The day was boiling out and most everyone at the hall was filtering about, using up all the good A/C, or trying to escape the heat by taking some dunks in the hall's swimming pool. They were at capacity and the bar staff was working at overdrive, to accommodate the overabundance of patrons. This had been since sunup for Mirajane and she was more than a tad disoriented by this point.
It was Lisanna that took notice of it. Having come in to help her sister and Kinana out, she was of course disappointed to not a get a chance to hang by the pool with Hap and Natsu, but was also reverent of all the hard work her older sister was putting in. This was why she suggested to Mira that she take a break.
"We're getting slammed," Mira hummed in that just slightly too overly joyed pitch she got at times, when she was in over her head at something. "I can't take a break."
"Of course you can," Lisanna insisted, trying to mimic that fake grin her sister had down so well. It was often that Lisanna had a chance to look out for one of her older siblings (they were typically doing the reverse to her) and didn't wish to squander this opportunity at minimal payback. "Just fifteen minutes, maybe, huh? Really, sis, you look flushed."
Kinana, who was returning to the bar then to refill her pitcher of ale, looked over at where the sisters were speaking with some interest. Ever helpful, she remarked, "You should take a dip in the pool, Mira. I saw Lucy over there earlier. Even a quick lap'll probably make you feel loads better."
"I don't there's room for a lap," Mira remarked, but someone was yelling out then, across the bar, for a refill, and Kinana and Lisanna both rose to the occasion.
"There's room for yours, at least," her sister offered and, well, it was the late afternoon by this point.
Mira felt as if she did deserve a break.
Maybe.
Just a quick one.
Her transformation magic saved her a trip to the back, to change, as purple tiles merely appeared over her as she walked out of the building, doing away with her work day drags and transforming her into a sleek, blue bikini with ease. She found the sun warm, but welcome on her pale flesh and, as she made it towards the pool area, she immediately spotted some of her friends in the water already, as they had been most the day, goofing off in the summer's heat. She caught eyes with Lucy almost immediately and was more than prepared to head on over there, but then she found her gaze caught by someone else and found herself making her way over there instead.
Laxus wasn't the kind to enjoy guild festivities. And a hot summer day could account for that certainly. Everyone hung around who weren't out on jobs, brawling inside, drinking until they forgot the heat, or some of the younger ones, the teens and young adults, flirted around the edge of actual flirting poolside.
None of this was interesting to the slayer.
At all.
He probably wouldn't even have ventured heading to the hall that day had he not previously agreed to meet a potential client there. A posted job had led to some more seedy undertakings and he needed to meet with the man to converse once more on an upcoming tactic. The man seemed as weary of Laxus as the slayer was of the man, but Fairy Tail felt like an even enough meeting grounds; at least it was the only public place Laxus was willing to meet and the guy seemed rather desperate by that point.
But it was worse, inside, as the day wore on. The guys inside were only getting drunker, which meant they were only brawling even more, and the guy he was supposed to meet was late, so Laxus found himself seething as he paced about by the pool, considering heavily at times bringing down a massive bolt of lightning and frying the occupants good.
It was when he let this thought out, in a grumble to Freed, who was waiting around for the guy with him, that the rune mage suggested he take a seat nearby instead.
The less casualties of the day, the better.
But it was as the two of the were sitting around, Laxus bemoaning the fact Lisanna had yet to be by to refill his beer and Freed continued to glance at the time, questioning just how long they should wait around for the other guy, that Mirajane came trotting out in what Laxus felt like was far too revealing, skating on the cusp of being nothing at all. Shifting in his seat, he could hardly hear Freed's continued complaint of the late time as his eyes followed the woman now, daring her, challenging her, to not immediately return the gaze.
She did, of course, her eyes falling to him after turning from Lucy's. Laxus' gaze was heavy and she knew better than to ignore it. Sauntering over, Mirajane gave her smile to Freed, however, the rune mage returning it easily.
"Taking the rest of the evening off?" Freed questioned, but Mira only gave a slight shake of her head.
"Just a quick break," she replied. "The sun will go down in an hour or so. Then we have to deal with the dinner rush."
"Yes," Freed mused as Laxus only continued to glower at the woman, not saying a word. "Your days seem to be a dizzying array of menial tasks, but it is the most honorable who find themselves busy throughout the day. Laxus and I have had the misfortune of being run around by a client who apparently does not know the meaning of punctuality."
"Well," Mira offered after a slight hum of sympathy, "at least you get to spend the day by the pool. I'm glad to have even a short break. Except, you know, my skin is so prone to burning, I thought I'd come over and ask if I could borrow your sunscreen?"
