Two pairs of best friends just want to make it big: a writer, a model, a fashion designer, and an influencer. Can they achieve their dreams?

— Big City AU

And His Line of Work

"You're spying on your friend, too?" Lucy's line of vision shifted from her best friend's meeting to a taller pink-haired man standing beside her. She debated if she should acknowledge the boy or blatantly ignore him. He was a complete stranger with odd coloured hair, he might be nosy but he didn't pose a threat.

"It's not like that," she denied, "Who are you?"

He gave her a light chuckle, "The name is Natsu Dragneel. Though my fans know me as FireDragon; I'm an influencer," he boasted.

"Lucy Heartfilia. I'm a writer. I will say I've never heard of you," she rolled her eyes at the proud boy. Apparently he had fans and people that would recognize him on the streets.

"Hey! I've never heard of you either... not that I read it anything... but still. I've just started my career," he defended, "I take vlogs around the city and that guy with your friend, he's my best friend. I also work here part time, hence the uniform."

"Well, I never said I was famous," she replied a bit offended with reality, "I'm just a freelance writer for now, but I'm working on a novel," she declared confidently.

"A novel? Who reads anymore? Not me. People would rather watch videos," he said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lucy was annoyed, it wasn't the first time she ever heard those words as she was a struggling writer and people didn't understand her passion, but he said it so shamelessly.

"Whatever. I couldn't care less about your opinion," she sneered, "Books give people the chance to escape reality. Tch... not everyone likes what life throws at them," she couldn't help but feel that she was talking about herself. She shook her head, ridding herself the memories of her life before Crocus.

"I guess, but I rather make my own reality where I can go on my own adventures," he announced. Maybe it was the way he said it, but Lucy could feel the flames in his heart. So he had a dream, too. Before their conversation, or argument, could get any further, Lucy realized her friend was gone from her table.

"Hey, where did they go?" her eyes frantically looking around the café.

"Huh?" he asked confused, "Ooooh, Gray probably took her to our apartment," he concluded nonchalantly.

"W-what?! His a-apartment?!" she exasperated in disbelief. What kind of person was this Gray guy anyway? It was supposed to be a work related meeting but the guy clearly had other things on his mind. He's a pervert, and Erza probably doesn't even know. That girl was desperate for work, she doesn't realize that her employer is just a lust-hungry man.

"I need to save her!" she slammed her hands on the table, hurriedly packing her things. Before the boy could question her, she grabbed his wrist and went out the door.

She started walking before she realized she didn't know where the apartment was, "Take me to the apartment," she demanded the bewildered boy. Her acquaintance only gestured his footing in the opposite direction as she dragged the struggling boy.

To her surprise, his apartment was quite big even if he did share it with a roommate. The furniture was very simple she noted, probably since furniture were expensive investments. He listed all the things that he needed her for during the week, and she had suggested they do the fittings now since she didn't have plans for the day. She found out the building was only a ten minute walk from the shop, that was nothing even if she was wearing high heels. The room was inconveniently on the top floor, and the elevator was under maintenance. So she plopped herself down right away on his couch after climbing the twenty flight of stairs. Since she didn't have a reputation to maintain, she sometimes skipped her workouts convincing herself it would be fine as long as she kept her slim figure. She wasn't a sports exclusive model so abs weren't a problem.

Gray excused himself from her as he headed to a room at the back of the apartment, coming out with measuring tape, pen and paper.

"I know this is supposed to be a fitting, but none of the pieces are completely finished since my main model quit and I kinda lost hope," he admitted embarrassed. "Soooooo, I kinda had the idea I would finish them with your measurements so I don't have to adjust anything afterwards," he seemed unsure of his words.

This guy was totally inexperienced, Erza thought. This was going to be her first fitting where she didn't have anything to try on. She let it slide, shaking her head telling him it was fine.

"Shall we start?" she hinted her at her impatience before he gave her a grateful smile.

"Sure, whenever you're ready," he held out the materials in his hand like they were weapons. It was a childish scene but it reminded Erza why she was still in her profession; it brought her joy.

