A/N: Welcome to MidLu Week, everyone! As I said in the introduction, this week will consist of snippets from the same MidLu story. I've decided to go with a Modern AU on this one. Also, please be aware that the years will shift forward or backward in time between days. For the purposes of this story, Lucy, Midnight, and Cobra are all the same age. Each chapter will begin with an age for the characters involved, to help keep things in order.
Lucy and Macbeth are 20.
So, without further ado, I give you…
Day 1: Birthday
(College, Year Two)
Tears streamed steadily down Lucy's blotchy cheeks as she stared at the screen of her phone. She didn't even bother trying to wipe them away. There really wasn't any point since more would follow, and she would just end up wasting tissues that could be put to better use by staunching the ever-present mucus coming from her nose. The cursor blinked, as it had been since she opened the text message nearly twenty minutes prior. She typed a response, only to delete it again and again. What was she supposed to say? How exactly do you respond to something like that?
"So this no-sex thing isn't working for me. We're done. See you in Psych next week. Lol."
That was it. Blunt, honest, and heartbreaking. She thought he would have been different, that her unwillingness to move forward with anything physical in their relationship was understood. Sure, she hadn't exactly told him why she couldn't do more than kiss him. It was all still too new to burden him with her baggage. 'Take things slow,' she thought sadly. That was what everyone had told her. Don't rush into anything. Make sure he really wants you for you, not for sex. The people that ran the orphanage she grew up in understood that. Hell, Seilah and Kyouka were absolute angels as far as she was concerned; they had supported her through it all, and had been totally understanding when she asked if she could stay with Macbeth instead of in her own room.
But this. It wasn't the first time she'd been dumped because she refused most forms of intimacy with whatever man - 'No, boy,' she corrected - she was seeing. Every single one did the same thing. She wanted so badly for just one guy to see past how she looked. She thought he did, but she was wrong.
"Okay," she typed, huffing in annoyance when her phone tried to auto-correct and turn her words against her. How that single word could possibly make the situation worse was beyond her, so she quickly hit send. She kept staring at the screen, hoping against all odds that he would text her back. She didn't pay attention to anything around her, far too focused on that blinking cursor and the two blue check marks just beneath her response that told her he had read it. Maybe he would send something back. It was entirely possible that he didn't really want to break up, right? Especially not on that day…
There was a quick knock on her front door, but Lucy didn't hear it. The lock turned over, and Macbeth walked inside with a soft smile on his face. He adjusted the cake box in his hands to close and lock the door, then shifted the bag slung over his shoulder before kicking off his shoes and making his way further into the apartment. "Lucy, I come bearing chocolate and presents!" he called out. "Get your ass out here."
Lucy sniffled quietly, wiping her nose with a fresh tissue while tapping on the screen of her phone to keep it lit up. Just another minute. One more chance for him to send something back. The minute passed by all too quickly, and as the screen turned black, she leaned back against the headboard and pulled her knees to her chest.
Macbeth laughed as he walked into the kitchen, not hearing any noises from anywhere in the blonde's apartment. "Seriously, get out here. I didn't drag my ass outta bed before three for your birthday for nothing." He carefully set the cake box down on the counter, then walked out to the living room. Lucy wasn't anywhere to be seen, and his brow pushed together in confusion when he didn't see the brilliant head of blonde hair peeking just over the top of her couch like it usually was when he visited - either because she was studying or painting her nails. 'More like failing miserably at painting her nails until I show up to fix it,' he thought. Really, she was pretty hopeless when it came to nail polish not getting everywhere. "Lucy?" he called out.
Lucy sighed heavily, resting her chin on her knees while looking at the little piece of technology that had been used to ruin her day.
Macbeth frowned and made his way down the hall. Lucy did have a tendency to fall asleep in the bath - something that she insisted was his fault, although he wasn't sure how - so he made his way to the bathroom. Only to find that the light was off and the door was open. He turned toward the end of the hall, then smirked when he realized she must still be in bed. It wasn't often, if ever, that he was awake before her, so being able to wake her up for a change while the sun was still out? Oh, he'd be lording that over her for months.
Macbeth moved silently to the bedroom door, his smirk widening into a devious grin. Maybe Erik's insanity was finally rubbing off on him, but the thought of pranking the blonde while sleeping was becoming more and more appealing by the second. Especially since it was her birthday. He walked through the open doorway, and when she looked up at him, his smile vanished. "... Dawn?" he whispered worriedly.
