Thanks for reading! I think there will only be three or four more chapters to this fic, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Enjoy this week's chapter!
Lucy looked at the clock anxiously, eleven twenty already? She had less than an hour left till she was supposed to meet up with Natsu, and she was a mess. She leaned over the pot that was on her stove, inhaling the wonderful smell that her work of art gave off.
"Levy-chan is that done yet?" She called over her shoulder as she stirred the pot, a smile plastered to her face.
"Yep, I turned it down to keep it warm." Levy called back as she arranged several smaller dishes on the table to cool off.
"Can you watch this while I go clean up?" Lucy looked over her shoulder, giving Levy a pout that the blue haired mage was never able to resist.
"Just make it quick, I'm starting to get hungry with all this food around me." Levy took the ladle from Lucy's hand, licking her lips as she inhaled the sweet scent of their main dish. "Man, this smells almost as good as Mira's." Lucy laughed at the praise she knew she didn't deserve before she made her way back into the bathroom to wash up.
"Your flattery will get you nowhere now, but I'll still make it as quick as I can." Lucy called as she shut the door behind her.
Levy stared into the pot with a frown, she hated the fact that Lucy wouldn't tell her the details of what her dilemma between Natsu and Gray actually were. It was only natural that she would want to know the details of one of the most exciting love stories she had ever witnessed (and that was including the hundred or so romance novels she had read though her short life time), and she needed to know what was going on behind the scenes. After all, it was doing wonders to keep Levy distracted from her own love troubles.
Recently she too had found herself in a predicament that she was not enjoying in the least bit. Levy decided it would be easier to just focus on Lucy's troubles instead, to save herself the headache of figuring out her own feelings. Unfortunately, her plan was backfiring; helping Lucy only made her want to fix her situation more. Levy knew the longer she hesitated, the harder it would be to get her feelings sorted into a single coherent thought. Even so, she was scared to death of what awaited her once the words were released, out in the open for all to see. She sighed, knowing that she had all the time in the world to handle things with the idiot who didn't even seem to realize that she existed. Lucy was her main priority at the moment, and Levy had to be there for her best friend during her time of need.
The room became completely silent save for the occasional click of the wooden spoon on the side of the pot she was stirring. Levy wanted to know what exactly Loki had said, that had put her blonde friend at ease. Maybe it hadn't been the conversation with Loki, but instead the chat with Erza that had given her blonde friend a bit of clarity. Either way Levy was glad that Lucy seemed to have the situation under control, well for the most part.
She herself couldn't begin to imagine how confusing it would be to have Gray kiss you out of the blue, that would be like Jet or Droy doing so to her. They were her team mates who she cared about, but to think that either would take it beyond that was unlikely. Levy always thought that inner team relationships were the worst taboo, well with the exceptions of Bisca and Alzack who were just too damn cute. Of course Natsu and Lucy were teammates, but from where Levy stood they had always been something more than that.
She was well aware that Gray had a list of conquests that was longer than most, mainly because Mira had a gift for knowing everything that happened in the guild as well as within the town. What she never realized was that Gray would actually put himself out in the open for Lucy like this, it just wasn't like him. From what she had heard, Gray went as far as to take his 'female friends' away from town to avoid the never ending questioning from Mira who wanted to know all the juicy details.
They were still rather young when Gray had figured out that dating someone in this town would eventually get back to Mira, so he seemed to look elsewhere. On occasion Levy caught herself wondering if Mira had spies employed in the market place, who would feed her information when she went to pick up supplies. She smiled to herself knowing she wouldn't put it past the former S-class mage to bribe people for a little information.
"I wonder what the embarrassing thing that Gemini revealed about Gray was; maybe it has something to do with his sudden change in character." She was deathly curious as to what it was that happened on that mission. What could have been said? For once she was extremely disappointed in the lack of in depth details that Lucy always used in her journal entries.
Natsu opened his eyes, only slightly at first, blinking hard at the ray of bright sun that shown right into his face. He rolled away from the light, rubbing the spots from his vision before sitting up. The feeling of discomfort stung his stomach where Erza's fist had connected. He was still slightly dazed by her sudden attack, and it took him a moment to remember why he was laying on the cold floor of the infirmary.
Natsu took a quick look around finding his rival passed out not to far from where he was on the floor. Oh I remember now, she knocked us both out. Natsu took another look around the seemingly vacant room to make sure the coast was clear before moving over to kick the ice mage in the side.
