cache, n.

He was helping Gildarts to tidy up the older man's house for one reason or another when he found a dark blue folder, partly hidden in the book shelf. While he tried to pull it out, the folder opened and a mess of magical cards, photos and hastily written notes appeared on the floor.

Gildarts who had been cleaning the windows turned around and the tips of his ears became red. "I … I…" he started to say before he finally caught himself. "Those are reminders," he stated.

"Reminders?" Laxus asked as he stared at the colourful mess where a wedding picture was partly hidden from his view because another letter had fallen on top of it.

"Yes," the Crash Mage said. "It sounds silly but those letters and pictures are – along with Cana – the only proof I have that I once had a beautiful wife called Cornelia."

Laxus did not think that it was silly and when he got home, he took all the notes and letters he could find and put them all together into a crimson folder to hide it in his book shelf.

cajole, v.

He would never have guessed it but she was scared of lightening. In a way, that was strangely ironic because he was the Lightening Dragon Slayer. It was even crazier when he remembered that her favourite attack, Jolt of Fate, was lightening-based and she was using it like there was no tomorrow – especially when she got impatient and wanted to end a battle fast and without much further ado. But when he had accepted it, he tried to cure her from this fear. And when he finally thought of a way, he nearly slapped himself because it was ridiculously easy – and not even particularly crazy which surprised him a little bit.

The day Laxus Dreyar decided to cure Cana Alberona's fear of lightening was also the day he decided to go camping and someone who had been camping with her such as Gray, Natsu and Lisanna might have warned him that this was not the greatest idea he had ever had because Cana was not exactly a fan of camping. And as she moped and complained, he had to breathe deeply and to remind himself that he was doing this out of love.

candid, adj.

Erza Scarlet prided herself to be a rather intelligent woman and to be capable of understanding quite quickly why some couples in the guild – such as Alzack and Bisca or Gray and Juvia were meant to be. While she was rather socially awkward because of her traumatising childhood, she sometimes studied her nakama to figure out why they acted in one way or another. And therefore, she was one of the first to notice that Laxus was acting differently from before.

And she was not the only one who saw the change.

"He is definitively dating someone," Mira stated as the both former rivals watched the Lightening Mage as he strolled over to his favourite chair after getting a drink from the bar. "He smiled today. Do you remember the last time he smiled like this, Erza? Well, I don't."

"But when he is dating someone … who would it be?" the red-haired woman asked as she looked around in the guildhall. "Knowing him, it has to be a mage … maybe even one of us…"

"I got no clue but there is Cana – she has been hanging out with him lately, she might know."

"When exactly did they stop ripping out each other's throat anyway?" the Knight asked amused.

"A few weeks ago, just after he was back," the barmaid shrugged. "They are usually the last ones left in the guild when I go hom-" She froze midword, obviously realising something. "They always hang out together, Cana got a hickey and Laxus is smiling…"

"You don't think…" Erza muttered as she connected the dots.

"Well – there's one way to figure out the mystery," Mira grinned. "Oi, Cana – if you answer this question, any drinks you drink tonight are on the house … are you dating Laxus?"

The deep blush on the Card Mage's face gave it away but Cana would not be Cana if she would be unable to counter. "And it took you this long to figure out?" she huffed.

canvas, n.

The very first night they slept in their shared apartment, neither of them could sleep and as he lay awake, he wondered whether she regretted their decision to move in together. If it had been affordable, she would probably have kept her own apartment but that would have been only dumb because the last three months before he had opened up the 'dangerous topic' as Gray had put it half a year ago, she had been nearly living at his place anyway. The only reason why they had bought an apartment together was that his old one would have been too small on the long run.

So, there they were. She was feigning sleep – not very well, he had to add because her eyes were open and she was staring at the wall – and he was staring at the ceiling.

"It will be better once we paint the walls," he sighed. "It will be different once Reedus finished the paintings we asked him to make for the apartment."

catalyst, n.

Socially awkward as he was, he had been still searching for the right words when she had said it. It still never failed to surprise him that she had said it first because somehow, he had expected that he would be faster than her. He had not expected it then, either. He had been sitting on the couch, reading one of his old books when the music lacrima stopped and he rose to choose another album. He had nearly reached the small table with the lacrima when she cleared her throat. "I love you," she simply said, without a preamble or an introduction. She simply said what she felt.

And while he hastily assured her that he loved her as well, he could not help but wonder why she had said it then, on a normal if not completely boring Tuesday afternoon. He never asked why she had said it then – whether she had realised it just then or whether she had known it for a while and had waited for the right moment to tell him. And if it was the latter, what had made this Tuesday afternoon the right moment?

