~ FTC ~

~ . ~ . ~

Chapter 3

~ . ~ . ~

Lucy lazily stirred her soup, watching as little bits of chicken and noodle bobbed around her wading spoon. She let out a soft huff into the liquid, though by now it was probably cold.

The sound of her friends chatting around her was like a faint buzzing in her ear. Occasionally she would mumble an agreement or join in with a forced laugh, but in truth she just wasn't into it today, which was weird considering lunch was normally her favorite part of the day.

Only the sound of the cafeteria doors being swung open peaked her interest and her head whipped around in anticipation. A smile started to form for just a brief moment but disappeared just as quick. It was only a pair of boys walking in. More importantly, neither of them had pink hair.

With a sigh she returned to the mindless stirring of her cold bowl of soup.

"Alright, what's wrong with her?"

"Maybe she received some bad news earlier in class?"

A small head of blue shook their head. "No, I was in that class and nothing happened."

"So what's up with Bunny Girl?"

"Beats me, let's find out."

"Think she can hear us talking about her?"

"Nah, when Lucy's in a gloom there could be a war and she wouldn't notice."

"Alright, someone get her attention or I'll knock some sense into her myself," a gruff voice announced.

"You will do no such thing," a stern voice returned. "Gajeel, sit down."

"Jeez, I was just messing around Red," the man with many piercings grumbled, plopping himself back on the bench as he grumpily chewed on his metal fork.

The petite bluenette beside him sighed, turning her attention to her right and gently nudging the unresponsive blonde next to her. "Lu? Hey Lu, you with us?"

"Hmm? Yeah, that was hilarious," she mumbled, letting out an awkward laugh without even looking up.

Levy quickly sent the rest of the group an exasperated look. "Lucy… earth to Lucy…" she sang, only slightly annoyed of her best friend's ignorance.

"LUCY HEARTFILIA."

The booming voice made the blonde jump with a squeak and caused her stirring spoon to go flying out of her hand. Lucy looked around wildly, wide eyed and completely oblivious as to what was going on.

"What? What's happening?" she asked, nervously setting her eyes on the redhead that had called her name.

"What's wrong with you today? You're completely out of it," the dark-haired boy sitting across from her stated, slipping out of the shirt that had already been half-way over his shoulder.

"Gray, your shirt."

"Huh?" He peered down at himself. "Oh shit!" He scrambled to slide the piece of cloth back over his head before sending a sheepish smile to the redhead glaring at him.

"What seems to be on your mind Lucy?" asked the man next to the redhead, the colour of his tattoo more vibrant under the florescent light above.

The blonde blushed slightly, light pink dusting her cheeks. "It's nothing, I was just…" Her sentence trailed off when she heard the cafeteria doors open again. Quickly whipping around, she was once again disappointed to not find who she was looking for amongst the crowd. "…expecting someone." She sighed.

A couple eyes widened at her statement and a few more turned into a look of mischief.

"Oooh, Lucy's expecting someone, huh?" a voice sang.

"Does this someone have a name?"

"Yeah, he's got one," she mumbled, now very apparent of the number of eyes watching her.

"It's a he!"

"Does Lucy have a secret boy toy she's not telling us about?"

"Lucy how could you!" a new voice rang out and all eyes turned to the frizzy-haired ginger prancing over, suddenly taking Lucy's hand and kneeling at the end of the table. "Darling I thought we had something special! And now I hear you're waiting on another man? I'm heart broken!"

She just rolled her eyes. "Loke, the only special thing we ever had between us was that Romeo and Juliet play back in the seventh grade."

"Ah, but I was still a dashing prince, wasn't I?" he grinned.

Loke was suddenly bumped out of the way as a wobbly brunette appeared in his spot, slinging an arm over Lucy's shoulders and sliding her way onto the bench from their end — an action that forced Lucy, Levy, and subsequentially Gajeel to shift down; the latter none too happy about it based on his string of curses.

