Disclaimer: We all know that Hiro Mashima is the owner of all things Fairy tail related

Lisanna's P.O.V

"Hey anyone seen Lucy around?" I heard Natsu yell, finally re-emerging from wherever he'd hidden himself earlier. I rolled my eyes, at no one in particular, and took a deep breath. After the events of last night I wasn't sure if I could contain my urge to set Mira-nee loose on his ass. I'd been apprehensive over the rune trap they'd run into but then after seeing the way the two of them had connected, I'd begun to hope that maybe the dunce had possibly realised the fact that his blonde teammate was a hell of a knock out and perfect for him...But no, the idiot had basically ran away the moment the barrier disappeared leaving poor Lucy in the cold looking more heartbroken than before. It had just reaffirmed my resolve to find her someone better for her to love and be loved by.

"She's running an errand for me." Bixlow called to the dragon slayer as he dropped into the seat next to me with a plate full of fries. Oh, those looked super yummy! I reached out and took a handful which earned my hand a playful tap from the boyfriend.

"Hey!" I faked injury to the swatting, still keeping a tight grip on the fries I had managed to commandeer. These bad boys were going in my tummy, no matter what! "Get your own." He chuckled, forming a barrier around his plate with his arms.

"But yours taste sooo good," I pleaded, turning the full extent of my baby blues on him. It was obviously working as he audibly gulped and retracted his defense. It still shocked me at times just how much of an effect I could bring about in the normally cocky man. I wasn't complaining about it, though. It sure was fun to tease him.

"Would you two just get a room, jeez." Natsu groaned, dragging me away from my playful banter and back to reality.

"That's not a bad idea." Bixlow and I giggled at the same time. I really liked that suggestion, maybe we should head back to his place...

"OH NO, YOU.." Whack! Ouch poor Elf-nii-chan really needed to learn to stop aggravating Evergreen before he got serious brain damage.

"So, where is Luce?" Natsu asked, again. Jeez, dude, the girl was allowed to be away from you and have some time alone without an Alvarez inquisition constantly following her around.

"Like I said, she's busy helping me out." Bix mumbled through a mouthful of food. Remembering the fries I had in my own hand I decided to enjoy them before they got too cold.

"So, where'd she go?" Natsu really was pushing this topic. "I'll catch up with her."

"Oi, Punk, leave poor Lucy alone." Gray remarked as he entered the guild hall; followed by a very red faced Juvia. Ooo she was gonna have to spill the beans to me later about what had caused that face.

"What did you say? Ya damn exhibitionist." Natsu spat back with a vein popping in his forehead. I knew the pair well enough to know what was coming next! It was times like these that made me miss Edo-Natsu and Gray, they'd been such good friends. Though the constant fighting had been replaced by Edo-Lucy and Levy so...guess it was a six and two threes, type of situation.

"Are you freaking deaf?" Gray snarled, butting heads with his frenemy. "I said leave poor Lucy alone! Haven't you hurt her enough."

"Why you..." And with that the pair of them were going at it like a pair of rabid dogs, fists were flying, insults being hurled left, right and center. So, the usual shebang.

"Urg, can they not," I sighed, shaking my head at the pair.

"Why are they fighting this time?" Juvia inquired, sitting down next to me.

"About the cheerleader." Bix laughed, finishing off the last of the fries. Damn, I'd wanted to steal some more, guess I'd just have to go fetch some more later.

"Oh, I see." Juvia responded very nonchalantly. This caused both myself and Bixlow to do a double take! Who was this woman and what had she done with our usually over jealous friend?

"You feeling okay?" I couldn't help but ask as she was acting most out of character.

"Well of course Juvia is." She chirped hearts beginning to float around her head. "After all Gray-sama and I can officially proclaim that we are both in love with each other."

"I'm so happy to hear that, Juvia." I squealed, pulling my friend in for a congratulatory hug, I already knew this, as did the rest of the guild who had witnessed their scene the evening prior, but still Juvia deserved the attention, her dream had finally come true. It also looked to me that since Gray had staked his claim, so to speak, Juvia was no longer acting ridiculous about his friendship with our blonde friend. This was a good thing and would mean Lucy wouldn't have to constantly defend herself to Juvia all the time over nothing. It also meant that their friendship could blossom properly now, instead of always taking one step forward and two steps back, the way that it had been.

"Mean, the whole guild heard Stripper confess, you know." Bixlow chuckled, ruining the moment, causing the water mage to blush furiously and pull away from our friendly embrace.

