Author's notes at the end.

Chapter Sixteen

The Demon and the Librarian

Saturday, September 19th

"I'm making a new ruling as Dungeon Master," Gray announced to everyone once they were all seated at the table and prepared to play with their character sheets at the ready.

Erza attentively sat forward with her pencil and notepad in hand, ready to jot down whatever Gray was about to say. Gajeel didn't seem overly fussed and Juvia looked on at her beloved with dreamy eyes and wholly unprepared to take any notes whatsoever.

"There are six of us and I don't really want to roleplay as a cat should anyone have a way to 'talk' to Natsu's newest pet," Gray went on to explain openly. "So if someone wants to talk to it, I'm going to roll a D6 to decide whose going to roleplay as the cat, okay?"

"I don't want to roleplay as a damn cat," Gajeel quickly objected.

"If the dungeon master states it, those are the rules we must follow!" Erza barked back before Gray could reply.

Lucy personally didn't have an issue with that – it sounded fun and a little bit different to do. There was also the fact that she had her character take the 'Speak with Animals' spell recently so she was looking forward to what 'Happy' might have to say to her.

"As long as everyone gets Happy's personality right, I'm okay with it," Natsu said. "He likes fish."

Lucy noticed that Gajeel and Juvia still hadn't spoken to each other since sitting down. Lucy mused that perhaps they were giving each other space or hopefully, already spoken with each other already. She herself was a little distracted when she arrived at the table with Natsu tugging on her wrist in one of his random bouts of excitement.

The day was so far going incredibly different from what she had perceived would happen. From trying to understand Natsu's incredibly 'off' behavior to listening to some of his revelations about his life, everything was quite a lot to digest.

She would have never have guessed that he had been in foster care. He seemed too warm, too friendly, too well… carefree to carry such a sad past. In a way it made sense – he probably felt completely abandoned and so he developed a personality that would attract others to him so that he wouldn't be left alone like that again. Although it wasn't as if she had a degree in psychology or anything, perhaps that's why having friends were so important to him.

Natsu's description of his father made her feel jealous to be blunt about it. His dad sounded like someone who really cared about his child. Comparatively, her dad… well, once upon a time he wasn't the way he was now. He was as intransigent as they came.

Then almost as if a switch had been flipped, Natsu's mood suddenly turned around completely when he asked her if she thought whether he would ever find out what happened to Igneel. She didn't want to give him false hope and so she answered honestly despite wanting to give him more than that but for some reason or another, it made him a lot happier regardless.

Giving him the tressym miniature felt like the right thing to do after that – she hoped at the very least that it might make him feel more valued after talking about his experiences growing up and how painful that must have been.

She was not expecting him to grab her and attempt to pull her into some kind of bear hug.

He didn't even seem like the type that would even hug people. Naturally, she found the sudden contact shocking and her initial reaction was to reject it – even more so once she felt the warmth from his strong, defined arms and his firm chest press very lightly against hers, causing her heart to race and her cheeks to flush.

She thought she didn't mind hugging. Cana would hug her all the time. Levy used to wrap her arm around her shoulders to comfort her during stressing times – such as whenever her father would find a way to control her in some form or another. Faint memories of her mother holding her were also there too but so distant at the same time.

Hugs could be nice and soothing.

So frustratingly, Lucy had to admit she didn't understand why she had reacted the way she did at Natsu's perfectly innocent gesture.

The tressym miniature made an excellent excuse as to why she rejected his sudden need to hug her.

Just thinking about the 'incident' was making her feel the shyness creep back up again, especially when she glanced over at a now happy Natsu who was looking fairly excited to be playing D&D again.

She hastily looked away, instead choosing to stare down at her character sheet and dice on the table.

'No use dwelling on it, time to focus on playing D&D.'

Gray was soon recounting the events of the previous session, making sure to include all the little details of how he had Salamander behave in Natsu's absence. Needless to say, Natsu rejected each and every one of these claims.

"We're gonna start where we left off last – Metalicana and Salamander are both unconscious on the tavern floor and Titania has rallied the rest of the party to fight the 'evil' that's been released,' Gray recapped. Everyone's miniatures were placed in the exact same position on the table as the week before with the exception of Happy, who had been newly placed beside Salamander.

