How I Met You

by apriiil

Bickslow lived a certain life, and with a certain lifestyle comes consequences. Of course, he never expected one of those consequences to quite literally show up at his front door and ruin his day.

5. Something's Different

So it's another long chapter, and a lot happens in this one. Like, seriously... You'll see.
But thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter!

Now on to this one!

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Lucy could only do so much to silence her inner voice that was absolutely screaming at her for being so stupid. All she wanted to do was channel her inner house-elf and hit her head against a wall or a set of drawers or with a book. Repeatedly.

How could she say something so moronic? Why did she say it at all? She hadn't thought it through at all.

Besides, Bickslow wouldn't kiss her anyway. Even if he did want to, which Lucy was certain he wouldn't because they were friends and it would be weird, he couldn't. She was, as he had put it, off-limits. For the rest of her life, she would be off-limits to each member of his team, all because she had dated Laxus for a month and a half. It wasn't like she'd ever want to be with anyone on Bickslow's team, but she couldn't help but find it just a little annoying.

So what if she'd dated Laxus? They'd ended on amicable terms and they were pretty good friends to that day. She was a big girl and she could make her own decisions, and even though she would never, ever date anyone like Bickslow because she valued him as a friend too much to begin with, she didn't appreciate knowing that her past relationship could and would possibly interfere with her non-existent future one.

Stupid guys and their stupid bro code.

None of it mattered though. She would never date Bickslow, or even like him in that capacity. But as much as she realised she did want to kiss him right then for reasons she had yet to figure out, she knew she couldn't. Bickslow wouldn't. She was sure of that. It was just a stupid idea and she was hating herself for it.

She didn't look up to see the way that Bickslow was just staring at her in complete shock in confusion as she quickly began to apologise. She couldn't look to Bickslow. Not then. God, she was just so embarrassed. "Sorry. I… I didn't really mean that. I don't even know why I just said that… Like, at all…"

Bickslow almost stopped listening to the words coming from her mouth. He could see her lips moving and the way her face seemed to become even more flushed, not that he was really sure how it was even possible at that point. He still thought it was cute as hell though, and he was beginning to realise he would always find her blushing cute.

But she had actually said the words. He was sure of that then. She had said that he could kiss her. He knew that it was really just because of him having his tongue pierced and she was obviously curious, but he just didn't quite have the heart to tell her that it really didn't make a difference. Not with kissing, anyway.

As she continued to ramble and apologise for saying something so stupid and how he wouldn't want to kiss her anyway because it would be far too weird, Bickslow found himself with a bit of a dilemma. It wasn't a case of not wanting to kiss her, because he did. A lot. He wanted to do a lot of things to her and he had for a while, but he knew he never could. Aside from the entire issue with the bro code being an actual thing, half of the things he could only fantasise about happening would just never happen because they were friends. Nothing more than friends, and definitely not anything less.

His problem though, was that he really wanted to do it. Screw the stupid bro code. It's a kiss. So fucking what? It wasn't like Laxus would ever find out about it anyway, and even though it would be just a little weird to basically be making out with her (if she wanted to know what it was like, he would really show her, despite how little the piece of metal in his tongue changed anything), he wanted to do it.

It was just a kiss. No big deal. All Bickslow had to do now though was find a way to get Lucy to shut the hell up. But even then, it wasn't like Bickslow had any idea what to say. 'Yeah, I'll kiss you. Let's go,' just didn't seem like it would work. If anything, Bickslow didn't really want to say anything, so he didn't. Instead, as the blonde next to him continued to ramble and apologise some more, Bickslow lifted a hand to her cheek to finally have her looking at him instead of her lap, and he quickly pressed his lips to hers.

All of it happened so quickly that all Lucy could do was blink at Bickslow, who was at that point, looking as equally confused as she felt like. She could tell, because she was quite literally looking right at the slowly blinking eyes right in front of her own. She knew she'd made some sort of noise when she'd been startled, but it had only been smothered and drowned out by his mouth. His almost perfect… Still unmoving… Firm yet perfectly soft lips… On hers.

Part of her was truly surprised that Bickslow had even kissed her – or technically, still was, sort of – in the first place, but there was a much large part of her that was suddenly glad he had and she didn't quite understand it. Just like how she didn't understand why her inner voice had made itself scarce and if she listened closely, she was sure she could hear it sigh in contentment and disappear off to some far off land filled with rainbows, sunshine, and strangely, great sex. She wasn't quite sure where that had come from, but she figured it had something to do with the fact she was kissing Bickslow.

Lucy could only finally close her eyes just as she relaxed against him, and with Bickslow quickly following suit, their lips slowly began to move over one another. As soon as it happened, Lucy was quickly realising something was wrong. Or not so much wrong as it was different. That's what it was. There was something seriously different about it. Even with just their lips moving, it was damn sure the best kiss Lucy had ever had, and she was realising that Bickslow being a great kisser wasn't all that surprising. Or maybe that was just the haze setting in that was saying that. Lucy just wasn't sure.

She couldn't understand why her heart was beating so fast behind her ribcage, or why she felt like she almost had a warmth blossoming out of her. It was even almost… Her thought trailed off as his tongue lightly traced along her lower lip, finally, and all she could do was sit up slightly to lift her own hand to thread her fingers in the hair on one side of his head.

Lucy quickly found herself not caring about anything around her. She barely even noticed the piercing after the first sweep of his tongue against hers. She just didn't care. She didn't care about the way that Bickslow only seemed to be trying to pull her closer with one hand on her hip, and she didn't care that she was letting him. She needed to be closer; she needed more of that feeling that made her glad she wasn't standing.

When she slowly shifted until she was straddling his lap, only forcing him to put one foot on the floor, Bickslow didn't care in the slightest. If he'd had the ability to care though, he was sure he wouldn't have. There was just something about kissing Lucy that had his mind almost completely shutting off. All there was rattling around in his brain was how there was something simultaneously so wrong and so damn right about… Well, about whatever it was that was happening.

Bickslow had never felt almost lightheaded from a kiss. He'd made people feel that way, but never himself. Not once. But then? He was basically done for, and all he could do was beg his mind to just shut the fuck up with its incessant worrying and fretting about how there really was something that felt right about kissing Lucy, and it really wasn't just in his head. He just didn't know where it was or what it was.

His hands only continued to slowly smooth up and down her sides, brushing over that sliver of creamy flesh between the shirt and her jeans, before settling on her covered ass, over and over. If anything, he couldn't tell if it was all in an attempt to get her to stop moving so much, to try and pull her even closer if it was even possible, or to get her to moan quietly again against his mouth, because god did that feel good. Strangely.

It was only when an extraordinarily loud – in comparison to the rest of it – bang came from the movie playing in the background did the two finally begin to come back to themselves, the loud noise having pulled them both from their dazes in a matter of seconds. Almost reluctantly, they found themselves pulling apart, and their eyes slowly opened to look at the flushed faces of the other.

As the fog in her mind lifted and her heavy breathing slowly began returning to normal along with Bickslow, Lucy quickly realised some things, and all in the seconds where they only seemed to stare at each other and silently ask the question of what the fuck had just happened.

First, Lucy realised that the almost exhilarating jolt of electricity she'd had running through her – and had made her almost want to curl her toes – long enough to almost forget about it was a feeling she had both never experienced before, and was one she missed. That exhilaration and that something deep within her that had her only wanting more. So much more.

She still couldn't even explain what it really was or what she was really feeling, but she knew it was something.

Second, it was the position they were in. No longer was she sitting over his lap and tangling her hands up in the thick hair of his mohawk. Instead, she was literally lying on top of Bickslow who was lying back on the lounge. How that had happened, Lucy had no clue whatsoever, and as she slowly got her bearings along with Bickslow, she paid special attention to the way one of his hands left the back of her head, and the other slipped down her waist from where it was sliding just barely under her shirt, and to the floor.

Third, it was that Lucy had been, and still kind of was, more than willing to go a lot further than just being sprawled out on top of Bickslow with their legs somewhat tangled together on his lounge. And from what she could tell, Bickslow obviously was too. If she could be embarrassed at that point, or even mortified, Lucy was sure she would be. But she just couldn't be for whatever reason, because all she could think about was doing that again.

"So uh…" She finally began to sit up slowly, her hands moving down from his shoulders and over his chest to walk her up into a sitting position. "I guess we um… Got a little carried away," she mumbled, and as she looked down to see the actually flushed face of the Seith mage below her, she fought hard not to smile.

It was strangely cute.

Bickslow shrugged slightly from beneath her, and she only got a quiet grunt as a response. Carried away? Yeah, understatement of the fucking year. That had been more than getting a little carried away. Now, Bickslow was only too aware of his babies giggling in his head. A high pitched 'ooh la la,' a 'show her some more of what you can do with that tongue!' and a 'get a room, lovebirds,' was more than enough reason to be wanting to find a way to permanently silence them again, but of course, he would never be able to do that.

Some days, Bickslow was almost certain his lack of sanity was due to the annoying voices he really did constantly have in his head.

Still, even if he was doing his best to tune them out right then, there were some things he really couldn't ignore. Aside from Bickslow not really knowing why he felt like his heart was still beating too damn fast and why there was a stranger and deeper feeling beneath it, both of which he desperately wanted to ignore because they were terrifying questions with terrifying answers, he couldn't quite ignore the fact that Lucy was still sitting on him.

Any other time he'd probably have made a joke about how her current position would be a whole lot better for the both of them if they were without clothes, but not then. Definitely not then, because all Bickslow could think about then was getting her to move the hell off of him so he could deal with his shame elsewhere or something.

Or go check on his daughter even though he knew full well that she was perfectly fine and asleep still. The babies did tell him that when the thought crossed his mind.

Just anything to get him temporarily away from Lucy so he could forget about the fact that just making out with her had made him hard. Granted, it wasn't exactly that surprising, because it had been Lucy damn Heartfilia on his lap, but still. He would really rather not dwell on that at all. Ever again.

