"Hey Lucy!" Lisanna smiled as the blonde took a seat next to her at the counter. Lucy had decided to hang out at the local coffee shop, Fairy Tail, to get away from her dad. They'd just had another fight and she wasn't in the mood to stick around for the silent treatment that was coming her way. She was feeling pretty down, but Lisanna's wide grin was contagious, and Lucy found herself smiling as well.
"What's got you all happy?" Lucy replied in place of a greeting. If it were possible, Lisanna's smile grew and a blush colored her cheeks.
"Natsu asked me to the winter ball!" the youngest Strauss sibling gushed, and for a moment Lucy paused.
It had been two weeks since the heated kiss she'd shared with her best friend. The two hadn't talked about it at all, but thankfully their friendship continued on without a hiccup. Lucy had worried that the kiss would make things awkward, but it hadn't. It seemed like nothing changed between them. Still…
Even if nothing changed between them, something had changed within Lucy. She noticed that since the kiss she'd started thinking about Natsu differently. They were only fleeting thoughts, but every once in a while Lucy would see things about him that she didn't before. Like the way you could see the outline of his abs when he wore cotton tshirts, or the way his jaw clenched when he was fully focused on something.
Still, Lucy was Natsu's best friend, and she wouldn't let these thoughts poison the friendship they'd spent years building. She smiled back at Lisanna just as Cana joined them at the counter.
"But are you really surprised that he asked you, Lisanna? Like none of us saw that one coming, right?" the brunette asked sarcastically, nudging Lucy's arm. They both laughed when Lisanna covered her face with her hands shyly.
"He was telling me about how he wanted to ask you like two weeks ago! It took him long enough," Lucy teased, watching Lisanna's smile shine. She'd purposely left out the part about how Natsu felt forced to ask her; Lisanna didn't need to know all the details.
"How did he even ask you? I can't imagine Natsu being romantic at all," Cana commented, pulling a bottle of dark liquid out of her bag. Lucy rolled her eyes at the smell of alcohol that filled the air once Cana opened the bottle and started drinking.
"Well, he didn't really ask me straight out," Lisanna started, squirming a little in her seat. Lucy could only wonder how Natsu had asked; he probably threatened to set her on fire if she didn't say yes or something. "He actually just asked me what color I was thinking of wearing to the ball, and when I asked him why he told me he wanted to make sure he had a tie to match."
While Lucy fell into laughter Cana only stared at Lisanna with an incredulous smile. "So he just assumed you'd go with him? Well, I guess that's Natsu for ya. So, who's the lucky fella taking you to the dance, Luce? I'm totally jealous of whoever he is; he gets to be all up close and personal with these babies."
Lucy swatted Cana's hand away before it could come in contact with her breast. "Actually, I'm not going to the dance," Lucy informed the two, earning sounds of shock and disappointment.
"Why not?" Cana asked, and Lucy was met with two expectant faces that she was not prepared for. Thinking on the spot, Lucy uttered the first excuse that came to mind.
"Er, my dad has a business banquet in Crocus that weekend and he wants me to go with him. You know how he is, always trying to marry me off to aid his bank account," Lucy said, laughing a little. It was only half a lie; plus, she'd just gotten in a fight with her father, so she didn't feel all that bad about using him as a scapegoat.
"Oh no, that's too bad," Lisanna frowned, and Canna nodded, taking another swing from whatever was in her bottle.
"Yeah, it won't be as fun without you," the brunette agreed. Lucy smiled but shook her head.
"No way! I'm sure you guys will have plenty of fun on your own."
The next eight weeks were full of stress over tests, projects, and most importantly, the winter ball. Lucy was almost happy that she wasn't going, seeing as her friends were all losing their minds over making sure their dresses were perfect and their hair and makeup appointments were at the right times.
Luckily, all of that stress was over now. Lucy watched as her friends gathered in front of Fairy Tail to take pictures; their faces were full of smiles and joy, and they laughed together as they posed for a flood of cameras.
"Yo, Lucy!" a familiar voice called, gaining Lucy's immediate attention. Natsu smiled while he walked closer to her, not noticing that his best friend was frozen in her tracks.
Natsu looked...in a word, amazing. Lucy had seen him dressed up before, but the suit he had on right now looked like it was handcrafted by the gods just for him. It was fitted snugly in all the right places, and the expensive material made him look like a model. Lucy pushed her thoughts into a safe corner in her mind. He was here with Lisanna after all; that should be enough of a reminder to keep her feelings at bay.
"What the hell are you wearing? Where's your dress?" Natsu asked. Their school had a strict policy that everyone had to be dressed in formal attire. There was no way they'd let Lucy in when she was dressed in faded skinny jeans and one of his old sweaters that he'd let her borrow. Plus, it wasn't like Lucy to pass up an opportunity to get dressed up.
