Lucy had a small smile on her face as she sat in the corner of the lounge, her feet tucked under her with a small pillow and her book on her lap. She'd spent most of the weekend reading, and by Sunday afternoon, she only had a few more chapters to go, and more than anything, she just really wanted to see how it ended.

The closer she got to the end, the more she saw Bickslow in a different light, so when she glanced up from the book again, she couldn't tell if she was smiling from the damn book or if it was because Bickslow was lying on the living room floor with Ingrid. It was their playtime, and Lucy knew Bickslow had come to love that time, and so did Lucy because it was actually pretty entertaining.

Bickslow placed the last of his soulless dolls on the small tower he'd been forming. "…And now Pippi." Then, when Ingrid was watching his hand as it slowly inched towards the bottom doll, with a wide grin he pushed it out and they all toppled over to the ground. "Oh no, Ingrid! They've fallen over! What are we going to do now?"

They'd taken to doing that multiple times during the day, because for whatever reason, Ingrid squealed when they toppled over and then once they did, Ingrid was free to take one and put the small wings that sat on each side in her mouth. That was the part that Lucy found entertaining.

So as Bickslow pushed one forward so it was just within Ingrid's reach from where she was sitting up, surrounded by pillows and swaying slightly, she stretched her little arm and pulled it towards her.

"I really don't think the babies would like you very much if they had their souls still," he said, inching forward on his stomach and leaning on his elbows as he started stacking the other four dolls off to the side and out of his way as he propped his head up in a hand.

"Okay, so… Hypothetical situation," Lucy said quietly as she closed the book over her hand, keeping her place as she watched Ingrid. "If we were back in our own world, and Ingrid existed in that world…"

Bickslow raised an eyebrow, his eyes flicking up to the lounge as the corner of his mouth lifted up into a small smirk. "So basically, if we actually had a kid in our own world?" he surmised.

"Hypothetically, yes," she said, blushing slightly from the insinuated possible relationship between them in their home world. Although, she did have to admit that the book she'd written (well, her counterpart had written) was making it hard not to even consider that possibility. Sort of. "What kind of magic do you think Ingrid would use?"

"Seith," he replied quickly as Lucy raised her own eyebrows in surprise.

"Why do you sound so sure?"

"Because I am sure," he said, gently prying the doll from her hands and pushing one of the others forward so she could try and reach for it. "Because Ingrid has my eyes, which means she'd be an awesome Seith mage like I am… Well, was, I guess." Then, when Ingrid starting smiling at the new doll to play with and squealing in her apparent joy, Bickslow's grin returned when his focus returned to Ingrid once again. "But the babies really wouldn't like you if you kept trying to eat them, so you'd have to get your own babies…"

And Lucy watched as his face dropped, and she didn't quite understand why until he corrected himself after a moment of silence.

"Souls," he said when an extremely overprotective part of him emerged. "You'd have to get your own souls and your own dolls and they would not be called babies under any circumstances." Because there was no way in hell he'd let his daughter call her own immortal troupe of dolls babies like he did. No way in hell.

Anything but babies he'd be okay with. Well, anything that had no relation to kids in general, actually.

With a sigh, he dropped his head to the ground and stretched his arms about before him, avoiding the toys and pillows scattered around the area. In a month, he'd grown so attached to Ingrid and Bickslow realised he probably cared about her too damn much, but he'd also given up on trying to deny the fact he cared too much, because hell, he was gonna love the kid just because she was his kid.

It just meant that there was a part of him that really wanted her to stay tiny forever and not grow up because Bickslow knew he was not going to be the kind of father to just sit back and not care. No, he was going to be to be way too overprotective, he already knew that. And the fact he was going to be that kind of father was most definitely influenced by the fact Ingrid would be growing up in a world that he himself would still be learning about.

But hell, he really had to stop thinking so far ahead and making himself begin to worry because Ingrid was really only six months old, so he had plenty of time to worry about the future.

Plenty of time.

When Lucy started laughing quietly, Bickslow turned his head to the side before sitting up to lean on his elbows again. "…And you've fallen over too," he sighed, pulling himself forward to lean over Ingrid slightly. "Don't worry, you'll eventually be able to sit all day if you really want to."