"Enough about your blabbering Prince Charming. I want to hear about Lucy's new boyfriend!"

The blonde groaned, knowing all too well that this would happen. Mix Cana and relationship rumours and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's just someone I met."

"Who you've never mentioned until now," the redhead pointed out, not missing a beat.

"We don't even know their name," Levy added.

"Yeah Lucy, enough with the secrets. Spill," Gray demanded.

"Jeez, you guys are so pushy," she mumbled, earning a collective groan from the group. They all knew her well enough to know that she was stalling.

"You're all a bunch of idiots," a gruff voice said from the other end of the table. Eyes turned to Gajeel at his insult. "It's obvious Blondie's got eyes for that new kid."

She quickly puffed out her cheeks angrily. "And how would you know that?"

"I saw ya walking him around yesterday. You two looked so chummy. It was disgusting."

"We were not chummy!" she huffed but was ignored in favour of an unfinished sandwich.

"Oh, he's the guy you were talking to in homeroom, right?" Levy spoke up, happily poking her shoulder. "Natsu's his name! He's pretty cute." That last comment made Gajeel choke.

"Oh, he's better than cute," Cana smirked deviously. "I saw him leave the library yesterday. He's hot! A real smoke show. Good choice girl," she practically purred, making Lucy's face go red.

"I must meet this Natsu to ensure he is compatible with Lucy," the redhead suddenly announced, slamming her fist on the table. Lucy squeaked again, jumping at the thump. She hated when she did that.

"Now Erza, there's no need to interrogate the guy before he and Lucy get together," the man with the tattoo said gently, gliding Erza down as mischief flashed in his eyes. "After all, this might be the only time there's ever been a suitor for our Lucy. We mustn't interfere in something so rare and unusual."

"Enough!" Lucy's loud voice silenced her table. She pointed at the grinning man, swearing that she would get some revenge on Jellal later. "You, be quiet. And the rest of you, it's not like that! He's just a friend."

"Right, just a friend…" Cana trailed off, the smirk returning to her face a second later. "…for now."

"No, bad Cana," she said, swatting her friend away. "He's a friend. I just wanted to get to know him better. That's all. Besides, you all know how I feel about finding a boyfriend."

There was a collective sigh.

"There's no point in dating now if it doesn't go anywhere. High school relationships tend not to last anyways," half the group recited lamely.

"One day I'll find the ONE and I want that relationship to be special. I want all my firsts to be with them, so for now I'm happy being single," the other half of them finished.

Lucy huffed and crossed her arms. She didn't know if she should be offended or impressed. She was leaning towards the former.

"Or maybe Bunny Girl just doesn't want her rich daddy to think she's some easy whore."

"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed, immediately spinning around and hitting his arm. Hard.

"Ouch woman! What was that for?!" he shouted, protecting himself from additional swipes. "I'm not wrong."

Lucy sighed. Technically Gajeel was right, although she'd never word it the way he did. He always did have a way with words. But regardless, her father was another obstruction for her relationships. There was no doubt anyone she wanted to date needed to be approved by her father and for that reason she just never bothered with it. Sure, she's had hook-ups here and there — nothing past first base — but never anything substantial. And for now, she planned on keeping it that way.

"Anyways guys, what I was trying to say was-"

"I'm grabbing a cookie from the caf," Gajeel interrupted, standing up as he crumbled up his trash. "Anyone want something?"

"Could I get one too please?" Levy asked nicely, suddenly no longer wanting to strangle him.

"Alright two cookies. Anyone else?" A couple hands lifted up, including Lucy's. "Too bad, I'm outta money." And with that, the large man stomped away, leaving a gawking group of people.

"What a jerk," Lucy mumbled, turning back around. She didn't get a chance to get her daily strawberry-vanilla milkshake and after this interrogation she sure could use one. "Anyways, like I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted, Natsu's just a friend who I want to get to know better so I invited him to have lunch with us. Twice actually, but it looks like he didn't show."

