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Gajeel walked into the guildhall, hands shoved in his pockets as he survived the boisterous people filling the hall. He was searching for someone; Natsu. He had a burning question that was slowly killing him… well, several questions to be honest.He spotted Natsu sitting by himself at the bar. Usually, he’d brush it off, but Natsu was sitting alone. He typically had Lucy by his side, or Grey or Erza. So, why was he alone?Taking strides across the hall, offering Levy and Pantherlily a short wave and a smile. They waved back, returning to the book spread out in front of them they were currently deciphering. There had been many times Gajeel wished that his life had been easier, that he’d fall for the small book lover with words in her eyes, but that ship had sailed and sunk thanks to the garden growing in his lungs. When she’d told him that she loved him, he couldn’t get the words past his tongue without them tasting like a lie. His garden was for someone else. Three someones to be exact.As he sat down next to Natsu, he found the words he’d prepared time and time again dissolving on his tongue. ‘Hey Natsu, can we talk?’ became the hardest sentence to form. Suddenly all the confidence fled his body as he sat next to the man with black eyes that told a thousand tails by just looking into yours.Neither talked as Gajeel attempted to regather his confidence. He could do this, he had to do this. Even if he faced rejection, it was still better than the thorns digging into his lungs. He needed to know.Yet, when he opened his mouth to speak, for the first time in forever it came out in a stutter.
“H-hey, can we um… talk? In private?” Gajeel cursed himself for how bad that sounded. He sounded desperate, Gajeel was most certainly not desperate. Natsu glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Sure man, you wanna use the library?” he asked, downing the last of the beer that he’d been nursing since Gajeel sat down.Gajeel nods, his tongue freezing in his mouth. Mirajane passes him a shot as he gets up to leave with Natsu to the library. He waves her off, following after Natsu. If he was going to do this, he had to do it sober. He could drink himself under the table after Natsu rejects him.Lucy’s walking with Wendy towards the guildhall. The two of them had just returned from a mission with Sabertooth and were happy to be back home finally. They were holding a pleasant conversation with each other when Lucy started coughing violently.“Lucy-nee!” Wendy squeaked, helping her to the side of the road so she wouldn’t be in anyone’s path. “Are you okay?”“I’m fine… don’t worry about me,” Lucy managed to assure her between coughs. Fluttering to her feet were fully formed pansies. They were truly gorgeous flowers, with dark black insides ringed with bright yellow and a deep red. If you’d seen them growing in a field you’d probably pick a few for your loved ones. However, these ones were splattered with blood that smeared on your fingers when you touched them. You couldn’t give these to a loved one.At the start, Lucy had hoped that they’d stop. That it was a fluke rather than a fear. Instead, the small petals only grew into full flowers as she spent more time with people she knew she couldn’t have. What was she supposed to do? Tell them that she loved them? Spill her heart out to get laughed at? Gajeel had rejected Levy, Natsu was oblivious, and Freed fawned over Laxus like he was a god. She had no chance even if she did want to tell them.So, she resigned herself to dying quietly. It would be no one’s fault but hers, no one would have to feel bad about her time ending. “Lucy-nee, you’re not fine. You have hanahaki,” Wendy protested, digging out a tissue and helping Lucy wipe her lips.“I know Wendy. Don’t worry about me,” Lucy whispered when she finally stopped coughing. She continued walking as if nothing had happened. Wendy kept pace with her, protesting that she could help her.“Sorry Wendy, you can’t help me,” Lucy huffed, ruffling her hair. “I dug my own grave anyways.”Wendy pouted, giving Lucy puppy dog eyes.
“At least tell me who it is,” she protested, taking the older woman’s hand and squeezing it gently.“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” Lucy sighed, shooting her a half-smile to mask the ache in her chest.
Wendy nodded frantically.
“Laxus, Gajeel and Natsu…” Wendy offered a sympathetic look, hugging her from the side.
“Please tell them, I don’t want to lose you…”If only it was that easy.Natsu leant against one of the tables in the library. He was watching Gajeel as he closed the door carefully and stalked over to him. There was a pleasant smile across his lips that Gajeel was revelling in. It may be the last time he sees Natsu smile at him like that. He might as well enjoy it.Gajeel stopped in front of Natsu, finally finding the words to ask Natsu his question. He wanted to get the most information that he can, it’s easier to kill two birds with one stone."So Salamander what's your deal with Lucy?" he asked, looking away from Natsu as he said it. If he was going to be slapped, he’d rather not see it coming."What do you mean?" Natsu asks, tilting his head as he stared straight into GajeelGajeel swallowed thickly under Natsu’s gaze. He blazed in those eyes, unidentifiable in origin or reason. Terrifying, yet serene.
“I meant if she’s your mate,” he huffs. It shouldn’t be this difficult.Natsu let out a long sigh, carding a hand through his hair.
"No… I don't think she likes me like that,” he explains, his gaze shifting to something more vulnerable and sad. Gajeel couldn’t decide to celebrate now or push his luck.Unfortunatley, his heart decided for him.
“So, does that mean you’re… free?” he asks, a sense of confidence returning to him. But Natsu sighed again, sitting on the table and searching his pocket for something. Gajeel watched with tense muscles as Natsu pulled out a pansy from his pocket. It was gorgeous. The center’s black, melting into a yellow and pink ombre.“I don’t love just you…” Natsu admits, passing the flower to Gajeel.He turned it over in his hands, examining it with care and caution. It bore similar colours to his own.
“Lucy and Laxus?” Gajeel whispered out loud on accident.“Yeah…” Natsu sighed in shame as he hung his head.Setting the flower down next to Natsu on the table, he cupped Natsu’s jaw, tipping it up towards him. He brushed his thumb against Natsu’s cheek gently.
“I don’t have a flower to show for it, but I love them too. Just like I love you,” he whispers softly, watching as Natsu’s eyes widen.“Say it again,” Natsu asks, cupping Gajeel’s face with both hands.“I love you,” Gajeel obliges, leaning forwards. He repeats the words, letting them tumble out again and again as he leans down and presses his lips to Natsu. Natsu’s hands snake through his hair, his legs around his lips pulling him closer as he presses him to the table. Gajeel’s hands wrap around to hold Natsu by the back. He doesn’t want to let go, not yet, not when he finally had something in his hands he’s wanted for so long.But then Natsu pulls back, still resting his hand in Gajeel’s hair. It’s a simple action, but it comforts him nonetheless.“We have to tell them. Because if it’s the same for them as it is for us, then we’ve found our pack,” Natsu says looking into Gajeel’s eyes.As it dawns on him, he realizes just how urgent it is.
