Author's Notes: I dunno if I like this chapter or not, to be honest.
Ahhh thank you for 145!
Start placing your bets for the ending ships, folks!
Lucy had learned many things in this past week while working with Natsu, but most prominently, she discovered that Ro's cooking was phenomenal, and that Saran really didn't like her for some reason.
"What's going on with you guys today," she smiled towards the waiters and waitresses. Lucy sighed, before continuing. "Natsu thought it would be good for me to finally try my hand at some waitressing here."
That got quite a few hollers. "Lucy-san, have you ever been a waitress?" Shen asked. Lucy nodded.
"Quite a bit, actually. I was a waitress back in my old town for almost nine years," she said.
"How did you even manage to get by with just waitressing," Saran scoffed. "Did you have some sort of other lowly job on the side?"
Lucy frowned. "That's personal information," she said simply, crossing her arms and redirecting her attention towards the others. She was not in the mood to let Saran ruin her day.
"Will you be taking over someone else's shift?" Panda asked curiously. Lucy shook her head.
"Not at all. You guys can all continue working like you normally do. I'll just be around, and if I find a table to work with, I will," she explained.
Everyone looked doubtful at that. "Are you sure? Isn't that kind of not as fair?" Yule asked.
"No, it isn't, since I still have my manager duties to take care of," Lucy said. "I can't let those stand by and-"
"Not so fast, Luce," a new voice chimed in. Everyone looked to the doorway with wide eyes. The workers immediately sunk into a low bow once they saw their boss. Lucy, however, only scoffed.
"What are you talking about?" Lucy grumbled, glaring at Natsu.
"Oi, that isn't the way to treat your friend," Natsu said, emphasizing the last word. Lucy groaned. It was true, she had had no choice but to agree to being his friend after the incident last week. Unfortunately for her, Nashi had admitted to being Natsu's friend, meaning that Lucy also was forced to be his friend.
"Dragneel-sama," everyone said politely.
Natsu grinned, enjoying the power he held over everyone. Lucy rolled her eyes once she noticed his expression of glee.
"Anyway, Luce, I'll be taking over your duties for today," Natsu said promptly, swiping the book out of her hands and flipping open to the front cover. Lucy's eyes widened as his words sunk in.
"What?!" she screeched. "No way! I'm going to take care of my own work, thank you very much!"
"Lucy-san has guts, to be speaking to her boss like that," Mina whispered to Lervis. Lervis could only nod.
"Everyone needs to just calm down," Saran cut in efficiently. She turned to Lucy and raised an eyebrow. "Natsu-kun is offering his help, be a deary and accept it."
"Natsu-kun?!" Lucy yelped, trying to stop her giggles from escaping. "K-kun! Ahahahaha," she laughed, pointing at Natsu with a wicked grin. "Ohhh Natsu-kunnnn, please help me with my manager duties! I ever so need them!"
Natsu smirked. "Oh of course I will, Lucy-chan!"
Lucy gasped. "Hey!" she yelled. "That isn't fair!"
"Lucy-chan."
"Natsu-kun!"
"Lucyyy-channnn!"
"Natsuuu-kun!"
"What in Fiore is going on in here," Ro's voice said. Lucy and Natsu turned to see the tall man holding a soup spoon. "Dragneel-kun, the soup isn't going to cook itself any faster!"
Natsu smiled sheepishly. "Would you mind taking care o' that? I got my hands full for today," he said, gesturing over to Lucy.
Ro gulped. "Alright. I can, but you might have a little explaining to do to Tofu," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Natsu's eyes popped out of their sockets. "Tofuya's back?!" he exclaimed loudly. Lucy could tell this Tofuya guy was important, whoever he was.
Even the waiter team started whispering to each other.
"Tofuya almost never shows up," Yule said to Ikki, who nodded.
"I wonder what he wants," she replied quietly, looking at Ro and Natsu.
"Tofu-san's back already? Argh…" Shen muttered, crossing his arms and looking at the floor. "And I was so close to getting a raise!"
"Wait, why is Tofu even here?" Natsu suddenly asked, directing his attention back to Ro. Ro laughed nervously.
"He brought the twins with him. They want to talk to you about your hiring policy," Ro said.
Natsu's jaw dropped. "What?! There's no way in hell I'm hiring them! You can go tell Tofu to just forget about it!"
Ro deadpanned Natsu a look. "Tofuya is the son of the owner of this building. You're still in property debt, so you don't really have any other choice. I agree that those nephews of his are trouble, but honestly, what were you expecting?"
