I HAD AN IDEA! I thought I would give it ago and here we are!
Please let me know what you think and if you would like me to continue!
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"
Lucy threw down her controller down for the umpteenth time, trying to ignore her friends when they laughed at her.
"That's the fourth time they've beaten you," Cana laughed, Levy chuckled along and nodded.
"Uh-huh. I thought you were good at this game."
Lucy scowled at them and turned to glare at the screen. She was good at this game. She was good at every first shooter game.
"I am," she insisted, ignoring their giggles. "It's just these guys obviously has some kind of cheat. That and I don't really like controllers."
"Why don't you go on your PC?"
"This game isn't out on PC yet," Lucy explained as she turned to meet their blank stares. She sighed. "We're going on PC later. I'll kick anyone's ass on that."
"Sure," Cana responded, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Why don't you put your headset on? You could verbally attack then."
"I can't," Lucy grumbled.
"What? Why?"
"Because they're guys?" Lucy said, as if that answered all questions. Cana frowned at her.
"Yeah, and?"
"They won't take me seriously," Lucy muttered in annoyance. "They always get weird when they hear that I'm a girl."
It went silent for a moment before the room exploded with laughter. Usually they tried to hide it but Levy and Cana didn't hide their laugher this time. They fell back into the couch, gasping for breath as they chortled at their friend. Lucy had to fight a smile.
"Wow, Wow," Levy wiped a tear from her eye. "Is that why your name is –"
"That – ThatChillGuy," Cana nearly screeched the name with her laughter. Heat rose to Lucy's cheeks and she turned away.
"It wasn't always that!" She hissed. "It used to be CelestialSoul but people just knew I was a girl! So – "
"So, you thought the next best thing was ThatChill…" Levy couldn't even get the words out. Lucy shot her a glare.
"Fine! What do you think it should be?"
"Anything else!" They said almost in sync. Lucy huffed again and grabbed her controller, selecting profile then settings and editing her name.
"Go on then," she snapped. "Since you have a better idea."
"What about CelestialWizard?" Levy suggested. Lucy scrunched up her nose up in distaste.
"I need to seem like a guy," she explained. Again. "I don't go on call but they all talk to me. When I have a name like that all they say is: "You not talking 'cause you a girl, right? C'mon, I can show you a good time–'"
"Okay, okay, we get it!" Cana groaned, leaning forwards and grabbing the controller from Lucy's hands. "How about… Oooo! The DrunkenGamer!"
Lucy just stared at her for a long moment before snatching her controller back.
"I'm gonna just leave it as it is," she muttered. "No one has given me any trouble since I changed it. Besides, everyone has lame names on this thing."
"I'll say," Levy agreed, leaning forwards to eye the names on the screen. "I mean, ThatMetalMan? IceBreaker? FireSpittingDragon? Really?"
"Hey! Leave them alone, they're my team."
"Your what?"
"My team!" Lucy whined. "I only met them a couple of days ago but we added each other and they're really good! And not to mention hilarious."
"They're funny?" Cana arched a brow. "How'd you know that?"
"They've been a team for a while, I think they were just waiting to find a fourth member to complete it." Lucy shrugged and twiddled a stand of hair around her finger. "They all go on call while we play and I join it and mute my mic."
"Seriously?" Levy looked taken aback. "And they don't mind you just listening to them?"
"Not really. It helps because in game they can tell me what to do or where to go and I can hear. The only downside is I can't tell them if they're in trouble or not."
"Huh," Cana jutted a lip out in consideration. "Maybe I should start gaming. Sound's like a good way to pick up guys."
"Trust me, the moment they hear a female voice they go nuts," Lucy shuddered. "I've spoken to some real creeps before I changed my name and stopped going on call."
"Are any of these guys creeps?"
"No, they have no idea I'm a girl," Lucy grinned happily. "Just how I like it. Now I can game in peace."
"Suit yourself." Levy shrugged. "Now, you and your team gonna beat these guys or not."
Lucy played for another hour before kicking Levy and Cana out of her dorm and back to their own joint room. Lucy hummed with relief that she didn't have a roommate. The only thing she used the money her parents left her on was her own single dorm room. The rest was put into her savings or donated to charity.
Lucy turned messaged the guys and said she'd be on game on the PC in an hour before turning off the console and making her way to her bathroom to have a bath. She loved having her friends over but it was a little exhausting since she wanted to just game. Levy and Cana don't play games at all, the only other one of her friends who liked games was Erza but she had graduated last year.
When Lucy had finished bathing and relaxing she made her way into her room to pull on some pyjamas. She didn't bother drying her hair fully, instead tying it into a tight bun on the top of her head before putting on a thick headband.
"Okay," Lucy muttered to herself as she made her way back to her PC. She had to save up her own hard earned money for this. She had left her headset on charge while Levy and Cana were here but now that they were gone she didn't see any harm in joining the call the guys were in.
She hopped online and joined the call, very quickly switching her mic onto mute when their voices flooded her ears.
"Hey, Ice bastard, you think you could cover me?" ThatMetalMan, or just Metal as they call him, snapped.
"Alright, Metal mouth, keep your panties on." IceBreaker yelled back, voice high with tension.
"GUYS!" FireSpittingDragon's voice almost made her jump out her seat. "Guys, guys, guys, guys – "
"NO!"
"Noooooo!"
Lucy immediately started chuckling. It was like listening to one of those funny gaming videos she always watched, but she got to listen to it all first hand. She pressed a hand over her mouth to smother her laughter before she remembered they couldn't hear her anyway.
"Fucking moron!"
"Me?!"
