Love is Strange

A Fairy Tail romance story

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I own its characters

Summary: Lucy Heartfilia is the new girl at Fairy Tail High School. Natsu Dragneel is a very obscure guy. What will happen between the two? AU. Mainly Nalu, with some others as well – Gruvia, Jerza etc. Told from various characters' perspectives. T for language

Chapter 1: Prologue

At first, I was pretty excited about going to Fairy Tail High School. I'd heard a lot about it from my friends who had moved to go there. Now it was my turn. Oh, my name is Lucy Heartfilia, by the way and I was entering my sophomore year. I walked into school, feeling nervous but also very excited. I quickly found my friends: Erza Scarlet, Levy McGarden, and Juvia Lockser.

"Hey guys," I said brightly.

"Hey Lucy," they replied with equal enthusiasm. "Ready to experience Fairy Tail High?"

"You know it," I beamed. Just then, their boyfriends found them. Jellal Fernandes was with Erza, Gajeel Redfox with Levy, and Gray Fullbuster with Juvia. I'd never met then, though I'd heard about them from the girls and was told they were nice. I was a little skeptical about that, to tell the truth.

"Hello Lucy," Jellal said politely.

"Hey," Gajeel grunted.

"Hey Lucy," Gray said with the slightest trace of coldness.

Aside from Jellal, their greetings irritated me ever so slightly but I forced myself to stay calm and polite. I didn't want to give a bad first impression. First impressions were the most important, right?

"How are you," I asked, trying to give off that good first impression.

"I'm fine, thanks," Jellal said.

"Meh, okay," Gajeel replied tersely.

"Same," Gray said flatly.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable at the awkward situation, I turned to the girls and said, "So when do classes start?"

Just then the bell rang. "Right now, Lu-chan," Levy said.

I looked at my schedule. "Ugh," I groaned, "Math."

"Come on, I'll show you the way." Levy was in all of my classes, at least for first semester. She gave Gajeel a quick hug before we left.

"See ya, shrimp," Gajeel said with a slight smirk.

"Honestly, what do you see in that guy," I asked the bluenette. "He's so cold."

"In Gajeel?" I nodded. "He's just quiet. Once you get to know him like I have, you'll find out that he's really quite nice."

"Really then? And you don't mind him calling you "shrimp?""

"I did at first but I got used to it." She smiled at me. "But enough about me. What about you? Any progress in the game of love?" She giggled at me.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Nothing's happened."

"Aw come on. I'm sure something's happened. I'm sure there's some guy who you're interested in."

"Nope," I said. "None at all." Little did I know that would change in about five minutes.

As we walked into math, the first thing I noticed was the size of the class. It was very small, with about a dozen people including the two of us. Then I noticed him. It was a tall guy with a muscular build. That wasn't the interesting part, though. What caught my attention was the guy's hair. It was pink! I'd never seen anyone who had pink hair. We had assigned seats and I was next to Levy so I whispered, "Who's the guy with the pink hair?"

"Oh that's Natsu Dragneel. He's the class clown," she replied, stifling a giggle.

"Is that his natural hair color?"

"I think so," Levy said. Reading my thoughts, she continued, "I've never heard of or seen a person with naturally pink hair either. But it's kinda cute, don't you think?"

"I suppose," I said slowly, looking at him. Natsu himself was honestly pretty cute. Like I said, he had a muscular build, as well as a somewhat handsome face, and an amazing white smile. "I suppose he's kinda cute." Levy giggled. "What's he like?"

"He's goofy, easygoing, and really fun. Although he is kinda ignorant but he told me that it's honest ignorance. See, Natsu was abandoned by his parents on a trip in a forest. He lived there for a long time until a traveler found him and took him in. He didn't really know anything about civilization so he's kinda clueless. Give him a chance though, as he's a very nice guy."

At the end of class, Natsu came over to us. "Hey Levy," he said. "Who's that?"

"Hey Natsu. This is my friend Lucy. She just started school here. She came from the same school I did."

"Hi Lucy," he said. He was noticeably more timid. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Natsu," I said. "Your name means summer, right?"

"Uh yeah, why?"

"Any idea why you got named that?"

He smiled, a wide toothy grin that made my heart flutter just a bit. "I was born on June 21, the start of summer. I don't remember much of my life before my foster dad took me in but I remember a birthday party in the summer for me. It's really fuzzy though. But that's the story of my name."

"Oh, that's cool," I said.

"Yeah, isn't it?" He scratched the back of his head. "Well I-I gotta go. See you later." He darted off to his next class.

"Is he always so shy around new people?"

"Yeah. Probably because of his past. He was all alone and suddenly a strange man came in and took him in. He's probably been affected by it."

"Poor guy," I said sincerely. "I can't imagine being abandoned like that. It must have been terrible."

"Try more like absolutely horrible," Levy replied as we walked to our next class. "I was his first friend and he was terrified of me when we met as kids. It took me so long to get him to open up."

