Author's Notes: I had to channel some emo for parts of this chapter. It was disturbingly easy to summon some of it. It's not a lot but it will explain why Lucy acts the way she does later.I changed the rating...because the characters have potty minds and mouths. Much more than even i expected...they have officially taken a life of their own and each chapter they have something to say and do. Trying to keep them on track is sometimes difficult.
Also, I'm sure there are now many questions. Feel free to fire them off I'll certainly answer them. Especially since when I get into the zone I want to tell the story and forget to explain why things are (Though some might argue that I explain too much lol). If necessary I can even post my pages of notes I created for this fic. R&R is nice I like to know people's thoughts on it and what I could look at fixing or making better. My goal is to be a better writer. Chapter's first notes still apply as far as rudeness goes, however.
Anywho, here is the new chapter! It's shorter than previous ones. Still over 2,000 words (but the last two where over 3,000 and 4,000 each so...).
Chapter 7
This is the third time that stupid tablet has gone off. And the third time she ignored it. Though she knew that she couldn't keep doing that without them...
"I KNOW YOUR THERE!"
"Levy turned your camera on after the first time. Don't ignore us!" comes another familiar voice. Her tablet answers itself and a very angry pair of women are on the other side. "I didn't do a summoning...begone evil spirits!" Lucy lifted her hands from the bed and waved them about dramatically.
~Silence ~
"We're still here you know." Bisca intones as she simply continues to braid her green hair into two pig tails, in preparation for sleep or in this case: girltalk.
"Damn."
"We're not going anywhere until you tell us: what exactly happened tonight?" Levy pushed, the large t-shirt she usually sleeps in falling off her shoulder. "You where there! Why are you asking me this?"
"Oh no. No worming out of this. I'm referring to that meeting you had with Natsu. Don't make me call Cana...you know how she is." Lucy winces, boy did she ever. "She'd be woken at a horrible time of the night to a bike pulling into her drive and obnoxious banging on her metal gates and doors...ugh. Pass. Fine. She rolls over in her bed and blushes hotly as she looks at the propped up tablet screen. "Uh...well I'm not sure. I shook his hand waiting for the inevitable shock and flow of information...but none came this time..." she looks off. "The first time it happened...but this time. Was different. BETTER." Levy frowns. Bisca takes a sip from her glass, which contained suspiciously amber liquid. "Please don't tell me your about to get sappy." From a woman who only found her husband initially because he could out shoot her, sap isn't high on her list of things she has a very high tolerance for. To be truthful none of them did.
"Will you go away if I do?"
"No"
"Crap." Lucy sits up and sighs. She'd know this talk was coming but she had hoped that Levy would at least wait until tomorrow. She sits in cobblers pose and gathers her thoughts. "I can only say it one way. It's like I was with Laxus." Both girls sit up straighter at this. The statement would sound weird to uninitiated ears but both where aware of her gift and it's limitations and quirks. But this was not expected. "It numbed you?" The Gunsmith queries in confusion. "Not quite. Laxus numbs me so that I don't feel much of anything except see very faint colors. This was like I was...surrounded by warmth. I could still feel AND see. It was like I was...being warmed in front of a fireplace." she shakes her head in confusion. "It...was better than with Laxus. I wasn't 'blind'." She leans back on her arms to stare up at the ceiling and all the glow in the dark stars she had placed up there in a perfect replica of the night sky. Sure it was childish but she loved it just the same. Sighing she continues on: "I didn't think anyone else like him would've existed." Levy and Bisca look at each other. "Lu?"
"Yeah?"
"Your mooning."
"I AM NOT. I do NOT moon! Not over a man anyway! Take that back!" Lucy stutters her cheeks turning faintly red. "You sighed too." Levy stares evilly into the camera. Bisca simply grins knowingly. How many years had she known Lucy again? Long enough to know that something was up even if Lucy herself wasn't aware of it yet. Or more to the point: Refused to acknowledge it.
Bisca was the local gunsmith's apprentice when Lucy and Levy where in college, is a year of two older than they are, and, interestingly enough, Freed's cousin. Lucy had heard of her mentioned by him many times but didn't meet her until college after several dealings with guns made at her master's shop being used in crimes and for needing gun alterations. A few debates and visits to the firing range later and all three have been inseparable. Bisca often came on traces with the girls operating as a sniper and second gun. When it came time to actually start her own business they decided to set up shop next door to each other. They've been like family ever since. Askua was often watched by Lucy when Wendy, their babysitter, wasn't available.
