What Fairy Girls Want
by Ulquiorra9000
Chapter 25: cram your stuff in (into the apartment, I mean!)
It was September 20th by the time Alzack Connell was 100%, super-duper-with-a-cherry-on-top sure that he and his lady were ready for this! Well, he was 100% sure that he thought he was ready. The actual readiness might be hovering around 70%, Alzack thought as he finished taping shut his final cardboard box in his room. No, 60%! What if he forgot something?! Well, Jellal and Gajeel would send it to him. In exchange for a beer or two.
Time to move out!
"So, this is it, huh?" Jellal said, standing in the doorway to Alzack's packed-up bedroom in their apartment, arms folded over his logo tee and parted plaid shirt.
Alzack nodded. "Ready to rock. The truck oughta be here any minute, and my girlfriend with it."
His phone chimed with a text from Bisca saying exactly that!
Alzack couldn't help a wide, goofy smile as he cracked his neck before picking up his first box. "So it begins. Can I get a hand here?"
"One beer per minute of work," Jellal demanded.
"Bullshit!"
"You need the help, you pay the help," Jellal said with a snarky grin. What a punk. How did Erza put up with him?
"One six-pack for your half of the work," Alzack offered.
"A six-pack, and you buy me one of those killer Super-Bacon Burgers in the student union."
Alzack rolled his eyes. "Fine. But if you don't watch it, you'll lose that figure Erza loves so much. She can't run her tongue along your abs if they're hidden under a beer gut!"
"I'll just hit the gym with Natsu. Goodness knows he spends half his time in there anyway. Now let's get cracking." Jellal knelt and picked up a box with both hands. He went red as he strained to lift it. "What the fuck is in this?!"
Alzack grinned. "That one has my baseball cards. All 12,586 of them."
Jellal was visibly sweating. "Get a new hobby! Damn!"
"Can't. I've had some of those babies since 7th grade. A few of 'em are signed."
Jellal scooted the box aside with his foot and took a less back-breaking one instead, hauling it out the apartment with his friend. Back and forth the boys went, going up and down the elevator to load everything into the waiting truck's bay, with Bisca there to cheer them on.
"Help us with the baseball card box," Jellal implored Bisca on the third trip. "I'd break my fingers lifting it!"
"Only the worthy can lift my collection," Alzack joked as he loaded a box of clothes. Ah, nice and light.
Bisca smiled and shook her head. "I wore myself out loading my own stuff, and I still have to unload it all at Alzack's and my new place. Sorry, Jellal."
"I'm gonna rent a forklift real quick," Jellal joked, motioning with his phone until Alzack made him get back to work and actually earn the promised six-pack and burger. Wasn't it ironic how drinking too many six-packs could build up your gut and hide your own six-pack? Shower thoughts.
Whew! It took some doing, but Alzack and Jellal finished loading all of Alzack's goodies, and Jellal gave them a "good luck" high five before heading back up to what was now just his and Gajeel's apartment. Man, so many good memories of that place from the last year!
Bisca smiled widely. "Are you ready, cowboy?"
Alzack kissed her. "So ready. Time to make a home."
They rode with the truck's driver to the new apartment, and while moving everything in, Alzack felt like he and Bisca were on top of the world. They were so grown up now! Their own cozy little household of love and fun...
Something was off. Well, shoot.
It was just after the moving truck left when Alzack and Bisca opened up their boxes to take inventory and realized something.
They didn't have enough shit!
"Uh..." Alzack went pink and made a nervous laugh. "I think we got too used to relying on our roommates' stuff. Especially me."
Bisca smiled awkwardly. "Our living room is in bad shape, Alzack. Just one small TV and no stand! Not even a cabinet for our DVDs or your game consoles. And the kitchen is even worse! Look."
Alzack checked his and his girlfriend's combined boxes to confirm the worst: between them, they had just five forks (and one was too bent to use), four spoons, a broken butter knife (seriously?), 11 plates (one was pretty small), two bowls (one too big for cereal), a blender that absolutely refused to work when Bisca tested it, and a single measuring cup (anyone need a tablespoon of something?).
