AN: So sorry for the late update! School has been hectic, and I barely had time for anything else. Also thanks to everyone who reviewed, or followed, or favorited:)
xlyphiechanx and Mhilano: Thank you! Hope you also enjoy the nalu moments in this chapter:)
Gh0st's buddy, xxItzChaosxx, and artistofmind: Thanks so much for the feedback!
Senbei X Cup Ramen: I'm glad you enjoy my sense of humor:) And I agree, Natsu is very thoughtful in his way.
Also, sorry for any grammatical mistakes or spelling errors!
Chapter 6
"Hurry up, Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed as they rushed down the hall, her voice almost hysterical, "We're going to be late!"
"I'm goin' as fast as I can!" The pink haired boy responded irritably, and the blonde threw him a reproachful glance.
"Well, we wouldn't have to rush if you didn't take an hour to put on your uniform!" She grumbled. Natsu merely shrugged in response as if his behavior was to be expected; after all, despite her constant complaining, he had spent every night at her house since the egging a few weeks ago, and it was natural for him to move rather sluggishly in the morning, much to the blonde's annoyance. However, Natsu suspected that Lucy didn't mind the situation as much as she said she did. After all, she always had clean blankets set aside for him, and the blonde had even gone to the trouble of keeping his favorite snack stocked; although, she insisted that it was just a coincidence.
Lucy offhandedly glanced at her watch, groaning in frustration. While she generally got the pink haired boy to class on time, it would be a lie to say her perfect attendance hadn't suffered; the perfect attendance she'd had since kindergarten. Thinking of this, the blonde quickened her pace, grabbing Natsu's wrist as they rushed into the boisterous classroom. Lucy stopped almost immediately as they entered, her eyes scanning the area for any sign of their teacher. After a few moments, Natsu felt her physically relax, releasing her tight hold on his wrist.
"We lucked out. Gildarts isn't here!" Natsu said enthusiastically, punching his fist in the air.
"I can't believe it." The blonde exhaled, a small smile appearing in her face; however, this quickly dissipated as a looming presence crept up behind Natsu and Lucy, causing the pair to stand completely still.
"Well, what do we have here?" Mr. Clive's voice said smoothly, and the pair jumped at the sound, turning sharply to face the home room teacher.
Lucy's voice was shaky as she spoke, "Oh, hello there Mr. Cliv-"
"Don't 'hello there' me, Lucy. You're beginning to make this tardiness a habit." He said disapprovingly, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes shifting to Natsu. With a grin, he added, "You know, you guys have been coming to class together a lot lately. Is there something naughty going on?"
"There's nothing going on, you perv!" The pair exclaimed in unison.
"Sure, whatever you say." Mr. Clive chuckled. With his voice taking on a much more menacing tone, he added, "Time for your punishment."
"Oh, god," Natsu groaned hours later, "That was the worst one yet."
"I can't believe he made us do that." Lucy shuddered.
"I think Mr. Clive kind of had a point." Lisanna said, and the pair immediately turned to her in shock. The white haired girl instantly raised her hands in defense, "Not with the punishment game. I just mean, you know, you guys do show up to class together every day… almost like you came together…"
"That is strange." Erza commented, her eyes moving back and forth between the two, her tone dark, "I hadn't thought about it until now."
"Very strange." Jellal added.
"It's not strange!" Natsu exclaimed, "We have the—uh—the… the tutoring?" He looked to the blonde hesitantly, "Right?"
Lucy instantly face palmed before adding, "Right."
"I don't know." Levy said casually. "You two seem to show up together a lot more than would be required for tutoring."
"No, we don't!" Natsu asserted, "Look, it's not what you think-"
"I bet it's exactly what we think," Gajeel smirked.
"Shut it, metal face!"
"You shut it!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Natsu retorted, and the two boys were soon reduced to a shouting match. Gray merely raised an eyebrow at the spectacle, turning to Lucy seriously.
"I think you can do better." He said simply, and the blonde suddenly felt her face flush.
"R-really?"
"Well, yeah." Gray replied, causing Natsu instantly to turn away from Gajeel.
"Hey, what's wrong with me?!" He asked, seemingly offended; however, Lucy appeared to have gone off in some sort of Gray induced dream land, "And we lost her."
"Uh, Lucy?" Levy asked, gently nudging the blonde, but this was to no avail. The pink haired boy rolled his eyes,
"You realize that you still haven't explained the situation." Erza stated impatiently, her eyes glowering at Natsu.
