Rated M: sex, language and suggestive dialogue
Cover Image may change.*
"So why do you think he hasn't proposed yet?" Lucy asked, keeping her eyes locked on the road with a firm grip on her steering wheel.
"Have you dropped any hints?" Came the voice of her best friend through the phone's speaker.
"Cana! Of course I have!"
"Well look, maybe you just need to show him that you're ready now. Give him a good surprise."
"A good surprise? Like what?"
"Something spicy. Something sexy. Get out of your comfort zone."
Get out of my comfort zone huh?
"Sting!" Lucy called. She entered her house sneaking into the living room with a girlish giggle. "Honey, are you home?"
After a brief silence came his reply.
"Hold on, I'm coming!"
With his presence confirmed, Lucy quickly began disrobing, eager to please her boyfriend.
He came rushing out of their bedroom, his hair disheveled (more than usual), naked with only a pillow covering his manhood and panting. His expression was surprised, but definitely not the delighted kind of surprise that Lucy was looking for. Nonetheless she pressed on.
"What are you doing home so early?"
"Shhhh baby," she whispered, looking him right in the eyes. "We can talk about that later." She was finally fully disrobed and slowly creeping towards him.
Sting's eyes darted back to the bedroom and then back to Lucy. "Lucy listen…"
But she wasn't listening. Instead she was doing (or trying to do) a sexy dance using their living room furniture as props. It didn't turn out well. First she knocked over one of their larger plants, soil and greenery spilling everywhere. Determined not to stop though, she continued forward, except of course until she slipped and fell on her own trench coat landing face first into her messed up plant. She slowly got up, face, neck and bare chest brown with dirt.
"I need to tell you something…" Sting insisted.
"Sting, what's taking so long?" Came the impatient inquiry of a naked woman, emerging from their bedroom, wrapped up from her chest downwards in Lucy's bed sheets.
Lucy was mortified. She lay on her living room floor full commando, sullied by potted plant material in front of her boyfriend and his side chick.
"So that's why I need a new place…" the blonde finished awkwardly. She was seated before three guys who were staring at her blankly from their couch while an awkward silence ensued.
"I'm sorry, I don't think that's what you asked me. What was the question again?"
"We asked if you had any pets…" The one with the salmon hair trailed off while the others looked on at her curiously.
New Girl
"You know um, when I first saw the ad for this place on Craigslist, I thought you all were women…"
The man with honey blonde hair started laughing dryly. "Wh-why would you think that? That's crazy. You're crazy."
"Loke wrote the ad," the salmon haired man deadpanned.
"I think it was something about the words you used. You know 'sun-soaked' and 'beigy'." Lucy continued using air quotations.
The guys all started chuckling dryly when out of the blue, the guy named Loke slipped his long sleeve shirt over his head. His pink haired friend looked mortified.
"Loke, what are you doing?" he asked exasperated.
"What about these?" Loke gestured to his abs, ignoring his friend and lowering his voice. "These look 'beigy' to you?"
The salmon haired man grabbed the bridge of his nose. "I am so sorry."
"Well, I'm his personal trainer so," the guy to the right of Loke, with dark spiky hair, adjusted himself and patted Loke's abs. "This is kind of the house that Gray built right here," he finished with a proud smile.
"What am I even looking at right now? That's baby smooth!" the pink haired man interjected.
"Nah Dragneel, this is all LLL," Loke said, turning and casting a flirtatious smile to their blonde guest. "Ladies. Love. Loke."
The one named Gray wrenched his face in disgust as he retracted his hand to his body. "What?! What did you just say?"
Loke looked at him in confusion.
"Go put a dollar in the jar right now," Gray said sternly, pointing to a recycled pickle jar on the table next to them. It adorned a pink sticky note with the words 'Douchebag Jar' written on it.
"Are you serious Gray?"
"Yes!"
"Damnit!" Loke cursed, getting out of his seat to cough up the dollar.
"You guys have a really beautiful place here," Lucy said admiring the architecture of their home. She got up with her red sundress puffing at the swift bit of wind. She walked over to the windows and then by their island kitchen, before circling back to the windows taking in some welcomed UV rays. "And this is such a magnificent view," she said euphorically. "It gets so much light…" her eyes dimmed a little bit.
"Sting liked sunlight..." she choked, holding back tears. "Sorry, it's just hard to say his name right now."
"Oh it's okay. Natsu knows," Loke said with a big fake smile. "He got dumped too."
The pink haired guy, presumably named Natsu, twisted his body toward Loke with an expression of disbelief (to which Loke responded with a big vengeful smile) before turning back to Lucy.
"Okay fine," Natsu said with his arms in the air. "Fine. So maybe I got dumped. But I'm over it now! It was six months ago alright? So get off my back!" He did a sweeping turn of everyone in the loft. Loke gave him a sympathetic look. Gray's eyes became hazy as he turned his head to look at the wall.
"Get over it people! I know I am! I don't even think about her at all! ...Why am I still shouting?! What are you all looking at?" He squeaked out, burying his face under his hoodie.
Gray recoiled as if he had just been slapped in the face and then blinked. "Okay... barring that bit of nonsense… we still have a few more questions for you," Gray turned to Lucy, hoping to switch topics. "I mean, no offense but we barely know you."
"Oh, okay then," Lucy said nervously. Truth be told, she was already growing fond of the idea of living in the loft… along with the people in it. So she figured she'd lay it all on the line in order to increase her chances. "Full disclosure, I'm still a little broken over the break up so I'm probably going to be listening to 'Someone Like You' on repeat for the next couple of weeks. I'm a middle school teacher so I'm probably going to be bringing back popsicle sticks and candies and stuff like that."
Gray grimaced at the thought of a bunch of middle schoolers' snacks bursting through his cupboards.
"Also I like to sing to myself alot… alot." She sang the last word to demonstrate her point.
