A/N: I decided to update again, because I was too lazy to finish a book for one of my classes. Procrastination is definitely the root of my motivation for writing. This chapter was actually intended to be a lot longer than it should be, but I figured that if I went on with writing it then I wouldn't have enough time to read the book that I have to finish for tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who left a review, keep them coming! Your feedback helped me regain my motivation, apart of course, from the fact that I'm procrastinating on my studies.
This is dedicated to my reviewers, and the people who added this story into their favourites and story alert. I hope you all like it, and I hope I didn't make Laxus too far off his character.
It was early morning, yet the crowd bustled in the busy streets of the town. It was just a regular day for the people of Magnolia, as it is for the mages of Fairy Tail – for whatever normalcy would apply to them.
Laxus stood, with his hands kept in his pockets, inside of the music store, contemplating. He was thinking of buying a new set of headphones as his old trusty signature SoundPod is long out of date. In the years spent trapped inside the Fairy Sphere, technological innovations with regards to music boomed quite a bit, and he had just known of the new models of headphones. He thought deeply on the matter, as he treasures his music as a part of his lifestyle – he cannot live a day without listening to music.
He sighed; he wasn't getting anywhere with his deep contemplation. He couldn't choose between the two types of headsets before him. One was the older version, but with a much more exquisite design, the other was the new Lacrima model that came out fairly recently it included sound quality boosters which he found interesting, however, the look of it was not his type – it was too mellow for him.
He scratched the back of his head in exasperation, with a visible frown planted on his face. He looked sideways, wanting to see if the shop had something better to offer. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a familiar figure carrying numerous bags of groceries. He smirked when he noticed who it was – Mirajane. The lightning dragon slayer quickly made his way out of the shop, and decided to approach the lovely lady.
He decided to sneak up on her, making sure to blend in with the crowd as he knew that with her keen senses, she'd be able to detect him immediately. As he trailed her, he took his time observing and taking a good look at her. She was carrying five bags, and they were all without handles so she was struggling a little with carrying them.
He shook his head, "I have no idea why I'm doing this," he thought as he continued trail her amidst the crowd. "I believe this is what people call 'stalking'," he said to himself impatiently, finally deciding to approach her before he really felt like he was stalking her. He quickened his pace in order to catch up with the lovely barmaid, and just after a few seconds, he was able to reach her. Utilizing his height and reach, he grabbed three bags from behind her, which alerted the surprised barmaid. She quickly turned to see who it was, and heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Laxus – sporting his cocky smirk while carrying the three bags without difficulty.
"Yo," he greeted with his familiar arrogant smile.
"Hey," stated Mira with a smile, "You surprised me, Laxus."
"Where do these go?" he asked indifferently.
"Oh, to the guild," she answered.
"Let's go then," he said, moving a little bit ahead, hinting for her to follow. Mira started walking along with his pace and said, "Thanks." She received no answer, as they both went on with their walk back to the guild in an awkward silence.
A few minutes into the silence, Laxus spoke. "What are these for?" he asked, tilting his head to look at her, and adding, "They're awfully a lot for you to carry on your own. Shouldn't Elfman be with you?"
"They're supplies for the upcoming Hanami. I have to stock up on food and materials so we wouldn't have to worry about lacking the needed stuff for when the festival comes. It's just a precaution, really… but I ended up buying a little bit too much."
Laxus nodded in understanding, he just remembered that in about a week's time, the Rainbow Sakura Festival would be held, and everyone knew that Fairy Tail would definitely be partying again. It was a tradition of some sorts, wherein they would all take a breather from jobs to bury themselves in the magnificent atmosphere of the blooming flowers. "And of course, that meant pigging out and having a drinking spree for the guild members," he though, rolling his eyes.
"Elfman went out on a job, and I didn't really want to bother the others because they're all giddy about the celebration, so I went without asking for assistance. It proved to be rather difficult though," she continued.
He snorted, "You're so stubborn, you know? You could have just asked me, I don't have anything to do anyway because the good-paying S-Class jobs are still scarce lately." Mirajane smiled at him, seeing his usual indifferent expression, "I'll keep that in mind," she replied.
"So… what brings you to town?" she asked, "You're not really the type who likes mingling with people. I figured you don't like crowds so much as you're so secluded, even in the guild."
"Yeah, well, I just thought I'd give my SoundPod a rest as I've had it for a couple of years now. It's pretty outdated already and the storage is almost full, so I came to check up on the new models," he replied. He explained how the new models had better sound quality, and allowed you to store more music into the Magical Headphones.
"I have a fairly new Lacrima model, and I haven't been using it. If you want, you can have it," she offered.
He thought about it for a moment before responding, "Don't worry about it, yours is the green Lacrima version, right? I don't think green would go well with my hair."
They both chuckled at his statement, and they went on walking while continuing to talk about random stuff, with the awkwardness notably gone. On their way, they came across Wendy, who was looking around, as if searching for something.
"Hmm, maybe Carla went ahead," they heard her say.
"Hey Wendy, what brings you to town?" greeted Mira. The female dragon slayer turned and greeted the two S-Class mages. "Carla and I wanted to check out the shops, but I lost sight of her not too long ago," the young mage explained.
"See? This is why little girls like you shouldn't be walking around a huge town alone," Laxus chided slightly bending down to Wendy's level. He earned a nudge from Mirajane, and a pout from Wendy. "Sorry, I'm just messing with you, kid," he apologized. "I reckon she went back to the guild. She'd probably have trouble looking for you even if she flew, with all these people around," he stated.
"I see, well it isn't really the first time that this has happened so…" the azure-haired girl said.
