a/n: GUESS WHO GOT HER FIRST JOB AND IS SLOWLY LEARNING THE WAYS OF THE ADULT WORLD ONE CRIPPLING REALIZATION AT TIME (okay, i'm being a touch dramatic. it's really not that bad... it's not like I got a ton of sleep in the first place, considering I'm constantly writing pic and have been ever since middle school, lol). ANYWAYS, the next 3-4 chapters are already lined and ready for me to color in (and maybe a little outside?) the lines, so let's hope the updates keep rolling themselves out the next couple of days! Happy reading, you guys! (also, a little homage to the early fairy tail days is found somewhere in this chapter *wink wink*)

disclaimer: I own nothing

Lucy tapped the edges of her phone nervously as she checked the GPS on her phone for the umpteenth time.

The girl that had stopped her the day before in the street had introduced herself as Levy, and the two had walked around downtown together for a bit since Lucy had supposedly 'looked liked she needed a friendly face.'

Granted, she had been freaking out a little about the whole Natsu situation, but the blonde didn't think she'd looked that out of place.

Levy, apparently, hadn't agreed.

Lucy had wondered aloud about the girl's bright blue hair, and her comment made Levy laugh as she ran her fingers through her short curls.

"Oh sure," she'd teased the blushing blonde. "Ask the strange girl about her blue hair. But no questions asked when it's a hot guy sporting the color pink!"

Lucy had hid her face behind her hands, struggling not to laugh before Levy asked about the heavy camera that was swinging around Lucy's neck.

"I move around a lot," Lucy shrugged, trying to think on her toes. "I take pictures so that I'll know a friendly face wherever I go." She picked the camera up, showing off her chipped nail polish as she snapped a picture of Levy before the girl could compose herself.

She wasn't entirely sure why she didn't just tell the truth about her graffiti habit, seeing as how Levy was a local and probably knew some killer spots, but something about it just felt too... personal. There were some things that she needed to do on her own.

Levy bugged her for a while to see the picture to know if it was worthy of keeping or deleting-at least get my good side! I wasn't ready yet!-but Lucy was relentless.

"Nope, not until development," she'd grinned, letting the camera fall back gently against her chest.

"Come on, there's gotta be some loophole."

Lucy drummed her fingers against the denim covering her thighs, thinking. "Alright," she finally relented. "If you can show me a good bakery where I can get a decent lunch, I'll let you see the picture."

Levy's eyes lit up, as though a lightbulb had suddenly gone off in her head at the girl's request. A slowly-formed grin pulled at the corners of her lips, making Lucy nervous. "I can do you one better! Let me see your phone."

Lucy yelped as Levy didn't wait for Lucy to hand her the cell, and instead reached behind the girl and pulled it from her back pocket.

"Passcode?" she asked.

"777.." Lucy responded warily, "What are you doing?"

Levy frowned as if it were obvious. "I'm putting my number in your phone."

"Oh," Lucy felt her cheeks warm again. She hated moments like these, where she found herself coming face to face with the reality that she still wasn't well adjusted with kids her age. She had no one else to blame but her father's business for that, either. It was hard to learn social cues when bouncing from city to city, state to state.

Levy noticed the girl's flushed cheeks, and gave her a small grin while handing her back her phone. "I put my number in there and just now texted myself," she said, and right on cue there was a tiny bell sounding off from the girl's pocket. "I have to head soon because I'm actually down here to meet my boyfriend, but a bunch of my friends are meeting up tomorrow night at the Guild. I'll text you," she said, tapping Lucy's phone.

"I'll send you the address," she continued when Lucy didn't offer a response. Levy smiled softly, giving the other girl's hand a light squeeze. "Seriously, you should come. I think you'd have fun. My hair might be blue, but my friends don't bite."

And after having an entire twenty-four hours to go over every possible scenario in her head, Lucy looked up once again at the Guild's flashing sign and realized she hadn't gone over every scenario.

Levy had never told her that the Guild was a bar.

Pulling her jacket tighter around her as she stood with her feet planted on the sidewalk, Lucy sighed. She shifted her weight, but still her feet stayed.

She wanted to walk in, she really did. Before she had arrived, Lucy wasn't sure if she actually wanted to go through a night of embarrassing herself before-possibly, no guarantee-becoming comfortable with Levy's friends. Now that the opportunity seemed impossible, she realized that she'd wanted the night more than she'd thought.

But there was no way that was going to happen now. There was no way she could go into a bar.

The night was a bust, and Levy would surely never want to talk to her again after Lucy ended up being a no show.

Without really knowing why, Lucy found herself wishing she'd brought her camera. She felt naked without it, standing on the sidewalk with nothing to fiddle with but her bracelet with the Fairy Tail emblem.

"'Hey fairy,'" she mumbled softly to herself, wondering if the familiar lyrics could at least provide some sense of comfort as she struggled with a solution. She bounced a little on her toes to keep warm. "'Where you going? I'm trying to assemble all this light. I'll shine it down and make tomorrow bright-'"

"Lucy?"

The blonde whipped around, praying that she hadn't been mumbling the lyrics loud enough for him to hear. She'd already recognized the voice. "Natsu?"

He was standing with his hands in his pockets, head tilted slightly to the side in a way that caused his bangs to fall in his eyes. Eyes that were, she noticed, zeroing in on her bracelet.

"What are you doing here?" they asked at the same time, their voices falling together in unison.

Natsu cracked a small grin while Lucy felt her cheeks warm up, and the girl found herself wanted to reach forward on the tips of her toes and brush the bangs to the side. If only to get a look at his eyes up close, but she stayed where she was.

The boy was just trying his hardest not to fall into his normal pattern. He didn't want to let a comment slip that would send a girl like Lucy running in the other direction. Natsu found himself actually wanting to get to know this one.

Unbeknownst to the other, Track 7's lyrics were playing on loop in both the teenagers' heads.

until next time... (GET READY FOR SOME HEAVY NALU CHAPTERS COMIN UR WAY AND LUCY GETTING CURIOUS ABOUT A CERTAIN BACKSTORY)