Hello, I'm fucking thrilled because I only work one day this week, but I gotta clean all day tomorrow so I'm also sad... *sighs* Anyways! Lisanna is in this chapter and I really hope you like her characterization. She's a flirt... but not with who you're thinking *wink wink* and she is kind of salty towards Natsu lol. I also have a head canon where Natsu and Lucy go to restaurants with eating challenges and prizes and Natsu eats butt loads of food just to win Lucy a little stuffed animal or something. I think it's cute okay? And it's gonna be a tradition this fic. Thank you guys for all your nice comments! All of them make me super happy, but there were few that made me extra super happy. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story. But I'm sorry.. I tried rereading this story and it made me a little angry at myself with how my writing was. I thought it was a bit cringy... I'm sorry aha! But that's all for now! Have fun!
Natsu wasn't entirely sure of what he should be doing anymore. Actually, he did know. He knew he had to be there for Lucy, to show her she's loved and that he cares. But Natsu was very at war with himself. He now knows that Lucy was abused by someone and he had so many questions, like who who hurt her, what did they do to her, and he needed to make sure she was away from this person now. And he also had so many desires… The desire to fucking murder whoever hurt her and do what they did to his girl to them, he had the desire to hold Lucy, to just squeeze her so tight and never let go. And he had a very confusing desire that made Natsu very uncomfortable. It's like when you see something that disturbs you bit, but you can't look away… he wanted to see what that person did to her… he wanted to see how her body looked under all the layers of clothing she always wore, but at the same time, he was scared to look. Not that he finds Lucy disgusting or disturbing, it's just that he's scared to see how bad she's actually hurt, because he doesn't want her to be in pain, and it will physically pain him seeing the scars on her body. But he also had to know. He had to know how bad it was.
Natsu seemed to be the only one who was worried though because Lucy was doing really well. It's a few days after Christmas, and she was loving her crepe maker Wendy bought her and has made crepes every day. Natsu couldn't help but be happy about Lucy's love for cooking because he got to taste it every meal of the day, and she even packed him a lunch before he went to work. Lucy was wife material and it took a lot to not propose to her everyday.
He knew he had to keep her distracted though, to have fun and introduce her to more people because she was rather shy around strangers. Natsu figured it was time to start letting his friends meet his girl officially so he took Lucy out to dinner where they're meeting Lisanna. Natsu wanted to ask both her and Levy to come because he thought they were the best girls for her to meet after Wendy since those two were the most tame, but Levy was buy. Cana and Mira may start saying unnecessary things to her and Lucy is pretty sensitive so Erza didn't seem like a good choice yet. Natsu wanted Lucy to be happy though and surrounded by something she loves in a maybe scary situation for her, so he proposed an Italian restaurant where she could order all the pasta her heart desires.
"Natsu," Lucy tugged on his sleeve a bit and pointed to a certain item on the menu. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was as she looked down at the menu with her long, curly eyelashes fluttering so delicately and her nose wiggling like the cutie she is. Her silky hair fell over her one shoulder, and she tucked it back in place with her petite fingers. When Lucy looked up at him curiously, she smiled timidly with her eyes lit up like a soft, warm candle, and her lips parted to speak. But he couldn't really hear her. He was lost, lost in how gorgeous and breathtaking she was, lost in the way her lips moved while she spoke, and lost in those beautiful chocolate eyes he's grown to love now that they're so much more alive.
"Sorry, can you repeat that? I missed what you said."
Lucy giggled that beautiful laugh of hers and looked down at the menu again to point at one of the food options. It was titled Italian Challenge, which caught Natsu's attention right away. He leaned over into Lucy's space with his head right above her shoulder to 'read the menu' but he had good vision so he really didn't need to. It was just an excuse to get close to her. "I-it says you get the meal for free if you win, a t shirt, and a um… a little bowl of pasta plush."
Natsu stared at his girl for a moment, before he snorted quietly and bonked his head into her temple. "I'll get you the plush, babe."
