Shatter- BixLu Modern Day AU

Bickslow cringed as he heard yet another glass crash onto the stained concrete floor to what was sure to be yet another of his shattered bottles of alcohol.

A distinctly feminine voice resounded from the bar area into the backroom. "Shit, why is this so fucking hard?"

Yeah, definitely another of his practice bottles. He had to hand it to the tenacious woman though, she certainly was persistent. Seven bottles down in three hours and he now also knew she had the vocabulary of a well-educated sailor. Something that endlessly amused him on account of her small unassuming stature and bubbly persona.

Getting up from the back room to go check on her with an ever-present grin on his handsome face, Bickslow decided he needed a break from inventory. His bar would start to get busy soon anyway with six o'clock fast approaching.

When he turned the corner and was greeted with the sight of the curvy woman bent over in a pair of tight dark washed jeans, strings of grumbled sarcasm sounding from under her breath, he had to choke back his usual cackles before he cleared his throat and her top half snapped up so fast, she dropped the dustpan full of glass shards and nearly smacked herself in the face with the hand broom from her startled reaction.

"Bickslow! I, um, I broke another bottle but it's only because I have finally moved on from a regular toss to a flip, which is really hard for me apparently." Though her face fell a little, she quickly had a wide smile replacing the sad frown from her shortcomings.

He would have offered to help clean up but she had already knelt back down and took care of the mess during her end of the conversation. He honestly could say she was by far the best employee he had and that was including the demon barmanager. Before he moved her behind the bar, she was an amazing waitress and he sorely missed her on the floor but it was move her or lose her and that just wasn't an option for the blunette. He still had to convince the blonde to go out with him.

It had been months and he had yet to get anything more than a few light-hearted chuckles and a wishy-washy reply that never really answered him one way or another. Something that he took as not a no so it never discouraged him. In fact, it lured him in more to the point that he was noticing a pattern in the one-night stands he's been having fewer or lately; they were nearly always blonde and they all had an hourglass shape. All of them.

"Do you think you could show me again in the morning? It's like as soon as you leave, so does all the bartendy magic." Her eyes were wide with their usual chocolate warmth as she looked up into his eyes hopeful and so tempting.

Tilting his head down towards her, his brows waggled playfully back. "I'll do you one better, Cosplayer. How about after we're done here, you come over, I'll cook you a delicious dinner/breakfast because I'm an amazing chef and we can use the bar at my place to practice your tosses."

He watched in rapt curiosity as her brow furrowed just slightly before a intense determination lit in her eye. "You know what? That sounds perfect. Let me go tell my roommate I won't be coming home so he doesn't freak out and tear the city apart."

And just like that, she was gone and he had a date.

And she was telling her roommate she wouldn't be home.

With a significant pep in his step, he managed to finish up in the back room and because of his celebratory mood, he called in a few favors to get a DJ for the night making it one of his best in a month. Overall, it shaping up to be an all around winner for one Bickslow Pradesh.

As if the gods could have blessed him more, a particularly clumsy girl had one too many Long Islands and dumped the last one down the front of her black button down so she was left to finish the morning out in black t-shirt that was a size too small for her bountiful chest to make it ride up with every raise of her arms. It was driving him crazy, that flash of toned stomach in the front and the downright sexy dimples low on her back.

"Who was that DJ by the way? I had a ton of people ask me about him but I didn't recognize him. He was amazing though!"

She had been chattering for the last forty-five minutes they were closing up which was another of the many reasons Bickslow enjoyed her presence so much; she had an endless supply of energy and she preferred to work tens and twelves.

He held the door open for her as he answered easily, "That would be my little brother Vander, but he usually doesn't have the time to come out. We happened to get lucky enough to catch him between holes."

Her face scrunched as she scoffed out a few laughs, "Gods, that is a visual. You just gave me that to keep in my head forever. I hope you're happy," before shaking her head to wait for him to see where they'd be going since she didn't have the slightest clue where her very attractive and very persistent manager and owner of the bar she worked at lived.

