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“No,” Laxus said even before he heard what Natsu had to say.
“No what?” the Dragon Slayer asked confused, sitting down next to him.
“I’m not going to fight with you or whatever you want to do,” Laxus said in annoyance, taking a sip of his beer.
Natsu snorted. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie, even though he’d thought about it five minutes ago. Now he had changed his mind, although if Laxus had proposed to fight he wouldn’t have flinched. It would probably have been the only fun thing to fill that boredom. Boredom Natsu felt ever since Lucy left on a mission without him.
That wasn’t the problem, Lucy occasionally took missions with Levy or Freed or other people, Natsu was used to it. The real problem was that Lucy had taken a mission with the Thunder Legion, and it wasn’t the first time! After Freed had asked Lucy to join them two weeks ago, she was pleased and had decided to do another one with them, because apparently Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen were not as destructive as he, Gray and Erza. They had a plan and they respected it, according to Lucy. They also took the full reward, according to Lucy.
It was probably true, but what did it matter? They weren’t Lucy’s team anyway, he was Lucy’s mate, not them.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Laxus grunted, glaring at him.
“I was supposed to be on a mission with Lucy, and your boyfriend took her away from me.” Natsu blushed slightly after saying the sentence, he seemed to be jealous of Freed, but he wasn’t like that at all! He was just annoyed because they had stolen his teammate. Oh God, wasn’t Lucy going to join them? Absolutely not, there was no way. Natsu began to get annoyed, what if Lucy would rather do missions with them? What if she decided it was better off with Laxus’ bodyguards? No, it wasn’t possible. It wasn’t even possible for Lucy to join the Thunder Legion, right?
Laxus raised an eyebrow. “You’re burning the table, stop it.”
Natsu realized it only in that moment and snorted and crossed his arms.
“Why did Lucy go with them?” he asked without bothering to show his annoyance. He still had every right to be annoyed, he was Lucy’s teammate. Him, not Freed. Not Bickslow, and not Evergreen.
“I’ve no idea. Who cares? In three days she will be back”.
“Three days?!” Natsu exclaimed in shock. “I thought she would be back today!”
“They left today, and Freed never takes day missions,” Laxus said and frowned. “What’s the problem anyway? Go on a mission with Happy, or with Gray and Erza”.
“It’s not the same,” Natsu grumbled. “Lucy is my teammate”.
“Wendy is too, and you didn’t make all these fusses when she went on a mission with Freed,” Laxus said, rolling his eyes.
“It’s not the same thing”.
“Because Wendy isn’t blonde and pretty?” Laxus teased him.
“Yea-no!” Natsu yelled, blushing slightly and Laxus’ lips curled into a small smile, as if he had gotten what he wanted. Natsu was already about to beat him but Laxus surprisingly threw a Lacrima at him, and Natsu took it in confusion.
“Call Freed so you can talk to the blonde,” Laxus told him. Natsu was speechless for a moment, but then smiled.
“Thank you!” he exclaimed, completely forgetting that he wanted to fight him. Immediately afterwards he ran out of the guild, losing the faint smile on Laxus’s face.
***
“So, don’t you have any news?” Evergreen asked and Lucy frowned, careful not to move as the girl was braiding her hair.
“News about what?”
“On a certain Fire Dragon Slayer, is he ardent even in bed?” Bickslow asked with a grin as he lit a fire and Lucy felt her cheeks heat up. Oh no, did Bickslow feel so comfortable with her already? She had hoped not to be the victim of his jokes like Freed and Evergreen were. And where had Freed gone? He was the only one who could stop Bickslow.
“Don’t listen to him, tell me if there’s any news instead,” Evergreen said. “Did you put into practice the advice I gave you last time?”
Lucy wanted to bury herself. No that she hadn’t put them into practice, and anyway she doubted they would work with Natsu. Not that it was bad advice - Evergreen was the only girl Lucy trusted to ask for love advice - but she doubted that anything would work with Natsu.
“Did you give her advice?” Bickslow asked curiously.
“Sure,” Evergreen said. “The only reason she’s still single is because she had Erza as a mentor, and that says it all. The way she flirts sucks, and...”
“Well, we’re not talking about Erza,” Bickslow interrupted and turned to Lucy, smiling dangerously. “I think you should listen to my advice. You go into his house, undress and get into his bed.”
Lucy blushed. “Thanks, but I don’t need your advice,” she said firmly, hoping to silence them both. It didn’t work.
“You don’t need the advice of that idiot, but you certainly need mine,” Evergreen said with a know-it-all attitude. “Make him want you, now you and Natsu see each other every day so you have to make him miss you, and maybe make him understand that you want a boyfriend. Talk to him, in general, about dating and romance, if he ever liked any girl, if he went out with someone, if he’d like it.”
“He just likes to fight,” Lucy murmured.
“I doubt it, it seems, but it isn’t,” Evergreen said. She was about to start talking again but at that moment Freed arrived and brutally interrupted them.
“What are you doing? I told you to start cooking Ever, not to play around. You haven’t set up the curtains yet, and it’s already dark.”
“The grumpy captain is here” Bickslow commented and Lucy giggled a bit, while Freed forced the two friends to get up.
“We were talking about important things,” Evergreen complained.
“Was it about the mission?” Freed asked.
“No, it was about Lucy’s love life.”
“It was nothing important,” the blonde hastened to say, wanting to end the subject there. Freed’s expression became curious and Lucy groaned internally, no! Not even him! Evergreen and Bickslow must have noticed this too, because they took advantage of it right away.
“I was giving her some valuable love advice.”
