Mira's father had once told her on a family camping trip that snakes were dangerous. "People think as long as you avoid the poison ones it's all right, but there's more trouble from their fangs than just that. Once a snake bites you, it never lets go."

Thanks to her Satan Soul, Mira was mostly immune to poison, but she never forgot her father's advice.

It was too bad that she didn't follow it.

It had snuck up on her like a snake too, crawling slowly but steady somewhere she didn't even bother to look. Why would have she? When thinking of men she could or would love why would she look at a man she once hated? A man who had made her cry when she didn't think she had any tears left? A man she'd known since childhood? A man who barely spoke to anyone with anything more than a grunt? A man who'd grown so much? A man who loved music almost as much as she did? A man who was one of the strongest she'd ever met?

Maybe she should have seen it coming.

Either way, it had happened slowly. He hung out on the second level less, wore his headphones to ignore people less, put a little effort into being social. The differences were so little and she had been so happy for him to be back (which also should have been a clue, maybe), she didn't even notice. She thought nothing of the fact that he came up to the bar to get his own beers instead of sending one of his Thunder Legion to do it for him. Though Freed still stopped him if Laxus wasn't quick enough to get the bar, which usually wound up turning into a fight between Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow about who should get Laxus his beer. During which Laxus would sneak away and order a fresh beer from Mira.

One time, Mira remembered teasing him about it. "They are always competing to please you. They ever get into a blow job contest with you as judge?"

Laxus grabbed his beer but didn't immediately leave (another change from the old days). "Don't say that around them. They don't need ideas."

Intrigued, Mira asked, "Not even Ever?"

"Your brother takes care of her, Strauss." Mira blushed. Laxus looked over to his arguing crew. "Besides, they're family. You don't want that from family."

"Right, you just want that from the Fairy Tail women you consider hot."

"Nah. I don't mess around guild mates."

Mira noticed a customer vying for her attention, but ignored him for a moment. "Liar. I remember you wanting Lucy for a girlfriend and to see Cana's boobs."

Laxus smirked. "I just said that to piss you off. I missed the demon you used to be. You were always more interesting when you were angry."

Temporarily speechless, Laxus left and Mira tended to her next customer. But Laxus' words stuck with her. She tried to remember how Laxus had treated her when they were younger. She didn't remember anything special. He was a bit sweet with Lisanna, but he mostly ignored her. Though he had seemed less annoyed with her constant fighting than his complete impatience with Natsu's. She really only remembered one conversation of note between their younger selves.

It was after Lisanna's "death." Mira had been depressed and nothing the master, Erza, or anyone said helped. She had been hiding in one of the S Class rooms, crying again.

"You're too strong for this weak bullshit." There had been no compassion or pity in his voice, Mira remembered. So different from how everyone else had spoken to her. She had turned and saw him in the doorway, looking annoyed.

It had evoked a different reaction than her usual shutdown. She got just as annoyed with him. "Get out Laxus."

He folded his arms. "Make me Mira."

She stood, ready to fight. He looked ready for it, but she gave up before starting. "Just leave me alone," she sat back on the bed, wiping away a few stray tears.

Laxus' arms dropped and he sat next to her. "You need to get past this, Mira. You are too strong to let this beat you."

"Easy for you to say. I can't keep fighting, not when I feel this sad."

"So stop fighting, find another way." Those words echoed within her mind while he stood up. "I always respected you, thought you were strong. But if you stay up here crying, I'm going to have to rethink what I think of you."

Mira snarled at that, a bit of her former self coming back, "Like I care what you think of me."

Laxus smirked at the appearance of old Mira. "You should. Fairy Tail will be mine someday, and I'll kick out any weaklings not pulling their weight. Find your fangs again, demon."

"Fuck you Laxus," she had yelled at his retreating form.

Mira hated to admit it, but it had been Laxus' harsh words that caused her to finally heal and begin to get over Lisanna's death. She knew the master wouldn't kick her out, but the worry was there, and she and Elfman still had no other place to go, so she began tending bar to pull her weight. She had to adopt a friendlier persona to do her job properly, which had led to the modeling. Both tasks kept her busy enough to gradually come to terms with her missing sister.

All because Laxus had been a jerk where everyone else had been compassionate. She wondered how he would react now. He still was a jerk, but so much…better? Was that the word she was looking for? He had changed but not so much that he was unrecognizable.

The Thunder Legion began taking more jobs by themselves, wanting to show that they were worthy of Laxus and to get closer to achieving S Class status. This left Laxus at the Fairy Tail bar more by himself. He usually wouldn't have spent much time at the guild with his friends gone, but he still was making an effort to be friendlier with everyone else. Though he still stayed out of the bar-wide brawls, rolling his eyes at their childishness.

