From One Dragon To Another

Chapter 22 - Low Profile Love

Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Fairy Tail and all the friends I have made within the guild, since they are becoming more and more like my family over time, but when it comes to keeping a secret from them it's incredibly difficult.

Exhibit A

I turned up at the guild the next day and saw Laxus sat at the bar with Mira, I overheard him talking to her about the job request we went on.

"Hey guys." I said as I walked over.

"Akari. Your hair…" Laxus pointed out as he looked at me, stunned.

"Is it okay?" I asked timidly.

"It's beau- nice." Laxus said carefully.

"I love it Akari, what made you decide to undergo this sudden transformation?" Mira asked.

"The recent job request we went on, one of the guys tried to give me a new haircut so, I thought that it was time for a change." I explained as I sat next to Laxus at the bar.

"Oh dear." Mira giggled.

Mira walked away from the bar leaving me and Laxus to be alone, we took this opportunity to try and exchange contact. Laxus moved his left hand off the bar and slowly brought it down to his side, edging it towards my right hand. His fingers lightly tickled the palm of my hand, signalling me to wrap my hand around his. Our fingers intertwined which, brought a smile to my face as I looked at Laxus, who had a grin on his face. This little bit of joy we experienced was short lived though as Mira crept behind us and caught us off guard.

"What are you two smiling about?" Mira asked.

Me and Laxus quickly released our hands and tried to act natural.

"The job request, we earned a lot of money didn't we Laxus?" I asked.

Laxus replied with a nod and continued drinking.

Exhibit B

There weren't many people in the guild hall as most of them went on job requests, Laxus and I were sat on the balcony at one of the tables in the corner. Laxus shared his sound pod headphones with me and we enjoyed listening to some music in each other's company with no one to disturb us. Laxus yawned and stretched his arms out before wrapping his left arm around me and cuddled me into him. Laxus wrapped his large jacket around us both and we enjoyed the rare peace and quiet… but, because this is Fairy Tail, our peace and quiet didn't last very long. As I was about to fall asleep on Laxus, I heard the doors slam open and a couple of wizards were making a lot of noise. I jumped up in shock with Laxus.

"What the hell!" Laxus said with frustration as we both walked to the edge of the balcony to see who was making the noise.

"We're back Laxus!" Freed announced cheerfully.

"Did you miss us?" Evergreen asked.

"Tsk." Laxus said in annoyance as he walked back over to where we were sat.

The Thunder Legion climbed up the steps and surrounded Laxus with cheerful expressions, a stark contrast to how Laxus looked and felt.

"What's wrong buddy? You look down." Bickslow pointed out.

"Down, down, down." Bickslow's dolls chanted in unison.

"Well, I was having a peaceful afternoon until you guys showed up." Laxus replied gruffly.

"Sorry Laxus, we didn't know." Freed apologised.

"It's alright, I'm awake now." Laxus sighed.

I leaned over the balustrade with a fed up expression and stared at the floor below.