Chapter 8
The pizza place was small, though quite colorful-almost trippy. The tables and the walls shared the same style and thus practically blended in with each other. Gajeel sat first, on the table by the back of the restaurant, in the corner of the small cubicle. Laxus sat right beside him, patting his back, making Gajeel tense up. Laxus laughed.
"Chill out, Gajeel, just find something to eat, okay?" Laxus muttered. Gajeel nodded in response, crossing his arms. He was still embarrassed about not long ago, when he was kissed at the breakfast place. Who saw them? Did his friends see them kissing? He couldn't live it down without answers, but Gajeel wouldn't ask anytime soon. Evergreen looked up from the menu and scrunched up her face.
"This food is...not...clean, I suppose the term is," She said, "A lot of it has so much sauce, maybe I'll just get a salad?"
"At a pizza place, ya' get pizza, Ever," Bixlow said, irritating her, "You eat it with your hands, and if you're that disgusted, why don't you just use your gloves then, hmm?"
"No!" She shouted, standing in protest, "These are 10,000 jewel white leather gloves, and I refuse to have them be damaged by such a ridiculous idea as that!"
"Would you shut the fuck up?" Laxus said, making her pout once more.
Gajeel looked outside. The sun was setting, showing a nice, pink color in the sky. He sighed, "Why don't you just use a paper towel?"
"Oh yeah!" Bixlow snapped his fingers, "Do that, Ever! Then you won't have to waste your precious babies on such a delicacy that is pizza!"
Laxus groaned, "When the hell do you not have pizza, Bixlow?"
"On Sundays, when the place CLOSES, Laxus."
"May I take your order, desu?" The waitress asked. She wore a black, frilled skirt and a red shirt with a large, purple button that said "Kawaī pizza," the name of the shop. Her hair was dyed pink and was in a bun, and she wore a tone of blush. She winked when she finished her question, as she put the tip of her pen in her mouth, and holding the notepad to her face. Laxus cringed at "desu."
"Uh...a large cheese?"
"Yes! Any drinks for any of you, desu? We have all sorts of soda desu!"
"Coke. For all of us and that's it." Laxus sputtered, wanting their waitress to go the hell away.
"Sure thing, desu!"
Laxus held his hand to his head, sighing at the absolute stupidity that he'd just experienced. Bixlow laughed aloud once she left for the kitchen. "Was she serious!? I can't tell; was that a fucking joke!?"
"That was too damn real," Laxus sighed, "I sure hope that was worth it…"
"A real man would fight through it, Laxus!" Elfman stood, flexing, "No matter how silly the language, a man would force himself to understand!"
"Sit down." Evergreen ordered.
"Yes ma'am." He did as told. Bixlow sniggered before being slapped again by her white gloves. He took the glove, and tossed them on the floor. She screeched, as if she'd witnessed a brutal death, running towards the victim laying on the middle of the unswept floor. As she lifted the glove in despair, she looked at the crumbs, dust, and hair that resided on it. She stood up, and threw it at Bixlow.
"How DARE you!?" She yelled, " How dare you ruin my 10,000 jewel glove!? Who do you think you are!?"
"I think you can buy those for 20 jewel at a clothes shop." Bixlow stated, "Just WASH them you big baby."
"Absolutely NOT! If I wash them, they could ruin, maybe shrink! Think of the possibilities; they could be torn apart, mix with the wrong colors, or even ruin the durability!"
"Ever." Laxus called.
"WHAT."
"Sit down, shut up, eat your damn food," He said, still holding his head, "You guys are loud as hell."
"Hmph," Evergreen sat and, with a plastic fork and knife, ate away at her slice of pizza, annoying Bixlow. Lisanna poked him, complaining. He continued to focus on her, smiling at the shorter figure sitting beside him. Mirajane talked to Laxus about her modeling career. She would be traveling more, though she wanted to come to town more sounded very pleased with how things were going, as did Laxus. Gajeel didn't like this. Still, he ignored them, and ate his slice of pizza.
They giggled, smiling at each other. Gajeel had it. Annoyed, he dropped his pizza and stood, "I'm going to the bathroom." He muttered out of his teeth.
"Okay."
No sign of worry. He groaned, loud enough for him to hear, still hoping that no one else heard his obviously needy voice. He stepped in to men's restroom and washed his face. There was a flush coming from the stall behind him, but no one came out. Weird. The whole bathroom was weird. The walls were as colorful as they were outside the small bathroom, however dirtier. As if no one came in here to clean it. The floors were supposed to be white, but instead they were muddy, painted with dirt and sand and dust in the corners. Gajeel was disgusted.