Lucy laughed again. ThatMetalMan certainly swore a lot, but somehow it made him funnier. His voice was deep and kinda intimidating, which only makes it that much more hysterical when he's on the edge of a break down when he's out of bullets and about to die in game.
"That wasn't my fault, you idiot!" IceBreaker, or Ice, snapped back. Hearing Ice shout was quite rare she had found in the past few days since he usually sounded very calm and collected. He was definitely the most sarcastic out of the three but when he lost a game he reacted as they all did. Badly.
"Can you guys maybe, I dunno, be less shit this time?"
Lucy grinned. She had no idea why, but Dragon was her favourite. At first she thought it was because he reminded her of a gamer she used to watch. But she came to realise that he wasn't like anyone she had ever listened to in her life. He was better.
And certainly the funnier.
"Didn't sound so cocky when you were crying for us," Metal grumbled. Lucy heard Ice scoff in the background.
"Yah, I nearly had to mute you it sounded that pathetic."
"Well, I'm sorry I had about ten guys on me and no ammo."
"You should be."
"Much better."
Dragon just groaned. Lucy laughed again.
"Oh, Chill is on."
"Is he?"
"Oi! Get in game!"
Lucy giggled again and sent a swift reply before booting up the game.
They played countless more games before they realised it was early hours of the morning and switched it off, but they hadn't ended the call yet.
"You guys tired?" Dragon asked.
"Nope." Metal responded promptly.
"Nah," Ice agreed. "My energy is too high from that last game. Nice one, Chill."
Lucy smiled and quickly sent a response.
Thanks. I'm not tired either.
"Hey, why don't you come on call man?" Dragon asked and the breath hitched in Lucy's throat. "Then we could all just talk."
"Yeah."
"I guess."
It's too late. My roommate is asleep and I don't want to wake her.
"Her?"
Oh – Him*. Sorry.
"That's fair," Ice allowed. Lucy released a sigh of relief.
"You shouldn't definitely come on call tomorrow, though." Dragon continued. Lucy had to fight a groan. "You're getting that new pirate game tomorrow too, right?"
Yeah.
"So are we," he continued, his voice cheery. "It's quite new so I'm sure it'll be laggy as fuck and have loads of bugs, but it'll be a laugh learning how to play it together."
"You mean like when Metal first got our usual game?" Ice added, his voice cracking with laughter.
"Oi, shut up!" Metal snapped, the sudden loudness making her jump. "I'd only ever done third person shooting. Leave me alone."
"Whatever man, it was pitiful," Ice laughed and Dragon joined in. Lucy did feel a slight weight in her chest when she thought about joining the chat. She was sure if she did they would all get on really well but they'd treat her like a freak or an object the moment they heard she was a girl. And now that she thought about it, after pretending to be a guy all this time it would probably just make her look like a freak if she suddenly told them she was a girl.
"Right, I'm more tired than I thought," Ice sighed eventually. Lucy muttered in agreement before she remembered they couldn't hear her.
"Yah, I'm out. Later!"
The app dinged and Metal abruptly left the chat.
"Charming," Ice muttered. "See you guys!"
The app dinged again, leaving only Dragon and Lucy in the chat.
"I guess I'll get off too, then," Dragon said before groaning. Lucy assumed he was stretching. "It'll be funny tomorrow, though. Definitely come on call though, it's way more fun."
Lucy sighed and shook her head to herself before typing a response.
We'll see. Night Dragon.
"Night Chill. Bye!"
The call ended and Lucy leant back into her seat with a groan. It's fine, she can surly avoid joining the chat for as long as they play together.
Right?
"So, let me see if I understand this correctly," Cana said after a long silence.
"Let's see if you do." Lucy agreed.
"You've been playing your weird shooting game with these three guys for three- "
"Four."
"Four months now?"
"Yes."
"And you finally feel like they won't be creepy or sexist if they knew you were a girl -"
"Uh-huh."
"But you can't tell them that you're a girl because you've been pretending to be a guy all this time and they'll think you're insane."
"That's right."
"Jeez, Lucy," Cana shook her head with a laugh and took a swig out of her water bottle. Lucy frowned. There was no way there was water in that. "You really out did yourself this time."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That you have a weird knack for getting yourself in weird situations."
"Oh, hah-hah," Lucy glared at her as she pushed the door to class open. Lucy and Cana shared nearly every lesson together but this was the only one they sat beside each other in.
"I still don't get why you didn't tell them in the first place." Cana mentioned as they slid into their seats at the front. "You liked them all from the start. You should have just went with your gut."
"I know, I know," Lucy sighed as she heard the classroom door open again. She looked up briefly and raised her brows.
"Hey," she nudged Cana. "New student."
"Oh!" Cana leant back in her seat, watching as the new guy made his way over to the teacher. "He's hot!"
"Right?"
"Okay class," the teacher nodded to the new guy before stepping forward to address his student. "This is Natsu Dragneel. I know we're in the middle of a semester but he's transferring here as of today."
Lucy and Cana hummed together in consideration as they watched the new guy – Natsu – make his way over to an empty seat.
"He really is cute," Lucy murmured to Cana. "I wonder what he's like."
Cana just shrugged and turned her gaze towards the teacher. Before Lucy could drag her gaze from the Natsu, his own eyes turned idly to meet hers.
Lucy's breath caught in her throat, but he didn't look mad. His eyes widened somewhat in surprise before he gave her a cheery, fanged grin.
Ignoring the jump in her stomach, Lucy politely smiled back, her face hot with embarrassment and turned her face away. Her smile remained on her face as she thought about how this semester might have just gotten a bit more interesting.