AN: Hello everyone! Here's a new update. Thanks to your amazing reviews that warmed my heart, I wanted to update as soon as possible! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Happy New Year! Let's have a great 2018, with even more fabulous Nalu fics to come!


It was early afternoon and Lucy was strolling down the sidewalk from her second class of the day. She had made it to her seminar almost 15 minutes late but thankfully no one cared or even looked her way. About half of the class had shown up, and the ones who did whom didn't sit in the front were too busy with their noses stuck in their phones, dutifully sleeping, or typing away at their laptops to give a glance to a wayward student.

The teacher didn't even turn away from his lecture about plate tectonics and his notes on the board when the door closed behind her.

Her class directly after that had been a creative writing class, the intro course for her major. It was one of her favorite classes, held three times a week. The teacher was a sweet middle aged woman with a mousy face, glasses and brunette hair always piled up in a bun. They usually had prompts and writing techniques during class and were told to write for the first 30 minutes in the style of the subject before the rest of the class was given over to discussion, both in small groups and as a whole. The class wasn't too hard as there were a lot of students taking the class just for the credit, but Lucy enjoyed it. She loved writing, especially with the interesting topics the teacher gave and incredible tips she'd explain, and listening to the other student's stories and their ideas.

As a bonus, she shared the class with Levy.

She was actually waiting for the girl now, as the bluenette had stopped by the teacher's lounge to talk to a professor about an assignment.

The hallway she walked into was fairly packed, students milling about before their next class. It was quite a beautiful corridor: partially outside with stone tiled floors and arches to let in the dying summer breeze. It was lovely enough, in fact, for Lucy to get lost in it. Her chocolate eyes gazed at the colors of the leaves outside, their hues slowly turning yellow and red, hinting at autumn's nearness. She was deep in thought, ruminating that despite all of the crazy things that had happened it had only been 3 weeks since she started university...less than a week since she met Natsu. She was so consumed with the calmness of the beatific scenery before her and comparing it to the avalanche of emotions in her life that she didn't hear the steps of a person coming up behind her.

"Lucy? Lucy Heartifilia?"

The blonde hummed, slowly breaking her gaze with the outside world to look to the person calling out to her.

She found herself looking at another blonde. A strikingly handsome man, with blue eyes that sparkled in the light and a roguish smile.

"A-a, hello, can I help you?" She stuttered as he caught her off guard.

"Sorry, I just thought I recognized you. You're Lucy Heartifilia right? We have Nakamura-sensei's creative writing class together."

Recognition gleamed as she watched him lean into a casual stance against the wall next to them, smiling down at her. "Oh yeah!" she affirmed, smacking a tiny fist to her palm, "I recognize you! But we're not in the same group together, how do you know my name?"

Her fellow blond grinned at the cute way her head tilted at him, shifting his body so he could get a better look at her and lowering his voice, "How wouldn't I know you, you're famous on this campus!" He teased. "Lucy Heartifilia, heiress to the Heartifilia fortune, model, actress, philanthropist, and if you don't mind me saying, total smokin' hot babe."

He chuckled at the pink that rose to her cheeks at his affirmations. After all these years of being semi-famous she was used to the compliments from others but still rather uneasy accepting them.

"We-well, I guess." Clearing her throat while bashfully brushing a stray strand of blonde behind her ear, the heiress' expression shifted to one of welcoming warmth with slight curiosity in her gaze. The blush remained, dusting her cheeks, "What can I do for you…?"

"Sting, Sting Eucliff at your service, babe," he replied, winking at her stunned expression.

"Sting Eucliff-san, what can I do for you?"

"No need for that honorific stuff, just Sting is fine. Is just Lucy okay for you? We're classmates so it shouldn't be a problem, right?" Sting grinned charmingly at her.

"U-um, okay." Lucy smiled amicably back; she wasn't used to people she hardly knew talking to her so informally. Not until she met Natsu at least, but he put a whole new definition on informal. She guessed she could let this Sting person slide as they were classmates and he seemed nice enough.

"Great! I actually wanted to talk to you because I wanted to get to know you better." At the quirk of Lucy's brow, the blonde-haired man's voice changed to a quicker flow. "I-I mean as friends! Not that I don't find you attractive enough to not want to date! You're definitely attractive enough! I-I just don't want to make you uncomfortable is all..."

At the sound of Lucy's quiet giggles, Sting calmed himself down enough to stop his embarrassing rant. There he went trying to be cool only to look like a dweeb in front of someone like Lucy Heartifilia.

"Sorry." He said with a darkening blush, his hands that were fiddling with his jacket now gripping it instead.

