"Ah, Lucy!" Loke cried after spotting her whiz past his door. "Come here."
It was first thing on a weekday morning and Lucy (as well as Loke) were getting ready to go to work. Lucy had on a black single strapped dress with white lotuses on the top and lower half. Her hair was sprawled over her shoulders with her bangs promptly on her forehead and a mini braided crown collecting hair from the top of her head into a side ponytail. A black, clunky pair of glasses rested on her face, framing her big brown eyes. Loke himself was adorned in typical business attire, consisting of a gray suit with a navy blue tie. His hair was as spiky as usual but styled eerily similar to that of a lion's mane with hair gel, as he liked it. He wore a much smaller, much thinner pair of shades.
"As a woman, you consider me sexy yes?"
Lucy blinked.
"I don't know how to answer that..." she trailed off, trying to readjust the load of a model solar system in her arms. The styrofoam planets were threatening to veer off.
"Okay, well I'm going to be taking a girl out for drinks tonight and I'm probably going to be bringing her back here... you know, for sex," he clarified.
Lucy blinked again. "Ummm..."
"Anyway I just wanted to know where in this room do I look the sexiest? Now look, here," he got up and ran to his armchair, seating himself with his legs folded and his head rested on his chin.
"Or here," he practically jumped from his chair onto his bed, sprawling sideways with his head being propped up by his arm elbow length. He made sure to straighten the comforter he had just wrinkled before looking up at Lucy and casting her a seductive stare.
Before she had a chance to respond he sprung from the bed, back to the armchair, leaning against the armrest with a nonchalant expression and his arms folded.
"Or here?" He questioned. Lucy stood frozen, mouth agape, with her styrofoam Saturn spinning unceremoniously in her hands.
Thankfully for the blonde, Natsu, who had just strolled out his bedroom, saw Lucy standing in the doorframe of Loke's room and Loke sitting on his chair. He walked over curiously.
"What's going on here?" he said standing beside her.
"Loke wants to know which spot in the room he looks the sexiest," Lucy answered matter-of-factly, still frozen in her spot.
Natsu paused for a moment, staring at the ground silently wondering why he lived with these people.
"Okay so it's a big room," he started after regaining his bearings. "What are your options?"
"Okay so here..." Loke started going into all three positions yet again.
Natsu stroked his chin.
"I see, well you've got a good grasp of all your angles. What was the first one again?"
"What, this one?" Loke asked returning to his first position with military precision.
"No, no, not that one. The other one."
Loke then sprung back on the bed, replicating his second pose the exact same way he had done it twice before. When Natsu shook his head to that one too, he sprang back into third position. Lucy turned and caught Natsu's eye, catching on to the little prank he was pulling on their friend.
"Well?" Loke asked, looking at the two annoyed.
"I don't want to give you a misinformed opinion," Lucy said nonchalantly, shooting a mischievous glance at Natsu who shot her an amused one back. "Do you think you can go over them again?"
Natsu nodded his head in agreement, still stroking his chin.
Loke looked between the two of them and realization washed over his features. He sat upright on his bed.
"Okay I get it 'ha ha' let's all laugh at Loke," he said waving his hands in the air, mustering a fake laugh.
Natsu turned and grinned at Lucy. The teacher chuckled back.
After a second of contemplation, Loke scrambled back to his chair about to do the whole rigamarole all over again
"Okay so here..."
Television
That weekend
"I'm so excited, I can't wait to meet him!" Lucy said delightedly. She was in a large baby blue bathrobe, standing by the kitchen counter, smearing cream cheese on a bagel. She had a tray of scrambled eggs and bacon, a cup full with an assortment of diced fruit and a tall glass of orange juice. Natsu sat on the kitchen stool across from her, eyes groggy from his shift at the bar the night before and silently scheming on how to swipe some of her food.
"Finally, I won't be the new kid anymore," the blonde continued happily. "Oh, I'll make him call me Big Dawg!"
"You'll be lucky if he ever talks to you at all." Natsu remarked. "Listen Lucy, I know my cousin and I know that's he's not... let's just say the... friendly type."
He stealthily swiped a slice of bacon from the small pile on her plate and held it in his lap, waiting for an opportunity to dig in.
"Awwwww," Lucy cooed. "So he's just shy."
"Lucy, Gajeel's not shy. He's tired. As soon as we picked him up from the airport last night, we took him to a bar, he took a couple of shots, sang 'I love America' in Polynesian, barefoot on a tabletop, then he passed out. Let him sleep."
He tried to steal one half of a smeared bagel she was done with, but the blonde quickly swatted his hand away.
"Oh and by the way, you're still the new kid." Natsu added taking in his bacon whole. "Loke and I knew Gajeel way before we knew you."
Lucy huffed in annoyance, sending a puff of air from her mouth upwards, causing her bangs to flutter a bit.
"I'm not gonna lie," Lucy said somberly, continuing to spread her bagel. "I was really surprised when Gray suddenly announced that he was moving out to live with his girlfriend."
Natsu rolled his eyes. "You get used to that sort of thing from him. Did you know that this would make his second time moving out of this loft to live with some girl?" He held up two fingers for emphasis.
"Well I think it's really sweet that he's such a hopeless romantic," Lucy said drawing her lips together for a scrounged up smile that propped up her cheekbones. "I mean, committing to move to France for love is pretty a big deal. I'm happy for him."
"Well I mean, it's not like I'm not happy for him," Natsu clarified, not wanting to seem like he was shit talking his best friend. "I just want him to be careful. He may not look it, but he can be pretty brash sometimes."
"You guys are so cute," Lucy whispered.
"Shut up," he countered, finally stealing one of her bagels. She glared at him as he ate, before going back to the cupboard to replace it.
