#(like my love for the mages guild and how frustrated i get with them and their idiocy

[bam-monsterhospital]

You would think with time being a sentient force and the meddling of daedra then clocks wouldn't exist cuz magic can bend the fuck out of it

aHAHAHA. this is a good point!

I'll argue for clocks to be present because of the wacky bullshit all the time shenanigans (which are integral to the elderscrolls universe) would pull on those things.

like oh the clock is just wildly spinning for no reasons? WELP, looks like we're in the midst of another time-break, mattieu motierre ol buddy o pal 'o mine.

the technology -non magical AND magical- is there, the assumption that they exist is there, gIB CLOCKS.

it's kinda funny that first place you can get your own crafting designs for clocks is in the dlc with the time-manipulation wizards.

[galeorderbride]

The Forest For The Trees - Fic Request (Gale x F!Tav)

A Gale smut piece requested by one of my OG readers @meglet1. Thank you so much for the request and for being you in general!! I seriously hope you like what I’ve written for you <3

18+ MDNI (This is SMUT/tags below)

Summary:

After Tav is nearly killed in a fight at Rivington Beach, Gale lets his fear get the best of him and a new couple spat ensues. Leading to a peaceful resolution :)

Tags: PiV sex, semi-public sex, inappropriate use of mage hand, oral sex (m and f receiving, including some choking), words of praise/encouragement, creampie, fingering (vaginal & anal), multiple orgasms, self-indulgent, some references to Tav having body issues.

Word count: 4.7K

Mind the tags, everyone. Fic below the cut:

“I decided to choose you and live, then you go off and almost get yourself killed!”

Gale wasn’t the type to air out his issues in front of everyone, but this time, he couldn’t shake the nervous energy off. Panic and anxiety of balancing on an uneven precipice, powerless. Just days ago, he chose to stay with Tav instead of doing as Mystra commanded him, deep in that haunting colony, where the Elder Brain resided and, because he decided to live, remained a threat to the entire Sword Coast.

Less than an hour ago, he and Tav returned from the beaches of Rivington with their companions. Running into a gaggle of rival gangs ready to slaughter each other. The guild, run by the infamous Nine Fingers Keene, and the new recruits of this Stone Lord everyone was talking about. Gale cared little for whose alliance went where. Not when Tav had decided to intervene right in the middle of things, doing her best to settle scores and ending up having to fight both of them.

In the crossfire, Tav was hit with an electrified weapon, a hammer imbued with thunderous damage effects that nearly killed her with the impact against her spine. Knocked down, she spent the remainder of the fight unconscious, no one having time to revive her until they’d finished the fight. Across a landscape of crime syndicate corpses, Gale watched with intensity as Shadowheart struggled to revive her. The image of her near dissolved heartbeat still aching within him, harsher than the orb. Gasping for breath at the last second when he thought he lost her forever.

She’d regained balance quickly, the powerful healing of Selune now imbued within Shadowheart’s fingers, even if she hadn’t quite gotten to admit it yet. Tav was walking normally, a little fatigued but nothing more than that. Which gave Gale the opportunity to stop being worried for her welfare and be upset instead.

“Do you know how close you came to death? How much I worried Shadowheart wouldn’t revive you? All for a bunch of criminals who would’ve cared for the dirt under their boots more than you!�� Gale exclaimed as he paced around the hay shed at their camp outside Rivington. Tav followed, arms across her chest as she tried to contain a frustrated sigh.

“I wasn’t trying to get all of them against us. How many times has convincing people to cool their heads worked on this journey? Times we never expected! I didn’t think this would be an exception,” she replied, her voice soft but assertive in her own defense.

“That’s what happens when you expect things to work in your favour! We can never assume anything is an absolute certainty, and I’ve been saying this from the beginning. I know it’s in your nature to stick your neck out for people, but do recall that I gave up on what might be the heaviest task of my life so I could be with you!” Gale continued, letting his panic get the better of him.

Tav’s eyes widened, now no longer trying to placate. “Don’t you use that against me! My encouragement to have you stay with me is not a blank check to use against me when I do something you dislike. I asked you to stay because I love you! And I had no intention of starting a fight today, nor did I plan to end up in the state I did!”

This was around when the rest of the camp began to hear them arguing. Frigid looks turned their way by Shadowheart, Karlach and Wyll. Eyerolls and mischievous scoffing from Astarion. Jaheira simply shook her head and mumbled ‘young love’ under her breath. Gale pretended not to hear it.

She looked at him with such offense, eyes dotted with the threat of tears from his fury. Any motivation to be cross with her slowly waning each time his eyes met hers.

“I love you too! Which is why I’m so off put by what happened to you. I don’t want to see you putting yourself in danger and disregarding forethought! I don’t think you understand just how much I can’t—”

Gale didn’t finish the sentence, brought on by a fear that he’d overwhelm her in saying such an intense thing. They’d confessed their love in a spur of the moment, when the culmination of all they’d been through was knocking at the front door. Emotions were high, and while he meant every word he said, he didn’t want to cross a line and compromise the start of a wonderful thing with Tav. Deep down, he’d loved her from the moment he saw her, and each day he got closer to admitting that out loud. Precisely why he reacted with such fear to what happened at the beach.

Tav crossed her arms, an expression of seriousness he’d never seen before. Well, not directed at him.

“Can’t what? Don’t let this be the time you don’t use your words, Gale. Because I am this close to storming off,” she said, pinching her index finger and thumb together in an impatient motion.

“I can’t…live without…you,” he said, his voice starting loud and then slowly quieting as he completed the sentence.

The two of them stopped short, silence washing over them as his words sank into both their minds. Memories of their first night together flooding back, when he showed her everything he could offer. A beautiful experience in the Outer Planes, where their souls entwined within currents of raw weave. Expressing their new love in countless ways, too many for one evening, but they did all they could. Loving, tender, but despite it all, not real. Not bodies together, the physical exertion of passionate, violently yearning intimacy. Just what Gale became tempted with after he spoke those long awaited words, as the anger melted from his system and replaced itself with carnality.

There wasn’t time for Tav to respond. Astarion cut in with his usual mocking tone. “Would you two get a damned room? Your voices are grating and I’m trying to enjoy a nice glass of wine I stole from Last Light.”

“I knew that bottle was familiar!” Jaheira cried out, no longer paying attention to Gale and Tav.

Tav sighed, bothered by the chiding of their companions. She felt on the spot, watched in all the wrong ways. Gale gently grabbed her arm.

“Come over this way,” he demanded, short and impatient. Quite possibly the briefest she’d ever heard him speak.

He pulled her away from the camp, a short but fair distance from their companions. Clusters of bushes and broken trees began to fill the space as he brought her forward. The sun was setting above them, hues of paradisiacal magenta and orange above them, beaming through the shaking leaves. Tav didn’t have much time to gaze upon the natural beauty, for Gale led her as if running to safety.

“Gale, where are you taking me?! You’re pulling too much, I’m going to lose my balance,” Tav questioned.

A few seconds went by, Tav’s curiosity getting the better of her as she’d never seen him so flustered. Trees surrounded them, but not enough to block the bustling city lights of Rivington on one side and the fire of their camp on the other. Voices of Karlach and Lae’zel talking could still be heard from the distance they stood. Tav had never been to this side before, but Gale had a way of making her feel safe no matter where.

“Come here, love,” he said, his arms moving to hook around her waist as he pushed her gently against a large tree.

She had little time to take a breath before his lips were on hers, soft but with an ardent passion once resting in bubbling irritation, now sprouting into lust. Their bodies pressed together, hips against hips as Tav began to melt into his wandering touch. Her knees nearly buckled when his index finger grazed the ridge of her jaw, tongue caressing her own. Temptation to run her fingers through his wondrous hair was too great, that strange sensation of a near death if she didn’t, silken texture on her skin enough to forget about everything they argued about.

But his words hung loose in her mind, and she pulled out of the kiss for a moment. Their faces still centimetres apart as she whispered, “I can’t live without you either. I’m sorry I wasn’t careful.”

Gale rubbed his nose against hers, that playful, breathy grin plastered on his face. “Let’s just look out for each other, alright? It’s so easy to get ahead of oneself, and I love you too much to watch idle by and pray you know the risk. You are a powerhouse of might, my love, but neither of us is invincible.”

“I know, I know,” she said in a hushed tone, so whisper thin the crickets chirped louder. Night fell fast, unburdened by clouds and blanched with a sea of stars. Everything was perfect, a moment in time that both of them longed for since their first time together. Opportunities never coming soon enough as their arduous adventures took precedence over everything. Now was the time, when the sky’s darkness masked them from the rest of the world’s troubles.

Gale answered with peppering kisses down Tav’s neck, shivering at the supple softness against such a sensitive area. For the first time since before Mystra, he wanted something purely physical—mortal. Covered in the finite flesh of his new love, giving pieces of themselves as a simple reminder that they remained alive. He’d forgotten the lure of that desire, powerful and impossible to satiate without going the full way, being as close to Tav as humanly possible.

Cracked bark scratched the itches of Tav’s back, pressed ever harder with each kiss from neck to collarbone. Desire budding at the touch points of her body; at the tip of her breasts, the heat of her ears, the tingling between her legs. Those parts growing more swollen with want when she felt the brush of his palms around her waist, fingertips dipping under the hem of her shirt to tickle her lower stomach. They were like teenagers sneaking around behind a schoolyard, eyes darting back and forth to make sure no one saw them enjoy each other. A thrill long forgotten on both sides.

“Gale, won’t someone hear us? We’re still close to camp,” Tav said between laboured, lustful breaths.

“With all we’ve been through, I highly doubt they care. But to ease your anxieties,” Gale replied, waving his hand to create a violet purple dome around them, “A silencing spell.”

“Perfect,” she said.

With a quick maneuver, Gale unclipped the belt of her wrapped shirt, slowly folding the fabric over her shoulders. He took his time, relishing in the pull of cloth from skin, little reveals each second until she bore herself bare to him. A maroon brasier remained, almost black under the moonlight and slipping low. Enough to catch a glimpse of her nipples, begging to spring free from constriction. Meanwhile, Gale spread her longer shirt across the ground, using clothes as a makeshift bed—if not to remedy the future ache of his knees. He unwrapped his robes as well, left only in a white, linen shirt and trousers.

He could hardly concentrate, the beauty of Tav under the moonlight too transfixing to not stare upon. Fitted perfectly in her under clothes, the rise and fall of her chest teasing him without trying. Watching like she didn’t notice, but she did, and began to strip for his pleasure. Removing the straps of the bra first, slow against her shoulders, the perk of her breasts peeking out before the clasp snapped free. Gale stood before her, watching with a subtle grin.

“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, Tav. Do you know how much? How I ache to the point of fever when graced with your presence?” He asked, voice dark with lust, a gruffness she didn’t hear when in the Outer Planes.

“Even as I am? No magic or beautiful strands of starry weave around me? Surely this can’t be as exciting as that time,” she said, not intending to be self conscious, but failing to keep that in check. Not a goddess, not a higher being in the form of a body, but just herself. Scars, blemishes, bad angles and all. Mortal in all the wrong ways.

“As you are is more than anything the weave could offer. Having you naked under the moon like this is a memory embedded in my mind for eternities to come,” he said, stepping over to her to help unbutton her pants. He ensured his fingers touched every part, no matter where, and his breath against her neck warmed and cooled.

“Oh, my, you give me no chance with words like that,” she said.

Between bountiful, romantic kisses, the rest of their clothes were discarded into the flattened pile. Too impatient to go somewhere with room to conjure a full bed, absorbed in the embrace of each other as they fell into the fabric. Tav straddled his waist, lowering down so she could still glide her tongue against his. Never wishing to part her lips from his for the rest of the night. Craving the push of his hands embedded in her skin, down her spine and over the hill of her ass, ending with a firm squeeze.

Not a single part of her didn’t feel something. Her nipples gliding against his chest hair, hardening them in seconds with the playful tingle at the tips. His hands finding purchase, amused enough to spank the right cheek with a hard enough force to have her yelp giggle and yelp out loud. And that irresistible grind of his growing erection pushing against her core, hastier than himself, simply begging to push into that tight, unoccupied hole. Just the beginning, and yet she already preferred being together like this, fully in tandem with each other, nothing but their beating hearts and heated bodies.

Eventually, both of them needed to take a breath, locked in a heated make out for a time they lost count of. Tav lifted her body up, back arched in pleasure as Gale followed teeth-first. Biting, sucking, licking her nipples, each side deserving of his equal attention. Delicate moans grew into hot, heavy woes of passion, caring little for noise control with the purple dome of silence above them. Saliva trailed down her breasts, her wizard so lost in the ecstasy of tasting those pink, round buds. Hugging her in his arms, moving his cock against her to feel the head getting wetter with her slick.

Tav whispered in his ear, fingers tangled in his hair, “Perhaps I should get into danger more often, if this is the consequence.”

Gale chuckled, muffled by the slide of his tongue around her earlobe, “No need. Should you want my services, all you have to do is ask. Nicely. With a very eager ‘please’. Now, I am on the precipice of sliding into you this instant. But I’d have you come first.”

Hands firm on her ass, he pushed her forward, legs buckling over as he laid down. Angling himself so her core hovered over his face as he continued, “On my mouth, darling.”

Unable to contain her giggles, she adjusted her legs to straddle the sides of his face. Too gradual for Gale as he grabbed her hips and pulled her down. Tav gasped from the heavenly sensation, his lips and tongue all over her pussy in seconds, nodding his jaw up and down to stimulate her slit with his stubble. His tongue moved with expert precision, letting Tav take control of the pace as he moaned into her cunt, slurping and sucking at her as if drowning himself in her essence. There wasn’t enough lip biting and stifled moans in the world to keep her from building up to a snapping orgasm, inch by inch as she swivelled her hips around his face. His nose jutted against her pubic bone, mouth focused entirely on her swollen clit, pushing her down to ensure she wouldn’t move away. Even as her inner thigh muscles shook with pleasured tremors.

Tav stuttered out, “Holy fu…ck…Gale, I’m s-so close. Keep going, keep going! Now, yes, now!”

At that point, she was using any superlative her blurred mind could conjure. An orgasm flowered within her, strong, hot and never felt in a very long time. She clawed his hair under her legs, twitching hips riding out a wet climax, dripping into his beard. A taste he’d never get enough of, buttery and sweet on his tongue. He’d be happy to suffocate under her in a bid to have her finish again.

Coming down wasn’t an option, continuing to flick his tongue against her clit even as her muscles relaxed. Sensitivity stung at her pussy, sharp hits of pleasure shining through with each feral moan he made. A sound so enticing, she melted for him, allowing his hands still on her ass to push her further forward, rear completely up. Behind her, he snapped his fingers, figments of magic beckoning around her in a light blue glow. Tav could barely pay attention, lost in the feeling of his tongue lapping at her cunt. Until two fingers pushed into her entrance, filling her quick but smooth in an electrified vibration. A mage hand, finger fucking her from behind. Taking her to a place of impossible pleasure, no choice but to let go.

As Gale sucked at her clit, muffled words came from below her, “Does that feel nice, my love? Can you cum all over my face again? That’s it, let the hand fuck you, good girl.”

“Gods above, Gale, I’m so sensitive! But fuck it feels so good!” She exclaimed, whimpering with each buck of her hips against his mouth, the hand following every angle so not a centimetre pulled out. Pumping into her tight walls, angling in just the right direction to have her shaking for a second climax.

“Let me help you even more,” Gale said, motioning his wrist to command the mage hand to push its thumb at the entrance of her asshole. Prodding in and out, gently easing in enough to thrust in the same rhythm as the fingers, slick sounds of sex invading her ears. She gasped at the hot tightness, cunt thoroughly stimulated in every way. It was perfect, hitting every spot just how she liked, and some she didn’t know existed. Gale was simply eager to please, laughing slyly as he felt her orgasm again.

Tav quaked at her second finish, overwhelmed with searing ecstasy. She cried out, “I can’t take it anymore, please! Too—too sensitive.”

The mage hand vanished with her command, easing the pressure of overstimulation palpating in her veins. Gale couldn’t resist one, soft kiss on her clit before letting her move off of him. Without her body to focus on, the ache of his rock hard cock snapped into awareness. Precum dotting the head, so stiff he feared it might break at the gentlest touch. Proven wrong when Tav brought her lips down to the tip, licking off the salty cum. Giving him a taste of his own medicine as he shivered in sensitive rapture. Both of them had a tendency to get carried away, as what was meant to be a simple tease with her tongue led to her taking his cock into her mouth. Using her hand to pump at the bottom of the shaft, too big to go all the way down.

Choking and sucking sounds filled the air as Gale writhed under the mercy of her mouth. Running her hand up and down his bare thigh, hypnotized by the lusty song of his satisfied whimpers. He wanted to tell her this wasn’t necessary, he enjoyed seeing her enjoyment. But as her throat coated his cock, he was rendered speechless. More so when she bobbed her head up and down, moaning through her nose as he gently joined her by fucking her mouth. Small, quick thrusts in fear of hurting her, but enough to make his calf muscles strain.

Spit and precum doused his cock as she lifted him out of her mouth, a raunchy ‘pop’ sound coming from her lips. Gale’s shaken, pleasured sighs covered the forest, stimulated by the cold air kissing the wet surface of his raised erection. Tav fawned over how it glistened, her core pulsing and tightening with the silent beg to be filled. Surely, she’d pass out if he wasn’t inside her immediately.

Gale exhaled deeply, shaking his head with unfathomable joy. “You will be the death of me. That felt…so good. I don’t even know how to describe it.”

She smiled, failing to contain the blush on her face. How she loved to know he was already satisfied. “We’re not done yet, my love.”

Her leg hooked back over his waist, straddling him again. This time, angling the opening of her cunt right against the desperate head of his thick cock. He looked so beautiful below her, gleaming with sweat and rosy with anticipation. Fingertips tickling up and down the sides of her thighs. Gods, when he laughed, that lusty chuckle of boiling desire had her foolish in his arms. She chased that sound, easing down on his cock until he bottomed out inside her. The stretch and slick of her walls fluttering around him forcing a high pitched whimper from her. Clit shuddering at the sensation of little hairs against it, nearly orgasming right there. Never had she wanted someone so much, craved another’s touch in a way she didn’t know was possible until meeting him. Everything about him was magnificent.

“Moan for me, love. I want to hear your every sound as I fuck you,” Tav demanded, locking her palms on his chest as she began to ride him. Fast, fervently, hips bucking back and forth so good he obeyed instantly. Husky, sultry, moans and even guttural growls with each grind of her pussy against him.

One hand stayed on her thigh and the other kneaded at her breast, his thumb flicking and pinching her nipple while her languid movements continued. By now, he could see when she was close, biting down on her lip to concentrate as she ignored her aching muscles. More warmth and wetness dripped along his cock. He nodded to her, let her use him as a toy for her own pleasure, moving pieces of hair from her face at the same time.

“Let me see you cum again, please. That’s it, ride my cock like that. So wet for me, I can’t believe it. Keep going, yes, very good. You’re doing so well,” he said, words of encouragement coming with his thumb moving to her clit. Rubbing the spot he learned she liked, just a little assistance in getting her over that impossible edge.

Tav’s body cramped up as she squeezed onto his cock, crying out Gale’s name as her third climax ripped through her lower half, felt even at the tingling peak of her breasts. He could’ve done anything in that moment, came anywhere he liked, and she’d be fine with it. Her orgasm all the stronger as she pictured being covered in him from face to pussy. A debauched mess on top of clothes, fully vulnerable to him.

Seeing her above him brought his own release closer. Unable to wait as he pulled her torso down to kiss her hard, pushing his tongue into her mouth with reckless abandon. Tav yelped playfully as they kissed, paralyzed by the ecstasy of being fucked into. Sore, sensitive and hedonistic, she relished in the hard thrusting and the heated touch of their perspired bodies together. Wishing this would never end but craving his release inside her at the same time.

She left the kiss to whisper in his ear, biting his earlobe, licking at him, “Finish inside me. Please, I want it so bad.”

“Oh, gods, Tav I’m going to—right…ah!” He groaned out the unfinished sentence, his impatient cock spilling inside of her tight hole. He pulsed within her, feeling his spine arch as he experienced likely the greatest orgasm he’d ever had. Reaching his entire body, lasting longer, an addicting taste of eternal paradise. Tav’s soft whimpers the final touch to the most wonderful feeling.

She moved off of him, laying flat with her legs open. Gale still felt trickles of desire in his stomach, not enough to get hard again so quickly, but enough to lean over her thoroughly fucked cunt. His breath warmed her skin as he caressed his tongue along her clit, letting his index finger rub her cum-filled entrance as he did. All she could do was wheeze, too tired for a full moan but adoring the feeling of his mouth on her again. He was gentle this time, careful not to bring out the growing soreness. No, he just softly licked, kissed and sucked at her clit, stomach sinking with carnal intrigue as he watched his cum dripping out of her. He wanted to mark his territory, give her one more orgasm to be certain she knew she was his. Even just a little one.

Tav concentrated with the full power of her exhausted mind, feeling herself ready to climax once more. She couldn’t believe how skilled he was, moaning his name out again as he pinched her lips together, pushing her clit further into his mouth. That, mixed with the amazing sensation of his cum inside of her, was enough to inch her into that little release. Her fingers clutching his hair, pulling slightly as she came for a fourth time. A tiny bit more of his seed poured out of her as she relaxed.

“Perfect,” he said, leaving her core and moving to lay beside her, “You are amazing. I can’t believe you’re real sometimes.”

Tav smiled, cuddling into the crux of his shoulder, “I should be the one to say that. No one’s ever been so attentive to me. And by the gods, I have never finished that many times.”

“Oh, my love, I am excited to inform you that wasn’t even all I can do. If I had you in a bed, with a private bathroom, different corners of the room to take you in; you’d have at least six, I’d make sure of it,” he replied.

“In that case, we must find an inn as soon as possible,” she replied, kissing his cheek as he scooped her body closer to him.

They cuddled for a few minutes more, letting the cool, night air dry their sweat-drenched bodies before returning to camp. Hand-in-hand, eyes doled with the fire of new romance and the comedown from lovemaking. What began as the rising moon, evening pink with sunset, had transformed into deep night, pleasantly dark and glinting with fresh, sparkling stars. Neither of them wished for a conclusion, but sleep beckoned and they had no idea what might happen tomorrow. Tav only knew that she’d refrain from taking too many risks, as now she’d become a fool for someone else entirely.

Gale and Tav agreed to share a tent tonight, and from now on. First, she went to the smouldering fire to grab a piece of sunmelon and her water canteen. The rest of the camp now silent as everyone retired for the evening, except for their most nocturnal companion: Astarion. Who had returned from the other side of the woods, pallid complexion brighter than usual, a sign that he just fed on an animal.

“Good hunt?” She asked, finishing off the last bite of her sunmelon piece and throwing the peel in the fire.

“Never as good as the real thing, darling, but enough to tide me over. Perhaps I should’ve saved some for you, tired little adventurer,” he replied, brow raised in that cheeky expression. Always present when he was about to take the piss out of someone.

“Fruit and water will suit me fine. Goodnight, Astarion,” she replied, turning to head for Gale’s tent.

Astarion spoke as she walked away, “By the way, remind your wizard to maintain his silencing concentration. If I’m going to hear your debauchery, I’d rather hear it from the beginning and not halfway through. Goodnight, Tav!”

Tav cleared her throat, swallowing down her growing embarrassment as she walked to Gale’s tent. Knowing fully well what kind of teasing she’d endure the next morning. For now, she would simply sleep in Gale’s arms and deal with the rest as they came.

[eryiss]

Fraxus Week 2024 - Day 6: Mischief & Debauchery

Description: The annual Royal Fiore Ball was a long, tedious, laborious affair. But with a bit of alcohol, and the stealth skills of a working mage, there was fun to be had. Especially in the throne room. Who wouldn’t want to make out on an actual throne?

Notes: Day six, and still hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. Let’s give the boys the royal ball they deserve.

Link: Ao3

The Perils of Champagne Strawberries

The room was filled with the most important people in the country. They were dancing, chatting, and doing whatever politicians and royalty did when they were indulging in a night off. They were also fending off the members of Fairy Tail and various other guilds, likely fantasying about flaying whoever had decided to invite professional wizards to a ball in the palace.

Freed and Laxus, at least, were the very model of decorum. Even if every time they moved their heads, the room started to swirl.

It wasn't their fault; they would decide the next morning. The wait staff were walking around offering food constantly, and not once had anyone mentioned that the strawberries covered with chocolate had been marinated in champagne for hours and had a higher alcohol content rating than Cana on the morning of a juice cleanse. So, really, what was about to happen was entirely to blame on the poor planning of a faceless partying committee that probably should have known better.

"This is really boring," Laxus grumbled.

"Well," Freed cooed, and maybe he should have taken his cooing as a note that he wasn't sober, but retrospect was a bitch. "We could be dancing together, but you so brutally turned me down. I don't think I'll ever recover."

They shared a conspiratorial grin. Their shared feelings were known throughout the guild, but their relationship was not. To everyone else, they looked like lovelorn idiots who both desperately wanted to get together but could never seem to manage it. Everyone thought they were hopeless, but in reality, they hadn't spent a night in an empty bed for months, and half of their shared missions were actually romantic trips. Well, romantic for the two of them. They were hardly the type to get gooey over a nice meal and chocolates.

Asking Laxus to dance was Freed's idea. They'd grown to enjoy playing around with their guildmates' frustrations and having Laxus turn him down would drive them all mad, especially when they all knew Laxus' long-standing feelings for Freed.

