#03: Moving inconveniences


September 16th, 1999.


Gray left the couple of boxes containing Lucy's belongings in the foyer. She didn't actually have that many things, and most of the boxes only had clothes in them. He was pretty sure the only reason Natsu said she would need help moving in was just so they could hang out and play dress up.

"Gray, you dropped this!" the blonde said with annoyance as she dusted off a thin lavender scarf and haphazardly threw it over his head.

"Sorry," he pulled it back around his neck, "maybe if someone hadn't gotten on my way because they were playing with a box." He gave a pointed look to Natsu, who only stuck out their tongue in response.

"We have a couple of rooms on the third floor and one on the fourth, you can pick whichever you want." Erza came in, carrying three boxes on one hand.

Lucy was indecisive, although she ended up choosing the fourth floor when they told her it was the biggest room. The group brought her boxes up the stairs without problem, but when they managed to open the unused door, they were received by a cloud of dust and spiderwebs.

"When was the last time this was cleaned?" Lucy asked through coughs.

"Well," Gray debated if stepping foot inside was a good idea, "we moved here three decades ago and the council said no one came before us so…"

"It's nothing that can't be cleaned this afternoon." Erza turned on the one light bulb in the middle of the room. "See? At least the switch-"

She stopped mid-sentence as a group of cockroaches and mice scattered around at the presence of light. A few went centimeters away from them, and while Erza remained stoically petrified, the other three yelled in horror.

Natsu and Gray looked for the nearest highest point to climb onto, which just so happened to be Lucy. The blonde didn't even register when she got two armfuls of dorky vampires until Erza recovered the ability to speak.

"Well, guess we're gonna have to wait for Happy to hunt them down."

"Oh, really Erza!? THAT'S YOUR SOLUTION!?" Natsu yelled in Lucy's ear and the blonde let them fall butt-first on the floor. Gray also realized the position he was in, so he began to apologize.

"Don't worry, you're not that heavy." Lucy moves her arm as if she were lifting weights and Gray can feel his face heating up. He is well aware that an increment in strength is a secondary effect of vampirism, but honestly he's only a man. When a pretty girl is showing off like that, how can he not swoon?

He still climbs off Lucy before anyone —namely Natsu— starts teasing him. He clears his throat, "Maybe we should call an exterminator. If this room is infested, who knows how the rest of the floor looks."

"Alright. I'll contact the council to ask for funds, you two return Lucy's things back to her other apartment, see also if the other girl lets us stay the night."

Gray doesn't think that will be an option; they barely crossed paths with her old roommate but judging by how eager she'd been to kick Lucy out, he doubted she'd let them over. They bring everything back and, as suspected, Aqua is mad about the situation, but to his surprise she doesn't put up a big fight and —after Lucy has begged and Happy used his well-rehearsed kitty eyes— lets them stay.

The blue haired woman eyes him and Natsu cautiously and mentions something about Lucy's dad having called. He notices the blonde immediately becoming tense, then she takes her old roommate to the kitchen to have a talk.

Natsu has a concerned frown, they are already being so protective of their new flock member. "Give her privacy," he pulls the pink head along to Lucy's room and stops himself from listening too.

"Do you think she has trouble with her dad?" Natsu pets the cat resting on their shoulders.

"We should wait until she's comfortable telling us."

When Lucy enters the room, she's putting on a friendly smile, but there is a newfound uneasiness in it. Still, they don't inquire about the subject, settling instead for watching the second season of Buffy that she had on VHS.

"These characters are so stupid," he complained during the fourth episode. "Why would a random Peruvian teenager know the ancient Inca language?"

"Of course it's nonsense Gray, this show was written by gringos," Lucy said in monotone passing a popcorn bowl to Natsu.

"But it's as if someone assumed I know some kind of Celtic just because I'm French!"

"Again, written by ignorant white men," Natsu remarked through a mouthful of popcorn, rolling their eyes.

"Wait, you're French?"

"Non, je suis queer," he jokes and ignores Lucy's follow-up questions. Erza arrives soon after, carrying bags full of candy and beverages. "Uhm Erza, dear, why did you buy all that?"

The redhead kneels on the floor, where they had laid some blankets for the night, and starts taking out the treats, "The exterminator wasn't as expensive, so I got snacks for our slumber party!" Gray sighed. Of course Erza would want to make the best of a not-so-good situation.

They kept watching the show for a while until they got tired of his commentary. Gray insists that for a vampire show, they have too many other demons, and they lean too hard on the "lost boys" aesthetic for his taste. After a small debate on their portrayal in the media, Erza drinks what remains of her iced tea and decides to use the empty bottle to play truth or dare.

"Aren't we too old to play high school games?" Lucy takes a piece of a red vine and feeds it to Happy. She looks up when no one responds to find an offended Natsu with a hand in their chest and Erza sheepishly playing with the bottle cap.

"I wouldn't know, we didn't have high school...or bottles...or games..."she said in that tone that Gray knows she uses whenever she wants to get away with something. It works, because Lucy is suddenly scrambling to the floor so they can form a circle.

She wasn't completely lying though; none of them had ever played and Gray's only knowledge of this game came from a movie where the characters used it as an excuse to make out. He just hopes Natsu won't get carried away with the dares. Lucy spins the bottle, and it lands on Erza, who's barely containing her excitement.

"I choose truth!" Lucy frowns in deep thought.

"What's up with your hatred for the Romans?" Natsu and Gray groan tired as Erza starts making a soft growling sound.

"Well, first of all, they are a bunch of two-faced snakes. May they suffer eternally in Tartarus," she went on a tirade, complaining about how Sparta had helped them achieve victory yet those traitorous Romans turned them into their lapdogs, and if she hadn't been indisposed, she would have ended their whole army. She kept going for a good five minutes until Natsu stuffed her mouth with marshmallows.

"And that's why we don't talk about the subject," they spin the bottle, and it lands on Gray. "Oh yeah," they rub their hands like a cartoon villain, "I dare you to eat all the peppers in the fridge!"

"I didn't even pick yet!"

"Were you going to pick truth, like a coward?" That's all Natsu needed to say.

He started to stand up, but Lucy didn't want to wake Aqua up, so she insisted on going to the kitchen to retrieve the peppers. Luckily for Gray, there were only three little serrano peppers —although he had a very short endurance for that kind of food, so he still suffered—.

Gray spins the bottle and it points to Lucy, who hesitates before choosing dare. "I'll go easy on you. I dare you to give us your best angry vampire face."

Lucy sighs and closes her eyes to concentrate; she brings her hands up in a claw-like gesture and scrounges up her face adorably, lips in a snarl that shows her fangs. The faint hiss that leaves her throat is too much for the trio, and they break into laughter.

"S-Screw you all!" Lucy pouts and spins the bottle, ignoring their chorus of "awws". It lands on Gray who, again, doesn't get to choose before the blonde dares him to say something dirty in French.

Gray nudges Natsu after they say that everything in French is dirty and takes his time to come up with something. He finally points to Erza and says:

"Natsu, va te faire foutre chez les grecs." Erza cracks up and falls backwards holding her middle, Natsu starts insulting him in Japanese —as he expected— and Lucy just sits there confused.

The rest of the night goes on like that until Aqua yells at them for interrupting her sleep, and they realize it's already well past midnight. They don't actually have a need for sleep, but Erza suggests they lay in a 'cuddle puddle' and rest anyway.

Once Gray has taken off his binder, Lucy has lent them pajamas and Natsu has hoarded all the blankets; they settle down on Lucy's floor.