Natsu: gray keeps complaining that i keep moving his shit to make room for happy's

Natsu: like does he think he's more important than happy?

Natsu: nO

Lucy giggles as she checks her phone. It sits in one hand while a handful of folded clothes sits in the other. She's packing for their trip right before they're about to go, and while she'd intended to be far more organised, Laxus dropped the bomb that they were leaving four hours earlier than expected, and so she has to rush a little more. Not enough to stop her from checking and sending messages, though. She gently places her clothes inside her suitcase before responding.

Lucy: As much as I love Happy, you can't just move Gray's stuff out of the car.

Natsu: fUCKIN TRY ME

Natsu: going with all of us in one car is gonna get on my nerves all 5 seats are gonna be taken

Lucy: Five? Aren't there only four of you?

Natsu: happy and carla get a whole seat to themselves this is what happens when wendy keeps spoiling them

Lucy: Well, if you guys get desperate, I could swing by and you can shove some stuff in my car. It's only me and Plue, so I have plenty of room.

Natsu: GODDESS LUCY OUR LIFESAVER

Natsu: wait cana says it won't be necessary idk what she's up to but

Natsu: SHE'S PULLING ALL OF GRAY'S CLOTHES OUT OF HIS SUITCASE

Natsu: "you won't need them anyway gray"

Natsu: I MEAN SHE'S NOT WRONG

With a roll of her eyes, despite the instigator not being around to see it, Lucy zips up her last suitcase (because she has several, naturally) and heads out the door, Plue at her heels. She locks up before heading to her car and sending one last text before she opens her boot and slides the remaining suitcase inside.

Lucy: Do you need me to come or not?

Natsu: nah

Natsu: we'll make u late anyway

Lucy: I can't say I'm surprised. I'll see you there!

And with that, she sets her phone up so its only function for the next few hours is so she can play music. As tempting as it is to check both her private messages and the group chat while she's driving, she would rather not end up in an accident, and so all she does is set up her playlist and ensure that Plue is buckled in before taking off towards their holiday (or not-holiday, as Laxus insists) destination.

It takes a couple of hours for Lucy to reach the resort, but she decides it's worth the wait the moment she pulls into the car park. The resort is located by the coast, and it shows, what with the gorgeous blue waves that shimmer in the sunlight. She can see a few beach-goers and surfers, but they look like ants from the top of her hill. The resort spans as far as the eye can see and is much taller than she expected, and she has to take a moment to just stand there and take it all in. Even when she was living with her father, surrounded by lavish luxury, it was rare for her to actually go on vacation, so this may as well be completely new to her.

"Lucy! Hey!"

Plue sits close to Lucy's feet as Erza and the Strauss siblings head their way. She vaguely remembers them mentioning that they would be travelling together to save time, money, and space, but she wonders how on earth they could be saving space when Erza looks like she's pulling her whole house behind her. She needs an entire cart for her belongings.

"Uh, hey," Lucy greets, briefly wondering if she didn't pack enough, but the sight of everyone else's sparse luggage puts her at ease. "Anyone else here yet?"

"Laxus and the rest of his group are here," Mira says as Lisanna bends down to pat Plue. "They went inside to confirm our reservations with reception. We're waiting out here so we don't crowd the front desk. I got a small peek at the lobby, though. It's gorgeous."

"And huge," Lisanna adds, standing up straight again after Plue has licked her hand clean.

Lucy reaches into her bag and takes out her camera. Most of her equipment is in one of her suitcases, but she kept her camera on her immediate person so she would be able to vlog their trip at a moment's notice. The others quickly see what she's doing and jump beside her so they're in frame.

"Hey, guys!" Lucy says once the camera's tiny light turns red. "We're here at our resort destination where we'll be staying for the next month. Laxus and the others are inside confirming our reservations, and other than them, it's just us here at the moment. The view is beautiful, by the way, I'm glad I brought my bathing suit, because I'd be screwed otherwise."

She turns the camera so it's facing the coast, watching the camera's LCD screen to ensure she's capturing it all from the best angle. She's about to say more when two cars roll into the parking lot, one that she recognises and one that she doesn't. Without thinking, she focused the camera on them, waiting for the occupants to get out. It's only when Levy slides out of her car in all her grinning glory that Lucy speaks again.

"It looks like the others have decided to join us!"

Gajeel grumbles as she climbs out of his own car, or at least Lucy assumes it's his car. She doubts the rusty Chevy belongs to Juvia. "How can you be so happy after driving for so long?"

Juvia quickly apologises to Jet and Droy as she almost collides with them on her way out before responding to her best friend. "Don't be so down, Gajeel, it was only a few hours."

