Like any other night, the Fairy Tail guild was quiet. It was past midnight and almost everyone had gone back to their homes, except for some who resorted to drinking after coming back from a mission. Mirajane stood behind the bar as she served not one but five shots of alcohol to one of the customers sitting in the corner. Although she looked as if she was about to faint, her hands kept waving to add more alcohol. Each gulp burned her throat but nonetheless soothing. It felt like she was drinking her problems away.
The girl swatted her blonde hair out of her face and proceeded to rest her chin on the palm of her hand. She sighed. It was time like this where she felt like she could take off her mask. At night, where her teammates were already asleep. She didn't want to burden them, not again. The blonde haired then took another two shots, her cheeks already felt warm and she could feel the alcohol getting into her, making her a tad bit light-headed. The silver haired bar maid approached her with worry etched in her face.
'Lucy,' she called softly, making Lucy turned her head up towards Mirajane. 'You should go home.' Mira suggested, smiling softly.
Mira knew what the answer would be, but she must try. It had been a couple of months since the guild had been reinstated. At first, Mira was surprised by Lucy at the sudden interest to drink alcohol. She had welcomed the heart of fairy tail and served her everything she wanted as Lucy had never shown much interest upon drinking before to which Mira was excited seeing her blonde friend trying something new.
It started out only light drinking but then Lucy kept coming, spending endless nights and her drinks got heavier and a lot. She started drinking shots of alcohol, reaching the amount of how much Cana drank in a day, in just one night. Sometimes, it increased even more when she just came back from a mission. Mira couldn't help but worried about the heart of the fairy tail. In the mornings, she always seemed fine, laughing, smiling, and scolding Natsu. But when the night came, it was like she was a completely different person. The despair Mira saw in Lucy's eyes each time she took another shot was heartbreaking.
Of course, Mira had asked, heck, even practically forced Lucy to tell her what was wrong, but Lucy would just smile weakly and told her she was just tired. Mira knew she was lying, but Lucy was too stubborn, so all Mira could do was just making sure she came back safe each night.
Lucy smiled weakly at Mira, her head swayed as she nodded and told her that she would go home after one more drink. Mira could only sigh and went back to do her chores. Kinana didn't come today, so she had to do a double shift, which meant she couldn't take Lucy home tonight.
Just then, a huge cloaked figure came up and sat roughly just a couple of seats away from where Lucy was. The guy drummed his fingers to the bar tables before calling Mira to order his usual. He muttered thanks to the barmaid as she served him a beer. The cloaked guy gulped down almost half of his beer and sighed, stroking his blonde hair tiredly. He had just come back from a long mission, it paid nicely—since it was an S-class mission and of course things worked out well. But, recently he felt like he was missing something. He didn't know but he often got this empty feeling and that frustrated him.
Mira saw Laxus once again drank his beer until there was none left. It wasn't surprising seeing him here, but she knew that something was bothering him lately. With the constant sighs and spacing out every now and then, she could tell that Laxus was dealing with something. Laxus paid for his drink and was just about to get up before suddenly, Lucy—who was walking out of her chair stumbled on her other feet and was about to fell. She quickly reached out to the nearest handle she could find, which at that moment was Laxus' furry coat. Lucy closed her eyes, waiting for the impact but found out that it never came. When she opened them, she found herself held by a muscled figure.
Mira, who was watching the scene, lift her eyebrow as the gears in her brain started to work out a plan. Hearts formed in her eyes as her head filled with the thought of matchmaking her two, troubled friends. She approached both blondes that were still staring at each other.
'Laxus,' she called, making both blondes turned their heads towards her.
'Can you take Lucy home, please? Just for tonight. I got to work double shift because Kinana couldn't come today.' Mira pleaded with her infamous puppy eyes. She knew Laxus enough that puppy eyes would work well.
Laxus sighed, bringing his attention back to the blonde in his arms, the supposedly heart of fairy tail. What was she doing here? Where were flame brain and the ice pick? Lucy smiled drunkenly and laid her head to the side—probably the effect of alcohol, making her swayed. One thing Laxus could distinguish from her was that she reeks alcohol. A lot of alcohol. She usually smelled sweet, like strawberry or fresh mountain on occasions, but it wasn't like he paid attention to her or anything. It was just a little surprising seeing the princess stayed up late drinking. Well, it wasn't his business anyway.