"What you guys talking about?" Loke said as he entered the kitchen.
"Our new roommate," Lucy answered. "Tell me everything about him you guys. Gray told me before he left, that Gajeel was an ex football player? He got sidelined due to some injury earlier on and that's why he stopped. Oh! And that Gajeel was his favorite person to play basketball with in college."
"Okay, first of all, he didn't go pro, he just went to Hargeon and played a bit. Okay? I mean it's Hargeon. The team symbol was a fig. I mean, a fig! Please, don't act like there's some NFL star in our midst," Loke finished while coming to the counter with his eyebrows furrowed.
Lucy gave a disapproving frown at his dismissive attitude. Then, it came to her.
"You are so jealous!" she teased putting a single flower into an empty vase on her tray.
Loke stuttered. "As-as if. Me? Jealous of Gajeel? Never."
"Jealous!" Her voice echoed as she disappeared down the hallway.
"Honestly Natsu," Loke said turning to the bartender. "That girl? Totally unaware."
Natsu nodded while messily chowing down on his bagel, only doing so to patronize Loke.
The two of them heard the sound of a bluetooth speaker powering up from the hallway Lucy disappeared into. Mariachi music started to play.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome, I say welcome to you!" Lucy sang.
"WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Gajeel's voice bellowed.
Natsu stopped eating his bagel mid-chew and Loke's face drained of color simultaneously, as realization hit them at once.
"He's gonna kill her," Loke said quickly.
The two of them started scrabbling away from the kitchen and to Gajeel's room.
"Hurry, he's gonna kill her!" Loke shouted behind Natsu.
The two of them ran down the long hallway from the kitchen to the room at the very end where the music blasted from. The boys were met with boxes stacked everywhere, bare walls and a gleeful Lucy singing and clapping to a dangerously pissed off Gajeel, the tray of breakfast she had been preparing rested by his makeshift bed on the floor.
Natsu hauled Lucy over his broad shoulders in one swift motion while Loke quickly grabbed the tray.
"Hey!" she cried in protest, pounding on Natsu's back. "What are you doing? I'm not finished with my song yet!"
He ignored her protests, continuing his beeline for the door. Loke chuckled awkwardly as Gajeel glared at him with sleep deprived eyes and he backed away.
"I promise she's not always like this," he offered.
"Just get out of my room," he whispered in exhaustion.
With the three of them safely out of the bedroom and Loke closing the door behind him, Natsu set her down, placing one hand on her hips to assist the arm he had wrapped behind her knees.
"What the heck, you guys?!"
Loke's eyes about popped out his skull as he pointed to himself.
"U-us?!" he stammered. "Lucy are you crazy?!"
"Lucy I told you to let him sleep," Natsu said sternly, barely keeping his voice lowered. His eyebrows knotted deeply as he looked her in the eye. "Seriously, Gajeel hates mornings. He's such a non-morning person that he hasn't seen a sunrise or eaten eggs before noon in ten years. If you go back in there, he will kill you."
Loke nodded his head vigorously, co-signing everything Natsu was saying. The blonde looked to the ground for a moment in contemplation.
"...I didn't realize," she said softly.
Both boys sighed in relief at her reaction. The very next second, Lucy perked up.
"I should go apologize!" She chirped happily, running back down the hallway to Gajeel's room. The sound of the room door opening then closing erupted in the hallway before they heard Lucy's voice singing out a grand, "I'M SORRY!"
"WHY?! DEAR GOD WHY ARE YOU BACK?!
Natsu and Loke looked at each other for a moment.
"So, should we wear black or some other color to the funeral?" Natsu asked, sticking his hands into his pockets.
"Probably pink," Loke said with a shrug as they both returned to the living room.
"I wish you had told me he was hungover."
Lucy and Natsu were both in the bathroom at two of the four available sinks, brushing their teeth. With breakfast done, they both ended up traversing in at the same time.
The pinkette gave her a look, with toothpaste foam still in his mouth. Once he spit it out, he raised an eyebrow at her.
"I think I recall explicitly telling you that he was hungover. I said that he got drunk enough to sing barefoot on a tabletop in Polynesian." He rinsed off his toothbrush in his sink then put it in his toothbrush holder. "Of course he was hungover."
The speed of Lucy's toothbrush started to slow down and her eyes looked downwards in guilt. Truth be told, she actually thought Natsu was just exaggerating some of those details. She didn't realize he was that badly hungover. Guilt began to rack her entire body.
Just then, Gajeel slowly walked in, groggy eyed with a long, wild, black mane, wiping his raccoon eyes. Lucy approached him.
"Gajeel, listen, I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but you have to know I didn't realize you were hungover. I just wanted to do something nice for you and hopefully make you feel welcomed," she played with her fingers nervously. "I didn't mean to... I mean I wasn't trying to-"
"Just stop," Gajeel rasped out with a hoarse voice. He put one of his hands in the air to signal it to her also. Lucy's heart stopped in fear at the same time. He sighed.
"It's fine. I get it alright? Just next time, please respect my boundaries." And with that, he walked over to Gray's old sink to freshen up.
Natsu looked on at the whole exchange curiously, and half smiled in amusement at Gajeel's uncharacteristic showing of understanding. Lucy caught Natsu's eyes over Gajeel's shoulders and smiled excitedly at him. After all, Natsu said it himself, she would be lucky if he ever talked to her at all.
When Gajeel rose from the face bowl, Lucy turned back to face him.
"So ummm, boundaries, toooootally got it," she started. Gajeel shot her a blank stare that bordered on malicious. Natsu said goodbye to the moment of peace and Loke entered the bathroom with a towel and a shower caddy.