Both Bickslow and Lucy had to admit it had been fun watching Ingrid grow, even if it was just a month – so far. Each day, she was getting better at things. When they'd first found themselves in their new world, Ingrid had only been able to sit up if she had a whole bunch of pillows behind her or had someone holding her up. She'd occasionally be rolling over and would put absolutely everything she touched in her mouth, or attempt to. Sure, she still did that, but not as much. But in a month, she'd developed enough to be able to sit up for shorter periods before toppling over, she liked to roll around – a lot, at that – and if she really wanted to try and reach for something, she would pull herself forward just a tiny bit. And honestly, it made both Bickslow and Lucy incredibly happy to see her develop.

Lucy looked up from her book again at the sound of Ingrid's squealing and laughter and a wide grin slowly split her face. Bickslow liked to attack Ingrid with kisses, and honestly, Lucy didn't know who enjoyed it more – Bickslow or Ingrid.

It was always one cheek, and then Ingrid would turn her head, and then when Bickslow sat up, Ingrid would look up again, and then it would be the other cheek and she'd squeal all over again, and then it would get repeated over and over again. Each sound he made with each incredibly short kiss had Ingrid smiling, and Lucy couldn't help but smile at that. And neither could Bickslow, because by that point, he pretty much lived to make his daughter smile.

"What about your nose now?" Bickslow said, his own grin disappearing as he briefly kissed Ingrid's own tiny nose. Ingrid stared up at him for a moment, because it was something new. He'd changed it up, and it had her confused. But even her confusion was adorable, and it had Bickslow going back to her cheek to shower it with kisses that had her giggling again.

But suddenly, Lucy felt the tears sting her eyes and she didn't entirely know why. Sure, watching Bickslow play with Ingrid was strangely cute and made her feel like her heart was actually melting, and sure, she was beginning to see the man in a different way thanks to the goddamn book, but it was nothing to cry over.

Oh, right – she's an emotional mess at the drop of a hat now.

And honestly, it was beginning to irritate her. She could go from one extreme to the other in a matter of minutes, and that wasn't really a mood swing. Not in Lucy's opinion, anyway.

Bickslow looked up to see Lucy wipe her eyes as she looked down at her book as he left his face next to Ingrid's. "Are you crying?" he asked, the corner of his mouth lifting up into a smirk against Ingrid's cheek.

"N-No," she mumbled, frantically wiping her own cheeks. Damn it. "Maybe, b-but I c-can't help it." And really, she couldn't help it.

"Oh, Ingrid," he sighed, "What are we gonna do now? How are we going to get Cosplayer to stop crying?" Taking her squealing and slight babbling as an actual answer (though, it was most likely from the fact he never stopped with his kisses), Bickslow lifted his gaze again with another mischievous smirk as a somewhat (probably completely) terrible idea crossed his mind. "I think you might be onto something, Ingrid. I think she might be jealous."

Something that resembled a watery laugh escaped as Lucy finally marked her page with her bookmark and placed it down on the lounge. "Yeah, sure I am."

And briefly, Bickslow wondered if should even act on what he was now convinced was a terrible idea, because honestly, it would really be pushing her boundaries, but hell… Those boundaries had slowly been crumbling over the weekend.

Slowly.

So pushing himself up from the ground, he stepped around Ingrid and the pillows near her to kneel with one leg on the lounge next to Lucy with a grin. When she realised just what he was doing as he slowly leant over her, her hands went out to push on his chest, but he was a lot stronger than her and soon had her leaning sideways and pinned down to the lounge.

"Oh, you are so jealous," he murmured before leaning down and he kissed Lucy's cheek like he did with Ingrid when Lucy almost instinctively turned her head to side – something she came to regret since it worked with his plan.

"Bicks," she giggled, squirming under him as she tried to push back on his chest again, but failed, dismally. "Stop it." But there was a part of her that didn't actually mean it – for whatever reason, because honestly, she didn't know why that part of her existed – and Bickslow knew that, because soon, she was almost howling with laughter as she continued to squirm.

And the more she laughed, the more he pushed the limits only because he didn't just like making Ingrid smile; he liked making Lucy smile and if she was laughing then it was all the better. When her face was red enough – a mix of embarrassment and from laughing too much – he sat up, but before she could move out from under him he'd gone straight for her middle instead and began tickling her. And really, it was a bit of an experiment because he didn't actually know if she was ticklish or not, but when she started squirming and trying to roll away from the torture he was inflicting, his grin got wider and he began to chuckle along with her laughter that only grew louder.

