Shall we dance? {LaxusXLucy} [By Sheyshen]

Chapter 11

That night in the hotel was awkward. Lucy and Wendy had shared a bed, and of that there was no problem. But the room had two beds, and Laxus had slept in the other, while Natsu was on the floor with Happy. Lucy was upset with both men, and would have preferred not having to share a room with either if she could. But there wasn't much she could do. There weren't any other rooms available. She just wished she would have asked Wendy to sleep on the other side, so she wouldn't have to be so close to Laxus in the nearby bed.

She rolled over, pretending to still be asleep. She cracked an eye open to look at the clock. 4:38 am. Another four hours until the train ride home. She sighed quietly, having been unable to sleep for most of that night. She was tired, sure, but too much had happened that day that was bothering her. Part of her wished she had let Natsu say what he was going to say, but the other part of her was so annoyed at him that she could didn't care. Then there was Laxus. She couldn't believe that he would've fallen to Natsu's level and actually fought him like that. She had expected him to be more mature than to fight a guildmate while on a mission. She opened her eyes slightly to look at the sleeping blonde that was in the bed barely an arm's length away. Well, she had expected him to be sleeping, but instead found him to be staring at her.

"Trouble sleeping blondie?" He asked quietly.

"What makes you say that?" She replied.

"You've been awake off and on all night." He sounded tired, but not nearly as much as Lucy was, ". Something bothering you?"

"No. How would you know if I was awake or not anyway, I've been facing the other way the whole time." She responded defensively.

"People breathe differently when they sleep."

Lucy stared at him, not knowing what to say next. She'd been slowly getting more comfortable around the dragon slayer, but this day's event had nearly put her back to square one with him. She shoved her head into the pillow, she didn't have a reply so she just decided to hide. She was embarrassed about how she had acted in front of everyone. They deserved it, especially Natsu, but that didn't make her feel any better on the subject.

"I'm sorry about shouting earlier." She said, the pillow muffling her voice. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Laxus laughed. He wasn't expecting that to be what was on her mind. He hadn't been too bothered at her raising her voice at them, in fact he had half expected her to be upset, he was just caught off-guard at the time. "It's no big deal." He muttered, rolling onto his back.

"Really?" She asked, peeking at him from the safety of her pillow.

"Yeah. Now get some sleep." He yawned sleepily, "I'm sure Natsu isn't bothered by it either. So, really, don't worry so much."

"Alright," She was mumbling now, drifting in and out of sleep, his words easing her worries somewhat. She still felt bad, but she was sure that Laxus was right and that Natsu wouldn't even be thinking about it by morning. She drifted to sleep, listening to Laxus talk about something else, she wasn't sure what it was, his speech was muted by the pillow and her fading consciousness. The last thing she heard him say was, "are you falling asleep?"

Morning came too quickly for Lucy. The hustle and bustle of the people in the room pulling her from the comforting dreams she had been having for the few hours she had slept. Natsu was sitting on the bed next to where she lay, talking loudly to someone who was in the bathroom. Judging from the shouted response, the someone had to be Laxus. Lucy sat up to see Wendy shuffling around the room, gathering items up in a rush.

Natsu turned to look at her with a smile, "Morning, Lucy!" He spoke cheerfully. Lucy assumed that he had been up for longer than the others by the sound of his voice, but then again, he sounded happy most of the time he was talking to her.

"Morning." She mumbled out, still waking up. She turned, swinging her legs over so they dangled off the bed, sitting up directly next to Natsu. "How long have you been up?" She looked toward the clock, spying the time to be 7:50am.

"Not long." He answered, "Wendy woke me up a few minutes ago."

"We have a train to catch soon, so whatever it is you need to do, do it quick." Laxus said, walking out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel on.. He went over to the bed he had used that night, and grabbed the shirt and pants he had left on the side. Flattening them out on the bed, he checked them for wrinkles before going to put them on.

Seeing that as her cue to leave, Lucy rushed into the bathroom blushing.

^_^