A Saiyan Among Wizards
Chapter 26
It becomes Spring
*Insert TFS disclaimer. Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and Funimation. I do not own any other mentioned properties.
When Laxus got to the guild later that morning, he found the saiyan pouting childishly at one of the corner tables. He was still wearing the clothes from earlier, but he'd exchanged his cigarettes for a pair of sound pods. And he was imagining things, Laxus could swear that he smelt like cherry blossoms of all things. More than intrigued, Laxus exused himself and settled into a seat across from Marcus. All he had to do was raise an eyebrow and gesture in the saiyan's general direction to provoke a resonse.
With a great sigh, "Which part do you want to know about first," he asked.
That was easy, "Cherry Blossoms?"
"Of fucking course that's what you ask first," he groaned. Arm parrallel with the table, Marcus explained, "I was almost in the guild when I realized I still smelt like smoke. I couldn't go home to change clothes or zip in for body spray to cover it. It was uncomfortable enough to explain where I was this morning to get my sound pods. I'm still not fast enough to get in and out without leaving a scent yet, still recovering. So I settled, I tracked down Levy and asked if she had anything to cover the smell. And, well..."
"I get the picture. Now, the sound pods?"
"Well I thought something was going to happen today that I could play some music to, but I was too late for it."
"And that leads to the pouting," the pieces fitting themselves together.
The table shook as Marcus' head fell onto it in despair, "I was hoping that the big job that involved the whole guild brushing up on their ballroom dancing would be coming up so I could dance with Gajeel for real, sober," he groaned.
"First, that was two weeks ago and second," Laxus grew concerned, "'Sober?!'"
"I knooow, Mira told me when I asked and that's a tale for another time," he lifted his head so his chin rested on the table, "All you need to know is that I got really shitfaced once and Erza forbade me from doing it again."
"That just raises more questions," said Laxus, exasperated, but his mood lightened as this pulled a genuine chuckle from the saiyan.
"Well I promise I'll answer them after I take on a small job, shouldn't take me long," he said, getting up. "Stop by sometime and we can catch each other up on the stuff we missed."
Laxus watched him go up to the request board and grab one of the less noticable jobs. He took his eyes off him when he heard a familiar set of footsteps. "Need something Gramps," he asked, turning to the old man.
"Just curious as to your sudden interest in Marcus," Makarov answered.
"Don't ya think that's a bit personal," Laxus said warningly.
"Oh, that's why," he hummed. "And it seems Marcus is aware of it too," he added as the saiyan gave them quick, warm smile.
"Stay out of it old man, it ain't like that," snapped Laxus, his cheeks slightly pink.
"Really? I remember him asking Freed and the others if they've heard from you sometime after the Nirvana incident and again before we left for the S-class trials." He was grinning mischieviously, "Now what do you make of that?"
"I think," getting up, having had enough of this conversation, "your going senile."
Makarov hummed to himself, watching his grandson grab a random job off the board and follow Marcus out the door. "Maybe he'll be better for Marcus than Gajeel," he said to himself, possibly coming to the correct conclusion from what he overheard from their conversation. "That is, if he can pluck up the courage to tell him."
The day passed and Marcus came back to an empty house and a note. It had been written by Lily, telling him that they had found an appartment near the markets and that he regrets not being able to tell him goodbye in person. In the post script, he mentioned that Gajeel didn't want him to write the letter and that he hopes that the two of them could still be friends, even with what's happened between the saiyan and Gajeel.
"Of course we can, why would you even doubt it," he said to the empty house where no one could see his tears land on the paper.
