SPRING. Where the scorching hot sun begins to die down, where it lets the earth cool off from the summer heat. When the weather becomes just right.
Lucy Heartfilia enters a botanical park after her try out to join Fairy Tail High's cheerleading squad, she walks towards the marble water fountain (the center of the park) it emits a mist of cool water. She sits herself on the green metal bench before the fountain and a sad sigh escapes her lips. Removing a hair-tie from her wrist, she lazily bunches her hair into a bun not even caring that some strands had fallen loose to frame her face. The blonde stretched her arms and legs but winced at the aching pain she felt within her muscles (upon the lack of stretching before her try out).
"LUCY!" loud footsteps sounded to her right. Brown orbs caught sight of the head of pink hair coming towards her and right away the blonde's miserable feeling had diminished.
"Natsu!" said Lucy as the pinkette had finally reached the other.
"I heard… what happened… are you… okay?" the male asked in-between huffs for air from his run.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! Really!"
"But you… your mom-"
"Really! It's fine," the blonde assured putting her hands up in defense before looking up at the pink-red ombré of the sun setting sky, "Mama would've appreciated it… but I think she'd like it more if I did what I was best at, writing."
In response, Natsu had let a goofy smile spread across his face and he couldn't agree more.
"MOU! Who needs cheerleading anyway?" asked Lucy sarcastically as she walked into the mist emitting from the water fountain. Therefore, the duo had begun to walk out of the park together.
Natsu and Lucy were very close friends ever since middle school, so close everyone had considered them best friends or "The Duo" nothing could separate the two. They were always there for each other: there was a time where Lucy's parents had passed away and it was such a horrific period of time for her, ever since then Natsu swore to Lucy (more likely to himself) that he'd always be there for her. There was another time when Natsu had caught the summer fever for nearly a whole week and Lucy was there to care for him. Eventually, the two had bought a condominium to live in together. Up to this day it's still taking a long time for the two to realize that they like each other… more than that; that they love each other… the kind of love that is more than friendship; but it's impossible for the other to tell the difference between love and being a caring best friend (or maybe both).
Natsu's muscular arms were behind his head, his legs moved in sync with Lucy as they were walking home together.
"So, it's almost that thing coming up right?" the pinkette asked, green eyes gazing at the bounciness of Lucy's messy bun.
"Eh—Are you talking about senior prom?" the blonde raised a brow.
"Yeah, that thing!"
"What about it?"
"I was just thinking about it."
"Well, we have four weeks don't we?"
"Four weeks?"
"You know… to ask someone out as a date or to find something nice to wear!"
Natsu furrowed his pink brows in confusion and frustration before his green eyes widened in realization.
"I think I know who I want to ask!" with a toothy grin he looked at Lucy with amusement.
"Oh… r-really? Whom did you… plan to ask?" curious, the blonde felt a little down at the fact that she probably wouldn't be his choice in a million years!
"It's going to be… a secret!"
"Natsu! Mou… that's not fair!" Lucy huffed in frustration, crossing her arms. It was then that she ran a few steps forward in front of Natsu and winked.
"Then, I won't tell you who I'm going to ask to prom!"
"Aw, c'mon Luce!"
It made Lucy laugh and immediately the pinkette began to be bothered. He repeated the same question to the blonde over and over and it'd always be a rejected reply. It continued on until Natsu had to chase Lucy down all the way back home.
THE NEXT MORNING
Natsu. Natsu? NATSU! Natsu groaned in annoyance as he moved around in his (at the time) warm comfy bed. One of his eyelids cracked open and looked at the digital clock sitting on his dresser: 6:30am. In the distance outside his room he could hear Lucy's footsteps coming towards his domain. Then, the door had swung open.
"Natsu! Mou—you've got to get ready for school! It's already half past six!" she yelled throwing a red fluffy towel at the pinkette and leaving the room right after. Again, Natsu had groaned in annoyance. Stretching his limbs, the pinkette had finally got out of bed with red towel in hand. In the bathroom, he took off his clothes and hopped in the shower for five minutes, letting the warm water refresh his body. After, he brushed his teeth rubbed the red towel against his hair to dry and threw on a red t-shirt, black jeans, and wrapped a scarf (that he's had ever since he was born) around his neck.
Exiting the bathroom, the pinkette went downstairs into the kitchen where Lucy had already made breakfast: toasted english muffins with ham and egg sandwiched in-between them. A wide smile spread across his lips as he could already feel his hunger start to emerge.
