The near winter air caressed her skin as it passed by, making her shiver as she sat in the middle of a clearing and tried to concentrate on her meditation. after last night she felt restless and the urge to go out for a run was very inviting, so Lucy tip-toed over the sleeping bodies of her friends and left a note saying she would be back soon before changing and leaving the building and started jogging. So lost in thoughts she didn't realise that she was on the opposite side of Magnolia, thus now sitting in a clearing.
The sun had just started rising and Lucy took in a deep breath of the morning fresh air. She tried to concentrate but last nights fatigue and the cold air around her made it a little difficult. Huffing out of irritation lucy opened her eyes and for a moment had to stop when she saw the five little totems in front of her, looking at her with great curiosity. "Uh.." was all she said when one of the totems levitated from the ground and floated towards her and settled in her lap, nuzzling and chirping so cutely that Lucy instantly fell in love with them. The other totems followed the first one and Lucy giggled and gathered them in her arms and hugged them.
"You guys are so cute!" she kissed each one of them and the totems all let out a sigh at her action making her giggle once again at their behaviour. She let them go but they settled in her lap once again and Lucy felt her heart soar. "Do you have names little cuties?" she pats them on their heads and for some Lucy could make out what they said. The little totem gets out of her lap and twirled around in the air and the others danced around her hear. " Oh.. so you are Pippi, Peppe, Puppu, Pappa and Poppo." she pointed her finger at each one of them as she spoke and earned a hum from the five little dolls. "Even your names are cute! Do you want to play wit, Plue? yeah?" she smiled when they started chanting 'Plue'.
Standing up she took his key out and sent a small amount of magic through before chanting, "Gate of the Canis Minor, I open thee! Nikora" and with a small puff the little dog stood in front of her and ran towards her with his wobbly legs and hugged her. Lucy greeted Plue and kissed his cheek before putting him down and smiled when he was greeted by the totems and started chasing them. Lucy was about to sit to watch them but the sudden movement in the tree to her left put her to her guards and she quickly summoned Cancer's blades in her hands and threw in the direction in warning before standing in front of her spirit and the totems protectively.
The person fell down from the tree, startled and groaned when he hit the ground. Lucy caught a glimpse of blue hair and the familiar magic before she relaxed her composer and rushed towards the mage now on the ground and looked down at him, gasping when she saw him without a visor. "Bickslow! Are you alright?" She saw him clench his eyes and his jaw was set. She knew that Biickslow never took his visor off in front of people if he was not fighting so Lucy stepped back and brushed her hand on Virgo's key and within a second, the spirit appeared in front of her and handed her a head visor before leaving. Lucy stepped closer and crouched down in front of him.
"Cosplay, could you not come so close... my magic is quite unstable right now." He had his hands covering his eyes and his breathing was very laboured. Lucy put the visor in front of him and softly spoke. " You can wear this for the meanwhile." before getting up and turning around missing the look of utter surprise on the seith mage's face. The totems rushed towards their owner and settled next to him chirping quietly and Lucy, still facing away from him, smiled at their apology.
She heard him standing up and turned around to see him looking at his dolls with a scolding look and could not help but chuckle, which made the male look at her and understood why everyone loved her. He woke up early in this morning feeling that his babies were not around and in a panic set out to find them but was so surprised to find them with the celestial mage chirping and dancing that they only did with him and his teammates. He was even more surprised when Lucy suddenly threw a dagger sword in his direction. He couldn't name the emotion he felt when she gave him a visor to wear in the meantime. It was just as if she knew, how to handle anyone without causing them trouble.
"They... they don't usually become so friendly with people so easily. I guess i was worried when i couldn't feel their presence near me." The big man said as he flicked Poppo in his head making the little totem gasp and rush towards Lucy, complaining about how mean Bickslow was being. Lucy gently soothed the area Bixkslow hit him at cooed at him. Bickslow, at this moment, knew why boss-man was in love with her. She was the beacon of light for all of them.
"What are you doing here Cosplay? Fairy-hills is at the other side of the town." He walked in front of Plue who raised his hands asking the seith mage to pick him up and looked at Lucy who was once again surrounded by his babies. "Heh, it looks like they like you more than me" He rolled his tongue out and Lucy laughed and shook his head. " well what can i say, I seem to attract anyone." She jooked but Bickslow knew what she said was true.