"I wanna roll my saving throw again – it's not fair that you did my roll for me," Natsu quickly told Gray, already rolling his dice in his hands.

"Too late, you weren't here. I'm not retconning it," Gray sternly answered him.

Lucy thought that, after hearing Natsu's reasons for his absence which were completely understandable, Gray should probably relent. Judging from how the two often talked to one another – it seemed unlikely that it would happen anytime soon.

"Fine, I wanna play as Happy then!" Natsu then said, challenging Gray with a fierce glare instead.

Gray kept up his strong, unwavering stare in turn, "No, you can roleplay as it if you want but you're not gonna have two characters."

"Happy's gonna keep Luna company while I'm out," Natsu declared to him as if Gray had no say in the matter despite the fact that Gray was still the dungeon master.

"Your tressym isn't a familiar, it's gonna do whatever the hell it wants," Gray responded in an aggravated tone.

"You wanna go, ice princess!?"

It was at this point that Erza, as expected by everyone except the two men arguing, stepped in.

"Enough!" She bellowed, "Natsu – Gray's the dungeon master and what he says goes."

Lucy gulped at Erza's raw intimidation skills that made Natsu pipe down grumpily but immediately. That's twice so far that she's warned the two Draconic men in the party for challenging Gray and they hadn't even started playing yet.

"Juvia can't wait to team up with you both!" Juvia soon said after the silence that followed, looking to both Erza and Lucy in earnest.

"Yeah, it's going to be interesting!" Lucy replied to her enthusiastically. Although Juvia hadn't initially replied to her message last Saturday, Juvia had made casual conversation over the days that followed and Lucy was beginning to feel more positive about their hopefully blossoming friendship.

Natsu and Gajeel sat back, with the former not looking pleased about the prospect of having nothing to do but watch the remaining party members fight something without him. Gajeel looked unbothered about it all, choosing instead to take a smoke break not long after Gray started asking the girls what they were going to do about finding whatever it was that had escaped from the flute.

Erza, to nobody's surprise, was quick to take control, speaking up loudly over everyone else.

"I suggest we stick together and track it down," She suggested, "Do either of you know any magic that could help us in this situation?"

Lucy looked over her spell list but she didn't expect her druid to be much of an expert when it came to mysterious and possible demonic entities that live in musical instruments.

"I took the 'Speak with Animals' spell when I leveled up to talk to Happy…" Lucy explained guiltily, not seeing how talking to the cat would help them.

Natsu who had been grumpily slummed in his chair, perked up immediately, "You did? That's awesome, Lucy!"

"Thanks but I don't see how it will be much help now…" Lucy told him.

"Actually," Erza interjected, "Happy could be very beneficial to us if you convince… him?" Erza looked to Natsu to confirm his pet's gender. Natsu nodded, suddenly now very interested that his tressym would be getting involved in the girl's plans.

"What can a flying cat do?" Gajeel asked curiously, "as it looks like a wimp if you ask me."

The muscly biker went to poke at the tressym miniature on the table but his hand was quickly whacked away by Natsu's and Lucy could have sworn that the two of them then 'growled' ever so slightly at each other.

"Tressyms have great perception skills and can detect invisible creatures – if it is indeed, invisible," Erza explained confidently to them all.

Gray, however, rose an eyebrow at her and frowned lightly, "Erza, you're metagaming again."

"Oh, right, sorry. I'll roll for it," Erza said apologetically, taking her dice into her hand.

"No, it's fine," Gray replied, "Luna can go ahead and speak to it if she wants to."

"Juvia is excited to see who gets to be Happy first!" the blue-haired woman from Gray's side said exuberantly and Lucy couldn't help but observe that she had also moved her chair slightly closer to Gray's too since they had sat down.

"Okay, I'll speak to Happy then," Lucy confirmed for them all. "I cast 'Speak with Animals'."

Gray ominously rolled his dice behind his screen to determine who would be taking on Happy's speaking role. She wouldn't have been surprised if Gray somehow never got to roleplay it himself as he could always announce anyone he felt like to do it and they would be none-the-wiser with his secretive dice rolls.

