A ball of paper went flying through the air in a perfect arc landing with the other six discarded roughly smooshed balls. Lucy huffed out in aggravation at her new blank piece of paper in front of her. She was in the middle of her new story she had been working on non stop the last few nights, per her nightly ritual. Something just wasn't clicking tonight though. No matter where she started nothing was flowing from her like usual. In other words she was at a standstill, the story just wasn't speaking to her. "Damn writers block..." Lucy sighed getting up stretching out her stiff muscles from sitting in the same spot for so long.
She headed into the kitchen to get her some tea to soothe her irritation and headache she felt coming on. Filling the kettle with water and setting it on the stove top to boil she walked to her window to look out over the canal. Usually the view from her cute apartment was beautiful and peaceful. She lived on a quaint little street next to a bridge that went over the river to the rest of Magnolia. Usually you could see gondolas and other boats floating by fishing every once in awhile. Even at night it was breathtaking with the moon and vibrant stars reflecting off the water, making everything serene. Tonight was an exception though.
It being the middle of spring had brought in the heavier storms and it had not let up for three days now. The sky was the darkest she'd ever seen and the rain was coming down in such a torrent you couldn't even see more than a few feet out from her face, except when the lightening crashed through the night for a brief reprieve. The kettle starting whistling causing the blonde to jump and rush to pull it off. Making her a cup she decided to turn her desk lamp off and head to bed. It was already getting close to one in the morning and she had to get up early to meet the team at the guild to go over the upcoming mission they had chosen. Sipping the last of the tea she set the cup down on her bed side table and crawled under her sheets and comforter and fell into a fitful sleep.
The celestial mage woke up to beams of sunlight slanting though her window and shining right in her eyes. She sat up while blinking and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, not quite believing the sun was up and shining after the storm that had kept her awake with its racket half the night. Looking over to her clock she realized it was already half past eight and she was suppose to be at the guild at ten. Hopping up she rushed to her closet grabbing her clothes and a towel from her shelf before rushing into the bathroom to shower and get dressed. After slipping on her her mid thigh blue skirt and white collared crop top she headed next to her night table to pull on her brown lace up ankle boots and slipped on her belt with her keys and whip. Deciding to just run a brush through her hair and let it lay naturally she left locking her her door hurrying off to her second home.
Walking up to the large double doors she could already hear the laughing and rowdiness coming from inside. Shaking her head at her family's antics so early in the morning, she walked through the entrance just to immediately have to duck from a flying table flying straight for her head.
"Oi! Ice princess I'll beat your ass." Natsu was yelling from the side of the guild staring down a now half naked Gray. "tsch! You wish flame breath! We both know you couldn't take me in a million years." Gray yelled back, stalking closer to Natsu. "Boys! That's enough. You nearly hurt Lucy with your rough housing." The red haired knight scolded the boys, a dark aura starting to come off her. "Eep!" Both the boys squealed out clutching each other trying to escape titania's wrath. "It's okay guys, no blood no foul. Plus it just wouldn't be Fairytail without having to dive out of the way from random missiles assaulting my entrance everyday." Lucy laughed out while dusting off her shirt and smoothing her skirt back down. The othe guild members laughed out loud at Lucy's statement and while some waved their hello's to the girl.
Natsu ran up to her throwing his arm around her shoulders pulling her over to the team's usual table. "Luce! I'm glad you came, you can help me tell the ice pervert over here that I can do everything better than him." Lucy just smiled while shaking her head at the two's ridiculous rivalry. "What was that flame brain! How am I the pervert? You're the one saying you can pick up chicks better than I can. Which is hilarious considering I doubt you even know what that means or what you would even do with one if you could get one!" Gray shouted pointing his finger in Natsu's chest. "Gray. Clothes." Lucy mumbled trying not to stare anywhere but the naked man's eyes. "Bahhhh! When did that happen!?" He scurried off trying to find his articles of clothing that he threw off when arguing with the fire dragon slayer.
" I can't believe you boys were fighting to the point of throwing tables over that!" The blonde giggled out. Erza grunted her agreement while eating her strawberry cake. " So what got you guys on picking up girls anyway?" Lucy asked while thanking Mira who had just place a strawberry milkshake in front of her with a smile and nod.
