Here ye shall find: Lucy with underwear (what is it with her and underwear, anyway?); Mirajane being crafty (you little devil, you); Gajeel holding Lucy's underwear (^_^); Lucy spazzing (which seems to be a permanent state of being with her); Gajeel in casual clothing (be still, my beating heart); awkwardness (Gajeel is such a magnificent tsundere);

Quick chapter update today, because I had spare time off between Uni assignments. And this chapter practically wrote itself. ^^ A filler between 'arcs', if you will.

Song by Muse

XXXXXX

Chapter 9 – Supermassive Black Hole

It was amazing how different Magnolia looked when you weren't going to get kicked out of your home and you had spending money. It had been late afternoon by the time they all rolled out of bed and staggered about to wake up - Lily and Gajeel had already been out and snagged what appeared to be breakfast while Wendy and Lucy bathed and made themselves presentable. It was a little more difficult than she expected to get Wendy in the bath - maybe because Lucy proposed that they bathe together - but after a little coaxing, Wendy joined her in the tub... and managed to flood the bathroom floor in her excitement.

It was always fun to bathe with Levy; they tittered about boys and books, the latest antics of the guild, people who they admired (Mirajane for Lucy and Fried for Levy). Bathing with Erza was mostly listening her talk about different armors or the occasional childhood story about Natsu and Gray, but it was oddly calming and serene to listen to her talk so quietly and fondly. Mirajane giggled a lot, Bisca blushed a lot, Jubia grumbled on about Gray and how she would rather be bathing with him and Cana drank somehow without getting bathwater into her alcohol.

Wendy, true to a child of her age, loved playing with the bubbles in the bubblebath that Lucy used, made a decent mess while at it, but Lucy was glad that she was having such fun. It hadn't taken them long to get into clean clothes and get out of the bathroom, Gajeel claimed the bathroom, and Lucy helped Wendy pack up their things in between little bites of the food that the Iron Dragon Slayer had brought back. While the girls were monopolizing the bathroom, he had gone out, only to return with a sackful of fresh-baked breads. To which he had promptly denied that they were for the girls, insulted Lucy, and claimed the bathroom for himself - it was actually kind of sweet, the effort he went through to deny these things.

It was a little under an hour later when they left, pockets heavy with money and Lucy's in particular with sweets she had picked up. There was Shirotsume dango for her; a little obsession she had developed thanks to Natsu, cinnamon puffs for Erza and Gray, and boxed fire-candy for Natsu. She really shouldn't be enabling them and rewarding behaviour like that, but they were her friends through thick and thin, and she loved them. Gajeel apparently did not share that sentiment, eyeing her off oddly as she stuffed her suitcase with sweets that she could not possibly eat all by herself. But that had been hours ago, and now those little goodies were safely stashed in her fridge, knowing that would be one of the first places that Natsu would investigate if he got back when she wasn't there.

And Lucy was walking along the main canal road of Magnolia, rent paid, groceries bought and safely stashed away, and a very special bag hanging off her arm. Lucy had gone out on a rare binge and spoiled herself; she bought herself new underwear. With the bag of pricey panties on her arm and money in her wallet, Lucy happily trekked through the crowded streets and off towards the gaudy and welcoming guild building of Fairy Tail. For once her mind wasn't on Natsu and Lisanna, or Gray and Erza; it was firmly in the happy place of rent paid, money in wallet.

Gajeel had given Lucy her cut - more than she was expecting - and she was surprised to find that it was an even cut of the reward. A hundred thousand jewels for wheedling herself onto the job and both amusing and pissing off Gajeel. Lucy couldn't help the smile on her lips as she pushed her way though the doors of Fairy Tail, and, as usual, she was greeted by her family. Macao welcomed her back and Wakaba commented on 'a job well done', Romeo-kun gave her a passing hug as he pushed by, Jet and Droy waved as she passed, Levy pinning her with a brilliant smile. And Mirajane came around from the bar and hugged her, congratulating her on completing their given job.

How she had ever felt alone was beyond her. Her scope had been dramatically limited since she met them, always relying and depending and soon her whole world boiled down to Natsu, Erza and Gray. But everyone in Fairy Tail was still here, here for her. It had been a particularly hard realization for her to make, but sitting on that train for hours to get back home gave her ample time to think about it, even between the casual chit-chat that Wendy had struck up. Lucy still had her friends, her place in Fairy Tail's Strongest Team, but that didn't mean that she needed them to go on, to function and exist. She could make it without them, as she had proved with Gajeel and Wendy, even if it wasn't by herself.