"How did you meet him?"

"We met at camp." Levy smiled, as if reminiscing happily about it.

"Hi," a young Levy said cheerfully. "I'm Levy. What's your name?"

A young Natsu trembled, afraid of his surroundings and the current situation. It was hard for him to meet new people considering that he'd been abandoned then found and raised by a stranger. "N-Natsu," he managed. "I'm Natsu."

Levy smiled. "That's a nice name. It means summer, doesn't it?" Natsu nodded hesitantly. "What's wrong, Natsu?"

He darted away from her suddenly, leaving her very confused and more than a little upset. She wondered what she had done wrong.

"He ran off on me and I didn't see him for the rest of the day."

They had history class then Levy continued the story.

The next day, Levy saw Natsu again, sitting alone at a table, drawing something. He looked as scared as yesterday so she decided to try to cheer him up. "Hi Natsu," she said carefully. "Did I do something wrong yesterday?"

"Huh," he said nervously.

"You ran away from me after you told me your name. Did I do something wrong?"

"N-no," the young boy replied shakily. He bit his lip nervously.

"Then why did you run away?"

"I…"

"Are you scared of me? Cuz if you are, you don't have to be. I don't bite." She smiled at him, trying to show him that she was a friend.

"It's hard…to say," he admitted.

She decided to try a different idea. "What's that," she asked, pointing at the drawing.

"T-this? It's just a drawing of a dream I had last night." He hesitantly slid the paper towards her and she took it carefully. It was a drawing of some dragons flying through the sky.

"Why were you dreaming about dragons?"

"My dad told me a bedtime story about them and I guess I dreamed about them. I wanted to draw it."

"I like this," Levy said, admiring the drawing. "You're good at drawing."

"T-thanks," he said shyly. "I still need to color it more."

"Can I see it again when it's done?"

"O-okay."

She smiled at him. "I like you, Natsu."

"Y-you do?"

"You're not like the others. They're too loud. They talk too much. You're quieter. I like that. And you're good at drawing. They aren't." She giggled.

"Thanks…" He couldn't remember her name.

"My name's Levy," she reminded him.

He smiled shyly. "Thanks, Levy." It was time to go home. "See you tomorrow," he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. See you tomorrow, Natsu."

"Natsu became more and more open as the days went on," Levy told Lucy. "In the fall, I found out he went to the same school as me and our friendship grew stronger. He began to get more comfortable around me and eventually told me about his past."

"Natsu," Levy asked, "What happened to your parents?"

"Why do you want to know that," he asked.

"I'm just curious."

He sighed. 'Of course she's curious,' he thought. "Promise not to tell?"

"Promise," she repeated.

He began to tell his tale. "I was a baby and my parents decided to go on a trip in the forests west of here. It was amazing. Big green trees and lots of animals everywhere. My parents," he choked out, beginning to tear up, "My parents left me in that forest. I had to learn to live off of the plants and animals around me, learn to survive. I watched the animals. I ate things they ate that didn't make them sick. I learned to how to make a house from sticks and leaves and anything else I could find in the forest. I had to learn to make things that would help me survive – things to gather and keep food, things to hunt with, all sorts of things. I lived like that for two years, my only other things a letter my parents wrote with my name on it and some pictures. I knew the pictures were me because I'd see my reflection in the water when I drank and it looked like the baby in the pictures, only older. I didn't know how to read but I knew my name so I kept the letter, hoping to one day be able to read it. One day, a man found me in the forest. He had a backpack like ones my parents had so I knew he was a traveler. He took a look at what was around me and got me to go with him."

"How?"

"He had food in his bag, wonderful food. He told me that if I went with him, I could get more. I nodded my head yes and he took me home with him. I didn't know how to talk but I could understand some of what he said so I went. He took me to the city where he lived, which is where we are. He took care of me. He didn't have a family. He just lived alone. He taught me how to read, write, and talk, but not much else. I didn't see him much, actually. He worked a lot. He'd come home with money so we were okay."

"Is that why you were so shy? Because of that incident when you were younger?"

"Yeah. I still don't see Dad much but it's okay because I know he loves me. Why else would he take care of me, right?"

Levy smiled. "Yeah. I hope you get to meet your real parents one day, Natsu."

"Me too."

"What was in the letter?"

"They said that they didn't have the money to take care of me but didn't want to put me in an orphanage. They wanted me to be strong and be able to do things myself like my real dad so they left me in that forest. They said they knew I'd be okay."

"They were right," Levy said with a smile.

"Wow," Lucy said. "I feel so bad for him. That's tough. He didn't deserve that."

"Yeah. He told me that he still thinks about them."

"How does he feel about his real parents?"

"He told me he doesn't hate them. He now understands why they did what they did. He's grateful because he knows he could live in the wilderness if something bad happened to him out there."

Lucy digested all of this information and suddenly felt even more grateful for the good life she had.