"The tears were a nice touch," Laxus complimented. "How d'you know how to do that?"

"I was very active in theatre as a child," Freed shrugged. "The skills remain."

Laxus nodded, then frowned. Freed's childhood had been one of torture and obligation, and certainly no theatre. He glared him down and was met with a nearly smothered smile. "How d'you actually know how to cry on demand?"

Freed grinned. "After you were barred from the guild, there was a deficit in sympathy for me and the team. I found crying made the road to rehabilitation quite a bit faster."

With a snort, Laxus shook his head. "You didn't?"

In a moment, Freed's face fell, he let out a shuddering breath, and his eyes grew wet. "I really am sorry, Master. I don't know how it happened. It all started as just joking and playing around, but it kept going and got more serious. I never really thought we'd go through that we'd go through with it, but Laxus was insistent and since we were never in the guild it was so easy to pretend it was all hypothetical. If I had known how bad it would get so out of hand I would have put a stop to it. I swear," the guilt on his face vanished immediately. "See. Quite useful."

"You're such asshole," Laxus looked at him reverently. "Did you actually throw me under the bus."

"Like an opportunistic gangster next to a busy road."

"My loving boyfriend, everyone," Laxus said under his breath, looking away from Freed and over the ballroom. "I want to dance with you, y'know. But I don't wanna deal with the guild knowing my business, and you can probably guess that I'd only embarrass you, stumbling over my feet."

"I know you're not ready. Nor am I," Freed promised, letting their knuckles graze together, which he deftly disguised by righting a stray strand of his hair. "Though, for what it's worth, I don't think I have it in me to ever be embarrassed by you. I'd love to dance with you."

Laxus sneered. "Don't be sweet, it doesn't suit you."

"Certainly," Freed agreed. "I simply meant my cruel sadism would relish seeing you crumble into an embarrassed heap on the floor, crying and weeping as I gather a crowd to point and laugh at you."

Grinning, Laxus bumped their hips together. "There's my little demon."

"Little?"

"Yeah. What are you? Four foot six, right?"

"I'm over six foot, as you well know, and if you insinuate anything else I'll kneecap you."

"Good threat. It'll be easy for ya, given that you're so close to my knees down there."

Freed shook his head in fond indulgence, which only acted to make the room swirl and squirm again. There were too many lights reflected onto too many surfaced. Then there was the dance floor filled with spiralling people wearing clothes that billowed and flowed as they moved. The chatter was oppressive and constant, and Freed could only wonder how bad it was for Laxus with his enhanced senses.

The corridor leading up the the hall had been nice. Quiet, stretching long and wide, and with only candlelight to illuminate the needlessly extravagant decorations. It would be like splashing your face with cold water in a heat wave.

He didn't exactly communicate his plan to Laxus, but it must have been obvious because Laxus trailed after him as he walked back into the hallway. It was entirely vacant bar the two of them, and it felt like taking a deep breath. Laxus must have thought so too, as relief seemed to radiate off him as he fiddled with his tie and let it hand loose around his neck.

Laxus looked wonderful in a suit and tie. He looked better in a ruffled, disheveled suit and tie.

"You know people with money," Laxus said as he leant against a window cill. "Do they really enjoy parties like that?"

"Some do, though I think it's typically for the gossip. I think a party that goes well would be a disappointment to them. Nothing to talk about."

"It ain't for me," Laxus huffed. "I don't exactly like the guild parties, but at least you can sneak away from them and go home early."

"We've already doing the sneaking away part, we could just go home," Freed suggested, looking down the long corridor with vague curiosity. The palace was usually more than out of reach for the common man, and typically covered in guards. To see it so empty and so… vulnerable spoke to the inquisitive side of Freed. "Or, given the opportunity, we could have a walk around. See the secrets they they to keep from us."

Laxus seemed to consider it. "And if we get found out?"

"We feign ignorance. They served alcohol to us and let us loose in a building filled with identical corridors, it's hardly impossible that we'd get turned around and find ourselves lost. That, mixed with your fairly well known directional skills, we'll have enough of an excuse to get out of any accusations of treason at the least."

"How reassuring," Laxus drawled. "And I'm not that bad with directions. You assholes just pretend I am."

"Of course," Freed placated. "And you always knew the most important journey. The one to my heart."

Laxus took a long moment to look down at Freed, then covered his finger with lightning and poked Freed in the centre of his forehead, gratified by the sharp 'Gackh!' he got in response. As Freed blinked the electricity out of his skull, Laxus watched with indulgence. He liked seeing Freed without any barriers. He was handsome like that.

Especially in that suit. He had to wonder if Freed knew Laxus had bribed their tailor to get nice and snug around Freed' rear. It worked. Very very well.

"So," Freed said once he'd shaken off the lightning. "What do you think? Explore the castle and risk being hung drawn and quartered? Any any quips about being hung will not be laughed at."

"Don't want you laughing at it. Want you appreciating it," Laxus cupped his crotch, and if Freed hadn't known Laxus was tipsy before, he certainly knew now. But Freed was tipsy too, hence why he had no shame in watching his boyfriend as he all but fondled himself. Once he was done, he looked around, then shrugged. "Sure. Let's piss off the royal family. What's the worst they could do?"

———

Sneaking into the throne room had been entirely unintentional. Frankly, it was weird that there wasn't any security for it at all. The two of them had simply been able to walk in without complaint, and now stood in front of the throne, silently looking at it.

"So," Freed eventually broke the silence. "Which one of us is going to do it?"

"Should be me, right?" Laxus insisted. "Thunder God deserves a throne."

"You've really let that title get to your head, haven't you?" Freed teased, smiling indulgently as Laxus clearly tried to amp himself up to sit on the throne. "I called you that to mock you, and you've just clung to it. Surely at least Lightning God would make more sense."

"Eh, whatever. So long as you see me like a god, I don't care."

"You're reprehensible," Freed praised, the nodded to the throne. "Well, your godliness, I suppose if you're so sure of your stature and title in the world, then I assume that you have no qualms sitting down."

Laxus looked down at the throne, slightly warily, as if expecting an alarm to start blaring the moment he touched it. Freed raised an eyebrow in a silent dare, knowing that his boyfriend wouldn't be able to deny a challenge like that. True enough, Laxus stood up a little taller, took the three small steps toward the gilded throne, and with a plump, collapsed onto it.

He looked, in a word, resplendent.

With his legs spread wide and his suit ruffled, he looked like a shambolic king who evoked ire and arousal in equal measure. He would be hated by his subjects yet could charm his way out of rebellion. A small wink or a tantalising gaze would stop a war.

"You're staring."

"Can you blame me?" Freed openly let his eyes wander over Laxus' body. Laxus, in turn, spread his legs a little wider. "Regality suits you."

"Don't the royals have people kneel for them?" Laxus taunted. "Get too it."

"There is a limit to how far I'm willing to debauch myself for your entertainment, Laxus," Freed chuckled, looking around the throne room.

There was opulence in every corner, from the mahogany hardwood floor to the gold lined curtains. It was similar to the ballroom in design yet felt entirely different. The emptiness created a calm stillness, like being in the eye of a storm, but entirely safe and entirely comfortable. The music from the ball seemed to echo through the maze of halls, loud enough to gentle tickle at the edges of perception. They could hear it, but not know it.

Every step on the wood flooring created a gentle tap, and Freed slowly began to walk around, percussive heartbeat following him with each footstep. He felt the weight of Laxus watching him as he moved, and slowly turned to him, extending a hand just as he had earlier in the night.

"Nobody's watching," Freed said gently. "And I'm certainly never going to judge you, so how about we dance."

Laxus looked at Freed's hand. "Seriously?"

"I think you'll enjoy it."

"I'm not gonna be any good."

"I don't care."

With caution, Laxus stood up from his throne and walked the short distance towards Freed, putting his hand in the proffered one silently. Freed took charge from there, setting them up in perfect position. He moved slowly, taking lead and letting Laxus follow. To call what they were doing was dancing might be an exaggeration, but swaying to the music was infinitely more pleasant than flexing his skills.

At some point, he rested his head against the crook of Laxus' neck, and decided not to comment on the contented little smile Laxus was wearing. Even in his tipsy, quip orientated mindset, he wouldn't interrupt a moment like this. This side of Laxus – quiet and soft and willing – was still new to him, and he was going to relish every chance he saw it.

When some of Freed's hair fell over is face, Laxus reached down and corrected it, the stroked his knuckles down the side of Freed's face. They stared at each other for a moment, all shields and facades dropped in place for vulnerable honesty.

"Freed," Laxus said quietly enough for it to be nearly inaudible.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

The words hung for a moment, Freed's eyes wide with shock, and Laxus fizzing with nervous energy. Freed let the words consume him, let them imprint on his very soul, before whispering with equal reverence, "I love you too."

In tandem, they moved to kiss, Laxus taking Freed by the back of the head and directing him with strong authority. Freed deferred to it, leaning against Laxus and wrapping his arms around his neck, as if it were possible to drag the man any closer to him than he already was. He scratched at the back of Laxus' neck with the nail of his index finger, in a way that had proven to drive him wild in the past.

Possibly predictably, Freed felt Laxus go rigid in his arms, before suddenly giving Freed a push. Freed found himself in the plush comfort of the cushioned throne, with Laxus straddling him, knees either side of Freed's thighs, lips on Freed's neck.

"Wait," Freed panted, and hardly meant the word. "Here?"

"You want me to stop?" Laxus growled, hands pulling at Freed's belt.

"Fuck no," Freed purred.

Laxus grinned, and pulled Freed into another heated, needy kiss. His hands roamed all over Freed, relishing the tight muscles cultivated from years of hard work. Freed groaned and Laxus grinned, and it was almost the perfect moment for them.

Almost being the operative word, because just as Laxus was half-way done unbuttoning Freed's shirt, the doors to the throne room shot open and half a dozen guards stormed in, weapons brandished. They surrounded Freed and Laxus, yelling orders and reading them their rites.

Freed just burst out laughing, and Laxus looked down at him like he had lost his mind. But, a moment later, they both dissolved into a flurrying miasma of runes, as if they had never been there in the first place.

———

Of course, they had actually been there, and that could hardly be denied. As such, the next morning they were called into Makarov's office, and had to endure whatever kind of scolding he had planned for them.

But he didn't scold them. He just laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

In fact, he kept laughing for so long that momentarily Freed had to wonder if something had broken in his brain. That the revelation that his grandson was gay, in a relationship, and had been caught pre-sex on the Fiore throne had shattered his sanity to the point of total engulfment in laughter.

But then Laxus had crossed his arms, yelled at his grandfather that he'd made his point, and he could stop now. That just made Makarov laugh even harder, going so far as to slam his fist against the desk and pound at it.

This was their punishment, Freed belatedly realised. The humiliation of enduring the closest thing to a father-in-law his relationship permitted laughing in his face. There was a wickedness to the Dreyar's that would often go dormant until the opportunity to truly wield it was presented. Freed had certainly chosen an interesting family to intertwine himself with.

Still, a single glance in Laxus' direction made it all worth it.

He would, he suspected, take a lifetime of being laughed at and being put in humiliating situations if the prize for endurance was that he got to have Laxus on his arm.

[fics-n-stuff-n-stuff]

Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox /Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic s Follows Fairy tail but with my own twists set in modern day / Fluff and Angst / Romance / Friendship /developing feelings / Lucy has new spirits I checked constellations and gave her ones I thought were cool

Summary

Lucy is thrown into a world she didn’t know existed. Join her as she unravels this new world full of magic that brings adventure, romance and destruction along with it.

———

Just a modern re-telling of Fairy tail following its arcs with a few twists and turns along the way

You can also read it here

———————————

Chapter 7

If there's one thing Lucy is certain of, it's that Fairy Tail loves to party.

After they triumphed over Eisenwald and Lullaby and saved the guild masters, Mirajane decided to have the party sooner, so they could celebrate both Lucy's first month as a Fairy Tail mage and the formation of what she'd dubbed 'Team Natsu', much to the chagrin of Gray.

The party went on for three days, and Lucy could vaguely recall pieces of the celebration. She made the mistake of sitting next to Cana on the first night and didn't sober up until the last day.

All in all, it was a rumbustious few days and Lucy couldn't recall ever having so much fun surrounded by people she could call friends.

Levy had also surprised her one day with a golden key, after returning from a week-long job. She said it was her welcoming present from the girl, and Lucy spent the whole day in tears over the gesture.

The key turned out to be Cancer the Giant Crab, a quirky spirit (weren't they all?) that used scissors as a weapon along with the six crab-like legs protruding from his back.

She had also started training more intensely after their encounter with Lullaby.

Seeing the dangers of the magical world and how far behind she was made her determined to never feel so weak and powerless again.

Erza was there every step of her training journey, helping her hone her skills with the whip that was gifted to her by Virgo, and hand-to-hand combat.

It was a grueling regimen Erza put her on, and more times than not she ended up bruised and sore in places she didn't know a person could be sore.

She even passed out several times when she tried keeping Virgo and Cancer's gates open at the same time.

On those days, Natsu would buy her ice cream, and he and Happy would join her in watching all the movies/tv shows she wasn't allowed to watch growing up.

Lucy felt stuck with her training. She still couldn't summon two ?fighting/stronger?spirits at once, and apart from being able to hold a single spirit out for several hours without feeling drained and dizzy, she couldn't see much progress.

Erza and Levy kept reassuring her that she has improved greatly since joining the guild, but she just couldn't see it.

To no fault of Erza's, the older girl was relentless in her efforts to train her.

"It's just frustrating you know? I feel like I'm taking one step forward and then two steps back." Lucy vented to the sisters behind the bar.

Lisanna smiled at her reassuringly, patting her hand lightly. "Don't be so hard on yourself Lucy, it's barely been two months since you discovered your magic. Your progress is wondrous, I assure you. You'll get there, some things take time." Lucy wanted to groan at the last statement, it was something Erza told her often while they were sparring.

"I know, but being on a team with those three just makes me feel so inadequate. I'm just slowing them down." She slumped further on the bar counter, hiding her head in her arms.

"You're an idiot if that's what you're worried about. Honestly Lucy I thought you were smarter than that." A loud thud followed by Mira's melodic voice made her look up and see the glass of raspberry lemonade placed in front of her.

"What do you mean?"

She gave the girl a confused look as she straightened and brought the glass closer to her, taking a sip of her beverage.

Mira raised a brow at her, shooting a look at Lisanna who just giggled at her sister.

"Maybe all the training is impairing your critical thinking. You have the potential to be a very powerful mage, like Lis said, your progress is remarkable. Going from not knowing about the magic world to having three powerful keys and knowing how to wield them in less than two months is unprecedented." Mirajane told her, patting her head as she did, Lisanna nodding her head in agreement.

"Don't compare yourself to anyone, you learn and progress at your own pace and that is not a bad thing!" Lisanna added, a kind smile on her face.

Their words made Lucy feel a little better.

She knew she needed to be patient, and usually, Lucy had no problem with waiting for results, she's always been meticulous in everything she's done, and that requires patience.

But there was a feeling that was looming inside of her, something told her she didn't have much time to prepare.

Prepare for what, she didn't know. It was a gut feeling that told her something was coming.

"Lushiiii, help me!" She felt a weight land on her head and raised her arms to steady the cat.

"Happy, are you okay?" The blue exceed jumped from her head into her hands and burrowed into her chest.

"Natsu's being a meanie, he says I can't go on a job with you guys!" Happy cried out, snuggling her as he explained.

"Oh, why would he say that? I didn't even know we were going on a job?" She turned around to try and spot Natsu. "Where is he anyway?" She asked the cat after not seeing his pink hair in the guild hall.

"He said he had a surprise for you and ran off on me. I told you he was a meanie!" Happy pouted, making her laugh.

"You are just as mean as him, you called me fat the other day, and last week you both managed to ruin my kitchen." Lucy retaliated back, shuddering as she remembered walking into her apartment after an afternoon of shopping with the girls, to find her kitchen on fire, Happy and Natsu trying to extinguish it.

They were his flames, so he couldn't eat them. How does that even make sense?

It took them all night to clean everything up, and then Natsu had to repaint one of the walls. Thank the gods none of the appliances were damaged.

"We were trying to make you dinner! Well, Natsu was trying, I told him raw fish is the best way to go, but he insisted to make your favorite. I think he liikes you." Happy defended himself, making Mira and Lisanna giggle at his words.

"I have to agree with that, Happy. I've never seen Natsu bond with anyone as he has with you besides Happy. And I think you like him too." Mira teased her, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looked at Lucy.

"It's not like that Mira, we're just friends. And Natsu loves everyone in Fairy Tail! Besides, I don't think he even knows the difference between romantic and platonic feelings." Lucy answered, in hopes of getting the older girl's thoughts away from her and Natsu in a romantic way.

"I don't know. He is an idiot, but I think he does like you Lushii. He gets all weird, like you." Happy chippers out as he flies into the air circling the bar.

"I'm not weird! And I am not going to sit here and listen to your nonsense, Levy, and I have research to do." With a small huff, Lucy left them at the bar going to find Levy.

"500 jewels they get together by the end of the year." Mira says.

"No way, Christmas is less than a month away, I say they hook up around summertime." Cana said lowering her barrel as she looked at them, smirking from her end of the bar.

"I think it will take them longer than that.

Lucy seems stubborn, and we all know how dense Natsu can be. So maybe by next Christmas?" Lisanna chimed in.

"You're all wrong. I say after the new year, but before spring." Happy told them as he fell gracefully on the counter.

"I'll take those odds!" Mira said, slapping a few bills on the bar. "Whose in?" She asked with a sinister smirk.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

Lucy and Levy have had solid progress with their research regarding her magic, and its history.

With the help of Grampa Crux, Virgo,  Cancer, and even Aquarius at times they have managed to piece together some things.

Her Mother was a descend of the last known line of spirit summoners, who were eradicated by the dark mage Zeref. How and why her mother survived was unknown as the clan she hailed from was killed over 250 years ago. 

They still had no idea why Zeref wanted them all dead.

Lucy did have a suspicion that her spirits were not telling her everything they knew. But every time she confronted them, they would say it wasn't allowed for them to reveal the past to her.

Allowed by whom is the question on Lucy's mind.

After Lullaby commented on her existence as a spirit summoner, she felt like there would be others out there, followers of Zeref, who would want her dead as well.

She didn't voice her fears to anyone, not wanting to sound paranoid. Instead, she kept up with her training and looked for anything she could find concerning the dark mage. 

The texts they read through were old, and most of them were written in runes Lucy had never seen before. Thankfully Levy was well-versed in a multitude of ancient languages.

They found that there was speculation on how her magic worked, some claimed they were descendants of the stars themselves and that was why they come to their aid from the spirit world. 

Others theorized that the very first summoner managed to pull a star from the heavens, and made the very first contract with a spirit.

Lucy also read up on the different types of keys besides gold and silver. There seemed to be an array of different stones, metals, and other materials from which the keys were made, all representing a specific constellation.

Lucy was sad to learn that most of them have been unseen for decades, and she knew the chances of finding one of them were improbable.

Her hand went to her hip, touching the keys that were in a pouch looped around her belt.

"I still can't believe you managed to track down Cancers key, considering there is so little word of anything relating to my magic." Lucy mused as the two girls took a break from their reading.

They were currently sitting in the guild's library. Yes, they had a library. The first time Levy brought her down to where it was located Lucy was in awe, it was beautifully furnished and filled wall to wall with books.

"The man who owned it is a long-time client, I remembered seeing a golden key in his collection at one point. I didn't think anything of it, people collect weird things all the time." Levy shrugged before continuing.

"It was only after we met that I realized it was probably a magical key, I called him and asked if there was anything I could do or find for him to trade with me for the key. He was hesitant, but relented in the end, as I had a book he was looking for and could translate it for him."

"Oh you didn't have to do all of that Lev, you could've told me and I would have bartered for the key myself." Lucy was thrown off by the other girl's kindness, eyes watering and heart clenching at her words.

"I know how much your book collection means to you."

"Don't be silly Lu, I wanted to get you a welcoming gift, besides I had two copies of the book in my possession, and I gave him the more tattered one." She admitted with a sly grin, making Lucy laugh, and move to hug the smaller girl.

"Thank you." She told her, a few tears making their way down her cheeks.

"That's what friends do." Levy told her, as they pulled back and smiled at each other.

"I think we've had enough reading for today. Let's see what Mira's cooking today." Levy said shutting her book and shuffling around picking up the scattered books around the table and putting them back in their place.

"Yeah, let's go." Lucy agreed as she stood to help the bluenette clean up.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

The surprise Happy told her about turned out to be a cellphone.

Lucy walked home alone after spending the evening at the guild sitting with Levy at the bar, chatting with her, Mira, and Cana.

It was a little weird to be walking home alone, as Natsu had been by her side since her first day at Fairy Tail and made it a point to walk her home, he's also been sleeping on her couch six out of seven times a week since their job in Clover Town.

She hadn't seen him since they had breakfast that morning, and Happy was nowhere to be found when she emerged from the Library with Levy.

She knew Erza was out on a job, and saw Gray brawling with some of the guys as she left for the night.

Come to think of it, didn't Happy say something about her and Natsu going on a job? Honestly, who knows with those two?

She didn't have to wait long to find them it would seem.

When Lucy made it home, she found the two of them passed out on her couch, thankfully it seems they'd managed not to burn anything this time.

But she could see a wrapped present on her coffee table.

Holding back a smile, Lucy locked her door and moved quietly through the apartment not wanting to wake them up.

As she tiptoed her way to her bedroom, she heard her couch springs groan at a shift in weight.

"Luce?" His voice was husky and deeper than usual from sleep.

Cursing his sensitive ears, Lucy braced herself for the sight of a sleepy and disheveled Natsu. A sight she just couldn't get used to, he looks so soft whenever he wakes up, and Lucy has to fight the urge to cuddle him.

Taking a deep breath she turned to face him.

"Hey. I didn't want to wake you." She said quietly, not wanting to disturb a still sleeping Happy.

"But now that you're awake, um, why exactly, were you asleep on my couch?" She asked him, and he looked around confused as if he forgot they were in her apartment, looked at the couch and the way Happy was snuggled on top of her blanket.

Natsu turned his head to her, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as he sent her a small smile.

"Yeah, Happy was supposed to bring ya back here, but he got distracted by fish and couldn't find you, so we decided to wait for ya to come back home. Didn't think you'd be at the guild this long." He told her, smile widening as he turned to pick up the wrapped box on her coffee table and held it out toward her.

"This is for you." Lucy was taken aback by the fact that he got her a gift.

When Happy mentioned a surprise, she just assumed it was another one of their silly pranks, like the time they stole her mattress to try and get her to go camping with them. Or that they'd try to get her to go fishing with them again.

Taking the present from him, Lucy inspected the box.

The wrapping paper was dark blue, intricately decorated with a variety of constellations, and Lucy wondered where he found it as she traced the start pattern for Hydra, the Sea Serpent. She was also the tiniest bit hesitant as to what he would think a good gift would be.

Knowing Natsu, it could quite literally be anything.

"Christmas is weeks away, I didn't get you anything yet." She pouted slightly, shaking off her hesitation and shock as she moved to sit in one of the armchairs across the couch.

"This isn't your Christmas present ya weirdo, just open it." He sat on the table in front of her, seemingly giddy to see her reaction.

"Okay, okay." Lucy muttered, a small smile on her face as she neatly opened the wrapped package. She could tell Natsu was impatient with her meticulous unwrapping, but the paper was really cute and she didn't want to ruin it.

Inside the box was a phone.

She looked back at Natsu, who was smiling at her. "I already had everyone's number put in. I'm your first speed dial." He told her nonchalantly, but she could see a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Obviously." Lucy nodded, feigning seriousness as she tried to hold back her smile.

She took the phone out of the box and went to turn it on.

"I also got Reedus to add a little surprise, since we don't have any pictures together." He started blustering, his hand moving to scratch the back of his head as he explained.

Her heart clenched as the device came to life and she saw the lock screen.

It was a painting of her, Natsu, and Happy.

The scene was set in a park, they were having a picnic surrounded by a field of Sakura trees, but instead of pink the petals were rainbow and ever-changing.

Lucy's vision started getting blurry as she studied the picture on her screen, Natsu was lying on top of a blanket arms crossed behind his head as he looked up at her.

Lucy sat back on his knees reading a book.

Happy, flying above them, laughing.

She looked up at Natsu, seeing him watching her reaction. "If you don't like it, I kept the receipt so we can go and change it." 

Laughing, Lucy launched herself from the armchair and tackled him into a hug, taking Natsu off guard, sending both of them tumbling to the ground, arms wrapped around each other.

"I love it, thank you Natsu. Not just the phone, thank you for everything." She mumbled into his shirt as they embraced.

His arms tightened around her and she felt him let out a relieved laugh. His nose nuzzled the crown of her head as they lay wrapped around each other on the ground.

He was always so warm, it occurred to Lucy that she never knew how cold she was until his heat embraced her.

They stayed entwined for several heartbeats and just as Lucy started to pull away, a shrill voice broke through the tranquility that enveloped her apartment.

"You liikee each other." Happy shouted as he sprung into the air, white wings carrying him in circles around them.

"Natsu and Lushi sitting in a tree," he started singing and Lucy's whole body turned beet red, with a shriek she lunged for the flying feline.

"Shut it you stupid cat."

Happy only flew higher so she couldn't reach him and continued singing, laughing as Lucy started to chase him around her apartment. "Get back here, and stop with that song or I swear I'll have Cancer cut your fur off!"

