Chapter Text
“Ah, I’m so excited.” Lucy said twirling around her office.
“Excited about what?” Daniel asked as he entered in the room unannounced.
“Ugh!” Lucy jumped as he startled her. “Daniel! I told you that you can’t just barge in!”
“Sure I can. What’s the point of being friends with the Primus if you can’t just barge in whenever you want?” he said kicking back on one of her new couches. “And eat the snacks in her newly redecorated office.”
“What have you come to try and swindle out of me today Daniel?” Lucy asked amused.
“I was wondering if you’d let me perhaps get away with sniping a singular hydra-cat claw with minimal interference?” he grinned at her. "I have to move one into a sanctuary and it's claw is already falling off.)
“Daniel.” she folded her arms. “Aren’t those dangerous?”
“Yes...... But I need it, to help Hoagie.” he gave puppy eyes.
Lucy folded her arms and looked down at Daniel who was sitting on her social couch, he was giving her his cutest look and it was working. She was a pushover for him and his stupid cute face. “If its to help Hoagie than fine.” she relented. “But you better not be lying to me.”
“Lucy, I never lie.” he put a hand over his heart and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Right... forgot you arrested me 6 times...” he nodded. “Anyway, thank you.” he smiled. “So, why were you frolicking around your office?”
“Oh right!” she jumped with a little giggle. “They’re going to do my official portrait as Primus next month and I’m taking it back to a more inviting feel. I’m not only getting a new custom dress made for me, but also they’re making me a new Primus scepter!”
“Oh congrats then.” Daniel grinned. “I didn’t know you were a dresses type girl.”
“You don’t know a lot about me Daniel.” she said coyly. “Come to think of it we haven’t really hung out much one on one outside of saving the world.” she giggled. “And the past times you, Hoagie and Shak have come into my office to eat my snacks doesn’t count.”
“First of all, you know you buy those snacks for us. You mostly eat rabbit food, second of all you never asked.” he smirked.
“Why do I have to ask?” she put her hands on her hips.
“Why not? It's not a date.” he pointed out.
Lucy blushed and shook her head. “Right right.” letting out a little chuckle, Lucy rolled her eyes. “Fine Spellbound what are you doing tonight?”
“Well Primus,” Daniel sassed back. “Today is your lucky day. Amazingly I’m not booked up since we just got paid on a big score.”
“Excuse me?” she narrowed her eyes.
“I mean. An ethical.... magic finding score.” he recovered. "We got paid to clean up a nest of Pebble Venom Seagulls."
“Uh huh.” she tapped her foot.
“Anyway. What did you have in mind?” he deflected.
Lucy lifted a brow at him and then grinned. “Well its not a date, but have you ever been to The Oracle’s Lookout?”
Daniel gave Lucy one of his signature ‘unamused’ faces. “The goody two shoes magical bar? Can’t say that I have or had any desire to go. Plus neither one of us is 21 yet, you don’t turn 21 for another month and I’m 3 months off from it.”
Lucy tapped her foot. “Its not a goody two shoes bar, not even most Dowsers go there.”
“Not even Dowsers hang out there?” Daniel recoiled.
“Most of them go to Helmet’s End.” Lucy folded her arms. “I couldn’t get in anyway because I was too young and.... that’s a hook up bar.” she whispered.
“A hook up bar?” Daniel blinked. “Okaaaay... I see what’s wrong. You need to cut loose.” Daniel pointed. “I know just the place, I guess you could wear an outfit to go dancing in. I’ll pick you up at 8.”
“Nuh uh, its not a date, so I’ll pick you up at 8.” she pointed.
“Uh huh, yeah....” he rolled his eyes with a wave goodbye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So it’s a date?” Hoagie asked.
“No it's not a date.” Daniel said spraying cologne.
“But you’re putting on cologne?” Shak said.
“Yup.” Daniel nodded.
"And aftershave." Hoagie added.
"Yup."
“And we’re not invited.” Hoagie added.
“Yup. You’re both too young.” Daniel said checking his teeth.
“And only you two are going.” Shak pointed.
“Yup.”
“And you told Lucy to put on a nice outfit.” Shak nodded.
“That’s what I said.” Daniel primped his hair.
“So it is a date.” Hoagie snorted.
“It's not a date.” Daniel sighed.
“Then why are you primping and prepping in the mirror and put on cologne?” Hoagie teased.
“Because even though I have not been out in a very long time to be social, I’m not going to go out even as a hang out with a friend, in my usual tracker clothes.” Daniel said moving past his two companions.
“Suuuuuuure.” the two sing-songed and made kissing noises.
“Stow it, brats.” he swatted at them and then the doorbell rang to their apartment. “That’s probably Luce.” Daniel walked over to the door to open it for Lucy while teasing his younger friends. “You kids try not to pout too much and enjoy watching Spongebob or somethiiiiinn.....” he trailed off when he opened the door.
“Hey Spellbound.” Lucy said walking past him. “Why aren’t you ready to go?” she pointed. “Its not fair, you grew some more and now I’m still shorter than you in heels.”
