Thank you all, for the wonderous reviews, favorites, and follows! I also received some brilliant suggestions for this story (Special thanks to Professor Nebilium, who gave me the idea for Gajeel and Levy! ) , and I'm really excited for what is to come. I hope you enjoy the latest chapter!
I was spurred to update today by the newest chapter of Fairy Tail. It was so sweet. HOWEVER, IS IT JUST ME OR IS ANYONE SUSPICIOUS THAT SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN?! I had the impression that Lucy or Natsu was going to die or disappear in this arc, and this seemingly peaceful ending leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I hope I'm wrong...
Whatever. It was still a happy Fairy Tail Friday!
Disclaimer: Until I obtain the secret recipe for Friday's brownies and take over the world, I don't own Fairy Tail. All in good time my friends. All in good time...
He's here again, Levy's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she watched the iron head from across the room. Every day since she had seen his first atrocious acts of book switching the man had come back to make her life a living hell. Take a sip of coffee, he was putting a fiction book in the reference section. Help a kid with their homework and he was trying to eat the iron decorations in the room (Levy would like to take this moment and reflect on the fact that the man was trying to eat metal. Dear god, what was he?). If she relaxed for one more second he was probably going to set off a bomb or something.
The man in question finally felt the heat of her gaze, making him turn around and smirk at her. Something inside the spunky librarian broke. She marched over to the metal studded demon and grabbed him by the shirt collar. He yawned in her face, not knowing how dangerous Levy could be when she was angry.
"I swear to the Book Gods," she hissed, "I will pay you back for these visits. Just you wait, Metal Face," she let go of Gajeel's shirt and walked away, avoiding every strange look thrown in her direction and leaving a surprised dragon slayer behind.
"Natsu," Lucy groaned, "please, stop."
"I can't stop. I have to do this for you," he grunted.
"But...It's my first time," she said nervously.
"Just trust me-OH MY GOD, THEY'RE HUGE."
"Stop staring!"
"Excuse me?" A store employee called out, "What you're about to do in there isn't sanitary!"
Well, one would assume that things are about to get steamy in here. Let's go back and see how this happened, hm?
Lucy woke up to the annoying sound of birds chirping. She glared out the open window and the birds, feeling her evil aura, stopped their noise and flew away. She wiggled back under her covers to begin to doze off again to the tune of her arguing landlords. Five minutes later a random thought made her bolt upright in bed.
"WHY IS THE WINDOW OPEN?!" She screamed in terror. The fight between her landlords below paused for a second but then resumed. She did a strange tumble out of bed, like a ninja that failed out of ninja collage, and snapped her gaze around the room. Nothing looked out of place from her cursory glance, but as she went for another scan a person walked out of her kitchen.
"'Sup?" Natsu asked. Lucy screamed in terror, more from what she was wearing then the fact that her teacher just reached a new level of creepy. Since she had gotten back home so late last night, Lucy had just slept in her underwear and t-shirt instead of putting on legitimate pajamas. This was probably the most skin anyone had ever seen since the summer of when she was ten. "Calm down Luce," Natsu rolled his eyes and handed her a cup of coffee.
"Calm down? YOU JUST BROKE INTO MY HOUSE, HELPED YOUSELF TO MY COFFEE, AND YOU WANT ME TO-oh, this is pretty good," the beverage was like heaven in her mouth, almost as good as bacon, but bacon can not be overthrown by any edible substance. From behind his back Natsu produced a plate of bacon, eggs and toast, shoving the food in her mouth to make sure that she stayed quiet. Sadly, his plan worked perfectly.
"I didn't break into your house either; It's not my fault you leave your window unlocked," he shrugged, as if it was totally normal for people to waltz into a house through the window. Did Lucy mention the fact that she lives on the second floor of her house?
"Okay, that fact aside...what are you doing here?" She decided that it was best not knowing the maneuvers it took to enter her apartment.