"Our what?" Freed frowned before looking down at the table, where between the mugs and other cups there did lay a tiny bottle of what she'd requested. Reaching down, he snagged it before remarking, "I'm not sure who this belongs to, actually."
"I doubt they'd care if I use some," Mira reasoned, moving to take it from him. Still, standing right there in front of their table, she took to flipping the top on the tiny bottle before squirting out some of the substance onto one outstretched arm, humming slightly again. "I would just hate to burn."
Laxus was burning. His gaze, at least. Smoldering, truly, it felt like, but Freed seemed more considerate as he sat back in his seat once more.
"Skin care is an important, yet often overlooked aspect of health care," Freed offered. "We all strive to age gracefully, yet frequently neglect to put in the work."
"Well, I can always just transform into something more attractive," Mirajane pointed out, "when I'm older. If I want."
"I suppose that's-"
"Oh, Freed, can you do something for me?" And Mirajane was so good at it, too good at it, Laxus felt; ignoring him. Her eyes were only for his best friend then as she questioned, "Do you think you could get my back?"
And Freed definitely could not. A step too far in the friendship of he and the oldest Strauss. But, as he was then silently weighing the fact that you could never grow in a friendship if you didn't push yourself passed such boundaries, Laxus had finally had enough of his silent seething and umped up rather suddenly.
"I'll," he grumbled, snatching the bottle from the woman with enough aggression that Freed tensed up, but Mira only beamed into the slayer's eyes, "do it."
"Oh, sure, Laxus, thanks," she said easily as Freed only studied the interaction from his chair, confused, but intrigued.
The moment was awkward, yet brief and soon enough Mira was rushing over to the pool, to giggle and waste her precious time with Lucy while Laxus only reclaimed his seat with a frown, not enjoying how his hands felt now, all sticky from the sunscreen.
"I thank you, Laxus," Freed began suddenly, making the man frown over at him. "You saved me quite the dilemma. I am uncertain how you were aware of my inner struggle, but-"
"Don't," Laxus grumbled, "mention it."
And it was always best to just listen to the man.
Their client was a no show, as it turned out, and Laxus cursed a bit when realizing this might have been some sort of ruse, but Freed only offered to return the favor he bestowed upon him earlier, dealing with Mirajane.
"I," the man remarked, patting at his trusty sword on his hip, "will go and get to the problem of this. Alone. Fret not; no one wastes the time of the Laxus Dreyar and gets away with it!"
The client was such a non-threat that, honestly, Laxus saw no reason for them both to go seek him out anyways. Plus, he did have something else that he wanted to deal with that evening… He did send Bickslow out with Freed, however, just in case.
Laxus had something else to wait out.
The day, as all overly busy ones did, seemed to drag and as the night wore on, with the inebriated guild members stumbling out into the now cool streets of Magnolia, Mirajane saw no reason to keep her sister and Kinana around for too much longer. Natsu and Happy were going to get some ice cream, Mira had overheard, and told Lisanna she was more than welcome to join them. And Kinana loved the summer time, when the ground was so warm, especially in the evenings, when the air was cool, but the ground was warm, isn't it warm, to the touch? Yes? And Mirajane knew she enjoyed so very much sitting on the warm, yet somehow cool ground, and, well, Kinana got very few joys in life.
Mira saw it fit to give them to her.
And perhaps, yes, there was another reason that Mirajane cleared the bar so easily, doing away with the usual hangers on by suggesting different desirable spots and parties that were taking place that night. Cana questioned Mira's knowledge, but the barmaid was quick to remind her and anyone else who cared to listen that of all the insiders in the land, she was by far the most well informed.
No bit of gossip escaped Mirajane.
Not a single piece.
Had the day not been so hectic, so scrambled, maybe it wouldn't have been so easy. To get everyone out. And on time for once. Surely surpassed her clearing the bar record. Mirajane felt more than a bit proud of herself, if not somewhat smug, as she came over to the last occupied table, the man seated at it the king of both emotions.
"I dunno if you noticed, Lax, but last call has come and gone."
"That right?"
"That's right."
He grunted then before looking down into his mug and remarking, "Maybe I wanna stick around."
"You and everyone else, usually."
She'd taken a seat then, before him, and Laxus raised his eyes to meet hers while the woman only smiled in that same soft, sweet way she typically did, not offering up much else.
"If you were trying to make me jealous-"
"By mentioning I want you out of the bar so I can go home?"
