COLLEGE DAYS

A Collective Series of one/two-shots

- 1 -

HOW THEY GOT HERE…

Part 1

(According to Gray)

He had first met Natsu during freshman year at Magnolia University, or MU for short. All incoming freshman were required to live in the campus dormitories for that year, and his assigned roommate had been the obnoxious fire freak.

Natsu's cousin Gajeel also attended MU, and that was how he had come to initially know him.

Gajeel had gone to a different high school than his cousin, and later introduced a couple of his friends from there that had also chosen MU for their college careers. Levy and Lucy being friends with Gajeel was certainly a shock, all things considered. Levy and Gajeel had some weird type of thing going on, but they continued to deny it.

Lucy was a bombshell, all curves and golden hair. He had at one point thought about pursuing a more romantic relationship with her, but unfortunately for him, Natsu had beaten him to the punch. The pyromaniac had been struck even more dumb than he already was upon meeting Lucy, and the two of them were instantly drawn to one another. It hadn't taken very long before their friendship had morphed into full blown relationship status, though neither ever used terms like boyfriend or girlfriend.

He had once asked Natsu why he simply didn't say that Lucy was his girlfriend. He had kind of shrugged his shoulders and told him,

"I don't know… it's like that term isn't really enough to describe it. She's more than just a girlfriend, so it feels wrong to say it I guess."

It had been the most insightful thing Gray had ever heard coming out of Natsu's mouth...still to this day.

Gray had also introduced some of his former classmates to what was becoming their shared core group of friends. Cana and Lucy had really hit it off, and were now BFF's or something like that. Whatever girls tended to call each other.

Erza had been a little standoffish upon first meeting everyone, but eventually had grown more comfortable. Enough so that when Natsu had tried picking a fight with him over something stupid, she had unleashed her true nature on the unsuspecting pinkette. Gray had found Natsu's terror of Erza from that point on hilarious, even if he too was kinda afraid of her to be perfectly honest.

It had been a fun year, filled with new people and new friendships.

AND NOW...

As sophomore's this year, they were no longer required to stay in the dorms, and they had all opted instead to live in the apartments on campus. Natsu, Gajeel, and himself had agreed to share a three bedroom apartment inside the newest complex built on campus. Similarly, Lucy, Cana, and Levy had also decided to room together in the same building as the guys. The girls' apartment was on the third floor, while theirs was on the fourth.

Erza preferred a more "quiet community" as she put it, and had a smaller two bedroom apartment that she shared with a girl named Juvia on the other side of campus. Gray had only met the girl once while helping Erza move her stuff in, but she seemed nice enough.

It had only been a little over a month since they had all moved in, and Gray was beginning to question his sanity at agreeing to living with not only Natsu once more, but also his cousin Gajeel. The two were more alike than he had first thought.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The sound had been loud enough to startle Gray as he sat at the kitchen table to eat a bowl of cereal. The sound was soon replaced with angry shouts coming from behind their front door by an enraged Lucy.

"Somebody better open up this door so I can KILL HIM!" She yelled, her voice steadily increasing in volume.

Before Gray could get up from his seat he saw Gajeel go to open the door, slightly stumbling from the lingering effects of sleep.

"Jesus bunny-girl! What's got your panties all up…." Gajeel opened the door fully and saw Lucy standing there. He immediately fell into a fit of laughter at the sight.

"Get out of my way." Lucy grumbled as she pushed past Gajeel and started down the hallway towards Natsu's room.

Gray had only seen the back of her figure, and wondered what that flame-brain had done now to incur Lucy's wrath so early in the morning.

Gajeel entered the kitchen still chuckling, his eyes lit up in amusement at whatever he had seen.

"What did he do this time?" Gray asked as he brought another spoonful of cereal to his mouth.

"Let's just say he won't be passing go or collecting 200 dollars anytime soon." Gajeel replied, his lips curved up into a smirk.

"What does that mean?" He asked, watching as Gajeel pulled out another chair from the table to sit in.

"You'll see."

WHACK!