"Other side now," he said as he dove down, instantly nosing his way into the gap between her face and the lounge cushion, and of course, her only reaction was to turn her head the other way to try and get away from it, but it only opened her up more.

Continuing to laugh almost right in his ear as she tried to swat his hands away from her sides, she managed to eventually choke out breathlessly, "Bicks, I'm not… Ingrid…" But there was still a part of her that didn't want him to stop, and Lucy was aware that no matter what she said, he wasn't going to stop.

And she was okay with that. Sort of.

"But it's playtime," he murmured, moving over to the other side of her face again.

"Yeah, for Ingrid."

He sat up slightly, giving her a reprieve and leaving her panting slightly below him, which, under normal circumstance would probably have his mind running wild as to why she was panting below him (let's face it, it'd be an answer he loved because it would hopefully involve him in some way), but no, it was Lucy. He'd stopped his mind from getting too wild.

"This is my playtime," he said innocently.

And then he leant back over her, tickling her again as he went back to attacking her cheeks with kisses, and honestly, Bickslow was trying his hardest to not kiss her properly, because god did he want to, and there'd been a part of him that had wanted to for weeks.

But he was going to behave.

Then, he stopped, and with his lips still flush against her cheek and his eyes pointed towards Ingrid on the ground, he murmured, "Ingrid watches you when you laugh." And she really did, because the nearly six-month old baby they called their daughter was lying just by the lounge, propping herself up slightly on her tummy and arms and looking up at Lucy. Bickslow had noticed what Ingrid did whenever Lucy laughed and he found it kind of interesting.

She would watch her, whether Lucy knew it or not, and she'd smile. She wouldn't laugh along with her like Bickslow did (because it was kinda contagious when Lucy laughed), but she'd smile and she'd squeal occasionally, but that wasn't that out of the ordinary for Ingrid because she was almost always squealing with joy or smiling at something or either Bickslow or Lucy. She was just a happy baby, it seemed.

But when Lucy laughed, she got just a little bit happier, according to Bickslow, and he really did love that. Lucy was just the kind of person who could make someone happy just by being happy herself.

So when Lucy's laughter fizzled, silently getting her breath back as she watched Ingrid return to her own devices, moving to pick up one of the totems again and examine it carefully, she realised she was smiling as she watched. Just watching Ingrid was enough to make her smile at that point, and really, she didn't care, because Ingrid being happy was a reason to smile.

When Bickslow turned his head slightly, his hair brushed against her face and she giggled again as she pushed his head away with her hand.

"Are you done now?" she asked, turning her head as much as she could.

"Depends," he mumbled as he moved his hands up, leaving her sides to rest on either side of her face instead. "Are you you going to cry again?"

"No."

"In that case," he said with another grin before leaning down again, and pressed a light kiss to her cheek that was different from the ones that had her howling with laughter. No, it was simple, but it had her blushing either way just because it was different. "I'm done."

So as Bickslow went back to floor, lying on his stomach just in front of Ingrid with a smirk in place as he stacked up his babies again to let Ingrid push them over, Lucy got up from the lounge and disappeared down the hall with her book, still blushing profusely. She cursed herself in her head when she thought about just how much she'd enjoyed their little… moment. In just a few short days, she'd gotten so much closer to Bickslow that it was actually beginning to scare her. Just his constant company had been enough to make the pain that was still there in her heart just a little bit more manageable with each day. He had been going out of his way to make her laugh or at least smile, and even though there were times throughout the weekend where she really didn't feel like laughing at all, she had.

And as simple as it was, just laughing over silly things – mostly Bickslow or something Ingrid did, or at their little moment they'd just shared – was actually helping. The more she laughed and smiled, the easier things got, and it really was all because of Bickslow.

The man was all that was getting her through the chaos that was her life in that moment and she couldn't even begin to put into words how thankful she was for it.

But none of that was what was scaring her; it was that she'd considered the possibility of Bickslow being something other than a friend, and that thought had really come out of nowhere, or so she thought. In the few short days she'd needed Bickslow, Lucy had slowly come to realise that she'd also wanted Bickslow, as weird as it was to admit that to herself. She'd wanted to get just that little bit closer to him and she didn't entirely know why.

