Look within to find: ruined bedding (Lucy does not get a break); broke!Lucy (plotting ways to get money); blackmail (of one's not-so-friendly Dragon Slayer); caving in (of one's not-so-friendly Dragon Slayer); Gajeel being a jackass (seriously, I don't know why I warn that, it's his default mode)

Oddball Punk: You magnificent mind-reader, you! This is mostly based off the manga, because I think it goes more in-depth. And you get a better range of Gajeel's psycho!faces (seriously, when he decided that Lily was his cat = psycho!) There shall be some more wound tending, in the unconventional Fairy Tail way, because Gajeel is too tsundere to admit anything and Lucy is too hard-headed to turn away.

Exams and essays in University have been nuts lately, but I have next week off, so hopefully I can get another chapter uploaded before those assessments come back to spank me ~

Song by My Chemical Romance

XXXXXX

Chapter 4 – The Sharpest Lives

The first thing that Lucy was aware of was that there was a terrible pain in her neck. She couldn't quite understand how it happened or how it got there, but it hurt and she was reluctant to unravel herself either way. Lucy groaned as she unravelled her limbs from the odd position she had contorted herself in, knowing that there would be aches in her back, neck and legs all day. She cracked her eyes open with an unhappy noise, fuzzy mind turning over why her blinds were open.

That's when she realised that her bed was empty; more specifically, one Gajeel Redfox, injured Iron Dragon Slayer that she had dragged into her apartment, was missing. Her heart hammered at the open window and the implication of the missing Slayer. Had Tartaros managed to track Gajeel back to her apartment? Had the dark guild snuck in and taken him right under Lucy's nose?

But she noticed that his boots were gone, as was his ragged tunic that she had almost neurotically folded for something to do. There was no sign of a struggle, even in the bed's rumpled state, but the most important thing was that Pantherlily was not there. Even in their injured state, the exceed's senses combined with Gajeel's would not allow anyone to sneak up on him here, in such a limited little area.

And it was just like Gajeel to leave without a word of notice, the jackass.

But something on the table, a loose sheaf of paper folded twice over with the short-hand scribbling on it thank you, Lucy. She could only assume that it was Pantherlily's chicken-scratch writing, because there was no way that Gajeel Redfox would ever say thank you, much less write it. It settled down her pounding heart at the idea that Tartaros had been in her bedroom, and pulled herself up via the table. Her legs groaned at being straightened out after spending so long being contorted in an odd position, but Lucy ignored the niggle.

It was like Gajeel had never been there, not a possession of the Iron Dragon Slayer anywhere to be seen. It was a bit disconcerting that he had decided to flee her apartment without waking her, what with him being that injured, but at least Lily had left her a message. Honestly, she would have liked to see him before he went, just to make sure he wasn't pushing himself after being attacked by all those mages. The Dragon Slayer didn't understand the need for limiting his actions, much like Natsu in that respect, and was too bull-headed for his own good.

Lucy stretched her arms out over her head, listening to her back pop quite satisfactorily even as her neck protested at being shifted from its weird sleeping angle. She stopped when her eyes cracked open once again, feeling them widen as she focused on something on her bed… blood. There was a pool of blood - okay, maybe pool as a bit dramatic - covering her sheets, exactly in the spot where Gajeel's side would have been if he was still here. Her brow furrowed as she peeled back the crumpled top sheet to inspect the brownish-red stain.

Lucy had long become accustomed to the sight of blood, and rarely worried about it when she knew that its owner was going to be okay. She had seen the wound on his side - about the size of her hand and very tender-looking, but she thought that she had staunched the bleeding when she packed cotton around it and bandaged it. Gajeel must have irritated it when he woke up and left her apartment. Lucy hoped that his injuries weren't giving him too much grief; Gajeel was a bit of a bastard, yes, but he wasn't as bad a guy as people liked to think he was.

Lucy sighed. She would have liked to see him, to see if he was really okay and not pulling some macho bullshit like Natsu did. But the Iron Dragon Slayer was stubborn, more so than Natsu, and didn't like being around people at all, let alone when he was injured. It was part of the reason why Lucy thought he must be terribly lonely; he didn't trust his nakama enough to be vulnerable around them like they did him. Hell, Lucy couldn't count the number of times she had broken down and Natsu, Gray and Erza had picked up the pieces.

Strangling back another sigh, Lucy gripped the corner of her fitted sheet and tugged it off her mattress, resigning herself to a day of laundry to get the blood stains out. Wadding up her sheets and tossing them in the corner, Lucy turned back to her bed to peel her pillow out of the case and - fuck! The blood had soaked through her lovely white sheets and into the mattress, leaving a reddish-brown stain the side of her head right in the middle. A spike of anger welled up inside her, not at anyone in particular, but more to the fact that her bed was now ruined and unusable.

