a.n.: hey everyone! I want to give a shout out to those of you that reviewed the first chapter ;) So… A special thank you to thatonenalushipper, Invisibility, thao, Guest, EchizenRyoma, Lady Anime Cat, and epicman1013.
Don't Know Nothing 'Bout Love
Chapter 2
What's the problem? I don't know…
He was getting used to this community service thing more and more as the weeks passed.
It was around his third week there that he didn't even complain to his friends about having to go. He enjoyed going, actually. Weirdly enough, he looked forward to going back. He couldn't wait for the weekends. He wanted to see the kids, he wanted to see Mira and Levy, but there was one person in particular that he looked forward to see the most. Her smile, her weird faces, her laugh, everything about her, made him feel something he had never felt around any other girl. What was wrong with him? He didn't know…
Ignoring it would be best, so he did. He was sure it was nothing special. He just really liked Lucy… As a friend! Just a friend…
He suddenly felt like he needed to be clear about those feelings with himself and Lucy. So he walked up to her one Saturday afternoon as she was helping a little girl color in her coloring book.
Lucy had smiled at him as he approached them. And then there was that weird feeling in his stomach again. Ignore it, ignore it. Damn it, Natsu! He shook his head and grinned back at her.
"I need to tell you something." Lucy raised an eyebrow and then nodded, standing up and leaving the little girl to finish the task by herself.
"What's up, Natsu?" she suddenly asked. She looked curiously up at him, making him struggle to get his words out.
"We're friends, right?" He looked straight into her chocolate colored eyes and saw as they widened at first but then she smiled at him.
"Of course we're friends." She giggled and shook her head. "But if I wasn't clear enough before," she started as she extended her hand towards him, "Let's be friends, Natsu."
His heart was suddenly thumping so hard in his chest that he feared taking her hand, thinking she would be able to feel his loud heartbeats. But he still took her warm, soft, small hand in his. He smiled back at her and nodded.
"Bestfriends." He suddenly blurted out and he wanted to run to the bathroom and smack himself at his stupidity.
Lucy giggled again. "Of course." She smiled warmly at him again, and he was suddenly wishing for this moment to never end.
Until some kid ruined his moment with Lucy. "They like each other." One purred and the others giggled. Lucy blushed, almost immediately taking her hand away from Natsu's. Natsu pouted at that. And then he glared at the kids.
"It's not like that!" Lucy looked extremely flustered and it made Natsu question if maybe she too felt something weird when she was around him.
And then something that he hadn't questioned before, popped in his head. Did she have someone she liked? Did she have a boyfriend? His hands unconsciously tightened by his sides.
"Natsu-san?" Natsu looked down to see Wendy looking up at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you alright?" She looked down at his hands and Natsu's eyes widened in realization, untightening his hands and shoving them onto his jeans' pockets.
"Yeah!" He tried grinning, but it had instead turned into a frown.
"You've been acting weirder than usual lately." Chelia suddenly chimed in, walking passed them with a box of legos, children chanting behind her to let them play with them.
Natsu glared at her, and she grinned. "Could it be that…" her eyes searched the room until they fell on Lucy and her grinned widened. "Oooh, I know what this is about." She chuckled and shook her head. "If you want to know anything about her you could just ask her." She shrugged. "Or if you're too shy…" she wiggled her eyebrows and laughed when he groaned. "You could just ask Levy-san, she's Lucy-san's best friend."
Natsu turned to the computer desk, where the small, blue haired girl sat at and debated whether to do as Chelia said or not. He was just a little curious, not big deal… But would he sound weird asking about such personal things? Chelia already seemed to think he liked Lucy… But… Did he?
Wendy seemed confused as she watched Chelia and Natsu. "What's going on?" She suddenly asked and Chelia grinned, hooking her arm with her best friend's.
"I'll tell you later." She then turned to Natsu and winked. "Good luck, lover boy."
Natsu groaned again, and stalked off to Levy's desk.
The short girl immediately looked up as he approached her. "Is something wrong, Natsu?"
Natsu sighed. "Actually…" He looked down. "I don't even know."
Levy seemed confused, but she gave him a small smile. "Can I help you in anything?"
He thought of asking her, but he shook the idea away. No. He and Lucy were only friends. That was it. He shouldn't care if she liked someone else or had a boyfriend. That was none of his business. But the knot in his stomach told him otherwise.
