Chapter One — Battle of the Siblings
"Sting!" Lucy raised her leg and kicked the blonde's back, making him stumble over and lose his balance, causing him to fall flat on the kitchen tiles. He groaned in pain as he slowly got up from the ground and rubbed his noise, trying to ease the pain.
"Ow! What the heck was that for, sis?!" Sting shouted, standing up.
"I told you a million times to do the chores and yet, you never did them!" Lucy scolded.
"You don't do them either," Sting retorted, narrowing his eyes.
Lucy placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I work for the money to pay the rest for our house and I do the laundry and also clean up the house. I pay the house, I do some of the chores, so I own the house. Rule of law. All you have to do is a few chores, and yet you don't do them! I'm so disappointed in you!"
"Look, I've been busy for awhile, okay sis?"
Now it was Lucy's turn to narrow her eyes. She scoffed. "What do you mean, 'busy'?" she questioned as she did quotation marks with her fingers. "You've been going out with your friends the whole time at who knows where!"
Sting groaned and rolled his eyes. "I already told you that I'm in a band, and that I want to focus my attention in it," he stated.
"That's what you said about basketball last time," she pointed out.
"And I'm really committing to basketball too!"
"Yeah, I kind of already know. I go to the same school as your fangirls," Lucy said, rolling her eyes at how weird the girls were for envying her dorky brother. "Anyways, back to the point, I don't care when you do them, or what you do, but make sure to finish your chores by seven p.m. today!"
The blonde exited out of the kitchen, leaving the conversation and Sting, making him have a dumbfounded expression because he didn't get the chance to retort or argue. He ran out of the kitchen after her, and spotted her grab her purse off the coat rack and put it around her shoulder.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" he asked, looking at her oddly.
"I already told that I was going to the library to study with Levy," Lucy replied, tucking her feet into her shoes.
"How come you get to leave, but I can't?!" Sting exclaimed.
"Because you haven't done your chores," Lucy deadpanned. "I know you have a social life, so I'm actually not going to stop you from going somewhere to pursue your dreams, or whatever. I don't care as long as you clean the kitchen and do the chores, etc. first. I expect to come home to a spotless kitchen."
And with that, she opened the door and exited, shutting the door loudly behind her.
Sting sighed. "Since when did she become my mother?!" he muttered to himself, groaning once again.
RING! RING!
He stopped mopping and turned his attention to the sound of a phone ringing in the kitchen. Immediately, he dashed to the kitchen, towards the sound. Finding his cellphone on the table, he slid the screen, and unlocked his phone to answer it. He pushed it up to his ear and greeted, "Hello?"
"Yo, Sting!" Immediately at the sound of the voice, the blonde brightened up.
"Hey, Natsu-san!" he greeted back. "So, what's up?"
"Oh I was wondering if we can rehearse at your place instead of mine today. My dad got really mad at me for breaking the dining table... again," Natsu said, laughing nervously.
"Of course, Natsu-san! Actually, this is great! I can't leave my house today anyways," Sting replied. With all the chores that Lucy gave him, he would probably finish in about three hours, and it was currently two already. With the spare time of going to Natsu's house and back, he could've used it on working on the chores. It was a win-win.
"Thanks, man! I already contacted the others about it, we'll be over in awhile," Natsu said, hanging up afterwards.
Immediately after he hung up, Sting jumped in happiness, elated that his favorite senpai that he admired was coming over his house! This was probably the first time since all the practices were at the other senpai's houses like Gajeel's and Gray's.
RING! RING!
Sting stopped his happy dance and looked down at the phone when he felt it vibrate in his hand. He answered again, and took the call. "Hello?"
"Hey, is it true that we're going to your house to rehearse?" He recognized the voice. It was his best and childhood friend, Rogue.
"Yep," Sting replied.
"... Did you ask Lucy about it?" Rogue asked.
"What do you mean? Why do I have to ask her?" he questioned.
"You already know that Natsu goes over the top with things. Do you really think it's alright to actually bring him to your house and mess things up without your sister's consent?" Rogue reasoned.
"... Well I am the older twin," Sting pointed out.
"And she's the one who has a job," Rogue retorted.
