'Knock! Knock! Knock!'
After a string of rampant knocks on her apartment door, a caramel skinned bombshell impatiently strode out of her room in her cherry patterned bathrobe, quite grumpy at the company so early in the morning. She checked the peephole and swung open the door to let in her blonde best friend, who jogged in wearing a pink tank top, black tights, white tennis and had her hair in a high ponytail. The intrusion by her friend had panic shooting straight up and down Cana's veins, as she perked up immediately from her groggy state, attempting to fix her bed head and covering her breasts with the folds of her robe after closing her front door.
"Hey Cana, you ready to run?" Lucy asked excitedly, jogging in circles around Cana's shared couch. "I have my playlist all ready to go. Actually, it's Barbera Streisand's autobiography, she just finished her opening night of 'Funny Girl' on Broadway and it's getting me pumped!
"Luce!" Cana smiled trying to hide her nerves. "I totally forgot we were supposed to run today!"
"What? I e-mailed you the flyer three times!"
"Honey, maybe you typed in "g-moil" again," Cana smiled gently.
Cana wasn't lying. That did happen before. Lucy paused for a second to think about it before shaking her head.
"C'mon Cana, no excuses, we have to train," Lucy urged. "We signed up for this, so we have to do it."
Cana groaned. "Lucy, why can't we just donate the money like normal people? We do we have to run six miles?"
"I-" Lucy stopped herself, realizing she started to speak with no rebuttal. "That's a good point actually... but no. You're getting dressed."
With that, Lucy made a beeline to Cana's bedroom which made the brunette almost trip over herself trying to stop her.
"No! Luce, wait!"
But she was too little to late as Lucy was already in her bedroom. Cana rushed up behind her to see what the blonde saw, which were Cana's two roommates, Laki and Kinana, sprawled across Cana's bed in black and green silk robes of their own, smiling at Lucy suspiciously.
"Oh hello, beady-eyed blonde girl," Laki greeted in her heavy Russian accent.
Lucy remained unsuspecting however, whilst behind her back Cana was waving her arms manically at them and trying to communicate with her roommates through eye contact.
Lucy turned back to Cana to see why she was shouting earlier.
"What?"
"I... uh..." Cana grabbed her shoulders and guided Lucy to the kitchen and away from her bedroom, hurriedly mouthing something to her roommates as she walked away.
"You never told me about your date with Hades!" Cana exclaimed, changing the topic on the fly.
As the girls walked away, Laki and Kinana quickly got up off of the suspiciously lumpy bed and rushed to close the door. At the topic of her newest romantic interest, Lucy became too enthralled in her own story to pick up on the odd behavior from the models in Cana's apartment.
"It was an amazing first date," Lucy gushed happily. "Well... except for maybe oooooonnne awkward part at the end."
Flashback
The sounds of moderate chatter, silverware, clanking glass, and the faraway playing of the harp filled the upscale restaurant, Bistro's, whose interior was lit with a thousand crystal chandeliers, seemingly raining diamonds on all its patrons, including Lucy and Purehito.
Lucy wore the same tiny, black dress Cana had lent her (and then later gave her) the night she got stood up by Bora, and just like that night, she had her hair in a high bun, her forehead bangs bumped at the ends and two delicately curled tendrils of hair framing the sides of her face. Her eye makeup was a little darker than she normally went for, as she opted for a smoky eye look as they were dining at night, and she figured this striking look went with her outfit. The blonde was freshly shaved everywhere and her voluptuous thighs and calves were covered in body oil just to make her even more irresistible.
This was Lucy's first date like this in a while, and to say she was excited would be an understatement. Lucy wouldn't dare dream to eat out at a place like this normally, especially not on a teacher's salary, and the company she shared it with wasn't too bad either. After all, she was sitting across from a good-looking, wealthy, older man who was showing a very obvious interest in her.
It was very safe to say that Lucy Heartfilia was feeling herself that night.
"You know, I don't go on dates very often," Lucy told Hades as they waited on their entrees to be served. "Guys my age always just wanna... skip the date and just go right for the gold, if you know what I mean."
Lucy flinched at her words immediately after they left her mouth, especially when she peeped Hades' expression at her over sharing. She cleared her throat.
"Which... I... don't... give them because I'm stingy with my gold," Lucy chuckled after saving herself. "Unless of course, they dig for it."
Cana grimaced in disgust at her best friend as the she retold that part of the date. Lucy's jaw dropped.
"Oh come on! I haven't even gotten to the awkward part yet!"
Cana didn't say anything, but raised an eyebrow at the blonde, and knowing the nature of her best friend, the brunette prepared for the worst.
"So anyway, the food came and we ate and the rest of our dining out went pretty well. Until it was time for him to go..."
Flashback continued
Lucy and Purehito both stood outside the restaurant side by side, waiting for the valet to bring their cars out front. The silence between them was a little awkward, but thankfully for Lucy, the space was filled with the sound of driving cars on the pavement.
"Oh, hi," a valet approached Purehito. "Black sedan?"
"Uh, yeah," he said taking his hands out of his pockets to take his keys. Then he turned to Lucy, seemingly not debating what to do about her before leaving. Ultimately he decided to go in for a hug, which was also weird because he wasn't much of a hugger, and Lucy proved to be a very affectionate hugger.
"And then he just... patted me on the back..." Lucy said to Cana, disappointment evident in her voice. "I mean, I thought I'd at least get like a front pat! Whoo-ha!" Lucy cried as she open-palm smacked the air as a demonstration.
Cana grimaced for the second time in this conversation.
"Okay one, don't ever say 'whoo-ha' again, and two, he was probably just nervous Luce."
"Push-awww," Lucy said with a wave of her hand. Her response was interrupted by the sounds of something banging against the wall in Cana's room. "That's ridiculous... Purehito wasn't nervous... couldn't be..." Lucy trailed off, looking over Cana's shoulder in concern and curiosity at what could possibly be going on in her room. "Is everything alright in there?"
"Huh? What?" Cana answered innocently. "Oh yeah, of course."
Panicked murmurs picked up as the disheveling sounds continued. "Are you sure?" Lucy asked again, looking over Cana's shoulder not convinced. "What are they doing in there?"
This time Lucy got up to go back into the model's bedroom despite Cana insisting that everything was fine. "Lucy! Lucy wait!"
The pair re-entered the room to find the models this time sitting upright and side by side on Cana's bed. Cana flashed her model friends a look before quickly scampering to sit next to them.
"Hello again, blonde girl," Laki spoke again, accent thick.
"Hi ladies... Is everything all right in here?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah Laki just ate a bad cookie," Cana piped up quickly.
