Sorry guys, but my posting schedule will more than likely never be consistent. All of my stories on here will always be a way for me to relax and unwind. I write in my spare time, which I don't get with any sort of consistency. Be that as it may, my goal is to get something out at least every other week. I apologize if that's not enough for some people, but it's what I've got.

Thanks for all the love guys, I always appreciate it! Happy reading!


Lucy carefully loosened her grip on her glass as she let out a deep breath through her nose. Their usual group of five was up to seven people on this particular Friday, so they weren't at their usual booth, making Lucy feel even more exposed in her current situation. Her work friends, Juvia, Levy, and Cana took up the opposite side of the table, while Loke had taken the seat to Lucy's left. Natsu was sitting to her right, at the corner of the table, despite her friends desire for him to be more accessible to the whole group. Natsu had informed her when they'd entered that the smell of alcohol hurt his more sensitive nose. The smell permeated the whole bar, but he said he'd be okay for a few hours, as long as it wasn't directly under his nose. In an effort to help, she'd gotten him a seat on the end of the table. Laxus, who usually avoided their get togethers since he wasn't a fan of loud places, was making a rare appearance as he sat at the head of the table, mostly silent as always.

She listened to the laughter around her as she took another sip with a shaky hand. She was waiting- just waiting. Waiting for a discrepancy in Natsu's stories. Waiting for him to hesitate over the wrong question. Waiting for her plans to fall apart and everyone to figure out that Natsu wasn't what she claimed him to be. She hadn't been able to relax all day, even though Natsu had spent the whole time between work and their arrival at the bar trying to reassure her that he could handle meeting her friends.

She took a few more swallows as she glanced over at the demon. Natsu was laughing as he listened to Loke regale the group with a tale about a particularly difficult customer he'd had earlier in the week. One of his hands was resting lightly on the table next to her empty hand. Occasionally, he would rest his fingers against her wrist as he answered her friends' questions. The first time had surprised her, and when she'd tried to pull away the second time, he had firmly held her wrist still. Since then, she hadn't tried to pull away so she wouldn't cause her friends to be suspicious. After it had happened a few times, she'd finally noticed the relaxed feeling that accompanied the touch and realized he was reading her so he could answer her friends' questions.

On one hand, it didn't bother her- anymore- that he was touching her. While she wasn't used to being so casually physical with people, he was doing it for a good reason and wasn't being weird about it, so she didn't try to stop it. On the other hand, allowing him to touch her was causing her friends to give her strange looks. She inwardly sighed as she realized there were many problems his presence would cause that she hadn't considered.

Suddenly, her hand was pulled from her beer and she was being tugged to her feet. "Come on, let's get the next round!" Cana drug Lucy behind her as she made her way to the bar. After requesting a round of beers, she pulled Lucy down and they sat on two empty seats. "Alright Lucy, spill."

The bottom of Lucy's stomach dropped out and she felt the beer she'd already drunk making her nauseous. "What do you mean?" Her mouth dry, Lucy swallowed, desperately trying to create some moisture for her tongue.

"Oh come on, Lucy, it's obvious. You're not fooling anyone," Cana scolded her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lucy felt her whole body go cold. She should have known she couldn't fool her friends. Damn Cana for being so perceptive.

Cana smiled at her. "Liar."

"Alright, fine, I give up. You're right," Lucy admitted, cursing herself for caving so easily as she desperately tried to find a new lie, one that didn't leave her explaining why she'd made a deal with a demon.

"I knew it!" Cana smiled knowingly at her. "It's so obvious you and Natsu aren't just friends."

Lucy froze, her entire body numb as Cana's words replayed in her mind. Then replayed again. "What?"

"Oh come on, Lucy, you already admitted you lied. None of our friends have missed it, not even Laxus, and he usually ignores that kind of thing."

"What… Why do you think that?" Lucy asked. The bartender set their beers in front of the pair and Lucy pulled one closer to her to take a drink.

"Lady, it's obvious," Cana said as she emptied one of the glasses in only a few swallows. "You've spent most of the night making eyes at him, he keeps touching your arm whenever he talks about you, and you are obviously worried about us liking him." She split the drinks in half, helping to hand them to Lucy so they could carry them back. "He's gorgeous by the way, I heartily approve. I know you guys are still getting reacquainted, but once you are, I will be very disappointed if you don't jump on that and ride until you can't walk."

"Cana!" Lucy nearly dropped the drinks she held as her whole body heated up at her friend's words. "It's not like that at all!"

