This a oneshot for constellunaa really liked the idea that was put fourth and had this pop into my head once i read the post. Enjoy :D
I should mention that the age of the people in this is like early/mid 20's
SweatCross, left, cross, right, cross, right.
It was a simple pattern repeated over and over, droning through the gym. The older sandbag sitting in front of him groaned on its rope as it swung to and fro, taking the force of the brutal onslaught of Natsu's punches.
Natsu stood inside of Erza's private gym, she had taken him as an instructor a while back for the higher level judo kids, and he always practiced. He had nothing else to do after all. Practice, eat , sleep, practice, eat, punch Gray, sleep. It was an everyday thing. Why would it change?
With a final groan, the sandbag fell off of its hook, spilling the contents onto the floor.
"Well shit" Natsu stated as he walked forward and started to clean up the mess. Sand found its way in between his toes and across his now sweating arms, coating him in a thin coat of dust.
He picked up the old rag and looked for a hole.
"Here, try this." A familiar voice said behind him.
"Thanks Erza!"
"I can't believe you broke ANOTHER bag, do you know how much this thing costs? Just, go get cleaned up, then come back here. I need a favor for this." Erza said. The Redhead began to clean up the mess and Natsu made his way to the locker rooms. The rooms were far away from the actual practice area, which he found odd, and they usually were not being used at all at this time.
Which is why the sight of a group of people was enough to make him stop in his tracks.
And Gray was kissing one of them? Ooooooooh you are so not hearing the end of this one. His devilish smirk plastered itself across his face as he took a picture of Gray.
"So Ice Dick, whos that?" Natsu yelled across the room.
"A friend of mine" Gray said.
"Just a friend?" Natsu asked.
"Gray-sama! We have been dating for almost 3 months now and-" the bluenette started.
"WAIT DON'T-" Natsu's smile reached the end of his face "Fuck…. Go to hell Flamebrain"
Natsu just laughed as he entered the men's room ready to wipe all this extra shit off of himself, it was really getting annoying.
He pondered what Erza wanted him to do… she never asked him to stay extra anyway…
-=-(Going back in time a bit, SHowing Lucy's entrance)-=-
Lucy walked into the Gym with her team. They had a dance recital before their big performance the next week and one of her best friends was letting them use her Gym to practice in. Lucy opened the door for herself and the rest of her crew.
"Come on Lucy! We don't wanna be late!" The little girl known as Wendy blabbered. She really was a cute thing but Ugh why did everything have to be done so fast with her? She moved like the wind no matter where she went, as if some breeze had picked her up to carry her with energy.
"Lucy, Juvia, Wendy!" A redhead shouted from the hallway down from them.
"Erzy!" Wendy shouted as she leapt at her longtime *adopted* big sister.
"Hey there Wendy, Glad all of you came." Erza replied simply as she put the girl back onto the ground. "I am gonna have the main gym for you guys in just a second just have to wait for-"
CRRRAAAAACK
"God damnit did he really break ANOTHER ONE?" Erza yelled. "Gray help the girls get ready" She shouted at the man who appeared from behind a door labeled "Practice room 3"
"Mkay i can do-" The raven haired boy started
"GRAAAAAAAY" Lucy's friend Juvia slammed into her boyfriend of a few months and smothered him in a hug.
"Hey there Juves, i see you're still as lively as ever" Gray grumbled in greeting.
Lucy smiled at the scene, all her friends had seemed to find matches for themselves that worked perfectly for them, even her old Roommate Mira, the continental sized shipper queen, had found herself in a relationship not to long ago with some dude named ….Laxy?... maybe, she met at a party.
Was that his name? Oh what does it matter. She was happy for her friends anyway.
"So ice dick who is that?" Asked someone she had never met before. She remembered that Erza had mentioned that a new trainer had been hired for the more advanced and speciality training services once Elfman stepped down to actually have a married life.
The boy that had yelled had weird pink, spiky hair, and was leaning against the doorframe in a nonchalant manner, a scarf was over his left shoulder and a towel was loosely hung over his left.
He was wearing slightly baggy black sweatpants with a rugged dragon print across the legs, each ending in a spurt of flames. She noted that there was fine coating of dust covering all of him
Yeah, and he's shirtless hun, you caught that right? A little voice in the back of her head said as she continued to stare at this walking anomaly. Shush it She told her mental dialogue back.