Natsu glared at him. "Tofu is a great worker. He was ranked number one every single week last year, and it was because of him I took down the whole ranking thing a few months ago."
"Ranking?" Lucy finally spoke up. Natsu and Ro's heads popped in her direction. Just as Natsu was opening his mouth, Ro beat him to it.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Heartfilia-san," he said, "you must think we are spouting gibberish."
"Um… it's alright," Lucy tried.
"Eel Tofuya is the son of the owner of the building you are currently standing in. Tofuya and Natsu went to college together, so he was able to get his father to agree to striking a deal with Natsu and opening his business here," Ro explained. "Tofuya is slowly climbing up the ranks in his own business tycoon, but he sometimes works here to earn some extra jewel in cases of emergencies. He used to work at Fairy Tail almost every other day, and soon he became the best waiter here. Everyone loved him."
Natsu, who was looking a little annoyed at Ro for cutting in and talking to Lucy, then took off where he stopped. "Tofu is a great guy, even though he can be a little too serious at times. Two years ago, he introduced me to his nephews. His older sister's twin boys, Jimnee and Neejim. Those two are… they're definitely somethin'."
"Neejim creeps me out," Shen suddenly said. Lucy looked at him with confusion. Were these two boys really that bad?
"Oh stop it, Shen. You're only saying that because you don't like to acknowledge Nee-kun's feelings towards you," Mina said. Shen appeared to shudder under her gaze.
"I don't understand why he likes me so much," he said, sitting down on a chair with his head in his hands.
Lucy laughed. "C'mon guys, how bad can they be?" she asked nervously.
"Jimnee's pretty mature, though," Ikki said in a small voice. "He's alright. He keeps Neejim in line, that's for sure."
"Jimnee is great. Neejim can be troublesome," Hibus said.
Lucy nodded, understanding. "I get it," she said thoughtfully.
"Natsu-kun, let me walk you to your office. You seem a little shocked," Saran said suddenly, offering her arm towards Natsu. Lucy raised an eyebrow as she saw the exchange, but didn't think anything of it.
"I'm alright, but thanks, Sar!" Natsu said with a cheeky grin. Saran bit her lip, trying to fight the blush that crept onto her cheeks.
Ro, who had been watching, walked up to Lucy and swung an arm around her. "I need to talk to you," he said quietly, just so that she could hear him. Lucy looked at the raven-haired man in confusion, but followed him out of the room nevertheless.
Saran quickly took the opportunity.
"Come on, Natsu-kun. Let me help you," she said, dragging him out and towards his office.
…
Lucy didn't know what exactly was going on. Where was Ro taking her? What business did he have with her?
"Um… where are we?" she asked once he pulled her into the back alley of the building.
"I wanted to ask you something, but it wouldn't really be appropriate to do it in front of everyone else," Ro explained.
Lucy nodded slowly. "Uh… okay. What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.
"Dragneel-kun. Do you love him?"
Lucy blinked. She stumbled on her heel as the words sunk into her ears. Her eyes widened and her balance fell.
"I-I!" she tried saying, but couldn't find any words. "H-how… what?"
Ro smiled. "Do you love him?" he repeated.
Lucy gulped. "No. I do not love him," she said.
"But you had a daughter with him anyway," Ro said slowly.
Lucy tilted her head back and closed her eyes. "How did you find out? You've only seen Nashi once."
Lucy was very grateful that none of the other waiters and waitresses had seen Nashi, since she had stayed in the kitchen with Ro and Natsu throughout the time she had been there.
"It really isn't that big of a puzzle. The minute I saw her hair, I was already certain," Ro said, sighing and leaning against the brick wall. "I just wanted to see if my suspicions were correct."
"I…"
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Ro said with a kind smile. Lucy let out a breath of relief. "It doesn't seem like Dragneel-kun is aware of the fact that Nashi is his daughter, though. What's up with that?"
Lucy sighed. "Yeah, he doesn't know."
Ro raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
Lucy crossed her arms and sunk to her knees. She didn't want to cry in front of Ro. She couldn't cry in front of him. It would show her vulnerability, which was something Lucy didn't want.
"Mm… I became pregnant with Nashi in my final year of high school," she revealed. "A few weeks later, I found him pinning up another girl in the back of the school."
Ro's fists clenched and his jaw hardened as her words sunk in.
"He cheated on his pregnant girlfriend?" he hissed.
Lucy choked out a nod. "He didn't know about the baby, and I didn't ever plan on telling him. I packed my bags and left the city after that incident," she said. "I moved to Acalypha, where I lived my life with my daughter for ten years."
