ONE: Hottie by the fence
(Natsu's Point of View)
There's a point in your life that you will miss your home. Whenever you're in a different place, you'll miss you, family. You'll miss the loving and sometimes overly affection of your mother (technically adoptive mom for me), the jokes and fun conversation with your dad (adoptive father for me), and the fun teasing and annoying your siblings. That happens to me all the time. I usually miss them whenever I'm at my school dormitory for the whole week. But when weekends come, I come home very excited...well, except this week.
"Natsu! Come over here!" A man shouted coming from the living room
As I hear my name being called, I couldn't help but groan. I just hate it when I'm being called especially when I'm playing my Xbox. "What?!" I shouted back while I continued to press hard on my game console
"I said come over here!" The man shouted back and this time, it really pissed me off. So growling so loud, enough to let my dad hear it all the way from the second floor, I dropped my console as I heavily stomped on the floor. Continuing to stomp my feet on the stairs, I exhaled bored when I reach the ground floor of our home.
"What?" I said as soon as I saw my red-haired dad, sitting on the couch with a newspaper on his hand
"I need you to do something..." my dad- technically adoptive dad—said as he puts down the newspaper he was reading before he turns to look at me.
"I'm playing..." I quickly countered without even hearing my father out
"Yeah, I know since Friday night..." Dad then raises his brow to me as if he was telling, deny it and I'll cut those wires of your Xbox
"...So?" I just said since I couldn't deny the truth
"So, I'll be asking you to be productive. It's Sunday already Natsu—for Pete's sake!" My dad then stood up and before I could even react, a sweet voice suddenly interrupted making me and dad look at the newly arrived person.
"Calm down, Igneel," It was Mom, carrying a tray full of snacks good for a big group. But since I and dad have like a dragon appetite, it was just enough for us to be satisfied. "You know well that throwing a temper doesn't make any conversation worth hearing..." Mom then smiles at dad before she looks at me.
"Sorry, Dine," my dad said before he rubs the back of his neck, "Sorry my boy, it's just that, having a back pain makes me a little moody..." Dad then sits down back to the couch as he sighs and rubs the lower part of his spine.
"It's okay pops," I said as I grinned at him and plumped down next to him on the couch, "What do you want me to do? Give you a dragon force massage?" I said childishly—don't judge me, I like dragons—before I looked up at my mom who lovingly stared back at us before she sets down the tray on our coffee table.
"I can do that," mom said, "but what your dad wants you to do is paint the fence for him..."
"What?" I said dumbfoundedly
"I bought some new paints yesterday and I was planning to paint it this morning. But since I carried those boxes of paint in a wrong way, I kind of strained my back." Dad then winces as he rubbed his back again
"Oh, poor Iggy," mom then sits down next to dad as she sneaks her hand behind dad's back and gave it a gentle rub while kissing dad on his cheek then to other parts of his body. Being disgusted with my parents' display of affection, I scrunched my face and gagged.
"Okay, where's the paint?" I quickly said as I stood up to leave immediately the living room, still feeling chills after seeing my parents act
"They are in the garage, under the workbench," Igneel answered before he girlishly giggled after mom whispered something to his ear
"You guys are disgusting," I commented before I turned to leave to head out to the garage. But before I was out, dad loudly said back, "You'll be doing this too with your girlfriend!"
Groaning in irritation, I whispered to myself before I opened the door, "Whatever," and soon I was out of the house and went straight to the garage.
I have been staring at the four paint buckets sitting on the ground since I looked for them when dad told me to do the painting for him. At first, when I was told to do the task, I thought it was easy. I mean seriously, what's so hard about painting? So, here I am thinking the task was easy as a pie. But the moment I saw those paint buckets, I became clueless.
"Why the hell are there two colors of paint? Two buckets of white and red paint?" I audibly asked no one in particular, "I give up, I have to ask dad..." I then turned to leave the garage. When suddenly, I saw my sister just stepped out of the front door.
