have not abandoned this story, even though it looked like it for 2 years.

2020 started off super rocky, eh? Stay safe guys.

Credits to Mashima Hiro for the characters

Chapter Eight

During the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse's younger years as an immortal Dragon Slayer, there was one entertainment that he thoroughly enjoyed, and it surprisingly did not involve violence and, or bloodshed of any kind. Books were one thing, but the appreciation of music was a secret, guilty pleasure of his that only one other Mage knew. Or more accurately, another Dragon Slayer had this intimate knowledge. The Black Dragon had not set out, like any other day, broadcasting this hobby of his but once he became entranced by the melodies, his senses wholly enraptured hence he never caught the other's presence until it was too late.

The hard stare of midnight-blues met forest-greens. Blinking back to focus, the Black Dragon took in the familiar towering, hulking figure and the scar over one eye. Acnologia remained silent, wondering if the Lightning Dragon Slayer who stood rooted at the threshold that led to older tracks at the back of this hole-in-the-wall record store, would comment on his discovery about the little bubble he was in a few seconds ago. The staredown lasted longer than he liked, but he was not going to be the one to lose. As if noting the Black Dragon's determination, the blond huffed a flash of a smirk in defeat before reaching above his head and retrieved a modern packaging.

An eyebrow arched in amusement, the ghost of bewilderment danced on the corner of his lips.

"I never would have guessed."

"Yeah, could say the same about you too," Laxus Dreyar jerked his chin at the large headphones around the Black Dragon's neck, "old school rock, huh?"

"I was referring to that," Acnologia responded the movement with the same acknowledgement of his own at the album in the Lightning Dragon Slayer's hand.

Set against a dark navy background, sleek, embossed letterings intertwined to create a garden of roses, produced a startling contrast that reminded one of a starry night. The texture of the paper was thick and smooth, giving it a weight of importance, which opened up to reveal a minimal CD embedded into the back. A small booklet of lyrics and messages to their fans had a place on the other side of the lid-cover while flipping through it the smell of lavender greeted them. Whomever this band was, their department spared no expense.

The look of confusion, from what the Dreyar could decipher from the pinched face and glaring eyes at the CD package ready to set it aflame, he popped the disk into the player. Acnologia gave him a sceptical glare and then unplugged the headphones. There was a brief pause as the electronics system switched to loudspeaker and —

"If, under any circumstances that require myself to be compromised, which is never going to happen, where developing a hearing problem somehow made its way onto the list, you will be the first I would call for," Acnologia seethed.

"You literally just listened to two seconds of it," Laxus pointed out, incredulous.

"Two seconds too close to going deaf."

"An honour," the Lightning Dragon Slayer deadpanned, arms folded and leaning against a shelf, he wrinkled his nose dismissing the murderous look from the Black Dragon.

Acnologia glare turned bloodthirsty but stopped himself from a retort. Something caught his eye, and a large, feral smirk nearly split his face in half. It took a few seconds for the Lightning Dragon Slayer to realise and then quickly slapped a hand over his shirt pocket like he accidentally shocked himself. A light dust of pink brushed over the bridge of his nose, prompting the Black Dragon to arch a quizzical brow.

"I see, you are a fan, too," the Dreyar fidgeted and tried to shove what appeared to be a card of similar design to the CD package he was holding, "may I suggest that you remain firm on your own beliefs than allow the tides of trash that my current co-dependent is attempting to infect the entire nation at an alarming rate."

The blonde Dragon Slayer scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"Who said about being influenced by anyone?" He extracted the card, which turned out to be a cardholder, and flashed it at the Black Dragon. "These are collectors edition. There are only 500 in this world, and you must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm going to miss out on it."

"You really must be out of your damn mind to even think about purchasing such garbage" — Acnologia pointed at an old record next to his him — "Back in the days, those things —"

"— come in the form of t-shirts and wristbands" — the Black Dragon frowned at the interruption. Laxus huffed and shrugged nonchalantly — "yeah, I had a phase too. I just so happen to move on to something more modern, not that it's any of your concerns."

Acnologia stared at the Lightning Dragon Slayer longer than necessary. A blank look that the other couldn't decipher at all and shifted his stance to shake off the chills that crawled down his spine. The Black Dragon gradually replaced the headphones back on its hook, calmly removed the CD back to its packaging and handed it back to him. The blonde hesitated before plucking it off him, giving him a sidelong glance of suspicion, waiting for a retort of some kind that the Black Dragon of Apocalypse was known for.

"None of my concerns."

"Right," Laxus responded carefully and watched the Black Dragon slip out of the record store.

On the way out, Acnologia spotted posters of upcoming concerts in the area and found an enormous one that engulfed the entire noticeboard with its pastel graphics and photographs of band members. He paused as his mind tried to capture the entirety and wondered why would such excessive promotion was needed, it was if they were desperate for attention to make up for their lack of musical talents. It seemed he hesitated a second too long and felt the Lightning Dragon Slayer come up a few feet behind him, accompanied by the sound of a paper bag crinkled underneath his fingers.

He had purchased the CD.

"They're known for their moving lyrics and stage presence," Laxus provided.

"The insufferable amount of advertising clearly covered that," Acnologia sneered and gestured with a flick of his wrist at the massive poster.

"Funny, you're still here staring at it, though."

The jibe irked the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse if the sudden temperature drop around them was an indicator. Truth be told, Laxus was conscious of Acnologia's temper and distaste of all things modern. However, out of the surviving Dragon Slayers, he was confident to say that he could get away with toeing the line a little without the other completely lash out at him. And it looked as if the Black Dragon knew, who shot him a menacing look.

Then the poster burst into flames, and the employees squeaked in shock.

As they fumbled to find the fire hydrant in the background, Acnologia who had maintained the stare down once more with the Lightning Dragon Slayer, waited until the hulking blond decided to trudge past him and the Dreyar broke their gaze with a small shake of his head in disbelief. Acnologia tolerated very little, but the Dreyar was another Dragon Slayer he had a smidge of respect due to his attack prowess and demonstrated that he was a formidable battle strategist orchestrated nearly a millennia ago. Delving in more in-depth with the relationship between the two, the Black Dragon would never openly admit in any shape or form that the Lightning Dragon was a vital comrade.

Pausing before the threshold, in the fiery chaos that had now spread to the other part of the store, Laxus suddenly let out a smirk and gestured his head,

"Wanna grab a beer while I introduce you to K-Pop?"

"In the words of the Redfox, I will unsubscribe to the latter."

"Alright, beers on me."