"Lucy?"
"Mmm…"
"Hey, Cosplayer."
"What do you want?" Lucy mumbled into Bickslow's side. She could feel him laugh at her.
"You need to get off of me so we can get off the train."
"But I don't want to, it's warm here," she complained, feeling him laugh again as the arm around her shoulders finally left.
As entertaining as it was, Bickslow still thought it was weird. Still, he didn't exactly want Lucy to fall back asleep on the train, so as Bickslow stood, he gently pulled Lucy up with him.
Suddenly, her eyes shot open as she realised she had been pulled up, and looked straight to Bickslow in front of her. He only moved his hands back down to his side once he was sure Lucy was awake and wasn't just going to fall back over.
Her face flushed as she reached to pick her purse up from the seat. "U-Um, sorry again…" she apologised quietly.
"It's fine," he mumbled. "We better get going now, though." He turned once Lucy nodded, and walked down the carriage with Lucy behind him.
It wasn't until they were outside the station that Lucy remembered she still had his cloak. She unclasped it at the front and unwrapped herself from it, slightly sad as the warmth disappeared. Thankfully, Magnolia wasn't cold at that time of year. "Thanks for letting me wear that," she said with a smile, holding the garment out and offering it back to its own.
Bickslow placed it back on his own shoulders, embracing the familiar warmth from it. With the guild and Lucy's apartment in roughly the same direction, they ended up walking together again for a while. "Are you heading to the guild?" Bickslow asked.
Lucy shook her head. "Not today, I'm just going to head home and make sure Natsu or Happy haven't broken in if they're back yet." She shuddered at the thought of finding her apartment destroyed with the two of them passed out on the floor somewhere. It had happened far too many times for her liking.
"Well, in that case, I'll see you later then."
Lucy nodded as she stopped to turn down another street. "Bye, Bickslow."
"See ya, Lucy." It wasn't very often that he called her by her actual name, so when it happened, even Bickslow was just a little confused.
Bickslow walked through the doors to the guildhall and looked around. Many were still out on jobs so it was strangely quiet, although even without half the guild missing, it was usually quieter with just three people missing - and of course, those three people also happened to be some of the most destructive. Bickslow spotted a familiar face at the bar with Mira and the master and made his way over there, taking a seat next to Laxus as he placed his visor on the bar in front of him. "Thanks," he said to Mira as she placed a mug in front of him, and he took a sip.
Laxus scrunched his nose up as he turned to Bickslow. "Why do you smell like strawberries?"
"Huh?"
He turned his attention to the barmaid. "He smells like strawberries now, right?" he said, and Mira just shrugged with her usual smile and walked down the other end of the bar, probably just to get away from the weird questions.
"He smells like strawberries." Bickslow turned to his other side to see Gajeel taking the seat next to him, an amused look on his face. Aside from the fact that it was weird they were both smelling him, he really didn't know what they were talking about. So he reached up just to pull the edge of his cloak up to his nose, and instantly paled before his cheeks became dusted with a light pink as he realised that he actually did smell like strawberries – or more accurately, it was his cloak that smelled like strawberries.
"What the hell was that?" Laxus demanded. It wasn't very often that Bickslow blushed. He didn't even blush when Laxus walks in on him in some far too compromising positions, instead he usually just grins and says the close the door on the way out. So if he was blushing over strawberries, Laxus really wanted to know what the fuck for.
"What was what?" Bickslow scowled as he took another sip from the mug. He should've been wearing his visor, although it wasn't like that covered much anyway. "Goddamn Cosplayer," he muttered under his breath. It was her fault he smelled like strawberries.
Laxus and Gajeel started laughing and Bickslow's face lost all colour again. He moved the mug in his hand before slamming his head down on the bar, only for it to warrant more laughing from the two dragon slayers on either side.
"So, are you going to explain why you now smell like strawberries?" Laxus asked.
"I let her wear it since she was getting cold," he mumbled into the bench. That was what he got for saying it out loud.
"I bet there's a certain bookworm who would love to hear this bit of information," Gajeel snickered, leaving the bar to find Levy at one of the tables with Jet and Droy.