With her teeth grit, Lucy gave the side of her mattress a savage kick that served no other purpose than to loose some of her temper. It wasn't Gajeel fault - Lucy knew that, but now she was going to have to use her precious saved-up rent money to buy herself a new bed. Throwing a mournful glance at her beloved white sheets and floral bedspread, Lucy condemned them to the bin along with her mattress. That would be all of her precious rent money down the drain, but she very well couldn't live without a bed.

If she bought the bed, she'd have nowhere to put it because of her rent. If she payed her rent, then she'd have nowhere to sleep.

Lucy let loose the frustrated scream and kicked her mattress again, only serving to injure her foot this time instead of quelling her temper. Just fucking great. She'd now have to try and find herself a high-paying solo job and hope to finish it within a week's time before her rent was due. She had never been on a solo job before, and had gotten use to the firm support of Natsu and Happy at her side, along with the occasional tag-along of Erza and Gray. They provided not only support in the missions, but companionship and laughter and mass-murder pillow fights that were a dangerous prelude to someone's - usually Lucy's - emotional destruction.

Her eyes widened and her body froze. Gajeel may not be to fully blame here, but she might just be able to fandangle him into going on a mission with her. He may not be her number one choice of partners, but she was strong and capable and maybe she could talk him into it because he owed her. And he did owe her - nothing serious, because they were nakama and she liked to think that he would do the same for her, and this was a shot for her to pay off her rent and get a bed. He did ruin it in the first place, so, hopefully, he'd feel obliged to help.

Lucy snorted. Yeah, right.

XXXXX

Lucy strode through the guild doors sometime in the early afternoon, a bag with new sheets and a bedspread hanging off her arm. The store was delivering a new mattress to her apartment later on in the evening, and she now officially only had a few hundred jewels to her name. Maybe just enough to buy herself dinner tonight if she didn't feel like cooking, but after that, she was so dead broke that it was funny to her. She had been broke before, but never this badly. Her new mattress, sheets and bedspread had set her back not only her rent money, but also her emergency rainy-day fund as well.

Well, that was the point of having an emergency fund, but now she'd have to start one again all over from scratch.

Shuffling her bag on her arm, Lucy peered around the always rambunctious guild for her new favourite Dragon Slayer, who had quickly become her new meal ticket in her mind. She didn't have to look past his usual spot at the end of the bar where he had nested down at, creating a buffer zone around himself and the rest of the guild. Now that he was suddenly there, and not all in her head, approaching him with her part proposition, part coercion had just become a monumental task.

Mentally slapping herself to man-up a little (even though she was a girl), Lucy summoned her hidden courage and walked to Gajeel with a confidence she didn't really feel. She passed Wendy, happily chattering away with Charle and Lily, who gave her an appreciative smile, and Lucy winked back at him. Lily was quite a nice exceed, despite his less than stellar introduction to their group as an enemy trying to kill their guild. But he was fitting in great, and made quick friends with Wendy, Charle and Erza, who admired his swordsmanship.

If Gajeel knew she was approaching, and he did, he didn't say a thing, or even acknowledge her. That part of his personality rankled her a little, but she had no idea about his upbringing to judge: only that he had been raised by a Dragon, like Natsu had; only Natsu had an apparent friendliness where Gajeel had the warmth and agreeability of a hedgehog.

"Good to see you up," Lucy said in way of greeting.

Gajeel actually stopped eating to look at her, his red eyes fixed on her with an intensity that had Lucy startled and squirming a little. And then the most amazing thing happened - it was slight and barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it - but Gajeel inclined his head in the slightest of nods. That was the Dragon Slayer's equivalent of a friendly handshake, and it left Lucy floored. That was cordial and slightly nice - holy sweet mother of all sacred things.

Despite being vaguely stunned, Lucy slipped into the stool beside him, that she had once occupied while being three sheets to the wind and asking him all kinds of embarrassing things. Gajeel was back to eating, his eyes fixed down at his plate, and Lucy's wide eyes were drawn to his still bandaged forearm. She thought that he would've had Wendy fix up his wound for him, but apparently, he was still sporting them and letting them heal naturally. Her eyes darted over to the youngest Dragon Slayer, still talking animated with Lily, then back to Gajeel.

His burning red eyes were looking straight at her, apparently deciphering her train of thought with just a glance, and hiked a studded eyebrow up. Lucy imagined how this must look - people did not just casually sit next to Gajeel Redfox; they cowered from him and avoided him like the plague, not cosy down next to him and look slightly comfortable. While Gajeel was a very intimidating individual, Lucy knew that the only damage he would do to her was to her sanity; those few precious threads that had been overlooked by Natsu, Erza and Gray. She had already received her designated violence from Gajeel to last her lifetime, and she knew that the only situation where Gajeel would go after her was if she betrayed the guild and attacked them.

