A/N: So, I really hope you all don't mind the whole OC business, but whatever it's my story anyways…right? Right. I don't really have much to put up here, but I do want to thank everyone who has kept up with me so far. I especially want to thanks those that have left a review…I love getting those~ Anyways, just to let you know that the theme for this day is "Pin-up", so without further ado let's get this show on the road.
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. Seriously, everyone, go message him right now and demand that Colu.
Chapter Three: Let the Tigers Come Out and Play
Lucy looked up from her issue of weekly sorcerer as the carriage came to a stop. From what she could see through the window it seemed that they had finally arrived at the Sabertooth guild hall. It looked as impressive and imposing as the Fairy Tail guild and she secretly found herself missing her home even though she had only been gone for about four days now. Lucy gave a small sigh before she finally put her magazine away. She reached out an arm and lightly shook her sleeping companion, smiling softly when he looked at her through tired eyes.
"We've arrived," she spoke quietly just as the door to the carriage opened and revealed the elderly driver with a proud grin on his face. Lucy smiled back at him before she quickly moved from the carriage and looked around the surrounding area. The Sabertooth guild stood large and proud…fierce even and it quite literally reminded her of a proud tiger. The guild seemed to stand alone from the city that they has passed about ten minutes ago. 'Jeez, if only Fairy Tail had this much space. We might be able to better contain Natsu's constant fighting,' she thought to herself, but was pulled from further thinking of the pink haired mage as Midnight came up to stand beside her.
"So, you wanna explain how this guild is able to keep the eyes of the council off of them?" he asked, eyeing her for a moment before she gave a small shrug of her shoulders.
"Beats me," she spoke simply and slowly turned just in time to watch the elderly man climb onto the front of the carriage. He told the two of them to take care and stay out of trouble, to which Lucy responded she would try. He had been a friendly old man despite his constant thinking that she and Midnight had been in some kind of strange relationship. She took a small breath once the elder man had traveled a good distance away. Lucy had never been to the Sabertooth guild, so, the experience was more than just a little nerve-wracking. It took her a solid minute before she had finally decided to move forward, Midnight following closely behind her.
"You wanna go shortstuff?!" a very strong and very masculine voice rang out over any other sound as Lucy and Midnight approached the door. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Lucy.
"Oh please, meat for brains you aren't even worth the time," another voice responded, this one was feminine and also sounded slightly familiar to Lucy. The next sound to resonate was the sound of what could only be described as a bone breaking punch or maybe it was a kick, Lucy wasn't sure. She was however sure of the fact that in the next moment she was being pulled off to the side by Midnight and just in time too because the door she had been standing in front of just flew off its hinges as a small person came flying out with it. Lucy stared in surprise as the young woman slowly stood up from atop the door. "Alright, you tone deaf piece of shit you asked for this!" the girl spoke up and Lucy could do nothing more than stay planted in her spot with surprise written on her face. The girl she remembered as the one who had answered the Lacrima the other night…only she hadn't expected the girl to be so well…childish. She had the body of Wendy and Lucy immediately frowned at the idea of Rogue mating a twelve year old. Of course, she quickly threw that idea out the window because that was simply preposterous. She watched as nine small globes appeared behind the woman before she charged forward intent on taking down whomever her opponent was. She didn't make it too far though because before she even made it back to the door a hand emerged from the shadows and grabbed her ankle. She fell forward, landing face first on the ground as Rogue slowly emerged from said shadow. And he emerged just in time to catch one Ogra before he went flying across the continent. Sting slowly following after the large man, laughing when he saw his partner with one arm outstretched holding a groaning Ogra and the other hand holding his mate upside by her ankle as she struggled to keep her top from flashing everyone.
"Can you two go a single day without fighting? For Christ's sakes we have guests," Rogue spoke up, with what could only be described as a scary and shadowy aura surrounding him. Lucy could do nothing, but laugh at this scene before her because it reminded her so much of her guild. The little girl and Ogra were like Natsu and Gray it seemed like, Rogue looked like Erza constantly stepping into the fights, Sting was like master Makarov trying to stop the fights, but maybe enjoying it too much and then there was…
"Jeez, you two. One day you'll both learn your lesson," another woman spoke while walking up to Sting's side. Lucy immediately recognized her, it was Yukino, the woman that reminded Lucy a lot of herself. The white haired woman slowly looked over toward the giggling blonde before her face lit up. "Lucy-sama! You're here!" she spoke happily and left Sting's side in favor of rushing over toward the blonde woman. The two women immediately hugging each other, ignoring the way Ogra and the smaller woman were reprimanded by Sting and Rogue or how Midnight seemed to be asleep standing up. As the two women pulled apart Lucy noticed something on the side of Yukino's neck, it stuck out just barely from the woman's clothes, but just as Lucy was going to address the situation Sting and the other three came forward. The two dragon slayers standing behind the two 'culprits' with a rather intimidating expression.
"I'm oh so very sorry honored guests," the two culprits spoke up, apologizing in one of the most insincere apologies Lucy had ever heard in the entirety of her life. Of course, this didn't go unpunished, the both of them were wacked upside their heads by the two dragon slayers and at this Lucy lost herself in a fit of giggles once more. She latched herself onto Midnight, using him as her support as she leaned forward and held her stomach with one hand. The others joined her in her laughter, even Midnight had the barest of smiles on his lips, but none of them knew exactly what was so funny…they just felt the need to laugh with her. 'This really is just like being at Fairy Tail,' she thought to herself as she tried to quiet down her laughter.
