A/N I really don't have a valid excuse for my "absence" from the Fanfiction world. But no use dwelling in the past! I am back and still alive. Oh, and if you haven't realized it yet, this is a NEW chapter and not an old one I edited. Another note is I have not proofread this at all. Given the sheer size (about 8,000 words!) it will take me some time to do so. So spelling mistakes are guaranteed. I just hope it's not so much that it makes the story confusing.
Dislclaimer- Fairy Tail = Hiro Mashima
Natsu was so dead. Lucy was going to kill him, then bring him back just to kill him again.
He was late. For a test that had started sixteen minutes ago.
Lucy could hear her angry footsteps echo down the otherwise silent hallway as she hunted Natsu down.
She was not about to let him skip out on the test. Especially after everything Natsu had put her through the day before. After getting Natsu to study for a grand total of six minutes, Lucy was rewarded with many souvenirs from their study session the day before; a good sized lump from Mrs. Aquarius's urn, her favorite skirt ripped from when she was literally kicked out of the library, a ban from the library for the rest of the week. The last one had been Lucy's favorite of them all. Although, because of it she had gained a new appreciation for 24 hour gas station workers that allowed two beat up teenagers to study Calculus in between the shelves of candy without any questions asked.
Lucy scanned the hallways for signs of pink hair or a scaled scarf. She spotted him soon after when she glanced out the window leading outside. He was laying on top of a bench with his Calculus book covering his face; fast asleep.
A tick mark appeared on Lucy forehead. What was with this guy and sleeping every time he was doing anything related with Calculus?
She pulled away from the window and walked down the hall towards the door that lead outside.
"What is with him-" She yanked open the door and stepped outside. " and sleeping every time Calculus is mentioned?"
Lucy cut through the school's flower garden to get to the sleeping boy faster. When she was about ten feet away, Natsu moved in his sleep as if sensing Lucy's presence. His Calculus slipped off his face and fell to the ground with a thunk, causing him to stir again, but not awaken.
In any other situation, Lucy may have noticed adorably cute Natsu looked while he slept. His mouth hung slightly agape, with one of his hand hanging off the bench, while the other rested on his chest. His face was also cleared of all negative emotions and his mouth was curved in a peaceful smile.
When Lucy reached Natsu, she squatted down near his head. She raised her hand and shook his shoulder lightly. In response, Natsu turned towards her and opened one eye blearily.
"Luce?" he asked, his voice thick from sleep.
Lucy smiled at him before reaching down to retrieve his fallen textbook. "Natsu?"
"Hm?"
"What time is it?" she asked, flipping through the book absently.
His eye blinked in confusion, "Eight?"
Lucy shut the textbook with a snap, "Wrong answer."
Lucy raised the Calculus book before smacking Natsu across the face.
"IT'S 10:16! YOU'RE LATE NATSU!"
From the force of the impact, Natsu flew off the bench and landed on the ground; face first.
No doubt wide awake, Natsu shot to his feet with his hand nursing his now red cheek. He turned to the angry blonde with a surprised expression.
"What was that for?"
Instead of answering, Lucy tucked Natsu's textbook under her arm and caught his ear with the other hand. She proceed to drag him around the bench and then towards the school.
"Ow, ow, ow!" said Natsu as he stumbled behind Lucy
"Four hours!" said Lucy, "I did not tutor you for four hours for you to skip the test."
"Skip? What are you talking about?" questioned Natsu.
Lucy yanked at his ear again causing the boy to let out another yelp of pain. "I waited for you. I got to your class easily and waited for you to show up, so could wish you good luck. But-" She kicked open the door and proceed to drag Natsu down the hall towards his Calculus classroom. "You apparently decided sleeping was more important!"
"I did not!" Natsu protested, "I was studying this morning, like you told me too. I must have - ow, stop yanking so hard! - fallen asleep or something."
"Well, you fell asleep. And now you are 20 minutes late for your test. Which gives you about 25 minutes to take a 45 minute test."
"What?!"
Lucy scoffed, "Now he gets it." she muttered to herself.
She stopped when they reached Natsu's Calculus room and let go of his ear. Once he was free, Natsu reached up and rubbed his sore ear.
Lucy, on the other hand, pushed open the door.
Upon hearing the door open, Mr. Capricorn looked up from his papers that he had been grading.
"Lucy-sama, I'm sorry, but I am going to have to ask you to leave." He gestured to his student who were all frantically writing on their tests, paying no mind to the new arrivals. "As you can see, we are taking an exam."
Lucy smiled. "No worries. I just came by to drop off someone."
Lucy yanked on Natsu's arm causing him to stumble forward, so Mr. Capricorn could see him.
"I see." said Mr. Capricorn, "Well, Natsu-sama has 18 minutes to take the exam." His sunglasses glinted in the sunlight peeking through the window. "And there are absolutely no retakes."
"Oh, he will finish." replied Lucy. Her smile becoming more and more forced.
