I haven't done the Natsu POV yet, but I thought this would be okay for now :)
Surprisingly, it was neither the blaring alarm of her phone nor the blinding light of the morning sun that drew Lucy from her slumber. Instead, it was a gruff groan into the back of her neck accompanied by a tanned arm stretching over her shoulder in search of the offending noise.
The screech that left her lips as she whipped up stabbed sharp through her pounding head causing her to almost miss the dull thud her bed partner made as he toppled onto the floor. The pink hair man, who if Lucy's memory was serving her right was named Natsu, was now grumbling on the floor fighting with a mess of blankets as she tried her best to compose her self.
Her fragmented memory was slowly coming back to her, from the shots at Cana's to the fast food detour long after midnight, and how according to the nausea in her stomach her snack had failed her. Lucy resisted the urge to curl over and groan, there's were too many other things to do, such as handle the very attractive man who had finally disentangled himself.
Very attractive, and very shirtless man.
"Turn off that godforsaken noise already." Natsu groaned from the floor, voice muffled as he held his head in his hands, the early morning obviously not doing him any favours.
His voice pulled her out of the staring contest she was having with his toned chest, and she tried to stifle the burning red blush on her face as she crawled across the bed to find her phone. She would have sighed in relief when she finally silenced the alarm had Natsu not already beat her to it, dropping back to the floor in the silence.
Lucy was prepared to lie back down too and relish in the silence, but it would seem her stomach had other plans, clearly disagreeing with her sudden movements.
"Washroom." Was the only word she trusted herself to say, her hand already moving up to cover her mouth and trying to maneuver her feet towards the floor without collapsing on top of Natsu.
"Second door on the right." Was the response she got before booking it for the bedroom door, nearly tripping on her discarded coat, sliding down the hall and throwing herself into the empty washroom. Arms firmly grasping the porcelain throne, kneeling on cold tile, Lucy managed to retch up anything that had stayed in her stomach. The hangover regret was burning in the back of her throat and in the throbbing of her head, she wanted nothing more than a warm bed and a handful of advil, but she wasn't going anywhere in this state.
She wasn't sure how long she spent hacking into the toilet, but it was long enough for Natsu to have made his way into the washroom and peel her hair back into a very messy bun, his hand rubbing warm circles on her back. Between coughs she wondered how he got so good at this.
His hand left her back and she missed the warm contact that was stopping her world from spinning, but he brought her a full glass of water that she barely got out a 'thank you' for before downing the entire thing. She could have sworn she heard him chuckle from somewhere behind her, but she refused to move from the toilet just yet. The large hand returned to its previous ministrations and Lucy let her head drop onto the edge of the seat, something akin to regret and embarrassment coursing through her being. Shortly after, Natsu stood up muttering something about coffee, and left Lucy to gather her thoughts in the toilet.
What a disaster of a night. She sighed into her arms, regretting ever joining Levy at that party, but mostly regretting letting Cana pour her drinks. On a Thursday night none the less, Cana always knew how to throw a party. It wasn't all bad though, she supposes, she did get to meet an interesting pair at a late night food joint. One of them was even nice enough to take her home and treat her to coffee in the morning.
Wait. Thursday night. Meaning it was Friday. The same Friday morning she had an essay to hand in. The same essay that was worth a quarter of her mark. The same Friday she had set an exceptionally early alarm just so she wouldn't miss class.
Shit.
Lucy scrambled to the room she had spent the night in, now assuming it was Natsu's bedroom, and snatched her coat off the floor before racing in the direction she assumed was his kitchen. Nearly running into the other, Lucy had to back pedal a few steps to avoid getting scorching liquid all over herself, Natsu's surprised smile wreaking some havoc on her but it wasn't the time.
"School - Alarm - Essay - Have to go." Lucy stuttered out, certain her face was as flushed as she felt, nerves standing on end as she watched the smile slowly slip from his face. "Sorry."
"No worries." Natsu seemed to brace himself with a new tight smile as he put the steaming mugs down, and walked towards the front door, opening a closet and pulling out a pair of muddied shoes that looked a lot like the new shoes she had worn out last night.
"Thank you so much, for everything, I promise I'll make it up to you somehow." Lucy rushed, strapping her now destroyed shoes on and grimacing only slightly at the still damp dirt inside.
"I look forward to it." Natsu smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, looking more like he was contemplating something.
Having finally gotten everything together, Lucy tested her balance in heels before reaching for the door handle. Just before she opened the door she was struck by a thought.
"Do you always work night shifts?" She turned and asked, watching Natsu's eyes snap up to hers from where they were locked on the floor.
"Umm, during the week yeah, but I work mornings Sunday." He answered, quizzically looking at her, probably as confused as she was by the sudden question.
