And this is just a revised version of the last chapter that was called "So You're New Here?". There are many changes to this chapter, so read through this one again if anything! If not, it won't affect you all that much. Enjoy!


Natsu didn't take a long shower. The men in that locker room are always rambunctious, and it sometime got a little out of hand.

Or a lot. It depends on who is there.

And today was a day he didn't want to spend time in there, especially with how his face looked. He'd had more than enough teasing to last him a lifetime.

Just before he left the gym, he noticed a familiar blonde hair just at the doors. He grinned, and he began sprinting towards the woman with blonde hair. Right as he reached her, he spun her around to scare her and notice that it wasn't his blonde girl. Instead, it was this creepy old lady. With lots of wrinkles.

"Luigi?!"

The old lady just stares at him, before she actually registers what he had said.

"My name isn't Luigi!"

Natsu stared at the lady in horror.

"H-how did you get so old?"

"That's rude young man! Why do you have pink hair?"

"It's natural!"

"And it's natural for me to be old! Now apologize!"

Before he could properly apologize to the old lady, Natsu felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see Lucy there. Wrinkle free.

"LUCY!"

He grabbed her and squeezed her into a tight hug, her pink bag falling to the floor as her arms were crushed into his chest. The old lady stood there, tapping her arm impatiently.

"I'm waiting for an apology boy!"

"N-Natsu. I can't breathe." Lucy wheezed out the same time the old lady spoke, but she was just squeezed tighter into his chest. After a few more seconds, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away to about arm's length.

"I thought you turned into that old lady!" Natsu stared at her, a slightly horrified expression on his face when she began to laugh.

"Why would you think that she was me?" Lucy shoved his hands from her shoulder as she picked up her bag.

"Well, her hair did look kinda like yours. And I was far away!" He watched as she doubled over in laughter, and it was then that Natsu noticed she was at the gym. "What are you even doing here?"

Lucy settles her laughter, wiping a tear from her eye. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably as he waited for her answer. They both heard an angry cough and turned to the old woman still standing there, waiting for an apology. Natsu rubbed his neck and he bowed his head to her.

"I'm sorry for calling you an old lady."

The woman huffed and turned on her heel, slowly if anything, and waved her hand off at him.

"I'll accept it this time, but next time I won't be so easy on you!"

Natsu made a face at the woman as she walked away and he heard Lucy laugh. He turned back to her and remembered she hadn't answered him.

"Well?"

"Oh! I have practice here every day."

"Practice?"

"Yeah, I'm in ballet. I didn't tell you?"

"Why would you tell me that? And that doesn't sound like you." Natsu watched as her face turned a slight pink, and her lip pursed in disappointment.

"I'll have you know that I got a scholarship with it! So it is very much like me." Lucy crosses her arms, her head turned up slightly to show off her pride in some odd way. Natsu just rolled his eyes, and he remembers what happened this morning.

"Look at what you did to me!" Natsu points at his face, and Lucy winces when she finally realizes the damage that she did to his face. She didn't really think at the time it would be that bad. When she inspected it more, she noticed that there were some fresh wounds.

"Hey, not all of that is me."

Natsu touches a little bit of his face and finds fresh blood, and he wipes the blood off on his pants. He grins sheepishly at Lucy, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"R-right. I was in a fight not too long ago."

"A FIGHT?!"

The people inside the lobby of the gym all turn to look at Lucy, whose face turned a bright shade of red and she quickly bowed her head in apology to the people in the lobby before she grabbed Natsu's wrist and tugged him outside.

"What do you mean a fight?"

Natsu just shrugs his shoulders, and he opens his gym bag to show her the gloves and other accessories he had.

"I'm an MMA fighter. And I had a spar with some guy."

Lucy stared hard at him before Natsu decided to look away.

"Stop changing the subject! Look, I'm sorry I slept in your bed. So let me make it up to you."

Lucy's face turns pink at the memory of him being in her bed, and she huffs. He frowned, tugging his wrist out of her hand.

"Come on, I'm trying to apologize. I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten either."

At that note, Lucy's stomach growled and she crossed her arms tightly over her stomach. It was embarrassing enough that she made a scene in the lobby, but to have her stomach growl in front of another person?

"What do you have in mind then?" Lucy turned her head to him as she brushed a strand of hair from her face. He grinned as he grabbed her pink bag from her hands and he slung it over his shoulder with his.

"I know this great place! They have really good food, and they have an arcade and stuff!"