“If they both have hanahaki we have to tell them right now. Who knows how long they’ve had it for and I can’t wait for a second more to have everyone in my arms,” Gajeel states, pulling back from Natsu a little and watching as he hops down from the table.Natsu gives him a brilliant smile and Gajeel presses a kiss to his lips quickly.“Okay, let’s go.”They climb the stairs to Laxus’ office, taking their time to bask in the other’s company. A few stare at them from the ‘S’ class lounge to the main hall. Mirajane smiles from the bar, humming away as Makarov sat on the bar next to her, putting up idle chat.The reach his office and Gajeel heads in first, taking in a short breath at what he finds.Laxus is sitting upright on the black leather love seat as if he’d been previously laying down but had started coughing mid-way and had to sit up. He was still coughing, knees wrapped around a small trashcan as fully formed flowers fell from his lips in clumps.He turned to Gajeel and Natsu as they opened the door, glaring at them and trying to cover his mouth with a bloody hand.“Get out,” he snarled, the end of the sentence interrupted by a hacking cough. Gajeel simply huffed.
“Natsu, go find Lucy. And Wendy as well, we’re gonna need a doctor after this,” he orders, the pink-haired slayer nodding and bolting out of the room.
Then Gajeel closes the door and crosses the room.“Fuck off,” Laxus grumbles, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.Gajeel grabs the tissue box from Laxus’ desk.
“Sorry, bunny would kill me. It is her, right?” He asks, sitting down next to him and placing the tissue box on the coffee table. He reaches forward to clean off the blood from Laxus’ face.“None of your business,” Laxus grumbles, allowing Gajeel to clean his face off. Gajeel glances into the trash can, spotting pansies. With black centers merging into yellow and red. He didn’t even have to ask.“Pretty sure it is,” he mumbles, grabbing another tissue. “You can keep acting like a brick wall until Lucy walks in here with Natsu and then you have to explain to all of us at the same time, or you could tell me now and I can tell you exactly what you need to hear.”It may have come off as mildly threatening, but it worked. Laxus huffed, looking down into the trash can filled with pansies and blood as he collected his thoughts. Could he really tell him…? He’d accepted death, gotten his affairs in order for when he did pass, he hadn’t expected for this to happen.He hadn’t accounted for his feelings being returned. But a hand on his shoulder steadied his mind and he looked up at Gajeel. He looked into those blood-red eyes as they looked back into his. For some strange reason that his father would most definitely kill him for if he found out, Laxus leant forwards and kissed him.He pressed his lips to Gajeel and felt the other man relax into him, the hand on his shoulder snaking down to lace together with his own. He felt how Gajeel’s head tilted ever so slightly to the right, and how he parted his lips to give Laxus a taste of the blueberries still lingering on his tongue.For once in his life, everything was still and sure. Then they pulled apart as the door creaked open.Lucy and Natsu faced a flustered Laxus as he turned away from Gajeel. But they didn’t laugh, they didn’t point and jeer at him. They stepped inside and closed the door behind them. Gajeel set the trash can on the ground as Lucy and Natsu sat down on the two chairs across from the couch.Lucy was quiet, sitting politely with a straight back. Natsu was loud, slumped into the seat with a dopey grin on his face.“So Wendy practically shoved Lucy into me when I found them,” Natsu chuckles, ruffling his hand through Lucy’s hair.Lucy lit up like a Christmas tree, offering a small smile.
“She’s just worried,” she tries to laugh it off, hoping they’d dismiss it as well.“Why is she worried?” Laxus was quick to ask, barely waiting for her to finish her sentence. He was on the edge of his seat riding high on a wave of confidence as he still held Gajeel’s hand tightly.“I have… hanahaki,” Lucy admits, looking down at her knees. Natsu reaches over and wraps an arm around her shoulder, pulling her off the chair and into his. She relaxes against his side as he rests his chin on her head.“For who?” Gajeel asks, sitting on the edge of his seat.“You three…” she barely whispers it, they only catch the words thanks to their superior hearing. She’s bright red and curled into Natsu’s side as if he’d run away the moment she let go.“Okay, get ready to cough those damn flowers up. Because we love you just the same,” Gajeel says, standing up and picking Lucy up. Natsu trails after them as he settles back on the couch. Natsu stands awkwardly to the side watching Lucy after clearing the coffee table. A hand snakes around, clutching his waist and pulling him down onto Laxus’ lap. He let’s out a startled yelp before relaxing into in. Their lips meet at the same time Lucy and Gajeel’s meet. Natsu reaches out his hand and take’s Lucy’s in his own. For a moment, all is still and safe.The moment falters as each one feels a tickle in the back of their throat, forcing them to break away as their body starts to reject the flowers growing in their lungs. Wendy rushes in with Mirajane and the Raijinshuu tribe.They fall unconscious thanks to a spell from Wendy, the pain fading from their bodies as their eyes fall shut.
