Laxus wasn't sure if he regretted his actions the night before as he bent over the toilet in the small train station bathroom, heaving up what felt like pure stomach acid. Between the party and the train, it sure has been a hell ride
He spent half an hour with his face pressed up against the cool window of the train, taking in deep, gasping breaths that made him gag half the time before he couldn't take it anymore, not bothering to announce where he was going before sprinting full tilt to the bathroom
Where he proceeded to think about his actions as what felt like a week's worth of meals came back up.
Getting up from the floor on shaky legs, he moved to the sink, opting to just stick his whole head under the faucet. The pounding of the water helped soothe the pounding of his brain against his skull, in a weird way, and he took the opportunity to take in huge gulps of water, hoping that his body would forgive him for letting it get so dehydrated.
He didn't bother attempting to dry his hair as he exited the bathroom, letting it instead flop everywhere, uncaring of how ridiculous he must look. The other passengers seemed to sense that he didn't have the energy or the mental capability of dealing with them, and he was spared their questioning looks as he hobbled his way back to his seat.
Natsumi, for better or worse, was completely unconscious in her seat, hair plastered down on her forehead from the same cold sweat he suffered from.
Part of him was thankful she'd passed out. When she got like that, he felt the need to take care of her, and he just didn't have it in him right now. The most he could do was make sure her head was turned to the side so she wouldn't choke if she puked, then he collapsed in his own seat and slid his sound pods over his ears, hoping he'd be lucky enough to sleep for a few hours.
He wasn't lucky. The next four hours were a whirlwind of disoriented nausea as the train rattled forward. About halfway through the ride, Natsumi woke up just long enough to copy his earlier journey to the bathroom, clutching both hands over her mouth as she ran. When she came back looking pale and drawn, he let her cuddle up next to him despite how awful he still felt. She seemed to understand, though, and managed to fall back asleep after she tucked herself into the soft fabric of his coat.
Laxus didn't think he ever felt a greater since of relief when they pulled into the Magnolia station that afternoon. Though he was pretty sure his hangover was gone, he still felt like shit, and on top of that, Natsumi didn't wake up when they intercom announced their arrival, so he had to carry her as well as both of their bags off the damn train.
He debated just saying to hell with it and going back to his place, not really in the mood to face the rest of the guild when he was feeling so poorly. But when he looked down at Natsumi in his arms, he knew she'd probably want to see Lucy and that damn cat as soon as possible, so he sucked it up and headed down the familiar streets to the guild.
As he walked, the lingering sense of disorientation disappeared, though his headache remained. Natsumi stirred in his arms, wiggling against him as she yawned.
"Careful," he warned her, "or I'll drop you."
She groaned, trying to stretch. "Mean," she sighed, but smiled, eyes still closed. "You're not supposed to be mean when I wake up."
"Not everyone got to sleep on the ride over. And I'm serious, stop moving or I really will drop you. I feel like shit," he explained.
She frowned. "I'm sorry. You can set me down."
"We're almost there anyway," he said as he kept walking.
The girl nuzzled into him. "Never mind about what I said about you being mean."
He rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.
The sound of the door pushing open, followed by a loud wolf whistle, brought Laxus crashing back down to Earth.
"Wow, Laxus, did you lose a bet or something? You look like shit," Cana laughed from the doorway. "I was heading out for a job, but something tells me I'm going to want to see this. Come on," she gestured for him to join her as she walked back inside, completely ignoring his pissed off expression.
"And so it begins," he sighed, as the sounds of clapping and cheers greeted them.
He pushed her forward, ignoring the applause as he guided her to an empty table, then plopped down in a chair. If anyone wanted to start something, then they could damn well come to them.
It didn't take long for the demon hordes to descend. The Thunder Legion was, unsurprisingly, the first. He had to forcibly fight them off as they all attempted to hug him at once, blubbering about how much they'd missed him and how glad they were that he'd returned.
"One at a time, God!" He yelled as pushed Evergreen and Bickslow off.
"We're just happy to see you, Laxus," Freed said, but heeded their leader's words and sedately pulled up a chair.
