A/N: Erh… hello, everyone. Been a while, hasn't it?
Okay, listen, I would go on a long rant about why I haven't written anything in the last year and whatnot but I sincerely cannot bring myself to explain. Plus, you don't need to know. Personal stuff is personal, y'know?
What you do need to know is that My Candy is getting a remake.
Yes, you heard right.
A goddamn remake.
Kiss Shedauwz' blond beard for this… also, send him some Big Mac's. Or black coffee. But that's only if you're truly thankful for this.
As for me? Well, it's not like you must to – nope, not talking about the beard part –, but if you drop a review or two it would be nice of you. Just sayin', I need a bit of motivation aside that of my friends, and you guys – whoever is left out there that follows my stories – are perfect for the job.
Now, hold yourself to the edge of your seat. This remake is gonna be waaaaaaaaaaaaay different than the original My Candy. Not to say downright awesome. Which is why the title also changed and now it is called My Favorite Nightmare.
Why? Why, of course, because it refers to the attitude between the two main characters towards eachother. Got ya curious, didn't I? Yes, I did. Now, be good readers and continue all the way down to find out why that is. Heheheh~.
Alright.
That's all.
Enjoy the story and, remember, leave a review when finished.
Saludos.
My Favorite Nightmare
A bright morning sun like no other, the first clear sign of the end of Winter and the start of Spring in the city of Magnolia, was the main background the people saw once outside their homes, along with the lightly clouded skies that were the only residue of the snowy days they've been having not two weeks ago. Aside some small ponds that still remained here and there.
Activity was on the rise. While adults headed towards their jobs and/or random occupations, their younger counterparts, namely teenagers and infants, mobilized towards the institutions of learning that were their second home for most of the week.
Boring, isn't it? I know.
It is a pain just trying to describe it.
Even more so was thinking about it.
'Goddamn it, why the hell did I say yes to that asshole!?' One of the teens from the mobs mentioned above thought inwardly, reprimanding himself for waking up an hour later than he should have. He shouldn't have eaten those burritos. The damned things made it a challenge to lie still on the bed after dinner. 'There's not even one person my age around! Shit, shit, shit! I'm late as fuck!'
Kicking up the speed of his vehicle of choice, literally, the teen made a sharp turn around a corner by taking hold of a lamppost and, dodging a passing office worker by leaning his body back a little, continued on his hurried, merry way.
He had to be thankful the skateboard his father gave him for Christmas was brand new. If it had been the one he had been using for the last two years, he was sure that now he'd be screwing a loose wheel and losing even more time.
Hopping over a rail meant to keep the pedestrians safe from possible vehicles that might get out of control, the young man barely registered that he forgot to check if he was allowed to cross the street, even though to his luck the lights were red.
Was he still sluggish after all the movement he had been doing?
Maybe his brain hadn't woken up completely from its slumber, unlike his body.
'This is just asking for trouble, but if I don't, I'll probably have an accident or something.' Sending one hand to his pocket, the guy pulled out a smartphone and started to type away on it, checking his favorite sites for something that would hopefully get his mind kicked in gear. 'Uh, results of the last football match? No. Yesterday's the tonight show's best moments? No, aaaagh, no no no, I'm not finding anything interesting here!'
Crossing yet another street without looking and being lucky enough to not end up rammed by a passing vehicle in the process, the young man hurried his search for something to wake his mind up and instead typed away in hopes of finding something amusing among the news. Hey, don't blame him, he was doing his best despite being lethargic, having an upset stomach and a burning ass.
'Arite, same shit in celebrities, same shit in politics, same shit in economy… huh?' The teen stopped scrolling down when a headliner caught his attention in the domestic violence section, a thing he clicked on without wasting a second. His mind finally jolted awake, his eyes widening when he processed what was written on the screen. 'Man dies after eating coke from his brother's butt!?'
The explosion of laughter was instantaneous.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
And his focus in regards to where he was going went to shit.
"East Side Gardens, ninety-three… huh, that's the place." Reading the address aloud, a blond man of a lean, tall, slightly muscular physique shook his head and looked around the buildings while crossing the street, trying to find the one where his job interview was supposed to be held. He took a sip from the coffee he got on the way there and readjusted the tie around his neck with his free hand. 'If all goes well, I'll be out of Gramps' house by the end of Spring.' "Tch, keep a positive attitude and give a good impression, if that moron's wrong I'm gonna kick his ass from here to the moon.'
