I am so sorry this took so long!
I've been stuck on this story for a while since i had so many idea's but i'm finally back on track! thank you so much to all the people who reviewed, it's those comments that's made me have the motivation to write again! i hope you enjoy this new chapter, and know there are many more to come!
"Flame Brain, stop simping over your new girlfriend and actually help."
"I've carried your ass for the last four games, Metal Freak!"
Lucy tried her best to concentrate on the game rather than the fact that Natsu hadn't corrected Gajeel. She sneakily sent a spray of bullets his way before following the team.
"Oi!"
"You should have been focusing," She muttered as she killed a player looming near Gray.
"Ya gotta come up with a new way of communicating, Bunny Girl." Gajeel grumbled while Natsu laughed. "You losers would be lost without me."
"Metal, we lost half the games we won before Chill joined." Ice muttered and Lucy smiled.
"Yeah, and we'd never lose any if you kept your head in the game." Natsu added cheerfully. Lucy smirked when the screen popped up saying their team won and leaned back in her seat.
"Piece of cake," She hummed as she stretched her arms. Gajeel begrudgingly agreed.
"Probably time we called it," Gajeel suggested. "Bunny girl, come on call with me after you're done talking to your new squeeze. I need to ask you something."
Lucy ignored her face heating up as she replied she would. She didn't realise the others knew her and Natsu would talk for a while after they got off game.
"Talk to her now," Natsu cut in. "I wanna take a shower anyway. I'll call you when you're done, Luce?"
Lucy smiled at the nickname and nodded even though he couldn't see her. "You got it. See you tomorrow, Gray!"
"See ya, Lucy. Bye freaks!"
Natsu and Gray exited the call, leaving Gajeel and Lucy on their own.
"So, what's up?"
"Alright, I need you to promise not to freak out and give me a headache, okay?" Gajeel growled immediately. "It's just a simple question."
Lucy frowned and leaned back into her seat. "Okay…"
"You're – You're friend. Shrimp."
Lucy's brows shot up. "Levy?"
"Yeah, that one," Gajeel grumbled. "You know if she - If she…"
A slow smirk curled across Lucy's lips. "If she… has a boyfriend?"
"Yeah." He muttered. "Yeah, she single or what?"
Lucy crossed her arms as she leant back. "Why do you ask?"
"You know exactly why I'm asking, you sociopath." He growled and Lucy couldn't hole back her joyous laugh.
"Oh my god, I knew it. I know you had the hots for her!"
"You didn't know shit!" He snapped but Lucy just laughed. "She have a boyfriend or not?"
Lucy shook her head. "Nope. She has a couple guys that follow her around like puppies, but she only sees them as friends. Now that I think of it, the only person I've ever seen her have any chemistry with is you."
Gajeel just grumbled as Lucy giggled again. "Ya think she's interested?"
"What, I'm meant to just give out some of my dearest friend's secrets?"
"Hey, I fuckin' put up with all that bullshit that went on with Fire Freak," He bit back sharply. "You owe me."
"I suppose you're right," Lucy hummed before finally giving in. "Yeah. She's definitely interested.
It was quiet for a long moment before Gajeel snapped: "See! Was that so hard?"
Lucy laughed again. "Don't act like you didn't antagonise me every chance you got when I had my secret! It's fucking payback time."
"Fuck, karma is real." Gajeel groaned painfully and Lucy couldn't smother her evil laughter.
"It certainly is. So, you're gonna ask her out?"
"Not yet," He muttered lowly. "I figured we'd all be hanging out together at college since I'm stuck in your building now."
"You're not going back to your side of campus?"
"Nah, all our practical work is more or less done. We need to focus on the theory side of things for the rest of the semester."
"That's fair," Lucy shrugged. "Yeah, Gray and Natsu would probably joining us too, so we can all hang out."
"Sounds tolerable," He allowed. "If Shrimp seems up for it, I'll ask her out."
"How romantic." Lucy cooed and Gajeel swore at her.
"Anyway, thanks," he finally muttered. "I'll let you get back to your Fire Breath. See you tomorrow."
"You meeting me at my dorm so we can walk together?"
"Might as well, it's on the way," Lucy could hear him shrug. "Coffee?"
"Obviously. See you tomorrow."
"See ya, Bunny."
