Okay here is the second installment! I want to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, and liked the story! The support means so much! Hopefully this chapter draws you a little more in to the relationship, please let me know what you think!

Chapter 2: Pool

So many voices ringing through his skull, all thinking and singing different things than what was coming from their mouths. All the secrets and the unsaid gossip. All the relationships. He knew all of it, not that he asked or wanted to know. Most people try to hide their thoughts, especially from themselves. This guild though was full of the most open people he had ever met. They may not tell each other everything but god damn could they broadcast their thoughts and feelings!

The one person he found hard to read, of course was the one he wanted to know about the most. It isn't that she has secrets or that he couldn't hear her. It's quite the opposite, she says exactly what she thinks and feels, often when she thinks and feels it. It is easy to tell that she would be bad at hiding secrets, but then there are moments. Moments when she thinks no one is watching her, and there is this pit of darkness.

These thoughts and feelings he wants so badly to be privy to. They float just behind her eyes and he just can't seem to figure them out. They reflect his own thoughts, his memories. But he doesn't want to believe she has had experiences as dark and scarring as he has had.

After spending months in the guild, listening to these people, watching these people. He is ashamed, not for what he did in the past, but for forgetting who he did it too. His mistakes shape him and his friends. Without them he wouldn't be the same person he is now, wouldn't be in the same place. He had to go through a lot, but it brought him here. To these people who didn't understand but forgave and opened their arms. To this girl who shines like a beacon and gets under his skin with just a smile and a peppy good morning.

People watching was his favorite thing to do. The drama, the relationships and the flirting, it amused him, something so simple that he never got to do. People he could actually get invested in who he didn't need to run from. Not that he often joined in the merriment and not that they knew anything about him.

But he was invested in these peoples lives none the less.

He watched as Laxus grew in to his coming role as master, watched Freed try to hide the engagement ring from his demon girlfriend, Marveled at the fact that the Dragons were like a pack and were willing to allow him among their ranks. Cobra was certain that his group with the others would be his only family. The slayers though were quickly becoming a second family.

The one he most enjoyed watching, and he loathed to admit it, was the gorgeous blonde that had the audacity to slap him across the face. He didn't blame her and he would freely admit to the fact that her fire and the sway of her hips as she stormed away may have given him an erection.

She caught his attention as soon as she walked in the room, and he was annoyed by the fact that people had noticed. They didn't talk often but sometimes, if he caught her attention she would go on a silent diatribe, they would have silent conversations and she would glance back for his reaction if she thought something funny or snarky. He often found himself hiding little grins and rolling his eyes.

One day when he was sitting at the bar, listening to her slew of really terrible jokes and trying not to laugh, Kina had a waved a hand in front of his face. It had startled him and he had almost jerked off his stool. "What?" He growled, glaring at his treasured friend. "You cut off in the middle of a sentence about twenty minutes ago. You also look like your having a stroke." Cobra felt his cheeks burn slightly and Lucy must have caught the comment cause he could hear the tinkling laughter in her soul.

Today he knew would be hell. The entire guild in one place was bad enough, and headache inducing. There were also people all around them stripping off their clothes, while he kept his firmly on his body. The worst though had not yet happened. He was dreading her arrival, not that he didn't want to see her, but he didn't think he could pair, the sound of her soul, her snarky thoughts and so much porcelain skin on display.

He caught a murmur from inside the guild hall and slunk further in to the shadows behind him. He watched as she finally made her way through the hall and out to the pool. Long golden hair, sparkling chocolate eyes, a blinding smile and more skin than should be legal.

The next thing he noticed when he could finally take his eye off her was the reaction of the people around her. She was friends with everyone and she lit up the people around her. By her side was the idiot with pink hair and his little blue cat. The flaming idiot took off like a shot to the pool, the blue cat flying behind and yelling taunts.

The blonde just rolled her eyes then smiled brightly at the short girl waving her over to the corner with the grouchy iron slayer. She bounced over and got an enthusiastic hug, then a tight but slightly reluctant hug. She made her way, garnering attention from everyone.

Cobra pouted when he watched the drunk smack her ass. Lucy batted her hand away and rolled her eyes as the brunette woman snickered. As she made her way around, socializing in her white bikini, he watched as eyes lit up and souls sang. The cacophony of souls slowly evened out as the people she came in contact with seemed to harmonize with her soul.

This was a normal occurrence in souls of people who were close, but he had never heard it to this extent. It was normally something he heard in people who were in love, best friends or close family. Their souls would harmonize. But the effect that Lucy had was so strange. The souls were all independent, all different but when she was in the vicinity, they almost melded. He couldn't tell if their souls were changing to meld with hers or if her soul fluctuated to match those around her.

Either way it left the person in her presence brighter, not only while the spoke but after she left, the light remained. He listened as she giggled and as many men flirted with her. This made him grumble, but he knew they didn't mean any harm and she had no interest. That was something that shocked him after months of being in the guild, everyone was down right lewd, including the perky blonde. But while everyone seemed to be sleeping with someone, sometimes multiple someones, the little blonde was innocent.

Oh the things he could do to taint that innocence. The thought had him slinking further back in to the shadows. He heard a snort to his left and tore his eyes away from the blonde to look at his best friend. "What?" A sly smirk and a shake of black and white hair were his response. He didn't need the verbal cues to hear the teasing thoughts. He flippantly shot his friend the finger and went back to his favorite past time of blonde watching.

Cobra had finally settled himself down in a chair in the sun. He didn't have to worry about leaving a lobster since his skin was tanned, unlike his pale friend. He had his eyes closed and had been relaxed in to a pile of goo under the sun when he heard her. She was making her way over and his senses were quickly over whelmed. Her scent, the sound of her soul, the feel of her soft skin as she sat on the bottom half of his lounger, shoving his legs over to make some space.

"You remind me of a snake under a heat lamp." He couldn't help but grin, his eye siding open to peer at her small smile. He hissed in response and heard her try to cover a snort with a cough. He stretched his arms up then placed his hands behind his head. He knew she was enjoying the view and he couldn't help but preen slightly. They talked often, although silently, after that disaster of a meeting in the park and she seemed to have forgiven him.

She was after all the only person in the guild, including his best friend that he wasn't overly rude to. "You could come join me in the water you know, it's not like your going to melt." Cobra closed his eye and knocked her side gently with his outstretched calf. "Not going to happen Sunshine." Lucy grimaced, "That's a new one." "M hmm." "Not going to tell me where it came from are you?"

He grinned at her, he would have to be very drunk to ever admit any of his nicknames to her, especially this one. Considering alcohol had no affect on him, it was never going to happen. He would keep his little beam of light all to himself thanks.

The two continued their conversation for a wile longer, seeming to be perfectly content and comfortable in each others presence. Cobra frowned at the train of thought that he could hear, literally barreling toward them. He almost wanted to grab Lucy and pull her against his chest, snarl at the pink haired menace who had come to collect her.

However since he was not ready to lay a claim to the blonde he just watched, disgruntled as she was lifted in to another slayers arms and abruptly thrown in to the pool. She shrieked before she went under and by the time she had resurfaced, Natsu had cannon balled his way in to the pool, taking her out with the resulting wave.

Cobra resigned himself to watching the girl again, her white bikini sticking to her ivory skin, her hair loose and wet around her shoulders. He may have to shuffle this chair out of the sun and back in to the shadows, was his thought as he shifted and adjusted himself.

Please leave a review, hopefully you enjoy this chapter! Tomorrows chapter is Endearments!