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They kept the four in the infirmary of the guild. Taking shifts throughout the day, they made sure that neither of them would wake up alone. Friends and found family, and even family, sat next to each of them and waited.It took two days before one of them opened their eyes. Makarov was sitting next to him when he groaned, lifting his hand and pinching the bridge between his nose. He waited patiently as Laxus sat up in bed by his elbows and looked around at the three others still sound asleep.“Welcome back,” Makarov hummed, offering him some garlic bread from his food tray. Laxus took it, taking small bites as his stomach tried to ease into having food again. “Thanks. I take it I’m the first?” he asked, looking over at his grandfather.Makarov nodded slowly.“You’re the first… forgive me for asking, but when did you know?” Laxus sighed, running a hand through his hair before resting his elbow on his knee. “I loved Lucy since I met her, that kinda spunk just gets ya. Ya know? And… well I didn’t realize I loved Natsu and Gajeel until I beat Ivan at the Grand Magic Games,” he explains, shrugging at the last part as he flopped back down on the bed.“Boy, does that feel good to not have anything in my lungs,” he breathes, turning his head to Makarov with a dopey smile on his face.Makarov smiled back, bright and full of love.“I’m glad to finally see you happy. I knew she’d be special the moment she walked in with Natsu,” he chuckles, offering Laxus the bowl of fruit from his tray. Laxus happily takes it and sits up just enough to eat it.“Me too gramps,” he mumbles as the two of them fall into a comfortable silence.After a little while, Makarov gets up and leaves. Freed takes his place with Bickslow and Evergreen right behind him. The run up to him, hugging him from all angles as he sits up.“BABY!! We missed ya!” Bickslow cheered as his babies floated around them.“Missed ya too,” Laxus chuckles, ruffling his hair. Bickslow had started wearing sunglasses a little while back, just to air out the stuffy helmet he usually dawns.“Don’t scare us like that you big oaf,” Evergreen lectures, jabbing his side. Laxus simply snorts at the comment. Evergreens always overreacted when she knew he’d be just fine.“We’re serious, you’re our thunder god. We need you alive,” Freed huffs, sitting down on the bed in front of Laxus. Laxus nods slowly, offering Freed an awkward look. As if on cue, Bickslow and Evergreen exit the room, leaving the two of them semi-alone. Freed shifts a bit on the bed, and Laxus scratches at the back of his head. His attention is drawn back to Freed by a cough.“So um, how are you doing?” Laxus asks awkwardly. He knew Freed had had feelings for him once, he never felt the same way. He’d grown up with Freed, he was more of a brother than a lover. That was years ago, yet it still felt awkward to mention it.Freed blinks, looking at him with wide eyes. Then he dissolves into laughter, shaking his head gently. It startles Laxus so he sits there unsure of what to do.“Don’t worry about me. I got over you a long time ago, but that you for asking. I’m really happy you found someone to make you happy,” he explains, patting Laxus on the knee.Laxus lets out a small sigh of relief. “Really now. And who might this someone be?” he presses, a smirk on his face. He doesn’t really know if Freed likes anyone right now, but he can read him like an open book. It’s either a new mission or a new person.When Freed goes scarlet red in front of him and stutters while avoiding his gaze Laxus knows he hit the nail on the head. He chuckles a bit and leans back in the bed with a satisfied smirk.“Okay, spill the beans,” he urges as Freed tries and regains his composure.“You swear not to tell?” Freed demands, shooting him a worried look.“Only if you’re not killing yourself,” he huffs, crossing his arms and returning his worried look with a serious gaze.Freed swallows a bit.“I promise, I’m not. I will tell him but… I’m just waiting for the right time,” Freed admits, falling backwards on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. “I ain’t gonna drag it outta ya. Just spit it out,” Laxus grunts, tapping Freed’s forehead lightly with his fingers.“Fine. It’s Bickslow. Happy now?” Freed huffs, rolling his eyes in a fake pout attempt.Laxus almost chokes on air. Somewhere he remembers having a conversation with Bickslow about him liking Freed… Laxus smiles a bit. He always wanted Freed to be happy, he only felt guilty when he had to tell him he didn’t like him back. Yet, here he was, crushing over someone who could make him happy in life. Laxus had to admit, it was heartwarming.“You should tell him,” Laxus comments, folding his arms behind his head.Freed turns to him with a skeptical look on his face. “And why’s that?”Gajeel’s the next to wake up. Levy is next to him with Pantherlily, they’re still poured over a book together. He glances around the room, noticing immediately that everyone’s still asleep. Except… Laxus is somehow in Lucy’s bed, wrapped around her and fast asleep.“I feel like I’ve been hit by a magic-mobile,” he grumbles, rubbing his head as it throbs. His chest aches every time he moves or breathes, and the lights are glaringly bright against his eyes.“You’ve been asleep for four days. It takes a toll on your body to reject all those petals,” Pantherlily informs him as Levy closes the book carefully. “Yeah yeah, don’t lecture me. Got any water?” he grumbles, suddenly aware of how his throat feels like a desert. Levy passes him a full glass of water, making sure he can hold the glass by himself before letting it go.“You’re really dumb for a tough guy,” Levy comments after he’s finished the whole glass. Gajeel raises his eyebrow at her as she takes the glass from him.“You waited so long to tell them. I can understand being scared Laxus might reject you, but Lucy and Natsu didn’t even try and hide it.”Gajeel just stares at her. “You could’ve told me,” he grunts, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm.Levy and Pantherlily look at each other. Levy drags her hand over her face while Pantherlily just shakes his head.“We both assumed you knew,” Levy explains, offering him the banana from the tray of food next to her.He takes the banana and starts to peel it.“Whatever… at least no one’s dying now. But, how are you doing? Lucy’s your best friend and I know you…” he waves his hand in the air to refer to her previously being in love with him. He knew it was a sensitive topic“I’m doing better. Trust me Gajeel, the flowers are gone and I’m not going to get jealous over Lucy being happy. She’s told me countless times how she loves you, though the Natsu and Laxus dynamic is unexpected. But, nevertheless I’ve had months to get over you,” Levy promises him, patting his shoulder.“Okay, just let me know if-” Gajeel starts to say.“Gajeel, you don’t have to take care of me. Trust me, I was over you months ago. I’m fine,” she assures him, standing up from her seat.