Quests and Drunks

Chapter 5

Bickslow sat up at the bar in the guildhall with his back to it, elbows read atop it as he stared out at the guildhall. His babies were less concerned with him though, as for some reason they got this crazy idea that the previous night was his fault, and instead continued to circle around his girlfriend.

Pappa, in particular, hadn't left her side since they got home that night. Which wasn't completely unusual, but he wouldn't even let her go into the bathroom to shower that morning without whining. He seemed to think that if he let her get out of sight, he'd lose her again.

"Hey, you guys," Gray said, coming over the second he made it to the guild. "I spent all last night looking for you. I had two of your little dolls, but-"

"We got 'em back," Bickslow said, nodding at the dolls. "Thanks."

"I tried to get more, but Gajeel and Evergreen-"

"Thank you, Gray." Lisanna turned to hug him. "I-"

"I never knew you could be a love rival!"

Lisanna let him go quickly as, literally out of nowhere, Juvia appeared, glaring at the other woman. Bickslow only tossed an arm around Lisanna, sticking his tongue out.

"Taken," he told her simply as Gray used the distraction to make his escape. No such luck, as Juvia only told Lisanna that she'd begin watching her more closely before chasing after her.

"Am I?" Lisanna glanced at her boyfriend.

"Course, Lissy." He even licked her cheek, just to get her to shriek and shove him away. "But after how mean you were to me last night, don't be expecting no proposal."

"What? Bickslow-"

"No. You were real mean when I was worried about my babies."

"I was stressed, okay?"

"And I wasn't?"

She only stared at him. "Not to mention, I still stand by what I said. You never bet our babies for anything. Anything."

"And now I know that," he grumbled as the dolls only all came down to land, some resting in Lisanna's lap, the others on her head.

It was then though that the guildhall doors opened, much to the annoyance of Erza.

"How much sunlight is there out there anyhow?" she groaned, resting her head against the table. Jellal, who was seated next to her, only shook his head in disapproval.

"This is your punishment," he said simply. "For drinking so much last night. You know better than that."

She wasn't the only one being punished as it was Mirajane that walked into the guildhall, dragging her boyfriend along by his ear.

No, literally.

Everyone had to stop what they were doing and look at that. Natsu, who was over at the request board with Lucy and Happy, fell down in giggles as his girlfriend only rolled her eyes.

"We need to pick a new job," she told him. "That last one hardly paid anything! I don't know why you took it."

"I know, Luce, I'm sorry, but this is just too funny," he snickered as Happy pointed and laughed as well.

"Mirajane," Laxus complained, hunched over as she drug him along. "Is this really necessary?"

SHe only led him over to where Lisanna and Bickslow were seated before letting go of his ear.

"Apologize."

He glared at both of them before grunting out, "Sorry."

"Nope," Mirajane said. "Not good enough. If you don't mean it-"

"I'm sorry, alright?" he grumbled, looking Lisanna in the eyes. "I was drunk and acting stupid. The second you came over, I should have gone nad gotten them back for you. I'm real sorry, Lisanna."

"Thank you," she said softly to which her sister nodded.

"And?" Mirajane prompted.

"And sorry Bickslow," he went on.

"And?"

"Mira-"

"Do it."

"Sorry…dolls."

"Their names."

"Mirajane-"

"Do it, Laxus."

Huffing slightly, he said, "Sorry Poopy, Pappy, Potty, Pokey, Petey, and Polly."

Bickslow blinked. "Those aren't even close, man."

"And there's five of them, not six," Lisanna added.

It was good if enough for Mirajane who only reached up again, took him by the ear, and drug him over to a table.

"Sit."

"I'm not a dog! I-"

"Sit."

Grumbling slightly, he took a seat. "Happy?"

"Ye- No, Freed," she said as he came over to try and join him. "You, Ever, and Bickslow aren't allowed to sit with him today. And no one else either. He's grounded."

"What?" Freed stared at her with wide eyes. "You must be joking."

"She ain't," Laxus grumbled.

"But this is Laxus," Freed said. "Laxus! He's the-"

"Dude, you're not helping, alright?" Laxus hunched over in his chair. "Can't do shit anymore. I-"

"No cursing."

"Mirajane-"

"No cursing, Laxus."

With that, she turned back to Freed. "So run along. Go. You're going to have to find someone else to play with today."

"I get treated like a baby," Laxus grumbled. "Can I at least have a my headphones back?"

"No."

