Hear me

12

They spent the next few hours walking aimlessly around town, enjoying the sun. Neither mage was much for window shopping, and they'd both seen all the sights, but Natsumi thought it was nice just to walk around the city that had taken her in all those years ago. It'd been a while since she'd had time to relax and do whatever she wanted, whether that be sleeping or training or wandering. Before this whole fiasco happened, she'd been on an endless string of jobs since they'd all managed to save Fiore from the dragons. Shuddering, she pushed those memories away, not wanting to follow that thought to how she'd watched Future Rogue kill one of her best friends, or at least a version of her.

No, she thought. Today was a day to be enjoyed.

It was weird to see Laxus so far out of his element. She didn't think he'd been anywhere without the Thunder Legion recently, and she definitely had never seen him smile so much. She hadn't expected him to actually be happy about her gambit to get as much free food as possible, but then again, Laxus was just as weird as the rest of Fairy Tail, so she supposed it wasn't that surprising. Plus, he looked nice when he smiled.

They passed a book shop, the smell of ink and paper making her stop and smile at memories of Lucy.

Laxus, who'd walked on ahead, turned around to look back when he noticed she was no longer beside him.

"Oi, what's that look for? Don't tell me you want to go in there?" he asked, disbelief coloring his tone when he looked at the bookshelves in the window.

Natsumi laughed, shaking her head, jogging to catch up to where he stood.

"Nah, I don't read all that much. But Lucy does! The smell of books always reminds me of her. She wants to be an author, you know. She's in the middle of a novel right now, and sometimes I sneak into her room and read new chapters." He laughed at the evil look on her face.

"Does Lucy know?"

"Sometimes she catches me. Last time, she kicked me so hard I flew into a wall! Look, I've still got a knot on the back of my head!" she cried, taking his hand and pressing it against her head. Sure enough, he felt a slightly raised lump protruding from the back of her skull.

"Damn, Nat. No wonder you are the way you are. Your brain is probably mushy from how many head wounds you've had," he said, gently massaging the knot with his fingers. He marveled at how soft her hair was, considering how little care she seemed to put into it.

"Shut up! I'm plenty smart!" she argued, shrugging off his hand. She stomped forward a few steps with her nose in the air. However, she stopped, whipping her head back to look at him with a sly look.

"I was smart enough to find where Luce keeps her secret diary. And she hasn't caught me reading that yet."

Laughing, he walked up to her. They fell into step again, ambling down the street.

"Anything juicy?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets as they headed in the direction of the market.

She kicked a pebble in the street, sending it flying a few feet away. She repeated the motion as she caught up to it and pouted when she kicked it out of their path. "Not really. Lucy's actually pretty boring. And she'd really kill me if she found out I'd told anyone what was in there," she said.

He nodded, having guessed as much.

"But," she added, smirking, "once I found a list she'd made of perfect boyfriends. Happy and I laughed for half an hour."

"Anyone interesting?"

Natsumi only winked, pantomiming a zipping motion over her lips. With a roll of his eyes, Laxus let it go, content to let her be goofy.