A/N: The second Blonde Day is here, and this chapter is important (as well as 3k longer than it should be).

Chapter Five: Contrite Chocolate Confections

'i'm sorry if this all seems a little rushed and desperate. it is'
- Chuck Palahniuk

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Maniacal laughter peeled throughout the otherwise dead-silent, abandoned town with sharp clarity as flashes of blazing fire exploded in random progression, crumpling any building that lied in its path. The flames sprouted up high into the startlingly blue sky and with a tremendous crash, another rotting building toppled over like an unbalanced stack of children's blocks, causing the ground to aggressively vibrate under the feet of the town's destroyers.

As soon as its structure hit the ground a large puff of dust mushroom-clouded into the air, but it didn't deter the Fire Dragon Slayer. No, Natsu didn't need to be able to see to destroy stuff. In fact, in this situation he preferred to go at it blindly. Whatever he hit next would be a fun surprise. With his scaled-patterned scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth to keep him from inhaling debris, the rosette yelled out a -albeit, somewhat muffled- war cry and flung himself back into the rubble as he readied a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist.

From a 'not exactly safe' distance of five hundred feet away, Lucy flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes as a wave of dust and debris from Natsu's most recent obliteration passed over her standing form. The dust wave only strangled a mild cough from the blonde, but it effectively caused a flying Happy to tumble in the air and beg for someone to save him.

After it was safe to actually breathe again, Lucy took a swig from one of the many water bottles that they had carried with them to the job site. She promptly gurgled the water in her mouth and spat it right back out, washing out the dirt and sand that had somehow managed to get inside it. "Ack." Lucy cringed as she lifted her arm and wiped it across the heavy sheen of sweat on her brow. It didn't help any though, because her arm was just as sweaty. "It's so hot!" She wailed to the sky, but neither of her partners were listening to her.

Natsu was too busy having the time of his life, and Happy was whining on the ground and picking sticks and small chunks of stone out from his wings. Because Happy had the striking strength of a fetus (maybe even less, developing babies kick their mothers' uterus hard), he had to sit out on the demolition job and complain alongside with Lucy. For the past couple of hours the two have taken turns whining about their predicament to an unhearing Natsu.

All the flying dirt and dust has turned the Exceed's once fluffy white wings into more of a light brown color, and he was not at all pleased about it. He was constantly bemoaning about how Carla would find the color ugly, and Pantherlily would lecture him about how he wasn't properly taking care of his Aera wings. Lucy couldn't laugh at him, though. The blonde was now a temporary 'dirty blonde', in more ways than one. She wasn't a brunette just yet, but she was getting there. Maybe in another hour or two, give or take.

The stellar mage tilted her head upwards, sunglasses protecting her eyes from the bright, unforgiving glare of the afternoon summer sun as she observed the sky. Not a cloud in sight to shield them from the sun's harsh rays. She groaned and uselessly flapped her arms by her side in a show of rebellion. "I'm tired… and sticky," Lucy lamented to no in particular, her shoulders drooping like a wilting flower.

Below her sounded a weak and feeble 'aye' as Happy jumped up and snatched the water bottle from her. The Exceed seemed seconds from collapsing, and he chugged the water down like his life depended on it. Happy had even doffed his green pack a long time ago because he was so exhausted. It laid pathetically on the ground, covered in a thick layer of dust and excreting the smell of rotting fish. Neither of them dared to touch it.

"Lushi," Happy slurred, glancing up at her with teary eyes. "Am I melting?"

Lucy could only tiredly nod, and Happy yowled his sorrow. Standing around for three hours in the summer heat was baking her insides, and the once blonde mage was positive that the heat waves had even melted off her orange nail polish from her finger nails. Maybe. The polish might have already chipped off before when Lucy was scrubbing her dirty dishes last night, but she couldn't recall anymore. There was a strong possibility that she was becoming delirious.

This was just one of the many reasons why she hated demolition jobs. Dust was getting into places dust should not be in, she was swimming in her own sweat, probably developing heatstroke, and she couldn't do anything because she stubbornly refused to summon any of her celestial spirits just to use their powers to take down a few buildings.

To make things worse, the job was only 30,000 jewels. Only 30,000 jewels. It was ridiculous! The job had been an official counsel regulated request for Fairy Tail to demolish an abandoned ghost town to make way for a rapidly expanding suburban area across the river, and they would only pay 30,000 jewels? Lucy huffed. Cheapskates, all of them. No wonder why so many villainous antagonists wanted to extinguish the council.

She pulled down her jean shorts after they starting sliding back up her thighs before cupping her hands over her mouth and yelling, "Natsu!" She didn't waste time waiting for a reply, she wanted to get out of the damn town as quick as possible. "How much longer?" How was the fire mage not completely drained of magic?

