Characters may be OOC, and there is swearing in the story. Note: This is NOT a representation of a real Asylum.
Natsu was drowning in papers. Literally.
"This is the names of everyone in this section of the hospital," Mira chirped, piling a inch thick stack on top on Natsu's arms. "Also the daily routine, lunch- menus, and your schedule."
"My schedule?" Natsu asked, looking at the names of the list. It looked like this.
Natsu Dragneel's Patients
-Gray Fullbuster
-Erza Scarlet
-Gajeel Redfox
-Lucy Heartfilia
"You don't know?" Mirajane asked innocently. "You are a 'Therapist'. All you do is ask them the questions on the paper and write their answers down. You ask more about their opinions on things and write them down. You study their expressions and body movements and write them down. It's simple."
"I thought that this was community service. Y'know, like washing dishes or whatever," Natsu said, biting his lip.
"This is community service. You ended up here because you did something stupid, alright? If you think that this is a punishment, getting to work with all of these kind people, then you better look for another community service that will accept you." Mirajane said, a lace of malice lining her voice. She cleared her throat, softening her expression.
"I-I I'm sorry," she apologized. "There's just been so many people that come here for community service and they just are horrible-, I'm sure you're not like that at all, Natsu. I'm just tired, I promise. Well, breakfast is starting, okay? I heard that there's toast. Better go get them!" Mira scurried away, with the leftover papers in her arms.
Natsu didn't know what to think. Sure, he wasn't expecting to be a therapist, but if all he did was write stuff down, then the job wasn't going to be that hard. (He had terrible handwriting, but what can ya' do?) He studied the list again, his heart jumping slightly at the name at the bottom.
Lucy Heartfilia. The girl yesterday with the friendly smile. She radiated a brightness, a pureness that didn't seem like it belonged in a crazy asylum. He could tell that everyone around her lit up when she approached them, a smile planting right on their faces as she laughed with them. Even that Gray and Erza people, who seemed like they were made of ice, seemed to melt as Lucy sat with them.
He was curious. Curious to see how her personality was like. Curious to see what her expression was like. Curious to see her smile.
A shrill bell rang, almost like one in an elementary school. Natsu could hear shuffling outside his room walls, looking down the sheet infront of him. It was breakfast. With his heart thumping in his chest, Natsu gathered his items, and headed out to the cafeteria to try and sit with that trio he saw yesterday.
A gloop of scrambled eggs was plopped in his bowl, a light steam rolling off the eggs. Mira lied, there was no toast at all, Natsu thought, fuming silently to himself. A dozen of other patients were in the food line, making Natsu delay the line as he angered over toast.
"Get a move on, pinkie," A voice called out to him. Snapping out of his angry toast fest, he looked at the source of the voice.
Isn't that the guy from yesterday? Natsu thought. It was Gray, who was clearly ignoring the dress code. He had no shirt on, and a tray full of this breakfast foods was clutched in his hand. He had an irritated expression, his eyes glaring into Natsu's onyx ones.
"Oi, you probably shouldn't be talking to your therapist like that," Natsu boasted, puffing his chest out. "It seems like you're the first one on the list."
"You're my new therapist?" Gray said in disbelief. He scoffed, suddenly digging into Natsu's bag and pulling out the patient list.
"Me, Gajeel, and Erza...?" He looked over the list, and burst out laughing. "Oh, you won't even last to get to Lucy's turn!"
"What?" Natsu rolled his eyes.
"Please, there's a reason why all 4 of us needed a new therapist," Gray deeply laughed, shoving the paper back into Natsu's bag. He walked away, food in tow, heading over to a table filled with people.
Grunting in frustration, Natsu idiotically followed him. He would have the last word, not some shirtless freak. Sitting down right next to Gray at the new table, he realized he had just sat down with 3 other people, who were all staring at him.
"O-oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Yo Erza, Gajeel, this is our new pink therapist," Gray interrupted him, gesturing to Erza and the mysterious person. Natsu looked at the mentioned "Gajeel". He was muscular, and had long, rough, black messy hair that rolled down his back. His red eyes flicked to Natsu, scanning him over.
"Psh, he won't even last till Erza," Gajeel waved him off. He grinned, shoving scrambled eggs into his mouth, as a petite blue-haired girl sat next to him.
"Don't be rude, Mira said that we were supposed to be gentle to the new guy," she said, swatting Gajeel on the arm. Gajeel pretended to be deeply wounded, even though her slap did sting a little. She turned to Natsu with a friendly smile.
"I'm Levy, and I have another therapist, but I'm glad to meet you," She said. Her blue locks were tied back by for what seemed to be a stray piece of cloth. She was very small, and seemed friendly. Natsu's guard melted away.
