A/N: Here's another Nalu fic because I don't have enough on my plate already XD This plot was inspired by the (inner-romantic) author in me while I was lingering around the vending machines on my campus. I always had this low-key, irrational fear of vending machines because I'm probably the most paranoid person I know. Haha!
And if you didn't know 100 Jewels = 1 USD or if you wanna get all technical 1 Jewel = 1 Cent.
Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima (The cover image is also by Mashima-sensei)
Overview: Rated T for slight language. College/Modern!AU. Genre: Romance/Humor and Friendship/Family feels for later chapters. Word count: 4,842.
Summary: Between the Literature and Chemistry buildings on the campus of Magnolia State University, there's a shady tunnel-way known as Vending Alley. That's where he met her. She was only supposed to be the weirdo he in front of the vending machines... huh. Funny how that works. (College!AU)
Pairing(s): Natsu/Lucy, Gray/Juvia, Gajeel/Levy, Jellal/Erza
Vending Machine Love
"A Thank You"
Natsu Dragneel never considered himself a patient person.
It took a lot of pride stomping to admit that fact, but he'd rather come to terms with it than delude himself. He supposes though, that he does have his moments of patience– however far and few in between they may be. But yes, he is not a patient person. He is as hot-headed, as short-tempered, and as fiery as they come, and Gray Fullbuster's currently ice-packed face back in the infirmary could definitely back that up.
Besides, that icy-prick deserved the shiner he gave him. They've known each other for years, even more than he would like to admit, and Natsu would like to believe that he built up a small tolerance for the dark-haired idiot's insults. It also kinda sucks that Freeze-face's remarks managed to up in quality every year that passes. Daresay– some even tested what little patience he already had.
Natsu had even managed to come up with pretty good insults as well. One thing that would never change, though, was Natsu snapping whenever Gray called his obviously salmon-colored hair pink. Sure it would take a bit of prodding now, but it still never failed to set him off. He had grown to deal with it like how he always used to; beating that stripping freak's fugly face to the ground and winning.
That never changes either. Him. Winning. If he wasn't clear enough.
And as much as he would hate to admit it though, that icy bastard caught a good right-hook to his face before he winner could actually be determined and they were broken apart by Erza Scarlet– the monstrous Sophomore that managed to usurp the campus sheriff's position during her Freshman year of college. So whether he liked it or not, he had a pretty gnarly bruise decorating his left cheek.
He just wasn't as much as a pansy as Gray to drag himself—or had a completely psychotic, stalker girlfriend to drag him—to the infirmary and press a frozen bag of who-knows-how-old-it-is peas against his face. Only Mavis knows where the stripping freak's equally freaky girlfriend got that bag of frozen vegetables from.
But anyway, Natsu's lack of patience is why his lifelong rival is currently in the infirmary being doted on by his crazy girlfriend; why he picked himself up, brushed himself off, and dragged himself to the vending machines around the corner; and why he was currently ready to blow a fuse since he watched his whole life roll down the drain.
Literally.
He dropped his last three twenty-five jewel coins down the drain—which was conveniently placed right under where the coin slots hung—and he was starving to death. So maybe trying to buy a snack from a vending machine wouldn't really satisfy his monstrous appetite, but it's enough to hold him off until his last class. Or, at least it would've been enough if his freakin' jewels didn't roll down the drain!
What kind of sadistic bastard would put a damn drain there anyway?
A long, frustrated sigh left his lips as he despairingly dropped his forehead against the viewing glass of the machine. The built-in coolant system, that kept the contents in the snack dispenser fresh, chilled the glass and doubled as a cold-pack for the harsh bruise under the pinkette's eye. Natsu was sure he looked pathetic, but it wasn't like anyone who mattered would see him anyway.
They were either in class learning something or the other, or hanging out in the sun to fend off the chill of the upcoming winter. They wouldn't be lingering around the campus' shadiest alley, which was conveniently full of vending machines, and apparently the best place to put a drain grate in the history of worst drain grate placements.
Really, the salmon-haired student thought irritably, what else could go wrong?
