I forgot to mention in the last chapter that Rick Castle is the name of the main character from the TV show Castle.
Also, all rights to Fairy Tail belong to Hiro Mashima
"Have you asked Natsu?"
Gajeel and Laxus both burst into laughter.
"SHH!" The librarian hisses at them.
"Let's go: we're not gonna find anything here," Laxus says as he walks toward the door.
"Go where?" Gajeel asks once they're outside.
Laxus sighs and shakes his head. "To find the dweeb."
"Cana? CANA!" Natsu shakes the naked woman beneath him. "Cana, are you okay?"
"Natsu," she says dazedly, "don't you know you're s'posed to let a woman enjoy her post-orgasmic euphoria?"
"Huh?"
"I'm okay," she says, smiling at him.
Natsu breathes a sigh of relief, then a decidedly-male grin of pride spreads across his face.
"I thought I might have killed you with that one." He teases, and kisses her on the nose.
"I can't think of a witty retort yet, but just you wait, Dragneel."
Natsu laughs, letting his forehead rest against Cana's chest. He loves her chest; loves her sense of humor; loves—
"Mm, I love the way your laugh vibrates through me," Cana hums.
Natsu nips playfully at the side of her breast, saying, "I'm not surprised you like vibration."
"Asshole." She mutters.
Natsu grins up at her, blushing slightly at what he's about to say. "Is that an insult? Or are you telling me where to go next?"
Cana squeaks and blushes bright red.
Natsu laughs loudly and plops down at Cana's side, propping himself up on his elbow.
"I've never seen you do that before." His tone is oddly grateful.
"No one has."
Natsu moves some hair behind her ear before kissing her earnestly. He loves kissing Cana, can't get enough of it. Sometimes he thinks that if that's all she allowed, he would be happy with that. Other times—like now—he's sure he'll lose his mind if he doesn't get back inside her soon, so he grinds his hips against Cana's thigh.
"Already?" She asks breathlessly.
"Hmm," Natsu purrs. "Dragon Slayers recover quicker than other people." Natsu climbs on top of Cana again, nipping at her neck. "One day, I'll recover quick enough to have multiple orgasms." He looks heatedly down into Cana's eyes, and asks, "Wanna help me train?"
"Only if I get to be on the receiving end of your success."
Natsu kisses her fiercely, making her gasp in surprise. Natsu has the strongest desire to just merge with her, body and soul, and presses his whole body tightly against hers in a futile attempt to do so. Fuck, he needs to be inside her! When he finally pulls away, they are both breathless, and Cana's eyes are out of focus.
Natsu breathes against her ear, "You're the only one I w—."
"Salamander!" Gajeel's voice booms a split-second before he kicks in Natsu's door.
"Eeek!" Cana squeals.
Natsu covers Cana quickly, then jumps from his bed, so fired up that he's already engulfed in flames. Natsu rushes at Gajeel, and headbutts him outside, where he crashes into Laxus.
"Huh? What the hell are you two doing here?" Natsu's fury is temporarily abated by his confusion.
"Put some clothes on!" Laxus growls.
"You break into my house and think you can tell me what the fuck I'm s'posed to wear?" Natsu shoots back, surprising Laxus and Gajeel. "What do you want?"
"Since when did you grow a pa—?" Laxus stops abruptly and sniffs the air. Gajeel does the same, and their eyes grow wide. Laxus grabs Gajeel by the scruff of his neck and starts walking away with him.
"Let the fuck go of me!" Gajeel growls.
Laxus lets go of Gajeel with a push forward. Over his shoulder, he says to Natsu, "South Gate Park, ten minutes."
Twenty minutes later, Natsu sulks into the East Entrance of South Gate Park, where Laxus and Gajeel are waiting. The two give Natsu Cheshire-Cat grins as they look down at him.
"Cana, huh?" Gajeel begins.
"Didn't think—."
"Shut up." Natsu growls angrily, his eyes burning.
