"Lu~cy! Lucy!" Natsu raced across the guild with a mischievous grin plastered to his face. This wasn't all that unusual. After all, mischief is what the pink haired mage did best. Well, besides destroying things that is.
Lucy had been sitting at the bar with a glum expression on her face, stirring her straw around in the remains of her milkshake. Her rent was paid, and she had nothing to worry about for a while. That was the problem.
She was bored. Erza and Gray had left on a mission together. They made sure that it was one that involved several different forms of transportation so that Natsu wouldn't want to go with. They both were short on their rent, and they couldn't afford to take the extremely destructive Dragon Slayer along. Lucy had opted out of going so that they only had to split the reward between the two of them, ensuring that their rent would be made. It was highly unusual for an S-class mage to have to worry about money. Since Erza had been going on missions with Lucy and the others, she hadn't been making as much money.
Lucy knew that Erza rented quite a few rooms at Fairy Hills, and that would eat up a lot of her income. Not to mention her obsession with her armor. Buying and repairing expensive mage armor would also cost a lot.
Gray had evidently spent the money that he had been saving for rent on something that he refused to tell Erza or Lucy about.
Wendy was busy helping Charle with some secret project that had to do with fish; a lot of fish. Lucy didn't want to know.
Levy, Jet, and Droy were on a job, and Gajeel had left with Juvia. Cana had been forced to go on a job with Gildarts. He claimed that they needed to spend some father/daughter time together.
Lucy wasn't left with many options. She certainly didn't want to spend her time sitting at the bar and brooding. She couldn't even work up the nerve to order an alcoholic drink. Mira had looked at Lucy with a knowing glance, and told her the milkshake was on the house.
Swiveling in her chair, Lucy held out her hand in front of her and frowned deeply at the on-coming mage. "Stop right there. I'm not in the mood."
"Aw Luce. Don't be like that. I'm sorry I destroyed that building…"
"A~and?" She hopped from her chair and stood there with her hand on her hip.
Natsu's face scrunched in confusion as he scratched the back of his head. "And losing most of the reward.." at Lucy's look he let out a sigh "and eating your sandwich when you weren't looking."
"What!? That was you?"
"Whoops. Hehe." He shuffled his feet nervously at getting caught. "Anyways…wanna go do something fun with me?"
Lucy glared. She couldn't believe the bastard had actually eaten her food! She had starved all the way home. She figured that she must have accidently left her lunch box somewhere while on the job.
"No." Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head to the side. She refused, No! She absolutely refused…damn it. His puppy dog look had drawn her in. "Alright. What are we gonna do?"
"Yosh!" Natsu clapped his hands and did a silly little jig before grabbing Lucy's hand and dragging her out of the guild without waiting for a reply.
******Some time later******
"Natsu? What are we doing here? I mean, this doesn't look like somewhere we would go to have fun." She found herself to be following her best friend through the thick undergrowth of the forest bordering Magnolia.
"You'll see!" Natsu sang, "We're almost there." He held back a particularly large frond and gestured for Lucy to proceed.
Lucy stepped past Natsu and into a little clearing.
A gasp escaped her lips, and she reached a slender hand up to hover in front of her mouth. Her chocolate orbs rounded in pleasured surprise of where they had ended up.
There was a small, but forceful, waterfall pouring itself into a shining basin. A large rock protruded from the middle of the water, forming a smooth surface to sun bathe on. Lucy would have been ecstatic about this particular thought if she had brought a swim suit, and if it wasn't close to dark.
Natsu grinned his mischievous grin again. Lucy was hardly paying attention. She had already ditched her socks and shoes and rushed towards the water.
"Lu~ucy. I have something for you to make up for eating your sandwich." Lucy had been dipping her toes into the cool water, and turned with a look of bewilderment on her face.
"What is it?"
"Here!"
Lucy took the little brown package that Natsu thrust at her.
"I already had some. I'm gonna go take a leak. Eat that. I promise you will like them."
Unwrapping the package slowly, Lucy nodded her head without looking up. Inside the package, she found a pile of mushrooms. While Lucy wasn't overly fond of mushrooms, she had to admit that these ones looked like they would taste amazing. They practically glowed they were so gold. She had never seen anything like it! Without thinking twice about her friend's gift, Lucy sat down on a patch of grass a little ways from the water and began devouring the mushrooms.
She tried to eat them slowly so that she could savor the taste. They were sweet and kind of spicy. However, once she had chewed and swallowed the first one, she couldn't restrain herself from hurriedly shoving the rest of them into her mouth.
