SailorTardis498, Velvet Thorn, twizt312, NinjaKitten93. So much of the fluffies, right? Like cotton candy for the soul. Thanks guys.
Unoyoko94, RosesMcKellar. Yep. BixLu is official now. They did some serious break dancing around it, but they finally got there.
Hiro Mashima has created the awesomeness that is Fairy Tail. I'm just playing with it.
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Bickslow was yanked from his soul soothing Cosplayer cuddle nap by what could only be described as a cacophony in the hall. His very first thought was that Erza had caught them and he was about to die. Accept he didn't hear Erza or and metallic noises. He met Lucy's wide eyed stare before they both bolted for the door, only to find what seemed like half the guild there.
Freed was lying on the floor in some sort of semi-comatose state. Evergreen's face was a bright pink, Her fan going a mile a minute, and she was emitting senseless strangled squawking noises. Elfman, of all people, was sitting at her feet and... crying. Lisanna had an extremely blank expression on her face, one hand patting her brother's shoulder, the other covering Natsu's eyes. An even more pale than usual Gray was standing next to him twitching. There was a three dimensional shivering puddle lying at his feet that Bickslow assumed must be Juvia. Kinana appeared to be hiding behind a very amused looking Cobra.
All of them were looking at or toward Laxus's open bedroom door. Freed soundproofed three rooms in this house. His room and the study, because Freed liked peace while he read. And Laxus's room out of consideration for his sensitive dragon slayer hearing. Whoever, or whatever, was in there hadn't been alerted to the crowd in the hall like Bickslow and Lucy had.
"Tits, you know that thing you were so worried about last night? Looks like they solved that problem."
"Huh?" Lucy leaned around Cobra and her jaw dropped. "Oh... my... Mavis! I did not see that coming." An evil grin grew on her face. "Tell me somebody has a camera." What the? He couldn't help it. He was tall enough to look over all the other gawkers, so he did.
"Well damn. Cosplayer's right. Somebody get a picture!" Laxus wasn't the only one in his bed, which wasn't that unusual in itself. Laxus got around. It was a well known fact. It was a well established rumor that he and Mira had something going on. That had not yet been a fact because they had not yet been caught. Well apparently Meredy caught them, and joined them. There were three very naked, very relaxed, very happy looking mages sleeping in that bed, all tangled up together under one blanket.
The idea of blackmail pictures jolted Evergreen out of her glitching. She ran into her room for the camera she carried with her on missions. Her grin was just as evil as Cobra's and Lucy's as she shot pictures through the open door.
"I can do better!" Lisanna joined the evil grin club. "Take over, Cat soul!" Evergreen surrendered the camera and Lisanna crept into the room on silent cat paws. Natsu panicked when he finally saw who was in the room.
"Lisanna!" He hissed, waving his arms. "Don't! They'll kill you! And if they don't kill you they will kill the rest of us!" Lisanna couldn't hear him through the runes. Even if she could Bickslow doubted it would have changed anything. She looked pretty damn happy have been given the chance to catch such very incriminating pictures of her big sister all wrapped up in Thunder God and strands of sweet candy colored hair.
"Evergreen, when you get these developed Virgo would be thrilled to hold copies for you. You know, just in case."
"I love the way you think, Lucy." Lisanna crept out of the room and they all held their breath as she eased the door shut. As soon as it was latched there was a mad scramble to get to the living room and away from the room full of naked deadly mages. Evergreen pushing a still crying Elfman in front of her, and Lucy and Kinana, angels that they were, stopping long enough to pull Freed up from the ground and drag him behind them.
"I feel so alive!" Lisanna squealed as she handed the camera to Evergreen, who quickly put it back in her room.
"Good," Natsu grumbled, checking her over as if for injuries even though he had been watching every move she made. "Because you won't be anymore when they figure out you did that."
Cobra cackled and curled himself around Kinana on the loveseat, like the snake he was. The rest of the group started slowly following their example and sat, or perched themselves around the room. Natsu pulled Lisanna into his lap on the other end of the loveseat. Juvia perched on the armrest next to them and Gray slouched against the wall. Freed, of course, placed his shell-shocked self in his favorite chair. Evergreen and Elfman' s milewide shoulders took up most of the couch. Bickslow leaned a hip against what was usually his couch and Lucy joined him there. No one dared to touch the overstuffed chair with Laxus's coat draped over it.