"Don't worry, I understand. I would love to be your friend, Sting." Said man's cheeks rosened for another reason as he sheepishly gazed at Lucy's sweet face. Her cheeks had rounded into an angelic smile and the full sun drifting in from the scenery behind her made her look all the more ethereal.

Clearing his throat, Sting looked away, "Your boyfriend won't mind?"

That confused Lucy, "My boyfriend?"

Pushing his arms out in front of himself in a placating matter in order to save face, Sting explained himself. "Not that it should matter as we'd only be friends. But I know how boyfriends can get. I don't really have the best reputation either." He all but whispered that last statement causing Lucy's brow to furrow.

"Who do you mean?" Oh no…

"That Natsu Dragneel guy. Isn't he your boyfriend?"

'Crap, I forgot about that.' She couldn't believe word got around so fast after just one day. It was preposterous! But then again, in the less than 48 hours that they'd spent together, her and Natsu had more than a couple run ins with what might affectionately be termed 'groupies.' And it took less than a minute to post something on the internet these days. She should be surprised it wasn't bigger than it already was.

Lucy turned over her response, remembering what Natsu told her before class and resenting him even more after what she learned last night. Feeling her anger from yesterday return, she blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Oh that egotistical jerk? He's not my boyfriend."

Arms crossed and obviously steaming at the thought of the infamous man, Lucy was surprised at Sting's excited expletive and expression in response to her admission, that subsequently knocked her out of her brooding thoughts.

"That's great!" Sting smiled so brightly that, with his yellow hair he rather seemed to glow. "Not that him being a jerk to you is good, but you know what I mean."

Lucy gave him a small friendly smile, but she couldn't say she got what he meant. 'Are all guys this weird?' Her recent track record of interacting with guys her age hadn't been great and although Sting seemed nice, his weirdness wasn't helping that opinion.

"Lu-chan!" Blinking away from the slightly awkward blond, Lucy turned her chocolate gaze towards her blue haired friend skipping towards them.

"Levy!"

The blunette in question strode up to them with her usual excitable aura, beaming at her friend with a gaze that reminded Lucy of a cat that got the canary. She was not unused to that face from their high school days, as Levy wore that face every time she left a teacher's office. The bookworm almost always got her way when it came to school as her impressive test marks and prompt homework was an example for the whole student body. Despite Levy being an heiress herself, there was no doubt in Lucy's mind that her friend could've gotten into their school with her intelligence alone.

"I'm guessing you got the teacher to fix your grade on last week's assignment?" Lucy asked archly.

"Hmph!" Levy righted herself, hands akimbo, "Of course! That question on the greatest scholars in modern day science was completely redundant. It was only there so we could adhere to that man's obvious bias." The girl rolled her eyes as she spoke.

Hearing the chuckle coming from a deep timber that obviously wasn't Lucy's, Levy blushed as she noted that someone other than her friend had witnessed the spectacle of her feiriness when it came to school. How embarrassing.

She gazed upon the face of the guy, quickly recognizing him as the university heartthrob.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to laugh at you. My name's Sting." He spoke, trying to dim his clearly amused smile a bit as he offered his hand.

Quickly relinquishing her embarrassment, Levy returned the shake, "I know who you are, you're quite famous around here." She smirked at his surprised face good-naturedly. "I'm Levy McGarden. Nice to make your acquaintance."

Lucy blinked at that but didn't further comment, knowing she could ask the girl to explain later.

"Well, I'll leave you guys be." Sting said shuffling around them, surprisingly uncomfortable under Levy's knowing gaze. "See you later Lucy!" He said raising his hand as a farewell before taking off.

A moment later Levy was beaming down on her.

"Ho, ho, ho, Lucy. Not one, but two guys in two days! I definitely have to take that cat bed back then." She muttered the last part to herself thoughtfully.

"Levvvy!" Lucy whined, not as amused as her friend.

"Aw, I'm kidding Lu! I'm just really proud of you!" Levy said, taking a hold of the blondes hands between her own. "You're taking advantage of this freedom away from your father and becoming a normal girl!"

Lucy pouted, "I was normal before…"

"Although I have to say, I'm surprised he's been letting you go to school without your body guards, too. Remember how annoying they were to have around all the time?" She continued on without pause for Lucy's comment, seeming to have a few particular instances in her mind at the thought of Lucy's old bodyguards.

"About that Levy…" Lucy felt herself sweat, wondering how she was going to explain that they wouldn't be making an appearance any time soon. At least she desperately hoped they wouldn't.

"Yes Lu?" She tilted her head cutely, waiting for her to continue. 'Oh so she'll hear that but not me defending myself at being normal?' Lucy huffed internally, knowing Levy didn't mean anything by it.

