A/N: GUESS WHO'S BACK! YEAAAAAAAH! Sorry it took me so long but I have another test next week so let this chapter hold you off for now!
THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN EDITED OR REVISED SO I APOLOGIZE FOR THE MISTAKES IN ADVANCED!
Holy crap, your reviews were so supportive I couldn't help but want to start writing immediately! I really appreciate all the reviews you guys gave me! So thank you to the following:
IndianaCombs
Cindy
Kasai no sakka
.kawaii
Withwhiskers
Laxusdrayer2324
RunningWithTheRiptide
22LevyMisfit22
A sassy one
Nizu Chan
Nalu Kitty
To the Reviewers:
TheGallopingCupcake: Interesting name! and thank you for your review, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Salamander1181: your comment made me lol pretty hard.
RunningWithTheRiptide: Yeah, it's a sad day when an author doesn't continue their fic. I was not aware that the anime had an actual fanclub lol. P.S. Riptide… did you perhaps get that name off of a book? I read it long ago. Underground, Giant Bats, pen-sword?
Beastboiallnight: Hmm, what inspired me to write this? I suppose NaLu is one of my favorite pairings but every fanfic suddenly jumps the relationship. Don't get me wrong, there are a few good fics, but they are of the few and other stories never get finished :*(
Rocketcat1025: Thank you very much for creating an acc and fave and following!
The Misfit:
Chapter 14: Baby Steps
X
"So… nice weather we're having."
Lucy's eye twitched, that was the response he was gonna say to her when she threw out an actual sincere apology at him?
Granted, it wasn't exactly the best of apologies but…
Whatever!
Fine, she'd play his game.
She gave a tight-lipped smile and gave a simple wave in reply.
"Awh, that's it?! What happened to wanting to be my friend again?"
Lucy paused as her neutral expression grew an irritated tick mark. However, instead of replying, she simply started walking again. Much to her ire, Natsu fell in stride beside her.
"So…" he began.
"Yes?" came her short reply.
"How are ya?"
Lucy stopped and took a deep breath while pinching the bridge of her nose; this boy was so freaking irritating! She exhaled and resumed her walk with the same neutral expression plastered on her face.
Natsu frowned; getting a response that was more than three words out of her was pretty damn difficult.
Oh well, he knew she wanted to be on amicable terms with him and that was enough for him. So he poked her in the side earning a stiff wince from her, much to his delight.
Hey, just cause he knew she wanted to be friendly again doesn't mean he couldn't mess around a bit!
Natsu saw the amount of effort it took for Lucy to remain calm and vigilant and he ended up bursting with laughter.
"Oh lighten up Luce! Look, I'm sorry I laughed at your apology but you gotta understand, the girl who is dubbed the 'Ice Queen' was apologizing to me! Me, of all people!"
Lucy lost her cold exterior façade and let a small smile grace her face, "Yeah, I guess it is pretty weird that royalty such as myself would associate with bottom feeders like you, huh?"
Natsu feigned a hurt look, "M'lady! You hurt me so!"
Lucy giggled and immediately clamped her mouth shut. She scowled, "Hey! I was trying to be serious with you! I actually am really and sincerely sorry!"
Natsu rolled his eyes and sighed, "Lucy, if you really couldn't tell by the conversation's tone, you should know that I'm not angry anymore."
"So you're just gonna forget about everything?"
Natsu shook his head, "No, I'm not gonna forget, but I am going to forgive. It does no one good if everyone stays mad right?"
Even after hearing his words, Lucy couldn't help but still feel the guilt in her system. She glanced at him and gave a sad smile, "Yeah… I guess… but-"
Natsu, hearing where was gonna go with her conversation, took ahold of her shoulder and spun her around to face him.
"No buts! No buts at all! Unless we're talking about your actual butt- which is very nice by the way- then I don't wanna hear zip! Ya understand me Lucy Heartfilia!?"
