A/N: Hello! This is actually the first Fairy Tail fanfiction I wrote, for a friend. As my first fanfiction, written two months ago, the characters are sorta OOC. I tried editing it, I did. It didn't help. So, I'm sorry for Natsu's weird personality in this. I promise that it gets better in the next chapter.
Also, erm... I tried for humour... but I would like to know how I did. Please drop a review if you have time to tell me how I did!
This story was born from my friend going to see fireworks on Canada Day, and I wanted to go with them but couldn't. Bam, story idea. Yeah.
This is the first part out of four. I honestly don't know what happened in between coming up with the story and writing it, but a short one-shot turned to a multi-part short story.
Please ignore the cringe-worthy writing of a newbie to the fandom (at the time I wrote this). Also, since I wrote this for someone who doesn't read/watch Fairy Tail, there will be some unnecessary explanations, descriptions, and reflection in this story. Please keep that in mind.
This story takes place during x794 ish, when Natsu and Lucy would be 21. Assume all that Alvarez and Zeref business has been taken care of. Also, there are no spoilers here.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Lucy stood in front of her closet, staring at her impressively extensive collection of clothes. She had outfits for all occasions, of all colours, in a variety of styles. So why couldn't she find the perfect outfit for tonight? It wasn't even all that fancy of an occasion. She was only going to watch the New Year's fireworks with Natsu tonight after dinner, in Crocus. It wasn't that special! The entire team and a few others were going to be there as well, so it's not like they were going to be alone either.
Lucy sighed. That stupid flame brain. He was always the source of her problems. Knowing she would drive herself crazy before eventually settling on an outfit, she decided to take a shower first. The hot water was very soothing, and managed to wash away the surprisingly large amount of stress and tension that had built up since waking up an hour ago. Sighing in contentment as she stepped out of the shower, she dried her hair and wrapped up in a fluffy towel.
"Yo, Luuucccyyyyyy!"
Lucy screamed and nearly lost her grip on her towel the moment she stepped out of the bathroom. Her eyes popped out of her head as soon as she saw Natsu lounging on her couch, wildly waving a flame covered hand, stuffing his face with her food. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Happy sharpening his claws on the walls and asking about fish. She was rendered speechless as she surveyed the condition of her living room. For once, it didn't look like a tornado passed through. Perhaps it was because Gray and Erza had not come along? The only damage Natsu and Happy had managed to do was empty her refrigerator of food and ruin the walls and furniture. Well. That was certainly a first. Not that it was going to stop her from yelling their heads off.
"What the hell are you doing in my house, Natsu?! And why didn't you COME THROUGH THE DOOR?! You know very well that you aren't supposed to break in through my windows! Now, thanks to you, my house is full of cold air and I'll probably freeze to death! And on top of that, you RUINED my window pane! What the hell am I supposed to tell the landlady? I don't have enough money to fix it! Oh my god, what am I going to do?! If I don't go on a job soon, I won't be able to pay for the damages and then I'll be kicked out onto the streets and I'll have nowhere to go… it's all their fault! Why the hell did I become friends with them anyway?!" Lucy, forgetting her state of dress, sank to the ground and pulled up her knees to her chest, moaning about the damages, also momentarily forgetting about the two intruders.
"Hey Natsu, Lucy's being weird again! She's talking to herself! And look, she's not even properly dressed! How inappropri –"
"SHUT IT YOU STUPID CAT!" Lucy jumped up from the ground, fists clenched and all, and aimed an astoundingly accurate kick at the blue cat, sending him shooting through the air with a force great enough to create a cat shaped hole in her wall as he crashed. Happy's wings did nothing to slow him down, which was rather unfortunate for him. The crack of the impact of the blue cat crashing against the wall echoed throughout Lucy's entire house.
With that, Lucy stormed back into her room, grabbing at the towel that was starting to slip. She ignored the pained groans that came from Happy as well as Natsu's attempts at comforting his friend. It was much too early to deal with them. Having no patience to keep standing in front of her closet and being indecisive, she grabbed a cute red dress that reached mid-thigh and threw that on. She pulled on a pair of black knee length boots and put her hair up in a half knot, a few loose curls framing her face. She had contemplated allowing Cancer to fix up her hair for her, but that idea was rejected immediately. The last time she allowed the celestial spirit to do that, she had ended up with a puffy, frizzy mess of pixie length hair that stuck out in every direction. Obviously, their definitions of "a cute hairstyle" did not match in any way. From that experience, she took a very meaningful lesson that will be forever remembered.
As Lucy was just putting on the finishing touches of her makeup, a crash sounded in the living room. Shoving everything back into her makeup bag and putting that in her purse, she rushed rush out of her room, yelling, "You two had better not be turning my house into a dump!"