"Very well." replied Mr. Capricorn.
He reached behind his desk to grab a packet of papers stapled together. He held out the packet to Naysi, who took it in his hands. Looking down at the packet in his hands, Natsu gulped once before looking back at Lucy.
"Are you still mad?" he asked
Lucy sighed once, "For some reason not so much anymore."
Natsu grinned.
Lucy opened the door again before pausing to look over her shoulder, "We meeting outside during lunch to practice French, okay?"
"Got it."
Lucy stepped out of the classroom and turned around to look back at Natsu who was taking his seat closest to the door.
"One more thing, Natsu?" she said causing him to look up in interest.
"Good luck." whispered Lucy
And with that, she shut the door.
The wind blew at the flipped the pages of Lucy's French book onto a random page. Lucy didn't notice this fact since she was too preoccupied trying to teach Natsu words that didn't involve food - because to her understanding that was about as far as his French vocabulary went.
"Je t'aime" said Lucy, looking at Natsu across their lunch table.
"Ja t'aine" repeated Natsu
Lucy shook her head, "Je t'aime." she repeated again.
"Ji t'aime."
Lucy sighed. She had tried starting off with the basics verbs; I want, I need, I see, etc. Currently, Natsu was stuck on how to say "I love"
"Je t'aime." she repeated, " You have to say it with a soft j, Natsu."
"Je t'anie." he said again
Lucy shook her head. They had been at it for the past five minutes and gotten nowhere. "Maybe we should try something else? We could do 'je déteste' or 'je mange'?"
Natsu frowned at this notion, "No, I want to say it!"
"Natsu, were not getting anywhere with this one."
"Maybe you should teach him how to say 'I am a brainless idiot.' " said Gray as he appeared behind Lucy.
"No one asked you!" yelled Natsu
Gray raised his left brow in disinterest before turning to Lucy, "Donc, à ma connaissance, il ne peut pas comprendre un mot que je dis en ce moment, c'est exact?" (So, to my understanding, he can't understand a word I am saying right now, correct?)
Lucy sighed, "Très bien" (Pretty much.)
"Perfect." said Gray
He set down his tray of food before taking a seat next to Lucy. He leaned across the table towards Natsu.
"Vous êtes le plus grand imbécile que j'aie jamais rencontré dans ma vie" (You are the biggest idiot I have ever met in my life) he said
Natsu furrowed his brow trying to understand Gray's words.
Gray smirked, "Vous êtes si stupide, que vous trébucher sur un téléphone sans fil." (You are so stupid, you'd trip over a cordless phone.)
Natsu clenched his fists.
"J'ai entendu que vous avez pris un test de QI et ils dit que vous les résultats étaient négatifs." said Gray (I heard you took an IQ test and they said you're results were negative.)
"Don't push it, Gray." warned Lucy.
"What? It is not like he can understand what I am saying anyways." said Gray, still smirking at Natsu
"You should just go, Gray, before Natsu blows up."
Gray leaned back, "I'll leave once this idiot can say 'I love' correctly. Which sound be-" Gray glanced at his watch, "In the next thousand years."
That was the limit for Natsu. He shot out of his seat as if it has burned him.
"I'll prove to you I can say it!" yelled Natsu.
"Please don't, Natsu." said Lucy at the same time Gray said, "Then do it."
"Jei t'aime, ja t'anie, je t'iame!" yelled Natsu.
This made Gray snort into his palm while Lucy turned in her seat to notice that most of the students in the courtyard had stopped their talking to watch the enraged Natsu.
"Stop yelling!" hissed Lucy. The last thing they needed was to be thrown out of the courtyard.
"Je t'imie!" said Natsu in frustration, "Je t'ime, je t'ime, je t'ime!"
"Natsu!" said Lucy as she stood up.
Natsu's eyes flickered to Gray's smug face before landing on Lucy's, "JE T'AIME, LUCY." (I love Lucy)
At that exact moment four things happened; the once loud courtyard fell completely silent, Gray's smug expression was replaced with shock, Lucy's face erupted in flames as she wished the ground would open and swallow her whole, and the bell rang for the end of Lunch.
Tightened the knot on her apron, Lucy reviewed the recipe she had picked for Natsu in her head. She had picked the easiest recipe she could find; brownies from a box. Yup, all it required was water, oil, eggs, the mix that came from the box, and the ability to follow five steps without messing up. Plus, Mr. Aed, the Home Economics teacher, had given her four boxes of the mix to use for practice.
Natsu's test itself was actually quite simple. They had to make anything they wanted in one hour. So, in order to practice, Lucy had managed to pull a few strings and get the Home Economics' kitchen to themselves for the next two hours.
Lucy heard the door slam open.
"Yo Luce!" Natsu called from the doorway
Without looking up from the ingredients she answered, "Hey. Can you grab the eggs? There in the fridge over to your left."