"I—uh-didn't?" He asked guiltily.
"So suspicious." Gajeel chuckled.
"It's not!"
"Then explain it." Erza said forcefully.
"Lucy," Natsu said, blurting out the first thing that came to his mind, "Has a stalker!"
The entire group froze suddenly, slowly turning to Lucy in concern. The blonde, meanwhile, seemed to finally escape her stupor.
"What?!" They all exclaimed.
"Yeah," Natsu nodded, "That makes sense. I walk her to school every day—Ya' know, to protect her."
Lucy immediately opened her mouth to protest, but stopped suddenly, wondering if there would be an easy way out of this now. She turned to glare at the pink haired boy who merely shrugged as if to say 'go with it.'
"Lu, you have a stalker?!" Levy exclaimed.
"Kind of," The blonde replied hesitantly, "It's complicated."
"Well, do ya or don't ya?" Gajeel asked bluntly, "Has he done anything crazy? Crossed any boundaries?"
"Mm, not really-"
"He tried to steal some of her hair once." Natsu blurted out, yelping immediately afterward as Lucy kicked him.
"He what?!" Lisanna said exasperatedly.
"Lucy, is this true?" Erza asked in concern.
The blonde huffed in defeat, "Yeah, apparently." She added as an afterthought, "It's really nice hair."
"What? Why didn't you tell us? We can help you." Erza said seriously.
"No, I didn't want to trouble anyone." Lucy said, feeling increasingly more uncomfortable.
"It's no trouble at all. We can take shifts. Accompany you everywhere."
"Please, no-"
"Yeah, you can't just count on salamander!" Gajeel added.
"I don't think that's nec-"
"He's right!" Gray exclaimed, "We'll all walk with you—help you out."
Lisanna immediately added, "You can ride home with me and Elfman today-"
"And we should alert the school-"
"And the police department!"
"No. No. No! No! No!" Lucy exclaimed, bringing the group to a stunned silence, "There's no need for any of that. Thank you guys, really. But it's not even a problem anymore. I've already taken care of it, okay?"
"I don't know, Lucy." Lisanna said with concern.
"Seriously, it's fine. This 'stalker's' completely out of the picture. I'm only letting Natsu help out, because he's trying to pay back his debt for the tutoring." Lucy explained, and Natsu nodded in agreement behind her.
"Alright, then. I do trust your judgment, Lucy, but if there are ever any issues-"
"I'll call you first, Erza." The blonde said, and this seemed to reassure the redhead, prompting the rest of the group to let it go. Slowly, the conversation drifted to new topics; although, Lucy caught a few concerned glances, and she inhaled deeply. The bell ringing signaled the end of their break and the conversation altogether, and the gang split up to head to their respective classes. During this, Levy, who hadn't said anything during the whole stalker conversation, pulled the blonde aside. Of course, nothing got past her.
"Lucy, you have a stalker. We have to call the police and your dad!" The blunette said, her voice full of concern.
"No! We can't do that! I already said I've taken care of it-"
"This is serious! And it could be really dangerous, Lu!"
"I know! That's why I have it taken care of!"
"You can't keep pushing us away! It could cost your life!" Levy said hysterically, and Lucy immediately felt a pang of guilt.
"Levy…"
"We need to tell someone."
"Levy."
"You need help with this, Lu. And not just Natsu, because something could happen to both of you. And I don't know… I don't know what I'd do if that happened!"
"Levy, I don't have a stalker!" Lucy exclaimed, and the blunette's eyes narrowed in response.
"Oh, don't give me that."
"No, really."
"Lu-"
"I'm serious. Natsu made it up."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because he panicked." Lucy sighed.
"Panicked about what?"
"About… He… Because he…"
"Because he?" Levy asked, and Lucy knew in this moment that there was really no way out now, that she would have to tell the blunette the truth. The blonde looked around to make sure no one was in proximity; she then pulled the blue haired girl behind a school building.
"I have to tell you something, but you can't tell anyone." She said seriously.
"Of course, I won't, Lu."
"I mean it, Levy! This is a very dirty needle in your eye secret!"
"Okay. I promise! Now, what's going on?"
Lucy took a deep breath, her eyes turning away from her friend, "Sometimes—uh—Natsu sometimes sleeps over at my house."