To Lucy's horror, her best best friend was only in her undergarments when she opened the apartment door, to make matters worse, this pervert was too close. He appeared to be embracing Erza, and of course her friend held no expression. She was absolutely oblivious, so Lucy let her instincts kick in as she charged for the poor guy completely forgetting she was still hold the pink-haired guy's wrist.

"Lucy KICK!" she bellowed, she felt her foot connect with his face. Unfortunately her connection with the the other boy flung her with him. The three tangled up in a pile. The heap of people ground almost simultaneously when the fourth party started laughing her head off.

"ERZA! ARE YOU OKAY?! WHAT DID THIS PERVERT DO TO YOU? — (I AM NOT A PERVERT!). — IF HE TOUCHED YOU ANYWHERE INAPPROPRIATELY I SWEAR TO MAVIS I WILL END HIM," Lucy recollected herself, worried that the guy had messed up her friend so badly that she had gone mad.

"HAHahaha... Lucy, I think you've completely misunderstood. This was just a fitting and he was getting my measurements. My clothes were too bulky to keep on," she explained, clearly amused but touched by her friend's worry.

Gray crawled himself out of the pile and dusted himself off, "Look... blonde girl, I would NEVER sexually harass a model. If a designer ever did that, their career would practically be over. If you're worried about the 'guy' in me taking over, I'll let you know I can control myself. I may not have been a designer for long, and I'm inexperienced, but working with a model is not new to me. I've done fittings for my mother since I turned thirteen, I can assure you I can keep my pants on," he reasoned defensively.

"My name is Lucy," she declared very unconvinced, still on the ground. Erza helped her up as the man she was with was unconscious.

"That must be your roommate," Erza inquired to the designer, and Gray gave her a look that said 'please don't mind him'.

"Anyways, I'm going to stay here and supervise that you don't get too touchy," the blonde declared as she made herself at home.

The rest of the session went smoothly, with the occasional dirty glare from Lucy. The girls were heading out when the pink-haired boy finally regained his consciousness.

"Hey, wait! Lily or whatever! You should come by with your friend tomorrow!" he yelled from the sofa, his roommate laid him on.

"And why would I do that?" she snapped. She did not want to spend anymore time in a pervert's den. She turned her head towards the door once again.

"I'm gonna show you that your novels don't compare to being on a real adventure," he announced.

Lucy exited with a 'hmpf' and muttered a, "We'll see about that," as she tried to catch up with her friend at the stair well.

"Erzaaaa," she complained once they were back in their own home, "You don't seriously want to keep working with that pervert."

"What's wrong with Gray? He's inexperienced, but I don't get where this 'pervert' thing is coming from," the red-head opposed. "Weren't you the one who encouraged me to call him? Now that I have work, why are you against it? He's paying me a decent amount, enough so I can pay for my half of the rent." Erza didn't understand why her friend was worrying about it.

"Erza, he took you to his apartment to get in your pants," Lucy said vulgarly.

"I'm telling you, it was just a fitting session. Also, I can defend myself... you should know that by now. Gray has big dreams, like you and me... I don't think he would make the mistake of jeopardizing his career before it even started," bringing up points she knew would get to Lucy, aspirations were something that the blonde would sympathize with.

"Fine. But I'm going with you tomorrow. I can write there. I'll see if I can trust him... and watch. You never tell me about your work," Lucy trying to act like she didn't have a sudden change of heart. The mood had lightened before Erza wanted to play with Lucy a little. She was honestly thankful that she had a friend like that.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I'll just let you know that I'm used to being in my underwear. I am a model, remember? I've even gone nude before, so be glad that he's a clothes designer," she innocently gambled. Lucy was never so red in her life as she demanded to have names. Erza tried to get away, the girl chasing her around the living room.

Once Lucy tired out first, Erza contested, "How can you watch Gray and I if you have a date with that pink-haired guy?"

"It is not a 'date'. The guy thinks he can change my mind. He thinks books are useless. I'll just demand that we stay at the apartment, we'll see what he can do if he doesn't have the city to explore; he will fail to prove his point and that means I win," the younger girl scheme devilishly.

"You win?"

"Yup. I'll be right."

"That's so petty."

"He acts like a child, Erza."

"I- okay."