"Morning Luce!" he chirped walking towards the blonde and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Morning." Lucy replied with a smile. The duo sat in silence as they ate, filling up their stomachs with energy to help keep them through the morning. Eventually, the two had reached their last bite to their delicious meal.
"I'll drive today!" Natsu said running to the car keys hanging off the wall, taking it into his hands. Lucy raised a brow but shook her head and sighed as she placed the two dirty plates into the sink. She'd be the one driving home this time, and their last class was gym… she had hoped she wouldn't be exhausted by the end of the day.
FAIRY TAIL HIGH SCHOOL
Natsu and Lucy had separated off to their own cliques per usual in the morning. "Cliques" meaning that Natsu had stuck with the guys at school and Lucy had stuck with the girls, everyone was a friend of course but it was just how it was.
MEANWHILE, WITH NATSU
"Oi, Natsu!" Gray nudged his head as the pinkette walked over towards the group of guys. Gray was one of Natsu's good friends, someone he'd go to for guy problems. Though, Gray wasn't on the same standards as Natsu has with Lucy. Although, Gray and Natsu are very opposite and most of the time see things in different ways and seeing things in such way resulted into… well… arguments and some roughhousing.
"Yo!" the pinkette replied, fitting him into the circle of guys. He looked around the circle and saw lots of familiar faces. There was Loke who was always the ladies man, for some reason he'd always be with one girl one week and would be seen with another girl the second week and it'd repeat with many different girls. Moving onto Gajeel who recently transferred from Phantom Lord High (a school for delinquents). People seemed to avoid him due to all the menacing piercings all over his body and face. But for some reason the circle of friends between Natsu and Lucy really tolerate it. Then there was Alzack, the guy who couldn't stop talking about guns and playing first person shooter video games. Finally, we have Gray: the guy never knew how to keep his clothes on. There were more to the circle of guys in the group but it didn't seem like most of them had shown up for school.
"So," Gray nudged Natsu's elbow, "how is the "ask Lucy to prom" thing going?" Natsu then sighed heavily and looked at the clear blue morning sky above him.
"If it's that bad, I'm sure Lucy will be delighted to go to prom with a guy like me!" Loke replied adjusting his glasses with his middle finger (with sparkles surrounding his face in confidence).
"Now I know there's no way in HELL that she'll go for a guy like you, Loke!" the pinkette laughed as he pointed at the ginger. All jokes aside, Natsu then frowned and said, "Besides… I think she's already asking someone to prom." he scratched the back of his head.
"What! You've got to ask her before she even asks her would-be date, dude!" Gray yelled. Natsu only sighed and shook his head in defeat, making it look like he was giving up. But he had no plan for that.
"Maybe you can ask Mira, she's pretty good when it comes to crap like this. But I think she's working at the bar today." The jet haired teen said pointing to the group of girls across of the schoolyard. It was then that Natsu's eyes had lit up immensely and suddenly the school bell had rung for class to start.
FAIRY TAIL HIGH'S GYMNASIUM
"NATSU ALREADY HAS SOMEONE TO ASK?" Levy yelled aloud only to be muffled by Lucy's hand. Frightened that someone could've heard, the blonde looked around the two and thankfully everyone was minding their own business.
Lucy sighed and let her hand fall back onto her lap, "Mou! Couldn't you be any louder? People could hear us, you know."
"Sorry, Lu-chan. It's just surprising that he actually has someone in mind that he wants to ask." replied the blunette with a little smile. Lucy nodded in agreement and looked at the wooden gymnasium floor, breathing in the scent of lumber from the wood.
It was then that Natsu entered the gymnasium from the men's locker room with the guys. Once he walked towards the middle of the gym, Lucy saw someone stand up on the bleachers not too far from her: Lisanna Strauss.
"Natsu!" Lisanna called out, waving both of her arms in the air to grab the pinkette's attention. Green orbs saw the teen waving at him and in return gave her a toothy grin and a wave.
"Hey!" Levy said elbowing Lucy on the side hard on accident. Lucy flinched at the slight jab.
"Ow—What is it?" the blonde asked furrowing her brows.
"Do you think Natsu would ask Lisanna to prom?"
"There's no way—"
"But couldn't Lisanna ask Natsu, too?"
