#natsu was taken in by Macao for a while before he got his own place

[fanstuffrantings]

I know that in fairy tail canon every guild member lives alone regardless of age, but since I hate the idea of children living alone when perfectly capable adults could take them in, I'm picking and choosing where fairy tail members live as I see fit.

Carla and Wendy live with Erza now because I say so.

[ft-dads-au]

Shelter From the Storm

A collaboration by @mdelpin​ and @oryu404​

Fairy Friendship Week 2020 Prompt: New Friends Pairing(s): Natsu & Romeo, Natsu & Jellal

AO3 | FF.Net

Summary: When Romeo shows up at Crime Sorciere asking to talk, Natsu has no idea what to expect.  He doesn't know him all that well and has no idea how he could possibly be of help, but once he hears what Romeo has to say he is determined to take him under his wing.

August 4, 2020

It was the afternoon lull, the part of his workday when the lunch crowd had returned to their offices, and only a few customers remained, talking over upcoming cases or nursing a loss in court. Natsu usually spent this period cleaning up, restocking the bar, and prepping garnishes for the evening shift. Meredy would often go to the kitchen to help Ultear, their cook, prepare for the evening meals while Jellal slunk into his office, exhausted by the effort of being social.

During this time, the bar was quiet, and that suited Natsu just fine. He still hadn’t fully settled from the botched intervention Gildarts, and Erza had tried to stage for him two days earlier, and Loke’s outburst the previous evening hadn’t helped matters either.

All Natsu wanted was to be left alone, but everyone was determined to make him grieve for his wife their way, refusing to understand that he was trying his best to move forward. How quickly he did that was up to him, not them. Still, he knew there was a point buried within their well-meaning meddling.

“Hey, Natsu?” Jellal called out from his office, “Can you take out the trash? The bags in both the kitchen and the bar look pretty full.”

“Yeah, on it.”

Crap!

He should have done that already. Looking out the window to see that it was raining, he muttered a curse and went off in search of his umbrella. Ten minutes later, he was carrying two large, overly full bags of trash. Meredy opened the door that led out to the alley for him, and he strode outside, holding on to his umbrella as best he could against the pelting rain.

Once again, he muttered a curse, realizing that he’d have to put down the umbrella to get the dumpster open. He felt someone grab the umbrella from his hand and hold it above his head and was astonished to find Romeo Conbolt standing there.

“Romeo? What are you doing here?”

Romeo offered him a small smile, but it wasn’t hard to see something was wrong.

“Can I talk to you?”

This is perfect! Macao just bailed on us, something about Romeo, wasn’t really paying attention...

Natsu recalled the words Gildarts had mentioned in passing on Sunday and had an immediate suspicion that the two things were related. He didn’t know Romeo all that well, had only really talked to him at the Dads Club meetings, but Atlas had taken an immediate liking to him, and they had chatted a few times.

He opened the dumpster and deposited the bags inside, the lid making a loud clank when he urged it shut. Natsu wanted to say he was in the middle of a work shift and suggest they talk later, but he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. Romeo was soaked, making him realize that whatever the teen wanted to speak to him about was serious enough for him to stand in that smelly alley in the rain, just on the off chance that he would come out. He couldn’t just send him away.

Natsu sighed to himself, hoping Jellal was in a good mood.

“Come on, you’re going to catch your death out here,” he recovered his umbrella and led Romeo inside the building.

Natsu liked working at Crime Sorciere, but he’d never thought the place was all that impressive, so it amused him to see Romeo gawk at it. He led him to one of the booths furthest away from the bar.

“Sit here,” he ordered, “ I’ll be right back.”

“Meredy?” Natsu called out as he entered the storeroom in search of some towels.

“Yeah, what?”

“Can you make a couple of mugs of hot cocoa?”

“You got it!” Meredy replied, and he heard her asking Ultear for help.

Natsu hurried back to Romeo, handing him the towels and fighting off the instinct to help him as he would his own son. He was tempted to turn on the fireplace, but he knew Jellal would have a fit if he did, so the hot cocoa would have to do.

He sat across from the boy, hiding a smile at his awkward attempt to dry himself off. “So, uhm, what brings you here?”

“I don’t know what to do.”

Natsu waited for him to say something more, but Romeo only stared at him with wide, pleading eyes.

“Uhm, should I call your dad for you?”

“NO!” he yelled, and then in a quieter voice, “Please don’t do that.”

“Alright, I won’t call him,” Natsu winced, looking around to see that the remaining customers were openly staring at them. He offered them a confident smile and turned back to Romeo, “But you need to tell me what’s going on, okay?”

Romeo nodded, leaning in towards Natsu, and in a voice so quiet that Natsu had to strain to hear it, he said, “I kinda got a girl pregnant.”

“YOU WHAT?!” It was Natsu’s turn to yell, and once again, everyone’s attention was fixed on them.

“What is going on out here?”

Jellal came out of his office, looking annoyed, and heading straight for Natsu.

“Dragneel,” Jellal stopped in his tracks when he saw who his bartender was sitting with. “Why is there a minor in my bar?”

“Relax, Jellal. He’s not in the bar area. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Jellal walked to the booth and peered at Romeo. “Hey, aren’t you one of my little sister’s friends?”

“Y-ess, Sir,” Romeo stuttered, looking utterly terrified.

Jellal nudged Natsu to move over and sat down across from Romeo, “How’s she doing? I haven’t seen her in a few weeks.”

“She’s f-fine.”

“She should be at that meeting tonight that I told you about,” Natsu reminded him, “She babysits the kids there. Romeo does too.”

For a moment, Natsu panicked, worrying that the girl he was referring to could possibly be Wendy. Why else would Romeo come to talk to him? Or flip out at Jellal’s presence, for that matter?

“It’s not Wendy,” Romeo blurted out.

“Oh, thank god!” Natsu exclaimed, his relief palpable. The idea of having to mediate between Makarov, Laxus, Gildarts, and all the other members of his rather insane adoptive family over someone they all felt so protective of had terrified the shit out of him. Not to mention Jellal, who was also incredibly protective of his sister.

“What’s not Wendy?” Jellal asked, his curiosity aroused but quickly diverted by Meredy’s arrival. She bore a tray with 3 mugs of hot cocoa and handed one to each of them.

“I put extra whipped cream on yours,” she winked at Jellal before walking away, checking on the remaining customers taking her place behind the bar.

“Uhm…" Natsu peered at Romeo, not wanting to reveal his secret, hoping the boy would do so himself. He could use some backup.

"My girlfriend is pregnant," Romeo explained quietly, eyes glued to the cup of cocoa on the table in front of him.

“You’re like 15! Are you even old enough to get laid?!” Jellal blurted out, and Natsu elbowed him under the table.

"14…“ Romeo squeaked, looking like he could slide under the table at any moment, "I'm 14. My birthday isn’t for another few weeks."

“Christ! Didn’t anyone teach you about protection?!” Jellal scolded.

“We were careful!” Romeo insisted, trying to defend himself against Jellal’s disapproval, but then he lowered his head, and added in a much smaller voice, “most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” Jellal echoed in disbelief.

“Will you stop?” Natsu snapped at Jellal, remembering how terrified he’d been when he’d found out Lisanna was pregnant with Hana, and he’d been several years older. “That seriously isn’t helping.”

Jellal grunted but didn’t say anything else, letting Natsu take the lead.

“So, you wanted to talk to me because I had kids when I was pretty young?” Natsu guessed.

Romeo nodded. "My girlfriend and I both agreed that we want to keep it, but I have no idea what to expect. I tried talking to my dad, but it didn't go too well."

“You probably just caught him by surprise.” Natsu assured him, “I'm sure he'll come around. I mean, he runs a support club for dads, doesn’t he?”

“I dunno about that,” Romeo mumbled, “He was pretty mad…”

“They cry a lot,” Jellal rejoined the conversation, and when both Natsu and Romeo peered at him in confusion, he added with a half shrug, “He wanted to know what to expect.”

“That’s the one thing I remember about Wendy as a baby,” Jellal revealed, “I could never seem to figure out what she wanted, and I remember thinking maybe she was just crying over our parents’ death.”

Natsu stared at his boss for a moment, absorbing what he’d said and shaking his head. “I worry about you.”

Jellal seemed uncomfortable, so Natsu let it go and turned his attention back to Romeo.

“It’s true, infants do cry a lot, but they do a lot of other stuff too,” Natsu agreed, recalling Hana’s first days, even though those types of thoughts brought him more pain than joy these days. “My situation was a little different, though.”

Natsu had been eighteen when Lisanna had gotten pregnant, and they’d already been living together in a small apartment in Edolas. And while he had indeed been absolutely terrified when he’d found out, he’d also had no qualms about asking her to marry him or about working two jobs so that she could stay home with Hana and then Atlas. They’d been unbelievably happy until she’d…

He immediately shut that thought down, the pain too much for him to bear. He felt Jellal squeeze his arm tightly and took a deep breath in an effort to control his tears before they could surface.

“I uh- was a few years older,” he added by way of explanation, hoping Romeo didn’t notice the tremor in his voice. “But probably even more terrified.”

“I don’t think that ever changes,” Jellal commented, “I remember my dad being a nervous wreck while my mom was pregnant with Wendy, and it certainly wasn’t their first go around.”

Natsu was surprised to hear Jellal talk about his parents. It was a topic that he rarely brought up, even though it had been years since they’d died, leaving him to care for his baby sister.

“So it’s okay to be scared?”

Both Natsu and Jellal laughed at that, although it was Natsu who responded. “I’d probably be more worried if you weren’t.”

“I’ll be honest with you- “ Natsu gently placed a hand on Romeo’s arm, “You’re already more prepared than I was. I had zero idea what I was doing until Hana was born, and even then, it took me a few weeks to get the hang of it. That class you took for the club already taught you most of what you need to know, and I’ve seen you with the kids. You’re a natural.”

“But I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you, either,” he warned, “Your life is going to change. Babies aren’t cheap. There are diapers and wipes to buy, and food, not to mention clothes. You’re going to need to get a job to afford these things. Even though I know a lot of us will be more than happy to help out however we can.”

“And be prepared for a lot of sleepless nights,” Jellal added. “You’ll be up feeding, changing, soothing, and worrying.”

“That’s right,” Natsu conceded, “But in all honesty, the best advice I can give you is this. If you can possibly manage it, don’t drop out of school like I did. That’s my one regret. Because of that one choice I made at seventeen, I sabotaged not only my future but my kids' as well.”

Romeo nodded weakly, eyes tearing up. “I knew it was going to be a lot, but-.”

Before he could get anything more out, he began to shake, and this time Natsu was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the state of his clothes, and he tried to backtrack, realizing much too late that they had overwhelmed the poor kid.”

“Listen, you might still be young-” “Very,” Jellal emphasized, earning him another elbow from Natsu. “You might still be young,” Natsu tried again, “but I think it’s incredibly brave of you to step up and take this responsibility. I know it sounds like a lot right now, but you have months to prepare before the baby is born. You can do this!”

“Natsu’s right, and you shouldn’t worry too much about making mistakes either. We all do,” Jellal assured Romeo. “Oh, and never shy away from asking for help when you need it, even if it means letting someone else take care of the baby until you can do it yourself like I did.”

“You’re still doing it,” Natsu reminded him with a shove, “Gramps is the one who takes care of Wendy, not your overgrown ass.”

“She’s happy there!” Jellal protested, “And I give him money every week to help.”

“Which he doesn’t accept,” Natsu reminded him, rolling his eyes at how stubborn both men were. “You might as well-”

“No!” Romeo interrupted their banter, “I can do it.”

His tone was forceful, but there was something about it that felt off to Natsu. It made him think that Romeo hadn’t told them everything, and he got the distinct impression that Romeo wouldn’t want to discuss whatever it was. Not yet, anyway.

“Of course you can!” Natsu was quick to reassure him. He grabbed the notepad he used to jot down long drink orders out of the pocket of his half apron and wrote his phone number on it in neat numbers. Ripping the page, he handed it over to Romeo.

“You can always come to me for help.” Natsu gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile, “Teen dads have to stick together, right?”

Romeo took the piece of paper and stared at the numbers for a full minute. He then looked at Natsu with eyes full of gratitude and admiration.

“I knew you were the right person to talk to!”

“That’s our Natsu,” Jellal teased, grabbing Natsu in a headlock and ruffling his hair, “an inspiration to one and all.”

He knew Jellal’s words were meant in jest, but after months of wallowing in self-pity and being on the receiving end of everyone else’s best intentions, he had to admit it felt good to help someone out. To know that he could pay all his friends’ efforts forward.

It also made him realize something else. He and the kids weren’t the only ones who had lost Lisanna. Mira, Elfman, and even Erza had too. Maybe it was time he stopped shutting them out so they could grieve together and become a family again.

[fallen029]

Wakaba or macao saw Miraxus made out and told everyone

He actually wasn’t supposed to do it anymore.

He wasn’t the master any longer, so it was wrong of him, Macao knew, to be sneaking in to take things from the guildhall.

But he wasn’t stealing!

No, no, nothing like that.

Rather, well, it was hard, you know? Being a single father and all? Laundry and things were not stuff that men should be forced to remember, he always felt, and it was just him and Romeo. Between the two of them, things like washing dishes or making sure there was at least some sort of towel around, in the bathroom, was a bit of a hassle. Neither was any good at keeping house and, well, so what? Huh? If sometimes he came in and borrowed things from the hall?

He always returned them.

Always.

Seriously.

He would take a towel here, a dish there, maybe some napkins. No big deal. He could probably even tell the Master and Mirajane about it and they wouldn’t even care. Bet.

But…

He didn’t.

Why bother those two busy people with something that they clearly wouldn’t care about? At all? If he mentioned it? Huh?

Heh.

It was while he was sneaking around after close anyways, grabbing more than just a couple things that he was definitely going to replace, don’t even worry about it, when he heard it. The sounds of someone else in there. With him.

He was coming back from the pool area, towels under one arm, and before, when he’d headed that way, there’d been no lights on in the place. At all. But there was one now, coming down from the hall of the Master’s office.

Shit.

Shit.

Macao was gonna book it the fuck outta there, but something stopped him in his tracks. He’d figured it was the Master back there, probably snoozing in his office and had lost track of time. Now he was up and getting ready to head out.

But no.

That giggle…

It definitely wasn’t the Master.

“Stop,” came a fevered insistence. “We can’t here.”

Mirajane.

Mirajane Strauss.

Mirajane Strauss and the…the fucking Master? Makarov? The old man?

Macao tore across the empty bar area then, all the way to the back hall, peering down it first to be certain of it’s emptiness, then to creep ever so slowly closer to where the light was emanating. On bated breath, he peered around the doorway, hoping his shadow wasn’t caught, planning on getting an eye full.

Mostly of Mirajane, of course.

And the Master, but purely to inform the others of this…indiscretion. This disgusting, abuse of power indiscretion that he wished he’d been aware of, during his tenor.

Err…

“Why not? Huh?”

“We’re not going to do this in your grandfather’s office, Laxus. Don’t be gross.”

“It’s not gross.” There was a pause. “It’s a power thing. Fucking old man.”

“I hope you don’t fuck old men. Although, I could transform-”

“Don’t ruin this, demon.”

“There is no this.”

“I got you, I got a desk, and I got a raging-”

“Laxus.”

“You don’t know what I was gonna say.”

Macao didn’t know what he was going to say, to the others, as he stood there in shock, forgetting to stay hidden or to worry about his shadow or them even just sensing him, standing there, in the doorway to Makarov’s office, watching at the shocking scene before him. There she was Mirajane, sitting up on the edge of the old man’s desk, her dress hiked up just enough for Laxus to stand between her legs.

Neither were undressed, from what he could tell, but their heads were angled towards one another and he’d never heard her voice, Mirajane’s, in such a way. Not all forced bubbly and innocuous. It was sultry almost, now, if not a bit deeper than usual. Laxus, however, seemed higher, if it was possible, and kind of loopy. Intoxicated.

“I know what you were gonna say. Dragon.”

She sang that, Mirajane did, as a hand came up to toy with his golden locks.

“What was I gonna say it?” He didn’t sing it, but his voice was on another level then, one that Macao wished he’d never heard. “Demon?”

“You know what you were gonna say.”

“I wanna hear you say it.”

“I don’t wanna say it.”

“But I want you to.”

“How much do you want me to?”

“So much. I want you to say it so much.”

“Mmmm.”

“That’s not saying it, Mira. I want to hear you-”

“Is someone here?”

It happened in a split second. Macao, finally realizing his folly, had taken a step back, from the doorway, but this caused his shadow to quickly and briefly fall over the pair. Enough to catch Mirajane’s eyes.

“What?” Laxus growled, just from the thought, but it didn’t matter now as Macao transformed then, into a tiny salamander, scurrying down the dark hallway to a crevice, to hide. “If someone’s there, they better fucking come out?”

Laxus left the room then, to stalk around a bit and make a few threats, but when it was clear to him that they were alone, he went back to Mirajane, this time slamming the office door behind himself.

Macao used the reprieve to make his escape.

Still, it haunted him that night, as he slipped back into his tiny home undetected by his snoozing son, empty handed. But oh, his mind was more than filled. With racing thoughts and concerns and, oh man, how was he going to do it?

Tell the others.

And…should he tell them?

“You’ll never guess whose fucking.”

Of course he’d tell them.

“Sure as hell ain’t you.”

Well, he was gonna tell Wakaba.

He snorted, Macao did, as they sat at a table together, both with mugs filled to the brim and his friend with a lit cigar dangling from his lips.

“Oh yeah?” Macao challenged then, with a glare at the other man. “And you’re just gettin’ every night from the old wife, huh?”

“Least I can keep mine pleased.”

“Pretty easy when she’s the size of a cow. Milk her once a day, do ya?”

“Watch your mouth.”

“You watch yours.”

They glared at one another then and, in their younger days, they might even have thrown down. But Wakaba’s back had been hurting him recently and, after running all the way home the night before, Macao wasn’t looking to do anything too strenuous.

So they stewed, over their drinks, and when Kinana passed by to do refills, both grumbled out an obliging request.

“So,” Wakaba finally rose to the bait after a few minutes of sulking had passed. “You gonna tell me who’s gettin’ from who? Must be pretty important, you bringing it up and all.”

Falling back out of his agree, Macao grunted some before saying, “You could say that.”

“So?” the other man prompted again. “You gonna get to it or what?”

“How about you guess, huh?” Macao shook his head some at the thought. “You’d never guess it.”

“Just supposed to guess from everybody on the fuckin’ planet, or you gonna help me out here?”

“Two people in this guildhall.”

“Pretty big guildhall.”

“But,” Macao offered, feeling generous in the moment, “they’re not here right now.”

“Not here right now, huh?” Wakaba glanced around. Then, with a bit of a shrug, he took a shot in the dark. “Mirajane and Laxus?”

Macao spit out half his drink, all over himself, and Romeo groaned from where he was at a nearby table, trying to explain to a new move he’d just worked out to Natsu. At the sight of his old man being such an embarrassment, Romeo hid his head in his hands though, honestly, Natsu wasn’t snickering out of superiority; more so because some of the drink had gotten on Lucy as she passed by.

“Ah! Luce! You’re soaked!”

“It’s not funny!”

“I, uh,” Macao stuttered as Wakaba just frowned at his reaction, “am awfully sorry there, Lucy. I didn’t mean-”

“What did Wakaba say that was so funny anyways?” Lisanna, who was supposed to be on duty along side Kinana that day, was spending her hours on her feet, fine, but only half-heatedly wiping down mugs. She came right over with the rag for Lucy’s convenience. The other woman wasn’t too keen on using the filthy thing to wipe herself off, but it seemed the best anyone was giving her, in the moment. “Some kind of master joke teller now?”

“Hey, yeah! What’d you say?” Natsu bounced up to come over and find out. “If it makes people spit on Lucy, I gotta hear it.”

As the celestial mage glared, Happy came over as well, leaving the still mortified Romeo behind at the table, to land on the one occupied by the boy’s father.

“I heard,” the Exceed began, “you mention Mirajane and Laxus.”

“Big sis?” Lisanna frowned. “What kind of joke is there to tell about the two of them?”

But Macao only turned his gaze back to Wakaba, accusatory and, perhaps, a bit betrayed. “How long did you know?”

“Know? I was just joking! Mira’s never off, but she wasn’t around today, and then I heard Freed and the others whining about Laxus not being around and I just- Wait, you don’t mean to tell me-”

“I saw them,” Macao confirmed. “In the Master’s office. After hours.”

“Saw who?” Natsu frowned. “This joke sounds super lame.”

“Natsu! It’s not a joke.” Happy couldn’t help it. He began to bounce all about, furry paws thrown over his mouth as he considered the implications of what was being tossed around. “I think they’re saying that Laxus and Mirajane-”

“Uh, I think you should probably not finish whatever you were gonna say, cat.” Lucy looked up from blotting at her shirt. “Stop a rumor before it starts.”

“Yeah,” Lisanna agreed with a frown, glaring between the two men then. “That’s an awfully mean thing to say.”

“Mean?” Happy started giggling. “Laxus and Mira being together-”

“Anyone being forced to be with sparky is plenty of punishment,” Macao griped, but still, he only shook his head. “But it ain’t a rumor. I saw them. With my own two eyes. After hours, they were-”

“What,” Lisanna kept up because she could just not believe, didn’t want to believe, refused to believe that any of this was true, “were you doing here after hours?”

“W-Well, I-I, that’s not really important, see, because-”

“Dad,” Romeo groaned from the other table as Macao blushed then, more embarrassed by his theft than what he’d stumbled upon in the process.

“That’s not important,” Natsu scolded Lisanna with a frown. “We gotta hear the punchline of the joke.”

“There’s no joke,” Lucy griped with a frown at him. “Can’t you comprehend anything?”

No.

Obviously not.

“If you don’t believe me,” Macao wagered then.

“I don’t,” Lisanna agreed without letting him finish.

“Then where’s your sister? Huh?” The man sounded smug. “She ain’t here. And she’s always here! And where’s Laxus? Eh? Go ask his friends. They’ll tell you. He was supposed to show up, but he didn’t.”

“Because,” Happy began and he couldn’t help it, in his giddiness his wings sprouted and he took to the sky, “Mirajane and Laxus are dating and they were sneaking around the hall after work and now they’re too in love to get out of bed, this morning, and oh, I- Hey!”

“Hey,” Natsu agreed as he caught the Exceed when he fell from the sky, having been rammed down by one of Bickslow’s wooden babies.

