A week back, and Laxus found himself filled with more questions than he wanted to be.
While he was gone, he had few reasons to be on-guard most of the time, and island-hopping from one-tropical destination to the next with his grandfather allowed them to replace all the bad memories they'd had with ones that were more fun.
They were expelled from no less than seven different countries for shenanigans that involved the lovely combination of alcohol, magic, and violence that would have been totally unprovoked if they weren't talented shit-talkers. They fought strange monsters in stranger places, trained together, ate weird food, and they didn't talk about all the things that had gone wrong.
One of the things he'd missed most about their normal little house and their semi-normal little town was the huge bathtub in his bathroom. Some cultures really didn't have bath houses or anywhere to soak besides hot tubs, which always vaguely smelled like stale, hot semen, at best.
As he sank under the water, all the way to his chin, he thought about his life.
It was quite a shock to come home after being gone so long, but nothing hit as hard as finding out Gajeel had died. Laxus had never been particularly close to Gajeel and honestly found his presence genuinely miserable, but Gajeel was one of them. And even if he'd never admit it to anyone, he respected Gajeel because he'd had the courage to stop and change his life before he burned the whole world to the ground.
His own redirection came after some thoroughly scorched earth and about a hundred bridges he was sure he'd burned to ash.
Gajeel started over, and he was loyal and courageous. He did all the things good people do: found one girl, was loyal to her, married her, had a baby. Then a couple of weeks later, he went on a simple job and was found dead less than thirty miles from home.
Considering Gajeel's most potent magic power was being functionally indestructible, his death and the mystery around it were incredibly disturbing to the guild, even a couple of years later. The event obviously had had a huge impact on Levy, and the kid he'd seen running around the guild with heavy metal hair, but there were several others that had been seriously affected.
Gajeel wasn't the only one who had died over the past years, either. A few hours before Gajeel was killed on the same day, something happened near Sabretooth that ended in their celestial wizard dead, and one of their dragonslayers missing but genuinely believed to also be dead.
Since then, no other information had surfaced.
The common belief was that some group somehow managed to attack and kill two dragonslayers on the same day in mere hours and the celestial wizard had been collateral damage. Natsu, who found Gajeel's body and ended up with the horrible burden of telling Levy he had died, seemed to believe this was bullshit.
Natsu was Natsu was Natsu, so he wasn't going to sit around and talk about what he thought might have happened, but Laxus knew he had some kind of suspicion about what happened, and Natsu's instincts weren't wrong—ever.
His sensitive ears heard the telltale clickity-clack of dragon claws on the wooden floor as they passed by the door out in the hallway, then doubled back. There was sniffing under the door after that and he sighed. An anxious growl followed, and then scratching at the door.
The door itself meant very little. Laxus kept putting Caela in their guest room to sleep at night and then waking up to find her in his bed even though the doors and windows were shut and locked. The means by which she entered closed off rooms was currently unknown, although he and his grandfather had several theories that included the idea that she might be able to just walk through walls, or flatten her body almost completely so she could slither under the door. Whatever she did defied the laws of physics which was a peculiar ability for a creature with the intelligence of a human toddler.
Keeping her in the house was a serious concern, but Freed's runes didn't work on her because despite being a mere hatchling, Caela was a creature of much higher order than a human. The idea of human runes containing a majestic dragon was objectively absurd.
"Leave me alone, bath time is alone time."
It became quiet, and a cloudlike vapor started to pass under the door. Instead of escaping from the room like the condensation from his bath, it entered, and then, turned into a certain little baby dragon.
Laxus' brow rose. "You can turn yourself into a cloud? I mean, I guess it makes sense. Keeping you inside is getting to be a pain."
"Nanners?"
"There are definitely not any bananas in the bathroom, and if there were, I wouldn't give you one for sneaking in. Don't look at me like that. I think you know what I'm saying at least half the time now," he answered.
The dragon jumped on the edge of the bathtub and hung with her claws, staring down into the water.
She put one toe in, and then pulled it out, before looking up at him.
"What?" he asked.
The dragon put her toe back in and then shook her foot before dipping it in further.
Laxus said, "I don't know if you want to do that. The fluffiness of a living thing usually decides how much it will like water. I'm zero percent fluff, I like water. You are maximum fluff."
