TITLE: The Perfect Boyfriend
PAIRING: Natsu x Lucy
SUMMARY: Natsu and Happy come across a very interesting "scrapbook" while waiting for Lucy to come home.
A/N: First of all, sorry for putting lots of horizontal lines/page breaks? Haha. And about Natsu's birthday and age and stuff, it's unknown...so that's what I did. lol. Have fun!
"Yosh, Happy! We beat her to it again!"
"Aye!"
Natsu and Happy stood in front of the building known as their friend Lucy's apartment that fine evening. Of course, the owner of the place was no where in sight. The fire mage didn't catch her scent anywhere near them either. She was probably still hanging out with the folks at the guild.
Not that they ever waited for her to come home before entering since Natsu was, most of the time, impatient and preferred to charge right in. They've been doing this since the moment they found out Lucy got a new place to live in. It's fine, thinks the pink-haired boy, as long as they don't break down the doors or smash in through the windows- Lucy would never let them live that one down. No damage done. It's all good.
Lucy seemed to be caught off-guard every single time, though. She never really got used to seeing them arrive before her in her own home.
The fire dragon slayer snickers.
Her reaction was always priceless to him, just thinking about it made him ecstatic.
He pumps his fist in the air and points to the window that lead to their blonde comrade's living room. "Do it, Happy!"
"Aye sir!" The exceed exclaims and flies up to a window on the second floor before pushing one open. They always came in through this way, so as not to be caught by the land lady. Happy didn't know whether or not the window had locks or if Lucy simply kept forgetting to close them properly. Natsu didn't care much about those things though. He never took notice of the details most of the time, being the type to always look at the bigger picture.
Happy files back down, taking Natsu by his shoulders and slowly lifting him up. Natsu chuckles, while Happy proceeds by zooming up towards the window. He somehow manages to fit his dragon slayer friend through the little open square and they both land on the wooden floor in Lucy's home. Operation: Break into Lucy's house, a success!
"Ohhh, Happy! We got in!" Natsu exclaims as he runs into Lucy's- also unlocked- bedroom and jumps headfirst onto her bed, kicking his shoes off his feet as he does so.
"Lucy's bed is softer than any bed..." He rolls around and rubs his head against the pillows. He stands up on the bed and jumps up and down."Why do you think so, Happy?"
Happy ponders for a moment, and a light suddenly goes on in his head. "It's made from fish skin!"
"So that's what it is!" Natsu's mouth forms an O shape as he sits up, his index finger pointing upward. But really, that wasn't it.
Natsu jumps up one last time and then lands on the bed with a soft thud.
The fire mage looks around a bit, wondering if his nakama had any new "toys" for him to play with. A colorful stack of "blocks" catches his eye and he gets on his feet. He heads towards Lucy's desk and lifts the previously neatly stacked books one by one. "Oh, she hasn't finished this yet?" He says as he drops a hardbound book with a red cover. It was the one he saw three days ago. The dragon slayer flips open the book, the marker is still on the same page, 172. He goes over every book on her table, dropping them carelessly after and not minding where they land.
"Man, Lucy's house is getting boring..." Natsu falls to the floor and finds himself sitting then finds himself looking at the small chest where Lucy keeps her letters to her mother. Of course, Natsu would love to take a look at those, but he might get beaten up for it again. Besides, it was all text and no pictures. How the hell was he supposed to understand that? He does know where she keeps her manuscripts... but it's not like he can understand that either. Text and Natsu don't agree with each other much. The text was small, too. So, no thanks. He could look in her closet, but for some reason he got beaten up for that once too. Maybe he'll go shower in her bathroom right now? Hmm, that can be done later. The fire dragon slayer wanted to have fun. His pointed eyes travel around more, left and right, up and down. In the end though, he finds nothing that catches his interest. Lucy's room was pretty much still Lucy's room, the way they left it yesterday.
And for once, silence fills the room.
"Ooh! Look what I found!" Natsu's eyes light up, but as he turns to see Happy holding a thick sky blue notebook. A disappointed expression makes it's way to his face after.
"Happy, that's just another book! You know I can't understand crap about books."
"But it has pictures!" The flying cat flips the notebook open at a random page and holds it up for Natsu to see. His eyes grow wide as he sees the image of his half best friend/half eternal rival stuck on the side of the page with glue.
"What the hell is this? Why is that bastard Gray in this book thing?" Natsu grabs the book from Happy and for the first time, actually seriously reads the text next to Gray's picture out loud. He discovers it's not actually like those novels Lucy reads or writes. Instead of a story, it contains some character profiles, plus her side-comments and opinions.
GRAY FULLBUSTER
Age: 18
Birthday: Have yet to find out! :D
Occupation: Fairy Tail Mage (Ice Make Magic)
Natsu cocks his eyebrow. 'A bingo book?'
CHECKS
- He's actually intelligent or Mature ~most of the time, when Natsu isn't there
"Aye!"
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Natsu says before he continues on reading.
- He (looks like) he likes me?
"Lucy is weird."
