Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

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Hold Hands

To my wonderful helper, ninasaoy. Thank you for the inspiration and idea for the second chapter of "Blood and Burns". I wouldn't have done it without you.

Lucy just parted ways with Natsu and Happy after a long, hard mission that lasted a week. She was ready for a nice, hot bath and a good night sleep. She let out a long, dramatic sigh before crashing into someone.

And it was a mess!
The man she bumped into had a cup of lemonade in one hand and a box of books in the other. The lemonade spilled all over Lucy, ruining her clothes. The box fell and all the books went all over! People glanced at them before walking around the mess.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" They both exclaimed in unison. They dropped to their knees to pick up the books. After the books were back in the box, the two looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Lucy?!"

"Brandon?!"

"Lucy!" The boy named Brandon exclaimed with a smile, which Lucy mirrored. "It's been forever! How have you been?!"

"I've been great!" Lucy replied. "And you?"

"Great! I'm a traveler now. I'm going all over Fiore with a bunch of friends!"

Lucy's face lit up. "By friends, do you mean Isaac and Ainsley and Jessica and Jordan?!"

Brandon nodded, "Yup! All of us! They're here in Magnolia too!"

"Oh my gosh! How awesome! I haven't seen any of you in forever!"

"We missed you too, Lucy."
Lucy flashed him a smile.

Brandon's smile suddenly faded from his face. "I'm so sorry I spilled my drink on you. I'm staying in a hotel down the road. Let me take you there. You can have one of Jessica or Ainsley's clothes."

"No, no. It's fine. I was on my way home anyway."

Brandon raised an eyebrow, "Wait, you live here?"

"Yes."

"What about the Heartfilia Estate? When we five left for that trip, the reason you couldn't come was because of your dad and you stayed there."

"Oh yeah! I remember that. I was really sad when you all left. You guys were my only friends. And to answer your question, I ran away and joined the Fairy Tail guild."

His eyes widened, "Fairy Tail?! You were at the Grand Magic Games?!"

"Yup! And we won! I love Fairy Tail! They're my family!"

Brandon looked slightly jealous. "That's good," he said in a monotone voice. "Come with me to the hotel. I'm sure the girls want to see you…and we can change your clothes."

"Okay."

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Lucy just told her childhood friends about her first adventure in Fairy Tail with the Duke of Everlue and Isenwald. All of her friends were drawn in like a sponge, but Brandon just grew jealous even more every minute.

"You seem to look up to this Natsu partner of yours," Ainsley commented.

Lucy blushed, but smiled and nodded, "yeah, I really look up to him. He's pretty awesome."

Jordan smirked. He was one of those guys that rolled his eyes as he did so. "You sound like you like him."

Lucy went redder.

"You do, don't you?" Jessica wasn't as smart as other people, but if she knew one thing, it was if someone had a crush.

The truth was, she really liked Natsu. She likes him so much that it was hard for her not to swoon around him. She's always been attracted to him, since the very beginning when he saved her from Bora, but she never started to crush on him until after Phantom Lord. She loved his hair, his sun-kissed skin, his six-pack abs, his onyx eyes, his personality, his courage…his magic complimented him completely: hot. The thing Lucy loved most about him was his smile. She loved to see it touch his eyes and show off his fangs. His smile always made her feel gooey inside. However, she couldn't let her old friends find out how deep she was in.

"No, I don't!" Lucy exclaimed.

"You blush says otherwise," Isaac smirked.

"I-I don't like Natsu like that!"

"Sure…"

Lucy pouted, causing Brandon in the back to slightly blush. "Look," he said, "she said she doesn't like Natsu so she doesn't! Alright?!"

They all looked at him.

…

…

"Alright then."

Lucy sighed at all the drama. Her friends back at the mansion were so filled with drama. They all had rich parents, like herself, so they got to play together at each other's houses as their parents had meetings. The only thing that was different between them and Lucy was that their parents loved them. Lucy's didn't. Hence why they got to travel and Lucy didn't.

The truth was that Lucy didn't even like them. They were rich, which made them spoiled. They were spoiled, with made them selfish. They were selfish, which made them brats. Lucy was never like that.

Maybe they had changed, but Lucy still didn't like them as much. She didn't like the way they acted. She was being only being nice to be polite and she hung around them when they were little because they were her only friends.

Friends were friends. No matter how much of a brat they were…and they were her first.

"So Lucy," Ainsley started again. "Do you wanna take a small break from Fairy Tail and travel with us a while?"

Lucy shook her head. "Sorry, I'm going to stay in Fairy Tail. I can't imagine my life without them. I'd miss them. Besides, I have rent to pay."

"Oh! Come on! Just a month?!"

"I'm sorry, guys. I can't."

All five of them seemed disappointed.

"However, I'll spend the rest of the day with you all until I gotta go to bed."