"Bwhaaa, Natsu! Save me!" Happy cried as Lucy chased him. "Sorry buddy, you got yourself into this mess." Natsu shrugged, holding back his laughter as he watched them run around the apartment.

Natsu found that he enjoyed seeing Lucy flustered, so he sat back, eager to see who'll win.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

Waking up, tumbling out of your hammock is never a good way to start your day.

Natsu couldn't tell you, for the life of him, why he didn't have a proper bed.

When he built this cottage of his, it was to provide the necessary shelter for him and Happy. After all, he spent most of his days scouring Fiore in search of Igneel, so he didn't see a need for a bed.

Rubbing the back of his head, he thinks it might be time to buy one.

Although this is the first night in weeks that he's slept in his house, even though he stayed in Magnolia.

Most nights he ended up on Lucy's couch.

He looked at his clock on his way to the bathroom and saw it was half past twelve.

He could hear his ringtone echoing throughout the house as he showered and washed his teeth, ignoring it for the time being.

"Happy! Wake up buddy, let's go see if Mira has food for us." Natsu called for the cat from the bathroom, his phone still ringing.

"Natsu, Erza is calling you!" He heard the exceed yell back at him.

"Shit." Natsu jerked, thinking back to what he could've done to piss off the redhead.

"Answer it so she doesn't chop my head off!"

"Aye! Natsu's phone." He could hear Erza's voice on the other end, and Natsu stilled as he listened to her words, rushing to get dressed he stumbled into the living room taking the device from Happy.

"What the hell happened?"  He almost growled. "They were left crucified in Magnolia Park. Laki found them on her way to the guild this morning and called the master. They've been transported back to Fairy Tail, Porlyusica is taking care of them."

There was a pause before she continued. "It was Phantom Lord. They left their mark carved into Levi's stomach." Erza gritted out.

"Those bastards are asking for it Erza. I know we've had issues with them but this is going too far."

Natsu spat out as he made his way out of the cottage and towards the guild, Happy following behind him.

There was no risk in anyone seeing him in this part of the woods.

"I know Natsu, we will take charge. I called you to see if you could get Lucy and come to the guild, I can't get a hold of her and Mira hasn't seen her since last night. We need to debrief everyone and strike up a battle plan."

Lucy. She was usually at the guild early in the morning. Though the girls did have some binding-type outing last night so maybe she just slept in.

But Natsu had a bad feeling about this.

"We'll be there soon."

He hung up the phone, not caring for the possible repercussions of hanging up on Erza. He needed to call Lucy, needed to know she was okay.

He was speeding his way through the woods in the direction of her apartment, as he waited for her to answer.

"Did you just wake up? Because if you want breakfast we can go to the guild, you raided my refrigerator on Tuesday and I still haven't been grocery shopping." Her voice mused through the phone, and Natsu felt himself relax at the sound of her voice.

She was safe.

"Why aren't you answering your phone? Erza tried callin'. There's been an attack, a rival guild went after Jet, Droy, and Levy. Everyone is gathering in the Fairy Tail."He heard a gasp and then shuffling from the other end of the phone. "I can be there in 20 minutes." He heard her say.

"No!" Natsu shouted. "No, stay where you are, I'm on my way."

"I can make it to the guild on my own, don't worry, I'll see you there." Lucy brushed him off.

"Lucy, please. We don't know what they want, or why they attacked us. Just stay put and I'll be there in 10." It wasn't like him to be reasonable, but he found himself feeling and acting all sorts of ways since meeting the blonde.

It's an odd thing, to be mindful and think things through.

It was the use of her name as opposed to the nickname name he insisted on calling her, and the grave, almost pleading tone in his voice that got her to agree.

"Just hurry up, I want to see Levy. I can't believe someone would do something like this." Natsu finally got to the edge of the woods and made his way to Lucy's apartment. "Don't worry Luce, we'll get them! Now stay where you are, I'm on my way."

He heard her small 'Okay' as they disconnected the call.

Turning around, Natsu grabbed Happy, hiding him under his jacket, and continued to race towards Lucy.

He realized something was wrong the second he was outside of her apartment. The smell of magic was in the air and Natsu knew, somehow, that he wouldn't find Lucy inside.

He went in anyway and found the whole place a mess. Happy flew out of his coat and looked around the apartment with him, searching for answers.

The rooms were flooded, drawers opened and the contents were scattered everywhere. There were obvious signs of a struggle in the bedroom.

He could smell Lucy and her residual magic, along with a scent he wasn't familiar with. It was odd, almost like when you approach a lake, mixed with the smell of rain.

Cursing Natsu tried to rein his anger before he set fire to Lucy's apartment.

He gave himself one minute to control his emotions before he jumped out Lucy's window and ran to the guild, leaving Happy behind in his haste.

He made his way there in record time, almost positive he knocked over a couple of civilians, but he couldn't bother with that now.

Bursting through the guild doors, the wood hit the wall with a bang, making everyone present look at him, panting and eyes wild.

"They took Lucy."

[m34gs]

Tell us about your top five favourite video games! ❤️

Oh thank you so much for this ask, friend! I'm super excited to answer :D I will list them from fifth to first!

5th: This spot goes to Mario Party 8! I have a lot of fond memories of this game. Where I grew up, it was a very popular one for families to have for the Wii, and it was something we could play in large groups. It's silly and funny and there's not a lot you have to do to understand what's going on. The reason this isn't higher on my list is just simply because, in my opinion, it's only really fun when you play with others. Playing alone or just vs the computer is not really fun at all.

4th: Sims 4 is in fourth place. I really enjoy this game because it's pretty versatile in terms of how you can play it. You can use it simply to build homes (which is mostly what I'm doing right now; building and decorating is so much fun!), play out storylines that come with the base game and/or expansion packs (apparently there's quite a bit of actual lore, which is something I only learned a few months ago!) or even make your own crazy story-lines (currently: I have a family of vampires with one human member who desperately wants to be turned, an Elder vampire who just wants to raise a good vampire family, a young adult vampire who thrives being a vampire and is trying to seduce Vladislaus Straud, and a third young adult vampire who is desperate to be as human as possible and loves all things about humanity...and then I have another "family" where one woman was jealous of another's beauty so she tricked her into staying in a tower and I'm currently playing through as her, only able to befriend the people her captor invites over, and trying to convince one of them to "join" the family so she can get them to free her and run away with her and start a new family in a cozy magic cottage somewhere...). Possibilities are really endless, and that's what I love about it. But, the game is rough on my PC, and it sometimes lags or has issues where it doesn't load properly, or something doesn't register right, so sometimes I have to exit out and restart or try again a different day. It also can't seem to decide if it wants me to use keyboard controls or mouse controls. Some days right clicking rotates objects. Some days right clicking moves my screen. It is a Frustration.

3rd: Third place goes to Danganronpa! I really enjoy this series. As of now, I have played the first two games and part of Ultra Despair Girls. The mysteries are very fun, the storyline is interesting, and I think all the character designs are so unique and dynamic! I have a few favourite characters who won my heart fairly instantly, and I really love replaying chapters where they are more present in the story-line. I love all the art fandom has made for it, and I love the fanfics too! Free time events give more information and insight about the characters and the storyline even after the gameplay is finished, and that makes me really happy. After all, I am a sucker for character development and backstory.

2nd: Skyrim is in second place!! I used to play this game a bit more faithfully when I lived with my parents and had access to my brother's xbox. And a tv. I do not currently have a tv, as you know, friend, and I do all my gaming at the current time on my laptop and/or my phone. Anyway; Skyrim. It makes me really really happy. I love the fact that I can become a Vampire Lord, or a Werewolf, I can be the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, I can learn to be a bard, I can join the Theives' Guild, I can join the Dark Brotherhood, I choose which side I'm on in a civil war, I can adopt children, and have many houses...and those are all Side Quests (except the civil war, which can be done as a side quest or as part of the main story depending on how you play, if I recall correctly). Like, those aren't even the main quest. I never finished the main quest because I was too busy off doing side quests for rewards so I could buy pretty clothes and fun toys for my two children and then I would spend time with them and play tag and hide and seek like a good dad (I played as a male Dunmer). I genuinely miss this game, and trust me it will be the first one I purchase when I have a TV and Xbox of my own.

1st: First place goes to....Twisted Wonderland! Right now, that is the game I play the most, and it is the one I'm most focused on. I love the story and the characters. There's an interesting plot going on, and I am eager to know what happens next. The events and side stories are very entertaining (though I haven't been able to play as many events as I would've liked because I had a rough past year) and provide a deeper look at a lot of characters! I love Character Development!!!!!!! And I enjoy how different characters end up interacting with each other in the events, it fleshes out the world a bit and keeps the houses/dorms from feeling too divided or closed off. Like, it helps provide that sense of over-arching storytelling, rather than allowing each dorm's story to feel disjointed and not connected to the others. I really enjoy that. On top of all of that, there are fun rhythm games and minigames, battles you can fight daily, and other little cool features that I really enjoy and that allow me to "play" the game daily without feeling like I have to devote a whole bunch of time to it if I have a busier day ahead of me. I also really love the official art; it's all so pretty and wonderful. They really did a great job with the character art and the art for the different cards.

Thanks again for the ask, friend! It was fun to answer!

[rainpebble3]

Stressed out Sunday

AKA SOS.

So, I’m feeling quite stressed, and feeling very sorry for myself, so I decided to jump back into my oldest fic, the one that started my monstruously huge stories. I can’t describe how happy I felt reading about my little brat, irritating her lecturer at the Arcane University. Seeing as I’m over 50k into book 3 of that series, I think I’ll share the one that started it all.

This story can be found on AO3 and is called:

The Flames of Justice

Before she was the Dragonborn, she was Ailith Copperwing. An overachieving mage with a talent for embarassing her teachers.

A moment of carelessness throws her into the Imperial City Prison at 15 years old and face to face with a savage, locked up for public disturbances and wild drunken behaviour. Torban Thrice-Banished believes he is untouchable and confesses to murder while clamping his bloody hands around Ailith's neck. Ailith is terrified and appalled that he can confess to hideous crimes knowing he'll be unpunished. With the loving support of her parents, Ailith begins her journey to find power and enough of it to finally get Thrice-Banished put behind bars for good.

As well as her parents, Ailith quickly forms bonds within the Fighter's Guild and with the mysterious Khajiit, Theranni. He is equally drawn to Ailith and pledges to help her hunt down the evasive bandit. With him fighting by her side, Ailith feels invincible. But is she?

Inspired by characters created in the Skyrim Romance Mod and Beyond Skyrim: Bruma. This is the story of my Dragonborn before she faces Alduin and meets Bishop.

Chapter 1: The First Arrest

The Arcane university was a beautiful and imposing building, it rose above the south side of the Imperial City and the energies of the hundreds of mages inside would hum over the city with any breeze. Officially it was known as the home of the Synod, however many still called it the arcane university. Students from all corners of the continent would flock there to improve their skills in relative peace. There were no age barriers and classes were organised by ability. The oldest current student being an Altmer of over a hundred years, and the youngest being a gifted Argonian at eleven.

Like some students of her age, Ailith had very little interest in her studies. Following on from the pressure from her mother, Ailith had been developing her magic skills since she was old enough to speak. Now at fifteen years old she was ahead of her class, even the teacher sometimes and she couldn't understand why she had to waste her time in these lessons. Especially as she was separated from her friends to enter this group. They were still in some lower level classes, while Ailith had been dragged into Advanced. She was on track to become a researcher or even a Master.

She looked around her classroom, there were several elves and a few humans, and from her perch at the back of the room Ailith studied them as they were hunched over parchment taking attentive notes from their teacher. Her own sheets were pristine and untouched. It wasn't even a proper lecture; they were just being given overviews of the main fields of study and why it was important to pick just one area. Ailith yawned loudly and smirked as her neighbour, an elderly Dunmer with spectacles, glared at her. She tapped the parchment and the Dunmer looked away with a quiet growl.

Ailith ran her hands through her hair and frowned when her fingers tugged on some knots. There was also some hardening ink in her hair from a nap she took in the morning. The blackness made her hair look slightly charred at the tips. Ailith rubbed it between her fingers, watching the dry ink drift onto the perfectly white parchment. The shapes the ink fell into were far more interesting than this lecture. They looked remarkably similar to Daedric runes.

The room around her stank of troll fat after an alchemy accident the day before and it made Ailith's head pound. Her nose wrinkled in disgust and frustration as she looked to the unopenable windows. She resentfully noted that it was a beautiful day outside the cold stone walls of the University. She leaned back in her seat, feeling miserable while the teacher droned on about choosing a specialty within the schools of magic, it took everything she had not to roll her eyes. The Synod didn't care about preserving Mages health, they wanted to limit the power of their students and stop anyone from disrupting the status quo.

As the daughter of the University's Master of illusion, she was expected to simply follow in her mother's footsteps. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, when she was young her mother had recognised her early talents and encouraged her strengths in all schools of Magika, with plenty of focus on respecting her limits. She couldn't help but snort, illusion spells were so dull compared to the rush of manipulating the elements. Ailith used to love magic and learning, she began her university career as an enthusiastic and attentive student but when the other Masters would just assume that she would focus on illusion skills and make pompous comments at any interest she had in other schools, she felt like they were slamming her into a box. Every day Ailith felt herself hardening as she distanced from university life. The daily patronising discussions with teachers had crushed her love of magic, now she just didn't care.

She especially didn't care when she had to endure these lectures on specialising in a field of magic. Maybe if she could conjure a small flame atronach, they would let the class out early... Her fingers twirled gently over the parchment, absently tracing a summoning circle.

"Miss Copperwing! Are we boring you?" The irritating voice of her teacher broke into her fantasy as he slammed a book on the desk at the front, making everyone jump. She felt the rest of the class eyeing her, hoping to see her taken down a peg or two. Ailith knew they didn't like her... they hated that she was better than them. She also knew she was the youngest in the group by at least ten years which was hugely resented, and she loved showing off in class.

Ignoring her classmates, she smirked at the stuffy Altmer at the front of the classroom. She released a heavy sigh before answering him. "Just a bit, Mr Spellock..." she drawled. As an added insult, she began to chew on a ragged fingernail.

She could almost taste the disapproval from her classmates as it rippled towards her. They tutted and shook their heads. She didn't care, they were dull morons and she enjoyed watching her teacher squirm. Despite beings an arrogant ass and always talking down to her, he wasn't even a master of anything, he hadn't earned the right to teach anyone.

"Well," he frowned for a second. He ran a hand through his golden hair before smirking, "I suppose, to perhaps save us some time, you wouldn't mind explaining to the class what the consequences of magika burnout are?" The class stared silently between the two mages.

"Burnout, hmm..." Ailith picked at an invisible thread on her robes, sounding bored. She gnawed on her lip and sighed more dramatically than necessary. "I guess that would be when you spread yourself out over too many fields causing rapid fatigue, hindered recovery and impaired casting. It could cost your life if you get too carried away or potentially weaken your abilities permanently... Oh! And we have to mention caster's flu, that's a nasty... nasty consequence there." She finished by sucking a breath through her teeth.

Ailith's mother had explained this to her when she discovered her daughter aged ten surrounded by spellbooks from all of the magic schools and practising novice level spells from each of them. Ailith's smirk widened into a grin as Mr Spellock shook his head and took a moment to compose himself. He was getting quite annoyed with her, but now it was the time to put the cherry on top. She stood up and stretched. Everyone blinked at her curiously.

"However, being well versed in many schools could save your life. A good example of this, would be the spell Equilibrium, belonging to the Alteration school I believe," she directed this sarcastically to her teacher, needing no response as she knew damn well Equilibrium was part of the Alteration family of spells.

She rolled her sleeves up and extended a palm to show a vivid red glow that was beginning to flutter like weak flames, "Now I can use this to drain my own life force to fuel my magic," the red glow became brighter and crept up her arm. Ailith watched her classmates as they stared at the almost demonic redness. The effects of the spell were instant, she felt herself grow tired and her bones began aching as power was drawn from them. Looking around the room at her audience, she knew it was worth the weakness and pain to see them in awe of her. Her teacher was speechless, and his golden skin had developed a pink hue, maybe he was having a stroke...

"You can see as the glow moves up my arm, I'm growing weaker. It would be very easy to accidentally kill myself doing this, but..." she extended another palm to show a golden glow, "as I am pretty good with restoration," she winked, "if I have any healing spell cast then I will recover my lifeforce while still charging magika. Very useful in desperate situations." The golden glow began to spread up her other arm a bit more quickly, balancing the two spells.

Ailith grinned around the class, her classmates were muttering to each other, sounding impressed. She caught the eye of one of her bigger critics, Frida an elderly Nord who had run away to Cyrodiil to learn about the arcane arts. Ailith shot her an arrogant wink while the older woman's face crinkled.

She was taken by surprise when Mr Spellock slammed another book on his desk. The librarian would be pissed if he damaged any of these tomes. Ailith tilted her head to peek at the spines of the books. They seemed to be ok.

"Enough! ENOUGH!" he yelled. Ailith closed her palms, ending the spells as she quirked an eyebrow at the irritated Altmer. "I can't stand another minute of this spectacle. I am the teacher here! Leave Miss Copperwing, and I will speak to your mother about this!" He raised his hand, pointing to the door. His hand trembled and glowed an ominous shade of orange.

Ailith blinked, playing the mother card was unexpected, and once she got over her shock, she snickered. "Let's see who speaks to her first, Spellock." Leaving her untouched parchment and inkless quill on the desk, Ailith strode out of the classroom without looking back.

She strode down the back stairwell, avoiding the teleportation stones used by most students. Ailith decided it was wise to avoid other mages for the time being. She left the university grounds, crossing the bridge into the city and entered the Arboretum. Dozens of citizens strolled the around the district, admiring the statues of the eight divines, however, no one paused at the young oak tree that replaced the old Talos statue. It was growing slowly in the centre of the Arboretum and almost completely concealed the cracked stones where Talos had stood. As she passed the tree, Ailith could see the shadows along the walls that were too dark to be anything other than Thalmor justiciars, ensuring that no one was stupid enough to openly worship Talos. They were using some form of concealment magic and they were almost invisible to non-magic users. Ailith glanced around and counted at least six shadowy figures spaced around the arboretum. She looked away from the walls, wanting to avoid being noticed by the Thalmor. This was the cost of peace and they just had to live with it. Ailith continued to walk around the arboretum towards the gate leading to the Arena district. Out of habit, Ailith paused at the statue of Julianos and pressed her hand on the cool marble.

Other mages passed the statue at the same time and also rested their palms on the statue, muttering their thanks to Julianos for his wisdom and their powers. Ailith ignored them and silently asked for help. She wanted to love magic again, but she didn't know how. Slowly, she dropped her hand and walked away. Ailith decided to visit the market district and maybe the bookshop could provide some inspiration.

It was shaping up to be a hot day, but that was hardly surprising for the middle of Sun's Height. As she felt the sun sink through her skin, it was warming her and restoring her energy. Showing off like that was more taxing than she would admit to anyone. When Ailith overexerted herself, she always felt chilled to her bones. Her boots thudded softly over the cobbles and she followed the sound of the busy marketplace. Her robes fluttered around her knees and she pulled the sleeves down over her hands to help warm up quicker. She arrived at the front door for the First Edition bookshop, but it was closed, according to a sign in the window the owner was away visiting family. Ailith tutted quietly and walked back towards the main marketplace.

She came to a stop and sat on a moss-covered wall to watch the people pass by. Ailith always marvelled at her home city, its strong stone walls bore many scars. The city had survived Daedric invasions and war, but the people of the city always endured. Their will to live kept the market busy and the people browsing stalls now were not too different from their ancestors who rebuilt their lives after the Oblivion crisis. Distracted from her earlier confrontation, Ailith smiled, she was always fascinated with people watching, each person was absorbed in their own world, barely aware of others around them.

The hum of activity quietened as a procession of people walked past. Ailith watched them as they passed through crowds of people. They strode past in their resplendent robes, ignoring the people around them and continued into the heart of the city. They must have been politicians, Ailith thought as they disappeared. Merchants and customers moved in the opposite direction, silently lost to their own thoughts and the flow of people began again. Ailith watched the people passing through, some were sombre and discussing their worries, and others were jovially chatting to their friends. The world outside may be shifting, but the market seemed to stay the same.

It had been many years since the last great war with the Thalmor and to Ailith, it seemed that the land was recovering nicely. There were whispers of rebellion in other provinces, but that seemed far away from her and these busy shoppers. She tipped her face towards the sun, enjoying her freedom and gently swung her feet, tapping her heels on the wall. She kept thoughts of the University away by humming tunelessly. There would be consequences for her behaviour later, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Ailith pushed the hooded part of her robes down and shook out her dark hair. The heat from the sun provided healing warmth and Ailith was feeling better after her use of Equilibrium, she was certainly feeling recovered enough to try a new spell that she had been practising at home. She found it in a book from the library, called Telekinesis, it claimed to be more advanced but Ailith was confident she could cast it. She could use it to steal a book right out of Spellock's hands in their next class, she chuckled to herself.

Clearing her mind, she raised her palm and watched an orange light drift from her fingertips towards an apple in one of the vendor's barrels, it left a misty trail as it moved. As she concentrated, she watched the apple wiggle in the barrel. Feeling sweat dribble down her face, Ailith used her other palm to cast Equilibrium to give her magic a boost.

She felt the apple rise and watched the orange light wrap around it, quickly she retracted the spell in time to stop Equilibrium draining her completely. The apple landed in her hand with a beautiful thud, and she blinked through her dizziness. She sniffed deeply, it was crisp and smelled sweeter than any she'd had before. She bit into it with smug satisfaction. She was mastering advanced spells like a fish learning to swim, even if it didn't bring her the same joy as it had done previously.

"Stop right there!" a deep voice yelled from near the vendor she stole from.

Ailith's smile dropped, "Ah, shit..." She really should have made sure no one was watching, normally the Bosmer who ran this stall was too busy flirting with the Nord who owned the weapons one. Didn't guards have better things to do than hover around the market?

The guard reached her spot on the wall and towered over her, his hand resting menacingly on the hilt of his sword. The sun struck his over polished armour and it blinded Ailith. She rubbed her eyes as he stepped closer.

"Break the law on my watch, will you?! You better have enough gold to pay for that!"

Ailith glared at this pathetic man on his power trip.

"Oh yes, here's the one whole gold coin for the damn apple," Ailith spat, unable to control her temper. She angrily reached into her coin purse for some money to appease the guard. She was furious at herself for getting caught, and pissed at him for just existing... The guard glared at her as he took the money from her hand. He did a double take and added a vicious smirk to his nasty face.

"You're Gregory Copperwing's daughter, aren't you? He's a good man, honourable..." Ailith froze as he spoke, she was so used to disappointing her mum that she barely cared, but dad was another story... She watched him warily and let her hand slowly drop to the wall. She didn't like where this was going.

"... I wonder how he would feel about having to bail his daughter out of jail..."

Ailith went white as the guard finished, "You have no cause to arrest me, I paid for the goods," she spluttered, horrified at the turn of events.

"True, but you were incredibly disrespectful to a member of the Imperial Watch... I think you need to come with me." He extended an arm, inviting her to stand.

Ailith considered arguing, but she could see the guard's smug grin, practically daring her to make a comment. She sagged, her face flaming with shame as the market had all but stopped to watch her get arrested, over an apple. She stood quietly and left the cursed apple on the wall. As she let the guard bind her wrists, painfully tight, she kept her head high. Before being dragged off to the cells Ailith scanned the market for any familiar faces from her father's guild. There was no one. Her eyes burned but she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction.

The asshole took the longest route to the prison, hoping that plenty of people would see and report back to her father that Ailith had been arrested, it was certainly hot gossip. The daughter of two highly respected citizens in the city getting arrested. She was mortified and relieved in equal measure. If word got back to her father quickly, he could bail her out sooner. Her mother wouldn't hear about this until much later. She'd be locked in her study and Ailith knew she would never come down to the cells.

[m34gs]

Yeah, the exploring aspect is great! And stumbling upon new quests is pretty fun, honestly. I don't hate the wandering, but I'm awful with directions both in and out of games; so I tend to get spectacularly lost and die in strange ways. My brother used to laugh his ass off when he would watch me play (I called him my Skyrim Coach because he was the one who got me into it and he would explain things to me and help me navigate once in a while).

Honestly, I don't remember much about the civil war quest; but that's probably because I haven't played (or watched my brother play) in a really long time. But I can see where it probably wouldn't be as much fun as some of the others.

Theives guild is super fun! I agree!

For me, personally:

Favourite part: that I can adopt kids. I adopted two orphans and my gameplay always really centered on "how much money can I make with this" and "can I afford this other home yet" and "I want to buy my children gifts". I would take breaks between quests to drop by my home and give them presents and play games with them and be the "Best Papa" (I played a male avatar). I refused to take them with me on quests because I didn't want them to get hurt. I wanted to move them out of Whiterun asap because I was nervous about the Civil War affecting them. My brother looked me dead in the eyes one time and went "Meagan this isn't fucking sims, it's not about adopting children and making a home!". I was always a little sad that I couldn't adopt *all* the orphans; only two :(

Least Favourite part: This is probably more my fault than the actual game's, but my least favourite part was The Situations I would get myself into where I would end up stuck and have no choice but to go back a save-point and redo everything. And I don't mean "oops I killed someone I needed" kind of stuck. I mean Literally Stuck. Between rocks or in a crevice or under something. The amount of times this happened is astronomical and my brother used to laugh so hard at me. Or he'd hear me go "noooo" from across the basement and go "are you lost again? or stuck?" and while I love his teasing and it was a little funny, I did get frustrated with how it affected my gameplay.

