Jackpot


"Wait, you told Natsu about Horologium?" Levy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You…told him about your last resort defense? Like everything?"

"Yes!" Lucy tried real hard not to groan at the memory of his look of panicked desperation. He'd been hovering over her anxiously when she'd opened her eyes and his relieved smile made Lucy feel warm. "He kept wedeling until I told him I was fine and the blood from my nose and bruises were a part of the deal. Levy, you know Horologium was the hardest to win over and can you blame him? He might be damn near indestructible but he still feels pain."

"Of course, I just can't believe you told Natsu about the pact."

"I did and he took it decently but then started running some internal calculations and looked nervous." Lucy giggled at the memory of the color draining from his face. "Two to five percent damage reflected back on me can be scary when the violence increases, but I don't ever plan on putting him through something bad enough to kill me."

"You really did tell him."

"He was making me feel bad," the blonde hedged, sliding around Levy to polish the glass cases at the other end of the counter. "I trust him not to use it against me. He understands that I offered to help shoulder the pain. They're family to me, I help where I can and fight for them when they need me."

"I guess I can take this as a sign that things are getting serious." Levy couldn't stop the wide grin that was making her cheeks hurt. She'd been speculating when they'd both realize they were dancing around each other.

"What?"

"What?" Levy mimicked innocently while trying to wipe the smile off her face. If Lucy wanted to play dumb, she'd let her for a little while longer, "Did you finish the tablets inscription?"

"Not really. I was stopped from attempting more tests. They made me write down my top three guesses and leave them with Lamia to finish."

"Darn, I was curious." huffed past blue hair. Lucy hesitated briefly before hopping up on the counter and crossing her legs. Her mind wouldn't stop pestering her to get answers.

"I was curious about Gray and Lyon," the blonde started. "For mages that have similar magic affinities they present so different."

"They don't have similar magic though," Levy hummed thoughtfully. "Lyon's affinity is air whereas Gray's is water. Gray is a made mage so he takes on the magical affinity of his patron deity."

"Air? But his hands…"

"He generates vacuums. It only seems like an internal cooling system but he's actually cooling the air around him. That's what I've heard him explain it as anyway," Levy shrugged, "He can only handle that for a while though, he's at risk of necrosis due to lack of blood circulation."

"Ew."

"Ew," agreed solemnly. "Gray is interesting though, his personal nature seems to lean toward cold and voila, the water affinity displays as ice."

"It's pretty cool how made mages can personalize the patron's affinity to a certain degree," Lucy sighed. Her finger idly twirling a lock of hair while she sat deep in thought.

"Yeah, its like what you do except to a smaller degree."

"I never said thanks for my birthday gift did I?" Lucy started with a smile. At Levy's wide smile, Lucy straightened, her shirt riding up to briefly show her stomach; the blood red sunstone Levy had gifted her had been turned into an ornate belly button ring. It flashed strongly in the light and cast a red glow on Lucy's stomach. "Its been a game changer in working on a mesh of power instead of a full blown take over!"

"Good," Levy sighed. "Your moonstone is blinding me," the shorter woman grumbled, lifting up her hand to shield her eyes from the kaleidoscope of color shooting from the tear drop stone. "Natsu had to go for the biggest one."

"Sorry," Lucy blushed while shifting out of the ray of light. She'd realized it was too short to hide under her clothes; the length meaning the yellow gold necklace and large moonstone were always on display.

"Territorial," Gajeel mumbled around a jaw cracking yawn. "Can we leave now? I'm bored."

"Did you break down all the crates like I asked?" Levy asked with a frown.

"Territorial?" Lucy questioned under her breath, unsure if she'd heard right. Her question was ignored and Gajeel plowed forward in the conversation.

"Done, your storage room –"

"Office," Levy interjected.

"- is clean." Gajeel finished without so much as batting an eye. Lucy always found their interactions strange. "Let's go."

"Go? We still have four hours until the shop closes."

"So?"

"So?" Lucy could hear Levy's blood pressure rising along with her tone. "What do you mean so? We have bills to pay and closing early every night isn't going to pay them."

"I don't understand why you humans are so preoccupied with money. It's paper. How do you assign value to paper?" Gajeel was grumbling, shaking out his wavey black mass of hair in agitation. "If we leave now I'll give you a large black opal. Your book had a picture of one and I recognized it," He amended at the rise of Levy's eyebrows.

"EXCUSE ME?" Levy's voice shot up shrilly and her hazel eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

"Deal?"

"I'd be stupid not to take that." Levy said while jolting into action. Lucy watched as the blunette zipped around the shop: sweeping the floor, polishing the glass door and turning the open sign to closed. "If I don't have it in the next thirty minutes Gajeel, we're never having sex again and I'll replace you faster than you can eat an iron ore."

"Black opal?"

"Lucy," Levy started patiently while continuing to stare straight faced at Gajeel, "I can sell a 5-carat black opal for $50,000 easily and he said large so we're looking at a 5-carat minimum. They're rare and popular; the most sought-after opal." Lucy made a strangled noise in the back of her throat. "Gajeel you have 28 minutes left."

"Why are we just learning you've had this?"

"Didn't think it was important and forgot about it. A rock is a rock."

"That 'rock' is about to ruin your relationship if it doesn't touch my palms in the next 26 minutes." Levy casually replied.

"Fine," red eyes flashed in annoyance and Levy was hauled over his muscular shoulder. The slam of the front door behind them brought Lucy back to reality. She still couldn't believe the amount Levy had just dropped, she was running the numbers in her head. She felt so giddy a giggle slipped out as she slid off the counter and back onto her feet. It looked like her luck was starting to rub off on the rest of her life. Well, not the rest of her life. Lucy's love life left a lot to be desired and it didn't help that she was fantasizing about a certain heat loving hunter. Whatever came from that came from it, though Lucy couldn't only hope it ended with him in her life permanently; he just fit in her townhouse among her things and felt right.

"Get a grip," Lucy sighed as she locked the shop's front door behind her. She didn't want to get her own hopes up. It was always better to go with the flow and see where things ended up, no matter how much it annoyed her. "Maybe I'll take a bath and read."