A/N: I told you this would be fucking longer. Holy shit, I'm so damn rusty writing chapters as lengthy as this. This was a bitch to do. Seriously, it's five AM. Hope you're fucking happy. Oh, and I have a poll up on my profile regarding length and shit. Go check it out. Although, I'm just gonna go and say that I'll do whatever the hell I want regardless of the outcome. I'm just curious, to be honest. Teehee.
Oh, and based on how the Warriors actually lost, can you tell how bad I am at guessing who wins? Fuck me, I lost so much money on this shit.
Anyway. Do me a favor and review. This shit needs some love, yo!
Hangover
Walking along the sidewalks of Magnolia's main street, Lucy hummed to herself, the air expunged from her lungs appearing in front of her in the form of disappearing light grey steam. Her pace was slow as she, unlike a certain pinket, didn't want to slip on some random ice and end up on the ground with an aching butt. The female's eyes drifted to the surrounding scenery, a small smile making its way to her lips at the sight of the many Christmas decorations adorning the large variety of shops surrounding her, the entire place being illuminated by the seemingly insurmountable number of Christmas lights hoisted atop the trees, wrapped around their branches like a form of armor.
Lucy liked Christmas. It was like the city itself dressed for the occasion, not to mention the holiday spirit that was practically oozing out of everywhere. It was dearly enticing, not to mention contagious; she couldn't help the feeling of warmth welling up within her.
The streets were mostly barren aside from several couples that were out on dates and stuff. It was Christmas Eve – everyone and their mother were spending time with their family and friends. She grimaced at the thought, yet quickly forced it down, refocusing on the event at hand.
She'd be spending her Christmas with Natsu and his friends. Ever since her mother passed away, the girl had never celebrated Christmas with anyone other than herself. Frankly, Lucy didn't know what to expect, but she knew that Natsu and the others were good people. Maybe she'd be able to enjoy this holiday, for once? She didn't know, but she was hoping for the best.
And the thought reaffirmed itself in her mind when she saw the guy in question running towards her.
"H-hey." Natsu stammered out between breaths, almost slipping as he came to a stop in front of her. He leaned forward and supported himself with his hands on his knees, trying to control his breathing.
The girl chuckled lightly, "You didn't have to run, you know?"
"Yeah, well, I wanted to-" see you, he wanted to say, but quickly bit it down. Oh thank Mavis his lack of breath was helping him by cutting him off. Head rising, Natsu's onyx eyes focused on the blonde female's form, widening ever so slightly at her appearance. She was wearing a white winter parka, left completely unzipped, revealing a long and loose red shoulderless blouse underneath. Black winter leggings covered her legs, together with the addition of red leg warmers going from her knees to her feet, all tucked into light-brown Timberland boots. She also wore a loose grey beanie over her head which left a good few locks of bright blonde hair falling over her eyes, and a knitted ash grey muffler left loose around her neck.
Natsu quickly realized he was staring, and coughed into his fist before smiling at her, "You look nice."
"Thanks." Heartfilia smiled back at him, head darting up to meet his eyes as he was about a whole foot taller than her, "You don't look too shabby yourself." She added, inspecting his form from head to toe. She was a bit curious as to what Natsu was going to say before he abruptly cut himself off, but she didn't push it.
A grin was the response she got, "Yo, you want to get some coffee?"
"Aren't we supposed to go to your place?"
Natsu just shrugged, "I mean, between me running here and Erik getting everything set up, I figure we still got half an hour or so to kill. Might as well get there when everything's primed, you know?"
Lucy just shook her head at this, clearly amused, "You just don't want to work for it, do you?" When he shrugged again, she just giggled and nodded, "Where to, lazypants?"
Natsu glared at her weakly, "I did actually help them out, you know?" He said, yet didn't push the conversation further when he saw the blonde sticking her tongue out. Then he hummed to himself, "Oh, I know. There's this coffee shop a few blocks from here. Opened a few weeks ago; Hacker's Lounge. Weird-ass name, I know, but I'm pretty sure they work today."
"I've been there before." Lucy admitted, prompting Natsu to turn to her, a curious really? escaping his throat, making her nod, "Yeah. Between studying and my part-time job, I really needed the caffeine to keep me going. Ugh, political economy." She said as they walked towards their destination, noticing how Natsu paled at the mention of studying, making her chuckle at his misery, "Okay, no talking about studies. Got it."
"It's Winter Break, after all." The fiery-haired individual said through a sigh. Suddenly, a question came to mind. Something he had wanted but kept forgetting to ask, "Say, you never told me about your job."
"Eh?" She paused temporarily, as if in thought, "With kids, mostly." She stated, and Natsu nodded for her to continue as they were gradually getting closer to the coffee shop, "Tutoring and things like that. Languages, history, literature, things like that."
"…that must be so interesting. Is studying and teaching all you do?" The pinket joked with a roll of his eyes, snickering when she poked him with her elbow.
"Hey, I'll have you know they enjoy my classes. Lots of parents keep thanking me for them and I hear their grades have gotten waaaaaaay better in school." She argued, and Natsu couldn't help but snicker again.