"Really?" She looked up at him with her eyes so big and pure, then she caught herself and tried to contain her baby smile, but she wasn't succeeding. "I-I mean… you like food so I-I though it was a good choice for you."
"Of course." Natsu laughed as he looked back down at the menu and even became a little bolder by resting his cheek on her shoulder. Lucy stiffened for a moment, but his eyes soon widened when he felt her small fingers scratching at his scalp a bit. He suddenly felt nervous and super hyper aware of her, but he tried to keep cool and just read over the challenge. "T-there's uh, chicken parmesan, spicy Italian sausage, spaghetti and meatballs, ravioli, chicken alfredo, and some bread. Sounds easy enough."
Natsu's heart leaped when Lucy massaged his scalp, and soft noise (which he would deny making for the rest of his life) traveled up his throat. "Natsu… d-did you just purr like Happy?"
"No." He answered maybe a little too quickly.
"I think he did." Natsu jumped and quickly pulled away from his girl as he glared at the female pulling out a chair across from them. Lisanna ruined the moment with her teasing demeanor and— wait a fucking minute... No, no... this isn't good. Lisanna is gonna be teasing them like Mira and Cana would do because this is payback for what he always puts her through. Shit, he should have thought of this earlier.
Lisanna was the youngest of the Strauss siblings and hand short, white hair with baby pigtails behind her head and baby blue eyes. She was probably having the time of her life now that he had someone his friends could tease him about because he always made sure to make fun of his friends in relationships, Lisanna being one of them because she and Bixlow were an interesting couple.
"Fuck you, Lisanna."
"Awh, did I interrupt something?" Lisanna's teasing was ruthless as she batted her eyelashes innocently. Then she leaned over to give him a deadly look. "Paybacks a bitch, huh friend?" Then she reached her hand across the table to hold Lucy's, but the blonde just peeked up at her a little bashfully. She was probably embarrassed about what she caught them doing and Lucy was always really shy around new people.
"So what's your relationship with Natsu? Lovers? Are you dating? Has he told you he loves you?"
Oh my god… Shut up, Lisanna. Can't she even say hi first?
"N-no… that's impossible." She gave a bashful wave, then pulled her hands down to fiddled her fingers in her lap. "Natsu has a girlfriend, after all. He's my first f-friend."
Pity… that's the look she gave him. He's been called a friend so many times that it barely affects him anymore. But he really needed to clear this up.
"Luce… about that." He faced her curious, chocolate eyes and used his fingers to tug on the jacket she wore. Lucy looked super cute today with a military style jacket that had black velvet bows laced up the sleeves and back, and a black shirt, pair of pants, plus some boots by Steve Madden, which he has googled before and are pretty pricy as well. Lucy was just beautiful and he couldn't help but by extremely curious of why she has all these expensive items, but was abused and was a prostitute. "I don't actually have a girlfriend, but that cupcake I made will be something I'll give to my future girlfriend."
She tilted her head to the side curiously. "So you have someone you like?" Then she turned to the girl in front of them and stared at Lisanna for a long few seconds. After a firm nod, she looked back at Natsu. "I understand." She whispered. "I'll keep it a secret, Natsu."
"WRONG!" Lisanna slammed her hands down on the table. "Don't lump me and him together, okay?! I was crazy as a child and teen! I pretended to be a cat and ate cereal off of the ground in front of the heater like a freaking animal! Don't remind me of my terrible decisions in life!"
Wow, couldn't she have held back a little? Natsu doesn't want Lucy to think he's undesirable.
When he turned to Lucy, his heart dropped because she looked extremely frightened. Oh, no no no… please don't take a step back when it comes to his friends again. Yelling must be something that's triggering to her. He never would have known though because he's never yelled at her, nor has he seen anyone yell at her, but it would make sense that she's afraid of it because she has been abused and it wouldn't be surprising if she's gotten a fair amount of that in her life. Ugh, the thought made him really upset.
