#and then tell jet and droy about it and be like how do you guys even ??

[heartonxions]

CW: BLOOD!!!

ooh.. he’s a little fucked up actually.

i want her soooooo bad it’s crazy. anyways… her necklace thingy in their first outfit is a slay… honestly levy being a chunky necklace liker is so good (making shit up about her because i can) i love their pant outfits!! i wish she was drawn with pants more… i think they were all such slays (the like three times she wore them) i miss the old ft style so much

i think about the scene where she tells lucy she wouldn’t mind seeing her butt instead of her manuscript often…. levy… levy my bisexual gender mcfuck king..

[sapphicwritergal]

Juvia Lockser In My Headcanons

In my au, Gruvia, is not, and will never be canon, but they will be friends, not bestfriends.

Juvia does continue to speak in third person, but the whole "Stalker, who respects no boundaries," just goes away.

Juvia is Aro/Ace, like water. Juvia has never really craved romance she just needed love, not romantic but platonic it only really came to her about that when she joined the guild.

You know, Juvia being neglected and alone since childhood and then she sees romantic love in action, it in her point of view is being loved but when it came to that she never had any actual romantic attraction towards her exes, she just felt "loved" but they'd all leave her because of her rain, she only liked looks, the men she's been with were decent looking except Bora, I have no idea how they even met.

Joining Phantom Lord felt no different, she was in a guild but the only people who she really talked to were Sol, or whatever that weird looking man was and 𝐆𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐞𝐥, other than that she kept to herself.

Then in Fairy Tail, she was content with everyone, they still viewed her as a enemy y'know because of her FORMER affiliation with Phantom Lord but she really proves that she'd do anything for the guild, and so y'know Cana spreads the word, people get a bit more comfortable with Juvia and she is happy with that.

Gray was someone that saved her life, and she was thankful because his kindness felt so rare to her, foreign, unlike everyone else who neglected her and would let her drop, he saved her, so she views him as a great person someone she can look up to, Juvia take my advice, don't, you'd be calling out Iced Shell almost every time a week.

Juvia is like the mother of the guild, not really but sort of, she has the motherly energy, the guys keep her away from Loke not because they fear he'd tried to flirt with Juvia, no that's actually why, Juvia is someone who needs to be protected.

I'm not really a fan of Mashima's Juvia and how he views romance, I don't stand for it in any shape or form, and the way he fucks up her character is just bad.

Juvia is apart of Team Shadow Gear

Levy, Jet, Gajeel and Droy are her partners and they get along, she and Droy have nature connected powers and so they like to interact, ofc she and Gajeel are close but she teases him about his crush on Levy, which he'll deny but stop later on, Levy and Juvia talk, a lot, like Juvia and Levy would be in the background questioning Lucy about her and Natsu while Lucy is blushing but telling how she feels about him. Juvia will team up with Lucy or Wendy, sometimes Erza and Gray but with Natsu that is rare, their styles and powers are different, but they work with it but it just doesn't work all the time.

Juvia: I catch them, you hit them.

Natsu: Alright.

Juvia does not get weaker, her love for her guild and previous power make her stronger, and she has a good amount of methods to deal with her enemies, water lock them, use her water body to confused weak minded men, and use water sources to her advantage, she's strong against fire users, not Natsu all that much, but fire users.

Juvia speaks in french when she gets angry.

You know Sol, weird eye glass man? Yeah they still talk. Sol is out and about, traveling and what not, but he teaches her a bit of french and it stays in her memories.

She calls people imbeciles instead of anything else, refuses to, unless she uses some other fancy word.

[lookatyoustrawberrynerd]

Forgiven - Gajeel X Levy

WARNINGS: Light swearing

WORD COUNT: 1.9k

GENRE: fluff, slight angst

FANDOM: Fairy Tail

PAIRING: Gajeel x Levy

The guild hall was loud and rowdy as ever as Gajeel sat alone at the bar, drinking whatever the hell Mira had put in his mug. It didn't matter to him as long as it got him drunk.

"Getting a head start today are we?" Gajeel turned around and saw the small master of Fairy Tail climbing into the stool next to him.

Gajeel chuckled as he took another swig, "It's gonna take a lot more than this to get me drunk, old man."

"Oh I don't doubt it," Makarov replied. He signaled for Mira to pour him a drink, then promptly chugged it down as if it were nothing but water. "Your tolerance must be impeccable if this is what you're putting away this early in the morning."

Gajeel smirked, "years of practice."

The two men chuckled as they drank together, falling into a comfortable silence as the guild hall roared behind them.

A small pair of arms wrapped themselves around Gajeels shoulders as a kiss was planted on his cheek. Gajeel turned his head to face his bright eyed girlfriend Levy.

Gajeel couldn't help the smile that came to his face every time he saw her. "Hey short stack," He said as he gave her a quick peck on the lips.

Levy ignored the nickname, "Me and the guys are heading out on a job for a few days."

Gajeel grunted, "is anyone else going?"

Levy shook her head, "No, but the job isn't that dangerous. Just a simple escort mission for a Lord and his daughter."

"Still, I'd feel better if you took Lily with you," Levy puffed our her cheeks.

"I can h-"

"Trust me Lev, I know you're capable of kicking so serious ass, it's the other two I don't trust." Gajeel looked behind Levy at Jet and Droy stuffing their faces.

Levy sighed, "fine, you big baby."

"That's my girl." Gajeel leaned in to whisper in Levy's ear, "I'll make it up to you when you get back."

He couldn't help but laugh as his girlfriend turned bright red in front of him. "I-I gotta go now!" Levy gave Gajeel a chaste kiss on the lips. He watched her as she met the black exceed by the door.

"Hey," Gajeel called out to Jet and Droy before they could join them. They walked over to Gajeel who then grabbed them both by the wrist and pulled them in close. "If she comes back with a single scratch," he hissed, "I will put you two in a fucking coffin."

Jet and Droy both shivered as they nodded frantically. Gajeel let go of them and they practically ran out of the guild hall. Sighing, Gajeel turned back around to take a drink, already missing his girlfriend.

"I must say Gajeel," The master started, "when I first took you in, I never would have imagined you would have fallen for my little Levy."

A faint blush dusted over his cheeks, "Well," He didn't like thinking about his time before Fairy Tail, the person he was, but he couldn't help it as the memories came back, "I was a real piece of shit back then."

He didn't realize how hard he was gripping the handle of his mug until he let go of it, revealing dents in the shape of his fingers.

"Shit," he muttered as Mira came up to grab the mug from him, "I'll buy you a new one."

Mira just laughed it off, "No need Gajeel. If we had to replace every dented mug in this place, we'd go bankrupt!"

"Mira, could you give us a minute?" Makarov asked. Nodding, Mira walked into the back room, leaving the two men alone at the bar.

"I was wondering when you were gonna cut to the chase," Gajeel said.

"Yes, but I believe it is you with something to say, my boy." The two men sat there in silence for a few seconds before the master asked, "Can I see it?"

The box in Gajeels pocket suddenly felt like a weight dragging him down. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the box and slid it to the old man next to him, careful to not let anyone see it.

Makarov pulled back the lid to reveal a small iron ring. Intricate designs of swirls carved to look like vines and flowers decorated its sides, meeting in the middle to hold a heart shaped diamond.

"How did you know?" Gajeel asked.

"I know a lot of things, Gajeel. I just happened to catch you staring at it when you think no one is watching." Makarov said as he twisted the box around to look at the ring from all angles.

Gajeel nearly choked on his drink, "fuck," he muttered. The master chuckled and clapped Gajeel on the back.

"It's a beautiful ring Gajeel," he said, sliding the ring back to him. "You must love her a great deal."

Gajeel smiled softly, "Yeah," he looked at the ring and closed the lid with a sigh. "I don't deserve her."

"How so?"

"Are you serious?" Gajeel asked, but Makarov stayed silent. Softly, Gajeel said, "I hurt her."

Makaraov hummed in acknowledgement, "So that's it huh?" Memories flooded into Gajeels mind. Him attacking her that night, the way she screamed, her nearly lifeless body hanging from that god damned tree. Gajeel swallowed down the bile rising in his throat.

"I hurt her, Master. I hurt her and her friends and laughed about it, bragged about it. But the moment I joined the guild, she treated me like nothing had ever happened. I wasn't 'Black Steel Gajeel', I was just Gajeel Redfox. If I'm being honest, it kinda pissed me off."

The master hummed, "Really?"

"Yeah," he replied, "it pissed me off because I had no idea why she would even bother being nice to me. I wouldn't have been. But of course, she's just that wildly forgiving of other people. I didn't deserve her forgiveness, and that's why it pissed me off."

"You have long since been forgiven for your sins of the past, Gajeel" The master said. Gajeel whipped his head to face him.

"What?"

"Do you know why I chose to recruit you instead of the other members of Phantom Lord?" Makarov asked and Gajeel shook his head. There was no hint of sarcasm or condescension in his voice, just plain sincerity. "I picked you because not just because I wanted to help you find the right path, but because I knew that it was possible. I saw a light in you that had been clouded by Jose and his teachings. The things you did were deplorable, and you know that more than anyone, but answer me this. Would you have done the things you did that night if Jose hadn't ordered you to?"

No. He wouldn't have. He didn't even go as far as he was supposed to that night. Jose had ordered him to kill Levy, Jet, and Droy, but he refused.

Makarov continued on, "Ever since I took you in, you have done nothing but prove me right. You have shown that you are willing to fight for your family and that you're proud to be a fairy, and we're proud to have you."

Gajeel looked around the guild hall as he processed the masters words. He looked at the people he had met over the past several years, and he realized he was proud. He had made legitimate friends in a guild he once tried to destroy and fell in love with a girl he had almost killed.

All those nice thoughts however couldn't stop the doubt from creeping into his mind. "Even still, I can't provide for her. It took me months to work enough jobs to even buy the materials for that ring, and it's not like those jobs were easy."

"You and I both know she doesn't care about that."

"But I do master!" Gajeel slammed his fist on the bar a little louder than he wanted to. Some people looked their way for a moment but quickly resumed doing whatever it was they were doing. "She deserves the world, but I simply can't give it to her."

Makarov took another swig of his drink, "You're right. She does deserve the world. But she wants you," He stood up on the bar stool and made eye contact with the man across from him. "We all have our demons, Gajeel. We all have scars that will never fade, those voices in our heads that tell us to just give up and that we'll never be good enough. But you are lucky enough to have a family that will support you in every choice you make, and a woman who loves you with her entire heart.

"You will have to live with the things you have done for the rest of your life. You cannot go back and undo it no matter how much you wish you could. What you can do is live every day showing how much you've grown. You have atoned for your sins. Levy, Jet, and Droy have forgiven you. I have forgiven you. Now you must work to forgive yourself. And if you never do, that's okay. Just don't let it stop you from living your new life.

"Never forget Gajeel that you deserve happiness just as much as everyone else under this roof. If that means a future with Levy, then I will spend every remaining second I have left ensuring that future comes to pass, and every second after that protecting it. On my honor as the master of the Fairy Tail guild."

Gajeel didn't know at what point he had started crying. No one had ever told him that he deserved to be happy, but here was someone saying it as if it were the most obvious thing it the world.

"Master I-"

"Do you love her, Gajeel?" Makarov asked.

In that moment, Gajeel saw Levys face. Her bright smile, her eyes that always sparkled, her blue hair that reminded him of the sky, the way she puffed her cheeks whenever he teased her.

He remembered all their missions together, their time in the military, all the times they had nearly died; Tenrou Island, Tartaros, Alvarez, he had never felt fear the way he did when he was confessing to Levy as he was slowly dying, and the pure elation he felt when he finally saw her again.

He thought about what he wanted in the future, and in his mind he saw Levy in a white dress walking down the aisle. He saw with a hand on her rounded stomach. He saw her reading to their children and him singing to them. He saw them growing old and gray together. His heart swelled with emotions he had never felt before as he looked into the future.

Every day he wakes up to Levy lying next to him, and he always thinks that he'll never be able to fall for her more than he already has, and every day he is proven wrong.

Gajeel smiled as he wiped away a tear from his face, "more than anything."

Makarov returned his smile, "Then marry her Gajeel. You have my blessing. Make a family with her. Make a life that both of you can be proud of living. Make her as happy as she makes you." Makarov held out his hand and Gajeel took it in his.

"I promise I will," Another tear fell down his face, "Thank you master."

"You're welcome, my son."

[juviaafullbuster]

Rare pair week

Friendships and regrets

Pairing: Gajeel x Juvia (Gajuvia, Gavia, Guvia..?)

Summary: Gajeel and Juvia think back to the old days in the Phantom Lord guild and about how their friendship has developed.

A/N: I love this two and their relationship, although I don't really see them in a romantic way so this story is focused on their friendship. Hope you guys like it :)

*************************************************

Juvia had a soft smile on her face watching her best friend interact with the guild members. She was worried at first, there's no denying that. Gajeel always found it hard to open up to new people and he didn't exactly look like the friendliest person to engage with either. So really, it was natural for her to be worried.

But watching him now, the way he was teasing Jet and Droy, laughing along with Levy, it filled her with happiness.

It felt like it has just been yesterday when she first met the iron dragon slayer. She still remembered that day perfectly.

Years ago in the Phantom Lord guild

It was another gloomy day in the Phantom Lord guild. Juvia herself hasn't been with them for too long, still learning about the guild herself. But she wasn't the newest member anymore. Their master had proudly announced that someone new had joined their guild, a dragon slayer. The excitement was high and everyone grew impatient waiting to learn about the newest member.

What noone had expected was for the new member to be a child, not much older than Juvia. Glaring at them with red eyes was Gajeel, the iron dragon slayer.

It became clear very fast that Gajeel didn't intend to interact with others much. He always sat by himself, munching on anything made out of iron. Juvia had heard the rumors about him, that apperantly he was raised by a dragon who just abandoned him one day. She heard the things the other members would whisper each other, some just gossiping, others just being rude and judging.

Juvia knew what it was like. She had been judged her entire childhood. People would avoid her, talk about her behind her back, misjudge her. She had lived a lonely life thanks to those kind of people. Looking at Gajeel she decided to make a change and approach him.

While the boy had rejected her attempts on starting a conversations at first, he started being less stubborn with time. When the anniversary of the dragons disappearance came up, Juvia joined Gajeel on his search, surprising the dragon slayer and earning his trust. With time their bond grew. They helped each other out and teached each other things. It was Juvia who teached the boy how to swim after he admitted to her that he couldn't swim why he was afraid of going in the water.

Two lonely kids had finally found someone to rely on and to trust. But then, things started changing. The kids grew up and the guild became darker. Juvia was assigned to the elite group of the Phantom Lord guild, leading to her taking on long and hard missions. Gajeel became the masters right hand, doing all the work for him. The two barely saw each other anymore and eventually their friendship turned into a memory. From there one, things started getting worse. Not having anyone left to hold her to her humanity, she started getting cold, more distant, more a ghost in a shell rather than a person. Her relationship failed, her friendships broke and she become nothing more than a puppet for the master to use.

Gajeel had seen the changes in his best friend. That girl wasn't the Juvia who helped him on his search to find his dragon, who reached him how to swim, who broke down his walls and forced a way into his life. He could tell she was losing her grip on life, he had warned the master several times, but it didn't matter. He didn't care and Gajeel couldnt either. He couldnt risk showing a weakness so instead he watched his best friend break.

Back in the present

Gajeel glanced over to where his best friend was standing. The water mage was laughing about something Gray was saying. He could see the joy in her eyes, the way she smiled, the way she held herself. Juvia had definently changed. He was happy for her, she did deserve to find this: Friends, family, a home, happiness.

He still didn't forgive himself for the way he let her break. It was a burden he would forever carry with him. And even though he would never tell him, he was grateful for Gray. Because if it wasn't for him, he would have lost his best friend a long time ago.

That day Gajeel made a promise. From now on he will always be there for his best friend, even if it means he has to listen to her ramble on about her love for Gray for hours. He won't let her fall into that dark pit again. He wasn't there for her once, he won't make the same mistake again. From now on, things were going to be different.

[theink-theiron]

Fairys Lost in Liones - Chapter One

Gajevy and Banlaine are my OTP's and I wanted to see a crossover between them and between Fairy Tail and Nanatsu no taizai, hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3 Here

Levy could feel aching and pain all over her body as she woke up from a deep sleep, she opened her eyes and shuffled sitting up on the bed, wincing as she did. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the room expecting to see the guilds infirmary, but that didn’t seem to be the case in this situation. Instead of white sheets they were pink and instead of Mira or Wendy stood beside her tending to her wounds there was no one.

“Where am I?” She muttered out groggily, speaking to no one in particular but hoping that one of her guild mates would answer her. The nerves were beginning to creep in as the predicament she found herself in began to dawn on her, alone, injured, and unaware of where she was or how she got there; With each passing second more questions arose but no answers were there to comfort her.

She slowly got out of bed, being mindful of her injuries that seemed to encompass the majority of her body, she stretched out her body a little hoping to ease some of the tension she was feeling both inside and out, she took another quick scan around the brightly coloured rustic bedroom that for the life of her she could not recognise, she was hoping it would be a guildmates bedroom or something like that but she didn’t think so, the whole place just felt a little… off.

It was at that moment that she realised two things A) She was covered in neatly wrapped bandages, so she assumed that whoever brought her here was friendly and B) That she was wearing an outfit that was more befitting of Lucy! a tight pink t-shirt that ended at her waist, the smallest blue mini skirt and belt, and one long blue sock. Not her typical state of dress however she was more concerned about who dressed her.  

Then it hit her, Gajeel, Pantherlily, Jet and Droy were all with her, the last thing she could remember was all of them heading out on a mission together, which she had just about managed to drag Gajeel onto. Are they here? Are they ok? A loud commotion from downstairs disrupted her train of thought, it sounded like a lot of people, maybe that was them. Even if not she would still have to leave the room at some point, so that’s what she did. Creeping down the stairway the ruckus got louder, people yelling and cheering maybe, but none of them sounded like any of her boys.

Reaching the bottom of the stairway and rounding the corner, she shyly walked into what seemed like quite a nice little restaurant and bar. How odd. But what caught her eye the most was that she could see the group people she is assuming found her.

“Look who’s finally awake” Straining her neck looking up she came face to face, well face to chest, with a pair of red eyes with a devilish glint in them, the man was grinning down at her but it wasn’t malicious it seemed more playful which actually threw her off a little bit. She had to take two steps back just to look at him properly, how tall is this man!? she thought, he easily towered over her, even more than Gajeel did. And why on earth is he wearing an apron instead of a t-shirt?