Before Gajeel can complain any more, Levy makes a delighted sound and Lucy moves over to her to see what all the fuss is about. She's quick to find out. A black cat around the same size as Happy is curled up in Juvia's arms, eyeing them all warily, and Lucy swears there's a scar right beside ones of his eyes. Despite the scepticism in his look, he's just as adorable as the rest of the pets, and Plue nudges Lucy with his nose, a clear sign he wants to get to know this new friend.

"Your cat is so adorable!" Levy says as Jet reaches out to pet the cat, who seems less wary once warm hands touch his fur.

"Oh, he's not mine," Juvia says, awkwardly twisting her body so she can gesture to Gajeel without disturbing Jet's patting fest. "He's Gajeel's!"

The look of surprise on everyone's faces says it all. Lucy swears the cat's eyes seem to narrow, as if they can sense their collective opinion about his owner. Gajeel, on the other hand, looks almost embarrassed, as though it was supposed to be some sort of well-guarded secret.

"His name is Panther Lily, but we just call him Lily," Juvia continues, oblivious to her friend's pain. Either that, or she doesn't care. "He was a rescue cat, you know. It was storming and Gajeel found him, it was the cutest -"

"Okay, Juvia, that's enough of that, I'll be taking my cat" Gajeel scoops Lily out of Juvia's arms with minimal effort. "Thank you. Let's get our damn bags out of the back, yeah?"

His eyes flicker towards Lucy's camera and she looks down, only just remembering it's there. She takes the hint and is about to change the subject for the sake of both Gajeel and her vlog when a voice bellows across the parking lot.

"Mirajane! Lisanna!"

As soon as Lucy sees Laxus storming towards them, the Raijinshu at his heels, she turns the camera off, but not without spinning it towards her so she can give the audience a 'welp' look. While she definitely wants to film whatever Laxus has in store for all of them, she has a feeling he wouldn't want that, and Mira and Lisanna's sly expressions have her more concerned than his anger.

"Is there a problem, Laxus?" Mira asks. Her tone is scarily innocent.

"Of course there's a fucking problem! You and that model receptionist friend of yours -"

"- Jenny -"

"- are conspiring against us! Leave your weird matchmaking habits at home!"

As soon as Laxus uses the word 'matchmaking', Lucy knows exactly what Mira and Lisanna have been up to. Or at least she can take a guess. She should have known that the two of them would put their heads together and think of some way to push things along, though she also thinks the two of them have a different definition of what a 'thing' is than everyone else does. This will most likely end in an awkward turn of events.

"Was there a problem with the rooms, Laxus?" Lisanna asks, smiling sweetly. "Don't you like your roommate?"

Freed's cough is stifled by his hand, but Lucy hears it. He doesn't look as angry about the situation as Laxus (and Evergreen, now that she sees her properly), just embarrassed, and Bickslow claps a hand on his shoulder. He seems to be the only one of the Raijinshu enjoying himself.

"That's not the problem," Laxus quickly insists as several cars turn into the parking lot, and once again, Lucy recognises a few. "The problem is that you did all this without asking any of us first!"

"We're all friends here, aren't we? We've had sleepovers at the office before, this won't be any different," Mira says, and before Laxus can retort, she heads over to where the newest arrivals have parked. "Guys, hey, welcome to the resort!"

Lucy watches as Alzack and Romeo help Bisca out of the car. She swears that Bisca looks five times bigger each time she sees her, even though she only spoke to her yesterday. Laki and Kinana are the first to lock up their cars and join them, but Lucy barely notices. She's more focused on the absolute mess that is Natsu and the others. Their car is overflowing with bags, and Wendy is running beneath the car to drag Happy and Carla out from underneath. Cana is the only one actually doing something about the bag problem as Natsu and Gray have already started arguing. Lucy wouldn't be surprised if they were fighting during the whole trip up.

The only people they're missing now are the rest of the boys. Laxus doesn't seem to care, however, and continues on as normal. "I guess we better start handing out these keys," he says through gritted teeth.

"I'll do it!" Lisanna says, plucking the bundle of card keys from Laxus and sorting through them. "Okay, so these belong to me and Mira." She hands Mira hers and keeps one for herself. "All of us are on the same floor, so there won't be any problems if we need to see each other right away."

The real problem starts once she starts handing out the rest. "These are Laxus and Freed's." Freed takes his card with a hesitant hand while Laxus snatches his own. "And these are Elfman and Evergreen's." Elfman coughs and splutters while Evergreen steps on Bickslow's foot after he bursts out laughing.

"That's what you get for trying to trick your sisters by saying you two are engaged," Mira says to Elfman, nudging him in the side with a smirk.

