Hello!

Chapter 6, here you go! Hope you like it!

With a content smile Lucy observed the pair walking in front of her as the three of them made their way down the street. It was a lovely picture of a grandchild taking care of his grandfather, pushing him forward in a wheelchair. Seeing the scene made it hard to believe that at one point in the past the two of them couldn't stand each other's company, fighting like cats and dogs whenever the opportunity rose for it and hating each other's guts.

"You brat! How many times have I told you to watch out for those bumps on the street?!" Makarov shouted as a wheel of his chair hit a slightly elevated cobblestone, making the chair jolt uncomfortably.

"Shut it, old man." Laxus answered annoyed. "It ain't my fault the streets of Magnolia are in shit shape."

"It still doesn't mean you have to deliberately drive me on every single bump and pit you find," Makarov snided back, giving a glare at his grandchild over his shoulder.

Laxus was more than happy to return the look. "Stop whining. You should be happy that me and Lucy volunteered to take your old ass to the guild. It was us or Ever and Elfman. Remember how that went last time?"

"Keh!" Makarov's face fell pale as the memories of Mest's - who had taken the main role as the old man's caretaker in everyday life - last day off surfaced. It had been quite the show. Let's just say that Elfman and wheelchairs don't mix well together and leave it at that. "Anyway," Makarov cleared his throat. "Why would a grandson have to volunteer to help his old and weak grandfather out? Obviously it should be you who takes care of me primarily!"

Laxus snorted humorlessly. "Old and weak? Since when? Old you might be, but weak? As if." There was a pause as Laxus glanced down at his grandfather sitting in the wheelchair. His eyes hardened for a second and the grip on the handles he was pushing tightened just the slightest. It had been years since Alvarez's invasion, but the memory of almost losing his grandfather still haunted him - memory, which he actively tried to bury. "Let's talk about me being your primary caretaker again when you actually need the help."

"You brat!" Makarov shrieked.

Well, maybe not so hard to believe, Lucy thought to herself as she watched the pair continue their bickering. It was true that they still exchanged harsh words from time to time - What kind of a family wouldn't? - but there was no real malice in them any longer. It was just both of the men were stubborn as mules, neither wanting to give in to the other in any situation, especially in fights.

Unfortunately the same applied to her and Laxus, too. Something she learned the hard way: through their first fight as a couple. It started out as something harmless, then escalated to a week long "quiet game".

Lucy couldn't remember the fight that well anymore as it has already been over one and a half years since - and there had been quite many fights after - but she could still clearly know how it started and ended.

At the time, when they still lived apart, she had been obsessed with getting some color in her boyfriend's monotonous decor. She had thought that the beautiful house was going to waste with the dull, grey-scaled look. The house needed color. It needed life.

Laxus, however, strongly disagreed with her. He didn't want a single leaf in his house, saying that plants were too big of a pain in the butt to take care of. He packed the argument up by pointing out that he regularly took long missions, which would leave the plants without care for weeks at best. The last thing he wanted to do was come home to a floor covered in plant litter.

Stupid arguments in Lucy's opinion. They could choose easy-maintenance plants, like cactuses, and while he was away she could take care of them for him.

But no! The man wasn't going to give in. What if she was on a long mission at the same time as him, was his next argument.

From there it somehow managed to snowball into a full blown argument, where both spoke and said things they didn't truly mean. And it all culminated into a petty "quiet game", both giving each other the silent treatment.

With each speechless day the situation got worse and in the end Lucy started to feel like Laxus had begun to actively avoid her. It felt like he refused to look in her direction, and everytime she arrived at the guild he would immediately leave. It hurt. It really, really hurt. So, in her stubbornness and bitterness, she decided to hit him back with one worse.

One the seventh day of their "quiet game", she arrived at the guild with a deep purple shirt in her hand. It was Laxus shirt, the one he had deliberately left at her place at last visit, saying that the scent of it might work as repellent against unwanted pink haired bedbugs (in fact, he only left it there because she loved to sleep in it so much). She walked straight to the Thunder Legion's table and locked her eyes with Evergreen, skillfully ignoring Laxus, who was sitting right beside the woman. "Ever, can I ask a favor? Could you give this to Laxus and tell him 'Thanks for lending it' and that it's washed?"

She could still vividly remember the angry and hurt expression on Laxus face, when he saw what she was handing to Evergreen. He immediately stood up glaring at her and snatched the clothing before his confused team mate could take it off of her hands. "Ever, tell Lucy that when she decides to grow up, I'm ready to talk about the direction of our relationship," he spoke to Evergreen, but his eyes never left hers. Then without another word, he left the guild door's banging.

