Levy: How was shopping?
Lucy read the message as she sunk into her old sofa. It was late.
Lucy: Great! Bought a book by Sophie Hannah. Totally going to start that this evening!
It did not take Levy long to respond.
Levy: Ooh! Which one?
Lucy: The telling error
Levy: I haven't read that one
Lucy: You can borrow it once I'm done!
Levy: Thank you!
Lucy giggled at her friend's enthusiasm.
Levy: Get anything else?
Lucy paused for a fraction of a section.
Lucy: Well I got some new underwear
Levy: Ooh! Pretty ones?
Lucy: Of course, want to see?
It had taken Lucy a while to open up to this sort of conversation. The friends she'd made while at university were happy to talk about underwear and periods and all the other taboo topics that Lucy had not been allowed to discuss at home or with her tutors.
Levy: Hell yeah! Send me a pic!
Lucy: Sure, I'll send it on snapchat!
That way it would disappear once it was seen. She didn't want pictures of her underwear floating around the web. Not that she really thought any of her friends would share them, but she couldn't be too careful.
Lucy laid her new set of matching red underwear out on her duvet. Then a dangerous thought crept through her mind. What if she modelled them? Caught by the daring idea, Lucy quickly stripped off and changed.
She snapped a picture using her bedroom mirror ensuring her head was not in the shot.
"Damn I look good," she said to the empty room as she sent the shot to Levy. Lucy gave herself one more glance over before changing into her pyjamas. It looked like all those trips to the gym were starting to pay off; Lucy could just see the outline of her abs.
Her phone vibrated.
Lucy scooped it up and flopped on her bed. It was a snapchat alert. But it wasn't from Levy. It was from Natsu, her other best friend.
It was a photo of his face with raised eyebrows with the caption: that colour looks great on you ;)
"Shit."
Then she noticed the other notification: Snap screenshotted!
"Shit," she repeated.
She hadn't. She couldn't have. But Natsu was just under Levy in her favourites. Her finger must have slipped.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. What do I do?"
Her fingers worked automatically. She dialled Natsu's number from memory, ignoring the autocomplete and finishing the number by herself.
"Pick up. Pick up," she hissed as she held the phone to her ear.
"Hey, Luce!" He sounded practically buoyant.
"Natsu Dragneel you delete that screenshot right now!"
"It's nice to hear from you," he said in a sing-song voice. "I see your shopping trip went well!"
"I am not joking here!"
"Great progress on your abs, I'm glad all those sit ups are working out for you," he went on.
"Natsu!"
"Now why would an innocent young lady like yourself be taking such sexy photos?"
"I was showing Levy my new underwear set," Lucy replied defensively.
"You sent that to Levy?!" Natsu gasped. "Do you normally do these sorts of things?"
"Well, we're friends! We share things," Lucy said.
"I thought we were friends! You don't share those things with me!" Natsu complained.
"Because you're male! It's a different type of friendship!"
"I think that is gender discrimination Luce," Natsu said.
"Natsu you are a straight male and I have breasts," Lucy deadpanned. "Why on earth would I send you pictures of my underwear?!" she added in a low hiss. "It would be like sending you free porn but weirder because you're my friend."
"I could buy you dinner first if it would make you feel better?" he offered.
Lucy spluttered.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
"You want to buy me food in exchange for underwear pictures?" she asked incredulously. "That is what you just suggested, isn't it?"
"Well-"
"That just makes everything weird Natsu."
"I can send you one back if you like?" he offered. "To even out the weirdness."
"That just makes it weirder!"
"Hang on, I'll do it now," Natsu continued, ignoring Lucy's protests.
Lucy felt her phone vibrate, she opened up the snap and screenshotted it on principle. Great. So now she had a topless picture of her best friend on her phone.
"Does that make it less weird?"
"No."
"You saved it."
"Yeah, for blackmail."
"Blackmail how? I look great in that!" Natsu exclaimed. "Better than the stripper does anyway."
Having previously seen both Natsu and Gray topless - for a completely innocent reason, Lucy might add - she had to agree with her friend, not that she was going to tell him that.
Lucy sighed.
"Can we just pretend this didn't happen?" Lucy pleaded. "We both delete the pictures and move on."
There was a silence at the other end of the phone.
"You know, it's kind of funny," Natsu said finally. "When you sent that, I thought that was your weird way of admitting you liked me." He sounded disappointed. "I deleted it. Night Luce."
He hung up before Lucy could reply.
"What?! Who comes on to their best friend by sending them underwear pictures?!" Lucy asked her vacant bedroom incredulously. "I'm not that weird."
Levy had replied while she'd been on the phone with Natsu.
Levy: wow! You look great!
Lucy wanted to ask Levy for advice but did not know how.
Lucy: thanks! Gonna head to bed now, night!
Levy: me too, night!
Lucy climbed into her bed and pulled her duvet over her head. But she couldn't let it slide. She had to sort this out.
Lucy: Do you like like me?
She sent the message to Natsu before she could think too much about it. He did not take long to respond.
Natsu: Of course I like you, you're my best friend!
Lucy: No, I mean more as than a friend.
Natsu did not reply immediately.
Natsu: Natsu totally fancies the balls off of you but isn't man enough to admit it because he doesn't want to ruin your friendship or some bullshit.
Lucy frowned, but her phone began ringing before she could formulate a reply.
"Luce? That was Gray, that bastard," Natsu said quickly. His voice quietened as he yelled away from the phone, "why don't you go and ask Juvia out, you coward!"
Lucy heard Gray's voice shout back, "mind your own business!"
"Stupid ice princess," Natsu growled. "Just ignore him. I'll punch him later."
"Is it true?" Lucy asked in a small voice. Natsu did not reply. "Look, I can call Gray and ask for clarification…" she baited.
"Ice princess doesn't know what he's talking about," Natsu growled. There was another pause. "What if I said no?"
"Then we go back to pretending this never happened," Lucy stated.
"And if I said yes?"
Lucy took a deep breath.
"Then I think you owe me some food."
"Will Italian do?" Natsu asked. Lucy could hear the mixture of hope and happiness in his voice.
"Italian would be perfect."
Omake…
"Hey, Lucy?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you have a picture of Natsu topless on your phone?"
"Shit, I forgot to delete that!"
Author's note: Thought of this and found it funny! Please review!
