Hey there! This is a sequel (kinda) to my mulit-chapter story, Dares, Deals, and Dates With A Demon! It contains some references to said story, but can be read as a standalone. This also has some of stuff that isn't really plot related.
Summer was the season of freedom. No classes, homework, or stress. Unfortunately for Natsu, he was binded to a curse. Well, a bet.
"Alright. You have to become friends with Lucy," Jellal said.
"Attempt to," Erza cut in.
"Right, attempt to," Jellal agreed.
Attempt. Attempt. For Natsu, there was no such thing as that. It was all or nothing.
"Easy!" he grinned. Crap, who was this Lucy girl? He asked Jellal and Erza.
"My friend. Blonde hair, brown eyes. She was at Jellal's Halloween party," Erza replied. "You do remember her, right?"
Natsu frantically searched his memory. Blonde hair...
"Oh! You mean Luigi!"
"It's Lucy," Erza corrected.
"Nope. Luigi. She told me so!" he insisted.
Erza let out a growl and Natsu flinched a bit.
"Lucy! It's Lucy, you're right, Erza!" he stammered out.
"Great. You have until the end of summer," Jellal stated.
He had to spend the entire summer charming some girl? He internally groaned.
Lucy ran out of the house as fast she could. The carnival was in town! The only downfall to this was that all of her friends were busy with something. Her running slowed and she felt her smile slowly turning into a frown.
It's okay! Natsu's going to be there.
She slowed her jogging. Natsu wasn't exactly great company. Heck, she barely knew him!
At least you have company! Be positive!
Okay, conscience, shut up.
"Luigi! There you are!" Natsu shouted.
The blonde shot him a dirty look. "Lucy. The name's Lucy."
"You sure? I'm pretty sure you told me it was Luigi," he said.
She let out a feral noise. "LUCY! L-U-C-Y! Lucy!"
"I didn't know you were a cheerleader!" he remarked. "Hey!" he cried out, as the girl dragged him off to a stall.
"Balloon Poppers?" he asked. "That's such a lame game! Hey, that rhymed!"
"It's not lame! Besides, I really want that- never mind!"
"The stuffed unicorn?" he guessed. He couldn't blame her. The stuffed unicorn was huge, pink, and super fluffy looking.
Her cheeks flushed pink. "Yeah... I like unicorns, okay?!"
"Well, too bad you're never gonna get it," Natsu taunted. Seeing her puzzled look, he continued. "'Cause I'm gonna win it for myself!"
Her mouth dropped open and gasped. "Don't you dare! I wanted it before you did!"
He shrugged and waved the guy in charge over. "How much for the darts?"
The guy grinned. "$5 for 6."
"How much do I need to pop for the unicorn?"
"All six."
Luc slapped down a neatly folded five dollar bill. "I'll play."
"Me, too!" Natsu said. He pulled out a couple of rumpled bills and a pile of coins. "Hand over the darts!"
Twenty dollars later, Lucy managed to pop six balloons.
"Ha! I beat you!" she chortled. She hugged the fluffy animal close to her.
"You kept pushing me outta the way!" he argued. Every time he was about to throw the dart, Lucy nudged him a little to the left or right.
She smirked. "No rules were established. But since I'm so nice, you can have the mini one I won."
"Nope! You're buying me food!"
Natsu smiled to himself. He patted his stomach and glanced over at Lucy, who was gaping at him.
"Do you know how much I have spent on your 'snack break'?!"
"I dunno. Thanks, Lucy. It was good," he contently sighed.
"I'm never buying you food again," she muttered.
He shrugged. "Let's go on that! They give out pirate hats!"
"The pirate ship thing?"
"Yep! C'mon!" Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the pendulum ride.
"There are no seat belts on this thing!" Lucy screeched. She gripped the bar in front of her tightly.
"So?" Natsu adjusted his pirate hat and leaned back. "It'll be fun!"
"It's not safe!"
"Too late! We're starting!"
The pirate ship swung upward and Natsu felt his stomach lurch. Lucy was hyperventilating beside him. Her knuckles were turning white from holding onto the bar so tightly.
