Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail!

Natsu jogged along the white cement sidewalks of Strawberry Street -grocery bag per Gajeel's request in hand- while his eyes lazily searched for Lucy's house among the towering mansions that faintly reminded him of castles. A dog barked from the backyard of one of the houses when his searching eyes finally landed on a large three-story Victorian style home with the nameplate Heartfillia posted on the open metal gates. Natsu walked through the gates and up the stone walkway towards Lucy's front door.

He looked back at the stone fountains that spewed out water with a perfect arch and the neat rows of roses with a twinge of jealousy for Lucy's wealth. He was in the middle of comparing the beautiful cherry blossom tree in Lucy's yard to the dead, termite infested one in his own when the large oak wood door swung open, revealing Lucy's exhausted form. She wore shorts and an oversized tee, her face was scrubbed of make-up and her blonde hair was pulled into a loose braid at the back of her head.

"Natsu! You made it!" She exclaimed excitedly. Her smile dimmed a little when she saw the way he held the shopping bag away from his body with his arm extended to the side.

Her face developed an knowing smirk. "Let me guess," she said, only teasing slightly, "there's milk in the bag, right?"

The shocked expression on his face was priceless. "How did you know Lucy?!" He shouted in awe of her psychic abilities. She burst out laughing. "Just come inside Natsu," she said still giggling a little.

Natsu followed Lucy into her house and down the stairs to her well-lit basement. It was no secret that Natsu absolutely despised milk with a passion. Natsu could handle his abusive father with no complaints and he could take a beating without flinching. But when it comes to milk, he'll run away screaming like a banshee. Lucy led him through the hallway to an open screening room with a row of six reclining chairs in front of a large flatscreen TV. Natsu looked around and saw Gajeel and Erza already seated into three of the chairs. However Loke and Gray were nowhere to be seen.

Right when Natsu looked his way, Gajeel jumped to his feet. "Did you get the stuff I asked for?"

"Yup." Natsu replied. "Got it right here." He held put the bag for Gajeel to take. Gajeel didn't waste a second. He snatched the bag out of Natsu's hands, and quickly pulled out its contents. He set the three bottles of hot sauce and the milk on the ground next to his chair. Natsu shuddered when he laid eyes on the milk. When Gajeel pulled out the snickers bar he smiled darkly and went over to the door that led into the screening room. He cracked the door open just a fraction and gently placed the snickers bar on top of it. He set the candy bar on the door so that if anyone opened the it, the snickers would fall and hit that person in the head. A rather childish prank really.

Lucy apparently thought so to. "Really, Gajeel?" She asked rolling her eyes at the boy.

"It is rather immature." Erza agreed, clicking her tongue at the stupid antics of the boy.

"Hey!" Gajeel yelled at the haters of his masterpiece. "I had a stroke of genius, so I went with it."

"If this is you being smart, I'm not sure I want to see you when you're being stupid." Lucy exclaimed. Two heads nodded back at her.

"Everyone is a critic." Gajeel mumbled. "Just wait to see Loke's reaction, it'll be hilarious!"

"Loke's reaction to what?" A voice questioned from the other side of the door. "Loke?!" Lucy exclaimed. "How did you even get in? I locked the front door behind me!"

"Do you doubt my lock picking skills Lucy?" Loke almost sounded insulted. Honestly, it was sad. "Mabye she doubts that you have any skills." Natsu cheerfully informed him.

Loke sighed. "Oh ye of little faith." He finally pushed open the door only to have his worst fear land right at his feet with a small thump.

Gajeel sighed when he saw the candy bar didn't hit Loke in the head. Loke however, was paralyzed in fear. The world faded around him as his eyes zeroed in on the spawn of satan that sat right before his feet. It sat there looking innocent in all of its five-inch glory, but Loke knew better. That flimsy plastic wrapping contained the thing of nightmares, the very scum of the earth itself. And Loke wasn't about to let it have any power over him. His friends stood there, in the middle of the room, looking concerned for his mental health. It was almost as if they couldn't sense the murderous aura that poured from the demon in brown plastic wrapping. It was up to him, and he had to act fast. Loke reared back his leg and kicked the damn thing with all of the strength he had. Only, his foot didn't connect with the candy bar. Instead, he heard a raspy grunt and watched as Gajeel fell to the ground holding onto his crotch, where Loke's foot had previously been located. Loke watched in slow motion as Gajeel fell directly on top of the evil demon as if to sacrifice himself to calm its blood lust.

"NOOOOO!" Loke screamed. "Gajeel! Stay with me!" Loke fell to his knees and turned Gajeel onto his back so he could see them in his dying moments. Natsu ran over to Gajeel's side and crouched beside Loke.

