Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail.
AN: Hey, thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! I hope everyone enjoys this one as well :)
Chapter Two
"I'm so dead." Lucy stated, grabbing the fuchsia roots of her hair in frustration. "Dead. Dead! Dead-"
"It's only detention." A small, blue haired girl assured the blonde, the shade of her hair almost perfectly blending in with the rows of lockers behind her. An orange headband, that the girl wore religiously, served as the only means to differentiate the two. "It's really not a big deal."
"But it was so not my fault, Levy, and my dad—Oh, my dad is going to kill me!"
"I need you to calm down, Lu," Levy said, gently removing the blonde's fingers out of her hair, "You're dad isn't going to find out. You'll be home before he even notices. I mean, he works late, right?"
"Er—right." Lucy replied, taking a deep breath, "It's just—that pink haired idiot—he—I—Ugh!"
Levy listened patiently as her best friend stringed together a series of words and noises together in regards to Natsu; although, this didn't bother her, because this had become the norm since Natsu and Lucy's accident this afternoon.
"And why did he want all that fuchsia paint anyways?!"
"Lu, calm down—"
"Is that how he keeps his hair that color?!"
"Stop! It'll be fine. I've had detention before, and I'm alright." Levy stated, and Lucy finally stopped her ranting to look at her friend.
"Yeah, I forgot about that." She said sheepishly, "Sorry."
"Don't be. I'm telling you: you'll be fine. It's definitely not worth freaking out about."
"You're right," Lucy sighed, "It's just frustrating."
"I know, Lu." Levy assured her, sitting behind Lucy to comb out her wet, fuchsia streaked hair, "You just have to get through two hours."
"More like being punished for what I didn't do—hey what was it you got detention for again?" Lucy asked, "Oh yeah, you tried to take on Gajeel—Ow!"
"I- I'm sorry- You still have some paint clumps in your hair." Levy explained, gently restarting the brushing, but she always acted strangely whenever Gajeel was mentioned. Lucy just assumed it was her extreme dislike for the boy; after all, she was always exchanging weird glances with him, and he had a habit of using the small girl as an armrest; in fact, that was the reason Levy ended up in detention. During some passing period months ago, Gajeel decided to rest his arm on the girl's head, and she responded by going berserk. It took three teachers to pry her off of him.
"That whole Gajeel thing. That was nothing-" Levy began.
"Nothing?! He's twice you're size, and you tried to beat him up. You're bad to the bone."
Levy laughed, "Yep, that's right- that is what happened, but it's nothing anymore—it's nothing."
"Okay," Lucy said simply at her friend's erratic behavior, "Well, at least you two can be in the same room now-"
"Yeah, nothing like a couple hours of detention to open the pearly gates of friendship." Levy said, causing both girls to burst out laughing, "Who knows, maybe your detention will open romantic gates-"
"Levy! No. No. No. No. I need you not to go there." Lucy begged. Levy simply giggled as the bell rang.
"I'm just saying it's possible," The blunette chuckled, "Anyways, I can't miss seventh period. Are you sure you don't want to go to class?"
"With this hair? No, thank you." Lucy stated.
"Okay, call me after schoo—uh—detention." Levy said, giving her friend a quick hug before heading out of the locker room. The blonde sighed, dreading the rest of the day to come.
"Alright, I have a date tonight, so I'll be back in two hours. Don't burn down the school." Mr. Clive said offhandedly as if this was perfectly normal and expected behavior. Lucy shook her head in disbelief as he rushed out the door. She supposed that now she could actually work on homework since no one was there to enforce the "no activities during detention rule;" although, was that something that was normally enforced? She wasn't sure as Levy hadn't been very clear on the happenings of her own detention. Either way Lucy pulled out her notebook, supposing she had nothing better to do.
The sound of clicking buttons a few seats away narrowed the blonde's focus onto Natsu, who appeared as carefree as ever, much to her aggravation. At Levy's suggestion, Lucy had avoided the boy during school hours this day; although, she was beginning to doubt the validity of the idea as the sound of his texting slowly drove her to the edge. It didn't help that he was so nonchalant about the whole fiasco, giving her a casual nod as he sat down a few minutes ago; it was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. Of course, it had. The paint stains on their uniforms were proof enough; however, Lucy noted angrily that his hair looked perfectly normal. Her own hair, despite multiple washes, was roughly half fuchsia. The thought of this alone made her clench her fists, and she had to remind herself that attacking him would not help her now blemished academic record. Worst of all, was the new rumor that Natsu and Lucy had been hooking up in that supply room. A rumor, Lucy was pretty sure, that was started by Mr. Clive.
