"Luce?!"

Gajeel woke with a start, flinching so suddenly that Lucy was awoken by the movement.

"Yes?" Lucy looked up at the doorway groggily.

"What the- what?" Natsu stared down at Lucy and Gajeel, who were still lying on the floor, Lucy in Gajeel's arms, their legs still linked.

Lucy, as if coming out of a trance, looked down at Gajeel, briefly maintaining eye contact before she looked back up at Natsu. "No, Natsu, it's not what it looks like! He-" Lucy began to explain, though Natsu quickly interrupted.

"That's Gajeel! He's bad! He hurt Levy, and Jet, and Droy, and YOU." Natsu said accusingly as he glared at Gajeel. "Wait til I tell Erza you stowed away the enemy! You must be out of your mind!"

"Natsu." Lucy used the light from the lamp Natsu held to inspect her legs and free them from Gajeel's. "Listen," Lucy sat up, her bottom placed comfortably just over Gajeel's belly button. "Erza knows he's here. And he's my friend. And we're keeping it secret until Levy, Jet, and Droy are better, then they will make the decision if he can stay."

Natsu stared at Lucy incredulously, "It doesn't look like he's your fucking friend." He huffed like a petulant child, "I still don't like him. I'm mad at you." Natsu scowled at Lucy, he then left, not bothering to close the door. Leaving Lucy staring at the door guiltily and Gajeel staring at Lucy with a small frown.

"I guess your boyfriend is mad at you." Gajeel's eyes looked upset for a flicker of a second, though he tried to push the feeling of jealousy from his mind.

Lucy jumped a bit when he spoke, torn from her own thoughts. His eyes caught on her breasts as their movement drew his attention, the candlelight filtering in from the hallway made them seem especially succulent. She looked like a scared rabbit. He thought to himself.

"My.. Boyfriend?" Lucy looked puzzled. "Oh, no, Natsu isn't my boyfriend. We're best friends." She murmured with her eyebrows pulled up in a way that made her look quite pitiful.

"I see." Gajeel tried to suppress the feeling of his heart soaring, so Lucy wasn't dating the hothead? Gajeel's lips tugged into a smirk.

"I wonder what time it is, I'm gonna grab food. Hopefully it's already breakfast time." Lucy stood up slowly and stretched, unaware of Gajeel's hungry eyes eating up the sight of her naked skin, eyes catching on a new scratch on her torso, near her hip.

"You're hurt." He waited for her to finish yawning before she looked down at him, then at her cut.

"Oh, yeah, I was in the battle last night, I had to do some melee combat. It's not serious, I can get Wendy to look at it." Lucy shrugged it off. What she hadn't noticed was that Gajeel was actually worried about her, to his own surprise.

What the hell is this about? It's like a damn maiden with a crush on some pretty boy prince. Gajeel thought to himself, quickly in his imagination he could see Lucy in an expensive princely getup and himself in a ball gown. Shit, that's bad. Gajeel's lips were tugged into an even wider smirk. "Okay."

"Anyway, I'm gonna check the kitchen. Don't miss me too much!" Lucy jogged to the door, closing it behind her as she started trotting down the hall.

"Who'd miss you." Gajeel scoffed to himself as he got up and got into Lucy's cot. I think I like her.. for real.. Shit... Gajeel's internal monologue sucked him into an endless vortex.

"I'm back, hope you-" Lucy cheerfully barged back into the room after being gone a short while. "Oh, hey Juvia, what's up?"

"Juvia is determined to read all the books Lucy has, plus the library." Juvia's eyes never leave the page she's on.

"Okay, cool, if you need a pillow or blanket ask me, it can't be comfortable to just be sitting on the floor like that." Lucy noticed Gajeel lying in her cot, so she took a seat in his.

"Juvia is perfectly comfortable. Juvia also replaced the oil in Lucy and Gajeel's lantern, Lucy is welcome."

"Thanks, that's sweet of you."

"Lucy, was there food?" Gajeel butt into to the dialogue.