And that was likely to happen… never.

"How're the war wounds?" Lucy asked.

Gajeel was still looking at her, his lips turned down slightly. Lucy knew how painful chest-wounds could be, and from the look of it when Lucy had cleaned it out, he had bruised a good portion of that side.

"Fine," he replied gruffly, turning away from her.

Lucy nodded, more to herself than anyone, but she had learnt over her time as Natsu's partner that Dragon Slayer's had an almost psychic ability to see out the corner of their eyes, not even mentioning hearing and scents. There was no doubt in her mind that he was hurting right now, and she wasn't referring to Levi this time. It didn't make much sense to Lucy that while Gajeel would risk his life to save the guild, he wouldn't trust its people enough to let them know he's hurting. He probably just didn't want t worry Wendy, she knew that, but he almost went out of his way to drive people away from him. There were only a few exceptions to that rule, and Lucy decided to make herself one, whether he liked it or not.

A glass of juice was suddenly set before her, and Lucy looked up to see Mirajane give her a warm smile before shuffling off to take the order of Wakaba and Macao. Lucy picked up her juice and looked into its colourful depths, trying to figure out a way to convince Gajeel to partner up with her for a job. She was desperate for that money now, if she wanted to both eat and have a roof over her head.

"You should really ask Wendy to heal you," Lucy found herself saying.

Gajeel cracked his teeth on a chunk of iron disturbingly loudly.

"It was a covert job. She doesn't need to know," Gajeel told her stonily.

He must know that Lily told her the basis of his job for Makarov, and clearly didn't want anyone involved, let alone her.

"Have you told Master Makarov yet?" Lucy asked.

Gajeel cracked the iron again and gave a brief nod to her question. It was disturbing that this was Gajeel being personable. There was a silence between them as Lucy sipped her juice, trying to think of a way to spread those few hundred jewels she had left to last her the week. It would be tight, but she would have to do it - she would have to ask Gajeel for help.

Puffing out a breath between her lips, Lucy fiddled with the hem of her singlet, and turned her whole body on the stool to face Gajeel. There was no way she could afford to chicken out if she wanted to continue to live, so she grit her teeth and finally looked up. Gajeel was looking at her, his face unreadable, but Lucy thought he must be wondering what the hell she wanted this time. Last time, she had made an ass out of herself by asking him all kinds of suggestive and inappropriate questions, then thrown herself on him and cried.

"Are you free for the next few days?"

She cringed at the way it sounded; like she was asking him out on some ridiculously long date or something. The only response she got was a raised studded eyebrow as his eyes locked with hers. They really were an odd colour; there were all kinds of natural colours here, mostly dark, but his were without a doubt the most odd and yet the most pretty. Lucy didn't think he'd react very well if she told him he had pretty eyes.

It's sink or swim now

"I need your help for a job -" Lucy began

"Not interested," Gajeel rejected, turning away from her.

Lucy's eye twitched at her sudden dismissal - she had saved his sorry ass, the least he could do was hear her out! Clenching her jaw, Lucy shifted her barstool closer to Gajeel, knowing that he wouldn't be able to completely ignore her with Lucy being so far into his very large personal space bubble. It was pretty dirty play, she knew, but she desperately needed the money and he owed her and he was just being a jackass now, still ignoring her.

"I really need the money," Lucy told him, putting on her best puppy-eyes.

Gajeel growled. "No."

"Don't be an ass," Lucy hissed. "I'm desperate for the money or I won't make my rent."

"Not my problem," Gajeel ground out.

Okay, now he was beginning to piss her off.

"It is your problem," Lucy bit back, struggling to keep her voice down as to not cause a scene. "I had to spent my saved up rent money on a new bed because you bled all over mine and ruined it!"

Gajeel finally looked at her, red eyes unreadable as he held her angry gaze. She refused to look away, maintaining his precision gaze, not willing to give up any ground. There was no way in hell she'd defer to that whackjob right now; not when her wellbeing teetered on the line without Natsu to save her, as usual. It was only now that he was gone did Lucy realise how much she took his unwavering support for granted.

"I did?"

It came out quieter than she expected, thinking that she was going to have to yell it out with the Iron Dragon Slayer. Lucy nodded vigorously, if for no other reason than to avert her eyes from his precise and slightly unnervingly predatory gaze.

He seemed to be mulling it over, so Lucy decided to add onto his thought process.

"My mattress and sheets were all bloody and it soaked through, so nothing could be saved. I had to spend all my rent and back-up money on getting a damn bed, and now I can't make my rent."