Lucy knew they weren't her counterpart's feelings that lingered. Oh no, those were long gone, she'd already established that. But she still didn't know if they were truly her own. She didn't know if it was that goddamn book that was putting ideas in her head, because in her story, their relationship surprisingly worked so it had her wondering if they could work. Because hell, in that world, they were married and had a kid, so was there any reason for different versions of themselves to work?

But of course, once she'd thought about the possibility of herself and Bickslow working in that world as themselves in like, an actual relationship – no counterparts or story characters involved – she'd forced that same thought to the back of her mind. It was stupid, she reasoned. It was just her crazed, hormonal mind getting the better of her and making her confused. She had gotten too close too soon and it was just confusing her. It was making her see something that wasn't there and could never exist.

Because by Lucy's reasoning, that was perfectly logical. By Lucy's reasoning, it was completely plausible to be in denial about the possibility that she might actually have her own feelings for Bickslow, because hey, crazed hormonal mind.

Perfectly logical.

Bickslow sighed as he pushed open the door to Magnolia Q once again. Sunday also happened to mark exactly a month of being in that world and for whatever reason, Freed thought it would be a good idea to celebrate it over dinner. Sort of.

It was the dinner rush, so unlike the first time they'd all been there for their cooking class, the restaurant was almost completely full and all of the staff were running around with trays and menus, trying to get them all to their designated tables.

He forced a smile as he shoved his hands in his pockets before heading over to where everyone was gathered near the hostess podium, minus Levy and Gajeel who were still on their way, much to Levy's disappointment because she really would have preferred to stay in her apartment and do nothing.

"Hey," he greeted as he walked up to everyone.

"Good evening, Bickslow," Freed replied as Laxus nodded in his own greeting. "Will Lucy not be joining us tonight?" Freed asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Bickslow's smile faltered for just a moment. "Nope."

"Is she okay?" Mira asked quietly, her usual smile gone as she clung to Laxus' arm.

"She's alright," Bickslow nodded. "Just not feeling well so she wanted to stay home."

And it was kind of the truth. Lucy really hadn't been feeling brilliant all day – like every day for the last week basically – but she was also worried about everyone finding out about the pregnancy. She'd tried on just about every suitable dress she could find in the wardrobe, plus every skirt-and-blouse combo or something similar, but none of them really worked. They were either too tight and made her feel like she couldn't breathe (if she could get the zips up at all), or they were blatantly maternity clothes and she wasn't there. Yet.

As much as Bickslow tried to reassure her that she was barely showing anything at all – something they'd both been a little surprised, and in Lucy's case, irritated to find out that you begin to show a lot earlier with the second pregnancy – and that nobody was going to think it was anything other than her putting on weight, if they even noticed it at all because he barely had, and that was something he regretted saying as soon as the words had left his mouth. Sure, he'd tried to say it as kindly as possible, but he'd still had an article of clothing thrown at him and been shunned out of the room.

But no, Lucy had given up on trying to find something to wear and had therefore decided to spend the rest of her night in bed with Ingrid as she read and entertained the tiny human. Plus, she just really wasn't feeling that well, and there was the whole issue of not really having anyone to look after Ingrid (even though Claire was almost always available to do so, apparently).

So eventually, once Levy and Gajeel had arrived (with Levy complaining about her feet hurting and how she wasn't allowed to get a taxi for a walk that would take a normal person only a few minutes), they were able to go to their table, which was really three tables pushed together near the middle of the dining room. Bickslow was silent for the most part, just because he really didn't feel like talking all that much, especially after he'd had to explain more than once why Lucy wasn't there and it had begun to get on his nerves. Mira was staring at him from where she sat, Cana was staring at Mira and trying to figure out just what was so stare-worthy about Bickslow, and everyone else was really just going about their usual conversations as they waited for their entrées to arrive. Bickslow was already onto his… Well, he'd stopped counting how many glasses of whiskey he'd gone through, and it hadn't even been an hour. He liked to think he was drinking on behalf of Lucy, since she couldn't apparently (not that she did much anyway), and hey, that would have been another issue she'd had to deal with should she have decided to come to dinner with everyone.

Freed raised his glass of white wine as the waiters and waitresses finishing bringing out their appetisers, garnering everyone's attention with a clear of his throat. Bickslow looked up from his phone, Mira stopped arguing with Laxus about how Blake was doing at his sleepover, Natsu and Gray stopped arguing about something irrelevant, and Lisanna and Evergreen stopped giggling about Elfman, or so it seemed.