Levy had a point there. Lucy looked at the pinkette waving to the beautiful silver haired teen just a few feet away from her and thought to herself, "that could have really been a theory". She felt the corners of her lips tug downward into a slight frown and sighed.
"Don't worry, Lu-chan! We'll be sure to help you ask Natsu to prom!" the blunette winked as she wrapped an arm around Lucy's torso and pulled her close.
"Wait—who's "we"?" the blonde asked raising a brow. In reply, Levy pointed across the gymnasium to four girls coming out of the locker room. Lucy's eyes widened and had hope glimmer in her eyes.
The first girl who had come out was Erza Scarlet, her vibrant red hair tied into a high ponytail. Everyone knew Erza and the men had a great depth of fear for her as well, rumor has it that she could crack a bone in anyone's body. She had great protection over her strawberry shortcake at lunch as well, there was this one time that Loke tried to flirt with her and while doing so… ate the strawberry on top of the cake… Loke was hospitalized for a week.
The second girl behind Erza was Juvia Locksar. She was also a transfer student from Phantom Lord High besides Gajeel. For some reason she is very over protective over Gray and no one knows why. But thanks to her, all the girls stopped talking to the guy (except for their friends of course). According to the rumors, she's obssessed with Gray and has a big fat crush on him. Anyone near Gray's interest would be missing the next day... here's a big reminder that no girl is to ever set a foot near Gray…
The third girl was Cana Alberona. How to put this lightly? She's an alcoholic, not the type where people are so concerned that she has to go to rehab but let's just say drinking is just her mere hobby! According to the rumors, the girl sneaks in alcohol by putting it into a coffee shop's cup and pretending its tea. Other times she puts the alcohol in a plastic water bottle and tells the teachers it's water mixed with fruity flavoring powder. But overall, she considers Lucy as one of her close friends.
Finally, there was Bisca. Rumor has it that she has a big fat crush on Alzack. Hell, the two had really similar interests. The other girls can't really relate to her obsession with guns and first person shooter video games but they still manage to relate to her in some ways.
"You guys…!" Lucy smiled and gave Levy a huge hug.
"No problem, Lu-chan! We're always here to help you!" Levy replied winking at the other.
Footsteps sounded coming up from the metal bleachers, catching Levy and Lucy's attention. It was Natsu. He scrambled up and up until he got to the top of the bleachers to where they were sitting. Giving the two a smile, the pinkette sat beside the blonde and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Yo! How's it going?"
"Oh—it's fine!" Levy replied and jabbed Lucy on the side lightly before leaving her spot, leaving Lucy and Natsu alone.
"Anyway… what's going on with you, Luce?"
"N-Nothing! We were actually talking about prom."
"Oh, really? Speaking of that, the guys are taking me to go pick out a suit after school. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine!"
"You sure? I won't be home until later tonight… you gonna be okay being by yourself?"
"I'm sure. I'll ask Levy to come over so don't worry about me."
With that said, Natsu gave the blonde a smile and a pat on the shoulder before leaving his spot on the bleachers. Once he left, Levy came back up and sat in her original spot besides Lucy.
"You're coming over tonight, do you have your emergency "Staying over Lucy's for the day" pack?" Lucy giggled.
"Oh yeah, I'm totally ready. I have some popcorn bags and movies in there and everything!" Levy laughed.
FAIRY TAIL HIGH'S SPORTS FIELD
The entire gym class was called outside onto the large grassy field of Fairy Tail High. The game that was assigned was Ultimate Frisbee: a limited-contact team field sport played with a disc. There, the class was divided into two teams. Fairy Tail Team A was Lucy, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lisanna, and Cana. Fairy Tail Team B was Juvia, Gajeel, Levy, Loke, Bisca, and Alzack.
"Everyone! In position!" the coach (in the middle of the field) yelled. Both teams were scattered in their own part of the field, ready to head in for the goal.
"GAME. START!"
It was Fairy Tail B's turn to fling the frisbee across the field and doing so, Natsu had caught the frisbee from the other end. The objective here is to get the frisbee past the other team's goal. But the team throwing off the frisbee has to throw it to the other team and so, Fairy Tail A was in the lead. The person holding the frisbee cannot travel with it, they have to stay in one place and fling it to another team mate and the chain goes on.
Natsu saw Fairy Tail B coming towards him, he had limited time to hold the frisbee for any longer.