She contemplates going out. She was still in her leggings and plain t-shirt, so she didn't exactly feel very pretty. She turned to look at what Natsu's wearing, and notices he's just about the same as her. He has on some faded jeans and a black t-shirt. And that t-shirt did more than the imagination could ever do. She never did realize just how toned he was, and she could see a hint of something red peeking out a little bit below his shoulder.

"So? Do you want to go eat? It'll be my treat!"

She glanced up at his grinning face, and she sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, where are we eating?"

He grinned more, if that was even possible, as he turned her around and began pushing her towards wherever it was they were going. She almost tripped over her own feet but he steadied her before standing next to her.

"Don't worry, it's a good place. I used to hang out there a lot before I got my job."

As the two walked towards the unknown place that Natsu decided to pick, they chatted about their school life and what they do at practice. Natsu learned that Lucy has been doing ballet ever since she could stand, and he saw the shoes that they had to wear. Which looked horrible. They looked really painful, but Lucy said she got used to it after a while. She showed him some simple dance stuff that apparently was easy to do in vans. But whatever it was she did looked beautiful.

"Do you have to wear your hair up?"

Lucy turned back to Natsu, who had lagged behind when she showed him this twirly thing.

"I do when I practice, why?"

Natsu just shrugged, and he quickened his pace to catch up to her.

"No reason. You just look pretty with your hair down too."

Lucy's face flushed, and she looked away from him. Her hair was in a loose, and very messy, braid. She thought about taking it down before Natsu grabbed her wrist and took off running.

"W-wait! Why are we running?" Lucy tried to pull her wrist from his hand but he held on tighter as he kept running.

"It's just up there! Hurry up, I think I see ice-freak."

Lucy was confused when she heard the name 'ice-freak.' What kind of person did Natsu know to be called Ice-Freak? Before she could ask, she spotted an absurdly big building with lights so bright she almost had to shield her eyes. And the sun wasn't even down yet.

"Are you sure that's not a club?"

Natsu turns back with a wide grin on his face.

"It's a little bit of everything. Now come on!"

The pair continued running to the building, which read Fairy Tail in big red neon lights, and Natsu kicked open the door once they were close enough. Startled, Lucy snapped her wrist out of his hand but he continued to barge in. She calmly walked inside, and immediately lost her pink haired companion in the mess of people and loud shouting.

Inside was like a bar, club and arcade mixed in one place. And it was a rambunctious place to be. How Natsu expected them to eat there left Lucy more confused than she wanted to be. She slowly made her way around to find a small bar area in the back. She looked around for a pink haired idiot before sighing in defeat.

"New here?"

Lucy's head snapped up to see a beautiful woman with shocking white hair. Lucy smiled sheepishly and she fumbled with her braid.

"Yes. My friend brought me here, but I lost him in that mess."

The woman laughed, and Lucy felt annoyed.

"Don't worry, he'll probably be back here in a little bit. It tends to happen a lot here."

"That?"

"Oh yes, it's always the same group of people in that little ball of fighting."

Lucy turned back and spotted a flash of pink in the disarray and she huffed.

"He promised me some food, but I don't see anywhere it could be made."

The woman laughed, and Lucy turned back to her and noticed a little shine in her blue eyes.

"I'm the one who makes food, did you want something?"

"You make the food? But you're the bartender. Bartendress. Bartender lady?"

Lucy's face was flushed as she tried to figure out the proper term for the woman in front of her.

"You can just call me Mira."

"Mira. Okay. I'm Lucy by the way."

Mira smiles at Lucy, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"So what can I get for you?"

"She'll have a lemonade for now Mira."

Lucy jumps when she hears a deeper voice behind her back, and she turns to smack Natsu on his chest. He just grins at her, taking the seat next to her. She notices a few more bruises, or maybe those are cuts, on his face and arms.

"Where did you go? You left me behind!"

Natsu just grinned as he popped his knuckles.

"I just won the fight between someone I know."

Mira comes back, a small smile on her face as she hands Lucy the lemonade.

"I'm fairly certain that's not how it went Natsu."

"Oi! I did too win!"

Mira just chuckles, and Natsu plops his chin on the table as he pouted.

"Just get me my usual. And whatever she's getting."

"Ah, can I just have a grilled cheese? And whatever soup you guys have today."

Mira nodded and she left the two of them to go make their meals. Natsu turned to Lucy, who was pouting as she twirled the straw around in her drink, and opened his mouth to ask her a question before she points her finger at him to be quiet.

"Why didn't you tell me we were going to Fairy Tail?"

Natsu just shrugged his shoulders, and she sighed as she took the straw into her mouth to take a sip of the lemonade.

"How's the lemonade taste?"

She scrunches up her nose, and pushes the lemonade aside.

