WARNING!
WARNING!
This story contains adult themes such as: criminal activity, drug usage, drug selling, sex, strong language and dragon slayers in heat (though not yet). If these things disturb you or make you feel uncomfortable, I will no longer be held accountable for your discomfort. Take heed of this warning, leave now if this isn't your slice of cake.
WARNING!
WARNING!
Seriously, though. All jokes aside, while this fanfiction isn't going to be long, it is still going to have dark themes and general things that may make people feel highly uncomfortable. My intention isn't to force you to read this if you don't like it. Take the warning and close out of this story NOW if you think you'll feel triggered in any way by things in it.
Welcome to the Underground
"Bunny?"
The voice rocked Lucy to her core and forced her to turn around in the swivel chair faster than anticipated, shock plastered on her face. No. He wasn't supposed to be here. Nobody was supposed to know. Nobody that wasn't on her side was supposed to find out. This could ruin a lot that she'd spent a long ass time building.
"Gaj?"
His ruby eyes glistened in mock humor and mild shock, finding the blonde's reaction to his person rather humorous. He shook his head, concerned about the woman before him. "What are you doing here?"
Her arms crossed under her bust and his eyes followed the movement like a moth to flame. "I could ask you the same thing. Are you Rogue's run?"
He nodded, finally taking a seat in the wooden chair across the table. "Didn't expect to see you dealing."
"I didn't expect to see you buying, either. Ten grand, up front."
He smirked wolfishly, his eyes rolling as he tossed the wadded paper jewel at her. She methodically counted it, seemingly unphased by his presence. "..What got you working this, Bunny?"
She paused, her finger holding down the hundred note she had counted last. Her brown eyes shot to him, her face unchanging. "Hard times, Lug Nut. Natsu killing my rent happened one too many times." And she resumed counting like nothing had happened.
He watched her like a hawk, noticing the huge difference in the way she held herself now to when she was in the guild. It was an air of confidence, of being in control of the situation. Being a boss woman with a vendetta. Her lips were painted ruby red- the color of his eyes, his blood- and her hair left down, falling in wavy tresses. Her brows were raised as she mouthed the numbers, her eyes lidded just a tad.
He felt a lump in his throat. It was attractive as hell.
"It's all here." She said, snapping him out of his reviere. The blonde pulled back and picked the square box under the table up. Carefully, with precision, her nails lifted each individual nugget and dropped them on the scale like a claw machine. It was smart, though, as the scent of weed wouldn't be on her fingers, but her nails. Easy to fool a dragon slayer with just a coat of nail polish. Always a smart one.
Once it was properly weighed, she shoved it in a baggy and passed it back to the Iron Slayer with little gusto. "This isn't your first rodeo."
It wasn't a question.
Gajeel nodded, swallowing down the lump in his throat. She was the epitome of a strong, confident woman who could pull a gun to his head and he'd thank her. "Not at all. A little smoke goes a long way to settle the nerves."
She smirked at him and nodded. "You're alright. Welcome to the Underground."
He raised a pierced brow. "Did I just get initiated into a cult?"
A bark of laughter peeled from her bubblegum lips. The sound alone rocked him in a non-sexual way, making him want to make her laugh more. "No, not at all. If you've been buying, I'm surprised you haven't stepped into the circle already."
At this, the iron slayer leaned on the table. His left arm crossed over his right as he pushed his weight to them. "You tellin me there's more people I know running business?"
And she copied his actions, her bust pronounced through the window frame her arms made. He had to ensure he only saw in his peripheral vision, because looking down was far too tempting. "You have no idea, do you?"
"Ain't got a clue." Mentally, Gajeel patted himself on the back for not slipping.
A perfectly manicured blonde brow rose. "Seriously? ...Well, I can let you in on the bits. You just don't repeat what you hear."
The slayer laughed this time, shaking his head. "Listen, Bunny, it looks like we're catching up from missions. Nobody knows I'm here for Rogue. Ain't a damn soul gonna know, either, I was never here as far as they're concerned. For your smell, though, we ran into each other and started talking."
Her brown eyes sized him up and he could almost physically feel them raking up and down his visible form. It took her a moment of studying him before she nodded to an unknown question. She leaned back and reached into the top drawer on the table between them. With her back fully against her own plush chair, he watched her pull out a baseball bat of a smoke from said drawer before closing it back up. Fat on one end, skinny on the other. She placed the thin end between her lips and struck a match, lighting the blunt up and taking a drag off of it.
Once she had it held in her breath, she passed it on to Gajeel, who accepted her unspoken invitation.
"There's a small handful of us that run this part of the Underground," she exhaled, the smoke falling from her lips after the words were spoken. "The part here in Fiore anyway. You've never been through us so you don't know."