After their mutual confession, they sat on the couch, basking in silence as the music lacrima still stood on the table, forgotten for the time being.

catharsis, n.

It was the self-hatred that surprised him more than anything else. He had never expected it to hurt so much but this last argument had gotten quite out of control and so he had walked away, afraid to say anything wrong. Once he had been out of town with an S-class request in his pocket, he had realised that his decision to walk away had been the stupidest thing he had ever done.

It was not her fault but it was also not his because deep down, they were both as inexperienced as children. Technically, they were playing the adults' game without knowing the rules.

And so, when he got back with his pocket full of cash – half of it would be used for the renovation of their apartment, he made his way to his grandfather because the old man had done this before and would be able to help him somehow, he was sure of it.

"Say, gramps, how does this proposal-thing work?" he asked and for a moment, he feared that Makarov who had survived everything so far would die from a heart attack.

caveat, n.

He had learned to tolerate her moods after the first painful encounters with whatever had been in her reach when she had gotten mad at him and while he could accept pancakes with wasabi and chocolate on top of it or whatever she was craving, he was not so sure whether he really wanted to name a son Alberich. He also was not sure whether they really needed to buy the pink princess castle with the real diamonds – but then again, she had not said that they had to buy it either. This would have been his own grandfather who had been backstabbing him a lot lately … maybe this was Makarov's Late Revenge for the event before Fantasia but Laxus was not too sure.

He only knew with absolute certainty that he had never been happier than the moment the nurse had told him that he had a daughter because no one would call a girl Alberich. Cornelia was a far cuter name anyway – and it was Gildarts approved as well.

champagne, n.

The moment, Laxus and Gildarts finally stopped to fight, Lisanna appeared with a few bottles of champagne which were kept in the guild for festive events and if the engagement was not a festive event, she would not know what else would. Makarov tried to hold a speech but it was interrupted again and again with various declarations ranging from Gildarts' "Hurt my daughter and I will kill you, Dreyar" over Erza's and Mira's duet of "I told you so"s and ending with Gray's own speech on the topic "How I am going to murder Laxus Dreyar when he hurts Cana" which was slightly more elaborate than Gildarts' and did not fail to let Laxus pale.

After ten minutes of a speech no one was listening to, Makarov finally gave up and smashed his glass against Gildarts. "Congratulations, brats!" he announced as the newly engaged couple smiled. Well, Cana beamed and Laxus looked not too annoyed so yes, they were smiling.

circuitous, adj.

She reveals her childhood (or the few years before she had joined Fairy Tail) in small portions and he does the same with the years before she had been in the guild as well. She said things like "That was before my mother died on that S-class mission" and he asked "Your mother was an S-class mage? Which guild did she belong to?" to which she would reply "Yes, she was an S-class mage in Mermaid Heel" and this was the way he learned that this was why she had called Mermaid Heel's master Aunty Serena when they had met during the Grand Magic Games.

He said things like "That was before my grandmother left" and she would ask "Who is your grandmother, anyway?" and he would tell her the whole story about how Makarov and Porlyusica had met and fallen in love, the story that inevitable ended with "…and when she could no longer stand what my father had become, she left and lived in the forest ever since."

This was the way they learned more and more about each other to the point that he could easily the retell the story of how one of the girls in her old village had yanked on her hair once and how the scalp had bled upon the violent removal of a complete strand of hair.

clandestine, adj.

They were good at hiding their relationship, Gajeel had to admit as much. Most of the little moments of familiarity went unnoticed and others seemed to be read as signs of friendship by the rest of the guild. But no one could lie to a dragon slayer's nose and yet, Gajeel felt like he was the only one who had noticed something. But then again, Salamander was famous for being denser than a rock and Wendy was probably too young to realise what the thick layer of Laxus' scent on Cana truly meant. The Iron Dragon Slayer preferred it this way because so he was the only one to tease Laxus and boy that was fun – especially since the couple seemed to have some kind of deal to hide their relationship and so Laxus never protested or walked away when Gajeel was teasing him.

"…so, when are you and Booze Chick going to tell the guild that you're dating?" Gajeel asked with a wide, teasing smirk that would have given Wendy nightmares for ages. "Or are you too scared that Super Daddy would beat you up for even thinking of his precious daughter that way?"