Ro breathed heavily. "How… how dare he," he muttered devilishly. "How dare he?! I always held such respect for Dragneel-kun, but now…"
"No no, it's alright, really," Lucy said. "Don't change your opinion about him because of this."
"How do you expect me to just disregard the fact that Dragneel-kun… I mean, Natsu, did this to you?!" Ro said. "There's no way I'm calling him Dragneel-kun after this. He doesn't deserve that respect from me."
Lucy gulped. "Ro, really…"
"Lucy, he hurt you!"
Lucy's eyes widened as he used her first name. Ro was breathing heavily; Lucy knew he cared.
She smiled softly. "Thank you. For listening," she said, trying to hold back her sobs.
Ro gave her a look of concern.
"Are you alright? Do you… need to cry?" he asked quietly, holding out his arms and offering himself to her. Ro knew that what Lucy needed right now was someone to help her get through this giant mess.
Lucy looked at his inviting figure. She could help it- she literally ran into his arms and let her sobs run free. She cried and she cried and she cried. She hadn't even cried this much when everything happened ten years ago. Maybe time was finally catching up on her, and she wanted to let loose of all the suffering she had gone through in her years. She clung to Ro's shirt. He was being so kind to her, and he didn't even bother judging her after what she did. He was truly a great friend.
"I won't let him hurt you again," Ro said, pulling away from her and smiling. "You'll be fine, Lucy."
"Thank you," Lucy whispered, wiping her eyes and putting on her biggest, brightest smile. "I'm going to work as hard as I can, and I'll make sure my daughter lives her life to the fullest. She won't have to know what her father did to her… she won't even have to know what her father did to me."
…
Natsu sighed as Saran pulled him into his office.
"Natsu-kun, please sit down and rest. I'll get you a cup of coffee. You don't need to work so hard all the time," she said, pulling his desk chair towards him and setting him down.
"Sar, I'm fine! Please, I wanna go see Luce," Natsu whined.
Saran scoffed. "Honestly, Natsu-kun. You need to just calm down about her for a minute. She's fine," she said, crossing her arms and turning to the door. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"
"Mhm," Natsu muttered, closing his eyes as she exited the room and shut the door behind her.
Natsu grinned, jumping out of his seat and running out of the office. He had seen where Ro had taken Lucy before. They were going to the back alleyway. Natsu wanted to go find her; he wanted to go talk to her more. He had to, since he wanted to get her back.
Natsu froze as he entered the back alleyway. Ro and Lucy were talking, and Lucy looked like she was close to tears. He quickly hid behind a brick wall, listening closely.
"Lucy, he hurt you!" Ro screeched. Natsu gulped. Who were they talking about?
And since when did Ro address Lucy by her first name?
"Thank you… for listening," Lucy said quietly.
So she had vented? Why to Ro of all people?
"Are you alright? Do you… need to cry?" Ro asked, holding out his arms for a hug.
Natsu's eyes widened as Lucy accepted his embrace. He watched in utter shock as she clung to him, crying her eyes out.
Natsu was beyond confused. Why the heck was Lucy crying into Ro? What had happened that made her so… vulnerable? Did someone at the restaurant say something to her? Did someone hurt her? Natsu's jaw clenched at the thought.
"I won't let him hurt you again," Ro suddenly began, leaning away and looking at her. "You'll be fine, Lucy."
"Thank you," Lucy said with a big smile.
But what she said next, completely shocked Natsu to his core.
"I'm going to work as hard as I can, and I'll make sure my daughter lives her life to the fullest. She won't have to know what her father did to her… she won't even have to know what her father did to me."
So they were speaking about Nashi's father. Lucy's ex-lover.
Natsu was speechless. Lucy had willingly told Ro about him? But she absolutely refused to tell Natsu anything! … Why?
Was it because Lucy still didn't trust him with that kind of information? He had worked so hard! Natsu had thought they were on good terms now, after earning Nashi's friendship a week ago.
So why? Why was he still being left out of the loop? Why was Ro the one Lucy turned to for emotional support? Didn't she know that Natsu would always be there for her, no matter what?
"You still have to be kind to him, alright?" Lucy's voice interrupted his thoughts. Ro bit his lip, and nodded.
"It'll be hard… but okay. I know he can't suspect a thing," Ro agreed.
"Thank you," Lucy said.
Ro's eyes widened as he appeared to remember something. "Oh, that's right! Tofuya is coming by really soon! I have to go get ready," he said, patting her shoulder and running back inside the restaurant.
Natsu gasped.
"Shit. I almost forgot about that."