“Laxus will be up in a bit if you need anything just call.”Gajeel nods as she walks out the door. He fluffs out his hair. Not having to worry about Levy during this takes a huge weight off his back that he didn’t even realize he was carrying.Two days later, in the middle of the night, Natsu shot up in bed. Laxus and Gajeel were sitting on one of the beds while Laxus’ braided his hair and they talked to Grey. The sudden shout of Lucy’s name startled them all and they all looked over at Natsu. “Flamebrain, chill. She’s right there,” Grey grunts, shrugging over to the still sleeping Lucy. Natsu just scrunches his nose at him and pulls back his sheets. He tries to stand up and move over to Lucy’s bed. Grey is catching him right before he nose dives into the floor. “Watch it! You’ll get hurt!” Laxus barks from the bed, a death grip on Gajeel’s hair as the other man’s back arches at being pulled so harshly. “But, Lucy!!” Natsu just replies, gesturing at the still sleeping Lucy.Laxus raises his eyebrow at the comment as Grey helps him to clamber into Lucy’s bed.“Are we not as important?” Gajeel asks when Laxus finally relaxes his death grip on his hair.Natsu’s placated expression shifted to one of hurt with glaring eyes. “Don’t fucking say that. But you’re not still unconscious. I know you’re alright, but she’s still asleep. I’d do the same thing for either of you,” he defends himself while curling around Lucy.Both slayers nod slowly, understanding his point as Grey slips out of the room quietly with a quick “Congrats”.The room fell silent as the three of them lost what to say. Yes, they’d confessed but that didn’t make it less awkward. There were so many things they wanted to say, yet couldn’t find the words to say it without it sounding clunky and awkward. Then, Laxus broke the ice. He couldn’t figure out what to say, he wasn’t good at this, wasn’t good at any of this.“You know, I’ve loved you two since the Grand Magic games. When I looked up from that ring with Ivan in the damn wall, I guess… I know it sounds stupid, but I finally felt free to notice you,” he admits, looking at the back of Gajeel’s hair with the finished braid. It was perfect, he’d learnt from years of Evergreen insisting he must know how to braid in case he had kids one day.“You remember when you returned to the guild after banishment?-” Natsu looked over at Laxus as he raised his head curiously- “I realized I couldn’t lose you like that again. Gajeel,-” Natsu shifts his gaze to Gajeel- “it was back in Tartarous. You know, when you fought Torafuzar? I couldn’t stop worrying about if you’d make it back or not. Just as much as I was worried about Lucy.”“Damn that shits all poetic… Do you remember when they marched Sabertooth on crosses when Zeref was trying to get to the old Master? Yeah, all I could think of was you two being on that cross and I realized at that moment why I’d been having all these thoughts about you two.”A morbid tone fell over the trio. All of them had been through too much in the past years that they’d never taken the time to settle down and remember what was truly making them happy. They never took the time to realize they could hold someone in their arms while they were constantly battling everyone in the world. “I’m glad I finally told you two,” Gajeel mumbled, slumping back against Laxus’s chest. “I didn’t realize I could actually have this. I wish I’d told you sooner.”Laxus wrapped his arms around Gajeel, pulling him close and resting his head in the crook of his neck.“We can spend every day regretting but it’ll get us nowhere,” he reminded him, kissing at the soft flesh of his neck.“Lightning butt’s right. We finally told each other, now we get to have our pack and I ain’t never letting this go,” Natsu agreed, nuzzling closer to Lucy. Her sleeping form moved slightly, her head rolling to rest against his chest.“But, we have to get out of here. She’s never going to wake up here.”
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Laxus and Gajeel stare at Natsu with confusion. Both men are slightly baffled at this odd comment since the three of them all woke up just fine. “What do you mean?” Laxus grunts from behind Gajeel, his fingers playing with the loose tendrils of hair that didn’t fit into the braid. “Lucy’s a particular person. It’s odd, but she needs somewhere comfortable to wake up in. And a stuffy guildhall with everyone shouting and going to confront her with billions of questions the moment she wakes up is just going to scare her,” Natsu explains, gently combing his hand through Lucy’s hair. They’d washed everyone’s hair to get the blood out of it, but Lucy’s tended to get knotted when she slept, so he took his time to take out some of the knots. The room fell silent as the other two thought about Natsu’s words. Gajeel leaned back into Laxus and tilted his head upwards.“He’s got a point. All the women here are gonna want to ask her everything when she wakes up. She’s gonna get overwhelmed and we won’t get a scrap of time with our bunny for hours.”Laxus huffed a little. It was late at night and he really, really didn’t want to get up, let alone leave the guildhall. He was comfortably content with Gajeel in his lap. Yet, the words did ring true. He wanted time alone with his new lovers, time to bond and set boundaries before anything more happened. “Okay… you’ve got a point. But where should we go?” he grunts, admitting a silent defeat. His question doesn’t fall on deaf ears, thank god. Natsu’s quick to jump in and ramble out options.“Well, my place is too small for us four. So is Lucy’s. So it’s up to either of you,” he chirps, smiling at his plan being taken to action. “We’re not going to mine,” Gajeel quickly adds with a tone that warns against questioning him. Laxus sighs, long and hard. Of course, it’d fall on him. He had the most space for everyone, it only made sense. “Fine. We can go to mine,” he huffs, standing up and slightly displacing Gajeel. He stalks over to Natsu, stopping at the foot of the bed.“Come on, giver ‘er here.”Natsu blinks at him before narrowing his eyes and curling tighter to Lucy.“This ain’t a fight you’re gonna win. Come on, I’ll carry her. You could barely walk earlier,” he argues, watching as Natsu sighs and releases Lucy.Gajeel walks up to the side of the bed, helping Natsu to stand as Laxus picks up Lucy in his arms bridal style. “You know, this kinda fits his role,” Gajeel comments as Natsu leans against him for support. Laxus gives him a confused look, shifting Lucy in his arms slightly to carry her better. “What do you mean?”“Right, forgot you never had a dragon to teach ya’ as you grew up,” Gajeel apologizes, giving a testing step to see if Natsu could walk. When he couldn’t, he reached over and maneuvered him onto his back. “Dragons have packs. Each pack has roles within it. See, they operate in hierarchies, the top being the one who makes final decisions, protects the pack and handles challenges from other packs. Then the defender and peacekeeper within the brood, the one who keeps watch over those who can lay eggs and makes sure they’re safe, comfortable and without want or need for anything. And, then the one who’s in charge of the hatchlings-” Natsu starts to explain as they walk out of the guildhall. It’s silent right now, everyone’s home sleeping.“But, there’s a final role. A dragon, or in this case, human, who can bring packs together. The Dievinu. This is the highest honour someone can obtain and has only been done once before. She was known for her compassion and bravery, respected by everyone in her brood and other broods, creating peace. No one challenged her, and she used violence as a last resort. She gave every dragon a chance and place to thrive, earning trust through honesty and empathy-” Gajeel explained, cutting off Natsu.