"Yeah, I got that," the blonde eyed the other two as they sat down on either side of Freed. He prepared himself to field an endless string of half-coherent questions.
When they just continued to stare at him with eager eyes, he began to get uncomfortable. He looked over to Natsumi, but saw she was busy cuddling with the cat, both of them looking like they were about six seconds from squeezing the stuffing out of each other. Knowing he'd get no help on that front, he turned back to the idiot factory that was his team.
"What?" he asked them just get them to stop gawking at him.
"Man, what happened to your hair?" Bickslow blurted out, deadpan.
He grunted. "Train ride ended up being even worse than usual. Ended up dunking my head in the sink."
"I like it. You actually look kind of cute," Ever commented, laughing.
Freed nodded. "It suits you."
"Enough about my damn hair," he glared at them.
"Then tell us why you found the train ride so taxing. Are you ill?" The rune mage asked, reaching forward to feel Laxus's forehead. He batted the hand away with a scowl.
"No. Our client threw us a party last night for saving his ass. I didn't get much sleep, so between that, the hangover, and the usual shit, it was a five hour nightmare."
Bickslow's answering grin was enough to put Laxus on guard. Shit.
"You didn't get much sleep? You're usually so good about that sort of thing. Other things on your mind?" the knight cackled, his tongue flopping out of his mouth.
"Yeah, like how I was going to have to look at your stupid face again," Laxus quipped.
"Awh, come on, Laxus!" Bickslow whined. "You dumped us here for over a week. The least you can do is give us the details!"
"The least I can do is allow you the ability to actually take off that helmet. But I'm reconsidering," he threatened. He didn't owe these clowns anything that he didn't want to tell them. If he gave them an inch, they'd try to take a mile, and they all knew it.
Ever glared at him from behind her glasses. "Fine, be that way. It's not like everyone here doesn't already know what you've been up to. You all but admitted it just now, anyway," she huffed, flipping her hair.
"I didn't do shit, so lay off."
"Bullshit," Bickslow laughed. "God, you're such a liar."
"We have it on good authority that certain...illicit activities took place during the course of your mission." Freed hinted, the barest hint of a smirk on his face.
Laxus was really not feeling up to teaching anyone to mind their own business today, but he needed to nip this in the bud. His life wasn't going to be fuel for the rumor mill, even if the rumor mill happened to be disturbingly accurate.
"Who?" he asked simply, though with the way a certain celestial mage hadn't yet come by to say hi to her roommate coupled with how she was currently staring at the mission board like it held the answer to life, he bet he could guess.
Freed followed his leader's gaze to Lucy, his smile growing. "I'm sure you already have an idea."
Laxus glared at the Heartfilia girl's back, daring her to turn around. When she continued to pretend not to notice, he gave up the charade.
"Lucy!" he yelled across the way, the loudness of his voice making her jump. She turned slowly, the guilty look on her face saying everything he needed to know.
He beckoned her over with a flick of his wrist, and he could see her eyes flicker from side to side, looking for viable escape routes. The moment Laxus saw the hope leave her eyes, he smiled, and she made her way over like a lamb to the slaughter.
"H-Hey Laxus! What's up?" she stuttered as she approached, giving him a terrified facsimile of a smile.
Laxus smiled back at her, all teeth. This would be way too easy. "Care to tell me why everyone seems to think they know how Nat and I have been spending our time?" He kept his voice light, but her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
She cracked immediately.
"It was all their fault!" She pointed to his teammates, who'd all doubled over in laughter. "Stop laughing! You knew this would happen!" she screamed at them.
"And you can blame Erza and Gray, too! They all ganged up on me!" she cried, looking back to Laxus, terrified. "Gray was cracking jokes, then Erza was convinced you were a cradle-robbing pervert, and then before I knew it they were all interrogating me! I'm sorry!"
Before Laxus could lay into her, he heard Natsumi's laughter from over his shoulder. "Oh God, cradle-robbing pervert! Nice one, Luce!" she wheezed, slapping the table.
Laxus glared at her. "Don't encourage them!" he snapped, but it had no effect. She continued laughing, the cat chiming in about Lucy not being very smart to say that straight to Laxus's face.