Clearing his throat, Bickslow sat up on one elbow. He didn't even care how embarrassed he looked right then as he looked up to Lucy. "Do you mind maybe um…Moving?" He only saw her brow furrow slightly at his request, and so he mumbled, doing his best to make his voice seem closer to normal and hopefully not as raspy as his last sentence had come out, "I really don't want to spell it out or anything or make this situation any more awkward than it already is, but I mean, you're kinda… I'm kinda…" He paused for just a brief moment as his eyes flicked down to where she was straddling his hips and his confined arousal, and as he looked back up as Lucy did, he saw the realisation finally (thank fucking finally) set in. "You've had to have noticed."

Did she notice? Oh yes, she had noticed. She'd never quite forgotten once she had noticed it, actually. But she was realising just how uncomfortable the situation had become, all because she'd made the conscious decision to sit up and only sit up instead of actually getting off of Bickslow. Well, it had been a semi-conscious decision.

As a shriek fled her mouth, followed by a series of mumbled apologies, she removed herself from his lap and untangled the last of their limbs, and quickly sat herself down on the opposite end of the lounge. She tucked her feet up under her as she pressed herself into the corner of the far too comfortable lounge, and as she made a point of not watching Bickslow pick himself up and only silently go out into his main living area, she could only try and bring her knees together in an attempt to relieve some of that tension between her legs.

Right then, sitting in that room alone and trying to decide whether she should still stay or just go, Lucy was definitely glad the weather was getting too cold to wear skirts every day. She was sure that if she'd been wearing a skirt right then, there was a good chance she would have almost torn it off at some point, and it would probably be on the floor somewhere in amongst the clothes Bickslow had been wearing. Kissing had done nothing to sate her curiosity about his piercing like she'd expected it to, and now she was only wishing she could really find out just how much of a difference a tiny piece of metal could do.

While Lucy was sitting silently in the lounge room and internally berating herself for letting the strange thoughts even cross her mind for the briefest of seconds, Bickslow was practically doing the same thing. Just from the kitchen… And with his forehead repeatedly hitting one of the cabinet doors above the kitchen counters. Not loud enough for Lucy to hear it even though his lounge room and kitchen were only separated by a wall and a built-in pantry that surrounded his fridge plus a few counters and cabinets, but hard enough that his forehead was beginning to hurt.

Bickslow was, for once, feeling almost absolutely mortified. That didn't happen. At all. He practically had zero shame when it came to… Well, anything. But with what had happened right then, it was a completely different story for some reason, and Bickslow just didn't want to know why. He didn't want to know why Lucy goddamn Heartfilia was making him feel… Well, making him feel anything in general, actually.

In the back of his chaotic mind, there was just one single thought, and it was that something else had happened. He didn't know what, but it was something; there had been something else there. Bickslow was stuck between being certain of that, and telling himself that he was just overthinking. Which, was something he tended to do sometimes.

But the point remained that Bickslow had kissed a lot of people, and by that stage in his life, he had mastered the art of doing so and remove all meaning from it. No attachment or feelings or anything. But what had just happened with Lucy was not that. It wasn't as if he believed it was meaningless, but he also didn't believe it was meaningful. It just couldn't have meant anything though because it was Lucy.

And for fuck's sake, it was just a fucking kiss.

Calm the fuck down, man. I'm just overthinking. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sure, it was a great fucking kiss, but… Bickslow sighed as he opened the cabinet he had his forehead now resting on, and only pulled out a packet of microwave popcorn. He needed something to distract himself and get the distressing thoughts out of his head, even if they were proving to be epic boner killers. "Doesn't mean a single thing," he whispered to himself as he stood in front of the microwave and watched the bag slowly begin to inflate. "There's not a something. There's nothing. Nothing at all."

"You so totally like her," Puppu said slyly.

"I do fucking not," Bickslow grumbled silently. Where the hell did that come from?

"Do so," they all countered.

He rolled his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest and leant back against the island counter and stared intently at the microwave. "I do not like her, babies, and you know that."

"But that kiss!" Poppo sighed.

"You can't deny there was a spark!" Pippi added.

Bickslow's brow furrowed as he listened to the rampant sounds of the babies in his head. Spark? What's this about a spark? Isn't that the thing in romance novels? "Huh? Spark? What the fuck is—"

"Ooh, that electrifying attraction!" Pappa sighed along the rest of them, giggling as Bickslow's head only conjured up images of Lucy and Laxus, unfortunately.

"You two are destined to be together…" Puppu crooned.

"The Cosplayer and her valiant Knight… Soulmates until the end of t—"

"Alright. That's fucking it." As the microwave beeped, he quickly pulled the door open and then slammed it shut. He wasn't going to deal with his non-human, non-mortal children giggling in his head about him apparently liking Lucy, there being some sort of spark between them (whatever the fuck that meant), and definitely not that she was his soulmate and that they were destined to be together. Bickslow had a pretty lax personality that went along with his strange sense of humour, and even though he found practically everything funny, there were some things he did not.

At the things going around his head, he wouldn't laugh at a single one. No, they were just annoying, and they were really not helping him forget about the entire situation any sooner. And really, that was all he wanted to do.

Hearing the snickering in his head and the triumphant cries of joy over irritating the living hell out of their master in just a matter of seconds (almost a new record for them, actually), Bickslow grabbed a large bowl from a cupboard and tore open the bag of popcorn and began pouring it in. Cleaning up his mess around the kitchen before going back into the lounge room, Bickslow silently began, "Now if you lot do not shut the hell up and drop this, at least until Lucy is gone, I will find a way to release you and you will go back to the wandering and lost souls you once were." He paused just to savour the brief moment of silence his threat offered. Then, "Another peep from you tonight though about anything other than Scarlett, and I will put you in spare keys and lock you up in a box somewhere for the next three days. I know you guys like your freedom, so do we have an understanding?"

"… Yes, Bickslow," they all mumbled quietly after a moment's hesitation.

Smirking to himself as he picked up the bowl and slowly headed towards the lounge room, Bickslow asked, "Now what is it we're not going to do tonight? Or better yet, never again?"

"Not going to call Cosplayer your soulmate or say you like her."

"Because you llllllove her!" Pippi added quickly to a chorus of giggles from the other four.

Bickslow frowned. "Pippi…"

"Sorry."

Bickslow only shook his head as he finally made his way back into the dim lounge room, and then sat himself down on the lounge next to Lucy again. Not so close that she would be leaning on him again, but close enough that they weren't on opposite ends of the lounge. If he'd wanted to make things awkward, he could have sat on the opposite corner of the lounge. But if anything, it wouldn't really put them any further apart, thanks to the magic of trigonometry and the fucking hypotenuse.

Besides, if he tried to act like a kid and put some distance between them, it would be just a little immature. Even by his standards. They were grown adults, and they could move past what had just happened and forget it even happened.

As he settled himself back on the lounge next to Lucy, his legs crossed under him and the popcorn in a bowl on his lap, Lucy made herself comfortable too. If Bickslow is acting like nothing happened, then so can I. Only mimicking his position, she found that their knees would only occasionally brush against each other with the slightest of movements, but it was enough to have warmth flaring on her cheeks again whenever it happened.

Watching the movie with a lack of interest, Lucy knew she needed to do something to ease the tension in the room. It was almost unbearable. And granted she knew she could just go home instead of staying, but she didn't want to. Not just yet, anyway. Quickly reaching over to steal the bowl of popcorn from Bickslow's lap, she dropped it on her own and took a small handful from it. "You know," she began with a mouthful of popcorn. "I really thought the piercing would make a difference, but it didn't."

Bickslow smirked as he stole the bowl back. "I could've told you that."

"Well, you didn't."

"Did you really expect me to let that opportunity go to waste?"

Lucy's eyes went wide at his blunt response, but she couldn't stop the corner of her mouth from lifting up slightly into a small smile. So that was how it was going to be. They weren't going to completely forget it happened, but they could at least joke about it. That was fine, and if anything, Lucy preferred that. If she thought about it, it actually was just a little entertaining. She'd just made out with Bickslow of all people, because for some reason, her slightly messed up brain had thought it would be a somewhat good (or purely fucking terrible) idea to know what it was like to kiss someone with a tongue piercing. Only to get completely and far too carried away, and end with her wanting to (and still just a little) jump his bones.

In what world was that not just a little entertaining? Shrugging slightly, Lucy softly said, "Fair point." And with the popcorn bowl between them instead of silently and constantly taking it from the other, they began to actually focus on the movie. But of course, given they'd missed a good portion of the start, that was only after Bickslow explained what they'd missed when they'd been too busy with their tongues halfway down each other's throats.

By the end of the movie though, Lucy was quite literally too scared to go home. She had quickly realised it was some form of horror movie, and ordinarily, that wouldn't have bothered her. You know… If she'd had her human torch and security blanket – otherwise known as Natsu – to chase away the shadows on the floor from the trees moving outside in the wind, or if every single light was on in the house. But this one? This one had completely terrified Lucy, and there had actually been a time where Bickslow had actually had to pause the movie because he'd been laughing too much at the blonde who was hiding her face in his arm and flinching every time something happened.

Gone was the awkwardness from earlier in the night, and in its place was just pure entertainment for Bickslow. He'd never thought he would live to see the day where Lucy jumped from the shadows dancing across the carpet in his lounge room thanks to the large tree at the back of his yard, or for her to curl up in a ball against him when his daughter started crying suddenly.

Of course, Lucy didn't find any of it as entertaining as Bickslow did. Not in the slightest, because she really was too scared to go outside. She could stare a Vulcan in the face and not feel a single shred of fear running through her, but she couldn't go outside where there were creatures that lurked in the shadows. Or at least, that's what was going through her head at the time, and yes, she knew just how silly it was.

"Alright, Cosplayer," Bickslow chuckled as the moved the now empty popcorn bowl to the side of him as the credits began. "Movie's over. You can look now."

