Zeref shifted uneasily. After all the time he had spent on his own, he wasn't used to people crowding around him. He could feel many looking at him curiously, even the ones that had remained in their seats and he was thankful that at least a few of the guild members knew the truth about who he was and accepted him anyway. He could feel Mira's thoughtful gaze on him and he turned to look back at the Demon Takeover Mage.

"So you and Lucy?" She asked, leaning forward so that others couldn't hear. "This didn't perhaps happen while she was away, did it?"

Zeref blushed lightly before nodding, "Yes. I happened to run into Lucy and we became very close in the time that she was away from here. I'm not really sure when it happened, but I fell for her and I guess that she must have fallen for me, too."

Mira nodded, her gaze turning even more thoughtful as she turned away.

Of course, Zeref had no idea that Mira had known where Lucy was this whole time or he might have considered his words more carefully.

Lucy wasn't paying attention to the interaction between her friend and her lover. She was busy trying to calm the rest of the guild down as a million questions were thrown at her from various people. She tried answering every question she could, but it was exhausting. As if sensing this, Zeref moved closer to her, pulling her toward him.

"Guys," Cana said, then louder. "Guys! Lucy is exhausted. You should leave off your questions for later."

The guild nodded in agreement and dispersed as Lucy shot her a grateful look.

"You should get some rest, Luce," Cana whispered. "You look beat."

Lucy nodded, standing just as Mavis appeared.

The couple stared at the spirit as she stared back, the three shifting awkwardly for a moment before Mavis sent a glare at Zeref that chilled the couple to the bone before storming off.

"Crap," Lucy whispered. "I was hoping to avoid her for a little while longer."

Zeref nodded, "She's going to kill us."

Lucy shrugged, "Come on, let's go home."

Lucy was surprised when she showed up at her apartment to find that the landlady still had it rented out to her and that all of her things were still as she had left them. The landlady had shrugged.

"You have a tendency of coming back here in the end. Your friends kept up the rent so I didn't see any harm in allowing it to stay open for you."

Lucy had been surprised by that as well, but let it go, pulling Zeref up to her place with a smile.

Zeref looked around her apartment in wonder. It was cozy and he could tell that she had made it into a home for not just herself, but her friends. Gray's clothes laid piled in one corner while Erza's romance novels were stack neatly on a bookshelf. He grinned, even Natsu had left little bits of himself behind in the form of tokens that the two had gathered together.

He felt a pang of jealousy and sadness. Jealousy for the time that Natsu had spent with Lucy, getting to know her and learning to love her. The sadness was for what could have been. Natsu loved Lucy dearly, anyone could see that, but he'd lost his chance the moment that Lucy was sent away from him. Looking around, though, he could see that Lucy cared a great deal for all of her friends, though she cared for Natsu more than the rest.

Zeref would keep quiet about it though. He didn't want to cause trouble between anyone, especially not himself and Lucy. He sat on the bed, looking through the photos she had pinned up on a board above it. Maybe of them were of her and Natsu or her and the team, though a few were of different people in Fairy Tail. His brow furrowed at one of her and a white-haired girl with a blonde man behind Lucy and a dark-haired man behind the other girl. None of them were in Fairy Tail.

Standing he carefully unpinned the picture, handing it to Lucy.

"I didn't meet these guys," Zeref said in confusion.

Lucy smiled down at the photo, "No. They're friends from Sabertooth. This was taken one night when the rest were out on a mission. I was still recovering from a wound I'd received and Yukino invited me to their guild for her birthday party that the master was throwing. Sting, the blonde, is the master now and he's really nice. Rogue is Yukino's boyfriend and he's the one behind her in the picture. Sting was my date for the night. I think Yukino was trying to hook us up to be honest."

Zeref nodded, "They seem like a powerful bunch."

"Well, both Sting and Rogue are dragon slayers, but Yukino is a Celestial mage like me."

Zeref looked at her with wide eyes, "She's the girl you gave your keys to?"

Lucy nodded, "She'll take good care of them. That much I'm certain of."

Zeref nodded, turning to examine the photo more closely.

"Do you have more pictures of other guild members? I don't want to confuse anyone after all," He grinned as he handed the photo back to her.

He watched as she stood, pinning that one up before taking down some other ones, handing them to him. She pointed out different people in each one, explaining who they were, what guild they belonged to, and why the picture was taken. He was surprised to find himself annoyed at the picture of her with three boys from Blue Pegasus. She explained that they were always flirting with girls, it didn't matter who the girl was, but that didn't make him feel any better as he noticed that one in particular - Hibiki - seemed to be especially fond of Lucy.

Lucy nodded, "Hibiki and I were partners on a mission together when we first met. Blue Pegasus and Fairy Tail had teamed up to fight a Dark Guild and we were paired together. He saved my life and in return I saved his. We were close for a while. He might still feel that way, but seven years trapped on Tenrou Island, asleep, has made our differences seem too much for me. I'll always cherish him as a friend though."

Zeref nodded, "I suppose that makes sense."

Lucy grinned at her boyfriend, kissing him gently as she tucked the photos away.

"Of course it makes sense," She laughed. "I always make sense."

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her logic, but didn't say a word as they snuggled in for the night.

"Lucy?" Zeref whispered into her hair.

"Hmm?"

"I can live here with you, right?"

"Of course you can," She whispered sleepily.

Zeref smiled down at her, "Good."