Curses and Cures

He tried hard not to. He really did. He wanted to spare her. Spare himself. It wasn't worth it. Whatever would befall them outweighed any pleasure that they might gain beforehand.

But… Ugh. He didn't know.

Gramps was most disapproving. He really hated them together. You'd think that he'd like it. He seemed to always have cared for Mirajane, if only slightly more than the others. At the very least, she took care of his business affairs for him. That though was the very reason he wanted Laxus to stay away from her.

Hell, Laxus wanted to stay away from her! Far away from her. He wanted to save her. But…

"Why not?" Mira whined one day as she sat in his lap, resting her forehead against his. "What would make it different, Laxus? Unless…do you not want to?"

"I do," he told her as he sat with his back against the wall behind them, staring into her eyes. They were such a deep blue. He'd never been a fan of the color, but she was slowly changing him. "I really do."

"Then-"

"But I can't. We can't," he said as he ran one of his hands down her thigh, resting it on her guild marking. Glancing down at the white stamp, he said, "We shouldn't even be doing this."

"I love you," she whispered against his forehead as he bowed his head, not wanting to stare at her any longer. "Laxus."

"Love you too," he whispered, still rubbing at her marking. "But-"

"Mmmm," she sighed as her hands found their way off his neck. "Too confining."

"Mirajane," he sighed as she unhooked her bra. "Knock it off."

"Why?" She giggled as she then used a hand to push his head up. Staring down at him, she said, "I want you, Laxus. Forever."

"Forever," he agreed before shutting his eyes. "But Mira, if… If we got married, your forever would be a lot shorter."

"Mmmm?"

"I can't… I can't explain it. And it'll sound stupid and silly and unreal, but-"

"More unreal than the fact that I can become anyone at any given second? Or that my sister came back from the dead after traveling to a parallel universe? Or-"

"I'm cursed, baby," he told her then as she only shifted in his lap to lean up against him. "Stop it. You're not making this any easier."

She never did. He'd tried to end their relationship, oh, a thousand times over the past year. But it just didn't work. She wouldn't let him.

"I love you, Laxus," she said. "All of you. Every inch. I've seen every inch. So if you're about to tell me you have some sort of weird deformity, I call bull."

He only took her hips in his hands then, shifted her so she was on her back and he was over her. Working her panties down her legs, he took to resting his face in her breasts.

"Not that kinda curse, demon," he sighed as she only took to playing with his hair. "I'm… I don't even know how to-"

"What?"

Taking a deep breath, "You know how there's me, right? And then Ivan. And then Gramps?"

"Mmmm," she sighed as he pressed a kiss to her chest.

"There's a reason for that," he told her. "How come Gramps don't got a wife or Ivan…why my mother ain't around. Even Gramp's don't know his mother. Because…"

"Why, Laxus?"

"I dunno," he sighed. "I guess we're cursed."

"Cursed, huh?"

"Mmmhmm," he hummed against her, making her bat at his head gently. "It's how come Gramps and Porlyusica never…'cause he loves her too much to ever let anything happen to her."

"What happens?"

"They…all die," he said then as he lifted his head to stare up at her. "Gramps's mother died when he was young, then his wife died giving birth to Ivan, and my mother… They don't talk about it, but-"

"Laxus-"

"No, listen," he said, moving to push up some so he could stare down into her eyes. She'd let her bangs down and gah! He just wanted to take her already.

"They all give birth to sons. One son. A son. And then they die within four years." He kept staring at her. "I don't know what sorta curse it is, but it is one. Against Dreyar men, I guess. Put there by someone a long time ago."

"Well," she said slowly. "It's not like you guys are known to make friends."

"Mira-"

"And you always get your name carried down."

"Would you just-"

"Your mother's not dead, Laxus. You know that. Even I know that. I've heard her name before. She and Ivan weren't married. She took off. She-"

"Yeah and so did Gramp's father's mother. They either get married and die or they have the son and take off."

"Mmmm." She reached up with one hand to touch his cheek. "You ever think, Lax, that maybe, just maybe, none of them were as in love as we are?"

He dropped his head back into her breasts. "Yes. God, yes. All the time."

"Then-"

"But Mira, I'd rather you live forever and me die alone than have you for a year or two and lose you," he whispered against her flesh. She only took to hooking one of her legs around his waist.

"And I'm the total opposite," she told him with a soft sigh. "I'd rather have you, Laxus, for a year and then die than never have you at all. I love you. I love this. Being with you. Sleeping next to you. Waking up to you. Making you breakfast and listening to you grumble about having to go down the guild so early. I love that you walk me there every morning even though you know you'd rather not. I love wearing your coat when it's cold and your headphones when mine are broken. I love going out, I love staying in. I love you. And I would love to be Mirajane Dreyar. Even if it was just for a day."