At the guild, people noticed the awkward tension when both Gajeel and Marcus where both in the hall at the same time. They quickly figured out that something had happened that made them break up and it was obvious that the dragonslayer was purposely ignoring the saiyan. But no one could come up with a solid reason for the split, since neither of them would give more than a vague answer. Only Laxus knew as he watched, and occasionally comforted, Marcus whenever he was in the guild and not out on a job. These were only rare interatctions since Marcus had taken up a new work ethic. It seemed he was always working on a request, sometimes gone for days at a time only to come back looking exhausted before heading home. When he was at the guild, he had his good and bad days. On his good days, he was rather subdued but would talk to anyone that would come up to him, but avoided the subject when they asked him what was wrong. He was rather talented at creating believable lies to avoid talking about something, it surprised Laxus how many times he almost fell for them himself. When the bad ones would become apparent, he would look in Laxus' direction until he made eye contact before nodding and getting up to leave the hall, waiting a few minutes for Laxus to join him. They agreed after the first time to leave a five to ten minute gap between their departures to keep the guild from noticing. Once together, Laxus would lend Marcus his support until he regained better control of his capricious emotions and thoughts.
A few weeks passed in this manner, until Marcus came back off a bad job and sensed that Laxus wasn't in Magnolia, but still moving towards it. The job had been a bust and he was aching from head to toe from fighting off multiple types of magic and their after effects. He trudged his way back to the guild to inform Mira that he botched the job because he got sloppy. Maybe he'd have a couple drinks before heading home to crash on the sectional, finding sleep scarce in his bed. He had only started his first drink when things started heading further south.
He almost let out a hiss of pain when someone clapped his shoulder hard. "Hey Marcus, why don't me and you fight some," said Natsu loudly, forgetting the last time they rough housed.
"Don't want to," he forced past gritted teeth.
"Come on," Natsu whined, "it's fun fighting you."
"I don't want to," he repeated, trying to keep an even tone as he took a sip of alcohol. No one seemed to notice that his eyes had turned turquoise.
"Then I'll make ya," his fist enveloping in flames and punched him square in the jaw.
He finally snapped and went super saiyan, yelling "I said NO," before pushing the pinkette away with a sweep of his arm.
Sent flying, Natsu crashed into the rafters, ricocheting into a wall with a loud slam before sliding down to the floor. His head lolled forward as a trickle of blood running from beneath his hair. Marcus just stood there, frozen by the familiarity of the circumstances, as the rest of the guild rushed to the dragonslayer's side. He started forward and tried to stammer out an apology, but he was blocked by Lucy, Gray, and Erza.
"Stay back," ordered Erza, her voice cold and sword drawn.
"Yeah, haven't you killed enough already," Gray added venomously.
"Why don't you just go," Lucy finished, furious.
For a moment, Marcus anger seemed to return as his aura flared with calculating eyes sweeping over the guild. But it faltered as his gaze met little Azuka, looking scared as she hid behind her parents because she most likely didn't understand what was going on. Shame and regret was over the saiyan's conscious as he took a calming breath with eyes momentarily closed before shooting Erza's group a cold look. "Fine," his voice harboring a biting edge, "I'll leave. But before I do, a word of advice, the world doesn't play by anyone's rules and the only way to survive is to adapt to it's standards, even if it means sacrificing bits of yourself."
With that, he walked out and left everyone slightly dumbstruck. They heard him take flight at enormous speed before Laxus stepped in, looking confused, assessed the situation, and immediately took off after him and surprise the guild further. They were all questioning why Marcus snapped like that, surely it wasn't just because of him and Gajeel or his failed job. It wasn't long before Lily had enough of the guild talking about the saiyan behind his back and took off into the overcast skies to help the dragonslayer look for him while Wendy worked on healing Natsu.
"Ya know, Salamander is lucky to be breathin'," said Gajeel, as Natsu was starting to come to, "I've seen Marcus loose control before and this is tame compared to that."
~Somewhere in Magnolia~
Marcus was walking down what he thought was an empty street, he was too distracted to tell. Not that he cared, he just wanted to clear his head. He still couldn't believe he just chastized them all like children. But they are, said nasty voice in the back of his mind, you said it yourself, they still hold on to the belief that the world is black and white. That's pretty childish. It wasn't wrong, only children fail to see that the word as a grey area. It doesn't abide by the codes and laws that they set for themselves. Besides, continued the voice, most of them are younger than you. This too was true. He had spent close to two years in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, technically making him twenty years old, going on twenty-one. Twenty seven if he included the seven years on Tenrou island.