"I'm not going to the ball," Lucy said in a tone that implied the "duh" without her having to say it. That was news to Natsu, and he showed his shock plainly on his face.
He'd spent weeks complaining to her about it, even asking her for help with picking out flowers for Lisanna. Why had she never once mentioned that she wasn't going? Unless she had been planning on it, and suddenly couldn't go… "Did your date stand you up?! Who is he?! I'll beat the ever living crap outta him! No one stands Lucy up and gets away with it -!"
"Shut up, stupid!" Lucy hissed, slapping Natsu's arm. She looked around, a blush coloring her cheeks when she saw a bunch of their friends staring at them. Looking back towards Natsu, Lucy frowned. "I didn't get stood up, jeez, stop embarrassing me! I never planned on going. My father wanted me to go with him to some stupid business banquet this weekend in Crocus." There goes that lie again.
"Yeah, didn't she tell you that?" Levy asked, walking up to them. She gave Lucy an excited hug before stepping away with a confused expression. "I'm so glad you're here for pictures! But I thought you'd be on your way to Crocus by now?"
Lucy faked a sad sigh, and when Natsu's face softened, she knew she'd executed it perfectly. "My dad told me last minute that we're not going. Turns out the guy he wanted to do business with isn't going to the banquet, so he doesn't want to waste his time going."
"Oh no! That stinks. If he'd told you sooner you could have gone to the ball," Levy pouted. Lucy responded with a wide smile.
"No worries Lev! I'll go next year. Oh, look! They're taking group pictures now, you guys better get going." The blonde pushed her two friends away from her, and pulled out her phone to snap a few pictures of the group. She almost dropped her phone when someone shouted, "Look! Gray actually has clothes on!" and something else responded, "Thank god we're getting photo evidence of this!"
"Hey, do you think I could get a quick picture of you guys?" Lucy asked, quickly approaching Lisanna and Natsu just as the couples started to make their way towards the limo. The two happily complied, posing next to each other and smiling at Lucy's upheld phone. She felt so bitter sweet, but knew that as Natsu's best friend she was there to support him and make him happy. What kind of best friend would she be if she didn't get at least one picture of him?
Plus, Lucy had to admit that Lisanna looked absolutely stunning in her silver, floor length gown. The slit up the side was seriously sexy, and showed off one of her long legs perfectly. The top was low cut, calling attention to her amazing cleavage, and the off the shoulders straps just added to the effect. In her hair was a white rose that matched the bouquet of white roses in her hands. Lucy had done a good job of advising Natsu to get them, they matched the beading in Lisanna's dress perfectly.
"You're turn!" Lisanna giggled, pulling Lucy out of her daydream like state. The blue eyed girl was at her side, taking her phone from her hands and pushing her towards Natsu. "Hurry! One of you and Natsu!"
"Oh. Okay," Lucy smiled, standing by Natsu's side. Without a second thought, the pinkette rested his right arm on Lucy's shoulder, bringing his other hand up into a peace sign. Lucy followed his lead, placing her left hand on her hip, her right hand making a peace sign near her face. She smiled widely, and when the flash went off, she winked at the camera.
"Aw, you guys look so cute! Oh - here Lucy!" Lisanna quickly gave the phone back to it's owner as Erza called for everyone to get into the limo.
"See ya, Luce! I wish you were coming," Natsu called, letting Lisanna drag him to the vehicle. "It's always more fun with you!" were his final words before the door shut behind him and all of her friends drove off towards an inevitably fun night.
Lucy was definitely bummed. She looked down at her phone and decided to see what her picture with Natsu looked like. Instantly, she felt herself perk up. The picture was perfect! Natsu was giving his signature grin, not the posed smile he had plastered on his face in his picture with Lisanna. And Lucy thought she looked pretty cute, herself. She quickly made that picture her background, and posted the picture of Lisanna and Natsu on her instagram with the caption "#WinterBallGoals". After that, she walked back home a little happier.
Lucy huffed out a sigh into the air of her dark bedroom. She looked at the digital clock next to her bed and read that the time was now eight o'clock. That meant the dance had already been going on for an hour. Lucy wondered how much fun her friends were having right now. Were they all dancing? Was there food there? Was Erza stealing everyone's cake? Was Natsu ready to kiss Lisanna tonight?
Another sigh escaped Lucy at the thought. Don't think about it, remember? she thought to herself. She continued to stare blankly at her ceiling until something made her jump. Her window was opening from the outside, and a dark figure was starting to crawl in.
Oh my gosh! What do I do?! Lucy began to panic. She picked up the nearest thing she could - which happened to be her stuffed animal, Plue - and approached the figure. Several things happened all at once. First, Lucy raised her plushie in the air and threw it down at the intruder with all her might. At the same time, said intruder slipped, and fell flat on his face on the floor of Lucy's bedroom.
