While Natsu and Lucy have cleared the air about matters regarding Loke, Lucy is not ready to jump into a relationship with him just yet. But as Natsu's wait begins, so does friendship.

~ The Start of Something ~

There was a chill in Magnolia's air as winter approached. Lucy Heartfilia was not particularly a fan of the cold but she was thankful because that meant that winter break was just around the corner. Word got out that Loke and her had 'split' and ever since the school trip, she has been asked out by at least a dozen guys and it was beginning to feel a little depressing to keep turning them down.

Now standing behind the school face-to-face with yet another guy, the blonde was already forming the sentences in her head, preparing to reject him. She looked at him through her dark hazel eyes and studied him. He had dark hair, dark eyes and refined features. If anything, he was a pretty good-looking chap and he seemed like a nice person, but Lucy just didn't feel anything for him. Hell, she didn't even know who he was until this morning when he pulled her aside and asked her to meet him out here at 1pm.

"So…" The guy began. "I've been thinking about this for a long time. I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in the same lit class and… I've always thought you were cute, and I know you probably don't know me, but I've had the biggest crush on you since forever… …"

Lucy stared at him with contemplative, spacey eyes. She saw his lips moving and she knew he was talking, but she wasn't really processing. She was too preoccupied staring at his eyes and the more she looked at them, the more bizarre she felt.

His eyes are dark, she noted. Pitch black and dark. Like Natsu's. His eyes were like Natsu's but they weren't the same as Natsu's. Lucy didn't know how she knew that; she just knew.

Wait, why am I thinking of him right now? She shook her head and cleared her thoughts.

"Err… Lucy?"

"Huh?" The girl snapped back to attention.

"I'm sorry, did I say something to offend you?"

"Umm…" Lucy thought back on the past few seconds. She felt a little guilty for not listening. "I'm sorry," she decided to begin her prepared speech. "You seem like a really, really nice guy, but I-"

"C'mon, just give me a chance here."

"I… I don't…" No matter how many times she'd done this, it never gets any easier. "I'm flattered by how you feel, but I just don't…" She paused. Then she decided not to lie. "I'm sorry. I'm just not available right now."

"But you broke up with Loke."

"Yeaa…" She drawled out that syllable.

"So how are you not available?"

"I'm not emotionally available," she clarified.

"…What a load of crap." His kind expression fell and his nervous-sweet-guy act dropped.

"Excuse me?" The girl was hoping she'd heard him wrongly.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you? You stuck-up bitch, you take pleasure in crushing other people, in other people's misery."

"What? I'm not- I mean, I don't-" She stopped abruptly once she'd realized. "You don't even like me at all, do you?"

"You think?" The guy scoffed. "I'm not even in your lit class. You probably would've known that if you paid attention to anybody other than yourself."

"Then why-?" She didn't understand.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? Because you're a stuck-up bitch!" He spat.

"Now wait, just a second there," she spoke calmly but rage had already begun to simmer. "I've never done anything to you. I don't even know you."

"Just because you've got a big rack and a nice ass, you think you're all that?" He went on. "Give up that innocent act already; I won't be deceived by it."

"…"

"Nothing to say, huh? That's because you know I'm right. Are you gonna cry? Are you gonna run to your rich daddy and cry?" He sneered. "Pathetic."

"…Get lost." Lucy didn't know why she was still standing there and letting him insult her, but enough was enough.

"What'd you say?"

"I said," she spoke up. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT BEFORE I CALL MY BILLIONAIRE FATHER WITH HIS PILES AND PILES OF MONEY TO CALL UP THE FAMILY LAWYER AND SUE YOU FOR SLANDER!"

At her hollering threat, the guy's face paled and he immediately scrammed, leaving the furious blonde to cool off by herself.

Lucy Heartfilia took a deep breath and then heaved a sigh. She knew she shouldn't have lost it – God knows what kind of other rumours are going to spread now – but she couldn't help it. After all, she could only take so much unreasonableness from no-good scumbags.

"Well, that was harsh."

Who said that? The blonde's head snapped up. She glanced towards her sides and saw no one. Then she turned to the tree that was standing next to her and saw a pink-haired teen, lazing on one of its thicker branches.

"How long have you been up there?" She asked.

"Dunno," Natsu replied. "2, 3 hours or so?"

"So you heard then?" Lucy's cheeks blushed slightly out of embarrassment.

"Yeah."

"Everything?" She winced.

"Nope, just the part where you said you were going to sue him with your 'piles and piles of money'."

"Ughhh…" Lucy groaned.

"I guess I only woke up after you started yelling," Natsu said.

