Chapter 18 – Proposal

As soon as they got back to the guildhall, they split up into groups. Everyone else but Eclipse, Serenity and Adryn went to go get drunk. Freed returned to the other members of the Thunder Legion with Laxus. While Nova headed to the bar to chat with Mirajane and get drunk alone. Eclipse, Adryn, and Serenity went to a table away from the drunks and loud mouths to color.

However, everything seemed normal, until a couple of hours later. Everyone was mostly drunk, but not too drunk, except Nova. She was drinking as if to forget everything that she's gone through. That led her to be sloppy drunk and stumbling around. Eventually, though, she made her way to the table where Eclipse, Adryn, and Serenity were seated.

"Nova? Are you alri-" Adryn was cut off by Nova throwing herself onto Adryn. It was a shock, but more so was when they realized that Nova was sobbing as she clung to Adryn. "Nova?"

"I love you!" Nova wailed as she shook Adryn violently. Hearing Nova, a few people looked over to them. One of those people was Laxus. He stopped his drinking with the Thunder Legion to turn to look at Adryn and the scene going on around her.

"Nova? Are you alright?" Eclipse questioned her sister with a lot of worry.

"I don't want to leave you!" Nova cried out as she held tighter to Adryn and continued her shaking.

"Nova, you need to let me go. You're creating a scene. People are looking." Adryn muttered as she tried to push the lilac-haired girl off of her. However, before she could do too much, Laxus walked over and pulled Nova off of Adryn forcefully.

"Stay off of Adryn," Laxus told the girl who was then thrown on the floor. Nova got up immediately and began yelling at Laxus.

"You don't deserve Adryn! I had her first!" Nova yelled at the man. Laxus was a little taken aback at the girl's yelling.

"Adryn made her choice already." Laxus simply stated as he glared down at the girl.

"So what?! We should fight to show which of us is strong enough to be with Adryn!"

"Alright," Laxus smirked at Nova, much to Adryn's dismay.

"Wait, you two need to stop this! You're both drunk and could really hurt someone or break something!" Eclipse got up instantly and tried to get in between the two who were about to fight. However, before she could, Nova lunged at Laxus.

Everyone in the guildhall turned to look at the two who were now in an altercation. However, things ended quickly with one blow from Laxus. The man sent a powerful blast of lightning towards the lilac-haired girl. In return, Nova went flying backward and crashed into the wall.

"Nova!" Both Adryn and Eclipse cried out in horror. They watched as she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Laxus! Why would you do that!? You know she was out of her mind drunk!" Adryn scolded her lover as she watched Eclipse run to her sister's side.

"I just didn't want there to be any chance of losing to her, and losing you in return." Laxus simply stated as he looked to the girl.

"You're an idiot, Laxus. No matter who won, I would not be Nova's. I swore I was yours." Adryn was now glaring up at her lover, who turned away from her. There was a slight pout on his face. Adryn turned to look at Nova, who was now being carried off by Eclipse. Adryn then turned back to Laxus, who was now seated at the table where Serenity still was. She was still coloring, ignoring the things going on around her.

"Mother, father is upset." Serenity muttered as she looked up for a moment, then continued coloring.

"I know..." Adryn then moved to Laxus' side and wrapped her arms around him. "Come on, Laxus. I didn't mean to yell at you." Laxus turned his head away from Adryn. So, the girl leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I love you," Adryn whispered to the pouting man. Laxus then turned back to Adryn and smirked at her. "Oh? You aren't pouting anymore?"

"I wasn't pouting," Laxus mumbled as he wrapped his arms around Adryn. He pulled her closer to him and then kissed her. He then paused and pulled away from her. He looked around at everyone who was looking at them. It looked like they were shocked, as Laxus had never seemed so soft around them like that before.

"We should probably head home." Adryn laughed as she realized Laxus was a little too drunk and now that they were the main focus of the room, he would probably be uncomfortable. "We really need to go home, before you do something you'll regret."

"There is nothing I could do to make me regret anything as long as you're by my side." Laxus then smirked at Adryn. "We could even get married right now to prove that I won't regret anything in the morning."

"You better be joking about that. You won't remember any of this in the morning. I'm pretty sure you would want to remember your wedding."

