✦ FORGOTTEN FAIRY
When he found her, she was a mess. A strong mage of Fairy Tail brought down to her knees in a small apartment room, struggling to maintain her rent. His original task was a story from her, but upon realising her pain, he could not help but realise that writing a story about her would not be a cool thing to do. The headline 'FIORE'S STRONGEST GUILD BREAKS UP' would need to wait until another day.
"Miss Lucy Heartfilia?" Jason called to her, with a tenderness that would shock the blonde from the memories she had become lost in. Her head rose up, and her caramel eyes came to focus on him. The once bubbly celestial wizard seemed like she was floating in space, and the earth around her had shattered. Jason wondered if maybe that was how it felt to suddenly lose one's job and friends.
He watched her face twist, until she gave the most fake smile he had ever seen. "Ah, J... Jason, right? Are you here to ask about Fairy Tail?"
✦ FILLED WITH SADNESS
He noticed many differences in Lucy Heartfilia, in the short time he was there. He wondered how many of them had been there the last time he had seen her, but due to the lack of intimacy between them, he had been oblivious to. Her eyes were sad, and she spoke of her guild as if they were higher than her – like she was unworthy of them. She put herself down. And when he asked her about her plans for the future, she had no faith in her golden heart.
At the moment she showed such doubt, Jason realised that he wanted her to feel happy, no matter the costs. She told him to just call her Lucy – no honorific.
The only cool thing to do… "Lucy, I'll help you get back on your feet!" he promised.
For the first time, she gave a smile that look genuine. "Thanks, Jason… But you don't need to do that. I'll manage on my own."
This only fuelled his desire to help. Jason stared dead at her, seeing the puff in her tear-stained cheeks and the veins in bloodshot eyes. He saw her hair, brushed but not quite tidy, and he saw the lips curved downwards. "I understand why you would want to do this alone…" he said, a smile coming to his lips, "But your guild was always one to rely on each other, and I imagine after that, it'll be hard to get back into independence. So until then, I hope you can rely on me."
There was silence. Lucy's eyes skirted away, and her cheeks became pink. "Thanks, Jason…" she repeated, but without rejecting his help this time. That was just enough.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure I'm dependable for you!"
✦ NEEDS COMFORT
That night he comforted her. If the shadows forming under her eyes had not already been evident, then her midnight sobbing gave away an inability to sleep. Lucy Heartfilia was utterly depressed, and this fact sank deep into Jason's chest. He thought about what Fairy Tail must have meant to her.
He thought about what having a best friend might be like. He thought about how it feels to have so many people willing to defend you in a moment's notice. He thought about how this sudden mass of friendship would affect a girl who grew up in a lonely mansion. He thought that he might cry, too, when he realised that it was something he would never understand.
With a tentative knock, he let himself into her room. Being a stranger, there was not much he could do to help. Rather than hold her, or tell her everything was going to be okay, he pulled her blanket over her shoulders, and placed his handkerchief on the bed in front of her. He sat on the bed, and waited. She managed to sleep about two hours later, but not until she'd summoned a white dog to hold close to her heart. For a few minutes, he watched her sleep.
Jason considered if he would feel that bad should Sorcerer's Weekly fire him - that, he thought, must at least be close to her feeling right then. In that case, there would only be one thing that would make him feel better. The idea seemed dumb, and useless.
Then when his eyes fell on a stack of magazines under Lucy's desk, his eyes lit up, and he could only stifle a shout of glee.
✦ I WANT TO SEE HER SMILE
Lucy did not expect Jason to come back two days later. This was evident by the drop of her lip as she opened her door to see him. She looked even more a wreck than when he had left her; that time while she finally got some sleep at the expense of a spirit summoning and a stolen handkerchief. "J-Jason? What are you doing here?"
"Lucy!" he thrust a letter at her face, too fast and too close for her to read. "You've got a job at Sorcerer's Weekly! Isn't that COOL!?" His mouth unhinged wide to let out the shout, and he looked utterly ecstatic.
There were a few silent moments, where his cheerful exterior faltered, curious as to how much help this really was. Lucy had snatched the paper, reading it over with keen eyes. Jason imagined her reading his articles with that regard - eyes skimming over word by word, sometimes moving in a silent whisper as she stumbled over a key point.
Slowly, a light came to those dull eyes. It was not love, and perhaps not even any real semblance of happiness. It was something else. Hope, maybe. Or determination. What he did know, was that he gave her something to work towards. But then, she started blushing, laughing.
And as he saw that smile, he realised it made him feel a million times better, and fixed problems he did not even know existed within himself. "An underwear model?" she asked, giving a smirk. And as he nodded his head like a goof, his heart was melting.
"Imagine," he said, his hand floating through the space in her doorway, as if a game show hostess presenting a gallant prize: "The face of Lucy Heartfilia on the cover of Sorcerer's Weekly, wearing nothing but Heart Kreutz latest undergarments... It would be so COOL! The sales would be off the scale!"
She covered her mouth, and her laughter calmed down. It was a sweet sound when she agreed to the job offer, but then when she thanked him, he thought he would never hear a song sung sweeter.