I'm very sorry for taking so long in updating this story, I planned to update many days ago but inspiration really wasn't on my side so I had a hard time finishing this chapter.

It's a little longer (supposedly) so I hope that makes up for it.

Anyway I hope you like it and if you do please leave a review. You can also leave suggestions.

I'll really like to know what you guys think about the story so far.

Chapter 4: Third time's a charm.

That day Lucy felt really happy about her revenge, she went home without saying a word to Mirajane and slept very well.

But as she woke up the next day she started to worry.

'What if he tries to get back at me?' She wondered as she got ready for work.

Walking down the street to the Strauss Coffee Shop the same question keep appearing in her mind.

'How should I explain to Mira-san what happened?'

She knew the white haired woman would scold her as soon as she arrived at work.

But when she entered the shop Lucy saw something unexpected, the once angelic Mirajane was standing in front of the door, all the sweetness gone, looking straight at Lucy with her arms crossed in front of her chest. A dark aura was surrounding the woman.

"Mi-mira-san?" Lucy asked a little scared.

Luckily for Lucy her boss listened to her explanation and understood the situation, but still she had to wash the dishes and clean as punishment.

'I guess the nicer the person the scarier they are when they get mad' Thought a shuddering Lucy at the memory of the angry Mirajane.

'At least if that man comes looking for me to get revenge he wouldn't find me back here' She tried to reassure herself.

To Lucy's surprise nothing happened in the following days, which was almost disappointing. Every day she had been waiting for the mysterious man to appear and get his revenge for the cake incident but he never showed up.

In the end she convinced herself that the man was gone for good and decided to forget about the whole incident.

Or at least she tried.

Since the day she had been saved by her mysterious hero, she had been wearing his red shirt to sleep. It made her feel comfortable and safe, as if she were in his arms, though she wouldn't admit it aloud.

The scent on the shirt was long gone after being washed but she still found comfort in wearing it. Lucy was sad at the loss, but even then she liked the feeling of the shirt against her soft skin.

Even though she tried hard not to do it, for some weird reason she couldn't help but think about the man with the piercings whenever she wore that shirt.

And whenever she thought about him she ended up remembering his handsome face, the feeling of his intense red eyes on hers, that mocking grin of his that suited him so well and annoyed her so much, and his long black hair. Secretly wondering how it would feel to the touch.

The more she tried to vanish those thoughts the more they came back to haunt her.

'It's not the same person…' She often had to tell herself.

And a few days went by like that.

Until today.

It was Friday and surprisingly Lucy had the day off from work. Since she started working she had been doing extra hours because the shop was short handed but now they had two new employees.

The first one was a cute and shy girl named Yukino, who looked so much like Lisanna that she could pass as another Strauss's family member. The second one was Meredy, a pretty girl with long pink hair. Apparently she was friends with Gray's cousin.

When the evening arrived Lucy was at her apartment, she had decided to spend the day quietly at home reading a book and just lazing around. She was getting out of the shower when she heard a knock in the front door, so covering her body with a towel she made her way to the door.

"Who is it?" She asked before opening the door.

"It's me, Natsu! Open up Luce!" Lucy sighed and opened the door.

"What is it Natsu? I just got out of the shower" She asked holding her towel in place.

"That's great! " He answered making his way inside her apartment and straight to the couch.

"Hurry up, we are going out." He turned his head to her with a big smile on his face.

"Huh? Going where?" Asked a confused Lucy.

"Hihihi….Truth is….our band plays tonight"

"Band? What band are you talking about?"

"Oi Natsu, Lucy, you ready?" Said someone from behind Lucy.

"Gray! What are you doing here? And how did you even get in?!"

He ignored her questions and instead asked "You aren't planning on going like that, are you Lucy? I mean, you look good and all but…."

"Wait, wait! Just wait a second you two!... What band are you talking about?"

Natsu finally answered "We have a band with Erza, didn't I tell you?"

"You didn't!"

"Anyway, get ready or we will be late and Erza would kill us." Said a shivering Gray.

"How come you two never told me you had a band?"

Asked Lucy as they walked in the direction of the bar, she was wearing a short sexy red dress with high heeled black boots and a black jacket, her hair down.

"I don't know, it didn't seem all that important" Said Natsu.

"Come on guys we are here already" Gray cut them off.

"So… What's the name of the band?"

Natsu grinned as he turned to face her before entering the bar, Gray was already making his way inside.

"Fairy Tail!"

They made their way to a table in the front where a brunette was sitting. The place was bigger than Lucy had expected, the stage in itself was kind of big with a big red curtain covering the back.

"You sit here with Cana, we are going backstage to get ready" Gray told her with a smile before going.

"You are gonna like it Luce, I'm sure!" Said Natsu before disappearing.

Lucy sat down at the table, removed her jacket and introduced herself to Cana, who was drinking as if there was no tomorrow, and they chatted for a while, despite the two girls differences they actually got along.

Lucy recognized some of the people in the bar, she saw Levy in a table a little more to the back with two guys and waved at her, there was also that green haired man that always came to the coffee shop, and…. wait! Was that Elfman sitting in a corner with a woman with glasses?