The dragon tried to balance on the foot that was already wet and dip a dry one in, but she slipped and fell face-first into the bathwater, and sank to the bottom of the tub until Laxus grabbed her and held her above the water.
Caela was nearly hyperventilating, eyes bugged out as she was soaked completely, all her fluffy fur dripping as it lay flat.
She spoke a new word then. "Help! Help! Help!"
"Calm down. You're all right. It's just water. It won't kill you."
When he tried to put her on the floor, she just ran up his arm and climbed on top of his head, where she shivered and panted through her trauma while her fuzz dripped on him. Her claws dug into his head quite tightly, and once she calmed down, she did her best attempt at a dragon's roar at the water, now her enemy.
"Well, this is relaxing," he grumbled.
Laxus got out and dried off with great difficulty because the dragon was still firmly attached to his head. When he finally got her to let go, he put her on the counter and wrapped the towel around his waist.
"I don't even know why I bother with you. You're a pain," he said as he took a blow dryer from the cabinet.
The fun of the hot air, the combing, and the attention restored her spirits and by the time she'd fluffed back up, she'd recovered from her traumatic bath experience.
The dragon followed him down the hall and to the stairs, where she stopped.
"I'm not carrying you down the stairs. You're a dragon. You got up them by yourself."
"Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!"
He sighed and picked her up. "I'm not understanding you being able to phase shift to go under doors and then being scared of the stairs."
He picked up Wendy's scent before he got to the bottom of the stairs and found her in the living room with his grandfather.
It wasn't surprising to see her there as she'd come by to see the baby dragon daily. Wendy always brought a plethora of chopped fruit and a ball or something for her to chew on in addition to snuggles. Wendy's appearance was the high point of the dragon's day, and she'd been quite late that day.
Caela jumped from Laxus' arms like she forgot he existed and went to claim her hugs and snuggles.
Wendy hugged her. "Were you good today, Caela?"
Laxus said, "No."
"You say that every day! You should be nice, Laxus. It's got to be hard to be a dragon in the human world. She's not a pet. She's sentient, and highly intelligent. She has feelings, and she needs to hear nice things from you," she said.
Makarov waved off her concerns. "Laxus is totally into this no matter how he acts."
Laxus narrowed his eyes. "Go to bed, geezer, you're old."
"Gladly! I've had enough of you today anyway."
The old man headed upstairs while Wendy sat on the sofa with Caela.
Laxus sat in a chair across from her as he left. "He's still himself."
"You too. Being around you two makes me feel tired for some reason," she said as she tousled the dragon's fur. "She seems extra-fluffy."
"She fell in the bathtub and I had to dry her fur."
"Did she like the water?"
"Hell no. Besides, she looked like a lizard wearing a huge, wet wig. She liked the blow dryer though," he answered.
Wendy found the peculiar misadventures of Laxus and the dragon to be oddly cute. Every day the dragon did something insane to get on his nerves. The day before, she'd escaped outside, climbed up a tree and wouldn't come down. The day before, she escaped again and was bullied by the neighborhood tom cat until Laxus saved her. Before that, a dog barked at her through the window and hurt her feelings and she required him to carry her around until she recovered from the trauma.
Laxus was patient. So patient.
The dragon eventually moved to the floor to play with a thick rubber ball Wendy brought her. Sometimes she rolled it, sometimes it rolled her. She growled as she gnawed on it and tortured it with her little claws.
Wendy said, "It makes me sad that I was able to experience her mother's love, and she never will. She's only ever going to exist in the world of humans. What if she never meets anyone else like her?" she said.
"I don't like dragons, so less dragons is fine for me," he said as he reached under the coffee table to retrieve the ball for Caela.
Wendy seemed serious enough, but the slightest hint in her voice indicated she was definitely making fun of him when she answered, "I can tell how much you dislike them. You're practically boiling over with rage."
"Whatever."
He quickly reached down to keep the dragon from hitting her head as she rolled carelessly across the floor. "Anyway…"
"You hate dragons so much."
"Right. I understand you're amused at my expense, but remember I have no warm fuzzy feelings about dragons. My first interactions with them were Acnologia, Acnologia, and Acnologia. Not sure if you remember but none of those were great," he complained.
"Didn't you see the other dragons when they broke the faces?"
