Please enjoy.

Lucy and Myles were literally crawling up the stairs by the time they returned to the dorms. Erza did not take training lightly and, true to her instructions, they used the weights until they dropped. The Fairy Tail dorms were down the street from the Academy and guild hall, so after the rigorous training session, the two didn't have the energy to walk all the way home. Instead, they stopped by the guild hall next door for a couple hours to regain some strength.

Either Fairy Tail had some kind of extended festival going on when the two first arrived or this was how the guild always was. Once again, the guild hall was mass chaos. There was a huge brawl commencing to the left and the damage from yesterday was miraculously repaired. Off to the right, the group the two friends had dubbed "the Crazies" were socializing. The severe alcoholic, Cana as they found out earlier, was overdoing it with the drinking again. Gray was walking around mostly naked, until Erza pointed it out and he scrambled around looking for his clothes like he lost them without noticing. Loke was flirting with three girls at once; it was hard to tell if the girls even belong to Fairy Tail in the first place. Elfman was giving lectures on being a man to Jet and Droy while Levi read a book off to the side. Erza, now clad in her armor, was calmly eating a piece of strawberry cake until Gray knocked it over and it splattered on the ground. She proceeded to beat him to a pulp in a display that could only be described as terrifying. The only two things missing were Natsu and Drake. Those two weren't the type to fade into the crowd, so they weren't at the guild hall, unless Erza already sent them flying.

The female duo merely crawled into the nearest chair, which happened to be at the table Erza and Levi were sitting at; Erza had a new piece of cake and Levi was still reading. Lucy and Myles were nervous about sitting so close to Erza, but after a few minutes they found that she was just like every other member of Fairy Tail: outrageously "quirky", but friendly and sincere. The two already hit it off with Levi, so striking up a conversation was easy. After navigating through a conversational maze, they eventually came to the topic of romance novels. Erza thought that the heroine should be brave and strong, like an Amazonian, and eventually save the world from some dire threat and, afterward, fall in the arms of her lover. To all present in the conversation, they thought such an opinion could only be an epitome of Erza's personality. Levi and Lucy, however, enjoyed much simpler novels, filled with internal struggles and dynamic emotions. Myles flat out didn't like "fancy-shmancy romance". She much preferred something that was action-packed or maybe a thriller or mystery novel.

After a couple hours, many laughs, and a delicious meal, courtesy of Mirajane, Lucy and Myles decided to head to the dorms. They figured that they had recovered enough energy to make it down the street without collapsing. The two miscalculated, however, as their legs turned to jelly once more after making it halfway up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Thankfully, they were alone in the staircase, so no one saw them crawl up the rest of the stairs.

The dormitories of the Mage's Academy were quaint and homey. The furniture was simple, certainly not cheap or broken, and the room-for-two had more than enough space for the both of them. Thankfully, they only had to share a bathroom with each other and not an entire horde of other girls. They each had their own bedroom with a small kitchen and living room area. Added together, 70,000 jewel a month was a reasonable price.

The two ladies wanted nothing more than to take a nice, hot bath (separately, you perverts) and have a deep, refreshing, good-night's sleep. However, it seemed cruel fate would deny them even this simple pleasure. When they entered the front door, they were greeted with an unexpected sight. Happy and another talking, flying cat were racing around playing something akin to tag; the second, unknown cat wore a white T-shirt, covering most of his dark gray fur and white belly. Drake was leisurely sitting on the couch with a stack of papers in hand, immersed in whatever he was reading. Lucy's door happened to be open and they could see rosy-pink hair peeking out under the sheets.

"What the hell is going on?!" Lucy and Myles shouted in unison, appalled by the breech of privacy committed by two people they barely knew, along with their pets.

Startled by their outburst, Drake dropped all of the papers he was holding, causing them to scatter about on the floor. "Aw man. I was just getting to the good part, too. It's going to take forever to get all these papers back in order," he said as he began to gather the papers.

"What are you doing here?" Myles asked, still amazed by the audacity these two were exhibiting.

"Waiting for you two, of course," Drake replied, as if his actions were not in the least bit out of place.

Myles opened her mouth to retort, but she was cut off by Lucy.

"KYAA!" She shouted as she scrambled for the papers littering the floor. She had recognized the handwriting as her own which could only mean that he was reading her novel in progress. "I can't believe you went through my stuff!"

"I didn't. It was laying right here on the table," Drake said, looking at her curiously.

"That doesn't give you permission to read it!"

"Why would you leave it out if you didn't want anyone to read it, ya' weirdo?" Drake questioned, not-so-subtly implying that Lucy was the one acting strangely.

"Ugh. I give up," Lucy said as she finished gathering the papers and began to carry them back to her room.

"Hey, wait! I'm not done reading that yet," Drake protested.

"You weren't meant to read it in the first place!"

"You can't just take it away without letting me finish reading it! At least tell me how it ends."

Myles, after recovering from the surprise, busted out laughing. Who would have guessed they'd come home to such a scene? It was like they were in some sort of sitcom. Happy, the unknown cat, and Drake starting laughing too and, eventually, even Lucy joined in, having to admit that the whole ordeal was a little bit funny.

"Would you guys keep it down?! I'm trying to sleep in here!" Natsu shouted, emerging from Lucy's room.

"Oh, Natsu, you're finally awake! Look, Lucy and Myles finally came home," said Happy.