“You guys,” Bickslow demanded with a glare over at them, “keep the boss’s name outta your filthy mouths. What are you saying about him? Huh? What filthy things-”

“We will not stand,” Freed agreed as all three of them stood then, together, united, against the tyranny that was disrespecting the mental image of their idol, “for defamation against Laxus!”

“Who’s defaming him?” Wakaba considered it then. “I say if he’s fucking Mirajane, more power to him. What’ll make ya more famous around here than that?”

“Fornification,” Freed told him with a glare, yelling it across the hall, “is a vile accusation to sling around.”

“And,” Evergreen began as, slowly, she reclaimed her seat so she could go back to filing her nails, “you lost me.”

“Yeah!” Not Bickslow though. Nope. No way. “If the boss had a fort, he’d definitely let us hang out in it! Right, Freed?”

“What? Bickslow-”

“I heard a lot of jokes about forts before,” Natsu complained, “but this has to be the worst one.”

Lucy just glared at him though. “You’ve heard other jokes? About forts?”

“My sister,” Lisanna took over again because she was the only Strauss there that day and, much like the Thunder Legion, she took had to defend the woman’s honor, “would never sleep with someone like Laxus. So yes, thank you, Freed, for your-”

“I did not say that.” Just as quickly, the rune mage was making his way over. “Now, if Mirajane was looking for anyone to…deflower her, then Laxus would be the prime-”

“Oh, my gosh, Freed, no, come back over here.” Evergreen looked stricken as she glanced up from her nails. “Please.”

“Uh,” Lisanna began as Lucy blushed and Natsu continued to try and think of the best fort joke he’d heard, “I really don’t think that’s the argument in question, Freed. But thanks.”

“How many of you,” the rune mage argued then, instead, “have been fornicating? Do you have no morals? No honor? No self-resilience? If you allow yourself to be bogged down by such humanistic desires, then you will never reach your full potentials!”

“Just how many forts are you people keeping around here?” Bickslow was over by then, to join his babies, and also stand awfully and uncomfortably close to Lucy. Beaning at her, he winked from behind his visor as he remarked, “When you think about it, the guild’s a fort, huh? So we’ve already, uh, been in a fort together, eh, Lucy? Fortified.”

“Uh, hey, Natsu, did you hear that really funny and not at all creepy thing that was said to me? By the guy that’s really funny and not at all creepy?” Lucy looked about for help. “Did anybody?”

“Fort. Fort.” Natsu gently sat Happy down on the table once more. “You know any good fort jokes, little buddy?”

He was too busy glaring at the haunting, painted on gazes of Bickslow’s wooden dolls to answer.

“This is all getting out of hand,” Macao complained as Wakaba wasn’t even puffing at his cigar anymore, just observing the chaos his friend had created. “I just saw your sister, Lisanna, and Laxus, after work, in the Master’s office. And they were, uh, well, they were… Kissing. Yeah. That’s it. So-”

“Perhaps,” Freed suggested as he continued to glare at the youngest Strauss sibling, “she fainted. And he was giving her mouth to mouth.”

“I mean, it makes more sense than my sister wanting to be with-”

“He would be a treasure!” Freed looked away. “For the more weak minded.”

“I’d say,” Evergreen hummed, over at her table, “that Mirajane is pretty weak minded.”

“Oh, I get it now.” Natsu began to snicker as well. “You guys are saying that Mirajane and Laxus had sex in the Master’s office. Yeah, that is a funny joke.”

“Everything’s funny.” Bickslow lifted his visor that time, when he winked, “in a fort.”

“Um,” Lucy began as she began to glance all about. “I think I need to find a real towel-”

“I know where they are,” Macao offered before, biting his tongue, saying, “I mean, of course I do, because we all do, and that’s not suspicious or anything at all-”

“I mean, it’s not spitting on Lucy worthy, I don’t think,” Natsu was going on. “Hey, Luce, what do you think? Is Laxus and Mirajane having sex really that-”

“Stop,” Lisanna ordered him and the Salamander nodded immediately at the command, “saying that. All of you.”

The others listened, but only because it was then that the guildhall doors opened and in strode the woman of the hour. Mirajane.

Kinana was at her sides in moments and, as Mirajane only began to beg forgiveness, for being so late, the others all kind of relaxed some.

“After a night with the boss, in his fort, you wouldn’t be comin’ in all chipper like that.” Bickslow relented on his endless quest to make Lucy as uncomfortable in her own skin as possible (he was pretty sure he’d reached a new high score), and had his babies follow him back over to the table with Ever once more. “No way.”

Freed nodded, to Lisanna, because he would never question a woman’s…status, right there, in front of her, especially based off senseless gossip. It was as he turned though, to walk over to their table as well, that it happened.

No more than two minutes after Mirajane walked in, Laxus did, looking his usual despondent and void self. But as even Freed found himself freezing in that moment, as all who’d been so intrigued before stared in wonder, they saw him brush pass the head barmaid, regardless of the fact there was plenty room to avoid.

This wasn’t the most damning evidence though.

Oh, no.

That came in the look, over her shoulder, that Mirajane gave him.

And the game suddenly wasn’t fun anymore.

As they all hurried to busy themselves with what they were doing before, Mirajane took notice of Lucy’s drenched status and rushed right over.

“You alright? Lucy?” she asked and her voice was back to it’s innocent self. Macao blushed just from the thought of it, the night before. But Mira only had eyes for her blonde friend. “You’re soaked through. Let’s go get you a towel. What happened?”

“W-Well,” she began, but Natsu, from where he’d reclaimed his seat with Romeo, took over that part.

“Wakaba was tellin’ this really funny joke. Made Macao spit his drink all over her.” Natsu snickered from the thought. “Wanna hear it?”.

“No,” Lisanna tried, but her command was too late then. “Natsu-”

“Say fort,” he began with a grin at the oldest Strauss, “four times. Really fast.”

As Mirajane grinned and came closer though, they all glanced about, the ones in the know.

And pledged, silently, to one another, to keep it just between themselves.

It had made enough of a mess, Lucy sighed to herself, as Happy finally went with her, to get a towel and dry her shirt some, just between the few of them.

[pyropsychiccollector]

            A soft wind blew as the stood atop the hill, looking down over the waves of opposition they would have to overcome to make their return home. By comparison, there were just six of them, and not exactly in peak fighting condition…

            “It would be safe to say there’s a million of them, easily…” Lyon murmured as he crossed his arms. Wendy covered her mouth in shock.

            “Not to mention they probably have their Spriggan 12 members around the Guild itself… We need to be able to take them down, and we’ll be way weaker by then…”

            Laxus snorted dryly as he had his arms crossed as well.

            “No need to worry about that… We won’t be fighting alone. Until the others get here, we need to start clearing a path.”

            Gray punched his palm eagerly.

            “We need to take out their frontline… We’re not just doin’ this for everyone in Fairy Tail, we’re doin’ it for Natsu, too!”

            “Gray-sama…” Juvia murmured quietly.

            Jellal took the first step forward.

            “It’s thanks to Natsu that I know how to live my life now… I shall not let a single one of these fools go unpunished for playing their part in his death. Today, we end this!”

            Lightning crackled around the Dragon Slayer as he clenched his fists.

            “Well then, let’s get started… We’re not stopping until we reach that old Guildhall!!!” With a surge of power, he took off ahead of everyone, making Gray mutter about what a showoff he was as the rest of them raced to catch up with the Dragon Slayer.

            Laxus touched down first, taking out a chunk of the overwhelming crowd of Alvarez troops. This caught so many of the troops off-guard, as their eyes were focused on the five enemies racing down the hill.

            … They shouldn’t have taken their eyes off those five.

            “Ice Make: Snow Dragon!” Lyon bellowed, forming a dragon that roved over dozens of soldiers.

            “Freeze Lancer!!!” Gray yelled impaling several soldiers as well.

            “Water Slicer!!!” Juvia cried out.

            “Sky Dragon ROAR!!!” Wendy screamed out as Charle flew her over the enemy.

            “Meteor!” Jellal bellowed, surrounding himself with a golden light that allowed him to move swiftly and powerfully, tearing through dozens of enemy soldiers.

            “You all must have some kind of death wish, coming into our town and capturing our Guild…!” Laxus roared as he violently released waves of lightning after punching the ground with a devastating fist.

            “Sorry we’re late…!” Mirajane called out as she arrived in her Satan Soul form and surged through the enemy. Elfman similarly started plowing his way through.

            “Beast Soul: Ape!!”

            “Fairy Tail, we’ll lend a hand!!” Yukino declared. By her side, Sorano had her hands on her hips; though reuniting with her sister came with some bittersweet feelings, she agreed to lend her aid as well.

            “Count me in!”

            “Elfman…” Gray grinned.

            “Even Yukino and Angel…” Juvia’s face broke out into a wide smile.

            Not long after, a large part of their cavalry arrived, all the people who’d stayed behind at the Guildhall prior to Universe One being cast.

            “Push them back!!!” Makarov bellowed. More joyous calls rang out as they recognized ‘Gramps’, Cana, and several others.

            The festivities were cut short when eight elongated dragons surged up from the midst of the crowd of Alvarez soldiers and flung God Serena to the frontlines.

            “You shan’t take another step… God Serena! (Corpse) A god has descended!” Serena made a flashy pose. He then punched the air in front of him. “Purgatory Dragon’s Blazing Hell!”

            An overwhelming wave of fire surged toward the Fairy Tail mages, one which Cana blocked with an equally overwhelming stream of Water Magic.

            “I won’t let you…!” Juvia yelled at Serena.

            “Oh…?” Serena chuckled, making use of his other hand to form a spiraling stream of water himself. “Sea King Dragon’s Water Formation Encampment!”

            “Th-This is too much for Juvia…!” She cried out as she tried and failed to manipulate the second wave of attacks.

            Serena puffed out his cheeks as he stored up Magic in his mouth.

            “Storm Dragon’s…!”

            “H-He can still use more?!” Elfman cried.

            “Who cares! Try to focus on the water attacks, Juvia…!” Gray called out to his friend.

            “I’m trying…!” Juvia winced as they both were being overwhelmed by fire and water.

            “So this is the power of the greatest mage in Ishgar…” Jellal murmured with a modicum of respect.

            “Song of the Wind and Moon!!!” Serena cackled as he bellowed his wind attack from his mouth, causing an explosion of fire, water, and wind that kicked up a cloud of dust that obscured everything. When it all settled… all the Fairy Tail mages were fine.

            “Now what?!” Gray wondered aloud.

            “We’ve been saved?!” Macao wondered in amazement.

            Serena scowled.

            “What just happened…? My Magic… just vanished… No… It was broken!”

            A figure then emerged from the remaining clouds of dust that were dissipating into the winds.

            “Yo!” Gildarts grinned roguishly. This was met with several celebrated cheers.

            “Gildarts!” Gray grinned. “So he finally came back! That geezer is reliable as ever…”

            “You can say that again…” Mira grinned, still flying in the air.

            “Took you long enough…” Cana dryly remarked.

            “I’m hungry as hell…So step aside, boy… I’m going back to the Guild!” Gildarts told Serena in no uncertain terms.

            “Ooh… Gildarts!” Makarov greeted his Ace mage.

            “What sketchy back alleys have you been around in this whole time, you shit-for-brains dad?!” Cana called out to him.

            “Cana…!” Gildarts eyed her from the side before tackling her with a hug, rubbing his face against hers. “Cana, you’re so friggin’ adorable~!”

            “Hey, give it a rest already!” Cana demanded, trying to push him off of her. “Don’t forget there’s an enemy staring you right in the face…!”

            “Oh! Come to think of it, you’re right!” Gildarts agreed, separating from her. “Thing is, I can’t sense the Magic power of a living human within this little punk here…”

            “Hm…?” Serena tilted his head.

            Gildarts smirked.

            “I can tell he was a worthwhile mage, for sure! If he were alive, he’d be a force to be reckoned with, but… The way he is now, he’s nothing but a small fry…”

            Serena got in a battle-ready stance.

            “Haha! Blathering like a mindless idiot is common… when faced with the might of God Serena of the Eight Dragons!!”

            Gildarts clashed with the man head on, kicking up a minor explosion in the process.

            “What’s with this Magic power?! It’s obscene!” Charle declared.

            While Wendy took a moment to reassure Romeo, who was overwhelmed by this display of power alone, a sandstorm kicked up from out of nowhere.

            “A sandstorm?! What the… I can’t see a thing?!” Alzack yelled.

            “Dry out and wither to your deaths…!” Ajeel cackled, making his appearance.

            “Not this douche again…!” Gray growled, shielding his face.

            “Magnolia’s been enveloped in a sandstorm…” Lyon murmured.

            Elfman leaped forward boldly.

            “I’ll make a manly path for everyone!!” He bellowed out, taking on a new form. “Just leave this guy to me! A little sand won’t leave a scratch on a sandbeast…!”

            “Antlion Pit…!” Ajeel grinned, focusing his attack on Elfman. But Lisanna swooped in with wings and removed her brother from the pit.

            “You could stand to lose a few pounds, Elf!”

            “Lisanna!! You’re a sight for sore eyes!” Elfman laughed in his sister’s grip.

            A new silhouette grinned and chuckled heartily.

            “Love drives us to save our friends~! OH YEAH!” Richard graced Fairy Tail with his arrival. “Liquid Ground…!”

            “What?!” Ajeel grimaced as the ground from under him became like quicksand and made him sink a great depth as another wave of quicksand crashed over him, effectively burying the Spriggan Shield.

            Jacob tsk’ed as he straightened the gloves on his hands.

            “My, my… They’re quite the meddlesome bunch when they’re all together…!”

            He was shocked as he was blown back by some kind of violent, invisible Magic.

            “You don’t know the half of it, big guy…” Midnight grinned, taking pleasure in catching his enemy off-guard with his Reflector Magic.

            “Ahyahyahya! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Wahl laughed as he entered the fray, Bloodman running alongside of him.

            “I shalt deliver them all to the depths of the underworld!” The dark-cloaked demon let out a surprised yell as he was slammed by a kick. “A shadow?!”

            Rogue emerged from his shadow, glaring his opponent down.

            “Come if you dare, I’ll blow you all to bits!!! AHYAHYAHYA!!!” Wahl cackled madly, sending a barrage of missiles towards all the Fairies. However, they all blew up before they could even strike a single enemy.

            “It seems a rather noisy fly has made its way into my Territory.” Minerva smirked, standing next to Rogue.

            “Lord Rogue! Lady Minerva!” Yukino greeted her Guildmates.

            “Rooogue!” Frosch cheered.

            “How did the two of you find your way here?” Yukino wondered aloud. Minerva jabbed her thumb at another mage next to them. Kinana.

            “As it so happens, this young lass showed us the way!” Minerva answered.

            “Hello…” Kinana greeted sheepishly.

            “Ahyahyahya! Things are finally startin’ to pick up around here!” Wahl grinned evilly, as did Bloodman.

            “A shadow… is it…?”

            “Madam… their Magic power…” Rogue glared at their enemies, scrutinizing them.

            “Indeed. It seems we are dealing with the walking dead.” Minerva agreed. “There should be a puppetmaster controlling them from somewhere in their vicinity. Yukino, can I leave them to you?”

            “Understood!” Yukino accepted her orders.

            Sorano preened as she swung her bikini-clad body back and forth.

            “You’re all so sweet! Even though it’s not for your own Guild, you’re fighting so valiantly~!”

            “Who is this swinging character…?” Minerva asked with a raised eyebrow.

            “That’s… erm…” Yukino sweatdropped.

            “I’m afraid this is as far as you all go…” Larcade declared as he appeared in their midst. But before he could so much as touch Sorano or the mages from Sabertooth, Jellal slammed into him with Meteor.

            “It appears that half of the Spriggan 12 have joined the fray already…!” He smirked as he continued to strike Larcade consecutively, beating him back with savage strikes. “Unfortunately for you… the dead have no place here! You’re all shadows of your former selves, in this state!”

            Larcade scowled at the slighting remark.

            Meanwhile, Serena was very displeased with how his own battle was going.

            “My Magic is being torn apart…!” He hissed.

            Gildarts smirked.

            “It’s a real shame… I always wanted to see which one of us would be the last man standing, when you were at your full power.” He pulled back his fist as he prepared his final attack. “Crushing evil, spreading truth… Empyrean!!!”

            His Magic-fueled strike sent Serena sailing far away… But even as he did so, everyone could see his Historia fading away as it was broken up by Gildarts’s Crash Magic. Laxus, Lyon, Juvia, Gray, Wendy, Makarov, Cana, and Mira all grinned at their first noteworthy victory.

            “Let’s pick up the pace, people!! The Guild’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away!” Gildarts called out, urging his companions forward. Midnight stayed behind to clash with Jacob; Lisanna, Elfman, and Richard volunteered to handle Ajeel, who recently emerged from Richard’s attack, looking livid; Minerva and Rogue settled for Wahl and Bloodman; and Jellal continued to hold back Larcade.

            ~*~

            Inside the Guildhall, Invel and Irene hovered over Mavis, who was restrained by Invel’s Magic, which enslaved Mavis’s mind.

            “Poor thing. To think, having it stolen from right under your nose… your ever so precious imaginative ability…” Irene muttered to herself, using her isolation Enchantment to extract Fairy Heart from her. “Invel’s Ice Sleep causes one to lose their sense of self… If I were feeling poetic, I would liken it to encasing one’s heart in ice…”

            Invel pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a clinical detachment in the way he presented himself.

            “Will the separation Enchantment take much longer?”

            “I believe you are aware of just how special the Magic in her body is…”

            “God Serena was removed from the battlefield. I do hope you realize that the more time we waste here, the more casualties we’ll suffer out there. Even if it takes ripping it right out of her… do it. It matters not how much she suffers… or if indeed the sudden removal would kill her. I want the power of Fairy Heart at our disposal as quickly as possible.” Invel coldly remarked. Irene chuckled darkly to herself.

            “My, my… You know our good Emperor might’ve had a problem with how you treat his beloved like an object…”

            Invel turned his back on Irene as he headed for the exit to the Guildhall.

            “She is a tool, and nothing more. I need to take care of the riffraff outside… So if you will excuse me.”

            The ice mage passed by Neinhart, who came to give a report.

            “Lady Irene…”

            “Neinhart. Can this wait? As you see, I am more than a bit occupied.”

            Neinhart closed his eyes solemnly.

            “I have located Lady Erza. She is approaching with another group of pests.”

            Irene didn’t reply at first, focusing her efforts on removing the Fairy Heart.

            “So… she lives, after all.” Irene muttered with an unreadable tone.

            “What shall we do? She will be engaged in combat soon enough, but as you know, she…” He trailed off as Irene abruptly cut him off.

            “Kill her.” The redhead coldly ordered.

            “What…?” Neinhart asked, confused.

            “Do not make me repeat myself.” Irene intoned.

            Neinhart stared down at the floor.

            “Yes, but… My Historia has no effect on Lady Erza, and…!”

            “Then you must fight her yourself.” Irene coyly replied, effortlessly Enchanting Neinhart at the same time. “Remember who you are.”

            “I… I am…!” Neinhart quivered, feeling the power flow through him…

            ~*~

            Back outside, Erza, Kagura, and Meredy arrived with the members of Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, Quatro Cerberus, and Blue Pegasus. Soon after that, Lucy and Cobra also jumped into the fray, Happy carrying Lucy before she donned her Taurus Star Dress and summoned the Celestial Spirit himself.

            Toward the front of the pack, Gildarts was wreaking his havoc, destroying much of the ground and waves of enemies in front of him. Cana yelled out to him with how much destruction he was causing.

            “Damnit, dad! How about you don’t catch us in the explosion, too?!”

            Elfman, still in his sandbeast form, powerfully punched Ajeel, who was again assaulted by Richard’s Liquid Ground. Midnight was fighting evenly with Jacob, but then Cobra joined in to help overwhelm the man. Rogue was keeping about even with Bloodman, though Sorano jumped in to assist him with her angels. And Minerva was seemingly overwhelming Wahl with her Territory Magic.

            “It is about time I put an end to this farce…!” Larcade hissed as he kicked Jellal away, shocking the blue-haired mage. The strange mage then cast a widespread Spell that ensnared ally and foe alike in a blinding light, though to the man’s displeasure, it wasn’t as widespread as he would have liked… By his approximations, only those on the frontlines were affected. “Pleasure really is a crude human sin… How tragic that some of you have actually tasted that forbidden fruit!”

            Of note, Midnight, Cobra, Rogue, Minerva, Sorano, Gildarts, Bisca, Alzack, Max, Laki, Laxus, Macao, and Wakaba were writhing on the ground as a strange, alien pleasure wracked their bodies. Jellal scowled at this bizarre tactic, as it rendered many of his allies helpless. Wahl, Jacob, and Bloodman were now capitalizing on their enemies’ weakness.

            “I have committed many sins, myself… But never any that involved such carnal pleasures! Pleiades!” He declared, taking a stance and summoning six rays of light from the sky that proceeded to strike Larcade. The Spriggan 12 member recovered swiftly, and made to cast another Spell to afflict Jellal with.

            “Soul of the Wicked Meal…!” Larcade called out, intending to make Jellal suffer with hunger. However, despite casting the Spell correctly, Jellal still charged him, conjuring nine swords made of lightning behind his back. “What?! You can’t possibly have that much willpower…!”

            “I dedicate everything I am… to atoning for the sins of my past…! I will not be swayed by your dishonorable tricks…!” Jellal declared passionately. “Jiu Leixing...!”

            Larcade moved to dodge the man, but the swords surged forward and pierced Larcade’s body before Jellal smashed into him with Meteor radiating around his form. For good measure, Jellal called down one more Pleiades attack, which seemed to do the trick and defeat Larcade.

            “D…Damn… you…!” The white-haired man hissed, fading into nothingness.

            Landing in a crouch, Jellal proceeded to survey how the other battles were going. As he feared, though Larcade’s Pleasure was fading from their bodies, it was still long enough for the remaining Spriggan 12 members to gain the advantage. Wahl was electrocuting Minerva and bombarding her with explosions; but the most pressing developments were Jacob, who was moving to kill Cobra, and Bloodman, who was aiming to take Rogue and Sorano to the underworld.

            ‘Damn it…!’ Jellal cursed inwardly, knowing he would fail in saving someone. Even with Meteor, he would only be able to counter one of the Spriggan 12 members.

            And then… Gajeel unexpectedly appeared, clubbing Bloodman with his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic.

