I interrupt what otherwise would have been the next chapter of Her Secret to give everyone that has kindly read, favorited, followed (me and/or my story) and all the wonderful reviewers, a bit of an update. I'm blocked. And when I say that - I mean I'm blocked to the point where every time I sit down to continue Her Secret, and there has been many many times over that last few months that I have tried in vain - sadly everything I write is absolute garbage. The chapter I should be posting here is my problem. I have the following chapter after written but getting the story to that point is my only issue. Now since it's been a while since I've updated and I have started writing other stories (I'll post some once I'm further along in Her Secret, I'm big on creative outlets, so I have to write or do something.) But, I thought since I've left you all hanging for such a long time where this chapter is will eventually become a filler page but for the time being as a thank you for your patience I'm writing a somewhat quick FreLu one-shot that will eventually be posted separate, it has no connection to Her Secret and is a stand alone story. Also, (*spoilerish next sentence if you're not caught up with at least the anime*) it's set in the year Nastu leaves to train and the guild unlike the manga and ending of the anime doesn't break up because really that shouldn't have happened in my opinion.
So without further ado here is what I like to call Rules Are Rules – Rated M for Language, suggestive themes and well you'll see ;)
'Why the hell do I do this to myself?' Lucy thought groaning aloud. Every time Cana ropes us into playing one of her 'games' someone always ends up having to embarrass themselves. It wouldn't be so bad if Mira and her matchmaking ways didn't dare girls to do outrageous crap with whomever the take-over mage decided we'd best be paired with. As soon as Mira decided to play Lucy should have called it quits, that was where she made her first mistake. The other was agreeing to play with Cana at all, especially so early in the evening when most of the guild was still there. Granted, Levi just had to spill her guts about her feelings for Gajeel, not that that was a particular surprise to anyone of the girls. Although now with the confirmation Mira visibly had hearts in her eyes probably imagining the adorable blue-haired red-eyed metal-eating bookworm babies the two would eventually have.
Thankfully it was not so early Romeo, Wendy and Asuka were still here but unfortunately that also meant with them gone the dares could and would get more outrageous as the evening went on. Especially without Erza present, who was probably meeting up with a certain heavenly body mage somewhere. No, Lucy in particular had no one to buffer the worst of it or to look out for her virtue – ha! But picking truth on her next turn would end up disastrous, both Cana and Mira had been bugging Lucy nonstop over whom in the guild she had a crush on. If they only knew, but that was her secret.
"Come-on Luce, stop zoning out we're playing a game here!" Cana said, nudging the blonde with her shoulder to get Lucy's attention.
"Sorry." Lucy couldn't stop herself from mumbling.
"It's Mira's turn to ask." Cana said.
Lucy gulped at the devious glint in the take-over mages eyes.
"Truth or Dare" Mira said slowly, drawing the words out.
'I'm screwed either way, if I'm in it, then why not go all in.' She thought before responding, "Dare."
Mira's smile widened, her eyes scanning the guild until she suddenly stopped, then looked Lucy directly in the eyes. "I dare you to go over and kiss Freed for at least a minute, with tongue."
Lucy quickly glanced over at the Rune mage, he was sitting at a table in the far back with the rest of The Thunder God Tribe. They were all talking, Laxus was even laughing at something someone said, Evergreen swatting Bickslow on the arm with her fan. Lucy tried to figure out how she was going to go about getting Freed alone. Her thoughts must have been clearly written on her face because Mira then added.
"Ah, Ah, Ah." Moving her fingers in a tsking manner towards Lucy. "You have to do it in front of the whole guild. And no backing out unless you want to take the lowest paying jobs for the next month."
"If I'm going to do this, then give me a shot of something sweet." Lucy took a deep breath.
Cana laughed before teasing. "Luce needs a little liquid courage, huh?"
"Don't worry Lulu, you can do this." Levi said encouragingly.
Mira continued to smile deviously as she poured Lucy a pink shot of some sort and placed it in front of her. Lucy quickly downed it and stood up. As she moved to leave the bar area she looked straight a Cana. "No comments from the peanut gallery." And waited until the brunette raised her hands in acquiesce before walking across the guild to the Thunder God Tribe's Table. The shit eating grin Laxus sported told Lucy without words he'd heard everything at the bar, including her dare.
"Look alive, Blondie's come to call." Laxus teased.
If Lucy wasn't so focused on devising a quick plan, he would have gotten a Lucy Kick to the face. Instead she just said, "You're blonde too, Sparky."
"Whatcha want Cosplayer?" Bickslow asked, his floating totem's repeating his question.
Freed looked at Lucy, she could see the confusion in the normally stoic man's eyes.
"Freed, I have a question." Lucy said trying to appear cool and collected.
When he nodded for her to continue, she asked. "When playing a game, is it always important to complete a challenge from another player regardless of the situation?"
"Of course." Freed answered smoothly. "As a Rune mage we follow a strict set of rules, in a game it would be no less as important to follow all guidelines no matter the situation." He replied as his brows furrowed.
"Great, that's exactly what I thought too." She said turning back towards Mira and winking, before quickly moving one leg over the Rune Mage's lap and straddling him on the chair.
"Lucy, what-" Freed started to say but was suddenly cut off by her kissing him. Her hands moved up to hold the back of his head not allowing him to get away, his mouth being parted because he was speaking allowed her to quickly deepen the kiss, touching her tongue to his. In the first moment of the kiss, Freed was shocked still but it took only about 5 seconds before he groaned returning her embrace. Lucy shuddered as his hands came up to pull her neck in for a deeper kiss. Bickslow was hooting and making embarrassing sounds.
"Go Lucy!" Was shouted by Cana, quickly earning the attention of all their guild mates present.
Lucy couldn't help but smiling into the kiss and ever so subtly grinding herself down into Freed's rapidly growing erection. Everything around her began to slowly fade away until it was just her and Freed. Later when they met up, she knew he was going to punish her for teasing him so but right now she could actually kiss the man she'd been secretly seeing for the last few months openly - so she was going to enjoy every second of it. Both of them being very private people didn't want to hurt the guild if things didn't work out and well, honestly it was fun having something all to herself for once. However, Mira's dare only confirmed Lucy's theory that thanks to the super sniffer the take-over mage's lightning dragon slayer boyfriend had, the couple were definitely on to their little secret. Unfortunately, you could never be too careful around dragon slayers.
Lucy felt her body ignite as Freed forced her tongue back into her mouth and took charge of the kiss. The smooth glide of their tongues against one another fighting for dominance had Lucy's heart beating out of her chest. When Levy called time Lucy came back her surroundings, slowly pulling back from the kiss and opening her eyes. Freed sported a bright red blush that probably matched hers along with a slightly dazed look she knew she also mirrored. She couldn't help it, she smiled over the power she had to unravel him, as she slightly moved back putting a bit more space between their upper bodies. "Thank you Freed, you helped me complete my dare." And with a saucy wink, she lithely removed herself from the Rune Mage's lap and headed back towards the bar, ignoring Bickslow's tongue lolling and Laxus' arrogant smirk.
As she was making her way back to the bar, she heard Evergreen ask, "Hey Freed, what was that about?"
Lucy couldn't stop herself from turning back watching as the now rather ruffled rune mage straightening himself. With a shrug, his stoic mask back in place, he responded. "Rules are rules."
So there it is. I hoped you all enjoyed it. I promise I'm working and hopefully I can get past this block soon but I haven't abandoned Her Secret nor will I. Oh yeah I almost forgot, all characters, places, worlds ect. ect. belong to the great Hiro Mashima, the only thing I own is my overactive imagination. Happy reading!