It took a while, but eventually the lot of them had finally quieted down and made it inside the guild. Lucy had Yukino sitting on her right and Midnight on her left, in front of her was the small brunette from earlier, and in front of Yukino was Ogra. Rufus who had joined them once they all sat down and took a seat in front of Midnight and Sting had gone off to speak with a guild member about fixing the door. Lucy did take notice to the empty spot beside Yukino though and she imagined that Sting would sit there.
"Oh, hey, hey, I almost forgot! My name is Aya, one of the strongest mages in Sabertooth!" the small brunette spoke up excitedly while smiling largely at Lucy and Midnight, waiting for a response from one of them, but before they could get a word in Ogra had snorted at her comment on being one of the strongest. "What was that you oversized lightning rod?!" Aya spoke up and turned a heated glare toward the larger man.
"Aya," Rogue spoke, saying nothing more than her name, but the underlying threat sent a chill down the spine of every mage at the table. The small brunette whined like a small child before pointing out that the 'big gorilla' had stated it and from there Ogra and Aya got into another argument with Rogue trying to shut them both up without the use of force. Lucy used this moment to discreetly eye the mark on the small mages neck before the thought of what she had seen on Yukino came back to mind. 'No…really? Sting and Yukino?!' Lucy thought to herself before she chanced another glance at the spot on Yukino's neck, but the strange thing she had seen had been covered by her clothes once more. She figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, but just as she was going to speak Yukino spoke instead.
"So, what happened to you and Natsu? I always thought the two of you would be together Lucy-sama. Not that you two don't look cute together or anything," Yukino spoke smiling happily, but the suspicious glint in her eyes did not go unnoticed by the young blond.
"What are you talking about? Macbeth and I aren't…," Lucy started, but paused, for the first time since she sat down she had suddenly become aware of a slight pressure on her left shoulder and a feather like touch on her neck. "He's sleeping on my shoulder isn't he?" Lucy said with a small sigh while trying to ignore the laughing of the others around her. Yukino nodded her head slowly and watched as Lucy slowly turned to gently wake up the sleeping mage. "Macbeth…why don't you try resting your head on the table?" Lucy asked when she saw him open his eyes, half lidded and sleep deprived. How a mage that slept as much as he could have a sleep deprived expression she would never understand.
"But the table isn't comfortable," he stated simply before yawning softly and that small sound was all it took for Lucy to momentarily lose her cool. 'God damn, he's adorable,' she thought to herself before raising a hand and gently grasping the side of his head. She slowly guided his head down into her lap before she could even comprehend what it was she had just done. The two mages blushed a bright red color when they finally wrapped their minds around her actions, lucky for Midnight his blush was hidden from the others, unlucky for Lucy's hers was not, but she still tried to play it off.
"So, Yukino, I had a question for you," she asked and watched as the white haired mage went from a look of shock to her normal pleasant smile. "I was wondering…are you mated to Sting?" Lucy continued and watched once more as the woman's facial expression changed to that of embarrassment. She also noticed how the table had gone extremely quiet, where she once heard Rufus and Rogue trying to stop Aya and Ogra from fighting she found…silence.
"I knew it!" Aya shouted rather loudly before looking at Rufus and promptly held out her left hand.
"Yukino has not yet confirmed or denied it, you can wait to hear her answer," Rufus spoke and slowly turned his gaze over toward Yukino, but her expression said it all. So, slowly he pulled out a small pouch of jewels and handed it to the young mage. At this point Sting had finally made his way back over to the group and sat next to the blushing Yukino.
"So, I hear we've been found out," he spoke, but he seemed a lot more relaxed about the whole situation than Yukino did. That is if the way he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer into him was any kind of proof.
"Anyways, Rogue, I'm going to go collect the rest of my winnings. I'll be back in a bit," Aya spoke up before pressing the palms of her hands to both sides of the males face. She forced him to look at her before quickly and gently kissing him. Lucy held back her laugh at the childlike kiss the small girl gave her mate. The young brunette jumped away from the table soon after that and Lucy couldn't stop herself from smiling. She had absolutely no clue that she had been running her fingers through Midnight's hair, courtesy of the fact that she could literally see romance in the air between all the couples. Or maybe what she was seeing was the blushing faces of one celestial mage and one shadow dragon slayer.
"Well, to answer your question Lucy, yes, we were mated on the same day as Rogue and Aya," Sting spoke, ignoring the way Yukino and Rogue only seemed to blush even harder at his statement.
"Seriously? Is there anything you two don't do together?" Lucy asked before raising a brow at the surprised and blushing faces that had turned to face her. It took her a moment, but she eventually realized what she had just implied. "No, I didn't mean to say that you all had like some huge orgy or something, but like…," Lucy trailed off now turning an even brighter shade than Yukino had as the mental images came rushing at her all at once. She cursed her over active imagination.
"That's quite an interesting thing you're onto their blondie," Sting spoke and Lucy blanched at just how deep in thought Sting seemed to appear, but the look only lasted so long because in the next second he was flying from his seat, courtesy of Rogue's fist.
"Ouch! Dude, I was kidding, come on, who would want to see Aya naked! She's like a ch-," Sting started, but upon seeing the frightening aura surrounding his friend he quickly shut up. From there it was just an all-out brawl between the two of them.
