Lucy sighed, repeatedly tapping the spacebar. She watched the cursor travel farther and farther down the page, abandoning the words written above. With another sigh, she backspaced. She had a serious case of writer's block and nothing seemed to be able to fix it. It'd been going on for weeks now. She glanced at the small calendar above her desk and groaned. She'd promised Levy the next chapter by Friday and it was already Tuesday. She barely even had three hundred words written. Lucy knew what she wanted to write about, but everything came out sounding dull and forced.
She would just have to text Levy and tell her that she'd need at least another week. Lucy snatched up her phone and typed out the message. Hopefully her best friend wouldn't be too disappointed. She hit send and abandoned her laptop, opting to go make dinner instead. Maybe a good meal would get her creativity flowing.
She bounded down the stairs, her hand glued to the railing. One fall resulting in a broken leg had made her careful. She never wanted to go through that sort of thing again. It wasn't even the broken leg that had been the annoying part. Sure, it had hurt, but nothing had been more frustrating than having an itch under her cast that she could never reach. It was only after her cast had been removed that she realized she could have just stuck a ruler down there.
Lucy pulled her hair into a long ponytail and for a brief moment, she debated on cutting it. It was longer than it had ever been and often got in the way. The thought was quickly cast aside when she opened her refrigerator. She puffed out her cheeks when she realized there wasn't much there. Blowing out the air, she took a moment to think. Spying a box of mix on top of the fridge, she decided. Pancakes were as good a dinner as anything, right?
Except she didn't have any eggs. Lucy slouched against the counter and groaned for the second time in less than ten minutes. She searched her cabinets for something, anything that she could make. Why hadn't she gone shopping sooner? She was internally cursing herself when she spotted the head of red hair out the window.
That's right. She could always go ask Mr. Dragneel for and egg or two. She quickly slid on her shoes and hurried outside. Lucy waved as she spotted him.
"Mr. Dragneel!"
He'd been in the middle of picking a suitcase off the ground when she called out. He smiled at her, making the x-shaped scar near his nose stand out. She'd always wondered how he'd gotten it. There was another jutting out from the bottom of his eye on the same side.
"Lucy, I've been telling you for years. Call me Igneel, alright?"
She nodded, though they both knew it wouldn't happen. Her father had ingrained that bit in her, along with other things, and calling an elder by their first name just seemed rude to her. Igneel had reassured her plenty of times that it wasn't the case, but the one time she'd called him by his first name had been awkward. At least, for her.
"Did you need something, kid?" Igneel ran a hand through his hair, the other still resting on the handle of his suitcase. She wondered if he'd just got back from a trip. She hadn't realized he'd been gone.
"Ah. I was just wondering if I could borrow some eggs from you, if that isn't too much trouble."
Igneel picked up the suitcase and motioned for her to follow him inside. The front door opened to the living room and the kitchen was right off that. He set the suitcase just inside the door and she followed him to the kitchen. Igneel's house always amazed her. It was larger than it looked from the outside and his walls were decorated with different paintings every time she came.
She asked about them one time and he had proudly declared that they were Natsu's work. Lucy had felt a pang inside her chest at that. She and Natsu had been close friends before he went away. He'd finally been accepted into a great art school and had left the next week. Just in time for the new semester. They'd had an argument just before. She couldn't even remember what it was about now. She hadn't heard from him after that. That had been three years ago. Igneel went to visit him a few times a year and offered to let her come with, but she always declined. Staying in Natsu's apartment would have been awkward enough without the three year gap since their last talk.
"So, what are you making? Something good?" Igneel asked as he peered into his fridge. Lucy happened to know that he ate like an animal and was always surprised at how well stocked his kitchen was. She couldn't even think about how much money he spent on food.
"Just pancakes, actually. I forgot to go shopping." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Igneel pulled his head out of the fridge and shot her a look. He was always worried that she wasn't taking good enough care of herself.
"You'll eat here with us, then." He said. His tone left no room for arguing. Before she had a chance to question who exactly 'us' was, two figures came rolling down the stairs, fists flying.
"Damn it, you droopy eyed bastard! Let me go!"
"Give me my phone, Natsu!"
Her eyes widened at that and sure enough she caught sight of his pink hair. Igneel growled deep in his throat and she slapped her hands over her ears just in time to protect herself from his yell.