Natsu's stomach grumbled and he blew out another sigh, his hot breath creating a large patch of fog on the glass before it slowly ebbed away. He didn't care. He was too busy mourning for his lost change, and reveling in the instant comfort the chill brought to his face-wound, to even notice the tentative footsteps that stopped behind him.
He did, however, notice a reflection of the figure in the glass and closed his eyes. He sucked in a breath, reluctantly pushing away from the machine and raising his left hand to hit the change return. But before his finger could hit the button of fate to seal his death by hunger, something soft tickled his uninjured cheek. Instinctively, her jerked away from the source.
His dark-olive-green eyes snapped towards the offending object, which– weirdly enough, turned out to be a hundred jewel bill.
"Here," a higher-pitched, and obviously feminine, voice spoke. "Take it."
Natsu turned to the speaker, his salmon-colored eyebrows nearly shooting up to his hairline. He didn't know what surprised him more– that she was giving him money, or that, even with heels, she was still shorter than him. It was slightly comical with the way the top of her head barely cleared his no means was he short generally, but in his group he was always hounded for being the smallest. So it was slightly gratifying when this smaller woman popped out of nowhere.
Surely he didn't know it then, but standing in front of him was none other than Lucy Heartfilia. The 'blond-haired-bombshell' and Mag State's very own Celestial Princess; a title earned by being a prodigy in all things astrology and being extremely proficient in all things Literature. Preferably Novels.
And preferably Fairy Tales.
Hence the name.
But he didn't know all that. All he knew was that she was slightly strange, with her blinking up at him with those large, wide, chocolate-colored eyes; with her pure white teeth nervously dragging her plump, bottom lip inside mouth and nibbling; with her long, blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail, the color a shade off a gold that was as rare as a five-hundred jewel coin; and with her large, pink, over-sized sweater that nearly swallowed her whole.
She was pretty– maybe even beautiful, despite her hair being a mess and her clothes looking a little rumpled. This young woman was the true embodiment of an 'All-Fiorian-Girl' and the subject that fancies a-many. But just as true as he was impatient, Natsu was equally oblivious.
He just wasn't as aware of the latter.
"What?"
The blonde's head tilted slightly at his confused tone and she waved the bill closer to his face. "Take it."
Natsu's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"
"Consider it a 'thank you'," she answered vaguely, continuing to wave the bill in his face. "Or if you don't believe that, then think of it as a 'I-saw-your-hopes-and-dreams-literally-go-down-the-drain-and-this-is-my-one-random-act-of-kindness'."
"Okay, okay! Geez!" Natsu snatched the bill. "Just stop waving your money in my face. It's insulting."
The salmon-haired student ignored the small smile that formed on the blonde's face, and instead looked down at the money in his hand as if it was a completely foreign object. After a moment of speculation, he lifted his olive-gaze and peered at the golden-haired stranger with the slightest bit of suspicion. She only tilted her head back to meet his gaze, her chocolate eyes filled with a patient expectation.
A finely plucked brow lifted after another few seconds of silence, "Well?"
He stared at her for a moment longer and she still held his gaze, neither wavering at the sudden impromptu staring match. Finally, Natsu sighed after a full minute, a slow forming of respect growing his his gut. He glanced once more at the hundred jewel bill before turning back around and shoving the money into the slot with a noncommittal shrug.
Other than the hundred jewel bill that he sunk into the machine earlier, he was basically getting a free meal. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Besides, his day was already starting to suck, what else could go wrong?
With that thought in mind, the salmon-haired student punched in the code for the biggest and spiciest bag of the Fire Dragon's corn-meal based puff chips. As the snack rolled forward, his olive-eyes stared in surprise at the sheer emptiness behind the spicy treat. Natsu suddenly thanked his lucky stars that it was Friday. The suppliers always came around to restock the machines, but only on Saturdays.
And despite the countless vending machines that lined the wall, this machine was the only one that held the snack he always came back for. So as it finally reached the time for the snack to fall, Natsu felt it was safe enough to let a little bit of excitement to slip into his system. When he would finally get to eat his treat, the salmon-haired student knew for a fact that it would be the highlight of his day.
