3: this is us now.

Everyone was awkwardly sitting at the coffee table. In front of everyone were colorful name cards made from notebook paper.

"I think I'll start with the introduction game!" Juvia said with a large smile. "I'm Juvia Lockster, and Gajeel is my ex boyfriend!"

Levy shook her head and rubbed her forehead. She was still finding hard to believe that Gajeel is her best friend's ex.

"Wait! That guy!?" Lucy cried, pointing at Gajeel.

Gajeel waved his name card. "Duh."

"I had...I guess you can say a rebellious phase!" Juvia cried.

"So our relationship was just a phase to you?" Gajeel asked.

"Yes. It was," Juvia answered, crossing her arms.

Gajeel frowned. "Wow. I gave you my heart, then you're over here calling it a phase."

"You broke up with me through text! Why couldn't you see me in person to break up with me!? I mean, it's not like you can't sneak into my house. You used to do that and I even made space in my closet for your stuff!" Juvia cried.

Damn, Gajeel broke up with Juvia through text? Levy wondered, sending Gajeel a judgmental look.

"I was busy at the time!" Gajeel cried.

"Yet you still had the audacity to text me 'let's break up' then you fucking blocked me!" Juvia cried.

"Shame," Lucy said, shaking her head.

"Okay, this is turning into a lovers' spat! I thought we're supposed to get to know each other?" One of the 5, named Cobra, asked.

Juvia cleared her throat. "Cobra! You go next!"

Cobra played with his name card as he nervously looked down. The girl, named Angel, snorted. "Look at you suddenly getting shy!"

"Shut up! I have to mentally prepare myself first!" Cobra cried.

"Next, he's gonna get a panic attack because of his anxiety. Just watch," Angel said.

"Why do you always pick on me!?" Cobra cried.

"Who are you people?" Levy asked them.

Cobra and Angel stopped arguing and they glanced at the other 3 people who are named Midnight, Racer, and Hoteye.

"This bum is Midnight. There's nothing really special about him. He's always sleeping so he's not the most reliable. He also has some extreme daddy issues," Angel answered, gesturing to Midnight who was drooling in his sleep.

"I'm Racer, the fastest of the fast! One day, I'm gonna do track at the Olympics and win!" Racer announced.

"Keep telling yourself that, Mr. I Use A Hoverboard Wherever I Go Cuz I'm So Fucking Lazy," Angel said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm Hoteye, the oldest and the most responsible!" Hoteye cried before facing Gajeel. "Speaking of being responsible, the captain wants the money transferred immediately."

"What money? And captain?" Levy asked, eyeing Gajeel suspiciously.

Gajeel started to fake laugh. "What do you mean!? Money!? Captain!? Ha! You're funny!"

Then he turned to the 5. "Outside!" He hissed, standing up and walking out the front door.

"Bye!" Angel cried as she and the other 4 followed Gajeel outside. Hoteye had to drag Midnight out with him.

"Tell the captain that it can't be at this apartment," Gajeel told them once they were outside.

Angel scoffed. "Are you being for real right now?"

"Long story short, I gotta share the apartment with one of those girls from earlier," Gajeel said.

"Then get her to move out," Angel said.

"Tried. Won't work. None of us get refunds so she's defiantly not willing to move," Gajeel said.

"Then kill her," Cobra said darkly.

Everyone turned to look at Cobra as if he had just spoken an alien language.

Cobra shrugged, not seeing the problem with what he had just said. "What? She won't leave, so we might as well kill her. Not the first time we did that."

"Then we got a lot of attention on us because of that! The captain was hella pissed off last time! Remember the punishment he gave us!?" Racer cried, shivering.

"He gave me the worst punishment cuz I'm in charge of you idiots!" Gajeel cried.

"Look. We could always call the captain and tell him the situation. Done," Hoteye said, pulling out his phone.

Gajeel did a high kick, kicking the phone out of Hoteye's hands. "Are you dumb!? If the captain punishes me, y'all get punished too!"

"You didn't have to kick my phone out of my hands, though..." Hoteye mumbled as he bent down to pick up his phone.

"We can still move in the money...but we can put it underneath the floor of the apartment," Cobra suggested.

"How would I get her to leave?" Gajeel asked.

"I'm getting college student vibes from her, right? So she must have classes. While she's at her classes, we can transfer the money and hide it under the floors. We'll have to figure out her schedule though," Angel answered.

Gajeel shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "We should put the money underneath the building, though. Do you know how much money it would be? Putting it in some apartment is stupid."