He moved a step forward with confidence, psyching himself up for the interview that was going to kickstart his road to economic independence and-
"-HAHAHAHAHAH!"
-his head turned left at the sound of boisterous laughter. "Huh?"
The rest is just too horrible for me to describe.
But I will do it anyway.
The teen, looking up at the last second, got not a single chance to dodge the blond man in his way. The speed at which he was going, the distance remaining between the two, the other options he had instead of crashing into the man. If he bailed to the left, a vehicle might run him over, and if he jumped to the right, he was getting a free ticket to get a broken nose against a concrete wall.
With the mental equation done, the answer he got was fairly simple.
"S-sorr-UGH!"
His body crashed against the blond man and sent them both tumbling meters away from the initial collision spot, with the teen painfully landing on top of his sore and burning butt while the blond man was only spared any real tumbling because of his bigger form. He was only pushed back, forcing him to let go of the papers sent by the company that wanted to hire him and squish the paper cup of coffee he had in his hand.
With the dark brown liquid now spread all over his supposed-to-be white shirt.
How was he going to look presentable now?
His gaze turned to the cause of this situation.
It was a high-school teen, if his sight and mind weren't failing him; a uniform from Fairy Tail High – white dress shirt of short sleeves, tie of blue and yellow stripes, and gray dress pants – with a mop of spiky pink hair revealing itself from under a tilted protection helmet of black color. Together with the skateboard lying not two meters away from the two, the man figured the teen was a skater.
Wait.
Pink hair.
Skateboard.
He recognized the brat immediately.
"Ooooow… my… head…" This brat now holding a sore spot near his forehead was Igneel's son, Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail High, if he recalled correctly. A teen with a passion for skating and getting into fights every now and then because people mocked his weirdly colored hair. "What the hell, I thought the helmet was supposed to cover my head! What's with the pain, dammit!?"
Shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness he felt from the crash, Natsu looked around him to see if he could find the one he crashed against anywhere nearby and start apologizing, which wasn't all that difficult.
Said person was standing before him.
"Yo, Natsu." Strong arms crossed beneath a seemingly rock-solid chest, frowning eyes hidden under a shadow made by a patch of short, spiky blond hair and an eerie grin that promised death were the things the teen saw when taking his time to acknowledge just who he just crashed into.
I don't have to mention this whole picture scared him more than if it had been his very own father, now do I?
"H-hey there, Laxus." Natsu started in a friendly manner, shaking all over but figuring it would be better to play it cool to lessen whatever kind of retaliation in the blond man's mind. He stood up, dusted his clothes off and fixed his overall attire. "Lovely morning we're having, eh?"
The man's grin widened; this was turning diabolical. "Yeah, lovely, whatever." His gaze fell on the skateboard lying close to them and he made to move towards it. Why not scare the brat a little more? Pretend to try and do something to it to have him freaking out some more. "What happened, Natsu? Running so late that you don't have time to watch where the fuck you're going?"
"Y-yeah! That's right, I was running late to school so I kinda didn't watch where I was going!" The pinket acted quickly when he felt his precious skateboard in danger, holding up his hands to stop the blond and also start distracting him by trying to fix Laxus' messed up attire. His poor attempt instead fucking the man's shirt and tie up even more. "Y'know how it is, right? Can't be late or dad will throw a fit when he hears about it."
Laxus had to concede the brat was right on that front; even he trampled on some helpless people when running late to school back in his days in an attempt to avoid troubles with his grandfather later on. But there was one thing here he knew that just shattered the pinket's whole excuse.
Yeah, it totally wasn't just because he made the man drop his sacred coffee all over his brand new outfit, which was supposed to make him look presentable and trustworthy for the job interview that was about to start in ten minutes tops.
No, it wasn't about that at all.
"Here, see? All better now." The things that shattered Natsu's excuse were the facts surrounding the stupid teen. One, the boy lived close to the school, so there wasn't any need to rush at top speed on a skateboard. He could've just gone running and left the stupid skate back home or instead, woken up early like any other normal guy and arrive on time.
Seriously, Igneel's son was levels below on the intelligence scale.
And the way he just left Laxus' attire even more fucked up when trying to fix it was proof of that.
The man's visage darkened. "…"
Forget intelligence levels.
The brat was out of the scale.
Hell, did he even know what a fucking scale was to begin with?