Lucy blew her nose and roughly wiped away her tears while averting her gaze from those piercing red eyes. "H-Hey, Midnight," she mumbled. How could she forget that he was going to come by that day? He always came over first thing in the morning on her birthday, no matter where they were, just so he could be the first person to wish her happy birthday. Granted, it always ended up being a competition between Macbeth and Erik on who would do it first, but still… The black-and-white haired man she'd known for most of her life was standing there, and watching her cry her damn eyes out.
Macbeth frowned and made his way over to the bed, then quickly sat down next to her with his back to the headboard. He already knew that she had to be the one to hug him while she was upset. It wasn't a mistake he would make with her, no matter how badly he just wanted to wrap his arms around her and stop her tears. "What's wrong, birthday girl?" he asked.
Lucy sighed and shook her head. What was she supposed to say? "Yeah, so I got dumped again because I have intimacy issues." Instead of saying anything, she just handed him her phone.
Macbeth raised an eyebrow at her, then turned the screen of her phone on. After quickly swiping across the screen, then typing in the password she used for everything, he looked down at the text message. His eyes widened marginally, then even further when he read it a second time - thinking that no one was that fucking stupid to just break up with someone through a text. "He broke up with you..." he said slowly.
Lucy nodded.
"... In a text message..."
"Yep."
"... Because you wouldn't have sex with him after two months..."
She sniffled and nodded again.
"... On your birthday…" Macbeth knew that Lucy and that cheeky bastard she was dating had plans for that night, and that the guy knew it was her damn birthday. He had even found out from the girl at the bakery - who sat behind the bastard in his Lit class - that the guy had set up a reservation at Lucy's favorite restaurant.
"Uh-huh…"
Macbeth's grip tightened on the phone as he read the text a third time, finally seeing something that had somehow slipped his attention before. "Is that a fucking 'lol'?" he hissed through tightly clenched teeth.
A sardonic laugh left her while her head hit the wall with a thud. "Yeah. I can really pick 'em, right?"
Macbeth sighed heavily and took a screenshot, then opened a new text message. He typed a quick message and hit send, then dropped the phone to the bed.
Lucy grabbed a fresh tissue from the box when Macbeth held it out to her, blowing her nose with as much force as she could muster. Her eyebrows drew together when the screen of her phone lit up from the bed again. Just as she was picking it up, the first few notes of the ringtone sounded out. It still took everything in her not to laugh when she saw the picture of that ridiculous maroon-haired man she had befriended so long ago, scowling with everything he was worth as usual, while it was paired with Britney Spears singing Toxic. She answered it quickly, then put it on speaker phone while wiping her nose. "Hey, Erik."
"You're fucking kidding me, right?"
"What?" Lucy asked with a frown.
"That sorry sack of shit broke up with you for not fucking his pathetic ass on your goddamn birthday!" Erik shouted angrily. "That's it. I'm breaking his fucking legs."
Lucy's eyes went wide as she turned to look at Macbeth in horror, only to find him fighting to suppress a triumphant grin. She switched back over to her texting app, and felt as though her eyes were going to pop right out of her head when she saw what the sneaky bastard next to her had done.
A screenshot of the message that had ruined her day was followed by, "Cobra, it's Midnight. Get your poison out. He made her cry."
Lucy turned to look back at Macbeth and shook her head. Everyone knew just how short of a fuse Erik had where certain things were concerned, one of which being Lucy. Ever since they were kids, Erik had taken it upon himself to beat the hell out of whoever upset her. And Macbeth was usually the one that instigated the beatings by telling him just who it was he needed to pummel. "Erik, it's fine. You don't need to-" She sighed heavily when she was cut off.
"Oh, yes the fuck I do need to maim the little piss-ant," Erik retorted angrily. "Who the fuck types 'lol' after breaking up with someone?! In a goddamn text, Bright Eyes! A TEXT!"
Lucy sniffled again, feeling the tears that had finally started to slow down coming back full force. "I…"
Macbeth grimaced when Lucy dropped the phone and curled up under the covers to try and stifle her sobs. "Just get your ass out of the hospital first, Erik."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Doc Porly says I've got a few more days." Cobra paused and looked at the text message he'd gotten, a sneer pulling at his lip and causing his sutures to pull uncomfortably. "I'm still killing the fucker," he grumbled.
"Have fun with that then. Just make sure to hide the body," Macbeth chuckled as he glanced at Lucy. He slowly brought a hand to the blonde hair that was peeking out from the top of the blanket, and tenderly stroked it to help her relax again.
