Chapter 4

Old Acquaintances

"Martinez! In my office. Now."

Of course, the Captain would be angry. Why wouldn't he be? Bickslow had already been threatened by a girl early in the morning so, it would only make sense that he would get yelled at just after setting his bag down on his desk. When he got inside Laxus's office, he found his boss sitting behind the desk, glaring at him. Bickslow tried to think of anything that he did that might have set Laxus off but couldn't come up with anything solid. He submitted his last paperwork on time and his interrogation yesterday went great – the guy confessed within ten minutes.

"So, your little friend dropped by for a visit earlier." Laxus said with a stern face, "she's a delight."

"What friend?" Bickslow picked one of the colorful skittles from a glass bowl on the desk and popped it in his mouth and immediately cringed at the tangy flavor – sour skittle, ugh. He thought about spitting it out but Laxus gave him a glare so, he swallowed it without even chewing.

"Annoying blonde woman you saw at the bar yesterday, apparently. She dropped off your badge."

Blonde? From last night? He couldn't mean…

"Wait. Lucy?"

"She didn't give me her name because she was busy being a total pain in the ass." Laxus bit out.

"Lucy? Being a pain in the ass? Are we sure we're talking about the same blonde? Petite, curvy and a total knockout?"

"I don't know. She's not unattractive."

Bickslow snorted at his blasé response. Anyone with eyes would notice how pretty Lucy was but if his boss wanted to act unaffected by her beauty, Bickslow would leave it alone. Laxus's brand of interaction was a mixture of painful bluntness and brusqueness which, of course, did not make him particularly popular with women despite his good look.

The big blonde threw a black case, which Bickslow assumed was his badge, at him and gave him a look. "This better be the last time you lose your badge. Next time, there'll be consequences."

Bickslow gave him a mock salute. "Yes, sir, yes."

When Lucy got back to the Crossroad, she was surprised to see Mira sitting on top of a bar stool, talking to Gajeel who was, for once, not behind the bar. Juvia was leaning against the counter with a neutral face, not particularly interested in their conversation.

"Mira. I do hope you're here for a good reason."

The white-hair demoness turned in her chair and gave Lucy a sweet smile. She was dressed in her usual long, pink sundress despite the fact that it was literally in a middle winter in Magnolia. It seemed Lucy wasn't the only demon with a weird fashion sense.

"The first escaped soul is safely back in Hell. All the paperwork is done and I found something that might interest you."

Lucy hopped on the adjacent stool and waved her hand for Mira to continue.

"You know how each soul in Hell has their own particular sins? Well, guess why that soul landed in Hell in the first place."

Juvia groaned from where she was standing and rolled her eyes.

"Enough with the riddles, Mira san. Get to the point if you don't mind."

Lucy smiled as Mira pulled a bunch of files from behind the bar and put them on the counter between them. Even in Hell, demons had to the paperwork in an old-fashioned way. Still, Lucy would argue that their filing system was properly way better than Earthland and even Heaven. Millions of souls entered and left Hell daily, after all, and there was no room for mistakes while entering data.

Lucy opened the file on top and there it was, written in huge red letters - his biggest sin.

"He was an armed robber? You think that it has something to do with the fact that he was robbing again after he escaped Hell."

Mira nodded and bent over the counter again to retrieve more files and dropped them besides the first ones, patting the top of it proudly.

"I figured if they're going back to the same pattern again, finding them would be easier. So, I brought all the files that're under their names."

Gajeel traced this finger across the stacks of paper and whistled.

"Looks like you'll have to pull an all-nighter, boss."

Lucy sulked and stared at the mountain of papers, calculating how much time it would take and wondering if she would really have to give up on sleep tonight.

Gajeel slapped his hand on the chair, "shit! That reminds me."

He pulled a sleek black phone from the back pocket of his jeans and toyed with it for a few seconds.

"So, you know how those two dum-dums botched our rule of laying low and pissed off the entire police precinct? I was trying to find who is in charge of this whole police thing for Magnolia and guess what I found."

He shoved his phone right in front of Lucy's face - causing her to go a little cross-eyed, trying to read what's on the screen. A very familiar face caught her attention.

"This is…"

Gajeel grinned proudly and finally pulled the damn thing away from her face.