"We're not ready," Bisca concluded, arms folded.
Alzack quickly motioned. "No, no! We can do this. Why don't we write down our inventory and figure out how to fill in the gaps. It can't be that bad."
Bisca's radiant smile returned. "Good idea. Let's start with this box..."
It took an hour and 20 minutes for the two of them to unpack all their goodies (ahem, stupid random junk) and write it down, concluding that they were 14% ready for this... at best. And no cherry on top!
"Good to know I spent so many Jewels over the years on toys, games, and anything you don't need to run a household," Alzack groaned. "Unless we can buy a good couch, new towels, kitchen stuff, and a coffee table with baseball cards."
"Some of these things I didn't even mean to keep," Bisca commented, motioning at her half of the junk pile. She went bright red. "L... like that, for example!" She swiped a little diary out of her bedroom stuff and held it tight to her chest.
Alzack couldn't help a crafty grin. "Whatcha got there?"
"Nothing!" Bisca yelped. "Go play with your baseball cards!"
"Come on, just a peek?" Alzack teased her.
"But...!" Bisca took a step back.
"Aw, what's the harm? I won't laugh."
"Trust me, what's in this diary won't make you laugh. It'll make you... um..." Bisca fiddled with the scandalous diary in her hands.
"I'll trade you 10 baseball cards per page."
"Not on your life, buster!"
"15 cards, one of them signed."
"Nuh-uh!"
"I'll buy the TV stand myself if I can peek."
Bisca hesitated, glancing at where the TV stand should go.
"Aha! I found your price!"
Bisca snorted. "Fat chance, cowboy."
"I'll do all the shopping and chores for this place for just three pages."
"We're doing that shopping together," Bisca pointed out. "We have to agree on the items before getting them, and there's no way can just one of us afford everything."
Alzack hung his head. "That was my last card to play. Unless you count my actual cards."
Bisca grinned. "Not one of them counts."
"I give up. Let's just go shopping." Alzack offered a hand.
Bisca's grin widened as she motioned with the precious diary. "You want to see this so badly?"
"Sorry if I pressured you. I was just so curious...!"
"Oh, what's the harm. Just the first page. Here." Bisca was still pink in the face as she cracked open the diary and handed it over.
Declassified girl secrets?! Alzack couldn't ask for more! He thanked Bisca for her generosity and admired her neat handwriting on page 1, dated to just three days into her and Alzack's first semester at MCC.
It was... it was about him! Yes! Freshman Bisca noted how much she admired that "foxy hunk Alzack" from across the student union, at the local bars, and in Intro to Sociology... wait...
"You weren't in that class," Alzack cried. "And I dropped it after three weeks, anyway."
Bisca put her hands on her hips. "I didn't sign up for that class. But I was still in there. Because you were." She winked.
Alzack chuckled. "Why, you sneaky little vixen. Auditing the class just to check me out?"
"You got an A, my dear man."
Alzack merely grinned and continued on page 1 as Bisca's stream of consciousness continued. Hey, wait a minute...
"You thought Lucy and Natsu weren't a good potential match?" Alzack noted.
Bisca shrugged. "I was wrong, okay? And I'm glad I was. Meeting Mirajane helped me recalibrate my womanly intuition, anyway. I haven't been wrong since!"
"Yeah, Mirajane has that effect." Alzack kept going, and it was mostly tame... until the last two paragraphs! Alzack's eyes widened as Bisca's handwriting grew rushed and sloppy as she daydreamed the naughtiest, boldest, sluttiest, most twisted, most scandalous things about her and Alzack! Wow, they hadn't even tried half of these things even after all this time together!
Alzack looked up with a knowing look. "I can guess what you did after writing that."
Bisca held up a finger. "I rounded out the evening with a very noisy self-love session to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, that was before Lucy and Cana had noise-canceling headphones!"
Alzack burst out laughing. "Did they punish you?"
"I'd never been spanked that hard before... or since!"
"I'm picturing it now..."