Favourite Side Quest: I really liked the Mage's college quest. It was a lot of fun and the first side quest I ever did (I definitely bit off more than I could chew at the time but despite dying numerous times I had a lot of fun. In the beginning I would do a lot of running past my enemies while screaming if I could get around them that way, ahahaha). I like my characters to be mages and use spells and traps to fight. By the time I moved away (and subsequently lost access to the xbox my brother owned) I was getting much better at using spells form a distance and setting traps to mitigate damage to myself. (also I loved learning the healing spells, double handing it, zooming out to third person view and then running my avatar around in a circle while healing myself because it looked funny as hell)

I like playing Skyrim too, though I haven't played in a while! What are some of your favourite and least favourite parts of the game? And do you have a favourite side-quest?💜💜💜

FAVOURITE: Just exploring and discovering everything tbh! I like just wandering and doing side quests and getting all the markers.

LEAST FAVOURITE: The civil war side quest has disillusioned me more and more as years go by. I just feel like it could be much better than it is, and at this point it's just a thing I do to have it finished instead of because I actually want to do it.

Favourite side quest... hmm... hmm... It might be the Thieves Guild quests? It's been a few years since I last played so my memory is murky! I'm due for a replay. And I can even mod it now too. 👀

[isabellafoster13]

This was requested on AO3 by Fairyzilla. 

This is request is pretty creative. I likely would not have been able to come up with this on my own and I hope that Fairyzilla keeps the requests coming. I love their requests, honestly. 

As I have stated before, I love the idea of Romeo having a crush on Lucy. I love when a young character has a cute crush on one of the older main characters. I also think that a younger character and an older character both having a crush on one of the main characters and having a bit of a rivalry as a result is fun to watch go down. Of course, you can't have a matchmaking chance without Mira, The Matchmaking Demon herself. 

I also enjoy when shows focus a bit on young characters growing and going through feelings that they have no control over and instead let these feelings control them. It can be pretty relatable in a way and shows how these young characters are still kids, and thus, do stupid stuff. However, they are still able to learn from and fix their mistakes. Characters like Romeo and Wendy are great for this kind of writing.

WARNING: SLIGHT MENTIONS OF BLOOD AND ONE INSTANCE OF SELF HARM

I hope you enjoy!

Creating a New Couple (Gray x Lucy ft. Romeo and Mirajane)

A shirtless Gray sipped on a cold drink, sitting across from Lucy and listening to her talk about a visit to Yukino she had just returned from. He loved hearing her voice. It was like a melody that he would never get tired of hearing. The way she lit up when she was talking about something she loved or was recounting a positive event made the ice mage smile stupidly to himself. She was just so beautiful no matter what she was doing. 

Her hair was such a stunning shade of blonde, it was as though her hair was weaved out of sunlight. Her eyes were an enchanting, dark brown that Gray could stare into for as long as she would allow him. He especially loved how her eyes were incredibly expressive. He always knew how she was feeling just by looking into her eyes. She had a body that he was sure any man would dream of. Her skin was smooth and soft, and the faint stretch marks from her development were adorable. He just wanted to run his fingers along them and pepper kisses along her skin. And then, there was her personality. Lucy was everything he wanted in a woman. She was kind, strong, smart, forgiving, always wanted to help, determined, and stubborn to the point that it was admirable. She accepted everybody and never judged anyone trying to change for anything they did in the past. She even helped him get Juvia to move on from him, which he was forever grateful for. 

She was perfect in Gray's opinion. 

He watched as the celestial wizard he loved waved around her hands as she continued to talk about something stupid Sting had said while she was at Sabertooth. Gray thought it was cute how she aggressively talked with her hands every time she was talking about something that wound her up. It could even be funny sometimes, like when she accidentally smacked Freed in the face as she recounted a job she took with Natsu, got frustrated, and wasn't aware that the green-haired mage who wanted to return a book to her was approaching from behind. 

Gray propped his right elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm, slanting slightly to the right. As he continued to listen to Lucy talk, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He shifted his black gaze toward the bar, seeing a sight that he had seen before. Romeo sitting at the bar and glaring at him. It wasn't a surprise. The thirteen-year-old boy had a crush on Lucy and would glare at any man that talked to her while also finding any excuse to talk to her and give her little gifts. The boy even managed to go on a bunch of jobs with her. 

Somehow, Lucy didn't know that Romeo was crushing on her, or if she did know, she didn't mention it to anybody. Although, much of the guild knew about Romeo's feelings for her and thought that it was adorable. Gray, however, found it to be annoying. Every time he tried to confess his feelings to Lucy, the kid would find some way to get in his way. How the hell was Romeo even able to always know when Gray was going to confess? It was a mystery that the ice mage didn't care to know the answer to. He just wanted the young fire mage to butt out. 

Gray had mentioned Romeo's bothersome feelings to Macao, hoping that the boy's father would talk to him, and explain why he didn't have a chance with her. However, the man never did, instead, he would brush it off, saying that it was normal for a boy his age and that he would get over these feelings eventually. Gray then went to Mira, thinking that she would sympathize, but she too would brush it off and agree with Macao. 

Gray narrowed his gaze glaring back at the boy. This prompted Romeo to answer with a fiercer glare. The ice mage internally sighed. Theorizing that Romeo would finally give up holding onto the nonexistent chance that he thought he had if Lucy was taken, Gray decided to go to Lucy's schedule and confess to her there. 

He waited for Lucy to wrap up her story and take a sip of her strawberry milkshake. He watched as she grimaced at it and looked at Gray with a sweet smile that made his stomach do flips and made him fall even more in love with her. The blonde asked, "Gray, I guess I was talking too long and my drink got a bit too warm. Could you make it cold again?" 

Gray smiled at her and pointed at the now warm drink, icy air surrounding it and making it cold. When he pulled his hand away and laid it back down on the table, Lucy took a testing sip before determining that it was sufficiently cold and begin gulping it down. She looked cute and Gray chuckled. 

When Lucy had finished her rechilled drink, Gray said, "Hey, Lucy, I'm hungry. Mind making me some food?" The celestial wizard nodded with a smile and stood up, walking over to the guild's door, pushing it open, and making her way to her apartment. Gray pushed open the door, but paused and looked back at Romeo. The boy scowled at him, prompting Gray to smirk at him before turning and following after Lucy. 

Romeo balled his fists as he watched Gray walk out of the guild behind Lucy with a scowl. He knew what Gray was planning to do and wasn't going to allow it. He hopped off of the stool he was sitting on, but before he could begin making his way to Lucy's apartment, he heard Mira say to him when she walked up to him from behind, "Romeo, what are you doing?" 

The boy turned around to see Mira staring at him with her brow furrowed. She clearly knew what he was planning to do and she wasn't pleased. Romeo shrank back a little as he answered, "I just want to ask Lucy if she's interested in going on a job with me this week." 

Mira stared down at him for a few moments, giving him a fierce glare. She then placed her hand on his head, saying in a serious tone, "don't get in Gray's way." 

Romeo nodded and ripped away from the older woman. He burst out of the guildhall and ran through Magnolia to Lucy's apartment. He had to get there before anything actually happened. He had been able to keep Lucy single by ruining any man's attempt to ask her out and he would not allow himself to fail now. 

He loved Lucy. She was the most beautiful, kindest, funniest, and the coolest woman he had ever met. He would be damned if he allowed his chances with her to be ruined. He had been taking every chance he could get to become closer to her. He had been making sure that she stayed single. He had been giving her gifts and going on jobs by himself to show that he was responsible and not as much of a child as he appeared to be. He was determined to show her that he was what she needed and wanted in a boyfriend. He just had to continue what he was doing and wait for her to return his feelings. 

Romeo thought about what could be happening in Lucy's apartment as he got closer to his destination. The very thought of the ice bastard confessing his love to the beautiful celestial wizard made him grit his teeth and push himself further. The young fire mage was sure that he was the best option for Lucy. 

He came to a stop in front of the blonde's apartment and took a moment to catch his breath. He then knocked on the door several times before waiting with his fists balled at his sides for Lucy to open the door. It took only a few moments for the door to open and reveal the young woman that he had his eyes set on. 

Romeo froze when he saw her standing there in the doorway. He felt sudden shyness come over him. His cheeks heated up and his tongue became tied. He swore that Lucy got even more gorgeous with each passing day. He honestly couldn't wait for the day that Lucy agreed to become his girlfriend. He would make sure that she felt loved and beautiful every day and now man would take her from him. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Lucy's alluring voice speak to him, "Hey, Romeo! What do you need?" 

The young teenager stuttered in response, scratching the back of his head and looking away from her enchanting, dark brown eyes, "I-I um...I wanted to ask if you could go with me on a job this week." 

Lucy gave him a smile that made him fall for her even harder. The blonde responded, "I would love to!" 

Romeo smiled brightly at her, making a mental note to find a job that would last several days. Now that he secured a job with her, he just had to get her to invite him in so he could get in Gray's way. He was expecting to make an effort in order to do that, but to his surprise, Lucy opened the door wider and asked, "Gray and I are making some food. Interested in joining us?" 

Romeo gave a wide smile and nodded. He walked past her and followed her through the main room and into the kitchen. The room contained a stove, oven, cupboards, cabinets, and an island that had a cutting board with a large kitchen knife on it. Carrots, onions, and tomatoes sat next to the cutting board. On the lit stove was a pot of what Romeo assumed was soup, light steam rising from it. On the far left wall was a closed doorway that led to a dining room. Standing at the island was Gray, who began glaring at the younger mage upon noticing him when Lucy wasn't looking. 

Romeo returned the glare, but both male mages stopped when Lucy turned around to look at both of them. She placed her hands on her hips and looked from one mage to the other with a smile on her face. She said, "I'm going to set the table." She looked at Gray to tell him, "Gray, could you cut the rest of those vegetables and put them in the pot, please?" When the ice mage nodded, took up the kitchen knife, and began cutting a carrot, Lucy turned to Romeo to say, "Romeo, you just stay here, okay? I don't want you to get hurt." 

Romeo quickly responded, "are you sure? I can help." 

Lucy nodded, saying, "yes, I'm sure. As I said, I don't want you to get hurt." 

Romeo nodded and watched as she turned around and walked into the dining room, the door closing behind her. The young fire mage both liked and didn't like that Lucy had told him to simply stand around and do nothing. He liked it because it showed that she cared greatly for him. That meant he was making progress. He didn't like it because it meant that he wouldn't be able to show her that he was just as helpful as Gray. 

Speaking of, Romeo turned his gaze to the ice mage, narrowing his eyes. He sneered at him, "do you have to keep trying to get with her? You're just going to get rejected in the end." 

Gray stopped cutting up the carrot and glared at the younger mage. He replied with a cold tone, "you can't seriously think that you have a chance with her." 

Romeo nodded. "Of course I have a chance! I'd make a better boyfriend than you ever could! Why don't you just leave now so Lucy and I can have a long-awaited date?" 

Gray, suddenly shirtless, turned to face the boy, his mouth agape. He then brought himself back and hissed down at the fire mage, "you're a kid! You're too young for Lucy! You need to get over this weird fixation on her and move on to someone your own age!"

Romeo hissed back, "you can't even keep your shirt on! How do you expect to be good enough for Lucy? Just because I'm younger doesn't mean that I can't be the best boyfriend she'll ever find!" 

Gray ignored the fact that he had lost his shirt at some point. Instead, he scoffed, "Lucy isn't interested and she never will be. She just sees you as a younger brother." 

Romeo balled his fists and took a step closer. As anger welled up inside him, he growled, "stop talking!" 

Gray continued despite the threatening stance, "you a kid. You can't date her. Just face it, this whole fantasy of dating Lucy isn't going to ever happen." 

Romeo gritted his teeth and spat out, "stop before roast you!" 

Gray shook his head before he went on, "just get out of here now and go do normal kid stuff. I'm going to confess to Lucy and I'm not going to let some kid with a crush stop me." 

Romeo stormed forward and grabbed Gray's right hand. If he couldn't get Gray to leave on his own, then he'll get Lucy to kick him out. He gripped the ice mage's hand, trapping the kitchen knife in it, and used raised his left arm. Using the knife that he held in the other mage's hand, he cut his own arm and quickly stepped back. 

As Gray stared in shock, trying to process what had happened, Romeo wailed in pain, "Lucy! Lucy! Gray hurt me! Lucy!" 

Before Gray could drop the knife, Lucy came running into the kitchen. She stared between the knife in Gray's hand and Romeo's bleeding arm. Romeo watched through his pained tears with masked satisfaction as Lucy became angry and Gray struggled to defend himself, unable to find words that were suitable to explain what had just happened and to calm the enraged Lucy. 

The celestial wizard yelled at her friend, "Gray! What the hell did you do? I just hurt Romeo! What the hell has gotten into you? I can't believe that you just hurt him for no reason!" 

Gray stuttered, trying to figure out what he should say while still trying to process what had happened himself, "Lucy...I-I um...I didn't-I would never-"

Lucy interrupted him by screaming, "get out! Get out, Gray! I loved you! I can't believe you would hurt a child! Get out now!" She pointed at the door and glared at the ie mage so fiercely that he didn't try to continue to defend himself. Instead, he set the knife down and walked out of the apartment, his head down and tears leaking from his eyes. 

Romeo wiped the tears off of his face and smirked to himself. He was in pain, but at least he got rid of that jerk. He turned his attention to Lucy when he felt her lift his cut and bleeding arm. He felt bad about getting blood on her floor, but it wasn't wood or carpet, so at least it would be easy to clean up. He watched as Lucy treated his injury, cleaning it and wrapping it. He winced at the alcohol that she cleaned it with but was quickly distracted from the pain when he realized that Lucy was struggling to hold back her tears. 

He thought back to what Lucy had said to Gray. She yelled at the ice mage that she loved him. She loved him. Romeo watched as Lucy walked into the main room of her apartment, with him following after her. He watched her sit on her bed and bury her tearful face in her hands. He felt a stab of guilt through his chest. 

Then, the realization hit him like a punch from Erza. Lucy loved Gray. Oh God, she actually loved him. As Romeo leaned against the doorway, realizing that he had just taken away two innocent people's chance at true happiness, there was only one thought on his mind. What did I just do?

Mira finished cleaning the lost of the glasses when she heard the guild door open. She looked over to see a tearful Gray dragging his feet over to the bar, plopping down on one of the stools, and laying his head on his folded arms. The white-haired mage asked worriedly, "what's wrong, Gray?"

The black-haired man answered with a few sniffles. Mira's brow furrowed. She knew that Romeo did something. She told that boy not to get in Gray's way and surprise surprise, that was exactly what he did. She was going to give that kid a piece of her mind. 

Mira waved over her sister, told her to take over for a little bit, and exited the guild. In her anger-induced dash, she quickly made it to Lucy's apartment. Standing in front, leaning against the closed door, was Romeo. She noticed that his left arm was wrapped in slightly bloodstained bandages. The boy had his hands stuffed in his pockets, his head hanging and a few stray tears running down his round face. 

As she approached him, Mira's face softened a little, though it was still clear that she was mad. She stopped in front of the young fire mage with her arms crossed over her ample chest. She demanded, "care to tell me what you did?" 

Romeo looked up at her, tears in his dark eyes. The sight made Mira's heart ache, but her angry facial expression didn't lessen. The boy dropped his head and looked back down at the ground. He sighed before he answered, "I cut my arm and blamed Gary. Lucy yelled at him and threw him out." 

Mira waited for Romeo to lift his head and look up at her, and then she slapped him across the face. It wasn't hard enough to cause a great amount of pain, but it was hard enough to get her anger and disaprovment across." 

Romeo nodded, muttering, "I deserved that." 

Mira crossed her arms over her chest again and stated, "how do you plan to fix things?" 

Romeo kept his eyes glued on his shoes. He mumbled, "I don't know." 

Mira kneeled in front of the younger mage. She placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing his gaze to her, and told him with a softer but still stern tone, "I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to tell Lucy what really happened. You're also going to apologize to both Lucy and Gray."

Romeo looked at her as though he was going to object but quickly decided not to further anger the young woman. He nodded and turned around, opening the door and walking into the main room with Mira following him. She was going to make sure that he do as she instructed. 

As Mira waited at the door, Romeo walked over to a sniffling Lucy, her hands buried in her hands. The take-over mage watched as the boy tapped on the celestial wizard's shoulder. When Lucy looked at him, tears in her eyes, the fire mage began confessing the truth of what had happened earlier. Lucy listened, her facial expression changing from one of sorrow to one of anger. 

Lucy stood up, angrily asking, "why would you do that, Romeo?"

The boy looked down, new tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He sniffled, "I-I love you, Lucy. I wanted to make sure that you stayed single because I wanted to have a chance with you. I'm sorry." 

Lucy sighed. She kneeled in front of the younger mage, placing her hands on his shoulders. She said softly, "Romeo, I'm too old for you. Our ages may not be too far away, but we are in two different places in life, mentally, emotionally, and physically. There is no way you and I would date. It just wouldn't work. Plus, I've only ever seen you as a little brother. I love the friendship that we have now, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. I love you, Romeo. Not romantically, but as a brother and friend." 

Romeo wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffled a few times before he asked hesitantly, "are you mad at me?" 

Lucy smiled kindly as she answered, "yes, but I still forgive you. Romeo, you're still very young. You are still growing in many ways. You'll make mistakes that you'll regret and you'll hurt people without completely meaning to. But, that's all part of growing up. You just need to know when what you did was wrong, acknowledge that fact, apologize, and try to make things right. I know you will be a great mage when you become an adult. You still have growing and learning to do, so don't get frustrated with yourself, okay?" Romeo nodded. He gave a teary smile and hugged the celestial wizard, who returned his hug. 

When the pair parted, Mira said with a smile, "Lucy, Gray is in the guild and he seems to be pretty devastated." 

Lucy gasped and exclaimed, "Gray! I need to apologize and properly tell him that I love him!" She then tore out of her apartment, leaving her other two guildmates behind. 

Lucy ran to the guild, her legs already hurting as she pushed herself further. She had to apologize to Gray and tell him that she loved him. She had to take the chance that she had been wanting to take for years. She finally had the courage to tell him and she wasn't sure if she would have the courage again anytime soon. She spotted the ie mage walking out of the guild, looking depressed. The sight made Lucy want to cry. 

As she got closer, she called out to him as he turned to walk away, "Gray! Gray! Stop!" 

Gray stopped in his tracks and whipped around, tearful eyes widened in surprise. Lucy launched herself in his arms, causing the ice mage to stumble back and onto his ass. The celestial wizard sat up on his lap, cupped his face in her hands, and wiped away the stray tears. She then slammed her lips onto his. Gray quickly kissed back. 

The two mages pulled away. Lucy smiled at him and exclaimed, "I love you, Gray! I'm so sorry for getting mad at you and throwing you out of my apartment! It was all a misunderstanding that I'll explain later! I love you! Please tell me that you love me too!" 

Gray stared at her in shock, taking a few moments to process what had just happened. Once he finished processing her words, he wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him, and kissed her passionately, a kiss that the blonde returned instantly. 

When they pulled away, Gray softly responded, "I love you too, Lucy."

[atveren]

Diluc X Reader

Warnings: Angst, Blood, Death, Swearing, Injury, Bone-breaking, Mentions of self hate

Probably goes against canon but what do I care?

Gender Neutral (They/Them, You/Yours)

It had been a long month for the winery owner. Diluc had returned home, hoping to just get some quiet. That’s all he wanted, at least an hour. Just a bit of time to calm down from the weeks of nothing but work, fighting and stress. By some luck, the abyss had picked up its work at the same time many orders had come in, and other things had been sabotaged.

Fate had other plans, because just as he walked inside, you rushed over to him, with a worried look in your eyes. “Diluc! Are you okay?” You asked, looking him up and down, checking for injuries. “I’m fine, (Name). But would you leave me alone, just for an hour? I need a break.” He asked, seeming exhautsed.

“Absolutely not! You were gone for a month, wirh zero contact to anyone but the staff. Do you have any idea how worried I was?!” You snapped back in retort. You couldn’t help it, he’d left with no warning and didn’t bother even sending a letter, or leaving a note? If it wasn’t for the staff telling you otherwise, you would’ve thought he died in a battle.

“(Name). I said it once, and I’ll say it again. I just need one hour. Then you can worry all you want.” Diluc said, his eyes narrowing, growing frustrated. You didn’t seem to notice, and continued pestering him. It took just a few more pushes, before he finally snapped.

Diluc’s tone was harsh, and held clear irritation. He massaged his forehead, aggravated. “Are you unable to understand I don’t want to be around you right now? It would’ve just been an hour, but I need a break. I’ll see you later.” And with that, he turned, leaving the main room. You yourself were angry, and tried to be as caring as possible towards him, and he took that for granted. (At least in your eyes, he did.)

You felt like it was maybe a decision made in anger, but you walked out. You decided that if he was going to hurt you like this, you would hurt him in return. Not directly, no. From afar, by supporting the one thing he hated the most in life. The Abyss. You’ll work to help their plans from the sidelines.

It was a long time later, maybe a few months. You didn’t know exactly, you hadn’t even returned to the city, unless it was for an attack. It was an odd encounter when you accidentally ran into an abyss mage, and they assumed you would attack. When you explained the situation, it seemed pleased. It had reported back to the others, and you were now regarded as an ally. You were thriving, especially knowing this was revenge on him. He had shoved you aside like you were disposable, (which wasn’t true, but that’s how you saw it.) and you were angry.

On the other hand, Diluc, was distraught. None of the maids knew where you’d gone, you hadn’t said a word, just like he did. He hoped that you were just busy, commissions, work from the knights, helping the traveller, anything other than being dead. He could never guess what you had done, he would never assume something like that of you. He’d tried by the knights, and only doubted them more. The adventurer’s guild hadn’t seen you either in monstadt nor liyue. He’d even asked the traveller, and got nothing.

It was as if, you had disappeared. He didn’t want to think you were dead. He didn’t want to think it was anything like that. Maybe you were avoiding him, seeing as that fight was pretty rough and maybe he had been too harsh..Wait..

“The abyss! They..they could’ve taken them...I should never have let my guard down, what have I done...” Diluc yelled out to nobody in particular, as he was alone in the manor. “They probably think I hate them..” He muttered, and despite swearing he wouldn’t let himself cry again. A tear fell, and then another, and then he was sobbing into his hands. He didn’t want to lose you. But, he was sure by now, you would never forgive him. He hadn’t even assumed you would be taken by the abyss, and now he was furious. He didn’t know the truth. He didn’t know you were apart of the group he hated the most.

An abyss mage warned you that he was looking for you, as others had been interrogated. You nodded in thanks to them, grabbing your weapon and donning the mask you had wood crafted to conceal your identity. You had dyed your hair with fruits, and your armour mostly concealed your body. As far as you were aware, he wouldn’t recognise you. The one thing you forgot, was the necklace he had given you a long time back. You had been used to wearing it normally, and hadn’t taken it off. Thankfully, it was tucked behind your armour.

The day shortly arrived when you crossed paths. He didn’t have time to ask questions before you attacked. You weren’t going to kill him, as angry as you were you couldn’t go that far. It may seem selfish, one fight and you decided to leave. But it had been many fights, many time he’s come home late, and forgotten anniversaries. All of that combined with him practically abandoning you, had caused you to break. You had tried being understanding, but that all vanished when he practically told you to fuck off.

Diluc didn’t know how bad it had hurt you, as far as he was aware, you weren’t affected. He couldn’t let his mind distract him. He had to focus on his opponent, which was a tricky one. It was as if they knew his attack patterns by heart..Well, that was the truth. “Where are they?!” His voice rang out over the battlefield, which was really just a small area of the woods. He wanted to use his elemental abilities, but something deep inside told him not to.

You hadn’t replied, only with a laugh that was sarcastic, and a shake of your head. Why did that laugh sound so familiair...It couldn’t be! Could it...? He didn’t have time to make up his mind, as his opponent missed a defence, and his claymore slit across their chest, shredding the armour and cutting deep, just barely missing any vital organs. A crack could be heard and you were sure something was shattered. The necklace could also be seen, and it loosely hanged as you brought your hands up to cover the injury, and stop the bleeding. As the blade had hit, your scream ripped through the area. You were sobbing, and in agony. It felt like you were dying, and perhaps..maybe you were.

Diluc’s eyes narrowed, noticing the necklace. “I’ll ask one last time. Where. Is. (Name)? You have their necklace, you’ve encountered them.” His voice was cold, and his blade was still ready. His elemental burst was also ready, he wasn’t taking any chances. “I won’t hesitate to kill you if you lie, or stay silent.” He approached closer, lowering the blade to your neck. You stared at him through the mask, before your hand shot up and ripped it off. “Me! Damnit Diluc, it’s me..” You sobbed out again, grasping the wound with both hands again.

Diluc stared. The claymore still held in his hands, before he tossed it to the side. “(Name)...I..I’m sorry..Were you forced to do this?! When did they take you..?” His voice was cracking, and all his self-respect and tough act disappeared. “They didn’t..I joined them.” You confessed, still staring into his eyes.

“Why would you-“ He almost yelled, before you yelled in return. “Because of you! I was sick of being treated like shit, and being ignored. Y-You would work and work and completely ignore me! I was sick of it.” He was silent, staring, and blinking. He couldn’t be mad at you, this was his fault. “And then when you decided to leave for an entire month, then shove me off like I meant nothing?! I was fucking done.”