            “Who said you could touch Rogue, ya bastard?!” The dark-haired man bellowed.

            Jellal smiled in gratitude, and homed in on Jacob, smashing into the assassin with his Meteor. The Spriggan 12 member tumbled for a bit before putting a stop to his own momentum, glaring back up at Jellal.

            “You’re in my way, pal…! That bastard humiliated this refined gentleman you see before you… And now it looks like I’ve gotta deal with you, too.”

            “As if I’ll let you…” Jellal fired back.

            In response to the blue-haired man’s bravado, Jacob smirked cockily.

            “Y’know, August is one mad Wizard… Might not have enough in me to take all of youse out at once, but I got enough for this!” With this declaration, Jacob vanished from sight. Jellal whipped around, looking for the assassin and listening for any movements, but he was struck from behind without being able to detect Jacob at all. The initial strike was followed up by many more, as Jacob somehow whipped him with an invisible weapon.

            Cobra winced as he clutched his side, sitting up. Despite still being out of it from Larcade’s strange attack, he could pick up Jacob’s thoughts and pinpoint the man’s location. Midnight similarly sat up, beside him.

            “Jellal…! He’s right…!” Cobra was unable to finish his declaration, as he and Midnight were both assaulted by an invisible whip like the one that was assaulting Jellal.

            “You think I’ve only got one, ya bastard?! I’ll kill all of you, right here!!!”

            Midnight winced as he endured the attack. He wasn’t a sensor like Cobra, but he still had a way of possibly contributing here. It’d be a gamble. but it was still preferable than just sitting there and taking this guy’s assault like a beaten dog…

            Using Reflector, he deflected the next whip strike. As he had hoped, there was some strange shimmer in the air; Midnight lashed out his hand at it and caught onto the whip before he lost sight of it. Jacob, stunned by the development, stopped channeling his Magic as Midnight yanked him through the whip. Now that he had a visible target, and was no longer being whipped, Jellal channeled Meteor and struck hard and fast. Jacob released his weapons and flew in the direction of Cobra, who recovered enough to channel Poison Dragon Slaying Magic and stop the tumbling man’s momentum with his fist, pinning him to the ground.

            With one final strike from Jellal’s Pleiades, which Cobra dodged with ease, Jacob was down and out for the second time. Glowering down at the assassin, Cobra deadpanned.

            “I really should just kill this sonuvabitch… But there’s been way too much death already.”

            “We have no time to relax.” Jellal spoke brusquely. Looking over at Bloodman, he could see Gajeel, Rogue, and Sorano had managed to turn things around on him, and would have him momentarily defeated. Fortunately, the threat that was Wahl Icht had been repelled by Racer, who had decided to make himself known. And with his help, Minerva was managing to turn the tables on the Historia. Surveying the other battle featuring a Spriggan Shield, it appeared as if Elfman, Lisanna, and Richard would emerge victorious soon enough.

            “You kiddin’? It looks like half those Spriggan guys have been taken care of!” Cobra laughed.

            “Four of which were Historias…” Midnight pointed out, getting the Dragon Slayer to scowl. Jellal nodded in agreement.

            “There are six other Spriggan Shields out there… And as I understand it, three of them haven’t been defeated yet. We should make finding Neinhart a priority, as he could easily make more Historias.”

            Before they could even take a step towards Fairy Tail, however, they could see a giant rise up in the distance. She was clearly fighting another battle and not focusing on them, but it was still a distressing sight.

            “… Shit.” Cobra summed up all their thoughts quite nicely.

[mamabearcat]

Keys to Her Heart Ch 2

CHAPTER TWO

Natsu caught a glimpse of a long shiny gold braid as it swung in mid-air, and couldn't help grinning to himself in the semi-darkness. He was going to get to meet his mysterious woman after all!

He admired the heart shaped view of her behind in her jeans as she leaned across the front seat to grab a small backpack, and then winced in sympathy as she banged the back of her head on the opening of the car door. Rubbing her head, and muttering to herself, she turned and seeing him, immediately stopped in her tracks.

"Oh no, not you", she groaned audibly.

Natsu laughed aloud. "Not the response I usually get, but I'll take it. Ms Heartfilia, I presume?"

Lucy sighed. Was she doomed to continually embarrass herself in front of this man? She had always been clumsy, often because her thoughts seemed to move faster than her body, but today her timing seemed particularly bad.

Pushing her glasses back firmly on her slightly freckled nose, she walked forward into the light, her cheeks flaming. Natsu felt a queer sensation whoop in his stomach. The yellow-toned overhead lighting from the car park seemed to give her hair a golden halo, and made her pale face seem almost translucent, apart from the rosy glow of her blush. As she walked towards him, a gentle drizzle began to fall, adding diamond star sparkles to her hair. Her clear brown eyes were the colour of rich caramel, shot with amber flecks, and he felt as if he could dive into them, fall into their depths, and never come up for air. He gulped and was almost ashamed to hear a soft whine escaping from the back of his throat.

Lucy thrust her small hand out towards him in a business-like manner. "I hope I didn't hold up the beginning of the tour Mr.?"

He swallowed. Taking her smaller hand in his for the second time today, Natsu went to shake it gently, but was surprised at her firm grip and the steady way her eyes remained on his. He grinned. He hated it when people gave limp handshakes with no pressure – Ms. Heartfilia was a woman who took no prisoners. "Dragneel, but you can call me Natsu. Everyone around here does."

"I see. So where is the rest of the tour?" Lucy looked around her, expecting to see a group milling around in the carpark somewhere. "I thought I was late!" Noticing her slight anxiety, Natsu was quick to reassure her.

"Don't worry. We weren't quite ready to leave yet anyway. They're all inside at the moment, finishing up on dinner. If you're a fast eater, you might have time to join them."

"Oh, I'm not hungry..." she began to say, but was called out on the fib by the loud rumble from her stomach. Natsu grinned toothily at her, one of his canine teeth poking out over his bottom lip. Lucy's stomach rolled again, but not in hunger. There was that smile again, god dammit, the one he had given her this morning after probably realising just how embarrassed she was.

Chuckling at her loudly protesting stomach, Natsu began walking out of the car park towards the arched doorway behind them. "No one dies from starvation on my watch. Come in to the pub – I'm sure Macao can organise some dinner for you quickly. I'll order it for you while you sit down".

He pushed the dark green door open, bending slightly at the waist, with an 'after you' gesture, and she walked through, still blushing furiously. Why was this man affecting her this way? Yes, she was usually shy, she didn't have that much experience interacting with men outside her work, but she didn't usually become a bumbling idiot. She started to walk towards one of the long tables near the doorway, but was startled when Natsu suddenly hollered behind her.

"Hey Macao. Ms. Heartfilia made it here after all. She needs dinner!" A middle-aged man with dark hair and a moustache at the bar nodded at him, and then turned to a doorway behind him.

"Mira, another steak and chips for one of Natsu's guests." He looked at Natsu questioningly for a moment with an eyebrow raised. Natsu looked back at him with a blank expression until the penny dropped.

"Would mademoiselle like salad or vegetables with her meal?" Natsu inquired, using an atrociously bad French accent.

Looking slightly bemused at the whole exchange, Lucy replied, "Salad", and giggled when the word was hollered by Natsu to Macao, and then by Macao to the empty doorway, that Lucy surmised was the pub's kitchen. A cheerful voice responded back, "Coming right up!"

"Can I order you a drink Ms. Heartfilia?" Natsu asked genially, liking the sound of the giggle, very much. "Beer, wine, juice, water?"

"A beer please", replied Lucy. Natsu grinned toothily at her again, placing a hand on his chest.

"Ah, a woman after my own heart. Back in a sec", he said, walking over to the bar.

Lucy looked around the warm interior, which looked like it hadn't changed that much in the last hundred years. There were a few snug corners with overstuffed armchairs and small tables, but the majority of the room was taken up with long dark wooden tables and benches. A huge wooden mantlepiece framed a stone fireplace with a crackling fire, which added a cheerful glow to the room. Around the walls were lots of dark wooden frames containing what looked like historical photos. Lucy was about to go and look at them more carefully when she noticed an older couple sitting at the long trestle table closest to the fire. They waved and smiled at her when they caught her eye.

"Are you going on the ghost tour tonight too dear?", the lady asked her. She was dressed comfortably in jeans and a red woollen poncho, her silver hair pulled up into a messy bun. The man sitting next to her smiled at the woman next to him; he too was dressed comfortably, wearing jeans and a rugby jersey.

"Yes" Lucy smiled in return. It seemed rude not to, when they were being so friendly.

"Come up closer and join us then" the older woman said, patting the space beside her on the bench encouragingly. "I'm Elsie, and this is John. It will be nice to have a chat while we're waiting".

"How did you hear about the tour?" Lucy began, as a beer and a large plate with salad, chips and a piece of steak the size of a small handbag appeared in front of her. Lucy turned to thank the serving person, only to realise it was Natsu himself. Natsu slid into the bench seat next to her, and she felt the colour in her cheeks rise again, as her stomach flip flopped when his thigh brushed against hers. She smiled a small thanks, and he produced a serviette, fork and steak knife from behind his back, assuming the theatrical flair of a magician who had just produced a rabbit out of a hat. Giggling at him again, she set to it, slicing into the steak. It was tender and juicy and smelt delicious.

"Oh, we're staying at the guesthouse in town", answered Elsie, "and it was on the noticeboard. It seemed like a bit of a fun thing to do. We're travelling around Australia, now that we've retired, and this is our first stop. How did you hear about it?"

Lucy wanted to answer, but was hampered by the large piece of meat she was struggling to get down. The steak was wonderful, done just how she liked it, but she usually preferred to take her time over this sort of meal, and not have to wolf it down. She struggled it down and reached for her beer. After taking a sip, she explained to Elsie about the flyer she found at the supermarket and deciding to come on the tour only today. Having finished their meal, Elsie and John excused themselves to return to the bar for another drink, and Lucy went back to attacking her steak with gusto.

"Hope the steak's done to your liking?" Natsu asked, watching her eat as he sipped his own beer, having eaten his meal prior to Lucy arriving. "Mira prides herself on her steak cooking ability."

Lucy swallowed another chunk of steak. "It's really good", she answered. "I'm just not used to eating such a large meal this fast."

"Well, you're getting closer to cattle country here – just over the mountain range are some of the best places for beef in New South Wales" Natsu said, gesturing vaguely off to the west. "We like to get our money's worth."

"It was worth coming on the tour just for this steak", smiled Lucy.

"Oh, so my tour is worthless now, is it?" Natsu winked at her. "I'll have to see if I can change your mind. You've got ten minutes before the tour begins here in the basement of the pub". He got up from his seat unhurriedly, nodded and smiled to Elsie and John, who had just returned with their drinks, and went to introduce himself to the other tour guests.

"Such a nice young man", said Elsie.

"Too nice by half", muttered Lucy, gazing at him as he bent to talk to the group of high schoolers grouped around the pool table.

"What was that dear?", asked Elsie, smiling. Her husband John winked at Lucy, and gave her a little elbow in the ribs, as he and Elsie shared a knowing glance.

Lucy blushed slightly, and covered her embarrassment by forking an unfeasibly large piece of steak into her mouth, struggling to chew down the delicious meat. She mentally chastised herself. She could usually talk to people without resembling a beetroot. Of course, the colleagues that she mixed with at the University were at least twenty years older than her. She was lucky to be accepted at all as a research assistant into the Astronomy Department – so many other students would have begged to have her position. She did enjoy her work, and the professional distance in the faculty suited her.

Even while she'd been a student, she'd felt a little apart from the others – there was no Mum and Dad to go back to during the semester breaks like they had; she'd been working two part-time jobs as a kitchen hand and a hotel cleaner to pay for the rent and all her text books, and she hadn't had funds spare to go away for weekends or out to the pub. She liked being alone. This working holiday was just what she needed. Glancing at the clock, she noticed how little time she had left to tackle the steak and set to it.

The cool night air fanned Lucy's hair as she looked out of the bus window at the darkening sky, the not so distant thunder echoing the occasional bang from the minibus motor. The evening had been quite fun actually.

The beginning of the tour in the cellar of the pub would have been interesting, if she'd been able to hear it over the sepulchral moans of the local high school boys, and the occasional squeal of the girlfriends when their hair was pulled, or they were pinched on the backside by their boyfriends.

Natsu had a short talk to the boys, one of which he seemed to know quite well. They calmed down after that, with only whispering and giggling interrupting Natsu's talk. After that, they all piled into a mini bus and went to the older part of Magnolia Cemetery, and Natsu handed each of them a candle in an old-fashioned hinged lantern. Lucy had raised her eyebrows at him, but he winked at her.

"Go along with it, it's all part of the fun", he whispered. After he had lit all their candles, he led them on a tour around, pointing out the weathered headstones of convicts' graves, and monuments to notable people who had founded Magnolia. He then led the way to the middle of the cemetery, where there was an open space amongst the rusted leaning cast iron fences that surrounded some of the graves. The wind was whistling through the eucalyptus trees overhead, and they could see distant lightning on the skyline behind the mountains out west. Lucy shivered.

"The mountains were first crossed by settlers and convicts in the early 1800's", began Natsu, "but it wasn't until the mid-1800's that Magnolia was first established. Down in Sydney, the summer heat combined with the lack of sewerage combined to create some very 'foul emanations' which many health professionals of the day believed caused diseases."

Natsu began pacing around amongst the graves, his strong voice echoing amongst the gravestones. The wind picked up, whipping the dark pink hair around his forehead, the thunder rumbling in the background dramatically. Lucy had to admit, he was definitely setting the scene. Quite a few of the high school girls were now gripping their boyfriends tightly.

"Our little mountain town became very popular as a sanitorium for the rich, as the bracing mountain air was praised as a cure all for consumption, or tuberculosis as it is properly called. During that time, tuberculosis was seen as a "romantic disease". When the British poet Lord Byron wrote "I should like to die from consumption", it became popularised as the disease of artists. But nothing can be further than the truth."

Here Natsu paused dramatically, and the wind chose that moment to push against the old rusted gate of the cemetery, causing it to squeak alarmingly. "There was a reason that the disease was known as consumption – because as the disease progressed, it seemed to consume the individual from within, with their weight drastically dropping until they were skin and bone."

Natsu began walking slowly in amongst the guests, holding his lantern up close to his face in the darkness, the shadows flickering over his features. "Night sweats and chills, and violent uncontrollable coughing were the fate of the sufferer as the disease gradually spread to other organs of the body – death was inevitable."

Natsu paused behind Lucy. "Spare a thought for those who travelled to the mountains to be cured, but who never returned home to their loved ones. I'd like you all to blow out your candles, and think of them for a moment."

Elsie and John blew out their candles, as did the boys, after a quick grin at each of their girlfriends. After a moment's hesitation, so did Lucy. Natsu was the last to blow out his candle.

For a moment, the darkness seemed impenetrable, but as her eyes adjusted, Lucy looked around. The gum trees stood sentinel around the edges of the small graveyard, looking slim and pale in the moonlight. She glanced up, and gasped as she saw the multitudes of stars in the heavens, which were invisible in metropolitan Sydney, the familiar constellations bringing joy to her heart. A meteor sped across her vision, and she felt Natsu's warm breath on her neck, as he whispered "Make a wish…" close to her ear.

A sudden flash of lightning, and deafening crack of thunder a second behind it made them all jump. Natsu produced a torch from his backpack, and led the way back to the bus.

Just after everyone had made their way up the stairs of the minibus, the rain started. Big fat drops chased each other down the window as Lucy peered out into the darkness, trying to see down into the valley.

Natsu apologised over his shoulder to his guests as he concentrated on keeping the bus on the slippery winding road. "I'm very sorry to announce this, but I'll have to cut our tour short; I think the weather is against us. We had one more stop, but it's steep there at the best of times, and for safety reasons, I'm going to have to cancel the rest of the evening."

There were some groans from the boys in the back seat, and Lucy felt a wave of disappointment – the one part of the tour that she had really wanted to see and it wasn't going to happen. Natsu added. "But, I'm happy to give you all a credit to come along again on the evening tour next week, if you're available, or to come some other time.

After dropping off the older couple, Natsu turned the little bus towards FairyTail Inn. The rain was so heavy now that they could hardly see the carpark outside the pub. The boys and girls all piled into two beat up cars and drove off into the night, and Lucy dashed over to her little VW. After sliding into her seat, she turned on the motor. The engine gave a screeching sound, but refused to turn over.

"C'mon, c'mon you bucket of bolts, start for me", begged Lucy, but it was no use. The battery was dead. Lucy leaned her head on the steering wheel, and was startled by a tap next to her on the driver's side car window. She turned, knowing exactly who it would be before she set eyes on him. Natsu's eyes were twinkling.

"It really doesn't seem to be your day, does it."

Lucy groaned. "I knew I should have just stayed in the cottage instead of coming on this tour. I was jinxed from the start."

Natsu grinned cheekily at her. "I'm afraid I can't do anything about your car. Macao has already driven off in the bus, which belongs to him. But I live just around the corner, if you don't mind a quick dash in the rain, and then I can give you a lift home. You're staying in Rose Cottage, aren't you?"

Lucy thought for a moment. In Sydney, she would have fobbed off a suggestion like this from a stranger and said no thank you. But there was something about Natsu that made her feel like she could trust him. He'd helped her when she'd fallen over this morning, hadn't she?

Natsu sensed her indecision. "If it helps, I live with my 85-year-old Grandmother. I doubt she'd allow anything untoward with a young lady whom I'd only just met. But, if you'd rather, I can call Gajeel the local mechanic, but we'd have to wait here in the car – the pub is closed up early because it's a week night."

Lucy weighed up her options. Call the local mechanic and wait in the dark in a small car with a man she barely knew, or go home with a man she barely knew, with a possibly fictitious grandmother acting as chaperone. She really didn't know much about Natsu at all, apart from the fact that he ran a ghost tour, was friendly with the local barman, and had warm hands and a nice smile that went all the way up to his eyes.

Natsu played his trump card.

"Gran had a Lemon Delicious pudding in the oven when I left. I'm willing to share, but I have to admit it's a wrench. Her cooking is awesome."

Lucy made her decision. "All right, I'll come with you, Mr Dragneel. But if you turn out to be a cold-blooded killer, I'll haunt you and your ghost tour for all eternity".

Natsu laughed. "I promise, the only thing I murder around here is a curry. And please call me Natsu, or that pudding is all mine. I only share Gran's cooking with friends I'm on a first name basis with."

Lucy found herself smiling back. "Ok, Natsu it is then. I'll have to share your umbrella I'm afraid – I didn't bring one."

"No problem Lucy", smiled Natsu, and held the umbrella over her as she manoeuvred her way out of the car and locked it. Once she was standing next to him, he handed the umbrella to her and stepped away.

"No, you'll be soaked!" she protested, trying to hold it over him as well, but it was difficult as he was much taller.

"Just keep it over you. The rain's too heavy to keep us both dry. Besides, I have clean clothes at home, you don't", he reasoned. Lucy decided they would get moving faster if she didn't argue, and they set off.

"How old did you say your grandmother is?", asked Lucy, as she tried to make conversation over the sound of the rain and the rumble of thunder in the background. She sincerely hoped they wouldn't get struck by lightning on the way home.

"Eighty-five", replied Natsu, "she'll be eighty-six in two weeks. She's a tough old lady. She and my Grandad moved over here from Wales when she was in her twenties. No doubt she'll quiz you on your family history."

Lucy raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, trying not to notice as he pushed his fingers through his now drenched hair, sending rivulets of rainwater down his face and throat, and under the collar of his shirt.

Natsu shrugged. "I've never heard the name Heartfilia before, and Gran loves family history. She runs…" he halted, momentarily, "she used to run the local historical society, and did genealogical research for people. Aren't you researching something like that for a book? You might have lots in common."

"Really? She probably knows where a lot of the records I need to access are then! That's amazing!", Lucy squealed in excitement. Natsu made a show of pretending to clean out the ear closest to Lucy with his little finger.

"What's that? You'll have to repeat it, I don't think you screamed it quite loud enough, ya weirdo", said Natsu, grinning at the way Lucy's eyes narrowed at him.

"Shut up!" she pouted, pushing his arm as he cackled at her response. "There's nothing weird about being excited about what you love doing! I really enjoy doing research, and it will be exciting to meet someone else who probably enjoys it too, based on what you've just told me."

"Don't worry, I'm just teasin' ya. So, what's a research expert, probably a big shot Professor, doing coming on my crummy little ghost tour?"

"It wasn't crummy!" protested Lucy, pushing his arm again. "I really enjoyed it. The graveyard was particularly atmospheric", she grinned.

Natsu chuckled. "I know. That thunder really set the mood; it's a shame I can't plan for a storm every time."

"I was impressed at the amount of historical detail you went into", Lucy continued. "I have to admit", she confessed guiltily, "my expectations really weren't set too high."

"Ah, I had help with that bit. My friend Levy, the local librarian, provided a lot of that information. And Gran too of course. Between the two of them, there's not much they don't know about Magnolia."

"This is amazing!" laughed Lucy. "Not even the first day, and I have leads on two people that can help with my research! It's just a shame that we didn't get to go to that last place on your tour. That's where I really wanted to go, because that bushranger, Mad Dog Craddock, that's who I'm writing about."

"No problem", grinned Natsu toothily. "If the rain lets up, I can take ya there tomorrow. I'm not on call, and I don't have any plans. Just have ta finish a few repair jobs for Gran, and then you've got me for the whole day".

"Oh, um, I don't want you to go to too much trouble…", began Lucy hesitantly.

"No, it's no trouble at all", beamed Natsu. "Unless…", he stopped, a slow look of growing comprehension moving across his face. "Natsu, you idiot", he muttered to himself.

Turning to look Lucy in the eye, he said "Lucy, I'm really sorry. I wasn't even thinking. You don't know me at all, and I'm probably making you uncomfortable. It's probably weird enough that you're walking home with a total stranger." He sighed, stepping around a large puddle that had formed in the footpath in front of them. He looked up at her again. "I guess I was forgetting that you're not from around here, and usually I don't hesitate to offer to do stuff like this, because everyone knows who I am. But you don't. I totally understand if you wouldn't feel right going somewhere alone with me. I promise I won't be offended."

He moved in front of her to open a cast iron small gate and gestured for her to move through before him. "Here's Gran's house. I did offer a chaperone and dessert."