"Sleepover?" Levy asked disbelievingly, "Like you braid each other's hair and have pillow fights?"
"No! I mean, I did put his hair in pony tails that one time- and that's not important!" The blonde shook her head, "Look, it's really not a big deal-"
"Oh, my god. You're serious," Levy looked at her with concern, "Are you guys going out?"
Lucy put her hands up in protest, "No! We're not!"
"Lu, it wouldn't be a big deal. I actually think you're good for each other."
"We're not!" Lucy repeated, "He just follows me home and passes out on my couch. And now he has all these clothes in the guest bathroom and he just leaves it a mess-"
"But what about your dad? Isn't he really strict? I mean, I've never even been to your house."
"I—uh- He never goes to that part of the house." Lucy said sheepishly, "And it's not like I want Natsu there."
"You're not exactly discouraging him."
"It's not like that!" Lucy said irritably, suddenly wanting to change the subject completely, "Look, let's talk about this later. We're going to be late for class."
The thought of academics instantly distracted the blue haired girl. Just as planned.
"You're right! And I wanted to talk to Mr. Wakaba about the test tomorrow-"
Lucy stopped in her tracks, "Tomorrow? The test is tomorrow?!"
"Yeah, I've been prepping for weeks, Lu."
"Oh, god! I totally forgot!" Lucy said, dumbfounded. She had spent the last couple of nights simply playing video games with Natsu.
"It'll be okay, Lu." Levy assured her, "You could always cram tonight."
"I guess." Lucy sighed, hoping a certain pink haired boy wouldn't distract her.
Of course, he did distract her. As she worked, Natsu whined endlessly about how boring studying was, and Lucy had to remind him several times that he wasn't actually doing any studying. He also kept eating the small bags of candy the blonde was using to motivate herself as she read, and he continued to do so despite her insistence that she had a proven system that required them. Finally, the blonde gave him the simple task of making flash cards to keep the boy occupied and out of her hair; however, he was quickly jaded by this assignment as well, and he threw all of the cards into the air so that they rained down on them and all over Lucy's bed.
"Natsu!" Lucy said, throwing a fistful of flash cards at the boy, "Cut it out!"
The boy grinned, throwing a fistful back at her, "C'mon, you can take a break for a minute."
"No, I can't. The test is tomorrow. If you won't do flash cards then just sit quietly. Unless you want to leave!" She exclaimed, causing the boy to groan, "Natsu!"
"Fine." The pink haired boy grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and falling back onto Lucy's pillows. A few minutes later, he lifted himself back up, and he began to make strange hand motions towards the blonde.
"What are you doing?" She chuckled at the sight, finally looking up from her papers.
"I'm sending you good vibes. For your test." Natsu responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The blonde couldn't suppress her laugh, allowing herself to fall forward on her bed as she clutched her stomach.
"Let's go do something." Natsu suggested, seeing his chance, "We can watch a movie. It'll be really quick-"
Lucy instantly lifted herself up, "No, I have to study! I can't fail this test!"
"Lucy-"
"Natsu." The blonde said, mimicking his tone, "Look, this is my absolute favorite subject, and I want to do well. So you can't keep distracting me."
The pink haired boy groaned, eyeing her textbook suspiciously, "English, huh?"
"Advanced English Language and Composition." Lucy corrected.
"Such a big deal," Natsu teased her, prompting the blonde to stick her tongue out at him in response. "So, what? You want to be a writer?"
"Yes—No. Well, I would like to be a writer."
"You'd be good at that." Natsu nodded, "You always notice things I don't."
"That's called being observant, Natsu." Lucy sighed, "And I can't be a writer, so it doesn't matter."
"Why not?"
The blonde fiddled awkwardly with the pages of her textbook, "Because people expect things from me. I'm going to head my dad's company one day, and I have to major in business or finance for that."
"But is that what you want to do?"
"It doesn't matter what I want—And you're still distracting me!" Lucy huffed, slamming her book shut, "Natsu, I need you to leave for a while, so I can finish studying."
The pink haired boy shook his head, "No way! I-"
"Look, we'll have dinner when you get back, okay? Just go hang out with someone else for once."
"But Luce-"
"Natsu, please." And the blonde looked so desperate that he caved. Sighing, he grabbed his jacket off the foot of her bed.
"Fine, but I'm taking the candy!" He exclaimed, stuffing his pockets and bolting out of the house.