"A bad cookie?"
"Yeah! She fell on it!" Kinana sputtered, a bit too eagerly. Cana shot Kinana a glare.
Lucy raised a brow. "She fell... on it? "
"Yeah it was a really bad fall," Cana said getting up, grabbing Lucy by her shoulders and ushering her out. "She's been wobbling around the apartment for hours now."
"Yes, tummy is... upset." Laki said in her accent, rubbing her stomach for good measure. "Bug-eyed girl may not like what comes out."
Lucy was beyond confused at their explanations. "Huh- what?"
Cana however, didn't give her a minute to think about it as she was already being pushed on the other side of the front door. "Yeah Luce, Laki's gonna need us to keep an eye on her while the cookie passes through for a couple of hours. Talktoyoulaterokaybye!"
A few seconds after Lucy was ushered out of Cana's apartment, a naked Loke came tumbling from the trenches of Cana's dresser closet, wearing his infamous, way-too-short, blue kimono, taking in deep breaths.
"That was a close one!" He exclaimed as the girls all sighed. "Good thing I'm a quiet breather. I learned that as a kid playing "Who passed out?" with my mom... my mom always won."
Cana gave him a dirty look as he looked innocently back at her.
The moment didn't last long however, when Lucy came barging back in through the front door.
"A-ha!"
The door suddenly swung back open again, revealing a vengeful blonde, with her finger pointed accusatorily at Loke and Cana. Everyone in the apartment screamed at the sudden intrusion.
"CANA YOU DIDN'T LOCK THE DOOR?!" Loke shrieked covering his chest more with the folds of his Japanese garment.
"I DIDN'T THINK SHE'D COME BACK!"
"CANA, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"
While everyone was shrieking in all the chaos, Laki laughed maniacally through it all, clapping her hands in delight.
"Blonde girl and blonde boy fight to the death!" She chanted happily in her Russian accent.
Meanwhile, back at the loft...
It was an early Saturday morning when Gajeel, (despite his usual habit of sleeping in, particularly on weekends), decided to get an early start on their usually crowded coffee maker. The former athlete hated all of the hoopla that went on with the four loft mates whenever they fought to secure their cup of Joe some mornings. Today, his better judgement led him to seeing something rather interesting from the living room couch, fresh coffee in hand.
"Okay, well, bye, Natsu."
Gajeel's eyebrow ticked as Natsu rushed a younger woman in a tight club dress out the front door, the two of them unaware of Gajeel's presence.
"So you'll call me?" the young blonde, looked up at him.
Natsu raked a hand through his very obvious morning-after hair and took a deep breath, eyes darting away from her.
"Um, yeah, yeah, I'll definitely..."
"Are you okay?" she asked innocently.
"I'm gonna call you," he said opening the door and gently ushering her out. "Okay, I... uh... This was fun."
"Okay, I'll call you tonight to make sure you're okay?" she asked quickly, but she wasn't quick enough as the door closed in her face.
"You know, I would laugh in your face right now if that wasn't so fucking sad," Gajeel's nonchalant, amused voice startled the pinkette, cause Natsu to jump in his own skin when he saw his cousin watching him intently from their couch. When the the scare wore off, he walked over to the couch and sighed.
"Yeah..." he relented.
"'Yeah?' Dude, what the fuck was that?" Gajeel chuckled taking another sip of his coffee causing it to gurgle. "That shit was ridiculous," Gajeel said, through another chortle at his cousin's awkward expense.
"I can't do this, Gaj," Natsu said, running his hand through his hair once more. "I can't sleep with 21-year-old girls. I suck at it, and for the last couple weeks, that's all I've been doing."
Gajeel raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Then why are you doing it then?"
"Am I overthinking this? Why does it feel so wrong?"
"Okay well, just stop doing it," Gajeel said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"How can I?! I mean, I've got Janine who I've been hooking up with for the past couple weeks, but then there's Ava who's got me as her Booty call whenever she gets into it with her boyfriend. But Melissa-"
"Jesus Natsu!" Gajeel grimaced cutting him off. He did not want to get into his cousin's rigorous sex life first thing in the morning. "Okay look, if you don't want to be sleeping with a bunch of girls at once, then just find one girl and sleep only with her."
"Can't. That sounds a lot like a girlfriend and I don't think I'm ready for that just yet."
Gajeel rolled his eyes.
"You're doing worse than Loke..." he murmured under his breath taking generous sips of his drink. Unfortunately for Gajeel, his freakish cousin's supersonic hearing picked up on that little comment.
"Wait, what do you mean I'm doing worse than Loke?"
Gajeel tensed up mid-sip.
Oh shit.
"Loke's got like... a sex buddy?" Natsu's curiosity peaked as he lunged on the couch next to him. "Like a consistent one?"
"God! Natsu, when you call it a 'sex-buddy' it makes me want to talk to you even less."
"So you do know something!" A smirk formed on Natsu's face at the thought of unearthing one of Loke's secrets. "Now you've got to tell me."
"Bup bup bup," Gajeel shook his head. "What do I get in return?"
"Come on man, don't leave me hanging like this."
Gajeel rolled his eyes again.
"Fine. But only because you've given me so much fun already for the morning."
Gajeel went on to tell Natsu the zanny story of how he caught Loke red-handed with Cana in the backseat of one of his cars on his way back from Mexico when he visited Sue.
"EWWWWWWWWW!" Natsu flinched away from his cousin as if he had just been scorned. He hugged himself in slow-motion like a mother consoling her terrified child, except it was just him consoling himself from a living nightmare.
"And it's happening under our roof," Gajeel added for good measure, enjoying watching Natsu squirm. He smirked as he finally downed the last of his coffee.
"No way..." Natsu trailed off.
"Yes way," his cousin mocked.
"No..."
"Yes!"
Natsu cringed dramatically again, slowly crumpling on the floor in slow motion, all the while hugging himself again. Gajeel burst into laughter.
"This makes me... hate things," Natsu rasped from the ground.
"Sure man," Gajeel smiled wiping a tear from his eye. "It's like up is down... up is the new down."
After taking a few meditative deep breaths, Natsu slowly got up off the floor.
"All right," Natsu said, after getting up. "So who knows?"
"Well... now... I guess everyone except for Blondie."
Natsu's shock and Gajeel's merriment was immediately sapped out of the room at the mention of their friend. Neither of them sure how it would affect the loft's dynamic if she found out.
And then, as if she was summoned at the very sound of her name, Lucy came storming into the loft with her ponytail bobbing vigorously. A distressed Cana and sheepish Loke came trailing behind her.