Unfortunately, the extra ten minutes it took him to get here hadn't been filled up by filling up Cana; they had been spent listening to her hyperventilate about Laxus telling Lucy. Natsu has tried for months to convince Cana that Lucy won't care, but Cana is convinced that Lucy will hate her. After all, Natsu and Lucy had been tentatively trying to date when he got together with Cana.
"Lucy can't know."
"Think she'll be jealous, do you?" Laxus asks dangerously.
"Duh, of course not!" Natsu rolls his eyes. "But, Cana doesn't want her to know."
"Lucy'll kill me if she finds out I didn't tell her." Laxus shrugs as if to say, 'sorrynotsorry; I'm telling her.'
"Cana said you'd be concerned about that, and told me to ask you if you'd be more concerned about Lucy finding out about Cana's nights with you."
"Shit," Gajeel whispers pityingly.
"She's bluffing," Laxus says with false bravado. "If she's so scared about Lucy finding out about her best friend, Cana wouldn't dare tell Lucy about her husband."
Natsu shrugs.
"You're awfully calm about Laxus tagging your woman, Salamander." Gajeel prods.
"Shut your fucking mouth." Laxus gnashes his teeth at Gajeel.
"Laxus is with Lucy. I'm with Cana. Who cares about Laxus and Cana?" Natsu asks sincerely.
Natsu has long known that Cana and Laxus were each other's booty calls for a while. With the super-heightened senses of a Dragon Slayer, there aren't many things about his guild mates that he doesn't know, which is one reason he acts so oblivious at times: he wants to give people their privacy, even if it's just an illusion.
"He obviously doesn't have what we're looking for," Gajeel says to Laxus. "She ain't his mate."
"The fuck do you know about mates, rusty?" Natsu snaps, several small balls of fire shooting from his mouth. Natsu will not tolerate anyone questioning his devotion to Cana.
"Interesting." Laxus muses. "Maybe the twerp does have some information."
"Cana's your mate?" Gajeel is incredulous.
"Why not?" Natsu shrugs. "Wait a sec," he grins wide, "are you gonna mate with Levy?"
"If I fucking knew how!" Gajeel exclaims.
"Well, the penis usually goes in th—HEY! THAT HURT!"
Natsu tackles Gajeel to the ground, and the two wrestle and jockey for position as Laxus doubles over in laughter against a tree. Natsu and Gajeel wail on each other at every opportunity, using elbows, fists, and foreheads. They are both bleeding and bruised when Laxus finally settles down and grabs them by their collars. He yanks them away from each other, and sets them on their feet, still chuckling.
"Well, Gajeel: Natsu seems to think that Dragon mating involves sex."
"You know about the ritual, then?" Gajeel demands.
Natsu sighs, and his shoulders slump. "No; Igneel never told me. He said he'd tell me when I grew up, but…that never happened."
"Yeah, you're still as childish as ever." Laxus teases good-naturedly.
Natsu smirks at him. The Lightning Dragon Slayer sure has come a long way since Fantasia, and especially since getting together with Lucy. He has spent a lot of time with Team Natsu in the last few months, showing off a side that neither Natsu, nor anyone else in Fairy Tail, thought he possessed. Hell, Natsu even likes the guy most of the time.
"Metallicana never said anything to me," Gajeel grunts.
"He probably figured you couldn't understand it, bolt-brain." Natsu laughs.
"As if you could understand it any better, flame-brain!"
"Shut up!" Laxus commands. "If neither of you know about it, we'll have to go to Sabertooth."
"What? Why?" Natsu demands; he has no intention of leaving Cana for that long.
"Get on a train when we can just call them?" Gajeel points out like Laxus might be stupid.
"And risk someone listening in on five Dragon Slayers talking about love, and sex, and sappy shit? I don't think so."
"Luce, was right: you are controlling." Natsu wonders.
"Gihee! Is that how Lucy likes it?"
Gajeel ends up with a mouthful of dirt and two large lumps on his head for that one.