Natsu raised a singular, unimpressed eyebrow.
"The biggest thing is that I'm tired of living with my friend Cana. She's a model. All her friends are models." Lucy added as she sadly played with her fingertips against the countertop.
Loke's ears immediately perked up.
"How soon can you move in?!"
His roommates immediately protested.
"Actually Loke…" Natsu started.
"Nuh uh. Nope. No way. Not happening." Gray said bluntly.
"Excuse us for one minute," Loke said politely, dragging his friends away by tugging their arms. "Gonna talk to my boys."
"'My boys' isn't a thing we say around here." Natsu clarified to their potential roommate.
"My bros," Loke continued, pounding his chest.
"Douchebag jar," Natsu instructed.
"Damn it!"
In the bathroom
"I'm gonna vote yes," Loke petitioned. "Her friends are models! Do you hear me guys? Models! And I could believe it, I mean look at her. She's hot! And from my experience, hot chicks tend to stick together."
"Well I'm gonna vote no," Gray said. "I need to be able to come home from a hard day's work, sit on my couch and let my beans out! Let them really breathe you know? And I can't do that with some girl around."
Natsu and Loke nodded in agreement before Loke turned to his pink haired friend.
"Natsu, it's all you buddy."
"Okay, okay, well, you two make a lot of good points, I won't lie... but I will say this: I have lived with a woman, Lisanna, whom you both know and so I know that there are pros and there are real cons guys."
"God, Natsu YOU'RE WEAK!" Gray shouted in frustration.
"Okay, pro: they smell nice." Natsu said, ignoring Gray's outburst.
Gray sighed.
"Con: every once in a while the mood changes and you're not sure why. They'll ruin your life if you let them. They'll break down your will to live… pro: they're really good at folding."
"MAKE A DECISION!!" Gray roared.
"Okay, yep, you know what…" Natsu glanced between the two of them nonchalantly while zipping up his jacket and going for his hoodie.
"Oh no, don't do it," Loke said in dismay as the pinkette's hoodie began covering his spiky mane.
"I'm gonna do it."
"Natsu take that hoodie off," Gray added to the brewing chaos.
"Put it down man," Loke said in a warning tone. "Don't you… don't you hoodie me."
"You guys are just really mean sometimes…" Natsu whined, adding to the fray of protests from his friends.
"Come on man," Gray groaned, but it was already too late because Natsu had successfully covered his head and face with the hoodie and pulled it's drawstrings as far as they could go, leaving his friends with only his nose and his mouth.
"I think we pushed him too hard." Gray declared matter-of-factly.
"We did push him too hard... So how about this?"
Loke looked both of his roommates in the eyes. "I'm making an executive decision. She's in."
With no legitimate reasons to object, a silence fell over the room. The silence didn't last long though as a distanced cry was heard from outside.
"Yay, I'm in!"
All three men turned towards the door, and Loke stalked over to open it, revealing an eavesdropping Lucy with a delighted smile on her face and a victorious stance of both fists pumped into the air. She froze in horror as she came face to face with the boys all staring at her.
"I promise you won't regret this," she added quickly.
"I heard that you're settled down, that you found a girl and you're married now," Lucy blew her nose into another Kleenex and a fresh wave of tears overcame her as she sang along to the famous song. She couldn't even continue the rest of the ballad as emotions overtook her and the first few lyrics caused her to start sobbing. Loudly. And very uncontrollably.
Lucy was seated on the couch in the living room, with the curtains drawn, surrounded by used Kleenex napkins in a mismatched pair of pajamas with her hair in a messy, low bun.
The guys all watched the scene before them in horror from the hallway with the bathroom and bedrooms. It was like watching a car crash before their eyes. It was gruesome, but for some reason, they just couldn't look away. Natsu shook his head in disbelief.
"What have you done to us Loke?"
Loke looked at Gray with an innocent expression but Gray shot him a dirty look back.
A Few Days Later
"No dad, I've gotta go, my phone is dying," Lucy laid out on the couch wearing her glasses, flannels and shorts watching 'Hairspray' while on the phone. "No dad, I promise you, I'm fine."
Just then, Natsu emerged from his room wiping the sleep from his eyes as his orbs landed on the blonde. Honestly, he'd be lying if he said that seeing a beautiful woman sprawled on his couch wasn't a welcomed sight to see. Lucy's brown eyes latched onto his golden ones, and she quickly put her hand over the mouthpiece to address him.
"Morning, hey, are you going to murder me because you're a stranger that I met on the internet?"
The pinkette rolled his eyes as he made his way to the bathroom. "Yes, I am."
"Dad, he says no," Lucy said into the phone.
Just then, Loke and Gray burst through the front door, both boys sweating and in muscle tees and shorts from their early morning run.
"All right, bye daddy, I love you," Lucy said as her eyes were drawn to the door.
Loke sat on the stool next to Natsu by the countertop. "Okay so the Wild Wild West party is on Saturday and I'm trying to get us in but… but you may need to call Lisanna."
"I am not calling Lisanna," came Natsu's stern reply.
"Look Natsu, now hear me out-"
"Shhhhhhhhhhhh," he hushed and they both turned their attention to Lucy.
"'Cause without love, life is like a beat that you can't follow, without love, Life is Doris Day at The Apollo!" sang Lucy loudly with the movie.
"We are in this situation because of you," Natsu pointed to the honey blonde, his voice barely above a whisper.
Lucy reverted into a fetal position and started sobbing loudly into one of the couch cushions. "Why'd you have to cheat on me?!" she cried into her pillow.
"It has been a week of this madness and I am going crazy Celeste. I can't take it."
"You know what guys, I've got this," Gray said, getting off of his stool and approaching the couch.
"Oh hi Gray," Lucy greeted weakly.
"Hi," he said tersely. "Look, I understand you're going through a breakup right now but I have to say that you're crying is frankly both annoying and infuriating and it's driving everyone in the loft crazy. Your snotty tissues are disgusting and honestly... you're ugly when you cry."