"Oh, that's easy," Erik chuckled darkly. "The explosion in the lab was a prototype of this new compound I was working on. I almost had it too… Sulfuric acid times ten, melts right through bone with no fucking trace. Not even a chemical signature. My Chem professor says he wants to ban me from the lab, but the Dean overruled it. Guess that grant I got is worth something after all."
Lucy rolled onto her side, cuddling up to Macbeth's leg like she usually did while she was upset. "How's your eye by the way? Macbeth showed me the pictures he took in the ambulance. It was pretty crazy looking." And it really was. The entire right half of Erik's face was bloody, and there were several breaker shards protruding from his right eye. Luckily - or not so luckily in her case, because she really hadn't wanted to see it so vividly - Macbeth had one where he zoomed in just to showcase the clear vitreous fluid from inside of his eye that was running down his cheek. And another that showed exactly where one shard was piercing the eyeball itself.
"Gone. They couldn't save it," Erik said indifferently. Sure, the lack of depth perception was screwing with him already, and the packed gauze on his face was beyond fucking annoying, but he brought it on himself for grabbing the wrong vial while working in the lab. All because he'd been thinking about how he was going to try and stop Macbeth from getting to Lucy first on her birthday. "Stupid beaker shards."
"That's why you're supposed to wear protective goggles, Erik," Lucy said with a sad smile. "It could've been a lot worse…"
"Uh-huh. I won't be making that mistake again."
"I'd sure hope not," Midnight said solemnly. "You hate dogs."
Erik shuddered at the thought of having to get a seeing-eye dog if anything happened to his other eye. "Yeah, there's another reason right there. Unless Bright Eyes wants to be my seeing-eye sister...?"
"Ha. Ha." Lucy grumbled. "I'll let you walk into a wall... Constantly."
Erik grinned. "Much better than a dog though. PETA would be on my ass so fucking fast..."
"A snake then," Macbeth chuckled, watching as a small smile spread across Lucy's face.
Erik laughed. "Yeah, good luck getting a leash on a snake."
"Think of how many bitches you'd get though," Lucy giggled. "Bitches love blind guys with seeing-eye snakes."
There was a moment of stunned silence, then both Macbeth and Erik burst out laughing. "Wow, Dawn," Macbeth choked out. "Fucking wow..."
"That's why I love ya, Bright Eyes," Cobra laughed before turning solemn again. "Still… He's dead as a doornail."
"He's not worth it…" Lucy sighed. "Just leave him alone."
Macbeth cut Erik off when he was about to continue arguing his point. Lucy never wanted the guy to get in trouble for what he did on her behalf, even though it hadn't ever happened since Erik was a genius when it came to covering his tracks… Or intimidating people into forgetting his face. "Erik, we'll call you later on tonight."
"Yep. Doc just showed up anyway. See ya." Erik paused just before ending the call, then continued with his voice softer than usual. "Oh, and Lucy?"
"Yeah?" Lucy whispered.
"Happy birthday, beautiful," Erik said with a smile while looking at her contact picture on his phone.
"Thanks, Erik," she answered with a small smile.
"Skype good?" Macbeth asked.
"Yep. See ya, Midnight."
Macbeth set Lucy's phone down on her nightstand when the call ended, then turned and laid down next her. When she sniffled again and lifted her red-rimmed eyes to look at him, he smiled gently and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "I brought cake," he whispered. "Triple chocolate with strawberries."
Lucy's smile widened excitedly as she looked at him. "Yeah?"
Macbeth grinned. "Yeah. It's your favorite, after all."
When Macbeth moved to stand up, most likely wanting to get her a slice of cake or drag her out of bed, Lucy sighed and wrapped an arm around him so he couldn't move. Once she was sure he wasn't going anywhere, she rested her head in the crook of his neck. "Macbeth?" she whispered.
He grunted in response, lifting one hand from the bed and fiddling with the ends of her golden hair.
"Is it really that bad that I can't... Be with anyone... Like that?" Lucy asked sadly. "After what happened..."
Macbeth frowned and pulled her closer. "No. If a guy's worth it, he'll wait as long as you want him to." It had been almost four years since that night, but Lucy still struggled with it. He just wished he hadn't been working, then he would have been with her and it never would have happened.
"I don't know," she mumbled. "Seems like every guy out there is just looking for a piece of ass. Sting seemed different though..."
Macbeth sighed and lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Lucy, not every guy only wants you for that. There are plenty of us that see more than your body. So, don't let some disrespectful, arrogant first year cockmunch make you give up altogether. Mmkay?"