"Yup. That's Dreyar. Get this. Thanks to us, he got a position as the Commissioner which is, apparently, a very high position."

Lucy clapped her hands in glee and bounced a little on her seat.

"So you're thinking we should finally cash in our payment from him? Let's do it!"

Mira coughed loudly and smiled sweetly at the blonde.

"Your paperwork, Lucy. I have to take it back to our archive and I'm guessing you don't want to jam our system, my Queen."

Lucy wanted to protest more but she knew better than to anger Mira. She was already pressured over taking care of Lucy's throne in her absence and Lucy really shouldn't stress her out more.

"Fine. But visiting Dreyar will be the first thing we will do after I'm done."

Ignoring amused looks from her underlings, she picked up all the files and trotted towards her office with her head held high. Yup, she handled this like a boss.

If there was one word to describe Ivan Dreyar, that would be "ambitious". Born into the family of politicians and police officers, he knew what it was like to have control and power in his own hands. With his own father - Makarov Dreyar, being the Mayor of Magnolia for many years, he had to try his very best to get his own spotlight.

But no matter how hard he had tried, it had never been enough. During his late twenties, even though he had already appointed as Sergeant for one of the best precincts in Fiore, wherever he had gone, he had been known as Makarov's son instead of just Sergeant Ivan Dreyar. Sure, having that title that linked him to the Mayor had opened a lot of door for him but it hadn't been enough.

One day, he had stumbled onto a beautiful stranger and that day was the turning point of his life. From that day onward, he was unstoppable. Now, lounging in a luxurious study room, sipping on a perfectly aged whiskey, he had everything he had ever desired – fame, power and wealth.

All of a sudden, he felt chilled to the bone and sensed that he was not alone in the room anymore. He instinctively moved to grab a small pistol he kept in his desk drawer but something sharp and cold pressing lightly at his throat stopped him from even moving a single inch.

"Seems like time is treating you well, papa Dreyar."

From the corner of his eyes, he could see a silhouette of a woman standing by a window with her back to him. He cursed himself for dimming the light when he had decided to stop working for today. He couldn't see who was holding a blade against his neck but from the feel of the body pressed against his back, he knew it was a female.

"Who are you? How did you get past the security? Are you a spy from Stella?"

Twinkling laughter filled the large room and the woman at the window turned around and moved to the light.

"You have a very active imagination. Your paranoia is growing as you move up the rank, it appears."

Wheat-blonde hair that was very different from Dreyar's signature dirty blonde hair was the first thing that caught his eyes. Slightly familiar golden eyes, pale pink lips and curvy, petite body that was engulfed in the tightest emerald-green dress he had ever seen on any women. He knew this woman. In fact, she had never left his mind.

"Lucifer."

She glided gracefully towards the desk and took a sip of whiskey from his glass, wincing slightly immediately. The knife at his neck remained there the whole time.

"Oh please. Lucy will do just fine. We're not strangers." She said with a wink.

He was suddenly glad that he had liquid dinner because he could feel his stomach churning violently. The Devil was literally in his room.

"Are you here to collect my soul? You promised to give me 30 years!"

Lucy moved around the room, running her fingers over a row of books in his massive bookshelf. Multiple books on politics and justice system and a few self-help books. How. Utterly. Boring…

"Despite what you think, demons aren't hounding for souls 24/7. Hell is pretty packed right now, as a matter of fact."

Lucy turned to see Juvia still standing behind Ivan with a cold look in her eyes. Juvia detested greedy men like Ivan Dreyar who would willingly sell their soul and everything for just a moment in the spotlight. This was why Lucy never sent Juvia on such quests but she had insisted on following Lucy this time.

"Juvia, let him breathe. Withdraw your weapon."

Slowly, she took the knife away from his neck and put it in a leather sheath clipped to the waistband to her jeans. Ivan immediately put his hand on his neck to check if she drew any blood but was relieved to only feel dry and smooth skin understand his fingertips. His eyes darted to the desk drawer where his small pistol lied in wait but a cold voice interrupted him before he could even lift a finger.

"Don't even think of reaching for that gun, scum. Juvia did a quick search around the whole house this afternoon. Juvia knows all the different places where you hide your guns."