"Well popsicle dick over there was bragging about how now that Loke isn't around as often, now that he's your spirit, that he was the best ladies man at the guild. Of course I told him no one would like his ugly mug and that I was better looking than him." While pointing to his body like it was obvious. Lucy almost choked on her drink from laughing so hard at her friend. She didn't think that Natsu had even tried to talk to a girl like that, let alone purposely flirt with someone. He always seemed so oblivious of the opposite sex. I mean the boy had never even had a girlfriend and not from lack of girls in town throwing themselves at the "great salamander". He would always just walk away completely unfazed and bored grumbling about wanting to fight something or being hungry. Never ever showing interest in anyone and always completely dense when someone was having mature conversations at the guild at nights.
" Pshh! You wish you looked as good as me. You've never even gone out, let alone gone home with a girl. You're just saying all that cause I said I was better than you." Gray accused while sitting next to the blonde finally acquiring all his clothing again. " Sure I've gone home with a girl before! I go to Lucy's all the time!" The pink mage growled out at the ice mage. Lucy blushed at the unintentional innuendo that her best friend had just yelled out making some of the other guild members start to tune into their conversation with raised eyebrows and smirks.
Glancing at the bar she could see Mira with hearts in her eyes, grinning at them maniacally. She knew she would have to shut this down quick before people got the wrong idea. " Natsu you baka! You can't just yell out stuff like that. We're friends and yes you have been over to my house to hang out like the rest of the team but you have never picked me up or taken me home in that way!" Lucy was now shrinking in embarrassment.
"Bahahahaha" Gray was laughing so hard he was holding his stomach and even the stoic requip mage had a light blush on her face from Natsu's exclamation. "Completely dense I told ya'll." Gray smirked feeling smug now that he had proven Natsu wrong. Natsu's fist burst into flames as he stood up looking angry at being laughed at by his rival. " Oh yea Ice prick, I challenge you to show that I'm the best." he yelled. Gray hopped up, his body emitting a aura of frost from his now shirtless body while his hands started shining blue. Ice started covering the tips of his fingers. "You want to go slanty eyes! Any time, any where!" he roared back, the boys foreheads touching now while glaring at each other.
These two were out of their minds Lucy had decided. She was used to them fighting about everything and arguing just for the sake of arguing. But this was a whole new level of insanity. They were about to beat each other senseless over something so minute and frivolous as this. How would that even prove that any ways she wondered. As if reading her mind, Cana sauntered up with a cheshire grin on her face holding her usual mug of her favorite drink. " Boys boys! No need to get all heated over this. There's a much easier way to settle this little challenge" she said while taking a seat on the edge of the table facing the two. Both the boys plopped back down on the bench facing Cana with curiosity in their eyes. "What are you suggesting?" Gray asked tentatively. Everyone knew Cana had a sick sense of humor and always made bets and games at the expense of her guildmates. "Just a friendly competition is all." She answered with a smile. " I've gotten VIP tickets to the new club opening up in town. We all go then you and Natsu will go try and pick up the girls of our choice and will be graded on different aspects of your game. Since it'll be us girls choosing and grading your performances it will be an unbiased decision." She took a deep drink from her cup.
Natsu was looking a little hesitant but at seeing Gray's cool expression he chimed in " Sounds good! What will ya'll be grading on exactly?" Cana tapped her finger on her chin in a thoughtful expression. " Once we give you a target you have to get her to let you to buy her a drink. Which should be easy enough. Two, Get her to dance with you and get her to let you kiss her. Three, Actually sealing the deal by taking her home and you'll have to provide proof of course." She laughed at the boys who both had their eyebrows raised to their hairline. Gray regained his composure first, " What kind of proof do you mean?"
Mira hearing the whole thing picked up Lucy's empty glass and put down another slice of cake for Erza. With a salacious smile she chimed in, " A trophy from the nights shenanigans. Her Panties!" Cana busted out laughing nodding her head in agreement with the she-devil. Luckily Lucy had finished with her drink or she would of choked on it again from the girls plotting. Erza wasn't so lucky. Natsu had to smack her on the back to help her get the cake out of her windpipe she had just sucked down.