"Yeah, sure, " he answered, "Just let me put down Happy first."
Happy? Lucy looked up in confusion. Who the heck was Happy?
Then she saw it. Snuggled inside Natsu's arms, covered head to toe in mud and dirt, she saw a furry, animal sleeping soundly. Likewise, Natsu's appearance was quite the same. His bottom of his shoes was caked in mud along with the knees and bottoms of his pants. His white shirt was now a dark gray with muddy paw prints - no doubt courtesy of Happy- spotting the front of it. Even his hair hadn't been spared, the ends were dipped in mud and his whole right side was smeared back with mud.
"Natsu? What are you holding?"
Natsu blinked and looked down at the mud caked fuzzball he held in his arms. He walked over to Lucy's table and held him up in the air.
"It's a cat." he answered
Lucy watched the cat open its eyes and yawn cutely, "Where did you get it?"
"Found him."
Natsu placed Happy on the ground near their feet. Happy yawned again and reached its front paws out in a stretch.
"Where exactly did you find him?"
"Next to the trash cans outside. Someone must have abandoned him."
Lucy sighed, "Natsu, we can't keep him in here."
Natsu looked up from watching Happy, "Why not?"
"Well, for one, you can't bring animals into a place that cooks food. And, second, he may have all sorts of diseases or fleas."
Lucy walked over to Happy, who had made his way over to the fridge in search of food. She went to pick him up, but stopped when the smell coming off of Happy hit her.
"He stinks, Natsu!" she said as she covered her nose and mouth with her hand.
Natsu shrugged, "He was in one of the trashcans."
"That's disgusting." she said
Lucy knelt down so she was ten feet away from Happy. In response, Happy looked up at Lucy with a curious expression.
She frowned. The darn thing was adorable. Once you got past the smell and the thick layers of mud that matted his fur, he was almost pitiful. Lucy lifted one of her hands and dragged it down her face.
"If anyone comes in I have never seen that cat before in my life."
"You're the best, Luce!" cheered Natsu. He reached out his arms to hug Lucy, but she jumped out of the way.
"No way. I will hug you after you wash off all the mud." she said, wrinkling her nose at him
Lucy reached over and picked up Happy carefully. And, as quick as possible, she moved and dropped Happy back into Natsu's arms.
"Wash Happy while you are at it. You should know where the bathroom is, right?"
Natsu nodded and Lucy began to steer him towards the door.
"And don't make a mess in the bathroom either. I would hate to have to explain why there is mud all over the place."
When they reached the door Lucy didn't waste any time to push Natsu outside and shut the door.
While she waited, Lucy set to work cleaning the mud off the ground from Natsu's shoes. When she retrieved a damp cloth from the snk she began whipping up the shoe prints. After a few minutes she whipped the few drops of perspiration off her brow.
Jeez, why did it have to be so hot?
Standing up, she threw the dirty cloth into the sink before removing her yellow sweater, exposing her button up shirt, and threw it near her bag. Next, she unfastened the top button of her shirt.
Feeling significantly cooler, Lucy walked over to the fridge to retrieve the eggs. Just as Lucy opened the door to the fridge, Natsu came back.
"Ready now?" she said looking over the top of the fridge door
Once she took in their appearance Lucy started laughing. Natsu, although now clean, was covered in scratches from Happy's claws. Although, they didn't seem to have affected him much, however it did seem to have caused his patience to have worn thin.
"It's not funny." said Natsu as he pouted at Lucy laughter
"I'm sorry," said Lucy, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, "It was just the whole idea of you fighting Happy to take a bath just killed me."
There was a light thump when Happy jumped out of Natsu's arms. Out of the corner of Lucy's eyes, she saw a blue streak pass under her arm and grab the raw fish from the bottom of the shelves.
"Hey! You can't have that!" said Lucy when she realized it was Happy.
She stood up and chased after Happy who now had the fish hanging from his mouth. With a small leap, Happy jumped from the floor to the counter just as Lucy's hand grazed the end of his tail. She stumbled slightly, but quickly recovered to run to the edge of the counter.
"You can't have that fish, Happy!"
Natsu, on the other hand, ran to the other side of the counter; blocking Happy's escape.
Happy seemed to realize he was cornered as he stayed right in the middle of the counter; out of both their reaches. He looked at both of them momentarily before sitting down to began eating the fish happily.
"No Happy!" said Natsu. He jumped forward, onto the counter, and reached his hand out to grab the fish. Unforchantly, Lucy did the same.
There head collided painfully when Happy jumped off the counter and onto the island that held the brownie ingredients.
Natsu and Lucy both looked up towards the cat as they simultaneously rubbed their red foreheads. Lucy's eyes widened when she saw Happy curiously poke at the metal bowl that Lucy had filled with the brownie mix.
"Don't touch that!" she yelled and made a grab at Happy.
Big mistake.