"We're heading to the guild, why don't you come with us?" offered Mira. The young dragon slayer immediately nodded in response, before offering to carry some of the bags. Laxus just stared at her, with a look that says, 'I'm fine'.
"Thanks, but you don't have to, Wendy," said Mira, smiling at the young lady. Wendy, on the other hand, insisted, and the barmaid ended up complying. She gave Wendy one of her bags, and they resumed walking.
The three went on their way around town, with Wendy and Mirajane chatting with each other, and Laxus responding occasionally. For the most part, though, he was just walking alongside them. While walking, Wendy's eyes traveled to a Magic Crane game machine, which was powered by a lacrima. She saw numerous unique plushies of Exceeds piled inside. Her diverted attention did not go unnoticed by the two adults. "What's wrong, kid?" asked Laxus, his eyes following Wendy's to the machine.
"Oh, my apologies," she said, looking back at the two. "I just saw a plush doll that somehow resembled Carla's mom."
Laxus' eyebrows perked upwards at the statement, he remembered the story behind the Exceeds, and his guildmates' exploits at Edolas shortly after he got expelled, and he knew the story from when he subtly asked about Lisanna's return.
"You want to try it?" Mirajane asked, turning to Wendy. The latter just shook her head, "I don't do very well with these games…" she stated, frowning.
Laxus smirked, "Well, I'm pretty good at those types of games. Why don't I give it a try?" stated the blond dragon slayer. Followed closely by the two ladies, he approached the machine, and put down the bags. He asked Wendy which plush-toy she wanted, and the younger female responded by pointing her free hand at the white Exceed plushie that resembled Carla.
He noted that it was in a very convenient place, and that there was a steel band on the plushie's waist with a tiny lacrima gem. He decided utilize it to his advantage by using his lightning to induce a small amount of magnetism from the crane to the steel band on the Exceed plushie. In one try, he was able to get the toy. Of course, Wendy wasn't able to notice his underhanded method because of the very small surge of lightning magnetism that he used.
He handed it over to Wendy, patting her hair roughly, smirking. "See? I'm just that great," he bragged, laughing proudly.
"Thank you very much," Wendy stated in pure gratitude, showing off a very cheerful smile.
The scene made Mirajane smile; she thought it was very charming of Laxus to help Wendy with that, even cheating to get the toy. Laxus picked up the bags once again, and started walking back to the guild, with a smiling Mirajane, and a very cheerful Wendy, holding the plush-toy closely on one arm, the other still wrapped around the bag.
When they caught sight of the guild, Mira told Wendy that she should go ahead and check if Carla was back, to which the blue-haired mage complied to. She took the bag with her, and went ahead.
When she was a bit further ahead, Mirajane smiled at Laxus. The blond man just looked at her, wondering what was up. "That was cheating, you know," she stated, smiling at him suggestively. Laxus just shrugged and replied, "I don't know what you mean," before they went on walking. "Actually, now that I think about it, if I used it against Gajeel, it would probably hurt," he thought to himself, grinning.
"You don't seem as repulsive to Wendy as you are with the others," said Mira without looking at him.
"Meh, she isn't annoying unlike the others," was his only reply. He thought about how the other two dragon slayers gave him headaches with their noise, as well as all the havoc they always cause, to which he could only shake his head and sigh disapprovingly.
"You doing anything after this?" asked Laxus, with the familiar look of indifference plastered on his face.
Mirajane nodded, "There will be a delivery of liquor later at the guild, I have to unload them, and then tend to the bar as usual," she replied.
"I see… I don't have anything on, so I'll help you out of you want."
"That would be lovely," she replied, "Thanks, Laxus." She earned a nod from Laxus, and they both went on.
It was already afternoon when the delivery truck arrived, and as promised, Laxus helped Mira unload the liquor crates off the vehicle. Mira was checking the contents and ticking their names off her chart, signaling for Laxus to carry them when she has made sure they had the right number of bottles.
Carrying three crates stacked together, Laxus commented, "You know, you shouldn't be doing hard labor," he stated before putting down the crates onto the storage room. When he got back, he added, "This is why you need a man. And by that, I don't mean Elfman," he smirked waiting for the next set of boxes. Mira chuckled at his words, turning to him. She decided to play along, "I'm working on it, Laxus," she smiled, "It's just that there is a lack of sane people in the guild to choose from," she added jokingly.
Her response made him grin wider, and without thinking, he jested, "Well then maybe we should get back together," but at this statement Mira stiffened – and he did too. He realized the weight of his statement, yet he smirked, as he wanted to know what she'd say, though as for that he was afraid of what her response may be.
Mira wasn't sure of what her expression was at that moment, and she didn't really care. "Laxus, you're an idiot… why do you always do this to me?" she thought to herself, before forcing a reply, she turned to him and faked a smile, "Ha-ha, Laxus. Very funny," she stated sarcastically. She saw Laxus' serious expression, and it surprised her. He was actually tempted to tell her that he wasn't kidding, but he couldn't find the courage to. After a long pause of just staring at each other, not knowing what to do, Laxus broke into a fit of laughter, "I figured as much," he stated jokingly. Mira, in turn, just faked a smile before turning back to work.
"Laxus, why do you always play with my feelings like this..?" she thought inwardly with her face exhibiting the pain she felt, "And I'm an idiot for actually expecting something," she contemplated.
For the remainder of their time, they both worked in silence.
A/N: I didn't know which spelling I should use for Charle or Carla, so I ended up consulting the FT Wiki site for it, and I used the name posted there.
Again, I encourage you to leave a feedback, and tell me what you think of this chapter, especially with how I characterized Laxus. Reviews make me all giddy inside, I don't know why, but just saying. :P
I didn't proof-read this, as usual, so there are bound to be mistakes, and for that I apologize.