Cautiously, she only turned her face away from where it was pressed against his shoulder, and just enough so she could in fact see the credits rolling on the black background, the ominous music being turned down by Bickslow. Confident that the credits weren't going to have her screaming and jumping into Bickslow's lap to cry, she pulled herself away from the Seith mage and sat up on her own. "Oh… I see."

With that, Bickslow only got up to take the bowl back to the kitchen and get a bottle ready for Scarlett, having figured out that she would be getting hungry pretty damn soon. Lucy was left alone in the now thankfully bright living room after he turned a light on as he made his way out. She could hear Bickslow rushing about in the kitchen now, and his footsteps disappearing down the hall before coming back, and as he walked past the archway separating the living area and the lounge room, she could see he was holding Scarlett now.

Sighing, the blonde picked up her bag from where it was on the floor by the lounge, and swung it over her shoulder. It was definitely getting late now, and despite how scared she now strangely was of walking home alone in the dark and how much she didn't want to, she knew she had to. There were no creatures lurking in the shadows.

Or at least, she hoped there weren't.

"So that movie was completely terrifying, and now I need to go home and curl up in a ball in bed and sleep with all of the lights on," Lucy chuckled nervously as she came back into the main living room and headed across to the door.

Bickslow only briefly glanced up from where he sat on the lounge next to the large bookcase and in the front corner by his front door, and his lips quirked upwards as he looked back down to Scarlett, keeping her steady in one arm and the bottle held in his other hand. "Don't need anyone to walk you home and make sure nothing will jump out at you on your way?"

"No, thank you very much," she scoffed. Of course, walking home with someone would probably be a lot nicer and would definitely ease her fear of suddenly getting mugged by a damn shadow or something, but Lucy couldn't quite tell if Bickslow was serious and he meant himself. Surely not… Right? She mentally shook her head at the absurd thought. Bickslow wasn't actually offering to walk her home. It was a joke.

Besides… Even if he did mean it, he couldn't. He had Scarlett to take care of and she really didn't want to give Bickslow another reason to laugh at her, because she could see herself jumping five feet into the air if a stray cat decided to jump out of an alley as she walked past.

"But if I do get scared, I have a feeling Loke will come to my rescue to save me from the shadows," she giggled, and she barely registered the way Bickslow seemed to frown for the just the briefest of moments.

"'Course he will," he muttered.

Lucy smiled. "You know it. Well, I'm off." She finally began to pull the door open and an instant shiver ran down her spine when she felt the cold bite of the autumn air. "I'll be over in the afternoon tomorrow, not in the morning. I just need to go to the guild and sort out my team and let them know I haven't actually been abducted or anything crazy."

"You're not going to tell them about any of this, right?"

"It's not my place to tell, so no. I'll just say that I've been helping a friend with something."

Bickslow nodded. Aside from him not believing that her team would accept that half-truth very easily, he still needed it to be his secret for a little while later. Or, really, their secret, because Lucy was the only other person who knew. Just a few more weeks, that was all Bickslow needed. He needed to get himself settled, or at least the best he could, before he let anyone else know that he had a daughter now. He just didn't need that stress, and as much as Bickslow didn't like that Lucy was having to keep that kind of secret from her team and her friends – hell, the entire fucking guild – he was glad that she was.

"Thanks, Lucy." He sighed just before he looked up again, then clearing his throat to ease some of the awkwardness he now felt – fuck, why is her smile so gorgeous right now? – and quickly looking back down, he said, "But yeah, it's late, so I'll see you tomorrow. Get some rest for once."

"I'll try," she said with a smile. "Goodnight, Bickslow."

"Night." With the door closing behind her, Bickslow was once again left alone in his house, with his only form of human socialisation being very one-sided conversations with a not even two-week-old baby. If it wasn't the babies constantly in his head – something he was sure was going to drive him clinically insane a whole lot faster now that they'd found out they could irritate him by bringing up Lucy and whatever the hell had happened earlier – that would make him just a little crazy, then it would be talking to his daughter.

It wasn't like it made that much of a difference anyway. He was practically always talking to himself anyway. Scarlett obviously couldn't, and the babies were mostly just extensions of his own thoughts and personality…

The fact that Bickslow was only now just remembering that detail about the souls he kind of liked (sometimes) had him worrying yet again. Bickslow had long since realised that the babies tended to have a habit of making him realise what he already knew – one of the many perks of hearing every single one of his thoughts and seeing just what was in his head.

But, they still did have their own personalities, and a lot of the time when they were trying to drive Bickslow to threatening to take away their freedom, it was actually them. Not extensions of his thoughts, but being their own annoying as all hell immortal little bastards. What they'd said before, Bickslow was realising (or really just hoping) was them trying to annoy the living hell out of him. It was quite literally impossible for that to have been a case where they were pulling out fragments of what he already knew and phrasing them in a way that wasn't as chaotic as when in his mind.

It couldn't have been like that. Not a chance. They would have just seen what was bouncing around in his head at the time as he tried to figure out just what the absolute fuck had happened when he'd kissed her (even though Bickslow hated the idea of there being a something that had happened, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it for the last two hours and he was beginning to be convinced that there had in fact been something. That had not been strictly normal, and Bickslow knew it), and they'd just used all of it to drive him insane and tease him about it. It wasn't exactly that out of the ordinary for them to do that.

Shaking his head and instead staring down at Scarlett in his arms, he chose not to dwell on it any longer. The more he thought about it, the more it confused him, and the less sense it made. As much as he tried to tell himself that it was nothing and just a really fantastic (like, surprisingly great) kiss, something always felt wrong when he thought that. But… He wasn't going to focus on that any more. Nope. Not at all.

Instead, he would focus on Scarlett and bonding with her and figuring everything out.

And… Realising that Lucy had still been wearing his shirt when she left. It was only then that Bickslow remembered that he'd actually forgotten to wash her shirt. But it wasn't all bad though, because she really did look good in his shirt. It probably would have looked a whole lot better on the lounge room floor with the rest of her clothes (and his), but he still didn't think an oversized shirt could look so good.

Only on Lucy, he realised. No one could ever make a guy's shirt look as good as she did.

---

By the time Lucy was walking into the gated yard to Bickslow's house the next day, it had just barely passed noon. She hadn't gone into the guild until mid-morning as it was, having left Bickslow's house around midnight and then spent the next few hours tossing and turning and trying to block the damn Seith mage out of her head so she could get some rest. Plus, not to mention how every single creak and groan in her apartment building was making her just curl up in an even tighter ball under her blankets.

Never again would she watch a movie that Bickslow had chosen. Not unless it was some form of children's movie.

Her team, not that unexpectedly, had bombarded her with questions about what it was she had been doing and who the mysterious friend was, but Lucy didn't budge and she kept her secret. Or really, it was Bickslow's secret. After a while, they'd eventually accepted it and that she wasn't actually being blackmailed or wasn't been threatened, but that had only been because she'd told them that she'd be able to tell them in a few weeks. Maybe. Lucy wasn't all that sure if Bickslow would want her team knowing, but she figured that once his team knew, then it would spread like wildfire around the guild, so it would at least be another week and a half until anyone else found about it.

Freed would tell Mira, if Evergreen didn't tell Elfman and Elfman got to her first, and Mira would probably pass out. And then she'd squeal about red-eyed babies for the next few hours and probably spend the next week at least in Bickslow's house.

Lucy hadn't stayed in the guild all that long though. It had really just been a quick visit to call off the watchdogs that were her team and prove that she was alive and well. Seriously, how Erza could actually believe that she'd been abducted all because she hadn't been in the guild for a couple of days was something Lucy would never be able to figure out.

Still though, part of leaving the guild after just a couple of hours (honestly longer than she'd wanted to be there, but it had been expected) was because she found herself preferring to be at Bickslow's. Aside from the fact that she was just a little disappointed she had missed out on Bickslow cooking breakfast again (she was hoping that she'd be in time for lunch though), she really had enjoyed the last few days with Bickslow, even after the previous night's… events. It was just that right then she would really rather be with Bickslow instead of her team.

Reaching the small porch, she pulled out her set of house keys with Bickslow's on it, and then pushed open the door with a smile. It only managed to get brighter for some reason when she saw Bickslow sitting cross legged on the sofa at the front of his house with Scarlett all wrapped up in his arms, and when he looked up at her with a great – though tired, admittedly – big grin, Lucy was almost sure she felt her heart skip at least half a beat if that was even possible.

"Hey! You're here!" Bickslow said quietly yet excitedly before the blonde could get a single word in. Carefully moving an arm from under Scarlett, he patted the spot on the lounge just next to him before bringing the newborn into both arms again, cradling her against his chest. "Come. Sit."

An eyebrow rose curiously at the Seith mage's strange (or stranger than usual) behaviour, and with the door closed and locked behind her, she made her way over to the lounge and sat down right beside Bickslow. "You're in a good mood today," she said with a quiet laugh. "What's brought that on?"

If Bickslow could say it was because Lucy was there, he would, because for whatever reason, seeing the blonde walk through his door seemed to brighten his day even more all of a sudden. He didn't really know why, of course, but it was just another mystery to add to the pile that had been growing overnight.

Instead, he only shrugged as he smiled down at his daughter. "Dunno. Just one of those days, I think," he answered. "But I really shouldn't be this happy, because I'm so totally and completely exhausted that I think I'm actually over-tired right now."

"Well, did you get any rest last night after I left?"

"Nope. Well, maybe a little bit. I was too busy thinking about..." He paused right before he could blurt out that he'd been too busy thinking about her to get any sleep. He hadn't been able to shut his mind off or pull its focus away from Lucy for very long at any given time, and he truly didn't know why he was like that. His smile only faltering for just a moment, Bickslow quickly continued, "Doesn't matter what I was thinking about, actually. But then Scout—"

"Scarlett."

"—was crying a lot, and then it just wasn't worth trying to get any sleep anyway, so I just put together her crib because I didn't really know what else to do. So… No, I didn't get any rest after you left."