Seeing Lucy leap for him, Happy jumped and, using his paw, knocked the metal bowl off the table. There was a moment of silence before the bowl hit the ground and send the four boxes of mix into a small cloud; covering everyone in a thin layer of powder.
Lucy coughed into her fist.
"You okay?" called Natsu looking at Lucy through one eye while he rubbed the other with his palm.
"I'm fine. More importantly, Happy still has the salmon." she said
Natsu and Lucy both watched Happy rub his eyes with his front paws.
"So, running after him isn't working." said Lucy, "What now?"
However, Natsu didn't answer, but instead, whipped his head towards the door.
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at the door
"Someone is coming." he answered quickly
Grabbing her arm, Natsu yanked them both down to hid on the other side of the island; just out of sight of anyone by the door.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Lucy heard footsteps making their way down the hall.
"Its probably Mr. Aed," said Lucy
The sound of chewing reminded them that they were not the only ones in the room.
Lucy gasped. They forgot about Happy!
It seemed Natsu had the same idea as he jumped up and grabbed the unsuspecting cat from above. It was just in time, since just as Natsu was out of sight the door opened to reveal Mr. Aed.
"Hello?" asked Mr. Aed as he looked around, "Is anyone here?"
Then he spotted Lucy's bag and sweater on the ground near his feet.
"Lucy? Are you in here?" he asked
Lucy jumped slightly when she heard he named begin called. She looked over at Natsu, who was holding Happy near his feet, and put her forefinger against her mouth in a signal to stay quiet. Rising up to her knees she peered over the top of the island.
She watched as Mr. Aed made his way over to the fridge and open it. He peered into it for a few minutes as if to look for something.
Lucy too a deep breath. No time like the present.
"Um, are you looking for something?"
Mr. Aed jumped in surprise and turned to look at Lucy, "Oh! I didn't know anyone was in here." He turned back to the fridge, "I came back because I forgot to take home the fish I left in here. Have you, by any chance, seen it?"
Lucy felt Natsu stiffen beside her and she shot a glance down at Happy. He had already finished off the fish and was happily curled up in a ball by Natsu's feet; asleep.
Lucy glanced back to Mr. Aed to see him rummaging in the back for his lost salmon.
"Nope. Haven't seen it." replied Lucy with an unnatural smile plastered on her face.
"Maybe I left it in the other fridge." he said straightening up. "I meant to ask when I came in, but-" He whipped his nose. "how is the tutoring coming along with Natsu?"
"Tutoring?"
"Yes. Wasn't that the reason you wanted to use the kitchens?"
"Yes! That's the reason" She laughed forcefully, "It is coming along very well."
He nodded before making his way over to the door - much to Lucy's relief.
"Is Natsu with you right now? I didn't see him when I came in."
"Oh, he's…" Lucy trailed off unsure if she should lie or not.
Lucy saw Natsu stand up beside her, "Right here." He grinned. "And, don't worry, Lucy has been teaching me many things."
"That's good. Glad to see it is going well."
Aed placed his hand on the doorknob and turned to wave goodbye, but stopped as he took in Lucy's slightly exposed chest and messed up hair along with Natsu's equally messed up hair and wrinkled clothing. Of course, they both were also sweating from casing after Happy moments ago.
To Lucy's horror, a blush began to creep up Aed neck. Oh no. He thought that they were…!
"No!" she shrieked as a deep red blush spotted on her face, "We weren't-. I mean, with Natsu I wasn't-!"
But Mr. Aed didn't seem to have heard her protests. Lucy's blush deeped as he began to mouth Natsu words, 'Lucy has been teaching me many things'.
"Luce? What's going on?" questioned Natsu, looking back and forth between the blushing duo.
Lucy was torn between wanting to throttle Natsu for being so dense and trying to make Mr. Aed understand. She decide on the latter.
"Please, if you would just let me explain." she begged
"No." Aed answered, " I think I should go."
And with that final word, he walked out and shut the door with a click.
"Wonder what was his problem." said Natsu looking at the door in confusion. He jumped in surprise when Lucy slammed her head against the counter.
"Are you alright?" he asked
"I'm fine. Let's just make your stupid brownies already."
Levy swirled her straw in her milk as she listened to Lucy rant away in front of her.
"...and then he just shows up with a cat he had decided to name Happy. A stray cat that he found in the trash cans outside! I mean, where does he even get the idea he can bring a cat into a place that cooks food?"
Lucy paused to take a bite out of her apple before continuing her rant.
"So, I make him go clean off all the mud they had covering themselves, and guess what happens when he comes back?"
"What?"
"Happy takes a fish from the fridge! And when I try to get it back, he runs away. So, Natsu and I have to chase him around and try to get back before he eats it," She sighed. "but Happy just ends up eating it anyways."
Levy smiled sympathetically while Lucy took another bite out of her lunch.
"That's not to bad. At least he didn't confess his love for you in the middle of the courtyard in French." joked Levy
Lucy shot Levy a glare, "So not funny."