Before Lucy had the chance to run away, he pulled her into his chest and squeezed her really tight, in fear of her leaving him. He heard the urgency in Lisanna's voice as she apologized over and over, but he wasn't mad or upset with her. There's no way she could have known yelling would set Lucy off, and Lisanna didn't even mean it in a harmful way. She was just being playful like always, but Lucy didn't have much interaction with people so this was probably something she wasn't used to. Yelling must be scary when it's directed towards her.
"Shh, Luce. It's okay… Lisanna isn't mad at you, she wasn't yelling at you… She used to have a crush on me back when we were kids, but she hates herself for feeling that way and gets salty when people talk about it." He kissed her hair sweetly and ran his fingers along her back when he felt her clutch the front of his shirt and start to tremble. "She also didn't want you to think I like her because that's just not true. I do have someone I like, I have someone I love, actually, but they don't see me like that. She only calls me her friend no matter how much I touch her or kiss her, how much I hold her in my arms and comfort her, or no matter how much my life revolves around her. She's really dense and just doesn't get it no matter how many signs I give her."
"W-why don't you tell her?"
Natsu sighed. Yep, dense is definitely who Lucy Heartfilia is. "I will, just not right now. You see, I know like nothing about her and she never talks about herself. I love her, but I want to know more, so I'll make her open up to me somehow. But I'm really upset right now because I learned something about her that she didn't tell me, so I can't ask questions about it no matter how angry I am at what I found out. I know she's been hurt a lot and I want to help her fix it, but I don't know how to make her trust me."
"I... don't know what happened to her, but… I-I want to help you because you've done a lot for me so I will return the favor somehow."
Wait a minute… this could actually work in his favor. Lucy wants to help him get with the girl he likes, which is Lucy herself. It didn't even phase him anymore that she's rejected him unknowingly for the umpteenth time. He just saw this as a chance to indirectly tell the girl he likes his feelings, and maybe somewhere along the way, Lucy will understand, or she'll feel close enough with him to share her story. He just hopes it doesn't backfire on him and she won't let him touch her anymore because she thinks he has someone else he likes. Well, he honestly doesn't think that'll happen because Natsu is pretty sure Lucy doesn't really know the difference between friends and girlfriends/boyfriends. He is her first friend. Natsu told her that himself, but the way he touches her and treats her is definitely more than friends. Plus with her past job of being a prostitute, the lines have probably blurred so much and she can't tell the difference between friendship, romantic relationships, and whatever you'd call what she does at work. She probably doesn't know that how he treats her is more than friends, and that made him a little nervous. He's just afraid she'll let some other guy come around and treat her how Natsu treats her, and Lucy is just naïve and innocent and thinks that's how friendships work. He'll have to somehow get her to understand that she cannot let other guys touch her like he does and that what he's doing means he has special feelings for her. But, ugh, that one could actually backfire because what if Lucy says he can't touch her anymore and she truly friend zones him. It made him nervous, but he also knew that doing things this way with Lucy unknowingly helping him get with her, will benefit him tremendously.
So he pulled away from her to meet her gaze and grinned that smile he's been told is charming by many people.
"I'd love the help Luce."
They ate at the Italian restaurant and Natsu won Lucy her spaghetti and meatball plush, which was honestly extremely adorable. There was a big, white bowl with a pile of soft noodles on top and one giant fuzzy meatball with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese on top. It was cute and Lucy had been clutching at it the whole time while the three of them walked to their new destination, the bowling alley. Bowling somehow came up during their conversation and Lucy said she has never bowled before, which he and Lisanna were having none of so they pulled her to the place and picked out their shoes and bowling balls.
It was poopin in the bowling alley because it was late at night and all the glow in the dark stuff was turned on along with the hype music. Lucy was a little upset that she didn't have any colors that worked in the lights, so Natsu let her borrow the white scaled scarf he got from his dad. She was thrilled and he was also pretty happy about it because he liked her wearing his precious scarf. It looked good on her.
Once they got to their lane, Natsu set up all their names on the screen while the two girls chatted and put their shoes on. Luckily, Lucy didn't take a step back after Lisanna's outburst. After Natsu explained it to her and Lisanna did it a second time, she seemed to feel better, and they haven't had any issues since.
