A/N: Ehhh, I tried. Trust me, you'll understand later when I say my ability is next to nonexistent when it comes to writing/expressing (sad) back-stories...
Decoding
Laxus Dreyar was entirely too many things: too hot, too rich, too manipulating. And he has his sights set out for a certain, unsuspecting Heartfillia.
Chapter Eight
Woe is Me
x
What I want isn't money or pretty dresses, but a place that recognizes me as who I am.
"You want me to...have coffee with you?"
It was beyond the weirdest request she had ever received from him, but she was just glad that it was all she needed to do. Lucy groaned, trailing her eyes back to the computer screen.
Fingers typed away on the yellowed keyboard, stopping only once every few lines to check over the progress. Her job on filing and taking in appointments had long since finished with the approaching dusk, and just another key point on this paper and she would be done with her Literature essay.
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing away the slight stab of a headache. Constantly staring at a screen full of words will do that to you... A hot bath sounded really appealing to Lucy at the moment.
It motivated her enough to key in the last word and quickly scanned everything until she was confident that it was going to be an A plus material. Pressing enter, she sighed and waiting for the paper to download into her cheap white flash drive. If she had her own computer, writing these papers would have been less of a hassle, but since she didn't, she had to try and cram her schoolwork in with her clinic work.
"Inoue-san?" Mirajane walked out with a white Pomeranian puppy that just finished all of his shots. The owner, a middle-aged woman named Inoue, left her puppy with the clinic to get his shots and promised to return after she finished some errands.
"Guess you'll have to wait in your carrier until Inoue-san arrives," she gently told the puppy. He whimpered, making the hearts of both females in the room melt.
"Mira-san, if you don't mind, I can look after him," Lucy said, already reaching out her hand to pet the Pomeranian, smiling as the puppy licked her fingers.
"Really? I'll leave this with you then," the white haired veterinarian said, setting the sky blue carrier on top of the front desk. She then went about doing her regular routine checks she did at the end of every day and suddenly paused to look at the time.
"Oh no!" Mirajane clasped her hands together pleadingly at Lucy, "Would you mind closing the clinic for me, too? I promised Elfman I would go to his Judo Tournament."
Lucy pulled a thumbs up. "Leave it to me!"
Bidding Mirajane goodbye, she carried the puppy to the waiting area where it was more spacious for him to run around. They were the only ones left in the clinic, and the Pomeranian took liberty to yap happily and run around Lucy's legs in circles until he lost his sense of direction.
"You silly puppy!" Lucy laughed, though he just continued his antics. She tried to recall the pup's name. If she'd remembered correctly... "Gus?"
He perked up, jumping up and down her legs excitedly, like he was trying to say she was right. He seemingly wanting to be picked up and petted, and Lucy lifted the lightweight puppy into her arms and sat at one of the waiting room chairs. She tickled his belly, "Oh Gus, Gus, Gus."
Gus rolled around her legs with his tongue lolled out, enjoying all the attention that was showered solely upon him. "You know, you remind me of another pup," she told Gus.
He titled his head, listening.
Lucy swept her hand across the soft, white fur in reminiscence of a Pomeranian named Plue she used to play with as a child. Plue was white as snow, with a quirky, single orange spot down the length of his snout.
"Kaede-san, look! There's a puppy in the garden!"
"Must be a stray that roamed into the manor by accident...Lucy-sama! Don't touch it!"
Lucy smiled, the old maid was always weary of animals and was very vocal about it, but the maid never seriously stopped her from chasing tiny wildlife in the giant garden.
"I'm going to name you Plue!" The dog licked her face and she squeal. "Kaede-san, can I keep him?"
"Best not to get attached with it, dear. Your father wouldn't like it...plus it'll most likely be gone come morning."
"But..."
"Come now, it's time for your etiquette lesson."
"I'll...I'll see you tomorrow, Plue!"
