Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
Hi, everyone :^)
This fic is a collaboration that I'm doing with Proudtobeaginger!
Hope you all enjoy!
XOXOX
"C'mon, guys," Cana waved her bottle of vodka all around, "It's just to lighten the mood."
"Cana," Gray exhaled. "No one wants any of that."
"And no one wants any of that," she gestured to Gray's bare chest.
"Huh—WHAT THE?" his gaze dropped downwards.
With hearts in her eyes and hands to her cheeks, Juvia cried out, "Juvia wants all of that!"
"Gahh," Gray flinched away from the strange girl, "stay away…"
"Put some clothes on, Ice Perv," Natsu grumbled as he worked on lighting the bonfire.
"Shut it, Ass Flame," Gray glowered, his hand curling into a fist.
"Natsu's right, Gray," Erza said sternly, causing Gray to flinch. "Put your shirt back on this instant."
"I would if I only knew where it went…" he muttered, scratching his head.
"Juvia is cuddling with it, Gray-sama!" Juvia gushed while clutching his shirt to her chest.
Gray let out a choking sound before tearing it out of her grasp.
"Is this big enough?" Natsu asked in referral to the fire.
"Looks good to me," Lucy commented as the blazing fire roared all around the pit. It roared a little too much actually as she watched the flames lick Natsu's arm… "Actually…can you tone it down a bit?"
Natsu shot her an incredulous look, "How do you expect me to do that?"
"I don't know!" she blushed, suddenly feeling stupid. "It's just that if the fire is too bright…we might get caught…"
"Relaxxx, Luccyyy," he grinned as he sat down on the empty space next to her on the bumpy log they were using as a bench. "You worry too much," he threw a lazy arm over her shoulder.
"You don't worry enough," she sweated-dropped, pulling away slightly.
"She's right though," Levy said. She was sitting on different log that was right next to Lucy. "If we get caught, they might kick us out of camp."
"Why are we doing this again?" Lucy timidly asked, biting her nails.
"Because it's fun!" Natsu beamed, unexpectedly pulling her in closer.
"Wah!" she squeaked, tumbling against his chest.
A blush dusted across her cheeks.
Natsu's natural campfire scent intoxicated her senses.
She could hear his rapid heartbeat.
Her own heartbeat seemed to be in sync…
"Aww!" Mira squealed, she was sitting next Cana from across the fire pit. "So cute!"
Lucy immediately jerked away with her face fully inflamed.
She shot Natsu a sideways glance and even though he acted indifferent, she could see the slight pink on his cheeks as well.
"Don't freak out, Lucy," Gray said gently. "If Erza's here then that means we aren't doing anything wrong."
She gave him a small smile, feeling slightly comforted by his words because when does Erza ever break the rules?
A strong gust blew around them, jostling up Lucy's blonde hair. "Love rival…" Juvia's voice had carried with the wind.
"So creepy," Lucy shivered.
"What is?" Natsu inquired, peering at her from his peripheral.
"Nothing," she nervously answered as she hugged her arms to her chest.
"Why do they care if we camp out in the woods anyways?" Gajeel, who was sitting next to Levy, asked.
"It's only for S-Class campers," Mira informed him. "So that's why Erza and I are here."
"So much for Gray's comforting words…" Lucy muttered, glaring at Gray, who in return, shot her an apologetic grin.
"I think Lucy needs to lighten up," Cana smirked as she stood up and walked over to Lucy with the bottle firmly in her hands. "Here."
"No thanks," Lucy put her hand up to signal no.
"C'mon, you know you want some!"
"Really, I don't want any, Cana," she frowned.
The bottle was, once again, shoved into Lucy's face, "Just one sip—" Suddenly the bottle was on the floor.
"She said no, Cana."
"Natsu?" Lucy jolted, surprised by his action.
His tone had been nonchalant, but the had been all but nonchalant.
"What?" he blinked, crossing his arms over his chest, "It was gettin' annoying."
"Well then…" Cana winked at Lucy before going back to her place next to Mira.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy felt lost as her brows furrowed inwards.
"Cuties," Mira giggled.
"They really are cute," Erza adoringly smiled at them from over the fire.
