Parenthood

Chapter 19

"See? If we moved in with you, we'd lose this."

Laxus only glanced at Mirajane before tossing the ball gently to Nathan who giggled, nearly catching it, but still missing. He only picked it up though before bringing it back over to his father, who was seated on the porch steps. Then he ran back into the yard, waiting for it to be thrown again so he could chase it.

He was like a freaking dog or something.

"We would not," he said as she sat there next to him, watching the child as well. "We could still come here. It's still-"

"I think that Elfman and Ever are going to end up in it together and Lisanna's going to be put out," Mira told him. "If I move out."

"Really?"

She nodded slightly. "I'll help her find an apartment or something. Or she could go to Fairy Hills. Not that Elfman's going to want her to leave, but if Evergreen moves in-"

"Yeah," Laxus sighed. "Who would want to live with that?"

Mira only sighed. "I just…I don't know, Laxus. You said that it didn't all have to be decided now."

Grunt. Nathan was coming back to them then, handing the ball back to his father before waiting for it to be thrown again. The kid enjoyed the most repetitive of things.

"I think that it's nice how it is now," Mira told him. "You know, you come over, stay the night, or we go over there. Why change it?"

He shrugged slightly. "I'm locked into that place for at least six months."

"And maybe," she said slowly. "I mean… We keep acting like to move in together, I'd have to go to you. But maybe, if Elf and Lisanna both leave within those six months, then we could live her. Together."

Shaking his head in response, Laxus said, "It's whatever you want, demon."

When Mirajane went down to the guildhall that day, it was without her boyfriend or his son, as Laxus was going to head back to his place with Nathan. He'd be taking off in the next few days for a job and she figured that he wanted to spend some alone time with the boy.

Not that he would ever say that. Or that she would ever expect him to. It just went without saying.

"Hi, Lisanna," Mira greeted when she arrived to find her sister working. "Is Kinana not here?"

"I told her to take off," Lisanna said as she stood behind the bar, looking bored. "There's nobody around anyways."

"You can leave, if you want," Mira offered then. "I'm here now."

"There's nothing to do."

"There has to be something."

"No," she sighed as her sister joined her behind the bar. "Nothing."

Mirajane smiled at her. "You could always scrape gum off the bottoms of the tables if-"

"You know what?" Lisanna turned to walk off, around the bar before heading to the door. "Just remembered something."

"Uh-huh." Mira giggled though, waving goodbye to her.

Lisanna had just left the hall when she ran into someone. Literally.

"I'm so sorry," she began to apologize. "I just-"

"It's alright, kid." It was Bickslow, standing there, grinning at her as his babies only fluttered around, repeating his words like normal.

"It's alright, kid," they chirped as Lisanna only made a face.

"I was looking for ya," he went on, tongue falling from his mouth. Then he held out the thing that he had been holding to his chest. "This is for you."

She blinked, staring at the box, glancing at the visual before frowning. "Why would you-"

"It's a coffee pot, see? But it only makes one cup at a time. And it's real quick about it to," he said, nodding his head. "ME and the babies saw it and though, wow, Lisanna could use that."

"But why would you buy it for me? I mean-"

"As an apologetic gesture," he said, tongue wagging the whole time.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I dunno, really," he said slowly, grin dropping some.

"Dunno," his dolls sang. "Dunno."

"But I do know that you've been super angry at me recently," he went on, just standing there, holding out the box as if waiting for her to take it. "And sine you're, like, the baby's aunt and I'm, like, Laxus' best friend ever-"

"Hardly."

"-I think that we should learn to get along," he said. Then, tone dropping some, he just asked, "So will you take it?"

Cautiously she reached out and did just that, staring down at the box. "This was really…kind."

"Yeah." He was happy again, nodding his head erratically. "I got it 'cause Laxus is always pouring out the pot on you, but bam! Now he can't."

"Bam!" The babies took to slamming against one another. "Bam!"

"Thank you," she said slowly as he only stood there, as if expectantly. "But, um-"

"What?"

"Shouldn't you, like, stop them?" She pointed to his babies who were still overhead, ramming one another for fun. "Before they break or something?"

"They're fine," he assured her. "But you really like it, huh?"

"Well, yeah." She shifted the box to one arm as she found herself pushing some of her hair back, behind one of her ears. "I do."

"That's great. Now we're buddies, right?" She could feel his gaze from behind his sallet and, for some reason, it made her blush. "And you won't yell at me anymore?"