Laxus shifted his hold from her arms to her waist, making Lucy swayed to the front, landing her head into his chest. He looked at Mira who was watching him expectantly with that puppy eyes of her. He huffed defeated.
'Fine.' He sighed, 'Where's her apartment?' He asked to which Mira gave the precise location. Laxus shifted his eyes to the blonde leaning in his chest, he tapped her shoulder gently.
'Hey, princess, can you walk, or do I have to carry you?' He asked, his hands on her shoulder, slightly pushed her so that he could look at her.
Lucy hiccupped and frowned, shrugging off Laxus' hands from her shoulders to which made her swayed a little bit,
'I could take care of myself,' she slurred in between hiccups, crossing her arms in deviant and started walking—no, swaying towards the door. She was about to trip when Laxus' once again held her from falling. With one frustrated sighed, Laxus lifted her up and swung her to his shoulder.
'Tsk. What a pain.' Laxus grumbled.
Lucy yelped at the sudden force but didn't protest. She was drunk, to the point until she couldn't walk by herself. She knew that. It was worth the try, at least. With her vision upside down, she could see Mira waving sweetly at them, Lucy could saw her the glint in Mira's eyes, meaning she had something up in her sleeves but decided to wave it off. Her head was spinning from the position and as they got outside Lucy knocked on Laxus' back a couple of times before letting out a giggle. Why was this so funny? His back is so muscly and hard she could knock like it was a door.
'Mr. Spark Plug can you get me down, now?' Lucy asked, 'Unless you want this legendary flowing cloak of yours decorated with vomit...' hearing that, Laxus held her waist and put her down, he stared at her horrified.
Lucy giggled, amused that her threat worked out nicely. They proceeded to walk with Laxus' arms circling her waist, helping her walk straight. Lucy shivered slightly at the cold night air. She wore a loose tank and short jeans, she didn't have time to change, Lucy instinctively brought her hands together, rubbing each arm to warm herself. Suddenly, the arm in Lucy's waist was gone and she felt a weight in her shoulders. Before she could sway, the arm went back to her waist, holding her once more. She looked to her shoulder to find that Laxus' had put his coat on her. It was so big and heavy the ends touched the ground, but it was warm she couldn't help but tightening it around her body.
'Thanks,' she flushed, looking up at the blonde dragon slayer.
Laxus' stared at her and grunted. 'how does it feel wearing my legendary flowing cloak?' He asked, amused at the name.
Lucy snorted and giggled, 'It's a bit heavy, actually,' she hiccupped and giggled again. 'how come your coat still stays on you when you get into a fight?' Lucy asked curiosity filled her eyes as she stared at the dragon slayer.
Laxus lifted an eyebrow and tilt his head slightly at the question. He looked at Lucy incredulously, 'Because I'm awesome?' he said as if stating the obvious, his eyes had humorous glint.
Hearing his answer, Lucy snorted and laughed a genuine laugh. It had been so long since she could laugh like this, although she didn't know why she was laughing this hard. She wasn't sure if it was Laxus cracking jokes or if the alcohol finally took over her brain. She was opting for the latter, but it was still refreshing nonetheless.
'Wow I must really be Lucky Lucy for hearing the iron faced dragon slayer crack a joke,' Lucy teased after her laughter died down, wiping away a tear. She snuck a glance at the blonde next to her, his eyes twitched at the name she gave him but before he could retaliate, Lucy let out a yelp.
'My lovely apartment! Yay!' she exclaimed, slightly jumping whilst stretching her arms up. Without a warning, Lucy grabbed Laxus' wrist and pulled him with her.
'Let's have some fun!' the celestial mage slurred happily. Laxus' could only stare at her in disbelief. He had never seen this side of Lucy before. Heck, they barely even had a conversation before so he didn't exactly know much about her. But this... this wasn't what everyone was talking about. Usually, people would describe her as a bright, innocent, kind princess. He guessed it was just the alcohol taking over. But there was something about her eyes that ticked him off...
They arrived at her room and Lucy switched the lamp on. She giggled excitedly, swaying to her bed and plopped herself down, Laxus followed suit. Lucy laid in her bed and rolled around excitedly, obviously more drunk than ever. The blonde dragon slayer could only shake his head seeing Lucy's behavior.