…
Lucy was not expecting this at all. She had heard about this Tofuya guy, but she still had no idea what kind of guy he was. She was not, however, prepared for this.
Tofuya was, to say the least, very very hot.
He was tall and slender, with calming green eyes. He had messy blonde hair and his jaw was so perfectly aligned with the rest of his face, Lucy had to take a second look just to make sure he wasn't a painting.
"Natsu, it's been a while," Tofuya said, holding out his hand with a charming smile. Natsu grinned widely, taking the hand and giving him a brohug.
"How've ya' been, Tofu?" he asked, smirking. "The restaurant's been slacking without ya'!"
"Hey!" Hibus exclaimed playfully from his spot. The waiters and waitresses then got up to go greet the man.
"And who might this lovely woman be?" Tofuya asked, looking over to Lucy with a mysterious glint in his eyes. Lucy blushed under his stare.
"That's Lucy Heartfilia. She's our manager," Natsu introduced. He then took Lucy's hand and placed it in Tofuya's. "Lucy, meet Eel Tofuya, you already know who he is, I think."
Lucy nodded. "Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tofuya-sama," she bowed. Tofuya laughed.
"Oh please. That sounds much too formal. Call me Tofuya like anyone else… or maybe Tofu. I'm not a piece of vegetarian chicken, though."
That caused quite a few laughs around the room.
"Alright, Tofuya," Lucy smiled.
"Speaking of, I spoke with Jimnee and Neejim before coming here," Tofuya said, turning back to Natsu. Natsu groaned.
"Heck no. There's no way I'm hiring them. You did manage to convince them not to take the job here, right?" he asked hopefully. Tofuya shook his head.
"You know how they are. Jimnee and Neejim are currently outside, and if I'm not mistaken, they should be coming in in around three… two… one... " he said, counting down and looking towards the door.
Just then, the door burst in and two sauve looking men stepped in in complete sync. Lucy's jaw dropped as she laid her eyes on the tall guys. One had a head of blonde hair much like her own, and the other had white hair.
"I'm Jimnee," the white-haired man said.
"And I'm Neejim," the blonde man said.
"And we're here to get a job at Fairy Tail!" they said simultaneously.
Natsu facepalmed.
"No, you two are not gettin' hired!" he screeched. "So go pack your bags and leave!"
Jimnee and Neejim both looked down.
"But Natsu!" Neejim whined. "We'll be really hard working!"
"Nope."
"We'll do our best!"
"Nope."
Jimnee then spoke up. "We'll get you food everyday," he said, crossing his arms and deadpanning Natsu a look.
Natsu appeared to physically light up.
"You're hired! You'll start next week!" he exclaimed, shaking both of their hands and grinning like an idiot.
"You Baka!" Lucy screeched, coming from behind him and hitting him on his head. "Are you seriously that dense?! You need them to go through a job interview first, Idiot!"
Tofuya laughed. "Don't worry, Lucy. They've both had plenty of interviews with Natsu before. Natsu has just never hired them," he explained.
Lucy huffed. "Still!" she said, before directing her attention to her phone. She scanned the message that had just displayed in front of it and gasped. "Natsu! Come with me for a second!"
"But Luce I-" Natsu started, before being dragged out by the blonde.
Once they were outside the restaurant, Lucy turned to Natsu with an expression of surprise. She handed her phone to him and allowed him to look at the message on the front.
Natsu's eyes popped out of their sockets. "SHE'S WHAT?!"
Lucy's hands jittered with excitement. "Four! A fourth kid! Erza and Jellal are expecting their fourth child!"
Natsu grinned widely. "That's so awesome!" he said, taking out his own phone and opening up the group chat between everyone. He quickly typed out a message and grinned with satisfaction.
Lucy looked at her phone curiously as Natsu's message appeared.
Natsu: Yoshhh y'all should come to FT for dinner 2nite! It's all on me! Six thirty!
Lucy smiled to herself, typing back a response.
Lucy: Sounds good.
Gray: What's this? Are Natsu and Lucy being nice to each other?!
Lucy: SHUT UP GRAY!
Gray: Hehe…
Natsu gave Lucy a questionable look, putting away his phone and gesturing for her to follow him. "Come on, I need to tell the customers that I'll be closing early for a private party," he said. Lucy nodded.
"Alright," she muttered before following his lead. Natsu grinned as they entered the restaurant through the main doors. He turned to the main table section.
"I'll be closing at six today. Someone has made a private reservation that I need to attend to," he said in a loud voice. Lucy smirked from behind him. She knew that if the customers knew that it was just a friendly get together, they would be less than pleased with this turn of events.