Lucy's lip trembled as she nodded. Macbeth always knew just what to say to make her feel better. Where Erik made her laugh with just how violent and horrific his threats could be, Macbeth was calm and reassuring. Even though he was a total oddball when it came to his appearance - what with the whole glam rock makeup thing he'd been doing since turning thirteen - and he was pretty anti-social with strangers, he was always a sweetheart to her.
Honestly, Macbeth was the standard where guys were concerned. Lucy always looked for traits that reminded her of her best friend, because he was the perfect guy in her eyes. Sweet, funny, caring, gentle. Sure, he had a bit of a sadistic streak when push came to shove, but he never directed that toward her. Whenever they got into an argument, Erik was the one he took his frustration out on.
"Macbeth," Lucy whispered while her hand slid out from beneath the blanket to lightly grasp one of his white braids, "Can I ask for a birthday present?"
"I already got your present," he chuckled. He watched as a small blush crept across her cheeks. "But, ask anyway. You know I'll get it for you."
Lucy's lips parted to ask, the small quirk to the corners falling when she realized something. "Where's Mira, by the way?" she asked curiously. "I figured she would've wanted a date to the festival today."
"We broke up last week. She said something about wanting to date Laxus," he answered with a shrug. It didn't really matter to him. He and Mira worked better as friends anyway, and he was glad that she had just been honest with him when she mentioned wanting to date Laxus instead. If anything, Mira was the one that had been more upset by the whole thing, and he'd needed to console her. Mainly by using her own obsession to his advantage and saying that he 'totally shipped her and Laxus, and the babies would be absolutely adorable' - which had resulted in her smiling and blushing up a storm before passing out for a few minutes. "No biggy. What's this present you want?"
Lucy's smile returned when she heard about Mira ending it with him, and with the realization that he wasn't upset by it. To her, they never really seemed like the most compatible couple, at least not romantically. Mira and Laxus, on the other hand? Yeah, Lucy could definitely see those two together. "Could I… Um… Have something special?" she whispered, fighting with everything she had to keep her nerves from getting the best of her. "Just from you…"
Macbeth nodded, watching a brilliant smile light up her face. "Anything you w-" His words died in his throat and his eyes widened when he saw her gaze flick to his lips for the briefest moment. It wasn't that she was looking at his mouth, because Lucy had a tendency to watch his lips from time to time while he was talking. No, it was the quick swipe of her tongue over her pouty lower lip and the excited glimmer that sparkled in her chocolate eyes when she looked back up at him that made everything slow down. Time came to a crawl once she closed what he belatedly realized was a very small distance between them.
He saw her eyes sliding closed once their lips met and waited for all of two seconds, just to see if she would quickly pull away and say it was just a silly joke. When she didn't, and he wasn't able to hold himself back any longer, Macbeth finally let his eyes close as well and poured every ounce of the affection he'd had for Lucy for years into that kiss. Lucy really was the only one for him as far as he was concerned, and it had been that way since before he was a teenager. What had been a small crush, before he really understood what a crush was, turned into him truly loving the blonde. She had gone from one of his best friends in the orphanage to a sister, then from a sister to someone he wanted to spend his life with eventually.
Of course, Lucy didn't really know any of that. He hadn't ever told her how he felt about her, because he didn't want to jeopardize what they had. If she kept him in the friend zone forever, then he was fine with it. He still casually dated, since Lucy hadn't shown any interest in him whatsoever, but no relationship was ever as serious as it could have been, simply because Lucy was the one he really wanted to be with. Oddly enough, it was something Mira had picked up on after they were officially broken up. She had told him that he really needed to let Lucy know how he felt, otherwise she might never take a chance on him.
So, that's what he did. He gave everything of himself, everything he felt for her, and let it all come through while his lips moved over hers. He wanted to crush her against him, tangle his hands in her hair, and take her breath away while their tongues swirled together. But, he also didn't want to scare the hell out of her with just how intensely he wanted to kiss her. Instead, he focused on just how perfect her lips felt while she kissed him back.
Lucy inhaled sharply when his hand gently cupped her cheek, finally feeling everything he'd been holding back from her for years travelling between their lips. She was an idiot for not realizing that Macbeth was attracted to her before, and for denying it when Erik had outright told her as much. Sure, it probably wasn't the best idea she'd ever had - kissing her best friend and letting him know that she had finally put two and two together concerning her own feelings for him right after Sting had broken up with her - but she was kind of an idiot sometimes. Lucy just hoped that Macbeth didn't think she was trying to use him as a rebound or something horrible like that.
