"Do you and Laxus love one another?"

Mira blinked. Then she gave her sister a bemused look. "What?"

"Do you," she repeated as she continued to idly sweep up around the hall, "and Laxus love one another?"

"W-Well, I don't-"

"It's just a question, Mira. And I figured it wouldn't be that hard for you to answer." Then sneering, if only a bit, Lisanna added, "You have been together, like, nearly two years."

"Nearly," Mira agreed as she continued to count out the money in the register, "but not quite."

"Surely it's come up."

"Surely."

"I mean-"

"What's this about, Lisanna?" Mira glanced her way. "Because you know that Laxus and I are very serious, if that's what you mean."

"It's not, but thanks."

"I'd really like to not talk about this right now."

"Oh, Mira, he's in his office." Lisanna even rolled her eyes. "He can't hear us."

Oh, but he could. Not only with the guildhall completely empty did their voices echo, but also his dragon senses could center in on anything if he tried. Which was rather easy at the moment, eavesdropping on them, given that he wasn't really doing anything. He'd finished up for the night and was mostly waiting for his girlfriend to finish so he could walk her and her little sister home.

It wasn't necessary, of course, as honestly there was no one that he could fight off that the she-devil couldn't, but it was just something that he always found himself doing. Mirajane, after all, was very important to him.

And Lisanna too, sure, yeah. He'd stick around after closing for her too on the rare occasions he was up at the hall and Mirajane wasn't. Other than the fact it was his job, she was a pretty big reason he still came to the place.

But out there in the bar area, Lisanna and Mirajane were none the wiser to this and only continued on with their conversation.

"Even still," Mirajane complained, "I don't-"

"So you don't?"

Huffing, just a bit, Mirajane said, "Yes. I love him."

"But he doesn't love you then?"

"Lisanna-"

"Oh, wow, I feel, like, so much better now." The younger Strauss even grinned. "I thought something was wrong with me and Bickslow or something. Because he hasn't said that to me and Natsu, like, tells Lucy that all the time, and here I was, getting ready to be broken up with, but we've only been together ten months. If you've been together for years-"

"Almost," Mira corrected, "years. Right now, just a year and a few months."

"A lot of months."

"Lisanna-"

"I mean, sheesh; I thought you guys were, like, such a serious couple."

"We are. We-"

"But if you can't even tell one another you love each other-"

"We can," Mira defended. "We just...don't. We're…too mature."

That got a pause. Even Laxus noticed it, back in the office where he was desperately looking for his headphones, as to use them to block out the women and avoid an accusation of eavesdropping.

"Mature," Lisanna repeated slowly. "You're mature. You and Laxus are mature."

"Yes," the other woman stifled. "Laxus is a guild master-"

"So is Sting and he's, like, about as mature as Natsu-"

"-and I've held the same job I've had since I was a teenager-"

"Again, so has Natsu."

"Lisanna, would you just-"

"I'm sorry. It's just funny." She even giggled. "This entire time, I've thought that the two of you were, like, super mushy behind the scenes. But this entire times, you're just as dull around one another when you're alone as you are up at the bar?"

"We're not dull."

"You are too! Every single time me and Bickslow go out with you guys, it's to the same, lame resturant so that you can argue over the same, lame things-"

"We don't argue over-"

"You always complain that he orders the same, unhealthy dinner and then he accuses you of eating the thing he orders anyways and then you get mad and accuse him of calling you unhealthy and then, after dinner, he'll buy you dessert to make it up for you. Sound familiar?"

Mira frowned. "It's not always the same dinner. Sometimes he gets pasta and sometimes he gets-"

"You can't be serious."

"And the only reason we always take the two of you there," Mira argued, "is because the two of you never want to buy your own meals. Laxus always has to pay for you. And that's just the cheapest place to go while it still being nice. So-"

"So you're saying that you guys go other places? On dates? When we're not with you?"

"W-Well, sometimes. But we really like it there-"

"Oh, sis."

"We do! And… Shut up, Lisanna."

"No. This is too funny. This entire time, we've all thought that you and Laxus were so in love, when, actually, you're both just bored with one another and don't know how to put your relationship out to pasture."

"Out to- That's so rude!"

Still, Lisanna only giggled. "You know I'm kidding. But honestly, Mirajane, not only will he not tell you that he loves you-"

"He can! We just don't need to...say things...like that-"

"-but you also are completely and utterly boring."

It was quiet out there, for a bit, and Laxus, back in the office, finally found his headphones, but didn't put them on. Just waited. Because his entire night, if not the rest of the week, would hinge on what Mirajane said next.

"We're not boring." And her tone was even. Not the least bit pissed off. "And if this whole thing is about whether or not Bickslow should tell you he loves you or if you should say it to him, no. That answers that. Now finish sweeping up; I'm almost done back here."

Great. Laxus fell back into his chair, there in the office, with a slump. So Mirajane was pissed off.