The boys were looking at each other wandering if their rivalry was important enough to get them to play along with the drunkards game. "Well if you boys are too scared of a little competition like this, neither of you could lay claim to the guild's best ladies man." Cana provoked the two. Natsu's eyes instantly sparked at the challenge. " I'm all fired up! I can beat the stripper easily!" he grinned widely. Gray just scoffed at the comment. Knowing it was probably going to bite him in the ass for letting the girls take the wheel on this he agreed." Alright. I'll play along. Plus this will be a walk in the park. No way in hell is Flame for brains going to win against me at this. What time are you guys wanting to meet up?". "We'll meet at eight in front of the place and then go in together to my table." She said while rising from her perch to go to back to her barrel in the corner. Everyone waved her off while turning back toward each other.
"Well I figured we could take the weekend off then head out first thing Monday morning since the job will take a few weeks to complete." Erza said bringing the team back to focus in why they were all there in the first place. The boys nodded their heads in agreement. Lucy was a little more curious though," What exactly is the job that will take that amount of time?". " We'll be going to a small town on the west side of Crocus taking care of monsters that are plaguing the town at night. They already have a few missing people that no one seems to of made any headway on. The beast seem to be violently tearing the town to shreds at night but no one seems to know what they are exactly. And when the local authorities try to track them in the daylight the trail always meets a dead end." Lucy's eyebrows scrunched in concern. Gray even looked a little worried."
If they have already had people missing why are they just now reaching out to the guilds?" he asked. "Seems they were trying to get the local guilds to take care of it but it seems this job is above their class rank. So they need a stronger team to take care of it. The train for that town is only leaving tonight and Monday morning. Since you all have made previous engagements then Monday is the soonest we can start our journey." The requip mage stated bluntly. Both boys looked a little reprimanded for being the reason the job was going to start a little later than they had planned.
Erza stood up and told them before walking away," We will all meet at the train station at nine am. You behave honorably tonight boys. If I hear anything about ya'll making a fuss or causing any damage while being out, you will have me to deal with." Natsu and Gray shrank into themselves at the blatant threat they were just given. Lucy hopped up to head to Cana's table that a group had started hovering around. " Good luck boys! I think you guys are going to need it." she giggle out. Mira, Cana, Levi, Laki, Kinana, even Evergreen had come down from the second floor, were huddled together talking and laughing loudly. "Lucy! Are you helping judge Gray and Natsu tonight too?" Levi asked. Lucy laughed a little at that, contemplating what she should do about the situation her friends seemed to find themselves in." No I don't think I will, I love them both and I could never pick one over the other. Even over something as ridiculous as this. I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings." she told Levi. Levi just shook her head in agreement as if she knew her friend's big heart could never put her at odds with her team/family. Cana was already taking everyone's bets about tonight's entertainment. It had been decided that Cana, Mira, and Evergreen were going be the judges. But Lucy decided to go along to keep an eye on the trio, so they wouldn't get too malicious.
Heading back to her apartment to get ready she heard Natsu calling out to her, " Luce! wait up." She turned around surprised that the fire mage wasn't back at his own place doing the same. "What's up Natsu? What are you doing over here?"she asked.
" Lucy I need to ask you for a favor." He said nervously. Lucy looking at him curiously, she waved him up behind her. Marching up her apartment stairs she unlocked her door and beckoned Natsu in behind her. Dropping her keys and belt on the coffee table she plopped down on her couch looking up to see Natsu sitting down next to her. "So what's this favor you need? Can it wait till tomorrow? You know we only have a few hours before we're meeting up with the guys." she asked him.
Natsu took a deep breath and looked at her with a very rare serious expression on his face. " Lucy that's what I wanted to ask you about. You're my best friend and we talk to each other about everything. And you're a girl...and know what they like. I've never intentionally tried to make a girl want me before. Kissing sure. But not actually talking to them." Lucy was shocked to say the least. Natsu has actually kissed someone before. "Of course I'm a girl moron. And wait a minute! How have you kissed a girl but not had a conversation with them. I mean you don't just kiss someone you don't like. You would of had to of talked to know if you liked each other or not right?" she said.
