A/N: First thing first, I made this for MidLu week, but I'm not very good at updating things on time...especially when I want every chapter to be about 10k in words. I will do seven chapters all about the given topic for each day, but they will not be updated daily. Sorry that I'm so...bad...xD So, hey everyone…I decided to participate in Midlu week and the first day topic is "Birthday"…yay me . Midnight is actually not very easy for me to work with, but whatever I love him too much too turn down his week xD I'm sorry if he seems a little ooc, but I couldn't get over this whole thing about Midnight actually being little tiny bit of a hidden pervert/softie. Anyways, this takes place after the Tartarus arc and when the council died…well a new council stepped in. I just wanted to clear that up in case there is some confusion with someone or something. So, other than that the plot is completely made up…though you probably already knew that. Also, my OC might show up as a background character once in a while because I love Oc's so much OTL
Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do not own Fairy Tail. That beautiful piece of amazingness belongs to Hiro Mashima. If I owned it I'd have a lot of people trying to kill me for making Colu canon… so, I'm kind of glad I don't own it…I don't need that stress in my life .
Chapter One: Surprises wrapped in purple lace
Lucy stepped from the shower while grabbing a white towel that hung on a rail over the toilet. She slowly wrapped herself up in the towel before grabbing yet another towel from the rail and tying up her hair with it. She was humming a pleasant tune at the moment and trying to forget about the destructive tendencies of her team, namely Natsu. It had happened earlier in the week, she had taken a job with him that would not only cover her rent for the month, but would leave her with some money to pocket. It was a perfect job and she thought that not even Natsu could mess it up. All they had to do was capture a few bandits and destroy their base of operations. She gripped the edge of the sink in a bit of frustration as she recalled the events from the previous week. They had managed to capture all the bandits and Natsu was about to make quick work of destroying their base, an old run down building that no one cared to look upon anymore. Of course though, this was Natsu and somehow not only had he managed to destroy the building, but he had managed to destroy some of the surrounding forest. An area that was apparently found to be sacred to some of the local villagers. Well, that explained why the mayor of the town had stressed not to destroy any of the local forests around the town.
Lucy gave a small sigh, she needed to let this go, but she couldn't. It was his fault that she was currently away from home, staying in some crappy hotel, on the day of her birth. She had just finished another small time mission with Cana. She had paired up with the card mage for the last week and had finally made back the money lost on her assignment with Natsu. She heard the front door open from her spot in the bathroom and blinked a few times in a bit of surprise. She had told Cana that she would meet up with her at the club and was certain that she had already left. Could she have perhaps come back for something that she forgot? Or maybe something happened at the club? Did some man steal her top again? Lucy silently snickered at the memory of when Cana lost her top to Bacchus.
The young Fairy slowly moved from the restroom and shuffled her way into the main room while keeping her towel tightly wrapped around her. The first thing she noticed was that Cana was not in her room. The second thing she noticed was that there was a man, lying on her bed, he seemed to be exhausted. Lucy blinked once, twice, then a third time just to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. It eventually hit her…there was a man lying in her bed. She resisted the urge to attack the man…mainly because he seemed to be injured. She slowly moved closer toward the man…his style of dress seemed eerily familiar and she wondered if she knew him. She continued her approach to him, only stopping when she could see his face, but what she saw caused her to gasp rather loudly. She defiantly knew this man. It was the insane, weird one that tried to sacrifice her to a god damned clock! She quickly made a grab for her keys, but the spot where she normally kept them was empty. It took her a moment to remember that she had left them back in the bathroom. She wanted to run back to the bathroom and grab her keys, but she fought off the urge. She slowly got a bit closer to the man. She ignored the little voice in the back of her head that screamed at her to run away from the man, but her voice of reason yelled louder.
From what she had been told this man had joined up with Jellal and fought alongside him as a member of the guild Crime Sorciere. That would make him a comrade to her then…right? Or at the very least that meant that he wasn't going to attack her again, right? She gently reached a shaky hand out toward the man and brushed her fingertip over his wrist. She was intent on checking his pulse and making sure that he was still alive since she couldn't see the rise and fall of his chest. However, the man snapped his eyes open and grabbed her wrist just as she had touched him. He had his eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare, but slowly his face seemed to take on a look of shock as he registered whose wrist he was holding. He released his grip on her, but didn't tear his gaze from her own. She was looking at him with confusion, fear, and a bit of anger…quite an awkward combination of emotions. Lucy opened her mouth, she wanted to say something, but before she could get a word out someone knocked on her door. They announced that they were Rune Knights and currently on the hunt for a man whom had been spotted running into this hotel. The two occupants of the room continued staring at each other and Midnight couldn't believe that his life was currently in the hands of the girl whom he tried to sacrifice. Karma was without a doubt, a bitch. There was no way he could fight off the Rune Knights right now. He wasn't in the condition to even fight off the little blond in front of him. If she wanted to kill him now would be the perfect time.
Lucy sighed lightly before turning away from the dark haired male and making her way to the door. She couldn't believe what she was about to do, but this man was a comrade now, right? Not only that, but he hadn't attacked her yet or threatened her to keep quiet, he had only stared at her. And if Lucy had to be honest she swore she could see a slight bit of fear hidden in his eyes. She imagined that he was more afraid of being locked up again than being killed. She inhaled a small breath before cracking the door open. She was careful to let the two Run Knights see her, but not too far into the room.
"Sorry, to interrupt mam, but we're searching for a man right now and we were wondering if we could search your room," the first man spoke.
He had a blush on his cheeks that matched his partners, but that wasn't a surprise given the lack of clothing Lucy had presented herself in before them.
"Mm…I would love to help you, but do you mind if I get changed first?" she spoke in a shy tone of voice while adjusting her towel.
As she adjusted her towel she made sure to let a bit more cleavage slip and watched as the men lit up even brighter. They quickly nodded their heads to her question and told her they would be right outside. Lucy smiled at the two gentleman before closing her door slowly.