Laxus shrugged. "I was basically almost dead during everything that happened with Tartaros. I remember puking up some blood, fighting some guy that looked like a dog, puking up some more blood, passing out, more blood, then Acnologia flying over me while I puked up blood and passed out again. Those are all of my memories—it basically feels like a fever dream. You could tell me none of it happened and I'd be willing to believe you."
Caela brought her ball to Wendy's lap and laid there with it, alternating between eating the fruit bites Wendy brought her and chewing on the ball. There was always a sweet look in the baby dragon's eyes when she was happy, a reminder of her sentience and the bonds she was forming with the humans that cared for her.
That said, she was incredibly destructive and within the hour, the solid red rubber ball was in ribbons, and she was full, happy, and sleepy, the preferred default state of any baby.
Wendy went home, and Laxus put the baby dragon on the bed in the guest room, dressed for bed, and was half asleep when he heard the dragon climb up so she could find some awkward place to snuggle in. He sighed, waited for her to settle in, and went to sleep.
XXX
A few days later right at dawn, Wendy went for a run, a normal part of her daily routine to stay in shape. The lungs of a dragonslayer were everything, so endurance running was a good way to make sure she was at her best.
She sensed a presence in the East Forest as she ran and followed it to a little pond where Makarov was levitating, his legs crossed in the air while he meditated.
She didn't want to disturb his concentration, but when she turned to leave, she heard his feet touch the ground.
"Good morning!"
"Master, sorry for disturbing you. I…"
Wendy saw the dragon peeking out from behind a tree as she tried to catch her breath.
Makarov said, "She keeps trying to sneak outside. I figure she needed some time in the wild."
"Is she hiding?"
"She finds the ducks frightening, but she'll realize at some point that she has no reason to fear them. It's important to give little ones opportunities to discover their own strength. Today, maybe she'll feel a little brave because I'm here. She'll learn trust and find courage. Life is full of learning opportunities."
Caela took a nervous step from behind the tree, and an aggressive duck quacked loudly at her.
Wendy smiled at her and then at Makarov. "I think it's such a beautiful thing, you and Laxus raising a baby dragon. I was a human baby fostered by a dragon mother, so I know real love is about what's inside and not about what the outsides are like."
He sat on a tree stump and lit his pipe. "I heard you had a boyfriend while we were gone."
She nervously laughed. "Right…that happened."
Wendy sat on a big rock by him and thought about how to explain one of the most pivotal and strange parts of her life. Being told she could never be with anyone except Laxus had deeply affected how she came to think of relationships.
"So, about what Porlyusica said that night," he said.
"It's definitely true."
Makarov asked, "Speaking to you as a concerned former guildmaster and not Laxus' relative, what happened?"
Wendy asked, "You mean why did I date someone or why did we break up?"
"Both."
She said, "I just grew up so clumsy, Master. For a long time I felt like I was trapped in the body of a little girl, and then once I started growing up I just felt so uncomfortable in my own skin. I grew into a very tall person in a short amount of time, and then I was really kind of lean and not shaped much like a girl."
Makarov nodded. "Laxus had a stage like that. Picked up a lot more altitude than mass, if you know what I mean. Like a really angry beanpole. You seem to have grown into it. You're quite beautiful."
Wendy said, "Thank you, Master. I felt really awkward, and then right after you guys left, people were getting married and having babies. I mean, I obviously didn't want to get married or have a baby then, you just think about stuff. Girls have imaginations."
"It's normal. It's part of growing up—thinking about your future, and then it will be your turn to experience those things," he answered.
"After what Porlyusica said, I didn't know if I was ever going to have a turn. I guess I still don't. There were a few ways to think about that and none of them was wise or productive. The most naïve and silly parts of me wanted to believe someday maybe Laxus would come back and we'd be together. Then the part of me that's maybe a little more mature but heavier reminded me I might just always be alone. Whether he came back or not," she explained.
The former guildmaster knew there was never any way that information wasn't going to lead to confusion and frustration all around, especially at the time it was delivered.
Makarov said, "Time went by and you decided to test the theory that you couldn't be with anyone else."
She nodded. "It wasn't just that. Just being a dragonslayer, I don't know how to describe it, but it's naturally a very lonely thing sometimes. There's a lot of pressure to be strong every time its needed, but then in between those times, it feels bare. After Gajeel died, I felt…awful. For a long time. When Charle died, it was so painful, but the way it happened…it was different. The dragon didn't care if it killed her. She just got swept up in the violence. Charle mostly mattered to me.