Six pair of eyes scattered around the room were all on her waiting for her to say something, but her nervousness temporarily got the better of her, she didn’t recognise any of these people or the place and Gajeel was nowhere to be seen the whole situation was very unsettling for her, she wished she didn't have to do it alone.

“Ban don’t scare her! Don’t mind him my. name's Hawk captain of scraps disposal!” A large pig pushed past the man she now knew as Ban to speak with her. He seemed rather outgoing. She heard Ban mutter out a quick ‘Sorry Master’ This pig wasn’t in charge was he?

“Uh hi, my name's Levy Mcgarden, it…it’s nice to meet you Hawk” She was taken back by the fact there was a talking pig for only a moment before she composed herself again, deciding to ignore the part about scraps, she had bigger questions at the moment.

“You’re not surprised by the talking pig?” Ban asked incredulously whilst leaning against the bar and wrapping an arm around a small blonde girl with big golden eyes, seriously who are these people?

“I know a talking cat so no” He nodded at her, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“I’m sorry but I’m so confused, who are you people?” She tried to remain polite but the whole situation was so strange.

“You don’t know? we’re the Seven Deadly Sins” A small blonde boy who seemed rather chipper then joined the conversation, but he also started groping a tall, beautiful white haired woman who kind of reminded her of Mira. The girl blushed but didn’t do anything. Levy immediately averted her eyes and decided to talk into the void instead as to avoid the embarrassing scene.

“Who?” Ok so the name ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ did not put here at ease. And she had never heard of them before, is that some sort of guild name perhaps?

“You’re not from around here are you” Another small brunette boy joined in with a deadpan tone, it wasn’t exactly a question more of an accusation. The blonde boy then introduced himself as Meliodas the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Dragon Sin of Wrath and gave a very brief description of what they were, although it was confusing, an order of Holy Knights for the kingdom of Liones and… criminals. As interesting as it was to hear it raised a lot more questions than it did answers.

“What? There is no place called Liones or Britannia and there are no Holy Knights”  She knew of every country on Earthland and she was sure that she was right about this, but she also didn’t think that they were lying, what is going on?

“Yes, there is and that’s where you are right now” Meliodas said keeping his voice light, she could not seem to tell what he was thinking and everyone else was just looking at her like she was crazy, which to be fair she could understand.

“OH! Gajeel, Jet, Droy and Pantherlily where are they!?” She suddenly burst out looking frantically around the room, they must know where they are, they would have been with her right; she couldn’t be out here all on her own.

“There was only one other person with you, tall, dark hair, angry looking guy. He’s going to be ok, but he’s hurt bad, he’s upstairs resting now” Meliodas told her pointing at the staircase then heading behind the bar.

“Oh thank Mavis Gajeels ok” She sighed letting out a breath of air she didn’t know she was holding in, but that didn’t make her feel completely better as the other three still weren’t accounted for “But are you sure there wasn’t any else with us? A ginger guy, a big guy with dark hair, and a small black cat with a sword maybe?” It was a desperate attempt; she knew it but she had to ask maybe they had seen them somewhere else on their travels.

“No but that last guy sounds cool!” Exclaimed Ban jumping up a little, the blonde girl patted him on the shoulder and giggled signalling for him to cool down a little bit, which he did.

Worry took over her then, where on Earthland could they be? she hoped they were ok, with any luck they were still in Magnolia.

“You must be starving” The White-haired girl approached her and ushered her to sit down at the bar, they sat beside each other, and the blonde girl sat on the other side of her. “Ban why don’t you get started on some supper for everyone, the others should be back soon” Meliodas told Ban whilst he started fixing up some drinks for everyone.

The White haired girl accepted the drinks and divided them amongst the three girls “My name is Princess Elizabeth but don’t worry you don’t have to be formal with me” She smiled brightly at her and it actually did make Levy feel a bit better.

“Wow a Princess are you sure I feel like I should bow” Elizabeth giggled at that and shook her head.

“And my name is Elaine, I’m from the Fairy kings Forest '' There was something about Elaine that she couldn’t quite figure out, she looked young like Wendy, but her eyes gave her away she looked wise beyond her years.

“Ha that’s funny I’m from the Fairy Tail guild”

“You’re a fairy too!?” She beamed with excitement practically bouncing out of her seat.

“Are you a fairy!?” Shocked beyond belief this girl seemed genuine when she said too so that must mean…no. This doesn’t make any sense, she can’t be a fairy, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

“Yes…why are you surprised?”

The guild wasn’t going to believe this, if this was real then she had just discovered actual Fairy’s, just imagining everyone’s faces when she told made her laugh internally.

“I’m sorry I know this might sound ridiculous, but you don’t have a tail do you?”

“No we don’t have tails! are you crazy?” The brunette boy shouted from the cushion he was currently laying on in the air, ok so that was a little weird. But now she could tell everyone the answer to the age-old question on whether Fairies have Tails or not, this was an amazing day, well if you don’t include everything else that has happened.

With everyone in the room looking at her like she was out of her mind she started to explain why she had asked, she told them about the guild and Fiory, hopefully they might be able to fill in some of the gaps that she was missing. They told her that they had no idea what she was going on about which by now wasn’t that surprising, but they said a mage called Merlin may be able to help, they would just have to wait for her to return. Apparently there were still a few people missing called Merlin, Escanor, Diane and Gowther.

Dinner was almost ready for everyone so she decided she should head up and check on Gajeel just to make sure he was alright.

“LEVY!” Everyone stopped at the sound of a fierce roar coming from upstairs, he rushed downstairs clearly ignoring any pain and each thud of his descent was getting closer and closer. Rounding the corner they locked eyes and he marched up to her gently grabbing her shoulders and checking her over noticing the many bandages, his eyes looked panicked and she could tell that unlike her the moment he awoke he leaped out of bed and instead of waiting to try and piece together what was going on he immediately went on a hunt.

“Are you alright?” He asked, staring at her. After a moment he realised how close they were and stepped back and let go of her shoulders opting to scratch the back of his head and look away from her to alleviate some of the awkwardness, she noticed a very light blush on his cheeks but passed it of as a reaction to all the adrenaline coursing through his system. She nodded and hoped that he didn’t see her light blush either though, but of course it was only because of the adrenaline

“Where’s Pantherlily and the two morons?” And who are all these people?” He motioned to everyone else in the room who were still looking at them intently, seeming a bit put off by the silence of the unknown presences.

She ignored his moron comment and then smiled thinking of introducing him to the new friends she had made, Elaine and Elizabeth were delightful and she didn’t know what to think of the guys yet, but they seemed alright too.  

“These are the Seven Deadly Sins” levy gestured around the room and the girls and Meliodas waved, Ban nodded his head, and the brunette boy rolled his eyes.

“What the hell is that, a boy Band?” Gajeel asked mockingly, still seeming a bit Sceptical though.  

“No but that would be cool” Meliodas shouted out from beside Liz and jumped up to look excitedly at Ban who also had a massive grin plastered over his face.

Gajeel however looked much like Levy did not too long ago as hearing that name didn’t really clear anything up. Oh well she had plenty of time to explain things to him in more detail later, she couldn’t wait to tell him about the Fairy’s.

But as ok as things seemed at the moment they were still in a dire situation; was this the result of the Dark Guild they were going to face?

[mdelpin]

Two Hearts

Gratsu Summer Solstice 2020 Prompt: Fun in the Sun AO3

Summary: After the scare they had on Tenrou Island, Natsu and Gray promise to make the most of every moment.

Tenrou Island x-791

“Gray?!” Natsu yelled as soon as Bisca and Alzack found him in the rubble. He didn’t even stop to thank his friends before running off, barely managing to notice that they looked a little different.

His senses were going into overdrive as he tried to pick out Gray’s scent amidst all the others. The last time he’d seen him, they had all been standing together in a circle, death imminent.

How had they all gotten so separated? Had everyone survived? He ran towards where most of the scents were, ignoring the cries from Bisca and Alzack, who soon gave up on keeping up with him.

One by one, he located their scents, Erza, Juvia, Lucy, Wendy, Mira. They all seemed alright. He changed direction, still calling out Gray’s name and receiving every response but the one he wanted.

He found Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, Lisanna and Elfman to the east and stopped only long enough to ask if they had seen the ice mage.

His anxiety mounted with every passing moment. Where was he?

Please let him be okay. There’s so much we never got to do.

“Salamander!”

Natsu froze in his tracks, feeling more terrified than he’d ever been as he watched Gajeel run towards him. “He’s over here.”

He swallowed and nodded, not sure what to expect.

“He’s fine,” Gajeel attempted to reassure him, but Natsu could tell that he wasn’t telling him everything.

Natsu followed Gajeel to the beach, where Gray sat looking out at the ocean. Something in his expression worried him, but it changed as soon as Gray saw him.

“You’re alive?” The words were said in a disbelieving whisper that was heartbreaking, and Natsu soon understood what had been going through his boyfriend’s mind. Gray had endured so many of these impossible situations, and every time he had come out of it losing the person he cared about the most.

“I’m alive,” Natsu agreed with a tired grin, collapsing in front of his boyfriend in relief. He grabbed Gray’s hand, moving it up towards his face, letting the ice mage touch him to reassure him that he was real. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“I thought-”

“I know what you thought, Ice Block, but I’m incredibly hard to kill, ask the Metal Bucket over there.”

Gajeel snorted at his words, “It’s not from lack of trying on my part, that’s for sure. You guys stay here, I’ll go tell the others you’re okay.” He walked off in the direction of the camp, giving them some privacy.

“What happened?” Gray asked, still sounding lost, his hand gripping Natsu’s tightly.

“I don’t know, but it looks like we managed to cheat death again,” Natsu shrugged, no longer interested in the how now that he knew that Gray was alright. He pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes, inhaling the scent he had grown to love more than any other. He barely noticed when Gray moved, tilting his head so he could capture Natsu’s lips with his own.

It was surprising. Gray had always wanted to keep their relationship a secret from the others. Natsu had never questioned it, had never really cared as long as he knew that Gray was his.

“Are you okay?” Natsu asked once they’d separated.

“I don’t want to waste another minute,” was all he said before standing up and pulling Natsu along with him.

0-0

3 weeks later

“Ocean!” Natsu and Gray exclaimed, making a beeline for the vast body of water that called to them, plowing through Jet and Droy and racing to be the first to plunge into its depths.

They were there to train for the Grand Magic Games to try to restore honor to their guild after making them wait so long for their return, but at the moment none of that mattered. Not when there was so much for them to do.

“Swimming contest!”

Their toes touched the water at the same time, and they kept running, jumping in as soon as the water was up to their knees. They swam their hardest, matching stroke for stroke until they found a small cove where they could lose themselves in each other for a few hours.

“Where were you two?” Erza asked on their return, snorting when they both avoided her gaze.

Their eyes lit up as soon as they saw Wendy making sandcastles with Happy and Carla, both yelling, “Sandcastle contest!” as one.

“Those two are never going to grow up,” Lucy giggled, watching as the two boys attempted to outdo the other, bickering the whole time yet somehow ending up working together to build an enormous castle in the end.

“Tomcats never do,” Carla shrugged, crossing her arms in judgment.

Natsu’s stomach rumbled from all the exercise, and Gray laughed at him. “Eating contest?”

“You’re on!”

They ran off in search of the restaurant they had eaten dinner at the night before.

“Do they seem different to you since we came back from Tenrou?” Levy asked the others as they watched Natsu and Gray run off.

“They do seem to be getting along better,” Wendy added, “It’s nice.”

“They’re in loooooooooooooooove!” Happy chimed in, but the girls only laughed at him. The idea of Natsu and Gray being in love with each other too ridiculous for them to entertain.

Erza and Mira started up a volleyball game, and they all split up into teams. When Natsu and Gray returned an hour later, no one paid them any mind until Gray complained about how Natsu had gotten them kicked out of the restaurant.

“What should we do now?” Natsu asked, keeping an eye on the volleyball game.

“Ugh, I’m too stuffed to do anything but lay in the sun,” Gray burped loudly, laughing when everyone yelled at Natsu for being disgusting.

“I guess we could have a suntanning contest,” Natsu scratched his head.

“For Mavis sake, does everything have to be a contest between you two?” Jet muttered, “How does one even have a suntan contest?”

“You can turn anything into a contest if you try hard enough,” Natsu laughed good-naturedly as he stretched his towel out next to Gray’s and lay down, enjoying the feeling of the sun’s rays caressing his skin.

The truth was they had made a contest out of everything they did for so long they didn’t know any different. It had never been about the results anyway.

He stretched out his pinky finger, letting it subtly touch Gray’s, smiling contentedly when he felt the slight pressure of Gray’s finger returning the gesture.

“Sleeping contest?” Gray suggested, the glint in his eyes letting Natsu know what he was really asking.

Natsu grabbed the hand that Gray offered him and stood up, grinning mischievously, “I thought you’d never ask.” He took off towards the hotel room they shared with Gray right behind him.

On Tenrou, they had promised each other that they wouldn’t waste a single minute of the time they’d been gifted, and that is precisely what they intended to do. For however long they had left on this Earthland, they would live, fight, and love together. Their two hearts beating as one.

A/N: Couldn’t resist adding the pictures,  I just watched that episode last night. I forgot how much I loved it so I wrote this drabble to kind of commemorate it!

[animezing-fandoms]

The Baby Race Chapter 4: Home for the Holidays

Fanfic Masterlist (find links to the previous parts there)

Warnings: Suggestive themes, aka mentions of smutty stuff. The guys have a comedic conversation about boobs. I hope I didn’t write it too cringey 😬

Relationships: Nalu, Gruvia, Gajevy, Jerza 

Summary: As everyone’s settling down as the Holiday season comes to Magnolia, the relationships develop further. Gray and Juvia’s wedding is just around the corner, Levy is due to give birth sometime during the month, and Natsu gives Lucy a big surprise! 

A/N: Hey guys! So I’m really busy but I wanted to give you guys the fourth part to help get y’all into the Holiday spirit while waiting for part five which I won’t be able to get started on until finals are over. So until then, enjoy this part and don’t forget to comment!

---------

On a cold winter morning in Magnolia, Lucy was in her apartment, humming to herself as she placed her soap and shampoo by the side of her bathtub and began to run the water. Then she came back into her bedroom and began to unbutton her top.

"Hey Lucy!" Natsu and Happy casually greet her from her bed.

Lucy screamed and pulled her top shut over her chest. Then she frowned when she saw that her bedroom window was wide open.

"Natsu what the hell! I gave you a key so that you could use the door not climb in through my window like a perverted stalker or a burglar!" Lucy complains.

"Oh yeah." Natsu says.

He feels around in his pockets and pulls out the key.

"I'm just so used to coming in through the window I must have forgotten about the key and just broken in out of habit." Natsu laughs.

Lucy sighs and blushes.

"I should have known that this would happen. You always seem to barge in on me while I'm changing after all..." She whines with a teasing lilt to her voice that Natsu picks up on.

He blushes when he notices her tugging on the open ends of her top, teasingly revealing her cleavage while her pretty doe eyes darkened with lust.

Happy felt the change in the atmosphere and immediately felt uncomfortable.

"Uh, I know you two are a thing now but I don't need to know what kind of kinky roleplay you're into!" He says and flies back out the window.

"There's nothing kinky about thi-" Lucy starts then gets cut off and gasps as Natsu suddenly pins her against her dresser.

"So you knew I was coming eh? Is that why you drew a bath?" He asks in a low tone.

"Yeah. Would you care to join me?" Lucy offers seductively.

----------

After taking a nice relaxing bath together where they cleaned each other off among other activities, and then made their way to the guild hall like they did every day since they got together.

It had been a few months since that fateful day that the "baby race" started at the guild and by now most people had forgotten about it entirely. They were just happy that the couples that they knew were destined to be together had finally gotten together, there wasn't a big rush for anyone to get pregnant yet. Lucy for one was fine with that. She and Natsu were still getting used to this new chapter in their relationship, adding a baby to the mix would be too much right now. Besides, Levy was going to be due to have her twins any time this month, and Gray and Juvia were having their wedding the day before Christmas Eve. There was already so much celebration going on, Lucy didn't want to steal her friend's spotlight, nor the Holiday's.

Yep. It was that time of year again, and as the first snow fell on Magnolia, everyone in the guild was busy setting up decorations inside and Erza was meticulously dictating every aspect of it.

"Put in more effort everyone! These decorations need to be perfect this year since we'll not only be celebrating the Holidays, but a Fairy Tail wedding!" Erza declares and everyone cheers.

Juvia's face lit up when she heard everyone cheering.

"Did you hear that Gray-sama? They're so happy for us!" Juvia exclaims and throws her arms around her fiancé in a tight hug.

At first Gray frowned at Juvia for being so affectionate like this, but then he saw how happy she looked and couldn't help but smile and hug her back.

"Yeah they are. But I doubt they're happier than I am to get to have you as my wife." Gray tells her.

"Aw Gray-sama, Juvia is really happy too!" She says and then they kiss each other.

Erza watched them hugging each other and felt a pang of jealousy. Jellal was away for the week, so seeing Gray and Juvia get so cozy with each other was a bit irritating but hey, at least it wasn't every couple right? Suddenly she turned her head towards Levy when she heard her laugh.

Asuka was laughing too, because she had just shot mistletoe onto Gajeel's forehead and he was very unamused.

"Hey this ain't funny you little brat!" Gajeel growls at her.

"Gajeel don't talk to her like that, she's just a little kid. You wouldn't yell at one of our kids like that would you?" Levy asks and rubs her swollen belly.

Gajeel quickly realizes his mistake and then flashes a big grin at Asuka while patting her on the head.

"No of course not. Children are the most precious things in the world gihee." He says.

"That's funny, but now you have to kiss Levy since she's under the mistletoe!" Asuka says and laughs.

"Gihee. That's no problem for me." Gajeel says and then leans down and plants one on Levy.

Now Erza was starting to get a little ticked off and she growled.

Lucy was on a ladder setting up garland on the balcony. While she was working she heard a commotion below her as a bunch of the older men in the guild who had had a little too much to drink were fighting over who got to hold the ladder for her.

"Hey cut it out you perverts! You're gonna make me fall!" Lucy shouts at them.

Natsu came over after hearing the commotion.

"Why are you calling them perverts? They just want to hold the ladder for you so you don't fall." Natsu says.

"Natsu, they want to hold the ladder so that they can look up my skirt!" Lucy shouts at her clueless boyfriend.

As soon as he hears that his demeanor changes and he growls at the older men who dared to creep on Lucy.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu shouts and all the drunk men scream as his flaming fist comes hurtling towards them.

