AU: This is my first Fairy Tail fanfic, please enjoy. I'm a big fan of Nalu but there is also a bit of other couples like Gray and Juvia, Gajeel and Levi.

I do NOT own Fairy Tail.

Enjoy!

Ch. 1 The Girl Next Door

The girl across the street was walking towards house 21. It looked cute with the porch filled with baby blue flowers and a few little trinkets that shone in the sun; they looked like scraps of iron.
The blonde girl walked out of the white door of her house with a basket in her hand. She visited her neighbours giving them gifts. She walked across the street; cleared her voice and took a deep breath. She was happy to go door to door to greet her new neighbours of course but she could help but feel nervous for first impressions were important.

*knock knock
A small blue haired girl opened the door, she smiled and put out her hand. She mumbled something the blonde couldn't catch. The tall teen reached for the little girls hand.
"Hiya!" a dark black haired boy yelled.
Her eyes widened with surprise and jumped back from him.
"Um, hello? My name is Lucy. I live across the street." She said shyly, she fidgeted with her basket.
"My name is Gajeel. Sorry for earlier, you looked like a suspicious person so um ..." the rest of his sentence wasn't quite audible. He grumbled a bit and looked away.
"Nice to meet you, I presume she's your sister?" the blonde energetically asked.
"Yeah. Her name is Wendy."
"Wendy and Gajeel are my cousins. They're visiting, they live next door. " The pink haired boy explained while pointing to house 23.
"We come over all the time! See the flowers, that was me and Big Brother made the medal decorations. Well I helped too. " said Wendy.
The rough looking boy put out his hand and so Lucy shook it; reintroducing herself. The boy held onto Lucy saying "I'm Natsu, do you wanna come in for a bit?" he didn't seem to have any bad intentions and so Lucy felt she could safely enter.
Lucy turned back to her house behind her. She looked sad but then plastered a smile on her face and nodded.
As she walked in, the small girl named Wendy asked the distracted Lucy many questions.
A long red headed girl stood in front of the group, "Bro, is that your girlfriend?" her hands were on her hips. 'This girl was tall and beautiful, she sounded mature and by the looks of it, seemed quite cool.' thought Lucy.
"N-no, she's new and um-lives across the street. "
The older sister rose an eye brow, "Then why are you holding hands?"
Both Natsu and Lucy let go. She hadn't noticed. Gajeel let out a laugh, he mentioned a joke about Natsu matching the colour of his own hair.
"Sorry." Natsu muttered. He put his hands into his pocket quickly.
The room was now filled with laughter.
"By the way, I'm Erza. Nice to meet you." She said as she still sounded as though she was laughing.
"I-I'm Lucy. Lucy Heartfellia."
Wendy's eyes lit up, "I knew you looked familiar. I've seen you in Fairy Tale Life Mag. You're the daughter of the big Heartfellia Inc."
"I-I um please forget that. I honestly have nothing to do with my dad's business. I really don't want to be grouped with-"
"Luce, it's fine."

Lucy's eyes wandered to the ground, she appeared unhappy and bothered.

Natsu continued, "You can hang here anytime. The moment we met you were considered as a friend." He said with a huge grin.
Lucy nodded; this small gesture of friendship actually warmed her heart. She thanked him for understanding. 'Although he seemed silly, Natsu was rather smart.' thought Lucy.
"Bro go show Lucy around the neighbourhood. I'll hold your stuff for you Lucy." offered Erza.

Lucy giggled at the thought of Erza being a prince.
"Thank you but this is actually for you guys, you know like a Neighbour to neighbour gift. "

Lucy handed the bag to Erza and another to Gajeel.
They both gave their thanks.
Natsu managed to get Lucy out of the house to give her the tour Erza had mentioned.

As the two young teens left the house everyone else let out a huge breath. The 3 match makers began to chime.
"Let's make a bet. I bet they'll get together in the first month of school?" said Erza.
"No way, Natsu won't get a girl before me. I say the third month." laughed Gajeel.
"Um brother, I think the first month is appropriate. Lucy is new and knowing Natsu, he'll stick with her through school for that. Plus she's really pretty." Wendy explained.
"When did you learn about love?" asked Gajeel sceptically, "Besides Natsu has never shown any interest in a girl before."
The curious group started to think back. They nodded in agreement, Natsu had zero love experience.
Gajeel brought Wendy over to Erza's room; they were going to have a sleepover. Gajeel silently walked down the stairs and plopped down onto the sofa beside Erza.
"She's asleep now." Gajeel stated in his low voice.
"Yeah. Do you think Natsu will even come home tonight?" Erza asked out loud. She was mostly thinking out load.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine. "
Erza was worried about Natsu and Lucy. Her brother was an idiot. He had a lot of redeeming qualities but it was hard to notice them. Natsu was strong, loyal, he treasured friendship, he was trust worthy and was as understanding as a person could try to be.
'If Lucy did fall for Natsu, would she be able to handle his inexperience?'

Erza wore a stern face. 'What if Natsu fell in love with Lucy but she didn't fall for him? Other guys would like a girl like her; rich and beautiful.' She sighed placing her arms in a cross behind her neck. She eased up and closed her eyes, 'Maybe everything would turn out just fine.'

Thanks for reading. Another chapter will come out soon! I know this isn't too interesting but it will be soon.

R & R