"Should we…stop them?" Lucy asked wincing slightly when she saw the slightly pained expression on the blonde guild master.
"You would do well to just ignore them Lucy," Rufus spoke, but when a sudden beam of light suddenly struck his chair and knocked him over he took back his words. "If you'll excuse me I have some business to attend to," he spoke up and gently placed his hat on the table, from which Lucy had noticed how it had been slightly damaged in the fall. The long haired mage slowly left the table to join the two dragon slayers in their brawl.
"Well, no point in letting them have all the fun," Ogra spoke up with a wide grin before giving a snap of his fingers. Lucy watched in slight horror and fascination as Aya, whom had been on the far side of the guild was suddenly struck with a bit of black lightening. The large male at the table quickly finished whatever it was that had been in front of him before leaving to join a very pissed off Aya on what could only be described as a battlefield.
"Does this…happen often?" Lucy asked while turning her gaze over toward Yukino. The white haired woman merely nodded her head before advising that Lucy simply ignore the brawl. Of course, that was easier said than done when a projectile came flying at her head. Only it never hit her, instead it seemed to hit some invisible force and bounced right back into the rambunctious crowd. Lucy never even saw the thing coming at her, but Yukino certainly did and the sudden look of surprise on her face had Lucy wondering if everything was all right with her fellow celestial mage.
"H-How did you do that Lucy-sama!?" the woman spoke up with amazement still settled into her eyes.
"Um…do what exactly?" Lucy asked while raising a brow at the white haired woman.
"The-the beer mug that was coming for you head! It suddenly just bounced off some invisible wall and went flying back into the crowd!" she said excitedly thinking that Lucy may have discovered some new kind of celestial magic or something. Of course, Lucy had no idea what the woman was talking about, but from the sounds of it, it sounded almost like someone had reflected some beer mug that was going to hit her head. At that thought Lucy slowly turned down to look at the mage in her lap, she had her fingers still tangled in her hair, but she decided to wonder about how her fingers got there later.
"Macbeth…did you?" she asked while still looking down at the sleeping mage. He didn't respond, pretending to still be asleep, but Lucy was sure he was the only explanation to the phenomenon that had just taken place. She was going to press further for an answer from the mage, but her friend pulled her attention away by speaking her name. "Oh, no, sorry, it wasn't me. It was Macbeth," Lucy spoke while raising her free hand to point down at the mage in her lap.
"But isn't Macbeth sleeping?" Yukino asked while eyeing Lucy with a bit of suspicion.
"It's Midnight to you," the male mage spoke while raising his head ever so slightly to glare at Yukino before he plopped back into Lucy's lap. Yukino blinked a few times in surprise before she started laughing and congratulating Lucy between breaths.
"Oh yeah, hey Lucy-sama, I was wondering about something…," Yukino said once she had finally stopped her laughing fit. "Aya and I have a shoot and interview with Sorcerer magazine, something about being two of the only three females in the guild. They asked Minerva, but she turned them down. Not to mention she's on a really long mission right now. Anyways, did you wanna tag along? I'm sure they'll give you some Jewels for coming and Sabertooth will be able to make it well known that we're on good standings with your guild," Yukino spoke all while keeping a small smile on her lips, but near the end her smile faltered for a second. She watched yet another projectile from the fight fly at Lucy's head and once more the thing went flying right back into the fight hitting her mate on the back of his head instead.
"That's it…" Midnight spoke before leaving Lucy's lap, a rather pissed off expression taking over his face. Not only were these people completely oblivious to the fact that they had already almost hurt Lucy twice, but they had also interrupted his sleep…twice. He went to join the others in the all-out "playful" guild war. Lucy was vaguely aware of his cackling, and somewhat, evil laughter escaping his lips as he entered the battle.
"Maybe we should relocate?" Lucy asked and smiled slightly when Yukino nodded her head in agreement.
"I can show you to your room…if you'd like?" Yukino asked as the two girls stood up. It was now Lucy's turn to nod her head at the white haired woman. She followed closely behind her friend as she explained that Lucy and Midnight would both be staying in the same room within the guild.
Lucy stopped when she saw Yukino stop at a door and slowly open it up. The room inside looked a bit like a smaller version of her apartment. From where she stood she could see the main living room, a tan couch sat in front of a decent sized television and there seemed to be a door to the right of her. She would bet money that that was the linen closet and that the kitchen was right behind the main living room. So, to prove her theory she slowly stepped in and opened the door on the right. It was indeed the linen closet and then upon going further into the place she saw a small kitchen behind the main room. There was also a small hallway right in the blind spot of the front door. There were two door in that hallway, the first one she opened on the left side was a small bathroom; clean and sparkling white. The second door at the end was a small room, a full sized bed sat in the corner and a four drawer dresser across from it. On the end of each bed was a nightstand that also sported an extra drawer for their use. After finishing her inspection she finally moved to go and rejoin Yukino whom had taken a seat on the couch.
"This is perfect! I'm seriously surprised you guys have something like this here," Lucy said while taking a seat on the couch beside Yukino.
"Oh, Sting had this place made for those nights were he had to stay and work on papers and what not," Yukino replied happily, smiling lightly over toward her friend, happy to have another female in the guild even if only temporary.
"Speaking of Sting, I here he's on really good terms with the new council or something?" Lucy asked and watched as Yukino burst out laughing leaving the blonde mage to wonder what she had said wrong.
