Author's Note:
Hello there! Just letting you know, this is an alternate universe, which was inspiried by art/The-writer-and-the-Delivery-Boy-330595515, so please check out nishi06 on deviantart (especially if you ship Nalu). Also, I'm kind of new to the site, so bear with me. And, uh... For the next chapter, do you think I should add Happy? And if I do, should Happy be a cat, or another person? Should I follow the story plot of Fairy Tail, but in this alternate universe setting, or should I just branch off and do my own thing? Tell what you would like to see!
- Mikayla
Chapter 1
A light autumn breeze drifted through the trees, rustling a few leaves from their branches. They fluttered to the ground, twirling in lazy spirals before painting the sidewalk in multiple hues. Towering trees loomed above, their vibrant leaves quaking on their branches. When the light hit them just right, they appeared as though they were on fire, blazing with life.
Lucy admired the scenery briefly, casting a glance at the plants above, though her mind was elsewhere. In just six months, her next book had to be ready to be published, and any ideas she had seemed to have vanished. To call it writer's block would be an understatement - it seemed more to her like a curse, hindering her from writing anything worthy of reading. The nights she spent writing and rewriting her story didn't help either; They only left her with dark circles and grogginess.
She walked hurriedly down the street, her mind quickly running through the list of excuses she had told her agent already, while simultaneously attempting to create more. She checked her watch nervously, subconsciously licking her lips. Lucy had agreed to meet her agent at nine o'clock at the coffee shop, and she knew how she disliked impunctuality. Wailing internally upon realizing she only had a couple of minutes to arrive at the coffee shop, Lucy sped up the pace, clutching a stack of papers to her chest. Digging into her pocket for her phone, the young novelist stumbled clumsily down the sidewalk as she held her notes to together, her shoulder bag slipping into the crook of her elbow.
She tapped her fingers against the screen of phone as she typed a quick message to her agent, her fingers moving swiftly across the letters on the screen. She was about to press the send button when scalding soup soaked through her blouse and cardigan, orange liquid spreading itself across her belongings. The heat scorched her skin and she gasped from the pain, dropping her now dripping wet notes. She kneeled quickly to pick them up, only to come face to face with the culprit.
A boy with pale, rose-colored hair stared at her in shock, his mouth widened in an "o" of surprise.
Lucy resisted the urge to slap him, and instead gave him her most menacing look.
The boy shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I was in a hurry and…" he rambled on, assisting her in her attempt to pick up what was left of her notes.
"They're ruined!" Lucy wailed, not caring that her outburst had attracted a few stares. She snatched a sopping wet pile of paper from the boy, a few angry tears threatening to spill over. If there was any chance of getting her book published before, there was definitely no chance now.
"How can I make this up to you?" the boy inquired worriedly.
"You can rewrite my notes," Lucy replied curtly, her anger rising upon realizing her clothing had gotten soiled, too. She wrung out the bottom of her shirt in vain.
"You don't have to be so mean," he mumbled. He rose hastily, his hat almost falling off in the process. "How about I take you out to eat?"
Lucy glared at him. "How is that going to help?"
"There's a ramen place nearby that I work at," he responded, as he scrubbed her glasses, which had fallen off in the commotion."It's a good place to get your creative juices flowing," he added. He beamed down at her, extending his hand. "Come with me."
Lucy sighed. Her clothes were stained orange and soaked, she was already late to her meeting, and to top it off, her notes were beyond destroyed. All she wanted to do was go home and cry. That's what she would've done as well, but something made her stop. She didn't know what it was at the time - perhaps fate (or maybe hunger and a lack of money), but she reluctantly agreed.
The way the boy's face lit up told her she had made the right decision. "My name's Natsu, by the way," the boy - no, Natsu - told her as he helped her to her feet, his calloused hand grasping hers.
"Lucy."
The walk to the ramen shop was not as awkward as Lucy had anticipated. Despite the fact that Natsu appeared to be a bumbling, clumsy buffoon, he could actually hold a conversation quite well. Lucy couldn't help but giggle at his childish antics, and the odd sense of pride he had in the restaurant. Likewise, Natsu began to see the nicer side of the financially unstable novelist.
By the time they arrived at the noodle shop, Lucy and Natsu seemed to be much more comfortable with each other, despite their awkward first beginnings.
"This is it," Natsu proclaimed as they stepped inside. "Fairy Soup!"