So instead of asking her what Chelia had suggested, he asked, "Can I go home early? I don't feel too good."
Levy frowned and then gave him a small smile, "Of course." She patted his arm. "If you still don't feel better by tomorrow, you don't have to come, alright? And don't worry about Erza, I'll tell her you weren't feeling well." She winked and he nodded, thanking her as he took off his name tag and started making his way out the door.
The cold air felt nice outside. He fixed his scarf and sighed as he began making his way down the street, texting Wendy that he had left early.
"Natsu!" His eyes widened at the sound of that voice. Could it be… He turned to see a flushed Lucy running after him. His mouth dropped open, not knowing what to say. And not knowing what she was doing running after him… What the hell was he getting excited for?! What was this feeling?
She stopped just a few steps in front of him. "Levy-chan told me you weren't feeling well." She looked down. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Her cheeks darkened, and Natsu's own cheeks started to feel warm. She was looking down as she mumbled, "I know there isn't much I can do, and I don't even know why I ran out after you." She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "I guess I am a weirdo, huh?"
Natsu grinned at that. He walked up to her and moved his hand towards her, wanting to pat her head all of a sudden, but stopped himself and instead shoved his hand in his jeans' pocket. "Yeah…" He mumbled, trying to hide his red cheeks behind his scarf.
Lucy smiled. "I hope you feel better soon." She told him and he nodded.
"Yeah," he looked up at the cloudy sky. "I hope so too."
And with that, Lucy walked back inside the building, waving goodbye at him as she closed the door after her.
He wasn't sick, he knew that much. So why was he feeling so damn weird?!
"So you like her?" Gray asked him after he told them about Lucy and the weird feelings he was getting around her.
"I don't." Natsu mumbled, crossing his arms in front of him. They were sitting outside on the school's rooftop, their usual hangout place during lunch break.
"Don't deny it, idiot. It's pretty fucking obvious that you like this Lucy girl." Gajeel shook his head as he took another bite of his sandwich.
"Who knew Natsu would ever fall for a girl." Loke Celeste suddenly chimed in, the two girls he had brought over for lunch giggled. Natsu glared at him.
"Natsu is finally a man!" Elfman Strauss declared, making Gray choke on his drink as he started laughing.
"I've always been a man, you damn idiot!" Natsu glared daggers at the weird, manly guy.
"I kinda want to meet this girl." Gray suddenly started, making Natsu raise an eyebrow.
"Why?"
Gray shrugged. "I mean, it sounds like she may also be a little interested in you. So, I mean, she couldn't be as good looking as you described her if she set her eyes on you."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, you damn stripper!?" Natsu grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, his fist just inches away from his face. But before he could get his frustration out on his friend, Gajeel pulled him away from Gray.
"Calm down, Dragneel. All he's saying is that you're too ugly for the girl you just described."
Loke bursted out laughing and the girls beside him giggled, but stopped themselves when Natsu glared in their direction.
"I told you this so you guys could help me! And you're doing everything but that!" Natsu sat down with his arms crossed and huffed loudly at his idiot friends. They were no help!
And it had to be the biggest idiot of them all to say first, "If you're a man, you'll just tell her how you feel!"
Natsu glared at Elfman and gave him the middle finger. "I'm done with your man crap! I don't even know what I feel for her, alright! So I can't tell her anything."
Gray sighed. "I think you like her." He stated. Natsu raised an eyebrow and Gray shrugged. "I mean, I've never really liked a girl. Like really liked her. I like going out with them and all, but I've never felt weird around any of them like you feel around this girl. So there isn't much I can help you with." He crossed his arms behind his head as he laid down and watched the cloudy sky. "But if you've never felt anything like this for another girl, than that may mean that you like her, right?"
Natsu thought about it for a while and then sighed. "I dunno." He hid his small smile behind his scarf as he mumbled. "Maybe."
"I think you should get to know her better. It took me a lot longer than three weeks to realize I liked Levy. And it was months later that I finally confessed to her." Gajeel shrugged.
Natsu's eyes widened in realization. "Levy?" he questioned and then he stood up. "Levy's your girlfriend?!"
Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "Uh… yeah." He then rolled his eyes. "I've told you this before…" But then he stopped himself and asked. "You know her?"
