Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.
I do own the idea for the fic though.
My candy.
(A I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I's original fan-fiction story.)
Operation FFAOHC
(Full Frontal Assault on Hot Chick.)
Part III: Fashionably Late.
Year… Unknown…
Month… Unknown…
Day… D-Day (Date Day, duh)…
Hour… 17:45…
The pink-haired student could barely contain himself, to put it mildly.
In reality, he was a walking disgrace to the male population of the world.
'Why' you ask? That's a simple question, you all see, or read, or something depending on your current situation.
Natsu Dragneel, pink-haired student of Fairy High from class 3-A, has a date.
Isn't that wonderful?
Love, blossoming in the season… wait, it is Fall, how can anything blossom in Fall?
My mistake, dear readers, my mistake.
Let's continue, okay?
Natsu walked down the street, a steady pace as he went against the flow of people crowding the downtown area. It was a busy day even though it was growing late and most persons were out for business or last minute buys. He had to dodge several kids and teenagers, some of them couples that made him blush in embarrassment.
If Loki's plan worked out as the guy said it would, he would be in a relationship by the end of the day.
'That's great… I just need to concentrate and not screw it up.' He thought tiredly, sighing as he had to avoid another person. He searched for his phone in his pockets and pulled it out, seeing the earphones connected and locked in his ears. He flipped it open and saw there was a call in progress, strangely enough. He sighed again. "I don't know how you think this will work, man."
"Stop being so pessimistic, Natsu!" A voice yelled, the sound making his ears go a little numb. "Just follow the plan and it will all be alright."
"That's why… this plan…" He looked around him, seeing the people walking without a care, not noticing how strange it was to see someone speaking to the phone from so far. Why would they think that? Oh, because the wires were hidden under his clothes. Why is that? Read the rest of the conversation. "This plan's stupid, Loki."
"W-what!? No! It is not!" The guy growled, sending a virtual glare to the pink-haired, however that is done. "Listen! Go there and let us take care of everything!"
Natsu was going to put up another complain but the rustling at the other end of the line stopped him, some voices were heard, more rustling and then another familiar voice made itself known. "Natsu, chill, it's Erza, she doesn't bite… much."
The pink-haired shivered momentarily, that is, momentarily. The end of the sentence made an eyebrow on his face quirk. "H-how do you know that?"
He could almost see the charmingly amused smile of the blue-haired guy at the other end of the line. "Oh, I have my ways."
"…I will not ask…" If he could only be honest and tell Jellal he was a seriously disturbing freak at times, Natsu was sure the man would just laugh it off and continue to help him, throwing some more freakiness to amuse himself while at it, that is. He composed himself, looked around one more time and continued on his way to the meeting place, his eyes catching a glimpse of the time. He was running short of it. "Anyway, any other advices? You can't expect me to pay attention and listen to her at the same time."
"Nope, nothing else we can teach you, little grasshopper." Jellal answered, laughing quietly at the joke while Natsu rolled his eyes at hearing how bad it was. He shook the phone and asked again, making the blue-haired man get serious, just like he needed him to be. "No, Natsu, you will be on your own."
The pink-haired groaned, a droplet of sweat falling from his brow. "T-that's great…"
"Let me finish… you will be on your own but if you fumble, we will start with Plan B and support you."
"And what's plan B?" Natsu asked anxiously, he had a really bad feeling about this.
He heard Jellal chuckling amusedly on the other end. Damn that bastard. "You will see."
He felt like pointing out how impossible that was but let it slide, knowing he was wasting time with them and avoiding the place where the meeting was supposed to happen. Yes, he got there close to twenty minutes ago, but continued to walk around in the plaza opposite to the small café to sort out his thoughts and quell his anxiety.
Natsu gulped down and nodded to himself in self-encouragement, breathing deeply and walking towards the entrance of the café where he could see Erza Scarlet, the Council President of Fairy High…
…talking with a black-haired man he never saw in his life.
'What the fuck!?' Natsu thought angrily as he witnessed the man of short, spiky black-hair making advances on his love interest. Who the hell thought that guy he was? A player? The pink-haired could feel the cockiness dripping out of him from a mile away and that was saying something.
