"No, no. You've got it all wrong, Blondie."

Lucy groaned in frustration for the fifth time that morning. Her arms were trembling as she struggled to push the dumbbell upwards.

It was 10 AM the next day, and the middle of her first session with the personal trainer Aquarius had hired for her. She'd woken up early, fired up with determination.

Aquarius had told her the evening prior that her personal training sessions would begin at 9 AM the next day, so– after downing her morning coffee and putting on her sportswear– she enthusiastically made her way to The Carnation's gym.

What Aquarius had failed to tell her, however, was that her personal trainer was a complete jackass.

The man was as tough as iron, as she could see by the numerous tattoos drawn all over his arms. It seemed he thought she was too. Because he would not give her a break. He'd been bossing her around since the beginning of the session and hadn't let up since.

"And what exactly..." Lucy asked between exhausted pants. "Am I doing wrong?"

"Your form," Gajeel explained. "Your arms are facing outwards, it's causing unnecessary stress to your elbows. And your back. It's too relaxed. It would be best if you arched it to help you when you're lifting. It's exercise, not nap time."

She blinked. Her mind might have travelled elsewhere halfway through his lecture. She shook her head, regathering her thoughts.

"It's not my fault. It's the weight: it's too heavy," she complained.

"It's 4 kilograms, Blondie."

Lucy's left eye twitched in annoyance. "You know my name is Lucy, right?" she reminded him.

"Same difference," Gajeel shrugged. "When you can properly bench press, I'll call you Lucy."

She fought the urge to argue with him. He was bossy and rude, but he had taken the time out of his day to help her. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but she knew it was probably because he was being paid a fortune.

She placed the two weights on the ground, lifting herself off the bench and wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Let's move on," Gajeel picked her weights up and put them away. "Go get on the treadmill."

"What?!" Lucy protested. "Haven't we done enough today? Let's end it."

She said the last sentence at the same time the song, 'Let's Get It Started' by Black Eyed Peas, reached its chorus on the radio.

She sighed, remembering the promise she'd made to herself.

"Fine." She climbed onto the dreaded running machine and pressed the green button.

She had to admit, the gym session had left her feeling rather refreshed. She'd forgotten how nice it felt to start the day off by breaking a sweat. She was in a much better mood today than she was yesterday, and she had three times the energy.

She spotted a mirror hung on a door as she walked past the gym's locker rooms. She remembered Director Gildarts suggesting that they took the week to work on understanding and developing their characters. He mentioned that it would be helpful once they began acting on set.

She looked herself in the eye, imagining herself as Iris Featherwilt. It wasn't hard to relate to her, since they were already quite similar. Iris was the only heiress to a family fortune, much like herself, so her father kept her confined in her mansion.

Lucy didn't notice she was making a sad expression as she thought of Iris' past, or how it morphed into a sly smirk as she tried to capture her personality change upon becoming a spy.

The door suddenly opened, causing her to stumble backwards slightly as the person walked out.

It was Natsu– of course, it was Natsu– with a towel draped around his neck, catching the droplets of water falling from his darkened, damp hair.

She gulped as her eyes shamelessly made their way down to his stomach. She was face to face with rock-hard abs, glistening with drops of water. She wondered if it was possible to use them as a washing board–

"You know that mirror is a one-way window, right?" Natsu's voice snapped her back to reality.

She chuckled nervously. "What?"

"I could see everything you were doing," he snickered, his poker face breaking.

Her face quickly flushed a deep shade of red as he walked away. Once he was out of view, she covered her face and let out a wail of embarrassment.

★ ★ ★

After she changed into her clothes for the day, she grabbed her phone and dialled Levy's phone number. It rang a few times before she hung it up, remembering that it was a Monday, so she was busy at work. Being a preschool teacher must be a hard job, she silently commended her for it.

Instead, she dialled the new number in her contact, Erza. The latter picked up quickly after two rings.

"Good morning, Lucy!" she sounded joyful over the phone. "What brings this call?"

"Hey Erza," Lucy greeted. "Are you busy right now? I'd love to hang out."

"Perfect timing! I was about to grab some cake at a café. Care to join me?"

"I'd love that!"

