The kitchen counter was littered with a concoction of assorted ingredients and cooking utensils, enough so that just looking at it gave the Slayer a headache. It was as he stood there, staring in a bit of disbelief at the mess that had befallen his poor kitchen in what felt like no time at all, that a frown began to tug at his features. He growled then, just a bit, as he finally found the exact word he wanted to fall from his mouth.

"Demon," he whispered hotly, but it was loud enough, apparently, for the woman to hear over her own humming.

It was her, of course, the demon Mirajane, who saw it fit to destroy his kitchen in such a way. She stood there, in one of her standard dresses, happily bent over the stove only moments before, but did look back at him then with one of those bright grins of hers.

"Dragon," she tried to growl back, but to came out as a laugh and, just as quickly, she was turning back to the pot she was stirring. "Finally decide to get up, sleepyhead?"

"What are you doing, woman?" he questioned in the most unwelcoming of ways. "Huh? A man shouldn't have to worry about waking up to a disaster zone just because... Why are you here, exactly?"

"Well," she began with something of a sigh, "as you know, there's gonna be a big party at the hall tonight. You know, to celebrate the start of spring?"

"Since when is that a thing?"

"Since I made it one."

Of course.

"And," the woman was going on as, abandoning the pot, she went over to start chopping some vegetables on the counter top, "there's not really enough space in the guildhall kitchen for me to get the beginning preparations ready because, well, you know, Kinana is already so busy making breakfast and lunch orders, so I needed to get the early prep stuff started somewhere else."

"You ever try your own damn house?"

"I did," she offered with a nod."But my kitchen is just so small and, well, my house is really, especially with Elf and Lisanna lurking around too, so-"

"So," the Slayer finished for her, "you decided to break into my place and wreck my kitchen instead."

"It's not breaking if you have a key."

"Tell it to the constable."

"Awe, dragon, I know you've been laid up recently, but it's super cute that you have to rely on the city patrol for protection."

This finally seemed to draw real ire out of the man as, instead of making an off-handed remark, he literally turned away from her, a sour look replacing his put on annoyance. It hadn't been a good time for him, was all, recently. He'd gotten hurt out on a job and, well, he was taking some time to recuperate and train up before going back out again. The Thunder Legion, the best publicists a guy could ask for, played this up for the man to others, claiming his hiatus and seclusion just showed how clearly superior he was to the rest of them. Yes. Obviously. He had enough jewels to take a few months away from work while their pathetic, lowly mage selves couldn't scrape together enough jewels to survive a rough week.

Still, Laxus knew, obviously, the real reason that he was hiding out in his apartment, wasting his days away. Before, in the earlier ones, it was to hardly get out of bed, far too laid up for much else, but as he was feeling a bit better now, he mostly brooded around the apartment. When she wasn't working, which wasn't often, he could expect the demon to drop by, ever the doting girlfriend, and he was usually welcoming of this.

Usually.

When he'd first noticed her presence, only a few minutes before, it had been with groggy recognition of not being alone. Rather than panic, however, as the woman's scent hit his nose, he was intrigued originally. He didn't know her to be off that day and, well, if she was showing up to spend time with him, that was a welcome surprise. But after shoving out of bed and stumbling into the kitchen, he hadn't found her scrambling him up some eggs or frying some bacon. Rather, he'd stumbled upon this nonsense and, well, he couldn't exactly say he was surprised, but he also wasn't too pleased.

That had more to do with the fact she was teasing him though.

"Oh, Lax," Mirajane sighed when she took in the man's sour expression. "I was just kidding. You know that if you need someone to protect you, I'm always available."

"No one," he told her crossly, "needs to protect me."

"You...have bodyguards though. I mean-"

"Shuddup." Sulking, he came further into the kitchen. "And we're going to be going over personal boundaries."

"If it's that big of a deal," she told him with a frown over her shoulder, "then I'll just leave. Is that what you want?"

"No." He slammed down into a chair at the kitchen table then, glaring at her as he said, "But you're going to make me breakfast."

"Oh, I am?"

"Yeah," he told her icily. "You are."

Laxus wasn't sure why he didn't realize this would result in cold, soggy, bland cereal, but then again, he never claimed to be omniscient.

Things felt rather tense, which was rare between the two of them. While he was prone to disgruntled rants, it was rare for her to respond with anything other than her typical pleasantries. When she was equally as angry at him, they could have a stalemate for hours.