"Juvia wants Gray-sama to come to Juvia's rescue!" Juvia sighed, seizing Gray's arm.
"Let go," he nervously tugged his arm away, but her grip only tightened.
"Can we make s'mores already?" Natsu asked, sounding bored.
"Sure thing," Mira said cheerfully. "Here," she passed around roasting sticks and a bag of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. "And this one's for you, Natsu."
It was chili pepper chocolate.
"YOSH!" he shot an arm into the air. "You're the best, Mira!"
"Ew," Lucy grimaced as she saw what the flavor was.
"Don't knock 'till you try it, Lucy," he said as he began to roast his marshmallow.
"I'd rather not..." she giggled as she roasted her own marshmallow right next to his.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" he chanted. "Go on fire already."
"Huh?" she cocked her head to the side.
"Always tastes better when the marshmallow is on fire," Natsu explained in tone that seemed to imply duh.
"If you say so…" she turned her gaze back to her marshmallow and her eyes popped out her head, "IT'S ON FIRE! WHAT DO I DO?!"
"PUT IT OUT!" Levy cried.
Lucy did as Levy said.
"I'll get some water," Erza said quickly.
"Drop it on the ground," Gajeel said gruffly. "I'll stomp on it."
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Gajeel," Gray sweated and Juvia gripped Gray even harder.
"My, my," Mira placed a hand over her mouth.
"Here," Erza pulled out a big canister of water. "Hold still and I'll pour the water on it."
"WHATTT?!" Natsu roared. "ARE YOU ALL CRAZY! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT DELICIOUS MARSHMALLOW! IT'S MINE!" He not-so-gently yanked Lucy's stick from her hand and brought the flaming marshmallow to his face.
"Natsu don't!" Lucy cried, reaching for the stick.
He shoved the flaming ball of fire into his mouth before she could pull it away.
"You're crazy," she ogled.
"What an idiot," Gray awed, face-palming.
"That's the salamander for ya," Gajeel shook his head with his finger pinching the bridge of his pierced nose.
"Natsu!" Erza looked panicked. "Here!" She shoved the water at him.
Natsu waved his hand as if to say no thanks as he swallowed. "Mannn that was tasty!" He turned towards Lucy and shot her an eye-squinting, fanged tooth grin, "Thanks, Lucy!"
"Don't mention it…" she said numbly.
And everyone resumed on with their s'mores making as though the event never happened.
XOXOX
"Should we start to head back?" Lucy asked as the campfire started to die a little. "It's probably midnight by now…"
"No way," Natsu lethargically answered, resting his hands behind his head.
"Yeah, what Natsu said," Cana concurred. "We still haven't had any real fun yet."
"Real fun?" Levy pursed her lips.
"Yeah, like telling ghost stories," Natsu smirked as he lightly tickled Lucy's unsuspecting arm.
"KYA!" she jumped. "NATSU! THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" she glowered at him with great resentment.
Natsu bellowed over with laughter with his hand clutching his chest, "You-You said Kya!"
"Stopppp laughing!" she wailed into her palms.
But Natsu continued laughing away.
Everyone else ignored them and Gray asked, "So does anyone have any good ghost stories?"
"I do," Cana laughed. "But I'm not sure if I should tell it…"
"Why not?" Erza asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Because it's a true story."
Levy and Lucy let out a gasp.
"Well let's hear it," Gajeel insisted.
"Alright," Cana took a swig of her drink and licked her lips before talking. "Legend has it, that deep inside these very woods, lies a mysterious, abandoned cabin."
"That's it?" Natsu raised a brow before sarcastically saying, "Whooaaa so scary. Lucy, save me."
"I would feed you to the ghost," she grumbled.
"Oi!" Natsu complained. "That's not nice!"
"Like I care," she shrugged.
"Let me finish!" Cana shot them a dirty look. "As I was saying, there's a cabin in the woods and when it was first discovered, they found dead bodies—EVERYWHERE!"
Without realizing it, Lucy had latched on to Natsu's arm. He shot her a curious glance, but she wasn't looking.