"It's fine, it's fine." Sting waved it off. "Luce wouldn't mind. I'll clean it up before she comes home anyways," he rest assured.
"Thanks for dropping me off, Erza," Lucy said, slowly walking out of the car gently, trying her best not fall over because of her shaky legs.
Her close friend, Erza was a really talented person— strong, wide-willed, beautiful, kind, and loyal. Lucy admired the girl so much and envied her. But there was a huge flaw about her. The girl was horrible at driving, or in this case, she was just a really fast, passionate driver. She had just started driving a few weeks ago, and today was the first time that Lucy got in the car with her. If it wasn't for her seatbelt, she would've probably fell out of the car, considering it was a jeep and it didn't have doors, nor a ceiling.
"No problem. I need practice before my driving test anyways," Erza replied.
"You know what, you should drive Gray around more. I know he'll enjoy it," Lucy suggested, throwing Gray under the bus. The boy had accidently knocked her down the stairs yesterday at school when he had a fight with his pink haired rival.
"I should, huh?" Erza said, taking in the suggestion. "Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see you on Monday at school. Make sure not to be late with your brother."
"I'll try my best," Lucy rest assured, waving bye to her as she walked up the driveway of her house. She could hear Erza in the background, zooming away already as she inserted her key into the door. After a twist, she put it back in her purse then proceeded to enter her house.
Upon entering and taking off her shoes, she cringed when she heard a loud noise from upstairs. It's probably Sting, she assumed, thinking back to the argument when he mentioned his band. Ignoring it, she walked into the kitchen to get a snack.
But that was when she regretted it. She stopped in her tracks.
The kitchen was trashed completely.
The fridge was wide open and food was all over the floor, there was burnt marks everywhere in the room and the stove was half broken, the glass dining table was smashed, the chairs were knocked over, and the sink water was running, making a large puddle on the carpet as it continued to leak out.
Lucy hurriedly ran over to it and turned off the nozzle, also pulling out the drain to release the pool. Rolling her hands into a fist, she shouted, "He's a dead man!" She was about to march and storm into his room, until she accidently slipped on the puddle on the ground, letting out a "Kyaa~!"
She slammed open the door and stomped into the room, her blonde side bangs covering one of her eyes because it was soaking yet due to falling on her face. When she entered, she was immediately bombarded by loud sounds clashing throughout the room. She covered her ears, and yelled 'hey!' to get their attention, but no avail because they were too much into the zone. Keeping her ears covered, she marched over to the amplifier and unplugged it, stopping all the noise.
All the boys in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to her, wondering why she stopped the song and who she was.
Well, some already knew her. "Oh hey, Lucy," Gray greeted coolly. "... What's up with your look?"
"What's up with my look...?" Lucy recited quietly, before repeating it loudly, shouting in the room, "WHAT'S UP WITH MY LOOK?! Someone didn't do their stupid chores, and the kitchen was more trashed than when I left this morning! Plus, what the heck are you all doing here?! And also, where is that dumbass?!"
"Woah chill out, Bunny Girl," one of the members in the band, Gajeel said. "We should be the ones upset since ya stopped our song. I was doing my awesome shoo-be-doo-be-do solo!"
Lucy snapped and turned to the most decent person she knew in the room, crossing her arms. "Rogue, where is he?"
"... He's in the bathro—" Rogue was interrupted when someone slammed the door open, walking in with a huge smile on his face.
"Yo guys, I got some of my sister's secret snacks. It took me and Natsu-san forever to find the—" He stopped in mid-sentence when he realized that Lucy was in front of him, fuming. He could've swore that he saw steam come out of her head even though she was cold, soaking wet.
"Sting..." Lucy fumed, immediately tackling him in the doorway.
The blonde fell over and dropped the bags of snacks. While Lucy was laying on top of him, trying to strangle him, he tried to fight back, pushing her face away. The boys awkwardly watched them roll on the floor; Sting was yanking her hair and pushing her face, and Lucy was grabbing his neck and punching his forehead.
"... Hey, I know I'm late to realize this, but why is Lucy here?" Gray inquired. "I didn't know her and Sting were so close."
"They're twins," Rogue answered, surprising them.
Sting never mentioned her because he felt that they should be socially separated at school, and Lucy agreed as well (even though she tells her friends occasionally and complains about him). So nobody really knew about them, and since they were fraternal twins, it was easier to hide.