"I'm taking you shopping. It kills my sense of masculinity to say this, but," Natsu put one hand on his hip and snapped his fingers, saying, "Girl, you need a new wardrobe," in a horrible rendition of a valley girl's voice. Lucy considered her closet as he crawled into the corner to 'recover his lost manliness', but she knew he was crying a little bit from doing the voice.
"My clothes are fine!" She decided.
"No, you need to stop bundling yourself up like a marshmallow."
"...Are you calling me fat?"
"What? No!"
"You called me a marshmallow!"
"I'm not having this conversation. Put some clothes on and lets go," Natsu gave her a look that said follow-my-orders-or-else, so Lucy just decided to suck it up and listen to her teacher. She looked down and realized that the whole time she was talking to him, she was still in her underwear.
In the next moment, all that could be heard from her apartment was the sound of screaming and a loud slap.
"You know, for a shy girl you can really pack a punch," Natsu complained, rubbing his still red cheek. Lucy rolled her eyes and entered their destination: Marvel's Clothing Emporium.
"I didn't punch you, I slapped you," Lucy reminded him. It was Natsu's turn to roll his eyes as he followed the blonde into the store. Lucy started to head off into the section she usually shops in, where there clothes covered more of her body and she could talk to some nice older ladies-
"Where do you think you're going?" Natsu grabbed onto the back of her collar and started to drag her to the other side of the store.
"But I always shop over there!" She complained.
"And the whole point of this lesson is for you to stop dressing like an old woman!" He reminded her. Lucy pouted at his logic and allowed the boy to drag her deeper into the store, where the shirts became more sleeveless and the skirts became shorter (and at times nonexistent). Finally, they came to a stop near some dressing rooms. "Okay, Lucy, go find some stuff!" He let her go and watched as she timidly wondered through the clothes.
Oh my gods, these show way more skin then I'm used to, she thought, there is no way-oh, that's cute. She picked up a pink tank top and some shorts. A few feet away she spotted a nice white top with the heart kreuz symbol on it with a black skirt. In no time she had a giant pile of clothes at her disposal and was ready to go into the dressing room to try them on.
The second she put on the first outfit, she knew that it was a bad idea.
"What is taking so long?" Natsu wondered aloud. He was sitting outside Lucy's dressing room, tapping his foot in a steady beat. Before he was able to hear the rustling of clothes but now it was silent. What could be wrong?
"Natsu, this is too embarrassing," Lucy called out.
"It's probably fine!" He walked over to Lucy's door, rolling his eyes at her cowardice. Seriously, the girl had to learn how to lighten up a little.
"It doesn't even look like I put it on right," she sounded confused. He wondered how a girl was able to be unsure about clothes; wasn't that their area of specialty? Mira had always said that they were the fashion gurus of the universe, but she probably said that so Natsu would stop complaining about the outfits she forced onto him.
"Lemme see," he grabbed the door handle and jiggled it.
"No! I'm not dressed yet!" She yelled, horrified. Some fellow shoppers looked over and stared at Natsu. He laughed awkwardly and started talking about girlfriends and how they take so long to pick out a single outfit. When their interest was lost he turned back to the door and continued his mission.
"Lucy, do you know how many times I've seen someone's boobs at my job? You're nothing special," he tapped his foot as Lucy considered his words. Then there was a soft snick of the lock and Natsu was pulled into the cramped space. He turned around and, sadly, immediately saw the problem.
"You're wearing a tube top like a skirt," he pointed out. Embarrassed, Lucy started to pull the top up her body, which led to the main problem that led to their situation. The thing is, he noticed that Lucy had some trouble pulling the top over her...upper body, let's say. After a couple seconds of pointless tugging, he decided to step in, partly because he wanted to help, partly because he was too lazy to go out to find another size for the top if she asked him too. So, we can say that the whole accident was based on childish laziness. Way to go, Natsu, way to go.
"Natsu," Lucy groaned, "please, stop," she tried to slap his hands away from the top and the rest of her upper body, but the boy was not backing down, though there was a very small part of him that was blushing at their close proximity. It was a very tiny part of himself, so he chose to ignore it.