Natsu aimlessly roamed the streets surrounding Lucy's house, unusually disinterested in hanging out with anyone else; although, he was unsure why. Sighing, the boy sat down on the curb in front of a small coffee shop, having somehow walked to a nearby shopping center, his mind occupied with a certain blonde who had shooed him away. Natsu suddenly felt a pang of guilt, wondering if he should have allowed her some time alone to study. After all, she always tried so hard at those sorts of things. So ridiculously hard. Natsu smiled at the thought.
"Natsu?" A soft voice asked, "Is that you?"
The pink haired boy instantly shot up, turning to see that familiar head of white hair.
"H-hey, Lisanna," He said awkwardly, "What's up?"
"Oh, I'm just getting some air," She replied, absentmindedly playing with the ends of her hair, "What're you doing here? Don't you live across town?"
"I—Uh—Just needed to get some air."
Lisanna laughed, "I can't argue with that."
"So, uh, are Mira and Elfman around somewhere?" Natsu asked her; the white haired girl was hardly ever seen without her older siblings.
"N-no," The girl replied, looking at the ground. The boy's eyebrow rose, noticing this strange behavior; however, she didn't offer any more information on the matter.
After a few awkward moments, he said, "That's too bad. I haven't seen them in a while."
"Yeah." Lisanna replied, still staring at the pavement, and another silence took a hold of their conversation.
"Hey, did you want to grab a drink or something?" Natsu asked finally, pointing to the coffee shop. He quickly added, "My treat."
Lisanna 's eyes instantly lifted meet his. They wrinkled slightly as the corners of her lips raised into a small smile.
"Yeah, that sounds… really nice." She said, following the grinning boy inside, and a few minutes later, they sat across from each other in a small booth, hot drinks set in front of them, Natsu awkwardly fiddling with the handle of the mug.
"So what have you been up to lately?" He asked her.
"Oh, not much, just painting mostly. Nothing special." She replied, taking a small sip of her drink.
"Nothing special? You're paintings are awesome, Lisanna!"
The white haired girl chuckled, "I don't know about that."
"They are." He insisted.
"Thanks," She smiled, her eyes moving to the painting on the wall beside them, a sea of dazzling blues and greens, "It's nothing like this though."
"That's pretty cool too."
"Pretty cool?" Lisanna laughed, "That's all?"
"Uh, really cool." He replied, causing the girl to laugh harder.
"No, that's not what I mean. Like, what do you feel about it?"
"Feel, huh?" His brow furrowed as he stared at the painting, "I don't know. How does it make you feel?"
Lisanna looked at it dreamily, "Like I'm being pulled under the water-"
"Pulled under? Isn't that bad?"
"No, in a good way, in an exhilarating way... if that's possible…." She explained, her eyes glossing over as so often happened when she spoke of art, "It's like I just feel the rush of being pulled under. Of not knowing what's going to happen next. And it's terrifying and overwhelming and exciting. Then there's the sheer vulnerability, because you have absolutely no control over any of it. And that's… almost soothing somehow, a bit humbling too, because there's no fighting it. You just have to let it happen. You just have to let the feeling completely overtake you."
"Woah, that made you feel all that?" Natsu asked, and the white haired girl finally seemed to leave her trance.
"Yeah," She replied softly, appearing as if she somehow revealed too much, "Some paintings make me feel that way…"
He nodded, "Well, that's pretty cool."
"Natsu, you don't have to-"
"No, I really mean it, Lisanna. That's the coolest thing. I don't think…" He paused as if carefully choosing his words, "I don't think I've ever felt that way about anything. And you feel it when you look at a painting. It's just… It's no wonder you like art so much… You always have."
Lisanna looked at him with a soft expression, her eyes dropping down to her drink as they fell into a comfortable silence.
"Thanks again, Natsu." She said after a few moments, taking a sip of her drink.
"No worries." He grinned, "It's just nice to hang out with you—like old times."
"Yeah, this is nice." The girl beamed, "We used to come here all the time, remember? With Mira and Elf-"
She stopped suddenly, turning away from him and slowly setting her mug down on the table. Natsu, meanwhile, looked at her with concern.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine." She said, giving him a winning smile; however, the pink haired boy wasn't convinced.
"That smile, huh?"