"Closing early, eh?" Ro asked as Natsu and Lucy reentered the kitchen. Tofuya, Jimnee, and Neejim were standing around. It looked as if Ro was teaching them something before they came in.
"What's going on here?" Lucy asked curiously, gesturing over to the twins and Tofuya.
"Ro here was just showing Jimnee the ropes. He's joining him in the kitchen," Tofuya explained. Natsu whirled over to the white-haired man.
"You can cook?" he asked slowly. "I thought'cha were always interested in being a waiter!"
Jimnee rolled his eyes. "Actually, twas my brother who wished to be a waiter. I twas the one who wanted to cook in the land of the kitchen."
Lucy tilted her head at his dialect. "Um…?"
Jimnee turned to her. "Twas something incorrect, no?"
"I think your Japanese is a little funky," Lucy said meekly. Jimnee looked at her, before chuckling silently.
"I know. I was just trying out something new. Speaking in regular Japanese can get a little boring, you know?"
"I guess," Lucy said, shrugging her shoulders in indifference.
"Now, where did you say the spices were?" Jimnee asked, looking back at Ro.
"Depends on what kind of food you're making. Since this is an all-rounder restaurant, you might be cooking Chinese one second, and then suddenly have to cook something Italian the next," Ro explained, before pointing to a large cabinet to the right. "In there, you'll find most international spices," he then pointed to a cabinet on the left, "and in there is where the national spices are. If you're cooking something Asian, check here."
Jimnee nodded thoughtfully. "I see," he said. "And what about universal spices?"
Ro blinked. "Universal? What are those?"
"They're for the aliens, of course. What if creatures from outer space come to eat here, and we don't have any of the foods they're used to?" Jimnee said seriously.
Ro sighed. "Jimnee, how many times do I have to tell you? Aliens won't be stopping here for a meal."
"We need to take necessary precautions anyway!" Jimnee exclaimed, looking over to Lucy. "You agree with me, don't you, Heartfilia?"
Lucy looked unsure. "Um… yes?"
Jimnee grinned, turning back to Ro. "You heard the lady," he said, crossing his arms.
Ro gave Lucy a teasing glare. "You just had to go and agree with him, didn't you," he said playfully. Lucy smiled, laughing at Ro.
"Of course I did. Anything against you is my speciality," she replied in a mocking way.
Natsu looked between them with an eyebrow raised.
"Um…?" he said, tilting his head and giving Ro a hard stare. Ro ignored him completely; it was clear that he still hadn't gotten over the revelations from earlier the same day. Natsu sighed, looking back to Lucy. "We still have a few hours before closing," he said. "You can still do your waitressing duties before then."
Lucy nodded. "Sure," she said, grabbing an apron and pulling it on. She took a pencil from the counter and wrapped her long hair around it, tying it up efficiently and taking a waitress notebook and pen. "See you in my break," she said, waving to Ro and smoothly exiting the room.
Lucy sighed, walking over to the host's desk and noticing some people were waiting around.
"Have you already had someone attend to you?" she asked, walking up to a small family of three sitting in the waiting area.
The woman shook her head. "No, we've been waiting here for almost ten minutes," she said.
Lucy sucked in a breath and put on an apologetic face. "Oh! I'm so sorry! Please, let me show you to a table," she said, leading them to a nice, comfortable booth at the edge of the restaurant. "I'll be back really soon," she said, turning around and going to the seating chart, using the whiteboard marker to cross off the booth that she had just seated that family in.
She grabbed a few menus, and walked back. She handed them to the adults, and a kids one to the toddler.
"I'll give you a few minutes to make your selections," she said politely with a bow. Lucy smiled at them, before exiting back to the kitchen.
"We were watching you," Ro said with a smirk.
"How thoughtful," Lucy said.
"Yes, we really are thoughtful," Ro said.
"Natsu-kun!" Saran exclaimed, walking into the room with a swish of her hips. "We just got in the order of shrimp you requested a few weeks ago!"
Natsu grinned, nodding to the woman. "Thanks, Sar!" he said, before running out the door.
Ro studied Saran carefully. Saran looked at Ro with confusion in her eyes.
"Saran. I want to talk to you," Ro said, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room.
Lucy looked after them. She turned to Jimnee, the only remaining person in the room. He was currently muttering something about aliens.
Lucy could only sigh.
…
Ro looked at Saran.
Saran looked at Ro.
"You like Natsu," Ro stated.
"You like Lucy," Saran countered.
They stared at each other.
"We're screwed," they said simultaneously.