"We're going to fall!" she shrieked as the ship reached the peak.
He ignored her. The sensation of his back hitting the hard plastic seat barely registered. His stomach was doing backflips and he felt so sick. Abruptly, the ride swung backward and he swallowed down all the food that was threatening to come up. They could now see the ground. They were almost perpendicular to the floor. It felt like they were weightless.
"We're falling! We're gonna die!" Lucy continued. "Natsu Dragneel, I'm gonna KILL YOUUU- KYAAAAA!"
The ride swung back down and Natsu nearly lost it. His cheeks were puffed out, he was sweating, and he was ready to jump off.
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" Lucy panted. The ride finally stopped after way too many swings.
Natsu stumbled off the ride and ran to the nearest trash can as fast as his wobbly legs could go.
"Why did you make me go on that?!" she screamed.
"I thought it'd be fun," he weakly said. He clutched his stomach in attempt to calm the churning waves.
"You have motion sickness!" she pointed out.
He could only shrug. "Luce, you wanna buy me ice cream?"
Lucy was currently waiting in line for the swing ride. It was like a carousel except instead of animals, there were swings. Oh, and it was maybe 20 feet in the air; she didn't know the exact number. Why did she want to go on it? Because this one was actually fun!
She stepped forward in line and anxiously waited. It looked like it was almost her turn.
"Miss, your turn," the guy behind her said.
"Sorry," she mumbled as she sat down on the swing and buckled herself in.
The ride started. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself. Cold air hit her cheeks and she felt herself smiling. One round later, she opened her eyes and saw Natsu, who insisted on sitting out, eating the ice cream cone she bought. He looked nauseous.
Lucy decided to ignore him. It was her turn to enjoy herself. Her fingers inched toward her pocket. Should she risk it?
Yes! Gooo!
She snapped a selfie of herself. Her blonde hair was flying behind her and she had a silly grin on her face.
Definitely keeping that forever.
Natsu looked from his ice cream cone to see Lucy walking towards him with a huge smile on her face and the fluffy unicorn tucked under her arms.
"You're still not done with the ice cream?" she incredulously asked.
"Your stupid ride gave me motion sick-" He stopped mid-sentence and clutched his stomach.
Lucy snorted. "You didn't even go on the ride!"
"Shut up!"
His stomach stopped doing gymnastics and he stood up. "Let's get lunch."
Lucy went home with roughly two dollars in her pocket. Curse Natsu Dragneel! Why did she buy lunch and snacks for him? Why?! Her phone started vibrating.
"Hey Levy," she greeted. She flopped down on the couch and mindlessly scrolled through the tv channels.
"Lu-chan! How was your date with Natsu?"
Lucy felt heat creeping her cheeks. Thank goodness Levy couldn't see her! "It wasn't a date!"
"Mhm. Sure. So, how was it?"
"I'm broke now! I ended up buying all the food and you know how much he eats? A lot! That idiot also wanted to go on a ride, even though he has motion sickness! What kind of person does that?!"
"Hold on. I'm gonna add Erza to the call; you can rant to her and she can pass the message."
Lucy tapped her fingers impatiently. She heard Erza's 'hello' and began her tirade.
"You're terrible at this. Natsu almost got you! Natsu!" Erza grumbled over Skype.
Natsu snorted. He opened his mouth to retort, but Jellal beat him to it.
"You're even worse than I am!" Jellal replied. "You missed a point blank shot a few minutes ago!"
"To be fair, I just started yesterday," she defended.
"Still bad."
"Really? How about that?" she responded. The words, 'AN ENEMY HAS BEEN KILLED!' flashed across the computer screen.
"Freakin' hell! How'd you hit me?" Sting shouted. "I was invisible!"
"New accessory. I can see invisible units," she simply explained.
Natsu laughed. "Ha! She killed you! Beaten by a girl!" he exclaimed.
To his surprise, Erza was good. Very good. Almost better than him. Good thing they were on the same team.