"Is that what they're saying? Oh jeez, no, I'll tell you what really happened. You see the chairman has a daughter that apparently fell in love with Rogue during the grand magic games, something about dark, brooding, and mysterious, I don't know. I prefer the more cheerful men like Sting and Natsu. Anyways, when she approached Rogue with her feelings he told her he wasn't interested and she took that…well, halfway decent. And by halfway I mean, she accepted his dedication to his guild and want to be single, but on the same note she began having him watched," Yukino said watching as Lucy gasped in a bit of shock.
"What? No fucking way, what's so great about Rogue anyways? Did I miss some memo or something?" Lucy asked, it was a big enough surprise to think that he had somehow snagged a mate, but to think that he had some girl vying for his affection even before then? What the hell had she missed?
"Shh! Lucy-sama, let me finish!" Yukino whined while holding a hand over Lucy's lips to stop her from speaking further. When she was sure Lucy wasn't going to speak anymore she slowly removed her hands. "Anyways, of course the guild noticed the way Rogue always had someone watching him, but we all just ignored it. The guy watching was with the council and he wasn't doing any harm, so we thought there wouldn't be any damage, but then Rogue met Aya and you know the whole dragon mating thing, right?" Yukino asked Lucy and watched as the young woman nodded her head at the sudden question. "So, that didn't take so kindly to the chairman's daughter and she actually hired a group of dark mages to get rid of Aya and kidnap Rogue," Yukino spoke, but once more had to stop when Lucy began laughing.
"You're kidding right?! Who the hell would try to kill a dragon slayer's mate and then kidnap him?! Oh my god, I remember when mating season happened with Gajeel, he was growling at any man that came within three feet of Levy," Lucy spoke, but had to constantly stop so she could laugh or clutch her sides.
"Hey! This was a really serious fight Lucy-sama! Aya and Rogue really did almost die! Aya came back in critical condition and you know if one mate dies the other dies," Yukino said before Lucy began poking her cheek.
"That may not have been funny, but come on, how often did Rogue growl at Sting? Or even Sting at Rogue when it was you?" Lucy said while still poking her friend's cheek. The white haired woman soon remembered how many fights the two boys had been in and how hilarious it had all been, but she still didn't want to laugh. So, she ended up making some really strange noises as she tried to hide her laughter.
Once the two girls had finally quieted down once more Yukino finally continued. "Anyways, when Sting got wind of what happened to his guild mates he quickly went to speak with the Chairman. The man had been totally embarrassed, not only that, but Sting demanded that the woman be properly punished for her crimes. The Chairman didn't want that and so he struck a deal with Sting. He would make sure that the council always turned a blind eye to Sabertooth and its actions, as long as it wasn't something terrible, he would also make sure his daughter didn't get out of hand again. In return Sabertooth would put this all behind them. Of course, if Aya and Rogue died none of that deal mattered and he told the Chairman that if his Nakama died because of this he would come back demanding blood. Luckily, Rogue and Aya pulled through and now Sabertooth is free of the eyes of the Council and they overlook any destruction we cause," Yukino finally finished and Lucy could only stare at her with wide eyed before finally she began laughing again. 'Jeez, if only this could have happened to Natsu,' Lucy thought to herself while wiping the tears from laughing too hard from her eyes.
"Oh yeah, about that modeling job, I'll go with you! When is it?" Lucy spoke up once the girl's laughter had finally died down to a calm.
"It's tomorrow evening. Sting and Rogue will be coming too, well Sting is and he'll force Rogue. Midnight can come too!"Yukino said.
"Well, I would love to bring Macbeth, but Rune Knights still wonder the major cities and though they may not come out to your guild, I don't want to cause problems by bringing him in a large city…with Rune Knights," Lucy spoke before giving a small sigh and allowing her gaze to drop toward the ground.
"Oh well, we can always just hide his appearance. One of the models, Sherry, I think, let me borrow this ring and it completely changes a person's appearance," Yukino said and smiled brightly when Lucy suddenly looked up in surprise, but it only took a moment before a happy smile spread across her face.
"How did Sherry get that? I hear their super rare especially here in Fiore," Lucy said while watching Yukino shrug her shoulders.
"Apparently, Ren gave it to her whom received it from Ichiya, whom got it from Master Bob," Yukino said before adding that it didn't really matter where it came from. The point was that they had it. The two girl continued talking like this for quite some time, laughing lightly as they exchanged stories and blushing when the other mentioned a man of interest to them.
Time skip
"Oh, Sting is coming back up, so I imagine the others are with him," Yukino spoke before rushing over to the front door and opening it up. She made it just in time to see a small group of four people round the corner, laughing slightly when she saw Sting with a slightly bruised cheek. Lucy of course joined in the laughter when she saw Sting's face.
"Did Ogra get a lucky shot on you too?" Yukino asked.
"Hell no, pretty boy over there reflected a random attack over in my direction," Sting grumbled before glaring over toward Midnight who was having his injuries checked out by Lucy.
"Hm, everything seems alright, but you should have taken it a bit easier," Lucy muttered under her breath before gently pulling his shirt down and then raising a hand to run her fingers through his hair to which both blushed and turned away from each other.
"Ah, Aya don't close the door behind you. I have the bar attendant bringing up some drinks for us," Sting spoke while taking a seat on the floor in front of the couch. Rogue beside him gave a small sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose.
"How much did you ask her to bring up?" he asked, a slight bit of irritation easily seen on his face.
