Laxus woke to find his arms wrapped around a lovely nude beauty. But not just any lovely nude beauty, his mate. The thought made him want to beat his chest or do something similarly absurd. She shifted in her sleep and he noticed a freckle pattern speckled across her shoulder. Something so simplistic and somehow he was thinking it was one of the most captivating things he had ever seen. Then he found another patch of freckles kissing her body above her left breast that bewitched him more than the first. His eyes panned across her skin while making a mental note to count and kiss every single freckle in the future.

The sun cast a ray of light on her stomach and the yellow dragon gem glinted him in the eye. It glowed sharply at him as if casting it's own light.

Rory shifted again in her sleep. A look of agitation on her face. Perhaps the gem was warming her body and waking her up. She flipped restlessly to her back, crowding Laxus' space more (not that he minded). Her copper ringlets on her neck shifted away and Laxus gaze caught there. He smirked at her mark.

She now wore their brand on her flesh. He was not surprised to see a gauntlet clasping lightning bolts in it's fist on a bed of a yellow explosion. Hmm, her mark was awful bright in color. He hoped that didn't bother her. Heck, he hoped she wore the mark with pride.

Rory shifted again this time on her left crowding him even more. So apparently she was a bed hog. "Rory?"

She grunted in annoyance.

"Rory?"

Again all she did was make some annoyed sound. It was time to try a different approach. Laxus leaned into the flesh of her stomach. He thought about kissing her there and coaxing her awake in an erotic manner. But he knew she would be sore and that wasn't a good idea right now. So instead when he planted his lips against her stomach he created a seal between his mouth and her flesh and blew creating a childish silly noise. He knew it would also tickle the flesh there.

Her bright eyes opened and she growled at him. He didn't expect her right hook and ended up on his ass off the foot of the bed. "Note to self, you are not a morning person." He rubbed his slightly bruised jaw.

Again she made some nonsensical noise and tried to shift back in bed. "Rory, please don't fall back asleep."

Her emerald eyes flashed back at him. She was so annoyed with him. That was obvious. She also quickly assumed that Laxus wasn't the type of person to easily use the word please. So she slowly began to stretch her toes.

"I'll never wake you up like that again. I promise."

There was one way he could make it up to her. "Shower..."

"Hmm?"

"If you want me awake I need a shower."

Laxus looked at her and pointed at a door she didn't notice before. Well, really she didn't check the room out much at all the previous night. She had other more satisfying visual pleasures to study.

Rory had some difficulty disentangling her legs from the sheet that Laxus covered them with at some point in the night. When she got up Laxus stared his share. One thing he knew for certain he would never get tired of looking at her body. He felt his body react and groaned in aggravation. Hormones really sucked sometimes.

"Laxus?"

"Hmm? You can come join me. I mean to keep me company. I am still really tired and having you to lean on would be nice."

Laxus didn't give it a second thought. He propelled toward her and picked her up. He made sure before starting the water that there was enough towels for both of them. He turned to find Rory studying his shampoo. "You are going to have to invest in conditioner too. Just shampoo and my hair just does not behave."

As they climbed into the shower stall Laxus replied. "Freed said something about that one time. That I shouldn't just use shampoo on my hair."

Rory arched her eyebrow at Laxus. "Uh, what is up with him by the way? I've noticed these moments where he fawns over you like you're his boyfriend or something."

Laxus groaned and took the shampoo from her. People asked this of him all the time. It was really old but she would learn sooner or later. Laxus signaled for Rory to wet her hair and explained as he did so. "Freed has a sense of hero worship towards me. I've told him time and again that fawning over me is painting him in an awkward manner. But he is not gay. Nor have I personally ever swung that way past or present."

"So why the sense of hero worship? You must have done something for Freed to want to fawn all over you. I mean since he's not gay that is."

Laxus began massaging the shampoo into her hair while he explained. "A couple years before I became and S-class mage, I think I was 15, I went on one of my first missions alone. I don't remember the details of the mission itself. But I traveled through a small town called Irvine Rift. It was a town built near a waterfall that poured out of the face of a cliff. Turns out building a town there was not a good idea."

"Who would have thought that was a good idea?" Rory's emerald eyes popped open at the asinine concept. She shifted under the pulsing water to wash the shampoo out of her hair.

Laxus merely shrugged. "I stopped in the village to eat. All dragon slayers have a pretty big appetite. I think it has something to do with the intense power in our magic. During that time, while I was enjoying my meal, a storm came in. A huge storm that this village hadn't seen before."

"The village was destroyed by the flooding waterfall. Luckily most of the people got out."

"You mean you got most of the people out."

Laxus didn't answer he just grinned. He grabbed the soap and a washcloth and began to wash her body. He tried to keep his mind on the task at hand but it wasn't that easy. Mine!

"Yes, I rescued most of the people. The innkeepers that fed me. They had a boy that lived with them. He was about 10 or 11 at the time. The boy was not their son. They no longer had a roof to put over his head to keep him warm. They had noticed he had magical potential, and asked if I would take him with me."

"The boy was Freed?"

Laxus nodded and continued to soap up her skin.

"So you brought Freed back with you to Fairy Tail and the rest is history?"

"More or less," Laxus didn't want to fill her in on his crimes of his past but she would hear about it eventually. If she hadn't already. To get his mind off of himself he said. "It's strange though. Lately, Freed hasn't been acting the same. He has been pretty quiet and sometimes gloomy or distraught. I would ask him what was wrong and he wouldn't tell me anything. It's not like him."

"Maybe he just needs something to get his mind off whatever it is. Do you think the Thunder Legion would help me with my brother?" She cocked him a half grin.

"You think since I got in your panties I would give you anything you want?"

Rory shook her head. "No, but if you don't help me. It will be a struggle for you to get into them again."

He laughed. "Quit giving me shit! Besides, I was already planning on asking them to help."

"Good," Rory grinned mischievously.

"How are you feeling, Aurelie? Are you sore?" He rubbed at her hips.

"Mm, maybe a little...but not so sore that I can't go another round."

Laxus needed no further prompting. He slung Rory over his shoulder and catapulted to the bedroom.