"You forget that she's killed you at least five times," Gray dryly said.
"Are you talking about Erza or Lucy?" Sting asked.
"You know, if you stopped freeloading off of her, she might not completely hate you," Jellal suggested.
"Lucy complains how you always steal her food," Erza agreed.
"It's not fault I'm hungry!" he grumbled. He sighed and shoved a handful of gummy worms in his mouth.
"You and Lucy are never gonna be friends at this rate," Gray mused.
Was that a challenge?
"Nope! We'll end up like Jelly-Man and Erza instead!" he cheerfully said.
"Lucy doesn't like you very much," Erza remarked.
"She will! Just watch!"
Crap, what had he gotten himself into? He replayed the conversation in his head. Crap.
"Oi, Happy! Do you think I can get Lucy to like me?" he mumbled.
Happy let out a small meow, which Natsu decided was a yes.
"Well, I just gotta steal her heart... Maybe if she likes me enough, she'll give more food!"
Happy purred in response.
"Well, I'm all fired up!"
"Friends! Friends! I said friends!" Jellal shouted.
Natsu winced. Jellal could be pretty loud when he tried.
"Quiet! We're making a scene!" Erza hissed.
Natsu flinched. He was stuck with the world's scariest couple.
"Whatever! It can't be that hard!" he said. "All I gotta do is steal her heart!"
Erza rolled her eyes. "You clearly don't know Lucy Heartfilia. She likes romance book heroes, not guys that freeload off of her."
"Hey, Natsu. If you really do end up stealing her heart, I guess she won't be Lucy Heartfilia anymore," Jellal remarked.
"What? Why?" Natsu asked. "Oh! She'll be Lucy Filia!"
"Arcade? Why?" Lucy asked.
"Everyone's going! Hurry up, I'm almost at your house!" Levy replied. "See ya!"
The call ended and Lucy went outside to wait for Levy. She had some money in her pocket and hoped it would be enough.
"Hey, Lu-chan!" Levy shouted. She was running up the block.
Lucy grinned and sprinted to the sidewalk to meet her. "Hi!"
"Let's go!"
"Oi, Lucy! I bet you can't beat me at this game!" Natsu challenged. He pointed to a dartboard.
"I beat you last time! I can do it again!"
"No cheating!"
Natsu picked a dart and flung it at the board. It was way off and ended up hitting the wall. He cursed.
"Language!" Lucy taunted. She threw a dart and it hit the edge of the board.
"Ha! You got no points!"
"At least I hit the board!"
He picked up another dart and nearly hit Erza, who was walking by.
"Natsu, did you just try to hit me?" she growled.
"N-no!" he squeaked. Crap, he was going to die.
"Erza! Don't!" Lucy shrieked.
Too late. Natsu ran out of the arcade with Erza chasing after him.
"I have to congratulate you, Natsu. All your attempts of hanging out with Lucy has failed so far," Jellal said.
Unfortunately, that was true. When the carnival was still in town, he accidentally shoved her a little too hard and she fractured her wrist. A few days later, he went to apologize and brought Happy with him. They then proceeded to eat everything available in her house. Last week, he and Gray saw her at the park, where she was walking her dog? (Natsu wasn't sure. It definitely wasn't a cat). She noticed them and pointedly avoided them.
"Me and Lucy are friends!" he defensively replied.
"Ah, so you're friendzoned!"
"For now!"
"We'll see. Good luck, Natsu."
"Thanks, buddy."
"I don't wanna go! I have other stuff to do," Lucy whined.
"It's just a summer pool party! It'll be fun," Yukino assured.
"Lucy, you haven't been out of the house in days!" Erza said.
"That's because I've been reading! Fairy Tail is such a good book!" Lucy argued. "Even Levy-chan says so!"
"Mhm. C'mon, Lu-chan!" Levy pleaded. "It'll be fun! Just bring your book!"
"Juvia wants to see Gray-sama. You have to come with Juvia," the other bluenette insisted.
"If I go and bring my book, will any of you take it from me?" Lucy asked.