"I um, I was wondering if I could burrow one of your shirts to wear? You see, I just moved out of the house with my boyfriend who cheated on me, so I kind of just grabbed what I could in the moment and ran and I left a lot of my stuff back at the place. The clothes I brought are all dirty now and honestly, if I could just burrow a shirt, I could use it as a house dress or something, you are like twice my size..."
As Lucy started her ramblings, Loke noticed the annoyance plastered all over Gajeel's face and quickly ushered Lucy away by wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leading her to the door.
"Hey, how about I let you look through my lost and found box?"
Lucy looked at him curiously. "Lost and found box?"
"It's a box filled with everything left behind by all the woman I've ever made love to."
Gajeel turned to his salmon haired cousin, as the two blondes talked and exited the bathroom.
"What the hell have you brought me into?"
"You have no idea how glad I am you're here." Natsu chuckled.
Later
"You know he's never gonna give you that room back," Natsu said, catching the basketball as Gajeel passed it to him. They were shooting a friendly game of hoops in the living room with a basketball hoop set up on the wall.
"Oh please, it's Loke," the former quarterback snarked, receiving Natsu's catch. "He's probably gonna think the smaller room is better cause I'm moving into it anyway."
"Besides," he continued. "We've got a saying in Hargeon. 'That guy's so stupid, we could easily take things away from him." The tanned 30-year-old smiled and pointed at his cousin. "Ha, you get it right?"
The ball was tossed back to Natsu and he summoned forth a few chuckles of his own, pointing back at his cousin after tossing him the ball.
"Ha, ha, yeah I knew you would get it," Gajeel said and slammed the ball into the basket.
Natsu's dry chuckles continued. "Ha ha, yeah, you might've hit your head a little too many times at work buddy..."
Loke and Lucy finally reemerged from his bedroom, with Lucy adorning a pink and white stripped sweater with a faded yellow stain on the front, a pleated, plaid miniskirt, and thigh high socks.
"Well, what do you think?" She did a spin.
"I think, and I've been saying this for weeks now Lucy, that you need to call Sting and get the rest of your stuff," Natsu said, disapprovingly viewing her outfit.
"But I haven't talked to him since he cheated on me with that girl!"
"That's besides the point Lucy! You need your stuff back, point blank! God, what are you so afraid of?"
Lucy scoffed. "I am not afraid..." she said plopping herself on the couch. "Things are just complicated. I mean I haven't seen Sting in a while and all that stuff used to be our stuff... I mean, the last time I saw my room, he had his mistress in my bed. I can't even imagine going there and finding all of her stuff in my house..."
The boys looked on at her sympathetically, the atmosphere in the room started to dampen.
"Hey Lucy!" Loke called quickly. "A ball!"
He tossed the girl the basketball and she caught it firmly in her hands. She cradled it close to her torso in sadness.
"Shoot a shot for us, Ms. Heartfilia," Loke teased in an effort to keep her mind off of Sting. "Show us you can still hang."
Lucy giggled. She got up and started dribbling the ball awkwardly around the living room. "Oh please," she scoffed. "You know when I was in first grade my P.E teacher told me I could dribble a basketball like a pro."
'That guy might've been drunk...' Gajeel thought to himself.
"Free throw!" she shouted suddenly and clumsily launched the ball, sending it rocketing into the TV, shattering the glass into a million pieces.
Everyone's jaws dropped. Lucy covered her mouth in horror. A stunned silence fell over everyone in the room.
"Oh my..." Gajeel said.
"Wow," came Loke's only response.
Natsu put his face in his hands. A small trail of smoke wafted from the broken tv.
"I am so sorry guys..."
Natsu moved his head to look at Lucy for just a moment. "You know that was my tv...?"
Loke walked over and rubbed him on the back. "That was kinda all he had Luce."
"Well I can buy another one! It's just that I get paid monthly, so you'll have to wait a couple of weeks..."
The room filled with the boys' loud complaining and protests.
"A couple of weeks? Lucy we can't wait that long!" Natsu complained.
"I know you don't know me like that," Gajeel strongly interjected. "But I need a tv."
Silence.
Suddenly, an idea came to Natsu. He stopped pinching the bridge of his nose to look at her.
"Did you have a tv at Sting's?"
All the boys turned towards her.
"Well, yeah but-"
"'But?' What, is it broken or something?
"No..."
"What kind of tv is it?" Gajeel interjected.
"A 40'' flat screen..."
The room then filled with exasperated shouts for her to get the tv.
"You owe us this Luce," Natsu said below the shouting, capturing the blonde's attention. A deep frown etched itself on her face. She knew he was right. They all were.
She whipped out her phone to find Sting's number.
Lucy couldn't remember the last time she had experienced such a strong bout of anxiety. Well, that wasn't true. If she looked far enough in her past, she could find a number of incidents that made her anxious. Competing in that speech competition in the 9th grade. Seeing the boy she liked in 11th grade make out with Cana after school. The time she failed that English course in college. And then of course, there was that period of time where everything made her anxious after her mom died, but she could at least justify that.
The Starbucks Sting wanted to meet up at later that week was crowded with people and Lucy tried her best to stay as obscure as possible, choosing a booth in a hidden away corner. Her eyes kept darting to random customers dining just to see if they were looking at her.
She might've been experiencing bad flashbacks from getting stood up by Bora three weeks ago too.
"Hey Lulu."
The blonde jumped at the familiar voice. Turning around, she was met with a sheepish looking Sting, wearing the diamond earring in his left ear that she once bought him.
"I'm so glad you called me Lu. After you left, you didn't return any of my calls or texts and I'd been going crazy trying to reach you."
"Sting I need my stuff back," she said coldly. She wasn't sure where he was going with that line of talking, but she wanted to be sure to nip it in the bud.
