Chapter Text
All of Fairy Tail knew Laxus had never been one to show physical attention. He despised his grandfather ruffling his hair when he was a teen. He rarely let anyone not part of the thunder legion even touch him. When anyone did manage to grab him, he often retaliated violently if possible. After all, he wasn't going to crush Lucy into the ground, lest he receives the retaliation of not only her and his own teammates but his own morals as well. The only way you'd get him to actively contact you is with a fight; even then, that wasn't a guarantee as he might just strike you with lightning from afar or take you out with his roar.
Natsu was another story, however. Everyone knew he was a very touchy individual with his heart on his sleeve. You'd usually catch him cozied up with Happy, a smile on his face as they talked about fish and food. An arm around Lucy as he begged her to let him fight one or all of her celestial spirits. Swapping fists with Gray as they called each other many (creative) insults that could make a nun faint. Giving Wendy a piggy-back ride and making stupid noises to cause her to laugh until she couldn't breathe. His head on Erza's chest or lap when he slept on the many vehicles they rode on (after Erza knocked him out). He loved interacting with others; not one person in Fairy Tail can say that Natsu hasn't touched them at least once.
Naturally, their personalities clash horribly. It's on more than one occasion that Laxus has sent Natsu to the pavement for jumping on him or trying to touch him. Natsu, however, never stops trying to get close to him.
So excuse Erza and Evergreen for taking the worst-case scenario into mind when they found Natsu draped over Laxus as he sat at the bar. The blonde wasn't moving as Natsu chatted directly into his ear, probably talking about how he was gonna beat him in battle or something of the like. Erza immediately stood up from the table and went to get Wendy so she could heal the idiot when Laxus inevitably sent him reeling. Evergreen ran to do damage control with Laxus before he could clobber the mage, which, in most cases, was useless as she was too late. When Laxus didn't immediately retaliate, however, Evergreen stopped, stunned that she was going to make it. Erza walked to her when she also noticed.
They shared a look and walked over, afraid something was wrong.
What they found was Laxus with a small content smile on his face as Natsu ranted about the different tastes of fire. The girl's shock was apparent on their faces when they looked at each other. Rarely did Laxus make small talk with any of the guild members that wasn't Lucy, seeing as he viewed her as a sister for some reason. So finding those two together like this was surely a shock.
Evergreen turned to face the redhead and gave her a sly smile. Her fingers twisted together, then she pointed at the boys with a sly smirk. Erza stifled her laughter and nodded with a gleam in her eye. Together they closed the last few feet in between them and the boys.
Erza's smile changed to a more gentle one as she grabbed the back of the fire dragon slayer's jacket, while Evergreen sat on the stool next to Laxus. Erza's heart broke a little when the dragon suddenly stopped talking and looked back at her with genuine fear in her eyes. She put her finger on her lips in the universal sign for silence and hugged him to her chest (Natsu thanked whatever god there was that she wasn't wearing armor). She hauled the fire dragon away, yelling about how she was gonna treat him to the best cake in all of Magnolia. She was glad to see his bright smile was back on his face.
Meanwhile, Laxus's body stiffened as Evergreen sat down next to him. The familiar warmth on his back was suddenly simultaneously gone as well. He turned in case he needed to protect Natsu, only to watch Erza comfort Natsu. He relaxed, turning to Evergreen as she began to babble about some catalog she saw in this month's Sorcerer's Weekly.
Both boys suddenly felt an aura of disappointment wash over them. They turned slowly to see their team's fairy looking at them intensely.
"If you're gonna hide it. Maybe don't get so cuddly with each other in public."