"N-nothing! Oh, man I'm hungry! Let's go find something to eat."

Levy's suspicious face at Lucy's transparently obvious attempt to redirect her disappeared when she felt her own stomach grumbling. "Sure."

Lucy smiled brightly, pleased that the matter was dropped as she walked towards one of the school's many cafeterias.

Unfortunately for Lucy, on the way towards the cafeteria, she and Levy ended up running into Gajeel. That wasn't so bad until Levy, who had seemed to grow ever more close to the pierced behemoth, asked for her and Lucy to eat with him. Again, not so bad until Lucy realized with whom he was sitting as they made their way across the room, Lucy carrying a simple salad and tea, Levy with a bowl of soup and fries, Gajeel…an assortment of many things, mainly meat, towards a bench outside in the cooling soon to be fall weather. There sat none other than Gray and the bane of her current existence.

.oOo.

"So, how's your salad, Luce?"

The aforementioned girl rolled her eyes, not even glancing at her inquisitor.

"So Levy, do you have any more classes after this? I just have Algebra II but after that we should go to the gym together." She smiled sweetly to her friend.

Having heard the question herself and wondering why the blonde was clearly ignoring it, Levy felt slightly awkward as she replied. "Um..um sure Lu, I just have one more class too and then I'm free."

"Great! Let's meet up then."

"Mm!" The bluenette nodded back, awkwardness vanishing in the face of excitement.

Lucy giggled, the happy feeling cutting short at feeling the unwanted presence next to her. It's hand wrapped around her waist as it leaned in. "Oi Gajeel, you have class afterwards too right? Anatomy or something?"

The man groaned, "Yeah, don't remind me fire breath." She could feel its hands tighten on her.

"Oh! Anatomy 101 with Gregor-sensei?" Levy questioned.

"Yeah…how do you know that?" Gajeel leaned back, eyeing the petite girl. "Yer not stalkin' me are ya shrimp?" His face quickly turned wicked as he smirked knowingly.

"You wish, block head." Lucy could hear Gray snicker that it was actually made of metal and felt him tsk in amusement at the comment. "We have the same class. I'm surprised I never noticed you before." Levy finished, ignoring Gajeel's friends jeering.

"Well it's a lot of students." Gajeel defended with a grumble while crossing his arms in an intimidating manner, obviously hearing Gray's comment but surprisingly deciding to ignore it in order to focus on Levy.

"I don't know," the bluenette countered. She was sure she could pick out Gajeel anywhere. For lack of better terms, he had a really noticeable presence.

"More like, he never goes to class." Gray snickered, letting the real reason out. Gajeel growled in response, glaring at the black haired male who was slowly unbuttoning his blue button up.

"Shut yer ass ya stripper!"

Gray just shrugged amusedly. "Make me Iron Breath," he challenged.

"So Luce, are you free after hanging out with Levy?"

"So Gray, how was the rest of your night last night? Sorry about the awkward goodbye." Lucy smiled, seemingly trying to stop the budding fight between the two boys but everyone was slowly starting to realize her real goal. Natsu's question hadn't gone unheard like she'd pretended.

She could feel Natsu's hand tense further, his thumb sliding around the edge of the hem of her shorts. He obviously didn't like her ignoring him in favor of talking to another guy. Hah.

"Uhhh…" Gray paused in the middle of being manhandled as Gajeel's hoisted him up by his shirt, glancing awkwardly her way. Lucy noticed his eyes shifting between herself and him next to her, as if asking if he could reply or not.

Before Gray could make a decision, Lucy felt a strong buzzing vibration against her thigh, inciting a startled shriek.

Lucy tried to catch her breath, distantly aware that Natsu's tightened grip had stopped her from falling from the bench in her excitement.

"You okay Lu?" Levy asked, concerned, watching the girl try to get a hold herself as she clutched tightly to her shirt over her heart.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Both of the girls were unaware of the glare being thrown at Gajeel and Gray for hearing Lucy's yelp. Her sudden expletive had sounded way too sexual for comfort in a young man's mind, bringing thoughts of what the blonde would sound like in the throes of passion to the forefront.

Natsu, having compared it immediately to the real sounds she made in his memory, understood the startled blushes on his closest companion's faces as they stared at Lucy in surprise. He made sure, as he took the cause of Lucy's relapse of composure from his pocket, to glare an unspoken threat to the buffoons as he tightened a possessive hold on Lucy's soft, luscious thigh.

He had the immature thought to throw Lucy on the table and ravish her just to show them who she belonged to, but realized quickly as his cell rang again that it probably wasn't the best idea.

