Well, here we are at chapter 10. I have to admit that I'm feeling pretty accomplished about this story. I've certainly been enjoying writing it, that's for sure and I'm glad you've all been so giving with the reviews and encouragement. It's been one of the things that has made this story so fun for me and I hope I can keep it up in the future for you guys.

As stated before, I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. It's just a smutty little tribute to two characters I absolutely adore.

Chapter 10: In Which Secrets are Shared

The train ride back went by fairly smoothly. All five of them ended up sitting close together, having gotten the same train back to Magnolia, but it was a fairly quiet. Aside from casual conversation on how their respective missions had gone and how eager they all were to get back, there wasn't much said and Bickslow took the opportunity to just relax, for once not saying much himself.

Last night with Lisanna had been pretty wild. They'd spent hours dancing and drinking, something she seemed to have enjoyed quite a lot. It had been a shame to see it end, walking her back to her room. They'd found it odd that Elfman still hadn't returned and wondered if he'd been out looking for his little sister. However when Bickslow had passed Evergreen's room, from the noises he'd heard inside that was nowhere near the case. When he'd inquired privately with the youngest Strauss sibling, she'd confessed that her brother had not returned to the room until very late, almost three in the morning. Bickslow had been between laughing and feeling a little irritated with the knowledge in hindsight he could have spent a little bit more time with the young woman in her bed.

If Freed had noticed anything about the late arrivals of everyone else, he hadn't said anything. He'd been asleep by the time Bickslow had reached their room and when the Seith wizard had woken up with a hangover, his teammate had simply gotten him some water and ordered him a simplistic breakfast from room service. He had to admit, it was really nice to have someone who was so calm and collected about most of the chaos that happened around him. It made mornings like that much more bearable.

His headache was nearly gone now, his visor pulled tight over his face to keep any light out of his vision. Even the babies were less active on the ride home, as if just as tired out from the night of partying. He glanced over at Lisanna, curled up on her seat with her legs pulled up to her chest and watching out the window she was sitting next to. While she looked a bit tired, it didn't seem she was any worse for wear, and when she happened to glance back at him, she gave a small smile.

Bickslow had to admit, last night had been pretty good. She'd turned out to be a great dancer, as sexy with her body out of the bedroom as she was in it. It would have been easy to keep all their activities limited to sex and nothing more, but the fact was he simply enjoyed her company. Younger than him and a lot of fun, she had energy to spare. Not to mention she was good to his babies. What was there not to like?

He'd only have to make sure he could pull her away for a fake magic lesson here or there. There wouldn't be a lot of chance encounters outside of Magnolia after all. He was pretty grateful for that coincidental flooding that had set them up so nicely to spend the evening together. Bickslow was in no rush to see their fun get nipped in the bud so easily and he wanted her to remain interested for as long as possible. No more dry spells, not if he could help it.

When the train pulled to a stop, he stood and stretched his arms out, happy to be back despite everything. His room was probably dusty and would need cleaning, and he had to make sure his payment went to taking care of his back rent. Most of his debt was nearly wiped away. Two or three more jobs would do it, or just one if he went on a solo mission and didn't have to split the pay.

"It's good to finally be back in town," Freed said as they all disembarked the train.

"I agree," Evergreen said with a pleased smile as she fanned her face. "So good to be away from that monster infested ocean."

"You just didn't like it because all of those squids went after you," Bickslow snickered. "You women and your tentacles."

"Tentacle party! Tentacle party!" his babies cat called.

"Sh-shut up! And don't let them say those vulgar things to me! I'm a delicate lady!"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied with a grin.

"Well, we'd better head back to the guild," Lisanna said as she stepped off the train as well with her brother. "Are you guys coming?"

"I'd love to, dearie, but I have to get all this back home," Evergreen said as she pointed to the several bags. Clearly she'd gotten quite a few things.

"Geez, Ever. You're never going to get out of the red like this," Bickslow pointed out.

"Hmph. Oh, what do you know?"

"I know how to save my money for one. Did you spend all your pay on that stuff?" he taunted out but she only smirked at him. Not a usual reaction to his teasing, that was for sure.

