Chapter 2: I Owe You?

3rd POV

Lucy sighed, sinking her bare, creamy colored body into the steaming water.

The blonde loved baths, they were always relaxing, and soothing; she felt like the water coaxed her and protected her in a weird way. And as she relaxed her mind then thought back to the job she and Gajeel were going to go on. They decided to leave for it early tomorrow, exactly at seven sharp, and Lucy was trying to prepare herself mentally for it. It would be the first time she would be going on a job with just the iron dragon slayer instead of Natsu or the team. She didn't want to screw up in fear that Gajeel might think lowly of her afterwards, which for some reason, caused a pit to form in Lucy's stomach.

She didn't want him to protect her, or at least believe that she couldn't protect herself; Natsu had done it so many times that she had gotten used to it and eventually stopped whining about how she was always the one saved instead of doing the saving, despite the fact that it really bothered her that Natsu never allowed her a single chance to prove herself. But for some strange reason, she felt a wave a fear wash over her like tsunami thinking about Gajeel saving her; for some reason she didn't want him to think of her as a weak girl. He might not be my friend any longer of he thinks I'm weak, Lucy's dark thoughts stated, feeling a wave of unsettlement rub on her.

Lucy shook her thoughts away, sliding her body down so that her hair got wet, then ran her hands through her now wet, dark blonde locks. "Ahh, so relaxing," she sighed comfortably to herself, ignoring the dark corners of her mind that were spouting out worry after worry about the mission. She curled her toes, giggling very softly when she felt the water squished in between the little studs. The celestial mage felt weightless when she was on the tub, and quite liked the feeling of it.

Suddenly, a burst of golden light appeared, and Lucy knew in that second, the calm atmosphere she had, was ruined. "Hello my princess," Loke said smoothly, grabbing Lucy's damp hand that rested on the ridge of the tub and pressing a kiss to it, as if he was completely obliovious to the fact that the celestial mage was in birthday suit.

"Loke, get out of the bathroom now!" Lucy screeched in rage, and if it was any other time, she would Lucy-kicked the hell out of him. However she knew for sure she would end up flashing him something she didn't want him to ever see, so instead, she screamed with the fury (and slight embarrassment), letting her demonic aura take place.

The lion spirit yelped and rushed out of the bathroom, not wanting to risk the wrath of the demon hidden inside the girl. The blonde sighed heavily as the door slammed shut, standing up in the slick tub, hearing the sound of the water drip from her skin and her hair. After getting out of the pearly white time, she grabbed a towel and dried her skin and her hair, muttering curses under she breath, all of which were directed towards the man in the other room. She then dressed herself up in the pajamas left out for herself in the bathroom.

I don't know why he finds it necessary to disturb my moments of peace. It's getting to the point that I'm starting to believe it's a hobby of his, her thoughts grumbled.

"What is it Loke, didn't you see I was taking a bath," Lucy asked impatiently, walking towards him with her arms crossed over her chest in a rather no nonsense kind of way.

"Yes, I did. Although I wished my kind and generous princess would have showed me more," he pouted with amusement dancing in his eyes.

And just like that it was the last straw for Lucy's already steaming anger.

"Lucy kick," the blonde girl yelled, slamming her powerful foot into Loke's stomach, causing the playboy to slam back into the wall behind him. He groaned in pain and slowly got up, flinching the entire way; he hadn't been Lucy Kicked in a while, so he forgot just how much those damn kicks hurt.

"Okay okay, the real reason why I came is because I was worried about you princess. You're going on mission with that Gajeel, and I want to make sure if we can trust him or not," Loke nearly growled after he recovered, and from the intense gleam in his eyes, Lucy could see he still held some resentment towards the black haired man.

The lion spirit hated thinking about just how close the iron dragon slayer has gotten to his lovely blonde princess, and Loke was sure neither of them noticed just how close the two have gotten over the tiny time frame of just one month. But it wasn't just that, Loke had never particularly liked Gajeel, so this wasn't particularly a new thing. The playboy hadn't forgiven the other man for what he did to his sweet blonde during the Phantom Lord battle; and even though Loke himself hadn't exactly been nice to Lucy either during the that time (for he was still wary of her since she was a celestial mage), he still didn't believe anyone deserved what Gajeel had done to her.

No, Loke didn't trust him at all. Not even the fact that Gajeel was one out of the few members of Fairy Tail who were still nice to Lucy could persuade him to trust the man.

"Loke, I'll be fine, I'm not completely useless." Lucy sighed, though she wouldn't admit it, but she actually felt touched just how much her spirit cared for her. "Besides, I'm sure nothing bad will happen… I know how you feel about him, but he's changed, and I've forgiven him; he won't do anything bad to me."

