Lucy tiredly sighed as she curled up into herself, her bed was so comfortable, especially after forcing herself to summon all her keys at once

"But saving Loke's life...was totally worth it" she mumbled hugging her pillow

'Eh? For some reason my pillow feels so warm...'

"Glad to hear so Princess" her pillow said in a flirty tone

Lucy hummed in agreement with her pillow, wait a second...pillows can't talk, so..

"Loke?!" she shrieked in surprise jumping away from her new spirit

As soon as she did so she felt dizzy, she tried to right herself up only to lose her balance and fall back on her bed

"I didn't know you were so forward Lucy" Loke chuckled

Lucy was too tired to care for his flirting, so she merely sighed in annoyance "Shouldn't you be resting in the Spirit World?"

Loke nodded in agreement, "I took a nap"

"Really?" Lucy mumbled sleepily

Loke watched on in amusement as Lucy thought to keep her eyes open only for them to close

"Do you think Gray and the others will be mad at me?" he asked thinking the blonde was asleep

"No, they won't..." Lucy sleepily said

"How can you be so sure?" Loke found himself asking

"Mira said it herself, most of us have our own secrets, but we're still family. Besides they accepted me, didn't they? And I've been here for a short time compared to you..." Lucy answered dozing off

"I see" Loke mumbled staring thoughtfuly at the sleeping blonde

Idly he reached out to tuck a stray blonde lock behind her ear

"I'm glad you didn't vanish..."

Loke's eyes widened at the declaration before his eyes softened

"Thank you"

As if hearing him Lucy smiled, and somehow it seemed like the moon was making her smile shine brighter and giving her an angelic look

*Thump, thump*

Loke used his hand to cover the blush that crept on his face, what was that? This was the first time his heart has ever beaten faster for a girl

'It's probably just a trick of the light..' he told himself as he closed his own gate

Not before gazing at Lucy one last time

'She really is pretty, and strong in her own way. Maybe not stronger than Natsu, Erza or Gray, but it's just a matter of time...'

"Yeah, just a matter of time" he muttered to himself as he vanished back into the Spirit World

•~ ~• SKoB •~ ~•

Lucy yawned to herself while hugging Plue loosely to herself

"Make sure you don't fall Lucy-chan!" the fishermen all yelled at her as usual despite how early it was

Lucy gave them a grin "I won't!" she assured walking on the step of the river's wall

It was nice knowing that someone was watching over her, a part of her always felt touched when strangers showed concern for her

Smiling to herself she opened the door to the guild, a big smile plastered on her face as she made her way to her most commonly used stool at the bar

The blond was completely oblivious to the aura of depression washing over every member of Fairy Tail

"Good morning!" she greeted Mira

Mira seemed confused, but before she could say somethig Happy's wail reached their ears before the blue cat burried himself onto the blonde in a hug

"It's terrible Lushy!"

Lucy blinked in confusion awkwardly patting Happy's back "What is?" she worriedly asked only for Happy to wail harder

Worriedly she looked around the guild finally noticing the sad atmosphere

"What's wrong?" she asked again

"Don't you know Luce?" Natsu asked crossing his arms

"Know what?" the suspense was killing her

"We didn't find Loke anywhere..." Gray quietly said

Lucy's eyes widened

"Oh" she sheepishly muttered as the memories of what had happened yesterday surged through her head

"I think I can fix that" she informed the two with a knowing look coupled with a cheeky smile as she brought up her new gold key

It was as if those words made everyone turn to her, including Makarov who had immediately figured out what happened

'Loke didn't vanish? How? Why?' the old man thought to himself tears of joy already welling up in his eyes

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Leo!" Lucy chanted

A bright light blinded everyone's vision, admittedly Lucy made the light brighter on purpose

"You called Princess?"

Everyone gaped at the sight of a smirking Loke casually standing next to Lucy

Everyone had the exact same thought

"WHAT?!"