"I tell it like I see it, Cosplayer."

He let his tongue loll from his mouth in a playful, silly gesture to earn a lilting giggle from the beautiful woman before she elbowed his side before she mustered up a sad excuse for a glare. "It was one time, Bix! It was a costume party! I had to dress up!"

He shot back saucily, "Yeah but you didn't have to wear the bunny outfit with the little poofy tail and the ears and the stockings-"

"Okay, I get it! It was provocative but it wasn't my choice. I lost a bet with Gajeel and that's what he picked."

The way her cheeks puffed out when she was annoyed was almost as funny as the look he imagined her face skewed into upon seeing her punishment for the first time. He would have to make sure to give the ingenious bouncer a nice bonus for that one.

"That's too fucking good actually, but it doesn't explain the cheerleader outfit or the actual cosplay get up. Who were you again? Wait, don't tell me...Black Canary. All that leather, those scandalous fishnets." The longer he talked, the more over the top he got and the more Lucy's laughter filled the morning air.

She tried her best to muster a stern face and failed miserably. "Shut up you asshole. You're supposed to never bring that stuff up. You made a promise, Bix. A pinky promise."

Before she knew it, they were standing in front of an impressive matte black motorcycle with the name Indian Scout across the gas tank in silver and Bickslow was handing her a matching matte bucket helmet.

She took it reluctantly before nodding her head a few times and looking up into his hypnotizing red eyes. "I should have guessed you had a motorcycle. You have 'I ride a motorcycle' vibes but I have never been on a motorcycle and I don't want to die today."

Pausing to take the helmet and secure it on her head, he reassured the nervous woman as he ducked to tighten the clasp under her chin, "I've been riding since I was 14 years old and I don't live that far away. It'll be a short and sweet trip, I promise."

Backing away to offer his outstretched hand to help her onto the back of his bike, he let her get comfortable before holding his pinky out to her from beneath his lithe but built arm to make up for his previous blunder. The tricksy man waited until she skeptically wrapped her pinky around his before tugging her whole hand around his waist before calling back her over the sound of the engine, "Hold tight and lean with me, okay?"

Giving him a nod of affirmation, she gripped the fabric of his smooth button-down as he finally took off and her other arm made its way around to anchor herself to his body.

Bickslow wasn't lying when he said it would be a short ride, maybe ten minutes at the most, and here she was standing in the middle of the blunette's kitchen as he excused himself to change into something 'more appropriate'.

She took the time to wander, pulling at her just sticky enough tank top from her skin that it made her shiver involuntarily at the feeling of the stiff material peeling off her skin. His home was a beautiful one story with high vaulted ceilings, massive glass windows covered with thick blackout curtains and a sense of being lived in and homey. She couldn't help but be fascinated by the wooden art that seemed to cover every inch of exposed walls. Masks, shields, carvings, urns lined the shelves as well but what really caught her attention was the massive totem comprised of five separate faces that stood taller than herself. It was easily one of the most eccentric and wonderful thing she'd ever seen in someone's home.

"I see you've been drawn to my pride and joy."

Bickslow's smooth voice startled her from her observing enough to let out a tiny squeak of surprise before she felt a hand low on her back.

"I've never seen anything like it. It must be Boscan by the carvings but it must be, stars, it must be at least a century old," she answered before turning to take in the compact muscle on full display with the baggy faded pink tank top that simply said 'weirdo' across the chest and a pair of black shorts that fell well above his knees. She also noticed he was holding a stack of clothes in his arms as he a look took hold of his face as if he was recalling a good memory as he spoke.

"That's pretty good, Cheerleader. I had to find each head separately but in the end, it was worth it."

He left it at that for a moment, the blunette content to admire his collection and the blonde happy to take in the pieces of history until his shoulders jumped just slightly and he was handing her the clothes with a wide smile on his lips, "Oh, these should be close to fitting you. Xally is about your height and she has impeccable taste so they should be easier for you to practice in than those," gesturing his chin towards her current dirtied attire before giving a head nod back behind him to show her where the bathroom was, "You can change in there while I get some grub started."

