Thanks as always for the love, guys, and happy reading!


"I don't undershand," came a groan from under the table. "She's so shkinny. Where's she put it?" Levy giggled as she adjusted the hand towel draped over Gajeel's eyes. After dragging himself in to the kitchen for some food, he'd flopped his head onto her lap after sitting next to her.

Cana scoffed. "Rookie."

Loke chuckled, his chin resting against his folded arms. "Don't be so hard on him, Cana, or he might not try again later."

Lucy groaned as she wrung out the hand towel in her hand. "Don't give her any more ideas." She moved to sit next to Loke at her table and helped him prop his chin in one hand. He hummed softly as he held still, allowing her to clean the paint from his face.

Gray and Juvia had only recently left, following an offer from Gray to walk her home. He'd promised to return for Gajeel just as he was pulled swiftly out of Lucy's kitchen by the excited woman, leaving behind a few raised eyebrows. Wendy, Carla and Happy and left shortly after, claiming they'd return in the morning to pick up Lily, who was still passed out in Natsu's room. Despite the state of some of her friends, she decided the party was as much a success as it could be, since three of them had been drunk almost from the start. Cana had finally slowed down, even grabbing a bottle of water to sip on as she sat in one of Lucy's chairs, munching on the remaining snacks.

Lucy smiled to herself as she saw Levy quietly trying to coax Gajeel to sit up and drink some water himself. The woman was also flushed, but hers stemmed more from the proximity of the pierced man laying on her lap than from the few drinks she'd consumed. Lucy thought they were an odd pair, but she'd seen stranger. It had been fun to watch the two interact, especially when Levy surprised the much bigger man by holding her own when he'd poked fun at her, before he'd been completely knocked out by the booze.

"Thansh, Lushy," Loke said as she stood.

"I'm not quite done, give me just a second to rinse this."

"Mmhm," he said, moving his other hand to help hold up his head, eyes still closed.

"Can't you do that yourself?" Cana asked, missing the chip she was trying to pick up twice before grabbing it and sticking it in her mouth.

"Maybe," Loke answered, "but she does it better."

"Oh really," Levy said with a smirk.

"You," Lucy said, pointing a dripping hand at Levy, "stop. And you," she pointed at Cana. "You stop, too. It's partially your fault."

"Whatever." Cana finished her water before standing up. "I'm gonna go crash on your couch."

"Wait, I gotta pull it out." Lucy twisted the towel in her hand before setting it aside.

"Why? I don't need that much room."

"Gray is coming back for Gajeel, but Loke can't walk home like he is, so you'll have to split the pull out bed."

"Just don't get too grabby, Lion Boy," Cana called as she followed Lucy into the living room. She grabbed a bag she'd stashed next to the couch to change, finding the couch ready and waiting when she returned from the bathroom.

Lucy returned to the table with the cleaned rag as Cana laid down. "There's some aspirin and water on the table next to you," she called.

"Thanks mom!"

Levy and Lucy chuckled as the blond finished cleaning Loke up. "Alright you. Think you can handle changing?"

Loke grinned at her, his eyes opening slightly. "I don't think so. I think you're going to have to help me."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "If you can still flirt, you can still dress yourself. Come on, I'll help you get to the bathroom." She stood, carefully helping Loke to his feet, and put his arm around her shoulders before leading towards the hallway.

Natsu watched them go, frown in place. He'd watched the party from his seat in the corner of the kitchen, where he'd spent most of the night talking to the other demons. He refused any offer of alcohol, ignoring the jabs from Cana, who hadn't stopped teasing him until Lucy had talked to her. After watching them at the bar, and now this party, Natsu couldn't seem to come up with any good explanation for why humans would consume the awful substance. While it seemed that they enjoyed it for a while, the negative effects from the liquid lasted much longer. Why would they spend half a day in misery over just a couple hours of fun? It didn't make sense to him. Not to mention they all smelled awful.

Lucy returned a moment later, yawning as she entered the kitchen. When she moved to start cleaning up the trays on the table, Natsu spoke up. "Do you want help?"

"I can help her," Levy said, trying to stand. A muscled arm shot around her waist, causing her to fall back onto her butt.

"Pillow," Gajeel murmured, barely audible as he pressed his face into her bare thighs.

Lucy smirked at her friend, who only rolled her eyes in response. "Natsu can handle helping me. There's not much to clean up, most of the food was eaten. Gray should be back soon to save you."

Levy huffed, but Natsu noticed her hand had returned to run through Gajeel's hair before he'd picked up the first platter. He brought it over to Lucy, who was putting the leftovers into containers that she stacked up next to the fridge before putting the platters and bowls into the sink. Her eyes were a little droopy and she yawned every so often.

