A/N: Just so you know, my oc will be making an appearance in this chapter, but this is a Midlu story so you don't have to worry about me having her hog the spotlight lolz. Her part won't be any bigger than Cana's was. Also, I AM A COLU SHIPPER THEY ARE MY OTP! So, having Lucy with Midnight is slightly murdering me on the inside…no matter how cute and amazingly fun it is to write for them . Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this day of Midlu~ Oh yeah, also, this day of Midlu has the theme of "Clock". I wanted to add real quickly that this chapter does have a journal entry from Lucy in it. I purposely made it a journal entry and not a letter to her mom because by this time she had already decided to stop writing letters to her mother. I did not want to backtrack on that because this had been a big step in her character development in the anime/manga. So, that it why it is a journal entry and not a letter to mom.
Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) still do not own Fairy Tail. So, that means that Colu still is not canon Q.Q The beautiful piece of amazingness belongs to Hiro Mashima and we should all beg him to make Colu canon.
Chapter Two: Something New to Protect
Lucy groaned in a bit of pain as someone banged on her door. 'Whoever is knocking on my door right now has a fucking death wish…' she thought to herself before raising a hand to press against her pounding head. She tried to remember what had happened the night before, but a lot of it was still a bit foggy. She remembered leaving the club and coming to Cana's hotel room, but what the hell happened after that? The pounding at the door continued and she heard another voice beside her groan in a bit of pain much like she had done herself. It took her a moment, but she eventually noticed that she was laying on the floor under the covers with another person and she was most defiantly topless. She also took notice to the fact that whomever she had spent the night with was holding her firmly in place against their chest. 'Oh god no…please, don't let it be him' she thought to herself before finally willing herself to open her eyes. The first thing she saw was the white of what was part of a fuzzy boa. She didn't even need to see anything more than that to know whom she had slept with. For a second, she actually found herself relieved that it was him and not Bacchus, but that second was the only moment of peace her brain found before it put the pieces together. She was topless under the blankets with Midnight. She was just about to shriek in surprise when someone began yelling from in hallway about breaking down the door in ten seconds. Midnight, of course, finally stirred awake at this and slowly opened his eyes only to find one Lucy Heartfilia wrapped up in his arms. He blushed a bright color of crimson before quickly pushing her away, just in time to listen to the front door slam open and reveal Cana holding one of her many cards.
"You need to get out of the city as soon as possible! I already got a carriage for you and a safe place to stay!" Cana spoke while shutting the door behind her to the best of her advantages. She then quickly strolled to the open curtain on the windows and promptly closed them. Lucy slowly stood up from her spot on the floor wrapping the blanket over her upper half.
"Cana, what the hell is going on? Why do we have to leave?" she asked, pushing her morning experience with Midnight to the back of her mind. She doubted she had the time to be worrying over something like that right now. She would just have to ask questions later.
"The Rune Knight's just showed up in the city and they've been asking about your little boyfriend. Why the hell do they even want him so bad?" Cana said while giving a frustrated sigh completely forgetting about the fact that Midnight was once upon a time a villain. Lucy was going to argue with her on the whole boyfriend comment, but Midnight actually said something first.
"Has she already forgotten that I'm an ex criminal that tried to bring about the destruction of the world by sacrificing you to the infinity clock?" Midnight spoke up and Lucy gapped at him mainly because this was the first time he had spoken so much at once. She then slightly winced at the memories of that time…she had almost completely forgotten that this was the man that had almost ruined her life.
"Probably…" Lucy responded quietly while turning her head slowly away from the man. She of course knew that she had to forgive him the whole clock fiasco, but that wasn't something easily done…when she was sober anyways. "I'm way to hungover for this shit…" she muttered under her breath while raising a free hand to gently pinch at the bridge of her nose. First thing first though, she knew that she had to get ready to leave. 'Damn do I wish I had time for a shower,' she thought to herself before excusing herself from the people in the room. Lucy slowly slipped into the bathroom before grabbing the key for Virgo and summoning the pink haired spirit.
"No time for punishment, I need both packs and a new set of clothes Virgo, please," she said quickly, interrupting her friends question before she had been able to voice it. The young woman quickly slipping out of all her clothes, undergarments included. Virgo nodded her head before grabbing Lucy's clothes and disappearing once more. Not even a minute passed before she returned with a pair of matching back lace undergarments, a pair of tight fitting jeans, and finally a light blue t-shirt that showed off a bit of her mid-drift. She placed packs on the floor beside the tub. "Thank you so much Virgo," she spoke happily as the young woman nodded her head and disappeared once more. Lucy double checked her appearance once more and though she was not happy with it she knew that she didn't have the time to make herself presentable. She quickly grabbed her pack before stepping out from the restroom and found Cana peeking out the window while Midnight sat on the bed with his eyes closed.
"Alright, I'm ready to go. How far is this carriage?" Lucy asked and watched as Cana pulled away from the window to look over at her. She tossed the young blonde a rather decent sized sack of Jewels before speaking up.
"It's right outside and it's taking you to the Sabertooth guild. Master called in a favor and they'll be able to house you both there for a few days, apparently they're on good standings with the new council," Cana spoke as Lucy grabbed her top and jacket from the night before off of the floor. She quickly began placing them into her pack as Cana spoke up once more. "Sting asked me to tell you to give him a call once you get about half way there. Also, Bacchus is providing you both a distraction to get out of this city…curtesy of me…so you owe me Lucy. And what I want is details on that little thing you had with Gray, also you have to help me apologize to Bix," Cana said grinning at her friend as she placed her pack onto her back.
