Chapter 3: The magic library (Omniscient pov)

Finally the celestial mage was ready to leave and so she opened his gate. When Loke appeared, he was wearing different clothes. Different from his usual black suit, different from the outfit he wore during his banishment from the celestial realm. It was a completely different style from both of the outfits she had seen him wear. One was quite formal and the other was pretty casual, but this seemed in between. He wore dark blue chinos and a long white jacket that went down to his knees; it had a simple collar at the top. He wasn't wearing a shirt and Lucy blushed slightly at the sight of his abs. He had had a haircut and was wearing contact lenses. His hair was short at the sides and longer towards the front where it spiked upwards. His cat ears were gone and he looked like a normal civilian. Not many people would have been able to tell he was the same Loke from before. He wanted to be inconspicuous because he didn't want his ex-girlfriends to recognise him or if anyone spotted them together that they wouldn't immediately realise who they were. I mean checking out these type of rules might lead to articles being written and rumours being spread. Knowing Jason, he could be lurking around following any member of Fiore's strongest guild. Despite working together before, it didn't mean the reporter had a soft spot for the celestial spirit mage. If he found anything interesting enough to write an article then there would be nothing stopping him. Especially if the scoop had anything to do romance, this particular relationship would definitely make the front page of Sorcerer Weekly. If people saw an unknown man checking the rulebook out then they wouldn't know why. Even if they didn't read Sorcerer Weekly, most people knew whom Lucy was and if she were seen reading the book on celestial spirit-human relationships then they would think all sorts of things.

When they had finally arrived, the library was packed. Lucy sighed, she had thought of checking the guild library, but being the only celestial mage at the guild meant that there probably weren't many books on celestial magic there. Also she didn't need anyone spying on her or anything. It was just much simpler this way no one would accidentally find out. They could've gone to the library in the celestial world, but it by the time they got back it could have been a couple of days in the human world.

So far, Levy and Gray were the only ones who knew about the exact status of the relationship. Lucy figured she should follow the little bookworm's advice. It's probably for the best. She was still excited about this relationship and she did want to tell her friends about them, she felt like she was betraying Erza by not telling her. The redhead was always looking out for her, not matter what, Lucy always knew it came from the heart. However, Erza cared for Natsu as well, it may not be a good idea. She no idea what might happen.

"Hey Lo-" She was cut off by the glare Loke was giving her. Oh that's right, he's "undercover", she giggled, "Yamada-san, the celestial magic section is in the eastern part of the library". Ok, Lucy had to admit that using Yamada as an undercover name wasn't the best of ideas, it was obvious they were hiding something, but it was all she could think of on the spot. (A/N : Yamada is a very common name a bit like Smith in western countries, at least according to my research).

He simply nodded and they started walking towards the said area. They were browsing the east wing when suddenly a familiar face popped up.

"Lucy-san!" the woman waved at the couple who were holding hands unconsciously. She stared at that sign of intimacy with an air of curiosity

"Yu-Yukino?!" Lucy gasped, "w-what are you doing here?"

"I came to check out information on exceeds with Frosch and Lector. Sting had to go to a guild master reunion and Rogue had to accompany him to make sure he didn't get into trouble or anything." She smiled sweetly, "So I'm in charge of these two. Frosch wanted to know if some exceeds had frog forms just like Carla has a human form." They all laughed at that last remark. The blonde was relieved that the dragonslayers weren't here; they would've probably recognised the distinct scent of a celestial spirit from Loke.

"Well, I hope you find what you were looking for, but I'm afraid we're in a rush, so please excuse us" She bowed before they ran off following the signs leading to their destination.

"That was weird," the white haired celestial mage said.

"Fro thinks so too!"

"Who was that man with Lucy-san?" Lector asked as he looked up at Yukino.

"I don't know, but he seems strangely familiar."

"Fro thinks so too," and they all simply shrugged it off.

"Oh well, we'll ask her next time we see her," Yukino sighed.

"This is kind of exciting," exclaimed Lucy as she giggled softly.

"It is, isn't it?" Leo asked rhetorically as he smiled at her.

"Come on, it's this way" she grabbed his hand and led him in the right direction. When they finally arrived, they were relieved and confused to see that this section was practically empty.

"Strange…"

"That's weird, this place is practically empty," she stated. It was true, the south wing was nearly desolate; there were only a handful of people, browsing through books before going to the reception to borrow them. What Lucy didn't know was that there was an event going on in the west wing. A very popular author was doing a book signing, a Mashima something.

"I guess we should get started then," Loke looked at her before turning to the shelves and starting to search.

After a few hours, the couple still hadn't found what they were looking for.

"How did we ever think this could've been done in ten minutes!?" the blond girl asked rhetorically and her spirit just shrugged in response.

"Here it is! Finally!" She exclaimed gleefully. Loke rushed over to where Lucy had settled down on the floor. A large dusty book was between her legs. He was kneeling behind her with his chin on her head.

"Look! Article 17, subsection D: relationships, states that 'Celestial spirits may have romantic and/or sexual relationships with their key holders as long as they follow the rules. The main rules being the same as article 1, subsection C: ownership. All participants must consult the book: 'Celestial sexual education' before consummation of the relationship.' The rest is about friendships and stuff."

"Okay, read the article 1, subsection C whilst I search for the other book." He said as he stood up. Lucy flipped the pages before finally finding the right one.

"Listen: 'Celestial spirits are not allowed to break the contract.' [...] 'only the owner can terminate the contract.' That's pretty much it."

"Hmmm… I know I came across it earlier on… Here! Celestial sexual education," he smiled exasperatedly.

"How different can it be from human sex ed?

"It's not actually all that different, I've actually read it quite a few times. For educational purposes of course. The main difference is pregnancy, but I doubt we'll have to deal with that so I think we're good to go."

"So you're saying you don't want kids?" she smirked deviously.

"No, it's not that… I meant we won't have to deal with that for the time being and well, with human-spirit relationships it's quite rare for children to be born out of them. Well, truthfully, human-spirit relationships are rare altogether so there actually isn't that much information about them. They still made all the laws just in case, but the only cases of pregnancy were all the spirits who ended up pregnant not the other way around. There were a few exceptions of course, but they all ended up in miscarriage…"

"Oh…" she sighed. She held onto his hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Well, we'll deal with that when we get to it. That is, if we ever do" she smiled, he knew it was a fake smile, didn't want to upset further so he didn't ask anymore questions.

"So… We should probably get going then, we've got what we wanted," he said softly.

"S-sure…" she muttered.

The journey back was somewhat quiet, they stood outside her apartment in silence.

"Well then… I'm going to go back, I'll see you tomorrow then?" he asked.

"I guess so, bye then..."