Disclaimer: Same as every other chapter.
Sorry about waiting so long to update this time (oh no a whole... few days), I'm trying to pace myself better by giving wait times but then I forgot about it. On a side note: Lucy seriously has her privacy invaded like constantly. By everyone. I'm surprised the woman has any social barriers left after over a year (technically, like, eight) in that guild.
Chapter 9 "Levy (or, Poor Lucy Never Gets a Normal Bathing Experience; or, The Recap Episode)
Lucy POV
I groan under my breath as I take a seat at the bar, automatically ducking when a beer glass sails over my head. I yawn and try to steel myself for the appearance of a certain demon bartender.
"Good Morning, Lucy! Haven't seen you in a few days!" Mirajane chirped happily. I smile tiredly. "The usual, right?" I just nod and sit peacefully, trying to ignore the rabble behind me. I got Laxus to promise not to make sex-eyes at me in the guild hall for the forseeable future, so I relaxed, knowing he wasn't going to swing by and make my libido do backflips. He also agreed to keep his distance in the guild – since being near him seems to have similar effects. And goddammit, I'm mad at him! He needs to be punished somehow. "What's with the sour face?"
I start at Mira's teasing voice, shaking my head. "Nothing, just a lot on my mind," I offer vaguely. She raises an eyebrow, and I feel a shiver down my spine as her eyes examine me. She shrugs and places my usual strawberry milkshake in front of me, gliding off to take another order. I sip my drink slowly, humming at the familiar, wonderful taste.
"Hey Lucy!" Levy greets happily, sitting down next to me. I grin at her.
"Hey Levy! What's up?" I respond. She flicks my forhead teasingly. "Ow!"
"Where've you been, girl? I checked with Mira but she didn't say you were on a job or anything, and you weren't at your house?" she asks, slightly suspicious, although the gleam in her eyes shows that she's hoping for some juicy gossip. And oh, this would be SUCH juicy gossip.
"Yea, sorry about that. I decided to go train with Capricorn and Loke for a few days. Try and get better at this whole second origin thing, y'know," I lie smoothly. Levy sighs.
"Well that's boring. I was hoping you'd found a secret lover and shacked up with them," she sighs wistfully. I swallow hard, but manage a convincingly non-guilty smile. She side eyes me and it takes every ounce of my debutante training to keep my face passive. She smiles and I breathe a sigh of relief in my head. "Anyways, you gotta come to the spa with me! After all, I'm sure you could use it after all that training."
I hear Laxus snort from his table upstairs and Gajeel guffaws from his corner. I glare at the iron slayer, considering I'm not even within eye-sight of Laxus. Levy huffs and puts her hands on her hips.
"Am I missing something here? Like, why does Gajeel keep laughing at you for seemingly random things? He won't tell me!" she whines, giving me puppy-dog eyes. I gulp.
"Oh, well, y'know. He's just an ass," I offer calmly, smirking at the sound of Laxus choking on his beer above me. Levy giggles. "And a spa day sounds great! When should we go?"
Levy's eyes sparkle. "Now, of course! Finish that milkshake and let's go, girl!" she claps her hands together.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" I laugh.
"HA!" I hear Cana squawk out a guffaw at a nearby table, and my face turns pink as I remember what lead up to the multi-day fuckfest I was still recovering from.
Oh my god. I don't know If I can look that woman in the eye.
I slurp the last remnants of my milkshake and hop up, grabbing Levy's hand and rushing to the door before everyone's favorite drunk could embarrass me further.
The walk to the spa was rather enjoyable, despite the soreness that hadn't completely left my body yet. I stretched my arms over my head as I walked, trying to alleviate at least some of the soreness. Once we'd arrived and checked in, we decide on hitting the hot springs first. And this is where I learn that I am not always aware of what my body looks like. I changed into a swimsuit dreamily, not really thinking about much of anything other than how awesome the hot springs are going to feel. I stride out of the changing room and approach the blissfull, steamy paradise.
I had used a special ointment made specifically to heal hickies on my lovebites, but I realize as I see my friends eyes widen that I forgot about the bruises.
You know, the ones that are obviously from a pair of hands gripping my waist and hips? Yea. Those.