"Will you two knock it off?!" He gripped each boy by the back of the shirt and slammed them together. They feel in a dazed heap.
Lucy didn't know the dark haired boy at all, but he wasn't her focus anyways. She finally got a good look at Natsu's face and twisted her hands together. He had filled out, that was for sure. His hair was pulled back with a hair tie, but that didn't stop the wild look to it. No longer was he a scrawny kid with a baby face. He wasn't nineteen anymore. No, Natsu looked like a man. Which, she realized, he was. He was twenty-two now. Three years was a long time, but to her they'd gone by in a flash.
His green eyes cut to her then and she waited for the look of recognition. Was he still angry? Would he want her to leave?
Instead of a surprised look, she got words that cut her to the bone.
"Yo, old man, who's this?" His brows furrowed and she noticed the dark haired boy's eyes on her as well.
She didn't stick around for Igneel's answer. She fled through the front door, eggs forgotten.
Xxx
The fist came down on his faster than he could dodge. Natsu let out a yelp of surprise.
"What the hell, dad?"
Igneel's eye was twitching slightly and was forced to take a deep breath to calm himself. Natsu was rubbing his head, Gray cackling beside him. Natsu shoved him, nearly resulting in another scuffle. One glare from Igneel stopped the battle before it started. Gray scratched at his bare stomach, somehow having lost his shirt.
"So, who was that girl, Ig?" Gray's face blanched for a moment before he spoke again. "Please tell me that's not your girlfriend or something!"
"That's Lucy!" He shouted as if it were obvious.
"Luigi? What kind of name is that?" Natsu scratched his head.
Igneel groaned, wondering just how his child had managed to survive the last 22 years.
"Lucy! Y'know, the little blonde girl you used to play with all the time? The one whose mom died?" When Natsu only stared, Igneel spun around the living room, searching. There was a picture of the two of them around here somewhere. He spotted it on the TV stand and snatched it. Shoving it in Natsu's face, he wondered why he was so worried that Natsu remembered her.
Maybe it was because of the look on her face right before she stormed out. It just didn't sit right with him. Lucy was the daughter he never had and he had been the one to watch over her when her father passed away.
When Natsu had first gone away to school, Igneel had updated him on Lucy every time he had called. Until one day, Natsu asked him to stop.
"I don't want to hear about her anymore, dad!"
He would have thought Natsu was just being cruel if he hadn't heard the pain in his voice. It was for that very same reason that he never worried about Natsu forgetting her. They'd only been friends for roughly six months before Natsu left for school. Even so, Igneel had never seen his son so happy. Lucy was over every day and often cooked them dinner. She fit right in.
He'd been worried about it at first, surely her parents didn't want her over all the time. Even he made Natsu stay home every once in a while, if only to spend time with him. That was before he noticed the car that came to pick up Lucy's father was coming more and more frequently. 'Business trips', Lucy had told him.
When Jude had missed Lucy's birthday for one of these trips, Igneel felt the first twinges of protection for the girl. She'd shown up at their house that afternoon and Natsu had launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her small frame. She'd shrieked and laughed.
"Do you think your dad would wanna have dinner with us, kid?" He'd asked. She had smiled, mentioning that her father wasn't home. He almost didn't catch the way her lips wavered slightly. That was the day that he realized Lucy needed them just as much as they needed her.
Natsu glanced at the photo, Gray peering over his shoulder. He recognized himself instantly. At nineteen he'd been tall and lean. He had his arm slung around the shoulder of a blonde girl with shoulder length hair. Part of it had been pulled into a side ponytail and secured with a red ribbon. Natsu was grinning and the girl was in the middle of a laugh, her finger pointing to something off screen.
"She's cute." Gray commented. Natsu swiftly elbowed him in the side. With an 'oof', Gray hunched over.
Natsu stared at the photo a moment longer before shrugging and handing the photo back to his father. He stretched his arms over his head right as his stomach growled.
"What's for dinner?" He turned his back on his father and headed towards the kitchen.
Xxx
"Levy." Lucy was fighting back tears and she didn't know why. Why did she care if he didn't remember? She had a strict 'no crying over boys' policy, but she'd never loved a boy the way she'd loved Natsu. He'd been clueless of course. But, that had been part of his charm, she supposed.