Gray rests his head on his arms and grunts. He can see Erza over there with the other women, laughing and talking about Jellal. Fuck, Gray hates that douchebag. The guy has been a free man for over a year, but is still out traveling with Crime Sorcière like a bachelor with no one to tie him down. Gray has watched the toll it's taken on Erza, and his anger grows with every passing day. Watching the way she's started changing her appearance—more makeup, softer hair, different clothes, parfumes—or the way she tries not to get excited when a text comes in, or disappointed when that text isn't from Jellal; it all makes Gray so damn angry!
Angry enough that he knows he confronted Jellal about it, though he was also drunk enough that he can't quite remember what happened. He has a distinctly creepy memory of Jellal's face, contorted with rage, though. Gray had woken up sprawled out on the bathroom floor, Bickslow shaking him and slapping him across the face.
Gray hasn't seen Jellal since. From what he understands, no one has; he didn't even say goodbye to Erza, which only confirms Gray's hatred for the mage.
As if you're any better.
What?!
You're a hypocrite. You're mad at Jellal for stringing Erza along all these years? What about you and Juvia?
I never let Juvia think I loved her!
You took years to deny it, though.
I did not!
You were a jerk to her, but you never really turned her down, so she just kept hoping, waiting. Just like Erza with Jellal.
I am not like Jellal!
Okay, fine. You're mad at him for stringing Erza along-not at all like you strung along Juvia, of course-so why did you let him? You kept your scaredy-cat mouth shut and took away Erza's opportunity to choose. If you had told her how much you love her when you first realized it, maybe she wouldn't have suffered over Jellal all these years.
You can't know that!
You can't know otherwise.
"Damn, perv; what's got your goat?" Bickslow jumps into the seat across from Gray. When Gray just grunts at him, Bickslow says, "Oh, I get it: your woman's been gone a whole month, and you're feeling a little…blue."
"Juvia ain't my woman!" Gray hisses. "Never has been."
"What the hell is up with you?"
"Nothin'."
"Somethin'. You were always hanging around her; you mad 'cause she turned you down or what?"
"She was hanging around me. I turned her down."
"Ah." Bickslow says thoughtfully.
Gray returns his attention to Erza and the gaggle of gossiping girls she's sitting with. He is nearly overcome with a desire to stomp over there, grab Erza, and kiss her cross-eyed. If he could just convince her that he can make her happier than Jellal ever has, if he could just show her how—
"So, who does the perv have his corrupt eye on?" Bickslow follows Gray's gaze over to the girls' table, then whistles low. "Please tell me it ain't Ever; I love her, but she is a piece of work!"
"It ain't Ever."
"Well, I hope it ain't Lucy, either, 'cause Laxus will fry you until even ash ain't left."
"It ain't Lucy. Leave me alone."
"When I'm only down to two candidates?" Bickslow laughs.
Gray grabs his broadsword and starts walking toward the back of the guild.
"Where you goin'?" Bickslow demands.
"Gray!" Erza's voice stops him in his tracks. "I wondered where you went."
She did? His heart flutters, and his mood lifts a little.
"Oh, uh, just talking to Bickslow." Gray shoves his hands in his pockets and walks slowly back to the table. "You need somethin'?"
"You can't practice on an empty stomach," Erza says in a motherly tone, and pats the empty seat next to her. "Sit. Eat with us."
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry."
"Come on, Gray!" Lucy encourages him. "We could use a man's input, anyway."
"No, we couldn't." Erza assures him.
Gray grinds his teeth together, his foul mood redoubling its efforts to make him miserable. He knows exactly what they want his input about, and that they absolutely do not want his input. That angry-side of him, though, is chomping at the bit to give them all a piece of his mind, so he takes his seat.
"So, Gray, what do you think about—?"
"Lucy." Erza says as casually as she can manage, but there is a note of pleading in her voice that Gray seems to be the only one to have heard. "Allow Gray to eat in peace."
"Come on, Titania!" Evergreen laughs. "Who better to ask than Gray?"
