Hello Everyone!

I've been working on this story more so than my others, due to the fact I have a little bit of a writer's block for Fairy Tail: What Brings Us Together. However I have been thinking about it and I should be able to update that one soon. Alright now on to the story.

~wolvesfinalden

Fairy Tail: By Your Side

Chapter 2: Team Natsu

The next day Duke and Lucy made their way to the guild. Duke trotted up to the doors first but waited patiently until Lucy came beside him. Lucy then opened the doors and was greeted by a few fighting mages.

Duke left his partner to find his new friend, Happy among the mess. The white wolf found his feline friend on one of the middle tables, sitting on top and of course eating a fish.

"Hello Duke." Happy said to him with a mouth full of fish.

The wolf wagged his tail sitting next to the table with Happy. The cat then pulled off a piece of fish and held it out to Duke.

"Want some fish Duke?" he asked him.

Duke hesitated at first but then gently took the piece of fish from his friend and proceeded to gobble it down. Happy smiled as he took it and stood up on the table top he was sitting on.

"See its good isn't it Duke?! Natsu! Duke loves fish!" Happy shouted with joy.

Lucy heard the feline and couldn't help but giggle at them. Only one day and those two were becoming close friends. It put her mind at ease because she wasn't sure how Duke would have reacted to a life here in the guild. She was glad to push that thought away for good now that Duke seemed content. She then made her way to the bar to talk with Mira.

"So Lucy, are you and Duke enjoying it here?" Mira asked her.

"Yeah, feels like home here." She said smiling at Duke playing with Happy.

Duke had took Happy's fish but was only teasing his friend. He would hold it up out of his reach and when the cat realized he could fly up and get it, her wolf darted off around the guild. She watched as Duke didn't watch where he was going and smacked right into Natsu and who she assumed was named Gray, since that's what Natsu yelled before Duke hit into him.

"Oh my, looks like Duke and Happy are getting along well." Mira said with a giggle.

The blonde heard Happy yell at Duke to give him his fish back. However he just shook his head and toppled Gray over making Natsu nearly bust a gut laughing at him.

"That a boy Duke! Haha, that'll teach frost bite!" he yelled as he patted the wolf's head.

The last thing Lucy saw before she turned back around was Duke giving Happy back the rest of his fish. Then licking his face as an apology but the cat didn't seem too offended by the whole thing.

"So Lucy are you thinking about taking a job yet?" Mira asked her.

"Not sure. I guess I'll have to ask Natsu and Happy to see if they're up for going on one."

*crack!*

Lucy looked up to see Mira had accidently broke the glass she was cleaning and was now looking at her with wide eyes. Which of course made the celestial mage extremely confused.

"You okay Mira? What happened?"

Before getting an answer Lucy herself was bombarded with questions.

"Wait you and Natsu? When did this happen? Did you two know each other? Did he ask you? Did you ask him?"

Lucy couldn't keep up with all the questions she was asking so she was able to stop Mira's question and began answering the ones she could remember she asked. She just told her exactly what happened yesterday while she was getting the master. From him walking over, to Duke's strange actions, and to him asking her that question.

"That's amazing." Mira said.

"Um, why do you say that?"

"Because Natsu has never formed a team with anyone before. As far as I remember he had only teamed up with Happy for the longest time. Strange that he would suddenly form a team with our newest member."

"Oh I see. Well maybe he's just interested in Duke. Magic wolves aren't exactly a common thing, nor is our magic."

"That's true but seems like he's more interested in you, Lucy." Mira said with a mischievous smile.

"I don't think so Mira." Lucy laughed nervously.

"Okay whatever you say Lucy." Mira sang

The girls then talked about the other guild members. Mira told her just about everyone from her brother Elfman, to the members of team shadow gear, to the S-class wizards, and the older members of the guild.

"Wait hold on Gray strips his clothes?" Lucy asked in astonishment.

"Yup, a habit he picked up from his teacher years ago."

Lucy then heard Natsu yell at Gray.

"Hey stripper but your freaking clothes on!" Natsu yelled at him.

"Oh shut up flame-brains."

"You want to go popsicle?!"

"Anytime droopy eyes!"

Duke then noticed the hostility towards his new friend and it pissed him off. The wolf got up and growled at Gray as he approached him. Natsu heard him first and turned his head towards him with a confused look.

The wolf noticed Natsu's look but ignored it as he got to the two and pushed between them. He stood in front of Natsu and lowered his head, letting out louder growls and bearing his teeth at Gray. This caused the ice mage to back up slowly, not sure what he was about to do.

Natsu only laughed at the situation they were in. Only yesterday he meet Duke and Lucy, and here he was protecting Natsu from what he thought was a threat. The dragon slayer then smiled at Gray.