"Well, I would've brought it, but I rode my bike here."
Oh that's right, Lucy remembered. Sting doesn't have a car.
"Well, is there an appropriate time we can arrange for me to come get my things?" Lucy kept her tone completely impersonal and used the most professional sounding words possible.
Sting scratched the back of his neck allowing Lucy to see his scar stretch as his vein bulged. She told him once she found that to be really sexy.
"Well you see, Yuki's getting ready to go back to school..."
Lucy winced. The fact that he was able to call her name so casually in her presence hurt her.
"...she lives in Crocus, you see. Her flight is today too, so once she finds a ride and is on her way, you can come in and get whatever you want."
Lucy didn't want her mind to go there, but she couldn't stop it.
If Sting doesn't have a car, how has he been getting her from place to place before this? And wait, did he just say once she finds a ride?
"What do you mean once she finds a ride? Her flight is today isn't it?!"
Sting looked down sadly. "Yes."
Lucy thought about her car keys sitting securely in her bag. She thought about doing the horribly unspeakable thing that she would be naturally inclined to do had she been sitting in front of anyone else. The good natured thing to do. The thing that Lucy wouldn't have second guessed to do.
Then, the rational part of her brain had to remind herself just who the hell she would be offering these services to.
"Hey so, I know that this is probably really weird to ask, but with Yukino needing to be back at her college dorm soon, we really need a ride to the airport. Do you think that maybe you would have the time?"
Lucy returned to the loft, in the yellow t shirt and jeans from the lost and found box she had burrowed for meeting with Sting with a forlorn expression.
"Hey, how'd go?" Natsu said absentmindedly as he was shooting hoops in the living room. "Did you get the tv?"
"Not exactly..."
Before the pinkette could respond, the door slammed wide open behind the blonde with a hot-blooded Latina.
"And Cana's here everybody..." she added unenthusiastically.
"Hey Cana!" Loke greeted delightedly taking his attention away from whatever was on the laptop and directing his eyes to the model.
"Alright, which one of you was it?" She asked ignoring his greeting. "Who told her to go talk to Sting?"
"Oh, well we needed a TV so-" Natsu was cut off when a black stiletto came flying at his head.
He ducked in a nick of time.
"Woah!" He said as he watched the shoe slam into the wall above their broken TV. He didn't have time to properly respond to it, as when he turned back around, he met Cana leaping mid-air from his couch to pounce on him, being intercepted by Loke.
"Ahora escúchame, soy de Lima Heights Adyacente y orgulloso! ¿Quieres saber qué pasa en Lima Heights Adyacente? ¡Cosas malas!"
("Now you listen to me, I'm from Lima Heights Adjacent and proud! Do you want to know what goes down in Lima Heights Adjacent? Bad things!")
She screamed and shouted, while kicking and punching within Loke's grasp at Natsu who was actively making distance between them, by standing behind Gajeel. Lucy covered her mouth with her hands terrified, while also not being sure what to do.
"A TV? Really? You made her go see him over a television?! You couldn't wait a few weeks until she got paid?! Honestly, it's not your place to make that call, it's mine!" She yelled, flailing around in Loke's arms some more.
"I don't get what's the big deal!" Natsu shouted from behind his still disinterested cousin.
Cana calmed down some, slouching in Loke's arms.
"She called me, sobbing!" Cana cried.
"What?! Wait, what happened?"
"He made her drive him and his new girlfriend to the airport," Cana explained.
"Oh my gosh," Natsu said in horror.
"That's awful," Loke spat in disgust.
Gajeel shook his head.
"And I'm picking her up on Sunday..." Lucy added weakly.
Everyone's jaw slackened for a moment as they whipped around to the blonde.
"Lucy!" Natsu cried."Why would you even agree to that?"
"What is wrong with you?" Loke wondered aloud.
Gajeel just shook his head.
"Yeah and whose faults do you think that is?" spat a disgruntled Cana glaring at everybody in the room before going for Natsu again.
"Woah, woah woah!" Natsu said, shielding himself with his arm as Loke and this time Lucy tried holding her back again.
"Cana you can't shield her from everything you know," Natsu said, his demeanor becoming serious. Cana, sensing this, calmed down. "I've been telling her for weeks to go back to that house and get the remainder of her stuff."
He turned to Lucy. "Do you wanna know why you've been scared of going back there? Cause I think I just figured it out... Its because you know that once you get the rest of your stuff back it's over over. There's no going back."
Realization settled over Lucy's features slowly. Cana's eyebrows slowly relaxed as his words sunk in. She slouched out of Loke's embrace (much to his dismay) and fixed her clothes, looking between the pinkette and the blonde.
"I can't believe I'm actually going to say this," Cana started. "But I agree with him."
Lucy looked from Natsu's stern expression, to Cana's tough love expression, to Gajeel's poker face, to Loke who nodded his head in agreement.
"Oh..." she said weakly. "But I want to be over him! I want to be over him so badly!"
"Then you need to get angry," Natsu walked over to the couch and grabbed a pillow. "Here. Pretend that this is Sting's face. If you don't want to punch him in the face after everything he's done to you, then something's wrong."
"Natsu, this is stupid," she said rolling her eyes.
"Don't be shy," he urged, and she gave the pillow a weak punch in response.
"Come on! You wasted six years on this guy! He broke your heart!"
Her punches gained a bit more purpose, but not force.
"He let you go without so much as a fight or apology."
Her punches made more of an impact.
"He was getting down and dirty with another girl in your bed."
Natsu started to feel her punches from behind the cushion.
"Bet he was giving it to her good too." He lowered his voice and leaned closer to her so she could hear. "Bet he was making her scream. Cry. Come. All of that."