As much as it hurt his ego to listen to a couple of girls (never mind that they're demons), he knew he had no other choice but that didn't stop him from sneering at the bluenette who was now leaning against the door.

Lucy clapped her hands cheerfully and sat down on a large beige leather sofa a few inches from where he was sitting. She bounced a little on the cushion until she found the perfect spot and sighed happily.

"So, the reason why we are here is that we need a favor from you – a payback of some sort."

Ivan smartly kept quiet but he visibly stiffened which she could understand. Whatever the devil wanted from you, it couldn't be good.

"You see, a few days ago, my subordinates crossed path with a few of the police officers and now, they're kinda on the blacklist of Magnolia PD's database."

He scoffed – not surprised in the least that demons were already on the bad side of law enforcement.

"So, you want me to use my authority and make that blacklist go away?"

The blonde giggled and crossed her legs to get more comfortable on the couch that was not as comfy as she was hoping it would be – "no, I need more than that. I need you to give me full access to all the police database."

"That isn't possible. Even I can't give clearance for this kind of record to a civilian. Are you crazy? Unless you work for a law enforcement agency, you can't touch those files."

Lucy straightened in her seat and perked up, her lips stretched to a wide grin. "That's perfect."

"What?", this came from the bluenette who had kept quiet during the whole conversation, her eyes widened in disbelief.

The blonde slapped the couch armrest enthusiastically and hopped onto her feet. Her cognac-colored eyes sparkled in excitement and Juvia sighed internally. There would be no way of stopping Lucy when she was like this.

"You see, Juvia, this is perfect! I can be the inside person and the quicker we get this… thing wrapped up, the faster we can go home. With me working as a police officer, no one will question me for showing up first on the crime scene and I will be the first to know if something's up", she rumbled on while the other woman looked at her exasperatedly.

"Whoa whoa. You, the devil, want to be a police officer to do whatever unlawful thing you are planning on doing? Forget about it! I'm not going to put a gun and badge in the hand of the ruler of Hell. I'm not one of your lackeys to follow your order while wagging my tai_"

Before he could finish his sentence, he found staring into golden brown eyes that were only a few inches away from his own blue-grey ones - slightly differing from his son's ice-grey color, her hands cupping his jaws. Despite a slight smile on her lips, her hold on his chin was hard and uncompromising and that was the only sign he got from her that hinted that he shouldn't push more - her eerily beautiful eyes gave nothing away about her current emotional status. Quite frankly, she's the scariest person or thing he had ever had the misfortune of meeting.

"This is not a request, Dreyar. In case you have forgotten, I have granted you this life that you are so fond of and I can easily take it all away. So, unless you want to say goodbye to all your beloved possessions, I suggest you find a way for me to join the law enforcement."

"Y_yes."

In the blink of an eye, the two women vanished from the property and the still trembling man dropped to his knees on the ground, his heart torn between fear and deep-seated anger towards those supernatural creatures that held an unshakable control over him.

When Laxus got to the station on a Monday morning, he was perplexed to find both the window and door blinds in his office was shut. A quick glance around the empty floor confirmed that he was the first one to arrive, as usual.

Would it have to do with a short call he got from his father at 5 in the morning? All he understood from his father's mumbling was that someone would be joining their department before Ivan had hung up the phone without even letting his son responded.

Cautiously, Laxus opened his door and what he found in the room nearly made him slam the door back. Lounging comfortably on his chair with her feet on his neat desk was the very thing that nearly made him snap the other day.

Her long blonde was tied up in a sleek ponytail and her face was clear of makeup just like last time. Her pale pink lips stretched into a big grin that showed off her straight white teeth that would make any dentist swoon in delight.

"Laxus Dreyar. Such a delight to see you again. You have a very nice office."

Laxus strode towards the desk and pushed her feet off the table before glaring at the woman.

"Don't put your feet on my desk. Also, what the hell are you doing here? Didn't you understand from last time that civilians are not allowed on this floor and now you're even in my office?"

She remained seated in the chair and stared up at him innocently but the small smirk on her lips spelled nothing but trouble. Once again, her clothing was inappropriate for a workplace – dressed in a pink strapless leather dress that barely reached her mid-thigh and sky-high white platform heels that he had no idea how she walked in.

