Here's to the New Year! About ten months ago! So anyway, I can't explain why, but I just started writing this out of nowhere and decided to post it. Who knows? I may enjoy writing once more. Plus, I have stories I desperately need to finish. For my sake and maybe for others too.
Back to the topic at hand. I have been binge watching Fairy Tail nonstop for the past year or so and I have to say, it's a new favorite of mine. And once I started to read the manga, my whole world flipped! I won't give any spoilers, but let me just say, I look forward to next year when a new season is supposed to come out.
Magnolia. A decent sized town home to many strange yet wonderful people. Whether you're looking for a nice place to settle down or delightful tourist attraction, you'd find more than your fair share of excitement.
"You smell that, Happy? Finally back home!" Natsu said with a large, toothy grin.
"Aye sir!" Happy chimed back, an equally goofy grin on his face.
Natsu Dragneel. A cocky, big-mouthed wizard who had a way of making people smile. Despite his brash outside, he always had a soft spot for his friends. That's no surprise though. Flying to his right was his dedicated partner Happy. Happy was a blue cat, or more accurately, he was part of a race of human-like cat people known as Exceeds.
"Yeah, I have to say, no matter how long we leave, it always feels great to come back to good old Magnolia."
"You two are sure in good moods. Something to look forward to?" asked Erza, one of their teammates. Erza was one of their regular partners as well as one their closest friends. Not to mention, a kind of big sister of sorts.
"You know it! It's been about a month since we've been back to the guild hall. Not to mention, all of our friends we've missed."
"Or the food!" Hearing the word food made all three stomachs growl in displeasure.
"It will be nice to have some of Mira's cooking again. Or maybe I should stop by the bakery to get another cake. Oh, what am I saying! I'll just get both!"
To clarify, Natsu, Happy and Erza had set out to take on a rather puzzling job. Unfortunately for the three, none of their other comrades could come along. The description on the flyer made the job seem easy enough. It wasn't even that far away. A couple hours away at the most. And yet, they had spent just under a month in that little village. Turns out, getting rid of rats smart enough to use magic was more challenging than any had thought.
Natsu laughed to himself. "Normally I'd think you're crazy, but with all this dough we got, we got money to spare!" He started thinking about all the different treats they were going to get when he stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh jeez! I almost forgot." He turned and took off the other way. "Go on ahead, Erza. I gotta do a few things first."
"How strange. Oh well. He's always up to something. Why aren't you going with him, Happy?"
"He mentioned something earlier about this, but said he wanted to do it alone."
"Now that really is strange. He never goes anywhere without you. Any ideas on what he could be doing?"
"Beats me. All I know is I'm hungry and there's a fishie with my name on it!"
Erza and Happy continued down the street. They both let out a comfortable sigh when the guild hall came into view.
"There it is. Fairy Tail. Our home," Erza said to no one in particular.
"Betcha I'll beat you there, Miss Titania!"
She scoffed. "A challenge from a cat? How insulting."
Erza arrived at the guild hall and opened the doors well before Happy, who was struggling to keep up.
"Erza's back!" shouted the entire guild.
"Erza, it's so good to see you!" said Mirajane, with her iconic smile. She walked out from behind the bar to greet her friend.
"Yeah, it feels like forever since we last saw you." Wendy ran over and gave Erza a big hug. She looked up at her older teammate, smiling contently.
"Carla, my love! I have returned unharmed bearing stories of my bravery and heroics!" Happy shouted at the white feline, soaring through air a bit too fast.
"That's quite enough, Tom Cat. I'm willing to bet all you did was complain and whine the whole time."
Happy stopped dead in his tracks. "Why are you so cruel to me, Carla?"
"She knows you all too well, Happy."
"Is that Happy? And Erza?" a familiar voice called across the hall. "It is!" Lucy ran over to the two weary travelers. "Erza! Happy! It's so good to see you guys! How did the job go?" Lucy was as cheerful as ever. She dawned her usual outfit with her hair down completely instead of up in ponytails.
