Bickslow yawned as he stepped into the guild that morning. Laxus had pushed them all onto the earliest train from the last stop of the dark-guild-destroying tour, and after four days where they'd somehow been across half of Fiore, they were exhausted.

Their last stop had been just a few towns over so they'd arrived in Magnolia fairly early, so while the rest of the team had just headed straight to the guild for some breakfast, Bickslow had decided to head home for a shower and some clean clothes. Before long though, Bickslow grew bored and found himself arriving at the guild before it was even nine in the morning. It was probably the earliest he'd been there in years, so he'd been just a little surprised to see how empty it was in the morning - at least compared to how full it was later in the day.

He joined the rest of his team straight away, seemingly catching the end of an argument between Freed and Evergreen. Bickslow decided it wasn't worth paying attention to, so he looked around to see what the guild's inhabitants were up to. At the bar, he found the Strauss siblings bickering about something with Kinana and Laki. On a bench in the corner, Gajeel seemed to be snoring while Natsu was doing the same on another bench. And not far from Natsu, Lucy was laughing about something with Gray and Wendy.

He seemed to catch her attention as he looked over the guild, and for a moment, Lucy's smile grew brighter as she looked back at him. Bickslow couldn't keep the grin off his face if he'd tried.

"What are you grinning at now?" Laxus asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. He looked over his shoulder when Bickslow gave no response, and felt a hard kick to his shin as soon as he turned and caught a glimpse of Lucy sitting behind him.

"Don't fucking turn around," Bickslow hissed.

"Don't kick me then."

Suddenly, Bickslow felt a stinging pain in the centre of his palm and Bickslow had felt that pain too many times before to know exactly what it was. "Oi, don't zap me, Sparky!" He jumped out his seat quickly, rubbing the back of his hand with the other.

"Be grateful it wasn't your tongue."

Behind them, Lucy couldn't help but giggle as she watched Bickslow jump around and swear.

"What's so funny?" Gray asked.

"Laxus just electrocuted Bickslow."

He clicked his tongue. "Serves him right."

Bickslow drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. He was never at the guild that early so he wasn't entirely sure what to do. He knew it was too early to have a drink or two, not that that ever stopped Wakaba or Macao. He couldn't go home and sleep because he was far too awake to do that, and he couldn't really mess around and cause trouble, because there just wasn't enough people in the guild for him to do that.

After the guitar incident, Bickslow knew to leave Gajeel alone for a while, so irritating him was out of the question. And Evergreen seemed to be in a bad mood as it was, so Bickslow couldn't even annoy her.

So with no one to really annoy, Bickslow really had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He glanced past Laxus and to Lucy again, quickly turning to Freed and interrupting his argument with Evergreen to ask what the time was. Freed paused for a moment, pulling out his pocket-watch to glance at it. "Ten fifteen," he said, immediately returning to his important debate.

Bickslow sighed as he stole another glance in Lucy's direction, before diverting his eyes towards Gajeel who'd seemingly woken up. Levy appeared from behind the tower of books to Gajeel's side, and Bickslow watched her for a moment as she picked up a small pile and carried them to the far side of the guild and to the staircase leading to the guild archive. It was once Levy had disappeared out of his sight that Bickslow got up, slowly making his way over to Gajeel and sitting down across from him.

"I need your help," he said.

Gajeel scoffed. "Why should I help you?"

"Because I will do anything you want if you do this for me."

"…I'm listenin'," Gajeel drawled, sitting forward over the table.

"I need you to find a way to get Lucy outside."

"Why can't you just ask her yourself?"

"Because if I go and talk to her, it's going to look weird," Bickslow pointed out. "It's less weird if you do it, or if somehow get Levy to do it. Although Levy will ask questions and I don't really want Levy doing that…"

Gajeel shrugged and sat back again. "I'm sure there's other people here that could do that."

"I wouldn't be asking you if there was another way," Bickslow said softly. "And besides, I know you're the one who told Lucy I was into her in the first place, because she told me." Bickslow wasn't even sure how Gajeel had found out in the first place, but he had a feeling it was Laxus's doing.

"Alright, fine…" Gajeel muttered. "But you have to do something for me first. If you do that, then I'll help you. And you'll still owe me a favour afterwards." The smirk turned into a wicked grin as he waited for the Seith mage's response.