"Nope." "Of course not!" "I won't."
"Alright. Now, get out of my room, so I can change."
Woah... Is that Luigi over there?
The little Erza in his head scolded him.
I mean, Lucy!
"What do you think about Lucy?" Gray gestured to Lucy, who was sitting in a lounge chair and reading.
"Get away from me, stripper."
"Answer my question."
"I dunno. She looks kinda... cute?"
Well, she did look kinda cute. Her hair was up in a ponytail and he really liked her tank top. It had a dragon on it!
Gray smirked and went over to greet the others. Natsu glanced at the pool. Sting, Rogue, and Yukino were having a three-way water fight and Juvia was floating on her back. Jellal and Erza were sitting on the edge and talking. Levy was putting sunscreen on herself and Gray was
"Hey, Luce!" He walked over to her. "Whatcha doing?"
She looked up. "Don't call Luce. And I'm reading."
"You're boring! Do something fun!"
"Reading is fun!" she indignantly cried out as she held up her book.
"No! It's not!"
Before she could retort, he picked her up and tossed her in the pool. He stood on the edge and grinned.
"That's fun!"
Lucy tossed back her wet hair and glared at him. She swam near him and snatched his ankles.
Lucy pulled herself out of the pool. Thank goodness she dropped her book before she was thrown in the water. Thank goodness she wore her bikini underneath her tank top and shorts. Thank goodness she remembered to bring a towel.
"You okay?" Yukino asked. She poked her head out of the water and rested her arms on the pool edge.
"I'm fine. Freakin' Natsu!" Lucy spat out. "At least my book's not damaged."
"You seem to hate Natsu," Yukino pondered.
The blonde winced a bit. "I don't hate him. I guess he's a good person. I dunno."
"See? Me and Lucy are friends!" Natsu announced. He seemed to have appeared out of the blue.
"Sure," Lucy agreed.
Considering how much time we've spent together, I suppose we're friends.
"Hey, Luce. Sorry for throwing in," he sheepishly said.
Natsu Dragneel was apologizing? He hardly did since he was such a stubborn person. What a day!
"It's okay," she mumbled. "Don't do it again though."
"Wanna have a water gun fight?" he excitedly asked. Seeing her hesitation, he added, "Please?"
Lucy sighed. "I'm wet already. Might as well."
Natsu decided that he hated water gun fights. Everyone was so mean! He had been bombarded with ambushes and pinned down while his so-called friends blasted water in his face.
"That's what you get for throwing me in the pool!" Lucy cackled. She aimed the gun at him and pulled the triggered.
Who knew she was so scary? He raised one arm to shield his face and with the other, he blindly fired the water gun. Too late, she already ran off.
"Damn it!"
He ran after her and fired a few more times. He heard her curse when she realized she was cornered.
"Gotcha, Luce!"
"Don't call me that! Spray me already!"
He stood in front of her and waited, knowing that the tension would drive her crazy.
"How about a deal, Lucy?"
'What kind of deal?"
"If you go on a date with me, I won't spray you."
She contemplated. "Sure. Why not?"
"Great. Too bad you're still gonna get wet!"
One week later...
"Date with Natsu?! Today?! What?!" Levy shrieked.
"Juvia wishes Gray-sama would ask her out!" Juvia swooned.
"What will you wear? More importantly, where are you two going?" Erza asked.
"We're just getting ice cream and walking around the park," Lucy replied.
"I called it! I called it!" Levy squealed.
"Please. Jellal and I set this up from the beginning of summer," Erza countered.
"Fine, you win, Erza. I shipped this from their first unofficial date at the carnival though."
"You guys? That's not really the matter at hand," Yukino said.
"Right. How about this blouse and this skirt?" Erza suggested. She held up a white collared blouse and a blue skirt.
"Juvia thinks it's good choice."
"Alright. Wish me luck. Hopefully, he doesn't set the park on fire."
Lucy glared at Natsu. He tripped and grabbed her arm, landing them both in the pond. What a disastrous date.
Tada! Thanks for reading!