"Aw, don't worry Lucy. Being stood up is part of the dating cycle. It just means you'll have to play hard to get," Cana winked before taking a swig of a bottle that really shouldn't be anywhere near a school. Lucy just sighed, not even bothering to respond.

"So what can you tell us about this Natsu fellow?" Erza asked curiously.

"Honestly, not much. He doesn't really talk about himself. From what I remember, he moved from San Francisco, he has a cat, and he lives alone."

"He lives alone? Score!" Gray grinned, bumping fists with Loke who had found a seat next to him some time ago. "You know what that means."

"House party!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I am not introducing him to you just so you can use him for his house to throw parties."

"You know, Gajeel lives alone but you've never wanted to throw parties at his place," Levy pointed out.

Gray gave her a snort in response. "Are you kidding? Have you seen his place? All of us can barely even fit in the living room, not to mention all that metal junk he leaves lying around. The guy lives in a storage closet of an apartment."

The bluenette just mumbled something under her breath.

"What else can you tell us about this Natsu?" Jellal asked. "Surely you know more than that after speaking to him for two days now."

Lucy thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. "Honestly, that's about it. He's pretty tight-lipped when it comes to talking about himself."

And boy, wasn't that the truth. Since their tour yesterday she has had three classes with him: English, Creative Art, and a Chemistry class this morning. All three classes gave her an ample opportunity to get to know him, not to mention they both spent their spares together in the library, yet every time the conversation came to him he seemed to redirect it somewhere else.

She found that behaviour incredibly odd. At first, she thought he was just naturally shy but after a few conversations she figured that wasn't the case. Even though he was rather quiet he didn't speak like someone who was normally the silent type. He spoke with such an exuberance and confidence in his voice that she had no doubt in her mind that he was an extrovert acting like an introvert. The million-dollar question is, why?

She genuinely liked him, and his mysterious background only seemed to interest her further. She really, really wanted to get to know him. That is why she invited him to lunch with her — twice.

"Alright, then how about just some basic info? What's the guy look like?" Levy asked eagerly, her question making Lucy pause in her thoughts as an image of a grinning pink-haired boy suddenly popped into her mind.

She smiled.

"Well, he's a couple inches taller than me. Lean, broad shoulders. Oh! And he's got this really, really nice smile. It's almost like this big grin and when he does it you can see his weirdly sharp canines poking out."

"Sharp canines? You mean kinda like Gajeel?"

Lucy pondered that thought. "Huh, now that you mention it, yeah. They both have those things that basically look like fangs. Must be a weird genetic thing."

Cana made a noise and waved the two girls off. "Enough about teeth, I want to hear more about this hunk Lucy's describing."

"I thought you already saw him before."

"Yeah, but I like the way you describe him."

Lucy sighed. She was never going to get out of Cana's teasing. "I will admit, he is pretty good looking. I've never seen anyone pull off pink hair as well as he can."

As the other guys gagged over the praising of another guy, Erza suddenly perked up. "Did you say pink hair?"

"Yeah, it's like this light pink. Not as bright as Meredy's but lighter; kind of like a salmon."

"So like that guy over there?"

Erza pointed over at the cafeteria entrance and sure enough there was a guy with pink hair standing near the doorway, back turned towards them as he appeared to be talking on the phone. A bag was slung over the shoulder of his black hoodie by a single strap as he motioned wildly with his free hand.

As soon as Lucy's eyes found his wavering form her entire expression lit up. She quickly stood up and cupped a hand around her mouth, waving the other in the air.

"Natsu! Natsu over here!"

~ . ~ . ~

It has been a rather slow day for him.

It had started off decently well. He had woken up early to run a few laps around the neighbourhood and get a bit of a morning workout in before school. He always did appreciate the open spacing small towns like these provided, and he was sure to take advantage of it. He even decided to jog to school to get that extra bit of exercise in. Suffice to say he was well energized for the day.