"Crap, crap, crap…" she muttered under her breath while quickly running back into the bedroom where Midnight was now sitting up.
She noticed he was gently clutching his side, but she didn't have time to help him nurse his injury. She didn't even have time to feel bad about what she had to do next. Lucy walked over to him and gently grabbed his hand before forcing him up to his feet. He quietly gasped in a bit of pain, but bit back any threat he had for her when she wrapped her arm around his backside. She allowed him to press most of his weight into her as she used her free hand to hold her towel in place.
"I need you in the closet," she spoke in a gentle tone of voice which surprised the both of them, but neither of them had the time to question her gentle tone.
The dark haired male nodded his head before he pulled himself away from her and walked or rather stumbled toward the closet. Lucy quickly made to slide the closet door closed, but paused when she saw that same bit of fear in his eyes that she had seen earlier. He did a good job at hiding it, but to an intelligent woman such as herself it was an easy find. She imagined this man had an extreme dislike or maybe phobia to any type of imprisonment…even something as simple as being shut up in a closest for a few minutes. She raised a hand up toward the man before gently grabbing onto the end of his braid. She starred at the white hair pinched between her thumb and index finger for a moment before she looked up and gave the male a bright smile.
"I'll be right back. So, don't worry one bit," she said before releasing the man's hair and quickly sliding the door closed.
She took a small breath and moved to the bathroom once more, ignoring the question that burned in the minds of both of them, 'Why did she do that?' She quickly got dressed, pulling her mini skirt and white tube top into place. She then heard the men on the other side of the door ask what was taking her so long.
"J-just a moment longer, I can't seem to find my panties!" she called back and turned a bright red at the embarrassing lie she had just yelled out; however, it did buy her another few minutes.
Lucy grabbed her key from the bathroom and fumbled for Gemini's key before summoning the small creatures and shushing them both when they made an entrance.
"Guys, can you…transform into Midnight? You remember him right?" she asked the small creatures and watched as they nodded their heads before asking why.
"No, time to answer that, just transform into him, pretend to attack me, and then when two guards come running in jump out the window and keep them busy for as long as possible, okay?" she asked and watched as the two creatures easily took the shape of the dark haired mage. She smiled proudly at the two of them before dragging them into the main room with her.
"Also, very important, when you change back and return to the spirit world, do not let them see you. Alright, now or never…," she spoke, ignoring the sweat of her palms and the pounding in her chest.
Gemini grabbed her and flinched ever so slightly when Lucy screamed for help. They knew that they weren't really hurting her, but to hear her call for help because of them sounded…terrible. The two guards of course came running in and caught Lucy just as Gemini pushed her forward and jumped out the window. Lucy was secretly thankful she was staying on the first floor of the hotel since she never wanted her spirits to suffer any kind of injury no matter how small. The two guards quickly stood Lucy upright before pursuing Gemini and yelling into a communication Lacrima that they had found the culprit. As soon as they left her sight Lucy quickly moved toward the front door and watched as several other Rune Knights came running down the hall. The coast seemed to be clear and she was sure Gemini would buy them more than enough time, but still just to be safe she summoned Virgo.
"Punishment Princess?" the pink haired maid asked just as she appeared on the scene.
"No, sorry, not today Virgo. Can you make a tunnel out of this room and have it end somewhere far away from the hotel? Maybe even out of town? Midnight and I need to get away," Lucy asked, smiling happily when the girl agreed without question and quickly began work.
Lucy watched for a moment before turning away and moving toward the closet. She easily spotted Midnight pressed against the wall in the back of the closet. The once white walls now stained with blood and Lucy found herself lightly wincing at the pained expression on the man's face. She gently helped him out of the closet before raising a hand and pointing toward the nicely sized hole in the floor.
"Follow that out, I'm going to pack some supplies," she said quickly and ushered him toward the hole.
She knew he probably had a million and one questions to ask her, but he knew that they didn't have the time to answer them. She slowly turned away from the mage and made her way back into the bathroom. She heard something that sounded close to a hiss of pain from the other room and imagined that the male had just descended into the tunnel. She didn't hear anything after that and forced herself to begin on her task at hand. She gathered up her things, packing up her backpack and then doing the same to Cana's things. She imagined that the card mage wouldn't be coming home tonight which would actually work out in Lucy's favor. She would contact the mage later with her Lacrima and have Virgo hold onto her things in the spirit world until they met up again. The last thing she did before descending into the darkened tunnel was grab her jean jacket and slide it on over her shoulders.
She ran through the tunnel, clinging to the backpacks she had to carry and working hard to not trip over anything. She was thankful that this town wasn't too big, but that didn't change the fact that they were still on a time limit. She kept an eye out for Midnight since she didn't want to bump into him and cause him anymore pain. After a while of running around in the dark she began to panic wondering why she hadn't seen Midnight yet. He couldn't have made it so far with his injurie's, could he? She began slowing down wondering if she perhaps maybe passed him without even realizing it, but that was just silly. It wasn't as if this tunnel was that big and she was sure she would have at least seen his white boa. As she was worrying about what could have happened to the dark haired mage Virgo appeared back on the scene and scared the living crap out of the young Celestial mage.
"Princess, I finished the tunnel and then assisted your injured friend to the end of it. He is waiting outside in the forest near town right now," she said before grabbing the bags that Lucy was carrying.
Lucy thanked the pink haired spirit before the two of them quickly began moving again with Virgo leading the way. It wasn't long before the two girls were climbing out of the tunnel. Lucy bent over slightly and rested her hands against her knees in an attempt to take a quick breather as Virgo informed her that Gemini just came back. The pink haired maiden also told her that Gemini had not been caught in his transformation when he returned.
"Tell Gemini I said great job and thank you. You too Virgo, you did great! Oh yeah, can you also hold on to Cana's pack until I summon you again?" she said while speaking with a happy tone while giving the pink haired girl a wide smile.