"I do not need to listen to you, Gajeel. As far as I am concerned, you are utterly incapable of confessing to Levy … and she is not half as scary as Gildarts," Laxus huffed. "Yeah, I can admit that I rather don't have him killing me for dating his daughter … but what's your excuse, Gajeel? What could a fearless Iron Dragon Slayer such as you keep from confessing to the one he loves?"

"You did not just go there," the black-haired man growled. "Are you crazy, Dreyar?"

commonplace, n.

Most of the time, it was balanced.

She noticed his coat on the couch and missed him even though he was only in the other room and when she was sure that he could not see her, she wrapped the coat around her and simply inhaled his scent of thunderstorms and the cold of the winter air outside. But when she got to the guild and heard how he taunted Natsu, again, it was exactly the stinging pain in her heart that she hated because this was not the man she loved, this was merely his shadow. She needed a drink and just as usual, Gray would hand her one without questions, without even a single word.

He, on the other hand, would notice the cards she no longer used, cards she had scattered all over her apartment for various reasons – one of them was most likely self-defence – and he would pick them up when they fell onto the floor. And for a moment, he would miss her. But then, he would get the guild where she would be drinking with Gray or even Macao and jealousy flared up inside of him – and he would end up provoking Natsu just to distract himself.

community, n.

After all the years she had spent in the guild, she knew the faces of everyone in the guild – even the face of Mystogan but he had asked her to keep his secret and seeing that she had quite a few secrets of her own, she had agreed. But for some reason, she often wondered how they managed to stay the same no matter how much time passed. She assumed that she could be away for a year and the moment she would return, nothing would have changed.

This scared her sometimes because while most mages stayed in Fairy Tail, there were always a few who quit for various reasons – mostly love – and when she met them somewhere, she often wondered whether she should greet them or not. But how was she supposed to greet a stranger?

"Hey – don't I know you from somewhere?"

So she never said anything and accepted the awkward silence even though this was not what being nakama, even former nakama, was supposed to feel like. Of course, as one of the more popular members of Fairy Tail, she was aware that many of her fellow mages had envied her of the attention she got in public – and that she had been chosen for the S-class exam three years running now without ever getting even close to passing. Laxus, Erza and Mira had all passed and she was still waiting for the moment she would finally, finally pass the goddamn exam.

"Don't bother with them," a calm voice said as Laxus sat down on the second chair at the table. "It's not your fault that they are like this. Greatness is usually envied, remember that."

"Is this your awkward way of cheering me up?" she inquired.

"Yes, probably it is," he said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I need to go now … see you back at the guildhall … and try not to get in trouble, Cana."

She nodded as she watched him leave before she realised that this had been the first time in more than a year that they had spoken like this, without any bitterness or regrets lacing their voices.

As she returned to the guild that day, she was smiling.

composure, n.

She was silent and this was what made him worry. Of course, he had told her what she had not want to hear, he had told her of his drunken one night stand. It had happened while he had been excommunicated and wandering through Fiore, when he had been drunker than she on the fateful evening Bacchus had beaten her in the drinking competition. Looking back, he assumed that she had known that there was something but of course, up to know, it had not been sure. He quickly assured her that he was sorry and that he felt terrible for cheating on her but she raised her hand and shook her head, claiming that he could not have cheated on her because they had not been a couple, then. Of course, he wanted to say, but I still feel this way.Cana did not let him say anything and maybe, this was for the better.

She sat there and fought to keep her composure and in her eyes, he read her fear. 'If I lose it now, I will lose you as well, won't I?' the purplish blue orbs asked him as he waited for her answer.

concurrence, n.

Fantasia was a very big deal to everyone in Fairy Tail but as the only children, it was an even bigger deal to Cana and Laxus who had been missing from their usual spot in the guild for two weeks running now – and by now, even Makarov who was usually more than happy to let them roam through town had noticed and was worried. To ensure that they were save, Macao and Wakaba set out to check on them, simply to make sure that they were not blowing up building all over Magnolia. (Makarov sometimes had an overactive imagination and had been nearly crying at the idea to have to pay for whatever havoc the missing youngsters were currently wreaking.)

But the both adults found the missing children in one of the sheds behind the guild building where they were working on very fancy costumes – most likely for the parade.

"…we will outshine the lousy adults!" Laxus said, nearly cheerfully. "Just wait and see, Cana-chan, one day, I will be the greatest mage in Fairy Tail … even better than Gildarts."

"No," she said as she shook her head. "Gildarts is the strongest mage in Fairy Tail and he will forever be the strongest mage of Fairy Tail. You can be the strongest when he retires."

"But I got to be the strongest now – so that I can protect you," he said as he ruffled her hair.

