Feelings Are Fatal (Laxus x OC)

Chapter 2

A throbbing headache greeted Aella from the very moment she felt herself begin to wake up. Cana's push for excessive drinking meant much of the night was a blur, she couldn't even remember if she got to see the blossoms or not. The air crackled around her, caused by the over consumption of alcohol. It helped to send her to sleep (mainly because she could barely keep herself upright without the help of others) but it's not a habit she wished to adopt. She rubbed her eyes slightly and forced herself out of bed.

There was an early morning hustle and bustle in the guild when she finally made herself presentable to stumble into the hall. The requests board was particularly crowded, with people pushing and shoving past each other to reach the front. Kiizura found herself in the middle of the crowd, perhaps enjoying herself a bit too much whenever she shoved someone out of her way. It was S-Class trials season and the cherry blossoms had kickstarted the bloodlust for all the high-paying, high-skill jobs. Only the S-Class section went untouched.

Aella stood in front of the request board, eyes swaying over the words as she slowly regained her senses back. She really hated drinking. It took her some time to even realise that Gajeel had joined her, looking over the S-Class jobs, of which he was not. "What job are we taking? Hurry up and pick." He was impatient, eager to sink his nails into a challenging job.

She quickly glanced at him. "You're not allowed to take these jobs."

"Says who?" He grumbled, folding his arms and keeping his gaze focused on the jobs.

Aella frowned slightly. "Says the rules."

"Fuck the rules, let's go. All the other jobs are shit or taken, I need the recognition, and you have some magic I wanna see more of." He snatched a poster from the board and thrust it towards Aella. "Here. This one looks good."

"Fine." She started to read over the first few words. "I'll have a look at it." She slipped away to a secluded table, paper in hand.

She kept glancing over the request periodically, each time looking at Juvia who seemingly hadn't moved for ages, crouched low and peeking over a bench. Her eyes were focused but seemingly deep in thought at the same time. Locked on her target, Gray. Aella placed the request face down on the table and made her way over to Juvia. She crouched beside her. "Why don't you just go talk to him?" Aella asked. Juvia jumped out of her skin and her cheeks burned a deep red. "Or does he just look better from behind a bench?"

Juvia half cast her head to Aella, but was caught off-guard as Gray lost a shirt. "Oh...well. I...It's hard to explain to someone not in love. My feelings are so strong and I..." Her words trailed off.

Aella felt her own cheeks grow warm for a split second. She stood up suddenly, garnering Juvia's full attention. Gajeel stood by the guildhall doors, request in hand. "How about we go on a job together? It could help to get out."

"Like you did?" She looked back to Gray slightly. "Okay...as long as we're not gone for long." She pulled herself up from the bench and walked behind Aella.

Gajeel grinned as they made their way over to him, lifting up the request for Aella to take. "Let's get going, Sparky."

Sparky?

Juvia leaned closer to Aella as they left the guildhall, lowering her voice into a whisper; "he's always like this on jobs."