"Hey, Wendy!" I called, making my youngest sibling look back at me with pure surprise
"Yes, Natsu-nii?" Wendy replies as she walks closer to me with her sling bag on her shoulder
"Is pops still in the living room?" I asked then Wendy shook her head
"Alright," Then I turned my back to her and placed my hands near my mouth to echo louder my voice as I faced the window to my parent's room, "Hey-!" I started but was quickly stopped when someone tapped me on the shoulder. As I twisted my upper body to look back, I saw Wendy shake her head.
"If I were you, I wouldn't do that..." Wendy then sheepishly smiled and I thought why would she be embarrassed when it suddenly hits me. Shit, my parents are doing it this early morning...
"Oh gross!" I exclaimed as my face showed disgust. As for Wendy she just laughed at me before she turns to leave, "See you later Natsu-nii! I'm meeting up with Romeo!"
And with what my sister said, my attention quickly shifted and gave a stern look at her as I pointed, "Oi! Who said you can start dating!?"
Despite the blush that appeared on her cheek, she said back, "We are not dating! He's just a friend!"
"Yeah, right" I answered back as I crossed my arms over my chest while Wendy continued to walk further away, "I'll tell this to dad!"
"Natsu-nii~!" Wendy then stopped in her tracks and turns to me with a scrunched up face
Laughing at her expression, I just waved good-bye to her and said, "Bye Wends!" And with that, my sister smiled back at me as she waves goodbye then turns to leave.
After watching my sister disappear on the first corner, I quickly turned and head back into the garage. And as soon as I was back to my spot in the garage, I was already staring again at the four paint bucket on the floor.
"Does dad wants me to paint the fence alternately or have it half-half painted?" I asked no one in particular. As the silence went on, I was growing unfocused until I heard a car's engine turned off. Whipping my head to turn and glance at the street, I finally saw the old muscle car of my older brother.
"Zeref!" I quickly called despite not seeing him yet. And so, I dashed out of the garage and quickly slows down when I saw a short girl with soft colored blonde hair step out of the black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454, owned now by my brother.
"Hey, Mavis..." I greeted as I raised a hand as a greeting. And as a return of gesture, the woman smiled as she tilts her head and waved back at me, "Hey Natsu!"
Before I could even ask how Mavis were, Zeref finally stepped out of his car with an expression telling me, don't you dare embarrass me or else...
Ever since Zeref brought Mavis home during their semestral break, two years ago, back to his second year in college, he was easily read that he liked the girl. I mean, who wouldn't? Zeref was the kind of guy who doesn't usually smile and laugh even if he was happy and having fun. I've known Zeref my whole life because we're real blood related, and I've never seen him smile nor laugh the way he does whenever he's around Mavis. So, yeah, that definitely means he has a crush on this girl.
"So," I said as I watched my brother round about his car to stand next to his lady-friend, "What's the occasion for you, Mavis, to drop by?"
"Nothing much, it's just that Zeref offered a seat for me in his car as we head back to campus this afternoon," Mavis then looks up to Zeref as she throws him a sweet smile, which I may take note—he blushed.
"Oh," I just said, making the two break eye contact and focus on me. When I slyly smiled at Zeref, he quickly changed his demeanor and asked, "Is mom and dad in the living room?"
"Nope," I replied popping the 'p' word as I shook my head
"Where are they?" Zeref continued to ask
"Bed-room" I answered, trying to emphasize the word 'bed' so that he'd get the gist but being the oblivious and innocent minded he is, he said, "Alright, I'll just knock on their door"
Just when he took a step to head inside the house, I quickly shouted to make him stop, "Nooo!", successfully, Zeref did. But he and Mavis curiously looked at me.
"What's wrong Natsu?" Mavis asked as she stepped closer to me
"They are in a business meeting..." I uttered to Zeref, almost like Mavis scrunched her forehead in confusion, that is the time Zeref's eyes widen in realization, "Oh," he simply said, making me mumble exasperatedly, "thank heavens..."