"It doesn't taste right."

"What do you mean?"

"It just doesn't. I don't know, it just tastes funny."

Natsu stares at her as she squirms under his gaze, and she fumbles with the straw once again.

"You're weird Luce."

She huffs, and as she's smacking him they both hear a cough and turn to see Mira with their food.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something."

She smiles at them, and they glare at each other and Lucy sticks her tongue out at Natsu before turning to Mira to smile at her.

"Nothing at all. Is that our food?"

"Yup! I have a grilled cheese with our homemade chicken noodle soup. And for Natsu I have our insanely spicy chili with extra hot sauce. And our hottest wings."

She placed the food down in front of them, and Natsu could feel the drool coming from the side of his mouth. He was starving, but he waited for Lucy to at least try a bite of her food before he went savage on his. She sat there, picking the crust off her grilled cheese before she dunked it into the chicken noodle soup. Natsu stared at her like she was some sort of freak, and she just stared right back at him as she continued to eat.

"What?" She continued to dunk her crust into the chicken noodle soup before she actually tried a spoonful of the actual soup.

"You're so weird! Who even does that?" Natsu stared at her in horror as she dipped the gooey center of her grilled cheese into the broth and she shrugged.

"I do. I've done it since I was a kid. My mother did it so I would eat the crust."

Natsu just glared at her as he slowly took a bite of his chili, but as he took another bite the glare dissolved into a look of sheer bliss. He quickly devoured his chili and went straight for the wings soon after. Lucy stared at him as he practically swallowed his food whole.

"And you thought I was weird? What are YOU doing?"

"Eatin'."

"That's not eating. That's swallowing."

"Wha you talkin' bout?"

Lucy just sighed and went back to eating her soup, which actually tasted pretty good, and sat back once she finished her meal. She turned to Natsu to find him gone, once again, and she huffed in aggravation.

"Where'd Natsu go?"

Lucy looked up to see Mira grabbing their plates and bowls, and Lucy just shrugged.

"I really have no idea. This is the second time tonight!"

Mira smiles softly at Lucy.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he had a reason this time."

Lucy sighed, for the umpteenth time tonight, and watched as Mira walked off with their dishes. She sat in her chair, kicking her legs back and forth as she waited for her pink haired friend to come back. He did have to pay after all.

"Hey, Luce. We gotta go."

Lucy looked behind her to see an agitated Natsu, a hand tugging at his scarf as he walked towards her.

"What's up Natsu?"

He pulled out some cash, which she hoped was more than enough for their food, and he grabbed her wrist to tug her outside.

"It's a long story, but it'll be easier to talk outside."

He frowned as he weaved his way through all the people. He was having a lot of fun before he got a phone call from work. Once they reached outside, he stopped and adjusted his scarf.

"I got called into work. Something happened and the kid there got sick."

"Sick? How is he sick?"

"There was a bar fight or something like that. The kid doesn't like blood, he gets queasy."

Lucy holds back a laugh and Natsu cracks a smile. It was an odd thing to get sick over, especially as a guy. They were supposed to be tough, right? Natsu led them back to Love and Lucky, and the two walked comfortably in silence. Natsu could tell that Lucy was a little ticked off, but he didn't want to annoy her more. He did take her away from a free dinner to his work. She didn't have to come, actually.

"You know you don't have to come right?" He turns to look at her, and she just stares at him blankly.

"I completely forgot about that actually." She smiles sheepishly at him, and she chuckles at his expression. He just sighed after a while and they continued on their way to the bar.

"So why are you coming then?"

"I have nothing else to do."

"It's getting late, shouldn't you shower or something?"

"Are you saying that I smell?!"

"N-no, isn't it something that girls do?"

"It is, but some take offense. Be careful next time."

Natsu huffs, and he crosses his arm tightly across his chest. Women were way too complicated, and they hurt his brain. A lot. It felt like it took a lot longer to get to the bar than it needed to get to the bar. And the silence between the two of them was getting uncomfortable.

"So."

"So."

"What do you do after classes?"

"I work at a coffee shop. Or I write. Or I'll do ballet or some sort of dancing."

"Yeah, you do weird stuff."

"I do not!"

He laughed when he saw her pout, and she pouted even more. He liked talking with Lucy, it wasn't hard and he didn't need to put in much effort either. It made the time pass by much faster too.

"So are you a freshman? Or are you a sophomore?"

Natsu looked to her when she asked her question, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Actually, I don't know."

Lucy stopped and slowly turned her head to Natsu, and she just stared at him blankly.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well, I do know. I just tend to forget. I'm a freshman."