Lucy paused in shock for a moment before her big, brown orbs became glassy with a fresh bout of tears and her face crumpled up into the ugliest cry face she's ever made.
"Awww, come on man!" Loke shouted.
"What the hell Gray?!" Natsu joined in. "Ten in the jar, NOW!"
"What? I was just being honest to get her to stop crying!"
Lucy wailed loudly in the background.
"Does it look like you got her to stop crying?!"
As Gray begrudgingly walked over to the 'Douchebag Jar', Loke quickly scampered over to the couch, jumping over to sit beside his new roommate. "Lucy hey, I'm just gonna take that," he said, grabbing the remote from under her and turning off the TV.
"Alrighty, hi Lucy. How ya doing?"
Lucy shot him a red, puffy eyed glare. That was all the response he needed.
"You look fantastic by the way, anyways, what if you came with us tonight? You know, after work. We'll fix you up, we'll take you out, we'll get you a rebound."
Lucy was intrigued. "A rebound?"
"Yeah!"
"But… I don't know if I'm ready…"
"What, are you kidding me? You're totally ready for this! A guy would have to be crazy not to want to go out with you," he finished sincerely.
Lucy couldn't deny that his kind words made a small pool of heat fill her stomach. She couldn't help the smile that creeped up on her lips. Natsu and Gray both noticed this, and they shared similar looks with one another, seemingly having a silent conversation as they made their way over to the couch with the two blondes.
"I can coach you through the whole thing," Loke continued. "I can be like your guide!"
"Like Gandalf through middle Earth?" Lucy offered.
"Like wha… what are you even talking about?"
Lucy shot upright on the couch, her eyes about ready to burst out of her skull. "YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT LORD OF THE RINGS?!"
"First of all, let's lower our voices an octave or two, that'll help us land you dates for sure, yeah? Second, let's just... let's take all 'Lord of the Rings' references and put them in a deep, dark cave, where nobody will find them, ever."
"No seriously Loke, have you never seen Lord of the Rings?!"
"Look, that's not the point here alright? Lord of the Rings is like a 15 something book series, all the movies are like 3 hours long and that's two whole movies that I could be watching in one sitting woman! Two!"
"Well this conversation seems productive," Natsu deadpanned.
"You're insane!" Lucy shouted back, getting in his face. "Lord of the Rings is a classic!"
"At least she's stopped crying," Gray observed.
"I don't care what you say, you can't get me to watch it!"
"You know what? Let's make a bet. If I can find a rebound guy on the first night I try, you have to watch the first Lord of the Rings movie with me!"
"What? What kind of sick bet is that?!"
"That's my offer, take it or leave it." She stared him dead in the eyes with all seriousness and he glared back with just the same. Begrudgingly, he gave in.
"Fine."
"Yes! Get ready to start understanding my references Celeste!"
He grinded his teeth. "You'd better be using all that gusto to find yourself a man!" He yelled out to her as she disappeared into the hallway to the bathroom.
Smugly, Natsu stalked over and placed his hand on Loke's shoulder to gloat. "Congratulations Loke, you actually got us out of something you got us into."
Later that evening
"I'm not calling my ex-girlfriend to get you into a party, Loke," Natsu said walking down the bedroom hallway to the bathroom.
"This party is everything to me," Loke pleaded, following in his work suit. "Please Natsu, we go every year. You have no idea what I'm going through at work."
Flashback
"So in conclusion..." Loke's voice drowned in the sea of his female coworkers at Mermaid Heel. Nobody was paying attention to the presentation he had created for his boss that day because they were all making fun of his tie. Yes, his tie.
His supervisor, Karen, giggled loudly. "Tell us again what color you called it? Salmon?"
Her employees all burst into a fresh bout of laughter.
"Hey, can I burrow a tampon?" Another woman called from the long table, summoning another bout of laughter from the room.
Loke shuddered.
"Look, I'm not calling her." Natsu insisted.
"Listen to me." Loke said as they both entered the bathroom. The shower water ran, serving as their background noise. A half smile grew on the blonde's face as he lowered his voice. "Knowing every year that I'll be going to the Wild Wild West Charity Auction for poverty reminds me that I'm still a man. I can still motorboat a hot girl who is also a member of the Cherokee Nation, which is not racist because it's for a good cause."
"Somebody's in here!" Lucy called from behind the shower curtain.
"We're leaving in ten minutes!" Loke called back. "Did you shave your legs?"
Silence.
"I will now."
"Front and backs?" He asked knowingly.
"Yes."
"Thank you." Loke finished with a proud smile.
"I'm gonna go kill myself now," Natsu said dryly.
"Just call Lisanna!" Loke stressed again. "You do it all the time when you're drunk."
Natsu froze. His skin paled for a moment before he narrowed his eyes and turned around. "I don't know how many times you need me to say that I'm not calling her."
Lucy emerged from behind the shower curtain with a swimsuit and shorts on, her blonde hair piled messily in a bun atop her head. Although not her intention, the swimsuit top gave Loke an accurate idea of Lucy's breast shape and size, and despite not being able to see any actual cleavage, he enjoyed the view.
"Loke, I know you really want to go to this party," she said, approaching him. "But wouldn't it be better to find a girl you really care about to motorboat? Then maybe, if you're super lucky, you might find a girl who'll motorboat you right back."
There was a small silence as the boys looked at each other in confusion.
"You have no idea what motorboating means, do you?" Natsu deadpanned.
"Lucy we are leaving in five!" Loke shouted from the living room. As she sat on her bed hot curling her hair, Gray walked in, shirtless and all.
"Hey Gray," Lucy greeted.
"Hey, um, Lucy?" Gray started nervously. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier, I was just trying to get you to stop crying."
She waved her hand in the air as she readjusted her blonde hair over her curling wand. "Oh don't worry about it… wha-what are you doing?"