From their long hours together at his bar, she already knew Xally was his youngest sibling and thought the gesture as a whole was romantic and chivalrous, something that took her by surprise knowing the man's reputation for picking up women with near infallible ease.

Shaking the dazed look from her eyes, she met his with her own wide smile before thanking him and heading towards the bathroom to change, her mind set on not overthinking the fact that she was having a very casual breakfast date with her boss in his home while wearing his sisters clothes. Totally normal.

Bickslow was whistling one of his brother's songs under his breath while he moved around the open layout of his kitchen to whip up something quick but filling after the busy night they had. He knew for a fact that neither one of them ate anything more than a day's worth of ibuprofen and a few shots of his secret stash.

When she finally come back out, ball of work clothes under her arm and dressed in a very form-fitting White Sea t-shirt and a pair of spandex workout shorts that fell mid thigh, her face was filled with lazy glee at smelling the familiar delicious scent of a ramen. Her voice was a lovely lilt as she all but cooed to him, "My stars that smells amazing, Bix. I don't think I've had real ramen in years."

"That's a damn shame. I thought that roommate of yours chowed down every chance he got?" His words weren't unkind as he seamlessly worked to make up their bowls and clean up after himself in an impressive display of domesticity that again had the blonde reeling a bit from just how wrong she was about how this would play out.

Without a doubt in her mind, she thought if she broke and went out with him, she would have to deal with the awkward aftermath of sleeping with her manager. More importantly, she didn't want to deal with her emotional aftermath since she was nearly incapable of not becoming attached to the men she slept with in some way. Especially men she had been harboring a ridiculous crush on the easy-going guy from the moment he interviewed her. It would be nearly impossible for her not to find him stunning. He had a deep natural tan, sharp handsome features, an incredible drool-worthy body and she hadn't even mentioned his laugh. She could listen to it all day and never tire of it because it was so genuine. Every single time.

"You know, it's really rude to stare but I think I'll take it as a compliment from you."

Rubbing the back of her head in an adopted motion from her roommate, she ducked her head to hide her blush at being caught blatantly ogling him before grabbing the bowl and mumbling out, "Right, sorry, you just really took me off guard. Not in a bad way though, I just mean thanks. I guess."

She couldn't help but cringe at her own babbling before his contagious laughter filled the cavernous space to inherently ease her nerves.

"Well if that wasn't the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life, slather me in butter and call me a biscuit, buttercup." He turned around to lead her to his dining room, calling lazily over his shoulder as her face lit up once again, "And you're welcome."

She waited until his towering frame turned the corner before letting out a dramatic sigh and mumbling to no one in particular, "Why does he have to be so good at this," before following behind, her hand pulling at the rising hem of her borrowed shirt to try and cover her stomach. She and Xally seemed to be the same height but Lucy definitely had a bigger chest and the tight cotton of the shirt fit almost like she was wearing a child's size and not a grown woman's.

They ate with typical light banter before Lucy watched Bickslow get up, take both their bowls and disappear once again before returning with yet another set of practice bottles and she let out an uncontainable groan. She had forgotten the whole point of being here was to go over those stupid tosses she couldn't seem to grasp.

His easy chuckles filled her headspace for a moment before he was scoffing at her. "This was your idea, not mine. If it were up to me, we would not be doing bar tricks as the sun rises. Total waste of a moment in my opinion." His tone was playful and teasing to match the tongue-lolling grin plastered on his face and after a flash of panic at her own train of thought, she decided to be bold.

Making a pass at casual, Lucy tilted her head as she looked up at the self-satisfied man, her voice full of mock innocence, "What would you have us do instead?"

Blinking down at the blonde after the seemingly harmless question, he tried to gather his thought process enough to answer before it was too late and she was practically stalking towards him from around the table, the action pulling a near instant reaction from his brain straight down to his core.