"Everyone!" Lucy yelled agitatedly. "Emergency loft meeting. NOW!"
Douchebag 101
Following her summonses, Lucy, Loke, Cana, Natsu and Gajeel all gathered at the dining room table, a fuming Lucy could hardly stop her foot tapping as she nearly burst into flames staring at the oddball pairing.
"Lucy I am so sorry that you had to hear about this like this," Loke started. "But, I mean, can we just take a moment to celebrate me?" he looked around the table (mostly at the guys) with a triumphant smile. "Loke really did it this time. I'm having Mexican every night."
Jaws dropped around the dining table.
Lucy lunged at him.
"You SONOFABITCH!"
Gajeel had to stop her from jumping over the table to hurt the honey blonde.
"Whoa, whoa!" Loke said, getting up and backing as far away from his angry roommate as he could.
"Look, chica, I'm really sorry you found out this way, okay," Cana reached across the table and grabbed Lucy's hands. "But trust me, mi amor, this wasn't some big conspiracy. It was something that just... happened... and then it got out of control. Sort of like poison oak, and I just couldn't... stop... scratching it..."
"Cana started it!" Loke squeaked, unable to keep that in.
"Dude!" Natsu yelled.
"That's..." Cana sighed. "That's true actually, I started it."
"Why, Cana?" Gajeel asked disgustedly. "Are you trying to get back at your parents or something?"
"When did it start?" Lucy demanded, not interested in joking around.
"Uh, I'd just like to emphasize that we are not dating," Cana reiterated. "I can not stress that enough. This is just sex."
"Mm-hmm, sure, when did it start?" Lucy repeated.
"1:03 a.m., February 15," Loke said with a drawl. "Right... on... schedule."
Cana rolled her eyes at Loke's smugness before responding to Lucy.
"It was two months ago."
"TWO MONTHS?!" Lucy's jaw dropped. "TWO MOONS have passed since you two started sleeping together?!"
"Okay, why do you start talking like a Native American when you get angry?" Cana asked.
"Two moons have passed!" Lucy shouted again.
"We've done it in every room of the apartment," Loke added proudly.
"WHAT?!" Lucy shrieked.
"Gross, even my room?" Natsu asked.
"Even mine?" Gajeel added.
"Every... room..." Loke drawled proudly.
The boys were gonna be sick.
"How long have you known?" Lucy turned to Natsu and Gajeel, who she realized weren't at all surprised by the recent developments.
"A few days." Gajeel answered. Lucy's jaw dropped before she leaned forward to face Natsu at the head of the table.
"You didn't tell me either?" She asked aghast.
"I just found out this morning!"
"Lucy," Cana grabbed both of her friend's hands pleading at her with her eyes. "Please don't be mad at me chica, I swear I'm not trying to hide anything. What else do you want to know?"
Lucy narrowed her big brown eyes at her. "I don't know, Cana. How would I know if you're telling the truth or not?"
"Oh come on, Luce," Loke interjected. "Are you seriously mad?"
"No, no, I'm not," Lucy said unconvincingly, withdrawing her hands from Cana's. "I'm really glad you two are having 'fun'."
Cana could only sigh at her reaction.
This... was gonna be a long week.
Early the next morning, Loke and Gajeel were sipping on tea and coffee while reruns of an old anime, droned on in the background. Neither of them were paying attention though. Something about a bunch of ninjas trying to find the one piece or something?
"Hey, have you guys seen a scarf?" A shirtless, sweatpants wearing Natsu strode into the living room. His tan chest muscles and biceps were on full display in all their sweaty, glistening glory, along with the red phoenix tattoo he had on his bicep. "Holly said she left it out here."
Natsu was followed by a tall, thin, (and if you asked Gajeel) rather grating-sounding brunette.
"It's my favorite scarf because it's a circle," Holly added. "You never have to think about which end goes on the right or the left. My therapist gave it to me. She's Asian, but she's the nicest."
The boys all turned to the front door after a ginger knock a gentle turning of the knob revealed the blonde from yesterday.
"Good morning everyone, hey... Natsu, I think I left my..." the blonde stopped short when she saw Natsu and Holly, the latter of which was wearing nothing but Natsu's shirt. Loke's jaw slackened. Gajeel put his legs up on the coffee table and opened a bag of chips.
"Who is that?" Holly asked, rage spiking.
"Nobody, just..." Natsu rushed to usher the blonde out the door again.
"Who was that?!" Holly glared at the bartender. "Was it that stuck-up bitch from last night with too much mascara?!"
"What? N-no! It was no one."
"Show me your phone," she demanded sticking out her hand.
"Okay..." Natsu usually tried to be patient with these women because he understood that what he was doing was rather scummy, but his patience had it's limits. Namely: his phone. "Now, let's not get too carried away."
"Let me see the phone," she insisted, reaching into his pants pocket for them. Natsu tried to stop her, naturally, but she kept persisting for it, which resulted in their struggle.
"Hey! Just chill out!"
"Let me see your phone!"
"No! You're not my girlfriend, you don't need to see who th hell is in my phone!"
While his words seemed to strike a nerve in the young literature major, they did the trick.
"You... are such an asshole!" Holly shrieked, striking him on sculpted chest. "And don't you ever call me again!"
When she left in a red-faced fit, his roommates were shaking their heads.
"Amateur move, man," Loke said disapprovingly.
"Dick move, you mean," Gajeel corrected his fellow observer.
"Clearly I need some help." Natsu looked at an innocent seeming Loke with a pained (bordering on constipated) expression, which was a look that Gajeel recognized in horror. He sat upright and his eyes bulged out it's sockets.
"Loke..." Natsu started.
"Natsu, wait! You don't have to do this!" Gajeel cried, as if he was trying to talk someone from jumping off a ledge.
"...I hate to ask you this," Natsu continued, ignoring his cousin. "But... how do you do it?"
Loke wasted no time in gloating
"Oh, glory be!" the blonde chirped delightedly. "Natsu Dragneel, are you asking for my help?" Loke didn't wait for a response. "Oh, I-I'm flattered."
"Don't do it man..." Gajeel continued to caution.
"We have to face the facts here man," Natsu said to him. "Loke has been having casual, consensual sex with Cana, for months may I add, and we knew nothing about it! I think it's time we admit he's officially better than us at this-"
"Eeeeeeeeeeeew! God no!"
"Gajeel, I hate this as much as you do, but it's true! And, Loke... as much as I hate to say this, there... there might be a small part of me that actually respects you for it."
Loke's smile couldn't have been bigger.