"Well, Natsu, you got your wish – you get to be Happy for a bit," Gray said flippantly before rolling yet another secretive dice, "… and Happy is in the mood to assist you guys today."

Natsu let out a loud cheer which caused Mirajane to 'shush' him from the other side of the room. He then turned to Lucy, more than ready to speak for Happy.

Lucy cleared her throat, "Luna goes up to Happy and she says… 'Hey there little guy, do you think you could come and help us?'"

"Aye!" Natsu blurted out beside her loudly in a comical voice.

"Great! Let's go and tell me if you see or smell anything, okay?"

"Aye Sir!"

Gajeel snorted, "The cat sounds dumb."

"Shut the hell up," Natsu retorted. "You're just jealous 'cause you don't have one."

Gajeel almost looked caught out by Natsu saying that, recoiling back a little and frowning, "That ain't true…" he grumbled.

"Anyway!" Gray loudly spoke over the group, "What do you all do next?"

"With Happy helping us, finding the creature should be easier," Erza stated, quick to resume control of the situation, "So let's start by checking the nearby area."

As Luna, Titania and Rain Woman canvased the streets and alleys of the Dwarven settlement, Happy attentively kept close by, both in Gray's storytelling and with Natsu's consistent placement of Happy on the grid paper. Despite both Gajeel and Natsu's pleas to roll in order to have a chance that their characters would 'wake up' from whatever had caused them to fall unconscious, Gray was instant that they couldn't just yet. Natsu was quick to say that Gray was 'railroading' them but Lucy was clueless as to what he meant.

Eventually, Gray announced that Happy had passively spotted the ghastly creature lurking in the shadows near the town square.

"It's here, Luna!" Natsu chirped in Happy's voice.

Gray then went on to describe the scene, "You can see an outline of the creature, trying to hide in the shadows near the wall of someone's home."

"Luna will point out the monster to the party," Lucy said as Gray leaned over his screen to place a new miniature on the board – a dark, demonic-looking creature that matched his prior description of it in their previous session, wings, claws and all.

"Juvia isn't sure what to do…" Juvia said, looking to Erza for guidance.

Erza turned to Gray, "Titania has 'Darkvision', can she see the creature? Does she know what it is?"

"Roll for it."

Erza rolled her red dice, scoring a respectable 14.

"Alright, yeah – Titania recognizes that it's a demon. They are known for destruction and causing trouble – basically, it's Natsu," Gray said.

"The hell you say, ice princess?!" Natsu growled to which Gray merely grinned at him.

"Very well, then we attack!" Erza yelled out with vigor, ignoring Natsu.

"You're all gonna attack?" Gray asked them.

"Yes my darling Gray, Juvia shall fight!" Juvia said as she gazed at him.

"I'm ready to fight too!" Lucy declared. "But Happy, you should get to safety."

Natsu nodded, moving the cat away without Gray's say so. It didn't look as though the dungeon master was about to object to him doing that anyway.

"Alright, roll initiative," Gray said, already rolling his dice for the demon.

Gajeel, clearly in no mood to sit and watch the impending combat stood up from his seat, "Goin' for another smoke," he said before leaving.

The girls at the table went about rolling their dice with the results meaning that Erza would take her turn first, followed by Lucy and then finally Juvia.

Erza swiftly moved her character to stand in front of the monster, "Titania is going to use her samurai ability, 'fighting spirit' to use her bonus action to give herself an advantage on her weapon attacks rolls as well as some temporary hit points."

By now, Lucy was familiar enough with the game to understand what Erza was doing and felt glad that Titania was present this time. Erza certainly seemed to enjoy reiterating the rules of the game but when it came to combat, Erza's actions seemed well thought out.

"Then Titania will strike at the demon with her katana!" Erza declared vehemently, making Lucy feel a little inspired by Erza's determination.

Erza rolled her dice twice, taking her higher roll (although both her rolls were good – how was it that Erza always rolled so consistently well?) and then adding her modifiers.

"That's 13 damage," Erza stated plainly and Gray jotted something down from behind his screen.

After a few seconds, he spoke, "Titania slashes at the demon and although she hits, she gets the impression that her katana felt as though it were cutting through smoke."