Natsu glared down at Gray, his anger renewed as the ice mage started to stir. When Gray opened his eyes Natsu knew he had to at least try to get some answers.
"Why?" Natsu growled at the dark haired mage, who was still gaining his bearings. It would certainly make him feel better to see Gray's face bloodied and bruised, but he needed information first.
"Why, what?" Gray bit back, not the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.
"Why Lucy? Why now, when I've just figured everything out? Why did you wait until now?" Natsu's fists clenched into balls at his side, he needed to know, for the sake of everything he had been working towards. His rival's actions made absolutely no sense and Natsu knew he wouldn't be able to calm himself until he had his answer.
"You really are a moron." Gray shifted into a sitting position, eying Natsu suspiciously. "I don't even know why I consider you a friend." Gray rubbed his ribs with a groan; Natsu just had to kick him there, didn't he?
"Some friend you are, you squinty eyed bastard." Natsu crossed his arms behind his head before dropping onto one of the infirmary beds, breathing heavily from the exertion that controlling his temper took. He let out an exasperated huff as his back hit the covers. "You knew how I feel about her, so why did you kiss her?" Natsu turned to look at Gray who was trying to stretch out his slightly bruised ribs.
"I got sick of seeing you play dumb." The casual tone that Gray was using irritated Natsu more than he could ever begin to describe; he didn't need to look at the ice mage to know that he had that calm mask plaster over himself once more, and it made Natsu want to mess his face up even more.
"So you kissed her? That doesn't make any sense!" Natsu was losing patience by this point.
"It doesn't have to make sense. Just do what you're doing and focus on that." Gray winced as he got to his feet. "Honestly, you irritate me to no end. It was starting to look like you may never realize that you felt something like that, and I couldn't take it anymore, that's all you need to understand."
Natsu stayed silent, because for once Gray was right. If he had never been put in the position where losing Lucy was a reality he may never have taken the time to sort out his internal struggle. Natsu would have been fine so long as Lucy was happy, and they continued as they always had. This still left one question nagging the fire mage, the one question that he knew could change the situation drastically.
"You have feelings for her too, don't you?" Gray looked over to see that Natsu had his eyes closed; he knew that the fire mage was trying to keep his calm, also that his patience was wearing thin. The way the room was suddenly sweltering was all the proof he needed.
"Would I kiss her if I didn't have feelings for her?" The ice mage made his way towards the door. "I'm an idiot for thinking I even stand a chance, but I couldn't live with the idea that I would never get to tell her. It would have driven me crazy, so I just did it."
"You could have just said it; you didn't have to kiss her." Natsu grumbled keeping his eyes closed.
"She would have laughed and told me to stop joking around the same as she does with Loki. I needed to make her see that I'm not playing around, especially since you are my opposition. You may not realize it yet Natsu, but she idolizes you. I don't get how she can think a guy with ash for brains is so cool, but she does. That means I have my work cut out for me." Gray gave Natsu a smirk when he noticed the fire mage sitting up with a look of confusion on his face. "I asked her to go to the festival with me, as well. My chances aren't that great, but you should know that I'm not giving up; not until the day she has a ring on her finger." Gray walked out the door leaving Natsu with his mouth hanging open.
Natsu stared at the door for a long time, trying to decide how serious Gray's declaration was. Even if they were friends, Gray seemed to really be after Lucy, and that made the situation much more complicated. If he had just been playing around with Lucy because she was something Natsu wanted, he could have just knocked some sense back into the ice mage and that would be the end of it. The knowledge that Gray could possibly feel the same ripped at his conscience.
Damn that Gray…
Natsu blamed this confusion on Gray's cold outer shell, the guy only showed emotion that went skin deep no matter the situation. He was a great actor, and Natsu knew that better than most. It had been seven years, but Gray still maintained his distance when it came to his emotions. If Natsu had realized that Gray had feelings for Lucy, maybe he wouldn't have allowed himself to acknowledge his own feelings, because he too considered Gray his friend. The way it sounded, Gray had been aware of his feelings much longer than Natsu had; this simple fact frustrated Natsu beyond belief because his twisted sense of justice was telling him to stand aside. Then again Lucy had told the others that she was starting to fall for Natsu himself which encouraged Natsu to try harder. All in all Natsu couldn't even determine if there was a right path any longer.
Damn it, why can't any of this be easy? Does everything involving girls have to be such a pain?