"Breakfast should be ready in about an hour, so I figured we could just wait." Lucy sank into Gajeel's cot, willing it to swallow her whole. While Lucy did not feel tired, there was a stillness in her mind that prevented her from being motivated to be active but also left her feeling restless.

"Whatever." Gajeel mumbled, seemingly indifferent, into Lucy's pillow.

"Oh." Juvia's dark eyes surveyed the room, then met Gajeel's eyes. She could tell that he felt something for Lucy, somehow, and Gajeel quickly became aware that Juvia had sensed it. He unintentionally gave Juvia a nervous look before sliding his calm-and-collected metaphoric mask back on. "Juvia has to go!" Juvia stood abruptly, smiling discretely. "Juvia will also be borrowing this book. Bye Lucy! Bye Gajeel!"

Gajeel breathed a sigh of relief before saying his own goodbye, he would have to corner Juvia later and get her to agree to keep quiet until Gajeel could get rid of his feelings for Lucy.

"Gajeel, let's play a game or something. I can't sleep anymore. Lucy sighed from Gajeel's bed as he lounged in hers.

"I don't wanna play a game, I wanna get to a town and find a brothel." Gajeel grumbled, he wasn't going to play a game with Lucy and let her get too close to him, plus he had a badass image to uphold, he had to assert himself as an asshole sometime.

Before Gajeel could really take notice, Lucy was crouched down next to her own cot, eyes only inches from his. "Why go to a brothel when everything you need is right here?" Lucy whispered in a dangerous, low voice, slipping onto the cot and onto Gajeel, much like their position the night before, but now it was more precise and less comforting, more intimate.

"Lucy?" Gajeel was frozen in place, stunned.

"Yeah?" She groaned as she began to grind her body against Gajeel's sensually.

"Listen... We can't.. I can't...-" Gajeel bit the words out past clenched teeth, he was finding it near impossible to resist temptation.

"You can't what?" Lucy whispered in his ear, nipping his ear lobe, like he had to her in the Phantom Lord ship.

"Oh... Fuck it-" Gajeel reached up to get a hold on Lucy, only to grab thin air. "Uh?"

"Hey, Gajeel, morning." Lucy chirped from his cot.

"What happened?" He sat up and made eye contact with Lucy, who was still lying on his cot.

"Well, I guess you were having a dream. You fell asleep pretty quickly earlier." Lucy smiled at Gajeel briefly before looking back down at the book she was scribbling in.

"I didn't say anything, did I?" Gajeel kept a casual face, but he was internally panicked, if Lucy heard, she would know, but then what? Gajeel could have bring himself to think beyond then, there were too many factors, too many possibilities.

"You made some sounds, groans and such." Lucy kept writing in the thick book she held up in front of her face.

"Oh." Gajeel suppressed an annoyed groan, Today is not my day... Well more like this week is not my week... He thought.

"Gajeel, were you serious about what you said?" Lucy looked at her companion seriously.

"What did I say?" Gajeel shrugged.

"About the brothel, because this ship has its own goings ons, and plenty of the crew would be happy to... Help you out." Lucy said thoughtfully.

Gajeel's heart sped up, he was sure he liked where this conversation was going. "Well," he began.

"-Because I'm pretty sure Gray's single." Lucy teased before falling into a fit of giggles.

"Great." Gajeel sarcastically grumbled, annoyed and exasperated that the conversation didn't go where he had hoped. "So, about Natsu.." He began.

"Natsu! I completely forgot... He's mad at me.." Lucy whined.

"That's not your problem." Gajeel rolled out of the cot and strectched. "I'm hungry, go get food."

"But, I'm not hungry, I'm sad." Lucy whined. "Whenever Natsu's mad at me, he goes out of his way to ignore me, sometimes he makes sure there's no hot water for me to wash up every now and then."

"Well, I guess I can just go out myself and get some food." Gajeel began to walk to the door.

"Nope, that's not allowed." Lucy pulled her blanket over her head.

