At seven forty-five sharp, Lucy waited on her front porch every morning for Laxus to walk by. When she realized how close they lived to each other, she insisted that they walk to and from school together. For her safety, she told him. Laxus knew better than to comment on how she managed to walk by herself for over three years before he showed up. Still, if he had to choose to see someone's face first thing in the morning, it would be hers.
"You're late!" Lucy called out to him as she bounded down from her porch. Her blonde locks bounced behind her, shining in the morning light. She always wore a bright smile when she saw him. After thinking about it, Laxus realized he'd never seen her without a smile. (not like he was complaining)
Laxus reached a hand back and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that." He gave her an apologetic smile.
She shrugged it off and pulled Laxus down the sidewalk. "We're gonna be late!"
Laxus let Lucy pull him all the way to the high school. She was small, but she was fast. He was out of breath by the time they reached Magnolia High. Wasting no time, Lucy bounded up the steps and entered the building leaving Laxus behind to catch his breath. He stared after the bubbly blonde in wonder. He'd never met anyone quite like her.
Orange and white banners greeted Laxus as he walked through the doors. Big bold letters read: Magnolia Winter Formal, get your tickets now! The students congregated in the entryway were buzzing with talk of the dance. Ah, the infamous high school dance. With a roll of his eyes, Laxus pulled his spiky headphones on and walked towards his first class. Laxus couldn't be bothered with meaningless school events like a dance.
His usual seat in the back of the class was empty so he pushed his way through the lingering students so he could sit down. Laxus felt more comfortable sitting in the back of the class. He could get away with keeping his headphones on back there; he didn't have to worry about other students' prying eyes. After a few weeks his new kid image might have worn off a bit but he could still feel their stares.
Class had started but Laxus was busy listening to The Eagles. It was just homeroom. The only thing he'd be missing is nonsense talk about the upcoming dance. It was no different at any of the high school he had attended. Not only does the student body get overly excited about the dance, there always has to be a spirit week. It was too much school spirit for Laxus who hadn't been able to stay at a school long enough to become loyal to one.
Doodling in his notebook, Laxus paused as a shadow casted over his desk. He looked up to see Mr. Clive towering over him with his arms crossed. Laxus saw his mouth moving but couldn't hear him over the sound of Hotel California blasting in his ears but looking at Mr. Clive's face he knew he was in trouble. Laxus paused his music and pulled off his headphones.
"Mr. Dreyar. I don't know how they did it at your old high school but here at Magnolia high we don't allow students to wear headphones in class." Mr. Clive stated.
"Alright, sir. It won't happen again." Laxus replied, not meeting his gaze. He could feel twenty pairs of eyes on him, causing his heart rate to quicken. The spotlight was bright, too bright for his liking.
"Sorry, Laxus. I'm going to need to confiscate them. You can collect them at the end of the day. I can't have you wearing these at school again." Mr. Clive held out his hand expectantly.
Laxus looked down at his headphones. These headphones were the only thing good his father had given him. He never went anywhere without them, if they were waterproof he'd wear them in the shower if he could. He gritted his teeth as he pulled the headphones over his head and disconnected them from him phone. Don't make a scene, don't make a scene,he kept repeating to himself. With a shaky hand, Laxus handed over the only thing he cared about to Mr. Clive.
"Thank you." Mr. Clive took the headphones and walked towards the front of the class. Laxus glared at the man as he set the headphones on top of his desk. There went his only solace in this god forsaken high school.
Class drug on without his headphones. Even without them he still couldn't concentrate on anything his teachers said. All he cared about was getting his headphones back. His thoughts shifted to Lucy. Maybe she'd be able to hatch a plan to get his headphones back. She knew this high school and its staff like the back of her hand. A small smile formed on his lips just thinking about it. He eyed the clock until it struck 11:30.
Seconds after the bell rang Laxus hightailed it out of the classroom. He usually beat Lucy to the cafeteria and today was no different. He took a seat at one of the back corner tables and scanned the crowd for her brilliant golden locks. He was kind of earlier than usual, so he shrugged off her absence and dug into his leftover pasta from the night before. He was nearly finished with his meal when he realized that Lucy still hadn't shown up. He scanned the cafeteria again hoping to spot her in line but she didn't see her anywhere. A small knot started to form in the pit of his stomach but he ignored it and finished his meal. Maybe she was eating lunch with her friends, he thought to himself. Laxus didn't like the way the thought made the knot in his stomach swell.
He waited until five minutes before the end of lunch before he gave up waiting for her. This is how it should be, he told himself. He knew better than to get attached to the girl. Better now than a couple months down when he'd be moving to a new city. Laxus shook the thoughts out of his head. Maybe she was just working on a project, he told himself. He liked the sound of that much better.