"So are you coming to Fairy Tail for New Year's Eve?" Lisanna asked Lucy while she took her little boots off, then slipped on the ugly bowling shoes. "Everyone really wants to me you! Oh, and I guess Natsu can come too, if he wants..."
Lisanna laughed at his misery while Lucy smiled a bit. He has a feeling she liked having another person to call her friend. But he suddenly has a feeling that most of his friends won't be a very good influence on her. Why couldn't he have friends who weren't such assholes all the time?
"I-I'm not sure… Natsu can go and I can look after Happy."
"No way, you have to come!" Lisanna pouted a bit and crossed here arms over her chest once she finished with her shoes. "Natsu can stay home and watch Happy. He's there every year so it doesn't really matter if he misses one!"
"I... I wouldn't want to go without Natsu."
Aha! Take that, you grandma with the same colored hair as Gramps! They're trying to steal his Lucy from him! No way! With how attractive she is, there's sure to be guys trying to pick her up and Natsu will literally start a fight if someone tries to take his girl. No way in hell! But he actually does want Lucy to go back to Fairy Tail, but he doesn't know if New Years is the best day for that. They get really wild and he would rather introduce her to the place again while mostly everyone is sober.
"So you'll come?" She asked. "Please please please come Lucy!"
Lucy blushed a bit as she fidgeted on her chair. "I-I'll think about it."
New Year's Eve is only in two days, so they won't have to wait long. Natsu wasn't entirely sure if it was a good idea though.
"Okay, Lis… you're up!"
She groaned, but hopped up and grabbed her ball off the ball rack. Natsu would have usually went first because he's number one, but he wanted to explain to Lucy how to play.
He sat behind her as he quickly changed his shoes, then rolled his chair over so he was directly next to her. Lucy looked up at him curiously with the spaghetti plush held securely in his arms, and he slipped one hand around her waist to talk close to ear. Why? Because the music was loud, duh! And he definitely couldn't hear their conversation from a few feet away. Nope, not at all.
"So you pick up the ball and aim it at those ten pins. You want to get them all down in one try (that's a strike), but you have two chances each turn. The more pins you get down, the higher your score is."
Natsu watched her with an amused expression as she anxiously squeezed her plush watching Lisanna bowl, and she jumped when the noise of the ball hitting the pins echoed over to them. Her lips formed into an 'o' as she seemed to get the rules, and she clapped a bit once Lisanna came back.
"You're gonna need to do better than that if you wanna beat me, Lis."
"Shut up. That was just warm up."
"G-g-good luck!"
Lisanna blinked like the most surprising thing happened to her, but she soon snapped out of it as she walked over to the two of them and extended both her hands out. "Can I have a good luck hug?"
That little bitch!
"Mhmm!" Lucy hopped out of his hold and trotted over to Lisanna to give her a big hug. He's never received such a huge hug from her and he was jealous… insanely jealous, and Natsu knew Lisanna was doing it on purpose! It's probably payback from when she had a crush on him. Damnit, why didn't he wait for Levy?! He didn't think this would come back and bite him in the ass.
He didn't miss the evil glint in Lisanna's eyes when she pulled away and returned to the alley to get her ball. She got a spare, and Natsu was determined to beat her. Once he stood up he faced Lucy fully as he squatted down to the ground and held her small hand. "Can I have a kiss for good luck?"
She blushed a bit, but timidly nodded and bit the inside of her cheek in thought. Once she decided on the place, Lucy picked his right hand up and pressed his palm to her lips. "G-good luck, Natsu."
"Yosh!" Natsu grinned and stood up to stretch his arm out a bit. "I'm all fired up now!"
"What a dork…" Lisanna grinned next to her as she leaned over a bit and looked into Lucy's big, brown eyes. "So… how's living with Natsu? I bet he's a total slob, right?"
Lucy giggled a little as she watched Natsu bowl. "He is very messy, but he always tries to clean up after himself, even if I tell him I'll do it. He's always thinking about me."