"Are you calling the captain dumb!?" Racer yelled obnoxiously loud as if he wanted the whole apartment complex to know what he was talking about.

"Shut up!" Everyone yelled back.

"You're right...putting it underground is a better idea...but the captain has his reasons," Cobra said.

"Yeah...like giving me a lot of shit to deal with..." Gajeel grumbled.

"The apartment isn't the only place where we're hiding money. It's always good to put money in different places, after all. Besides, this area is good for business," Hoteye explained.

"True true..." Gajeel agreed.

"What should we tell the captain about the girl?" Angel asked.

"Nothing. He won't find out and as long as he never finds out, I won't get in trouble. And if I get in trouble, y'all get in trouble too," Gajeel answered, glaring at them.

"Yes, boss!" They all cried.

Once they were gone, Gajeel's legs turned to jelly and he fell onto the floor. Shit! I'm dead! Ahhhhh! He's gonna find out! Midnight can't fucking keep a secret! If he'd heard everything even though he's asleep, he's gonna tell him! I should start writing my will. Yeah...I should. Wait, once you think about it, how do you write a will?

He stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He googled "how to write a will" and scrolled down. As he did, he got an incoming call from the captain. He was about to answer when the apartment door swung open. He jumped and accidentally dropped his phone over the edge of the apartment complex.

"No!" He yelled, hopelessly watching his phone fall down three stories. A death bell rang in his head.

Levy, the one who had opened the door, eyed Gajeel suspiciously up and down. "What's wrong with you?"

Gajeel faced her, prepared to yell at her but he stopped himself as he was intimidated by the look Levy was giving him. He sighed. "Nothing."

"Come inside. It's kind of chilly," Levy told him before going back inside.

Gajeel sadly looked over the ledge one more time before entering the apartment.

"Levy, are you sure you don't want to stay at our place?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. You guys should make your way back to the dorms," Levy answered.

Lucy sighed as she stood up. "I don't trust you living alone with..." She looked Gajeel up and down before facing Levy again. "You know what I mean."

"Gajeel, if you think appealing to my friend will get me back, you're dead wrong!" Juvia cried.

"I'm not trying to get you back!" Gajeel cried.

"I'm with someone else, now!" Juvia cried.

"I for real do not care!" Gajeel cried.

Juvia stood up and rubbed Gajeel's arm in reassurance. "I know you like to act tough, but I know you're hurting deep down inside."

"You know what? Just say whatever the fuck that you want to say," Gajeel said, realizing that it was Juvia that he's dealing with.

Lucy eyed Gajeel suspiciously one last time before she and Juvia left.

Levy and Gajeel were left alone again. As if they were thinking the same thing, they both took off running to the bedroom.

"Hey! I thought we agreed that I get the room for tonight!?" Gajeel cried as he pried Levy's tiny fingers off the doorknob one by one.

"That was because my friends were staying here! They're not anymore!" Levy cried, attempting to keep her fingers on the door.

"You know what!?" Gajeel yelled, walking over to the living room. "I'm tired!"

He sat down on the floor and crossed his arms. Levy scurried after him. "So you're not going to fight me for the room?"

Gajeel sent her a look that read that he was done with everything before he laid down.

Levy pointed at herself. "So, I win?"

"Please stop talking to me..." Gajeel sleepily mumbled as he drifted off to dreamland.

Levy happily skipped over to her room. Once she was inside, she flopped down on her bed. I get the room for tonight!

However, as she tried to sleep, she kept on thinking about Gajeel who was sleeping on the hardwood floor. She eventually sat up in bed and sighed. "Why am I too nice...?"

She got out of bed and left her room. She saw that Gajeel was still sleeping on the floor. She went back into her room and pulled out her spare pink blanket and one of her white pillows. Then, she left her room and put the blanket over Gajeel. She carefully lifted his head to let it rest on the pillow. Once she was done, she turned off all of the lights and went to bed.

The next day, Gajeel went outside to look for his phone the minute he had woken up. Wrapped in the pink blanket like a bean, he waddled all over the parking lot of the apartment complex, hoping that he'd find his phone. Fuck, I really need to find that phone if I want to live! Uggg, why's everything going wrong these days!?

Suddenly, he heard snickering. He turned around and saw a boy and a girl who were in high school uniforms huddled together.

"Man, this guy's rich rich! Look at all of the money he's showing off in this picture!" The boy cried.

"Romeo, I don't think we should do this. It's rude to look at someone's camera roll..." the girl told the boy, Romeo.

"You worry too much, Wendy," the boy told the girl, Wendy.