He nodded, taking a hefty huff off the blunt before passing it back to her. "Yeah, I'm following."
She nodded, toying with the skinny end between her index finger and thumb. "Bix runs the E. Cana, the hallucinogens. And Mira primarily runs Alice, despite Cana's claims."
His brows shot up at this, watching as she inhaled the marijuana without hesitation. "So Soul Sister sells ecstasy. Why is that the obvious."
The blonde laughed at this, the smoke getting caught in her throat. A coughing fit left her as she tried to fight down her laughter while not die from improper breathing. Her hand went out, passing the blunt back to the red eyed man. He chuckled and accepted, reaching over to roughly pat her on the back. A good twenty seconds later, Lucy was able to get her bearings on breathing and leaned back in her chair again.
"Soul sister… Damn, I need to call Bix that next time I see him."
Gajeel only smirked wider, feeling the weightlessness settle in slowly. It felt like time was slowing, creeping. The pain that usually settled in his joints floated away, the tension in his back relaxed. "Damn, this is the good shit.. Anyway, so Mira sells acid, Bickslow ecstasy and Cana other hallucinogens. Is it just you four?"
She nodded. "Of who you know anyway. There are a few we'll go through when we're out on missions, but they're just petty criminals, as the kingdom would say."
A one shouldered shrug came from Gajeel at that point, just after he finished taking his hit and passed it back. "Ain't a big thing then."
Lucy laughed openly at that point. "I knew you'd be cool knowing. I'll guess you aren't opposed to helping me out?"
He blinked at that and stared her down, unsure of how to proceed. Should he offer help and get paid in this strong shit that would definitely take the strain off of both him and his wallet, or should he back out now? It wasn't like he was afraid to break the law, it was that he was afraid of Makarov's eye after getting caught. She licked her lips and he almost forgot his train of thought. Almost.
"Depends on what you're offering."
That had to be the best answer. Lucy relaxed fully, her heeled shoes slipping off her feet. She pulled her legs to her chest and shrugged her own response. "Help me in my garden, clipping and watering while I'm out on missions. You can take home a nugget when you need, just let me know when you do… Just don't make it every day, man, I can make a nug stretch three or four days if I need to."
Gajeel nodded. "Watering and clipping? That all?"
Lucy thought about it for a second. "I think. You may have one or two… customers… But mostly I just get behind on keeping stock while I'm out."
"Doesn't help that flame brain always brings ya home hurt," he commented.
Lucy's eyes widened marginally and he mentally scolded himself. Good job, Gajeel, way to sound like a creep.
In his defense, she smelled so damn good. Like a rich chocolate covered strawberry with a hint of red wine. She smelled… Bad. In a good way. Bad as in the Lucy in front of him now, smoking weed in a pair of absurdly short shorts who kicked her heels off seconds ago. Not innocent, like she made herself out to seem. She was gorgeous, too, in either light. If only he could show her- even for a brief moment- just how badly she needed to be this confident all the time.
But her eyes lazily drifted to the clock and she muttered a curse. "We've gotta go, Bix is taking the seat in fifteen."
He almost got whiplash from her random declaration. However, from what it sounded, they all used the house- the office- as a place for trades and shifted out when necessary. They both got another two hits off the blunt before Lucy stamped it out in the ashtray sitting on the desk. She passed the roach to him and he grabbed it with one hand and grabbed her hand with his other one.
"Go on a mission with me, Bunny. Something small and easy but distant. We can talk more then."
She nodded, grabbing her purse and the box under the desk, but paused while doing so. "Won't it seem weird? Us randomly taking a mission together despite never having taken one before?"
He shook his head. "Long as flame brain hasn't gotten to it yet, there's a request for help at a forgery outside Cherry Grove. Nightly protection for three days, someone to help with forging preferred. One silver key and forty thousand as a reward. I know steel the best and you want that key."
She blinked and nodded immediately. "Makes perfect sense.. How did you know?"
He shrugged, heading out the door before she did. "I happened to look earlier before Rogue called. But I need to get this back to the runt."
And he held up a hand as salute as he walked out, hoping she couldn't detect the lie. He'd been keeping an eye on that job, trying to garner the will to ask her on the mission with him. Hell, he half anticipated Titania or Salamander snatching it up, but they hadn't even looking in the direction of the board since their whole team came back from the last mission.
Lucy blinked after him, confused but appreciative. She was relaxed for the first time ever when doing a deal… But it had nothing to do with the weed.
Author's Note: So... I know I shouldn't be starting anything while trying to finish 5DtD, but hEY HERE IT IS! Ugh. So, this is the beginning of a very relaxed story that's going to unfold. This might end up being a whole four to six chapters long- nothing huge, but just enough for sustenance and what have you. Take this as you will, I'm very excited for it.