"S-so, yeah! I gotta run or I'll be late!" Picking the skate from the ground in a flash, Natsu fixed his helmet and got on the board with it facing the direction opposite of the blond man. He had to make it out of there quick or suffer the consequences. "Y'know how it is, right, bro? Anywaaaaay, bye~!"
He kicked the ground once but the scenery didn't move.
In fact, he didn't move at all.
A hand on his shoulder and a kick to his skateboard, which sent the object wheeling away from the pinket, made Natsu realize something.
There was no bailing out of the consequences with Laxus.
"Ooooh, I know how it is, Natsu. I know it all too well." The pressure on his shoulder intensified and the teen started sweating bullets. This wasn't worth the good laugh he had before crashing into the blond man. "But… I'm a responsible adult now, aren't I? Shouldn't I give you a lecture or two about fucking things up the way you did?"
The sound of a fist tightening in preparation made the teen gulp down in added fear.
The good laugh wasn't worth this at all.
"Don't worry, Natsu, I'll hit your head first to numb the pain."
"W-what!? Wait! No no no! Laxus! S-stop! Noooooooooo!"
Fifteen minutes later…
Fairy Tail High…
Arriving late to school was nothing new to the pink-haired teen that was dragging his feet forward into the premises. In fact, if ever asked, he corrected the question made by the curious folks that wanted some answers.
'How many times was I late? Hah… more like how many times I wasn't.' Nursing his head gingerly, Natsu eyed the deserted surroundings of the school's front and clicked his tongue in annoyance. If his friends were to hear about this, he was sure some would be willing to cover for him after hearing what kept him from getting there on time. That is, some. 'I wouldn't have a damn problem with this if it weren't because Gray will probably use it to blackmail me into doing something for him…' He groaned. 'Goddammit, today's just not my day.'
The entrance hall was also deserted, save for a figure he saw dashing down the corridor the moment he entered. He figured it was another late running student that got there a few minutes before him.
Lucky bastard.
'Uh, first class was… Biology… right?' Leaving his pads and helmet inside his locker while checking the schedule stamped on the metal door, the teen had yet another thing to groan about. 'Great, first class of the day is the one I'm worst at.'
He took the book asked for the subject and closed the locker shut, aiming to make it through the hallways without a single teacher finding him or the board underneath his arm.
It wasn't anything new, honestly, this being his second year and all, going through the hallways with not a soul inside the classrooms detecting his lone presence moving stealthily outside. He was using the board as a faster means of getting to his target, of course.
And that was it, the classroom's door – the one farther away from the blackboard and the teacher – was slid open, he rolled inside while the teacher lulled the students to a comatose state, left his skateboard beneath his seat and, when a young man of brownish-orange hair looked back to check if Natsu was in his seat by now, he got a friendly wave from the pinket in question.
He got inside classroom 2-C without anyone noticing.
Owned.
"Hahaha… how in hell…?" The teen addressing Natsu, who strangely enough was wearing shades inside the classroom, only shook his head and chuckled at the pink-haired skater's skill. No matter how many times it already happened, he still couldn't understand how the guy managed to get in without having to endure a lecture from the teacher on duty. "Is there ever gonna be a time when you can't sneak your way in, man?"
"Who knows?" Natsu shrugged in answer, grinning at his accomplishment with some pride. Though, he did point out one important part of his success. "I do know I'm lucky my seat's next to the room's back door… otherwise, I'd be screwed."
They laughed quietly a little more before the teacher called their attention back to the front and they had to resume their pretending-to-listen-to-the-drone-of-a-teacher mode.
Really, the guy could at least try to be more upbeat while killing them.
Talking about killing.
"The hell happened to your face, Natsu?" Another teen, this one having hair closer to style to Natsu's but of a dark blue color, questioned once he took a closer look at the pink-haired student's face and noticed the slightly red area close to the cheekbones. The teacher left, recess started, so the three were now chatting about the guy's late arrival to pass the time. "Hit a lamppost or did you run someone over again?"
Natsu grimaced at remembering his run-in with Laxus that morning. "I wish… I crashed into Laxus… and he wasn't too keen on me spilling his coffee all over his shirt."
"Wow… and here I thought it was another lady slapping the hell out of you for crashing into her boobs." Loke, the student with brownish-orange hair, hissed in sympathy. This, as he stated, wasn't the first time his friend went through something like this but it certainly was the worse so far. "How did you manage to stay alive?"
At this, the usual grin of the pink-haired skater returned fully. "Hah! Easy… I just dodged my way out while trying to get back on my skateboard before dashing away."
