Chapter 11

Gajeel flopped onto the bed of Laxus' room, still tired. Laxus followed, closing the door behind him. "You're already going back to sleep?" He asked. Gajeel nodded.

"It's fun."

Gajeel rested on his stomach and shut his eyes. Laxus moved to lay beside him, watching Gajeel fall asleep. He turned to wrap his arms around Gajeel and pulled him closer. They'd both fallen asleep shortly after.

In the room across the hall, Evergreen paced as Elfman groaned over his stomach cramps, laying on the small couch. "Must you be so loud!?" She yelled at him. He only groaned more in response, and she sighed, "Well I sure hope those other two are having a good time. I could have even gotten new shoes, or a skirt at the boardwalk, but no! I have to deal with both of you." She turned to Bixlow who sat unconscious on a nearby chair.

"He talks to Gajeel a lot, don't you think?" Lisanna pointed out about Laxus, "What do you think they're doing?"

"He's probably another Bixlow; they're drinking, no doubt about it." Evergreen complained.

"He's pretty quiet," Mirajane mentioned, "How close do you think they are? They haven't known each other that long y'know."

"Yeah, true," Evergreen agreed. Bixlow piped up, "Oh!" He fell off the chair, overly excited.

"What?" Evergreen looked at him, disappointed. Bixlow stood and started, "Laxus said he l-...wait," he stopped, "No...wait."

"Why did you stop?" Mirajane asked.

"Uh," Bixlow twiddled his fingers as he remembered to keep his mouth shut about the two. "Well...y'know what? nevermind, I'm going back to sleep!" He said as he plopped back on his chair and threw his head back , fakely and loudly snoring. Evergreen huffed, kicking the chair over and making him fall. She's had enough of dealing with him.

"Well," Lisanna began, moving towards Evergreen, "We haven't seen him all day! We could at least check up on him!"

"Perhaps we should," Evergreen agreed, "I do feel like we're interrupting his vacation by dealing with...them," She scowled, turning towards the two who sunk further into their seats.

"Wait...maybe we...shouldn't? Uh- wait-" Bixlow stopped again. "God you're an idiot…" he muttered to himself.

"Why not?" Mirajane asked. The attention was back on Bixlow. He felt a beam of sweat fall from his forehead. Bixlow stood up to scratch his head and inched his way to the bathroom.

"...He escaped." Lisanna said.

Evergreen sighed, putting a hand to her forehead, "Let's just go."

It was 3:30 in the afternoon. Evergreen, yawning, knocked on the door to Laxus' hotel room. "Laxus san?" Mirajane called, but to no avail, "Maybe they went out?"

"Maybe...let's go inside." Evergreen said, pulling out the keys to their room.

"Where did you get that?" Bixlow asked, panicked. Who even knows what they could be doing in there? What with Laxus liking Gajeel, they could be doing anything in there! Evergreen turned to him.

"Found it in your dirty shorts." She responded. He sighed in quiet despair.

"We're coming in!" Evergreen yelled, finally opening the door.

The room was silent. The TV was off, the windows were closed and the blinds were shut. Evergreen turned the lights on, searching the room. "Are they even here?" She questioned. Lisanna walked towards the bedroom doors, "Maybe Laxus is in here?"

"Should we invade?" Bixlow jumped, gaining all attention, "Well-uh-I mean, if Laxus were in there! Don't you think-"

"Only one way to find out!" Lisanna said, opening the door. Bixlow jumped in front of her, "Wait a sec-!"

However it was too late, as the door had already been opened and the two in the bed were awake. Everyone remained quiet as the shock had settled throughout the room. Bixlow felt beams of sweat fall from his face as he turned around to see Laxus in bed with Gajeel, his arms wrapped around the other. Gajeel looked at the group, most of his hair in his face, hiding his blush. He bit his lip, slowly turning towards Laxus. His glare was felt around the room as he stood from the bed.

"Get out."

His orders were quickly followed. The group ran for the door, leaving the hotel room for theirs, in silence. Evergreen held a hand on her mouth. They shivered as his face then was left in their minds; they were terrified and in shock.

"Bixlow…?" Lisanna whispered, "What's going on?"

At this point, he felt like he'd have no choice but to explain. "Yeah...okay." He sat on the couch beside a confused Elfman, sighing as the concerned group gave him their attention once again. They sat on the floor, in front of the couch; Freed clutched on to a pillow from the bedroom. Laxus was his best friend and he promised to keep this a secret, but what could he keep a secret now?

"Laxus and Gajeel...they might...be dating-?"

"They're dating!?" Elfman jumped up in shock, interrupting Bixlow.

"They MIGHT be," he said, "He said...well, he told me that he...had some kind of uh...some feelings for Gajeel and…"

"So he's gay." Evergreen huffed. Bixlow put a hand to his head, "No-well I don't really KNOW if he's totally gay! He just...He likes Gajeel. A lot I guess. And he asked me to kinda keep it a secret."

"Why so? What's the big deal?" Freed asked. Bixlow shrugged, "I guess he's just not ready to tell us yet."

