Life has been beating my butt lately and I forgot to update this. Apologies for the late updates.
3rd Person POV - Flashback to 8 Years Ago
"So, what did you call us here for, Natsu?" Zeref raised a brow at his younger brother who walked into their home with his hands down his pockets.
"Better not be one of your foolish tricks again," Their father, Igneel sat in the comfy leather chair with a cup of liquor in hand. He downed the liquid in one swing and poured another cup.
The pinkette smirked at his older brother then looked over at his brother with a massive grin on his face, he opened his mouth and spoke, "I know how we can get out of this life,"
Zeref and Igneel immediately turned their heads at the pinkette who was smirking quite hard.
"No bullshit, but an interesting person joined our school today," Natsu said.
"Who?" Zeref raised a brow.
"Her name is Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Layla and Jude Heartfilia," Natsu told his brother.
"Layla Heartfilia had a daughter?" Zeref and Igneel said surprised.
"I was just as shocked as you were when I found out, she's sexy as hell too, she may not have a big ass like the Teacher, but she looks good enough to hold my cock in her throat," Natsu said with a breathless smirk, just imagining the cute blonde made him get excited.
"How many times have I warned you about approaching Anna, Natsu?" Igneel asked as he filled his cup with more liquor.
"Sorry Dad, but I just couldn't resist. Plus, you taught me that it's a woman's fault if she attracts so much attention to herself due to how she looks," Natsu replied.
"True." Igneel shrugged his shoulders as he brushed it off.
Zeref raised a brow, making a slightly stern expression, "True? How is it her fault if she's just being her? Are you saying that she shouldn't walk and just stay in one place because you cannot control yourself?"
"That's not exactly what I said... but you're on the right track..." Natsu grinned as he patted Zeref on the shoulder. He wrapped his arm around his brother's neck and brought him in, "It's okay though, I got to taste her anyways,"
"Taste? What do you-." Zeref stopped as Natsu's smile grew even wider.
He pushed the pinkette away from him, disgust appearing all over his face as he stared at the pinkette in disbelief.
"What the heck Natsu?! You raped her!? You know there is a possible chance that she may remember it all?" Zeref said with a serious tone as he stood up to the pinkette.
Natsu waved at his worries, "Relax. She was knocked out throughout the whole thing, those roofies did their job and I got to have my fun. I might even use them again because I still want more of her, I cannot get rid of the feeling of how tight she was,"
Zeref dropped to his knees and put his hand against his face, shaking his head from side to side, "You've defiled her, dummy. How could you do such a thing?"
"She's a woman. She's like a toy, you can't exactly defile a toy, right Dad?" Natsu looked over his Father who gave him a thumbs up. Natsu looked back at Zeref with a smile, "See, Dad understands,"
The two remained in silence for a moment before Zeref spoke up once more.
"So... Did you get to feel the absolute bliss you were looking for?" Zeref asked him as he stood up and continued to look down at his black shoes.
"Heh," Natsu smirked, "That and beyond. Not to mention that I took her virginity. Once I saw the blood, I made sure to stop what I was doing, savour it by sucking it all up, then continue. Honestly, it's a bit weird doing it when they're unconscious, but she was still nice and tight nonetheless,"
"Honestly, you are disgusting, isn't he, Dad?" Zeref shook his head as he looked up at the red-haired man who was chugging down his beverage, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, followed by a wide toothy grin, only more malicious compared to Natsu's.
"My Natsu knows how to tame his women, unlike you, Zeref. Always preaching about respecting women, HA, such an idiot," Igneel laughed with his deep, intimidating voice as both he and Natsu eyed Zeref with a smug grin printed on their faces.
Zeref threw his hand behind his head and looked elsewhere, "Quit it. Let's get back on track here. So Natsu, what's the plan?"