On that last one, Lucy didn't even aim for the pillow, she swerved and sucker punched Natsu in the gut, hard, causing him to double over in pain.
"She's ready," he wheezed to everyone in the room.
"I'm ready!" screamed a pissed off Lucy.
Loke clapped his hands in encouragement. "That's right Lucy, go get it!"
"That's it girl," Cana encouraged as well.
"I'm going to go look that jerk in the eye and get my stuff back!" shouted Lucy pacing. "In going to go and face the facts! I'm going to ask you guys right now... to come with me."
Everyone froze looking up at her, then, the four of them collectively decided to pretend they didn't hear her and resumed their activities.
"Ummm, no seriously guys, cause I can't carry everything by myself... and I can't be by myself..."
Begrudgingly, everyone started getting out of their seats
"Thanks you guys, I really appreciate it."
Blasting through the speakers of Lucy's car was a heavy metal song which she shook her bangs to pump herself up. She looked more like a slobbering Rottweiler though. In the passenger seat, Natsu bopped his head awkwardly to the beat.
In the backseat from left to right were Gajeel, Loke and Cana respectively. Gajeel looked out his window for some reprieve, then subjected himself to the horrors of the front seat. "Alright, you guys are ruining my pre-game mix."
Meanwhile, Cana and Loke were having their own encounter. Loke smiled at her contently, until Cana couldn't take the burn of his gaze anymore and gave in.
"What?" she sighed.
"You know, you let me hold you by your waist for three and half minutes back there," he said referring to her earlier rage.
"Really? Didn't notice," she said, trying to ice him out. She figured if she ignored him enough, maybe he'd stop.
What she couldn't ignore however, was his hand on her thigh.
"Your hand is on my thigh..."
"Well everything is relative my dear Cana," Loke remarked. "Maybe my hand isn't on your thigh. Maybe your thigh, is under my hand."
Cana didn't even bother trying to decipher his nonsense, instead she politely removed his hand from her lap and leaned forward to the driver's seat.
"Alright Luce, just pull up nice and easy right here," she said, as they approached the blonde's old house.
The blonde did just that, pulling up to the curb and almost coming to a complete stop.
That is, until she picked up like 30 more miles and sped from the curb and back down the street.
"Woah!" they all shouted.
"What the hell was that?" Gajeel asked, staring at Lucy through the rearview mirror.
The sudden speed caused Cana's head to slam back into the headboard of the backseat.
"Sorry guys, I just need one more ride around the block and then I'll pull up!"
"Alright, one more time around Luce and then you're good," Natsu instructed. "You got this."
Lucy cruised down the street and looped around the next corner until she was on route to the house again.
"This is it," Natsu said as they got closer.
"You're good! You got this!" Loke cheered.
"Go Lucy!" Cana cheered.
Lucy slowly pulled up to the curb once more, before speeding up suddenly causing everyone's heads to jerk back. There was silence in the car.
"Seriously?" Loke asked.
Lucy cruised down the block yet again, making two right turns before the car approached the house for the third time.
"All right," Natsu perked up. "This is the time, this is the time... Wow!"
She didn't even slow down. As a matter of fact, she kept the same speed she was driving at and then sped up when she saw the house.
Everyone in the car started groaning and complaining.
"Oh come on!" Gajeel cried
"Really Lucy?" Cana sighed.
"What is wrong with you?" Loke questioned.
"I'm sorry guys!" She called looking at the rearview mirror. "Just one more shot, one more!" She held up her finger for emphasis.
Somehow, they all doubted that.
Loke turned to Gajeel. "You know, I'm on to you," he started.
"What do you mean?"
"Secretly, you've been plotting to get your old room back. You planned on using Natsu's obvious admiration for you against me, to get me to give up the big room. You seem to think that you're still top dog, but I've got news for you, I'm the top dog around here. Alright? And now you're just trying to out-top-dog the top dog."
Cana sighed. "Luce can you please take the child lock off these doors so that I can kill myself?"
She turned to Loke, directing the last part of her question and aggravation towards him. He put a hand in her face.
"Men working," he said quickly before turning back to Gajeel.
"Look things are different now, all right? You're not top dog anymore, I am."
"You know what? You're absolutely right Loke. You're top dog. Here," dryly, Gajeel took an imaginary crown off of his head and placed it on Loke before looking back out the window.
Loke's jaw slackened and he started stammering. "Wha-wha-what are you doing?!" he asked, obviously offended. "There's no top dog crown!" he yelled as he took the imaginary crown off and flung it out the window.
Gajeel's eyes narrowed as he looked out the window, his brain trying to unscramble the bit of nonsense that transpired in the last few seconds.
"What, are you trying to make me look stupid?!" Loke shouted.
You certainly don't need my help for that... Gajeel trailed off internally.
"Look man, this is about respect," Loke continued. "I'm a lot flyer than the last time you've seen me."
"Gotcha. A lot flyer. I respect you Loke," his roommate deadpanned.
"No, actually you don't." Loke said sternly. He turned toward the front as the opening piano keys to 'Lost Boy' by Ruth B poured in through the speakers. "Cause if you did, you would've told me that the small room is the top dog room."
Gajeel did a double take and his eyes widened, turning towards Loke. Did he just raise all of that hell to talk in a damn circle?!
"I am a lost boy from Neverland, na na na na na, Peter Pan, something something something, Captain Hook," Lucy partly sang and partly mumbled the 2018 ballad.
Other than Lucy and the song, the car fell into a confused silence.
"Uhhh..." Loke started.
Cana raised an eyebrow.
Natsu snorted trying to hold back a laugh. Gajeel gave him a look through the rearview mirror.