“Uh...” he blinked and a little lost for words.
“Wow Lucy!” Hoagie trotted up to her. “You look AMAZING!”
“You look really pretty Lucy!” Shak complimented. “Ooh and you have a belly piercing.”
“Aww thanks guys,” She said lifting a leg up with a stiletto heel. “And yeah I don’t get to dress up often.” she said giving a spin. Lucy was wearing a trippy wave dyed mesh purple, pink and orange halter mini dress that cut out in the front showing off her bare stomach and clear platform heels with little butterflies. She also had hair sticks with butterflies in her newly grown out bob and butterfly earrings with oh so 2000s shades. To top it off a tiny purse.
“Wow.” Daniel swallowed.
“Thanks.” she smiled cutely. “Am I too early?” she pointed to him.
“What, this is my outfit?” he looked down.
“That’s how you always dress, Spellbound.” she put her hands on her hips. Daniel in contrast was wearing what looked like dark mode of his usual outfit. His red beanie swapped out for a black one, his green jacket swapped for a black leather one and black Jordans instead of his usual ones. At least his usual containers and extra pouches used for tracking and keeping ingredients were absent.
“I don’t do too dressy.” he waved his hand. “Besides I even put on cologne.”
Lucy laughed and shook her head. “Bye guys come on Spellbound.” she pulled him out the door.
“Byyyeeee.” the two younger magicians snickered.
“So Spellbound, since you know where it is we’re going, you can drive.” she said tossing him the keys as they made their way up.
“Oh, yeah yeah. Of course.” he straightened up and regained his cool. Lucy looks... super nice and her super, well sexy, outfit, took him by surprise. He was half expecting her to wear something not too unlike her regular dress clothes.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“It's a surprise.” he shrugged.
“Hm, okay.” she giggled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Sooooo what do you want for this car?” he asked as they were almost to their destination.
“Excuse me?” she scoffed.
“This car is dope.” he said feeling the steering wheel. “Much more my taste.”
“No, Daniel.” She shook her head. “This a car they gifted to me since I became Primus.”
“Aww why don’t you ever share your Primus goodies with me?” he pouted.
“One because I already started letting you get away with almost anything. Two that’s a lie because I gave you those tickets to see the Knicks and the Mets and I'm took you guys to Hershey Point and Cedar Point this summer.” she listed.
“Yes but I’m a poor orphan and I deserve all the nice things.” he rubbed his face on the steering wheel. Lucy gave him an unamused look and Daniel chuckled. “Fine we’re here..... Meanie.”
Daniel felt compelled to go open lucy’s car door for her, so he did and held out a hand for her to take and help her out of the car. “Aww sometimes I forget you can be a gentlemen.”
“And I forgot that Dowsers could possibly not all have sticks up their butts.” he jested and she stuck out a tongue. Daniel escorted her to the door of some place that had no sign on it, not even a sign of life. Lucy looked around nervously, Daniel was used to shady and she wasn’t. “Don’t get nervous on me.” he said sensing her tense up.
Daniel knocked on the door and a peephole slid open with a lizard-man on the other side. “Password and I.Ds”
Daniel held up two IDs out of nowhere which surprised Lucy because she didn’t give him her ID. “Password is ‘Doomed Dowel’ tonight.” Daniel waved the IDs.
“Come on in.” The door unlatched and Daniel escorted Lucy in and down a long white hallway.
“Where are we and where did you get those?” she whispered.
“We’re at The Imp’s Cup.” Daniel told her. “And also don’t worry about it. I know a guy.”
“Danny...” she frowned.
“Look.” Daniel said before they got to another door. “You need to cut loose and after next month everyone is going to know you’re the primus. They’ll know your face and name, cut loose tonight while no one knows you.” he smiled and pushed the door open.
“Okay.” she nodded. She trusted Daniel, immensely even if he did act shady, she was enamored with him the way he took in little Shakila. Inside they were met with a dark sexy, dimly lit and purple washed nightclub. “Wow!” Lucy said. “It looks amazing in here. How have I never heard of this? How did you find this place?”
Daniel bit his lip and shrugged. “I’m the world’s greatest tracker.” He actually found this place some years back tracking some cute siren girls to get a molted scale if he could.
“Sure, Dan.” she giggled and took his hand with a little jump. “What’s to do in here?”
“Dance, drink, sit, chat.” he gestured. “Whatever you wanna do Luce.”
“You choose.” she tapped her chin in thought.
“Okay.” he said leading her through the crowd. He tried not to acknowledge the looks she was getting but he couldn’t help but glare at a few people wolf whistling at her and the few ‘Damn she’s fine!’ remarks she got. Daniel took her up to the bar and ordered two Headless Horseman coctails.
“People are staring?” Lucy deflated. “Are you sure they don’t recognize me.”
“Lucy they’re staring because you look like that.” he pointed. “That guy is practically salivating.” he shot the other dude a glare.
“Oh.... yeah... right.” She nodded embarrassed. “I forgot about the possibility of getting hit on by strangers.”