“She was beautiful and fair. Igneel said that she was radiant, even creating some peace with humans,” Natsu finishes, giving the back of Gajeel’s head a snarky look as the guild doors open to let them outside.“It sounds like our Lucy,” Laxus whispered, looking down at the woman in his arms, sound asleep. “Mhm. She may be human, but she’s accomplished the same with all the ‘slayers we know of. She’s brought us all together and made us into a small family. She’s our Dievinu,” Natsu hums happily as they follow Laxus towards the outskirts of the city.Our Dievinu? The title sounded so familiar, yet foreign to Laxus. Like he should know exactly who Natsu and Gajeel were talking about, but was missing that core memory. A part of him wished he could’ve known her, the thousands of years ago when she ruled. She sounded like a past reincarnation of his dear Lucy. And if Lucy was the next Dievinu, he swore at that moment he’d stand by her side and keep her safe until he falls on his sword.Laxus’ house was on the border of Magnolia. It stood tall and wide, just enough to hold a large dragon who hosted a few friends now and again. Just large enough for Laxus. He let them in the front door, watching as it swung open to the slightly open concept house.The layout was sporadic, with hidden rooms and doors throughout the house, however, there was a decent couch and dining table with a kitchen island for guests to sit at while Laxus cooked or they watched a movie from his expansive collection. “So, where are we putting her?” Natsu asks as he toes off his shoes and starts to poke around inside the house.Gajeel shrugs, glancing over at Laxus as he tries to balance while taking his shoes off and not setting down Lucy. She’d been asleep so peacefully in his arms that he couldn’t bear to put her down, yet. “You got a spare bed in here?” Gajeel asks, moving to take her from him. Laxus glares at Gajeel’s attempt to remove her from his arms. If he wants to carry someone, he can carry Natsu or wait for his turn when Lucy needs to be carried next. “Can’t guest rooms are dirty. The three don’t clean up, apart from Ever, when they leave. Gonna put her in my room, gotta change the sheets first,” he explains, leaning against the wall.“Then pass her to me. Don’t worry, Natsu and I will keep ‘er safe,” Gajeel assures him, opening his arms to take Lucy once again.Laxus caves and transfers her to Gajeel. She mumbles in her sleep a little as she shifts towards Gajeel instead of him. Laxus leans down and kisses Gajeel’s forehead. “My rooms upstairs, to the right. Just call if ya need me. And don’t go far,” Laxus orders, rolling his shoulders a little when Lucy’s weight is off of him. He walks up the stairs as Gajeel and Natsu start to chatter amongst themselves with Lucy on the couch.After Laxus is up the stairs and disappeared into one of the rooms, Natsu starts to search for a movie to watch while they wait. He digs through the tv stand, the bookcases in the living room, even the cupboards in the kitchen (which as surprisingly empty), to no avail. He can’t find a single DVD anywhere. This is odd because every time Laxus goes on a mission he brings back another one. “Hey, you mind watching Lucy while I go look for a movie? I know they’re around here somewhere,” Natsu asks, already moving to the hallway that leads further throughout the house. Gajeel grunts, settling down on the couch next to the still sleeping Lucy.“Knock yourself out,” he says as he pulls Lucy’s head into his lap.Natsu scurries off down the hall, opening door after door in hopes to find the elusive movie collection. He’s just about to give up hope when he opens a large wooden door and finds a collection that would make movie connoisseurs drool. The walls are slightly higher here, and there are shelves reaching up to the ceiling. Each shelf is filled with movies or holds a bookend to keep the stack upright. They’re all alphabetical and Natsu’s eyes scan over a few titles, picking out some of his favourites on the shelves. The Road to El Dorado, The Hobbit, Howl’s Moving Castle, the entire Star Wars anthology… it’s all there. The walls without shelves have limited edition posters on them, and the middle of the room has a large, square leather couch set into the floor facing a huge plasma TV.“Holy shit…” Natsu whispers, completely oblivious to the presence that’s just walked up behind him as he drags his fingers across the case’s spines. “Are you always this curious?” Laxus whispers, standing behind him and dragging his fingers down Natsu’s spine.Natsu shivers at the motion as Laxus’ hand snakes lower down until it’s cupping his ass. He leans backwards, resting his head on Laxus’ shoulder.“Always.” He smirks, rolling his hips a little into Laxus’ hand. A devilish smile spreads across Natsu’s lips as Laxus leans down and nibbles at Natsu’s neck. An arm traps him between Laxus and the bookshelf.“You know, I was going to show you my hoard anyways. All you had to do was have patience,” he mumbles into Natsu’s skin, his hand pushing past the band of Natsu’s pants in the front and cupping his dick through his underwear. A soft breath escapes Natsu’s lips at those words. This is his hoard… his treasure beyond value for courting mates. And now, he’s caught inside the room all alone. He wonders silently how far he can push him here before Gajeel comes looking. “I’m never patient,” Natsu tests, bucking his hips into the soft caresses on his growing erection. He leans to the side noticing the bare arm next to his face. He opens his mouth, biting across the flesh. It’s more of an instinct, but damn does it feel good to do.Laxus growls at the marking and takes it as a hint to do it himself. He starts biting around Natsu’s neck. Natsu gasps a little from the pressure as Laxus moves his hand around back to his ass, teasing at the soft skin that dips down in a valley. “Careful with your words or you’re going to send the wrong message,” Laxus wars, returning to worrying at Natsu’s neck as he massages Natsu’s ass with his hand. “Seems to be the right message to me,” Natsu retorts, rocking back just as Laxus’ hand shifts so he presses one of the calloused fingers to the tight ring of muscles there.Laxus grunts, picking him up with ease and pushing him down into the couch pit in the middle of the room. Natsu’s facing the tv, he catches a glimpse of the closed door in the reflection of the TV.