Bickslow knew the smirk on Gajeel's face meant he was up to no good. Surely whatever Gajeel was planning couldn't be too bad, though. Even if it was, Bickslow was inclined to the think the trouble he was going to just to talk to Lucy would be worth it. Hopefully, at least. "What do I have to do?"

"Go and kiss Bunny girl."

Of all the things he could've asked, he had to choose the one that would warrant Bickslow getting his ass kicked. "Are you fucking insane?" Bickslow hissed.

"Is that goin' to be a problem, soul boy?" Gajeel snickered.

Bickslow grit his teeth slightly. "Yes."

Gajeel shrugged. "Well, I guess you don't need my help."

Bickslow knew he didn't really have much choice. It was that, or he didn't talk to her at all, and he really wanted to talk to her. Gajeel was really the only other person in the room who was on talking terms with Lucy and would do what he asked without asking too many of his own questions, and that really wasn't something Bickslow wanted to deal with.

Kissing Lucy was no problem, that much was obvious. But the fact that it was in the guild was what made it a problem. He'd only just gotten Mira off his back about who he may or may not like those days, and with Natsu in the room, Bickslow really wasn't sure what would happen. There was a very real possibility he'd be leaving the guild a little scorched.

But he still wanted to talk to Lucy, so he really had no choice but to do what Gajeel had asked. "You better help me come up with an excuse," Bickslow muttered, sighing as he finally stood from the table. I can't believe I'm doing this.

Seeing Bickslow coming towards her, Lucy looked up slowly. She fully expected him to just walk past and head somewhere else, but when he slowed just as he reached the end, her eyebrows rose and she looked up at him in confusion.

"Cosplayer," Bickslow said. Gray and Wendy stopped their conversation just to look up at him as well.

"Bicksl—" She didn't get a chance to get her name past her lips before he was leaning down and taking her face between his hands and kissing her, all in one swift motion.

He counted the seconds in his head. He couldn't kiss her for too long, otherwise the guild would get far too suspicious, and he had too little self control for it to be just a quick peck on the lips. So after a few beats, he quickly pulled away and stood up straight, forcing a wide grin as he made a show of looking over to Gajeel. He couldn't help but notice the silence that had fallen across the guild with everyone's attention drawn to him. Even Laxus looked a little stunned.

With everyone's eyes on him, Bickslow's grin faltered for a moment and he wondered if he'd kissed her for just a little too long. He cleared his throat, pointing to Gajeel anyway and shouting, "Pay up, bitch!" He didn't trust Gajeel to come up with an excuse for him, so he had to come up with his own, and that was the only one Bickslow could think of.

Slowly, the guild returned to normal and everyone went back to their mindless conversation. Gajeel shook his head as Bickslow returned to the table and sat down again for a moment. "You're not keeping it," he said quietly, handing the Seith mage a random jewel note from his pocket just in case anyone still happened to be paying them any attention.

"Don't worry, I know," Bickslow mumbled. "Just do your part."

Gajeel watched him walk back out of the guild, the noise in the guild still slowly rising. It'd be suspicious if he went to Lucy right away, so he decided to wait a few moments before doing so. Waiting would mean making Bickslow suffer, too, and Gajeel was sure as hell going to enjoy that.

"What the hell was that?" Gray asked Lucy afterwards.

Lucy shook her head and gave a small shrug. She could still feel the heat on her cheeks and even on her ears, and no doubt it was still obvious as well. "I have no idea." It was the truth, too. The last she knew, Bickslow wasn't even going to talk to her in the guild unless he had a good enough reason to, but then he'd gone and kissed her, and acted like it was just some stupid dare. She just didn't know what to make of it, but she knew she was going to have to ask Bickslow about it at some point. "But can we not talk about it?"

After half an hour, Gajeel decided it was about time to do his part and get Lucy outside. It didn't help that the entire time, Levy had been lecturing him about the many ways of organising books, starting right after he'd accidentally knocked one over, and there was only so much of that Gajeel could handle. He'd had enough time to think of a plan though, so now all he had to do was put it into action.

He stood carefully that time, mindful not to knock over any of Levy's perfectly organised piles, and headed straight for Lucy.

"Oi, Bunny girl," he said, reaching the end of the table and interrupting the conversation without a care. "I need your help."

