Natsu kicked the doors open, and they slammed with a loud boom. He felt more than a few pairs of eyes land on him, one pair particularly threatening.
"Natsu…You are four hours late." She castigated aggressively, marching over with burning eyes. Both her verbal and physical pace had a heavy 'stomp' to them, but were quick enough to be quite frightening. "Where have you been?!" She growled.
Natsu laughed nervously - an act, like always - and itched the back of his head. "Oh, hehe, hey Erza. Oh man Happy…" he looked to his friend with expecting eyes, receiving no more than a glare in return. He couldn't blame him. He had somewhat abandoned him when he ran into Lucy, but to get no help in such a dire situation? Ouch. "We must've really lost track of the…"
He was cut off by Erza, who's tone had completely changed. It had lost its angry displeasure that it so recently occupied, replaced by a soft and gentle presence - a very rare occurrence with Erza. "Oh, I see you brought someone along."
"Huh? Oh yeah." He looked at Lucy, who stared back with wide eyes and pink cheeks. He grabbed her wrist, his touch surprised by the unfamiliar softness of her skin, and pulled her to him, then pushing her further into the hall. She stumbled along clumsily, and would've fallen if Natsu hadn't slyly grabbed her wrist again earning him a slight, but not unnoticeable blush. "Oi, everyone!" He yelled, making extra sure that everyone in the hall had their eyes on the girl. "This is Lucy! I ran into her on the way back, and she's joining the guild!" He could see the air around her cheeks warp from the heat her blush was emitting, and almost laughed at the confused, embarrassed look plastered on her face.
She stared into a void of unknown eyes and brutish faces, the temperature of her skin rising exponentially. But soon, the mood unexpectedly shifted, and everyone yelled a cheers or welcome, their faces no longer expressing anything less than joy.
"Oh, um, hi everyone." Lucy almost whispered, her cheeks still cherry pink. But the group's attention was no longer on her, and had returned to their relative conversation, food, or drink.
"You two know each other?" Erza asked, grinning subtly. She hadn't ever heard of someone Natsu knew from out of the guild except for Igneel, who he basically never talked of.
Natsu feigned confusion. "What? No. Didn't I say I ran into her on the way back?" Happy had sat on his shoulder, the glare replaced by his normal joyous expression.
"Oh, I should've known." Her eyes sagged, a look of self disappointment spreading across her face. "You literally ran into her."
"Yeah, what else do you think I meant?" He maintained his confused expression, but shifted his gaze to Lucy, who was staring at his companion in awe. "I was running too fast and I hit her. I made her break something." He looked down, glooming his eyes, and changing his voice to be guilty and grim.
Lucy reached for the boy's hand, falling for his ashamed act. "No, Natsu, I already said-" She was cut off by the red-head.
Erza's eyes became frightening once again, narrowed in suspicion. "Natsu… You hurt her, didn't you?"
Natsu's voice returned to its playful default, and he wagged his hand in denial. "No, no, she's fine, but I took her to lunch to make up for her vase." He smirked, spotting that Erza took this as a valid excuse for being late.
"Oh, I'm impressed Natsu. I would've expected you to blame it on her." The expected voice of Erza was replaced by another, and Lucy turned to see a shirtless boy, black hair, and about the same age as Natsu. He had a similar build as well.
"Oi, put a shirt on, stripper." He spat aggressively, balling up his fist and sticking his face in the boy's.
The boy panicked quickly and shoved on a shirt before returning to his cool self. "Hmm, not even gonna introduce me first? Psh, what a kid." The boy turned his head the other way, ignoring Natsu's aggression.
"Asshole, we're the same-" Natsu's petty protests were cut off by hand in his face.
"I'm Gray." The boy waved, still holding Natsu back.
Lucy giggled, already amused by the bickering of the two. "Nice to meet you Gr-" She stopped talking when Natsu socked Gray the face, earning a smack to his own.
It was at times like these Natsu really had to restrain himself. Right there, he could've fucked Gray up, left the guild hall stained with his burnt entrails, or brand his chest with the devil's mark, cursing him to forever suffer. But he had to hold himself back, true rage replaced by simple horse play.
Natsu reared back, preparing to unleash another punch, but was stopped by Erza before he could let it go. "Natsu, not in front of our guest." She said it sharply between teeth, stressing each syllable.
Lucy just giggled.
"Come on, I'll show you some people." Natsu grabbed her hand, marching proudly to some elevated ground by a staircase. He pointed to the bar in the back of the hall, occupied by a few more people than five. "That girl right there, that's Cana."
"Which one?" He hadn't been very specific with his description, and Lucy couldn't quite trace his finger well enough.
"The one with the huge mug, that's Cana."
Lucy saw the one he was talking about, and she wouldn't even call that a mug - it's size was that of a small barrel. She looked as if she was in her late-teens, barely old enough to legally drink, with wavy brown hair reaching just below her shoulder blades, and tan skin, on the side of white. She sported an orange bikini top and jeans, clamped on by a red belt. She was pretty, no doubt, but Lucy got an impression that she spent much of her time drinking.
Lucy's attention was soon distracted by a slim girl who placed another "mug" in front of the teen. She looked to be about the same age, with silver hair - also wavy - falling to just above her hips. Her hair in front was tied up into a ponytail - Lucy assumed it was to keep it out of her eyes - and was framed by two bangs that fell to her chest. Her curves were more than somewhat complimented by a sleeveless, maroon dress reaching her knees. Her skin was pristine, without blemishes or wrinkles, a bit paler than Cana's, and Lucy immediately found herself impressed and fairly jealous of her beauty.