A shirtless Gray greeted them at the door, gaining a disgusted look from the girl named Lucy and an unimpressed Erza. Realizing his state shut the door in their faces, opening it again when he was fully dressed. He ushered them in sheepishly, and could've swear the blonde had tried to crush his toes as she mowed past him. He offered them some leftovers pastries from the café hoping to get on their good side. To his relief, Erza accepted happily. However, her friend snatched one disgruntled. It didn't matter, it was the model he needed anyways.

"Natsu is still sleeping, I could wake him up for you," he awkwardly tried to make conversation with the blonde girl; keyword: tried.

"That won't be necessary. I came here to make my judgement on you," she said shamelessly.

He really needed to work on his first impressions; a good one could get him very far. This Lucy girl must really dislike him if she forced herself to come along. As the stand-offish vibe began to thicken, his roommate strut out of his room. Gray was relieved to see that at least his roommate was dressed.

"Good morning," he yawned, "Be ready to be mind-blown," he acknowledged Lucy.

Lucy's eyes could probably roll out if they weren't in sockets, she half grumbled a retort back.

"It's already past twelve, it's the afternoon not morning," she sarcastically informed, "I'm not here for you to impress me."

Tension filled the room before Erza loudly sighed, "Well, we don't got all day to work."

Gray got the hint and led her to his studio as Lucy eyes him suspiciously. She was never going to get off his back.

"This is my studio, I call it Studio Fullbuster. My brand is Gray Element, so far I've only done custom pieces. I'm planning to save enough money to open a studio, also I'm down town. Hence why I'm trying to gain exposure," he welcomed modestly.

The studio was organized, like the rest of the apartment it was pretty simple. Two work desks: one for cutting fabrics and sketching designs. A sewing and an embroidery machine sat on the other. Fabric was stored on shelves that bordered the room. A bulletin board holding up his plans, schedules, designs, and photos of his proudest work. All his other materials were contained a metal cabinet. Two racks of clothing on the left wall, and three mannequins were lined up orderly near the back of the room.

"Wow, those are beautiful," a wide-eyed Erza exclaimed at the three pieces hanging on the mannequins. Contrary to his inexperience, Erza had never seen anything like his work. Something about them called out to her, they were a mixture of all things high-fashion. When she was the 'it' of the modelling industry, she had many opportunities to meet world-renown designers, masters in their art. Those experiences modified her own personal style, as she learned what 'fashion' truly was along with being a model. Gray's work... it wasn't comparable to names like Sting Rogue, Ichiya Vandalay, or Dreyar, but she saw potential in his work to be equally or even surpass their success.

"Thanks," he blushed humbly. He was confident in his art, but a compliment from a model his mentor was impressed with, it meant something to him. He got chic, sophisticated, elegant, and many other compliments, but never beautiful. He felt like his heart was going to explode when she inspected his work with an impressed gaze.

Erza basically drawn to the dark blue gown. It was a sequinned romper with a sheer skirt in an even darker blue. It was strapless with a sweet-heart neckline.

"That's one of the pieces you're going to wear. In fact, the ones on the mannequins are all yours. You'll be opening or closing each collection," he blurted and Erza kept her excitement to herself. She wouldn't get to keep the pieces but she could imagine how she would look. That's why runways were her favourite. She loved being able to feel beautiful and feel like a princess or empress or queen.

So Erza hurriedly tried the others on, and Gray was satisfied with how they looked. When she finally got to the last one, the one she wanted so badly to try on, it fit perfectly. It fit perfectly yet she felt like something was missing. Gray could feel that her expectations fell and he smirked.

"Wait, I need to add something," leaving the room and coming back with pieces of metal, "This is my brand."

He held up one of the pieces of metal and Erza saw a cross-sword logo on it. Erza recalled that the tags on the back of the clothing she tried on all had that logo. But how were these pieces of metal for?

"Can you hold out your right arm?" he ordered. It was a weird order but Erza obeyed anyways. And as if he knew what she was thinking, he attacked the pieces of metal down her arm. It looked like armour. She looked in the mirror once again and her jaw dropped. It looked amazing, although it shouldn't. How a dress so feminine was enhance by something as masculine as armour, it was unthinkable. She kept on examining herself in the mirror to his feeling of accomplishment.