Lucy strained her ears to hear the reply, but got nothing other than another echoing laugh and the awful creaking of a building folding in upon itself. He didn't answer, but if the Celestial Spirit mage squinted she could make out six more standing buildings. Only six more to go, that wasn't so bad, was it? Another fifteen minutes tops? Another fifteen minutes full of coughing dust from her lungs and wishing someone would strike her down to end this suffering. It was horrible, there weren't even any trees around for them to duck under for shade, they were surrounded by plains.

Her eyes started to drift away from the falling town to the yellow grass swaying lazily all around them, giving the earth a rippling effect. It was hypnotic, and her wondering eyes stopped to stare. It was truly a beautiful. Entranced in the flowing movements of the grass, the blonde opened her mouth and unconsciously muttered, "I wish Laxus was here, he would have taken care of this within an hour." It came out without her permission, and as soon as she realized what she had said, her sagging body snapped up as straight as a rod and her mouth shut with a loud click.

Had she seriously just wished out loud that the Lightning Dragon Slayer was here? And not only that, but subtly implied that the fellow blonde was a lot stronger and more efficient than her own teammate? Did her subconscious mind have no loyalties? So she was going crazy from the heat!

Lucy jerked around, much to her sluggish body's reluctance, to see if Happy noticed the slip up, but she needn't have worried. Happy was currently leaning against her legs, eyes closed and seemingly dead to the world. He must have passed out when she wasn't looking, and Lucy smiled softly. The Exceed was pretty cute when he wasn't teasing her or smelled overwhelmingly of fish. He must have been more exhausted than she thought, lying so nicely still instead of wiggling around- Wait, was he actually dead?

Lucy moved the leg he was slumping against slightly to the right and felt a wave of relief wash over her when the Exceed grumbled, still very alive and not dead. The celestial mage was trying to determine if she should move him -she was hot enough, she didn't need another source of heat pressing up against her- when another boom sounded in the distance and shook the earth, almost causing Lucy to loose her balance.

Five more to go.

After wobbling and righting herself, Lucy narrowed her brown eyes and scanned the dust, trying to spot the pink-haired hothead, but couldn't see much. "He better hurry," she grumbled and reached down to grab the water bottle that Happy had unceremoniously dropped on the ground. When she picked it up, she noticed with distaste that it had become lukewarm.

She took another swig of the disgustingly warm water to gain back the fluids she had lost on this horrid afternoon, and her mind drifted back to what she had scandalously said earlier about Laxus. Well, actually, maybe her disloyal subconscious was onto something. The large man was a powerhouse, and he didn't seem like the type to goof off on jobs and take longer than absolutely necessary, unlike someone she knew. No, like the someones she knew and worked with.

A pregnant pause. "Ugh!" Lucy groaned without warning and threw her clammy hands up in the air. This time, however, it wasn't because of Natsu or the dust that was presently invading her nostrils. She had just gone and reminded herself that she urgently needed to find a job for her and Laxus.

Her lips formed into a pout when she recalled that tiny detail. At first she had been all gungho about it. She had assumed it would be easy as pie, nothing to stress over. How hard would it be to find a job that required both her and Laxus' magic? Super easy! Oh, how wrong she had been. Lucy drank more water with an uncalled for ferociousness. She'd been looking around for two days straight, but it was impossible! No wonder Nab never went out on any jobs and was in financial ruin; no job was perfect.

There had been only one job that she found so far that would fit Laxus' lightning magic, and that was to help a little town by the name Rosurge start up their empty generators. That sounded nice and all, but in no way would Lucy herself be able to help, and it only paid 15,000 jewels. There wasn't a chance in Earthland that Laxus would go for something like that, not when his regular S-Class missions paid in the millions. Even their reward for this demolition job was more than that meager amount.

Mavis, the next Blonde Day was coming up, and Lucy had nothing planned.

"Lucy!" Natsu's voice called in the distance.

Lucy perked up, snapping out of her impending gloom and eagerly searching the dust for a certain dragon slayer. Was he done? Him calling out her name meant he was done, right? Hope bloomed inside her chest. Could they finally leave? She promised herself right there that as soon as they got back to their inn, she was going to take the longest soak in the history of Fiore in the bathtub while she yearned for the day where she'd be free from every single speck of dust clinging to her body.

A blob of pink appeared from the dust cloud, and there was Natsu running up to them with shaky legs and a waving arm above his head, scarf flapping and repeatedly slapping him in the face. "Lucy! Happy!" He called, waving harder when he spotted them.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh when she got a good look at her partner. The dragon slayer running towards them was a mess. His one-sided sleeveless tunic was tattered and in ruins, his hair was covered with sand and bits of plaster, minor scrapes ran across his arms, and one of his goofy smiles was permanently etched onto his mouth as he bubbled with the joy of getting to freely destroy things.

His mouth was moving miles a minute as soon as he came to a screeching halt in front of her. "Did you see that, Lucy?!" he blurted out excitedly. "The twenty-seventh one I destroyed? The one with that weird tur…turret? Well, I blew that one to smithereens!" While laughing with utter joy, he miraculously had enough energy to jog around her in circles.

