~ First Class With the Bad Boy ~

Already in his uniform and ready to go, the pink-headed teen sat stoning in the open kitchen and yawned as he waited. It was 8:25 and he heard her scrambling around in the room; she had overslept. He would be late if he didn't leave now but he didn't care. He wanted to walk to school with Lucy.

Natsu lay his head down on the island counter, squishing his cheek against the cool marble as he zoned out. Geez, how long more is she gonna take?

Kyaa–! He sat up in surprise when he heard her yelp. But the sound of the door opening ensued so he stayed seated.

Probably overreacting over nothing again. What a weirdo, Natsu thought. Ever since he'd met her that day, Natsu had always found her weird – in a fascinating way, that is.

Initially, it was her luscious long, blond hair and her curvaceous, hourglass figure that made him look her way. When he laid eyes on her, he felt like he already knew her somehow, like they had met before somewhere. But he could not recall where and she did not recognize him so he simply kept an eye on her. Soon after, he realized how much he liked her weirdness.

Later on, when Natsu found out that she was popular but didn't have a bigger circle of friends, he became curious. He had seen her on campus, rushing from venue to venue, sometimes accompanied by Levy or Juvia, sometimes alone, but never with any joy on her face, and always looking bored. That led him to wonder, what would she look like if she smiled? And so he grew interested.

When he brought her to The Tavern, he unexpectedly discovered the way her eyes twinkle when she smiles. From then on, he saw the stars each time he looked into her eyes and that was it for him – he decided to go after her.

At that time, Natsu was aware that it had only been around five days since they'd met, but that didn't matter. All he knew was that it felt right to him and he went for it. Even so, he hadn't expected to fall for her so wholly and so quickly. It was almost unbelievable how his feelings for her budded and blossomed in just a few days… It was surreal, kinda like wandering in Alice's Wonderland.

And then there was that time when he had subconsciously leaned in to kiss her at the graveyard. Frankly, he didn't know why he did that. He blamed it on those glistening umber eyes of hers; they just had an uncanny ability to make him magically gravitate toward her, and if he wasn't careful enough, he would find himself lost in their depths. She was his '15-second fairy'.

She was fascinating and charming, and the chase had proved to be difficult. She wasn't simply playing hard-to-get, she was hard to get. How a flirt like Loke managed to woo an intelligent girl like her, he would never understand, and why she chose to stay with him, he was determined to take more time to figure it out. All he knew right now was that he had just scratched the surface; he had a long way to go if his aim was to learn everything about Lucy.

That being said, springing that French kiss on her the other night was completely unplanned. Call it an impulse or a moment of weakness, but whatever it was he did not regret it. While he knew he shouldn't have done it, he was glad that he did. It was the first time anyone made his blood burn as it coursed through his veins and he had more than enjoyed it.

However, after last night's ball, Natsu realized that he had been doing it all wrong. If he wanted her to seriously consider him as a possibility, he would have to go about this in another way. If he wanted her to be his, he was going to have to do more than just shake up her pulse and make her blush.

No. If he wanted to find the pathway to her heart, then he was gonna have to show her his heart first. He had to show her his sincerity.

But how am I supposed to do that?

"Uwaah–!" Another scream yanked him out of his thoughts. Lucy had finally come downstairs. "Why are you still here?! C'mon let's go!"

After he left last night, Lucy took her time returning to the ballroom (picking up her high heels along the way). By the time she got there, Natsu's pink head of hair was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed that he had gone back to Magnolia and simply resumed her task of accompanying Sting. Her father did not seem to have noticed her absence for he was too preoccupied with Rogue and she thanked God for that. Just like that, everything went back to the way it was before. It was almost as though Natsu had never been there that night and that little escapade with him never happened.

When the blonde got back to Fairy Hills herself that night, it was already past 12am and she crashed immediately. As such she'd forgotten to set her alarm for school.

Don, don, don–! A banging on the door startled her wide awake.

"Oi, Lucy! It's 8:20! Don't tell me you're still asleep?" Natsu yelled.

Ohhhh, shit! The girl quickly threw the sheets off and jumped out of bed. Why didn't Erza or Levy wake meee?! Did everyone else leave already?

"Oi, Lucy? I'm coming in–" The doorknob rattled.

"STAY OUT! I'm changing!" She shouted and the door remained shut.

"O-Oh, okay. I'll wait for you downstairs!"

"Just go ahead without me!"

