Writer's Block- Part Two

Fairy Tail

Laxus X Lucy

TheCelestialDragonSlayerxx challenged me to write this crack coupling, and I found the idea interesting to say the least! I had fun working on it!

Walking through the crowded streets of Magnolia, Lucy Heartfilia gave an exasperated sigh. Her brown eyes shifted around the market place, trying to remember where that magic store was that she used to frequent some seven years ago. The streets were a hodgepodge compared to what she was used to; a mix of the old and new and her mind was playing tricks on her. She had walked the whole lane twice and sworn she couldn't find it…maybe they had moved?

She clutched her notebook to her chest… it was a plain old fashioned one, not like the new fancy tome Gajeel had bought for Levy. She had instantly envied her friend's gift; they were working on this story together and somehow an afternoon out with the iron dragon slayer had granted her this very neat, if vain, Emotome.

Lucy had Emotones before… she had had dozens, as a matter of a fact, when she was a child, learning how to write, and making her first books. When she had lived at home, all she had to do was ask for it and eventually, through enough screaming and crying she could have it.

Lucky Lucy of the Heartfilia family could get whatever she had wanted.

Lucy of Fairy Tail was a different story.

It wasn't even the book; the curvy blonde mage reminded herself as she scanned around for that vanishing shop. It was the fact that it had been a gift, from a guy that Levy really liked. Lucy hadn't given Gajeel much credit before, but after that, she had to admit, he probably had more sense dealing with girls then most of the guys in their guild combined. No… it wasn't the gift she envied. It was the relationship that she was completely jealous of.

There were tons of guys in and out of Lucy's life on a day to day basis, that was true, but getting any of them to notice her seemed to be a completely different matter. She liked Natsu, but she was convinced he was completely oblivious, and even if he wasn't, there was Lisanna, and those two had been practically engaged since they were kids. She liked Gray too, but she wasn't sure it was the same like… Gray was cool to be around, but the idea of facing Juvia's wrath was not something she wanted to endure, and with Lyon now entering the picture…it was more drama-filled then one of her teen romance novels.

There was Loke…attractive, charismatic Loke… who would out-live her and then some and still look gorgeous to boot. Even if being in a relationship with her celestial spirit wasn't taboo, she didn't think she could deal with the fact that he would stay young forever on top of his incessant womanizing.

Jellal was undoubtedly handsome, but also undoubtedly devoted to Erza. She was convinced that he didn't even recognize other women as women and when the two of them were together, which seemed to happen a lot lately, Erza looked like she was on cloud nine.

That was what Lucy wanted, more than anything; for someone to sweep her off her feet like that. Which seemed impossible with the men she ran around with.

'I could always just find someone out of Fairy Tail…' She told herself, but even as she thought it, it just didn't seem right. Dating a guy from another guild was bound to lead into issues between the two guilds eventually, and she didn't want to leave Fairy Tail… she was happy where she was.

'I guess being single isn't so bad either.' She had to remind herself with a sigh. Perhaps she just wasn't ready to be in a relationship, but everyone around her seemed to be falling in love…. And she hated being the odd person out.

Reluctantly she gave up on her search for the magic shop as well, convinced that in the seven-year gap they must have moved, or closed down. With a sigh she set herself a new goal; a piece of cheesecake from her favorite bakery would fix up this whole funky mood she was in and by the time she got back to the guild HQ, she would feel better.

Passing through a side street, she stopped when she turned the corner and found three guild mages hassling some poor guy over money. Magnolia was a pretty nice town, or had been, but that was when Fairy Tail had been running the show. With its core members gone, other crazy guilds had risen up, and not all of them were good ones.

Lucy's brown eyes narrowed. All she wanted was to get on her way and not be dragged into this mess. She met the mage's eyes for a moment and then started past them, hoping to continue on her way without getting dragged into this mess.

The men from the other guild had a better idea. They had found a more coveted prey and so they let the poor store clerk go, turning instead to the woman who had walked past them.

"Hey, Fairy Tail." One of the men called, his tone utterly full of himself. "Get that sweet ass back here."

Lucy flinched, stopping for a moment. It would figure he would notice her guild mark. Why was it that she was a magnet for trouble? She turned to look over her shoulder unsurely at them, and then sprung into motion, dashing down the long corridor and fleeing around the corner.

