"Miss Lucy, would you mind very much if I asked you a personal question?"

Lucy's face turned scarlet. The celestial wizard and the celestial spirit both sat opposite one another in her small apartment, knelt to the floor with a beautiful candlelit dinner before them. Loke had been begging for this dinner date since the moment they'd created their contract and now she had reason to repay him for all his hard work, she no longer had a good enough reason to refuse. She'd certainly expected personal questions, but the warning only made her blush deeper. "I-Um, sure?" she tried to be brave.

Loke gave a small smirk as he looked back at her, seeing the mounting tension but his voice was filled with surprising kindness as he assured her "Don't worry, I believe it may make me more uncomfortable than you."

This certainly caught Lucy's attention. Her fork paused mid-air, looking back at her date. "Oh?"

He paused for a moment, twisting the food on his fork and toying with the words in his mouth. It was surprisingly difficult to begin, even as the question burned inside of him for weeks. "Are you aware that certain spirits can change form based on your heart's desires?"

Lucy barely moved. This had certainly not been the kind of question she'd expected. She opened her mouth instantly to say she wasn't, before suddenly remembering that she'd heard that before. She nodded. "Virgo changed for me," she said nostalgically. "She said that she thought that I would be happier for her to look like that. Why do you ask?"

Loke nodded, recalling an earlier conversation with the masochist. Virgo had explained how terrified Lucy had looked at her first appearance and how she had been all too willing to change, but how unusual it had been that so far she was the only spirit to do so. "Typically, most celestial spirits will shift slightly in appearance for their summoner. For years I have always appeared as the perfect man for my master."

Lucy suddenly froze, her fork dropping to her plate with a loud clatter. Her entire face was now burning a bright red. "I don't-! That's not-!"

"Relax," he said quickly, a small smile on his face. "As flattering as that is, I find it hard to believe that both you and Karen had the exact same image of perfection. And that is my question, Miss Lucy. Why didn't I change?"

Lucy's face began to drain of the bright colour that Loke had left upon her cheeks. She felt numb, her hands reaching to her side and awkwardly twisting her fingers around the pouch lid for her keys. She was used to calling upon her spirits for strength, not to feel so very awkward. "You… looked this way… because Karen made you?" she asked hesitantly.

His eyes faded into memories. For a moment he said nothing, staring forwards blankly as the candle glimmered against his glasses. Memories of Karen were always difficult, but sometimes the happiest ones hurt most of all. There were days before she turned strong and manipulative, days where Leo had gladly held her high and helped her through troubling times. He had been there for her, a loyal servant as he watched her kindness dissolve before his very eyes. "I wasn't made to, no," he said eventually, voice stiff. "It made things easier. It's usually an automatic change when a contract is made. Karen…"

Lucy leaned closer, reaching out to him. "Loke, you don't have to-"

"Karen always had a thing for the men of her guild," Loke continued, shaking his head to indicate that he had heard Lucy's polite suggestion, but kept going. "Blue Pegasus has a very specific look, you see. Well dressed, smart suits… and when our contract was formed Karen specifically had her eyes on Hibiki," he said slowly.

Lucy nodded knowingly, remembering the meeting with Oracion Seis. "Hibiki thought very highly of Karen," she said under her breath, before looking up. Suddenly now she could see it. The hair, the glasses, the suit, even the soft features of his face. She gasped, barely believing that she hadn't been able to see it before. "You shifted form… to look like Hibiki?"

The spirit shrugged. "More or less," he said, knowing he could have created an exact replica if he'd desired. "I was just Karen's type, and Hibiki also happened to very much be her type. It isn't the first time I've been in a similar form to another man. Hibiki certainly doesn't seem your type, however."

The blush was once again back on Lucy's face. She blinked back at Loke, realising that he was asking for a direct answer. Why hadn't she changed him? It was difficult when she couldn't even remember being given a choice. The key had looked inside her heart and Leo had replaced Loke. They just happened to be the same person. "I'm sorry… I didn't realise…" she said slowly. "Do you want me to change you? What would you like to look like instead?" she asked, trying to pretend she knew exactly how to do so.

He wasn't fooled, but smiled at her generosity all the same. Effortlessly, he reached out to her and took her hand in both of his. "Miss Lucy, I only want to look how you want me to be. I want to be desirable to you."

Her eyes grew wide. The answer was simple. "I just want you to be you," she said clearly. "I just want all of my spirits to be themselves. Because you're my friends."

It both hurt as much as it filled him with warmth. His grip on hers tightened, knowing he loved her even more despite the stinging words of friendship. "This is as much myself as any face you could create."

She smiled and nodded. "In which case, please stay this way."

I found this story on my computer yesterday and was very confused why I didn't post it sooner. I think this was one of these ones I always meant to polish up and just forgot about. I could have probably done a better job on the editing but you get the point!