Bus Stop
A modern AU in which Natsu and Lucy ride the same public bus. Lucy always falls asleep and Natsu always wakes her up at her stop. What starts out a simple act of kindness between two strangers evolves and turns into something more…
Every Tuesday and Thursday at five o'clock, she got on the number 7 bus at the fifth stop from the local community college. Looking back, the first time she got on the bus, Natsu noticed her immediately. Everything about her seemed out of place in the dirty city bus. She didn't slowly climb into the bus like a wary newcomer to a dangerous place. She strode onto the bus as if she never wanted to be anywhere else. When everyone looked up at her, she did not shrink away from their obvious stares. With her head held high, she walked to the seat across from his, sat down, and pulled out a thick worn copy of "Wuthering Heights".
Natsu spent most of the ride sneaking peeks at the beautiful blonde girl sitting across from him. She was so entranced by her book that she didn't seem to notice Natsu's lingering stares as he assessed her. There were two things he noticed about her immediately. She came from money, that much was obvious. The labels on her pristine clothes were designer and the huge key ring hanging off of her bag was decked out in gold that Natsu suspected was real.
The other thing was that he noticed was that she pretty, like really pretty. Normally he wasn't one to get caught up on things like that, but she was distractingly pretty. He almost couldn't stop himself from looking at her. That was weird for him, especially considering all of his other girl friends were really pretty too. In fact he was so unresponsive to their beauty that people often mocked him for being oblivious to women, even though it wasn't true. Actually he had just never been so fascinated by a girl before. He couldn't stop looking at her and remarking to himself about how pretty she was.
Soft and shiny blonde hair framed a full heart shaped face dominated by big brown doe eyes. Her pink mouth was set into a small smile as she read. She had a curvy figure that was accentuated by her short navy miniskirt and white button up that she wore. Whether on not she realized it, she was utterly attractive. She might even be the most attractive girl he's ever seen, Natsu thought to himself.
The sound of a vibration interrupted his thoughts. Her phone was ringing, he realized. He watched as she picked up the phone and answered, "Hello."
Natsu cringed internally when she caught him staring at her, but merely shot him a friendly smile. He swallowed and felt the slight blush begin to form on his cheeks.
"Yes Spetto. I'll be home before dinner." She said into the phone. "I promise." Natsu could hear the exceptionally loud voice that came through the phone receiver as the girl pulled it away to save her ear drums.
"Spetto, I know I have to get off at King's Street. Don't worry. I'll be fine."she continued. "I will see you when I get home. Bye." The girl promptly hung up the phone in irritation and put it back into her bag before she resumed her reading. Natsu watched as she got lost in her book again. He hadn't meant to listen in to her conversation and he felt mildly bad for doing so, but it gave him some insight into who she was. He was right to think she didn't belong on the bus. From the conversation he had overheard, it sounded as though this was perhaps her first time on the public bus.
Strange, he thought as he looked away again. He had to periodically remind himself that it was rude - and creepy- to stare. Natsu turned to look out the window and watch the scenery to avoid staring at her again.
This was how he normally spent the bus ride home because it did a really good job of distracting him from the slight nausea that turned in the pit of his stomach. Even with the motion sickness medicine he took everyday, he still got sick on any sort of moving machine if he didn't distract himself from the ride itself.
A good thirty five minutes had passed when he heard a faint thud on the ground. When he turned around, he saw that the girl across from him has fallen asleep and as a result, dropped her book. Natsu chuckled to himself at the sight of her sleeping so peacefully slumped onto her backpack on the seat next to her. It didn't look very comfortable, but she sure was cute.
He contemplated whether or not to wake her up, but decided against it. She must have been really tired if she could fall asleep on the public bus. No, Natsu decided he would wait and see if she woke up before her stop. If she didn't, then Natsu would wake her up. Until he would just watch over her and make sure she was okay. After all, it's dangerous to sleep on the bus.
So Natsu watched over her and made sure nothing happened to her while she was sleeping. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't bored to tears as he sat on the bus. He had always been a rather hyperactive person, and usually the long bus ride home after work was absolutely killer, but her appearance had made it so much more bearable.
He was actually vaguely disappointed when he felt the bus come to a stop and the announcement came on, informing the riders that they were at King's Street.