"Freed, do you think you could do us a favor and take the paperwork back to the guild for us?" she suddenly asked as she turned to their other teammate.

"Of course, I don't mind," he said with a nod of his head.

"Good. Bickslow, grab my bags," she said with a sweet smile.

"What?" he asked in confusion. Why the hell should he carry her bags? Didn't she have Elfman for that now?

"My bags," she stated as she picked up a couple herself, though they were clearly the lightest. "You don't expect me to carry all this myself, do you?"

"Come on," Elfman said as he shoved Bickslow forward with so much force he nearly hit the cobbled floor, only able to catch his balance with the help of his babies flying in front of him so he didn't fall. "A real man helps a lady when they ask for it."

He grumbled a bit, still not seeing why he had to do this, but snatched up the bags, the babies balancing a couple up themselves. This woman was developing a serious shopping habit it looked like. Usually even she didn't blow this much money.

Maybe she just enjoyed making men carry around her crap.

"I'm surprised you didn't have Elfman help you with this," he said as they walked to Fairy Hills. "Wouldn't you have preferred his company? You did spend all night with him after all."

"After what you've been pulling, is really in your best interest to be poking fun of me for my romantic inclinations?" she asked him mildly.

"What are you talking about?" he asked in honest confusion.

"How long have you been sleeping with Lisanna?"

The question shocked him so badly he stopped short and dropped her bags right in the middle of the street.

"Bickslow! Careful!" she scolded him angrily. "Those are valuable!"

"How do you know about that?" he demanded. Fuck, he thought he'd been so sure of Lisanna and he being safe. How the hell had she found out?

"Honestly?" she asked him with a smirk. "You just told me."

Realizing he'd been tricked angered him, but his confusion and shock was still too much for the whole matter to really act on it.

"You… you..." he hissed, actually at a loss for what to say for once but Evergreen just snickered.

"Calm down," she said as she stooped down to pick up her bags and place them back in his hands. "It's not like I'm going to go around and tell anyone. I'm just curious. I actually had my suspicions already, but you confirmed them just now. I would have found it all out on my own eventually anyway. After all, no one would ever look at you and think subtle."

"Well then, how did you figure it out enough to be suspicious in the first place?" he asked as he started following after her again.

"How? How?"

"It wasn't that hard, considering how well we know each other, you know," she said. "The first thing that tipped me off was the fact you actually agreed to give her lessons on magic. As long as I've known you, you've never had the slightest inclination to teach anyone your craft. Why start now?"

"It was her idea," Bickslow admitted. "I thought it was a good idea for a cover story so I went along with it. I'm not going to teach her anything too complicated or dangerous."

"Still, the fact you were willing to at all struck me as odd. It got my attention," she said. "Especially since you two have never been close beforehand. I figured either she had somehow charmed you into doing it, not hard to imagine given what a little cream puff sweat heart she is and how much you like childish and innocent things, or that it was some kind of cover. For what, I couldn't imagine until I saw you two last night."

"You saw us?" he asked. "Where?"

"At the restaurant," she pointed out. "You didn't think I wouldn't see you there? Honestly?"

"We got there hours after you had been," he justified.

"I'd forgotten my purse," she explained. "Honestly, you couldn't have been more careful?"

He groaned a bit, feeling like an idiot. Really? That had been it? Just a bit of bad luck and his own stupidity had gotten them caught? True, Evergreen had thought something odd of his willingness to give lessons but that wouldn't have led to anything if he'd been more careful. Not only had they been seen, he'd been taken off guard so easily by her sudden question he'd essentially confirmed to her that something was going on.

"Okay, fine. You got me," he groaned. "What are you going to do now? Tell that gorilla of her brother?"

To his surprise, she laughed, seemingly amused by the idea.

"Bickslow, why in the world would I do that?" she asked him before shaking her head. "After I saw you two, the first thing I did was drag him off for hours to go shopping to keep him occupied so he wouldn't get back early and see his darling sister was gone."

"Same reason why you coaxed him into your hotel room?" he asked.