"Ugh, fine! Your stuff is in the bathroom and Cana, thanks for all this!" Lucy spoke up as she grabbed onto Midnight's hand and yanked him up from the bed before running toward the door with him.
"Oh, and hey, Midnight, you better take good care of her! We're all putting a lot on the line here for you, especially her, and it shouldn't be any surprise to you, but some people at the guild, namely the rest of her team, don't believe you deserve her help after the whole clock situation. You seem like an okay guy to me now, maybe a bit boring, but if she comes back hurt on your watch don't be surprised if every person in Fairy Tail comes hunting after your ass," Cana spoke before grinning at the surprised faces of them both. Midnight slowly nodded his head in agreement while Lucy muttered out a 'thank you' once more. From there, the two of them quickly took off out of the room. They quickly made their way to the front of the hotel, Lucy hardly aware of how she had a firm grip on Midnight's hand, she was in just that much of a hurry. She didn't realize she was holding his hand until she had to release it to pull herself in carriage.
She tried not to think anything of it, but for some reason the young blonde still found herself turning a light shade of pink. As Midnight tried to get into the carriage behind her he suddenly found himself slightly pulled back by the driver of the carriage.
"Young man, I know that the other mage mentioned taking you to the Sabertooth guild and that's fine and all, but I want to let you know that if I catch any funny business in the back of my carriage I will not hesitate to kick both you and your girlfriend out," the elder man spoke, smiling slightly when Midnight blushed ever so slightly at the insinuations. He didn't have time to argue with the elder man though, so he instead nodded his head and slowly pulled himself up in the carriage once the man had released him. Midnight sat in front of Lucy and closed his eyes once the driver had closed the door to the carriage. The two of them remained quiet as the carriage took off and slowly made way to exit the city.
Lucy spent the first few minutes of the trip doing nothing, but worrying over everything that was going on. Would the two of them make it out of here alright? What would happen if they got caught? 'Well, duh, prison of course,' she thought to herself before beginning to question everything once more. What kind of distraction was Bacchus providing? Would he get into any serious trouble? Was her team really that upset with her for helping Midnight? For a moment, the mental image of Erza holding back Natsu and Gray came to mind. She understood why they would want to come out here and get her. She understood better than anyone why they thought she shouldn't be helping Midnight. After all, she was the one who was going to be sacrificed to infinity clock all those years ago. She still had nightmares of being locked up in that thing, watching Michelle (Gonzales) fade away, being useless to help her friends when they needed her most…she could still remember it all quite clearly. And that included the fact that it was Midnight that had been the reason why any of that even took place in the first place.
She slowly glanced toward the man sitting in front of her as she intertwined her fingers in her lap. He was currently "asleep", but she wasn't sure if he was faking it or not. She knew the man liked to sleep, but sometimes she had to admit that it was a bit much…surely, no human actually slept that much, right? Lucy softly bit down on her lower lip, she had decided to give the man a second chance after everything that happened and she wouldn't allow herself to back down, but she didn't like how comfortable she was getting with him. She was getting way to comfortable, way too fast for someone whom had tried to put her to sleep for 100 years in a clock. Not to mention she was getting a bit too touchy with him, she couldn't understand why she felt the need to always want to touch him or even comfort him. Was it just in her nature to be that way? No, right? She had never been that way with Natsu and he was her best friend.
"What happened last night?" Midnight spoke up, abruptly pulling Lucy from her thoughts which earned him a quiet squeal of shock from the young woman.
"Oh um… what's the last thing you remember?" she asked softly as the events from last night slowly flooded back to her. She hadn't thought about it much since they had woken up, but now that he was asking she was slowly gaining back her slightly fuzzy memories from the night before.
"I remember on the way back to the room, some blonde couple came up to ask Bacchus and Cana if they wanted to switch partners for the night," he said while giving a small sigh of disappointment when he realized he couldn't remember past that. "Did we…did we do anything last night?" he asked sending a questioning gaze toward Lucy whom only blushed a bright red color at his question. She really didn't want to be answering this question of his. She had no intention of telling him that she had been prepared to…to…well ride him. Her blush only deepened at the mental image that had formed in her head.
"N-no, we didn't have sex or…anything like that," she muttered under her breath trying her best to hide her blushing face with her hair. She wanted to look up and see if he was as red as herself, but she was afraid of completely giving away her blushing form to him. He wanted to question her a bit more on what happened last night, but he felt as if he continued any further with this conversation then she might burst. So, he gave a small nod of his head and closed his eyes once more resting his head on the back of the carriage seat once more. He was still trying to nurse a hangover after all. Lucy couldn't have been happier when Midnight no longer inquired about the night before, but for some reason the blush stuck on her face a bit longer. After Lucy finally calmed herself down and pushed all mental images of the night before to the back of her head she finally decided to copy Midnight and rest her head on the back of her seat. For once, she actually had to agree that this man had the right idea when it came to napping.
By the end of the day the carriage had finally made a stop in a small little town. From what Lucy could tell it was a town where everyone knew everyone and she could also see some mountains in the distance.
