A/N: This story is the what the Gajevy one-shot spin off was based off of. A modern AU. The characters will be OOC but I'll try to stay true to who they are as often as I can. This'll be a short author's note -gasp- I know right? Rated T for language, slight violence and implicated/suggested themes.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima
Summary: If you told her that she would have a cat burglar (literally) break into her house to steal some cookies, she would laugh. If you told her the very next day that she'd meet the one man who would change her life for better or for worse, she'd call you crazy. Nothing would have prepared her for this. And she was perfectly fine with that.
Chapter 1-
Dragging the last box into her new apartment, Lucy Heartfilia smiled proudly and gave herself a pat on her back. In retrospect, it had taken her forever to actually find a place that she knew she would live perfectly and comfortably, but she was completely sure she had found it. Nestled fittingly in the outskirts of Magnolia, stood a building called 'Fairy Hills'. Although it was nowhere near a hill, the place was quiet and peaceful. The building was surprisingly large but what caught her eye was the street that it was built. Strawberry Street, they called it.
The entire complex had an indoor system, meaning that one would have to enter their apartment through the building, like a hotel, instead of outdoor walkways. The neighborhood wasn't a bad one, much to Lucy's delight, but the precautions were definitely welcomed. She walked over towards the window, both glad and a bit disappointed that there was a gigantic tree blocking her view. She was glad because it blocked some of the sunlight streaming through and that it was a pretty good fire escape if she ever need one. She was sad because if she could get out on it, someone could get in and it was blocking the view of the canal.
In another light, Lucy couldn't help but enjoy the filtered breeze that escaped the tree's leafy clutches. So maybe the tree actually did have more uses than disadvantages.
Just gotta make it a habit to lock the window then, she thought with a satisfied smile.
The busty blond stretched her arms over her head, the white shirt lifting in the process, exposing her toned stomach. She let out a purr of satisfaction as her bones clicked into place.
"So how are you liking your new apartment, Lu-chan?" A quiet bluenette asked delightfully, carrying a plastic wrapped plate. By the smell, Lucy was safe to assume that it was home-baked cookies.
The blonde turned around and smiled warmly, dropping her arms back to her sides. In the doorway stood a tiny (for her age, at least) woman with a shy, almost sheepish, grin. Lucy had met the other woman only a few days ago when she first started to move into the complex. Levy McGarden was her name. They had taken to talking about books, work and just random facts of life, quickly becoming close friends. Lucy could say that her new friend was definitely interesting.
She had short blue hair that was held back with a folded bandana, only two thick strands of hair escaping to frame her delicate face. Today, she was wearing a cute, pale-orange dress that fell just about mid-thigh and probably one of the cutes pair of Angel White sandals Lucy had ever seen. She was a bit pale in contrast to Lucy's lightly tanned skin, but the blonde argued otherwise. She was more like a porcelain doll.
"Do you mind if I call you that?" Levy asked when the blonde hadn't said a word.
"I love the apartment, thanks for asking," Lucy giggled, flushing a little in embarrassment. She started towards the bluenette, "And I don't mind if you don't mind me calling you Levy-chan."
Levy gave the blonde an equally wide smile, "Of course not! Everyone usually just calls me Levy anyway."
She ambled over, meeting Lucy half-way and managing to not trip over her own feet. The bluenette offered the plate of wrapped cookies towards her and grinned when Lucy took it gratefully. The blonde lightly lifted it to her nose and breathed deeply, closing her eyes in pleasure of the warm aroma.
"Ah," Lucy sighed happily, opening her eyes to look at the other woman who was currently admiring her room, "These smell delightful. Thank you, Levy-chan."
"No problem," The bluenette shrugged, focusing back on her, "Ever since I told the girls about you moving in, they demanded that we at least bake you a welcoming gift. It's the least we could do." Lucy smiled warmly at that. "They would have been here to greet you today but I guess work got in the way, like always."
Lucy hummed in response, placing the plate of cookies on her coffee table, "What did you say your workplace was like again?"
"Just a bunch of people specializing in different fields," Levy replied, following the blonde when she motioned her in further, "We take the odd jobs that people don't know who to go to, professionally at least. Rewards for those vary." Lucy hummed absentmindedly as she rummaged through one of her cardboard boxes. "It's pretty fun, I'd admit. A lot of the jobs are requests from outside of Magnolia but there are quite a few jobs from here."