But that still only makes me a year older than Erza and doesn't give me the right to belittle them like that, even if they had it coming, he argued with himself. He sighed, feeling like a complete asshole. Stopping for a moment, he held up a hand to feel the start of a light sprinkle. Great, some rain for my pity party, he thought sarcastically, still too distracted to notice the four or five mages from Twilight Ogre following him from a distance.
~Elsewhere~
"God fucking dammit," growled Laxus, using one the saiyan's favorite curses and kicking a loose stone down the street. The rain was getting worse, making it harder for him to pick up the saiyan's scent. He had been getting wiffs of it during his search, telling him that Marcus was still in Magnolia and not too far away. If only he could tell where it was coming from, his own experiance told him it wasn't good for Marcus to be on his own for long when he was like this. It also wasn't a good idea for him to use his magic right now, he might make the storm worse, so he couldn't flash about looking for the man. "You fucking idiots, why'd you let him take off," he asked himself. Like they'd be able to stop him, hell I don't think I could've either, he admitted. He continued to curse and mutter to himself as he wondered blindly around in hopes of bumping into Marcus.
"Laxus," called a deep voice. I think that's Gajeel's cat.
Sure enough, he turned to see the dark haired feline flying up to him, "What?!"
"I found him, he's in the cathedral's graveyard," informed Lily, calmer than he felt.
Why there?
~Cardia Cathedral~
Marcus looked up from where he kneeled in front of a grave at the sound of a mocking voice.
"Well look what we got here, a fairy fag," he goaded, "heard you were out of commission for a month. Are ya just that weak?" The man was wearing a nasty smile and that was one of the few things Marcus was gonna remember from this exchange.
"Word spreads fast, donit'," mocked another, her voice low and cruel.
"Four against one, very brave," Marcus challenged before he could stop himself. He just wanted these jerks to leave and he didn't mind kicking them across town if he needed to.
"Tough talk, comin' from a fairy," said a second man.
"Yea, it will only take one of us to kick yer pussy ass," added a third, his voice slow and dumb.
"I bet you got that scar from talkin' back to yer dragon boyfriend," cheeked the first man, "good of 'im to put a bitch like you in yer place. Bet yer folks are ashamed of ya."
The saiyan's hand clentched into a fist for a moment before relaxing, he wasn't gonna let them get a rise outta him. Calm, he stood up, walked up to the first man, and lifted him up by his shirt with one hand, "You're making a lot of assumptions," he said, low and threatening, "I suggest you and your gang get the hell out of here before you dig yourselves a deeper grave and my patience runs out." Bringing the man's face an inch from his and glared deep into his eyes, adding, "Ya hear?"
The man's legs buckled as he was dropped, causing him to fall flat on his ass. He scrambled up and straightened his clothes before muttering something mildly insulting, starting when Marcus took a quick, threatening step towards him. Finally, he seemed to get it through his head that this fairy wasn't worth the effort and walked out the graveyard's gates with his guildmates, brushing past the blonde dragonslayer and dark brown exceed.
It took them a moment before they approached Marcus, either waiting for some kind of response from the kneeling saiyan, showing him some respect, or just reading the situation. All three were very possible and likely correct. If he knew that they were there, he didn't acknowledge the immediatly. Instead, Marcus sat on his ankles still as stone with a grim expression and hands clenched so tight that if his knuckles were visible Laxus was sure that they were white. The saiyan was the first to speak, slow and measured so as to not fall apart, "How's Natsu doing?"
Lily answered, "Last I saw, Wendy was tending to him. He should be up and about right about now. Speak of the devil."