"Apparently some guy went mad and killed anyone who went anywhere near his cabin—that includes puny campers like ourselves." Cana paused to breathe. "And they say that his insanity drove him to the point where he took his own life!"
Natsu wondered why was his heart was pounding.
Was he actually getting scared or did it have something to do with… He glanced down at Lucy, again, who was now hugging his arm even tighter-to her breasts, might he add—causing a blush to burn his cheeks.
"And now it is said that his evil spirit and the spirits of those he had killed roam these very woods, attacking anyone and anything in sight."
"That wasn't the least bit scary," Gray scoffed.
"Juvia's scared," she cried, hugging Gray, who didn't seem to mind.
"Lame as hell," Gajeel sneered, with Levy buried into his chest.
Momentarily forgetting about her own fear, a vein ticked on Lucy's forehead, Why does everyone always tease me and Natsu, but no one ever teases Levy and Gajeel?
"Hey!" Cana growled. "It's scary because it's true!"
"Well there's no proof," Erza pointed out.
"True," Mira nodded. "Anyone can make up a story and say it's true."
"Well then how about we go find the cabin?" Cana suggested.
Lucy trembled at that, squeezing Natsu's arm even tighter…And then she blinked.
When did I grab Natsu's arm?
He wasn't looking at her though and he didn't seem to care either…
So she carried on with her tight squeezing.
"We can't leave the fire burning by itself," Erza said, pointing at the fire pit.
"And I don't feel like wandering around in a dark forest," Gray mentioned.
"So you two can stay," Cana simply said.
"Juvia is staying if Gray-sama stays."
"Alright," Cana said, "Well I'm gonna search for the cabin and, Lucy, you're coming too."
"Why me?" she let go of Natsu and stood up. "I don't want to!"
"Because I need your boobs to hold onto in case I get scared," she winked, reaching out a hand to squeeze her.
Lucy stepped back and instinctively covered her chest, "Well that really makes me really want to go now!"
"I'm in," Natsu stood up. "Ghosting hunting sounds fun!"
"On what world?" Lucy looked bewildered.
"On this one," he beamed.
"I'll go too," Gajeel stood up next. "It sounds better than waiting here."
"Guess I'll go too," Levy said dryly.
"Shrimp," he turned towards the tiny girl. "You better not be holdin' onto me the whole time."
"Like I was going to!" she snapped, with her hands on her hips.
"Those two are cute too," Mira whispered to Erza.
"Agreed," Erza whispered back.
"I can hear you guys," Levy sweat-dropped.
"Alright!" Cana grinned. "So we have Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel, and Levy going. Is that right?"
"Sounds about right," Gray said. "Mira?"
"I'm gonna stay here and keep watch of the fire," she replied.
"Does that mean you're gonna come with us now, Erza?" Lucy asked, hoping the scarlet haired girl would say yes. She felt safer with Erza around.
"No," the girl shook her head. "Jellal was supposed to be here hours ago and I'm getting worried…I'm going to search around to see if he got lost or something…"
"Be careful!" Mira called as Erza vanished into the woods.
"Should someone go with her?" Levy inquired.
Natsu shrugged, "Erza can take care of herself."
"True," they all agreed.
And the cabin-searching group headed into the dark, dense woods.
XOXOX
"OWW!" Lucy cried, tripping for the umpteenth time and falling flat on the dirt floor.
It was hard to walk through the woods at night with nothing but the moonlight as guidance... There were branches, stones, and thick tree roots all around.
"You gotta be careful," Natsu chided, reaching out a hand to help her up.
"That's funny coming from you—the most careless person I know," she jabbed, brushing off the twigs and leaves that were all over her.
"Oi!" he growled. "I'm carefully careless."
"That doesn't even make sense!" she threw her arms up.
"Yes it does!" he argued, pulling her by the shoulders so that she could face him. "It means that I'm careful at bein' careless!"
"Like I said, that doesn't make sense!" she flushed, wishing he would let go.
He leaned his head in close, "What part doesn't make sense? The careful or the careless?"
Her eyes widened at the closeness…
"Are you two done making out yet?" Cana called from far away.
Lucy pulled herself away as though he burned her. She tried to run over to Cana, but somehow, she ended up tripping once again…Except this time it was down a hill. "WAHHH!"