Freed's jaw dropped. "She took your-"

"Mira," Laxus protested. "This isn't-"

"Are you talking back?"

"No."

"Yes!" Freed was really about to have a meltdown. "Laxus, you're letting a woman do this to you? I do not understand. You-"

"Dude, just fuck off for awhile, alright?" he grumbled. It was no fun being fawned over when you were at your weakest point. Not even uplifting. After Freed bowed his head and walked off, Laxus asked, "Can I at least have a drink?"

"Mmmhmm." Mirajane turned to go over to the bar. Lisanna and Bickslow had quite a few words to say to her though.

"Wow, Mira, you really have him on a tight leash," Lisanna giggled. "You-"

"You really shouldn't be so mean to the boss man," Bickslow told her, his tongue falling from his mouth. "He didn't mean no harm. He 'as only tryin'-"

"I can punish you too, Bickslow," Mira warned to which Lisanna nodded.

"It's true," she told him softly. "So don't test her."

"Boy," he mumbled to his dolls. "Mira's a psycho."

"Psycho," they agreed from over by their Mama. "Psycho."

"You have my grandson reigned in," Makarov said from atop the bar. "In any event."

"Hi, Master," Mirajane giggled as she went to get him his drink. "And he was very bad last night. He deserves to be punished."

Makarov only sighed before going back to meditating.

"Okay, Laxus," Mira said a moment later as she made it back to him. "Yoru drink."

"The fuck is this?"

"No cur-"

"You brought me a glass of water. Mira, do I look like I need water right now? No. I need a beer. Or something stronger."

"No beer for you," she told him before pushing the mug of water closer. "Drink up. You probably got dehydrated last night from not-"

"I am not drinking water," he growled. "I'm serious, Mirajane."

"Yes, you are. Either that or-"

"Then I'm done, Mira. I'm fucking done!" He tossed the water glass off the table before jumping up. "We're done. I'm not your stupid play thing! You can't treat me like this. You stupid little-"

And then she set off into a round of tears, covering her eyes with her hands. Just like that Laxus was on the ground, picking up the broken glass, apologizing profusely.

"I didn't mean it, Mira," he said as he continued to clean it up. "Honest. You know that."

"You hurt my feelings," she sobbed. "I was only-"

"I know, demon. I'm sorry. Dragon's sorry." He stared up at her, eyes wide. "Don't cry no more. Look! I'm cleaning it up and then you can go get me another glass of water and-"

"Please, Lucy?" Natsu begged as they walked by. "Can't we stay and watch? Laxus is being so funny today."

"Yeah," Happy agreed.

"No," she said. "You're going to end up getting pummeled if you keep teasing him. And I can't take a pummeled Natsu out on a job, can I?"

"I don't know, Laxus," Mira was saying to him, her lip wavering. "You hurt my feelings super bad. I just-"

"Hey, I'll go and get you some stuff, huh?" He jumped up again. "Let me clean this up and then I'll go get you some gifts. Some sorry gifts. Okay? Will that make it better?"

She sniffled. "We'll see."

Then she turned and walked over to the bar, her tears magically all gone and a devilish little smile playing at her lips.

"Mira," Lisanna giggled, turning to face the bar once more. "That was so bad!"

"I know," she sighed, going to take her post at work once more. "It's almost too easy at this point. A few tears and he's doing whatever I want."

"Whatever you want, huh?" Bickslow visualized himself crying next time Laxus was yelling about him being in the way or not being good enough. No matter how many scenarios he thought of, it didn't end the same as Mira's had.

"Yeah," the she-devil giggled. "Did you guys want him to bring you anything? Ask away."

"Yeah, can we have some-"

"No," Lisanna said, giving Bickslow a look. "We're fine. We-"

"Some chocolate would be nice," they heard then from Makarov as he sat on the bar. He didn't even glance over at them. "Really hit the spot."

"Master," Kinana giggled as she came over to refill some beers. "Honestly."

"Laxus," Mira called after he finished cleaning up the glass. She beckoned him over. "Come here."

"Yes, my demon that I am super sorry to and will never yell at again?" He stared hard at her. "What do you need?"

"Some chocolate. For when you go and get my gifts?"

"Chocolate. Yes. Right. Okay." He nodded before walking off. "I'll be back."

"Hurry."

He took off into a sprint. "Alright. Be back soon!"

"You're more than bad," Cana, who was the least hungover out of all the party goers, called over from where she was working on a barrel. "You're demented."

