A/N: Hello everyone, this is my first NaLu fanfic. I ship these two so hard. Although I have tried to finish this as a one shot, I've been having too much fun writing it, and therefore it shall be a multi-chapter work. Hope you enjoy the story. I shall be happy to hear your opinion on the premises.
I own the idea of this AU and the spelling errors. Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.
Staring at the blank Word page on her laptop screen she sighed for the hundredth time that day. Not even a fragment of an idea graced her mind. It was indeed bewildering how hard the challenge her publicist sent her hit.
Writing romantic stories had always been her weakness, even her lecturers in University had caught on. She never did manage to score perfect marks on her analysis of romantic literature. The reason for that might have also been her repugnance towards her second year Literature teacher.
Perfectly legitimate in her opinion, what woman wouldn't dislike a middle aged man talking about 'the beauty of the female body' eyeing you up and down with the obvious intent of molestation? She had always felt the need for a bath at the end of his course.
Now, writing about romance in particular wasn't hard, she enjoyed a lot of romantic things, even her day job was romantic. Who wouldn't love looking at the stars every day? They were the most romantic symbol of them all. Stars had been extremely important to man throughout history, people guided themselves to safety with their help, built temples to reflect them, they would pray to their light for wishes and most definitely would entrust their secrets.
Lucy would have given anything to be able to speak to a star, to find out some of the stories it had seen and secrets no human would know. But unfortunately stars didn't give away secrets easily. She would look at a star throughout the week, gradually taking apart piece by piece its chemical structure by study of light alone. Then with regret she would have to move to a different star study it and search around it, hoping to find another planet similar to ours.
Returning from her reverie she sighed and decided to end her authorial work for the day. It hadn't been productive in the least but she couldn't show her guest how disappointed she was, and to her credit, it had only been the first day of the '30 days challenge'.
She only needed to write one silly short story and then she could return to her novel. Her fingers itched to pull up her other laptop and continue her half written work, mind swirling with ideas and scenes dancing in front of her eyes.
A ring on the doorbell had sighing the hundred and first time, Lucy made her way to her front door. Opening it brought her face to face to Erza who smiled and walked past Lucy into her apartment, not once interrupting her phone conversation. It was not something new for the young writer so she smiled back and closed the front door following her friend to the living room.
She glanced towards her red haired friend still in a heated conversation and made her way to the kitchen to fix a couple of drinks. They had known each other long enough to know what the other preferred according to their mood. The redhead was upset - bordering on angry therefore milkshake and strawberry cake was on order.
Lucy returned to her front room with Erza's drink and cake just as she finished her conversation with a roaring command. The blond swallowed her smile at the glint in her friend's eye, somebody was going to visit A&E that day.
"How are you Lucy" the red haired woman asked as she stuffed the phone in her bag, the two idiots were going to get their comeuppance that was a fact.
"I am well Erza, thank you. It's great to see you" Lucy sat next to her friend giving her a small hug. She felt Erza hold her in return and although the moment was brief, it took Lucy 2 minutes in total to recover her breath. Truth be told, every hug she received from Erza took her breath away, as the aforementioned friend had unbelievable innate strength. Lucy smiled at the redhead's expression when looking at the delicious strawberry cake slice set on the coffee table.
"It's great to see you too, the trip wasn't much, thank you for the treat" Erza continued as she grabbed hold of the plate and took a bite. "It's amazing, you always have a slice of this delicious cake every time I come see you. Eating so many sweets might cause you to gain weight" the young woman continued.
"You know very well why I always have some sort of cake in my fridge, Erza" the blonde quickly retorted. "It wasn't I who would return twice a week at 10 pm during Uni look through the fridge and then have a fit at the lack of sweets" she continued.
"It's your fault I have developed a habit of buying strawberry cake each time I go shopping" the young writer got up from the settee and moved to her kitchen to prepare the tea. As she was pouring water over her teabag she heard "Thank you Lucy" and another rib-cracking hug followed.
Lucy smiled at her friend with tears in her eyes, literally, as she tried to breathe through the pain. It was still better than receiving a concussion every time Erza Scarlet decided to 'gently' admonish her.
"So now can you tell me the reason you were so eager to see me today?"
"Well, I need to ask you a favour" she returned, not bothering to give some ludicrous motif for driving 3 hours after her flight just to talk to Lucy, it was something she needed and it had to be asked today. Thus Erza wouldn't insult her friend, with some meaningless excuse, which would have been futile anyway as Lucy had always been very quick on the uptake. She had an analytical mind, was observant and was just as good at looking at the big picture as focusing on details.
"Of course Erza, ask away, you know I am always happy to help you" the writer replied with a smile.
"Well, you might not be happy once you hear it… anyway…" at this point the red haired took a deep breath and the blonde swallowed thickly.
"Please become my PA for the next week"…
Lucy might have backed away in horror at Erza's proposition, if her hand were not currently caught in a death grip. The blood in her veins ran cold and she could feel the tell-tale pounding of a migraine. All she could do was stare at her friend a wave of dread washing over her. She was still too shocked to respond.
"I need your help Lucy, only you I can trust at this crucial moment. As you know I have a competition to organise and the committee members are cretins. There is so much to sort out and I won't have time to look after the dojo. Can you take over for me?"