Natsu was vibrating in place as Lucy bent down and scooped up the passed out Happy. She gently cradled the cat to her chest and smiled at the rosette, nearly as ecstatic as he was because the hellish job was done and over with. "I saw that one, that one was cool to watch explode," she admitted truthfully, and Natsu jumped into the air and executed an overzealous fist pump.

"Yosh! Hell yeah it was cool!" Ever the humble and tranquil one, Natsu began running through some of the moves he used to topple buildings, but just without all the fire and destruction. The Fire Dragon Slayer went on a tangent that involved several onomatopoeias and phrases like 'and then I was like-!' and 'I totally was kicking building ass out there!'.

With Happy in her arms, Lucy began walking back in the direction that led back to their inn to report a mission well done, while Natsu was brave enough to run back and get the Exceed's biologically weaponized pack. Natsu wretched when he got within a few feet of it, nearly vomiting from the smell of the rotting creatures inside, but he stuck it out like a champ and sprinted back towards his teammates. Thankfully with the wind's direction, the smell was being pushed behind them so their noses wouldn't disintegrate along with what ever had liquefied in that green pack.

"Oh, wait!" Natsu exclaimed as he caught up to her, "I forgot to ask you!" After Lucy slightly angled her head towards his to show she was listening, Natsu continued with a gleeful sparkle in his dark eyes, "The inn we're staying at, it's next to a mega resort town, right? The one famous for its unicol wrestling?"

"Yeah?" Lucy nodded, curious to see where he was going with this. She just hoped it wouldn't have anything to do with her joining him in wrestling a unicol. All the creature's eyes freaked her out, and she almost shivered in the blistering heat just thinking about it.

He opened his arms out, Happy's backpack swinging in his hands, and did a little, excited jump. It was absolutely ridiculous, it looked like he had momentarily lost control of both his legs and arms at the same time. "I say we stay there for a few more days and check out the attractions, eh?" And as if Lucy wouldn't already jump at the chance of a mini vacation, Natsu added with a devilish smile, "I saw on that one brochure that they have one of the biggest buffets in this area of Fiore, and an entire room dedicated to gross romance books in their gift shop. So, Luce, what do you say?"

Hearts popped up in her eyes at the mention of books and she squeezed Happy closer to her. Not that the Exceed minded, he was dead to the world. Though the reward for this job was small, it would be enough to buy a whole cart full of books. Lucy couldn't imagine a better way to spend all her money. "You had me at 'few more days'. But," She leveled an intense look at him, to let him know she was being serious, "you have to promise me that'll we'll be back in Magnolia before Thursday, okay? Can you guarantee that?"

If she didn't make it back in time and accidentally ditched Laxus for Blonde Day, then Lucy was positive that he'd have her head on a stick. Something about the lightning mage subtly painted him as a man who loathed having his time wasted, and would maim anyone who made him look like a fool. And being stood up at a dainty cafe would definitely make him look like a fool. Lucy liked her head where it was, and wasn't going to risk it.

Natsu gave her a funny look. "Yeah, sure. But why?"

It was Lucy's turn to give him a weird stare. Did he just say 'why'? He knew why, she had to get back before Blonde Day. He had literally been right there in the pool with her when she planned Blonde Day out, so surely he was just messing with her, right? She blinked before she rolled her eyes. He was totally just playing around. How Natsu of him.

When she didn't answer, Natsu lost interest in their conversation and went back to walking as a comfortable silence descended over the three. Natsu would occasionally make a funny face at the sleeping Happy, sniggering when the Exceed obviously didn't respond, but the dragon slayer didn't question her need to get back on a certain day or anything, just kept his pace beside her.

She glimpsed at him through the corner of her eyes. He couldn't have forgotten about the promise to befriend Laxus she made in the pool, could he? It had happened barely over a week ago. No way could he have forgotten already…

Did he forget? Lucy watched as the mage swung his arms back and forth with relaxed shoulders, trying to whistle while he was smiling, and it wasn't working. He was completely at ease.

… Nah, no way.

"Lucy," came a gentle, feminine voice from behind the Celestial Spirit mage, but Lucy payed no attention to it. She was too busy channeling all her concentration on Fairy Tail's request boards, fixedly presenting the papers with a nasty glower that would have made any living creature cower with fear. She had thought that maybe, just maybe, if she stared hard enough and long enough, then new jobs would materialize out of existence. Especially the job she was searching for.

For hours she's been ruffling through the papers on the request boards, examining every single one at least five times just to make sure. During her search she's been a witness to seven of Vijeeter's dance routines where the mage twisted his body into positions that just weren't humanely possible, her friends arrive to drink the night away and leave on shaky legs, and three brawls that ended with someone calling out for Wendy -unfortunately, only for them to realize that the healer was out on a job, causing her guildmates to wave their hands and huff, 'eh, he'll be fine'.