Erza texted her the location and she made her way there.

It was a short walk, around fifteen minutes away from her apartment. Erza was sitting on a table outside, patiently waiting. When she saw Lucy approaching, she beamed and waved her over.

The waitress came over with their food shortly after they ordered. Erza ordered the café's signature strawberry cake, and Lucy bought the vanilla soufflé.

The blonde moaned happily as the fluffy cake melted instantly in her mouth.

"This is so good!" she praised.

Erza chuckled in agreement. "This place never fails to make the best sweets. They might even be the best in Fiore."

Lucy nodded passionately.

"By the way, how are you finding things?" the scarlet-haired asked. "This is your first project, isn't it?"

"It is," Lucy thought of an answer. "It's so much different than what I'm used to, but the hard work is surprisingly fun."

"You get it!" Erza rejoiced. "I love this career. It's tough, indeed, but the result is always satisfactory."

The longer they talked, the more Lucy realised how much passion Erza had for her work. It wasn't just a job to her, it was a way to escape reality and express herself freely. She wondered if the longer she worked in the industry, she would grow to be passionate like that as well.

After lunch, they took a taxi together to their combat lessons scheduled for that afternoon.

The Martial Arts Academy was in a more secluded part of the city. The building had an ancient and peaceful aura, like a temple. The two spotted some writing engraved onto the stoned fence. Panther Martial Arts, since X360. The place had been around for more than 400 years.

"Amazing," Lucy thought.

"Let's hope the boys don't mess anything up," Erza mumbled under her breath.

They opened the door to the main practice room, and the calm air immediately evaporated.

"Fuck!" Gray groaned as he was thrown backwards onto a mat. "You're gonna get it!"

"Put your money where your mouth is!" Natsu yelled back as he cracked his knuckles.

Gray launched himself at him, and a brawl ensued– with Freed's desperate pleas to calm them down fading into background noise.

"A bunch of animals," Erza sighed, disappointed but unfazed.

"You made it!" a voice beside them walked up to them.

It was Evergreen, Erza's understudy. Lucy had only spoken to her once, at the party. But could she just say, she was a lot more polite when she was drunk?

She smiled smugly. "I thought you'd chicken out, so I'd have to rush in and save the day by taking your place."

"Don't confuse your dreams with reality," Erza retaliated.

Evergreen gave her a snarled look, and Lucy watched as their conversation escalated into an argument that mirrored that of Natsu and Gray.

"Don't mind them," Mira approached Lucy, smiling calmly. "This is normal for them."

"This is... normal?" Lucy asked, intrigued.

"We just have to hope that they eventually realise how immature they're being," Laxus answered, stretching his arms.

"Well, at least, two sane Fairytail employees are here to keep them in check," Lucy sighed in relief.

"What'd you call me?" Laxus growled and invited himself into Natsu and Gray's brawl.

"Or maybe just you, Mira..."

"EVERYONE, STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" a voice from the entrance boomed.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and turned their attention toward the source of the sound.

It was the martial arts instructor, as was obvious by the way he carried himself. He walked to the centre of the room, footsteps fairly light compared to his size, and signalled for them to stand in a line. They immediately obeyed.

"My name is Panther Lily," he stated, arms crossed. "I will be the one teaching your combat lessons."

"His name's Lily," Natsu whispered to Gray, snickering. "Like the pretty flower."

Gray snorted in response. "Suits him finely."

"SILENCE."

The two instantly stopped and stood straight, their backs tense and arms pinned flat to their sides. Well, there was no doubt this instructor knew how to handle those two.

"This place is no place for messing around. This is a martial arts academy, and we take fighting seriously here," he explained to them.

"That being said, I understand you people are actors. And so, I will only be teaching you the basics, so nobody gets hurt."

He put the group into pairs by putting pieces of paper with each of their names into a hat and pulling two out at a time.

The pairs were Natsu and Lucy, Erza and Gray, Mira and Evergreen, and Laxus and Freed.

Before they could start training, they were asked to stretch.

The first was a back stretch. Each pair would take turns with their partner on their back, arms entangled, and bending over so the other person's back muscles were stretched effectively.