Suddenly he remembered that he was supposed to be meeting with Lucy in the park at noon; he looked around to see if he could find a clock. He spotted one on the far wall and grimace to see that he only had twenty minutes left. He picked himself up off the bed, straightening his clothing in an attempt to look somewhat presentable. Natsu took a deep breath before walking out of the infirmary, through the guild, and directly out the doors. He was unaware of the worried stares of his comrades that watched his back slowly disappear as the door swung closed. He was therefore unaware that a certain someone had heard the entire conversation.
"Here's hoping it goes well." Cana held up her mug in a quiet toast, she took the last swig of the liquid before turning to Mira with a sad smile. "Mira, top me off, I'm gonna need it."
Mira nodded taking the mug from Cana's out stretched hand with a frown. She wondered what, if anything had transpired between the two men while they were behind closed doors. It had been a long time since she had seen either of them have such a serious look on their face, and it was never a good sign when Gray ordered a bottle without a cup. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he settled into a seat in the back portion of the guild, his heels thrown lazily up on the table.
He seemed to be more at peace than she had seen him in weeks, but even still she was worried for him. His behavior as of late, was completely out of sync with the way Gray Fullbuster usually operated, and she wondered why all of a sudden he had made such a drastic change. She felt guilty for jumping to conclusions about his actions earlier; maybe this was more serious than she had originally thought.
Mira's eyes flitted over to her sister and Juvia who were deep in a serious looking conversation. She wished there was some way that she could hear what it was that they had been discussing for the past couple of days. She had a bad feeling that it was something that would make the situation even more complicated than it already was, but she had no clue what it actually was that they were talking about. It was infuriating to be left in the dark like this, so she decided to take a chance and went off to service customers as close to the pair as she could get.
Cana sighed as she observed the others acting like mad men. She enjoyed the entertainment, but this was starting to get old. She wondered what would happen once Lucy picked a guy. She knew the basic details of the contract, but what would actually happen after Lucy picked the guy. Would they have to leave the guild to go to her father, or would her father be coming here. She hoped that the old man had more sense than to show his face in the guild he had a hand in almost destroying. She herself would personally punch the bastard square in the jaw if she ever got the pleasure of meeting him in person.
Wendy walked into the guild, rubbing the last bits of sleep from her eye, Charle trailing just a bit behind her. She was disappointed that Levy hadn't waited for her, or even attempted to wake her in the morning. She wasn't usually a late riser but she couldn't get much sleep due to her excitement. She made her way over to take a seat at the bar, a worried expression creasing her eyebrows, as she sniffed the air once more. She could smell them, but couldn't find a single one of the friends she was supposed to be meeting. Wendy sighed, wondering what had happened as she watched Happy offered her white exceed friend a fish, which (as always) she turned her nose up at.
Wendy wished that Charle would stop being so distant from the blue exceed, because she knew that secretly Charle had taken a liking to the little guy. Charle would never admit it, but she was starting to view the blue exceed in a different light, and Wendy had seen this start to soften her behavior. It was obvious that something had happened between them while they were lost in Edolas, even if Charle wouldn't admit it out loud; Wendy was certain that something had changed in their relationship.
Whatever it had been must have been monumental for her small friend, because she had softened considerably, not only towards Happy, but towards the rest of the guild as well. Even if she was still being distant, she had certainly stopped being down and outright cruel. It was barely noticeable at first, but the longer Wendy spent watching them interact, the more she could see how halfhearted Charle's teasing and slightly rude comments had become. The white exceed continued to act as though she couldn't hear Happy's constant pleas for her to accept his gift.
Wendy shook her head when Happy finally decided to give up, leaving the fish on the counter while he went to sulk on the rafters. Charle gave and indignant huff before walking back over to where Wendy was sitting. The blue haired mage looked around the guild again wondering where Lucy, Levy and Natsu were. They were supposed to meet up in the morning at the guild, she was sure that had been the plan. None of them seemed to be around, even though she could smell the traces that they had all been there recently.
"What's the matter Wendy, got something on your mind?" Mira examined the younger mage carefully, trying to figure out what was on her mind.
"You wouldn't happen to know where Lucy-san or Levy-san are, would you Mira-san?" Wendy asked quietly.
"Oh they went out a while ago." Mira gave Wendy a reassuring smile, which Wendy returned with a disappointed frown.
"So no one waited for me, I feel so left out." Wendy sighed leaning against the bar, wondering what she should do to pass the time until they all returned.