Honestly Lucy felt like she wouldn't be the best person to be asking advice of. She had only ever dated Hibiki for a whopping six months before they decided it just wasn't meant to be. They had kissed of course but that was at least a few dates into the relationship. And even though things had gotten hot and heavy she never had sex with the man. Lucy was still holding her V-card believe it or not. She wasn't ready to give it to someone she wasn't sure was right for her. Hibiki was sweet and attractive. His kisses were nice and she always loved spending time with him. But there was never a true spark that set her on fire when they were together. No all consuming passion that took over her rational part of mind, that made her want to lose all control. Lucy being a writer had a hell of a lot of expectations for what she was wanting for her first time. And even though gorgeous Hibiki was obviously well seasoned in all things female. He just didn't get her riled up. They had parted on mutual terms and the blonde just hadn't had the energy to try to give dating a go again much to Mira's chagrin.
Lucy focused back on Natsu as he started answering her questions." Not really most the time it was always when we were out drinking or at a club and it was extremely loud. A girl usually just walks up to me either rubbing next to me or dancing and after drinking most the time we just ended up making out." He shrugs his shoulders like he didn't just drop new character shattering news.
She was starting to look at the man in a whole new light. Maybe her friend wasn't as dim witted as she thought. "What exactly are you wanting from me Natsu? Are you sure maybe talking to Gajeel or maybe even Laxus wouldn't help you out better?" she asked while wringing her hands, feeling bad for being inexperienced for once for her friend's sake.
" Yeah right! I can picture metal head's and Lightening rod's laughter now. I know you don't want to get between this since the ice princess is close to you too. That's why I'm just asking on what I should say to even the playing field a little." " You wouldn't want your best friend to be too embarrassed would you Lucy?" he asked with the biggest puppy dog face she had ever seen.
Well shit she could never say no to him when he makes that face. Even if she wasn't the most knowledgeable person on this subject per say all opinions were really objective anyway's right? " Fine! Fine, I'll help you. Though I'm not really sure what girls like really. You know not everyone likes the same things or look for the same attributes in a individual." She huffed out. " Attri-whats?" he looked at her with his head cocked to one side. "Certain things women like such as hair and eye color, what he's wearing, his physical shape, personality, what they enjoy doing. What calls out to them and they basically find attractive," she explained.
The pinkette looked deep in thought taking in everything his friend was telling him trying to sort it out. " So what do you look for Lucy? Say you were one of the girls chosen, what would a guy say to you to accomplish what I have to?" Natsu asked trying to get some enlightenment of the opposite gender. The celestial mage had a tinge of pink to her cheeks just from imagining herself in the situation and was trying her hardest to not get embarrassed to the point she would be able to help him.
" U..Uh..Uhh well okay let me think for a minute. If I was sitting at a bar and a random guy came up to me and was trying to buy me a drink he would definitely have to introduce himself. Maybe compliment me on what I was wearing or maybe my eyes or whatever. Confidence goes a long way but not over the top like playboys do you know. I hate when guys just talk to my tits. There is more to me than just my breasts. So that's a no no. If you have to look fine. But make sure it's a passing glance on your way to my face other wise I've already dismissed you." She tells him while leaning back fantasizing the situation clearly now. Natsu stays quiet giving her his undivided attention waiting for her to continue. "
"After that I'd probably let him buy me a drink and sit down to talk a little. Personally I don't really have a definitive type I think. Hair, eye, skin color. None of that really matters. As long as the guy obviously takes care of himself. A Gorgeous smile is a must though. That always make my knees go weak. Not a smirk or cocky ass grin but a genuine dimple and all smile." She sighs dreamily. " And if you can make me laugh that's a bonus too. If things are going good from there and the attractive smiling not too perverted guy asked me to dance I'd say yes. You know I like dancing anyway so it's not like I find that to hard to do with a stranger. That's pretty much guaranteed at a club unless you go there specifically with someone." Natsu just nodded his head at her. " So do I dance with her and wait for her to kiss me like other girls usually do or do I kiss her. Also as far asking to take someone home, how will I know she wants to. Like I said I usually have girls do all the leading." he questioned her.
Lucy honestly didn't know how to reply. If a girl was that into her friend like he was used to then that would be great and probably a hell of a lot easier on him. But knowing Cana and Mira they were going to make this quite a challenge and pick someone he was going to have to work for. She was starting to wonder if telling her best friend how to pick up a woman just to sleep with her for a bet was morally wrong or not.
