Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! And it is time for the third chapter of "Lucky Star!"
In this chapter, Lucy gets ready, Erza finds out, and stuff gets real. Fun fact about this chapter: it was written entirely on my iPod Touch, since I literally couldn't type it on my laptop thanks to my keyboard being broken.
I seem to have less to say with each document I post, so I'll just spare you the bull and give you the horns. Enjoy!
I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.
It was a quarter to five. Jellal would arrive at Lucy's apartment to pick her up soon, and she was currently taking a hot shower in preparation for his arrival.
Currently, Lucy was contemplating whether she should have gone to meet Jellal instead of the other way around. On the one hand, it was part of her upbringing to le the man make the first move. On the other hand, she worried about Jellal getting the wrong idea about their relationship. The more Lucy thought about it, the less either hand made sense.
First of all, she was paying for the whole night; the dinner, the play, and the drinks. She pretty much had to, as Jellal didn't have that much money except for what passed as enough to get him by. Second of all, the date was her idea, and she was determined to dictate how things between them went down.
She rinsed her hair, turned the water off, and dried herself, not bothering to wrap a towel around herself. Before Natsu and Erza got together, she wouldn't have dared walk naked in her own home. Now, she had every confidence that the Titania would curb the Salamander's intrusive ways.
Only to have that confidence shattered by the sight of short pink hair and long scarlet hair lying on her bed, Natsu without his vest or scarf, and Erza without her armor, holding each other close in their sleep.
Despite herself, Lucy smiled. She had always thought the Salamander was cute when he slept, but now that Erza was part of the scene, she somehow added to the effect.
She remembered once having a crush on Natsu, especially after he made a big show of saving her during the Phantom Lord war. At first, she thought of it as him claiming his woman, but these days, hindsight would rationalize him as trying to prove his power to the enemy. But either way, Natsu was just being Natsu.
But things happened, through no fault of his own, and she had decided that, if Natsu were to choose between spending his life with her or Erza, the Titania would have her beat five ways to Sunday. Still, Natsu had become her best friend, and she was largely happy with how things stood.
Suddenly, she sneezed, which woke up Erza. The next thing Lucy knew, the other girl had pinned her to the wall and held a sword to her throat. So Lucy did the only thing she could do in this situation.
She screamed.
Erza lowered her sword. "Oh, it's only you, Lucy," she said. "You really musn't watch others sleep."
"It's my house!" Lucy retorted. "If someone's sleeping on MY bed without my permission, I'll watch them all I want!"
"Wha? Lucy?" Natsu mumbled sleepily. "We thought you weren't home."
"Didn't you hear the shower run?" Unfortunately, Lucy's words fell on deaf ears as she witnessed Erza Requip into...
Nothing at all.
"KYAAAAH!" exclaimed Lucy. "Erza, what are you doing?"
"I know how self-conscious you are, so I decided I would share in your nudity," said Erza matter-of-factly.
Lucy looked down at herself and realized, much to her horror, that she was still naked. Well, so much for not wearing a towel.
"Close your eyes!" Lucy demanded, blushing furiously. "I have to change!"
"Lucy, we've already seen you. The damage is done," said Erza.
"JUST CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DON'T LOOK UNTIL I SAY SO!"
Minutes later, Lucy had changed into a strapless purple dress that reached the halfway point between her hip and her knee. She also wore a pair of dress shoes that was kind-of-fancy, kind-of-not. A pair of panyhose pulled the look together. She was determined to keep this a friendly date, but having said nothing about the dress code for the evening, she knew Jellal would dress to impress, and Lucy would not be undone. Hell, she would even go so far as to call it a friendly competition.
Natsu and Erza, now allowed to look, took in Lucy's outfit. "You look amazing, Lucy," said Erza in approval.
Natsu narrowed his eyes. "It looks weird." Erza thumped him in the back of the head. "I mean, it's weird how great that looks on you!" he said nervously.
"Aww, thanks, you guys!" said a blushing Lucy.
"What are you all dressed up for anyway?" asked Natsu. "I mean, it's no one's birthday or anything."