"It's better this way Wendy; you don't need to be involved in adult affairs anyway." Charle crossed her arms over her chest, letting her friend know she truly disapproved of the idea that Wendy was being dragged into something that was way over her head.
"I was having fun helping them." Wendy defended with a pout.
"You should be focusing on your own wellbeing." Charle scolded harshly.
"You're so stubborn." Wendy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
"Hey kid, you better pick your job for the festival before all the good ones are gone." Cana called from the other side of the bar; pointing out the papers that Mira had posted to the wall.
"The jobs are posted already?" Wendy asked nervously.
"Just this morning after Lucy and Levy left." Cana tilted her head eyeing the small girl up. "You should hurry up before the jobs that are age appropriate are gone."
"What kind of job are you doing Cana-san?" Wendy played with her fingers nervously. She had never been involved with anything as big as this festival. With her last guild they had been mostly isolated, and they celebrated amongst themselves, of course that sounded strange now that she knew that she and Charle were the only real members.
"I'm signed up for every drinking competition, and I plan to win every last one! It'll pay my tab for at least a couple months." Cana snickered before pointing to the board again. "I'm sure the old man put a couple things that would be ok for you too."
"Oh, thank you Cana-san!" Wendy smiled at the older woman before heading over to take a look at the different assignments that were still available.
The young mage bobbed on her heels as she read through the many different descriptions, as well as the dates on which each event was to take place. She found several that were suited to her tastes and some that even paid for the services rendered.
One in particular caught her eye, and she found that she could suppress the mischievous smile from claiming her lips. She pulled the page down from the wall double checking the requirements before she made her final decision.
This is the perfect pay back for leaving me out of the loop.
Wendy skipped over to Reedus who was painting a picture of Mira at the moment, and greeted him with a warm smile.
"Can I borrow a pen?"
Lucy twirled in the mirror, wondering if her outfit would keep her warm enough out in the bitter wind that had been blowing since that morning. The sun had gone behind the clouds, so she was sure that it would feel ten degrees colder than it had when she had been out in the morning. She went back to her closet and pulled out a thick pair of socks and her knee high boots to go with the thick jeans she had found in a nearly forgotten corner. It hadn't been this cold in a while, and since she had been staying near the port towns in the lower half of the continent before moving to Magnolia, she really didn't need the heavy clothing since it was so warm in the south all year round.
It hadn't even been a full year since she had joined the guild, but it felt like she had been with them for a life time already. They had certainly been through enough trials to make feel that way. She hummed happily as she laced up the thick leather around her calves. She had found a nice dark turtle neck sweater which went really well with her red leather jacket, this brought a smile to her face.
Lucy pulled on the jacket, and inspected herself one more time. She decided to leave her hair down in an attempt to keep her ears and neck warm; she liked how it made her look a little older, and slightly more mature. She teased the ends, wondering how long the pink tint would last. She agreed with Natsu though, it suited her very nicely.
Lucy looked at the clock on her bed side table and sighed, fifteen minutes, I should head out now.
"Levy-chan I'm heading to the park! I won't be too long so don't you dare start eating until I get back!" Lucy called as she strapped her keys to her belt, heading for her front door.
"Yeah, yeah, just get going or you'll be late." Lucy shot a smile over her shoulder before disappearing through the door. "Good luck." Levy almost felt her words were an afterthought, but she had to say it even if Lucy hadn't been able to hear.
Natsu looked up at the tree in the center of the park, a small frown on his face. He hadn't been waiting for long when he spotted the blonde heading in his direction. He watched her rub her hands together, before blowing on them. He wondered if it was really that cold, he had dressed for the wind as well, but he never really felt cold because he could heat himself. He didn't like to see her shivering, but he held himself where he was.
"Have you been waiting long?" Lucy asked as she took the seat next to him on the bench, looking up at the tree in the center of the park as well.
"Just got here actually." Natsu folded his arms behind his neck, letting his head fall back. He wasn't looking forward to hearing something that for one, he already knew, and for two pissed him off.
"Ok well, it's cold out so I'll just get right to the point." Lucy cleared her throat nervously. "Yesterday, we-" Lucy turned her eyes to the ground, her cheeks igniting as she remembered everything that had happened the day before.
"I know what happened with Gray, if that's what you wanted to tell me." Natsu tried to keep all emotion out of his voice while he kept his eyes glued on the thick clouds above his head. He was ready to be done with this conversation already.
"Erza talked to you?" Lucy wanted to crawl into a hole to hide, he was hurt and she could sense it even though Natsu was trying his best to keep it hidden.