The raven haired man picked up her metronome and was flicking at it with his finger like he was flicking at a paddle ball. With one wrong flick he broke the tiny metal stick in half causing Lucy to wince. The corners of her mouth turned upwards as she closed her eyes and looked away. She expected that would happen.
"Oh sorry… about… that…" Gray said, voice going lower with every word.
"Don't worry about it," she mustered a fake laugh. "It was only a gift from my now… dead… mother…" Lucy finished awkwardly, voice going lower with every word.
"So my boss says that I don't know how to talk to women," he scoffed. "Which is ridiculous."
Flashback
The gym was whirring with patrons as always, and Gray and his client were parked by one of the gym bicycles in the corner. The woman was sweating profusely from her pores, her tank top being consumed under her many rolls of fat. Gray was irritated because they had been there for what felt like forever and she had yet to reach the quota distance Gray had set for her.
"PEDAL FASTER WOMAN, WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR HOURS AND YOU'VE BARELY MADE A COUPLE YARDS! AT THIS RATE I'M GONNA BE OLD AND GRAY AND YOU'LL NEVER REACH THE MILE BECAUSE YOU'RE SO OBESE!" yelled Gray.
The woman burst into tears.
"I was wondering if maybe you could help me out with that."
The blonde perked up.
"Okay, well… maybe you can start by being a bit more... considerate to how your words may come across to women. Let's take a topic that girls talk about often: shopping! Yeah, so yesterday, I went to the mall and bought some cute jeggings. So they're like, a mix between jeans and leggings, it was super cute."
The whole time she was talking Gray was staring right through her with a plastic smile, before reverting to fidgeting with his hair and finally dwarting his eyes to everywhere in her room except to her.
"Gray?"
"I'm sorry that… that sounds like something only an idiot would get. I mean, why buy a mix of something you already have? This is why women are always broke. Can't shop smart to save your lives."
Lucy stared wide eyed at him and blinked for a few flabbergasted moments before starting.
"Okay... good job. I do have a few notes though."
Gray nodded his head attentively.
"So one, maybe work on your word choice. Try to avoid words like stupid and idiot. Two, try listening. Uh three, maybe some compassion would do you good, yeah? I'm sure you can grow some in that big, black heart of yours. Anyway, why'd you take off your pants?"
Gray looked down in horror to see that he'd lost his gym shorts and was only sporting his underwear in Lucy's room. "Oh shit!"
"Yeah, that's another thing too, I don't really get your stripping habit. That might give girls the wrong idea during a conversation, unless of course, that's the idea you want them to have, then sure! By all means! But maybe if not, you can try-"
"Your hair's on fire."
Lucy paused in silent terror as they both listened to the singe of her blonde locks of hair against her curling wand.
At the Bar
"Beers and a Rosé," Natsu said, setting the drinks down at the booth with his roommates.
"Pink wine makes me act slutty," Lucy giggled while lifting up her glass. Natsu shot her a look that said 'too much information' before picking up his tray and walking away. Lucy discreetly cringed at herself for how embarrassing that was to say in front of him.
The newly single blonde started her search for eligible rebounds. Despite the decent crowd at Fairy Tail, Lucy couldn't see any guys that she found particularly eye-catching. She also found that if she stared at one guy for too long, he'd stare back and try to flirt with his eyes in a way that'd make Lucy cringe and confirm that she wasn't interested. It made her feel bad to turn away though. Suddenly her eyes flashed. "Ooh, cute guy alert!"
She slapped her hand on Loke's arm as she watched him advance across the bar. "Hubba hubba."
Gray's mouth puckered like he tasted something sour. Natsu gave her a curious look. Loke turned to her.
"Look Lucy, you want to forget about Sting?"
She smiled and nodded her head.
"Then you're gonna have to do some very bad things…" he scanned the bar and then zoned in on someone. "To... that man," he pointed.
Lucy turned around and then turned back to him.
"How bad?"
"Real bad Lucy."
"Like a… make out session, no tops."
Loke puckered his mouth flabbergasted. What did that even-
"Okay this is what- this is what's gonna happen." He stated, reeling himself back in. "You're gonna go over there, and you're gonna stand next to him and you're gonna smile." He smiled as a demonstration.
"Like this?" She asked, smiling nervously.
"You're not gonna smile like that."
"Like this?" She tried again.
"No! For the love of the Native American Disney princess Pocahontas-"
"That's a mouthful..." Gray said softly.
"Lucy, you've got a gorgeous smile!" Loke continued. "Stop making those faces!"
"Look, guys I got this," Lucy said confidently before getting up.
"You got this!" Loke cried.
"Yeah, grind it out! Grind it out!" Gray cheered.
Lucy approached the guy, placed her hands on her hips and said something to him. Her roommates couldn't hear, but whatever she said to the man caused him to give her a once over and walk away.
They cringed.
"Oh…" Gray drawled.
"All right, all right!" Loke clapped his hands, still cheering. "Maybe he didn't hear you!"
"You got this! Shake it off!" Gray joined in.
"Holy Loke, it's Loke!"
Both boys turned to the source of the loud interruption and saw two men approaching.
"Well if it isn't the milkman, Taurus!" Loke spouted back.
Gray felt like he was gonna throw up listening to them greet each other.
"So this is my friend Bora," Taurus said, gesturing to his purple haired companion.
The man smirked, flitting a ring studded hand in the air as greeting. Loke smiled and told him it was nice to meet him before taking a step back to be shoulder to shoulder with his own companion
"Guys, this is my friend Gray." Loke gestured to a very obviously uninterested Gray.
"Hey Gray, you like parties?" Taurus asked, offering his hand.
There was an awkward pause as Gray stared at the bulky man's outstretched hand, then back at him blankly.
"Wow... do not talk to me." He said walking away.