Mira found herself talking with him more. Unlike Wakaba and Macao, Laxus wasn't much older than her. So when he flirted with her, she normally flirted back rather than politely indulged. This was another point where she should have realized that something was different with Laxus because she almost never flirted back with customers past politeness.

Their relationship had evolved into a friendship, not that he was as close to her as Erza or her siblings, but she could read him better now. She understood him more. He seemed to have the same feelings towards her, he cared but she wasn't quite on the same level of his Thunder Legion or his grandfather.

Until the day that all changed. It hadn't started as a different day. Erza and Makarov were gone doing Guild Master work, her siblings and the Thunder Legion were out on jobs, but Laxus had been home since the day before, wanting to wait before accepting the next job.

Natsu and Gray had gotten into a fight, which was also no surprise, but the damage had been worse than usual. Bad enough that Laxus had ended the fight, knocking out both of the young men and throwing them out on the street.

Most of the bar cleared out after that, as Laxus' temper wasn't a pleasant thing to experience. Mira had closed early due to the damage and Laxus had stayed behind to help.

"I appreciate it, but I don't need your help, Laxus." Mira pushed against a fallen beam that went nowhere.

Laxus pushed the beam back into its place with seemed like no effort. "I understand that Mira, but it'll go faster with two of us."

Mira couldn't argue with that and it did go faster. They were done getting everything back into place within an hour. Laxus had taken his shirt off about halfway through, not wanting to get it drenched with sweat.

Shy had never been a word that described Laxus, so him walking around shirtless wasn't a new thing. What was new was the fact that Mira's eyes kept focusing on his bare chest. It was distracting, which frustrated Mira since shirtless men rarely distracted her. Her first thought was that perhaps her childhood crush wasn't as destroyed as she once thought.

But no, she wasn't attracted to the broody, angry, cute older man that had caused a massive crush when she had been younger. She was attracted to the considerate, protective, strong man Laxus had grown into. The man who looked damn good without a shirt on.

It had made her stop.

"You okay, Mira?" Laxus stood in front of her looking confused.

Mira shook herself out of her daze. Then went right back into a daze at the closer, clear sight of his bare chest.

Laxus noticed her gaze and smirked. "See something you like?"

A younger Mira would have been embarrassed and squeaked out an answer before running away. But Mira had grown up too. Instead of getting embarrassed, she threw down the rag in her hand, walked up to him and pulled his lips to hers.

Most first kisses were slow and tentative, trying it out to see how it to see how it fits. Like fingers softly dancing over piano keys, a sweet tune for a nice beginning.

Mira and Laxus' first kiss was more like an explosion of lust, their mouths open and tongues dueling before either of them truly realized what they were doing. Mira's fingers dug into his hair, pulling it tightly enough to make him hiss. Laxus' hands skimmed down her body before landing on her thighs.

They parted for a moment, a trail of saliva hanging between them and both breathing heavily. Their eyes searched each other's, looking for any sign of hesitation or regret.

At her silent permission, Laxus moved his hands to Mira's knees, wrapping her legs around his waist. Mira went into for a second kiss. Their second kiss moved slower, both trying to savor it now that they knew it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Their hands roamed over the other's body, taking in soft curves and hard planes of muscle. Mira's hips began to against his, causing him to grow noticeably excited.

Laxus' fingers found the strings keeping Mira's dress on and he tugged at them. The dress didn't fall far since there was no space between their bodies, but eventually Mira pulled away and removed it completely.

Laxus had seen Mira in a bikini, many had, but seeing it this close and knowing he'd see everything soon forced him to bite his lip before stupid words fell out, like "I love you." He kissed her again, to force his silence as his hands skimmed over her body. He kneaded her breasts, adding a little magic for that extra tingle, before moving his hands again.

Mira shivered at the feeling of sparks jumping off Laxus' fingers across her body. Mira didn't usually date mages, preferring to keep her professional and personal lives separate. But Laxus was converting her.

She thought of all the times she hadn't indulged in her darker fantasies, afraid they would scare off a normal man. She always played the role of sweet, innocent Mira around them. It was part of the reason it never lasted long, she felt she could never fully be herself.

But Laxus had never seemed all that interested in sweet Mira. He always chased after her darker side.

She smiled at the thought as she decided it was time to bring out her own magic.

Laxus felt the electricity in the air before he realized what was going on. A clawed hand shoved him back onto a table. His weight smashed through it and he landed on the ground. He glared before he realized what had happened, then his eyes widened.

"Fuck me, Mira," Laxus' eyes roamed over her new form.

Mira gave him her most evil grin as she sauntered toward him. "That's what I'm doing, Laxus." She ripped off his remaining clothing as he chuckled at her response. She straddled him, kissing him again, using her sharpened teeth to nip at his lips. Laxus responded by sending a spark of electricity through Mira's body, causing her to squirm and arch on top of him.