"Gee, Natsu," Bickslow couldn't resist teasing him. "When did you become an old granny?"
"Hey! Watch it, Bickslow! How about we tell Mira you were the one holding that camera?" Bickslow caught a mental glimpse of Mira's demon rage.
"I'm good. Why are you here anyway?" Natsu perked up.
"Oh yeah! Lisanna and I caught a huge mess of fish and she thought it would be fun to have a flying fish party when Luce got back!" Lisanna flicked his ear.
"A fish fry, Natsu." She grinned. "We caught a run. The fish were practically jumping into our laps. We've got enough to feed everybody here, including all three slayers as long as we make a boat load of potato salad. Umm..." She blushed and glanced at Lucy. "We kinda put a bunch of them in your fridge, Lucy." Lucy facepalmed.
"Of course you did. Because my apartment is community property. See, Evergreen? This is why I slept here last night instead of going home." Bickslow couldn't resist nudging her shoulder.
"I thought you stayed for soul soothing cuddles, Cosplayer?" She grinned.
"That too."
"Soul soothing cuddles?" Gray looked slightly disturbed.
"Cuddling is manly!" Evergreen's fan smacked the back of Elfman's head.
"Love Rival has found a man who is not Juvia's beloved Gray to cuddle with!"
"I'm really not your Love Rival, Juvia, and I never cuddled with or ever wanted to cuddle with Gray. That sounds... cold. Now that I'm dating Bickslow can you seriously just call me Lucy?"
"L-Lucy. You are? But this morning you said you weren't dating."
"We weren't. Now we are."
"Don't kid yourselves." Evergreen smirked. "You were already dating when I got here this morning. You just hadn't admitted it yet."
"Really, Ever?" Bickslow stuck his tongue out and grinned. "You wanna lecture us about our relationship status?" Lucy giggled next to him.
"Ha!" Cobra was grinning as he spoke up. "You guys missed it! Evergreen took a page from Bickslow's book after you left. Plopped herself right in the Big Man's lap and laid one on him right in front of Mira and the whole guild. You guys are going to kill the Demon if you keep it up."
"Atta girl, Evergreed!" Lucy shoved her shoulder.
"Bout time." Bickslow cackled.
"About this Fish Party." Freed spoke up. "I refuse to be the one to attempt waking Laxus again." He blushed.
"You poor thing." Bickslow could tell Lucy was trying not to laugh at the man. "Is that how that started?"
"Yes." Freed's blush deepened.
"Lisanna, where are we frying this Fish? We won't fit in my apartment. I refuse to let you even try that."
"We can do it at our place! Mira has a big kitchen and a back yard big enough for all of her imaginary godchildren, complete with patio furniture. We just need to move the fish."
"The babies can help us do that right, Bixy?" He nodded.
"Elfman and I will whip up a bucket of pasta salad and leave a note for Laxus and Meredy to find 'if they drop by the house looking for us'. That way nobody has to wake them or admit where we found them."
"Juvia and Gray can get cold drinks!"
"Natsu can help me set up and make dessert!"
"I'll make salads! And we can drop by the guild for some of the special slayer stuff Mira keeps there."
"Freed, I've heard about your cooking from Wendy. Don't you dare bring food to this party. Bixy, wake the babies! Let's fly!" And just like that, the girls had a backyard fish fry planed and the guys would apparently participate and like it, or else.
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Lucy was just awake enough to notice when Bickslow picked her up, and think that she should wake up the rest of the way and walk. You know, like an adult. He smelled so good though, and she felt so safe in his arms, that she decided she didn't care about being an adult. She was staying right there. She would just let her boyfriend carry her wherever he wanted.
She was tired. Even with their nap it had been a long day. She had never really thought before about how exhausting emotions were. They had breakfast with friends who were now better friends, then met her new spirits, and found out Evergreen was probably going to have a baby. The guild had been like a rollercoaster of crazy during lunch. Then she and Bickslow had dug into their pasts, which neither liked to even think about if they could help it. They were officially dating now and had shared the most world rocking kiss of her life today. Then the unmentionable incident and the party that had lasted well into the night.