Lucy wasn't at all sure what Gajeel could need her help with, but she wasn't one for turning down a comrade. "Sure. What do you need?"

"I need one of your spirits for somethin'."

"Oh, okay." She supposed that was fair, but she still wasn't sure how. "Now? Or later." She figured the answer was the former when Gajeel turned and headed for the doors, so she only quickly finished her drink and picked up her keys from beside her to follow him out.

She quickly caught up to him at the doors, and was about to ask what he specifically needed when Gajeel stopped for a second, looked around at the empty outdoor tables, and then turned to the right and walked along the outdoor strip.

"I thought you said you needed my help with something?" Lucy questioned, following him slowly. It was only once they'd past the closed gift shop that she saw Bickslow sitting on one of the benches, and she looked between the two mages as they reached the table and Bickslow stood.

"Took you long enough," Bickslow mumbled, pulling the note from his sleeve and handing it back to the owner.

Gajeel shrugged. "You never said when."

Lucy watched as Gajeel shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away, weaving through the tables and going straight for the gates. "Did you even need my help?" she shouted.

"Nope."

Lucy turned back to Bickslow with a scowl. "What the hell was that about?" she asked, reaching out to shove his shoulder gently as they sat down at one of the tables together. Was it all just one elaborate plan?

Bickslow rubbed his arm, smiling nervously. "I, uh… I wanted to talk to you, and I couldn't really do that in the guild…" he mumbled.

"So you can't talk to me in the guild, but you'll kiss me?" Lucy said.

"Hey, I didn't want to do that," Bickslow said. "Well, I mean, I did, but not like that. That was just part of the deal and the only way Gajeel would help me get you out here so I could talk to you."

"Yeah, right," Lucy laughed, rolling her eyes. She looked away bashfully before quietly adding, "I've missed you, though. Is that weird?"

Bickslow only looked back to the gates and to the front of the guild to make sure no one was coming or going before he lifted an arm to wrap it around her shoulders, and leant in to kiss her temple quickly. "If it's weird, then I'm weird." Bickslow didn't think it was weird, though, and knowing that he'd missed her too, Lucy finally stopped worrying about it. "But hey, let's go do something."

She sat up when Bickslow lifted his arm again. "Like what?"

"I don't know, just something. Let's go somewhere."

"What about everyone else? In the guild?"

"Fuck them." Bickslow stood, reaching down for Lucy's hands to pull her to her feet. "And I believe I owe you another date anyway."

Lucy wasn't sure what to think of Bickslow's impromptu date idea, but she was inclined to say it was nice; she liked that he was impulsive, if she was honest. Still, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous, but Lucy decided to ignore the butterflies as she nodded and took Bickslow's hand, letting him lead her away from the guild and into the town.

As they walked hand in hand, side by side, Lucy couldn't help but glance down to where their fingers were intertwined between them every now and then. She liked holding his hand and walking together, but she found it a little awkward and amusing that she had to bend her arm slightly just to do it. Bickslow was almost far too tall, and Lucy had a feeling she was far too small.

"So, what are we going to do?" she decided to ask.

Bickslow shrugged. "Whatever you want to do." He'd had Evergreen and Freed on him for the last three days, constantly reminding him that he could just ask Lucy what she wanted to do so it'd be fun and casual. He could be fun and casual, too.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Bickslow chuckled. "Anything you want. I'll take it like a man, I promise."

"I think you've been hanging around Elfman too much."

"I have not!" he said quickly. "God, that guy is constantly going on about manliness,. He;s not even a man. He's a freakin' beast."

"… Anyway," Lucy laughed. "We could just see what's at the markets for now?"

"Fine by me." They turned down another street that led to the market district, idly walking by the small offices and shops that lined the street. "So what have you been up to? Haven't seen you for a couple weeks."

"Not much. I was in Shirotsume for about a week just doing some smaller, menial kind of jobs with my team, and then I've just been hanging around the guild." Lucy shrugged, looking up to Bickslow with a small smile. "What about you? I heard you were dealing with some dark guilds."

"Ah, yeah. It makes me wonder how they can call themselves guilds at all, though. I spent more time giving Ever hell than anything." Not that that was a bad thing. Bickslow always loved giving Evergreen hell. "Can you keep a secret?" He looked down to Lucy for a moment, watching as she nodded. "Laxus occasionally lets Ever paint his nails. Mostly yellow, for whatever reason."

