Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
This was a request by sonikastalker to write an AU where Natsu and Lucy meet at a concert! Hope you like it!
~Boyfriend for the Night~
"Ughh, c'mon! I know it's in here somewhere!" growled Natsu as he dug his fist through his baggy pocket, refusing to give up his spot on line. He had waited too long for this! His favorite band, Dragon Force, were in concert for the first time. And he did not take a dreadful method of transportation to get here just to be sent home because he lost his ticket!
"Sir, you're holding up the line," said the security guard, pointing behind Natsu at the angry mob. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Arg! Who cares?! Just let me in!" Natsu yelled furiously. "Or else that pervert Gray will never let me live this down!"
"Sorry no ticket, no entry." The guard shrugged. Meanwhile Gray and Gajeel snickered in the distance. "We'll make sure to snapchat you tons of videos, Salamander," jeered Gajeel with a
boasting grin that Natsu scowled at.
"Dumbass. Knew I shoulda held onto your ticket for you," sneered Gray.
"Oi, why the hell would I trust you with my ticket?! You can't even keep your damn pants on!" Natsu fumed, pointing at Gray's pants, which were now lying on the ground.
"Not again!" groaned Gray, trudging the pants back on.
"This is so not fair," Natsu cried. Why did he have to lose his ticket? He searched around his pockets and wallet one last time with a small slither of hope in his heart.
"Assflame," said Gray, "you already looked there! You ain't gonna find it! Maybe if you go home now, you might come back in time to hear the last song."
There had to be something Natsu could do. Something—anything. He desperately looked around. He wasn't about to go home.
"Tch, he's better off stealing someone else's ticket," cackled Gajeel gruffly.
Steal someone's ticket? But who could he—he froze, eyeing the lonely blonde, who was clutching two tickets in her left hand.
XOXOX
"Ughh, Levy, where are youuu?!" moaned Lucy, stomping her feet on the hard sidewalk. She was supposed to meet her small friend here about 20 minutes ago. She leaned back, stretching out her now-aching back. What she wouldn't give to sit down right about now.
Lucy started to feel anxious, switching her lose every few seconds from tapping her feet, to playing with her phone to check the time. This was so unlike Levy to be late like this. What if something had happened to her? What if—
"Oi, there you are!" she heard someone shout. Normally she would ignore an ambiguous call like that, but she couldn't because a tanned hand seized hold of her wrist. "I've been lookin' everywhere for ya!"
Shocked, Lucy gawked up at the perpetrator; he was a small boy around her age, pink spiky hair with cunning eyes—and he was deranged clearly.
"Actually—I think you've mistaken me for someone—ACK!" He gave Lucy a huge tug, dragging her over to the ticket collecting line.
"Sorry 'bout that. Forgot my girlfriend was holding my ticket for me 'cuz, ya know, I'm so forgetful," the boy said, beaming brightly.
Lucy's eyes bugged out. "What?! Wait a second! I'm not his—" She started to say, but then the boy yanked the tickets from her hand and handed them over to the guy for collection.
"Wait! I'm not his girlfriend—" She frantically cried, but it was no use, the ticket collector had already ripped both tickets, indicating they had to go in. Levy's ticket…A sense of foreboding dread filtered into her.
The boy laced his fingers through hers. She gasped, it was the first time a guy has ever held her hand—and he was doing it to steal Levy's ticket. Of course this would happen to her. "C'mon, Weirdo—that's my pet name for her—let's go!"
"Nooo, stop!" She dug her heels into the ground. She wasn't going anywhere with this psychopath. "He's not my boyfriend!"
"Oi, stop that!" Natsu glowered.
"Lookie here," said the guard with a menacing glint in his eye that made Lucy shrink back, squeezing the stranger posing as her boyfriend's hand. "You two have held up this line long enough. Now get inside before I decide to rip up your tickets."
And that got both of them inside without even a moment of hesitation.
XOXOX
"I wonder where those two bastards are sitting," said the ticket thief, tapping his finger on his chin with one hand while his other still held on tightly to Lucy's as they trudged through the crowd of sweaty people.
"You can let go of my hand now," she sighed, not wanting to find out who those bastards were if they were anything like this freak.
Surprisingly, the boy startled at her words. "W-what the!? Who the hell are you?" he yelped, boggled, dropping her hand like a dead fish.
"I should be the one asking you that!" she exclaimed. "You stole my friend's ticket!"
"Oh right!" He gave her a cheeky grin. "Sorry. I lost mine so I needed a new one—OW! DID YOU JUST SLAP ME?!" He clutched his reddening cheek.
"YOU DON'T JUST STEAL SOMEONE ELSE'S TICKET!" she screamed. "Now what am I going to do about Levy?!"
"Levy?" Natsu furrowed, taking a few steps back. "Is that some kind disease—it's not contagious like Gray's stripping habit—right?"
"What?" Lucy gaped. Stripping habit? "No! Levy's a person! She's my friend whose ticket you stole!"