Bisca was well aware that they where not your 'average' women. And that was exactly why this was strange. They *weren't * women to moon over men. They found it usually a disgusting and somewhat degrading past time for both parties involved. But... When it finally happens to them you know there's something special there. Bisca only mooned after having a gun fight with Azlack that resulted in a draw a feat that had never happened before. Levy, only after Gajeel actually set off a line of her bombs with a cheap set of kitchen knifes just to protect his car. Both men exceptional in their own right. Attractiveness counts, sure, but substance was what got these girls to sit up and take notice. Lucy had finally had a 'moment' and, stubborn as she was, would never admit it. Bisca rubbed her head. It was like the month with Levy last year all over again. She did not look forward to that. But at least this time she had back up.
"Look. All I'm saying is that he's special, regardless of your worries about if you're mooning over him or not. " The older woman supplies gently calming the other two. Lucy looks away disgruntled, Levy looks smug but is quickly startled by banging on her end. "SHRIMP!? ARE YOU DONE YET!? I'M ABOUT TO BURST HERE!" Bisca and Lucy look confused. Levy scowls. "You're a guy go to some bushes. I'm busy having a private conversation."
"Wha-? SCREW THAT! I have other things to do too! OPEN UP!" Levy sighs. "Sorry girls. He's being a baby."
"I AM NOT!" Levy just nods silently at the camera silently confirming his status as a baby. "Of course not...here let me stop everything and move."
"Sarcasm. Just what I want to hear when my BLADDER is trying to eat its way out of my stomach!" Levy wrinkles her nose. "Eww."
"Yeah well I don't like how this feels so move!"
"Talk to you later girls! I'll call you tomorrow night." she blows kisses before her window closes.
Bisca laughs. "Those two...well I hate to run too but I have to get up in the morning and so do you. Azlack is going to give Askua her first shooting lesson with the air gun." Lucy claps "OH record it! I'm sure she's going to be amazing like her parents."
"I'll show it tonight on chat. Night!"
"Night!" Lucy waves smilingly. The screen goes dark and her smile slowly tugs its way southward as it takes on a more bitter-sweet tinge. She is happy and excited for her friends. They had found love and acceptance in a man and wanted the same for her. But she was pretty sure she was not going to find that. They only had one flaw as society saw it: Tomboyishness. And that was actually acceptable in the right circles. Sexy in the best ones and easily overlooked when you dressed up and played the part of party girl and heiress in the much more shallow ones.
But she had two strikes against her: Tomboyishness and being a freak. In many ways she let Freed have his way because he had every reason to worry about her relationship status. It gave him hope, even if false, and gave her a change of pace. Even if the guy was like Laxus and could dull her senses they weren't GONE. And touch bypasses that protection instantly. For her to ever really be with a man she would need numbness. She would have to be...normal. Or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. As it was now She could never really touch him anymore than that and even if she could, intercourse was certainly out of the question. Oh no. That was not happening again. Made that mistake before. Once.
Never again.
With all these things going against her who was she that she felt she had the right to moon over any one? It's why she's scrubbed it from her personality. Supressed and starved the part of her that would do such a thing. It was unnecessary and should be purged.
Stretching. She sighs and flops over onto her pillow before snuggling under her covers. "I don't moon." she mutters as she readjusts her pillow rather violently a few times. Alright so she was smacking the pillow rather hard but it made her feel better. "The nerve. I am a grown woman who doesn't moon over anyone. I'm strong."
smack
"Capable"
Smack
"Independent!"
smack
"And most of all practical!"
smack smack
"Why would I waste my time!? I'm young and I think I have a lot going for me!" she scoffs to the darkened room closing her eyes tightly to get some sleep. After several silent moments she opens her eyes and looks at the clock across the, seemingly, vast expanse of her largely empty queen bed.
2am
"Yeah...but maybe a little fantasy, now and then, didn't hurt anyone." she whispers to the silence. Grabbing another pillow she simply hugs it to herself silently burying her face into its top, guiltily, imagining that it was a shoulder before allowing sleep to claim her.
Levy was sitting up in the bed staring off in thought. Gajeel rolled over and stared up at her. "When are you going to sleep?"
"Soon."
"You said that almost a hour ago right before you locked me out of the bathroom."
"Sorry, girl talk." He wrinkles his nose. Levy idily wondered if that hurt or was at all uncomfortable given all his piercings. "But...I learned something and I think it will be our key to getting Lucy to help us."
"Hm?"
"Yep and luckily the subject will be eager to help." She smiles confidently. The big man suddenly leaps onto her and rolls over clutching her like a doll. "Gajeel!" she squeaks in surprise before coming to rest under the covers with her back against his chest. "Well since you figured it all out you can sleep now. I'm tired."
"You could've gone to sleep."
"Could. But didn't. Sleep." he commands tersely but without annoyance. "You think too much. Start again in the morning." Levy just smiles to herself. He was a gruff, sometimes rude and often crude big oaf. But he cared about her and she felt safe with him. She wouldn't trade him for the world. Now...to only get the same thing for Lu-chan...