"Well, I'm thinking of getting close to Lucy. The closer I am to her, the closer I can put in some good words for Dad. With Dad aiming to work at the company and all, and his resume looking top-notch for the job, I should be able to make him rise quicker. With Dad being in the company and me being close to Lucy, we'll soon form a bond as Mrs Heartfilia will like Dad as an employee, seeing him as a potential candidate for helping their business prosper more in the future. As for me and Lucy, we'll soon form an intimate relationship which will be allowed by Mrs Heartfilia because of how trustworthy and responsible Dad is and the assumption that I am just the same, not to mention that I'll have Lucy confirm that for me. And once Lucy and I are married, I'll have access to all the riches they can give, thus allowing me to bring you guys in on it later. So, what do you think? Not bad right?"
"It's an interesting plan and rather an easy way for us to climb up to the wealthy class. However, we will have to work slowly with this, give each step some time to marinate before we make another move." Zeref said as he rubbed his chin.
Natsu looked from side to side, "Meaning...?"
"That you shouldn't rush things. Don't try to use your looks to easily pull her towards you, just take it slow," Zeref told him.
"Aww man, so I can't stick my dick in her?" Natsu asked with a mopey expression.
"No. It would be too much for Mrs Heartfilia. I'm assuming that she is still sensitive and much more protective of her daughter due to the father of the family passing away, if we have you tying the rope around this Lucy girl too tight, there is a possibility that she'll choose you over her mother, thus making her leave everything just to be with you. You just have to make her like you enough to talk about her family endeavours with you, seem uninterested but interested at the same time, just be a friend who cares a lot about her. Does she have any siblings?" Zeref told the pinkette who sighed heavily in disappointment but nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"Nope, all alone," Natsu answered.
"Even better. She's going to want to communicate with someone of her age who is of the opposite sex. Just be her friend, Natsu," Zeref repeated.
"Ugh, sounds boring," Natsu groaned.
"But worth it. It is a smart way for us to finally climb to the top and have everything we've ever dreamed of, and is indeed the only way for us to get what we want." Igneel said as he stood up from his seat, "This year we will continue to be slaves of the working class. In a few years or so, we will be free from the chains of the working class and finally live the lives of the luxurious."
Zeref and Natsu nodded in agreement as they looked over at their father who continued drinking to his heart's content.
End of Flashback
3rd Person POV - 7:25 PM, Wednesday, Sting and Rogue's Home
"Sorry about the slight mess, we just arrived home before you stopped by." Sting apologised as he handed the ice pack to Gajeel who took it and put it to his face.
"It's fine..." Gajeel said as he looked at the coffee table in front of him rather than at Sting who stood beside him.
The blonde sat back on the couch next to Gajeel, sinking into the comfy couch as he let out a long sigh. He looked over at Rogue who was at the kitchen counter placing down a few unrepaired laptops, he settled them next to the fruit basket and turned around to Gajeel.
"You want something to drink?" He asked with a slow, emotionless tone.
"I'm good," Gajeel responded, taking the ice pack away from his face and squinting as the sharp pain returned, "Ah, Igneel... and Skiadrum came by the shop today?"
"Dad?" Rogue raised a brow.
"Woah, Mr Dragneel and Mr Cheney. But why? Neither of them drives," Sting said as he finally sat down beside Gajeel.
"I don't know, but they were with Layla Heartfilia," Gajeel told them with a stern tone.
"Oh?" Rogue's eyebrows raised from their resting place.
"That doesn't sound good. Not Mr Cheney, but Mr Dragneel, that's a big Uh-Oh," Sting said. He finally got serious and started speaking seriously, "Do you think... he and Natsu are up to something?"
"Most definitely. Why else would the two of them be so close with a Heartfilia?" Rogue added.
"That's true, but Natsu is just Lucy's friend. I heard they were close, but I don't think they would be close enough for Natsu to harm her in any way," Sting replied.
"You do remember what happened to the Teacher, right?" Gajeel looked up at the two.
They nodded.
"Call me crazy, but I think Salamander had something to do with it..." Gajeel looked back down at the floor, ready to be bombarded with contradictions.