"Here are Cana's, Erza's, and Wendy's." Lisanna holds the three cards like she's a magician about to perform a trick. "You guys have a bigger room, obviously. And then Kinana and Laki, and Jet and Droy." Hearing her roommate's names but not her own has Levy frowning, and Lucy has a sneaking suspicion she knows what the end arrangement might be. "Bickslow, you take the cards for you and the boys who aren't here yet." Bickslow salutes and swipes the cards. "Alzack and Bisca have a joined room with Romeo. It's technically two rooms, but they're joined by one door, so Romeo will be there to help you if you need it."

Bisca smiles as she takes her key card. "Thanks, Lisanna," she says, and Lucy wonders when the baby is actually due. Not during the month they'll be away, surely.

Lisanna finally stops in front of Lucy, and Lucy isn't even surprised when she says, "Here are Lucy's and Natsu's." It still makes her slightly nauseous, though, and she convinces herself it's from embarrassment rather than anything else.

Natsu doesn't seem bothered. On the contrary, he appears relieved. "Thank god, I thought I was gonna be stuck with Gray."

Gray punches him in the arm as Lisanna moves on to Levy. "Here are Levy and Gajeel's."

Lucy only just manages to swallow her laughter at Jet and Droy's outbursts and Levy and Gajeel's shocked faces. She'd expected Levy to be roomed with Juvia, and she's glad she's not the only one paired with someone she doesn't actually have a crush on. Still, she can't help but be worried based on the expressions of the two involved.

"It was a process of elimination, really. We want Gajeel to get along with us, and what better way to do that by getting to know one of the people he hacked?" Mira says, the smile on her face a stark contrast to her victims' mood. "We could have put Gajeel with Jet or Droy, but..." She gives the two boys a sympathetic look. "We didn't want either of you to end up dead."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Droy frets, but he's ignored.

Lisanna turns to the last people left: Gray and Juvia. "You guys are left, it just sorta ended up that way. Here you go."

Juvia quickly takes the key, rocking on the balls of her feet, and Lucy swears she's humming some sort of uplifting tune. Gray is less enthusiastic, but he takes the card with begrudging expression. "As long as I'm not with Natsu."

Natsu raises his card like a glass of wine. "Here, here!"

"Wait." Everyone looks at Evergreen. "How many beds are there in each room, exactly?"

Mira shrugs, grinning. "We told the reception to surprise us."

'Mira is lucky that everyone loves her,' Lucy thinks as Laxus blows his top again.

When Lucy and Natsu walk into their suite with Plue and Happy at their heels, she doesn't think she's ever been so relieved to see two beds in one room. They're one of the lucky ones. She can still hear Evergreen and Elfman arguing down the hall over who's going to sleep on the couch and who gets the bed. So far, Evergreen is winning, but Elfman's 'I'm too big to fit on the couch, you're nice and slender!' is a compelling argument.

"These beds are huge!" Natsu says, dumping his travel bag on the bed furthest from the door and diving into the neat arrangement of pillows, completely messing them up. Happy quickly joins them.

Lucy takes more care with her belongings. "They're bigger than expected, definitely, but I'm not complaining. And the view is great." She gestures to the glass doors that lead onto the deck. They're on the eighth floor, and they have a perfect view of the ocean from where they are. It's amazing.

Natsu laughs joyously, rushing over to the window like an excited kid, throwing the door open and letting the breeze rush through his hair. Lucy can't help the fond smile that creeps up on her face. She slowly moves over to join him and he pushes the door open just that little bit further so she can settle in beside him.

"You're right," he says, lifting Happy into his arms when the blue cat mews at his feet. "This is a great view. Gramps knows some amazing people, huh?"

Lucy hums in agreement, too entranced by the sea to give him a proper response. She doesn't know how long she stares at the glistening waves, at the families playing in the surf, at the couples walking along the shore with their hands intertwined. The scene reminds her of when she was younger and her father would actually take time off to spend with her and her mother. The beach was one of her favourite places to go when they were on holiday, and she remembers that her mother always loved the sunset.

Before she can dwell on the past any further, she forces herself to look away. It breaks whatever moment she and Natsu were swept up in, as he follows her inside and shuts the door as soon as she's retreated into their suite, but he doesn't ask her why. She appreciates that.

"So, we have some time until lunch," she says, unzipping her suitcase. "I'm ready to run some lines, how about you?"

During the week leading up to their little trip, Lucy, Levy, and Freed managed to finalise the script, and she has to say that she's quite proud of it. There are a few things she wasn't able to convince the others to get rid of, though. Or rather, just one thing, and that's the big kiss at the end of the film between the princess and the dragon. She knows that it makes the film complete, the pièce de résistance, but she couldn't help but attempt to refute it when it came up. It's not like kissing Natsu is the worst thing in the world. It's that she's scared.

