"Gobsmacked" is such a funny word. Anyway here ya go ;D
A 11 year-old Natsu sat alone on a bench in the schoolyard, absentmindedly playing with some fire he conjured up when an equally aged blonde stood in front of him, casting a shadow over his form as she covered the sun with her body. He looked up to find Lucy staring down at him with a bored expression.
"You look dumb when you're sad," she said casually. "Well, you actually look dumb all the time but you look even dumber like that," she halfheartedly gestured to his slumped over form.
"I'm not sad," he grumbled, returning his attention to the fire in his hand.
"Yes you are, stupid."
"I'm not," he nearly yelled, lifting his head to glare at the blonde. Her expression faltered when she noticed his eyes were suddenly glassy. He seemed to realize, quickly moving his arm up to furiously rub at his eyes before his hair shadowed over them when he looked down at his shoes.
"Crybaby."
He swiftly whipped his head back up to angrily retort, but was stopped short when Lucy shoved a small white cloth in his face. He took it and held it away from his face to look at it, noticing the initials LH embroidered in pink in one of the corners.
"Why are you even upset anyway? Did Gray beat you in a fight?" she smirked, earning a look of disbelief from the pyro.
"No! Like that would ever happen," Natsu shot back. "Why do you even care?"
"'Cause like I said, you look dumb like that," she rolled her eyes and moved to sit beside him on the bench, resulting in him eyeing her curiously. Eventually he just sighed, absentmindedly looking straight ahead at something in the distance.
"I had a fight with-" he paused. "Someone."
"So? You have fights with a lot of people."
"This was different," he clarified. "He was stronger than me."
"But no one's stronger than you," Lucy replied instantly, almost naturally like she was saying the sky was blue or grass is green.
Natsu was too caught up in his memories to catch the fact that the blonde had just basically complimented him. "He was. It actually scares me a lot."
She flicked his forehead.
"Ouch!" He glared daggers at her. "What was that for?!"
Lucy jumped up from her seat to tower over him again. "You have nothing to be scared of! If you're ever in trouble, your friends are always gonna be there to help, dummy," she scolded, crossing her arms over her chest. He seemed to ponder her words for a moment before Natsu's usual grin returned to his face.
"You're right," he agreed with the blonde for once. Her cheeks heated slightly at that in addition to the fact that he was smiling brightly at her, and she turned around swiftly.
"W-whatever. God I'm not sure what's dumber, your smile or your frown," she muttered before running off.
"Hey!" He yelled after her, about to chase her down before Gray suddenly appeared from the side.
"Fight me you damn fireball!" Gray shouted, a ball of ice forming in his hand before he chucked it at the fire mage, who barely dodged it.
"You're going down, ice princess!"
Cana, who had been watching the whole interaction from a safe, eavesdropping distance away, smirked knowingly at the celestial mage and the dragon slayer. She walked off to find her friends, humming a happy tune.
"So what do you think Makarov's talking to Natsu about?"
Shortly after the almost-fight between Natsu and Erza, we met up with Cana in front of the cafe a short walk away from campus for a much needed lunch. I figured everyone was just as confused as I was about the whole scene with Makarov showing up randomly, and was proven to be right when Lisanna was the first to speak up about what had happened.
"Huh?" Cana rose a confused eyebrow. "What'd I miss?"
"Natsu and Erza were about to fight but then Makarov showed up needing to talk to Natsu," Levy clarified before shoving a piece of croissant in her mouth.
"Sketchy," Cana smirked.
"It may likely have to do with Natsu recently returning to school," Erza guessed.
"But hasn't he been in school all this time? He just was using a different name right?" Lisanna frowned, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"Yeah, he also seemed pretty serious. Must be some pretty heavy stuff we don't even know about, Makarov never calls someone into his office unless it's really urgent," Levy said, earning some nods in the booth we sat in.
"Natsu probably just set something on fire again," I thought out loud and couldn't help but roll my eyes at his likely stupidity. Honestly that seemed like the best reason he'd get called to the dean's office on the first day.
"Nah, he sees stuff like that on a daily basis," Cana laughed. "Elfman accidentally broke his desk in half this morning while he was showing off his Beast Soul arm."