However, the black-haired and blonde males nodded in response to what Gajeel had said and in unison, said; "No doubt about it."
Gajeel looked up almost immediately when he got the response he was hoping for but didn't believe he would receive.
Rogue sighed, "You weren't the only one. We saw how Natsu looked at the Teacher and how he inappropriately touched her, he did so many weird things that it made me gag so many times, but I couldn't approach him... because, well, he's Natsu. He'll beat me up if I had said something back then, it was no secret that Mr Dragneel treated women with an insane level of disrespect, of course, Natsu would have witnessed it all and picked up that level of thinking."
"Mr Dragneel is mad, yes, and so is Natsu. Do you still want to know what happened on that trip with Sara?" Sting raised a brow at the long-haired man.
Gajeel clutched at the ice pack, "I have a feeling I already know. Ever since we told Fullbuster, Salamander has been acting strange, as if, he knows that we are onto him."
"I think that's Gajeel's way of telling us what happened, Sting." Rogue chimed in.
The blonde nodded in acknowledgement, "I'm going to make this simple, but on the trip, Natsu was acting really strange, way worse than how he is acting now. I believe without a shadow of a doubt that he has gotten into the mix of drugs, and because of that, throughout the trip, Sarah had to witness his bullshit."
"Drugs!?" Rogue said surprised.
"Now, we're stepping into the dark layers of Salamander... Go on." Gajeel furrowed his brows.
"After the whole Teacher ordeal, Natsu was acting rather peculiar. Thankfully, on the trip, the Teacher was closely stuck with Ms Marvell and my mom, so in the meantime, Natsu was with Sara for half of the trip. At first, you'd think everything was fine, but then she started to report about how she heard shuffles in her room, sees a pair of feet standing on the balcony of the room she was assigned to, and overhears murmurs in her wall. She couldn't make out the voice, but all she knew about it was that it was weird, she never suspected Natsu because... well, that's her boyfriend, until a few days down into the trip, she'd excuse herself from the activities and begin cutting herself."
"What the fuck?!" Gajeel and Rogue exclaimed in unison.
"I know, I know... it's weird. The Teacher noticed that she began getting pale later and then on one of the days, she passed out in her room. Natsu and I checked it out and found out that she cut through a vein. The weird thing is that when her floor was stained with blood and we were attempting to cover her arm up, she'd whisper something about being 'free from it all'. And with that, the authorities got involved, after all, Natsu's girlfriend was from a wealthy household and somehow, someway, she blamed it all on me. She told her father that I pushed myself onto her, forced her with drugs, and almost pushed her to suicide and thus, I got all those accusations pushed on me. However, when she recovered, we managed to tie things up and her father pulled a few strings for all those things to be pulled off my record. She apologised for blaming me, but said she was just scared about what he would do to her... and it came to me..."
"Salamander." Gajeel finished Sting's sentence.
"But Natsu doesn't hold power to his family background. What could he possibly have over her that she was afraid of?" Rogue asked with a surprised face, all of this was just hitting him like a brick, he didn't understand what was going on anymore.
"Natsu alone is a force to be reckoned with, in fact, he holds a lot of things over our heads that we'd rather want to keep under the carpet. Like, Mr Redfox's abuse towards Gajeel and his mom-."
"WAIT! How?!-." Gajeel stood up.
Sting continued, "Don't forget that Mr Cheney, whilst working for the Heartfilia's now, works as a Professor in Information Technology and with that, also has a gambling addiction that set him in a crazy amount of debt. That being brought to light could be bad,"
Rogue put his hand to his face, slightly embarrassed.
Sting continued, "Ms Marvell, Natsu knows about it. You guys know what happened there, right?"
The two nodded.
Gajeel threw the ice pack to the ground and stood up angrily, "FUCK!"