Blushing at the rather straightforward compliment, Lucy nodded dumbly. Her dumbfounded expression soon turned confused as Natsu stepped back and cleared his throat.
"Ahem! My name is Natsu Dragneel! Pleasure to meet you ma'am!" Natsu held out his hand for a shake.
Lucy shook her head with a smile, "Kami you're childish! Fine, I'll play your game." She took his hand, "Hello Natsu Dragneel. My name is Lucy Heartfilia!" she spoke lightly as if making a friend of the opposite gender wasn't such a big deal to her.
By the way, it is a big deal.
But with him, it felt… normal.
Natsu knew she had some troubling problems in her past but he decided he wouldn't press on the matter though. He intertwined his hands and placed his hands behind his neck, he gave a toothy smile and said, "Alright Luce! Can I call you Luce?"
"No." she pouted.
Looking at her from the corner of his eyes, he saw her pouting and decided that he would indeed keep calling her 'Luce'. After all, she didn't seem too mad about it. In fact, it seemed as if she didn't mind at all...
"Okie dokie Luce! Let's get to the vending machines! I'm staaaarving."
Lucy sighed in agreement, "Yeah, I'm hungry too, I left my bento on the roof-"
"Lucky." Natsu muttered.
"Huh?"
"Oh nothing."
"No hold on a minute! Why did you say 'lucky'?"
Natsu sighed in annoyance, "Well you see… I forgot my lunch at home and since the school lunch blows, i have no choice but to get snacks as a form of petty lunch."
Lucy immediately thought of a solution to his problem and she gulped nervously, this was a pretty big move coming from her. She began nervously, "O-oh… W-well… you k-know…"
Natsu gave an amused look when she didn't continue, "I actually don't know."
"I was getting to that!" Lucy snapped.
She took in a deep breath and mumbled, "I was just gonna say… that… uh, youcansharemylunchwithme." As the words left her mouth, she turned scarlet and looked at everything but him.
Natsu looked at her blankly, "I have no idea what you just said."
Lucy yelled out an embarrassed "NEVERMIND!" before speed walking towards the vending machines.
Natsu caught up with her easily enough and stood in front of her, stopping her in place. He responded to her scowl with a mischievous smile on his face, "Hey! Don't ya know that once you get someone's curiosity piqued up, it doesn't go away unless properly satisfied?" He leaned in and whispered in a husky voice, "So unless you want to satisfy my curiosity Lucy…" he trailed off.
Lucy shivered at his voice before her face flushed and incredible shade of red. Of course it didn't help that Inner-Lucy was hooting and ranting about taking the boy right there and then. Aimed at both her subconscious and the beanie wearing teen, she screamed out a "P-P-PERVERT!" while aiming a punch at the teen in front of her.
Natsu dodged the offending limb easily and smiled cheekily, "Watcha mean Luce? I just wanted to know what you had said earlier."
"I SAID YOU CAN SHARE LUNCH WITH ME BUT I TAKE IT BACK SINCE YOU'RE BEING A BIG FAT PERVERT!" she shouted with the same blush on her face. She scowled as she realized that he had gotten her to reveal what she had offered.
Natsu stood gaping at her, "Holy crap!"
"Holy crap what!" Lucy replied hotly, arms at her side clenched in a cute childish fashion.
He pointed a frantic finger at her, "Y-y-you're actually nice!" he said dramatically.
That did it, Kami knows Lucy tried being nice to him, but now it was time to inflict the infamous 'Lucy's Wrath'. She screamed an adorable war cry and charged at him.
"Why you- GET BACK HERE NATSU!"
Natsu cackled gleefully as he ran about the hallway.
X
As Lucy chased Natsu through the hallways, she ignored all the bystanders watching her with seemingly shocked eyes; they've never seen her act like this, ever. But Lucy didn't care about them, she couldn't remember the last time she had so much… fun.
Sure she had fun with her girlfriends but that was different from this kind of fun; the fun with Natsu was carefree and it was so… warm.