Lucy recalled to when they first encountered the monster, that it had escaped the drinking hall by ghosting through the wall. From that, she could safely assume that the creature wasn't entirely solid – but how could they fight something with a smoke-like form?

"It's your turn, Lucy," Gray said to which she nodded.

"Luna takes on her starry form of the archer and uses her bonus action to shoot a luminous arrow at the demon," Lucy stated confidently, knowing that this tactic had worked in the past for her. She wanted to save her lucky rolls for the time being, wanting to discover more about her foe first.

Unfortunately, her low roll of 9 was not enough to actually hit her target. Lucy didn't feel as if she was letting her team down this time – she had plenty more tricks up her sleeve and she still had to figure out the monster's weakness.

"Juvia's turn!" Juvia declared quickly, more than keen to get engaged in the battle. "Juvia wishes to cast 'Blur' so that she is harder to see."

"Alright," Gray commented as he rolled his dice for whatever the demon was about to do. "The demon says nothing but Titania, you swear you can hear cackling in your mind… it then claws viciously at you for…"

Gray's dice rolled again as Erza sat passively, waiting to hear the result and ready to change her character's current hit points with the flick of her pencil.

"12 psychic damage."

Erza turned to him, "Even with my armor?"

"Yeah," Gray confirmed. "And now it's your turn again."

"I will make another attack with advantage," Erza repeated. Once again, she rolled twice and succeeded one of her dice rolls and choosing to make another strike against her target.

"11 damage," Erza stated and once again, Gray made a note.

"Once again, it feels as if you aren't slicing through at all," Gray repeated, leaving Erza contemplative about what to do.

Lucy was quick to announce what she was going to do next, having already decided on trying the same attack again, "I cast Guiding Bolt which I follow up with another luminous arrow attack."

She caught Natsu giving her a thumbs up, instantly making her feel more confident about her choice.

She rolled well this time, scoring a 17 which she followed up her damage, a fairly average amount of 14 points to which she then able to add 6 more damage once she rolled (with advantage) for her arrow attack.

"Get 'em, Lucy!" Natsu cheered before turning to Gray, "Can my character wake up already?"

"No, he can't," Gray replied sourly.

"This is such bullshit!" was Natsu's reaction.

Ignoring Natsu, Gray locked eyes with Lucy, "Luna's radiant magic causes the demon to shriek out in pain and she suddenly hears a dark voice in her head, 'You'll pay for that!'"

Lucy nervously gulped, not liking the sound of that in the slightest.

"C'mon Gray, you gotta let me join in!" Natsu once again insisted, looking even more peeved this time.

"Natsu, stop interrupting," Erza said before turning to Juvia. "It's your turn."

"Y-Yes, Juvia must do something!" the sea sorcerer exclaimed, looking to her character sheet before deciding on how to act. "Juvia will… cast acid splash. Juvia will also attach a curse to the cantrip if the demon fails to avoid it!"

"Hmm, okay…" Gray muttered, rolling his dice behind his screen once again. "Okay, roll damage, Juvia." He briefly smiled at her, causing Juvia to look exceedingly pleased with herself as she eagerly rolled her dice, scoring a 5.

"What curse are you attaching?" Gray asked her.

"Cold damage my love!" Juvia declared proudly to him, causing Gray to grin just a tiny bit before returning his serious expression.

"Alright, whilst your spell hits, your curse was ineffective against the demon."

Juvia's smile immediately dropped as she lightly echoed his words on her lips.

Lucy felt very uneasy as Juvia suddenly looked her way.

"But Lucy did so well… Is she trying to impress Gray?!" Juvia suddenly said out loud.

"No, Lucy does not," Lucy simply said, sounding harsher than she would have liked it to be.

As if Juvia suddenly realized what she had just said, she sat back sheepishly, keeping her eyes down and focused on the sheet before her, muttering a small apology. Lucy decided she would message afterwards to let her know it was okay.

Gray, ignoring the comments between them, spoke up as he announced his creature's next action, "The demon quickly takes an incorporeal form, dashing to the side and disappears into the shadows of the nearby buildings." He then removed the demon miniature from the board entirely.

"Quickly, we have to find it again!" Erza yelled. "Where's Happy?"