"I know," Loke sighed, running a hand to through his spiky locks. He then stated honestly, "and I believe you can do this job just fine… I just don't like the idea of you going with him."

"Gajeel's a good guy, and he's sincerely changed since the Phantom Lord incident… If you would just give him a chance you would see it for yourself," Lucy emphasized. Though she trusted Loke's judgment, she couldn't help but feel the need to defend her new friend against one of her most oldest and loyalist comrade.

Staring deeply into her eyes, Loke vanished away without another word, obviously not sure of what to say. And really, what else was there to say? He knew she would just keep defending the dragon slayer no matter what he said, in fact he knew she would be doing the same thing for Loke himself if someone were to question the spirit's intentions.

Though that didn't mean he like the idea of her being alone with Gajeel any more than he did a second ago.

The blonde, finding nothing else to do and was slightly tired form everything that happened today, packed some of her clothes in a small bag. Despite being able to have her bag stored in the celestial world, she had a feeling it would just be better to pack light for this trip in case she would have to carry the bag when traveling. Whilst doing that, Lucy then found herself wondering what it was going to be like traveling with Gajeel, and how he behaved during a job request in general.

Gajeel POV

"So, you going on a job with Lucy," Lily asked casually from where he laid. He wasn't there when Bunnygirl and I decided on going on this job. He instead was at a table with the other exceeds.

"Yeah, going to some place called Jukina; have to transport these expensive necklaces," I explained gruffly, stuffing a couple of shirts in my bag. I was sure how long it would take us to finish this job, but my guess was probably about a week to about possibly two weeks. Even though I mentioned going on the mission nonchalantly, what Bunny doesn't know was that I suggested going on this job because I felt like the girl needed to get away from Fairy Tail, which made both my inner dragon and I growl inwardly in frustration.

I admit, I usually I don't give a crap about other people or what they feel, so doing this for Bunny, made me wonder what the hell was wrong with me; it wasn't like I couldn't feel, it was just that these emotions I've been feeling recently, were the kind that I made jokes about, and couldn't give a rat's ass about. I guessed I must've gone a little soft for Bunnygirl during the time we have spent together, which sort of pissed me off a little bit because I wasn't suppose to get soft. Heck, I'm an Iron Dragon Slayer, not the Fluffy Animal Helper. And yet, at the same time I wasn't angry, just… accepting.

But the end result was that I wasn't that much pissed off at Bunny. She deserved way better than what she has been getting from Team Flameprick, and she needed time away from them and with someone that wasn't going to treat her like she was invisible. It really ticked me off at how Fairy Tail was now treating their used to be beloved celestial mage, who they use to gush about nearly all the fucking. And I felt some of my anger directing itself to Levy because the blue haired bitch was supposed to be Bunny's best friend, and the girl has been acting dry ice cold towards her. Like I said earlier, I don't really give a crap about people most of the time, but it had gotten to the point that I dropped the nickname that I once called Levy. I mean I don't know a lot about friendship's, but what I do know you don't pretend your friend is invisible, or glare at them form afar.

"So Lily, you coming?" I asked normally, ripping myself from my thoughts before I go too angry. However some anger still resided and I found myself shoving my items in my bag with more power than necessary.

"I think I'll sit this one out," Lily said calmly, his curious eyes calculating my every move, which I ignored. That exceed was damn perceptive, and I didn't want him to start getting any funny ideas like the demon woman did earlier. Remembering that babies comment, made the back of my throat burn remembering just how much it hurt when I chocked on that iron, and for some reason, the thought of it made me heart start to speed up rapidly, almost as if it was bomb about to explode in chest. "So, I noticed you've been hanging out with Lucy a lot," Lily stated while he still continued to eye me, making my jaw lock; great, now he's already got funny ideas.

"Bunnygirl's been lonely because of her asshole team and the stupid guild; I owe it to her," I defended, once again ignoring the fact that even I didn't believe myself. After a couple moments I then glanced cautiously out of the corner of my eye, only to see my exceeds eyes narrow in suspicion. I nearly wanted to groan, in exasperation, but instead I continued packing, disregarding the suspicion Lily obviously had for the rest of the night.

To be continued…

Revised 8/2/2016

A/N: I was planning on making my chapters a little bit longer, but didn't in this one. If you've noticed, I've deleted all of my before chapters so it's easier to follow the rewrite. I hope you like this chapter, and I hope Gajeel isn't OOC in the slightest; I tried my hardest to capture him in as a character.

To Jessica Phantomhive: Thank you, I'm glad you are happy with the update!

To The Writer of The FanFiction: Yeah, well Gajeel can be dense, but not Natsu dense, that's way too dense.