Lisanna and Bixlow were kissing, flirting with each other while Elfman looked down on them, as if he were grossed out. Evergreen brushed off their actions and plucked off the dirt from her precious glove. Laxus and Mira were still laughing happily, though they'd moved on to soft punches and Mira lightly slapping him. Gajeel wanted to go right back to the bathroom. He felt sick, as if he would throw up. He wanted to.
The waitress came back; that happy look on her face brought back Laxus' headache. "Is everyone okay here, desu?" She asked, putting the tip of her pen on her lips, now wearing coats of clear, sparkly lipstick. Laxus glared at them as she pulled the pen away from her mouth, some of the lickstick flinging away from her lips and on the pen and the table. He wanted to say no. So bad, he wanted to say no. "We're fine."
"Ano…"
"Oh god," he muttered.
"Your bill, desu!" She squinted her eyes and handed him the bill, pretending to be afraid of his annoyance, even though it was already there. Laxus handed her jewel, immediately, and got up. "I think we're good here."
Gajeel walked over to the table once the waitress left. Laxus looked down to see him oddly close to him. "You ready to go back?"
"Yeah," he said, in quite the serious tone, which went unnoticed by Laxus.
They rested on the bed. Gajeel turned his back towards Laxus and ignored his every touch and poke.
"What's wrong?"
"Oi, Gajeel."
"Hey!"
"What?" Gajeel gave in, sitting up. Laxus moved off of his side and rested on his arm.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
"...what do you mean?"
"Well," Laxus sat up completely and rested on the pillow on the bed frame, "You haven't spoken to me since we got back to the hotel...or, actually, since we left that pizza place...dude, what's wrong?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Are...are you feeling depressed?" Laxus immediately assumed, "I gave you medicine, right?...maybe you should sleep."
"It's...not...that." Gajeel scratched his head, "I just...y-you've been talking to…" No. You've said too much. "It's nothing, really."
Laxus leaned over and pulled Gajeel towards him. He resisted. Laxus sighed, knowing something was wrong. Not letting go, Laxus moved towards his face, now laying over him, and kissed his forehead. He moved to his cheek, then his neck. Gajeel was red again. Laxus whispered, "What's wrong?"
The whisper made Gajeel shudder. He covered his mouth to prevent from moaning in the sweet pleasure as Laxus continued kissing his cheek. Laxus stopped, looking him in the eyes, waiting for his answer. Gajeel knew he wouldn't stop until he got his answer. "I thought...you were…"
"...?" He raised an eyebrow, surprised. He wasn't actually expecting an answer.
"...Mirajane."
"What about her?"
"You keep talking to her."
"So?" He laughed, "What's wrong with Mira?"
"You...you make it look like-"
"You're not jealous of Mira are you?" He guessed. Laxus moved and rested next to Gajeel. He sighed and layed down with him. Laxus, slowly, wrapped his hands around Gajeel's waist, "You don't have to be jealous," He whispered in his ear again, "I wouldn't choose her over you, okay? Promise."
"I...oh...okay."
He let it go. No, he didn't, but Gajeel still rested on Laxus' chest. I guess Laxus liked him back. Today was weird. Stressful, sure, but it was weird. He kissed him earlier. He kissed his forehead, his cheek, his neck, his lips, and Gajeel did nothing to stop him. He accepted it.
The stars twinkled in the clear sky. Gajeel looked out the window as he rested in the bed with Laxus laying under him. They were sprawled on the bed in awkward positions. Gajeel rested on the pillow with both of Laxus' feet on each side of him. Laxus rested on the other side of the bed, one arm off the bed, the other on Gajeel's leg. Gajeel scratched his head and continued to look out the window, then soon turned to the clock beside the bed, sitting on a white desk beside a catalog of all sorts of restaurants. It was 3:00am.
Sighing, Gajeel got up, ensuring not to wake up Laxus, and moved through the short hallway and into the small kitchen. The fridge held food they bought from home. There was beer, along with some soda, and a bunch of yogurt. Why did Laxus have so much yogurt? Whatever.
He took one labeled, "Cherry Pie" and opened the small seal, revealing a red and cream-colored swirl with thick pieces of fruit, likely cherries, in the little plastic cup. Okay, looks satisfying. Gajeel dug through a plastic bag that was sitting on the counter and grabbed a plastic spoon.
Gajeel understood why he had so many of these.