"Laxus? Really?" Lucy scoffed. Bickslow nodded quickly. "Wow… That's… not what I expected." She remembered Bickslow's nails though, and lifted their joined hands up. "And can you really talk? I mean, you always have your nails painted, too. Why do you even do that?" she asked.

"Some things are best left unanswered."

They walked through the markets slowly, stopping to look at each small store and observe the small trinkets they each sold. Lucy had bought a punnet of strawberries at some point, and Bickslow really had no idea when that had happened.

Suddenly, Lucy ran off into a bookstore and Bickslow silently followed. To anyone else, he'd seem like he was bored or at least disinterested, but he wasn't. He liked following her around, even into bookstores. And so far, their little date had proved to be enjoyable, too, perhaps just because they could talk about anything they wanted and it wasn't so awkward anymore. Still, Bickslow couldn't help but be a little nervous. Most of the talking they'd done had been Lucy asking random questions or making comments on things she saw on the stands. Bickslow didn't really know what to say to most of it, because he was scared of saying the wrong thing and screwing it all up, and he didn't want to do that.

So he was trying to be on his best behaviour.

"So I take it you like books?" he asked, cringing a little as he heard the words.

"Mm-hmm."

Lucy made her way over to where the magazines and various event flyers sat, picking up a few random booklets from the rack before she spotted one at the top and frowning when she realised it was just out of her reach. Why would they make the display so tall?! No one can even reach that!

Nevertheless, she stood on her tiptoes and tried to reach for it. Bickslow stood behind her smirking, deciding to wait a few seconds before he lifted his own arm up to pick up the one she had been reaching for.

Lucy blushed as he handed her the flyer before she looked down at it to open it up. It was an advertisement for the new exhibition at the museum. She held it up to Bickslow. "Want to go to this?" she asked.

"A museum?" A museum. Of all things, it was going to be a museum. I hate museums. He didn't want to disappoint her, though. "Sure. But food first."

They found a quieter cafe on a corner just a few streets away and settled in there. They decided on a light lunch, with Bickslow ordering a random sandwich from the board and Lucy a fruit salad bowl.

As Lucy finished her lunch, she set the empty bowl aside, looking to Bickslow opposite her. "You said you were going to tell me the names of your babies on our last date," she said. "So?"

"Oh, yeah, I did." Bickslow dusted his hands on the paper napkin and shook his head. "Later, though. Not in here."

Lucy wasn't sure why he couldn't just tell her in there, but she decided not to question it. As she leant forward, sitting her chin in her palms, she watched Bickslow opposite her for a moment. It was hard to tell what kind of mood he was in with his visor, but he had just the smallest of smiles on his mouth so Lucy supposed she had to take it as a good sign. "Why did you get your guild mark on your tongue?" she asked. She'd found she was full of questions when it came to Bickslow, and she loved learning all the little details about him.

Bickslow's smile turned into a grin, sticking his tongue out for good measure. "Why not?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and leant back in her chair, huffing and folding her arms.

"Not gonna take that answer, huh?" Bickslow chuckled.

"No."

"Didn't think you would." And that was fair. So he sighed and gave a small shrug before answering, "I already had a habit of sticking my tongue out when I was talking, and I didn't really know where to get it when I joined, so I basically just went fuck it and got it put on my tongue." It was mostly the truth. He wasn't going to mention Laxus's involvement, or how the man had basically told him to get it on his tongue and be done with it. Half the guild still thought he and the rest of his team worshipped the man, and Bickslow wasn't sure where Lucy stood on that. He didn't want to make it worse for himself, though.

Just then, the waitress came up and placed the small book with the bill on the table before she picked up the empty bowls and glasses and walked away once again. Lucy reached out to pick it up, only to have it snatched away before she could reach it.

"Don't even try, Cosplayer," Bickslow said, shaking his head.

"You don't have to, you know…"

"I want to." He closed the book and set it back down on the table. "We should probably get go," he said, standing up. "What time does that tour start?"

"I think it said one o'clock."

The clock behind the counter read a little past twelve thirty, so they had just enough time to get to the museum to make the tour. The lunch rush was almost over so the streets were a little quieter, and as soon as they were on a narrow street with just a few other people, Lucy hopped in front of Bickslow and smiled hopefully like an innocent child. "Are you going to tell me the babies' names now?" she asked.