Wiping her hands on her skirt, she patted her tummy and lay back to wait for Natsu to return. After laying there for a while, Lucy began to get a little worried. He had been gone far longer than necessary. Rolling onto her tummy, she scooted up onto her knees and looked around.
A rustling noise coming from the right of her made Lucy jump. Turning her head ever so slowly, she nervously faced the bush that was still shaking. Her heart leapt into her throat and froze over at what she saw.
A little pink rabbit had hopped out into the clearing and blinked his doe-like eyes at Lucy. "Excuse me, Miss? Would you happen to know what time it is?"
Lucy's mouth opened into a little 'o' as she turned her head from side to side. Facing back towards the rabbit she gave it a questioning look and pointed at herself. "Me?"
"Oh, brother. You're not slow, are you? Yes, you! Do you see anyone else here!?" He waved his little paw angrily as he shouted.
"Ah sorry!" She jumped to her feet and waved her hands in front of her. "I have no idea!"
"Well thanks anyways, I guess." Lucy could have sworn her shrugged his bunny shoulder, but that would have been impossible. She didn't know any pink bunnies that could shrug. The bunny turned as if to leave, paused, and looked over his shoulder. "Your face is all melty, by the way," and with that he was gone back into the bushes.
"What?! Agh!" Lucy screamed and felt her face. She couldn't tell if it was really melted. Running around in circles she began to panic. "My face can't melt! I need my face!" Noticing the water, she raced over to it, and frantically flopped to her knees. Leaning over, she examined her face. "No! Oh my god, no! It really is all melty!"
Gajeel's POV
Juvia had dragged me on a really lame mission yesterday. All we had to do was retrieve some woman's lost cat. Admittedly, Juvia wasn't that great with cats. He could see why she needed help. No cat was going to come to someone that was blasting water slicers at it. Hell, no human would.
I had grudgingly secured the little mongrel and returned it to the owner. Juvia had wailed the entire time that she was useless. I had to restrain myself from telling her that she abso-fucking-lutely was.
If the lame ass mission hadn't been bad enough, then Juvia had insisted that we walk back to Magnolia. She said something about her precious 'Gray-sama' meeting her somewhere. I seriously doubted that, but I learned long ago not to argue with a love crazed water mage. I didn't relish the idea of death by drowning.
Once we had reached the forest bordering Magnolia, Juvia froze in her tracks. She claimed that she left her purse in the previous town. I never noticed her carrying a fucking purse, but how is a guy supposed to be sure. Also, still didn't want to drown. She went back to get her bag. I told her there was no fucking way I was going all the way back, on foot, to get a stupid purse. She got all huffy, but went ahead without me.
I was currently smacking branches out of the way, and stomping in the general direction of town. I wasn't prepared for the clearing. It came out of nowhere. My momentum carried me forward and halfway to the water before I was able to stop. I looked around. This place was nice.
Wait. What the fuck? Bunny Girl was half naked, smearing mud onto her face and muttering to herself.
"Oi! Bunny! What-" She cut my question off with one of her shrill screams.
"Bunny? Where? Don't let it get near me!" She was scrambling around at the edge of the water.
"The fuck?" Her already large brown eyes, looked like fucking dinner plates. This girl was out of her fucking mind. Literally.
"Gihi." Nothing sounded better than fucking with the buxom blond while she was frying. "What's up with the mud on your face?"
"Oh!" She wailed and tore at her golden locks "The bunny melted my face! My FACE IS MELTED!"
"The mud fixes this how?"
"I don't want to be hideous. I'm covering it."
I tipped my head back and filled the clearing with the sound of my booming laugh. This girl was too much. She was applying more mud to her 'melted' face. I walked over next to her. She squeaked in fright, and scrambled back. I couldn't help but watch her abnormally large breasts bounce as they strained against the think material of her bright pink bra. Oh yes, I'd noticed the color. It happened to match the pair of lacy boy short panties that barely covered the bottom half of her.
"Who are you?! Why are you in my house?!" She threw a handful of mud at me. The grin immediately left my face. I didn't fucking like mud.
Expertly dodging, I grabbed the girl's slim wrist and hauled her up.
"Oi! You're half naked in the forest rubbing mud on your face because you think its melted. Don't fucking throw mud at me!"
At the mention of her face being melted, she wailed again. "Ohhhh! My face!" I rolled my eyes.
"Where're your clothes?" Fucking with her wasn't proving to be much fun. I just felt bad. I couldn't leave her here alone, and I certainly didn't want to sit in a darkening forest and watch some girl fry. Even if she was half naked. I needed a shower and something to eat.
The blonde had stopped wailing. I blinked, and turned my face to her. What I found made me smirk in amusement. The little girl was examining the piercings on my arm.