"Right here!" Natsu called out, moving his tressym back into position on the board.

"Good, I would like to do a perception check to find the demon!" Erza said, turning to Gray and already rolling her dice before he could say anything. It was, however, only an 8.

Lucy attempted to fire an arrow in the rough direction that the monster had gone but Gray announced that it was a miss despite her roll of a 14. As a bonus action, she asked Happy to look for the demon.

Juvia also tried a perception check as did Happy but neither of them had any success.

"Can my character join in now?" Natsu whined sarcastically, more to mock Gray than actually thinking that he would be allowed. As usual, Gray's answer was the same and Natsu repeated the 'railroading' comment once again.

"Luna…" Gray said in an ominous tone, turning to Lucy and she felt frozen in place for a second, "You feel a presence near you but before you realize what's happening, the demon appears behind you and strikes you with its claws."

Natsu shot Gray a menacing glare from his seat but Gray went about rolling his dice regardless.

"You take… 18 points of damage."

Lucy's eyes widened, that was the majority of her health!

"C'mon! Do something, Erza!" Natsu yelled out at the redhead across the table.

"I'm trying to but the demon is obviously resistant to my weapons," she replied. "I'm going to go up to the creature and demand it leave Luna alone."

"You're going to try… and intimidate it?" Gray asked with a cocked eyebrow at Erza's unconventional move.

"Yes."

"Uh, alright."

Erza rolled but it wasn't a decent result.

"The demon laughs at you, Titania," Gray said with some hesitance.

Lucy was quick to use her turn to heal herself for 10 hit points but another attack like the one she recieved would be dangerous for her character.

"Juvia will try and cast 'Witch Bolt' on it!" Unfortunately, her roll was also unsuccessful.

Gray once again described the demon returning to hide in the shadows. It was at that point where everything suddenly clicked for Lucy, the strategist within in coming out to assist her. She quickly was able to deduce that the demon uses shadows to its advantage and it was targeting her because her spells did radiant damage – light magic.

Erza tried another round of trying to spot the demon with no success and Lucy could only assume that all of them were having a sudden and conjoined streak of bad luck.

Lucy, however, decided her theory needed testing and she had just the cantrip for it which she had acquired when she leveled up the week before, thinking it might come in handy for assisting Natsu's character at some point.

"I cast 'Produce Flame' and I also move in the direction that the demon went!" Lucy declared, causing both Gray to sit forward and Natsu to stare at her in awe.

"You have a fire spell?" Natsu asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I do," Lucy tauntingly answered him with a smirk. She had hoped to irk him in some way or another for once but she quickly found that she had achieved the opposite effect as Natsu was looking at her, evidently filled with pride instead.

Gray made another stealthy roll before looking back up, "The light produced from the fire in Luna's hand illuminates the area, revealing the demon."

"Excellent work, Lucy! Juvia, you're up!" Erza said before Gray could say anything else.

"Okay, Juvia casts 'Chromatic Orb' which does acid damage," the blue-haired woman said and rolled her dice, scoring well and letting out a small cheer as a result. She followed up with her damage, scoring 19 overall.

To her surprise and to rest of the group, Gray beamed at her before announcing what happened next, "The demon, already weak from Luna's light magic, gets covered in acid which serves as the killing blow needed to end its shadowy existence."

Lucy let out a cheer as Natsu went back to pestering Gray about his character's consciousness again.

A few minutes later, Gajeel finally returned and inquired as to what he missed but he didn't seem to upset by not being able to participate.

Gray finally let the guys characters regain consciousness although Lucy wasn't sure why Gray had wanted to keet them out of combat to begin with. If Juvia's gleeful expression was anything to go by, it had certainly been deliberate on his part – perhaps for her sake in some way?

'Oh well, it doesn't really matter, we beat it in the end!'

The group eventually met up and the rest of the session was spent in the Dwarven town, restocking, getting some much needed rest and of course, trying to prevent Salamander from causing any fires. As for the flute – it was swiftly confiscated by Erza once again.

Thursday, September 24th

Ever since their last session of D&D on Saturday, Lucy's week had been very different from the weeks previously. For instance, her internship had become even more frustrating for her. Her boss, whilst he was communicating with her more about actual journalism-related matters, he was also becoming bolder in his flirtations and sending her out on more frequent coffee shop runs.