"So we've lasted a month here in Magnolia 2.0," Freed said, lowering his glass but keeping it just above the table. "And I think it's safe to say it has been an eventful month for all of us."

"And stressful." Gajeel piped in.

"Can say that again…" Came Levy's mumbled response.

Freed's mouth pulled up into a slight smile. "Yes, well… Some have obviously had a more eventful and stressful time here than others." He paused briefly as some chuckled quietly, because hell, some of them really had had a bit of a culture shock when it came to adjusting to their new lives, and those were just the ones that were there that night. There were still those that had been in the guild that they hadn't come across yet.

From what they could tell, they were all living in the same apartment building just because all of their teams had become interconnected. The Raijinshuu and Team Natsu just because of Bickslow and Lucy, then there was the Strauss family and the Raijinshuu because of Laxus and Mira, and then Elfman and Evergreen, then Team Natsu and the Strauss family because of Lisanna and Natsu. Then that really just left Cana, who was basically and adopted Strauss, then Juvia who was engaged to Gray in that world, and then Levy and Gajeel who just kind of got along with everyone. Well, Gajeel not so much, considering he was really only friends with Laxus and Bickslow.

But everyone was there because all of their lives were connected. They'd seen glimpses of others from the guild but never thought much about it, because they couldn't tell if they were the ones that they knew or if they were natives of the world they found themselves in. Besides, it was just easier to ignore it and try and go about their daily lives as best they could, so that meant not worrying about what kind of lives everyone else had in that world.

"But it has been a month, and none of us have come across anything that even hints at this being anything but permanent," Freed continued, his small smile wavering with the truth that everyone had already come to realise. "So with that, I'd like to propose a toast."

As he raised his glass up once again with everyone else doing so slowly, Bickslow sat up slightly in his own chair to pick up his own glass, having moved over to wine by that point like everyone else.

"This month has not been easy, and I think that it's safe to say that that has been the case for everyone here and everyone else who got involved with whatever caused us to end up here in the first place," Freed said, his voice asserting his confidence. If anything, that's what Bickslow liked about the man. He was always good with his words, and when it came to speeches (or anything close to them), it always came down to Freed. No one else in his team could pull it off like he could. "We've all been here long enough to realise that this is our home now. Whether our counterparts are in the magic-filled world we used to call home or not, this world, the one in which we sit right now, this is home." He paused just to clear his throat, then continued, "So, may we all continue to learn about this world we call home. May we find a balance between the life we used to know, and the life we have been thrown into. May we find true happiness once again in these new lives, and may we please, please, drop the 2.0 from Magnolia, finally." And with a few quiet chuckles, Freed raised his glass up just a little bit higher and said, "To home."

And as they all echoed the toast, lifting their glasses to their lips to take small sips, Bickslow slumped back in his chair. The mention of their counterparts had the anger he'd been able to control bubbling up in him once again. In that moment, all he wanted was to be curled up with Ingrid, and honestly, Lucy. From just the weekend, Bickslow had come to realise that it wasn't just him keeping Lucy together, but it was her keeping him from letting the guilt and anger get the better of him.

But without her there, he was slowly returning to that bitter version of himself that was so far from his usual carefree personality.

"Say our counterparts actually are in our old world," Cana said, swirling her glass around as the corner of her mouth lifted up into a smirk. "What do you think would have happened when they woke up in a world with magic?"

"I probably would have shocked the shit out of all of you." Laxus scoffed.

"Good," Bickslow said bitterly, slouching in his chair as he picked up his glass and gulped down a very large amount of the red liquid. The guilt and the anger could only rise within him and all he could think about was the fact that if his other self really was in their own world, then he'd still have the Lucy that he didn't deserve.

Then there was the realisation that Ingrid didn't exist in that world. Their daughter wasn't in that world and that was going to hurt beyond all belief. Their tiny family was going to be incomplete, and Bickslow didn't care. He didn't feel pity for his other self and he didn't care that he was going to be missing his daughter. Sure, Bickslow was going to feel incredibly sorry for the other Lucy because she didn't deserve to have Ingrid taken away from her.

But the other Bickslow did.