She just slowly shook her head, and she turned away from him to keep walking to the bar.

"I'm pretty sure it's because of the fighting that you do."

"It is not!"

"How many concussions have you had?"

"Not that many."

"How many?"

"3? Maybe?"

"Yeah, that's way too many."

Natsu sighed and he sped up to catch up with her angry stride. Once again, women were weird. Thankfully, they were almost to the bar.

"Why were you called in?"

"Because they only needed someone for an hour and I was available. Sort of."

He saw Lucy nod, and they continued their walk in silence. When they were in sight of the bar, they noticed a police car and an ambulance sitting out front and the two of them turned to each other.

"Did they tell you what happened?" Lucy watched as Natsu shook his head.

"I'm gonna guess it was a bar fight though. The kid working gets sick at the sight of blood."

Lucy coughs away a laugh, and she tucks her hair behind her ear. He snickers slightly at the thought of the kid being green while trying to stop the fight.

"Shall we?"

Natsu nods and watches as she takes the lead. Her stride was one of confidence and he laughed as her braid swung back and forth. Thankfully she didn't hear him as she had managed to get to the door before him.

Once they were in the bar, they saw a small group of people surrounding two men. They were both sitting on the floor with their hands cuffed, and a lot of blood on their faces and clothes. Natsu looked around for the kid and saw him as far away from the scene as he possibly could be. He was talking to the police officer, and he looked like he had puked a few times already. Natsu took his scarf off and folded it in his hands before he took a glance at Lucy, who was still trying to take the whole scene in. He walked over to the kid, and the police officer greeted him.

"You're the one coming in?"

"Only for an hour, they have someone else coming in."

The police officer nodded and went back to asking the kid questions. Natsu gave the kid a pat on the back, placing his scarf in a safe place before he went to the bar top to fill everyone's orders. He spotted Lucy sitting on the side, where she was far from the fight scene, and he chuckled at her expression. She looked horrified, and she clenched the bottom of her shirt tightly. After he finished making everyone their drinks, he headed over to her.

"Don't like blood?"

"I can handle the blood. It's the fact that men fight for fun."

"Nah. I'm sure there was a reason."

"No. I listened in. They just fought."

Natsu turned to see the two men leaving the bar, and he noticed that the kid had come back behind the bar.

"Thanks for coming in Natsu."

"It's not a problem. It's always great to see you turn green kid."

The boy's face flushed, and Lucy sighed.

"Don't mind him. I'm Lucy!" She smiled at the poor kid, and he gave her a weak smile back.

"I'm Tyler. It would be nice to meet you if I didn't feel like crap."

Lucy smiles, probably in sympathy if you had to ask Natsu, and she looked to Natsu.

"I want a lemonade. And make sure it tastes good."

"You're demanding, you know that?"

She smiles cheekily at him before he leaves to make her lemonade. When he comes back, she notices he doesn't have his scarf on.

"Why can't you wear your scarf when you work?"

"I almost caught it on fire when I was doing a flaming drink and the boss said that I couldn't wear it when I'm making drinks."

Lucy laughed, and she covered her face with her hand. Natsu just huffed at her, holding her drink away from her. She realized this and stood up to snatch it from him and took a sip, sighing in content. She looks back up at him when he snickers.

"How do you almost catch your scarf on fire?"

"I was leaning over the drinks, and it almost caught fire. It happens."

Lucy shook her head in disbelief, and she went back to sipping on her lemonade. They had 20 more minutes before another person would come in, and it was getting late for his blonde friend. He could see her rubbing her eyes, and the few yawns she tried to hide behind her hand. Natsu filled up a few more drinks as the people came up, but he mainly did some busy work. Wiped a few glasses down. Cleaned the countertops a little. He didn't get to talk to Lucy all that much as someone would come up before he could go back to talk to her. He was sure she didn't mind, she seemed to be enjoying her lemonade and whatever was on her phone.

Thankfully, the 20 minutes passed by quickly and the other person came in for the rest of the shift. He hadn't met the girl before, but she looked pretty nice. Someone who wasn't a bitch. Not like, pretty. Girls were weird.

"Luce, let's get going. You look tired."

She lifted her head from the counter, and rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry, I got tired. It's been a busy day today."

"It's okay. I'll walk you home."

He walked around the counter top to her and grabbed his scarf from the little hiding spot he had. She hopped off the bar stool and stretched, and he caught a peek of her skin on her belly. He felt his heart rate speed up but he ignored it.

"You ready?"

"Yup, let's go. I still need to shower."

"Yeah, you smell."

Lucy smacked him hard on the shoulder and he just snickers.

