AN- Hiya there! Anyways It has been a long time. I forgot to mention this in the last chapter but, this story is before Tenrou island arc. Laxus is also still part of the guild for reasons that you will know later on in the story. Now, let's get on with the story.

Chap- 2 Tickles

Lucy was in the bathtub enjoying her little bath, unscented as she found out that the smell annoyed dragon slayer noses. Humming to herself she washed up, wraped a towel around herself, unplugged the tub and hopped out of it. She dried her hair and was about to open the door, but stopped remembering something. She pressed her ear against the door trying to find out if she could hear scratching against walls (Happy), loud chewing noises (Natsu), ruffling of clothes (Gray) and the sound of metal clinking against each other (Erza). When she couldn't hear anything like that, she smiled to herself and open the door and walked straight towards the closet, clutching the towel tightly.

When she finished throwing on clothes, she grabbed her whip and keys from her nightstand and made her way towards the guild calling out Plue on the way. She and Plue balanced on the sidewalk near the canal making conversation while walking.

As she reached the guild doors, she said bye to Plue and pushed open the doors.

"Morning everyone!" she announced. They all responded and she made her way to her usual seat at the bar.

"Hey, Mira." Lucy smiled at the bartender. Mira returned her smile with one, while wiping a glass clean.

"Hi Lucy. Let me guess, you want the usual again." she said.

"You know me well Mira."

"What can I say? I'm observant." Mira giggled. Lucy let out a small laugh and turned around on her stool to look at the guild.

People were drinking even at this early time of the day, well mostly Cana. Wendy, Carla, Romeo and Happy were siting at a table. Happy was trying to give fish to Carla, obviously, Carla stubbornly refused although, if looked closely at her, a red tint was visible on her cheeks. Wendy and Romeo were just talking and laughing together, it was simply cute.

But, on the other parts of the guild, it was as rowdy as ever. Natsu and Gray were throwing punches at each other again, while Elfman joined in saying that it was MANLY to solve problems with his fists and quickly everyone else joined.

Lucy just chuckled at their antics, but then stopped when Natsu fell into Erza's cake. After that, Erza stopped the fight by glaring and yelling at all of them. Lucy sweatdropped as it was always the same scene every morning.

"Lucy! Here you go." Lucy turned her seat around again. Mira slid Lucy's vanilla milkshake towards her. She caught it and tossed a few jewels towards her. With that she made her way towards the table where Gray, Natsu and Erza were seated. As she sat down, they all turned towards me and grinned and greeted her.

"Lucy! You're right on time." Gray exclaimed.

"For?" Lucy asked smiling widely.

"Erza and I were planning on going on a mission along with you."

"What about Natsu?" At hearing this he turned his head away and smiled sheepishly.

"Well?" Lucy prodded, eyebrows raised showing amusement.

"Lisanna invited me on a mission and..." He trailed off, not wanting to make Lucy upset.

"Please tell me you accepted her invite." She begged. She was going to see if Lisanna could help him with his nightmares anyways, and this just made it a whole lot easier for her

"I did" Lucy smiled widely and wished him luck on his job. She then turned back to Erza and Gray.

"So which mission did you pick out for us?" She questioned.

Erza held up a mission for Lucy to look at. She took it from Erza and read it. Her eyes almost popped out of its sockets when she saw it. It was a request to take out three Dark Guilds surrounding a town, terrorizing it.

"I don't think-" Lucy started.

"It pays 120,000 jewels each mage." He interupted.

"I'M IN!" She said with a greedy glint in her eyes. Gray chuckled at her antics, as he already knew it would turn out like this. 'She's cute like that. No brain! I shouldn't think like that' he thought to himself with a tiny blush.

Lucy turned to look at Gray. When she saw him she smirked. "Oh! is blushing! Found another penguin like you?"

"Ooooooh noooo~! You didn't. You're gonna get it Luce!" he shouted playfuly before pouncing on Lucy with a devilish glint in his eyes. Lucy squeled as he jumped on to her. He started tickling her sides as she fell down and started giggling without control.

"Gray- haha- stop pl- pfft- ease!" she said laughing in the middle. He stopped torturing her and sat up, letting her get up. Juvia glared at Lucy from behind a random pillar muttering 'Love-Rival'. Juvia rushed over and clinged onto him, still not breaking the glare. Lucy, who was still laying down on the ground, just sweatdropped with her arms and legs resting lazily around her.

"Love-Rival is taking Gray-sama away from Juvia!" she said menancingly. Lucy sighed deeply, as Gray screamed a suprised 'Gah!', always tired of explaining to Juvia that they were only good friends.

"Juvia, he's only a friend. A best friend at most." Lucy explained slowly, as if telling a small kid. Juvia narrowed her eyes at Lucy, not believing her statement fully.

"Fine... but don't steal him. HE'S. MINE." she threatened, stressing on the last two words as she walked away from the both of them. Lucy turned towards Gray giving him an apologetic. But, he just shrugged it of with a shake of his head.

"I thought Flame Brain was your best friend, or have you finally realized that I'm a whole lot better." he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Lucy just giggled at him.

"Actually, I've started considering him as a brother for a few months now." she announced. Gray's eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open.

At the bar, the Master sat with his legs crossed and a bottle of beer in his hand. He almost choked on his beer when he heard Lucy claim that she thought of Natsu like a brother. 'You have another brother Lucy, but you just don't know that he is' he thought. Mira, who was wiping glasses, looked at the Master worridely.

"Is something wrong Master?" she asked.

"No, nothing is wrong child." he just shrugged and carried on cleaning glasses.

"So, Lucy... are you still willing to join us on this mission?" Erza questioned with raised eyebrows. Lucy grinned at her and nodded, they would drag her along even if she refused. She wanted that precious money at no cost as well.

"Then let's go!" Gray exclaimed, as he took my hand and showed her out of the guild, right behind Erza.

"Yeah!" Lucy said happily, following them all the way to the station.