Archive of Our Own ^beta

Now Lucy might not have been sure if it was a good choice to let Levy into her old home - there was dust everywhere, the building was still in pieces from when Dan Straight had been there, the once beautiful, white walls were peeling apart and had become mouldy and grey – but Levy had insisted. Not that she’d really needed to, one look from those gorgeous, sparkling eyes and Lucy would fling herself into the ocean if Levy wanted her to. Not that Levy would ever make her.

Well… maybe. There were days when Levy might sell someone to the devil for old books, girlfriend or not. It didn’t help that Levy had found the library, her eyes becoming so wide she might never be able to blink again. It took only a second, but Lucy’s lovely little girlfriend sprinted out of sight, leaving only a cloud of dust to prove she’d ever been there in the first place.

It was an hour before Lucy found her again, a fort of books surrounding her. But it wasn’t quite… right. Lucy left the room, rummaging through the cupboards and old wardrobes until she found what she was after and headed back to Levy.

“You’re late, Lu.”

“Hey, cut me some slack! You know something’s missing, right?” Levy looked up quickly, confused until she saw the blanket Lucy had brought in with her. She grinned.

“Yes! I’ll have a roof now! Fort complete!” Lucy paused for a moment, her eyebrow raised and her arms folded across her chest.

“You’ll have a roof now, huh? And you aren’t missing anything? Anything?”

It took a while, but Levy’s eyes shot open, her wind reading glasses slowly sliding off her face as her mouth opened in shock. How dramatic.

“We’ll. We’ll have a roof now. I’m so sorry, I was just excited!”

“Hmm, I don’t know if I should forgive you or not. I’m just not sure if you deserve the blanket now.” If she smirked any more, Lucy thought her face might break, but she kept at it.

“Lucy!” Levy put the book down to her side, thumb idly smoothing down the edges of the paper. Her eyes flickered between Lucy’s teasing gaze and her smirk, taking in every bit of the blonde’s cheeky face. She matched it.

“Well, I might be able to forgive you and give you this… but you’ll have to catch me first!” She was off like a shot, heels clicking on the marble ground as she ran further away. Levy would’ve followed then and there, on the second she was on her feet, but of course she had to find a bookmark first.

The chase had been moved to the gardens. Shoes were off, lying strewn somewhere in the hallways, their feet getting dirtier and heavier as they ran through the dirt. Eventually, Levy caught up to Lucy and jumped for the blanket she held above her head as she looked down to Levy with her tongue sticking out – jerk. Oh well, Levy had a plan anyway.

“Solid Script – Water!” The ground beneath Lucy’s feet became slippery and she struggled to keep her balance. Levy, lunging forward and tickling her sides, didn’t help. At all. There was a squelch as Lucy fell over, legs and hands being caked in mud while Levy took one careful step forward to procure her prize.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Flecks of filth were spattered across the blonde’s face, crossing over her nose and even getting into her hair.

“It wasn’t cheating, how dare you even suggest that I, an honest member of the Fairy Tail guild, would cheat!? I was simply using my acquired skills to gain an advantage and snatch victory from my opponent.” Levy wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, swaying side to side and twisting to show it off. “And it was fun too.”

“Sounds an awful lot like cheating to me.” Lucy grumbled, scowling a little before the expression morphed into a small smile. “It was fun though; maybe we should get a dog?”

“Pawsitively brilliant idea, Lu!” Levy slid down next to Lucy, joining her in the mud and unwrapping the blanket to drape it over both of their shoulders. Lucy groaned as Levy rested her head on her shoulder.

“Oh no, not the puns.” Lucy let herself go slack, her head dropped onto Levy’s and her hair fell in her partner’s face. The only comfort to the onslaught of bad lines she was about to hear was the feeling of soft fingers pushing back her locks and tucking them behind her ears. But it was only a small one.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lucy; I only said it was a good idea! Fur real!” Another groan and Levy did her best to nuzzle in closer, with little success until Lucy moved.

“Levy.”

“Or we could get a cat? I think that idea’s purrfect!”

A whine. “Levy. No.”

Levy yes, she thought to herself, trying to think up her next line when Lucy interrupted her train of thought.

“How about a hamster instead? There’s less pun material with that one.”

“Are you wheelie sure about that?”

“Why?” Lucy’s body tensed for a second as she threw her arms in the air before placing them around the other girl, squeezing once.

“You brought this on yourself, Lu. You know what I’m like.” Levy adjusted the blanket to stay on Lucy’s shoulders after her display of exasperation, smiling sweetly at Lucy’s murmured ‘true’.

It was a while before either of them spoke again.

“You know, Levy, we should really go clean ourselves up.”

She hummed for a short while, mulling it over before she stretched to kiss Lucy’s cheek. “Hmm, in a minute. Let’s just stay like this for now.”