She turned red at that, glaring dagger at him, but he only grinned at her. In his mind, she deserved the slight teasing. After all, she was effectively sticking her nose into his business, though he did feel enough gratitude she'd done her best to keep Elfman off their backs in order to have a nice night together. It kept him from pushing her any further on it.

"I do believe we're discussing you here," she pointed out.

"Okay, fine. We're sleeping together," he admitted. "So what?"

"Well, how did it start?" she pressed but he only looked away in determination. He didn't have to share a damn thing with her. Why should he? "Oh, come on. You owe me."

"I'm pretty sure you just needed an excuse to keep him occupied anyway," he replied. "And you did that of your own free will. It had nothing to do with me."

"I'm not telling anyone, am I?" she asked him and he shut his eyes tight. Evergreen and he were good friends, but their relationship was easily the most turbulent of the four of them. He teased her a lot and she hated to feel like she wasn't on top of any situation, which only made him want to tease her all the more. He loved her when she was flustered and she never stopped getting irritated or angry over it, which only made it all the funnier to him. While he did trust her enough not to say anything when she had already said she wouldn't, and he was honestly surprised she wasn't beating the crap out of him for messing around with Lisanna, he could still hear that little unspoken threat in her words.

She wasn't saying anything now, but that didn't mean it wouldn't change if she didn't get what she wanted. Well, she already was aware of what was going on already. Would it really hurt to indulge her need or gossip?

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," Bickslow said to her. "No one, you got it?"

"Alright. I promise, not a soul will hear it from my lips," she promised him.

They'd already reached Fairy Hills by this point and when she opened the door for them, he stopped.

"I'll tell you another time," he said as he eyed the doors like they were trapped to kill him the second he passed the threshold. "If I go in there, Erza will kill me."

"Hmph. I'm more than enough to handle her," Evergreen snorted.

"Oh really?" he asked with a snort. "Since when?"

"Since when? Since when?" his babies inquired.

"All of you shut up and come on!" she snapped before she stomped inside. Bickslow couldn't help but think it was rather unfairylike at how much noise she was making but just followed after her, glancing around occasionally to see if he'd be caught. Men weren't allowed in here after all, and he knew how much that violent redhead loved to enforce rules and give out punishments. Luckily he found himself in her room without any trouble and she grabbed her bags from him, spilling them over the bed to start sorting and putting her new things away. He noticed it was mostly clothing and jewelry, and she cooed happily over every piece as she moved around the room to find them spots in her closet and on her vanity.

"So, what do you want to know?" he asked as he moved to sit down at her table. He poked at the tea set on the furniture and wondered if he could convince her to bring him some coffee for his trouble. His headache from before was starting to inch back, like an irritated spider scuttling close enough to pounce on its victim. Wait, did spiders scuttle? Somehow that didn't seem to fit. "Ever, do spiders scuttle?"

She turned suddenly to look at him as if he'd grown two heads, but he only met it with a curious look of his own.

"I… What?" she asked him before removing her glasses long enough to rub at her eyes and sigh before she slipped them back on. "No, never mind. I don't think I want to know."

"If you didn't want to know anything then why did you drag me here?"

"Yeah. We're busy!" his dolls exclaimed.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Besides, busy with what?" she asked them with her hands on his hips.

"Exhibitionist Lisanna!" they proclaimed happily.

That seemed to have gotten her interest as she looked to him for an explanation and he actually felt a little hot under the collar. They'd never let him live that down, would they?

"Maybe you'd better start from the beginning," she said as she sat down across from him. "How did this even happen and how long has it been going on?"

"Not that long," he admitted. "Little over a month now. It was almost right after Tenrou Island. I was at the guild after hours, just… well, just being by myself. I had a lot to think about and she showed up by herself to get some stuff from the guild for her family. Food for dinner. Nothing important. We got to talking and had some drinks-"

"Oh god, Bickslow," Ever cut him off. "Really? There's booze involved? You realize no story that starts with alcohol ends well, right?"

"We weren't drunk," he denied immediately.

"Not drunk! Not drunk!" his babies agreed.

