Chapter Text
"Hurgh!"
Orga went tumbling. Laxus' latest punch somehow seemed to have hit even harder than usual. Skidding with his back to the dirt, Orga raised a hand as a signal of surrender.
"Enough! I give!"
Laxus halted his assault, the hand he'd thrown to cast another spell now extended down towards him to help him up. Orga took it and allowed him to pull himself to his feet.
Both men were starting to purple with bruises along their bodies. He was going to have to get some healing magic applied when he got back to Sabertooth, that was for sure. He was amazed at how Laxus seemed to outlast him every time, even though he clearly felt the hits. And his own punches hit like a truck, too. It was amazing to have someone around that he could consider a real peer, even if he was technically stronger. No one except Laxus ever dueled him for this long. It helped that Laxus enjoyed their battles as much as he did: it was the only way he could feel the pain of electric shock, and that was what truly made it amazing, given that he was at such a disadvantage.
"That was a good one," Laxus said, breathing heavily, "We've been at this for a good forty minutes, I think."
"Longest session yet." Orga said, rubbing his aching shoulder where the last punch had landed. "One of these days, it'll be me pulling you up."
"Dream on." Laxus answered with a smirk. "I'm gonna go get showered and cleaned up. Meet me for drinks at the bar around the corner in a half hour."
Orga nodded and turned to leave. It was their typical arrangement. Go a few rounds until they couldn't anymore, take a little while to fix themselves up, and then chat the evening away over a few beers. It was simple, but he liked it.
It didn't take him long to get back to his hotel room and get cleaned up. Since Fairy Tail and Sabertooth were guilds that were rather far away from each other, the two of them chose a hotel situated in the rough midpoint, usually when one of them had a job in that town and was going to be there anyway. After a good fifteen-minute soak and scrub, Orga was drying off and dragging on one of his over-sized shirts that he only ever wore for these occasions. He wouldn't bother, except bar patrons kept asking if he needed medical attention if he walked in bare-chested with all the evidence of their sparring session exposed to prying eyes.
Clothed and on his way, he reached inside his pocket, confirming his wallet was there and pulling out the small lacrima used for mobile communications there. It was small and rectangular, like a notepad, and with it, one could access the news, the weather, and the thoughts of people commenting on such by accessing a communal version of Super Archive kept running by the Magic Council. Orga tapped the holographic buttons and searched his own name.
'Is Orga Nanagear stronger than Sting Eucliffe'
'Does Orga Nanagear have a cat'
'Orga Nanagear versus Warcry'
He quickly closed the holo-application. He had already reached the reports about his participation in the X791 Grand Magic Games, so there was nothing new worth checking out. A blow to his esteem, but not one he wouldn't survive. He sighed and kept moving until he reached the bar where it was his turn to pay for drinks.
"You okay, man? You're quieter than usual."
Orga's attention snapped back onto Laxus. He wasn't sure how to respond, given that Laxus asking a question like that was unusual. He was friendly enough, but had never shown any concern for Orga that he could remember, not even in their most one-sided fights. Was he really being that quiet today?
"Uh, yeah. I'm alright. Just a little tired from the fight, is all."
The glance Laxus shot him lasted only a second, but Orga still felt like it was too long for comfort, even if he was grateful that immediately after, he was back to sipping his vodka. Appearing sensitive in front of Laxus was something that wouldn't stand.
He wasn't being quiet out of any disinterest in conversation, it was just that he'd been trying to listen to nearby conversations. Laxus always generated them when he was in any public area. The SA search from before was still on his mind, and he'd wanted to see if anyone had anything to say about the big buff islander-looking guy that had walked in with one of Fiore's most prestigious wizards. But he didn't have the enhanced senses of a dragonslayer, so it had been hard to pick up on anything. Now that he'd been caught though, he needed to get back into the chatter.
"Yeah, I've taken jobs like that before, too..."
It was easy enough. Laxus was a laid-back enough guy that talking with him came easily, and he seemed pretty friendly. He didn't really know why the bartenders looked like he might eat them whenever he walked in. It was possible, of course, that he simply wasn't usually like that. Orga himself never talked quite as much with anyone else, either, and he knew it had earned him a reputation for being stoic and impassive. He enjoyed a good brawl as much as the next guy, and possibly a good bit moreso, but the parts after their sparring sessions were the ones he liked more for that.
