One walk away from Love

-Fire.Dragon.Slayer.Syd

"Hey Lu-chan! I didn't know you got yourself a job!"

"Yeah I know right? It just seems weird; Lucy Heartfillia; pet walker" The blonde gave out a laugh while talking to her blue haired BFF, Levy, as she was walking past her, Jet, and Droy (Levy's personal fan boys) with the leashes to five cats in her hands. "So… people walk their cats?" Levy questioned looking at the five cats attached to the leashes Lucy had, "correction, people pay other people to walk their cats." Lucy corrected lifting her pointer finger in front of her face,

"hehe right," Levy giggled lightly, "well I should probably go, I got a job to finish," Lucy said gesturing to the leashes "r-right. You still on for tomorrow?"

"Yep! Wouldn't miss it for the world! See you Levy-chan!" Lucy said while lifting her right hand to wave as she started walking away.

She arrived at the park, set up a blanket, pulled out a book and started reading. The cats seemed to play together and 'chat' as if they've been friends for awhile. Thought it seemed like the blue one (odd choice for the colour of a cat…) was always offering a fish, that seemed to come out of nowhere, to the white one but would always get rejected. The black one seemed to be indifferent about the whole situation, while the green one (what's with the colour of these cats?) in the pink frog suit (okay WHAT?! A pink frog suit?!) , and the reddish brownish one were the best of friends. Lucy sighed and got back to reading,

"what'cha reading there?" she heard a voice come from her left shoulder, she didn't take the time to realize it was familiar.

"EEEK!" Lucy screamed and bolted into a fighting stance staring back at her 'attacker', "Woah, calm down there Lucy it's just me,"

"Get out of here stripper," Lucy replied calmly and irritated sitting back down and grabbing her book, Gray looked at his outfit and realized he'd left his shirt somewhere, "SHOOT!" he shouted scouring the area for his lost article of clothing, She giggled to herself and went back to reading. When Gray came back fully clothed he asked again what she was reading, "what's it to you?" she said, a little tick mark spawning on her forehead, "Well you were getting pretty into it so I thought it might be something special."

"Nope, nothing special, just sappy romance" Lucy responded with the tick mark disappearing, "You've been reading an awful lot of those, does that mean anything?" Gray questioned, generally worried for his basically sister "well, maybe? I don't know… But can you just leave me alone? I'm doing my job right now,"

"Reading?" Gray asked curious as to what kind of job she's doing.

"No, pet walking," Lucy said gesturing to the five cats sleeping peacefully on her blanket,

"That's not walking…"

"I know that icicle breath, we're taking a break." Lucy snapped back,

"Yeah well if you want to get the same customers I suggest walking a bit more, twinkle toes," [A/N; HAHA! Get it? Cuz she's a celestial wizard? Celestial, stars twinkle? haha? No? Okay… (By the way, there is no magic in this fanfic.!)] Gray retorted,

"I guess you're right… wait shouldn't you be with Juvia or something?" Gray seemed to blush but quickly turned away as to not let Lucy see,

"J-J-Juvia?! W-what m-made y-you think of that?" he sputtered "well it's obvious that you like her, I mean come on!"

"But I-"

"Ara Ara!" Lucy said stopping him "no need to lie, we all know, so just confess already!"

"But I don't like her that way!" Gray was trying to hard not to stutter or blush but it was all in vain, "but she's nice~, and beautiful~, and the way she her face lights up when she talks about her lovely 'Gray-sama'~" Lucy said with a devious grin stretching its way onto her face "OKAY, OKAY I GET IT!" Gray yelled, obviously having enough of what Lucy was saying, Gray mumbled something that Lucy didn't quite catch, "What?"

"I said; okaymaybeIdolikeher…" Gray repeated looking to the side to try to cover his face exploding in 50 different shade of red,

"I'm sorry what?~" Lucy asked once again cupping her hand to her ear and pulling out her phone with an ever-spreading grin on her face that makes her look like the Cheshire cat.

"I SAID; I LIKE HER! OKAY!?" Gray yelled with his face an explosion of different shades of red, this startled the cats, but then Lucy stood up holding her phone pumping her fists in the air happily, "YOSSSHHAAAA! I got it!"