Lucy didn't have to be by herself, but she didn't have to be with Natsu and Erza either. They were free to take Lisanna and Gray wherever they wanted without her, and she would still welcome them home just like Mirajane did, with no changes in the way she felt about them. It was actually quite startling that Gajeel had helped her reach this conclusion; not by speaking, because the Slayer still responded to her in grunts and glares, but just by thinking about her time with him, the few snippets of conversations they had had. Gajeel was always so strong to Lucy, always alone, striving for power by himself, no one to rely on and he liked it like that.

Lucy could never do that, never attain that kind of strength. She relied on her nakama, on Fairy Tail, both in battle and in everyday life; her strength was built upon the love and help of those she held dear, and they would never let her down. Gajeel still seemed to be processing that people here were willing to help him, that he didn't have to walk on his self-imposed path of loneliness anymore, and he seemed hesitant to step off it. But he was already detouring - Gajeel was so strong by himself, but when he was together with Wendy, he was softer in his ways, though he masked it very well.

It wasn't hard for Lucy to see how much Gajeel cared for the young girl, even if he hid it under his veneer of iron-strong irritability and general grouchiness. He pushed her in ways that may seem unfair, even brutal for the other members of Fairy Tail, but Wendy responded well to it, and Lucy knew that there was no way in hell that the older Slayer would actually hurt her. He cared for the little Slayer, whether he knew liked or accepted it; and from what Lucy had seen, being liked by the Iron Dragon Slayer was a very safe thing.

Mirajane had long since released Lucy and moved back around at her usual spot behind the bar, and Lucy sat on one of the many stools before her. Gajeel wasn't at his usual spot, which was a little surprising, but Lucy just assumed that he would be catching up on sleep at his place, or whatever the Dragon Slayer did in his free time. Huh. Now there was a question; what did Gajeel do in his spare time? She couldn't really imagine him having some kind of hobby….Gajeel with a hobby. Lucy shuddered a little.

"So, how did it go?" Mirajane asked.

Lucy smiled at her, hefting her bag up onto the vacant counter space beside her

"Very good. We got the guy in record timing," Lucy explained.

"That's good," Mirajane agreed, "But not what I meant."

Lucy cocked her head to the side, slight frown on her face.

"What I meant was how you went with Gajeel," Mira told her.

Gajeel? Why would Mirajane be interested in how she went with the Iron Dragon Slayer over her clash with the guild-hunter? Wouldn't Leeroy Jenkins merit more worry then Gajeel – oh. Oh. She was worried that the Slayer might have done something to Lucy; the last time they were alone together, he had tortured her and tried to kill her. Mirajane must still be worried about 'unresolved issues' between them - she and Gajeel had never really talked about what had happened back then, and Lucy was happy to let sleeping dogs lie.

It made her happy that Mirajane was worried for her, but Lucy didn't really need it. Yes, Gajeel was a jackass most of the time, a little too rough with Wendy and scarily nice when he was sleepy, but all in all, he was pretty damn companionable. He was alarmingly reliable - that had come as a bit of a surprise to Lucy - strong as an ox and completely fearless when it came to anything, whether it was a larger enemy or groups of them. The Dragon Slayer had worked to keep her and Wendy out of as much danger as he could in their battle - then again, Lucy did peg some of that to his see-enemy-smash-them mentality. But Lucy had felt surprisingly safe in the older mage's company, as much as she did with Natsu and Gray.

So Lucy told Mirajane about their job, omitting some parts – she was way too embarrassed to tell her about her sleeping habits and Gajeel's wandering hands.

The white-haired Take-Over mage nodded in understanding, looking a little less tense than she had before; Lucy didn't even realise that she had been worried. It really hammered home at how much the rest of the guild distrusted Gajeel, even though he had risked his own life by willingly jumping into the anima to save the entire city. Lucy thought that would have redeemed him somewhat in their eyes, and even though she knew that Mirajane would never paint someone in those colours, it was clear that she thought it was a possibility. Gajeel had been (mostly) a gentleman, in his own warped way.

Mirajane accepted what Lucy told her about how he was actually a quasi-nice guy, nodding the whole time. But there was a disturbingly smug smile creeping onto Mirajane's face that was beginning to make Lucy very nervous.

"What?" Lucy finally asked, the smile starting to get to her.

"Oh, it's nothing, really," Mirajane told her flippantly. "You're just defending him so vigorously, is all."

Lucy blushed and stuttered her excuses (it's not like that at all, Mira-san! He's still a jackass!) and Mirajane giggled. Knowing that anything else she said would dig her in further, Lucy gave up all protests and instead buried her face in her hands and wanted to cry. Mira was still giggling good-naturedly when Lucy's proximity senses went blazing, but it was only the older woman reaching across for her shopping bag.