Laxus' erection began poking at Mira's entrance, Mira pouted as she removed what remained of her clothing. "What about foreplay?"

Laxus brought his hand around to her front, his thumb to her clit. He rubbed it hard and sent another spark through her, causing Mira to scream. "Holy fuck!"

He smirked at the sound, and when she collapsed back onto his chest, still twitching a bit, he took an earlobe into his teeth and breathed into her ear, "Was that enough foreplay or do you want some more?"

Mira answered by grabbing his dick and impaling herself on it. Both groaned. Laxus couldn't focus on anything but how wet and tight Mira was, his hands gripped her hips hard enough to leave bruises. Mira bit on her lip to hold in her scream, her fangs causing a trickle of blood. After a moment she began to move, rolling her hips as she moved up and down. It didn't take long for her to find the right angle so that Laxus hit the right spot inside of her and she picked up the tempo.

Laxus knew he wouldn't last long if she kept this up and he refused to let think Mira think less of him. He tried to flip them, but Mira damn near took off his head when he tried. He groaned as his head fell back against the hard wood floor.

His thumb found her clit again, as he refused to finish first at the very least. And he felt when her inner walls began to spasm. Mira's scream was downright demonic.

Mira didn't even realize that Laxus had finished until after she fell against his chest and felt something wet seeping out of her. She felt like she'd lost her bones as her magic fell away and she became her regular self again.

Laxus' arms wrapped around her. They said nothing for a moment. Eventually, Mira lifted up enough to look Laxus in the eye. His were closed but they peaked open at her movement. "What was that?" she asked.

Laxus closed his eyes again. "Do we have to have the conversation right now?"

"Yes."

He ignored her response, "Because I was thinking we could take advantage of one of the beds on the second floor in a few minutes."

"A few minutes?"

Laxus' eyes peeked open again, "I'm only human, demon. I've need a recovery period like any other man."

Mira laughed lightly, putting her head back on his chest, "The Thunder Legion would be so disappointed to discover you're not a god after all."

Laxus glared at the white hair covering his chest. Mira said, "So is this just a one-time thing?"

Laxus thought for a moment before answering, "I don't think I want this to be a one-time thing."

Mira bit her lip before responding. "I don't want to have a relationship with a guild mate. Everyone around here is so nosy, and I don't want them involving themselves in my romantic life."

Laxus suppressed a chuckle at the queen of nosy meddling calling out the other members. "Whatever you want."

Mira popped up again, smiling at him, "Then I'll race you to the second floor." She ran off to the staircase.

Laxus grinned back, dashing after her, determined to catch her.

It was simple in the beginning, a friends with benefits arrangement that suited them both. He'd go on jobs, she'd flirt and date while he was away, and when he came back, they would always find time to be alone together. It worked well for them. No commitments and a lot of fun.

But then Mira noticed little things that began annoying her. Like when Laxus' eyes strayed to Cana's or Lucy's boobs. Or when a group of fangirls followed him to the bar and fawned over him. But most of all, she was annoyed at herself, as she was starting to miss him when he went away on long trips and wanted to ask him if he'd been with anyone else while on the road.

Which was not the arrangement they'd agreed on when they started this thing. At her insistence, they were keeping it light and just having some fun.

It came to a head when a few Blue Pegasus mages visited Fairy Tail. They had finished a job nearby and dropped in to say hi to friends and have a drink. Mira was surprised that the men had mostly refrained from hitting all of the Fairy Tail women, and Jenny Realight wasn't constantly posing and fighting with her.

In fact they were mostly staying at the table with the Thunder Legion and Laxus. Though Mira supposed that shouldn't surprise her, the group had joined Blue Pegasus when Fairy Tail had disbanded. It made sense that they'd made friends at the other guild.

Mira remembered being surprised when she found out that Laxus and his crew had joined that guild, as she (and most people) thought of it as the pretty boy guild. And while she had always found Laxus attractive, she had never thought of him as a pretty boy.

Still, the table seemed to be getting along well. Telling stories and laughing like old friends. Mira wasn't happy to see Jenny seated next to Laxus, but she pushed her jealousy down. It didn't mean anything.

Jenny came up a little later to refill her drink, she started immediately needling Mira, "Well, how is Fiore's second prettiest model?"

"I was just about to ask you that, Jenny." Mira responded with a smile. She nodded to the empty glass in the frowning model's hand. "Can I refresh your drink?"

"Yeah," Jenny handed Mira the glass. Mira began assembling a new drink for her rival. Jenny turned to face the table she'd been sitting at. "You know, sometimes I miss having Laxus in our guild."

Mira's hands stopped scooping ice for a moment before she forced herself to keep going. "I always wondered, how did Laxus end up in your guild anyway?" Mira hoped her voice didn't betray her interest.