Diluc dropped down next to you, he knew he didn’t have enough time to get you back to Monstadt, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try. He picked you up in his arms, holding you close to his chest. He wasn’t upset at you, he couldn’t be. He caused this. He was at fault. He didn’t know why you would put yourself in such danger, just to get back to him. “Please..hold on. I swear I’ll-“ You cut him off by bringing your hand to his cheek, wiping the blood and tears from his eyes. “Forgive me, Diluc, but it’s too late. Don’t be mad at yourself, I love you..” You coughed out, knowing your time was coming.

Your hand fell, and body grew cold. He froze. He couldn’t move, only holding you closer. He dropped to his knees, sobbing, and cursing himself. Muttering things of ‘this is my fault’ ‘I shouldn’t have snapped at them..’ and the like. He couldn’t believe this was reality, he didn’t want it to be. He couldn’t move. He was compeletely frozen. He knew he never said it enough, and it was too late now, but he said it anyway. “(Name)..I love you too.”

Diluc never did forgive himself. And he surounded himself with more work than before. He didn’t find love again, not after knowing he killed the person he considered the love of his life. The person he would be with forever.

~Bonus Ending that isn’t canon to this fic~

“Diluc...Diluc!” Your voice woke him up, he was out in the gardens and you were standing in front of him. He stared at you, you being uninjured and well, not dead. “Are you okay?! You were crying! Was it a nightmare?” You asked, sitting beside him. “I made you something as an apology. I should’ve let you take a break. Could you forgive me?” You passed the small treat over to him, and he took it, eyes never leaving you.

“Thank you, (Name). And I should apologise, how about I take the next month off? We can spend it together, how does that sound?” He offered, with a small smile. “That would be great! There’s this one super pretty area we could go to and..” He listened to your rambling, with this peaceful look. He would do anything to make sure that nightmare wasn’t a reality. “Let us go inside, shall we?” He calmly said, keeping his composure. You nodded with a smile. The two of you stood, and he wrapped an arm around your waist.

“Oh, and (Name)?”

“Yes..?”

“I love you. A lot. And I never want to lose you.”

[deiliamedlini]

WIP Wednesday

I wrote this last night and really don’t know where I’m going with it because I wrote another section of this that’s completely different from this first part, but I’m having too much fun so this might become a long oneshot or like a two/three chapter short fic eventually. I signed into my Guild Wars account for the first time in forever to watch the chat and apparently Lion’s Arch isn’t as interesting as it used to be. Not that any of that is really relevant. 

This is Zelda and the Champions as internet friends playing a MMORPG video game called Hyrule Warriors. 

~

Zelda Harkinian loved Fridays. Not that it was a rare thing to be obsessed with the weekend, but she maybe loved it a little too much. After a week of lesson plans, and cleaning the classrooms, and sneezing students, and emails asking for an extension on a paper that wasn’t even due yet, she relished the escape the weekend provided. Granted, she still had to grade about a hundred tests, but that was a problem for Sunday or even Monday.

Smiling down at her roommate, a kitten she’d raised when she found it in the street all alone, Zelda fed her girl—whom she’d named Duchess because she had every intent of treating her like royalty—and played with her for a bit before throwing down her bag in her room and then grabbed a water and a granola bar before heading to her desk. She flipped her laptop open and booting up Hyrule Warriors, her favorite open world MMORPG.

Her internet sucked, so she grabbed her phone to aimlessly scroll to see if there was any news or updates. But it was pretty dull.

Instead, she thought back to how this whole weekend ritual began.

She’d been in a cavern just off of Death Mountain for about three days killing fire keese, lizalfos, and beamos. As a mage, her AOE skills made short work of the larger groups, hitting them all at once. It was especially useful here because her main specialties were water and light, but she struggled when boss fights came out. The NPCs weren’t great teammates, and she constantly found herself resurrecting far from the boss, only to make a long run with a health penalty that ended with her getting killed again, until her heath penalty was maxed out and she had to restart for any hope of succeeding. As a mage, her light armor made her vulnerable to physical attacks, and this boss was very physical.

Zelda didn’t like interacting with people in this game. It was massively popular, and the chat was always running. Sometimes, she’d just sit at an outpost and watch people talk. Her favorite interactions were often the random ones. She’d begun to look up the acronyms everyone used in chat just to understand them better. WTS= want to sell.

Indigo2421: WTS: Guardian Short Sword 4k rupees

Indigo2421WTS: Guardian Short Sword 4k rupees

Indigo2421WTS: Guardian Short Sword 4k rupees

Britneigh4Horses: WTS My mother. 1 rupee. Will pay postage fee.

But after her days of suffering in the lonely caverns in Death Mountain, she relented.

A quick search had her hands shaking, but she typed quickly so she couldn’t back out after she’d hit enter.

xPrincessZx: LFG Dodongo’s Cavern

Holding her breath, she’d waited in the hopes of a private message being sent to her.

One did.

(PM): ThunderstruckQueen: What missin are doing there?

(PM): ThunderstruckQueen: Mission*

(PM): xPrincessZx: I have to kill the Dodongo boss for the main story

ThunderstruckQueen would like to join your party.

Biting her nails, she’d accepted.

(PM): RockRoast12345: Still need someone?

(PM): xPrincessZx: Yes! That would be great! Thanks!

RockRoast12345 would like to join your party.

That had been how it started: A goron warrior with a Warhammer and some serious defensive moves joined as the tank to take as much damage for the team as he could stand, and a Gerudo Paladin had joined her party. Zelda was jealous of the purchase-only red hairstyle the Gerudo had for her character. She had a sword and shield, but her body flickered with elemental lightening magic. In-game purchase effects.

They’d defeated Dodongo with ease, and had gone on several missions together that day, taking down their storylines with relative ease. But they couldn’t function with the NPC healer who barely functioned at all.

So, ThunderstruckQueen had taken to the map chat and put out a request.

ThunderstruckQueen: I found someone. She’s a Zora Cleric. Level 40

RockRoast12345: Let her in! I want to get this one over with

Rutella Zoran IV would like to join your party.

After that, the four of them realized they worked so well together that they’d formed a guild. The Champions. ThunderstruckQueen paid the guild fee, bought a hall, and began decorating it with merchants, and chests. Zelda still shuddered, wondering what she did to have so many rupees ready to go. Needless to say, she made herself the leader.

Some days, they didn’t play together. Other times, only two of them were on. But on weekends, they all came together.

But it had been a Monday when Zelda played, and she’d been alone. Having already tossed her tissue box across her room in frustration, she debated making a new character with more defense, but she sucked it up and went into the Castle Town map, ready to ask for help. She couldn’t wait until she could get to be a higher level. As it was, she’d only gotten to these level 40 areas as a 32 because of Rutella.

Suddenly, a random Hylian man in green with a fancy sword and shield ran up to her and bowed. Zelda scoffed at her computer screen, unsure if she was supposed to respond.

She didn’t need to.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: Hey Princess

(PM): xPrincessZx: Hello?

(PM): WildKnightOut2: Jst wondering if u have a spare flower crown from yesterday’s festival. Missed it. Will pay

Zelda pulled up her inventory, forgetting she was still wearing her flower crown from the Flower Fest. It must have been what tipped him off. In fact, she had four spares.

(PM): zPrincessZx:  Yeah, I do. Come to the chest and I’ll trade.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: Thx

She’d never done a trade with anyone who wasn’t in her guild, so she’d felt nervous running to grab it.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: How much u want?

(PM): xPrincessZx: Actually, I’ll give it to you free if you’re willing to help me with a quest? Or 10k.

WildKnightOut2 would like to join your party.

She accepted and watched his character appear in the corner of her screen.

WildKnightOut2: That’s a rip off, btw. Crowns are with 15k at least. Don’t undersell

xPrincessZx: Thanks. I didn’t realize. I’m still kind of new.

WildKnightOut2: Howd u get out here then?

xPrincessZx: I had a run from a friend in my guild.

WildKnightOut2: Got room for a warrior in there?

Zelda introduced him to the other Champions when they’d signed back on, and after a few weeks, Zelda had leveled up enough that she didn’t need to constantly rely on a teammate. But still. She liked Wild the best after ThunderstruckQueen.

They’d brought in a Rito Ranger named TheBestYouveNeverMet, which immediately set Wild off.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: should I aggro a group over so he has to fight them for us?

(PM): xPrincessZx: No! Don’t do that! I’ll get sent over to deal with them!

(PM): xPrincessZx: HEY! I SEE YOU ON THE MAP!

(PM): xPrincessZx: WILD GET BACK TO THE GROUP

On the mini-map, she saw a hoard of red coming at them and rolled her eyes before joining TheBest to kill them with area attacks. Rutella stayed back to heal them, but Thunder and Rock both continued on, unfazed.

ThunderstruckQueen: Wild you’re an idiot

But that was then. This was now.

They’d been together for months as a guild, and now, the six of them knew how the others worked.

If Wild or TheBest took off on their own, no one would follow. They’d both been killed numerous times in an attempt to piss the other off. Zelda had learned to stay with Thunder and Rock. Rutella flitted between running back to revive the idiots, or sticking with the smarter members while letting them heal on their own.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: u wound me

Zelda chuckled, but he wasn’t done.

(PM): WildKnightOut2: After all ive done for u

(PM): WildKnightOut2: u leave me to die

(PM): xPrincessZx: Don’t run off next time

It was a Wednesday when she and Wild were playing alone, so they freely used party chat for ease. She’d surpassed his level, and towered as a 93 while he was an 87.

WildKnightOut2: Hang on. Fuzzball wants food

Zelda stared at his character on her screen, wondering if he looked anything like that avatar. Blonde hair, muscular, piercing blue eyes. She’d made her character look like herself, so it wasn’t hard to imagine others had. Plus, he was the only Hylian. She highly doubted that RockRoast12345 was actually a giant rock-man, or that Rutella Zoran IV was a short fish lady.

She knew everything about these people except their names, faces, and voices.

She knew that ThunderstruckQueen was a single mother who called her daughter Ri on chat. She was a chief of police, and had a few hundred of her force to look out for. Still, she wanted to quit soon to join the military reserve forces now that her daughter was getting older. Devoted and loyal, Thunder occasionally snapped when everyone would start fighting with each other, though it was usually directed at TheBest and Wild, the annoyance sometimes extended out to others.

She knew that RockRoast12345 was older than all of them and had a young grandson. He’d bonded with Thunder over their children at first, and then, without meaning to, they became the parents of the group. Recently, Rock had retired from working as a supervisor in a mine, and gaming had become his way of relieving some of that boredom. But he told the best stories when they were idling around, just stories about anything, and they were always captivating. Also, he was afraid of dogs.

She knew that Rutella Zoran IV was the daughter of a politician. She cared for her little brother like he was her own, and sometimes, he took control of her character, proudly revealing that his real name was Sidon. She was in school to be a doctor, and that made her family prouder than anything. She lived and breathed for her family.

TheBestYouveNeverMet was a pilot. His schedule was the most hectic out of everyone’s because of the flights, but he was sarcastic to the core, and sometimes, the sarcasm was simply rude and definitely didn’t translate well over chat. He was superior, and since he’d been playing the game longest, he thought it entitled him to make more decisions. But Zelda knew from her private conversations with him that deep down, he was sweet and caring. He’d always be the first to ask her how her day was, and he’d learned some of her students’ names to ask if they’d been nuisances.

But Zelda spent the most time talking to WildKnightOut2, so she knew the most about him. At first, they’d bonded over the fact that they both had cats. His was called Fuzzball, an orange, fat cat that needed to exercise more. He’d tried to leash him, but Fuzz wasn’t interested. Sometimes, Fuzz would crawl over the keys, send Wild running, and send chat a long stream of letters.

He was funny and made comments in her private chat while they were playing that had her roaring at times.

He was a rock-climbing instructor and in his free time, he was a free solo climber. When she’d looked it up, she’d been horrified to see that he basically climbed mountains without a harness or ropes, and a fall could kill him. She’d asked if he was good at it, or just did it for fun, and his answer had been an ambiguous “yes.”

She knew about his family. He didn’t live near them, but he kept in contact with his grandparents, his father, and his little sister.

WildKnightOut2: k back. Where we going princess?

xPrincessZx: I need to farm for new armor out in the Haunted Wasteland. Do you need to do anything?

WildKnightOut2: I need to help u farm in the haunted wasteland. What do you need?

xPrincessZx: 10 Rubies

WildKnightOut2: damn ok I have 2 u can have so u only need 8

xPrincessZx: Thanks. How’d that party go last night?

WildKnightOut2: Sucked

xPrincessZx: Cool details

WildKnightOut2: If ud been there, ud have hated it

xPrincessZx: Why?

WildKnightOut2: Bunch of self-absorbed idiots. Like TheBest is

xPrincessZx: Lol. He’s not that bad.

WildKnightOut2: if u say so

They headed into the Wasteland looking for red poes that had rare drops for rubies. She and Wild took out a few groups before they started to struggle. Neither could play and talk at the same time fast enough to warn the other that something was happening, and they both ended up at the shrine of resurrection more times than they cared to admit.

xPrincessZx: Hey Wild. This might sound weird, but do you have that gaming app where we could just maybe voice chat?

xPrincessZx: Unless you’re not comfortable with that. We can invite the others, and when we play together, and it would probably make life a thousand times easier

xPrincessZx: But it’s okay if you don’t want to

WildKnightOut2: yeah I have it

Oh, Zelda thought to herself. That was easy.

xPrincessZx: Do you want to add me? I have the same name

She watched her phone like it was food in the microwave, only occasionally glancing at her computer to see if Wild had sent her another message. She drummed her fingers and her leg started to bounce until her screen lit up.

WildKnight has sent you a friend request.

She hastily hit accept and grabbed her headphones from the drawer before typing into her phone.

xPrincessZx: Your name is missing a few things here.

WildKnight: Yeah HW already had someone with this name so I added on

xPrincessZx: The meaning completely changes

WildKnight: which do you like better?

Zelda froze, unable to make her fingers type. Was he flirting? Was that how people flirted online? She was really good at reading body language cues, and that was always how she knew someone was flirting. But this? There was no context! How was she supposed to know?

xPrincessZx: Which fits your personality more?

That was a safe way of getting out of answering while still sounding maybe like she was flirting. Right?

WildKnight: this one

Zelda’s face warmed up and she put her head in her hands, unsure how to respond. How does she respond to that? What if he wasn’t flirting? What if he was.

[dirty-bosmer]

YESSSSS YOU REPOSTED MY FAVOURITE ASKS LIST. Okay: 1, 4, 19, 24, 36, 38 (SORRY I GOT CARRIED AWAY)

OOoooh, thank you bori. Sorry I'm getting to it so late 😩

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

Calibri — the default microsoft word font, usually at size 11 or 12 with 6 point spacing after every paragraph.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

In a bad way - utilize. My academic advisors have ruined this word for me 😩 every time they see it they scratch out its eyes and now It's just no longer in my vocab.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

I wrote really shitty poetry in middle school because I was hormonal and sad and thought I was deep lol. It was probably not very good, but I'm too scared to confirm that, and in high school I had zero interest in writing until my senior year. Actually, I did start write Syl's story as part of a companions fic but dropped it like three chapters in (again, not very goof). The turning point for me was the end of the year project for AP Language and Composition. My teacher was super enthusiastic and engaging so I decided "hey let me give this a try." Turns out I was pretty okay!

I did some creative writing in college, but didn't start writing fanfic again until my sophomore year, just for funsies. It was a creative outlet amidst hours and hours in the lab and banging my head against my phsyics book. Now it's something I do almost daily, if not weekly in some form, and I can tell all the practice and the love for reading that I've rekindled is paying off!

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

Oh gee, like no time at all 😭 With Nim, I just started writing and followed the Mages Guild and Thieves Guild questlines for direction, then had to find fun ways to tie them together. I had a vague idea where I wanted to take it for part two, but it has been such A MESS and the lack of planning really shows.

I'm definitely spending a lot more time thinking about it for Syl. In talking with some writing friends, I think I'm going to at least want an outline for each chapter, and I'll try to post updates only when when I have the next two or three chapters written out already. I hope I enjoy it! Honestly, it might be less work for me in the end.

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

I saw your answer to this cause I creeped through your blog heehee but it is very much the same. Biology and it's many branches and the toil of academia. Also being an awkward bisexual.

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

Hmmm, I don't know if it's all that uncommon, but I am so uncomfortable by my characters sometimes. Mostly Lucien tbh, but every time I re-read his scenes, I'm like wtf Sonny. Why are you writing this, and then I get so sick of myself I look away lol There are scenes like that with Nim too, where I get so upset with her even though I AM THE ONE MAKING HER DO THIS, but I've come to learn that I must enjoy how horrifying it all is, cause why else would I put them through it? It's like reading that horrible book I was telling you about the other day. It was so frustrating and disturbing and even though it was straight up unbearable at times, I still enjoyed reading it 😂 Is writing supposed to be torturous? because it was for me and I like it because I am 40% masochist.

Lmao I can't believe I put those thoughts out into the world.

[juviaafullbuster]

Hi!!! Can I make a request? Please do Angst number 7, or 8, or 15 :) hahahha! Thank you in advance :)

Thank you so much for your request! I'm sorry it took me so long, please forgive me! Also I couldn't decide on a number so I tried to combine them all.. Really hope you like it 💙

Angst Prompt 7, 8 and 15:

"Do you even still love me?"

"Nobodys seen you in days"

"I told you not to fall in love with me."

It wasn't supposed to go like this. Really, Gray made sure nothing could go wrong. Or else he wouldn't have agreed to her coming along so easily. And yet here they were. Despite all his precautions, he found himself in the very situation he so badly wanted to avoid.

He had called her name before the bolt of magic coming her way would hit her. Juvia managed to get out of the way just in time to dodge the attack and counter it with one of her own. That didn't stop the panic rising in Gray though. No matter how many enemies they took down, he couldn't shake the feeling away that something bad was about to happen.

Looking around, he found all of his friends fighting around him. Lucy was summoning another spirit, Erza just changed her armor and Natsu was using his flames to make the enemy retreat. But to no avail. No matter how many they defeated, it seemed there were always more coming.

He was getting close to breaking down. It was all going so well earlier. They found what they were looking for, had lunch together, Juvia tried to feed him once again. It was going great actually. They were just making their way back, ready to receive their payment, when they had to be attacked.

Gray didn't know who it was that was attacking them nor why, he only knew that if they didn't manage to finish them off soon, this could turn out badly for him and his friends.

"Gray!"

He heard someone call his name, felt someone shove him out of the way, he felt the attack barely missing him. And then he heard screams.

Gray was frozen to his spot, everything a blur around him. He heard names being called. His, Juvias, Wendy's..  so many names. And then he turned around.

Blue hair. Pale skin. Red hands. Red. Blood. So much blood.

It all hit him at once. The realization, the anger, the pain. So much pain. He could feel the air freezing around him. It was getting dangerously cold, a sheet of ice covering the grass, the plants, anything in his perimeter. But he couldn't feel it. Not the ice. Not the cold. It didn't affect him. There was only pain and anger, so much of it.

Gray saw the black marks rising on his arm. And then the anger won over. He lost his ability to think straight, the ability to focus on anyone else beside the guy who had attacked her. He let his powers take control and lashed out.

When he came back to his senses, the enemy was defeated. He watched his marks vanish, alongside the anger. And when they were gone, there was only one thing left: Pain. So much pain.

Gray turned her way, unable to breath. She was still there, in the same spot as earlier. Wendy was leaning over her, focusing on the wound that just wouldn't stop bleeding. He could see so much of it, the blood. He felt a tear rolling down before realization hit him. Practically running, he got to her side and dropped down next to her.

He took her hand. It was so small compared to his. And so cold. Hands weren't supposed to be this cold. Maybe his, but not hers.

Gray looked over to Wendy desperately. She was too focused on her task to realize though. Gray followed her line of sight, focusing his attention on the wound below her chest. So close to her old one. Another one that he was to blame for.

Gray looked at her face. If you ignored the blood around her, she would look like a peacefully sleeping angel. But she wasn't sleeping. Instead she was fighting for her life.

She was still alive. Unconscious, but alive. Gray could see her chest rising, indicating that she was breathing. There was still hope. Gray watched her closely, desperately waiting for any sign. Any sign that this was a bad dream. He saw Wendy sitting back and removing her hands from the wound.

And when he looked back at Juvia, he saw her eyes open, full with fear and frantically searching for something. When they rested on him, she visibly relaxed.

They just looked at each other, both unable to form words. She took her hand out of his, instead putting it on his cheek and wiping the tears away that escaped his eyes.

"It's okay.." she barely whispered, yet he could hear her clearly.

"It's not."

"Gray.."

"No. No, don't. Why? Why would you.."

She looked at him, a faint of a smile on her face. Despite the pain she was currently feeling, her eyes softened.

"Because I love you."

Don't.  Please don't. Everyone who loves me dies. Why don't you learn? Why don't you run away from me? Why do you keep staying by my side? Why? Gray had so many things running through his head, so much he wanted to tell her, ask her. Instead he only managed to choke out one sentence.

"I told you not to fall in love with me."

***

Several days had passed since that day. Gray was desperately trying to avoid everyone. Especially a certain water mage that has been running through his mind. She has been haunting him, his dreams, nightmares. No matter what and where, she was always there.

He had made sure that she was okay, that the wound had healed properly. But once he was sure that she would be fine, he left, taking mission after mission. Just as long as he wasn't around, as long as he didn't have to see her. He couldnt deny that it hurt him. He missed her, her smile, her hugs. But it was for the best. He couldn't let this happen again, her sacrificing herself in order to protect him. And he knew she'd do it again. So he made a decision. A decision that would hurt the both of them. But it was necessary. He wanted to protect her and that was the only way he could.

Gray made his way to the guild hall. It was time to talk to her. He couldn't postpone it anymore because he was afraid he'd never go through with it. The moment he entered the hall he could feel so many eyes on him. But he ignored it and walk straight towards the table where he saw Juvia. She had immediately caught his eye.

When he arrived at said table he took a deep breath, bracing himself for what was coming.

"Graysama! Nobody's seen you in days! Juvia was so worried."

She hugged him, resting her cheek on his chest.

"Juvia came to check up on you. But Mirajane told her that you left on missions. How did it go? Why didn't you tell anyone, Juvia would have come along."

Of course she would have. Wasn't that the problem? How willing she was to do things for him? He hold her by her arms, slowly pushing her away.

"We need to talk."

Juvias smile immediately vanished. Instead her eyes filled with worry.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

He could still feel so many eyes on him.

"Not here. Let's go."

He walked towards the door and glanced back to make sure Juvia was following. He lead her to the park and sat on one of the empty benches.

"So what is it you need to tell Juvia?"

"How's your injury?"

"It's fine, Wendy healed Juvia very good."

"I'm glad."

"Is that what you want to talk to Juvia about?"

"Yeah, kind of.."

Gray paused, not sure how to open up the topic he wanted to get to. But it turned out he didn't have to because Juvia spoke up instead.

"You've been blaming yourself again, haven't you?"

She knew him so well. Too well. Somehow Gray felt like she knew exactly why they were here, what he was planning to do.

"That's why you weren't at the guild hall those past days. You didn't want to face Juvia."

"I-"

"Graysama, this was a decision Juvia made herself. And she would have done it for the others too. Whether it was you, Lucy, Erza. Anyone. Because that's what Juvia does for the people she loves. And nothing you will say is going to change that."

"But-"

"No. Juvia doesn't want to hear it."

"You don't even know what I want to say!"

"You want to push Juvia away!"

Silence. She was looking at him, daring him to deny it. There were hints of anger on her face but she seemed to be holding back. Gray let out a frustrated groan. This woman was going to be the end of him.

"Juvia. I'm trying to protect you."

"By pushing Juvia away? How is this supposed to protect Juvia?"

"You won't get hurt because of me!"

"You'd be the one hurting me!"

Another silence. Juvia took a deep breath.

"Listen.. Juvia understands what you're thinking. Why you want this. But it isn't fair. It isn't fair that you let your fears rule over. You told Juvia to be patient, to wait for you. And Juvia is willing to do that. But not if this is what she's awaiting."

Gray gulped. Unable to form an answer. Of course this isn't what he made her wait for. But it was what was necessary. He couldn't risk her getting hurt or worse dying for him. So what if she had to deal with heartbreak for a while, wasn't that better than her being gone forever?

"Juvia will leave. Juvia will not bother you anymore. She won't join you on missions. She won't address you with sama anymore, won't make you food, pick up your clothes. She will try to not love you anymore. It all depends on the answer you'll give her to her question. Juvia won't doubt your answer, she'll accept it, no matter what the answer is."

Gray hated this. Just imagine life like that hurt him. But isn't that what he wanted? Isn't that what was necessary to protect her from him? He was aware that it would hurt the both of them if he went through with it. Wasn't that a risk he was so willing to take?

"What's your question?"

"Do you even love me?"

She was looking at him and she seemed so vulnerable. Gray looked away. He knew what he was about to say would hurt her and he didn't have the strength to see her breaking. He was a coward.

He knew the answer to her question. It took him a lot of time to figure it out, to realize what it was he was feeling everytime he was around her. Turns out the feeling was love. Because yes, he loves her, Gray Fullbuster loves Juvia Lockser, he loves her more than anything. She's his power to live, the one person who makes him smile, the one who keeps him sane. She's his everything. But he couldn't tell her that. Because then she would never let him go. And he was afraid he wouldn't let her either. He had to do it now before he became to weak to go through with it, before she managed to break down his walls completely.

