See? Told you probably tomorrow.
Gajeel's surprisingly talkative mood covered for the fact that Lucy playing with the noodles on her plate. He was regaling Levy about beating Bickslow in a sparring match. Then mostly beating Cobra.
"You all right?" Laxus asked quietly. His tone was gruff as always, but his eyes were soft. It bothered him that he couldn't read her as well as he used to be able. Then again, most of her troubles went back to her team so it made sense that he couldn't pick it up off her face
"Yeah."
He glared at the monosyllable response then turned to Cobra.
"Tink thinks she knows where Anna Heartfilia's journal is and is avoiding running to Cellis to find it," Cobra said.
"Stay out of my head," Lucy said, not looking up.
"Lu, we'll go tomorrow," Levy said.
"But we were going sightseeing."
"Bunny Girl, it's Levy. She'd rather explore a bunch of ancient libraries with you any day."
"Really?" Lucy asked, her eyes widening as she looked at her friend.
"Of course."
"And the flowers are back," Bickslow muttered as the two women clasped hands and looked into each other's eyes.
"I think I'm gonna hurl," Cobra agreed.
The two men shared a grin before Lucy whipped around.
"Don't even think about it. I am not dealing with the two of you together. Just because Cobra is an idiot doesn't mean you two get to go fuck and be mated."
Cobra surprised himself by flushing. When he'd first met Bickslow properly at the tarmac, he'd heard his dragon perk up. During his incarceration, he'd gotten a crash course on dragon slayers including the fact that they mated. That it would be a matter of compatible magics and personalities. He'd reached out to Kinana first and while his dragon didn't reject her, the intimacy was awkward, and both ended up parting on good terms. Now, his dragon was making a noise that reminded him of a petulant child sulking.
Gajeel was staring between Lucy and Cobra. Even he could see how Cobra's posture had changed when confronted by her words. If his dragon was a physical creature, it would have staring at her through narrowed eyes. It had been like that the entire time they'd been around each other since the airship landed.
"You can't do that," Laxus said.
Lucy gave him a droll stare. "Do you want to see what kind of hell the two of them could raise together?"
He hesitated. Still sounding a bit grudging, he repeated, "You can't do that."
"How did the Thunder Legion end up in Bosco?" Levy asked, knowing that Lucy wanted to surprise Gajeel.
"Well I was born here. Figured I'd come stay with family for a bit," Bickslow replied.
"I stayed in Bosco for awhile after- When Bix said this was where he was headed, I figured that it sounded like a good as any place to go," Laxus said.
"I followed Laxus," Freed said. "It's not like I could go home."
Lucy flinched. Though she'd never met Freed before joining the guild, she'd met his father a few times. His father did business with hers and they were like two bad fathers in a pod.
"Same," Evergreen said.
"You know, we could get married and make both of our father's happy," Lucy said, looking at Freed.
"Are you offering to be my beard?"
"Are you offering to let me have sex with Boscan bath attendants?"
Both Gajeel and Laxus were making weird faces at Lucy's brazen question. While both knew that she'd been sleeping with Natsu, that had seemed inevitable. The women and Bickslow were laughing at their reactions.
"Where are the Strauss's?" Lucy asked. Laxus's frown deepened and she could see that he was headed into full sulk territory. "What did I say?"
"Mira dumped him. Said she wanted to try dating outside the guild. To see who she'd be outside of Fairy Tail's pin-up girl. Part of Makarov's speech was to explore who we were outside of the guild," Bickslow said. "Naturally, Elfman and Lis stayed with her."
"I'm surprised you decided to come here versus stay with Elfman," Levy said, looking at Evergreen.
"I thought about it. But realized that it would be like marrying him and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Besides, why would I want to deny Bosco my beauty?" She said that last sentence with her usual flare. One that earned her a few intrigued looks.
"I still can't believe they gave you a badge," Freed commented.
"Honestly, me neither."
Lucy walked over to Laxus, draped her arms over his shoulders, and propped her head on her arm next to his head. Both Evergreen and Freed were a little jealous at the ease which she did that.
"You're pouting."
"I don't pout. I brood."
"Nope. This is definitely a pout."
"Oi, Cosplayer. How did you and Natsu end up in bed?" Bickslow asked. It took Lucy a moment to realize that he was deliberately trying to get a rise out of Laxus.
"I'm assuming you're talking about sex and not just him being a bed hog. It was after Tenrou. We had a moment on the island. Then we got back. Three years had passed but we were alive. That's usually what it came down to. Us feeling alive. Sex seemed like a really good way to express it."
"I can't believe you chose to have sex with him," Laxus muttered.