This evening had been one of the best of her life. There had been good food, and laughter, and lots of stories were told on each other. Somehow the guys had managed to be civilized and avoid fighting. The horseshoe game Freed had set up inside a no-magic barrier probably helped with that. Lucy had called out Plue to play with the babies for a while, which had drawn Loke's attention enough to join them. Once dark had started falling Virgo had popped in with an enormous metal bowl already holding a small fire, a stack of firewood, and the makings for Smores.
The best part of the whole evening though had been Bickslow. The whole girlfriend thing apparently let the Soul Doctor come out to play. He had been sweet and attentive to the point that Mira had passed out twice. It wasn't anything big. Just little things like volunteering to refill her cup and bringing her desert without her even having to ask. That caused one of Mira's episodes. The other happened when Bickslow noticed her getting cold as the sun set, and asked Virgo for a blanket, tucking one around her when the spirit had produced a whole stack.
Lucy was a physically affectionate person. All her friends knew that because, well, she touched them a lot. She respected those friends with darker pasts that gave them personal space issues, such as Gajeel and Cobra, and tried to dial it back for them, but they all got used to it over time. Bickslow had her touchy feely side in heaven all evening. Anytime he was close enough, which was most of the time, he was touching her. Her hair received light kisses numbering in the double digits, and she was glad she had only pulled the top back because he ran his fingers through it enough he would have ruined any other style. His fingers had traced paths up and down her arms and along her spine too, delicately, as if he was afraid she would turn into smoke. She hadn't needed her own chair either, because if he was sitting then she was in his lap.
Did they get teased? You bet your ass they did, but it was in good fun, and even Gray seemed ok with them at this point. Laxus said at one point that their "chair cuddling and butterfly kisses" were going to make him sick. Gray had agreed. Elfman, bless his oversized heart, declared that chair cuddling and butterfly kisses were manly. Strangely enough Cobra backed him up on that one. Her darling boyfriend of less than a day had flashed his guildmark at them and told them they were just jealous he could wrap himself up with a sexy blond and they couldn't. She had pinched him.
She felt Bickslow step off his babies and focused on the present once more. She heard a door unlock, but he still had both arms around her. She couldn't hear a second set of footsteps either. She heard the door open and then close behind them. When she heard the lock click while they were walking away she couldn't help herself anymore.
"How d'ja do th' t w'tho't hands?" He chuckled.
"Have you been dancing on the edge of sleep this whole time, Cosplayer?" She hummed. As far as she was concerned he was lucky to get that much out of her. "I put Papa in the lock and Pepe in the doorknob."
"Y' c'n do th't?"
"Yeah. I can move them to about anything as long as it isn't to big or to heavy. They can fight me if they don't like it though."
"Snots. 'at's r'ly coo' tho." He laughed, and set her down on what must have been his bed. It felt like his bed, and smelled like his bed too, once she burrowed down into it.
"You going to wake up or just sleep in your cloths?" She tried to growl at him, but it came out sounding something like a sick whale. He laughed again. "Ok babe. Just don't blame me whan you wake up in the morning."
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It didn't take Bickslow long to change out of jeans and into comfortable sleep cloths. He stared down at his beautiful blond girlfriend as she slept in his bed. He probably should have taken her to her apartment, but he couldn't bring himself to voluntarily part with her. She eased the pain inside until he could forget it completely and she made everything good in his life , just, better.
He had to laugh at himself a little though. He had never fallen asleep next to a woman once in his life. Yet here he was, about to crawl into bed with the most beautiful creature he had ever met, and sleep in her arms for the forth time, and he hadn't even slept with her yet. Hell, he hadn't even tried. To top it all off he was so fucking happy about that he could explode.
She didn't want him for his body like all the others had. She wanted his body yeah, she had strait up told him this morning that she wanted to lick him, but that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted him, for himself, as himself, fucked up past and creepy magic included. She even thought his creepy magic was beautiful.
When he finally climbed into bed Lucy snuggled up to him with a happy hum. He wrapped his arms around her and shuddered when one of her hands slid up his chest and around his neak to burrow into his hair. He smiled as he felt himself drifting off to sleep. He was home, with his Cosplayer. Just before sleep pulled him under he could have sworn he heard her speak.
"'Love you, Bixy."
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To be continued