She wasn't sure when they just stopped trying. It could have been more than a month after he'd left. She'd grown tired of hearing his voicemail, tired of sending messages that got no reply. She knew he had been busy, Igneel had told her as much. But, it only took two seconds to send a message.
It was after that that she guessed she just wasn't that important. They hadn't been friends for very long before he left, but in the short period of time he'd wormed his way into her heart.
She'd told him things no one else knew. Not even Levy. Lucy rubbed a hand down her face.
"Lu-chan? What's wrong?" Levy asked.
"Can, um, can you come over?"
"Sure thing! I get off in an hour."
Lucy didn't know how to describe what she was feeling. Or, her lack of feelings. When Levy showed up, she'd been sitting on her couch, though she didn't actually remember sitting down. Her TV had been on, but staring at it and watching were two different things. Levy had sensed her mood immediately, because that's just how Levy was. Her blue-haired friend had wrapped her tiny arms around Lucy without hesitation.
"Do you wanna talk about it? How are you feeling?"
She felt…blank. But, not. It was as if she was experiencing everything and nothing all at once. How was she supposed to explain that?
"Natsu's back." She said instead. "He doesn't even remember me, Levy."
"Oh, Lu." Levy's face softened. She knew exactly how Lucy had felt about the pink haired boy. Levy and Lucy hadn't met until after he left, but Lucy told her all about him. It was later that she found out that he was Gajeel's cousin.
"What am I supposed to do, Levy? I was fine. I was perfectly okay before he got here and now I feel like I have no control over myself. Part of me wants to go shout at him. Part of me wants to stay here and mope and another part just wants to pretend this never happened."
She hadn't prepared herself for the idea of meeting him again. When it became clear that they weren't talking anymore, Lucy had shoved him from her thoughts. She'd thrown herself into her work, cranking out article after article for Sorcerer Weekly and then afterwards, new chapters for her novel. She avoided anything that reminded her of him. It was like he didn't exist.
But, there had always been some part of her that managed to wiggle itself out of the recesses of her mind. A part of her that wondered if he was okay and if he'd made new friends. A part of her that wondered if he was happy and if he ever thought of her.
Xxx
Natsu could safely say out that he never expected Gray to be the one to confront him. Especially not at 3:30 in the morning after a long round of shooting zombies.
"Why are you pretending, Natsu?"
Natsu nearly dropped his controller. They'd been playing in silence for the past hour, a surprising feat for the two of them.
"What're you talking about?" He rubbed his nose and snatched his controller off the ground, starting a new match. Surely he didn't mean—
"Why are you acting like you don't know that Lucy girl? I've seen you paint her before. Just two weeks ago, actually." Gray spoke, but didn't look at him. He was still focused on the screen. He repeatedly pressed the trigger, unloading bullets into a zombie that happened to be too close.
"Tch. Mind your own business, princess." Natsu said. He fired a single shot, effectively killing a zombie. It took him a moment to notice that Gray had turned towards him, game forgotten.
Gray didn't ask again. He did, however, raise a single brow, his hand digging in his pocket for his phone.
"I could always call Erza…" He threatened.
"She's nobody, okay? It doesn't matter."
"If she didn't matter then I wouldn't be worried about you breaking my damn controller." Gray snatched it out of Natsu's hand. He turned it over, inspecting it for damages. Natsu didn't realize he'd been holding it so tight.
"She's just some girl I was friends with before. We got in a fight before I left for school and I haven't talked to her since then."
Gray whistled. "So, what? Was she your girlfriend, then? What did you guys fight about?"
Natsu huffed out a sigh. Gray had always been a nosey son of a bitch. "She wasn't my girlfriend. We were just friends. She got mad at me because I punched this guy that was her calling names just because her family has money. I knew she didn't like me fighting with people, but I didn't think that would stop her from coming to see me before I left."
"Ouch. That's cold."
Natsu closed his eyes, contemplating on whether he could thoroughly beat the shit out of Gray before his dad woke up.
"I'm aware, thanks. She called a few times after that, but I didn't feel like talking to her. Then she just stopped." Natsu shrugged then restarted the game. They'd been eaten by zombies almost as soon as they'd stopped playing.
"Happy now?" He asked, choosing his gun.
Gray didn't answer.