The sound of something being hurdled across a room and smacking against the wall captured their attention, and they both eagerly looked down the hallway at what was sure to be a good show.

MEANWHILE IN NATSU'S ROOM...

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Lucy's voice thundered.

This wasn't how he had wanted to get up today. While he always enjoyed the sight of her, having her throwing random articles she picked up from his floor aimed at his head while he had be sleeping peacefully... well let's say it wasn't in his top ten ways to wake up with Lucy.

"Ouch! Quit it Luce!" The words slurring together from still being half asleep. He heard her getting closer to the bed, and the anger radiating off of her made him want to bury his head deeper into the pillows. What could she possibly be so mad about this early in the day?

"You are such a jerk Natsu!" She yelled before tugging at the blanket he had tried to hide beneath.

"What are you talkin' about Luce?" He cracked open an eye at her.

"THIS!" She yelled, as she pointed to her face.

It took him a minute to see what she was talking about, as the bleariness faded and he could finally recognize what exactly had made her so mad. He had to hold back the laugh that threatened to spill past his lips. She was frowning and pointing to the crudely drawn monocle he had put around her left eye, complete with a small chain that swept across her cheek back towards her ear. They had drunk a few beers last night and after Lucy had passed out he thought it would be fun to graffiti her face. He blamed the alcohol.

She looked so fucking cute. She had her hands on her hips as she glared down at him. Her expression trying to be intimidating but failing remarkably thanks to the circle and chain swooping across the left side of her face.

"Oh yeah, that." He managed to choke out behind the smile he couldn't contain.

"Yes THAT!" She pointed once again for emphasis.

He began to untangle himself from his covers and stand next to the huffing blonde.

"Aw, C'mon. It's not that bad." He teased.

"Not that bad huh? I walked into my lecture this morning wearing THIS," she pointed again towards the drawing, "and had to sit there while the rest of the class AND the teacher gave me weird looks the entire time!" Her tone had turned from pure outrage to a more timid and embarrassed one. "It was so humiliating!" She hid her reddened face behind her hands at the admission.

Natsu couldn't help but laugh then. It was too funny and she looked too damn cute, with her face blushing the way it was, to hold it back any longer. That had been the wrong thing to do.

Lucy's anger returned ten fold at the sound of him actually laughing.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY NATSU!"

"Okay okay….jeez. Look Luce I'm really sorry." He said between peals of laughter.

"Yeah you seem real sorry. Jerk!"

She spun on her heel and started to leave. She couldn't stand another second looking at his smiling face. She was just going to go home and attempt for the third time so far that day to wash this ridiculous drawing off of her face.

Natsu scrambled after her retreating form.

"Luce wait!"

She didn't listen, instead she continued towards the exit. As she neared the end of the hall she glanced over to where both Gray and Gajeel were seated in the kitchen. Upon seeing her both men had erupted into laughter.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled at them.

Natsu had caught up to her. He was wearing only his boxers, and he was trying to grab her arm so he could calm her down, but she kept shoving him off of her.

"Oi! Calm down Mr. Monopoly." Gajeel said to her, causing Natsu and Gray to snort out a laugh.

Lucy seethed.

"FUCK YOU GAJEEL"

She stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. For a minute they sat in silence, until Lucy's voice could be heard floating down the hall of the complex.

"Get out of my way!"

The three males laughed.

"She. Is. Pissed." Gray remarked.

Natsu still clad in just his boxer shorts came into the kitchen and began rummaging through the fridge.

"Apparently she had to go to class this morning and hadn't appreciated the looks she kept getting." He told them.

The OJ Gajeel was drinking went spraying across the table.

"She went to class like that?!" He choked out, as he wiped the juice from his face. "You're a dead man Salamander. Good luck with fixing that mess."

Natsu grimaced. It was gonna take a miracle for her to forgive him by the end of the day.

A/N: Idk...I needed a place to put all of my random ideas into. These one-shots will be connected, just not by a true plot. It's pure crack tbh, but I hope you all can enjoy them :) *4/16/20 edited for format