"Nah, listen now," he heard the man say softly to the scarlet-haired woman, who was frowning at the hand that tried to reach for her forearm. She withdrew it and glared, earning an amused chuckle from the man. "Oh? Okay, no sex in the first date I take it?"
"Sorry, excuse us, move out." Natsu was about to go forward and kick the guy out but he was suddenly pushed out of the way by a blond man followed by a white-haired man, both looking pretty annoyed at the black-hair's audacity and some other things we shall not talk about here. He saw them get closer and stand next to the man, glaring holes through his skull as he smiled to them.
"Finally, guys, where the hell were you?" The man said, ignoring Erza for the moment, who took the opportunity to slide out of the place to another table far away.
The blond man frowned and the white-haired man groaned, bringing a hand to his face. It almost felt as if his eyes were sending lightning bolts towards the black-haired man. "Look, Jag, you can't go and hit on every hot girl you see, ya heard me?"
"D'awww, but I wasn't hitting on her." Jag explained innocently, the shadow of a smile in his face. "I was asking her if she knew any girls with funny eyebrows around the area."
"That's even more stupid." The blond man informed firmly, the sheer coldness of his voice sending shivers down every eavesdropper around and stopping the black-hair's smiling. "Listen to Nova, we're leaving."
"You be no fun, Fran." Jag commented with a small pout, chuckling amusedly when he saw them glaring stronger than before. He brought both arms around their shoulders and turned them towards the exit, where one pink-haired student was standing and seeing everything. "Let's go hit a bar or something, since we're here, we must get shit-faced."
"You? Hit a bar? Bitch wait till you're of age." The white-haired man said plainly.
"Nope, can't be bothered with that faggotry." Jager said, grinning from ear to ear. "C'mon, fags, let's go!"
Nova groaned again, shaking his head tiredly. "You never change, do you?"
Fran sighed tiredly. "Can we at least look for Jonah?"
Jag's face went blank when the door to the café was swung open, his friends blanching out as well when they saw something terrifying by the entrance. Natsu turned around and he seriously had to suppress the urge to piss in his pants.
"Nova, Francis, Jager." A man of blue-hair named them one by one coldly and without emotion, eyeing each and every one of the mentioned guys with dark-blue eyes that seemed to fire bullets at them. He stepped forward, moving past Natsu without touching the pink-haired and stood in front of the group. "Explain."
Nova shook his head quickly.
Francis looked away.
Jager smiled sheepishly, moving one hand to wave in greeting. "S-sup, Jonah?"
The blue-haired man, known as Jonah, narrowed his eyes and stared at the black-hair's eyes, the sheer strength behind his orbs making the man sweat uncontrollably. He sighed and when Jager was about to say something, he brought a fist forward and punched the lights out of the man, letting his dead-weight fall over the blond and the white-haired, who could only remain in shock at the occurrence.
"We are going to the hotel; the plane will take us home tonight." Jonah said firmly, receiving nods from the conscious men. He turned around and headed for the exit, brushing past Natsu and apologizing for bumping his casted arm unintentionally. "Sorry about everything."
The pink-haired nodded slowly, his reply dying before coming out of his mouth since the man left in a hurry. "N-no… problem…?"
"Damn, he was mad." Nova muttered as he carried an unconscious Jager with Francis, groaning in annoyance since the man, even if he looked athletic, was heavy as a boulder. "I've never seen Jonah like that."
"Same, let's be thankful nothing happened to us." Francis whispered back in fright, meeting eyes with the pink-haired student on his way to the exit and stopping, making the white-haired man stop as well. "You."
"U-uh? M-me?" Natsu asked dumbly, pointing a finger to his face.
The blond man nodded. "Yes, you." He glanced around the café and met eyes with a scarlet-haired girl, this one frowning and glaring at him when she noticed he discovered her eavesdropping on the pink-hair's conversation with him. He snorted. "Huh, you should do something."
Nova joined in when he caught wind of what his friend was trying to say. "Huh, I agree."
Natsu looked at the man weirdly, not getting his message, Francis continued. "Huh, you shouldn't waste any time."
Seeing the pink-haired not getting even one bit of the conversation, Nova did his best to hide the chuckles and nudged the blond's side, motioning to Natsu with his head when the blond looked his way. "Huh, somebody can't power up, huh."