He walked up the path to the veranda of the federation house, sweeping his wet pink locks off his face again, and produced a key from his pocket. Just as Lucy stepped onto the veranda, the rain let up. "Figures", smiled Natsu. He opened the front door, letting the welcoming light in the hallway spill out to greet them. Lucy shook as much water off the umbrella as she could, and after leaning it up against the railing on the veranda, followed Natsu inside.

So, another chapter. Lucy and Natsu are starting to get to know each other. I know Natsu is a little flirty in this AU, but he grew up differently to the manga, in a stable home in a small town with lots of friends. He's a very cheerful flirt - it's just his way of being friendly.

Lucy did not grow up in a nice environment in this AU; she's very self protective, and doesn't handle being out of her comfort zone that well. She tends to rely on her intellect, and is a bit of an introvert (not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm one myself!). This is not something Natsu will 'cure' her of, it's just part of her personality. She's warming up to Natsu though, probably a lot quicker than she realises. She'll have to work out if she's comfortable enough in his company to ask for help.

[jd-the-anime-fan]

A Different Tail Chapter 9: Galuna Island

Fanfiction.net

It had been some hours since the defeat of Lullaby and Eisenwald, while Team Mirajane had yet to return, preparations were being made for when they eventually would. The destruction of both a troublesome dark guild and a demon of Zeref in the same day called for a celebration as far as the Fairy Tail guild was concerned.

Erza sat at the back of the guild for a private conversation.

“I see, so that was the situation?” A small hologram of Makarov spoke, projected by a small lacrima shared between the guild master and the S-Class mages of Fairy Tail for quick communication.

“Yes master, Lullaby was defeated, but how exactly do you know Gallus?” Erza asked, she knew that despite Nocturnal’s Mark’s contracts were often dubious though the two guilds often stayed out of each other’s way. Thus, it was strange to learn that the guild masters knew each other.

“That’s quite a funny tale,” Makarov chuckled, “I actually caught him attempting to steal from my office in the guild. I was about to teach him the error of his ways when he noticed my research on applications of my own Titan magic to everyday life as well as the theories behind it. That in turn developed into a conversation in which we became close friends. I trust him to keep his word, please do the same.”

“Understood, I saw with my own eyes how easily Gallus destroyed Lullaby, if anyone could help us in a tight spot, it’s him.” Erza said, Makarov ceased the conversation, lacrima powering down. Though, Erza still worried despite what Gallus had said. That’s when the guild doors were flung open with some force.

“We’re back!” Natsu declared triumphantly as Team Mirajane walked through the doors of the guild. The group of five was greeted by cheers from the rest of the guild, many shouting a congratulations to them.

Once the initial congratulations were over and done with, a slow, drawn-out, sarcastic clapping rang out, “Congratulations.” Came the condescending tone, the source of which was a well-built, blond man with a lightning bolt-shaped scar across the right eye. He sat on a chair on the second floor.

“Laxus!” Every member of the guild but Lucy cried out.

“What are you doing here?” Macao asked warily.

“I just came to see the weaklings who had five team members all for a third-rate dark guild, when just one of the Thunder Legion could do the same thing in less time.” He shrugged, “Then there’s Erza, who needed help beating a weak demon, talk about a disappointment.”

“Those are fighting words, Laxus!” Natsu shouted, his fists being set alight, lunging upwards. Almost reaching the railings separating them only for Erza to appear in front of him. Swiftly, she drove the pommel of one of her swords into his stomach, causing the dragon slayer to unceremoniously fall to the ground in a heap.

“You know the rules Natsu, no going up to the second floor unless you’re S-Class.” Erza’s stated, prompting a groan from the downed mage.

“Hah, see you lost to Erza and you honestly think you can take me on?” He questioned rhetorically in a haughty tone.

“What are you saying?” Erza questioned angrily, looking ready to very well copy Natsu albeit without repercussions. She was held back by Mira placing a hand on her shoulder though her fellow S-Class still gave Laxus a wordless glare.

“Just what’s obvious, that I’m the strongest in the guild and my seat won’t be taken by you, Mira or even Mystogan. You punks can celebrate your little victory as much as you want, it won’t change fact, when I’m guild master you best impress me unless you want to be kicked to the kerb!” At that, the S-Class mage disappeared in a literal flash, causing much of the tension in the building to dissipate.

A clap from Mira broke the silence, “Alright everyone, now that’s out the way, let’s celebrate. We can’t let someone like Laxus spoil an occasion like this for us!” Just those simple words caused the mood to improve significantly with the eldest Strauss manning the bar, the celebration was soon in full swing.

Lucy found herself sitting around a table with Natsu, Happy, Elfman, and Cana. Lisanna had been called to the bar to assist Mira with the number of orders and Gray was off to the side with Loke, the two friends knocking a tankard each together.

“So, who wants drinks?” Cana asked, naturally, three of her friends raised their hands. All except for Lucy as the blonde had absolutely no idea what she could order. Though the others at the table wouldn’t let her go unnoticed that easily if the fact they had all turned their heads towards her was any indication.

“Um, anything you guys can recommend?” Lucy asked, Cana snapped her fingers and made a finger gun gesture at that.

“I know what would be perfect for you.” She responded, though her teasing smile made it known she wouldn’t tell what would be ordered, “Now let me guess, Smokey Lemon, Sea Tub, Hunter Bomb, and a Cosmo Cocktail for yours truly.” She said, easily guessing the drinks for Natsu, Happy, Elfman, Gray and herself respectively before walking to the bar.

“So, what was the deal with Laxus before?” Lucy asked, while the lightning-user hadn’t demonstrated any abilities to Lucy first-hand, Elfman had told her Laxus could back up his arrogance. Even so, it was still a bold claim to make that he was certain to be the next guild master.

“Heh, he’s all talk, there’s no way gramps would let him run the guild.” Natsu confidently stated, Elfman sighed, even he could be more descriptive of the situation than his fellow guild member was.

“The thing is, Laxus is also Makarov’s grandson, so by that logic he really is next in line as the fourth guild master,” Lucy was surprised at that, while not having much interaction with Makarov, he seemed nice enough. To learn he was related to someone like Laxus, who more than likely had trouble controlling a massive ego, “At the same time though, if Master does say Laxus is his successor, I’m not sure if Mystogan, Mira or Erza could do anything about it.”

“Yeah,” Happy said, being unusually serious, “And if someone disagreed with it, he would probably set the Thunder Legion on them.”

“Who are they?” Lucy asked, having never heard of the group prior to its mentioning.

Natsu was the one who responded, at first with a huff, “Those guys are pretty much Laxus’s groupies, all they give a damn about is the attention they get from him so they’re hardly ever in the guild hall.”

“No point in worrying about any of those guys,” Cana said, skilfully balancing a plethora of drinks of different colours and sizes, “Drink up!” She said, giving everyone their drinks.

Lucy looked around curiously at the other drinks, Natsu’s was easily the most simplistic-looking drink, the liquid in the small glass was cloudy-yellow in colour with a slice of lemon the side. Elfman’s drink was in two parts, a dark-coloured spirit in a shot glass next to a flagon of beer. Cana’s cocktail was blood red but must have been stronger than it looked. Happy’s was perhaps the most unusual, a dark-blue cocktail in a fish bowl-shaped glass that had a lot of ice and even gummy fish floating in it.

“Here you go,” Cana said, handing Lucy a bronze-coloured drink in a tall glass, large ice cubes from top to bottom, a slice of lemon and half a strawberry in it, “It’s called a Long Iceberg Tea, hope you enjoy. So, who’s going-” She continued, Natsu quickly downed the concoction before Cana could even finish her challenging statement.

After drinking it, Natsu’s face scrunched up slightly, “Lightweight!” Cana sneered playfully.

“No one makes a Smokey Lemon like Mira and Lis.” Natsu responded waving it off.

Cana shrugged at that, “I guess if you like blended ghost peppers in your drink.” She said, smugly drinking her own concoction. No one, except for Lucy seemed surprised by her statement but before she could respond verbally, Elfman poured the shot into his beer and chugged the whole thing.

“Thank the guy who created Hunter Bomb, the manliest drink ever!” Elfman said, slamming his glass back down on the table.

“My turn!” Happy declared, eagerly drinking through the straw provided for him, drinking it so fast it was gone in the blink of an eye, “Aye, that hits the spot.” He sighed contently, reaching into his glass to snack on the gummy fish.

All eyes once again turned to Lucy, “Drink, drink, drink!” Her friends began chanting, adamantly repeating the simple mantra. Taking a deep breath, Lucy started drinking through the straw. The cocktail was sweet, vaguely tasting like marzipan to the blonde. Since she wasn’t as accustomed to alcohol as the rest of her friends, she stopped halfway, receiving friendly jeers from the others.

After that first drink, everything soon became a haze. The lights dimmed, music had begun to play and lights of every colour flashed, almost turning the guild hall into a night club. She had been taken by the hand a few times to dance, Cana had been that person at least twice. Gray had naturally lost his shirt at some point and commanded attention as he danced surprisingly well for someone who was tipsy. That had been derailed when Natsu attempted to upstage him, eventually their dance-off snowballed into a fistfight which further went on to become one of Fairy Tail’s famous brawls. After taking refuge behind the bar it was one big blur…

The first thing Lucy heard after coming to her senses was what sounded like a chainsaw being revved. That caused her to open her eyes groggily, she recognized the ceiling of her apartment.

“How did I…” She mumbled to herself as she sat up, still clad in clothes from the day before, it was clear to see who was making the noise. Natsu had crashed out on Lucy’s floor, Happy curled up on his chest, how either of them got to sleep she would likely never know. He was the one making the power tool-like snores.

The dragon slayer was not the only one of her friends who was in her apartment, Cana was leaning back in a chair, breathing deeply. The Strauss siblings slept in a huddle peacefully on the couch. Lucy of course didn’t mind how they had wound up in this situation, that was when she became aware of the sound of her shower being on. The identity of her mystery guest was soon revealed when Gray stepped out from the bathroom. Thankfully he was somewhat decent being shirtless but wearing pants while drying his hair off with a towel.

“Oh,” He said, apparently not being embarrassed despite the situation, “You’re awake, sorry about this. You’re Lucy, right?” He asked.

“That’s right, I know you’re Gray. What happened last night?” Lucy asked, the first response she received was a chuckle from him.

“That’s a story. To but it bluntly, you, Cana, Natsu and Elfman got absolutely hammered to the point of being unconscious. Your place was the closest so Mira, Lis and I came here. So, we got your key off you and made sure everyone was comfortable before we put them to bed.”

Lucy gave him a curious look then indicated to Natsu who’s snores had thankfully deteriorated in volume somewhat. Gray, realising what she meant, answered her.

“Natsu could sleep soundly on a bed of nails if you let him.”

Lucy had to snicker at that, “I could believe that, can I get you something?”

“Tea, if you don’t mind,” Gray responded, “You use Celestial Wizard magic, right?” Lucy gave him a nod as she preferred a tea for both him and herself, “Figures, Loke’s dead-set scared of going near you.” Gray’s tone didn’t indicate malice, if anything he found it funny.

“Yeah, do you know what his deal is?” Lucy asked.

Her fellow Fairy Tail member shrugged, “No idea, but I’m not going to probe into his business.”

“Fair enough, but if we’re going to talk magics, Happy told me you use ice magic.”

“Well you’re right about that I use ice, but the magic I use is called Ice-Make magic,” Gray stated, waving his hand, causing a vapour of tiny ice crystals to materialise in his palm, which then coalesced into the shape of a snowflake, “Something like this is quick to do but the creation is flimsy,” He continued, bending the construct so it snapped, “That’s why I prefer to use two hands, it’s a bit slower but can take more hits.”

“That’s cool.” Lucy said, grinning at her pun as she handed Gray his tea, pouring a bit of magic into Plue’s key so the spirit appeared. Gray seemed to be physically resisting the urge to face palm but was at least fascinated by the sudden appearance of the dog.

“You don’t have lemonade and sugar by any chance, do you?” The Ice-Make mage inquired after sipping his tea.

“I’ve got sugar, do you want some?” The blonde confirmed though she wasn’t quite sure why he’d asked about lemonade in the morning.

“Not for me,” Gray said, “But I’m guessing you had enough that you woke up chipper this morning. The others though might need something like that since it’s a hang-over cure.” At that, Gray finished the tea.

“Thanks for the advice.” Lucy said.

“No worries, I’ll see you around then.” Gray said, placing his empty mug down, “Oh and before I forget…” He continued, digging into his pockets and fishing out a small wad of jewels, “For the lemonade and a bit of the soap I used.” He said, putting the money on the kitchen work surfaces and exiting the apartment.

Lucy gave a quick wave goodbye, but her attention was quickly diverted when a voice familiar to the her spoke up.

“You’re getting along with Gray right off the bat? Looks like you’ve got a way with guys.” Cana said.

“How long were you listening in for?” Lucy asked, impressed by her friend’s ability to see completely asleep.

“Long enough,” Cana answered cryptically though she clearly meant the entire conversation, “Gray usually puts people at arm’s length with how close he is to them. It took me a while to get to know him.”

“Are you and Gray close?” Lucy asked.

“We boned.” Cana stated flippantly.

Lucy blushed as red a tomato with how nonchalant Cana was being about her closeness with Gray, “That wasn’t what I asked!”

“I know,” Cana shrugged, not bothering to hide her smirk. Though she soon relaxed, “But in all seriousness, Gray shared a lot of stuff about his past with me, stuff that I’ve not got a right to share. I was going through some things as well, so it was more about comfort than anything else when we first did it. Tried it on for a bit longer but we just decided to stay friends.”

“Well, you want to go shopping for lemonade?” Cana asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Don’t we need to wash up and change?” Lucy asked.

“Well I…” Cana said, taking out a card with a picture of the outfit she usually wore it flashed, there was a puff of smoke and Cana appeared no different than before, “Am done changing, but if you don’t mind me using your hairbrush, I’d be grateful. I can wash up anytime.”

“Sure.” Lucy nodded, tossing the brush to her friend as she prepared to clean up.

Gray’s suggestion had been a good suggestion, when the two women had returned to the apartment, the others were all awake. Natsu and Elfman had woken up with bad hangovers, if the moans of pain and other verbal complaints they made was anything to go on. After sipping the hangover cure both had claimed to be feeling better but not up to moving around too much though the Strauss sisters and Happy were all too glad to lend a hand in looking after the two men.

Since they were now in safe hands, Lucy and Cana made their way to the guild hall, Wakaba sat outside smoking one of his cigars.

“Erza?” Cana asked, though her tone suggested she knew the answer anyway.

“Erza,” The older member confirmed, “She’s runnin’ a real tight ship in there, a little too tight if you ask me. Be careful or she might chew you out for how much you drank last night.”

Lucy groaned slightly, if what the veteran member was saying was true then she really wasn’t looking forward to being told off by one of the strongest wizards in the guild. A sentiment Cana seemed to share, expressed by her worried look.

Just as expected, the armoured wizard was standing right inside at the entrance of the guild hall, “Cana, I appreciate you like drinking but don’t drag in a new member who may not be so blessed as to have a miracle liver.”

“Yes, Erza.” The card user grumbled but otherwise didn’t protest.

“And you,” Erza said, turning her attention to Lucy, causing her to freeze like a deer caught in headlights, “What’s your name?” She asked anticlimactically.

It took Lucy a moment to process the question, for a moment even forgetting her name before she spoke it, “I-It’s Lucy, Miss Erza.” She stuttered.

The redhead seemed confused at the formality, “No need to be so formal, just Erza will do, now go about your business.” Lucy only nodded at that.

“Well that could have gone worse.” Cana admitted as they walked towards a table where Gray and Loke were seated. The auburn-haired mage was the first to notice the duo’s approach and attempted to get out of his seat until Gray pulled back the hood of his parka to make sure he didn’t get away.

“Cana, Lucy.” Gray greeted, Loke only gave a reluctant wave.

“Thanks for last night.” Cana said, “Mind being my divination subject? I promised Lucy here I would show her my magic.” She finished, slinging an arm around Lucy’s shoulder.

“Sure, why not.” Gray obliged kindly, prompting Cana to unsling her arm from around Lucy and take out her tarot card deck.

She used three tarot cards in the reading, the first she turned over was of a regally dressed woman, with an elaborately decorated sceptre, The Empress. Second was a raggedly dressed man who looked to be about to literally walk off a cliff, The Fool. It was the last card that unnerved everyone the most, a skeleton garbed in a flowing, black cloak wielding a scythe, Death.

“Cana, what does this mean?” Gray demanded suddenly, appearing visibly anxious. His outburst garnered the attention of several in the guild hall.

“Just give me a minute, let me think,” She responded in a calming tone, “According to the cards, something from your past left unfinished and at some point, death is involved. That’s all I can interpret from these three.”

“No,” Gray said, “No, no, no!” The Ice wizard suddenly shot out of his seat, staggering back and began to shake with uneven breathing, “Don’t let it be true, don’t let it be true! That thing can’t be let loose again!” The shaking intensified and almost turned to sobs as tears began to flow in cascades.

Cana practically threw herself across the table at her friend, “Gray, Gray it’s okay, it’s okay.” She tried to reassure him, pulling him into a hug. Now every pair of eyes was aimed directly at the scene.

“What’s going on?” Lucy asked in alarm. Though no one except Cana or Gray could provide an answer and currently they were being held up. The most the blonde could do was watch what was unfolding with the rest of the concerned guild.

It took at least an hour for Gray to finally calm down somewhat from the anxiety attack and nearly another before he was finally able to speak specifically to anyone, midway through Loke had tried his hand at reassuring Gray to give Cana a break and allow her to determine an exact location.  

“Wh-Where is it?” Gray croaked, “Please, if it is what I think it is, we need to stop it, no matter what.”

“And we will,” Cana affirmed, “It looks like whatever it is, is located somewhere called Galuna Island.”

“Did you say Galuna Island?” Came a surprised question from Erza.

“You’ve heard of it?” Gray asked, interest becoming piqued.

“Yes, it’s mentioned on one of the jobs on the S-Class board. All I know is that it’s an island to the southeast of Fiore.” She said.

“You have to let me go on it!” He demanded but even given the situation, Gray soon corrected himself, “Please Erza, I’ll get on my hands and knees if it means going.”

“I can’t let you go,” Gray seemed ready to accost the statement but Erza beat him to the punch, “Unless, I go with you. Normally, I wouldn’t even allow that especially after what could have happened two years ago but I know this is important to you but I must insist on bringing others along. We don’t know what dangers we could face.”

“Count me in.” Loke said resolutely.

“I’m in too,” Cana said, “Lucy, you want to come with? Is that okay with you guys?” Lucy was flattered that Cana had remembered the promiser to take her on a mission but was unsure just how the other three would react to Cana’s suggestion. Gray seemed not to mind despite having never seen Lucy’s abilities before and while Loke looked nervous of the idea he didn’t raise any concern.

Erza on the other hand, was rightfully sceptical, “You want to take a new member on an S-Class mission?” She asked incredulously, “Do you not realise how dangerous that could be for her? For all of us?”

“Hey, Lucy risked her neck going after Eisenwald with Mira and the others. Plus, if we bring her along we’re practically bringing four extra people with us.” Cana said defensively.

“How so?” Erza asked.

Before Cana could reply, Lucy stepped forward, “I use Celestial Spirit magic, I have four Zodiacs, that’s what Cana meant.” She said, holding up her keys.

“That’s… coincidental,” Erza responded, “Part of the reward for the completion of the job is actually a Zodiac key.”

“Do you know which one it is?” Lucy asked eagerly.

“It doesn’t specify, but I at least see that you could prove valuable to this mission, you may come along if you wish,” The armoured wizard spoke, Lucy, Cana and even Gray looked thankful at that, “There is however one ground rule, you are to remain at the side of at least one us at all times. Apologies but I’m unaware of your experience and there’s no telling how dangerous this mission could get for us. Is that understood?”

“Yes Erza.” Lucy nodded, in a way she couldn’t blame the redhead’s concerns given that she had the least amount of combat experience out of everyone on their rag-tag team.

“That settles it then, meet at Magnolia Station in two hours, we’ll depart for Hargeon as soon as we can.” Erza declared.

[seraphladyvenom]

We Are Family. [Fairy Tail FanFic]

Sorry everyone I had to separate chapter 3 because it was too long! 😥 hope you all still enjoy!

Ch.3: My Idol. [PT.2]

"And as you can see here, this big brute of a man in front of us is Laxus, our leader.  He's not much for words, but I'm sure he's pleased to make your aquaintence none the less." Ever spoke on behalf of Laxus who just clicked his tongue in response.  "And all together we make up the Thunder Tribe!" The three of them said in unison.  "Just as flashy as ever." Macao chuckled.  "So what do you think of the Thunder Tribe up in person, girls?" Levi winked but all she got was silence in response.

"Huh?" She looked up slightly confused.  "Hey, are y'all alright?"  You and Lira continued to stare in awe at the sight before you, no words were able to be spoken as y'all sat there starstruck.  Laxus opened his eyes and locked on to yours in a fierce but questioning gaze.  Suddenly the whole Guild got silent as they stared at the the two having a staring contest.

It was then that a sudden realization slowly crept up on everyone including the 3 Thunder Tribe members.  "No way..." Grey muttered in shock, his eyes widened by the thought of it.  "This can't be happening..." Lucy added with a worried expression, her fist to her lips.  "It's a joke, right?" Levi asked just as freaked out as the others.  "Impossible." Jet and Droy said together.  "It can't be...or can it?" Erza was just as surprised.

You stood up on your two feet and turned to face them, you then began to walk towards them in an almost face paced, sprint like manner, Lira was right next to you."  Ever, Bixlow, and Freed shot confused glances back and forth to you and Laxus as you got closer.  "Can it be..." Macao started.  "That Laxus is..." Wakaba continued.  "The idol they been waiting to meet?!" Romeo finished with a loud gasp.

You and Lira stopped just a few feet right in front of Laxus, staring straight ahead and never faltered.  Never broke eye contact, it was like the suspense in the guild hall was growing every second.  The master grunted a chuckle and smirked as he never looked up or moved from his position.  He simply stated.  "Well done my boy."  Now Laxus was a bit curious, he quirked an eyebrow and looked straight at you.  Finally you were able to catch yourself.  You were staring too long and a pink blush formed across the cheeks.  You chanced it.

"It's you..." your voice cracked.  You took a couple of breaths in hopes of trying to compose yourself and not make a complete blunder of yourself.  "It's really you..." You stared.  Your eyes began to water a bit as you held you fist to your chest.  The look you had was just to cute that it had all the Thunder Tribe blushing.  Even the mighty Laxus, though he wasn't blushing, was taken by surprise as his eyes widened just a tiny bit.