She had even seen Erza at the bar at one point of the night, sniffling about how she accidentally forgot to put a timer on her strawberry flavored cake in the oven and pulled a Levy by burning it almost as bad as the Solid Script mage's pizza. Sometime before the end of the week, Lucy really needed to have a chat with Erza and confront her about the fact that drinking nine and a half strawberry daiquiris was not the proper way to forget her burnt desserts.

"Lucy," this time the voice said it more forcefully, and a small hand was placed on the blonde's shoulder.

Lucy waved her own hand absentmindedly and continued her desperate search, eyes flicking over the requests that she could blindly recite verbatim and probably identify by smell alone if she tried hard enough. No one could distract her from her mission, not even her own body's exhaustion. After spending all of Monday and Tuesday at the resort town and goofing off with Natsu and Happy, she should have spent all of today in bed and just rest, but she couldn't, tomorrow was Blonde Day and she had to find the job so she could present it to a cranky Lightning Dragon Slayer.

So as soon as they got back, she situated herself in front of the request boards. Hours started passing, and her guildmates began to either send her worried glances or admire her devotion. She couldn't stop looking for the perfect mission now, she wouldn't just give up like a weakling. She's spent so much time searching that she had even struck up an unlikely camaraderie with Nab, both of them fantasizing and drooling over the mental depiction of the perfect job.

The blonde mage had only left her spot once to 'sneak' upstairs to the second floor. On the second floor she had paced, eyeballing the holy S-Class request board and slowly inching towards it, only to throw herself back when she got within two yards of it, never getting a good look at the few papers there. She wouldn't get in trouble if she performed an S-Class job with Laxus, but she didn't think she was allowed to actually pick out one or even caress the wooden frame of the request board, no matter how much she desired to.

The soft voice that had been pestering her suddenly shouted in her ear, "The library is on fire! The books are burning!"

"What?!" Lucy yelled back frantically, twirling around so fast that the guild around her was reduced to a blur and she almost toppled over herself. No, the books! She lunged to her right towards the library, her heartbeat skyrocketing in her chest as her hands immediately jerked down to her belt for her keys.

Lucy didn't get very far before something dry and scaly wrapped around her waist and jerked her back. Her stomach lifted into her throat as the floor vanished underneath her, and the next thing she knew, she was flat on her back staring up at a humongous, but very sheepish and apologetic, white snake with slit blue eyes. A yellow, almost pixelated, light flashed over the snake's entire body, and a moment later a shamefaced Lisanna stood in its place.

"Oh, Lucy, I'm so sorry!" The Strauss sibling immediately apologized, bending down and slowly helping the blonde to her feet. Lisanna wiped the nonexistent dust from Lucy's shoulders and fussed over her with remorseful, cerulean blue eyes that matched her older sister's. "I was just trying to get your attention, I never meant to cause you to panic!" Lisanna hurriedly complained, looking devastated as she checked the blonde for any scrapes or bruises.

"I…" Lucy whispered, somewhat dazed. Her eyes started shining with tears of relief as she grabbed Lisanna's hands. "The… the library really isn't on fire?"

The Take-Over mage giggled and nodded. "It's not on fire," she promised, but Lucy still craned her head to get a glimpse of the library's door, just to make sure.

Only after Lucy was satisfied that the precious novels, maps, encyclopedias weren't being engulfed by flames, she dropped Lisanna's hands and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. She must have really surprised the other mage. Lucy smiled shyly. "Sorry about freaking out on you then." The silver-haired mage assured her it was fine, and Lucy blinked at her before asking, "What did you need? Did something bad happened? Do you need help at the bar, I'll be glad to work!"

Lisanna clasped her hands together behind her back and tilted her head towards the guild's central seating area. When Lucy followed the gesture, she was shocked to see a completely barren scene. Not a single table had someone seated at it, and the silence was nearly overwhelming.

No Natsu and Gray fighting over who could eat an entire chicken quicker, no Macao and Wakaba trying to see if they could lick their elbows, no Elfman accidentally smashing glasses when he toasted other members of the guild, nothing. Fairy Tail was empty of its mages or noise. The blonde backed up and turned her head this way and that, trying to get a glimpse of someone, but could only see Mira wiping the bar down. The other Strauss only stopped her cleaning to wave at Lucy.

"Everyone's… gone?" The celestial mage said uncertainty, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "When did that happen?" Just how much time had passed while she stood staring at the request boards?

"It's past midnight, Lucy," Lisanna informed her kindly. "Everyone went home, even Cana." The other mage paused to take a moment to study the blonde, took in her slumping form and the purpling under her eyes. Lisanna frowned in concern and murmured, "I think you should go home, Lucy, you look absolutely exhausted."

Lucy exhaled heavily, and her slumping only worsened. "Yeah," she agreed tiredly. "Yeah, okay." It was a good idea, she needed sleep so she wasn't a complete zombie tomorrow.