"Whatever you say, professor blondie." Lucy just sighed at him before lightly shoving him towards the inside of the shop when they were close to it. The place was relatively empty aside the few couples that were there. Neither of them really felt awkward or embarrassed because of this since this isn't your stupidly written stutter-of-a-romance story. Heh.
Like they had before, Natsu chose a Cappuccino, Lucy went for a Late, "Merry Christmas to you too." Heartfilia smiled to the cashier lady, taking her change and leaving it in her wallet before pocketing the item in her purse, "Let's go?" Lucy questioned as she turned over her shoulder, noticing that her companion was staring at a TV screen with a rather… different expression than what she was used to seeing on him.
He looked angry.
Borderline snarling.
Quirking an eyebrow at this, the female followed his gaze, noticing the news were on. A reporter had been explaining the current status of the economy and whatnot. He had dark hair, dark eyes, extremely pale skin, and what looked like a rather sickly complexion. But that wasn't what caught her attention. It was his last name.
Dragneel.
Lucy's eyes widened slightly when it hit her, Natsu's relative? A cousin, maybe? She thought to herself curiously, turning back to the pinket. The look he had on his person… it wasn't something you would show someone you're related to. Natsu, in all honesty, looked like he was ready to kill. Just the sight of the dark haired individual on the TV screen looked like it had ignited a pure form of hatred in him the blonde had only ever seen in her father.
And it unnerved her.
"N-Natsu…?" She called out, grasping at his sleeve, "Hey, Natsu?"
The Dragneel that was in front of her was immediately awoken from his stupor. He turned to her, his angered expression still very much intact; a glare so fierce it looked like it was going to devour her whole. However, that quickly faded. Natsu realized how uneasy she had become because of this sudden overflow of his inner emotions, and he shook his head, covering his face with his free palm.
"S-sorry…" He said quickly, directing his previous anger at himself, Goddamnit, Natsu. Get your shit together! Natsu howled at himself inwardly, annoyed that he let himself be manipulated by that asshole again. He finally turned to the girl, forcing a smile, "Yeah, uuuh…" Boy this was awkward, "So that happened."
Heartfilia kept staring at him for a good few moments. Maybe she was waiting for some sort of explanation – she couldn't tell herself. But what she did know, however, was that Natsu wasn't going to tell her anything else. Not now. And, like with a lot of things, Lucy didn't push the subject. Unlike other things, though, this matter was clearly one that pushed Natsu over the edge in more ways than one, and she didn't feel comfortable asking about it. That didn't mean she wasn't worried. On the contrary. She was worried enough that she would ignore the discomfort and eventually ask.
But not today.
Today was Christmas.
And they were going to celebrate it properly.
Collecting herself and getting her mind out of the gutter, Lucy made eye contact with the pinket, and smiled at him warmly, "You alright?"
Natsu would be lying if he said he wasn't taken aback by this, but then again Lucy surprised him on a lot of fronts, this being only one of them. The way she didn't ask him any questions at first made him think she just didn't give a shit. However, that worried expression she had shown him just seconds ago made him realize that it was backwards; the girl looked like she cared too much. She just didn't want to burden him by forcing him to answer, perhaps. He couldn't tell.
And for that he was painfully grateful.
He nodded, smiling, "Let's go?"
"Yeah."
The walk back to Natsu's place was mostly uneventful. The duo of the pinket and Lucy had remained relatively silent. Natsu seemed rather on edge ever since he saw the news broadcast back at the café, and Lucy frankly seemed borderline scared to ask him about it. She didn't know what happened between him and his relative, but even she knew that he didn't get this angry. Ever. Regardless of the fact that she didn't know him all that well.
In the back of her head Lucy couldn't help but wonder what the guy did to piss him off so much.
It was getting awkward at a quick pace, and, luckily for both of them, Natsu noticed this and struck up a conversation occasionally. Finals were the highlight of their chosen topics, although it was mostly Natsu bitching about how stupid they could get.
"Oh, remember that one time the professor said the exam would mostly consist of true/false and short answer questions?"
"Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaah, and then, BOOM, we get ten essay questions. Whoop-dee-fuckin'-doo."
"And we're not going to talk about the fact that we haven't covered the material for at least three of those, right?"
"Nope. I'm fairly certain I'm bordering cancer already."
"What about the take-home finals?"
"…Canceeeeeeeer, baby! I'm home!"
"And the summaries for our final projects?"
"You know, this is probably why people call me an alcoholic."
"Not because of your horrendous life choices?"
"…shut up."
Between crying and laughing, the choice was neigh-impossible to make for either of them.
It was around ten after nine by the time they reached Natsu's place. Lucy heaved out an uneasy breath, feeling as though she had been holding it in for quite some time. Natsu turned back to her, curious, "Nervous?"
"Yeah, just a bit." She admitted, giving him a soft smile. It had been a while since Lucy spent Christmas with someone. Anyone. And now she'd be spending it with people she hardly knew. Sure, she knew the pinket to a degree, but it wasn't like they were super acquainted.
Chuckling to himself quietly, Natsu showed her a wide and toothy grin before ruffling her hair, surprising her and, well, making her pout, "Don't worry, they're cool… sort of. Steer clear of that piss-for-brains Gray, though. I'm almost a hundred and ten percent sure whatever mental illness that retard's got is contagious."