'I wonder if Mira-san knows about that…. It looks as if they are hiding'

Leaning close to her ear Cana told her "Look there, that guy next to us is Erza's fiancé"

"Wh-what?! Fiance?!"

Lucy felt her cheeks blushing slightly for some reason. She didn't know that Erza had a fiancé.

"It seems that they were childhood friends but then his family moved to another country and they lost contact, they only reunited about a year ago. Apparently he came back for her"

"How nice…. That's so romantic, I wish I had a love like that" said Lucy sighing.

"What about you Lucy? Ever been madly in love?"

"Not really…." She half smiled while looking at her hands.

Lucy had always fantasized with a love story like that, something like in the romance novels, but so far she had never fallen in love with anyone. Sure she had liked some guys and she had dated before but she never really fell in love with any of them, so her relationships never lasted long.

Back when she was little her mom had told her stories of how her dad and she meet and fell in love, Lucy always thought that the same would happen to her, that someday she would meet her prince charming and have her own 'happily ever after'.

But it didn't last forever.

Her mother died from an illness, and all the love and sweetness Lucy had know until then disappeared, suddenly she was all alone in the world. It was as if the light had faded away and the world had lost it's colors.

Her dad was so hurt, never had he thought that she would leave him so soon, and not knowing how to deal with Layla's death he buried himself in his work locking his heart. Even from Lucy.

Now Lucy had started to believe that she would never find true love. That it was all a fairy tale.

As she was lost in her thoughts suddenly she heard music. They had probably started playing while Lucy was still day-dreaming.

It was Erza's voice singing. She was really good.

Then she looked at the other members of the band and froze.

There was Natsu in the drums, Gray with the bass, and there was…

A red eyed man with long black hair playing the guitar….. Her mind refused to function and her eyes refused to look away from the man in front of her.

He was staring straight at her and she wondered how long he had been doing that.

Lucy stared at him as if she had never seen a man in her whole life, and the man gave her a smile that painted her cheeks pink. And for a single second she felt as if she had seen a splash of color in her gray world.

She could no longer tell if it was the loud music or if it was her own heartbeat what resounded in her ears.

Natsu and Gray took her backstage after the show.

And there he was.

Leaning against a wall, doing nothing in particular and still managing to look so damn sexy in those black jeans and black t-shirt.

By now Lucy had already figured that he liked black, he seemed to wear only black except for his red bandana.

"This is Gajeel Redfox, our guitarist" Natsu introduced the no longer mysterious man.

Gajeel smiled at her with a mischievous look in his eyes and extended a hand to her.

"Hi"

Lucy hesitantly took his rough hand and felt hers small in comparison.

"Hi" She said a little shyly since he hadn't stopped staring directly at her since she arrived.

"And you are…?" he said still holding her hand.

"Lucy….. Lucy Heartfilia"

In the meantime Gray was attacked by a fangirl who yelled "Gray-sama! Lluvia loves you!" , and Natsu disappeared somewhere to look for food.

"So… Lucy, want a drink?" Said Gajeel as he leaned down to a cooler in the floor and took out two cans of soda from it.

"Sure, thanks" She said taking the can he offered and earning a smirk from him.

"You know…. About the other day… I'm so-" Was all she could say before the cold drink splashed all over her face making her scream.

The man in front of her was laughing so hard that he had to hold his stomach.

"Payback" Was all he said with a smirk before laughing again.

"Wha?! Grrr…"

And then Lucy splashed him with some of her remaining soda.

"What the hell?!" Gajeel got angry as Lucy grinned at him.

"Now you have done it…" He said an evil amusement in his eyes.

Before Lucy could react he agitated his own can and pointing it at her opened it, splashing her once again.

"Wait! Ahhh! It's cold!"

They keep going until their cans were empty.

"I hope you are happy now, I'm all sticky" Said Lucy with an angry tone but her face betrayed her showing a smile. It was actually kind of fun.

"Well it didn't go as I expected but I still got my payback….. And you are more dirty than me" He smiled at her crossing his arms in front of his chest "So I win".

"Anyway how am I supposed to go home now? It'll be embarrassing if anyone saw me"

"Gihi come on blondy I'm in a good mood so I'll give you a ride" He said putting on his leather jacket.

"I guess it's only fair since you ruined my dress"

"You'll look better without it anyway" Gajeel said with a perverted smile.

"It's a shame you'll never know for sure"

He seemed amused at that.

"Wanna bet?" He said with a confident smile while his eyes boldly roamed around her body, suddenly making her feel naked, unconsciously she closed her jacket and looked away blushing, Gajeel noticed this and couldn't help but smile. He seemed to smile a lot around this girl.

"Come on I have my bike outside"

"Bike?!"

I choose Fairy Tail as the band's name because I was short of imagination. In my mind actually there are other bands like Sabertooth (with Sting, Rogue, Orga and Rufus) but there was no change to mention it.

I made Erza the vocalist after listening to this song on youtube: watch?v=LapV0qXICB4

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!