"So what are you doing here?" He asked once again as he set Plue on his head and the little spirit waved his hands to attract Lucy's attention to see. Lucy smiled at him and Plue was filled with warmth his master showed him.
"I was jogging, when I saw the field and thought I should stop to meditate, but it was too cold and i kept on shivering so i gave up the idea. Them I saw these little cuties in front of me and i got distracted." She patted his babies on their head and Bickslow felt the warmth they felt through his magic.
"Well, i should be going, i have a busy day ahead." She smiled at him and Bickslow nodded his head and put Plue down on the ground who ran towards his master but not before hugging the seith mage's leg. The babied got a small kiss from Lucy before she pickup Plue and started walking towards fairy hills. Once she was out of sight Bickslow looked at his babies and said, "She is amazing huh?" And smiled at them before walking back to the crib.
He entered the house and was greeted with the smell of coffee and knew that Laxus was awake and entered the kitchen. He saw the Blonde Pouring coffee and without turning he asked the seith mage. "Hey man, where did you go without you..." Bickslow flinched when Laxus turned, his nostrils flaring and for a moment Bickslow thought he was going to die. Laxus's eyes narrowed at his friend and with deadly menace in his voice, he asked. " Why do you smell like Blondie, hmm Bickslow?" A shiver of pure fear travelled though Bickslow and he quickly explained.
" Hey! It's not what you think! My babies were missing this morning and i got worried so i ran out off the house to look for them and saw cosplay in the clearing playing with them." He stepped back and looked at the man carefully. Laxus closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. He could not help it, getting possessive when it came to Lucy. "Sorry man, Its just you have her scent on you and it just rials my dragon up." He ran his hands over his face and clenched his teeth. " Go take a bath, get rid of her scent from your body." Laxus pointed towards his room and Bickslow rushed out of the room. 'Fuck, i almost shit my pants.' the seith mage thought as he ran out.
Lucy soaked in the bath area and quickly washed her hair before drying her body and wrapping a towel around her hair. She wore her black stockings and a white midthigh skirt with a tan tank top and a white jacket. Brushing her hair she tied it into a ponytail and wore her brown boots. She rushed to Mira's room and gathered her Keys and purse walked to Levy's room and knocked on the door and smiled when she opened the door and took two books from her hands and they started walking towards the guild. It was 10:30 in the morning and Levy was late for her usual timing but she wanted to spend time with Lucy.
They walk on the familiar roads of Magnolia and Levy decided to ask her best friend the question.
"So Lu-chan, you seem to have taken quite an interest in a certain lightning mage." She smirked when the blonde turned red and looked away. "Waa, Levy-chan you are the one to talk! You like a certain tin head too." It was her turn to smirk as the Blue haired girl stammered. Both of them had a tint of red on their cheeks when they entered the guild hall.
Lucy smiled and waved her hand and greeted everyone and walked over to where Levy sat and set her books down on the table and looked up to see Gajeel smirking as he looked at her. " Hey bunny girl." He chuckled as Lucy huffed and hmphed, " Good morning Tin head." She smirked when Gajeel glared at her and turned to walk over to the bar and greeted Mira.
"Hey, Mira." She smiled as Mira instantly put a strawberry milkshake in front of her. She thanked her and took her drink and sat on the table with Wendy and Lisanna. " Good Morning Guys." She took a sip of the rich goodness in front of her and hummed at the taste. They were soon Joined by Evergreen and Cana and they started planning the day. " So I was thinking why don't all of us go for lunch today." Evergreen waved her fan and smiled.
Lucy bit her lip and Looked at them apologetically. "Sorry guys, i need to go apartment hunting today." she took a magazine out and placed it on the table and her friends leaned over the table looking at the different places she had marked. Levy clapped her hands and smiled at her, " No worry Lu-chan, we will accompany you to look for an apartment." She offered and the rest quickly agreed, wanting to spend time with the celestial mage. As soon as they decided that they would leave at 12:30, the remaining members of team Natsu came inside, fighting as usual. Lucy rolled her eyes at the insults they threw at each other and smiled when the blue Neko came flying towards her crying, " Lushi! Grey froze my fish and then Natsu said he will melt the ice and burned it!" He wept and the people at the table sweatdropped at them.