Her voice had dropped to near husky levels as shining chocolate eyes mapped over his body hungerly, "Because I could name a few things we could have way more fun doing."

Not one to roll over, he stepped forward into her space after emptying his arms as fast as he could manage so he could cross them over his chest, the hard-earned muscle bulging as he did to tease back with his own low playful drawl, "Are you coming onto me because if that's the case, we can drop the games. I've waited way too long for this to beat around the bush."

The straightforward, no bullshit delivery was just the perfect sexy final straw before Lucy was licking her lips in anticipation and closing the last bit of space hanging between them to run the palms of her hands up over the ridges and valleys of the backs of his arms and pull him down to crash their lips together in a messy kiss driven by months of mutual bottled desire for the other.

She couldn't help but moan as his hands traced down the curves of her back all the way down to her thighs before lifting her so he could have better access to both her mouth and her body. She might have thought the height difference attractive but Bickslow wasn't about to welcome the pain of constantly bending over, even to kiss a gorgeous blonde.

So caught up in the slow building friction between them and the smooth skin of his shoulder beneath her palms, she hardly realized they were back in the kitchen until the cold stone of his counters hit the hot flesh of her legs, forcing a startled gasp from lips are her back arched away from the chill.

Her voice was a scolding hiss as she sucked in a sharp breath, "Cold. That is super cold."

Though he barely moved, she could feel the way his lips curled into smile over hers before muttering, "You'll get used to it one way or another," before his the heat of his deft lips was making its way down the column of her throat to the valley of her haphazardly contained chest.

There wasn't much she could do. There wasn't much she really wanted to do aside from strip this man bare and ride him until the sun set.

Her voice was needy and breathless as she all but moaned his name. Enough encouragement to have him near shamelessly tear his sisters shirt right off her body to let her creamy skin free under the growing light from the sunrise. It was like a moment time stood still with her breast free, her chest heaving and flushed, as she looked up at him from her perch on his counter with uninhibited hunger. It was a soft, feminine hunger that made his chest tighten and his mind race with panic because that had never happened before in short lifetime.

It was a moment of fear for the longtime bachelor; a fear he had been laughing in the face of. Attachment. Then followed by commitment. Then finally coming full circle to love. A progression of emotions he wasn't anywhere near ready to have.

Shaking off the worry, he chalked it up to a lack of sleep coupled with his own unresolved sexual tension before he filled his palms with each of her breasts and the warmth from them started the slow-twisting arousal to tighten, urging him to move in spite of what she was doing to him. The weight of her in his hands was enough to make him forget everything except her ragged breathing and how unbelievably supple her skin was.

Another instant passed and Lucy was so lost in the way his touch brought her senses to life, she hadn't noticed he had shed his shirt completely until the tips of her fingers caught the metal of piercings through his nipples. Her widened for a fraction of a second later before another near burning wave of arousal shot through her body, her core clenching tight as another wanton moan echoed through his kitchen. Her curiosity piqued and she wanted to put the newfound piercing in her mouth having never known how much it turned her on until seeing it on Bickslow.

She was finding there were a lot of things about her boss that turned her on when exclusively applied to Bickslow. The one thing standing out right now was the way the toned muscle of his forearm was flexing against her lower back as his hips ground against her covered core in slow rocking motions almost like they were dancing to something heavy and heady, in complete contrast to the bright sunlight nearly illuminated the whole of the house.

Her voice was husky as her nails raked across his deeply tanned skin in response to his wandering hands trying their hardest to get her shorts off, "Probably easier to move out of the kitchen-Bickslow!"

Just as she was about to finish, he had managed to lift her enough to get her naked and wrap her legs around his torso forcing his name from his lips in a hiss of a breath from the unexpected motion.

His light-hearted laughter filled her with warmth as his hand near apologetically massaged where they landed around her hip and thigh. "I could get used to the way you say my name, Lucy."