Lucy didn't know how he could handle so much caffeine in his system but she was quickly able to conclude that Dan was doing it for two reasons. Firstly, to talk to her and most likely to look indiscreetly at her well-endowed chest area in the fitted shirt that she wore to work. The second was to actually take the coffee that she had been told to fetch which he would then give to other women in the department and tell them that he went out and bought it for them.

That was incredibly annoying to listen to from across the room as she sat trying to work in her little cubicle but she was also glad that as the 'coffee girl' that she wouldn't be subject to his deception herself.

This all eventually connected to the other big difference in her week. After a week of silence from Natsu in the group chat, he was now suddenly privately messaging more frequently with all kinds of topics. It started as expected – just talking about D&D and how the session went.

Then the topic of food came up.

Then video games.

Then reasons why Gray could never beat him in a fight.

In return, she started telling him about her days which included about how awful her job could be at times. He told her to just a 'get a new one' so she then had to explain what an internship was and why she couldn't just 'quit'.

Natsu then told her about how boring the job was at times too. Lucy got the sense that Natsu wanted to do something that would excite him or challenge him in some way. She genuinely hoped he could find whatever that was one day.

It was on Thursday evening, not long after Lucy had finished up her supper and had just sat down to do some writing that Natsu sent her another message.

Natsu: wana hang out on fri?

Lucy was at the point now where she didn't really have to think too much about her answers to him anymore – she was comfortable to just be herself without the fear of saying something inappropriate. Natsu was the far more inappropriate one in her eyes.

Lucy: You mean tomorrow?

Natsu: yeh

Lucy: At the store?

Natsu: yeh duh we can watch the nxt lotr movie

Lucy: Lotr?

Natsu: lord of the rings

Lucy: Oh, right! I would love to! But aren't Sabertooth playing then? It will be loud and busy?

Natsu: shit your right

Lucy: Maybe another day is better?

When Natsu didn't immediately reply, Lucy returned to her writing, a little unfocused and disappointed but she was determined to finish her current chapter for that evening.

She didn't get very far into it before her phone buzzed again.

Natsu: wana watch it at my place? or yours

Lucy: I don't own a TV…

Natsu: weirdo

Lucy: Hey!

Natsu: my place then? can get pizza or somefin

Lucy was ready to tap out her reply – that she was more than happy to go to his place to watch the next installment of Lord of the Rings with him. She had been wondering when they would get around to it. But as she formed her response, she considered exactly what he was asking her.

He was asking her to go to his place to watch a movie.

He was asking only her.

… Was Natsu asking her on a date?

As the panic set in, her finger absentmindedly holding down a key on her laptop keyboard and leaving a huge paragraph of just 'w' in her novel's latest chapter, Lucy's mind began racing.

'He surely wasn't… there's no way that he would.'

Whether it was the creative writing she had been engaging in or not, she played out the possibility that Natsu might like her in that way. She could almost hear the cheesy romantic music in the background as she envisioned Natsu approaching her with a bouquet of red roses as he proudly beamed with that smile of his, his usually boisterous self now calm and saying sweet words of affection into her ear, his warm breath against her skin…

'What the hell?! Cut it out, Lucy!'

Lucy was not in the habit of telling herself off but she felt it was needed as Natsu's question had completely caught her off guard and resulted in her imagination going off the rails.

"He's not interested in you like that and he's also not your type, remember?" she found herself saying aloud. This seemed to do the trick as after a minute or two, she felt her sense of logic and reasoning return to her.

'This is Natsu we're talking about, he just wants to hang out.'

Taking her phone into her palm, she went about replying without trying to think about it too much.

Lucy: Sure! Sounds fun!

A few moments later, Natsu had typed out his address to which Lucy had to lookup online, just to be sure he hadn't got any of his details incorrect. To her surprise, his address indicated that he lived not too far from her, in an apartment block it seemed and also in the rougher side of town.

It explained why they had crossed paths on the night of Loke's party. If Erza wasn't insisting on driving her home after every session, she would be walking in the same direction as him until they reached the main bridge.

