I originally posted this from my phone while I was out at appointments and waiting around, so the formatting was a little off. It should be good now.

Anyway, this is a follow up to Chapter 39 - A New Friend. This'll make a little more sense having read that first. But alas, I hope you enjoy! Reviews are always appreciated.

Accomplice

When Bickslow said he'd gotten a dog, Lucy had thought it was a joke. When Bickslow had said it was his neighbour's dog that he'd stolen in the middle of the night in the dead of winter, Lucy had thought there was no way he could be serious and had laughed at him on the Lacrima for ten minutes.

But then he'd shown up at her apartment half an hour later with a fluffy and giant white Labrador bundled in his arms and said, "This is Snow!"

It was a good thing it had been the middle of the night. If her landlady had been awake, she might've been evicted right on the spot just for letting Bickslow and a dog in the hallway. Her landlady wasn't that fond of people or creatures, and Bickslow was neither according to her. Still, with how cold it had been inside, Lucy hadn't just been able to leave her boyfriend and new pet out on the street or in the annoyingly cold hallway, so she quickly ushered them inside and locked the door after them.

Bickslow was already grabbing the blanket off Lucy's bed to wrap around his shoulders and the happy dog that was shaking out its fur. Lucy scowled. I'm going to need to wash that now. Thanks a lot.

She could see the dog wagging its tail under the blanket. Bickslow seemed to be keeping it in place on his lap, mostly because the second he let her go, she was going to run straight for Lucy and probably lick her to death - Bickslow didn't blame her for that.

"Why on earthland do you have a dog now?" Lucy asked in a hushed tone. "And where did you get a dog in the middle of the night?"

"She's my neighbour's dog. Well, she's my dog now. I stole her."

"Ex-Excuse me? You stole a dog?"

Bickslow nodded. "Yes. I thought I told you that."

"You did, but I didn't think you were bloody serious about it..." Lucy shook her head and crouched down in front of them, mouth in a tight line as she stared at Snow. She leans back just enough so the canine didn't lick her face. God, dog breath is disgusting. Sighing, Lucy asked, "So why did you steal your neighbour's dog?"

"Because she was miserable, Cosplayer!" He rubbed Snow's ears as he looked down at her with a frown. "You've heard her before."

And that she had. She'd stopped staying over at Bickslow's at night just because she couldn't stand listening to the neighbour's dog whining. It had been heartbreaking.

Still, her first thought hadn't been to steal the damn animal, as cute as that animal turned out to be.

"You can't just steal a dog, Bicks," she whispered. "You have to give her back. Her owner—"

"Her owner can rot in hell and I doubt he'll even know she's gone."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"It is true. I'm not giving her back. She's mine." He flung the blanket over them back onto the ground behind him before scooping Snow up into his arms again. It seems he had made a mistake going to Lucy. "I came here to ask if I could lie low here for the night, but clearly that was a stupid decision," he huffed, climbing over Lucy's bed to head for the window. "I'll go find someone else who loves me and ask them for help."

Lucy rolled her eyes as he watched him try and open the window without setting Snow down. As if Bickslow was going to find someone else to put up with his weirdness. She didn't want a dog in her apartment, nor did she want to be an accomplice in his little crime, but she didn't really want Bickslow getting in trouble either.

She had half the mind to tell him to use the door like a normal person for a change (sometimes Lucy was sure she was only person who used her door), but instead she went and locked the window before he could actually get it open and said, "Just make sure she doesn't make too much noise."

Three days later, Bickslow was back home packing up his things to get ready to move out when there was an impatient knock on his door. Everyone else was at the guild, so with a groan, Bickslow taped up the next box and left his room. "I'm comin', I'm comin'," he shouted down the stairs when the person banged on the door again. He opened the door to find his asshat neighbour wearing his usual stained clothes and smelling like he'd just spent the entire weekend in a bar. "What can I do for you?" Bickslow said a polite smile.

"Yo, uh, have you seen my dog running about, man?" he asked, scratching his arm and his chest and he tried to look over Bickslow's shoulder. "She's a white lab. Some asshole stole her last night."

Last night? Mate, it was last week. "No, I can't say I have. Sorry." Bickslow shrugged. "Who the fuck would steal a dog though? What a lowlife."

"Right? Well, if you do see her, give them both a kick for me and let me know, yeah?"

Bickslow nodded. "Of course. Hope you get her back soon, dude."

Satisfied his neighbour wasn't the culprit (Bickslow seemed like a top bloke to him), the backyard junkyard owner left and went to go visit another one of the residents of the street.