The giggle that left the blonde female was almost automatic, "Noted." She replied as Natsu unlocked the door and they let themselves into his apartment.
Lucy inspected the place with a mildly curious gaze as they entered and Natsu locked the door behind them. It was a rather modern three room apartment; two bedrooms, and a living room that was connected with the kitchen. What surprised Lucy the most, though, was the fact that it had three bathrooms; one in the hall near the entry to the apartment, and one for either of the bedrooms. Somewhat overkill, but she reckoned it was convenient. All in all it looked fairly cozy. Costly, too, but Natsu decided to shed light on the fact that the place belonged to Laxus' grandfather and they were just renting it out with something of a discount.
Natsu was quick to both hang up his jacket and do the same with Lucy's. They kicked off their shoes and made for the living room, being greeted by the sight of a smirking Erik and a smiling Kagura.
"Yo." The aforementioned redhead greeted, giving Heartfilia a lazy salute.
"Good evening." Lucy replied somewhat uneasily, offering a small smile in greeting. Now she was honestly at a bit of a loss. Should she just sit down at the table? Which was pretty damn packed with food and drinks, by the way. Maybe she should introduce herself? She didn't know. Quite frankly Lucy was a bit awkward whenever she was meeting new people. The fact that Natsu decided to go to the bathroom and leave her alone didn't help matters either.
"You're Lucy, right?" The female next to Erik questioned as she quickly stood up and moved towards the blonde. Lucy nodded, and the dark-violet haired woman offered the girl a warm smile, "I'm Kagura. It's a nice to finally get to know you in person."
Lucy quirked a confused brow at the word finally, and Erik could barely restrain a grin when he heard the bathroom's door open, "You and Natsu are dating, right?"
Natsu's abnormally sensitive ears picked this up, and he honestly almost choked on his own saliva when his brain registered the question. He peeked around the corner, an irritated frown manifesting itself on his face when he saw Kagura talking to the blonde and Erik giggling like a little girl.
Heartfilia was a bit taken aback by the question but, surprisingly, hadn't lost her cool. She gave a light chuckle as a response, "No, we… we don't know each other that well, to be honest." She answered, and something tickled at the back of the pinket's head.
Hey, she didn't use the whole 'we're just friends' shtick. Huh. He mused inwardly, a bit curious of the whole predicament.
"O-oh…" Kagura paused, a bit surprised by her words. And yet, inwardly, she couldn't lie that she was amused, "Well you two will have plenty of time to get to know each other tonight."
Erik almost doubled over laughing.
Lucy offered an awkward smile.
Natsu just rolled his eyes.
Fucking typical.
"Kagura." Natsu greeted as he made his presence known from around the corner, giving the female an annoyed glare whilst she showed him a sly smirk, "I need a drink. Beer okay with you?"
Lucy nodded in response before Natsu went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and took out two bottles. Skillfully, he pushed one against the other, loosening both caps before simply opening them with the short nails of his thumbs, "Oi, gimme one too." He heard Erik call out, and the pinket quickly fished out another bottle and tossed it to the redhead, "Not gonna open mine?"
"Do it yourself, asshat." Dragneel replied, borderline growling, forcing the redhead to sigh at his antics and begrudgingly open his own bottle.
"Stingy douche."
Natsu bonked him over the head.
"Oi."
"…are they always like this?" Lucy questioned the other female in the room, pointing her index finger at the two childishly arguing forwards.
Kagura gave a sharp hah at the question, "Like you wouldn't believe. You know how there's the level of the arguing married couple, right? Those two are worse. It's like they love each other beyond normal human comprehension."
"Hey, I don't love this frizzy cunt."
"But you love my dick though, pinky."
"The fuck did you just say? Couldn't hear you over the sound of all those nuts you've been choking on."
"See what I mean?" Kagura couldn't resist the urge to facepalm, and Lucy… well, let's just say Lucy was both appalled and amused by the sight, rolling her eyes and laughing. Soon enough the girls were forced to get Erik and Natsu off of each other as they got into their usual scuffle, "They're a handful sometimes- most of the time."
"…I can see how that's a thing- get off of him, Natsu!" The blonde girl groaned as she tried to pull the pinket's hand off of Erik's throat, already feeling thoroughly done with their bullshit.
"B-but this guy-"
"Natsu." Dragneel literally cringed at the tone Lucy used. Turning over his shoulder, he froze when he saw the death-promising glare she exposed him to, and he was positively convinced that not even Erza was able of something that volatile. Gulping down, Natsu quickly nodded, whilst Kagura, on the other hand, found this amusing. And several other adjectives that made her giggle.
"Serves you right, fuckface." Erik growled as he rubbed his cheek which had been punched by Natsu. He, however, was made painfully aware of two pairs of eyes that were directed at him dangerously. Cringing, he noticed how both Kagura and Lucy were glaring at him after his last comment, and he muttered a quick S-sorry! before making to calmly sit next to Natsu, both of their heads down.
The girls shared a collective sigh.
"And you deal with this on a daily basis?"
"More like hourly."
The two had eventually settled down, and what people were present took their seats on the couch next to the table. Kagura and Lucy were making conversation, getting to know each other, whilst Erik eyed them curiously. This little escapade he just had with Natsu, despite how completely idiotic it was, served to somehow help her ease into the group. Well, there were still people on the way, but regardless of that it gave some kind of ground for Lucy to be able to talk to Kagura without it being awkward at all, which was honestly a good thing. He had to wonder, though…
The SF looked to Natsu, noticing how he was browsing stupid shit on 9gag on his phone.