"Wait Natsu be careful you're gonna break the ladder-AH!" Lucy shouts as the ladder breaks from Natsu's attack and she falls.

She expected to hit the floor but she didn't. Natsu caught her in his arms and smiled at her.

"Don't worry Luce, I'm always here to catch you when you fall." Natsu says.

Lucy blushes and looks at him lovingly.

"You too Natsu." She says and then they both kiss.

Erza was now fully enraged with jealousy and her fist clenched around the railing for the balcony and cracked it.

"Whoa Erza's really mad!" Jet exclaims.

"Everyone look out!" Droy shouts and ducks for cover under a table.

Lucy and Levy noticed how angry she looked and then left their boys and quickly walked towards the guild's exit.

"Hey Levy, do you think now would be a good time to do our Christmas shopping?" Lucy asks nervously.

"Yep! Definitely!" Levy agrees.

-----------

Lucy and Levy walked through the streets of Magnolia and looked for gifts to get for their friends in the guild. They also pointed out things that they would want for themselves. Lucy didn't see anything she was dying to get in the market though. But the one Christmas gift she did want was for Natsu to get down on one knee for her with a ring in his hand and a four-word question on his lips. She was pulled from her thoughts as Levy shivered beside her and held her coat tighter to herself, the buttons were strained over her large baby bump. Lucy pulled a shawl out from her bag and wrapped it around Levy's shoulders.

"I hope Gajeel got you a warmer jacket for Christmas." Lucy says as she rubs her best friends shoulders to get her warmed up.

"Don't tempt him or else he'll probably make it himself out of iron." Levy jokes and the two girls laugh.

"He's still determined to build your whole house out of iron isn't he?" Lucy asks.

"No, I was able to talk him out of that." Levy laughs.

"I reminded him that if the whole house was iron then he'd be tempted to eat the place all the time and he wouldn't be able to because it would be made from his own magic so it would be like torture for him. So he's toned down on the home projects for now. Although he does seem to be busy doing something with Natsu lately." Levy says.

"Yeah I've noticed. I tried to ask Natsu what's going on but every time I bring it up he gets nervous and tries to redirect the conversation to something else. Do you know what he's been up to with Gajeel?" Lucy asks.

"I haven't got the slightest clue. Gajeel's been just as secretive. But I don't think it's anything to worry about, because whenever I ask him he laughs before telling me that it's a secret he can't tell me about because if I know then I'll tell you." Levy admits.

Lucy looks down and crosses her arms to keep them closer to her warm body inside her pink jacket as a cold breeze blew by.

"Whatever it is, I guess it's clear that it's something he really doesn't want me to know about." Lucy says.

"Puu-puun." Plue says.

The girls turn and see Plue dancing around as the snowflakes fall around him.

"I'm surprised Plue isn't shivering right now. He looks like he's always cold, I'd imagine he'd be freezing right now." Levy says and holds her shawl tighter to herself.

"He doesn't shiver from the cold, just when he's nervous. He's actually rather fond of the cold weather to be honest, that's why he's so happy right now." Lucy says and giggles as Plue stands in place and shakes his hips before jumping up and cheering with joy.

"There you girls are!" A loud voice shouts, scaring Plue and making him scream and jump into Lucy's arms where he began to shiver.

The girls turned to see Cana standing there, stumbling slightly as she approached them, an open bottle of some sort of liquor in her hand.

"Cana what are you doing drunk out here? The ground is slippery because of the snow, you could fall and hurt yourself!" Levy warns.

"I'm getting drunk to celebrate the first snow of the season!" Cana slurs before taking another large swig of her drink, finishing the bottle and tossing it into the alley where they heard it shatter.

"Besides, being out here is worth the risk because there's something going on at the guild hall you girls have got to see!" Cana exclaims.

Cana lunged forward and grabbed both of their wrists and tugging them forward with surprising ease and then took off down the street with both of the girls struggling to keep up.

"Cana what are you doing?" Lucy exclaims as the card mage dragged her through the street towards the guildhall by her wrist while Plue flew behind Lucy like a kite as she held his hand.

"Yeah, ouch Cana! You're being a bit rough." Levy says as Cana dragged her along by the wrist with her other hand.

"You should be more careful with a pregnant lady." Levy reminds her.

"Relax Levy, I'm grabbing your wrist not your uterus, and besides, for all we know, Lucy could be expecting too by now since she and Natsu are spending every night together." Cana says suggestively and looks at Lucy.

She blushed and looked away from her.

"Just because we're sharing a bed doesn't mean we're having sex every night!" Lucy retorts.

"So you admit you've done it more than once!" Cana replies.

Lucy yelped when she realized what she just revealed and Cana laughed heartily and Levy giggled.

"So what's going on at the guild that's so important that you pulled us away from our Holliday shopping?" Lucy asks grumpily to direct the conversation away from her sex life.

"Heh. We're here now so see for yourself." Cana says and lets go of them once they enter the doors of the guild hall.

What the girls saw inside was nothing out of the ordinary. Just the boys being rowdy and fighting each other as usual. But then when they heard what they were saying, they understood why Cana wanted them to come down there so quickly.

"Lucy is ten times sexier than Juvia!" Natsu exclaims and throws a fireball at Gray.

Gray blocked it with an ice shield that shattered when the fire hit it and then smirked at Natsu.

"Oh yeah, then how come Juvia won the Miss Fiore contest in Sorcerer Weekly and not Lucy!" Gray retorts.

"Yeah! You tell him darling!" Juvia cheers.

"Juvia loves hearing you say how much you prefer her over that blonde bimbo."

Levy and Cana snickered and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, that contest means absolutely nothing to me. In my eyes there's nothing in this whole world that's more beautiful than Lucy!" Natsu shouts back at Gray.

Lucy blushed from the compliment.

"Oh wow...I can't believe he really thinks of me like that." She whispers, touched by his words.

"Besides, Lucy's boobs are way bigger than Juvia's!" Natsu adds and Lucy's heartfelt feelings go away as quickly as they came.

"And now I can believe it." She deadpans.

"Well then you need to get your eyes checked because Juvia's rack is ten times better than Lucy's!" Gray shouts at Natsu.

"Hey don't use my numbers against me!" Natsu shouts.

"Does that flame brain of yours even know how to multiply by ten!" Gray retorts.

"Of course it does, that's why I'm gonna punch you ten times harder than I did last time!" Natsu shouts and throws a flaming punch at Gray.

He lands the hit and Gray hits a table while Natsu smiles proudly as he stands over him while Juvia helps him sit up and regain his bearings.

"You two are fightin' over nothin'. Levy's the sexiest girl that ever existed, and you two boneheads are too dumb to see it." Gajeel says from the table next to them and drinks his beer.

Natsu and Gray snickered behind him.

"The problem isn't that we're dumb." Natsu says and both he and Gray snicker again.

"The problem is that you'd need a magnifying glass if you wanted to see her chest."

The boys erupted into a fit of laughter and a vein bulged out of Gajeel's forehead.

Levy gasps and her face turns red from embarrassment while she crosses her arms over her chest and Plue comfortingly pats her shoulder from where he was standing on the balcony.

"Forget her chest Natsu, you'd need a microscope just to see her at all!" Gray adds and the two of them laugh harder.

"And Gajeel's such a big guy, how do you think he even fits inside of her?" Natsu jokes.

"Well she's pregnant so he must have managed to squeeze it in there somehow." Gray snickers.

Then they stopped laughing when Gajeel picked them both up by the collars of their jackets.

"You two don't need to worry about how well I fit inside of Levy. You should be more worried about how yer gonna fit inside the wall!" Gajeel shouts and tosses them both into a wall with a loud crash.

Gray and Natsu groaned and fell out of the wall.

As Natsu regained his senses he noticed that some of the men in the guild were snickering and pointing at him and Gray while the girls looked annoyed and unimpressed.

"Hey Gray, why's everyone laughing at us?" Natsu asks gruffly.

"They're not laughing at us." Gray answers.

Natsu looked confused but then Gray pointed to the wall and Natsu caught himself before he burst out laughing when he saw that the craters that he and Gray made in the wall greatly resembled a woman's chest.

The two mages looked at each other before laughing hysterically and slinging their arms around each other's shoulders.

"I guess now we know who the biggest pair of boobs in the guild are!" Happy teases before falling over from laughing.

"What a mature response." Carla says in an unamused tone but still cracks a small smile when Happy's not looking.

"Huge boobs are so manly!" Elfman shouts.

"You callin' Levy a man Elfman?" Gajeel growls.

"Uh no. I mean, I don't think so." Elfman says and scratches his head.

"I mean her boobs are pretty small aren't they?"

"Well, they were but now they're bigger." Gajeel says and blushes.

"Whoa wait she made them bigger!" Gray exclaims and looks at Gajeel curiously.

"Can girls just make them grow or shrink whenever they want like Brandish's magic or something?" Natsu asks curiously.

"No you idiots it's because of the babies!" Gajeel roars at them.

"They get bigger because of the milk her body's gonna make to feed them with because of hormones or some crap like that, I don't remember." Gajeel explains while blushing and scratching his head.

Carla rolled her eyes in annoyance before quirking an eyebrow when she noticed that Juvia was feeling her chest.

"Why are you doing that in public woman?!" Carla barks at her and Juvia blushes and puts her hands down at her sides and pretending that nothing happened.

"Well pregnant or not Lucy's still got the best rack in the guild!" Natsu claims while giving Gray a challenging look.

"In your dreams flame brain, Juvia's are way better and you know it!" Gray argues.

Both of them press their foreheads together and growl before Mira interjects.

"Both of you are so silly. If you want to know which one of them has a bigger chest then just go by their cup sizes." Mira says cheerily.

"Why is she encouraging them?" Lucy sighs and presses her palm against her forehead.

"Cup size?" Natsu asks.

"You mean I'm supposed to shove different sized cups onto one of her boobs and see to see which one fits or not?"

Lucy groaned and Cana and Levy giggled.

"No you idiot!" Gray says and smacks him in the back of the head.

"She's talking about her bra. The part that holds her boobs."

"Oh that makes more sense. So then do you know what size Juvia is?" Natsu asks.

"No. When I'm taking Juvia's bra off I'm not checking to see what size it is, I just want to get it out of the way to get at what was inside of it." Gray says matter of factly.

A few of the guys in the guild cheered for Gray and a few of them gave wolf whistles too.

"Oh Gray-sama you're so vulgar!" Juvia exclaims happily with hearts in her eyes.

"I can't even get Lucy's bra off. It's too complicated and it takes too long so I just rip it off instead. But Lucy doesn't seem to mind." Natsu says.

Everyone gasps and Lucy squeaks in embarrassment and her face turns bright red and she hides behind her hands.

"Oh my..." Levy says.

"Wow that's kinky." Cana says and slings an arm around Lucy.

"Oh hey Mira that reminds me, do you know where Lucy buys her bras because I owe her a couple new ones." He says and blushes and scratches the back of his head.

"I can buy them myself you pervert!" Lucy shouts.

Natsu froze and looked terrified when he turned his head and saw Lucy standing there glaring at him. Gajeel did a double take when he saw Levy standing next to her looking equally upset.

"Hey honey." Gajeel says with a nervous grin.

"H-hey there Luce, when did you get here?" Natsu asks and scratches the back of his head.

"Just in time to hear your little conversation with the boys..." Lucy says and crosses her arms while tapping her foot.

"Oh good then you heard me defending your beauty in front of them!" Natsu exclaims and stands up.

He shakes the remnants of the plaster from the wall out of his hair and then holds his arms open for Lucy to go and hug him. She remained standing in place with her hands on her hips as she frowned at him. That's when Natsu's smile fell and he lowered his arms.

"I did something wrong again didn't I?" He asks.

Lucy huffs, turns on her heel and walks out the door.

"Hey Lev, have I told you how cute you look today?" Gajeel asks sheepishly.

Levy rolls her eyes and follows Lucy out the door.

---------

Levy came back inside once Gajeel apologized to her. Natsu set a fire in the huge fireplace that the guild built for the winter and everyone was drinking hot cocoa and warming up together. Gajeel and Levy were sitting near Gray and Juvia and Levy turned towards their direction when she heard Wendy say something interesting.

"Hey Juvia, have you started wearing the same perfume as Levy? You kind of smell like her." Wendy asks.

"Really? She doesn't smell any different to me." Gray says.

"Well your nose isn't as good as Wendy's Gray-sama." Juvia reminds him.

Levy smirked at them before trying to fish a marshmallow out of her cocoa.

Meanwhile, Lucy decided to stay outside the guild hall and let Asuka play with Plue since she really wanted to dress him up like a snowman. She looked back at the guildhall and sighed when she heard them all clinking their glasses and cheering to celebrate the first snowfall of the season.

"Why are you out here in the cold and not inside warming up with Natsu?" Asuka asks.

"Because Natsu did something bad today. So I'm not going to give him any attention until he apologizes." Lucy explains.

Just then a cold breeze blew by and Lucy shivered until she gasped when she saw Natsu's scarf get dropped over her head and then she blushed as she felt him gently wrap it around her.

"I guess I'd better say I'm sorry then because I'm worried you might freeze if I wait any longer." Natsu says.

"Tch. I bet your only worried that my tits will freeze off." Lucy scoffs.

"Wait that can happen!?" Natsu exclaims with a worried expression on his face.

"Here I'll warm them up right now!"

Natsu grabs her chest from behind and Plue covers Asuka's eyes. But she could still hear Natsu's wail of pain as Lucy kicks him in the shin to get his hands off of her.

"No it can't! I was being sarcastic you big dummy they're fine!" Lucy shouts at him.

"I'm sorry Lucy. I'm still learning about this stuff. So I know I'm gonna mess up a lot and make you mad pretty often. But I'm gonna put everything I've got into learning from my mistakes so I can be a man worthy of spending forever with you." Natsu says and wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her in close.

"Oh Natsu..." Lucy says softly.

She was almost ready to forgive him but then she remembered something else she was mad at him for and looked away from him.

"That's really sweet and all but if you really want to spend forever with me then why have you been hiding things from me?" Lucy asks.

"Hiding things from you?" Natsu asks.

"Yeah. You've sneaking off with Gajeel for a few hours every day and you won't tell me why. If you really want to spend forever with me then why are you keeping secrets from me?" Lucy asks.

Natsu flashes her that big goofy grin of his.

"I only kept it a secret because I didn't want to ruin the surprise." Natsu explains.

"Surprise? For me?" Lucy asks.

"Yep! And Gajeel and I just finished it today, so now I can show it to ya when we leave the guild today. I hope you really like it!" Natsu says.

Lucy smiles at him then gasps when Asuka suddenly shoots something onto Natsu's forehead out of her toy gun.

"Pow! I got ya! Now Lucy's under the mistletoe so you two have to kiss!" Asuka laughs.

"Well, we've gotta honor tradition you know." Natsu says and Lucy giggles.

"Lucky for you I was already planning on honoring tradition." Lucy says and kisses him.

Once their lips parted Lucy rested her head on Natsu's chest.

"So what's this big surprise you have for me?" Lucy asks.

"I'll show you later Luce." Natsu says and kisses the top of her head.

"Seriously!" They heard Erza shout and turned to see her standing outside the guild hall's doors.

"Why does everyone have to get so romantic when I'm feeling so lonely!"

She swung her sword into the wall of the guild and gave Natsu and Lucy a death glare.

"Or maybe I could go and show you now." Natsu says.

"Yeah you know what, going now sounds like a good idea." Lucy agrees.

-----------

Natsu carried Lucy while she had her eyes closed and Happy flew beside them.

"Alright, we're here." Natsu says and sets her down.

"Okay now open your eyes Lucy!" Happy says.

Lucy opened her eyes and gasped in surprise from what she saw. It was Natsu and Happy's house, but it looked different. It was bigger than it was before.

"Surprise!" Natsu and Happy cheered.

"Whoa, so you and Gajeel renovated your house?" Lucy asks.

"Yep. It took a lot of hard work and Jule but we did it! Come on inside I'll show you around." Natsu says and pulls her inside through the front door.

Lucy was expecting to see a mess like there normally was, but instead everything was clean and tidy in the main living space. But what she didn't expect to see were the extra bookshelves considering Natsu and Happy barely read anything. She also noticed something else.

"Hey your hammock is gone." Lucy says.

"Yeah, that's 'cuz we don't need it now that we've got our own bedroom." Natsu says.

He takes her hand and leads her upstairs. He opened a door and Lucy gasped when she saw the bedroom inside. It was just as roomy as the one she had back at her apartment and the window had a beautiful view of the mountains. She opened the door on the far end and squealed with joy when she saw a luxurious bathtub that she could only ever dream about.

"Oh my gosh it's beautiful! I'll have to come over here more often to use it!" Lucy exclaims.

"You can use it as much as you want, Gajeel and I made it for you!" Natsu tells her.

"You built me a bathtub?" Lucy asks, tearing up.

"Yeah, and that's not the only thing I built for ya." Natsu says.

He leads her down the hall to another room and opens it for Lucy and then she actually does tear up from what she sees.

There were more bookshelves, and a desk with writing supplies on it by a big bay window seat with the same gorgeous view as their bedroom.

"Did you make me a writing room?" Lucy asks.

"Yeah, I know how you get upset when Happy and I barge in and distract you when you're writing so I thought you'd like your own space to write in that you can lock us out of whenever you want. Do you like it?" Natsu asks.

Lucy wiped her tears from her eyes and smiled at him.

"Oh Natsu I love it!" Lucy exclaims.

"But why did you have Gajeel do all of this?" Lucy asks.

"The last room will answer that question." Natsu says.

Lucy looked confused as Natsu opened the door to an empty room. She walked inside and looked around for any clue of what it's use could be but she couldn't find one.

"Natsu, what's this room for?" Lucy asks.

"It's for the baby." Natsu says.

Lucy gasped and turned to him.

"It's a nursery?" Lucy asks.

"Yeah dummy he just said it was a room for the baby." Happy teases.

"But why?" Lucy asks.

"Because your apartment doesn't have space for a nursery. So I built one here, and I knew you wouldn't be comfortable living here as it used to be so I added a few things to make it more comfortable for you." Natsu explains.

Lucy was starting to catch on and her tears came back.

"Oh Natsu..." She says softly.

"And I own this place so you don't have to worry about paying rent anymore, which would save us a lot of money that we'll need for the baby, so I was wondering how you might feel about moving in with me and Happy, Lucy?" Natsu asks.

"Yes Natsu! I'd love to!" Lucy exclaims and throws her arms around him in a tight hug.

He hugs her back and rests his head on top of hers.