"Mr Hemmingsworth may not be abusive to his daughter, but Natsu knows a little too much about the insides of his organisation that Sara spilt to him because she trusted him. She was afraid of losing everything, including her father." Sting looked down at the ground, "Saying that now, what can we even do? Just let Natsu have his way? I'm scared that he's near Lucy, already,"
"I agree. But I don't care, I'm going to save that blonde bimbo," Gajeel said.
"But how? If we slip up, our secrets are out for the world to know, for organisations to flip through. We will all be back to square one, a life wasted because of a little slip-up," Rogue said as he remembers the sweat and tears that were secreted throughout his years in education.
"There's only one person I can rely on here, I'll talk with him and hope for the best. Only he can save her from this bastard..." Gajeel furrowed his brows.
7:45 PM, Magnolia Park
Gray sat on a bench by himself, looking up at the blue midnight sky, stars beautifully scattered around space. Although his expression remained neutral, he felt at peace with everything right now and began thinking to himself about how he was going to pull this off.
He doesn't exactly know how high the stakes are or how far Natsu is willing to take things. He wants Lucy far away from Natsu, but how should he go about it?
He didn't want to scare her as it would feel like false accusations and with how Gajeel makes it out to be, Gray can't take Lucy being next to Natsu for another minute.
"With how cold it is, I was expecting you to not bring a coat," A cheerful voice said from behind Gray as they made their way to sit beside him.
"Come on now, I'm not that crazy. Even I know when not to take things too far," Gray chuckled, he leaned forward with his hands clasped together, "How was work for you today, Lucy?"
"Is that even a real question?" She raised her brow.
"I guess not. As tiring as always, especially for someone like you running a big company alongside your mother. You must always come home with a headache, huh?"
"Welp, not always. My friend, Loki always happens to make it less stressful. Annoying as he can be, he makes it worthwhile." Lucy commented, she let out a small sigh, smiling right afterwards, "Originally, you wouldn't catch me complimenting him, but one has to give credit where it's due, right?"
Gray nodded in agreement.
"A sign of integrity allows others to witness a layer of your beauty," Gray thought to himself with a small smile across his face.
"So, you and Natsu, huh? Who initiated that first?" Gray said with a small grin on his face.
Lucy rolled her eyes, knowing that Natsu would tell Gray, "It had to be me seeing as Natsu was too dense to realise my advancements,"
"Woah! Never knew you had it in you Lucy," Gray said, acting surprised.
He received a light punch to the shoulder from the blonde who also chuckled alongside him, "Didn't know you thought so little of me,"
"Given your timid approach towards romance, I assumed it wasn't going to happen. But hey, you made it happen, right?" Gray shrugged his shoulders.
The two laughed quietly amongst each other, even Lucy thought it was kind of wild that she was able to confess to the pinkette, given his oblivious behaviour but it all worked out in the end.
"So, what was it you wanted to talk about so urgently?" Lucy folded her arms, trying to keep in as much heat as she could.
Gray looked up at her for a minute before darting his eyes away from hers and facing his hands once more. He bit his inner lip, struggling to let the words out as he didn't know how to word what he wanted to tell her.
What he needed to tell her.
So, without looking at her, he spoke up,
"Stay away from Natsu." He said.
No beating around the bush.
No lies.
He told her what he had to tell her.
"What?" Lucy said with a confused brow.
"I want you to ignore Natsu from now on," Gray said, he bit his inner lip as the words left his mouth, "I know that the rumours about Natsu sleeping around is considered hearsay, but I want you to pretend they are true and stay away from him,"
"I don't understand... what did Natsu do wrong?" Lucy asked as she leaned closer to Gray.
"..." Gray remained quiet.
Natsu's behaviour changed so suddenly the minute Sting appeared, the pinkette was slightly more hostile, acting as if he was ready to pounce any minute and in the middle of it all, Gray couldn't help but worry for Lucy's safety. Without bringing about any sudden assumptions that may be debunked by the blonde, all he was going to do was warn her and keep her out of the deeper meaning to Natsu's character and just use the rumours as a common trouble Lucy should be wary of.