"Thank you, my friend, for saying that," Loke stood up and walked over to him to pat his shoulder. "You know, since our early 20s, I've been stuck with a string of lesser paramours while you and all your woman stealing glory had scooped up the finest pearls of the sea- but no more! Now, the roles have finally reversed!"
Gajeel looked back and forth between the pair in disgust.
"But all of my misfortunes, like weathered stone steps, have led me to the coveted Mestiza temple, a.k.a. Cana Alberona. But I don't know if I should help you. You're no longer a player Natsu Dragneel. You've become a clingy, serial, monogamist."
"A what? No, of course not."
"Case and point: Lisanna Strauss."
"He's got you there..." Gajeel said softly.
Natsu rolled his eyes and sighed. "Loke Celeste, I need you...to teach me... how to be a douchebag."
Loke clapped his hands and answered instantly.
"Let's get to work!"
Gajeel damn near choked.
"What the hell is happening?!"
Meanwhile on the street outside the loft, adorning a pink sports bra and leggings set was a blonde middle school teacher, doing rather awkward stretches to the audio flowing in from her pink earbuds. Cana walked up to her sheepishly in her own running clothes.
"Hey, babe," she greeted.
"Oh," Lucy's voice was light and icy. "Hey, Cana."
"Doing some stretches?" She offered, trying not to lose the flow of the conversation.
"Good guess Latina," Lucy snarked. "But no, just limbering up in case I want to have sex with one of your roommates."'
I'm sure Laki would love that...' Cana snarked in her head.
"Do you want some company?" Even though Lucy said at the loft meeting she was okay with everything, Cana knew her friend all too well, and if Lucy Heartfilia were any two things, it was petty and dramatic. She just wanted things to be normal again.
"What?" Lucy took one of her earbuds out, pretending she didn't hear her.
"I asked if you wanted some company?" She offered again.
"I'm sorry. I can't hear you," Lucy said as she jogged her way around Cana to get started on her morning jog. "Diane Keaton is talking about her rich life full of rich, loyal friends!"
"Oh, come on compã," Cana pleaded, jogging to catch up to her. "I hate it when we fight. I get so stressed out. I mean, my eye twitches back. I'm eating bread, all right? Just let me come on this run with you."
"No!"
"Good afternoon gentlemen. Uh, my name is Mr. Celeste." Loke wrote this name on the used chalkboard he had wheeled into Lucy's bedroom while Natsu lounged on her bed, and Gajeel, on her beanbag in the corner. He was having trouble with the substitute limestone tablets he was using instead of actual chalk, to spell his tacher name on the board.
"M-R... Not even a real chalkboard... Anyway, Natsu, congrats."
"Uh, thank you?" He asked.
"You're meeting a lot of young women, and for whatever reason, they seem to, you know, find you appealing."
Gajeel chuckled while Natsu grumbled something under his breath. Loke continued.
"In the restaurant of life my friend, you have selected the tasting menu."
"Okay," Natsu threw his hands up in the air. "I changed my mind, I don't want this anymore."
"Natsu we need to work on your ability to lie on the spot," Loke kept going, ignoring him. Like hell was he gonna let a golden opportunity to school Natsu pass him by. "So what we want to do is, we want to focus on S.S.V."
"I cannot believe you slept with Cana..." Gajeel murmured, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Short, simple..."
"-vagina!" Natsu tried to finish..
There was a pause from his mentor.
"Uh... vague," Loke corrected. "The word was actually... vague..." Loke trailed, before moving to lay in the bed besides him. "Anyway, let's apply it. I'm one of these young girls that's coming in here. I want to party. I'm in college. Let's do this."
"Alright..." Natsu consented uneasily.
"Hey, what happened to your phone?" Loke said imitating a girl.
"God took it... A Jesus hawk on a speedboat... The environment... Bears! Family! Magic!"
"Boo..." Gajeel said softly as Natsu prattled on aimlessly before throwing some of his popcorn on the pinkette.
"Okay..." Loke inhaled deeply. "I'm the girl, and the whole objective is to get me out of the front door as fast as you possibly can."
"Gotcha."
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah. What's your name?"
"My name is Janine, all right?"
"God, don't make that sound." Natsu referred to Loke's purring that accompanied the uncomfortable amount of eye contact he was giving him.
"Good morning, Natsu. You really gave it to me good last night," Loke said in an even more obnoxious, high-pitched girl voice. "You gave me the full business, yeah."
"This is getting weird, man..."
"It's one of the weirder things we've done," Gajeel commented, watching from the corner of the room, continuing to enjoy his popcorn.
"What you thinking, yellow eyes? Want to grab some brunch?" Loke was unfazed.
"Sure, Janine, that sounds fun."
"God... no!" Loke suddenly shouted. He startled the hell out of Natsu. "You don't want to grab brunch!"
"Okay!"
"Come on, damn it, Dragneel."
"I'm confused!" Natsu sat up, beginning to legitemately get frustrated.
"Just focus!"
"I just had sex with Janine! I don't just have sex with any girl!"
Gajeel snickered under his breath.
"Yeah, so you're done." Loke said plainly.
"I can't just sleep with her and kick her out! It'll be like all she was... was... was a piece of ass!"
"That's exactly what she was!" Loke cried. "I now see the problem..." he suddenly trailed off.
"All right, I get it, I get it." Natsu waved his hands to dispel his growing impatience. "Ask me again, Celeste."
"Okay, cowboy, want to saddle up and go again?" Loke asked in a Western accent.
"No, sweetie, I can't." Natsu was finally getting into it.
"Good... now why can't you?" Loke prompted.
"I got things to do. I've got plans."
"You have work," Loke corrected. "Plans can be cancelled. Work is a fixture in your schedule."
Just then, Lucy came barging into her room.
"I don't want to live in a house of lies!" She announced. She then jumped, startled at what she found.
"Why the hell are you all in my room?! Is this happening, too?!" She gestured to Loke and Natsu in her bed.
"No, this is not happening!"
"This isn't what it looks like."
"Okay, look, fine, from now on, we are going to be open and honest in this loft," Lucy continued her earlier sentiment. "And that means that I have some secrets I want to get off my chest."
The bemoaning from the boys came instantaneously.
"We'd really rather not hear those."
"You can keep them on your chest actually."
"Nobody wants to hear those."
"Loke!" She ignored them. "A couple months ago I found Natsu using your chenille throw as a napkin!"
The honey blonde gasped as he and the former boxer sat upright in the bed together.
"That is a microfiber blend from Pakistan, you heathen!"
"Quit quoting the catalog like a psychopath." Natsu deadpanned.
"Each heirloom-quality..."