"I can't stop. I have to do this for you," he grunted, refusing to be defeated by a tube top. Plus, he really didn't feel like searching the store for the next size. This shirt was going to fit dammit!
"But...It's my first time," she said nervously. Natsu shot her a wierded out look and she shrugged, mumbling something about how it fit the mood somehow. He chose to not think about what that meant and turned back to the mission at hand. Girls. They are like a puzzle that you lost a piece to; you think that you have them figured out but instead they end up making things more confusing.
"Just trust me-OH MY GOD, THEY'RE HUGE," he was both complaining and amazed at the size of her boobs. Though they were causing him trouble, they were so-
"Stop staring!" She slapped his face, the force of the hit making him bang into the wall. With a final tug she was able to get the shirt on as well as slip on a skirt so she wasn't half naked. Annoyed, Natsu was about to yell at her to stop hitting him when he heard it.
"Excuse me?" A store employee called out, "What you're about to do in there isn't sanitary!" The two adults froze and looked at each other. Finally, they realized that the entire time they were yelling, and anyone outside the room would've been able to hear them easily. Natsu opened the door to explain, but his luck still sucked and he ended up tripping on the pile of clothes in the room. He fell out and took Lucy with him.
"Suprisingly enough, this is not what it looks like- Wait, Wendy?!" Natsu looked up at the upside down employee and noticed it was his friend Wendy Marvel. This is great! He yelled in his mind, I can explain everything to her, and everything will be fine.
"I didn't know you were like this Natsu-san," she blushed, her face turning the same color as a tomato. Natsu realized the position he was sitting in; Lucy was sitting on top of him with her legs on either side of his hips. Add in the conversation in the dressing room and you have a nice recipe for disaster and misunderstanding. The blonde seemed to realize it at the same time he did, because she suddenly scrambled off of him and dove back into the dressing room.
"Traitor," he mumbled. Wendy was still overheating from her blush and couldn't snap out of it until Lucy came back out with her pile of clothes.
"Can I buy these?" She asked warily as an attempt to diffuse the awkward feelings drifting in the air. Wendy turned around and smiled at her, leading them to the register and ringing up her clothes. While Lucy was paying the manager of the store, who was drawn to the scandalized calls around the dressing room, scolded them harshly. The man dragged the two out and plopped them onto the sidewalk, and from behind him Natsu could see Wendy sending him apologetic glances.
"Does everything you do get you in trouble?" Lucy asked, annoyed.
"No- wait, yeah. Yeah, basically," he gave her a wicked smile. She hit his shoulder and Natsu pushed her in retaliation, the first move in a mini pushing war that was only interrupted by two friends walking by.
"Did you hear Monica? That dark guild-" A woman whispered to her friend. Natsu was able to pick it up with his trusty superhuman hearing, and by the way Lucy was holding her head she was able to pick it up as well.
"Not a guild, a gang," Her friend corrected her.
"Whatever. The gang was found beaten up in the old part of town! Who was powerful enough to do it?" Lucy looked at Natsu and wiggled her eyebrows. He smiled back and continued to listen.
"I don't know. I hear a lot of them were beaten to death...," the two women walked out of earshot. Natsu and Lucy looked at each other with matching looks of confusion. They may had beaten those thugs up, but not to death. It was the gang that was yelling after them that they were going to kill the two for being on their territory. Natsu didn't believe in killing.
So who did?
Juvia and Lyon made up, just like they always did, and Juvia was in a great mood. She had so much extra energy from her excitement, so in order to get rid of the excess crazy juice she decided to clean their apartment. Usually this was Lyon's area of expertise, considering Juvia was easily distracted and ended up making the apartment worse, and Lyon was a clean freak. Everything about him sparkled. However, today she was on a mission, and the focus she had was enough to push through the apartment. She was finishing up the last of the rooms, her and Lyon's bedroom, when she spotted something caught behind the bed frame.
"What the?" She grunted as she tried to wiggle the material out, but after a couple of minutes she gave up and started tugging on it. One last grunt and one last pull on the mystery object resulted in the poor water woman flying across the room with a mystery wrapped in her palms.
