3rd person
After all the morning commotion the group decided to head down to a little cafe they saw the other day, while the rest of the team was distracted ordering and partaking in some more light morning bickering Lucy found a chance to slip out. She snuck around the building to the alley and waited leaning agains the wall. Suddenly out of nowhere a man dropped from the sky landing in front of her and walked up to Lucy, trapping her between his body and the building.
"They're all here?" he asked in a no-nonsense tone
"Yes they're all here." Lucy says avoiding eye contact
The man grabs her face and makes her look him in the eyes. He was around her age give or take a couple years, had dark brown, and if she was honest with herself had a face easy on the eyes. Sharp jawline, thin nose, and some deadly steel grey eyes.
"Boss needs to know when you'll be arriving."
"Probably 2 hours. We have to see the mayor to confirm our arrival"
"No games before then sweet thing, got it? Something goes wrong you know what happens."
"I-" she starts
"Shhh someones coming, here" and he moves closer into her personal space and kisses her
Too shocked to actually do anything she just stands there, not accepting nor rejecting what was happening. Unfortunately the person who walked into the alley was more than a random civilian.
"I...Oops" Lucy heard a familiar voice say. She panicked then and pulled away sharply from the man just in time to see Ever turn the corner back to the from to the building.
"Shit." Lucy curses and begins to run after her but stops when the man grabs her wrist and drags her back
"They'll suspect nothing. Understood?" he threatens, and with a quick nod of affirmation Lucy takes off.
Meanwhile inside
Ever rushes inside the small building with a frantic look in her eyes, immediately startling her teammates as she hurries back to her seat.
"Are you.. okay?" Bickslow asks
"I-uh"
"Oh god, you didn't see someone wearing those pants with deliberate tears at the buttocks again did you?" Freed asked terrified. If that was the case they had a big problem. She almost spontaneously combusted when she saw that.
"MAVIS NO, thank the heavens. I just..saw Lucy" Ever says slightly shivering at the harrowing memory of the fashion disaster she came across once.
"That's nothing unordinary, why are you being so strange about it?"
"See that's funny cause I didn't think it was out of the ordinary either until I saw a guy with his tongue down her throat." Ever says as he rolls her eyes
a few seconds of blank stares and silence ensued
"WHAT???!" Bickslow erupted
"What a riveting way of phrasing that Ever, truly remarkable." Freed says dripping with sarcasm
The bell to the front entrance of the cafe rings and looking over Evergreen sees it's Lucy
"Okay shhhh don't say anything you guys, let's not make this awkward for her. Bickslow cool off." Ever commands looking at her friend who is as close to literally fuming as humanly possible.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm back just called my team real quick." Lucy says sitting down with a nervous smile
"I'm sure" Bickslow says under his breath
"Sorry?" Lucy asks and Ever shoots Bickslow a clearly threatening look
"Nothing." Bickslow gets up and walks to where the restroom sign is.
"Be right back ladies." Freed gets up and follows
"...Oh?" Lucy looks at Ever clearly confused
"So, What was that if you don't mind me asking."
"Just an old spark, you know how it is." Lucy covers
"Oh! Girl I know exactly what you mean."
'you've been struck by a smooth criminal' Lucy sings in her head
"I can't even tell you how many guys have come crawling back, trying every little tricking the book for a second chance." Ever goes off on a tangent after this but Lucy isn't listening really.
Her mind descends itself into chaos and suddenly it feels harder to breathe. Her conscious buzzes through all the possible outcomes of todays missions and her anxiety spikes. If she tells the team she's in danger of being captured and sold, but if she doesn't she knows at least Bickslow is in some serious shit as well as herself. Not to mention telling them could prove as pointless cause they're greatly outnumbered. Then her thoughts turned to the rest of the guild that's in jeopardy as well, and she can't do anything to stop it from far away, which was the the point she presumes. She starts to feel hopeless, at first she had thought of ways to get out of this fiasco but now nothing really seems probable. Blake set everything up so that no matter what could go amiss here the guild would still be in danger and vice versa. Shed just have to go through with this, betray her family, all because she was too weak to hold out. She deserved to be sold, the same way she sold out those who meant the most to her.
In the bathroom
Bickslow storms into the bathroom absolutely furious. Wait was he mad? He couldn't even tell himself what he was feeling at the moment his mind was jut reeling. He liked her, loved her, a lot. It hurt and all he could really do was thank the gods that Ever had stumbled upon that and not himself otherwise he would be sick. Maybe he was mad at her for kissing the guy. Maybe he was mad at himself for thinking she cared about his unrequited feelings. Maybe he felt stupid for thinking they had gotten kind of close over the last couple days. You don't just sleep in a bed next to strange--well.. at least not in the, dare he say it; intimate way they had last night.
Freed walks in as he's mulling over his thoughts and silently leans on the counter next to Bickslow.
"Whats wrong?" he asks patiently and after a few moments of thoughtful silence Bickslow sighs and turns towards him
"Am I crazy? Was I the only one feeling a vibe between us?' Bickslow asks
"I don't know why this 'vibe' theory is but I did believe there was potential for something more than friendship between you two." Freed says honestly
"RIGHT???!" Bickslow bursts
"Relax."
"Sorry I just... I thought maybe I was just being a stupid hopeless guy in love, but I'm not the only one seeing it. Which somehow makes me feels worse. I like her so much its obvious to you and Ever and there seems to be chemistry yet she still just feels like a faraway dream. But what did expect really? Look at her, I'll never amount to anyone she'll want to be with long term. She's perfect."
"You're so quick assume her wants. You don't know what or whom she desires. So she was kissing another man, you don't really know what the background is behind that encounter. Not to mention that if it was truly a serious thing we probably would've seen him around before, so cool off its likely nothing. You still have just as good a chance as any decent man. If you actually expose your feelings to her it's likely she'll do the same and then you can sop making assumptions."
"Hmm...'decent man'?" Bickslow deadpanned
"You tried to take her soul the first time you met her. Take it or leave it my friend."
"That's fair," Bickslow chuckles "Thanks." As he claps Freed on the shoulder
"What are friends for?" Freed smiles and both men exit the restroom.
The guys arrived back at the table to a very uncomfortable and helpless Evergreen holding a very anxious, panicked and tearful Lucy. Bickslow instantly rushed to her side but she cowered further into Ever. She couldn't stand being so close to him right now because of the guilt she already felt, sadly Bickslow didn't know of her internal struggle and felt deeply rooted rejection and pain rush back to the surface. Instead of pondering on it he just moves on and looks to Evergreen.
"What happened?" he asks
"I don't know! We were just talking about... You know..." she whispers and winks "and she got really quiet for a minute, then she started hyperventilating, and then crying." she says as she rubs Lucy's back
After a few minutes of silence and the soothing feeling of Evergreen rubbing her back comfortingly Lucy calms down and smiles sheepishly at the trio
"Sorry" she apologizes
"It's no problem babe. We all have our days." Ever smiles at her "Shall we get going? Long day ahead of us."
"Let's" Freed says and the group of mages gets up and walks out of the Cafe. Only one knowing of the carnage soon to take place.
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IM BAAAACK! Thanks to the very uneventful Quarantine we find ourselves in Ill probably update again within the week or early next week so stay tuned and stay safe.