"Good!" Lucy stated as Loke continued quoting. "This is healthy. Air it out. All right, one more. While we were in the bathroom together, Loke told me that Gajeel was in danger of becoming a nanny for the rest of his life." She turned to the pierced heckler in the corner of the room. "He said you were going, and I quote, 'full Poppins'."
At the referral of his day job of taking care of Miko, Gajeel's amusement completely vanished as a mix of emotions were slowly seething in his eyes looking at Loke. Loke panicked.
"Okay, Gajeel, I can see anger in your eyes..."
"Loke thinks about you when he's getting off with himself!" Gajeel spurted out vengefully.
Lucy gasped.
"What?!"
"I-it was one time..." Loke sputtered.
"WHAT?!"
"I thought about bangs and your face just happened to... appear beneath them," he explained nervously. "Oh, and by the way, as if I'm the only one?" Loke chuckled out of nervousness.
"Natsu," he gestured to his roommate, happily throwing him under the bus. "Told me he thinks about you when he does it, like, all the time!"
Lucy's eyes widened as her face and ears started to turn a splotchy red.
"SAY WHAT?!"
Natsu scrambled in a panic, his cheeks became a slight pink in embarrassment.
"Gajeel told me the first week he got back from Hargeon, that he had a sex dream about you!" Natsu pointed and shouted like he was a toddler telling on a classmate. "And he said you had bunny ears and a bunny tail!"
Lucy gasped again.
"Ooooooooooooohhhh, is that why he calls her Bunny Girl sometimes?" Loke asked, realization washing over his features. The former NFL star scoffed.
"Oh please," Gajeel rolled his eyes. He was the only one seemingly unashamed by his so-called secret. "Dreams do not count."
"Wait, so have you've all thought about me while..." Lucy gulped. "Uh... self-completing?"
The boys exchanged brief looks with each other before answering.
"Well yeah."
"Yeah."
"I'd say so."
Lucy tried not to throw up.
"Look, Lucy, it's not that big a deal." Loke interjected. "Really... it's the sincerest form of flattery."
"We're going back to keeping secrets," the blonde lamented, finally filled with regret. "When I walk through this door and into the living room - this conversation never happened."
She did just that, walking out of her own room to give the boys privacy again and closing the door slowly behind her.
They all stewed in a confused silence for a moment.
"What's her problem?"
They shrugged.
Beyond the door, they all heard the muffled screams of their newly perturbed friend.
"So anyway, what did the bunny tail and ears look like?" Loke asked, intrigued with this 'Bunny Lucy' from Gajeel's dream.
"Oh, man, they were wiggling through the garbage."
"Wait, I've never heard you call her Bunny Girl to her face-" Natsu remarked. Then he gasped.
"Have you called her Bunny Girl to her face?"
Gajeel chuckled with a smirk.
The next morning in the loft kitchen, Cana sleepily emerged from Loke's room in nothing but her black bathroom with the gold trim. She opened the fridge looking for something suitable to have for breakfast. Little did she know, to her right, wearing a ski mask and a large winter coat, was Lucy, staring silently at her.
"Oh, God!" Cana jumped when she noticed her. "Why are you dressed like a Mexican wrestler chica?"
Lucy said nothing to her friend, only glaring at her as she proceeded to pour juice from a cartoon.
Cana seemingly didn't notice, or pay any mind to her friend's glaring, as she went back to the fridge to look for almond milk.
"Are you guys all out of almond milk?"
Cana looked up as received more silence from the blonde and dirty looks.
"Oh, so you're just not gonna talk to me now?"
Lucy slammed the fridge door shut which startled Cana. Her glare was so sharp it would drill holes in the brunette if it could.
"Why are you sleeping with my roommate?" Lucy asked sharply.
"Oh... okay," Cana recoiled. "So are we finally getting to the real feelings on the matter?"
"Yes Cana!" Lucy raged. "Because of all the random Joe-schmoes you could've screwed, why choose one of the guys I live with of all people?!"
"Oh alright screw you," Cana snapped, just about tired of her attitude. "You don't own him okay? You walk around here, acting as if you're all perfect in front of the guys, but if Natsu and the rest of them ever found out who you used to be, they'd want nothing to do with you! Get over yourself!"
"No screw YOU Cana! Because you never think about how your actions affect others, you just... do stuff!"
"Oh I just 'do stuff'?" Cana took a step back as her eyebrows raised and she made air quotations. "This is why I didn't want to tell you Lucy! You're so damn judgemental!"
"I'M judgemental?!" Lucy yelled back. "If I'm so judgemental, then why are you friends with me then?! Why have you told me every single one of your secrets since we were in the second grade?! Why are we still friends after all this time?! Seriously, since when do you not tell me stuff Cana?!" Lucy's voice and her eyes softened. Her demeanor seemed to be pleading with her friend for answers.
"TWO months?" Lucy continued. "How could you have kept this from me for two months?! You've seen me everyday for two months straight and while you were smiling in my face at day, you were sneaking around with my roommate behind my back at night!"
"Jeeeeeessssussss Lucy, it's not that big of a deal, why do you care so much?!"
"Cana, I don't give a damn about the fact that you were sleeping with Loke," Lucy clarified. "What I care about is the fact that you felt like you had to keep it a secret from me for so long, and then lie about it!"
"Because it's a secret Luce! That's what you do when you're trying to keep a secret! Seriously, Lucy, it was just one secret! Everybody has secrets!"
"Yeah, well, I don't want to live in a world with secrets," Lucy calmed down enough to stop shouting, but she was still a far cry from being okay. "Earlier you asked why I was dressed like a Mexican wrestler, well, I've recently learnt that my three roommates have all thought about me while... 'self-completing'. So, I'm just gonna wear my winter clothes until I can deal with that fact."
Lucy folded her arms and turned away from Cana.
"But it's better than not knowing."
Cana raised an eyebrow.
"Is it though?"
"Yes," Lucy turned back to her. "It is."
Cana shook her head. "Everything is always about you..."
"Everything is not always about me..."
"It is! It somehow always is! And you know what Lucy, I'm tired of sitting here tiptoeing around you and your little tantrum, so whenever you're ready to talk - you know where to find me."
With the brunette feeling vindicated finally having said her peace, she stormed out of the loft, slamming the door behind her. Lucy's heart was racing. Tensions were high. She couldn't remember if she and Cana ever had a fight like this before, if ever.
Loke and Natsu came into the kitchen having heard the door slam shut.
"Luce, what was that just now...?" Natsu pointed to the door referring to Lucy's recently departed friend. "I heard you guys yelling... is everything okay?"
Lucy turned away from him. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of her friends over this, but she could already feel the tears coming. Loke however, was immediately amused by something else.