The guild mages sprang after her, shouting obscene things that she didn't really want to here. "Why, why, why?" She demanded, fumbling with the leather clip on her side. She didn't want to get into a confrontation… why couldn't they just leave her alone?

Her fingers fumbled over the heavy metal keys on the ring within the folds of leather, able to tell by the shape and engraving on the delicate pieces which were which. An offensive key would make this easy… if she could find Taurus, or Scorpio… she'd even settle for Leo right now. But having twenty keys on the loop took a little time and trying to watch where you were going was not easy when you were looking for your only source of power.

Coming out of the alleyway, she found herself back on a main road, but she wasn't watching where she was going, more focused on how far back her pursuers were and if she could pull a damn blasted key. She slammed hard into something with enough force to knock her off her feet, dropping her notebook in the process.

Well damn.

She fumbled to get to her feet, reaching out to get her notebook lying on the stone ground when she heard a familiar voice.

"Heartfilia?"

Her gaze jerked upward, brown eyes looking up at the towering man standing over her. She had thought she had run into a wall or a partition with how hard she had bounced back. She had no idea that it was an actual person!

She recognized him immediately…it was difficult not to. He was a member of the guild after all, but even then, there were few members in the guild built like him. His shoulders were so broad, he mine as well been part of a building, and his biceps were about the size of her head. He was tall; not as tall as some of the guys in the guild, but tall for average height she supposed… he was just a big guy, reinforced with so much muscle she doubted he'd probably even felt her smacking into him.

Blue-gray eyes the color of a stormy sky peered down at her in surprise, as if he had just noticed her on the ground. She stared up at him, taking in his reaction, but didn't have long to steep in it because in the next second, she heard footsteps behind her getting closer.

"Now we got you, little lady." One of them yelled, as they turned the corner of the corridor.

Lucy scrambled to her feet, snatching up her notebook in the process. "Can't you just go away? I didn't even do anything!" She screamed back at them, agitated that they were still following her.

The man from Fairy Tail lifted a brow. "Having problems with men?" He asked, in a tone where she could only tell if he was half joking.

"No way." She snapped, backing towards him. She figured if anything she could use him as a shield. "Not with those creeps."

To her surprise she heard him chuckle. It was deep and warm and she looked up at him, expecting to see a smile. Those blue eyes were looking past her, to the men running at them, and his face was set in its usual frown.

The guild mages saw him at about that point and recognized who he was. About fifteen feet out they slowed to a halt, eyes widening. "Laxus Dreyar…." The one at the front swallowed. They seemed to be re-thinking their decision.

The Fairy Tail mage smirked at the mention of his name. "Ah, I get it. Twilight Ogre Mages." He remarked, still standing in the same spot, as stoic as ever.

Lucy blinked over at him and then back at the mages. Staring at them now, she saw the spiked cap sign that was emblazoned on the one's shoulder. She hadn't recognized it, but aside from the first couple of horrible days, she hadn't had any dealings with Twilight Ogre… she just knew they were a greedy guild with a rotten reputation.

"There are better ways to pick up girls, fellas," Laxus replied, cracking his knuckles. "I think you owe the lady an apology."

The trio from Twilight Ogre looked like they were sorry. Sorry, and terrified. However, Laxus wasn't letting them off the hook. He leapt at them and they screamed, nearly in unison, attempting to flee the incoming assault. Their show of cowardice was so great, Lucy couldn't help but laugh as they ran away, but not before the Fairy Tail dragon slayer had laid a shiner on one so great, he'd be black and blue for weeks.

"What a bunch of wimps." Laxus replied as he came back toward her, his one hand still crackling with a whip of lightning.

"I think anyone would be intimidated by you." She told him with a giggle, seeing his irritation at having fought such a pathetic fight. She bowed her head. "Thank you, for saving me."

"Not a problem." He replied with a grunt. "Glad I was here."

He started past her and she realized that he had no intention of sticking around. He had merely been there by chance, but he had probably just saved her from being robbed and who knew what else. It was insignificant to him, but to her, he had just been a hero.

Hero.

The thought struck a chord with her and realization took over. She had been stuck piecing together her main character for the story that she was collaborating on with Levy, and nothing had seemed to work. Levy's main hero was a hot-headed arrogant mage with an unsuspecting soft side. Lucy had gotten the fact right away that he was modeled after the traits Levy liked most about Gajeel.