"Just a little I swear…," Sting said, but sighed lightly when he felt Rogue's eyes harden into a glare on him.
"Um…Ogra's got three barrels of what I imagine is spiced Rum since this is Sting," Aya said from her spot at the door. She could easily picture the look Rogue was currently giving Sting as of right now and it was quite hilarious in her mind. Once Ogra had finally dropped off the alcohol, Lucy slowly tried to retreat with Midnight, but she was quickly pulled back onto the couch by Yukino.
"I am not handling this alone Lucy-sama," she hissed toward her friend, whom actually scared Lucy if only just a bit.
"Mind if I join in?" Ogra asked, looking toward Sting for approval.
"Sorry, need you and Rufus to watch Frosch and Lector tonight," Sting said while shrugging his shoulders lightly. The larger male gave a small sigh of disappointment before agreeing and then leaving the scene, which only caused Aya to snicker as she took a seat on the couch. 'Oh Mavis, please, not another night of drinking,' Lucy thought to herself while looking down at Midnight whom was currently sitting on the floor in front of her. He sat in the space between her legs with his back propped against the couch, his eyes closed and his neck craned downwards as he slept. Or maybe fake slept…Lucy went with the fake sleeping since it seemed more likely. She slowly peaked over at the others, Yukino sat with her thighs resting on Sting's shoulders and her calf's against his chest. He sat much like Midnight in the space between her legs and for a second Lucy found herself glad she was wearing pants unlike Yukino. Aya sat on the other side of Yukino, but she was sitting Indian style on the couch and rubbing Rouge's shoulders for him. 'Is-is this…a couples…night?!' Lucy thought to herself before her cheeks lit up a bright red. 'No way, no fucking way, Macbeth and I aren't an item! I don't care how much we look like one, we're just not!' she finished thinking to herself, but she immediately blanched when Sting stood up from his spot and spoke.
"Well, I guess we can get this couple's night on the road," he said while grabbing a few cups from the kitchen. He then proceeded to use the faucet on the side of the barrels to fill up the cups and hand one out to everyone.
"But…Macbeth and I…we aren't…oh, whatever," Lucy spoke sighing lightly when she realized no one was listening to her. It had been like this since she started her trip with Midnight. No one listened to her when she tried to explain that she and the reflector mage weren't an item and he never bothered trying denying anything either
"No way Sting, I don't wanna start with bullshit. You and Rogue just cheat by looking for signs of lies, like elevated heart rate," Yukino said, puffing her cheeks even further when she heard Sting fight with her a bit more on it. She was not going to budge because she knew that was just his way of getting her and the others super drunk, super-fast.
"How about we try that Jenga or king game again?" Aya suggested which got her a small groan of aggravation from her mate.
"You know we should save that for last Aya. The last time we tried that game sober it got ugly…real fast," Yukino said sighing softly at the memories of Sting and Rogue getting super pissed about the things their mates had to do.
"You know what, why don't we go ahead and give this King game a try?" Lucy asked and watched as everyone quickly turned to look over at her.
"Alright, fine, but don't complain if you have to do something weird Lucy-sama," Yukino spoke before gently standing from the couch, careful not to step on any of the boys. Lucy watched her as she disappeared behind her, into the kitchen, only to reappear moments later with all the supplies. She handed out a piece of paper and pen to everyone before she took a seat in her original spot. As everyone began writing out all their orders on a corner of the paper Yukino began marking all the lots. Once she had finished that she quickly began writing out her own order and then collected everyone else's. She then placed all the order into an empty tissue box.
"Well, good luck everyone!" Yukino said, trying to ignore her own beating heart as everyone grabbed a random lot from her hand. After a few seconds, no one spoke up stating their declaration as king.
"Well, who the hell got the king?" Sting spoke up looking between the faces of everyone else. Everyone besides one narcoleptic mage stated that they were not king. Lucy slowly looked down at the mage that slept between her legs with his head hanging down. She gave a small sigh before gently shaking him awake.
"Macbeth, you're the king, right? We need you to pick from the box," Lucy said and watched as the tired mage nodded his head and slowly reached his hand into the box.
"Number 2 and 4, heated make out session, go," Midnight spoke before tossing both the king stick and the order into Yukino's lap. He then slowly closed his eyes and attempted sleep once more.
Lucy looked down at the number in her hand before breathing out a sigh of relief. The number five was written on her stick. She slowly turned to the others to see what they got, but the moment she turned her head she immediately looked away. There by her side was one Sting and Yukino engaged in what could only be described as a heated make out session. She swore she could hear the white haired woman moan quietly before they finally pulled apart.
"For the love of Mavis, who the hell put that in there?" Lucy asked and watched as the woman who had just been passionately kissing her mate raised her hand.
"To be honest, I didn't think it was going to be Sting and me," Yukino said before eyeing Midnight and Lucy with a look that could have competed Mira's 'I just found a new ship' look. Lucy found herself shuddering, not only because of the look Yukino was giving her, but because she was rather afraid of what else was written in that tiny little box. Yukino gathered everything up once more before starting the next round.
"Oh thank god," Aya spoke before holding her lot out revealing that it was marked with the word 'king'. "Number 1 and number 3, reveal the first embarrassing secret that comes to mind," the small mage spoke and laughed lightly when she saw the hilarious faces of both Lucy and Yukino. The blonde mage remembering a particular dream she had just the other night and the white haired mage remembering the first time she saw Sting in the nude…she had passed out. Both girls quickly decided that they would not reveal those secrets out loud and chugged the contents of their drinks. They then refilled their cups and repeated the process of preparing for the next round.