Lucy sighed as he frowned once again. When running on a severe lack of sleep, Bickslow obviously tended to have moods that could easily fluctuate, and that was something Lucy was quickly realising. She did still feel a little sorry for him though, even if it was something that he was going to get used to over the next few weeks and months. Regardless of him now being a father to a newborn girl though, having zero sleep was not the way to do things. If Bickslow got stuck with the mentality that it wasn't worth getting any rest at all, then he would soon crash and burn and that was something Lucy didn't want to see happening.

Looking down to Scarlett – she had realised why he had the name Scout in his head, but she still wasn't so sure why he was so set on giving his daughter that name, even though she was now legally named Scarlett – in his arms, sleeping peacefully, Lucy softly said, "You need to make sure you get at least a little sleep every day, Bickslow. You can't do this without it."

"I know, I know. I just… I wanted to, but I just couldn't," Bickslow replied. He desperately wanted sleep that much was for sure. It was just that things kept getting in the way, and by the time the sun came up, he just didn't really feel like it all that much. Of course, it was something he was now regretting. "I was going to try and get some sleep just before, actually, because I didn't think you'd be here for another couple of hours at least. Not that I'm not glad you're here, because I really am because you're amazing and all."

She turned away slightly as a blush crept onto her cheeks along with a small smile.

"But then she was crying and she wasn't crying and then she fell asleep… And then I didn't move," he said quickly and quietly as a bright smile once again graced his face. "Because she's so tiny and so perfect and I just… I don't know what it would be like if I didn't have her right now, and I know it's strange because it's only been like four days, if that. But I already love her so much and she's just… She's completely taken over my heart and my soul and just my entire life already. And then when I sit here and look at her, I don't really want to do anything else but hold her."

Oh my gosh. That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. Hands down. Nothing can top that. Nope. "Aw, Bix," Lucy whispered, and looking back down to the object of his affection, she gently lowered her head to rest on his shoulder. "That's beautiful. It doesn't even matter how long it's been though, because she's your daughter and that's the way you're supposed to feel."

"I suppose so." Bickslow knew Lucy was right though. She was always right, and about absolutely everything, as he was realising. Scarlett was his daughter, and in a way, he really was supposed to love her as much as he did. She was his, and she was already the centre of his world. Bickslow was realising that he would do absolutely anything to keep her safe or even happy, because that was what he was supposed to do. He was a father, and he was her father.

But when Bickslow was holding her, he almost felt… At peace. And especially so when she was actually quiet. He didn't quite understand why he felt that way, but he didn't need to know why he did either. It just didn't matter, because it was his daughter, and she was perfect in his eyes. In just a few days, Bickslow really had completely fallen in love with her. Screw falling in love with anyone and getting married; Bickslow didn't even think he would be capable of loving anyone else now. Not as much as he loved Scarlett, anyway.

Along with still trying to accept and deal with the fact that he really was a father now, he was having to accept that he really did have a heart and a soul. On multiple occasions, he'd been called heartless and soulless – usually by women, of course, but there had been the odd guy – but he was only now just realising that it wasn't even possible (well, aside from the fact that it really was impossible for him to be without a heart at the very least). He had a heart, and he had a soul, because his not even two-week-old daughter had them between her tiny hands and she didn't even know it.

Bickslow figured that was part of the reason why he could just sit there holding Scarlett for what felt like hours on end. Just because he had the most important thing in the entire world to him so close, and he knew for certain that she was safe and happy in that moment in time.

Plus, Bickslow had realised that she would occasionally laugh (or something close to laughing) and smile in her sleep, and he was convinced that it was actually the most adorable thing he was ever going to see in his entire life. So when she did it again right at that very moment, the corners of his mouth turned up into a wide grin and he only quietly laughed to himself at the sight along with Lucy.

"Okay, I think that is quite possibly the cutest thing I will ever see," Lucy giggled.

"Tell me about it." Sighing, Bickslow carefully turned Scarlett in his arms, and towards Lucy, then softly said, "Here. You can hold her. I've been sitting here for like an hour and my arms are starting to hurt."

"Oh… Okay." Just a little reluctantly, Lucy took Scarlett into her arms and settled back against the lounge, bringing her feet up and crossing them under herself and mimicking Bickslow's position. Lucy had to admit she did like Scarlett – a lot, in fact – and she really loved holding her. She was just so small and adorable and so easy to just cuddle with. She understood how Bickslow would want to do nothing but hold her, because Lucy could see herself being the same way if it was her daughter in her arms and not Bickslow's.

That wasn't to say she wanted to let Scarlett go right then, because she didn't. She was quite happy just sitting there for a little while longer… Or a lot longer. Even if Bickslow had decided that her shoulder would be a resting place for once. Lucy found herself not really minding though, even if she was sure she was going to get a very sore shoulder should he stay there for too long.

It was as they sat there in mostly silence, the only sounds coming from Scarlett or Bickslow and Lucy laughing quietly at the newborn's laughter, Bickslow was realising that just sitting there right then felt nice. He didn't know if it was just because it was peaceful and he felt almost relaxed, or if it was because of Lucy. He just didn't know, and it was another answer he didn't think he wanted to know.

But it was nice just sitting there with Lucy and his daughter. He was sure it was his sleep deprived mind that was making him think that it felt almost like they were a family and that it was their daughter and not his, because there was no way he'd think of something like that if he wasn't severely lacking sleep, even if the fact that they would have been an actual family at that very moment was something that he didn't expect to be getting out of his head any time soon.

He still almost wished Lucy hadn't told him, because he really hadn't been able to stop thinking about it for long or look at Lucy and not think, 'holy fuck, I would have married that?!' And right then, looking down to his daughter in Lucy's arms, Bickslow couldn't help but really wonder how things would have been if he'd stayed. Would they have been sitting together and smiling down at their daughter (or son) when she was that age? He just didn't know.

Sighing, Bickslow quietly began, "I know you don't like me bringing up anything about how we were technically supposed to be married and all that, especially since all I've done is joke about it so far, but I mean, it's your fault it's stuck in my head in the first place, so…"

"Bix, what are you thinking about now?" she asked softly as she turned her head just enough to glance down to the Seith mage leaning on her shoulder.

"I'm just thinking about how I'm twenty-four in a couple of months right, but if we hadn't been on Tenrou for all that time, then I'd be turning thirty-one instead."

"Okay…"

"Well… You know that if I'd actually stayed and hadn't left right before I turned eighteen, then we obviously would have been married once you turned sixteen. Which is seriously just a little weird and I'm just a little surprised they still haven't changed that law, because I would have been like nineteen and a half by the time we actually got married." He paused just long enough to tell himself to stop getting off topic, then, with another sigh, he slowly said, "But that's not the point. The point is that if I'd stayed, and if you'd stayed for those two years until you were old enough, neither of us would have joined the guild and we wouldn't have gone to Tenrou for the S-Class promotions at all."

"Which means right now, we technically would have been married for more than ten years, because I'd be twenty-seven and not twenty," Lucy finished. She'd quickly figured out what it was Bickslow had been trying to say once he'd mentioned Tenrou Island, and just hearing the words she'd said out loud just made it all seem just that little bit more real.

It was still just a scenario that technically should have happened, but that didn't really change anything. Ten, nearly eleven years – depending on when in the year they were married – was a long time to be married for someone, and a lot could happen in that time. Or really, a lot wouldn't have happened in that time, especially if they'd actually been married. Bickslow was right though: they wouldn't have joined the guild, they wouldn't have met the way they did, or known their teams and their best friends. They wouldn't have been frozen on an island for seven years or been to the Grand Magic Games and won. They'd both be stuck in a world that they'd grown up hating and be forced to follow its rules.

Bickslow would've taken over as head of his family's business rather than his brother, Lucy would've no longer been a Heartfilia by name, and they'd have been married.

Right then, Lucy couldn't help but think about what their life would have been like at that exact moment in time if things hadn't turned out the way they did, and it only brought a pain to her chest that she hadn't expected.

"How many kids do you think we would have had?" Bickslow suddenly asked thoughtfully as he lifted his head from her shoulder, only leaning forward to rest his chin in his palms with his elbows on his knees and staring off into the space before him. "I mean, we would have had to have at least one because of obvious reasons, but we could have had more than one. Maybe."

Lucy looked away instead of back down to Scarlett, a frown etching on her lips, and she softly said, "I… I don't know."

"Hmm, me neither," Bickslow mumbled. One? Two? Three? He just didn't know. He wasn't even entirely sure why he was thinking about it, but for whatever reason, he was finding it just a little entertaining to picture the life that he could have had should he have stayed with his family. "What about us? Think you would have fallen for me in that time?"

"Bix… Can we—"

He continued before the blonde even got a chance to ask him to stop. She didn't want to be having that conversation any longer, but Bickslow was yet to realise it. "Eh, I doubt you would have," he said with another sigh. "Considering you're set on no one finding my Bickslow charm attractive. Not that it even would have existed, because I probably would have been a completely different person to what I am now if I'd stayed. Not to mention the entire forced marriage thing. Yeah, that's totally a great way to start a loving relationship. Still would've knocked you up though. At least once."

Quickly, before Bickslow could start rambling once again and before the tears in her eyes - the ones that she absolutely hated and the same ones she didn't want to ever have to explain to Bickslow – spilled over, she rose to her feet, keeping Scarlett cradled in her arms. Doing her best to avoid looking at Bickslow, she quickly said, "I'm um… I'm just going to go put her down somewhere quiet since you have a few more things to do today, like finish painting and… And getting the rest of her nursery furniture put together…"

Bickslow could only watch in confusion as the blonde turned down the hall and no doubt towards his bedroom to put Scarlett in the bassinet. He had an unshakeable feeling that he'd done something to upset her in some way, but he really had no idea where it had come from, or how he would have even managed to do so in the first place. She didn't seem like anything was wrong, but Bickslow just felt like there was all of a sudden.

"Babies?" He blinked as only four of the souls in their wooden bodies floated down and hovered around him, the fifth, Pappa, going to stay with Scarlett and following Lucy. "Did I do something?"

"You're still not very good at talking to girls, Bickslow," Poppo said quietly.