"Oh, don't be such a party popper. Everyone already knows he didn't know what he was saying, so you have to worry."
Lucy slumped in her seat and poked at her mashed potatoes on her tray.
"I haven't even told you the worst part yet."
Levy raised a brow, "There's more?"
"You know how I told you about how Happy got the fish and we had to chase him down?"
Levy nodded and took another sip of her milk.
"Well, the fish turned out to be Mr. Aed's and he came back for it. But, by then Happy had already eaten most of it, so we kinda lied to him and told him we hadn't seen it."
"I am not really seeing how this is so bad. You lied and he left, so what?"
"He didn't exactly leave right after. He kinda stayed for a bit to ask how tutoring was going and so on. But, as he continued to ask questions he kinda misunderstood."
Levy tilted her head in confusion, "What do you mean misunderstood?"
"When we were chasing after Happy trying to get the fish our hair and clothing got all messed up. So, when Mr. Aed saw this he kinda thought we were..." Lucy trailed off hoping Levy would fill in the blank.
She didn't because she let out an irritated sigh and said, "Apparently I am missing something here. What are you talking about, Lu-chan?"
Lucy groaned. She was going to have to say it, wasn't she?
"What I am saying is Mr. Aed thought we were having a bit of fun instead of actually cooking."
Lucy watched as the realization of her words dawned on Levy. Her mouth dropped open as her eyes grew huge and a blush began to dust her cheeks.
"You can't be serious? I mean, you weren't actually doing anything right?"
"LEVY-CHAN!"
"Sorry!" she said, waving her hands up in surrender. "I was just making sure! But in all seriousness, you did explain how everything was a huge mistake to Mr. Aed, right?"
"Yeah, I went in early this morning and explained it all to him. Personally, I think he was relieved it was all one big misunderstanding."
Levy smiled and patted her best friend comfortably on the shoulder.
"Cheer up, Lu-chan! You got three more days to teach him two subjects. That doesn't seem too bad, right?"
It was true. That morning Natsu had completed French test and Home Economics was the period after Lunch. So, that just left Chemisty on Wednesday and History on Thursday. Then, all they had to do was wait till Friday for his results and see if he could play in the game that night.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Levy grinned before spooning some mashed potatoes in her mouth while Lucy took another bite of her apple.
"Can I come over now?" whined Natsu, looking at the distance between the two.
"No. Although,- " Lucy threw Natsu an apron, goggles, and gloves, "You can put these on while I mix these. I'll call you over when I am done."
Natsu slumped in the chair that Lucy had dragged over to the farthest corner in the lab room upon their arrival. And for the past few minutes he had been forced to stay in the chair and not move an inch, so Natsu had resorted to watching Lucy mix chemicals in a mortar.
Natsu sighed before dressing himself in the lab safety equipment. When he finished, Lucy called him over.
"So, I just mixed seven grams of zinc, ½ grams of salt, and three grams of ammonium nitrate." Lucy said, motioning to the crushed up chemicals in the mortar. "Now were going to add water."
"Water?" question Natsu as Lucy picked up the mortar carefully and brought it to the other side of the lab. She set it on the floor and backed away just far enough to grab a water bottle from the nearby table.
"When I add the water I want you to watch what happens from behind this line." Lucy used the toe of her boot to draw an imaginary line around 20 meters from the mortar. " Be careful. And, don't let the fire get to you."
"Fire?" asked Natsu, excitedly.
Lucy nodded, "You'll see. Once I add the water I am coming over to you, so watch out."
Natsu nodded in understanding and stood behind the imaginary line as Lucy creep forward with the water bottle in hand. When she was about five feet away, she unscrewed the cap and gingerly raised the bottle just enough so the water was milimeters from coming out.
"Here we go." she said before pouring a drop of water on the chemicals.
There was a small fizzling sound as smoke began to billow from the mortar. Lucy turned on her heels and sprinted towards Natsu. Just when Lucy finished crossing the line, there was a loud crack and green flames erupted; shooting just shy of the top of the ceiling.
Natsu let out a laugh as the flames continued to burn for a couple seconds before it began to slowly die out. It let out a few halfhearted green sparks and then died out completely.
"That was awesome!" yelled Natsu, pumping a gloved hand into the air, "Can we do it again?"
"Oh course not!" said Lucy, looking horrified, "We just did the experiment to show you a REDOX reaction. The ammonium nitrate stole the electrons of the zinc when the water reacted with the mixture; that's what caused the green flames." Lucy walked over to the table she had used to mix the chemicals, and picked up a piece of paper she had written the ingredients on. "This kind of reaction is extremely unstable and the slightest bit of moisture can trigger it."
While Lucy continue to lecture, Natsu walked over to the remains of the fire. He knelt down and peered into the slightly charred mortar. Inside, there were still bits of the remaining chemicals that the water hadn't triggered. Picking up the water bottle that Lucy had abandoned, Natsu swished it around in the air while he compared the remaining chemicals to the remaining water in the bottle.