The pup always did end up coming back...always waiting for Lucy to play with him whenever school or her after-school lessons got tedious or overbearing.
"Lucy-sama! I reckon you don't go bother Master Heartfilla right now—Lucy-sama!"
Plue barked behind her as she pushed the giant office doors open. "Papa! I want to show you something!"
"Lucy. Get that stray out of the house first."
"No, papa, he's what I was going to show you! This is Plue! Can I-"
"Lucy, get it out."
"But papa, can't we keep him?"
She tried to will away the memory to save herself from what was coming next, but her mind film played on. Laying snug under her hand, Gus sighed contently.
Silence.
"Plue is a very good boy and I promise I'll keep him out of-"
Her father's metal pen slammed against the oak desk with a bang.
"I said no, Lucy! If you have so much time to fool around with stray animals, why don't you put more of it into your studies and etiquette? Now get it out or I will!"
A yelp from the pup made Lucy snatch her hands back in fear. She'd hurt him when she absentmindedly gripped a fistful of furry skin in the middle of her petting. "I'm so sorry...Plue," she whispered to Gus, and he tilted his head, confused to why she grabbed him or why she called him by another name, or perhaps both.
"Miss?"
Lucy looked up, and Gus's owner was standing before her with a worried expression. She snapped out of it, "Oh, hi! Inoue-san?"
"Sorry to keep you waiting, the errand took longer than expected," Inoue apologized.
"That's not a problem," Lucy handed Gus to his rightful owner, "I got to hangout with this cutie. He was so well behaved."
The woman brightened up, proud to be told that her pup was obedient and kissed him on the nose with little cooes of 'who's a good boy? Gus is a good boy.' Lucy's smile faltered faintly before she forced it up again when Inoue turned to her.
"I thank you for looking after Gus. I'll see you at his next check up!"
After they left, Lucy checked every kennel and made sure the animals staying over night had clean water in their bowls before she locked up the clinic. She hummed to herself as she walked home in a leisure pace, stopping every now and then to greet people she always encounter on her way home.
The biker, of course, gave her his word of caution as usual to be careful of where she stepped.
Unlocking her apartment, she slung her book bag onto the ground, not caring at this point if her text books spilled out and across the floor. She'll pick it up later...right now she was too comfortable laying dead-man style on her bed. The clock on her bedside read six o'clock, and while she wanted to drop dead, she decided she'll take up on that promise of having a hot bath first.
Lucy grabbed her towel and clothes and headed for her bathroom. She blinked. Did she leave her bathroom lights on before she left for work?
Slipping back to her bedside to grab that baseball bat she hid under the bed, Lucy stealthily tiptoed towards the bathroom. I swear if it's Natsu again... She kicked the door open and her jaw dropped.
"Erza?!"
"Yo," she greeted with one hand raised, much like how the flame head would when he breaks into her apartment unannounced. Erza was soaking in bubble water with her legs stretched across the length of the porcelain tub. "I thought I'd stop by to talk."
Lucy's right eye twitched. The redhead was more than just stopping by... "To talk?" she questioned.
Erza nodded, patting the space in front of her. "We can talk in here. Come in, the water's great," she said with her bewilderment-filled round eyes, as if that was the naturalist thing to say to your friend on an every-day-basis.
But... The tub could fit the both of them... Kind of. Lucy situated herself across from the redhead and pulled her legs to her chest. The water rose to the tip of the tub, enfolding Lucy with warmth up to her chest.
"Lucy," the seriousness in Erza's voice made Lucy chocolate eyes gaze up, dumbfounded. "I—we—all could sense something wrong," she revealed.
Lucy wanted to sink into her tub and never come up again. Her friends were suspicious and worried, and it had only her to blame. She hid her face a protective wall that was her kneecaps.
"You know you can trust us. We're nakama," a pause. "We just want to know what's wrong so Natsu can take his dumbass up to the problem and beat it up—well, we all, actually," Erza offered a smile.