Bickslow frowned. It was the truth, unfortunately. Flirting and just generally pissing them off was easy, but talking was something else entirely that he was still figuring out sometimes. And with Lucy… Bickslow just really didn't want to actually fuck up talking to her, because he'd already done that. "Was it something I said?" he mused, staring up at the floating dolls. "It was probably the entire marriage and kids thing, right? Ah, fuck. Why the hell did I even say that?" He only groaned and dropped his face to his hands, all while internally cursing his stupidity.

Yeah, great, Bickslow was realising that considering all things, being forced to be with Lucy probably would have been the only upside to the entire forced married thing. Even if they both would have been close to being completely different people, having not joined the guild and met everyone and become who they were right then, they still would have been themselves, in a way. They would have been in a completely different world – one they hated – and they would have been married and they'd have at least one child together, just because they would have had to.

Things wouldn't have been all terrible, because they could have been. Hell, he probably would have started making jokes (that would probably be quite serious after a while) about how they could run away and join a mage guild and leave behind the world they didn't want to be a part of.

But still, right then, Bickslow wasn't thinking of what life they could have had, had things happened differently. He was thinking of just how he'd managed to upset Lucy. Even if he had realised over the years that he'd known her that she was, for the most part, good at hiding how she felt, especially when she was upset, Bickslow could tell when things weren't right with her. And right then, he was more sure of that and he just didn't know how or why. Before, it had just been inklings and suspicions that there was something else going on with her, because she'd always act just a little differently when she was down. But then, it wasn't that. He was sure he'd upset her.

"I've gotta go say sorry," he mumbled, quickly rising to his feet. He didn't really know what he was saying sorry for, other than upsetting her, but he had to.

Walking down the hall, he cut her off just as she was coming out of his bedroom. Her head was down as she pulled the door closed and only left it a little ajar, but he could see her drop her hand from her face. Is she… Is she crying? It hurt Bickslow to even think about the possibility that he had made her even want to cry without even realising what he'd done to do that.

Before she even had a chance to look up, Bickslow quickly stepped forward and pulled the blonde into his arms, wrapping them tightly around her back. He sighed as he turned his head to rest his cheek on the top of her head, and before Lucy could say anything, he softly said, "I feel like you need a hug right now, and I know you probably don't want one from me since I'm the one that upset you, but I still want to give you a hug. Because I'm sorry."

It took Lucy a moment to relax against Bickslow, having quickly found herself with her face pressed against his chest and right below his chin. Did she need a hug? Lucy was realising that she did, and she really didn't care if Bickslow was the one to give her one. He really did give the best hugs and was the perfect height for her anyway. It was just that Lucy didn't quite understand why he needed to apologise for anything. It wasn't really Bickslow's fault that she was upset and crying, even if it was his words that had caused it. It wasn't like he had any clue what they'd do to her though, and she sure as hell didn't want Bickslow to ever know.

Nodding silently, she wound her arms around Bickslow's waist, a quiet sigh escaping her as she slowly closed her eyes – if anything, it was in an attempt to stop herself from crying in front of him and on him. That was really the last thing she needed, and she could only hope that telling herself to stop over and over in her head would actually work. "You don't have anything to apologise for," she mumbled with another sigh.

"Yeah I do," Bickslow replied instantly. "I know you're upset because of something I said, or maybe something I did, so of course I have to say sorry, because I hate knowing that I even made you want to cry."

"You… You didn't." Damn it, Lucy. Get yourself together. Don't cry.

He frowned when he heard a muffled sob come from her then, and Bickslow could only try and pull her in tighter against him. As much as Bickslow had thought making a joke about how their entire marriage probably wouldn't have lasted that long before they decided to just run away and join a mage guild to get a divorce would be something that would make her laugh (possibly at him, too), he didn't think so anymore. He just expected it to do more harm than good if he said it then, so he kept his jokes to himself.

Instead, he quietly said, "Well, I still promise to never talk about the entire marriage thing again. No more talking about how you definitely wouldn't have ended up falling in love with me and no more questions about how many kids we would have had." Feeling the blonde in his arms tense for just the barest of moments as another cry was smothered some, Bickslow's brow furrowed. Without a doubt, it had to have been something he'd said, but Bickslow still couldn't place what it was. He knew that it had something to do with how things could have been, but that was it. Not wanting to make the situation any worse though and putting aside how suddenly worried he was about Lucy, Bickslow added, "But for now, I'm just going to shut up before I make you hate me or I hate myself any more for upsetting you."

"Please d-don't hate y-yourself," she sniffled.

"Can't help it. But you know that if… If you ever want to talk about anything, or even just to call me out on something and tell me what not to say, then you can. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, y'know. You'd be surprised what I know because of the babies."

Lucy only let out a weak laugh before burying her head in his chest. She realised it wasn't all that surprising that he'd know probably far too many things about those in the guild, and things that he was obviously not supposed to know. That didn't mean Lucy would tell him just why she hadn't been able to stop herself from crying, no matter how good he claimed to be at secret-keeping. "I'll keep that in mind," she whispered.

And so with that, they stayed like that in the hall. Lucy didn't expect to find being in Bickslow's arms so comforting, but she did, and it was what she needed to calm down and get her thoughts back to a place she actually liked, and Bickslow just had no issues with holding her until she was okay again. Lunch, doing the second coat of paint in the nursery and finishing up a few other things could all wait. To Bickslow, making sure Lucy was fine was more important than all of those, even if he still didn't exactly know how he'd upset her in the first place.

Not yet, anyway. One day, though, he hoped to find out, whether it be something stupid or not. All he had to do for now was make good on his promise.

---

Like Lucy had every other morning and time she'd been to Bickslow's that week, she walked up to his door with a smile on her face. Her weekend had been fabulous, and also spent with Bickslow, and despite crying for a small portion of it, she still found herself preferring to be at Bickslow's rather than at the guild. She didn't quite understand it, but she just didn't care all that much. Bickslow made her laugh and she was happy spending time with him, and Scarlett – who was still being called Scout every now and then because Bickslow had still yet to get the name out of his head – was too adorable not to see every day.

As she pushed the painted black door open and gently closed it behind herself again, Lucy wasn't all that surprised to see the living area empty. The majority of the boxes and bags that had been scattered around on his table and counters were gone, with the nursery upstairs being mostly done by that point anyway. But Bickslow was also nowhere to be seen, so like she had the day before when she'd arrived in the morning, Lucy headed down the hall after hanging her bag over the back of a chair at the dining table.

Just the day before when she'd gotten there, she'd found Bickslow sitting up in the middle of his bed with one of the books they'd bought nearly a week earlier sitting in his lap, looking quite comfortable surrounded by his pillows. His black rimmed glasses on (something Lucy had only just found out he needed occasionally because he got some pretty bad eye strain and horrible headaches every now and then from constantly suppressing his magic, and the glasses made it easier to read sometimes), coffee sitting on one of the nightstands, and his daughter wriggling around just beside him so he could look down and check on her every minute, all wrapped up in her blanket to keep her warm.

This day, though, she wouldn't have been surprised if she found something similar. She had woken up early from a nightmare (or at least, it was what she was calling a nightmare because it was yet another night where the stupid Seith mage had been what she saw in her dream world. It was the third night in a row she had dreamt of Bickslow, and it was driving her insane because she just had no idea why it was even happening) and she hadn't really known what else to do with her time. It wasn't worth going to the guild, and it wasn't outrageously early, anyway, but it was early enough that she figured Bickslow would be awake. Besides, he owed her breakfast again, and like he would for the next week.

As she walked down the hall and towards the bedroom, her first guess as to where Bickslow would be, she ended up finding Bickslow in the hall, right as he came out of the bathroom. He was rubbing a towel over his head and wearing just light grey jeans, that to Lucy, sat almost deliciously low on his hips, leaving his entire torso bare, and Lucy was realising that he was a whole lot better looking up close. The only problem though, aside from the fact that Lucy was sure she had seen what her eyes were telling her was actually black ink through the light trail of dark blue hair right above the visible waistband of his briefs, was that Bickslow had no idea she was in the hall.

And it was almost a shame, really, because in the few incredibly short seconds it had taken him to come out of the bathroom with the towel over his head and shielding his eyes, Lucy had only really caught a glimpse of what was under all of his shirts, and she was really almost wishing it had been more than a glimpse.

But still, the real problem was that with Bickslow being unaware she was there, he only managed to blindly turn out into his hall and collide with her. Lucy had of course tried to side step the Seith mage too, but she hadn't moved fast enough or been able to get a single word out in the few seconds it had taken for him to walk out and into her, and she could only let out a quiet yelp in her shock, because she was sure she was going to fall flat on her ass because of that idiot.

Except she didn't, because as soon as Bickslow had realised that what he'd run into in his hall was not a soft wall that had suddenly appeared, but it was in fact a person, he quickly snaked an arm around their back as his free hand gripped the doorframe of the laundry door to keep himself steady, dropping the towel from his hand in the process.

All he could do was stare down at the same blushing blonde who had literally been at the centre of his dreams for the last three fucking days. Granted, they'd been very, very pleasant dreams, but if he had to wake up to the babies giving him hell about it one more time, he was probably going to lose what was left of his sanity. And at that point, he was borderline clinically insane as it was.

So there they were, frozen in the hall and staring at each other in silence and shock, with Bickslow still leaning over with the blonde supported in one arm just a couple of feet from the ground, with her holding on to that same arm like her life depended on it. And to her, it felt like it did, though part of her really did wish he hadn't caught her and that she'd landed on the floor. It would be much less awkward, and Bickslow could whole heartedly agree with that, because right then, all he could think about was how easy it would be to just lean down and seal those perfectly soft and plump lips of hers with his own. Or pull her up and do the same thing. How didn't really matter, because literally all Bickslow cared about right then was getting to kiss her at all.

But he couldn't do that. Because aside from being too damn perfect if he could kiss her again, it would just be too damn weird. And it would just make things so incredibly difficult for Bickslow. The last few days after Lucy's experiment had been hard enough for him as it was, with him still trying to figure out just what it was he felt around her and especially when they got just a little too close.