"Anything for you, Princess. Would you also like me to get rid of this tunnel when I depart?" Virgo responded before returning Lucy's pack to her and giving her a smile of her own.
"Yes! Please, that would be perfect," Lucy said happily before telling her friend that she could leave now if she wanted.
Virgo nodded her head and gave a soft goodbye before she disappeared, the tunnel also fading away with her, filling again with earth as if it had never existed in the first place. Lucy was pulled from her thoughts when a body suddenly collapsed next to her. She quickly looked down, Midnight's body was laid out beside her and she could see the blood that had soaked through his clothes. She wanted to know what had happened to the man, to know what put him in this kind of state, but it was obvious that she wasn't going to be getting any kind of answers right now. She also knew that they had to keep moving or risk getting caught by the Rune Knight's. She summoned Loki and brushed off a few of his pick-up lines before explaining what had happened. He was far from happy about helping a man that had previously tried to sacrifice Lucy, but he knew not to argue with her when it came to helping someone in need. She was far too kind hearted to turn away people who needed help…even if those people didn't deserve the help at all. She also asked if he could carry Midnight further into the forest with her since she feared being caught…a task he begrudgingly preformed for her.
Time Skip
Lucy watched the fire dance around in front of her, the sun had long since set, and Loki had already headed back over to the spirit world, doing so after they had attended to Midnight's wounds. She was terribly surprised by all the battle scars the man had or maybe battle scars wasn't the proper term…she was sure a lot of those came from when he was imprisoned in the tower of heaven. Once she had gotten over her initial shock she, with the help of Loki, began quickly patching the poor man up and this included stitching up some of the deeper gashes. She was amazed that the man didn't wake up from the pain, but Loki informed her that the man had pushed his magical energy to the limit. He had apparently used a lot more than he should have and thus would be out cold for at least the rest of the day.
After Loki left, she informed Cana about everything that had happened and let her know to head on home without her. She had also made sure to get a hold of the master and let him know everything that had happened. He told her that they would make contact with Jellal and inform him about his guild member's safety. He also asked that she stay with Midnight until he was able to meet back up with Jellal and the others. She knew he hated asking her of that…asking her to stay with a man that had previously tried to kill her, but he did try to reassure her that everyone who had joined Jellal and his guild were trying to turn over a new leaf. He then went in to apologize for the crappy birthday she was having, but she assured him that none of this was his fault. They could blame no one, but fate since she doubted even Midnight himself had expected to wind up in her room. Lucy pulled her knees to her chest and gently rested her chin on them as she pulled her gaze from the fire. She looked over toward Midnight on the other side of the fire. She would have put up a tent, but it wasn't until later that she had realized the tent was in Cana's pack and she didn't want to bother Virgo again today. The pink haired girl had done such a great job today and Lucy would have felt bad for calling her over something so trivial. She also didn't mind sleeping out under the stars once in a while. Midnight was sleeping in her sleeping bag and he looked surprisingly…cute as he slept. Lucy scoffed at the sudden strange thought and decided that she obviously needed some sleep because there was no way her brain was functioning properly if she found Midnight cute.
Of course, it then occurred to her that she didn't have anywhere to sleep since she had so kindly given her sleeping bag to Midnight. She looked at the grass below her and wondered if she should just sleep on the ground, but upon catching sight of a little eight legged creature passing her by she decided against it. Not to mention once the fire she had started died out it was going to get a hell of a lot cooler. She glanced over toward Midnight and her sleeping bag once more, considering kicking him out of it, but what kind of person would she have been for kicking an injured person out in the cold? She then considered slipping in with him, it wasn't as if she hadn't slept by another man before, she had done it plenty of times before with Gray and Natsu. Hell, she had even slept in the same bed as Gajeel once, but to sleep in a tight space with Midnight…well…she wasn't sure. He was Midnight after all the man that had had tried to have her sacrificed a while back. She once more had to rationalize with herself that he wasn't that kind of person anymore…if Jellal vouched for him, the man that Erza love, then surely he was trustworthy, right?
She gave a small sigh before finally giving in to her tiredness. She really wasn't in the mood to argue with herself. Besides with all that make up he wore he was probably gay and into Cobra or something along those lines. Or that's what Lucy told herself to give her the courage to stand from her spot on the floor and walk over to the pale skinned man. She took a small and unsteady breath before she leaned down and unzipped the side of sleeping bag. She lifted it slightly and ignored the way Midnight's face seemed to scrunch up slightly at the feeling of the cool night invading his warmth; however, he didn't wake up. Lucy eyed the spot next to him and knew that she could fit in there, but she also knew she would be pressed up nicely against the topless stranger…yes, topless. She hadn't bother putting his shirt or jacket back on him and instead sent them with Leo to get cleaned and repaired by Virgo. She kind of wished she hadn't done that now…or at the very least she wished she had told Loki to bring her a sleeping bag before he left. For a moment longer Lucy continued eyeing the spot beside Midnight. She had no idea how long she kept doing just that, it wasn't until the fire went out and her surroundings became particularly dark did she find herself slipping into the sleeping bag beside the dark haired man. She slowly zipped the two of them in it. Lucy tried to keep a bit of space between the two of them, but that was just impossible given the fact that putting two people in one sleeping bag was always going to be a tight squeeze. She eventually gave up and decided to just try and enjoy the body heat that he emitted. Right before she fell asleep Lucy couldn't stop herself from thinking that this was by far her most surprising birthday yet, not the worst, but the most surprising.