As he let a bit more of his normal exuberance back in, he could already picture himself moaning in content as he devoured the spicy puffs; his fingers stained red, probably from the overload of spice they dusted onto each chip; and the heat from each bite slowly clearing his congested sinuses, an 'allergy' that always comes with irritating cold weather.
Unfortunately, none of those fantasies got to see the light of day, because not even halfway down its descent, the bag suddenly stopped. Natsu's jaw slowly fell as he stared at it, his mind blanking almost instantly at the sight. Out of all the shitty things to happen... the bag was stuck.
Stuck.
Right between the glass and the Celestial Keys' gold-dusted chocolates.
The salmon-haired man slowly turned to look at the golden-haired stranger, desperate to see her unamused expression to snap him back to reality and prove that he wasn't currently experiencing his worst nightmare. Unfortunately, judging by her eyes which were currently wide in surprise and locked onto the stalled bag of puff-chips, his suspicions were nothing if not confirmed.
Slowly, her chocolate-orbs caught his olive ones, and she blinked. Her blonde-eyebrow twitched as she lifted her hand to cover her mouth, her face angling away just as a loud snort escaped her. And despite the desperate frustration he gained upon seeing his last shred of happiness freeze, he couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. Natsu could tell the blonde was way too amused with the situation, but begrudgingly gave her credit for trying to hide it. Even if she wasn't doing a great job at it.
"Sorry," she meekly apologized, her face still turned away from him. Her shoulders shook a little from her suppressed giggles. "I just n-never knew it was p-possible."
Natsu's shoulders deflated, but he managed to keep the smile on his face. "No worries, it's a first for me too."
The blonde's dark-brown-eyes darted his way and he rolled his eyes at the silent laughter he saw in them. It was just a tiny spark deep in her chocolate-orbs, but it was light, airy, and carefree; so unlike what her eyes were like when she offered him her money. It was such a small light, and a normally insignificant thing to notice on every day that ended with a 'y', but he suddenly found himself chuckling along with it.
"I feel like this is partially my fault," the golden-haired stranger admitted guiltily, managing to tone down her giggling enough to speak properly. "I came here to buy something anyway, let's see if I can get it unstuck by dropping another snack on it."
"You could do that," Natsu agreed, but lifted his fist and pressed his knuckles against the clear viewing glass, "or I can just try to hit the glass until it falls down on its own."
"What?!" She cried in outrage, her eyes snapping towards his hand. "No!"
The young woman bounced forward, shocking him when she smacked his fist away. She pushed her way between him and the machine, settling him with a stern glare. One of her small fists perched on the hips hidden by her over-sized sweater while the other lifted, index extended, and waved at him as if she was scolding a toddler.
Which was actually kinda insulting.
"You will be doing nothing of the sort!" she berated. "You might break the glass, and not to mention that it's also against campus rules to shake, hit, or use force against and to the machine."
"You think I'm strong enough to break the glass?" Natsu grinned, a salmon-colored eyebrow raising at her words. It was tempered glass, the same kind of glass that are used for windshields on cars. So the thought he could break it with a couple of hits was a compliment.
The golden-haired stranger rolled her eyes, dropping her arm to her side. "I've seen you fight before and trust me, I wouldn't write off the possibility so soon."
The salmon-haired student merely shrugged, a cheeky grin on his face. He saw her take an exasperated breath before lifting her hand again, but shooed him away instead of waving a finger. Natsu complied easily enough and took a step back, watching as she dug a tan wallet out of her sweater pocket and turned back to the machine. Before he knew it, the blonde sunk three twenty-five jewel coins and another hundred jewel bill into the machine. Not a single movement was wasted as she fluidly punched in a code on the number-pad.
Natsu blinked blankly at the back of her head. She moved as if she did this a million times before, which was weird because he never saw her before and he spent a lot of time here.
"I still vote for hitting the glass," the salmon-haired student mused when a bag of Everlue' Monster Gummies harmlessly fell from two rows up onto the stuck chip bag before uselessly rolling off.
The golden-haired stranger turned to look at him over her shoulder, "Where's the fun in that though?"
