Okay, so chapter in Lisanna's perspective this time. Bickslow has been a ton of fun but I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at her thoughts on everything that is going on. She's a really fun character because not only does she wear her heart on her sleeve, it's pretty obvious how she affects the characters around her too, so I thought something with her would be fun.
Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. I'm just having fun with them. Dirty fun.
Chapter 4: In Which Acting Casual is Hard
Lisanna wasn't sure if it was her, but she couldn't help but feel her whole room smelled of sex, even as she finished cleaning it. She'd washed the sheets and blanket, hung them out to dry, wiped up the room and opened the window to let in some fresh air. Yet somehow, somehow she could still smell it. That musky scent that Bickslow left behind seemed to fill her nose and her mind, refusing to give her a moment of peace.
Laying back on her freshly made bed, she pressed her face into the pillow and deeply inhaled. Was it his natural scent or some kind of cologne? She'd been drowning in that smell earlier, it so strong she'd become intoxicated from it. She was grateful her sister didn't have the nose any of the dragon slayers did, or else she'd be in big trouble.
The Take Over wizard couldn't help but wonder if her sister would get mad about this. Heck, she'd probably be livid. As much as she'd changed into a sweet, kind woman over the two years since she'd been gone there was still a wild side to her full of anger and rage. It was better handled now, hidden away, but it was still there. Lisanna knew she had to keep this secret from her no matter what it took. Still, it had been worth it… so very, very worth it. She could still feel the ache inside of her, a deep throb inside of her that made her smile.
"Bickslow..." she whispered as she hugged one of her pillows to her chest. Never in a million years would she have guessed he'd be her first. She certainly hadn't expected him to kiss her that night and she'd reacted before she could properly think over the consequences. Things had just been changing too fast for her, hurting her too much, and he'd thrown her something to cling to in order to make it all go away even if only for a short time. She'd latched onto it without even thinking about it and the things he'd done to her that night had stayed with her.
He'd quickly filled her fantasies, made her think about nothing else. Everything seemed to pause when he popped into her mind, and it was especially hard in front of other people. Just the memory of his eyes looking at her in compassion before he kissed her, his strong arms around her, it still made her smile. Then of course their actual afternoon together. Who would have thought sex with him would have been so achingly wonderful? Every trace of his hand over her had made her want to shiver when he'd been connected to her and though she was much too exhausted to even entertain the idea of doing more today, she felt oddly lonely now that he was no longer with her.
She wondered if this would have happened if she had never been caught in the Anima. She'd been pretty focused on Natsu before then. She'd wanted to be his girlfriend, had wanted to become his wife someday. They'd played house and pretended to be in love, and it had felt like it was evolving into something more before that mission that had torn her away from everyone. If she'd been there the last couple years, would they have been more.
Sadly, she'd never know. Two years, two long years away from him had hurt. Lisanna had been sure she would never go home, had forced her to forget. The Edolas Natsu hadn't been the same and it had felt wrong to even attempt anything with him. Lying to them all had been bad enough without trying to take advantage and make him love her when pretending to be someone else. Besides, it was fairly obvious to her that Lucy wanted him, so she'd had no right to interfere. Now her Natsu was taken as well, whether he knew it or not, but this world's Lucy.
Lisanna knew better than to allow her heart to get involved, and after such a long time away, it hadn't hurt as much as she thought it would have. She'd moved on, and Natsu deserved someone who didn't remind him of two years of pain thinking she was dead. He didn't react any other way than happy to see her, but she couldn't help but wonder if he ever looked into her eyes and remembered the two years of hell she'd put him through on accident.
So she'd figured being single and staying that way was her course for a while. She hadn't planned on Bickslow happening, but it had and she honestly found herself happy for it. Hardly conventional for a first adult relationship, but she found she trusted him. Everyone else treated her like glass. It seemed he was the only one willing to do dirty things with her and treat her with respect about it.
All in all, she would have been crazy not to kiss him back that night.
"Lisanna! I'm home!"
The teen sat up the second she heard her sister and looked around her room one last time. Nothing looked out of place, nothing that screamed she'd been riding Bickslow just hours before. She quickly scrambled out of bed and left her room, closing the door firmly behind her and went downstairs.
"Ah, there you are," Mirajane said when her big sister saw her enter the kitchen. She was already working on dinner, slicing some vegetables for some salad.
"I'm glad to be back finally."
"Hard day at work?" Lisanna asked.
"Slow," she said with a shake of her head. "Things are getting back to normal slowly but… well, you've seen it."
"Yeah. I've seen it," she agreed softly.
"Kinana came by, by the way. She asked about you," Mira informed her. "I'd told her you'd already gone home though."
"Did she say what she needed?" the girl asked curiously.
"Oh, just wanted to say hi. Asked if you planned on taking some jobs or just work the bar with her and I."
