Why can't I keep my stupid mouth shut, the one time I need it to be shut? Bickslow groaned into the table. into the table. He knew Laxus was finding it amusing, and deep down he was glad that he had told someone. Still, Bickslow still mostly hated himself for being stupid enough to say it.

"I don't… That's not what I meant," Bickslow mumbled.

"I think it's exactly what you meant."

Bickslow raised his head to look at Laxus, letting it rest in his palms with his elbows still on the table. "It's not even an it. It's nothing." The words were there mostly for his own benefit, but he was still in a battle with himself about whether or not he wanted to run or hide from the truth that he had just blurted out.

"Go talk to her." Laxus's voice was gentle - comforting, even. Bickslow rarely heard him with that tone. "You're not going to get anywhere if you can't figure it out, and you obviously can't do it on your own."

"She's not even here."

"Then go and find her."

"I'm not going to go and find her. That's fucking stupid." Bickslow ran his finger around the top of the mug in front of him. "There's nothing to talk about, and even if there were, she's been chasing Natsu for god knows how long." Yeah, nice one. Make it seem like you're jealous. That's totally going to help get the spark-plug off your back.

"Salamander is too stupid to see what's right in front of him, and she's not even into him. She wants to kill him half the time."

"Whatever." Bickslow pushed himself up from the bench. "I'm just going to go home, I'll see you later," he mumbled. Maybe I'll just see how many pubs I can visit in one night again. That's always fun.

Lucy looked around at the mostly neat interior of the shop. All of the counters and most of the windows sparkled, apart from the one that Natsu had gone through when Happy threw a lacrima and he had completely missed it, thus diving through the window to try and still catch it. After that incident, Lucy had made them sit outside and wait before they broke anything else.

She pulled the door closed behind her, hearing it click as it locked. She frowned as she looked at the broken window before turning and looking at Natsu and Happy who were sulking on the bench opposite it. "Come on, the owner should be in his other store a few streets over," she said.

"Aye, Lucy!" Happy jumped up from where he sat with Natsu and flew next to Lucy's head.

The walk to the other shop was a short one, and the streets were thankfully quiet since the day was drawing to a close and everyone was closing up. Lucy looked up at the sky that was tinged with hues of red, orange, and pink, and she smiled at the sunset for a moment.

The bell rang on the door as they all walked into the small shop, the owner popping his head up from under the counter and smiling as he recognised the Fairy Tail mages. "Ah, you must be the ones that took my request! I assume it is complete, yes?"

Lucy rubbed her hand on the back of her neck sheepishly, a habit she had picked up from the Natsu. "Well, uh… Yes, but… There may be a broken window and lacrima…" she mumbled, looking down to the floor ashamedly. It was always Lucy's job to break the bad news to the client, despite it never being her fault, but by that point she was used to it. She couldn't remember a job where she didn't have to inform the client that something had been broken or completely destroyed.

Well, apart from the one with Bickslow.

"Hmph. Well. The pay will be reduced to cover the damages." The man frowned as he turned to go around the back of the shop. Lucy glared at Natsu who was still sulking, apparently disappointed that he had sat doing nothing for most of the afternoon.

The owner returned a few minutes later with an envelope in his hand. "Fifty percent should be sufficient now."

Lucy grabbed the envelope from the man and placed it in her small bag. "My apologies again, sir."

"Now if you don't mind, I'd like to close up for the day," He nodded towards the door. "And please don't break anything on your way ou—" He was interrupted by the sound of something falling from a shelf and shattering on the ground. Happy had flown out the door as fast as he could with Natsu running just behind him. Lucy could just smile awkwardly while offering the man some jewel notes to cover the cost of whatever the two had just broken.

Bickslow couldn't remember how many bars he had been to since leaving the guild. He didn't know what the time was, but he knew it was late since the only things open were the various pubs that littered the streets. He had told Laxus he was going home, which wasn't exactly a lie. He just happened to be stopping by as many bars as he could on his way.

By that point in the night, he was stumbling along the cobblestone streets as he made his way over to the last bar for the night. He had always loved that bar in particular, too. They didn't kick him out when he got too drunk, and it was close to his apartment so it was a short walk and that was always welcome considering he was usually escorting someone equally as drunk with him.