"Just to give you a clearer mental image, Lucy held me down while Cana did the slapping on my bare ass. It was a bonding experience for three fresh-faced college girls."
Alzack was 3.91 seconds into the daydream before he remembered he was dating one of those fresh-faced college girls! Ahem.
"Fond memories aside..." Bisca fanned herself. "Alzack, we really should go buy some essentials. We have redundancy with some items and are missing others!"
"Yeah." Alzack hung his head in shame. "Now that I think about it, we should have compared our list of goodies with each other before moving in together."
"Well, lesson learned. That's life," Bisca said cheerily, clapping her hands together. "Let's go shopping for the smaller things, and when we save up enough, we'll get a couch and TV stand and the like."
Alzack looked around at the mostly empty apartment and nodded. "I've never been this excited to shop!"
"You're so sweet."
So off they went to the Magnolia Mall, where Bisca zeroed in on a Bed & Bath store to get those much-needed towels, plus a fresh bottle of conditioner, a new loofah, a new soap dispenser...
"There's so much," Alzack said, staring in awe at all the bath, shower, and skin care goodies. "I don't know what half of these are!"
"You'd know if you were a lady like me," Bisca teased him. "You're living with a woman now, Alzack. Better get used to it! I'll need at least 60% of the bathroom for myself."
"I'll give you 70% if I get to pick the kitchen stuff. You've seen what a good cook I am." Alzack gave his girlfriend a coy look, and Bisca was all about that.
"Oh, my. The kitchen's yours, master chef," Bisca said, going pink. "Surprise me."
A visit to Kitchen Warez was next, where Alzack hummed to himself as he loaded his plastic shopping basket with a set of utensils, some new plates and bowls, measuring cups, a spatula, a frying pan, an eggbeater, a whisk, and even a cheese grater. It hurt how fast this was adding up, but what choice did Alzack have?
"Ooooooh. Am I getting treated to a banquet tonight, my love?" Bisca cooed as Alzack headed for the cash register.
Alzack smiled. "We'll have to hit up a grocery store for that. Your man is gonna provide."
The cash register provided him with a proper heart attack when the total was rung up. Fuck!
"Uh... is anyone in the mood for lettuce and water tonight?" Alzack joked dejectedly as he and Bisca exited Kitchen Warez with heavy shopping bags and a very light, sad little wallet.
Bisca elbowed him. "Buck up. I'll find us something cheap to eat. You've bought plenty."
"You're the best, babe."
The good news: Bisca had enough on her credit card to get some much-needed dinner goodies, sparing Alzack the looming prospect of grumbling tummies at bedtime. The bad news: they didn't have two Jewels to rub together for anything else! They didn't even have laundry detergent, a plunger, a first-aid kit, spare batteries, or cleaning supplies, or even a box of tissues! Gah! They were playing house and losing.
"Hang in there," Bisca told her boyfriend with a bracing smile as they climbed into a cab, loaded with shopping bags of all kinds. "I'll pick up a few extra shifts to fill in the gaps. Just make me a list of what we still need."
"Yeah. We need..." Alzack counted them out loud on his fingers during the drive back, and then his heart sank as he arrived at the last item of absolute essentials.
"We. Have. No. Condoms." Alzack buried his face in his hands. "Oh, woe is me!"
Bisca patted her boyfriend's back. "There, there. We'll get creative! Times are lean for the Connell-Mulan household, but we are nothing if not adaptable! Our parents walked ten miles to school in the snow each day, uphill both ways. We can manage this little speed bump."
"Yeah. Sure." But... what about welcome-to-the-new-apartment sex?! Alzack and Bisca took pride in being super careful. Rawdogging it was not in the playbook for this household, no sir!
Alzack already had a boner in progress, and dammit, it would go to total waste at this rate! But he was a man of honor and integrity who would make this sacrifice in silence.
Aw, man...