"If you're tired, I can take care of this." Natsu blinked, surprising himself with the offer. The hells am I doing? I hate doing chores!

Luckily, Lucy didn't look up right away, so she didn't see the turmoil he was in. "It's okay, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to wash these up. They can sit until then." She gave him a smile. "Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem." They worked in silence for a few more minutes, not missing the telltale noises of Loke throwing himself onto the pull out couch in the living room. Cana cussed a little at him for landing on her arm, but a minute later, the apartment was mostly silent again. As they finished cleaning up the last of the food, there was a knock at the door and Gray let himself in.

Lucy greeted him. "Hey Gray. Gajeel hasn't moved since he got in here. Are you sure you'll be okay getting him home on your own? He's welcome to stay here." Lucy ignored the look she could see Natsu giving her out of the corner of her eye.

Gray waved away her offer. "Yeah, I can get him. We don't know you guys well enough yet to just crash on your couch or floor or," he glanced at Levy, "lap."

"I'd offer you a car, but everyone walked here," Lucy said, sticking the last container in the fridge.

"No worries. Once the fresh air hits him, he'll be okay. Come on, Gajeel." Gray leaned down to grab his band mate's arms, pulling him up into a mostly standing position. "Time to go."

"But pillow," Gajeel groaned, hand moving over his face as the small towel fell to the floor.

"Levy is not a pillow," Gray said, pulling one of Gajeel's arms over his shoulders. "Great party by the way, Lucy. See you at the bar on Friday?"

"Probably," Lucy said, moving to open the front door as Gray said goodbye to the others. She took a deep breath as she stood in the cool night, deciding it was past time she took off her costume. Gray and Gajeel came out a moment later, the taller of the two blinking and shaking his head as he breathed in the cleansing air.

After he'd managed to clear his head somewhat, he looked down at Lucy. "You're friend is a demon."

Lucy's entire body stiffened as she stared up at him with wide eyes. Her breath froze in her throat, barely letting her speak. "What?"

"Your friend, Cana," he answered, causing Lucy's entire body to loosen again. "There's no way that woman is human. It's not possible to drink that much alcohol and still be that sober. I demand a rematch later." He hadn't been outside for more than a minute and his words had already cleared up significantly. Lucy wasn't sure there was a soul alive who could outdrink Cana, so she just smiled and shrugged.

"Maybe. Guess we'll just have to see."

After another goodbye and quick wave, Lucy went back inside to see Levy putting some things into her purse. "I think I'm going to head out, Lucy."

"I thought you were going to stay the night?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"I was, but you've already got Cana and Loke on your couch, and Natsu's friend in his room, not to mention Natsu himself. I don't want to burden you anymore."

"Aw, I was looking forward to cuddling with you tonight," Lucy teased with a fake pout.

"Guess we'll just have to wait for the next sleepover."

Lucy couldn't help poking her friend just one more time. "Is it because I'm not tall, tatted, pierced and broody?"

"Ha ha," Levy said without humor, but her cheeks heated, much to Lucy's amusement.

"Well, if you're going home, I'll walk with you. I could use some cool air to clear my head a bit before bed. Plus, I can't let you wander the streets dressed like that all on your own."

Levy stuck her tongue out at her friend. "I look amazing and you know it."

"Which is why I won't let you walk alone. Oh, where is Natsu?"

"He went to check on the guy crashed in his room."

Lucy nodded. She was pretty sure the other demons were probably in there as well. Not wanting to interrupt, she decided she'd just leave a note when she left so he wouldn't worry. "Just let me change really quick and then we can go. I gotta get out of this dress."

A couple minutes later, Lucy returned to the kitchen where Levy was just finishing putting on her boots. Levy stood, looked from Lucy's sweatpants to the tank top she wore with their high school logo to the leather jacket, complete with a pair of fuzzy slippers and low, messy bun. Levy smiled as she threw her bag over her shoulder. "Hot."

"You could still stay," Lucy taunted, opening the front of her jacket a little.

"I think I have to pass."

"Your loss," Lucy said with a smile as she left a quick note on the table for Natsu. "I didn't feel like trying that hard and I want to be warm. Let's go." Lucy tightened the string on her pants as she followed Levy towards the door, grabbing her phone and keys and sticking them in her pockets as they left.

They were halfway to Levy's place before they finally broke the silence.

"It's beautiful out tonight," Levy said looking up. Lucy had spent most of their trip staring up at the sky, struggling to find the constellations her mother had taught her through the lights of the city. While she loved her home, she sometimes thought she should move out to the country where it was darker at night so she could really enjoy the sky.