Lisanna fretted over Lucy's shoulder as they walked towards the guild's doors, asking if she wanted someone to walk her home or an extra jacket, to which Lucy declined with an honest smile, saying she had Plue to keep her company. She got a few more concerned looks from the youngest Strauss sibling, but Lisanna didn't try to suffocate Lucy in jackets or wake everyone up in Fairy Hills to accompany her home.

The two female mages shared a warm goodbye and then the doors closed with Lucy on the other side. The celestial mage sighed, stared up at the great wooden doors for a few more seconds, and turned around to begin her journey home. The blonde's lower lip started wobbling, but she kept in the tears of frustration. All she had wanted was a job just for her and Laxus so she could get to know him better. Everything else was refusing to go her way, so was that too much to ask? Now she had run out of time... maybe she'd find one next week.

Maybe, but all she knew now was that she'd be bringing nothing to the table tomorrow except a large spread of food. She wasn't even going to try bringing the deck of cards again, there was no use. Lucy tilted her head up to the sky, and tried to find the moon, but there were too many clouds blocking it. Questions and doubts were spinning around in her head, and Lucy tried her best to ignore them. She just hoped that Laxus would have just a simple 'okay' time with her tomorrow.

The diners in the Strawberry Street Café were feeling uncomfortable, enough so that a few of the weak ones had already hightailed it out of there with their coffee in one hand and their half-eaten pastries in another. None of the customers dared to restart their own conversations or even ask a waiter for another tea, afraid of making noise and then facing the consequences.

At one point the bell above the café's door had rang loudly through the silent atmosphere when a potential customer had entered, and every figure in the restaurant stiffened. The young women that had been the unfortunate one to open the door had only taken one step into the business before she was met with numerous heads turning towards her and shooting her terrified looks, urgently trying to warn her to run while she still could. Because the woman valued her life, she walked right back out.

The tension was almost palpable in the air, and it was all coming from the two silent blonde mages seated in the corner of the café. No one dared look in their direction for longer than a few seconds, and even the wait staff were afraid to approach them and remove the mounds of dirty plates that littered the table lest their hands get bitten off by either Fairy Tail members.

Lucy's eyes narrowed at the lightning mage in front of her. An amazing personality change had happened to her during that afternoon. She had started out wanting nothing more than easy conversation, and she'd been desperate to get the man before her to talk and engage in chatting with her, but now everything had change. She had confessed in Leo all those days ago that she had the tendency to snap, and she hadn't been kidding around.

An hour filled with Laxus sulking and shrugging and grunting and generally being no help at all had caused her to slide into this deadly calm demeanor where she just couldn't gather enough energy to care. And the little shit known as Laxus Dreyar knew it.

She'd tried so many times to engage him in conversation, but he either gruffed out a monosyllabic word or blatantly ignored her. Lucy used every get-to-know-you question she could think of. Everything from 'what's your favorite color?' to 'cats or dogs?'. She got so desperate that she started to gossip, revealing the latest news concerning their friends, but nothing worked. Laxus held zero interest in the flying rumors about scandalous relationships or the fact that Bisca and Alzack finally convinced Makarov that building an illegal gun range in the basement was a good idea.

Mavis, at one point the celestial mage had even brought up Wendy, undoubtedly everyone's favorite female dragon slayer, and how she was out on a three week mission with Lamia Scale's Chelia, and nothing. Not a single reaction other than a breezy 'that's nice'. It was beyond annoying.

He had stared at her the entire time she had watched him eat, his eyes never leaving hers and daring her to say something else while he devoured entrée after entrée. But now he was done with his food, and he had pulled the rug out from under her feet when he reached into his coat's pocket and placed a rectangular object on the table.

"What's this?" Lucy murmured, her tense voice practically a scream compared to the silence that encompassed their surroundings. She pointed one slender finger to the table where the small, golden box lay. The box was wrapped professionally in gold paper and had the cutest little bow, but Lucy eyeballed it like it would explode without a moment's notice.

Laxus shrugged yet again and simply said, "Open it."

With the utmost caution and carefulness, the celestial mage slowly, ever so slowly, lifted off the lid. The golden paper crinkled under her hands, and as soon as Lucy got one good look inside the slim box, she promptly dropped the lid on the table in shock. The blonde rubbed her eyes with her hands, and tilted her head in confusion when the contents of the box still hadn't changed.

Her head snapped up to meet the gaze of a bored lightning mage. "What is this?" She sounded a tad harsher than she wanted to, but Lucy was still stupefied over the image of six, beautifully decorated chocolates sitting daintily in the box that Laxus had placed on the table.

And, Mavis, the chocolates weren't the cheap kind either, the kind that businesses tried to make look fancy and only costs around 200 jewels. Like any other self-respecting woman, Lucy knew her chocolate brands; the swirling insignia stamped on the piece of fondant placed precisely on top of one chocolate exposed that these little delicacies came from the quaint, extremely expensive, bakery in the middle of the Magnolia shopping area. Yes, Laxus had given her gourmet chocolates.