"But someone killed Gajeel. They must have come up with a plan. It was violent, and intentional, and it was evil. He mattered to everyone. When I think about Levy crying at his funeral, or how their son won't ever remember what his father was like, it makes me so angry. I know whoever did it never thinks about how many people they hurt, or how long they'll hurt."
Makarov nodded. "Evil typically isn't about darkness…it's just purely selfish."
Wendy wiped a tear from her cheek. "I just hate how it feels, even now. Natsu and I found him, and it was…it was bad. It didn't feel real. His last moments must have been unimaginably painful, and I know that while he was dying, he probably had some hope that maybe somebody was going to be there for him."
Makarov had made the rounds, and this was a sentiment echoed through the entire guild. Everyone felt like they'd let Gajeel down. The mystery around his death exacerbated the situation significantly, because there was a secondary guilt that came from unexecuted justice.
He listened carefully to her words, and then said, "Did his death make you think about your own mortality?"
"Before, no matter what happened, everyone always lived. As dark as things got, we'd all be in the guild afterward, covered in bandages and happy once it was over. Suddenly, we could die. At any time," she said.
Makarov nodded. "We were fortunate. I've been fortunate to cheat death more times than I know, the last time with your help. Fate creates a way for me, each time. Why there couldn't have been a way for Gajeel too, I do not know."
Wendy said, "It's not fair."
"Life never is. Sometimes we are visited with evil we didn't summon, and other times, good we didn't earn."
She wiped her eyes cheeks again. "I just started thinking about my life. How I want to live and what I want to experience."
They were interrupted abruptly by the sound of Caela charging at the ducks as they wandered around on the shore, making a squeak of a roar. However, a little puff of a cloud came out of her mouth and as she bared her teeth at the ducks, they flew away.
Then she jumped in Wendy's lap and nuzzled at her.
Wendy hugged onto her and asked, "Are you trying to protect me because I'm sad? That's so precious. Aren't you the sweetest girl in the world?"
Makarov watched this little interruption and said, "Wendy, it's important to remember that even though there's evil and painful experiences, there are also wonderful experiences. People will leave you, perhaps by your choice, perhaps by theirs, perhaps because of fate. People will also join you for the same reason. There's always enough good in this world to fight for it, to fight to live in it."
Wendy gave him a sad smile. "I guess that's what I was trying to do. If we can just die at any time, I don't just want to know what the bad things are like. I remember wanting to know what some of the good things were like. Sting was older and more mature, and I felt like he knew where I was coming from. He was kind and understanding. I wished I could have felt about him the way he did about me."
"You didn't have chemistry?"
"When he held me or kissed me, I felt nothing. I see other couples and there's just this fire there, magic anyone can feel with someone else. I didn't feel any fire, and there was no magic. I wanted to. I felt nervous, and maybe excited, but there was no attraction. Sting felt like I was rejecting him personally, but it's just…what it is," she explained.
Makarov assumed it might be something like this. He'd noticed a certain dullness in Laxus when it came to women that he believed went beyond the charm on his finger.
The old wizard said, "Well, if we're on the subject of older golden-haired dragonslayers with personality problems…"
Wendy let out a laugh. "Master, I don't think we were."
"What are your thoughts?"
"On Laxus?"
He nodded.
Wendy thought for a moment and nervously answered, "I don't know what to say about him. He's a friend. He's…Laxus."
"Those are all of your thoughts, in their totality?"
She fidgeted nervously. "I'm not sure what to say, Master. I'm permanently emotionally glued to him, and I have a lot of thoughts about him. I don't think I have a reason or a right to talk about him. He's very private."
"I want to help my grandson. I don't want him to go through life alone."
Wendy knew he'd said he wanted to talk as guildmaster and not as Laxus' relative, but people couldn't be separated into layers. They were complicated, like puzzles, all the pieces interconnected with other pieces that maybe formed some other part of the picture.
The Dreyers were a big puzzle with more way too many pieces, and their picture was one of nearly inescapable darkness, blinding light, desperation, victory, frustration, emotional trauma, and indescribable power. Just like Makarov couldn't be divided into his different sides, you couldn't separate Laxus from Makarov or either of them from Ivan. Their situation was complicated and deeply tangled, and from what Gildarts had told her over the time they'd been gone, Ivan being dead was possibly the best thing that ever could have happened. Which, in and of itself, was just an incredibly sad revelation.