"Oh!" Mira squealed, "Is Succubus Secrets having a sale?"

Succubus Secrets, despite the cheesy name, was the leading designer underwear brand in Magnolia, and usually came at a steep price. But they were one of the few brands that made nice underwear for someone of Lucy's size - sometimes it sucked being so well-endowed. Mirajane could relate to that, being counted in those few, and Lucy decided that this was a safe change of conversation.

"Yeah! Check out what I bought!" Lucy gushed.

It wasn't often that she had enough money left over from a job to buy herself some truly cute underwear, but her little stint with the two Dragon Slayers had paid well. With rent money paid and groceries in her fridge, Lucy had splurged on a cute set of underwear and matching bra that she had liked. It was a lovely colour somewhere between red and dark pink - magenta, if she had to choose - with black lacing around the edges and the perfect fit. It was something she was thrilled with finding, and it had looked a treat in the changing booth.

Mirajane picked it up but didn't take it out the bag, knowing that Fairy Tail had an enormous amount of perverts residing in it, and it was understandable that they (the female populous) didn't want to broadcast what underwear they wore. Mirajane seemed to like the lacy set, a black bra strap hooked delicately around her finger as she admired it.

"Get it for anyone special?" she asked slyly.

Lucy blushed. "What? No! Nothing like that," she protested, and Mirajane grinned wickedly.

It wasn't a look that Lucy was accustomed to seeing, and she soon found out why Mira was grinning so sadistically.

The second the bra strap slid off Mirajane's slender fingers, it was caught by larger, rougher ones. It took Lucy a few moments to comprehend what was going on, her eyes following the large, square-tipped fingers up to split knuckles (sweet heavens, they looked familiar), a muscular forearm (please, God, no), a powerful bicep (don't do this to me), an armored shoulder (why, God, why?) a thick neck and straight to the face of Gajeel Redfox. Lucy just stared, mortification turning her face red and rendering her catatonic as the Dragon Slayer glanced inside the pink shopping bag, then turned his gaze to her.

"Really?" Gajeel intoned

Lucy felt paralyzed under his red gaze, and when the corner of his lips began to hike up in that smirk, she finally felt her defense reflex kick in. In very fast sequence, Lucy managed to grab her lingerie bag and then punch Gajeel right in the ribs, winding the larger mage with a precise strike to his bruised ribs. He might have wheezed something after her attack, but Lucy was screeching to intelligible heights, and high-tailed it out of there as quickly as she could.

Face beet-red and bag crushed to her chest, Lucy ran down the canal road, desperately willing all this to be a cruel dream. If not, than Gajeel really had been fingering her underwear - oh gods, that sounded so wrong! Handling! He had been handling her brazier with his fingers and then his eyes were on her…

Lucy squealed and buried her face into her hands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took a very long shower and stashing that innocent underwear bag away in the bottom of her drawers to calm Lucy down, but it was the hot shower had done the trick. Gajeel had seen her in her underwear on at least two separate occasions, and groped her (twice, if you count the hand on her hip and thigh while they slept), so she had no idea why the concept of him holding her bra was so embarrassing. Natsu had raided her panty drawer before and thought they were hats, Gray had asked to borrow her underwear before, and Erza had rifled through it to check Lucy's tastes. It was something completely different to have Gajeel Redfox doing it, though. Twice now he had seen her panties, but now that she thought about it, they were under very different circumstances.; the first he was injured and it never occurred to her that she was without pants, the second they were both nearly comatose from exhaustion.

But they had been on Lucy's terms, however belated, while that had not been. No wonder Mirajane looked so wicked - she must have seen the Iron Dragon Slayer coming. Lucy made a mental note to check her surroundings whenever she had something personal, or Mirajane started grinning like that - and to avoid the Take Over mage for a little while. It had been mortifying that Mirajane had seen that interaction, let alone how calm Gajeel looked while holding her underwear.

Lucy groaned again, shaking her head as she toweled off her hair, ready to curl up with another book for the rest of the night. It was dark outside, the cool night air filtering in through her partially-opened bedroom window, kept open out of habit. It had forced Lucy into her thermal pajamas and a thick pair of socks, her fluffy robe thrown over the wooden chair as she passed, still drying her hair.

Gajeel had been taking up a disturbingly large part of her thought process the last few days, and Lucy wasn't quite sure where it came from, or why. Maybe it was all the free time she had, not worrying about what Natsu was going to destroy next and how to get out of it. Perhaps, it was because she had just recently been on a job with the Iron Dragon Slayer; she had never really thought about him beforehand for extended periods before their job. Either way, Gajeel seemed to have taken over a little square of her brain, and Lucy wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that.