"Oh goodness, would you please?" Loke gestured to her outfit, barely containing a laugh. "A winter hat and a burly coat is not gonna stop us from thinking about you time to time, when we delight ourselves!"
Lucy threw her hands up in the air, and groaned at the reminder of her chagrin. "Oh for the love of-!"
Natsu's concerned look was progressively replaced with a grin of mischief as he caught on to what was happening.
"Oh, I get it," he said, leaning over the counter at her. "Did you know that this is actually kind of a fantasy of mine? Hey Luce, can you say the following words out loud? "The ice roads are too dangerous! You're gonna have to turn back, Chief."
Lucy groaned aloud again as the boys laughed.
Thankfully Lucy was spared from their taunting by a knock on the door. When Natsu went to open the door, one of his flings - Holly stormed in impatiently, completely tired of Natsu's excuses and wanting her scarf back.
"Okay. I want my scarf," she demanded as Natsu scurried in a panic after her. "It is 62 degrees out, and I am freezing."
"N-no! I had work," Natsu stumbled over his words as she made her way to the hallway and a beeline for his bedroom. "I-I have plans. I..."
He looked to Loke for help who urged him to control the situation.
"Get in there!" He yelled.
"Holly!" Natsu captured her by her upper arm and she stopped. "Can I just pay you for the scarf?"
"Fine. $25."
Natsu's eyebrows shot up.
"$25?! No, I think I'll just help you look for it," he relented.
"Natsu baby, where'd you go?"
Out came a short, curvy woman from Natsu's room in nothing but a small, gray towel to be met face to face with Holly. Holly's jaw dropped. His roommates looked on in second hand embarrassment, or amusement.
"Are you kidding me?!" Holly cried.
"It's a bear," Natsu skirted haphazardly in between them. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "There's a magic bear in there! That's all it is, is a magic bear."
"Just stop," Holly cut him off. "Just..."
"Natsu, who is this?" the girl in the towel asked. Securely in her arms was Holly's self-enclosing scarf. "Can I have this circle scarf?"
"It's my scarf," Holly snapped at her.
"What? Says who?!" The seminude woman said defensively, as she yanked the scarf back when Holly tried to take it away from her.
"It's mine!"
"No, it's mine!"
"How? It's mine!"
Amidst all of the arguing between the girls, Cana made her inevitable return to the loft, considering she left in a bathrobe, and her car keys were still in Loke's room.
"Natsu, I just want you to know that I am not judging you right now!" Lucy called from the kitchen counter in an effort to throw shade towards Cana. "And your secrets are always safe with me!"
Cana glared at her then rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah. Right, sure."
"Ladies, let's not do this," Loke said attempting to mediate. Of course he couldn't hold back his grin at the idea of the two of them fighting over him. "At least not with our shirts on."
"Do you know how many things I haven't told you?" Cana said, approaching Lucy again.
"No! I don't, because, apparently, I don't know you at all!" Lucy flew off the handle. "Are you running a 10K tomorrow? Who knows? Are you even against MS any more? Beats me!"
In the background of their arguing, the conflict between the two women in front of Natsu escalated until they started getting physical with each other, having a tug-of-war over the scarf, even swatting at the scarf to get the other to let go of it. Not wanting things to escalate, Natsu got in the middle of them to get the scarf and break up their confrontation, but to his misfortune, they simply stopped swatting at each other to swat at him.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" He cried, looking to his friends for support. "They've stopped hitting each other, and now they're just hitting me!"
"All right, you want to go?" The argument between Cana and Lucy continued with the brunette rolling up her sleeves. "This New Year's, I wasn't at my parents' house. I was down in St. Bart's with a guy, who might've been an arms dealer. And my feet aren't whiter than yours," Cana continued. "I only told you that to make you feel better! And when we were ten years old, I went to the movie My Girl with Lucy Ashley, before I saw it with you!"
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Natsu continued.
"And... I own a motorcycle!" Cana cried.
'A motorcycle?' Loke raised an eyebrow.
Meanwhile, Lucy was about to cry. She couldn't hold it back anymore, absolutely hated being at odds with Cana, and the Lucy A. revelation only serving to make maters worse. While not too big of a deal on it's own, the fact that Cana was spewing out another hurtful secret to intentionally hurt her threw her over the edge.
"Lucy Ashley?! Lucy freaking Ashley?!"
"Oh, my God, are you crying under there now?!" Cana asked, exasperated.
"No!" Lucy tried sucking in her tears indignantly. "No!"
"Well I think you are!"
"No, I am not!"
"All right, EVERYBODY STOP!" Gajeel entered the living room groggy eyed with boxers and a white tee, his powerful presence and menacing bellow effectively silenced the entire living room. He was trying to sleep in that morning after a long sleepless night, but the immature shenanigans and petty drama occurring in the loft thanks to his roommates was preventing him from doing so - and he was pissed.
He needed his beauty sleep.
"Wherever you are right now, I need you to just sit down."
Natsu and the girls who were fighting over him quickly and cautiously crouched to the ground in front of the couch, eyeing Gajeel the whole time. Cana and Lucy separated from each other by he kitchen stove as they, along with Loke slowly walked over to the couch and yielded.
"Okay, now, Saturday is a day for sleeping," Gajeel said with everyone's attention. "And damn it, you will not take that away from me! You...!" Gajeel pointed to Natsu's most recent overnight guest.
"Give her the scarf back. Finders keepers is not a thing that adults do." After she returned the scarf, he pointed at Holly. "You...!"
"Get out of my house!"
"Who are you?" Holly asked.
"Who am I? Who am I?" He said theatrically, deepening his voice. "Well, I am Theodore K. Mullins. And Natsu is my lover on the down low. Tell her, Natsu. Tell her how it really goes down in apartment 4D!"
Loke's eyebrows grazed his hairline as Gajeel continued. Natsu kept shaking his head in mortification, wishing to God that he would stop. For a minute, he didn't think he and Gajeel should share a country, let alone the same blood.
"Oh, great negro spiritual," Gajeel just kept going. "Please come down and loose these chains on this woman! Flesh on flesh. When the lights are off, we are all the same."
"Not true," Natsu said, still mortified.
"Dear lord... HELP ME, Father!"
Gajeel took a pause, feigning getting emotional.
"Get out of my house..." he said after a beat. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
"Yeah... I'm out," Holly said getting up.
"I'm leaving," chimed in the other girl. Then she turned to Holly. "Hey, can you give me a ride?"
"Well, I've got extra clothes in my trunk in case you want to...?" Holly said, referring to the girl's current attire of only a towel.