"I'm Natsu," he said. The awkward tension seemed to rise, making Natsu nervously eat his scrambled eggs. Gray and Erza seemed to be talking on their own, and Levy was scolding Gajeel for not eating the carrots on the side.
What am I supposed to do now? He thought. Eating his eggs, Natsu didn't even notice a blonde approaching behind him. The rest of the table visibly relaxed, looking behind Natsu. He looked up from his bowl, and then blushed.
"Could you all stop staring at me? I mean, I know I'm kinda handso-"
"Shut up, Lucy's here," Gray annoyingly said, rolling his eyes and pointing above Natsu's head.
A quiet, charmful giggle came from behind him. Slowly turning backwards, his onyx eyes met the warmest brown eyes. Lucy smiled at him, as Natsu's heart lurched forwards.
"Hi," Her melodic voice rang throughout the table. "I'm guessing you are our new therapist?"
Natsu's face felt like he was on fire. His eyes were locked on to hers, and he could feel everybody else's fierce stares in his back. Her stray hairs lightly framed her face, while the rest was tied up into a side ponytail with a white cloth. He slightly nodded, not being able to form words.
Gray and Gajeel howled with laughter, breaking the stare between the two. Tears were forming at their eyes, as they wheezed at them. Levy nudged Gajeel, trying to get him to stop as she was trying not to laugh.
"You should have seen your face!" Gray said, leaning backwards, almost falling out of his chair.
"I've never seen such a lovesick boy!" Gajeel howled, as Levy slapped him harder. She and Erza too, were holding back giggles.
"Shut up you two!" Natsu spat, his blush getting fiercer by the second. Lucy quietly sat down, a small smile dancing across her lips as she ate her breakfast meal.
"Oh my gosh, I've never seen it happen so quick!" Gray still laughed. Erza rolled her eyes at him, sneaking a piece of bacon onto her place as Gray was laughing.
Natsu turned his head away from the obnoxious two, facing Lucy. "Yes, I am your new therapist." He managed to say without stuttering. Suddenly, the bell shrilled again, signaling the end of breakfast.
"Well, time for check-ups, so I guess we'll be seeing you again," Erza stood up, walking away from the table. Gajeel and Levy walked away also, arguing over who drank the most chocolate milk.
"Argh, I'm first," Gray groaned. "I'll see you in the "investigation" room," And with that, he walked out the doors.
Sighing, Natsu looked down and started to get up from the table also.
"Wait," A voice rang from next to him. "What's your name?" Lucy asked him, tugging on his sleeve.
"N-Natsu," he said, cursing himself for stuttering. Lucy smiled at him, and walked away. Natsu shook his head, slapping his face to try and get rid of the blush he had.
I gotta go do my community service now.
Entering the room, Natsu was met with a brown reclining chair and a shirtless boy.
"Would you put a damn shirt on?" Natsu pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No." Gray simply replied, playing with a thread on his chair.
Natsu walked over, and sat across from him. Pulling out the papers from his bag, and a few pencils, Natsu grabbed a clipboard, and put on some old reading glasses.
"Take those glasses off. I know you don't need them and you look stupid," Gray snarkily said, rolling his eyes. A small smile graced his face.
"How would you know that?" Natsu retorted, pouting his lip and crossing his arms.
"Because you're going cross-eyed and the glasses are super dirty,"
"Um.."
"Ask me the damn questions. We don't have much time, alright? And we don't wanna give an incomplete report." Gray said, changing back to his grouchy attitude.
"Fine," Natsu said. He was only trying to lighten the mood between them.
"How are you today?" Natsu read outloud, only to cringe at the formal words. He had his pencil ready in his hand, gripping the clipboard.
"Okay." Gray replied.
"'Okay'", Natsu repeated, writing the word down.
"What made you transfer into this asylum?" He read automatically, then by the sudden change in questions. It went from simple to revealing their backstory that quick? Maybe he shouldn't have asked it.
"My mom was killed by a fucking demon, alright? I saw it with my own eyes. He came in, slaughtered her right in front of me. Wake up the next morning, everyone thinks it me who did it. Why would I murder my own mom? I spent so many years trying to find that damned demon, until my town finally shipped me out to this cahoot." Gray spat.
Taken by surprise, Natsu snapped out of his trance, and scribbled his furious words down. Gulping, he took a peek up to see Gray's expression. He was sitting sitting there, playing with a pen, looking bored. Had he done this so many times that he no longer felt any emotion towards his words? Natsu's expression softened.
"Quit looking at me like that. I hate it."