"Any problems with the job?" Makarov asked.
Bickslow turned his head on the bar to look to the small man sitting on the counter next to Laxus. Bickslow had kind of forgotten he was there. "No," he mumbled again. "It was boring as hell, but the weather was terrible. Ended up falling down a hill and getting covered in mud with Cosplayer." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he groaned and wished he could slap himself in the face, and was regretting the fact that he'd talked at all.. He closed his eyes to avoid the questioning smirk from Laxus. "Don't even say anything."
A small shriek came from what Bickslow assumed was Levy, followed by Gajeel's distinct laugh, and finally he heard Laxus start talking to his grandfather once again. Bickslow sighed with relief as the topic had finally shifted off of him, strawberries, and the job.
"Is Lucy going to be coming in tonight?"
Bickslow opened one eye to see Mira standing before him, cleaning a cup with a cloth. "Why are you asking me this?"
"Because you were the last one to see her," she answered.
Bickslow just groaned again. He knew it was just a friendly question and it had nothing to do with his previous job. Nothing. At. All. "Doubt she is. She said she was going home to make sure Natsu hadn't broken in or something."
And for the rest of the evening, Bickslow spent most of his time sitting at the bar with Laxus. Freed, Elfman, and Evergreen had returned later in the night, with Freed instantly rushing over to Laxus and Bickslow, thankful to be able to talk to anyone other than the Take-Over mage and the self-proclaimed Fairy Queen. Freed adored Evergreen, but sometimes she was a bit too much.
"Never let Cana choose teams again," Freed groaned, taking the drink Mira handed him and gulping it all down at once. "Ever."
At some point, Makarov retreated upstairs where it was quiet, and Mira returned down the other end of the bar to talk to Kinana and Cana.
"Is it just me, or does something smell like strawberries?" Freed asked suddenly, looking around himself and trying to find where the smell was coming from. Laxus's sudden bark of laughter had him turning back quickly with an eyebrow raised.
"No," Bickslow said firmly. He didn't try and cover the scowl on his face, either. Instead, he picked up his helmet and put it back on his head before heading towards the guild doors, and walking back out in to the streets of Magnolia.
"Did I miss something?" Freed asked as he watched the doors swing closed after Bickslow.
"Nothing much."
Lucy was pleased to find that her house was still orderly when she returned home that afternoon, finding no signs that Natsu or the blue Exceed had been anywhere near it recently. She sighed contentedly and collapsed onto her bed, turning her head to look at the sunset through her window. She'd always enjoyed the view of the sunset from her window, and often she could stare it for so long that she'd watch the sky turn completely dark. That evening was no different, and with a yawn once the sun had finally set, she undid her belt and put her key pouch and the whip attached to it back on her bedside table before switching off the lamp and climbing back into her bed, smiling to herself at the comfort of being in her own bed again as she eventually fell asleep.
She couldn't help but giggle as she felt something brushing on the side of her neck, and she figured it was either going to be Natsu or Happy because they were almost always the reason she had her sleep interrupted. "Natsu, stop being weird, that tickles," she mumbled.
"Mhmm, does it?"
Lucy opened her eyes when she realised it wasn't Natsu or Happy, only to see the blue-and-black hair that belonged to only one person she knew of. She felt hands trailing down her sides, stopping at her hips as he lifted his eyes to meet her gaze.
"I'm going to ignore the fact you called me Natsu," Bickslow murmured, his mouth trailing over her collarbone as she leant back into her mattress. She couldn't help but let out a soft moan as one hand trailed lower down her side and came to rest on the back of her thigh, and she closed her eyes again.
Lucy felt him move himself up, his face now above her own, and her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling his lips down to hers. He moved his hands back up around her waist and gently rolled them over, not breaking the kiss as he put Lucy on top of himself. Lucy's hands went up to his head, her fingers tangling in amongst the blue of his hair. And their lips moved over each other, slowly before Bickslow's mouth trailed off to the side, tracing her jaw with gently kisses back down her neck as Lucy leant her head back.
And then she opened her eyes.
