i don't know, man. i'm running on vegemite and milo (for all you americans, that means i am poor as hell and rather hopeless). i guess the moral of this story is DO NOT DATE YOUR POTHEAD OF A BEST FRIEND. IT NEVER ENDS WELL NO MATTER WHAT, OKAY? DATE KINGS AND QUEENS.


/

somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
a girl with kaleidoscope eyes

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She isn't too sure where she is. If it's any consolation, she was half-fucked by the time she jumped into Gajeel's shitty pickup truck—and, if her memory serves her correctly, the magical white powder Levy pulled out of virtually nowhere was definitely not sherbet.

Lucy walks away from the nauseating dance floor—god, were revolving floors actually a thing now, or was that just her head? It probably was her head, she decides, since the entire room is underwater. Lucy holds out a hand and giggles when fish swim by and nibble at her fingers. They gnaw at the flesh with their tiny teeth and their beady little eyes are lasers slicing at her skin. Lucy frowns at this and yanks her hand away, growling at the little fish-elves until they swim away from her.

The blood that drips from her fingers is glittery and golden, and Lucy is giggling all over again. "It's like the stars," she wonders aloud, eyes taking in the dripping gold and following it as the glitter bleeds into the blue water.

The music pulls her back to the swaying dancefloor, and Lucy laughs at the lyrics—let me tell you a story 'bout a mouse named Lorry, yeah Lorry was a mouse in a big brown house —and the people around her are suddenly less than human, and they all have button eyes and yawning, gaping mouths. Lucy tugs the nearest monster-human towards her and examines them, tugging at their fleshy cheeks and poking their widewide mouth.

"Fascinating," she murmurs in a faux English accent, and she is giggling all the more.

"Wahthahell?" the person says through Lucy's cheek-pulling and she scowls, slapping at their carrot nose.

"Monsters aren't supposed to speak human talk!"

"What drugs are you on!?" the nameless—and identifiable, Lucy adds with a pout—monster exclaims when Lucy finally stops yanking at their cheeks.

"All of them!" she giggles and disappears in to the crowd like a wood nymph.

The people are breathing, sweaty, sex-crazed douchebags she realises when their monster exteriors melt away like wax. She recognises a few, and kisses the ones she doesn't (because kissing strangers at parties is the norm, right? Or was that just the drugs? Whatever, she'll ponder that later). Little cups filled with a concoction of pills are passed around by little glittery fairies. Lucy touches one and smiles when it grins a fanged grin at her. The little fairy flies around her face in spinning circles, and Lucy is choking on fairy dust.

She takes a dixie cup and fills it with strawberry punch, downing it in one go. The fairy is still there, and it braids her hair with vines and flowers. Lucy watches it carefully, fingers stroking the small wings and smoothing the fairy's slightly skewed dress.

"What's your name?" she asks.

"I don't have a name," the fairy responds, and Lucy frowns.

"All fairies have names! From now on you'll be Plue, okay?"

The fairy nods and starts singing a fairy-song, little voice screeching the words: "Do fairies have tails? Oh, do I wonder; do fairies have tails? This is all just one big fairy tale, do fairies have tails?"

"Do they?" Lucy ponders, and Plue the fairy grins.

"That's up to you."

In a cloud of silver dust, the fairy is gone. Lucy watches it flutter towards the ceiling, where it twirls aroundandaroundandaround the coloured spotlights. Plue the fairy blows her a fanged kiss, and Lucy catches it on her purple-painted lips.

"Thank you!" she yells, and the fairy nods its little head.

Lucy registers that she needs the bathroom, so on trembling legs she hikes the stairs and pushes past the line. The human-people yell and scream at her, but Lucy merely giggles and opens the closed door. With a big breath, she slams it closed again and sighs.

"It's you!" a voice yells, and Lucy spins around on unbalanced legs.

"Pink?" she says in reply, for the person standing at the toilet has pink hair and a fanged grin.

"You're that crazy chick that called me a monster!" they yell, and Lucy giggles because their voice sounds funny to her ears.

"Monster?" she repeats, and hides a laugh behind her hand when the boy explodes.

"Stop talking in questions!"

"Mama always told me that the monsters under my bed were kind. You're kind, aren't you?" Lucy asks, because her sweet mother always told her that the monsters that hid were actually angels scared of frightening her with their otherworldly beauty. She notes that this monster surely does not look kind, but small dragon-pixies fly spinning circles around his head and she is reassured.