Gray rolled his eyes at the tale and pointed to the already bruising area on the guy's face. "Yeah, sure, but he was still fast enough to leave his signature on your face, dumbass."
Natsu frowned, giving the evil eye to his friend. "Oh, shut it, you'd have come out worse in my place."
An eyebrow twitched in the dark blue-haired teen. "You wish. My reflexes are ten times better than yours."
The pinket gave a step forward, forcing a grin. "Oh yeah? Wanna try and find out?"
"Now now, don't start a fight, guys. We're in school, remember?" The shades-wearing teen waved his hands down to calm the two teens while eyeing the eavesdropping class, turning to Natsu afterwards to pat the pinket's shoulder in worry. "And I would be careful about running into Laxus again anytime soon, man, for your health mostly."
"Uh-huh, I hear ya. It's not like I wanna have this scratch turning any bigger, now do I?" Stretching his arms over his head to get rid of the sleepiness he felt from listening to their teacher for the past two hours, Natsu looked around and, after seeing that everyone was doing their own things, he pointed up to the ceiling. "Say, why don't we get outta here? Let's go to the roof and get some air before recess is over."
"Yeah, let's go. Anything's better than staying locked up in here all day." Pulling out his phone to check on some messages, Gray shook his head, made sure his shirt was still on him and went on to join the guys out in the hallway. "Oh right, today we have a mock-test in Geography. We should ask one of the girls if they can give us some pointers or something."
"We should, yeah, I better get to it… with any luck they'll send their notes in two seconds." Loke nodded in agreement and grinned, taking his own phone out to check if any of his fangirls were willing to give him some pointers, which, of course they would be. "Never thought I'd say this, but sitting through that lecture Gildarts gave us years ago was worth every minute. Hahahah!"
Natsu nodded to the two to show them he was listening but paid attention to the road itself. There were many students, some he knew because of their friends, some because he knew them since the year before, and there were some who didn't look all that familiar; they were probably first years.
'Second year already, huh? A bit more and I'll be out of this place.'
His thoughts though weren't on the students they were leaving behind as they headed to the roof. It was on the activity that had his mind taken since his uncle came to visit his father and him a couple of years ago.
If anyone came to ask Natsu – when no one was around – if he loved skateboarding since he was given a board years ago, he would give a thunderous no in answer. He fell off of it way too many times, got motion-sick when finally getting a hold on how to balance himself and later got injuries on every single part of his body when trying to replicate the tricks he saw in TV, movies or games.
But his perseveration won in the end and, after a hundred pages' list of failed attempts, he finally got to ride the skateboard without problems, dishing out some tricks for his friends to look at in awe not long after.
"Hey hey, the sun's bright, the sky's clear, there's no wind. Today's perfect to get some practice done after school, don't you think?" Loke pointed to the group once the door to the roof opened and they made their way out the school. He took a large breath and exhaled it contently. "What do you say, Gray? Natsu? You two up for some riding when we're out?"
"Sure, we just need to find a way to keep ourselves alive through the remaining half of school and we're good to go." Gray scratched his hair a few times and later went to join the shades student close to the railing, wanting to appreciate the coolness of the midday breeze. He discarded his shirt on the way to the roof, something he obviously didn't notice. "We also need those pointers for Geography, remember? Got any replies so far?"
"Why, of course I did!" Showing his phone to the dark blue-haired teen, the shades student showed the amount of replies he got after asking for some help in his personal network. "Whose notes do you want? We have a good selection here to pick from."
"Damn… I know you probably grow tired of hearing this every time, Loke, but… good thing you actually listened to what that old man had to say back then." Gray stared at the screen with a hand under his chin and whistled at the amount of messages his friend had. If he ever got into investigating the list further, he was sure he was going to find the names of every single girl attending second year with them. "Hmm, who do you think will have the most complete notes?"
"Oh-ho~! Good question, my friend, and I have the answer." Grinning as he scrolled back to the start of the list, Loke pointed to a name among the top five places, the girl belonging to the classroom adjacent to theirs. "Here. Yukino is our best bet at passing the mock-test. If we follow her notes to the letter, we won't have to spend time in supplementary lessons after school."
The pinket smiled at the picture of his friends making plans for the exam they had in the next hour, having left that issue to them since they both knew well how to get around that sort of obstacle.
But him?
