Hey Jealousy - A Fairy Tail Fanfic - Chapter 2

Erza's plan is set into motion, but will Natsu follow along?

All characters property of Hiro Mashima


Chapter 2 – A Bookworm Starts a Blaze

If Levy hadn't read the sign telling her the house in front of her belonged to Natsu and Happy, the loud yell and plume of smoke coming from the stone cabin would definitely have told her she was at the right place.

Levy stood several yards away from the front door, her fist clenched in front of her mouth. "What in the world have I gotten myself into?" she wondered. Yes, she and Natsu were friends – they had practically grown up together in Fairy Tail. But she didn't know him nearly as well as she knew her teammates Jet and Droy. The boisterous Dragon Slayer and the bookish girl didn't have much in common, so other than the occasional chit-chat, the two guildmates didn't really interact. Coupled with the fact that he seemed pretty oblivious when it came to romance, she wasn't exactly sure how she was going to get him to even understand Erza's plan, much less agree to it.

But before she could debate with herself any further, something flew out of the front door and hurled straight for her at lightning speed.

Jumping into action, Levy crossed her arms in front of her and shouted, "Solid script WALL!" With a poof, the word "WALL," made out of heavy cement, stood in front of her, protecting her from the unidentified object that was headed her way.

A loud "thunk" was soon heard, followed by a grunt and a sickening "crunch" sound, as the makeshift wall she created crumbled to the ground.

"What the hell?!" a male voice cried out.

Levy coughed and waved her arms to clear the dust in front of her. When the debris settled she looked down and saw a very surprised Natsu lying on his back on the ground.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" she asked, scrambling over the broken cement to help him up.

The young man sat up and rubbed his head, wincing. "Where the heck did that wall come from?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Sorry, that was me!" said Levy sheepishly. "Something flew out of your house and I made that wall to keep it from hitting me. I had no idea you'd be coming out right after it!"

"Oh, hi Levy," said Natsu, still a little confused. "That's alright. I was fighting my Erza dummy and I guess I got carried away. But I'm gonna beat her yet!" he said, clenching his fists as the color rushed back to his cheeks. "One day I'm gonna show her that I'm the strongest mage in Fairy Tail!"

"Of course you will," soothed Levy, thinking of an Iron Dragon Slayer she knew who had a similar goal. "Need help getting up?"

Natsu jumped to his feet. "From a shrimp like you, heck no!"

"Shrimp." Levy frowned at Natsu's use of the same nickname Gajeel used for her. "Really, are all Dragon Slayers like this?"

"So whatcha doin' here, Levy? Everything okay?"

"Um, yeah, sorta," the bluenette hesitated, suddenly embarrassed at the reason she came to see her fired-up friend. How in the world was she going to explain to him why she had come to visit?

"What is it? Need me to beat someone up for ya?" Natsu's eyes gleamed as he lit a fist into flames that licked and twined around his strong wrist. "Just name the guy and I'll burn him to a crisp!"

"No, no need for that!" Levy grabbed his forearm, quick to nip her friend's over-eager fighting impulses in the bud. "But I do need your help, with, with a…guy."

Natsu's flames only grew brighter as he smiled a grin that Levy knew meant sure-fire trouble. "Hey, anything for my nakama! Who do I need to take down?"

Levy looked around, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Uh…can we go inside to talk about this, it's kinda personal."

Natsu's eyebrows went up. "Um, okay. It's kind of a mess though." He extinguished the flames on his hand and scratched his head. "I just thought I'd warn you cuz you girls seem to be bothered by dumb stuff like that."

"I don't mind," said Levy. "I do have two teammates who are boys you know."

"Alright, follow me!"

Levy was definitely going to advise Lucy to work on increasing Natsu's vocabulary. Mess didn't even begin to describe the disaster site she walked into. Furniture, clothes, food, trash were EVERYWHERE. No wonder he was always at Lucy's place!

Natsu went over to his hammock and turned it upside down, sending everything in it crashing to the floor. He then turned it right-side up, grabbed Levy, and dropped her into it. "You can sit here," he said, turning around to find somewhere to sit while Levy tried to catch her balance and keep from falling out of the swinging bed.

As Natsu cleared a spot for himself on the floor, Levy couldn't help noticing that despite the mess he kept certain things organized and spotless. All his missions were tacked neatly on the wall by his hammock, as well as several notes and mementos from quests involving Lucy. "Really, how could Lu-chan doubt Natsu's affection for her after seeing this?" she thought.