Folding her arms across her chest, the blonde leaned against the rough bark of the tree and sighed.

"What's up?" He saw her mind was troubled.

"It's nothing. It's stupid," she stared at the ground as she talked. "It's a stupid nothing. Just another one of my usual days in school."

"See, that's why you should just go out with me already," Natsu teased.

"Oh, shut it," she retorted. "Just be thankful I haven't rejected you yet."

Natsu grinned. Now, that's more like the Lucy I know.

Another two minutes passed and Lucy felt her anger had finally subsided. Curiously, she looked up and saw that Natsu was in a very laidback position, with both hands behind his head and one of his legs crossed over the other. He maintained that very fragile balance leisurely.

"What are you even doing up there anyway?" She asked.

"Skipping classes, avoiding teachers, just another one of my usual days in school."

"Add eavesdropping to that."

"Hey, I was here first, ok? You and what's-his-name were the ones who disrupted my afternoon nap."

"…"

Lucy didn't respond to that; Natsu had to glance down to make sure that she was still there.

"Hey," he spoke.

"What?"

"Is this the place you bring all your guys if you're going to reject them?"

"No," she denied instantly. "I don't have a 'place' where I reject 'all my guys'. Besides, that jerk was the one who invited me out here, not me."

"Oh. Ok then."

It was quiet for a while again as they stayed in each other's company.

"You know," Natsu started. "The next time someone calls you out for a confession, you could just tell me."

"What for? So that you can pretend to be my boyfriend like Loke did?" Lucy said. "No, I don't think I ever want to do that fake relationship thing again. I have to learn how to deal with these things on my own."

"Fine, just be stubborn," he childishly sulked. Then he went back to looking up at the blue sky and pondered out loud, "Why do you even show up anyway?"

"Because…" Her words trailed off before she picked up her sentence again. "While half of them might be jackasses who have placed bets with their friends to see who can get me into bed, some of them might actually have real feelings for me and I respect them. Although I don't know them so I most probably won't give them a chance, I think they at least deserve to be told upfront so that they can get closure and move on. Also, if you just keep waiting on one-sided feelings, not knowing what the other person thinks, it's really hard. Plus, it takes a lot of courage just to tell someone you like them, so, yeah."

"Oh, so you know exactly how I feel then?"

"…Damn." A pang of guilt hit her because she didn't realize. "Sorry."

"What for? You said you needed time, and I said I would wait," Natsu replied like it was the most matter-of-fact thing in the world.

Comforted by his words, the corner of Lucy's lips went up in a one-sided half-smile.

At that moment, the school bell went off, signaling the beginning of the next period. Lucy stepped away from the tree so she could look up at Natsu. "I have to go now," she said. "You should probably get going too. If you fail the year-end tests, you'll get extra classes during winter break."

"WHAT?!" Upon hearing this, Natsu sat up and his branch wobbled in protest to the sudden movement. As a result, the pink-head lost balance and fell smack onto the ground. Yet, even after all that, he immediately sat up to yell some more, "I DIDN'T HEAR ABOUT THIS!"

"Well, now you have." Lucy turned on her heel to leave.

"Hey!" Natsu called after her and she looked back with a quizzical expression. "Be good and don't break anymore hearts! And if you're ever looking for a place to hide, you're welcomed to share my tree!"

"Hah!" She laughed. "Thanks, but no thanks! If I wanted to hide, I'd go to the library, where it's warm and I can bury myself in books, and no one will ever find me. See ya!" Then she waved and walked away.

Thinking to himself how cute she was when she laughed, Natsu chuckled as he watched her leave. He recalled his next period was a lecture and deliberated over Lucy's words. But then, he looked back at the inviting tree again and thought, screw it. The pink-head was back up there in the next minute and he made himself comfortable for a second nap.

The next day, Natsu actually attended class for once. It was a lab lesson in chemistry – Yes, after dragging it out for weeks, the Dragneel boy eventually settled on chemistry because he thought it would be interesting to know why things blew up. As it turns out, chemistry in Fairy Tail Academy was a lot tamer than his past accidents had been and he was slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, he thought it was cool to mix stuff together and watch them react and change, so he didn't regret his decision. Having said that, he was completely lost during today's lab because he was so behind. At the end of the two hours, it finally dawned on him that he was in danger of flunking the end-of-year exams.

Natsu knew he was going to need help – a lot of help – but he had no idea who to ask; he didn't know anyone else who took chemistry. Gray was training as a sculpture artist, Lucy was into all things not science. Natsu couldn't even remember the name of whatever Jellal was doing – he just knew it wasn't science – and as for Gajeel… Eh? What was that pierced freak studying again? He forgot. But it didn't matter because no way was he going to ask Gajeel, of all people, for help.