"Bye, girls." Natsu said weakly.
They both ignored him as they started talking and walking out, seeming to form an instant and unlikely friendship (at Natsu's expense). As the girls leave, Gajeel continued with his 'Theodore K. Mullins' bit.
"You want them over me? Over me?!"
As soon as the outsiders were gone, Gajeel broke character. His face dropped and he pointed at Natsu.
"You... You're sweating so much, it looks like rain, and you..." he turned to Loke.
"You, you're peaking, man. You're at the prime of your life," Loke glowed at the praise.
Gajeel turned to Cana. "Cana, get rid of the motorcycle. And Lucy," he turned to his final roommate.
"Don't act like you don't think about us too, when you're going solo," he said to her, raising an eyebrow. Lucy's eyes bulged. "Yeah, I don't work a 9:00-to-5:00, I'm here in the day time and I can hear you!"
Lucy blushed out of embarrassment.
Natsu's jaw instantly dropped. "Wait what?"
"Yes!" Gajeel threw his hands in the air, patience being shot. "Now all of you, go away... because I'm having cereal."
"Runners, take their marks."
Later on at the marathon route, Lucy and Cana stood at the starting line with a plethora of other participants with numbers stapled to their chest, bending over and stretching. The pair of best friends, despite standing next to each other, only eyed each other occasionally as they stretched until they were given the mark to start running.
Almost all of the runners took off at breakneck speed at the sound of the gunshot firing in the air. Cana and Lucy took off running with Cana taking the lead with perfect running form, meanwhile Lucy found herself falling behind, with not just Cana and other in-shape runners, but also other out-of-shape runners found themselves overtaking her as well. She was practically tripping over herself.
"Why do all female runners look like old German women when they run?" Natsu asked lazily as he, Loke and Gajeel loitered about a pit stop for Lucy and Cana the boys had created at about halfway into the route. He sat on the fence in jeans and a hoodie with his feet on the cooler of room-temperature bottles of water and orange slices Loke brought for them.
"Oh, boy, look at her glisten!" Loke admired as he saw Cana race up in the distance as blood glistened off her black sports bra.
"Oh man Cana," Loke said as she approached the boys, jogging in place. "That sports bra is doing God's work right now."
Gajeel shook his head looking at the duo. "Two months..."
"I can't stop," Cana said in between pants. "I got to beat Lucy."
After Cana took off back on the route, one of the other runners - a fat, elderly man, who was sweating profusely - came over to the boys' pit stop and snatched up one of the water bottles without permission, much to Loke's frustration.
"What are you...?" Loke asked as he noticed the guy getting closer. "What is wrong with you, sir?! That is Cana's water! You animal!"
"Look," Loke turned to the boys. "This thing with our girls has gotten out of control."
"Our girls?" Natsu raised n eyebrow.
"Yes Natsu, our girls. It makes me really sad to see them fighting over me like this."
Natsu rolled his eyes until they were damn near to the back of his head. If the two of them were fighting over any guy, it certainly wouldn't have been him.
Finally, a wheezing, sweaty Lucy clumsily approached the boys.
"Hey..." she folded over and panted. "Have you guys... seen... Cece...?"
"Yeah, she's way down there," Gajeel pointed. "Hasn't even broken a sweat."
"Luce, okay... Luce, arms up," Loke coaxed her, seeing how much she was suffering. "Arms up. I need you long and loose like sea grass," he started demonstrating for her. "We gotta keep moving. Move-"
He was cut off when Lucy sucker punched him in the gut.
"Don't talk to me asshole!"
"Oh my God!" He cried, doubling over. "Why?!"
"I'm sorry," she apologized instantly. "I'm just mad at you... my adrenaline is going."
She paused when she finally got a good look at the shirt he was wearing. It was a plain white-tee with nothing other than the words 'See Cece Run'.
"Did you make that?" She asked him.
"What?"
"And Cana... let you wear that?"
"What?" He asked again in confusion. "She thought it was funny."
Lucy gasped suddenly in realization. She took off running on the path ahead. "Cana!"
"What's that about, man?" Loke turned to the boys confused. "I mean, I think the shirt's pretty funny, no?"
They quickly invalidated him.
"Not funny at all."
"Puns are creepy, and they freak me out, and you know that."
"Well, I like it."
"Natsu!"
The pinkette sprung up and almost fell over on the fence he was laying on, when he turned the two girls running very pointedly and angrily towards me.
"Oh, no, no, no," he panicked. "I hooked up with both those girls last week," he explained to the guys.
"I didn't know they knew each other. I thought they just lived in the same apartment."
The two girls approached the stand with their questions locked and loaded.
"Why didn't you call me?!"
"Why didn't you tell me you hooked up with my roommate?!"
Natsu silently gulped as he put his hands in his pockets and bravely stepped forward.
"Willow..." He approached the first girl. "I didn't call you because I had a family emergency."
"Is everything okay?" Willow asled concerned.
"Well, my dad's not always..." Natsu shook his head, diverting his train of thought from divulging any further. "Yes, yes, it is."
"I'm so sorry Natsu."
Gajeel and Loke secretly shared looks behind the pinkette's back. While he was finally doing a good job at lying to these girls and finding excuses that sounded legitimate, the boys wondered if maybe he was getting too good.
"And Megan, I didn't tell you about Willow because the moment we had was so beautiful and intense, that for a second I thought we were the only people on the planet."
"Oh," Megan swooned, her face turning red. "O-Okay."
"Well, we'll see you later," Willow said.
"Bye," Megan waved.
"Bye, guys."
Loke was beaming with pride at his blossoming student. "That was so good Natsu, my pants just got tight."
All remaining parties who heard him crumpled their faces.
"Oh, God..." Natsu cringed. "Now I hate me as much as I've always hated you."
"Skin," Loke proclaimed proudly, holding out his hand for a high five. Natsu grumbled as he reciprocated.
"See, I have to do this now," he said to Gajeel.
"No, you don't. Don't do it," Gajeel warned.
"Yes, I do," Natsu said shamefully.
"So. Much. Skin." Loke continued proudly.
"Cana?" Lucy wheezed out, finally catching up to her. "Cana, I can't... breathe. Cana, I know why you didn't tell me about Loke..." she wheezed. "It's because you like him!"
Cana almost stopped. "What?!"
"The shirt, Cece. You thought the shirt he made was funny, so you obviously like him. It is the only explanation for thinking that's funny."
After taking a moment to think about it, it hit her. "Oh, my God... I think you're right."
"And you didn't want to tell me 'cause you knew that I would know," Lucy continued. "And you weren't ready to admit it to yourself."