"So they're just...together? Okay…" Mirajane muttered, "And he doesn't want us to know?"

"And from the looks of it, Gajeel didn't... either," He wiped the sweat from his face.

They were quiet again. Mirajane stood, "We should talk to him."

"Woah, wait," Bixlow stopped her, "He's kinda super upset right now, are you sure? I mean...He looked pretty fucking pissed-"

"I know...Laxus likes to keep a lot of things to himself. Now that we've seen it I want him to at least be able to talk to us. I'm going." She brushed off her knees and walked towards the door.

"Well I'm staying." Bixlow announced, crossing his arms. They looked at each other in slight disapproval. "Bixlow!" Lisanna hissed, "Don't!"

"You don't have to come, then. I'll go on my own." And with that, Mirajane headed for the other hotel room.

She opened the door. The room was once again quiet, as if nothing had previously occurred. She headed for Laxus' bedroom door and knocked, opening it slowly after getting no response. "Laxus?" She called, quietly, "Are you in here?"

Mirajane heard shuffling in the sheets as she opened the door wider. Gajeel was still there, only now he was alone. She closed the door behind her and sat on the bed beside him. "Where is Laxus?" She asked.

"Who knows."

His voice sounded shaky. She reached for the blanket he hid under but stopped as she heard footsteps. She looked up to see Laxus enter the room. He glared at her, "What the fuck are you doing in here?"

"Laxus-"

"I said what the fuck are you doing in here?" He walked closer. Mirajane sighed, standing from the bed.

"I came here to talk to you." She said. Laxus snarled.

"Well maybe I don't want to talk to you."

"But I want to talk to you, Laxus, I really do." Mirajane looked at Gajeel, who peeked from the blanket, only to hide make under once they'd made eye contact. He was embarrassed, for sure. She turned back to Laxus.

"You know this...this really isn't that big of a deal," she tried to convince him, waving her hands in defense, "It's not a bad thing-"

"It might not be a big fucking deal to you but it's a really big fucking deal to me," Laxus said, "It ain't that hard to understand, Mira, this is fucking personal. This is my god damn privacy and you asshats can't just invade my fuckng privacy."

"It was an accident! It really was!"

"So fucking what? You break into my hotel? You waltz right into my bedroom? Is this some kind of joke?" Laxus stormed to the other side of the bedroom, followed by Mirajane who clutched on to her pajama shirt, "No, I-we don't, really! I just...we just made a mistake, and we're really really sorry! We didn't mean to-"

"Didn't mean to what?" Laxus stopped her, "Do what you did? Because it looks like what you shits did was intentional."

"Well we didn't know...we didn't realize-"

"What did Bixlow say?" he asked. Mirajane just stared at her, mouth hung open.

"I said what did Bixlow fucking say!?" He demanded her answer, and when she said nothing he screamed, "What the hell did Bixlow fucking say about me!?"

"I- he didn't...say anything!"

"THAT'S A FUCKING LIE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he punched the wall beside him. As result, a large hole surrounded by cracks was left on the wall. Mirajane said nothing, holding her hand up to her mouth. Laxus cringed, turning to Gajeel.

"Gajeel, get out."

He lifted his head from the blanket, "...Where am I supposed to go-"

"I said get out!"

He did so, leaving the hotel room. He slammed the door shut and stormed through the hallway. He was watched by Freed and Bixlow, who watched from a cracked door. "Where is he going?" Freed asked.

"Who knows," Bixlow muttered before moving away from the door.

He felt nauseous. He felt awful. Why the hell did he feel this way? Was it because he was caught? Because Laxus kicked him out? His heart raced as he looked around for a hiding spot. Where was he supposed to go, now? There was a broom closet at the end of the hallway. Reluctant, he opened the door and hid inside, hopeful that no one would open it. It was a small and cramped space, but all he had until Laxus hopefully calmed down. He sat in the small corner and pushed a heavy bucket against the door. He'd never seen Laxus get that way, but Mirajane spoke as if she'd been used to it.

The closet was freezing, and he shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. Hopefully Laxus would calm down soon. His face was flushed red and hair was still in his face. His eyes were red and itchy. Gajeel still felt like he'd throw up-and he wanted to-but he wouldn't. He didn't like the thought of it, he didn't want to do that to himself, not again.

Gajeel breathed deeply until whatever was coming up went back down. "Shit," He muttered, shivering again. It got colder and colder in the room. He turned around to realize there was a small vent beside him. "In the fucking broom closet?" He growled.

He rested his head on the wall and gazed into nothingness. Gajeel was still tired, and Laxus' fit exhausted him more. "Fucking bullshit."

Why did he do this again? Why the hell did he agree to sit in this freezing closet, just because Laxus said so? Did he really scare him? Gajeel stood and thought for a minute; maybe he should just go back in there, regardless of his mood-

All of Laxus' friends just found out that he and Laxus were gay. For each other.

He sat back down, brushing his hair from his face and sighing as it only fell back down in front of his face.