She sat up abruptly, the blanket pooling around her hips. She could see that the sun was rising through the window, and with the light, Lucy saw that she was most definitely alone in her apartment. Although out of habit, she checked again quick. Nope, definitely alone. She sighed and fell back down on the bed. What the hell was that dream? And why was it with Bickslow? Where did it even come from? It was probably the strangest dream she'd had in a while. With a groan, she picked up the pillow next to her and held it over her face, rolling over on to her side and hiding her embarrassment beneath the pillow, despite being alone in her house.
Hiding was necessary after that kind of dream.
Eventually, she rolled out of bed when the noise level outside rose, with everyone getting ready for work and heading out for the day. In a way she was thankful for Loke not being her alarm clock for the day. He would have found a way to press the information from her about why her face was the colour of Erza's hair, and Lucy really didn't want to tell Loke - or anyone, for that matter - about her most recent dream.
She slowly made her way into her bathroom, filling her stone bath with the hot water and her favourite strawberry scented bubble bath. She sighed as she stepped into it while it was still filling up, sinking down into the bath even more and instantly becoming warm. Warm like she had been when she woke up next to Bickslow in the inn. Warm like she had been when she woke up later that day on the train, with his arm wrapped around her.
She groaned and slid her head under the water for a few seconds, pushing all thoughts of him away before resurfacing and slicking her hair back as she came up. Now was not to the time be thinking about that. She didn't even want to know why she had been thinking of that again.
Lucy sighed when she realised it was time to get out of the bath and get ready for the day. She wondered if Natsu, Gray, or Erza would be back today. I wonder if Bickslow will be there? With that thought, Lucy couldn't help but groan into her hands as she dragged them down her face.
The guild was quiet in the mornings, but that never surprised her since the majority of the guild all drank late into the night before stumbling home to sleep for the most of the morning. With really no one else to talk to, Lucy made her way over to the bar to talk to her favourite barmaid.
"Good morning Lucy!" Mira greeted her with a bright smile.
"Hey, Mira!" Lucy waved as she reached the bar, taking a seat before her and next to Cana who snored softly over the counter.
"The usual breakfast?"
"Yes please," Lucy replied with a smile. She waited until Mira had returned from the kitchen before asking, "Did Natsu and the rest come back yesterday?"
"Not yesterday. They should all be due back today though," she answered as she placed Lucy's breakfast order in front of her. "Here you go!"
"Thanks, Mira." Lucy took a sip of the shake, and she couldn't help but moan a little bit. Mira's strawberry shakes were to die for as far as Lucy was concerned.
It wasn't too long before the guild started to fill up. Wakaba and Macao sat at one table, seemingly complaining about the younger generation. Nab stood at the request board, looking for the one that only he could do. Gajeel arrived with Pantherlily munched loudly on the bowl of scrap metal. And Elfman and Lisanna eventually made it to the bar and they bickered while Mira stood by and smiled nervously.
Makarov came downstairs at some point and sat himself atop the bar. "Welcome back, Lucy. Thank you for not destroying anything."
Lucy blushed slightly as the master chuckled quietly. "Yes, well…" She might've continued had the guild doors not burst open, and through the gap walked a somewhat traumatised Wendy and Carla, with Erza following just behind.
"Speaking of destroying things…" Makarov mumbled as he watched them all sit down. Wendy seemed to be trying to get as far away from Erza as possible, retreating to Gajeel's table for safe haven. "Well, my child, I have more paperwork to fill out and apology letters to send off."
Lucy couldn't help but chuckle nervously as the small guild master jumped down from the bar and retreated upstairs once more.
With Makarov's departure, Lucy made her way over to where Erza sat, making sure to sit on the opposite side of the table to avoid the dark aura that was flowing from the mage. "So, Erza… how was the job?" she asked nervously.
"That town would not be able to see a brilliant actress if she were to hit them in the face." Erza folded her arms across her chest and pouted.
"And… Did you hit them across the face?" Lucy was scared of the answer, but she had a feeling she already knew it.
"Of course! Those fools are blind. They cannot be helped."