"You forgot to mention when she told us that you guys made out in the basement," Bickslow added.
"You mean Macao or Wakaba didn't tell you?" Natsumi asked, trying to catch her breath.
The Thunder Legion exchanged shocked glances. "What?!" Ever asked, leaning over the table toward Natsumi before Laxus pushed her back into her seat.
The dragon slayer cocked her head to the side at the older girl's question. "They were the ones that walked in on us."
"They neglected to mention that," Ever said through gritted teeth. The fairy mage sent a disgruntled look toward the bar, where the older men were nursing drinks with a snickering Cana.
"Don't look at us," Wakaba called, not looking back. "I may not be a spring chicken, but I still use my junk sometimes. I don't want to lose it anytime soon just 'cause I couldn't keep my mouth shut."
Laxus wished more people shared his philosophy, but apparently everyone else here was a moron. Or suicidal. Or both.
"So there. Now everyone knows. What's the big deal?" Natsumi asked the lightning wizard.
Bickslow cackled. "Yeah, Laxus, lighten up. No pun intended." He looked toward the fire dragon slayer, then, his lips forming a smirk around his wagging tongue.
"So, Nat, how did you like the trip? Did Laxus behave himself?" he asked, and his compatriots had to stifle their laughter.
"It was awesome!" she answered him, standing up and beginning an exaggerated retelling of their mission, pantomiming the fight against Crimson Arrow and doing impressions of John Sevoir, which, to her credit, were pretty dead on, in Laxus's opinion.
"Yeah, yeah, that's great, but what else did you do?" Evergreen asked, clearly not interested in the broad strokes of the mission.
Natsumi looked confused, before her eyes lit up. "Well, the night after I took down the girl that took the stupid rock, I tried to use the hairbrush Lucy packed for me, but it got stuck in my hair. But Laxus helped and ended up doing it for me! He's really good at it."
"Wait a minute!" Lucy cried, hurrying over to Natsumi's side and opening her bag. "Tell me which one you used! I told you to use the wide toothed one first, and then go back over it with the one with all the bristles," she muttered as she dug through the contents of the rucksack.
Meanwhile, the Thunder Legion was marveling at the full-blown blush that erupted on their leader's face at Natsumi's confession.
"Look at that! I didn't think it was possible to turn that color!" Bickslow howled. The knight stood up, the force of his laughter too much to keep him contained in his chair. He paced back and forth, causing the people surrounding tables to turn and witness firsthand how cherry red Laxus was.
Evergreen didn't laugh, only looked at the lightning mage who, at the moment, looked so very un-Laxis-like, with his golden hair messily flopping around his face and a blush creeping all the way down his neck. She was shocked at how the only word she could come up to describe the sight was cute. The word wouldn't normally come close to describing him—she'd go for masculine, powerful, sexy if she was being honest—but never cute. The current Laxus before her was someone she didn't recognize. She could see this boy, barely older than herself, brushing the hair of the pink-haired girl currently squabbling with her friend, and that was just weird. She'd grown up with Laxus, thought of him as an older brother, someone to look up to. But sloppy, tomboyish, downright vulgar Natsumi had managed to bring out a side of him that she hadn't thought existed. She had a new respect for the girl, though she wasn't sure if she herself could handle seeing Laxus so flustered again. It was just too strange.
"I didn't think you'd ever willingly agree to take part in something so domestic," Freed remarked, startling both Evergreen and Laxus.
"I didn't! She had the damn thing all tangled. It was either help her or cut it out."
And of course, of course, Natsumi would choose that moment to abandon Lucy's lecture about proper haircare and tune back into the conversation. She stood and draped herself over the back of Laxus's chair, giggling against him.
"You wouldn't cut my hair. You like it too much," she said, her lips against the back of his neck, smiling as the temperature of his skin increased the more embarrassed he got.
"Shut the fuck up!" he yelled at her amidst new peals of laughter.
"Don't yell at Nat just because you have a hair fetish, Laxus!" Cana yelled from the bar, having apparently decided his teammates weren't doing a good enough job of ruining his life. He scowled over at her, face still aflame, to see Macao and Wakaba's backs shaking with laughter.