Maybe I should just go for the extra lessons… The pink-head toyed with the idea as he made his way from the lab to the cafeteria. While Natsu wasn't one to be kept down by things or to dwell on matters, he was certainly affected by this because he'd planned to do plenty of fun things with Lucy over the winter break. He thought he would be able to see her more during the break, not less, so the prospect of maybe losing precious time because of something like this bugged him to no end.

The troubled teen glanced up just as he passed by the wall clock in the corridor and stopped in front of it. The time was 1:15pm, kind of an odd hour, which made Natsu wonder whether she would be having class right now. He whipped out his cell phone and tried to reach her, but it rang for a while before going to voicemail. Then he tried calling the apartment but no one was home.

She's not home, and she's not answering her phone, Natsu pondered. She's probably in class now, unless… … He recalled what she said the day before and, deciding it was worth a shot, turned in the middle of the corridor and headed for the library.

Five minutes later, after wandering around the school by himself in search of the library, Natsu was effectively hopelessly lost. Being the non-studying delinquent that he was, he had only ever been to the library once since he enrolled into this school, which was when Erza and Jellal gave him the school tour on his first day.

The pink-head took in his surroundings once more. He saw a corridor on one end, then he turned and… saw the same corridor leading to the other end.

Shit, I'm so lost, Natsu realized. It didn't help that there weren't even any students out in the hallways because it was such an odd hour. Out of options, he decided to follow his instincts so he just picked one direction and kept walking straight.

Just as he approached the corner turn, a redhead popped out and Natsu abruptly stopped in his tracks. Geh–! It's Erza! His face went all contorted with shock.

"Natsu!" She spotted him a few feet away.

"Yes?!" The boy tensed up.

"Why are you wandering the corridors? Don't you have class?" The Council President asked.

"Errr, nope. No classes," he answered.

"Well, then what are you doing?"

"Uhhh… Nothing?" He didn't want to tell her that he was lost.

Erza's violet irises eyed him suspiciously. "Something's going on," she decided.

"Wha–What? No," Natsu denied. That look made him nervous. "Nothing's going on. What could be going on?"

"Natsu," she sighed his name. "If you have this much free time, go study in the library or something."

"Oh! Right! The library!" Natsu exclaimed. "I was just heading there!"

"Ok," the redhead said. Then she folded her arms and watched him expectantly, waiting for him to leave. But when he didn't, she got impatient. "Well, move along."

"Err…" Natsu hesitated. "Actually…"

"What? What'd you do now?" Erza regarded him with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't do anything!" Natsu cried defensively.

"Then what is it?!" Her volume matched his. She was supposed to get back to class but Natsu was holding her up.

"I forgot where the library is," Natsu mumbled.

"Oh, I see," Erza replied. "Which one did you want to go to?"

"Huh? There're 2?" The tone of Natsu's voice went up at the end of that question.

"Yeah."

"Uhhhh…" Natsu thought for a moment. "The one that's quieter and has fewer people…?" If Lucy wanted to hide, she'd probably pick that one.

"So that you can focus better huh?" Erza assumed.

"Uh… Sure." Let's just go with that.

"You'll want the underground library then," she said. "The stairway leading to it is just at the end of the corridor on the first floor of this building." She pointed him in the right direction.

"Oooh, ok." Natsu was relieved.

"Stay out of trouble, you hear me?" said the redhead.

"Yes, ma'am!" Natsu gave her a blinding smile before stepping past her and heading for the underground library.

The stairway that Natsu met was dimly lit and it was winding. If he didn't knew better, he'd have thought it was a secret passage in some castle and Fairy Tail was that castle. In any case, the darkness didn't scare him. In fact, Natsu rather appreciated the added sense of adventure. When he finally got to the bottom of it, he found himself in front of rustic, metal-hinged, wooden double doors. Without any caution, he pushed one side open and stepped in. Another straight, grand flight of stairs led down further, and, standing at the top of it, Natsu took a moment to be awed by the interior.

When he eventually descended it, he found himself amidst towering bookshelves that seemed as tall and abundant as the trees in a forest. The crystal chandeliers hanging overhead glowed with warm light, creating a very magical ambience. Natsu couldn't understand why a place like this was so void of people, or why a place like this was hidden away. But then he thought, maybe it was better off this way, to leave it quiet and undisturbed – timeless like a forbidden forest.

Now then. The pink-head raked his view, but all he could see was a setup of velvet settees and armchairs surrounding a glass and wooden coffee table. Where is that girl?