"Well now that that's settled, there's one more thing you've got to do to make it official!" Happy says cheerfully.

The three of them stood outside while Lucy elegantly wrote her name with the paint brush onto the sign under Natsu's name.

"Why'd you write it so small?" Happy asks.

"Well, there's not much room since your names are so big on the sign." Lucy explains.

"Well to be fair we never expected anyone to ever move in with us. Much less a girlfriend." Happy says and glares at Natsu.

"Hey!" Natsu shouts in offense, making Lucy laugh.

"It's a good thing you wrote it small though Luce. We're gonna have to save room for the kids' names too." Natsu says and wraps an arm around her waist.

"Yeah, but we've got to make a kid first." Lucy reminds him.

"Alright then let's head inside and work on that while testing out the new bed!" Natsu says and Lucy squeals as Natsu picks her up and rushes her inside.

Happy looks at the sign and sighs.

"We're gonna need a bigger sign." He says.

---------

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget to comment!

[clumsydarknut]

Scripted Wishes

Chapter 4: Anima Extalia

Beginning | Previous | Next | Most Recent (That’s this! Hi!)

Lucy sighed, stretching and flopping back onto her bed. The dress rehearsal – if you could call it that – had only gone for maybe an hour and consisted mostly of the crew running a few of the more complicated dance scenes and rubbing out a couple bumps in the cues, none of which Loke seemed interested in helping her learn. The Loke she’d met that morning was nowhere to be found, instead replaced with a nervous, twitchy, hyper-focused stagehand who was determined to pretend she didn’t exist. He hadn’t said a word to her, even when she asked him things.

“Which one’s the left spot again?”

Point.

“So you play guitar?”

Nod.

“When do you think Natsu will be back?”

Shrug.

That hour had seemed like an eternity, dragged out second by second with anxious glances and awkward coughs. It wasn’t a total loss, though. She’d been able to see first-hand why Jellal got the praise that he did. Most of the cast of Anima Extalia were adult actors who seemed very experienced, and Jellal matched their skill note for note and step for step. They had done a battle scene featuring some crazy aerobatics – the choreographer had called it capoeira – where Jellal had pulled some off some incredible flips and twists. She was kind of bummed the show was sold out, and based on the way Loke behaved it wasn’t likely she could watch from the sound booth.

Guess I’ll just have to try out for something, she thought. Probably the next musical.

With nothing else to do, Lucy wiggled her phone out of her tight pockets and unlocked it with a few quick taps. She was used to most of the notifications – a few spam and school emails, a new video from a YouTuber she liked, and suggested pins for her astronomy board weren’t out of the ordinary. To her surprise and delight, however, all of those lined up beneath six new texts from Levy.

I saw Natsu drag you to the sound booth. Nothing kinky going on is there? ;)

omg i can’t believe i said that plz don’t show him

Lucy?

Oh right probs busy learning sound booth stuff k nevermind

We hope you’re here to stay, Lucy! Welcome to Fairy Tail!

The last text brought tears to her eyes. Beneath the welcome message was an awkwardly thrown together group selfie, with Levy holding the camera and doing her best mock-Instagram face. Jet and Droy crouched next to her, grinning, while Cana leaned on them, pointing a finger gun and winking. Erza stood over Levy with her soft smile, and Gray stood just next to her, arms crossed over his chest and giving the camera a smirk. In the corner, she could make out the boxy shape of the sound booth, a blur of pink and a blur of blonde just visible in the fuzzy background.

Lucy grinned and rubbed a tear from her cheek. She let her thumbs dance over her keyboard while she tried to think of a good response. They really like me, she sighed. I’m in Fairy Tail, and they like me!

Her phone gave a buzz and she squeaked as her hands jerked in surprise, making her lose her grip on the slender piece of technology; she juggled it awkwardly for a second before it landed flat on the pillow next to her. She scrambled onto her stomach and flipped the vibrating phone over, grinning at seeing Natsu’s profile picture humming on the screen. She slid her thumb across the icon and put it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Heya Luce!”

Lucy winced at the sudden noise, moving it a little further from her head. “Hey! What’s up?”

“Are you coming to the show?” he sang. She could almost see his toothy grin in the tone of his voice.

“It’s sold out, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah,” Natsu replied, “but you’re in the company now! You can watch from the sound booth with me!”

Lucy bit her lip. “Is that okay? I wouldn’t want to get in your way – it’s already pretty cramped with just two people up there.”

“You won’t get in the way,” Natsu chuckled, “Right Loke?”

She felt her breath hitch. Though she heard a faint “uh, sure” wobble on the other end, she knew the red-head was most certainly not okay with that. She wasn’t particularly fond of the boy, and certainly not of his playboy kind, but… he seemed genuinely afraid of her, and for no reason that Lucy could deduce. She didn’t want to make things worse if she could avoid it.

“No, it’s okay, Natsu,” she replied, “I should probably rest up – I’m a little woozy from all the action yesterday and today.”

“Aww, c’mon Luce! Is it cuz you’re afraid Loke will make a move on ya?” She heard Loke splutter something frantically. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him use a single pick-up line!”

“No, no,” Lucy laughed uncomfortably, “I just really need some rest.”

“Oh, okay.” Natsu seemed disappointed, but only for a moment before perking right back up. “I found a great role for you, by the way! I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, yeah?”

She smiled. “Sounds good!”

“Yosh! Ja na!”

“Bye!”

The screen turned black and she sighed. I’ll just have to miss this show, I guess. She rolled onto her back and picked up her phone again, humming as she decided what to do. She opened Instagram on a whim and flicked down to a random spot in her feed. It was another video posted by the school, bearing a very familiar face and a very familiar tag. She grinned.

I’d prefer to hang with him in person, but I guess this Salamander will do.

---

Gajeel really wasn’t one for theatre.

It was cheesy, weird, and straight up uninteresting. People prancing around on stage in frilly costumes, pretending to be things they’re not? And set to music? No, not really his thing at all.

Well, maybe that was a lie. He was in the Cosplay Club, after all.

But there was no way he’d ever admit the two things had anything in common. Cosplay was an art – a dedication to replicating a character so perfectly that it seemed they had stepped out of the world of fiction and straight into reality. Cosplaying a character was the ultimate testament to how incredible that character and their world truly was, and thus, being a cosplayer came with the heavy responsibility of making sure that character was done justice. It wasn’t this… thing, that played out on the stage in front of him.

He couldn’t really complain, though. Not since he was here on a date.

A second date, at that.

He leaned back further into his seat, scrunching down into his gray hoodie and tilting his head to look at the girl next to him. Sue was cute. She was at least a head shorter than him, with darker, tanned skin and forest green hair cut off at her shoulders. Now she wore a beige blouse and a short black skirt, but Gajeel much preferred her usual attire – a blue shirt with ripped sleeves and green cargo pants, along with an oddly adorable purple jester’s hat. He’d asked her out casually last week and they’d gone four-wheeling; when she asked him in return, this had been her suggestion.

He almost said no, but he actually kind of liked her.

He sighed, settling in for the show. The overture had finished, as well as the opening number – a solo by a guy in some weird ninja gear. Gajeel was pretty sure he’d seen him around school hanging with the other Fairy Tail dorks, which was a little bit of a surprise. Then again, all Fairy Tail had to work with was Fairy Tail, so maybe giving the title role to a teenager was the best they could do. Either way, the number was somewhat foreboding and left Gajeel with prickly discomfort itching at the back of his neck.

Sue gasped as the scene changed in a flash of smoke and a sheen of light. The eerie set the ninja dude had occupied was replaced with a multi-tiered stage painted as floating isles on a backdrop of a beautiful blue sky. Gajeel gave a smirk as Sue turned back, smiling, to see if he was watching. As soon as she looked back to the show he scrunched further into his seat. Maybe I can pick up some cosplay design ideas at the very least.

The show was pretty strange, in Gajeel’s opinion. Half the characters seemed to be humans from some post-apocalyptic magic-science hybrid country, and the other half were… cats? Cat people? Cat angels? Whatever they were, at least they weren’t furries. He had to admit the half-cat costumes were very well done, blending prosthetics perfectly into skin and avoiding the whole mostly-naked-with-body-paint deal that so often killed good animal cosplays. The rigging they used for some of the aerobatics attached to very well disguised harnesses with pretty impressive angel wings that seemed to be high quality animatronics. They’d somehow managed to get realistic tails as well, which moved and swished about like real ones instead of dangling limply or sticking out at awkward angles. Pretty cool, that. He made a mental note to scare the technique out of one of the stagehands later.

The main protagonist appeared to be a bluish cat called Shiawase, who, of course, was in love with a girl. Typical of musicals. The girl was a beautiful white cat called Charlotte who seemed to be a princess of sorts. From what Gajeel could tell, the two were just trying to elope while the humans warred with the cat people and it really wasn’t going well.

“Gajeel,” Sue whispered suddenly, pointing to Shiawase, “Isn’t that… Gray?”

Gajeel did the air equivalent of a spit take as he suddenly recognized the blue cat, sitting forward in his seat to study him with a squint.

“Sure is,” he chuckled. “Damn that’s a lot of makeup. Too bad he still looks like a twat.”

Sue gave him a pout. “C’mon, Gajeel, be nice. He helped you with the kanji on one of your katanas, didn’t he?”

“Tch.” Gray had been helpful that one time, being from Japan and all, but he was still a Fairy Tail dork.

As the show went on the story got more complicated. If Gajeel had cared, he would have found himself torn on which side of the war to get behind. The cat angels were some sort of tyrannical deities or the like, in which case he favored the humans, but the humans were merciless executioners who slaughtered their own kind as readily as they slaughtered the cats. As badass as that was, he couldn’t really get behind that either. Not that he was emotionally invested or anything. If he had to pick, he’d probably go with the humans – mainly because of the large, bulky black cat who had betrayed his kind to fight alongside them. Gajeel really didn’t care much, but that character was pretty neat.

The ninja guy from the beginning – Mist Can or something – was turning out to be kind of cool too. He was revealed to be the exiled prince of the human nation, swooping in to save the imprisoned cat protagonists right before intermission, and Sue bubbled over him through the entire break. Gajeel would have preferred to go get a snack, but… she was pretty adorable when she got all excited like that, so he didn’t mind too much. He’d lost track of most of the plot at this point, but he was actually sort of enjoying himself. Kind of. Maybe.

The entr’acte ended with a very mournful piccolo solo and the lights rose on the remains of a blackened forest. Charred branches scraped and clawed at the orange sky. Smoke effects drifted up in billows and the crackling of flames hummed in the silence. This was a totally different feel from when the show had begun. After another moment, the three main protagonists rushed onto the stage.

“W-wait,” Charlotte stammered, stumbling “I… I need to rest.”

“We cannot stop now,” the ninja man replied. “We have to get as far from the city as we can. It’s only a matter of time before my people use the Dragon Cannon.”

“There must be something we can do!” Shiawase cried. “We can’t just run away!”

“There is not,” he growled. He turned to continue the escape, cloak swishing behind him.

Shiawase rose to his full height, gesturing back the way they came. “You would just abandon your people? Your friends? You would turn your back as hundreds of innocents are murdered?!”

The man whirled around and ripped his veil from his face, storming up to the blue cat and leering over him. “I do not do so lightly, Exceed! May I remind you that it is your people who began this war?! That your kind have used us as slaves for centuries?!”

“That doesn’t change your cowardice! You’re running away, Mystogan! Running from your throne and your duty! It was not my people who made you this way!”

The two continued to argue as a harp plinked a note and the lighting around Charlotte changed tones. A tear ran down her face as she sang a pitiful, “Please, stop…”

“Stop?” Mystogan laughed as a bass tremolo hummed beneath him. In a darker tone he sang back.

“It is not I who slaughtered thousands.

Who killed children!

Who drove their slaves to madness!”

Shiawase picked up the melody, gesturing to the burning landscape.

“Do you think this is what we wanted?

Do you think this is the life we crave?

No, your Highness.

You’re wrong.

We may be at fault, but we tried to stop it!

It is you

who ran away.”

Mystogan stormed forward. “You speak of things you know nothing about,” he spat back.

Shiawase hissed. “And you run from people who need you!”

Mystogan’s voice took on a tone of fury.

“There’s naught I can do,

she’s doomed them all.

My people are dying, Exceed.

Our kingdoms have slaughtered each other!”

“We can end that,” Shiawase sang more insistently,

“We can end it all!

We can’t just save ourselves

we have to do something!”

Mystogan took a deep breath. “All you will do is die.”

Shiawase leapt at Mystogan, letting loose a vicious snarl. Gajeel raised an eyebrow in surprise. Damn, Gray, that was startlingly realistic.

“Please, stop…” Charlotte sang again.

Mystogan pushed Shiawase away and removed his staff from his back.

“We can’t fight like this…” she sobbed.

Shiawase took a fighting stance and the invisible rigging lifted him off the stage.

“I said STOP!”

The outburst from the white cat reverberated in the theatre. Her labored breath was the only sound heard in the room as she got to her feet. She stepped up to the unmasked ninja and looked him straight in the eye.

“I am sorry.” She intoned softly.

“I could have stopped this.

I could have tried harder.

Mother wouldn’t listen.

Couldn’t listen.

The blood of your people is on my hands.

We have both made grave mistakes

and cost innocents their lives.

Millions may yet die and it will be our faults.”

She paused and sighed before clenching her fists. When she began again, her voice was made of fire.

“But how dare you!

How dare you just give up?!”

Mystogan stumbled back a step, mouth dropping open slightly. Charlotte didn’t back down.

“This is your country, isn’t it?

Can’t you do anything without your throne?

Though it was all a lie

didn’t you try to live your best life,

protect your people where you could?!

Why are you giving up?!”

The air around Charlotte began to shimmer and slowly her feet rose off the ground. Mystogan stared up at her in awe.

“So what if you’re weak!

You’re not alone!

When weak things work together

Strength is born!”

As if by magic, Charlotte’s wings grew and turned iridescent. Gajeel’s jaw actually dropped – he could not fathom how they managed that.

“My country will not be destroyed!

It is my homeland!

It’s not going anywhere!

I will die before I abandon it!

And I will die before I let you abandon yours!”

In a burst of radiance and glitter her wings spread wide. The backdrop turned from burning orange to a smattering of stars as luminescent mist rose from the stage. She looked into the distance beyond the audience as she belted the last lines of the powerful refrain.

“I won’t give up!

I will stop this all,

or I will die trying!”

The rigging pulled her out over the audience at a startling speed, her wings and gown sweeping through the air in a dazzling blaze of light. The walls of the theatre suddenly became the night sky as she soared past, sweeping higher and higher until finally she was out of sight. In the near silence a single violin held a harmonic quietly as attention turned back to the stage.

Shiawase met Mystogan’s gaze with a stern resolve. Hesitance flitted in the man’s eyes, and the cat extended his hand.

“Are you coming?”

The violin dwindled to nothing. Gajeel suddenly realized he was holding his breath.

With purpose, Mystogan took the hand.

Shiawase smirked. Suddenly, the bass of EDM rumbled from beneath the seats, setting up a slow build. A chill shot down Gajeel’s spine and he exchanged amazed looks with Sue.

“Hold on!” Shiawase hooked his arm under Mystogan’s and gripped his wrist with both hands. The call of distant bagpipes echoed in the room on top of the building music. The two men took a few steps back. Shiawase flicked his wings out wide. The music grew as the bagpipes seemed to get closer. Mystogan nodded. Shiawase smiled. Then, they sprinted and leapt off the stage.

The scoring roared into a variation on the main theme at twice the speed it had been sung; Shiawase took off over the crowd, carrying Mystogan higher in a maelstrom of light and fire. Gajeel’s mouth hung open in awe as the audience let out whoops and whistles. Mystogan’s not wearing a harness. Is Gray… legitimately carrying him?

The two made a few more circles of the audience, the walls of the theatre – which Gajeel had figured out were screens – providing a continuous backdrop that gave the illusion of distance. As the music came to a close, they landed back on the stage, now a broken battleground of a city.

This was where Gajeel suddenly felt very, very strange.

“Cougairis!” Mystogan shouted. The scene was a blur of motion, cats and humans in combat in every conceivable space. Actors had spawned miraculously in the aisles near the stage and on one of the side balconies. That combined with the flash of explosions and the clang of swords made the battlefield come to life. He was surprised he could still easily focus on the main characters despite the chaos.

“Cougairis! I need your help!” Mystogan called again.

The man in question was forced onto the stage, locked in combat. This was the cat that he’d liked. The panther held back three other cats with his giant blade, fighting for control as they pushed their swords against his own. With a roar that Gajeel was sure just had to be recorded, the giant cat shoved his adversaries backwards, two falling off the front of the stage and out of sight. The last stumbled back, gripping his side painfully before crumpling to the floor in a heap.

The black cat turned to face Mystogan, and Gajeel froze.

Over Cougairis’ left eye was a slash; a deep, thick, raw slash that hadn’t been there in the first act.

Gajeel’s head throbbed and his heart pounded, chest tightening until all he could manage was a raspy pant. The edges of his vision grayed. Wha…? What’s happening?

“Gajeel?” He heard Sue whisper his name, but it sounded as though it were a thousand miles away. “Gajeel, are you okay?”

He lifted his hands and felt them tremble wildly as his eyesight shrunk to a pinpoint. He could hardly see, hardly feel. His long, wild hair fell over his shoulders as he tried to shake away whatever was doing this to him. He could no longer register Sue tugging at his arm in worry.

What…? Is this one of those… panic attack things? He couldn’t think of any reason he would have a panic attack – he’d never had one before and didn’t have any traumatic experiences that he could think of. It can’t be a panic attack. Why would a play give me a panic attack?

He looked back to the stage. His tunnel vision centered back on Cougairis. He tried to look away, to any other character, any other piece of set, but the cat’s scarred face seemed to fill his view. That scar. That black fur. That white muzzle. Something seemed to be stabbing his brain at every angle and yet he could not tear away from that face. Suddenly the cat looked out into the audience – looked right at him. As if being shot through the heart his breath stopped, and somewhere in the deepest recesses of his mind, he heard his own voice.

I’m taking you back to my guild one way or the other! And then, I’m going to make you my cat!

---

Gray watched from the shadows as Elfman strode to the front of the stage, their one and only child actor, Violet, perched on his shoulder. The audience roared and whistled as the large black cat set her down and she gave a small curtsey. Incredible, for a third grader, Gray smirked. I hope she sticks around.