"Okay, let's get everything set up!" Bisca cheered as they threw open the door to their new place. Bisca happily sang to herself as she unpacked the bags, and a bittersweet Alzack gladly helped, organizing the kitchen just the way he wanted it for maximum master chef badassery. They were halfway done setting up the sparse bedroom as well when Bisca fixed her eyes on Alzack's.
"Something's wrong. I can tell," Bisca told her boyfriend. "Come on, what is it?"
Alzack motioned with his armload of socks. "I was gonna ring in our new apartment with a little... celebration. But since I'm out of condoms, well..." He gave Bisca look of mingled longing and dejection.
Bisca put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my. My new roommate is so dirty!"
"Oh, please. You were thinking it too, weren't you?"
"You got me." Bisca flashed him a naughty smile. "This cowgirl wanted to ride her steed tonight. But it sounds like we'll have to get creative."
"It wouldn't be the same -"
"Hush." Bisca stepped forward and kissed Alzack on the lips, sweetly and innocently. "I love you, Alzack, and I'm just buzzing with joy at what we're building here. So what if we can't set off all the fireworks? It's the thought that counts."
Alzack felt a firework getting ready to burst in his pants. Oh-ho, it was on! "Should we wait to finish setting everything up before -?"
"Fuck that." Bisca swiped her hand to knock all the socks out of Alzack's arms with a devilish smile on her face and a naughty gleam in her eyes.
Alzack's man-meat was at 100% as he pointed out, "Y'know, babe, there's a lot we can do without penetration."
"Do all of them, or I'm taking 80% of the bathroom," Bisca challenged Alzack, giving him a playful shove. "Shut the blinds, and let's rock this apartment! Bonus points if the neighbors bang on the wall to shut us up!"
"I'll make the neighbors hate us so much. Come here..." Alzack shared Bisca's smile and took hold of her, holding his lady tightly as he started makin' out with her, their breaths coming in hot, humid puffs as they commenced the foreplay. Now, what next...?
"Ah... I'm such a dirty girl," Bisca breathed as she unbuttoned her top, breaking away from Alzack to let her fingers do their thing. She tossed Alzack a wink. "What are you gonna do about it, you big oaf?" Already, her pink bra was in sight, a cute one with a little red bow in the middle and white lace.
"You were planning this, weren't you?" Alzack teased his stripping girlfriend/roommate. "That's a bra that wants to be seen!"
Bisca licked her lips. "Naughty girls like me are always prepared, lover boy." She tossed aside her button-up shirt and gave her chest a playful wiggle, her huge boobs jostling in that bra. "Come and get 'em."
"Fuck yes." Alzack was rock-hard and quivering with desire as he reached around to unhook Bisca's bra, unable to help a giddy smile as Bisca's magnificent melons emerged from the pink fabric. Ah, good to see 'em again! They were just as shapely and perky as last time, and twice as hot now that it was "we just moved in together" sexy time.
"I've got an idea. Here." Bisca took hold of her bare breasts and knelt before her boyfriend. "Get that cock out."
Woo hoo, blowjob time! Alzack gladly unzipped his jeans and dropped them before producing his manhood from his Batman logo boxers, but Bisca's mouth went nowhere near that dick. Say what?
"I can't believe we've never done this before," Bisca told her lover. Then she surprised him by laying flat on the empty bedroom's carpet, all smiles. "Kneel and get that cock between these tits! Now!"
So that's it! Alzack felt so silly as he did as told, pressing the tip of his weiner against Bisca's breasts from the bottom. Bisca held her breasts in place to make things tight, and Alzack groaned while his meat slid in. Wow, what a feeling! Not slick and wet like a fresh pussy, but smooth and squishy. He had heard about titjobs from the other couples on MCC's campus, but Alzack just thought it was a cheap foreplay trick. Oh, how foolish he had been!
Especially since fourth base was off the menu tonight.
"Aaaahhhh... keep going, my little love machine... mmmmmmmmm~" Bisca moaned, her head lolling to the side as Alzack kept fucking her boobs, with his ballsack gently slapping against her breasts. Back and forth Alzack went, baring his teeth as he felt himself building up the pressure.