"Why are we stopping?" Midnight asked the driver as he helped Lucy out of the carriage, surprising the both of them with his thoughtfulness.
"I'm not as young as I used to be and as such it's not easy for me to see in the dark! Is that good enough for you?" the elder man asked with a slightly frustrated tone having not like the tone that Midnight had taken with him.
"Ah, no it's okay, we understand," Lucy spoke while reaching back into the carriage to grab her pack before turning toward the inn the man had dropped them off in front of. "Hot springs?" Lucy spoke looking over the sign that was advertising their apparently amazing hot springs with healing properties.
"Ah yeah, I figured your boyfriend might like to enjoy their healing properties. Their famous in these parts," the driver spoke looking over toward Midnight before casting his gaze back toward Lucy whom was once more sporting a bright blush. She couldn't believe how many people had called Midnight her boyfriend in one day…did they like ooze romance around each other or something?! Lucy began to open her mouth to correct the man on his error, but was quickly interrupted by him as he waved a dismissive hand. "Anyways, I'm going to go find somewhere to drink. I'll be back here around 7am to pick you both up that way you'll be at Sabertooth around 3pm tomorrow," the elder man spoke up before turning to get back onto the front of the carriage. He then left the two of them there starring at him as he left.
"Well, I guess we should head inside and get a room," Lucy muttered under her breath before turning on her heal to enter into the inn. Once the two of them had made it into the inn Lucy quickly asked the woman at the front desk for a room with two beds.
"Sorry mam, but we're quite a small inn and our rooms are already booked. I only have one room left and it only has a single bed," the woman said while glancing through her logs to see if she might find any other rooms, but to no avail. 'Fate is obviously conspiring against me,' Lucy thought to herself with a sigh, but none the less nodded her head toward the woman.
"Alright, we'll take it. Also, do you all provide room service?" she asked while pulling out the proper amount of Jewels for the woman.
"Ah yes, it's not a wide selection, but it should be enough to make you happy. I hope you enjoy your stay here," the woman said while taking Jewels from Lucy and then handing her two keys. Lucy looked down at the room number on the key before thanking the woman and then turning away. She slowly came back to Midnight's side and gave him one of the spares. The man looked down at the key much like she had done and then turned to leave down one of the hallways. Lucy followed closely behind him.
Once they came to their room Midnight did the honors of opening it up and then upon seeing the one bed he looked over toward Lucy with a slightly raised brow.
"Please, don't look at me like that, it's all they had left…besides it's not like we haven't slept in the same bed before," she muttered under her breath while quickly walking passed him into the room to hide her blushing face. She was barely aware of the man as he slowly walked into the room behind her and closed the door.
"I'm going to go ahead and get ready for the hot springs. Mavis knows I need that," Lucy said softly before quickly finding and entering the bathroom with her things. She took a quick shower in order to get all the dirt and sweat off of her body. After that though, the young woman wasted no time in wrapping herself up in a fluffy towel. She then grabbed one of the robes in the bathroom and wrapped that around herself as well. The next thing she spotted were a pair of white fluffy slippers beside where she had found the robe. She gave herself a once over in the mirror before grabbing her keys and exiting the bathroom. She found midnight sitting in a chair in the main room with his eyes closed. If he recognized her presence he didn't make it known.
"I would suggest you use the springs as well since the old man took the time to not only notice you enough to discover your injuries, but actually take us here," she said toward him as she tucked her room key into one of the robe pockets. Midnight didn't respond to her, but she knew for a fact that he had heard her. "I'll help you wrap up your injuries after our soak," she said softly and then finally turned to leave the room.
The walk to the hot springs wasn't too long and the signs that littered the way were actually very helpful, but what did confuse her was the fact that when she made it to the hot spring area they had no male and female signs. All she saw was a sign that said "Enter". She tipped her head to the side in a bit of confusion before finally pushing the through the dark blue curtains and entering the locker area. There she grabbed a nearby locker and rid herself of her robe and slippers placing both into the locker. She kept her celestial spirit keys with her though just in case she needed them for some kind of emergency.
After what felt like an eternity, Lucy finally went out to the actual hot springs and smiled with pure joy when she realized that no one else was here at the moment. She supposed it may have been too early or too late for anyone else to come out here, but either way it made her extremely happy. 'Maybe fate doesn't really hate me as much as I thought,' she thought gleefully to herself before allowing herself to slip into the hot springs. A small relaxing moan slipping passed her lips just as the hot waters made it up passed her shoulders. She sat there like that for a good few minutes before a faint shuffling sound pulled her from her thoughts. She slowly turned and saw the shadow of someone else in the locker area. "Well, it was fun while it lasted," she said to herself and slowly turned her gaze away from the shadow to look up toward the starry sky once more.
In the next minute the person in the locker room had finally come out, but when they noticed Lucy they gave a small curse under their breath and turned back into the locker room. This of course confused Lucy especially since the voice had sounded a lot like Midnight's.
"Midnight…are you…are you in the locker room?" she called out when she saw the shadow once more, but this time it looked like they were gathering up their things and fixing to leave.
"The baths are co-ed. I thought it was strange when I saw no gender specific signs outside," he called back and had he actually been able to see Lucy he would have seen her bright red cheeks. She didn't respond back to him, but for a moment she watched his shadow, contemplating what she was going to next because she was currently conflicted in asking him to join her anyways and letting him go. She was in a towel, but she honestly wished she could just get a bathing suit on before asking him to join. And then she noticed her keys. 'I'm so dumb,' she thought to herself before grabbing the key for Virgo.