Natsu, at this point, could somehow sense Lucy's glowering, and he turned to find her grasping at the roots of her hair. She seemed to be surrounded by a dark aura, and Natsu noted that she was mumbling under her breath. Classic Looney, he thought, shaking his head and returning his attention to his phone. A sudden series of slamming sounds forced him to turn back to her, and he found her repeatedly slamming her head against the desk.
"Are you okay—Luigi—"
"Lucy!" She exclaimed, jolting up to glare at him, "My name is Lucy!"
"Uh—Right, sorry."
"Don't 'sorry' me! If you're going to get me stuck in detention, you should at least know my name!" She said, "I—It's common courtesy!"
Now, Natsu knew she was crazy or at least strange; however, as the implications of her words set in, he felt a sudden jolt of anger surge through him. "I got you stuck in detention?! It was the other way around!"
"You spilled paint on me!"
"You attacked me!"
"You attacked me back!"
"I was defending myself! What else was I supposed to do?!" He exclaimed. Sometime during this exchange, Natsu and Lucy had left their seats, and they were now standing, inches apart; their eyes were stuck in a glare. A sudden feeling of déjà vu overcame Lucy, and she looked away from the pink haired boy.
"Yeah—well," She huffed, "My uniforms ruined! And I missed most of my classes today! And if my dad finds out—" Lucy clenched her fists; her voice was edging on hysteric. Then, looking to Natsu, the blonde stuck her finger to his chest, "And you! You! You don't even care! And your hair's pink, and it makes me so mad!"
"Why does that make you mad?!"
"Because you can't see the paint in your hair! And I have to live with this!" She exclaimed, grabbing fistfuls of her hair as if she was presenting unquestionable evidence of his guilt.
"That's what you're mad about?"
"No, I'm mad that you didn't listen to me! I told you to leave it alone!"
"I had to get-"
"No, Natsu, we didn't need it for the supplies-"
"Listen, I just needed to get it!" Natsu said; their faces inches away yet again.
"But you didn't, and that's the worst part! This is all your fault, and you keep acting like you were doing the right thing! We didn't need the paint, Natsu—"
"I had to-"
"No! You didn't-"
"It-was-for-Lisanna-so-she-could-see-I-got-it-for-her-and-then-fall-in-love-with-me!" Natsu spilled out, instantly covering his mouth with his hand, a horrified look on his face. Likewise, Lucy looked at him in complete shock. They stayed like that, completely frozen in place for what felt like days.
"Can we pretend that didn't happen?" Natsu asked hesitantly once he remembered how to breathe.
"Oh, my god. You love Lisanna?" The blonde said, ignoring his previous request completely.
"Shut it—someone will hear you." Natsu said, using his hand to cover her mouth. She easily pushed it aside.
"You do! You love Lisanna!"
"Cut it out already!" He turned to her pleadingly, "Don't tell anyone!"
"This is just too much." Lucy chuckled, casually sitting into her desk. Natsu followed her, sitting backwards in the chair directly in front of the blonde so that he faced her. She looked straight at him, "You can't be serious."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing—It's just," Lucy sighed, "Lisanna is beautiful, smart, and a brilliant artist. You, on the other hand—you can't even make it to class on time."
"Hey, I'm on time sometimes."
"Sure, but do you really think Lisanna wants a guy whose main selling point is 'partially punctual.'"
"That's not my main selling point. I'm—cool- and I can—eat-" Natsu stammered, "I-"
"See, that's my point exactly. Honestly, Natsu, I don't think she'd even take you seriously." Lucy had said this offhandedly, but the lack of response instantly prompted her to look over at the pink haired boy who was now facing away from her. It was then that she saw it: the pained expression and this was followed by her own overwhelming feelings of guilt.
Natsu sounded so small when he responded, "Maybe you're right."
"No, I'm not." Lucy said instantly, and Natsu looked up at her in surprise.
"Lucy, don't—"
"Shut it and listen!" Lucy exclaimed, and once she was sure Natsu wouldn't interrupt her again, she continued, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just…" The girl sighed, but suddenly, she smiled at the pink haired boy, "I mean, you have a lot of selling points, Natsu. Like you can climb on counters really well, and what about your impressions—er—impression? I was personally blown away with that."