"W-what?" The pink-haired asked again, not getting whatever they were saying.
"We mean… your girl is over there." Nova explained for the Fairy High student, smiling both in understanding and amusement when he saw the boy extremely confused after the small comments, pointing to one red-haired Council President who averted her eyes from their conversation when a finger was signaling for her position. He chuckled. "Sorry for Jager, he's an ass some-"
"Most of the time." Francis corrected, earning a nervous laugh from the white-haired and a confused stare from the pink-haired.
"Anyway, yeah, go get your girl, boy." Nova said as he turned around, Francis following his movements and all three men leaving the café before anyone could notice.
"Natsu…? What happened…?" A voice snapped him out of his musings of the origin of the four guys, Jellal asking for his state through the phone made him remember he was inside the café and he had yet to go and say anything to the girl he wanted for the Fantasia. "Did you go to the café?"
"Y-yeah, I'm here." Natsu said hastily, breathing out the air he was holding. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, looking around for the mop of scarlet hair one of the strange people pointed out earlier, finding it in one of the tables close to the windows. She looked in his direction and gave a slow wave of greeting that he returned the same way, albeit more dumbly.
"Natsu?" He heard Jellal call for him, snapping him out of his silly waving that earned strange looks from the other customers around him and the girl he went to see. "Are you with Erza now? Tap the mic if 'yes'"
The pink-haired decided his friend had too much spotlight for now, so he tapped the mic to lie about his current situation and walked towards the table that would seal his destiny. "DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN!"
"Loki! Give the phone back!"
"H-hi." Both guys shut up when they heard their friend talking to someone, stopping their quarrel and putting their own phone on speaker; this was it, this was the moment of truth. He took a seat opposite to Erza and nodded to her, earning a small smile and nod in reply. "H-how are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you." Erza answered curtly, crossing her arms and leaning back on her chair. For what she heard from Jellal, the pink-haired was about to ask her something really important, and if her wild imagination was right, she was in for something sweet. That if the guy could stop fidgeting and looking around nervously. With an almost visible sweatdrop, she coughed on her hand and brought his attention back to her. "Why did you want to see me?"
"U-uh, that… about that… I… uh…" Natsu fumbled. Not even five minutes into the conversation and he was fumbling with his words. Jellal and Loki made an audible facepalm from their position at the other end of the line, not believing their friend to be such a lost case.
"Okay, time for Plan B." Jellal said, nodding in determination.
"Let's wage war!" Loki yelled randomly, throwing a fist in the air.
Jellal stared at him for a second, shaking his head after that and turning to his own phone for the moment. They were using Loki's phone to keep the talk with Natsu opened and so, he had his free to do what Plan B was. Oh, he grinned, if only the others knew of his genius. "Natsu, listen to this and repeat what you hear, I promise it will help you."
'O-okay…' Tapping the mic to say 'yes' again, the pink-haired tried to control his nervousness and procured to do as told, but then, he heard music? Rock? No, it was a ballad? What was Jellal thinking? 'What the hell, man?' Clearing his throat and deciding it was best to do what he was told to do, Natsu turned serious, surprising Scarlet, and started to repeat what the lyrics said. "I'm here today, for something worth it, you might not like it, but I swear you'll enjoy it."
"W-what?" Erza's face went ablaze. Okay, she was expecting some kind of confession or maybe something more slow like an invitation to go out somewhere for the next few days before the Fantasia but… was Natsu going so serious with her? It made her feel special, yes, after the fiasco with that nurse Ultear and the rumors flying about the pink-haired being interested in Levy… these were wonderful news. 'P-please, don't say you want to marry me tomorrow.'
Of course, she thought that, yet she was secretly wishing for the opposite.
"…" Loki remained mute at the lyrics, eyeing Jellal's stupid smile for a moment before snatching the phone from him. He kicked the guy as far as he could and looked through the blue-hair's playlist, turning off the cheesy song he was playing and finding some interesting songs in there that could prove better to seduce the woman. In his opinion, at least. "Oh-ho, this will be fun."