"Oh, I'm king again," Midnight spoke looking down at his lot and ignoring the way Yukino glared over toward him. If he kept getting king all night then the chances of him doing something with Lucy was going to be impossible. "Number 4 must remain topless for the remainder of the night," he spoke, smiling slightly when he watched the woman's eyes bug out in slight horror.
"Alright first, who the hell is the pervert that put that in there? And second, who got number four?" Lucy asked, her voice angered at first, but shifting to curiosity at the last question. After Lucy had finished speaking everyone began to reveal their numbers discovering that it was none other than the shadow dragon slayer who had the number four. He gave a small sigh before standing up and removing his upper layers of clothing.
"Yippee! A half-naked Rogue for the rest of the night, thank you to whoever put that order in there!" Aya spoke happily as her mate took his seat once more, folding his clothes and placing them beside him.
"You're fucking welcome," Sting spoke up, clearly upset that it was Rogue who had been given this particular order. The girls could only laugh at the way his plans had backfired on him. They then repeated the process to start the next round.
"Number 1 grope number 5 for ten seconds, number 5 must allow it," Yukino spoke before glancing down at Sting's number, noticing the bold number one on his lot, he was thankfully neither number one or five. She then heard Lucy mutter a quiet curse, but before she could ask which number she had Aya spoke up, "I'll murder the both of you," she said simply and that was all Lucy needed to hear before downing her glass with Rogue. Yukino could only sigh in disappointment and attempt to ignore the glare that was thrown her way by Lucy. It wasn't her fault that she wanted Lucy, the woman whom was like her sister, to hurry up and get someone special in her life. The game between the six of them continued like this for quite some time before they all decided to play one last round…of course, but this time they were all shit faced drunk.
"You guys….you guys are really good…at holding your alcohol," Lucy said while brushing her fingers through Midnight's hair…as she had been doing for about the past hour.
"Eh, Lucy-sama…your stick, what does your stick say?" Yukino spoke leaning on the back of the couch with a bright red face. She was clearly as wasted as the rest of them.
"Um…number 3," Lucy said while squinting at the lot in her hand as if the big and bold number was hard to read.
"You're supposed to go fuck your boyfriend's brains out then," came surprisingly Rogue's voice whom had somewhere in the middle of the game gained quite a mouth.
"But...I only want Yuki-chan!" Sting spoke before turning around and promptly clinging to her waist.
"Oi, you're not…at least I don't think you're Lucy's boyfriend," Aya spoke from her spot in Rogue's lap, where she had been since the middle of the game when the shadow dragon slayer had suddenly became terribly aggressive.
"Oh…well that makes me so happy. Yuki-chan make love to me then," Sting spoke up before Lucy turned into a giggling fit across from him.
"I thought…the man, he's supposed to make love to the woman," Lucy spoke between laughs.
"But I don't…what do I do Lucy-sama? I don't wanna hurt her," Sting mumbled with a slur in his voice.
"Huh? Eh…Macbeth…you know how right?" Lucy said, gently shaking the reflector mage until he spoke some non-sense in his sleep, not comprehending anything that was being said around him. He had passed out drunk quite a while ago and how the game continued with one less person was a miracle in itself.
"G-Good, so we'll show Sting-kun what to do then," Lucy said as if the multicolored haired mage before her had given the answer 'yes'.
"Really?! Thank you Lucy-sama!" Sting spoke up before promptly standing up and then moving slowly toward the bedroom, leaving one passed out Yukino on the couch.
Lucy slowly nodded her head before standing up and slowly following Sting into the other room while muttering for Macbeth to hurry up. Of course, the man didn't budge and continued to sleep on.
"Sting-kun…I think Macbeth isn't coming," Lucy said having waited a few seconds in the room already. Sting didn't respond though; instead, the only sound coming from him was his heavy snoring. "I'll just…I'll go get him," Lucy said simply as if the man was still awake before turning to leave the room. She didn't make it far though, having tripped over her feet in the hallway and then passing out in a drunken stupor on the floor, mumbling about how the carpets smelled like cotton candy.
The next morning or rather midafternoon the group of them finally began stirring awake.
"Ugh…not again…" Midnight muttered as his eyes slowly fluttered open. This was the second hang over he had this week…and the week wasn't even over yet. He had never been much of a drinker before, but it seemed that sticking with Lucy meant getting drunk more often than he ever would have imagined. The reflector mage slowly looked around, squinting his eyes since the lights above were only increasing his headache. He found a half-naked Rogue and Aya cuddling into each other not far from him and passed them, Lucy was sleeping in the hallway. He was also slightly aware of Sting's loud snoring from somewhere in the bedroom. Yukino was asleep on the couch. The next few things he noticed was that the microwave in the kitchen was beeping every few seconds, a sexual scene was depicted on the wall in front of him, two people were arguing right outside the front door, and his pants were currently missing in action. 'What the hell happened last night?' he thought to himself before willing himself to get up…he really needed to find out what the hell happened to his pants. Of course, before he even made one single step, two people came in from the front door. It was Ogra and Rufus. They both took one look at Midnight, whom had no pants, and then took a look around the room before giving a heavy sigh.
"Well, at least Rogue and Aya are actually half way to decent this time," Ogra muttered while Rufus closed the door behind them.