"I'm sorry, but this is apart of your pre-game ritual?" He snorted, holding in a laugh.
"Yeah. You got a problem with it Dragneel?!" He growled with animosity.
"No, no of course not," he said.
Then there was silence.
And then Natsu snickered. And then he tried to fix his mouth to hide his laughter when he felt Gajeel's eyes on him again. And then he covered his mouth and looked out the window, his face burning red with unreleased chuckles.
"Neverland is home, to lost boys like me, and lost boys like me are free. Neverland is home, to lost boys like me, and lost boys like me are free," Lucy sang along off key to the ending of the song in a calming fashion, finally slowing down the car as she approached Sting's house.
"What is happening right now?" Loke looked around in confusion.
"What's happening is that this is a great song," Gajeel answered serenely.
The car finally reached a halt in front of her old lawn, and once the car was put into park, Lucy's prisoner- friends started exclaiming their relief.
As Lucy unbuckled her seatbelt and unlocked her door, Cana leaned forward.
"Alright Lucy, if you need me I'll be right here."
Natsu turned to her in surprise. "I thought you were going in to help her?"
"Nah, she needs to face this head on for it to end. Besides, can't shield her from everything, remember?" Cana asked slyly, throwing Natsu's words right back at him.
"I don't understand why you people coddle her so much instead of letting her handle her own shit. She's supposed to be grown." Gajeel said.
There was a small silence in the car. Natsu spoke up first before something went left with Cana right there in the backseat.
"Nobody's coddling anybody Gajeel. We're just trying to be good friends and be there to support her when she needs it. Frankly, she could teach you a thing or two about friendship if you just let her in."
Gajeel's eyes met Natsu's knowing ones before he turned to look out the window again. He felt an odd pang in his chest at Natsu's words, which made his eyebrows scrunch upwards in guilt.
"Who even is this guy?" Cana asked Loke, looking right at Gajeel.
"I'm the guy who's replacing Gray sweetheart." He turned to her, casting her a flirtatious glance. Cana rolled her eyes.
At the door, Lucy rang the doorbell incessantly, ready to do this right. When Sting answered the door, the gang started checking him out from the car.
"That's the guy?" Natsu asked, horribly unimpressed.
"Is it just me, or did anyone else think that with a name like Sting, he'd have a handlebar mustache and would be juggling pins at the circus?" Loke asked the others.
"That's giving him too much credit," Cana remarked. "As if that deadbeat would ever get a job."
Sting and Lucy exchanged a few words, and suddenly Sting was wrapping his arms around Lucy's shoulders in a warm embrace. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but they noticed Lucy wasn't pushing him away.
Dread filled Cana's stomach and fell to the bottom like a pebble in a lake. "Please don't hug him back..."
Slowly, Lucy's arms circled his torso, returning her ex lover's embrace
They all groaned in disappointment.
"Oh that is so not healthy..." Loke trailed off.
"If you ever need me, just know I've got your back," said Sting into Lucy's hair. "Again, thanks for everything."
Lucy felt conflicted. Part of her felt like this supposed peacefulness between the two of them was a good thing, honestly, who wanted to waste energy feuding with their ex? But there was still a part of her that felt that something was... wrong.
Just then, a small Terrier ran up to Sting's calves, wagging it's tail and barking excitedly. Lucy's jaw dropped.
"I thought you said that you'd never get a dog?!" She yelled accusatorily. "I thought you said that Lector would be the only pet you ever have?!"
"Yeah well, Yukino already had this dog so, I just kinda figured..."
Lucy detached herself from him aggressively. She used to always beg him to get a puppy, a Terrier specifically, but Sting would always refuse on the grounds that they already had a pet - his cat Lector.
Gradually, Lucy started seeing red. In a fit of rage, she spotted one of the porch plants and she rushed over to it and threw it haphazardly into the lawn. The pot shattered into two big chunks along with a bunch of grainier pieces scattered everywhere. The plant itself laid out, sadly un-rooted and exposed.
"Ooohhh!" the gang winced from inside the car.
"God, you're nothing but a liar!" She screamed.
Sting took a step backwards. "Lucy-"
"I'M COMING IN!" came her victorious battle cry as she pumped her fist in the air and yelled again.
The gang watched the whole scene unfold in curiosity. Lucy pushed past him and invited herself inside. After a few moments, Lucy emerged with the flat screen in hand, two stuffed duffel bags and about three layers of clothing heavier, putting on everything she couldn't pack.
"I got the tv!"
"Oh my God..." Loke said looking at her in quiet terror. "I think we created a monster."
As she wobbled down the porch steps with her heavy load, Sting came jogging behind her.
"Oh my goodness she's going to drop the..." Gajeel said in growing horror. "Soft hands Lucy, soft hands!"
"Lu wait a second! We can talk about this," Sting shouted referring to the tv. "Maybe we can work out a system?"
Lucy was tuning his words out completely, drunk on her own indignant power trip until she caught sight of his t-shirt as he stood in front of her. It was a plain white t-shirt with the words Ms. Heartfilia's Jam-packed Jam-boree on it in cursive block text wrapped around the images of open jar masons and fruit. She had gotten a bunch made for a booth she did at the school fair one year at work.
"Gimme my shirt back..." she said suddenly.
"What?" he asked before looking down at his shirt, realizing what he was wearing. "No. That's ridiculous Lucy, you can't take the literal shirt off my back. Besides, you made this for me."
"No, I gave that to you," she corrected. "And now I want it back!"
She turned towards him completely in an effort to retrieve her shirt causing the tv to tether back and forth in her arms dangerously.
"I think she's about to drop the..." Natsu observed quietly.