Perfect.

Stupid Lisanna.

And for the record, Mirajane and Laxus were not boring. They were just content in their relationship.

Was that a bad thing?

Huh?

No.

So there.

Laxus had managed to slip on his headphones before Mira appeared in the office a moment later, carrying the jewels from the register.

"You all finished up?" he asked, tone hopeful as she came over to his desk. He pretended not to stare too hard as she bent down in front of him to get to the safe underneath. "Demon?"

"Just about. Are you through with whatever you're doing in here?"

"Completely. Did you wanna-"

"I want to go home." And her tone wasn't nearly as jovial. "With you."

Which was either a wonderful thing or a completely damning one.

Mira gave him no tips to which it might be.

Lisanna was rather chatty with Laxus that night for some reason. She kept going on and on about the job that she'd just returned from with her brother and how much fun it was. And damn it, no matter how hard he tried, Laxus just couldn't stay mad at her. She was just so...cute. Like a little kid.

Which was the same attitude Mira usually had towards her and ended up with Lisanna walking all over the both of them. Anyone else claim that the relationship the dragon and demon had was stale and needed to be put down? He'd have decked 'em and she'd have chewed them out. Lisanna do it? Just go on blissfully as if it never occurred.

"You don't have to walk me the whole way, you know," Lisanna complained at one point, as she typically did, as Mirajane and Laxus even took to walking her down the street to the Strauss house where all three of the siblings seemed to be spending less and less time. "I'm not a child."

But neither Laxus nor Mirajane responded to this. Only made sure she got into the house before they departed for his apartment.

"I was looking at the budget for this month," Mira began as, with Lisanna gone, Laxus rested an arm around his demon's shoulders and glanced down at her, "and I think that we have enough for-"

"Mira, I told you, we're not painting the-"

"Why? Pink is a very good color. When I think Fairy Tail, I think pink."

"No." Shaking his head, he added, "We're saving the surplus up for when one of those idiots destroys the place again. Not to continue to spend it. You know how this place operates; we've got to keep all the jewels we can. It's not like it's not destroyed ever other week."

"I just think that pink is a great-"

"No."

Mira let out a long sigh while Laxus only glanced up at the clouds.

"They say it'll rain tomorrow," he told her, to which the woman only hummed. "I already finished up everything there possibly was to do at the hall today, so I think I'll push all of tomorrow's junk to the next day because if it is going to storm, then I want to go out and train in it. Soak up some lightning, yeah?"

"I'll pack you a lunch."

He tried hard not to be annoyed, though, "Mira," came out of his lips as a slight complaint.

"I am, so hush."

Heh.

Again, they fell into a comfortable silence. It was broken up only when Mirajane, who was still inwardly tumbling with what Lisanna had said not too long ago, glanced up at the slayer with a frown.

"Dragon?'

"Hmmm?'

"Are we boring?'

Laxus was a master at all things. Including feigning surprise. "What? What brought this on?"

Shrugging, Mirajane only said, "It just seems like we've been pretty bland recently."

"In what way?'

"I dunno," she sighed. "It's just, well, since the Master gave you the hall six months ago-"

"I," the slayer grumbled, "am the Master."

"Oh, dragon."

"I am."

"The point was," she complained, shaking her head at him, "that before you got the hall, you used to go out on S-Class jobs all the time and that gave us time away from one another and stories to talk about when we were back together. Now not only are you my boss, but was literally see one another every single day-"

"Na-ah." He even shook his head. "Like take tomorrow for instance; I'm going to go train and you'll be up at the hall, working."

"Laxus-"

"Plenty of stories abound."

"You're being difficult."

"And you're trying to make a big deal out of me not telling you that I love you."

"What?"

"What?"

And they stopped, there on the side of the road, to just stare at one another.

"I didn't say anything about… Were you eavesdropping on us?"

The slayer scoffed. "I would never..." Then he sighed. "You guys just talk so loud-"

"Laxus Dreyar-"

"If anything, I should be mad that you're gossiping on me behind my back."

Rolling her eyes, Mira turned and began to walk once more. "Come on. I have to open in the morning. I want to get home and go to bed."

Oh. So that's what they were doing back at the apartment. Sigh.

Laxus trailed along behind her. "It's just a really weird conversation to have with me right in the other room."

"Well, I didn't bring it up," Mira defended. "So-'

"Unless," Laxus continued, "it was your intention for me to overhear."

Mira made a face, even though he was behind her then. "In what world would I-"

"I dunno, demon. But if this was a problem, you could have just brought it up to me."

"Laxus-"

"'cause of course I love you, you stupid idiot."

Mira blinked, sensing him closer to her then, practically breathing down her neck. "I don't think that's usually how people say something like that."

"What? 'cause instead of because? I like to save on syllables."

"I meant calling me a stupid idiot. And that's not nice, you know." In fact, if it was anyone other than him calling her that, and without such sweet words preceding it, she might have been thrown into a round of tears.