He ground against her slightly, making her gasp. "I want to make you it, Mira, but it's not worth your life, baby."

"We can be extra careful."

"Hmmm?"

"I could always just never get pregnant. And that-"

"You want a baby," he told her with a sigh. "You've told me that a thousand times. You want a thousand babies."

"Maybe just seven or eight."

He lifted his head. "Someone can give you that, Mira. But I can't. I-"

"I don't want someone else, Laxus. I want you." Then she grinned at him slightly. "Right now though, what I really want is for you to slither out of those boxers, huh?"

When it was all said and done, Mira was all snuggled up in bed as he only went to clear his head some, mumbling something about feeling lightheaded.

She heard him go into the bathroom and lock the door behind him.

Mirajane only waited up for him though. And as he slide back into bed, she just took to snuggling up against his chest.

"Mira," he sighed against her bangs as he went to kiss her forehead, forgetting for whatever reason that they were down.

"I wanna be held, dragon," she whispered softly. "Think you can do that for me?"

"Mmmm."

"And hey, you know what?"

"Sleep, Mira."

She only forced him down to the bed, pinning his arms down as she rested half on him, half on the mattress.

"I thought you wanted to be held?"

Staring down into his eyes, she said, "You know the difference, Laxus, between a curse and a cure?"

"Mirajane-"

"The letter S," she told him.

"One letter, huh?"

"Mmmmhmm."

"So what?"

"I can get rid of one," she told him grinning.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

Leaning down some, her lips brushed his as she said, ''cause I don't give a shit."

And it was so odd to hear her use profanity, but so damn sexy too. After pressing a gentle kiss against his lips, she said, "The demons inside me can swallow me whole, the world can open up and I can fall down straight into Hell. The Heavens can open and angles can drag me up. I don't care, Laxus. I really don't. I want you. Only you. And your babies. Most importantly though, I really want a wedding that puts everyone else's to shame."

He found himself grinning then, if only slightly. "I just want to protect you."

"Well, don't."

"I can't help it."

"Mmmm." She gave in then, falling against his chest and allowing his arms to envelope her like only he could.

"I got another idea."

"All ears."

"You said that they have a son and then die, huh? Or disappear?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Then," she said slowly as she took to tracing the tribal tattoo above his guild marking. "What if we don't have a son?"

"Mira-"

"What if we only have girls?"

He blinked. "I really don't think-"

"Give me daughters, Laxus," she said, smiling up at him. "And everything will be alright, huh?"

"Like what? You think I can just switch it on and off or something? Boy, girl, boy, girl? Like I get a choice?"

She only giggled, snuggling against him. "You could make it happen. Can't you? For me?"

With a sigh, he rested his own head against hers. "For you? I can make anything happen."

Which he didn't know at the time, but a short five years later, he'd almost regret, as every time he got back from a mission, there wasn't just one girl up waiting for him. Oh, no. Because by that point, Mirajane was well on her way to that coveted seven children she wanted (or eight) with three very healthy daughters and another on the way.

"I think this one's a boy," Laxus told her one day as he methodically tried to get all of the little girl's hair just right (the older two would complain if he didn't) while his youngest continued to bang on his head while he kneeled in front of her.

"Mmmm…nope. Don't think so."

When the toddler finally got him in the eye, Laxus just growled at all three of them. "All of you are wearing your hair down! I'm done!"

Mirajane only giggled, standing there watching him from the doorway of the bathroom as he stomped off. Of course, not two minutes later, he was back, trying to give their oldest pigtails (they kept ending up uneven somehow), get their middle child to just brush her teeth (she hated the taste of toothpaste) and their toddler to-

"If you poke Daddy in the eye again, he's going to be real angry," he growled as, of course, the toddler just walked right up to him as he squatted down, trying to do the other's hair, and poked him. "Mira!"

"I'm pregnant."

That was her excuse for everything. Growling, he left the oldest whining about how he'd, once again, gotten the pigtails uneven and the middle child with smelly breath, taking their baby over to her mother.

"Daddy needs a break," he grumbled as the other two just trailed right along behind them. They loved him so much!

Except for when he did their hair wrong.

"Too bad for him," Mira told their toddler who only wiggled to be put down. She wanted to go follow him too. "Daddies don't get breaks."

And someone can nag at me if I'm wrong, but I don't really think it's ever been mentioned what happened to Laxus' mother or Ivan's. Which, hey, they could just both be dead, but freaking God, we go over practically everyone's tragic backstory. I'd think it'd be mentioned at least once what happened to Laxus' mother. It's just usually odd for children to be raised by their fathers solely, unless the mother's unfit in a really horrible way. Or just doesn't want him. But who wouldn't want Laxus?