Makarov said, "When we were gone, I had a curious thought once. For some reason, I thought about what it would be like if the age gap between the two of you didn't exist. Or, I guess a better way of explaining it would be—what if you were children together? You actually have more in common than you know, because you've only known Laxus as he is now. When he was a little boy, he was like you were when you were younger. Sweet, shy. Tiny. He was such a kind boy it was like his heart was too big for his little body.
"He loved everyone, and he was filled with hope. He would hug Gildarts every time he came in from a job and sit for hours with older wizards and dream of when he would be a wizard too. I wonder what he would be like now if I'd truly protected him from Ivan as he was growing up. But I didn't. I kept hoping my son would grow to love his son, but he didn't."
"I can't imagine him like that," she said.
Makarov smiled. "He was a good boy. I bet you would have been really good friends."
"What happened to him?"
The old man said, "Laxus was an accident. You're grown now. You know how it goes. Ivan had no intention of raising a child, and his mother wasn't any better. He was born really early, and he wasn't supposed to last the night. I held him all night thinking he was going to slip away, but Laxus has been a stubborn brat since he entered this world. He survived, but he had some issues because of that. Ivan didn't have room for a weak, little son with asthma.
"And what was Laxus, just a little boy with more challenges than he should have had, waiting for his father to come home and spend time with him. Ivan rarely bothered, and when he did, he always reminded his son that he was ashamed to have such a pathetic boy. I should have stopped it the first time, banished Ivan and told him never to return. That was my mistake, and I kept making it, over and over and over and over. For years."
It was impossible to reconcile the Laxus she had always known with the idea that Makarov presented. Laxus was huge, powerful, unbreakable. The first time she ever saw him, he stood toe to toe with Master Hades and he was unafraid, so calm in his rage, yet every attack was carefully measured and nearly perfectly executed.
Makarov said, "Ivan came into possession of the lacrima when Laxus was about eight or nine. He took it from someone who died as a result of putting it in their body, who had taken it from someone who had suffered the same fate. I don't think anyone knows the path it took to get there, but at least two people had already died from putting the lacrima into their bodies. Ivan felt like he'd suffer the same fate but believed he could probably steal the magic if it was in another living host. His plan was to put it in Laxus and try to extract the magic. Ivan believed this would be fatal for Laxus, so he made a big show of taking his son on a trip.
"Laxus was excited his father finally wanted to do something fun with him. He packed his little backpack and spent all night up because he was so happy. Like, all his hopes would be realized, and his father was going to be a father to him."
This was somewhat nauseating to hear; a child desperate for his father's love, thinking he might finally receive it when the father only wanted to use his life completely.
Makarov added, "I believe now that Fulguros killed the former hosts, and would also have killed Ivan. He indicated to Laxus that he had the power to do so and was also incredibly angry at humanity for the fate of dragons. After meeting the ghost of that dragon, I think he probably had compassion for Laxus as a father and instead of forcing him to suffer the same fate as the others, the lacrima successfully merged with his body. There was some sort of magic discharge when it happened that injured Ivan so terribly that he never really recovered fully."
"That's terrible."
"That magic changed everything about his life. In mere days, his pathetic lungs that didn't even let him enjoy things were replaced with dragonslayer lungs. His weak body became strong. The great big world opened up, but his hope and trust were gone and that space in him filled with confusion, anger, and frustration."
Wendy knew some other parts of this story just from being around the guild, like the fact that Laxus tried to stay on Ivan's side well into his teenage years. After the fact, the lacrima incident was said to be a favor Ivan did to help his son, but Macao said Ivan hadn't ever done anything for anyone but himself in his life.
Makarov said, "Ivan spent the rest of his childhood manipulating Laxus, knowing no matter what, Laxus wanted his love. My grandson's desire to love, and the love he felt became things that led him to anguish and injury as his father manipulated him. In his mind, the idea that love causes injury became inescapable and undefeatable. It rules over him, even now."
Wendy had come far enough in life that she knew her former guildmaster and mentor was making a case for Laxus because Laxus wasn't going to make one for himself. There was an aloofness about him but gaining more insight into how he became like that was actually very sad. He was such a strong person, and she knew he had a good heart.