Gajeel was back to looking at her, but his predatory edge was gone, and instead a contemplative glaze covered them. It wasn't a look she was very used to seeing on the Dragon Slayer. Lucy knew Gajeel a little, and he would not be swayed by something like that solely. Time to pull out the big guns.

"Besides, you owe me," Lucy told him.

Now that garnered her another intense stare. It seemed to be a pathological Dragon Slayer thing that they hated being indebted to people, and since Gajeel wasn't especially close to her, it seemed all the more an amazing feat.

"I ran through the streets of Magnolia at ridiculous o-clock to save you, and you weight a fuckin' ridiculous amount to manoeuvre about," she told him.

She could see the creaky wheels turning in his head, and got a little worried when his lips twitched up into a half-smirk. That never spelt out anything good.

"Speaking of which, why weren't you wearing pants?" Gajeel posed.

Lucy felt her face go flaming red, gritting her teeth in embarrassment as she willed Virgo to appear and dig her a hole to hide in. She had completely forgotten that she had run out into Magnolia in naught but a singlet and her panties, and it occurred to her that she had never put on her shorts before or after that. And that could only spell one thing - Gajeel had seen her in her undies. The mortification spread to colour her neck and ears red as well, and now Lucy was considering committing ritual suicide to escape the embarrassment.

But she had run the streets in naught but her undies, and it was because she was scared. She had seen the blood on Pantherlily, his ragged state and heard his plea for help, and Lucy had been terrified. Any enemy strong enough to axe out both Pantherlily and Gajeel had to be powerful, and he looked so defenceless and hurt when Lucy had found him, slumped against an alley wall a good hundred metres from her apartment. Even Natsu didn't manage to reduce Gajeel to unconsciousness when they fought, and Natsu was the most destructive and damaging mage that Fairy Tail had.

"Shut up," Lucy sniffed. "I was really worried about -"

Lucy froze, the sentence half out of her mouth, eyes wide with horror. She had just almost-but-really-had admitted to Gajeel, of all people, that she had been worried about him. Gajeel seemed just as surprised as she did, but he recovered very quickly with an unreadable expression. Lucy had the uncomfortable feeling that he was trying to see into her, and it made her want to duck and hide.

Luckily, she was saved from further embarrassment and having to go through with her seppuku plans by Wendy coming over.

"Hello, Lucy-san," Wendy said pleasantly.

Lucy felt a little of her anxiety wash away with the presence of the Sky Dragon Slayer; Wendy had that effect on people, even without her healing magic.

"Hey Wendy," Lucy replied warmly, with a smile on her face.

Wendy beamed back at her. Charle and Lily had come over with her, the female exceed standing beside her Slayer counterpart, while Lily flew up to stand on the counter between Gajeel and Lucy. Pantherlily took a few covert steps to the side and touched his paw to her hand on the counter, and Lucy took the silent gratitude with a warm smile to the exceed. She knew that Gajeel had seen that, but he let it go without drawing attention to it; if he did, it would bring his injuries into light.

"Gajeel-san, are you ready for the job tomorrow?" Wendy inquired politely.

Ah, so he already had a job planned with the youngest Slayer. Lucy smiled to herself mirthlessly, knowing that she should have suspected that the Dragon slayer wouldn't bother resting before lining up another job. She would now have to scour the request board for something that wasn't too dangerous and would pay well enough for her to pay off her rent by next week. Maybe she'd have to take a series of smaller jobs for the next week to work up the 70,000 jewels her rent cost - then maybe she'd have enough left over for food.

Well, if anything, Mirajane would take pity on her and feed her at the guild, like she did to so many who needed it. And maybe Master Makarov could line her up some non-lethal work for the council or something for the jewels.

"Yeah," Gajeel told her.

She tried not to look dejected as she skulled the last of her juice, resigning herself to an evening of scrambling for work. While her motivation for wanting to partner up with Gajeel was mostly money-orientated, she couldn't help but think that it would be intriguing to team up with the Slayer. He had shown her the other night that he wasn't completely anti-social, just very socially awkward, and it had given her a small sliver of hope that he might just accept her. Why she wanted him to accept her was beyond her current comprehension, but she just wanted it.

Gajeel was moving somewhere beside her, and his hand suddenly descended on the counter hard enough to make her (thankfully) empty juice glass tip over. Lucy startled to find him standing in the gap between their stools, his crimson eyes fixed onto hers.

"Train station, nine o-clock tomorrow morning. Be late and we leave without you."

Pantherlily had climbed up his arm while Gajeel spoke, now sitting on his shoulder while giving Lucy a splitting grin. The Iron Dragon Slayer didn't bother waiting for a response; he merely walked off to wherever he had to be, leaving Lucy there feeling a little stunned. Gajeel had just invited her on their job. She stared off into space as a smile crept over her face. Maybe she was a little closer to that acceptance than she originally anticipated.