She stopped dead in her tracks when she took her first step out of her room. A chair flew by, nearly clipping her nose in the process, and crashed into the kitchen counter. Natsu was rummaging through the cupboards. Happy, who apparently had gotten himself out of the wall and seemed well enough to stand, was ducking behind Natsu in attempt to avoid flying objects. Natsu was tossing things every which way in his search for more food, unknowingly breaking a few things. A container flew towards the dining table. Lucy screamed, diving forward in attempt to save the pretty blue vase sitting on the table, managing to grab it just in time.
Lucy lost it. She marched up to the troublemaking duo and hauled them up before kicking the two of them aside, sending them careening into the wall. "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO STOP RUINING MY HOUSE?!"
Happy hid behind Natsu in fear as Lucy raged, but Natsu only groaned and got up. Then he looped an arm around Lucy's shoulder and grinned. "Sorry, Luce. I didn't mean to break things. I was just looking for something to eat."
"Well, eat at your own house! You have your own money to buy food so stop trying to eat all my food!"
"But it's so much more fun to eat here! Our house is too far away anyway. I promise I'll pay for dinner, how about that?"
Lucy shot him a deadpan look. "We're all splitting the dinner bill."
Shrugging, Natsu pulled them to the couch. Lucy scooted away from him, shivering all the while from the cold air streaming into her house. She was only wearing a dress, after all. Natsu noticed this and a grin sprung from his apologetic expression.
"You feeling cold Luce? I can warm you up if you like." With that, flames engulfed both his hands. Lucy sniffed, refusing to acknowledge him. Until she realized that Natsu had accidently set fire to her couch, that is. With a yelp, she leaped from said piece of furniture and rushed to the kitchen, quickly filled a container with water and threw it over her couch, dousing the flames. Natsu, who had been staring at her in confusion, hands still covered in flames, realized his mistake.
"What the hell, Natsu! I told you not to ruin my house any–"
Lucy froze as Natsu got up and hugged her. "Sorry Lucy, it was an accident. I promise I'll pay for whatever I ruined, okay?"
He was so warm. Lucy could feel the coldness being replaced by Natsu's constant warmth that was probably due to his fire dragon slayer magic. Her shivering gradually stopped and she leaned into him, pressing her face into his chest and revelling in the warm, safe feeling of the embrace. She had to; this was a one in a million chance. Natsu, the destruction loving pyromaniac, rarely got all affectionate like this. She reached up and ruffled his hair, earning a chuckle from the taller male. Seeing his grin, she allowed one of her own to creep onto her face, her anger forgotten. Smiling, she hugged him back.
"Thanks for warming me up, Natsu."
"Anytime, Lucy."
Then Happy, who had been forgotten, flew around them, little paws brought up to his mouth, staring at Natsu and Lucy with a mischievous glint in his large eyes. From experience, Lucy knew what was coming, sadly.
"They lliiiiiikkeee each other! Natsu and Lucy liiiikkkkkeee each other! Natsu and Lucy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I – eeep!"
With that, the blonde wrenched herself out of Natsu's arms, nearly taking his precious scarf with her, and chased after Happy, who had the foresight to take off as soon as Lucy turned to him with a scarily evil glint in her eyes. The blue cat flew around the living room, fear evident in his eyes. Lucy ran after him, eventually chasing Happy down the stairs and out onto the streets, screaming revenge.
"Get back here, you stupid cat! You're going to pay for that! Just wait until I get my hands on you! Just you wait!"
Happy, though used to Lucy's threats, was no less scared. She was still quite terrifying, even after four years. "Naatttssuuuuuuuuuu! Help me! Don't let Lucy kill me! I don't want to die! I don't want to leave Carla!"
Natsu shook his head smiled. It was just like those two to get up to something like that. They never change. He looked around the room once more to ensure that he hadn't accidentally set anything else on fire before heading towards the door. Grabbing Lucy's coat, her purse and her keys, he locked the door and exited her house by way of her window. It was more fun that way.
By the time he came around to the front of Lucy's house, his partner in crime and the love of his life was nowhere to be seen. That didn't worry Natsu though, not with his sense of smell. Besides, even without that, he only needed to follow the sound of Happy's squeals of fear and Lucy's screams of rather creative threats to know which direction they were headed. Happy and Lucy were no doubt on their way to the train station.
He grinned, looking forward to the day ahead. Team Natsu and a few others were going to Crocus, Fiore's capitol, to celebrate New Year's Eve and to watch the rather impressive display of fireworks the city puts on every year. Lucy, Happy and he were supposed to meet the rest of their team at the train station in ten minutes. They would take the train to Crocus… take the train… train… Natsu nearly turned green just thinking about the abomination that were trains. Internally screaming, he groaned about the eight hour train ride from Magnolia to Crocus. It was going to be torture. He could only hope that Wendy would agree to cast troia on him before the train ride… But he was not doing this for himself. It was for Lucy. Right. He would endure it for Lucy. For Lucy.
With that thought lingering in his head, he grudgingly began his trek from Lucy's house to the train station.
A/N: I hope that wasn't toooo horrible... I'll upload the next chapter soon. :)