She walked into the dressing rooms, hoping that he hadn't noticed her.
Watching her friend walk into the room, Juvia smiled, She knew love at first sight. After all it was what her and Gray were!
-=-=-=-=-=-(Both view)
" Ok Erza what didya want?" Natsu asked as he strolled into the room, still shirtless, but now free of dust.
"I need you to help with the Recital that the girls are going to be putting on, they are all friends of mine and i expect you to treat them with RESPECT, AND DO NOT BREAK ANYTHING. UNDERSTOOD?"
"YES MA'AM" Natus Bowed down to show he understood and looked around. "What are you going too then?"
"I have an important meeting tonight" She started walking forward to exit the room.
"Oh ok, say hi to Jellal to me! Hope the date goes well" Natsu smirked and crossed his arms and the redhead.
"I-it's not like t-that" Erza stuttered, "I have an important business meeting that i have to go to and i can't-"
"That's not what i heard! Cana said that you and Jellal were going to hide away for the night and try out the new rope-"
"SILENCE YOU INSOLENT DOLT, YOU WILL BEHAVE AND YOU WILL STOP TALKING."
"O-ok," Natsu said as he tried to make himself as small as possible to avoid the redheads wrath.
"Good, now i expect you to follow, and help the girls with every single damn thing that they need, UNDERSTOOD?"
"Ok Erza, I got it. Just go enjoy your date and i'll take care of stuff here" Natsu smiled as she finally left the room, waving goodbye.
"Yeah, and that piece goes over there" Levy said, as she directed Natsu in moving the lighting equipment to the stage they were going to be dancing on. "Hey lucy help him plug that in will ya?"
"Sure Levy." Lucy walked over to the Pinkette and began untangling the wires that connected it to the rest of its grid.
"Ok after that, Ladies, grab your partner and we need to begin rehearsing."
"Uh…." Natsu said "Why is she treating him like a seat?" He looked at Lucy with a massive confused expression strewn across his face.
YOu know you could easily just lean in and- "No" she silently told her mental dialogue.
"That's her boyfriend, Gajeel. They are so cute together, though surprisingly Levy is the dominant one…" Lucy trailed off as Natsu stared at her.
"Oh, ok"
The rest of the night went decently, each of the girls had their dance partner show up to begin rehearsing the moves for the performance. Even Romea had shown up early and finally asked Wendy on a formal date.
Lucy hoped she hadn't squeezed the poor guy too hard when she excitedly hugged him.
Lucy sat watching the couples dance, each of them had their duet ready and Levy quickly guided them into a rehearsal. She sat quietly and watched, glad her friends had finally found a hobby. She had taken up dancing a while back because it was something she could use to express herself.
But she had never had a partner until recently. He had asked her a few times ago about doing a couples dance and even asked her out on a date afterwards! Only to show be found the next day cheating with his Actual girlfriend instead.
Lucy sighed into her arms, truly saddened now. For the couples part of the dance performance she wasn't a participating in it, she had memorized the moves… But she had nobody to do it with… For fucks sake, she thought to herself, I even know the lyrics to this.
She looked around and noticed that the guy who had been helping them throughout the rehearsal was gone, and the door to the left was open. It swung into the wind slowly.
Oh whatever, i'm not gonna be needed here anyway, maybe i can somehow repay him for helping us, after all we usually have Gajeel do it alone. She walked out of the room and down a dimly lit hallway. The hallway had a musky scent, like sweat and bodies. The boards lain on the floor were worn to smooth sections in the middle of the path, and the edges still held a rough texture. She made her way down the hall to a room lit by low hanging fluorescent lamps. Each casting shadows across the rooms in multiple directions. In the corner of the room, a radio droned out a tune she was very familiar with. She could feel herself tapping to the beat of the music. Then stopped as the scene in front of her came into view.
Standing on a raised matt above the regular floor was Natsu. His scarf tied around his hair and his bangs hanging below his neck in the back. Sweat coated his chest, reflecting the lights and giving him an oiled appearance. She watched him in awe as he moved on the floor, the music quietly making a pattern in the movements of the man in front of her.