"A...bra?" She held the undergarment in the air. It was high pink and 100% not hers; however, her sleepovers could get a little hectic so maybe it belonged to one of her friends. She grabbed her phone and sent a mass text, asking who the owner of the bra was. Within minutes, she got an answer from everyone. Every reply was the same.
No, it isn't mine.
Levy elbowed yet another tramp in the face as she tried to make her way across the club. It was a more perilous journey than she thought; one moment a handsome man is talking to her, the next five girls surrounded her with daggers shooting from her eyes. If she had a dollar every time one of the bloodthirsty women "accidentally" tripped her Levy could buy a library. After wandering through the crowd for half an hour, the bookworm finally spotted her prey. She advanced towards him easily, the evil aura surrounding her scaring everybody away.
"Hello, Iron face," she greeted with an evil chuckle. A similar sound erupted from Gajeel and a wicked smile appeared on his face, but in his eyes Levy could see a faint wisp of surprise, probably since she wasn't supposed to know where he worked. What her prey didn't know was that she was excellent at finding out information- that is, she was able to tail someone for a few hours unseen until the certain someone entered a bar that she then recognized. An especially good spy would also realize that he was the weird joking man who she won her first loot from.
So basically, she was a stalker, but she was a very skilled stalker.
"Hey, Twerp," he shuffled his playing cards and dealt them between himself and the vengeful bluenette. "Come to play a game?"
"I've come to kick your ass," she smiled confidently as the girls around them ooo-ed and ahhh-ed dramatically. A crowd started to form around them and someone started passing out drinks. Levy took one, though by then her opponent could tell she was already slightly drunk.
"You were lucky last time," he smirked, "I'll win this game."
"If you feel so lucky, why don't we make a bet?" Levy hiccuped and giggled. The drunken crowd laughed behind her with calls of "oh snap!" and "watch out!" and "oh hell nah, she is takin' my man!". Well, maybe not too much of the last one. But it was still called out, so we'll just roll with it.
"You're on! What's the wager?"
"Six months of servitude. No complaining," Levy was confident of her abilities. When it comes to cards, she was like Erza: she was invincible. However, the poor man in front of her didn't know that, so instead of running away in fear he chucked menacingly and their game begun.
(After a very long time of Levy kicking Gajeels ass at poker...)
"So, I've been thinking that you should wear a maids uniform," A drunken Levy said. Gajeel rearranged his cards and shot her a lopsided smile.
"Don't count me out just yet, runt," he chuckled, and the people around him craned their necks to get a look at his cards. Levy looked down at her own spread with a wicked smile. The poor man didn't have a chance. He was especially unlucky to be stuck being Levy's slave for half a year, for when she was pushed Levy was probably the worst slave driver in existence.
"How about we make this the last round? Unless, you know, you want to back out?" She carefully laid out her bait. Who said a drunk couldn't be clever and devious?
"Fine by me," Gajeel took the bait. With a loud and strange chuckle he laid out his hand: a straight flush. The crowd around him clapped and whistled. Levy feinted surprise and disappointment for a moment to drive up the dramatics before she laid down her cards.
"Sorry Iron Face," she showed him her cards. "Royal flush," she finished with a maniacal cackle. Getting up to get her things, she turned to her new slave with a smirk. "Meet me at the library bright and early tomorrow."
When she exited the House, she was still laughing from the priceless look of terror on the man's face.
And that concludes the eighth chapter of House of Aces! I would like to point out that it is 8 pages long, and posted on the 28th . There are eights everywhere!
May I point out that I've never actually played poker before? So if I made a mistake in the game, please tell me and I will correct it!
Anywho, I hope you liked this chapter! If you have any suggestions for lessons (I'm not really normal, so sometimes it's hard to think of) or plot twists you want to see, you can drop a review or PM me. I'd love to hear from you!
Until next time: Read, review, relax and EAT BACON :)
-NeverMakesSense