But that was the thing. Mirajane, the demon, she could live with it. Him being upset with him. No matter what the duration. But Laxus didn't like for his girlfriend to be mad at him (even if he didn't feel like he was the one in the wrong to begin with) and eventually the tension seemed too much for him to take.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked after mostly pushing his cornflakes around in their bowl. Getting to his feet instead, he refused to apologize, in any situation, but did find himself asking while nodding at some still unchopped vegetables, "Demon?"

And she still had a bit of a glint of annoyance in her eyes, but did mutter something about him helping out and, well, Laxus might not know how to say sorry, but he definitely knew how to get back on the woman's good side. And, slowly, this came to fruition as Mirajane could never hold out for long, once he'd already broken, and soon enough she was back to singing, loudly now, rather than the low hums she'd had before, when he was sleeping, and Laxus just had to admire her, he always had to admire her. Imagine being worked like a dog and still finding it within yourself to be pleased by this fact.

His woman was something else.

She was though, his woman, which is why when the time came where she began bowling things up with the intent to transport it all back to the hall, where she'd finished food prep, Laxus had to let out a ragged sigh before offering his assistance.

"But Laxus," she asked with a sly smile, "you haven't been down to the guild in over a month."

And it all made sense now.

Glaring at her once more, he growled all the way to his bedroom, intending to get dressed regardless of his aggravation.

"You," he accused as he tugged on his clothes regardless, "planned this, didn't you? Huh?"

"I don't know what you're-"

"Just to make me go back there?" He looked at her in exasperation as the woman joined him in the bedroom. "Why, Mirajane? You dirty, lowdown-"

"Loving, thoughtful, caring-"

"You," he finished with a heavy finger of averment, "are tricky."

"I," she challenged, not used to getting a finger waved in her own face, "am helping you, dragon."

"Bullshit."

"You have to go back eventually." She dropped her shoulders some then, as well as her tone. Softly, she said, "Everyone fails sometimes, Lax."

He sneered and really thought about it then, just kicking the woman (and all her half finished dishes), out in the cold. But there was just something about her. There was always something about her. It sucked the most, honestly, when she began to smile only seconds later in response to the long, drawn out sighing groan he let out, releasing everything inside of him that could, honestly, probably murder the woman in that moment.

"I," he told her as, finally, he tugged on his coat and they went back into the kitchen to divvy up the pots and bowls to carry, "hate you."

"You love me," Mirajane challenged with a look. "And I love you. I wouldn't force you to go back if I didn't."

"Force. You heard that, right? What you just said? Do you listen to yourself? Force. Fucking force." Laxus could be led to water, he could even be made to drink it, but damn it if he wasn't going to bellyache about it during. "You're forcing me to do this. And that means that whatever psychological affects this has-"

"You're so dramatic."

"-are your fault." He even shook his head. "You're evil. Vindictive. A tricky-"

"Demon." She was headed to his front door then. "Now come on. Everyone will be waiting."

"Every- You told them I was coming?"

"What do you think the party is really for, Laxus?"

"Mirajane, I'm not a fucking child! I-"

"Then quit throwing a tantrum and hurry up." She grinned at him over her shoulder. "All your friends are waiting to pick you right back up."

"My friends," he told her sourly, "are going to get their heads slammed together. All three of them. For going along with this."

"Your other friends then."

"I don't have any other-"

"Most people keep that to themselves, Lax."

"Mirajane-"

"When I told everyone we were having a party to get you back out of your shell," she insisted, "they were all supportive."

"Yeah, because you said party," he challenged. "And they just all wanna go and drink and hear you play your guitar and eat and-"

"And remind you why you're so special to us."

"I'm special to you."

"Awe."

"No, I meant… No one's going to give a shit about me," he griped. "This party, it wont' have anything to do with me. This is one of your dumbest ideas-"

"Is it? Huh?" They were out on the street now, arms loaded up, but she was still all grins about their lengthy walk to the hall. "Everyone already knows you're coming out of hiding, so they won't gawk and gossip about it; they've already done that. And by the time we show up, most of them will already be too drunk to care about you. So you can just fade right back into the woodwork if you want. If you ask me-"

"I haven't. At all. In fact, I don't want to hear from you again all day."

"-this is the best idea I've ever had."

When this only got stony silence out of the man, Mirajane titled her head back to stare up at him for a moment before grinning quite openly. And damn it, fucking hell, he wanted to be so mad, so angry, so...so…

"You're a demon," he muttered softly, trying to fight a grin from spreading across his own mouth. "You know that?"

"Most people can just say thanks, you know, dragon."

Yeah.

As he kept completely silent, much to the giggles of the woman, he knew.