"About what you'd expect. Unfortunately, our client couldn't come pick us up like he said he would, but I don't mind taking the train. Natsu, on the other hand, was barfing and groaning the whole way."
That got an uproar of laughter. "Speaking of which, where is that flame-for-brains anyway?" questioned Gray, missing all but his boxers.
"He ran off shortly after we got into town. He said something about having something to do. By the way, you might want to do something about your little friend," Erza said, pointing downward.
"Ah crap! Not again!" Gray shuffled around and threw his clothes back on, embarrassed he was caught not with his pants down, but with them completely off. Not to mention Little Gray wanted to come out to play for some weird reason. "Sorry about that. Natsu didn't say anything about where he was going?"
"Not a word. Now that you mention it, after we got off the train, he recovered rather quickly. You know how pathetic he can be after a train ride." Erza requipped into some comfier clothes and sat down at the table, followed by Lucy, Gray and Wendy.
"Eh, who knows what he's up to? He tell you anything, Happy?"
"He kept blabbing about taking care of business when we got back, whatever that means." Happy took a bite of a fish seemingly pulled out of nowhere. "He did a lot of talking about Lucy though," he said with his usual sarcastic tone.
Lucy blushed, causing the others to gawk at her. "W-what did he say?" she managed to get out.
Erza looked at her, an evil looked in her eye. "I believe he said something like, 'Oh, I simply cannot wait until I have my dear Lucy back in my arms! I want to cuddle and kiss her for the rest of eternity!' Or something like that."
"That is so not what he said!" Lucy yelled with a red face, earning another burst of laughter.
"Yeah, you're right. It was actually like this. 'Her body is perfect, skin so smooth, hair so fragrant! I just want to bury my face in her huge b-"
"That's quite enough!" Carla said, smacking Happy.
"Better watch out, Happy. Carla hasn't had anyone to beat on since you left," Macao said from his usual spot.
"Yeah. Poor girl was starting to get weak just waiting for you," added Wakaba, smoking his cigar.
"You know what they say. Love...hurts..," muttered the blue cat, shrinking down in pain.
"Jokes aside, I'm really curious. What exactly was Natsu saying about me?" asked Lucy. Even though it was only a few weeks, it felt like a lifetime since she had seen her best friend. Interestingly enough, she only ever thought of him as friend. At least, that's what she constantly told herself.
Erza smirked. "About what you'd expect. He would always point out things you'd like or how much fun you would've had. Small things mostly. Although, there was one thing in particular that made me wonder..."
Lucy leaned forward in suspense. "Well?"
"Oh never mind. It was probably just my imagination."
"Are you serious?" Lucy yelled back. "Oh come on. Just tell me already!"
"What's the matter, Lucy? The thought of Natsu having mushy thoughts about you making you feel fuzzy inside?" Erza questioned, teasing her younger counterpart.
Lucy turned bright red and freaked out a bit. "What? Me? No! Of course not! As if!" She was definitely sure Natsu was only just a friend. No way she could like him. Absolutely 100% no.
"You love him," mocked Happy.
"I've about had enough of you already, cat!" Lucy sighed and put her head down. She should be used to this by now, but dealing with that crazed cat was not on her list of hobbies.
"Calm down. He probably just said something about food. Natsu's not exactly a clever guy."
"Shut up, Gray. Go make out with Juvia again." Even though Lucy was trying to uphold the image of being a curious friend, it seemed she couldn't resist standing up for her said 'friend.'
"I told you a hundred times, it was an accident!"
'My darling Gray's lips on mine! Oh, the sheer bliss from that one moment...' thought Juvia, peeking out from behind the request board.
"It seems love is in the air here lately. Tell me, Lucy. If you're not interested in Natsu, why do you want to know so badly? And why so defensive?"
Lucy tried her hardest not to blush. "Alright, I'll tell you. Before you guys left, he pretty much begged me to come. I already agreed to go with Levy and Lisanna on their mission so I didn't want to be rude. It was nice change of pace, you know? He did seem pretty downhearted. So to try and make it up to him, I told him he could help me with my birthday coming up. It's next week. I was just wondering if he mentioned any plans he might have."