"Yeah!" Natsu grinned. "She also volunteers at the daycare center! She's a short, blue haired girl, right?"
Loke grinned. "Talk about complete opposites. You said she was a bookworm too, huh? How did you two even fall for each other?"
Gajeel glared down at the womanizer. "Shut your trap, playboy."
He then turned back to Natsu. "Yeah, that's Levy." He scratched the back of his neck. "She told me she volunteered at some place during the weekends but I forgot exactly where."
"It's not manly to not remember the things your woman tells you!" Elfman announced and Gajeel closed his eyes while mumbling, "Can I just push him off the damn rooftop?"
Gray caught his words and clutched his stomach as he started laughing. "Mira would kill you." He said between laughs. Gajeel grumbled at that.
"Damn demon woman." He then turned to Natsu. "About this Lucy girl, just confess how you feel, alright? It's that or just get to know her better… Whatever. I'm no good at giving advice, so you might as well disregard all my words." He rolled his eyes and sat back down beside a still laughing Gray.
"You all suck at advice." Natsu mumbled, feeling just as confused as before he told them, if not more.
"Why are you guys here?!" Natsu whined the next Saturday when Gray, Gajeel, and Loke showed up at the daycare center.
"We're volunteering here, pointy eyes."
"I'm here to see my girlfriend, idiot."
"I heard there's a lot of pretty girls volunteering here."
Natsu glared at them, knowing that they were really here to see who Lucy was. "Get out, get out, get out!"
He tried pushing them out but stopped when someone yelled, "Gajeel?!"
Levy ran passed Natsu and went to hug her tall, scary looking boyfriend. Gajeel blushed and both Gray and Loke snickered behind the two love birds.
"What are you doing here?" She looked up at Gajeel with pink cheeks, her brown eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"I wanted to see the girl this idiot likes." Gajeel lied, not wanting to say that he really came to see her, as he instead pointed at his pink haired, idiotic friend who was now glaring at him.
"Damn it, you fucker." Natsu cursed as Levy turned to him.
"Who do you like?" she questioned, but it only took her a few seconds before realization hit her. "Oh my God! You like Lu-chan?!"
Natsu's eyes widened and he moved to cover her mouth, only to get harshly pushed off by Gajeel as soon as his hand fell on Levy's mouth.
Natsu glared at him. "Make her keep quiet! Someone could hear!" He quickly looked around the room, making sure no one heard. But the room was quite full today, and he thanked his luck for that. There was enough noise for anyone to hear Levy's soft voice, and Lucy was not even in the room yet.
Levy giggled. "How did it even happen? I mean, Lu-chan told me you asked her to be best friends. I would have never guessed you liked her."
"You asked her what?" Gray asked, shaking his head as he rolled his eyes at his dumb friend. "You really are an idiot."
"I don't like her!" Natsu tried to deny, but they all raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing one word he said. "Alright," he hid his face behind his scarf as he said, "maybe just a little."
And that was all it took for Levy to start squealing. "Shut up!" Natsu began saying but stopped when Gajeel glared over at him.
"What's going on here?" Someone suddenly asked from behind Gray and Loke, and Natsu knew that voice all too well. It was her voice. The same voice that kept appearing in all his dreams.
They all turned around to find the blonde girl, that looked very confused, but to Natsu, she looked prettier than ever when she looked confused. God, what was wrong with him?!
"Oh, hi Lu-chan." Levy smiled and both Gray and Loke, who had been blushing at the view of such a pretty girl, turned to each other as they asked, "This is Lucy?"
Natsu blushed when Lucy nodded, "Yes, I'm Lucy. And who are you?"
Both Gray and Loke almost yelled at the same time.
"Gray!"
"Loke!"
Then they glared at each other. But it was Loke who made the first move.
He walked towards Lucy and took hold of her hand as he asked her, "Would you like to go out on a date with me, princess."
Lucy blushed. "Princess?" she asked, pulling her hand away from Loke's when he tried kissing it.
Natsu had already made his way towards them and pushed Loke away when he tried moving towards Lucy again.
"Piss off, Loke." Lucy's eyes widened when she looked up at the pissed off Natsu, her heart beats going wild and her cheeks flushing. Maybe it also had to do with how Natsu was holding tightly onto her hand now. He realized that after a while and blushed a dark red and mumbled an apology as he let go of her hand.
