After all the giddiness had subsided, the women in Lucy's apartment collected themselves and returned their thoughts to the matter at hand.
"Can you guys promise me something?" Lucy asked.
"What's that?" The other three responded simultaneously.
"Can you please promise not to bring this up in the guild hall, particularly when Laxus is around? Especially since I have to spend enough time with him that it would make things awkward if word got around, being the guild secretary and all."
Erza put her hand to her heart. "I swear on my sacred honor as a Fairy Tail wizard."
Levy gave Lucy a thumbs up. "You can count on me!"
"I'll drink to that!" Cana raised her glass in accordance. This girl's liver must be screaming, that bottle was full when she got here!
Just as they were preparing themselves to discuss other matters of the guild (in other words, gossip, mostly about the very sexual relationship between Elfman and Evergreen that had blossomed recently), Lucy heard a small thump come from upstairs. She smiled to herself. Speak of the devil. She grabbed the papers from where Erza had set them on the end table next to the couch and ran upstairs to greet her pink-haired friend, yelling "I'll be right back!" behind her. No one questioned it, as they had all heard Natsu falling in through her bedroom window. Maybe one of these days he'll learn how to use the god damned door…right after Gray stops randomly stripping, in battle or otherwise. She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.
She opened her bedroom door, grinning lovingly as she gazed down at the pile of Dragon Slayer on her floor. "Hiya, Lucy!" He smiled and waved up at her from his awkward position, pretending as though he didn't notice that he had eaten shit a moment prior. He's always so happy, even when he faceplants on my floor.
"Hey, Natsu!" she replied cheerily.
"So, what's for dinner?" Lucy's brow furrowed in exasperation.
"You just broke into my house and the first thing you say to me besides 'hello' is about food?!"
"Well yeah, I can't help it that I have a dragon's appetite." Lucy knew this to be true. She put her free hand up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing.
"Fine, I'll make you something to eat. What do you want?"
"Anything but fish," Natsu groaned. "Me and Happy went on a fishing trip a few days ago and that's all we've had to eat. If I even look at another fish, I might—" Natsu cut himself short, covering his mouth with his hand, his stomach threatening to heave up his lunch from earlier.
"Okay, okay, I get the picture, I don't need a visual," Lucy responded.
"Oh, hey Luce?"
"Yeah?"
"If I don't change out of these clothes I might hurl. The whole house has reeked of fish and I smell like a sushi bar."
"Fine, there are some of your clothes in the first drawer of the dresser next to my desk." Lucy had become so accustomed to Team Natsu crashing here that the three of them had taken reign of one of her dresser drawers.
"Thanks, Luce." He gave her that award-winning goofy grin. "I'll change and then I'll be down in a jiffy."
"Okay, but do me a favor and stay away from my underwear drawer?" Lucy raised one eyebrow as if to scold him. She had caught both Natsu and Gray rifling through her delicates on more than one occasion, so she felt it necessary to remind them to keep their hands to themselves every time they had the opportunity to be unsupervised in her room.
"Fine," Natsu agreed, a slight pout in his tone.
Lucy turned away to exit before she realized that she was still clutching her story in what was now somewhat of a fist. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She jogged over to her desk and laid the papers down with caution, so as not to disturb their order.
"Whatcha got there?" Natsu questioned. He had stripped down to his underwear before she had even left. Jesus, Natsu is the last person who needs to be reading this.
"Oh, just a little something I've been working on," she said coolly. "And could you do me a favor and wait until I'm gone before you start taking off your clothes?!"
"Oh yeah, sorry!" What a goofball. Lucy walked out, closing the door behind her. She made her way down the stairs and to the kitchen so that she could start on dinner. Anything but fish, she reminded herself. Hmm, maybe chicken stir-fry? I'll ask the girls when I get downstairs.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she entered the kitchen and pulled out the pack of chicken that had been thawing from the fridge, slamming it down on the counter a bit more forcefully than she'd intended. Subsequently, she poked her head into the living room to look at her guests.
"Hey, are you all staying for dinner?"
"I should probably get going. I promised Mira that I would lock up the guild hall for her tonight so that she could run some errands." Erza replied regretfully.
"Me too. I told Jet and Droy that we could all go out tonight and treat ourselves after the mission we just got back from last night. It was pretty tough!" said Levy.
"Cana, what about you?"
"I would love to stick around, but I have an…appointment." She winked at Lucy. Yeah, a dick appointment with Bixlow. At least one of them was getting laid tonight.
Lucy sighed, a bit disappointed, but she understood that her request was pretty last-minute. Everyone stood from their respective furniture (and Cana from the floor) to leave when suddenly, a thunderous roar of laughter came from upstairs. Before anyone knew what was happening, Natsu was riding the railing of the staircase until his feet stopped him at the bottom and he not-so-gracefully tumbled to the floor, still guffawing as he got up. So, you can't ride in any sort of vehicle for more than 0.04 seconds without getting sick, but my staircase railing is fair game, I guess, she thought, slightly irritated.
"You guys, you've got to see this!" Lucy hadn't noticed before, but it looked like Natsu was holding a stack of…oh no. Oh NO. "This is hilarious!"
xxxxxx
What'll happen now that Natsu has gotten his paws on Lucy's latest work? Stay tuned!