I squeak and plunge most of my body under the water and we lock gazes awkwardly. Levy puts her hands on her hips and stares me down.
"Lucy. You got something you wanna tell me?" she says drily. I look around for an escape, but she takes a step closer.
"Eeep!" I spin around to dash out of the spring (because obviously running away couldn't possibly make this situation any worse) and Levy shrieks loud enough for me to falter. She pounces on my back.
"LUCY! WHAT-! WHEN-! HOW-!" she splutters loudly. I spin around in confusion, and she slides down to grip me by the shoulders and shake me. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU'RE A MATE!"
I freeze. "What? How did you find out?" I manage. She stops shaking me and gives me an odd look.
"Lucy… you have the mark on your back," she says slowly.
"WHAT?! SERIOUSLY?" I shriek, spinning around trying to see my own back in a ridiculous display. Levy snorts.
"Why don't you just tell me everything. For starters, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU MATED TO?" she demands. I can tell she's pissed, and I can't really blame her. I mean, she did tell me immediately after she got mated to Gajeel, both the initial stage and the final stage. It's what lead to the small, black rune-like symbol between her shoulderblades. I look at her sheepishly.
"Um… Laxus…" I murmer. She stares at me.
"Uh, pardon?"
"Laxus. I'm Laxus' mate, alright?" I give in. Her eyebrows reach her hairline.
"What? When did that happen?"
"um, well… remember that big banquet party thing after the Games and the Dragons and stuff? In the palace?" I slowly lead. Levy narrowed her eyes at me.
"That's where you were, wasn't it? And why you were so weird when I found you later?" she surmises. I nod sheepishly, blushing. Levy facepalms. "That's what Gajeel found so funny," she mused. I huffed and crossed my arms. Her thoughtful face turned to one of understanding. "That's why he still laughs at you randomly! YOU'VE HAD SEX AT THE GUILD HALL, HAVEN'T YOU?" she blurts.
I cringe and nod, playing with the ends of my hair. Levy sighs in exasperation. "Well, I mean, I have, too… but still! At least you knew when I got a lover! I can't believe you lost your virginity and didn't tell me!" she whines. I look at her apologetically.
"I really am sorry. At first I was just comepletely caught off guards – I mean I never expected my first time to be in a storage room, in the Palace of Crocus, during a banquet, and with a man I'd barely even had a single, actual conversation with. I hadn't fully processed it, y'know?" I defend myself. "And, well, it just kinda kept happening… and happening… and I just kinda… I dunno. And we were trying so hard to keep it a secret, because, like… well, because of Erza, Mira, Master, and generally everyone. We just wanted to keep this thing we had going without dealing with the guild drama that was bound to happen," I continue to explain. Levy sighs in defeat.
"Alright, I guess I understand… but still!" she pouts.
"I know, Levy. I really did want to tell you, but then too many people kept finding out, and it was getting-"
"Wait… who found out? Are you telling me I'm not even the first outsider to know?" she asks, hurt. I hold up my hands and flap them, because that helps me think sometimes.
"I'm sorry! Literally none of the other people who know were informed on purpose!" I bawled, turning red again. Even despite the water I could tell Levy was tapping her foot.
"So who all knows?" she monotones. I hang my head.
"The Thunder Legion, since apparently they went looking for him during the banquet, and according to Ever's not-so-subtle teasing, they heard us," I start, ears burning. "Gajeel apparently had run into Laxus before it even happened because I guess he saw that Laxus had chosen me as his mate and I guess he was the one to inform Laxus about the general ideas and stuff about mating…" I continue, seeing Levy nod thoughtfully. "And then… um… well we both kind of forgot about how we have other dragon slayers in the guild, and we, uh… y'know… in a room upstairs and I guess both Gajeel and…and…" I trail off, my face falling comically. "Oh god, I forgot! We corrupted Wendy! I'm such a terrible person!" I cry. Levy actually starts to laugh and I glare at her.
"I'm so sorry! But that's really funny! IT's terrible, and I shouldn't laugh, but it's really funny!" she chokes out. I splash her. "Fine. Any more?"