Unfortunately, all his energy was wasted as soon as his first class came around.

At a young age Igneel had home-schooled him and a part of his enhanced senses included an enhanced learning ability. Sure, he might not be the brightest on the block but people like him tend to retain information, regardless if they wanted to or not. This, along with Igneel's strict educational program basically meant that by the age of thirteen he was already at the college level in terms of studies.

As a result, school for him was a massive drag. It always has been. Now, that's not to say he gets straight A's and is among the class' top students — the opposite in fact. Igneel taught him the stuff that mattered, like how to do taxes and manage bank interest instead of learning how to plot a function on a graph, or the different chemical compounds that result in certain flames instead of observing how long it takes for a plant to grow. School always tends to drone on about the most useless concepts and applications rather than real life skills, so naturally when it comes to testing he only barely gets by with his marks.

Which brings it back to how much he hates school. All those core courses like the maths and sciences bored him to death, and sadly for him, Chemistry was the first class of his on his B block schedule.

He would suppose it wasn't that bad. Lucy happened to be in that class and she provided him a nice distraction from the teacher's drabbles on the history of the atom. This was the third class they had together and by now they've already developed quite the friendship.

He really enjoyed spending time with her and being in her class always brought a smile to his face, but he knew he had to watch himself. After speaking with Happy after that first day, they both agreed that he shouldn't be getting this close to someone and he should find a way to limit confrontations with the interesting blonde.

That's why he initially declined her invitation to lunch during their first period, and again only provided her with a non-committal "maybe" after she asked again during their spare. He knew that if he didn't put some distance between himself and the girl now then he probably wouldn't later — he's always had a bit of trouble with self-control — so despite her disheartened look that crushed his heart, he stood firm in his resolve.

At least, that's what he did initially.

After spending the first half of his lunch scouting out the school and committing the layout to memory, he had suddenly gotten an urgent call from his feline friend.

Happy was normally the one who set up their security detail after they moved to a new place. Yesterday he placed a bunch of security lacrimas and traps around their house and today he was tasked with setting up proximity alert lacrimas around the outer border of town. The lacrimas would notify them if there was a surge of magic in the area, effectively making them the most useful tool for letting them know if they were being followed.

Which is why Happy had immediately called him when he found pre-existing traces of magic already in the local vicinity. It wasn't much, very faint in fact, and the cat had been sure to mention that it seemed to weave through the nearby towns. That normally meant they were just passing through, so it wasn't a significant enough reason to pack up and move again. Still, it was a cause for concern and meant that they had to be on-guard for the time being.

It was during his phone call with Happy when he somehow found himself standing around in the cafeteria. He hadn't even realized he had mindless wandered about but somehow his subconscious had led him right to the meeting location with Lucy. It meant that he either really wanted to see Lucy, or his stomach was in the mood for food.

He silently scoffed at himself. There was his infamous lack of self-control.

As his conversation with Happy was coming to an end, his ears picked up on a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Natsu! Natsu over here!"

Despite reciting in his head to ignore her multiple times, he still ended up saying a quick goodbye and hanging up on Happy before turning around to his caller. He couldn't help the smile that appeared when he saw Lucy hop off the lunch bench and skip over to him.

"Natsu! You made it!" she exclaimed brightly, excitedly grabbing one of his hands.

He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that. I had to take care of something earlier." Man, he hated lying to her.

"It's alright, I'm just glad you ended up coming," Lucy smiled, the golden hue around her brightening. "Come on, I'll introduce you to my friends."

Before he could even respond she was already dragging him over to a group of people he partially recognized from that first day. Most of them regarded him with warm smiles but he did notice a few with some skeptical looks.

"Guys, this is the guy I was talking about. Meet Natsu!" Lucy introduced cheerfully, gently shoving him forward.

"Um, hey," he waved awkwardly, not really used to situations like these. "Nice to meet all of you."