She was sure that the Slayer certainly wasn't thinking about her; what did he think about, anyway? With all that time he spent alone, purposely isolated from the world, Lucy didn't know how he wasn't mad by now - no, she did know. He joined Fairy Tail. It may seem odd - joining a guild of madmen to stop one's descent into the very thing - but being with people who cared about you, even if it was just to sit near them, was the reason that Gajeel was probably still functioning. Mostly functioning - she would never insult him by saying that he was completely sane, because he wasn't. Most of Fairy Tail wasn't, and maybe that was what had attracted him to the guild in the first place.

And this subsequently brought her thought-pattern right back round to Shirotsume; their battle against Leeroy Jenkins and the dark guild. Lucy had never actually seen Gajeel fight up-close until then; she had been on the end of his physicality before, yes, but she had never seen him use it against an enemy before. When he had fought against Natsu back when he was still a Phantom S-Class, she hadn't been privy to a lot of the fight, and she hadn't seen a thing back in Edolas. Still, even after being in only one fight with the Iron Dragon Slayer, Lucy could succinctly say that he was someone that she didn't want to mess with.

He was pure physicality and strength, ripping through opponents like his iron through paper, muscles rippling and contracting under the force of his own blows. More than once she had admired his physique - they really didn't make mages with bodies like his - and he was a force to be reckoned with when in battle. It hadn't been all that distracting at the time, being more concerned with both keeping her own ass out of the line of fire as well as Wendy's, but afterwards, she had kind of, well, ogled him. Loki had been pissed to no extend, but Lucy wasn't even aware she was doing it, so how was she to blame?

And here she was, thinking about Gajeel again. Lucy made a loud, frustrated noise and tugged angrily on her mostly-dry hair. This was a dangerous path she was treading right now, and if she didn't know any better, she would think that she may be attracted to Gajeel Redfox. There was only one reaction to that.

She snorted.

And she nearly jumped out of her skin when a very firm knocking sound erupted from her front door. Lucy stared dumbly in the direction of her door, all previous thoughts slammed away in a corner of her mind. Who could it be at this time of night? Natsu, Gray and Erza were out of town - they never used the door anyway, let alone knocked - and Lucy was fairly sure that the rest of Fairy Tail had no idea where she lived. A thought flashed through her mind: could it be Tartaros? Clearly, the dark guild had it out for Gajeel, and she had essentially aided him in escaping, putting a severe hanker in their plans to main the Dragon Slayer. Then again, would Tartaros knock? It could be a ploy to get her to lower her guard. It could be the land lady telling her to keep it down again (although doubtful, because Gray and Natsu weren't here). Either way, there was only one way to solve this.

Grabbing her keys, and with her fingers firmly set on Taurus's key, Lucy edged over to her front door, where another firm knock issued from. Damning the fact that she had no peep hole, Lucy steeled herself, and cracked the door open an inch. And there, staring down at her, was a very sharp red gaze that looked like it was from a horror movie, and she slammed the door shut rapidly as her chest hammered. Silence reigned throughout her apartment, and after a few steadying breath, she realized she knew that gaze.

Cheeks flushing in embarrassment, not for the first time that day, Lucy wrenched open her front door. And standing there on her threshold was Gajeel Redfox, the very man who had been whirling around in her thought process, looking at her like she was crazy. Many things slid through Lucy's mind at this point: why was he here? How did he know where she lived again? Did he really think that she was nuts? But the most prevalent thing was that Gajeel was wearing clothes.

Of course, the Iron Dragon Slayer always wore clothing, consisting of his battered iron-collared tunic and white pants, but this time he was wearing normal clothing. His ragged iron-studded tunic had been traded in for a simple black t-shirt that stretched just right across his abdominals and biceps; his baggy white pants were replaced with dark cargo pants, but he still had his iron boots. Lucy gaped at him, eyes raking from toe to head; she had been expecting something else, just not him.

He looked like a man. Well, Gajeel always looked like a man, of course, but now he looked like a human man.

Gajeel hiked a studded eyebrow, looking at her almost expectantly until… oh. Lucy quickly stepped aside from blocking the door, and the Dragon Slayer entered. She had slammed the door in his face not a moment ago, and no doubt that he wasn't eager for a repeat performance. Closing the door a lot more calmly this time, Lucy sucked in a shaky breath for some semblance of normalcy, and turned to the Iron Dragon Slayer. Gajeel wasn't far away, his eyes fixed on Lucy as she squirmed under his gaze, and Lucy really wished that she knew how to casually interact with the Slayer, because this was a little ridiculous.

