Figured I'd post this before people started sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner
So remember that alphabet challenge I did for Natza? Well, I'm going to try doing one for NaLi. Here's the kicker: they're all going to be Lucy's perspective on their relationship. Why? Because I'm sick of seeing Lucy get heartbroken and emo when NaLi happens in fanfiction. Seriously, you could fill about a dozen Simple Plan albums with the angst these people manufacture. Isn't it time we portrayed Lucy supporting NaLi, especially if we're going to portray Lisanna supporting NaLu? Seems like a major double-standard if you ask me. Also, the name change isn't official yet, mostly because I'm a lazy ass. Whatever. Here's something for NaLu shippers to piss and moan at me about.
I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.
It was a cold, late November evening. Lucy had just returned home from a job with Lisanna, which Natsu, surprisingly enough, had arranged. The anniversary of the youngest Strauss's return from Edolas was today, which Lucy was honestly surprised the guild had remembered, and it was apparently her job to distract her. And now that the job was done, she had decided to take a short bath before the party. A shower would be quicker, but the client had been quite overbearing, and she needed to de-stress.
Having wrapped a towel around her just in case her idiot partner showed up, Lucy proceeded into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, poured the bubbles into the tub...
"Lucy you gotta help me!"
"EEK!
...And that's why she wore the towel.
"Natsu!" yelled Lucy. "I'm trying to bathe here!"
"Then I'll make it fast," said Natsu. "How do you tell a girl you wanna be her boyfriend?"
Lucy gasped. There was no way Natsu would ask something like that straight to her face unless she was the intended girlfriend! She had seen it in way too many novels to count!
"Play it cool, Lucy," she told herself. "Just ask about the girl he likes, tell him to be himself, and tell him you're not ready for a serious relationship. Easy, right? Right!"
"That depends," Lucy said out loud. "What kind of girl is she?"
"She's smart, she's sweet, she's funny, and she's really pretty," said Natsu. "And she's strong, too, even if she's not really confident in her magic. And she gets along with everyone, and she's very understanding too."
Lucy blushed. She was totally all those things! Or at least, she liked to think so. "Dammit, Lucy, now he's going to think you return his feelings!" she thought angrily.
"If she's as understanding as you say she is, then all you need is to be honest with her," said Lucy kindly. "Do that, and she'll be honest right back."
"...But she'll say yes, right?" asked Natsu.
"It all depends on her," said Lucy. "If she likes you back she will." "Oh God, now I'm gonna have to break his heart!"
"Gotcha. Thanks, Lucy!" said Natsu. He reached in for a hug.
Natsu had hugged Lucy before, and she had hugged him too, but this time, it felt... different... to Lucy. They had always found comfort in each other after a long battle, but now she was questioning if it was the romantic sort.
Natsu let go of her, and he made to leave. "See you at the party!" he said. And as quickly as he arrived, he was gone in an instant.
Lucy felt a feeling that shouldn't have ben there - a feeling of disappointment that Natsu hadn't confessed to her right then and there. Figuring there was no sense in worrying about what she couldn't control, she got in the bath, mentally preparing for...
The party!
"Oh my God! He's going to confess in front of everybody!" Lucy thought with horror.
Any thoughts of stress relief had disappeared in an instant.
Later that night, Lucy sat alone at the guild, not wanting to deal with Natsu, or anyone else for that matter. The thought of having to hurt her best friend so thoroughly was so heavy that she could barely enjoy the party, or even celebrate what was supposed to be a special day for Lisanna.
"And he's going to ruin that special day for her despite her own feelings! That's the worst part!" thought Lucy. She hated how thoughtless Natsu could be sometimes! Like when he left for a year just after Tartaros was defeated! She could understand Igneel's death flipping some sort of switch in his mind, making him want to get strong enough to beat Acnologia, but to just leave with only a letter saying he'd be back in a year...!
"Oi, Bunny Girl!" a rough voice called out to her.
"Hm? Oh, hi, Gajeel," said Lucy disinterestedly.