The next morning, Lucy was vaguely aware of someone speaking her name, the voice was feminine, but she was much too tired to place it. She slowly turned over on her other side as if this would allow her to avoid whomever it was that was trying to talk to her. The next thing she became aware of was the fact that something smelled really nice. It smelled of a subtle cologne, an expensive brand she imagined and it mixed slightly with a more earthly scent. It was a smell she couldn't place, but she had to admit she liked it and so she snuggled herself closer into that smell. She wrapped her arms around it and pressed herself firmly against it assuming that it must have been one of her pillows or something of the sort. The feminine voice spoke up once again and Lucy muttered something still half asleep about letting her enjoy her new found favorite pillow. The last thing she became aware of was that her "pillow" was warm, fleshy, and stiff as a board. Lucy finally decided to open her eyes going against the protests of her sleepy body because she suddenly had a very bad feeling about her pillow. She came well, face to chest with Midnight and for a moment all she could do was stare at the well-toned muscle starring back at her. It took her a moment before her brain finally caught up with her and she gave off a girlish shriek. She tried to push away from the topless man, but she failed miserably when her back side hit other side of her sleeping bag effectively trapping her in the sleeping bag. She slowly dared a quick glance toward the man and saw that he was looking away from her, his face probably brighter in color than her own. For a split second his face reminded her of Freed's back when she had helped Cana back during the S-class exams…she actually found herself waiting to see if Midnight actually got a nosebleed from the encounter.
"Princess, do you need me to unzip the sleeping bag for you?" Virgo said and watched as Lucy craned her neck over to look at Virgo, which explained the feminine voice she had heard when she was still half asleep.
Lucy nodded her head slowly and tried to ignore her pink cheeks while Virgo gave a small girlish giggle. As soon as the pink haired spirit finished unzipping the sleeping bag Lucy squirmed out of the thing as quickly as possible. For a moment, everyone was quiet, Midnight had shifted himself into a seated position, but his cheeks were still burning red. Virgo was the first one to interrupt the silence holding out a bundle of clothing which Lucy recognized as Midnight's shirt and jacket.
"I finished mending and cleaning his clothing as you asked. I also brought over a new outfit for you as well," she said and gestured over toward a pair of shorts, sneakers, and a pink tang-top.
"Thank you so much Virgo! You can go ahead and head back whenever you want," Lucy replied while gathering up the outfit.
Virgo nodded her head before bowing toward Lucy and disappearing in what Lucy could only call Celestial glitter. The blonde mage gave a small sigh before turning toward Midnight and tossing his own clothes over toward him. He easily caught them and eyed Lucy with mild suspicion as she turned to leave the campsite stating that she was going to go and get changed. Once she had finished changing and made her way back to the make shift campsite she quickly began packing everything up. As she was packing up her sleeping bag, Midnight finally decided to speak up from his spot propped up against a tree.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked and continued watching her with slightly suspicious eyes as she stopped mid-way into rolling up her sleeping bag.
She gave out a whisper of a sigh and knew he had every right to be curious and ask that question. She would have done the same thing had someone she thought hated her was going this far out of their way to help her. She starred at him for a long second before finally returning to rolling up her sleeping bag.
"You were injured and about to be imprisoned again. Don't get me wrong though if I didn't know about you working with Jellal I probably would have turned you in to those Rune Knight's. You and everyone else working with Jellal though look like you're trying hard at some kind of atonement…so I wasn't going to very well just let those pricks in the rune knight's stomp all over your chance at changing," she explained to him before finally tying her sleeping bag closed. There was no way she was going to explain to him that she also did it because he had looked like he was somewhat afraid of being imprisoned again. She then remembered what else she had done the day before…she had played with his hair in an attempt to calm him down. 'Oh please, for the love of Mavis don't let him ask me about that,' she thought to herself before another voice entered onto the scene calling for her.
The voice was coming from her pack and she could tell it was Master Makarov. Lucy quickly stood up and dropped her sleeping bag by her pack before leaning forward to dig through her pack. It wasn't long before she found her communication Lacrima and saw Makarov's face. He looked a bit worried, but more upset than he did anything else.
"So, what's up Master, did you get a hold of Jellal?" she asked and watched as the man nodded his head, but from the look on his face Lucy had a feeling she was going to hear something she didn't want to hear.
"First off child, is Midnight there with you, it would help if he could also hear this," Makarov said and watched from his end as Lucy's Lacrima turned slightly before ending on Midnight's form leaning on a tree.
The man said nothing, hell, he barely even moved when Makarov's face came into view. He just continued to stand there with his back pressed against the tree he was leaning on. Lucy spun the Lacrima back toward herself and gave the master a cheery smile. "I think that's him saying 'hi', but I'm not sure. He doesn't talk much, but I noticed his eyebrow twitch when he saw your face," Lucy said and watched as Makarov only raised a brow at her strange ramblings.
"Listen you two, Jellal and his group are currently laying low in a location not far from you both, but he says that they will be moving soon since the place is swarming with Rune Knight's. They won't be able to meet up with you for a while," he spoke and watched Lucy purse her lips slightly in a bit of frustration.
"Jellal…he asks that if you're willing…he wants to know if you'll stay with Midnight in case trouble comes up. He understands if you turn down the request, but I –," Makarov started, but was cut off when Lucy gave him a smile and shushed him. He had a feeling it was forced, but he didn't say anything on the matter.
"Let Jellal know that Midnight's in good hands!" Lucy said while keeping the smile placed on her lips. She turned to look over at the dark haired mage, trying to gauge his facial expression to see if he was opposed to this idea at all, but from what she could tell he didn't seem to care much…was he even paying attention? She doubted she would ever know.
"We're going to try and get Jellal and his group into our guild for a meet up as soon as possible. We will let you know when that happens," Makarov said and watched as Lucy raised a curious brow in his direction.
"Wouldn't it be safer for your guild not to get involved that much?" Midnight asked with his eyes lazily closed. He missed how Lucy had whipped around to look at him with shock set in on her face. He had stolen the question right out of her mouth.
"Well, yes, but apparently Erza has something very important to tell Jellal and she won't do it over a Lacrima. She threatened to leave us for a year to go hunt for him, to which Jellal freaked out about because he doesn't want her getting spotted with him by the council or something," Makarov said with a heavy sigh before falling forward against his desk, he couldn't believe how demanding his children could be.