Nope, what he did was definitely not intentional.
After five or so minutes the doorbell rang. A somewhat annoyed Gajeel and a curious yet distant Levy joined in. Natsu noticed how Lucy's eyes were almost instantly locked on the bluenette, and he smirked to himself, leaning towards the blonde.
"You should talk to her." He whispered, giving her a light bump with his elbow.
Lucy jumped in her seat, almost making the pinket howl with laughter, "N-no. It's alright, I mean…"
"Lucy?" Levy's voice interrupted the blonde, and she turned to the girl, bewildered, "Lucy Heartfilia?" Confused, she momentarily lost herself before hastily nodding, responding with a rushed Y-Yeah! Yes! I'm Lucy!, making the blue haired female smile at her, "Natsu told me about you. Said you really liked my notes?"
"Uh…" She blinked, stumped, "Huh?" The blonde's hazel eyes trailed to Natsu who had an extremely large shit-eating grin on his face.
"Thank me later." He winked at her and moved to greet Gajeel. Well, 'greet' wasn't the right word since the duo almost got into a fight, to which none of the females, aside from Kagura, really reacted to. The dark-violet haired female instantly promised death to either of the two, taking a knife made for cutting food in her hands, forcing them to sweat bullets and settle down. Lucy and Levy, on the other hand, instantly hit it off, discussing finals, papers, projects and whatnot.
"Neeeeeeeeeeeerds." Gajeel hummed, smirking in amusement whilst both Natsu and Erik were nodding their heads in agreement.
Levy was about to reply something, but a lout –please, Gray-sama! interrupted her.
Lucy swore she had never seen Natsu almost cry from laughter like he did.
Fullbuster, together with a girl who the blonde knew was named Juvia Lockser, came into the apartment as well. Gray looked absolutely done with the phenomena known as life whilst Juvia was holding onto his arm for dear life, her mind swimming in the colossal cesspool that were her thoughts filled with Gray-samaaaaaaa!
The last arriving duo joined the small group, and the small party began. The girls were talking about their finals experiences. Kagura, who had already graduated college a year ago, recited her damnable experience regarding her bachelor's thesis and how much of a pain in the ass it was while Lucy and Levy just nodded their heads and spoke about how their time in college wasn't any different, really. And Juvia… well, Juvia was doing Juvia things. Like staring deeply into Gray's eyes. And his hair. And his arms. And body. And… just staring at Gray in general. You get the picture.
The guys were discussing basketball, collectively trying to figure out who the hell this new coach Laxus went to talk to was supposed to be. It had honestly surprised them when Jellal came out with the news that there was someone coming to FTU who could possibly help them out and make them a better unit. They were skeptical, but weren't really opposed to the idea. Aside from Gray, anyway. Gray was too busy trying not to cringe from Juvia's gaze.
"Why the fuck did you tell me to bring her here?"
Erik grinned, "Because you have needs, Gray."
The brunet's face paled, and Gajeel just barked out a laugh, "You obviously haven't bumped uglies in a while. If ever."
"What does 'bumping uglies' mean, Gray-sama?" Juvia questioned, looking both confused and interested.
It was then that Natsu had utterly lost it.
And he was drinking his beer at the same time, as fate would have it.
Suffice it to say the drink ended up on Gajeel as the pinket burst out laughing almost maniacally.
Lucy turned to the sight before her. Erik fell off the couch, laughing his ass off. Gajeel had stood up and held Natsu by the collar, throwing insults at him left and right whilst the pinket could barely muster up replies in between laughter. Gray hid his face in his palms, which did very little to hide the red on his cheeks. Juvia was checking up if the guy was alright. Kagura was sighing to herself tiredly, yet was still smiling. And Levy was just giggling quietly while shaking her head.
Now, I'm once again going to mention that other, horrendous animu universe where Lucy's reaction would've most likely been feeling some sort of fuzzy feeling in her chest and tearing up, by which point Natsu would've asked if she was alright, grinned, and welcomed her to the group, or something along those lines.
That's obviously not the case here.
See, in the real world, people hide their emotions. Especially when crying is involved. Remember this well, kiddies, before somebody thinks you're retarded. While, yeah, Lucy did feel happy, she, however, just laughed along with everybody else. She did find the sight endearing, that's a given, and she did think that these people were good and she'd love to become a part of this group. But it won't go to cheese so horribly that she'd start crying. And, Mavis, this isn't something to fucking cry over.
Deal with it.
After that whole chaotic scene, the evening continued. The small group of eight eventually pushed the table aside to host a little Secret Santa game. However, this one was a bit different from what people would normally do with the whole drawing random names out of a box. Erik fished out a large paper dice Kagura had made while Natsu went to get Lucy, and they all stood in a small circle, each holding the present they bought for the occasion.