"Got what?" Gray asked, still recovering from his blush "I got it recorded!" Lucy said proudly shoving her phone in his face, Gray looked at the screen and his face paled as he saw him confessing on her phone screen, "YOU SON OF A DITCH! DELETE IT NOWWWWW!" Gray shot his hand forward but Lucy jerked her hand back to protect the phone before Gray could get close to it, "Not before I send it to Levy, Erza, Mira-" Lucy named the names of her friends

"NOOOOO! DON'T YOU DARE!" Gray was furiously yelling,

"What If I do dare?~" Lucy teased with a smirk playing at her lips,

"Please! I'll do anything! Just don't show that to anyone else!" Gray was now on his knees with his hands intertwined in front of him, trying to reason with the blonde.

"Anything?~" Lucy questioned, her smirk broadening.

"Almost anything," Gray corrected, afraid of what crazy ideas the blonde might have locked away in her brain.

"But remember, I still have the video and the text ready to be sent to everyone I mentioned, plus a few more~" Lucy said in that cute, taunting manor while waving her phone around.

"Okay fine! Anything!" Gray said with a look of fear painted on his face, "oooohh~, that was a bad idea…~" she said with the same kind of tone, what have I done?... were the words going through Gray's head, "But remember you said anyone else" she said exadurating the 'else' "I already sent it to Levy" Lucy said nonchalantly while packing up to leave, "YOU DID WHAT?!" Gray exclaimed almost ready to pass out. Lucy giggled while she put her backpack on and setting everything straight and getting ready to finish the walk, "well I should get going, I need to give these cats back," Gray just stood there dumbfounded for a second before comprehending what she just said. "Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, who's are they?" Gray asked once he was out of his stupor, "Well if I remember correctly the blue one belongs to a kid named Natsu," she said pointing to the cats, "the white one belongs to his most likely sister, Wendy, the black one is Gajeel's, the green one in the frog outfit is a guy named Rogue's, the reddish brownish is some guy, Sting's."

"Natsu's eh?" Gray questioned with a mysterious glint in his eyes,

"Yeeesss…?" Lucy responded with more of a question and she started to shrink back when she noticed the glint in her best friend's eyes "Why are you looking at me like that?" Lucy questioned scaredly. Gray never let the glint in his eyes leave as a mischievous grin spread across his face "No reason~," he said trying in vain to suppress his grin as he walked in the direction Lucy was headed, Lucy decided to let it drop as she caught up to Gray as they started to head back towards the houses of the owners of the cats.

First stop: Sting and Rogue. They're brothers, twins to be specific. When she knocked on the door Sting was the one to open it, as he took the leaches of the cats he said; "well hello there beautiful thanks for taking Lector and Frosch for Rogue and I." Lucy sighed at Sting's comment but Gray came from behind her and pulled her behind him, "back off of my sister Sting, I don't want you soiling her with your perveredness."

Sting 'tsked' "and you aren't with your stripping?" Sting fingered his bare top, "When did that happen?!" Gray yelled and set off in search of his missing shirt. "So," Sting continued looking back at Lucy, "Do you want to go to dinner with me later tonight?"

"Uh, no thanks, I'll listen to Gray for once. I've heard stories from Gray and some other of my friends about you and your 'dates' and I'd rather not be one." Lucy retorted smoothly and she turned on her heels and stormed off.

Second stop: Gajeel. As Lucy and Gray neared his front door they saw a blob of blue and black through the window, Lucy decided to take a closer with Gray following suit behind her, they looked inside to see Levy and Gajeel on the couch watching TV eating popcorn with Levy in between Gajeel's legs while his feet are wrapped around her. Lucy snickered and pulled out her phone to take a picture, "this could make good blackmail~…" Gray looked over and started laughing, "Metal head… g-got… a d-date?!" he said between laughs, "I can't believe it! I need to text Natsu and Laxus!"

"The name Laxus sounds familiar, are you guys friends?" Lucy questioned looking at Gray's phone

"Uh, yeah… why?" Gray asked just finishing up his text while sending a picture as proof

"It's just, Mira's been telling me about her crush on this guy named Laxus-"

"REALLY?!" Gray burst out, letting Levy and Gajeel know they were spying. Lucy slapped her hand over Gray's mouth and gave a 'oops-I've-been-caught' grin to the couple on the couch as Levy was blushing furiously and Gajeel had a bit of red in his cheeks as well. Lucy picked up the black cat, Patherlily, to signify her reasoning of coming to Gajeel's house in the first place. Once Lucy gave back the cat back to Gajeel and the; 'you're-going-to-tell-me-the-whole-story-later-' look to Levy, she and Gray were off to the last house;

Last stop; Natsu and Wendy. Lucy was down to her last two cats, the blue one, and the white one. As they rounded the corner to Natsu and Wendy's house Gray kept snickering and he had that glint in his eyes again. It worried Lucy a bit but before she got to think about it too much they reached the front door, Lucy knocked and heard; "Natsu-nii! I'll get the door!" from inside as a little girl, about the age of 13, opened the door with a great big smile. "Lucy-san!" and she hurled herself at Lucy in a big hug, "Hey Wendy! How are you?"