Lucy gave a small laugh at the master's response before trying to throw a few encouraging words toward him like 'you can do it!', but it wasn't long before the two were interrupted. A certain white haired bar maid soon came bursting into Makarov's office asking to speak with Lucy and her new "partner". She didn't wait for a response from Makarov before she snatched the Lacrima from his hand and looked at Lucy whom only smiled back at her.
"Happy belated birthday, Lucy! I'm so sorry you got stuck doing all this on your birthday," Mira spoke and laughed slightly when Lucy hung her head in defeat and whispered a small thank you.
"So, I just finished talking with Cana and she's going to hand you enough money for you and Midnight to live off of for the next month. We're not sure how long this mission could go for so…we just wanted you to be prepared. She's in a city to the east of your current location. It's about a day's travel and so far she hasn't seen any Rune Knight's," Mira said while Lucy intently listened to the woman, nodding her a head a few times.
"She also mentioned something about you owing her a night at the club and a lot of drinks," Mira continued and watched once more as Lucy hung her head in defeat. 'Getting drunk with Cana and Midnight…oh that's going to be a joy and a half,' Lucy thought to herself sarcastically and almost missed when Mira told her goodbye and hung up on her end. Lucy's Lacrima went blank, but for a moment all she could do was stare at it.
"Well, I guess you're stuck with me. I hope that's okay with you," she said while shoving her Lacrima into her backpack. When the man didn't respond to her Lucy couldn't help but, throw a curious glance over toward her new found partner. She quickly discovered that the reason for his silence was because he had fallen asleep…standing up she might add. She had to admit she was rather impressed with his talent to fall asleep standing up, but now was not the time to be giving him praise. They needed to get a move on and meet up with Cana in the next city over. She really did not want to wake him though since he just looked too cute. Lucy blanched at the sudden thought, she had thought the same thing last night…she couldn't help thinking that something was obviously wrong with her.
"Well, I guess I can always summon him…he'll probably be better company than someone who doesn't talk anyways," Lucy said before going through her keys to find a certain silver one.
The young celestial mage wasted no time in summoning Horologium and explaining the situation to him. The grandfather clock agreed before easily lifting up the sleeping Midnight, careful of his injuries, and placing the sleeping man inside of him. It was a miracle in itself that the man didn't wake up. Of course a little more than half way into the trip Horologium made the statement that his time was up and then disappeared in the same celestial glitter that all the others had. Lucy watched as Midnight fell from a foot off the ground and landed not so gracefully on his rear end. At this sight Lucy decided to break out laughing, ignoring how the previously sleeping man sent her death stare and demanded to know what the hell was going on. For some reason the expression on his face only made the young woman laugh even harder. She held her sides in pain while trying to will her laughter to stop, she knew Midnight was still glaring at her, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. She swore a whole minute went by before she finally stopped her laughter. She slowly wiped the tears from her eyes and glanced over at her companion before deciding she should apologize to him.
"S-Sorry, but it was pretty funny, you should have seen you face when you hit the ground," she said and resisted the urge to laugh at the poor man yet again.
"I fail to see how an injured man falling over is so hilarious," he spoke and kept his voice calm and collected, but his words only caused the little Fairy beside him to grip onto his sleeve for support and double over…laughing at him once again. He looked down at his arm as she clutched onto her sleeve. He was stuck between letting her hands remain there and brushing her off. He couldn't understand why he wasn't able to simply brush her off, it wasn't as if she was someone special, but something was defiantly stopping him…maybe it was the secret enjoyment he found in how she had pressed herself up against him so gently earlier in the morning. No, that couldn't be it, could it? He couldn't possibly be that much of a softie or a pervert…could he? He blushed a bright red color when the thought of the little fairy wearing nothing but her undergarments, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him down toward her, and whispering sweet nothings came to the forefront of his mind. He stopped the thought, no…he refused to allow that thought to progress any further than it already had.
It wasn't long before Lucy finally pulled her hands away from him and was once more wiping the tears from her eyes. After a few more seconds of silence between the two she finally explained what had happened.
Time Skip
It was night time by the time they had finally reached the city and from the looks of this place it was more or less Cana's dream city. As far as the eye could see there were bright lights everywhere, clubs, bars, and drunken people going at it (both violently and sexually). It almost reminded her of another day in her guild…just with more people, lights, and less destructive fights. It was no wonder Cana hadn't seen any Run Knight's here yet, if Lahar was any example for how a Rune Knight should properly behave then this place must have been like hell for them. Lucy couldn't help the mental image of a few Rune Knight's gathered around in some meeting room fighting over who had to chase Midnight into this chaos…of course that was if they knew he was here…which she dearly hoped they didn't. She dared a glance over to Midnight whose face she realized seemed to still be more or less deadpan, but hidden in those eyes of his she could see a bit of nervousness and annoyance…for some strange reason it brought a smile to her lips. It was…funny to see him acting like that since he was always the composed one unless put into a fight with a powerful opponent. Either way, she could tell that he obviously wasn't one for these types of crowds.
In the next moment, Lucy stumbled forward slightly, a tanned arm slung around her shoulder, a bottle of what appeared to rum was in the hand of that arm. Midnight and Lucy slowly turned toward the person whom had just joined them and Lucy immediately recognized her as Cana.
"Lucy…your taste in men…when did it change so drastically?" Cana asked while eyeing Midnight whom stood on Lucy's other side, ending her sentence with a small hic-up…the obvious sign that she was drunk.
"Cana…are you drunk?" Lucy asked while openly gaping at the brown haired mage. It was a very rare sight to see this particular mage drunk.
"Maybe…a little…I don't know…did you know Bacchus was here?" she replied and at that name everything started making sense again. No wonder she was drunk, whenever she drank with that man she got drunk.