The rules were simple: each person had to try the dice, and if they got an even number like two, four or six they could take someone else's present for themselves. The gimmick was an interesting twist, especially considering that some of the people present bought small bottles of liquor as presents. Gray had tried to swipe all three bottles for himself and drink them, all alone and brooding. The rationale he gave for this was because of, well… that's probably fairly obvious. That didn't fly, however, as Kagura, true to her OOC personality, made things difficult for the brunet by constantly trying to steal the bottles in his possession, all the while laughing at his misery whenever he lost one of his treasures.
The game went on for a good long while and, eventually, everyone ended up with a random present. Surprisingly, no one was left out, which was rather unusual for this type of game.
Gray ended up sobbing, cursing Mavis and everything else while Kagura laughed and Natsu made fun of him. Admittedly, Fullbuster and the aforementioned fiery haired Dragneel almost got into a fight because of this, which would be the third fight for the evening. Lucy wasn't even surprised by them at that particular point.
"Oh, I know." Erik spoke up, a grin making its way to his lips, "How about we play that." He offered, and the faces of Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel paled.
"Please, no."
"How about you go fuck yourself?"
"Yooo. Fuck that."
"Play what?"
Natsu groaned very overdramatically when Lucy inquired about that. The girl was already somewhat tipsy. So much so that she even asked about that. Normally, he knew Lucy wouldn't have wanted to pry. And Gods, now was not the time.
The grin their red haired SF sported only grew at this as he moved to sit next to Lucy and slung an arm around her, pulling her close, "Okay, you see that?" He asked, pointing to the TV and the PlayStation 4 below it, "See, me and the boys often play NBA2k16. It's a basketball game, which you've probably heard about once or twice." The girl nodded, "But, the normal games aren't enough. We've played that shit over a bazillion times already. Just dunking on the other guy's gotten boring real fucking fast, y'know?"
Okay, Lucy could see how that made sense.
"So, we decided to put some wagers behind it." His grin grew, "And that is how that was born." Erik's eyes drifted to Lucy, glee welling up inside him when he realized how positively enthusiastic she started to seem at the game. This poor, poor naïve girl.
"Think you can handle it?"
"Luce, no. Please, say no-"
"I'll do it." She beamed, and Natsu's jaw almost literally went slack, Goddamnit, woman.
"Great!" Erik laughed as he shot up on his feet, taking up a thinking pose, "Okay, you're paired up with Natsu." A quiet fuck my life was heard from the pinket's general direction, "But we need another one… Oh! I know!" He turned to Gajeel, and the PG facepalmed and sighed as Erik grinned and pointed to him and Levy, "You two."
"I fucking hate you." Gajeel growled, and Levy only looked between the duo, feeling thoroughly lost. It couldn't be that bad, right?
Oh hell yeah it could.
"Alrighty then!" Erik clapped his hands together and started up the game, all the while grinning, "Okay, so, since the girls don't know, I'll explain the rules." He went on, "Gajeel and Natsu will play each other with whichever teams of their choosing. One match, six minutes per quarter. The main point of this game is… whenever someone scores, the team that got scored on both drink a shot." That singular rule, albeit while it took a while, finally sunk into Lucy's brain, and she instantly felt like throwing up, "A two is a point zero two. A three is a point zero five. If you manage a proper three point play through a foul, it's the same as a three. And if you manage a four point play when you get fouled while throwing a three and make it…" He turned to Natsu, grinning because he knew Gajeel was particularly good at sinking those, "You drink a point one."
Lucy finally realized the horrible mistake she made when Natsu turned to her, a deadpan look on his face, "S-Sorry?"
He shook his head, "Sorry won't cut it this time, professor blondie. We either play, or this asshole won't let us hear the end of it."
"Exactly!" The redhead spoke aloud, sounding much too happy for either Natsu or Gajeel's liking.
"You're evil." Kagura said, shaking her head in amusement.
"Gray-sama?"
"…Mavis, help me."
Begrudgingly, the duo of Natsu and Gajeel went to sit in front of the TV, both taking up controllers. The girls sat behind them, pretty much looking scared for their lives. Or livers. Whichever works, really. Erik was already in the process of fishing out over ten shot glasses from the kitchen cabinet, setting them down on the table.
Natsu grabbed two bottles of Skittles vodka; the ones he liked most – lime and strawberry. If they were going to be practically drowning in these, at least it would taste good. He handed Lucy his own favorite, which was the green one, "Here, take this. Trust me, it's the best of the batch." Lucy nodded as she took the offered item and placed it close to her person.
"Hey, you're not supposed to drink anything below forty."
"This is vodka, you dumbass. It's exactly forty." He said adamantly, giving Erik the evil eye. The SF stared at his teammate somewhat suspiciously, eventually shrugging. Truth be told, between the skittles and the skittle jizz filtering, the drink probably lost some of its punch, but Erik didn't need to know that.
Finally, the game was on. Gajeel picked the current Warriors team to rack up threes and those four-point plays, and Natsu decided on the 1999-2000 Lakers, wanting to have a healthy mixture of jumpers and physical play. Seriously, neither of the guys had ever put so much thought in playing 2k16. If it weren't for the fact that Lucy and Levy had to drink with them, they'd probably set the teams to random and go wild. But they didn't want the girls to get too drunk. Well, one of them, at least, since one of them was obviously going to lose.
Little did they know that Erik was banking on that.