She looked at him in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Lisanna," He said gently, "We were really close when we were kids, so I know you pretty well… Like remember when you got that giant box of crayons for Christmas, with the sharpener and everything. And I—uh—I broke some—a lot. I broke a lot of them before you even got to use it." He chuckled lightly, "I thought you'd be so mad, but instead you just gave me that smile and said it was fine. You even hugged me, because I felt so bad. But I knew you were disappointed, and still, you tried to make me feel better." He exhaled, "Even then you'd put on that smile when something was wrong, and maybe we're similar that way. What I'm trying to say is—uh—If you ever need anything… at all..."
Natsu grinned suddenly, pulling out a fun sized bag of M&M's. Lisanna's eyes widened as she watched him sprinkle them over her hot chocolate, the way she used to when they were kids. He remembered? Her face instantly reddened; although, Natsu didn't appear to notice this.
"That's how you like it, right?"
"R-right." She replied, taking the cup from his hands, hyper aware of how their fingers brushed as she did this.
"Well, whatever's bothering you, I hope you don't have to worry about it much longer."
"Thanks." She replied quietly.
Natsu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Don't thank me—I didn't do anything."
"You know," Lisanna smiled, "Sometimes a small gesture can make all the difference."
Natsu looked at her curiously, his eyes unreadable, and for a few moments, he seemed to be going over something in his head.
"Yeah, you're right." He said, quickly lifting himself out of the booth and grabbing his jacket, "You're right! A small gesture! That's it!"
He stopped suddenly, turning to face the white haired girl who looked at him with confusion.
"Hey, I'm really sorry, Lisanna, but I gotta do something." He took a few steps forward before turning around again, "I'll see you later."
"Yeah," She replied softly as he walked the door, "Later."
Lucy poured over her text, trying desperately to absorb every last bit of information before her class started. She sighed in frustration, because by all means, she should be prepared—or at least as prepared as she could be. After Natsu returned the night before, he somehow left her alone, watching television in the living room for the remainder of the night. This allowed the girl to study like she hadn't been able to in weeks, but unfortunately, it still didn't feel like enough. Suddenly, her stomach growled, reminding her that she skipped lunch o cram. Groaning, she grabbed her bag and walked over to her friends; although, she found she was too nervous to eat a snack. Still, Levy pushed an apple towards her, but Lucy could only stare at it in frustration. Finally, she absentmindedly pushed it off the table.
"Hey, Luce," Natsu said next to her as he bent down to grab it, "Don't waste food."
"Ugh—I can't even think about that right now." She groaned, and the boy lightly patted her on the back, taking a bite of the apple.
"You studied all night, Lu. You shouldn't worry." Levy assured her.
Gajeel threw his arm around the blue haired girl, "Shrimp's right. No point worryin' now. You're already screwed."
"That's not what I meant." Levy complained, attempting to push the boy's arm off of her. The bell rang, and Lucy groaned further, watching Levy walk off with Gajeel, still trying to get his arm away. The blonde robotically lifted herself off of the seat and began to follow them.
"Luce, wait up," Natsu called after her, and she stopped despite her better judgment, turning to face him.
"Natsu, I have to go to class." She said and she began to walk away; however, a pulling at her wrist stopped her.
"Just one second, okay?" Natsu said as he dug threw his backpack.
"I don't have time-"
"Here it is!" Natsu grinned, placing an item in her hand. Lucy sighed as she looked to see what it was. The girl immediately looked to Natsu disbelievingly.
"Wha—How did you-" She sputtered, transfixed on the item in her hand. It was a necklace; a single star pendant on a small chain, and it looked almost identical to the one her mother used to wear. The girl pushed it back into his hands, "This is too much."
"It's not." Natsu insisted, pushing it back to her, "It's not real gold or anything. It's just for good luck."
"Good luck?"
"For your test." The boy grinned, "Put it on. It'll help."
"I—Uh-"
"Here, I'll do it." Natsu chuckled, grabbing it from her hand. He walked behind her, placing it around her neck as he clasped the back, "There you go."
"Natsu…"
"Now, go kick butt." He grinned, "I'll see you after school."
Lucy watched in confusion as he walked away. Her fingers fiddled with the pendant, and she looked down, once again, at the necklace he had given her. She immediately felt her stomach fluttering; although, she didn't know why. She did know, however, that he was wrong; it wasn't nothing. And suddenly, it was everything.
AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter:) As always, let me know what you think. Also, I am working on the next chapter and will post soon!