"That seems a bit selfish," Erza said, gesturing at Mira. "I'll have some water please, if you don't mind Mira."
"Coming right up!" Mira called back with a happy tone.
"The main reason he wanted me to go was to spend some time with me. I know it's probably just my imagination, but it just seems off for someone like Natsu."
"Ah, I see. The fact of the matter is you want to know if Natsu gave any insight to his plans for your birthday. Is that right?"
"As close as I'll get to it, I guess." Lucy pretty much already said that, but Erza could be just as clueless as Natsu at times.
"Alright. Well, the answer is... I don't really know for sure. All he said was, 'I can't wait to see the look on her face.' The 'her' presumably being you."
Lucy's eye twitched. "Wait a minute. Did he say it in his normal, mischievous voice or an actual caring one? The last time he kept saying stuff about a 'her,' it was only Virgo." On top of all that, it made her feel like a total moron.
"Trust me. He had this look in his eye. One I've never seen. But a good look. Not a prankster type look," mumbled Happy through chewing his fish.
Lucy put her hand on her chin. "Maybe I should go talk to him. Ask him for myself."
"If you want, I could always talk to him," said Lisanna from behind. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. If Natsu is planning something, it'd be best if you didn't know. Even though a surprise party would be predictable, Natsu wouldn't exactly know that." She gave a caring smile with kind eyes.
"Yeah, but still. I really want to know."
"I have an idea," Wendy said. "How about when Lisanna goes to talk to him, we hide and listen in on the conversation."
"That's a brilliant idea!" Lucy got up with her fist ready. "Alright let's do this!"
"Hold on a minute. You don't even know where he is. He could be anywhere." Gray got up and walked to the bar, followed by the others. "Where is he normally?"
Erza grabbed a light pen and made a rough sketch of Magnolia. "Here at the guild hall, his house or Lucy's apartment. Or somewhere else on a mission." Erza muttered something under her breath. She marked the three mentioned places with red X's. "These will represent Natsu. Go to your apartment, Lucy. If he's there, just act natural. He may be a dimwit, but he can always tell when someone is acting different. Happy, you go back home. Just say you're putting away your share of the money if he asks anything. Gray, you and I will wait here in case he shows up."
Lisanna moved forward. "What about me? Aren't I supposed to be the one talking to him?"
"Ah yes." Erza marked a few streets. "Go patrol the town. You know his mannerisms. He normally takes these roads when going anywhere. If you think he might be somewhere, go there. You tag along with her for now, Wendy. It'll make things seem more natural."
"You guys need a real man to help out!" Elfman hollered in their direction.
"Alright, Elfman. You can wait here with us. Start a fight with Natsu or something. We have to make things feel normal."
"Wait a minute, guys. Why are we doing this all of a sudden? You just got back and now you're all eager about Lucy's birthday?" Leave it to Gray to be the cold one.
"It's not like it's a hard task. Besides, if I had known about Lucy's birthday sooner, I would have handled the plans myself!" Erza looked off into the distance, pride in her eyes.
"What's with all this commotion?" Master Makarov came down from upstairs to see Erza and the others arguing among themselves. "Oh, Erza. I didn't realize you'd returned. Good to have you back safely." He hopped on the bar. He glanced at the map, but brushed it off. "I take it the mission was a success?"
"It went well, Master. Took a bit longer than we had hoped, but better late than never."
"I trust Natsu behaved this time?" With 'wonderful' children like Natsu, it's a wonder Makarov hadn't keeled over into an early grave.
Erza glanced around nervously. "Well... yes and no."
Master Makarov turned pale, his face twisting into a grimace. "What did that little pyromaniac do this time...?"
"He... destroyed most of the village."
Makarov went completely limp, falling to the ground with a defeated sigh. "I'll never be able to retire...never..."