Bickslow stopped in his tracks, staring straight ahead for a moment. Why the hell do I keep forgetting about that?

"Something wrong?" Lucy questioned.

He blinked under his visor. "Huh?"

"You stopped suddenly. Are you okay?"

"Oh, right. No, no, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. I was just thinking about something." He really wasn't sure why he kept forgetting about the babies. Walking again slowly, he brought a hand up slightly, balling it up into a fist as his closed palm started to glow with a white light. The dolls seemingly dropped from the sky to hover around him, and Lucy had to quickly spin around to see them. "Cosplayer, babies. Babies, Cosplayer."

"Cosplayer, Cosplayer!" they chanted.

"Anyway, their names." He looked up as the dolls went to hover around Lucy, and he pointed to the one with the colourful angry expression just as it hovered right in front of Lucy's face. "That one is Pippi." He pointed to the one that came to replace it next. "That's Poppo."

"I'm sensing a pattern here," she mused.

Bickslow nodded. "The happy one is Pappa. And then those two are Peppe and Puppu."

Lucy looked up at the small totem dolls hovering around her head. She had always been so curious about them, since in a way they'd always reminded her of her spirits that she held so dear. She knew about their strange habit of repeating certain parts of phrases, but other than that, she didn't know much about them.

"So these are all souls, right?" she asked. Bickslow nodded, continuing to watch Lucy as she observed the dolls with interest."So how do you like,you know… Get them?"

"You mean, how I managed to get them under my manipulation?" Very few people had ever shown an interest in his magic, especially after they found out he was capable of controlling living humans. He knew how some found it creepy, and for a while when he'd been young, Bickslow had thought the very same. But it was something he'd grown up, so he'd learnt to embrace it as he'd grown.

Still, there Lucy was wanting to know more about the babies and souls, and she wasn't put off by any of it in the slightest. She knew exactly what he was capable of doing as well.

It had been years since anyone had asked him about his magic though, and even then, Bickslow hadn't been able to give them all the answers. So with Lucy asking the same kind of questions, Bickslow had to rack his brain to come up with a suitable explanation.

"Um, it's kind of a difficult answer, I guess. Seith magic allows me to seal wandering souls into objects, so each of those ones above your head are wandering souls that I can control, although I can only control them to an extent. They seem to have a mind of their own sometimes…" he trailed off. "But if you're asking how they came to be part of my immortal troupe of dolls, then… I don't really know. It's been a really long time since I've had to do it, but basically, I kind of just pick up a lost soul when I find one, and put it in something else. I'm really just a glorified puppeteer."

"Puppeteer!" the babies said.

And it was the truth, mostly. Wandering souls that were able to be manipulated were incredibly rare, and the last one he had obtained was when he had technically still been a teenager, so he really couldn't remember the details. He had five of them under his control, and he had been fine with five so he'd never found a need to go and seek out a sixth. Still, finding a sixth would've been near impossible anyway.

"So… You're saying that you're essentially a glorified puppeteer with an immortal army?" Lucy laughed.

"Exactly," he agreed, cackling loudly and ignoring the strange looks the few passersby gave him. He was used to the occasional stare anyway, and between his laugh, his magic, his clothes, and the tattoo on his tongue, people had plenty to gawk at sometimes. But Bickslow never really minded. He'd long since decided he wouldn't change for anyone because he'd never cared much what people thought of him. Except for Lucy - he cared what Lucy thought, but she didn't seem to mind him much so for the time being, Bickslow just didn't think about. "Anyway, so now that we've established I'm the commander of an immortal army, what exactly is this exhibition on?" he asked as the museum as the end of the street came in sight.

"It's a travelling exhibition apparently," Lucy answered. "The booklet said it was a large showcase of ancient artifacts from Fiore and surrounding countries. It just seems like a good way to waste the afternoon, don't you think?"

"I guess so." Really though, Bickslow wasn't looking forward to it. He hated museums, because they were boring and he really didn't do boring things.

But he'd promised Lucy he'd deal with anything she wanted to do, so he was going to do his best to do just that.

"And here we have a marble statue of…"

Bickslow rolled his eyes under his visor as the monotonous voice of the museum guide started rattling off about yet another marble statue. He had been counting them, and in that hall alone, he was already up to twenty-seven. Twenty-seven statues of old guys with wicked beards that all looked the same in their stupid togas.