Makarov shifted the subject her and Laxus then, saying, "So you'll either be together or you both will be alone. Laxus may not seem like a great option. He's...awkward. Difficult. Stubborn. Nearly incapable of talking about how he feels. But there's a certain kindness inside of him, a light that no one can ever extinguish. As much grief as he has caused, he has always been worth loving."
After carefully considering the information presented, she said, "I don't think anybody wants to be alone. I believe in love. I want to be happy with someone, and I think nearly everyone has to feel that way, even someone who doesn't know how to go about getting there. The thing is, I don't really know either."
"You had a boyfriend."
"He made the first move, and…all the moves. I think the only move I made was to move on," she answered.
Makarov said, "Well, if you wait for Laxus to make a move, you'll definitely die alone, probably in a house with eighty cats. You think he's handsome, right?"
"Sure. He's a really good-looking guy. Everyone knows that."
"He does get that from me," he pointed out to Wendy, who hadn't asked and found this comment at the level of typical Dreyer absurdity. "I know he thinks you're attractive."
"How?"
"You're tall and he's into long legs. You should see the crate of magazines under his bed. He definitely has a type."
Wendy frowned at him. "What kind of magazines?"
Makarov puffed a big ring of smoke out and said, "Do you really want me to tell you?"
"Master, that's probably not something you should tell anyone else."
The argument that he probably found her attractive because she looked like women in his pornography cache was irritating, at best.
Makarov said, "You know he's been wearing that ring to suppress is more base urges. I could understand when you were a kid—a teenage girl really doesn't need to know what a sexually frustrated adult man's life is like. There's no reason for it now. I think it's enabling him to be weird, and no one wants a weird grandkid."
Wendy actually found a lack of sexual interest to be one of the least weird things about Laxus, but she agreed that there was no reason for Laxus to continue wearing the charm.
"I think if you helped him understand how good it is to be loved, he'd meet you halfway. He's just not ever going to make that move. You're going to have to do it."
"I don't think so. That's not really me. Besides, what if I somehow did and he told me to get away from him? Laxus is very particular about who touches him," she said.
Makarov said, "He won't. Be brave. Just grab him and give him a big sloppy kiss. You could play it dangerous and see how far he'd slide once he gets to feeling the magic and the fire."
Their talk was abruptly interrupted with a voice asking, "What the fresh hell is this?"
Wendy nearly fell off her rock at Laxus' approach, not only because his appearance seemed nearly instantaneous, but because he was wearing nothing but a pair of pants. He wasn't even wearing shoes and his hair was uncombed and looked considerably more insane than it usually did. "Laxus? How come I didn't sense you? Why do you look like that?"
"I just woke up like two minutes ago and realized Caela was outside and thought she escaped. You both remember that if the authorities find out we are keeping a dragon, we are all going to prison, right?"
Makarov waved him off. "All the neighbors have seen her and think she's a cat or some other weird thing. You were just worried she was in trouble."
"Maybe leave a note."
"I did. It's on the refrigerator."
"Well, I didn't go upstairs because my dragon went missing."
Makarov asked, "Why did you wake up in such a bad mood?"
"Because fuck off, geezer. I used magic to get here. I have a hangover. Ughhhhh…" he covered his eyes for a second, then rubbed his head. "What in the hell were you two talking about?"
"It was a private conversation, so you don't need to worry about that," Makarov quickly answered.
Wendy was quite embarrassed, because she knew he'd heard the last part of it. She could hardly look at him, and then when she did, he was only wearing pants. All his muscles, scars, and tattoos were on full display, and after having an entire conversation about him, her eyes scanned over him in a decidedly grownup way until she got up to his face, where she was started to find he was staring at her while she ogled him.
Laxus wasn't self-conscious enough to be really bothered by this and just let her look. It was gratifying, his head hurt, and he was pretty sure he'd just stumbled on his grandfather meddling in his life. In other words, it was Tuesday, or Friday, or maybe Sunday…his head hurt so much he wasn't even sure what era he was living in.
"Geezer, did you just tell Wendy to sexually harass me?"
Makarov said, "Not everything is about you. You assume if we talk, it has to be about you. That's very immature and boorish of you."
Of course, Wendy and Makarov had been talking about Laxus in intense detail for a long time. For Makarov, basically everything was about Laxus, no matter how much either of them lied about it. From a certain perspective, Laxus was an overgrown, bratty grandchild being catered to constantly by an overly fond grandparent.