"What was with the spazz-out?" Gajeel groused

Lucy pursed her lips and tried to level a glare at him.

"It's complicated," Lucy explained.

"You're spastic," Gajeel snorted.

Lucy punched him in the shoulder as she passed; it seemed to be turning into a regular interaction between them, and it made her feel better. Besides, it wasn't like her weak little punch could do much against that muscle bulk. Gajeel followed her into her bedroom, which really doubled as the living room, and seated himself at her mismatching table and chairs. Lucy took a moment to reflect on the oddity of Gajeel being in her bedroom in casual clothing, not to mention that he was better behaved than Natsu or Erza were, before she sat down opposite him.

"What's with you?" Gajeel demanded. "You looked like I was The Slasher at the door."

Did... did Gajeel just make a pop-culture reference? And from a horror movie, to boot. That was more than enough to knock Lucy for six, and she reeled under the implications of Gajeel using pop-culture references while the Dragon Slayer himself just stared at her. It was frightfully reminiscent of when Lucy had first approached him, in a drunken slur, and he had regarded her with irritation and concern.

"I just… I wasn't expecting company," Lucy muttered lamely.

Gajeel blinked, and Lucy squirmed under the weight of his crimson gaze. The Iron Dragon Slayer, much like Lucy herself, had a built-in bullshit meter, because he sure as hell wasn't buying her excuse. The look on his face said as much, if not more; nice try, bunny girl.

Lucy pouted and avoided his gaze.

Gajeel snorted.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Lucy asked. "And where's Pantherlily?"

"At home," Gajeel replied, referring to his exceed partner.

Lucy took a moment to ponder this; now that she thought about it, where the hell did he live? She knew where Erza and Natsu lived, and Gray resided at the boy's dorms, but where did the Slayer call home? Lucy pictured him in a shack like Natsu's, though she supposed that he would need a bed because there was no way that a hammock like Natsu's could support his weight. Snorting at the idea (Natsu had a little herb garden that he kept surprisingly well weeded), Lucy let it run rampart for a little while.

"Spazz," Gajeel accused, roughly poking her forehead with a finger.

Lucy huffed and batted his hand away; if anyone had told her that she would be casual with Iron Gajeel before now, she would have slapped them. As it was now, it was almost natural to assault Gajeel in a playful fashion, and the Slayer certainly seemed to find amusement in it.

"So, what are you doing here? Lucy asked again.

Gajeel made a face - casual clothes, pop-culture references AND faces - and kind of jerked his head to the side, like he was put out by having to answer. She was the one who was supposed to be put out here; it was her apartment! The Iron Dragon Slayer went through a series of little movements and ticks, and if Lucy didn't know better, she would almost say that he was being a little sheepish. Gajeel Redfox. Sheepish. Now that was a laugh!

The Dragon Slayer in question made a growly noise that had Lucy quirking an eyebrow, reaching into the pocket of his cargo pants and pulling out a folded piece of paper. He held it vaguely in her direction, and with a little trepidation, Lucy took it, unfolded it gently, and read the contents.

It was a job request. An item had been stolen, need back urgently, reward 500,000 jewels, Fairy Tail mages encouraged.

It actually said Fairy Tail mages encouraged. What the hell could that mean? Was it a nudge or a trap from Tartaros? Offering five hundred thousand jewels for a stolen item was fishy enough, let alone the inclusion of their guild name into the request itself.

"The Master said that it was issued to Fairy Tail only so far," Gajeel said.

Made sense if it really was a Tartaros plant, but it was still a little too obvious. Didn't mean that it wouldn't work, though, because the guild was pretty crazy enough to see it as a challenge and go after it. Good thing Gajeel had swiped it then.

"I see," Lucy mumbled.

But why would Gajeel come to her - oh. Oh. Lucy knew about his little foray into the world of dark guilds, thus making her the perfect back-up. Wendy didn't know - Gajeel had made it a point to keep her out of it even to the extent of working with injuries - and that left Lucy, well within the realm of knowing. Lucy didn't want to particularly tangle with such a powerful dark guild, but then again, she would feel a nagging worry if Gajeel left with only Pantherlily for back-up. She may not be much, but she could help.

"Train station in the morning?" Lucy asked, looking up at him.

"Seven O'clock," Gajeel replied roughly, taking the request back and shoving it in his pocket.

She had only been home for a few hours, just finished unpacking and settled in. Lucy sighed. Looks like it was time to pack again.