He felt like he had been following around that group for a year, and he'd hated every second of it. Three hours of following around a group of children and elderly couples who have nothing better to do with their life. If his headache wasn't from the screaming kids, it was from the voice that just went on and on about whatever they were supposed to be looking at, whether it be a statue, a painting, a mast from an old ship, or a piece of a broken bowl that was apparently significant for some stupid reason.

It was boring, and Bickslow was bored out of his mind.

But he had Lucy next to him, and he had told himself to not act like the manchild he usually was, and act like he was at least a little bit interested. But that had proved to be harder than he'd anticipated after fifteen minutes of listening to the museum employee prattle on about some disturbing past linked to some random relic he hadn't paid much attention to.

Lucy had almost sighed in relief when the tour guide had exclaimed the tour was officially over. Now, she wasn't the biggest fan of museums or anything of the sort, but she usually enjoyed them anyway. That tour, though? She'd found it dull and boring and she was sure watching paint dry would've been a better use of her time.

Lucy wasn't stupid, either. She knew Bickslow hadn't been enjoying it and that had been made quite obvious at one point when he'd yawned so loudly that everyone in front of them had turned to shush him. He hadn't made a single noise after that. Still, she wasn't surprised he'd found it boring, because she'd had a feeling that he wasn't the type of person to enjoy going to museums and exhibitions, and that was okay.

Still, she was incredibly proud of him for putting up with it for her.

Stepping out onto the steps at the front of the museum, Lucy breathed in the fresh air and smiled to herself for a moment. "What did you think?" she asked.

"What did I think?" Bickslow repeated, and Lucy nodded. Oh, well… I'm pretty sure I fell asleep while standing a few times, and I have a headache from all of those screaming demons, so what did I think? I thought it was fucking terrible. "It was alright," he said with a shrug.

"Well, I thought it was quite boring."

He stopped in his tracks and looked down at her before they descended the steps. "Huh?" She thought it was boring? Doesn't she usually like that kind of stuff? What?! After a moment, the laughter Lucy had been trying to contain broke free and Bickslow couldn't help but smile as he shook his head and finally began to go down the steps. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yup. Figured it out when you yawned and got told to shut up by a bunch of ten-year-olds."

She knew the entire time. "Yeah… Well, sorry. I didn't really want you to know since it was your idea."

"You should have told me," she said. As proud as she was, she really wouldn't have cared if they went and did something else. "We could have done something else that you wanted to do."

Bickslow stopped as they reached the bottom of the stairs, placing his hands on Lucy's shoulders to turn her towards him. "Hey, it doesn't matter, okay?" he said softly, ducking his head to try and get her to look at him instead of the ground.

"Yes it does. I don't want you to do things you hate just beca—"

"It doesn't matter because I got to the spent the afternoon with you, which is all I wanted to do in the first place," Bickslow said. "I didn't say anything because I really didn't care what we did, as long as it was with you."

Lucy didn't know what to say. He'd kept quiet because he'd just wanted to spend time with her, and that was surprisingly sweet, considering it was Bickslow who had said it. But on the other hand, he had proved to be full of surprises when it came to being nice and unexpectedly caring, and it was a side of Bickslow that Lucy hadn't even thought existed. She was still figuring it all out, though. "I still think you should have told me," she said quietly.

Without thinking, Bickslow wrapped his arms around her back to pull her in against his chest. He felt terrible. He hadn't meant to make her upset over something so small and trivial, but he had. Bickslow thought he was doing the right thing by not telling her that he hated it, but apparently he had been wrong. He seemed to have done more harm by not telling her.

"I'm sorry," Bickslow murmured. "I promise to tell you when I'm bored out of my fucking mind."

Lucy smiled into his chest as she wound her arms around his middle. A part of her felt like she could have stayed like that for hours. It was comforting and somehow made her feel like everything in the world was going to fine, even though she knew she had no reason to think otherwise.

It was warm and she was content just standing there for a bit. Something about it was different though, and she couldn't quite put her finger on what. It was warm, but not overly warm like Natsu's hugs that made her feel like she was on fire. It wasn't exceedingly tight like Erza's occasionally were where Lucy would end up with a headache from getting her head slammed against her armour. It wasn't the kind of hug she'd get from Gray that would be weak just in case Juvia was lurking, and it wasn't the kind she'd get from Levy just because she hadn't seen her best friend for a few days.