"The pleasure is ours," a redhead sitting to his right replied, standing up to greet him. She extended a hand which he took, immediately surprised by the strength of the girl's grip. "I'm Erza."

"Hi Erza, quite a grip you got there," he said, wincing slightly.

"Oh! My apologies. I'm just very excited to meet you," she quickly explained, letting go of his hand and returning to her seat. Now he knew who had broken up that fight he had witnessed.

A boy to her right with blue hair and an intricate tattoo nodded towards him. "Jellal." Natsu simply nodded back.

He felt a tug on his left arm and turned to where Lucy was motioning towards two girls sitting to his left; a small girl with blue hair and a brunette with a bottle that smelled eerily like cherry flavored vodka.

"This here is Levy and Cana. I've told you about Levy, she's in our Chemistry class. And Cana is-"

"-totally free and single," the brunette suddenly interrupted, giving him a flirtatious wink. "What's up hot stuff?"

"Cana! Stop flirting with Lucy's potential boyfriend!" Levy cried out, smacking the back of her head. He noticed that Lucy, who was oddly still holding his hand, suddenly tensed up and one quick peak revealed that her face was the color of a strawberry. He chuckled in response.

"And who are you two?" he asked, nodding to the two guys who were eyes him up further down the table.

"Lucy's future husband."

"None of your business."

Natsu raised an eyebrow as the blonde next to him went from embarrassment to seething rage in the blink of an eye. He felt her move forward but before she could take another step Erza had already shot up out of her seat and smacked the two boys on the head.

"Grow up," she hissed. "You two aren't intimidating anyone."

It took a moment before the two relented slightly. The ginger relaxed into a lazy smile, pushing up his glasses. "I'm Loke."

"Gray," the other quickly followed, still keeping a hard gaze on him.

He matched his look and the two glared at each other for a few seconds, almost challenging the other to see who would break first. It was Natsu, who normally didn't like losing any competition, who blinked once, twice, then turned to Lucy with a passive look.

"I'm guessing this is the nudist you were talking about?" he asked, jabbing a thumb at the raven-haired boy.

Lucy giggled. "Yup."

It wasn't until a few moments later when Gray finally registered what they were talking about; letting out a yelp and quickly scrambling off the bench to retrieve the shirt he had tossed a few feet away.

"Don't mind him, he does that a lot," Jellal said with a chuckle. "You get used to it."

Erza sighed beside him. "Yes. Trust me, I've tried knocking him out of his habit but it'd be easier to train a dog."

"I heard that!"

"You were meant to!"

"So Natsu," Levy started, propping herself up on Cana's shoulder. "How are you finding Fairy Tail so far?"

"Big." His quip earned him a couple laughs. He grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "Honestly the classes are kind of boring, but that's school I guess. The culture seems really fun though and I like the people." Beside him Lucy smiled brightly.

"That's Fairy Tail for ya. Just wait until some of our events start popping up. Then you'll see what we're really about," Cana said, taking a swig from her bottle.

"Events?"

"Yeah. I told you we hold a bunch of crazy celebrations throughout the year," Lucy reminded eagerly. "We celebrate almost anything and everything. Holidays, birthdays, clubs and sports events; you name it, we probably celebrate it."

"Huh, go figure."

"Speaking of clubs and sports, are you thinking of joining any extra curriculars Natsu?" Erza asked. "As president it's my duty to encourage students to participate in school activities."

Natsu blinked. "President?"

"Whoops, forgot to mention that," Lucy laughed, waving a hand at her red-haired friend. "Meet Erza Scarlet, student president of Fairy Tail for four years running."

"Four years," he repeated with an impressed whistle. "You became president as a freshman? How'd you manage that?"

"Simple," the redhead spoke, crossing her arms across her chest with a stern gaze. "I won."

Gray snorted, returning to his seat after re-dressing himself. "Try dominated. The last person to try running against her got shown up in front of the whole school. No one's dare run against her since."