"Well, if you must know, Natsu, I have a date tonight-" Lucy cut herself short, realizing the implications of Erza finding out. "And he's coming over any second now, so you guys have to go!" She grabbed Natsu and Erza by their collars, the former questioning why they had to leave and the latter looking like Lucy had commited a great offense by attempting to kick her out. Just as Lucy opened the front door to let her friends leave, she noticed a familiar facial tattoo observing the scene, wearing a green diamond-patterned suit, a plain dark blue tie, and a black dress shirt.
"Uhhhh... hey, Jellal! You're early!" said Lucy nervously.
"Actually, I'm a few minutes late," replied Jellal, looking at his watch.
Suddenly, Erza wrenched herself free from Lucy's grasp and gave the blonde a very harsh stare. If looks could kill, not even vapor would be left.
"Yeah, uhh.. Natsu and Erza came over for a bit," said Lucy to Jellal. "But they were just leaving, right?"
"Leave?" asked Erza. "I will do no such thing! Not until we have a little chat." She grabbed Lucy by the hair and led her out of the apartment.
Natsu looked at Jellal. "She's screwed," he said.
Lucy touched her hand to her hair. If it were anyone else, she would complain about how her hair was ruined. But this was Erza, and she was going on a date with Jellal.
Ever the one to be blunt, Erza spoke. "Lucy, I want you to know that, though I hold no romantic interest in Jellal, he is still a very dear friend of mine. Henceforth, if you do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to cause him any sort of pain, be it physical, mental, or emotional, I will take that pain and deliver it unto you tenfold!" Lucy nearly caved under Erza's stare.
That is, until Erza sighed.
"At least, that's what I want to say," she said. "But I can't help feeling like such words are wasted on you."
"Maybe," said Lucy. "But things like that, you just gotta say." Erza nodded in agreement.
"So... how did you and Jellal end up together, anyway?" asked the Titania. She was genuinely curious about the matter.
"Well... the thing is... it happened at the steakhouse," said Lucy nervously. "I... heard you guys talking."
Erza was surprised to learn this, but managed to hide it behind a stern frown. "Lucy, I thought you knew better than to eavesdrop on other people's conversations," she said.
"I know," replied Erza. "But... it was like watching a train wreck, because I knew how Jellal'd react to you shooting him down, and-" Erza held up a hand to stop the celestial mage.
"It's all right, Lucy," she said. "I think I get what you mean by 'train wreck.'"
"Well, that's good," said Lucy with a sigh of relief.
"Still, I don't like the idea that this is a pity date," said Erza with a hint of worry.
"It's not!" said Lucy defensively. "It's just a friendship date!"
"I fail to see the difference," said Erza flatly. "Either way, you should state your intentions to Jellal right away. But for what it's worth, I think you two complement each other perfectly." The scarlet-haired mage punctuated this statement with a smile.
Lucy returned her teammate's smile with her own. She was worried about Erza's support, but she seemed to have it, which made things seem a little easier.
"You shouldn't keep Jellal waiting much longer," said Erza. "I'll be expecting full details tomorrow." Lucy blushed, but heeded her friend's advice and met up with Jellal back at the apartment.
"So I guess this is it," the blue-haired young man said.
"Yeah," said Lucy.
"There comes a time in every man's life... when he's not sure if he's all out of bullets or if he's got one more shot in him," said Jellal. It's times like those... times like now... when I have to ask myself... do I feel lucky?"
"Well, do you?"
"Put simply, I like the gun I'm holding right now." Lucy blushed, realizing what Jellal meant by that statement. After unceremoniously kicking Natsu out, the unlikely couple set out to see what the night would bring.
Yeah, I couldn't think of a half decent way to write Natsu out. Sue me.
But yeah, the date is going down next chapter. Look forward to that.
Also, I know I said I'd put up a sign-up for that sequel I was planning, but again, it's in the planning stages, and if it doesn't happen, I don't want anyone to feel like their OCs are going to waste. I actually have a semi-complex storyline in mind for this, and I want everything to be perfect in terms of placement of events. So I'm just gonna flesh it out a bit more and we'll see where we are at the end of this.
So until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt, and may your left thumb not screw over your typing like mine does.