The three men shook off Gray's exit as Taurus and Loke started excitedly conversing.
"So you coming to the party on Saturday right? I heard there was gonna be some fiiiiine ladies there."
Loke scratched the back of his ear awkwardly. "I heard that it's not gonna be that good this year, no?" He chuckled nervously.
"Are you not on the list?" Taurus asked, confused.
"What? Of course I'm on the list…"
"Man, that sucks... keep your head up alright?" Taurus patted him on the back before walking away.
"Alright playa, keep doing your thing man it was good seeing you." Loke smiled and snapped his fingers, trying his best to preserve his cool image. His smile faded as walked back over to the bar counter.
"Natsu, please."
"Why are you friends with that guy?" Asked a confused Natsu who witnessed the entire exchange.
"You have got to get me into that party, Natsu please! Do you have any idea what a cute cowboy I am? Do you have any idea?"
And with that, Natsu turned around and walked away, leaving Loke there.
Later
Lucy plopped down on a barstool right in front of Natsu who was wiping a glass. She herself was very comfortably buzzed.
"Welp...It looks like I can't hide my crazy." Lucy said, relenting to the reality of her current dating situation.
"I honestly don't think you're trying that hard." Natsu responded.
"Eeeehhh, I've never really been great at this stuff," Lucy said, waving her hand. "But what about you? I know Loke said you got dumped. Guess we're in the same boat now huh?"
Natsu shot her one of his infamous glares.
"I'm fine. It was six months ago and I'm over it now so…" he shrugged, turning around to put the glass in a cabinet.
"Do you even know why she dumped you?" The blonde asked, prodding further. "It must've hurt you pretty bad."
"Nope. Makes no difference to me… I just wanted to set her trash cans on fire."
"So you've never once wondered… like what was it? What could I have done differently?"
"Nope." The pinkette insisted.
"No?" She took another sip of her Roseé feeling alcohol in her stomach. "I do all the time honestly... Do you know what happens to people who keep things bottled up inside? They get old, and they get sad and they get weird. And then- and then one day you're an old man yelling at kids running across your yard screaming 'don't run across my yard, my life's filled with regrets!'" She hiccupped and then giggled, picturing what she had just described.
Natsu took a long, annoyed breath.
"You can't just pretend like it didn't happen, you know." She continued.
He slowly nodded his head.
"Or, I can just pretend to be more like you Lucy! And then I can live on a sparkly rainbow and drive around on a cloud and just sing all the time!"
She clapped her hands together delightedly. "Oh, that sounds like fun!"
"Oh come on, I'm being mean!" He shouted in disbelief. "I'm not gonna do any of that Lucy."
"Why not? It's fun!"
He leaned close to her face and stared deeply into her eyes just so she would remember his reasoning in spite of her drunken state. Lucy never really noticed it before, (probably because they've never been this close) but Natsu had really pretty eyes. He had very long and flattering eyelashes and a really peculiar eye color. Warm gold. That was pretty rare. Lucy liked it.
"Because I have a penis." He finished snarkly.
Lucy giggled drunkenly and sang an impromptu song with the lyrics being ''my name is Natsu and I have a penis and I'm not gonna let any feelings out''.
He backed up, not being able to hide the smile that was tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Okay, Lucy? Your breasts are resting firmly in a plate of chicken wings right now."
Lucy stopped singing and blinked. She looked down to find that he was right and then looked back at him. "I know. Did you know that there's another one of you, standing right there?"
He couldn't help the laughter that rose from the pit of his stomach and bellowed from his mouth. Lucy watched him laugh for a bit before the vibrations of his infectious laughter elicited a giggle from her throat. And then a chuckle. And another one. Soon enough, they were both laughing even though Lucy had no idea what they were laughing at.
When he seemed about done, he wiped a tear from his eye and looked at her with the smile from his laughter still plastered on his face. "You are such a lightweight," he said amusedly.
Lucy simply stared at his expression silently for a few seconds.
"Hey there," Bora said, sliding next to the blonde interrupting their silence.
"I'm Bora," he said smoothly, gently snaking an arm over her shoulders. "What're you drinking tonight?"
"Oh um, pink wine," she said looking at Natsu, then the glass in her hand then back at him.
He began ushering her away from the bar, and Lucy felt herself being swept away by his suaveness as they kept the conversation going, Natsu being long forgotten.
"I like your hair." He said while they walked.
"Thanks I burned it with a hot curler before coming here."
It had been a few hours since their arrival to the Fairy Tail bar. Gray, Loke and Lucy were all a few drinks in and mingling with other patrons as Natsu made drinks and cleaned glasses. Gray and Loke were seated by a side bar together, sharing beers while they watched Lucy talk and laugh with Taurus' friend Bora. He had been the guy Lucy was able to keep around for the longest.
"She's doing pretty good huh?" Gray observed before taking another swivel of his beer.
Before Loke could respond, a loud, boisterous voice interrupted him.
"Hey lion cub!" Taurus bellowed as he skipped over to Loke and an annoyed Gray. "I've been thinking: It's probably better that you don't come to the party cause that means more titties for me!" He finished with a nasally laugh.
Loke stood up in front of Taurus only to be completely overshadowed by the man's towering height and intimidating build.
"You better step down son, you're taking this whole thing too far. I'm… I'm serious…" He said, shaking his limbs, all the while never breaking eye contact with his rival. "Hold me back Gray."
Gray stayed put.
"Hold me back Gray." He said hopping in place. "I'm serio… hold me back. Hold me back!" He finally turned around to Gray who shot him an immediate 'no' as he continued to plead.
"Would you please hold me back?"
"No." He took another swivel of his beer.
Just then, Natsu approached the guys from his place at the main bar, a glass and towel in hand. He leaned over.
"Loke, we're going to the party. Relax."
"Nice," Taurus said, nodding his head in approval. "See you there then."
"Catch you there broski!"