It had her both curious and worried. Whereas she avoided that side of the canal due to the stories and higher crimes rates that were reported there, she felt immediate concern for Natsu who now apparently lived there.

Did he have problems in that side of town? Did he get involved in crime himself? Was he a frequent victim of crime over there? He's not a member of that Tartaros gang that's all over that area, is he? Was it even safe for her to walk over there by herself?

Her phone buzzed again.

Natsu: im bored, gona play some games. C u friday

'He certainly gets to the point.'

'That's right, Natsu does just sort of state what he's going to do without hiding anything.'

'So if he wanted a date, he would have just said…'

With her mind set on the fact that this was certainly not a date, Lucy took a deep breath and tried to return to her writing.

Ten minutes later and some corrections to her more recent paragraph complete, Lucy still wasn't feeling settled in the slightest. As usual, she was having trouble pinpointing why. She wasn't sure if it was the prospect of going to Natsu's place or the area itself of where he lived.

Lucy felt the need to talk to someone about this – to get it off her chest at least so she can get back to writing.

She made her way over to her bed, lying on top of the covers and held out her phone over her head as she scrolled through her contacts (which wasn't many but she tried to not add the notion that her social life could be better to her already messy thoughts).

She didn't want Erza or Juvia to know – they might blow it out of proportion and make D&D a nightmare next week. That extended to Cana too as she could practically hear Cana in her mind making a big deal out of it. That left the reasonable Levy as her most viable choice, although there was the possibility that she could be busy with her studies that evening.

Lucy tapped to dial the number before holding the cell to her ear as she pondered exactly what she was going to say to Levy. It had been a while since they had properly spoken over the phone.

It rang momentarily before a familiar voice answered.

"Lucy? Hi! How have you been?" spoke the voice of Lucy's favorite bookworm.

Lucy smiled at just hearing Levy's voice and how cheerful she sounded. She knew that Levy had been doing well from their messaging but just hearing it in the tone of her voice was rewarding enough in itself.

"Hey, Levy! I'm doing well… I just thought I'd catch up and uh, other things…" Lucy murmured as she thought about how to bring up that she was going over to Natsu's place on the bad side of town. She wasn't entirely sure if Levy would tell her off for agreeing to venture on a potentially dangerous outing.

"Glad to hear it! I read your latest draft- it's really good although I have some pointers-"

Lucy knew that if they got talking on that subject, it could go on for hours and they would never get any other sort of topic to come up in discussion. Still, she felt bad about having to cut Levy's sentence off.

"-Actually… I wanted to ask… uh…" Lucy stuttered.

"Lulu?"

"Ugh, please don't call me that – it's what Dan does and I hate it now," Lucy found herself saying, realizing her response was abrupt but also knowing that that nickname was well and truly ruined for her.

"Oh, sorry, Lucy. Is he still that bad?"

"He's been particularly bad this week like you wouldn't believe," Lucy said exasperatedly.

"I wish you didn't have to put up with that… By the way, are we still on for me staying at your place next month?" Levy quickly asked.

"Of course! I can't wait to see you!" Lucy said, smiling at the thought. It would be like old times and as a bonus, one of her favorite authors, Zaleon, was releasing a new book that week called 'Daybreak' that she had hoped that they could both go and pick up a copy of to discuss it together as they often had done in the past.

"I can't wait either! It's going to be so much fun! … Oh! I've also spoken to Cana lately – it seems she's given up on the idea of you and Loke you know… becoming a thing."

Lucy felt immediate relief that Cana was no longer playing matchmaker but also a little guilt that she should probably spend more time with Loke. She hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him what with working and playing D&D. It was all beginning to make her feel like a bad friend.

"I haven't seen Loke in a few weeks…" Lucy quietly and guiltily admitted over the phone.

"… Because of Natsu?" Levy suddenly asked, causing Lucy to sit up at the unanticipated question.

"W-What? Why? How?! … and no!" Lucy spluttered back. It was going to get even more awkward when she would try to explain her plans for tomorrow now.

"Cana said she went to one of your D&D nights – she said there was chemistry between you two," Levy said with mischief evident in her tone.