It was almost as if being around Lucy over the last few days had been like he was trying to kick a bad habit, but the temptation was still constantly there. Lucy was his temptation, and she was constantly there, and she had no fucking clue what she had done to him, his mind and god knows what else, all from a damn kiss. One that he wanted to have again, because holy hell had it been more than great. For a kiss, that is. The problem was that he didn't want to actually want Lucy so badly. He just couldn't feel that way, whatever the fuck that way was. He still hadn't quite figured out what that way was. He just knew that he certainly felt differently.

Lucy though, she could barely keep her eyes away from the gloriously tensing muscles in the arm that was holding her… Or his chest, or even his stomach…

Glorious was quite literally the only word that came to her mind then. Bickslow was just… Glorious. And sure, she'd seen him without a shirt before when it was hot enough for anyone to use the pool at the guild and she really didn't look a second time (or at least she didn't most of the time), because it was Bickslow and he was one of her best friends, and she wasn't exactly going to blatantly ogle him. Though, she had just once when she'd been drunk and been sitting with Levy, Cana, and Mira, and Lisanna, and Juvia by the pool and there had been a game of volleyball going on in the water and none of the guys playing had been wearing shirts. As Cana had put it once, summer was open season for checking out the eye candy that the guild offered them. The guys seemed to love the discreet attention, and it wasn't like they didn't do the exact same thing to the girls.

But right then, Lucy just didn't quite know what to do with herself. Up close, he was definitely something to look at it, and she was having to remind herself not to move her eyes down. She was sure that if she looked down and tried to see if it was in fact a tattoo hidden beneath his pants, then she would probably not be able to turn her eyes away. Lucy was beginning to think it should be illegal for a man to have hips that good. And he was a guy. They'd just be so perfect for her to wrap her legs around. All she wanted was to see a little bit more of them though… Not much. Just a tiny bit more…

Damn it, Lucy. Get your mind out of the gutter! This is Bickslow you're thinking about. No. No! No wrapping legs around him. Never. No. Think of something else. Do not think of how glorio—oh, here we go… Jesus fucking Christ, Lucy. Just say something. Anything!

"…Hi."

Bickslow was pulled from his thoughts and he blinked slowly at the blonde, his fingers wrapped around the doorframe only moving ever so slightly to keep himself braced. Hi? Is that all she fucking says? Bickslow knew she liked to write, so surely she should have been able to come up with something other than 'hi'. Little did Bickslow know, of course, was that Lucy really couldn't come up with anything other than that, not when she had a very shirtless Seith mage just above her and keeping her from the ground.

"You're uh…" Bickslow paused to clear his throat, and almost reluctantly, his gaze flicked up to meet her own, rather than her lips. "You're here early." Granted, it wasn't really that early, being only a little after seven, but every other day she'd arrived in the morning it had been at least after eight.

"I-I couldn't sleep," Lucy mumbled as she felt the heat on her cheeks only increase. "And I figured you'd be up anyway."

Couldn't sleep? If only Bickslow could tell her how he understood that all too well, all because of her. He'd only woken up half an hour earlier for the last time that morning, and the images he'd conjured up in his sleep of the same blonde quite literally in his arms right then were still fresh in his mind. It was still making it incredibly difficult to not just kiss her right then, especially so when her tongue darted out to glide across her lips quickly.

She was killing him. Absolutely killing him. And she had no idea she was doing it, and he didn't even know how she was doing it. "Right," he mumbled. "Are you… Are you okay though? I mean, I did kind of bump into you and you did almost fall." Slowly coming back to himself and ignoring the babies giggling in his head and just telling him to kiss the girl, Bickslow couldn't help but worry about the possibility of having hurt her. It was unlikely, but he worried about it, even though she'd have a higher chance of having hurt herself if he hadn't caught her.

"I'm fine, since you did catch me and stop me from landing on my ass…"

The corner of his mouth tugged up into a smirk that only made Lucy glad she was once again not wearing a skirt (and being held up by Bickslow), because if she was, it would probably be up around her waist and she would have been on the Seith mage in a second. No smirk that sinful (and sexy) should be legal. Dear god, Lucy… Get a hold of yourself. She'd only been trying to figure out where those feelings were coming from and she'd had the last nearly three days to try and determine just why all she could think about was the stupid Seith mage and his stupid smirk.

"Well, didn't I tell you just the other day that I'd catch you when you fall?"

"I… Y-You… You did, but that was… That was then… Not now," Lucy stammered as she thought back to the first day of painting the nursery where she'd only ended up lying on top of Bickslow. She could only see the similarities in their situations, because once again, Bickslow was failing to let go of her. Or in this case, pull her back up. "But um…" With her face a deep pink and her eyes flicking everywhere but to the shirtless mage above her (oh, that wall is pretty!), she mumbled, "I would actually like to get up… You know, stand on my own…"

Silently, and with his smirk still in place, Bickslow straightened up, dropping his hand back to his side as his other arm remained around her waist. Bringing Lucy back up quickly, she only managed collide into him once again as Bickslow took but a single step back, except this time, she was only pressed up against him with her hands lying flat against his chest.

Absolutely killing me… "Better?" he whispered, his voice slightly husky. His pounding heart in his chest went mostly ignored – he didn't have the time to question why he felt that again – like the babies in his head that only pointed out how Lucy really didn't look like she'd mind all that much if she were to find herself with her back against one of the walls on either side of her. And honestly, Bickslow wasn't doubting it, even though she almost looked like she had no idea what she was doing as her hands slowly grazed down his chest and over his stomach. Slowly and with only feather light touches, but each one was driving him insane and she still didn't know it.

He was sure that if her hands ventured any lower that he wouldn't be able to control himself though, because even right then he was having a hard time doing so. It was Lucy, for crying out loud. He couldn't do anything with her, no matter how much he wanted to or maybe even how much she wanted to. In that moment, Bickslow was more confused about the situation than he had been in the last three days, because it was quickly becoming obvious that something had changed.

Something was very, very different between them ever since that kiss, and neither seemed to know why or what.

Just as slowly as Lucy's hands moved down with her eyes, Bickslow's hand sought her hips, and he turned her carefully in the hall until her back was towards a wall. It was only when Lucy actually felt the wall against her back and Bickslow's arms on either side of her with his hands pressed firmly against the wall did she finally emerge from her daze. Her own hands instantly fell away from where they'd stopped level with his navel, and her eyes quickly shot upwards and to the face that was right in front of hers.

She couldn't quite tell if she was in heaven or hell right then. Her heart was screaming heaven, her head was yelling hell, and everywhere else was just frantically trying to figure just what the actual fuck he had done and was currently doing to her, or was telling her that it didn't fucking matter where she was. His dark eyes, impossibly wicked smirk, and his damp, towel dried hair that only seemed to slowly settle itself however the hell it wanted to were all putting Lucy on the precipice of actually hating the man. He was driving her insane, and that was without opening his goddamn mouth to say anything.

Bickslow wasn't even sure what he was doing, if he were to be perfectly honest. He was vaguely aware he was playing a dangerous game right then, but it didn't really matter. All he had to do was make sure things didn't get out of hand too quickly, because that was bound to happen if he didn't keep himself in check. His eyes only occasionally flicked up towards her own, finding it too hard to tear them away from her slightly parted lips. The way Lucy was then, it was almost as if he was having as much of an effect on her as she did with him. That just couldn't be right though… Could it?

Maybe…

That thought was sure to be one he'd be up all night thinking about at some point, but right then, it only had him leaning in just a tiny bit more, barely anything at all and almost without thinking about it. "Are you okay?" he asked so softly he'd barely heard it himself.

Okay? Am I okay? Lucy was confused, but with the lump in her throat and her mouth feeling too dry to get a single word out, not that she thought she'd be able to make anything other than some form of whimper, she could only nod quickly, her eyes once again meeting Bickslow's before they flicked back down to his lips.

"Are you sure?" Bickslow asked again as he continued to slowly move his face closer to hers. "You don't need me to stand here just a little bit longer before I go put on a shirt? 'Cause I really don't mind all that much if your hands decide they haven't had enough yet."

She only sucked in a sharp breath at his words, but it did nothing to fix the lack of oxygen going to her head. She was almost dizzy right then. So far past confused, but suddenly wishing she was wearing a skirt, just because it would be so much easier to get out of the way, though she was still incredibly glad she was wearing very dark jeans. Just his damn words – words that shouldn't have made her an almost quivering mess – had made it so there was like a goddamn torrential downpour between her thighs. Lucy could only wonder if that was how Bickslow usually was; if that was the way he was when he was flirting with anyone that wasn't her. It was different to every other time he'd come close to hitting on her, Lucy knew that much.

The problem though? The problem was that Lucy wished it wasn't just his usual brand of flirting that was only ever meant as a harmless joke. No. No, Lucy. You don't wish that. Damn it. What the hell is going on? Her conscience that had made itself scarce was suddenly coming back right at the perfect moment. Quickly, she only managed to shake her head, still not knowing how to speak again. She didn't need Bickslow to stay there, and as much as her hands just itched to be back on him – anywhere – they stayed by her sides, her fingers curling within the fabric of her shirt.

He was almost just a little disappointed though. "Well, the offer will be there when you want to take it…" Bickslow was just about to leave in his hunt for a shirt from the dryer in the laundry when he stopped. He wasn't quite done with Lucy just yet, and it was the almost annoying need for her and the possibility that he wasn't the only one realising something else was drastically different that had Bickslow almost completely closing the last shred of distance between them. "But just as something to keep in mind," he added just as quietly as his lips only barely brushed over hers with each syllable. He couldn't kiss her, not like he wanted to, but he could tease her. That, he was having a feeling he would be very good at now. "It would only be fair if I get to do the same as whatever you do to me. So wherever your hands go on me… Mine go on you."