Natsu traced her eyes to the bartender, and smirked. "That's Mirajane - Mira, she likes to be called."
Lucy looked to him, jaw slightly dropped. "She's-"
"Yeah, I know." He stopped her before she could finish. "And she's just as nice as she is pretty." Natsu meant it, Mira was a very nice girl, and pretty too. While her voice was a bit high for his preference, she didn't speak that much, making it an issue he rarely had to deal with.
He pointed to a man, an old one, sitting on top of the bar. He was miniature, at the size of a small child, with hair only around the outer ring of his head. He had a thick, white mustache, and Lucy would've even thought that he looked wise, if he wasn't absolutely shit faced. He slapped his knee and threw his head back, laughing so hard she would think it'd break his aged shell. But, no, he just laughed some more, then downed another mug of his drink, yelling to Mira for another.
"Makarov, is his name. Yeah, I know he looks like an old geezer…" Natsu paused for a moment, sparing a glance at the man, then cringing a bit. "And he is… but he's our leader, of sorts. It unspoken, it's just kinda a thing we all accept." He said, planting residual sentiment in his voice.
"He looks…" Lucy paused for a few seconds, struggling to find the right word. "Umm, interesting." She said, unable to come up with any other fitting word.
"Hehe, yeah, he's quite the character." He rubbed the back of his head, then pointed in another direction. "Oh, and those two, the old guy and the kid. See 'em?" He rushed impatiently.
Lucy nodded, amused.
"The older one's Macao, and that's his son Romeo." Macao was slim, and decently muscular, with slimmed back, dark blue hair. His jaw and chin were covered in a healthy amount of stubble, and a thin mustache was placed gingerly under his nose. His son took very much after him, with the same color hair, and a very similar figure. He was young, Lucy guessed no older than six, but he wasn't at all unfit, impressively toned for his age. The two were laughing together, with Macao drinking from a mug and Romeo asking for a sip, cringing from the taste when he got his wish. She got a little sad, envious of the evidently enjoyable relationship the child had with his father. She thought of home, the bitter, lonely estate filled with nothing more than antiques and an abusive father.
Natsu went on to introduce a few more, quickly, but sufficiently, then he led her to an empty table. He hollered at a young girl he pointed out to Lucy earlier, Kinana, and ordered a bunch of food for himself. Lucy insisted she didn't want anything, especially nothing alcoholic, but he ordered her something called a "firecracker" anyway. Both orders came fast, Kinana rushing out; it was obviously a busy time for the girl.
Natsu immediately dove in, starving from his nap, and Lucy watched for a minute, then looked shyly at her drink. It had an shiny residue to it to it, purple, from one perspective, but blue from another. She took a timid sip of the drink, expecting a nasty smack, but got hit with absolute awe. Whilst not strong enough to consider the taste as bitter, the alcohol was still noticeable, but was mixed with a sweetness that reminded her of strawberries. Her eyes widened, something Natsu was too preoccupied with his food to see, then dove back in for another sip. The sip became a gulp, and soon her glass was empty. She looked for Kinana, hoping to get another, but decided against it - the girl looked very busy, and Lucy'd feel guilty if she added another order to her long list.
She looked at Natsu, who had already finished half of his unnatural portion of food. "So what do you guys do around here?" She asked, spinning the glass in her fingertips.
"What?" Natsu looked up from his full plate, cheeks full of food.
Lucy giggled at the boy. Despite his unmannerly behavior that she wasn't used to, she found his company quite enjoyable. "Like, what do you do to pass the time?"
"Oh," Natsu chewed for a few seconds before continuing. "Well, we fight." He chewed some more. "Most of the time it's me and Gray." He licked his fingers greedily as Lucy giggled again. "And some nights, we drink."
Lucy couldn't stop laughing, amused by the boy's look of innocence as he ate. "And that's it?"
"Yeah. We all kinda pitch in money for the hall, and food and drinks. It's not much, but it's enough to get by."
"What does everyone do?"
"Well, of the people you know…" He took another huge bite. "Gray's a Firefighter, Erza's a cop, Mira's a model," Lucy's eyes widened a bit. "Laxus is an electrical engineer, Levy's a Librarian…" Natsu continued to list people and their occupations, but after a little Lucy stopped listening to him and just watched. She couldn't help it, but Natsu spotted her quite quickly. "What're you looking at?" He narrowed his eyes in a playfully threatening way, softly kicking her leg under the table.
Lucy quickly looked at her hands, which had curled up on her lap. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "Uh, nothing in particular." She shook her head, ashamed of her unawareness. But she couldn't help it, she hadn't ever felt like this. Bah, it was settled: Natsu was most definitely, hands down, no questions asked, the cutest boy she had ever met.
A/N: Hey guys. Hope you guys don't hate me too much for this, but I deleted chapters 3 and 4, and I'm gonna rewrite 4 soon. I didn't like how it was moving, it felt way rushed, and the plot was choppy and boring. I'm hoping you guys like this version and my v2 chapter 4 more, and I'm super sorry for the like, 2 month delay. I had to finish summer school, and I got way into Heroes of the Storm for a week, and now that school's starting I'm gonna continue to write fairly slowly. I'll try to focus a little more on writing, but along with schoolwork I also have football, so I don't have much free time. Anyway, sorry again. Please review (roast me), all that stuff, and I'll talk to you guys next time.