"As if you five know what being drunk is like," she hissed at them before leveling Bickslow with an even stare. Even with the glasses on her face, Bickslow found himself wondering if he'd end up turning to stone if he gave the wrong answer. Ah yes, this was the reaction he'd been expecting, as if he'd taken advantage of Lisanna's virtue and someone wanted revenge.

"Enough to probably lower my inebriation, which helped my actions, not enough to say they were the cause," he admitted to her. "I'd had maybe five or six shots. She'd had two. She wasn't drunk, and I wasn't either."

"Well, that's something at least. So if it wasn't the alcohol, what was it?"

"I don't know exactly," he confessed. "I mean, I know what happened, but I don't know what caused it all to click together in my mind so suddenly. She was upset, and trying so hard not to show it. I wanted to make her feel better, wanted to help a bit, so I told her she could cry if she needed to, that I wouldn't be offended or put off by it. She just started sobbing and confessing how hard this was on her. She's lost a lot and I felt bad for her. Then… I don't know how to put it. I just looked at her, and I had her in my arms and… she looked so beautiful to me. All of a sudden I didn't see a little kid, not like I used to. I saw her as an adult, as a woman, and a beautiful woman at that. So I just suddenly kissed her."

He rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling a bit awkward at saying such soft things. He really wished he could crack a joke right now, but nothing was honestly coming to mind. Luckily, he knew Ever wouldn't judge him for it and true enough, she just sat there and patiently listened to him and waited for the story to continue.

"Well, I knew I had screwed up immediately. I was ready for her to run off and scream bloody murder, and instead she started to kiss me. I wasn't thinking at all, and I just went with it. One thing led to another and we-"

"Please, please tell me you did not screw in the guild hall," she said, looking a little like her name sake as she went green at the thought. "Bickslow, I eat there!"

"No, we did not fuck in the guild," he said back. Not technically anyway. "We fooled around, that's it. My pants didn't even come off."

"Oh, thank goodness."

"Anyway," he said, happy to get past that part. He didn't feel like sharing the details of that intimate moment and she didn't look like she wanted to hear them anyway. "After that I tried to avoid her. I wanted to just forget it had happened and put it behind me. She didn't have the same idea."

"Oh? How so?" she asked.

"Lisanna wanted to sleep with me," he explained. "Casually."

"Lisanna?"

"Yeah."

"She wanted to sleep with you?"

"Don't look so shocked."

"And she was fine with it being just sex? Really?"

"It's not like I forced her into it, you know," he said with a bit of irritation. It was hypocritical of him and he knew that. After all, he'd been just as shocked that the girl would be into such an arrangement back then but now that he saw her as much as an adult as she desperately wanted to be, he couldn't help but get annoyed on her behalf at the idea she wasn't capable of having such thoughts. "Yes, it was her idea. So what?"

"I just… I never would have thought. Here I had figured you had somehow convinced her to go off with you to be ravaged or something," she admitted.

"Ever, come on."

"Well, you have to admit it's a lot more likely than the alternative!" she snapped at him.

"Guess not because that's how it happened."

"Oh fine. I believe you," she said as she ran a hand through her hair and sighed again. "I just can't picture it, but if it had been your idea I know right now you'd be bragging your head off about it. No way would you admit to the fact she was the one to seduce you."

"Actually, I find the fact she seduced me pretty hot," he replied with a smirk. "She just had to have the B-man."

"Don't you ever call yourself that again," she muttered. "So then, that's it? She asked you to sleep with her and you just said yes? Nothing else to it?"

"Pretty much," he admitted. "It's not like there's been much time for other developments, and really, it's just sex. Heck, we even agreed to sleep with other people if we wanted to. It's as casual as can be. Aside from sex and the hanging out we did last night, there isn't really that much else to say about it. Aside of course from the fact it's a total secret."

"You should be more careful with your secrets then. You were pretty easy to catch and get the truth out of," she pointed out.

"That was just an accident."

"Yeah, but it could have been worse. If Elfman had come in with me to get my purse he would have destroyed half that place in order to get to you and beat you to a pulp."