"How do you guys keep track of all the jobs?" Lucy asked.
The whole concept was foreign to her and, even though she won't say it out loud, a little weird. The idea was appealing but she didn't know how she felt about it or if she would even fit into something like that. Not that she was seriously considering it or anything. However, it would be nice to fall back on something just in case she couldn't find a steady job. A 'Plan B' is always a good habit to have.
To each their own, she guessed.
"We have a board where clients can post requests and stuff," Levy explained, "They actually can contact the head over the phone so they don't have to come in personally if they live far off. We're not the only ones that do this kind of thing so sometimes we get mixed up with other groups. I guess you can just call us Guilds of some sort."
"I heard of a couple of those before. There was one who called themselves Mermaid Heel, " Lucy murmured, pulling out a teapot and some cups. Smiling proudly, she set on preparing tea to go with the cookies, "Are you staying for tea, Levy-chan?"
"Ah, yes please," Levy nodded, settling on the couch that still had its plastic moving covers, "And yeah, we know them. They helped us a few times on jobs, they're pretty cool."
"Rumor has it that they only accept females," Lucy announced, looking over her shoulder, "Is that true?"
"I'm actually not sure. I've never actually seen any males from them."
"Shame."
"Why?" Levy asked, folding her hands in her lap. The kettle whistled loudly, making the bluenette flinch slightly and speak louder so she could be heard, "Is there something you're not telling me, Lu-chan?"
"Maybe," Lucy mused, shooting the other woman a secretive smile before laughing at her baffled expression. The blonde pulled the kettle off of the stove and gently poured the hot water, along with the tea mixture, into the ceramic teapot, "I'm one hundred percent female, I promise."
"Good," Levy groaned, letting out a breath of relief, "This is a female-only apartment complex."
"Really?!" Lucy exclaimed, nearly overfilling one of the teacups before stopping herself and placing the teapot on the side. She looked over at her friend with wide eyes and ignoring her laughter, "I never knew that! I saw a man walk out earlier and I waved because I thought he was a resident!"
"Lu-chan!" Levy laughed, clutching her stomach. Lucy folded her arms in front of her chest indignantly, however, the bluenette continued to laugh anyway. She didn't know what for, what she said wasn't that funny. "This isn't a dormitory," Levy sighed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, "Men can come and go as they please. Don't look so scandalized."
"I don't look scandalized," Lucy protested, placing a cup of tea in front of the other woman before settling into her own chair. She reached forward and unwrapped the plate, the warm smell of the cookies made her mouth water, "It's just that I would never expect that such a large building would be for women only. That's all."
Levy smiled behind her teacup before sipping the contents, "Mm. Wow, this is delicious!"
"Family recipe," Lucy smiled before drinking her own.
She reached forward and snagged a cookie, marveling at the spongy texture. So it was understandable when she couldn't help placing her drink down to observe the treat. It was new or, in lack of a better word, different. She carefully broke the treat in half, the cookie itself pulling away like a sponge cake. It was delightfully warm and the chocolate chips inside of the dessert itself was still gooey. Curious, she broke off of a piece and cautiously placed it on her tongue.
The cookie, if you could now count it a cookie, melted between the roof of her mouth and her tongue. The flesh of it was moist, definitely not like a cookie. It was also spongey but there was a thin layer around the treat that crunched between her teeth. It wasn't burnt, that much was obvious, and it was baked thoroughly. Lucy let out a delighted moan that was completely deaf to her own ears, much like the blue haired woman who was sipping at her tea, staring amusedly at the blonde in front of her.
"What is this?" Lucy asked her friend, "Because where I come from, these are usually called cookies but it has properties like a cake. But it also have hints of lemon and..." The blonde tasted the cookie again, "And strawberries."
"I honestly don't know," Levy shrugged, an amused smile on her face, "It's kind of a tradition of ours to gather and throw a bunch of ingredients together and hope to our founder, Mavis, that it comes out well. I guess you can say that it absorbed properties of what we like the most."
The blonde shot her a questioning look, "How so?"