"I'll see you soon then." She throws over her shoulder before bolting out the door, leaving the flirtatious smile for him to interpret as she ran down the street, hoping the cold air would brush away the heat in her cheeks.
"So what you're telling me is that all of this," Lucy gestures exasperatedly at the air around her, "Is all your fault?"
Cana just smirked at Lucy before leaning on the small classroom desks towards her friend, "If by all of this you mean tequila spiking your drinks so that you ended up alone at a hot fast-food worker's house overnight and have a murderous hangover today, then yes, I'm guilty as charged."
Lucy let her head drop onto the table. She looked like a disaster, having barely made it home in time to shower and print her essay, she had thrown her hair up and slipped into a comfortable sweater before running out the door to catch the bus. Not only that, but she had arrived late and the instructor had stared her down as she handed him the hastily stapled paper, and over a hundred pair of eyes watched her slip in next to her friend for the remaining half hour of lecture. She wasn't sure she needed Cana's teasing about her new found crush tacked on top of this.
"So, how far did you two ge-" Lucy slapped a hand over Cana's mouth before she could continue that thought any further, her face already starting to burn up. She definitely didn't need this today.
When Lucy awoke again the sun had already settled far below the horizon, her stomach growling loudly in protest of her evening nap. She had gotten a ride home from Cana as way of apology and had slipped into hungover slumber shortly after. Rolling over, she glanced at her clock, the green LED's brightly displaying 10:07pm.
Lucy groaned as she rolled out of bed, her body still protesting with too much movement. If nothing else, she felt her stomach had settled a little, but not enough to eat the leftover salad in the fridge. Her thoughts flickered briefly to the container of salted fries and oversized burger she had consumed yesterday, and her stomach flipped for more than one reason.
"You did what!?" The sharp voice rings through the thin walls of her shared apartment. Outside her door she heard her redheaded roommate speaking strictly into the phone, and against all self preservation instincts Lucy left her room.
"I'll be there in 15, don't you dare break anything else while I'm gone." Erza scolded before professionally slipping her phone into her pocket and turning to greet Lucy.
"Work?" Is all she can muster at the moment, and Erza just nods in acknowledgement, the exasperation difficult to miss on her face. "What happened this tim-"
Lucy's stomach cuts her off with monstrous growl, and she does everything she can to hold off the blush as her roommate laughs, she should have seen this coming.
"If you'd like, you could come with me and I'll get you something to eat?" Ezra offered, already putting on her shoes and searching for car keys in her jacket. If Lucy recalled correctly, Erza just started working at a fast food restaurant not too far away, and Lucy had promised to come visit her whenever she got the next chance.
"You would be the best roommate ever." Lucy smiled, moving slowly towards the front door to get ready, deciding her casual attire would have to do. She probably wouldn't see anyone she knew anyways, and a greasy burger was probably the best hangover cure she was going to get at this time of night.
The ride over was filled with stories of Cana's party and Erza's work havoc during the night Lucy had been out. Apparently one of the employees had left early, and the other had decided to deep fry the soft serve yogurt they offered, though they had filled the deep fryer and successfully overflowed the machine. Ezra was surprisingly calm about it, though Lucy had trouble picturing her flustered over anything.
Pulling into the establishment, Lucy felt a wave of familiarity and had to pause for a minute before following Erza through the doors and further towards the back room.
"Its your fault you twit, you just had to set something on fire, you damn pyro!"
"That's rich coming from the dude who though putting ice-cream on the flaming stove was a good idea, pure genius right there."
"I hope that's not arguing I'm hear." Erza's voice rang through the room, her broad shoulders blocking Lucy from seeing anything, though the banter was also suspiciously familiar and Lucy was starting to feel her stomach flutter.
Lucy heard a chair screech across the floor as two synchronized noises of surprise sounded through the break room, the air held stagnant for a moment.
"No! never!" One yipped.
"We would never!" The second voice pipped in, and Lucy had to stifle a giggle at the authority Erza obviously held over the two.
"Good, that's what I thought. Now, I need one of you to walk me through what happened, and I need someone to whip up my friend some food." Ezra said as she stepped further into the room.
Lucy finally stepped out from behind Erza, and was met with the sight of pink disheveled bedhead and toned tan arms. She could only stand there flabbergasted.
"Lucy?"
So first and foremost I would really like to thank whoever nominated me for s/11871673/4/ The-Favorite-Fairy-Tail-Fanfiction-2016 I really appreciate it as I've never been nominated for a writing contest before! Secondarily, I'm sorry about the delay on this update, I'm horrible for keeping a consistent schedule... Finally, I definitely still want to write the Natsu POV, however I might do it in a different story and link it here, or maybe post it after I've completed this :) Let me know any thoughts, comments or critiques! Thanks for reading till the end!
~Katz7777777