"Even so, I want to marry you, as soon as possible."

"Wait, what?" Adryn was shocked as the two of them hadn't really spoken about marriage before. Especially not since she'd become Adryn again. However, Adryn shook off the shock and muttered her next thought. "You can't propose without a ring, Laxus." To her words, Laxus reached into his coat and pulled out a small box. "What is that?" Everyone in the room then froze at the sight of the box.

"Marry me." Laxus' voice was so clear for a moment. Before Adryn could respond, Laxus opened the box and showed the ring to Adryn. She couldn't help but gasp at its beauty. The ring was a black band with a huge emerald heart in the middle with a bunch of little blue sapphires surrounding it on either side of the heart. Adryn's knees began to shake and she had to hold onto Laxus to keep herself standing. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"How long have you had this ring?"

"I've had it... ever since the first month of us dating. Even before you moved in with me." Laxus responded simply. That caused Adryn to fight more tears. She took a deep breath and smiled at Laxus.

"Alright. Listen Laxus, I'll marry you but I won't put the ring on yet. I'll put it on when you're sober." To Adryn's words, everyone began to cheer and clap for the couple. Laxus and Adryn ignored them and pulled each other into an embrace. They then kissed and separated. "I'll ask Mira if she can watch Serenity again, then, we'll go home."

"Alright." Laxus agreed as he released Adryn from his grasp. The redhead hurried to Mirajane to ask her the question. After Mirajane agreed to watch the little girl, they said goodnight to everyone and Laxus and Adryn headed home. The girl had to have Laxus lean against her as they walked due to how drunk he'd gotten. So, that led to the couple stumbling through the streets to Laxus' original apartment, since they hadn't gotten the other apartment ready yet.

"Laxus, get into bed," Adryn told the large man as soon as they got to their bedroom. Laxus just nodded his head and climbed into bed, however, before Adryn could cover him up, he pulled her into bed with him. "Laxus?"

"Stay," Laxus muttered quietly as he slowly drifted off to sleep. Adryn was left unsure of things since he wasn't usually like this. However, she was too caught up in being in his arms to worry about it too much. The last thought Adryn had that night was that she hoped Laxus would remember everything in the morning.

~

The next morning, Adryn woke up not in Laxus' arms. He was faced away from her and still sleeping. Seeing him sleeping so peacefully brought a smile to Adryn's face. She then figured that Laxus wouldn't feel too good once he woke up, so Adryn decided to get up and make him breakfast.

About a half-hour later, Laxus woke up in bed alone. He wasn't sure how he got home, as he had no memory of the night before. He just hoped that he hadn't done anything to upset Adryn. However, he could smell food cooking, so he left the bedroom. He walked into the living room and looked into the kitchen to see Adryn, only for the entire previous night to come rushing back to him.

"I'm sorry I was so drunk last night." Laxus' words startled Adryn causing her to turn around quickly. She then processed his words and began to chuckle at him.

"It's alright. You were cute. Do you remember everything?" Adryn responded as she turned back to the cooking food.

"I do." Laxus then walked to his coat and pulled out the ring box. "I'm sober now, put the ring on."

"Of course." Adryn turned back to Laxus to let him put the ring on her finger. She then motioned for him to sit down so she could finish up the food. So, Laxus kissed her and went to go sit down and watch her finish the food. As the girl continued to cook, she couldn't help but smile the entire time.

After another few minutes, the food was done and sitting on the table. Laxus and Adryn immediately began to eat and as they ate, they chatted about their plans for the day. They eventually came to the conclusion that they would go to the guildhall and recruit their friends to help them pack up. So, once they ate, they got ready for the day. Once they were ready, they walked to the guildhall. Once there, Mirajane approached them as soon as they walked through the doors.

"So, did you remember everything? Are you two officially engaged?" Mirajane questioned, causing the others around them to stop talking and turn around to look at the couple.

"Yes. To both those questions." Adryn responded with a smile on her face. Instantly, there were cheers and congratulations from the members of the guild. They all then went back to their own things as the couple and Mirajane walked split apart. Mirajane went back tot he bar, while Laxus and Adryn went off to the Thunder Legion.

"Congratulations, both of you." Freed smiled as he spoke to them.