"Remember, Lucy, when you com across friends who are willing to fight besides you, cherish them."
"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath, her walls were ready to come down. "Here goes nothing..."
And so Erza listened, giving Lucy the chance to confine herself in someone and let all her past troubles go. She felt a strong emotion towards what the blond had to go through as a child. It wasn't right; Lucy's father was a perfectly capable man, yet he took the father title for granted. For Lucy to have a father that didn't care made someone like her, who didn't have a father to begin with...feel utterly disgusted with the man.
But she decided not to dwindle on the matter because Lucy was perfectly happy without her father's influence. She realized that Lucy was just happy with who she had now: Natsu, Gray, herself—friends who love her.
Somewhere along the lines of her spilling out her life story, Lucy might of, sort of, also have mentioned the current blackmailesque-situation she was in—but that wasn't as important though, because she basically had it all figured out. Laxus was a jerk, but she can hold him. Somewhat.
Even so, she was touched by Erza's bold, sinister threat of pulling the blond male's appendages off limb by limb if he were to ever—she shivered. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you right off the bat," Lucy apologized, ashamed and embarrassed and just slightly scared for her life.
Erza shook her head, "It's not—" Before she could finish, the bathroom door banged open as Natsu and Gray hopped into the steamy room angrily shaking their fists in the air.
"Don't worry Luce! We'll beat that good for nothin' prez to a pulp!"
"EHHH—GET OUT! YOU PERVERTS!" Lucy screamed, a nice red hue present on her face that was most definitely not caused by the heat of the bath. She was going to beat them to a bloody pulp! A couple bath products were thrown at the protesting males before she finally managed to kick them out. What the hell do they think they're doing...bargaining in like that...
Lucy exhaled sharply, turning back to the redhead who seemed unfazed by the whole thing. Though Natsu-crashing-the-bathroom episodes like these were a common occurrence to her, she was baffled by how calm the other female was. The heart-to-heart moment was totally ruined...
"Ah...did I forget to mention that Gray and Natsu were with me?" Erza mused, "They must have been raiding the kitchen earlier."
"Now you tell me..." Flabbergast she was, it felt good to finally take everything off her chest. And the best feeling? Knowing she had such caring, understanding people to call friends.
Natsu sat on top of Lucy's bed, nursing the bump on his head caused by a fast pitch shampoo bottle. He'd heard the whole thing (with Gray, who wouldn't stop shoving him to get a better hearing). He had gotten mad and wanted to stick up for Lucy (by telling her so then and there on impulse) which wasn't the brightest move... Now she was mad at them.
"You should get off of her bed before she throws you out of the apartment, squinty-eyes," Gray snickered while he took a seat at Lucy's small writing desk, picking up the "novel" she wrote to continue reading where he left off last time—before he got thrown out.
"You wanna fight droopy-eyes!?" Natsu got ready to pounce. "I'm all fired up!"
A demonic aura prickled their backs s they mechanically turned their heads around to see Lucy, this time decently dress in a white t-shirt and green shorts, giving them the evil eye that could rival Erza's. They audibly gulped; Natsu slipped off the mattress as Gray dropped the novel.
"You two... heard everything..." Lucy deadpanned, making both males sweat profusely down their faces. The edge of her lips twitched, and before both males could prepare to make a run for their lives, she broke into a fit of laughter. "Idiots...I'm not mad. You can stop trembling now."
They sagged in relief and grinned, glad that their friend was feeling better. Just then, Erza emerged out of the bathroom and bonked them on the head with her fist. "That's for being loud," she informed casually. Lucy chuckled nervously. The tough president of Love & Lucky High really wasn't all that bothered about being seen naked in the tub, but was rather short-fused when it came to any slight racket the two made.
They were her favorite people in the world.
. . .
Lucy rushed to pull on her socks and shoes as she stumbled out of the small apartment. She was late—so late. My record...my perfect record...