These dumbasses don't even know the meaning of defense, he mused inwardly, chuckling to himself. Both Natsu and Gajeel were extremely skilled offensive players at the game, but their defense was lackluster. This would end up being a run and gun game on both sides of the court, and that was proven when Natsu got the first dunk. Gajeel cursed under his breath as he and Levy were forced to take the first series of shots.
(A/N: Don't try this at home, kids. I did, and, well… let's just say it went horribly. I'm surprised I didn't need a liver transplant or someshit.)
Gajeel wouldn't go down without a fight, though. Of course not, it was the first fucking shot of the game, for Heaven's sake. And he did exactly what Natsu thought he would. He wanted a four point play, but Natsu instinctively darted back with Kobe, trying to avoid the foul. The three went in, but at least it wasn't what it could've been.
A sigh escaped Natsu as he took up his shot glass, noticing that Erik had already lined over five up since he soon wouldn't be able to keep up with the serving. He turned to Lucy, feeling sorry for the girl who had clear indications of dread on her face, "…bottoms up?" Albeit uneasily, the girl replied with a Y-yeah… before chugging down the shot, being closely followed by Natsu.
The pinket enjoyed the taste, honestly. His dark eyes once again looked to Lucy, noticing that, whilst her face did wrinkle up ever so slightly due to the remaining burn caused by the vodka, it definitely wasn't as bad as it would've been if it was the pure version of the drink.
Gods that would've sucked.
It sucked enough as it was.
And fuck was Natsu surprised when Lucy was starting to get into it.
By the time the first quarter was over, the blonde was already buzzed. The end score was 28-34 in Gajeel's favor, and both the girl and the fiery haired Dragneel were feeling the burn, having finished one of the two point five bottles.
"That's a foul! Referee! What are you doing?!" Heartfilia yelled, leaning over Natsu's shoulder as she pushed her fist forward. This made Natsu get pumped, yeah, but her tits, which were quite literally rubbing against the side of his face, were one hell of a distraction.
"Psh. No it wasn't. Gajeel's defense was just better!" Levy, shockingly, argued, glaring at Lucy who gave an equally dangerous evil-eye back.
"Like hell it was! That was clearly a reach-in!"
Natsu and Gajeel made eye contact, and neither of them knew how to react to this. On one front seeing those two go at it was hilarious on too many levels to count; on another it was so damn depressing when they realized they had three more quarters of this to go.
Erik, on the other hand, was having a blast and was laughing his ass off. Kagura could instantly guess what he was doing, aside from the usual search of shits and giggles. She figured the guy was trying to get Natsu and Lucy together. And yet, in her mind, she didn't think that would work. If it was that simple Natsu would've already slept with her ages ago. Going by the few conversations Kagura had with the blonde, this girl might have struck the pinket in ways only one person has ever before.
And that made her smile.
As for Gray and Juvia… ugh.
Ever been in that awkward situation when a guy or girl is just all over you and won't leave you alone even if you just randomly flat out shat yourself in the middle of the room? Yeah, it's annoying as balls.
Second quarter in, the barrage of scoring and drinking followed. Gajeel managed to get off a four point play, and Natsu almost tossed his controller across the room in response to this. Half of the quarter wasn't even over before the second bottle was gone, and they had to get another one. Orange, this time around.
"Kobe!" Natsu shouted when he actually managed to force a four point play himself, grinning at Gajeel's misery as Lucy stuck her tongue out, still very much leaning on Natsu's shoulders from behind him.
Some fouls and curse words later, the first half was over and done with. Gajeel went for a smoke to clear his brain, and Natsu decided to stretch. As soon as he stood up, he felt dizzy. The alcohol hit him all at once, "Oh, fuck. This is going to end very, very badly." He looked to Lucy, giving a rather humorless hah at the sight.
She looked so damn happy it was weird.
No, seriously. She was acting like a cat. Like a fucking cat.
"Natsuuuu… pet me!"
Wait, did she just- did I fucking hear that right?
"Meow!"
Oh my fucking God.
Natsu could very barely suppress a cringe. Slowly, almost painfully, he moved to gently scratch her chin.
"Meow~"
It was then that Natsu Dragneel voluntarily poured three shots for himself and downed them all in a row.
"Gray-samaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Add two more.
Luckily, Gajeel was a quick smoker, so they ended up continuing the match before Natsu got drunk all by his lonesome self. The girls kept getting into the game as quarter three ended, and Natsu managed to tear down Gajeel's lead to just two points.
"You remember what happens to the loser, right?" Dragneel questioned through a grin as he turned to the dark haired male, noticing how his eyes narrowed.
"You're on, pinky."
"Bite me, jackass."
Their focus through the roof, both players completely zoned out what was happening around them. The cheers, the tits in their faces, the drinks, everything. The amount of concentration that went into a video game almost resembled entering the zone in an actual match.
The conclusion was sudden when that last clutch three hit the bucket without even stirring the rim.
Gajeel cursed aloud.
Natsu grinned victoriously.
"That moment when you hit a three with Shaq. Fucking Shaq."
"Oh shove that shit back up your asshole." The red-eyed point guard snarled, the alcohol working on his more aggressive side as Natsu's facial expression hit every red flag to piss him the hell off.