"Awe what's wrong snow for brains? Afraid of this little puppy?" Natsu teased him as he pulled Duke to his side.

Duke remained eyes locked on his target, but wagged his tail when Natsu pulled him closer to him. Gray still remained a little freaked out until Duke ceased his growling all together and looked up.

Natsu was confused but the wolf left without a second thought. Duke moved so quick through the crowd that the dragon slayer couldn't pin point where he went.

"Alright what the hell was that all about?!" Gray asked a little pissed off. "Who was that wolf?"

"The wolf's name is Duke. He belongs to our new guild member Lucy."

"Okay that still doesn't explain why the hell he growled and snarled at me like that."

"Probably because we were both fighting with each other. He must have thought you were a threat to me and jumped in to tell you to back off. He did that to me yesterday when I met Lucy. He'd stand in front of her and growled a little at me. When he stopped I sat beside her and he allowed me to pet him."

"Alright that makes sense but that one over protective canine."

"Oh cut him some slack stripper. From what I understood Lucy didn't have friends growing up, all she had was Duke. So he's protective of her because he's not use to people being around her. It was fortunate that he warmed up to me so quickly."

"Whatever you say flame breath."

Gray then walked away and Natsu scanned the guild and noticed that Lucy went missing too.

'Oh I get it now Lucy must have called him. Wonder if she went home then.'

The fire mage walked over to his feline partner and smiled at him.

"What are you planning Natsu?" he asked him.

"I think we should go pay Luce and Duke a visit don't you?"

Lucy and Duke had made it home not to long ago. She decided she wanted to clean her apartment today. The blonde was lucky she decided that when she did. Once she told Mira she was going home for the day, she noticed Duke was standing in front of Natsu growling at Gray. Her new partner though just pulled him closer and smirked at Gray.

Not taking a second longer she called for Duke. The wolf soon joined her in a matter of seconds and they went out the doors.

"Jeez Duke you're not supposed to pick fights with people." Lucy sighed.

Duke put his ears back and put his head down, showing his master that he was sorry. Lucy smiled and patted his head.

"Oh it's okay Duke. You probably just thought Natsu needed some help. That's okay but remember that people in the guild are our friends. They won't harm each other and those two fight all the time from what Mira told me." She told him.

Duke nodded and went into the bedroom. Lucy smiled and went on to her cleaning. She had a few things she bought yesterday that needed out as well. Sighing, she went straight to work.

When the wolf entered the bedroom he laid himself down on the blanket Lucy always sat out for him. She always put it on her bed right beside where she would often lay. He then shut his eyes and let himself drift off into sleep.

It wasn't but an hour later that Duke heard something. At first he just thought it was Lucy so he ignored it. However when a different scent hit his nose he shot up and growled but was surprised at what he saw. Coming through the window was Natsu and Happy. Still confused about everything the wolf growled lowly until he got a proper explination.

Natsu put a hand on the wolf's head and put his index finger to his lips.

"Shh, it's okay buddy we're just here to surprise Luce. Nothing wrong with that right?"

Duke nodded and ceased his growling since he got a good enough answer. He laid his head back down and saw the dragon slayer join him on the bed. Duke then moved his head to Natsu's lap, while Happy curled up beside Duke's stomach. The three then waited for Lucy to be finished.

Lucy had finally finished putting everything away and cleaning the living room. She took a look around the room and saw her wolf was still out of sight. She then made her way over to the bedroom, remembering that he had gone in there earlier.

"Duke are you hungry?" she asked as she opened the bedroom door.

The mage stared in shock at the sight. There on her bed was not only her wolf but also her two new teammates! When the hell did they even get in here?!

"What are you doing in my bedroom and how the hell did you get in?!" Lucy shouted in frustration.

Natsu just smiled and waved at her before he got up off the bed, waking up the two animals beside him.

"We came to surprise you and we just came through the window. Duke was surprised when we got in too!"

Lucy looked over at her partner who had his ears back and head down. She sighed moving to her bed and stroked Duke's fur.

"It's okay Duke." She whispered.

The celestial mage turned back to Natsu. He was very strange, who enter's someone's home without permission?

"Alright I'm surprised but you should ask before coming into someone's home."

"Yeah but I thought it would be okay since we're a team now and all."

"Just give me a warning next time but why did you come here?"

"We thought that we'd all go on a job, sounds like fun right?" he said as he handed Lucy the flyer he found.

She read it and saw that they only had to retrieve and destroy a book. Not to mention the reward was decent.

"Simple enough mission for your first time right?" he asked smiling at his choice in requests.

Then Lucy noticed something else about the job. It struck a nerve with her remembering what Mira said about Natsu not teaming up with people in the past. However she thought that he probably didn't notice that small detail.