"It's about time! It took you two forever to get to this point!" Evergreen commented with a smirk on her face. Adryn wanted to retort, but Bickslow interrupted her thoughts.

"The wedding better be soon. Before anything else happens to you two."

Bickslow's remark was followed by his babies repeating, "Happens to you!" a few times.

"Bickslow!" Evergreen and Freed scolded their friend, but Laxus and Adryn just smiled at them.

"We haven't talked about the wedding yet. We literally just got officially engaged this morning." Laxus grumbled as Adryn just chuckled at him.

"So, can you three help out with the packing process? We could really use the help." Adryn questioned to her friends. They instantly all agreed and stood up from the table.

"It may take all day, so we should head out now," Freed suggested causing Laxus to agree immediately.

"Let's go." Laxus then turned around and began to leave. Adryn, Evergreen, Freed and Bickslow(and his babies) all hurried to catch up with the tall man. They first headed to get boxes and then they made their way to Laxus' apartment. "Adryn and I will take the bedroom." Laxus then headed to the bedroom with Adryn following him.

So the packing began. Adryn began to pack her clothes and realized that she had pretty much the same outfit over and over again. She wore that she'd go shopping and get some new outfits eventually. Laxus' packing was a lot less neat than Adryn's was. So, she had to go through his stuff and fold it the correct way and put it neatly into the boxes. Laxus just smirked at her and continued to do things his way.

Eventually, Adryn and Laxus got their room packed up and headed out to see how the others had done. It seemed like they were nearly done, so Adryn and Laxus joined them in finishing up the packing of the rest of the apartment.

"Alright, so, we should start taking the boxes over to the apartment," Freed spoke up as he watched Bickslow and Evergreen sit on the couch. Both of them groaned at his words, causing Adryn to smile.

"Let's get going." Laxus agreed as he made his way to grab a few boxes. Everyone took a few or just one box and headed out. The process took the rest of the day, but eventually, the group had all the boxes in the new apartment. Once the boxes were there, the Thunder Legion looked around the new apartment.

"This is a pretty nice place," Bickslow commented with his babies echoing his words.

"It's a 3 bedroom? Why the extra bedroom?" Freed questioned as he looked to the couple.

"So we have room to grow," Adryn responded without giving too much information. Freed just took that as a good response and nodded his head. Adryn then looked out a window and frowned. "We should get Serenity and head back to the other apartment to sleep." Laxus just wordlessly agreed and then the group was heading back to the guildhall. Once there, Adryn collected the sleeping child, letting Laxus carry her. They then said their goodnights to their friends and headed back to the original apartment. They'd left the blankets and pillows there for their last night in the apartment. Even the couch was left, ready for Serenity to sleep on. They needed to stay in the new apartment, because their new apartment was completely empty, except for the new boxes of stuff that was now there.

Once they returned to their apartment, Laxus laid Serenity on the couch and covered her up. He and Adryn then headed to their bedroom and got ready for bed. That essentially meant that they stripped to their underwear and climbed into bed. Almost immediately after laying down and snuggling together, the couple was asleep.

~

The next morning, Adryn and Laxus woke up first and got back into their clothes. They then left the bedroom, only to see that Serenity was awake and just staring up at the ceiling silently.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Adryn questioned as she approached the little girl.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, mother, I did. How did you sleep?" Serenity responded as she broke out of her trance that she'd been in.

"Let's get going. We can grab something to eat while we're out." Laxus stated, causing the little girl to light up.

"We can go out to eat somewhere?" Serenity jumped off the couch and was smiling up at her father. "Also, where are we going?"

"We need to get furniture. We have nothing for the new apartment." Adryn responded simply. Serenity nodded her head and the group then headed out of the apartment to go buy some furniture. First, though, the three of them headed to a place to get some breakfast. After that though, they headed around town to collect items for their new place.

Serenity got to pick out her own bed while the two adults chose a much bigger bed for the two of them. They also picked out a new couch and chairs for their living room. They had everything set to be delivered to their new place later that day. That meant that they could go collect smaller items. Like some books for Serenity and Adryn. They also picked up new things for Serenity, meaning just anything that a young girl would need to be happy. Serenity was hesitant at first, but Laxus and Adryn reassured her that they wanted her to be happy so they'd get her anything she wanted. Once they were done, they headed home to start to unpack their belongings as they waited for their new stuff to arrive.