The curtain call had always been one of Gray’s favorite parts of a show. Especially the final curtain call, on closing night. Molding yourself into another character was a huge, exhausting effort, and sometimes it was difficult to let go and become oneself again after rehearsal. The final curtain call, Gray felt, was an effective way to bridge the gap between being the character and living his own life. The audience, just for that final scene, now acknowledged you as both the role and the actor. In a way, it was a moment where he could be both people at once.

The music changed from Cougairis’ theme to that of Shiawase and Charlotte. Gray straightened his moss green, one-sided shawl over his bare shoulders and strode out from behind the curtains. From the other side, Charlotte – or perhaps now he should say Laurissa – strode out to meet him, a spring in her step as she took his hand. Renewed whistles and shouts rose from the house as they approached the edge of the apron, and just as they had done for every curtain call, Gray pulled her in for a kiss before they took their last bow. It had been her idea, of course, and the audience ate it up like free salsa at a Mexican restaurant. He and Laurissa weren’t romantically involved, but the reaction from the crowd was something they could both get behind.

The two parted as the music changed again, gesturing extravagantly as the star of the show took the spotlight. Mystogan rushed forward, twirling his staff several times before planting it solidly and whipping off his veil. The crowd screamed, applauding wildly and jumping to their feet. Gray clapped just as fiercely – not just for the performance, but for the grin spreading slowly over the blue-haired boy’s face. He knew that grin. The sage-prince Mystogan was gone; Jellal was back.

The company linked their hands and took their final bows as the music finished, and for the last time on that show, the curtain dropped.

“Excellent work, everyone!” Director Dreyar joined the scene from backstage, a toothy grin peeking from behind his mustache. “Very good indeed! A show well worth the effort! Head on home and we’ll strike the set tomorrow evening!”

“And don’t forget, the cast party is on Friday!” Mirajane added. The group bubbled into an energetic hum, matching the chatter of the audience just beyond the curtain. Hugs and claps on the back passed around along with laughter and the repetition of various inside jokes. Gray was happy – sometimes the afterglow of a performance was just as good as the show itself.

“Gray!” He twisted around to find the source of the call. Jellal waved him over. He grinned.

“Good to have you back, Jellal,” Gray replied. They did an elaborate fist-bump.

“It’s good to be back,” Jellal sighed. “At least, for a bit. King Oberon’s not a very complex character, so I won’t have to get into him for another couple weeks.”

“I’m sure Erza’s happy about that,” Gray nudged playfully.

Jellal blushed. “You could say that.”

“MYSTOGAN!” Gray turned just in time to dodge Elfman barreling through the crowd. The burly teen clapped Jellal hard on the back, and Jellal looked like he might’ve had the wind knocked out of him. “Your performance! OTOKO DA!”

“Thanks,” the blue-haired boy coughed. “You can call me Jellal now, though.”

“Oh, right,” Elfman chuckled. He turned to Gray. “Gray! You coming to Angie’s with us?”

Gray was tempted to say yes. He really wanted to. But he wasn’t sure if he’d make it that long.

“No, I gotta head home,” he replied. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Homework, y’know?”

Elfman gave him a funny look. “Homework? How? Today was literally the first day of school.”

Gray gulped. “Japanese stuff, y’know? Have to prep for tutoring.”

“Mmmm zannen da ne…” Elfman hummed.

“Yeah, that’s too bad,” Jellal continued. He didn’t look as convinced as Elfman was.

“Yeah…” Gray trailed off. He glanced between the two nervously, but tried to continue as if nothing were strange. “I should probably head out, actually. It’s pretty late and I really gotta get started.”

Jellal nodded, though his eyes still flickered with doubt. Gray gave a slight wave and sauntered away as confidently as he could, despite the knot in his stomach.

He made a short stop by the dressing room to pick up his things and drop off his shawl, his wings, and a few of the smaller accessories. The majority of his costume had been body paint and various prosthetics, so there wasn’t much he had to return to the company – there wasn’t much he had to wear on his way home, either. Body paint wasn’t a fun stain to get out of clothes, and he certainly didn’t want to scrub it out of his favorite jacket.

He made his way out the back to the rear parking lot, the night air chilling his bare chest. The cold didn’t bother him much – he was a hockey player, after all – but he was glad he’d come extra early to school to snag the closest spot. He clicked his key fob and the lights of his Chrysler 300 flashed. No one else had left yet; traffic was clear.

The ride home passed in a haze, as it always did. A turn here, a traffic circle there, the wonky tree on the end of the block followed by the gas station. He pulled into the dark driveway of his small, blocky house. No lights were on; his roommates were likely asleep. Good.

He locked his car by hand so it wouldn’t make a sound, then slipped inside as quickly and quietly as he could manage. A fan was on in the entryway, blowing softly against his bare chest. He cursed silently. His roommates wouldn’t have known better – he’d never said anything, never even gave a hint. At least, he was pretty sure he hadn’t. He wasn’t really sure if that was actually a good thing.

Just get to the shower, he thought. Get the paint off. You’ll be fine. Only a few more minutes.

He left the lights off as he made his way through the house, familiar enough with his home not to bump into anything in the dark. He figured most normal people could do that, could walk through their own house in the dark. This wasn’t strange. He was normal, too. Completely normal. Other people had sudden adrenaline jumps, right? It was nothing. Normal people occasionally had their heart start beating out of control, too, right? He was fine. He would be fine. This was normal.

Gray wasn’t sure he was being so stealthy anymore – blood pounded in his ears and he could hardly breathe, let alone tell if anyone else was awake. It was fine though. He shut the bathroom door behind him and ripped off the last of his prosthetics. It stung; the glue was particularly strong on his face. It didn’t matter though. If he was bleeding, he’d find out later. He couldn’t tell if he had cuts without the lights on.

His hands fumbled with the shower handles, shaking more than he would’ve liked. The water spattered for a moment before coming in a steady stream. Good. Warm. Paint. Take the paint off. He kicked off the last of his clothes. Steam. Hot water, sliding over his skin. Peeling away the paint. Not fast enough.

The blue skin of his character fell away, and left behind was only Gray.

Gray, and her.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Ok. So what do you think of the latest chapters of fairy tail 100 years quests? What what's happening to characters? I think you're so possed that you even stopped reading more

Hoo boy... *Cracks knuckles* We may be here for a while.

So before I start, let me make clear that I actually keep up with 100YQ, though not for any actual interest anymore. I now stay with it for ironic enjoyment. Because I could say EZ has dumb stuff, but at this point, if you’re Hiro Mashima’s main audience, its fine. No, 100YQ is unique in that it has WTF moments that transcend just the FT fandom sensibilities.

Before I dig in, I’m gonna lay out some formatting rules because we’re cover A LOT. Im gonna be fair and split this up into positive and negative aspects of the series. Because I at least try to be intellectually in what I do.

To avoid from going on tangents and jumping around, I’m gonna be going in chronological order of events. Now this will not be an overview of the series up to this point because that’s stuff I’ve already talked about. Instead I’m gonna start from the point this went from genuine interest to ironic interest. That begin the Whited Out FT Guild.

Positives:

The concept of the wood dragon god having a kingdom on his back is really cool world building. Its actually something that I really liked about the Sea Dragon God as well. Having a realm reliant on the dragon as well as a reason to revere them. What with the water dragon god controlling the tides while wood dragon god is the supporting the city on his back actually makes them seem like god figures and adds to the lore of the world of Earthland in a way that Ishgar and Alvarez sorely failed at.

Laxus punching out Kyria. Petty yes, as Kyria is my least favorite dragon slayer. However a lot of Whited out FT mages were getting jobbered like crazy or just given unceremonious defeats. So Laxus actually seeming like an obstacle was good.

The cat twist with Touka is actually a funny bit of trolling and was one of the few times there was effective foreshadowing with Touka having a tail. (Too bad it was suck in the meandering Gajeel plot.)

The Dragon Eater guild is a much better final villain army than Spriggan 12. The 12 had little structure as to who was the stronger members, resulting in multiple Spriggans feeling like such major disappointments.

Most Mashima Villain organizations tend to broken up like this: Boss->Special Units (I.E Spriggan 12, Nine Demon Gates, Element 4)->Fodder Units.

No one cares when the fodder of a villain group is beaten as they’re just faceless minions. However, when you get to the special unit, that’s wheen there are actual obstacles and the villains start becoming more like characters. However, Hiro has been bad at this when he’s dealing with bigger organizations.

He never had to worry about telling you which member of the villain group’s special unit were more powerful than the others. Due to working with units composed of low amounts of characters, such as Team Lyon, Element 4, and Death’s Head.

You could say that all were roughly around the same power threshold. However, where the spriggan 12 royally failed was there were 12 of them in that unit and they were all just given the blanket term of being on the same level of the number 1 wizard saint. Yeah... that’s a check so large that Hiro could not cash it.

Hiro even seemed to retroactively acknowledge this by stating that August, Irene, and Larcarde were the three best to cover his ass for the fact that all the spriggans seemed to be jobbered far easier than ones supposedly equal to the number 1 saint.

However, the Dragon Eaters are opponents we’re gradually introduced to over the storyline and we actually see a demonstration of what a group of them can do, instead of 1 just trying take on all of team Natsu at once. We see that Skullion’s team is roughly equal to Team Natsu, giving us a gauge for the Dragon Eater strength, but then we get both Wraith and Nebal, underlings not part of Skullion’s thre man team, implying that are of a weaker variety and thus serving as a stepping stone to fight Skullion. But also introducing us to the Black Dragon Slayer Cavalry. Members above Skullion’s team that give us an idea if when they show up what the audience should expect of their strength level.

There’s a reason why in One Piece why Yonkou opperations have so many categories. You’re not gonna care about the minor thugs, but by making a distinction between the Headliners and the Disasters in Kaidou’s crew, you’ve made it so that we the audience will not feel disappointed if a Headliner is beat by a weaker character like say Usopp but still know that they are more than a foot soldier so this win meant something.

Now time for the negatives:

The concept of White Out is not awful, and is actually a fairly interesting concept for a villain motivation in FT. However, the White Witch is one of the most transparently evil characters in the series, thus you know that she’s doing this morally ambiguous action because she’s evil. Imagine if this were about humans or royals who feared the growing power of mages. Or a disillusioned mage with the concept of people like Zeref or the GMG, where is seems like magic is endless and how that’s a threat to the world. No, White Witch really seems like she wants to be this grand manipulator and actively enjoys calling heer whited out people, puppets.

However, there’s also the fact the whiting out doesn’t make too much sense. Some characters seem like mind controlled puppets like Juvia, while others are basically the same except their evil now like Gajeel, Mira, Elfman, Laxus. And some are dumb jokes like Jellal.

So there’s no consistency to this brainwashing. Only other time I’ve seen a mind control plot like that in media before is Yugioh GX. Sometimes people act like they’ve been brainwashed into something different like Alexis. But then people like Bastion and a lot of the gag members of the society like Rose and Bob act as if they’re not affected by anything.

Yeah, this white witch plot feels distractedly ripped off from the society of Light from Yugioh GX.

The concept of Team Natsu vs FT in the vain of the fighting festival arc is dumb narratively from two standpoints. First from a story standpoint in the idea that why the battle of FT arc was opportunity, due to the fact they were all willing to fight to free the frozen girls. Which allowed for others to show shades to their motivations Like Alzack willing to mow through his other comrades for Bisca or Thunder God Tribe assisting in protecting Laxus so he’s the last man standing. There’s a tangible reward on th line that motivates the characters to act as do.

Here, the characters are clearly fighting against their will because of an intangible force. This white magic makes them slaves and are fighting because “white doctrine.” Something they only believeebecause brainwashing. As such, you want to see Natsu and gang beat them up to stop the white witch and free them. There’s no force or intrigue that makes the audience care about both sides like seeing Alzack vs Jet and Droy because you know they both want to save their partners but only one can. Instead people only care because a surface level of “friend turned evil” device. It takes the B and C list cast of the FT guild and makes them props.

And from a meta standpoint, there is no tension, due to the fact this is a post final battle with acnologia Team Natsu. The team is bounds ahead of so many guild members like Macao, Reedus, Max etc. that the only real threat is the S class mages. So that makes that big page spread of evil FT in cult robes dull as only like 3 of them are gonna actually matter.

Then there’s Wraith. Nebal was a boring an generic crazy guy is unimpressive, Wriath was actually really interesting at first. Is ghost magic allowed for an interesting fight and his possession actually having limitations on how effective it was made for a cool skill.

But then the reveal about him and Makarov. I eye-rolled at that point, but then I saw the previews and was like, maybe this’ll be the best thing to come out of this series. Everyone wants to know more about past FT around team Makarov’s time.

But all the potential of young Makarov and young Porylusica and the rest of their team is put on fast forward as they’re all suddenly thinking about leaving. But maybe the reveal with Wraith could be interesting. I saw a lot of good theories like Wraith was Makarov’s half brother or Wraith was the son of Makarov and Porylusica who was killed by Ivan.

Well... Any theory would’ve been better than Wraith was some random ass mage and when they say he a Makarov are related its because the bonds of FT that is real family and transcends death itself.

...Gag me...

And and Wraith just fucks off into the afterlife. Because we can’t actually end a fight because of the protagonist’s ingenuity. No, the villain just kills themselves because feels. Isn’t that right August and Irene?

In conclusion

That’s my thoughts as briefly and coherent as I could make them. So if you wanna know my feelings on 100YQ, it can basically be summed in FT being FT. If you expected more, you’re gonna be disappointed. But if you genuinely love the world and character regardless of Hiro’s writing, you’ll probably still enjoy it regardless of what I’m saying

[heartonxions]

plsplspls tell me about your thai shadow gear brain worms some more i wuv dem

UWAA... i will try my bestest .hehe. im so glad you like my thai sg brain worms...

Songkran-isms bc it makes sense

droy uses full buckets of water and it's fucking terrifying because he can absolutely lift all that and knock a bitch (jet) out if he so pleases

also has water backpack he carries around

jet dual wields water guns and likes chasing the tuk-tuks and busses and spray water in them

jet breakdances on the wet road and it really fucking hurts but also its so fun

jet loses his flip flops every year

levy doesn't really care what she uses but one year she did use an empty weed sprayer and still has phantom arm soreness

she pranks the boys by catching them with their guard down and dropping water in their pants

they do love driving around and do a splash drive buy, but they like walking the most

levy also does the most talcum powder applying tbh tbh

they get juvia in it <3 because obv

consider water rave festival au

lily.... stays at home.. jk he has perfect vantage point from above

gajeel thought he could be intimidating but there is no mercy...

Everything Else:

droy can do mean thai yell (you usually hear it during celebrations and the such, i can't explain it because I don't know the actual word for it but in this song the very first cry is what im talking about)

i don't even know if i can do a favorite dish they all like becuase i think they would like all of it lol... spice tolerance from most to least is droy, levy, jet

jet is a SLUT for thai ice cream sandwiches .. they're not like the american ice cream sandwiches btw, it's like ice cream in an actual bun with white bread or something

levy loves loves fish sauce and fruit. that boy loves tart shit ok guys. she gets like the underripe fruits and just eats that with salt, sugar, and pepper like it's nothign (she got gajeel hooked on it)

droy likes agar jellies and coconut rice .. heart..

jet has hella beef with this one thai auntie neighbor but no one can tell if it's genuine or like a secretly agreed on beef

khon masked dancer jet.

nang mai/rukkhadeva (ghost inhabiting a large tree) droy heh.. heh...

ive definitely said this but droy is a great luk thung (thai country) singer,

Songs Because I Can't Help It I LOVE MUSIC

droy and levy vibes tbh (tis also one of the iconic thai new years songs teehee)

jet new years song

jet and levy campy gay hostility

this isn't even major sg to me imi just in awe with how much i hate this song but also keep listneing to (if it sounds like a song talking about twerking, it is. and it's so . .. . /confused)

majorrrrr silly jet vibes (the song is about a scam caller getting pranked or something)

this song is like how i think jet and droy would "flirt" with levy in the way that it is a BIT and they are teasing gajeel, and its just silly (the song is silly and is basically hey girl have you eaten yet!!!!!)

[memtides-archive]

@adrosetum​ said: ♣ = discovering them crying .  ( from erza to levy! ) | accepting

Levy was happy here and she had a new family, but what she didn’t expect was for Lu-chan to bring a full entourage to Mermaid Heel, in order to ‘bring her back’. She felt terrible for her new guildmates who were watching this, but Levy would not give in. She remembered the hurt she felt after the disbandment of the guild, sitting in her dorm for as long as she could until she had no more money... Not having her family anymore...

She didn’t want to be upset at Lu-chan, but she can’t return to a place where it was meant to be a family, but was so easily taken away. Left her to find other means, and now that she found it, with amazing guildmates and family. The script mage shook her head and spoke, “I’m sorry, Lu-chan, .... Jet, Droy.... But I’m not going back. I don’t want to go through that pain again.”

The group were offered to stay in a nice hotel and when Levy was outside in the dark, to get some fresh air, she wasn’t expecting to see Erza, standing in front of her while she was crying. She had expected Millianna or Beth, but not Erza. Wiping her eyes, she looked up at her before she gave a sigh, scooting over to let Erza sit.

“I can’t deal with the pain... Seeing all of you together with hope in your eyes, I’m scared of feeling that same heartbreak again. I’m not sorry about declining the invite to return, but I really, really like it here. I’m getting stronger, I have a family that wants to see and help me grow.” Maybe if she explained to Erza, her real reason for not returning, Kagura helped her see that she was not wrong to feel that way, instead saw the side of Makarov... “When I was in Fairy Tail, I wasn’t getting stronger. The guild always had Natsu, Gray, and you. Then your team grew larger with Lu-chan and Wendy, but the rest of the guild had no reason to get stronger. We grew comfortable letting you guys do most of the heavy work, while the rest of us did light work.”

This time she’ll spill her feelings, no more holding back, “I know I was nominated to rank up to S-Class, but considering who I was up against; there was no way I was going to win. Not at the power I was in, I could barely even fight two Dark Mages on my own, and I left it to Gajeel. I couldn’t do anything.” She wishes she could tell her feelings to Makarov, but she can’t, as much as he hurt her when he disbanded the guild, he was still family, as was the rest of the guild. She couldn’t hurt him, especially not after what Lucy told her of how angry and pissed off Makarov was to find her, Jet, and Droy bolted to the highest tree in Magnolia. “But here, I am getting stronger, they help every member grow, no one is left behind... I’m sorry, Erza... That you guys came all this way, but I really am happy here. You guys are all still my family, we grew up together, but I can’t go back. It still hurts.”

[not-just-any-fangirl]

Hey i know it's been a while but do you have any more deaf au headcanons? I've been thinking about it recently💖💖💖

Anon said:  Just found your deaf natsu au and I'm in love?? bless you for sharing your writing

Awwwww thank you guys!! I’m like super behind on... everything. Everything fandom or writing wise i am. Not doing. 