"Eh heh... There is a bit of good news. Since the houses were infested with super termites, as well as those nasty rats, they were scheduled for demolition soon after. Natsu destroying something was actually a good thing for once." Erza took a deep breath. "Alright, back to the topic at hand."
"Let's do it, guys! Operation Fire Bug is a go!" Lucy put her hair up in her normal ponytails, ready to take off.
Gray let out a snicker. "Operation Fire bug? Is that really the best you could come up with?"
"Alright, wise guy. You think of something." Lucy stared at the ice wizard, hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently.
"How about Operation Follow The Flame?"
"Who cares what it's called? Let's just do this!" Lisanna started to walk towards the door. Still looking behind her, she ran into someone, falling on the floor.
"Oh, whoops. Sorry, Lisanna." Natsu stood there in the doorway, looking completely ordinary. The others stared at him, all shocked at his sudden appearance. Lucy was especially shocked. He helped Lisanna stand and looked at his friends. "I miss something?"
"Psst... say something..." Gray whispered, nudging Erza.
"Oh... You see... The thing is..."
"There you are Salamander! I've been waiting for you!" Gajeel had ignored the others' yammering, but couldn't resist the urge to challenge the pink-haired idiot. He did still care about his other friends, but who said they needed to know?
"Butt out, Metal Head! Can't you see I'm busy here?" Natsu yelled back.
"You too scared to take on a real Dragon Slayer?"
"You wanna go, Tin Man?"
"Bring it on, Charcoal Breath!"
"That's quite enough, children." Erza walked in between the two, pushing them both back. "Gajeel, do us all a favor and go chew on some screws."
"Sheesh. Crazy woman."
Erza scoffed. "Anyway, we were just discussing the next big event. With the Fantasia Parade around the corner, we need to made a plan of action."
"But that stuff's so boring. Can't we find something else to do?" Natsu sat down, his head low. Almost immediately after, he shot back up. "Oh well. Guess it beats doing nothing." He walked over to the others. He looked at Lucy and smiled. "Hey, Lucy. Long time, no see."
Lucy's heart started racing. 'Oh no! What should I say? Hey pal, how are ya? No, that's not it. Howdy do Natsu! That's not it either. Ahhh, I can't think under pressure!' "Oh, yeah. No kidding. How was the trip?"
"Good enough. I got to eat some pretty tasty stuff! Not mention I'm richer than I was before." He moved closer to her, purposefully pushing Gray out of the way. He leaned in closely and whispered, "Hey, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind waiting up for me tonight? I plan on stopping by a bit later."
His breath on her ear made the little hairs on the back her neck stand on edge. For someone so noisy, his voice was soft and smooth. She put her hand to her cheek. Without a second thought, she blushed once again. "Oh, uh... Yeah sure. Just come by whenever."
Natsu didn't understand the meaning of the word subtlety. Most of the wandering eyes had witnessed his little gesture and the whispers had already started. "He loves you!" Happy yelled.
"Come on, buddy! Don't go starting that again." He tried to hide his embarrassment by walking over to the bar, but was caught off guard by the floating light map. "What the heck is this thing supposed to be?" The others tensed up, hoping that Natsu's denseness was enough. "This looks like Magnolia." His eyes studied the map. "Oh well." The rest of them let out a sigh of relief.
Lisanna winked at the others and motioned them to move away. Now was the perfect time to start pressing Natsu for answers. Doing as they were told, they all pretended to do other things. All except Lucy, whose heart was skipping beats, mind running rampant. "Lucy, get going. I'll handle the rest," Lisanna whispered, but to no avail. Lucy was trapped in her own mind.
'What could it be? No no no! I'm not falling for this trick twice! It's probably nothing. I'm just overreacting is all.' Despite telling herself otherwise, Lucy's mind kept going back to the possibility of it actually being something important. Something... special.
Lisanna walked over and gave Lucy a light nudge. "Hey, what are you doing? Get out of here. You're still being stared at."