"Should I do it?" Alzack panted as he kept up the thrusting.
"Hold something back," Bisca requested. "I need my mouth on that thing."
Alzack slowed down just a bit, and a minute later, an eager Bisca sprang to a kneeling position. She tossed her lovely green hair and seized that boner, bringing it closer to her face at last. Bisca moaned as she rubbed Alzack's throbbing tip against her cheek, with that cock tracing lines all over her face, doing at least three laps before the really good part started. Bisca went all in, opening her mouth wide before enveloping that cock nearly to the base.
Yee-haw, this was the part Alzack had been looking forward to! He relaxed and went with the flow as his girlfriend kept blowing him, listening to Bisca moan with pleasure as she kept savoring that sausage in her mouth. She expertly stroked the shaft to double the sexy fun, and damn, it was hard to hold the pressure back! Bisca's suction was a force to be reckoned with!
"Get down!" Bisca suddenly barked. She smiled and shoved her boyfriend, who fell onto his back in a heap, his manhood standing straight up. That was when Bisca climbed atop her lover and resumed the titjob, once again holding her breasts together to form a boob-vagina of sorts.
This time, there was no holding back! Alack felt himself tensing up as the erotic pressure hit 100%, and he also felt his pleasure rod throbbing even harder as he finally ejaculated all over his lady. Bisca giggled with delight as her man came all over her upper chest and chin, waiting just a moment to make sure Alzack got his full load out.
"Ah, that was even easier than I thought," Bisca boasted as she let Alzack ease his cock back out. "Titjobs are my new favorite foreplay, Alzack. You love these boobs, but your cock loves them even more!"
"Now I see what all the fuss was about," Alzack declared as he caught his breath. Whew. "There are all kinds of ways to use breasts, aren't there?"
"And don't you forget it," Bisca said with a smile. She got up. "Now, where are those paper towels? I know I got some at the store..."
Bisca found 'em and wiped herself down, with jizz-soaked paper towels being the first thing to end up in this household's trash can. Nice.
"So... unpacking," Alzack stated once everyone was dressed as though nothing had happened. "Let's wash our hands and work on the bathroom goodies next."
They did just that, checking items off their unpacking list as they got their lovely new household ready for habitation. It took about 15-20 minutes to get it all set up, and that meant it was time for round 2!
"Ooooooh, yes. Take it off," Bisca panted as she lay on the floor once again, with Alzack easing off her jean shorts once tantalizing inch at a time. "It's my turn to come...!"
That it was, but Alzack was gonna take his time playing with every square inch of his girlfriend's beautiful body. Why rush? They had all fucking night! Alzack made sure to savor this as he kept slipping Bisca's naughty jean shorts off her, watching her charming pink panties come into view, a fabulous pair that matched her bra perfectly. So thoughtful! And best of all, Alzack could already see the distinct bulge of Bisca's engorging labia through those thin panties, and she was getting wet in a hurry. That's the stuff!
"Hurry... I want that climax," Bisca breathed as her boyfriend kept sliding those shorts down her legs, now going past her knees.
"All in good time, missy," Alzack teased her. "I've got your whole body to play with."
Bisca merely smiled wider as Alzack finally got those shorts off and tossed them to who knows where. Now Bisca was in just her bra and undies, and Alzack made a show of taking off that bra before toying with Bisca's undies a little. Bisca looked so gorgeous and erotic in these undies, after all. Alzack felt like it was Christmas morning as he gently peeled aside Bisca's undies to reveal the wet, pink flesh underneath, and he lowered his head to give it a little lick.
"Oooooohhh..." Bisca started panting with serious lust as her boyfriend got a taste of her lady parts, and that was just the start! Alzack took hold of Bisca's wide, curvy hips and started chowing down for real, nibbling and licking everything he could reach. Alzack felt his girlfriend getting warm and sweaty under his fingertips as he kept gobbling at her womanhood, with Bisca's vaginal lube leaking faster and faster. This girl was soaked!