"I'll get Sting," Rufus said slowly before moving passed Midnight into the other room.
"And I'll help this one find his pants," Ogra muttered under his breath before setting out to help Midnight find his pants.
"Hey, pretty boy…why the hell are your pants in a tub of ice water?" Ogra asked as the two men looked down at the bathtub.
"I have no clue," Midnight said before sighing lightly and reaching forward to pull his pants from the water. He also pulled the plug to begin draining it out.
"I'll see if Sting has a pair of sweats you can borrow," Ogra muttered before leaving the room and heading into the bedroom with Sting and Rufus.
"Still not waking up?" Ogra asked while opening the drawer to one of the nightstands.
"No and I've even tried punching him," Rufus said before a girlish shriek came from down the hall. It effectively startled everyone awake, even Sting quickly stood up in a fighting position as if ready for some kind of fight, ignoring the way his head pounded and his body ached.
"Sting, chill. I think blondie just discovered her boyfriend and his morning wood," Ogra said when Lucy quite literally shouted 'where the hell are your pants?!'
Ogra quickly grabbed a pair of gray sweats from the drawer and left the room, leaving Rufus to nurse Stign's hangover, well, attempt to nurse the man's hangover.
Lucy stormed out of the bathroom just as Ogra came forward with the pants. The reflector mage quickly took the clothing from him and shut the door.
"What the hell?" Lucy asked once she had made it into the living room, Rogue and Aya were getting dressed, sex scenes were drawn on the wall, and the distinct smell of something being burnt hung in the air.
It defiantly took a while, but eventually everyone was finally seated in the living room while Rufus cooked behind them in the kitchen. The drunkards having refused to go down into the noisy guildhall until their headaches died down at least a bit.
"Alright, so…who remembers what from last night?" Lucy asked while looking at the pained filled faces of all her friends. She imagined she looked somewhat similar to them.
"Um…I remember Rogue taking my shirt off and cursing at Yukino for putting that order in the box," Aya stated while trying to hide her head in Rogue's side in an attempt to block out the "blinding" lights from above.
"My apologies, but I have warned you all several times about what happens when I have too much to drink," Rogue said while gently stroking the brunette's hair. "Also, I recall Lucy changing her order last minute to 'remove Midnight's pants'," Rogue said and watched as two mages in particular lit up quite a pretty shade of red. Well, at least that explained why Midnight had lost his pants, but it still left how they got into the cold tub of water a mystery.
"I remember…I remember Sting stating he was hungry and then trying to heat up some leftover chicken in the microwave," Yukino stated, sipping on a cup of water.
"Is that what the disgusting piece of burnt shit was?" Ogra said before glaring somewhat over toward his guild master since it had been him who had to clean up after the blond male.
"That drawing…Midnight did it when he was ordered to," Sting muttered while pointing toward the sex scene that still hadn't been cleaned up at all. No one had even attempted at trying to remove the permanent marker. Sting effectively avoided Ogra's glare by looking over toward the narcoleptic mage whom was now staring at the drawing with red cheeks.
"I remember Lucy being ordered to make a drunk call to someone she knows and telling them that she loves them," Midnight muttered under his breath before he finally turned his gaze away from the crude drawing.
"Yeah, I remember that too, but I didn't take the dare…really though Macbeth? We have to work on your alcohol tolerance," Lucy said softly before suddenly feeling the eyes of everyone on her form. They were all waiting to hear what she had remembered from last night, but she honestly didn't want to say anything. "I remember being ordered to have sex with Macbeth," she stated in something of a whisper, cheeks bright red and looking anywhere, but at Midnight. She couldn't figure out how she kept getting put into those weird kind of situations with the reflector mage, but at this point she was positive everyone in the world was plotting against her. Clearly, they all saw something between the two of them that she was still blind to.
"Anyways, you all need to hurry up and eat. The appointment with Sorcerer magazine is in about 2 hours," Rufus spoke from the kitchen before stating that the food was finally ready.
Time Skip
"Natsu! Lucy! What a pleasant surprise! I hadn't been told you would be attending today!" a photographer stated while looking over the two mages whom had tagged along with Yukino and the others.
"…Yeah," Natsu stated before moving to one of the chairs in the back of the room, behind the cameras, and then promptly falling asleep in it. Lucy could do nothing more than blanch at the sight of Natsu sleeping in the chair. She had discussed this with Midnight before they had left, that if he was going to use the appearance of Natsu then he was going to have to act like the man. That one word response and then sleeping in the chair was nothing like Natsu at all. 'Damn it all! If only the ring wasn't set up to take on only the appearance of people you know!' Lucy thought to herself while mentally pulling her hair out.
"He um…he isn't feeling well," Yukino chimed in while smiling brightly toward the reporter whom only looked toward Lucy for some kind of weird confirmation. The blonde woman merely nodded her head and silently thanked Yukino for covering up for them.
"Yeah, we took a train to get over here and he still hasn't been able to get over his motion sickness," Lucy added on while trying to force a convincing smile on her lips.
"Well, okay then. Are you going to be joining the Sabertooth girls for their shoot?" the man asked and Lucy could practically see the hope filling in his eyes.
"Yep!" Lucy said excitedly before she was ushered into the changing room with the other two women; meanwhile, Sting and Rogue took a seat beside a certain sleeping mage.