"Not in the way you want me to."

Gray still didn't look at her. He couldn't. He had already heard the sharp intake of breath. There was an awkward moment filled with silence before Juvia finally decided to speak up.

"Juvia understands."

She got up and Gray made the mistake of looking at her. She looked so pained, so hurt and her eyes were filled with tears that where going to be shed any moment now. Gray already regretted his answer, but it was too late now. The damage was done.

"Juvia won't bother you anymore. Goodbye, Graysa- Gray. Goodbye Gray.."

She walked away, not bothering to wait for an answer. She didn't look back, not once. She wouldn't turn around, after all she had promised him. And that was good because it was what he wanted, wasn't it?

Gray watched her form disappear before it hit him that it was over. All of it. Juvia would never be the same towards him again. They would never be together. They were just guild mates now, nothing more, nothing less. Gray should be happy. But why did it hurt so much? Why did it feel like Juvia had taken his heart with her?

He felt something hit his face, followed by more. Rain drops. It was raining. He could tell that it was his doing, he was the one who brought the rain back. And somehow this was what made it final.

Gray stayed on the bench and let the rain mix with his tears. This pain, it was worse then any injury he had dealt with before. And unlike an injury, this one couldn't be healed..

It was over. He had lost her. And he wouldn't get her back.

[pandas-pandemonium]

Blood Ties (Part 1) - Yandere! Thomas Andre x GN!Reader x Yandere! Baek Yoon-ho

A/N: It’s here! The first part of the yandere solo leveling fic! Both the mens’ endings have yet to be written, but enjoy this open ended part first.

Note: Only hints of yandere is shown here and nothing too extreme yet

Summary: [Name] is an A-Rank mage in the Scavengers Guild. When an offer to join the White Tiger Guild in South Korea is given, [Name] has to question where their loyalties lie. To their years in the Scavenger guild, or to their childhood friend? 

2pm,  Wednesday – Thomas Andre’s Office, Somewhere in the United States

“Sir, Hunter [Name] is here for their scheduled meeting,” the voice of Thomas's secretary announced, looking over to her boss who was busy with some paperwork, while the TV blared in the background. Immediately, he lifted his head up, his eyes bright and his grin brighter than ever.

“Oh? Then send them in! What are you even doing? Don’t make them wait,” he said, leaning back in his seat. Despite his cheerful grin, Laura had worked long enough to pick up his slight shifts in mood. She was glad she hadn’t waited any longer, or she might have lost her job right then and there.

“Understood. I’ll let them in,” she replied. It sure was a wonder though, how this A-rank Mage caught Scavenger's Guild Master's attention and interest. After all, the guild had a bunch of S-rank hunters from all over the world. For a mere A-rank to catch the eye of a man who believed in strength more than anything else, she wondered if this person was a false ranker at first, until she checked their guild registry.

[Name] [Surname], an A-rank magic user who favoured the wind element above the more destructive fire or ice elements. They had been in the guild for the past three years, and it was just a year after they joined that Thomas Andre started asking about them. They were even personally asked on a number of occasions, to join the guild master on several raids.

As these thoughts ran through the secretary's mind, Laura quietly watched as the figure made their way to Thomas's desk.

“You wanted to see me, boss?” they asked, looking up at the large man seated at his desk.

Thomas’s eyes softened as he leaned his body towards them, “Yep. Say, we haven’t talked for a while, eh? Something about you going on several overseas business trips?”

[Name] swallowed as they nodded. “It was urgent sir… I’ve had a lot to do abroad lately,” they explained. Thomas only hummed in acknowledgement as he leaned back against the leather chair.

“And tell me, what are these trips for? Last I recall, a guild in England had to hire you about two months ago. Other than that… I don’t think you’ve had any overseas raids,” he said, a large hand stroking his goatee absent-mindedly.

“Uh… personal matters, sir. Nothing concerning the guild, really.”

Just then, out of the corner of the hunter’s eye, they spotted the news channel that was on, featuring a very familiar face, Baek Yoon-ho. Immediately, their eyes widened.

“Wait, Yoon-ie’s a guild leader?!” they exclaimed, almost forgetting about the giant in the room.

“Yoonie?” he repeated. [Name] immediately felt the blood rush to their face as they cleared their throat awkwardly.

“Um, yeah. I used to study abroad in South Korea… Yoonie is just what I called Baek Yoon-ho when were students,” they explained, looking down at their feet bashfully while cursing themselves internally.

“Hm, that’s new. So your little highschool buddy’s a full-fledged guild leader… and a rather famous one at that,” he commented, dark red eyes silently observing the smaller figure in front of him.

“Y-yeah, time sure flies,” they replied. “You don’t have to worry though! He’s a friend, but it’s not like I’ll leave the States for the White Tiger guild!”

Thomas’s face darkened as a threatening smile loomed over his gaunt features, “You’d better not, [Nickname]. I don’t take kindly to my guild members trying to leave, remember that.”

[Name]’s face blanched, and they nodded nervously, “R-right. Of course, sir. So, um… what was it that you called me here for?”

“Ah yes. I did call you here for something…now what was it…” he pondered to himself as he gazed up at the ceiling. “Right! I wanted to invite you for dinner! To catch up with you, talk a little, get to know each other better, ya know?”

[Name] raised an eyebrow, “Well, I don’t have any plans tonight…but this is quite sudden, sir.”

“Think of it as a little ‘Welcome back home’ party for you. All expenses will be handled by me. We can even go on a date afterwards,” Thomas said, his signature smile on his face.

“A-A date, sir?”

“If you have a problem with calling it a date, it can just be an outing. No titles, just us two hunters. What d’ ya say, [Name]?”

[Name] pressed their lips in a thin line as they thought over the offer. Free dinner sounded great, but they didn’t know if they could stand the pressure of being next to such an intimidating figure. Hell, even right now he looked the part.

Taking deep breaths, [Name] weighed their options in their mind, in the end settling to accept. If they rejected him, [Name] didn’t want to think of what could come next. Thomas Andre was a powerful man after all, with status and prestige to his name, and with it, he could do many things with little to no consequences.

“I’ll go. As long as we consider this as just a friendly outing though! I don’t want people to misunderstand,” they said. Thomas’s eyes softened and he reached over to stroke [Name]’s head.

“Good to know. I’ll text you the restaurant’s name and location in a few. You can go now,” he said, dismissing them from his room, much to their relief.

Upon exiting the office, [Name] let out the breath they had been holding throughout the whole meeting. It was so sudden. Two days after they arrived back from Japan on a family trip, the guild master suddenly informs them that he wants to speak with them the next day when he’s free. At first, they had thought he was going to reprimand them, but his awfully cheery demeanour and dinner invite had them second guessing his intentions. What the hell was going on? Then again, Thomas Andre had been like this ever since they met face-to-face, at least a year ago. [Name] could remember one too many incidents when their own raid got cancelled only to be suddenly slotted into some A rank gate to “accompany” the guild master. It really wasn’t like he needed the support though, being a National Level Hunter and all. [Name] sighed, perhaps this dinner would be a good chance to ask why their guild master was so interested in them.

~*~*~

Unfortunately, that dinner never came as [Name] suddenly had to cancel, receiving a phone call from their cousin, telling them that they were awakened and that a recruiter from the White Tiger guild wanted to meet her in two days. Said cousin also asked that [Name] accompany her and that she’ll pay for her ticket to South Korea. Normally, [Name] would have protested, but they had to admit, they were curious. It was also due to the fact that [Cousin’s Name] was someone who [Name] was very close to, and denying her request made [Name] feel guilty. After all, [Cousin’s Name] was there for them when they were awakened. It was only right that they do the same.

That night, [Name] had to make a very difficult phone call to Thomas Andre that they couldn’t make it for their dinner, much to his (not very well-hidden) dismay. When prompted, [Name] could only give the truth, saying that their cousin who was studying in South Korea had called for a last-minute reunion. It wasn’t too big of a deal for [Name], as they were used to having to pack suddenly due to emergency calls for a raid or (as with their previous job as a medical intern working in the ER), urgent calls for assistance.