"I've waited so long...so long to meet you." Your blush only darkened and you had to look down.  By now every one in the guild was leaning towards you just to get a better view and hearing.  The anticipation was killing them.  Even Natsu, who was lying face down on the ground next to them was on all fours with an anticipated face just waiting to hear what was next.  Bixlow and Freed swallowed hard, their Adam's apple moving in sync with another and Ever's face was forming beads of sweat.

"Is she really going to confess to him?!" The thunder trio thought as they leaned ever so closer.  After what seemed like forever of silence you began to speak.  "You don't know just how long we've been waiting for this day.  I know that we don't know each other but I can't hold back my feelings anymore." You were squirming in place.

"This...this may seem like a bit of a shock to you but...we...as in Lira and I, are your biggest fans.  The way you fight, and just how courageous and loyal you are to your friends...well it just makes us go nuts!"  Your body began to tremble as you stared at your feet, that blush deepening by the second.

By now the whole guild is just gathered a few feet behind you and Makarov stayed seated where he was with his ear twice the size of his head so that he can hear better.  The thunder tribe were literally hanging over Laxus shoulder, but Laxus remained calm and kept his cool, his expression never changed, he didn't move, and he never said a word.  But you can tell he was getting annoyed by how long this was taking.  His eyebrow began to twitch.

"I just...I just need to get this of my chest already so here it goes!" You squeezed your eyes shut and everyone in the room held their breath for the moment they've been anxiously waiting for for the past 5 minutes.  "I...." You looked up with a seriousness in your eyes that no one has seen yet.  "I love You so much!"  "She said it!" They all thought in unison.  "You're my hero!  The world wouldn't be so bright and lovely without you..."

".........."

"HAPPY!  CARLA!  PANTHERLILY!" You and Lira both shouted at the same time.

It was then that you were seen kneeling before the 3 Exceeds standing right next to Laxus' right leg.  Happy stood in the middle with his paw raised up in his usual 'aye sir!' stance and a huge grin on his face while Carla and Pantherlily stood arms crossed on opposite sides of them, adorning smiles as well.

"We love you so much Happy, Carla, and Pantherlily!" You exclaimed.  "Oi!" Lira added as Happy scratches the back of his head.  "Ah shucks."  "Oh my, well this is certainly a surprise." Carla replied delightfully.  "I am truly honored, thank you." Pantherlily added as well.

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed and as if on cue, faceplanted into the ground.  Even the master dove head first into the wooden floor.  All but Laxus at least, who stood there with his eyes shut once again.  It was then he began to casually walk off as if nothing happened.  Unbeknownst to everyone but him was an amused smirk forming on his face as he let out an equally amused hum.  Clearly that little ruse made his day.

It was a while later where everyone was themselves once again, all laughing and joking about the huge misunderstanding earlier on.  Everyone was drinking and laughing, you and Lira even got the autographs of the 3 exceeds as well that you thanked them graciously over and over again for.

But it wasn't long after that when another brawl erupted.  You weren't really sure how it started, but it had to do something with Gary's streaking and Lucy's underwear and Natsu waving it over his head like a victory flag.  Lucy was screaming as she turned beet red, her hands holding down her skirt while yelling at Gray not to peak.  Juvia was bawling, trying to get Gray to look at her panties as an attempt to 'win back his love' and Gray fought back against it.

Anyway next thing you know, tables and chairs are flying, Wendy is cowering in the corner, Mira was knocked out by a flying bar stool and Makarov was trying to catch her soul to put back into her body.  Erza was enjoying her cake when Droy was knocked into it and caused Erza to send Natsu flying through the roof.

Cana was out cold sprawled over the bar because she drank too much.  Romeo was yelling at Macao because he picked a drunken fight with Wakaba again and pretty soon Loki was in here as well trying to get Lucy to let him sneak a peek which just earned him a nice right hook to the jaw.  All and all it was a good day.  You took another long sip of your beer and sighed contentedly.

You watched as Lira, Happy, Carla, and Lily sat on the bar in a circle chatting away and you were simply contented.  You stood up as you were about ready to leave this place when you turned around and met with a very strange sense of deja vu and suddenly Natsu came flying your way.  Apparently he finally came down and before he could hit the ground Erza back handed him out of the way as her gaze was fixated on her target which was Gray and he was getting in the way. 

Little did she know that she just sent him on a one way ticket towards Seraland and the last thing you remember was Natsu crashing into you and sending you both flying over the bar, then everything went black.

It wasn't until you came to a while later that Erza apologized continuously as Mira wrapped your head in bandages.  You smiled and waved it off but there was no stopping her.  Eventually you and Lira were standing outside the doors of the guild as you were saying your goodbyes.

"Thank you very much for letting us visit!" Lira spoke as you both bowed.  "We had a really great time, and we can't tell you how happy you made us!  It really felt like home here and we really appreciate you taking some of your time out of your busy schedules to spend it with us!"  Lira looked up at you and smiled nervously.

"I know Sera would say the same if it weren't for the bandages covering her mouth."  You mumbled something under the bandages and gave a thumbs up.

"Once again I sincerely apologize for my reckless and irresponsible behavior, no words can describe just how awful I feel." Erza bowed lowly over and over franticly.  You flailed your hands around and reassured her it was fine through gestures.

"Thanks for stopping by Sacrates it was fun!  We should do it again sometime!" Natsu smiled.

"It's Seradith!" Everyone yelled at once.  But your face just flustered as your eyes gleamed.  All you could really do in response was nod.  "Take care out there you two, don't get into too much trouble!  And make sure you tell us about all your new adventures next time we see eachother!" Levi waved with a huge smile.  You both nodded and bowed, one last wave and you turned, heading towards the opposite direction.

"That was really fun Sera, I never had that much fun before!" Lira gloated.  "Mhm." You managed.  "It was so lively and everyone was so nice, and even though they fought a lot you can tell they still care so much for each other.  It really is like a family, huh?" You nodded.  Lira looked down as her voice lowered just a bit.  "It kinda makes you wish we had a family of our own, huh?" 

You turned your gaze towards Lira as y'all continued to walk, the lonely look she had made your heart sink.  She was right, this new experience you just had with fairy tail shredded a whole new light on a part of your life that had been just too dark to truly look at before.  Your eyes lowered down to the ground as your head hung, for you knew that deep down, no matter what, it would never happen.

[lynyrdwrites]

The Path Not Taken (2/?)

Did I mention that I have 3 parts  of this written? Because I do.  This takes place immediately after the first one shot, and I kind of loved writing Lucy’s pov?  Fairy Tail as a whole is so much fun to write.  Their dynamics are just the  best.

Read Part One

Or Read it all  on AO3

---

“I am so sorry.”

              Those were the first words Lucy said to Erza when the redhead dragged Natsu back to the guild  after their  night spent in prison.  Erza looked almost taken aback at first, before she smiled and dropped  Natsu to the floor.   The hand she slammed onto Lucy’s back  nearly knocked the  air out of her, and she just barely kept herself from joining Natsu on the floor.

              “It’s hardly your fault, Lucy. There are people I blame before you.”

              Makarov, Mira and Gray all wilted under Erza’s glare, and even Laxus, up on the second floor, didn’t bother to make one  of the almost cruel comments he’d been throwing around since his arrival.

              “I don’t get why you’re so mad,” Natsu complained, sitting up and rubbing the bump Erza had left on his head.  “I mean, I’m the one that had to have a first row seat to you and Jellal.”

              “Jellal showed up in person?” Laxus remarked. “You must be something special, Titania, to bring him from Era.”

              Erza glared up at the other mage, her hand hovering over her sword.  Natsu, on the other hand, was completely oblivious and scoffed.

              “Nah. I guess it was one of his projections.   They must be getting better, though, ‘cause I don’t remember Erza being  able to kiss ‘em bef  - ouch! Erza, what was that for?”

              Natsu rubbed yet another bump, and glared at Erza’s back as she stalked toward Mira and Makarov at the bar.   Mira looked sympathetic, and Lucy thought Makarov might flee rather than experience Erza’s wrath.

              “Jellal?” Lucy murmured to Happy, who seemed to think her shoulder was far safer than Natsu’s.  “As in… the Councilman?”

              She had heard of Jellal Fernandes, of course.  He was a favorite of Sorcerer Weekly. Attractive, and insanely powerful; not only had he become a Wizard Saint before his eighteenth birthday, but shortly after he’d joined the Magic Council as its youngest member.  Lucy wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she’d had a bit of a crush on him.

              He was just so… so.

              “Oh yeah,” said Cana from the table next to them.  She wavered on her stool but caught her balance and pointed her beer mug at Lucy.  “Our Erza and him have history.”

              The way she stressed history, and the lascivious way she  waggled her brows said exactly what kind of history Cana was referring to. At the bar, Erza’s shoulders stiffened.  Cana wasn’t exactly quiet, and Lucy let out a little eep when the redhead turned her glare in their direction.

              “Hey Erza!” Cana called to her carelessly.   “Lucy here didn’t have a clue about you and Jellal.  I guess we can keep a secret after all.”

              Cana’s voice was so smug that even Erza couldn’t keep up her anger, her expression instead turning  to exasperation.

              “Master-” she began with frustration in her voice, turning to Makarov.  The old man held up a hand, silencing not only Erza, but everyone in the guildhall. On the second floor, Laxus leaned over the railing, curiosity lighting up his gaze, though he probably would never admit as much.

              “It is rather handy having Erza’s boyfriend on the council.  He doesn’t lecture me on Guild behaviour nearly as much as Yajima does.”

              Erza let out a half scream and turned on her heel, stalking out of the guild. Lucy couldn’t necessarily blame her. Everyone looked a little disappointed with Makarov’s words, clearly having expected something… more.

              The disappointment didn’t last long, and soon Natsu and Gray were aiming punches at each other, while others avoided them, careful to protect their drinks. But Lucy continued to frown after Erza. There had never been even a whisper of a relationship between Erza and Councilman Jellal outside of Fairy Tail – and with Lucy’s love of Sorcerer Weekly, she would have heard if there had been.   Whatever reason kept them apart… it had to be difficult.

              “Cana makes it sound rather dirty.” Lucy looked up, startled, as Mira paused next to her, setting  down a lemonade.  “It really isn’t.”

              “So they’re not in a relationship?” Lucy asked, looking once more to the doors.  They remained open, but Erza could no longer be seen.  

              “Oh, they are.  They showed up here together, close to a decade ago, now.  There were others with them too, but they’ve scattered since. The only ones that stayed were Erza and Jellal, but he was… ambitious.   His training took him across Fiore.”

              “I guess you have to be ambitious,” Lucy murmured.   “To do what he’s done.  But still… poor Erza.”

              “He always came back,” Mira said cheerfully. “And I remember, when she used to pour over the job boards, for one that took her close to him.   It was sweet, really. Particularly before they admitted their feelings. They would blush and stutter around each other. They were adorable.”

              “They were gross,” Natsu muttered, crawling into the chair next to Lucy.

              “Ah, shut up, Flame Brain.    I miss having Jellal around.  It was a lot less painful.” Gray fell into the seat across from them, and Lucy  began to point out that his shirt was missing, before  she decided not to bother.

              “Why is it a secret?” she asked instead. Gossiping about Erza would probably get her skewered, but Lucy couldn’t help it.   This was just all so fascinating.  It was entirely different side  to Erza – one Lucy  had never suspected  existed!  

              “Fairy Tail doesn’t always get along great with the Council,” Gray replied, a slight frown marring his brow as he rested his cheek on his fist.   “Some members do as much damage as good, it doesn’t always give us a great reputation.”

              The glare he shot Natsu with the word some said pretty clearly who he blamed for that reputation.

              “Got something to say, Ice Princess?” Natsu demanded, sending his chair to the ground as he stood up, slamming his hands on the table.

              “Oh, was I not clear enough, Flame Brain? Need me to spell it out?”

              “Guys!” Lucy stood as well, slamming her hands down even louder than Natsu had.  Both boys stopped their yelling and looked  at her in surprise.  Lucy wasn’t going to let them fight, not when there  was gossip to be had! “Focus! Erza and Councilman Jellal!”

              “I don’t get why you keep calling him Councilman,” Natus whined.  “Sure, he did all that fancy stuff, but he’s still just  Jellal. Geez, Lucy, you’ll give him an ego.”

              “I think he deserves to have one!”  Lucy pointed out. “And he is a Councilman.”

              Fairy Tail was always a  bit weird, but this was beyond as far  as Lucy  was concerned. Just Jellal?!

              “The reputation,” Gray interjected, looking almost surprise that it was him preventing an argument for once, “it means it would have been difficult  for Jellal to make the council, if they knew  he and  Erza were in a relationship.  Any of them that bother to remember know he has a connection to Fairy Tail, but not how…”

              “They don’t know that he kisses Erza at any opportunity,” Natsu interrupted, his arms crossed and his expression petulant.  “I don’t get why he wanted to join them so bad anyways.   You can’t do anything fun if you’re on the council. And Jellal used to like being fun.”

              “Hah,” Cana laughed from the end of the table, leaning towards them.  “Jellal used to save your asses because it meant Erza would smile at him.  That was back when they were so ridiculous that he’d practically get a nosebleed if she happened to brush up against him.  And she wasn’t much better; almost as red as her hair half the time he was around.  I’m still not sure how they managed to get their shit together to make their relationship work.”

              Lucy couldn’t imagine Erza blushing… ever.  Some of the armours she wore, while deadly, would make Lucy die to be seen in.  And even outside of that, she’d see the redhead in some ridiculous cosplay costumes.

              And Councilman Jellal… well, Lucy had never met him, of course – but everything in Sorcerer Weekly painted him as a suave, charming man who was cool no matter the questions answered.  Even when the interviewer had been  brave enough to as about the nature of his relationship with fellow Councilwoman Ultear, there had been no mention of stuttering or blushing, and they would have mentioned it.

              She wondered what his response would be, if someone were to ask him about Erza?

              “Do you think it she’ll be okay?” Lucy asked, looking the way that Erza had come.  “She seemed kind of upset.”

              Lucy could see it now, in the way Erza’s anger had seemed just a little extreme.  Long distance relationships couldn’t be easy, especially when they were secret.

              “She’ll be perfectly fine,” Mira assured her. “She just misses him.  Maybe I should see if there isn’t a reason the Master would need to go to Era.  She could accompany him for safety.”

              Mira looked thoughtful as she wandered over to deliver beer to Macao’s table, and Lucy chuckled lightly, shaking her head. Apparently even once you were in a relationship, Mira’s matchmaking didn’t stop.

              While Lucy had been talking to Mira, Gray and Natsu had once again devolved to name  calling, and with Cana egging them on, they had begun rolling on the floor, fists flying.  Lucy rolled her eyes, and slipped out of the Guildhall in the distraction the fight had caused.

              Standing in the street, she looked both ways, hoping that, by some miracle, she would see the red of Erza’s hair. She didn’t, of course, but decided to take  a wild gamble based off of what  she knew about Erza  and Lucy’s own experience.

              When she was upset, she liked chocolate. Erza…well, Erza liked cake all  the time, but Lucy would bet she loved it even more when  she was upset.

              Sure enough, Erza had found a seat at a table in her favorite bakery,  an extra-large piece of strawberry and cream cake sitting on the table before her.

              “Hi,” Lucy said, sliding onto the seat across from her.

              “Oh, Lucy.” Erza gave a small  smile of  greeting. Lucy noticed the cake was untouched, and that wasn’t at all like Erza.

              “Are you okay?” Lucy asked.  She looked around; there were several townspeople watching from other tables, murmuring about the infamous Titania.  There would be no mentioning Jellal by name  here. “I mean, with… everything?”

              “Cana likes to talk,” Erza said with a sigh. She looked at her  cake, and finally took a bite – just a small one, not at all  like Erza.

              “I got just as much from Gray, Natsu, and Mira,” Lucy admitted, squeezing her hands together on her lap. “They all care about you.”

              “They all like to gossip.”

              “That too.”

              They sat in silence, Erza looking at her cake, and Lucy looking at Erza. Finally, Erza sighed and set her fork down.

              “I should be angry with him. He’s ruining cake for me,” she grumbled, scowling at the plate now.   Her shoulders slumped slightly, and she looked up at Lucy.  “I probably should have told you myself. We’re on the same team now, after all. But truthfully, you fit in so well that I’d forgotten that you didn’t know already.”

              “It’s okay,” Lucy assured her friend. “Sometimes, we have things we don’t like to talk about, anyway.”

              Lucy thought of her own situation, and her own… things.  Yeah, she couldn’t judge anyone else for keeping quiet about their personal issues.

              “That’s really not it at all,” Erza replied.  Her gaze turned somewhat distant, her lips curving into a fond smile. “I actually do like to talk about him. I’m… I’m very fond of him.”

              A faint blush rose in her cheeks, and for the first time Lucy could see what the others had meant, when they talked about Erza’s courtship.  Lucy rested her chin on her palm and smiled at her friend as Erza turned back to her again.

              “You should talk about him then,” Lucy said, when Erza’s expression turned questioning. “Tell me about the first time you guys kissed.”

              For a second, Erza looked startled, and then she laughed.  She pulled cake towards her one more, and took a bite – far too big, and much more typical of the Erza Lucy knew.

              “I never thought I’d tell that story,” Erza admitted. “Everyone in the Guild saw it firsthand.”

              And though she couldn’t use Jellal’s name, as Erza told Lucy a story so ridiculous it could only happen to a Fairy Tail mage, her eyes lit up, and yeah… Lucy could see the girl the others had described now.

[impracticaldemon]

The Valentine's Day Community Relationship and Bonding Soirée

Chapter 1:  The Set-Up

Fanfiction ~ Main Pairing: Jerza (but many others involved!) RATING:  Chapter 1~Teen+  💕  Chapter 2 ~ Mature (verrrrry sexy!)  😉 💋

Words ~ 7600 Total Chapters: 2  Total Words ~ 15,000  COMPLETE

CHAPTER 2 WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW!

Read on FF.net HERE

Summary:   None of the Fairy Tail guild members would think of Valentine's Day in the same way again... A night of frolic, dancing and minor (for Fairy Tail) explosions.  Also, canal boats.  Mirajane and Cana plot to ease Erza's surly attitude, roping Gray and Wendy into the action as well as stirring their spoons in several other pots.  The older members of Crime Sorcière are only too happy to help out, as they’re tired of Jellal’s moping. 

A fabulous collaboration between @nalufever​ and @impracticaldemon​ -- We hope you’ll enjoy this Valentine’s Day present to you! 💗💗💗  If we receive enough encouragement, we will definitely try this again, although we still haven’t quite recovered from our current state of giggles!  😂 😂 😂

Chapter 1:  Set-Up

[I] The Planning

Mira sat on top of the freshly polished bar and employed her brightest smile at Erza.  “The Master gave me the go-ahead for the Valentine’s Day Community Relationship and Bonding Soiree.”

“Valentine’s Day is an archaic idea.” The red haired swordswoman crossed her arms and frowned.  “The Master only wants to ogle more women.”

“Of course.”  Mira’s smile never lost any wattage.  “There’s nothing wrong with that.”  She cast her eyes over to a sullen Laxus and Freed dancing attendance.  “We could use some fresh meat here.  Don’t you get tired of the same guys?”  She giggled—Laxus could hear everything (dragon slayer senses doncha know) but she had a thick skin when it came to certain things; if he knew what was good for him and her and Freed—he’d ignore Mira’s small verbal faux pas.

“Ugh.”  Grimacing, Erza looked away and let her lips pinch together in a most unflattering expression.  “Not everyone is looking to sate their base desires at a moment’s notice.”

Cana took this opportunity to spin around on her bar stool.  “More’s the pity.”

“Yes, Cana knows what Valentine’s Day should be about,” agreed Mira.

It took all Erza had not to growl. Instead she grumbled:  “Why would any sane person take the advice of a demented match-maker or an inveterate lush?”

“Tch.”  Mira ignored the tone and content of Erza’s words.  “You really need something to take that wicked edge off.”

“I am fine.”

Cana drained her mug and shook her head; Mira looked at the red-head and giggled.  “The cards never lie, Erza.  You need some help.”

“I am fine.”  Repeating her words didn’t make her believe them any better either. The endless scuffling between Gray and Natsu, behind her, burned her last nerve.  Turning, Erza glared at the ice and fire mages.  “I will rip off your arms and beat you to death with them if you don’t stop right this instant!”

Natsu pulled his punch, turning his haymaker into a friendly arm around Gray’s neck.  For his part, Gray grimaced but allowed the contact.  

“We’re the best of pals over here!”

“The very best!”

Lucy sighed and joined Erza, Cana and Mira.  “Did I hear someone asking for help?”

Mira settled behind the bar once again and leaned forward.  “We were discussing the ‘Valentine’s Day Community Relationship and Bonding Soiree.’  It’s going to be the best gathering of eligible mages in all of Fiore!”

“I would love to bond with my teammate.” Lucy blushed as both Mira and Cana chuckled knowingly.  Erza looked slightly less murderous.  “Ah, I mean, a party sounds fun!”

“Then you can take first dibs on my list of what needs doing.”  Mira picked up a clipboard from under the bar and held it out to Lucy.  “The budget for decorations is kinda low, but the Master had to double our insurance from the last party.”

Lucy ran her finger over the list and considered her choices.  “I do have mad skills at making cardboard hearts and I’m sure Lyra would love to play some music at the party.”

Mira clapped her hands.  “That’s so great!”

Erza let out a sigh.  “Valentine’s day is dumb.”

“Let me know when you start making decorations, Mira.”  Lucy edged away from Erza who was tearing a napkin into confetti.  “Can I get you to deliver a pitcher of beer to Levy’s table?”

“Sure!”

Cana picked up the clipboard and scrawled a few new suggestions at the bottom.  Erza pulled it over and began reading Mira’s list.  Her expression got more dour by the second.  “Don’t you think red, white and pink balloons are overkill?  Cupids are just babies with weapons, doesn’t that send the wrong kind of message to children?  They’re going to think it’s okay to shoot people with arrows.”

Mira returned from her drink delivery and just leaned up behind the bar, watching Erza read and complain.  She noticed Cana flipping her cards between her hands into a more and more complicated pattern - never a good sign.