"Well," Levy thought, "Cana likes booze, so I'm sure that's what made the cookie moist. Mira likes the sweetness of life, so I guess that's where we got the chocolate chips. Erza loves strawberry cakes so I'm sure that's what the strawberries come from and I do enjoy cookies. Maybe that explains the look itself? I dunno."
"And the Lemon?" Lucy asked with a smile, warmed by the bond the girls worked into the cookie, "I mean, I love lemonade and lemon in general so I quite enjoy that, don't worry."
Levy sighed in relief before shrugging, "We ran out of vanilla extract so we used the lemon extract. It's a good thing it worked out though."
"It is," Lucy laughed, finishing off her cookie, "I don't know if I should be amazed or worried about you guys randomly mixing things into the cookie batter but the product is amazing so I'm not complaining."
The two girls laughed at that, Levy agreeing with her. Soon enough, the pair fell into a comfortable pace, talking about anything and everything. They tend to stray away from their pasts, excluding the books that they read previously, and from anything work related. Their laughter echoed in Lucy's empty apartment every so often. They were so caught up in their current, full-story, explanations of the last book they read before Levy glanced out of the blonde's window, seeing the sun nearly set.
"Oh gosh!" The bluenette gasped, scrambling to her feet and cursing under her breath. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"
"What? What's wrong?" Lucy asked, her eyes wide in alarm.
"Nothing, nothing!" Levy replied, trying to control her panic, "I just promised my team that we would try to do a mission tomorrow but we would meet today at the hall to find a job... Oh Mavis, they're going to kill me!"
"Just go," Lucy urged, halting Levy's hands as the bluenette tried to clean her mess, "I'll do it, don't worry about this. Just go to your friends."
"B-but-"
"It's fine, Levy-chan," Lucy smiled, gently pushing the girl towards the door, "Besides, I don't want to give your friends a bad impression before actually meeting them."
Levy slumped into a sigh before nodded in agreement. She allowed the blonde to lead her towards the door, no longer struggling against it. Of course the words rang true, even she knew that people could leave bad impressions even without talking to them first. Lucy smiled at the blue-haired girl and gave her a good-bye hug before letting her out.
"I'm probably going to unpack until noon tomorrow then go to the market and see if I can stock my pantry," Lucy informed just in case Levy planned an early visit, "All I have is a loaf of bread and a couple of cans of tuna, fish chunks and processed meat." The bluenette scrunched her face in disgust. "Yeah, not my idea of a good meal either," the blonde laughed before gently shoving the woman out the door, "Now go before your friends start to curse me out."
"Okay, okay," Levy laughed, "I'll see you later then?" At the blonde's nod, she smiled, "Alright. I'll see if I can introduce you to any of the girls after my job tomorrow, if we even choose one."
"That sounds great," Lucy grinned at the aspect, the blue-haired girl nodded, waving as she walked off.
Waiting until Levy rounded the corner, the blonde closed the door and looked around her apartment. Thankfully her bed was her first priority to unpack. Well, in this case, it was her first priority to buy, dress and use. The best decision she had ever made, she believed. The carpet that they installed in each of the rooms were plenty comfy but she wouldn't wouldn't subject herself or anyone else to it. Her bed was heavenly and that's that.
The blonde gravitated over to the table and picked up the plate, placing it on her study table by the window before bringing the leftover dishes into her separate kitchen. Between her and Levy, they had eaten at least a quarter of the cookies and drank a whole pot of tea. They were delicious, but since they had the sponge of a cake, they were filling. It also went very well with the tea that Lucy had made, not that she was tooting her own horn or anything. But they were absolutely divine.
She giggled softly to herself before reaching over to turn on the tap. Warm water immediately flowed from the metal faucet, soaking both her hands and the used dishes. Lucy felt a sense of peace flow through her body, a peace that she hadn't felt at all since she left home. She didn't know what caused it though. It could have been the domestic duties that had kept her hand busy, or the familiar tune that she had hummed. For all she knew, it could have been that loud thump that she heard from the other room.
Honestly, it could have been anything.
Wait.
Lucy froze, her hands stopping her scrubbing. Narrowing her eyes and straightening her back, she slowly turned off the current flow that distorted the noise in the other room. With nearly silent steps, she pushed away from the sink, drying her hands on her pants so she wouldn't drip water on the floor. Whoever -or whatever- was in the next room hadn't noticed her or was just oblivious to their surroundings.