"Geez Loke, he was just gonna pick it up. You didn't have to kick him." Natsu said disapprovingly. Loke just gaped at him. "He was going to touch that... thing for me?" He questioned. Looking confused, Natsu nodded. Loke covered his face with his hands. "Oh Gajeel! Such an act of bravery deserves an award. You truly are a hero!" Loke hugged Gajeel's struggling body. "I ain't dead ya know." He grouched. Loke either didn't hear him, or just ignored him. He continued hugging Gajeel muttering things like,"You're a hero," and,"I'm honored to be your friend."

"Ya know..." Natsu started. Lucy and Erza started to shake their heads back and forth, waving their hands frantically. "Gajeel was the one that put the snickers on the door so you would cry." Lucy and Erza facepalmed. "He- he WHAT?!" Natsu scooted away from Loke, scared for his life while Gajeel just sat there looking up at Loke unafraid. "DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH, DIE!" Loke screamed as he brought his fist towards Gajeel. Luckily, Erza arrived at Loke's side just in time to hold him back from beating Gajeel to death. Loke thrashed in her grip trying to get his hands on the villain that would create such chaos.

Lucy tried talking Loke out of a rampage, Erza continued preventing a murder, Gajeel was trying to make a run for it, and Natsu was watching it all with a smile on his face eating the snickers bar that had flown his way at some point in the scuffle.

'If all parties are this fun, I should get out more often.' Natsu thought.

"Natsu!" Erza yelled, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Come help me restrain him!"

And so, that is how the next 10 minutes went. Natsu and Erza tried to restrain Loke from killing Gajeel, Lucy tried to calm everybody down, Gajeel recovered in the corner of the room, chomping on Natsu's half-eaten candy bar, ignoring Loke's curses at him, and Gray arrived sometime during the scuffle, sending questioning looks at all of them while Lucy begged him to help her calm Loke down.

10 Minutes Later

"Now that everyone is calm," Gray quickly glanced at his friends, "-ish, would someone please tell me why Loke is trying to kill Gajeel?"

"Erm... well-" Lucy started.

"What happened was-" Natsu began.

"Gajeel was trying to be smart-" Erza said.

"And failed." Natsu chimed in.

"So he decided to attempt a childish prank on Loke-" Erza continued.

"He failed at that too." Natsu said.

"Which in turn brought us to the current situation in which Loke is trying to disembowel Gajeel."

"And he will probably succeed." Natsu was silenced by a menacing glare from Gajeel who had finally recovered from Loke's kick.

"I will forgive the menace as long as the demon candy bar is burned and the ashes destroyed." Loke said.

"Um, okay then." Lucy replied looking at her friend questioningly. After an awkward silence Natsu called out, "Hey Loke!"

"What?" Loke replied grumpily.

"Why are you so afraid of snickers anyway?" Loke developed a look of terror on his face while Lucy, Erza, Gray, and Gajeel facepalmed at the imminent story. They had all been told countless times before, and were in no hurry to hear it again.

"As much fun as it would be listening to that story... again." Lucy said quickly. "We should move on to a different subject... for Loke's sake" She quickly added.

"I agree completely Lucy." Erza stated. "What do you have in mind?"

"How about-" Lucy started. "WAIT!" yelled Loke. "We can't do anything until the scum is burned!" Glancing at the half-eaten candy bar, Gajeel scooped it up and ate it. Loke gaped at him as he let out a comical burp. "What have you done..." he questioned in a small voice.

Coughing for their attention, Lucy awkwardly said, "Anyway, I declare we are playing truth or dare!" She got four nods in her direction. Natsu however, was shaking his head back and fourth. "No no no no no, lets do something else." Natsu hated truth or dare with a passion. Last time he played with his friends he had a cut on the side of his neck, courtesy of his father, he had covered it up with his scarf and called it good. But Gajeel had dared him to give his scarf to Gray for the rest of the game. If he had done it, his friends would have asked about the cut, and Natsu hated lying to them. He had gotten out of the dare by the skin of his teeth. And now his friends wanted to play again. The cut on his face had turned into a small white line, but he didn't want his friends to see the bandages wrapped around his torso. He knew Lucy, Erza and Gray would think nothing of it. But Natsu knew Gajeel would suspect something. His cousin wasn't dumb, contrary to popular belief. So he was reasonably nervous for the oncoming game.

"You're not chickening out are you?" Gray taunted.

"No! I just... think we should play something else." Natsu said.

"Aww, come on! Please, Natsu?" Lucy begged.

"Fine." He relented after a long internal debate. "But nothing inappropriate!"

Gajeel scoffed. "Fine, mom."