Lucy suddenly snapped back to reality. She looked around and noticed the pressing eyes locked on her. Knowing that she would flooded with questions regardless of her actions, she turned around and sat next to Natsu, effectively screwing up the last minute plan. "Oh man..." She looked at Natsu. Lisanna shook her head, sitting at the table with her brother.
Natsu was about to tear into a nice sandwich Mira made for him, but paused when he noticed Lucy looking at him. "Something wrong?" he asked.
Lucy banged her head on the bar, forehead hitting with a bit more force than intended. "Ouch..." She raised up again and started to rub her aching head.
Natsu had to stifle a giggle. He moved a little closer. The silence of the guild hall was almost deafening. "Mind your own business!" Natsu yelled out. The rest of the guild started chatting again. Although some, especially Erza and the others, were still listening intently. "What's on your mind, Lucy?" he questioned before attacking his sandwich ravishingly.
"Oh I don't know. That was just a little weird a second ago." She glanced back at him.
"What was weird? What I said to you?" Natsu had a bad habit of talking with his mouth full. Lucy sighed, got a napkin, and wiped off his face. "Hey, what are doing? I can do that myself."
"Hold still. You have mustard on your nose." Despite his protests, she kept trying to wipe off Natsu's nose. "Hold still. I almost got it."
Without warning, Natsu reached down to Lucy's sides and started tickling her. Lucy began to laugh uncontrollably while simultaneously reaching for Natsu's nose. "If you want to be like that, I can play dirty too!" He moved his hands to her armpits, which made her squeal and cackle.
"Natsu! Stop it! I'm gonna... Pee myself!" She managed to get out through her spurts of laughter. Finally, she squirmed free, but started to fall off her bar stool. Without thinking, Natsu stood to catch her. Lucy hadn't realized what she was doing. She grabbed Natsu's scarf to try and catch herself, only to end up on the floor with Natsu landing on top of her.
"What on God's green Earth are you children doing?" Master Makarov shouted at them.
Natsu's right hand had somehow found itself latched to Lucy's breast. His left was behind Lucy's head, cradling it a bit forward. And his lips were on hers.
The scene caused everyone in the guild to spit out their drinks and choke on their food. For what seemed like an eternity, the two wizards stared wide eyed at each other, not realizing their lips were both puckered. They broke apart, a small string of saliva coming from the corners of their mouths, but continued their gaze. That's when Lucy noticed Natsu hand was still attached. Natsu freaked out and was about to apologize, but was cut short with a fist to the face. "Natsu, you pervert!" She kicked him back to the bar and took off as fast she could towards her apartment.
Natsu wasn't even phased by the punch or kick. He was still in shock at the chance occurrence. He eyed his friends who were all staring daggers. "Uh... that was... unexpected..." The guys' dead glare turned into smirks.
"Way to go, Hot Head," Gray taunted.
Lucy stormed in her apartment and slammed the door behind her. Out of breath and utterly in awe, she sank to her knees and did the only thing that she could manage. She began to tear up and cry. She didn't know what to think. It all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye, she was on the floor with her pink-haired friend on top her. Kissing her. Also, trying to be slick by copping a feel. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the ceiling. "What am I gonna do now?" she said to herself.
A knock sounded behind her. "Lucy? You in there?" Natsu's voice came from behind the door.
She stood up and wiped her face as best as she could. Reluctantly, she opened to door to see Natsu, hand behind his head, face flushed. "Yeah. What is it?" Before he could speak, she turned around abruptly and walked over to her bed, falling face first in the pillow.
Natsu walked through the door, shutting it behind him. He sat on floor in front of her bed and looked at her. "Sorry about what happened back there. It was an accident." He couldn't help but fidget with the little string coming up from the rug.
Lucy inhaled deeply before letting out an exasperated sigh. She lifted her face off the pillow and looked at him. He had a welt on his cheek and the mustard was still on the tip of his nose. Great. Now he was probably pissed at her. "I..." she paused before continuing, "I'm sorry I hit you."
He glanced up at her, trying to hide his face from Lucy's watchful gaze. "It's fine. I deserved that." His tone sounded off. Maybe sad or angry or just plain old embarrassed.