Natsu looked over his shoulder at Lucy to see her looking rather… happy. He poked his tongue out and chuckled when she responded by throwing back a ridiculous pout at her.
He mentally smirked, 'I knew I'd break her walls down.'
Looks like his previous opinion was correct; Lucy Heartfilia was indeed interesting.
X
Natsu stared dumbfounded at the vending machine.
"THEY ACTUALLY HAVE IT?!"
Lucy frowned, "Yeah? Why wouldn't they have it?"
"No one carries around strawberry-flavored potato chips!"
"Obviously you're wrong."
Natsu ignored her and pulled out his wallet, "Alright… what letter and number is it-"
"B-7." Lucy said without hesitation; she was sent on this errand way too often for her not to remember.
Muttering a quick "thanks" before punching in the specified buttons, Natsu waited patiently for the machine to dispense the chips before getting everyone else's requested items. He turned to his blonde companion after getting Levy's cookies, "Oi, blondie! Want anything?"
Startled, Lucy looked up, "M-me!?"
Natsu rolled his eyes, "No, the other blonde that's willing to be near me."
"Who said I was willing to be around you!"
"I don't see anything forcing you to be around me." Natsu smirked.
"You know what!? You're right! I'm just gonna leave!" Lucy turned around and stalked off only to be halted by a hand grasping her wrist.
"Don't leave."
Lucy's breath hitched slightly, she didn't know why but when she came in contact with Natsu, it felt as if she became extra sensitive. She was extremely aware of the gentle yet firm grasp on her wrist. On top of the warm hand on her wrist, his voice was low and slightly husky with a slight desperate edge. She didn't know if he intentionally said it in that tone but-
Suddenly the sensation was gone.
'No! Grab my wrist again! Why did you take it away!' Lucy internally cried out.
Natsu, on the other hand, retracted his hand because the girl in front of him was acting weird… why didn't she respond? Was it him grabbing her? Was that too much? It probably was. Dang it, he really liked the feeling of her soft skin-
'Whoa.' Where the hell did that thought come from?
Natsu cleared his throat before speaking, "Sorry about that Lucy, I just didn't want to get lost…"
Hearing his words deflated her elated feelings a bit, 'Oh… so he just didn't want to get lost- Wait! Why do I even care?!' Lucy turned around and smiled, "Yeah! Sorry about that! And I don't want anything so it's okay!"
"You sure?"
Natsu saw a seemingly forced smile that was a bit too wide on her face as she nodded rather quickly. Hesitantly, Natsu spoke slowly, "Uh… okay, so should we start heading back?"
"Sure!"
X
The walk back to the roof was rather short and uneventful. Natsu tried jump starting a fun conversation with her but felt that her responses sounded rather forced. So he simply kept quiet for the rest of the way.
Getting to the roof, Natsu handed everyone their respective snacks and sat down to enjoy his own snack.
He reached for his chip and- wait.
Natsu groaned, "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAMNIT!"
'Damn it! Lucy distracted me…'
Four pairs of confused eyes looked at him, Natsu responded without looking up, "I forgot my own bag of chips."
"Didn't you initially go for your own bag? Idiot." Gajeel scoffed.
"Yeah…" he glanced at Lucy briefly, "I just got distracted a bit."
"Probably looking at some dude's ass."
"SHOVE OFF YOU METAL FILLED-"
Lucy didn't hear the rest of Natsu's response as she zoned out. Was she the reason for Natsu's distraction; she didn't not notice the tense atmosphere on the way back. She supposed it was slightly her fault but she couldn't help feel a bit down after his response of her not wanting to leave simply because he didn't want to get lost. She didn't know why but…
'it's because he was rude! Yeah! That's it! Not for any other bizarre reasoning…'
Inner-Lucy smirked. Sure, that was the reason why her dominant conscious was upset.
Lucy cleared her throat, she had come to the decision of going back to her original offer she been willing to make earlier; the guilt of knowing that he wouldn't eat because of her demeanor was just a bit much for her.