The end of the day didn't come soon enough. Laxus barely made it through his last few classes without losing it. With his headphones gone he had never felt so vulnerable. He hated it. His first stop at the end of the day was Mr. Clive's class. The blond brute practically ran to the other side of the building, almost knocking down any student unwise enough to get in his way. When he arrived at his homeroom classroom the door was shut and it was dark inside. He tried the handle but it was locked. The growl that escaped him would make wolves cower.
"How could he forget?" Laxus nearly shouted at the door. He clenched his fists willing himself not to punch the wall. He couldn't believe it. Apparently Mr. Clive's end of the day and his were quite different.
Laxus stalked off in the direction of the front doors. This was going to be a long walk home. He was about to turn the corner when he heard Lucy's melodic laughter. He froze in place as he listened.
"Thanks for picking up today's homework for me, Natsu." Lucy said. Laxus didn't need to see her to know she was smiling.
"Oh, uh, no problem Luce… So I was wondering, you know the winter formal is coming up, right?" A guy asked her. Laxus peered around the corner to see a boy with bright pink hair standing awkwardly besides Lucy.
"Oh, yeah! That is coming up isn't it?" She replied.
The boy let out an awkward laugh. "Yeah, I was, uh, wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me?" He asked.
Laxus turned around and stalked off in the other direction without bothering to hear her answer. He knew she'd say yes. He saw the way she was smiling at Natsu. It was the same way she smiled at him. The knot in his stomach swelled even more, making him feel sick. Once he left the building he started running. He kept running until he was only a few block away from home. Exhausted, he leaned against the wall of an empty building. Stupid. So stupid, he scolded himself. He didn't even care about the dance, why would he care who Lucy went with? It's not like it was any of his business in the first place.
Despite all of this, he couldn't help but feel as though that knot that had been growing in his stomach up until that point doubled in size. There was a strange feeling of… he didn't even know what, that made him feel heavy.
It really didn't help that his headphones had been taken away, Laxus was sure that he wouldn't be reacting so negatively in response to Lucy getting asked to the winter formal had it been a bit more of an eventless day for him.
Then again, maybe not. Laxus was no idiot. He could recognize when his feelings about something or someone were shifting in a way that could have serious repercussions. He could tell that he cared for Lucy in a way that was a little bit more… well, a lot more than what he was used to in general.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd had any kind of bond with somebody who was his age, or really… anybody at all for that matter. His family had always been a bit on the closed off side, so it wasn't as though he spent a lot of time with them anyways. Even when his father was home.
"Damnit…" he cursed lightly before running his hand down his face.
This was why he put so much effort into not putting any effort towards relationships of any kind, he hated feeling like he was not in control.
There was just something so… special about Lucy. Well, there were a lot of things about the spunky blonde he saw as 'special'. From the way she spoke, to the way that she laughed… it really seemed like everything she did was capable of making his heart speed up a couple beats faster than normal.
At first, Laxus tried to tell himself that it was simply because he was attracted to her. Which certainly wasn't a lie, not even in the slightest.
But now… the way his chest had tightened when he saw that beautiful smile directed at somebody who wasn't him… he knew that it had to be something more than just lust.
Cursing again, Laxus pushed off of the wall that he'd been leaning against and shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked the remainder of the way to his empty house. He kicked every rock that had the misfortune of being in path, wishing he could cast aside the way he felt just as easily.
He supposed that this was just a part of life that he needed to go through eventually.
Though… he still couldn't help but wish that it had been him instead of that other guy. What was his name again? Natsu? The boy with pink hair. What kind of man had pink hair anyway?
Just thinking about all of it easily got Laxus' blood boiling again, so in an attempt to get his mind off of everything; he got to work on searching for the spare earbuds that he kept laying around in case of emergency.
It actually took quite a bit of digging through his stuff before he found the black wires. He hadn't yet fully unpacked all of his things, he never really did. Laxus didn't really see the point since it was all going to get packed up again anyways.
The earbuds were small and very different from his usual headphones, though he knew that they'd also be a little bit less obvious in the future.
All of his former teachers had been too intimidated by the air that he gave off to ever actually do anything about his listening to music during class.
What exactly was it about Magnolia? It seemed as though slowly… everything he had been accustomed to over years and years of moving around was being challenged. Almost right off the bat, with how Lucy had so warmly welcomed him.
Thinking about Lucy made his heart ache in a not-so-pleasant way.
So instead of mulling over that any longer, Laxus began the process of untangling the earbuds and wound up listening to music for the majority of the night before turning in relatively early. It had been a long and somewhat stressful day, he was a bit shocked to find just how drained he really felt because of all that had happened.
The next morning came much faster than he would have liked. Laxus was definitely not ready to face the day, but of course he pushed himself up and out of bed anyway. He went through his usual morning routine before he hesitated at the refrigerated and looked towards the clock that hung on the wall.