"Just be on the lookout for him. I know it's only been two days since you guys have been together but I have a bad feeling that Natsu could be cheating..." Gray said.
"Cheating? How would he be able to cheat on me in just two days, Gray?" Lucy said as she furrowed her brows.
Gray gulped. He wasn't the kind of person to make up random lies but for what Gajeel and Sting have told him so far, he needed to make sure she was aware, "Well, it could've been last night-."
"Natsu was with me last night, Gray," Lucy said with a much more serious tone than before. Her giggly aura left as she faced Gray with a strong sense of reading him.
Gray felt her eyes on him as sweat poured down from his head, he bit his lip, cursing at himself for foolishly lying about something so soon.
"..." Gray wanted to say something but he couldn't.
"In fact, he picked me up from work and brought me home to a nicely prepared dinner," Lucy added.
Gajeel warned him.
Gajeel warned Gray that Natsu was alert, he was aware that many eyes were on him, but Gray didn't know that he was this aware. He didn't know Natsu would already set things in stone to make sure he and many others kept out of his way.
Gray was under the impression that Natsu cheated on the night he and Lucy had dinner, he never knew the pinkette was laying false information to keep Lucy on his side constantly.
Lucy sighed, noticing that Gray went completely silent after saying her bit, "You're his closest friend, Gray. I don't think Natsu would approve of you spreading lies about him."
Gray felt guilty. Maybe it was better he stayed out of it all and let Gajeel take care of it seeing as he didn't have all his pieces together.
He brought a hand to his face in embarrassment, seeing as his previous feelings for Lucy...
Had not completely diminished.
"... You're right. I'm sorry," He mumbled.
She patted him on the back, reassuring him that she wasn't mad, "I understand that you're worried, Gray. But I'm sure Natsu would never hurt me, we know each other like the back of our hands. If he wanted to continue sleeping around, he wouldn't have accepted me as his girlfriend, so don't get your head too wrapped in it,"
Just then, her phone vibrated in her pocket, she took it out and showed the caller ID to Gray who just watched her answer the phone and put it on speaker.
"Hey Luce, are you home yet?" Natsu asked from the other side of the phone with a small yawn.
"Well, I was. I'm just outside taking a small walk right now," Lucy replied with a happy tone.
"Small walk? By yourself?" Natsu asked with concern in his voice.
"Nope, luckily I've been accompanied by Gray," Lucy replied.
"Gray, huh..." Natsu said and went silent for a few seconds before speaking once more, "Cool."
Gray remained silent, at this point, he wanted to also be the one avoiding Natsu.
"I was just wondering if you got home safe from work, it must've also been a very long day for you. Sorry, I'm not there to give you a warm, comforting massage," Natsu said with a small chuckle.
"Ugh, I'm glad you aren't. You'll just be trying to do it with me again," Lucy groaned as she rolled her eyes. Natsu cackled from the other side of the phone, going back and forth with Lucy on the sexual approaches he's performed in just under 72 hours.
Gray looked away from the conversation and stood up, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, "I'll be leaving now."
Lucy looked up from her phone at Gray, she stood up as well with a happy smile on her face, "I'll walk back with you then,"
"How about we all walk back together?" Natsu said from the phone, but it sounded like he was much closer than on the phone. Before Gray could realise it, he turned his head slightly before an arm flung around both his and Lucy's neck.
"HEY, GUYS!" Natsu said as he pulled them in, "Kinda chilly out here, isn't it?"
Gray tensed up, but he remained silent.
"Right? But, how did you know we'll be here?" Lucy asked, unaware of the small tension.
"Oh..." Natsu turned from her to Gray, "Just felt like walking through here, is all. There's a beautiful moon out and I didn't want to miss it, you know,"
"I guess that's a good reason to take a stroll through the park. It is beautiful tonight," Lucy chuckled.