Laxus narrowed his eyes. "I find that hard to believe."
"Wendy broke up with a man not that long ago. We were just talking about her ex-boyfriend."
His grandson grumpily snapped, "I'm not in the mood for games, my fucking head hurts. Wendy, don't put up with him. Talking shit about fake people or whatever."
"Ummm…Laxus, I did have a boyfriend. I mean, that's not exactly what we were talking about, but I don't want to lie."
Makarov said, "She dated the second most ill-tempered golden-haired dragon boy."
It took Laxus a second to think this one through because the sun was making him angry and his head was throbbing, but when he did, he looked over at her. "Really? That asshole?"
"Sting was actually very considerate and a very kind boyfriend," Wendy said, wading further into these terrible waters that the meddlesome grandfather had pulled her into.
Laxus crossed his arms. "I don't know why, but that really pisses me off."
"Are you jealous?" Makarov said.
"No, I just feel an uncontrollable urge to break his hands off and watch him scream while he stares at his bloody nubs. How is Sabretrash gonna come and date a Fairy Tail girl?" he asked.
His grandfather cackled. "You are jealous."
"Shut up."
When the ducks landed not far from them, Caela jumped from Wendy's lap to show off her new ferocity to Laxus, except this time, they chased her instead of being impressed with her itty bitty sky roar.
A bolt of lightning struck near them and sent the whole group to the skies in terror, and Laxus picked her up off the ground.
Makarov said, "Stop spoiling Caela. She needs to stand up for herself."
"Ducks are aggressive, and they bite," his grandson answered.
"She's a dragon!"
Laxus rubbed his temple. "Why don't you yell it louder? It'll help my hangover and how we're trying to not get caught."
Caela climbed up on his shoulder and started playing with his hair and chewing on his ear, feeling quite safe with her caretaker who saved her from the birds.
As he stood there, the cross expression just got a little angrier. "Were you telling Wendy to go molest that creep?"
"We were just talking about relationships," Makarov said.
"Well, fuck you, fuck Sting, and fuck ducks. You're all assholes, and you can all go straight to hell."
Contrasting who Laxus was with how Laxus acted was exhausting, and Wendy felt like Makarov had spent all this time trying to paint him in better light only to have him crash right into their conversation and act like he was. As usual, his attacks were precisely directed; he didn't sweep Wendy up in his list of complaints and had never used his vulgar insults on her.
Wendy sighed. "Laxus, that vein on the side of your head looks like it's going to pop. Stroke runs in your family, after all. It's not healthy to be angry, you know."
"I'm not angry. I just need coffee and for that guy to stop telling you to molest losers from other guilds. Ripoff blond dragonslayer is going to get his skinny ass beaten until he can't walk if he comes around here with that nonsense. Fairy Tail girls got better things to do than waste time on Sabretrash."
He turned back to head home, and Wendy followed him after hesitating for a moment. Talking about Laxus' private matters was a violation of Laxus' shield of secrets, and he knew even if he didn't act angry towards her that he didn't like it.
Hungover, barefoot, and half-naked, Laxus was clearly not in the best sorts, but she still wanted to apologize.
"Laxus, wait!"
He turned with the dragon still sitting on his shoulder and asked, "What is it?"
"Sorry."
"For what?"
"I don't know. I was just…I guess I don't have an excuse. Your grandfather just wanted to talk to me. It really wasn't about Sting. That's all over and done with."
Laxus said, "I know what the old geezer is up to. I've been dealing with him all my life."
Wendy added, "He told me about what Ivan did to you."
She could see it in his face at first, eyes that widened, a lip that curled into a snarl, and then it flowed down his body, stiffening it as he fisted his hands at his sides. His body seemed angry, but she could feel waves of vulnerability radiate from him, like she'd just peeled a scab off.
Then, she embraced him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and resting her head on his chest.
His arms hung at his sides for a minute, and they kept hanging there.
Finally, he lightly put one hand on her back.
She kept holding him and he eventually increased his investment in the hug, pulling her in closer with both hands. When she felt his chin rest on her head, she felt the tension in his body start to ease. Even though she was sure, he'd withdraw from her at any moment, he didn't.
People weren't allowed to touch him; that was just a rule.
"You really know what your grandfather is up to?"
"If you ever tell anyone like this, I will lie like the devil himself to deny it, but he just wants to help me. Sometimes I need it."