Even though he had no evidence whatsoever that Lucy would be here, Natsu's mind was already set; he wasn't going to leave until he found her. Tossing his burdensome school bag onto one of those empty armchairs, Natsu went about exploring.

He found it fascinating that there were so many books in one place, not that he could ever imagine reading them, so he wasn't too distracted. However, Natsu could imagine what a paradise it would be for a certain blonde bookworm. As he strolled through the rows and rows of unending bookshelves, he thought about how he could make his search quicker. Maybe if I looked in her favourite section… The boy thought. So he glanced up at the labels on the shelves. He'd expected to see words, like 'Fiction' or 'Non-fiction', not '813.54-813.50'. He stared at the string of numbers like they were alien numerals. They made no sense to him whatsoever so he moved on, hurriedly walking down the aisle and peering down each row until…

The ghost of someone's sunny blond hair flickered across his peripheral field of vision and Natsu reflexively did a double take. There, right between shelves 822.3 and 822.4, was Lucy, curled up on the floor in a fetal position. As he walked up to her lithe body, he realized she was fast asleep. He stared, wondering what to do now that he'd found the girl, then he crouched down beside her. Her trademark side ponytail had come loose, causing her blond locks to trail across her face and cascade onto the carpet floor in mesmerizing meanders of gold.

"Oiiiii…" Natsu called in a slightly husher-than-usual volume.

She did not stir.

"Oiii, Lucy." He gave her cheek two experimental pokes.

But there was no response.

Then he leaned in and whispered, "Oi, Lucy. I can see your panties."

But there was still no sign of the sleeping beauty waking up.

Is the floor that comfy? Natsu wondered as he patted the carpet. Then, he moved to lie down next to her, but when he did, there was an uncomfortable edge pressing into his back so he sat up and looked behind, only to find a book that had fallen from… He looked around. This must be what she was reading when she fell asleep, he concluded.

Natsu picked it up and read its title.

Romeo and Juliet

Hmmm… He flipped to its back cover and examined the blurb briefly. Then he turned his attention back to the girl who was still lying next to him. Looking at her totally unguarded person, Natsu sighed.

Sheesh. She's gonna fall sick again if she sleeps in a place like this, he thought. For someone so small, she sure was a handful. Why sleep here when there're so many empty chairs out there? Natsu couldn't understand. He tucked the book under his arm. Then, putting one arm under her knees and another around her back, he lifted the girl into his arms and stood to his feet. He carried her to the velvet settee from before.

After laying her down on the biggest sofa, Natsu eyed her miniskirt and her black stocking-clad legs, and he thought for a moment. Then he reached for the scarf around his neck and pulled it off. He spread it out over the blonde and, although it didn't quite completely cover her, at least her legs were shielded.

Natsu then realized that he'd lost Romeo and Juliet. He looked on the floor nearby and saw that it'd dropped while he was tending to Lucy. So he picked it up again and settled down in the last square of the 3-seater, giving Lucy's feet a lap cushion. He knew he should be studying for his exams or something, but really, he just couldn't leave the girl alone. Nevertheless, as he sat there, he found that the only thing to do in this library was to read. And so, he started the book about the star-crossed lovers.

Several hours later, Lucy Heartfilia opened her eyes and found herself staring at a glistening chandelier hanging from a very, very high ceiling. She blinked as she tried to remember where she was.

Ah, that's right. I was reading on the floor and then… Eh? She realized that she wasn't on the floor anymore but she was lying on extremely lush velvet. Puzzled, she sat up and then it all made sense when she saw Natsu at the foot of the sofa. Looks like he nodded off while reading something. Then she noticed the makeshift blanket covering her body and she felt her heart stumble. She gathered the white cloth, bunched it back into a scarf and crawled up beside him.

"Natsu?" She tested.

There was no response. The girl looked at the book that had fallen into his lap – it was the same one she'd been re-reading earlier. From that, she confirmed he was the one who'd moved her. She wanted to return the scarf to its rightful place around Natsu's neck but she knew she wouldn't be able to do so without waking him. So she might as well just wake him. He couldn't sleep here forever anyway.

"Heyyyy," she nudged him. "Heyy, Natsu."

The pink-head began to stir.

"You awake?" She tilted her head to get a better angle of his face.

"…n?" He rubbed his eyes as he opened them. They were bleary with sleep at first until he set eyes on Lucy, then his whole face brightened up in a smile. "Hey, you're up!"

"Geez, Natsu, how'd you even find me here?" She wondered out loud as she took it upon herself to wind the scarf around his neck.

"Would you believe me if I said you led me here?"

"You should really leave the cheesy pick-up lines to Loke," Lucy replied.