She washed up, put on her uniform and stockings, and tied her hair in five minutes.

Then– kyaa–! Just as she was about to leave the room, she grabbed her bag the wrong way and all its contents spilled out. That was when she realized she hadn't packed her books for today so she floundered around the room some more.

…shit, what's my first class again? Ahhh, whatever. She tossed the books in her bag randomly and walked out the door. It was already 8:25 and her first lesson was at 8:30!

Her footsteps were hurried and heavy as she rushed down the stairs. When she got to the first floor, she was met with another morning surprise.

"Uwaah–! Why are you still here?!" She yelled at him. "C'mon let's go!"

At this point, she was more worried about being late than concerned about why Natsu was staring off into space in the kitchen. She wondered how she would manage a 10-minute walk in five minutes, but her worries were rendered unnecessary. For as soon as they were out of the Fairy Hills building, Natsu grabbed her and ran for it.

"Whew~! Safe!" The pink-headed teen exclaimed as they burst through the classroom door.

He was as energetic as ever while Lucy was spent and she bent over to catch her breath. That was the craziest morning run ever.

When she walked to a seat near the back, she realized something.

"Why are you still following me?!" She watched as Natsu took the empty seat next to her.

"Who says I'm following you? Didn't you realize? You were the one following me all the way to school."

"What, that's because you were dragging me along!"

"Well, I had to or you wouldn't have been able to keep up. You need to lose some fats, Lucy."

"What did you just say? Did you just–?!"

"I said, lose some fa–"

"I heard you the first time!"

"Geez, Lucy, you're such a weirdo. If you knew, then why'd you ask?"

Argh! "…Forget it. Hurry up and get to your first class before Mr Jonah comes in."

Just as she said that, a tall, curly brown-haired man walked in and the class rose to greet him.

"This is my first class," Natsu whispered after the class bowed and took their seats again.

WHAT–!? Since when did we have any common classes? And what the hell is he doing in an art history class?!

"Good morning, class!" Reedus Jonah said. "Today we have a new student. Everyone, please welcome Natsu Dragneel."

He gestured to the one and only pink-head in the room and the rest of the students clapped.

"Alright, today we'll continue learning about the 18th & 19th Century art movements. Please take out the notes I gave out last week and turn to page 72."

N-Notes…? Lucy rummaged through her bag. Ahh… Crap. She'd left them at home.

"Natsu, here's your copy." Reedus walked down the aisle and handed it to him before returning to the front of the class and beginning the lesson.

"Last week, I finished Impressionism so this week I'll be moving on to Post-Impressionism…"

"Hey, don't you have your notes?" Natsu whispered when he noticed her pale look.

"I forgot to bring them…" Lucy whispered back.

"Here." He placed the bound booklet in between their desks.

"…Thanks," the girl muttered.

"…The Post-Impressionist movement was led by Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Georges Seurat. For the next hour, I'll be discussing Post-Impressionism using some of the world's most famous artworks. From the slides I'm about to show you, I would like you to look at some of these artworks and point out their key elements."

Reedus clicked the remote control. "Paul Cezanne, 'The Basket of Apples', 1895. What do you see?"

"Isn't it just some apples?" Natsu uttered under his breath.

"No, that's not what he's asking for," Lucy hushedly replied.

"Then wha–"

"Natsu, would you like to share your thoughts with the class?" Reedus invited him to speak up.

"Errrr… I, uhh… I see a lot of apples on a table? I dunno, the painting looks kinda off somehow."

"It is 'kinda off', but how is it off?"

Natsu did not know what to say. Lucy thought she'd help him out and she subtly tapped on the notes, pointing the words out to him. "It's got a disjointed perspective…?"

"Oui! Exactly! That's what this piece was most noted for. At one glance, you see that Cezanne has placed many things together in one painting but upon closer look, each of the individual objects have been drawn from a different viewpoint. When you look at that table, for example, it's as though you're seeing it from a bird's eye view. However, when you look at the fruit on the table, it's a frontal view. Still, Cezanne has combined them all into one painting, and that's what we call 'disjointed perspective'."

"Ooohhh…" Natsu marveled.

"It was paintings like these that helped form a bridge from Impressionism to Cubism, which we'll be discussing two weeks from now! And next!" Reedus pressed on the clicker again. The next slide had a painting of people relaxing by the bank of a river.