The app chimed as Gajeel left the call, almost immediately, Natsu popped back in.
"Hey Luce!"
Lucy grinned at his cheerful tone. "Hey Natsu! You all good?"
"Yah, I just thought it'd be easier if you spoke to the Metal Freak first. Everything okay?"
"Oh, everything's perfect," She chuckled easily. "He has a crush on one of my friends, so he wanted to know if she was single."
"Poor girl," Natsu sighed, and Lucy laughed. "He walkin' you to college?"
Lucy nodded. "Yeah, he lives pretty close and it's an excuse for him to see Levy, I suppose."
Natsu chuckled and Lucy smiled.
"Makes sense. I wish I lived closer so I could join you."
"It's so out of the way," Lucy chided him softly. "You'd have to get up an hour earlier to just make it here and to college on time. That'd eat into gaming time."
"Fuck, I've literally found the girl of my dreams," He groaned, and Lucy's face grew hot. She shook her head fondly.
"I aim to please," She giggled and Natsu chuckled.
"You've succeeded," He laughed. "Anyway, I wanted to ask, you got plans this Saturday?"
Lucy frowned and shook her head before remembering to reply out loud. "Nope."
"Wanna go on that date?"
Lucy's stomach tightened so quickly she nearly squealed out loud. "I'd love that."
"Well, I've got some ideas," He added, and Lucy could hear his smile. "12 work for you?"
"That would be perfect," she agreed, unable to contain her smile. "I can't wait."
"Me too," he murmured softly, and Lucy shivered. "Well, I'll let you get some sleep. I'll see ya tomorrow, Luce."
"See you tomorrow, Natsu," Lucy whispered. "Good night."
"Good night." He whispered back and Lucy squeezed her eyes shut with excitement. The app chimed again, and Lucy pressed her palms to her face.
"Oh my god," she squealed for a while before finally shutting her computer down. The butterflies in her stomach were gonna make it impossible to sleep but, God, was it worth it.
"Someone's sparkly."
"Why do people keep saying that?" Lucy huffed as she snatched the coffee from Gajeel's hand and opened the door wider to let him in.
"Prolly' 'cause it's true," He chuckled. "What happened?"
"Natsu wanted to talk about our date last night," Lucy tried her hardest not to squeal. She pulled her jacket from the chair at the table and wrapped it around her. "We're going out this Saturday."
"About damn time," Gajeel grumbled as a quiet knock sounded at the door. Gajeel looked back at Lucy. "Well, I'm not getting it."
Lucy shot him a dark look before making her way to the front door and pulling it open. She smiled slowly as she looked at Levy who was red in the face.
"Hey Lu," She smiled at her friend. "Cana had to leave early so it's just me. You ready?"
"Yeah, yeah I think we're ready," Lucy called back: "Right, Gajeel?"
"Yup," Gajeel lumbered into the view before smirking at Levy. "Hello, Shrimp."
Levy's face impossibly got redder. "It's Levy!"
Gajeel just chuckled and walked past Lucy, placing a hand on the small blunette's head. "Nah. It's Shrimp."
Lucy laughed quietly when the two began to bicker. Levy might be being sharp back, but anyone could see the spark in her eyes. Lucy never would have guessed that a 6"4, pierced, long haired tattooed guy would be her type.
"Ready?"
The two didn't even pause their banter to acknowledge her. Lucy just shook her head with a smile and pulled her door shut.
Lucy's heart nearly burst from her chest when she saw Natsu waiting at the entrance of their college. He was loudly arguing with Gray, who completely threw away his cold demeanour to fight back. Natsu didn't give Gray a second thought when Lucy's eyes met his.
"Okay, I'm done Ice Queen," Natsu chirped before jogging over to meet Lucy. Lucy laughed loudly at Gray's affronted expression before hanging her head back to look up at Natsu.
"Hey Natsu," she said softly, her cheeks already heating up.
"Hey Luce," He replied cheerfully before wrapping an arm around her shoulder in a hug. "Metal Freak give you any trouble?"
Lucy laughed but was delighted that his arm didn't drop when they started walking. "No. He was too busy flirting with Levy the whole way here."
"He was not – "
"Fuck you, Bunny Girl."
Lucy and Natsu cackled as Gray suddenly jumped behind them.