"LUCY!" she could hear Natsu scream.
She tumbled and tumbled as fallen branches and rocks dug into her skin.
Was this how she was going die?
"Gah!" she narrowly avoided bashing her head against a gigantic stone.
Yup, she was going to die as the world spiraled all around her.
But to her surprise, she didn't.
She let out a cry as she finally made it to the bottom of the hill.
"LUCY!" Natsu was crouching next to her within seconds.
She could hear the unevenness of his breath, meaning he ran down after her.
"Are you okay?"
"I think so," she pulled herself up to a sitting positon, but she was too dizzy. She went to topple back over, but Natsu caught her just in time and steadied her.
"You guys okay?" Levy asked, sounding just as out of breath as Natsu and trailing behind her were Gajeel and Cana.
"You sure you didn't drink anything tonight," Cana mused.
Natsu gently picked up Lucy's arm and ran his fingers up and down, checking to see if anything was broken.
"I'm fine," she breathed, thankful that no one could see her blush as she pulled her arm away from Natsu.
He carefully ran his hands through her silky hair, brushing out all the dirt.
"Thanks," she swallowed.
Cana let out a loud gasp.
"What?" Gajeel asked.
"The cabin!" she pointed to behind Lucy and Natsu and the duo whirled around to see a wooden cabin that looked like it hadn't been touched in years.
"Great," Lucy's voice trembled as Natsu checked out her other arm. "Can we go now?"
"No way!" Gajeel grinned. "I wanna check it out!"
"Let's wait until daylight," Levy suggested.
"But it's more fun at night," Natsu pointed out, cradling Lucy's leg now.
"I said I'm fine, Natsu!" she said again, now feeling more annoyed than flustered by his concern.
"Just makin' sure," he said. "Your body is probably in shock, so you wouldn't know if you broke somethin'…"
"I think I would know…" she pouted, letting him continue his full-body check.
And then he leaned his head in so close that their foreheads touched.
"Wh-What are you doing?" her pulse jumped.
"Just makin' sure your heads alright."
His warm breath tickled her cheeks.
"Oh?"
He pulled away, "You're bleeding." He gently tapped her forehead.
"It's not deep though," she stated.
He looked hesitant as he stood up, holding his hand out for Lucy.
She gratefully took it.
Despite the pain from all the scratches, she felt okay.
"So shall we?" Cana asked, growing impatient.
"I'm too scared," Levy admitted.
"Oh c'mon, Shrimp," Gajeel groaned.
"I'm too scared also," Lucy blushed.
"Boring…Let's make this interesting," Cana said. "Lucy, I dare you to go in all by yourself."
"WHAT?!" her eyes bugged. "DID YOU NOT JUST HEAR ME SAY I'M SCARED?!"
"I heard you," Cana said, "but it's more fun this way!"
"No it's not!"
"C'mon," the devilish brunette teased, "you can't turn down a dare."
"It's true," Gajeel nodded.
"But—" Lucy protested with her anxiety growing worse.
"I won't judge you if you turn down the dare, Lu-chan," Levy said sweetly.
"Thanks?" she scratched her head.
"Sooo what's it gonna be, Lucy?" Cana smirked.
"I'll…" she snapped her eyes closed, not believing what she was about to say, "do it."
"Atta girl!" Cana whooped.
Lucy opened her eyes slowly, taking in deep, calming breaths—which weren't doing anything—and trudged her way over to the cabin.
Her whole body quivered and shook along the way.
She was afraid.
Terrified was more like it…
Was it darker over here or was it her imagination?
Calm down, Lucy… she inwardly commanded.
She made it over to porch when suddenly a voice called out.
"That's not fair."
Her head whipped around to see a scowling Natsu.
"Thank you, Natsu," she let out a sigh of relief.
"Because I wanna go in first!" he growled.
Lucy's eye twitched, "I take back the thank you."
"Fine," Cana shrugged as she threw an uncaring hand up in the air, "Natsu go join Lucy."
XOXOX
~this chapter was written by me~
Ahh I hope you all enjoyed this :0
Thanks for reading!