Natsu was running past the gates, having to double back as he spotted the three of them. Like Lily and Laxus, the pinkette paused a couple seconds as Marcus stood up to face him. His expression had changed to a very controled calm, but he couldn't meet Natsu's eyes. Still speaking in a measured pace and tone, "I'm sorry Natsu, just because I was having a bad day doesn't make it right for me to take it out on you."
"Hey man, its cool. I shoulda left you alone when you told me you didn't want to have a go," stepping foward, he took a look at the headstone that saiyan had been sitting in front of, "Is this why you haven't been yourself?"
Marcus nodded, "The guild is one of the few things I have left now," his grip on his emotions slipped for a moment before he reigned them back in.
"Want me to knock some heads at the guild, they've been sayin' a lot of awful things 'bout cha," he asked earnestly.
This pulled a smile from the saiyan, fleeting as it was, "Nah, it's fine. But it's up to you if you want to tell them about this."
"I think you should tell 'em," Natsu responded before adding, "when yer ready."
Only able to nod, Marcus bid him goodbye. The three of them stood in silence, only broken by a single clap of thunder. Lily yelped, reminding the saiyan of his fear of thunderstorms. "I really appreciate you coming out and looking for me Lily, but you can go back inside if you want to," he said, sounding slightly guilty.
"I'm staying till I'm sure you're fine," said the exceed, yelping again as the rumble of thunder met their ears a second time.
Picking up the trembling cat, Marcus brought Lily close his chest and cooed softly, "I'm fine, besides, Laxus can take care of me if need be," scratching him behind the ears. "Don't let me forget, I owe you a bushel of kiwi for this."
"Are you sure you're fine," Marcus looked him dead in the eye and nodded. "Alright, as long as you keep your promise and you're sure," spreading his wings, "I'll take my leave."
"Thanks again Lily," Marcus said in farewell. Now that it was just him and Laxus, he let out a tired sigh and looked back to the stone. He had chosen the words himself. To friends, family, and a world lost, the one that remains shall keep you safe in his memories and in his heart. Always. It was the best he could think of a the time, he could've worded it better but he felt it was better than nothing. "Its hard to think about it cause the more I do," he paused to gather himself, "the more I find to miss and to grieve about. So I do what I can to distract myself but..."
"But its always there," Laxus finshed, "I know the feeling."
There was a brief, weak smile of thanks flashed his way, "It wouldn't have mattered if I had finished Acnologia off, the war still would have happened. All I had to do was be away on a job when the cry for help came through. Either way, there would've been nothing I could do. Even if I had been able to save them, it wouldn't be fair to anyone else that was left behind or them. Better for me to be the only one to lose everything."
"You've thought about this a lot, haven't you," concluded Laxus, more statement than question.
"Impossible not to," looking towards the sky, "I thought I could just accept what happened and move past it, but there's always something to remind of something else I've lost. In what breif moments I actually feel happy, it hurts and brings me back down. What makes it worse, is that I that I do it to myself. Letting my thoughts lead me places that make me want claw out my heart so I can't feel them or tear out the memories so they can't hurt me, so I can just let everything go numb," tears started to stream from his eyes, the rain almost hiding them, "And then I begin to hate myself, for letting it happen and for how easily I give in to it. It keeps piling up till I can't even move." His expression had turned darker, "I'm afraid everyone will look at me as a lifetime past repair. I don't want anyone to see that, so I fool the whole world but I fear that I'll be faking forever. Honestly, who would want to fix a mess like me?"
"Have you ever asked," conceren and saddness adorning his voice.
"If I can't do it myself, what more could another person do," head drooping into his chest.
Laxus had had enough, surging forward to bring the saiyan into his embrace. Tucking him under his chin, "You wouldn't have to bear it alone. Trust me, you'll only hurt yourself when you're the only one dealing with it," Laxus said softly, "When I cut myself, it was with someone's help that I was able to stop. If you need it, I'll be that sanctuary for you."