'Agh… why doesn't time move faster?' He was hung up on what the shades-wearing teen mentioned the minute they got to the roof. The after school practice he mentioned was sound in his mind after the stunt he pulled earlier that day. It was also a good way to vent his frustrations and spend some of the energy he will be accumulating after hours of napping at the dull voices of their teachers. 'I swear sometimes I just want to drop all of this.'
Getting close to the railing, he was able to spot Gray's practice trusty companion, a GT BMX bike, in the school's parking lot. It was shining as always with its light blue color blinding any onlookers that happened to take a glimpse of it.
Why the guy was obsessed with the color or with the source of it – Ice – he had no idea but he had to admit the color and design the bike had – that couldn't be appreciated from here – were actually kind of cool. Literally.
Of course, he was never going to say that to the guy himself.
No way in hell.
"Hmm? Wow! Guys, notifications! Gray, your vid just passed one hundred thousand views!"
"What? Really?"
Another thing he would never admit to the guy was that, Gray was actually a pretty damn good biker. He had a great repertoire of tricks and was also able to do things that most of the other pros in the area wouldn't be able to without getting some practice done before time. That and he actually won the few competitions that were held in Magnolia.
"And Natsu! Your vid just got a thousand likes! Congratulations, man!"
As for Loke, he was their cameraman.
He had been following them around since childhood and recording everything they did since the moment they started to do tricks the right way. He would later upload these videos in websites specialized in the subject, they would get likes and calls to participate in tournaments around the region, and they would go to show what they can do to the crowd.
Aside competing against those who claim to be better than them during the competitions, that is.
That brought a smirk to his face.
"Awesome, man! Now…" The pink-haired student rubbed his hands together and cackled comically, not caring for the odd stares he was getting from some other students that were around. He swung his arms around the guys and brought them closer while staring at the shades student's phone with a glint in his eyes. "What do you say if we step it up and finally show what we can do?"
"Huh?" Gray's brows went up in surprise. "What? You want us to start doing pro-tricks?"
"Duh, it's better than passing the days repeating the same old shit, isn't it?" Natsu pointed out with a frown, disengaging from the guys and staring at them with narrowed eyes. "Trust me, guys, we're ready. We just need to ask Laxus and my brother to come make sure we don't blow it and done."
His friends shared an awkward glance with each other.
"…eh, you do remember Laxus almost beat you up this morning, don't you?" Loke asked carefully, not knowing if this was on purpose or if his friend got a concussion during his encounter with the blond man and forgot about the strong hit afterwards.
"And your brother doesn't even have time to see movies, remember? He missed the Deadpool movie." Gray shook his head and rummaged through his phone to check when was the last time they heard how the pink-haired teen's brother was. He showed the last seen message to the pinket. "See? Two months ago. He's buried in paperwork."
True to his words, the last seen message was from two months ago.
The dark-haired man was probably having a hard time now in his new job and could barely make time for himself, much less for them. Hell, they had to wonder if the man even got time to be human anymore.
And Laxus was aiming to get into something similar this morning? Really?
They were losing brothers left and right at an alarming rate.
"Okay okay, they're out of our reach… who else can we ask to look after us while we practice?" Natsu asked impatiently, itching to get his plan moving and start doing some tricks on par with Mullen's or Hawk's like he saw in vids when he was still getting down the basics. And he knew Gray surely wanted to give it a try too and get into the stage with some moves to put Reynolds to shame. "We can't go to the park and try the pro stuff without someone there to treat us if we fuck up."
Loke looked down to his phone, browsing for someone meeting the requirements and Gray looked up to the skies in thought.
Both looked forward at the same time and they gave the same answer to the pink-haired teen urging them for an answer.
At the answer, the pink-haired skater stared as if his friends had suffered concussions themselves.
"Really? Her?" Natsu asked incredulously, clearly troubled with asking any kind of favor from the person his friends recommended. "Is there really no one else? What of Lucy or Levy? Don't they know a thing or two about first aid?"
"Not that I know of, no." Gray shook his head with a sigh. "Though, I get it. I'd also like it better if they did know something about it."
"They didn't sign up for the first aid course at the beginning of the year, so no." Loke explained, shrugging at the pinket's exasperated expression. "Maybe Cana or Bizca…"
The pinket looked at the guy with wide eyes. "Then why not them!?"
"Because of Bacchus and Alzack." The shades student recited calmly, not bothered by the rise in tone of his friend. "They're already taken by those two's clubs so they are busy after school, remember?"