"Only if you don't annoy me anymore," she finally got out, walking around him, towards the gate.

"I can do that," he was quick to turn and follow her. "I really could."

"Great."

"Great."

They must have walked for a full minute, away from the guildhall, just the two of them and his stupid dolls, who were still smashing into one another. They were durable, those annoying little brats were, she'd given them that.

"Uh, Bickslow?" she finally asked.

'Yeah?"

"Are you…following me?"

"What?" He frowned, glancing down at her. "No."

"Then what-"

"I was only going up to the guild to give that to you," he told her. "So I was headed back home now."

"You live near Mirajane?"

"Not really," he said with a shrug. "I'll head off here in a minute."

"Oh."

"Why?" That time, when he glanced at her, it was more out of curiosity. "Did you think that I was following you or something?"

"It was starting to look that way, yeah."

He snickered then, his dolls stopping what they were doing just to mimic him. "Sorry."

"Sorry, Lisanna," they all told her. "Sorry."

"I didn't think about how weird it might look to you," he said as he walked along beside her. "Is that where you're headed then? Home?"

"Well, you did just give me this," she said. "I do kinda have to-"

"Oh, yeah, right. Duh. Of course." He snickered some more, tongue sliding between his lips like always, his tattoo waving. "But you don't have any plans or anything?"

"Not that it's any of your business," she said, trying to walk a little faster, as if to lose him. He was sorta creeping her out at that point, "but no."

"Well, neither do I."

"And?"

"Boy, you don't make this easy, do you?" He shrugged slightly. "I just thought that we could…I dunno…hangout?"

"W-Why would you and-"

"If you're going to be an aunt, Lisanna, and I'm going to be the best friend of the father-"

"Again, I don't think that you and Laxus are-"

"-then we need to be a little closer than this, don't we?"

"No. Why? What do you-"

"Just go out to lunch with me, huh? And we can talk?"

"Why are you-"

"Laxus might of, uh, I dunno." He kicked at the ground. "He might have yelled at me for bothering you so much."

"He's the one bothering me," she said. "You're just annoying in general."

"Well, he said that Mira said that you told her that you hate having me and Freed and Ever around. So I thought that if, you know, I made friends with you before the two of them that he'd like me better."

She blinked. Then she stopped walking.

"So what? You're trying to buy me?"

"Not exactly, but-"

"Then take it back." She shoved the box at him. "Take it back. Right now. I don't want it anymore."

"Lisanna-"

"I don't get you guys," she complained after he had it. Storming off then, she said, "You're all so in love with Laxus. Look, I won't lie, he is powerful. He's one of the strongest mages I know. And yeah, he's done pretty good things before, but he's done some pretty shitty ones too. And last time I checked, good doesn't absolve bad. Not the type of bad he's done."

"You don't-"

"No, Bickslow," she complained, not glancing back at him as she continued down the sidewalk. "You don't' get it. You guys are so enraptured by him that you-"

"Why are you hating on the boss? He's made amends a thousand times over with everyone."

"Oh, has he?"

"Yeah!"

"I am so relieved to hear that."

"…Are you being sarcastic?"

"Just leave me alone!"

"No." He quickly followed her, his dolls trailing along behind. "Not if you're mad at me."

"What difference-"

"You'll tell your sister and she'll tell Laxus and he'll think that I was trying to, like, buy his affection or something through you."

"That is what you were doing!"

"What?" he asked. "Is it wrong of me to want to be friends with you? Someone that I've known since I was a kid? What's wrong with that?"

"If you don't leave me alone, Bickslow-"

"What? Huh?"

"I'll tell Mirajane that you followed me the whole way home, bothering me."

"You can't do that! Lisanna, listen to me."

"Don't-"

"What will it take then? Huh? For you to not tell her that? And to tell Laxus that me and you are, like, best friends?"

"What? Bickslow-"

"What? Huh? You want money? Or something? At least take this damn coffee pot. I can't stand the stuff."

They were nearing in on her house then and Lisanna just wanted to get there and shut him out.

"Please? Just take it," he said. "And, hey, what if we just don't say nothing to Mirajane about any of this? Or Laxus? Just wipe the slate clean. Huh? Aunty Lisanna?"

"Aunty Lisanna?" the babies sang. "Aunty Lisanna?"

"You are so stupid," she complained. "Just leave me alone."

Growling then, he came to a sudden stop. "Fine. Fine! But this is not over, kid. We're going to be friends. And Laxus is going to see it and think that I'm better than Ever and Freed. It's going to happen, kid. You just wait."