For some reason though, the sight of her stalled the rest of his protests. Her chocolate-orbs danced with an innocent, child-like excitement that he knew all too well. A bright grin played on her lips, the expression slightly awkward as if she forgot how to smile in one point of her life and it never fully returned. Natsu's eyebrows furrowed, wondering where in Tartaros that thought came from.
"It's kinda like a game, don't you think?" She went on, unaware of the troubled expression on his face and dug another round of cash out of her wallet. "It's the anticipation that gets you. Like a safer version of Alvarez Roulette."
"Alvarez Roulette?" The salmon-haired student's expression smoothed out as he chuckled, "You mean that 'one-shot-the-barrel' torture test that they used to do in the old Alvarez army to weed out spies?"
"Yeah..." she trailed off, her smile fading as she glanced at him quickly, "but safer."
"Alright, weirdo. Whatever you say," Natsu chuckled, ignoring the sharp look she shot him in favor of squinting past her and into the machine. "Why don't you try the Celestial Zodiac chocolates?"
The golden-haired woman blinked at his sudden change of topic, but decided to humor him. "Logically it wouldn't work," she stated as she pushed her twenty-five jewel coins into its proper slots.
The salmon-haired student tilted his head. "Why not?"
"There isn't much room for the bag to grab enough momentum to push the Fire Dragon chips down," she explained while punching in another code, "besides, the chocolates are pretty light, so the factor of weight wouldn't be enough to loosen it– much less dislodge it. We're better off trying the heavier snacks above it first, like the Southern Wolves' dissolving mints, the Fire Prominence candied tablets, or even the Eisen Lullaby black licorice."
Natsu's expression was still skeptic, but he decided to trust her. He was no physics major, so he didn't even pretend to know how the whole thing worked. Still, he firmly believed the the key-shaped chocolates would be the one to knock the flaming chips down.
Just call it instinct.
Twenty-five minutes and a little under twenty-five-hundred jewels later, the golden-haired stranger sat cross-legged in front of him and held the bag of Fire Dragon puff-chips in her hand with the funniest baffled expression on her face. The ground was freezing, and yet, Natsu still cackled mirthfully at the blonde's look of complete disbelief. Just the sight of her had him cackling all over again.
His hoodie hung loose on her shoulders, blocking the cold December air from hitting her. The black and gold jacket engulfed her even more than her over-sized sweater did. The blonde was crazy enough to wear a pair of shorts and a flimsy spaghetti-strap top in this weather. Then again, her sweater was doing a decent job at keeping her warm.
At least until the weirdo decided to shrug it off and lay it on the floor.
Natsu originally thought she did that so she could sit down—well, she had been complaining that getting the chips dislodged was taking forever and she was getting tired of standing—but imagine his surprise when she smoothed the pink cloth out and sat cross-legged on the ground, and not on the sweater. Instead, she told him that the drop-box was getting too full and then shocked him once again when she started to unload the snacks onto her sweater. She was probably the strangest– if not weirdest, person he knew.
He never met someone quite like her.
And guess what she said to him when he asked her why she didn't just dump the snacks on the ground?
The golden-haired woman had shot him a look of disbelief before she rolled her eyes and answered a firm, "I don't want the snacks to get dirty."
He was sure a feather could have knocked him down right then. After all, all the snacks that came out of the vending machine was packaged; even if she did dump them on the ground, they wouldn't have gotten dirty. He just couldn't understand her logic, which made blanch because it was usually him that confused other people with his logic. Not the other way around.
Eventually he got over his shock and draped his jacket around her shoulders when a particularly chilly breeze slammed its way through Vending Alley. At first she argued against it, but then he countered by saying that he had his muffler and it was a lot warmer than what she had on. After sending him a glare that had lost its glamour when she started to shiver, she reluctantly accepted his hoodie.
But back to the reason why he was laughing.
As fate would have it, he was actually right for once.
They got through the heavier snacks like the Twin Dragon black and white gummies, artificially colored, but multi-flavored; the Lightning Lacrima zap-rocks, little sugar-crystals that popped in your mouth; and the Iron Dragon 'metallic' caramel-brittle that was brushed with—edible—silver dust to give it a more iron-y feel. After those didn't work, they moved onto other snacks like the Blue Script cookies, Titania Delight strawberry cakes, the Sky Dragon chocolate covered malt treats, the Winter Rain gum that was filled with a refreshing mint jelly, and so on.