'Those two just had to start with their crap and take our only alternatives from us, didn't they?' Natsu groaned loudly, holding his face with both hands. This was one of those moments in which he thought the world didn't want him to continue with his passion. "There really isn't anyone else?"
"Don't make us repeat ourselves, moron, we already said no." The biker complained, getting fed up with his friend's overreaction. Sure, it was her and she was troublesome as hell but they had no other options open if they really wanted to start climbing up the professional ladder. "If there were we wouldn't be telling you her name, now would we?"
"There there, let's calm down now." The shades student shook his head and walked to stand next to Natsu, patting the guy's back as some kind of comfort before pushing him lightly towards the entrance of the roof. "C'mon, if you're so uncomfortable with asking her to help, I can go with you. Then it'll be two getting rejected instead of one, right?"
"Don't fuck with me, man." The skater growled threateningly, glaring at the brunet through the space made by his fingers. He didn't stop him from pushing him towards the door though. "A rejection is the last of our worries with her. Don't you remember what she thinks about what we do?"
"Sure I do, but that's not the point today, is it?" Loke continued to push the guy forward, taking a look back to plead Gray to accompany them if possible, to which the student complied, and continued to try and appease Natsu. "That was that, this is this. I'm sure she will listen to reason once we explain our case to her, right? Gray?"
'Do I look like a mind-reader to you?' The dark-haired student only shrugged. "Sure, I guess. It's not like us breaking bones for being stupid because she wasn't there will sound okay to her. Maybe she will come. Who knows?"
The pinket looked over his shoulder to glare at Gray. "Jeez, man, gotta love your optimism."
Gray smirked mockingly, flipping the finger to the pinket. "Suck it, moron."
A few minutes later…
Student Council Office…
Three guys standing upright in front of one that was only a year older than them as if they were soldiers before a superior officer sure looked odd inside a school environment. Especially to the other people inside the room, who had to wonder what was going on from just listening to bits and pieces of their hushed conversation, with little to no success at all.
The Student Council President, a third year student of spiky blue hair – that unlike Natsu's, wasn't standing on end and instead fell around his head – with a weirdly looking tribal tattoo over his right eye – that he claimed was because of his family's religion – allowed the three students from class 2-C to have a private meeting inside StuCo's office.
Why?
They had no idea.
Would time tell them the answer?
That was for time itself to decide, not them.
Back to the guys.
"…are you guys serious?" Jellal asked in a hushed, nervous tone, taking a careful look towards the representatives from the many classes in the school who didn't even take effort in masking their eavesdropping on their conversation. "You want me to mediate between the Disciplinary Chief and you three? Really?"
"Yes, we do!" The trio all bowed towards the president, surprising the eavesdroppers a little. The three knowing well they were asking too much from their friend. Loke raised his head though, winking at the guy. "If you wouldn't mind, would you also come with us and keep tabs on her? You know… to keep us alive?"
The bluenet stared, his mouth open and trying to form some kind of reply to the outrageous request he received. Sure, he was friends with the guys since long ago, having been in the same middle-school before sharing the same high-school. He was willing to help the guys out in whatever problem they might run into; get into fist-fights, run around the town getting sponsors for the hobby they worshipped, and maybe get the School Board into adding an event about X-treme games for the Fantasia Festival by the end of the year.
But this?
They weren't pulling his leg with this request, were they?
'Of fuckin' course they are.' Shaking his head from the shock, Jellal looked at his three underclassmen with the most serious, presidential look he could conjure, trying his best to sound composed. "Tell me again why you need her help."
'Ugh, just kill me.' Natsu groaned.
'I already said enough.' Loke fixed his shades.
'You assholes…' And Gray sighed at getting the message from the other two. 'Why don't you cut the crap and send me here alone? Tch.'
So he was up for explaining everything to Jellal, huh?
Fine, he didn't have a problem with that.
(Reasons that will be revealed in future chapters here~)
"…and that would be it, man. If you could, please, try and get her on board with this, we'll be thankful for life."
The StuCo president couldn't help but stare in silence after the explanation was over. How did he forget about that? It was so obvious he almost felt tempted to smack himself upside down for missing that incident. Or maybe play it like he was extremely busy with his duties as student president and ignore it all together.
Yes, that was the best option to keep his credibility intact.
Jellal coughed into his fist after a moment of thought, gathering the strength to answer the guys without sounding like he was covering his own ass while at it.