"Speaking of that..." she trailed off. "What do you think about the person he has a thing for?"
"Oh, I think they're a very lucky girl… Natsu is always so kind to me so he must treat them like a princess."
Lisanna nodded a bit as she thought about how to approach the subject. She didn't want to make Lucy think unnecessary things and confuse her, but she also wanted them to be together so she would try to help out as much as possible. "Don't you think he could be talking about you though?"
Lucy turned her gaze away from the cheering Natsu who was walking back over after getting a strike. He really may beat his record after getting that kind of encouragement from Lucy. She's curious what a kiss on the lips would do.
"T-that's not possible. I'm just some… some homily girl he feels responsible for, and I'm selfishly taking advantage of it. But he... makes me feel like I'm actually worth something and I feel happy when we're together…"
Lisanna's eyes widened and she parted her lips to question her further, but Natsu hand patted Lucy's head and he smiled down at her. "Good luck Luce! Can I give ya anything to cheer you on?"
"Y-you would?"
Natsu grinned. "Sure! Anything for you! A hug, maybe a kiss, or—"
Lucy cut him off when she held her hand up and squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment. "H-high five please…"
Natsu stared at her with broken eyes, and Lisanna could practically see his heart breaking into tiny pieces. It made her amused because she may want them to get together, but that doesn't mean she won't find this entertaining since Natsu is the one in the friend zone this time. It feels good.
"H-high five… sure!"
He smacked her hand with his, then moved out of the way for Lucy to stand up. But Lisanna swooped her hand down an smacked the same hand Natsu did. "Ha-ha! Now I'm the one who'll give Lucy good luck!"
"No! Lucy, let me smack your hand again!"
For some reason, Lucy was glowing when they were fighting over her hand. Natsu gave her another high five, then she gave her another, then Natsu again, then she again… just never ending. Lucy had a huge smile on her lips, and just sat there happily with her hand red and her plush held securely in her other arm.
"Lisanna, just give up already!"
"I'll tell Lucy your embarrassing high school stories if you don't let me win!"
That made Natsu freeze and her grin as she gave Lucy one last high five, then blew her a small kiss. "Good luck, boo."
"T-thank you!" She looked almost drunk off high fives as she gave Natsu her plush, then wobbled on over to the ball return to pick up her sparkly dark blue ball. Lisanna wondered if that's the first high five she's gotten. It made her a bit sad to think about.
She could tell Natsu was pouting by the way he was leaning his elbows against his knees with a grumpy expression and hugging the plush to his cheek like it was Lucy herself. "You came over at a really bad time, you know. I was asking Lucy how she felt about you and was just about to get more information, but you interrupted us."
Natsu groaned. "Are you actually trying to help me, or sabotage me?"
"Mmm," she hummed cutely with an innocent face. "Maybe… both?"
"Fuck you."
"I'm just teasing, of course I'm helping you. I didn't think she'd be so amazing, but Wendy was right. She'd fit right into Fairy Tail once she opens up more."
"Really?" Natsu sat straight up as he looked down at her in excitement. "You think she'll fit in?"
"Yeah, she is a little weird like the rest of us."
"True, Lucy is a little strange… but she's also really cute."
Lisanna watched Natsu give Lucy a thumbs up with such a warm expression, and she couldn't help but jab her elbow into his side a bit. "Wendy was right about another thing too. You really love her, huh?"
"Yeah…"
That's all he said, but the look on his face was enough to tell Lisanna his sincerity. He really did care about her, and that made her happy. It made everyone happy. Because little Natsu was finally growing up. He found someone he wants to spend his life with, and her name is Lucy Heartfilia.
Now where has she heard that name before?
so what'd you think? You guys like Lisanna or is she just meh..? I've always liked the thought of Lucy and her having a strong relationship with a little bit of flirting just to get under Natsu skin and tease him because she has a love hate relationship with Natsu. Please comment! I love reading your comments and they make me super happy! Idk if I'll post again before thanksgiving, so if i don't, than happy thanksgiving to my American friends!
