiding behind excuses anymore.