"Oh, I don't know. I think it might be easier to work at the guild," she replied with a cross of her arms over her chest. She tried not to blush as she thought of the bar in question, leaning over it with Bickslow behind her, his tongue dragging over her wet skin. She couldn't suppress the shiver of delight at the memory, now in overdrive because of the day's previous activities.
"Are you cold, Lisanna? You're shivering," Mira pointed out, making her little sister flush and smack her face with the palms of her hands in order to get the thought out of her head.
"No! No, I'm fine," she said quickly. Oh, she really shouldn't space out like that right in front of Mira. She was trying not to be obvious over here. "Just tired from work, that's all."
"You got off a full shift ago. How can you be tired?" the older Take Over wizard asked. Lisanna just forced herself to shrug nonchalantly, or what she hoped looked nonchalant.
"I guess I've just been stressed lately," she said as she looked down at the floor. The sound of the faucet turning on distracted her again though, even as her sister was washing the lettuce off, all Lisanna could think of was the water spraying on her shaking, nude body as her lover rubbed soap suds all over her, working his fingers inside of her and getting her extra clean.
She gasped out loud and shook her head as Mira looked at her.
"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked. "Maybe you should sit down."
"Yeah, good idea," she said as she pulled a chair out from the table and did exactly that. The polished wood felt cool against her heated skin, and she had to wonder if her body was getting out from her control somehow. Was she really so obvious? The first night after Bickslow had left her feeling hungry for more but now that she'd actually slept with him it seemed her mind was going into overdrive. She really, really needed to calm down.
"Maybe you're coming down with something. You don't look so good," Mirajane noted. "It would explain why you're so tired too, after such a slow shift."
"I'm not sick," Lisanna said. "Just preoccupied."
"Oh? With what?"
There was no feasible lie that she could come up with though so she just shrugged her shoulders. What could she even say about it anyway?
The next morning, Lisanna slipped out of bed before it was even dawn. Dinner had been quiet and awkward, for which the girl blamed herself. Here she was trying to keep a secret and after just one explosive day with Bickslow had made her such a mess it was obvious something was up. She had to be more careful, for nothing else than Bickslow's sake. After practically demanding he start this relationship with her, she couldn't pay him back by blowing it in less than a day.
She needed to burn off some of her extra energy, that was all. She'd figured a run would be a good start. She didn't have to go to the guild today so she had no work to preoccupy herself with and thus this had seemed like a perfect solution. Slipping some sneakers on along with red shorts and a white t-shirt, she set off after leaving a note for her sister about where she was going. No need to make her worry for no reason after all.
There was no real direction she'd had in mind, not really. She'd just let her legs take her wherever they wanted in the cool morning air. Besides, while Bickslow had been very careful with her, she still had had sex several times yesterday. She was way too sore and stiff to really push herself too hard, so she kept it somewhere between a brisk walk and jog, feeling the exercise might burn a little but at least it would force her to think about something else than her lover fucking her in increasingly dirty ways.
The sun was only just starting to rise, and the moon was still high in the air as she made her way out around the edge of town. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise to her that after about half an hour of jogging she was at the neighbor building of Fairy Hills, the male dormitory. It was just as big as the female dorms, a few stories tall and shaped like a H, probably built by the same architect, but as far as she could see, there was no name on the building. Something looked like it had been there over the door long ago, but there were only faded marks now and she could not make them out.
Of course, now that she was here, she had no idea what it was she should do. After all, it's not like she could just waltz right in. Well… she probably could but she would never hear the end of it if she was caught. Again, she was supposed to be keeping this little tryst a secret and she was doing the one thing that would blow their cover in less than a day.
"I should just go, before something bad happens," she said softly to herself before something like laughing caught her ears. Unable to contain her hope at who it might be, she went around the side of the building. There was a small pond behind it that looked like it came in from the ocean, not very big but big enough for swimming if the mood struck her, and above it several tall poles with rope tied between different ones. Her eyes widened when she saw none other than Bickslow walking over one of the ropes, maybe twenty feet above the still water, and on his hands to boot. He was upside down, dressed only in a pair of was looked to be purple pants and not even any shoes on. Around him, his dolls were as active as ever, nudging him whenever he seemed to lose his balance, though it didn't happen often. It seems they were more spotters than anything as he would bend his arms to suddenly push off of one rope and then land on another one.
Slowly, very slowly, his body arched and he lowered on leg, but he seemed to twist backwards so his his foot actually landed in front of him on the rope instead of behind and his other foot followed, nearly doubling him in half before he stood up to straighten himself out. The girl could only stare at just how flexible and well coordinated he had to be in order to move so fluidly in such unnatural ways.
She'd wondered before how he could have such a magnificent body and now it seemed she had her answer. That looked exhausting, and true enough his skin was glimmering with sweat in the pale morning light. The guy practically had the body of a god and he'd clearly worked hard to earn it.