"Aye."
- He saved me a lot of times.
'But didn't I save her more times?' Natsu thinks."That bastard Gray! I'm gonna challenge him tomorrow when I get to the guild! Whoever saves Lucy the most number of times on our next mission wins!" He growls unconciously as he reads on. You really wouldn't be able to tell if he was jealous of Gray because he was interested in Lucy, or if it was just one of their stupid rivalry contests- could be both, though. Then again, this is Natsu Dragneel we're talking about...
- My Nakama! :)
- Pretty cute...I guess, Handsome ~I'd get killed if I admit this in public
"Eh?" The fire mage blinks and rereads the sentence. "Pretty cute... I guess... Handsome, I'd get killed if I admit this in...HANDSOME?"
He then bursts out in Laughter.
"Gray? That icy bastard? Handsome? Not a chance! HAHAHAHA! What is this book anyway?"
Natsu closes the book and takes a look at the cover. It would seem like a normal, notebook. It has about 200 pages and a thick cardboard cover. The pages are connected to each by detachable rings. Each page seems to have a picture of somebody on it, their name, basic info and Lucy's weird opinions penned in neat handwriting.
The first page says, "Lucy's List of Perfect Boyfriends," the letter "i" in list has the dot replaced by a heart. A small- surprisingly, to Natsu, well-drawn- chibi version of Lucy smiling is colored in at the corner. Hearts and random shapes are drawn all over the rest of the page.
Natsu and Happy look at the book, then glance at each other. Seeing Gray's page, then the title of this supposed book made Natsu laugh all the more.
"Pffffft! BOYFRIENDS? GRAY? HAHAHA!" He rolls on the floor, still not letting go of the notebook, wiping a lone tear from his eye as he tries to catch his breath. "Happy, Lucy's getting better at pranks. Maybe our genius is rubbing off on her!" He turns to the blue exceed.
"Aye! Lucy is weird!" replies the little cat.
"Let's look at this more," Natsu flips the book open on the first page.
A picture of a blonde pretty boy was glued to the side of the page once again. "Hey, he looks familiar!" says the pink-haired dragon slayer.
HIBIKI LATES
Age: 20
Birthday: I wish I knew T-T So I could send him presents...But wait? What about my rent today?
Occupation: Blue Pegasus Mage (Archive Magic)
CHECKS
- HANDSOME.
- He was in Sorcerer Magazine's 'Mage I'd Like as a Boyfriend'
- Warm and Caring - Smart~ He can use archive magic! :3
EXES
- Lots of women will kill me for dating him.
At the bottom, is Gray's segment. Natsu skips the parts he's already seen and reads on.
EXES
- He's a stripper.
'Pffft!' Natsu thinks with a silly expression on his face. 'That's right, who'd want to date that stripper.'
- Juvia will/might skin me alive.
"Aye," Happy says after Natsu reads the last line. That's right, Juvia loved Gray with burning passion. And didn't that demon girl from Galuna Island also show interest in the ice mage?
What do people see in Gray, really?
Natsu didn't know. He didn't get women.
The page is turned.
"EH?" He sits on the edge of the bed and falls down on the mattress. "Jellal? Mystogan? SIEGRAIN?"
JELLAL/SIEGRAIN/MYSTOGAN
Age: Technically...they have the same age, right? I don't know about Mystogan-san though... 19
Birthday: Uhhh...
Occupation: Magic Council Member (This one was crossed out, Happy states that Lucy probably updates her list)/KING OF EDOLAS ~Kyaa!~
CHECKS
- HANDSOME. Hohoho
- Strong ^.^
- Uhhh, Mystogan is a PRINCE, now KING
- They're really all charming and kind..Jellal was just possessed? ehehe
EXES
- Erza likes(?) Jellal
Erza? Liking someone? Hmmm...
Natsu turns to the bottom of the page, and finds a picture of a guy who he finds kind of familiar, again.
LOKE/LEO, says the header.
"What? This isn't Loke!" He says as he turns the book upside down and shaking it vigorously, as if the picture will change if he does it.
"Aye, that's him in his spirit form," Happy says as he watches Natsu do all sorts of things to the book.
"What the hell? He looks so cool?"
"Aye."
Age: He's a spirit...
Birthday: Again, he's a spirit...
Occupation: Fairy Tail Mage, Leader of the 12 Zodiac Spirits
CHECKS
- He'll never let me live this down if he sees this, but yes he is pretty cute...Cuter when he's Leo...Is it the hair?
- He'll save me whenever I'm in trouble! But I'm working on becoming better at combat though...
"Loke should be part of our contest, don't you think Happy?" The dragon slayer turns to his companion who nods.
"He's really strong though! He's the leader of the spirits!" The blue exceed informs him, and an evil smirk finds it's way to Natsu's face.
"It's decided, Happy! I'll definitely make Lucy summon him next time and I'll fight him!"
"But Lucy won't just do it, right? We have to give her fish!" The exceed cutely raises his hand in the air.
"Good thinking, Happy!"
