In the Middle
She was stretched out somewhere very near to the middle of the main hall. She wanted to laugh, but there were too many people asleep for her to risk it. That was one hell of a barfight though! She rolled onto her side and giggled into her fist.
Since … hooking up with Gajeel, she had joined in more and more of the fights. Trusting in him to protect her from the harder hits, while he trusted her to keep him fed with fresh iron and fight off any long range attacks that weren't directly in front of him.
He and Lily had become like a second team for her. Never on real missions; he didn't need her, and she wasn't willing to abandon her two goofballs. But when they were together at the guild, the three of them rarely parted. At first Lily did what he could to give them space, but she pressed the fact that he didn't need to deep into that squishy body of his. Lily was his partner; she wasn't going to screw with that.
As long as the cat gave them an hour or so a night when they were together, that's all she needed. Besides, she liked cats. It was always nice having one in her rooms or his rooms or wherever they happened to end up for the night. She was ashamed to admit sometimes that with Gajeel it wasn't always one of their rooms.
Lily had also rooted them out of storerooms, the basement, and a few alleyways.
Always just in time to avoid being caught. A part of her suspected that he was under orders to wait until he had to … to make it more exciting.
Which it did. It sure did.
She squirmed and giggled quietly again. He'd turned her into such a … a sex fiend! She pressed her face harder into her hands trying to quash the sounds of happiness and embarrassed humor. She wasn't the least bit surprised that he acted that way. He was a more basic sort of person, leaning heavily towards his instincts, whether in battle or interpersonal relationships. It was no wonder he let his … his …
She squirmed again, and this time it was less embarrassment and more imagination that had her wiggling her thin limbs.
It was no wonder he let his … his dick … do his thinking.
She fanned her face and glanced at the man beside her. They'd won the battle quite severely. Because of the way the three of them fought together, the bar fights were becoming less like chaotic brawls and more like miniature campaigns. Together they won almost all of the fights unless the others stopped playing winner takes all and started working with a few others as well.
Which didn't happen easily and occasionally led to some seriously odd parings. Natsu and Bisca for example. Natsu went in close and Bisca covered him from the rear with dummy rounds of shock-shot. They did pretty well for themselves and won that round cleanly. She even made a huge 'gold metal' banner for their victory.
That Gajeel ate. He was sick for two days. Gold is like sugar or grease to him; too much made him sick, and that was a really big banner.
Still teaming up in a barfight was harder than it sounded. Since they tended to start up at odd times and often between teammates who were revealing stress on their downtime, people rarely worked with partners they were familiar with.
Which made it easier for the three of them to win. And when they won, Gajeel was happy. And no one in the whole world could match a happy Gajeel in the bedroom. At least that was her impression. She sure wasn't going to trade him in anytime soon. She felt sorry for every single girl out there whose boyfriend was unpierced. Maybe they were unaware of what they were missing, but in the end they were still missing.
And she wasn't.
She wiggled and giggled some more, and marveled how everyone could fall asleep in piles like they did. Like children, really. Play until they tire out, and everyone participated. Used to she would just watch these things, but with Gajeel she felt like she should take the opportunity to play. She was so glad she made that choice!
There was nothing more fun that being in the middle of a big pileup of friends. That weightless feeling of letting go of any stress and just going for it regardless of what happened yesterday or what tomorrow might bring. This is what it meant to have a family.
She turned to look at Gajeel's sleeping form and found him awake and watching her.
She smiled.
He grinned back and reached out a pierced hand.
Heat flowed from her heart to the lower part of her belly. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her in close. He bit her bottom lip and put an iron arm around her waist so she couldn't move.
"You shouldn't be awake," he told her, mouth on her ear. She shivered with the smooth chill of his lips and nodded in acceptance of what was basically an order. She put her forehead against his clavicle and closed her eyes.
There, in his arms, with Lily on the other side and surrounded by her boisterous family, she felt as safe and loved as it was possible to feel.
Somewhere in the middle of that jumble, she knew she had found her true home.