Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness.
~Amos Bronson Alcott
Lucy dragged the young man into the cafe, barely holding him up as he leaned against her. He held his arms at his side and was blinking profusely causing tears to run down his face.
"Levy! I accidentally sprayed this guy with my spray! What do I do!?" Lucy shouted over the people in the cafe. Most heard her and turned to face her and the guy. One of the people in the crowd started busting out laughing.
"Natsu! Did you finally get it for creeping on girls?" Lucy looked in the direction of the voice and saw a very tall man with lots of piercings looking her way. She finally got a good look at the man she was holding and realized he had pink hair. She snapped back up to the pierced man and gave a worried look.
"He snuck up on me and I sprayed him with my pepper spray!" She frantically looked around and saw a half naked guy coming towards her with a glass of milk.
"Flamebrain, look up here." The young man stood directly in front of Natsu and Lucy and when Natsu looked up and attempted to keep his eyes open, he threw the milk right in his face. He dropped from Lucy's grip and wiped at his face.
"Really, ice princess!? I get attacked and then you throw milk in my face!?" Lucy stepped aside feeling the man tense up and moved closer to Levy. Natsu, the young pink haired man, blinked a couple times. "Hey! Now my eyes don't sting as much!"
The obviously annoyed dark haired man rolled his eyes and shoved Natsu. "Duh, idiot. Mira gave it to me so you wouldn't go blind." As if on cue, a beautiful young woman with long white hair approached them.
"Natsu, are you alright?" She waited for Natsu to nod and then turned to Lucy and Levy. "I'm Mira, the manager of this cafe. I'm sorry to bother, but were you the one who sprayed him?"
Lucy stepped forward and fidgeted with her sleeves. "I did. I was hiding from some men and he snuck up behind me and startled me... I didn't mean to."
"Yeah, Lucy would never attack someone on purpose!" Levy defended. Mira smiled and shook her head.
"No, I don't blame her at all! I wanted to just make sure Natsu didn't do anything to provoke it!" She placed a hand around Natsu. "Natsu, please apologize for scaring one of our customers."
Natsu turned to Mira with bloodshot eyes and mouth opened. "Are you serious!? She almost made me go blind! Why should I have to apologize to her!?"
A dark aura appeared around Mira but her smile was sickly sweet. "Natsu, it's best for business. Don't forget, the customer is always right." The entire restaurant sweat dropped as they feared for Natsu's safety. Lucy stepped between them.
"No, it's okay! Really! He doesn't have anything to say sorry for. Please, allow me to apologize to him. Let me buy you breakfast. I'll come back in the morning." Lucy offered. She noticed the look of gratitude from Natsu and a shocked expression from the shirtless man. Mira took hold of Lucy's hand.
"You are very kind. I'm sure Natsu would much rather repay you." She encouraged. Natsu shook his head while still rubbing the milk in his eyes.
"Mira, you're crazy. I don't wanna repay her! I can't see right still!" He yelled throwing a finger pointed Lucy's way.
Guilt stung at Lucy. She hadn't meant to hurt him. She bit her lip and looked to Levy. Levy shrugged her shoulders.
"Hey Natsu, you're making her feel bad, you hothead!" They shirtless man scolded.
"What? Gray, you wouldn't even know how to tell what a girls feels!" Natsu cackled at his own lame comeback. Gray scoffed and pushed up against Natsu.
"Yeah well at least I can tell that blondie feels guilty." Natsu pushed back at him with their foreheads touching. Lighting sparks could be felt as they glared at one another. Natsu finally glanced at Lucy and did notice she looked like a lost kitten. Something tugged at him and he backed off of Gray.
"Man..." he grumbled, "I am sorry for scaring you. I didn't mean to. But if you feel that bad I'll take that offer of yours. But my shift doesn't end till 7. So I pretty much sleep till 5 in the afternoon. Let's make it a dinner, alright?"
Lucy felt relieved. "Yes! Where would you like to go?"
A excited look crossed his features. "Oh yes. I wanna go to that new buffet that opened last week!"
"Okay then! I'll give you my number so you can text me when you wake up." Natsu handed over his phone and when she gave it back he looked at the new contact name.
"Lucy, huh? That doesn't seem right...", he began to type into his phone. When he finished he grinned wickedly and shoved the phone in her face so she could read her new name.
"Mace weirdo!?" She attempted to grab the phone to change it back. Natsu chuckled and held it high enough out of her reach. Lucy huffed and crossed her arms at him. Then suck her phone out. "Two can play that game."
Natsu types his number in along with his name. Lucy swipes her phone back and began to type his new name. Grinning triumphantly, she faced her phone to him.
"Alley Creep!?" He groaned. "What if you get murdered and the cops see that!? They'll think I'm the killer!"
The remaining people surrounding them all laughed at his expense. Lucy noticed he tossed threatening glances to Gray and the pierced man. She saw Mira even giggle behind her hand. For the first time that night, Lucy felt alive. She didn't know anyone around her besides Levy, but for some reason she felt apart of something. Her black cloud didn't feel so heavy and breathing felt a little easier. These complete strangers made her feel safe, and knew that her and Levy would come back again.
"Serves you right for calling her mace weirdo!"
"Natsu wouldn't ever make it in prison!"
"Flamebrain is a creep to everyone around here."
Lucy and Levy smiled at each other. Natsu just rolled his eyes at his coworkers comments.
"Yeah, whatever you bastards." He crossed his arms and turned to Lucy. "I guess I'll see around then later, weirdo."
Lucy felt her cheeks burn as he winked at her with that comment. "I suppose you will, creep." With that, her and Levy turned and left the building. Behind them, Natsu stood watching them till he could no longer see them. Mira came up next to Natsu and smirked.
"She was pretty, huh?" Mira was watching for his reaction, then frowned when nothing happened.
"Huh? I guess I didn't notice." He shrugged. A scoff sounded next to him and he turned to his other side. "What you making that noise for, metalhead?"
The pierced man just turned his nose up. "Of course you wouldn't. That's probably why you've never had a girlfriend. Can't see a beautiful woman when there is one."
"So you agree that the girl was beautiful, Gajeel?" Mira pushed.
"Well, the blonde was okay, but I thought that girl with the blue hair was... more okay." He grunted. He wasn't about to admit he thought that girl was attractive.
Mira looked between the two men and began to advise her plan. She wasn't about to let her boys be single forever. Even if Natsu claimed he was single by 'choice' as he was trying to convince his coworkers.
Lucy collapsed onto her bed reaching for her phone. She wondered how these situations always happened to her, most of them involving Levy. Maybe that's what happens when you make friends. In her old home, living with her father left her lonely. Only her father's servants were her companions and she loved them. She occasionally would write them to make sure they were doing well. She missed them a lot. More than she missed her own father.
"So Lucy, how do you think your date will go?" She buried herself in blankets and rolled over to face Lucy. Lucy did the same and glared at Levy.
She stuck her tongue out. "It's not a date. I maced the guy in the face. I feel bad." Her worded blurred at the end as she let out a large yawn. "But thanks, Levy. I feel less globby I can finally sleep. G'night."
Levy smiled. "Goodnight, Lucy."
Hope you like the second chapter! I tried to introduce more of the characters in this so it wasn't so focused on Lucy this time! Please leave a review and any helpful hints or thoughts! Thank you!