"I would have just told him we were discussing magic."

"Yes, and I'm sure his typical rage over the top protection of his little sister would have been totally absent long enough for him to listen to your lies," she giggled. "Face it, you're lucky that I was the one who saw and that I kept him so busy afterward."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess you do have a point," he conceded. While he did consider himself much stronger than the manly man when it came to magic, he wasn't the huge amount of muscles that guy was. No doubt however it went down, Bickslow would not walk away from such a fight without a scratch. "I guess I sort of got carried away. I figured we were safe to do whatever we wanted in another town."

"To be fair, all I saw was you having dinner," she admitted. "It's not like you were having your wicked way with her in an alleyway."

"That actually had been pretty tempting," he snickered. After the way she'd danced, he'd have been more than happy to drag her off for one more round before getting her safely back to her room, but it would have been way too risky for either of them to have been comfortable with.

"Save your fantasies," she said, her nose wrinkled in disgust as if she knew what he was thinking. "What are you going to do about this?"

"What do you mean? Keep going of course," he replied. "We're both having fun. I'll just make sure we're more careful from now on. No one else is the wiser and if you don't say anything, we're still in the clear."

"That's not what I meant," she stated. "Bickslow, she's from our guild. A guild which, I will admit, recently I've become very happy in and comfortable with. We're finally letting ourselves belong here. Once Laxus comes back, I want that to continue and just get better."

"You're not telling me to end it, are you? Just because we're both in Fairy Tail?"

"No, but you both have a chance of being hurt if it goes badly and it will be impossible to avoid her," Ever said. "I'm not telling you to stop, because frankly I don't care less if you sleep around with half of Magnolia and if she wasn't interested she clearly wouldn't be allowing you to touch her. However, she is very special to everyone here, and this is her first time with anyone. It's easy to get emotional over that kind of thing. Who's to say it will stay as just sex? It's hard to make that work."

"Evergreen, I appreciate the concern, but don't bother," he snorted. "It's not like we have feelings for one another. She herself said there was no love involved, and why should there be?"

"And you're content to let it just be physical then?" she asked him.

"Why wouldn't I be? I've slept with plenty of girls before."

"One night stands are not the same as someone sticking around, and casual sex doesn't last forever. We both know how how much it hurts you to have to let go of someone. Just remember what happened back at the circus."

He didn't react to that, not immediately. For a second he wanted to say something, to refute her claims, but she was right about him and they both knew it. He didn't like to let people go, and he was already getting dangerously possessive of Lisanna. Yes, he didn't bother her or try to steal her away her time from her friends and family, but he wanted to. He wanted to keep her to himself, and he was already jealous of the man she was in love with.

"I know I can't have her," he said eventually. "Besides, what happened back then doesn't have anything to do with Lisanna and I having fun together."

"True, but you have gone to extremes before to keep people you care about," she said as she glanced up at the dolls for a moment before sighing. "Well, if you say that you're fine, then I'm not going to push. I'm just concerned."

"Thanks, but I'm not some dumb teenager anymore. I can handle myself," he said as he got up and went over to the door. "Now I better get going before Erza catches me and uses me as her new practice dummy."

"Bickslow," she called after him.

"What?"

"Does she make you happy?"

He paused before he actually felt himself smiling a little bit. Maybe he was walking a dangerous tightrope but that at the very least he was comfortable with admitting.

"Yeah, she does."

"Then I hope for your sake she doesn't break your heart," she said sincerely. "Also that you don't do anything stupid."

He didn't say it, but he agreed with her sentiment.

End of Chapter 10

I figured this point would be a good part for someone to figure out what was going on, and I really enjoy Evergreen so I thought why not? She's a bit of a snooty woman but you can tell under all of that she really cares for her teammates. Originally I'd considered Freed, but I thought she would be much more frank in bringing it up to Bickslow while Freed is probably too polite to probe too deeply where he's not really wanted. Also, it was nice to show her concern for Bickslow even as he irritates her, something I think isn't shown enough in the anime, only sprinkled in here and there.

If you enjoyed it, please review. I'm always curious to hear opinions on my work.