Gray grimaced at Loke's use of slang again and decided he needed another beer.
"You got us into the party?" Loke asked Natsu.
"Yeah. I texted Lisanna."
Gray stopped his drinking, taken aback. "You texted Lisanna?" He asked, turning to him.
"Yeah. It's no big deal. It's behind me now."
Before Gray could protest his nonchalance, Loke hopped over the counter and threw his arms around him. After a few seconds, Loke planted a big smooch on his cheek.
"Thank you, I love you!"
Natsu stumbled back a bit when he was done. "Did you just kiss me on the cheek?"
"You bet I did. It felt right." Loke insisted with his hands on his waist.
Taurus' interruption caused the guys to lose track of Lucy and Bora, and thus they were caught off guard when the two of them approached the counter, Lucy's arm hooked around his with a light blush on her cheeks. They released each other's arms and Lucy sat down next to Loke, but before Bora could leave she grabbed him by his arm.
"So I'll see you tomorrow sailor." She said flirtatiously.
"I'll see you tomorrow sailor." He repeated.
"What's happening tomorrow sailor?" Natsu questioned.
"You guys were right!" She exclaimed happily. "I talked in short sentences. I didn't sing, I laughed, I smiled, I might've slipped in that I was looking for a rebound-"
"You did what?"
"-and it worked! He asked me out! Dinner, with food."
She pumped her fist in the air.
"I'm so proud of you,'' Loke said as the two went in for a hug.
"You put in the work and you got it!" Gray said as he put out his hand for a high five, one she eagerly reciprocated.
"This girl is on fire, fire, fire, this girl is on fire!" Lucy started singing the hit song by Alecia Keys as she skipped away. The boys all saw her panties and winced.
"Think we should tell her?" Natsu asked.
"Nah," Loke shook his head, then smiled at her sympathetically. "Let her have her moment."
Next evening at the loft…
Silence.
Cana sat in silence on a small square seat across from three men on a large couch who were very obviously checking her out, all with creepy smiles on their faces.
"Do the shoes fit Lucy?" She yelled to her friend changing in the bedroom. They all heard a crash before Lucy yelled back "I'm okay!"
Checking her out they sure were. Lucy's friend was wearing a tiny black dress that exposed a generous amount of cleavage, her smooth, voluptuous caramel thighs and shapely calves. Her long, dark brown, wavy hair draped her perfectly symmetrical facial features; matching almond shaped eyes, a cute button nose and plump lips. The boys soaked it all in.
More silence.
"So... what are you a model or something?" Gray asked, leaning forward with an interested smirk.
Cana sighed.
"Yes. But it's mostly print right now... so…"
"What was it, Cana?" Loke asked, clarifying her name which he already knew well. "Cana. Cana banana." Loke said in an Italian accent. "Tell me, what are your hopes and dreams? You know what, are you warm? Cause I'm a little warm right now…"
"Don't Loke," remarked Natsu softly.
He took off his shirt.
"Oooooohhhhh yeeeeeeaaah, now that's the stuff." He said.
Cana stared at him dryly.
"Please put your shirt back on… please do not make me laugh at you."
"Can I get you some tea?" He continued. "A little herb tea?"
Gray groaned loudly and swung his head low.
"A little chai tea… a little P-man tea… you know, hot, sweet... teabag action."
Gray and Natsu looked back and forth between Loke and Cana.
"And I wasn't… I wasn't talking about-"
"There it is," Natsu said, reaching for the jar. "Douchebag."
"Listen to me you guys," Cana said, leaning forward and smiling politely. "Lucy, is by far the best person that I know, so if you let anything happen to her, I'm gonna come in here and crazy murder you."
Her words left a poignant mark in the air before there was more silence.
"I'm gonna be honest with ya…" Loke rasped. "I did not hear a word that you just said, cause I can kinda see your titties right now."
Cana immediately shot up.
"Lucy!"
Gray gave Natsu a look and he reached for the douchebag jar again. As Loke dug in his pocket for another dollar Natsu berated him for talking like a weirdo the whole time.
The caramel skinned beauty opened up the door to her friend's bedroom to meet Lucy sprawled on the floor.
"I fell off my heels," she offered pitifully, massaging her ankles. Cana smiled at her softly. "Chica…"
Lucy finally fixed herself upright. "Cana, what am I doing? I can't go on a date, what if I ruin the whole thing?
Cana bent down and grabbed her by her hand and helped her onto the bed.
"Then you'll go to the bathroom, and call me and tell me all about it," she said.
Lucy pouted and looked at her hardwood floors.
"Maybe I'm just not ready for this."
Cana placed her hand on Lucy's face and circled her cheek with her thumb. "Babe, you got hurt… that doesn't mean you stop trying."
Lucy felt as if there was a weight lifted off of her shoulders at Cana's words.
"Now get up," Cana continued. "Show me what you're wearing and I'll decide whether you can wear it or not."
The brunette eyed the overalls the blonde was wearing and grimaced. "I certainly hope it isn't that."
In the living room, Natsu was sprawled out on the couch with his laptop with Loke seated on the other end on his phone and Gray at the dinner table eating a bowl of cereal. Cana emerged from the bedroom dressed in overalls and sneakers with a giddy smile on her face. Natsu and the guys perked up at her presence. Cana ushered Lucy out the bedroom by waving over.
The boys all fixed their attention on her, turning away from their things.
Lucy stepped into the living room with a tiny black dress on, Cana's black dress, which fit Lucy like a glove. The dress hugged all of her curves as perfectly as it did with Cana. Her manicured feet were adorned in black pump heels, elongating her voluptuous legs and emphasizing her hourglass figure. At the center of her chest, adorned a small diamond connected to a gold chain which Cana gave her too. She had on darker make-up and her hair was piled on top of her head in a deliberately messy up-do.
The boys all stared in awe.
"Woah," Gray said lowly.