Natsu genuinely laughed, looking at the girl curiously. He was surprised; for her rich girl reputation, she was hardly the spoiled brat that one would expect. In fact, this was the second time today that she had tried to cheer him up. Likewise, Lucy had to acknowledge that Natsu actually had serious emotions; something that is easy to overlook when he plays the class clown.
"So—uh, you're not going to tell anyone, right?" Natsu asked after a few minutes of silence.
"What?"
"About Lisanna."
Lucy chuckled, "That all depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you admit the whole paint fiasco was your fault!"
"Are you ever going to let that go?!"
"It just happened a few hours ago!"
"Well, I was just trying to do something nice-"
"You were trying to do something for yourself-" And just like that the pair returned to their argument; although, it had lost most of its' hostility at this point.
"I—Oops-" Natsu said; he had attempted to make a point with gestures, and he had somehow knocked over Lucy's notebook. He groaned, bending over to pick it up, "Sorry, I'll get it. As I was saying, I—Wait- What's this? I heart Gray?"
Natsu said this so nonchalantly he might as well have been talking about the color of the drapes. Lucy, however, instantly turned a deep red; her eyes widening in complete horror, and to make matters worse, she was seemingly unable make any use of her limbs.
"You like Gray?" He asked casually, and he suddenly noticed the blushing and stillness of the blonde. With a mischievous smile, he read more inscriptions in Lucy's notebook.
"Mrs. Fullbuster. Gray X Lucy. Gray is awesome." Natsu laughed, and Lucy, whose body finally started to cooperate, pried the notebook out of Natsu's hands, slapping him in the face with it as she did.
"Oh, my god!" Lucy exclaimed. Her voice was muffled as she buried her face deep into the notebook.
"Aw, c'mon, Lucy. It's not that bad." Natsu assured her; although, Lucy's only response was a few more muffled sounds, "Alright, you're into Gray Fullbuster. That is pretty bad. He's— Well, Gray, and you love him…" He said, as if he was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea.
Lucy muffled something that sounded like 'I thought he was your friend.'
"Eh- Well," Natsu sighed, "It's just— Gray's lame!"
Natsu huffed. It's not that he didn't like Gray, because he did; in fact, they were best friends. However, the boys had had a heated rivalry since a young age, and they were fighting, physically or otherwise, more often than not. Gray's habits of randomly stripping out of his clothes and advisement to spicy food didn't do much to help Natsu understand his appeal, especially to the opposite sex.
"Look, he's nice enough," Natsu tried to explain, "But he's such an ice freak—"
Lucy simply made more muffled sounds in response to this.
"And did you know he's a stripper?! Seriously, you're such a weirdo." Natsu exclaimed. Lucy finally pulled her face out of the notebook.
"You're not helping!" She told him, "And I'm not a weirdo!"
"Okay, okay. I'm just saying," Natsu said cautiously, and the blonde glared at him pointedly before burying her face in her hands.
"So what do we do now?" Natsu asked after a few minutes.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, slightly irritated about the whole situation.
"We know each other's secrets. You know, who we like. Shouldn't something happen?"
"Oh, yeah." Lucy said sarcastically, and with a sugary voice she added, "With your help, I can finally make Gray mine. Now all of my dreams can come true."
Natsu narrowed his eyes at the blonde, shaking his head in disapproval at her little act, yet somewhere between this and Lucy exaggeratingly putting her hands over her heart, it clicked.
"Well, why not?" He said simply.
"Why not what?"
"We make Gray yours."
"You have got to be kidding me-"
"Okay, hear me out." Natsu pleaded, "You're good friends with Lisanna, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"And I'm good friends with Gray?"
"Are you asking me?"
"Shh!" Natsu shushed her, and the blonde looked genuinely surprised by this, "I just—I think we can help each other out."
"I'm lost."
"I mean, you can talk about me—to Lisanna- good things. Only good things and you can find out things she likes for me. And I'll talk to Gray about you and stuff too."
"So you're talking a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"Uh—sure. If you mean that I help you, and you help me." Natsu replied, and he gave her a few minutes to let the idea sink in.
"Huh. That actually might be stupid enough to work." Lucy said, dumbfounded, and the more she thought about it the better it sounded. Natsu was Gray's best friend after all, and the last time she actually spoke to the boy was when he borrowed a pencil from her a month ago. What did she really stand to lose from such an arrangement?
Natsu grinned, extending his hand to the blonde, "So you in?"
"What the hell," Lucy said, firmly grabbing his hand, "I'm in."
AN: There you have it. I will post the next chapter as soon as I can!