"I feel like I should be a little concerned at how easy that was for you," she spoke as her brow raised playfully, her grip on his shoulders easing from where she clutched him out of panic.

Mock offense took over his face as he looked just passed her on his way through the halls of his home. "Now, now, there's no backing out. I've already got you in my clutches."

Lucy bit her lip to keep from bursting out at just how natural things felt between the two of them. Maybe it was a reflection of her choice in man before now but she had never had this much fun before making it to a bed and she had definitely never laughed this much.

Running her fingers through the length of messy blue hair reaching nearly to the nap of his neck, she tried to take in the walls of his home but found herself completely taken by the way his lips never seemed to fall from their lopsided smile.

"I'd say staring is rude but I can't fault you for admiring the view." His eyes never looked down but his tongue lolled from his mouth as her head tilted to the side, her brows furrowed in a childish display.

Her lip jutted out just enough to classify as a pout before she huffed, "How do you know I was even looking at you?"

A confidence took hold in his words to send a fresh wave of desire through her. "Please, darling, I think you forget that you can't hide how wet I'm making you when you're trapped like this."

Just as his voice faded off, her hips started grinding her clit over the hard ridges of his abs in an involuntary act as if his words were a spell making her suddenly all too aware of the skin to skin contact between them and how it wasn't enough to satisfy her need for more.

His hand tangled in her hair as his breath ghosted over the shell of her ear, her head thrown back at the lightning sensations pulsing through her most sensitive bundle of nerves. "That's it, let me know what you want. Show me what you want."

In an instant, she was cold. The smooth material of his bedspread made her back arch into his heat before that too was gone and her nipples puckered at the sudden change. Lifting herself up on her elbows to take in the smirking man, she was greeted by the flawless nude form of her personal adonis for the day. He was the perfect balance of build, tone and height to make her feel small and safe without being too bulky. He had the type of body that promised flexibility and hopefully, stamina.

Without thought, she was crawling over to the edge of the bed towards him, her lips parted just enough to show what was either shock or awe at the size of him to completely hypnotize the playboy and when she laid her gentle hands on either side of his hips, he thought for sure he was goner.

When the tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lips, her eyes boring into his, he lost all sense of control. In one swift motion, he had hooked one of her legs around his arm to both push her back and open her wide for him to see and the surprised gasp that left her lips only served to push him further as his other hand wrapped around her ass to lift her higher in his bed so he could have uninhibited access to her dripping core.

Not waiting for her to fully settle, he angled her hips towards his own aching member glistening with pre-cum and pressed the tip just into her heat to tease her with the feeling of being full before pulling back and repeating the action.

She was fighting his grip on her body to press him deeper, to feel him move inside her, but his strength kept her still to build her release from the bottom up. His hunger to see her come undone was fighting with his need to drive her crazy first and it was dizzying for the blonde left at his mercy.

There was nothing for her to do except ride out the shallow, maddening thrusts until his low voice snaked through her head to pull her under his spell. "Do you want more, Lucy? Tell me. Let me hear you."

Rolling her neck from another round of shivers from being pushed to the cusp of an unwinding so intense, the anticipation alone was making her fingers and toes feel staticy and out of her control, she didn't recognize the soft, husk of her own voice as she answered his call, "Yes. Yes, more please. I need more." Her fingers were flexing around his bulged bicep from him holding her hips up at just the right angle to tease the spot she wanted him most to the point she was sure to see spots soon.

Her heavy-lidded eyes took in his languid yet dangerous curling grin before he breathed out through the loose golden waves at her temple, "You sound so beautiful when you're breathless," before plunging into her depths with a thrust powerful enough that the first pass over the spongy patch just out of reach had her first orgasm ripping through her. A scream of pure ecstacy filled the room as she pulsed around his cock so hard, he was having to fight off his own release. Something he hasn't had to do in a very long time as she rode out the cascading waves sending jolts throughout her body.