There was a crash as objects rained onto the hardwood floor, a moment of silence following afterward. Soon, a muffled sound slipped from under the wooden door that barricaded her from her intruder. It sounded like a groan or -in Lucy's panicked delusion- it sort of resembled a... 'meow'. Shaking her head, she grabbed the closest thing she could find and clutched it against her chest like a lifeline. And if this interaction turned bad, it might as well be.
Pursing her lips in a sense of panic, she quickly slammed the door open and held her weapon of choice above her head. Over her yelling, the blond was faintly aware of the walls that shook in result of her graceful entrance or the fact that the window fell loudly also due to her entrance. But what struck her into silence was the fact that there wasn't anyone in there. Well, not exactly.
Staring back at her with wide eyes on her study table, absurdly close to the plate of cookies, was a cat. A blue cat.
So it was safe to say that she screamed.
If possible, the cat's eyes widened further at the blonde. The thing -Lucy so blatantly decided to call it- hissed at her before snatching two or three cookies off of the plate before bounding onto her bed. Lucy screeched and finally tossed her weapon (which was a wooden, singing mackerel. Don't ask but she got it as a souvenir from her trip to Hargeon after nearly getting rammed by some dude who had a scarf wrapped over his head. Acting like a ninja, apparently) at the cat. It missed, but thankfully it bounced harmlessly off of the bed and onto the floor.
Lucy felt a vein tick as the cat stared at her, mischievously grinning past it's mouthful of cookies as if mocking her for missing. The blue cat stuck his rump towards her direction, mockingly swinging his tail before crouching. The thing bunched up his muscles, his eyes locked on the window, before shooting forward. The blonde opened her mouth, trying to stop the cat from leaping but was a second too late.
The cat yowled out in pain as it smashed it's face against the glass. The tiny blue body crumpled against the force before slowly sliding down to the floor. Despite the gooey trail the cat left as it slid, Lucy couldn't help but burst out into gut wrenching laughter. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes as she dropped to her knees, needing to clutch at her stomach because it felt like it was going to burst. The cat let out a groan of both pain and disapproval, but Lucy paid it no heed. She couldn't help it, just looking at the cat's dessert caked face sent her into another round of laughter.
The blonde hadn't paid attention to it then, but she felt weight lift from her heart and her shoulders as she exerted whatever stress she had left into that laugh. She unsteadily rose to her feet and disappeared into the kitchen, returning with what looked like a damp towel. The laughter still pricked at her eyes but she slowly approached the cat, her hands in the air to show that she wasn't there to harm him. The cat hissed a little but let her get closer.
"Aw, you poor thing," She giggled, the cat's blue muzzle was stained with streaks of chocolate while chunks of cake dotted his fur.
Now that she was closer, she could see that this cat had a collar and blue, tiger-like stripes that littered it's pelt and the top of his head. It was extremely faint though, only the light of the setting sun seemed to bring out the true color. The blonde crouched in front of the cat who seemed taken to being sprawled against her fluffy rug, unwilling to move. She reached forward slowly, a pleasant smile at the cat's sudden cuteness. When she was satisfied the cat wouldn't harm her, she roughly gripped the cat's scruff and brought it close to her face.
"I don't know if you can understand me, cat," Lucy said in a sickly sweet tone, her chilling smile sent shivers down the blue feline's spine, "But breaking into someone's apartment, not only stealing food but also trashing it, is unforgivable. Don't you dare do it again, you understand me?" The cat's eyes seemed to widen in fear and she swore she saw recognition pass through them. Shaking her head, she disregarded that though. Hopefully she wasn't going insane, "Do. You. Understand. Me?"
The blonde blinked in surprise when the cat nodded, her eyes widening at the sudden action. She was taken aback. No cat she ever interacted with showed any sign of recognition of understanding anything that she was saying or had said. Much less nod at a question. And if she was completely honest with herself, she was scared.
"O-okay then," she stuttered, shaking her head. "Let's get you cleaned up then."
