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What Old Friends Can Do - Lucy x Lockwood 4

“Gossip in the Town” - Lucy x Lockwood

Lockwood and Co. Series

Summary: Old friends may come as a solution.

Warning: This fic is made with the sole purposes of dealing and possibly kill Writer's Block and using an OC I've had in my mind for a while now, so it may be a little crappy and trashy. READ UNDER YOUR OWN CONSCIENCE.

————————— “Wow, I can’t believe Mr Denson left his store to Geoffrey!”

“I know! Had he just waited for his son to be old enough, his store wouldn’t be doing as bad as  it is right now”

Walking down the streets of Cheviot Hills with Ethan, he started telling me about the things that had been changing since I left. Apparently, most of my old friends were either married, gone from town, or dead, but that was a minority.

Seeing as most of our supplies had been used last night, Ethan thought we could go to Gladwell and Jenner; the only store in town that still sold ghost-fighting supplies. He and I were right now on our way to order the materials. George and Quill had stayed at Ethan’s home looking through more records to see if they could find more about the ghosts we encountered, while Lockwood had taken Holly with him back to London, said we were probably going to need more help during this haunting. He assured us they’d be back before we had to go back to the station tonight.

Things had been a little tense during breakfast, with all that happened last night, and I was grateful for some time away from the team. Before leaving, Lockwood had asked me to tell them what happened, but I still couldn’t talk about it.

“Daniel would have made a better manager by far- Wait, hold on, is that, Deborah Lance and Fergus Mallicoat? Holding hands?” I pointed to the other street where a couple was marshmallowy rubbing noses and holding each others hands.

“You mean, Deborah and Fergus Mallicoat holding hands” Ethan said, his voice slightly labored with the effort of the long walk.

“What?!”

“They got married about a year ago” He smiled “Quite a celebration, really; the party lasted about two nights at least”

“But they hate each other!” I exclaimed “Every time they were in a room together, they were always at each others throats”

“Wish it was still that way, you should see them now! Last time I was with them it was all ‘My wuzzy-fuzzy-fluffy-cuddly-honey-bear’ and ‘My dear hunny-bunny-pumpkin-princess’, it was almost disgusting!” Ethan said in a funny voice.

The streets were full of people I once knew, all of whom acknowledged me from afar. I was actually grateful they did; I didn’t feel particularly keen of greeting everybody that recognized me.

“That’s probably because you’re walking beside me” Ethan had said. I had initially insisted that he let me go on my own, I knew perfectly well where the store was, but he insisted in coming, said the exercise would do him good. He had brought a walking stick with him, though not one of those metal sticks you saw your grandpa walk with, but a fancy wooden one with iron on the tip and a beautifully carved iron wolf in the handle (his sister gave it to him as a joke after loosing his leg, but he kept it and used it with pride whenever he did) “People avoid getting too close to me whenever I’m outside, think I'm going to take any opportunity to make a fake accident and sue them or something”

“Why would you do that, your family already has so much more money than most people here”

“Well, people think what they want, Lulu”

We finally arrived to Gladwell and Jenner. It reminded me of Mullet’s; the racks with flares, salt bombs, rapiers and chains were all the same, but with an older, less cared-for appearance than the one in London. We gave the owner a list of what we would need and asked him to deliver it to Ethan’s house today before curfew.

“So…” He looked at me mischievously.

“So what?” I asked him.

“You and Lockwood, eh?” He asked. I choked on my own breath and my face flushed hotly like Greek Fire was lit on it until I was red. He wiggled his eyebrows at me, which was more funny than insinuating since it made the scars on his face move.

“Well, I- he- we-”

“Mmmm?” He lowered himself to my eye level, his eyes filled with a lively delight, so different from his normally dozing features.

“We- we may have…confessed…our feelings…for each other” I muttered sheepishly.

“What did you said, Lu, I couldn’t hear you, will you repeat that for me?” He mocked me as we started walking out the door of the store, now having paid for the supplies and made sure they would be taken care of.

“Hey!” I slapped his shoulder playfully “Don’t push your luck! But yeah…we did”

“Well, tell me all about it!” He exclaimed excitedly like a high school girl who’s best friend had just returned from a date with her crush “How was it? Did he took you out or did he just asked to talk privately with you? Was it romantic and beautiful or did you two just let it out? Did he kissed you or did you kissed him?”

“Well, we took a stroll on the park” I bit my lip self-consciously, remembering how it had all gone; how Lockwood gave me his family necklace and asked me to walk with him, how we held hands while we walked, how he stopped and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear as he told me how much I meant to him and that he would do anything to prevent me from leaving the company like I did before and then asked me to please never leave “We were quiet for a while, but then we talked about this, and that…then he told me how he felt”

“And?”

“Then I told him how I felt…”

“Oh, come on, Lu! You gotta tell me all the juicy details!” He blurted, to which my face heated again with a million flare’s intensity.