EXES
- PLAYBOY.
- He's a spirit. T.T
"Now that I think about it, you can't really date spirits, can you Happy?" The pink-haired dragon slayer ponders as he sits up on the bed, putting the book down to adjust his scarf. He then continues to browse through the book, flipping page after page, only stopping when someone he knew or something interesting catches his eye. Most of them were blank anyway, so it made the browsing easier. Happy says something about Lucy taking too long, after a while, and heads to the kitchen to see if Lucy has some fish. Natsu was left alone in the room.
A disappointed expression crosses the fire dragon slayers face. And this time, it's not because he didn't catch anything particularly funny or interesting in the book. No jokes no pranks, no nothing. That wasn't it. He's almost gotten all the way through the end. Probably...maybe he was expecting something else? Like uh, his picture? Stuff about him and...Wait what? He couldn't think like that. Lucy was his best friend, his nakama. Of course she wouldn't put him there. Gray was there though, so maybe?
Happy returns from his journey to Lucy's kitchen, a fish already half-eaten resting in his paws. He asks Natsu if he saw his picture there. Natsu shakes his head, and Happy flees to the kitchen once again, wailing about how mean Lucy was for not including him in their 'friendship book' just because he wasn't human.
The pink-haired dragon slayer's eyes light up. "Is it because I'm a dragon?" He says to himself, flipping the pages, more, almost reaching the last page. Again, that wasn't it. Loke was a spirit, yet he was included in the book.
He was about to give up, when he turns the book to the last page that he assumes to be blank just like all the others before it, as he lies on the bed on his side.
It lands on the page and his eyes widen, a weird kind of warm feeling stirring up inside him. He reads on, glancing at the picture that accompanied the text from time to time. A smile makes it's way to his face.
There on the last page of the book wasn't a picture of him, but a copy of the picture that Reedus painted on Wendy's last birthday party.
It was a mess in the background. He could make out Gray throwing a slice of strawberry cake towards someone and beer spilling out everywhere. Erza was looking at him with scary eyes. Tables were overturned and chunks of food, wood, and puddles of random liquid were spilled and scattered all over the floor. Cana was drinking at the side and Mira was laughing as usual. Someone's shirt and pants were lying on the floor, the previously white color of the top dyed a rainbow of colors. Happy, Lily and Carla were floating in the background next to Mira. A lot of random people were there too. But despite the catastrophe in the background, though, everyone seemed to be having fun. Especially the two people in the highlight of the picture- Natsu and Lucy. They were in their normal outfits and his arm was draped over her shoulder, with her hand holding on to it. Natsu had a icing on his head and Lucy with chocolate over her fairy tail mark and a stroke of it on her forehead.
And below the picture- there was no more space beside it since it was centered- the text read:
NATSU DRAGNEEL
He skipped the parts about the age, birthday and occupation that he already knew since this was his page, but yes he was surprised that Lucy actually got them right. She knew more about that guy than both of them thought.
CHECKS
- Ever heard of falling for your BEST FRIEND? It's a common story plot. :P - Sense of humor. Heeee.
- He'll come to my rescue whenever. Like a prince, only...he's not riding on a horse, he can't handle that stuff. .
- He's actually cool when serious.
- He lets me touch his scarf. :3 - He's pretty cute...especially with his bangs at the front down. (NOOOOOOO LUCY)
- He values family and friendship more than anyone I've ever known.
- What else can I say? Who else would UPROOT a rainbow sakura tree for you and replant it on a boat and send it to parade on the water in front of your house?
- He's always there. And will always be. (WHAT, LUCY? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?)
EXES
- He's childish. But I find it entertaining...sometimes. (Does that make it a check too?)
Natsu smiles as he closes the book.
"Happy, let's go! I remembered I had to do something back at home," he shouts to the blue exceed as he leaps out the window.
Lucy gets home that night, surprised at seeing that Natsu wasn't there on her bed with Happy when she got home. They were probably there, though, since the window is open.
She walks to her room and puts her bag on her desk. Her eyes widen after she looks around as she sees the sight of her perfect boyfriends book lying open on the last page on the floor.
"Don't tell me they read this?"
And the morning after, Lucy had entered the guild forgetting about what she had seen last night. She went over to her usual place at the bar with Mirajane, who immediately asked her is she had seen Natsu or Happy. She replied by shaking her head. Mirajane, the matchmaker, tells her to turn around.
Lucy stares at the boy before her for a moment, her eyes scrutinizing his look. There was something definitely off, something different. It wasn't his clothes or something...Did he get a haircut?
The blonde mage blinks.
WAIT? A HAIRCUT? No, his bangs are just down... Wait Lucy, his...bangs? Down? NO! HE READ THAT BOOK?
Mirajane giggles as Natsu runs toward the celestial spirit mage and puts his arm around her shouder. Lucy flushes bright red.
The barmaid whispers good luck to her and Natsu drags her off to their job.
"When will they, really?" Erza says as she takes Lucy's place by the bar.
Mirajane replies with a smile, "Soon, I hope."