"Hey, wait a second, Midnight don't go anywhere!" she called out toward him and when he didn't respond to her she took that as a yes. She made quick work of summoning Virgo and smiled brightly when the pink haired spirit appeared once more.
"Are you going to punish me tonight, Princess?" she asked before hanging her head slightly when Lucy declined her again.
"Sorry for bothering you so much recently Virgo, but I just wasn't properly prepared for such a long mission," Lucy spoke before sighing softly.
"It's okay, it's my duty to serve the Princess," Virgo responded almost immediately which had Lucy once more smiling happily at her spirit. She loved her spirits so much and they were always so nice to her.
"Yes well, can you get a swimsuit for myself and Midnight? We hadn't been informed that these hot springs are co-ed," she said and quickly thanked Virgo when she nodded her head before disappearing. She reappeared moment later with a simple white bikini for Lucy and a pair of dark blue swim trunks for Midnight. "Thank you again so much, Virgo!" Lucy exclaimed happily and watched as Virgo once more disappeared after saying her goodbyes. Once she was gone, and the celestial glitter faded, Lucy stood up from the hot spring. She shuddered lightly when the cool night air touched her wet flesh, but she quickly decided to ignore it in exchange for getting changed. She replaced her keys that were currently on the floor with her soaking wet towel.
"Midnight! You have your robe on right?" she called out toward the locker room and smiled lightly when she heard him call the word 'yes' in response. She quickly slid the thin tatami door to the locker room open and found Midnight standing in front of an open locker near it. She had to resist her laughter when she saw him in nothing, but a fluffy white robe, that was defiantly a site she felt she would never see again and it was quite hilarious. Not to mention, he currently had no make-up on which was also a strange sight to behold. 'Holy Mavis, Lucy you need to keep it together…Don't. You. Dare. Laugh,' she thought to herself trying her damndest to wipe the wide smile on her lips that was just begging to become a laugh. Midnight turned to meet her gaze, but quickly regretted his actions. He could not fathom how wearing what she had on right now was any better than wearing a towel. Sure, she was covered and she may have been more comfortable in that ensemble, but her whole abdomen was completely revealed to him, as well as her long legs. If that wasn't enough then the fact that her bikini top still showed off an ample amount of cleavage to him should have been, but no it didn't stop there. God forbid it stopped there, the woman just had to go a step further in teasing him and wear something that was thin enough for him to see the perk of her hardened nipples from the cold air hitting her warm flesh. He doubted she was doing this on purpose, but that knowledge did nothing to help resolve the issue growing between his legs. He slowly, forcefully, pulled his gaze away from her which only earned him a questioning stare from her, but thankfully she didn't ask any question about his strange behavior.
"I had Virgo grab a pair of swim trunks for you. She doesn't know your size so, I hope they fit," she muttered holding the piece of clothing out toward him, never taking her questioning stare off of him even as he grabbed the swim trunks without looking at her. "You okay, Midnight?" she asked since this was the first time he was refusing to look at her. Sure, sometimes he'd pretend to be asleep, but normally when they engaged in conversation he had no qualms with looking her in the eyes. Or at least that's what she had noticed so far. He slowly nodded his head, but didn't speak up, not trusting his own voice. "O-Okay…call me if you need me," Lucy said slowly, but for a while she didn't take her eyes off of his form. She eventually came to the realization though that he wasn't going to be able to change with her in the room with him and slowly left the locker rooms. The moment she left Midnight released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
'That was kind of weird even for him…,' Lucy thought to herself as she slowly slid back into the warm water, placing her keys on the ground near her and turning slowly to stare back up at the starry sky. She only tore her gaze from the sky when she felt the waters shift as Midnight entered into the springs with her. She slowly turned her attention over toward the other mage, watching as his face scrunched up ever so slightly, probably a discomfort from the spring waters hitting his open wounds. She noticed that the water didn't discolor which was an obvious sign that the bleeding had stopped, but she would still wrap his wounds after this. She didn't want to risk any kind of infection. Lucy continued to watch him as he moved to the opposite side of the spring, sitting in front of her. She wasn't aware that she was even starring at him until he raised a delicate brow at her.
"Oh, um…sorry I was just thinking about your wounds," she muttered out before slowly pulling her gaze away from the man. She once more turned her head upward and looked toward the bright stars. The two remained in a comfortable silence for quite some time with her watching the skies above and him leaning back with his eyes closed.
"I'm…sorry," he said finally breaking the silence as he looked toward her, watching as she quickly brought her neck down to look at him, surprise clearly found on her face. She hadn't been expecting him to speak, much less was she expecting an apology, she wasn't even sure what he was apologizing for.
"For…what exactly?" she asked raising a curious brow toward him before a thought struck her…'is he apologizing for what happened back then?' For a moment, she actually wanted to laugh for even thinking such a thing. It seemed highly unlikely that this man would ever apologize for his actions back then because then it would mean that he regretted doing what he did. It would also mean that he knew his actions were wrong. A large part of her actually wished that that was what his apology was for because if he knew what he did was wrong then…that would mean that he really was trying to change if not already changed. It would also make her want to try that much more at protecting him though she highly doubted he needed her protection.