"Listen," Gajeel turned to look at Lucy, entertained to find her hiding under blankets in his cot. He crept up closer and crouched by her head, whispering "Lucy!" And just as he predicted, she flinched and seemed to become somewhat airborne. "Damn, you're like a scared little rabbit." Gajeel chuckled as Lucy fumbled with the blankets as she pulled them back over herself.

"No, you're like a damn bully. I'm no bunny, I'm dangerous!" Lucy huffed, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Dangerously skittish." Gajeel scoffed. "You're a bunny girl!" He teased.

"Damn you." Lucy halfheartedly seethed from under her blanket.

"Up we go," Gajeel lifted the blanket. "Out you go." He lifted Lucy out of bed and dropped her onto her feet. "Now get me some food." Gajeel gave Lucy a little push towards the door.

"I'm not a baby, you can't push me and make me do what you want." Lucy pouts jokingly as she walks to the door. "I'm gonna spit in your food." Lucy grins impishly.

"Do I look like I care?" Gajeel rolled his eyes and watched Lucy close the door as she left.

He was losing his tough exterior around her, as much as he didn't want to acknowledge it, she was growing on him. Like a deadly parasite, softening him up so she could devpur his insides. Gajeel found it so strange that Lucy was infamous for being fearless, brutal, and volatile, was also a sweet, funny, but still somehow badass teenager. Speaking of teenagers, how old is Lucy? Did her dad ever mention her age? Gajeel pondered. If she was gone for 6 years, how old was she when she left? So I'm about 22 years old. What if she's actually 14, that's not unusual these days, teenage girls marrying or sleeping with grown men, but I'm not into kids. Gajeel continued to theorize. She looks young, but grown up. So maybe she's 19? 20?

Gajeel went to open the trunk off to the side of the room. Hopefully he'd find something of Lucy's that might indicate her age, perhaps a birth spoon or some other commemorative birth trinket, the type that only rich people commission. Gajeel dug through the box of Lucy's belongings. He found ribbons and worn children's dresses, books filled with pages of scribbles and drawings, and pages ripped from poetry books that Gajeel was sure she'd stolen. Lucy had stored away lost teeth and jars filled with clipped hairs, a shard of an old mirror, and keys, countless keys, all pooled up on the bottom of the trunk. Gajeel could only speculate as to what they opened. He looked at the door cautiously before pocketing one of the many small jars with a few locks of Lucy's blonde hair. Gajeel found a small baby shoe in the trunk, hidden in the clutter. Just a lone shoe, it was more of a slipper since it was constructed of a soft, thin material. Gajeel inspected the baby shoe carefully.

"I'm back!" Lucy sang as she brought in a new tray of food. "Oh, I forgot to take back the dishes and yesterday's tray." Gajeel dropped the slipper in surprise, turning to Lucy in record time.

"Haha, who's afraid now? Maybe you're the bunny." Lucy teased Gajeel. Her eyes caught on his hands, still in her trunk. "Gajeel.." Lucy's face was one of upset and guilt. Neither of them said a thing. "Gajeel, those are my things."

"Lucy.." Gajeel looked back at her and they stared at eachother each with a guilty face.

"I told you not to touch my things... Even I don't touch my things... I put my memories away to forget about it, Gajeel. I don't want to think about them, and I don't want you to touch them. Get back. Eat." Lucy set down the tray and slammed the trunk closed, before staring at it for a moment, reopening it to rummage and pull out a key. After locking the trunk, she put the key on the string around her neck with the room key. Lucy looked back to see Gajeel slowly eating, as if eating too quickly would get him in trouble.

"You can eat my breakfast, I'm not hungry." Lucy got up and left the room, emotionlessly and monotonously.

"Shit..." Gajeel stared at the door. Upset that his childish curiousity and stupid crush may have crossed a line, creating a boundary that Lucy wouldn't let him return from. Sure, he had beaten her to a pulp, but even then she had forgiven him, he had acted on orders. This time, his actions were his own and this seemed to have bothered Lucy more than her beating. "I fucked up." Gajeel mumbled as he moved on to Lucy's portion of food, eating quickly and anxiously.