And when she got home, she only locked the door behind her with a groan. The last person she ever wanted to be friends with was him. Even fake friends.

So why couldn't he just leave her alone?

"Work is so long these days," Mirajane sighed as she rested on her knees by the bathtub, bathing Nathan. Laxus was standing over at the sink, shaving. "I feel like I'm there forever."

Grunt.

"Maybe it's just that I have something to be home for now. You think?" She glanced over at him. "Laxus?"

"Maybe."

"I mean, after Lisanna died, I just kinda buried myself in the guild," she went on. "And even after she got back, I still focused mainly on that. It's just so easy, you know?"

Grunt.

"The guildhall is always so bustling," she said. "I lose myself in it most of the time. But these days, I find that can't concentrate. Not even when you and Nate are up there. I'm always worried that he's bored or that I'm keeping you from taking jobs which would be really horrible, because those people that put up job request really need our help and-"

"Mirajane."

"What?"

"You just like being here with me and Nate," he told her, still just staring at himself in the mirror. "And why wouldn't you? It's given you a new purpose. You have a kid to take care of."

"I still need to take care of the guild though. I-"

"I know," he assured her. "And you do take care of it. You're the hardest worker there. And you just tend bar!"

"But-"

"You don't have to love it with all your heart anymore," he said with a sigh. "You have Nate now. And you love him too. So you want to spend some of your time with him. That's not a bad thing. You still wanna be up there, right?"

"Well, yeah. Of course," she said. "I love it there."

"And you love Nate. And Lisanna. And Elfman. That's a lot to juggle." Then he smiled slightly, it barely visible, even in the mirror. "But you can handle that. You can handle anything."

Nathan went down easy that night after spending the whole day playing with Laxus. She didn't even make it to his special song, which Laxus was glad for. Then it was just him and her, in his bedroom, him reading one of his books and her snuggled up with her headphones, trying to fall asleep.

"Hey, Mira?"

"Mmmmm?"

"You wanna go out to breakfast in the morning? Instead of making it?"

"Why?" she asked softly, curled tightly facing him. "You don't' like my cooking?"

"Nah, it's not that," he sighed as he laid the book down, open, on his chest. "You know that."

"Then what?"

"I just thought… Maybe we could go out to eat? And then shop around a little?"

"For what?"

"Well, the kid's been here awhile now," Laxus said. "He even has his own dang room."

"He does."

"So we probably should, I dunno, finally get down to buying him a few more sets of clothes? Don't you think?"

Mira only gave him a soft grin in return, hardly moving her lips at all. "That would be a good idea, yeah. At least it wouldn't hurt anything."

"Save you from constantly having to do laundry, at least."

"Or you could just start helping out with the laundry."

"Mirajane," he said, turning his head to stare into her eyes. "If I did my own laundry again, that would completely defeat the purpose of even having a girlfriend. Wouldn't it?"

Giggling slightly, she said, "You're really full of it recently, Laxus."

"Am I?"

"Mmmmhmm." Shutting her eyes then, she said, "Be quiet now. This is my favorite song."

He wondered what that was, what she was listening to in her headphones, if she was vain enough to have her favorite song as one of her own, but then only went back to his book. After about four minutes though, Mirajane sat up and slipped her headphones off before dropping then on the nightstand.

"G'night," she whispered, giving him his back as she tried to get comfortable.

"Going to sleep, demon?"

"Now that you promised me a shopping trip in the morning? Oh, yes. I'll be up with bells on before sunrise."

"I didn't promise you nothing," he said. "I didn't even promise the kid something! I just said that I thought that we should take him to get some new clothes. That's it."

"Yeah, but Laxus," she complained. "You can't tell me that we're going shopping and not expect me to expect to get something. That's just crazy."

"Oh, is it?"

"Yeah, it is."

That time his grin was impossible to hide.

"You can have a few things, demon. Maybe. I dunno."

"You don't know? How do you not know?"

"Depends," he told her.

"It depends on what?"

"On whether or not the place we go to eat has bacon or not."

"Then you're out of luck, Mr. Dreyar," she told him.

"How so?"

"It most certainly will have bacon," she said. "What kind of breakfast place doesn't?"

"Guess you're right."

"And I am going to clean you out of every cent you own."

Grunt.

Giggles.

"I'll buy you whatever you want, demon," he told her then as he moved to set his book down on the nightstand, turning off the lamp while he was at it. "All you have to do is ask."