"I still don't get it..." Mavis continued to say as she thought of what was happening. When I and Zeref looked at one another, thinking whether to explain or not- because, come on, who would want to tint Mavis' innocent brain—we both decided and nod before Zeref answered for us.
"It's nothing Mavis. Just some bro-code we have," Zeref then gave his most harmless smile while I rolled my eyes, thinking of the day we decided to have a code for that specific act of our parents.
"Oh okay," Mavis then smiled back to my brother. After that, Zeref immediately told me that he and Mavis would be heading inside first. And when they disappeared inside, I suddenly remembered why I stepped out of the garage.
"Shit! I forgot to ask Zeref!" I said as I hit my forehead with my right-hand palm. As I was about to turn and run after my brother, my phone suddenly buzzed on one of my cargo shorts' pockets. So, searching my whole shorts where I have placed my phone, I finally found it at the last pocket to my left side of my shorts. Pulling out my phone, I immediately see my best friend's caller Id.
"Yo, Luce! What's up?" I said as I twirled around to look out in the street and find a blonde person.
"Hey, I just wanted to ask you, what time will you head back to FTU?" My best friend asked
"Me? I dunno. You?" I returned the question
"I was hoping by 4 I could leave home so that Levy-chan and I could still meet up. But, our driver is day off today and I don't know if taking a public transportation will make me reach campus before 5" my brows then raised up at her words
"Why so early?" I question with a hint of annoyance in my voice. Why so? I don't know.
"I told you already. Levy-chan and I will be meeting up so that we could go to this new café-library close to the dorm to check out..." Lucy reasoned out again but this time with a little irritation too
"Where are you?" I suddenly asked, trying to change topic
"Why?" she asked back instead of answering. So feeling a little annoyed, I scratched my head furiously as I answered back, "Just tell me,"
"I just reached home, coming from the market...why?" Just when she said 'market', I heard the sound of the plastic bags containing a lot of things, being set down on the floor, before a loud resounding doorbell was heard, "Oh Lucy! I should have done that!" a particular elder woman exclaimed right after the doorbell rang.
"It's fine, Mrs. Spetto, I wanted to choose myself the fresh fruits for mama and papa..." Lucy said back to the elder. When another sound of plastic was being picked up and its sound was fading slowly, I thought that Lucy was now alone already. And so, I spoke again.
"Can you help me with something?" I asked, making Lucy at the other end of the call sigh
"What now?" She asked with a little annoyance in her voice
"I'll tell you if you get here," I said, this time, I started heading back to the garage and prepared myself to start doing the task. Hearing Lucy growl in irritation, I just laughed at her and said that I'd see her soon. And with that, she ended the call.
After that, I shoved my phone back into my pocket and gave a determined look to the four paint buckets. "Okay, time to get over you..." And with that, I picked up two buckets at a time to bring it out to the front yard and set it at the end of the fence. When all the paints and paint brushes were set outside, I exhaled and turn to face the street.
Our street was surprisingly calm. Just a few women jogging in their sports bra, men running with their dogs on the leash, a few ladies waving at me and some guys, same age as me, glaring at me for being an eye candy to the girls they like.
Sighing, I dropped myself and laid my back against the cool yet warming grass of our front yard, "I'll take a nap...I'm pretty sure, Lucy will be taking her time to get here..."
"What the hell are you doing?" A particular female voice asked, making me crack an eye open and pull my muffler scarf off my face. Just as I did, my eyes quickly burned with the glaring sun right above me and so I squinted to get used to the light. Giving a shade to my eyes, I opened it and saw my best friend stand right above me.