Just the thought of the other Bickslow getting his ass handed to him had a sadistic smirk replace his scowl. Bickslow usually wasn't one to enjoy being shocked by Laxus, but hey, his other self… Well, the guy definitely deserved that. Maybe the babies are getting in on it too. And maybe, just maybe, Lucy would figure out that her famous kick hurt – a lot – and his other self would be on the receiving end.

Bickslow's bitter comment mostly went unnoticed as the rest of the group laughed about what their counterparts would be doing; it was a unanimous decision that the guild building would have been destroyed after about an hour, if not the entire town. Natsu and Gray would probably be constantly trying to set the other on fire or encase them in a block of ice. Elfman would most likely be a stone statue a fair majority of the time and it would probably be from boasting about his manliness. Erza might have killed a few guild members or poked someone's eye out, or maybe given them a hug and suffocated them or knocked them out. It just went on and on, and really, things wouldn't have been that different from what they usually were; you know, just with different versions of themselves.

But Freed and the rest of his team, along with Mira and Gajeel, weren't so oblivious to Bickslow's comment. "Is something the matter, Bickslow?" Freed asked gently from where he sat beside the man.

"Sorry, sorry," Bickslow mumbled, sitting up slightly and picking up a fork. "I'm fine."

A huff of laughter from the other man beside him had Bickslow turning his head slightly. "You're a terrible liar, Bicks." Laxus said.

"Is this about the thing that happened on Friday?" Evergreen asked quietly.

"What? No, it's—"

Mira sat forward again to look at Bickslow, her brow furrowing slightly. "Wait, what else happened on Friday?"

"What else?" Laxus said, looking down at the eldest Strauss quizzically. "Am I the only one who has no idea what happened at all on Friday?"

But before Bickslow could stop the questions that had his heart beating just a tiny bit faster as he began to panic from all of them, Natsu had joined the conversation from the other end of the table. "Is this about that rumour I heard on Friday?" he asked.

Bickslow paled as everyone else suddenly joined in with their own questions, all about what rumour it was that Natsu was talking about, or what had actually happened on Friday. He knew that the news of his affair had spread around the office and to various floors fairly quickly, and there was nothing he could do about his co-workers and staff knowing about it so he didn't really care.

But with his friends, it was something else entirely.

"Oh, you know," Natsu said suddenly as everyone stopped bombarding himself and Bickslow with questions. "Apparently Bickslow slept with his secretary and then fired her. That's just what's going around the building, anyway."

Bickslow could hear his heart beating in his ears. Trust Natsu to not be able to keep his mouth shut, especially when it came to someone else's personal life. And sure, it's not like he could actually blame Natsu for anything either, because it's not like it was a secret – thanks to Veronica – but it still sucked that everyone else at the table now knew.

His friends knowing wasn't even the worst part; it was that him sleeping with his secretary (not that he actually did) was something that wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for him. Hell, Bickslow never cared if people found out who he slept with – it was how he came to have a certain reputation in the first place, because people knew – but the entire situation with the affair with the secretary and then throwing Lucy into the mix…it was something else entirely, and no one really knew it. Apart from Lucy.

No one knew that it hurt him apart from Lucy, because all weekend, they'd shut themselves off from everyone and ignored every message and phone call. They didn't really want to deal with anything else.

But after sitting for what felt like an eternity with everyone staring back at him, waiting for him to stick out his impressively long tongue and laugh it off or something like he usually did, he pushed his chair back on the floor and got up without a single world and dropped his fork back to the salad on the plate.

They all just watched as he weaved his way through the filled tables and chair and past the busy waiters and waitresses, towards the restrooms at the back of the room. Hell, he didn't know why he was going there, but anything was better than sitting there with everyone's eyes on him.

He really just needed to clear his head.

But his team had other plans, and after watching him disappear into the bathroom at the back of the room, they all shared a look, and before they all shot up from their chairs (Gajeel included), Evergreen muttered, "It wasn't actually him."

And really, it was more of a thought that just happened to be out loud than anything, but she'd said it loud enough for everyone at the table to hear and it had them all confused.

Bickslow stared down at the marble counter with the porcelain sinks, his hands gripping the counter tightly. The longer he stood there, the more he hated himself. It was like Friday morning all over again but there was nothing to distract him and cause him to forget about his own problems and dealings.

It was just him in a bathroom. No one else.