He liked it best when the topic turned to Laxus himself. There was always something new to learn about him, whereas if the conversation ever turned to his own self, it tended to peter out. It wasn't to say his sparring partner hadn't tried; Orga just didn't have a lot about himself that he thought made for good conversation. So far, he had learned that Laxus had a secret love for motorcycles, that his taste in music was excellent, that his affinity for cats was unfortunately nil (this had made him question his choices of friendship, of course), and that he'd been drinking Pergrandi-style drinks since he was a teenager and it had lent him an excellently high tolerance for alcohol in his adulthood--this one was impressive, but not so great for Orga on his turns to pay the bar tab, like now.
It always felt, like it did today, that the sun set too quickly when they met up. Laxus had offered him out for the night life a few times, and Orga was not sure why he kept declining. He'd never done much clubbing, so for all he knew, he might have a great time. But spending too much time away from Sabertooth when he wasn't on a job felt selfish. And even that, he wasn't sure why. So he always did what he was doing now, standing up and cutting their meet-up short with a thank-you for the good fight before heading home.
"Alright man, see you around."
The chatter in the guild hall of Sabertooth was much louder than that of the bar he'd come back from. Orga was sitting in a corner, glances switching from Frosch, sitting adorably there in Rogue's arms some distance away, and the SA lacrima in his hands. He had walked in through the front door, having long since collected his things from the hotel and removed the shirt he'd had on. Unlike the bar patrons, he didn't have to worry about anyone asking about the bruises on his body here. None of them paid him the slightest attention, caught up as they were in Sting's recent success on some mission he'd gone on solo. Hell, Sting had answered his congratulations with a bone-crushing hug that admittedly kind of hurt in his current state.
He kept flicking through various forms of news and commentary on the SA. He didn't know why he was so...was he unhappy? Was that it? The usual solitude did not suit him so nicely today. Sighing to himself as his eyes roved across the crowd of people drinking and partying, he decided to search something different. He was not entirely sure it would make him feel better, but he decided to type in the words 'Laxus Dreyar'. Unlike last time, what came up was not a list of search results, but his contacts list, momentarily surprising him.
Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Rufus, and Laxus were the only people on it. Compared to the other three, Laxus had by far the most calls. Rufus had the very distant second-most, and he had never called Minerva at all. He wondered if he should try and contact Laxus. It would get him questioned, of course. He'd be asked why he was calling if he wanted to talk when they could've been doing so in person. No, he shouldn't. Laxus probably had other things to do, and would call if he wanted to, right?
"Those bruises look bad. You must have trained hard."
Orga nearly jumped out of his skin. The voice coming from his immediate left belonged to Yukino. It was the first time someone had sought him out in ages.
"Oh, uhh. They're not so bad." he said, still recovering. "They're worth it for all the progress."
"I hope you show it to us soon." she said, in her tiny, too-polite voice. "Sabertooth does love to show off its strength!"
"I'll... Yeah, I'm gonna, real soon." Orga answered. She was so much smaller than him. He'd never spoken much to Yukino, but now that she was here, he was happy to try. "What about you? Do you train a lot with your spirits?"
"I train with them daily." Yukino confirmed. She reached into her pocket and showed off her keychain, on which were several silver keys and three gold ones, one wrapped in a dark metal wire in the shape of a snake.
"Umm..."
"Yes?"
"Well, how?" Orga asked. He was curious as to how one improved the combat capabilities of spirits. As he understood it, their magical attributes were static and unchanging in comparison to wizards. "Train with them, I mean?"
"I practice with my link to them and stretching its effects." she answered, storing the keys back in her pocket. "How long I can keep their gate open, how much of my magic I can supplement them with, and so forth. I also practice by hunting down more keys. Wizards like us benefit from having as many contracts we can take advantage of as possible."
"That's really cool." Orga answered honestly. "Do you have any new contracts?"
"A couple." Yukino said. "Not suited for combat, but useful and very personable all the same. I'm currently on the hunt for a very elusive key representing one of the brightest stars. No luck so far, but I hope I can find it and form an agreement with the spirit bonded to it."
Orga's knowledge of the sky and its heavenly bodies was very limited, so he had no idea of what she could mean by 'brightest star', nor did he think he'd be much help in her self-assigned quest. But he wished her well all the same.
"Well," he said, "if you need any help dealing with a troublesome spirit, just give me a call, okay? I can be persuasive." he said, flexing one of his massive arms. Yukino smiled.
"I'll be sure to remember that. I should probably get back to it, then. Have a nice night, Orga." she said.
She turned and walked away, and Orga's own smile faltered before he'd even realized it was on his face. And just like that, he was alone again.