"So what you are saying is more water causes a bigger reaction?" questioned Natsu.
"Yes, that would be correct." said Lucy, "But, it would also make the fire even more unstable than it was before, and that fire was already extremely dangerous." She looked up at Natsu and her eyes immediately widened. "No! Don't you dare do what I think you are about to do!" she yelled.
Natsu laughed, "Don't worry so much. I'm not going to start the fire." Lucy relaxed when she saw Natsu set the water bottle down next to the mortar and stand up.
"Just get over here before you blow something up, Natsu." said Lucy.
"Okay, okay, okay. I'm coming."
And, true to his word, Natsu began walking towards Lucy. She sighed and returned her attention to the paper before she heard a small thunk come from Natsu's direction.
"Oops." said Natsu in a guilty tone as he watched the water leak out of the water bottle he had tipped over with his foot.
Lucy head shot up and she let out a gasp in fear, "Natsu! Get away from there!" she yelled
Lucy jumped over the table and sprinted towards him. Tackling his near the waist, she pushed the both away from the fire just as it went off. Green flames once again erupted from the bowl, but this time Lucy was't able to admire it.
The pair skidded on the marble tile before coming to a stop. Lucy heard the fire fizz out as he pushed herself into a sitting position on top of Natsu.
"What were you thinking?!" she yelled into his face, "You could have been killed!"
Natsu didn't reply, but instead, reached up and ran his fingers across her cheeks.
"Luce? Are you crying?"
"Of course I am!" she answered angrily and smacked his hand away.
Lucy raised up her hands and rubbed at her eyes; erasing the remains of her tears.
"I swear if you ever do something so stupid as again," She removed her hands to glare at Natsu, "I will never speak to you ever again in my life. That fire could have killed you if I hadn't pushed you away in time. It's a miracle we came out of that without any injures-!"
The rest of Lucy's rant was muffled into Natsu's scarf when he crushed her into a hug, "I won't."
"You better not." she replied as she returned the hug.
When they broke apart Lucy took the opportunity to smack Natsu in the shoulder...hard.
"That's for making me almost have a heart attack." she answered roughly when he protested.
Natsu laughed at her expression and stood up before offering Lucy his hand. She placed her hand in his and allowed herself to be lifted of the ground.
"You know I am actually surprised the smoke didn't cause the sprinklers on the ceiling to go off." said Lucy
Natsu shrugged, "Must be broken."
Just as the words left Natsu mouth, there was a loud beep from the fire alarm and the sprinklers turned on; soaking the two teenagers in water.
Lucy shifted her History papers in her lap before asking Natsu her first question.
"What is Benin?"
There was a pause before Natsu answered.
"You mean bacon?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, "No, I meant Benin." There was another pause before Lucy let out an exasperated sigh. "The correct answer would have been a city-state formed in 14th century under Ewuare the Great (1400-1473) and its control extended from Niger River to coast near modern Lagos."
"Sounds boring."
Lucy choose to ignore this comment and instead flipped her paper over to read the back.
"Who are griots?"
"Oh!" Natsu shot up in excitement. "It's that lumpy oatmeal stuff that people eat for breakfast?"
Lucy peered over the paper with a incredulous expression, "Since when do grits have anything to do with History?"
"Heck if I know," answered Natsu, returning to his previous position of laying in the grass, "You're the one who asked the question, not me."
"I said griots, as in the professional oral historians who served as keepers of traditions and advisors to kings within the Mali Empire!"
Natsu groaned and rolled over so he was now on his stomach. He reached over and began plucking the blades of grass out of the ground before letting them float away in the wind.
"Your test is tomorrow, Natsu. Can't you focus on History rather than food?"
"No." said Natsu, flatly. And to further prove his point, his stomach gave a rather loud growl.
Lucy sighed and snapped her textbook closed in her lap. She stood up from her seat on the park bench, and placed her textbook over her paper in cause the wind caught it. She snatched her bag from under the bench and threw it over her shoulder.
"I'll be back in five minutes. While i'm gone don't do anything stupid, please."
"How can I even do that?" he questioned, watching Lucy walk away, "We are a children's park."
Lucy laughed, "Since when has the location stopped you before?" she asked before disappearing amongst the crowds of children and parents.
Natsu shrugged. She had a point.
Rolling over again, he looked up at the white clouds floating in the sky. He watched them float by for a couple minutes before shutting his eyes. How did people find cloud watching entertaining?
"You know, this is about the third time I have found you asleep this week. Is school really that boring to you?" asked Lucy as Natsu's eyes popped open in surprise.
"Actually, I wasn't asleep this time." corrected Natsu
Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Ready to start studying again?" she asked, taking her seat again on the bench
"Where did you go?" Natsu asked instead of answering Lucy's question.