Cana sighed. "Okay, well can we just say that I didn't tell you because I'm a total bitch? 'Cause I'm waaay more comfortable with that," she sighed again.
"Maybe I do like Loke..." Lucy's revelation seemed to be a bit of a missing puzzle piece for Cana and why she reacted so defensively to defend her keeping their fling a secret. She liked him. That's why she couldn't tell Lucy. She enjoyed the alone time she had with him and she didn't want outside influences to ruin what they had. Cana was starting to feel like maybe it was something special.
"You... You can't tell anyone," she turned back to Lucy.
"Of course Cece," she said. "And uh... Cana? I just wanted to say... I'm really sorry... about everything."
"Awww, I'm sorry too chica," she cooed. "And thank you for apologizing."
"Now come on," Cana said, picking up speed. "We got to finish."
"Ow, ow ow!"
"Come on, chica!"
The girls finally approached the finish line, and at this point night had already fallen, all the other runners finished the race and the event officials had already left leaving only the guy responsible for storing away the finish line banner.
"Hey, here they come." shouted excitedly, as they spotted the girls. "Here they come!"
"Come on, guys! Let's go!"
"Come on, ladies!"
"Be strong! Come on!"
"Come on... Come on... Finish strong!"
Cana, and Lucy, leaning on her best friend, finally crossed the finish line banner. The boys all cheered.
"Good job, guys!"
"Winners!"
"Thanks for waiting, man," Gajeel nonchalantly passed the man a bill.
"Hey, thanks for the ten bucks."
"Guess what, you guys," Lucy panted. "My shoes are filled with blood!"
"Oh God."
"I think it's time to go home."
"A little help?" An exhausted Cana asked, barely holding Lucy and herself up.
With that the boys all worked to help hoist Lucy off of Cana, Loke and Natsu sharing the load of carrying Lucy until Natsu realized how much longer it was taking them to reach the car this way. So instead, he decided to carry her himself.
"All right guys, I got her," Natsu said, scooping Lucy up under her knees and securing her back in his arms. "All right Luce, here we go."
She winced slightly due to her two pulled hamstrings.
"You alright?" He asked.
"My legs feet are in so much pain," she chuckled.
"Well you did good job, Luce," he said with a smile. "I'm proud of you."
Lucy wasn't sure if it was the heat of literally running all day or not, but her cheeks suddenly became so hot they began to sizzle. She buried her face in his shirt shyly. Natsu didn't seem to notice.
With everything out in the open, and the conflict resolved, Cana was in the loft that evening helping Loke prepare dinner.
"What are you doing to that basil, Cece?" Loke asked. "You trying to make it confess? Easy with the knife, Robespierre."
"I will cut off all your weaker fingers, Celeste, and I'm gonna start with your pinky. Don't test me," she warned.
"You guys are adorable."
Meanwhile, from the living room couch was Lucy who watched them with a dopey grin on her face, especially with what she knew about Cana's feelings.
"We are not adorable. Okay?" Loke scoffed. "We are just two people having casual, successful sex."
Lucy raised her hands in surrender, but her grin never left. "My bad."
Loke rolled his eyes at her reaction.
"Please Heartfilia. All right?"
"I can't stand this heat," Lucy continued with a smirk. " So, I'm gonna get out of the kitchen."
"Ow. Ow." Lucy winced as she got off the couch and made the painful route back to her room.
"You should really stretch, Luce," Loke called to her in passing.
"Ow," Lucy winced for the final time, until before she knew it, she was being picked up bridal style and carried to the rest of her destination. Her heart jumped before her mind registered who it was - because her body already knew who.
"Come on, you big baby," Natsu said as he gingerly let her on her bed. "Loke's right you know," he said, referring to Loke's earlier advice before he turned and closed the door behind him.
Despite the persistent pain in her lower body, she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her warm face in her arms. The young teacher was trying to reconcile the thumping in her chest and clear the fog clouding her mind.
She sat in silence...
She said nothing.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen...
"You know, Lucy thinking that we're a cute couple is... I don't... It's kind of a turnoff," Loke said flippantly as he contiued to season chicken breasts. "How do we explain to her that this is just... it's just sex?"
Cana couldn't help the heaviness of her chest at his words. She knew that he was only speaking truth on the nature of their relationship, but she'd be lying if it didn't hurt her feelings a little bit.
A half-hearted, "mm-hmm," was all she could offer in response, focusing on her kitchen. Loke looked over at Cana's station with a scrutinizing glare.
"What is that?!" he asked incredulously. "That is shoddy workmanship is what that is. I'm taking you off prep. Go clean the garbanzo beans."
"Well I'm taking my knife."
"You be careful with that knife! It's from Japan."
A/N: Hello everyone. So this A/N will be from the day I publish this, and the one below would be from last year, with the beginning of this chapter I had written then. So... last year was one of the hardest years in my life. I went through a pretty big change that left me felling... lost... empty. I lost a lot of zest for life, and in me trying to navigate/deal with/go through the pain and grief, I definitely forgot about this story. Matter of fact, I forgot about this website altogether. And I needed time to heal. I know you guys are understanding so I thank you for that in advance. But anyway, I came back to the story because, while I've been taking a lot of this year to heal, slow down, figure it all out etc. Ain I kind of randomly remembered this story, which sent me on a pretty interesting journey of binging my own story because I forgot literally everything that happened up until the previous chapter. Oddly enough, this story, my story, sort of became my own comfort story for a couple of days, and when I got to the end, I really wanted it to continue. It wasn't perfect. I saw quite a few things that I had the urge to go back and fix, but all in all... it was... comforting.
Now, I can't promise that this is the beginning of me updating regularly again, but the only thing I can promise is that this story isn't going to be abandoned. I really hope you understand.
Edit: So, I accidentally deleted the A/N that was written last year, but it was basically explaining the decision to include Hades (he's just Russell from the show guys) and thanking the reviewers, rao hyuga 18, AJ, and Fluffy Experiment. To you guys, and any and ALL reviewers... thank you. Because other than the chapters themselves, you guys were the best part of this story. It always felt like an interactive experience with you guys, it felt like a little community almost, and that made me happy. So again... thank you all for making me feel so loved and being on this journey with me. This wild, wacky, goofy I had set on a year ago to make New Girl, but a Fairy Tail version LMAO.
And now, with all the formalities out of the way... what'd you think (about the chapter I mean)? I honestly wasn't even sure if I knew how to write this chapter, because not only had I forgotten about this story, I definitely forgot most of the details from show. Still, is anybody out there reading this?
I guess this is peace out for me. Until next time beautiful, wonderful people.