"Back then when I…tried to sacrifice you to the infinity clock…I was…wrong," he spoke quietly, but still loud enough for the little blonde to hear his words. He had to admit it wasn't easy apologizing, admitting his mistakes and taking responsibility for his actions, he hoped he never had to do that again. He had never planned on apologizing to Lucy in the first place, heck, he had never thought he'd see her again, but as fate would have it he somehow managed to get his life tangled up with this girl's once more. If he had been watching her when he apologized he would have seen the shocked look that over took the woman's face. He would have also saw how that shocked face quickly turned to that of one with a soft smile. She couldn't believe that he had actually apologized to her. She had heard this apology a million times before, people feeling bad after having attempted to torture or murder her, but for some reason his struck a chord with her. She slowly swam over toward him, ignoring the fact that he refused to look at her now, stopping only when she was finally able to wrap him up in her arms. He froze against her, face turning a pretty shade of red as she pressed her wet being against him. It took every bit of will power for him not to get a nose bleed from the hug, but then she had to go and whisper in his ear. He clenched his fists at his sides afraid to touch her for fear that he might do something terribly inappropriate, if the slight tightening in his trunks wasn't inappropriate enough already.
"Forgiven and forgotten Midnight," she whispered in his ear, her breath lightly tickling it and only adding to the growing problem in his pants.
"…M-Macbeth…," he said slowly when he heard her use his nickname.
"Alright then, Macbeth," she spoke happily pulling away from him, but leaving her hands still gently placed on top of his bare shoulders. She looked over his face for a moment before raising a brow at his brightly colored face. "Are you okay? Is it getting to warm in here for you?" she asked moving her hands upward, fingertips brushing lightly over his flesh as she moved to gently press her hands against his cheeks, holding his face in his hands. He finally turned his gaze to meet her own mainly because of the fact that she was forcing him to look at her, mind you she was gentle, but still forceful. He saw the concern in eyes, the light blush that dusted her cheeks, and the way her teeth gently bit down on her lower lip. That was all it took for his self-control to momentarily slip. He pushed away from the wall of the spring and quickly stood up to wrap her up in his arms, catching her before she fell back into the water. Lucy gasped lightly in a bit of surprise at the sudden hug, but softly laughed at just how well…soft the ex-criminal was. She hadn't expected anything like this to take place, but it was a nice surprise so she slowly raised her arms and returned his hug. She never once thought that this hug simply took place because he had lost control of his overwhelming urge to hold her…he doubted he would ever admit that to her either.
"Thank you," he spoke in an attempt to cover up his mistake and of course she bought it. The young woman slowly pulled away from him before smiling happily back up at him.
"No problem, just you know let's not try and sacrifice me to a clock again…or anything for that matter," she said laughing lightly as she pulled herself out of the spring and grabbed her keys. "I'm going to head back to the room. You coming?" she asked looking over toward the male who gave her no response; instead, he simply followed her actions and exited the spring.
Ten minutes later and Lucy was exiting the bathroom of their room. She was now sporting a white tang-top and short pink shorts. "Thank Mavis for Virgo, right?" she said looking over toward Midnight whom had also changed into some comfortable sleepwear, a white shirt and black sweats. The man didn't respond to her, but he did nod his head in response. "Anyway, I already ordered some food from room service for us, so I hope you're not a picky eater or anything," she spoke up and Midnight watched her from his seat on the bed as she rummaged through her pack until she finally produced her communication Lacrima. "I'm going to go ahead and call Sting, let him know that we'll be arriving at his guild tomorrow at three," she continued as she walked over to the bed and easily grabbed herself a seat beside him. Lucy connected her Lacrima to Stings.
"Hello? Sting? You there?" she spoke in the Lacrima waiting for someone to respond, but when someone finally did respond it was a woman she didn't know at all.
"Who are you? Master Sting isn't here right now, something about preparing for some guests," the woman spoke. Lucy looked her over for a moment, brightly colored orange eyes and messy light brown hair resting on her shoulder. 'Yep, defiantly not a face I know,' Lucy thought to herself before realizing that she was staring, but just as she was about to open her mouth to speak she saw a strange puncture mark on the girls neck. It appeared fresh and small wisps of black surrounding it in a circular form. Lucy knew exactly what that was, it was a mating mark performed by the dragons, she had seen Levy's when Gajeel had claimed her. 'Judging by the fact that those are shadows around her wound I'm pretty sure she belongs to Rogue,' Lucy thought before mentally congratulating the quiet shadow dragon slayer.
"Um…hello…? You okay?" the woman asked successfully pulling Lucy from her thoughts.
"Ah, yes, sorry, can you hand the Lacrima to Rogue then?" Lucy asked and watched as the woman raised a curious brow.
"But I don't know where he- oh wait, that's right, that mating connection thing. How did you know though?" the brunette asked with a curious ring in her voice.
"My friend is mated to the iron dragon slayer," Lucy explained simply and smiled lightly when the woman responded with a simple 'oh' before she closed her eyes and focused on finding her mate.
"Ah! Found him! Give me a second," she spoke to Lucy and then the next thing Lucy saw was the floor as the girl ran through the guild halls. Lucy barely heard a set of doors open before she saw concrete which meant that the girl had run outside.
