Parenthood

Chapter 21

Though he disliked her at times, Ever had never been more right. Because not two weeks after that whole marriage stuff, he had a sudden realization.

He didn't want to marry Mira at all.

And that came the night of their biggest fight to date.

"I didn't sleep with her, Mirajane."

"Then why the hell were you out on a date with her?"

"It wasn't a-"

"Yes, it was!"

It all began when Mira had to work all day and Lisanna wanted to babysit Nathan.

"What am I supposed to do?" Laxus grumbled to Mirajane as she got ready that morning, him coming over to her house only to she hadn't even made breakfast. "Mira?"

"For breakfast? Come to down to the-"

"All day," he corrected. "What am I supposed to do if Lisanna has the kid and you-"

"I don't know, Laxus. Train?"

"I trained yesterday!"

"Then train again."

"I don't-"

"There has to be something that you want to do," Mirajane reasoned. "Something that you can't because me and Nate fill up your whole day. Just go do that."

And no, for the record, the first thing he did was not go seek out some woman to screw around with. That might have been with Mira thought, but it didn't go down that way at all.

In fact, he went home and went back to bed. Then, around noon, he got back up to go find someone to hangout with. He hadn't seen Bickslow in a few days, Evergreen kept nagging him about him wanting to marry Mirajane, and Freed was…

Huh. Where was Freed?

So he set off to find him because all his other friends, his non guild friends, were either women that Mira told him he wasn't allowed to see or men that there was no way would be seen until at least sundown.

So he went to find Freed. It was just as innocent as that. In fact, he was on the way over to the man's apartment when he ran into…her.

That's what Mira didn't get. He was seeking out nothing bad. Bad just came to him. It always did. He could be on his best behavior, but always, no matter what, something would appear before for him. Tempt him.

And boy did she tempt him.

It started with her just acting shocked to see him. That wasn't wholly right though as many of the women that Laxus used to screw around with saw him out a lot. They were just too afraid to approach him, as he was usually with his new girlfriend, who, after a few checks, they found that he was very committed to.

Bleh.

So when this particular woman approached Laxus, he was a little shocked. And she didn't say much. Just started talking to him, asking about how he'd been and stuff. Which was fine. Wasn't it fine? Mira had so many stupid rules. He couldn't even hangout with anyone anymore. And why? Just because he'd slept with them?

Okay, so he was a little mad at Mirajane and yeah, he wasn't thinking much, but it wasn't fair. She could just do whatever she wanted and he couldn't do anything?

So, when the woman asked if he wanted to grab some lunch, he said yes. Of course he did. Why shouldn't he? He knew that he wouldn't end up in bed with her. There was no way that he would.

So why did it matter if he went to lunch with the woman?

Apparently, it mattered a great deal.

"How did you eve find out?"

"What difference does it make, Laxus?"

"A lot!"

"So what? You weren't going to tell me then?"

"Why should I have? So you could just yell at me and scream at me and- You know what? Fuck this. I-"

"Don't you curse at me, Laxus. You were the one-"

"Who told you?"

"You should have told me!"

"Maybe I was going to," he argued. "But you didn't give me a chance. I come in here to check on you, make sure you got home from work okay and what? You start yelling at me? After someone, what? Saw me?"

"Elfman did. My own brother had to-"

"He didn't have to do anything, Mirajane! 'cause I didn't do anything! I took her out to lunch because you were-"

"Because I was working?"

They were standing there, in the living room, where Mira had been sitting on the couch waiting for him to show up. Whenever she worked nights, he found his way over at her place. Especially if she worked all day and they didn't get a chance to be together.

He was going to forever disregard that then though. Forever.

"You were rude this morning and-"

"I shouldn't have to worry about you screwing around every time I have to work!"

"I'm not!"

His shout was accompanied by the front door opening and Lisanna walking in, Nathan in her arms. That gave Laxus his chance to escape as Mirajane directed her pent up rage at her sister.