Shaking her head she sat up again and just told him honestly," Natsu I have no idea. I've never done that and wouldn't even know what a man could do to make me go through with what you are going to do." Natsu looked a little forlorn and not having anything else to go off of hopped up suddenly with a big smile. " How about we play it out and you just correct me or tell me if I should do something else differently. That way I feel a little more confident in all of this." he shouted out like it was the best idea ever.
The blonde just looked at him like he had been punched in the head a few too many times. " You want me to basically roleplay a club scenario with you and let you try to "pick me up" all while trying to be serious?" she asked incredulously. "Yep! Come on" he said pulling her off the couch to go sit at her kitchen island on a bar stool. " Okay you sit here and I'm going to walk over and I'll introduce myself and we can begin." he said over his shoulder while walking over to her radio lacrima turning up a fast paced song. " Why are you turning that on?" Lucy asked him exasperatedly . " So when we get to the dancing I don't have to break character." he winked at her.
When Natsu turned around his face still had a wide grin but the look in his eyes were full of mischief. He walked over, confidence just oozing off of him. Lucy gasped a little at how different the pinkette seemed. She just couldn't believe that Natsu just acted so oblivious all the time. But with the way he was looking at her and undressing her with his eyes proved otherwise. A few steps away he tripped over the corner of her rug and fell into her lap. Laughing so hard her stomach was starting to hurt, she helped him stand up straight. Some things never change. When she went to look up, she didn't realize how close they were to each other or how close his face was to hers. She took a deep stabilizing breath and scooted back on her stool a little to put some space between them. The dragon slayer just looked at her intensely, " Hey I'm Natsu, sorry to introduce myself this way. How bout' you let me buy you a drink to make it up to you beautiful?" He basically purred out.
Lucy stared at the boy in shock. She couldn't believe he actually did all that on purpose as a pick up line. He was better at this than she thought. If she wasn't just acting out a scene with him she wouldn't know any better. It was just so Natsu. Realizing her was waiting on her to accept she quickly stated, " Sure thing! It's nice to meet you Natsu, I'm Lucy." Natsu breaking character, "So what do you think so far?" He asked playfully. "I don't really see what you need my help for. You obviously know what you're doing." She poked at him. "How about we dance now and you help me with that than since I passed the first test." Lucy just stood up and walked to the middle of her apartment trying to hide her blush.
She could do this. No reason to get all worked up over something so minuscule. Sure she knew the fire mage looked great. Though he didn't always strip down like Gray, the open vest he wore left little to the imagination. His loose pants hung dangerously low on his waist. But this was Natsu, her best friend. Turning with a smile she said enthusiastically, " Alright I'm ready." Natsu rushed over and picked her up, swinging her around in a big hug. " You really are the best friend a guy could have Luce. " He set her back down just to spin her around real quick and put his arms around her. Settling his hands on her hips. Lucy reached up and put her arms around his neck. They begin to move together. Though Natsu's movements were of someone that didn't dance very often, he wasn't half bad. She was actually having fun.
The next song that came on was a little slower and had a lot of bass. Natsu spun her around to where her back was touching his chest. He took her arm and wrapped it around his neck while slowly moving his hand down that arm, to her side to wind back around her waist. Luce let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She could feel his hard muscle behind her and his breath coming out on the back of her neck. She blushed prettily at being in this position with him. Moving there hips in time with one another, Natsu grabbed her a little firmer and pulled her even closer to him. There wasn't any room in between them now. She could smell his outdoors and campfire scent that reminded her of all the missions and times they spent together. Lucy started feeling a little uncomfortable being with him like this, she started to pull away. Turning around Natsu was looking at her with one eyebrow raised. Before either could say anything there was a a flash of golden light and sparkles and Virgo was standing there. " Princess it's already six if we are to get you ready in time we must hurry." "Eep!" The blonde started rushing the dragon slayer to the front door. " Sorry Natsu but we both need to get ready. You'll do fine, just be your charming self and everything will be great." She encouraged him while shoving him out. Natsu just shook his head laughing at her. " Alright Luce, See you in a few hours!"