Xxx
They were sitting on the back porch when Lucy came out to swim. She had a friend with her that Natsu instantly recognized as Gajeel's girlfriend. He hadn't met her yet, but he knew that anyone who could put up with Gajeel's shit was a saint.
They were laughing when they came out and while Levy glanced over at the three of them, Lucy's eyes never strayed their way.
Natsu's eyes were glued to her, though. He watched as she pushed Levy in, laughing when the smaller girl broke the surface glaring.
"Lu-chan! How could you!?"
"Sorry, Levy!" Lucy didn't sound sorry to him, she was clutching her stomach, the sound of her laughter filling the air. With a jolt he realized that he missed the sound of it. Angry with himself for missing her, he tore his gaze away, only to find his father staring him down.
"You don't remember her at all? Seriously?" When Natsu shrugged again, Igneel sighed. It was the look of disappointment that caused his outburst. It pissed him off.
"What does it matter if I remember her? She's been fine without me this entire time! Besides, it only took her a few weeks before she stopped trying to call me or text me, so obviously I wasn't that important to her!"
"Man," It was Gray sighing this time. He shook his head before he patted Natsu on the back and went inside.
Igneel finally understood. Natsu had the same tone from back then. From back when he asked to stop hearing about Lucy. He was hurting, even now. How the hell had the two idiots created such a situation?
"I thought you didn't remember her?"
Natsu opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He'd tripped himself up and his father knew it. Truth was, he remembered Lucy. The sight of her standing in their living room doorway had sent a shockwave through his system and left him with an ache he didn't know what to do with. So, he'd decided he didn't remember her. After all, she'd been the one who stopped calling.
His life had been hectic when he'd first arrived at Fairy Tail's Academy of the Arts. He made friends fast and they'd been distracting at first. Everything had been all about dividing his time between school work and his new friends. It had been overwhelming and each time he missed a call from Lucy, he told himself that he would catch her the next time. They would talk it out and everything would be okay. Until the next time never came.
When his father's reports told him that she was doing well, he wondered if she had moved on from him. If she didn't want to be friends anymore. He'd moped for days, debating on whether to call or not. After sending a text she never replied to, he got angry. If she didn't want to be his friend, then who needed her. It'd been hard at first. Especially since all he seemed to be able to paint for the first few months had been portraits of the blonde.
He would spend hours trying to accurately portray the way the sunlight glinted off her blonde hair and the way she looked when she cried. In the end, all he'd been left with was a reminder of a person who didn't seem to care about him anymore.
He'd destroyed all the paintings only to regret it later.
He'd finally stopped thinking about her around the time he turned twenty. He'd hit a burst of inspiration then, reimagining he and his friends as characters in a different world. Everything had been going well until his cousin Gajeel had shown him a picture of his girlfriend Levy. Lucy had photobombed it and just like that she had worked her way back into his paintings.
His dad was still waiting for answer and Natsu shrugged. There was no way he was just going to spill it all.
"Natsu. Go talk to her for Mavis' sake. She's missed you just as much as you've missed her."
"I haven't—" Igneel was already walking inside, waving over his shoulder.
"Good luck, kid."
xxx
Mr. Dragneel went inside and suddenly it was just Natsu sitting there. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. His hair was free of a hair tie today and it skimmed his jaw, just as messy as it ever was. It didn't look like he'd gotten a haircut the entire time he'd been gone. Lucy sat on the edge of the pool, the cool air making her shiver slightly. Her own hair had been piled atop her head, a vain attempt to keep it from getting tangled in the water.
Levy was floating on her back and as she drifted closer, Lucy kicked her foot, splashing water in her direction. Levy had been the ultimate distraction the past two days, keeping Lucy occupied with everything she could think of. She'd even helped Lucy figure out the next chapter of her novel. Not that she even had the current one written yet. They'd stayed up the previous night watching scary movies and the smaller girl had clung to Lucy's arm, using it to cover her eyes. It was a refreshing break from all her confusing feelings, that was for sure.
Levy cracked one eye open, eyeing Lucy. After all the time she'd spent avoiding the situation, maybe it was time for Lucy to go talk to him. It couldn't get much worse than him not remembering her, right?
"Lucy, maybe you should—"
"Yeah."
Xxx
Still, it wasn't until days later that they spoke again.