"Good point," I shrugged. "But I mean, it's Natsu. I'm sure everything's fine." In terms of school, that pyro always got stellar grades in everything despite coming off as a total airhead. Not to mention as a mage he was exceptional, and never got into any problems with other students besides some good natured fights every so often. Everyone loved him.
Then again, I guess that would make it even weirder that he was randomly summoned by the dean.
I didn't care either way of course. Natsu related problems didn't concern me. So I wasn't worried.
I wasn't.
"But what if it has to do with his brother?" Lisanna's frown deepened as she looked down at her panini in contemplation. "If he was so bad that someone like Natsu had to hide, he's probably no joke." I placed a sympathetic hand on her arm. The poor girl was only stressing herself out further about the situation. Though I didn't blame her.
The whole Natsu-has-an-evil-older-brother-who-probably-wants-to-kill-him thing bothered me a lot for reasons. I'm not sure why though since I, myself, have been very close to murdering Natsu on multiple occasions. It had been in the back of my mind since he told us. You'd really never expect happy-go-lucky Natsu to have family angst as crazy at that, and I'm certain I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"If that was the case, Natsu would still be in hiding, wouldn't he?" I tried reassuring her.
"Unless he suddenly came back again right when Natsu got his freedom back," Cana muttered and I shot her a death glare at which she only shrugged. "Just sayin', he seems like a pretty big deal."
A sigh escaped me as I returned my attention to Lisanna, who now seemed even more on edge despite my efforts. "The chances of that happening are probably really low," I reasoned. "The dragons wouldn't let Natsu free unless they were absolutely sure he was safe."
And that was the truth. The dragons always stuck together no matter what, like family. They wouldn't put a family member in obvious danger like that, especially not Igneel.
"That's true," Lisanna gave a small smile. "It'd just really suck if we lost him again, you know?"
"Yeah," I agreed without thinking. "But don't worry about it too much. I'm sure he's fine."
Something about what I had said had brightened her smile tenfold, and I just looked at her curiously, wondering how she just suddenly seemed to go from 0 to 200 in two seconds.
"Hmm… I'm still curious as to why he's in the office though," Lisanna looked up at the ceiling, seemingly in thought before her blue eyes were looking straight into my soul. "You should go ask him!"
I felt my jaw drop slightly as the sudden suggestion before rolling my eyes. "Why me?" I asked incredulously. "You're the one who wants to know."
"I just remembered I have so much I have to do today!" She suddenly was scarfing down her sandwich like her life depended on it.
"So just ask him tomorrow," I challenged with obvious exhaustion.
"I also think you should ask him," Levy piped up from beside me, and immediately turned to face my best friend who had just betrayed me, absolutely gobsmacked.
"What? Why?"
"Because if it was serious, Natsu's not gonna tell anyone besides you or Lisanna the full story, and Lisanna's obviously booked," Cana answered for Levy, pointing a thumb beside her at the white-haired mage who just seconds ago had dumped 100 jewel on the table, and was now rushing out of the cafe with a mouthful of panini to go run her "errands".
"I agree," Erza piped, looking up from her strawberry cake for the first time in five minutes.
"Why would he tell me?"
"'Cause he's got a huge thing for you," Cana stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What?" I raised a brow. "No he doesn't."
"Ask him what happened in the office, Lucy," Cana basically sang. "You and I both know they probably talked about some serious stuff in there. Makarov doesn't call people into his office for small things, especially if it's Natsu. I bet he'd spill his soul to you if you asked."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, maybe I will. And when he brushes me off to go fight with Gray or something you'd better be around so I can rub it into that smug grin of yours," I shot back with a smirk of my own.
"Oh?" Cana smiled even wider. "Shall we bet on it?"
"You're on." At this point my mouth was just spewing words before I could even think about them.
"If you lose you have to admit you're attracted to Natsu."
"What?!"
"And you have to tell him," Cana finished.
WoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH.
"I- wh-" I could hear sounds coming from me, but couldn't even process what to say or how to react at what Cana had just said. When I finally managed to pick my jaw up from the metaphorical floor I stated (more like stammered) the first words to come to mind. "That's not true!"