Sting grinned slightly before raising a hand and poking into the sleeping man's side. He continued to do this until Midnight actually opened his eyes and glared toward him. He wasn't happy when people interrupted his sleep, but it seemed like this Sabertooth guild was intent on never letting him get a good day's sleep again.
"You might not want to sleep through this one," Sting spoke up, a sly grin forming on his lips as he ignored the annoyed sigh that came from his partner on the other side of Midnight.
"I don't understand the thrill you find in attending every swimsuit shoot Yukino signs on for. You act as if you are unable to bed her whenever you please," Rogue spoke up while giving his partner an annoyed look. The blond male merely shrugged his shoulders before giving a response that Midnight paid no mind to. The reflector mage was far too busy thinking about what Rogue just said…swimsuit shoot…did that mean that Lucy was going to be coming out in one of those skimpy little swimsuits of hers? Midnight swallowed hard as the memories of the time at the springs came to the forefront of his mind. All the sudden this building was way too hot and he was wearing clothes that were a lot more revealing and cooler than he was used to. He was soon pulled back to reality though when Sting slung an arm around his shoulders.
"You know, you're really red in the face," he said, the sly grin having never left his lips, even when Rogue slapped his hand away from Midnight.
"You're really not one to run your mouth. As I recall you were just as red when you first attended Yukino's shoot," Rogue said watching as his partner glared at him. Of course, the staring contest was thankfully not allowed to go any further than that because the lights around them slightly dimmed, Lucy and the others finally coming onto the set. The fake beach that had been set up behind them looked almost real. Yukino was dressed up in a little white two piece, her chest barely fitting into the top piece and answering the question of who had the bigger breasts between herself and Lucy. She had a pretty black sarong tied at her hips. Beside her was Aya, dressed in a black one piece with a colorful beach ball in her hands. And then there was Lucy, the person Midnight found himself staring at most of all. Her swim piece matched Yukino's in color and style, but she wore no sarong; instead, a sun hat adorned the top of her head and her hair was thrown up into some kind of messy bun.
"This totally isn't fair," Aya muttered before raising both her hands, dropping her beach-ball and quite literally began poking the breasts of the two women beside her. The two women squeaked and jumped away from her, Lucy going as far as to lightly smack the smaller girl over her head. One of the cameramen caught the beach-ball and brought it back to Aya before announcing that they were going to start taking the photos.
From there, the day was spent with Lucy and the two other women doing all sorts of different poses, answering questions, and Midnight trying to ignore the growing problem in his pants. He noticed that a lot of the photos were rather innocent, but then some were bordering nudity. One in particular was with Aya untying the straps to Lucy's bikini top and her struggling to keep it up before she revealed too much. Then there was the Popsicle and to be quite honest Midnight had never thought it was possible to be jealous of a Popsicle. He luckily wasn't the only one though because Sting had made it quite obvious that he had found the whole thing rather attractive and Rogue had even turned his eyes up away from his book for a split second.
On the way back to the guild, Midnight found himself rather surprised that he enjoyed the whole event. It wasn't too noisy so he could nap whenever he felt like it, Rogue and Sting weren't so bad as company (most times), and Lucy kept smiling over toward him. The only real problem he had with the day was the fact that he was constantly being questioned and called Natsu; apparently, his strange behavior had warranted a lot of concern from the employees.
"Hey, Midnight…" Sting spoke, pulling the dark haired mage from his thoughts. Midnight slowly turned to the male, looking him over while he eyed the girls up ahead as if a bit suspicious of them. "So, anyways, I grabbed this from one of the photographers while the girls were doing their interview," Sting said before producing an envelope and handing it to him. He also did the same for Rogue, but the shadow dragon slayer merely sighed and stuffed it away in one of his hidden pockets. Midnight on the other hand gently opened the envelope and removed its contents. Of course, upon seeing what exactly it was he openly blanched at the sight. It was Lucy, licking a red Popsicle, its sticky juices staining her white swimsuit and dripping into cleavage. He could feel his cheeks heating up as he quickly looked toward Sting with an expression mixed between shock and embarrassment. He didn't know how Sting was able to convince the photographer to give up these photos and he didn't know if he should even have this particular photo. If Lucy caught him with this photo…what would she say? She was barely dressed, her cleavage was covered in a red sugary substance, and her pink tongue was barely peeking out from behind her lips as she went to lick the frozen treat. She looked like a pin-up model, but he supposed that was the point of her career with Sorcerer Weekly. He gave a small sigh before placing the photo back into its envelope and just in time too because Lucy had somehow come up beside him. Or rather Sting and Rogue had ditched him to join Yukino and Aya up front.
"What you got there?" Lucy asked while gesturing toward the envelope he was trying to force into his pocket.
"Something Sting gave to me," he muttered trying hard not to tell her that it was a photo of herself, but his blush betrayed him.
"Oh, so it's a photo of me. The Popsicle, right? Sting just showed off the photo he got of Yukino," she said, but just as she finished speaking she burst out laughing. The face Midnight made was priceless and she wished she had had a camera on her so that she could have taken a photo of him. As her laughter died down a sudden idea stuck her and though it would be a little bold or even forward of her she supposed it would be worth it.
"I'll let you keep it, but in return I get a photo of you in a pair of swim trunks later," she said before flirtatiously winking toward the crimson faced mage. Another giggle escaped from her lips as she reached down to grab his hand, pulling him along, in a hurry to catch up with the others. 'Lucy Heartfilia…just flirted with me…of all people,' was the only thing Midnight could think as the little blonde tugged him along.