Natsu and Gray had gone to a party. It'd been a total dud. They would have had more fun pulling weeds. So, they left, stopping at the store on the way home to pick up a new videogame. He had been pulling in the driveway when he saw her sitting outside, a book in her hand. She seemed to be totally immersed. She didn't even look up when he slammed the car door or when he told Gray that he would meet him inside. Gray shot him a thumbs up, which Natsu assumed meant 'don't fuck it up'.
He'd had days to think on everything. Days to realize that he just wanted to be friends with Lucy again. He wanted to laugh with her and see how excited she got over the smallest things. He wanted to tease her and eat dinner with her and make fun of her for being a weirdo. The whole situation was stupid. He'd kicked himself more than once for not just calling her all those years ago. He just didn't know if she would even want to be friends with him after everything. There was only way to find out, right?
Lucy hadn't gone inside. She was still sitting on her front porch when he walked up, a blanket thrown over her lap. It was getting dark and she'd turned on her porch light.
"Why?" His question startled her and her head shot up. When she realized it was him, her expression changed. She looked almost sad.
"Why what?" She asked, pulling her blanker closer as if he were threatening to steal it. She eyed him wearily when he sat beside her, making the swing rock slightly.
"My dad told me that you missed me, but if you missed me then why'd you stop calling? I waited for you to call for so long, Luce."
He was almost as surprised as she was. That wasn't what he intended to say. Her eyes widened at his use of her nickname and he couldn't remember if they'd always been that brown.
"You never answered, Natsu. Phones work two ways. I-," She paused, almost as if she were thinking about what to say next, "I missed you terribly, but you never answered so I thought I was bothering you. You went to school to become the best that you could be and I didn't want to distract you from that, especially when your dad told me that you were working really hard."
"Plus, we had that fight, so after a while I thought that you hated me. A month passed by and you hadn't called and I thought maybe you had made better friends and for a while I was okay with that, because I wanted you to be happy. Even if it meant leaving me behind." Lucy was rambling, she knew. She felt him tense beside her. She'd imagined telling him this a thousand times but it had never been like this. It had never been so awkward.
"Then one day I got really mad because you were my best friend and I wasn't going to let anyone steal you from me." Natsu chuckled, recalling that Lucy had quite the stubborn streak. His laughter quickly vanished.
"You didn't do anything about it, though."
"I did. I called one last time. It went straight to voicemail. I guess I took that as a sign to give up." She sighed.
"That isn't fair. Jeesh. My phone was probably dead." It almost made him mad, the way she'd thought that anyone else could have been more important than she had been.
Lucy rested her head on the back of the swing and closed her eyes.
"What does it matter, Natsu? That was three years ago. We've both grown up. We've both got our own lives." She stood up to go back inside. "You're going to go back to school and we won't even talk after this."
No. There was no way in hell it was ending this way. They had a chance here. A chance to be friends again and he wasn't going to give it up. Was she crazy? He snatched up her hand, forcing her to stop. With one hand on the doorknob, she looked back at him.
"You really think I'm going to let us mess it up a second time, Luce?" He shook his head. There was no way. Maybe it had been his fault all those years ago. Maybe it had been hers. Maybe it had been the both of them. That didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that Lucy Heartfilia was here in front of his and he wasn't going to lose her again.
"We may not have spoken for a stupid amount of time, but you're still my friend. You still know things about me that no one else does. I've missed you, Lucy and I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm done pretending that I don't care. You're stuck with me now. I'm here for the summer. I've got a year of school left and then I'm moving back home. So, just sick it out, okay? I'll call everyday if I have to. I just want us to be friends again."
Somewhere during his speech, she'd looked away from him. She met his gaze now, hers full of unshed tears. Was he serious? Even after three years, she was sure that he still hated her. But, here he was, holding her hand and demanding that she not give it all up. He looked so determined.
If there was anything she knew, it was that she had never been able to resist that look.
"Okay."
Her smile took his breath away.
When Natsu grinned, she couldn't help but laugh. He trotted down her stairs and waved as he jogged next door.
"We're gonna hang out tomorrow, Luce! There's no going back now!"
And they did.
And when Natsu went back to school, she stood in his drive way with Igneel, waving as he and Gray drove away.
Her phone buzzed as soon as he was out of sight.
Wanna come visit next weekend?