Just as the last of her orgasm seemed to leave her body, he started the steady rocking of his hips in and out. A languid push and pull from her depths to ease her back into reality. Like every time his hips hit hers buried to the hilt, it was another stroke to ground her to him and she found herself quickly becoming addicted to the way his body moved with hers.

Bickslow could hardly believe someone so responsive and reactive could be single and willing to be in his bed underneath him. Taking him more soundly than any other woman before, his rhythm changed as his pace sped up to force the steady slapping of skin sound around them in time with his gruff masculine grunts to compliment her airy feminine moans in a cacophony of lewd noises to make up the most enrapturing symphony of sound. It filled them with the same sense of urgency for more; for the end, while somehow keeping the relaxed, easy fit they had.

Feeling his release weigh heavy at the base of his throbbing cock, he licked the pad of his thumb and pressed into the swollen pearl of her core to set of a blinding white light behind her eyelids and pull a raspy, unintelligible groan from her chest just before his climax tore through him like a bolt of lightning.

Her lips were wet as she lay panting beneath him, her eyes closed as a wide smile took over the bottom of her face, his half-hard member still buried in her twitching core. On impulse, his palm ran down the smooth flesh of her thigh to pull a shuddering sigh from the blonde. It was hard for him to keep his eyes focused on one part of her body bathed in sunlight and the dewy cover of sweat from their lovemaking.

Stretching her arms back over her head as she arched her back in a playful show at thrusting her pelvis into his to pull his attention back to her face as her words fell lazily from her pout, "Some people might be offended by all that staring, you know."

His own cheshire grin split his lips as his grip under her thigh tightened to flip them in a show of his agility so she was perched on his chest. The hand that was bracing her back during the action quickly made its way between the back of Bickslow's head and his pillow as his other hand gently moved her wild tangled hair out of her face. "Some people might take it as a compliment, you know," was his teasing but tired response.

As if all the hours they had been awake and on their feet finally caught up with the two, they both fell into a restful sleep, completely at ease falling asleep in the other's arms.

XxXxXxXxXxX

A month and a half later, Bickslow had found himself back in his office before another of his all night shifts when he heard the tell-tale sound of glass shattering on his stained concrete floor and it pulled a smile from his slowly shaking head.

"Now what could that woman possibly be up to now," was all he muttered to himself before closing the counts for the week and making his way out to the bar.

He heard Lucy's lilting voice before he saw her. "Don't worry about it! You should have seen all the bottles I went through when I was trying to learn it. Honestly, I think Bix had to buy a whole other set by the time I was through."

The sound of the new girl he had to hire to replace Lucy quickly answered in a bubbly tone that made him chuckle as he turned the corner to lean in the doorway and take in the two charismatic women, one his golden-haired goddess and the other, Mira's younger sister.

"Really? I can't imagine this was ever hard for you, Lu-chan. You haven't messed up yet."

The two still hadn't noticed him there, too involved in working in tandem to clean up the broken glass. When his relaxed voice finally spoke up, both girls jumped and it earned him another of the fiery blonde he had the mighty fine privilege of calling his girlfriend's heated glares at the intrusion. "How's the newest recruit doing, babe?"

Rolling her eyes at the pet name, she couldn't help but smile in spite of her own mild annoyance at his lack of professionalism as she finished cleaning up with Lisanna. "We're at the bar, Bix, try to remember you're still my boss for another two weeks then I start my job at Sorcerer and I'll just be your girlfriend again and Lis is doing great. A few more days of tossing and I think she'll be ready for her first night manning the bar."

The confident way her hip popped out as she leaned on the handle of the broom she had grabbed to sweep up with matched the near proud gleam in her wide chocolate eyes as she looked over at the youngest Strauss sibling made another of those warm waves to crash through his senses in ways only Lucy managed to bring out in him and he was already thinking about the way she looked flushed and tangled in his sheets. The sunrise couldn't come fast enough for him. Not when she was the prize that followed right after.