Natsu let out a long winded sigh, catching the attention of some neighbouring students. They threw him a few irritated looks his way but at this point in the day, he couldn't find it in himself to care.

The pink haired preteen was well into his first year of junior high and was well aware that it was nothing like he had imagined it would be. For starters, longer class time and more homework were not exactly positives.

Sighing again, Natsu threw his arms back behind his head, effectively giving up on his history work that other students were feverishly finishing before the bell; meh, let it be homework.

Suddenly the classroom door opened. Natsu and the rest of the class, including their teacher, all glanced up in time to see a young blonde girl shuffle in, followed by a teacher Natsu hardly recognized at this point in his junior high career. He hardly remembered his own class schedule let alone all the teacher's names.

"Sorry to interrupt but—" said the teacher who escorted the young blonde.

Natsu almost jumped as his history teacher came alive from behind his desk and jumped up, "Oh yes, okay class, please stop what you're doing for a moment…we have a new student."

The history teacher nodded his thanks and gave the signal to the first teacher who took their leave. Eyeing the girl, he gestured to the class, "Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone?"

Natsu eyed the girl, noticing her almost shy nature immediately. The girl held her binder and new textbook stiffly up against her chest, her bright blonde bangs almost clashing with her meek face. Her eyes stared at the floor before her, pretending the world around her didn't exist. She remained silent until their teacher touched her shoulder gently, shocking the girl into life. That was when Natsu noticed her beautiful big blue eyes when she finally scanned the class.

The pink haired preteen could've sworn her eyes paused on him before she turned to face the rest of the class and opened her mouth. Out came a "Hi, my names Lucy Heartfilia, it's a pleasure," so rehearsed it was almost comical. Then just as soon as she finished speaking it was as if the spell was broken and the sullen expression returned and she was back to staring at the ground before her, gripping even more tightly to her books.

Natsu was, to say the least, intrigued. There had been that small spark of life, a personality, hidden behind those sullen eyes, that Natsu realized he wanted to get to know.

The teacher said the usual 'be friends' comment before sending her off to the only empty desk left in the class: the one immediately in front of Natsu.

He made an effort to catch her attention and smile her way but she decided to not give him the time of day and quickly sat down, "Jessica, do you mind helping her out?"

The teacher had asked the girl to Lucy's right to help her and Natsu felt only slightly offended. The history teacher couldn't possibly know he was a slacker already, right? Nonetheless, upon catching Jessica's eye roll and lack of enthusiasm the boy pounced, "I'll help her!"

Jessica and said teacher looked a bit surprised but didn't care enough to do anything more, allowing Natsu to shimmy his desk forward, right next to Lucy's. He plastered his face with a big smile, genuinely happy for the distraction and a chance to make a new friend, "Hi, I'm Natsu."

She glanced his way, looked him over, then shrugged before saying, "What are we supposed to be doing?"

He wouldn't admit it out loud but her lack of response to his friendliness might've hurt his feelings but Natsu pushed on, always the more stubborn, "Oh uhh…"

She looked almost expectant, waiting for his words of help. Natsu felt his palms sweat, he was panicking. What were they supposed to be doing? "Uh, that's a good question."

And just like that, Lucy sighed and her sullen eyes returned in full force, this time with a tinge of annoyance, "You don't know, do you?"

"Well, I…" Natsu scratched the back of his head.

"You offer to help and have no idea what we're even doing? Good job."

Natsu frowned, "Hey, don't need to be rude about it, I'm just trying to be nice."

"Nice isn't what I need right now, I need to know what I'm supposed to be doing."

"What crawled up your butt and died…?" Natsu mumbled to himself.

"Excuse me?!"

And the next thing Natsu knew, he felt something hard come down onto his head, effectively knocking him to the ground and causing everything to go black.

...

Natsu smiled at the memory as he came to a stop, pulling up against the curb of a typical suburban street. Checking his reflection in the rear view mirror, the pink haired teen hopped out of his car and straightened his jacket.