"You chose to make me kin," she retorted, poking him in the side and dancing away even though they both knew he wouldn't retaliate.
Gajeel chuckled. He was glad to see her back to being the bubbly blonde that he'd first claimed. While he knew that she enjoyed working for the magazine, she obsessed over Natsu leaving.
"Hey, Gajeel, spar me," Lucy said abruptly.
"What?"
"You heard me, Lugnuts. Spar me."
"I ain't goin' easy on ya, so you'd better have a healer there."
"Cris should be there by now. I'll call him on the way to the grounds," Bickslow said.
"You guys go on ahead. I wanna talk to Lucy," Laxus said.
"Sure, Bossman. I'll have 'em charge it to your account."
Laxus rolled his eyes but he knew he'd been paid enough to afford the large table at the moderately priced restaurant. "Have you thought about joining the guild? I know your struggling for money." They lingered for a few minutes before leaving as well.
"It's not like that's new. I have but- I don't think I could handle losing another guild. It hurt as it is. Arman's great but he wants me to fall in love with one of his sons and they're all amazing, but I don't know where I want to be after I find these keys."
"I'm pretty sure White Sea is too large to fail."
"I think people thought that about the Heartfilia Konzern."
"And in the three years we were on Tenrou, your father managed to rebuild it."
Lucy scrunched her nose. "Which is the most tempting reason to stay in Bosco." Seeing his frown, she said, "He found out the guild was disbanded when he saw me on the front of Sorcerer Weekly. He tried to get me to come back and make a financial marriage and yada yada. Why are we talking about this?"
"I mostly wanted to wait 'til Bix and Cobra were out of earshot. Why did you tell them they couldn't mate?"
"Because the best way to get someone like Cobra, and Bixy, to do something is to tell them not to."
Laxus blinked owlishly at her as a wicked little smile crossed her face. "Have I mentioned recently you're terrifying? Has Cobra ever been with a man?"
"No idea, but I have faith in Bixy's ability to seduce the pants off him."
"How did you keep Cobra from hearing your scheme?" Lucy started humming 'Crazy Frog.' "Okay. Please stop."
She skipped ahead, looking far too innocent for the devious wheels turning. If she ever got it into her head to try, Lucy could probably take over the world. He was almost grateful that her team's antics kept her from realizing that herself.
The sparring grounds were bordered by a large wall with an observation room at the top. Cristoff was already there when everyone but the two combatants arrived.
"What's with the lacrima cameras?" Bickslow asked when he noticed the screens recording.
"They're to make it easier for Lucy to be evaluated later. We can just send me to Cellis to confirm S-class ranking."
"You think she'll be S-class?" Levy asked, her eyes wide.
"Yeah. I felt her magic when she summoned Draco. It's unfocused and she needs to train her dragon. She's a very rough diamond but I see no reason that the dean wouldn't rank her S-class just by virtue of her celestial magic."
Down on the ground, Lucy was bouncing with excitement.
"Are ya sure abou' this?" Gajeel asked.
"Yup."
"Iron dragon club!" Gajeel attacked.
"Open, gate of the maiden, Virgo! Stardress!"
Lucy drilled down and popped back up behind Gajeel. She'd just begun mastering the stardress when Tartarus happened. As a perfectionist, she hadn't wanted anyone to see her mess it up. The Spirit King had given her the last push in her mastery.
"Open, gate of the goat, Capricorn! Stardress!"
There was something particularly arousing about her stardresses to Cristoff. It both covered and revealed more than her earlier outfit had. It was a black and purple dress that only by virtue of it being magic covered her breasts. The hip high slits revealed mid-thigh socks and boots. He rather liked the braids but didn't know what to think about the horns.
She ran at him, dodging his blows. He'd noticed the chains around her wrists before and assumed they were some fashion statement from her spirits but was surprised when she unraveled them to attack. Suddenly, Gajeel found himself on the defensive. One of his attacks finally managed to land solidly on her and sending her a few feet away.
"Open, gate of the bull, Taurus."
"You know, I imagined Taurus's stardress to be more pervy," Levy commented. Instead, the outfit looked like something Bisca would wear.
"I don't mind."
Cobra chuckled. He could hear the lunar dragon slayer's thoughts on Lucy.
"Those chains are interesting. I'd just thought they were a new fashion statement," Evergreen commented.
"Gajeel's gonna try to taste them. They've gotta be made out of something interesting to throw him like that," Laxus said.
"They're called rantai. Virgo gave them to her because she loses her keys so much and they look like fashion accessories." It took Levy a moment to realize everyone was staring at her. "She told me awhile back about them."