He took a seat at the bar, and the familiar bartender slowly made his way over to him.

"Hey C-Cade," Bickslow said, hiccuping.

"Evening, Bickslow. Want your usual?"

Bickslow could only nod as he tried to remain steady on the stool. He had fallen from it countless times, and his padded clothing could only stop so much pain. The man slid the mug across the bar after he had filled it up, and it stopped right in front of Bickslow. He downed half of it in one gulp as he looked around the bar, grinning slightly as everyone seemed to be having a good time. Sure, it didn't come anywhere close to when Fairy Tail got wild, but it was close enough.

"Hey, you."

Bickslow turned to see a woman sliding onto the stool next to him. "Why, hello there," he slurred, grin widening as he stuck his tongue out.

"How about we get out of here?"

"Aw, but I only just got here," he pouted. "I haven't had any fun yet.

"I guess I'll just go talk to someone else then…" she murmured, trailing her finger along his shoulder as she made to slowly step away.

Bickslow grinned once again, finishing the rest of the drink before slamming the empty glass down on the bar. "Add it to my tab."

The bartender nodded as Bickslow stood and placed his arm around the girl's shoulders, and she giggled as they headed towards the door to stumble through the streets together.

"What's your name, handsome?" she asked.

Bickslow turned his head to look down at the woman next to him. Her blonde hair looked dull in the moonlight, looking almost white. He looked lower down, seeing her dark blue dress that clung to her body stop halfway down her thighs.

"Bickslow. I'm sure you'll be screaming it later," he said. "What about you?"

"My name's not important."

Bickslow chuckled. "Mysterious, eh?" He liked the mysterious ones. They always made it more fun. "Come on, my place is this way."

Laxus walked down the street the next morning with his hands in his pockets and his SoundPod over his ears. It was still way too early, but he had a job for him and the Raijinshuu to go on and he had wanted to leave as early as possible. He had already told Freed and Evergreen about it the night before, but Bickslow had left before he had found the job so it meant waking him up.

He was about to turn to use the steps leading up to the door of Bickslow's building when he saw a woman coming out, her heels in her hand as she hopped down the stairs and briskly walked past Laxus. He had seen that happen many times before, but he realised that there was something different about this one – namely the fact that the woman looked a lot like a mage in the guild, at least if you squinted and had had a few to drink.

Bickslow was lying on his stomach, tangled up in the black sheets and facing away from the door when he heard it open. He knew it was Laxus when he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise from the static electricity in the air.

"Who was that?" Laxus asked as he looked around the room. The dark purple duvet from the bed was hanging off the bed. Bickslow's clothes from the day before were sprawled across the floor, and a lacy pink bra was hanging on a lampshade on the opposite side of the bed.

"Who was who?" Bickslow mumbled into the pillow, shielding his eyes as Laxus opened the curtains, letting sunlight spill into the room. His head was pounding as he dealt with the aftereffects of his night out.

"The blonde who just scampered out of the building." Laxus picked the pink bra up from the lampshade, holding it up before him and eyeing it with distaste before he sent a current of electricity to his hand and fried it completely, throwing what was left of it into the small bin that was in the bathroom to the side of Bickslow's room.

Bickslow groaned into the pillow. He just wanted Laxus to leave already so he could go back to sleep and wallow in the darkness for the rest of the day. "No idea. I didn't catch her name."

Laxus figured he could go one of two ways with it. He could pester Bickslow until he eventually got out of bed while asking if he had gone and talked to Lucy. Or he could fuck with the man. Laxus chose the latter. He always chose the latter.

"Well, luckily for you I know her name, and so does the rest of the guild," he said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I believe it begins with an L, or a C, depending on what name you use decide to use."

Bickslow thought for a moment, his mind was still foggy from the night before. He was the kind of person who could somehow always remember his drunken nights the morning after, and that was something that could either be a blessing or a curse. The only person he could think of at the time was Cana, though. And that would explain the whole drunken tirade, too. "Cana?" he guessed.

"Cana isn't blonde, you idiot."

"Well, I don't fucking know. Enlighten me so I can go back to bed."