"Where have you been?" Mira marched over to take the sleeping Nathan from Lisanna's arms. "It's almost midnight, Lisanna."

"He was fine. He was sleeping and I was hanging out with…my friends. He went to bed like normal, I gave him dinner. He just didn't fall asleep over here." Lisanna shrugged some, glancing between them, taking in the dark faces of both S-Class wizards. "Are you that mad because I got home late? Seriously?"

Neither spoke though as Laxus only snorted before walking off, into the kitchen. Mirajane though stayed right there.

"What were you, Natsu, and Lucy even doing this late?"

"I-"

"They aren't in town," they heard Laxus grumble from the other room. Frowning, both women turned to walk over to the kitchen.

"Why would you-"

"Because," Laxus cut off his girlfriend. "I ran into them yesterday when they were headed to the train station with their damn cat. The blonde one wanted to go somewhere fun. I think they were going to some beach or something. But he wanted to fight with me and she got angry, saying that he was wasting time, that they had a train to catch. So he told me that when he got back next week, he'd kick my ass."

Lisanna frowned. "And? I never said that I was with them anyhow. So-"

"Then who were you with?"

"What business is it of yours, Mirajane?"

"Yes." Laxus, who had gotten a beer out of the fridge, pointed over at Lisanna. "That's what I'm talking about, Mira. What business is it of yours if I'm out? Huh? I'm not sleeping with someone. And as long as I don't do that-"

"No, do not group me in with whatever you two have going on." Lisanna turned to walk off. "I brought him home, Mirajane, and he's fine. You yelling at me isn't going to change anything. Now goodnight."

"Wow." Laxus took a sip of his beer before shaking his head. "She is so disrespect-"

"Shut up, Laxus," Mira hissed as Nathan, who had awoken to find himself in Mira's arms, snuggled closer. He hadn't seen her all day! It was torture.

Not that he didn't have fun, but still. It just wasn't the same if Mirajane wasn't there.

"And get out," she kept up.

"I-"

"I shouldn't have to worry, Laxus, that if I don't sleep with you for a week or aren't free when you want that you might go and sleep around or take other women out on dates." She turned to walk off, no doubt to her own bedroom. "I don't want to see you again until I have some time to think.'

"This is bullshit. You-"

"Goodnight."

He slammed the door about the same time she made it to her bedroom. That upset Nathan a little bit, who whined for his father, but Mira only took him over to the bed.

"Shhh," she sighed as she sat down, him in her lap. "It's okay. Lisanna shouldn't have kept you out so late, should she have?"

"Mira," he whined as he snuggled up close. "Nigh-nigh?"

"Yeah. We're gonna go night-night now." Slowly, she shifted to lay him down. He whined at first until he saw her go get her guitar from where it was resting in the corner of the room. "Are you ready for your song?"

He was still so sleepy that it was easy to get him to go to bed that night. Which Mirajane was glad for because all she wanted to do was drift off herself. She had so much on her mind that she forgot all about who Lisanna had thought it was a good idea to bring Nathan around.

Oops.

"You."

"'ey, boss." Bickslow took a step back after opening the door to his tiny apartment. He was without his usual visor as he stood there in jeans and an unbuttoned shirt that he was trying to get on. "You need somethin'? Me and the babies here were just heading out on-"

"The hell have you been, Bickslow?" Laxus grumbled as he shoved his way into the apartment. "Huh?"

"What are you talking about? I've been here all day. And now I'm about to go out. Why? I miss a training session or-"

"I haven't hardly seen you in weeks." Laxus was at ease in the apartment and only went over to the man's mini-fridge (prices for a good fridge were ludicrous) that he kept in the living room. "What have you been doing? Huh?"

"I don't know. I-"

"If you had been around yesterday, I wouldn't have fucked up everything with Mirajane."

Bickslow blinked, still just standing there with his shirt unbutton, hands poised to right this. Staring at his idol, he only watched as he took a seat on the couch like it was nothing.