"Good, thanks for taking Happy and Carla on a walk!" The happy 13 year old said,

"Oh it's not problem-" Lucy was responding when her cheeks turned rosy as she saw a teen boy coming down the stairs with only a pair of pyjama pants on and a hand ruffling his pink locks "Who's there Wendy?"

"Oh, it's Lucy-san with Happy and Carla!" an awkward cough came from Gray as he stepped closer to the door so people were made aware of his presence. "OH! Gomen'nasai Gray-san!" Wendy said bowing, (A/N; Gomen'nasai= Sorry) "It's fine Wendy, it's not that big of a deal-" Gray was saying before Natsu cut him off; "Wait, Gray's here?" you could hear said pink haired male call from inside as he walked to the door lazily with the same hand in his hair making its way to rub the heel of his palm on his eye. Awkward sputtering came from Gray as he had the anime blue lines running down his side as he was on all fours sulking on the floor, (A/N; I made reference to the Edolas arc when Wendy and Natsu woke up and didn't realize Gray was there!) Lucy and Natsu were laughing at him while Wendy was furiously bowing and apologizing to him. After that whole scenario happened Lucy handed the cats back and was walking to the sidewalk when she heard Gray and Natsu; "So, Lucy eh?" Gray asked, "What's that supposed to mean brain freeze?!" Natsu yelled with a slight pink dusting his cheeks.

"You know what it means Tabasco freak," Gray replied coolly,

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME SNOW FREAK?!" Natsu retorted, not so coolly.

"YOU HEARD ME! ASH BREATH!" Gray lost his cool.

"GRRRR! WHY YOU-" but before a punch could be thrown Lucy walked up to them, grabbed Gray's ear and started dragging him away scolding him for fighting. She could hear Natsu laughing at him, then saying to Lucy; "I like you! Let's hang out!" Lucy blushed, "sure, I'd love too, but after you put a shirt on!" Natsu glanced down at his attire "OH CRAP!" and ran inside, but before he disappeared he yelled; "I'LL MEET YOU AT MAGNOLIA PARK AT 12:30!" and he was gone. Wendy looked back at Lucy, "Thanks again Lucy-san!" and she shut the door. Lucy smiled and dragged Gray away.

~Time skip; 12:30~

Lucy arrived at the park, a little before 12:30, and sat on the bench and started reading. Little did she know Natsu arrived and was walking up behind her, he hovered his arms just over her shoulders and counted down in his head; 3…2…1! And on one he grabbed her shoulders harshly and yelled; "BOOO!" Lucy shrieked and dropped her book as she bolted into a standing position. Natsu was laughing so hard; "HAHAHAHAHA! DID YOU SEE YOU'RE FACE LUCE?! HAHAHA!" Natsu was clutching his stomach rolling on the ground, a tic mark spawned on her face, "do you know what happens when you piss me off?" Lucy said calmly, a little too calmly… Natsu though as he stopped laughing and looked up at the very pissed off girl in front of him with a deadly dark purple aura surrounding her "N-N-No…." he paled getting afraid of what would happen to him, "Gray knows this very well, but since you've just met me I'll let you off with a warning. If you want to know what will happen if you manage to piss me off once more, ask him." Lucy said with her aura subsiding and the tick marks de-spawning. "Yeah, yeah whatever-*gasp* LUCE THERE'S AN ICE CREAM TRUCK!" Natsu exclaimed pointing off into the distance, "where? I don't see it…." Lucy said putting her hand on her forehead in search of said truck. "You can't see it? Can you hear it?" Natsu questioned, "No, can you?"

"well yeah, but maybe it's because of my unusually sharp senses," Natsu explained tapping his nose, "You see; Me, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting and Rogue all have unusually sharp senses. We all also have cats! Funny coincidence huh?" Natsu said while giving his signature lopsided grin. "Anyway, THERE'S ICE CREAM!" Natsu shouted, while picking Lucy up bridal style and sprinting towards the truck. "NATSUUUUUU!" Lucy was shouting at him all the way, (he's really fast so that's all she had time to say before they got there,) Natsu excitedly ordered; "I'll have one scoop of *Masala Chai please! What do you want Luce?" Natsu asked looking expectantly in her direction, "Uh, I'll have one scoop of strawberry please?"