"You sure you should be with that man? I mean…you have Bix waiting back home for you," Lucy said sighing lightly when her drunken friend sent her what she thought was a menacing glare.
"Bix and I just broke up a few hours ago," Cana said and once more ended her sentence with another hic-up. Lucy looked back toward Midnight and mouthed the word help toward the pale skinned mage.
"Cana, you and Bix break up like every two months, you'll be back together in probably a day or two," Lucy spoke, but soon found that her words were not going to reach her friend at all. It was quite obvious that her friend was already mostly gone.
"So, Lucy…you owe me a night out," Cana stated simply before dragging Lucy behind her, but the young blond mage quickly grabbed onto Midnight's wrist to stop Cana from dragging her. He tried to pull his wrist out of her grasp but, she had quite the death hold on it.
"Oh, no, no, no. You are not leaving me here alone to watch the two of them swap spit all night long. I refuse to go through this alone…like talk about a third fucking wheel," Lucy said and watched as the man raised a curious brow toward her. Did she honestly believe his company would help her situation at all? He supposed he would never find out because just as he was going to ask how his company would help her the card mage gave a rather powerful tug and effectively moved the both of them. She was pretty strong for a drunkard.
It wasn't long before he was half dragged into a what he could only describe as a hell hole, full of lights, loud music, people grinding all over each other, and lots of alcohol. Lucy tightened her grip on Midnight's hand and the dark haired male was forced to realize that not only had Lucy's hand moved from his wrist to his own hand, but that the simple action had caused his heart rate to slightly elevate. He wasn't given long to think on the situation though because the card mage once more began tugging on them. She was pulling them through the crowd and was so intent on finding whoever this Bacchus person was that she didn't even notice a random woman throw what could only be described as a "glitter bomb" directly at Lucy. He couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips when the blonde mage squealed in surprise as the glitter coated her hair and front. The most surprising thing though was the fact that the little mage had actually noticed his smile because she promptly glared at him and told him to shut it…even though she soon started laughing herself. He didn't laugh with her, but he did feel the smile on his lips grow a bit wider.
It wasn't long before the card mage was forcing them into some kind of rounded off booth, a circular table sitting in the middle. Midnight sat at one of the ends of the booth with Lucy sitting beside him, another man (Midnight presumed it was the Bacchus fellow) sat on Lucy's other side, and beside him at the other end of the table was Cana. As the card mage introduced Midnight and Bacchus, he noticed that Lucy was trying to brush off the glitter from her chest, but was failing in that attempt. The only real thing she was succeeding in doing was getting the attention of both the men at her sides. They couldn't help starring at her because everything time she tried to brush the glitter off her breasts would slightly shake and her apparel did little to hide the movement. Midnight could feel his cheeks heating up and on his pale skin he was sure he was probably already pink in the face. He swallowed hard before forcing his gaze away from the curvaceous blond beside him.
"Damn Blondie…" Bacchus spoke, eyes still glued to the celestial mages jugs.
Lucy narrowed her eyes slightly toward the male, stopping her brushing, she would have Lucy kicked him if it wasn't for the fact that she was currently sitting at a table between two men. She instead settled for stomping on the man's foot from under the table and watching him groan out in a bit of pain. She nor Bacchus noticed the menacing glare sent toward him by a certain pale skinned mage, the only person who noticed was the slightly drunken Cana whom was now sporting a grin.
"Hey, Bacchus, baby, can you go and buy some more drinks for us?" Cana asked moving from her spot to let the palm mage out of the booth.
The man grinned in response before moving from his seat. He told Cana not to miss him too much before he wandered into the crowd of dancing people toward the bar. Cana in the meantime took a seat beside Lucy now before allowing her smile to grow.
"You're both drinking with us…you know that, right?" she said and laughed a bit at the way Lucy groaned and Midnight pretended to sleep. There was no way that man could actually fall asleep that fast in a raging club, right?
"Cana, I am technically on a mission here and exhausted beyond belief…give me a break, please," Lucy said choosing to ignore the way her female friend threw an arm over her shoulder.
"Cana, you smell like booze and sweat, get off me please," Lucy stated and playfully pushed her friend back slightly, laughing when she heard Cana laugh. In the next moment, Bacchus finally appeared once more holding what Lucy counted to be eight large bottles of rum, whiskey, vodka, and gin. Cana slapped his back in thanks as he set the bottles down on the table and took a seat beside her.
"Oi, Luce, wake up your man please," Cana said and laughed when the young woman turned a bright shade of red.
"H-He's not my….oh, whatever," Lucy said while sighing lightly. She knew it was pointless to even bother trying to argue with a drunk Cana. The young blond slowly raised a hand to gently shake his shoulder but, found herself squealing softly when said man quickly raised a hand and grabbed her own before she even touched him.
"No need for that," he muttered under his breath while releasing her hand.
"Good, you're awake. Now, choose a bottle," Cana spoke up grinning toward him as both she and Bacchus took both the bottles of whiskey. Lucy grabbed one of the bottles of rum and silently wondered if Midnight could actually handle drinking as much as she could. She never expected anyone to keep up with Cana or Bacchus, but…maybe he could keep up with her…maybe? She was after all a Fairy Tail mage herself and everyone knew how much they liked to party and drink. She was going to tell him to grab the other bottle of Rum like herself, but Cana beat her to it and promptly handed the man a bottle of vodka in his hesitation.
"Now, what game should we play?" Cana asked with a wicked smile on her face that left Lucy wondering if the woman was actually drunk.
"Shouldn't we let Lucy pick? It's her birthday, right?" Midnight asked, ignoring the way Lucy quickly turned to stare at him in shock. She knew that he probably overheard it from earlier, but she hadn't expected him to remember.
"Sounds good. So, what's it going to be, Blondie?" Bacchus asked whilst handing out the glasses.
