Chapter 3

Part (i)

I didn't know how long I was out or how long I planned to be out. Because the first thing I heard when I opened my eyes was the intimidating, deep and husky voice of the abominable person; Gray Fullbuster.

After witnessing him engaged in a ruthless fight (not to add to the fact that he was also half naked) certainly did not help me recover faster from my shock. In fact, I was still hyperventilating when he suddenly materialized at the end of my bed.

"Do you think she'll be fine?" He whispered to someone, probably the nurse.

"She just had a black-out due to a state of shock." The nurse replied as a matter-of-factly. Well, at least, the nurse was here, wasn't she? Her calm voice somehow calmed my nerves down and I was able to relax. Then the odds of being alone with Fullbuster were just small.

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"Look, Gray-san. I have some errands to run in the head office. So, can you watch her out for a while until I come back?"

She just did not say that.

I heard Fullbuster mumble an apology for taking her time and thanked her for giving me some tranquilizers. Then, I heard the faintest sounds of footsteps becoming distant. Once again, my fear submerged and I was alone in the Clinic with Fullbuster.

There were some shifting and Fullbuster perched on the edge of the bed. I sucked in my breath and refused to move or show any sign that I was awaken. The tranquility I felt earlier in my sleep had completely vanished and I was once again nervous.

"I know you're awake, Lucy. So cut the crap."

My breath hitched and I bolted up, moving to the furthest corner of the bed as possible. Fullbuster looked quite startled by my response but quickly dismissed it as he started asking questions,

"Did you see the fight?" He asked sternly with his eyebrows drawn together. I did an audible gulp.

"A-a l-little, I-I s-saw."

"Are you going to report to the teachers?" He raised his eyebrows and his lips were pressed into a thin line. And he just looked…scary.

Every fiber, every cell of my body was trembling and I feared that I might go paranoid just breathing the same air as Fullbuster. He looked like he was in a very dark and intimidating mode and everyone seemed to provoke him.

"N-never!" I cried out shakily and buried my face in my hands. I suddenly prayed that Natsu or Levy would show up and save me from losing my sanity because then, I started to see stars above Fullbuster, singing and dancing around.

"Hey? You don't look fine."

Of course, I wasn't fine! I was seeing two images of Fullbuster overlapping each other and I swayed back and forth, unable to keep still. My ability to remain conscious was becoming weaker by the second and my pulse was accelerating. I knew I was going to have an episode again soon.

"P-panic a-attack…" I murmured softly before collapsing into Gray Fullbuster's arms.

"Shit. Shit. Lucy, are you still with me?" He moved me into a position that I was lying on his lap and he was looking down at me. The close proximity once again quickened my breathings. My breathing became ragged.

"Hey. Hey, it's going to be alright." Fullbuster suddenly dropped his scary demeanor and a gentler expression replaced his ten-folded face. He then began to stroke my hair which surprisingly calmed me down. I settled for breathing deeply.

After a few minutes of soothing and taking care of me, I slowly regained my ability to think again. I pushed him away and sat upright. Fullbuster grimaced at me. Eeh-oohh.

"Not a word of thank you?"

I blushed slightly at this. This wasn't a reply I expected. I bit my lower lip and shyly muttered a "Thank you".

For the first time that day, Gray Fullbuster smiled at me and shook his head while running his hands through his hair.

"I guess I had you shaken up really bad." He teased and gave me a comforting smile.

"Y-yeah," I looked down, embarrassed of myself because I just had one of my episodes in front of him and worst of all, he had to calm me down.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I had that kind of effect on people." He chuckled lightheartedly and stood up, brushing his pants. Then, I noticed something; something really bad.

My face colored crimson and I could actually feel my face scorching. My eyes fell upon his chest. Naked and holy pancakes to those muscles!

"P-put on something!" I squealed and looked away in total embarrassment because too bad that I wasn't used to overly-muscular bare chests.