"Hah!" Natsu laughed. "But it's true. You told me you'd be hiding in the library yesterday."

"Oh yeah," she recalled now. She finished adjusting his scarf and was about to move away when Natsu grabbed her wrist out of nowhere.

"What?" She went. She wanted to appear unaffected but a mild blush had already crept into her cheeks.

"Just reminding you not to tempt me too much," he said and then let go.

The girl didn't know what he meant.

Seeing her clueless face, Natsu added, "You're too close."

"Oh, sorry." She shifted away.

"You know, as a girl, you really need to have some self-awareness."

"I have self-awareness."

"Really?" Natsu raised an eyebrow and challenged her. "When I found you, you were sleeping on the floor."

"That's because I thought nobody would come here."

"You also didn't notice when you were leaning in too close just now," Natsu pointed out.

"Well, I was trying to fix your scarf," Lucy pouted.

"I'm just saying, it's easy for others to take advantage of you if you're always so wide open."

"But I'm not," she stubbornly disagreed.

"Ah! Lucy, there's something in your hair."

"Huh?" She instinctively glanced upward.

That fleeting moment's distraction gave Natsu enough time to move and suddenly he had leaned in real close.

Lucy flinched; his actions were too quick and she thought he was going to kiss her but Natsu had stopped right before their lips touched. Nonetheless, the proximity was enough to make her heart erratic and her cheeks blush deep pink.

"See what I mean?" He whispered in his husky voice and her face flushed even more.

"Alright, fine! I get it!" She shoved him away, flustered. "I thought you weren't gonna ambush me anymore!"

"Tch. If I don't teach you a lesson every now and then, you'll forget, Lucy. Besides, I didn't actually do anything," Natsu shrugged.

Lucy pouted because she knew that he was right about her lack of self-awareness. But she never meant to tempt him. "I wasn't try to–"

"I know," he cut her off. "I know," he said again. "You don't have to explain yourself to me; I know you better than you do."

"No, you don't."

"Oh, you wanna try me again?"

Lucy looked at his smug expression and suddenly she wasn't so sure anymore.

"Forget it," she said. "Let's get out of here. What time is it anyway?" She fished her phone out of her skirt pocket to check. "Oh, my God. It's 6 already?!"

"What? It's 6 already?" There was some alarm in Natsu's voice too because he knew he should've been studying, or at least trying to.

Without either of them realizing, a whole afternoon had passed. Lucy had planned on studying too – after reading a few chapters of Romeo and Juliet, that is – but that plan had crumbled the minute she succumbed to her drooping eyelids. So she'd kind of given up on that for today.

"Hey," she said. "Wanna go grab dinner?"

"Huh, like a uniform date?"

"No," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Like a friend asking a friend out for dinner," she said. Why on Earth would that be the first thing to pop into a guy's head?

"Err, but if a guy in uniform and a girl in uniform go out together, isn't that a uniform date?" He furrowed his brow.

"Whatever. If you're not coming, I'll just go alone." Lucy got up from the sofa and began heading toward the stairs.

"What! Of course I'm coming!" Snatching up his bag, Natsu hurried after Lucy. "So," he said when he'd caught up. "Where're we going?"

"I left my stuff in the studio."

"I meant for dinner."

"Oh. Umm, how about sushi?"

"I want pizza."

"But I'm feeling like sushi tonight."

"Nooo, but I want pizza!" The pink-head whined.

"Sushi it is then," the blonde ignored him.

"Oi! Are you even listening to me?!"

"Hey, Natsu."

"Haah?"

"How do you even know the term 'uniform date' anyway?"

"…Don't change the subject! PIZZA!"

"I already decided on sushi!"

"PIZZAA!"

"SUSHI!"

"PIZZAAAAA!"

The two of them bickered the whole way and, in the end, they settled for a fusion restaurant. That night, for once, Lucy wasn't eating takeaway at home.

That night, she was laughing, and happy to be in Natsu's company.

This chapter was beta-ed by a good friend of mine whom I affectionately call, at times, 'gladiekuu'. Thanks, gladiekuu! :D

Not sure if I used the Dewey Decimal shelving system correctly, but I just felt like using it.

Also, if any of the readers here happen to be readers for my other story, I'd just like to say: I'm having some pretty bad writer's block for that story right now. Like I know how I want the story to progress but I can't seem to put them into words. Ugh. Hope I can update it soon.

Lastly, I know I failed to update last month :( Sorry about that. Was intending to update on the last week of Feb but then some chaos ensued so it got pushed back. In any case, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading! ^^

**UPDATE 08/03/2015 - edited.