"Oh, Sting there you are! I didn't know you took Rogue with you," Lucy heard the woman speak and her smile could only slightly grow at the fact that the girl had found just the person she needed to speak with. Lucy couldn't hear the response of Sting, but from what the girl said she imagined it had something to do with the fact that she was holding his communication Lacrima.
"Yeah sorry, I was cleaning your office when some blonde girl called looking for you," she said while Lucy watched a masculine hand cover the screen.
"Why didn't you tell me that sooner then?" the blonde male muttered and this time Lucy couldn't hear the woman's response.
"Hey Lucy, what's up?" Sting spoke after having finally adjusted the Lacrima so the two could look at each other properly.
"I wanted to let you know that we'll be arriving tomorrow around three. Is that time alright with you?" she asked and watched as the male thought on it for a moment before slowly nodding his head.
"Yeah, that time should be fine. Should give me enough time to figure out where I'm going to get a second room for your partner," he spoke, but raised a brow when Lucy shook her head no at him.
"Nah, don't worry about it, Macbeth and I can share a room or a bed or whatever. We've had some rather strange circumstances so we've been sharing a bed for the last two nights," Lucy responded and watched as Sting laughed at her words.
"Macbeth? I was informed his name was Midnight? And you sure Natsu's alright with that?" he said laughing harder when the blonde puffed her cheeks out at him, but was taken by a bit of surprise when a new face found its way onto his Lacrima. Midnight having slightly pushed himself on screen.
"It's Midnight to you," he muttered before pulling away from the screen and disappearing. Sting actually laughed harder when he saw Lucy raise an arm and lightly push her companion before telling him to 'shut up'.
"I wish Natsu could see this, he'd be so pissed," Sting said laughing louder when Lucy went through the trouble and flipping him off through the Lacrima. The conversation was soon cut short though when a knock resounded from Lucy's end.
"Oh, foods here. Alright, so real quick Sting, tomorrow at three and tell Rogue congrats for me!" she said watching as Sting nodded his head a few times toward her before the two finally said good bye and hung up on each other.
Lucy quickly moved from her spot on the bed and rushed over to the door, swinging it open as soon as she stood in front of it. There she found a woman holding two trays of food and Lucy had to mentally remind herself that she actually didn't buy that much since Natsu wasn't here with her. It was kind of strange being on a mission without him. The woman spoke up, giving Lucy her total and pulling the blonde from her thoughts. Lucy nodded her head before opening her pouch of Jewels. She pulled out the proper amount, plus a small tip, and then took the trays of food from her. The two women thanked each other before Lucy closed the door and made her way back over toward Midnight on the bed.
"You eat fish right? I just ordered some Salmon and rice…oh, and Miso soup," she muttered while setting both trays down on the nightstand beside the bed. Midnight didn't verbally respond to her, but she did notice him nod his head from the corner of her eyes. Lucy slowly began to prepare the food for the two of them, but as she went to set it down on a table she realized that their room didn't have a table. She sighed lightly thoroughly surprised that the room didn't have a table. "Wanna join me on the floor?" she asked since she had no intention of eating on the bed. She wouldn't have minded eating on the bed, but she didn't want to risk spilling any of her soup onto it. Midnight raised a curious brow toward her. "Oh, don't give me that, I just don't want to spill the soup on the bed or something," she muttered, but smiled when she finally saw the male slide out of bed and sit on the floor. He propped his back against the side of the bed, nodding his head in thanks when she handed him his food before taking a seat in front of him. The two of them ate in silence with their respective bowls and plates beside the both of them. Lucy had to admit it was a little bit nerve wrecking eating in silence like this. She had grown so accustomed to eating with her friends and Mavis knew how loud they could be. Not to mention Midnight appeared to have manners while he ate. He wasn't scarfing his food down, taking bites too big, or talking with his mouth full. So, even though the silence was nerve wrecking she had to admit it was nice eating with someone who wouldn't embarrass her or run up her food bill. Besides, it was cute watching him take such small and delicate bites with that little grain of rice on the side of his mouth. 'There I go again with that cute shit…I really need to cut that out,' she thought to herself while leaning forward slightly, not noticing how Midnight was now watching her with a curious gaze.
She raised her free hand, the one not gripping onto her chop sticks, and gently took the grain of rice on his face between her index finger and thumb. Her fingertips lightly brushed against the corner of his lips and by this point Midnight had already turned a light shade of pink. Lucy stared at him finding herself unable to pull her gaze away from his, her hand only centimeters away from his face and still clutching onto the little grain of rice. At this moment, for some reason, the overwhelming urge to run her fingers through his hair washed over her, but she knew she had to fight that, she knew she had to fight the urge to touch him general. 'Come on, Lucy, pull yourself together,' she thought to herself before taking a small breath and then finally pulling her hand away from his face.
"Y-You had a grain of rice…," she muttered out slowly, trying hard to ignore the fact that her cheeks had heated up and turned a light shade of red. She couldn't believe how much she found herself blushing around this man, it was absolutely ridiculous to think that she could have fallen for this man, even just a little, in such a short period of time. Midnight slowly nodded his head at her reasoning before finally pulling his gaze from her form and beginning to eat once more. Lucy on the other hand lowered her gaze to the grain of rice between her fingers. She didn't want to just throw it on the floor, but at the same time she was far too lazy to walk to the other side of the room to throw it out. So, she did what she thought was totally logical and ate it before continuing with her own food, all the while completely unaware of the reflector mage that was now staring at her once more. He couldn't believe she had been okay with just eating something that had been attached to his face. He had to force himself to not think too deep into it and continue eating once more.