She carefully placed the cat on the floor before getting a gentler grip around him and lifting it into his arms, giggling when it tensed. Unwilling to place the cat next to the plate of cookies (in fear that he would make an even bigger mess), she brought it over to her bed and flopped onto it. Normally she wouldn't want the cat's fur all over her sheets, but now, she didn't really mind it. She stretched out her legs out into a 'v' shape and gently plopped the cat down in front of her.
"Okay," Lucy smiled, stroking the cat's spine to get it to relax.
After a few minutes, the blue feline slowly dissolved under the blonde's touch and purred loudly. It's eyes were closed, seeming to enjoy the attention he was receiving. He rubbed his cheek against her hand, the whiskers tickling her wrist. Lucy's heart thudded against her chest as she tried to stop her laughter from spilling over. With a shake of her head, she gave the cat a stern glare before moving her hand to gently scratch the blue feline under his chin. As she predicted, the cat purred even louder.
"You're making crumbs on my bed," Lucy grumbled, playing with the cat's collar. When the cool metal of the tag brushed against her fingers, she caught it in a light grip and tilted her head to read it better. "Happy, huh?" Lucy questioned with a raised eyebrow. True to his name, the cat purred louder in response and curled his tail jovially. Of course, she thought the name was weird but strangely fitting, "Yeah, I can see it."
"Okay buddy," The blonde giggled, lifting the cat's face so she could see easier. She sighed fondly at the cat, bringing the damp towel closer, "I'm going to clean your face, but honestly, that's what you get. Didn't someone ever teach you that trespassing is rude?"
Lucy gently scrubbed the cat's muzzle first, ignoring the cat's protest. Despite the yowls, Happy hadn't moved and decided to let the woman clean him.
"My name is Lucy, by the way," She announced, moving onto the other side of his face, "I don't see an address on your collar. Do you belong to anyone?" The cat set a defiant stare when she paused. "Okay, okay," Lucy rolled her eyes, "So I'll take that as a no. You don't have an owner but you have a collar, so what? You have a human companion that feeds you and loves you?"
At Happy's nod, she laughed at the absurdity of it. The blue feline batted at the blonde's hands, causing her to smile.
"I'm not laughing at you," She giggled. The cat stared at her, unbelieving. "Okay, so maybe I am. No, don't look at me like I'm losing my mind. I'm pretty sure I lost my mind ever since I grabbed the singing mackerel as a weapon." Happy continued to stare at her if she was the weirdest thing in the world.
"And now I am just noticing that I am talking to a cat," Lucy sighed, finally wiping the last of the cookie stains off of the blue feline. Dropping her hands in exasperation, she gently pushed Happy off of her lap. She stood up and walked over to her window, feeling the cool breeze flow in after she opened it. "Okay, Happy. Time to go, I'll give you a few cookies and then-"
Turning around, Lucy sighed, seeing the feline already curled up in a tight ball in the middle of her bed. The blonde covered the plate of cookies before walking back to her bed and gently pet the cat again. Happy purred and sprawled on his back, exposing his white furred belly. Smiling softly, the woman turned towards her bathroom to change into her night clothes. If the cat wasn't going to leave by the time she got back, she would just have to suck it up and deal with it. As far as she knew, the cat had no home to return to since there was nothing listed on his collar.
She sighed happily, feeling her cotton pajamas slide across her skin. These were her favorite pair; pink with stars. She couldn't help but love it, the combination was just perfect. The bright yellow of the stars complimented the pale version of the pink that dyed the fabric. Besides, they reminded her of her mother. Layla gave Lucy her love for the color, that's all they dressed in when she was small. Her mother also loved the stars and had even roped her father a couple of times on their daily star-gazing.
Such a nostalgic love it brought.
Shaking her head, Lucy quietly padded out of the bathroom. And of course, Happy hadn't moved an inch since she left. She obviously knew how soft her bed was and didn't fault the blue feline for taking a liking to it. So instead of scolding the cat for not leaving, she just pushed him to the side and crawled under the covers. Happy stirred drowsily and crawled onto the pillow beside her, curling comfortably into the crook of her neck.
"Only for tonight, Happy," Lucy muttered, following the blue feline's lead and curled into a comfortable position. Closing her eyes, she let out a tired sigh, "Then tomorrow, we're searching for your friend. Let's hope I have the luck my mother always prided me for."