"Ah yes, Evergreen. Her heart was in the right place but her mouth was her Achilles' heel. What ever happened to her?"

"Switched schools, remember? She and a couple others followed Laxus out when he left," Loke reminded.

"Oh yes, that."

A grim look was shared through the group and Natsu simply looked on curiously. He would have to find out about that later.

"To answer your question Erza, Makarov had me sign up for the football team. Apparently, they've been looking to fill a position so I guess I'll be trying out."

A light smack came across his arm. "What? Why didn't you tell me you were planning on joining football?" Lucy questioned with a smile. "That means I'll be cheering you on!"

"If I make it," he pointed out.

"I'm sure you will."

The clearing of a throat grabbed his attention next and he looked up to find Erza studying him carefully, almost judging him with her hard, intimidating eyes.

"The football team you say…" Her voice trailed off and there was a pregnant pause before she suddenly pointed at Jellal. "Quarterback." She pointed at Loke. "Wide receiver." Gray. "Cornerback." She pointed at herself last. "Linebacker."

His eyes widened. "You're on the team?"

She crossed her arms, looking unimpressed with his question. "Football isn't strictly a male sport."

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm just surprised."

"She's also the captain of the cheer team," Cana added in.

Natsu gawked. "What? How does that work?"

"Erza makes it work, trust us," Levy answered with a giggle. "You'll just have how she does it for yourself."

He just nodded dumbly. So far he's been thoroughly impressed by the redhead.

"If Makarov mentioned an open position, I'm assuming that means you'll be filling in at running back," Jellal inquired.

"It's about time we got one," Loke grumbled. "We would have won last year's championship if we had a run game."

"Says the guy who dropped the game-tying touchdown," Gray taunted.

"I'm not the guy who got burned on a seventy-yard game-winner."

"Hey, everything would have been fine if I had safety help over the top but someone changed the coverage with a last second audible."

A loom of a shadow stood to his left as Erza glared at him. "You dare question my judgement?"

"N-No! Definitely not. I'd never question you Erza," Gray stuttered nervously as Loke snickered behind him.

Jellal rolled his eyes and turned back to Natsu. "So yeah, your help would certainly be welcomed," he concluded.

"Cool, looking forward to it."

As the three teammates broke out into an argument over the previous championship game, the rest of the group of friends continued asking him icebreaker questions. At some point Lucy decided to take a seat, making room for him to sit next to her but he declined. He had to remind himself he was only making introductions, not settling in, though the cute pout on her face definitely made him want to rethink his decision.

As he answered a question from Levy, he suddenly felt a strange tingle in the back of his head that sent a shiver down his spine. It felt like a little needle just poked at his brain and he flinched unexpectedly. He felt cold.

Right before he could process the strange feeling he was suddenly bumped into from behind.

His breath hitched in his throat.

"Watch it Pinky."

Wide eyed and frozen in place, he watched as a large figure stopped beside him. A face full of grey piercings looked down and found his, eyes narrowing in surprise and curiosity. Normally Natsu would have responded to the jab at his hair but his entire being prevented him from doing that.

For some reason his body suddenly went completely numb. A high-pitched ring started to sound in his ear and only seemed to get louder. His eyesight began to blur and his head started to throb with the comings of a migraine. His muscles tensed up and his limbs were stuck rigged to his sides. Another shiver went down his back and he could feel the goosebumps popping up from his skin. It was as though all his senses were suddenly turned off and his body didn't know how to cope.

Internally he was panicking. All he could really do was stare at this guy with a mixture of alarm and high caution.

What the fuck was going on?

His state of shock lasted for only a few more seconds, though it felt like hours to him. The strange feeling went away as sudden as it came and just like that, his enhanced senses were returned to normal. He took a careful exhale as he regained his sight and hearing, blinking a few times and squeezing his hands together.

There was a feeling of uneasiness in his chest and he could feel his heart pounding from the unexpected intrusion. Never in his life had this happened before and he couldn't figure out an explanation for what had just taken place.