"Yeah! I'm glad you're here, Gray. I got a few tickets for this 'Couple Bake-off' this weekend and wanted to hand you yours," Natsu said with a grin, he handed Lucy hers first then handed one to Gray.
"Oh... you shouldn't have... but, I got to go in for work this weekend, so-."
"No need to lie, Gray. Juvia told me you guys were going to Netflix and Chill this weekend, so she immediately accepted when I gave her one of the tickets at the tavern. Jellal, Erza, Levy, and Gajeel should be coming as well," Natsu grinned from ear to ear.
"You managed to get Levy to come? She has her eyes always glued to a book, so it must've been difficult getting her attention," Lucy laughed as she kept her hands on her hips, laughing alongside the pinkette who threw his hand behind his head and scratched it.
"Damn it..." Gray thought, "But at least I'll be able to catch up with Gajeel about my attempt here,"
"Anyways Lucy, let's get you back home. Don't want you freezing your butt off!" Natsu said as he lightly spanked her behind. The blonde pouted as she looked back at the pinkette, she turned to Gray and waved at him, he waved back at her with a small smile as she made her way home first.
The two remained in silence for about 30 seconds, before Gray turned around on his heel, and began making his way back to his car, "Anyways, see you later, Natsu,"
Natsu instinctively grabbed ahold of Gray's arm and pinned him up against a tree.
"W-What the fuck, Natsu?!" Gray said with his face being pressed up against the wood by Natsu's forearm.
"What's up with you, Gray? One minute you're cheering me on, and the next minute you're coming out late with my girlfriend. Wanna explain yourself?" Natsu said sternly.
Gray remained silent for a while, with his arms restrained and Natsu pushing him up against a tree, he didn't want to make the pinkette mad or even catch onto what he's been up to.
"I hope you haven't still got feelings for her because that'll make me pretty upset, and you don't like me upset now, do you, Gray? " Natsu said.
"Oh please, you never loved her-," Gray mumbled.
"What was that?" Natsu, in a swift motion, quickly let go of Gray, turned him around and slammed him back on the tree, holding his jacket, "Care to repeat that?"
Gray gritted his teeth, "I said; Just let go of me, you maniac,"
"Maniac? Ahaha, a maniac? Who told you I'm a maniac? Was it Gajeel? Or Sting?" Natsu said as his eyes were now as wide as plates as if he had just gone crazy.
"What the fuck are you on about? And get your hands off of me!" Gray slapped the pinkette's hand away.
Natsu continued looking at Gray with his weird expression,
"You've been hanging out with Gajeel and Sting for some time now, huh, Gray? What have you guys been talking about? I hope it isn't about me," Natsu asked, eyes still wide and his face remaining neutral.
"Sometimes we talk about you, but mainly because of how idiotic you are sometimes, other than that, we talk about sports. We don't talk about it with you because you get handsy whenever we disrespect your favourite team, dammit." Gray scratched his head, appearing to be hurt by how the pinkette was acting.
"Oh." Natsu's expression returned to normal, this time he appeared concerned and worried, he fixed Gray's coat, straightening out the wrinkles, "Ohhhh, man, my bad. It's just that when you fall in love, you tend to get on edge about things-."
"Whatever, man." Gray turned back around to go towards his car, appearing hurt by it. "Why would I do that to you, despite everything we've been through,"
"I'm sorry, Gray. I'm just a bit overprotective when it comes to Lucy," Natsu shouted out to him. Gray still walked on not turning back, "You'll drop by the tavern, right? Right?"
"Yeah, yeah! Just go home, you flame brain idiot!" Gray waved without turning back.
"See ya!" Natsu smiled with a toothy grin at Gray's retreating back.
The pinkette turned around and a grim expression returned to his face, "So, Gray isn't somebody I should be worrying about right now. That just leaves Lisanna, Gajeel, and Sting."
As Gray walked to his car in the lot, he let out a small sigh of relief, "So, he doesn't suspect me. Guess I'll keep it that way, up until I have all my cards in place,"
To Be Continued