"Woah, what?" the pink haired boy exclaimed, walking into the room with a lollipop shoved in his mouth.
"Natsu-san!" Sting stopped rumbling on the floor with Lucy, and the two froze in their spot. Lucy was on top of him, her hands on his neck and hair; and he was under her, his hands on her wet hair and the other one pushing her cheek away from him.
"... Luce?" Natsu said, recognizing her immediately.
The blonde froze for a second, trying to process everything and why he was here. But when she saw the lollipop in his mouth, she immediately recognized it was from her secret stash of candy she kept in a box in another box, which was hidden deep inside her closet in her coat, away from Sting. Her eyes burned with anger as she slowly rose up from her seat and ran up to Natsu. Raising her leg, she kicked him hard, making him fall on the floor.
Sting's jaw dropped to the floor. Hurriedly, he got up from his spot and ran over to help him, pushing his sister out of the way. "Luce, why'd you do that?!" he shouted at his sister, snapping his head to her as he helped Natsu up.
Lucy crossed her arms, and spoke, her voice obviously trying to contain her anger and keep calm, "Sting, why the heck is some of my classmates doing here? Follow-up question, why are you here, Natsu? Also, stay out of my secret stash and room!"
"Eh? You two know each other?!" Sting exclaimed, surprised that she called him by his name without honorifics. He was secretly envious and jealous that she could call him so casually.
Also, he had never seen them together. And assuming and putting social statuses at school, Natsu was a jock, playing in literally all of the sports (mostly basketball and football though). Then there's his geeky, but pretty sister Lucy who love books and read them all the time, spending most of her life in a library.
"Of course I know him," Lucy said, rolling her eyes. "He's in my class. They're in my class too." She nodded towards Gajeel and Gray.
"They're like, besties," Gray answered in a teasing tone at the two, pretending that the two had a girly relationship. Sting couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"Hey, what was that for, Luce?!" Natsu shouted, getting up from his spot, ignoring him.
And Sting started to wonder more why he was so close to her as to call her by her nickname. Not even Erza or Mirajane call her that.
"When I saw the huge mess, I should've known that you were apart of it!" she shouted, facepalming. "I don't know which one of you trashed the kitchen, but everyone go clean it up!"
"... But it's not my house," Gray retorted.
A tick mark appeared on her forehead as she opened her purse and dug in her purse, earning raised eyebrows from the five. She revealed to pull out her cellphone. Unlocking it and tapping the screen a few times, she dialed someone, the dialing noise very loud in the silent room since everyone watched her quietly and anxiously, wondering what she was doing. The dialing sound stopped when someone picked up.
"... Hello?" a light female voice answered, making Gray tense up when he recognized the voice.
"Oh hey, Juvia!" Lucy greeted happily and slowly to rub it in their faces. "I was just wondering if you wanted to come ove—" She stopped in mid-sentence when Gray snatched her phone out of her hand and hung up the device.
"Okay fine, I'll make flame-brain clean," Gray offered.
"Hey?! What the heck, stripper?!" Natsu exclaimed, getting up from his spot. "What do you mean, 'make me clean'?"
Gray turned to him, and clashed heads with him. "Ain't it obvious fire breath? It's all your fault and you should take responsibility!"
"Hey! Gajeel was the one who broke the table!" Natsu pointed out.
"At least I'm not the one who raided the fridge!" Gajeel retorted, getting into the fight.
"You see what you did, Luce? Now, the band started a fight because of you," Sting accused.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "They always start fights in the classroom. It doesn't matter," she pointed out. "Anyways, after you guys are all done cleaning, get out. Your music is too loud and I need to get up early tomorrow because I'm meeting Levy at the library again."
At the sound of her name, Gajeel scoffed. "Shrimp is such a dork."
"Funny. She says the same thing as you," Lucy retorted before turning her heel and walking out of the room. "Also, Natsu, if you don't finish your part of the project by the due date on Monday, Erza is going to crush you. Same with you, Gray!" Her voice was heard from down the hallways.
Natsu turned meek at the sound of Erza crushing his skull.
"O-Oh whatever, I'm not afraid of her," he said, trying to act tough.