"Spread 'em. There we go," Alzack said with an excited smile. On command, Bisca spread her legs nice and wide, her lady parts fully exposed, dribbling pussy lube onto the fresh new carpet. Alzack got his fingers ready, but then decided hey, why not improvise some tools?
"How about this?" Alzack said, gently tossing Bisca's hairbrush up and down in his palm. "The handle is just your size!"
Bisca burst out laughing. "My hairbrush? For real?"
"You know you want it, you skanky freak."
"If you're going to stick that into my vagina, wash it first."
"Oh. Good point."
Alzack innocently hummed to himself as he washed the hairbrush in the newly stocked bathroom, then immediately got it dirty again as it was thrust aggressively into Bisca's waiting pussy.
"AAAAAHHHH! OOOOOOHHHH! AAAHHHH... BABY...!"
Bisca squealed and wailed like an animal as Alzack destroyed her flesh with that hairbrush, Bisca's entire body rocking and trembling with the sheer force of it, her breasts jiggling and her fingers digging into the thick carpet.
"Hang on! Save the best part for another minute!" Alzack cried. "Savor it!"
"I... I-I can't...!" Bisca hollered. Her entire navel started bucking with unrestrained lust, and just like that, she was squirting all over her boyfriend, soaking that chump from the shoulders down like a leaking fire hydrant. Wow, this girl had a lot built up!
"Eeeeeek!" Bisca cried, giggling as she watched herself splash Alzack with the good stuff. "Good thing you took your shirt off first, cowboy. Or we'd have to break in that washing machine pronto!"
"Haha, yeah," Alzack agreed. If he could get his love fluids onto Bisca, it was only fair that his dearest Bisca could do it right back. That's love, baby.
Five minutes later, the two of them were fully dressed once again as though nothing had happened, and they made sure to unpack the living room as best they could. 15 minutes after that, they were tearing into each other once again, their naked bodies writing on the carpet and soaking it with sweat and all other manner of fluids, and 20 minutes after that, they lost themselves in carnal pleasure while leaning against the living room wall, then a little more unpacking before oral sex was back in the spotlight, on and on...
It was almost midnight by the time the new roommates reluctantly called it a night to shower, cool off, and finally climb into bed as a new day began.
"Alzack, I love you so much," Bisca said with a big, wet kiss on her boyfriend's cheek as they tucked in for the night. "This is amazing."
"I love you too. And I agree. We're so grown up," Alzack declared as he kissed her back. He climbed into his bed, wondering if he and Bisca oughta sell their current beds for a single queen-size bed. Once they had the Jewels for it!
"Well, we still have a lot of furniture to buy," Bisca noted.
"Eh. All in good time..."
o*o*o*o*
"I can't remember the last time I was in this place," Natsu commented lightly as Lucy led him by the hand into Mermaid Fins early one evening. "Doesn't ring a bell."
"You probably blacked out from drinking," Gray teased him. Around them, the MCC friends all crowded together in the club's open space, joining the chattering strangers in the pre-show excitement.
"Any night you can't remember is a good night," Natsu retorted.
Lucy smiled. "But how would you know, if you can't remember it?"
"You trust yourself to know you did some amazing things if that much booze is involved," Natsu explained, and all his friends nodded in agreement, most of all Cana.
"The last indie band that performed in here didn't do so hot," Laxus noted, casually looking around the place, hands in his pants pockets. "Makes me wonder -"
"Don't be like that. Gajeel's band will be wonderful!" Mirajane chided him, swatting his shoulder.
Laxus grinned. "I meant, it makes me wonder how much Gajeel's band will make up for it. If they get me to headbang, I'll buy one of their signed shirts, no matter how much it costs."
"That's the spirit." Mirajane smiled.
Loke snorted. "Like they'd have the cash to print their own T-shirts!"
"But if they play well enough, they might convince the girls in here to lift their shirts and flash the band their boobs!" Max hooted. "I've seen it at concerts before."
Lucy scowled. "I'm not going to flash Gajeel!"
"I meant the single girls," Max explained hastily, motioning at the crowd of strangers.