"Georges Seurat, 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte', 1884-1886," Reedus said. "Seurat took two years to finish this painting. Does anybody want to guess how he did it?"

"Pointillism, sir," somebody else spoke up.

"That is correct. Seurat cleverly juxtaposed dots of different colours such that if you were to look at it from afar, all the colours would be unified optically and you would only see one single hue."

"Wait, so he dotted the whole thing?" Natsu interrupted.

"Yes, Natsu, this method is called Pointillism."

"No wonder he took two years!"

The class laughed and Lucy wanted to palm herself in the face.

"Although this artwork is quite large, approximately 2 by 3 metres," Reedus proceeded to explain. "Seurat didn't spend two whole years dotting paint on a canvas. No, during the two years, he also spent some time observing the human form and making preliminary sketches. He didn't just start painting without any preparations."

"I see!"

"Moving on," Reedus continued. "The next artwork was painted by one of my most favourite artists of all time – Vincent Van Gogh."

The screen changed to show a picture of a vase of sunflowers.

"Van Gogh had many still-life paintings like this one; he did a whole series of sunflowers. Some say it was because he was poor and he had nothing else to paint but people and sunflowers. Others say it was because sunflowers made him happy. At one point in life, Van Gogh had planned to paint 12 sunflower pictures to hang in his home. Then there's also the crazy story that he once tried to sell these paintings for one dollar in an attempt to spread happiness, but at that time, no one would buy it. Who knew that they would become some of the world's most expensive paintings ever sold today? Now, the next painting is also by Van Gogh…"

Natsu nudged Lucy with his elbow and passed her a slip of paper. Slightly annoyed, the girl looked down and read:

Is Van Go the guy who cut off his own ear?

She frowned at what he wrote and scribbled a response.

It's Van Gogh. And yes, that's the one.

She slid the piece of paper back to him, but less than a minute later, it was back with her.

Why did he cut off an ear? Why not a nose?

She stared at Natsu's peculiar question and wondered what went on in his head. She didn't know how to answer that so she just looked ahead at the projector screen.

"…'Café Terrace at Night' was the first painting Van Gogh did that included a starry background. A yellow lantern illuminated the terrace, influencing the original tone of the objects he saw, but nevertheless, what Van Gogh wanted was to capture the rich colours of the night and so he painted it plein air on the spot…"

Natsu nudged Lucy again and tapped on the piece of paper; he wanted an answer.

How should I know? She wrote. Maybe it's because humans have 2 ears and only 1 nose.

"Ahh…" Natsu seemed to have only just realized it when he read her reply. Then he penned down another question and pushed the paper back to her.

What did he do with it?

Do with what? The ear? He gave it to a prostitute I think. Lucy shoved the paper back to him when she was done.

"Next!" Reedus clicked and changed the slide again.

"Starry night over the Rhone…" Lucy muttered in awe and Natsu turned to look at her. He noticed how her eyes lit up at the sight of the next painting.

"Not to be confused with 'Starry Night' – the one with all the swirls – this painting is titled 'Starry Night Over the Rhone' and was painted by Van Gogh in 1888," the teacher explained. "He painted this by the river at night, and by that I mean he brought his canvas and oil paint, found a spot by the river and painted outdoors. He realistically captured the stars in the sky as well as the gas lighting across the river and how it shimmered in the water reflection. At that point in time, such artificial lighting was new to the world and Van Gogh was intrigued by this. It shows in many of his paintings that…"

A minute passed and Natsu slipped the note to Lucy again.

You're definitely a weirdo.

The blonde was mildly puzzled by what he wrote and she shot him a questioning look, wondering what she did to garner that comment. The pink-head reached over and scribbled down something else.

Your favourite artist is a madman.

The first thing she thought of was 'how did he know Van Gogh's my favourite artist?' but then she realized that Natsu had just insulted the legendary artist and she grew defensive.

He's not a madman! He's a freaking artistic genius! She pushed the note back to him and Natsu rolled his eyes when he read her response.

"…This painting was done in September 1888, which was before Van Gogh broke down in December that same year and cut his ear off. The following year, he admitted himself into the asylum at Saint Remy…"

Natsu poked her arm again and gestured at the note.

See, madman.

Not a madman, she wrote back.