Lucy and Loke shared a glance, the former giggling while the latter was chuckling

"What's going on Loke?" Gray asked

"It's kind of a long story..." Loke started

Okay, maybe it wasn't that long considering he finished the story in like ten minutes, but it was like the short version of it in which he casually edited the part of Lucy calling out the Spirit King

Loke knew Lucy wouldn't want to gain attention for that part, the blonde was just happy to have saved him after all

At the end of the explanation the guild was torn between looking at Loke in surprise or giving Lucy impressed looks for figuring out that Loke was a spirit and saving him

"Any questions?" Lucy questioned raising an eyebrow at the guild members

Happy raised a paw earning a nod from the blonde

"Since you're the lion, it means you're a grown-up cat, right?" Happy excitedly asked

Loke smiled fondly at the blue cat "Yeah"

Lucy merely shook her head at the two, a fond smile of her own tugging up at her lips "Idiots"

"Anyway, is it okay for you to carry on doing what you've just been doing until now?" Gray asked

Loke smirked, "I'm afraid not, after all Lucy is my owner now. When Lucy's in trouble, I'll gallantly show up, after all I'm her knight in shining armor"

Happy looked at Lucy, "He lllllliiiikeees you~"

Lucy rolled her eyes at the blue cat, "No way, that's just Loke being Loke"

Loke had to resist the urge to frown, because Lucy was right, it was just him being him. Yet why did it leave a bitter taste in his mouth when comparing his actions towards Lucy to other girls?

"Speaking of which..." he started picking Lucy up easily, "Let's go talk about our plans for the future"

"Eh?! Stop messing around Loke!" Lucy ordered ignoring the cat calls and wolf whistles they were gaining

Loke smiled at the frustrated blonde, 'She kinda looks cute when-no, stop it Loke..'

Lucy however stopped struggling realizing that it was futile "You can put me down now" she muttered averting her eyes from his

Loke gave her a thoughtful hum, "Nah, I think I like having you in my arms like this" he muttered

"Huh?" Lucy asked

"Nothing" Loke chirped

Lucy didn't seem convinced, but as expected she didn't push the subject and merely looked over to the river

If she squited her eyes she could see the smallest hint of waterdrops falling into the river

It didn't take long for the drops to become bigger

"It's raining" she said with a small smile childishly extending her hand to let the droplets tickle it

She didn't notice that Loke's eyes were fixated on her, like the night before he noticed that she had an angelic look to her when she was at ease and peaceful

'It really wasn't a trick of the light..' Loke realized

"You really are beautiful Lucy" he complimented earning the blonde's attention

The blonde was frowning at him, "I'm not falling for your little trick Loke" she informed

Loke tilted his head to the side "Trick?" he echoed

Lucy nodded, "The girls you broke up with yesterday told me of you tricks after I told them that I'm not your girlfriend"

"Is that so?" Loke muttered, who were those girls again? He knew he had broken up with all of them thinking he would vanish, but somehow he really doesn't remember much more than their faces

Lucy nodded, "They said you'd always flatter them at the right moment, but I'm not like them, flattery won't get you anywhere"

Loke smiled in agreement to her statement, because in the short time that he's known Lucy he knew that she was different from the other girls

Lucy was unique in her own way

The blonde was like that small star in the corner of the night, always shining bright for others despite them not noticing her and..

"But I meant what I said" Loke informed earning Lucy's attention

..if you take the moment to notice it, then you'd realize how beautiful it is

"You're beautiful" he firmly said giving her a confident smile

Lucy didn't answer, but Loke could see the small blush she was fighting off

And for the first time ever Loke didn't think of it as another girl falling for his tricks

He considered it as Lucy tricking him into believing that she's the cutest girl he's ever laid his eyes on

'Damn it, stop it Loke, she's already done so much for you...so you can't fall for her no matter what. You're just a playboy that flirts with every female thing that moves'

So he averted his eyes to stare at the street, a slightly awkward silence growing between them

But he was sure it was only awkward on his part