"Shut up! All of you!" Gramps' voice boomed from the upper level. "I don't need to hear about my grandson's weird sexual preferences!"
Laxus flew out of his chair, sending Natsumi stumbling back as he turned to look up at his grandfather, who presided over them from behind the banister of the second floor.
"I don't have any weird preferences, Old Man!" he yelled back, "And if you don't want to hear about it, then don't listen!"
"It's hard not to hear when you brats keep screaming at the top of your lungs! So keep—"
"Eeeeeeeeek, there's- there's one missing!" The blonde squeeled.
The rest of the thunder legion, besides Laxus, gathered around to see the missing pill, with there lips parted in an 'O' as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
"Nice one, freight train!"
"Way to go!"
"I demand to be the maid of honor at your wedding, Natsumi!"
"Lucy, you're the ultimate wingman!"
That was it. Laxus couldn't take this anymore. He sprang into action, grabbing hold of the back of Natsumi's scarf before pulling her out of Lucy's hold. The man then proceeded to drag the struggling girl from the guild, slamming the doors behind him.
"Hey, stop it!" Natsumi protested, yanking her scarf out of his grip.
"Why, so we can go back in there and be a laughing stock?" No way was he letting people get away with that. He'd have to think of a way to get them all for this.
"They aren't laughing at us, stupid!"
"What do you call that, then?" he gestured to the doors, where the sounds of their guild mates' celebrations still loudly poured through.
She rolled her eyes, bringing her hands to her hips. "They're having fun. You know, because they're happy and excited? You do know what those are, right?"
He didn't answer her, only crossed his arms and glared.
Natsumi sighed. "I forgot how sensitive you are," she muttered.
"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you get bent out of shape about stuff that doesn't matter. Bickslow and Cana and everyone else are only hounding you about it because they know it bothers you. They're not doing it to be mean, but it is kind of fun to watch you get all worked up. I've never seen you turn that shade of red before," she giggled.
"Yeah, whatever. It's not funny."
"But it is! If you just let people joke around with you, maybe they wouldn't tease you so much. That, or just hit them and be done with it. That's what I do when the stripper messes with me," she went on. "Speaking of that bastard, I didn't see him in there," she pursed her lips, wondering why nearly everyone else she was close with was at the guild that day except for him.
Laxus relaxed his posture, but not his sour expression. "It's not that simple."
She looked back up at him and shook her head, laughing. Stepping toward him, she wrapped her arms around him. "It is if you just relax. They're taking the piss because they like you. No one would bother if they were afraid or didn't care. Just let them be your friends."
"Why do you sound like Mira? She told me that same shit forever ago."
"Well, she was right, then!" she said, and he wrapped his arms around her.
They were quiet for several minutes, content to hold each other. He focused on taking deep breaths, taking in the intoxicating scent of her hair. She just pressed closer, wanting him to know that she had his back even if she thought he was being ridiculous.
When he loosened his grip around her shoulders, she looked up at him. "Are you ready to go back in?"
"Not really, but I don't really have a choice, do I?" he sighed.
She frowned. "If it really bothers you that much, we can go. But your friends missed you, and I haven't gotten to say hi to everyone yet...or punch Gajeel in the face. I also think I heard Erza yelling something about being my maid of honor? Lucy won't be able to reign her in by herself."
He managed to crack a smile at that, though in his opinion, the blonde girl deserved to deal with Titania's overzealousness. Especially if that meant he didn't have to answer any weird questions from the requip mage about his fictitious wedding.
Heaving one last sigh, Laxus steeled himself, looking into Natsumi's eyes.
"Alright, fine. We'll go back in. I'm sending the next person that looks at me wrong to the infirmary, though," he growled, putting a hand on the door. The radiant smile she rewarded him with made his heart skip a beat. He hoped that would be enough to get him through the rest of the day with these bastards.
"Wait a minute," she stopped him as he went to enter. "It got really quiet all of a sudden, didn't it?"
She was right. The boisterous noise that pervaded the guild had stopped, and he wasn't sure whether he should be suspicious or not.
Oh well, he thought. It's not like he could put off facing everyone forever.