"Whoa."
"Lisanna! Lisanna!" the dolls cried when they seemed to sense her presence. He looked over as well, his hair hanging around his head in fluffy clumps, not yet gelled up for the day.
"Hey there, babe. What are you doing here so early in the morning?" he asked from the pole he was walking toward.
"Couldn't sleep, and I could ask you the same thing," she called to him. "You never struck me as they type that got up early to work out."
"Old habits. Babies, get me down," he said as they formed a little arc for him to step on and they lowered him down to the grassy shore where she was standing. "I've been doing this since I was a kid."
"It looks hard," she said. "How do you that without falling?"
"Well, I am an acrobatic little fucker," he laughed with a shake of his head. "If I'd known you were interested, I would have stayed up there and finished my act."
"Your act? Like a performance?"
"If that's what you wanna call it, sure. I was in the circus as a kid, before I joined Fairy Tail," he explained to her.
"The circus? Really?" she asked in genuine interest. "Why did you leave?"
"Is there some reason you came by?" he asked in response, running a hand through his ungelled hair. She felt a little confused by his sudden lack of answers. Even without a mask and able to see his face clearly, tattoo and all, she felt like he was hiding himself from her.
"I… I needed to get out of the house. I was tense last night and I think I nearly tipped Mira off that something happened," she replied. "I went for a run and I just sort of ended up here. I guess I just needed to talk to you."
He picked up his black shirt from off the ground and slipped it on over his head. At first she wondered if she'd made him mad before he suddenly wove a hand behind her neck and pulled her into a kiss.
"Got you that hot and bothered, do I, babe?" he asked with a wink, to which she only flushed in response. It didn't help that he was all sweaty so close to her and she could smell his musky scent all over again. "Don't worry. I spent all night thinking about it too. Luckily for me, I don't have anyone in my living space who wants to check me out every five minutes and make sure I'm still breathing. Thanks for not blabbing."
"Yeah, well it would have been really rude way to pay you back for what you'd done for me," she replied before looking up at him with something that wasn't just friendly interest. "She thought I was sick, I was getting so hot when I thought of you."
"Is that so?" he whispered before tracing a couple fingers down her throat, causing her to shiver.
"Naughty, naughty. You'll get caughty," his dolls taunted to which she bit the inside of her cheeks. She really didn't need to be scolded by them of all people, or whatever they were.
"It's not my fault. You're the one who did me for three hours straight," she said with a pout. "You should take responsibility for your actions."
"Man, you're pushy," he said before shrugging. "Tell you what, come to my room and wait for me. I'll get washed up and we can go somewhere to talk, okay? Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Nuh uh," she answered with a shake of his head.
"We'll go out and get some coffee and pastries," he said. "Come on."
"You sure it's wise for me to go inside though?" she asked.
"Sure. We'll just tell everyone you came by when you were running and bumped into me. It's true, isn't it?"
"I guess so."
It didn't seem anyone else was up yet, or at least anyone that would bother them. Freed was in the kitchen, pouring himself some coffee and already fully dressed, but they walked by without the man even seeming to notice her presence.
"Morning, Freed," Bickslow said with a yawn and they passed the doorway.
"Morning, Bickslow," he commented, not even looking up from the coffee he was sipping, flicking lazily through what looked to be the morning paper. Lisanna didn't say anything, not willing to bring attention to herself for no reason.
There was a certain amount of curiosity inside of her through when they reached his room. She was eager to get inside and look around, and she wasn't disappointed. The place was a mess but in an organized way, as odd as that seemed. There were half carved wood blocks everywhere and several small jars of paint littered around with brushes and wood carving tools. There were also shelves and shelves full of jars, oddly enough with things floating in them. At first she thought they were animals, yet they were… inanimate, all of them. One of them had a toy truck in it, one had a single playing card, and strangest of all, there was one that had a mirror in in. The liquid was a light red, almost pink, and it made the details on some of them hard to make out. On the walls where decorations, old posters paintings with wild designs of bright colors in thick paint. Many of them were announcements about a circus coming to different towns, but all of them under the same title. Le Cirque des Rêves.
"The Circus of Dreams," he said behind her, making her jump a little. She'd almost forgotten he was here, which had just been damn foolish.
"Dreams?" she asked.
"My home," he explained. "My mom was a performer there. She was pretty good too."
"Good! Good!" the babies exclaimed happily. "Very good! Wonderful!"
"The posters are amazing," she said softly. They looked like they had been painted by a master, or at least she thought so. She didn't know much about this kind of thing, but she had a feeling Reedus would have loved to take a look at them.
"They were painted by someone in the circus," he explained. "They were made with magic. Everyone in the circus was a wizard, but just about everyone was pretty low level. All we did was perform so we weren't really considered a guild or anything but the magic really brought in a crowd."