"Yeah, and I talked to Gray." Lucy wasn't sure where this conversation was going, but it wasn't what she had planned. "It seems he asked you to go to the festival, huh?" Natsu let out a dry laugh.
"I didn't give him an answer." Lucy couldn't help herself, she started to fidget nervously. She suddenly didn't feel nearly as cold, in fact she was starting to sweat as the temperature around Natsu started to rise.
"Are you going to give him an answer any time soon?" Lucy's eyes widened as she turned to see that Natsu had gotten up from his seat, and was beginning to walk away.
"I wanted to give an answer, it just all happened so fast." Natsu stopped and turned a very serious stare in her direction.
"Don't make excuses." His tone burned her conscience, because she knew that he had experienced the same thing. "If you wanted to answer you would have." His anger had not died away after his conversation with Gray, and the added feelings of betrayal made his whole being, shake. He was the one who had betrayed a close friend, and this was something he couldn't allow, but he didn't know how to make it right.
"I'm not making excuses, I couldn't think, let alone speak. I had no clue what was going on until he had already left." Lucy wanted to add that this was no different from what had happened with Lisanna, but she knew that wasn't the full truth.
"Alright, so now you know how he feels, what are you going to do about it?" Natsu was only moments away from losing his composure.
"I asked you here for a reason, and it had nothing to do with Gray." Lucy's hands shook; she hadn't realized that he would know about the kiss, let alone have a conversation with Gray about it.
"I'm listening." Natsu refused to look back at her, knowing he would do something stupid if he allowed himself to give into the mix of emotions.
"I wanted to know how you felt when Lisanna kissed you." Lucy's voice betrayed how painful it was just to think about that incident. She was greeted with complete silence.
How had it made him feel? She wanted to know how it had made him feel? Natsu took a deep breath, trying to remember exactly what it had felt like to have Lisanna pressed against him even though he hadn't wanted it. How could he possibly put that feeling into words?
"It felt… wrong." He answered breaking the tense air.
"So you didn't feel anything?" Lucy felt half guilty, and half relieved by his response.
"I'm a guy, so of course I felt something, but it wasn't, i dunno how to explain it. It just didn't feel right." He decided it might be safe to turn around and get a good look at her, he wasn't sure where the new line of questioning was going, but he hoped it would help her in the long run.
"That was all I needed to know." Lucy gave a brave smile, linking her shaking arms behind her back. "Levy and I made lunch, so let's go back before it gets too cold."
"Wait" Natsu grabbed her arm before she could run away again. "Tell me, how did it make you feel, you know with Gray." Lucy instantly knew that Natsu was worried; she didn't need to look at him to see that.
"Shock, confusion, frustration. It was like I was watching from the outside, unable to do anything, and that was something I didn't like." Lucy sighed; she didn't want to add that she wanted to experience the thrill of it again, or that she wanted to see if it would be the same if it was with someone else.
"You're better with words than me, you know. That's sort of how I felt too." Lucy spun on her heels, She gave a bright smile in response to his admission.
"Can we call it even?" She asked quietly, holding out a hand.
"So long as that's what you want." Natsu gave a grin, and accepted her hand, flooded with the relief of know Lucy hadn't felt something towards Gray like he had feared. "Now you said something about food?"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh at how quickly their conversation had done a complete turn for the better. She smiled punching Natsu in the shoulder as she escaped his grasps.
"Is food all you ever think about?" Lucy asked jokingly.
"It's an important part of life!" Natsu defended with a pout.
"You are such a glutton." Lucy shook her head laughing the whole time.
The two laughed and exchanged jokes as they made their way back to Lucy's apartment, it didn't take long but Lucy was ready to just curl up by the fire for the rest of the day. When they got inside Lucy noticed that a certain blue haired friend was missing, and in her place was a note.
Lu-chan, I went back to the guild. I completely forgot about Wendy and I felt bad. Enjoy your lunch, everything is done and waiting, and you can yell at me later, but I took some to share with Wendy for being so mean!
~ Levy-chan
"Looks like it'll just be you and me for lunch today." Lucy balled the note up in her hand before throwing it in the garbage.
"Fine by me." Natsu gave a grin as he went right into the kitchen to inspect the food. "Wendy didn't help you guys right?" He asked cautiously before taking a large helping of everything.
"Nope, we kind of left her behind today." Lucy rubbed the back of her neck with a small nervous laugh; she hadn't even realized that Wendy had gotten left behind.