Knowing that Levy had used him as a model, had only further pressed Lucy into wanting to create a good character… one that would mean something. Her profiles and ideas so far had been generic and unoriginal and she'd been unable to move forward but what if…

What if she made him more like Laxus?

She quickly came to the conclusion that she didn't know enough about him either to really make a detailed character, or get a good guess of his own, for that matter. He had always run in different circles in the Guild, hung out with different people. For a while, he had been considered an enemy, and then for a while after that, he had been gone. He was one of the few guys in the guild she could say she honestly hadn't gotten to know better in her time at Fairy Tail.

"H-Hey!" She called after him. "I'm about to go get lunch. You wanna join me? My treat."

He looked over his shoulder at her as if debating his option, and then gave a small shake of his head. "No thanks." He replied, and continued onward, disappearing through the crowd.

Lucy found herself at the bakery alone, gorging on cheesecake. What kind of person would reject the idea of a free meal? Even if he wasn't hungry, he could have gone with her… the thought that he would turn her down had kind of agitated her but at the same time, had also inspired her. She was curious.

After that, it was all Lucy could do in her spare time to NOT stalk Laxus. He came and went at the guild just like any other mage but when he was around, she was watching him intently, so much so that it was hard for the others to not notice.

"What's the deal?" Evergreen had said one morning to Mirajane when she watched Lucy and Levy comparing notes and papers. Even from here she could tell that the blonde woman was keeping tags on where the lightning dragon slayer was, across the guild.

"Mmn, don't know. Maybe Lucy's into him." Mira had told her, setting a cup of tea down in front of the brunette woman. "Has she joined the Raijinshuu on any missions or anything?"

"No. She's just…always watching." Ever shifted in her seat. "It's creepy."

"And Laxus knows?" Mirajane asked her, turning back towards the sink.

"How could he not?" Evergreen snapped. "I just don't know what he plans on doing about it."

Later that day, Laxus left the guild on his own, without supplies, and without picking up a mission. Lucy felt compelled to follow after him and was surprised when she found that he cut across the field behind the guild HQ and disappeared into the woods.

"I was not prepared for this…" She muttered as she walked up the steep slope, her wedge shoes catching on every little root and slipping on piles of wet leaves. They were heading further up into the mountains, and she had to keep her distance without trying to get lost.

Which happened anyway.

She stopped to take off her shoes, finally too fed up with them to care about walking barefoot in the middle of the woods, and in that breath of time, had lost sight of him. She whined and muttered about her bad luck, wandering in circles until the sound of water caught her ears. She fished out the stream and the way it seemed to perfectly run in one direction and breathed a sigh of relief. If she followed it back down the mountain it would run right back towards HQ, so she would know how to get home.

Following it further north seemed to be a better option and so she walked along the water's edge, taking in the small waterfalls and rivulets that were built into the rock as the land continued to peak higher.

After hiking for a while the land leveled out a bit and she found that a large pond was built here, sitting underneath a very high cascading waterfall. It was here that she found, with a large stroke of luck, the person she had lost.

He had tossed his sleeveless shirt aside on the bank and was sitting on one of the large pieces of slate in the middle of the pond, meditating. She could see the way he had gotten out there as well; there were river rocks that stuck up from the shallow edges of the pond, creating a stepping stone path out to deeper waters.

Lucy sat down on the side of the bank by his clothes, and stared out at him. She doubted he knew that she was even there and so she just took the time to pull her notebook from her satchel and go over her notes. Writing away in such a peaceful area, surrounded by the mere sounds of wild life and the droning sound of the waterfall splashing down, she found that nature was stealing all the will out of her and her eyes were becoming heavy. The sunlight felt good from up above, warming her shoulders, and she finally admitted defeat and stuffed her book and pen back in her bag, lying down on the ground.

She awoke some time later. The sun had shifted in the sky and though it was still high, she could tell most of the afternoon was over and it was on its way to setting soon. She had fallen into an area of shade, which was probably good so that she didn't burn, but as she sleepily stared out at the pond, she began to realize that the reason she had been here was no longer here.

Laxus was gone from his stone seat.