Until his team and Gajeel decided to burst through the door, at which point Bickslow groaned and rolled his eyes. If anything, he'd wanted to be alone then. He needed to be able to solve his own problems and get past everything by himself. He couldn't rely on Lucy like he knew he was, just to make him forget it all.

But with his friends there, staring at him in silence as Gajeel went and pushed every stall door open and checked around the corners to make sure it really was empty, Bickslow knew he wasn't going to be forgetting anything any time soon.

They were going to make him talk, like they always did. They were his friends, and they knew when something was wrong and they were the only people in the world he knew him well enough to do that.

"So is it true?" Evergreen asked, breaking the silence. "Did you sleep with her?"

Bickslow turned to lean back against the counter, folding his arms as he looked down at the tiled floor. "Yes."

"No, Bicks," she said as she crossed the room to stand before Bickslow, her manicured hand reaching up to grasp his chin between her fingers and force his head up slightly, making him look her directly in the eyes. Should they both been able to use magic, the only ever time they'd look each other in the eyes would be to see who could win – would it be Bickslow turning to stone or Evergreen turning into a human puppet? "Did you do it?" she asked quietly.

Should have expected that one.

As Bickslow stared down at Evergreen, he couldn't help but wonder why it even mattered whether it was him or his other self. It didn't make a difference because the point was that it was done at all and Lucy got hurt. There was nothing anyone could do about it.

But he really was a terrible liar, and that was only because he was usually so upfront when it came to what he was thinking and feeling. He gave blunt answers whether they were going to be insulting or not because most of the time, he just didn't really care all that much about other people's feelings. Some people were the exception to that rule, and Lucy was and always had been one of them and it was why he'd wanted to help her since their first day in that world. If he cared about someone enough, he'd try and watch his words, because Bickslow had always been aware that he really was an asshole most of the time, but the point was that he didn't care.

Most of the time.

But he just really couldn't lie, especially to his team. They knew him too well to know when he was, so really, he had no choice but to tell the truth.

"No," he said finally.

"So you didn't fuck her," Laxus cut in, folding his arms as he came to lean on the counter next to Bickslow. "So what? I don't see what that has to do with you being a depressing moron."

"It's… complicated."

Gajeel turned the lock on the bathroom door, barring anyone from interrupting their conversation, before turning and walking across the room slowly, and eyebrow raised slightly. "Does this have anything to do with—"

But Bickslow cut him off, catching the pierced man's gaze as Evergreen let his jaw go. "No," he said flatly. "This isn't about that."

"Hm? I get the feeling there's something else going on, and Gajeel knows more than everyone else…" Freed mused.

"That's because he does, and it's going to stay that way because right now, that's irrelevant." Bickslow said, his voice turning serious as he pushed away from the counter, moving to stand in the middle of the room with his arms folded. "Okay, look. The other Bickslow was sleeping with his secretary, I found out and then I fired her, and because she's an immature brat, she decided to cause a scene and shout it out to the entire floor. That's what happened on Friday and that's what this is about." Among other things…

Bickslow watched the small group as their minds processed the information, and he knew straight away that they were confused. They didn't understand why Bickslow had fired Veronica just from that, and they didn't see how it related to him trying to convince everyone that nothing was wrong.

He knew the information he'd given them wasn't enough, and even though Bickslow really didn't know how to explain everything, he was going to try, as much as he didn't want to. He told his team everything, whether it was of his own accord or they forced it out of him.

So, taking a deep breath to ready himself, he continued, "Look, you want to know why I've been avoiding you all since Friday? It's because I hate myself." When Evergreen went to question him, Bickslow put his hand up, signalling her to stay silent. If he was going to say it, he wasn't going to get interrupted. "There's a part of me that feels guilty as all hell because of it – but that's not really me. It's the other version of me that is still here in this body. It's him that feels guilty about cheating on Lucy, not me, but I'm the one who gets stuck with that guilt. And really, I'm surprisingly okay with that. I hate myself because in a way, I'm the one who ended up hurting Lucy, and you all know that I never wanted to do that again," he said, and his team could hear the desperation in his voice as he looked towards them.

It was no secret within his team that Bickslow had cared a little bit about the blonde in question since the events around Fantasia, though they never really understood why. He'd never explained why he cared, not that she knew about it, but they knew he didn't want to hurt her again. Ever. No one did.