After the two had finally finished eating Lucy gathered up the dishes while Midnight slipped back into bed. He sat there, watching as Lucy gathered up all the dirty dishes before taking them outside. She put them out in the hallway on the floor beside their door believing that an employee would stop and take it probably sometime in the morning. She eventually turned back into the room though, closing the door behind her before she went to gather her first aid supplies.
"Come on, we need to get your wounds cleaned up and bandaged. I know the bleeding has stopped, but I don't wanna take any chances," she spoke softly, facing him with bandages in one hand and antiseptic spray in the other. Midnight resisted groaning aloud in annoyance, never having been a fan of receiving medical attention. He knew it would be pointless to argue with her though especially when he saw the look on her face. So, with a small sigh he slowly turned his back toward her and removed his shirt. Had he been paying attention to her he would have noticed how her cheeks lightly heated up and how her teeth gently sucked in her lower lips, nibbling on it as she ogled the muscles that made up his back. She tried desperately to ignore the pounding in her chest as she crawled up onto the bed behind him. She started with the antiseptic spray making sure to coat even the smallest of his cuts. She heard him gasp softly in a bit of surprise when the cool liquid hit the warmth of his back, but outside of that he remained quiet. After Lucy had finished with the spray she grabbed the bandages and once more bit down on her lower lip as she grabbed one end of the bandages and then wrapped her arms around him. They both felt her breasts press against his backside, but he didn't make any kind of comment, hell, Lucy was wondering if he was actually breathing. She supposed she should be grateful that he wasn't going to make a comment because she could just imagine someone in her guild making some perverse comment about the whole situation if they had been him. She quietly asked him to hold that end of the bandaged against him and when he did as she asked she quickly began wrapping him up. Neither was aware of how the other was blushing or how the other felt as if their heart might burst from their chest. 'For the love of Mavis, Lucy, get a hold of yourself, this isn't your first time bandaging a man up…fuck, why does his touch feel hotter than Natsu's?!' she thought to herself when her fingers once more brushed his lower abdomen. 'God, I don't know how much self-control I have left. Please, fucking let her be done already or I won't be held accountable for what I do next,' he thought to himself watching as her small hands came to his front for the last time before she finally tied the bandages tightly at his side.
Once Lucy had finished bandaging up her companion she turned away from him trying to hide her ever blushing face away from him. The two said nothing to each other while Lucy gathered up the remaining medical supplies and packed them away back in her pack. When she returned she found Midnight with his back turned toward her under the covers of the bed and though she was sure he wasn't asleep yet she didn't want to bother him, but she also wasn't very tired yet. So, she moved toward her pack and shuffled around in it until she found her journal, pen, and small lighting Lacrima. She had been neglecting her journal for the last few days, but she supposed it was time to write in it again. Lucy quickly turned off the main light before turning on her small Lacrima. The dim light would be enough for her to write or read by, but not enough to bother her sleeping partner. After that she slowly slipped into bed beside Midnight, sitting up and propping her back up against the bed post, pulling up the blankets to her waist line. In this position she gave Midnight once last glance before opening up her journal and beginning to write.
Midnight woke up sometime in the middle of the night with something prodding into his backside. It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable enough to wake the poor man up. The first thing he noticed was that the room was still dimly lit by Lucy's Lacrima and the next thing he noticed or rather heard was her light snoring. 'Did she fall asleep while writing?,' he asked himself before reaching beneath his side and grabbing whatever it was that was prodding into him. It was her pen, so, of course that answered his mental question. The man slowly sat up, placing the pen on the nightstand before turning to look over at Lucy. She was hunched over with her neck hanging downward, her journal was resting in her lap and the Lacrima she was using on her opposite side. Midnight sighed lightly before reaching over for her journal intent on closing it and putting it with the pen he had just placed on the table, but something caught his eye. It was his name. She had been writing about him. He mentally cursed for not having closed it sooner because now he felt rather conflicted about reading it or not. He knew it was wrong to read someone's journal like that, but at the same time he was rather curious about what she had to write about him. He stared at his name for a moment longer before finally giving into his urge. He supposed what she didn't know couldn't hurt her, right? He gently took the journal from her lap before carefully reaching over her and grabbing her Lacrima. He placed the Lacrima beside himself before slowly looking down at the journal in his hands.
Dear Stress Reliever,
I've been ignoring you for the last few days, so, sorry about that, but it has been rather hectic. You see Midnight Macbeth fell into my life…again. You remember him, right? He was the narcoleptic mage who tried to sacrifice me to a damned clock, but even before then his guild had attempted to kill my team. Yeah, well, anyways, he's in my life again, but not in the way you might think, he's actually a lot nicer now. He came into my room to hide from some rune knights a few nights ago and well…he was injured badly and he looked…scared. I think it's because he was afraid of being imprisoned again, but…because of that I ended up helping him. I mean, I couldn't just very well leave a comrade like that, right? Right. Well, he wasn't exactly a comrade at that moment, but he is a part of Jellal's guild and Jellal is a comrade…so, by default he's a comrade. Okay, so maybe I may have just been making up excuses at that time, but the point is he's a comrade and a friend now. He even went ahead and apologized for everything that happened with the infinity clock. So, you know I'll do everything I can to protect him.