Laxus stopped trying to peer into her soul to frown down at his box. "It's chocolates," he said it slowly, syllable by syllable, his face clearly revealing just how idiotic he thought she was being. Lately, he tended to wear that expression whenever she was around. "Look, do you want them or not, Blondie?"

"I didn't mean to sound so rude, I'm sorry." Lucy apologized truthfully, still shocked as she gently fingered the dark brown paper that the chocolates rested on. She had sounded too harsh, and she was regretting that now. "Not that I'm complaining, because, really, I'm not, but why did you get me chocolates?" The smaller blonde took this moment to drag the box of chocolates closer to her, afraid he might take it away if he became angry at her prying.

Seriously, though. Laxus giving her fancy desserts? Lucy didn't know how to feel about it. It was certainly a good thing, especially when she loved chocolate, but it was also awfully suspicious for a man who refuses to tell her his favorite color to give her such a nice treat. Lucy paused and squinted at the man again. "Are you bribing me for something?"

"No." The dragon slayer clipped out and turned his head to the side, averting her probing gaze. "They're for… you know…" he drifted off without completing his sentence. The slayer made unhelpful hand gesture that Lucy wouldn't even try to decipher while the man's face scrunched up in frustration. A moment passed, and he still refused to move his line of sight from the café's door.

Laxus was avoiding her gaze, and Lucy's curiosity suddenly reared its head. She placed her forearms on the table and leaned herself forwards, thankful that they had shoved aside the dirty plates, to get a good look at a very uncomfortable Laxus. The man let out a low curse and a small bead of sweat made its way down the blonde mage's temple. It was a rare thing to see the Lightning Dragon Slayer sweating in discomfort, and she wasn't going to just dismiss it. Lucy felt compelled to photograph this moment or write it down.

Still halfway across their table, Lucy fervently nodded. "For what?" she prompted eagerly, feeling an ounce of excitement spark up inside her. Did he get her chocolates to confess his intent on becoming her friend? Probably not, but she could dream. Lucy smiled encouragingly at the other blonde.

"You know," Laxus stressed it harder this time, as if putting more force behind the same words would clear everything up. When she obviously didn't have an epiphany, the lightning mage finally stopped longingly staring at the doors as if he was attempting to telepathically communicate with the Raijinshū, begging them to appear and rescue him. He eyed her and her obvious anticipation as his voice lowered, "to apologize for the whole… Phantom Lord and Fantasia thing." It was almost a whisper.

What? Lucy's excitement died right there and then while her mind whirled with the questions that immediately popped up in her head. She pulled herself back to sit properly in her seat again as she blinked at Laxus with a dumbfounded look on her face. While Laxus sat there stiffly, waiting for her to respond, Lucy was pretty sure she was experiencing a hallucination created from the lack of sleep she got yesterday.

After a pinch to her thigh -she just had to be sure- Lucy cried out, "Huh?!" Confusion shone clearly in her brown eyes while she tried to wrap her head around what Laxus had just said. The chocolates were an... apology for the whole Fantasia fiasco? Laxus was apologizing? Why was he apologizing, he had already earned the guild's forgiveness.

Unless... he didn't believe them. "Laxus," Lucy whispered, all of a sudden deadly serious, and she folded her arms on the table. "You know we've all forgiven you for your actions during Fantasia, right? You don't have to keep apologizing for that anymore."

For some reason, Laxus breathed in deeply and let out a ragged exhale, making it seem as if he was in immense pain. He held up his hand, palm towards her, as he did so. "Not that," the slayer was somehow able to growl out while grinding his teeth together.

"Then what?" She eyed him doubtfully. What else could have possibly happened that made him want to apologize to her with chocolates? Again, not that she was necessarily complaining. Free chocolates was the best type of chocolate, especially the more expensive ones.

One of Laxus' large hands came up to rub at the back of his neck as he opened his orange eyes and met her gaze resignedly, like it was the worst thing to ever happen to him. Mavis, the man made it seem like she was pulling his teeth to get him to admit the truth. "You know..."He muttered with slumping shoulders.

And there he was saying the words 'you know' again. When would he understand that Lucy didn't know? That she knew absolutely nothing when it came to the blonde lightning mage. She was as clueless as Natsu was during that one real estate seminar Team Natsu had been forced to attend while on an undercover mission. And, ah, that had been an absolutely delightful mission. To her, the seminar had been oddly engaging, and Gray had to use physical force to stop her from buying a foreclosed condo.

"-during Phantom Lord's attack against Fairy Tail and at Fantasia, the Raijinshū and I -well no, fuck, just me, actually," Laxus said cagily, and Lucy had to wipe the jewel signs and cheaply priced condos from her head and refocus. The fellow blonde sighed and ran a hand through his blonde locks. "I'm giving you the damn chocolates to apologize," he was practically sneering the word, which seemed very counterproductive to what he was aiming for, "for acting like a shitty asshole and making certain comments on your… body."