They were quickly running out of options and the blonde was running out of money.
Even though the golden-haired student thought it was a futile attempt, Natsu somehow managed to convince her to try out the Celestial Keys. He might have been a little ruder than he should've been—especially since she was doing him a favor—but he was getting impatient. Which shocked him enough to apologize because normally he would've blown his fuse by now.
The girl merely brushed his apology off with a shrug and dug some more money from her wallet. Out of pure laziness and skepticism, she merely rose enough on her knees to slip in the money and hit the code. They both watched on bated breath as the last package of key-shaped chocolates slid out of its spot and flopped uselessly onto the lodged package of Fire Dragon puff-chips, but didn't bounce off like the other snacks did.
Now both of their favorite snacks were stuck.
The golden-haired stranger turned to him with a smug retort on her tongue, but was quickly shushed by the delayed clunk of both snacks falling into to drop-box. Natsu watched her chocolate orbs widen in surprise before she slowly reached into the flap and pulled out both packages with a look of complete disbelief on her face.
"S-Stop laughing!" She cried loudly, trying desperately to stop his cackling. "That doesn't mean anything! We probably loosened it with all the other snacks!"
Natsu snickered, "Keep tellin' yourself that and maybe one day you'll believe it."
"Sh-Shut up!"
The salmon-haired student laughed when she pulled the hood of his jacket over her eyes and yanked the drawstrings to hide her red face. In any other situation, he probably would have rudely said something about doing that since it was really hard to get those even on both sides, but he was currently too amused to care. He felt something hit his chest and quickly caught it on instinct, only grinning wider when he saw it was his Fire Dragon puff-chips.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up," the blonde huffed and crossed her arms after she opened the hood. "See if I ever help you again." That last comment sobered him slightly and he felt his head tilt in curiosity. She caught his gaze and rose an eyebrow, "What?"
"Hm," he hummed, tearing his package open and shoving his greedy fingers inside, "I was just wonderin' why you wanted to help me anyway."
"I told you it was because I saw your twenty-five jewel coins roll down the drain," she blinked. Her eyes strayed to the grate a few inches away from her and frowned, "Which is a perfect place to put a drain grate if the architect's sole mission was to ruin the lives of college students everywhere."
Natsu nodded his approval, popping a chip in his mouth. "That's exactly what I was thinking. I lost more coins down there than I could count."
"Same here," she agreed dryly, then her gaze turned thoughtful. "It's right under the vending machine with the best snacks too. Maybe there's some kind of conspiracy behind it."
"You think so?" he snorted in amusement. "Maybe someone comes by every weekend to unscrew the grate and collects the coins."
"I wouldn't put it past them," the blonde smirked. "After all, last year a friend of mine found a stash of 'confiscated' adult magazines and a bunch of empty booze bottles in that Sociology professor's desk."
"Gildarts?" Natsu asked in surprise and nearly choked on his puff-chips when the golden-haired student nodded. "That dirty old-man..." The salmon-haired student eyed the snickering woman in front of him and he grinned, "Stop distractin' me! Tell me the really reason why you helped!"
The blonde stopped laughing long enough to blink at him, "but I did!"
"And I don't believe that," he countered, placing his bag of spicy chips down and leaning forward on his hands. "I admit, you are a weirdo–"
"Hey!"
"–but not weird enough to spend nearly three-thousand jewels just because I lost three twenty-five jewel coins." He eyed silently and she fidgeted under his olive-colored gaze. "Spill."
"It's nothing really." The golden-haired student sighed at his blank stare and seemed to contemplated her answer before speaking again. "You just helped me out earlier," she muttered, absentmindedly evening out the drawstrings on his hoodie, "and I wanted to repay you, that's it."
Natsu's expression turned confused, "I helped you?"
"Yeah," she grumbled, releasing the strings when she was satisfied. "You and that guy you were fighting earlier today saved me from another date invitation from that creep, Bora. To be honest, I originally wanted to thank that dark-haired guy since I thought you were... kinda scary."
His eyes widened and his chest constricted uncomfortably, "...me?"