Erza grimaced.  “You want fancy ice sculptures from Gray?  What’s the point when he and Natsu will destroy them?  Why make Reedus paint a romantic mural for people to have their pictures taken in front of when Wakaba and Macao will photobomb each couple?”  Erza ran her finger down the list and stopped three quarters the way down the paper.  She snorted her disgust and then ranted some more. “You’re going to regret letting that restaurant cater.  Their food is adequate, but they have the most wretched cake.  Their pastry chef is some sort of back alley monster.”

“Well, then I’d take it as a personal favour if you’d choose a better place instead.”  Mira crossed her arms and smiled with vigour.  “Anything else you’d change?  Perhaps the games I’ve selected?”  Her smile sharpened further. “I’m of two minds over the dress code.  On the one hand, I love the idea of fancy costumes all relating to fictional lovers—and on the other, perhaps elegant black tie for the gentlemen and gowns for the ladies?”

Cana took a big draft of her drink and stared at Erza, waiting for the swordswoman’s reaction.  

“It doesn’t matter, and dressing up as romantic fictional couples is foolish.”  Erza scowled. “What do you expect single people to do? How can I match my outfit to Je—” She bit off her word and took a deep breath before continuing.  “Just specify formalwear.”

“Tch.”  Cana smirked and rummaged in her purse.  “I think I just heard my communications lacrima ring.”  She lifted it and read the caller ID.  “Mira, we need to take this.”

“Oh goody!”  Mira clapped her hands, pulled Cana over the bar and frogmarched her into the back, calling to Erza to keep her suggestions flowing for the party.

[II] -- Crime Sorcière

Jellal was never especially cheerful at the best of times, but the last few weeks had been worse than usual.  He really cared about Crime Sorcière, and tried to look after the members, but lately when he wasn’t focussed on guild business he’d taken to withdrawing entirely from the team to go sit on his own.  Meredy was still trying to cheer him up, but most of the others had hit their breaking point.

“It’s that damn red-head,” muttered Midnight, from his usual place toward the outer edge of the camp, seated on his square of silky carpet.  

Even though Midnight still spent a lot of time tuned-out, Jellal’s latest round of navel-gazing had gotten through even to the cruel-eyed illusion-wielder.  He was starting to contemplate dosing their leader with some really wild dreams… but he didn’t want to get his butt kicked, although it might almost be worth it just to see a crack in Jellal’s armour.

“Of course it is,” agreed Coba, looking amused.  “Look on the bright side, Macbeth, at least you don’t have to hear his thoughts—although he’s pretty good at keeping them mostly to himself, thank the gods. Seriously, though, half the time he’s thinking about what a saintly person she is, and the rest of the time he starts with her breasts and moves on from there, if you know what I mean.  You wouldn’t think it to look at him, but yeah.”

“Wish he’d get laid and get it over with,” grumbled Racer.  “Who does he think he’s kidding?”

“He thinks he’s kidding everyone,” Cobra answered with a smirk.  “Which takes some pretty wishful thinking around me an’ Macbeth.”

“Yeah.”  Midnight rolled his crimson eyes.  “I mean, I crushed him the first time we fought, and he still wanted to protect her, somehow.  I’ve seen his nightmares, right?”

“Well, it’s getting old, fast.”  Racer looked into his empty cup and got up for more coffee.

“The kid’s out trying to make him feel better, again,” noted Midnight.  Midnight didn’t really like a lot of people other than Cobra, but he had a bit of a soft spot for Meredy.

“We just need to get them together under the right circumstances,” said Cobra thoughtfully.  “You know, get him to work it out his system.” He paused, contemplating just how long it had been, assuming it had ever happened at all. ”Or least kinda take the edge off.”

“Does that mean fighting or sex or both?” asked Midnight with a snicker. “She’s freaky, I tell you.”

“That’s saying something, coming from you,” Racer snarked, glancing sideways at his colleague’s punk-goth styling and weird eyes.

“Whatever.”  Midnight stretched out lazily, leaning his head on one hand and giving Racer a look that made the other man twitch a little.  Macbeth wasn’t a good guy to push too much.  “I’m all for our fearless leader getting some, if it means he’ll stop with the pining for a while, but we’ll never get him to Fairy Tail.  What do you say, Erik—got any great ideas?”

“Maybe I do,” Cobra replied thoughtfully.  “I’ll look into it and let you know.  Anyhow, I’m going out for a walk to get away from you lot—and Jellal—for a while.  Try not to miss me too much.”

There was a pause, and then Midnight cracked.  Usually it was Racer.

“With every shot so far, mind-reader—but only ‘cause I’m not trying.”

Cobra stood up, smiling faintly at the old joke.  He waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the other two before walking off into the night. He had a pretty good idea of who, at Fairy Tail, might be interested in a set-up.  Well, whatever happened it was going to be entertaining—that was something.

[III] - The Party

Ichiya strolled into the guild followed by the Trimens.  Several of the unattached women at the event stopped to stare and whisper amongst themselves. Eve made sure to smile and look at the pretty ladies from under his long lashes, Ren pretended to ignore the fuss being made, and Hibiki simply did his best to be pleasant.

“Excellent party Makarov,” Ichiya said to Fairy Tail’s master, “You’ve outdone yourself with the parfum of success.”

“This is Mira’s doing.”  Makarov’s smile was only slightly devious.  “I gave her some suggestions and she surprised me with this elegance.”

“I’m not surprised everything is fancy, what with the sublime invitations that were sent.”

“The what-now?”

Ichiya pulled an embossed invite from his breast pocket and enjoyed a heavy sniff of the vellum.  “Ahhh, a most dignified parfum, it has the piquancy of youth and the gravitas of age at the same time.”

Makarov nodded, his mouth zipped shut, hoping the leader of Blue Pegasus would not need an answer.  He was flummoxed as to what he could say that would stop the short, red-haired man from becoming even creepier.  It didn’t matter though; nothing much could dissuade Ichiya from his normal weirdness.

Thankfully, Mira flounced up and tapped him on the shoulder while smiling at Ichiya.  “I apologize; I must steal the Master for a few minutes.”

“Quite all right.”

Mira and Makarov forced smiles that didn’t reach their eyes and scuttled away.  Once out of earshot of Ichiya, Mira spoke softly to Makarov.  “We’re close to capacity but the guests I’ve been waiting for haven’t arrived yet.”

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”

“Well, perhaps.”  Mira giggled, “Remember to save me a dance later.”

“I’d be delighted,” said Makarov. “Let’s be sure Laxus gets a front row seat.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Lucy shook imaginary dust off her frock and let her gaze wander over the massive number of guests thronging the guild. Eve had waved and winked at her just a little earlier—it had taken several minutes for her heartbeat to return to normal. But it wasn’t just the fact that a cute guy had expressed interest in her—it was because Natsu had marched over to her and grabbed her hand, not letting go even after the blond member of the Trimens had slunk off.

Wendy found herself worrying about Erza. The redhead had been increasingly sour the whole week leading up to the party.  This morning she’d acted especially strange, even for a guild member whose weirdness was legendary.

Charle sipped from her teacup, pensive as she gazed at Wendy.  Making up her mind, she spoke.  “You look as if you’ve just bitten into a sour plum.”

“I do not!”  Wendy protested.  “I’m having a lovely time, even if there are so many people crowding our guild.  So many…  Oh Charle, I saw things I can’t un-see!”

The fastidious white Exceed grimaced. “I was hoping that Max, broom and Laki would be more discrete, but some people have no class.  Speaking of which…”

“Hi Charle!”  Happy bounced over to his crush and grinned like the buffoon he was. “Classy party, right?”

“It was.”  Charle gave Happy her coldest smile.  “Shouldn’t you be hanging out with Natsu?”

“Oh, he’s busy with Lucy.”  Happy waved to Wendy.  “He’s being very clingy.  It’s like Lucy’s weirdness is catching.”

Charle’s tone was frosty.  “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

Oblivious to the undertones, Happy said, “Well, Cana said that they just need to bone it out. Or maybe get the bone out?  But I don’t think Natsu heard her and anyway he didn’t bring Lucy any fish.”

Charle gave Happy a look of total disbelief. Happy admired the way her delicate jaw formed a perfect triangle when her mouth gaped like that. Fortunately, Wendy had just turned toward the door.

“Oh!  I see Romeo and Chelia!”  Wendy smiled at Happy, “Please excuse me and Charle - we’ll see you later, okay?”

Charle had her paws over her ears as she trotted off behind Wendy.  “...I’ll never get that image out of my mind!  I may be sick....”

Happy’s eyes widened, and he stood looking after them with hearts in his eyes and floating around his head, muttering ecstatically to himself.  “Charle thinks I’m slick and she can’t get me out of her mind!”

Elsewhere in the room, Evergreen sighed. Elfman was just only barely acceptable as an escort.  He had found (the spirits only knew where) a passable suit that strained to contain his super broad shoulders and paired it with the palest pink shirt that matched the corsage he’d given her for her wrist.  His tie was a dark blue, but Ever decided to forgive him that trespass—just this once—because it set off his eyes.

“Are you hungry?”  Elfman wanted to throttle himself as soon as he asked such an inane question.  If experience had taught him anything, it was that Evergreen would tell him everything he needed to know before he asked.  If he asked, then it was always the wrong question.  Maybe she’d keep it on the down low in front of outsiders.  Shit.  Her left eye was twitching—time for some grovelling or the after-party sex would end up being just him and his right hand like always.

“Do I look ill-fed?”  Ever crossed her arms under her ample bosom.  “Just because you eat every hour on the hour doesn’t mean everyone else does.”

Elfman kept his chagrin under control and deflected as best he could.  “Mira said that she brought in the best of the best appetizers and I thought you’d be the judge of that.”  Now if Ever smiled, then it was crisis averted.  Elfman hunched smaller in front of his domineering girlfriend.  “I trust your opinion.”  Ah, that did it.

Ever preened.  “I suppose I could go and take a look at the spread.”

Elfman followed Evergreen as she sashayed to where most of the food was set up, on the main floor but near the entrance to the downstairs documents room.  He grinned—Ever was busy passing judgement over the food, her back to him so that he was for once not under her microscope, and he was free to enjoy how bangin’ her ass looked in her tight gown.  Ooh, plans for later!

Nearby, Gajeel tugged at his bow-tie. Levy had insisted on it; she’d insisted on rather a lot of things actually.  He adjusted the handkerchief in his suit pocket, marvelling again at how exactly it matched Levy’s hair band.  Dressing fancy wasn’t all bad he guessed, not when his better half wore a low-cut diamante gown.  The sparkles made him think of metal, which fed his appetite like nothing else could—and Levy knew how that would affect him.

“Let’s go find Lucy—and try your best to behave with Natsu.”

“Ghee hihi!  What’ll you give me if I do behave?”

Levy inhaled deeply.  It made Gajeel sweat and his heart clench.  Shrimp was petite but her assets were on mouth-watering display. That ass!  Those tits!  Tasty as fine carbonized steel.

“It’s not a question of what I’ll give you as much as what I’ll let you do.”  Levy pulled out a pot of lip gloss and applied a new coat before speaking further.  “Me.”

Things weren’t going quite as smoothly for some of the hall’s other potential lovers.  Somewhere between the bar and the front doors, Gray stood with his arms crossed and tried not to glare at Lyon who was smiling like a dolt at his wom-, his Ju-, his … friend.  (He was failing.)

“Juvia thinks this is the nicest soirée she’s ever been to.”

“You’re absolutely correct Juvia.” Lyon adjusted the ice rose pinned to his suit jacket, his fingers twitching with nerves.  “Because you’re here, it’s the most perfect party.”

“What does Gray-sama think?”  Juvia fluttered her thick fringe of lashes.  “Is Gray-sama enjoying himself?  Can Juvia get Gray-sama a drink?”

Lyon patted Juvia on her arm.  “Allow me to fetch us all drinks.  Ladies deserve special attention.  What would you like?”  He smiled at Juvia’s diffident answer and walked off as Gray tried to place his request.  Over his shoulder he glared at his rival.  “You’ll get what you’re given.”

“The party is starting to look up.” Gray shoved his hands in his pockets - it was either that or he might try to hold Juvia’s hand in order to stake his claim.  Dammit! Seeing Lyon all over Juvia like a cheap suit was messing with his head.

The worst of it was that he needed to keep at least one eye out on the arrivals. Mirajane had blown by him earlier muttering something about Erza and telling him to make sure that if Jellal showed, she wanted help getting them together.  Since Gray agreed that Erza was even more tightly wound than usual, he wanted to help—and if he could accidentally screw up any of Lyon’s plans at the same time, so much the better.  And what the hell kind of drink what that anyway?!  He wasn’t going to drink something bright pink with umbrellas!

[IV] - Smooth Operators, Part I

Jellal allowed his group to flank him as they walked from the hotel that he had booked for himself and those of the team who hadn’t been invited to stay elsewhere.  By design, it was a considerable distance from Fairy Hills—bad enough that he had to see Erza at a party, it would be worse to be too near her overnight.  

Meredy had skipped ahead of everyone, whether in a rush to hang out with other girls or just to get away from the same boring people he wasn’t sure. Erik was rushing for his own reasons, which were most likely purple-haired and gorgeous. When Racer sped up, he figured that the man just wanted to arrive ahead of Midnight, who never looked like he put in any effort, but was irritatingly good at winning anyway and generally showing people (Racer) up.  

Pretty soon, most of Crime Sorcière was rushing madly down the street, dodging pedestrians—mostly—and avoiding falling into the canal—again, mostly.  Jellal turned to Richard to make a comment about being the mature ones, but Richard had a wistful look on his face, and shortly afterward he was charging down the street behind his comrades just for the joy of participation.  It didn’t occur to Jellal until he heard a resounding bang and the sound of splintering wood that they would all get tangled up a short way from the Fairy Tail front doors and end up literally crashing the party.

Jellal picked his way through the debris, wincing at the damage to the lavish decorations, not to mention the doors.  And yet, he couldn’t help but admire the irony of Crime Sorcière, with its coterie of fancy powers, being the ones to create a disturbance at Fairy Tail, which was justifiably known for creating its own disturbances on a regular basis.  Jellal looked elegantly dressed as always, but it just seemed to highlight the caustic—and rather arrogant—antagonism of most of his colleagues.  Despite his dismay, however, he noticed two things:  first, Erik was having a quick chat with Mirajane, which he found odd; and second… Erza looked stunning in an evening gown that accented every perfect curve.

Even as he hastily dragged his eyes away from Erza, Mirajane came rushing over.  Jellal squelched a sigh and managed a polite smile.  Not that he didn’t like Mirajane, but she tended to take an… interest… in his personal affairs.

“Jellal!  You made it!  I was just beginning to worry!”  

She looked anything but worried, in Jellal’s opinion.  In fact, he thought her blue eyes had the particular gleam he’d come to dread.  She was perfectly dressed, of course, and would probably make the front of Sorcerer’s Weekly again, but he knew her too well to be taken in—especially when she wore such an innocent smile.

“Mirajane, thank you for inviting us. I’m very sorry about the, uh, door though, and--”

“I’m so glad you came—and the others too!  You absolutely have to dance…”  For an instant Mira’s eyes seemed to darken slightly.  “We spent absolutely forever deciding on just the right music.  Oh and the cake—as you can imagine!”

Well, she’d managed about half a dozen sentences, maybe, without bringing up Erza.  That wasn’t too bad.  Still, he was reasonably certain that this was just the beginning.  Sure enough, at just that moment, Mirajane turned abruptly with a low cry of annoyance, and when Jellal glanced up to see what had alarmed her, he found himself looking straight at Erza.

With incredible—and surely staged—timing, a path had opened across the hall between the star-crossed lovers, and Jellal was looking directly at Erza’s…

“Oh, wasn’t it a shame that she dropped her dessert tickets?!”  Mirajane was saying, with apparent sincerity.

Jellal frantically searched for a response that didn’t include a cascade of scarlet hair over bare shoulders and very nearly bare… arms… as Erza bent over to pick up her tickets.  Somehow, he’d managed to forget just how creamy her skin looked against the beautiful jewel tones that she loved to wear.  From there it was just a short skip of memory to how soft she was to hold—although maybe memory had become blurred with fantasy.  Jellal felt his cheeks begin to burn.

Apparently, Wendy had fumbled the dessert tickets at just the wrong moment, and then stumbled trying to pick them up. At least, Jellal assumed it was something like that, since Wendy was being helped up by Charle, as well as disentangled from whoever she had fallen into.  A little closer to Jellal, Gray seemed to be having a dispute with Lyon, which was causing other people to stand back in concern.

None of which really registered except in passing.  As Erza straightened, her eyes naturally went to Wendy, who was apologizing to everyone around her.  And from Wendy they went fleetingly to Gray, and then directly to Jellal.  Somehow, Mirajane was now standing beside the master of Crime Sorcière, instead of in front of him.

Jellal swallowed hard and crossed his arms, gripping his elbows tightly so that he wouldn’t be tempted to reach out. His dark eyes finally met Erza’s, and he almost recoiled a little.  The blazing look she gave him was mostly anger, but he knew her too well to miss the longing that went with it.  It was very, very difficult to turn away knowing that he could walk up to her right now and touch her soft skin and bury his head against her hair and, maybe, let his hands run over those wonderfully rounded hips.

He gave up trying to deal politely with Mirajane, muttered something about speaking with Makarov, and fled in the general direction of the bar, trying not to look as though his own personal demons were after him.  It was a less dignified retreat than he’d hoped for, and it didn’t help that the first person he bumped into was Cobra.

“So, tell me again why you’re not off somewhere getting cozy with those breasts?”  Erik’s eyes were bright with amusement.  Jellal felt his face getting redder, but he’d had lots of experience shoving the mind-reader out of his head when he really needed to.

Erik smirked at him.  “Yeah, that’s so not working right now, Jellal.  Your concentration’s shot and I don’t think anyone needs magic to know what’s on your mind.”

When Jellal glared at him, suddenly looking far more menacing than he had in a long time, the former member of the Oracion Seis threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Yeah, okay, you’re the boss, boss. But, uh, you might want to get a grip… on something, anyway.”

With that parting shot and an audible snicker, Erik sauntered off, leaving Jellal wishing for a moment that he hadn’t become one of the good guys.  Fortunately, staring after Erik allowed him to finally catch a glimpse of Makarov.  Completely unsettled by the directions his thoughts had taken since arriving at Fairy Tail, Jellal composed his face as well as possible and walked over to say hello.

Makarov sat on top of the polished bar conversing with his cronies.  Wakaba blew a massive smoke ring, giving the master a thumbs-up.  “Not too shabby.  Lots of good lookin’ chicks here for once.”

Macao gave his best friend a dubious look.  “For once? Best selection EVER.”

“Keep it down or Mira will make my life hell—and yours too.”  Makarov glanced left and right, worry evident on his face.  “She giveth and taketh away if you know what I mean.”

“Yup.”  Macao nodded and then grunted.  “I was married once.”

Wakaba rolled his eyes.  “Pfft.  Like you could ever land a woman as enticing as Mirajane.”

“I didn’t say anything about Mira, but I could if I tried.”  Macao glared at his buddies, but shrank back at little at Jellal’s stony-faced response to his bragging.

Makarov spat out a mouthful of beer and let out a long-suffering sigh before setting his mug down to make eye contact with Jellal.  

Macao mumbled: “Well, maybe.  Can’t a guy dream?”

“So Jellal, my boy, have you been enjoying the party?”  Makarov decided to move forward with the conversation.  Mirajane didn’t just have demon souls, she had the ears of a devil too—and too much reflection on her charms would lead to heads slamming together (whether it was her doling out the punishment or her brother crying both ‘men!’ and actual tears).  Changing topics was not a hard choice to make, really.

“Most assuredly.”  Jellal nodded stiffly.  “I’ve always been entertained by your guild members.  Natsu in particular.  How fares Lucy?”

“Lucy?”  Wakaba asked, “You’re asking about Natsu and need to know how Lucy is doing?”

Jellal furrowed his brows briefly. “Yes?”

“Natsu’s just fine.”  Makarov set down his drink and leaned closer, the better to talk to the leader of Crime Sorciere.  “Is there something you’d like to ask me?”

“...”  Jellal gulped and looked askance at Makarov.  “I have no idea to what you are referring.”

Makarov laughed, loud and hearty. “Relax my boy!  This is a party, have a drink!”

Wakaba and Macao exchanged looks (which read like WhatDaFuQ?).

“I still don’t follow.”

“Jellal, you need to get over yourself and talk to the woman!”

“I do not see your reasoning.”

“Erza needs some of your attention.”

“Erza might want my attention, but she doesn’t need the attentions of any man.  She’s a force to be reckoned with, as strong as nature itself— “  Jellal broke off his soliloquy praising Erza as Bickslow sauntered up to him and forced a tankard into his hands.

Bickslow flipped up his ever-present visor, leered, winked and cackled.  “Time to party!  Drink up dude!”

The five spirit-dolls flew in a bobbling pattern around the Seith’s head and chanted, “Drink!  Drink!  Drink!”

Wakaba, Macao, Makarov and Jellal proceeded to consume.  

[V] - Smooth Operators, Part II

He was here.  She’d known that he would be, of course, since the party was an official event to encourage relationship building and collaboration between the guilds.  Jellal always did his duty.  Unfortunately, she’d forgotten how much she missed his physical presence.  It was one thing to admit that his ideals, his sense of justice and friendship, and his quick mind impressed and captivated her, and quite another for her body to suddenly betray her by longing to be held against his tall, lean form and caressed by his strong, capable hands.  She felt a shiver go through her, but she definitely wasn’t cold.

For just an instant, she had thought that he would finally throw caution and scruples aside and rush to her side. Her mind had painted a picture of him kissing her passionately, totally unable to resist her any longer.  Instead, he had turned away from Mira with an unconvincing smile and hurried toward the bar.  She loved the way his deep blue hair was always slightly untidy, even though the rest of him wasn’t.  She wasn’t aware that her fingers were tightening as though she could actually feel the soft, slightly springy strands.  

“Um, Erza?  Are you okay?”  Wendy was looking anxiously up at her.  

“Oh, Wendy.”  Erza smiled affectionately down at her young friend.  For no apparent reason she wondered if she and Jellal might have a child with hair as blue as Wendy’s.

Seeing that Erza was abstracted again, Wendy patted her gently on the arm and moved off to talk to Gray, who appeared to be drinking--was his drink actually pink?  It seemed so… unlikely.  Still, they needed to do a little more planning, apparently, if they were going to get their friends together for the evening.  Wendy couldn’t help but think that Erza and Jellal would look incredibly elegant and romantic dancing together.

