The Girl Next Door

notes: hey ya'll! yup it's a new story. well more like a collection of related au drabbles. i saw some tumblr prompts (ofc) and got inspired to do a modern day neighbors au for nalu. sorry if this isn't totally coherent. i'm like strangely really tired, but i really wanted to get this out. if you have ideas or something you wanna see, please let me know! i'll be happy to accommodate your requests! enjoy!

general disclaimer: i don't own Fairy Tail.

i. meeting her

Natsu dusted off his hands and clothes as he set the last box down in his apartment. He was glad the furniture had been moved in earlier. Moving was a lot of work but this flat was a lot nicer than his old place. He surveyed the space satisfactorily.

Whistling, he opened a few boxes and began unpacking clothes (read: throwing his shirts and pants haphazardly into his dresser). He wondered what kind of neighbors he had. Should he go greet them? Did people still do that these days or was that too old-school?

"Plue! Plue, come back! Plue!"

His ears twitched at the sound of the distressed voice and he opened his door and poked his head into the hallway to see a little white blur barreling towards him.

"Whoa there!" Natsu bent and cupped his hands, easily catching the little animal and cuddling it in his arms. Now that he was holding it, he saw that it was a round white...thing with a pointy orange nose. It was snowman-like and made weird "puuuun" noises.

He couldn't help squinting at it, despite it being right in his arms. He had never seen such a creature before.

"Plue! Oh thank goodness."

Natsu looked up and lost his breath at soon as he laid eyes on the beautiful blonde woman smiling at him in relief. She was gorgeous; he would know, having been surrounded by beautiful women all his life.

"Are you the new neighbor? I'm Lucy. It's nice to meet you. Sorry about Plue." She laughed a little and Natsu couldn't help but chuckle back. "He's usually horrible with strangers."

There was a scoff behind her and a brunet man appeared behind her, pouting. Natsu disliked him on sight and prayed he wasn't Lucy's boyfriend. "Lulu, I've known him for a year now and he still attacks me. I think he's just rabid."

Lucy frowned and spun around to glare at the man. "Dan, you just need to be nicer to Plue. He's never attacked me before and look! He's being perfectly nice to...um, sorry, I didn't ask your name!"

"Oh, I'm Natsu, Natsu Dragneel," he introduced himself easily with a wide grin. "I'd offer my hand but..." He nodded down at Plue, who was curled up in his arms and purring. "What animal is he, by the way?"

"What, Plue?" Lucy was surprised. "He's a dog, of course."

Natsu raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Huh. That's new."

Dan cleared his throat and slung an arm across Lucy's shoulders. Maybe he was just seeing things but Natsu thought she looked rather uncomfortable. "Lulu, darling, don't we need to go meet your father soon? Let's leave Mr. Dragneel to unpack."

Shit, they were totally dating. Damn. Either Lucy had really bad taste or she was being blackmailed. Natsu leaned toward the latter.

"It's Natsu, not Mr. Dragneel." He glared at Dan before smiling at Lucy and offering Plue over. "Here."

"Oh right! Thanks again." She beamed at him brilliantly and Natsu swore the sun paled in comparison. She was that bright. "I guess I'll...see you around?"

Natsu grinned. "That'd be awesome. I've got a cat who I think will be good friends with Plue."

She giggled. "We'll have to set up playdates then!" She waved and walked away.

Natsu walked back into his apartment and leaned against the door. It looked like life was about to get a little more complicated.

© Copyright 2015 by The Siege