Then, with all the boys looking at her, she, for some reason, started doing the fortnite dance.
"Aaaaaaaaannndd then she goes and does that." Loke retorts.
"I'm gonna text Bora and tell him that I'm coming over," Lucy said, whipping her phone out of her clutch.
"Wait, have you been texting him?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah… is that bad?" She paused.
He looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment
"No... it's nice. Enjoy your night."
At the party venue
"Gray you don't look anything like an Indian," Loke started.
"I don't want to hear it from you, I want to hear it from him." He said looking over at Natsu. "Aren't you like half Indian or something?"
Natsu did a double take. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
"Hey Natsu!"
The three of them muted when they saw Lisanna waving Natsu over. As the pinkette walked away, Loke and Gray shared worried looks.
"Hey, thank you so much for getting us in."
"Yeah no problem. Maybe to pay me back you can stop drunk dialing me," she chuckled awkwardly.
"Yeah, no, you gotta see somebody about that, some crazy person keeps calling you." He offered awkwardly, with a small laugh if his own.
That earned a genuine chuckle from the blue eyed beauty. The two stared each other in the eyes for just one moment, sharing awkward smiles.
"You look nice, it's good to see ya," he said genuinely.
"Well I'm almost finished out here, maybe when I'm done, do you wanna go… grab a drink?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah? Well great then-"
"Hold on Lisanna, before we go do anything, I've got to ask you this so that one day I'm not old and filled with regrets… but why did you dump me?"
"Are we doing this here? Like now?"
"Yeah…" he said, gaining more conviction. "Why did you dump me?"
"Honestly I didn't even realize how much you cared about me until we broke up."
"...okay," he knotted his eyebrows nodding slowly. "Well then, let's go get those drinks."
"Well howdy moo-chachos!" It was Taurus.
Natsu looked over Taurus' shoulder and was immediately alarmed at what he saw.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be with-"
"Lucy?" Bora finished. "Dude, she texted me like, seven times. Long ones. Listen man, she's cute as hell but she seems clingy. I just wanted to fuck."
Natsu's jaw locked hearing his words. He grinded his teeth for a second to not act on his violent impulses before he continued investigating. "Okay well, did you at least text her? Or did you just leave her there waiting on you?"
Bora scoffed. "Yeah. Cause that's what I did. I texted her."
He and Taurus shared a hardy bout of laughter as they got past the bouncer to the party.
"See you inside Loke," Taurus called.
Natsu stood there glued to the pavement, fighting the powerful urge to run after that guy and punch him in the face. The only reason he didn't was because he understood he had more important things to worry about.
"I've gotta go," he declared suddenly.
"Natsu wait!" Came Lisanna's voice from behind him. "I thought we were supposed to be getting drinks?"
"Sorry Lisanna," he said to her bravely. "I've got to go help a friend." As the words left his mouth a smile tugged on the left side of his lips before he turned around and took off in a powerful dash.
Lisanna stood there, not knowing what to make of what just happened.
Gray tapped Loke's chest. "Hey, I'm going after Natsu." He started disrobing his old west themed vest and bandana as he geared up to start sprinting.
"What?! Gray, no you can't do that, this is supposed to be our night! I thought you were my boys!"
"Man, shut up! You coming or not?!" He shouted back, already at the end of the building.
Loke looked around at the line for the party. He put his hands on his head and blew a raspberry. He spotted a woman dressed in Native American dress, her hair in two braids, her breasts sitting plumply in her bikini top. When she spotted Loke she started jumping up and down waving her arms, causing her breasts to jump up and down with her. Loke cast them a longing look.
"Holy mother of…" begrudgingly, he tore his eyes away and started sprinting towards his family. "HEY!!! WAIT UP!"
"Do you have any more… complimentary items?" Lucy asked the waitress, carefully choosing her words. Although it may have made her sound cheap, she didn't want to say 'appetizer' to accidentally get something she'd have to pay for… at least not until her date arrived.
The waitress gave her an empathetic smile. "I'm sorry, we're gonna have to ask you to give up the table."
Lucy felt a pang go through her chest hearing the very words she was dreading all evening.
"Can you- can you give me a moment please?" Lucy croaked.
Seemingly taking pity on her, the waitress nodded her head and walked away.
Lucy put her face in her hands as she fought back her tears.
How did she get here?
A little over a week ago, she was still in a relationship with the man she thought she was going to marry. How'd she end up here? Sitting in this restaurant for forty five minutes alone. The patrons of the restaurant were staring at her. Discreetly, of course. Stealing glances in between bites of food, peaking from behind the menu covers, outright staring.
Everyone knows she's been stood up.
She was 27 years old working as a middle school teacher at the same public school for almost ten years. Most of the girls she graduated from high school with were either married or getting married with kids and here Lucy was, single, kicked out of her home of six years and living with a bunch of guys she didn't know off the internet.
She didn't want to start all over again. She couldn't start all over again. She was no good at dating and putting herself out there, and whenever she did, she'd never get anyone she could see herself with long-term.
She was going to be single forever, but even worse than that, she felt as if the place she had made for herself here had been yanked from beneath her. Who was she supposed to be without Sting?
Obviously, a loser.
"Ummm, miss?"
Lucy looked up at the waitress, her big, brown eyes red and puffy, her face wet and mascara running from silent sobs. It would appear as if her time was up.
"WE'RE HERE!" Bellowed a familiar voice from the entrance. "Please wait, we're here!"
Lucy's roommates came dashing over to her table.
"We're here for our date with Lucy," Natsu said in between breaths.
The waitress folded her arms at him. "You're all on a date with her?"
"Uh, yes," Natsu said, looking between Lucy and the waitress. "We are reverse mormons. One man just isn't enough for her."
The waitress narrowed her eyes at them before she rolled her eyes and sighed. "I don't get paid enough for this…" she murmured as she walked away.