"Well, yeah– but don't get me wrong!" she was quick to defend, probably noticing the hurt look on his face. "I don't think that now. You're much less scary than the blue-haired woman that glared at me when I tried to follow them. It was just– at that moment, when you were winning, it was..." the golden-haired student sighed, feeling like she was digger herself a deeper grave. "Sorry. I just don't like fighting."
"Oh," he mumbled. After a moment, he shrugged off the slight depression the blonde's words brought him and grinned widely. "Even you admit that I was winning though! I knew that Pervy-Popsicle barely stood a chance!"
"But he got you back pretty harshly," the golden-haired stranger grimaced and gestured to his face. "Does it hurt?"
"Eh," Natsu shrugged, lifting his hand to his cheek and holding back a wince when he prodded it. "It did at first, but this is nothin'. Usually I'd come out a lot worse once the red-haired monster gets involved."
She tilted her head, "Red-haired... you mean Erza? But she's not a monster."
The salmon-haired student shivered fearfully at the name and busied his hands by shoving back into the chip bag. He wouldn't say anything else. He didn't trust his voice not to crack and make him seem even more pathetic, so he stayed silent and just shook his head at the blonde. There was a contemplative silence as she tilted her head up and regarded him though squinted eyes.
"I doubt she would appreciate being called a monster," the blonde went on as she slowly stood. Her chocolate-orbs locked on his questioning olive-gaze and she smiled. "Hold on a bit, will you? I'm just going to buy something cold real quick."
Natsu narrowed his eyes at that, his mouth too full with deliciously spicy chips to vocally call her a weirdo. His face must have said it all because she rolled her eyes and walked over towards one of the ice-cream vending machines. If he thought that her sweater was ridiculously over-sized on her, his hoodie practically swallowed her whole and he couldn't stop the snort of amusement from escaping him. As if knowing where his thoughts went, the golden-haired student turned around, tugged at the drawstrings of the hood, and playfully stuck her tongue out at him.
The salmon-haired man just laughed from his spot on the floor, covering up the loud clunk as whatever she bought dropped into the cubby.
"Why'd you wanna buy an ice-cream anyway?" Natsu asked when she made her way back to him. "It's freakin' cold already, weirdo."
The golden-haired woman rolled her eyes and dropped to her knees at his side, "It's not for me, jerk; it's for you."
"Wha–"
His question immediately died in his throat when she pressed the cool package against his cheek. Purely out of instinct, he flinched—more from disgust than from pain—away from the frozen treat. A whine bubbled up in his throat as she easily followed his face and pressed the package against his cheek again. She moved her hand to hide her smile, but Natsu could tell she was laughing at him just by that tiny, familiar spark in her eyes.
"Don't be such a baby," she said once she moved her hand, her lips smoothed down into a stern line. "The cold air might have slowed the process, but if you want to see out of your left eye tomorrow, keep still."
"Nooo," he whimpered. He tried to move away, but she quickly took hold of his shoulder and pursed her lips to stop another smile. "I don't like cold stuff!"
"Stop that," she chided when he pouted at her, "it's going to help with the swelling. The cold isn't that bad, is it?"
"It is!" He argued, reluctantly letting her move his hand so he could hold the frozen treat himself. "And it's the stripper's favorite ice-cream too!"
The woman blinked at him before she snickered, "You're not really that petty, are you?"
He was about to open his mouth to protest, but the hourly bell rang in the quiet corridor and panic flashed over the golden-haired student's face. If it wasn't for the scrambling she did to stand, Natsu wouldn't have believed the curse he heard slip out of her mouth. She did, however, flash him an apologetic glance before she swiped her wallet from the ground and snagged four snacks from the pile. She told him he could have the rest, eat it, give it away, or whatever, before she practically fled from the alley.
That's where his scrambled brain decided to catch up and remind him of four very important things. One, he never once considered to ask the golden-haired weirdo her name; two, she left her sweater under the pile of snacks from the vending machine; three, with the weirdo gone, he didn't need to hold the ice-cream to his cheek, but did it anyway; and four, she was still wearing his favorite jacket.
And he didn't know if he'd ever get it back.