"When is she going to go all dragon slayer on his ass?" Bickslow complained.
Lucy wrapped the rantai around Gajeel's club arm. Using Taurus's strength, she flung him. He barely managed to twist himself to land on his feet.
"Damn Bunny Girl. If I'd known sparring you would be like this, I'd 'ave done it ages ago."
"I definitely have a new trick that'll surprise you. Open, gate of the dragon, Draco! Dragon slayer!" She'd shifted back into her normal clothes and smirked, a hint of fang showing.
Gajeel was dumbstruck and staring at her. When they'd first landed, he'd noticed that her scent had changed. The stardust was even stronger. This was nowhere on his list of possible explanations.
"Athebyne!" Lucy said blasting him with one of the weaker stars in Draco's constellation.
"Shit," Gajeel cursed. He'd been able to manifest his metal scales in time to shield himself from the star, but it had forced him to a knee.
The second time she aimed a star at him, he managed to dodge then get close to her. It only took him a moment to realize that she couldn't cast that in close quarters. He decided that dealing with her chain was preferable to that star.
"This is what I mean," Cristoff said as they watched the two dragon slayers fight in what was almost hand-to-hand combat. "There's a lot of power in that star attack but I suspect that the distance it covers should be larger. The second time was wider but duller even though I think they're the same star."
"She needs to learn focus," Levy said.
"Also, she shouldn't need to summon Draco to use his powers."
"What are you taking notes on?" Bickslow asked when he noticed that his brother was typing into his tablet.
"Just things to focus on in training."
Gajeel was trying to keep her from getting far enough away to cast another of those stars. And she knew it. It pleased Lucy to know that she might beat him. The star attack couldn't be used in close quarters. She'd that the hard way in the valley. It took days for the burns to heal and two hours in the lake to get the smell of Virgo's ointment off her skin.
She used the meteor spell to get out of his reach.
"Iron dragon roar!"
She tried to react with her own roar but knew, almost immediately, that it wasn't strong enough. The attack landed, throwing her into the wall. Seeing her slide down the wall, Laxus and Cristoff teleported next to her. The lunar dragon slayer had already healed her by the time that Gajeel reached them.
"Is she all right?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm gonna take her with me. No point trying to get her back home at this hour." Cristoff scooped her up and left Laxus to deal with the others.
-oOo-
Lucy woke up in an unfamiliar bed with the smell of peppermint tickling her over sensitized nose. Running her tongue along her teeth, she confirmed that she was still in dragon slayer mode which surprised her.
"Cris?" she said softly, rolling over in the bed. It took her a moment to recognize his particular peppermint scent.
"You got knocked out pretty solidly," he said, brushing her hair out of her face to get a good look at her.
"Damn. And I almost had him too."
Noticing the hint of fang, he glanced and saw the dragon perched on her breast. It had been on her shoulder originally. The way its tail seemed to curve underneath her breast and lead his gaze made him wonder if the tattoo was the physical manifestation of her dragon soul.
When his gaze moved back up to hers, he noticed that there was something draconic mixed with lust. She pulled him down to kiss her before rolling him onto his back and perched herself above him. Her fingers grazed his clan tattoo then slowly up to his face.
His dragon hated to be dominated but it wasn't reacting. It was waiting. It wanted every kiss and every touch. He wanted there to be less clothing.
"Share pleasure with me?" Lucy asked against his lips.
"Yes." He flipped them over.
His dragon wanted to worship a queen. The queen wanted a warrior. It was a battle of dominance and pleasure.
Cristoff knew that this wasn't a mating though part of him wanted to let her take charge as a female dragon slayer. It wasn't a mate that she was seeking from him. His dragon knew but wasn't informing him.
When they were both sated and Lucy fell asleep snuggled into his side, Cristoff could feel his dragon preening. He hadn't felt it do that since he made Century class. Her dragon had moved to look like a necklace and seemed to be watching him. The whole situation baffled him, but he wouldn't get answers until she woke and they could ask Draco, so he allowed himself to fall asleep.
I said you weren't getting lemons from me. That was like lemons adjacent. Lemon water.
Canon revision: I'm going to come back to this later, but here's a rundown. Instead of trying to get to the merchant guild in 'Love & Lucky', Jude shows up asking for money to save the Konzern. Lucy's broke but instead manages to help save enough of the company that Jude doesn't lose everything. He sends her job requests when he wants dinner or needs her for rich people BS. He pays for her apartment while they're on Tenrou but is still kinda a shitty dad.
They're on Tenrou for three years instead seven because otherwise it makes the Pradesh birth order really wonky. And three is still one of the fairy tale numbers.