That did it, Laxus had broken through Marcus' walls so he could let everything he's been bottling up loose. He hugged the dragonslayer tightly, as if he was afraid of him leaving him there sobbing in the storm. Laxus could only hold him, doing what he could to reassure and comfort the saiyan. It's the effort that counts, he thought. It seemed to take forever before the raven started to calm down.
"We should get out of this rain," feeling oddly protective, " and I'm guessin' you don't want to go back to the guild just yet." Marcus shook his head, his nose tickling the blonde's chest. "Well, I don't think Freed would like it if I brought someone to his appartment without him there," Laxus pointed out. Truthfully, he had no idea where this may lead and he didn't want anyone to know about whatever it was that was going on between them.
"That leaves my place, but it's a bit of a walk. Unless...," Marcus said quietly.
"Unless what," asked the blonde, but he somehow knew what was coming.
Before he could say more, Marcus had hoisted him into the air and flew to his door in a matter of seconds. But it seemed to take a lot out of him, huffing slightly as they landed gently and he let go off Laxus' waist to open the door. The house had changed since the last time he was here. On the large couch were blankets and a pillow with a depression in the cushions in the shape of the saiyan's body. On the table in front of it, there was a couple picture frames. The glass was glared so he couldn't see the images but clearly make out places they been touched repeatedly, something gold glinted at the bottom of one. The stand that held the lacriscreen had become bigger to accommodate the new devices, similar to the one that he'd seen before. There was also a large cabinet now sitting in the kitchen on tall legs. Marcus spoke up, bring his attention back the saiyan.
"I should have something that'll fit ya if you wanna get out of those wet clothes," suggested Marcus, had somehow already dried his hair (sticking out a different angles from a vigorous toweling) and changed into just a pair baggy sweatpants. And I thought I was fast, thought Laxus, I forget that he's smaller than he looks, it's kinda adorable. Wait, where did that come from?! Distracting himself, he noticed that he hadn't seen his body without the bandages. He had kept himself covered, so Laxus had never seen the scars left from his rescue attempt that ran from his hands to his neck, peppering his torso with slashes and blotchy burn marks.
Catching himself staring, "Yeah, probably should get out these before I catch cold," distracting himself again by taking off his now soaked coat as the saiyan walked towards the back of the house.
He came back seconds later, holding similar attire, "They might be snug, but these should do," handing them off to the blonde, "Bathroom's the second door on the right, just put your clothes in the basket and I'll put them in the dryer." Taking a look at his coat, "Do I need to do anything special with your coat?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Laxus responded, surprised at the lengths the saiyan was going for him, reminding him a bit of Freed.
Stepping into tiled room, Laxus took in his surroundings. The essentials were here, a porcelain toilet and sink with a tasteful faucet. There was a glass enclosed shower in the corner with an oddly shaped head, almost like a dust pan. Resisting his urge to turn it on, Laxus stripped off his dripping clothes and threw them into the basket Marcus had indicated. As the saiyan had predicted, the shirt and sweatpants were a tad snug. Mostly due to the fact he was so broad shouldered and chested, the pants stopped just above his ankles.
In the time it took him to get changed, Marcus had found a shirt to wear and pulled most of his hair back with his bangs framing his face. Laxus noticed two new peircings in his ear lobes, black circles, the one above smaller than the other. The saiyan's hair usually covered them, so Laxus had no idea when he got them peirced. Must've been sometime after he and Gajeel broke up.
"You're staring again," said Marcus, almost mechanically.
"Sorry," came Laxus' usual response.
"It'll be a while before they're dry," he said sheepishly, not sure about what they were going to do.
"You've added a few things since I was last here," gesturing to the cabinet, "What's in there?"
"Oh that's where I keep all the..." cutting himself short, looking as though he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"All the what?"
"All the alcohol I niked from my world," he admitted, adding quickly, "Please don't tell Erza."
Chuckling, "Shouldn't you be worried about Cana finding this stash," smiling as he walked over to the island and took a seat, "And don't you owe me an explaination about Erza keeping you from the booze."
"Fine, but I never was able to finish my drink at the guild," pulling a bottle from the cabinet.
