His apartment felt barren, a lot of the times. Cold. Impersonal. It made sense, seeing he was always gone, off traveling Magnolia, but it felt much too sterile for Mirajane's taste. Nothing like her home, where along with her brother and sister, the house was also prone to frequent visits. From Natsu and Happy to all of Mirajane's many friends and even, on occasion, Evergreen, the tiny house was typically stuffed to the brim, day and night.

Laxus placed the complete opposite.

It lacked a certain coziness that she missed, when she found herself spending time over there with the man. Which, as their relationship wore on, was frequently enough. Were he in town for an extended period of time (and he was more and more, as they grew closer and closer), she found herself more likely to stay the night with him than back home.

This was new territory for the both of them, honestly. Mirajane found herself frequently falling in love, but for this to occur with regularity, that meant also falling back out. And Laxus, well, he just didn't. Fall in love. Ever. It wasn't something he was even so sure he believed in.

But it wasn't love, not exactly, that seemed to bind them together more and more. Maybe it was something else. Something neither could quite figure out, but was there, just beneath the surface, and kept them faithful in their lengthy partings. Mirajane mostly dated mages, honestly, and found that once they were out of sight, well… It was difficult, to care for something so far away. And Laxus was much the same, only, he rarely found himself making such a commitment in the first place. So while Mira would have to break a heart upon return, he never had anyone to return to.

They were both on uncharted waters now, as Mira didn't feel it nearly as strongly, not even over a year out, when the man was away. And Laxus could admit to himself, and even to others, very proudly, that yes, he did have someone very special awaiting his return.

There was a comfort there, that neither had ever longed for before. But now they craved it. In one another. And no matter how long he was away, both found it impossible to be away from one another the second he was back.

Mirajane's own schedule made this difficult, of course, as she did have a very bustling hall to contend with. When he was home, Laxus forced himself at times to brave it, even, the dumb guildhall, just to sit around and watch her work, putting up with all the lowly mages that hung about seemingly only to aggravate him. It fascinated him. For some reason. Her...dedication. To something so….mundane. She took her position as head barmaid as the most important job in the world, and he kind of respected it in a weird way.

The woman could do anything she wanted.

Anything in the world.

And yet she chose to hang around and make sure that Fairy Tail's guildhall didn't fall under. He couldn't do it. He didn't know anyone who could do it, honestly. Put up with her daily grind. From dealing with the paper work their ailing Master skipped out on to running the bar and hall as a whole so expertly, Mirajane appeared to be born to be what she was now.

But she wasn't, was she?

She was born to be a mage. A highly regarded one at that. She had all the power in the world, but chose to sacrifice it, slowly whittle away all her former glory, originally for a far darker reason, but now, with that righted one more, out of a much stronger sense of duty.

Laxus never found bound by anything like that.

Duty. Honor. He felt like he was the antithesis of those things at times.

But he wasn't, of course.

No.

Mirajane knew that Laxus not only had both of those things, but far more as well. More now than he'd ever had. For someone that most everyone would assume was already at their peak, that there was nothing left to capture, Laxus had a lot of work ethic left to give. He trained, constantly when he wasn't out on a job. Long hours. While she was working away at the bar, if he wasn't sitting around drinking and commiserating with the Thunder Legion, then she could imagine him out there with them, bringing them to new heights as well as reaching his own.

And then there were those long trips. Where he was gone for a good month, if not more, taking on the highest of jobs, the lengthiest of requests, not in the quest for fame or jewels; he had those. He could acquire those with far less effort. No. Laxus did it because he believed he should. Maybe he lost it, somewhere in himself, over the years, but she knew it was there.

That drive.

That hope.

He grew up idolizing the top mages in his grandfather's guild for many reasons, but one that was high up on the list was always what they brought back to their community. Pride, respect, stability. To the surrounding areas as well. He venerated the mages who kept the peace and protected what was theirs.

Fairy Tail was his. Laxus'. And he did for it something she no longer felt able to.

If he found himself mystified by her resolve, she couldn't quite say she was so different when it came to him. Even though she no longer felt called to train her body endlessly or accept the requests of those in need, she still considered hem to be upstanding practices.

There was something about it, when he returned from a job bruised and battered and now, in those cases, expecting her to aid in his recovery. She enjoyed his toned body for many reasons (heh), but being able to trace a finger over the many scars and wounds leftover from requests long completed was a good way of keeping track. Memories. As bloody and horrible as they were at the time of receiving them, mementos of a time passed by.

She liked that he was strong.

Not in the way a casual observer might make notice of, but the way he shouldered so many things, from his childhood onward, with very little complaint towards this fact.

Mirajane thought this made him special, but honestly, from where he sat some days, watching her work at a dizzying pace to keep the bar in check, he felt much the same in return.

Maybe they were just getting older. Maybe that's what drew them to this new comfort. Stability. They were drawn to one another for a lot of reasons, a lot of reasons that might have made their relationship fleeting had they gotten together too soon, in their not so distant past, but they needed some reliance now. A relationship formed on more than momentary emotions.

And while they found that attraction and lust in one another, there was something beneath it. That call to faithfulness and reliability. A mutual respect. An admiration. Something they hadn't had in other relationships and only served to strengthen their current one.

In that sterile apartment, cold and devoid of all the cozy comforts Mirajane derived from her own home, with her siblings, there was something that tugged stronger beneath the surface. That kept her there. Whenever the slayer was there. And he welcomed her. Craved her. Every time. He felt weird now, when she wasn't there.

"You should keep some stuff here," he suggested one night as they sat on the couch together, him glancing over the mail he'd received during his time away while she sat beside him, idly flipping pages in a magazine. "Demon. More stuff, I mean. So you're not always having to go back and forth."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe," she challenged then, just softly, as if waiting to be rebuked, "someday, soon, I could just...bring all my stuff."

And there was a pause. As she waited. Uncertain of what the man would truly think of this.

But she didn't have to think long as, when she flipped a page, he only tossed another piece of junk mail to the pile of it he'd created on the floor while remarking simply, "Maybe very soon."

Smiling, she glanced over at him as she agreed, "Maybe."