"Everyone, out of the car! Now!" yelled Cana. "Darse prisa!"
Their worst fears came to fruition when the lack of balance due to Lucy's movement caused the tv to fall out of her hands and onto the lawn and concrete walkway with a concerning crash. At this point, Lucy was on top of Sting trying to forcibly yank the shirt off of him.
"Nooooooooo!" Gajeel cried in horror taking in the fallen tv.
"Luce stop!" Natsu cried picking her up by her sides to get her off of him.
"Luce?" Sting asked, panting in confusion. "Lucy who are these people?" He looked on at all the strange characters on his lawn.
"Cana! Hi!" He was relieved to see a familiar face.
"Lucy I'm going in to get the rest of your stuff," she said, ignoring his greeting.
Sting took in the sight of all the guys before him, but most importantly Natsu's hands still on Lucy's waist (although not really because she was wearing four jackets) as they both looked at him with animosity.
"Wow," Sting scoffed. "Is this how you've been playing it this whole time?" He gestured to the pair.
"He's my roommate," Lucy responded. "They all are," she gestured to the other boys.
"I must say I'm impressed at how quickly you can get back into the saddle Lu. But three guys? I didn't realize how easy you were."
"Hey. Don't get her confused with you, you're the only one here who can't keep it in his pants."
Sting looked Natsu in the eye. "Lucy, tell your guard dog to step down before I start getting angry."
Natsu let out a small laugh. "Oh yes! Please get angry, cause I'd so love to see that! Honestly, I'm already quaking in my boots in terror!"
The two boys' faces were dangerously close to one another and Lucy could see the animosity rising in Sting the more Natsu mocked him. The blonde squeezed herself in the small space between the boys' bodies, her hand placed on either chest to keep them apart.
"Natsu stop, please," Lucy said sternly to his chest. She turned to Sting when Natsu took a step back. "I want my shirt back Sting."
"No," he spat. "And since you wanna do this petty shit Lucy, give me back all the things I've given to you over the years!" His eyes scanned her discarded duffels on the ground.
"Like that hat!" he cried. "And as a matter of fact, the one under that is my fishing hat anyway, so I want it back!"
The platinum blonde bent down to try and swipe the pink, hand woven tam from Lucy's duffel but Natsu intercepted him and grabbed it first.
"Oh, you want this hat?" he asked before putting it on his head, muffling his spiky locks. "Then take it off my head buddy." A taunting smile rested on his face, his slightly larger than normal canines on full display. Natsu took a step back, keeping that distance between Sting and himself that Lucy wanted.
Loke walked over and picked up the yellow bucket hat with an animal's face and ears on it and put it on.
"Give her the shirt back Sting," Loke said standing next to Lucy and in solidarity with his friends.
Gajeel, who was leaning against the car with the tv safely inside, scoffed. "You guys look ridiculous..."
"Am I supposed to be intimidated by this?" He asked giving Loke the once over.
"No one's trying to intimidate you, just give me my shirt back!"
"Give her the shirt back douchebag," Natsu echoed the blonde's sentiments.
"Just give her the shirt back man," Loke said shaking his head.
"I don't understand how Lucy's put up with you for six years. I've only known you for six minutes and I can't fucking stand you," Natsu added.
"Girl made a lot of jam Sting," Loke said taking in the words on her currently burrowed shirt. "Do you know how time consuming that can be? You need a jar funnel, a canner, some fresh fruit. Strawberries! Raspberries! Blueberries! Maybe even a tayberry! Maybe even a ripe-"
"No more fruit Loke..." Natsu sighed.
"Booooooooo! Booooooooooooooooooooooooo!" came Gajeel's voice from the car. The blonde and the three men on the lawn all turned around to look at him because his booing was so excessive. "Aye you with the stupid looking Pikachu hat!"
Loke pointed innocently at himself.
"You! Yeah you! Cut that shit out!"
There was a brief pause from everyone on the lawn. Slowly the hat wearing trio turned back to Sting.
"Lucy honestly, these guys don't seem... right," Sting said sternly to Lucy. "Stay here until you can find somewhere safer to live."
"Now, you see-" Natsu said, getting mad. It was one thing to insult one of his friends. It was another thing entirely to insult all of them.
"I got this," Lucy cut him off. She stepped bravely to him. "I don't need your help with anything anymore Sting. I've found a place to live on my own. It's over. I spent six years trying to figure you out, when all you are, is a self-centered, beautiful, lying narcissist. And you know what? I'm glad you cheated on me, thank you. Because if you hadn't, I would've married you, and it would've killed me. And I don't care what you think about my friends cause even though I found them on the internet, they've been there for me, and more supportive of me than you ever were."
The whole time she was talking, Gajeel found himself walking closer and closer towards them, being gravitated by her kind words.
"I mean, seriously. I barely know them," she gestured to Natsu and Loke. "I just met him," she gestured to Gajeel. "But I love all of them, because all of them took the time out to come see me through this thing."
"You know, I'd chill out with all the love stuff," Natsu softly interjected.
"Yeah, I don't know about all of that just yet," Loke cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head.
"I love all of them," she repeated just to make them uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, Gajeel felt something soften in his chest, dare he say thaw out in his heart and left a warm tingly feeling. He bent down to pick up a hat from her duffel bag and put it on. It was purple, with four leaf clovers and a rainbow on it.
"Alright buddy," the former quarterback folded his arms, showing of his thick biceps. "Take off the shirt before things get ugly."
Lucy turned to him with wide eyes, and Natsu turned to him with a warm smile on his face.
Sting looked up at the bigger, taller man. Gajeel glared down at him and Sting tried to hide a dry gulp.
"Three on one Lucy? How is that supposed to be fair?" he asked.