Jenny didn't act any differently, answering, "Master wanted a good-looking bad boy in the guild. With his scar, tattoo and reputation, Laxus fit the description perfectly, so we recruited him."

Mira set down the finished drink by Jenny's elbow, "It didn't have to do with the fact he was a powerful S Class Mage?"

"That didn't hurt, but no, it was the whole bad boy thing." She looked over at the lightening dragon slayer. "You know, I never did get a chance to sleep with him while he was in our guild. Bet he fucks like a stallion."

The smile didn't leave Mira's face, but her nails dug into her palms. "I wouldn't know."

Jenny grinned, and glanced back at Mira, "Well, I'll find out tonight and let you know."

As Jenny walked back to the table, Mira said through clenched teeth, "Good luck with that."

Laxus wouldn't sleep with her. Yes, Jenny was beautiful. And yes, they weren't in any sort of official monogamous relationship, but still, he wouldn't do that. Right?

Right?

Mira tried to put it out of her mind, but her eyes kept drifting to where Jenny sat next to Laxus. She laughed too loudly at his jokes and put her hands on his arms, eventually leaving them there, causally wrapped around his bicep.

Laxus didn't seem too interested, which may have comforted Mira if not for the fact that Laxus never looked interested in anyone. Even around her, he always acted cool.

It bothered her all night, despite her best efforts. But she managed to keep it together. Until out of the corner of her eye, Mira saw Jenny moving closer to Laxus. She put a hand on his chest and whispered in his ear. Mira slammed a hand down on the bar and yelled, "Jenny, get your hands off of my man!"

The guild went silent as everyone turned to where the Blue Pegasus mages were sitting to see what man Mira was referring to. Jenny smirked at Mira, leaning into Laxus further, who looked as surprised as everyone else at Mira's outburst.

Freed and Makarov reacted at the same time, "What?!"

Freed turned to Laxus, "Why didn't you tell me? How did I not know?" This triggered Evergreen and Bickslow to wonder the same thing. What kind of faithful bodyguards didn't realize their fearless leader was dating someone?

Makarov, on the other hand, yelled at Mira, "Why would you pick him? You could do so much better, Mira."

Mira's eyes hadn't left Laxus' though. She was frozen in her embarrassment and without thinking, she ran out the door, trying not to cry.

Laxus cried out after her, "Mira. Wait!" He disentangled himself and ran after her, leaving behind a guild talking about how much they knew or didn't know about their relationship. Cana and Lisanna claimed to know it was happening all along, while Makarov cried into his beer about Mira being defiled by his grandson. Elfman claimed he'd kill Laxus for touching his sister. Evergreen threw her fan at him for that comment, yelling, "You won't touch a hair on Laxus' head."

"But Ever, he isn't man enough to date my sister."

"Laxus is the manliest man who ever lived." That triggered their usual bickering.

Mira and Laxus missed the entire commotion, as Laxus caught up to Mira a few blocks away from the bar. It was cold out, so Laxus automatically removed his fur coat to put it over Mira's shoulders. "Here," he grunted.

Mira wrapped it around her, glancing at him, before looking away and mumbling, "Thanks."

They said nothing for a moment, walking together in silence. Mira stopped when they reached an out of the way alley and sighed, moving to lean back against a brick wall. "I'm sorry for acting like that back at the bar."

"No need to apologize."

"I just…" Mira groaned in frustration, "…I don't like seeing you with other women. I know I was the one who wanted to keep it light, but I don't think I can do that anymore, Laxus."

He nodded, "Okay."

Mira raised an eyebrow at his response, "Okay? Okay as in…what? Are you okay with stopping this or are you okay with…?" Mira wanted to ask if Laxus wanted a real relationship with her, but she was too scared of his response. He wasn't known for his long-lasting and committed relationships after all.

His hand tucked under her chin so she was forced to look at him as he answered, "Okay, as in, let's give this a real go."

Mira felt tears of joy collecting in her eyes, which made Laxus really uncomfortable. He drew his hand away. "Really?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

Mira threw her arms around him, kissing him. Laxus smiled against her mouth, kissing back. When they finished they stayed in each other's arms, Mira stepping in closer to Laxus' heat. "We should get back."

"Or we could go to my place and celebrate."

Mira wanted to say no, but she looked up at him and her heart melted. She really was too far gone when it came to the dragon slayer. Like a snake, he'd dug his fangs into her heart and wasn't letting go. "You're turning into a bad influence."

"Didn't you hear Realight?" At her frown, Laxus nuzzled Mira's neck, kissing it once before finishing in a husky voice, "I'm a bad boy."

He pulled back and in the low light, the incisors in his grin resembled fangs and Mira chuckled at the sight. "Take me home then, dragon."

He bent over to pick her up and carried bridal style home, using lightening to quicken his steps.