It seemed they got the hint nonetheless as their daze broke. Gajeel rolled his eyes, letting go of Gray only to turn to Levy's plate and pluck up a handful of fries while Gray-the bastard-smirked back at him with a knowing gaze.

Bringing the phone to his ear, Natsu continued glaring at Gray as he smoothed his hand on Lucy's thigh up her middle towards the hem of her scandalous shirt. He felt her shiver against him as he rubbed under the shirt until his palm was spread out along her flat stomach with his thumb a stroke away from her breast.

Talking on the phone to Jellal about some developments he'd found, Natsu didn't realize he'd done all this, let alone in a sexual way. His body had moved on its own, subconsciously reaching out for the girl to reaffirm something within himself.

Lucy would later realize this touch was different than the others too, even compared to his earlier caresses of her thigh. More intimate.

"Alright." Natsu finished with Jellal before hanging up the phone, giving Gray and Gajeel a look to hint at the substance of his call before completely turning to Lucy by shifting towards her in his seat with a sigh then clutching her waist.

His lip twitched at the petulant look on her face. She was clearly trying to ignore his presence—as hard as he was sure it was, pouting with her arms crossed as she spoke with her blue-haired friend.

Natsu didn't care that she was in the middle of a conversation, he tugged her chin to look at him, forcing a gasp from her lips. "Sorry Luce, I gotta cut this lunch short. I'll meet you later." The earlier question became a statement.

He smirked at her beautiful face, eyeing her pouty lips before tugging her upwards for a slow, sensual kiss. His lips tugged on her full lower one in slow tender movements before pulling back and starting again. Flicking at her upper lip with his tongue he bit at the open space of her lips, feeling her release a shaky breath against him. Natsu knew the action would remind her of the same way he used his mouth to suck at her clit and massage her sweet little pussy. The memory swam through his mind with the intention to push the vision into her own.

His intentions were not unsuccessful; when he pulled back from her sinfully addictive lips with one last soft suck on her bottom one, her eyes were dazed and aroused, her body humming and unconsciously moving his way as she panted for him.

His smile turned wicked, sparkling even brighter when he heard a distinctive whistle coming from a passerby and the mumbles he picked up with his sharp ears, of students sitting near them talking about his famous companion.

Lucy's hands had moved to clutch his black V neck shirt and now smoothed down his chest, causing a pleased purr to leave him as she tried to gather herself.

Natsu reluctantly got up, pleased with his efforts. He put his sunglasses on and gathered his empty lunch before tilting his head one last time to Lucy and leaving.

Lucy's hands had fallen to the bench and gripped it tightly as she watched him walk away, noticing not only the smooth, naturally predatory gait of his walk and the firmness of his thighs and behind, but also more than a few females eyeing him go with with equal appreciative looks. An ire she'd never felt before built up at that, causing the girl to look away only to catch the wide eyed gaze of her friend.

"Wow Lu! I thought your guys' kiss from yesterday was hot, but that one had nothing on this!"

Gajeel snorted from next to the girl, "It was enough to make me throw up. Bunny girl, can you and lover boy get a room next time ya decide to do that?" His utterance of disgust didn't stop the man from continuing to eat Levy's fries. How the small girl still hadn't noticed was odd to say the least...

Watching him gorge didn't stop the effect of his words and Lucy's face started to burn at the repercussions of Natsu's actions.

Gray snickered from the other side of Levy. "I don't know, I thought it was hot. I need to get back into practice myself soon," the black haired man said, leaning into the table and giving Lucy a look that was anything but pure. He then started laughing when her face bloomed further, just like he expected. "To easy."

Lucy huffed at his teasing. "It was nothing. I don't know what you guys are talking about."

Levy just blinked at her, dumbfounded at her complete dismissal. It would be obvious to a blind man that Lucy was clearly affected, especially if her shifting body was evidence of it. And who wouldn't be? That kiss was hot!

"Riiight."

Lucy was embarrassed at being caught in her lie, even more embarrassed feeling so hot from Natsu's kiss after trying to ignore him all lunch. It was like him saying that no matter how hard she tried, he'd always find a way to make her yearn for him instead. It was annoying. Her body felt hot, and her core felt so empty. Her nipples were prickling and she couldn't stop squirming or biting her lips, reveling in the left over taste of him. Just from one kiss!

"Oh crap! I'm going to be late for class." Lucy blinked out of her reverie, watching Levy gather her stuff to leave.

The girl's blue eyebrow twitched as she noticed her empty basket of fries.

"That means me too I guess." Gajeel dusted his hands off.