"Oh yeah? Then what is it like?" Cana paused, only a few tables away from their group.

"We're just friends," Lucy said, her voice firm, but she was desperately trying to dispel the heat in her cheeks and neck. She didn't need the questions that would inevitably be asked if she showed up at the table with a blush. "It's been a long time, and I'm still getting to know him again. There's no relationship or anything like that going on, okay?"

"You obviously have the hots for him, though, and he's totally into you, too."

"What? No." Lucy shook her head. Cana obviously misunderstood the touches, but Lucy had no way of correcting her without spilling the truth. "Have you ever seen that man eat? I don't think I could afford to feed him for the rest of my life. Friendship is the only thing in our future, I promise you."

Cana only smiled and continued toward the table, where they handed out the drinks. Natsu smiled at her as she sat, putting her own drink on her left, away from him. Cana took her seat across from again as she took a long draw from her glass. "Did we miss anything?" she asked.

Juvia glared at Levy out of the corner of her eye as she answered. "Levy was breaking the rules of bar night."

"Only a little!" Levy argued. "Natsu was asking about our work! I was just telling him about the building and some of the stuff we write about. I didn't mention any of our current projects, so technically I didn't break the rule."

Lucy looked at Natsu, surprised. "You haven't asked me about my work, outside of just asking what I do."

He shrugged in response. "We've just been busy talking about other things, so I haven't had the chance." He raised his glass to his lips and she noticed it was almost empty.

She immediately felt guilty. "Cana, you forgot Natsu's drink."

Her friend merely shrugged, her own glass to her lips. "Wouldn't have if he'd asked for a real drink."

Lucy glared at her before giving Natsu an apologetic look. "I'll go grab you another one. Be right back."

Loke leaned over as Lucy stood again. "So I've been meaning to ask you about your visit earlier this week." She grimaced to herself as she headed for the bar, hoping she didn't miss anything important.

As she waited for the bartender to grab Natsu's soda for her, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, forcing herself to smile as saw who stood behind her. "Hello, Totomaru."

"Hello, Lucy. How have you been?" He gave her a smug smile, his hair pulled back in its usual ponytail, showing off his odd hair and facial markings.

Lucy internally groaned as she silently started her creep count. "I'm doing pretty good. It's been a… busy week," she said, glancing past him at her table. She looked away quickly when she caught Natsu's eye. "How about you? How was your week?"

"Really good," he said, leaning against the bar next to her. "There were some changes made to the company last week and they offered four promotions today." His smile widened. "I was given one, of course."

Lucy forced herself not to roll her eyes as she smiled at him. "Congratulations! That's really exciting." She gratefully took the drink the bartender gave her, waving away his apology about the wait.

As she grabbed a straw to stick in the drink, Totomaru stopped her retreat with a hand on her elbow. "Hey, since I'm celebrating tonight, how about I get you a drink?"

She wasn't dumb. If he bought her a drink, she would feel obligated to spend time with him and she was super not interested. "I appreciate the offer, but it's Friday, and you know it's the night I come here with my friends." She shook out off his arm and made her way towards the table, Totomaru on her heels, much to her disappointment.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" he asked as they got closer to the table. She saw Loke and Juvia glance over and see the man by her side, but they said nothing.

"I'm actually busy," she said as they reached the table and set down Natsu's drink. "I have a friend in town that I'll be spending time with. Maybe another time."

"All day?" he asked, oblivious to the way the table was subtly glaring at him. "Certainly you could spare me an hour or two."

Natsu spoke up before she could respond. "I'm sorry, but she'll be busy most of the weekend." He ignored Lucy as she whipped around to give him a surprised look. "She has plans with me. I'm afraid I'll be monopolizing a lot of her free time in the foreseeable future."

The man blinked, surprised. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

The demon stuck out his hand. "Name's Natsu. I'm an old friend of Lucy's. A good friend." He saw Cana grin at Lucy as she moved to sit back in her chair.

"Totomaru," the man said, shaking his hand quickly. "I apologize for interrupting. I've been trying to find an open evening with Lucy for a while now, but it seems she's a busy woman."

"Or she just doesn't want to go out with you," Natsu said. When Lucy choked on her beer, making Cana laugh, he looked at the others at the table, all of them either looking away or giving him incredulous stares.

Totomaru cleared his throat before responding. "I believe you said you were an old friend of hers, correct? What would make you think that she isn't interested?"