"What's that?"
"Long Island Ice Tea, my mom said it's really good so I thought I'd give it a shot," he froze for a second before deflating a bit, "Pun not intended," he added.
"Why don't you pour me a glass, I'd like to try it," Laxus added as the saiyan reached for them. After the intial sip, "Damn, that is good!"
"It's got a lot of hard liquor in it so take it slow," advised Marcus, sipping his glass. "Gildarts had returned to the guild..."
"Oh God, I think I see where this is going."
"Let me finish," chided Marcus, "Well he got back after me and Gajeel had had a small tiff about me loosing my eyes, long story," as Laxus had opened his mouth to interject, "and I was feeling a bit spiteful. So I followed him home with Natsu, we talked for a bit, and he started to come on to me. Before I knew it, we were kissing and I could feel his hard on against mine."
Laxus, who had been taking a drink, sputtered and choked before saying, "Don't tell me."
"Oh it gets better, Gajeel had somehow talked to him before hand and put him up to it for a good amout of Jewel," added Marcus, amused. "And if that wasn't enough, he was watching and jerking off to it. That landed him a kick to the guild, but I somehow turned the night into a three-way using the senzu as stamina boosts and it regrew Gildarts' leg and arm back."
"Wait what?!"
"The job he took was to try and kill Acnologia," knocking back the rest of his glass before refilling it, "Man that gives a nice buzz. Anyways," continuing with his story, "that sparked celebration at the guild and I got completely shitfaced, challenged Erza to a duel, won, then drug Gajeel out to the middle of the guild to dance with me."
"Sounds like I missed quite the show," tapping the rim of his glass for more, "beating Erza is no small feat."
Complying, "Maybe for most, but apparently even being drunk isn't enough to nerf me."
"What," Laxus asked, his confusion giving him an oddly cute expression.
"Crap, how do I explain it," Marcus said, regreting the slip up, "Think of it as taking away an unfair advantage to even the playing field. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Anywho, I'm surprised I didn't reck the entire guild hall, considering my track record when I'm not in full control of myself."
"Whadda ya mean by that," asked Laxus, pausing in raising the liquor to his lips.
"I'd rather not...," taking a rather big gulp of his drink, downing almost half of it.
"Come on, tell me," reaching for the saiyan's free hand and grasping it with in his own, "I won't tell a soul." It was apparent that Marcus wasn't used to this kind of coaxing, least of all expect it from Laxus. So he gave in faster than would normally, it didn't help that the alcohol was starting to affect them both, though at different rates.
Heaving a great sigh, "I suppose there's no harm in it." Topping off the glasses, he began with a question, "You know about super saiyans right?"
"Yeah, is it supposed to make you fifty times stronger or somethin'," Laxus answered, surprisingly well. I don't remember telling him that, thought Marcus.
"Correct, but I haven't really told anyone how a saiyan reaches that goal," taking a mouthful of tea, he continued, "The transformation is first triggered by pure, raw emotion, typically rage. That's been a particular problem for me cause I've always had a bad temper, making me rather a horrible person to deal with. That's why I work so hard to control it, but it works against me sometimes. My fellow saiyans, when they first transformed they were almost completely different people. You can imagine what I became when I finally snapped and became this," willing the form out for a couple moments before letting it go. He worried Laxus for a second as he swayed slightly in his bar stool, but he quickly regained his composer and went on, "I was about sixteen when I finally did it. The worst decision of that day was to try and get me to transform close to civilization. For a while, all I could remember was the unbridaled rage and a fuzzy white haze. But then pieces started to come back to me."
Looking discontently at the empty bottle, Marcus considered if he should get another one for a moment before caving. "At first, it was just a few seconds at a time," he continued, his tone getting noticably more dark, "But big chunks began to reappear in my memory and I was horrified at what I did. I fought savagely against the other saiyans, almost killing Goten and Trunks, and gave Vegeta quite the beating. One of my blasts went a stray and destroyed a small village and it's people before Goku was able to knock me out. To this day, I still don't remember what caused me to fly into a beserker rage. It was either so horrible that I repressed it or it was so petty and insignificant that it didn't matter. For the next two months, I either worked hard to control the form or was unable to keep my guilt under wraps. There wasn't an inbetween."