Natsu crossed the aisle and shook her shoulder gently. The blonde girl's head snapped up and her big brown doe eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear when they focused on Natsu.
"What the - !" she began to yell.
"It's your stop. King's Street, right?" Natsu said, cutting her off mid yell. She shrank back visibly when he said that, but then relaxed.
"Oh. You must have heard me on the phone earlier. " Lucy said with a tired look on her face before she gathered her bag, picked up her book, and moved to get off. She turned around halfway up the aisle.
"Um, thanks." She said and then she hurried off the bus onto the cement sidewalk. Natsu turned to look out the window and was surprised to see the girl standing by the bus stop still, looking at the bus as it began to pull away. When she found his face, she waved at him and gave him a huge dazzling smile. Then she turned and walked away.
Natsu watched in surprise through the window as the bus sped off into the city, and the pretty girl he had spent the last hour with grew smaller and smaller until she was gone from sight. What a weird girl, Natsu thought to himself. She had waited just to wave and give him a smile. It was certainly odd behavior for a stranger he had just met, even if he had helped her out. He didn't think anyone else would have done the same.
"Your welcome." Natsu said softly to himself as he turned around in his seat. He couldn't wait to get home to tell Happy ,his cat, all about her. He would probably think that she was weird too.
The next time she was on the bus, the same thing happened again. She fell asleep and Natsu woke her up in time for her stop. After a few weeks it just became their routine and to be quite honest, Natsu was okay with it. He actually began to look forward to it. It was their thing.
However when she got on the bus today, she didn't just sit across from him. This time she just plopped down in the seat right next to him. Natsu couldn't help the look of that took over his face as he looked at her in, albeit pleasant, utter surprise. Of course he wanted to talk to her, but she had never taken the initiative to talk to him beyond their normal conversation when he woke her up so Natsu had just let things stay the way the were. He didn't want to ruin their comfortable acquaintanceship by pushing her and now here she was sitting next to him, completely unprovoked. Natsu just sat there, unsure of what to do next, until she broke the silence. With complete confidence, the pretty blonde girl stuck her hand out towards him and introduced herself.
"Hi my name's Lucy." she said. Natsu noted how sweet and soft her voice sounded. If he believed in that sort of thing, he would've sworn it was the voice of an angel.
"Natsu Dragneel." He responded, as he slipped his hand into hers and shook. "It's nice to finally meet you." He added. Lucy smiled up at him before she pulled her hand away and laid it down on her lap.
"Well Natsu, I just wanted to say thank you. You know, for always waking me up at my stop. I know I shouldn't fall asleep on the bus, but I'm always so tired after class that I just can't help myself." Lucy told him. What a perfect name for her, Natsu found himself thinking absentmindedly.
"Your welcome. I know what it's like to be that tired, so I totally get it." He assured her.
"Are you a student at Crocus?" Natsu asked. She didn't look old enough to be a college student, but he could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.
"In a sense." Lucy answered. "I'm still in high school, but I take Creative Writing classes there after school. I'm actually in the middle of writing a novel for my midterm that's due in about a month."
"Oh can I read it?" Natsu found himself asking before he even knew it. It was half meant to be a joke, but Natsu was actually curious as to what it was that she had to say.
"NO!" Lucy yelped in a joking manner as she lightly smacked Natsu's arm. "I promised my friend Levy she would be the first to read it." Levy, the name sounded familiar to Natsu, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it before.
"Oh well in that case will you tell me about it?" He asked in earnest interest. When at first she didn't answer, Natsu was worried that he had already crossed a line and ruined everything until the corners of her eyes began to crinkle up as she smiled at him. With that, any walls that Lucy may have had to keep her safe from funny looking pink haired strangers went crashing down and the floodgates opened.
They spent the whole hour long bus ride talking. For the first time, Lucy didn't fall asleep and Natsu didn't have to look outside for a suitable distraction from his nausea. When they got to her stop, Natsu actually felt sad that she would leave him alone for another twenty minutes, but when she stopped and waved to him like she always did he knew that this was just the start of something amazing.
At this point I am unsure as to whether or not I will keep this as a complete oneshot or continue this as a multi chapter story. Let me know which you would prefer by voting on the poll on my profile. As always, thanks for the read and all the wonderful support! I appreciate you all!