"Okay, one – Cana was drunk as always and two – Natsu and I are just friends!" Lucy declared but the gentle snickers from Levy suggested that she wasn't believing any of that much to Lucy's annoyance.

"Regardless, Lucy, Cana thinks Loke might have backed off because of that."

"Seriously, we're just friends! He's not my type!"

"You're always talking about him in your messages, Lucy. It's always 'Natsu did this', 'Natsu did that'."

"I don't talk about him that much- just when it's related to D&D!" Lucy insisted to her.

"Oh? When was the last time you spoke to Natsu that wasn't related to D&D then?" Levy challenged her and Lucy knew at that point, she was well and truly caught. She smacked her forehead lightly as what she was going to say next wasn't going to support her case.

"Um, we messaged about thirty minutes ago… but that doesn't prove anything!"

"Uh huh… and what were you messaging about?" Levy cooed.

Lucy took a deep breath, knowing she was going to regret this, "We were making plans to go over to his place to watch a movie tomorrow."

Lucy heard Levy's breath hitch on the other end of the phone before her voice took on a definitely, smug tone.

"So, a date then? Cana was right!" Levy said excitedly.

"No! It's not!" Lucy once again insisted as a part of her felt like banging her head against her wooden bed frame in frustration.

"I certainly didn't see you falling for Magnolia's resident firecracker, that's for sure!" Levy blithely continued as Lucy could only sigh in defeat. It wasn't a date, Natsu wasn't interested and he wasn't her type but evidently, there was no convincing Levy of that tonight.

"For the last time, I'm not- Look, I wanted to ask you about it actually," Lucy replied, wanting the teasing to be over and done with already.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Natsu's place is well… you know, across the canal from mine," Lucy tried to explain, knowing that Levy, being from Magnolia, would understand to what she was getting at.

"Oh? … Oh! Lucy, don't go there alone, okay? Tartaros is all over that area and whilst I don't doubt your bravery, it's not safe," Levy explained, her voice no longer gleeful but concerned.

"But what about uh… Natsu? He's not involved with them is he?"

"What? Oh heavens, no! I remember Natsu being a goofball at school but he didn't put up with Tartaros in the slightest," Levy explained with confidence, "I don't really recall much else though but I don't think you have to anything to worry about regarding Natsu other than him maybe accidentally burning your books or something."

Lucy recoiled in horror at the thought, "No, not my books!"

Levy giggled, "Not on purpose anyway."

Thankfully, their conversation swiftly moved on from that as they returned to planning out Levy's impending visit. Lucy felt much more at ease, with Levy having reassured her that Natsu wasn't involved in some criminal gang. She would have to put some money aside for a reputable taxi to go over to his place but hopefully, it would be a pleasant evening of watching the Two Towers with her tressym-owning, fire-magic-using, dragon-loving friend.

Not love interest.

Friend.

… Right?

AN:

I had a bit of a think about how to add 'Happy' to the story whilst also keeping him in relative character. I considered that it would be unlike Gray to want to roleplay as Natsu's pet (outside of some fetish fanfiction out there…) and more fun for everyone to have a go at it, providing plenty of opportunities for everyone at the table to wind Lucy up. It's a bit unconventional to do in D&D but I think I could make it work.

Also, I am aware that the singular term for 'dice' is 'die' but I figured using that would be confusing for readers.

I finally told my DM about this fic and whilst he doesn't read fanfiction, he has seen Fairy Tail and he gave me some tips about writing the D&D combat portion of this chapter.

Finally, quick question for you readers:
Which is more interesting/What do you prefer: The group's D&D sessions or their lives outside of D&D? I want the balance to be just right. If you are currently happy with both, then I know that I'm achieving that.

Thanks to the reviewers of the previous chapter!

Sydneste, Amanny, rao hyuga 18, FairyTailxFanGirl, Xaphania, moonluver92, mushi9, tressym and babydragon!

All thanks to those who followed or added this story to their favourites :)

Next Chapter: Time to watch the next LOTR movie! Will probably be a long chapter.

D&D Terms:
Metagaming: When a player uses their real-life knowledge to determine their character's actions despite their character having no such knowledge
Railroading: When the DM forces the player characters down a specific story or quest with no means of avoiding it