Fullbuster raised his eyebrow incredulously, comprehending what I just said before a mischievous, sly smirk crept to his face. One thing I learnt about Fullbuster was that; he liked to tease. A lot.

"Like what you see?" He winked flirtatiously and I could feel the nerves dilating in my cheeks. Oh my god, is this what you called flirting? Natsu used that to many girls, I know. But I didn't know it was this embarrassing.

I looked away trying to hide my tomato face. Fullbuster chuckled at this.

The bed shifted again as Fullbuster sat on it, this time with a small white box on his lap. I raised my eyebrows incredulously. Then he opened the lid of the box, revealing a set of antiseptics, bandages and plasters. It took a while to register what he was going to do with those.

.

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"Oh no, I'm good! I don't remember getting any injuries." I declined and Fullbuster smacked his forehead with his free hand.

"I have a wound on my arm." He gestured to his arm which was bandaged with a piece of shredded clothing.

.

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"God, I want you to clean my wound, Lucy! Goddamn! Wait… Are you sane?" He shook his head and sighed a few times. I ducked my head in embarrassment and started unraveling the cloth.

"A l-little s-scared, I am." I mumbled while unwinding the last piece of clothing. I gasped when I saw a terrible and deep cut where blood was oozing out. I inhaled sharply.

"Don't worry, it's just a cut." He said too nonchalantly. Maybe, he was used to the pain. But thinking and seeing the blood made me want to gag again. The horrible feeling awakened in my stomach again.

"D-did they have a k-knife?" I whispered while dabbing the wound with a piece of cotton bud. He flinched a little.

"No." He was hesitant at answering and I knew that he didn't want to scare me further. I nodded while applying some antiseptics into the wound. After that, I sealed his cut securely with a bandage. Then, I volunteered to clean his other wounds. Fullbuster looked unsure at first but settled down when I started treating his wounds this time with total care.

At last, I came to a cut on his face where the wound still looked fresh. I cleaned the cut and taped a plaster there. I wondered loudly, "That's going to leave a nasty scar." Then realizing what I just said, I clamped my mouth shut. I bet I saw Fullbuster cringe.

"I-I don't care!" He looked away, probably cursing himself for being so careless.

"B-but, e-everyone will see the scar. It's visible."

Fullbuster looked at me this time scoffing. I held my breath because the scary side of him was emerging once again.

"I don't care as long as it isn't invisible." He snorted and hoped off the bed, placing back the kit on the shelf.

I narrowed my eyes at what he was trying to say. "What kind of injuries is invisible?"

I clamped my mouth shut when Fullbuster shot me an annoyed look. Clearly, he wasn't so keen on dealing with my curiousity. After a long moment where I thought he was going to walk out feeling totally annoyed by my questions, he sat down on the bed again and did something surprising.

He took my hand and brought it to his chest.

Did the temperature in the room just rocket up a few degrees? Because I could feel my face burning crimson! I nearly shrieked when Fullbuster inched closer to me so that we were just a feet apart. I breathed in and out, controlling my raging heart inside my chest. My pulse didn't slow down but instead, ratcheted faster.

He felt warm underneath my touch and I could feel the faintest beatings of his heart.

Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump.

"Invisible injuries are here. They usually occur to your heart and take the longest to recover." He said cheekily before breaking into a self-conceited grin. In that moment, I blushed even harder making me feel queasy and slightly-light headed.

It was like the moment was frozen between us until someone ruined it.

"LUCE? LUCE – ARE YOU THERE."

We pulled away from each other and exchanged a dreadful look.

There was only one person who called me, "Luce."

"Dragneel," Fullbuster muttered under his breath and cussed.

So what do you think? (: Haha. Guys, I tried. My writing last time really sucked and I was mentally face-palming myself whenever I read that crappy writing. So, I wrote a better/newer version! I hope you like it! So proceeding onto Part (ii)!

Part (ii)

"Luce! Are you okay?" As soon as Natsu saw me, he pulled me into one of those hard-to-breathe and bone-crushing hug. I let out an audible shriek as he spun me around as I dangled in mid-air flailing my hands around.