Lucy sat on the deck, staring up at the brightening sky, the sun was climbing to it's peak and a few birds flew and squawked obnoxiously.

"Rough night?" Lucy jumped at the voice, having believed she was the only one up on the deck this early. She turned and looked up to find Laxus smirking down at her.

"I suppose so." Lucy blandly replied as she looked back up at the sky from her place seated on the floor of the ship's deck. She was tired and hungry, and she was upset. She told Gajeel not to touch her things first and foremost, but he searched through it anyway, and found her memories. He hadn't known the stories of the things he found but they were Lucy's and he had no right. "Just... Man troubles I guess." The brightening blue sky hurt Lucy's eyes but she refused to look away.

"Oh, you were thinking about me?" Laxus joked, condescending air still about him.

"Laxus, I'm serious. I'm upset, if you're here to be a dick, get lost." Lucy turned to glare at Laxus, lips pulled back in a quiet snarl.

"Okay, okay." Laxus grumbled, Lucy thought he would leave her alone, but he actually took a seat, legs crossed, next to her and looked up at the sky. "What's wrong?" He sighed, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of having a genuine conversation with Lucy.

"Laxus. This is sweet of you and all, but I think we both know you don't give a damn about me and my problems." Lucy kept her eyes trained on the wooden boards of the deck's floor.

"Sure I do, I'm still here, aren't I?" Laxus placed a tentative hand on Lucy's back, patting her awkwardly before dropping his hand back behind him to lean back and put his weight on it.

"Whatever.." Lucy hid a quiet smile behind her hand. Laxus was an asshole, but he was a charming asshole.

"So, what's going on? Lay it on me." Laxus elbowed Lucy gently.

"Just..." Lucy tried to articulate her struggle without giving too much away. "Someone, who I'm not naming, keeps going through my things. It's infuriating. It's like, I have no privacy, I've got a vermin digging through my stuff."

"Yeah, I see how that blows." Laxus nods understandingly, seeming more mature than Lucy'd ever seen him.

"Yeah..." Lucy began to get up. "Thanks, Laxus. I just realized I've been all up in my own head and haven't visited Levy in a while. Thanks for listening."

"Later." Laxus watched Lucy speed down the stairs.

"Lucy!" Levy clapped her hands excitedly when she saw her friend enter her room. "I'm okay, I'm okay!" Levy grinned at her friend.

"I'm happy to hear that Lev, I was worried to death!" Lucy hugged her friend.

"And I'm glad you're alright too, albeit with a few bruises." Levy inspected Lucy's fading facial bruise. "Who did you in?"

"Gajeel." Lucy said as she carefully watched Levy's reaction. Levy nods at the name.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty... Volatile." Levy said, she didn't seem angry or upset.

"I think he was just following orders enthusiastically..." Lucy mumbled. "What did you think of him?"

Levy furrowed her brows, "Well, I pity him. His life with that crew sounds pretty bad, because that crew is pretty bad."

"I'm glad you think so, because I wanted to give him a chance." Lucy smiles apprehensively.

"Huh?" Levy wasn't following.

"I brought him onto the ship, he's quarantined in my room for now until Jet, Droy, and you decide if he can stay or if we drop him off." Lucy dropped the bomb, speaking rapidly and anxiously, gesturing to Levy when she finished speaking as if to say 'tadaa!'

"Oh..." Levy's eyes widened. She stared at the wall behind Lucy. "Can I see him first?" She murmured.

"Of course!" Lucy guiltily nodded. "No pressure, if he can't stay, we can just drop him off and he'll figure out his life on his own." Lucy put a tentative hand on Levy's shoulder. She hadn't wanted her friend to be uncomfortable or upset by Gajeel's presence, she just didn't want to abandon him on that metaphorically sinking ship.

"I'm sorry, Levy. I didn't think this would affect you this way." Lucy sat on the edge of Levy's bed.

