Resplendent

Lucy was nervous. Now, that may have seemed like a normal admission, but not to Lucy. She was never nervous. Gripping her bow in one hand and her viola in the other, the young violist stood frozen, watching the quintet perform what would be one of the last things she heard before going up there herself.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, taking in the sounds of her opponents. They weren't that bad. They weren't that bad, so much so that she was freaking out over how not-bad they sounded. She shook her head, willing her fingers to stop shaking.

Taking another deep breath, Lucy Heartfilia groaned. Closing her eyes would do her no good. All she could see when she closed her eyes was her teacher, whom she had left back home. As helpful as it would have been to have her mentor be there with her, the contest only had tickets for performing acts. The soloist had promised to bring back a trophy in return and the promise had been lingering in her mind ever since.

Everyone back home expected so much from her, had given her everything for this moment. She needed to win- she HAD to win. If she were still home, she'd have been much more confident in herself, but seeing all these people in suits and hearing the beautifully played instruments and smelling all that hairspray, just being in the same building as all these talented people made her second guess herself. She was the only soloist to enter, after all.

That was another thing, once she had gotten into the building, multiple people had come up to her, congratulated her for being so brave as to enter the competition alone. Confused and, quite frankly, a little shaken, Lucy had immediately searched the waiting room for another soloist. Alas, they were right. Lucy was alone in being alone. Not the first time, she supposed.

The blonde snapped out of her train of thought, quick enough to hear the clapping and resounding cheers from the audience. It had been a full house, and there were hundreds of people watching. Taking her nth deep breath, she let it all out.

One more, she thought. One more act, then I take the stage.

The shaking in her hands had not gone away, but they'd calmed down enough to play, hopefully. Wanting to get one last practice session, she stepped back, bumping into something in the process. Quickly spinning around, she could only watch as the object tilted to the floor. The shiny cello slipping away from the technician box it had been leaning against.

Gasping in shock, Lucy lunged forward to protect the costly instrument. A split second had gone by, and all Lucy got was a face full of fabric. Confused, she leaned away. The blonde ended up tripping over her own feet and landing ungracefully on the floor. Clearing her head, she brought her right hand to her temple, still holding her bow.

"Are you okay?"

A low, gentle voice caught her attention, and she looked up. A man in a navy suit was holding his hand out to her, his other gripped the neck of the cello she had knocked over. Staring a little, Lucy shook her head, taking his hand quickly before he noticed what she was doing.

But, with hair like that, he's probably used it, right? Who else had pink hair?

"I'm pretty sure there's just me, unless you've seen someone else before."

Realizing she had voiced her thought out loud, she coughed awkwardly. "Not really, no."

The man nodded in what seemed like approval, before turning to the cello, righting it back up against the box.

"I'm sorry," she burst out, startling him. He paused and looked up at her, confused.

"Why're you sorry?"

The blonde blinked, "I'm sorry I knocked over your cello?" The questioning tone to her voice must've turned something in his head, because not long after he laughed lowly, letting go of her hand and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

"No big deal, I caught it just in time, didn't I?" His head tilted in a manner Lucy could only describe as playful. With his hands in his pockets and his smile and the little tilt to his head, she stood there, at a loss for words.

"-p next?" He had asked a question. He had asked a question?

"I'm sorry," The violist chuckled awkwardly, "what was that?"

He looked beyond her shoulder, taking a glance at the performing act. He shifted all his weight onto his right foot, giving off an air of nonchalance. Not taking his eyes off the performance, he spoke up. "I was asking if you were up next."

Turning around to watch as well, Lucy took a glance at her viola, ever present in her left hand. She sighed, "Yeah, I'm after the next act." The violist brought the bow to her viola and tapped a few times. Getting caught up in her thoughts once more, she would have forgotten all about the pink- haired man's existence, if it wasn't for his occasional sigh.

Taking in all the people in the seats, she was starting to get nervous. She took in a deep breath, and released a shaky exhale. As if sensing her nerves, the man behind her spoke up. "So, how many are you in your ensemble?" He took a step forward so he was more visible.

Turning to acknowledge the man, she realized she didn't even know his name. Taking in his facial features, the way the light from the stage reflected off his dark eyes, she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

Chuckling, the man stuck his right hand out, holding it out between them, "My name's Natsu, cellist for my quintet." He made a little gesture to the cello with his head, and she nodded in understanding.

Taking his hand in hers, she shook lightly, "Lucy, violist for myself."

He took a glance at her viola and smiled, "It's a very pretty violin!" He pointed out, showing off his teeth in a big smile. He let go of her hand and stuck it back into his pocket.

A tick appeared in Lucy's head, "It's a viola, not a violin. Two completely different instruments." She corrected him, bringing up her viola to prove her point, "It's obviously bigger than your average violin."

Natsu continued, ignoring her sentiments, "I have two violinists in my quartet too, kinda hard when your last member is a cellist as well."

Lucy inhaled deeply, closing her eyes in annoyance, before she exhaled to calm herself down. Opening her mouth to speak, she got cut off.

The crowd applauded again, and she can't help the slight tremor that comes with it.

Noticing her hands shake, Natsu gave the tiniest smile. He remembered what it was like in his first year of performing. If he was being honest with himself, he was terrified back then. The crowds he loved had made him uneasy, and he was unsure of his opponents. Now, however, he knew better. After all, 5 years in and dozens of awards to his name, he had to provide some form of confidence to his quartet.

They were both watching the performance again, albeit with him a little closer to her. The blonde sighed, and tried to suppress the shaking in her hands.

"You're going to do just fine, you know." He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. "You play like a pro."

Blushing at the compliment, she whispered back, "And how would you know?"

It was as if she could feel him smiling. "I heard you practice in the changing room," he stated simply, shrugging his shoulders out of habit. "Could have mistaken you for one of the judges if I hadn't known better."

He snuck a glance at her face, and internally cheered when he saw a smile planted there. He nodded in satisfaction, looking around before she noticed what he was doing.

Lucy, on the other hand, let her body relax. Was she really that good? She hoped he wasn't lying, he seemed so trustworthy, after all. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled with much more confidence, straightening her back and bringing her feet together. Faltering when she heard her name being called out, she hesitated.

This was it. This was her chance to prove what she was worth. Her chance to get noticed. What if she messed up?

A few seconds went by, and she heard her name called a second time. Feeling her legs turn to stone, she was nudged forward by Natsu. Sparing him a glance, he gave a thumbs up, to go along with his bright smile. Feeling herself take one on, she stepped onto the stage.

The bright lights had never felt so welcoming.

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A/N:

So, this was supposed to be a story where all this happened, and Lucy watched Natsu perform, and met the rest of his quartet (who I planned out too, instruments and everything) and joined them to make this powerhouse cello quintet (I looked all this up for research you have no idea) and they get together and cheer each other on as they perform. But, well, I kinda liked just leaving it like this.

I may have plans on actually writing what I have planned, but I'll leave that up to you guys to decide. Should I make that story? What should I do with it if I do? Or do you guys like this simple one- shot and prefer it left like this?

I'm sorry for the little mistakes, I'll fix them along the way.

Great apologies for those waiting on my supermarket au, I'm kinda at a loss now. If you want more of that I suggest you review ideas over there . thanks

Please review! They keep me going and make me so very happy! I have a bunch of other stuff planned, so if you can afford the wait, I promise to keep everyone updated!

Thank you for reading~

-UnderratedOver

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