Thomas, despite his initial disappointment, sounded quite understanding, ushering them to quickly pack for tonight, and that he’ll mark them as unavailable for raids for the next three days or so. Thanking him profusely, [Name] immediately started to pack for the 10am flight the next morning.

~~~~~

Thomas Andre was not happy, his mood worsened by [Name]’s dinner cancellation followed by some small guild leader asking for assistance with an A-class gate somewhere in South America. He shot them down quickly as he went off to have his own solo dinner at the same restaurant he was supposed to go with [Name] that night. How frustrating. Just when he had a clear schedule, the universe decided to screw him over by making other people preoccupied. At this point, he won’t be able to have a proper talk with his little [Name] and it left a bad taste in his mouth.

His bad mood continued until the next morning and well into the night, causing everyone around him to be on edge. It was not until around 1am that day, that he received a phone call from the one person who indirectly caused his moodiness, [Name] [Surname].

“Darlin’! Great to hear from you, are you already in Korea?” he greeted, his loud booming voice echoing in his bedroom, unable to contain his excitement.

“Uh, yes I am. I just reached about two hours ago. Anyways sir, I needed to call you to ask for permission about something.”

Oh, he loved hearing their voice. “Go ahead.”

“Okay, well this is quite last minute, but I need to ask for formal permission to participate in another guild’s raid. More specifically, the White Tigers.”

Thomas almost broke his phone in half.

“And may I ask why you’re joining another guild’s raid?”

“See, it just so happened that I ran into Baek Yoonho when I was accompanying my cousin to the guild. One thing led to another, and they just so happened to receive news of a gate opening in Seoul. It’s a small one, just a B-class. Yoonho and I, along with my cousin and a couple other members will be going.”

“And why have you agreed? You are a member of the Scavengers, you know.”

Silence on the other end.

“Uh…how do I say this… Yoonho might be interested in recruiting me.”

The line went dead, as did Thomas’s phone.

[Name] was sweating bullets. Thomas Andre hung up without a word. He was mad, really mad. Nervously, they looked up at their childhood friend who was with them. His amber eyes looking down at them softly.

“No good?” he asked. [Name] sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. He didn’t give me an answer. I just know that he is very, very mad. I don’t know, Yoon-ie, I don’t think this is a good idea…” they said.

Baek Yoonho furrowed his eyebrows. This was upsetting… he meets his childhood friend (and first love) after so many years for only a couple days and then they head back immediately? That was horrible! He had so many things he wanted to talk about, they haven’t even had the chance to properly show them around Seoul and show them how much the city has changed!

“You don’t have to join us… Think of this as just accompanying your cousin on her first dungeon raid,” he said, hoping to reason with them. As [Name] frowned and thought over his words, their message tone rang.

“Oh, it’s Thomas!” they exclaimed, hurriedly opening his text message. As soon as they read it, their face paled and their eyes widened.

“No way…” they muttered.

“What did he say?” he asked leaning over to look at their phone. [Name] shakily showed the text to the other man.

“He says he’ll let me go, but he’ll be flying here by tomorrow night to make sure nothing happens to me…”

Baek Yoonho almost let out a snarl. So, this was how a National Level hunter played huh. Very well then, he’ll agree to the Scavenger guild master’s conditions.

“Tell him he has my word. He can be certain that I’ll protect you to my very best ability.”

~*~*~

The next afternoon, the group of hunters had gathered in front of the department store where a gate had opened. It was astonishing to see an S-Class hunter in front of a B-Class gate, and that fact alone was enough to draw hordes of reporters to the scene, hungry for a scoop. Despite the shouting of questions and demands for answers, the group remained unaffected…for the most part. [Name]’s cousin was observing the whole situation wide-eyed while clinging on to her cousin’s cloak, a signature garment for mages.

[Name] looked over to their cousin with a smile, squeezing her shoulder to comfort her. (They were also trying to ignore the fact that they too, were incredibly nervous).

“It’s the usual crowd, [Cousin’s Name]. Don’t worry too much about it. Once you’re in there, all you need to do is focus on fighting the monsters in the dungeon, and you’ll come out a hero,” they said with a sympathetic smile. [Cousin’s Name] looked at them worriedly.

“You sure, [Nickname]?” she asked.

[Name] nodded, “Very.”

It was then that the clock finally hit 1pm and Baek Yoonho shouted, “Everyone! Get ready to go in!” getting the attention of the remaining crew. Some of which were wondering why they were even here. With an S-Class hunter leading the group, were they really needed? Without a doubt, Baek Yoonho would slaughter every single one of the monsters. He was an S-Rank after all. As if he read their minds, Baek Yoonho turned to the back.

“Remember, I’ll only be assisting you when you’re in a pinch. Other than that, you all will be doing most of the work. Got it?” he said. The three B-Rank hunters swallowed and stood up straight.

“Yes, sir!” they shouted.

With that, the six hunters entered the gate.

The moment they entered, a swarm of bug-like creatures flew out of their hiding place, responding to the intruders. Immediately with a wave of their hand and a shout, [Name] put up a wind barrier, slicing the insects that were trying to get in clean in half. Those that were already in the barrier had to be dealt with by the three melee hunters, one of which was [Cousin’s Name].

Understandably, [Cousin’s Name] was lost, swinging her spear haphazardly. [Name], who was focusing on keeping up the wind barrier, could only shout instructions to her. Thankfully, the other two hunters dealt with the swarm quickly, allowing a brief moment of downtime as they ventured further in.

Soon enough, they came across a giant wasp nest, much to [Name]’s chagrin. Aside from the massive dirt ball in the middle of the cavern, red glowing eyes accompanied with the occasional yellow and green watched from the holes. Quietly, they whispered into their cousin’s ear.

“Remember, watch their movements and then strike. You can do this.”

[Cousin’s Name] smiled back at them, “Thanks, [Nickname].”

The group took in a deep breath and watched the insects who remained hidden in their home. The air was tense as neither side made a move until Baek Yoonho raised his hand, and lowered it, signalling the attack. Immediately, the two melee hunters dashed forward, running up the walls of the hive and stabbing a knife into the nearest wasp. In response, the bugs flew out, poised to kill the intruders.

[Name] inhaled, summoning the energy between their palms, slowly gathering a strong wind. Just as a wasp turned towards them, it was slashed in half by a wind blade along with its comrades. [Cousin’s Name] on the other hand, was thankfully getting a hang of fighting the fast-moving insects, her spear piercing through several at a time. Her footwork was clumsy, but with practice, she would be a great fighter, [Name] acknowledged.

At least ten minutes passed before the soldiers of the hive were cleared out, leaving only the generals and the Queen Wasp. She had finally shown herself, her large insectoid body hovering above the hive. Baek Yoonho’s eyes glowed for a second before his expression morphed into one of shock.

“You’re telling me this is a B-Rank boss?!” he exclaimed, immediately stepping out into the forefront. [Name]’s eyes darted over to their friend in shock.

“What do you mean, Yoon-ho?!”  

“This queen can’t be a B-Rank, it’s at least an A-Rank or higher,” he said, his hands curled as his claws slowly formed. “Either way, it’s not something you all can defeat singlehandedly. I suggest the rest of you deal with the generals, I’ll take care of the boss myself.”

[Name] swallowed and nodded. How was this possible? An A-Rank boss in a B-Rank dungeon was unheard of! Alas, they had no time to think over this anomaly, as they were immediately engaged in battle with a general. The general was huge, at least 4 feet tall and [Name] realised quickly that their wind blades barely dealt a scratch against its hard exoskeleton. It didn’t help that it was incredibly fast, and within seconds, [Name] was forced into the defensive, putting up a weak wind shield around themselves as they tried to create some distance from the attacking wasp.

[Name] was huffing, sweat dripping down their cheeks as they continuously threw out wind blade after wind blade. Their mana was dangerously low, and if the wasp continued its onslaught, their shield would break in no time. It was then [Name] made the mistake of letting their eyes wander, and they landed on their cousin, to find them cornered by another wasp. They watched in shock as the wasp whacked away the spear [Cousin’s Name] was wielding and raised a sharp arm to attack.

‘[Cousin’s Name]!!” they yelled out as they summoned a strong gale storm in their cousin’s direction, effectively knocking the wasp away, but leaving themselves open for their enemy to attack. In horror, Baek Yoonho tore his eyes away from the queen and leaped towards the mage, transforming mid-jump and tearing through the general, but not before it managed to stab through [Name]’s arm.

“Damn it! Are you okay?!” Baek Yoonho cried out, dashing to the fallen [Name], who was wincing in pain from the deep wound. [Name] gritted their teeth in pain before nodding.

“It’s just a stab wound. I’ll get the healer to tend to it. You need to get back to the Queen, Yoon-ie,” they said through deep breaths. [Name] was right, the queen was already on her way down, attacking anyone who tried to stop her. If Baek Yoon-ho wasted anymore time, [Name] wouldn’t be the only badly injured one.

Yoon-ho clicked his tongue and got back up, this time in half-transformed state. In two slashes of his claws, he tore through the already weakened Queen, successfully clearing the dungeon. [Name] thankfully, received almost immediate attention from the healer, but unfortunately the healer was only a B-Rank and thus could only stop the bleeding, as they had to reserve mana for the other injured hunters. Aside from that, [Name] received a nicely wrapped bandage around their arm, keeping the wound safe from infections. They could only hope Thomas won’t make a huge fuss about the whole injury, especially after he had made Baek Yoon-ho swear to not let anything happen to them.

As the group moved out of the dungeon to allow the clean-up crew to enter, Yoon-ho looked over to his friend worriedly.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, a gentle hand on their shoulder as he walked beside them. [Cousin’s Name] had sneakily withdrawn to the back of the group to “allow the two some alone time”.

“I already said I am! Don’t worry so much, Yoon-ie. The healer stopped the bleeding, and all that’s left is for the wound to properly close and I’ll be fine in a couple days,” they said, patting their friend on his back. Yoon-ho could only give a half smile as his gaze remained fixated on their arm.

Gosh, he was an idiot. He should have finished up the boss fight quicker instead of letting [Name] try to handle an elite monster by themselves! If he hadn’t saved them in time… he didn’t dare think of how badly hurt [Name] could’ve been. He didn’t care about Thomas Andre’s conditions, he only cared that [Name] was hurt under his supervision.

As soon as the group exited the portal, they were once again bombarded by the press. He groaned. Right, he completely forgot about this nuisance that he had to deal with. With deep breaths, he steeled himself and forced a confident yet reassuring smile on his face. In a calm voice, he explained that there was an unexpected occurrence, but it was dealt with swiftly and that there was nothing to worry about. He was relieved that the press left after that, allowing the group to return the White Tiger Guild headquarters to recuperate.

However, Baek Yoon-ho did not expect Thomas Andre to be greeting him in his own office, seated right behind his own table, much to his annoyance.

~*~*~

Thomas Andre grinned the moment Baek Yoon-ho and [Name] walked in and he stood up to greet the two.

“Hello! You’re Baek Yoon-ho, right?” he asked, in broken (and admittedly rude) Korean, but understandable, nonetheless. Baek Yoon-ho had to hold back a scowl as he muttered to an assistant to get a translator in the room.

“Yes. What brings you here, Mr. Andre?” he replied. He was silently grateful to [Name] for teaching him some English. A man soon rushed in, introducing himself in fluent English as an interpreter.

“I’m here to check in on [Name], like I said I would,” he replied, this time in English. His red eyes then fell onto the bandage [Name] was wearing. “And it appears, you have broken your promise.” The aura around him changed, his face morphed into one of anger. The poor man translating was quaking in his shoes.

“It appears I have. But aside from that, they say they’re completely fine. As you can see, they’re still well and healthy, and I intend to have another guild healer attend to their remaining wounds as soon as possible,” Baek Yoon-ho replied, standing closer to the tall blonde American, his chest held high.

“That is true! Sir, you really don’t have to make a fuss. See! I’m a-okay!” [Name] chimed in, unwrapping the bandage to reveal the slight scab that had formed over the wound.

Thomas hummed to himself as he glanced over [Name]’s injury. “But you still got hurt despite Mr. Baek’s claims that nothing would happen to you.”

“That was entirely my fault. I took my eyes off the monster for a second, and Yoon-ho dove in to save me. Really! If it wasn’t for him, I would have been much worse off!” they tried to explain.

“So, you’re saying you do want to be with the White Tiger guild then, since you’re defending the guild master so much.”

[Name]’s eyes widened, hurriedly protesting against his words. “That’s not what I was saying! I just- Yoonho is my friend and I don’t want you thinking he’s guilty of anything!”

Yoon-ho felt his face warm up, baffled by [Name]’s bluntness. It would make it even better if he wasn’t just a friend to them, but he was glad that he meant so much to them.

Thomas stared the brown-haired man down as he stroked his goatee.

“If you say so, babe. Anyways, I have a proposition for you, Mr. Baek. How about, we decide who’s the stronger one of us here? That way, we’d have a better way to gauge who’ll be more suited to protect them, no?”

[Name]’s jaw dropped. “Hello? I can decide for myself!”

Baek Yoon-ho sighed, “Exactly what they say, Mr. Andre. They can decide for themselves, so if they choose to join the White Tiger guild to be closer with their cousin, then so be it. America is awfully far from their family after all, no?”

Thomas let out a mirthless laugh, “Sure. But it is unfortunate that little [Name] here has wavering loyalties. Think of this fight as more of a…” he thought for a while. “Warning.”

Baek Yoon-ho’s eyes darkened. “A warning, you say?”

“Yes. You see, I don’t like that you attempted to steal one of my guildmates and so by defeating you, I’ll be showing you why you shouldn’t take things that aren’t yours.”

Yoon-ho chuckled, “Very well then, Mr. Andre. I’ll see you downstairs in the Hunter Association’s gym.”

[Name] could only watch in bafflement as the two men made their way out of the office, a bloodthirsty aura hanging around them. Whichever one wins, [Name] knew it wasn’t going to end well.

 Choose your winner:

Thomas Andre or Baek Yoon-ho

[nalu4emily]

The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 12

Summary: Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised. Nalu/cute/fluff/multi-chapter.

Contains mature content. Adult readers only! 

Natsu sighed, his breath visible in the brisk night air. Unable to sleep, he sat alone outside his house. His mind was distracted, it had been since the quarrel he'd had with his small flying companion.

He never fought with Happy, well, rarely enough for him not to remember anyway and because of it, the Exceed was refusing to speak to him. Sure, they had minor disagreements, tiffs were common place between friends and loved ones, but it never meant anything. This however, was something entirely different, something he knew the cat wouldn't forgive so easily.

"Still thinking about Happy?" A soft voice tore through his thoughts.

He peered over his shoulder at the sleepy blonde standing there, clad in next to nothing, shivering uncontrollably from the crisp autumn breeze.

"I thought you were sleeping?" Natsu replied, ignoring her question completely.

Seeking out a warmth that only the dragon slayer could provide, Lucy plonked herself down next to him and grazed her chilly hands against his bare arm.

"You're freezing! Why didn't you put more clothes on before coming out?" He removed his jacket and placed it over her shoulders.

"That's what I got you for! Duh!" She said, resting her head on his shoulder.

Playfully rolling his eyes at her statement, he cradled her hands in his, blowing hot air onto them. Once satisfied she wasn't going to freeze to death, he laid his head on top of hers, contented to have her next to him whilst he felt so down.

It had been a week since the altercation between Natsu and Happy, happening just as they were set to leave on a mission with the whole team. Originally, Natsu had been ecstatic about finally doing a job again with everyone, it'd been so long since they'd all worked together. It was going to be his first mission since Haru was just four weeks old and considering the little one was seven months now, he'd been dying to set something on fire.

But then, everything fell apart.

Distraught, Happy had ditched the job altogether and refused to listen to anyone who tried to persuade him otherwise. Natsu hated the idea of leaving without him in such circumstances, but did not have the luxury of bailing out himself. He and Lucy had another mouth to feed and no matter the situation, Haru came first.

It'd been a long mission, having only just returned home from it. Natsu had hoped after a week apart, the Exceed would've been ready to talk to him, but he'd been very wrong. Happy kept his distance and it was starting to really frustrate the fire mage. He valued all of his friends dearly, but the blue feline held a special place in his heart. The inseparable duo not on speaking terms was almost unfathomable, yet here they were and the poor boy was at a loss on how to make things better.

"So, are you gonna answer my question?" Lucy asked, startling the slayer once again, he'd forgotten she'd even said anything. Trying to remember her question, his mind was too muddled right now to think straight. "I asked if you were still thinking about Happy?"

"How can I not? It's too weird not having him here." Natsu looked down to his lap, feeling an emptiness without his friend at home. "I said I was sorry, what else can I do? I can't change what I did."

"I know, but try to see it from Happy's point of view. I imagine he was just as shocked as everyone else when you reprimanded him like that. You've never done that before." Lucy said, thinking back to the incident.

"I don't know what came over me, I shouldn't have called him irresponsible…"

"Or reckless, or careless, or immature… Sounds like someone else I know, hey Natsu?" She giggled at his cute pout.

"Hey, it's not funny!" He huffed childishly. "In my defence, I thought he had been—at the time! Haru could've gotten seriously hurt if I hadn't been there, but I still regret saying them now." He really did regret it. In the heat of the moment, words were exchanged that he wished he could take back.

They were all at the guild, helping to set up the hall for a local event and Happy had been charged with occupying the baby. The Exceed had sat Haru up on the bar top, having only just mastered the skill of sitting unaided, the infant was still a bit wobbly. Thinking the baby had gotten his balance, the cat let go for just a few seconds. In which time the little guy had fallen forward and toppled head first off of the side and nearly collided with the hard floor.

Luckily, Natsu had seen it happen and just managed to catch Haru in time before his head smacked the ground. The baby, of course, had been none the wiser, giggling and clapping his hands when he'd landed in his fathers firm hold, thinking it all a very fun game.

Although relieved to see that his son was unharmed, the slayer did not hold the same reprieve when he glanced up at his little friend. Happy had apologised profusely to the fire mage, however, pumped with adrenaline from watching Haru fall like that, the slayer hadn't taken a blind bit of notice. Further adding to Happy's mortification, Natsu scolded him like a child in front of the entire guild for how irresponsible he'd been, causing the cat to fly off in a huff.

"You were just being a protective father, no one blames you for that, Natsu. But, Happy didn't do it on purpose, you know that! You just didn't give him chance to explain." Lucy chuckled, shaking her head. Those two were such idiots sometimes! "You've got some grovelling to do when he does finally come home."

"Grovel?! But I already apologised!" He exclaimed, but one look from Lucy made him recoil, the guilt returning. "Fine, fine… Happy's pretty stubborn, if I don't do it, he definitely won't." Natsu sighed.

In the end, the cat hadn't really done anything wrong. It'd been an accident and now the fire mage would have to find some way to make it up to him.

"Why don't you take him fishing, just the two of you? You haven't done that in a while." Lucy asked. She could almost see the light go on in Natsu's brain at the suggestion. "It'll be good for you both to spend more time together, he's your best friend Natsu, you don't want him to feel left out."

"You think he feels left out?" Natsu looked down to his lap again, he didn't want Happy to feel pushed out, especially now that this had happened between them. The blue feline was a valued part of their family and now more than ever, he needed to be reminded of that. "I guess I have been busy with Haru, that I've not really noticed because he's always around."

"Babies do take up a lot of time, but a break to go fishing with Happy every now and then wouldn't hurt. Plus, Haru will be old enough to go with you before long." Over whelmed by how quickly the last seven months had gone, she smiled at all the memories they'd made. "It really has flown by, hasn't it? He was a tiny baby not moments ago and now look at him! Maybe he'll even say his first word soon?"

Natsu turned to look at her, feeling a warmth flood his body at the pretty smile on her face as she thought fondly of their son. "Wouldn't that be awesome?"

He couldn't believe it either, their little baby, the one they found so helpless that day had become such a happy boy, with so much love held within those chubby cheeks when he smiled. He'd grown into a very cute, chunky baby, that they couldn't be prouder of.

Leaving the conversation there, they fell into silence once again, looking out onto the horizon. Well, Lucy was—Natsu had his eyes set on something much more enthralling. Shining brilliantly with the sun, she made his heart flutter excitedly in his chest. The morning light had cast a warm glow to her angelic form, bringing out all of her natural beauty. To put it simply, she was stunning.

"Like what you see, Natsu?" She teased, feeling his eyes burning into her skull. She moved her head to look at him directly, an amused smile dawning her cheeks.

"I always like what I see when I look at you." Lucy felt herself shudder, he was so blunt sometimes but that's what she liked about him, there was no dancing around the bush with Natsu.

Even after being caught gawking, he kept his gaze on her, only this time she was staring right back. The gentleness of his expression made her yearn for his touch, her eyes flickering down to his lips, feeling a tug from an unknown but familiar force to kiss them.

He cupped her soft cheek, quirking his lips up at the delicate pink tinting her skin. Feeling that same yearning, he brought his mouth to hers. Soft, gentle and smooth, with enough pressure to send little vaults of electricity down into her stomach, eliciting a small contented sigh into his mouth. Their lips, having gained plenty of practice in the previous months, meshed together snugly, tongues interloping, losing themselves to the moment of beautiful uninterrupted bliss.

Breaking apart, Lucy stood herself up, a shiver taking over her body suddenly from feeling the bitterness of the wind again. She turned and offered her hand to Natsu and pulled him back inside. Cuddling up together in bed, Lucy hoped Natsu might get some needed rest now.

Lucy had made it her mission to try and take Natsu's mind off of the missing Exceed. He was always so ready to make her happy that for once an opportunity arose where she could repay the favour. She hadn't seen that face splitting grin in too long and was determined to make him smile as much as she could until he started to feel like himself again.

They'd decided to stay home, after a week long mission away from Haru, they wanted to spend some time with him and just relax. The first to wake, Lucy was already downstairs preparing breakfast by the time Natsu got himself up. Haru had been seated in his chair at the table, whilst Lucy busied herself in the kitchen.

"Morning Luce, whatcha making?" He mumbled whilst stretching, looking over to his partner who was busy washing up the pans she'd used for cooking.

"Morning Natsu!" She chirped, smiling sweetly over to him. "I've made your favourite and lots of it, so I hope you're hungry?" She said, plating it up and placing it on the table.

"Awesome! Thanks Lucy, I'm starving!"

He gave her a tired, half smile whilst walking over to the table and sitting down next to Haru, ruffling his hair. "Morning, little guy! What's Mama made you then?" He asked, noticing the baby had covered himself in whatever sticky substance he'd been given to eat. Natsu sniggered at the state the child was in and grabbed a wet cloth to clean him up. "Did you eat any, or just go straight to painting yourself in it?"

"It was little mashed up pieces of fruit. I was gonna feed it to him but he got there before me…" Lucy's sheepish grin made Natsu quirk his lips up and shake his head in amusement.

"Daddy does that as well. Only, I'm not cute like you so Mama likes to yell at me for it!" Natsu jokingly told the baby, turning to the sound of Lucy giggling. He retrieved what was left of the fruit in the bowl and began to spoon it into the little one's hungry mouth. "That's better, now you're actually getting some!"

Once they'd all finished, they sat around and played with Haru for the rest of the morning. Lucy sat back and watched Natsu chuck the baby into the air and catch him again, pretending he could fly. Whilst distracted, he seemed like his normal self, smiling and laughing, but there was still something that felt off, like he was missing that fire in his belly that he was so well known for.

Just as Natsu was about to chuck the infant back into the air, Haru let out a big yawn and began to rub at his eyes. "Did all that super cool flying make you sleepy?" Natsu said, bringing the baby into his chest so that he could snuggle in. Haru had closed his eyes the second his head touched Natsu's shoulder, sleeping soundly in the comforting warmth that surrounded him.

"So cute! Here, I'll take him upstairs to his room." Lucy whispered, gently taking the baby from Natsu and making her way to the stairwell.

Once returning to the living room, Natsu was nowhere to be seen. Lucy knew where he'd gone though, back outside no doubt to keep himself from getting bored. Seeing a bright light coming from the partially open front door, she walked over and peered out of it, watching as he made short work of burning all of the brown leaves with his fire breath, that'd fallen onto the grass around the house, then perched up against the offending tree, looking forlorn once again.

"What's it gonna take to cheer you up?" Lucy muttered under her breath, making her presence known and walking over to him.

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm fine!" Barely believing himself.

"Sure, that's why you're sat out here by yourself, setting leaves on fire?" Raising an eyebrow at him, she sat herself down on the now charred grass, courtesy of Natsu. "What did those leaves ever do to you?"

"They keep falling on my head, that's what!" Feigning annoyance, Natsu caught another leaf mid air and burnt it, making Lucy chuckle. No matter how blue he was, the sound of her laughter always made him feel brighter.

Silence yet again befell them, it was a comfortable silence but Lucy knew better than to assume it was because Natsu didn't have anything to say. She needed to distract him somehow, make him concentrate on something else for a while. Haru was always a good diversion and had been all morning, but he was now fast asleep so she needed to find something else. Then it hit her, she could totally use herself! Ideas flooded her mind at all the ways she could occupy her brooding partner.

Starting off gently, Lucy leaned forward, catching his attention as she ever so slowly brought herself within inches of his face. Natsu watched, a bemused expression taking over as she pressed her lips to his cheek then moved away again, smiling brightly, hoping he'd reciprocate. But to her dismay, he didn't say or do anything other than look at her like she was being weird. She huffed in frustration, this was going to be harder than she thought.

"Alright, cutesy not working for ya? Fine, I can do rough…"

Eyes widening, Natsu had no idea what she meant by that, but was soon to find out when the blonde eagerly plopped herself in his lap and grabbed his head, pulling him forward and taking his lips by force. Lucy mashed their mouths together in such a fierce and scorching kiss, it was enough to make his head spin. It was blisteringly hot, and full of dark promises, plunging her tongue deep into his mouth and nearly choking the poor guy.

He tangled his fingers into her hair, not knowing what else to do with his hands and tightened his grip, causing a light whimper to escape her mouth. Enjoying the roughness far more than expected, Lucy reluctantly pulled away, gasping for air. She stared into his eyes, his dazed and completely bewildered eyes.

"Are you trying to kill me, Lucy!" He panted heavily between each word, struggling to catch his breath, he felt both confused and aroused by her attack.

"Not even that worked?!" Dumbfounded, she couldn't believe a fiery kiss like that hadn't had the desired affect. "Right, well, you asked for it! If this is the only way, so be it!" She got up from his lap onto her feet and turned away, gathering herself for her next assault.

"Asked for what? I didn't ask for – WHOA!" He exclaimed, shocked by her sudden boot clad foot coming straight for his face. Luckily, he'd seen it just in time to push himself up out of the way before she made contact with the side of his head. "What the hell was that for?! I didn't do anything that time, I swear!"

"Fight me!" Were the only words she said.

Using the other foot that was currently holding her weight, she jumped up and round house kicked him straight in the chest, knocking the boy flying back and landing him flat on his ass.

"Aargh! Dammit Lucy, that really hurt!" Gritting his teeth, he rubbed at the sore area where her foot had made contact. He peered up at the cocky looking blonde standing there in a fighting stance. He was so confused, if he hadn't done anything wrong, then why was she trying to fight him? And then he realised… "Wait… fight you?"

"You brawl with everyone else, so why not with me?" She challenged him, knowing that she'd get a reaction from the fire boy eventually, she just had to say the right words. "Or are you scared I might win?"

"You're being serious right now?" Standing back up, Natsu raised his eyebrow at the smirking blonde, he just didn't understand what had come over her. This wasn't like Lucy, she hated fighting. She never got into any guild brawls and rarely chose violence over talking first. "You're not everyone else though? I don't wanna brawl with you, Lucy."

"Why not? I'm perfectly capable! I might even give you a run for your money… Or do you really think I'm that weak?"

Lucy knew that was a low blow and almost back pedalled when she saw the guilt appear in his expression, but she held strong. The blonde wasn't planning on taking it too far, but a little brawl might cheer him up just enough to put a smile back on his face and blow off some steam that he so clearly had built up inside him.

"What?! I never said- Aargh!" Distracted, he was thrown back once again, by yet another lethal kick, to the face this time.

She smirked, starting to feel a little smug at all the hits she was getting in while he was still holding back. Holding his sore cheek, Natsu realised then that he really didn't have a choice in the matter, it was either spar with his weirdo of a girlfriend or become her personal punching bag and that sounded quite painful. With his competitive streak finally seeping through, he stood himself up and wiped the blood from his mouth, dawning a smirk of his own.

"Alright, Luce, you're on! But don't think I'm gonna take it easy on you, you've had your hits, now it's my turn."

In a flash, he was right behind her, about to grab her arms and pin her down on the floor. Having anticipated that he'd go straight for the kill, to try and end this quickly, she threw her head back, crashing straight into Natsu's nose, making him yell out in pain. Lucy swivelled and ducked down whilst he was distracted, taking out his feet and watched him flail, landing him flat on his ass for the third time.

"Ow! That's not fair! You're fighting dirty!" He accused her, holding his nose until the throbbing stopped.

"Oh, poor little dragon doesn't like it when he gets beaten… Looks like I might win after all." Her voice was sickeningly sweet and filled with tease. She laughed mockingly, anticipating his next move while she taunted him.

Back on his feet in an instant, he readied himself for another attack. It was apparent that head on blows weren't going to work against Lucy. Although physically weaker than him, she was too smart and cunning for him to get to her like that. Natsu needed to figure out a way to subdue the girl, the quicker he did that, the sooner this, whatever this was, would be over.

He eyed her dangerously, she was obviously trying to provoke him and he hated to admit, it was working. Lucy's fighting prowess had really come a long way since they'd first met. Natsu felt pride swell in his chest at how well she held her own, even against a force like him. Many powerful mages in the past had struggled to lay even a single finger on him, yet here she was playing with fire and then goading him like it was nothing.

Even though he'd never gone up against her before, the fire mage had learnt through the years that she wasn't one to take lightly. That was becoming apparently obvious, having landed three separate strikes to him already.

"Don't get too cocky, ya just got lucky! It won't happen again!" He warned.

If Lucy wanted to fight dirty, then he would too. Having already made the detrimental mistake of challenging the fire dragon slayer, she naively followed by not setting any ground rules, which he was going to exploit to his full advantage.

He stood by for a moment, gauging her every move until he'd figured out a way to bring her down without going overboard, because this was Natsu after all and he had a slumbering baby to think about.

Taking him by surprise once again, there was no time to react before she rushed at him, dodging the fist he'd aimed right at her in a vain attempt to knock her down. Bringing out her whip, she slid along the floor, catching it around his ankles and yanking hard, toppling him over and watched him face plant the dirt.

"So much for it won't happen again! I was being serious about sparring and you're just making a mockery of me. It'd be different if I was Erza or Gray right now." Surely that would get him into gear? Lucy knew he was probably still unsure of her true intentions and that was the reason for him not going all out, but she wanted him to let loose and be the Natsu she'd always known. "I know I'm not as strong as they are, but now you're just rubbing it in!"

"You really think I'd do that?" His voice stern and his gaze held a seriousness that wasn't there before. Keeping true to her intentions, she did nothing but stare at him accusingly, waiting for him to react in the only way Natsu would.

Taken aback, he bore deep into her eyes, hoping to find a slither of falsity, anything that would tell him she was lying, but he found nothing. A sudden rush of adrenaline pumped through his body, a fire ignited within his belly, determined to prove her wrong.

Grabbing hold of the whip that was still wrapped around his ankle, he yanked it hard towards him. Lucy, of course, tried to pull back, not willing to let go of her precious celestial whip. But Natsu was simply too strong, bringing her closer until she fell straight into his arms. Quickly flipping them over, he pinned her to the floor and straddled her hips.

However, the blonde wasn't about to give up that easily, not until she got what she wanted. Grimacing up at him, Lucy thrust her hips right into his groin, yet another low blow, but necessary. With his eyes leaping out of his skull and a yelp of discomfort, she speedily switched their positions, with her now on top and him being pinned to the floor.

"Nice try, dragon boy, but you're still not trying hard enough!"

Her grip tightened on his wrists, knowing that if he truly wanted to, he could get out of her grasp, no problem. So she promptly used her magic to dawn Taurus' star dress, using the pervy cows strength to hold the slayer down.

"Jeez, Luce, when did you get this strong?!" Natsu asked surprised, pushing against his restraints and being met with equal amounts of force. He was testing Lucy for sure, finding it rather enjoyable. "Have you been training with that goat man again?"

"I wouldn't have to if you ever bothered to show an interest! You never even ask!" She was trying to push the boy further, he was still holding back and it was starting to frustrate her. "Go on then, Natsu! I know you're not really struggling! Stop treating me like some delicate flower and-"

Before she even knew what'd happened, Natsu had pushed against her and flipped them once again with her arms held down above her head. He was staring right at her, almost intimidatingly so as her Taurus form faded back to her own clothes. She glanced up into his piercing glare, curious to know what he was thinking after having obviously triggered him.

"Lucy… You're no delicate flower… trust me on that." His expression remained stern, like he was working through something in his mind. "You're right, I don't ask but only because I don't need to, you're the strongest person I know. But if that's still not enough for you to believe me then train with me? Show me what you're made of!"

Although not the purpose of this little exercise, she was pleased to hear him say that. It made her feel good that someone as powerful as Natsu recognised her capabilities as well. "I'd love to, Natsu." She smiled.

"Good." He smiled back at her. "And I gotta admit, you've surprised me, Luce. I don't let just anyone knock me down that many times and get away with it, so a word of advice for ya."

Leaning down to her face, his green eyes locked on to her pink lips and smirked as he claimed them eagerly with his own, rough and heavy just like their earlier kiss, proving he could be just as torrid. Detaching from her needy mouth, he studded small kisses across her jaw and up to her ear, where he whispered to her, sending a shiver down her spine.

"You should never let your guard down, Lucy." Hearing him chuckle made her realise her fatal mistake.

"Oh no…" She uttered, gazing upon the piercing glare of a very smug dragon slayer. She gulped thickly, knowing what was about to come. If she didn't get out of his hold soon, he would use her ultimate weakness against her.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" He murmured sarcastically, enjoying the look of horror on her face. "Did you forget who you were up against?"