"Couldn't help just not mentioning that part, huh?" I rounded on my boyfriend, giving him 'the look'. He always did love to stir up trouble whenever he could, normally it didn't bother me in the slightest, but right now I could throttle him for it.

"Not sorry." He stuck his tongue out as a pair of very familiar black boxers covered his handsome face. It dawned on me suddenly that Bixlow had foregon his visor again today and was just don-ing the glasses that he'd had on the night before. He was also still wearing the same clothes, too. Not sure why that took me so long to notice, we had been together nearly the entire day since I woke up...guess I was still out of it from the party.

"Gray, dear, your clothes." Juvia chimed, utterly enthralled by the sight of him stark naked before the world. I sighed again, this was a near daily occurrence which I had grown accustomed to but I never looked forward to it. Gray naked just was not my cup of tea, Bixlow on the other hand was a whole different story. I wanted to see him in the buff so bad. Closest I'd come was during a heavy make out session when I'd managed to get him shirtless, but nothing more had happened as he had slowed things down once his top had hit the floor. I'd asked why afterwards and his response was he wanted to do things right with me, which had caused my heart to bubble with even more love for him.

"Ahh, how did..." Before he could finish,Natsu landed a solid right hook to the off guard mage's face, sending him flying into Romeo and Wendy's table, which in turn sent them flying in opposite directions. This also led to Juvia shooting upwards and dashing to be by her beloved's side, in case he was in need of aid.

"Finally landed a decent blow." Natsu cheered to himself with his usual grin. Guess he forgot the reason why they started fighting in the first place, least you could always count on him to be scatterbrained.

"Now that I think about it," I mused, returning my attention to the man seated next to me. "Where is our resident celestial spirit mage?"

Bixlow winked at me while pulling his index finger up in front of his lips signalling that it was a secret. I started to huff at the fact he was keeping something from me, when he grabbed my hand, pulled me from my seat and made a mad dash for the stairs with me staggering behind him. The hell was happening right now?

"Urm..."

"Shhh, you'll see." Bixlow cut across me with a whisper as we arrived on the second floor and made our way towards Laxus' door. Why on earth land were we heading there? I mean everyone knew the lightning dragon never surfaced when he had a hangover, unless he was provoked...like when we'd been too loud earlier.

I raised my eyebrow at the seith mage in a 'I hope you know what you're doing' type way and just let him take the lead and show me what was going on. He slowed to a crawl as we grew ever closer to his teammates office door, and dropped down onto his hands and knees motioning for me to do the same. Dropping down to his level I watched him creep forward the last few metres that separated him from the door and saw as he positioned himself into a sitting position, taking a second to make sure he hadn't been heard before he beckoned for me to copy his movements to join him. All this sneaking around didn't seem necessary to me, I mean the rest of the guild was making so much noise down stairs that surely we would go unnoticed in the sea of it, but I did as instructed and made my way to his side and got myself seated. Just as I was about to try and speak, Bixlow pulled out an odd device from his pocket.

I stared in confusion, as he started assembling some weird contraptions. It had what looked to be earphone pads attached to a box, that had a stethoscope protruding from the other end of the thing. He waved his hand over it and I saw his magic flow into the box and heard a low hum begin. I tilted my head to the side to show the man my confusion which caused him to grin wildly at me as he handed me one of the earphone pads and placed the stethoscope part to the door. I placed it to my ear as I was starting to piece together what was going on, this was a listening device and we were going to use it to spy on Laxus...though I still had no idea why. It couldn't have anything to do with Lucy's errand, could it?

Though as the first words started to filter through the headphones, I realised what all the secrecy had been for and I also realised that yes it did indeed have everything to do with the errand my boyfriend (Lisanna: I love saying that my boyfriend hehe^^. Author: I've noticed =.=") had sent the blonde mage on. As the information processed through my tired brain, I gazed up at my fellow conspirator and gave him the most dazzling smile I could manage. He really had done a good job this time at helping our plans. 'Thank you' I mouthed to him and then settled in to listen to all that was happening behind the closed door.

Lucy's P.O.V

I didn't move, the feeling of the man's strong arms around me were so comforting I just couldn't bear to leave their warmth. I had no idea Laxus could be such a supportive person, or be so perceptive. Then again that shouldn't surprise me he was S-class and you didn't get that title by being an idiot.