"I believe she likes strawberries," Laxus

Strawberries. Who the hell likes strawberries and has a name beginning with an L or C?

Cosplayer.

Bickslow could feel all of the blood drain from his face as he sat up from the bed a little too fast, the room spinning around him. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I saw it with my own eyes," Laxus said with amusement clear in his voice.

"No. It's impossible. She's never even been to Cade's bar before." Or has she? Was I that drunk that I didn't even recognise her?

Laxus shrugged and watched Bickslow try and piece together his memories of the night. "I don't see what the problem is. You've been staring at her from across the guildhall for weeks – and don't even try and say that you haven't been, because I've watched you do it the entire time – and you quite obviously have a thing for her. Are you trying to tell me that you actually don't and that you don't want to sleep with her?"

"No, I just…" Bickslow closed his eyes as images of his night flooded his memories. He was remembering smaller details now, now that he was focused on it. "It wasn't her, okay? It couldn't have been."

"How do you know?"

"Because the girl last night had blue eyes and the hair was wrong." Laxus raised an eyebrow as the man before him fell back down on his bed, his hands covering his face. "You're a terrible person, Laxus," Bickslow groaned.

"I know." Laxus couldn't help but chuckle.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I have a job."

"I'm not going."

"What?" That was the first time he had gone to Bickslow with a job, and the Seith mage had declined. "What do you mean you're not going?"

"I have a hangover and I'd rather stay in and sleep all day, and I don't particularly feel like being questioned by you three at the moment." Bickslow turned back to his side, pulling the sheet up over his head. And with the rest of his team gone, he wouldn't have a reason to go to the guild. At least I can avoid her.

"Well, suit yourself." Laxus turned and walked back down the short hallway towards the kitchen. If the man was in that kind of mood, there was no point of pestering him. He looked around on the bench for a notepad and something to write with. He ended up finding one under a pile of old job requests and bills, and quickly scrawled a note on it before walking back to Bickslow's room and sticking it on the table next to the man. "Don't do anything stupid."

Bickslow didn't respond. He heard the door to his room close and then the door to his apartment being slammed shut. He opened his eyes and reached out for the note that Laxus had placed next to him, his eyes taking a few moments to focus on the writing:

Back in three days – if you're not in the guild for the party at the end of the week, I'll sic Mira AND Ever on you.

Talk to Blondie.

He scrunched up the small piece of paper in his hand and threw it in a random direction, hearing it bounce off the wall and land somewhere in the room. I'm not going to talk to her. I don't need to talk to her.

Bickslow repeated the words over and over in his head, forcing himself to believe them. The more he said them in his head, the more of thought of her. The man was stuck in a vicious cycle of running from the fact that he might actually like the blonde – how and why, he did not know considering he really did know nothing about her – and then denying it and acting like it was nothing.

But the more he thought about it, the more he got used used to the idea of actually liking someone and not just having countless meaningless one-night stands, and that was just a little terrifying, since he'd never really liked anyone.

Bickslow had been so lost in his thoughts over the last few days that he had completely forgotten about the party at the end of the week. Every so often after the Grand Magic Games, the guild would throw a massive pool party (weather permitting). It was open to everyone, including those from other guilds and even random people from around the town. Unfortunately, it was basically compulsory that those actually in Fairy Tail attend.

Bickslow usually looked forward to the events. Everyone running around in swimsuits was basically his version of heaven. Whether or not he actually wanted to attend this time around, he was more scared of having both Mira and Ever torture him. It was bad enough that Evergreen had got the information out of him, but then she had to go and tell the demon herself. Bickslow still wasn't sure how much she knew, but it was enough to make him want to avoid the bar all together after that mischievous glare.

The next few days went by in a blur for both Bickslow and Lucy. Lucy had gone out on a job with the rest of her team where they'd been required to locate the leader of a large group of bandits and bring him in for custody, but the man was near impossible to catch so the reward was fairly high – assuming nothing got damaged or destroyed.

Bickslow mainly slept all day before heading out to bars for the night and bringing home someone different each night. He had made sure none of them had blonde hair in an attempt to forget about the one that was on his mind the entire time, and it seemed to work for the most part. By the day of the party, he was confident that he had gotten over it.