Seeing the plea in her friend's eyes made Lucy crush her first (fuck no!) reaction and with a sigh she decided to think over the request in detail. It was a lot to ask of a non-practitioner, more-so as it involved looking after the business side…
"Look Erza, you know I have no clue what running a dojo would entail. I have no martial arts experience and I have never run a business. Furthermore, wouldn't involving an outsider affect your team?"
"Lucy, I don't need you to run the business" the red haired began trying to conceal her smile, Lucy was going to agree to her request, she could feel it. Still she needed her friend's promise, the only way she would actually go through with it. Nobody kept promises as well as Lucy Heartfilia.
"Master Makarov will be fine on his own while I am away" she pressed further "and Mirajane will still be in charge of administrating the premises" the red haired explained. "What I am actually asking of you is to help Master and Mira and to keep me informed. I know you have time off work, so this won't disrupt your job. Also, I will personally talk to the team so you don't need to worry. "Come on, say you will help me Lucy!"
The young writer could not shake off the dread pooling in her gut, she just knew this was a very bad idea but was nonetheless unable to refuse such an honest request, not that she had ever refused anything to Erza Scarlet.
Lucy sighed and nodded her consent "I will do it for one week Erza, it is definitely the most I can do. You will need to get Levy and Evergreen off my back to make this happen. They will throw a fit because I won't be writing anything for such a long time" the blonde saw the grin on her beautiful friend's face turn into a full blown smile. She knew what was next and prepared herself for another rib crushing hug.
"One week is all I need, thank you so much Lucy and that is a promise, I will call your editor and agent asap." The redhead moved out of Lucy's kitchen into her front room and towards the settee, she located her bag and rummaged for her phone ready to confirm the numbers she needed.
Lucy on the other hand was fighting to suck in air through her constricted rib cage, the sign of affection she received had been quick but 'potent'. Slowly moving towards her friend she consoled herself with the fact that she could at least feel her right hand again.
Erza smiled to herself driving back towards the dojo, she was glad to have completed her mission and had roped in her best friend as helper for the following week. She had told the blonde the truth, nobody Erza knew would have been able to fill her shoes better. Well maybe Mirajane, but she would be too busy to keep an eye on the idiots and make sure they didn't demolish the entire building while she was gone.
It truly pained the redhead having burdened her cheerful Lucy with babysitting overgrown children but she knew the young writer could handle it, she was no weakling.
Entering the building she made her way towards the meeting room where, by the number of the cars in the parking lot, all instructors were gathered.
As Erza entered the room, all occupants turned their gaze towards her, excepting the two usual suspects, she sighed. Oh Lucy, this is just the type of crap you will have to deal with.
Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster were currently locked in a wrestling hold either one trying to strangulate the other.
"Stop squirming you bastard" Natsu commanded, he was the one in the more advantageous position and he was just looking for an error on Gray's part to knock him out.
"Like hell I would let you win this you fire freak" the dark haired instructor retorted.
"Why you"… but whatever Natsu was going to say he didn't get the chance as he and Gray were hoisted by the scruff of their necks and made to head-butt one another.
Erza's eyes promised murder towards anyone who dared to comment.
No one did, they weren't suicidal.
"Awake those two idiots" the red haired woman commanded "I have important news to give you, find me in my office when you're ready". Erza turned around and left all her other instructors stare at the door behind her.
"You shouldn't have knocked them out in the first place, you crazy loon" Gajeel spoke in a considerably low tone looking at Natsu and Gray sprawled on the floor. He wasn't afraid of the owner, no, definitely not! He just knew what battles to choose.
"Well, we can at least look forward to the following week" Elfman commented whipping his brow "Erza will have to be away organising the competition so we will not be plagued by the devil for a while".
"I wouldn't count on it boys" Mirajane piped in smiling sweetly.
All the conscious men in the room shivered, they remembered that smile as foreboding pain and misery, possibly months of recuperation in hospital. She had been named 'the devil' and although retired from instructing, they were not ready to know what her level of training was at.
"As you all know, Erza Scarlet never leaves any loose ends" the blue eyed woman finished with a wicked glint in her eye. She grabbed the two still unconscious men by one leg each and dragged them to the shower room where she unceremoniously proceeded in soaking both in ice cold water.
Natsu sprang awake the moment the cold droplets soaked into his cloths.
"What the… FUCK! THAT'S COLD!" the fuchsia haired man shouted. He immediately bolted away from the cold water and proceeded to glare resentfully at the beautiful woman snickering by the door.
Now that one fool was awake she focused on the other still lying on the floor drenched in impossibly cold water, the oddity of the situation being that the dark haired man seemed to be actually enjoying the cold wetness. Well, he did have a habit of taking his clothes off at least ten times a day during all three seasons and ten times more during summer days…
Mira smirked and turned her eyes towards Natsu who was presently trying to discard his wet clothes. "Natsu stop that, you won't freeze till you get home to change, now turn the water temperature high for Gray. That might wake him up".
The pink haired instructor understood what the white haired woman meant and grinning like a maniac proceeded to do as directed.
Erza could hear Gray's curses from her office along with sounds similar to a brawl. She sighed and got up to maul some idiots, then she will tell them about Lucy.