" Don't worry happy i will get you a fish" She patted the cat as he cuddled into her.
"HEy! it was not my fault! Ice popsicles froze the fish first!" Natsu glared at him and Grey rolled his eyes, "At least i didn't burn it like you Flame-idiot." He smiled at Lucy and ruffled her hair, missing how Juvia looked away from the scene and closed her eyes, something Lucy noticed. She decided she would talk to her today. She turned to look at Grey and sweatdropped once again when she saw the already ongoing bawl.
"So Lucy, tell me something." Cana started as she took a sip from her bottle and looked at her with mischief in her eyes. "Did you find any hot mountain guys you fell in love with." For a second Lucy thought someone was drilling holes in her head but she ignored it. She saw all the girls looking at her and somehow even Mira came to listen to her answer.
"NO! I only went to train and i was away from the town."Her cheeks turned red because at the words 'Hot mountain guys' she only thought about Laxus. Cana raised her eyebrow at her expression but stopped when she saw five very familiar totems come and settle on the table near Lucy who smiles when she saw them. Two of the totems got up and nuzzled Cana's cheek making her chuckle. The totems knew that Bickslow liked Cana but they forgot that Lucy understood what they said and she covered her smile by coughing. 'I feel like i am becoming like Mira.' She shook her head and looked at evergreen and started talking about the latest fashion.
At exact 12:30 the girls set out to look for apartments and somehow none of them liked the ones they saw so far. Even Lucy thought that the vibe in those places was not like in a home, so they sat in a cafe drinking hot chocolate and eating cake. Erza even told Lucy that she could live in fairy hills but Lucy refused. She really wanted a place of her own. As they talked about what kind of place she was looking for Evergreen suddenly felt like she knew the perfect place and a perfect Idea. She knew that Laxus like Lucy and she had a feeling that Lucy reciprocated his feelings. She also knew that Laxus lived in the forest in his mini-mansion, which was close to the new house range that opened near that area. She pushed her glasses up and smirked.
"Lucy, i know a very good area where houses are being let out for lease. They have a great view of the forest and backyard. Its a good house, and if i am correct then the rent is almost similar to what you paid before." She mentally patted her back when Lucy looked at her with an excited expression. "That is great! We will go and see the location next!" she smiled at the blonde.
After they paid their bill they started walking towards the next location with Evergreen leading. Lucy caught Juvia's hand, seeing it as the perfect moment to talk to her. She motioned her friends to keep on walking and looked at Juvia who looked at her sceptically. "Love rival... what are you doing?" She asked when Lucy looked at her feet before clearing her throat and looking up at her. For a moment Juvia thought she would tell her to stay away from her Beloved Grey-sama.
"I am not your Love-rival Juvia. I don't love Grey as a lover, i look up to him as my brother." Lucy didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "When i came to the guild and joined Team Natsu the took care of me, they showed me love, something i never experience after mom died. I have always looked at Grey as a brother." Juvia looked into her eyes and she knew that Lucy was being sincere about what she said.
"I want to be your friend Juvia, i don't want you to think that Grey looks at me romantically because he does not. He told me he loves me as his sister and i promise you as a celestial mage that the only relationship we share is of siblings." Her cheeks burned as she spoke the next sentence. " And besides, there is already someone at the Guild i like." Juvia gasped and grabbed Lucy's hand. "Lucy-san likes someone! Who? Is it Natsu-san?" Juvia felt so excited that Lucy shared this information with her.
"No, it's not Natsu. I am sorry but i can't tell you who it is because..." she looked over her shoulder and jokingly glared at the rest of her friends who were hiding behind a cart. Cana tsked and pouted.
"You are no fun lucy." She crossed her hands and shook her head at the blonde. It's not like Lucy didn't trust them. It's just that they would tease her and if Laxus found out she was not ready for the rejection.
After all, she was just in love with him.