However, that was swiftly quelled when Erik's arm wrapped around Gajeel's shoulder, "Gajeeeeeeeeel." Erik borderline purred, making the PG cringe before dread washed over him. He looked to the completely wiped out Levy who seemed to be in her own little world by this point.
"…fine." The dark haired individual said begrudgingly as he moved to the fridge and fished out an open beer bottle, "How old is this?"
"Two, maybe three months?"
"I still don't get why the fuck would you keep beer this old in your fridge."
"Why, exactly for this reason, G. You should know this."
Without saying anything else, Gajeel just chugged it… and literally almost gagged. The kicker of this game was that, if you lost, you had to chug a beer. Being as drunk as you would obviously already be after such a game, this was a guaranteed nail in the coffin. Not to mention the fact that Erik usually decided to spice it up by making the beer disgusting as fuck due to age.
"No, seriously. You're Satan incarnate."
"Thank you, love." Erik replied to Kagura's comment, grinning.
"NOW!" Natsu yelled as he slammed both of his hands on Erik's shoulders from behind. Hard, "It's your fucking turn."
The redhead blinked several times, being caught off guard, "Wait, what? But-"
"No fucking buts." Natsu growled, glaring holes down at his roommate, "You made us go through this bullshit. Now it's your turn, you cockbite."
Erik very visibly cringed at this, and tried looking to Kagura for support. The female just shrugged, mentally noting that Erik dug this grave for himself. Then he looked to Gray, noticing that he actually smiled at this, "Dude, what the fuck-why?"
Fullbuster shrugged, "I want to get drunk. So. Goddamn. Drunk. I think the reason is obvious."
"Gray-sama!"
"…point taken." Erik sighed, messing up his own hair, "AGH! FINE!"
However, before they could start, something slammed against the table. Erik paled when he noticed the bottles Natsu brought from their bar.
Fireball and Patrón.
They were fucked.
He looked to Gray once more, who yet again shrugged, "I see absolutely no problem with this."
"…motherfucker."
As soon as the first quarter was over, Erik looked like he was about to puke, and Kagura was furious with him for sucking so much at the game. So much so that she almost stole the controller right from under him. Gray was in bliss, feeling the hot liquid going down his throat overshadow the slender hands that kept deviating dangerously close to his crotch.
"…I sometimes think he's gay."
"I always thought he was, to be honest." Natsu replied, making Gajeel chuckle. Both of them exchanged glances before looking towards their female 'teammates,' noticing how positively drunk they were, "This… is going to be annoying."
"Tell me about it."
It wasn't like the two of them weren't buzzed. Hell, to anyone else they'd probably seem sober. They were the luckiest type of alcoholic. The ones who, if they didn't get drunk that they border liver-failure, will seem relatively cognitive and understandable.
Levy had almost passed out.
And Lucy… Lucy was like yours truly – how many times does this make it? I think I've broken the fourth wall like, what, four-to-five times in this story already? Aw, fuck it. Lucy was the type of drunk who, after reaching a certain level of drunk – AKA happy as fuck drunk – could drink however much she wanted. If she didn't drink, she'd just sober up and every single alcoholic beverage she'd taste afterwards would end up being extremely disgusting. If she continued drinking, she could literally drink barrels upon barrels of whatever and not get any drunker… until it all hit her in the head like a freight train, by which point a blackout was guaranteed.
Natsu was quickly able to realize this judging by how happily drunk she seemed. That and he was able to figure out that she was definitely bordering passing out. A sigh escaped him before he chuckled to himself and looked to Kagura, who had caught on. She nodded to the pinket, and he rubbed the back of his head.
Dragneel went to crouch in front of Lucy, "Ooooh… there are two Natsus!" ...since when does alcohol make you hallucinate? Nevermind, don't answer that.
"Lucy." He said sweetly, smiling up at her, "You think it's time I got you home?"
"Don't wanna!"
Natsu's brow twitched, "Lucy."
"I. Don't. Wanna!" She pouted.
Another twitch, "Lucy."
"Waaaaaaah." She whined, leaning forward and embracing the fiery haired PF, "Natsu's angry!" Lucy laughed, and Natsu sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time before chuckling to himself.
"Have it your way." He said through a barely visible smirk. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he stood up, sweeping the girl off of her feet. Lucy only giggled before sneaking her legs around him, letting him carry her. He noticed Erik's smirking face.
"Bold."
"Shut the fuck up."
Natsu wasted no time to get Lucy into her jacket and helped her with her shoes. He then slipped into his own parka, this time also deciding on winter boots that were a bit more suited for this weather. Taking her piggyback without acknowledging her protests, Natsu went out the door, turning over his shoulder to Kagura who gave him a thumbs up before closing and locking the door behind them.
"Why is everyone in my life such a fucking asshole?"
The next half an hour or so was spent with Natsu struggling to get Lucy home. The girl was relatively loud and active all throughout the trip, treating the pinket as something close to a horse, yelling giddy up! and things like that. They fell into a heap of snow several times, too. Natsu, surprisingly, wasn't even angry about that. On the contrary – he was having fun, which was weird.
He hadn't had this much fun since his ex.
And my God he felt the cheese because of it.