Cana shrugged. "Hey, I might flash mine, too. It's in the spirit of things."
"Now you're talking!" Kinana hollered, giving Cana a high-five. "Gajeel and his friends worked hard, after all. Let's reward them."
"Yeah. Gajeel, the guy with a girlfriend. Who's in the band with him," Gray pointed out snidely.
Kinana shrugged just like Cana. "He can't stop me, and neither can Levy. Haha!"
That earned another high-five.
"Oh! They're starting!" Natsu cried, motioning. The crowd broke out into applause and excited cheers and whoops as Gajeel, Droy, Fried, Laki, and Levy all stepped onstage with their gear, all dressed in some of the best punk clothing Natsu had ever seen. Hey, Levy looked really good like that! She finally did away with her neat little dresses and wore a knee-length denim skirt, black and white striped leggings, brown leather boots, and a torn black logo tee, plus a lacy choker with a skull on it. The rest of the band had a similar vibe, such as Laki's black leather bracelets with pointed silver studs on them. Totally rad!
"Are you fuckin' ready to rock, Magnolia?!" Gajeel thundered roughly into his mic, and Natsu let out a throat-tearing whoop along with his friends, everyone waving their arms and throwing up devil horns.
"Good! 'Cause we're gonna dive right in! Prepare your eardrums and hold on tight!" Gajeel declared. "One, two, three, four!"
Wham! A sonic assault of anti-establishment attitude crashed over the entire audience, shaking the walls of Mermaid Fins and makng Natsu's guts quiver like jelly. Now that's the stuff! Natsu threw up two sets of devil's horns as Gajeel and the Ironwings launched right into Natsu's favorite hit song from the last year, a song with enough profanity to peel wallpaper and make your grandparents faint. That's how you know it's good.
Natsu was already confident that Laki, Fried, and Droy would rock hard, and he knew Gajeel would screw up the vocals with his utter lack of pitch. But how good would Levy be? This song didn't even have a keyboard part. Would Levy make something up?
That's when Levy's part came on. She had a look of intense concentration, half-closing her eyes as her fingers danced over the keyboards to add a layer of synth melodies to this thrashing punk song. It sounded... well...
So goddamn cool!
Levy nodded her head to the aggressive rhythm, not missing a single millisecond of it while weaving her notes into the musical tapestry. Oh, to heck with the poetic descriptions. Levy was on fire, and she played that shit like she was born to do it. Already, Natsu couldn't imagine this song without it! Did Levy write this part herself? She was a genius!
Natsu was beside himself with glee as he applauded along with all his friends.
"Damn, Levy knows her shit," Gray said excitedly as the friends took a minute to get drinks at the club's bar (mostly beer). "Now I'm glad the Ironwings failed their last two shows so Levy could join for this one."
"It's a blessing in disguise," Cana agreed as she got not one, but four beers for herself (classic). "Good things come to those who wait."
"Speaking for yourself?" Kinana said warmly. "Like joining the wine and spirit club?"
"Yeah. I thought dating around would make this my year. But life dealt me a better hand when I was ready," Cana said loftily, chugging one of her beers in one go. She motioned at Natsu. "Same goes for you, buddy. I wasn't right for you. But blondie here? She was worth the wait, huh?"
Natsu and Lucy shared a fond look and nodded.
"What about Juvia?" Cana asked Gray as the friends resumed their spot to hear the second song. "How's she doing lately?"
"Uh... better, I think," Gray said. "She's just doing her thing, working at PetCorps, studying a little more... stuff like that."
"Do you talk a lot with her?" Cana inquired.
"Sometimes." Gray took a drink while Laki strummed her bass to get ready for the next song.
Cana gave him a look. "Are you avoiding her, Gray?"
"No, just giving her some space," Gray said simply, but Natsu heard a funny tone in his best friend's voice. "Now that we're not booty calls, we don't have as much to say to each other. Or as much to do. I want to give Juvia enough space to figure out her life. It may take a while."
Cana nodded. "I see. Good for you." She turned to watch the Ironwings launch their next song, and boy, did it rock!