Natsu looked at Lucy, who was glaring at him as she cleared her throat with a napkin over her mouth. "Am I wrong?" he asked her. While the others were silent as they watched, Cana was desperately trying not to laugh, her hands held over her mouth.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at Totomaru, her expression turning to one of embarrassment. "I… well, I… I hadn't really…" She fidgeted with her napkin as she looked down. "I'm sorry."

Cocky look completely gone from his face, Totomaru turned away and muttered, "Excuse me," under his breath as he left them.

Levy grabbed a couple napkins to help Lucy clean up the beer she'd spilled. Cana seemed to be struggling to breath as she finally allowed her laughter out. Natsu met Loke's grin with a frown over Lucy's head. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Not wrong, just honest," he answered.

"I can't believe you said that to him," Lucy hissed, her voice hoarse.

Natsu frowned. "Was I wrong? I could go bring him back and apologize if I was." He'd been certain he could sense her displeasure at the man's presence, but he'd never had a summoning tag before. Maybe he'd misread the emotion?

"You weren't wrong," she said, grabbing his arm when he moved to stand. "You were just rude about how you told him."

"Just honest," Loke repeated from her other side, taking a drink.

"I agree," Juvia added. "You're too nice, Lucy. You always make it sound like there's a possibility that you may say yes later."

Lucy's cheeks reddened as her friends ganged up on her. "I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

Cana slammed her empty glass onto the tabletop. "And that's why they come back every week. If you said no outright, they'd leave you alone."

Lucy glared at Natsu, confusing him, before standing again. "I'll be back in a minute." His confusion increased as she held his eye for a second before storming off.

Her friends were all smiling at him when he turned back from watching her walk away. "I am really confused."

Levy sighed. "Don't mind her. She may be upset, but you did a nice thing for her. She hates getting hit on all the time when we come out on Fridays. We've tried helping her out, but she always says she can handle it."

"Which she doesn't do a very good job of," Loke added. "Don't worry, she'll be okay."

There was a commotion at the end of the bar as a man hopped up onto the stage and moved to stand at the mic. "Good evening everyone!"

Laxus put his hands on the tabletop to push himself to his feet. "That's my cue."

"You'd better not be working," Juvia warned as he pushed in his chair.

Laxus shrugged as he pulled out his phone. "The Maker Magic band has a new guitarist they're debuting tonight. I gotta scope them out to see if I should put them in the next issue."

The name of the band made Juvia perk up. "They're here tonight?"

Cana laughed. "There she goes."

"I'll join you by the stage," Juvia said, standing. Levy sighed as the pair left.

Natsu turned to Loke. "I'm confused again."

He grinned. "Juvia's got it bad for the lead singer of the band. He's new to town, so we tried to make friends with him a few weeks ago. We've only hung out the one time, but she's convinced he's the love of her life."

"Huh." Humans are weird, he thought as he looked around for Lucy again. He could feel her irritation through their link, but he couldn't see her.

"So," Levy said, drawing his attention back to the table. "What kind of intentions do you have with our friend?"

He blinked at her. "I don't think I understand. What kind of intentions do friends generally have with one another?"

"Is that all it is? Friends?" Cana asked, reaching for Lucy's beer. Levy smacked her hand, making the brunette pout.

Natsu looked to Loke again, his confusion clear. He was hoping for help again, but Loke was watching him with a serious expression as well. "I don't understand. You are a very confusing group of people."

"We wanna know if you're interested in Lucy," Levy said.

"Of course I'm interested in her," he said. "She's an interesting person, why wouldn't I be?"

"We mean romantically," Cana said.

Natsu blinked at them, their meaning finally sinking in. "Oh. No," he answered. "No, I don't have those kinds of intentions with Lucy." Over Cana's shoulder, he finally saw her coming back from the bar, another beer in her hand. "I won't be here very long," he continued. "We have an agreement, and once I've finished my travelling, I probably won't be coming back here for a very long time."

They all continued to study him as Lucy finally returned, replacing Cana's empty glass with the full one in her hand. No one spoke until she sat and lifted her glass again. "You guys are awfully quiet. Did I miss something?"

Cana grinned as she answered, watching Lucy carefully as she took a drink. "We were just asking Natsu how long he thought it was going to take him to fall in love with you."

Lucy choked on her beer again as Cana nearly fell out of her chair laughing.


I really enjoyed writing the interaction with Totomaru. I have this idea that along with learning about how the world has changed, Natsu also needs to learn how to interact with people. He's a straightforward kind of person, that doesn't feel the need to sugarcoat things, so he comes off kind of harsh sometimes. That has the potential to cause some embarrassing moments for Lucy, so I plan to have more interactions like the one with Totomaru.