Lucy sighed again, the awkward tension getting the best of her. Not wanting to seem weak, she stood up. "Well, I hope you're happy! That was my first kiss, you know. I was saving it for the right guy and you had to go and take it for yourself," Lucy acted out. She knew it was a long shot, but maybe it would fool Natsu.
He looked up at the blond haired girl before smiling shyly. "It was mine too, you know." He stood up and sat on the bed, rubbing his cheek. "This may not be the best time, but I do still want to talk to you about something."
'Oh yeah. I forgot about that..' Lucy huffed and sat the bed next to him, crossing her arms and legs in an attempt to show him she was angry. Of course, in her mind, all she could think about was the whole incident played on repeat. "You still have mustard on your nose." She reached forward to wipe it off, but Natsu quickly grabbed her hand. Desperately trying not to blush, Lucy put on the best scowl she could muster.
"Lucy, I..."
"Just hold still for half a second." She reached over and grabbed a tissue, finally ridding his nose of the yellow condiment.
He looked up at her, his face blank. "I think I have an idea for your birthday," he said, giving his signature grin. He stopped and noticed he still had a hold of her hand. Lucy's eyes followed his. They both quickly retracted their hands and looked away for a moment.
Lucy looked at him again. "What did you have in mind?" she said curiously.
As if forgetting the awkward situation at hand, Natsu stood up. "Alright, so get this! While on the road, I managed to snag some Akane Resort tickets!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the golden tickets of pleasure.
"But we've already been there before. Plus after the last incident that happened there..."
"No no, you're not getting it. They've changed it all up! New attractions, top of line slot machines, and they even added an all new building dedicated to nothing but food! Plus, I don't know how you are with rides there, but I've heard that added some more of those too."
"But you hate roller coasters and stuff."
"This isn't about me. This is about you! It's your birthday coming up after all."
Lucy smiled. 'You know, Natsu really isn't a bad guy. He's kind, caring, considerate, loyal, brave, strong, heroic, handsome, funny and- Wait a minute, what am I saying? He's not really that handsome.' And yet, when she looked up at him, still blabbing away, she began to see the passion in his eyes. He looked so determined. Birthdays weren't anything special to her. Nothing really exciting happened on any of her previous ones. For some reason though, she thought it was a good idea to mention it to Natsu. Boy was she right. She caught herself staring at him in a totally new way and shook her had to clear her mind. "That's so sweet of you. How many tickets did you get? Hopefully enough for all of us, right?"
Natsu stopped. His face had been flushed before, but now his face was turning a darker shade of red. "Well, you see. That's kind of the catch here. I only got two." Lucy looked at him with raised eyebrows. "That's the whole point of me talking to you alone. I didn't want the others to get jealous. And since that awkwardness at the guild hall happened, it feels like a lost cause. You already said you were mad at me."
"Just the two of us?" she muttered. She began to ponder the situation. "You know, it wasn't that bad. I mean you're so careless sometimes. Let's be honest here, you've accidentally touched my boobs before." She stopped to share a small giggle, Natsu slightly wincing in between short chuckles. 'Not to mention seeing me naked like it was a daily routine,' she thought to herself. "After all we've been through, so what if we kissed? I mean, we're still friends right?"
Natsu perked up a bit. "Yeah, you're right. I mean, we already almost kissed once before, so what's the big deal?" Lucy thought about that. A mischievous smile appeared on her face.
"Come to think of it, you ended up kissing Happy instead of me. So really, Happy was your first kiss."
Natsu deadpanned. "No way! That doesn't count! He's a cat! And a boy!"
"Ah ah ah. That's not how those things work. The only ones that can't be considered a first kiss are family members."
"Oh yeah, well I raised Happy. Not to mention, we grew up together. So he's like my son or brother or something."
Lucy giggled at him. He was kind of cute when he was all pouty. Spending some time alone with him would be nice. Even if she was still in denial about everything. "Alright then, when are we leaving?"