Mira, sensing the furious Erza, carefully made her way over to the table and placed a slice of cake down in front of the scarlet-haired woman, her dark aura disappearing completely and her hand now holding a fork, eyes staring down at the cake. Lucy couldn't help but laugh at the immediate mood change. Erza was definitely an odd one.
Erza was just about done with her cake when the guild doors were flung open again. Gray and Natsu walked in, both of them covered in bandages.
"Gray. Natsu." The loud voice of the master resonated throughout the hall, everyone freezing or trying to sneak out various doors or windows.
"Gramps?" Natsu called back, obviously not entirely sensing the mood.
"Not only did you two brats destroy their hideout and half of the forest surrounding it, but you managed to destroy the majority of their town. The council wants my head!" Makarov held a large pile of papers in his hand, his eye twitching with rage. A few nervous laughs from around the guild were heard.
"He started it!" Natsu cried.
"Did not, flame-breath!"
"Shut up, ice-prick!"
Erza stood up as she finished her cake and moved towards the two still arguing by the doors. With one kick, the two were sent through the door that had just been opened again, and past a Laxus who didn't bat an eyelid as they flew past him when walking through the door. Beside him, Freed took a step back just to avoid the ball that was ice and fire. Erza returned to the table, smiling as she sat down.
Bickslow had been lying in his bed most of the morning, staring up at the ceiling with his arms crossed under his head. Laxus and Freed had barged into his room just before they left (well, Laxus did the barging while Freed stood in the doorway), opening up his blinds and demanding that the Seith mage get up and be productive. Bickslow had grunted, his version of saying no, and had pulled the sheet up over his head to block the sunlight that had started streaming into the room. Eventually, Laxus had given up and left, leaving Bickslow alone in the room once again.
He didn't know how long he had been staring at the ceiling, nor did he know what time it actually was. He could see his cloak hanging on a hook on the back of his door, and each time he looked to it, his mind was instantly overrun by thoughts of one person. Why are you in my head, Cosplayer? For once, Bickslow was getting frustrated with his own mind.
On one hand, he wanted to know why he couldn't get her out of his mind, but on the other, he wanted to run from whatever that answer might be.
No, it can't be that. No chance at all. You're only like this because you just spent twenty-four hours with someone you know next to nothing about. You're just curious. Right? It has to be the that.
But that doesn't explain why you literally fell head over heels for her in the mud, when you can balance on a flagpole or even hang upside down from a cable.
Or why you wanted to kiss her.
"God damn it, Cosplayer. What are you doing to me?" He couldn't help but groan up the ceiling, dragging his hands down his face. He really didn't like what was going on - whatever that even was.
More time went by before he decided to pull himself out of bed. The thought of seeing Lucy at the guild made him want to crawl back into his bed and stare at the ceiling some more, but then he'd probably still be battling with his own mind. Maybe she won't be there. Bickslow laughed at himself as he pulled on his clothes. She's the stupid light of the entire guild. Of course she's going to fucking be there.
It was the middle of the day when he reached the guild, and almost all of the teams and pairs had returned by then so it was near its usual noise level. He nodded to Nab as he walked in, heading towards the bar before making his way over to Laxus with a drink in his hand. In Fairy Tail, if you weren't drinking or eating, there was probably something wrong with you.
Laxus was listening to his SoundPod, his eyes closed as he sat with one arm over the back of the bench and the other on the table, one leg crossed over the other. He opened one eye as he heard someone approaching over his music, and saw Bickslow slouch in the bench opposite him.
"Say anything about or related to strawberries and I'm going to kill you," Bickslow said.
Laxus couldn't help but smirk. "You can try."
Bickslow's gaze wandered around the hall, trying to find the other two members of the Raijinshuu. He spotted Freed behind a pile of books with Levy, and Evergreen was arguing with Elfman at the bar yet again. It was more or less a usual day for Fairy Tail. As he slowly returned his eyes to the mug in front of him, his gaze passed the one person he'd been trying to avoid, whose face quickly flushed a deep red when she realised Bickslow was looking back at her.
"What the hell was that?"
Bickslow turned back to face Laxus who kept looking between himself and Lucy across the hall. "What are you talking about?" Bickslow mumbled.
"Blondie just blushed when you looked at her."