"And you!" Lucy shouted as she delivered a swift kick to Natsu's face, remembering her anger toward the two intruding mages. "Why are sleeping in my bed, anyway?!"

"Whaa! Lucy's scary!" Happy shouted.

"Ow. Jeez, Lucy. Why'd you have to kick me like that?" Natsu said as he rubbed the new bump on his head.

"What are you guys even doing here?! I don't even know who you are!" Lucy shouted as she pointed at the unknown gray cat. "Haven't any of you ever heard of privacy or common decency?!"

"We were just waiting for you guys to get home. I was bored so I feel asleep," Natsu said, giving Lucy a weird look.

"And I started reading your book because Natsu feel asleep," Drake added.

"And then we started playing tag!" Happy finished.

"Um… Is he going to be alright?" Myles interrupted, point to the gray cat. After Lucy said she didn't know who he was, he crouched over with his hands and knees on the floor and his head low to the ground. There was a gloomy aura around him and he kept muttering about how he was "lower than dirt" and "unworthy to live."

"Oh, Max?" Drake said nonchalantly. "He'll be fine. He doesn't handle criticism very well. It happens all the time," he continued, waving off his companion's strange behavior.

"Now the real fun can begin!" Natsu shouted, with a big grin on his face.

"Aye!" Happy complimented.

"No, no, no, no, no. You all are leaving right now. Myles and I just want to go to sleep, not cater to trespassers," Lucy said sternly.

"Awww, come on, Luce. Think of all the fun we can have," Natsu pouted.

Luce? Since when is it ok for him to give me a nickname? Lucy thought.

"Besides that, it will be easier to leave for our jobs tomorrow with all of us here together," Drake interjected.

"Aye!"

"Wait. "Jobs?" As in more than one?" Myles questioned incredulously. She was only standing right now because her exhaustion had somehow faded from her mind due to the bizarre situation she was in. However, even with a full night's sleep, she was almost certain that she couldn't handle more than one job in a single day.

"Yeah. You didn't think all four of us would be going on one job, did you?" Drake said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Natsu, Happy, and Blondie are going on some job in Shirotsume Town to burn a book or something while you, me, and Max go to Hargeon to beat the crap out of some creep."

What right does he have to call me Blondie? ... And why did I get stuck with Natsu?! Lucy complained in her mind. She didn't really have anything against him, but Drake seemed to be the more level-headed one of the strange duo.

"Alright! Now our night of super awesome adventures can begin!" Natsu shouted loud enough for half the building to hear.

"Aye, sir!"

Ugh. How am I going to be able to deal with this for a whole day tomorrow?

Fortunately for Myles and Lucy, Drake managed to effectively knock Natsu unconscious after his rambunctious outburst, so they were all saved from the "night of super awesome adventures." Thankfully, Happy and Max settled down after Natsu was disposed of as well.

Lucy went to take a nice, long bath, trusting Myles to show Drake, the unconscious Natsu, and their companions out the door.

"So how did you guys get in here anyway?" Myles asked after Lucy entered the bathroom.

"The window was open," replied Drake casually.

"How did you know that this was our room? We've only been in this room since yesterday."

"It smelled like you two," Drake said, as if it that was the obvious answer.

Um… ok Myles thought, too tired to care at that moment. Her attention turned to the other side of the room. "What the…? Where did all those clothes come from?!" she questioned incredulously. On the other side of the living room, there was a huge pile of clothes, as if the two had neglected the laundry for some time.

"Oh right. I totally forgot to tell you about that," Drake said, suddenly remembering. "Mira, Levi, and Erza dropped those off for you. They said that 'young women shouldn't go around wearing dishrags' or something like that."

Myles didn't want to admit, but she couldn't deny the truth of those words. It was true that their wardrobe was less than desirable. After being on the road so long, the two girls only had maybe two or three pairs of clothes and all of them were filthy and covered with crude patch-work. It's not like they were the wealthiest traveling mages. Most of their money was used to buy food and rent shelter, leaving the need for new clothes in the dust. It didn't feel right to accept such a generous offer. These people barely knew them and were already helping to this degree? She felt like if she accepted the clothes, she would seem selfish or maybe they would lord it over her in the future. She bit her lip, unsure of what she should do.

"If you don't want them, you don't have to take them. But if you're worried about something, then you might as well forget it. Fairy Tail's not the type of guild to leave people behind like that."

Myles looked to Drake, finding nothing but sincerity and concern in his eyes and calm facial expression. Even though she'd only been wearing the insignia of the guild for a day, she knew that no one in Fairy Tail would ever do something like this only to turn around and spit in her face later. What was more: Myles could see the real meaning behind these clothes. Yes, on the surface it seemed like guild members helping out other guild members, friends helping out friends, but it was more than that. In some ways, these clothes represented their acceptance into the guild and that was what truly touched Myles's heart. She couldn't stop the tears that gathered along her eyelids, threatening to fall. She summoned up her courage and managed to avoid completely breaking down in the face of such a kind gesture.

"Right. Thanks. We… we really needed these," she said with a small smile.

"I'm glad, but I'm not the one you need to thank," Drake said with a fanged grin and a slight twinkly in his eye. "Although, maybe I need to thank you, cause' we looked through some of those clothes and seeing you in those skirts is going to be-"

Ka-Blam!

And with that, Drake was down for the count as well.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to review.