"I shouldn't have said anything at all." Erza replies darkly.
"Gray, just tell Erza she's being paranoid: Jellal is totally into her!" Lucy smiles.
"He isn't." Gray says simply, but he can't completely hide the bitterness in his voice.
All of the women gasp, except Erza, who blushes in a combination of anger, embarrassment, and resignation.
"Wha—?!" Lucy and Levy stare at him.
"You guys aren't helping her by giving her advice based on your romance novels," Gray says, trying to keep his tone level, but failing to keep all of his anger out of it. He looks at Erza, softening his features, but still wanting her to understand how fucking serious he is. "I'm not one of your girl friends, Erza; I'm not going to spare your feelings now and commiserate with you later when you finally allow that bastard to break your heart. I'm your friend, your teammate, and I'm tellin' you: if he wanted you, he would be here.
"Now he's got you second-guessing yourself, you're changing yourself—little things like makeup, sure, but they're for him not for you. He's got you on his hook and he's just dragging you along, using you when he's lonely and—"
"You may stop now." Erza tells him, and though her voice is steady and quiet, it is more commanding—even menacing—than when she shouts. Gray flinches, and his gut clenches at the ire in her eyes, which does a good job of hiding the small quiver in her lips, but Gray notices that, too. "You may leave."
Gray's head and shoulders droop, and he begins to walk away, his heart pounding like a race horse, his mind working twice as fast. Erza's never going to forgive him this time. How the fuck has that jackass ruined both his romantic chances and his friendship with Erza?!
Don't let him, comes his mind's shrugging reply.
Gray stops suddenly, and turns back to Erza. Her eyes narrow on him dangerously as he leans over her in the booth, but she does not move to avoid him, or to hurt him...yet.
"I only want what's best for you, Erza. Please, believe that." He slides one of his hands slowly around the back of her head, pulling her toward him so that he can kiss her tenderly on the forehead.
Erza's lip trembles more noticeably now, and she nods slightly, but when she says nothing, Gray leaves the guild hall.
Ho-ly. Shit! Lucy screams internally. Gray's in love with Erza! How did I miss this? How? How?!
Erza abruptly stands, nearly knocking the table over, and storms angrily out of the back of the guild hall.
"Oh. My. Gosh!" Levy squeaks, hand flying over her mouth.
"That was certainly unexpected." Evergreen says bemusedly.
Lucy tries to kick her brain into gear by blinking rapidly, and opening and closing her mouth, but she can't seem to connect her thoughts to her speech.
"Lu? Lucy? Are you okay?"
Lucy looks at Levy and makes a strange sound as she tries to communicate. Lucy throws her arms in the air in frustration, then lays her head on the table to try and collect herself. Levy softly rubs the blonde's back, and even Evergreen uses her fan to give Lucy some air.
"Hey, babe." Laxus's voice breaks through Lucy's haze, and she looks quickly up at him. He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, not really looking at her. "Natsu, Gajeel, and I are going on a mission. We'll be back in a few days. Love you!"
He kisses her again, then runs out of the guild hall.
"Huh?" Lucy stares dumbly at the guild hall door again.
"Where the hell is Gajeel?" Levy smacks her fist against the table, then winces and rubs it with her other hand. She wonders to herself, "How does he do that?"
"Oh shit," Lucy breathes, her eyes wide with terror. "Who do I go after? Levy, who do I talk to first?"
"I'm sorry, Lucy; I have no idea."
"With Gray, obviously." Evergreen says. "He's the dark horse here."
"What do I say to him?!" Lucy grabs Evergreen almost desperately. "Gray is my friend and teammate, but I've been shipping Erza and Jellal from the beginning!"
"I would start by not telling him that," Evergreen smirks.
Lucy laughs, and relaxes a little, releasing Evergreen's shoulders.
"What a mess," she sighs. "I think you're right, though, Ever: I need to talk to Gray first, if only to avoid being chopped into pieces as part of Erza's training."