Natsumi put a hand on his coat, and once again he felt thankful that she seemed to intuitively know when physical contact would help him.
When they stepped back into the guild, they found the faces of their contrite friends lined up behind a scowling Mirajane.
"Now what do you say?" she scolded them all, looking from Bickslow on one end to Happy on the other
"Sorry," they all chorused with varying degrees of sincerity.
Mira smiled then and looked to the couple. "I was in the library with Gray when I heard all the commotion. I know they were just excited, but they should have known when to quit. Or when to keep silent," she shot a sideways glace at Lucy, who squeaked and looked away.
"You're the best, Mira!" Natsumi exclaimed, making the barmaid giggle.
Laxus gave her only a nod, but he knew she got the picture when her smile widened. Shooting the offending parties one last warning glance, she went back to her place behind the bar, leaving them alone with the rest of their idiot friends.
"Well, this isn't awkward at all," Laxus quipped when no one would meet his gaze.
"Awkward? Try walking into a room full of people screaming about how you and Natsumi are going to have a bunch of screaming babies," Gray shuddered.
Natsumi whirled on the ice mage. "Can it, Popsicle!"
"No! I almost puked when Lucy told everyone about what you were up to a few days ago, so I can say whatever I want!"
"Your weak stomach ain't got nothing to do with me, so shut up!" she countered, scowling.
"Only if you apologize for my emotional pain and suffering!" Gray yelled back
"I'm going to make it physical pain and suffering!"
They rushed each other with raised fists, and just like that, the tension broke at the normalcy of the fight. Lucy, deciding to give the lightning mage a wide berth for the time being, walked over to the bar, gesturing for Happy to follow her. Erza busied herself with breaking up the fight, forcing Gray and Natsumi to shake hands, which they did, only to immediately resume the second she turned her back.
Laxus walked up to his teammates, scratching the back of his neck.
After several seconds of nervous silence, Freed spoke first.
"We really do apologize, Laxus. We got ahead of ourselves, and didn't realize it was making you legitimately uncomfortable."
"You never usually get worked up over anything, so it was kind of a shock," Evergreen added, looking guilty. "After all that happened, we were excited that everything worked out."
"Yeah," Bickslow agreed, flipping his visor up so Laxus could see that he was serious, "Basically we're stoked that you two got your shit sorted and stopped making each other miserable, so don't be too pissed, alright? We just wanted to have your back like you always do for us."
Laxus looked at the three of them, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. He had been worried that they'd only ever antagonize him about Natsumi, and it'd made him angry and defensive. He reminded himself to thank her—and Mira, while he was at it—for being right. Though they'd gone about it all wrong and made themselves giant pains in his ass in the process, they were his team, his family, and they'd been there when everything seemed like it was going to hell with Natsumi. They'd put up with him when he'd been even more of an asshole than usual, and he'd repaid them by being cagey and...even more of an asshole.
He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'm sorry for overreacting, or whatever. Just...next time, don't make such a big deal about shit, alright?"
Bickslow raised an eyebrow. "You planning on getting any other girlfriends any time soon?"
Laxus only rolled his eyes.
The Thunder Legion let out communal sigh of relief, happy that their leader didn't seem to be holding their behavior against them.
"So are we good?" Bickslow asked, waggling his eyebrows as well as his tongue.
"Not yet," the lightning mage answered, and before their looks of confusion and disappointment could settle, he sent all three of them flying into a nearby table in a shower of sparks. Natsumi cheered, and he noticed that she was being held up by the scarf by an angry Erza, sporting a bruised cheek and a huge grin. Held by Erza's other hand was a sulking Gray, now shirtless and rocking a savage black eye.
He winked at Natsumi and leisurely walked over to where his teammates lay, peering down at the chaotic pile they'd settled into amidst the ruins of the table. As they sorted themselves, he slid his hands into his pockets, smirking.
They looked up at him with triplet looks of confusion and shock, and he laughed, the sound travelling through the whole guild.
"Now we're good."
And as he looked from his reunited team back to Natsumi, receiving a stern lecture from Erza but looking entirely unapologetic, he decided that, yeah, things really were.