"Levy's making me check on you," the Iron Dragon Slayer explained.
"Levy-chan?" asked Lucy.
Gajeel nodded. "You gave her the cold shoulder earlier, and she got into a conversation with Dumb and Dumber, so she sent me," he explained.
"It's kind of personal," said Lucy.
"You absolutely sure about that?" asked Gajeel with a smirk. "Don't make me arrest you for withholding information from me!"
"For the last time, you're not a Council officer anymore," said Lucy impatiently.
"Well, I gotta tell the Shrimp something!" said Gajeel.
"And you're not giving up until you get something, are you?" asked Lucy. She sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. You know the trope in romantic comedy where the guy asks the girl he likes how to tell a girl he likes her, only to use her advice on her?",
"Never heard of it," replied Gajeel. "But I get the gist at least." (A/N: Seriously, what is that trope even called?)
"Well... Natsu did that to me," said Lucy. "Except I think he's going to confess in front of everyone, so I've been avoiding him all night."
"...That's what you're moaning about?" asked Gajeel. He then broke into a maniacal grin. "Gihihihihihi!"
"It's not funny, Gajeel!" yelled Lucy.
"It is to me," said Gajeel. "Let the evening play out and you'll see what I mean." With that, he walked away chuckling to himself.
Lucy watched Gajeel intently as he rejoined Levy, Jet, and Droy. She wondered what he knew about Natsu for the rest of the night, up until Natsu announced he had a song to sing for Lisanna. All eyes were on the Salamander, including her own, him and the Animal mage the center of attention. Gajeel got out his guitar, and as he played, Natsu began to sing.
"Every dog has his every day
Like every bird has a bee.
Cats throw all their nine lives away
On squirrels climbing a tree.
Me, I love like an animal,
And I love you, can't you see?
Be mine, that would be wonderful,
And happy's what you will be!"
There was silence in the guild. The only sound was Lisanna gasping as she practically overheated herself blushing. Suddenly, Cana burst out laughing. "Oh my God, that was the cheesiest love song I have ever heard!" she said. After that, nearly everyone in the guild started laughing.
"Did Natsu write that himself?"
"Haha, classic Natsu!"
"I thought it was sweet."
"Ah, you're crazy!"
Gajeel started fuming. "Oi! That was a beautiful song, sung by a man in love, from the bottom of his heart...!"
"...You wrote if for him, didn't you, Gajeel?" asked Levy.
"...Maybe," said Gajeel. "But that's besides the point!"
"Natsu, if you're asking what I think you're asking..." said Lisanna. "I've been waiting for you to ask it ever since I came back." She then kissed Natsu, and everyone cheered.
Just then, Levy and her teammates approached Lucy. "See, Lu-chan? You were worried for nothing!" she said.
"Gajeel told you, didn't he?" asked Lucy.
"For how close you and Natsu are, we're the ones that grew up with him," said Droy.
"That's right!" said Jet. "If Natsu liked you instead of Lisanna, he would've just asked you the way you told him to as soon as you did. He wouldn't have tried to overshadow Lisanna's special day with something like this."
"Thanks, you guys," said Lucy softly.
Lucy watched as Natsu and Lisanna laughed with each other. She had never been deaf to the whispers of the guild, especially not after they reunited a year from the Tartaros war. During that year, she had missed Natsu deeply, of course. But she found she hadn't missed him like she would miss a lover. And watching her two friends so happy together, she didn't care that Natsu didn't see her that way.
Because as long as she could call himself her partner, that was all she wanted.
And there you go. Today is A for Announcement. It's not really a traditional announcement, but it's Natsu announcing his feelings for Lisanna, so it kinda works...? Question mark?
I do have a list of prompts all written out, so don't bother suggesting those. Also, I'll try to incorporate Lisanna more into future prompts, but I will say, don't expect too much from the next prompt on that. Kinda hard to do when we're seeing all this from Lucy's eyes.
But anyway, happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States, and if you're anywhere else, have a good Thursday.