“Maybe you could help her since Laxus and Natsu are similar.”
Evergreen and Bickslow said at the same time. And Freed, to Lucy’s surprise, blushed slightly.
“Similar? If Laxus heard you he would strike you,” Freed commented trying to hide his embarrassment.
“But I’m right,” Bickslow retorted. “I mean, Laxus is also an idiot when it comes to relationships, he too has only been interested in fighting for years, and your relationship reminds me of Natsu and Lucy’s. You have been such unsuspecting friends for so long. And once Laxus got into your bed.”
“Really?” Lucy asked curious. Honestly, she didn’t imagine it. Freed glared at his friend and the way his cheeks blushed made Lucy giggle.
“Keep asking him about me and Laxus, and I won’t save you from Bickslow’s lines anymore,” Freed warned. Despite the threatening tone, Lucy laughed.
“Okay okay, I won’t ask for anything then” she promised raising her hands in peace but the sly smile she shared with Bickslow told her that he would tell her all about Freed and Laxus without her needing to ask. Even if the boy would have made jokes at her expense, it might have been worth it. She was quite curious about the relationship between Laxus and Freed. Not for the reasons Bickslow had said, she didn’t need indirect advice from listening to someone else’s love story. Although, in that case, perhaps they could really be useful. Laxus was somehow similar to Natsu...
“Now let’s work. Lucy, first Natsu called on the Lacrima. Call him back, he said he needed you urgently,” Freed said pulling the Lacrima out of his backpack and handing it to her. Lucy got confused.
“Urgent need?”
Freed smiled almost wickedly. “Or rather, he missed you terribly. He’s pretty jealous, he thought I wanted to drag you away from him.”
Lucy blushed. “W-what?” she stammered but Freed didn’t answer. Lucy quickly walked away from the three boys, trying to ignore Bickslow’s annoying jokes about Dragon Slayer’s jealousy.
***
“Hey, Freed said you needed me,” Lucy said when Natsu answered. She had positioned herself in the woods, far away from where they had decided to camp. The boy’s face was smiling and Lucy settled cross-legged while a spontaneous smile filled her face.
“Ah, yeah, not really, I just wanted to hear you,” Natsu said and that warmed Lucy’s chest. “It’s just that Freed is so boring, he said you were working, so I had to come up with an excuse.”
Lucy giggled knowing full well that Freed might be too loyal to work. “I understand”.
“So, how’s the mission going?” Natsu asked.
“Uh, good. We are looking for…”
“Aren’t they boring?” Natsu interrupted with a grunt. Lucy blinked in surprise at that question. Freed had told her that Natsu was jealous but she had thought he was saying it just to tease her.
“Um, no… actually me Bickslow and Ever were talking, before Freed interrupted us,” she said, hoping not to blush at the memory of what they were talking about and especially what Bickslow had said.
“Freed is boring then. Wait, Evergreen lets you call her Ever? When I did it, she petrified me.”
“I think she petrified you because you burned her fan, Natsu” Lucy commented but smiled a little. Natsu looked really annoyed, for some reason. But she doubted he was jealous, he had no reason. He was probably just annoyed that she didn’t go on a mission with him. It didn’t make sense though, even Erza, Gray and Wendy had taken missions with other people lately and Natsu had never particularly cared.
“Well, anyway, no one calls her Ever. Only her teammates,” Natsu said and then the smile faded from his face. Lucy couldn’t see clearly from the Lacrima but it almost looked like he was disappointed, sad or worried. Was he really afraid of her joining the Thunder Legion?
“I’m not leaving the team if that’s what you’re worried about,” she said at that point reassuringly.
“Of course you won’t,” Natsu snapped and Lucy smiled slightly.
“Besides, I don’t really think they would want me,” she chuckled.
“So why is Freed constantly stealing you? It’s already the second time,” Natsu complained.
“Actually, I proposed myself,” Lucy admitted in a low voice, almost ashamed of it.
“Why?” Natsu asked surprised and bitter.
“Well, I... I just wanted to befriend them a little, you know,” she shrugged.
“You can do it in the guild, or you could have taken me with you,” Natsu complained.
Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you say they’re boring?”
“Yes, but I make things less boring” Natsu smiled and Lucy laughed.
“Okay, next time you will come too. If they want it too.”
“Next time we will do a mission alone,” Natsu retorted and Lucy smiled and nodded.
“Sure,” she said and then glanced into the trees, hearing footsteps. It was probably her guildmates who were coming to call her for dinner. “Now I have to go, they’re looking for me.”
“Come back soon, right?” Natsu asked and Lucy was silent for a moment.
“The mission lasts three days, Natsu.”
“Well, they have called themselves Fairy Tail’s strongest team for years. If they really are, let them prove it and complete it in one day!” he exclaimed.
“We’ll see” Lucy smiled and remained silent for a few seconds.
“I miss you,” Natsu murmured after a while and Lucy blushed and felt her heart beating madly.
“I miss you too,” she said softly. At that moment she saw a totem flutter a few meters from her and blushed even more. “Now I really have to go, see you when I get back,” she said and closed the Lacrima without letting Natsu speak.
“Oh, you’re so cute, cosplayers,” Bickslow grinned. “I assure you that we will finish the mission in two days, so you can go back to cuddle with your passionate Dragon Slayer.”
Lucy nearly threw the Lacrima at him. “You better shut that mouth, Bickslow.”
“Otherwise what, cosplayer?” the boy laughed. “Don’t worry, I have a lot of jokes for Natsu too, as soon as we get back to the guild.”
Lucy sighed in despair, suddenly she regretted going on a mission with the Thunder Legion.