"It would be better if it wasn't so damn bright."

Levy chuckled. "I wasn't just talking about the sky, Lu. The weather is nice, for October that is, and there are no clouds, so you can at least see some of the stars."

"That's true, I suppose."

Levy glanced at her friend as she continued to look mostly up. "So…"

"So what?" Lucy asked when her friend didn't continue.

"What's going on with Natsu?"

Lucy finally looked away as she found Aquarius, confused as she studied Levy's expression. "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Lu, you know what I mean. Is there anything going on with you two yet?"

"What do you mean, yet? Nothing's going to go on with us ever. He's just a friend."

"He's awfully protective for a friend," Levy murmured loud enough for Lucy to hear.

"I'm a girl and his friend. Aren't a lot of guys kind of protective of their female friends around other dudes? Seems pretty natural to me."

"Come off it, Lu, I saw how he was with that older guy at the bar the night we met Gajeel."

Lucy swallowed, trying to ignore the lump in her throat. "I admit he sometimes goes a little overboard, but that doesn't mean anything." Stupid half-dragon nonsense…

"If you say so," Levy sang as she pulled out her keys. "Thanks for walking me home. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, I gotta stop by the library tomorrow after work, so I'll probably see you then.

"Wait, you're going to work tomorrow?"

"Just for a half day. I offered to make breakfast for whoever stays the night, so I won't be going in until around 10."

"That's when I start tomorrow, too. Mind if I swing by for breakfast?"

"Sure," Lucy said, slowly walking backwards down the sidewalk. "I'll have breakfast ready around nine, sound good?"

"Absolutely. If you're taking requests, I want waffles."

Lucy gave her a mock salute. "You got it, boss," she said with a final wave before turning to head back to her place. Once again, she spent most of her time staring up at the stars, searching for and only finding about half the constellations she wanted to. She sighed as she passed by a particularly dark alley. Taking the opportunity, she ducked into the space, noticing the stars were slightly easier to see without the lights distracting her.

Lucy looked where she was going a little more often, since there were boxes and other things scattered around the tight space, but she still made an effort to enjoy the view above. As she turned down the final alley, her home barely a block away, she bumped into something.

Or someone, she realized, as she heard a grunt. Catching herself before she fell, she looked up at the tall silhouette in front of her. For a brief moment, she thought Natsu had followed her, but then she realized the hair was wrong. It was pale, maybe blond or white, on the bottom, and black on top. His lips and eyes were covered in dark makeup, and as her eyes adjusted to the dark enough to see his face, his expression made goosebumps spread out across her skin.

She stepped back, hands held up in front of her. "Sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Interesting place you've decided to walk," the man commented, his voice causing more shivers to dance across her skin.

"It was just a short cut. I take it all the time and there's not usually anyone around, so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have."

He smirked, his arm snapping out to grab her wrist before she could move out of his reach. "Well, since we're already here, and it did kind of hurt when you ran into me, perhaps you could apologize to me properly?" As he leaned over her, for the second time that day, she felt her mind mixing dark memories into what was happening in front of her. Only this time it wasn't Natsu, who would give her the space she needed.

The shadows collided in front of her, morphing the person holding onto her arm into someone else. She saw the hair darken, the eyes fill with a murderous intent so strong she could almost feel the blood he wanted to draw flowing over her skin.

"Please," she whispered. "Please, just let me go home." It was the same thing she'd said back then, back when her father had messed up so badly.

The man in front of her cocked his head as his grin widened. Even though the voice was wrong, it still managed to scare her into submission. "Soon, gorgeous. First I need to make sure you'll watch where you're going next time. Like I said, I think you owe me a better apology."

She was suddenly yanked against his chest, her breath forced from her lungs as terror took its place, filling her entire body from her toes to the tip of her head. Her limbs were frozen against her body, unable to move as he used his body to corral her between him, a dumpster and a wall.

Move, she thought. Damn it, move your body. Don't just stand there! But the fear was too great. She knew she wasn't back there, but she just couldn't shake the feelings coursing through her body, numbing her to what was happening as hands moved roughly under her shirt to grab onto her skin.

She hung her head, tears beginning to stream down her face as the darkness crept through and over the one last thought.

Natsu


Cliffhangers. I love them.

Also, the fake lesbian moments with friends is a favorite of mine. After the flashback in the anime where Lucy and Levy meet, I've always thought they'd be the type of friends who would do that. And friends that you can be that comfortable with are THE BEST.

Until next time!