"Lu... It's not okay, I mean I forgive you, you are so important to me, it's impossible for me not to, which upsets me. But I need to see him again to make sure he wouldn't hurt you, or me, or anyone on our ship." Levy leaned forward to rest her forehead on Lucy's shoulder. "Can I be alone now?" She whispered.

Lucy pat Levy's head gently, got up silently and left the room without a word. Lucy begrudgingly strolled to her room, not quite really to face Gajeel again.

Lucy returned to an empty room, the four dirty food trays were gone as well. She stared at her cot, worn out and tired despite the day that was just starting. Gajeel wasn't supposed to leave her room, but Lucy was too emotionally drained to investigate.

The door creaked open at about noon, Lucy looked up to see Juvia peering at Lucy. "Hello." She slipped into Lucy's room, closing the door behind her. "Juvia is here to tell Lucy that Gajeel is hiding in Juvia's room. Juvia was okay with this until now. Juvia needs to have a sponge bath and change into clean clothes."

"Okay, send him over." Lucy nods, looking up from a small journal.

"Juvia has tried, but Gajeel really doesn't want to come here. Lucy needs to come get him. Gajeel cannot stay with Juvia, Juvia needs space." Juvia sighed. "Also, Juvia is going to need some clothes, if Lucy wouldn't mind..."

"Fine." Lucy grumbled, getting up, throwing her journal onto her cot, trudging to one of her many trunks around her room and opened it for Juvia to see a variety of expensive looking dresses and fabrics, blouses and skirts, and only Lucy knew what else. "Pick whatever you like, these are clothes we've looted. My guys always pick me up pretty things they see, the way a cat brings dead mice as gifts. It's cute but also unnecessary." Lucy rubbed her temples as Juvia nodded and descended upon the beautiful garments.

Eventually Juvia chose a black silk underdress, which was more like a night slip, and a high quality, blue wool coat lined with brown fur that she kept closed over the black slip. "You look great, Juvia. Alright, time for me to pick up Gajeel." Lucy sighed. Juvia nodded and picked up the bundled of clothes she had worn when she entered the room.

"Alright," Lucy strode into Juvia's room with a purpose. "Come on, Gajeel. Let's go." He jumped, looking up from the book he was reading in the far corner of Juvia's room.

"Oh, Bunnygirl, I think I'll stay here. But thanks." He played nonchalant despite the nervous sweat beginning to build up on his face.

"Gajeel." Lucy looked furious. "Get up. Get out. Get into my room. And then we will talk about this. Juvia needs her privacy." The tension was palpable.

"Okay, okay." He muttered, closing the book and putting it down before doing as told.

"Why are you so difficult?" Lucy hissed as she followed Gajeel into their room. "Okay, okay. Scratch that, let me try again.. What was that?" She stared Gajeel down. He took a seat on the floor, ready to face the repercussions.

"I just... Didn't want to see you because I knew you'd do this." He stared at the floor, feeling in the wrong, but too stubborn to admit it.

"I'm only doing this because you disappeared, don't be a pain in the ass, Gajeel. You better home Levy takes mercy on you. You need to figure out an apology before I reach over, wrap my fingers around your balls, twist, and pull. Then maybe I'll put those in my trunk." She finished with a sarcastic huff.

"Lucy," Gajeel stood calmly, sweat still glistening on his forehead. "I'm sorry for being nosy and I'm sorry for being immature. I went through your things on a whim because I was curious, and that was wrong. I went to hide in Juvia's room because i was too prideful to figure out how to apologize. So I'm sorry." Gajeel oozed sincerity. "If you mention any of this to anyone, I will deny it though." He tentatively smiled at Lucy, who couldn't help but smile back.

"Okay, apology accepted." Lucy reached out a hand to Gajeel, who apprehensively accepted it before being pulled into a hug to his surprise. "Okay. Now I trust you for sure." Lucy's voice barely reached Gajeel's ears since she seemed to whisper into his hair. He blushed bright red and hugged Lucy back, in an attempt to hide his face from Lucy.