I didn't know how long we stood there but neither of us seemed to want to be the one to break the moment first. I really didn't understand why I was such a mess over this, I mean the man I thought I loved had kissed me last night and seemed to enjoy it. So had I, until after it had ended and my mind started thinking again. For some reason I just could not shake the feeling that it was wrong, even though it had been something I'd dream of happening ever since my feelings for him had developed... What had happened between us? Every time that thought popped into my mind so did the evening a few weeks ago when he confessed to another woman right in front of me...Yeah, like I constantly needed reminding of that horrible moment.

Yes, I knew what had gone wrong, I'd fallen for an idiot who couldn't care less about me. Ok, I was being a little unfair there, Natsu did care about me but more in a 'Don't make my friend cry way' not a 'This is the person I love' kind of way. That kiss had nailed it home for me that there might not be a future for me and the fire dragon. Yes, it had been magical and made my blood boil with carnal desire, yet at the same time it had left me with a hollow and empty feeling. Add on top of that Laxus' comment and here I was, a dithering mess, who had no idea what to do with the situation she'd found herself in.

It didn't help that after we'd been released from our prison last night, and had come back to our senses, Natsu had run straight back into the guild without another word to me, looking as if he'd committed the worst crime known to man. Which had left me feeling even more confused than I was already. It was almost as if he felt kissing me had been a mistake... I certainly was starting to think kissing him had been!

Then this morning as soon as I'd sat down in the guild, he'd sleep walked over to me and started using me as a pillow just like he normally would when he had a hangover. All in all, it had left me reeling again, just what did he want from me? Master of mixed signals,that should be his new name, because I could not read what his intentions were. I got the feeling he didn't even know his own intentions at this point, he had always been dense but this took the cake.

The feeling of Laxus continuously stroking my back was making me start to feel sleepy. It didn't surprise me though as I hadn't slept a wink last night, I had left the guild around three in the morning, with more food for thought than I already had thanks to the lightning dragon who was currently holding me, and had spent the entire time I was home tossing and turning, desperately trying to wrap my head around everything that had happened. Unfortunately clarity still eluded me but sleep seemed to finally be trying to claim me.

A little late to the party for my liking, though really could have used her several hours ago. Lack of sleep was the most likely culprit for my current state of despair over my whole situation. My mind always became a jumble if I didn't get the right amount of sleep, like that time I'd jumped in a frozen lake in my sleep deprived madness. Just remembering that incident caused me to shiver internally, I definitely did not want a repeat of that happening ever again.

Yawn.

"You tired?" Laxus asked, relaxing his hold on me ever so slightly. I couldn't believe that I'd just shown my exhaustion to him like that, stupid body betraying me! Like I needed anymore betrayal right now. I thought about lying to him but decided that with his hearing he's see right through any form of deception.

"I didn't really sleep last night." I mumbled into his chest feeling my eyes flutter closed as the siren of sleep came calling. "I should maybe head ho.."

Before I could even finish my sentence, Laxus had scooped me up and plopped me down on his couch, before heading to a cupboard. I had to admit the feeling of leaving his arms left me feeling ever so slightly odd. I pushed the thought aside, I had enough to worry about without any new issues cropping up at the moment.

"Rest." Laxus threw what seemed to be a heavy fluffy blanket over me and gently pushed me into a lying position. What was going on here?! I was so confused, he was being so strange and gentle to me...maybe it was just his hangover making him softer than usual.

"Um, I couldn't...it'll be trouble for you, won't it?" I squeaked, feeling my face heat up as he stared down at me intently. His eyes were such a deep greenish colour with a tinge of blue to them, I could get lost in them. No, snap out of it girl, yes, Laxus is a very handsome man, no, you should not be thinking that way about him especially at this moment in time. Why was my mind such a confused mess?!

"It's no trouble." He reassured me, not letting me up as I weakly tried to get back up. "Any way if you went home wouldn't your teammates disturb you?"

"That's true..." I hesitated seeing the logic behind his words. "But still..."

"No butts." The scarred man said sternly, stroking my hair back from my face. "Sleep, I'll make sure no one bothers you."

"Thank you." I whispered as the comfort of the sofa started to envelope me. Sleep started clawing at my mind harder than ever, sucking the urge to protest further away from me. I'd graciously be a burden to the man just this once, I decided. His sofa was just too damn comfy to resist. Though just before my consciousness slipped away from me entirely, another thought struck me. Why was Laxus being so kind to me lately?

A/N: So we have another chapter finished and it didn't take me literal years to do this time XD So what do you guys think? Let me know as I have such a fun time writing this story, it always feels like all the characters are just dying to have their time to shine in it so to speak. I also love writing the typical interactions between everyone too, which always ends up furthering the fluff haha. But most of all I love hearing your opinions about the scenarios that get created and what you think of them.