Lucy couldn't help but watch Laxus leave, paralyzed by his words. Slowly the shock changed into a fear as she realized too late that she had gone too far. He wants to break up with me… It was the sole question in her head right then, repeating itself like a broken record. She had goe and ruined their relationship and for what? Stupid house plants? Her arrogant stubbornness? Why did she have to be so damn stubborn anyway? Why couldn't she have just gone and talked things out with Laxus instead of trying to piss him off more?

If only she had swallowed her pride and just approached him, then maybe things wouldn't have turned out like this…

Actually… No! She refused the idea of breaking up with Laxus. She wasn't ready to let him go - not know and hopefully never.

With that set in mind, she took off to his house. She sat down on his steps and waited. It didn't matter how long it would take for him to come back, she would wait for as long as needed for him. If she was stubborn enough to keep up a silly figh for a week, she was stubborn enough to set things right with Laxus, even if by force. She wasn't going to let Laxus leave her like this! Not when she was so extremely happy with him, the happiest she had been in all her life.

Hours later Laxus finally came home, the surprise of seeing her waiting him there evident on his face. She stood up, marched right to him and grabbed the front of his shirt. "Never say things like that again!" she cried out, tears burning behind her eyes. "I refuse to break up! I don't care about some stupid house plants! I care about you! A-and I don't… I can't be without you anymore…"

When she finished Laxus was staring her eyes wide, then shielding his eyes with a hand, he let out a shaky breath. He mumbled something she couldn't quite make out. Then his fingers parted revealing an accusing glare directed right at her. "Fucking hell, Lucy. I thought you were the one trying to break up with me…"

"What?" she squecked, taken back. "When did I-"

She didn't quite get to say what she wanted, when a hand shot out, squeezing her cheeks to gether and causing her lips to pucker out. "You don't go giving back things your boyfriend has left in your apartment, if you are not intending to break up with him. Ya hear me?" he growled, but didn't sound quite as angry as she believed he wanted to sound. Relieved would have been more appropriate description of his tine.

She nodded her head furiously, seeing her mistake now. Even she would have assumed the worst, if Laxus would have suddenly returned something she had given him. Apparently satisfied with her reaction, Laxus let her go, but only to flick her forehead. "Idiot," he murmured, a small smile visiting his lips.

Rubbing her forehead, she returned the smile, then looked away a little shy. "I'm… I'm sorry. For all of this," she whispered.

"Yeah… Me too," Laxus answered as he pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on top of her head.

The smile on Lucy's lips grew while she returned the embrace, turning into a grin. "Can I get my shirt back then?"

"I don't know," Laxus hummed, and she could hear the punchable smirk he was wearing in his voice. "It's kinda like my favorite shirt, you know. Now that I have it back, I'm not so sure do I want to give it away again."

"But it's me favorite shirt, too!"

Laxus looked down at her, a genuine smile visiting his lips briefly, before the shit-eating amirk was back. "What are you ready to do to get it then?"

"Buy you a house plant."

The way and speed Laxus' face fell to the level of loath made Lucy burst into laugh. "Too soon?" she asked between giggles, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Too soon," Laxus stated dead-serious.

The memory made Lucy shake her head amused. Their first fight had really been something. Fortunately it has also been their worst fight till date. They were still as stubborn as ever, neither willing to give in on their opinions in a case of a disagreement. But what the first fight had taught them was moderation. Now whenever a fight would break out, they would be on each other's throats sure, but instead of letting it go as far as to escalate into a childish game of silent treatment, they would fight it out until they would find an agreement - or until they would be simply too exhausted to continue the fight, not even remembering anymore why they were fighting in the first place.

"What are you grinning for back there?" Laxus' annoyed voice brought her back to the present. The man was glaring at her over his shoulder.

"Nothing," she waved her hand dismissively.

Laxus' eyes squinted suspiciously, but then he returned his gaze forward. "Stop it then. I'm stuck pushing this old grumpy gremlin and you keep grinning all silent behind my back - it makes me fucking uncomfortable. WHo knows what is going on in that crazy blonde head of yours?"

Letting out a soft laugh, Lucy ran beside Laxus and wrapped her arm around his. "You want to know what is inside my head? Well, I can promise it's all about you. Just you and you alone. Nothing else."

"Not sure is that something which should make me happy or concerned…" Laxus said, while giving her a side-eyed glance, but she could see a tiny tug upward in the corner of his mouth.

"Leave your flirting on the actual date when I'm not there! I may be pestering you two about grandchildren, but that dean't mean I- Wait a minute!" Makarov snapped his head around almost 180 degrees, glaring daggers at Laxus. "Did you just call your granfather a gremling?! You- You brat! Ungrateful little! Show some respect! I raised you!"

"I will show you respect the second you have earned it," Laxus grumbled back.

With a sigh Lucy shook her head. Here we go again…