'Let's play!' she exclaimed childlike, still rolling in her bed, getting tangled in Laxus' coat. Laxus walked closer to the edge of her bed and rest both of his hands on the bed, trapping Lucy in between so that she stopped rolling around. He crouched and brought his face closer to hers. Lucy froze at the close proximity between her and the blonde dragon slayer, she watched wide-eyed as Laxus face inched closer to hers.
Before she could react, Laxus pulled himself up from his position, chuckling, 'Guess we had a different definition of 'playing'' He said, smirking at the frozen Lucy.
Lucy puffed out her cheeks and sat while crossing her arms. As Laxus turned his back to get out of this mess, Drunk Lucy saw an opportunity and gingerly jumped on his back while yelling 'meow'. Laxus flinched at the sudden force on his back and turned his head to face the Drunk Lucy who was laughing happily while shaking around on his back.
'Get off,' he gritted out, annoyed.
Lucy stuck her tongue out and gave him the middle finger to which Laxus responded by staring at her disbelievingly.
'Not before you fondle my chin! Fondle my chin, Mr. Spark Plug!' Lucy whined in his ears, making Laxus' eyebrow twitched in annoyance. For someone who people described as innocent, she sure had a weird kink, Laxus thought.
'How could I fondle your chin if you're perch on my back? Get off, princess,' Laxus growled, thinking that he should at least let her death grip on his neck go first.
Lucy was silent for a while and jumped off Laxus' back onto the floor, making Laxus exhaled. The blonde mage was on her knees, looking up at Laxus with her big brown eyes. Laxus who was relieved because she had let go of the death grip turned around to find the blonde mage on her knees, looking at him with that slight pout. Laxus' breath couldn't help but hitch at the blonde in front of him. She looked so vulnerable for a moment and quickly shifted her mouth upward, eyes glinting with a plea.
'Fon-dle me!' she said with a cute determination in her face, Laxus couldn't help but smile.
He lifted an eyebrow, 'No.' with that, he crouched and put his hand around Lucy's waist, heaved her up to his shoulder, and proceeded to put her gently on the bed. He took his coat and rolled her into a human burrito with her pink blanket.
'Now, sleep. You're drunk.' He told Lucy, who was just realizing she was stuck inside the roll.
She pouted, 'Meanie!' She shouted, crossing her arms--well, tried.
Laxus chuckled at her antics before turned his back to leave, letting her rest. He was about to reach for the handle before stopped abruptly by the sound of small sniffling sound. He turned around to see that Lucy's playfulness had changed into that vulnerable look he saw earlier. A tear escaped from her eyes as she sniffled, her head was beckoned towards Laxus but her eyes weren't focused on him.
'Please don't leave,' Lucy said in a small voice which made Laxus' heart felt heavy.
Laxus tilted his head in confusion at the heart of fairy tail in front of him. Wasn't she supposed to be bright and happy? He knew she was a bit of a cry baby, but what he saw wasn't just normal crying. It's guilt, sorrow, despair, and... loneliness. She looked as if she had held this in for so long. Laxus couldn't help but pity his fairy tail comrade. He walked slowly back to her and sat at the edge of her bed, gently letting her go from the human burrito blanket. He didn't know what happened but he stroked her hair gently while she buried her face on her pillow and one of her hands gripped his coat that was slung over his arm.
'Please... don't go.' Lucy said between small sobs, she loosened her grip on Laxus' coat to rub the tears on her cheek.
Laxus kept stroking her hair gently, hoping it could calm her. Then, he put his coat over her shaking figure. He didn't understand what was going on but she was his nakama, his comrade, and it broke his heart seeing—and hearing the heart of fairy tail was suffering like this. And so he stayed with her, resting his back and stretched his legs on her bed, carefully putting a little bit distance from her. His hand kept stroking her hair until the sobs subsided and were replaced by soft snores.
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And that's part 1! what do you think? I haven't decided whether to make this short or long fic as this is my first time writing a fanfic. I hope Laxus character isn't a bit OOC. Let me know what you think, guys! I'd love some pointers.
Then, see you! Cheers. Zag x.