She glanced around, trying to see what had happened while she was passed out, and she found him sitting a safe distance away, further down on the grass, spacing out. His impressive forearms were resting on his knees and he was leaning forward, the sun glaring down on his bare back, and lighting up his spiky blonde hair to a golden yellow.

Lucy got to her feet. He could have headed back down the mountain and left her to whatever wild animal came across her, but she got the feeling he had stayed so that nothing had happened to her. He could be so nice, and yet most of the time he was so very distant, so withdrawn. She had seen him fired up before, and seen him ruthless… but the normal side of him was socially awkward in a quiet sort of way.

She walked over near him, but he didn't seem to notice her. "Thank you… for staying with me." She started when silence was the only thing between them and he wouldn't acknowledge her even when she was standing a foot away.

His blue eyes shifted, turning that ever expressionless frown on her. "You're rather obnoxious, you know that?" He told her, standing up.

"W-What?" She blinked at him, having to raise her head to look up at him as he stood, her eyes traveling across his well-defined chest to get to his face, and creating a small flush of heat on her face. She didn't know whether she was more taken back by his words or being this close to him… she hadn't expected his presence to take any effect on her, but she found herself secretly admiring his figure…she had certainly seen worse-looking guys.

He smirked, catching the faint blush on her face. "I get that I saved you, but I didn't think you were such a child that you would start following me around everywhere." He leaned in closer, his blue eyes level with her brown ones. "You can tell me you have a crush on me. I get it."

Lucy could feel his breath on his face, the deep voice taunting at her as he spoke. Was he being mean specifically to push her away? Or was he really that annoyed with her? Either way she knew she had been handling the situation poorly, and it was about time to come clean.

Staring him down, her dark eyes narrowed. "As if." She spat back at him.

He blinked, standing back up and she got the feeling that that wasn't exactly the answer he'd been looking for.

"The only reason I'm following you around is because… well, yes, you did save me… but it also got me thinking. I've been working on this story project with Levy and I needed a basis for my hero." Her eyes averted away. Here was the embarrassing part. "I couldn't come up with anything good, and then you saved me and that sort of inspired me, so…"

Laxus watched her fidget, still a little stunned over what he was hearing. "…You made your character in your story after me?"

She looked back, at him, her face five shades of red and gave a solemn nod. "I-I didn't mean to! But… you were just so cool, and it got me thinking… that I really don't know a lot about you, and it would give me a reason to… but I should've asked you from the start. It was a bad idea, and I should just scrap the whole thing and start over."

He stared at her as if she'd been speaking another language and then gave a slow shake of his head. "No, don't." He told her. "Keep writing it."

Lucy perked up, staring up at him. "You don't mind? Are you sure?"

He gave a small nod. "That's…" His blue eyes danced. "That's actually kind of cool… that you would pick me." He swallowed, running his fingers through his short hair. "Can I read it when you're finished writing it?"

The woman smiled at him, though her face was blushing red again. Mostly she just wrote for herself. This time it was a little different. "I guess that seems fair. Just… don't be too judgmental." She paused. "I didn't know you were a reader."

"If it interests me." He gave a shrug. "So what's the story about anyway?"

She explained what they had figured out so far, that it would be an action-adventure story with a bit of romance. She and Levy had both designed a couple, and would write for each other's characters as the two star-crossed pairs got closer.

"Who did you model the girl after?" Laxus asked a bit later when they had sat down again, this time with Lucy's notebook.

"I never have problems hashing out female characters… they just sort of come to me naturally." She explained with a laugh, feeling much better about the whole situation, now that she had explained this to him. "I guess it's because there's a little bit of me in each one of them, I don't have any problems writing for them."

"So it's me and you then." Laxus looked over at her. "As a couple."

Lucy stared at him, quickly feeling her face flood with heat. She hadn't thought about that before! Especially in that way! "Y-Yeah," She laughed nervously. "I guess so."

He chuckled, and this time when she looked up at him it was followed but a small, gentle smile. "There are worse people in the world I could be stuck with."

She could feel her face growing redder by the second. "I-It's not you anyway! It's Seraph! And Milia isn't really like me at all! So don't go jumping to conclusions!" She demanded, but he had tugged the notebook out of her hand, flipping through her notes. "And give me that back! You can't see it until it's finished!"

END