Fairy Tail One-Shots (xReader)

Laxus x Reader- Meant to Forget (3)

Once more, from the top ;,). This will be the ending chapter of this, and honestly? I'm grateful lol. I've been dragging myself through this one-shotttt. (Edit at a later date: this one ends in angst. It hurts. Enjoy. Also, I'm updating this in apologies for the random edit notifications you guys will be getting my bad-)
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I pulled myself off of him, dusting off my clothes. There was a series of shuffles as Laxus followed suit. Once I was satisfied that I didn't look like a large dust bunny, I finally turned back to him.

"Oh," I said, the words tumbling out before my brain could catch up.

He was very different. In a good way. Last I remembered of Laxus, he was a lanky teenager that hadn't quite grown into his own feet yet. Now; however, he was definitely grown. He towered over me. Not to mention how broad he was, which completely countered the scrawny and awkward teenager from my memories.

Damn, I thought, puberty hit him like a truck. Nonetheless, he was still the same Laxus I knew on the inside. Even if he did look extremely confused. And... guilty? I stared at his expression for a moment. His eyebrows were droopy and smile saddened, like a puppy that had yet to be scolded. Guilt was definitely laden upon his mind.

I smiled in an attempt to ease the awkward air, gently trying to drag him forward. Laxus followed slowly. He was uneasy on his feet. I brought his arm over my shoulder, supporting the heavy oaf to the best of my abilities. My eyes trailed to Natsu as we left. The dragon-slayer's hair was fried, and he was dead asleep. A fond smile crept upon my lips. My best friend is an absolute idiot.

"So," I began, swatting away an insistent branch, "where have you been all of this time? You never came back to the guild."

Laxus' eyes turned to me. They were downcast, no doubt about it. His nerves were going haywire. Of all the feelings I thought would be expressed in our reunion, these were not them.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "You know, here and there. I wanted to get stronger before I came back. There was a bit of a... dispute in the guild, and I wanted to let it blow over before I returned."

I nodded. If he didn't want to talk about it, he didn't have to. He was here. That's all that mattered to me. Where he went and what he did were minor things. They could be overlooked... or so I thought.

"You guys did it! We won!" Wendy cheered, tackling Lucy into a hug.

Laxus released my shoulders, and I dove into the crowd. There was a lot of hugging, a lot of congratulations and story telling. We were celebrating! It was a hard won victory but Fairy Tail prevailed, just as it always did. Erza and I even shared some jerky. She told me about the fight with Hades and Natsu's idiotic absorption of Laxus' power. I laughed along with her. I love this, I thought fondly, having our family whole again.

I plopped down next to Laxus on a log, grinning from ear to ear. He seemed to keep his space. It was odd, how I felt closer to him when he was farther away. Now that he was actually back... it was far different from what I had anticipated.

The fire crackled and popped, and people milled about. Voices filled the hollow air and got swept away by the breeze. I turned to Laxus, admiring the way that the flame's light danced on his face. He couldn't meet my gaze.

"Kid," he exhaled, finally turning to me.

It was the first time I had heard him start a conversation since we were reunited. I stared back at him, watching him fish for words. I decided to cast out my mercy and help him out.