"-then you should have tried harder." Laxus snorted. "Freed wouldn't even be interested in you on your best day. And all the losers out by the pool aren't even worth your time."
"You do realize you were sitting by the pool too, right?"
"I was," he griped, "waiting for a client."
"By," she pointed out, "the pool."
And they were at a stalemate of sorts. Eventually, the slayer only snorted, looking off as he stewed before deciding on a worthy rebuttal.
"I just don't appreciate it, is all."
"Appreciate what?"
"You...flaunting yourself all over the hall."
She made a face then, a more serious one as she remarked, "I really don't think that the guy I occasionally decide to spend an evening with-"
"Three times a week is occasionally now?"
"-has any right to tell me how to dress or act." Then she paused. "Or even a guy that I'm very serious about. In fact, it might just make me unserious."
"Yeah, well-"
"You might even call me silly."
"What?"
"Unserious. That would be silly. Right?"
"Mira-"
"You're not going to tell me how to dress." And she lost her play then. "Or act."
"I'm not trying to."
"Sure sounds like it."
"What I'm saying is," he complained, "is that I didn't like it. And I didn't. And you were purposely antagonizing me."
"Only because you were boring holes into me."
He huffed that time, looking off instead of down at his mug as he remarked, "I just don't like it, alright?"
"Don't like what?"
"Mira-"
"Say it, dragon."
"I don't like seeing other men...be interested in you. Or women. Or whoever. Anyone. At all. And I don't like when you purposely flaunt it in my face because it's not fair that I can't just let everyone know that you belong to me."
"I belong to," Mirajane questioned with a raised eyebrow, "you?"
He'd worked himself up, just a bit, and only frowned as his breath came out as a pant. He felt caught. Momentarily. Just as quickly, this changed to vigor.
"Yeah," he decided, sitting taller now, feeling the control shift back to him. "What if I am, huh? What are you going to do about it, Mirajane?"
He rarely referred to her that way. By her complete name. Somehow, the way that he said it felt more full, too long, much too long, compared to most others.
Reaching out, she pulled his mug closer to her then, not even glancing down into it first before she put back a good portion of the ale. Then, with harder, more alert eyes, she remarked, "Maybe it's the other way around."
"What do you mean?"
"My I," she challenged, jerking a thumb back, towards her chest, "own you."
"Bullshit."
"Think about it, Lax," she suggested then. "There's literally nothing you could do to me. Nothing. While there are so many ways I could torture you."
"How do you figure?"
"If you made me angry enough, I could screw you over, real good, in this guild."
"I rank higher than you."
"Only in your heart," she retorted. "We're the same rank."
"There's an internal ranking system within the ranking system and you know it."
"Rank has nothing to do with it, anyways," she declared with oozing confidence. As the man only stared blankly, she added, "I have your grandfather under my thumb. And most of the guild members. If I said that you weren't to be trusted, that you were dastardly and not worthy-"
"What are you? Some kind of storybook character?"
"-I could get you barred and banned." Then she took another swig of his drink before adding, "Again."
"You're full of it."
"And, now that you reminded me of how ranking works-"
"What's the point? You trample all over it."
"-I do know a good number of the women in other top guilds that you like to toy around with. Or you did. I mean." Mira's head fell to a waiting palm then, giving him something close to an empathetic gaze. "I imagine that it wouldn't be too easy for you, if I destroyed all those relationships, huh? It's almost like, dragon, once you cross me, there's literally no other part of your life that won't be tarnished. Plus, I could easily sleep with all your friends. Fine, maybe not Freed, but if I really wanted, all the others."
His expression mimicked her own almost, as hers was something of a sour, wry victory, and while he certainly didn't seem the victor of their spat, he still refused to deflate fully.
"Guess that's what I get, huh?" He did reach out though, to reclaim his drink. But when he looked down into it, he found it empty. Snorting slightly, he remarked, "For contorting with a demon?"
"You don't negotiate with Satan," Mira offered through a hum. "It never goes well."
"I'll remember that," he remarked as she stood, but he stayed there, in his seat, knowing it would be some time before she was finished closing up. Not that he minded. He frequently found himself waiting around for the woman. "For next time."
"Oh, dragon," she tsked with furrowed brows. "Didn't you listen? There is no next time."
Nodding in surrender, he did hold out his mug as he asked, "Is there another round? At least?"
"Last call is for the low rank, after all," she said as she did snatch up the mug, planning to refill it. "There are perks."
He waited until her back was to him though to remind, "You know, demon, owning me doesn't negate what I said."
