Hear me

18

-sorry for short chapter-

Laxus was lounging on the bed, wearing a pair of plain cotton pants and staring up at the dull beige ceiling when he realized that Natsumi had been in the bathroom for a really fucking long time.

Getting up, he knocked on the door to the bathroom.

"You okay in there, Nat?" He hoped she hadn't fallen.

His thoughts where soon interrupted when the door came flying open, revealing a towel clad Natsumi.
The sight, while entirely distracting, was eclipsed by her forlorn expression.

He exploded in laughter when he saw that she'd managed to get a hairbrush stuck in her hair.

"Stop laughing, idiot!" she scold, hands on her hips.

"I'm serious! Stop being a perv and help me!" she gestured to the tangled mess that was her hair, and he sighed, leading her over to sit on the bed. He slid in behind her, trying to ignore how she would still be naked if it wasn't for the white towel wrapped around her body. But then again it wasn't like he hasn't seen her naked before.

Do you want to tell me how you managed to do this to yourself?" he asked as his hands set to work on freeing the brush.

"I told Lucy that this was a bad idea! But no! She made me take two of the stupid things along. Two! Who needs two hairbrushes?!" she ranted, seeming completely oblivious to him tugging on her hair. He guessed it was a good thing she had such a thick skull, because he certainly wasn't being gentle as he struggled against the pink mass.

"Anyway, she made it look so easy the other day, you know? And I kind of liked how it looked, and I saw how much you liked it, too, so I decided to give it another shot... and the damn thing got stuck!" She flailed her hands, but managed to keep still enough to let him keep working.

After working loose several more massive knots, the brush finally came free, and instead of handing it to her, he shrugged and went to brushing her hair. She'd tried to do it for him, after all, so he figured he could give her a hand.

She looked slyly over her shoulder as he worked the ends of the pink strands.

"I thought you were too manly to brush my hair?" she teased.

"Shut up," he grunted, "I would have done it the other day if you hadn't jumped me," he looked up from his brushing, remembering. "Speaking of, did you take your pill?"

She nodded, and he went back to work.

"Also, I didn't 'jump you,'" she denied, making finger quotes. "You were the one that freaked out over everything and asked me if I even knew what it was," she laughed, jostling the bed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said innocently as he brushed through her hair, watching as the knots worked themselves out, giving way to the wavy, cotton candy waves he'd come to love just as much as the rest of her.

He finished, admiring how shiny her drying hair was as it spilled across ,her shoulders and down her back. She turned to him as he set the brush down.

"Thanks," she smiled at him, the same quiet, sweet smile she'd given him only a little while ago.

"No problem," he said, shrugging. He stood up and walked over to the light switch, plunging the room into darkness.

"It's bedtime already?" he heard her groan, the sheets rustling as she flopped onto them.

"We've got a busy day tomorrow," he explained, walking back over to the bed. "Rewards to collect and bastards to hustle. The usual."

"You just don't want to admit you're tired. It's okay. It happens when you get old." She says snickering as she pulls another oversized shirt over her towel, then pulls the towel out from under it.

"I'm 23, not 60!" He snapped at her. "That's it, come here!" he tackled her on the bed, tickling her as she howled with laughter.

"Okay, okay, stop, I'm sorry!" she gasped, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes from his unrelenting fingers.

"You better be," he grumbled, but brought her close anyway, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her fragrant hair. She responded in kind, pressing a kiss to his chest before snuggling into him further.

"Night, Laxus," she breathed out, warm against his skin.

Despite her cracks about him being exhausted, it only took a few minutes for her breathing to even out. He rolled his eyes, but only held her tighter against him, letting himself drift off beside her. In the haze of impending sleep, he wished that all nights could have an ending like this one.