Meanwhile, Erza was fully engaged with her fantasy world, one hand playing absently with the ends of her long red hair--she always left a few wavy strands to fall on either side of her face, even when her hair was up, as it was now.  In her mind’s eye, Jellal had finally told her that he loved her and couldn’t live without her.  

It was the night before their wedding and he’d come to see her, even though he wasn’t supposed to.  That’s what made it so wonderful, of course:  that desire for her had made him infringe on even such a minor custom.  He’d kissed her--she almost thought she could feel his tongue exploring her lips and then probing more heatedly into her mouth--and one hand had--involuntarily of course--moved from the small of her back to her breast.

It was just as well that neither Mirajane nor Cana were looking in her direction, because the dreamy look on her face was rapidly becoming something more intense.  Unfortunately for Erza, somebody else had noticed and even now was stretching out a delicate, well-manicured hand to say:

“Erza!  My honey!  Your parfum is—”

Hearing her name, Erza had turned, eyes shining and lips slightly parted to find… Ichiya of Blue Pegasus, his large face alight with ecstatic admiration.

Erza screamed.  It was embarrassing, but there it was.  The change from Jellal’s much-loved features and sensitive touch to the vision in front of her was drastic, to say the least.

“Agh!  Get away from me!”  Erza wasn’t afraid of much, but for some reason Ichiya’s fawning (not to say drooling) attentions always unnerved her.  Clutching her dessert tickets in one hand, and her skirt with the other, she rushed blindly away.

“But come back here my honey!  Your parfum it is wonderful!  So beautiful!  So sensual!”

Ichiya was following her through the crowd, his drink spilling a little as he trotted after Erza’s bare back and round, silk-covered derrière.  Oddly enough, although he was slightly hindered by the throng, people didn’t interfere on Erza’s behalf the way they usually did.  Or rather, a few people interfered, but not to prevent Ichiya from chasing Erza directly toward the bar, where Jellal had suddenly stood up, red-faced and eyes glowing with drunken fervour.

“I’ve got to find Erza!” he shouted, words only slightly slurred.  “She’s smart, an’ powerful, an’ nice to everyone, an’, an’ by the gods she has incredible breasts!”

There was a slightly muted cheer from Mirajane and Cana, who were watching their plans develop from behind the bar (with occasional forays for important activities like directing Ichiya in just the right direction).

“You go get those tits, blueberry!” Cana called to Jellal, downing half a beer.  “Just take ‘er away and don’t bring her back until—”  Mirajane put her hand over her friend’s mouth at that point, because she could see Wendy turning red about thirty feet away.

Meanwhile, it had finally dawned on Jellal that Erza was rushing toward him, her expression disgusted and her wonderful brown eyes wide with fear.  He wasn’t sure why his head felt so muzzy, but even so he perceived the cause of her distress immediately.  With surprising accuracy, given his condition, he aimed the tiniest charge of magic at Ichiya’s feet and swung his beloved Erza up into his arms.

“Woohoo! Go get’er big boy! Make that grumpy ass allllll yours!”  Cana had gotten away from Mirajane’s half-hearted grasp and was standing on the bar to get a better view of the action.  Fortunately, Wendy was halfway across the hall whispering to Gray, who looked first murderous and then grinned.  

“Don’t worry, Erza, I’ll deal with this ruffian!”  Jellal, all inhibitions flown and awash with chivalrous lust, glared at Ichiya and then kissed his beloved passionately on the mouth.  Erza, completely at a loss, just stared at him, too shocked to even return the embrace.

“I am NOT a ruffian, you uncultured, undersexed, over-complicated--”

Jellal missed the rest of Ichiya’s rant, as Mirajane was pushing him rather violently toward the front of the hall.

“I’ll look after it, Jellal, but you’d better get Erza out of here!  She shouldn’t have to be bothered by such attentions, right?  You should take her away from the guild for a while, right?”

“Uh, Mira?” said Erza weakly, at that point.

“Shut up!” Mirajane told her firmly, and for a wonder, the redhead obeyed.

From behind them, Jellal heard a roar of “MEEEENNNNN!” from Ichiya.  Torn between defending Erza’s honour and certain attractions of Mirajane’s suggestion, that cry propelled him toward the door.  He could easily crush them all, of course, but Erza might not like it and he had the distinct impression that there was a party going on.  It really wasn’t appropriate to get into a fight at a party.

He made his well-wishers hold their collective breaths when he suddenly stopped, frowning. It had occurred to him that at Fairy Tail, starting a fight might actually be the socially and morally appropriate course of action. Fortunately, Erza chose that moment to take a deep, bewildered breath, and the sight caused Jellal to lose track of what he’d been thinking. Wendy waved at him and opened the door, handing Erza a bright pink bag as Jellal trotted by.

“Your dessert, Erza!  I thought you might want it!  And some special chocolates that Mirajane said to give you!  Happy Valentine’s Day!”

She had to shout the last part down the street, as Jellal was picking up speed on the slight incline.  He looked as though he might rush straight into the canal by accident.

A very short distance away, Gray was having a hurried conversation with the gondolier of a festively-decked boat sitting at the edge of the canal.

“Yes, that’s right, I’m Lyon Vastia and I hired this gondola for my friends because they haven’t seen each other in a while, if you know what I mean.”

The gondolier wasn’t overly-concerned, but he’d been told to hold the boat for a white-haired ice mage with a blue coat, not a dark-haired guy with a white coat.

“Are you an ice mage?” he asked, trying to be fair about the whole thing.

“Oh yes,” answered Gray, smirking a little.  “I sure am.” He brought his fists together and murmured “Ice Make Floor!”

The street between Jellal and the canal suddenly sparkled with ice in the moonlight, and only battle-honed reflexes kept him on his feet as he skidded the rest of the way toward the water, tripped on the stone edge of the canal, and tipped gracelessly into the canal boat.

“They’re just a little, um, warmed up, okay buddy?” Gray said to the gondolier with a knowing wink.  “The guy’s a wizard from out-of-town, usually pretty easy-going, but don’t piss him off, right?  Oh, and uh—” Gray gave the gondolier the name of the inn Jellal had chosen to stay at, in an attempt to stay away from Erza.

There were sudden shouts from the direction of the guild hall, and Gray told the gondolier to get going.  Jellal had just sat up, rubbing his head, and Erza was tugging at the skirt of her evening gown.

“Gray!  What are you doing?!  That was--”

“Later, Erza!  Just, um, look after Jellal for us!  I think somebody spiked his drink and he’s, um, not safe on his own! Bye!”

Gray gave the gondola a surreptitious shove with some well placed ice, and it suddenly shot ahead into the main part of the canal.  Satisfied that he’d played his part as well as possible, Gray ran up the side of the street, avoiding the sheet of ice he’d created.  He met Lyon halfway up, looking angry, Juvia hurrying along behind him.

“What the hell did you do with my gondola, Gray?!  I had it reserved for Juvia and I.  It wasn’t easy to get a reservation tonight, let me tell you!”

“Is Gray-sama alright?” asked Juvia at the same time.  “Gray-sama is missing his coat!  Juvia will go find it!”

Gray looked down.  Damn, he must’ve gotten distracted while trying to convince the gondolier that he was Lyon.

“Will you LISTEN to me, Gray!  Are you looking for a fight?  You better get that gondola BACK!”

Gray retrieved his coat from Juvia with a smile of thanks, which made the elegantly-dressed water mage sigh in happiness. Gray-sama didn’t always notice when Juvia tried to help him.

“Not gonna happen, Lyon.  I suggest you get over it.  Also…  I don’t think Juvia was gonna go with you anyway.”

Just as Lyon was about to respond, both doors to the guild hall burst open, and Natsu came rushing out, followed by Happy and Lucy.

“What’s going on out here?” he demanded, looking around wildly.  “Ichiya and the Blue Pegasus gang are taking on Mirajane an’ Cana inside for some reason, but Cana told me to get lost and then I heard this guy shouting.  He giving you grief?”

“As if he could!” retorted Gray, insulted.

“Yeah, but y’know he beat ya before!” taunted Natsu, ignoring Lucy tugging on his arm.

“HEY!  I’m right here you know!” shouted Lyon, frustrated.  “And somebody just stole my gondola!”

This caught Natsu’s attention for a moment.

“You carry around a gondola?  What for?  I mean, you c’n just hire one if you need one, right?”

“I can go look for it!” Happy suggested, trying to be helpful.

Gray shoved both hands into his hair. This was getting out of hand.  And Juvia looked really… nice… standing there all dressed up like she was--as her team-mate he should make sure she got to enjoy the party and he didn’t think that brawling with Natsu or Lyon was going to help.

Just then, Wendy called out from the doorway:

“Happy!  Charle was looking for you!”

Happy immediately abandoned all thoughts of canal boats.

“Really?  Where is she?  Is she hungry?  Does she want some Valentine’s Day fish?”

Wendy blinked.  “Um… no.  But I think she’d like to eat her dessert with you!”  It had taken some convincing, but Charle had agreed to keep an eye on Happy.  Not that Charle was as indifferent as she pretended, in Wendy’s opinion.

“So, Juvia,” said Gray, tucking his hands into his pockets and trying to look casual.  Like, friendly casual.  

“Yes, Gray-sama?”

“How about we go in and um, we can get some dessert too?”

Juvia beamed and clapped her hands together.  Gray-sama wanted her to eat Valentine’s Day cake with her!  That was practically like getting engaged!

“Juvia would like to have dessert with Gray-sama!  And if Gray-sama wants, he can have some of Juvia’s cake as well!”

“Yeah, thanks Juvia.”  Gray sounded cool--he hoped--but his heart had given a tiny skip at the way Juvia had looked at him.  Without a backward glance at the canal, he escorted Juvia into the guild hall.

Bitter at the failure of his plan for a romantic, hour-long gondola ride with Juvia, Lyon glared at Gray’s back, but gave up the obviously unequal fight.  I mean, if the stupid canal boat had been there--and Gray had been fighting with Natsu--then he was sure that Juvia would have come with him.

“So, since Gray’s gone in, wanna go a round with me?”  Natsu asked hopefully.

“Oh grow up!” growled Lyon, totally disgusted with the evening.  “I’m going in to get a drink or several.”

“Huh.  Guess he really wanted that gondola,” Natsu commented.

“I’m sure he did,” answered Lucy, repressing a sigh.

“Well, you know what we should do, Luce?”

“What?”  Lucy waited for the suggestion with something like hope but no real expectations.

“I think we should get some of that cake too!  Erza chose it so I’m sure it’s awesome!”

She stood there and just looked at the friendly smile Natsu wore; open and childish like always.  Lucy knew her own smile was crumbling.  Maybe she did have expectations - and they had suffered another crushing defeat.  No keeping this one down, she sighed.

“Not in the mood for cake?”  Natsu tilted his head as if seeing Lucy at a new angle would serve to gauge her emotions better.  “Then let’s go have some drinks.”  He offered her his arm, puffing out his chest as she accepted, unaware that his grin had turned prideful and a smidge possessive.

Lucy leaned into Natsu’s welcome heat; escorting her like a gentleman—this was the stuff of dreams.  “I’d love to.”

[END of CHAPTER 1]

From the authors:  Stay tuned for some steamy hijinks tomorrow!

All notes, reviews, comments and reblogs (we LOVE notes and reblogs!) are very much appreciated!!  💕 💕 💕

[drawingsanddrabbles]

Feb 20th - Marriage/Living Together

betaed by @ilovebeingintroverted

Happy Gajevy week yall

ao3    ffn   jan 31st    feb 14th   feb 15th   feb 16th    feb 17th    feb 18th    feb 19th 

Living together wasn’t as bad as everyone made it to be. By everyone Levy meant Mira, Laxus, Evergreen, Lucy, and Macao and Wakaba. They all complained about their partners, lamenting about the small habits they had, like not putting the toilet seat down or never putting away the milk. Though despite all of that each of them would swear up and down that they wouldn’t have their living arrangements be any other way.

Bisca and Alzack, on the other hand, seemed to be the happiest about living together. They never seemed even slightly irked about the other’s smallest habits. Before moving in Levy had taken Bisca in confidence and asked her if she’d had any tips on living with someone.  Bisca had shaken her head and got that faraway look that she always had when talking about her family. She’d smiled and just said to Levy, “you know, after awhile, the little things just don’t bother you anymore.”

So with that under her metaphorical belt Levy was ready to move out of Fairy Hills and move into Gajeel and Pantherlily’s homey cottage. Gajeel, Lily, Gray, and Natsu helped her move, carrying her boxes while Lucy and Levy made sure they were well hydrated and went over some of the finer points of editing in Lucy’s own story. After all of her boxes were moved into the house Levy and Lucy treated the boys to dinner which… was mostly a mistake as they later realized the mages had eaten them into desperate need for more money. But as jolly as her first few days were there were a few apparent problems.

One of them was the lack of room for Levy’s library. Gajeel and Pantherlily’s house wasn’t large but it wasn’t small. The main room was a living room and a kitchen. It had two bedrooms, one for Gajeel (and Levy now) and the other for Lily but stuck between the two bedrooms was a small room which Gajeel had previously used for storage and extra iron treats he’d found.  It had been cleaned out so that Levy would have a room for her books. They quickly realized that the small room wouldn’t cover for a library as the shelves that they had made barely held up half of Levy’s collection. So the three of them got to work building more bookshelves and they tried to find some wall space, but soon even that was diminishing and the books which Levy loved so much were not. So the project was put on a backburner until a surplus of money had been accumulated so that they could flesh out the project of building Levy a proper home for her beloved books, meanwhile they had found a home on Gajeel’s floor which was fine until Gajeel needed to get up in the middle of the night and he stubbed his toe on a particularly large tome which made him stumbled and land on another and so on. By the time Gajeel had made it into the hallway he was exhausted and trying really hard not to curse loudly and wake up his partner who had somehow slept through his bumbling.

Another problem was the temperature. Living in a cottage was nice except that Gajeel had a tile floor and Magnolia was known for getting extremely cold during winter. Gajeel however liked the cold, he liked the burst of feeling when he rose in the morning from his warm bed. He liked the frosty window glass and aesthetically Levy couldn’t really disagree. However waking up and feeling the temperature drop dramatically when she moved her arm outside of the blanket was not something she was fond of. After a few arguments which mainly centered around whether or not the couple should buy some rugs to cover the cold floor (Gajeel didn’t want them because he’d have to wash them {which Levy promised she would do} and because Gajeel didn’t like the feel of the rugs against his feet) they decided that Levy would just have to own many pairs of slippers. So the house was speckled with small fuzzy shoes so that no matter where Levy was in the house she could always put on a pair. (Gajeel did love the way she walked around the house during winter, piling layer after layer onto herself so she looked like a marshmallow, waddling around with a small cup of tea or cocoa in her hands.) Pantherlily even adopted the slipper habit, though Gajeel refrained.

The most prevalent one was the one of diet. Not that the food that Gajeel ate on a regular basis was unhealthy per say (it was, but apparently big appetites of solely fatty and meaty foods as well as some tempered iron for dessert were less damaging to an Iron Dragon Slayer than a normal mage) but it wasn’t a very wide variety. Levy was the first to go grocery shopping once they began living together and she came home with a cart of vegetables and proteins. Gajeel raised an eyebrow at the foodstuffs.

“What is this?” He asked.

“It’s a vegetable, Gajeel. People eat them. They’re healthy.”

Gajeel snorted and tossed the green thing on the table as he helped Levy unload the products she had bought. “What is this?”

“It’s a smoothie maker.”

Gajeel frowned before placing it on the counter next to him. “And this…?”

“Mavis Gajeel, you act like you’ve never eaten anything but carbohydrates and meat!”

Gajeel blinked at her. Levy rolled her eyes. “And I can’t believe that you’re the cook between the two of us.”

“My food is good and it’s filling!”

“Yes Gajeel, but it could also give Master Makarov a heart attack with everything you put in it.”

Gajeel harrumphed and sniffed at the strawberries that Levy had picked up. “Fine.” He said. “But I’m not cooking any of this stuff.” He decided that he didn’t like green food, that green was an unnatural color for edibles to be.

“That’s okay, I’ll just cook it-“

“Yeah, no.”

“What do you mean no?” Levy argued, placing her hands on her hips.

“Shrimp, you can’t cook for shit.”

“Well if I don’t cook it and you won’t cook it then it’ll just rot here!” Gajeel scowled. Levy knew how much he hated the smell of rot, it burned in his sensitive nose and even the word made his schnoz twitch. “I’ll cook it and you’ll teach me how in a way where I don’t-“

“Burn down the house?”

Levy gave him a Look. “Yeah, sure. Aaaand you’re eating some.”

“Uh uh. You can eat it if you want but I’m going nowhere near it.”

“Gajeel, your diet isn’t healthy!”

“Green food isn’t healthy.”

“It’s very healthy. It grows out of the ground.”

Gajeel crinkled his nose in disgust. “So does fungus. We don’t eat that.” He argued.

“Look at the bottom of the bag.” Levy responded. Gajeel sifted through the rest of the groceries and pulled out a bag of mushrooms. “Those are the healthy ones.” Levy said with a sense of pride. Gajeel dropped them like he’d been burned before hesitantly sniffing them.

“Just try some vegetables.  Tonight with dinner I’ll make a salad. No cooking required just a knife and water to wash the vegetables. Trust me, you’ll love it once you try it.”

Gajeel grumbled but when dinner came he tried the new foods and decided that he disliked them. Pantherlily (traitor) applauded Levy for making such a fine salad and almost devoured whatever Levy herself didn’t eat. It looked like Gajeel had lost that fight and that the scourge of flora would remain in his house.

But besides for those few arguments most of what Bisca said rang true for Levy. The little things like the fact that Gajeel always left hair in his hairbrush instead of throwing it out or that he didn’t put the cap back onto the toothpaste after using it and let the excess toothpaste dry around the mouth of the bottle until there were multiple layers of crusted tooth-cleaner where there shouldn’t have been had stopped bothering her after a while. After only a month living with him she felt at home, and she was.

[iampinksim]

An untitled Fairy Tail fanfic I’m working on at the moment. Dont know if I’ll finish it or not. I think I’ve spelled some names wrong, maybe some spells even but like I said, its not finished.

"I hope this bruise goes away soon." Lucy whines. "Its so annoying." "What bruise?" Gray asks, sitting down across from Lucy at the guild hall table. "I got a bruise on our last job and it still hurts." "You should embrace it." Erza says walking up next to the table. "It shows you've done a job well. A warrior's wound if you will. I have a few myself." "Yeah but its huuuurtsss!" "Come on Lucy, would you stop whining already? Geez." Gray says rolling his eyes. "Uhm darling..." Juvia starts. "Where are your pants?" "What!?" Gray looks down. "Ah!" Erza smiles and walks away.