Daniel leaned against the bar. “Did you want to get hit on by strangers?”
“No.” she blushed.
“Then you won’t.” he winked and pulled her bar stool closer. “Now instead of getting hit on some guy will try to fight me to assert dominance and carry you off like a caveman. Its fine, I can sacrifice my pretty face possibly getting a black eye so you can have a good time.” he said dramatically.
“Boy, you’re so stupid.” she giggled and right then the bartender set down their drinks.
“Drink up.” he toasted and downed his drink. Lucy sniffed it then tasted her drink and had to keep from spitting it out.
“Oh my god.” she shook her head. “What the hell is in this?”
“Kappa brewed sake and Hippogriff gin.” he nodded. “Powerful stuff.” he patted his own chest.
Lucy gasped and whispered to Daniel. “Danny those are illegal in the states!”
“Lucy, I’ve been doing illegal things for a decade, did you think I was going to bring you to an extremely legal club, especially since we got in illegally?” he laughed.
Lucy folded her arms, dammit... “Ugh.” she huffed.
“Promise you won’t bust this place.” he pointed.
“I promise.” she rolled her eyes. “I told you I’m working to make dowsers less oppressive and sometimes it means looking the other way on hippogriff gin.” she held up her drink and sipped it again. “Oh that’s god awful.”
“I knew you could be cool.” he winked.
“And I knew you could smell decent.” Lucy teased back.
“Wha-” he shook his head. “What’s that supposed to mean.”
“Daniel, I know you told Tyson that you said Hygiene is a scam and also friends.” he giggled. “He told me so after he was surprised to see us being friendly.”
“I only meant the hygiene thing about tracking!” he held up his hands in defense. “The reason I was the best is because I had no problem doing the grossest jobs to get what I needed.”
“Yeah, I know papa because I was there when you’ve rolled out of a giant frog’s mouth, dipped your hands in giant wasp venom jelly and got covered in giant lizard’s fluorescent mucus like it was no problem.” she stuck out her tongue.
Danny simply shrugged. “I’m used to it. Trust me, I threw up a lot my first year into tracking.”
“I don’t know how you don’t now.” she said taking another sip of her drink and shuddering.
Daniel laughed at her still trying to brave her drink. “I just downed my entire drink and you’re still nursing it. My constitution is tougher than yours.” he teased.
“Hm, but I can beat you up so I win.” she scrunched her nose.
“First of all we never had an official one on one, all those times you caught me didn’t count.” he smirked.
“And why’s that?”
“Because you always took it easy on me when you did get me and I didn’t really fight back when it was you.” he admitted.
“Oh so you took it easy on me too?” she quoted. “Spellbound you couldn’t hurt me if you tried.” she leaned in.
Daniel grinned at her “I can make it hurt when it counts.” he slid from the seat and smirked even more at the blushing look on her face. “Come on, let me show you something.”
Lucy followed Daniel as he lead her by the hand again, she caught a glimpse of him glaring at people staring at her as well. Daniel took her to the other side of the room and took her into this beautiful quiet room with a large fountain in the middle.
“A wishing fountain?” she asked.
“Not quite, this is a fortune fountain. It can only be used once every 2 years by someone.” he said. “You flip a coin into it and it shows you when your best day of that year will be. Want to try?”
“Ummm...” she shied away. “I don’t know. It might make me overthink too much. Besides my coronation is coming up so I’m hoping that will be my best day.” she rubbed her arm. “It is pretty to look at.”
“Well it does have a secondary function, you can ask where you should vacation.” he offered and sat down on the edge of the fountain and Lucy sat next to him.
“Vacation?” she blinked. “I guess I could ask. After my coronation I’m going to be so busy its crazy. It’ll be worth it, I’m planning a little magical world tour to make amends. I'm just not looking forward to the stress and the fact that I’m not always good at making friends.”
“Good thing you know a magical expert.” Daniel nudged her.
“Oh really? Who?” she teased.
“Ha ha.” Daniel chuckled. “Seriously, we’re almost there to getting Hoagie’s cure. If you can wait I can help you with the harder tasks.”
“I’d like that Daniel.” she grinned.
Daniel gave her a little grin and gazed at her as she finally put her sunglasses away in her little purse. Sometimes when he looks at her, he thinks about the day he first met her. He’d seen Dowsers not wear their helmets, but he’d never seen one actually look good. She was beautiful and as equally corny, with bad jokes from even worse Dowser humor. He’d be lying if he said he hasn’t had a few dreams borderline fantasy of him actually swaying Lucy away from the bureau.
“Okay Primus, you wanna dance?” he got up, offering a hand.
“Dance? I thought you were bad at dancing?” she giggled taking his hand. “Hoagie says its just wrong.”
“Okay okay so I’m the world’s greatest tracker, not the world’s greatest dancer.” he held up his hands. “I brought you here to have a good time.”
“Fine, let’s dance Spellbound. I’ll show you how to.”
“First, another drink.” he held up a finger.