And just like that, he was pushing away from her with that annoying and stupid smirk on his face, leaving the blonde alone in the hall and staring at the opposite wall for just a moment before Bickslow came back out of the laundry pulling a shirt on over his head as he disappeared down towards the living room.

Lucy didn't even know whether to be mad or glad that he hadn't actually kissed her, but she was closer to mad, if anything. Damn it, she'd wanted him to kiss her! Fuck it all, because she wanted him to do a lot more than kiss her and she had for the last three goddamn days. And at that moment, slumped against the hall and trying to get herself to calm down, Lucy was sure of two things.

One, he was probably going to kill her.

Or two, he was going to make her ruin all of her panties.

One of them was going to happen, if not both of them. And would Bickslow notice just what he was able to do to her? Well, Lucy just didn't know yet. She sure as hell hoped he would notice though, because there was no way she would be able to put up with much more teasing like that before she either threw herself from a bridge to relieve her frustration, or at him. And, well… One of them was a lot more likely than the other.

Slowly coming back into the living room, sure that her face was still the same shade of pink it was when she'd look at herself in a mirror (she'd needed to make sure she didn't look half as horrible as she felt after their hall rendezvous), she could only sigh in relief to see that Bickslow really was fully dressed now. There was nothing to look at apart from his stupid face with that stupid smirk… And the tattoo on his arm that she could see for once, being that he wasn't wearing a shirt with long sleeves.

Seeing the tattoo on his arm again only made Lucy think back to what she thought she'd seen in the hall before. She was sure it had actually been one of the tattoos he said he had but couldn't show her. She was still as curious as she was when he'd said that he had two more, but knowing that just one of them was there and almost level with his hips, well… Lucy could see why he hadn't told her. Or shown her, for that matter. Though with what she had seen, she had no idea what it could be. If it had just been a tiny bit higher, or his clothes had sat a tiny bit lower, she might have been able to have a pretty good guess at what it actually was.

But Lucy had to admit that it was just a little strange how badly she wanted to know what it was, especially considering where it was. For now, though, she would just have to wait to find out. She'd just have to ask Bickslow about it again. If she asked enough, he was sure to crack, right?

Bickslow waited until Lucy was sitting on one of the stools opposite the counter before he finally said anything. As be slowly brought his cup of tea up to his lips, his never faltering smirk still in place just over the thought of what his day would hold, he asked, "So what do you want for breakfast?" Their original deal that he had to cook something new every day she was there and that he couldn't repeat the same dish still held, but he would still ask, just in case she did have something she specifically wanted that particular day.

Her answer though… Well, it wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting. Quickly and completely without thinking, Lucy said, "You." Her eyes went wide as Bickslow arched a brow, only staring at her over the cup he held in one hand. She wasn't supposed to have said that. Not at all. But the incident in the hall was still on her mind, and the worst part was that she really would love to have the Seith mage for breakfast.

Or lunch.

Or dinner.

Or all three.

Damn it, Lucy! You cannot have Bickslow.

Clearing her throat quickly in an attempt to correct herself, her eyes flicked nervously away from Bickslow before she mumbled, "Y-You can do whatever you want." To me. Oh, fuck me… Maybe over this cou—Oh, mother fucker. Just stop thinking already! Damn it! "You can make whatever you want, I meant."

"Suit yourself," Bickslow chuckled as he gently placed his mug back down on the counter. He didn't need to look back over his shoulder as he turned to the fridge to know that she was still blushing profusely. And the quiet sigh that slipped past her lips as soon as he'd turned only gave Bickslow another opportunity to tease her. She thought she'd gotten away with her little slip-up, but oh no. Not with Bickslow. "But I'm only on the dessert menu, by the way. Not much of a breakfast person. Well, most of the time."

Lucy was speechless at the comment, and she could only look down to the counter as she desperately and discreetly tried to relieve the ache between her legs by squeezing them together as tightly as she could. Bickslow for dessert? Now that would be a treat she could live off for a good while.

But she never would. Oh no. Right then, no matter how confused she was about how all she wanted right then was the stupid Seith mage, Lucy was adamant on believing that the only reason she was so turned on right then was because she hadn't been laid in seven and a half months. Which, for her, was still a long time. Bickslow being the giant flirt everyone knew him to be was just irrelevant. Or at least, Lucy wanted to believe it was.

He had no effect on Lucy whatsoever.

None at all.

Lucy could only bitterly and silently laugh at her own thoughts. No effect at all. Yeah, right. It was a stupid thought, because try as she might to deny it, he had done something to her. She just didn't know what.

So just out of fear of saying something stupid that she didn't really mean, Lucy kept her mouth shut as Bickslow just as silently went about getting his secret breakfast dish ready. Why he had rum out, Lucy could only wonder. Wasn't it just a little bit early to start drinking?

When Bickslow was leaning back against the counter next to the stove as he waited for the pan to heat up so he could fry what Lucy had eventually realised was French toast (or at the very least, a twist on French toast since it involved sliced bananas), Lucy found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the tattoo on the inside of one forearm that was facing towards her. She just couldn't get it out of her head, and she really didn't think she would.

She was far too inquisitive to let it go. That's just the type of person she was.

Lifting her head slightly from where it was resting in her palm with her elbow on the bench, she finally broke her vow of silence and hoped to hell that she wouldn't say anything stupid. "Bix?" He looked up suddenly from where he'd been staring at the floor, his eyebrows slightly raised questioningly. Her brow became furrowed as the heat on her face only came back once again, and quietly, Lucy nervously began, "Your um… Your tattoos. I remember that you said you have three, and I obviously know about the one on your arm…"

He only quickly glanced down to the tattoo at the mention of it before he looked back to Lucy, waiting for her to just spit out whatever it was she was trying to say or ask, because Bickslow just had no idea where she was going with it. Why bring up this again? He thought she'd drop it after they'd talked about them in the first place.

"But the other two," Lucy continued, still refusing to meet Bickslow's gaze. "One of them is on your um… Stomach… Right?" She just didn't quite know what to call where it sat, but she knew it was too low to be his stomach. She was not, however, going to start thinking about the anatomically correct terms. Not for that region. Oh no. She would sooner die from overheating.

Bickslow blinked. He'd been about to wonder just how she'd known, considering just three days earlier she'd had no ideas he had any at all (seriously, he'd been just a little surprised she hadn't seen even the top of it in all the years he'd had that tattoo and she'd been in the guild, but he'd only put it down to the blonde not being the type to look there), but then his questioning thoughts were cut off when he thought back to what had happened in the hall not even half an hour earlier.

So she was looking, huh? Granted, it was high enough that he never had it entirely covered, but low enough she'd have no idea what it was. But Lucy was giving him far too many opportunities to tease her that morning, and Bickslow was not going to waste a single one of them now.

Seeing the slow and wicked smirk set on his lips and his eyes dancing with something that Lucy was sure she should be just a little scared of, she could only worry about just what was going through Bickslow's head.

"Oh. You mean this one?" His hands came away from the counter behind him and he slowly began to lift the hem of his shirt up. It was so slow it was almost painful for Lucy to watch, and she didn't quite know why. But then a thumb was hooked into the waistband of his underwear, and teasingly, he pushed it down enough to have Lucy's coffee eyes just making out half of the 'E' of 'me' between the confines of the narrowing ridges of his muscles that disappeared even lower.

And then he folded his arms, and just as quickly as it started, his tease was over. "Yeah. It is," he answered finally. He couldn't show her and he wouldn't show her. Never in a million years, because even when he was really feeling like he needed her right then for whatever stupid reason, he had to get over it. She was still off limits to him, and she always would be. It didn't matter that, technically, he could actually show her just what it said and her dignity would remain intact, because she really wouldn't see much more of him than she had already.

He just wouldn't show her, and she wasn't going to know what it was.

But was Lucy frustrated right then? Just a little. So it was letters and not something else. That didn't help much, and it only had her wanting to know what it said all the more. It just wasn't fair.

---

"Just tell me already!"

Bickslow rolled his eyes for what really felt like the billionth time that day. "No," he said firmly, once again, only following the blonde into his lounge room. "I've probably told you a hundred times by now that you are not seeing it."

Lucy huffed and sat herself down on the lounge, her arms crossing over her ample chest and her legs doing the same under her. "You don't have to show me," she argued. "Just tell me what it says and I'll drop it."

All morning, afternoon, and well into the night, Lucy had been getting on Bickslow's case about his tattoo. Bickslow had thought his little tease would be the end of it, once and for all – or for at least a little while – but it had really only made things worse. He was actually beginning to regret doing what he'd done in the first place, because all he'd done was give her a taste, and now she wanted more. She was too damn curious, and way too fucking persistent.

She was so annoyingly persistent that Bickslow's resolve was wearing thin. He was too tempted to just tell her what it said so she really would drop it, but he really didn't want to do that. He was too stubborn to do that, so he held his ground. Well… For the most part. She'd annoyed him so much that he'd told her what his third tattoo actually was – the red lips on the side of his ass – with the hope that it would be enough for her to forget about the one on his pelvis, but that had also only made things worse. She needed to complete her knowledge of his tattoos.

She didn't care about the one on his arm, or the one on his ass. No. She wanted to know what the other one was, and even if Lucy had wanted to, she just couldn't drop it.

Lucy really didn't need to see it though. She knew it was words rather than an image of some sort, so all she needed was for Bickslow to just say what it said. Why couldn't Bickslow see that it was a simple fix? She was well aware of just how much she was annoying him, and she was just a little proud that she had even had him locking himself in his bedroom for some peace and quiet from the noisiest blonde in his house. Strangely enough, his daughter was not the noisiest blonde that day.

But Lucy had only come in through the bathroom and the closet that connected the two rooms, and that had only ended with Bickslow laughing almost pitifully at himself and a little hysterically over how annoyed he was by her, and he knew she took great pleasure in it. She was refusing to leave him alone, and for the first time in the years he had known the woman, he was beginning to really see why she had Natsu and Gray so goddamn whipped. She always got what she wanted, but Bickslow was being just as annoyingly persistent with her not finding out what it said.