"You know?" he whispered.

"Know what?"

"About…Lisanna?"

Laxus narrowed his eyes. "What about Lisanna?"

"I… What?"

"No, you said Lisanna." Laxus didn't rise, but he didn't need to. He could strike fear in Bickslow from the toilet if he had to. "What about her?"

"I-"

"Did you two idiots do something?" His eyes were dark. "Bickslow-"

"Nothing! Honest, boss, I-"

"What? She's jealous that I'm taking her sister and you're mad that her sister's taking my time? So you plant that woman, send her off to try and…seduce me?"

"Uh, I really don't know what you're talking about, boss," he said, tongue falling from his mouth. "Honest. But I sort of have a prior engagement."

"Engagement!" His dolls, who hadn't been doing much but floating around, came to circle their father's head. "Prior engagement!"

"What are you doing? Huh? That's so important?" Laxus was still suspicious.

"W-Well-"

There was a knock at the door then, making both of them glance at it. Bickslow only grinned.

"Probably the wrong address. I-"

"Answer it."

"Or maybe a traveling salesman-"

"Answer it," Laxus hissed. "Now."

Turning slowly, he went to open the door, only to reveal a bubbly Lisanna.

"Are you re- How could you still be getting dressed?"

"Uh, Lisanna," he sighed as he let her in. "The boss is here."

"Wh- Oh." She had come into the place only to stop short as Bickslow's dolls sang her name in excitement. "Laxus."

He only looked between the two of them for a moment before laughing. He hadn't done that since fighting with Mirajane the night before, but man, if he didn't have a good one then. And Lisanna only closed the door behind her before crossing her arms.

"It's not funny," she hissed. "What are you-"

"You and Bickslow are dating?"

"No," they both said at the same time.

"We're not," she insisted. "We were just going to hangout."

Bickslow nodded as his babies joined Laxus in his laughter.

"That's all," he said. "Seriously, boss. You don't think that I would ask you before dating your girlfriend's sister?"

"Why would you?" Lisanna gave him a look for that one. "Why would it be any of his business?"

"I- Hey, who cares?" Bickslow shrugged. "'cause we're not dating anyhow."

"We're just friends," she agreed then, looking back at Laxus. He only shook his head though.

"This is too great," he said. "I have to tell Mir… Oh yeah."

"What were you going on about anyhow?" Bickslow went back to getting his shirt buttoned. "What'd you do to Mirajane? 'cause we didn't have anything to do with it."

"I didn't do-"

"He went out to dinner with one of the women that he used to sleep with," Lisanna said, still glaring at him. "You really hurt her with this, Laxus. You-"

"I ate fucking lunch with a friend," he grumbled. "Last time I checked, that ain't a crime."

"It is when Mirajane told you not to hang around those people anymore."

"And what is she? Huh? My keeper?"

"No," she said. "But she's your girlfriend and-"

"Don't argue with the boss now, huh?" Bickslow had finished with his shirt and took to patting Lisanna on the head. She only continued glaring at Laxus though. To his idol, the seith said, "Did you want something though, Laxus? We got a train to catch."

"A train, huh?"

Lisanna's arms found their way to being crossed over her chest. "What difference does it make to you what we're doing? We're busy, so-"

Laxus only slowly got to his feet, taking a sip of his beer as he came closer. Once he was over next to them, he only looked at his bodyguard.

"I don't care if you're getting it in with the brat or not."

"I'm not a brat!"

"But," Laxus went on. "You can't become unavailable. Believe me, I could replace you just like that."

"Of course, boss," he said. "Sorry if you felt like I was unavailable."

After he left, Bickslow only grinned sheepishly at Lisanna. She rolled her eyes at the sight.

"You don't have to let him bully you constantly."

"He doesn't bully me," Bickslow said as he went to go find his shoes. "He's just…strict. He hired me for a reason. He's the best boss a person like me could ask for!"

Lisanna only rolled her eyes. "I'll take your word for it."