He moved left quickly, flashing out his wrist to the right. Immediately following with a sweep from his left leg. He held up his hands in a blocking motion and quickly twisted around, throwing a multitude of punches in rapid succession into the air. Then he flipped backwards. Twisting in the air like a cat to bring his leg around in a hook to the opponent that only showed itself to him.
She stood and watched for another hour at least. She could hear the gym her friends were practicing in shut off its tunes, signaling the stop for the night. She didn't bother to check on them, she was still watching this boy fight off invisible enemies.
He moved across the floor in fluid motions, his fists and legs fell in perfect sync with the other, his body simply acting as a rod to connect the two. He wasn't just fighting to practice. He was fighting for his passion, he seemed to pour his heart into the dance across the floor. The dance of two opponents permanently locked into a struggle of wits, begging the other to fall onto their knees and fail, for their own triumph.
A dance… She thought to herself. It's like his attune to some immaculate tone that only he could hear… its impressive. Slowly, the pinkette came to a stop. He landed on a single foot and balanced on it, then collapsed to the ground beneath him.
"Done…" he wheezed out, breathing and stretching his sore muscles. "Thought i wasn't gonna get a break from that today, glad i did."
"Yeah sorry about that." Lucy said speaking out of the blue.
"WHO THE HELL ARE- oh hi blondie." he shot up instantly and waved to her. "Recital go well? Hope nothing broke…" she heard him whisper…
"It was ok, i'm only in the first part of the dance actually, don't have a partner for the couples part. Thanks for helping though." she smiled brightly at him, hoping how tired she was did not show."
"Anytime, Erza asked me too anyway…. You don't say no te her" Natsu shivered in remembrance of the redheads wrath.
She laughed at his antics. "Well i have to go now, Thanks for the help Natsu!" she turned and started to walk away until he stated bluntly.
"You do know its almost 2 am right?" His head tilted to the side and his arms crossed his chest like a dictating mother.
"Wait…. TWO AM?" she shouted. That means that i just sat there and watched him work out like a stalker for around five hours…
He has good endurance though i bet that would be-
"Shut up brain, now is not the time." she spoke silently to herself.
"You need a ride from me then? Since its late and all?" he asked politely
Well of course we do, all the way till we reach your bedro-
"Yeah, i think i do", Lucy said aloud, silently thanking her mind for not shutting up when it had the chance.
"Ok, call your friends then. I'll take ya there" Natsu gathered his things and walked into the locker room, whistling the whole way. "I'll be just a minute" then he vanished behind the locker room door.
"So you said that nobody answered? Wow thats pretty rude of them…" Natsu replied as they rode in his car down the highway. "Do you have a place to stay then?"
"Uh… i guess just drop me off at some hotel. I'll get a room for tonight." She leaned her head back in her seat silently hoping that the reason her friends didn't answer was because of some… activities… they were doing.
"No, you can crash at my place. Erza said i had to take care of you gals or else she will beat the shit out of me, thank her i guess."
"Oh, no that's fine" Lucy felt herself blushing slightly at his words for some reason.
Later the two drove up to a small cottage set into the edge of the woods. It was a deep shade of pale red with white trim topping the corners. Each window was laced with an intricate marble bottom.
They walked inside and natsu walked forward to turn on the light.
"Uh… sorry about the mess, didn't realize it was those bad…" Natsu visibly cringed and patted his neck a few times as the lights turned on to illuminate the room before him.
"Honestly, i think my dorm was worse than this." lucy walked forward and sat on the couch, pushing a pair of shoes placed in a bag onto the floor.
"Really?" Natsu asked walking forward and sitting himself onto the couch beside her. "Well, that was unexpected…"
"Yeah she leaned back onto the couch and yawned, my life is a total mess.
Natsu laughs along with her and reaches for his remote. He flips on the TV and navigates to Netflix and begins to start another episode of The 100.
"Oh, actually i'll just watch this in my room, so you can sleep." A sudden urge took hold of Lucy as she said to him "Nah, just stay, watching a show alone is no fun anyway…"
Silently the two sat rigid on the couch, not knowing what to say to the other, and caught up on the happenings of the second season of the show, both quietly drifting off into slumber within the first twenty minutes.
Well… this was supposed to be a oneshot… Looks like im gonna add a few chapters then. I'll be updating it hopefully tonight after work or tomorrow!
Snagged this prompt from a reblog by constellunaa on Tumblr.
And this was written due to her response, props to you for this :D