"I was not looking at her. We've been through this before." Bickslow shook his head as he lifted the mug up. Why did she blush?
"You were so. Am I missing something here? Don't make me bring Ever over here. You know she'll get it out of you."
Bickslow couldn't help but tense. Evergreen was good at getting information out of people. She would either torture you to find something out, or turn you to stone. Neither were pleasant, and he had been on the receiving end of both methods - and the latter was always confusing to Bickslow, since their eye magics usually cancelled each other out. "You wouldn't. She's busy with the giant over there anyway. And besides, there's nothing else to say."
He felt his face drop as Laxus smiled deviously. "Evergreen!" he shouted across the hall. Bickslow turned to see the woman look up at the mention of her name, who only glared at Elfman before she began to walk over to the table. Laxus was still smirking when the self-proclaimed Fairy Queen arrived, her hands resting on the table as she looked between the two men.
"What do you want?"
"Bickslow here has some information he is keeping from us."
Evergreen moved so fast to sit next to Bickslow that he didn't even have a chance to follow her movement with his eyes. "I do not," Bickslow said.
He could feel Evergreen staring at him, despite not actually looking at her. Instead, he was staring back at Laxus who looked like a kid on Christmas Day. That was never a good sign.
"Bickslow, what would you prefer today?" Evergreen asked.
He closed his eyes and swallowed, his throat feeling uncomfortably dry again. Laxus was going to pay for this.
"Just turn me to stone and be done with it. At least that way I'll be admired as a fine piece of art. I won't even fight it and try controlling you."
"Hmm. Sorry Bicks, can't do that. Now I know you're definitely hiding something."
Evergreen had already started pulling off his helmet, and Bickslow just shuffled in his chair and waited for her to remove it, preparing himself to sprint out of the guild as soon as he was free from her grasp. "Don't think of running, either," she said, just a little amused.
Sometimes Bickslow wondered if she had a tertiary magic that allowed her to read minds, she was so good at reading him. He couldn't bear to think it was her woman's intuition, as she so frequently liked to call it.
Natsu and Happy had dragged Lucy over to the request board after she suggested they go on a job since all of the reward money from Natsu's last job had gone to repairs for the town they destroyed.
"Hey, Luce. What about this one?" Natsu pointed to a flyer on the board.
Lucy frowned when she read it. "It's guarding something in the cargo-hold of a train, you idiot."
"Hmm." Natsu held his hand on his chin as he continued to scour the board. Happy pulled one down from the top of the board and held it before Natsu, and Natsu grinned as he snatched it from the Exceed's paws. "Let's do this one!"
Lucy pulled the request from Natsu's hand was about to read over it when she heard Laxus burst out laughing in the middle of the hall. She turned to look at him along with other members of the guild, curious as to what was so entertaining to make him laugh like that, because really, Laxus wasn't one for laughing.
"I'm sorry, continue," Lucy heard Laxus say as he wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling. On the other side of the table, Evergreen's jaw was hanging down, and Bickslow just shuffled and looked uncomfortable as all hell.
What the hell is going on over there?
Turning back to the request in her hand, Lucy finally read it over and was pleased to find out it was a decent job. All they had to do was help clean up an old shop that was getting re-opened. The pay was decent enough, and her share would allow her to pay her rent that was due soon. She just had to hope that Natsu wouldn't destroy the shop in the process of tidying it.
"Are you kidding me?!" Evergreen shrieked once Bickslow had finished his story. He hadn't wanted to, but he was terrified of Evergreen, and he wasn't going to verbally admit that to anyone but Laxus or Freed who were equally as terrified of the woman - not that they would ever admit it anyone else.
Bickslow's hands went up to cover his ears. She could be rather loud sometimes. "Ever, watch the ears, alright?"
"Sorry, sorry… But, seriously?"
"Good thing you like strawberries, then," Laxus snickered.
"Shut up, Sparky," Bickslow snapped.
"Alright, alright. Your secret is safe with me, but I doubt it is with Ever."
"You two are terrible," Bickslow mumbled. Unfortunately, he couldn't even drown his embarrassment in alcohol as he lifted his mug up just to find it empty.