Just curiosity, right? Worst case scenario, it was a small crush. Nothing new... I'm fine. It's done.

Anyone out on a job had returned by the day of the festivities, as per the master's instructions. Many were already out by the pool enjoying the warm weather and getting drunk despite it still being before noon. Laxus had been surrounded by a group of random women from the city as he sat on the end of a lounge chair, and Freed swayed between being mildly amused or looking like he wanted to rip them all off Laxus. Evergreen had turned Elfman to stone at some point and was lying down on another lounge chair fanning herself.

Bickslow arrived around noon after he had woken up, thankful that his hangover wasn't as bad as it had been the previous days. He made his way through the guild to the pool area, seeing the place already buzzing with excitement. Any regrets he had about showing up today were long forgotten when he realised that this is where he belonged.

He sat down next to Laxus who was still surrounded by the girls, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. The man never seemed interested in the swarm of girls he seemed to attract whenever he stopped moving, and he almost seemed bored with it. Granted, he never pushed any of them away, either.

"I see you decided to show up," Laxus grunted while being fawned over.

"Why wouldn't I? Booze and swimsuits. This place basically screams my name."

"So I take it you've sorted out your little issue?" Laxus asked.

"It was never an issue to begin with, and I told you that," Bickslow said.

"So you didn't talk to Blondie?"

"Like I said the other day, there's nothing to talk about." Bickslow stood up and started walking over to the pool. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else I need to be." With a grin, he started running towards the edge of the pool and jumped in, water splashing over Sting and Rogue, while almost sending Rufus flying out of the pool with the wave that followed.

Lucy and the rest of the team had arrived earlier that morning. Their job had been a success, surprisingly. Erza may have gone a little overboard and given their target a concussion, but Wendy had managed to heal him enough so that he was somewhat conscious and able to be questioned by the council. Only a few small buildings had been demolished with the fighting, but it was mostly Erza's fault that time. Natsu had behaved for once, and only got involved in a small argument with Gray on the train. The entire team was in a good mood overall, and Lucy was ecstatic with the fact that she could pay her rent for the next three months.

At the party, she had been standing by the edge of the pool talking with Yukino, when all of a sudden Natsu had come running up from behind her, picking her up in one swift motion while still running towards the pool and throwing her in before jumping in after her. Unfortunately, Natsu had thrown her a little too hard, and instead of them both being in the pool, Lucy was sent flying towards the opposite end of the pool while Natsu was still submerged in the water.

"Natsuuu!" Lucy's scream rang out over the noise of everyone else, with many looking up to see the blonde flying over their heads. Yukino still remained in her position, hands covering her mouth as she watched her friend flail around in the air.

Natsu shot up from the water, flipping his hair around and out of his face as he came up. He grinned and laughed while watching Lucy slowly come down.

Bickslow had been oblivious to the entire thing - it was never wise to get involved with Natsu's antics, so he never paid attention. It was only when he noticed that everyone in front of him was now staring wide-eyed at something behind him did he finally turn around, only to be immediately pushed down under the water as something flying in the air collided with him.

"Alright, my turn, Luce!" Natsu yelled from the other end of the pool where he had jumped in, only to be kicked out of the pool and sent flying towards the beach by a furious Erza. Everyone else had gone back to chatting and having a good time already, realising it was just another one of Natsu's crazy ideas.

Bickslow made his way back up to the surface, slicking his hair back as he came up before opening his eyes. "What the fu—" He didn't get a chance to finish before Lucy popped up before him, and his eyes went wide as he stared down at her. "Cosplayer?"

Lucy's face immediately went a dark shade of red as she realised who she had collided with. "Oh god, Bickslow. I'm… I'm sorry, Natsu threw me. I didn't… I didn't mean to go flying into you like that," she apologised quickly, taking a step back when she realised they were just a few inches apart. "Anyway… I'm uh… Sorry."

Bickslow had seemingly forgotten how to talk. He could only watch Lucy swim back over to the edge of the pool and climb out, scurrying over to one of the Sabertooth mages and wrapping herself in a towel.