Wendy wasn't sure how to answer him, but she knew being sincere could make him uncomfortable so she relied on a proven Dreyar conversation technique and pivoted to a cringier subject. "He told me about your magazine collection."
"…not really sure how that helps me or anyone anywhere in the world…"
"He says I might be your type."
Laxus finally let her go and took a step back, studying her. "If you want to know what I think about something, the best way to find out is probably to just ask. If I was curious about what you thought about my looks, I might ask."
"You don't know what I think."
"I understood you found me attractive when you were fourteen and it literally gave me nightmares. Not saying it was wrong or right, it's just there was a great divide between us then and if you're on the adult side, you don't want to know what the other side is doing. Now you're on my side, so it's fine," he said.
Wendy shyly asked, "So, what do you think?"
Laxus said, "On a scale of one to ten? Maybe ten thousand or something. You're still young, but I guess it's fine now since you're more mature than I am."
She wasn't going to say it, but Wendy believed she'd been more emotionally mature than he was since at least age ten.
His face was serious, but a very affectionate ball of fuzz was making an even bigger mess of his hair.
Wendy laughed, and he looked up and rolled his eyes.
He said, "The thing with Sting was real?"
She nodded.
"Disgusting, Wendy. Were there no rats here in our sewers that you had to go over there?"
"He's a good guy. I hurt him, and sometimes I feel bad. Don't be mean."
He paused for a second and asked, "That thing Porlyusica said, is it not true? If you had some other boyfriend that makes me wonder if she was wrong."
"Oh no, it's definitely true. I broke up with Sting because nothing felt the way it was supposed to. When he would kiss me, I felt nothing. Empty. It wasn't his fault."
Laxus just frowned at her. "You let that pig-faced baby kiss you?"
Wendy asked, "Did you always feel that way about Sting?"
"I've honestly never given any thought to him. Before today, he just existed. I wouldn't waste my thinking time on him. Because why?"
She wondered if he was being overly simple or overly complicated and decided it didn't matter. Apparent in his irritation was the idea that a man from another guild had touched her; his emotions were irrational if he didn't have any feelings for her and perfectly rational if he did.
The dragonslayer males shared some traits she genuinely found unattractive and irritating: they were belligerent, possessive, territorial, competitive, arrogant, craved violence without end, were nearly incapable of getting along, and treated one another like rivals. The were never closer to their primal dragon sides than when they engaged in these deplorable behaviors.
Wendy could tell just by looking at Laxus that his thoughts had focused in the part of his consciousness that was all those horrible things at once.
"Are you having a dragonslayer moment?"
"What is that?"
"Where you think thoughts that other people might find really immature."
Laxus shrugged. "I'm standing half naked in the woods with a hot girl, a baby dragon, and a hangover that could destroy worlds while I think about what it would be like if I snapped Dragonslayer Barbie's hands off."
Wendy put her hand over his mouth, which actually caused him to almost flinch in surprise. "No more bad comments about Sting. Please."
He put his hand on her wrist and moved her hand from his mouth, saying, "I know no one owns you. Who can own the wind? But I have some instincts that are telling me he touched something that belongs to me and I should cause him intense violence."
Makarov could make wonderfully passionate arguments about his grandson, but the actual grandson he spoke of was exactly this person before her. She wasn't going to argue that he wasn't a great guy, but she also wasn't going to argue that he was prime boyfriend material either. In a good moment, he was a truly amazing and wonderful person, and in a bad moment, the cabin with all the cats seemed better.
"I'm going to go. Put a shirt on. Drink some coffee. Think about my life. I feel like this conversation has included some missteps."
Wendy said, "That is probably true, Laxus."
He knew he'd gotten on her last nerve and she was just too gentle to come down on him for it.
"Sorry, Wendy. I need to think more before I speak. You tried to do something nice for me and I was an asshole."
Wendy was confused about what he thought she'd done for him, but realized he was talking about when she hugged him. It really didn't surprise her. She'd seen him cover up his feelings by antagonizing everyone around him before. In that sense, he wasn't being simple-minded at all and was using the frustration he caused to hide his vulnerability.
"It's all right. We're fine, right?"
He nodded. "You're really good to me. I appreciate it."
"We're friends. We look out for each other. Always."
-Reviews Welcome—
Super special thanks to Lustwell for reviewing, I'm having so much fun with this story.