"I didn't steal her ticket, you gave it to me, weirdo."
"Stop calling me that!" she whined. "It's Lucy—what's your name?"
"Natsu," he said, adjusting the scarf he was wearing.
"Great, now I can go report your thievery—"
"S'not like you have proof I stole your ticket, Luigi," he grinned, rubbing his index finger under his nose.
She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. He had a point. There really wasn't any proof that he had stolen the ticket. No names on them or anything and the receipt was under Lucy's name only. So instead she jutted out her bottom lip and huffed, "It's Lucy!"
Lucy grabbed her phone, ready to text Levy that there's a problem, but there was no service inside the venue. She sighed for the umpteenth time. How did she get herself into this mess? She walked closely behind Natsu since he had her ticket and was looking for their seat section.
And as they walked past a couple holding hands while the girl asked the boy to buy a t-shirt. Lucy always wanted to go on a date to a concert—do the whole hand-holding thing and where the boyfriend buys his girlfriend a cute band shirt.
She wanted that so badly, but Lucy wasn't allowed to date. Not necessarily by her parents regime, but by her own. Her mother had passed at an early age due to a genetic condition that Lucy had the gene to. It wasn't a guaranteed death sentence, but she didn't want to risk someone falling in love with her because it wasn't fair.
But tonight was different.
She didn't have to let that gene define her.
"You know what," Lucy said, eyes gleaming like a cat in the dark as she prepared for her lie, "I do have proof that you stole the ticket. Levy was the one who purchased the tickets so all I need to do is have her show the receipt and then you get booted outta here."
Natsu audibly gulped.
"However, I'm willing to let it slide if—and only if—you pretend to be my boyfriend for the night."
"WHAT?!" Natsu stumbled back. "Why the hell would I do that?!"
"Well you said you were my boyfriend back at the door and you want to see the concert, right? Sooo…"
His pointy eye twitched. "Y-you're evil!"
"So you'll do it?!" Lucy asked, hope brimming in her brown eyes.
"I don't think I have much of a choice," Natsu grumbled, itching the back of his head.
Feeling daring, Lucy grabbed a hold of his hand and dragged him over to the merch stand. "I really want that pink t-shirt top right! Could you buy that for me?" She fluttered her eyes.
"I guess—50 JEWELS? ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
"Pleaseee," Lucy begged, giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could muster and the boy's face looked pained.
"N-no way," he protested.
"Natsu?!" said an orange haired fellow in front of them. "I didn't know you were here! And are-are you on a date?!"
"No—" said Natsu, but Lucy latched herself onto his arm, hugging it against her chest as she squealed out, "Yes!" It gave Lucy a thrill to say that.
"I never thought the day would come," awed the boy as he peered at them through his shades, "where our ickle Natsu would have a date—especially with someone with your beauty," he winked at Lucy.
"Loke," Natsu growled. "You're annoying!"
"So which band shirt were you thinking of getting," inquired Loke, gazing at Lucy.
"The pink one," she said, letting go of Natsu's arm so she could point upwards.
"That one would look great on you, but don't you think that red tank top would look even better on a body like yours?" His eyes quickly looked her up and down. "I'll buy it for you if you'd like."
Lucy heated with annoyance and Natsu gritted his teeth, pulling Lucy behind him. "Shut up already! She's my girlfriend! I'll be the one who buys her stuff! C'mon, Luigi!"
"It's Lucy!" she yelled, trying to ignore the flushing of her face at the my girlfriend comment. It made her nerves feel like they had been set on fire. She felt special.
Although it appeared that Natsu didn't hear her as he shoved past Loke and slapped down a wad of cash on the merch stand. "CAN I GET A DAMN SHIRT PLEASE?"
"M-my wallet…" Natsu sobbed, hugging it against his chest while Lucy changed into the red tank top that had a black dragon on it. She carefully slipped it on under her shirt so that she didn't expose herself to anyone.
"How do I look?"
He took one look at her before he stuffed a handful of fries—that weren't his—into his mouth, turning away sharply, and only for a split second, Lucy saw his cheeks turn pink.
XOXOX
"I wonder what Lava Breath is doing right now," mused Gray as they took their seats. They were pretty close to the stage—close enough that he could probably see the sweat drip off of the band.
"Probably dyin' from motion sickness on the train ride home, ghihi," Gajeel snickered.
"You have motion sickness too, you idiot," Gray sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Oi, shut it!" Gajeel barked, shoving his hands into his pockets and then he flinched. "Shit."
"What?" asked Gray warily peering over at him.
Gajeel slowly pulled his right hand out his pocket and trapped inside his large hand was a ticket. "Salamander's ticket…"
"Why do you have it?!" exclaimed Gray.
"The hell am I supposed to know?!" Gajeel exclaimed back.
"Well c'mon!" said Gray, bolting out of his seat. "Let's see if Flame for Brain's is still outside."
They raced out to the door and tried to peek their heads outside.