"So this will be your room," Adryn spoke up as she led Serenity to the room she'd decided was perfect for her daughter. "You can do whatever you want with this room, as long as you don't destroy it." Adryn chuckled at the last comment causing Serenity to light up.

"You mean it? I can do whatever?" Serenity seemed to be happy about the situation. Adryn just nodded to her little girl as she led Serenity to the next bedroom.

"This one is your father and I's room. If you ever need us, just come and knock. We'll help you with anything you need."

"Thank you, mother."

"Alright, now let's start unpacking so we have room for when everything else gets here." Laxus suddenly spoke up as Serenity and Adryn were making their way back to where he was.

"If we work together, we should get this done quickly," Adryn commented simply as she smiled up at her lover.

"Mother is right, let's work together!" Serenity smiled up at Laxus as well, causing a small smirk to appear on Laxus' face. So, with that, the three of them began to unpack. They started with the kitchen. Meaning they brought back out their pots and pans, not that Laxus had many, to begin with. Adryn made a mental note to have them pick up some more cooking utensils and supplies later on.

Once the kitchen was unpacked, they moved to the living room. They were about halfway through with unpacking the living room when the people arrived with the large new things that they'd bought earlier that day. So they halted their unpacking to show the people where to put everything. Once they were done and thanked for their help, the three of them went back to their original mission.

It took the rest of the day, but eventually, everything was unpacked and the beds were made up. The day was already coming to an end by the time they were done.

"We should get our friends and show them the place," Adryn muttered as she laid on the couch, exhausted from the day. Laxus thought about it for a moment before nodding his head.

"That means you have to get up and walk there," Laxus noted as he stood up from one of the chairs.

"Can't you just carry me? I'm sure I'm not that heavy."

"You are light compared to that couch you're laying on," Laxus responded simply.

"Don't compare me to a couch!" Adryn sat up as she pouted at her lover. Laxus couldn't help but smirk at her.

"Let's go." Laxus held out a hand to Adryn to help her fully off the couch and she took it with a smile on her face. Serenity simply hopped down off her chair and followed after the two adults who were now standing at the door, waiting for her. The three of them walked to the guildhall holding hands, mostly so no one would get lost as the light faded from the sky. They really didn't want Serenity to run off or get lost on their way through town.

As soon as the three of them got there, they were surrounded by their friends. Specifically the Thunder Legion and Eclipse. Mirajane wanted to go to them, but she was caught up with the drunks.

"Glad none of you are drunk. Were you waiting for us?" Adryn questioned as she looked at their friends.

"Yes. We are eager to see how your new apartment turned out." Eclipse responded as she patted Serenity on the head as a hello.

"Well, that's why we're here. We wanted you 4 to be the first ones to see our new place."

"We would be honored to." Freed smiled at Adryn, who returned the smile back to him.

"Well then, let's get going before it gets too dark." Everyone agreed and began the trek to the new apartment. Along the way, Serenity began to feel tired and so Laxus decided to carry her. She snuggled into his arms and fell asleep almost instantly. The day of walking around and unpacking proved to be enough to tire the little girl out. Adryn felt the same way, but she decided to fight through the sleepiness. Though she still wanted Laxus to carry her, she wouldn't admit that at that moment.

"So this is it?" Eclipse questioned as she looked up at the apartment building Adryn and Laxus stopped at.

"Yeah, follow me, I'll show you which one is ours." Adryn led the way to their door and opened it up. Instantly, the group entered the home and began to make comments.

"This is a lot larger than the old apartment," Evergreen noted as she began to explore the apartment.

"It's also decorated differently, I suppose that is caused by Adryn?" Freed commented as he noticed that the living room now had blue lamps while the original ones were a different color. A few other things, like the light gray couch, was also a different color than the old one.

"You two sure have a nice place here." Bickslow spoke up next with his babies repeating "Nice place" a couple of times.

"I was expecting more blue and more books." Eclipse chuckled as she looked around at the few blue items and lack of books.