It's a lot different traveling with him than with the team since he's so quiet and team Natsu is so…not quiet. I can't decide if I like this change of pace or not, but on the plus side he's pretty cute…okay fine, he's a fucking sex god reincarnated and fighting the urge not to touch him is hard as hell. Do you know how close I was to having sex with him the other night? If he hadn't passed out drunk I probably would have lost my god damned virginity. Damn it, where the hell is Erza when I need her?! Oh right, this is a solo mission, so, no Erza here to hold me back from sleeping with men when I'm plastered. Fucking joy. Please, don't let me get stupid drunk again while Erza isn't around. I want to be able to wake up the next morning and actually remember what my first time's like and be all 'yeah, that was great wanna go for round two?' Anyways, tomorrow morning we're heading to the Sabertooth guild and I need to wake up early so, I'm going to have to cut this short. I'll give more details on this whole mission next time.
Lucy
Reminder! Have Virgo snap a picture of Macbeth in his swim trunks next time…preferably when he's not watching…Mavis help me, please, there is something seriously wrong with me.
Midnight openly blanched at the content of the page before him. He could not believe that one Lucy cursed a lot more than she let on, two Lucy almost had sex with him, and three Lucy actually thought he was attractive. He knew his face was bright red, but he didn't bother trying to hide it, it wasn't as if anyone was actually around or awake right now to see his brightly colored face. He slowly peaked over at the little blonde sleeping at his side, studying her face first, her blonde locks of hair had fallen in her eyes, her pink lips were slightly parted, and her cheeks where somewhat pink. The man licked his suddenly dry lips as his eyes travelled lower than they should have, but at this point, no matter how hard he tried, he doubted he could stop himself. He allowed his eyes to rake over her breasts which were thinly covered by her tang-top, the shirt riding low on her breasts and giving him a slight view of her white lace bra. His fists tightened around the sheets below him before he finally tore his gaze away from her breasts. He could feel the problem growing in his pants and he tried his best to stop thinking about what those breasts would feel like in his hands, he really did, but then the little blonde beside him just had to go and torture him further.
"…Macbeth…" she moaned out, it was a quiet moan and had he not been right beside her he might have missed it, but fortunately or unfortunately (he wasn't sure), he had been beside her and he did hear. 'No…she didn't…did she? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,' he thought to himself before peaking over toward her once more. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed in color and her face was slightly scrunched in a look of pleasure. She was having a wet dream…of him. And the fact that she had just pleasurably moaned his name made that perfectly clear. He silently cursed under his breath before finally giving into his urges. He stood from the bed, walked over to her side and ever so slowly laid her out on the bed before he pulled the covers up to her chin. He looked over her one last time before quickly taking his ass to the bathroom. He promptly shut and locked the door behind him. No way was he going to be accidently caught jerking himself off if the blonde decided to wake up because that was something he would rather not have to explain himself for.
The next morning the two woke up an hour before seven and they spent it together in an awkward silence. Neither one of them wanted to talk to each other, both thinking about what had happened the night before. 'Lucy, you fucking perv! How could you have a wet dream right next to him!? Fuck, what if he heard something?!' she thought to herself peeking over at him from behind her towel as she dried her hair. She had just finished taking a shower and he was getting his stuff ready to take a shower himself. 'God, I can't believe I did that last night. What if she heard me? Is that why she's been so fucking quiet all morning?' he thought to himself glancing over at her as he made his way toward the restroom. Of course, as soon as he did he caught her staring at him and both of them blushed a bright color before quickly turning to look away. 'Fuck…' they both thought in perfect unison.
By the time Midnight had stepped out of the bathroom Lucy had already gathered all their things and packed them away. Or rather she sent most of it with Virgo. "Uh, tell Virgo I said thanks for cleaning my clothes," he spoke trying to break the awkward silence because for once in his life he actually wanted someone not to be silent around him.
"Y-Yeah, I'll let her know," Lucy spoke looking down at the clothes that Virgo had also brought her. She was now wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with a pair of matching black boots. She had on a long sleeve pink shirt, but that couldn't be seen under her white hoodie; apparently, Sting's guild was located out in those mountains and it was going to be getting colder real soon. It wasn't long before the two slowly departed the inn and stood outside waiting for the driver to come and pick them up.
"What's up with the awkward air around you two? Something happen?" he asked once he finally appeared and stepped around to open up the carriage door for the two of them.
"N-No! I mean, uh…it's nothing," Lucy said stepping into the carriage after Midnight had taken his seat inside. Of course the older man didn't believe a word the girl said and decided to laugh at their awkward silence and strange blushes.
"Must be nice being young and in love," he said before shutting the door and giving neither of them the time to argue with him.
"W-What a joker he is, huh? Young and in love…us? Yeah, right," Lucy said, but her voice was strained and her cheeks were a bright pink color. Midnight couldn't help, but wonder if she actually meant those words she spoke because from what he could tell (and what he read last night) the girl in front of him actually did like him at least a bit. He didn't respond to her though and instead closed his eyes intent on sleeping for the rest of the trip. 'Mavis, I can't wait to get to Sabertooth and get away from this awkward atmosphere' Lucy thought to herself while pulling her gaze away from his sleeping form.