"This last part is um interesting." She said.

Natsu took a look at what she was talking about. The second he saw what Lucy was talking about he chuckled.

"Yeah I saw that but hey it all works out, don't you think?"

"Is that the reason why you wanted to team up?"

The dragon slayer looked shocked and proceeded to shake his head.

"No Luce, honest. I really wanted to form a team with you guys. Besides I only saw this request today."

Lucy sighed feeling bad about what she said to him and for even thinking that it was the reason why he wanted to team up with her and Duke.

"Sorry Natsu."

"Don't worry about it Lucy, besides we don't have to do that part if you don't want to. We can always find another way to get in." Natsu told her.

Natsu looked up to the window and saw it was getting late. He looked over to the bed and saw the animal duo sleeping together on the edge of the bed.

"We'll it's getting late and we should get some rest before we leave for the job tomorrow."

Natsu walked over to the bed and laid himself down. This caused Lucy to shoot a glance at her partner. She couldn't figure out exactly what he was doing.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Well Happy is already asleep with Duke and I don't want to disturb him. So why not just stay here and head out in the morning?"

"Yeah but why are you in my bed?"

"There's enough room for all of us."

Lucy couldn't believe what he just said. Did he really not understand what he was saying? Or is he just too dense to realize something like that? She had only known him for two days now and here he was in her bed.

The blonde noticed that Natsu made himself comfortable and waited for her to join him. She then looked over to Duke and Happy, who were happily asleep next to each other, with Happy using Duke's fur as a fluffy pillow.

'Well it's clear Natsu isn't moving. Maybe he just thinks that we should act like Duke and Happy. It's really strange but I haven't exactly had friends living at the mansion. Maybe that's just how people around here treat each other. Just like family. It's possible right?'

Lucy then got changed in the bathroom and finally joined Natsu jand the others in the bed. Once she was settled in she felt movement in the bed. Looking up she saw Duke made his way over to her. He laid between Natsu and Lucy putting his head on Lucy's stomach. Soon after Happy joined them, only laying on top of Natsu but close enough to Duke.

Lucy sighed as she tried to go to sleep. The blonde heard the teen chuckle beside her.

"Seems like they felt left out." He said before closing his eyes. "Night Luce."

"Night Natsu." She then closed her eyes and whispered to Duke.

"Night Duke."

The wolf softly growled as a goodnight to her and they all fell asleep.

The next morning Lucy found herself being the first one up. Natsu and Happy were both still asleep beside her, while Duke woke up the moment he felt her move. The girl then got out of bed and got herself ready for the day and Duke waited out in the living room.

When she was finished she decided to make some breakfast for her team. So she entered the kitchen and began to cook some food. Half way done with breakfast Lucy went into one of Duke's cabinet's and gave the wolf some of his own food, then got some meat out of the fridge for him, mixing it with his food.

"Duke come eat." She called in a low voice, so she wouldn't wake her sleeping friends.

Duke came running to the kitchen and greedily ate his food. Lucy finished making breakfast but before she could call for the other two, they both appeared into the room.

"Hey Luce, making breakfast?" he asked her.

"Yup just got done so sit down."

Happy sat up on the table and Natsu took a seat. Lucy gave them their food and both started eating. She joined them after she sat down herself and after a good ten to twenty minutes everyone was done eating.

"So we're heading out today right?" she asked Natsu.

"Yup, whenever you're ready we'll go."

"Let me just pack a bag real quick."

She quickly went to her room and packed a small bag before leaving. While she packed her things the three waited in the living room. Duke was laying on the couch with his head on the dragon slayer's lap. Natsu stoked his fur and Happy sat on top of the wolf.

"Say Natsu you never told me why you wanted to team up with Lucy. You never wanted to form a team with anyone before so why now?" the cat asked him.

This caused Natsu to stop what he was doing. Happy noticed this and watched as his father figure thought about his question before finally answering.

"Truthfully, I'm not sure, there's just something about her that drew me to her. I wanted to get to know her better and the best way I could do that was teaming up with her and Duke."

Happy was surprised, Natsu wasn't exactly serious so hearing this was very strange. Then he got a mischievous smile as an idea popped into his head.

"You liiiike her." He teased him.

This earned him a glare from the fire mage but before he could say anything Lucy walked in.

"All done, let's go!" she said with a smile.

The team then made their way out and headed for Natsu's least favorite place…..the train station.

And that's it for this chapter. Thank you for reading and as always review, fav, or follow my story if you enjoy it. More to come very soon, I just need to type up the next chapter. If you have any questions about the story or anything don't be afraid to ask! Thank you again and until next time guys!

~wolvesfinalden