"Weird. I assumed Ivan, sorry, Commissioner Dreyar would have informed you this morning. I'm the new civilian administrator which I think is more like a glorified personal secretary according to the job description I've got."

A blink. "What happened to the previous administrator?"

"Don't know, don't care. Commissioner Dreyar thought I am more qualified so, here I am. It's part of the natural selection, sweetie."

Laxus rubbed his eyes as his brain tried to process all the information thrown his way in less than 2 minutes.

"First of all, never. Ever. Call me sweetie. You may only address me as Captain Dreyar during office hours."

Lucy finally stood up - even in her killer heels, she barely reached his chin, and poked her finger on his chest, lingering there more than she should.

"Kinky – I love it. Then, can I call you honeybun after office hour?"

Oh boy, if looks could kill. "No."

The smaller blonde leaned in closer and purred softly, "well, looks like I'll be in your care from now on, CaptainDreyar."

Lucy noticed with surprise, but delighted nonetheless, that he shivered a little at being called Captain and his grey eyes darkened even if slightly.

Ooh, what do you we have here?

Natsu woke up to the smell of burnt coffee beans and blindly searched for the discarded duvet when he felt cold winter wind blew across his half-naked body. Unwillingly, he opened one eye and glanced around the empty room. There was a mug filled with brown liquid that could be passed as coffee on the bedside table and he also found the source of morning chill in his normally very warm room – the door to the balcony was opened and he could see the silhouette of a person leaning against the railing.

He lazily sat up and reached for the mug. One sip was all it took to nearly dump the whole cup down the toilet – calling it a coffee would be an insult to Natsu's favorite beverage in all three universes. He only knew one being who could royally have screwed up something as simple as making coffee.

Not even bothering to put on a shirt, knowing that his unnatural body heat due to his fire magic will keep him warm on a cold winter morning, he strolled out the balcony in just boxer shorts.

Natsu drank in the sight of the man who had his back to the door – his dark hair tousled from sleep and he, too, was only wearing underwear. Natsu's onyx eyes traveled across from his broad shoulder all the way to his tight ass clad in just dark blue boxer brief, taking in all lithe muscle built from years of fighting.

"If you are done ogling me, do you want to have breakfast downstairs?"

He removed his eyes from the tempting sight of his boyfriend's rear and saw that Gray was looking at him over his shoulder with a cheeky grin.

"Sure, I need Gajeel's cooking to wash down that disgusting drink you made with my precious coffee beans."

"Sod off, prick", was Gray's half-hearted reply. Natsu moved closer and noticed the blue fur ball on top of the railing beside Gray. His cat was happily snoozing in cold winter morning while Gray was petting him, he mused. The blue cat had been an immediate hit with everyone here at the bar the moment he was brought in. Even Lucy had an odd love-and-hate relation with the feline. Everyone pretended not to notice Lucy sneaking in expensive cat foods and buying an extravagant cat castle. That's why Natsu had chosen the name for his new pet – Happy.

Ice-cold hand wrapped around his wrist and he was pulled into an equally cold embrace. Only slightly taller than himself, Gray didn't have to bend so low to place his lips on Natsu's. Natsu purred into the kiss and opened his mouth to deepen it further. Gray's large hands cupped his ass-cheeks and kneaded them roughly. Natsu reciprocated by pulling at dark locks to break the kiss and bit Gray's earlobe hard enough for Gray to growl heatedly.

"You're right. My coffee tastes like shit." Gray murmured.

Natsu chuckled lowly and ran his tongue across Gray's neck before biting at the special spot where the neck met the shoulder, making Gray grind against him hard.

"I believe this is my turn to be on top", the pinkette whispered against brunette's sensitive neck.

Gray could only moan as Natsu ground his boxer-covered cock against his own rhythmically, his grip on pinkette's ass tightened desperately.

"I'm fucking you as hard as you fucked me last night so, you better be ready", the tanned boy growled into Gray's ear and the taller boy closed off all his thoughts and surrendered completely to desire in his lover's arms.

A/N: Finally, I can continue with my writing. Hope you enjoy my latest chapter and I promise there will be more LaLu scene later. Don't forget to let me know what you think!