"So are you ready to take off?" He'd disappeared into his bedroom then and she only followed.

"Uh-huh."

"Yesterday was cool, watching the kid and everything, but I'm glad that we actually get to do something today."

"Me too."

"And Laxus seemed-"

"Did you not tell him? That we were hanging out?"

"No." He appeared again, his helmet covering his face once more. "Was I supposed to?"

"I thought… I mean, wasn't that the point? Of being my friend?"

"The point of being your friend, kid, is because I think that it's fun to be around you." He placed his helmet on his head. "And if you're ready, let's get down to the station, huh?"

"Huh?" his dolls mimicked. "Lisanna?"

She only smiled though. "Yeah. Let's."

"Mira-"

"I'm working."

"I know, but listen. I-"

"Working."

"I-"

"Still working."

Laxus felt foolish then, trying to follow his girlfriend around the guildhall as she delivered beers and picked up empty mugs. He didn't want to, honestly, but she was leaving him with no options. The guild would be closing up soon and, after leaving Bickslow's, he'd spent the whole rest of the day there, trying to talk.

But Mira didn't want to talk. She didn't want to see him. She didn't even want to hear him. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

She was having no such luck in that department though as Laxus had no intentions of going anywhere.

"Mirajane," he complained. "Come on. You have to talk to me."

"No."

"I sat here all day, waiting for you to take a break so that we can speak. Now you're going to talk to me!"

"You wanna do something for me, Laxus?"

"No. I mean…will that make you happy?"

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Nate's sitting over there with Elf and Ever. Take him home. To your home. It's getting late."

"But Mirajane-"

"I'll come by after work and we can talk then. Alright?"

He really wanted to get the whole thing finished then. Not later. Freed was off training, Bickslow was, apparently, banging Lisanna, and he was mad at Evergreen and Elfman.

Since when were those his only options for hanging out?

Oh yeah. Since Mira put him on restrictions.

Ugh.

Having a woman wasn't wroth it.

He was so thankful that he hadn't actually ask her to marry him or something stupid like that.

"I need the kid," he grumbled as he went over to Elfman and Evergreen. They were seated by themselves, the toddler in Elfman's lap, napping from the looks of it. His bed time had long gone at that point. "Now."

Elfman only frowned at him. "Are you going to cheat on him too?"

"What sense does that-"

"Elfman's only being…well..." Evergreen didn't have an excuse for her boyfriend then and only moved to take the child from his lap before holding him out to Laxus. "Here. Take the baby."

He only glared at her. "You better not have had anything to do with telling Mirajane on me, Ever," was his warning before walking off, kid in his arms.

Nathan slept practically the entire way home. They were a block from Laxus' building when he awoke with a yawn, snuggling closer to his father.

"You better not start crying," Laxus told him. "I cannot deal with that right now."

And he didn't, start crying that is. Until they got to the apartment and Laxus took him into his bedroom.

Then he started bawling.

"Mira," he sobbed as Laxus only went to work stripping him down and getting him into his jammies. The child fought him though. "Mira. No! No!"

"Stop," he grumbled. "Mirajane's working. You're fine. You're going to get into your big boy bed like you know how to and you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'm going to get drunk and hope that Mira doesn't start yelling at me again when she shows up."

But that wasn't an option. Nathan did not want to be there that night for whatever reason. Laxus figured part of the problem was that he was overly tired. When that happened, he usually took forever and a day to get down.

Laxus eventually took him to his bedroom, thinking that maybe that would calm him down some, but to no avail. He wailed just as much in there. And man if Laxus wasn't ready to just bash his own skull in. He'd never hurt the kid but…well…

Eventually, the toddler just gave out, collapsed in the center of his father's bed, falling asleep out of nowhere. If he couldn't tell that he was breathing, Laxus might have feared that he was, like, dead or something.