"Ow. That hurt so much."

He laughed as she continued to smack him as they left the bar, and she finally stopped when her hands got tired.

"How does that not hurt you?"

"I'm in MMA, I'm used to the pain by now."

Her mouth made this small 'o' and he grinned at her. The two walked, once again in silence, until he realized that Lucy wasn't next to him anymore.

"Have you ever thought about the stars?"

"Not really."

He turns to see her looking up at the stars, her arms wrapped around herself. He didn't realize how chilly it was, and he wished he had some sort of jacket in his gym bag.

"They're so far away, but you can always see them. No matter what."

He watched as she smiled softly at the night sky, and he walked over to her.

"Why do you like the stars so much?"

"My mother taught me all about them, so it's something I hold dear to myself."

Natsu hummed a quite reply and they stood there for a little bit as they looked up at the stars before Lucy started walking back to her apartment. He followed her, holding their gym bags. He faintly heard her humming something, and he turned to see her walking with her eyes closed.

"You sure you aren't going to fall over?"

She opened one eye, and she smirked at him.

"You'll catch me if I fall. So I'm okay."

His face turned a slight pink, and he looked away from her and concentrated on walking back to her apartment.

"How can you trust me to catch you?"

"It's not really trust, but you did say you were in MMA. So you have faster reaction time than most people."

He laughed at her comment and they went back to walking in silence before he felt the need to ask her questions.

"What are you studying?"

She turned to see him faced away from her, but she answered him anyway.

"I'm majoring in English, but I'm trying to find a way to minor in astrology as well. But my adviser doesn't think it's necessary. What about you Natsu?"

Natsu stays quiet, and he realizes she's stopped walking. They've reached her apartment faster than he wanted to.

"I don't know. I'm currently undecided."

"Why?"

"I just haven't found something that I like doing."

"Hm. You'll figure it out eventually."

He nods, and he walks her to the entrance of the apartment complex. She stops, and he just stands there staring at him.

"I do need my bag back Natsu."

He mentally slaps himself, and he hands her bag back to her.

"S-sorry. It's so light I didn't really realize I was carrying it."

She laughs at him, and holds her bag in front of her with both hands.

"Thanks, for a weird night. But I had fun. And the food was good."

He grins at her, and he rubs the back of his neck with his hand in embarrassment.

"Sorry we had to leave so soon."

"Oh no, it's totally okay! I had fun either way."

The two of them stood there awkwardly at the entrance before Natsu decided he would be the one to leave.

"Anyway! Good night Luce."

"Night Natsu."

He turns and heads back to his dorm room, the silence of the night bothering him just slightly. He decided it would just be better if he jogged back to his room, it would make it the silence less bothersome. When Natsu arrived at his room, he dropped his gym back on the floor and maneuvered around the mess of clothes he had before flopping on his bed.

"Happy."

He waited for the cat to respond, but he didn't hear anything. He quickly sat up from his bed and looked around.

"Happy?"

He waited again for a response, but nothing came. Natsu slapped his forehead when he realized where the cat was.

"Shit. He's still at Lucy's place."

Natsu quickly changes his clothes into something more comfortable, sweats and a long sleeve shirt, before he heads out to Lucy's apartment. Thankfully, he's still pretty stretched from his jog so he decides to run to her apartment. Going to his dorm and back to her apartment did take a few hours, so he was assuming she was asleep by now. Taking the chance, he started climbing the wall to her window and gently pushed on it.

Surprisingly, it was still unlocked.

Hopefully he wasn't going to be killed. He pushed the window open the rest of the way, and gently climbed in. He stood on the windowsill and jumped over her bed and landed quietly on the floor next to her bed. He turned to see her chattering her teeth, to his annoyance, and Happy sleeping at the foot of her bed. He tried his best to lean over her bed to close the windows, but it didn't exactly work. He climbed on her bed, quiet as he could possibly be, and shut the windows all the way.

He sat on her bed, listening to her chatter her teeth before he decided he was going to sleep in her bed.

Again.

It was only because she was cold. And her blanket wasn't doing anything to help her.

And he was tired. He didn't really want to have to run all the way back to his dorm. Her bed was way more comfortable than his anyway. He slid under her blanket and slept with his back to her, but he eventually heard the chattering stop once his heat spread to her. He lay there, trying to listen to her breathing and eventually fell asleep.

He'll deal with the consequences the next morning.


Thanks for reading! I hope you guys look forward to the Halloween Special! And just so you know, it won't be following this timeline. It'll be when everyone has met. I'll let you know who will be paired with who and if there are any couples! So think of it like an OVA. ^^