"Oh fuck."
"What, what is it?" Lucy asked. Gray just ducked behind them as a figure made their way towards the group.
"Gajeel-kun?"
Lucy watched as Gray's eyes opened in confusion, and he stood up straight. Lucy turned to see a beautiful, ocean coloured blue haired woman look up brightly at Gajeel.
"Rain woman!" He replied cheerfully before giving her a quick one-armed hug. "You're back from your trip?"
"Juvia is," The woman, who Lucy now knew was Juvia, replied brightly. "It was incredible! The fish were so beautiful, she nearly cried."
"I bet you cried enough to sink the damn boat." Gajeel quipped and the woman just laughed and smiled fondly.
"Anyway, Gajeel-kun's dad called and said we could do dinner this week. Is that alright?"
"Only if you're cooking," Gajeel agreed easily. "Wednesday work?"
"Juvia will be there. Oh," She looked over the group Gajeel was with. "Juvia has been so rude! I'm sorry, Juvia is Gajeel-kun's sister."
Lucy heard Gray choke on his spit. "She's your sister?!"
Juvia's eyes flickered behind Lucy and Natsu and Lucy could swear they clouded with sadness.
"Oh, Juvia didn't see you there, Gray-sama," she said quietly, her cheery tone gone. Gajeel looked between the two slowly.
"Yeah, we were foster kids together," Gajeel replied, his brow furrowed. "How do you know Juvia?"
"Gray-sama doesn't," Juvia but in quickly. Gray's wide blue orbs landed on her. "Juvia used to bother him as she had a crush. She was a little… full on. Gray-sama didn't feel the same and it wasn't fair she kept pushing her feelings onto him."
Lucy felt her chest tighten for the girl. She seemed so sweet, she could hardly believe Gray wasn't interested.
"Juvia," Gray started but Juvia quickly looked away, moving all her attention onto Gajeel.
"Juvia will see you on Wednesday, Gajeel-kun." She looked back over to the rest of the group. "It was lovely to meet you all. Juvia hopes we can be friends."
"Of course," Lucy added quickly, and Levy echoed her. Lucy did her best to ignore Gray's torn expression as she went on. "It was great to meet you, Juvia. We'd love to hang out more."
Juvia smiled weakly, clearly not believing them. Lucy decided then and there to prove to the shy girl that they would certainly be friends.
"Will you have lunch with us today?" Lucy asked, stepping forward. "We'll be in the west courtyard."
"J-Juvia would love to!" she stuttered, before casting a worried glance at Gray. "As long of Gray-sama doesn't mind. She doesn't want to impose – "
"Nah, who gives a fuck what Gray thinks," Natsu cut in, stepping to Lucy's side. "If he gives you any trouble again, just let me know. I'll beat his ass for ya, right after Metal Freak here."
Gajeel cracked his knuckles audibly and Juvia waved her hands. "Please, that's not necessary. Juvia was the one in the wrong when it comes to this."
"Nah, don't believe it." Natsu stepped back to throw an arm around Gray's shoulders, who was slumped like a wounded puppy. "I know guilt when I see it. Ice Freak is a pain in everyone's ass."
Gray glared at Natsu but didn't disagree. His eyes flickered between his pink-haired friend and the blue haired beauty.
"You should definitely come eat with us," he added, offering her a half smile. "It'll be fun. There's nothing wrong with just being friends."
Juvia's answering grin was so blinding Lucy nearly had to look away. "Thank you, Gray-sama! She will bring some of the baked goods she has from class!"
"You're still minoring in bakery?" Gajeel asked with a smirk. Juvia nodded firmly.
"Of course. Marine biology is what I'd wish for a career, but baking will always be my hobby."
"Sounds good, Rain Woman," Gajeel laughed and placed a hand on her head. "It's good to have you back."
Juvia beamed at him before the group finally dispersed to make their way towards class. Lucy couldn't help but worry about Gray and their new friend. Whatever they had gone through seemed complicated, and it was clear Gray's feelings were far more complex than he was letting on.
"Let it go, Lucy," Gray muttered to her and Lucy's eyes widened when she realised she was staring right at him. She cast her gaze down to her feet and slowed to walk closer to Natsu. She didn't know what the whole story was, but a smile pricked her lips as she debated all the ways she was going to find out.