Natsu glared at his cousin as the six friends sat down in a circle.

"Okay!" Lucy said clapping loudly. "I'll start us off."

The whole group, besides Erza, groaned at the idea.

"What?!" Lucy asked looking around the circle at them, offended by their response.

"You always give us weak-ass dares Lucy." declared Gray. "Let's have Gajeel start instead."

"No proble-" Gajeel was silenced with a glare from Lucy.

"Gray." Lucy said through clenched teeth. Gray paled at the look on her face. "Truth or dare?"

Gray was about to go down the safe route and pick truth, but he looked over at Natsu and Gajeel who were sitting next to each other, and watched as the two of them stuck their fists under their armpits and flapped their arms up and down like wings while mouthing the word 'chicken'.

Sending a death glare their way, Gray steeled his nerves. "Dare." After seeing Gajeel and Natsu's fist bump and Lucy's evil smile, he instantly regretted his choice.

"I dare you to drink all three bottles of hot sauce in ten minutes." She said in a sing-song voice.

"But you don't have any hot sauce! I already went through your fridge." Gray protested.

"Check your facts Gray." Loke said as he pulled out three bottles of hot sauce out from behind Gajeel's chair. "Natsu picked some up from the store."

Gray directed his betrayed look in Natsu's direction, but Natsu held up his finger and pointed to Gajeel. "He asked me to!" Natsu defended.

"Gihi." Gajeel chuckled. "Who was the one who said I wasn't a genius?" Lucy pointedly looked away from Gajeel after hearing this.

Regaining her composer Lucy brought her fist up to her mouth and coughed out,"Dunno. Anyway, start chuggin' Gray." After Gray glared at her for a solid minute, he hesitantly picked up a bottle, pinched his nose shut, and gulped it down.

Three bottles of hot sauce and a lot of cursing later:

After draining Lucy's sink of its water, Gray sat back down in the circle with a cup of water in his hands. After scanning his group of friends, his eyes finally landed on a victim. "Gajeel." Gray said sweetly while taking small sips of his water. "Good luck." Natsu mumbled to Gajeel while making some sort of sign with his hands to ward off evil. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." Gajeel gulped.

Gray's evil aura filled the room as he smirked. Even Erza seemed nervous for Gajeel.

"I dare you to tell us about your relationship with Levy." Knowing Gajeel was caught off guard by this, Gray added,"And make sure not to leave out ANY details."

"Um, I asked her out a few days ago."

Gray's spit his drink out all over Natsu.

"WHAT?" Lucy screeched.

"Why have you hidden this important piece of information from us Gajeel?" Erza questioned.

"Didn't see the need to share it." Gajeel mumbled while shying away from Erza's glare.

"He told me!" Natsu called out. He received glares from all four people, while he was wringing out the water from the edge of his shirt.

"Lets forget the details. Gajeel how about you pick someone." Loke said trying to dissipate the tension.

Only Gajeel didn't hear him. His attention was locked on the white bandages that peaked out from under Natsu's wet shirt. Where had he gotten them? Gajeel had tagged along with Erza and Lucy earlier this afternoon to go shopping with Natsu, and he knew his cousin had gone straight home, so he hadn't gotten into a fight...

"Gajeel!" Loke yelled. "Did you hear me?"

Loke's voice broke Gajeel out of his inner monologue.

"Oh, erm...pass." He grouched. "Give my turn to Lucy."

"Oh, okay." Lucy said jumping at the opportunity. Her eyes searched the group.

"Natsu." She finally said.

"Yes?" He said while straitening his spine.

"I dare you to drink a cup of milk." Natsu froze as her words repeated in his head.

'Drink. Drink.'

'The.'

'Milk. Milk. Milk...'

"Nope." He said shaking his head back and forth, "Can't do it. I'm allergic."

"No you're not." Gray said smirking.

"Come on Natty, even you're not that much of a wuss." Gajeel stated.

"Solid pass. I'll literally do anything else." Natsu said while glaring at Gajeel for the nickname. "Within reason." He quickly stated after seeing the evil glint in his friend's eyes.

"Natsu!" Erza yelled. "Stop being a coward and drink the milk!"

Loke didn't even try to insult Natsu. He knew how scary things could be. Giving an involuntary shudder, Loke said,"Guys, he already said he'd do something else."

"Fine." Lucy humphed. "Then I dare you to sit on Gray's lap for ten minutes." Lucy ignored Natsu's loud protests. She knew that Gray had a small crush on Natsu, if anything, she was just trying to make her ship sail. Also, she knew Natsu wasn't capable of having romantic feelings so this display would be interesting to say the least.