"Hmm?"
"You can own me, if that's what you think you're doing," he assured her with a bit of edge to his tone then, "But it doesn't change anything. You're still mine."
"Oh yeah?" she questioned, but it didn't feel as challenging now as she hardly even glanced over her shoulder, instead only refilling his drink. "Dragon?"
"Yeah," Laxus agreed with a nod. "Demon."
She was back now, with his drink, and set it down with a slight echoing thud in the mostly empty bar. Laxus kept her gaze as he thoughtlessly reached out to reclaim the mug once more and down it all in one prolonged chug.
He felt like he might not have won, he rarely did with the woman, but at least had evened the footing somewhat. And when she followed him home that night, he was nearly certain.
Of course, this wasn't the case as he found out the next day.
Mirajane departed in her typical fashion; under the cover of darkness. Not for any real reason other than, well, she was the one who opened the hall in the mornings and that required getting there rather early. So she was gone when Laxus awoke. Not that this was much of an issue. It was for the best, even.
He didn't have to be on his guard near as much.
Or risk running late by being convinced to stick around in bed for a bit longer.
Still, he met up with Freed as planned, to be debriefed. This occurred away from the godforsaken guildhall, which meant that Laxus missed out on the commotion that took place that morning and dove into the afternoon, but he did have the misfortune of happening upon the place a bit later.
"What are you doing, Bickslow?" he grumbled, spying the man first, hanging around in front of the building, creeping on some of the lady members. It wasn't surprising to Laxus to find the women in their swimsuits, imaging they'd just gotten back from the pool, but to see Bickslow in only his trunks made the man frown. "Going for a swim?"
"And ruin my perfect Mohawk, boss?" Giving up on his creeping, the seith easily fell in line with his idol and best friend. "No way! Me and the babies here, well, water ain't exactly our strong suit, yeah?"
"Then why are you dressed for it?" questioned Freed, but Bickslow only frowned at the pair of them for a moment before his tongue slipped between his lips and he flashed his guild marking.
"Haven't ya noticed?" Bickslow asked, his babies echoing forms of this as now, yes, when Laxus finally moved to open the thick guildhall doors, he did notice quiet a lot. "Everyone is!"
And they were.
The whole guild.
Even the old gross men no one quite wanted to see were sporting trunks. Including the Master, though he snoozed, up on the bar, supported both by his physical staff and the bar one. It was one of the bar staff, in fact, that Laxus found far too enticing to follow with his eyes, even with all of the scantily dressed women.
"Why?" was Freed's sole question as he frowned.
"Mirajane," Laxus hissed under his breath, not even needing an explanation.
"That's right, boss," Bickslow assured him with a snicker. "The woman, she gets us, you know. All of us. And our desires."
"I really doubt your desires were taking into consideration," Freed huffed.
"I'm not the one overdressed right now, now am I?" Bickslow chided.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I dunno, man, but I sure would feel awkward, being the only one not rocking their sweet swim attire."
But he wasn't the only one, of course, because Laxus was still there, fully clothed, stalking across the bar now as he left his friends behind. He found Mirajane busy behind the bar, refilling a tray of drinks.
"Mira," was his cross greeting, the low tone of voice getting Makarov, who apparently wasn't snoozing so deeply, to peek an eye open. "What's going on here?"
'Hmm?" She pretended to be shocked by his presence, but Laxus knew, oh he knew, that just like him, she could sense it, when he was near. She had to. They were that connected. "Oh, Laxus, hi. Did you not get the memo? I'm surprised. Bickslow was the most enthusiastic about my suggestion."
"What," he continued to ground his teeth, "suggestion?"
"Well, it's so unbearably hot that I just thought, even if we all can't be in the pool, if we dressed like it, then we'd feel cooler through, like, just the power of our mind, right? It's basic psychology, Laxus."
"You study the psyche now, woman?"
"In my spare time."
Laxus exhaled heavily through his nostrils before glancing about. Noting he was drawing at least some attention, especially from his nearby grandfather, he leaned across the bar then, closer to the woman, as he hissed only loud enough for her to hear, "You're on my nerves."
But she only narrowed her eyes at the man as she said, "I warned you; the hall is mine. Don't test me, Laxus."
Huffing this time, he looked off though he stayed bowed towards her as he remarked, "Maybe one day I won't find your little power plays so cute, woman."
"Maybe," she agreed, backing away then with her tray of drinks. "But you know what will happen then."
Surely, he understood as he left the guild in a huff with a flustered Freed, he did.
Convening with Satan certainly had it's price.