Evergreen eventually left once she realised they weren't going to say anything else, returning to Elfman and Mira who of course wanted to know what all the commotion had been about. Evergreen being Evergreen couldn't help but let her in on a few details, and Mira was giddy with delight at the thought of being able to tease some more people.
Bickslow sighed and pushed himself up from the table. It was either go home, wander around Magnolia aimlessly, or go and get more alcohol. He had no intentions of doing the former, so he had to go and see Mira. He figured Evergreen was already gossiping, but unlike Laxus, he wasn't able to hear conversations from the other side of the room, not that you could hear anything over the noise of everyone else in the room anyway.
His assumptions were correct as he saw the mischievous glint in Mira's eyes as he asked her for another drink. He had seen that look many times before. It was usually the day after Mira had seen him leaving a bar or a club with a woman on his arm while walking to their respective homes. When she had that look, Bickslow always knew that she was just planning weddings and parties - that, or ways to torture him. He hadn't seen it for a while though. At some point it had stopped after she had seen him one too many times, and it just became something to be expected when seeing Bickslow after dark when he wasn't in the guild. He almost never left a bar alone.
But this time it was different, and he knew it. Ignoring the stares from the two women at the bar, he turned and walked back to his table.
"Blondie went on a job with flame-for-brains," Laxus said as Bickslow sat back down.
"Okay?" Inwardly, he sighed in relief that Lucy wasn't in the room anymore, meaning there was no chance of any more awkward encounters for the rest of the day, or so he could hope.
"She's not here, so now you can tell me what you're going to do about your new issue."
"Laxus, I really have no idea what you're talk about half the time."
Laxus sighed, removing the headphones and placing them on the table. "You're not acting like the usual pervert you are, and from what I just heard, you haven't been since you went on that job. Don't tell me you actually like Blondie?"
Pfft, no. Of course not.
Bickslow could only wonder why Laxus was so interested all of a sudden. It wasn't like him to care about the personal lives of those around him, much less his own life half the time. Instead of thinking of a response, Bickslow just shrugged his shoulders.
"You've got to have some sort of plan, at least?" Laxus was almost sounding desperate at that point, waiting for his friend to just spill everything he was holding inside. He knew it was going to happen at some point since the Seith mage was not usually one for being quiet or keeping anything to himself for long, at least when it concerned himself - he was great at keeping everyone else's secrets, it seemed. And the fact that he wasn't acting anything like his usual self just meant that when he finally cracked and let everything loose, it was going to be very entertaining to Laxus. He wouldn't admit to anyone that he was actually interested in his friend's new-found interest for Lucy, though, mostly because Bickslow rarely took an interest in anything.
"A plan for what?" Bickslow asked.
"Jesus, dude. How hard is it? What are you going to do with Blondie?" Laxus asked harshly.
"Nothing."
"No, you're going to do something. You always have a plan. I know you, Bickslow."
Bickslow thought for a moment. Multiple things crossed his mind, none of which he would ever say to anyone. He remembered that Laxus had commented on his recent character though, and Bickslow kind of hated that it was even noticeable. So Bickslow could only think of one thing to say. "Get her drunk and take her home and make her beg for more while screaming my name?" he said, but he'd known as soon as the first word has left his mouth that Laxus wasn't going to fall for it. What was worse though, was that Bickslow hated himself for saying it at all. Just the mere idea of doing what he'd just said made him uncomfortable.
"Try again."
Bickslow sighed and shook his head. Sometimes, maybe it was just better to tell the truth and be done with it. It wasn't very often Bickslow thought that, though. "I don't have a plan because I don't know what's going on, and it's pissing me off that none of you will leave me alone about it, because I don't even have time to think about what it is - not that there's a chance it's actually anything at all. I'm just... confused." Although even if his admission was for Laxus, part of it was for his own benefit too. There's no way it's a thing... or an it. It's just curiosity because I don't know her.
And there it is. Laxus couldn't help but grin as he sat back on the bench, folding his arms across his chest "About fucking time," he mumbled, only to receive a glare from Bickslow before he dropped his head to the table with a groan.