"He'll get over it," Mirajane sighed. "He is on punishment, after all."

Lisanna only took a look around. 'Has anyone see Elf? I wanted to tell him about how we found the babies, but he hasn't shown up."

"I'm sure he and Ever aren't showing their faces today," Bickslow told her. "She was pretty drunk last night. And you know she doesn't like to leave her place unless she looks her best."

"Must be hard being a hermit."

"You two are not allowed to fight," Mirajane told Lisanna.

"She took-"

"I don't care. You're just not. We're one big, happy family," her sister insisted. "Remember?"

"Yeah, a big, happy family that beats up on the drunk uncle," Bickslow remarked.

"Exactly," Mira said. 'Laxus was bad and as a family, we're punishing him. Well, mainly I am. But you guys are welcome to-"

"No, thanks," Lisanna said.

"Yeah, we like living," her boyfriend agreed.

"A lot."

"It's kind a fun."

"And we want to do it forever."

"And ever."

"Together."

"Always." The Bickslow elbowed her. "Right?"

"Right."

Mirajane only blinked. "Okay, well, that means nothing to me right now and I have to get back to work, huh?"

Bickslow was only staring at Lisanna though then, watching as she smiled at him.

"You could totally ask me now," she told him after a moment. "It'd be cute and-"

"Nah."

"Nah?" she repeated with a frown.

"I ain't feeling it."

"Not feeling it," the babies told her. "Lissy."

"But," she complained. "We just pledge our love for one another and-"

"I didn't say love." He looked at his dolls. "Babies, did you hear love?"

"No," they all said in chorus. "No love."

"Bickslow-"

"I mean, I do love you, kid," he told her. "But I didn't say that. So-"

"You're about to get it."

He only shrugged. "I can't ask you again, Lisanna, until I'm feeling it again. So you should probably start sucking up to me and stuff now."

"Now," the babies told her. "Now, Mama."

She only narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine. I'm not sucking up to you, but if you don't wanna ask, fine."

"Good-"

"But know this, Bickslow," she said. "Now that you've teased me with it, you had better get that ring that I showed you. That exact one."

"Nag, nag, nag." He shook his head. "You're lucky my babies need a mama."

"You're lucky that you got a woman that puts up with you."

He only grinned, tongue hanging out, as he tossed an arm over her shoulders.

"I really am."

It took Laxus about twenty minutes to return. And when he did, he had an arm full of stuff.

"Okay, Mirajane, I got you a couple of different boxes, since I know that you like to only pick a few out," he said, setting the chocolate boxes down on the bar in front of her. "And then I got you these flowers, because you're just as beautiful as them."

"But flowers wither."

"You're an everlasting flower."

She clapped, bouncing slightly as Cana made a gagging gesture to Lisanna to which she only nodded her head.

"Aw, Laxus." She took the bouquet from him. "You got my favorite. Orchids."

"Uh-huh." Then he kicked at the ground, holding out his last gifts. "And they didn't have any dragons, but I got us some new babies."

He sat two stuffed animals on the bar. Mirajane oohed then, inspecting.

"I thought that this one kinda looks like one of our other babies," he said, pointing to the blue beaver. "The platapus?"

"His name is Larry and he's our son, Laxus."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "So I was thinking that this one's name could be Lonnie or something. Since they're-"

"Twins! Yes. Ooh, you're so smart." She picked that one up. "You got a smart daddy, Lonnie."

"And this one, the stuffed dog, I thought that it could be a girl. And her name could be-"

"Melon! Because she's got this spot here, see?" Mirajane picked up the doll too. "It looks like a watermelon. So cute. Thank you, Laxus."

"Yeah, well, if now that we've got some more babies, we have to stay together, huh?"

"Mmmhmmm. Now take some of these chocolates over to your grandfather."

"Huh?"

"Just do it. I gotta put my flowers in water and get better introduced to my new babies."

"Bleh," Bickslow said, making a face at Lisanna. "How can they pretend those stupid stuffed animals are their babies?"

"I don't know," she said as Pappa took to the air, flying around her head to try and get her to give him some attention. "They have tons of them. They're in Mira's bedroom."

"It's just damn creepy."

Lisanna smiled as he leaned over to kiss her head. "Agreed."

"To each their own, I guess," he said finally, reaching out to snatch Pappa up and hug him close to his chest.

"I guess."

Finished now. And totally going to start on that chapter of Hospitality tonight. Promise. For real this time.