"You guess." Gray smirked, poking fun at Gajeel's obvious slips from not going to class as much as he should. The piercing laden man glared, mumbling a threat at the other noirette, who lifted his hands up for peace while snickering his ass off.

Lucy's own lips twitched, seeing the blush slowly form on Gajeel's face. She wondered idly if the man was purely going for Levy. The way Gray made it seem, Gajeel was happy to slack off and stay home.

"See you Lu-we have a lot of talking to do later." Levy stated, eyeing her friend as she headed out.

Lucy started to sweat realizing that Levy was going to use her suggestion of a hang out to interrogate her like a murder suspect.

The blonde watched her friend rush off after that, Gajeel's long legs enabling him to take lazy strides but still keep up with the bluenette.

"You know…he's never come to class on campus before today."

Lucy stiffened, pausing picking at her salad at the sound of Gray's voice.

"He's always busy trying to fix his father's company so he's been taking online classes instead."

Lucy groaned, "What are you trying to say Gray? That he's coming to school now for me? So that he can keep an eye on my actions and make sure I'm not messing up his plan for the whole world to know we're together?" She threw her fork in her barely touched salad before crossing her arms and giving the stoic man her complete attention.

His posture copied hers with his arms crossed over his bare chest. Lucy forced herself to ignore that for the time being for the unexpectedly serious conversation.

"That may be what it seems, but this is really unusual behavior for him." Gray sighed, shifting his gaze to something behind the blonde. "He's changed…he's not how he was before you came into the equation, Lucy." Gray stated, thinking about the jobs he and his boss went on after his father's death. The murders they committed on the execs that tried to leave Dragneel Enterprises with stolen money. Torturing them in eerily similar ways to how Natsu's father was tortured, even though the man was sure they had nothing to do with that.

It didn't stop there. They'd went after people who'd talked down to Natsu coming into the company, business partners connected to the Heartifilias to gain information, known goons working for Acnologia. Taking out prostitution rings, drug warehouses, anything connected to the Heartifilias or Acnologia, burning everything down and squandering their money. The last few months had been bloody as hell.

A memory flashed into Gray's mind. They had gone to kill one executive by the name of Crawford Seam. The exec had taken a huge sum from Igneel's corporation and hadn't bothered to be quiet about it, gallivanting and showboating, saying that Igneel deserved what happened to him because he'd been an incompetent boss anyway. This was early after Igneel's death and Natsu was still tender towards any news related to his father. After hearing about Crawford, he had made it a personal mission of his to kill the man. Gray couldn't stop him, nor did he want him going alone so he, Elfman—the usual muscle to go on these kind of missions-and Jackal along with a few other henchmen went along with him.

They'd found the man in the middle of the night in his family home. There they took him out in the slowest, most painstaking way imaginable by stringing him up by his toes from a hook in the ceiling with his head slightly elevated so he wouldn't pass out, then they'd cut along his bowels until he slowly bled out.

When Crawford was dead, he and Natsu left, leaving Jackal and a few others to do clean-up while he could hopefully calm Natsu down. But they'd gotten a call soon after that his family hadn't been gone, and that his wife and son had been found hiding. A chill ran up Gray's spine remembering how close Natsu was to giving the okay for Jackal to kill them.

He remembered watching the once fiery man, a staunch supporter of justice who fought against unwarranted killings, seriously contemplate taking two innocent lives.

Gray knew if Natsu okay'd that, he would have to leave the gang…thankful in that moment that his boss hadn't made the call, allowing the family to live and unknowingly, Gray to remain in his service.

"You're telling me he was worse than this?" Lucy asked with a wry giggle. As horrible as Natsu'd been to her, the idea was unbelievable.

Gray looked up, his dark, steel blue eyes piercing into her, almost allowing her to see the horrors of his memories.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Lucy."


AN: So what did you guys think? I know I might have a few people giving me side eye for Sting, but I promise that relationship will be completely one sided. I gotta use him for the plot *rubs hands evily*.

What do you guys think of Lucy ignoring Natsu? Is she being petty? Haha. Do you think Sting really just wants to be friends? What do you think about Gajeel and Levy's relationship? Should I develop it more? They will only be a background romance if I do, in the same fashion I've been doing until now but they shall have some development if you guys want. What do you guys think about what Gray said? Is Natsu truly becoming a better person?

Tell me what you guys think! The next chapter is going to be really interesting, fleshing out the Black Market business Natsu runs and how it works. Plus we get more information on what happened to Natsu's father. And, do I see another lemon on the horizon o.O

Thank you again to my beta noseinabook for helping me on this chapter. You're the best! Until next time you guys!