"I know."

And that was that. Mira refused to glance over her shoulder at him and he seemed content then, with the entire thing. And though their original conversation, over whether or not they were boring, never properly got settled, neither seemed willing to bring it up.

At least not right then.

Back at the apartment, Laxus threw them together some late night sandwiches while Mirajane only prepared the hot water bottle for Laxus' back. He'd tweaked it, months ago, and it had been a pain since then. She frequently teased him that he was old because of it, but only lightly, given that he was so self-conscious about it that he hadn't even mentioned it to anyone other than her. Nightly, she'd make him lay with a hot water bottle on the middle of his back and soak in some ice at least once a week, but those only seemed to be immediate remedies.

Or he was just old. Mira was still pretty insistent on that one.

So that's how they found themselves, not much later, him stretched out on his side of the bed and her sitting with her legs crossed next to him, randomly ripping pieces from the sandwiches and feeding them to him. This was due to the fact that Laxus had that hot water bottle on his back and, for some reason, that meant he wasn't able to feed himself.

Neither was sure why that meant that, as his arms were still free, he was just lying on his stomach instead of his back, but it had been an unspoken rule between them since they started the hot water bottle treatment, and it was just going to stay. No argument.

"I love you too," Mira said suddenly as Laxus was silently debating whether or not he should mention that for some reason, she was only feeding him pieces with bread, lettuce, and tomato, but no meat. He understood why that would happen once more twice, but the entire time? That woman was cheating him. "Just so you know."

Swallowing (and wisely deciding to let the meatless thing go), Laxus only said, "Of course I know that, woman. I never doubted that. You're the one that needs confirmation about dumb things like that."

"I do not." Mira even gave him a look. "Lisanna's the one that brought it up. Not me."

"Hmm."

She practically shoved the piece of sandwich in his mouth that time. "I don't care if you believe me. It's the truth."

"Okay."

"I know how you feel about me."

"I believe you."

"And I'm… I'm happy with our boring relationship." Mira even gave a sharp nod. "Very happy. We're both very happy. So why over think it?"

Laxus shut his eyes then. "Your sister's a nut."

"Dragon, that's not nice."

"She is. Tryin' to say I should be put out to pasture."

"How well can you hear back in that office anyways?'

Laxus only let out a low moan. Then, softly, he added, "I'm thinking of going to a moose."

"A what?"

"A moose."

"A masseuse?"

"That's what I said. A moose."

"Just how far in life do you think you can get chopping off all these syllabubs, Lax? Because it's definitely not moose. It's masseuse."

Grumbling a bit, he said, "Whatever. My backs just killing me. Something's not right."

"Awe. Poor dragon."

"Poor me."

"Maybe we should ask Natsu."

That got his eyes open. "Do what now?"

"You know," she said around a bite of sandwich, "he has flaming hands. That should help. Maybe he could-"

"No. No way." Laxus shut his eyes again. "My moose would never be that loser."

"Okay, you don't have to keep saying the word moose now that you know it's not the word moose."

"I always knew."

"Oh, whatever."

"I just like saying it that way."

"I'm sure."

Again, there was only silence and, once the sandwich was done, Mirajane only got up to put the plate in the sink as well as get a glass of water. Laxus bottle was still warm, so she left it on his back before curling up in bed.

Alone in the darkness, they both just laid there for awhile before Laxus said, "It's not a joke, you know. To me. Our relationship. I do love you. Honestly."

"I know." She let out a soft breath. "Lisanna just caught me off guard."

Snort. "She just wanted confirmation that her relationship with Bickslow isn't absolute shit. Well, she didn't get it. Because it is. So-"

"How many of our conversations have you listened in on, dragon? Since apparently you heard tonight's so well?"

"I wasn't trying to."

"Hmm."

"And it definitely spiced up our, apparently, otherwise boring night. Right?"

"You have to admit that we don't really do much these days. Nothing exciting. Unless it has to do with Fairy Tail, our lives are pretty stagnant of late."

"Well, yeah, it's taken up a lot of my time and has always ate up yours, but we still do other things. We go out to eat all the time."

"I know."

"And, for the record, I love that restaurant."

"Me too," Mira agreed with a nod. "I mean, what you order-"

"Not tonight." He snuggled his head into his pillow. "Just not tonight."

Silence once more for a good ten minutes. Then, softly, Laxus whispered, "You up, demon?"

"Mmmm."

"Because, uh, I think that my hot water bottle is leaking and-"

"And you can't deal with it because-"

"Try because I'm injured."

"Oh, whatever."

Still, she got up to deal with it because that was just the way they were. And when she came back to him, Laxus only rolled over onto his back and let her cuddle right up to his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

Returning her grin (to an extent), Laxus whispered, "We're just too real for your sister and her puny assumptions."

"Yeah." Mira kissed his chest. "I know."