Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail.
Summary: Zeref's mother insists that Zeref go to a Halloween Festival at Magnolia Highschool. Only, Zeref is terrified of all things even remotely scary. Little does he know that this festival could change his life.
Warning: Major OOC'ness and NatsuxZeref. Don't like don't read.
"Come on, it'll be fun." His mother said. Zeref scowled at the floor. He did NOT want to go to the school's Halloween party. It sounded horrible, and loud, and the festival was happening in the dark. Zeref hated scary things despite the fact he was always wearing black. It was like people thought wearing black all the time instantly made you like scary movies, and spiders, and Halloween. To be honest, Zeref was deathly afraid of all things scary. Even high thrill rides got him shaking the rest of the day.
"It most certainly will NOT be fun." Zeref grumbled. His mother sighed.
"If that's how you feel I'm not going to force you to go." His mother said. Zeref nodded. That was how he felt. He hated this night and would be happier simply hiding under the covers whilst everyone else scared themselves to death. Zeref for one, had no interest in doing that. "But I will bribe you. If you go to this event I will get you that new book you wanted." Zeref's scowl deepened.
"No fair!" he cried. His mother smirked and shrugged. "Come on. You'll have fun, I promise." Zeref sighed.
"Oh, alright. But if I don't like it, I'm never going again!" Zeref said.
"Fair enough." His mother said. Zeref sighed and stood up. There were likely to be several people in costumes, but Zeref didn't care. His mother was lucky that he was even going. He was not going to dress up in some stupid costume. Zeref slowly got up from the kitchen counter and made his way to the door.
It was cold but Zeref didn't bring a jacket. He didn't get cold very often, and when he did, it was in much colder temperatures. Zeref started walking, his head low, already scared out of his wits. Once he did finally reach the school there were dozens of people filing in and out of doors. Zeref gulped and started walking towards the building, his shoulders hunched. From the corner of his eye Zeref saw something run out in front of him. "BOO!" the person shouted. Zeref flinched, screamed, and ran inside the building. In there it was claustrophobic, and Zeref had more trouble breathing, but it sure beat the ghoul that had jumped out at him.
Zeref kept walking and looked around at all the different booths there were. Zeref knocked some witches down with baseballs and somebody gave him an apple they didn't want. Overall Zeref hadn't had a horrible time so far. He avoided any of the really scary stuff and sort of sat around sometimes. As he was about to leave he saw he had to walk past the haunted house. Zeref stood there for the longest time, telling himself to walk past it. It's just a haunted house. All you have to do is walk past it and you'll be out of here. He told himself. After finally working up the courage he heard someone start yelling. "Aw! Why do we have to go in pairs!"
"Safety reasons. If you can find someone to go with you, you're more than welcome too walk through it." The pink-haired guy scowled and gave the area a quick scan. His eyes landed on Zeref. "You, you want to walk through the haunted house with me?" Zeref looked behind himself, hoping that Natsu was talking to someone else. It became clear that he wasn't.
"M-me?" Zeref asked, just to be certain. Natsu, the school's star quarterback nodded.
"Yeah, we had an odd number of friends. No one would go with me since Lucy was supposed to go, but she's home sick." Zeref stared at him and then to the haunted house. Zeref had a small crush on Natsu. It was a little hard not to. He was strong, fast, and gorgeous. There was nothing that Natsu couldn't do. it would be a dream come true to walk with Natsu anywhere… well, almost anywhere. Zeref couldn't go through the haunted house, he just couldn't. just walking past, it scared him out of his wits.
"C-can't someone else go?" Zeref asked quietly. Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"Why? You scared? Or do you hate my guts?"
"N-neither!" Zeref lied. He couldn't go around admitting that anything scary terrified him. everyone at school would never stop teasing him, and Zeref would have to watch everything out of the corner of his eye just to make sure no one jumped out at him.
"Then why can't you go?" Natsu asked. Zeref frowned and took a few steps back.
"I can, just-." Zeref was cut off when Natsu grabbed his hand.
"Great, then there's no problem." Zeref forgot about his fear of haunted houses for a moment where all he could do was stare at Natsu as he payed for the both of them to go in. he forgot about why he was walking with Natsu until he was pulled into the dark. It was pitch black with no lights what-so-ever. Who knew what would pop out at him from the darkness. Zeref screamed when he felt something brush his arm. "Woah! Dud, it's just me." He heard Natsu's voice. "Now come on, I can kind of see in here." Natsu grabbed his wrist and started dragging him through the haunted house. Zeref kept jumping even when it was only their shoes clacking across the floor. "Wow your jumpy." Natsu commented. Zeref didn't respond. Natsu was right after all. He was petrified. There was a loud scream inside the house and Zeref screamed right along with it. Then, a zombie popped out at him as the lights flashed, illuminating the pitch-black house. Zeref screamed. His heart was beating faster, and he was convinced he was about to die. He jumped a mile and clung to Natsu.