Natsu plopped down on the floor and looked up at Levy. "Okay, what gives?"

"Well, um, it's like this," she hesitated.

"Come on, spit it out! I'm dying to punch someone already!"

"I don't need you to punch someone I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend!" Levy yelled, waving
her arms up and down and setting the hammock into motion. She grabbed onto the sides and sat stock-still, waiting for the swinging to slow down.

"HUH?!" Natsu's face turned the same shade of pink as his hair. "But isn't Gajeel your boyfriend?"

Levy almost flipped out of the hammock. "HUH?!" She clutched onto the threads of the swinging bed for dear life. "What do you mean isn't he my boyfriend?"

"Well, he's always watching you and protecting you and helping you," said Natsu, scratching his head. "And he scares off any guy who so much as talks to you."

"He does?" The last point was a surprise to the little mage, but it certainly explained why she hadn't been approached by a guy in what seemed like ages.

Natsu crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Well yeah! Geez, and you girls say us guys are dumb," he shrugged.

Levy sat up to protest but the motion caused the hammock to sway yet again. "But Gajeel has never told me he likes me or said he's my boyfriend," she gasped, twining her legs around the hanging bed for dear life.

Natsu's hand shot out and stilled the hammock so that he could give Levy a puzzled stare. "A guy has to tell you?"

"Duh, yeah! How else are us girls supposed to know?" Levy raised her hands up in the air in frustration.

Natsu let the hammock go and shifted uncomfortably on the floor. "So that's why Lucy…" he mumbled to himself.

"Anyway that's why I'm here," said Levy, not hearing him. "I want Gajeel to confess. And I figured the best way was to make him think I had another boyfriend."

Now Natsu was really confused. "If you say so. But why me? Why not Jet or Droy, they're your teammates, they'd be willing to help you."

"Uh, about that," Levy grimaced, tapping her pointer fingers together. "Turns out they still don't like Gajeel very much."

"Yeah, he's a jerk," agreed Natsu.

"No he isn't!" Levy was about to jump to her crush's defense but Natsu made a face that had the word "Really?" written all over it. "Okay he is," she admitted. "But the main reason I'm asking you is because Gajeel wouldn't be jealous of them. He would only be jealous of someone as strong as he is."

Natsu jumped to his feet, fists bursting into flames. "Whaddya mean as strong as he is? I'm WAY stronger than that metal freak!"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" exclaimed Levy. "That's why you're the only one who can help me! He'd be TOTALLY jealous of YOU! After all you did beat him once." "Plus there's no threat of you dying if his jealousy went overboard," she thought.

Natsu puffed up. "Yeah, I did, didn't I? I am pretty awesome," he admitted. His smug grin turned into a frown as a worrisome thought popped into his normally uncluttered brain. "But won't Lucy get mad?"

Levy shook her head. "No, I already talked about it with Lu-chan. She thinks it's a great plan."

"Oh well, if Lucy's okay with it then sure, I'll help!" said Natsu with a wide grin. "Just to see the look on that jerk's face when I walk into the guild with you on my arm, he's gonna go BERSERK!"

Levy was so happy she launched herself out of the hammock and gave Natsu a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. "Oh thank you, Natsu!"

"She liiiiiiiiiiikes you!" a high-pitched voice sung from the ceiling. Levy and Natsu looked up to see the fire wizard's blue exceed Happy, who was now back from his overnight visit at Wendy's house, circling above the two guildmates and gleefully giggling at the hugging pair.

The two mages blushed at the compromising position they were found in before jumping away from each other as though stung.

"And you liiiiiiike her!" sung Happy flying around them.

"Hey, it's not like that at all!" said Natsu. "We're just pretending to like each other to make Gajeel mad so that he tells Levy she's his girlfriend."

Happy landed on the floor in shock. "I thought you were already his girlfriend?" he asked, bewildered.

Levy smacked herself in the forehead.

"Hmph," Natsu put on a superior smirk as though he knew all about it. "Everybody knows you have to tell a girl she's your girlfriend first."

"Wow, you have to tell a girl?" asked Happy. "Who knew girls were so dumb?"

"I know right?"

"AAARGH YOU TWO! SOLID SCRIPT WATER BUCKETS!"

*SPLASH!*

"HEY!"

"Levy, you're meeeeeeeeeean!"

The blue-haired girl sighed. "I hope Lu-chan and Juvia are having an easier time than I am!" she thought.


A/N - I had fun writing about Natsu and Levy's friendship, we don't get to see much of it in the manga/anime. :)