Her eyes were wide as he switched to hold both of her arms with one hand and without a moments hesitation, dug his fingers into all the places he knew would make her squirm with the other. He tickled her mercilessly, tears welling in her eyes from giggling so much and Natsu couldn't help but grin along with her, finding pure joy in making her laugh so hard that it made her cry.

"N-Natsu! St-Stop! Please!" Lucy begged, barely able to breathe from his hand ravaging her entire body. She couldn't control her movements, jerking and writhing beneath him as he continued his onslaught, only stopping to let her inhale some much needed oxygen.

"Do you give up?" Technically if she conceded now, he'd win, regardless of what underhanded tactics he'd used. Chest heaving, she stayed quiet, contemplating whether she should give up now or not. He grinned wickedly, preparing himself for his next attack, giving her exactly what she'd been after this whole time. "Surrender or I'll use both hands this time. It's up to you, Luce!"

The girl smiled up at him, happy to see his contagious grin back on that handsome face once again. She pulled her hands free from his loosened grip and sat herself up a little, so that she could reach his face. Placing her hand on his cheek and caressing it softly.

"That's all I wanted, was to see that sexy smile of yours. I give up, Natsu, you win." She said, kissing his lips tenderly then placing her head back on the ground.

"That's all you wanted? Pretty weird way of getting what you want, Luce. But I gotta say, it was fun!" This girl was such a weirdo sometimes, but then again, it had worked, she had cheered him up and had definitely got his blood pumping. Now he had the problem of wanting to let off steam in a different way, a more… intimate way. "You know, watching you fight has always been a huge turn on. Now I know fighting against you just makes that worse."

"So, you like being beat, do you? I didn't know you were a masochist! I'm sure Virgo has plenty of things I can punish you with." She sniggered, as his eyes widened in fear, not entirely sure how serious she was being. "Or would you prefer it if I was the one tied down, to do with as you pleased?" She smirked, feeling his member twitch in excitement, she rubbed it ever so gently with her thigh, turning him on even further.

"Hmm… I think I'd prefer that. I never knew you were into such kinky shit, Lucy." He growled, latching on to her neck and nipping at her sensitive skin. The mere thought of Lucy being tied up, begging him to please her, almost made him want to try it right where they lay, but a singular thought was enough to rip that away. "Wait, I'm not sure how I feel about Virgo knowing, she's creepy enough as it is…"

Lucy giggled, her own arousal faltering as images of them getting freaky were ruined by Virgo popping up in the middle of it, asking for punishment—well, if anything was a mood killer… "Shh! I don't wanna hear about Virgo when I'm trying to have my way with you."

"I like the sound of that even more!" He murmured, closing in on her, and kissing her passionately, the scent of her arousal taking over his senses, making him forget about everything but the beauty under him.

Lucy freed her legs from underneath him and wrapped them around his waist, using him as leverage to pull her hips up and rub her core against his erection. He growled against her mouth, approving of her ministrations. Not wanting to wait any longer, he reached down and pulled himself free of his pants and moved her underwear to the side, gently pushing himself into her and earning a guttural groan from her plump lips.

Heightened by their sparring, he thrust into her hard, making her eyes roll into the back of her head and cry out into the open air. In that moment, Natsu didn't care that they were outside and Lucy's loud moaning would give away to anyone within earshot what they were up to. He had so much pent up energy and as much as he loved fighting, fucking Lucy senseless was the best way to get rid of it. This didn't require any underhanded tactics, he simply allowed Lucy's reactions to guide him and the best part was, everyone was a winner.

"Yes, Natsu… Harder!" She gasped as he doubled in speed. In her haze, she felt the slight ache of her back being ground into the floor, but it was over taken by the intenseness of his relentless pounding. The roughness of it all was going to make her cum, that sweet knot inside her was just about ready to snap.

"Cum, Lucy!" He growled through gritted teeth, feeling her tightening around him.

She was so close, her eyes were shut tight, her breathing had become heavy and laboured and she was gripping onto Natsu's head like it was her lifeline. With one more forceful snap of his hips he came, unloading himself deep within her, a strangled moan escaping his lips.

Feeling him tense between her legs made Lucy shudder, gripping tightly around his shaft and greedily milking him for every last drop. Digging her fingers into his scalp, she pulled hard on his pink locks, her cries of ecstasy flying out with the wind.

Natsu took great enjoyment in watching her unravel and waited patiently for her to come down from her high, soaking in every last harsh breath and weary whimper. It was a new type of accomplishment, knowing that he and only he, could make Lucy feel like that.

Leaning down and grinning like a mad man, he kissed her with every last ounce of lust he had in him, thoroughly spent after their afternoon of wild activities. She kissed him back with just as much fire, burning deeply into their bellies.

"AAHHHH! NOT AGAIN!" They heard a small voice shriek from the distance.

Breaking apart, both mages heads twisted to where the noise had come from, their hearts beating rapidly and faces turning beet red, to see who had caught them in such a compromising position.

"Happy?" Natsu said, all arousal leaving his body as he gazed upon the little Exceed, shocked to see him floating there. "You're back?"

The blue cat was hovering there a few metres away, masking the embarrassment in his cheeks by averting his gaze away from the mages who'd obviously been up to naughty things, wanting no part in it. "Um… C-Carla told me I had to come and speak to you, but I can see that you're, uh, busy…" He went to turn around and leave, when Natsu shouted out to him, catching his attention again.

"No! Happy, wait! Uh—just give me a second…" The slayer yelled awkwardly, grateful the Exceed hadn't flown off yet.

He looked down to Lucy for approval, not wanting to just ditch her like this, but she simply smiled at him and kissed his cheek. This was what she'd been waiting for, knowing that once the pair made amends, everything would return to normal, she would have her family back together again.

"Go on, Natsu, don't worry about me. I'll make sure dinners ready for when you both come home, okay?"

Pulling her up into a sitting position, he slipped out of her and quickly adjusted himself before the Exceed looked over. Natsu jumped up onto his feet and drew Lucy up with him, feeling the strain of their actions on her back as she straightened herself up. Her underwear and skirt were now back to normal and all evidence of their intimacy now gone, both looking as innocent as ever.

"Thanks, Lucy! You're the best!" He grinned, kissing her mouth one last time before letting go of her hand and turning to run towards Happy, who'd been waiting patiently.

The young girl sighed and smiled as she watched them walk off towards the river. Once out of sight, she turned to make her way back inside the house, the sound of the baby stirring, catching her attention.

At first they remained quiet, sitting by the river with nothing but the sound of water rushing passed made it feel awkward between them. Natsu really didn't know what to say, he'd been running it through his head all day how he was going to apologise to his little friend, but now all words seemed to have vanished from his vocabulary.

"So…" Happy started, looking out onto the river. "I didn't know you guys were exhibitionists now."

"Happy!" Natsu exclaimed. Using his scarf to cover his cheeks as they flushed with embarrassment.

"What? I'm just saying! Being caught in the house wasn't enough for ya, so you ventured outside this time?" Happy said, a devilish smirk appearing on his face.

"Shh! Lucy will gut you if she hears you say that!" Natsu darted his head around quickly to make sure the blonde hadn't followed.

This hadn't been the first time the cat had caught them in the act, or the second… or third for that matter. He had a habit of popping up at the most inconvenient of times, although Happy would argue that they were always at it, so it was never truly safe. It was a wonder it hadn't traumatised the poor cat for life. But Happy simply giggled cheekily, shocking Natsu for a moment until he too found the humour in it all.

"It's nice to smile again. I haven't since-" All mirth had gone from the cats face as he looked down to the grass in front of him, feeling saddened as he remembered the incident. "I really didn't mean to cause any trouble, I was just trying to entertain him. I didn't think he'd fall off of the bar that suddenly, I only let go for two seconds."

Happy felt tears well in his eyes as he turned to his best friend. He'd had a lot of time over the past week to think about what'd happened and what could've happened if Natsu hadn't been there to save little Haru.

"Happy, it's o-"

"No, Natsu, it's not okay!" He interrupted the dragon slayer, who instantly shut his mouth, allowing Happy to continue. "You were right, I was careless and irresponsible. I could've seriously hurt him and then what would you have done? You don't want someone like me around, I don't deserve your friendship!"

Feeling like utter shit, Natsu couldn't believe Happy had come to that conclusion. The fact of the matter was, nothing bad had actually happened and speaking in hypotheticals was a waste of energy. All the slayer wanted was his friend back, by hook or by crook, Happy was going to come home with him, because that's where he belonged.

He was going to make this right, Lucy was counting on him to make it right and he'd be damned if Happy thought he was going to be walking away from here without him as his friend. That would never happen! Natsu leaned over and pulled the now crying Exceed into his lap, holding him close until his bawling calmed into whimpers.

"Happy, I will always be your friend, that I know for sure." The slayer sighed, he wasn't good with emotion or talking about said emotions but he was trying, for Happy's sake. "Look at everything we've been through together, you think I'd let you leave alone? I never meant any of what I said to you, Happy, but I couldn't stop it from coming out. Looks like we've both got a lot to learn, huh?"

Happy, having stopped crying, looked up to Natsu's solemn face and watched as he went through the motions. This argument had been their biggest to date and it'd affected them both greatly. It seems even the care-free, rambunctious hot head, wasn't immune to the stresses of life, especially those that came with being a father.

Natsu never saw caring for Haru as stressful, he enjoyed everything there was about being his dad, but having a child was still an extra responsibility and that came with added worry, something the slayer was very unfamiliar with. It was the only reason why he'd reacted like that towards Happy, why he'd been unable to control himself when Haru took that fall.

"I know I don't spend as much time with you now, but that doesn't mean I don't want you around. In fact, having you there makes everything feel normal. You're the one thing that's always remained the same through all of our adventures and I never want that to change. You'll always be my best friend, Happy." Natsu finished, hoping he'd managed to convey just how important the flying cat was to their little family dynamic.

"You're my best friend too, Natsu." The little Exceed felt hope build within his small frame. "Does that mean you're not angry with me any more?"

"Of course not, Happy. I never really was. I just want you to come home."

"Fine… I'll come home then on one condition…" Happy smirked, his stomach rumbling. Natsu tilted his head in curiosity, what did the blue cat want? "I can have fish for dinner, I'm starving!" The cat began to drool, thinking of all the little fishes.

Natsu began to snigger which quickly turned into a full blown laugh, all these emotions were sending him doolally apparently. He'd had a feeling the request would be fish related and he was right. Patting the little guy on the head who also started to snicker. The fire mage nodded, relieved that everything had fallen back into place.

"Kissed and made up yet?" A female voice broke through Natsu and Happy's laughter, snapping their heads to the beautiful blonde standing there. Clad in appropriate clothing this time with a basket in one hand and a baby in the other, smiling happily at the two on the ground.

"Lucy? I didn't hear you coming, I thought you were gonna stay home?" Natsu asked, surprised but happy to see her.

"I didn't know how long you'd be, so I thought I'd bring dinner to you guys instead." She said, placing the basket down on the floor and plopping the little one into Natsu's lap. But before she had chance to sit down herself, Happy flew at her, barrelling into her chest and wailed like a child.

"Lucy! I missed you!" He yelled excitedly, snuggling into her chest. "Did you bring me fish?!"

"Of course! Raw and smelly, just how you like it." She chuckled at the grin on the Exceed's face, plonking herself down by the basket.

They sat along the river bank until the early evening, enjoying their dinner and telling Happy all about the mission they'd been on. Everything seemed normal again, like the fall out had never happened. Everyone was smiling and talking, even Haru was trying to join in on the conversation with his babbling.

"Let's get a look at ya then." Happy said, walking over to the little one. Haru, who was still sat in Natsu's lap, grinned widely as he laid eyes on the cat. Haru tried to lean forward to grab hold of the cats whiskers, but missed and fell forwards again, but this time Happy was right there to catch him, lifting him up into the air. "Wow! You're getting heavy! Just like your Mommy…"

He smirked evilly and looked over to Lucy, who's expression turned sinister. With a sense of foreboding hanging in the air, Natsu took the baby back from the cat and slowly moved away from the now steaming blonde, mouthing to Happy to run for it before she skinned him alive.

"That's it!" She yelled, like a battle cry. Storming over to the Exceed, her Cancer form appearing with two large blades pointing directly at the felines throat, scarily resembling a certain red head. "Say that again, I dare you!"

"WAH! Natsu, help! She's gonna kill me!" Happy screamed, flying into the air rapidly and shooting off into the distance, with the stellar mage hot on his tail.

Natsu watched them both run off into the trees, furrowing his brows he looked to the baby in his arms, who was busy playing with the white scarf. "And they say I'm the impulsive one?" Shaking his head, he casually made his way into the woods, hoping Lucy hadn't killed Happy before he got there to rescue him.

[onbanksofadragonriver]

Varric x Merrill thoughts

This is a rarepair ship I’ve believed in ever since I saw this fabulous art a few years ago, and the fic “Perfume Shop” (in Russian) has been a major inspiration too. And then recently, @hollyand-writes got me to air my headcanons and to actually get down to writing for this ship, so here we are.

I’ll go by points, but it’s not my goal to somehow attempt to prove that this ship is or should be canon. They’re my headcanons: Don’t like, don’t ship. Also, I haven’t played DA2 in a few years, and have never played any of the DLCs, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt. All dialogue with no specifically indicated source is from the wiki.

Buckle in, this is long!

@geekalogian​, @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold​ ♥

>> Amazing banter

All the companions get frustrated by Merrill’s silly questions, though I believe half of them are actually only asked as a joke. They try to explain it or avoid the question, or sigh about Merrill’s naivete. Fenris is downright hostile to her, and Anders tends to get preachy. Aveline treats her like a child sometimes. Isabela is protective and friendly, but sometimes she sounds a bit condescending and impatient with Merrill’s innocence. 

But Varric, he gets her. He gets her silly jokes and just rolls with it, and their dialogues are a pleasure to listen to. It’s with Varric that her somewhat straight-faced, silly humour really shines, because he’s the only one to play along: about frolicking in the woods, and his resemblance to Hahren Paivel, and Bianca having a pretty name, or how his family is like fleas, or Darktown rats following the mage/templar mess, etc. He never brings up her naivete or makes her feel inadequate or as if she’s missed some context. And they’re both so relaxed around each other it’s like Varric has unlocked a whole new dimension to Merrill.

>> Protecting her freedom. The ball of twine and taking care of the gangs. 

I’ve seen meta on how Varric paying off the thugs is him infantilizing Merrill, but he does this for Anders too. It’s his way of caring about people. And also, if you see Merrill’s reaction in case Hawke doesn’t let her have the arulin’holm, you’ll see that she’s perfectly capable of realising when people are coddling her, and letting them know — in no uncertain terms — when that kind of meddling is unwelcome. (see also: Varric and his product deliveries below)

I also like to think that half of the reason “nothing ever happens” when she wanders around at night is because Merrill is a badass mage perfectly capable of taking care of herself. One of her default starting spells is rock armour, and when Hawke meets her, she admits to having fought before, and having done so alone. She’s certainly capable or recognising the stupidity and danger Sister Petrice is walking in as she wanders around Lowtown, and that’s in broad daylight. 

Also, I’m thinking Varric must have put that protection in place after news of some incidents reached his ears, because it’s not something he does by default to other party members who’re new to Kirkwall. So perhaps it is, or was necessary at some point. On the other hand, perhaps Merrill is totally taking care of herself, and the thugs are not even trying to attack her, they’re just enjoying ripping off Varric :P

I like to think that the Viscount’s gardens were an honest mistake and Merrill did cut down on wandering there after Varric’s comment.

The ball of twine is interesting. Her closest friends in the gang seem to be Hawke, Isabela and Varric, but only Varric actually gives her a tool enabling her to find her way around the confusing human city. I don’t know what others did. Did they expect Merrill to just stay in the Alienage if there was nobody to accompany her around the city? Or did they expect her to find her own way through trial and error? Varric gives her a weird, but apparently functional tool for navigating the city until she learns her own way.

And the common motif between ensuring safe streets, an access to gardens and the ball of twine, is how Varric is safeguarding Merrill’s freedom. She’s Dalish, used to living under open sky, travelling from place to place. She’s used to green, growing things and wandering about as she pleases. And she’s used to doing magic freely and in ways that she herself believes appropriate. Now she’s stuck in a barely hospitable alienage of a city with a strong templar and slaver presence, and Varric doesn’t have the heart to scold her and limit her freedom even more. 

Considering Varric is part of the ascendant group in Merchant Guild, who believe in leaving behind Orzammar’s strict caste system and traditions and embracing surface life instead, looks like Merrill’s freedom speaks to something deep in Varric’s own beliefs and values, nonchalant as he seems.

>> Trying to take care of her. Delivering produce.

This gives me feels. First, Varric noticed that something was off. Maybe he missed her showing up at the Hanged Man, maybe he went to visit her. Either way, he noticed that she wasn’t going out, not even to the market. It’s funny to imagine Varric standing in the market scratching his head about what actually goes into food preparation, but more probably he initially just threw some money at the problem, sending someone shopping for her. And then he checked up and saw she’s still not going out. And then he tries to talk her into going for a walk, to get fresh air.

And again this is something I’ve read as coddling and infantilizing, but — when Merrill is clearly not in a mood for teasing, she rebukes him politely: “I’m not a plant, Varric.” She’s not harsh as in case with Hawke and arulin’holm. When Varric leaves, she admits: “Varric is... very sweet. Frequently infuriating and a terrible busybody, but sweet.”

Which at first read as... Merrill not reciprocating Varric’s feelings for her? But on a second thought: what if Merrill is the oblivious one? Not only to Varric’s caring but about her own feelings for him? What if she never considered Varric romantically because she always thought she’d end up with a Dalish partner, and then she becomes friends with Hawke and starts opening up to the idea that what if she takes a human lover? And falling in love with a dwarf has not even crossed her mind yet? (Look lower, queen.)

Because when Merrill cares, she helps people: waters their plants or repairs ancient artifacts. Part of her potentially falling in love with Hawke is due to how they help her, how they have her back. Varric and Merrill have the same love language. I choose to think of it as a mystery, why Merrill is not canonically head over heels for Varric. Maybe she’s so used to his confident, handsome self boasting about all the female attention he gets that she thinks she’s out of his league and has friendzoned herself :P

Additionally, I believe “sweet” and “infuriating” is something that the gang could equally attribute to Merrill herself. Pot calling kettle black? :D

>> Opinions on magic

Varric largely doesn’t have an opinion on Merrill being a mage, a blood mage, or whatever. He’s not afraid, because he has other, more pressing concerns, like Merchant’s Guild breathing down his neck and sending assassins, and when he does mention Merrill’s blood magic being “evil” it sounds like a rehearsed thing that might cause him headache due to other people getting their knickers in a twist over it.

He does acknowledge he’s distrustful of letting “dangerous people run amok” if Hawke sides with the mages in the end of DA2, but apparently he trusts Merrill enough that she knows what she’s doing and leaves it at that. He’s just sick of the whole mage/templar drama.

>> Mutual interest in what they do. 

Merrill is interested in what he does for a living, while he tries to keep her out of trouble that would come from her knowing too much. And Varric is pondering why Eluvian is a mirror, and not some other piece of furniture. Not judging each other, just — curious. Showing they are in each other’s thoughts. And I won’t go into details here, because @hollyand-writes​ has, like, ALL the receipts where Varric thinks about Merrill in DAI, but he does — a lot :) He knows her interest in history and lore, knows that news of ancient elves keeping slaves would upset her, knows she would have liked to see the Dales. He seems to be missing her a lot...

>> Priority. 

LOOK at the sequence he mentions his friends in, Merrill is No.1, while Hawke is almost an afterthought :D

Merrill: How do you do it, living in the city without picking a side? Doesn't it matter to you? Varric: Of course it does. That's why I don't take sides. Merrill: That doesn't make any sense. Varric: I've got you and Aveline, Fenris and Anders. Hawke. Isabela. I've got friends in the Circle and drinking buddies in the templars. All of them matter.

And who’s the first person that comes to Merrill’s mind when Hawke calls her pretty? Varric! :D [X]

>> Comfort in storytelling. 

Yeah, Merrill says somewhere later that she wouldn’t have made a good Keeper because she’s not good with people, but she did receive all the requisite education. She studied lore and elven legends and history, as much as is left of it anyway, and I believe that storytelling, thriving on stories, is something that she and Varric both have in common. 

Maybe she’s too shy to tell her own stories, but she’s definitely enjoying Varric’s and looking for consolation in his stories when things get rough.

Merrill: Varric, how does the story end? Varric: Which story, Daisy? Merrill: The big one. With us and Hawke, the mages and templars. Everything. Varric: You want to know before it happens? You're not worried about spoiling the surprise? Merrill: I might not see it end. Varric: You have to stick with us if you want to find out how it turns out, Daisy.

Merrill: Tell me a story, Varric. Varric: Right now? I don't think we have time, Daisy. Merrill: Maybe a very short story, then? Please? Varric: Fine. "When the cards turned, he lost." Merrill: Oh. Did it have to be so sad?

Merrill: (passing the Hanged Man):  "Do you think there's time for Varric to tell us a story while we're here?"

Merrill: I hope we win. Varric will make it a good story, I'm sure.

>> Conclusions & Future

The thing that gets me the most is how good and kind they are to each other. It’s in their teasing, their jokes, the way Varric takes care of Merrill. I love Merrill’s confidence in Varric’s storytelling talent, and I like to think Varric finds Merrill’s confident tinkering with the mirror at least a little bit hot, even if he doesn’t understand magic (Bianca is/was a brilliant engineer, and I think Varric has a bit of a competence kink :D)

I also enjoy thinking of them both as slightly out of touch with emotions: Varric ignoring his own, and Merrill oblivious to his. I like to think of what happens when Merrill realises Varric loves her: because she’s open and honest in her affections, and it would be awesome to see Varric taken by that storm. To see him openly fall for someone so different, at a first glance, but also familiar: a knowledgeable storyteller, confident in her abilities, believing in free will and freedom. 

I see them moving on together: Merrill learning to let go of the disappointment that is the unfinished eluvian, and Varric learning to let go of his lingering feelings for Bianca. Yes, the past is important for Merrill, while Varric wants to live in the moment, but the point of knowing the past, for Merrill, is to be able to move forward, and Varric certainly knows his family’s past, so I don’t see any disagreements there. If anything, Varric’s resources and connections can help Merrill get her hands on more artefacts and ancient tomes, letting her continue on her path in some other way.

It’s interesting to imagine their life together. After DAI, Varric pours his own funds into various infrastructure projects until he ends up the Viscount of Kirkwall, and Merrill is in Kirkwall too, helping the city elves. Somehow, it feels logical that at least some of those projects would be new elf housing and improvements to the alienage. 

Would they get married? Probably, because I think it would be important to Merrill, and also probably because it might be a better way to protect her, a rumoured/known blood mage, from the Chantry than if she was just the Viscount’s mistress. On the other hand, knowing Varric and his cousin Elmand, and his spy network, and his tendency to successfully evade the Merchant Guild messengers [X], it’s equally possible he’d whip up a completely fake story about how his beloved Merrill is a hatter, and leave it at that. Probably he couldn’t even be found in the Keep, instead preferring to hide out in the Hanged Man or in his wife’s house in the alienage :D

Because, in the end, I think they both enjoy doing their respective Things very much, whether it’s helping elves or writing books, and they let each other do it selflessly, even if maybe it means they can’t live together. (Because can you imagine a Viscomtesse Merrill having to host a ball? Dealing with Hightown nobles? No, I don’t think Varric would ever ask such a sacrifice of her.) But they live close, and help and support each other, and, in short, I think they’d be awesome :)

[celestialflamesme]

| TROIA | A Stashi One-shot | Fairy Tail Next Generation |

Ships: Nashi Dragneel x Storm Fullbuster, slight Rin Fullbuster x Rosemary Fernandez

Nashi didn't know why she ever thought letting Venetia choose a job request this time would be a good idea.

In fact she didn't exactly recall telling her she could, let alone promising her, because it was a well known fact in Magnolia, albeit in the guild itself.

Venetia plus anything equals catastrophe.

She loved her friend (don't tell the lug-nut she said that) to death, but Redfox was also the kid that stole an S-class mission at 11, so she wasn't much of a 'think before you act' kind of person.

Nevertheless, the rest of the team didn't think it was that bad of a job, and the reward was good so they agreed. Nashi had a lingering doubt about how the day's events would go, but she brushed those thoughts aside for the sake of the greater good.

The greater good being beating Team Storm by going on more jobs than them.

Team Nashi reached the village after a sickeningly long train ride that Rosemary DID NOT help ease in the slightest by knocking them out, no matter what she says otherwise.

The beautiful expanse of a land was incredible to stare at and Venetia smirked at their reactions as if to say 'and y'all doubted me haha'.

"Oh my! What are you kids doing there? Come on here!" A lady who looked to be in her mid-forties waved at them.

Sylvia tried to beat Rin to their host, but her annoying twin sauntered forward and shot her a gorgeous grin as he introduced the team.

"How polite!" The lady gushed and Sylvia grit her teeth.

She invited them in for tea and explained the situation. Her husband, the village head, and several other males had been held hostage by a group of mages that had been threatening everyone to pay hefty sums of money every month.

She pondered for a moment. "Some kids your age came here earlier actually. They said they'd help rescue my husband and the others. Are you kids their backup? Is that why you're here?"

Rosemary narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "A group of kids our age, you say? Were they from the same guild as ours?"

The lady nodded.

"Well ma'am, we best be on our way then! Can't risk waiting any longer!" The red head's eyes flickered with what the teammates could only call utter madness, before rising from her seat as she rushed out.

"Wait, dear girl? Oh, she seems to be an eager one!"

Rin let out a sigh as his eyes crinkled in adoration, "ALL the more eager when there's competition."

"You kids will need horses, if you ever want to catch up to them then! To the stables!" The woman cheered.

"Horses..."

The two dragonslayers shuddered as they stared at the monstrosities. Sylvia groaned.

"You two will be of no use then! First we take the same mission, and next, only half the team can function fully! This day just keeps getting better and better!" She threw her hands in the air frustratedly.

"Unless we use troia, of course!" Rin snapped his fingers and gave his sister a cocky grin, who retaliated by grumpily flipping a bird at him.

15 minutes later, they found Rosemary speed-walking. She gladly accepted the invitation to ride with Rin, who looked like a kid at Christmas. His grin widened further when Rosemary wrapped her arms around his waist, much to Sylvia and Nashi's amusement.

They reached their destination - A half-burnt cabin at the edge of the forest overlooking the giant lake- only to find Team Storm who'd already engaged in combat.

Rosemary joined the fray in a span of less than 5 seconds, sending spell after spell at the bandits with an evil glint in her eyes.

"What the-Rose, what are you doing here?" Reiki raised an eyebrow while throwing daggers at a goon, who squealed in terror as one hit him, leaving him stuck on a nearby tree.

Nashi grinned as she yelled,"We're here to get the job money, of course. FIRST ONE TO GET ALL OF THESE DUMBASSES ROUNDED UP GETS DIBS!"

Storm yelped, "Aw fuck, the flamehead is here too?"

"I HEARD THAT, ICE CONE! YOU WANNA GO?!!!"

"ARE YOU TWO FIGHTING AGAIN?"

"NO SIR!!" they both yelled as Reiki cracked his knuckles at them.

Seeing the pinkette distracted, a mage took this as a chance to attack her.

"Lightning Strike!"

Nashi turned around just in time to shield herself from the attack. "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!"

Venetia hollered, "JOIN US, FIRE BREATH! WE'RE ABOUT TO KICK ALL THEIR ASSES!"

They managed to round up all the bandits and tied them to the horses. Meanwhile Nova, Luke and Sylvia freed the villagers, who profusely thanked them, glad to finally be able to see their families.

"Why do I still have a feeling that something's going to go wrong?" Nashi muttered to herself.

"Maybe because something always has to go wrong in Team Nashi's missions?" Storm inputted with a smirk.

She gasped at the accusation, fixing him with one of the nastiest glare she she could muster. If looks could spontaneously combust, the whole town would be extinct right this very second.

"YOU WISH!"

"I don't have to, it's reality!" The Devil-Slayer's smirk intensified. The pinkette was tempted to rip the smirk right off his face and maybe claw out one of his godforsaken blue eyes out with a nearby branch. To no avail however, as Kai seemed to have realised that an object as dangerous as a branch was not to be kept in close proximity to a walking-talking demolition kit.

Note to self: Spit in Kai's drink as payback for confiscating a crucial element in her Quick-murder inventory. Oh, how nefarious....

On that thought, she clambered onto her horse with grace akin to a blind Walrus. Rin had briefed both of the first-timers on riding and what-not, but the keypoint that Nashi noted was that if the horse was calm and steady, she was safe. If not, a ticket to her Uncle Zeref was overdue.

Hey, at least Mavis would be more than cordial to her. And she was sure her Gramps Igneel would be on board her 'haunting Storm till he lost all sanity' idea. The possibilities were endless.

What she failed to notice during her inner monologue was the stealthily creeping Mage that had earlier managed to hide himself among the foliage, approaching her horse.

In what Nova would later describe fondly as 'the snowball effect', he yanked Nashi's leg, attempting to throw her off her horse, just in time for the Lightning Slayer to notice and send an attack that left him immobilised.

It was at that moment that Nova realised that she'd utterly fucked up.

"HOLY FUCKKK!!" Nashi was left screeching in horror as her horse decided to live out it's dream of winning the Derby.

Hanging onto it's mane like her life depended on it, she tried to (keyword being tried) mount her horse, which was impossible considering the damn beast of an animal was sprinting like it was possessed.

She faintly registered a flash of light before a sheet of ice blocked the horse's path. It steadied itself instead of trying to break through it to her relief, and she solemnly swore never to watch reruns of Mission Impossible with equines ever again.

She chose to collapse on the muddy ground, squinting at the sun as she tried to steady her breathing. The raven-head sat himself next to her as he scanned her for possible injuries.

"How many fingers am I holding?" His breathless voice questioned.

"Wait let's see, one-two-," she deadpanned, "Twelve."

He smacked her head, making her yelp, his eyebrow raised as if daring her to retaliate. She briskly stood up with a scowl on her face. The ground rattled as the rest their team caught up to them.

"The next train to Magnolia is in an hour, so you both had better hurry!" Rosemary barked.

"Gee, thanks for asking if I was okay!" The pinkette rolled her eyes and jabbed Storm with her elbow as he muttered 'Drama Queen'.

"GEEZ WOMAN! You're riding with me by the way," he bit his lip as he smirked at her face that now morphed into one of disgust.

"Oh HELL NO!"

"Get on the horse Nashi!" Rosemary's eyes narrowed. Nashi and Storm shot Rin looks of pity as his face contorted into a pained grimace when the Manipulation Mage's grip tightened. He really did deserve to be lauded for bearing with her violence.

Speaking of violence, she imagined a dozen ways of pushing Fullbuster off the horse and riding off into the sunset. Now that's a happy ending....

He lazily snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she noticed that he'd mounted the horse already. Shooting him a last annoyed look, she climbed the steed and he whipped the reins as the horse began to steadily gallop.

"Not to be condescending, but I figured you'd know that you have to hold on in order not to faceplant on the ground," she could sense the smug look on his face. Not today, Satan.

"And risk you trying to feel me up? No, thank you," she snarkily retorted.

"Oh please, if anyone's risking sexual harassment, it's me. Your hands just waiting to feel my chest up," she gaped at him and spluttered indignant.

"Well-your-your CHEST IS JUST WAITING TO FEEL MY HANDS UP!"

"Maybe it is," he tilted his head as he winked at her. Her narrowed eyes and grimace provoked a chuckle out of him.

"Pervert."

"Sure, sure," he brushed her off. He abruptly stopped the horse, sending her tumbling into his shoulder. Her hands harshly gripped his coat as she yelled profanities at him.

"Not my fault you didn't hold on tight enough," he whistled innocently.

She let out a growl of frustration as she pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "HAPPY?"

"You loveeeee me," he teased. He winced as she pinched him, clearly unimpressed.

"Claws off me, woman. Play nice!" He scolded and cracked the reins in a fluid moment, and they were off.

And Nashi pretended as if his cologne didn't cloud her senses and the firm grasp his hand had on her didn't make her face flush.

.................

"I need a picture of both of you!"

"WHAT?!" Both the mages screeched in shock.

The village head winced at them symphathetically as his wife's eyes glittered in excitement.

"You both look ADORABLE together! When's the wedding?" She cheered as she took pictures.

"WE'RE NOT- HE'S NOT- NO NEVER! GROSSSSS" their faces contorted into identical grimaces as their oh so helpful teammates snickered.

The lady waved them off, "They always say that, now CLOSER! HOLD HIM TIGHTER!"

"Well, she's still better than Max!" The pinkette muttered as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Amen to that."

...............

A week after, Mirajane seemed way too cheery for her own good.

"NASHI! THERE YOU ARE!"

Several heads turned to glance at the dragon slayer as she gulped nervously. She reached the bar as the older Takeover Mage grinned at her.

"Laxus requested both you and Storm to participate in this contest. Compulsorily."

She scrunched her nose slightly as she took in the words 'Couple' and 'shoot'. "Aunt Mira, I've told you this a billion times already, WE DON'T LIKE EACH OTHER THAT WAY! HECK, WE DON'T EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER!"

Mira's grin only widened as she remarked, "These pictures seem to tell a different story."

Nashi's eyes widened dramatically as she whipped her head and met the She-Devil's eyes. "YOU wouldn't-"

"Too late, I've already sent it!"

A frustrated growl erupted across the guild, and the members collectively shook their heads at the Matchmaker.

A few weeks later, Nashi was relieved to know that she hadn't won the contest after all. That was shortlived however, as Storm marched up to her table and slammed the latest edition of Sorcerer's weekly on it.

She blinked rapidly as she glanced at the picture of- wait, was that Jake and Rose?

"THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'M LOSING TO JAKE AND ROSE! GET YOUR ASS OFF, SALSA BREATH, WE HAVE WORK TO DO!" He lifted her off her chair, despite her squeals of protest and threats to disembowel him and, throwing her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, raced out of the guild, much to everyone's delight.

Even worse, she didn't know whether to kick him where the sun don't shine or stare at his butt. Which was definitely a no-no.

She swore off horses and troia from that day.

............