Levy giggled at what was currently unfolding in the booth, and Erza silently watched the action with a barely concealed amused smile while Cana merely sat there, unfazed with the same sly grin on her face. "The only person you're lying to at this point is yourself, and Natsu," she stated matter-of-factly.
I immediately opened my mouth for a rebuttal, but nothing came out.
I realized only then that my shoulders had been tense the whole time, because they eventually relaxed and a sigh of defeat escaped me. "A-and if you lose?"
"I'll give up alcohol for a month."
"A month?" Levy's eyes widened into saucers, shell-shocked at the idea of Cana being without her flask for more than a few days.
"A month," Cana affirmed. "Deal?"
At this point I actually took the time to think about this, my mind no longer running at about 500 miles a minute. Yeah, okay, I found Natsu attractive. Lots of girls did. But could I ever admit that to him? Absolutely not. Never. Not in a million years.
Unless of course, it was due to a bet with my probably very drunk right now friend.
It was times like this where I wished I wasn't so goddamn stubborn. "Fine. Deal," I said quickly before I could regret it.
What had I just gotten myself into?
I wasn't sure how long I was standing outside the pink-haired pyro's door, but judging from the strange looks I was starting to get from passersby it was probably a pretty long time.
Just knock on the damn door, you idiot.
Flinching at evil Lucy's pushiness, I lifted a fist and knocked on the door with two soft raps, heart instantly dropping to my stomach at the action.
And I waited.
And waited.
After about 30 seconds, I decided I was home free and quickly turned around to dart down the hallway, happily willing to postpone this to another day.
Until I heard the door open behind me and a certain male voice say my name in a curious manner.
My heart dropped so low I was half expecting it to smash through the floorboards and flop into the basement of the dormitory.
Just do it, Lucy. Before he calls you a weirdo again. I gave myself a mental slap before turning swiftly around and walking straight past Natsu into his strangely clean room without a word, vaguely hearing him chuckle a little before the door closed.
Dammit you looked like a weirdo anyway!
"Uh, what's up Luce?" I could just hear the amused smirk.
I whipped around and cut right to the chase. "Why'd Makarov ask to see you in his office today?"
His smile faded slightly and his eyebrows knit together at the sudden, probably unexpected question, before the smirk returned and I braced myself for the inevitable douchebaggery.
"Aw. Worried?"
"No," I shot back almost instantly. "Lisanna told me to ask, but she couldn't do it herself 'cause she's really busy."
He seemed to process this for a bit before walking past me to flop down on his bed. My eyes followed him curiously. He let out an exasperated sigh, staring up the ceiling in what seemed like deep thought. Truly a rare sight indeed.
"Family stuff."
Oh no. oh no oh no oh no ohnoohnoOHNO-
"Family stuff?" I pulled out the chair from his desk and sat facing him. "Lisanna's not gonna be satisfied with that. What family stuff?"
Get up Lucy. You got your answer Lucy. Don't let him say anything more Lucy. Don't get worried Lucy.
"He asked me how I was doing, and then he told me what was going on with the situation with my brother. He tells me not to worry but…"
"But?" Stop it, Lucy!
"I just…" He sighed again. "I know Zeref's not gonna go down just like that."
"Idiot. Nothing's gonna happen to you," I basically snapped.
"No one knows that for sure," Natsu shot back almost right after my last word.
"I do, so stop worrying about it." I swear, today was just the day of word vomiting.
Luckily for me, he either didn't seem to notice my sudden uncharacteristic praise or was too lost in thought to to make some sly retort because he merely went straight into his next point.
"How can I not worry when he could go after my friends-"
"Stop." Now he was really being dumb. At some point during his sentence I had gotten up from his desk chair to glower at him, but he simply looked up at me with the same pensive expression. "You of all people should know to not underestimate the power of Fairy Academy mages."
Natsu stood up at that, towering over me in a second but I stood my ground. "I'm not underestimating the Fairy Tail district," he stated firmly. "But I've experienced firsthand the power Zeref has and I can't-"
"Stop worrying-" I quickly attempted to cut him off but he continued.
"I can't lose you," he finished.
I must've looked just as gobsmacked as I felt because after just staring at me for a moment his eyes widened into saucers as if realizing what he just said.
And then the dumb smirk returned.
"You're so fun to mess with after all."
…
"REGULUS LUCY KICK!"