“What?! No, there’s no juicy details, what are you talking about-”

“Lucy? Is that you?” A girl came running to us from the other side of the street, looking out that no car was coming her way. Her long, golden hair waved behind her as she neared us, her flowery gown swishing behind her prettily. She smiled those dentist-advertisement smile (a female version of Lockwood’s smile) and waved until she was with us and gave me terrifically strong hug “Oh, Lucy its so good to see you again! And all well and good!”

“Its good to see you too, Bunny” Yeah, that’s her name. Bunny Kingsman, once a decent and hardworking agent like Ethan and me. Probably lost her job when Jacob’s agency closed, if not before for personal reasons, since I remember her still working there when I left.

She was that kind of girl that was good looking since childhood (like Holly) and would win a beauty competition just by participating. However, she had the bad luck of being born in a town like Cheviot Hills, where your beauty only matters for marital affairs. She had Bambi brown/golden eyes, heart-shaped lips and a small nose, the face of a princess. She was naturally skinny, her body softly curved on her hips, her chest and her behind, with graceful doe-like legs. An alive version of that fairy tale princess, the Sleeping Beauty, if you please.

“Look at you, Lucy, you’ve changed! I see you got your mom’s hips, I always knew you’d have them. And you cut your hair, didn’t you? Short definitely suits you more!” Her eyes sparkled like a flare exploding against a ghost as she cheerfully regarded me, commenting about this and that. I had once been really good friends with her, closer than I ever was with Ethan, but after I left town, we never stayed in touch, and when I came that winter when Lockwood hired Holly, I didn’t bother trying to look for her (or anyone else for that matter) “It has been so long, I’ve missed you so much!”

“I know, I’m sorry we haven’t talked, its just-”

“Oh, its okay, I’m sure you’ve been very busy. Working on London must be great, you never run out of work, do you?” She smiled angelically "How I miss working on hauntings! What I wouldn’t give to reopen the agency, even with old and no-fun Mr Jacobs, at least then we’d have something to do. Oh, hi Ethan” She turned to look at him and batted her long eyelashes playfully at him, then pushed her golden, wavy mane over her shoulder “I haven’t seen you around in a while”

“Ah, yes, well, not much to do outside” He stammered, looking over to the side of the road. I spied a blush that crept up his face, his eyes half coming back to gaze at her. Bunny giggled softly, once again fluttering her eyelashes at him.

“I see you let your stubble grow” She purred, a hand coming up to his chest “Last time I saw you, it definitely wasn’t there”

“Well, its been a few months, Bunny” Ethan noted.

“Think we can maybe, meet up soon…” Bunny prompted, her hand playfully twirling her golden locks “Maybe, get a cup of tea and talk…?”

“I’ll have to think about it” He said “But I’ll make sure to let you know”

“Alright then” She looked back at me and hugged me tightly once more “I’m glad to see you again, Lucy. Hopefully we’ll have time to catch up soon!”

“Yeah, me too” I said.

“Bye Ethan, see you around” She walked away to where she came from, remarking a little the sway of her hips as she walked.

“Well” I said, my voice becoming suggestive and playful.

“Well what?” He asked, now both of us having returned to walking.

“I didn’t knew you and Bunny were getting along better” I purred. Ethan blushed once again, lowering his head so that his uncombed mat of a hair somehow hid it.

“We’ve talked more with each other on some of the most recent events, I guess” He muttered timidly “And maybe we’ve met on occasions to talk and take a cup of tea, but I wouldn’t say we’re ‘getting along better’”

“Sure thing” I refuted “So she wasn’t batting her lashes at you, and she didn’t started playing with her hair while you talked, and she was not pointing out how she obviously likes your stubble, and she most definitely wasn’t inviting you out”

“What are you trying to imply, Lulu?” He asked, regarding me suspiciously with his only eye.

“She swung her hips! Didn’t you noticed?” I blurted, my hands moving about in the direction Bunny walked away “She was flirting with you!” Ethan scoffed.

“As if, we don’t do anything other than talking”

“Is she married? Does she have a boyfriend?”

“Not that I know of, and if she was married I would know”

“What makes you think you’d know?” I asked

“Because I’m invited to every event there is in this town” He divulged, his eye rolling exasperatingly “Every single one of them; every wedding, every funeral, every birthday”

“But you said people mostly avoid you”

“In the streets. But I’m the rich boy in town, they want to have me as a friend, they think I might do them favors. And what better way to get to the rich boy’s money than inviting him to all of our events so he feels important” He sighed “But we’re straying from topic, Bunny is not married, but she wasn’t flirting with me”

“And what reason would she have to not flirt with you?” I asked, my hands coming to my hips.

“First, I am a cripple” He said, wooden stick pointing to the metallic stump that came out his pant-leg “Second, I’m not allowed to work, and third, I’m still a cripple”

“Wow, you truly are blind” I scorned “Ethan, we both know you are more than just a cripple. Bunny would be very lucky to date you” Again he scoffed.