In her usual clothes, I smirk at her and sat up straight, making my scarf fall on lap. "Really with those clothes?" I asked teasingly
Looking down to her own attire, Lucy thought for a moment before looking back at me, "What's wrong with my clothes?" She returned the question as she shrugged her shoulders as if she was finding it ridiculous that I even asked. "I don't know…at least you could have worn some short shorts, or some skirt to get a glimpse of your underwe-" I suddenly stopped when I felt a searing pain to my head. Quickly holding the area that hurt, I looked up saw a retracted balled fist while Lucy furiously puffs her cheeks in annoyance, "Ow~" I said to her, making her huff in contentment
"That's what you get..." She said before she turns to walk away from me and squats down next to the paint buckets, "So, is this what you need help?" She asked as she looks at me with her friendly smile, with her quick shift of mood. Grinning back at her, I stood up but took my scarf and wrapped it around my head I then walked up and squatted next to her.
"Yup. Do you know how?" I asked back
"Duh. Even a grade 5 student can do this...I even wonder why you need my help..." Lucy then mockingly looked at me, from head to toe.
"Hey," I said sounding offended. So I mushed up her face with my large hand, making her squeal and fall on her butt, "Ha! That's what you get!" I exclaimed as I pointed at her
"Uh!" She growled as she glares at me after she swatted my hand away. Still laughing at her state, I let myself drop to the ground and held my stomach.
When she stood up, her shorts somehow dropped lower than before, making me stop in my laughter and stare at her. "Luce, pull up your shorts, " I said, making her look down to her shorts and indeed she did pull it up.
"Thanks," she said before she offered her hand for me to take. Taking the offer, I stood up with ease—it's not that it would be hard without her help. I'm perfectly fit if I may say. Six packed abs baby.
"You know Luce, you should have worn at least shorts that are particularly yours. I mean, really jersey shorts?" I then pointed at her very loose shorts that ended up three inches below her knee, "I can let go with your big shirts. I think loose shirts can be comfortable but big shorts are definite no."
I then looked at Lucy as if she had broken a precious vase and her lifeline is at risk. But instead of apologizing, Lucy just chuckled and said, "Are you a fashion expert now?"
"No," I said as if it was an obvious thing, "But I know how to dress up properly and appropriately for my body"
"This," Lucy then flies her hand up and down as she said, "Is appropriate for this kind of stuff and I am perfectly wearing proper clothes." Then she plants her hands to her supposed hips. It is very difficult to say which part of her body she is holding because her clothes are definitely too big for her size. As in literally the shirt is big size.
"Uh, whatever…" I just groaned as I have concluded that Lucy will never back down from her own principles in life. And so, after rolling my eyes at her, I turned and walked in front of the fence to stare at it while my hands were on my hips.
"So, what exactly do we do first?" I asked her as she, later on, stood next to me to stare at the fence as well, "Well…" She started but I quickly interrupted her by saying back, "Do we paint the fence half red and half white? Or alternate?"
Looking at me as if I grew a second head, Lucy creased her forehead as she asked, "What are you talking about?" with her question, I glanced back at her as I pointed at the paint buckets at the floor and answered, "Well, there is white and red paint. I don't know what kind of pattern I have to do…"
Instead of hearing any sensible response, I immediately heard a soft laughter. So looking back at the face of my best friend, I saw her trying so hard to stop her giggles. But when she can no longer hold it, a heartily sound came from her and wiped her tears away.
"Oh god, Natsu! You are one dense guy!" She exclaimed before she started laughing hard again, making me flushed a little. When her laughter continued, I growled at her before I wrapped my arms around her neck and gave her head a rough rub with my knuckles.
"Ahhhh!" Lucy shrieked as she tried to pull her head away from me. When I loosen my grip and let her head be pulled away, I pointed at her while I laughed, "You deserve it!"
"Hmp!" Lucy then pouted at me before she stifles her laughter again. Despite liking the sound of her laughter, I couldn't help but feel pissed because she was laughing at me for something I've done.
"Why are you even laughing at me?" I said as I crossed my arm over my chest. After the good laughter of my blonde best friend, she genuinely smiled at me as she took a step closer and looked at me straight in my eyes.