Curious, Gajeel waddled over to the high school students. As he did, he noticed that they were looking through his phone.

"Hey! That's my phone!" He yelled.

"Shit!" Romeo cried.

Wendy faced Gajeel and bowed before she and Romeo took off running.

"No! Get back here, you little shits!" Gajeel yelled, waddling after them. However, he could only go so far. He tripped over the pink blanket and fell on his face.

After untangling himself out of the blankets, he proceeded to catch up to the high schoolers. Unfortunately, by the time he was out, they were nowhere to be found. Gajeel feel onto his knees in defeat as a death bell rang in his head. Why...?

Eventually, he gloomily made his way back to the apartment. Levy had just woken up and was busy making herself coffee.

"Morning," Levy said.

"Uggg..." Gajeel grumbled, flopping down onto the couch.

Levy walked over to Gajeel and handed him a coffee mug. Gajeel, touched by the first nice gesture he's received since he woke up, looked up at Levy as if she were a saint.

"I have work after classes so I'll be home late. Please don't mess up the house while I'm gone," Levy said as she pulled out the ironing board so she could iron her work uniform.

Gajeel took a sip of the coffee he had just handed her. Impressed by the taste, he chugged the drink down. "You're good at making coffee."

"One of my jobs is at a coffee shop so I kinda have to be good at making coffee," Levy said without turning around so she could focus on her ironing.

"Can you make me another cup?" Gajeel asked.

"Make it your self," Levy answered with a yawn.

Gajeel got up from the couch and walked over to the ironing board. Then, he snatched the hot iron from Levy's hands. "I'll iron your shirt."

Levy blinked. "Thanks."

When Gajeel was done ironing Levy's clothes, he patiently waited for her to make another cup of coffee for him as a thank you. Unfortunately for him, she didn't. As a result, he flopped down on the couch and continued his sulking.

Soon, Levy was done getting ready for the day and she walked out of the apartment.

"Excuse me, ma'am. You live in apartment 321, right?" A man who was smoking and leaning against the door next to Levy's apartment door asked.

"Um, yes," Levy answered.

The man shook his head. "Sucks to be you."

"Why?" Levy asked. Does he know that I have to share it with Gajeel?

"That apartment is cursed," the man answered.

"Cursed?" Levy asked in disbelief.

"It's been scientifically proven too!" The man cried.

"What made you even think it's cursed?" Levy asked.

"Do you wanna know why the price of this specific apartment is lower than the price of all the other apartments?" The man asked.

"Because it's cursed," Levy said sarcastically.

"Exactly!" The man cried.

Levy deducted that the man wasn't thinking right. He smelled of booze anyway. She bowed as she attempted to walk past him. However, the man got in front of her, blocking her way.

"Whoever lives in that apartment will be cursed with bad luck!" The man cried.

"Bad luck," Levy said, unamused.

"I'm serious! I've seen people come and go! It's crazy!" The man cried.

"Right," Levy said, crossing her arms.

"Then, you go mad! The last tenant was this one girl, right? Okay, so she was living in that apartment and everything, right? But then, bad things started to happen to her. Then, she started going crazy until she killed herself!" The man explained.

"Wow," Levy said, feeling goosebumps form on her arms.

"Do you want to know what the girl's name was?" The man asked.

"No," Levy answered.

"Her name was Lisanna Strauss!" The man whisper-yelled.

The name "Lisanna Strauss" sounded familiar to Levy, she just couldn't remember where she had heard it. However, she simply shook it off. "I didn't want to know her name!"

"Ah. And you simply can't just move out. You see, when you signed the housing contract for that apartment, you literally sold your soul. The only way for you to leave is through death!" The man cried.

"It feels like you're making things up," Levy said.

"I'm not! Go and ask the other tenants!" The man cried.

"Right..." Levy said, walking away.

"That apartment is cursed! You will be cursed for life! And you can never move out! You will die in that apartment! But I know a good shaman who can give you talismans to fight the evil!" The man yelled after her like a madman.

Levy ignored him and walked down the stairs of the apartment. Cursed? Please. Make it make sense.

After a long day, Levy returned home with a bunch of talismans.

She dumped them onto the coffee table and sat down. Gajeel was sitting across from her.

"Why...?" He asked, pointing at the talismans.

"It's just some precautions," Levy answered.

Gajeel scratched his head. "But why?"

"You always ask why for everything," Levy said.

"Yeah." Gajeel gestured to the talismans. "Why?"

"Do you think we sold our souls to this apartment by accident?" Levy asked.