"Oooooh," she cooed "these are shiny."
"Yeah. They're shiny. Where're your clothes?" I asked again. Seeing that I wasn't going to get an answer, I released her hand and scanned the clearing. Her clothes were nowhere in sight.
"My clothes? I threw them in the water." I turned to find a very lucid Lucy. "Gajeel!" She seemed to realize suddenly that she was wearing very little, and standing quite close to me. "What's going on? Everything feels funny…" I could tell that this moment of lucidity wasn't going to last long.
"You're tripping fuckin' balls, Bunny. What the fuck are you doing out here alone?"
"Natsu…he was here earlier. I dunno where he went.." Her gaze wandered to the water and widened, "Wow! Look at all the colors!" She ran over to the edge of the water, and would have splashed in if I hadn't of been hot on her heels.
I grabbed her by her tiny waist, and hoisted her into my arms. She immediately began kicking and flailing while beating her little fists against my chest.
"Stop! Put me down, pervert! Agh!"
"Oi! Shut the fuck up! I'm taking you home." She immediately stilled.
"Oh." She cocked her head and stared into my eyes with a smile that would have melted my heart if I had one. "Where's home?"
"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned. Stumbling upon the frying Bunny was turning out to be more of a bother than I thought possible. I would just have to take her to my house until she came off her fry.
She began swinging her legs and singing a song about a spider and some rain. I didn't really listen. I focused on maneuvering us through the foliage and into the open air of Magnolia. Lucy surprised me by suddenly burying her face in my chest.
"Oh wow, you smell really good."
I grunted in response.
"And your hair is really soft." Her agile hands were tangled in my dark locks. She lifted a strand to her nose and inhaled. "Your hair smells good too!" She giggled and looked up at me.
I couldn't help but find her a little bit cute. I mean, really. Anyone in the same situation would think the same thing.
I adjusted her weight into one arm as we approached the door to my apartment. Fishing the key out of my pocket, I unlocked the door, and swung it open. After closing the door behind us, and securing the lock from the inside, I carried Bunny to the sofa and plopped her down.
She immediately jumped up and began running around the room. She picked up whatever was in sight, examined it for a half second, and then discarded it on the floor. Sighing in amused frustration, I paced into my bedroom and grabbed one of my clean shirts out of my dresser.
When I came back to the living room, she was gone. Completely gone. I blinked and walked around the room looking for her. She wasn't behind the sofa, or under the cushions….what the fuck.
"Gajeel!" I dropped the shirt and raced to the bathroom where I found her standing in front of the mirror. "Gajeel!" The sound of my name coming from her mouth elicited a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach.
"Oi! Don't you know better than to stand in front of a mirror when you're trippin'?" She shook her head and stared at my reflection in the mirror with her big, innocent, brown eyes.
I shook my head at the thoughts piling up in there. Bunny Girl of all people?
I swept her feet out from underneath her in a single motion, and slung her over my shoulder. This turned out to be a bad idea, considering her ass was in my face. Even from this angle I admired the rounded curves poking out from her skimpy underwear.
She giggled and clenched my shirt in her fists as I walked her back to the sofa.
"No! I don't want to go back to the couch! It's really sticky and gross!" she wailed.
Sighing in defeat, I carried her to my room and dumped her onto my king sized bed. She immediately wrapped herself in my black silk sheets and smiled up at me.
"Your bed smells good. Like you." I grunted in response to the little blond occupying my bed.
"Go to sleep. You'll be sober when you wake up."
"I can't. My eyes don't want to stay shut." She closed and opened her eyes a couple times then pointed at her face, "see? Will you stay with me?"
I sighed and crossed my arms while leaning against the wall. She pouted and sat up.
"Come lay in bed with me. I can't sleep with you staring at me. It's creepy." My eyes widened.
She actually wanted me in bed with her. I knew she was feisty and all, but I thought she would have been a little more apprehensive of inviting the Dragon Slayer that had kicked her ass before into bed with her. Chalking it up to whatever hallucinogens she was on, I flipped the lights off, kicked my boots into a corner, and crawled onto the bed.
Laughing in satisfaction, she threw the sheets in the air, which ballooned above us, and pounced on me. She was trying to tickle me! Mentally throwing my hands up in defeat, I pried her hands off me and flipped her so her back was facing my side. Wrapping my arms around her I pinned her against my body. The sheet had landed in a position that covered most of our bodies.
"Sleep." I commanded. She sighed, and all at once her body went slack. I leaned over to peek at her face and found her completely passed out with her arms wrapped around my forearms and her hands on mine.
I grinned. Maybe stumbling on the Bunny while she was frying hadn't been such a bad thing after all.