"I've never seen this circus," she commented. "They sound amazing."
He didn't say anything and for a second even the babies seemed to droop a little.
"I won't be long," he said before patting her on the head and went to his dresser to grab a towel. "Just stay here. I'll let the babies stay with you and keep you company. They hate the hot soapy water anyway. Makes their bodies warp like you wouldn't believe."
She felt confused when he left and closed the door behind him. Sitting down on the bed, she sighed softly. He'd gone and done it again, making his past sound interesting to her before just closing up on it again. Lisanna had never really been terribly curious about the man but things like that were really burning inside of her now.
Just as she'd sat down, it seemed the babies realized they'd been left behind. Part of her had expected a tantrum since they seemed so attached to Bickslow, but instead they just floated over to her and she was suddenly bumped on the head.
"H-hey! What was that for?" she asked before there was suddenly a weight on her head. One of the babies, she had no idea which one, was resting on her head and two more went over to her shoulders, one on each, and the remaining two settled on her lap. It was probably the weirdest thing she'd ever seen them do, but she didn't protest it. After all, they might get upset and she didn't want that. Still, she felt like a statue with a bunch of birds perched on her.
"Okay, enough. This isn't gonna work. Give me a second."
She waved them away and while they whined at her for it, she then laid out on his bed on her side, curling up a little to leave a little pocket of space around her stomach. She patted the space with her hand.
"You want to cuddle, come over here. One time offer," she said. They didn't wait, settling down with her on the bed. Without their weight on them, and they felt oddly heavy despite only being made of wood, she was able to cuddle them all without being uncomfortable, curling an arm around their bodies. "There. Much better."
"Much better. Better," they repeated and she told herself they were agreeing with her and not just repeating like usual.
They kept giggling and chirping occasionally, but overall they were quiet and she allowed herself a chance to think.
There was very little she knew about Bickslow. She'd already been in Fairy Tail when he'd arrived, just having been learning magic for maybe a year, if that. She'd only been a little girl at the time but he'd already been a teenager. She couldn't remember the day when he'd shown up and she could only assume she'd been away when he'd arrived. Maybe it had been one of the many days she'd been off to play with Natsu. One day he'd just been there when the day before he hadn't been. Unlike the Bickslow she knew now, always laughing and smiling, he'd been pretty quiet and often had spent most of his time sitting alone at one of the guild tables. The only one he'd ever willingly interacted with was Laxus, only a year older and the two teenagers had quickly gotten into the habit of running off together for days at a time without a word, sometimes on jobs but most often not.
Even back then, they'd been really close, and all too soon Freed and Evergreen had joined Fairy Tail and they'd formed the Thunder Legion. Come to think of it, she had no idea where Freed and Evergreen had come from either. When she'd been growing up, they'd barely spent any time around the guild, so little time in fact it had been shocking to see them at the hall when she'd returned to her home world. She could barely remember how he'd been like back then, dressed in dark clothes, hoodie almost covering his face as he followed after Laxus, and his babies trailing after him.
"Strange to think about it," she mused. "I guess he had you guys even before Fairy Tail, huh?"
Lisanna couldn't help but wonder just where they'd come from too. She knew very little about Seith magic, despite the fact it dealt with souls like her own. She took souls into her own body in order to willingly gain power and strength while Bickslow pushed souls into other objects and made them fight for him. Besides the basics, she knew very little about all of it. Maybe she should make the attempt to learn. It could teach her a little bit more about him, after all.
For now though, she just had a relationship to think about. His actions had made her very happy, but also undeniably on edge. She really had to work on that before anything else.
Still, she realized as she hugged the little wooden babies close to her chest and smiled softly, it was pretty good despite her own anxiety. Her eyes were drooping already, relaxed on Bickslow's bed, surrounded by his things, his scent and his babies, she felt so safe and content. In the early hours of the morning, she could feel herself falling asleep even as the door opened and she saw Bickslow walking back inside, running a hand through his damp, blue hair and a towel wrapped around his waist.
A slight stab of arousal flickered to life in her stomach, but she was too tired to do anything with it, just letting herself fall asleep.
The last thing she heard was a soft sigh as the door closed.
"Shit, Lisanna. You're not gonna make this easy on me, are you?"
Personally, she didn't really know what he was talking about, but there was no way for her sleeping mind to form the thought long enough to say so.
End of Chapter 4
Oddly enough, I have little to say about this chapter other than it was fun to write. Though I should note the name of the circus, including the French translation comes from a novel called the Night Circus where two mages compete to one up each other via the magic in the tents. It's much, much more complicated than that and very deep but that's the basics. Personally I like the idea of a bunch of wizards getting together to make a circus, so I couldn't help but use the names of it for this fic.
Reviews are always appreciated.
