Chapter 5, here you go! Hope you enjoy!
Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and I'm just playing with the characters.
"You know damn well it ain't my fault that we are late. So, stop scowling at me like that," Laxus said with stern voice as he knocked on the door in front of them.
With annoyed huff Lucy turned her head to the other direction. Yes, she knew that Laxus wasn't to be blamed for their tardiness and that she had no right to be mad at him for it, but it didn't mean he was completely innocent either. No one had forced him to carry her upstairs when they were supposed to be eating breakfast. And no one had definitely told him to give her the necklace and the rose when she had just finished her make-up. She was so mad at him, but only because she couldn't be angry at him. It was all his fault, but none of it was. The whole situation was annoying. So, so annoying!
Lucy heard Laxus let out a heavy sigh, before his position shifted and hands sandwiched her head. Being captured like that didn't really leave any room for resistance, when her head was forcefully turned his way and she was made to look at her boyfriend. He stared her pout for a stretched second, then with gentle strokes started to run his thumps over her eyebrows, smoothing out the wrinkles between them. "Don't want you to end up looking like me, now do we?" he spoke calmly, referring to the basically permanent frown on his face.
With every stroke Lucy could feel her irritation melt away along with her frown. The gesture was something Laxus always did when she was upset. It didn't matter was she mad or sad, it always managed to calm her down, even from the very first time he had done it for her.
It happened a little over 2 years ago, a month or so before they started to officially date, on the day of Grand Magic Game's closing ceremony. She had gone and lost a very important match during the games, causing her team to loose many points. Crucial points. Their team never recovered from the hit and they ended up coming only fifth in the tournament.
Of course, no one had blamed her for it or even minded the fifth place, but to her it mattered. To be the person, who brought her whole team down was...frustrating. She had been so disappointed and mad at herself. There was no way she could have joined the others to the end of the Games celebration in that kind of a state of mind. So, instead of evening gown, she had put on her training clothes and headed to a nearby park.
As she had been delivering punches and kicks in the air teeth grinding together, she suddenly noticed a shadow standing on the side. She had stopped and waited for the figure to step in the light. It had been Laxus dressed in a tuxedo. She had no idea when he had arrived there, but it was obvious he had come straight from the celebration party. He stripped off his jacked, throwing it on a nearby bench, then walked to her. With some feet between them, he stopped, loosened the tie around his neck and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt before taking a battle stance. With one hand he had motioned her to come at him.
And so she did.
Lucy wasn't sure could you really call it sparring when all Laxus did was either block or dodge her attacks. But she didn't mind. Punch after punch, kick after kick she kept assaulting the man with everything her sore muscles had to offer. The last punch she send his way she did so with a scream of frustration. It had landed right in the middle of the man's chest, but there had not been strength in it. She allowed her fist to linger on his chest for a moment, before dropping her it to her side. Some of the steam out of her system she felt better, but no way near good yet.
Laxus had noticed this, she was sure. Because it was then that he for the first time took her head between his hands and started to smooth out the wrinkles between her brows with his thumps. First, embarrassment had filled her, her cheeks heating up with every though of how sweaty her face must have been right then - she must have been trenched to the toe after a spar like that. But then the soothing effect of the touch had kicked in and just like her frustration had started to melt so did her embarrassment. In the end she had felt so calm that the frustration from before felt like a lie.
"Much better," Laxus had mumbled as his thumps stopped. She opened her eyes, which she didn't even knew she had closed, and their eyes met. Her cheeks had heated up again, turning ever more hotter as their eye contact kept stretching. For what felt like a short eternity they just stared at each other, neither seeming to want to move.
Then Laxus finally moved. Slower than Lucy though was humanly possible he started to inch closer. Closer and closer and closer... The inches between them feeling like miles. It had been torture. But then after the second eternity of the night, she finally felt his lips against hers. Their first kiss. It had been the awful mixture of salt and sweet - sweat and wine - but to her it was the definition of perfect.
With a fond memory as that associated with the gesture, it was physically impossible to stay mad or sad or in any other foul mood when Laxus was smoothing away her wrinkles. Even now his touch was working miracles, her mood improving with every stroke.
"I wouldn't mind," Lucy mumbled an answer to Laxus' question, the annoyance from before nearly gone for good. "We would match then. It could be cute."
Laxus' thumps stopped and he gave her the are-you-serious look. "No, it wouldn't," he stated dead serious. "We would just end up looking like and old grumpy couple, who hate each other's guts," he glanced upward briefly as to consider something. "Beside, frowning is my thing. Smiling is yours." Squeezing both of her cheeks between his fingers, Laxus stretched them apart making a smile like expression appear on her face. "Yep. Much better," he grinned.
"Hey!" Lucy swatted the hands from her face, earning a laugh from the man. It was the kind of childish mischievous laugh, which made it impossible to get angry at him. It only made a smile appear on her lips, too. "You are infuriating, you know that?"
"I might have been told so a time or two," Laxus smirked as he started to lean closer. However, his advance stopped midway as if he had heard something. Straightening his back, he turned to face the door with his serious expression back on place. Looking at him, Lucy could guess that the door was about to open. And so it did.
Behind the door was revealed an old man in a wheelchair. A very grumpy looking old man. "Laxus, Lucy! You brats! You were supposed to be here half an hour ago!" Makarov blasted at them.
"We're sorry, Master," Lucy apologized and placed a quick kiss on the old man's cheek. Laxus only scoffed indifferent.
"Stop calling me master already. I'm retired." Makarov huffed, his temper already cooling down. Nothing a little kiss couldn't fix.
"Sorry, sorry," Lucy laughed gently. It was true that Makarov had given up the master's position, the title now belonging to Erza permanently, but somehow calling him anything else than Master just didn't feel right.
"Now, are you ready to go or not, Gramps?" Laxus asked, heavily emphasizing the word 'gramps'.
Grumbling something about Laxus and his attitude, Makarov turned around with his wheelchair "I will just grab my coat," he said and rolled inside the house.
Lucy was about to follow him in case he needed help, when she felt Laxus' hand on her shoulder. Turning to see what the man wanted, she found herself mouth to mouth with him. As he pulled away, there was a smirk playing on his lips. "Missed my chance there," he said and walked past her into the house.
Watching after him Lucy couldn't help but smile. Sometimes Laxus was too sweet for his own good. Other times he was the most infuriating man alive. But occasionally he managed to be a little bit of both at the same time. And right now was one of those times.