“You say this because you’re my friend, Lulu”

“And because I’m your friend I know so” I smiled at him, his drowsy smile returning to his features “Now, lets go back and make sure George and Quill haven’t set your house on fire, or drowned Makayla”

When we got back, Ethan’s house was still standing and intact. George and Quill were sitting at the kitchen’s table with many books, and a plate of Ethan’s home-made muffins, sitting on the it. Most of them were records of the cemetery from centuries back. George had his notebook beside him, his hand writing on it from time to time as he kept reading.

Makayla, still thankfully alive, was sitting on George’s lap, the book he was reading sitting on top of her, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“She seems to like him better than me” Ethan told me “Guess my legs are too skinny for her liking”

Our supplies arrived only an hour later; a box of magnesium flares and another of salt bombs, plus bags of fillings. Ethan and I got around to sorting them and preparing our bags for when we had to leave. There were, however, much more flares and bombs than the ones we needed, even for the extra and emergency equipment.

“Ethan, how much supplies did you actually bought?” I asked, my eyes on all the remaining flares in the box, which was about half of it.

“Oh, just the necessary amounts for a safe haunting” He mused. I must say, I hadn’t seen that many equipment left unused.

“But this is more than what we need” I protested.

“Lu, look at this house” He said pointing around us “Its huge, like the amount of money in my family’s bank account. And do you know how much I spend?” I remained silent “Less than the one that’s gained from the company in a week. I don’t need that much money, I can’t spend that much money on my own. Let me spend it on something that’s worth”

After finishing sorting our bags and making sure our chains were there too, Ethan went to the kitchen, taking his cat with him, and took out his baking items. Me? I decided to make good use of the time I had away from the team (George and Quill were still working with those documents) and from Lockwood and take a bath. Hopefully it would help me clear my thoughts.

The bathroom in my room (all rooms, even the guest one, had its own bathroom) was quite spacious for being a bathroom. It had a toilet and a tub with shower. The sink atop a long counter, probably once filled with products but was now empty. A full length mirror on the other side where it became a sizable wardrobe.

The water was nice and the soap felt good as I rubbed myself with it. It helped me relax, my thoughts finally taking clear form in my mind. The events from last night still weighed hard on my conscience. The ghost train, the howling, my memories, the ghost of my father. Suddenly I understood why Lockwood wasn’t keen to talk about his past; not because of embarrassment, I certainly wasn’t embarrassed of throwing a flare at a wolf’s face, but because it wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.

How was I supposed to tell my friends that something that happened years ago, and that had never bothered me, had suddenly come back to haunt me? I couldn’t bring myself to say it. But I knew I’d have to, eventually, and probably soon. Still, I wanted to keep it with me for a little longer.

“We are back!” Barely an hour later a knock on the door told us Lockwood and Holly were back. Plus Lockwood felt the need to announce it as they entered “And with our backup!”

Behind them, the smell of sewer-water, mud and lavender drifted in, and with them walked, in all her unwashed, unsanitary and grimy glory, Flo Bones, relic-woman, queen of the Thames and Lockwood’s idea of a backup plan.

“Nice house you’ve got here, Locky” She said as she entered, her eyes drifting around under her muddy straw hat.

“Actually, Flo, this is Lucy’s friend’s house” Lockwood said “He is letting us stay here while we work on this case” Flo huffed from behind her puffa jacket. Her huff, however, died there when Ethan walked into the room.

“This is Ethan, my friend and our host” I said, noticing how Flo just blinked “Ethan, this is Flo Bones, hopefully you remember her from my letters”

“How to forget the relic-woman that helped you get the skull back, that letter was like five pages long!” He exclaimed.

“Is that a glass ball?” Was the first thing she said.

“Silver glass, yes”

“Can I have it?”

“No” I intervened “And you also can’t touch his scars, you’ll pass him a disease or some other bacteria” She only scoffed amusedly, but didn’t press on the matter.

“I’ll take you to your room so you can settle before leaving” With that, Flo followed Ethan out of the threshold and up the stairs.

“How did you managed to get her on the train?” I asked once they left.

“All we’re saying it, it was hard” Lockwood huffed.

“You got the supplies?” Holly asked.

“We’ve got enough equipment for at least five more cases” I boasted.

“What?” They blurted. I showed them our remaining boxes of flares and bombs and our packed rucksacks. Lockwood, Holly and I then went to see George and Quill with their stack of notes so they could explain what they found. Though, before they could get too far with their findings, Flo and Ethan came back down. Flo took my place at the table and I left the room to make my friend some company (I had already listened to the explanation an hour before, I didn’t need to hear George rambling about the interesting history of Cheviot Hills once again).

“You let her touch your glass ball, didn’t you?” I asked him.

“Mmm, yes”

“And she asked to touch your scars, didn’t she?”

“Maybe”

“And you let her touch them?”

“Maybe”

“As I said, diseases”

A while later, Lockwood called me back to the meeting so we could discuss our strategy, and soon, it was time for us to leave.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be ok” Ethan told me before I walked out “Just remember, beware the wolves”

“I will”