"I am going to get more books eventually," Adryn responded as she watched Laxus carry Serenity into her bedroom. Adryn then frowned to herself. "I don't think Serenity has any other clothing than what she is wearing right now. We'll have to go out and buy her new stuff some other day." Adryn sounded a little sad that her daughter didn't have much at that moment.

"Don't worry, Serenity will be happy no matter what. With or without more clothes." Eclipse tried to reassure her best friend. Adryn seemed to take that to heart and smiled at her in return. Eventually, Laxus returned to the living room after shutting Serenity's door behind him. Adryn and Eclipse sat on the couch while Evergreen sat in one chair and Bickslow sat in the other. Freed and Laxus decided to stand, mostly because there was no more room for them to sit anywhere.

"I am glad the three of you live here now. It can become your home, rather than just Laxus' apartment." Freed commented as he looked around the room.

"I will definitely feel at home here. Well, hopefully." Adryn spoke up but then began to speak again. "Well, most of all, I hope Serenity feels at home here. I don't think she's ever had a true home before and I want this one to be a good one for her."

"You really are sounding like a mother now. How does that feel?" Evergreen spoke in a teasing voice causing Adryn to pout.

"Well, it's a nice feeling. I wasn't too sure about it at first, but now that I have Serenity in my life, I don't think I could go another day without her."

"What about you, Laxus? How do you feel about being a father?" Freed questioned as he turned his attention to the tall man. Everyone else in the room looked to him as well, especially Adryn. She was still a little unsure about his feelings towards the matter. However, Laxus had a thoughtful look on his face, shocking everyone around him.

"It really is a nice feeling," Laxus admitted after a moment of thought. Evergreen frowned instantly.

"That's all you have to say?" Evergreen asked as she looked over to the man. Laxus just looked at her and frowned as well. He clearly wanted to say more, but he knew it was totally out of character for him to get too overly emotional about things.

"I feel the same as Adryn. At this point, I don't know what I would do without Serenity or Adryn." Laxus finally spoke up after being glared at by Evergreen for a few minutes.

"Just say you love them!"

"Isn't it obvious how Laxus feels? We shouldn't pressure him." Freed butted in as Laxus' face started to turn into a grimace. He clearly wasn't too thrilled to be put on the spot. However, Laxus seemed to relax after Freed interrupted the conversation.

"Ever, be nice to Laxus. He has his 'big tough man' appearance to keep up." Eclipse joked as she smirked at the other girl. Evergreen chuckled along with Adryn but Laxus just frowned.

"Is that how you see me?" Laxus couldn't help but ask as he looked to Eclipse. She just smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders.

"Now now, stop teasing my boyfriend." Adryn finally spoke up, putting a stop to the comments directed at Laxus.

"You're getting married, he's your fiancé now." Eclipse's words caused Adryn and Laxus to both pause. It seemed like they were not quite used to that yet. However, that was the effective end of that conversation.

The group continued to chat about randomness as the night grew later. Until Freed realized how late it was getting and decided that it was the best that they head home. So, they all said their goodnights and headed to their homes. Adryn was even more tired now, but she decided that she and Laxus needed to stay up a little while later. She wanted to talk with him privately.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Laxus was climbing into bed while questioning his lover. Adryn was already in their bed all ready to sleep.

"Let's talk about our wedding. We should probably start planning it now." Adryn spoke up as she closed her book that she'd been reading.

"Alright." Laxus fully got into bed and got situated while sitting up like Adryn was.

"Do you want the wedding to happen sooner or later?"

"Sooner. I want you to be officially mine before anything else happens." Laxus seemed to be a little anxious about that. He really didn't want anything to happen to them again, but he definitely didn't want anything to break them up. He didn't think it'd happen easily, but after everything they'd gone through, he was extremely eager to get married to the only girl he'd ever truly loved.

"I agree. So, I was thinking we should have our wedding at the guildhall. After all, that's where we first met." To Adryn's suggestion, Laxus just nodded his head before yawning. "You're tired. I am too. We should probably talk more about this later."

"Yeah. Let's get to sleep." Laxus leaned over to kiss Adryn and she returned it. The two then snuggled into bed and with each other before drifting off to sleep. They both had smiles on their faces as sleep overtook them.