Something that was incredibly difficult with his honest personality.
How do you lie your way out of trouble when you have never done it before?
Wing it, fucker.
"I get your problem, guys, but I'm too busy nowadays to help you out." His lie was smooth and rolled off his tongue perfectly. It seems he didn't have to worry so much about it in the end. Retreating to his desk and chair with his form falling on top of it tiredly, the blue-haired teen thought on more ways to prevent this problem from falling on his hands. He already had a tall pile of papers on his desk to be adding this to the list. "Besides… you know how she gets with these things."
Gray and Loke walked closer to the president's desk, supporting themselves with their hands on it while pressuring the third year student to help them.
"Yeah, we know, that's why we're asking you to help us out, Jelly." Loke said brightly, ignoring Jellal's pointed glare at the nickname they gave him that he clearly disliked to his core. "You're the most level-headed guy we know."
"And you also have more authority than her." Gray added with a quick series of nods. "If you order her to oversee our practice, she won't be able to refuse, will she?"
"Yes, and there's also that part of her having a small crush on you during your first year, too! Take advantage of that!"
"Uh… I wouldn't go with that but… yeah, whatever makes it easier for you, Jellal. You know we need this."
'Okay, let's do a recount here. I'm the most level-headed guy around, I can order whoever I want to do whatever I want because I'm the head honcho after the Principal… and she had a crush on me so that should make it easier for everyone to be happy.' Jellal rubbed his eyes with fingers from both hands, thinking hard on the matter. If he were to do as the guys asked, he was sure the plan would backfire at some random point. Mostly so because of said guys. 'If only the chance of them fuckin' things up didn't exist. Sigh. They just love to make my job harder, don't they?'
Positive ending to the matter: the Disciplinary Chief would go, even if grudgingly, and oversee the guys' practice, making sure they didn't die if anything happened. Everyone's happy. Well, not everyone. Why? Because, the downside of this ending playing out was that the girl would have Jellal by the balls – excuse the crudeness – during important meetings. The president couldn't allow that.
Negative ending to the matter: the Disciplinary Chief considers lending her cooperation, one of the guys says something out of place, and thus they are turned into messy pulps of flesh, bone and blood. The bright side? The guys and he won't have to worry about anything else from then on. You know, because of the whole pulp thing. So, no, another thing he couldn't allow.
This just had to involve that girl, didn't it?
Why couldn't it be someone else? Like Mirajane, Laki or Evergreen?
Or why in heaven's name couldn't the guys ask another of their friends to help them out, too?
This was such a pain in the ass.
"Aaaah… what do you think I should do, Natsu?" He heaved a long sigh, withdrawing his hands from his face, turning to the third member of the group in search of some possible advice or comment. The pink-haired skater was by far the most outspoken member of the group; if he didn't like something, he would say it despite whatever hell may come over him. 'If anyone here is capable of being honest to tell me what I should do is him.'
But then, the guy wasn't in the room anymore.
"Huh?" Jellal blinked, eyeing Gray and Loke questioningly. "Where is Natsu?"
It was then that both guys noticed the absence of their pink-haired companion, looking in confusion towards every single corner of the room before giving shrugs of uncertainty to the StuCo president.
The room fell silent as the three guys tried hard to think on where their skater friend could be, wondering and wondering until the air started to grow heavy around them, affecting even the representatives from the other classes.
"…no."
"He wouldn't."
"He is not that stupid."
The three laughed loudly, forcefully, as their minds tried to deny the most likely reason for Natsu to be missing from the room.
Silence fell again.
The trio exchanged nervous glances.
And before anyone could ask what was wrong, they were already bolting towards the door.
"WAIT!"
"NATSU!"
"DON'T DIE ON US, DUMBASS!"
Fairy Tail High's third building…
Extracurricular activities' hallway…
"Yo." Natsu greeted dryly to the person that took him almost a full fifteen minutes to find, ignoring the whispers from other students around him and focusing his attention on the person that he needed to get on board for his practice to actually get it started. "Got a minute? I wanted to talk about something with you."
Unlike the guys or other students, he wasn't afraid of the girl that was the Disciplinary Committee Chief of the school.
Not much at least.
He mostly felt annoyed.
Why?
Why, of course, because of the exact same face the girl was making for him now.