"Ah, shit! Damn dress shoes, making me fall!" a familiar voice grumbled, and Lucy's body finally relaxed.
"Natsu!?" she questioned just as he yelled, "What the - Plue?! Lucy, what are you doing?!"
"What am I doing?!" Lucy all but yelled at the pinkette. She gave him a look as if to say "Are you serious?" and continued on with, "What are you even going here? The dance doesn't end for another three hours."
"Yeah, I know," Natsu was standing up now, and Lucy could see in the moonlight shining through her window that he was smiling. "But how could I enjoy a school dance knowing my best friend was stuck in her room all alone?"
Lucy blushed at that, and was thankful that she wasn't in the light. Natsu had left the winter ball just to come hang out with her? But that would mean… "Wait, what about Lisanna? Did you just leave her? And you're not allowed to leave dances early, how did you…?"
"Jeez, calm down Lucy!" Natsu rolled his eyes, crossing his arms casually. Everything he did now seemed so attractive to her, but Lucy blamed it on the fact that he was wearing a suit. Men always looked better in a suit. "I'm not a jerk, I didn't just leave her. She said it was okay, in fact, she was the one who suggested it."
"Huh?" Lucy asked, complete shock taking over her. Lisanna, the girl who had blushed when telling her that Natsu had asked her to be his date, and looked so excited just hours ago, told him to leave?
Natsu nodded in response, taking a seat on Lucy's bed. "I guess she could tell what a shit time I was having. She told me to go and see you. I didn't at first because I felt bad, but she kept insisting. So I snuck out. It's really not that hard to get past the security guards."
Except, Lucy knew just how hard it was to get past the guards. She didn't want to know what Natsu really did to get past them, and he was thankful she didn't ask. Smiling, Lucy made a mental note to apologize to Lisanna, but also to thank her. She really had been feeling crappy until Natsu showed up.
The two friends sat next to each other on Lucy's bed in the dark, just talking. This was normal for them. Natsu lived extremely far from their school, and didn't have a means of transportation other than his own two feet. When he realized how close Lucy lived to their high school, he without asking just started to crash with her most nights. At first Lucy despised him for it, since they really hadn't been that close when he started doing it. But soon enough she began to enjoy his company.
"Hey, it's almost eleven. They're probably having their last dance right now," Natsu said, completely changing the topic of their conversation. Lucy glanced at her clock and saw that he was right. Natsu should have been getting ready to kiss Lisanna right about now, but instead he was by Lucy's side. She didn't want to think about why that made her so happy.
Cocking her head to the side, Lucy gave Natsu a confused look when one of her favorite slow songs started playing through his phone speakers. He stood, and reached a hand out to Lucy. "Dance with me?" he asked, and although Lucy could hear the smirk in his voice, his hand was shaking slightly when she grabbed it.
"Okay," Lucy whispered, swallowing hard. What was he doing? This wasn't usually like him, but then again, he did normally go above and beyond to make Lucy happy. Not that he really had to, just being with him made Lucy happy.
That thought struck her as odd. She'd never really thought about it, but being by Natsu's side was what made her the most happy. Even just seeing his picture earlier had helped to dissipate her mood drop. Was it possible that she had deeper feelings for the boy she called her best friend? She'd never thought about it, but judging by the way her heart sped up when Natsu pulled her closer against him, she figured she did.
At first the two were simply swaying side by side to the beat of the song, but Natsu was a child at heart, and soon he started to spin Lucy and do ridiculous lifts with her that made the girl both laugh and fear for her safety. Before she would have liked, the song was coming to an end, and Lucy was happy to see that Natsu was just as out of breath at she was. They both laughed, locking eyes in the moonlight.
Natsu reached around Lucy and wrapped his arms around her waist, his smile slowly fading as he looked into her eyes. With her body pressed against his once again, Lucy tilted her head up, meeting his intense gaze with confidence. Just as the last notes of the song filled the room, Natsu leaned down, swiftly pressing his lips to Lucy's before the latter had time to react.
This kiss was completely different from their first. Neither of them were shy now, and they didn't waste any time with uncertainty or clumsiness. Their lips and tongues moved together as if they had been doing this for life times - and maybe they had. Lucy liked to think that maybe in a past life she and Natsu had been together. And that maybe they would be together again in this one, too.
Unlike their prior experience, this kiss was short lived. When Natsu pulled away to lean his forehead on Lucy's, he gave her a half smile, which made her heart pound even harder. Though this kiss wasn't as intense as their first one, it still made Lucy breathless and lightheaded all the same.
"Need some more practice, huh?" she teased, suddenly feeling vulnerable in the silence. Natsu's smile grew, and Lucy knew he was seeing right through her.
"Yeah, lots more."