Natsu had decided, among all the not-too-smart decisions made by his heated noggin, that he was going to crash at her apartment. Nothing Lucy said would have changed his mind, because he was already sleeping soundly on her bed like no one's business.
She was used to it, they always had 'sleepovers' and sleeping together was nothing weird for her. But Natsu—that damn flame-head, she was going to tear him a new one—he moved around so much she couldn't even hope to fall asleep until late that midnight.
She could hear the faint melodious ting of the bell indicating that she had five minutes tops to reach her first class. The gates appeared before her and she willed her legs to go faster, neverminding the odd glances she received from the other students just being dropped off by their personal chauffeurs.
"Yo, pretty cheerleader from the council meeting!" The blue haired freak came out of nowhere, stopping Lucy midway into the prestigious school and further agitating her.
"Get out of my way, weirdo!"
He pouted, "That's mean, cheerleader baby. The name's Bickslow." Lucy frowned and tried to side-step him, but his long arms halted her once again. "Ne, like I said, if Laxus doesn't want you around, you can come with me."
"I'm flatter, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon," Lucy said offhandedly, not catching the amused gleam of his almost neon green eyes.
"You like him." It wasn't a question.
"That's just absurd!" If there was anything she liked, it would be to kick the blond president's lewd ass to outer space.
"Well then!" Bickslow's arm went about going around Lucy's shoulder, but she slapped it away with no effort at all. "Ow—so brutal, cheerleader baby!"
She had less than three minutes to get to class and the blue haired freak was really proving yo ve a hindrance. She was ready to punch him halfway across the school... On the count of three...
"But anyway, I was just told to remind your pretty self that there's a council meeting today. You know where to find us." Bickslow winked, smiling with his own crazy tongue-out style and left.
I could live without that reminder... Lucy grumbled at her misfortune of seeing Laxus' lackys so early in the morning, but now wasn't the time to worry about such trivial things. Oh my god! I'm going to be late! She panicked at the time and took off again.
One minute...
Her homeroom was just up the stairs, if she could sprint up one flight and take a left, she would be there in the nick of time. I can make it, I can—! Lucy came to an abrupt halt and landed on her butt, wheezing, catching herself from a collision with another girl.
"Oh! Are you okay?" the girl asked.
Lucy raised her head as she continued to breathed out of breath. The girl in front of her displayed genuine worry and helped her up. Lucy thanked her; momentarily realizing that she wasn't wearing Fairy Tail's school uniform. She had long silver hair that almost rivaled Mirajane's silky white locks, and she was so pretty. A transfer...?
The final bell rang and Lucy gasped. "Sorry—gotta go!" She ran past in a blur of red and blond, nearly tripping over the stairs.
Angel grinned to herself, watching as the other girl carry herself with the grace of a crazed elephant. Ah-ah, what inelegance, she though, strutting away. The headmaster had allowed her to visit Fairy Tail as a guest to look around the school, but she really was only here for a certain blond.
"Angel-sama." Her bodyguard Calum was right besides her.
Angel glanced across the hall, the person she wanted to see was walking towards her with his hands inside his pockets in a lazy manner.
"Angel Aguria. What a surprise to see you here," Laxus drawled, looming right over her smaller figure.
"Your sweet old grandfather let me visit," she smiled, looking at him without an ounce of intimidation. "Though, I should say seeing you on a date with another girl at our meeting place was even more of a surprise. Say, you weren't trying to get rid of me...were you?"
A impish smirk rose on Laxus' chisel face as he grabbed the silver haired girl's chin lightly. She leaned to the touch. "You're just not as interesting."
"I hate men who are too straight forward," Angel replied sweetly before she pulled away.
With her hands clasped behind her back, she turned her back to the blond president. Caelum followed her without a word. "I think I'll stay a while longer," she didn't need to face Laxus to know that he was displeased with her decision. "I'd like to get to know Lucy-san more."
Inside her classroom, where she'd managed to get to without being scolded by her professor, Lucy sneezed.