"Natsu somehow found out. He showed up afterwards at the guild that same day and ended up smelling Laxus all over me, and after I repeatedly smacked him on the mouth to get him to stop talking about it, he kinda just had this weird look of understanding and then BAM! He just knew. For all I know, I had some kind of invisible mark on me only dragons can see or some bullshit like that. I never know what to think about Natsu's intuition," I mumble. "And then…"
"Holy shit, there's more?"
"AND THEN…. Well Lisanna found out by coming by my house, trying to find Natsu, and Laxus was over, and there was this really awkward interaction where I was talking to her in my hallway in a robe with Laxus hiding in my apartment, and I'm not sure how, but she drew the conclusion that I was sleeping with Natsu, and more things happened, and Laxus decided to be a Neanderthal and rip open my door to roar something about how 'flame prick aint putting a hand on my woman', then things got more awkward, and it kinda just ended with Lisanna getting a Mira-smirk on her face and agreeing to keep it secret." I fire off, gasping as I ran out of breath. "And then…"
"Jesus, Lucy!"
"Are you going to let me finish?" I snap. Levy makes an exaggerated "zipping" motion across her lips. "And then… um… well Laxus had teleported us to the middle of the forest outside Magnolia, along the way to his house, and we started making out right away, and… Crime Sorciere kind of stumbled upon us on their way into town," I wince at the memory. "Meredy teased us a little, but Jellal just kind of awkwardly walked away." I continue. Levy's eyes bugged out and she clapped a hand over her mouth to contain her giggle. "Actually, he reacted pretty much exactly how you would expect." I finish drily. Taking a deep breath, I keep going. "And then…"
"Are you fucking serious, Lu?!"
"I know. And then… okay this one both is and isn't my fault. Yes, we were doing it at the guild again, BUT… we got away with it using a rather well acted improv scene involving me losing a bet and giving him a backrub but we had to do it in the backroom so the other guildmates won't know because if they knew I was good at backrubs they would never leave me alone. Or something. I think that's what we went for.," I trail off, brow furrowing. "Anyways. Doesn't matter. We got away with that one. At least, we should've. But Cana is a goddamn perv, and I'm guessing Bickslow spilled the beans, and while I don't know this for certain, I think they spied on us. Apparently they sleep together sometimes, because a few days ago I come down from Laxus' room to find some breakfast and cana is on the kitchen counter, naked except for her panties, and eating cereal," I shudder at the memory. Levy tries to hide her laughter behind her hand. "Seriously. SO, if they hadn't peeped on us, then she would've definitely figured it out by then anyway. She apparently was at Laxus' house with Bickslow and heard… things," I finish, blushing bright red. Levy can't contain herself and erupts with laughter, tears trailing down her cheek as she hunches over.
I join in pretty quickly, after I get over the sheer mortification. When we finally quiet down, Levy puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Just because I feel like you've already been punished enough for trying to keep it secret, I'll forgive you. Oh, and it was also a pretty hilarious story so I can't really be mad about it," she smirks. "But you gotta promise you'll keep me in the loop from now on, kay? It's only fair!" she chides, wagging a finger. I give a small smile.
"Alright. I promise. And on that topic, mind helping me figure out a way to slowly, and I mean SLOWLY, break the news to Erza? Without resulting in bodily harm to me or Laxus?" I plead. Levy bites her lip.
"Ummmm… maybe. I'll get back to you on that," she says nervously. "So. Give me the deets. Come on, you owe me!" she nudges me with her elbow and waggles her eyebrows in an uncharacteristically lecherous fashion.
"Please never do that with your eyebrows ever again. It makes you look like a blue haired Cana, and I don't think the world can handle another one of her," I groan, sinking into the water.
"Okay, let's start with Cana then. I'm always amused by her antics. Gimme the play-by-play on what happened after you find her inexplicably eating cereal in the nude."
I blush brighter but grin, and then I launch into the ridiculous tale of the time Cana somehow got me involved in the intro scene of a porno.
Dat perv Cana, tho.
Was a recap episode neccessary? Not one bit. But that's just how this chapter ended up, since Levy would want to know everything. Keep giving me reviews, guys. I kinda love em. Like, I can see why other fanfic writers beg for reviews and like hold chapters hostage until they get a certain amount. And yes, I realize I used "Jesus" in this chapter. I probably should change it to "Mavis" or something, but I just like the way it sounds, despite being a serious continuity error. So deal with it.