"I-I'm fine! So l-let me d-down!" I croaked, beating his chest repetitively. And I was sure I was seeing stars by then.

"You got me so worried! What happened?" He finally released me and dropped me to my feet. I breathed in deeply.

"I-I was panicking because I thought I was going to be late for…class!" I quickly responded, earning a strange look from Natsu.

"Who carried you in here?"

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

"Ummm…I don't remember. I-I was o-out." I stuttered even though he asked me a blatant question. Natsu was examining me suspiciously by now. I smoothed out my wrinkled old tee and my long, flowing skirt.

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"What's that bump on the bed?"

My head did a 180 degree turn and my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest. My confidence plus hope was completely pulverized to the ground. It was causing a riot in my chest that I feared it might burst out of my chest. I inhaled sharply.

Acting instinctively, I walked stiffly towards the bed and did the most dreadful thing, the decision I was going to regret until the day of my death.

"O-oohh! It's nothing here. Seee?" I sat on the very bump and heard a soft "Ooof" under the sheets. Now I only grasp on hope that after all of this, Gray Fullbuster would leave me alone.

Natsu studied the bed and my grinning face. I offered the sincerest smile I could muster.

"Is something wrong? You look weird." Natsu approached me and placed a hand over my forehead. I shook my head.

"O-okay… You have Chemistry for next class, right?" I said enthusiastically.

But Natsu didn't leave. He was waiting for me.

"E-eehh. I need to get something from the nurse so I'll catch you up later, okay?" I ushered him out of the clinic and before Natsu could protest, I closed the door on his face. Sure enough, there were some grumblings on the other side before Natsu decided to just leave me there. The distant sounds of his footsteps told me that he was gone.

I let out a shaky breath and smacked my forehead. For an average person like me, today had been very eventful all thanks to a certain –

"Lucy Heartifillia." I spun around to see a very irritated, half-naked, menacing Gray Fullbuster who was giving out murderous vibes. I almost sank to the ground because my knees were wobbling too much.

"Sorry, I-I am!" I apologized, bowing my head many times that I lost count. Death waited for me if I opened my eyes.

.

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"That was a pretty brave thing you did there."

When I opened my eyes, he was standing pretty close to where I was. I could almost smell the pungent smell of the antiseptics and…

Have I turned into a total pervert? I stepped backwards, staggering a bit. Fullbuster took one more step, attempting to get close to me again.

"Is this how you repay me, Cupcake?" Not minding the close proximity between us, he flashed me another of his arrogant smiles that had a mischievous glint on it. You know what I mean, right?

Another horrifying thought occurred to me as the last word slipped through his tongue. I gaped openly at him.

"Did you just call me Cupcake?"

"Did I?" He grinned wider and inched closer. Now, we were just a mere inches apart.

"You did!" I pushed him and gasped for air because it was so suffocating to be that close with Fullbuster.

"You're an interesting girl, I like you, Cupcake." He said in a mellifluous voice and winked at me. At once, the blood rushed to my face.

There he was, putting his shirt back on and was heading for the exit.

From the window

"What are you doing?!" I reached for his arm as he swung one leg out of the window. My actions seemed to amuse Fullbuster because he cracked a smile before jumping down from a two-storeyed building. I let out a shriek.

Is he dead? Oh my god, did he fall? How could he have fallen when I was pulling him back? Who would be stupid enough to jump off from a two-storeyed building? I started giving my condolences and started reciting prayers as I dared myself to look down at Fullbuster's unmoving body.

But when I looked down, I was more than surprised to see Fullbuster waving at me. I almost fainted.

"Don't worry! I didn't die!" He called out and gave me a thumbs-up.

"You scared me!" I shouted back, slightly embarrassed because I thought he was legit dead.

He flashed me another of his signature smirks and started walking towards the school lobby. Before he reached out of sight, he turned around and called out.

"I'll see you after school, Cupcake!"

Needless to say, I left the Nurse's office completely gobsmacked.