The brown-haired guy picked one song he heard a few days ago and placed the blue-hair's phone close to his, letting the lyrics be heard by Natsu.
With the explanations they gave to the pink-haired, the result was instantaneous and successful.
"It's 9 o' clock on the dot at the spot and I'm hangin' with her friends again!" Natsu half-yelled to the girl in front of him, startling her and several customers sitting around them with his voice and tone. "Great taste, beautiful place and you're fashionably late!"
"…" Erza stared in open bewilderment at the pink-haired boy, seeing him stand next to the table with his hands pretending to hold a guitar, which he was playing rather strongly. It was also kind of weird with his casted arm, but she remained silent, only wanting to ask him if he was feeling alright, if the nervousness finally caught up to him or something but a finger of his pointed at her face made her stop.
"Hey!" Natsu yelled again, getting close to the red-haired and raising her head to meet his with a hand under her chin. She blushed furiously at the contact and closeness but then stared open-mouthed at what he said next. "I don't wanna be that guy, that makes you sad, that makes you cry again." He let go of her and jumped over his chair, continuing with the air guitar. "Without a doubt, sorry about making out with your friends!" He pointed a finger to the ceiling. "GO!"
Erza's and all the customers' jaws hit the floor.
What the hell was going on?
"Hahahahahahaha!" Loki laughed without stop on the floor of Natsu's room, not believing his friend to be such an idiot.
"…" On the other side, though, Jellal tried to fight back the urges to laugh as well and picked up the phone, hearing nothing but Natsu repeating what the lyrics of that song said. How was it that the boy didn't notice what he was saying? It was obviously something not to be mentioned to any girl, especially one like Erza.
"Na na na na na na na na na!" He heard the pink-haired singing and snorted, thinking the guy was having a good time and letting him continue, for the sake of having some fun for the shit and giggles later. "Na na na na na na!"
Oh, they were going to laugh so much after the pink-haired forgave them for their stupidity.
"I love the way that this began, started off right, so innocent." Natsu started to 'explain'.
"R-really?" 'How did it start anyway?' Erza asked both out loud and in her mind, not getting what the guy was saying.
The pink-haired turned to face her with a regretful glint in his eyes. "I'm letting you know, I'm letting you go, I want your best friend."
The place grew quiet as the red-haired stared in shock, a growl escaping her throat, her teeth and fists clenched and one name appearing in her mind. 'M-Mira!?'
"I'm giving it up and asking why you seem so shocked and so surprised." Natsu continued, unfortunately, waving a hand in dismissal, he looked at Erza again with some more regret. "I'm sorry it hurts, I'm surely a jerk, I understand why you're mad."
"N-no, I'm not-" She didn't have time to talk, he continued to sing.
Oh god.
"Don't talk that crap when you call me back, as a matter of fact, don't act like that." The pink-haired was accusing her of being a bitch? Seriously? What the-? "Everybody knows you're right, everybody knows I'm wrong!"
He pointed a finger to the customers and they traded glances of discomfort, one of them finding the situation amusing and joining on the singing, since the guy seemed to know the song. "Wrong!"
And it started again, unfortunately.
"It's 9 o' clock on the dot at the spot and I'm hangin' with her friends again!" Natsu yelled as he jumped again and got over the table he was sharing with Erza, further shocking the girl and scaring her a bit. Okay, there was something seriously wrong with the pink-haired. He was having problems talking to her and now he was making a public concert? And what about that of wanting Mirajane over her? "Great taste, beautiful place and you're fashionably late!"
When she wanted to notice, Natsu was next to her, hugging her with an arm around her shoulders and bringing her closer to him. The customers grew far more nervous, the personnel and owners took shelter behind the counter and Erza blushed madly again. Okay, she was mad about the things he was saying but she seriously appreciated the close contact.
"I don't wanna be that guy, that makes you sad, that makes you cry again." The pink-haired student whispered to her ear, sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. "Without a doubt! Sorry about! Making out with your friends!" He kissed her cheek... "Muah!"
...and jumped back to the table, playing his air guitar with more strength than before and ignoring the steaming Erza he left behind, the girl holding her cheek in disbelief. "Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!"
It was a long and tedious torture, but luckily, before the song could continue, he was forced to a stop.