They eventually reached Lucy's apartment complex, and Natsu made for the elevator, heading to the eighth floor. While going there he had managed to coax from Lucy her exact address and swipe her keys from her purse, "8-7… 8-7… there it is." The pinket spoke under his breath as he wandered the corridor of the eight floor, finally finding his destination. Lucy had long since fallen asleep on his back, her head leaning against his right shoulder, releasing very soft yet drunken snores, which he thought were rather cute.
The tired Power Forward shoved Lucy's key into the door and unlocked it before letting himself in. He flipped a switch to his side, letting the light from above shine down on them. The blonde on his back rustled slightly, but didn't wake up. He looked around, noticing that her apartment really was similar to his. Two bedrooms, and a living room with a connecting kitchen. Only one bathroom, though, which actually makes a lot of sense.
Natsu was just glad Lucy's roommate was out for Winter Break. Gods this would've been awkward if she was there.
Finally finding what looked like the blonde's room, he sat back on her bed and laid her down on the comfortable surface, gently placing the covers over her. He took a few seconds to inspect her room; several posters on the walls, lots of books, a mess of a journal on the table… wait, a journal? He wondered as he approached the brown-covered book.
Now, normally, Natsu wasn't someone who snuck his nose into other peoples' private business. However, he wasn't exactly sober, so his brain wasn't operating at its nominal capacity.
That and he saw his name on the open page, which got him curious.
I'm going to spend Christmas with Natsu and the others at their place. I don't really know what to expect, but that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to it! It'll be a welcome change. Ever since mom passed, I-
It was exactly then that Natsu curbstomped himself in his mind and averted his eyes. No, way too personal. Finding out something like this from something as personal as Lucy's journal was definitely not the way to go. She'd get pissed at him and tell him to fuck off, most likely, and he really didn't want that to happen.
Natsu scratched the back of his head, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. Shrugging to himself, he made for the kitchen, deciding that she'd need this when she woke up. He fished out an empty glass from her kitchen cabinet and filled it with ice-cold water, moving to her room minutes later.
What he saw was definitely not what he was expecting.
Lucy's clothes were scattered all over the place, and the girl was lying on her bed, the covers thrown away in a random direction.
And she was wearing nothing but her underwear.
Holy mother of-
Gulping down some saliva that had built up in his throat, Natsu uneasily moved towards the bed. He placed the glass of water on the nightstand and then carefully, so carefully that he thought he was dealing with freaking nitroglycerin, moved to cover her body with the bedsheets lest she got cold during the night.
…when a sudden hand gripped his collar and pulled him towards the blonde.
Oh.
Natsu was barely fast enough to move his arms to either side of her head, supporting his own weight with his elbows so he didn't directly fall on her. His eyes, somewhat dizzy, locked on her form, widening at the sight. Her eyes were still sleepy and buzzed, a deep shade of red covering her cheeks. Her mouth was open ever so slightly, slow and heavy breaths escaping her as she gazed at the basketball player.
"Natsu…" She cooed. Borderline purred. And Natsu had an extremely difficult time restraining himself, which was made that much more difficult when he again realized that she was wearing nothing but this amazing pair of underwear that he swore he wanted nothing more than to rip off of her and dig into her delicious body.
Something in him, however, didn't let him do it. He knew he'd probably hate himself afterwards. And she'd probably hate him for taking advantage of her, too. He didn't want that. No, it was honestly one of the worst things he could imagine himself doing right at that moment.
And yet he himself never noticed how he was slowly leaning in towards her. His lips parted by mere millimeters, his mind going fuzzy, "Dragneel… was that… who…?"
Natsu froze on the spot, his wide eyes locked on her as she asked this one seemingly innocent question that wiped every single indecent thought from his head. He looked at her, confused and lost, "…why?"
"You… you seemed so… angry?" As the question left her mouth, Natsu hung his head in defeat, Fuck, he thought to himself angrily, remembering that news broadcast he saw on TV. He let out an uneasy breath.
"That… that was my brother-" His voice caught when he saw that Lucy's eyes were closed and she was back in sandman's land. The pinket blinked several times, pretty much bewildered, before a series of quiet laughs left his throat, "Ooooh my fucking God…! This woman is driving me crazy!" He growled under his breath lowly, yet not a shred of actual animosity was in his words.
Natsu then quickly moved away from her, looking down at her half-naked form hungrily. He then actually slapped himself, "No, Goddamnit." He hissed and slipped out of his flannel before placing it over her. A smile made its way to Natsu's lips when Lucy, almost as if on instinct, made herself comfortable in his piece of clothing, wrapping it around her form.
He shook his head before placing the bedsheets over her. In a moment of weakness, Natsu froze, regarding her sleeping, delicate face, and leaned forward. His lips brushed against her temple, and he chuckled to himself quietly when the girl let out a subconscious moan, "Goodnight, Lucy. And Merry Christmas."
And when he was out of her room, the PF was faced with a dilemma: leave her to her own devices and go home, or stay the night? Well, Lucy would probably feel like shit in the morning, and he kind of wanted to help her with that since he had plenty of experience dealing with hangovers. Hah. That and Lucy had only one pair of keys. Leaving the door unlocked was out of the question.
"…living room couch it is. Let's just hope she doesn't think I'm some kind of pervert. Mavis, help me, that's probably what's gonna fucking happen tomorrow. Fuck you, Erik. Fuck everything about you."