Gray patted his thighs with an excited look in his eyes. "Come here Natsu. Lets get this over with." Natsu was beyond desperate at this point.

"But Lushy!" He wined. "I don't wanna! I'd rather drink the milk."

"Oh really?" She questioned.

Five minutes later Natsu had choked down the god-awful excuse of a drink and avoided the pervert known as Gray. Said person was silently sulking in a corner with a gloomy aura surrounding him while Natsu was still gagging on the horrid after taste of the milk. It took him a few tries, but Natsu finally managed to form a coherent sentence.

"Gray, truth or dare?"

Deciding to play it safe, Gray uttered out a muffled,"Truth."

"Is it true that three years ago on a school trip with Erza, you got buried in an avalanche and had to cuddle with her for body heat?"

Feeling his cheeks heat up, Gray muttered a yes.

Natsu had a smug expression on his face, glad to have embarrassed Gray, Lucy felt bad for said idiot, and Gajeel and Loke were leaning against each other for support while laughing their lungs out like there was no tomorrow. Needless to say Erza soon silenced them.

"I fail to see how this is a laughing matter." She stated. "He was slowly freezing, AND ACTION HAD TO BE TAKEN!" She declared with her fist lifted to the ceiling, no traces of shame in her voice.

"Erza!" Gray groaned out from behind his hands. "You're not making it any better."

"I'll say." Loke said, holding onto his stomach.

"Talk about desperate." Gajeel rasped, still chuckling.

"Oh?" Gray replied testily, looking pissed. "Gajeel, truth or dare?"

"Dare." He said without hesitation.

"I dare you to kiss Erza." Gray said smirking.

Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel and Loke jaw-dropped, Erza was shocked silent, and Gray was rather proud of himself for coming up with that idea.

"No offense, demon," Gajeel said looking at Erza,"But there ain't no way in hell that I'm doing that. I have a girlfriend."

"Agreed." Erza stated.

"Che! Fine." Gray said. "Then I dare you to tell us why you got suspended from school that one time during freshman year."

After hearing this, Natsu looked over at Gajeel, a warning look in his eyes. Gajeel smirked at ignored it.

"If you insist." He said and launched into his story. "It was after school and most of the people had already left." The small group leaned towards Gajeel in anticipation, while Natsu scooted away from him.

"I was walking over to Levy's locker to put back a pen she let me borrow, when I saw Natsu being pushed up against the wall by Stormer and his pack of dogs." The group scowled at hearing this. Stormer was a jock and a massive pervert. Hearing that he had cornered Natsu put them all on edge. Meanwhile, Natsu was glaring in Gajeel's direction, feeling betrayed that he was telling them.

"Naturally Natsu was fuming," Gajeel continued, "telling them to piss off, and get off of him. I was about to step in when Stormer leaned in and freaking licked his neck." A collective gasp was shared by the group.

"Natsu lost it on them, he nailed Stormer where the sun don't shine, and by this point I was pissed to. I knocked out the three lackeys, and then beat the shit outta Stormer." Gajeel smiled at the memory. While Natsu was disgusted by it. "Principal Mavis found me beating the shits up and suspended me for a few days. Natsu tried to tell her he had a part in it, but I didn't let him."

"I still don't understand why you did that by the way." Natsu huffed.

Gajeel smirked.

"Cause yer like my little brother, cus. And they came onto you when ya told em to scram then that bastard Stormer had the balls to lick you. Any older brother would kill the bitch." Gajeel finished.

Erza, Lucy and Loke looked touched by his statement and Gray was making vomiting noises. A light blush stained Natsu's cheeks as he turned his head away.

"Well... thanks I guess." Natsu muttered.

"Gihi! Anytime, little bro." Gajeel laughed, a bright smile adorning his pierced face.

Walking home from Lucy's party at midnight, Natsu couldn't have been more glad he came. He didn't think he had ever laughed so hard. Although he had to drink milk, he still had the time of his life. If Lucy had a party again, Natsu would definitely be there. However, when Natsu laid eyes on his god-awful house, his mood was ruined.

Through the living room window, Natsu could see that the kitchen light was on. Natsu's stomach dropped. That could only mean that his father was awake and noticed he was gone, or Natsu just left the light on. He took a deep breath, crossed behind his house and climbed through his open window. Shutting it silently, Natsu quietly opened his bedroom door and crept into the hallway. Peeking around a corner, he let out a relieved sigh. His father's light snores could be heard faintly over the TV. Natsu snuck to the kitchen and flipped the light off. When he got back to his room, he lay down on his hard bed as memories of the party came to mind, a soft smile decorated his face as he drifted off into dreamland.

A/N: I really hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! Also, please review and tell me what you thought. I'm open to suggestions!