"If the master's brat wasn't such a loner, I might actually consider him as cute," Macao sighed.

"I think it's cute that his ambition to become stronger than Gildarts is to protect her," his friend shrugged. "I mean, no one even dared to dream of being stronger than Gildarts since this man is a monster … but you know what they say about a mage in love – no one and nothing can stop him."

"Wakaba, the boy's only twelve and she's seven!" the Fire Mages scolded. "It's far too early to think about those things … but you are right … they will be cute together in the future."

confluence, n.

Cana would forever remember her twentieth birthday and shiver at the memory because it had been too awkward. Laxus and she had officially announced that they were dating a few days earlier and had invited their respective friends into their shared apartment and even though the guests had known each other before, it was very strange. Her friends and the Thundergod Tribe – it had felt unreal and extremely awkward and there was nothing they could do. His friends stood in one corner as hers stood in the other one.

It was – and this surprised everyone – Evergreen who made the first step. This was such a big surprise because Evergreen usually only interacted with a few chosen ones like her teammates, Laxus, Elfman and Erza to a certain extend. When she fearlessly crossed the room and asked Lucy whether the blonde would help her with the cake, she shattered the ice. Cana would always be grateful for this spark, for this tiny interaction because seconds later, Elfman claimed that it was manly to help two women and Mira asked Fried for help with the drinks as Bixslow dragged Lisanna to the music lacrima and made her choose the first song.

Natsu finally woke from his stupor and challenged Laxus to a fight and with every small action, the atmosphere became less and less artificial – and in the very end, it felt like any other party but Cana had learned her lesson: sharing sweet kisses and whispered words and a comfy bed was one thing but as soon as friends were involved, it became disgustingly complicated.

contiguous, adj.

During Fantasia, Erza wanted to laugh at her own childish naïveté but she remembered just too clear how she and Mira had once, before Lisanna's death, in another lifetime, agreed on only one thing: that Laxus and Cana made one hell of a cute and disgustingly adorable couple. They had drawn pictures of how they imagined them to look later on and they had come up with a cute name for the couple-to-be as they had plotted countless schemes to get them together.

Right now, Erza regretted these thoughts more than anything else because Laxus was sure as hell not the right one for Cana – given that the Card Mage had not some kind of soft spot for power-hungry lunatics. The red-haired Exquip Mage even felt a tad of guilt because before Laxus had distanced himself from everyone in the guild, she had joined Mira in countless quests to get them together. She laughed bitterly as she remembered Quest Broom Closet #1 to #24 and Quest Only One Free Room In The Inn, We Are Sorry #1 to #47 because it was not unlikely that Cana had some kind of feelings for Laxus by now.

"I am sorry, Cana," Erza muttered to herself as she ran through Magnolia. "I didn't mean to hurt you … and neither did Mira. We did not expect him to lose it like this. I make it alright again."

This was the meeting point, the convergence between love and heartache and right now, Cana was standing right there because while her heart had not been broken yet, it would happen the very moment Evergreen would lift her Stone Spell.

corrode, v.

For the longest time, she had kept him sane and on the right path. The only reason why he had waited this long with his quest to become Fairy Tail's master had been that he had never meant to hurt her and he knew that she was fiercely loyal to his grandfather, no matter how much she loved him. And it had been alright for him. He had her love. He did not need her loyalty as long as she stayed faithful. For years, he had invested time and efforts into their relationship and he had enjoyed to see how his hard work was rewarded with a blooming relationship, with her love.

And then, one night, he made a mistake. After their latest argument, he had not returned to her side, he had not apologised. The gap between them had suddenly been too wide for them to cross it again and he had ignored her importance to him.

This had sealed his fate because all his self-control had fallen apart without her and Fantasia had happened even though this was, technically, the last thing he had ever wanted because it hurt her. He saw her pain about his betrayal in her eyes as she spotted him in the crowd and he knew that words would never be able to fix what he had done to her – he would have to become stronger, strong enough to protect her. And if it meant to be stronger than Gildarts – challenge accepted.

covet, v.

There was one huge difference between them. She wanted things other people had like especially rare cards or a beautiful new purse to carry her cards around while he wanted things that he had had once upon a time or what he believed he would want one day in the future.

But every now and then, she was just like him. When they visited Erza and the redhead was all stressed out and Jellal hugged her and handed her a cup of tea and a slice of strawberry cake, she was nearly jealous because they looked exhausted because of all the dangerous jobs they took on and yet, they were absolutely happy with the twins running around.