Not by an annoyed customer or angry owner.
No.
It was a rather angered and embarrassed red-haired woman the one to shut him up for good.
An hour later…
Natsu sat at the edge of fountain alone, looking at his feet with little to no life in his onyx eyes. He was seriously down after what happened, more like after realizing what he did. How he lost control of his actions after being told to do and say what the song said, he had no idea; he only wondered how he was stupid enough to not notice and stop it all before it escalated.
He sighed, slouching further down at his bad luck. He was sure Erza would not want to have anything to do with him anymore.
Hell, it would be a surprise if she were to address him in some cold way or something.
"Fucking perfect…" The pink-haired whispered, kicking a random piece of paper that landed at his feet, seeing it being taken by the light breeze of the late afternoon.
"Wow, you look like shit." He heard a voice say, two sets of steps approaching from his right and looking up, he saw Gray and Lyon walking to his position, both guys looking a bit curious of his state. Since he started the talk and knew the guy the longest, the black-haired man was the one to keep on the conversation. "What happened? Got dumped?"
At his questions, Natsu slumped down even more.
Lyon sweatdropped, resting a hand on his foster-brother's shoulder to get his attention, he shook his head and walked to sit with the pink-haired. "So… does this have something to do with that President you told me about?"
"W-wait a second, he told you about Erza?" Gray asked in disbelief, feeling a bit angry that his best friend/rival would trust more on his brother than him. The two didn't know each other that long and well after all. But that didn't matter; he walked to stand in front of the two and looked at Natsu, frowning at him and his position. "What happened with her?"
The pink-haired gave a short story of what happened.
Gray and Lyon laughed their asses off.
Natsu growled, not liking their reaction to his problem. "What's so fucking funny?"
"O-Oh god, you didn't." Gray said in between gasps for breath, holding his sides from all the laughter. "You did not sing that to Erza, you're shitting me."
In answer, the pink-haired student pointed to the fountain behind him, both guys seeing a pair of earphones and a cellphone drowning in the bottom.
"O-Okay… you did do it…" Lyon muttered awkwardly, not knowing what to say.
"Y-yeah… and she punched me…" He raised his head and let the two guys see the bruise under his chin, the pretty nasty and purple bruise the red-haired girl left him as a 'thank you' gift for the thing he did. He lowered his head and sighed, not wanting to deal with the issue any longer. So many struggles from his friends to get him out of his depression and it all went down… because of the same fucking friends that helped him. Magnificent. Note the sarcasm. "I will just finish high-school and go to college… who knows? I might find someone there."
He remembered one girl who seemed to be interested in him when he was dating Lisanna, what was her name? 'Katsu…? No… wait… that girl whose brother died… Kagura? Yes, that's the name.'
"Don't bail out yet, Natsu." Gray spat, knowing what his friend was thinking. Like hell he was going to let him retreat and miss the chance of his life. Okay, that made it sound like he was interested in the Council President too, but that was… okay, maybe a little, but he had Lucy and he was happy. End of story, let's continue. "Get yourself together, moron, if those two failed, it's our turn then."
The pink-haired boy sighed tiredly. 'What is it with everyone butting into my things now?' He looked at the foster-brothers with him and shook his head, standing up from his perch and walking towards the crowd. "Okay, whatever, let's get this over with…"
Lyon and Gray grinned at each other; they were sure their plan would worth out better than the other two morons' plan. They had a card up their sleeve after all, a last minute encounter they never thought about that went their way and was sure to earn them a victory for their pal.
"Hah, cheer up, Natsu." Lyon said after they caught up with the guy, patting his back in reassurance. "We have the best plan ever."
"Yes, and it's impossible it can fail." Gray commented, smirking confidently. "Unless Erza's tastes have changed, we're good."
"T-tastes…? What do you mean?" Natsu asked after hearing their words, receiving a pair of knowing looks in answer.
"You will see."
Le continuation here…
A/N: First off, the song is Fashionably Late by Falling in Reverse.
Second, I'm not back, I'm fulfilling a bro's wishes by finishing this story.
Third, the next one is the last chapter.
Fourth, I won't make a 5k piece of Author's Notes, that's a bit too much.
Fifth, saludos.