It was going quite smoothly. That was, before it was Natsu's turn to be stretched.

Lucy's arms interlaced with his own, squeezing them tightly to secure him. She bent forward slowly, pulling him with her.

Or, she was attempting to.

"Natsu," she called to him as she struggled. "Can you please let loose? I can't lift you like this."

"What do you mean? This is me loose," he lied, pressing all of his weight on her.

"Natsu..." she gave an irritated groan.

"If you can't lift me, you have more training to do."

He made eye contact with Panther Lily. He gave him a nervous smile, breaking out in a nervous sweat. Then he lost control of his body.

"This isn't fair–" Her knees gave up, and she immediately fell under his weight, Natsu toppling on top of her.

The rest of the group looked their way.

"Sorry," Lucy grumbled.

"Sorry," Natsu repeated, but she could hear the mischievous grin in his voice.

The next stretch was a leg exercise. Natsu was laid down on his back on one of the mats.

Lucy lifted his leg, making sure his knee was kept completely unbent as instructed. She continued to fold it even after it reached a 90-degree angle.

"Um," Natsu said in a panicked tone. "Lucy? Stop pushing."

"Come on, Natsu!" she grinned in fake encouragement. "You can go a little further, let's stretch you right up."

He winced in pain. "You're evil..."

"If you can't do it, you have more training to do."

Panther Lily gave her a look. She instantly dropped his leg, ignoring his groans of annoyance as she nervously smiled and waved at the instructor.

The first training exercise up was pad work. Lucy was holding a pair of focus mitts and Natsu had to practise striking them, focusing on speed and accuracy.

With a swift motion, he launched his first punch, aiming directly at the centre of the pad. Lucy smirked before she skilfully dodged, raising her left arm before it connected.

"What the," he mumbled, eyebrows furrowed.

He threw his right fist this time, and Lucy did the same thing, moving her right arm as she pretended to sneeze.

"Stop doing that," he said, annoyed.

"Doing what?!" Lucy feigned innocence. "I'm not doing anything. It's your aim!"

His brow twitched, provoked.

"Give me that!" he reached for the pads. "Let's see how you like it."

"No way," Lucy rejected, taking a step back. "It's still my turn!"

"I said, give!" Natsu stepped forward, grabbing for them as she continued to walk backwards, keeping the pads out of his reach.

Their exchange continued for a few seconds– Lucy holding the pads away from him as Natsu tried and failed to grab hold of them while bickering like children– until her back met the wall.

She hit the wall harshly with a loud bang, eyes shut tightly. She opened them again slowly, her dark, brown eyes meeting familiar forest green ones.

Their faces were mere inches apart, and she could feel his hot breath on her face. She felt some pressure on her wrists.

He'd apparently held onto her wrists to avoid crashing into her, unintentionally pinning her to the wall, completely immobile. Silence hung thick in the air, his eyes not leaving hers.

A sudden crash shattered the tension as a nearby portrait succumbed to the wall slam, falling hard onto the wooden floor– its glass frame smashing into a pile of a million shards. That wasn't a good omen...

The two turned to the group, who were watching them, each with a different expression on their faces.

"Sorry," they said in unison.

★ ★ ★

Lucy let out a defeated sigh, keeping her head down in embarrassment as she got into the vehicle. Aquarius returned her sigh, shaking her head before patting her soft blonde hair gently.

"It's alright, Lucy," she comforted her. "You'll do better next time."

The blonde gave her a whine of discontent in response, sulking in her seat as the car drove away.

The car ride was silent as the driver drove them back to their apartment. When he reached the street, Aquarius instructed him to turn the corner.

Lucy looked at her, confused.

"Fancy some sushi? My treat," she winked at her.

Lucy grinned, and her manager returned it. They climbed out of the vehicle, giggling. When Lucy climbed out of the vehicle, a stranger gently bumped into her.

He bowed in apology, tilting his cap over his face as he hurried away.

Hardships were only natural in every work-life, it was what Lucy signed up for. So, as she followed her manager into the restaurant, she told herself everything would be okay.

★ ★ ★

writing this is so much fun, i hope it's fun to read too! 🤍🙏

that being said, thanks so much for reading! ch3 very soon.