"Sorry, I just-"
"Save it. I'm already safe enough to be let out of this hospital, but they won't let me out of this place," Gray said, clenching his jaw. "If I got Erza, Lucy and the others, then I won't really mind as much. I would have gone insane by now if it weren't for them." His body demenor relaxed.
"But," He tensed up again. "I know you got a little school boy crush on Lucy, alright? Listen, it happens over and over. Lucy is basically the only pure thing in the hell hole, and you dare to taint it by a bit, Erza and the others, and also me, will fucking tear you apart."
Natsu's mouth gaped open like a fish. He hadn't expected all of those words to come out of Gray's mouth. He stood up straighter, looking more professional.
"Don't worry Gray, I don't even h-have a crush on Lucy," Cursing himself for stuttering once again, "I-I believe your story. And you better get justice alright? I'm on your side.
Gray's eyebrows furrowed together, as he examined Natsu. Wearing a complexed expression, he sat up and walked out the door, right when the timer went off.
The session was over.
To say Natsu was nervous was an understatement. It was more like he was terrified.
They had been sitting there in silence for what seemed to be a century. An intimidating red-head was staring at him, while a rough-looking muscle man was glaring at him. For some reason, both Erza Scarlet and Gajeel Redfox, two of the most scariest people in the asylum, was in a room with a pink-haired man.
"Hi?" Natsu awkwardly said, trying to break the atmosphere. Mentally, he was sweating bullets.
"Unfortunately for you, there was a change of schedule and so Gajeel and I will be together with you in one session." Erza said crisply, crossing her arms and legs to look even more intimidating.
"Don't worry though, little Lucy will be alone in the next session," Gajeel snickered, only to have his ribcage severly bruised by a light nudge of Erza's elbow.
"And so, ask us the questions," Erza said, gesturing at his clipboard.
Natsu was starting to sweat in real life. His eyes quickly darted to his paper, stuttering out the "How are you today's" to both of them. He was really starting to hate Miss Poryuscia and her car.
"Fine," Erza said.
"Hungry," Gajeel grunted.
"What? We just had breakfast. And you had that piece of bacon you stole from Levy's plate." Erza accused him.
"Shut up woman, you think a small bowl of scrambled eggs is going to satisfy me?" Gajeel scoffed, before realizing his deadly mistake. Before he could bow down and beg for forgiveness-
"What did you say to me?" Erza threatened, a dark aura surrounded her, as she glared at Gajeel, as he visibly trembled.
"I-I I'm sorry! Please forgive me, I'm full! I swear! My brain was starved!" Gajeel whimpered, raising his hands to defend himself.
Natsu burst out laughing, pausing from writing. They were so normal , like regular people. Why were they in an asylum? They both seemed like people he would hang out with, playing video games and eating over-cooked pizza. Wiping tears from his eyes, he motioned for them to continue.
Erza sighed. "Damnit Gajeel, we were supposed to be big and scary to drive him off. It was going to be our 6th one!"
"Sorry Erza, but I really was hungry," he mumbled, sitting back onto his seat.
"Whatever, we have only a few minutes left, so let's just get it over with." Erza sat in her seat, crossing her legs. She gestured for Natsu to ask them the question.
"Oh! Um, why are you in this hospital?" Natsu questioned, still giddy from the hilarious scene from earlier. He felt more relaxed than before.
"Write down that I don't wanna answer. Gajeel?" She looked at him, to see if he would reveal his story.
"I got issues, kay? I used to be a part of some gang that used metal stuff to hurt people. Gone all crazy with metal, they started to worship it or some shit like that. I got caught up in it, and ended up here." He explained. "Now I got Levy and the others, I've calmed down. I honestly don't even need to be here."
Natsu listened carefully, writing all of it down with scribbly handwriting. "I didn't even know there were gangs like that. That would explain why you look so rough and tough. Deep down you're probably a softie, right? Especially in front of that girl, what was her name? Levy? Yeah. You two don't actually act bad at all." He rambled, not looking up and realizing the effect of his words.
The timer rang, as Erza and Gajeel wore strange expressions. Not saying a word to Natsu, they muttered to eachother, walking straight out the door.
Natsu looked nervously at his list, waiting for the newcomer to arrive.
Why was he so nervous? It was just a girl. A really pretty one. The last encounter he had with a girl, was the stick one. And it was not pretty. You're making a big deal out of nothing, Natsu thought. Shaking his head, he took out a new sheet of writing paper, and waited. Besides, how much influence can a crazy girl in an asylum have on him?
The door clicked open, and a flash of blond hair stepped into the room.
Natsu's heart was jumping around, as he instantly felt a blush rising to his tanned cheeks.
A lot.
Thank you for reading this story.
-Aviakakes