"We don't need to do a three on one, all you need is MY THUMB RING BITCH!" Loke shouted and slapped the man square across the face leaving a raging, red handprint on it.
Lucy's jaw dropped.
"Didn't see that one coming..." Natsu said with raised eyebrows.
Sting put his hand to his lips to feel the blood oozing from the cut caused by Loke's thumb ring. Before Sting could get any ideas, Gajeel stood protectively in front of Loke and glowered at the bleeding man.
Feeling helpless, Sting scowled at him, at Lucy, at all of them.
"You know what?" he said, finally yanking the shirt over his shoulders and throwing it at Lucy. "Take it! Take it!" Loke bent down and picked it up for her. He and Natsu already had her fallen duffel bags hoisted securely over their shoulders and Gajeel had the tv secured in the car.
"Go, just go! And I hope I never see you again!"
Just then, Cana came striding out of the house, her model walk kicking in naturally as she walked Lucy's bike, as well as a backpack full of stuff out the house. The brunette callously tossed Sting a tiny silver object.
"And you can keep the bell."
With all of her stuff finally in her possession, Lucy and the gang turned to go.
"I really thought we were gonna handle this like adults Lucy." Sting said lowly as she walked away.
"Yeah, well, I thought you were the love of my life," she threw her hands in the air. "I guess things don't always happen the way we want them to, do they?"
Back at the Loft
"I can't believe you really hit that guy," Gajeel chuckled over it, for what seemed like they umpteenth time that night. He was strolling Lucy's bike from the elevator into the loft. "I didn't think you had it in you pretty boy."
Loke shrugged, his mouth dancing as he tried to hide the smile that was forming on his face from Gajeel's high praises. "Well you know, it was whatevs."
"You know what?" Gajeel said as they reached the entrance of their loft. "Maybe I didn't have respect for you before, because if this is what respecting you feels like Loke, this is certainly not how I felt."
Loke's face went on a journey of a few different expressions before landing on a smile. "So you finally recognize... that's what's up."
Gajeel's smile faded at the use of Loke's slang. Why is he talking like-
"Anyway," he said aloud. "I've got to be honest with you, I was trying to get my old room back."
Loke looked down and sighed.
"You're right," Gajeel continued. "I've been gone for a long time and things have changed around here so I guess I've got to get used to that... you keep the big room."
"See now you're just deep dogging me man."
Gajeel narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"I'm not scared of your mind games man," Loke continued. "I'm taking the small room Gajeel!"
Mind games? Gajeel thought. "That wasn't what I was doing-"
"No, you listen to me Redfox! I am taking the small room back and there is nothing you can do to stop me! What do you take me for, some kind of idiot?" Loke scoffed with pride as he walked into the loft with Lucy's duffel. Gajeel watched him walk in silence for a minute.
Well now I do...
In the living room, Lucy watched anxiously as Natsu tinkered with her damaged tv. The fall had apparently done a number on it and she hoped they didn't go through all of that for nothing.
"I still can't believe I got all my stuff back," Lucy said in euphoria. She felt like a fully fledged adult with all of her things back.
"Yeah well, I still say you should've done it alot sooner," Natsu said from behind the tv.
"You almost fought him back there you know," Lucy remarked.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I can get pretty intense... hey, pass me the duct tape will ya?"
Lucy eyes scanned the coffee table and picked up the gray roll of tape and placed it in Natsu's outstretched hand.
"It's okay," Lucy replied. "It's nice to know you've really got my back."
"Of course," Natsu said absentmindedly as Lucy saw wires start to turn from behind the flat screen. "You know the tv isn't the only thing that got banged up. When you dropped your bag on the grass, a bunch of other things got broken too."
"Oh..." Lucy said disappointedly. "But you're gonna fix it right?" Lucy asked perking up.
Natsu moved his head from behind the tv to look her in the eyes. He then reached for the screwdriver.
"Well yeah... but it's still broken."
"Come on Dragneel!" Gajeel groaned as he hopped over the couch. "How long does it take for you to fix a tv?"
"Did you wanna do it?" He snarked back.
"Well I could've done it faster."
"Guys look!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly. The TV turned on, a black sleep mode screen appeared with the Sony logo bouncing on the corners.
"We've got a tv again!"
The guys all cheered, as the four roommates gathered on the couch, Natsu holding the remote.
"So what're we watching?" the pinkette asked expectantly.
"Well, my Roku box isn't working, but I have a couple of DVD's. Umm Scooby-Doo, Adventures in Babysitting, Babysitter's Club, Annie and Jeepers Creepers."
Gajeel narrowed his eyes into the distance. "Yeah... I'm going out."
The guys all started hopping from the couch and out the door, following Gajeel and leaving Lucy there by herself.
"Guys wait! But these are wholesome movies!"
The door open and closed, but to her surprise Loke came back and hopped next to her on the couch
"Adventures in Babysitting. Let's do this."
"Yay!" Lucy cried clapping her hands in delight.
Hello all, this chapter is ridiculously long and took ridiculously long to write. Last chapter and this one were about 10k a piece, which is about twice as long as the average chapters for my other stories. I didn't expect it but it seems like this story is fixing to have longer chapters (which is fine) but I wouldn't expect another chapter too soon after this. I was spurred to complete this due to all the positive feedback. Speaking of which, the positive feedback!
Thanks for all the feedback, particularly the comments from samurai of sunflowers, queenuly14, Copperreign12, rao hyuga 18 and okru! I was genuinely blown away and I didn't think much people would be interested, or rather, I was afraid of how the people would react given it's based on another show. Anyway, thank you all for reading and until the next chapter of Roommates.
(P.s: Lost Boy is a really pretty song if you've never heard it before.)