She said, "It's because you're a funny man…"
Not really able to catch up to her words, I gave her a confused look making her explain everything. "Natsu, the reason why there is white paint, it's because it's the primer before you paint any wall or fence. Once it's dry, we use a colored paint and paint it over the primer…"
"…Ohhhh~" I said really amazed. Without any hesitation, I grinned at Lucy and hugged her by the side with my arms around her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, "Lucky for me, I have a best friend like you to help me out"
Chuckling at my words, she then flicked my forehead before stepping away from my grasp, "You know, for a guy who is studying chemical engineering, you're quite slow when it comes to real life tasks…"
"I know…" I commented as I nodded to her own remark about me
"Don't worry, you're a funny guy…" Lucy then smiled to me wide before I lean a little closer to her and mumbled, "And you like it…" Keeping her smile to me, she answered back, "Couldn't agree more"
As the morning went on, the scorching sun was already blazing its heat to people's skin. I, who was already shirtless since I took a nap in the front yard, am drenched in sweat already as I stroked my brush up and down a fence that was close to reaching the end of the fence. When the sun kept the heat steady, I used my scarf as my cap to cover up my head while Lucy used my cap to cover her blonde hair. Her hair was tucked under the cap, making a few strands of her hair fall off the cap.
Looking up to the progress Lucy has done, I saw her that she was painting the back side of the fence already. Calling her attention, I quickly smiled at her, "Yo, Lucy!" I shouted
Looking back up at me, she smiled and nodded her head once as she answered, "I'm almost done. How about you?"
"Close enough..." I replied before I stood up and stretched my numbing legs. As I shook out the tingling numbness of my legs, I suddenly heard my name being called. And so, slightly turning to glance at the person, I see a red-haired woman walk up to me with a large smile on her face.
"Hey, Natsu! It's been a long time since I saw you," she finished as she softly pushed my left shoulder and let her hand trail a little down to my chest
"Haha, hi Jean" I sarcastically laughed while I watched her hand trail down but then I immediately looked back at her and added, "I've become busy with college life I guess..."
"Oh~" she then placed her hand on my left shoulder again and gave a little squeeze this time as she continued, "and workout? You seem to be more packed..." I then saw her eyes scan my naked chest and it was almost terrifying.
Before I could even react, I suddenly heard a stifling of laughter. So looking at my back, I saw Lucy was desperately trying to stop her laughter as she tried to ignore my conversation with Jean. When I was about to ask Lucy, Jean suddenly took notice of her presence and greeted her.
"Oh, hey Lucy...Didn't know you were here too" Jean then leans to one foot as she crosses her arms, trying to intimidate my best friend. But of course, Lucy was never easily fazed.
"Oh, well maybe because you're attention is capable of one person at a time only..." Lucy then tilts her head trying to make her loose strands of hair move away from her eyes before she wipes her forehead with her backhand.
"No. I just didn't see you since you're too small for your clothes. It looks like a clump of clothes sitting on the ground," Jean then gave a miniscing look to Lucy, who was a little offended. But she quickly covered it up by replying, "At least I can say I have more cloth than you have. Just look at my shirt compared to yours," Lucy then points and as she did, I looked at Jean's clothes and indeed, Jean's top was so short her midriff was exposed.
"Honey, this is what you call a 'crop top',, " Jean said with her quoted fingers
"Yeah, I know..." Lucy said confidently, "but still, I'm richer in cloth..."
Before Jean could counter back, I immediately clapped my hand and took their attention, "Okay! So," I looked at Jean who looked back at me too, "Do you need anything Jean? Because I got to finish this fence today before I return to campus."
"Oh, well, I was thinking if you wanted to hang out this afternoon..." Jean then runs her hand to the joint of my neck and shoulder before resting it there completely
"Oh too bad Jean, I was planning to head back to campus by four," I then gave a short glance at Lucy, whose eyes twinkled in delight, "I need to meet up with my lab partner by five..."
"Is that so? Well, too bad. Give me a call when you return back here, okay?" Jean then cups my cheek before she turns to leave.