He was always there for her. No matter what happened, Macbeth was the one person in Lucy's life that she could depend on. He would hold her when she was sad or scared, make her laugh with his quirky and slightly self-deprecating sense of humor, and most importantly… Just thinking about him always put a smile on her face. They really knew pretty much everything about each other, and no matter how damn cliche it sounded, that made him the perfect guy for her to be involved with in any way.
'And holy hell, can he kiss,' she thought as his hand slid around to the back of her neck, his fingers lightly dragging over the nape of her neck and sending an almost imperceptible shiver through her slender frame. Was Lucy attracted to him? Definitely. Mentally, he was able to keep her on her toes, to challenge her in ways that only a few of their friends could; emotionally, she always loved Macbeth, but she was only just realizing that it ran much deeper than what she'd previously thought; physically, oh hell yes. He was downright sexy, with or without makeup, and she had found herself admiring him more than once. That should have been a sign in itself, checking out her best friend, but she had just chalked it up to logically recognizing that he was a man that women would find attractive.
Erik had been telling Macbeth for years to ask Lucy out, even going as far as teasing them constantly about being a couple. What Macbeth didn't know was that the guy had been telling Lucy the exact same thing, giving her the exact same speeches about 'growing a pair' and hooking up. Macbeth was pulled from his musing when he felt Lucy's tongue lightly brush over his lips. When she started to retreat, his lips parted and he followed her, groaning softly when their tongues finally connected.
Hey, if this was the only chance he would ever get to kiss the girl of his dreams before they went back to the way things were, he was going to take whatever she wanted to give him. It was surprising as hell that Lucy would even want to kiss him in the first place, especially since he thought Erik was high as a fucking kite every time he mentioned that Lucy 'totally has a thing' for him. But what if she was just doing this because she was upset over Sting breaking up with her?
He knew deep down that that wasn't the case. Lucy was never like that. She cared too much about how others felt, and about herself, to use someone as a rebound. That was the only reason he wasn't pushing her away right then. Okay, and because he really wanted to keep kissing her. 'Damnit, I should have done this sooner…'
Lucy slowly pulled away when her lungs started protesting the minimal oxygen they were getting, and looked up into Macbeth's eyes as they slowly slid open. He looked so damn surprised by it that she nearly giggled. Surprising him was always something she loved to do, after all. But there was something different about how he was looking at her right then. 'Looks like Erik was right,' she thought when she saw how his eyes had darkened with desire. Macbeth would have pushed her away if he wasn't interested in her, so it had to be a good sign that he was looking at her as though all he wanted to do was keep kissing her until they passed out from a lack of oxygen. A small smile pulled at her lips. "Looks like Erik owes me fifty bucks," she whispered softly. "Your lipstick smudged."
Macbeth blinked in surprise when her words registered. "Wha-"
Lucy leaned forward and pressed her lips to his in a chaste kiss. "That's just a perk though, Midnight. Thank you…"
"That… was what you wanted?" he asked uncertainly. While he wanted to believe that she was really interested in him, and that maybe he could finally confess just how he felt about her - and that he'd wanted to be with her for years - there was still that kernel of doubt in him.
Lucy giggled and nodded quickly. "Uh-huh."
Macbeth's eyes slid closed again when she started fiddling with the braid she always commandeered for herself when she played with his hair, letting the tingling sensation that pulled lightly at his scalp lull him quickly into that familiar state of relaxation that came before he passed the hell out. He forced his eyes to open again, and smiled down at her. "Why?" he asked.
When his hand slid from the back of her neck up to brush the drying tears from her cheeks, she blushed slightly. "Why else?" she whispered. "You're Midnight, and I'm Dawn." Those nicknames from their childhood together, while they had been silly at the time, had stayed with them. It only served as a reminder of just how much history they had together. "Can't have one without the other, right?"
Macbeth chuckled, letting his eyes drift closed again. "I guess not."
Lucy grinned and reached over him to grab a tissue, then blotted her tongue with it to add a bit of moisture. "Seriously, though… Your lipstick smudged."
"Mm-hmm," Macbeth hummed, smiling softly when he felt her wiping away the messed up makeup. "I'll be sure to send MAC a lovely letter about it." He peeked his eyes open to look down at her, chuckling again when he saw her wiping at her own lips to try and get rid of the smeared black lipstick. As he took the tissue from her and helped get the spots she missed, he added, "Can't have my makeup getting messed up from kissing the girl of my dreams."