"…However, it was while Van Gogh was at Saint-Remy-de-Province when he did some of his best-known works. For example, the world-renowned 'Starry Night'–" With another click, Reedus changed the slide again. "Unlike the one I just showed you, this starry night was painted in daylight and from memory. It is argued that the characteristic swirls are representative of Van Gogh's state of mind at that point in his life. Nevertheless, it is one of the unique traits which he used in several other paintings later on…"

As Natsu stared at the picture on the screen, strangely enough, he could somewhat understand what Reedus was talking about. It was merely a projected image but he felt like it was more than that. It was the first time any painting had evoked any emotion in him.

I like this madman Van Gogh. He wrote in the note and passed it to Lucy.

Really? She was skeptical.

"Yeah," he whispered in response before she even passed the paper back.

"You like his paintings?" Lucy quietly asked.

"Yeah. They're very… strange," Natsu spoke softly. "But I like them."

"I absolutely love his paintings!" The girl almost squealed. "They always make me wonder. 'Starry Night Over the Rhone' is my favourite. 'For my own part, I declare I know nothing whatever about it. But to look at the stars always makes me dream…'" She quoted.

"What's that?"

"It's what Van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother."

"Ohh."

"Van Gogh was a lover of stars too! But the main reason why I like him is because he didn't care about what anybody said about his artwork. He kept painting and painting throughout his whole life…"

"Just like a madman."

"He was not a madman," Lucy protested – a tad too loudly.

"Lucy Heartfilia! Natsu Dragneel!" Mr Jonah called them out. "Please stop talking."

For the next five minutes, they paid full attention to the teacher. But then Natsu started again.

"He cut off his own ear for a prostitute and went to an asylum. You gotta admit he's a little looney."

"He just had some psychological struggles, that's all. It doesn't change the fact that he's a brilliant artist."

"Sure, a brilliant artist and a madman."

"Fine, but more brilliant artist than madman."

"No, I think he's more madman than brilliant artist."

"What?" Lucy tried to keep her volume down even as she expressed her shock.

"I mean," Natsu rushed to explain. "It's exactly because he's somewhat crazy that he managed to make such wonderful paintings, no?"

And just with those words, he'd caught her attention. Lucy looked at him and saw in his eyes that he was genuinely intrigued by Van Gogh.

This guy… He always jokes around but sometimes he says the most unexpected things and I just… She sighed when she realized he was right. Vincent Van Gogh was a brilliant madman.

Lucy then turned her attention to the front once again and went back to admiring the picture on screen. Natsu, on the other hand, kept his eyes on her. He saw how she was smiling to herself and he subconsciously smiled to himself too. It was the first time he had seen such a simple contented look on her face and he immediately fell for this side of her too.

Then, his gaze slowly lifted to her eyes. With the added dreamy sheen, her eyes now seemed to contain the entire galaxy and he felt like he could look at them forever.

"Van Gogh's not the only lover of stars…"

"Huh?" The girl turned around and was met with his intense onyx stare.

"I like stars too," he beamed as he said that.

"What's with that random comment?" Her heart fluttered but she forced herself to look to the front again.

All the same, the boy continued gazing at her for the next few minutes as the lesson went on until…

.

.

.

"Natsu Dragneel!" Reedus called him out again. "Eyes to the front please!"

Well. According to a list I saw on tumblr, NaLu week prompt for day 5 is 'Dare' but… I already began writing this chapter before I even knew what the prompt was. Apparently last year's prompt for day 5 was 'firsts' though! Nice coincidence huh?

Anw, here're a few things I feel that I should explain for this chapter!

I learnt the term '15-second fairy' from a Korean drama… It's a pretty famous drama (and a pretty darn good one), but even if you haven't heard of the term, I think it's easy enough to roughly deduce the meaning. In this context, it just means that one look from her can enchant him within 15 seconds.

Also, I actually studied art history for a while but that was like 3-4 years ago so I had to Google to make sure the info's accurate when I wrote this chapter. Hehehe. I tried to incorporate some interesting facts and the more famous paintings so I don't have to describe too much, but if you still have zero idea what they look like, please Google ^^

For this chapter, I was trying to show more of Natsu's side to this story. It's supposed to be a very uhh… subtly insightful(?) chapter and I only intended for it to be a short & simple one, just so I can upload something for NaLu week! It's kind of a rushed one too but I hope you've enjoyed it. Field trip chapter next.

Thanks for reading! ^^

P.S.- I'm trying to update My Fairy Tail Adventure as well for NaLu week but I duno if I can finish on time.

*UPDATE 11/7/2014: I have edited the chapter :D