"Hello, Dragneel." The girl greeted in kind, using the same level of hostility in her voice as the guy addressing her. Even her eyes showed that she was ready to beat him senseless if he overstepped the limits of normal conversation. Long, straight scarlet hair cascading behind her, arms crossed underneath a not-so-high-school-level chest and brown eyes glaring back fiercely at the pair of green from the pinket before her. "I got a minute, yes, but I would appreciate it if you asked for it nicer."
Yup, she was pretty.
Well, she was downright stunning for someone so young.
But her words… ugh, a different kind of stunning.
Natsu held back a growl through sheer force of will.
This was why he had problems talking to the Disciplinary Chief.
Why couldn't she relax a little instead of being so stiff all the time?
'With those boobs hanging twenty-four-seven from her front she surely has back-pains every day and she just adds more pressure by being a strict chick at school… just go on with that stick up your butt and hello to Ms. Hump.' Shaking his head from the thoughts that would only add more fuel to the fire already between them, Natsu heaved a long sigh and tried his best to change his tone from the one he used initially. "I just wanna ask for a favor, okay? Cut me some slack."
I did say tried, didn't I?
Erza held back from slaughtering him through sheer force of will.
This was why she had problems talking to Dragneel or his group of slackers.
Sure, he was handsome when he was quiet, pensive.
But with the mere opening of that mouth of his, he became a handful.
Why couldn't he just try and be a little more polite instead of addressing everyone like he owned the place?
'I've yet to know if his hair is natural or dyed periodically to keep an image of himself… just why would someone dye his hair pink anyway? Does he want to be a skater clown or is it just something he wants to have as his trademark? Whatever… I'll be sure to tell him I told you so when he is a bald twenty-five year old.' Erza shrugged, pinned the commentary in her mind for later reference when the time came to mock the pink-haired teen, and focused on the situation once more, walking down the hallway with her eyes set ahead. "Okay, follow me. Meanwhile, try to be less aggressive, Dragneel."
'Yup, so damn annoying.' Natsu bit back a snarl of insults and turned on his feet to follow the scarlet-haired girl, shifting his building anger on the gossiping students around than on Erza, who he had to convince for his plan to work. 'If it weren't because I'm not dumb enough to go and practice without fear of breaking my legs… goddammit.'
"Where did Lucy say she saw Natsu going!?"
"Down this way to the right!"
"Oh, for the love of…! You better not be dead, boardhead!"
Turning to the right when they reached the end of the hallway, Gray, Loke and Jellal froze on their feet when they caught sight of Natsu following the one person they wanted to avoid from meeting the guy.
Strangely enough, though, there was no blood around.
No injuries on the pink-haired skater or the scarlet-haired chief.
'Huh? What the… hell…?' The three looked on as Erza and Natsu walked by in front of them. Their clueless eyes meeting the girl's stern ones forced them to stand upright in hopes of getting away from any kind of punishment before they relaxed and met eyes with their friend, who seemed to be pretty annoyed despite the peacefulness of the situation.
"H-hey, Natsu, what's going on?" Loke asked once the girl turned left, using the very same hallway from which the trio came running breathlessly not two minutes ago. "W-why are you following her?"
At the question, Natsu clicked his tongue. "Tch, I just asked for a minute to talk and she told me to follow her. That's it."
And he disappeared when turning left at the end of the corridor, following the Disciplinary Chief with his hands shoved inside his pockets, leaving a pretty confused trio behind him.
'What?' Loke glanced at Gray. 'Can you believe this?'
'Nope… no way.' Gray glanced at Jellal. 'What about you?'
'…sigh. He just asked her for a minute of her time? That's all?' Jellal brought a hand to his forehead, shaking his head slowly before laughing weakly at the bizarreness of situation. This was something only his thickheaded friend could pull off without suffering a single injury. How did he do it? Was there a manual? 'I swear, Natsu… you should write a book about this. How to handle temperamental women, by Natsu Dragneel. Yeah, it has a nice ring to it.'
Sighing profusely, Jellal nodded to the other two and made to follow the skater. "C'mon, let's make sure their talk doesn't get out of hand."
"Uh…" Gray, doubtful, glanced at Loke. "Shall we?"
Loke, uncaring at this point, shrugged in answer. "Sure, why not?"
And so the three were on their way to follow Natsu and the troublesome Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, hoping nothing bad were to happen on the way to her office or when reaching the place and getting down to talking.
After all, with the pink-haired student being as annoyed as he was, there's always the chance of something going off the rails, like the many times he tried to do a noseslide back in the skatepark and ended up face-first crashing hard against the ground.
As always.