She just doesn't know what of.

They don't have to practice that right now, though, and she makes a point of opening to the very first page, not even glancing at the last one. "Do you want to practice the scenes the two of us are in, or do you want to help each other with our other lines? I'm down for either."

"The second one sounds good," Natsu says, grabbing his own script. He doesn't handle it with as much care as Lucy and she cringes at just how many creases there are already. "You're onscreen first, right? Let's do this."

And so they begin. Even when their characters are not in the scene, they're still reading the opposite lines with enthusiasm and vigour, and Natsu jokes mid-way in that the two of them could carry the entire film on their shoulders. Lucy isn't surprised by how good Natsu is. Of course his natural charm and charisma would carry over to his acting skills. She just hopes that she's nearly half as good as he is.

They're about halfway through when there's a knock on their door. Lucy struggles to roll over to the other side of the bed to reach it, and she grumbles when Natsu laughs at her, but she gets there eventually. Laki stands on the other side with changed clothes and contacts instead of her usual glasses.

"We're about to go down for lunch, and Laxus wants to talk about what we'll be doing during this trip. He's in a bad mood, too," she says, and Lucy doesn't have to be a mind-reader to know why Laxus is in such a foul mood.

Natsu laughs behind her, already slipping his shoes back on. "Who wants to bet he and Freed got one bed?"

"Let's not bring that up to him, okay?" Lucy says, sliding her handbag over her shoulder. "I'd rather survive this trip."

They decide to leave Happy and Plue in their room, since they have plenty of space to run around, and they won't be bored if they have each other. Their room is towards the end of the hall, right between Laki and Kinana's and Juvia and Gray's, the latter pair exiting their room at the same time. Juvia still seems as happy as she was before, but there's a tinge of embarrassment in her expression that Lucy knows wasn't there before. The now shirtless Gray just looks grumpy.

"So," Natsu says, sliding up beside Gray and throwing an arm around his shoulder. "One bed or two?"

It's Juvia who answers, her face hidden in her hands. "One."

"I'm sleeping on the couch, though," Gray clarifies, shrugging Natsu's arm off and walking towards the elevator.

Natsu starts laughing, not put off by Gray's attitude in the slightest, and continues to bother him about it. Lucy ducks out of the conversation once she sees Levy and Gajeel leave their room, Lily perfectly content in Levy's arms. She meets them halfway to the elevator and nudges Levy, who already looks exhausted. Lucy hopes it's just lethargy from travelling.

"How are you doing?" she asks. She tries to be subtle, but she's very aware that Gajeel is close enough to them to hear, and his ears may as well be as good as Natsu's.

"We have two beds, so that's a good sign," Levy says. "And this little guy seems to like me." She lifts Lily up and he snuggles against her forearm. "What about you?"

"Two beds," Lucy says. "We got lucky."

The elevator isn't big enough to fit everyone, so the entire group has to take two trips down to the dining area. Even then, it's a tight fit, and Lucy finds herself squished between Levy and the elevator wall. It doesn't take long for them to reach the ground floor, but Lucy makes a big show of gasping for air as they file out into the lobby.

The dining area is more of a covered deck than a restaurant, and they grab the biggest table there is, which just so happens to have the best view of the beach. Laxus ensures that he's sitting at the head of the table as they all take their seats, and Lucy is relieved to see that he doesn't look too agitated. Looks could be deceiving, though.

"Alright, before all of you order, I spoke to the owner of this place. He said we can film anywhere we want as long as we're not harassing any of the other patrons or breaking any laws," Laxus says, his tone extremely business-like. "Since Lisanna's still finishing off some of the costumes, we'll just handle the shots of the scenery during the day tomorrow, plot some things out, and at night we can start filming properly. There's gonna be a lot of filming in the middle of the night, so be prepared for your sleep schedules to get a little fucked up. And if we need you on set, we need you on set."

They all nod in confirmation. Lucy doesn't see any problem with the rules. As long as they're doing their job, there shouldn't be a problem, right?

"And remember, this is a business trip, not a time to party," Laxus finishes off before opening his menu.

"Got it," Cana says, sounding just as serious until she rises in her seat and flags down the waiter. "Five bottles of your finest wine, please!"

On Cana's right, Juvia says, "That's so nice of you to treat us, Cana!"

As the waiter nods and rushes behind the bar, Cana blinks at Juvia. "I'm doing what now?"

Laxus bangs his head against the table so hard that Lucy's cutlery falls onto the floor.

hello everyone! i'm back from my holiday, so here's an update! also i realised just how bad i am at replying to reviews and such, so i'll just say that it's easier to contact me on my tumblr, ycmiis! (that moment when you have to check you have your own tumblr URL right)