"Ahem. Natsu, we can still share my bento I brought, I packed a lot today!" Lucy squeaked out nervously. That immediately stopped the bickering between the two boys and suddenly, Lucy felt the gaze of everyone on the roof on her.
She looked up slowly to see Levy and Gajeel openly gawking at her. Erza was giving her a knowing nod while Natsu had a slightly pink hue on his cheeks that made him look adorable.
After a few moments of oppressive silence, Lucy scowled, "What!? I feel bad! I'm just being a good Samaritan!"
Gajeel smirked, "Hm, looks like the bunny found her carrot," he nudged Levy, "If you know what I mean." Levy giggled at the implication of the heavily pierced boy.
"Huh?! Bunny? Who's that? And I don't know what you mean…" Natsu asked with a frown. He looked at and Erza and Lucy, "Do any of you know what the hell they're talking about?"
Erza shook her head, "No I do not. I do not see any rabbits with a carrot."
However, Lucy wasn't as socially inept as her two companions, so she knew perfectly well what Gajeel was implying. Because of the boy's implication, she scowled but she couldn't help the blush from creeping up her face.
'Next time I get him alone, I'm going to DESTROY him…' she turned her glare to the still laughing Levy, 'and while I'm at it, I'm gonna destroy Levy too-'
'OH QUIET YOUR WHINING GIRL! WHO CARES IF WE WANT TO ENJOY NATSU'S BIG BULGING CARRO-'
"Lucy?" Natsu poked her.
"KYAAH! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Lucy squealed out embarrassedly.
"I asked if you knew what the hell they were talking about?!"
"O-oh. T-that." She blushed before continuing, "I have no idea."
Just then, Gajeel decided to whisper loudly, "Sure she doesn't… that would explain all the blushing on her face." Levy couldn't help but giggle as she tried covering her mouth.
'Oh yeah, definitely gonna kill the both of them.' Lucy thought as she tried burning holes into the pair with her eyes.
Natsu, still ever the confused teen, frowned before asking, "Who's blushing? And why are you acting all incognito?"
Gajeel smirked. His fellow mislabeled delinquent was such an idiot. However, right before he was about to reply, Gajeel caught Lucy's eyes and his smirk fell. In those eyes, he saw the promise of brutal death if he said anything.
Luckily for him, Erza spoke up, "Levy, do you find Gajeel as a potential mate?"
"WHAT!?" Levy and Gajeel screamed with a horrible blush coating their faces. Natsu roared with laughter while Lucy blushed slightly at Erza's straightforward question, though she had a smile on her face.
A flushed Levy stammered and stuttered incoherent statement while Gajeel tried thinking of a way to redirect the attention elsewhere. The long haired teen's eyes gained an evil glint as he focused his gaze on the beanie wearing teen.
"Say Dragneel…"
Natsu held his finger up as he tried regaining his breath, "Oho- oh man- one minute man." He looked at Erza, "That was great Erza!" He turned his attention back to Gajeel, "So what's up man, you and Levy giving us a wedding invitation?"
"DAMN IT DRAGNEE- YOU FRICKIN- SCARLET!" Gajeel looked at Erza, "HE THREW THE HAMBURGER ON YOUR HEAD LAST WEEK!"
Natsu straightened up with a confused frown, "Huh? Last week? What are you talking about? I never threw a hamburger…" Suddenly, everything made sense.
"Oh."
All became deathly quiet as a dark aura started emitting from a certain scarlet haired teen.
"Senpai… is this true?"
Natsu gulped.
X
A/N: And there we have it! Chapter 14 of the story! I apologize it had taken me so long to get this up but man… school is freaking crazy man.
Sidenote: I actually looked at chapter one of this story and man I need to go back revise it… jesus it it is TERRIBLE! Anyways, thank you for being patient!
Anyways, please leave a review! You know I love em :DD
Juvia and Gray to be instated into the story soon!