His eyes narrowed to meet the larger guy's, who's eyes were now wide and alarmed. The guy had small dark brown pupils, but he could have sworn he saw a slight flicker of red appear and disappear in an instant.

The guy suddenly pulled away with a scoff, stepping around him to drop a tray onto the lunch table. Natsu raised an eyebrow and he regarded the larger male with suspicion. He did not miss the fact that he was careful not to touch him again, which meant whatever just happened to him had a similar affect to this other guy.

"Alright, here's your cookie Shrimp," he grumbled, tossing a packaged cookie to the bluenette who caught it with a squeak.

"Thanks Gajeel!"

"Yeah whatever. Also got a cheese cake for Red, an ice cream sandwich for Frosty, a chocolate bar for Romeo, and this disgusting thing Bunny Girl drinks." He shoved the tray of food items forward, snatching up a cookie before stomping over to his seat.

Natsu observed the scene with curiosity, noticing the slight look of surprise on a few faces, though one among them was very amused.

"I thought you were outta money," Cana teased.

"I was," Gajeel responded roughly, taking an aggressive bite out of his cookie. "Don't say I never do anything nice for you pricks," he mumbled.

"Awww, does the wittle Gajeel have a soft spot for his fwiends?"

"Shuddap ya drunk, before I drown you in booze."

Cana's eyes began to sparkle. "Promise?"

Natsu watched as the others gave quick words of appreciation before grabbing their respective food items. He especially noted the look on his blonde companion's face after her first sip of her milkshake. With eyes closed, lips upturned in a smile, and a little bit of whip cream catching her pink lips, he couldn't help but stare.

When her eyes opened she caught his gaze and he quickly looked away, clearing his throat. Lucy blushed slightly and held out her milkshake.

"Want some?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"You sure? It's the best."

He chuckled. "I'm sure. I'm not a huge fan of sweets."

Lucy rolled her eyes and captured the straw in her lips for another sip. At the same time she turned to the far end of the lunch table.

"Hey Gajeel. You haven't said hi to Natsu yet."

Gajeel looked up from his snack, giving him a once over before returning to eating.

"So what?"

Lucy puffed out her cheeks. "It's rude not to introduce yourself."

"Who gives a fuck? I couldn't care less who you bang."

Lucy's face went beet red as Levy gave him a shove.

"Gajeel! Stop being so rude! Don't you have a filter?!" the bluenette scolded.

He shrugged. "Not that I know of."

"Gajeel!"

"Alright, alright. No need to get your panties in a twist." He turned to face him and Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Name's Gajeel. Better not forget it."

"Natsu," he replied, and paused. Regarding the other guy closely, he suddenly broke out into a grin. "Nice to meet ya Metalfreak."

Gray suddenly burst out laughing. "No way! He calls you Metalfreak too!"

The force of two palms slamming down vibrated the table. "What'd you call me punk?!"

"Great, now we have another one," Erza said with a sigh, before standing up and crossing her arms across her chest. "Gajeel! Natsu! Sit down!"

"Yes ma'am," Natsu unknowingly responded and before he knew it, he was seated next to Lucy on the lunch bench. She giggled next to him.

"Erza's kind of intense," she whispered in his ear.

"No kidding."

Meanwhile Gajeel wasn't as quick to obey the order, taking a moment to study the newcomer before scoffing and taking a seat. If Natsu had paid attention he would have noticed Gajeel's eyes turn completely red for a quick second.

He was very aware that the metal freak was staring at him. Even through his emerging conversation with Lucy, he kept an eye on the brooding hunk.

There was something wrong about that guy. He would need to keep an eye on him in the future.

~ . ~ . ~

Author's Note:

This chapter ended a little abruptly but I had nothing important left to write so I decided to cut it short instead of drabbling on.

Hope you enjoyed, and leave a review if you've got some thoughts so far.

~FTC