“Movie?” Laxus demands, standing at the shelves. It takes all of Natsu’s brain to blurt out a title:“Treasure Planet!”Laxus gives a satisfied noise as he takes the movie off the shelf and pops it into the player. As it starts up, bypassing the selection screen and jumping right into the movie, Natsu can feel the couch sink down behind him. He’s suddenly hyper-aware of being on his hands and knees as Laxus drags his fingers across the waistband to his pants. The first scene of Jim as a kid passes by quickly as all he can focus on his Laxus’ hand roaming across his body, toying with him. He’s on his dick during the beginning fight scene, moving to his hair when Jim’s talking to his mom. It’s killing him as the touches across his dick are fleeting and he almost makes a choked when the scene switches to an older Jim sailing and Natsu squeezes his semi with force.Fingers are at his mouth as he’s being pushed down to keep his ass in the air. He happily takes them in his mouth, running his tongue all over them to coat them. Laxus lets out a dark chuckle behind him as he reaches over the top of Natsu to grab a small bottle out of the compartment in front of him. His pants are pushed down to his knees and the movie goes fuzzy. Well, at least for him. He can barely focus as cold lube is drizzled onto his ass and the scent of cedarwood mixed with vanilla fills the room. Their mixed scents pull Natsu further into a haze as he feels two fingers push into him, stretching him out. Laxus works him until he’s satisfied with the hazed mess underneath him. His cock is already hanging heavy in his pants, trapped by the unforgiving red-fabric. He ruts forward slightly, brushing his erection against Natsu’s thigh and earning a satisfying gasp from the smaller man. He undoes his belt, allowing it to drop to his knees with his boxer-briefs. He takes a little more of the lube, spreading it across his dick and making sure he’s coated it enough so Natsu can take it. “You doing okay?” he whispers, tracing his hand up Natsu’s body towards the mess of pink hair on his head. He doesn’t want to take advantage of this daze, as much as he wants too, he needs that consent. He can’t hurt him. “Better than okay…” Natsu mumbles into the blankets, trying to focus on the movie playing in front of him as his dick bobs between his legs, dripping onto the blankets underneath him. “Relax for me,” Laxus orders, pressing the head of his cock to the tight ring of muscles. He may have stretched him out, but he was still big, bigger than average. Much bigger. And he didn’t even know if he was going to fit inside the small man. Natsu bites his lip at the order, shifting his legs further apart as Laxus pushes inside him. He’s tight, forcing Laxus to grip at his ass in a way sure to leave marks to steady himself from ramming into him. He works his hips back and forth steadily, taking it slow as a hiss from underneath him melts into a moan. When he’s fully seated, he gives Natsu a moment to adjust as the muscles contract around him. It’s velvety, smooth and warm as Natsu flexes around him. He waits until Natsu gets antsy, wiggling backwards in hopes Laxus would move.He draws all the way out, until just the heads inside him, drawing a needy whine from Natsu’s lips as well. He chuckles darkly before slamming all the way back in, earning a well-deserved moan from the other man. He continues to do this until Natsu’s begging him for more. He happily obliges, adjusting the angle ever so slightly to find that tight ball of nerves inside Natsu. When he hits it, a high pitched moan squeaks from Natsu’s lips, rewarding him. He pumps his hips back and forth, hitting against that ball of nerves, earning a new moan of pleasure from the other man on each thrust. It’s music to his ears, and he rocks back and forth like that as the movie plays on in front of them. A hand snakes down, wrapping around Natsu’s dick that’s now hanging heavily and forming a sizeable puddle underneath him. He pumps back and forth, adding to the stimulation of hitting against his prostate each time. It overwhelms the other man, so much so that he melts underneath Laxus, only keeping his ass up from Laxus holding him. Feeling the tight core of muscles forming in the pit of his stomach, Laxus leans down, biting at his neck, leaving sizeable marks and hickeys that would probably last for a few days. When the pressure inside Natsu snapped, he groaned loudly as he spilled across his chest, Laxus’ hand and the blankets below. Laxus bit down hard at his skin, drawing a small amount of blood as the smaller man squeezed tightly around him, bringing him over with him. He spilled inside of Natsu as the two of them collapsed in a panting mess. Laxus rolls to the side so he doesn’t squish the smaller man.“That was… fuck…” Natsu mumbled through pants as Laxus pulled out of him and he can feel the cum dripping between his ass cheeks. “You’re pretty good…” Laxus replies unintelligibly. Both men are out of breath and perfectly content in laying there for a few moments to catch their breath.Then a scream of fear rips through the house and both of them shoot to their feet. Natsu cringes next to him as he frantically pulls his pants up. Laxus offers him a hand but he’s brushed off as Natsu takes off down the hallway back towards the source of the scream.Laxus is hot on his heels as both of them reach the living room. They’re greeted with an almost comical scene. Lucy is now fully awake and shaking a sleeping Gajeel who must’ve dozed off when they left him alone. “Luce! Luce chill! He’s just asleep,” Natsu tries to explain as he pulls her off of Gajeel. Gajeel, who just had the rudest awakening of his life, is rubbing his eyes and looking around in confusion.“But… but he…” Lucy whimpers quietly, jumping a little as all three dragons heads whip around to her at the noise. Gajeel’s pulling her into his lap before anyone else can move, running his fingers through her hair. Natsu and Laxus sit on opposite sides of the pair, adding to the awkward couch cuddle puddle. “Relax… we’re alive. We’re all alive,” Natsu mumbles softly to her, rubbing her arm in circular movements.“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on ya bunny,” Gajeel apologizes as Lucy slumps against his chest.“Please don’t do that again… You scared me,” Lucy admits, hugging around Gajeel’s middle. “Don’t worry sweets. The next time someone’s sleepin’ next ta ya will be at night. At a reasonable time with a reasonable explanation,” Laxus promises, kissing the top of her head gently.“Thank you,” she whispers into Gajeel’s chest.“Of course, Luce,” Natsu hums behind her, head resting on her shoulder.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
They took the next little while to explain to Lucy what had happened and why they were in Laxus’ house. She saw the logic in their explanation and didn’t need to question them further. Her stomach growled loudly, spreading blush across her face as she skittered away to find something in the kitchen to eat or prepare. As the slayers moved to follow her, Gajeel caught Laxus’ arm to stop him.“What?” Laxus grunted, looking over at the smirking iron slayer. “You left the movie playing and your shirt untucked,” he comments, letting go of his arm and following after Lucy and Natsu. Laxus stood there for a moment before turning and trudging back to his hoard to shut off the movie right as it started to get to the best part. In the kitchen, Lucy was opening cupboard after cupboard, searching for anything besides junk food. Having snacks was fine, but she had yet to find decent food to cook anything suitable for dinner. Gajeel was leaning against an already checked cupboard, watching as Natsu helped Lucy when Laxus returned.“Laxus -” Lucy turned to him, hands on her hips- “do you have anything actually edible in this house?”Laxus rubbed the back of his neck, trying to recall the last time he bought anything to cook. When he drew a blank, he simply shrugged.