It had been a nice drive from his town to Lucy's that Saturday afternoon; just long enough for him to go down memory lane and remember when he had first met Lucy. The fiery blonde had sparked his interest with her quiet demeanor and spunky and over the top reactions he received when he pushed her over the edge.

He remembered clear as day, waking up in the nurse's room, Lucy looking worried. She had apologized quickly and left the room as soon as the boy had told her he was alright but it was enough to show Natsu that she hadn't meant to knock him out and felt terribly guilty for her overreaction.

Unfortunately for him, she hadn't stuck around long enough to make his junior high years more enjoyable. If he remembered correctly, she had only attended their school for a few months. He never forgot her but clearly she had forgotten him when he bumped into her in the bustling hallways of hormones and acne, also known as high school, only a few years later.

It had shocked the pink haired boy tremendously, feeling a douse of nostalgia. But when he approached Lucy casually, saying hi and ask how she had been, she seemed to have completely lost track of him and once again was stuck in her own little world.

It had hurt but Natsu was a pretty forgiving guy and decided to let it go and make amends of this almost tragedy by reintroducing himself. But just as before, her stubbornness had become his worst nightmare and in the end he decided the easiest route to win her friendship would be to wait for an opportunity. Finally, he figured he would use his head instead of pouncing like the hyperactive teen he was. Natsu then spent the rest of his time studying her, watching her, like a total creep.

But it had struck him the number of times he noticed her eyes his way or her attention pointed towards his direction. Natsu found himself smiling thinking of the numerous amount of times he had caught her staring first and all the times they made eye contact.

Natsu adjusted his jacket once more and made his way to the house that, according to the address scribbled on the piece of paper the secretary from school had given him, Lucy now lived in with her father. He made a promise to meet her Saturday and he planned to keep it.

He knew Lucy was probably only interested in seeing him only to find out if he had been telling the truth about meeting once before but Natsu would take what he could get.

The fiery blonde had caught his interest and Natsu was always up for a challenge.

"Natsu?"

He heard his name called and looked up to see said blonde standing inside the front door way. Her voice gave her disbelief away and it made him smile even more, "Hey Luce, ready for our date?"

"Date?" She nearly shrieked, "I don't remember saying anything about a date-"

Natsu chuckled, "Oops, my bad. Just come on out, let's go do something!"

Lucy huffed irritably and disappeared inside the house to grab her coat and purse, calling back to her father and then returned outside, closing the door behind her, "Don't forget your promise."

Natsu smiled knowingly, "What promise?"

"What promise?! What do you mean what-?" She started.

The pink haired teen burst out laughing, interrupting Lucy before her tantrum could continue, "I remember Luce, don't worry, jeeez, you need to calm the shit out man." Honestly, it was almost a crime how easy it was to get this girl wound up.

Lucy bristled, "Only you get me this riled up, everyone else knows to leave well enough alone."

She crossed her arms and entered 'defense mode'. Natsu frowned at that and shook his head, "That's not cool, why would you want to be alone forever? It's more fun when we're together."

Lucy looked almost surprised as she let Natsu open his passenger side car door for her. She continued to scrutinize him as he circled around the front and hopped back in the driver's seat, smile still plastered to his face, "Ready to go on an adventure?"

The blonde's eyes narrowed but she found herself nodding, "Let's just get this over with."

Natsu laughed again, "That's the spirit!"

He started the car without further comment and took off. Glancing sideways at the girl his smile grew when he noticed she was fighting off a tiny smile of her own. Like he had said before: he was always up for a new challenge and she planned to be a big one.


I make no apologies. You all know how terrible I feel for disappearing off the face of the planet. But I'm still in Japan teaching...life's gotten busy and fun and writing/finishing any of my stories has taken a major back burner. But here's the final piece to this little two-shot. :)
It's all finished; I don't plan to write more for this...I feel the open end is good enough for this one. lol
I think next, I plan to tackle Enigma. But that won't be finished anytime soon...I don't plan these things. lol
Hope all if well with you folks! I'm still thrilled I keep getting emails and notifications saying you guys are still following me and my works and liking what I've written so far...I still keep getting reviews too! You guys spoil me. 3