"Oi, is that pink haired idiot still outside?" Gray asked the security guard.
"No, just like I've been telling this girl," the guard seethed, pointing to a small, flustered girl, "he went inside with his blonde girlfriend!"
"But Lu-chan doesn't have a boyfriend!" the girl insisted just as Gajeel claimed, "But Salamander doesn't have a girlfriend!"
"What the hell is going on," muttered Gray, trying to put everything together. "So Natsu musta stolen a ticket."
"Shit, he actually listened to me?!" Gajeel crushed the ticket in his big fist.
"So I came all the way here for nothing?!" cried the small girl. Gajeel frowned, glancing down at the crumpled ticket.
He carefully held it out to the girl and said, "Here, I got a spare ticket."
The girl glanced up at him with wide brown eyes, scrutinizing him in a way that made him feel awkward and flushed. "Are you serious?"
"Yep," he said. "So do you want it or not, Shrimp?"
"Shrimp?" the girl sweated, but then quickly beamed up at him, "Yes! Thank you so much!"
And little did Gray know he was going to end up being the third wheel for the rest of the night.
XOXOX
What's with this girl? Natsu wondered as he continued to stuff his face with the plate of fries he had stolen while Lucy obsessed over a stuffed dragon plush he was forced to buy her and then she proceeded to babbled on and on about stuff he knew nothing about. But suddenly she was talking about his favorite manga Fairy Tail. And that seemed to be the ice breaker between them. It was like an instant friendship between them as they waited for the band to start.
"And when the lightening came, I was like YOSHH LAXUS IS HERE!" Natsu roared and Lucy cried laughing, "Me too! I legit screamed when Laxus showed up! He always comes in the nick of time!"
And as they continued to bond over Fairy Tail, Lucy still hadn't let go of his hand, which, Natsu had to admit, made him feel extremely warm on the inside.
When the concert started, Natsu was surprised that he and Lucy were actually dancing and singing along with the rest of the crowd around them. He never felt so lively before—well except when he was wrestling around with his friends—but this was different.
He loved that Lucy knew all the songs unlike Gray and Gajeel and even with the slow songs that he usually found to be boring, he ended up swaying slowly with Lucy in his arms. Her body felt hot against his and her panted breath made his stomach coil. It made him feel nervous, which was a feeling that Natsu wasn't accustomed to.
And Natsu didn't think he'd ever laughed so hard in his entire life then when he messed around with the girl—like putting ice down her back from his soda when she was too caught up in the music. She gave the cutest reactions, the way her nostrils would flare or her eyes would slit.
Was this why people went on dates? Were they always this fun? Were they supposed to make you feel on edge?
Or was it because Lucy is Lucy?
"So you never had a girlfriend before?" inquired Lucy as she absently drew circles on his arm as he walked her home (he was thankful that she lived in the city). His arm hair started to rise as an unnatural chill raced up and down his spine.
"Nope," he said, his eyes were mesmerized by the strokes of her finger. "Never been interested in that stuff. You?"
"Nope, not allowed to," she said, her voice was filled with melancholy that made Natsu want to ask a follow up question.
"Strict parents?" he blurted. He never had parents to know what it was like to be told you couldn't do something. It made him curious.
"No." She shook her head, keeping her eyes trained on his hand, "it's just that there's no point in me dating. You were kinda right earlier—I have a disease—well this gene and it might shorten my lifespan. The doctors don't know if it'll become active or not…So I figured it's best to save someone the heartbreak." She continued to trace his scarred skin with her warm, feathery touch.
"Pshh, that's stupid," Natsu scoffed. "Why would you let a stupid gene stop you from living your life?"
"Because I don't want to leave—"
"Like I said, that's stupid," he said harshly. "Sounds to me like you're giving up."
Lucy recoiled.
"I don't got a gene like that, but that doesn't mean I won't die tomorrow or somethin'. There's no guarantees in life," he continued.
"I know but—"
"Wouldn't you regret it if you died tonight?" he asked.
"I—"
"I know I would regret it," he said lowly.
"Regret what?" Lucy asked, lips curling into a frown.
"Not asking you out for a second date," he impishly grinned. "At first, I gotta admit I really, really regretted stealing your ticket out of everyone else's. I thought it was some kinda divine punishment 'cuz you're so annoying and weird—I mean who gets all worked up over a stuffed dragon? But now I'm really glad I stole yours!"
"Natsu…" She looked up at him with big, doe eyes that almost made him lose all his nerve.
"So will you?" he asked. "Will you go on a second date with me?"
Unable to find the words, Lucy could only nod her head yes.
Neither of them could believe that they really had a date planned and neither of them wanted to leave the others company just yet as their goodbye lingered as they exchanged numbers—which turned into Natsu hacking Lucy's phone to post all over twitter about her date and Lucy struggling to get it back as their laughs echoed into the night.
~The End~
XOXOX
Thank you for reading! Hope it didn't seem too rushed or anything!