It was something else entirely, but she decided that it's what a hug should be. It was at that moment Lucy realised why it was so different, and it was because it wasn't from Natsu or Erza or Gray or Levy. It was from Bickslow. It was different because he cared about her and for her, in a different way from the rest of them. It was different because he was sorry, and that's what he was conveying to her through holding her like that. Lucy realised that he had wanted her to know that he cared.

She felt almost silly now. She had gotten upset over something small and relatively meaningless, but regardless, she really wished Bickslow had told her. She'd really enjoyed the time she'd spent with him so far, and she just wanted to spend more time with him. She was enjoying learning about him, and despite getting slightly upset over the entire museum situation, she realised it was okay. You were supposed to learn about people when you go on dates with them, and she had learnt something from it.

"You better," she mumbled, only staying in his arms for another moment before she pulled herself away and sighed softly. "We should probably be getting back to the guild."

"I guess," Bickslow agreed. "Your team is probably wondering where you disappeared to."

"They think I'm helping Gajeel with something. Well, they should be thinking that."

"Yeah, but he'll be back in the guild by now."

"How do you know?" Lucy asked.

"Because he's always there," he said. "And besides, he didn't take Lily with him when he left, so he had no intentions of going out for very long."

That's right… He wasn't with Lily when he'd left… Lucy only hoped her team wouldn't ask too many questions when she did return.

The walk back to the guild was filled with laughter as they discussed what they hadn't liked about the exhibition. Bickslow had stuck with saying he hated it all while reiterating the fact he only liked it because Lucy was there, but they did manage to agree that the tour guide was most likely one of the worst parts of it.

As they crossed the main gate and into the courtyard, they slowed down. Lucy looked up as they walked to the one side of the area that was mostly hidden from sight should anyone decide to burst out of guild doors.

"So…" She stared down at the ground for a moment, digging the toe of her boot into the pavement and trying to hide the searing heat on her cheeks. How do you even ask someone to go on a date? Would it even really be a date? Oh god, Lucy, you're too nervous. What if you mess up the words?

"So…" Bickslow echoed.

"Are you going to be here Saturday?" Lucy quickly asked, glancing up for just a second before looking away again.

Bickslow grinned as he leant against the wall. "That depends on what you say next." Bickslow had an inkling as to what she was trying to say, but for some reason he didn't feel like making it easy for her, so he decided to have a bit of fun with it. Hopefully she'll still get around to asking, if that's what she was going to talk about anyway…

What does that mean? Does that mean he's going to be in the guild on Saturday? Or does it mean he'll be out with his team by then? Why couldn't he just give a simple answer?! "Uh… Well, if you'll have to change things around then it can wait, I guess…" she mumbled. This is too awkward. How did he manage to do it so easily after the first date?

"I'll be here, don't worry," Bickslow said.

Lucy looked up again just to scowl at him. "You couldn't have just said that?"

"Nope." He couldn't help but find her adorable in that moment. Not so much when she looks like she's ready to send you through a hall, but still adorable.

"Anyway, I was, uh… I was thinking maybe you could come over for dinner…" she murmured. "I mean… I could cook…"

"What time?"

She glanced up to meet his grin. "O-Oh… Um…" Lucy realised she had half been expecting him to say no for some reason, but the more she thought about it, the more she realised that it made no sense. He'd put up with a three hour museum tour just because he wanted to do something with her, so why would he say no to dinner?"Maybe around seven?"

"Sure." Bickslow pushed his back from the wall. "So I guess I'll see you inside?" he said over his shoulder.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Bickslow had almost rounded the corner before he spun back around. "One other thing…"

"Hm?"

"This." Bickslow raised his hands to cup her face, gently lifting her head as he tilted his own and pressed his lips to hers as gently as he always did. He had to remind himself not to draw it out as his hands dropped to her waist, so he pulled himself away just enough to lean back in until his lips were by her ear and he whispered, "You're adorable when you're shy, Lucy."

His words sent a shiver down her spine, and Lucy could only stare at the empty space where Bickslow had just been as he turned and left once again, finally heading back into the guild. How does he do it? How is always so… confident?

And then it occurred to Lucy, that it was probably the first time Bickslow had ever used her name intentionally.