"To the vending machine. I went to pick up these." Lucy reached into her bag and pulled out two red boxes of candy. "It says on the package it is suppose to be hot, so I thought you might like them."
Natsu grinned, "You're the best!" He went to reach for the candy, but Lucy raised them out of his reach.
"Not yet. First, you have to get an answer right."
"What?"
Lucy took one of the packages - placing the other safely in her bag - and ripped off the top. "I ask you a question and if you get it right, you get a candy." Lucy reached inside the box and removed a single red tablet. "But, you get it wrong," She popped the candy in her mouth. "I get the candy."
Lucy chewed the cinnamon flavored candy before swallowing, "Deal?"
Natsu's stomach growled at the sight and smell of the candy and he sat up, "Deal."
Lucy smiled and leaned back in her seat. Maybe now they could get some actual studying done.
"Okay, first question, what is loess?"
"Fine grained soil deposited in Ordos region in China bent by the winds in Central Asia. It created fertile soil for sedentary agricultural communities." Natsu answered immediately.
Lucy looked up in surprise. How did he?
"Correct." she said, tossing him a candy, "What is Mecca?"
"A city located in mountainous region along Red Sea in Arabian Peninsula. It was founded by Umayyad clan of Quraysh, the site of Ka'ba, and the original home of Muhammad. he answered, just as fast as the first.
"And?" pressed Lucy
"Mecca is also the location of chief religious pilgrimage point in Islam." he finished before opening his mouth for the candy.
Lucy shook her head in amazement before tossing him another one.
"Who was Moctezuma II?"
"He was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan."
"What else?"
"He was referred to as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin in a number of variant spellings - including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and in full by early Nahuatl texts." said Natsu, ticking off the names on his fingers.
Lucy gaped at him before turning back to the book. She flipped to the very back where the hardest questions where located; she was determined to stump him.
Unforchantly for Lucy, this never happened. The rest of the study session remained the same; Lucy would ask a question, Natsu answer correctly and open his mouth for his reward. Forty minutes later, Lucy was out of both candy and questions.
"Okay, spill." said Lucy, setting the book next to her on the bench.
Natsu looked up curiously at her question, "Spill what exactly?"
"How you answered every one of my questions correctly?"
Natsu shrugged in indifference, "Erza taught me a couple things about it when we were younger," He stuttered, "When you go through that, it kinda sticks with you."
"So, what was the point in spending today going through something you already know?" Lucy asked.
He shrugged again, "I don't know. Maybe I just wanted to spend some time together with you."
Lucy scoffed before moving to sit next to Natsu in the grass. She nudged him in the shoulder with her elbow, "You could have just asked, ya know?"
Instead of answering, Natsu turned and started watching a little girl in pigtails climb the jungle gym. It seemed like she was enjoying herself by the pearls of laughter she let out as she climbed higher.
"Wait a second." said Lucy, pulling Natsu's attention from the little girl, "Does that mean this whole week you already knew everything? And, you made me go through everything this week just to send time with me?! "
Natsu's eyes grew wide when he sensed Lucy's anger, "No! It was just in History I swear!" he said quickly.
Lucy narrowed her eyes, judging to see whether or not she actually believed him or not. To Natsu's relief, she believed him.
There was a shout of delight and Lucy and Natsu turned to see the pigtails girl sitting on top of the jungle gym having reached the top. The small five year old seemed delighted at her achievement, she grinned while looking at her previous starting point on the ground. When Lucy saw how happy the girl was she couldn't help but to start clapping.
At the sound, the girl looked up at Lucy in joy. "Did ya see me?" she asked excitedly.
When Lucy nodded she grinned and pointed at the ground. "I started there and now," She pointed at herself, "I am right here!"
"That's right." Lucy said, "Do you like climbing?"
She nodded fiercely causing her pigtails to swing like crazy, "Momma says I look like a monkey!"
"You make a cute monkey." complimented Lucy causing the little girl to beam.
The girl turned her attention on Natsu, who had been silently watching the girls chat, "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked curiously, pointed her finger at Natsu.
Lucy immediately turned red at the girl's innocent question, "Oh, no. It's not like that." she said quickly,
The girl's grin fell a bit when Lucy said this.
"What if we are?" questioned Natsu.
He reached over and slung his arm over Lucy shoulder and pulled her gently towards his chest. It wasn't the action that made Lucy's blush intensified - as Natsu had done similar things before - but the girl's reaction. Her face immediately brightened and she began bouncing up and down in her seat.
"Does that make you like my Mamma and Papa?" she asked eagerly to Natsu.
"Sorda?" he answered
"Do you have kids yet?"
Now it was time for Natsu to be embarrassed, "Uh, no, we don't."
"Oh," her face fell slightly before brightening again "But that doesn't mean you won't!" she said happily as Lucy coughed loudly.
"Ellie! It's time to go. Daddy still needs to make dinner!" called an older sounding voice from the opposite side of the playground.
