Lucy entered the guildhall and headed straight to the bar where Mira was cleaning the glasses, while calling out hello's to those who had already arrived. She also noticed Laxus seated at the bar drinking his beer.

"Hey Mira! Can I get a strawberry smoothie please?" She called out, as she took the seat next to Laxus.

"Of course! Here you go Lucy" Mira said as she slid a tall glass of strawberry smoothie towards her and went back to tending to the bar. Lucy smiled her thanks and turned to greet Laxus "Morning Laxus! The squad not here yet?"

"Tsk" he muttered, "Ain't their keeper blondie" He scowled and she laughed. It was per the norm for Laxus to be grumpy in the morning. After His return from the banishment, Lucy had struck up a tentative friendship with the thunder god. At first, it was just the casual greeting when they bumped into each other at the guild. But slowly but surely she'd managed to make progress and now she could safely say that she was friends with Laxus and the thunder legion. It wasn't all that difficult either. She had already been spending time with the thunder legion even before His return. Discussing books with Freed, clothes with Evergreen and just plain old trolling with Bickslow. And it also helped that Laxus seemed more open since his return. After his his tremendous help with the GMG and later with defeating the dragons, the guild had come to terms with his change and even he'd seemed more open to forming friendship outside of the thunder legion. So really, it hadn't been much trouble at all getting to know him. Despite their obvious age gap, it wasn't to hard for them to mesh. She even trolled him almost much as Bickslow did and he let her get away with it without shocking her.

She grinned at his scowl and he rolled his eyes while continuing to drink his beer.

Yea she was happy to call Laxus her friend.

He didn't show it but, Laxus was currently feeling extremely happy and at peace. He never expected it to be honest. It had just crept on him one slowly without him realising and then suddenly one day, it was just there. He had always been attracted to her, he knew that. I mean, have you seen her? But that was just it, a simple attraction which should have fizzled out. And it would have too if things didn't turn out the way they did. First, his banishment from the guild had really slapped him upside the head and shown him what was what. He'd spent months travelling so that he could think and understand just where everything had gone so wrong. And then he'd come back and the GMG had happened. It was liberating, to know that he hadn't truly messed things up beyond repair. As much as he enjoyed getting to really know his guildmates without the stigma of not being strong enough, he'd enjoyed it even more when one particular blonde had talked to him. He looked at her grinning up at him and rolled his eyes(all in jest really.) He still doesn't understand how she'd managed to crawl into his heart. But she had done it and now there was no way for him to clear her out. He liked her being there too much. She may not realize it but he purposely came early to the guild every morning so that he could spend those precious few minutes with her without the interference of her team or his. Honestly! He loved his friends but sometimes they can be a bit much. Especially if they ever find out about this. He shuddered just thinking about it.

"Are you alright Laxus? Is something wrong?"

He turned around to see her looking at him in concern. His chest tightened and he found it difficult to verbalize his thoughts. So he did what he always does, when it concerns his emotions. He deflected.

"I'm great blondie. Though I probably can't say the same for you" he smirked

She blushed "huh... Yea…. Just got back from a job"

"So I can expect news of major destruction in some poor town then" he laughed. Gramps must be burried in paperwork.

She giggled nervously "yea that sounds about right. A normal day in Fairytail" she shrugged, taking a sip of her smoothie.

"Yea" He agreed finishing his beer, "A normal day in Fairytail"

Except it wasn't. Not by a long shot.