Hell, he'd take it to the fucking grave and she wouldn't even find out about it then. He'd make sure his tombstone only said 'I'M STILL NOT TELLING YOU WHAT IT SAYS, COSPLAYER,' and that his casket was unable to be opened or destroyed once he was in it and it was closed. That's how stubborn he was. What could he say? It was a family trait.

But right then, with the night once again drawing to a close, neither one had yet to give in. Lucy hadn't dropped it, and Bickslow wasn't going to tell her what it said. They'd been at it long enough that he was really beginning to see the humour in it.

So he stood there with a smirk on his face and his arms folded as he shrugged once. "The answer's still no, Cosplayer." When she huffed and looked away, settling herself in against the back of the lounge, he only arched a brow. "Oh, don't tell me you're pouting now?"

Lucy shrugged. "Maybe," she muttered. "All of this would be over if you'd just tell me what it says, but nooo…"

"What are you, like five?"

"No."

"You sure about that?" He chuckled when she only shot him a dark glare before making a point of looking away again. So she turned into a kid when she didn't get her way. How fucking adorable.

Now, Bickslow was realising another opportunity was presenting itself, and one that would actually be of benefit to him at a later point of time. He had a pouting, stubborn as all hell twenty-year-old woman with the mental age of the five-year-old sitting on his lounge. He was now a parent. And what do parents do when they have children misbehaving and not listening? They take away something they want. Or at least, he thought they did. He couldn't really remember much of his childhood.

Quickly stepping forward and unfolding his arms, he sighed and said, "Well, if you're gonna act like a kid, I'll treat you like one." Her eyes went wide at what almost sounded like a threat, and she only shrieked when she found herself being picked up from the lounge and then thrown over his shoulder. "No dessert for you, missy."

"B-Bickslow!" she shrieked as her hands clambered to grab hold of something – his shirt, apparently – to get a decent grip, despite feeling his arms hooking around her waist and her thighs to keep her there. Their conversation from breakfast about just who was on the dessert menu was forgotten as Bickslow slowly turned to no doubt carry her out into the living room. "Put me down!"

"No." It was time for Miss Stubborn-Annoying-Borderline-Being-Called-A-Bitch-By-Bickslow to go home. She'd been there for more than twelve hours as it was, and Bickslow could only handle so much of stubborn Lucy in one day. Even he had his limits.

"Put me down!" Lucy ordered, though she couldn't stop the giggle from slipping past her lips. She tried her best to kick her legs to get him to stop, but she didn't expect it to do much anyway. But when she unclasped her hands from his shirt and instead reached down just too barely dig her fingers into his side, just below his ribs…

That was when he dropped her suddenly and a series of curses quickly left his own mouth with what sounded like half a laugh. When Lucy got up, not even caring that she'd been dropped, because it really hadn't hurt that much, she only arched a brow when Bickslow took a step back and eyed her cautiously while keeping his distance from her suddenly.

Was he scared of her right then? Definitely. But was it because she'd hurt him? No. It was because it had fucking tickled, and along with spring, laughter, apples, plus many other things, tickling was his weakness. Even in the hall that morning, Lucy's hands had been torturous for him. That's why he was scared of Lucy right then.

Her head tilted to the side curiously as she took another step forward, and Bickslow took another two back. "Bix?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You're not scared of me, are you?" she asked softly, only revelling in the strange fear that crossed his face when his back hit the wall separating the lounge room and the kitchen.

Bickslow shook his head. "N-Nope."

"Then why do you look so…" She trailed off as she slowly raised her hand to his side again, and the flinch and quirk of his lips it earned from the man as her fingertips only lightly brushed the same spot she'd touched before only had Lucy grinning wickedly. He wasn't, was he? "You're ticklish there."

"Nope."

"Yes."

He sighed and quickly wrapped his hands around her shoulders to abruptly push her away to try and get away from the evil blonde. "Okay, so maybe I am just a little." Or a lot. "But don't think—Lucy, no! Don't you—" He couldn't even finish his damn sentence before he was too busy trying to swat her hands away from his midsection. How she'd moved so quickly, he had no idea. No words could be formed around his own laughter that was caused by her damn hands, and before long, the only sound in his house then was both their laughter.

Neither really knew just what was going on, but the issue of Lucy wanting to find out what his tattoo said was long forgotten by the both of them when they only found themselves on the floor – mostly with Bickslow trying to get away from the evil woman whom he was sure had a new life mission of making his life a living hell.

It was when he managed to escape her clutches for just a moment that Bickslow also managed to quickly turn it around, and quickly pushing her onto her back on the carpeted floor, he had both her hands pinned above her head between one of his own, while his other only wreaked as much havoc on her as she had done to him. He wasn't the only one in the room who was far too sensitive to that kind of torture, and the squealing, giggling and squirming blonde beneath him was going to learn that Bickslow didn't lose.

Not even in a tickle war.

"Fu-Fuck, Bix," she laughed as his fingers swapped to her other side and had her reflexively trying to curl away from the torture he was inflicting on her. "St—" Words were a lost cause, as she was only just realising, because each only seemed to morph into another squeal that barely rang out over Bickslow's own laughter.

He liked her laugh though. Hell, he loved her laugh, along with the way that it didn't even seem to stop when he stopped tickling her and gently released her wrists. Her smile, and her goddamn eyes, even when they were closed, were what he loved the most about her though. Apart from her personality and her soul. It wasn't really her looks, or really, her body, contrary to what everyone thought. Not with Lucy. No, there were so many other better things that made Lucy beautiful, and to Bickslow, that's what she was. He'd always thought that, or at least, since they'd actually become friends.

But right then, he couldn't help but wonder if she knew just how beautiful she was. Surely she had to – enough people probably told her every time she left her apartment. But… That would just be superficial beauty, wouldn't it? It really wasn't just her looks that made her beautiful to Bickslow, and as her eyes slowly opened and her laughter slowly faded, Bickslow really couldn't tear his eyes away from her own. He wasn't looking to her lips with a hint of a smile on them that were slightly open as she tried to catch her breath, or to her flushed cheeks, or even to her heaving chest. No. It was her eyes.

There was more to her than her looks, and Bickslow knew that. He'd known that for a while. It was who she was as a person that made her beautiful. She wasn't the princess like everyone thought, and she wasn't happy every single day of the goddamn year. She wasn't perfect, either, because everyone had their flaws. Even Lucy Heartfilia had a few of them, but they were nothing compared to everything else.

She was… She was kind, and she was caring, and she was helpful… Bickslow was only just realising the extent of that, with all that she'd already done for her with Scarlett. She was the kind of person that everyone needed in their life, because she was the kind of person that made everyone else around her just that little bit happier, and even without trying or maybe even noticing. She was the stupid Light of the Guild, but that's what made her beautiful, inside and out.

But Bickslow didn't quite know why he was thinking about all of that again. Especially right then. Everything was just so out of place and he had no idea what was happening around him, because he was back to needing Lucy. It really wasn't about wanting her. It almost hurt… Well, he didn't quite know what it was hurting, other than it was somewhere deep inside of him, but it was something, that's how much he felt like he needed her. And he didn't know why it was like that again.

He just didn't understand a single thing that was going on right then, and it almost scared him.

But then…

Then, Lucy's hands were reaching up to lace behind his neck, and she was pulling him down until his lips were on hers. All thoughts halted, the babies in his head shut up for what felt like the first time in their eternal lives, and everything almost… Fell away when he kissed her back. It didn't seem to hurt as much anymore though, and he just didn't understand it.

Lucy wasn't even quite sure herself what she was doing though. She'd only done what she'd felt like was what she'd needed to do, because it had almost felt as if she was being pulled towards him, and that terrified her. It hadn't been about the tattoo, or how much he'd teased her that morning. It was something else, but the feeling creeping up on her as she'd calmed down had only made her realise she'd needed to do something about it, and somehow, kissing him was what she'd needed to do.

She was almost dizzy again when they barely pulled apart, their foreheads still touching and Bickslow still hovering just above her. Something was so very different, but it still wasn't wrong. At least, it still didn't feel like it. Something still felt right, and it was becoming a truly terrifying thought.

Bickslow was the first to open his eyes, and he could only sigh in defeat as he gently dropped himself to lean on his elbow. "What are you doing to me?" he whispered.

He wanted to hate Lucy for whatever it was she'd done, but he couldn't. She was killing him and now everything was just so much worse. He didn't need to be worrying about just what that something was, and he didn't need to be needing Lucy as much as he did. He hadn't wanted things to change, but everything had, and even when they didn't know why, they both knew that nothing was quite the same anymore. He could see that she had realised, and he needed her to give him an answer.

Lucy only frowned as she slowly opened her own eyes, and the confusion and fear in his scarlet eyes had Lucy feeling just a little relieved. Considering all things, it was nice to know that she wasn't the only one who was lost with everything that was coming up so quickly.

But what was she doing to him? Lucy didn't know that either, and as much as she wanted to be able to give him that answer, she just couldn't. "I could ask you the same thing."

---

I really did mean a lot happens, hehe. But... I promise it will all make sense eventually. Everything that needed to happen, actually happened. And all of this, needed to happen now.

Anyway. So if anyone remembers a while back when I originally posted the prologue/first chapter, that I actually had Bix as being 22. I did update it before I posted Chapter 2, so he's actually 23, and is, in fact, turning 24 in this story. I just needed to adjust the timeline a bit.

If anyone was interested, I will be writing another one-shot for this once it's done. (The LaLu and BrOTP BixLu one that is a prequel to this will be coming before this story is actually finished, and it will most definitely tie in with some parts in this, but it won't be necessary to read since it's more of a backstory on their friendship if anything). It will be about what happens if Bix stayed with his family, and they actually ended up getting married...

And speaking of Bix's family... His last name will be mentioned in the next chapter, finally! As for when that chapter will be, I don't know... Because it's just going to be one of those chapters. I'll just put it out there now that this story really is rated M for a reason.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Until next time.

- April