Shadowy Depths (Fairy Tail Fanfiction)

4

Lucy woke up to find herself laying out on the ground.  Her head was pillowed by soft fabric.  Immediately realizing she had slept in a filthy alleyway, she jolted up right.  How could she let her guard down? 

Burying her face in her hands, she couldn't believe she was getting soft again.

It was only one night.  If she gathered her belongings and leave Jellal then everything could return to normal.

Liking the idea, she got up and swiped the dirt from her clothes.

"Good to see you awake," the heavenly body mage greeted her.

Looking up at him and blinking, she responded to him with a"huh?"

She didn't feel his magical aura and Lucy training in the celestial world made her sensitive to magic.  Either he had to be good at concealing his presence or she was losing her magical touch.

"I didn't mean to startle you."

"What are you talking about?" she asked while waving her hand in the air.  "You didn't shock me.  I just had some..."  She scratched the back of her head while fumbling for the right excuse.  "I had a nightmare."  She would never admit to him that he caught her off guard while she was awaking.

He shook his head, his lips spreading across his handsome face.  Even in the morning he appeared striking.  "Here, I got some food."

She glanced down at his hand, noticing for the first time that he was holding a brown bag.  Again, how could she not have noticed a simple object in his hand?

He sat down on the ground cross-legged, not caring if his clothes got dirtied from the filth.  He opened the bag on his lap and pulled out a bottle of water and two wrapped sandwiches.  "I wasn't sure what you preferred but I got us some cream cheese bagels."

The thought of food had her stomach rumbling and mortifyingly she put a hand to her stomach.  He just smiled at her and handed her the food.  For once she willingly accepted his help.  "Thank you."

"No problem," he said.

He began eating.  She leaned against the wall, refusing to sit on the dirty floor.  Unlike him, she wore brighter clothes and the filth showed on her attire.  She unwrapped the paper around the bagel and took a bite.  She refrained from making an exciting noise at the delicious taste.  It was strange how she got to appreciate food.  Lucy had always commented on how Natsu and Gray gobbled their food like their food was running away from them but she learned after severe training in the celestial world that food was an essential part to gaining a massive amount of energy.  It depended on what a person ate.

For her, becoming sensitive to magic, Lucy had to eat sweets.  She paused on her sixth bite while her eyes flickered to Jellal.  To think that she might have a similar trait to Erza, the one whom the blue-haired male liked made her feel uncomfortable.

As if he felt her eyes on him, he glanced up at her and the blond instantly looked away.

"Are you not hungry?" he questioned.

She shook her head.  "I was just wondering about your tattoo," she lied.

But since she could see him a lot clearer than last night, she didn't see his usual tattoo on his right eye.

"Magic concealer," he replied.  "Don't want to attract the wrong attention."  He ate the last of his bagel before popping open the water bottle.  "Sorry I was only able to get one bottle of water.  The commotion from last night caused the businesses to close early.  This is all I could get."

Lucy would mind but Jellal went out of his way to provide them both with something to hold them over until lunch.  "Thanks," was all she could say.  She watched him hover the bottle over his mouth.  The clear liquid flowed right into his mouth and not once did his lips touch the rim.  A part of her wondered what would it be like to drink from the same water bottle as him, where both their lips touched the same surface; it would be like an indirect kiss.  Her head moved side-to-side in a quick manner to shove the notion aside.  Hopefully, he missed her red cheeks.