"Natsuu!" Lisanna called from the far distance. Could he fling the frisbee that far and risk Lisanna not being able to catch it? Did he have any hope? He felt sweat dripping down the side of his forehead, just then he heard footsteps coming from behind him and the scent he smelled was familiar to none other than Lucy.
"LUCY!" the pinkette yelled flinging the frisbee lightly behind him and in return, the blonde had grabbed the frisbee in her hand.
"Natsu, back to you!" the blonde yelled, flinging the frisbee towards the pinkette. The two formed a little small gap together and began to travel, only stopping to catch the frisbee and fling it back to the other while avoiding the swatting of Team B. This chain continued until they had reached Fairy Tail Team B's goal and earned a point.
"Fairy Tail Team A POINT! Fairy Tail Team B ZERO!" the coach yelled from the bleachers.
"Alright! I'm getting all fired up!" Natsu yelled, wiping the sweat off his face.
The game continued on until the two teams were tied, 14-14.
"Okay! Whichever team earns the next point, WINS! Everyone do your best!" the coach yelled.
Gray threw off the frisbee towards Fairy Tail Team B and so the game had begun. Gajeel grabbed the frisbee and immediately Natsu reached him, trying to block him from throwing the frisbee else where. Gajeel smirked "gehi" and threw the frisbee behind him knowing that Levy had caught it. Gajeel moved farther as Levy threw the frisbee towards him, catching it without fail.
"Over here!" Loke yelled who was waiting at Team A's goal. Gajeel threw it towards Loke only to have the frisbee swatted down by Lisanna. Whoever swats the other team's frisbee gets to have the frisbee for their team. Lisanna picked up the disc; looking around the room for anyone on her team she could throw it to.
"Lisanna, over here!" Lucy yelled coming up towards her but staying a few feet away.
"Here goes nothing!" Lisanna threw the frisbee towards Lucy. The flying disc went towards the woman's chest but instead of Lucy catching it, the disc had moved to higher altitude hitting Lucy SMACK in the forehead causing the blonde to fall onto the ground.
Lisanna's eyes widened as she covered her mouth, "Sorry!" and immediately the coach blew the whistle.
"Lucy!" the blonde could hear the voice of worried Natsu coming towards her. He kneeled down beside her and moved her hands away from her face. Forming on the side of her forehead was a purple bruise. The coach came rushing towards the two.
"Hey, are you okay?" the coach asked.
"I'm fine, really it's just a scratch-"
"A SCRATCH MY ASS! I'm taking you to the nurse!" Natsu exclaimed.
"No! I'm fine really, I'll go there myself-" Lucy tried to get herself up but failed, feeling a sharp pain in her ankle.
"Looks like we've got a twisted ankle here." the coach said.
"Really, everyone! I'm fine I'll go-" before Lucy could finish her sentence she was picked up by Natsu (bridal style) and began to walk back inside of the high school.
Meanwhile, the game of Ultimate Frisbee continued at the sound of the coach's whistle.
FAIRY TAIL HIGH
"Hey! Come on I said-"
"Shut up! Just shut up okay?!" you could hear the hurt in Natsu's voice as he avoided eye contact with her and so, Lucy kept quiet until they arrived to the nurse.
The nurse had bandaged Lucy's ankle and took a good look at her forehead.
"Hmm… I think you should stay home for a day or two. I don't think you have a concussion but if your head hurts a lot, I suggest rest and I mean immediately. Especially with that ankle of yours, I'll write a pass for you right now." The nurse said, leaving the infirmary and into her office.
Natsu sat across from Lucy in a chair, looking at Lucy with concerned eyes. Lucy sighed and barely moved on the parchment paper covering the exam table she sat on.
"I guess I'll be staying home for a few days with ya," the pinkette said, crossing his arms.
"Mou! I did say I'd be fine, really." Lucy replied.
"Fine my ass. Stop saying that shit, I'm taking you home once she finishes writing that pass."
"Fine, you can stay home with me. But what about your tux? Aren't you getting fitted today with the guys?"
"That can wait, I'll go by myself some other time."
"You don't even know how to do that by yourself!"
"I'll learn!"
"AT LEAST," she sighed, "At least just go out with them today and you can stay with me as long as you want right after, okay?"
Natsu stared at Lucy with intense eyes before breaking the lock and sighed.
"Fine."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hello everyone! As promised, the remastered version of Two Best Friends, One Dense!
I made a lot of changes to chapter one so I hope you'll enjoy it! Don't forget to leave a favorite and a review to this story!