He closed the lid and sat on the counter (which wasn't much room, but oh well, he made best of it) and continued to eat his snack, freezing when he heard Laxus groan from the room. Laxus moved around in the bed before finally falling back to sleep. Gajeel let out a sigh in relief, but why was he so worried about Laxus finding him? Why was he doing this at all, eating at such an early hour? Gajeel brushed it off and jumped off the counter, opening the cabinet he'd been leaning on. Chips, cookies, and taffy from Mirajane. Mira…
They seemed to talk to each other a lot since she'd came into town. They were talking on the phone back at home, and he could have sworn he saw them talking when Laxus was on his way to work. She'd been really...prominent lately. She talked to Laxus a lot, and Laxus talked to Gajeel...less. No, that's not true. He SAID that Gajeel didn't have to be jealous, but he still was. What was wrong with him?
He grabbed the cookies and migrated to the love couch, turning on the TV but keeping it at a low volume. He was stressed. He was tired. He was stressed. The news showed promising weather for the afternoon. Gajeel looked outside the window to his right and could clearly see the beach. Empty, save for people at a small fire. The waves were crashing down, and the moon shone brightly over it, half full. He looked at the now empty yogurt cup and threw it at the TV screen, covering his face and pulling his legs up to his chest. His face was red and his eyes were shut, tight, what was he doing?
He didn't feel well. He felt sick. He felt like he had to throw...up. No, he didn't. He wouldn't do that to himself again. Gajeel opened his eyes. There was his father, on his torn, brown leather seat. He took a swig of his drink and stood, stumbling towards him. He was drunk, again. Gajeel uncovered his face to look at the man standing above him.
Gajeel was scared. He shivered in fear that his father would do something. He hated him when he was drunk. He hated what he went through when his father was drunk. Gajeel bit his lip, tasting the blood that seeped down his nose. His father leaned in, wiping the blood from his cheeks and smearing it on his own shirt.
"You're a mess," He said with a scratchy voice before downing the rest of his drink and tossing the bottle aside, " What's wrong with ya' huh? Ya' gotta take this shit like a man, boy."
Gajeel just stared as he walked away to the kitchen, probably for another bottle. "C'mere!" His father yelled. Gajeel jumped up and did as told, quickly walking to the kitchen. It was disgusting in there; mold and dirt on the walls, dust along the floors and dirty dishes towering in the kitchen sink. His father Just had guests. They were playing poker. Gajeel hid himself upstairs before one of his drunk friends found him in his room. His body ached everywhere.
"What is this?" His father asked, motioning to the dishes. Gajeel kept quiet as his father grabbed him by the long end of his hair. The shaved end revealed blood. His father was disgusted.
"Clean this shit," He said, letting go of Gajeel's hair and leaving the bathroom. Gajeel leaned over the sink, feeling nausea. As soon as he heard the front door close, Gajeel turned around and grabbed his medicine, and a bottle of water, and ran upstairs for the bathroom.
There was mold and dirt in the tub as well. The tiles were falling apart and cracked, and the paint along the walls chaffed. Gajeel downed pill after pill until his poor stomach finally had a reaction. He threw up in the toilet. He was wheezing and coughing, gasping for air in between. He started crying. It hurt, but he stayed.
The door opened and closed again an hour later, but he stayed.
A moment of silence and finally, his father opened the bathroom door, the door hitting Gajeel slightly. He stared at his son before kneeling down and holding up his head, wiping away the mess with a towel. He was sober again.
Thank god. Thank god.
He put a hand on Gajeel's back and let Gajeel sit up, not taking his eyes off the mess he'd made. He did it again. His father sighed, "Come with me."
Hesitating, Gajeel stood up and followed him downstairs to the kitchen. His father grabbed a wet sponge and one of the dishes in the sink, scrubbing it thoroughly and roughly, rinsing it, and putting the dish on the drying rack beside the sink. Gajeel took his own sponge and did the same. They were quiet. Gajeel still ached.
"Are you okay?"
Gajeel looked up at his father, who didn't look back at him.
"Dude, Gajeel, what are you doing?"
"Huh?"
Gajeel looked up from the couch. Laxus was standing above him. He sat beside Gajeel and pulled him over, "Why are you over here?"
"Um…" Gajeel sat up, "I don't...know…" Below him were crumbs and the small empty yogurt carton. The bag of cookies was empty and on the floor. He was a mess. Gajeel held his head, "I don't know."
That was a lie, he knew. Laxus sat back and looked at him, "Are you okay?"
"I...I think so...yeah." No.
"Did you want medicine?"
Gajeel really didn't want to take medicine. He didn't even want to think about the medicine. Without it now, though, he felt very small and weak. It was for the best. He nodded. Laxus stood up and headed for the bathroom, "We're going to the beach later, okay?"
"Yeah."
Maybe it would take his mind off of things.