Once she was gone, I shifted my attention straight to Lucy who grinned widely at me, "Are you serious about going back to school by 4?" She asked with pure hope in her eyes
"No..." I said back, but I was just kidding, I just want to tease my best friend. And as expected, she became disappointed. So quickly I added, "But do you need a lift? I can offer you a seat..."
"Really?!" Lucy's spirit perked up animatedly and I couldn't help but grin back. As she runs up to me and gives me a crushing hug, she happily pulled away and said, "You're the best,"
Feeling the contentment of her simple compliment, I knew that my cheeks somehow warmed up. And I found it odd. So quickly trying to change her demeanor, I slapped her cap down making her yelp in surprise.
"Yeah-yeah, I know...come on, let's finish this already," I said as I turned my back on her, which she did as well, still with her smile.
As we were halfway done painting the fence red, it was nearly lunch time already and Zeref had called us to eat lunch. Telling him that we would be following soon, me and Lucy decided to work faster.
"Uh!" Lucy shouted as she stood up and shook her legs to lessen the numbness, "Damn this heat..." She added before she pulled her shirt up a little and squatted again, letting her shirt bundle up by her waist, to start painting again.
"You know, you can always take off you're shirt if your drenched in sweat...look at me," I said then opened my arms showing her my amazing body
"Yeah, I'd do that if I was a boy. But too bad, I'm not," Lucy said back to me without even looking at me
"Who cares? It's not like you have some womanly figures...no one would even notice," I uttered while repeatedly brushed a part of a fence
"What do you know about women figures?" She counters back, which made me look up and smirked at her, "Oh I know more than one or two things about women's body..."
"Ew, you're gross..." She said with pure disgust in her voice, "I don't want to know about your sex life again, please."
I didn't answer anymore, but instead I just laughed, recalling the time I mentioned to her about my first time of having sex. She physically bruised me after being disgusted with my full detail of my first time.
"Come on Luce, you can discard your shirt and I wouldn't even notice your chest. I doubt you even have an ample of it...You're one of the boys!" I finished by pumping my fist in the air before chuckling.
"Shut up!" Lucy scowled, "Just so you know, I wouldn't want to strip, I'm not Gray. Second, how sure are you about that? it's not like you've seen me naked or something, and lastly, I'm a girl, in case you forgot" Lucy then stood up as she relaxes her legs again but after she just stares at the fence.
"You're done?" I asked and she nodded, "So am I." Then I stood up and took the bucket and headed to the garage along with Lucy. When were inside the garage, we both sighed as we sat on top of the workbench and massaged our legs.
"You know, even if you're biologically a girl, you don't act like it." I then glanced at her, who just continued to lightly punch her legs, "You play basketball with us boys, you don't wear make-up, you don't dress up, you keep on wearing men's clothes that are literally too big for you, you always wear rubber shoes or sneakers, I don't think you even know how to wear heels or doll shoes,"
"How'd you know it's called doll shoes? I just recently discovered that the flat shoes I call are really called doll shoes," She asked completely confused
"Oh, Wendy made me learn it in a hard way..." I said before we both laughed
"But seriously Luce, I'm starting to think you are one of the boys..." I then glanced at her when she just shrugged and jumped off the table, "I'm not one of the boys," Lucy then turns and faces me as she continued, "I just don't feel like dressing up like a princess. I choose comfort over fashion..." She then lifted her chin as if she was proud. And feeling the same, I chuckled with her for a moment before I slap her cap down again, and just like earlier, she yelp as well. Jumping off the table too, I immediately draped my arm over her shoulder as I turn us to head out of the garage, I said "You are indeed one of the boys," then I laughed when I heard her whine. But without further complaints, we finally reached the front door and swung it open. And there we both shouted, "Time to eat!"
Hey, Readers!
So? How did you like the first chapter? Let me know! Leave some reviews and let me know your opinion. And guys, do you like the idea that I give you some Story Background? Because I was thinking to post some so that you'd have some reference if you need one.
Follow, Favorite, Review, do as you wish!
Thanks in advance!
Love,
FairyTailxNaLu
Up Next: 2: Big Shirt Girl