"Natsu… Gray… Loke… What are you guys doing here?" Lucy asked.
"We came here for you, Luce," Natsu offered with a smile.
She stared back in awe.
"Listen, that guy was a jerk who didn't deserve a date with you, so don't even... don't even worry about it." The pinkette finished softly.
"You guys left your party… to come see me? Wow… that's so nice of you!" she said, her face crumpling up to shed a different kind of tear.
The guys started panicking.
"Woah… what's that?"
"What's she doing?"
"It's okay guys…" Lucy mustered, fanning back her tears. "...It's totally cool."
"Don't cry Lucy, here listen," Natsu cleared his throat before he started to sing. "I've... had... the time of my life, and I've never felt this way before…"
"I'm not doing this," Gray deadpanned, until Natsu slammed his hand in his side causing an immediate response.
"And I swear, this is true, and I owe it all to you…" joined Gray, way off key.
"You can't get me to participate in- oof!" Loke was cut off when Natsu slammed his hand into his gut. "Just remember, you're the one…" Loke started singing in a thick country accent.
Lucy started giggling, not being able to contain her laughter at how ridiculous they looked. She started waving her fingers around like a choir director and even sang along a little bit. Their singing caused such a disturbance that the restaurant goers started outright glaring at them and waiters were being called over so they could complain. The four of them ignored it all.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" The same waitress rushed back over, glaring at them. "The four of you - out. Now!"
"Seriously guys, thanks again for tonight," Lucy said as she and the guys were all crumpled on the couch, Lord of the Rings playing on the TV. "That was really cool."
"No problem Luce," Natsu said absentmindedly.
Gray narrowed his eyes and turned towards the pinkette. "Oh, that reminds me! You called her 'Luce' in the restaurant and I've been meaning to ask you about that. What's up with that? As if 'Lucy' is somehow a difficult name to pronounce?"
"What, are we doling out nicknames now?" Loke chimed in. "I've known you for years now and you have yet to give me a nickname to properly display your affection! And somehow she gets one already?"
Natsu grit his teeth in annoyance with his male counterparts, and turned away from the movie to glare at Loke.
"First of all, Loke is your nickname you dumbass." He then turned and cast a side glance at Lucy. Her big brown eyes were staring up at him, anticipating his answer like everyone else. He closed his eyes and turned them back to the television.
"Look I suck at names, you guys know that. I called her 'Luce' because it's easier for me to remember." He nonchalantly shrugged, turning back to the movie with his hands behind his head.
Dear mom,
The past seven days have been some of the craziest in my entire life. I thought I was going to be with this guy, Sting, for the rest of my life but as it turns out, he was cheating on me. I've been with him since I was 21 and moved in with him as soon as I got my degrees to teach. He's all I've known. I moved from Acalypha to L.A to be with him and support his dreams so I didn't know anyone else but Cana. I couldn't live with Cana though because she already shares her apartment with three other models in her agency. Somehow, being the airhead I am, I completely misunderstood an ad on Craigslist for a loft as being full of girls when it was really three guys (although, I do kinda blame Loke for that ). I had dad worried sick, but living in L.A seemed expensive on my own and I thought I could make living together work with them. The first couple of days I couldn't make anything work though, I was too heartbroken and weepy to function. To try and help, Loke helped me to land a rebound date which in hindsight, wasn't the best thing to do fresh out of a serious relationship. I got stood up. And honestly mom, I was beginning to get a bit depressed for a second there, but then, just like in a movie or TV show, my roommates rushed over from a very important party of theirs to console me as soon as they found out. Frankly it was one of the nicest things anyone, or any group of people have ever done for me, and it came from a group of almost perfect strangers. It drove me to tears.
I never thought I'd ever say this, but… maybe Sting cheating on me wasn't such a bad thing after all. Maybe my moving out wasn't such a bad thing. In the end, I moved out of my old house, but into a new home.
"You were right Lucy," Loke said, eyes glued to the screen. "Lord of the Rings is so reference worthy."
And hey mom, who knows? Maybe these guys could become my new family. Maybe. I mean, I wasn't sure if any of them really liked me before tonight, especially Natsu. However, I think you'd be really glad to know that they're all good guys and you'd like 'em. Continue watching over me mom as I get ready to move onto this next chapter of my life.
Sincerely yours,
"Hey Lucy," Loke started. "I know you've been having a rough go at it with love and whatnot recently, but I want you to know… to always remember…" he lowered his voice until it was but a rasp, staring her deeply in her chocolate brown eyes.
"...that I would still totally do you."
The other guys in the room filled the air with exasperated groans while Lucy stared innocently back into his brown, almond shaped orbs. She wasn't sure what to make of that at first, but after a few seconds to let the words sink in, she took his statement as the compliment it was.
"Awwww, thanks Loke, that's so sweet," she cooed.
"Well of course. You know-"
"Jar!" She ordered as Natsu readily reached over Gray to get the jar, the three of them murmuring about what a douchebag Loke was as he protested weakly reaching for a dollar.
A/N: Okay... so I haven't done this in a long time. Where have I been all this time? Honestly, laying low. Last year hit me pretty hard: physically, emotionally and most importantly mentally. It's the middle of 2021 and I'm still kind of recovering from everything. Hope all is well with you all. I know it hasn't been easy for any of us, but I hope nothing but recovery and prosperity for anyone who so happens to read this. As long we're still alive, we just have to keep moving forward.
One of my favorite things that I discovered this year was a show called 'New Girl' on Netflix. I found it to be really funny and I was inspired to write a Fairy Tail iteration of it. If you've watched the show, you could probably tell I followed the first episode pretty closely and I plan on doing that for a number of the earlier episodes (with my own flavor added of course) and then breaking from the show's format to some of my own storylines if I continue.
Tell me what you thought of the chapter and all that jazz. Should I continue this? How's you guys' year going so far? (Hopefully well). Most importantly, thanks for reading.