But!!! I will force myself to do the things I love! Like talking about deaf!Natsu au.

First of all: Levy

idk if I’ve stated this somewhere yet or not, but Levy is a Shi’a Muslim and a trans woman. I think I’ve said the second part before but?? Its been so goddamn long lmaooo

She doesn’t drink, smoke, and observes the dietary restrictions in Islam, but dresses more secular

She does have an entire drawer dedicated to scarfs with pretty colours or patterns

She wears a hijab mainly only during holidays/mosque

Observes prayer five times a day

She goes to a queer friendly mosque that her mother found for her on campus, and Jet and Droy are youth group leaders there, as the university city/campus is in the middle of a large suburb, fondly called Magnolia bcus of the flowers that come up in the spring

Levy is studying for a double master in linguistics and ancient languages, with a side focus on cultural anthropology 

Everyone is v concerned about how she has time to breathe, never mind actually hang out with them or have a life

Gajeel is straight up in awe of her

he kinda loves her already

especially how short she is and how easy she is to piss off via commenting about how short she is

She praises Allah at. Everything. It’s only a little in hyperbole too, but she was raised in a family that was v secure in their faith and involved in their community

Her father died when she was young, but her mother remarried when she was about 7 to a trans woman, which is how Levy realized she wasn’t alone and was in fact a girl

She has been met with nothing but love and support by her community growing up, even if there was some process in some of the members understanding

Anyway

Only good things for my blue haired nerd daughter

Levy loves spice the same way Gray does which is to say: Not

She is however addicted to sugar

You know how people put sugar on like shreddies or plain cereal? Levy does that to fruit loops

Loke and Juvia are the most horrified of the group, but only barely

Natsu and Levy bond over their love of Lucy

Levy has stated that if she weren’t so swamped with studies and already in love with languages, she would be challenging Natsu to a fight for Lucy’s honour.

Natsu’s only have kidding when he says to meet him in the pit

This may have also caused some of the friction between Gajeel and Lucy at first as Lucy was 100% Natsu’s cousin wanted to kill her and she had no idea why

Natsu and Levy also bond about being the darkest in their immediate friendgroup, and share Looks with each other in times of need

Ie the ‘traditional’ Indian restaurant fiasco mentioned before

Levy was the only one fluent in ASL and ISL before meeting Natsu

Loke: Was a pen pal of Lucy’s when she was a child, and convinced her to send an application to Fairy Tail

Laxus already went here but was slightly estranged from Lucy and his entire family during the last years of Lucy’s highschool career

Lucy helped him patch up his relationship to Makarov to the strength that it is now

Loke is non-binary with a preference for they/them pronouns, but some days prefer he/him, other days she/her, but most of the time they/them

They’re dating Aries, but are polya

Aries is a trans woman as well, and the two and Levy have a group chat titled with the blue, pink, and white heart emojies

They just send each other memes or bitch about the cis on really rough days

Loke is actually v private about their home life or their inner thoughts

Lucy and Gray are the only ones they really open up to in the friend group

Loke was Gray’s first non-girl kiss and set him down the long road of ‘oh fuck I’m not straight’ 

Gray and Loke still hooked up on and off before he got into a relationship with Juvia

Aries and Gray are surprisingly close friends considering the whole Loke thing, and while Loke is happy they are also Concerned  about what those two fiends are talking about

It’s art

They’re talking about ancient art

Not everything's about you Loke damn

They also talk about how cute Loke is after an orgasm but shhh they don’t need to know that

Loke loves that they’re included in both boys nights and girls nights

All the gossip plz

All the drama

Is the best secret keeper

There are like. 50. groupchats amoungst their friendgroup, and that’s not even including all the peripheral groups like clubs and sports teams or family

Its such a hot mess

Just constant updates from everywhere

Natsu puts his phone on completely silent otherwise it’d basically work as a vibrator with how often it buzzes

Lucy snorted milk out her nose when Natsu first told her that, and couldn’t even yell at him for laughing bcus he was rolling on the floor with his eyes closed in hysterics

Cana and Mira have it on video

They sent it to every group chat they were in

Natsu has a slight Indian or Japanese accent depending on which words bcus his main teachers were Igneel or Grandeeny growing up, and their mouth movements is what he learned, including their accents

Mira, Lissana, and Lucy speak French together to talk shit about weird boys in public

Juvia and Levy love dying each others hair different shades of blue or trying out new product

Gajeel and Erza can make anyone piss their pants when they stand next to each other bcus the pure aura of Intimidation can reap your soul

Erza deemed herself the Mom Friend, but everyone knows she’s more like the wine aunt who likes to hunt boar with her bare hands sometimes

She’s an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in ancient Korean armour Erza where did you find that and how did you get in it it’s from the Three Kingdom period ???

Levy, Erza, and Natsu bond over warrior ages in ancient cultures

Lissana is allergic to mint but carries an epi-pen bcus not even God herself can stop Lisanna from getting her hands on mint chocolate chip ice cream

Cana Respects it, Gray is Concerned, and Natsu just gives her a high five as he eats a cheeseburger

During exam weeks group study sessions turn into cuddle piles of despair 

Natsu gets tired of reading lips sometimes and will straight up be the first thing he tells his friends when he sees them 

Gray, Juvia, Lucy, and Lissana can kind of tell without him having to sign it

Gajeel just texts him mostly despite being exceptionally fluent in ASL and conversational in ISL

Cobra will explicitly speak to him, but knows when to push Natsu and when not to

Mostly

Lucy needs glasses for reading if she's been on the computer/head in a book too long and the first time Natsu saw them was after they started dating and then Lucy wasn’t studying the rest of the night

[zzloch]

FTSFMLM Chp 1. The New Girl

FFnet- https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13382202/1/Fairy-Tail-School-of-Myths-Legends-and-Monsters

Wattpad- https://www.wattpad.com/story/191336896-fairy-tail-school-for-myths-legends-and-monsters

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters but I do own the plot

A blonde girl stood in front of a large school with a banner that said 'WELCOME NEW STUDENTS' the 15-year-old, smiled to herself. She was finally here, the school that she would be attending for the next seven years (a/n in the universe there are eight years of high school because high school and college are combined). She had already dropped her stuff off at her dorm and had practically run to her new school, so she wasn't late.

The blonde walked inside, following the directions she was provided with at orientation. While looking down at her schedule, the Angel-Witch girl bumped into, what she thought, a hard wall. She looked up, okay so it wasn't a wall. "Uhh hello," she waved at the raven-haired boy who she had run into. The boy scoffed. "Umm, sorry," she mumbled. "It's fine, I'm Gray by the way, and this creep behind me is Natsu," he said, pointing behind him. Lucy studied the boys in front of her. She noted the dark scar the boy had across his face that generally went hand in hand with being a full devil. Lucy looked up at the boy "So, you're a-""I'm not a creep" a scaly pink-haired boy punched the devil in front of her. "What the hell, Dragon boy," the pinkette stuck his tongue out at the devil. A full-fledged fight broke out between the two, which ended in a draw. The boy turned to face Lucy. He had red scales that covered his arms and surrounded his face. "Hi, I'm Natsu" the boy stuck his hand out "Lucy," she said, shaking it. Lucy smiled at him with, what her family had dubbed her "Angel smile" and she swore she saw Natsu blush. "Where are you headed?" Natsu questioned.

"Umm room 1381."

"That's our first period," Natsu said, referring to him and gray. The dragon-demon grabbed the Angel-witches arm and ran down the hall and to the right and stopped in front of a room

"Fire Breath, slow down."

"Speed up, Ice brain."

Lucy giggled as they walked into the room.

"Duck!" A brunette screamed as a glass bottle came flying at the doorway, barley missing Lucy. "Sorry, I forget my own strength." The girl rubbed her neck. "I'm Cana, Cana Alberona" Lucy smiles at the brunette "Lucy Heartfilia" "Luigi, come 'er" "It's Lucy" she rolled her eyes at the boy, but nevertheless walked over to the group the pinkette was with. "Shut up" a voice came from the doorway silencing all the very loud people in the room. "Welcome back to school, kids" a ginger-haired man, with the same soft glow that Cana had, but it was a bit brighter, was now standing in front of the room at a desk. "I'm your teacher, Mr. Clive. Today is an opening day, so everyone sit in the seat I tell you to" Mr. Clive walked in front of his desk "Natsu Dragneel" he said, pointing at the front left seat. Natsu groaned. Mr. Clive then pointed to the chair on the other end of the room "Gray Fullbuster" Gray rolled his eyes and got up. "Cana Alberona," he said, pointing to the front middle seat. "Loke" he pointed to the chair in between gray and Cana. The three high fived as Loke sat down. "Lucille Heartfilia" Lucy slowly shuffled to the front as people stared at her, amazed that one of the most prestigious families daughter was at their school. Natsu flashed a smile at her. "Next row, Jet, Droy, Levy" The trio that was sitting in the back walked over to their seats, the small blue-haired girl talking excitedly to the two boys. "Laki, Kinanna" The two purple-haired girls walked to the front. "Elfman, Max, Warren, and Nab" he finished the list "Now there are a lot fewer people this year but if something happens to the children at Phantom Lord" a boo ensued, 'They clearly don't like Phantom Lord High' Lucy thought to herself "those that can get in will join our class. Now time for introductions. Say your name, species, and a fun fact, I'm Mr. Clive, I'm a full Daemon, a minor god and I am a teacher" he smiled then pointed to Natsu "Hey guys, I'm Natsu Dragneel. I'm a Fire Demon-Dragon, and I can set fire to stuff." Lucy moved her body as far away from the overly reckless boy as she could without drawing attention to herself. As the demon dragon sat down, Lucy stood up "um I'm Lucy Heartfilia, I'm half Angel, Half Witch. I uh," she blanked on something interesting about herself "I have wings" she shrugged, every angel did, but it was the only thing she could think of. "Can we see your wings?" A girl with lavender hair asked. "Uh sure" Lucy let her wings fall out of the slits in her outfit, every outfit of hers had them, it made it easier to open her wings when needed. Each one of the blondes wings was a good 5 feet, or so, some of the white feathers had gold tips, and they glistened in the sun. "Cool," the entire class was amazed at her wings. The blonde pulled her wings back into her back. Lucy blushed under the attention as she sat down. Cana stood up next

"Cana Alberona, Half-Daemon, half-Fairy. I can shrink, that's kind of cool I guess" As the brunette sat down, An orange hair boy with cat ears stood up. "Loke, I'm a celestial being, the reincarnation of Leo the lion to be more specific. I can fully transform into a lion," the boy said. He then bowed, which caused Gray to roll his eyes. "Hey, I'm Gray Fullbuster, I'm an ice devil. I-"Natsu cit him off "Can strip unconsciously" Gray grunted his teeth, trying not to jump to strangle Natsu. "No, I can turn people to ice," Gray said, "like you flame brain" Gray held up his hand and froze the boy. "Gray! No using powers" Gray rolled his eyes and sat down. Lucy was watching intently as everyone introduced themselves. Here are the notes she gathered

Natsu- Dragon-Demon

Lucy (Me)- Angel-Witch

Cana- Fairy-Daemon

Loke- Reincarnation of Leo the Lion

Gray- Ice Devil

Jet- Speed Demon (A/N I'm so Creative)

Levy- Fairy-Sprite

Droy- Dwarf

Laki- Hamadryad (A/N a type of nymph)

Kinnanna- Naagin (A/N a shapeshifting cobra)

Elfman- Demon

Max- Setiaad (A/N Native American Sand Monster)

Warren- Warlock in Training

Nab- Shapeshifter

"Alrighty, now that you all know each other we are going to split up into groups and learn more about each other. The row you are in is your group. Now find a spot and talk to each other, I'm gonna work" Cana scoffed at the man's word and rolled her eyes as she got up and the two boys sitting next to her followed suit, Natsu grabbed lucy's arm and pulled her along as they headed to a corner of the room. Lucy looked around and saw everyone chatting like old friends, she felt really out of place. "Hey, pretty girl you gonna sit down" Cana nodded to space available besides her on the floor. Lucy put her head down and sat with them. "So what did yall do over the summer," Cana asked. "Suffered in the heat, what about you?" "I spent a lot of time looking after Romeo, his dad went out a bit." "How old is he now?" Gray asked, "Thirteen I think" "Cool, cool, What about you, new girl?" Lucy looked up in surprise at the dark-haired boy. "Me?" Gray nodded "Uh, I didn't do too much I floated around heaven finished up my witch training and uhh, oh I read a lot." Lucy put her head down again, out of shyness.

“Hey, new girl chill. We aren't that bad." Gray commented, "Well, you are pretty bad," Natsu said back. "What was that fire breath" "You heard me Stripper" As the two boys started to wrestle, The classroom looked behind them and just sighed and went back to talking. Lucy was astonished that they just brushed it off "Boy's what if Erza comes in" Cana yelled at the two. They immediately froze and stopped fighting. Leo shook his head and smirked. The bell rang, and someone grabbed Lucy's arm. "Come on Luce I'll take you to your next class" Natsu smiled at the girl, and she smiled back. This school was gonna be a lot of fun

Hope you like this Au, I've been working on it for a while, and I am kinda proud of it so, yeah. I would love some suggestions for the kind of monsters each character are. If I get something wrong with the mythology of a particular creature feel free to tell me and I will fix it

-Z.Z Loch

[nalufever]

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly

My Fairy Tail Secret Santa gift for @lover-of-the-light117  

A Fluffy Multi-ship romp, featuring Nalu, with bits of Jerza, Gruvia, Gajevy and a teeny bit of Miraxus, rated teen for a few swears, weighing in at just over 2500 words. Reviews would be appreciated ~ read on FF.net

Summary: Erza wanted the guild Christmas Eve Party to be perfect - not just because Jellal was celebrating his first Christmas as a free man with her - no, she wanted him to enjoy a good start to the new year... Erza wasn’t  kidding anyone - she wanted things to run perfectly to make a good impression on him. Too bad her guild didn’t  get the memo  to behave.

Warmth, happiness and alcohol fuelled cheer - that was the prevailing mood at the Fairy Tail guild. Christmas was tomorrow and tonight's celebration was warming up despite it only being noon.

"Settle down!" Erza marched over to Natsu and poked him. "This is Jellal's first celebration as a free man and I won't have you or anyone ruin this party!"

Natsu stumbled back from the angry jab. "I'm not doing anything!"

"That's the way it's going to stay." Whirling around, Erza strode over to Gray next. "You must keep your clothes on." Abruptly the red-head dismissed Gray from her mind and threatened her next target, ah, friend. "No eating any of the metal decorations," she glared at Gajeel, "I'll know."

Levy had to restrain her boyfriend from following Erza and getting clobbered. With a dainty hand on his chest she pushed. "Ignore her, she's just nervous about Jellal's visit."

"Tch. She's gone full crazy."

"Gajeel-kun," Juvia materialized at the iron dragon slayer's side, "please go easy on Erza. She wants all her friends to make a good impression on Jellal."

"Heh." Gajeel grumbled but gave up on the idea of arguing with Erza. He trapped Levy's hand and grinned. "Wanna make a good impression on me?"

Levy giggled and gave Gajeel a kiss on the cheek. "Behave."

Juvia drifted off back to her table in the corner where she had her knitting waiting, diving back into her latest project, baby booties for Mira's first child. Gray joined her and began working on the matching baby blanket.

Lucy captured Natsu's arm and hugged it, leaning into his side. "I'm impressed you kept your calm with Erza."

"Didn't I promise my best behaviour?" Natsu grinned wide, the tips of his fangs showing. "On account you promised some of your best behaviour later tonight."

"Shhh!" Lucy giggled, looking left and right to see who might have overheard. "Nobody needs to know about that sort of thing."

"Call me nobody, 'cause I need those details!" Cana whooped and slammed down her empty mug. "Spill! Spill! Spill!"

"Did someone make a mess?" Erza stalked back over to stand with hands on hips in front of Natsu and Lucy. "I'm counting on everyone to make Jellal's party a success."

"I thought the tree trimming party was for the whole guild," Cana wobbled over and gave Erza an odd considering look. "Jellal has met us before - why're you so nervous?" Rummaging in her purse, Cana withdrew her tarot cards with an evil smirk. "One last chance - you tell me or I ask the cards!"

Erza gulped, taking an involuntary step backward, hard onto Lucy's foot. Lucy yelped. Natsu turned to steady his girlfriend, accidently hitting Droy in the process. Droy fell, taking Jet with him. Gajeel laughed and Levy smacked Gajeel. Erza looked around as the room fell into confusion - meeting Cana's knowing eyes. Composure shattered, Erza ran - out of the guild, babbling nonsense.

"You guys need to shut-up," Gray complained from his seat, "all this noise is making me make mistakes."

"You're a mistake," shouted Natsu.

"Not as big a mistake as you!" Gray tossed down his knitting and stomped over to the flailing mass of guild members. "I'm gonna kick your ass."

"Fat fuckin' chance!"

The ladies of the guild, being generally smarter and (slightly) less prone to violence, withdrew from the melee. Natsu grappled with Gray. Gajeel took shots at everyone and more of the drunken revellers piled into the scuffle. Mira let them blow off steam for a good five minutes and then nodded to Laxus. He made the foundation of the guild tremble with a massive crack of thunder.

Smiling as serene as an innocent angel, Mira clapped her hands. "Wasn't that fun?" Her tone was pleasant but her eyes promised vengeance. "It's Christmas eve and you've collectively destroyed the Christmas tree - and all the decorations. If you want to survive, you'll all go out and bring back new ornaments." She rubbed her baby bump and stared coldly at the mages.

Slowly, the bruised combatants untangled themselves and stood. They'd knocked the tree over into nothing more than loose branches and scattered needles.

"Droy, tell me you can fix the tree." Mira waddled over to Droy, "Tell me you have a quick fix."

"Of, of course I can fix the tree," Droy gulped, "I'm sure to have the right kind of seed at home."

Mira pointed to the back exit. "Take Jet with you."

Jet and Droy ran away as Mira directed her commands at the rest of the people responsible for the mess. "Lucy, Natsu - go find new lights." Mira glared at the others, "The rest of you - I don't care if you have to carve them yourselves - find or make new ornaments!"

Suddenly the guild was a ghost town, with only the die-hard bar flies still hanging around. Mira nodded to her servers; time to resume selling drinks. She'd gotten rid of the trouble-makers. Now she could get down to serious business - a well-deserved foot rub followed by snack-time.