A bright flush crossed her cheeks and she blinked for a moment before a brilliant smile spread across her face. "Really?"
"Mm-hmm," he answered with a smirk. "No way are they getting away with lying about this being smudge-proof."
Lucy pouted instantly. "That's not what I meant…" She sighed softly when he leaned down to kiss her.
"I know, Dawn," he chuckled. "And yes, really."
Lucy tucked her head down and snuggled closer to him. "Get under the covers, Midnight. I wanna cuddle."
"I'll fall asleep though. You know that."
Lucy shrugged. She waited until he was under the blanket with her and his arms were around her again, then whispered, "So let's take a nap. We've got errands to run later."
"What errands?" he asked curiously. "It's your birthday."
When Macbeth yawned, Lucy laughed. "You're hopeless sometimes, y'know that?" She felt him nod, and rolled her eyes happily. The guy really loved his sleep, and the fact that he was willing to wake up so early for her birthday - when it was like pulling teeth to get him out of bed early any other day - was just another reason to love him. "We need to go find you some new lipstick," she continued. "And I'll help you test it out to make sure it doesn't smudge."
"You're just gonna start making out with me in the store, huh?" Macbeth laughed. He froze when Lucy looked up at him with a devious grin. "Oh god… Not that face… Lucy…" That shit never ended well for him. Ever.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Lucy whispered.
"Why am I suddenly afraid of you kissing me?" he whispered weakly. When Lucy laid her head on his chest again, he unconsciously pulled her a little closer. The small laugh that filled the otherwise silent room was absolutely terrifying. Lucy always was when she had something up her sleeve, and he just had to hope it wouldn't be too bad.
Lucy frowned when she felt Macbeth's phone vibrating in his pocket, and pulled away slightly to reach down and get it like she usually did. She swiped the screen and typed in his password to unlock the phone, then her eyes widened in shock when she saw the text message from Gajeel.
"Hey, I heard someone made my Bunny cry. Me and Crazy Eyes handled it."
"What the fuck?" Lucy whispered, dropping the phone entirely when a picture came through next. She closed her eyes and grunted in pain when the phone smacked her in the face. 'Every time I drop it... It hits my face...'
Macbeth frowned and picked up the phone, then laughed loudly when he saw what had caused her to drop the it in the first place. Aside from the text from Gajeel, there was a lovely picture of a bloodied up Sting Eucliffe, chained to the front of the Humanities building. With Bickslow standing next to him, a triumphant, tongue-lolling grin on his face and a spare chain in his hand. There was even a chain being used as a gag. If that wasn't enough, the sign hanging around his neck that read, "So this no-sex thing isn't working for me. We're done. See you in Psych next week. Lol." just added insult to injury - literally. How they had managed to get a screenshot of the text and blow it up to such large proportions in the short amount of time between Erik finding out and then was beyond him, but he was sure it had something to do with Gajeel's connections on the newspaper - namely that he was banging the little blunette editor, Levy. And probably that weird Jason guy that always shouted about things being cool.
"I told him not to do anything…"
Macbeth typed out a quick, "That's awesome man. Thanks." He put his phone on the nightstand with Lucy's, then looked down at the shell-shocked blonde. "Well, knowing Cobra," he said slowly, "He told Bickslow and Gajeel about it before calling you. And Gajeel probably told Levy right away, since those two are always together anyway. It's pretty genius, if you ask me."
"Poor Sting though," Lucy whispered. "He'll have to have that over his head for the rest of the time he's here…"
"Lucy, he's a fucking asshole," Macbeth scowled. "He deserves more than a beating from Gajeel and Bickslow, and some humiliation for that shit. If Erik wasn't in the hospital right now, he'd already be dead and you know it."
Lucy sighed and shook her head. "Hey, where was that anyway?" she asked after a silent minute.
Macbeth started laughing again. "That's the entrance to the Women's Studies wing in the Humanities building…"
Lucy blinked for a moment, then snorted and buried her face in his chest while she started laughing. "Okay… Bickslow was definitely part of that!" she choked out. Sting would never be getting laid again. Well, at least not with anyone that went to Magnolia University. While she didn't want to have to deal with drama as a result of the breakup, the fact that she had so many people that took care of her in their own weird ways had her heart nearly bursting with affection for them. They were all her family through their friendship, since she didn't have any blood relatives left. Erik, Gajeel, Bickslow, and most importantly Macbeth. She loved her crazy family with everything she had, and honestly... She wouldn't have it any other way.