Just when he'd gotten her out of his head, Natsu had to throw her right back in again. God fucking damn it, Natsu.

After he realised he was still standing in the same spot in the pool, he waded over to the edge and climbed out. He wrapped a towel around his shoulders as he sat down next to Laxus once again, only staring at the pool in somewhat of a daze.

Laxus had been watching Bickslow in the pool. He'd been able to see Lucy flying across the pool before she had so gracefully landed on Bickslow, and he'd had to refrain from bursting out laughing when it had happened. But by watching Bickslow, he'd seen him shift into the daze he was presently in, and he knew that the man hadn't dealt with anything like he claimed to have done.

"Time to get drunk?" Laxus suggested.

"Yep."

Lucy was sitting on the edge of the pool with Levy after her trip across the pool, their feet dangling in the water.

"So Bickslow's actually pretty attractive when he's not wearing his visor or armour," Levy whispered in her ear.

"What?!" Lucy shrieked. Where the hell is this coming from?

Behind them, Gajeel snickered and Lucy glared over her shoulder at him. "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothin'."

"He's definitely not bad," Mira chimed in, sitting down on Lucy's other side and dipping her feet into the water.

Lucy was well aware of the growing blush on hr cheeks. "Am I missing something?" Shehad a feeling she was going to regret asking that when she watched the two women look at each other with mischievous grins before they turned back to face Lucy at the same time.

"So we might have heard something about the job you two just came back from…" Levy said.

"Namely a few awkward moments…" Mira continued.

"One involving some dirt and rain…"

"And then some others where you two got all close and personal in a hotel room."

"That's not… How did you even hear about this?" Lucy asked quickly.

Mira shrugged as she giggled along with Levy. "Evergreen has her ways," the barmaid sighed.

So maybe that's why Mira's been giving me weird looks whenever I go up to the bar, or why Bickslow looked so uncomfortable when Evergreen seemed so shocked the other day… "I'm assuming there's more to this story though, right?" Lucy asked cautiously. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that, but she couldn't help but be a little curious since it involved Bickslow, too.

"Well, I heard from Laxus that he took home a random girl from a bar the night Evergreen got the information out of him, and that he didn't go out on the job with the Raijinshuu the other day. No one had seen him for the last three days. Not until today, at least," Mira said.

"I was under the impression that they could all disappear for days and weeks at a time."

"That's the first time they went without an entire team. The Raijinshuu never take missions without all of them there."

"Okay? I still don't quite get what you're trying to say," Lucy mumbled. Clearly something was going over her head.

"Jesus, Bunny-girl. The guy doesn't know if he has a thing for you or not."

Lucy turned to look behind her to see Gajeel rolling his eyes at her. "W-What?" she blush that she thought she had gotten rid of was creeping its way back on to her face as she turned back around. Levy was squealing with delight, and Mira was only smiling.

"It's true," Mira said softly.

Lucy didn't really know what to say. Bickslow was, unfortunately, quite literally the man of her dreams. And to know that her strange newfound feelings might be reciprocated? She just didn't know what to do with that.

"Why do you think he's been actin' all weird?" Gajeel mumbled.

She thought back to the last few times she had even seen Bickslow over the week. At first, she had thought that he had seemed a little off, but she had just put that up to the weather in the town that she knew he'd been worried about.

But that didn't explain the awkward glances, the incredibly awkward dream that she was little glad hadn't gone any further before she woke up, or the fact that she had felt maybe a little too comfortable while using the man as a human pillow, and he hadn't seemed to mind. Lucy remembered that almost every time she had seen Bickslow that week, he had seemed like he was deep in thought. She hadn't once seen his beloved babies hovering around him as of late, and she couldn't remember the last time he had said anything perverted or creepy, and that was what the guild had come to expect from him.

He had been strangely quiet.

All Lucy could do was excuse herself from the group, hopefully to go and find somewhere quiet to think. Mostly though, Lucy just didn't want to continue on the topic of the Seith mage when he was already stuck in her head she'd so gracefully gone flying into him. Three days away from the guild had almost been too perfect, especially since in those three days, she hadn't though of Bickslow once.

But then she'd had to go and crash into him, and she was back to square one.