Their eyes lit up and they cheered.

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"Can't you stay just five more minutes?" Jordan asked.

Lucy shook her head, "I'm sorry, I have to get home."

"It's okay, I'll walk you home," Brandon offered.

"Sure! Thanks, Brandon."

On their walk home, Lucy noticed Brandon walking extra close to her, as in their shoulders were touching. Lucy felt slightly uncomfortable. She only felt comfortable touching shoulders with Natsu. It was the quiet affection she could only give him without drawing attention from her guild mates or letting him know. She wasn't at all confident in her feelings toward him.

Natsu and Lucy would only hold hands on sad occasions. If Natsu, Lucy, or them both would feel upset or would have a bad day, they'd hold hands as their silent way of comforting each other.

Suddenly, Brandon touched her hand. It made her jump, but she didn't move away. He then wrapped his fingers around her hand, causing her to squirm a bit, but she didn't pull away. She didn't want to be rude.

"Oh my gosh! He likes me!"

Of course, Lucy didn't like him back, but Brandon was her friend and she didn't wanna hurt him in any way.

When they arrived, they let go of their hands.

"Well, goodnight, Luce."

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise, and then hardened. "Don't call me Luce. Only one person has that right and it's not you."

Brandon looked slightly hurt. "Oh…sorry."

"It's fine."

"…Look, can I ask you something, Lucy?"

"Oh no…"

"When the others and I are back in Magnolia in a month, do you wanna go out with me?"
Lucy took a deep breath:

"Brandon, you're very nice and a gentleman. Thank you for walking me home and spilling lemonade of me so I could hang out with our old friends," Lucy giggled, "…but I'm sorry. I don't feel the same way. I like someone else."

Brandon nodded understandably. "It's Natsu, isn't it?"

Lucy went red.

"It's okay. I could tell from how you talked about him. Besides, Jessica is never wrong."

Lucy giggled again. "Thank you for understanding."

"You're welcome. Good luck with Natsu."

"I'll need it. He's so oblivious, if I told him I liked him, he'd probably think I meant it in a friend way."

"Oh, that stinks…Well, if it doesn't work out…I'll be here."

Lucy smiled, "thanks. I'll see you later, Brandon."

"Goodbye Lucy. I'll see you in a month."

Lucy opened the door, and then shut it with a sigh. "Thank goodness that went well."

Lucy walked up to her room and as she opened the door, she was immediately met with a voice:

"Who was that?"

Lucy jumped, gasped, and met eyes with her favorite boy. Happy was right next to him asleep.

"What?" Lucy replied, hoping that he wasn't using his ultra dragon ears to hear what they were saying. If so, he would've heard that she liked him.

Natsu was slightly mad. There was someone else with his Luce that wasn't himself. He was ticked off, possessive, and jealous…but he'd never admit that out loud.

"I'm talking about the guy that walked you home." He spat the words out like poison.

"Oh him? That was an old friend of mine."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "I thought all your friends were in Fairy Tail?"
"No, I've had friends before I joined the guild. I've known him way longer than I've known you."

Lucy didn't realize out hurtful her words sounded until they popped out of her mouth.. They both stiffened and the hurt reflected off his eyes.

"Natsu, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You're a better friend to me than anyone. You know that. I just meant that I've known him longer: since we were kids."

Natsu relaxed. Before, it sounded like she meant that this pervy (probably) guy was a better friend than any of Fairy Tail because she's known him longer. Now he feels better because it's cleared up. Natsu sighed and shifted in his position to get more comfortable on the bed.

Lucy mistook his shifting for getting ready to leave out the window. Her eyes widened. "No!" She ran toward the bed and jumped on him, causing him to let out a gasp of surprise from underneath her. "Don't go!"

"L-Lucy!"

She hugged him tightly, "Don't leave! Not when you're mad at me! I'm sorry; I'll make it up to you by buying you food on our next mission-"

"Lucy!" Natsu chuckled and Lucy watched as he put a cute smirk on his face. "I wasn't going to leave, Weirdo."

"…Oh, I thought you were."

"I'd never leave you alone, Luce."

Lucy went red as she stared into his eyes. She was currently on top of him with a grip around his neck on her bed. Happy was on the pillow.

After a few moments of silence and locked eyes, Natsu raised a hand to play with her hair while the other wrapped around her waist. He smirked again, "So…..this other oblivious guy you like…"

Lucy gasped and that was all he needed. Natsu smashed his lips against hers and she melted immediately.

Neither knew how long they lie there (now on their sides instead of Natsu on bottom) making out, but they didn't care. Tomorrow, they'd be walking into the guild hall holding hands as a couple for the first time. It's not like they didn't before, but this time, it had more meaning and affection in it.

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I hope you enjoyed ninasaoy!

-zEllie