Silence encompassed them and the customers, who had all just breathed a collective sigh of relief when the two scary blonde mages had started talking and stopped acting like they were ready to leap at the other one's throats, tensed up again. One of the patron's toddler started crying, and the father rushed to hush the child.

"You," Lucy murmured, now almost positive she was dreaming or hallucinating or something. She felt light-headed, was it getting hotter in here? "You bought me some 'I'm sorry I objectified you' chocolates?"

Was this real life, was this actually happening to her? Laxus Dreyar physically went to one of the most expensive, fancy dessert vendors in all of Magnolia with that his terrifying scowl of his which made grown men cower and his big, burly mafia coat flapping around his shoulders, and bought her 'I'm sorry I objectified you' chocolates?

The corner of Laxus' mouth twitched, but not in the way it would be if he was holding back a smile, along with a vein in his forehead. Lucy was worried he was about to explode -he looked like he was about to explode- but then Laxus shut his eyes, relaxed his shoulders, and inhaled deeply again. The fellow blonde was eerily calm on the outside, and Lucy was panicking on the inside, afraid he was centering himself so he could deck her with a particularly powerful punch. Lucy scooched back in her chair and gulped.

When he opened his orange eyes, they weren't filled with fury like Lucy thought they would be, just a blank mask. "Yes," he hissed it through his teeth, but it was better than a yell. So he did buy her 'I'm sorry I objectified you' chocolates.

"Is this…" Lucy whispered, feeling faintly delirious. "Is this a dream? Or are you joking-" Lucy stopped there, and a horrible thought crossed her mind. Was it... was it all one giant joke? It couldn't be, right? Laxus would never be that cruel. Lucy tried not to assume something so rash, but doubt began creeping into her head. For him to give her chocolates was so completely out of character that it just couldn't be genuine. Her voice suddenly wobbled when she whispered, "You're not messing around with me again, are you?"

When the other mage saw the crushing devastation that caused her facial features to fall, he unexpectedly gripped the edge of the table with his hands and his mouth twisted in the largest grimace she had witnessed on him to date. The wood under his fingers creaked worryingly, and the blonde man just sat there, not even giving her a nod or shake of his head.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked quietly as she wrung her hands together, squeezing them until her knuckles paled. That wasn't the reaction of someone who was pulling a prank on her would have, right? It definitely wasn't. Lucy's mounting melancholy started declining, only to be replaced with concern as Laxus continued his attempt to snap their table in half. She'd never seen Laxus like this before, and it was beginning to make her worry.

Before she could say anything else, Laxus cringed, causing his face to twist up in an unflattering way. "For fuck's sake, are we good or not?" Instead of a question, it came out as a weak, desperate demand.

And just like that her concern for him vanished with a puff of smoke. Lucy barely kept herself from reaching up and pulling out her own hair. A strangled groan of frustration slipped past her lips, and the celestial mage had to take a moment to breathe so she didn't snap. With a sigh of defeat, she exasperated, "What can you possibly mean now?" She propped her elbow up on the table and rested her cheek in her hand as she watched him stiffly shift in his chair.

The lightning mage slowly went from miserable to irritated, the change on his face was a smooth transition that could only be mastered with many years of practice. Frowning, he ceased his crushing grip on the table to start tapping his index finger impatiently against the surface top. "Are we good…" As he tilted his chin he squinted at her, examining the other blonde like she was a troublesome piece of mud stuck underneath his boots. "Or not?"

Breathing deeply wouldn't help her any longer, and the smaller blonde let anger fill her. "Goddammit, Laxus, repeating's things won't help me understand you!" Lucy shouted as she threw her hands up the air in vexation. What was wrong with this man?!

Every single soul in the restaurant other than the Fairies jumped at her outburst, and two customers' flight or fight responses kicked in. The door slammed loudly behind them after they had ran out, and loud ringing pierced through the air as the bell swung wildly from the door's frame. Staff cowered behind the counter and the remaining citizens of Magnolia inside the café fearfully turned their attentions to one other, silently communicating that they were in this mess together and would survive it together.

Seething, Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and mirrored Laxus, tilting her chin up like she was more important than everyone else in the world. "What are you rambling about now?" she angrily demanded. "What do you mean if we're good or not? Why wouldn't we be 'good'?"

Much to her ever increasing ire, Laxus appeared just as confused as she was on the inside as he spread his hands, palm upwards, motioning to the entire interior of the cafe when he said, "I thought that was what this was all about? What 'Blonde Day'-" she was insulted the way he said it "-was about."

'What Blonde Day was about'? She inelegantly gaped at him, eyes widening and hands falling to her lap. He believed she invited him to Blonde Day because she wanted him to apologize? He thought that she was still holding a grudge against him? Lucy just... she couldn't believe it at first, and it hurt. Her fists clenched and she willed away the hot, stinging tears that had begun to form in her eyes. "You thought that I was some sort of bitter thirteen year old girl who has nothing better to do than hold grudges?" She scathed with a biting tongue, and Laxus started uncomfortably shifting around again.