"Um...how about-," Lucy started, but was quickly cut off by Cana.
"In an hour though I get to choose the next drinking game," the brown haired mage said and watched as Lucy raised a brow. Lucy knew that Cana was up to something, but she also knew that this particular card mage wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Alright fine. So, we'll start with Never have I ever," Lucy said eyeing Cana suspiciously.
"You start then Blondie," Bacchus said while pouring his and Cana's drink. Lucy and Midnight did the same for themselves before Lucy began thinking of a good question.
"Never have I ever had sex," Lucy said, a wide grin on her lips as she watched Bacchus and Cana groan quietly. From the corner of her eye she could see Midnight "sleeping". She made a mental note of how the male was also a virgin much like herself. Then again when she actually thought about it she doubted the man had had time to get laid in the past especially since most of his life had been spent imprisoned.
"Really though Blondie? No sex, ever? I understand the sleeping weirdo not getting laid, but you? Fuck, please, let me be your first," Bacchus spoke, but groaned aloud once more when Lucy rammed her foot into his foot once more.
"Alright, my turn then. Never have I ever…thought about having sex with Lucy," she said with a wide grin spread across her lips. The card mage heard Bacchus mumble a few curses under his breath, but that was expected, she was having more fun eyeing the man on Lucy's other side. 'Fuck…' was the only thing that Midnight could think of as he slowly peeked over toward the card mage with slightly bright cheeks. He knew she had done that on that purpose.
"Urg…really Bacchus…I mean I kind of expected it, but…really?" Lucy said, but before she could get much further she saw Midnight on her side raise his glass and gulp his drink down. Lucy blinked once, then twice before allowing her mouth to hang open. She watched as he poured himself a new glass and pretended that he didn't just drink to that. She had no idea what the hell to say to this, literally the only thing that came from her mouth was an unintelligible 'oh…'
"Oh, don't act so surprised blondie, I would have thought he was gay if he didn't drink to that," Bacchus said howling with laughter. "Now let's see…never have I ever given another man a blowjob," he spoke after his laughing quieted down.
Cana shrugged slightly before chugging her drink down and pouring herself a new one, not a surprise of course, but what was a surprise was the fact that Lucy actually drank her cup down too.
"No way!? Really Lucy!? When and with who!?" Cana explained trying her best to hold back her laughter, but failing miserably.
"None of your business," Lucy muttered with a pink face as she poured herself another glass before looking toward Midnight and lightly nudging his arm to inform him of his turn.
"Never have I ever been in a relationship," he spoke and watched as all three people groaned and downed the contents of their cups before pouring a new one for themselves.
"Never have I ever…daydreamed about Laxus's muscles," Lucy said while grinning toward her female friend.
"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh?" she said before once more emptying the contents of her cup. "Fine then, never have I ever given a blowjob to Natsu," she spoke eyes twinkling slightly when she saw Lucy blush a bright red color, but the blonde didn't lift the cup at all…no one did. "Oh, I see…" Cana said and Lucy already knew what her next question would be and she couldn't help, but try and disappear into her seat.
"Never have I ever lost a drinking contest," Bacchus said simply, a slight grin forming on his lips as all three people drank the contents of their cups before pouring themselves a new one.
"Never have I ever competed in the grand magic games," Midnight spoke trying to resist a smirk when all three people glared at him.
"Dude, that question shouldn't even be fucking fair," Bacchus muttered, but none the less took another shot with both the ladies. Lucy could feel her blood run cold when all eyes fell on her, she knew what Cana was going to ask next and because of that she really didn't want her turn to end.
"We're waiting," Cana said scooting a bit closer to Lucy whom silently cursed under her breath. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to get out of this one.
"Never have I ever fought all out against a Fairy Tail mage," she muttered and watched as the two men drank down the contents of their cups…that was expected of course.
"Wait hold on…what about the time you fought Bix…or when I had to fight Freed during Fantasia?" Cana said watching as Lucy's eyes went wide. She had totally forgotten all about that.
"Shit…" she muttered under breath before downing her drink while Cana did the same. She then downed another when Cana mentioned 'punishment' because she told a lie. She couldn't believe she had actually managed to forget about that day…god, she couldn't be that drunk already. There was just no way.
"My turn! Never have I ever given Gray a blowjob," Cana said grinning wide from ear to ear as she stared at Lucy whom after hearing that comment was pulled from her thoughts and turning bright red in color.
"I fucking hate you Cana," she spoke up before picking up her cup and downing its contents while the brown haired mage laughed at her friend.
"Oh my god, I can't believe you did that with Gray! Oh my god Lucy…I can't…I can't," the card mage said while holding her sides in laughter. Her laughter only growing when Bacchus spoke asking if she and Popsicle boy had really done that. Lucy tried her best to ignore them, but of course that was near impossible. She was thankful when Bacchus finally took his turn and saved her from being embarrassed any longer. They continued this for a while longer before Cana spoke up about the hour being over. She then looked around her, Bacchus was still standing proud with a grin on his lips, Lucy had a faint blush on her cheeks, but was half way to gone since she hadn't taken her eyes of Midnight for the last five minutes. Midnight was pretending to sleep, but the faint blush on his cheeks and slight squirming under Lucy's intense gaze gave him away. And herself? Well, she was pretty drunk, but wasn't even close to tapping out.
"So, for my game, we're going back to my room, but since it's about a block away we have to drink every time someone noticeably checks out anyone in our group," Cana said while grabbing the remaining bottle. "Bacchus, buy us some more alcohol before we leave," she said and watched at the man stood from his seat once more to acquire them some more booze. It wasn't long before he came back clutching about ten different bottles of alcohol against himself. He handed a few to Cana to hold and then did the same to Lucy and Midnight.