As for the topic of Gray and Juvia, well... Natsu trusted both of 'em to do what was right. And Natsu had the feeling that while Gray still liked Juvia as a friend, Gray probably still felt a little weird around her. But if that's how things had to be, that was OK. Natsu trusted his friends.
Once again, an eardrum-shattering storm of attitude and badassery collided with the audience, and everyone was hopping up and down, waving their arms and throwing out devil horns or raising their fists as the song raged on. This was no time to stand around wondering about other people's business! Let Juvia do her thing, and Gray was doing fine, too. Better not think about it too hard! Thinking is for dorks!
Two songs and many beers later, the Ironwings took a minute to get themselves ready for their biggest and best song, so in the lull, Mirajane turned to Natsu and Lucy to wonder about other people's business.
"How have you two been?" Mirajane asked brightly, a little pink in the face from all the beer. Her silvery hair was starting to get messy. "Lucy, did you find any leads on internships yet? And Natsu, how go the studies? Say, aren't you looking for internships or part-time positions, too?"
Whew, Mirajane just went all-in, fueled by booze and good vibes! She was like a school counselor, but hot and with big boobs.
"I, well, I'm spending about an hour each day looking," Lucy said with a nervous laugh, holding her latest beer in both hands. "Between classes, studying, and dates, there's not always a lot of time."
"Dear me. You'll need to double those numbers if you want to land a position in a local newspaper or online publication," Mirajane said pompously. "But I know you can do it, Lucy! I love your work in the college newsletter."
"It's not easy," Lucy admitted. "But I'll try twice as hard, I promise!"
"Wonderful." Mirajane flashed her a smile and rounded on Natsu. "How about you? Aren't you studying fitness and nutrition to work in a gym someday?"
"Yeah, uh..." Natsu scratched the back of his head and avoided Mirajane's eyes. Damn, how did she always look so friendly but mercilessly demanding at the same time? "Studying is tough. But Lisasnna and Brandish are there to help, which is cool. And I applied to a few gyms, but they said no."
Mirajane made a sympathetic noise. "That's a shame. You'll just have to try three times as hard!"
"Yeah." Natsu hung his head. Then Lucy patted his head.
"Something is out there waiting for you, Natsu, and you'll find it," she encouraged him.
Natsu bolted upright and gave his girlfriend a dazzling smile. "Totally! And I can't wait to see you achieve your dream too, Lucy. By Christmas, you'll be a star."
"I can't wait," Lucy said happily, though Natsu still heard a note of uncertainty in her voice. Hmmmmmm, perhaps he'd pamper her back at her apartment and take her mind off things? Natsu didn't mind a few roadblocks in his own career path, but he knew how seriously Lucy took hers. She needed comforting, like, now.
In the meantime...
"I believe in you two," Mirajane told them kindly. "And if you're feeling stuck, perhaps you could shake things up and approach life from a fresh perspective. Just look at Levy on that stage. She tried something new, and it opened up a whole new world for her! I've never seen her looking so inspired."
"True enough," Natsu said, "but now it's your turn."
Mirajane blinked. "Oh yes?"
"How are you doing?" Natsu asked her. "You and Cana can't be the only ones grilling people here."
"Actually, I'm glad you asked, Natsu," Mirajane said, tossing her hair and acting like a princess. "I'm doing quite well! I'm gathering ideas for my thesis paper for my Master's degree, and Laxus and I found this adorable bed and breakfast where we'll be staying this weekend during our trip to the mountains -"
"Whoa there. That's classified information, Mira," Laxus said with a teasing grin as he emerged from the crowd. He wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist and escorted her back into the crowd. "The next song's about to start."
"Gosh, Laxus, I wanted to brag a little..." Mirajane teased him back as the next song roared to life.
Natsu and Lucy shared a look and decided then and there that by Christmas, they'd definitely be as annoyingly successful and smug as Mirajane and Laxus! Watch out, folks, and make room, because MCC was about to get its next power couple!
...This wasn't gonna be easy, was it?