“No clue. Usually eat take out or let the Raijinshuu buy groceries,” he supplies, leaning next to Gajeel. Lucy huffed in defeat, grabbing a blank sheet of note-paper off the side of the fridge. She collected a pen from a container next to it and settled down on a stool at the island. Ink spilled across the page as she mumbled to herself. Natsu sat down next to her, pointing out a few things as well. Gajeel and Laxus stared dumbfoundedly at the two of them. “Uh, bunny? What you doin’?” Gajeel asked, trying to lean closer to see what was on the list that Lucy had started writing.“Making a grocery list,” she simply states, jotting down ‘stew meat’ when Natsu says it out loud. Laxus reached down, taking the pen from her hand and earning an annoyed “hey!”.
“Oh no, you don’t. You just woke up, give yourself time to recover before you leave again,” he orders, holding the pen away from Lucy.“I am not waiting until tomorrow just to buy groceries. If I can’t go, one of you can,” she argues, trying to reach for the pen. Laxus is just about to argue right back when Gajeel takes the pen from his hand and gives it back to Lucy.“Bunnies right, we need groceries. She can stay here with Natsu and you and I can go get them,” he reasons, shooting Laxus a look that tells him to let it go.Laxus sighs, backing off a little.
“Okay fine. But don’t make it too long, we can buy more later,” he huffs in defeat, leaning against the island and watching as Lucy finalizes the list. He can feel Gajeel’s hand on his back, rubbing small reassuring circles as he scans the list. It’s long and complicated and Laxus doesn’t know where to even start, let alone how to get everything. But, he doesn’t show it to her, putting on false confidence as he nods while she tells him where to go in the city.“I know where to go,” he lies, kissing her forehead. Lucy flushes a little at the gesture as he grabs his coat. Just as he’s about to leave with Gajeel, she pulls them both back, pressing a kiss to each of their cheeks.
“Be safe, keep out of trouble,” she requests giving them a dazzling smile.Gajeel ruffles her hair a little.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure sparkles doesn’t get lost,” he assures her, waving to the pair as they walk down Laxus’ drive. When they finally disappear from sight, Lucy shuts the door. Natsu is behind her, scenting her neck with a scent that Lucy can only describe as lavender and vanilla. It’s comforting, foreign yet familiar. She leans back against him with a smile and allows herself to be pinned against the door. Maybe it was worth it to take that leap of faith…Laxus really doesn’t know where to start and it becomes blatantly obvious when he stops at the front of the market. He’s looking around with wide eyes at the stalls that seem to go on forever. Gajeel lets out a chuckle next to him.“You really never done this before, have you?” he observes, reaching down to take the list from Laxus’ hand. Laxus looks down at him and shyly nods. Transparency is something rare with him, so Gajeel takes it in stride rather than teasing him on it.
“Come on then, I’ll show you the ropes,” he says, scanning over the list and heading towards the first stall. “Okay,” Laxus mumbles, and Gajeel barely hears him. A smile is spread across both of their faces as they walk down the street, stopping at different stalls to collect all the groceries that Lucy asked for. Laxus carries them while Gajeel buys them with their combined funds. Laxus seemingly has a lot more jewels than Gajeel does and explains that since he can take larger and more dangerous missions with the Raijinshuu tribe he’s paid more. This relaxes Gajeel’s stinginess and allows him to buy the higher quality items as opposed to the ones he usually buys for himself and Pantherlily.They’re in the middle of the market when they bump into two people who’ve just walked into the street. It doesn’t put anyone on their ass, but it does get the other two to turn around to them. They come face to face with Erza and Jellal.“Oh! Well if it isn’t two of the love birds! How’s Natsu and Lucy doing?” Erza chuckles, brushing off the incident as the mistake it was. “They’re doing better. Lucy woke up today,” Gajeel supplies as she nods along happily.“That’s good. I’m glad they finally told each other, my pockets are a little fuller today,” she jokes, patting the small red pouch she held in one hand. It clinked from the pat. Laxus raised an eyebrow at her and Jellal as Jellal cracked a smile. “How much did you win?” Gajeel asks, already getting the implication and curious to see just how expensive of a bet they’d managed to accumulate. Erza chuckles, wrapping an arm around Jellal’s midsection and pulling him close. He blushes profusely at the simple gesture.
“Enough to fund a high-class reservation and bet a little more,” she states proudly and Laxus finally takes note of the more expensive and well-put-together clothes that they both are sporting.“Well, congratulations. I was wondering when you two would finally go out,” Gajeel says. Erza beams a little more at the comment as Jellal flushes even more. “Yup! But don’t you tell anyone, I want to keep it a secret that he’s back in town for just a little while longer. Give us enough time to enjoy our date,” Erza explains, as Gajeel and Laxus nod their heads.“Don’t worry, we’re just gettin’ groceries,” Laxus grunts with a knowing smile on his lips. “Well, we won’t keep you from your date. Better get going to make those reservations,” Gajeel urges, patting Erza on the shoulder.Erza nods, squeezing Jellal’s side a little.