"Hey guys whats up?" Happy asks as he flies up to the table, Natsu behind him. "Lucy says she has a bruise." Gray answers. "A bruise?" Natsu repeats. "Where?" "On my side." Lucy answers. "Its - wha- HEY!" Natsu grabbed the hem of Lucy's shirt and began to lift it. Lucy blushes and then stands up quickly. "Hands of perv!" She yells and kicks him. "Oww!" Natsu says. "What was that for? I wanted to see how bad it was. Was just gonna tell ya to get it checked out. You didnt have to kick me." "You didnt have to pull my shirt up!" Lucy screams. "You could have just told me you idiot!" Natsu pouts and rubs the back of his head, now sitting two tables away on the floor. "Hey Natsu," Wakaba comes up behind him. "Yeah?" Natsu continues to rub his head. "There's someone lookin for ya?" "For Natsu?" Gray asks. "Who is it?" Natsu asks too, standing up. "I dont know. Just went into town to grab some new smokes and I heard someone say there's been someone walking around asking for you." "Hm. Wonder who it could be." Erza says. "And what would they want with Natsu?" "Dunno." Wakaba shrugs. "Natsu, do you have any idea who it could be?" Lucy asks him. "No idea." Natsu turns to Wakaba. "Was this person a person or dragon?" "You really dont hear yourself talk do you?" Gray says shaking his head. "Hm, wellll. No one's said anything about a dragon." Wakaba rubs his chin. "So its not Igneel." Natsu says to himself. "I wonder-" The guild hall doors open then. Natsu's group and Wakaba look over. A girl with dark skin, reddish black hair, black pleated skirt, a red bralette and black books walks in. She's also wearing finger-less red gloves. There's a guild symbol on her stomach on the left side but Natsu doesnt recognize it. She looks around the guild, right hip cocked to the side with her hand resting on it. "Whose that?" Gray speaks up. "No idea." Erza says. She steps forward. "Excuse-" The girls eyes landed on Natsu. She stands up straight then and smiles wide. "Natsu!" "Huh?" Natsu says, taken aback. Who is this? "Natsu!" She starts to run towards him. "I've been looking for you!" "Uhm..." Natsu watches her as she gets closer. Do I know her? Her brown eyes lower, she smirks and then she brings her left hand up, fist curled and swings at Natsu. The blow sends Natsu hitting the bar. The guild is now watching on and some of them gasp and start murmuring. "Who is that chick?" "Did she really just hit Natsu for no reason?" "Knowing him its probably for a reason." "Yeah, you're probably right." "Who walks into a guild and attacks one of its members?" "Whats going on?" "She sent Natsu flying! Who is she?" The girl crosses her arms and smirks. "Are you just gonna sit there and stare at me?" She says. "Do something. I dare you." Natsu blinks a few times. He jumps up and roars. "Alright," He growls taking his fighting stance, glaring the girl down. "You want a piece of me?" She scoffs and shakes her head, hip cocked and hand on her hip. "I just told you to hit me." "Fine." Natsu says. "You asked for it!" Natsu rushes her and his fist is on fire. He stretches his arm out to hit her but she dodges it. Natsu growls again. He continues to try and punch her but she dodges every one. "Stop running away and fight me!" The girl chuckles. "You cant even touch me!" "Oh yeah!?" "Fire dragon - talons!" The girl quickly moves to the side and laughs. "Argh, face me like a man!" Natsu yells. "I know she started it but she's a girl Natsu." Lucy says exasperated. "Who the heck is this crazy chick?" Gray says. "Why did she just come in here and sucker punch Natsu like that?" "It is quite strange." Juvia agrees. "Do you think they know each other?" Lucy asks. "She was smiling before. Then all of a sudden - AHHH!" Lucy jumps to the side. "Hahaha!" Natsu laughs. The girl crashes into one of the tables, breaking it. She groans and sits up. "Fire dragon - Brilliant Flame!" The girls eyes widen. She covers her face with one of her arms. When the flames disappear, she's covered in a few scratches but otherwise unharmed. Some of the guild members notice and began to wonder who she really is and why it didnt affect her. Natsu of course pays no mind. He lands in front of her, looking down, arms crossed a grin on his face. "Had enough yet?" He asks her. The girl makes a growling noise in her throat. She's up in a flash and her and Natsu go crashing to the ground together. "Natsu!" Gray yells. The girl has her arms around his neck. Natsu was one second from pushing her off to continue to fight but, She has tears in her eyes. "Wait, are you crying?" Natsu asks, befuddled. "Did I hurt you?" The girl lowers her head and shakes it. "No I ... I'm fine its just ..." Natsu sits up and the girls drops her arms. She curls her hands into her skirt keeping her head down. "I just missed you is all." She says. "I probably should have greeted you more properly." There was silence and then, "HUH!?!?" Coming from the whole guild. "Thats what she calls greeting!?" Natsu hums. He crosses his arms and legs. "You're really tough." Natsu says. "I saw you raising your arm up to hit me but I didnt think I would go flying into the wall." "Sorry about that." "He doesnt care!?" "So who are you?" Erza says. "I demand to know why you charged into our guild and attacked one of our members? Who sent you?" "No one sent me." The girl stood up and dusted off her skirt. "I came on my own. I've been looking for Natsu." "Why?" "We're old friends." She answered smiling again. "Old friends? Who punches their friend in the face when they've not seen each other in a while?" Lucy says. The girl laughs. She puts her hand on the back of her head. "Sorry. I just got so excited when I saw him. I couldnt help myself." "Excited!?" "Whats your name? Where did you meet Natsu?" Gray asks. "My name is Kaia." She bows. "I'm sorry for the trouble I caused. Forgive me." "Its fine." Erza says. "Now tell me how you know Natsu." "Well see, I was out one day on a job and I...kind of got in over my head." She chuckles. "I was supposed to find and get rid of some forest vulcans that had been disrupting a village. Normally, I'd have no problem fighting them but I ... I caught a cold. I took on the job anyway though. I found them and beat them but then...they called for backup. I thought I could take them on but there were more than I could handle I guess." She looked down at Natsu who was still seated on the floor. "Then out of nowhere, Natsu came. I dont know why he was there but if it wasnt for him, I might have been a goner." "I see." Erza says. "Natsu you did that?" Happy asked. "I dont remember doing that." Natsu shrugs. The girl laughs. "You're so silly Natsu." "He's not joking around ya know." Gray says. Natsu stands. "So we've met before huh?" "Yeah." "And I saved you from that pack of monkeys?" "Yeah." "So I rescue you and you attack me!? Who does that!?" Natsu growls, pressing his forehead against the girls. "You're the one who went and got me all excited!" She yelled, pressing back. "That doesnt make any sense!" Natsu yelled. Natsu and the girl continue to argue. Everyone in the guild turn white with exhaustion but confusion. "Its hard to believe he doesnt know her when he's fighting with her the way he does with Gray." Macao says. "Yeah." Wakaba nods. "I have to say it is weird." Gray says. "Gray your clothes!" Juvia screams. "Crap!" "Alright thats it!" Natsu yells. "You and me! Bring it on!" "I'm not holding back this time!" The girl yells back. Erza's eye twitches. "Knock it off! Both of you!" Natsu and the girl stop bickering and look to Erza. "Now, Kaia. You still have not told me why you're here." "Oh." Her face goes sullen all of a sudden. Lucy seems to be the only one who notices. "I..." The girl composes herself and smiles. "Natsu told me to come visit him!" "Did he? Is this true Natsu?" "I dont know!" "After he helped me with the monkeys -" "What do you mean helped!? I'm the one who kicked all their butts!" "We talked for a while." She continued. "He told me he was out catching fish for his friend because they got into a fight." "I must be that friend!" Happy says brightly. "I love fish!" "Yeah." The girl giggles. "I told him I was a bit inexperienced and about the guild I was thinking about joining at the time. He told me I'd get a lot stronger if I joined Fairy Tail. He said great things about this place. He told me I should come and visit sometime and then he left. "I dont know why but ... I meant to come a long time ago but ... Anyway! Here I am!" She said cheerily. "Well I'm glad you decided to show up." Natsu smiled at her. "He was just fighting with her!" Lucy looks on as her guild mates asks the new girl questions. Was she the only one to notice the girl looking upset when asked why she was here? Or when she paused in her story about her being sick? Maybe it was nothing. Of course it was nothing. She knows nothing about this girl. Maybe thats just the way she is. "If its all the same to you, I'd like to rest up now. I traveled a long way." Kaia was saying. "Natsu, do you know anywhere I can stay for a while?" "Well we have a girls-" Juvia started. "Can I stay with you Natsu?" Kaia asks him. Natsu blushes. "What?" Everyone seems to have gone about their business except of course Lucy's group, who are left stunned at Kaia's request. "You want...to live with me?" Natsu says. Kaia laughs. "No silly. I just need a place to rest tonight." "Oh. Right." "Honestly Natsu. I know we just rekindled and all but you're moving too fast." "What!?" "I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now." "I dont want to be your boyfriend!" "You're so adorable." Kaia giggles. "Shut up!" "Wow. Dont think I've ever seen anyone strike out that fast before." Gray says. "I didnt strike out! Shut your mouth frostbite!" "Dude, you totally struck-" Natsu took a swing at Gray and hit him in the jaw. "I said shut it!" "Oh its on!" Gray and Natsu started to fight, as usual. Lucy looked over at Kaia and she was laughing at the whole thing. It may be too early to say, but she seems like a nice enough person. Surely if she had some ulterior motive, something would have happened by now. She's definitely not afraid to attack head on if her charging on Natsu while he was surrounded by his guild says anything. "Ahhh!" Gray and Natsu have knocked over Kaia. They ignore her as she sits on floor holding her side. Lucy runs over to her. "Are you okay?" Lucy asks. "Yeah. Fine." Kaia doesnt let go of her side. "Can I help you up?" Kaia nods. She takes her hand off her side and Lucy takes that hand. Lucy looks down at her guild symbol but its not something she knows. Wait. Is that... "Are you sure you're okay?" Lucy asks once Kaia is upright. "I'm fine, thanks." Kaia flinches and grabs her side again. "Uhm-" "Natsu!" Kaia yells. Natsu and Gray have each other by the collars but otherwise not fighting anymore. "Where is your house? I'd like to go to sleep now." Natsu pushes Gray off of him. "Why do you want to stay with me anyway? Its-" "Please Natsu." Her eyes turning soft and pleading. "I just want to sleep." "Ugh! Fine! Its this way." Kaia smiles at Lucy and then follows after Natsu. Was that a bruise on her bruise? It didnt look like one though. But it must have been. Could it have happened when Natsu hit her? Or when he and Gray knocked her over? Possibly. But it didnt look like a bruise exactly. Who is this girl and why was she here? Why was she looking for Natsu specifically? What was on her side? "Something on you mind Lucy?" Erza asks. Lucy shakes her head. "Nah. Its probably nothing." The thing on her chest must be a bruise. She could have gotten into a fight before she came here. Or Natsu or Gray did it. There's no reason to worry. Lucy knows Natsu is more than capable of taking care of himself. Still though...

The next afternoon Natsu asked Lucy to go on a job with him. "Where's your friend Natsu?" She asked. "What friend?" "The one from yesterday? Kaia?" "Oh, her." Natsu puts his hands behind his head, lacing his fingers. "She's still in bed." "Still?" Lucy wonders. "She left here yesterday morning. Has she really been in bed all this time?" Natsu shrugs. "She told me it took her a couple days to get here. She's tired I guess. Are we going on this job or not?" "Yeah uhm... Sure. Shouldnt you tell Kaia though? What if she comes looking for you and you're not here?" "Then she'll see me when I get back. Lets go!" "Natsu! She came all this way to see you and you're just gonna leave her?" "Geez Lucy. If you want me to go tell her so badly I will. When I get back we're going on this job, deal?" "Yeah." Lucy nodded. Natsu left. Kaia seemed to be in so much pain yesterday. She only got one hit on Natsu and it seems like it took a lot out of her. She dodged every blow he threw at her. And then she got so easily knocked over by Gray and Natsu while they were fighting. She wouldnt stop gripping at her chest. She did say that she was sick when she met Natsu. Is she a sickly person? Could she be sick again? Is that why she's still in bed?

"Hey Kaia." Natsu calls as he walks in his house. "You up yet?" Kaia opens her eyes but doesnt move. "Natsu," She says softly. "I'm going on a job. Lucy wanted me to come tell you in case you got worried." "Okay." She closes her eyes back. "Good luck." Natsu blinks. "Are you okay?" "Yeah." "You sure? You look kind of sick." "No I... I'm just tired. It was a long journey." "Well... Alright. I'll be back later." "Bye." "See ya."

When they return from the job, Lucy looked around and didnt see Natsu's friend Kaia. Natsu didnt seem too worried so Lucy feels like she shouldnt be worried either. She wonders briefly if Kaia is some sort of spy but then...she seemed to be in so much pain today and Natsu had said that she's been asleep since yesterday afternoon. Either she's a really good actress or there's seriously something wrong with her. "Whats got you looking so bummed out Lucy?" Grey asks. "You didnt get hurt on the job again did ya?" "No. Its just..." Lucy puts a hand to her chin. "Natsu's friend. Its like she just...manifested out of nowhere. Natsu didnt even know who she was." "Natsu doesnt remember anything." "I know but...there's something about her. I dont know if we can like...but then she was in so much pain. That thing on her side..." Lucy trailed off quietly. "Yeah. That is kind of weird. And Natsu of all people. I think... I'm gonna go find Erza." Lucy sat there contemplating for a while. A few moments later she heard Erza yell Natsu's name so she looked up. Erza and Grey were standing in front of Natsu. "Take us to see Kaia." Erza commands. "Kaia? Why?" Natsu scratches his head. "Dont ask questions. Move." Natsu went rigid and turned to walk out the guild, walking stiffly with Erza and Grey behind him. Happy sat off to the side looking puzzled. Lucy decided to get up and follow. They arrived at Natsu's hut some fifteen minutes later. Erza slammed open the door. Lucy looked inside. There she is. Sleeping. Just like Natsu said she was. Except... It doesnt look like she's breathing. "Is she dead?" Grey asks. "I dont think so." Natsu says, walking over to her. "Hey Kaia! Kaia!" She didnt budge. Natsu shook her shoulder and called to her but she still didnt move. "Gross! Dont tell me there's a dead girl in your bed Natsu!" Lucy exclaim, covering her face. "She's not dead." Erza says. "There's a faint pulse. She's still alive. But for how long..." "What do you mean?" Lucy asks. "Natsu," Erza starts. "Grab her and lets go see the Master."

"Dear me," Makarov says. "Its just as I feared." "So I was right then." Erza folds her arms and nods. "You were. It was smart of you to bring her to me." "I dont get it. Whats going on?" Natsu asks. "Whats wrong with Kaia?" "She's been cursed." Makarov answers. "If we dont do something soon, I'm afraid she'll die." "What!?" Natsu yells. "There must be something we can do! What is it Master?! Tell us!" Lucy exclaims. "Get Freed. This is a dark spell. One I'm not familiar with. Perhaps he can assist us. Grey. See if he's here." "You got it." Grey runs out of the room. Lucy turns back to Kaia. "So thats why she came here." Lucy says softly. "Natsu helped her before so she must have thought he'd be able to help her again." "Too bad she chose the wrong guild wizard." Erza says. "Hey! Whats thats supposed to mean!?" Erza hits Natsu on the head and he falls over. "Master! I've got Freed." Grey says as he and Freed walk into the room. "Excellent. Freed, we dont have a lot of time. Do you think you can figure out what this curse is placed on this young wizard?" Freed nods. "I'll do my best." They all watch as Freed stare at the marking on Kaia's side and then he conjures up a book. He flips through the pages some. "Oh. Oh my." He says glumly.

[fallen029]

The guild teases Miraxus and they don’t know the two are already dating AU *^* can you please do it for me?

For what it’s worth, I’ve done something similar before here, here, and here. Plus a bunch others where they’re secretly together that I just can’t think of right now. 

The day was actually kind of boring. That’s what Lisanna thought as she sat around with Natsu and Happy, the feline sucking on a fish head, the slayer rested with his head flat on the table, drooling a bit in his sleep. It wasn’t because everyone fun was gone. No way. Team Shadow Gear was around, all of Natsu’s team, and most of the slayers. Oh, even the Thunder Legion seemed to be hanging about, Bickslow filtering between bothering different women in the hall while Freed tried to smooth over any bridges his friend burned. And Evergreen sat by, at a table close to Elfman’s., but not too close, so that she could make eyes at him, but not too clear eyes, and the inebriated man couldn’t quite tell what he was supposed to gather from this.

Maybe it was just Lisanna was bored. Everyone else seemed to be going about their normal, everyday schedule. Erza was lecturing the lessers in the hall, Nab was trying hard not to be seen so he didn’t end up on the receiving end of this, Wakaba and Macao were smoking their pipes as Romeo sat by, explaining his most recent feat out on a job.

Everything was normal.

And normal was boring that day, for Lisanna.

“Do you guys wanna go on a job or something?” she asked Natsu who wasn’t snoozing so deeply he couldn’t wave her off, but Happy was kind enough to spit out his fish just to truly address her.

“We can’t today,” he informed her. “We already told Lucy no, even though she needs jewels.”

“Then she could come too.”

“But then we’d have to actually go on a job, Lisanna.”

He felt like she was missing the point.

She felt like he wasn’t making one.

“Well, don’t you at least want to do something fun?” she insisted that time. “Happy? Watching Natsu drown in his own spit is about as great as watching paint dry.”

“Oh, I’m plenty entertained.”

“It’s really creepy, cat, to stare at a girl from across the room so pointedly.”

Lucy was back then, taking her place at the table as Happy only glared, finally looking away from where Carla was pointedly ignoring him. But Lisanna was glad to see the blonde.

“Do you think,” she asked quickly, “that you still wanna go on that job? We could go together.”

“Oh, really?” Lucy was quick to nod. “Yeah, we just-”

“Hey!” Happy was even more annoyed now. “You guys can’t go together.”

“Why not?” Lucy asked as Lisanna also awaited an answer.

“Because… You can’t go without me and Natsu! You need us.”

“Awe, Happy,” Lisanna giggled while the celestial mage only rolled her eyes.

“Hardly,” she offered back in response.

“Do too,” the feline insisted. “What if you wanna fly up somewhere real high?”

“I can transform, Happy, into a bird,” Lisanna reminded.

“Well… Natsu, they’re trying to ditch us!”

“Let ‘em,” he grumbled against the table. “You guys keep wakin’ me up.”

“Maybe because you’re trying to sleep in a crowded guildhall,” Lucy retorted though it only got a hand lifted to wave her off.

“Let me go check with sis that she and Kinana have everything at the bar,” Lisanna said as she almost bounced up. But then she noticed Mirajane coming towards her and paled a bit. “Oh, no.”

“Lisanna,” her older sister began in that tone and Lucy cried in lost jewels. “Hey, I had something come up. Do you think that you could cover for me?”

“What could possibly come up?” the youngest Strauss complained because of course she would. Do what her sister asked. She always would. “Mira? You’ve been working all day.”

But her sister just gave her a sympathetic look. “It’s only a few hours til closed.”

“Hours?” Lisanna groaned. “What are you going to do?”

“Something,” Mira told her with a look, “personal.”

Lucy giggled then, into her palm. “Something?”

“Or someone?” Happy asked around his fish head. But Mira was never one for bashfulness and just gave them a look too that more or less confirmed it and suddenly the day got a lot more entertaining.

As her sister disappeared off into the sunset (or at least out of the hall), Lisanna completely balked on any gross barmaid duties (yuck) and instead stood now, at the table with Happy and Lucy, discussing just who it was that Mira was rushing off to go meet.

“It has,” Lisanna told the two of them (plus the snoozing once more Natsu), “to be someone in the hall.”

“Why though?” Lucy asked, taking an uncertain glance all about.

“Because she didn’t have plans before she got here. She only made them a few minutes ago, I bet. And no non-member came in during that time. So, clearly, it was within this building that Mirajane found someone to hookup with.”

But Happy and Lucy sat there, staring at Lisanna.

“You get real serious,” the feline offered, “when I comes to this stuff, huh?”

“This is prime gossip material, Happy. Us Strauss sisters don’t play about that thing,” Lisanna told him. “Even when it comes to one of us. It pains me to have to sacrifice Mirajane, but I would expect, no, hope, that she’d do the same to me.”

“Well,” Lucy offered with a bit of a weary glance, “as long as you’re sure.”

“I am.”

“Okay, so we can knock the easy ones out of the way first,” Happy offered the girls as, now with only bones, he sat his lunch down to stand up, on the table, and take some good glances all about. “Well, Natsu’s here, sleeping, so he’s not goig to be- Unless, is this a long con? Natsu?”

“Just let me sleep,” he complained into his puddle of drool and, well, it’s not like either woman took him as a serious candidate for Mira anyways.

“And,” Lucy took over then, looking around as well, “Wakaba and Macao-”

“Yeah, gross. Sis has standards,” Lisanna agreed. “Max?”

“He stays outside at the gift shop. And Mira’s only been inside,” Lucy sighed.

“Nab?” Happy offered up.

“He’s been hiding from Erza all day.”

“Oh, hey,” the cat offered then. “How do we know that Mira’s not meeting a woman? Huh? We don’t. Maybe she’s meeting Erza.”

“Only if she wants to be lectured,” Lisanna whispered bitterly, a past causality in the swordswoman’s war of laziness.  

“Well, Levy and Gajeel have only been talking to one another and Lily all day,” Lucy move right along as she ran her eyes over each and every table. “Cana is passed out, I think, and Gray is-”

“Gray.” Happy decided it for all of them. “Mira and Gray are sneaking off to go hookup. I’d stake everything on-”

“Gray?” Natsu, suddenly, was animated as he bounced out of his seat. “Where’s that bastard? How dare you…you… What did he do wrong?”

“Slept with Mirajane.”

“Happy,” both Lisanna and Lucy complained because it was a fun game, between just the three of them, but when you added in the risk of others hearing about it, suddenly it was less a game and more bullying. Maybe. Something close to it.

“He what?”

Juvia had happened by in that moment, headed over to where the ice mage was sitting close by to Cana, sipping on a beer and minding his own damn business only for, of course, the stupid Salamander and his two bimbos to ruin his day. Of course. Like always.

“No-” Lucy tried, but it was too late. Reeling this back in had long sailed away.

“I demand,” Juvia yelled as she stalked over to Lisanna, “retribution.”

“So do I!” Natsu for far less noble reasons. “Gray!”

The ice mage hadn’t heard all of it, but enough to know what was going on and didn’t even glance over there.

“I’m not going off to fuck Mirajane. Thanks for putting my shit out there though.”

“You’re welcome,” Happy offered as Natsu tried to think of another good reason to go beat the snot out of the other guy. He decided he didn’t need one (the idea of fighting for Mira’s honor had kinda been a bit flimsy anyways; he really didn’t care anything about those sorts of things) and instead bounded off anyways, to fight with Gray while Juvia regarded Lisanna with suspicion, but let her off the hook. Happy though had just taken to scanning around the room some more. “What about Bickslow? He’s always creeping on women.”

“No more,” Lucy complained with a glare. “You ruined the game. You-”

“What’s the game, huh?” They’d gotten the interest of Macao and Wakaba at least, the latter calling over to them. “Some sort of…wager to see who can sleep with Mirajane?”

“Out of luck,” Macao retorted. “Only open to those who aren’t married.”

“Dad,” Romeo groaned because ugh, he was so embarrassing.

“What a vulgar game,” Carla stifled, over where she sat with Wendy, the young teen looking a bit red, just from the suggestion of it.

“I agree!” Suddenly, Happy was flying away as Natsu finally bum rushed Gray and, well, things were deteriorating fast. “I would never be a part of such a gross game, Carla.”

“I mean, yeah, I don’t think you’d be in the running,” Lucy called after him, somewhat bemused.

“At least,” Erza announced from the center of the hall as she looked on at all of them with evident disdain, “Mirajane is doing something occupy her time. Unlike the rest of you.”

Something, someone. Yeah, yeah. Lisanna didn’t feel like jokes any longer as she continued to scan about. She could hear her brother, now annoyed at the implications the others were making, but she didn’t go off to calm him down because she knew, if she just thought hard enough, then…

“Where,” she asked Lucy, “is Laxus?”

“Huh?”

“He was here,” she insisted. “All the slayers are. I remember thinking that. But he’s gone now.”

“Is he not- No, I guess he’s not,” Lucy agreed as she glanced over in the corner where the man had been seated before, drinking and listening to his music. Still, it was Lisanna’s turn to get a wondering grin out of the blonde as she said, “Yeah, but you don’t think… Mira and Laxus-”

“No fucking way.” Macao blew literal smoke at the suggestion. “Sparky and Mirajane? He’s nowhere close to being in her league.”

“Laxus is in a league of his own!” Freed would not take for such slander. Abandoning smoothing over all of Bickslow’s misgivings, he came over to make his peace known. “There is no one that comes even close to him. He could cast his net right here, right now, and capture all of you in it!”

“What does that even mean?” Lucy giggled softly to Lisanna, but the girl was only thinking hard.

Mira and Laxus…

The last time her sister had a date, the man had been around too. Lisanna remembered, because she had to cover Mira’s shift for her and Laxus had just arrived back and left, suddenly, canceling his request of a plate of food just as Lisanna was taking over for the leaving Mirajane. And the time before that, when Mira had left the house to meet some mystery guy…hadn’t she and Natsu stalked Laxus for the beginning of that day, in hopes of tricking him into fighting the other slayer?

Mira and Laxus…

“Are you okay?” Lucy laughed that time in discomfort and even reached out to pat at the woman’s arm. “Lisanna?”

“Uh, yeah, I am.” She sobered quickly, standing fully. “I have to get back to work. Well, actually start working, I guess. Who knows who Mira’s off with, you know?”

“Yeah, I agree,” Lucy sighed as she watched with disinterest when Erza moved to knock both Gray and Natsu in the head for tussling in the hall. “Probably no one that interesting anyways.”

“Probably,” Lisanna agreed though, inwardly, she knew, oh, she fucking knew, “not.”