It was seven thirty. If he ate right then he would be able to make it to Lucy's house at the time that he did every morning, but was that what Laxus wanted? Was he really ready to face Lucy after what he had accidentally overheard the day prior? It really shouldn't matter that much, at this point… Laxus saw Lucy as somebody who he cared about. Whether or not she was seeing somebody else really should not have mattered all that much to him.
But of course, it did.
So Laxus decided that the best thing for him to do… would be to avoid her for a little while. At least until after the winter formal, or until he was able to regain control over his emotions. If he didn't have to see her smile or hear her laugh, there was a good chance that he could be back to his regular self in about a week's time.
No matter how hard he told himself that this was the right decision, he couldn't help but feel guilt begin to eat at him as he passed her house. She wasn't on the porch like she usually was in the morning, which he'd expected and was the main reason he himself had left earlier in the first place.
It wasn't until he was past her house that he began to feel the guilt dissipate… until he heard someone running towards him.
"A-ha! I knew it!" Lucy's voice rang with agitation as she caught up with him and pulled him to a stop by grabbing onto the back of his jacket and giving it a sharp tug. When he turned, his breath caught in his throat as he took her in.
She looked particularly beautiful that morning. He wasn't sure if it was because of the way her cheeks were flushed due to the frigid air around them, or because of the spark in her eye that told him she definitely had a bone to pick. Almost immediately Laxus could feel himself regretting the decision he'd made to leave her behind.
"Knew what…?" He finally said when Lucy didn't continue after a few long moments of glaring at him. He wished that she wouldn't look at him like that.
"I knew that you were avoiding me! I figured something was up when you went home without me, and this just confirms it! You were totally going to leave me at home, weren't you?!"
Wincing a bit, Laxus looked away as he struggled to think of a decent way to reply. It was difficult to remain frustrated with her when she was so close, when she was looking at him with so much emotion painted across her face.
Hurt, anger, frustration… he should have known that doing this would have been a big mistake.
"What were you even doing out here so early? I don't usually come around until around seven forty-five." Laxus decided that he couldn't even directly answer her question, though he could feel as though that was the wrong decision as well.
"I thought that I'd surprise you when you walked by today because I felt like something was off, so I was hiding when you passed. When you kept going I knew for sure that you were definitely avoiding me."
"That's not true… I was going to school early to work on a project." Laxus lied. He was never a good liar, not like he's ever really had a reason to lie before, but he hoped it was convincing enough. He couldn't bring himself to tell Lucy the truth.
Lucy let out a bitter laugh. "Don't give me that. We both know you're the last person who would go to school early to do actual school work. Now tell me, why are you avoiding me?"
Although it was true, her comment stung him more than he'd like to admit. His frustrations came flooding back to him pushing him over the edge.
"Why don't you hang out with your other friends? I'm sure Natsu won't be avoiding you." His words came out harsher than he meant but it was too late to take them back. He turned around and marched towards the school leaving a stunned Lucy in his wake.
For the second time this morning Laxus felt guilty, except this time the guilt grew with each step he took. He realized how ridiculous all of this was after getting it off of his chest. He shouldn't take his frustrations out on Lucy, the girl who had been kind to him since day one. Did it hurt to know she was going to the dance with Natsu? ….Yes. That wasn't her fault though.
The only person Laxus could blame was himself.
"Hey!" Lucy yelled as she caught up to him and yanked him to a complete stop. "You have no idea what you're talking about." Her voice quivered as she spoke. Laxus looked down at her but she hid behind her blonde mane.
"I don't have any friends, Laxus. Sure, everyone knows me because I grew up here but I am not close to anyone. It's been quite lonely… until you showed up."
Watery eyes looked up to meet his gaze. Laxus felt like he had been punched in the stomach as he watched tears spill onto her cheeks. This wasn't what he wanted… not even close. Her raw emotion scared him but he didn't want to run away. He wanted take her pain away.
"Lucy…" He reached down to wipe away her tears but she swatted his hand away.
"I said no. I told Natsu that I didn't want to go to the dance with him. Because… because I was planning on going with someone else."
"Oh…" Laxus couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice. There was someone else.
"You big dummy! I was talking about you!" Lucy punched him in the arm. "I want to go to the dance with you, so... will you go with me?"
Laxus wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly. Was she asking him to the dance… for real? A strange fluttering began in his stomach. Now was not the time to get sick, he thought to himself but then he realized what it was. He was experiencing butterflies for the first time in his life. Maybe he really was getting sick. (no, that's just looooooooove) Okay was all he could manage to say back.
"Okay? Okay what?" Lucy asked, irritation ringing in her voice.
"Okay I'll go to the dance with you!"
Lucy wiped her tears away and smiled that dazzling smile of hers. The butterflies flapped their wings even harder in his stomach. There was no turning back now, Laxus realized.
"Really?" She questioned him.
"Yes, really."