“Take care you two. Tell Natsu and Lucy I said hi,” she says over her shoulder as she steers Jellal away, towards one of the more high-class restaurants of Magnolia that held a beach view patio. Perfect for enjoying the sunset. Gajeel hummed as he returned to grocery shopping with Laxus. They stood a little closer together, Gajeel’s hand brushing against Laxus’s elbow or shoulder every once and a while as he steered the taller man around the market. They almost ran into a few other people, waving ‘hello’ to Gray and Juvia as the pair crossed their path in relaxed attire. Neither duo stopped, so they pressed on. Eventually, they had all the groceries on Lucy’s list. However, by the time they finished, it was getting late into the night. A little too late to cook anything without someone whining from hunger. So, they picked up three fresh pizza’s from one of the local street stalls. They smelt delicious, the scent wafting inside the house as the two finally reached Laxus’ home. They decided to eat inside Laxus’ hoard room once all the groceries were put away in their respective locations. Lucy was more than happy to curl up in between Natsu and Laxus as the four of them put on a random movie. After all the food was devoured, they spread out a little bit more, melting into each other. The relaxed state didn’t last long and they found themselves tangled together as the movie was forgotten, left playing in the background to provide a soundtrack to the subtle moans and grunts.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Lucy yawned, stretching out the best she could thanks to the weight around her hips. Opening her eyes she glanced around the darkroom. She caught the blond hair of Laxus from where he’d curled up around Natsu, and found the weight around her hips was Gajeel spooning her from behind. With a soft smile, she moved his arms, wiggling her way out of the hold.“Mm, where ya goin’ bunny?” Gajeel grumbled, sleepily trying to pull Lucy back as he sat up in bed.“It’s morning. Someone’s gotta cook breakfast,” Lucy whispered, rolling her eyes at the sluggish dragon as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead.“It’s too early… wake me up when the foods ready,” Gajeel grumbled, leaning forwards and kissing Lucy on the lips before flopping back down onto the bed.Beside them, Laxus stirred, sitting up and stretching his arms out. Lucy watched the way his muscles flexed and tensed as he yawned. It wasn’t the usual longing she’d had just a few days ago, it was pure admiration. The simple fact of Laxus being her’s to stare at and admire.“I’ll give you a hand,” Laxus grunted as he stood up from the bed, grabbing a t-shirt from one of his drawers.Lucy smiled, snuggling up to Laxus’ side as he wrapped his arm around her and steered her out of the room. Behind them, Gajeel had rolled over and curled up to Natsu, who simply mumbled and snuggled closer to Gajeel.The duo entered the kitchen at the same time. Lucy was already pulling out eggs and other ingredients to make omelettes as Laxus stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. She glanced over at him, attempting to form a thought on what he could do.“Laxus, put some music on,” she finally instructed, watching as the relief flooded his face on an order of what to do. He was quick to move around the kitchen, plugging the stereo system in and tuning it to a station. Music filled the kitchen as Lucy waved him over to demonstrate how to properly make an omelette. They were well into cooking when Natsu and Gajeel finally made their way into the kitchen. Gajeel sat down at the island while Natsu moved behind Lucy, putting his head on her chin and trying to get a good look at what she was doing."Something smells good,” he compliments, yawning a little bit at the end of the sentence."We’re making omelettes!” Lucy chirped, proudly putting emphasis on ‘we’re’ while gesturing to Laxus. He was charged with preparing the ingredients while Lucy cooked.“Smells great,” Natsu hums, nuzzling the crook of her neck. Lucy reached up and ran her fingers through his soft pink locks. She was humming along to the music as she plated the first omelette and turned around to give it to Natsu.He took it with gratitude, making his way over to the island with a smug look on his face as he stuck his tongue out at Gajeel in an expression that only read “I got the first one”. Lucy watched as he walked off, a puzzled look on her face as her eye caught a small yellow detail just above the collar of his plaid pyjama shirt.“Natsu…-” Lucy walked over to the island- “what do you have on your neck?” she asked as she pulled down his shirt collar. Around his neck was a winding yellow dragon. It resembled a scarf of some sort with the way it was curled around his neck like it was protecting it’s hoard.Gajeel looked up and simply shrugged.“It’s just a mate mark. Means that both of ya see each other as partners,” he explained nonchalantly. “We should all have three.”Lucy blinked at him. Laxus had made his way over and was running his fingers across Natsu’s neck. He shivered at the touch against the mark, his face flushed dark red. He looked like he was going to cream his pants from the slightest touch. Laxus started to lean down to lick his neck.“Okay give him a break! Eat your damn breakfast and then torture him, geez,” Gajeel lectured, batting Laxus away from Natsu’s neck. Once everyone had finished cooking and eating, they retreated to the master bedroom. The curiosity had started slowly killing everyone so they were quick to strip down and find their marks. Helping each other out, and making use of the very large mirror on one of the walls, they mapped out the intricate markings on each other. Apart from the winding electric dragon around Natsu’s neck, he also had a large black dragon with metal platings wrapping from his side and onto his left pec, as well as a large celestial key on the inner part of his left forearm. Gajeel had equally interact patternings, a large red dragon was wrapped all the way up his right leg, plumes of fire from its mouth across his inner thigh, as well as a huge yellow dragon, snaked around his sides and ribs, finished with a celestial key on the back of his neck. Laxus’s body was marked in an interesting way as well. His right bicep (opposite to his guild mark) was covered in two dragons, one red and one black, intertwined around each other, on his back was a very large celestial key, stretching the length of his spine.Lucy by far had the largest marks, all three of the dragons. Around her torso, just under her breasts with its head snaking up between them spouting lightning bolts, A large red dragon snaked up from her left shoulder blade, curling its head across the top of her collarbone, finally, a large black dragon curled up the side of her right thigh and hip, it’s head wrapped around the yellow dragon’s tail.“These are gorgeous…” Lucy whispered, running her fingers over the detailed dragons.Laxus nuzzled Lucy’s neck from behind, his hands placed over the yellow dragon.“Mhm… yours is gorgeous as well,” he hummed.Lucy turned around, giving him a questioning look.“What do you mean?”“You’ve got a mark too,” he says, his hands resting on her hips now.“Can I… can I see?” she asked quietly, her lips pressed together.“Here sweets,” Gajeel mumbles, moving his hair back to show her they key on the back of his neck. A gasp escapes Lucy’s lips as her fingers trail over the mark. Aquarius’s key is staring back at her. “This is… this is Aquarius’s key…” A small pained whimper left Lucy’s lips the longer she stared longer at the mark. It just hurts to see the key again, after so many battles without her… it was like the gods were teasing her. Telling her she had a good thing that she didn’t deserve.All three of the ‘slayers head’s whipped around to where Lucy was from the whimper. It was rather difficult for Gajeel though as he nearly whacked her in the face with his hair. As if in silence agreement, the three of them moved as one. Laxus picked her up, bringing her over to the large bed. Natsu retrieved as many snacks as he could. And Gajeel brought over a mountain of blankets. The fragile celestial gatekeeper was quickly guarded by three menacing dragons, all trying to make her feel better. The other two were a little more confused as to why the key held significance to her. They knew that she’d sacrificed it to survive during tartarous, but they were never told how significant it was. Natsu filled them in as quickly and quietly as he could, which only produced another wail from Lucy. The day was quickly determined to be strictly for comforting Lucy. However, that didn’t mean it was all crying. When she eventually calmed down once more, the cuddle puddle turned into a den of sexual relief. Filled with spilled fears about being truly loved by the others, it could only be described as making love. That is how they spent the rest of their week. Cuddling and revelling in each other’s company after such a long time of pining and frustration. They’d occasionally slip out for training in the yard, or move down to watching movies in Laxus’s hoard. The look on Lucy’s face when she saw what his hoard looked was reward enough for Laxus. Thankfully, it didn’t take any explanation For her to know what a hoard was. After the second week, they lost count of how many days they’d spent lounging around and finally being able to hold each other.