"Dragon boy!" they hiss and screech, and Lucy opens her palm and cups a dragon-pixie in her hand.

"He's a dragon boy?" she asks the creature, and it blows a plume of fire through its nose.

"He who controls fire like the great dragons! Dragon boy! Dragon man! Dragon boy!"

"Who're you talking to?" the dragon-boy-monster asks Lucy, and she falls into his arms. He manages to clumsily catch her and fold her stray limbs into his arms.

"Look closely," Lucy whispers, and pulls his face beside hers. She points at the dragon-pixies flying about the room on fiery wings. "Do you see them?" she asks her dragon boy.

The dragon boy squints his darkdark eyes, and suddenly his pink hair is a mixture of beautiful reds and oranges, like a summer sunset. "What am I lookin' for?" he asks, and Lucy blows an exasperated breath through her nose.

"The dragon-pixies! There! In front of you!" she points at the fire-breathing pixie perched on her dragon boy's nose, and he sneezes.

The pixies scatter about and Lucy giggles when they topple over each other. One lands in the sink, another in the toilet and she is watching them fondly. "You silly things," she chastises, and looks up to find her dragon boy watching her intently. She wraps her arms around his neck, snuggling into his strong arms and warm body. "Did you see them?" she asks him.

Their noses brush when he laughs, dark eyes twinkling in the poorly lit bathroom. "Sure did," he says, and Lucy smiles brightly—she knows he is humouring her but she is happy nonetheless.

"That's good," she says through a giggle, because the dragon-pixies are crawling up her arms and her face.

"They sure do like you," her dragon boy chuckles and Lucy watches in wide-eyed wonder when the pixies play with his hair and paint the sunset on his pink locks.

"They like you, too!"

Dragon boy grins widely, and his fangs gleam in the light. "Do they?"

Lucy nods rather enthusiastically and her dragon boy holds her tighter. "Aren't they pretty?" she asks in a sigh, petting the scaly wings of the little dragon-pixies.

"Very," dragon boy responds, but he isn't looking at the pixies or the stars outside the window—he watches Lucy with a fond grin and twinkling eyes, and she is reminded of warm summer nights and her mother's embrace.

"What's your name?" she asks, hand reaching up to play with his sunset hair. His hair is soft and tickles her buzzing fingers, and Lucy smiles before burying her face in his neck.

"Natsu," he answers her and the moment is almost too perfect.

"As in summer?"

"I've never thought of it like that," he hums and the sound vibrates in her chest.

"Mine's Lucy," she says in the silence, and he laughs.

"Luigi? That's a perfect name for a weirdo!"

"It's Lucy! L-U-C-Y!" she yells into his neck.

"Okay, Lucy," Natsu chuckles and shifts her further into his arms.

She watches Natsu the Dragon Boy with keen interest; the dragon-pixies have left already and she is saddened by that. "They went away," she pouts.

"Not for long," her dragon boy reassures her, and as if summoned by his call they fly under the gap of the door to dance around Lucy's blonde hair. They paint glitter and sunsets into her hair too, and when she compares the blonde to Natsu's pink she can find no difference.

"They really do like you," she whispers, and Natsu grins.

"They like you, too."

She is kissing him suddenly, hands tangled in his sunset-pink hair and his lips are warm and taste of summer and fire. He is everything and anything, her dragon boy, and Lucy grins against his kisses. He nibbles at her lips, runs his warm hands down the sides of her neck and arms. The dragon-pixies cheer and shower them with plumes of fire-kisses, and everything is too warm and bright but Lucy can't move. Natsu tells her all things nice and kind in his kisses, and Lucy feels ashamed for ever calling him a monster.

Maybe her mother was right after all; maybe the monsters really were angels ashamed of their own beauty.

"You probably won't remember this," her dragon boy sighs against her lips, and Lucy pouts.

"Of course I will!"

"Really?" Natsu chuckles, and Lucy pulls his face down so their eyes are level.

"How could I ever forget my dragon boy?"

Natsu grins that fanged grin again, and Lucy giggles at the absurdity of it all. "You're such a weirdo, Luce."

"Luce," she tests the name on her tongue and laughs loudly. "I like that name! Luce."

Natsu rolls his eyes and kisses her again, and Lucy smiles and laughs. His lips are a mystery and the night is still young, the stars blinking upon playfully. The room is swaying, bur her dragon boy holds her steady in his arms. Lucy breathes in his homely scent, and her mind shuts down.

Maybe her mother was right after all.

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look for the girl with the kaleidoscope eyes
and she's gone