The little girl perked when she heard this and judging by the reaction Lucy assumed it was her mother.
"Coming!" called Ellie as she started making her way down the jungle gym. When she reached the bottom, she whipped her shorts of dirt before beaming at Natsu and Lucy, "Can I come visit?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah. Come anytime you want." answered Natsu causing Lucy to elbow him roughly in the side.
"You can't tell her that!" she shouted under her breath.
"Relax," he said, taking back his arm in order to lean back on it, "What is the point in rejecting her if it makes her sad?" He pointed across the playground. "Look, see? She is as happy as can be."
And indeed she was. Ellie was happily chatting with an older looking women - no doubt her mother. She was waving her hands around excitedly as she re enacted her adventures. When she got to the part about Natsu and Lucy she turned and pointed them out for her mother.
Lucy gave a small wave to Ellie's mother when she looked at them. She gave her a small smile in return before reaching her hand down to Ellie; who grabbed it tightly in her own. As she watched them leave towards the parking lot, Lucy heard Natsu's stomach growl.
"Hey, you don't happen to have -?"
"YOU ATE IT ALL!"
Lucy sank in her seat when the bell rang; signalling for the end of the day. The week was finally over. That meant she was no longer needed as Natsu's tutor. All she had to do now was wait for Natsu to tell her how he did.
"You want to grab some ice cream in celebration of surviving the week?" asked Levy from her seat across from Lucy.
Lucy shook her head reluctantly, "Later. I promised Natsu I would wait for him, so he could tell me if he passed his tests or not."
Levy nodded and shouldered her bag, "Alright. Call me later?"
"Sure." Lucy smiled and shouldering her bag too.
They walked over to Lucy's locker where she unlocked it before placing her textbooks inside.
"So, what ever happened to the cat that Natsu found on Tuesday?" asked Levy
Lucy looked up, "Happy?"
Levy nodded, in response, Lucy shrugged before going back to stacking her textbooks, "Beats me. My best guess would be he has him at his house somewhere."
"Speaking of Natsu…."Levy trailed off looking down the hallway in surprise.
Lucy didn't even have to look up before she heard it.
"LUCY!"
Lucy winced when Natsu's yell was followed closely by other shouts of 'Ow!' and 'Watch where you are going!'. Lucy bore holes into the back of her locker as the shouts of her classmates continued.
"Levy-chan?" said Lucy slowly, "Please tell me Natsu isn't running people over."
"Natsu isn't running people over." she repeated as if reciting from a script.
Lucy let a long sigh before closing her locker and looking up towards Natsu, His onyx eyes visibly brightened when he saw the blonde appear from behind her locker.
"Lucy!" he called again.
"Should we help them?" asked Levy cautiously as they watched Natsu bump into an unsuspecting girl; causing her to knock into the nearby trash can.
"Sorry!" Natsu called over his shoulder.
The girls waved her hand in a bewildered fashion as Natsu continued to run down the hallway. When Natsu reached Lucy and Levy, he stopped in his tracks, thrusted a piece of paper into the stunned blonde's face, before sliding his hands into his pockets with a huge grin on his face.
Lucy glanced down curiously at the paper and read:
Calculus- 93
French- 84
Home Economics- 86
Chemistry- 91
History- 100
"I passed." said Natsu, his voice holding a bit of smugness.
Lucy grinned, "You earned it."
She handed Natsu back the sheet of paper which he pocketed.
"Are you guys coming to the game?" Natsu asked, looking excited.
Levy shook her head, "No can do. I have to babysit tonight."
Natsu's face fell slightly before turning to Lucy looking hopeful. Lucy inwardly winced at his expression. She didn't really like going to the games and mostly skipped them. Usually, she would stay home and read a book or take a bath.
Lucy shook her head, "Sorry."
At this, Natsu looked down at his feet in rejection. Lucy felt a pain of sadness at the sight of Natsu looking so depressed. It was just a football game. He didn't have to look so down about them not going. Lucy reached her hand out and patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"We will come to the next game, okay?"
Natsu looked up, "Promise?"
"Promise." she said.
"Great!" shouted Natsu, any signs of depression vanished from his face as if it had never been there before.
Shocked at his sudden change in attitude, Lucy withdrew her hand from his shoulder. At that moment realization hit her; he had tricked her! Natsu knew she never went to the football games, so he had played the guilt card and won. Lucy glared at Natsu, who remained unaffected.
"And you never break your promises either!" said Natsu, smugly.
Lucy sighed in defeat.
Great. Just great.
A/N I hope you guys enjoyed it! I once again apologize for any error. I'll fix them later if I have too.
Warning- Please don't try the chemical experiment written for the Chemistry session. YOU WILL HURT YOURSELF. I am not joking at all. The fire made by the chemicals will cause severe burns and property damage. So, don't be an idiot and get yourself hurt. Please and Thank You!
Don't forget to Review and tell me which subject you like the best!