Opening his mouth, Laxus scowled and was about to speak, but Lucy cut him to the chase. Oh no, she wasn't ready to let him talk, she wasn't done with him just yet.

"So which one did you think?" She jeered unpleasantly, wishing for all that she was worth that knowing what Laxus truly thought wouldn't hurt her this much. "Did you think that I would keep inviting you to this café until you apologized, or I was such a bitter and angry person that I would keep dragging you here to watch you suffer as revenge? Which one?" Is that what he really thought Blonde Day was?

The only warning she got was the vein in Laxus' forehead popping out and one of his infamous sneers, and then the dragon slayer was jumping up and slamming his closed fists on the table with a loud thud that could be easily heard throughout the otherwise silent café. "Fine, the first one!" He shouted, tiny bolts of electricity sparking dangerously around his arms, but Lucy wasn't afraid. "So, tell me, if not that, than why am I here?"

"I can't tell you!" She screamed right back, standing up as well and half tempted to climb up on her chair to gain some height. Lucy was currently being towered over by a ticked Laxus, and she just wanted to switch it up for a change, have him be in her shadow. She furiously glared up at him, but Laxus wasn't the type to be intimidated so easily.

His face smoothed out before he gave her a flat look that she wanted to punch right off his face, but she knew that if she did, it'd hurt her more than it would him. "Oh, really, Blondie." He deadpanned, but his eyes were alight with fire. "You can't tell me?"

Lucy spluttered with no comeback in sight because she really couldn't tell him, and she didn't want to cause a situation where he could pry. So instead of being an adult and arguing a fair point, she grabbed onto another thing to shriek about, "Stop calling me 'Blondie'!"

"And why would I do that?" He bent over her with that bored look plastered onto his face that only infuriated her further. What she would give to wipe that expression off his features.

After roping in some staggering thoughts that involved strangling the slayer, Lucy lifted up a hand and pointed to his very blonde head. "Because, I don't know if you haven't noticed this or not, but you're blonde, Blondie!"

Laxus reeled back, the flat look momentarily disappearing to be replaced with shock. "I… shit-" At her own eyebrow raise, he recovered surprisingly quickly and the artificial dragon slayer sniffed, "I don't know kind of shit you're trying to pull, but you're trying too hard."

Lucy cursed inside her head. He's using my own topic avoidance technique against me! That bastard! The Celestial Spirit mage let her hand fall to her side as she spat, "And you're not trying enough."

It seemed like they had both snapped at the same time because one minute they were staring dumbly at each other, and the next they turned on their heels and began marching towards the café's doors (after Lucy had thrown tip money on the table and snatched up the grommet chocolates, that is. She was mad, but not mad enough to stop her from eating chocolate. In fact, there would just never be a day where she'd be mad enough to stop eating chocolate), intent on leaving and escaping each other's general vicinity while they could.

But, of course, since they started walking out at the same time, the smaller blonde promptly ran straight into the other's side, which left them cursing the day the other one was born. Laxus, the dirty cheater, took this chance to speed on ahead while Lucy was regaining her smarts after bouncing right off the stupid solid wall of muscle known as Laxus Dreyar, but the stellar mage was able to leap forwards and snatch a hold of his flapping coat before he could escape out the door. Lucy didn't actually physically stop the lightning mage from storming out than she did screech and pray for him to stop himself when he noticed the pulling, which he thankfully did.

The Lightning Dragon Slayer glanced over his shoulder and aimed an offended glance at the other mage and her hold on his coat, but this time Lucy refused to release it. It was his fault anyways for not properly shoving his stupid arms through the stupid arm holes, which made it flap away like that as he was speed walking out. The flap-flapping was a beacon to her greedy hands, she couldn't have stopped herself.

They had been in this position before, and Lucy slowly came to realize that she couldn't just let him leave, no matter how much she also wanted to take off and curse him behind his back. Abruptly shy, Lucy ducked her head and whispered, knowing the slayer could hear her, "Will you come to the next Blonde Day?" She hadn't planned this fight at all, but now that Laxus knew she was neither trying to weasel something from him or inwardly begrudging him for something he's already repented for, would he feel more relaxed next time?

Laxus reached his hand back and jerked out his coat from her hold. He spared her one more annoyed glance before he pulled the door to the café open, tsked, and walked away.

Lucy could only lean against the door frame and watch as Laxus shoved his hands in his pockets and marched indignantly down the street, continuously scaring passersby once they saw the deadly glower on his face. The celestial mage was too busy with her wistful staring to notice the whimpers of terror from the Strawberry Street Café's patrons behind her.

Was that a yes?

A/N: You can only pry the 'Chelia' spelling out of my cold, dead hands, "It's officially 'Sherria'"