><><><

Natsu swept Lucy into his arms and ran with her all the way outside of Magnolia. He didn't even slow when she'd pulled his hair and yelled at him to stop at her apartment. He'd scoffed that they could take the lights from her personal tree to replace the guild's ruined lights, insisting he had the perfect plan. He kept running to his run-down house.

"So, you must have a stash of lights stored around here somewhere?"

Natsu shook his head and guided Lucy into his house. "Naw, but I thought we could have a little preview right now."

"Oh?" Lucy looked over her shoulder at Natsu. "Preview of what?" She giggled as Natsu pouted.

"I didn't fight with Erza at all!"

"Yeah, you fought with Gray instead." Lucy crossed her arms and plopped onto the couch, a wry smile competing with the frown she'd wanted to show Natsu.

"I promised not to fight with Erza, not Gray."

"Ya got me there." Lucy relented, patting the cushion beside her, "How about a kiss?"

"Deal."

Lucy set her hands on her knees and turned to face Natsu. "One kiss and then we go find some Christmas lights."

"Two," counter offered Natsu, "Two kisses and then you stop worrying about lights. I've got it under control." He grinned slyly, "Matter of fact, gettin' you to help burn off some energy is crucial."

"Never let it be said I didn't help enough." Lucy wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, "Maybe I should give you more kisses? All in the interest of being helpful, do -"

Natsu silenced Lucy with a deep drugging kiss, followed by others.

><><><

Levy dragged Gajeel down into the records room. "Shhh! Mira's gone off the deep end over this."

Gajeel closed the door and flipped the lock. "Pregnancy hormones." He shivered and rubbed his arms, "She-devil pregnancy hormones."

Without a change in expression, Levy pinched Gajeel. "It's not just that, she's making a big fuss for Erza's sake - not her own." Levy pulled out a chair from the reading table and pointed to the chair next to her. "Sit your ass down, we're going to make some decorations."

"Yer gonna have to make this up to me," Gajeel grumbled, "making me do arts'n'crafts."

Levy took out her light pen and smiled. "The more you do now, the more you get to do later."

"Gimmie some glue and glitter," Gajeel demanded, "I've got a sudden burning urge to create the best ornaments ever."

><><><

"Juvia isn't sure about this," Juvia tried to tug her hand free from Gray, "we are not running for our lives anymore, we can walk without holding hands."

"Maybe I want to," Gray blushed and held on tighter. "You've been slipping away from me all day today - not to mention yesterday. What's going on with you? Normally you never leave me alone."

"Juvia thinks it's time to give Gray space -"

"What are you talking about? I told you last week I wanted to date and now you want to break up?"

"-if we separate we can find more decorations…" Juvia stopped walking, turning to face an ashen-faced Gray. "Juvia does not want to break up."

"You nearly gave me heart failure woman!"

Juvia's eyes went huge, "Juvia is sorry! Juvia was thinking only about securing Christmas decorations and ornaments."

"Yeah, but tell me why you've been so standoffish these last couple days." Gray moved his hands to Juvia's shoulders, "I thought we were on the same page about this." He smiled. "I want to get used to you being right next to me."

"Gray, Juvia is doing her best."

"Best to leave me alone?"

"No, Juvia wants Gray to come to her too." Juvia blushed and stared at her feet.

Long, elegant fingers tilted Juvia's chin up, "I can do that." Gray brushed a gentle kiss against Juvia's lips. "Now let's go get some decorations, and later how about I show you how close we can get?"

><><><

Laki, Max and Reedus skidded to a stop out behind the guild, all breathing hard and exchanging confused looks.

"We weren't even in the fight," said Laki, "why'd we run?"

Max said, "Smart people don't argue with a pregnant Mira."

"True," said Reedus, "but since we've escaped together, let's go to my studio. I've got lots of raw material we can use to make ornaments."

"D'you have drinks too? Sounds like thirsty work to me," said Laki.

"Of course."

><><><

Droy returned swiftly and mended the Christmas tree, making Mira smile. Her smile became more and more happy as other guild members came back in twos and threes with new ornaments, garlands and unique decorations. Elfman procured what he insisted was the 'manliest' of angels (it wasn't, not by a long shot). Cana gave up a set of three tiny, crystal booze flasks and Ever handed over ten packs of tinsel. Nobody was about to ask her why. Romeo and Wendy donated colourful chains made with wrapping paper (assisted by Charle and Happy).

Levy and Gajeel made a gaudy collection of glittered gingerbread men (crafted from iron), and Lisanna kept Bickslow from helping (which was appreciated by everyone). Freed prepared a special rune spell to keep the tree from being destroyed and Gray and Juvia brought back delicate glass balls.

Most everyone was back - the guild was waiting for the last few stragglers. Natsu and Lucy swept into the hall, holding hands and looking satisfied.

Mira bustled over, "Empty hands? What about the lights?"

"I've got it under control, don't worry!" Natsu concentrated, and instantly, small and harmless dots of dragon-fire danced all over the tree. "Much nicer than regular lights, doncha think?"

Lucy giggled and murmured, "Under control," a big dreamy smile on her face.

Mira looked at Freed who nodded back, already making adjustments to his runes. Rubbing her hands briskly, Mira smiled. "Perfect. Now we're only waiting for Erza and her guest of honour."

Warren ran up and informed Mira, "They're both walking this way!"

"The Christmas Eve party is officially underway!" Mira let her eyes briefly flash demon-fire, "Let's get jolly!"

A ragged cheer went up from the mages, chatter and drinking re-commenced.

><><><

Erza dragged herself back to the guild shortly before Jellal was expected. Too anxious and upset to face the chaos she was sure dwelled inside, Erza waited on a bench before the entrance. Swinging her booted feet back and forth, she worried.

Lost in thought, she was taken unawares by Jellal's arrival. He took the opportunity to watch Erza for a bit, drinking in the sight of his lady-love. Knowing she'd be flustered to have been caught wool-gathering, Jellal purposely kicked a pebble and coughed.

He smiled and held out a hand to Erza. "You didn't need to wait for me outside."

Slowly Erza stood and took his proffered hand. "I know I didn't need to, I wanted to." Her cheeks reddened a bit more. "I lost track of time, I didn't even change my outfit."

"You look lovely, no matter what you wear." Jellal brushed road dust from his coat, "I am a little unkempt myself. I'm anxious to make amends for all my past behaviour."

"It's in the past." Erza let Jellal escort her towards the guild. "I want us to make a fresh start - not to obsess over the things that went wrong - to live and let live."

"Well said," Jellal drew Erza closer to his body, "I agree whole-heartedly - but with one caveat."

"Which would be?"

"Not everything from the past was terrible," Jellal hugged Erza, "I wouldn't change meeting you - not for any amount of jewels. The conditions were less than ideal, but I admire you as you are."

They entered the guild as Mira shouted, "Let's get jolly!" Hand in hand, Erza and Jellal added their conversation to the merry mix of revelry.

><><>< 

Close to midnight, as couples left the party - some quietly slinking away, some loudly making drunken, naughty suggestions and stumbling about (Ever could never resist doing body shots off Elfman), and a few in sets of three (Max, Laki and the broom) - the remaining mages gathered around the mended Christmas tree.

"Natsu, you did a great job with the lights on the tree." Lucy leaned her head on Natsu's shoulder. "It's so pretty."

"Pretty lame," Gray sniped, "If I'd known we could use magic, I would've covered the whole thing in glittering ice."

"Yeah, well, whatever - I don't feel like arguing with you, Princess Popsicle." Natsu lazily flipped off Gray. "Go finish your knitting."

Gray took a half-step towards Natsu, intending to punch the irritating fire mage into next week - but he caught Erza's glare (even after spending the whole evening with Jellal, Erza was quick to revert to normal habits) and instead pivoted away. Gray marched over to Juvia and grinned, "Let's go somewhere without distractions." A giant smile on her face, Juvia nodded and together they packed up her knitting basket.

Lucy and Levy waved good-bye to the departing couple, while Gajeel frowned but let them leave without more than muttering under his breath.

Mira, escorted by a clearly bored Laxus stopped to speak to the last of the partiers. "Merry Christmas! Nobody has to rush to leave, there's still food left and drinks!"

Laxus glared at the group. "Get the hell out."

Mira giggled as if Laxus had said something cute, swatting his arm. "I warned you." Her tone was sweet and light, but Laxus blanched. She took his hand and dragged him away.

Lucy looked at Levy and shrugged. "Hormones."

Gajeel looked at Natsu and shuddered. "She-devil pregnancy hormones."

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone that Levy grabbed Gajeel by the ear and dragged him off, spouting complaints about his attitude and that no pregnant woman would ever be happy to hear shit talk like that.

Lucy kissed Natsu's cheek again, wiping off the faint lipstick marks. "You really held onto your temper - even when Gray was trying to get you angry. I should reward you."

"You don't have to -" Natsu shrugged and then caught Lucy's hand in a warm grip. "But I wouldn't stop ya!"

Giggling, Lucy hurled herself into Natsu's arms. "The party was fun and it's getting late, but d'you wanna go hang out at my place?"

Natsu grinned, the tips of his fangs making an appearance, "Hells yeah!"

><><>< 

Merry Christmas!!

Tag Squad: @impracticaldemon @rocktqueen @ff-darkshininglight @unashamed-shipper @ftfanfics @fic-writer-appreciation @eliz1369 @cosmicdragonwizard @celestialspiritqueen @hidetheremote

Want in or out of the tag squad? Let me know and I’ll fix it!

[saikostories]

FT - A Moment With You pt1

"MMMMM! What a good morning!"

She rubbed her eyes and looked around her room. And no sign of pink of blue.. YES! Oh! what bliss it was to finally have a restful night without having to constantly worry. yes.. you wouldn't believe the stress that came with having to worry about Natsu "accidently" or not groping her or hugging her to death. Of course he was a natural heater. It was nice but Lucy couldn't help but feel like he didn't know any boundaries. She loved his as a best friend and knew that Natsu was too dense to realize or have any emotions like… passionate love.. romance.. dates.. kisses. Just some things you don't do to a girl unless you are dating! Is that too hard to understand? Lucy did not by any means want to be an easy girl. No.. she would be a gem to be worked for. Lucy laughed out loud as she got up from her bed and entered the bathroom to shower. All the while she thought. Natsu was too dumb to realize that both she and Lisanna liked him. And of course Lisanna liked Natsu much more than Lucy did… at least that was what Lucy truly believed in. Lisanna was such a sweet girl and Natsu was a sweet friend. Frustrating but sweet. Lucy would have no hard feelings if they coupled up… even if it meant her losing her best friend and partner. But that didn't mean Lucy would give him up so easily either. As she thought through what her relationship was with Natsu, Lucy sighed.. hopeless Natsu… After getting dressed Lucy headed towards the guild. The sun warm on her skin and a slight cool breeze made her hair fly in the wind. She loved the breeze. It made her wish she could fly… or borrow Wendy's magic for a while. Either could work. She smiled happily as she finally entered the guild. "Good morning!" Lucy entered with a smile.

"Good morning!" was said throughout the guild by various members.

"Oh Lucy!" Cana said behind the bar. She had a barrel of alcohol already in her hands.. Lucy sweatdropped. "You finally came! I was waiting for ya." Obviously Cana was already tipsy..

"Hi Cana.. I see you already started on your alcohol!" Lucy said as she sat on her bar stool. Something felt odd. Lucy looked around, scanning the guild for certain people. It looked so empty.

"Ah.. looking for a certain someone Lucy? Hmmm?" Cana said smiling with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh stop it Cana. Where is everyone? I don't see.." Lucy said looking back at Cana..

"your teams already gone out on a mission." Cana said taking another swig of beer.

"huh? Really?" Lucy said with wide eyes.

"Yea.. Natsu and Happy went with Lisanna on a week long mission."

Lucy froze… "What?"

"yea.. they left not that long ago. Sorry Lucy… Lisanna got him excited about a job request… she also said something about Igneel.. maybe they have a lead? Probably why he left in such a hurry."

"Oh… okay. Where's the others?"

"Gray went on a mission with Juvia."

"Oh really? Gray finally opened up to her huh?" Lucy said weakly smiling.

"yea I know right! Bout time. OH! All the s-class mages are out on S-class jobs right now. We are getting a lot of request after winning the GMG. Erza went solo… but guess what?" Cana said as she leaned over the bar counter in a whisper.

"Mira and Laxus went on a S-class mission together!" Cana said smiling.

"What!? Really?!" Lucy said sitting up straight.

"YEA! Well must have been a pretty dangerous mission if both of them had to go." Cana took another big gulp of her beer.

"Wow.. I need to tell Levy.. Where is she by the way?"

"Oh… she's out on a mission with her team and Gajeel and Lily."

"OMG no….! Really?!"

"I know right! Hahaha can't imagine the drama with that group. Jet and Droy jealous of Gajeel and him annoyed to death. Poor Levy. Hahaha"

"wow… I guess I could ask Wendy to go on a mission with me."

"Ah…. Wendy went to train with Porlyusica."

"Oh! Good for her! She'll definitely get stronger in her healing magic."

"Yup." Cana smiled

"So.. does that mean you're filling for Mira.. and that's why you're drinking all the bar's alcohol?" Lucy smirked.

"Yup you know me well" Cana winked at Lucy. The two girls laughed out to their hearts content. Cana too drunk to realize that Lucy.. was forcing her smile and laugh a little too much.. but not to the extent that anyone around would notice…

Except a few shadows lurking alone on the second floor..

Lucy said goodbye to Cana and the rest of the guild members still sitting around.. she walked out of the guild doors with a wide smile but as she walked further and further away… her smile began to slowly fade until her face was expressionless. She walked silently past the townspeople who recognized her.. who smiled and waved at her.. she in return gave a quick gentle smile back and returned to her emotionless expression. Four shadows followed her along the streets. They were trailing her from atop of the rooftops of the buildings. They watched her every move, her face...

Arriving at her apartment, Lucy slowly walked up the stairs to her apartment door. She let out a breath of air that she didn't she was holding and stepped inside. She closed the door and stood waiting.. listening for a sound of her friends having barged into her home. Natsu and happy in her kitchen eating.. or Gray lounging on her sofa.. or Erza looking through her drawers for lingerie. She desperately waited for something/someone to make a sound, but her home was…. Silent. Walking over to her sofa, she plopped down on it. She was laying on her back with an arm over her eyes.

"Gray.. Erza.. Wendy… Natsu…. How could you all leave without telling me…" Lucy said whispering to herself.

My friends ditched me.

Tears ran down the side of her face. She remained silent. Her entire left arm began to ache and her left hand felt weak. She tried increasing her blood circulation in hopes to make the feeling pass by opening and closing her fist repeatedly.. but surprisingly she found it hard to make a tight fist.. her left hand felt so weak. While her right hand felt completely normal.. odd...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Lucy panicked. She didn't want to let anyone see her crying. She didn't want to let anyone know, how hurt she felt. It was her burden. She got up quickly and wiped away the tears. Taking a few deep breaths as she walked to her door, she wondered who was visiting her. Her left arm still ached and her left had was clenched in a weak trembling fist.

"I'll have to figure out what's wrong with me arm later.. but for now.. Lucy get yourself together!" Lucy thought to herself. Mustering up courage to bring back happy Lucy.. fake or not.. she opened her door smiling. But what she saw brought her wide smile to fade.. her eyes wide with complete shock. Four familiar men stood at her door. Lucy took a step back. And a pink haired man hesitantly took a step forward. She took another two steps back. The pink haired man stepped into the apartment, followed by a raven haired man. A long black haired man stepped inside after and finally a blonde haired man filed in. He closed the door behind him and with a CLICK… the door was locked.

The blonde haired man turned around to face the girl. The four men facing her.. their eyes all on her.. the completely shocked Lucy... She took their appearances in.. Gray taller and more built. Gajeel's black hair was still long but brushed! And clean! He had a cool bandana on his head. Laxus looked the same yet.. softer and more charismatic?! And Natsu… he was also taller.. more built.. toned.. handsome... They all looked… more mature.. more… MANLY… and Lucy's heart.. was running a race.. they were MUCH MORE HANDSOME than the boys she knew.

"Who… who are you?" Lucy said as she still grabbed her left arm with her right. Her left fist was still clenched loosely and trembling.

"Luce… it's us." Natsu said smiling softly.

Lucy eyed him with confusion written all over her face.

"Lucy… it really is us." Gray softly smiled as well. Something in his eyes.. also in Natsu's..

Lucy looked towards Gajeel.. his eyes.. Laxus.. his eyes too… something about them…

"You guys can't be my Gray.. Gajeel.. Laxus.. Natsu… they're.."

"We aren't from this time period.. bunnygirl.. obviously we're from the future." Gajeel said crossing his arms.

"EEHHH!?... OUCH!" Lucy took a step back but tripped, hitting her head onto a wall. Gray quickly ran over and held his hand over her bump. He gently used his magic to cool the aching spot. Lucy opened one of her squinting eyes..

"Owie…." Through her one eye.. she saw a very handsome mature Gray reaching over to her head with one hand and felt a cool hand caressing her cheek. It took a moment for her to realize that she was lying on the floor.. Gray kneeling by her side.. she could see his well defined muscles… he just had to be shirtless… To make it worse… the three other men quickly came over and knelt by her as well. Worry in their eyes. Surrounded by them.. Lucy felt like her head was spinning.. she was blushing mad.. embarrassed.. she quickly sat up and scooted back against the wall. She thought to herself… How in the world did they become so handsome?! Is this really them in the future?!

"You're still clumsy." Gray said laughing.

"Little Bunny." Gajeel smirked while giving her a playful look.

"Blondie." Laxus said shaking his head while smiling softly.

"Weirdo." Natsu said as he ran a hand through his hair… he looked good doing it. Lucy opened her mouth to speak… frustrated… that she was being bullied by even the future boys…. No not boys.. MEN…. She sighed and face palmed herself.

"Yea… you're them alright.." Lucy spoke muffled through her hand.

"Of course we are Luce." Natsu said smiling widely. She brought her hand away from her face..

"How many years..?" Lucy asked as she looked at them.

"How many years what?" Gajeel asked.

"How many years into the future did you guys come from?"

"7 years from now." Laxus said staring into her eyes. Lucy stared back into his beautiful blue/gray eyes… and his words echoed through her mind…

…

…

…

7 YEARS?! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!"

Lucy waited for them to respond, but they just stared back.

"…Well?" Lucy asked as she relaxed now. She examined them closer now. They had scratches here and there. Some of the cuts were bleeding. She thought to herself "What had they been doing? Were they in danger? Or did they find that book again from the guild?"