"But she's the one who ended up getting hurt because of all of it. You know what sucks? I actually feel guilty about breaking her heart and I didn't even do a damn thing. Lucy is in pain because of something that my other self did and there's not a single thing either of us can do about it, and that's not fair," he said. "It just made me so goddamn angry that my other self could do something like that at all. You guys know me. You guys know I slept around a lot, but you know that I would not do something so low. I would never cheat on anyone, especially not on Lucy, and that's what pisses me off. The guy had a near fucking perfect family and he decides to go and fuck his secretary? What's with that?" he shouted, suddenly aware he'd begun to pace the area in front of everyone. That wasn't the only thing he'd become aware of, because he'd also become aware that he'd said too much; more than he'd anticipated and more than he probably should have. And if it wasn't for the shocked faces of his team and Gajeel, then it was from the fact that his heart was hammering away in his chest, just from the rage that was well on its way to consuming him again. He was letting himself get too worked up.

So taking another deep, calming breath, he stopped moving and looked at his team again. "You want to know why I've been avoiding all of your calls and messages this weekend? It's because I've been trying to sort out this entire fuck-up that my evil twin put me in. You want to know why I've been a 'depressed moron,' as you so kindly put it, Laxus? It's because it fucking hurts me to know that Lucy is having an incredibly hard time with everything right now, because of something my other self did." Then, running his hands through his hair before he shoved them into his pockets with a quiet sigh, he said quietly, "I really do get that it's confusing as all hell, I really do, but it is really complicated and incredibly hard to explain. So please, just know that right now, there is a lot going on in this crazy life of mine and that it wasn't even easy for me to admit any of what I just said, and that's really not even the half of it."

And there was a very long and awkward moment that followed Bickslow's grand confession, and Bickslow didn't blame anyone for staring at him like he was high and doing something incredibly weird – by his standards, anyway. Everyone was really just too stunned to talk as their minds continued to process everything. Again.

But then, right when Bickslow was on the verge of begging someone to say something because the silence was becoming unbearable, Gajeel spoke. "Well, your Friday was definitely eventful," he said with his signature grin.

"That's for sure." Bickslow said as the corner of his mouth pulled up into a slight smirk. And really, Friday had been eventful. It really was amazing just how much had happened in one day.

Slowly, the rest of his team came out of their dazes, mostly with masks of confusion, except for Freed. Freed looked like everything Bickslow had said had made perfect sense, and honestly, that made Bickslow confused. It barely even made sense to him.

And Bickslow stood there answering all of their questions once they'd been able to talk, helping them come to understand the insane predicament he was in, and boy, were there a lot of questions. It was mostly Evergreen asking the questions, with the occasional one from Laxus or Freed. Gajeel just seemed to be along for the ride by that point, apparently finding it all entertaining.

But when Bickslow thought it was done and he'd calmed himself down and returned to a state where he thought he'd be ready to go back out to the restaurant and enjoy dinner with his friends, Freed decided to ask one more question, and honestly, it was one that Bickslow really did not like.

"Is it possible that your own guilt and anger about the other Bickslow's infidelity are actually caused by your own feelings towards Lucy?"

Bickslow narrowed his eyes at the green-haired man. "Freed, don't do this. Don't go there." Because really, now was not the time to get into a debate about whether or not he actually did have feelings for Lucy – ones that were actually his own and not just lingering ones from his counterpart's body – and went beyond just caring about her because of everything he'd done and everyone they'd been through.

He knew that it was entirely possible, he really did, but he didn't want to think about it. Not in that moment, anyway. There was too much going on.

"Just a thought…" Freed muttered.

But of course, everyone else had already picked up on what Freed was quite obviously insinuating (or spelling out, perhaps), and they'd taken Bickslow's avoidance of the question as a sign that Bickslow himself had actually considered that same possibility, at least once, anyway. But it was also quite clear the man didn't want to talk about it, so they'd leave it. They probably wouldn't have been able to get the information out of him if they tried, because it was quite obviously something he was going to keep to himself and would make sure it stayed that way.

A knock on the bathroom door drew their attention suddenly, and Gajeel had been about to tell whoever it was to go the hell away, but then the voice from the other side of the door had everyone in the room frozen in place.

"Are you guys still in there?" Mira called, her face pressed near the edge of the door before she glanced back towards the dining table where everyone was currently freaking out. "You need to come out. It's Levy."