"Of course ma'am, and I don't mean to pry but are you two dating?" Lucy's face turned to the colour of red velvet and Natsu's cheeks turned red as well as he scratched he nape of his neck; "well…hehe..you see-…" He tried to explain, "Oh! No need to explain, I just hope it turns out well, you two seem really cute together!" the man proclaimed while getting the ice creams ready. After a couple of agonizingly awkward minutes he handed the ice cream to them and Natsu paid him and the 'couple' went to sit on the nearest bench. "So what's 'Masala Chai'?" Lucy questioned, "Oh! It's really good! It's got like cinnamon, cloves, and black peppercorn and stuff like that in it! Wanna try some?" Natsu questioned holding it out to her "Uh, sure!" Lucy said while taking a little bite out of it; "mmmm!"

"It's good eh? Can I try some of yours?" but before Lucy could hold hers out to him he leaned forward and took a little bite of it when it was still pretty close to her mouth. She blushed and he smirked, "That's pretty good Luce, you might just have to share that with me~" He said huskily which made her shiver a bit and blush even more. Natsu moved his head farther away so he was sitting where he was at first and continued eating his ice cream, leaving Lucy in a flustered blushing mess.

~Time Skip~

Once they finished their desserts they decided to walk around the park. "So Luce-"

"It's Lucy!"

"It's a nickname, do you not like it~?" Natsu asked with the voice and facial expression of a kicked puppy; a face Lucy, anyone for that matter, couldn't resist. "No! No! I love it!" Lucy spoke the truth trying to make Natsu feel better, "Great!" Natsu replied bouncing back to his happy-go-lucky self. "*gasp* I just got a great idea! Let's ask each other questions! And we'll take turns, you go first!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly bouncing around. Lucy sighed at his amount of energy but asked; "What is your relationship with Gray? Like, why did you fight?"

"Oh Ice pick? Yeah, we fight because he sucks. You see, he's my frienemy, my fremesis… We're not friends…" (A/N; Reference to 'Fairy Tail Abridged' (on youtube) by 'The Pallet Town Champions')

"oookayyyy…" was the only thing Lucy could say to respond to that with… "My turn!" Natsu said enthusiastically; "Have you ever had a boyfriend before?" Lucy blushed and looked away flustered, "isn't that a personal question?"

"Not really," Natsu answered while putting his hands behind his head, "but you have to answer it!"

"No. No I haven't okay?! Now go ahead and make fun of me for it!"

"Make fun of you? Why would I do that? So what if you haven't dated anyone, it just means you haven't found anyone you feel deserves you yet, there's nothing wrong with that." Natsu stated being a little worried that his friend might be getting bullied. "Well no one else seems to think that…" Lucy mumbled to the pavement, "Luce- Luce look at me," Natsu said to his blonde friend while grabbing her chin to get her to look at him, Lucy blushed at the contact. "If it makes you feel any better I haven't had a girlfriend either." Natsu said giving her a smile to make her feel better, Lucy smiled. "Gomen, It's just. At my old school; Sabertooth High, they always bullied me for being a nerd, not having dated anyone or had my first kiss yet…"

"what school do you go to now?"

"I just transferred to Fairy Tail High! My BFF Levy goes there and told me that I would love it, so I gave it a shot!"

"Yosh! Well I'll be seeing you around then Luce!" Natsu replied excitedly. "Well, we should probably head back soon, it's getting dark," Lucy stated. Natsu then grabbed her wrist and started walking up a small grass hill, "Jotto Natsu, What are you doing?" Lucy questioned but was replied with silence as he continued to lead her up the hill. "Nats- woah," she said but cut off when they reached the top to be shown the breath taking view of the sun setting, with pinks, oranges, and red flying around as if the sky was light on fire. Natsu moved his hold on her wrist to her hand but she didn't seem to notice, He marvelled at how her hand seemed to fit perfectly in his own. Once the sun had set, his hand was still in hers as he led her down the hill and back towards the park. She didn't seem to notice until they were they were back at the meeting place when he let her hand go. "Well, I guess I'll see you a school tomorrow!" he exclaimed, "Yeah, see you then!" she said walking in the direction of her house.

The End of Chapter 1

(A/N: Please note that this is still only my second story that I have made so if you could give me pointers and stuff like that, that would be great! Thanks again so much! ARIGATO GOSAMASU!)

*Masala Chai= 'A crisp collision of spices resulting in this perfect summer refresher! A mix of Cinnamon, green Cardamom, ground Cloves, and black peppercorn'