"I want to turn back. Let's turn back!" he cried, his voice sounding needlessly panicky, even to his own ears. After all, everything in here wasn't real. It wouldn't really hurt him. but, despite that, he couldn't help but be scared to death. "Come on, let's get out of here!" he cried, dragging Natsu along.
"Hey, what's the rush? It's just a haunted house. Nothing's real. No one can hurt you." Natsu said. "It's just a person in costume and make up." Natsu assured him.
"I… I… I know, but it's just so scary-." Zeref wasn't able to finish his sentence because a vampire jumped out at him. Zeref hunched over into a crouch position and screamed. "Please don't kill me!" the vampire looked over the hunched boy in confusion.
"He gets scared easily." Natsu relayed. Then, he grabbed his classmate and guided him out of the house, feeling guilty for ever asking him to go through it in the first place.
So, Natsu basically carried him out because Zeref refused to move. Apparently, instead of the flight or fight response Zeref had the hide and scream response, or in other words, the die response. "Alright, we're out," Natsu said after a few minutes. Zeref slowly lifted his head up and gulped.
"Are you sure?" he wondered softly. When Zeref opened his eyes he could see that, sure enough, they were back in a brightly lit hall. Still, it was a few more moments Zeref allowed himself to relax.
"You okay?" Natsu asked, setting Zeref back down on the ground. Zeref blinked and then registered that he had just been screaming like a little girl at scary things that, to the normal person, weren't even that scary. Natsu must think he was a total scaredy-cat. It took him a few more moments before he realized that he should probably answer Natsu's question before he started worrying.
"I-I'm fine." Zeref stuttered, blushing. How embarrassing. When Natsu had looked in his direction he should've just gone with his first instinct which was to run and hide. Then he never would've gotten into this place.
"That's good. I was worried there for a moment." Zeref's blush deepened and he curiously peeked up at Natsu. Natsu's expression was a mix of concern and curiosity.
"Y-yeah. I probably should've told you before, b-but I get scared easily." Zeref whispered softly, glancing up at Natsu every once in a while. Along with Zeref's tendency to scream at everything even the least-bit scary, he was also painfully shy. And when around one of the most popular kids in school, that shyness was kicked into overdrive.
"Yeah that would've been nice to know." Natsu said, with a slight smile. Zeref smiled nervously back with a huge blush on his face. He hoped Natsu couldn't see it.
But Natsu could and his first reaction to seeing that blush was, cute. "Hey." Natsu spoke before he could stop himself. Zeref looked up at him through his lashes.
"Yeah?" he asked cautiously.
"You maybe want to grab lunch sometime." Zeref looked bemused.
"You mean…" Zeref trailed off. He didn't have the guts to ask Natsu, you mean like a date.
"Yeah, like a date." Natsu said like he was reading Zeref's mind. Zeref blushed deeply. "So, would you like to go?" Zeref nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. "Then I'll see you Saturday, at noon. Don't be late. Now, do you want me to walk you home." Zeref nodded. Natsu hadn't even asked if Zeref was free that day. Luckily, he was. actually, he was free all days after school. He had literally no social life.
Zeref despised Halloween, and all things scary. But walking home wasn't so bad with Natsu by his side. Even though he was dressed as a scary dragon. They walked back to Zeref's house. "Are you sure this isn't out of your way?" Zeref asked concernedly. He didn't want to be a bother. Natsu shook his head.
"Nope, it's on my way." Natsu told him. Zeref blinked suspicious, but he nodded just the same. After all, Natsu was the expert on where he lived. Of course, Zeref had no intention of arguing with Natsu on anything.
"This is it." Zeref told him, blushing. Natsu nodded.
"Yeah, anyway, listen, I'm sorry for dragging you into something you were uncomfortable with, I should've asked you." Zeref didn't process the words for a few seconds, but when he did, he shook his head.
"It's okay, I understand. I have a habit of not speaking up when I'm supposed to." Zeref laughed nervously and Natsu nodded.
"So, we're cool." Zeref wasn't exactly sure what that mean, but he figured that Natsu was asking if Zeref was angry with him, which he was not, in any way. So Zeref nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah, we're cool." He told Natsu. Natsu smiled at him and patted him on the head.
"I'm glad." Natsu said. "Anyway, I've got to go." He told Zeref. Zeref nodded, in a daze.
"Yeah, I understand." Natsu smiled that cute smile of his and waved goodbye. Zeref waved back dumbly and slowly went inside. When he closed the door he sank to the floor in a daze, his heart racing, although not unpleasantly inside his chest.
As for Natsu he was staring at Zeref's house for a little longer. He sighed softly. He had a long way back. After all, Natsu's house was all the way across town.
A/N Here's a little something for Halloween. A few more Halloween ones will probably be coming to. Thanks for reading, reviews and constructive criticism appreciated!