"So Tenrou wasn't the first time you've killed," surmized Laxus, his cheeks starting to flush from the alcohol.
"Yes and no," setting aside his empty glass and yawning, "It was the first time I was consciously taking people's lives. I was able to reason with myself that I wasn't in control when I killed those people and that's been enough. But now... it's harder to justify it. The best I can do is say that it was the most efficiant way to keep everyone safe and conserve energy to fight Hades. But we know how that went."
"Actually, no I don't," said Laxus, "All I saw was you screaming in pain before I took you over to the others. It was kinda scary to listen to."
"I'm extremely weak to lightning magic, especially your's," explained Marcus, his eyelids starting to droop, "Hades figured this out somehow and seperated me from the lightning lacrima I use to protect myself in my sword. If I was screaming, I must off blacked out cause I don't like giving my opponents that satisfaction."
"My magic hurts you..." Laxus muttered, the saiyan barely caught it.
"More of that it just eats my energy at an alarming rate to counter the effects, it only hurts when the intent behind the spell is of malice," he said in attempt to placate the mage, "I can usually redirect it but something about your's is different. It makes one curious as to the reason," there was something hidden in those words, but Laxus' mind was too muddled to notice, "I've always thought it was because you're a dragonslayer, but... nevermind. That's a conversation for another time."
"Maybe I want to talk about it now," Laxus blurted, his voice raising a bit.
"Okay, okay," waving him down, "Well, after you visited before Tenrou, a thought occurred and it made me wonder 'when did it happen?'"
"When did what happen?!"
"You developing a crush on me."
The resounding silence was almost defening, Laxus' cheeks reddening from more than just the alcohol. Marcus waited patiently for the blonde to collect himself, drinking all the while. Possibly five minutes had pass, or maybe just one, before the dragonslayer choosed to speak, "It took while before I figured it out, I had to get over my own jealousy to see it, but I think it was when you first showed up a the guild. I've always been attracted to strength, I think."
Holding his glass by the rim, Marcus made a motion so the contents would swirl as he watched them. "You know my strength is only physical, right," looking into Laxus' grey eyes at the last word. In his own, they show that he truely believes it. "Mentally and emotionally, it varies to much for me to say for sure whether or not the same holds true."
"You know, you're quite the uh...," Laxus said, struggling to pull the word he need from his mind, "philosopher." For some strange reason, this made the saiyan burst into laughter. It went on for good few minutes before he began to sober and explain himself. Clearing his throat, Marcus said, "Not really, the booze just let's me say things that I've thought about for years but kept to myself. If that makes me one then my dad is an even greater one than me." He started to laugh again as a thought occured. "Speaking of my dad and booze, I've got a tale for ya!"
"Now where I come from, yer not allowed to drink till yer twenty one," he began, to clarify, "When my dad was fifteen, no one was home at the time so he thought it'd be a grand idea to get into his mother's hard liquor and get completely wankered. But she came home not long after and he came out of his bedroom to try and act like he'd been a good boy. So he says, 'Hey, mom!' all slyly and goes to lean against the doorframe with his hand," Marcus extended his own to demonstrate, "and misses the fucker by a good foot or more and BAM! He's face down on the floor, asleep or knocked out, and she just steps over him thinking the headache he's gonna wake up with is punishment enough." He bursted into laughter again. Laxus joining him but not to the degree as Marcus, who had fallen from his stool and making the both of them laugh harder because of it.
The rest of the evening passed in a similar manner, neither of them aware that their clothes had been dry for hours. But they could care less, somehow able to make it under the blankets of the couch, the saiyan using Laxus as a great big pillow as snoozed on late into the next morning.