Levy giggled awkwardly and then pushed forward passed Loke and Gray and pulled Gajeel with her. "This is Gajeel, Lu-chan!" She suddenly announced.
Gajeel glared down at his girlfriend but she only grinned up at him. Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" She looked at Gajeel and then at Levy, most likely thinking what they all had, that hey were the total opposites. But instead of what the guys thought, she thought they made a cute couple. She smiled warmly at Levy, and yes, Natsu's heart skipped a beat, as cheesy as that may sound.
"I'm happy for you, Levy-chan." She then turned to Gajeel and said, "It's nice to finally meet you. Levy-chan doesn't shut up about you, like ever." She grinned when Levy whined, "Lu-chan!"
She giggled and shrugged. "Sorry Levy-chan, the words just slipped out of my mouth." She winked and Levy stuck her tongue out at her best friend.
Lucy then turned to Gray and Loke and then back at Gajeel, "Are you guys here to volunteer?"
Gajeel shook his head and Levy tried convincing him to stay. Both Gray and Loke nodded and Natsu glared at them.
Lucy nodded and told them to sign some papers with Levy, who was still arguing with Gajeel about him staying. She looked up at Natsu and smiled before she walked off to a group of very excited children.
"She's so out of your league." Loke stated and Gray smacked him behind the head.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Loke whined but Gray instead turned towards Natsu.
"I think she may like you. So don't worry too much about how you're feeling. Just let things flow by themselves. You'll know when to take the next step." Natsu's eyes widened and then he grinned.
"Thanks."
Gray chuckled. "So what the hell are we supposed to do now?"
"First of all, don't use profanity." Mira suddenly appeared in front of them, a scowl on her face as she looked at Gray. "We do not want the children repeating that language, Gray."
Gray gulped. "Yes, ma'am!"
Mira smiled sweetly at him. "Alright! Your first task will be to help me clean up the mess in the bathroom."
"What?! I didn't sign up for this!"
"This will teach you not to use that kind of language."
Natsu and Loke sweat dropped as they watched Mira drag Gray away.
"God, she truly is a demon disguised as an angel." Loke chuckled.
"Who's a demon?" They both shivered when they heard the voice of a certain red head. They slowly turned to find their guidance counselor, Erza Scarlet, with arms crossed in front of her.
"No one!" They both exclaimed at the same time.
Erza eyed them for a few seconds before she sighed. "You fools better be in your best behavior around here."
They nodded, almost on cue. Erza nodded as well and walked off to her room.
Natsu sighed. He then turned to Loke and mumbled, "I know Lucy is out of my league, alright?" Loke's eyes widened, completely taken by surprise at Natsu's uncharacteristic seriousness. "But…"
His eyes landed on the blonde girl that was sliding down the bouncer's slide with a little girl on her lap. They both giggled as they made it down the slide and the little girl persisted to do it again, a line of other children whining that it was their turn to go on the slide with Lucy. His cheeks warmed when she told the little girl she would go with her in a little bit, and then smiled warmly at her and patted her head, making the little girl nod enthusiastically. Lucy then grabbed the small hand of a little boy that was next in line. As if feeling that someone was watching her, Lucy turned around and caught Natsu's onyx eyes. Her eyes widened at first but then she giggled and waved at him. Natsu knew he must have been blushing a deep red because he heard Loke chuckle as he looked down.
"But…" Natsu continued as he looked back up at the blonde, who was already making her way down the slide again. "She made me like her." He chuckled, knowing that sounded kinda weird, but it was the truth. She was a weirdo, she was childish, she was kind, she had a mother like aura, she was responsible, she was everything he wasn't, and she was the most beautiful girl he had ever met, inside and out. She was Lucy. And he liked her.
"I like her." He suddenly whispered, a little surprised by his own words and then he busted out laughing as he repeated, "I like her."
Loke chuckled beside him. "God, now we have two lovestruck fools in our group."
Was he love struck? No. Maybe? A little? A lot? He wasn't sure. He only knew he liked Lucy.
So… then he was lovestruck?
"I guess I am."
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Again thank you so much to those who took the time to review the first chapter. It really means a lot to me since this is my first time attempting to write a NaLu fanfic and I'm never confident about the outcomes of the chapters… so hopefully this chapter turned out good. Also a huge thank you to everyone that followed and favorited this story :)
Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima :)
Song: Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows
Blue