By the time the group had gotten back to Cana's hotel room they had already finished two of the bottles of gin. They were checked out way too many times and Lucy had to wonder if she could still count to fifty. She actually attempted to do just that in her head as Bacchus opened the door to the hotel room…she sadly began quietly laughing to herself before she even made it past fifteen. Cana of course heard this laugh and just knew that the girl was only a few more shots away from getting physical with the pale looking man by her side.
It wasn't long before the four of them were somewhat stumbling into Cana's room. Once in the room they all made themselves comfortable on the floor in front of the rather large bed.
"Alright Cana…what…what are we playing now?" Lucy asked speaking slowly since she knew that the words would come out terribly wrong if she didn't.
"Drink or dare of course," the card mage said knowing that Lucy was drunk enough to agree, but not drunk enough to do all the dares…yet. And of course, just like she predicted, Lucy agreed. Bacchus of course agreed and Midnight…well he didn't say anything, just pretended to be asleep against the side of the bed. She took his silence as a 'yes' though.
"Alright, so birthday girl first then?" Bacchus asked.
"Yeah, sure, that's fine," Cana spoke before looking over toward the blonde whom was now eying Midnight's lap, not even paying attention.
"Or not…alright Lucy! Your dare is to make-out with Bacchus," Cana said watching as Lucy jumped when her name was suddenly yelled out before she listened to her dare. She eyed Bacchus for a moment whom was sporting an overly happy grin. No one seemed to notice how the black and white haired mage had actually peeked an eye open, curious to see if she actually would…well, everyone but, Cana.
"No," Lucy said simply before pouring herself a glass of rum and chugging it down.
"Alright…hm…Bacchus, your dare is to strip down and…ask the neighbors for some more booze," Lucy said, but burst out laughing when Cana started laughing. Of course, much to Lucy's surprise and not so much to Cana's Bacchus actually did strip down. Both the girls of course continued laughing as the man left the room…laughing harder when they heard a shot from another man in the room beside their own. When Bacchus finally returned he actually did return with a bottle of what appeared to be Absinthe covering up his junk.
"The man said no, but then the woman said yes," he said grinning ear to ear as both girls promptly began rolling with laughter. He slowly took a seat on the floor, not bothering to put his clothes back on and to everyone's surprise Lucy didn't say anything. "Alright, you there, pretty boy, you're dare is to try and get Blondies top off," he spoke and watched as the man's eyes shot open, a furious blush on his cheeks. He looked at Lucy and watched as she gave a small hic-up before standing up.
"No…Don't…I got this…" the young girl spoke up and promptly began removing her jacket. She didn't notice how Cana was beginning to slowly gather up Bacchus's clothes and the rest of the alcohol or how Bacchus was whistling at her. Lucy threw her jacket to the floor before removing her top and throwing it down into Midnight's lap. He eyed the piece of clothing in his lap before looking up toward the blushing blonde who now sported a dark purple lace bra. He couldn't help, but wonder if her panties matched. He slowly forced himself to tear his gaze away when he heard Bacchus tell Lucy that she should turn around so he could see.
"But why should I show you…I wanna sleep with Midnight…not you…" Lucy slurred out turning her head slightly to look at Bacchus from her peripheral. She of course had no idea what she was saying in her drunken state and nor did she know that Cana had actually slipped onto the bed behind Midnight. The card mage slowly lowered her lips beside Midnight's ear and whispered something to him, watching him light up even further if that was at all possible. Cana smiled lightly at the man before getting off the bed and going to grab everything she had gathered up earlier.
"Midnight, your turn," Cana said watching as Lucy sluggishly turned her gaze back over toward the man. She didn't even notice how Cana was quietly pulling Bacchus toward the door telling him to 'be quiet'.
"Lucy, your dare…have sex with me," he muttered out and for a moment he wondered why the hell he was going along with what the drunken card mage had said. He blamed it on his inebriated state since that was the only logical reason why he would say something so terribly stupid. His mind was fuzzy and he couldn't think straight…hell, his whole body felt completely numb and he doubted he'd be able to get up from his spot on the floor. He thought it was a fucking miracle that Lucy was actually standing…and it was just plain out crazy that Bacchus and Cana had actually managed to sneak out. Where the hell did they put all their alcohol at? How the hell were those two even still alive? Were all Fairy Tail mages crazily good at holding their alcohol? Midnight was pulled from his thoughts though when Lucy took a seat in his lap, a leg on each side of him, and knees pressing into the carpet below them. He closed his eyes, releasing a small breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he raised his hands to her exposed hips and lightly ran circles over it. He felt her shudder lightly under his touch and that brought a small smile to his lips.
"I'll…I will…take that dare…"she said slowly while yet another hic-up escaped past her lips. This was one of the reasons why Lucy hated getting drunk, sure, she was still standing and could probably knock back a few more shots before passing out, but when totally fucking gone she became a complete and utter…well…slut she supposed. It was a miracle she had managed to stay a virgin, what with all the times that Cana got her drunk? She was just thankful that Erza had always been there to save her from doing something that stupid…of course this time Erza wasn't here and the dark haired mage before her was looking terribly sexy. The faint pink on his cheeks were adorable, even if she couldn't tell if it was from the drinking or her, and she could feel his elevated heart beat from below her fingertips as she placed her hands firmly against his chest. She leaned forward ever so slightly, pressing herself further against him, intent on finding out what exactly Midnight tasted like. She stopped though when she noticed that Midnight's hands had fallen from her hips and he was a bit too still for comfort. She blinked in a bit of confusion before she pulled away from him and looked him over. She then said his name a few times…she discovered that the man had actually passed out…fallen asleep. Lucy laughed quietly to herself before gently guiding the man to the floor, laying him out there. She then pulled the blanket from the bed above him and wrapped not only him, but herself up into the blanket. She pressed herself against him and took a small breath through her nose. She would probably never admit it if she were sober, but…
"You smell…very nice Midnight," she whispered against his chest before attempting to snuggle closer into him. She was vaguely aware of how his arm lifted and wrapped gently around her waist as she fell asleep.