It was probably midnight when Mirajane finally got there. By that point, tired after having to deal with a cranky kid, Laxus was mostly asleep. He heard her enter and heard her sigh, but he didn't move from his face down position on the bed, knowing if he did it'd only end badly for him.

"So much for talking," he heard her grumble as she undressed before joining him and Nathan in bed. He weighed his options and knew better than to let it be known he was awake. Instead, he only laid there and hoped that she'd still be when he awoke the next morning.

She wasn't.

But that was only because he could hear her in the adjoining bathroom, giving Nathan his morning bath.

"He's in high spirits," Laxus remarked as he went in there, planning on taking a leak. "You should have heard him last-"

"Don't talk to me." She didn't even look up from bathing the child.

"Mirajane-"

"I was working and you thought that meant that you could take another woman out to dinner. That-"

"I know now that I can't. So knock it off, alright?" He snorted as he went over to the toilet. "Making a big deal out of nothing. So what? I went out to lunch? I mean-"

"Then I'm going out to lunch. And to shop. And to see plays. All with guys that I formally-"

"Ha. No."

"Fair is fair."

"Fair is bullshit."

"Stop cursing." She glanced over at him. "And don't pee in here when I'm- Laxus!"

"Laxus," Nathan mimicked was a giggle as he played in the bathwater. "Laxus!"

"My apartment, my rules. I pee where I wanna pee."

"You're so gross."

Needless to say, things didn't go well from there. She refused to make him breakfast. Instead, she only dressed Nate and took him back to her house.

"When you're ready to admit that you were wrong," she told him as she left, "you know where to find me."

But he hadn't been wrong. And he hadn't slept with anyone else. He had hardly even put a hand on the woman's shoulder!

Mirajane was acting crazy. Plain and simple.

Although…if all it took to make her forgive him was saying that…

So he went out and bought her flowers and candy and got the kid a toy. He'd never had to do that before. He never cared to. If something went wrong with the woman, then he considered it as there was something wrong with the woman.

But there wasn't anything wrong with Mira. Err, well, she was rather annoying, but he figured that all women were like that. All people, even. Maybe he was just hard to get along with. Whatever. The point was that he wanted to keep her.

Even with degrading consequences.

So he bought all that stuff, feeling rather foolish the whole time, but knowing that the payoff was worth it.

For the record though, marriage was officially off the table. He could hardly do anything and they were only dating!

Man, he'd give it to Ever; when she was right about something, she was spot on.

When he showed up to the Strauss house though, he found out that all his planning and work was all for not, as Mirajane had shifted onto another problem.

"What's going on?" he grumbled as, after answering the door, Mira only turned away and walked back off to the kitchen. "Mira? Hey, I got you these dumb chocolates and flowers, so you better-"

"Just set them on the table, Laxus," he heard her call. Nathan was in the living room, all alone, playing on the floor, and smiled in greeting.

"Hi, Laxus," he called out as the man only came to drop the toy for him on the floor in front of him, not even taking it out of it's box. Just as quickly he was head for the kitchen to find out what was going on.

Elfman was at the table, sobbing, as his sister on sat next to him, trying her hardest to be comforting.

"What's wrong?" Laxus sneered. "You and Ever break up again?"

"Yes," Elfman said, glancing up. "How'd you know?"

He only made a face though. "Mira, are we made-up again or what? Because I-"

"What?" She glanced over at him in annoyance before shrugging. "Laxus, I don't care right now, alright? Thank you for the stuff, but could you just go do something else right now?"

Her tone was tired, but not of him. Mission accomplished.

And, after making a few sandwiches, he went to the living room to watch the kid and eat them, far away from Elfman and his overly 'manly' meltdown.

"Damn it, kid," he grumbled as Nathan giggled. "I could have gotten out of those damn flower. Wonder if she knows I got chocolates. Hmmm. You hungry?"

Yes. Always.

Laxus only sat him in his lap, giving him a little bit of chocolate and a lot of sandwiches.

So he'd survived another fight with Mirajane. Maybe they were meant to be together.

Maybe.