"I'm good! I finished my part of the project already," Gray said coolly, prouder than Natsu.
"Okay, I am so confused on how you guys know my sister," Sting announced. "And what the heck are you talking about?"
"Ain't it obvious when she said it? We're in her class," Gajeel answered.
"And me, Natsu, Lucy, and Erza are working on a project together that's due on Monday since that's are usual project group," Gray replied.
"Yo, but I didn't know that you were related to Luce," Natsu said.
"I feel the same way," Sting replied, a bit down.
His perfect senpai who he looked up to so much was 'besties', as Gray put it, with his dorky twin sister, who happened to skip a grade because of her intellect. After everything, he totally didn't expect this, and he didn't know how to react to it at all.
"... Well, good luck with cleaning guys. Now that Lucy is gone, she won't know that I ditched you guys," Gray announced. "See ya." And with that, he quickly left the room. It took them a few seconds to process everything before running after him, so he couldn't leave.
"Hey Luce, you wanna go to our basketball game tomorrow?" Natsu asked, offering the tickets he bought to her, waving them in his hands. "And y'know, support your bro, Sting, who I just found out was your brother. I'm still upset at you for not telling me."
"No, don't waste the tickets on her!" Sting interjected, jumping in between the two. He placed his hands on Natsu's shoulders and looked at him firmly and seriously. "Natsu-san, she's not worth it."
Lucy scoffed. "I didn't want to go anyways," she refused, tossing him his letterman jacket, which was the real reason she was at their practice in first place. She turned to Natsu. "Also, we're even when you never told me that Gajeel was your cousin and Wendy was your sister!"
"You never asked," Natsu retorted dumbly, forgetting his previous statement.
"Exactly my point," Lucy said, crossing her arms.
"Aw, but you never come to support us and we're your friends!" he said, referring to Gray and the others.
"I have to go to my part-time job anyways," she replied.
"You owe me for missing our game!" Natsu pouted, before giving her a toothy smile. "Treat me to dinner tomorrow?"
"... Fine," Lucy said, sighing in defeat with Natsu cheering.
Meanwhile, Sting awkwardly watched the two, surprised at himself for not noticing that the two had a close relationship. So close that they could be dating from the sound of their conversation. Maybe it's because he was so focus on Natsu a lot that he tuned out Lucy, or something.
"My life is totally ruined," Sting groaned, catching the two's attention.
"Oh yeah, speaking of your bro, did you tell her about the battle of the bands?" Natsu asked.
"The what?" Lucy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, it completely slipped my mind," Sting replied. His head has been on the two the whole time.
"The five of us are doing a competition, so we're going to be hanging at your house for awhile."
"You say what?!" Lucy shrieked.
"Sis, you're acting lame in front of Natsu-san!" Sting muttered to her, nudging her.
"I can't have you hanging at my house! You always end up making messes, which is the reason why I never invite you," Lucy scolded. "Can't you just do it at your house?"
"Can't. My dad is home from his business trip, and he doesn't allow me to play my drums," Natsu replied. "Gray's sis, Ultear, kicked us out last time, and Gajeel's place smells so bad that I can't stand it. Plus, Sting already volunteered."
Lucy fumed, turning to her twin brother. "Sting..." she growled. "Why the heck would you volunteer?!"
"Because no one else would, and I want to help the band," Sting answered.
"What about Rogue?"
"He wouldn't let anyone but Gajeel come."
Lucy groaned. "Fine, you can come. But you guys better not make a mess again," she warned.
"Don't worry, Luce! When am I ever messy?" Natsu said obliviously, giving her a toothy grin and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"All the time," she replied bluntly.
A/N — yay, i finally finished the first chapter! it doesn't seem to contain much nalu, since it seems to circle around sting, but it's going to be filled with nalu, i reassure you. and of course, like it said in the summary, there will be some stinyu, but in the next chapter bc this is the prologue, etc. into the story. also, sorry about the OOC-ness since i make lucy pissed off a lot, but in reality, who wouldn't get pissed off if that happened to you, lol. well anyways, please review! i want to know your thoughts, and i am so sorry for the horrible grammar mistakes! ;-;
Disclaimer — hiro mashima owns fairy tail and the cover to this story!