Gajeel blinked. "What?"

"Or like, there's a ghost wandering around here or something," Levy added.

"You high?" Gajeel asked.

"The source of our misfortune is this apartment. But we can't leave cuz we sold our souls," Levy explained.

"Who told you all of this?" Gajeel asked.

"The man who lives next door," Levy answered. "He even gave me the number of the shaman who gave me all of these talismans."

Ah. She just got scammed, Gajeel realized with a blank expression on his face.

Levy stood up and grabbed one of the talismans. "We should hang these around the place."

"I'm just going to go back to my wanted poster," Gajeel said, focusing on the drawing he was working on before Levy arrived.

"Wanted poster?" Levy asked.

"These twerps stole my phone," Gajeel answered without looking up.

"So, what are you doing?" Levy asked.

"I'm making wanted posters and posting them all over the place," Gajeel answered seriously.

Levy sat down and studied the picture from where she was sitting. Then she snorted.

"What!?" Gajeel cried, looking up.

Levy cleared her throat. "What's all that supposed to be?"

Gajeel pointed at one of the figures. "Okay. This is the boy who had my phone." Then he pointed to the figure next to the first one. "This girl was with him."

"Your drawing looks horrible," Levy answered, holding back a laugh.

"No it's not! It's a work of art!" Gajeel cried.

Levy couldn't hold back her laughter. "A preschooler can draw better than you! Ahahahaha!"

Gajeel grabbed an empty sheet of paper and handed it to Levy. "Then you draw it!"

"I don't even know what they look like!" Levy cried, wheezing as she recovered from her laughter.

"The boy had black hair. The girl has blue hair. Oh, and they're in high school," Gajeel answered.

"Still not enough information, but I'll see what I can do," Levy answered, pushing the talismans off the table so she could have space.

Minutes later, Levy and Gajeel put their drawings side by side to compare.

Gajeel's drawing were of 2 stick figures and a bunch of colorful scribbles that were meant to signify their hair and outfits.

Levy's drawing looked like an actual picture of Romeo and Wendy and it was very realistic.

Gajeel grumpily crumbled up his drawing. "No one likes a show off."

"I just happen to be good at everything I do," Levy answered with a smug smile.

"Whatever," Gajeel grumbled.

"Are you sure a wanted poster would get your phone back?" Levy asked.

"Wait. Give me your phone very quick," Gajeel said, holding his hand out.

"Why?" Levy asked, handing Gajeel her phone anyway.

Gajeel dialed his own number and waited for the other line to pick up.

"Hello?"

Gajeel clenched his fists. That voice was the same as Romeo's.

"You're liking my phone right now? Ha, you fucking fetus! When I find you, you're gonna regret taking my phone!" Gajeel threatened.

"Huh? What was that? I don't speak old man!" Romeo cried.

"You-" Gajeel started hurdling insults and colorful language at Romeo over the phone.

Levy blinked. Should I allow this?

When Gajeel finished, he dialed another number. Then, he put it up to his ear.

"I need you guys to hunt down some people for me."

Cobra, the one who Gajeel was on the phone with, sighed. "Who?"

Gajeel took a picture of Levy's drawing and sent it to Cobra. Then, he put the phone back to his ear. "Did you get the picture yet?"

"Yo! Boss! Your drawing skills have improved!" Cobra cried.

"Do you want to die?" Gajeel threatened.

"No, sir," Cobra quickly answered.

"Anyway, find those two and bring them to me. They have my phone. Now they must pay," Gajeel ordered.

"Yes, boss! I'll get on it right now!" Cobra cried.

Gajeel hung up with a sigh. "I don't need your phone anymore."

"Think about it. You're going through this whole phone drama. Why? Because you live in this apartment, which is haunted and gives you bad luck!" Levy cried.

"You're still on this?" Gajeel asked.

Levy nodded. "We're putting talismans around this place tonight!"

Suddenly, the power went out.

Random Fact: Even though I really wanted to, I didn't go to my school's prom because, unlike most of my classmates, I want to live. COVID-19 is a thing, after all. So, on the night of prom, my friends and I made fun of the people who were dumb enough to go

Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!

Y'all, I forgot that I was going to try updating every week, but good thing I remembered! Now that I'm done with one of my stories, I should have more time to spend on this one!

Reviews:

shhhheepy- Thank you so much!

Guest- Thank you so much!

PinkPolkaDot- Thank you so much!

So, spring break (for me at least) has started and I'm gonna kick it off by binge-watching one of my favorite shows: South Park! So, ima close this! Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! Later, yo!