"Wow, Gray. Your work is really understated," her lips moved on their own. That's when his heart burst. Understated. A word that was basically foreign to him all his life. Ur had only ever heard the work overrated and growing up he was still in her shadow. The fashion industry shunned out his ideas and concepts saying they didn't fit. Clients appreciate what he made for them, but understated meant someone understood what his pieces were supposed to convey.

"I honestly can't believe you aren't some big name," she continued admiring leaving Gray speechless. His work was finally recognized, and he had fulfilled Ur's wish.

Lucy sat bored out of her mind, her eyes travelling along the walls of the apartment. Contrary to what she told Erza, she knew she wasn't going to get any work done. She didn't have any new clients or request and she had hit a writer's block with her novel. Incorporating a love story in an adventure based plot had many challenges. She tried to ignore that fact her best friend was in a room with a perverted man since there were no screams of help coming from his 'supposedly' studio; Lucy thought the chances of it being his bedroom were pretty high.

"You sure you don't wanna explore the city? You aren't working right now," Natsu asked for the hundredth time since she got there.

"I told you I don't want to. I have to stay here to make sure your friend won't do anything stupid to Erza," she declared, "And how do you know I'm not doing anything?"

"Fine. I get it. But staring at walls doesn't count as doing work," he said pointedly, "You might not have any work to do, but I do," he pointed at himself.

"You? Work? Aren't you an influencer?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. We influencers put work in to achieve our social status," again with the 'duh' tone. To prove his point he took out his laptop and started 'working'.

Curiosity got the best of of her as she took a seat beside him on couch as she peered at the screen. It was an editing software.

"Photoshop? Are you kidding me? That barely counts as work. I can photoshop my own photos, too," she stressed that fact.

"Yeah, yeah. This is REAL photoshop, not MagicTune. I also edit my own videos," he insisted, "Look." A dark undersaturated picture appeared on the screen, "This is the original photo," then he opened another file, "This is after I edited it."

"I can do that myself. Nothing fancy," Lucy proclaimed.

"Then you try. Here," he handed her the laptop with the original photo displayed, "Enhance the photo so it's no longer a bad picture."

"Easy," she eagerly started playing around with the software.

After about an hour of fiddling with the thing, she gave up to his triumph. "Okay. It's not as easy at it seems, but lots of other people can do that," not wanted to boost his ego.

"Yeah, you're right about that, but not people can do this."

So for thirty minutes straight, the same clip of Natsu exclaiming "What's up my Slayers!" played repeatedly. The pink-haired boy insisted he was trying to find the perfect place to crop the video when she complained that her ears were going to bleed. When he was finished, there didn't seem to be any difference from the original clip, which annoyed Lucy since it was torture listening to the guy's annoying voice on repeat. She had tried to plug her ears with her finger in an attempt to tune out the sound, but was no use. Currently, she stuffed her face on a pillow in frustration.

Finally it ended, to her pleasure, "Yeah, I see why not everyone wants to sit through an hour of hell," a backhanded insult. "I don't even know why cropped the clip, it sounds exactly the same."

"Yeah, it does sound the same, but now it makes the whole intro of the vlog smoother," he explained as she showed her the transition. It was pretty smooth, but she would never tell him that.

"I don't see a difference," she plainly stated.

"Alright. At least watch one of my videos. It's pretty hard to please my viewers," he said in after the half won battle.

"Please your viewers?" she questioned.

"Yeah. I mean, if I don't keep their interest I lose them. If I lose them I don't make money. I'm not the type of person to care about money and stuff, but I need to make ends meet somehow. Anyways, I care about my viewers and I'm grateful for them," he answered.

This guy, grateful? Grateful for his fans? Lucy would have never guessed. He came off as a guy that was arrogant, but she realized she was the same as him. She remembered every time she would get excited when someone praised her writing online. There was truth behind his words as well. Both of them had dreams that meant they needed to please their audience. For him it was his viewers and fans, and for her it her readers. His work wasn't exactly what she thought it would be. It wasn't just for him to have fun, but he cared what he put forth. Lucy decided that she would consider Natsu's work and him a little more seriously.

Author's Note: As I promised, this chapter has a little more Natsu x Lucy moments. Hope you enjoyed! I will try to update soon :)