"Honestly… we don't know why we are here.." Natsu scratched his chin as he leaned back to sit on his butt now.

"Or how we got here." Gajeel added.

She thought to herself… she had a frown on and was lightly biting her lip as she looked down at her knees. It was awfully quiet and now she was feeling awkward. She looked up at their faces and saw that they were all staring at her intently. She couldn't help but giggle, making her frown disappear. She smiled at them warmly.

"Why are you laughing?" Laxus asked confused.

"You're so weird Luce" Natsu said with a smile and an eyebrow raised.

"Oh nothing. You four look like lost puppies." Lucy said as she began to get up.

"What?! I aint even close to being like a puppy bunnygirl!" Gajeel barked at her.

"You did not just call me a puppy either." Laxus said with a frown.

"Luce you can't call us puppies!" Natsu yelled.

"Yea Lucy. It hurts our pride. We are men." Gray said as if he was hurt.

"Okay okay. I take it back~" Lucy smiled as she walked towards her bedroom.

The men watched her as she walked away. They just kept staring…

When she reached the doorway, she looked around back at them. "Are you guys feeling okay?" She was looking at them sideways, unconsciously giving them a great view of her curves.

"Y..Yeaa.. Luce.. why wouldn't we be?" Natsu stuttered.

"Well.. you guys just keep staring… and its creeping me out."

"Stop creeping Luce out Gajeel, Gray, Laxus.. It's making her feel uncomfortable" Natsu said with arms crossed, glaring at the three. The three in return gave Natsu their death glares.. causing Natsu to gulp.

"Hahahahaa." Lucy was laughing hard as she grapped her stomach. Her smile.. her laugh… her voice… brought the boys back to staring at her again. Once she was done, she spoke to them warmly..

"Come on. Lets get you guys cleaned up." Lucy turned around and went inside her bedroom.

Natsu got up first.. then Gray.. Laxus.. then Gajeel. Natsu plopped on Lucy's bed smiling widely. Lucy smiled and shook her head. She thought to herself "I guess Natsu doesn't change that much". She went to her bathroom and clamored around for something.

Laxus and Gajeel looked around her bedroom, taking in all the Lucy-ness. Gray sat in his favorite sofa chair, leaving Laxus and Gajeel to sit at Lucy's table in the middle of the bedroom.

Soon, Lucy came out with first aid supplies. Having been closest to Natsu, she started with him. She sat at the edge of the bed and opened her first aid kit. Natsu laid still.. which was very rare and odd. He just watched her work, not saying a word.

She put some alcohol on the cotton balls and washed all his cuts and scratches. He winced slightly at the touch of alcohol on his cuts.. but remained quiet. She bandaged his cuts and had the luxury of touching… the manlier Natsu's muscles.. skin. The older Natsu of course noticed Lucy's unnecessary touches and found them… soothing. Her hands were warm and soft.

He was just as hot as usual, temperature wise. But definitely, a more aged Natsu was in her care. Scars she's never seen before were on his arms, his chest. She looked at Natsu's face and found him staring back into her eyes. She blushed red and looked away. Quickly finishing with Natsu.. she stood up to go to the next patient.

For the other three as well, she found herself being the object of their fascination. They were staring again. She blushed lightly again and quickly went to Gray's side. She knelt on the ground as Gray sat on the sofa.

"Lucy it's fine… I"

"Just sit still Gray." Lucy put her hand on his arm, making Gray freeze. He watched her intently.

She continued and swabbed a cut… causing Gray to hiss softly from the burn. She looked up at Gray with worried eyes…

"cough….So Lucy…." Gray started up a conversation in the awkward silence.

"Yes Gray" Lucy smiled.

"Why aren't you with Team Natsu?"

Lucy stopped midair from dabbing a cut she was working on.

"Lucy… I'm sorry.. you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

She continued and swabbed a cut… causing Gray to hiss softly from the burn. She looked up at Gray with worried eyes…

"Sorry…. Did I do it too hard?"

“No.. it's fine... Lucy… I'm sorry.. you don't have to answer if you don't want to."She brought her face close to the wound.. and began to blow on it. Gray perked up in his seat and froze.. Lucy looked at him and stifled a laugh. She blew softly on the cuts. The men all watched in silence.. Natsu looking sideways as he lay on the bed. Lucy continued to work."I… don't know… why don't you tell me?" Lucy said with her bangs covering her eyes.What… do you mean?" Gray asked confused. Lucy got up as she finished with Gray's wounds and walked over to Gajeel. way.. no way bunny girl. I'm fine. I don't need your help." Gajeel said frowning as she walked over to him."Just sit still and take it you big baby." Lucy said with a hand to her hips. Gajeel raised an eyebrow."First you call me a puppy… and now a baby? Bunny girl.. are you blind?" Gajeel said incredulously."Wait wait a minute. Answer my queston Lucy. What do you mean why don't I tell you?" Gray askedLucy ignored Gajeel's question. She brought up a chair next to Gajeel and took Gajeel's arm into her hands. Gajeel flinched but couldn't move away. He felt her warm hands on his skin, her scent so close to him. She began to swab his wounds.. Gajeel clenched his jaw from the burn.. and closed his eyes for a second… he saw Lucy watch him from the corner of his eye.. her face plagued with worry.. "sorry… just bear with it for a little while.. I can't have you guys getting infections from these cuts." Lucy said softly"LUCY! Stop ignoring me and answer my question!" Gray raised his voice."It… it was you guys… you guys left me." Lucy spoke as she tended to another cut on Gajeel's other arm.

"What you mean you guys Luce?" Natsu sat up on the bed now.

Gajeel watched Lucy's face. Her attention all on treating him. He felt so pathetic right now.. getting treated for such small cuts. But he wouldn't argue with bunnygirl right now.

"You guys left me this morning. You guys did it. Natsu left on a mission with Lisanna." Natsu opened his mouth to speak but Lucy continued.

"Gray… you left on a mission with Juvia.. Erza went solo.." Lucy blew on Gajeel's cut.. causing Gajeel to blush slightly as he watched her pucker her lips out.

"Levy and Gajeel went on a mission together.. Even Laxus and Mira went on a mission today too."

She bandaged Gajeel up and was done. "See. That wasn't too bad was it Gajeel" Lucy smiled as she got up and took her chair towards Laxus.

"You guys all left without even letting me know." Lucy said softly as she looked towards a surprised Gray. Gray and Natsu.. didn't know what to say. Heck they all didn't know what to say.. they remembered the day.. so differently.

"Blondie I'm fine." Laxus said trying to stop her from touching him. He crossed his arms. Lucy instead sat down in front of him and brought her hands to one of his arms. She gently tugged. He relaxed and let her take his arm. She swabbed his cuts and looked up at his face when she swabbed, to make sure she wasn't hurting him too much. But all he did was stare right back into her chocolate eyes. No wince, no squinting of eyes in pain. He took it all so well. They continued to stare into each other's eyes until…

“Ahem.. AHHHEEMMM…" Natsu cleared her throat on the bed.. "Luce… my throat hurts."

Lucy sighed.. as she broke her stare away from Laxus.. Laxus in tern death glared at Natsu.. who looked away innocently.

"I'm sorry Lucy…" Gray said softly

"I'm sorry too Luce…" Natsu said softly. "I didn't mean to leave you all alone. I just got so excited in finding Igneel… I…"

"Forgot about me?" Lucy completed his sentence.

"No.. I could never forget about you.. I just…"

"Lucy.. we could never.." Gray spoke simultaneously with Natsu…

"Just face it Natsu.. Gray.. You all forgot about me.. It's okay. I understand why." Lucy fake smiled. She lowered her face.. her bangs covered her eyes.. but she continued to smile as she worked gently on Laxus' wounds..

"What do you mean you understand why?" Laxus said softly in his low voice.

"I.. I mean it was a matter of time… right?.. Gray and Juvia would finally get together."

Gray flinched…

"Levy would be with Gajeel."

Gajeel flinched and looked sharply at Lucy.

"Erza with a certain masked man. Natsu with.. Lisanna."

Natsu flinched… he looked worriedly at Lucy.

"Haha.. and the looks of it now.. Even you Laxus.. possibly you and Mira" Laxus quickly grabbed Lucy's wrist and tugged her towards him. She looked up surprised at his face.. his glare boring into her.

"Look here Blondie… I don't know what the heck you're thinking in that confusing woman brain of yours. But just stop. Don't do that to yourself." He growled.

Lucy gulped..

"I'm sorry that these little boys left you behind and made you feel less important than you really are. But you shouldn't have expected too much from these boys anyways." He stared into her eyes.

"WHAT!" Natsu and Gray yelled together.

"I AM A MAN!" Natsu yelled.

"I AIN'T ANYWHERE LITTLE" Gray yelled.

Lucy, Laxus, and Gajeel stared at the two. Lucy and Gray blushed after realizing what Gray had just shouted…

"Bakas. Can't believe you guys just left her. He's talking about HER Natsu and Gray you idiots. But I guess you guys haven't grown much so you guys are still little boys. Gihi."

"What you say Gajeel" Natsu growled lowly… Lucy's eyes widened. She had never seen Natsu talk is such a dangeriously… delicious voice.

"You wanna fight?" Gray growled as well… getting battle stance ready. She watched Gray's muscles flex. Gajeel smirked and flexed his muscles as well to get ready for a fight. Of course Lucy noticed him as well.

"Oh my…" Lucy thought to herself as she blushed and shuddered. She forgot that her wrist was in Laxus' hands.. Laxus felt her shudder and looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

Then she realized. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray glared at her… them still in their passion of plummeting each other's faces in. "You are in my house. My rules. No fighting!" Lucy yelled. To her surprise the three paled and went back to their seats. She smiled as she had a personal win.

“Wow.. I didn't know I had such power over them. Maybe they do grow brains in the future." Lucy thought to herself. Little did she know that Laxus death glared them down.

She looked back at Laxus.. and blushed that Laxus was still grabbing her wrist. Laxus gently let go.. and Lucy quickly bandaged him up. "I really am sorry Luce… I didn't mean to hurt you… I was young.. I didn't think."

"Ha. You don't think.. EVER." Gray laughed.

"Oiy Stripper. Shut up. I'm trying to apologize here." Natsu glared at Gray. Gray shut his mouth now.. he looked at Lucy.

"Sorry Lucy… I didn't mean to either… You know I wouldn't have left if I knew.. You're important to us." Gray smiled.

"Yea… I know…" Lucy smiled. "You guys sure grew up."

"What that's supposed to mean?" Natsu asked tilting his head.

"Well.. you guys are apologizing.. not fighting when I ask you guys to.. and aren't acting like babies when I treat your wounds."

"HA! EVEN BUNNYGIRL THINKS YOU GUYS ACTED LIKE BABIES! Little babies. Gihi." Gajeel pointed a finger at them.

"Luuuuccceeee.." Natsu whined.

"Lucy!" Gray facepalmed himself.

Lucy giggled. Laxus smirked.

"You're all done!" Lucy said happily as she looked at Laxus.

"Thanks Blondie. You didn't have to though."

"No.. I couldn't ignore it. It was mainly for my peace of mind."

"Well.. since you're not doing anything.. and we're stuck here for the time being.. why don't we do something together." Laxus asked.

"uh… what do you mean?" Lucy was startled.

“Well… we can't go walking around Magnolia. It'll alter the future. Oh.. don't even think about asking us about the future cuz we are not telling a word. It seems you're the only one who can help us get back to our own time. So while we find a way to get back… why don't we help you out by going on missions?" Gray suggested.

"Great idea popsicle head! We can help Lucy get money for her rent and find a way back at the same time! It's perfect!" Natsu got excited. They all looked at Gajeel with confused looks.

"You.. want to train me?" Lucy said with her eyebrows raised.

"Well.. we are all S-class mages.. it'll help you a lot to train with us."

Lucy looked at him with an agape mouth... "what happened to you?!" Lucy said shocked.

"What?" Gajeel said confused.

"You're…. so NICE!... It's unsettling…." Lucy squinted her eyes.. she was doubtful of his intentions.

"Dang bunnygirl.. I can be nice if I want to.. and I've changed… that doesn't mean that I've gotten soft. Don't get the wrong idea." He hardened.

"uh-huh… I've got my eyes on you Gajeel Redfox." Lucy said still with squinted eyes. Gajeel smirked and leaned forwards towards her. She stood up from her seat, the first aid kit in her hands. She was about to walk away when Laxus stood up.. towering over her… he was looking down at her.

"So.. what do you say.. the idiots in your time took you for granted. But that was because they were immature." Laxus brought his hand to her chin and gently pushed her face upwards so she could see him.

"But don't mistake me for them. How about you and I go on a mission together. I'll show you how it feels to be treated as a woman by a REAL MAN." Lucy gasped. Gajeel.. Gray.. Natsu… gaped at Laxus and Lucy…

"When are we leaving then?" Gajeel spoke.

"Lets go tonight." Natsu said smiling widely. "Okay Luce?"

Lucy stuttered… "O..okay.” Gajeel smirked.. "This is going to be fun." He thought to himself.

[artsy-alice]

Hey Ali! I'm a fan of We Are Young, Sparks and your art! I'm currently writing a fic and having trouble with writing a conversation between a big group of characters. I remember that scenes like those in your fics are so well-written and they always flow so well. I hope it's not too much to ask but can you share some tips for writing those kinds of scenes?

I am not the best at giving advice like this, but I am very honoured that you like my writing enough to ask me… so I’ll try!

These are not very comprehensive, but they’re the most important things I take note of when writing group scenes/convos:

Be mindful of the topic of the conversation. It sets everything: the mood, character’s voices, how far the dialogue/scene could go, which characters are comfortable speaking up. Serious topics would be filled with more tension. Reactions to some things spoken may have stronger reactions: people walking out, fighting, shouting, glaring, etc. Casual topics are more chill and naturally light-hearted. You can include more laughter, jokes and side-comments to fill the time. Let your topic affect your characters and what they have to say.

Let the mood dictate who should do the talking. Choose ‘lead actors’ to guide the flow. Letting a lot of characters speak up sounds impressive but really it still depends on the situation. Even in group scenes, there will inevitably be several characters who would lead the conversation and it helps keep things smooth and uncluttered to figure out who those should be and stick to it. During casual conversations, characters might take even turns talking, e.g. someone being interrogated by their friends, who each have their own questions.For stuff like a meeting, or a party or a game, you’d usually have a host/leader. During arguments (specially fast-paced ones), it’s usually just two/three people on different sides, while others provide their dis/agreement and side-comments. There’s nothing wrong with letting your other characters just nod or shake their head in the background, until they feel strongly enough about a statement to step forward and also speak up.

Have a tally of ‘Things That Need to Be Said’ in a scene. It’s very useful and helps you decide on Who says What, which is a common challenge.For example, one of my lists looked a bit like this:The Boys Stage An Intervention (a scene from WAY Track 10) - Bisca’s birthday tmr –> Max bc he masterminded this shit - Natsu came for the food –> Natsu, Warren shushes everyone - Mystogan might like Bisca what u gonna do bout it Al? –> Max - The ‘You Haven’t Been Very Subtle About Ur Crush’ Speech –> Max or Gray bc they’re sensible dudes - The ‘She’s Too Good For Me’ Speech –> Al - The ‘Man Up And Tell Her You Fool’ Speech –> Gajeel, note doubtful reactions from Jet and Droy - Everyone agrees with the speech –> Gray initiates the reaction, Jet and Droy awkwardly reluctant, Natsu cracks joke to show support  - “WE HAVE TO USE FORCE” –> tickle war ensues, Max leading - Principal Makarov Seal of Approval –> Makarov + Mystogan

Give your characters distinctive voices. Not all people talk the same way. It’s hard to explain this quickly but if it helps: if you read your dialogue out loud, it should sound like different people. Some speak more formally and others less. Some characters go straight to the point while some go around it first. Kids, teens and adults all talk differently. Chuckles, giggles, laughter, shrugs and other little actions can be part of their voice too. Some characters may stick to just making dismissive noises or gesturing rather than speaking to express themselves.

Expanding on that: Let voices depend on relationships and feelings. Not all people talk the same way to everyone. For example, Lucy might talk differently to Natsu compared to Gray, despite them being both guys and her friends. Heck, some couples or close friends finish each other’s sentences, and sometimes one will turn to the other for help in expressing their thoughts. Interactions feel more organic when you show that two characters can understand each other not just through what they say out loud.

Proximity affects which characters to highlight. And I mean both physical and social/emotional proximity.

For physical: If your characters are in a close huddle, there’s a tendency for them to feel comfortable to speak on their own terms. For example, a scene of characters all huddled together conspiring could have them all exchanging rapid-fire lines of dialogue. Sometimes when there’s a greater distance, only the characters closest to each other exchange lines and the people farther from them only drop a line or so occasionally. Like in the case of friends hanging out and chatting with each other, while their friend reading a book in the corner will just let out a side-comment or two every now and then.

For social/emotional: when choosing which character would respond next, keep in mind which character is the one currently speaking. I always keep this in mind for interruptions or criticism. For example in Sparks, with Laxus in a leader position and discussing something, I will usually only have Mira, Freed, or Erza interrupt him to say a counterpoint. Even though the others may have the same opinion, only some of them have the level of comfort with his character to openly express it, so they’re the logical and natural choices. 

Don’t rely entirely on spoken dialogue. People do tend to talk over each other sometimes in real life, but body language also works to lessen the clutter in writing. You don’t always have to get everyone to say “Yes” or “No” out loud (unless, you’re writing a situation that requires them to vocalize that answer). People express positive/negative reactions differently. Some only nod or shake their head, some would just smile or frown, some look at their companions happily or uneasily. A thumbs up or thumbs down. Natsu and Cana would probably boo a boring suggestion. Similarly, when there’s a doubtful reaction, don’t just write about your characters “with doubtful expressions”. Instead, write some of them exchanging looks, some looking thoughtful, some whispering to each other.

Mention background actions/activity. Don’t let your characters just sit down and talk like robots while they’re in a group interaction (unless, ya know, it’s required for them to be sitting down all boring like that). If they’re standing around, mention someone who had leaned against the wall because the conversation was boring them. If it’s a tense huddle, you can mention one character sidling closer to another for comfort, someone shuffling on their feet nervously, or one’s grip tightening on another’s shoulder. If they’re hanging out or lounging, you can write about one of them getting comfortable in their seat, or someone who had started to pass around snacks, or the couple getting cozy while their friends were talking, etc etc. It always sets the scene and also is a good, subtle way to reestablish the group/character dynamics.

I tried my best, but these are pretty general tips. I’d give examples if I had more time. But I hope this helped, at least?